Holiday Gifts Home Made Edition

My mom is a canning nut. As long as I can remember I have been snapping beans and peeling tomatoes every summer and fall to can. Well, since we won't have a ton of money this year for holiday gifts I decided to make some of my mom's famous Berry Vinegar(it is called vinegar but it tastes like syrup). The recipe is easy and it delicious on pancakes and ice cream!

10 cups of raspberries or Blackberries (these are the only 2 I have tried)
2 cups of vinegar
*sugar

In a glass bowl place berries in and pour vinegar over them. Smash the berries in vinegar. Cover bowl and leave on counter for 4 days. Each day smash the berries. On the 4th day strain the berries into a bowl through a cheesecloth or jelly bag. ( I strained it 3 times to make it a clearer liquid and to get all the juice possible out of the pulp). Throw the pulp away. You will have anywhere from 3-6 cups of juice, depending on the berries. Put juice in a pan on the stove top with 1 cup of sugar for every cup of juice. Stir until it comes to a boil. Let it boil for 20 minutes on low-med heat, stirring occasionally. Skim the foam off the top. Pour your syrup into the jars and put hot lids on them and rings and voila! Easy peasy gifts!
It is also so yummy and cheap if you can find a place to pick the berries for free.

Menu Plan

Here is what I am serving up this week...

MONDAY - Tacos (yum)

TUESDAY - Stroganoff

WEDNESDAY - Chicken, Broccoli and Rice

THURSDAY - Pasta -spaghetti?

FRIDAY - leftovers

SATURDAY - Barbeque steaks

SUNDAY - sandwiches.

Meal plan

Monday
Meatloaf
Hot Crash Potatoes
Spinach

Tuesday
Barbeque Chicken
Pasta Salad
Grilled Zucchini

Wednesday
Pork Chops
Wild Rice
Broccoli

Thursday
Tacos

Friday
Leftovers

Saturday
Brats
potato salad
grilled veggies

Sunday
Sandwiches.

Monday Menu Planning

Time to plan my meals for the week.
Tonight: Pot Roast
Tuesday: French Dips using leftover pot roast
Wednesday: Black Pepper Chicken and Rice
Thursday: Tacos -My Nieces may come over. They love tacos.
Blueberry Cake
Friday: Pork loin and Sweet potato mash
Saturday: Pasta and barbeque
Sunday: Chef Salad
Time to write my grocery list!

FREE BREAD

In Sundays paper, there is a coupon for FREE Sara Lee bread.

I love the word FREE.

Beating the Heat!

Summer has been odd here in the Northwest, some hot days, some warm, a lot of cloudy and humid days. We have a portable air conditioner in our home, we don't have central air. Our house tends to heat up.
Therefore, cooking with the oven is not an option unless used early in the morning. So what have I been using?
My Crockpot.
Yes ladies and gents, the return of ol' faithful. Where do I get my recipe ideas from? Crockpot365. This lady is crockpotting every day this year and posting her recipes. Some are pretty outrageous, but I have found some reasonable ones as well. My sister in law, lovely Sarah, makes some GREAT pulled pork sandwiches with her crockpot. What is your specialty?

The wheels on the bus

Are about to go round and round...
Last Sunday's paper has great deals in it for all the kids snacky snacks for their lunches or I buy it because I make my husband a lunch every morning. And you can get the snacks with coupons for free or 5 bucks, depending on the items you choose.
Walgreens is having a 4/10 or 5/10 deals on Kelloggs products.
Here is one scenerio that can land you two 5 dollar register rewards (these are the little coupons that come out of the other receipt machine, they are good off of your next purchase.)
Ok. So. Here is what you buy.
4 boxes of cereal (smart start, special k, fruit loops, corn pops, raison bran, mix and match)
2 boxes of pop tarts
2 boxes of rice krispie treats (if they have them, they have been sold out wherever I have gone.)
2 boxes of keebler cookies (the kind that are on the promo)

Nutrigrain bars are also in the promo.
Use the 5 different $1/2 coupons and your total should be about 17-19 dollars. Then you get 2- 5 dollar back coupons AND you can send the 10 dollar rebate in for buying 10 kelloggs products (the rebate is found attached to the same coupon ad in the Sunday paper.) It is a little bit of work but worth it for the savings. To get 2 rebates, you have to buy the promo, like 4 cereals and 4 pop tarts, I learned my lesson the hard way. Oh and my Walgreens wouldn't let me use the register rewards for more kelloggs products. I don't know why.
I know I am kind of a freak about this but if it is saving us money and helping me be able to stay at home, it is worth it to me.
And my husband will get deliciousness in his lunch and for breakfast.