Last Week’s Thrifty Moves

I hope you had the best Christmas ever.  I was blessed to have a few days off and we dialed it down and really enjoyed ourselves.  We got some great family time in listening to music, watching Christmas movies and playing games.  I even taught my oldest how to play solitaire with a deck of cards – no computer needed.  It was a wonderful extended weekend. 

Last week the Sunday paper did have some Albertson’s coupon doublers but since I have maxed out the budget for this month and used up my Walmart gift card I am done grocery shopping until January.  Okay by me, this time of year the stores are super busy and I am happy to just stay out of them. 

I made homemade fudge from scratch and a small batch of peppermint bark.  I wrapped up some of both and put it in a homemade gift bag and attached a homemade ornament to it as a hostess gift. 

I used three 50% off Jo Ann’s Fabrics coupons to purchase a package of 300 pom poms for $3.50, a 100 count package of Christmas pom poms for 50¢ and some white felt squares for 85¢. 

We made cookies and pumpkin bars to share with friends and family.  All of the ingredients came from our well stocked pantry. 

My daughters decorated candy canes like reindeer to give to their friends at school.  They gave their teachers the handmade potholders they had made along with a bottle of BBQ sauce and a card. 

Friends of ours gave us their 27” television set as they decided to upgrade to a flat screen.  We now have a replacement for the one that died in our living room.  It will make Family Movie Nite much nicer with a bigger screen once again.  We now have an extra TV as my parents decided they don’t want their loaner back.  I may put it in storage as a backup.  Our TV in the family room is pretty old. 

I made gift “baskets” out of cardboard boxes I had on hand.  I covered them with gift wrap, placed tissue inside and filled them up with homemade goodies, handmade ornaments and little gifts. 

One of our double yolkers.

The chickens blessed us with 10 eggs.  Two of them were double yolkers!  I’d say they are definitely earning their keep now. 

How was your thrifty week?

Merry Christmas

Super Simple Pumpkin Spice Cake

My contribution to our Bunco Christmas party last week was a spiced pumpkin bundt cake.  A new recipe to try out on all my friends.  It got good reviews so I thought I’d better share. 

Pumpkin Spice Cake 

1 box yellow cake mix

1 c. pumpkin puree

1 c. water

1/3 c. canola oil

2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

½ tsp. nutmeg 

Combine all ingredients and whisk until thoroughly mixed.  Pour into well greased and floured bundt pan.  Bake at 350° for 55 minutes until cakes springs back at the touch.  Cool cake for 10 minutes.  Turn out onto plate or rack and cool cake completely. 

Glaze 

1 c. powdered sugar

1 Tbs. milk

1 tsp. vanilla 

Combine ingredients until smooth.  Drizzle over cooled pumpkin cake. 

I decorated the top of the cake with a few fake poinsettia blooms I had leftover from another project to dress it up and make it look festive.

Holiday Traditions – Christmas Eve Tour Of Lights

After our Christmas Eve dinner and once all the cleanup is over with I make hot cocoa and fill up our travel mugs.  Then we all pile into the truck and head off to drive through certain neighborhoods and look at Christmas lights.  I don’t know why but the truck is the vehicle of choice for this event.  The girls always insist on it. 

Ever since my son was born this has been our family tradition every year.  It is a great way to get kids settled down and ready to head for bed.  When my son was younger he would fall asleep in the car and I would just carry him in and put him to bed.  When he got older he got to do the driving and I would get to see and enjoy the lights more. 

One year it snowed really hard and as we crept along through the neighborhoods the girls would reach out the back window of the truck, grab some fresh snow out of the truck bed and play with it.  I think they were having a snowball fight back there. 

Every year we pick a different neighborhood and spend about two hours touring the lights and sipping our cocoa.  Then home to brush teeth, get a quick update on Santa Tracker and then get to bed and fall asleep before “you know who” gets here. 

When I was a child the tradition was to put our pajamas on and have Dad read us “‘Twas The Night Before Christmas”.  The book we had was a neat old book full of Victorian style pictures.  I still love that story to this day. 

Do you have a particular Christmas Eve ritual?

Do You Donate At The Holidays?

Salvation Army Bell Ringer

I was thinking this morning.  Now that I am done with all my Christmas shopping I should take all of my loose change out of my wallet and put it in one of those red kettles at the front of the grocery store.  Normally I would put it in my change jar and save it, but I think it would most likely do more good in that red kettle.

 

Yes, I think that is what I should do.

Super Simple Holiday Fudge

Last Friday night was our annual Bunco Christmas party.  We all brought something for our Taco Bar potluck supper and dessert.  Some of us brought recipes too and this delicious fudge happened to be one of those recipes. 

Holiday Fudge 

1½ c. semi sweet chocolate chips

1½ c. milk chocolate chips

1 can sweetened condensed milk

Dash of salt

1 tsp. vanilla extract 

Butter an 8” square pan, line with waxed paper, butter paper.  In a medium sauce pan, place chocolate chips, milk and salt.  Stir over medium heat until thoroughly melted and combined.  Remove from heat, add vanilla and stir.  Pour into pan and allow to cool.  Cut into 1” squares. 

I really loved the flavor and silky texture of this fudge.  A real holiday treat and oh so simple.

Last Week’s Thrifty Moves

George & Leonard - ornaments for our tree.

 

The Sunday paper didn’t yield any Albertson’s coupon doublers or any great sales either, but to be honest I was pretty okay with that.  I’m a little tired of shopping.

 

Sunday I made a big pot of split pea soup in my largest slow cooker using 6 cups of my homemade turkey stock and leftover ham, onion and carrots.  I also made homemade gingersnaps, whole wheat bread and a pan of whole wheat dinner rolls.  I was able to put a 4 cup container of the soup in the freezer for a future meal. 

I thought I was pretty clever.  After making the gingersnaps, I poured a cup of hot water into the empty molasses jar to rinse the remaining thick residue from the jar and used that as the liquid component to my pancake syrup recipe.  It should be super yummy with that extra bit of added molasses.  I also plan to reuse or recycle the jar. 

Monday we made omelets for supper with our “farm fresh” eggs and using leftover meat and cheese from Horse Doover night. 

I trimmed my bangs. 

I used a 40% off coupon at JoAnn’s Fabrics to purchase a bag of wiggly eyes for 89¢. 

I made a washable cover for our heating pad from a piece of leftover flannel. 

I made two dozen handsewn felt Christmas ornaments to give as gifts, using up a ton of leftover felt and craft scraps.

Our chickens blessed us with 7 eggs this week! 

How was your thrifty week?