One Hundred Dollars a Month - Page 1831 of 2143 - I am your typical housewife living in high maintenance suburbia. I have a handsome husband, 2 kids and a flock of pet chickens. I try and feed my family with $100 a month. With the help of coupons, gardening and bartering I am able to squeeze the most out of our grocery budget and still manage to have a little fun along the way.

Mavis Garden Blog – Late Fall Tomato Harvest

The links in the post below may be affiliate links. Read the full disclosure
By Mavis Butterfield on October 11, 2012 · 17 Comments

I’m exhausted.

I’ve been working in the garden all afternoon and for the life of me I couldn’t figure out what was taking me so long to harvest and pull up all the tomato plants.

Then I realized what I had eaten today. 11 homemade chocolate chip cookies, and about 22 cups of hot tea. No wonder I feel like such a slacker, I’ve been wandering around the backyard all afternoon in a sugar coma unable to focus.

Yes, some days I eat like a teenage boy. I mean c’mon, I can’t healthy things like kale and smoothies everyday of the week now can I? That would be totally boring.

Take a look at these heirloom tomato. Aren’t they beautiful?

I haven’t gotten all the tomatoes picked yet, but I’m almost there. Only 6 more plants to go and then I’ll be done. They I get to plant some Swiss chard. Geez wiz… That sounds like fun huh?

What did you do this afternoon… Or rather what did you eat?

Hopefully it was a wee bit more nutritious than cookies and tea.

~Mavis

This post may contain affiliate links. These affiliate links help support this site. For more information, please see my disclosure policy. Thank you for supporting One Hundred Dollars a Month.

Easy Crock Pot Recipes – Stuffed Bell Peppers

The links in the post below may be affiliate links. Read the full disclosure
By Mavis Butterfield on October 11, 2012 · 1 Comment

Last night we had a simple dinner of beans, rice, chicken and shredded lettuce. It was kind of like a taco, but without the tortilla {I forgot to thaw them in time}. As I was staring at the leftovers in the refrigerator this morning trying to figure out what to make for dinner tonight, suddenly an idea came to me. I would use the leftovers {plus some green peppers} to whip up some stuffed bell peppers in the crock pot.

Genius! I bet you didn’t know you could cook stuffed bell peppers in the crock pot did you?

Well you can. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients

4 large bell peppers
2 cups cooked rice
1 cup leftover shredded chicken or taco meat {I used chicken}
1 cup corn kernels {I used frozen}
1 {15 oz} can S&W jalapeno flavored black beans, drained
3/4 cup salsa {Here is my homemade salsa recipe}
3/4 shredded cheese {cheddar is preferred, but I used mozzarella}
1/4 cup shredded cheese to sprinkle over the top of the peppers towards the end
1/2 cup water

Directions

Chop off the top of the bell pepper and remove the seeds and membranes.

In a large bowl, combined the chicken, rice, corn black beans, salsa and 3/4 cup of cheese and mix well, and stuff the bell peppers with the rice mixture.

Carefully place the bell peppers in a crock pot {you want them to fit nice and tight into the crock pot} if you have a large crock pot like I do than simply pack the peppers as close as you can and prop them up with a custard dish or two so they do not fall over.

Place 1/2 water into the bottom of the crock pot, put on the lid and cook for 4 hours on low.

Just prior to serving sprinkle 1/4 of cheese over the tops of the peppers, put the lid back on for an additional 5 -7 minutes so the cheese has time to melt.

Serve warm.

Check out this Crock-Pot 16-Ounce Little Triple Dipper set on Amazon.com. Right now you can get it for only $24.99 shipped after mail in rebate.

Three 16-ounce removable stoneware crocks
Black portable travel bag included for ease on-the-go
Dishwasher-safe stoneware and glass lids
Silver and black coloring
Perfect for entertaining
Black portable travel bag included for ease on the go

Go HERE to see more Crock Pots

Go HERE to get the Crock Pot rebate form

This post may contain affiliate links. These affiliate links help support this site. For more information, please see my disclosure policy. Thank you for supporting One Hundred Dollars a Month.

Mavis Garden Blog – Growing Vegetables in a Greenhouse

The links in the post below may be affiliate links. Read the full disclosure
By Mavis Butterfield on October 11, 2012 · 7 Comments

This morning I hauled one of my giant pots from the upper patio all the way around back to the greenhouse. I like doing stuff like this when the Handsome Husband is at work so I don’t have to go through his whole “I want to live in a condo” routine.

The HH tends to freak out when I haul {or have him haul} heavy pots full of dirt through the house. Does your husband do this {freak out}?

Anywho, it’s a good thing he wasn’t around when I did this because getting this puppy out both doors, down the porch steps, and out to the greenhouse was quite the ordeal I tell you. I lost a {little} dirt in to process and 2 tomatoes. LOL.

But the good news is, I did get my Roma tomato plant out to the greenhouse safe and sound. I wish I knew how long the tomato plant is going to last out there… But I suppose only time will tell.

Here are a few other fruits and vegetables that are currently growing in our greenhouse.

Fore more greenhouse updates, head on over HERE.

Peace Out Girl Scouts, I’m off to cause some more trouble.

~Mavis

If you are thinking about growing vegetables this winter, Amazon currently has Four-Season Harvest: Organic Vegetables from Your Home Garden All Year Long By Eliot Coleman in stock, and ready to ship. I own a copy and it has a bunch of useful information in it.

This post may contain affiliate links. These affiliate links help support this site. For more information, please see my disclosure policy. Thank you for supporting One Hundred Dollars a Month.

Ask and You Shall Receive – Reader Laura Sends in Her Free Produce Pictures

The links in the post below may be affiliate links. Read the full disclosure
By Mavis Butterfield on October 11, 2012 · 15 Comments

One Hundred Dollars a Month reader Laura sent in a few pictures of her recent “chicken scraps” shopping trip, and holy free fruits and vegetables Laura, you scored the mother load of free food!

Here’s what Laura had to say…

“My family and I are saving a TON of money each week on groceries, produce. Next trip, I hope to pick up some day old bread as well. We only have a family of four, so we usually give a box of food to all four of our neighbors.”

Now I don’t know about you, but I am beginning to wonder what percentage of strawberries the grocery stores actually sell and what they toss on a weekly basis is. With the exception of 1 or 2 boxes over the past 6 months, all of my free produce boxes have all had strawberries in the. Hmmm.

Free Potatoes? Wowza! What on earth are you going to do with all those potatoes Laura? What do YOU think she should do with all of those potatoes? There must be at least 50 pounds there.

Good job Laura! I’m proud of you for asking your local grocer for their produce scraps.

You know what they say… One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.

♥ Mavis

To read more stories about reclaimed food head on over HERE.

*If you have a garden, a chicken coop or anything else super exciting and would like to be featured here on onehundreddollarsamonth.com, simply send in your clear, well-lit photos to onehundreddollarsamonth {at} gmail.com, along with a brief description of your pictures and I will try to get them posted.

Looking for a way to store your extra produce? In Progressive International’s lettuce keeper, fruit, lettuce, and vegetables stay fresher longer for up to 2 weeks. The special design lets you wash and store all in one since the container doubles as a colander. A water reservoir in the base keeps produce moist, and adjustable venting regulates air circulation and moisture.

Amazon currently has the lettuce keeper on sale for $13.98 and the reviews are crazy good.

This post may contain affiliate links. These affiliate links help support this site. For more information, please see my disclosure policy. Thank you for supporting One Hundred Dollars a Month.