Seed Bank

We are collecting seeds and expanding out tree study to include edible fruits and vegetables this spring. (Science)
1.We sent away for some seeds from the USDA. All older varieties we will blog our results in sprouting rate and growth. We chose seeds the pioneers would have brought with them. Now we are just waiting for them to arrive.
2.We also found some places on line that are sending free seeds if you send them a SASE with a list of what you would like to grow. We choose two to send away for garden seeds from.
3.While we are waiting we are sorting and counting our beans (Math) and putting them into baggies by type for our "seed bank". I know I should be like all no GMO and Organic but first we will build our seed bank and then we can afford to be more picky about the origins of our varieties.
 
4. When we go to the farm store and buy seeds we will look for open pollinated and heirloom varieties to buy.
5.The kids are really enjoying looking for seeds from our food produce. I should never have to buy green pepper seed ever again. The ones with four bumps are female and those are full of seeds. I found instructions on how to sprout apple seeds in the refrigerator by putting on  a damp paper towel in a sealed plastic baggie for about a month. We plan to try this the next time I buy apples. We even saved our navel orange seeds for our seed collection.
6.My spice cabinet had various red peppers, chilli peppers,dill, and celery seed.
7. I saved common garden sage seeds from my plants last fall and also planted some in small pots I left out all winter for the kids to see sprout up in spring. I also saved seeds from our Rose of Sharon bushes to add to our flower seed collection. (I had this activity planned for quite some time.)
8. We are cutting pictures out of seed catalogs along with growing instructions for each kind of seed we collect. These we are putting in the baggie with each seed type.(Fine Motor skills)

thrift store trip

I spent $21.00 at Goodwill but found some real treasures new maternity jeans, maternity shorts and 2 maternity tops for Aimee all brand new, Now to send out a box. A wooden sheep wrapped in fuzzy wool for  25 cents. Several books, including a hardcover Aesops Fables Illustrated by Brad Sneed, A Child's Goodnight Prayer by Grace Maccarone, Great Grandfather's House by Rumer Godden in hardcover, Stone Soup by Ann McGovern (I think we already have a copy of this but it will make a great book to drop.) Animals,Animals by Eric Carle. I have really learned to like this artist/aurthor and can't resist buying copies of his books. These books will fit what we are doing and no library fines! The little sheep has made it to our nature table along with the new books into the book basket.

Bean soup

 Bean Soup I found the recipe here and decided to adapt it a bit to use up some beans I already had in the cupboard. Mine will not have all the beans on this list. My Mother's bean soup was just great northern beans and no veggies. If I added carrots or celery she told me "that is vegetable soup not bean soup".
Ingredients for the mix (original recipe)
Baby lima beans, dried ¬- 1 lb
Barley pearls - 1 lb
Black beans, dried - 1 lb
Black eyed peas, dried - 1 lb
Great northern beans, dried - 1 lb
Green split peas, dried - 1 lb
Lentils, dried - 1 lb
Lima beans, large, dried - 1 lb
Navy beans, dried - 1 lb
Pinto beans, dried - 1 lb
Red beans, dried - 1 lb
Soy beans, dried - 1 lb
Yellow split peas, dried - 1 lb

Combine all dried beans and store in airtight containers until ready to use.(I just put mine in pint size canning jars for the couples and in quart size for the larger families I put two bouillion cubes on top in the pints and three in the quarts for my gift jars at the same time.)

Ingredients for the soup 
Dried bean mixture, 2 C
Garlic cloves, minced – 1-2
Hot pepper, fresh, coarsely chopped - 1
Lemon juice - 1/4 C
Onion, chopped - 1 large
Salt, ¾ tsp
Ground pepper - 1/4 tsp
Whole canned tomatoes, undrained & coarsely chopped - 16 oz can
Water, 2 quarts
Ham to season, if desired - The original recipe called for 1 ham hock. (That is how my mother made hers.It's the bone that is the secret ingredient to a better soup broth... so if using beef Aimee get a bone in the cut of meat.)

Sort & wash the beans, place in a Dutch oven, and cover with water 2" above beans. Soak overnight.(older beans will require longer soaking and another water change)

Drain beans & add 2 quarts hot water, ham, salt, & pepper. Cover, bring to a boil, & reduce heat. Simmer 1 1/2 hours or until beans are tender. Add remaining ingredients, simmer an additional 30 minutes. Taste and add more salt or pepper to taste. Add lemon juice before serving.

 Made Black bean soup tonight with ham hock,chicken stock, black beans, red pepper, and leeks seasoned with parsley, and salt. Put it all in the crock pot on high for 4 hours. The fresh beans turned everything in the pot black. Tasted so good with a batch of cornbread.  We bought the leeks(2/1.00), beans(2.00/bag), and peppers(3/1.00) fresh from the farmers market. I love to make food FRESH in SEASON from the LOCAL farmer's market and the recipe above was my inspiration when I saw the beans at the market I had to buy some. The good thing about fresh beans is they do not require soaking overnight. The ham hock I had in the freezer $1.00/lb, the chicken broth was $1.75, red pepper $0.33, leek $0.50 that is about $3.58 for a crock pot full of soup. Enough to fill up my family of 6 tonight with leftovers for lunches.

Frugal couponing

Saved $10.00 shopping tonight just by printing coupons for items we always buy on grocery shopping day! I love being able to print from my computer....now if I just wasn't always out of ink!

Coupon deals and steals

I had four coupons for huggies diapers and wipes that were going to expire TODAY along with three Pullups coupons and one Goodnightes coupon. We were out of Goodnights so off to Walmart I went. I gave away the diaper and wipes coupons to the first person I saw with a baby and those items in their cart. I saved $3.00 on the pullups and $2.00 on the Goodnights. I also saved $0.50 on two peanut buttercups making one free. But the real steal was the clearance tennis shoes in Tippy-toes size for $5.00! Savings $5.50 plus $5.50on the shoes equals $11.00 saved!

Frugal meals

Mini Meatloaf Mounds

• 2 pounds hamburger
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 c. chopped onion
• salt, pepper, garlic salt (to taste)
• 1 cup oatmeal (author used old-fashioned)[I substituted bread crumbs]
• 8 oz. tomato sauce (or use a cup of salsa – yum!)
• ketchup

Mix all but the ketchup together.  I use a potato masher for this icky job!  Scoop 1/2 cup meat mixture with a measuring cup and place in 8×12 pan to form 10 mounds.
Bake at 350° for 50 minutes.  Spread ketchup on top of each mound.  Return to oven for 3-5 minutes. I found this recipe here. I deleted the onion because Aaron is allergic. I baked this this morning when I had time. I plan to reheat it for dinner tonight with some leftover cheesy potatoes.

 **I also doubled the recipe and made the other half of this into meatballs (leaving out the ketchup) which I cooked and froze to use later in the week for meatball subs or spaghetti and meatballs.

Saved $5.00 today

Just by going to the product website and printing coupons for just products on my grocery list. bonus!

Unleavened bread

I want to work in the more of Lent/ Resurrection into our holiday and take the Easter out. So i found this great site with a unleavened bread recipe here. I plan to try this with the kids and I can use my wonderful bread machine. All my bread turns out like rocks anyway if it isn't in the bread machine so this may be perfect for me. I'll post a picture if it turns out.

Frugal meals

Our leftover Pot Roast from the other night has been recycled into beef and noodles (the leftover veggies have been frozen for a quick side dish addition to a meal next week). I just put the broth and shredded roast beef into a pan with 2 bullion cubes and set to boil. I added more spices and the noodles after it came to a boil. Then just before serving I will add a can of cream soup. Voila! A recycled dinner and no complaints about eating leftovers.

Mom to Mom Sale

It's a giant garage sale for kids things. I cleaned up on school things.

• Books $0.25 each-see list below
• Frog life cycle puzzle $0.50
• Dinosaur puzzle $0.50
• Suitcase full of wooden blocks $5.00
• Bag of cars $1.50
• Bag of animals $1.50 (4 of them Schlein)
• Bag of little toys $1.50
• Bee Movie $4.00
• Curriculum--365 Bible Stories for Children by Melanie M. Burnette $0.50

Book list-
Degas and the Little Dancer by Laurence Anholt
Love You Forever by Robert Munsch
Fins and Scales by Deborah Uchill miller and Karen Ostrove
I Spy a Butterfly by Jean Marzollo
Ugly Duckling
Babar's Busy Year by Laurent De Brunhoff
Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems
Go, Dog, Go! by P.D. Eastman (We've worn out 2 copies already)
Manners by Aliki
The Magic School Bus Chapter Book #5 Twister Trouble
The Tale of Peter Rabbit
There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a fly..
Curious George and the Dinosaur by Margret and H.A. Rey
John Deere Farm ABC
Little hands Love
Mouse's First Valentine by Lauren Thompson (Board book)
Goodnight, My Duckling by Nancy Tafuri (Board book)
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle (Board book)
Brown Bear,Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin and Eric Carle (Board book)

I know I bought duplicates but the Littleman is very hard on books so I have tried to get him Board Books  He has loved some of them to death so we are getting new copies to keep up.

Frugal Family Meals

I have friends who run a catering business this week our family was blessed with leftovers, a large bag of romaine lettuce, a gollon ziploc of cooked chicken breast,a gallon of salsibury steak, and three dozen eggs from their chickens. For dinner we had a Caesar style salad with boiled eggs and ranch dressing. Today we had mom's famous scrabbled eggs for breakfast I made enough extra to freeze for Chinese fried rice later this week. Then for lunch we used the rest to make a taco salad with venison burger. All three meals cost just pennies--all we had to buy was chips and cheese. Twice this week we have had spaghetti-- once plain with bread sticks and then the kids requested it again so I made meat sauce and garlic toasts for the second batch. These are all good wholesome meals that cost very little to feed a big family. Update Tuesday night we had the steak over noodles and twice this week I have set out chicken breast to put in my lunch for work the rest is frozen for a later meal when i just don't feel like cooking. Thank so much to my good friends!

I have been taking my breakfast and lunch to work. It was costing me about $50.00 every two weeks to eat at work but i am down to less than $10.00 out of each pay check. It takes more time but the meals are better flavored. Mostly I take planned leftovers-make an extra meal or just a little more of the vegetables at dinner to take the next day. It isn't as convenient as running down to the cafeteria but I sure do like the extra money in my check.

garage sale finds

60 cents for a tin box of magnets abc's and numbers
1.00 for a scrable game I already took apart. I am making a movable alphabet box. Liz and Jon love using the tiles to make words! Well worth the 1.00 price tag. Cam is using the gameboard to make up her own game. It will be interesting to see what she does. aim made her own monopoly style games so cam jumped on a game board to modify with modpodge.