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One Hundred Dollars a Month

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.


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Canning 101 – How To Can Pears

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Yesterday we picked up a case of pears at a rock bottom price.  I knew right away we would be setting aside quite a few for eating fresh, but I also wanted to have a few jars of pears on hand for this winter as well.  Canning pears is much easier than canning peaches.  All you really need to do is wash your fruit, peel the skin off, core them and add a bit of sugar syrup and place them in the hot water canner.  Pretty simple if you ask me.

Here is the recipe I used

PEARS — HALVED OR DICED

Quantity: An average of 17 1/2 pounds is needed per canner load of 7 quarts; an average of 11 pounds is needed per canner load of 9 pints. A bushel weighs 48 pounds and yields 16 to 24 quarts, which is an average of 2 1/2 pounds per quart.

Quality: Choose ripe, mature fruit of ideal quality for eating fresh or cooking.

Procedure: Rinse pears, cut in half, and core. Place pears in a large bowl filled with water and  an ascorbic acid solution {I use Fruit Fresh}. Prepare and boil a very light, light, or medium syrup or pack peaches in water, apple juice, or white grape juice.

Sugar Syrup – 10 cups of water and 2 cups sugar { this is a light syrup, if you like your pears super sweet just add more sugar}.  I bring it to a boil and let it simmer for 5 minutes before packing my jars with fruit, and then pouring the syrup over the pears.

Hot pack Method— In a large saucepan place drained fruit in syrup  and bring to boil. Fill jars with hot fruit and cooking liquid, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Place halves in layers, cut side down.

Raw pack Method — Fill hot jars with raw fruit, cut side down, and add syrup, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. *This is what I do.

Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace if needed. Wipe rims of jars with a dampened clean paper towel. Adjust lids and process.

Go HERE for more Canning Recipes

If you are new to canning {or just looking for more recipes} I highly recommend the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving.  Amazon has it on sale right now for $13.38 and it’s filled with 400 recipes.

And if you are looking for a canner, I used the Granite Ware 11-1/2 Quart Covered Preserving Canner with Rack to can my pears. If you need a tool kit, I use one similar to this one.

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Mondays With Mavis – How to Feed Your Family for $100 a Month

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This past week I went over budget.  I need to get serious and hunker down here pretty soon if I am going to reach my goal of averaging $100 a month for groceries for 2012.  With only $273.40 left to spend for the year, I’m going to need to map out a plan, and quick.  My biggest concern is money for milk and baking supplies.  I hope I can do it.

Here is what I bought this past week.

Wilco Feed Store $16.50

The Girl and I had stopped by Wilco just as they were marking down cases of fruits and vegetables. We picked up 28 pounds of pears for only $12.00, and 25 pounds of onions for $4.50.  I didn’t really need the onions {because we grew them in the backyard this summer} but I couldn’t resist.

1 Fisher Scone $1.25

It would be a crime to go to the Puyallup Fair and not stand in line for 10 minutes for a scone.

Butler’s Farm $9.00

Last week I stopped by a local farm stand and picked up 24 pounds of apples and made applesauce and apple butter.  I have a feeling I might be headed back there soon because the prices are so good.

 Safeway $.45 {for postage}.

Had the “free” products not been free after rebate, I would have only been willing for pay about $.25 for 4 of the items. The other items I would not have looked twice at. Can you guess what they are?

Safeway $10.00

The free weenie deal at Safeway was awesome. We still have milk and orange juice in the refrigerator, the candy is gone, but there are still 8 packages of weenies left and the butter is safe and sound int the freezer.

For what it’s worth, I think I made out pretty good last week.

How about YOU?

Score any free food?

Stop by any roadside stands and pick up some fresh produce?

 

Total Spent This Week $37.20
Total Spent This Year $926.60
Total Spent This Year on Garden Seeds/Supplies $516.21
Total “Seed Money” donations received $51.00

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Bake Sale Recipes – Chocolate Brownie Cookies

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I have been making these cookies ever since my friend Jane told me about them a few years ago.  The recipe comes from Martha Stewart’s Cookie Book and I typically bake a double batch of these delicious cookies when my kids request them for their sporting events or if I’m asked to bake cookies for a bake sale.

The are seriously the best chocolate cookies I have ever tasted, and, there are never any leftovers. The only thing I’ve changed from Martha’s original recipe is I have added a touch of cinnamon and reduced the baking temp a bit for a chewier cookie.

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda {15 Cool Uses for Baking Soda}
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups unsalted butter
2 cups sugar + 1/4 cup for rolling cookie balls into
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions 

Preheat oven to 325 degrees

Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt in a bowl and set aside.

Beat the butter, 2 cups sugar, vanilla and eggs until light and fluffy {I use a KitchenAid mixer for this}

Slowly add dry ingredients, and mix well.  Chill the dough in the refrigerator for one hour until the cookie dough is somewhat firm.

Line baking sheets with parchment paper or with a silpat baking mat. Use a 1 tablespoon cookie dough scoop to form dough balls and then roll the balls in sugar. Bake 10 -12 minutes . Cool on a wire rack. Hide a few for yourself and then serve a big plate full to your kids with a tall glass of milk to wash them down.

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Mavis Garden Blog – Heirloom Tomatoes

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Last night, right before dark I went around to all the tomato plants and picked as many near ripe tomatoes as I could.  As much as I would like all my tomatoes to ripen on the vine this year, it’s just not going to happen.

We are already a week into September and although there are plenty of green tomatoes in the garden, the red ones are a little harder to come by.  I figure I have about 3 more weeks for these babies to ripen.

So by picking the almost ripe ones, I am actually doing the rest of the tomatoes a favor by freeing up the plants energy to concentrate on the other tomatoes.

Maybe it’s time to start playing classical music, or giving them a daily pep talk and telling them it’s okay to ripen.  Dear Tomato, please ripen so I can eat you. Because if you don’t, I will leave you on the vine to shrivel up and die a slow, moldy, frost bitten death.

Roma, Hartman’s Yellow Gooseberry, Super Sweet 100, Brown Berry, Amish Paste, Italian Heirloom, Sun Gold, Moonglow, Red Pear, Green Zebra, Beefsteak

C’mon tomatoes… get your act together.

This is your chance to be something great…

Like pasta sauce, or salsa.

Let’s get the show on the road before I get hauled off to the loony bin for talking to produce.

By the way, how are your tomatoes doing?

Have you started cursing talking to them yet, or am I just losing my mind?

~Mavis

The Beekman 1802 Heirloom Cookbook  ~ Amazon

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Mavis Butterfield Etsy