Frugal In Florida

I love me some fresh herbs. As in, cut them right off the plant and start munching. Ok, not quite like that ... but you get the picture. I've got a few tips today: Green Onions - Slice off the rooty part and stick in a glass of water. You will be supplied with at least a month long supply ... just cut off the green shoots as needed (or to keep control of them, they will get carried away without attention to trimming). Make sure to change the water out every few days. Cilantro/Parsley/Basil - I buy these rather large size pots at Publix every 3 months or so. They cost $3.99 each. IF I'm smart, I will use them for the filler to get me to $50 when I have that $5 off $50 coupon and nothing I want or need. These last me for about 3 months if not longer too. My only problem is remembering to water them and keep them out of the direct sunlight during the summer months. No, I do NOT plant them in the garden. I've got a dirt phobia when it comes to herbs, and don't like...

Do they still really have those commercials out? Remember? Beef - It's Whats For Dinner and then Pork - The Other White Meat. Heh. Just curious since I pretty much zone out of all commercials (except for Max the Pig and the Chaos guy ... notice they are BOTH insurance commercials!) ... Anyways. I have a pork loin that I picked up the other day at Penn Dutch for $1.99 a pound. That's a good deal. It's 4 plus pounds. My original plans were to slice (and dice) into chops then I said, OH ... I'll make the Island Pork ... but then I tripped over Skinny Taste , and look what she had up ... Ugg. Change of plans but oh so much easier! Of course, I was NOT using a tenderloin so a few modifications were called for :-) 1 pork loin, trimmed of excess fat 3 tbs garlic salt 1 1/2 tbs of curry powder 1/2 cup sweet red chili sauce (or whatever is left in your bottle, if you are like ME) a good dash or two of Sriracha sauce (you know, the bottle with the Rooster on it) 2 ...

I enjoyed my day off yesterday ... thanks to MLK Day. I cooked. A new recipe. Two actually. Keep your eyes out this week :-) I cleaned (laundry and such). I went to the Casino with my neighbor (um, yeah, that sort of blew the budget). I went to Kmart due to poor timing on MY part (yes, that did NOT help the budget out either). I went to the gym. Damn near passed out and puked too. Something to do with shoulder exercises (buzzy feeling in the area and then just general foggyness sets in. Hmmm. Pinched nerve the doc mentioned?). Made myself a Greenish Smoothie when I got home. Made Hubby an awesome salad to go with the leftovers we ate for dinner. Showered and went to bed. Completely drained the battery on the Kindle so that meant it had to charge overnight. Odd. I thought I turned it off. It's back to work today. Which means all that stuff above? Well, it should be a part of my every day life for the most part (cooking, cleaning, gym, shower, eating healthy) but ...

Yeah, I'm a little late for the game but hey, better late than never ... So you can look all over the web and see all these Green Smoothies. And probably think something like me, WTF? Spinach in a smoothie? And NOT taste it? Yeah, right ... I believe ya ... Don't get me wrong, I LOVE SPINACH. In salads. On sandwiches (oh yummy, skip the lettuce and try spinach next time, excellent!) and of course, in dips ... but a smoothie, to DRINK? I think not. But then I saw THIS (thank you yet again, Pinterest !) and thought, wow, it's ... BEAUTIFUL. Huh. A green smoothie is beautiful. Purty. Very very much so. So here you have my opinion ... here's how I did it ... 3 cubes of frozen plain yogurt (I just froze it in ice cube trays and then stuck them 3 to a bag in smaller bags 1 tablespoon peanut butter (not the measuring tablespoon!) 1 frozen banana (sliced) 1 cup milk 2 to 3 handfuls of spinach (enough to fill the blender to top ... I'm sure I should ha...

Ummm, I think I've declared my love of Pinterest enough already, haven't I?  It's just a wealth of all sorts of cool things ... recipes, clothes, diy projects and so on. It's also a time sucker, so you do need to use care =D So anyways, yet again, a new recipe this week, courtesy of What's Cookin, Chicago? (my hometown!) and heck, again, I've got everything in house to make it ... I cut the recipe in half as I thought 2 lbs of shrimp was just too much ... Here's how I did it: 1 lb of shrimp, peeled and deveined (and I removed the tail too) 1 1/2 tbs olive oil 1 tbs dry white wine salt and pepper 3/4 stick of butter 2 garlic cloves, minced a little less than a quarter of an onion, finely chopped 1 1/2 tbs parsley, chopped 1/2 tsp rosemary, chopped 1/8 tsp crushed red pepper flakes 1 tbs lemon juice 1/2 tsp lemon zest (seriously, this does make all the difference in a dish) 1 egg yolk 1/2 cup or so of panko (or crushed bread crumbs) lemon...

Yeah, I know, I said I was going to stay out of the stores as I didn't really need anything. Then I had a very specific list to stick to and $75 cash in my envelope. Yes. I even scratched things off the list because it was going to have me over by a few bucks. So what happened? I'm not sure. Friday was fine. Got out of work 30 minutes early so drove south to Penn Dutch. Ummm, had boneless skinless chicken breast (15 lbs) and bananas on there. Easy, $25 maximum and out. So convinced of that, I didn't bring the $5 off $50 coupon code to print out. Yeah. Doh. boneless california (?) chuck roast $10.29 pork tenderloin $8.78 NY Strip steaks $16.23 chicken breast $8.95 chicken breast $7.30 4 jars of pure tomato sauce (tomato's and salt, thats it for ingredients, 24 oz) $1.25 each bananas $1.31 2 strawberries $2.98 french bread (still warm, the smell!) $1.29 loaf of texas toast bread $2.79 Grand total $64.92. Fine, that still gave me $10 to get milk and p...

It is true. Clutter CAN totally disrupt your life. And I don't just mean PAPER clutter.  I've got issues with clothes. Not necessarily buying them, but a lot of my girlfriends give me their stuff to go through and then I donate. 9 times out of 10, there will be some really CUTE stuff that is just a tad too snug, and I think, ah, I'll lose a couple of pounds, so I stash it in a drawer or hang it in the far corner of the closet. Yeah. Right. See that happening, do you? Not so much. So lately, with the new classes I'm taking for exercise, I am spending WAY too much time trying to find a top that fits comfortably, is appropriate for jumping up and down, and not a complete mess with stains, tears, etc. You know how it is. This morning, I said enough is enough. I pulled everything out of my shirt drawer and tossed them on the bed. Half the stuff isn't even folded any more because I constantly shove stuff around in this drawer. So everything was touched. Picked up,...