Monthly Archive

  Keeping personal journals of daily events is one way to ensure your children have simple practice in handwriting, spelling and composition everyday. Setting aside a few minutes each evening after dinner to add a few paragraphs to your journals can be a fun family activity. The example set by parents who also keep a personal journal is invaluable.

By recording each entry’s date, time and outdoor temperature your children will quickly become adept at using a calendar, a clock and a thermometer. Notations about the weather can also include barometric readings. It’s often fun to try and predict local weather patterns, seeing if you can “out predict” your favorite television weather reporter.

Get creative … and have fun!

Here’s one of my family’s all-time favorite chicken recipes. The instructions include directions for preparing ahead of time for the freezer. So if you find chicken on sale at a good stock-up price, you can take advantage of the sale prices and have this delicious meal waiting in the freezer for a busy evening later in the month. 

If you want to bake without freezing first, be sure to allow at least an hour or two to marinade in the refrigerator. 

MARINATED LIME CHICKEN (from  Frozen Assets Lite & Easy) 

6 servings 

• 6 chicken breast portions (about 8 ounces each)

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

• 4 limes (or 4 tablespoons bottled lime juice)

• 4 teaspoons white wine vinegar

• 9 tablespoons olive oil

• 2 teaspoons basil

Preparation: 

Squeeze limes into a medium sized bowl. Stir in vinegar, olive oil, basil, salt and pepper. Place chicken breast portions into labeled freezer bags. Pour lime sauce over top; seal and freeze. 

To Serve: 

Thaw completely. Pour marinade into small saucepan. Heat to boiling. Place chicken pieces into shallow oven-proof dish. Pour boiled marinade over chicken. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 35 - 40 minutes or until chicken is tender and cooked through. Serve hot, sprinkled with fresh basil sprigs if available. 

I hope your family likes this recipe as much as my family does! 

While exploring online recently, I stumbled across an excellent educational resource for parents and kids.  The KidsGardening Parents’ Primer is a complete online resource for introducing children to the joys (and educational benefits!) of gardening. On the Parents’ Primer opening page, it says, “Through the seasons there are big projects and little opportunities for gardening with kids that can fit seamlessly into your life. This primer will help you learn to recognize those opportunities and turn your kids’ questions into fun discoveries. And you’ll get the garden-building basics too!” Chapters include information on:

• gardening activities by age group

• turning your kids on to gardening

• getting ideas and choosing what to plant

• building fun garden structures for the whole family

• making gardening fun

• building a small garden

• involving kids in the necessities of maintenance

• avoiding gardening hazards

• quick and easy gardening projects

If you’re in an area where the weather isn’t warm enough to seriously considering taking a spade to the earth right now, you can always get started with the planning and preparation stages for a family gardening project. 

KidsGardening Parents’ PrimerHappy gardening!

The following recipe is not only easy and delicious, it’s also a simple way to use canned, dried, and other easily stored food items. 

Mix-and-Match Soup (makes 8 generous servings) 

BROTH (choose one)

• Tomato: One 12-oz. can tomato paste PLUS two 16-oz. cans tomatoes with juice (chopped) PLUS water to equal 10 cups total

• Chicken/Turkey: 10 cups broth OR 4 bouillon cubes dissolved in 10 cups water

• Beef: 10 cups broth OR 4 bouillon cubes dissolved in 10 cups water

PROTEIN (choose one — 1 pound or 2 cups, cooked)

• Ground beef, browned

• Leftover meatballs or meatloaf, chopped

• Cooked chicken or turkey (cut up)

• Ham (cut up)

• Lentils

• Frankfurters, sliced (or any sausage or Kielbasa)

• Pepperoni, sliced

• Beans, cooked or canned (pintos, kidney, Great Northern, or a mixture of whatever you have on hand)

GRAIN (choose 1 or 2 — total of 2 cups)

• Rice, cooked (any variety)

• Barley, cooked

• Pasta, raw

• Corn

• Dumplings (add near end of cooking time)

VEGETABLES (raw, cooked or canned, choose 2 or more — total of 1 - 2 cups)

• Cabbage
• Carrots
• Celery
• Onion
• Potatoes
• Tomatoes
• Green beans
• Turnips
• Parsnips
• Broccoli
• Peas or pea pods
• Cauliflower
• Bell pepper
• Zucchini (add raw)

SEASONINGS (choose 2 - 4 spices, 1 - 2 teaspoons each)

• Basil
• Cayenne (dash)
• Chives
• Cumin
• Garlic
• Marjoram
• Onion powder
• Thyme
• Rosemary
• Parsley
• Oregano

TO PREPARE SOUP: 

Bring broth to a boil in a large stock pot or Dutch oven. Add all ingredients; salt and pepper to taste; reduce heat; simmer one hour. 

SLOW COOKER PREP: 

Pour boiling stock and other ingredients into slow cooker and simmer 8 - 12 hours or overnight on LOW setting. 

*This recipe was excerpted and adapted from my little book, Mix-and-Match Recipes: Creative Ideas for Busy Kitchens.’ 

Just for fun, here’s one of my family’s favorite freezer-friendly recipes, Spaghetti Pie (reprinted from my book, ‘Frozen Assets: How to cook for a day and eat for a month’, Champion Press). 

This recipe can easily be double or tripled. My original Spaghetti Pie recipe called for a full pound of ground beef, but now I only use half a pound per pie. I find half a pound to be more than enough. This recipe could also be made with ground turkey, Italian bulk sausage, TVP (texturized vegetable protein), or no meat (or meat substitutes) at all. 

SPAGHETTI PIE (from:  Frozen Assets)
(6 servings) 

• 6 oz. dry spaghetti noodles

• 2 tbsp butter or margarine

• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

• 2 well-beaten eggs

• 1/2 lb ground beef

• 1/2 cup chopped onion

• 1 (8-oz.) can Italian-style stewed tomatoes (don’t drain)

• 1 (6-oz.) can tomato paste

• 1 tsp sugar

• 1 tsp dried oregano, crushed

• 1/2 clove garlic, minced

• 1 cup cottage cheese

• 1/2 cup cheese (your choice: mozzarella, cheddar, American, or Moneterey Jack), shredded

Cook spaghetti noodles. Drain. Stir margarine into hot noodles until melted. Stir in Parmesan cheese and eggs. Form pasta mixture into a crust shape in a buttered 9-inch pie plate. In skillet, cook ground beef and onions until meat is browned. Drain. Stir into ground beef, tomatoes, tomato paste, sugar , oregano and garlic. Heat through. Spread cottage cheese over bottom of spaghetti crust. Top with tomato/meat mixture. Sprinkle grated cheese over all. Cover pie pan with foil; label and freeze. 

To Serve: Thaw. Bake, covered, for 25 minutes at 350 F. Remove foil and bake for 5 minutes more until cheese is lightly browned. 

Enjoy!

Here’s a project to do with the kids when the weather’s awful and they’re stuck inside all weekend.

Kids’ Scented Play Clay

• 1 cup flour

• 1/2 cup salt

• 2 teaspoon cream of tartar

• 1 package unsweetened Kool-Aid drink mix

• 1 cup boiling water

• 1 Tablespoon salad oil

Combine flour, salt, crearm of tartar, and Kool-Aid in a medium-sized bowl. Add boiling water and oil. Stir until soft dough forms (if using lemonade flavor, tint with yellow food coloring). Knead until smooth. Store in an air-tight container (I store mine in zip-top plastic sandwich bags).

Just fill a salad bowl with cubes of fresh fruit (apples, oranges, bananas, melons, grapes, etc.), and then pour a carton or two of vanilla-flavored (not plain!) yogurt over the fruit. Stir it up, chill for an hour or so, and then sit back and wait for the compliments. 

“This is delicious! And what’s in this wonderful sauce? Can I have the recipe?” (If you don’t want to admit how easy this recipe is, you can do what a friend of mine does: just smile, wink, and tell them it’s a family secret.) 

This is so simple … and so tasty! Trust me.

When my youngest daughter was two-years-old, she had generic terms for things.

For example, any and every unidentified food item was simply called “Beans.” I’d hear it all the time whether it was a vegetable, meat, dessert, or whatever: “What’s this, Mommy … beans?”

Then she developed a generic term for money. All money was “ten dollars.” If you handed her a quarter, it was “ten dollars.” Show her a twenty dollar bill and — yep, you guessed it — ten dollars.

One day, she found a penny on the sidewalk in front of our house, picked it up, and ran over to me excitedly calling out, “Mommy, look! Ten dollars!”

Well, sometimes I wish real ten dollar bills were as easy to find as my cute little curly-haired daughter thought they were when she was two.

But as I looked at the shiny penny in her hand that day, I started thinking about how quickly our lost pennies can add up to “ten dollars” when we aren’t careful about our expenses.

Maybe she wasn’t really that far off referring to lost pennies as ten dollars, after all.

My current goal is to get into the habit of exercising more often throughout the week. Because my limited budget won’t allow for a health club membership or regular workouts at the local gym, I need to find something that will meet my needs, both physically and fiscally. 

I know that whatever I choose, it needs to be simple and easy, or I won’t follow through. So I’ve decided to just plug in my favorite low-impact aerobics video three to four times a week, and then also use a small piece of exercise equipment (a Thighmaster Gold, if you must know) that I bought on sale for less than $15 on sale at the local variety store. Between these two easy — and cheap! — exercise options, I’m already starting to see an improvement in my overall tone and fitness. 

My specific goal for exercising this year is, “I will work out 3 days per week with the aerobic video, and 6 days per week with the Thighmaster. At the end of the month, I’ll reevaluate how effective this method is for me.” 

If you can find a time of day to add your workout onto the routines that you’re already doing, so much the better! For example, I make a point to leave the Thighmaster right next to the computer. Whenever I’m online waiting for a webpage to load or waiting for my ISP to sign online, I grab the Thighmaster and do a few repetitions of one of the various exercises that can be done sitting in my computer chair. For most of last year, I kept my exercise bike in the family room where I could hop on and ride for half an hour while watching the evening news. 

If you’re wanting to add a little exercise to your life, find something you enjoy doing and that you’ll be able to stick with for a long time. Then set a specific goal and set about acheiving your goal, one step at a time. 

I like to keep pre-cooked chicken breasts in the freezer to use for heating up for easy, no-fuss meals. I also cut up pre-cooked and frozen chicken meat for using in salads and soups. 

Another easy summertime cooking idea is to marinate chicken pieces by putting the chicken with the marinade directly into a freezer bag and then freezing them together. The chicken marinates while it’s freezing and thawing, so after it’s thawed, I can just throw the already marinated chicken onto the grill or under the broiler for an easy, delicious meal. 

I also like to make up a bunch of pre-shaped hamburger patties, frozen separately between sheets of waxed paper for easy cooking. Just put the frozen patties — unthawed — into a frying pan or under the broiler. 

Here’s my family’s favorite old-fashioned baked macaroni-and-cheese recipe. It’s so much better than those boxes with dry “cheese” powder from the store, believe me! 

Baked Macaroni and Cheese (makes 6 servings)

• 1 1/2 cups elbow macaroni

• 3 tablespoons butter or margarine

• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

• 1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)

• dash pepper

• 2 cups milk

• 1/4 cup finely chopped onion

• 8-ounces American or Cheddar cheese, cubed

Cook macaroni in boiling water until just tender; drain. In saucepan, melt butter; blend in flour, salt and pepper. Add milk; cook and stir till thick and bubbly. Add onion and cheese cubes; stir until melted. Mix cheese sauce with macaroni. Turn into 1 1/2 quart casserole dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes, or until heated through. (This is really good with a thinly sliced, lightly salted tomato added to the top of the macaroni before baking.) 

If I’m making this to ahead of time for freezing, I always freeze before baking. I either pour the noodle/cheese mixture into a freezer bag or place it into the casserole dish and freeze like that. Thaw completely. Bake as usual. 

Container gardening works wonders in small spaces. I usually think of flowers growing in containers, but vegetables work great in containers too. Veggies just need to be watered and fertilized a bit more frequently than when they’re planted in the ground, but since you can keep containers closer to the door or patio, it probably won’t be a problem to water and feed your plants more often. Anything that can be grown in the ground can also be grown in containers — even trees! You’ll just need bigger pots for the bigger plants. 

If you have an old washtub lying around your garage or attic — or you run across something of a similar size and shape during your weekend yard sale rounds – these old tubs make wonderful containers for small salad gardens. 

Drill drainage holes in the bottom of the tub, add a couple of inches of sand or gravel to the bottom, fill with potting soil, stir in some compost and vegetable fertilizer, water thoroughly, wait a week or so, and then plant with a variety of salad fixings. 

You can include in your washtub salad garden: 

Cucumber vines and cherry tomatoes. A trellis near the back of the washtub can be used for training these vegetables to grow up and out of the washtub.Leaf lettuce. Plant in the middle of the tub in front of the trellis.Radishes and green onions. A ring of small radishes and onions can grow around the edge of the tub.Marigolds or nasturtiums. These add a spot of color and really move your garden from the world of “practical” into the realm of “decorative.” 

Keep your washtub salad garden in a sunny spot near the kitchen door and you’ll be ready at a moment’s notice to throw together a tasty treat for yourself or your family. Even just adding one homegrown salad each week to your family’s diet is an inexpensive and healthy change of pace. I’ve seen these salad gardens on sunny front porches, and they add a cute, rustic touch to the front entry. 

While talking to my oldest daughter several years ago, we discussed the need for decluttering her bedroom. Over the years, she had collected quite an array of toys, books, decorative objects, and miscellaneous odds and ends. She’s like me and tends to bond emotionally to anything that enters her room, so getting her to willingly clear out the excess “stuff” can be quite an ordeal. 

I’ve learned over the years that the more clutter and excess stuff I carry with me, the more disorganized and scattered my life feels. My daughter and I looked around her room and I asked her, “When you look at the piles of papers and toys in your room, do you feel overwhelmed by it all — not even sure where to start when you need to clean your room?” 

She agreed that was just how she felt. So many of the items I saw in her room were things she never used or played with anymore. But I could also see that she had special items that really held meaning to her and that she used regularly. 

I suddenly had an idea. 

I picked up her all-time favorite toys (the ones that were “real” in the Velveteen  Rabbit sense of the word), and held them up to her and said, “Big Bird and Fluffy are your special toys, right? They’re your comforting friends, your buddies you sleep with each night. They’ve seen you through surgeries and scary times. You’ll probably want to keep them forever.” 

She smiled and nodded as she realized I knew how much her favorite stuffed animals meant to her. Then I grabbed two pink bunnies from under her bed that she never played with anymore. They were nothing special to her, just a couple of plain old pink bunnies. 

“Now look carefully at these pink bunnies,” I said. “Do you want to lug them around with you for the rest of your life? They’re nice bunnies. They’re even cute bunnies. But are they special bunnies?” 

She laughed at the idea of lugging those pink bunnies around with her forever, and agreed they weren’t anything she played with or thought about. 

As we looked around, she realized her room was full of other “Pink Bunnies” — those items that just took up space, cluttering up her closet, dresser and floor. I suggested she make two piles of things in her room. The “Pink Bunny” pile and the “Big Bird and Fluffy” pile. 

If something wasn’t a favorite item that was used regularly, it belonged in the “Pink Bunny” pile. Items that brought her joy, had particular meaning, and were used frequently would be put in the “Big Bird and Fluffy” pile. 

Suddenly it became not only easy to sort her toys, but also lots of fun! I’d hold up a toy and ask, “What’s this one?” 

She’d laugh and say, “It’s a Pink Bunny!” And then happily toss it into the pile of toys destined for the yard sale box in the garage. As we sorted, the Pink Bunnies seemed to outnumber the special toys by about three to one. 

After she sorted through her toys, she had a nice manageable pile of only her very favorite toys. Not only did it reduce the clutter in her room, but it also brought her a great sense of accomplishment. She finally was able to sort through everything and part with the things she didn’t use anymore. 

I successfully used the same technique recently with my son … only we called the two categories “dirt” and “gold” as we went on a “mining expedition” through his room. 

So, how many Pink Bunnies do you have in your house and life? Maybe it’s time to sort through any accumulated clutter and find out. 

A friend of mine shared this recipe for make-ahead apple pie filling that I plan on using when the apples ripen later this year. You might want to keep it in your recipe files until apple season, too! 

Make-Ahead Apple Pie Filling

• 18 cups peeled apple slices

• 3 tablespoons lemon juice

• 4 1/2 cups sugar

• 1 cup cornstarch

• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

• 10 cups water

In a large bowl, toss apples with lemon juice; set aside. In a Dutch oven over medium heat, combine sugar, cornstarch. cinnamon, salt and nutmeg. Add water; bring to a boil. Boil for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add apples; return to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer until the apples are tender, about 6-8 minutes. Cool for 30 minutes. Ladle into freezer containers, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Cool at room temperature no longer than 1-1/2 hours. Seal and freeze; store up to 12 months. 

Yield: 5 1/2 qts. (enough for about five 9-inch pies).

It’ll soon be that expensive time of year again. That time when our children are not only going back to school (with all the assorted expensives involved with school: books, clothing, fees, etc.), but it’s also time for getting started back in various sports, music and hobby programs for the year. 

I’ve discovered that one of the easiest ways to cut back on expenses for children’s hobbies and sports is to limit the number of activities for each child. 

Life is full of choices and times when we can’t have everything we want at the same moment, so it’s not going to hurt a child to tell them, “You get to choose one outside activity per season.” It actually builds character in people — adults and children alike — to carefully think through their options and make a choice. 

If you have multiple children, even one activity per child still adds up to a lot of shuttling kids around to various places around town. The more driving around you do, the higher the overall cost of the activity for your family’s budget. If you can convince your children to participate in activities they can do together, you’ll save both time and money with the decreased driving time. 

If money’s tight, consider choosing sports activities based partly on the amount of equipment required. For example, track and wrestling have relatively minimum needs and smaller financial outlay, while football has a wider variety of expensive protective gear although much of it is often provided by the school or sports league — be sure to check ahead to see what’s provided and what you’ll have to purchase for yourself. 

Ask if your child’s school or local sports association has a lost and found box you can browse through. Many times they have things that have been in the box for years, or they have a time limit on items held. Some have rules like: If it’s not claimed in 90 days, the items are given to charity. Well, step right up and offer to be the “charity” where they give that old tennis rack. 

Check to see if your sports association has an used equipment exchange program. One of my kids needed a new pair of ballet slippers, but because we’d faced several major unexpected financial setbacks that month, we couldn’t afford the shoes right away. The studio owner showed us to the exchange box where we sorted through and were able to find slippers in my child’s size. 

Until you’re certain that your child’s talented or interested long-term in a particular sport, activity, or musical instrument, borrow or rent any necessary equipment. Why spend $100 for sports equipment that just ends up sitting unused and dusty in the back of a closet somewhere? 

Check the classified ads in the local paper for used sporting goods and instruments. A friend of mine who moved to
Europe recently parted with a well-cared for, high quality violin for a fraction of the price of new, so don’t assume that “used” is equal to beat up or poor quality. Follow through on a few ads and you might find a wonderful bargain. 

Garage sales, thrift stores and consignment shops are also excellent places to hunt for used sports equipment. 

Don’t forget to include in your family budget room for dues, fees and supplies for various activities. 

If money’s tight, check to see if your local organization has any scholarships or low-income programs available. 

Some schools and sports programs offer reductions in fees if the parent volunteers to help coach or help with behind the scenes work. A friend of mine volunteered several hours each month at her daughter’s dance studio. She did basic bookkeeping and housekeeping chores in exchange for free tuition for her daughter’s dance classes. 

I’m always on the look out for super-simple, super-cheap recipes for lunches, snacks and using up leftovers. I usually do okay with dinner (there’s almost always something tasty hiding in my freezer), but sometimes I run out of ideas for  the other eating times during the day, especially on those busy days with little time to cook. 

A couple of simple things we do: 

“Tortilla Roll-Ups” — Just spread cream cheese and a couple slices of inexpensive sandwich meat onto a flour tortilla, roll up, and enjoy! I also add sprouts or lettuce if we have it around. A friend of mine slices the Roll-Ups into Pinwheels for variety — the Tortilla Pinwheels make a nice snack item for parties, too. 

“Fruit Salad” — Fill a salad bowl with large cubes of fresh fruit (apples, oranges, bananas, melons, etc.), and then pour a carton of VANILLA-flavored yogurt (NOT plain yogurt) over the fruit for a sauce. This is so simple, but very tasty. 

“Pudding Pops” — Prepare a box of instant pudding according to instructions, pour into popcycle molds and freeze. If you use chocolate flavored pudding, you have super-simple do-it-yourself fudgesycles. Butterscotch pudding is really good this way, too. 

 SUBMITTED BY: AA

1) For lunches, stuff a pita pocket with green salad (and shredded cheese if you have it), and then top the whole thing with ranch dressing.2) For snacks, spread cream cheese on a slice of salami and add a stuffed olive, roll it up and insert a toothpick in it to hold it together.3) Another snack that I make: top a graham cracker with cake frosting (my favorite is chocolate!). Yummy!4) Cut a cantaloupe in half and fill with cottage cheese.5) There are wonderful and usually very economical recipes at the “Taste Of Home” web-page. I think their address is: http://www.Reimanpublications.com

SUBMITTED BY: Jim

Take a can of cheap spaghetti sauce and a can of black beans, heat together and serve over pasta.

SUBMITTED BY: Ronnie

Apple slices with peanut butter… yummy, cheap, easy.

SUBMITTED BY: Lynne T.

Serve leftover chili on top of leftover rice. Makes a “Red Beans and Rice” type of meal.

SUBMITTED BY: Susan A.

I prepare a box of macaroni and cheese, and heat a can of chili. Then I serve the chili scooped over the macaroni. Using leftover homemade chili makes this even more economical and a great deal healthier, but you asked for cheap and “easy” ideas so I immediately thought of this simple recipe just using boxes and cans.

SUBMITTED BY: MARILYN

Perfect Oatmeal: 1 cup of water, 1/2 cup of regular oatmeal, a dash of salt and 3 minutes in the microwave equals perfect oatmeal. I came up with this after much trial-and-error looking for that “perfect” proportion of ingredients. 

When I think of crockery cooking, I always see in my mind’s eye, my mother’s old avocado-green crock sitting on the turquoise and white kitchen counter. What a thing of a beauty it was … NOT! 

But today’s crockery cookers are sleek, modern appliances you don’t have to hide away in the dark recesses of the pantry or garage anymore. 

If you like the experience of walking in the door and smelling dinner cooking without you slaving away in the kitchen preparing the meal, you’ll love the convenience of a crockery cooker. Take a few minutes in the morning before work or school to throw some ingredients into the pot, set it and forget it. When you come home at dinnertime, you’ll be greeted by the heavenly aroma of an easy dinner. What could be better than that? 

At the end of the day when I’m tired and ready to put my feet up, the last thing I want to do is dive into a bunch of meal preparation work. But in the morning, I’m refreshed and able to put more energy into food prep. But even then, it’s not much food prep. Maybe a bit of chopping and browning, but no more than ten or fifteen minutes worth of work, at the most. 

BENEFITS OF THE CROCK 

Some of the benefits you’ll find from dusting off that lovely retro-crock in the back of Grandma’s attic are:

• You can buy tougher (and less expensive) cuts of meat because the crock acts as a tenderizer

• Meat shrinks less when cooked in the crock, and doesn’t dry out

• A crockery cooker doesn’t heat up the kitchen nearly as much as the stovetop or oven, so it’s a perfect hot weather cooking appliance

• Frees up space in oven and stove top, great to use for parties, large gatherings, or doing a large cooking session for the freezer

• Flavors have time to develop while your meal slowly cooks all day

• Tofu tastes better cooked this way because it has time to soak up the flavors from broth, spices and other ingredients

• Can be used on a buffet table for serving hot foods (soup, stew, sauces, meatballs in barbeque sauce, etc.)

CROCKERY COOKER TIPS 

You’ll want to keep the following tips in mind when choosing and using your crock: 

• Choose a crock with a removable liner. You’ll have more flexiblility in ways to use it, and it’s easier to clean.

• Buy a large one.

• Best if used for recipes with a high water content – things you’d normally prepare on the stovetop such as spaghetti, soup, chili, stew.

• For best results, fill the crock at least half full with food and/or liquid.

• If you’re cooking something like a stew or soup, leave at least an inch (preferably two inches) empty at the top beneath the lid to allow for the food to bubble when it reaches a simmer.

• Don’t peek! Lifting the lid adds time to the cooking process by letting heat out. Add 15-20 minutes to the cooking time for every time you lift the lid to peek or stir.

• High altitudes need longer cooking times. Check with your crock’s Manufacturer’s User’s Guide for their recommendations.

• Brown meats ahead of time for additional color and flavor.

• Browning also removes some of the fat from the meat. Fatty meat cooks more quickly in the crock than lean meat.

• Meat and poultry cooks best if cut into smaller pieces or chunks rather than cooking as a whole roast or a whole chicken.

• Fish and seafood should be added near the end of the cooking time in seafood soups, stews and chowders.

• Vegetables such as carrots and potatoes, should be added to the bottom of the crock beneath any meats, etc. Hard vegetablees need a longer cooking time, and the bottom is the first part of the cooker to heat up, so they’ll start cooking sooner.

• Stir in cheese at the end of cooking, or use processed cheese.

• Milk curdles during long cooking times. Add milk near end of cooking time (the last hour, or so).

• Add spices near the end of the cooking time.

• Stirring usually isn’t required during slow cooking on Low heat. You might want to stir once or twice during the last hour, but remember that every time you lift the lid, you’re adding to the cooking time. Two stirring sessions equal a minimum of half an hour longer cooking.

SUGGESTIONS FOR A SAFE AND SANE CROCK 

The crock itself should be safe to use providing you don’t have an old one with frayed cords or some other defect. The following tips on safe user ideas can help keep your family healthy and the cook from being burned: 

• Use fresh or completely thawed meats. Don’t add frozen meats directly to the crock.

• Be sure the crock is clean before using.

• Keep perishable foods refrigerated until ready to use.

• Always include liquids in all crockery cooking recipes.

• Remove the cover by opening away from your face. The steam is hot enough to burn badly.

• Don’t leave the cooker turned off with food in it for any length of time. Start cooking right away, and serve hot from the cooker.

• Don’t let food sit at room temperature to cool.

• Keep the crock covered while cooking. The lid on a crock doesn’t provide a tight seal (it isn’t suppose to), but it’s important to keep the lid in the center of the crock for best results.

• Don’t set the hot crock on a cold surface unless you put a hot pad, trivet or towel underneath.

• If the power goes out while you’re away from home with the crock running, throw the food away even if it looks hot and done. The power might have been off long enough for the food to cool, start growing bacteria, and then reheat by the time you arrived home.

• Don’t reheat leftovers in a crock, but you can use the crock as a food warmer for foods that have been cooked and heated in the oven or on the stovetop.

For complete details and recipes for the crock, you’ll find lots of helpful information in the following recommended books:

Slow Cookers for Dummies, by G. Vance and T. Lacalamita,
Fix It and Forget It, by Ranck and Pellman,
The Everyday Low-Carb Slow Cooker Cookbook, and
The Complete Crockery Cookbook, by Wendy Louise

I have a friend, Karen Jogerst, who teaches classes on household management. She’s the author of the popular book, If I Could Just Get Organized!  Home Management Hope for Pilers and Filers (currently out-of-print). Karen has a different twist on organizing techniques — and her ideas and methods have helped me more than anything else I’ve read on this topic. 

PILERS, FILERS AND MESSIES 

Karen teaches that there are basically two types of personal organization styles: ”Filers” and “Pilers.” 

Filers are the highly organized, “a-place-for-everything-and-everything-in-it’s-place” type of housekeepers. They’re the ones with the neat and tidy underwear drawers, their closets are color-coded, and their canned goods are alphabetized. 

And Pilers are . . . well . . . they’re Pilers (I’m a Piler extraordinaire, by the way!). 

Karen teaches that “Messies” are Pilers who are attempting to be Filers. She says that if you try to organize things contrary to your personal organizational nature, you’re dooming yourself to frustration, and often failure. Pilers who try to be Filers often get frustrated, give up, and then let the piles over-run their homes, thus becoming Messies. 

AN ORGANIZED PILER?! 

I asked Karen one day, “So, how do Pilers organize their things? I can’t live with all this clutter anymore;

Mount
Fold-Me in the laundry room is about to suffer a major landslide; and the paper piles are over-running every room! Help!” 

She told me the secret to successful organization for Pilers is to “contain the piles,” and to keep up on sorting through your piles, looking for throw-away “trash” on a regular basis (she’s a Piler herself, so she understands firsthand how difficult this can be). 

She gave an example of a Piler’s kitchen cupboards. The cupboards usually just have things thrown in helter-skelter, falling out everytime the door is opened (has she been peaking into my cupboards?!). Rather than trying to organize the madness, a Piler needs to contain the piles. If there are bags of dry beans falling over each other, get a small cardboard box that fits into the cupboard, cut a scoop out of the front of it, and then just toss dry beans into that container. The beans are still piled, but the pile is contained. Do the same for seasoning packets, baby food, whatever else is causing havoc in the cupboards. You’ll end up with a cupboard full of wonderfully “contained” piles. 

If you find a place in your house that collects piles at an alarming rate, you’ll need to identify what you’ve piled there, and then make containers for the various piles. 

THE PILES OF MY LIFE 

My worst Piler nightmare has been the pile of stuff on top of the dryer in the laundry room. Not only is it probably a fire hazzard, it drives me NUTS! I have an itty-bitty laundry room with virtually no floor space, no counters, no nothing. It’s not a separate room, either — it’s right off my kitchen where we all have to look at it while we’re eating (not a pretty or appetizing sight, believe me). 

When I’m standing in that cramped little corner doing laundry, what I’ve been doing is just pulling the clothes out of the dryer, folding things immediately, and then piling everything into a single laundry basket balanced on the top edge of the dryer’s control panel. But it wouldn’t take long before the pile overflowed onto the dryer itself. Then the pile would get so high, I couldn’t see the top of it — and neither could my six-foot-two hubby. 

Someone in the family was always asking, “Do I have any clean socks?” 

“Yes,” I’d say, “They’re in the pile on the dryer.” 

The poor person who just wanted a clean pair of socks to wear would have to go digging through that precarious mountain of clothes. Invariably, some small unsuspecting child would end up with a pile of clothes on top of them. “Mom . . . ! Help me!” 

Needless to say, this was NOT an efficient approach to laundry, but this frequently disorganized Piler was clueless about what to do differently. 

IDENTIFYING THE PILES 

Enter the idea about containing the piles. I stood in my laundry room one day for about an hour, analyzing what was in that ominous, leaning pile: 

clothes for five peopleclean, folded clothesclean, unfolded clothesa myriad of unmatched, clean socksa few odds and ends of school suppliesclothes my kids have outgrown and needed to be taken to the garage for the charity bag 

“Okay,” I thought, “I need to contain the piles. But HOW?” 

I don’t have any floor space. Then I noticed the 1 and 1/2 foot wide spot behind the back door. Another ominous pile of things was accumulating there (assorted bags and boxes; paint cans; recycling bins; out-grown clothes). More things that needed to be contained somehow. 

Then I realized that all the stuff behind the door was being piled in a wee bit of floor space. I wonder if a shelf would fit there? I measured. Sure enough, there was room for a steel shelving unit I’d seen at the store. Hmmmmm . . . 

How many containers will I need? I figured it out. I’d need: one for my clothes, one for hubby’s clothes, one for each of three children, one for unmatched socks, one for recycling, one for odds and ends of school supplies, one for outgrown clothes. Nine (9) all together. 

CONTAINING THE PILES 

I went to the store to look at potential “pile containers.” I wanted something eye-pleasing since this shelf of pile containers was going to be within constant view of my kitchen/dining area. I found some narrow wicker laundry baskets. I took them over to the shelving unit I had in mind, and they fit perfectly–two baskets per shelf. I purchased the shelving and the baskets. 

I came home, set up the shelving behind the back door (it JUST fit), labeled the baskets with little tags (Mommy’s, Daddy’s, sock’s, etc.), and then proceeded to sort through the pile on the dryer: Daddy’s shirt goes THERE, son’s underwear goes THERE, baby’s dress goes THERE, box of colored pencils goes THERE. I found I could just toss laundry items into their appropriate containers since the shelving was right next to the washer/dryer. Absolutely brainless and painless laundry sorting. 

IT WORKS . . . !! 

Later in the day, my son came up to me with the usual lament. “Mommy, I don’t have any clean socks.” 

With a sense of satisfaction I said, “They’re in the sock basket, honey.” And you know what? Amazingly enough, they WERE! My son still needed to sort through and find a matching pair, but it just took a second or two, rather than the long process it was before the socks were contained in their own separate pile. 

Now, when I have an extra few minutes, or when the kids are BORED (heaven forbid!), we can grab the Sock Basket and start sorting. And then we can just throw the sorted and folded socks into the appropriate pile container on the shelf. 

When it’s time to put away laundry, I just have everyone come and pick up their respective laundry baskets, everyone takes their clothes to their rooms, puts their clothes away, and then brings back their basket to the shelf. 

RELIEF AT LAST . . .  

You have no idea how neat my laundry room looks right now! And because I’m working within the realm of my natural “Piler” tendencies, I think this just might work for the long haul. 

Can you all say, “Hooray!”? 

Next step for me: containing the piles in my kitchen cupboards . . .

How much much of your family’s hard earned money goes to groceries? $150 per week? $100? Believe it or not, it’s relatively simple to spend as little as $50 per week on groceries for a family of five or six. But slashing the food bill down to those lower numbers means you may need to rethink the way your family eats. 

For today’s busy families, it’s often easier to swing by the local drive-thru restaurant rather than finding time and energy to cook a new meal every night. Not only is fast food an expensive alternative for feeding your family, it’s also not the healthiest way to eat on a regular basis. 

If this describes your dinner-time dilemma, you’re not alone. 

Keep ingredients on hand for several quick and easy meals. 

Cook some of your meals ahead to store in the freezer for easy preparation later in the week. For an easy way to build up a stash of frozen assets, you can simply double and triple recipes now and then as you go about your regular cooking during the week. By stockpiling the extra meals in the freezer, all you’ll need to do is heat a meal and make a side dish or salad for one of those all-too-frequent busy nights with no time to cook. By cooking ahead, you can also save money by purchasing ingredients in bulk and taking advantage of sales at the market. 

Occasionally serve breakfast for dinner. Even when prepared in a big way, breakfast is one of the most economical meals to make. In many busy homes, families rarely have time for a big breakfast of pancakes, eggs, and bacon in the morning, so it’s a special treat to have a meal like that for dinner now and then. Omelettes also make a good dinner choice. 

SIMPLIFYING FOOD PREPARATION 

By planning and preparing bigger meals at dinner-time, you can use the leftovers for lunches brought from home rather than buying lunch at work everyday. 

Have one night each week where your children are each responsible for dinner for the entire family. This can be as simple as opening a can of soup and fixing grilled cheese sandwiches. 

Crockpots are great for easy dinner prep — just throw the ingredients into the crock in the morning and dinner’s waiting when you get home. 

PLANNING AHEAD 

Even if you don’t think cooking for an entire month would be of interest to you or your family, planning your meals ahead of time can really simplify meal planning during the month, and also save money. 

First, set your grocery budget and then make the menus and grocery list fit your budget — not the other way around. Decide what you can afford to spend and don’t go over that. You’d be surprised how creative you can be when you know you can only spend “this much and no more” at the store. 

Take a few minutes to make a monthly menu and write down just what you need in the house for each meal. Go through the freezer and the cabinets to take stock of what you have on hand already. Then look at your calendar to see what the monthly activities are — for example make note of any birthday dinners, evenings when everyone will be leaving the house for the evening so you’ll need a quick meal, times you’re eating at someone else’s home, or whatever events would effect your meal planning for the month. 

Then take a look at the sale flyers for your local grocery stores. To save the most money, plan your meals around what’s on sale and what you already have on hand. If you plan to shop weekly, make up all your individual weekly grocery lists for the month ahead of time (write up the entire month of shopping lists in one day so all you’ll need to do is run to the store when it’s time to shop). 

Write out your meal plan on a blank calendar page and hang it in an easily visible spot (on the refrigerator, on a family bulletin board, etc.). It takes time to make out the menu and grocery lists, but it saves even more time everyday and causes much less stress when the decision is already made about what’s for supper that night. 

FOOD CO-OPS / BULK BUYING 

Be sure to check in your local areas for food buying co-ops. Many have small membership fees that you’ll quickly recoup from the significant savings you’re able to receive on many commonly purchased items. Natural food co-ops are common and a great way to purchase organic fruits and vegetables, whole grains and other expensive items at competitive prices. 

Some communities offer a food buying program called Share. For a minimum charge (usually about $14) and 2 hours community service, participants receive a box of food valued at $35-$40. The community service can be something as simple as helping an elderly neighbor or working in your church nursery or Sunday School. The Share programs often offer meatless shares as well as the standard grocery items. 

You can also start your own little unofficial food bulk buying co-op with a group of friends or neighbors. By purchasing items like flour, sugar, cream of wheat, oats, etc., in large bulk containers (50 pounds), you can then divide up the item into family-sized amounts, and split the cost. 

Many people purchase large quantities of items from their local club store. While many of the items at these stores can be found at tremendous savings, be sure to shop comparatively even here. Sometimes you’ll find that the sale at your local corner grocery store will actually be less expensive per pound or per item than the prices at the big warehouse stores. Always bring a calculator with you so you can make sure you’re really getting the best price per unit. 

Also, be sure to only buy in quantity those items that you’re sure you’ll be using before they go bad. Stockpiling toilet paper is a good idea since it’s one of those items you know you’ll be using eventually. Stockpiling bananas on sale might not be such a good idea since they spoil quickly — unless you’re planning on baking with them, or freezing banana pulp to use in recipes later. 

GENERAL GROCERY TIPS

• Buy ground beef on sale and divide up into smaller portions for casseroles etc.  Freeze until ready to use.

• Grate your own cheese, rather than buying it already grated. Also, purchasing cheese in large quantities, grating it, and then freezing for later use is a great way to save time and money.

• Avoid pre-packaged whenever possible. Make your own individually packaged puddings, applesauce, yogurts, etc.

• Buy produce in season.

• Avoid the gourmet-type stuff.

• If your kids want pop, chips, candy etc. have them buy their own. This will help to limit how much of that they will buy, plus they will begin to learn the value of money.

“The key to rapid debt repayment is to make a plan and stick to it as if your life depended on it. It may. The details of the plan are not as important as your determination to carry it out.” –Mary Hunt, The Complete Cheapskate

TEN SIMPLE STEPS TO CONQUER PROBLEM DEBT 

If you’ve identified a problem in the area of personal debt, you’ll need to set about remedying the situation. Here are easy steps to regaining financial control: 

1) Seek help. If you’re not sure how to proceed, or you’re feeling too overwhelmed to act for yourself, call a non-profit credit counseling program for advice and assistance in working with your creditors to set up a repayment plan. Consumer Credit Counseling Service has offices throughout the
US. Call 1-800-388-CCCS, 24 hours a day, for an office near you. You can also find information about debt problems from your local church, library or bank. Look for information on-line as well. 

2) Contact your creditors. As soon as you’re aware you won’t be able to make a payment, contact your creditors. Creditors are more likely to work with you if they’re contacted before the payment is actually overdue. Debt collectors are trained to solve payment problems, so don’t be afraid to be honest with them about your financial situation. Stay calm. If you commit to paying the bill by a certain date, be sure you follow through on that commitment. The creditor won’t be likely to work with you again if you don’t keep your payment promises. If you can’t make your minimum monthly payments, write to each creditor individually and see if you can work out smaller regular monthly bills. Be sure to explain to them why you fell behind in your bills, your current income, your other financial obligations and the exact amount you can pay them each month. 

3) Cut up all credit cards and send them back to the issuing companies immediately. Officially close all credit accounts. The temptation when you start seeing lower balances on your accounts could lead you to charge the credit limits right back up again if the accounts remain open. Don’t take out anymore loans or open any new credit accounts until back bills are paid in full. 

4) Set a frugal budget and live within it. It’s usually easier to decrease spending than increase income. Don’t make any purchases above and beyond the absolute basics until you’ve made some headway in catching up on your back bills. Consider selling assets to find more money for your debt repayment. Even just holding a large garage sale can sometimes generate enough money to help pay an immediate bill or two. 

5) Prioritize debts. Mortgages, child support and any debt that has gone to a collection agency is a priority. After you’ve identified the first priority debts, look for the credit companies that are charging you the most interest. 

6) Pay each creditor something. No matter how small the amount you’re able to pay, it will show good faith on your part as you try to negotiate payment arrangements. 

7) Track personal spending. It’s important to identify any holes where your money is draining out. Keep a detailed record for one month of every expenditure, no matter how insignificant. Little expenses on a regular basis add up quickly. Carry a small notebook with you and write down every single purchase. Now you’ll know where your money’s going. 

8.) Plug up any holes discovered from the spending record. 

9) Plan ahead for annual expenses (i.e.: insurance, car licenses, medical deductibles, etc.). 

10) Set long term financial goals. After setting concrete, definite goals for future financial health, make all current financial decisions with your future well-being in mind. Keep the end result in mind — debt-free living! 

–Portions of this article were excerpted and adapted from A Simple Choice: A Practical Guide to Saving Your Time, Money and Sanity, by Deborah Taylor-Hough (Champion Press, 2000). Used with permission

“Financial freedom is where we are at rest and at peace.”   –Richard Case, The Money Diet

Probably the greatest single help to our family’s financial situation was establishing a budget. Now, don’t start hyperventilating and tune me out. I realize the “B”-word (Budget!) sometimes does strange things to people. If the word “budget” makes you sweat and turn purple, try substituting the term “Spending Plan.” For some reason, a spending plan is psychologically less threatening to many people than a b-b-b-b-b-budget. 

The spending plan our family implemented is known as The Envelope System. It’s easy, painless, and it works. This simple plan did more to turn around our financial picture than any other single change we’ve made in our spending habits. 

First, we figured out how much money we needed each month for the different expense categories (food, clothing, gasoline, bus fare, coffee at work, etc.), and placed that amount of cash (yes, the green paper stuff!) into separately labeled envelopes. We then had a concrete visual aid to show exactly how much money we had left to spend in each category. And we clearly saw how borrowing $$$ from one envelope left less money in the other category. And once the money’s gone, it’s gone! 

The Envelope System is perfect for people who tend to think if there’s a positive balance in the checkbook, they can keep writing checks. My husband and I learned this simple budgeting trick from the old Marlo Thomas television show, “That Girl.” In our case, life imitated art (maybe claiming That Girl, as “art” is stretching the analogy a bit too far). 

There’s no magic formula to living within your means, whatever those means might be. Whether you’re a struggling one income family, a single working mother, or a double income family with mounting consumer debt, we can all use a good dose of reality in the financial area of our lives. 

I’ve known people living beneath the poverty line who never go into debt and never have outstanding bills. I’ve also seen families living in the grandest homes in town struggling to stay afloat each month due to overspending. 

Take it from someone who knows firsthand, it’s easy to get into debt but much harder to dig your way back out. 

The old cliche’ is true: The only way to get out of debt is to stop going into debt!

The problem of money dogs our steps throughout the whole of our lives, exerting a pressure that, in its way, is as powerful and insistent as any other problem of human existence. And it haunts the spiritual search as well.”  –Jacob Needleman

ARE YOU HEADED FOR A CRASH? 

Every year since 1996, over one million personal bankruptcies have been filed in the
United States. The majority of these are the direct result of poorly managed consumer debt. I was informed recently that outstanding
U.S. consumer debt (non-mortgage related) totals much more than a trillion dollars. The most disturbing fact behind that staggering number is that thirteen percent of that one trillion dollar figure, or thirteen billion dollars, was delinquent. 

Thirteen billion dollars of delinquent consumer debt. Over one million personal bankruptcies each year. Are YOU on the road to debt and destruction? Take this simple quiz and find out. 

DEBT QUESTIONNAIRE 

1. Do you regularly pay for groceries with a credit card?

2. Do you spend money now, expecting your income to increase in the future?

3. Do you hide purchases from your spouse or other family members?

4. Do you have difficulty imagining your life without credit?

5. Are you becoming an expert at juggling each month, deciding which bills to pay and which ones to let go until the next paycheck?

6. Do you pay off your monthly credit-card bills, but let other bills slide, such as medical expenses and utilities?

7. Have you taken cash advances on one credit card to pay monthly payments on other cards?

8. Do you feel anxiety when you think about or discuss your financial situation?

9. Do you have little or no money in savings?

10. Do you make frequent impulse purchases?

11. Does your installment debt (not including mortgages) amount to more than 20 percent of your income?

12. Has the stress of your financial situation caused severe turmoil in your relationship with your spouse, or other family members?

13. Are you at your credit limits?

14. Do you fail to keep an accurate record of your purchases?

15. Have you started to receive collection letters, notices or phone calls?

16. Are you afraid to answer the phone in case it’s a collection agency?

ANSWERS:  

How many times did you answer “Yes,” to the preceding questions? 

0 -  You’re doing great! Full speed ahead! 

1 - 2  You still have a green light. You can probably proceed in relative safety. Your splurging is not out of control . . . yet. 

3 - 4  Slow down! You have a flashing yellow light and have entered the severe caution zone. You need to start exercising more self-discipline in the area of finances. It’s time to draw up a budget, pay off your debts, and reevaluate your spending habits before you find yourself in over your head. 

5 - 6  Red light! Stop! You seriously need to gain control of your spending before you proceed any further. Ignoring the problem will not make it go away. You’d be wise to seek out a credit counselor or financial planner for immediate help in changing your spending habits. You are well on the road to financial catastrophe, but there’s still hope. Turn around now! 

7 - 16  DANGER! DANGER! You’re careening out of control and emergency measures are needed. You are about to experience a financial crash of monumental proportions. You need to slam on your brakes and come to an immediate stop. The wisest course of action when you find yourself on the wrong road is to turn around and go back. If you keep heading the way you are, you’ll only go further away from financial stability. If you’re this far down the wrong road, you should cut up all of your credit cards and close the accounts, now! Don’t spend one more penny on anything but the most basic necessities until you’ve called a credit counselor for assistance. (And please don’t run out and purchase something today, thinking that you’re about to cut up your credit cards! That’s the type of thinking that brought you down this road to begin with.) 

Remember, you’re not a bad person for being in this situation, but you’ve made some big mistakes. Now is the time to start making proper decisions about your finances. You can get off this wild ride, but if you don’t take immediate steps to fix the problem, you could soon become another personal bankruptcy statistic.  

–This quiz was excerpted and adapted from A Simple Choice: A Practical Guide to Saving Your Time, Money and Sanity by Deborah Taylor-Hough (Champion Press, 2000). Used with permission.

The biggest thing that seemed to keep me from pursuing healthy eating habits for any significant length of time was personal time constraints. Busy, busy, busy. Like many people today, I didn’t have time to get home-cooked meals on the table regularly — much less take the time to actually prepare something nutritious and healthy. 

Then something happened this summer that completely changed my wishy-washy approach to healthful eating. 

One morning I was showering and discovered what every woman dreads: a lump. A sizeable lump. Suddenly I was at the doctor