Frugal In Florida

So I have to pick up ds from band practice on my way home. Ok. Let me rephrase that. I didn’t HAVE to do it, he called and asked since it’s so hot & muggy, he didn’t feel like riding his bike 2 miles back home. I said sure since I’m a nice mom J Really though, I had to stop at Target and he was literally right around the block. I wanted ONE thing. That stuff you spray or sprinkle on garden plants for buggy things. I know, I know. Organic. But heck, my tomato plants are wilting and shrivling up & the undersides are covered with white stuff. So too bad. No organic this summer. Park by garden center. Walk in garden center. Tell ds that we are here for one thing. He asked if he can go look at the tank tops. I said sure, off with you. Pick up 2 10” pots on clearance for $1.48 each. No dusty stuff. Hmmm. Walk into store – BIG NO NO!!! Patio center is ALL on clearance. Have a new patio umbrella leaning against cart. Ds shows up with tank tops. $9.99. Oh sure, they are white, than...

This is what I made for dinner on Tuesday (which was soup and sandwiches) ... of course, dd is at work, dh is out to dinner with his Chrysler rep and ds is with the band meeting with the reps from Warner (yes, they are working on a recording deal ... we shall see). I determined that yes, I could eat this a few times a week. And heck, it's cheap to make! Trying to figure just how many calories it could possibley have in it :) Can't be much, its just broth, shrooms and green onions. Oh yeah, and them crunchy fried onions :) Oh. There went my theory!! hehe Be sure to read my notes at the end for my modifications! 4 cups chicken broth 2 cups water 1 white onion 1/2 carrot, chunky chop 1/2 celery stalk, chunky chop 4 green onions, green only, thinly sliced 6 medium size shrooms, thinly sliced Crunchy fried onions (you know the ones!), just a bit, not a lot needed Combine chicken broth and water in large saucepan over high heat. Rough chop onion, add to broth wit...

I finished the Blue Bistro by Elin Hilderbrand in 2 days (Sunday to Tuesday of last week). I am now reading Barefoot by Elin Hilderbrand. Was a little difficult to get into, but now that I'm on page 94, getting better. These are both easy reads for the summer. I love to read and will read just about anything. And so glad that I rediscovered the library!! Thank you Broward County Library!

I'm having a difficult time planning the menu week with Monday being the start date. Sure, I could alter my form, but heck, that might be too much work. Once I figure out how to add files to this site, I will do that Monday - Chicken filets served with a salad (romaine, iceburg & garden lettuce, carrots, radicchio) Tuesday - soup & sandwiches (will slice the dried tomato & herb turkey I bought a few weeks back) Wednesday - beef shoulder filet. Dd has been asking for beef for a few days, said she's tired of chicken(??!!) Thursday - leftovers ... and/or soup & salad Friday - (I'm off!) roasted whole chicken OR cut up chicken & grilled & bbq'd Saturday - steaks & taters Sunday - Pork tenderloin (note to self - put some aside for cubanos the following week) Nothing to really post as far as recipes go for the week. Boy. Should be an easy week in the kitchen!!

Again it rained and rained hard. We really need it so I'm not going to complain too much, but still, a little dry weather would be appreciated too right now! Didn't get out on the boat ... obviously. Too many gusts of winds within those storms. They aren't the ususal 'on the breeze' either, but hours long. So instead, I tackled the kitchen on Saturday as I have a large bag put together (again) for goodwill. While I did the kitchen, dh did his dresser. He got rid of a lot. Then he tackled the garage. Really, the garage is not 'bad' as we do park the Tahoe in there, and it's not a storage area. He's very neat & orderly, obsesively so at times so not a lot wrong, just purge time! The kitchen was interesting, to say the least. I did the pots and pans, baking dishess, and my large appliance & mixing bowl sections (3 cabinets, below counters). Tossed a lot. Rearranged (swapped out the pots & pans with the appliances, like food processor ...

Thankfully it's been raining all week. We so need the rain and everything is green & growing! I finally got the green pepper plants in the ground. They were just taking over the one pot & only planted the big ones (5 I think) in 2 clusters. Two or three have little buds coming in ... can't wait! The tomato plants are getting tall & both have about 6 buds or so. I'm a little concerned as the bottom leaves are turning yellow which happens every year but I don't know if this is a bad sign or not? Will have to keep an eye on them. I think I'm going to leave them in the 2 pots they are in now ... again, I don't know what the heck I'm doing! The basil, mint & cilantro is out of control. I am so glad I left these in pots. The mint is unbelievable. When I got it, I thought it was scraggly and going to die a slow death. NOPE - it's lucious. Unfortunately, no one else in the house (especially dh) likes mint all that much. I've been putting...

I so love these & dh is the one that started it all Boneless skinless chicken breast, sliced thin (or you can use the cutlets, or pound the heck out of them) lemon juice blackened fish seasoning (we use Paul whatever his name is) Tomato slices lettuce mayo sandwich or burger buns Lay chicken in glass baking dish. Sprinkle with lemon juice. Sprinkle with blackened seasoning, remembering that the amount you use is the amount of heat you get. Let sit for 2 hours or so in fridge. Grill. Toast buns. Serve. Oh yum. I usually snag a piece and hide in fridge for a salad later in the week!

This is a Martha Stewart Food recipe. I modified it everytime I make it but I am posting the original recipe: Its considered the Express Lane recipe ... will have to research to refresh my mind as to why :) I think it's the one grocery bag equals 5 meals? 4 flour tortillas, 10 inch (I use wheat) 1 tbs olive oil plus more for pan (forgot the last time I made it and lost the bottom layer) 1 med onion, diced 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes salt & pepper to taste 2 tbs tomato paste 1 lb ground beef (I used chicken from the can!) 3 garlic cloves minced 1 pkg (10 oz) corn kernels 3 cups loose spinach (never used) 2 cups shredded mont. jack cheese (I use whatever I have on hand) fresh cilantro for garnish (I'd be banished from house if I used!) sour cream (optional) Preheat oven to 400 ... use paring knife & trim tortillas so they fit the bottom of a 9" springform pan (I skip this whole thing and use a pie pan!) Heat oil in large skillet, cook onion, ...

Since I've fallen a bit off the wagon as far as the sticking with the plan aspect: Monday - Pizzas - original plan was to do homemade, but ended up picking up 2 at BJ's for $8.99 & $9.99 ... really need to stick with the plan! Tuesday - First, baked taters, then hamburgers & brats and THEN - OUT to Sweet Tomatoes! Crap! Wednesday - Burgers ... in the electric skillet as it was pouring down rain ... ended up making some cheapo noodles by Lipton (chicken flavor) which I do NOT recommend Thursday - Chicken Tortilla Pie - yeah! Everything went according to plan, made in the toaster oven that I got a few weeks ago. First time I've used it & knocked off 5 minutes from the behemoth oven :) Friday - blackened chicken sandwiches - I am so hoping that it's not raining this evening. Would really like to have some quality pool time with dh and grill. Saturday - left this open as not sure if we are boating or whatnot. Could be bratwurst. Could be steaks. Could be s...

The grocery sales papers came out yesterday and today. Tonight, I sat down & went through them and made a list for each store and then attached the list to each sales paper with a paperclip. I am bound & determine to stick with it this week!! As I type that, I remember that I have to get milk which is NEVER on sale!! Bummer. It’s been a tough week. I don’t know why, other than the fact that I’ve slept til 6:30 or 7am every day since the kids don’t have to be up at 5am to get ready for school. It’s really thrown me for a loop … I just don’t have enough time to do everything in the morning now … need to get my new routine down & quick. I had a menu set for the week. I only deviated it and we ate mostly leftovers this week. Chili and hot dogs on Sunday, chili cheese dogs on Monday, Tuesday was grilled cheese & chili, Wednesday was pasta & chili (still have chili!!!) and tonight I made chicken thighs broccoli & wild rice (nice of a change!) But I need to be sur...

It’s Friday. It’s gorgeous outside. I’m sitting here, alone, in my office that is a nice chilly 40 degrees. Ok, that’s an exaggeartion, but it’s freakin cold in here! And quiet!!! And I’m bored. Notice that the stock market tanked. Unemployment is up to 5.5%, highest in 20 years. Foreclosures are at 1,000,000 homes and rising. FP&L are requesting a rate increase to cover the fuel charges of 16%. They just did that last year or so AND also got the hurricane recovery fee approved. Oh – and oil just hit over $135 a barrel. Yeah, I could easily get myself all worked up and depressed, but I’m not going to. I am happy for the things I have. I just hope that we can continue to keep these things. Hubby & I had to take out one of the gel batteries from the boat last night as it keeps draining. He is going to pick up a new one today. The cost will probably run over $100. Good lord. This boat is costing a lot to keep up & maintain. Yamaha paid $8000 for motor and we had to pay an...

I had to stop at Goodwill on the way home from work last Wednesday night to drop off the stuff in the back of truck. Since I had to go inside, figured I’d look around as the place was CLEAN and very very neat & orderly! Surprise! Picked up a pair of white nautical pants and a coral color Liz Claiborne tank. They were $6 each. Wow. I thought that was expensive. Even the non name brand stuff was $4 or $5 each. So in addition to really cleaning the place up, they have raised their prices. They no longer do ½ off certain color tags either. Gal at register said new management, a lot of negative policies. Hmmm. Wonder what she meant by that? Think I may stick with Out of the Closet that goes to $1 on certain colors each month. Freebies from girlfriend! Last wednesday night my girlfriend came over for a while as we haven’t seen each other in a while. It was nice to see her! Cathy also brought over a big black garbage bag full of clothes! Woohoo! Wish I had known she was coming as I...

Gardening: Sunday, drove by home depot (after dropping dd off at work & on way to music store for ds to get guitar strings) to get a few bags of dirt to replant a few things in garden containers. Ended up buying 2 tomato plants also. I usually try to use my seeds but well, I’m just impatient and yes, it was a spontaneous purchase. Planted them in 2 large pots that I got from hardware store a few weeks ago (dirt cheap!) and replanted the green onions & basil also. Moved all over to under the cabbage palm tree by the fence. My thoughts are that the tomatoe plants usually get cooked by the summer sun. So hopefully begin that they will get filtered sunlight from the tree and still be able to get the rain, they will do ‘ok’. I will let you know! While on the boat on Saturday, I noticed a house on the east side of the intracoastal (meaning the dock has full west exposure) that the dock was full of garden pots. No, not flowers, tomatoes & such. They had the cages made out of ...

Gardening: Sunday, drove by home depot (after dropping dd off at work & on way to music store for ds to get guitar strings) to get a few bags of dirt to replant a few things in garden containers. Ended up buying 2 tomato plants also. I usually try to use my seeds but well, I’m just impatient and yes, it was a spontaneous purchase. Planted them in 2 large pots that I got from hardware store a few weeks ago (dirt cheap!) and replanted the green onions & basil also. Moved all over to under the cabbage palm tree by the fence. My thoughts are that the tomatoe plants usually get cooked by the summer sun. So hopefully begin that they will get filtered sunlight from the tree and still be able to get the rain, they will do ‘ok’. I will let you know! While on the boat on Saturday, I noticed a house on the east side of the intracoastal (meaning the dock has full west exposure) that the dock was full of garden pots. No, not flowers, tomatoes & such. They had the cages made out of ...