Frugal Friday: Last Friday, I planned out our weekend meals and hung the menu on the fridge. When the family wanted to know what we were having for dinner, I pointed to the menu. Since the food was cooked and in the fridge waiting to be reheated, they knew just what NOT to snack on when they wanted a between meal bite, too. I wasn't just sure what to take to our church dinner. I decided to make gingerbread. It was easy, quick to make. Each time someone asked what I'd brought they'd say "Oh I just love gingerbread!" I think it must be one of those old fashioned desserts that we seldom see and of which most people have fond memories. We had some oranges that were getting old, and our friends gave us a big bag of Tangelos, so I knew the family would bypass the oranges altogether with the fresher fruit at hand. I decided to pare and section the oranges. I used half to make Orange Cream (softened vanilla ice cream mixed with orange pulp and juice and refrozen) and froze the other half of the orange segments for ambrosia later. I had a 2 person portion of an entree leftover from our meals earlier in the week and I was reluctant to store it in the freezer because, well, it was only enough to serve 2 and typically I feed 3. It was too much for me to eat for lunch all by myself and not an item that Kay would even consider eating. When Alan was telling me of his menu plans for the coming week and how hard he needed to stretch his pantry items to manage meals for his roommate and himself, (he's on the last week of his monthly pay check), I thought of that 2 person serving in the fridge. I handed it over to him, pleased that I could help him manage a little better, glad that it wouldn't go to waste here. He was pleased to have one more meal to carry him to payday. Mama and I ate out last Monday when we went to Sam's club and she ordered a meal that came with a big serving of celery sticks. She didn't want to eat all of them and was going to toss them. I suggested that she carry the celery home to use in holiday meal making. When she replied that she had plenty at home, I said I'd take it home. That celery was just enough to go into my big pot of vegetable soup. I've got a turkey breast carcass and a chicken carcass in the freezer waiting to be made into broth. All week long I've been saving the top and root ends of onions in a bag in the freezer to use when I'm cooking those two carcasses. Mama wanted me to mix up a special recipe for pumpkin pie at her family dinner on Thanksgiving Day. I was pretty sure that Mama didn't read all the way through the recipe, because it called for a streusel topping. Rather than heavily top the pie (which I was pretty sure she wouldn't like), I used it only around the edge of the pie. That left me with more than half the streusel I'd made up. I had thawed sweet potatoes to make a casserole dish for my smaller family dinner. I stirred the streusel into the mashed sweet potatoes. Boy did that make a good casserole! I made the best of our Thanksgiving turkey breast. First I cooked it in the crockpot then heated in the oven for 30 minutes to brown and crisp the skin. I put our dressing and sweet potato casserole in alongside to conserve the oven heat. We had our family pre-Thanksgiving meal from it and sandwiches later that night. We had more sandwiches the next day, and the day after I made turkey salad for a meal (served on lettuce with crackers). Then I made Tetrazzini ( I got two casseroles from the recipe, one for our dinner and one for a freezer meal) from the last of the meat. And we still have the carcass to make soup or broth. I'd say we got good mileage from that breast! Kay bought a wonderful little jar candle at the local dollar store, Maple Sugar scent. We liked it very well, and so she returned to buy more. There was only one of the candles left on the shelf. Kay was so disappointed. She used her brains however, and I really commend her. She melted the leftover wax from her previous candle and poured it into a jar. She used candle wick we had on hand from past craft projects and made herself a brand 'new' jar candle to burn. Decorating for Christmas is fun isn't it? And yes, I have begun to decorate already. In fact, this morning I've been busy using what I already have to make my 2009 season one of the best ever. My front door wreath is an old one from years past, but I've renewed it with a little greenery and fresh ribbons (bought on clearance throughout the year). My tablescape is pretty with the placemats I bought last year and a white pot (found at the dump!) filled with fresh ivy bought on clearance at the beginning of summer and nursed back to health, crystal candleholders with tall red tapers, and little milk glass salt and pepper shakers. I've only got to figure out where I put my dull gold napkin rings to finish that tablescape off nicely. Two large floral picks I borrowed from Mama, plus three small beaded fruit picks I bought four years ago and more of that bargain priced ribbon has made a pretty swag for the back door. I'm taking a breather right now, but have ideas for several other items I have on hand to make my home pretty for the coming season, and keep my checkbook balance in the black, making my own form of 'Black Friday' right here at home. Do you ever have those times when you know something just isn't working well for you and then suddenly you have this brilliant solution that requires small effort and no money? I had such an "Oh why haven't I thought of that before!" moment this morning. I've got an old red wire egg basket that Granny gave me when she moved back home this summer. I'd been keeping garlic bulbs and onions and potatoes in it in my kitchen, but oh the mess the onion and garlic skins made! My gracious, I had to clean that area every single day. This morning I was cleaning that area yet again, thinking about how I really needed a container with a bottom in it. Suddenly I realized that I've got a touch of black in every area of my kitchen except that one. It was all white on that side excluding the red egg basket. I remembered that in the living room I had a black coal scuttle beside my chair filled with magazines which fit poorly into the odd shape. Ah Ha! There was my touch of black for the too white area of the kitchen, my container with a bottom and my solution to all my cleaning frets rolled into one. Now the two containers have swapped homes. My magazines fit very nicely into the round egg basket. My onions and garlic are happily shedding their skins into the coal scuttle and not all over my kitchen counter. And my kitchen has a bit more balanced look than it did before. I had to run into town this morning and pick up a few items for the weekend ahead. We were completely out of milk and the dogfood container had just enough food for this morning alone. I don't usually purchase dog food in town, but found a good brand at the same price I pay at the big city grocery where I like to shop. This bag of food is a bonus of sorts as well. The bag was made of woven plastic, which means it will make great storage for items that I might want to keep dry in the trunk of my car which leaks when we have heavy rains. All I needed to do was to wash it out and let it air on the clothesline. I think I'll go back for more of that food because those bags will come in handy for other things: pecans I've picked up and have yet to shell, storing things in my shed, wrapping a water pipe for winter...I'm sure I'll get lots of uses from those bags, which are very strong. I seem to have a shortage of bowls at the moment. When I needed a bowl to steam broccoli in and I had no lid, I used two bowls. One to hold the broccoli and one turned over the top to hold in the steam and cook the broccoli. I had too much broccoli for one meal, so I made a quick cream of broccoli soup for another meal with the cooked leftovers. Perfect for a cool and windy autumn day luncheon. Food waste this week: 2 cups cut lettuce. | 
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