Striving Simply

A New Way to Save

2012-02-06T22:21:00.002-05:00

*B* gets a hair cut every two months or so. At $15 a pop, this quickly adds up. We bought a home haircut kit at Costco the other day for just $25. This was my first attempt at cutting someone's hair. A little short, but not bad!

Ready-to-bake Freezer Lasagne

2012-02-05T22:19:00.000-05:00

I've always liked my mom's lasagne. I don't make it often, though, because it seems like it takes forever to make. I tried once to make a Martha Stewart lasagne that took less time, but it was terrible. So this time around, I broke it up into a couple of steps, and finished off the easiest ever freezer lasagne.

Two weeks ago, I took an hour to make spaghetti sauce. My mom starts with ground beef, but I made a cheese lasagne this time. All I had to do is mix 1 tsp onion powder, 2 cloves minced garlic, 1 1/2 tsp Italian
seasoning, 15 oz can tomato sauce, 6 oz can tomato paste, and 1 cup water in a big pot. I doubled the recipe so that I could get more product out of my time. I also used homemade tomato paste from my San Marzano tomatoes that came in last year. Once everything is combined, all you have to do is simmer for about 1 hour. When all was done, I threw the sauce into sealed glass jars in the fridge.

This morning, I was ready to tackle the second half. I mixed 2 pounds of ricotta cheese with 1 egg, 1/2 cup
parmesan cheese, 1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese, and 1 tbsp parsley.

I bought square glad containers that work for both the freezer and the oven. In the bottom, I put a thin layer spaghetti sauce. On top of that, I put two no-boil lasagna noodles. My mom said three, but only two fit in one layer in the pan without too many gaps and without too much overlap. Then, I spread 1/2 ricotta mix over noodles, spread thin layer of spaghetti sauce, and sprinkled with mozzarella cheese. I did the ricotta, sauce, cheese step again. Then, I layered two more noodles, put the rest of the tomato sauce, and a ton of mozzarella on top. Slap on the plastic lid, label, and throw it into the freezer.

When ready to cook, just pull it out of the freezer, take off the lid, and bake at 350 degrees until hot throughout and golden on top. With the zucchini bread I made at the same time, this is a perfect dinner. Yum!

Prepping Made Harder

2012-02-01T18:51:00.000-05:00

When *B* and I were on our honeymoon, we read The Omnivore's Dilemma. It is a fantastic book, but as of late it's been making my life difficult. While I had a hard time giving up "conventionally" raised meat, *B* has really stuck with it.

Our meat comes from a local butcher shop, so it's probably not product of a concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO). I know for a fact that the beef we eat was raised in a lady's backyard - my mom works with her. But our chicken and the little bit of bacon we get are of somewhat indeterminate origins.

When eating with *B* now, I feel really guilty about eating meat. When we eat out at a restaurant, *B* always gets something vegetarian. When at home, if I make something with chicken, I feel bad because I know he has reservations about eating it. But the problem is that I have not found vegetarian meals that I like. While he's happy eating lentil soup and vegetable curry, I'm not. I haven't had pork loin in well over a year, and that used to be one of my go-to meals. I just don't like sweet and sour chicken without the chicken (a meal we had last week).

Day to day, I deal with this fairly well. I'm grumbly, but I manage. I eat meat at school and when we go out. In prepping, though, this issue is almost painful. I see tons of interesting freezer meals on Pinterest and others' blogs, but they're usually based around a meat. All of the vegetarian meals I see seem terrible to me.

The problem is that I'm very picky when it comes to vegetables. I don't like onions and tomatoes unless they're cooked and diced fine. I don't like olives, most beans, peppers, cucumbers, winter squash, arugala, beets, turnips, or rutabegas. I also don't like any kind non-cow milk cheeses like chevre. I'm not a huge fan of barley, quinoa, or couscous. I would kill a bowl of fettucini alfredo with broccoli with no problem, but *B* isn't a huge fan of pasta.

What this boils down to is that my freezer is stocked with two types of food right now: food I'll eat and food he'll eat. I can't find enough meals that will satisfy both of us so that we don't get sick of them.

Finally Finished

2012-01-29T11:04:00.004-05:00

Yesterday, I finally finished my last class in my master's program. I have an A so far in that class, not including the final. If I got an A on the final, I will graduate in may Summa Cum Laude with a 4.0 in all of my graduate coursework!

Mind you, I'll graduate two weeks before my due date, so I may or may not actually walk, but I'm happy to be done. It's been a long road, and I have so much free time now that I can focus a little more on my projects at home.

Whew...

Working Out While Pregnant

2012-01-25T20:14:00.001-05:00

I know that one of the best ways to have a good labor is to be in shape. While I'm not quite in the shape I wanted to be when I got pregnant, I'm making the best of it. I didn't work out at all in the first trimester, but starting January 1, I've been at it at least three times a week.

In the mornings, I use the Walk Away the Pounds videos:

The first DVD I got when I was in college almost 10 years ago. They still work just fine, but I've seen each version (1 mile, 2 miles, and 3 miles) a million times.

The second I bought last week because I was so bored with the first. The videos weren't quite fulfilling all of my needs, so I went on a search through netflix and found Crunch's Yoga Mama video:

Right now, my exercise plan is 2-3 miles in the morning before work, and yoga in the evenings when *B* is at school. While I may not be the sleekest pregnant woman out there, I'm determined to have enough stamina to get through my child's birth. I just hope that it's not too little, too late.

Happy Birthday, Nephew!

2012-01-22T19:20:00.001-05:00

Our nephew turned 3 today! He's absolutely obsessed with Thomas the Tank Engine and the movie Cars. My mom had bought me a Lightning McQueen cake pan in advance of the celebration, and I tried my hand at making it this weekend. Not bad if I say so myself!

I had to use a whole pot of red food coloring for the icing to turn out an actual red color. Because there was so much, it stained everything! This is *B*'s hand, which is usually the palest white, after doing the dishes:

All of our tongues turned bright pink, and our nephew had red all over his chin from the festivities. Paired with the two black eyes he had from running into a cabinet in one instance and falling off a step in another, he looked like he was wearing clown makeup.

Happy birthday, nephew!

Prepping for Baby

2012-01-15T13:35:00.001-05:00

I'm staying home with the baby for a school year starting in June. We can't technically afford this, so we have to be very prepared before he or she comes. We're saving as much as possible, making freezer meals ahead of time, and stocking our pantry.

Before I became pregnant, we were paying off some debt, but I didn't realize how much more we could be doing to better ourselves. By limiting our meals out and carefully planning grocery trips, we've freed up a lot of money. In two months alone, we've saved $3,000 of the $10,000 we need for me to be able to stay home. And in those two months were both of our birthdays, a friend's wedding, our anniversary, and Christmas! Where we were freaking out before, and I was convinced I'd need to work at least 20 hours a week, now I could probably stay home the whole time.

Recently, I've been doing research on freezer meals for when the baby comes. I want to find things that are both healthy and easy to make. Some of our favorite freezer meals are beef bourgignon, chili, mexican chicken casserole, lasagna, curried lentil soup, butternut squash soup, shepherd's pie, and marinated meats. For breakfast, I'll have oatmeal pancakes and waffles. These foods are good, but I need more options. So in my research I've found these links so far:
Mama and Baby Love: Real Food
Make Ahead Meals
$130 for 100 meals

In order to have an efficient freezer, *B* and I spent all weekend last weekend going through the freezer and reorganizing it. Rather than throwing food in randomly, we gave the shelves purposes.

The first shelf is prepared food. Those are foods that we can just grab and heat. The second is food we can cook with like beans, rice, pizza crusts, and frozen potatoes. The third shelf and the basket are full of meat: a whole turkey, a whole chicken, shrimp, beef, venison, and bacon. The door is all of our frozen fruits and veggies, as well as some bread and butter that had no better place to go.

Since I won't have an income for a year, we also need to stock the pantry as full as possible, just in case. In our pantry, we've got canned veggies, oil, condiments, spices, canned fruits, pasta, and beans:

We have broth of different kinds, tea, panko, light bulbs, ziplocs and food saver bags, cream of wheat, cereal, and baking needs:

We have honey, pudding, and every type of canned tomato imaginable:

And of course, we have paper products, bulk flour, bulk rice, and bulk sugar:

So for the next few weeks, I'll be scrimping, looking up freezer meal recipes, and determining what we need in our pantry in order to maintain healthy diets. Do you have any tips or freezer meal ideas?

Winter Comfort Food

2012-01-02T12:32:00.001-05:00

One of the winter comfort foods that I always forget about is Beef Bourgignon. I first had it on a field trip in a high school french class, and I fell in love. I had a shoulder clod roast in the freezer that I didn't know what to do with, so I ended up making a favorite from Sally Fallon's Nourishing Traditions.

I started by cutting the roast into 2 inch chunks the night before I made this. I marinated the beef in two cups of red wine and threw it in the refrigerator:

In the afternoon the next day, I pulled out all the beef with a slotted spoon and drained it on paper towels. The drier the beef, the better.

After the beef is dried, I browned it in equal parts butter and olive oil in small batches. Put the meat on an unlined plate. You'll want the meat juices later.

Pour the juice/butter/oil mixture into a small bowl and set aside. In the pot, melt butter and pour in 1/2 a cup of flour. I used whole wheat without problems. Cook and stir constantly for a few minutes. Then, add the wine from the marinade and four cups of beef broth. Whisk it all together until it boils and thickens.

After the sauce thickens, pour in the beef with all those good juices. Stir well, add a bundle of thyme tied with kitchen twine, pepper, and a few slivers of orange peel. Put it in a 300 degree oven for 3-5 hours or until the meat is tender.

About 20 minutes before the beef comes out of the oven, clean a pound of mushrooms and cut them into bite sized pieces. Also, chop an onion into manageable pieces. I used the reserved juice/butter/oil mixture from earlier to brown the mushrooms, and plain butter to cook the onions.

When the meat comes out of the onion, remove the thyme and add in the mushrooms and onions. Stir them in well.

We tend to serve this over noodles, but it is perfectly tasty on its own.

Beef bourgignon also goes really well with homemade bread.

In fact, when I emptied the pot into freezer containers, *B* took a piece of bread and wiped out the pot before washing it. Why let good food go to waste?

Beef Bourgignon

Ingredients

3 pounds stew beef

2 cups red wine

4 cups beef stock

6 tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons EVOO

1/2 cup flour

orange peel

fresh thyme

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 pound fresh mushrooms

2 pounds boiling onions or one large onion

salt (to taste)

2011 - An Overview

2011-12-31T10:36:00.002-05:00

January

We started practicing natural family planning
We worked hard to eat more sustainably

February

I had serious depression following hormonal contraceptive withdrawl

March

I started plants for the garden

April

We remodeled our bedroom after discovering our walls were full of mold
*B* worked at my school for six weeks

May

We saw Prairie Home Companion live for the second time

June

We traveled to Oklahoma/Texas
*B* performed my best friend's wedding
We kayaked on the Shenandoah River
I went to a conference in Tennessee

July

I started the couch to 5k running program
We got rid of television
*B* and I started paying off debt

August

The garden was just about a bust, other than tomatoes and peas
We experienced a magnitude 5.8 earthquake while teaching

September

I officially lost 35 pounds
*B* and I paid $5000 off of our debts
I got pregnant!

October

I ran my first 5k ever in good time
I slept - a lot

November

I slept - a lot more
I turned 26

December

I got my energy back when I hit the second trimester
I restarted my blog :o)

This list is a little more sparse than last year, but it's been a good year. Have a happy and safe new year!

Cloth Diapering - Not My Mother's Diapers

2011-12-29T09:28:00.001-05:00

Ever since I was little, I knew I would cloth diaper my children. My brother and I were both cloth diapered before it was popular again. My mom hand made them, and they were fastened by safety pins.

My brother's girlfriend gave me a gorgeous diaper bag for Christmas. This gift got me thinking of diapering.

I had NO IDEA diapers had changed so much since I was little. Now, there are pocket diapers, all-in-one diapers, all-in-two diapers, hybrids, wahm diapers, prefolds, and I'm sure more than that. *B* and I bought a set of gdiapers just to play with and see how they work.

They have cloth or flushable inserts depending on your preferences. They come in small, medium, and large. It seemed pretty straightforward, and I was set. But then I started reading more.

I found that there are other diapers (like BumGenius) who fit babies that are 7-40 lbs. That seemed like it would do the trick, but I was hesitant now. I asked other moms on a message board what I should get, and the answers were widely varied. Most of them had a variety of diapers they like. I want to be able to register for diapers. How do they know what will work??

What diapers do you use and how did you know you'd like them?

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T21:01:00.000-05:00

⁴ So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. ⁵ He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. ⁶ While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, ⁷ and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
⁸ And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. ⁹ An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. ¹¹ Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. ¹² This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”
¹³ Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
¹⁵ When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”
¹⁶ So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. ¹⁷ When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, ¹⁸ and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. ¹⁹ But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. ²⁰ The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

Luke 2:4-20

Productive Days

2011-12-21T15:32:00.000-05:00

On Monday, I started out week one of two weeks of Christmas break well. I soaked and cooked three pounds of kidney beans in a giant pot, and I soaked peas and lentils for *B*'s favorite soup (more on that in a bit). I made and froze 8 quarts of vegetable stock with the scraps that have been in the freezer forever. I also FINALLY used the San Marzano tomatoes that I froze from our garden this summer and made tomato paste, though it looks more like pizza sauce.

Apparently, that was way too much work. I got a sharp reprimand from my body. So yesterday I took it easy all day and only went grocery shopping.

Today, I was feeling better, so I picked up where I left off but a little slower. I got all of the laundry put away (a big feat in this house), washed all bedding, and finished up in the kitchen.

*B*'s favorite soup comes from Nourished Kitchen: Curried Lentil Soup. It's a little rustic and very tasty. It's so good that it could be served over rice as Indian food. I doubled the recipe and freeze the leftovers in muffin tins. When the soup is frozen, I pop the soup-popsicles into ziplocs and *B* can swipe a few cubes for his lunches. It works so well.

The kidney beans had melded into the perfect bean and bean liquid mess in the day's rest. When I make lots of beans, I vacuum seal them and freeze them in one cup pouches. That way, if I need to make chili, I just grab four pouches and throw them in.

I've found that if I cut the vacuum rolls in half, my canner funnel just fits perfectly in the neck. The beans don't get stuck in the funnel, the bags stay clean, and all I have to do is rinse the funnel in the end.

When I packed and sealed all 20 cups that the 3 lbs of dried beans makes, I laid them flat on a cookie sheet. Once they're mostly frozen, I dumped them in the basket in our stand up freezer.

Whew! That was a ton of work. But all my little food projects are done for now. Aside from cookies, there are no things hanging over my head that I meant to do - just in time for Christmas.

A Long Few Months with a Number of Changes

2011-12-19T11:12:00.000-05:00

It's been a long few months with a number of changes. Since my last post in June, I took up running, lost about 35 pounds, started my fourth year of teaching, took two very intense master's courses, was in a wedding, and, most importantly, found out I'm going to be a mother in June!

The first three months were rough, though I'm thankful that I was better off than others I know. As of Wednesday, I'll be fifteen weeks.

I've thought about restarting this blog a number of times, but life has always gotten in the way. Between having more class until I'm finished my master's degree in January, and the impending birth of the baby, I think that now is a perfect time to refocus my blogging efforts.

*B* and I decided that I need to stay home at all costs for at least the first year. We both feel very strongly that we shouldn't be paying someone to raise our children. I'm going to try to find a part time job in the evenings to cover the expenses that he can't make. While I still have an income over the next few months, I'll be restocking our pantry, which had become depressingly depleted, making freezer meals for the future, saving like mad, and preparing everything for the little one.

I hope you all decide to come back and visit :o)

Bookworm

2011-06-28T10:00:00.004-04:00

I've been quite the bookworm this summer. I've read a bunch of good books, both fiction and non-fiction.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

This was a fabulous book. Set in Mississippi in the mid-60s, The Help looks at life for African-American maids and their relationships with the people they serve. It is told from multiple points of view, which can only serve to help the story along.

The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs

This non-fiction book is about a man in New York who decides to follow as many of the biblical rules as possible. He is very open-minded and respectful of every aspect of Judeo-Christian religion that he details. I read it after *B* swore I'd like it. I loved it.

We Are All Welcome Here by Elizabeth Berg

Elizabeth Berg has been a recent obsession of mine. I've never been one to read authors who are very prolific. But I read Home Safe, then I read Open House, and now I look for Berg's books wherever I can. This one is based off of a true story of a woman who had polio while 9 months pregnant. She and her nurse raise the girl up despite the mother's near-total paralysis.

The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey

Mrs. Mordecai recommended Dave Ramsey and I am SO thankful I read this book. His "baby steps" are common sense, but brilliant. I'll be going in to this in depth in the future.

Shadow Tag by Louise Erdrich

I had read Love Medicine by Erdrich in the past, so I was intrigued by this book. Its Native American themes are much more subtle than in Love Medicine. I read it on the plane to Oklahoma. It was fantastic. A woman discovers that her husband is reading her diary, so she manipulates him through her entries and chronicles the incidents in a second diary.

Gap Creek by Robert Morgan

This book makes me think of Laura Ingalls Wilder books, but for grown ups. After dealing with tragedy in her family life, a young woman enters into marriage and faces struggle after struggle. It was a very satisfying book.

The Wilder Life by Wendy McClure

Since I was on a kick, and because my hold request came through, I've started reading a non-fiction book about the real Laura Ingalls Wilder. I'm not far in because homework got in the way, but I'm hoping to finish very soon.

Around the US in 15 Days

2011-06-27T21:40:00.000-04:00

Since school let out at the beginning of June, I have been running non-stop. First, I flew to Oklahoma and spent a week in the southern Oklahoma/northern Texas region. Being the genius I am, I left my camera at home for that whole week, so *B* has my pictures on his camera. They'll go up when I get a hold of that card.

A day and a half after flying home from Oklahoma, *B*, my mom, and I went with my in-laws and family friends to Shenandoah. We go kayaking there the same weekend every year, and I love it.

My mom and I rafted up to get a good picture of the two of us before starting out.

We couldn't believe that we saw a great blue heron on the river.

Cows are a common sight near the banks.

*B* loves investigating the fallen trees on the sides of the river.

I saw this huge painted turtle on a downed tree. He (she?) was about the size of a dinner plate.

These ducklings were in the middle of the river with no momma in sight.

*B* is taking a breather while enjoying the view.

Just like last year, I went straight from Shenandoah to a conference in Tennessee. I'm learning to use the TI-Nspire, which is an awesome calculator that can do some serious data manipulation and calculation.

Image from Tech Powered Math

AND it's in color! We're hoping to be able to use them in our school perhaps as soon as this upcoming school year. Very cool.