Bedroom updating and Birthday parties.

We have been busy but it's great! We had the RAD race and harvested some yummy veggies then traded some of eggs and did more yard work.

So far we've harvested in April:
Belle radish:  12.4 oz
Icicle radish: 14.6oz
Bok choy: 1lb 11.9oz
Black leaf lettuce: 14.6 oz
Snow peas: 2.8oz
Asian Salad: 1lb 08 oz





 We are about 1/4 done in our bedroom for decorating and painting, I just need to get off my butt find the time to start our dresser then get paint going in the room. Here are some inspirations and a thought board I made for our room.

 I took the barn painting inspiration from houseofsmith and used in our upcycle project for barn doors in our room.

 The hubster agreed that once I get the bedroom done we could start working on a different room. I wonder if meant the bathroom was included in that agreement? Either way I can not decide on the bathroom style but I sure love these inspirations.

As for this week it is full of organizing for a garage sale in the coming weekends, prepping for my oldest sons birthday party, and finally getting all my earthboxes done and planted ... There will be a short tutorial on how to make those this week.

BATMAN!!!!  

My son loves all things batman right now and he was totally thrilled when I agreed to a batman party for him. In pure Kim fashion, I have of course already sketched out a few details on the party.

I ordered the cutest favor bags from Etsy the other day and need to rummage around to find some boxes so I can start the pinata. 

What is going on in your neck of the woods?

I grow my own money- Week 10

It's been over three weeks... Three weeks of hard work, tears and joy. I had to take time for myself and my family these weeks, I'm sure you understand. Last week of Feb my father died of an EVIL disease called cancer. Over the past 10 years I have lost 4 very special parental figures to cancer... prostate, lung and colon cancer.

It was only until I found out my father had cancer that I took my families eating habits and health into consideration. I watched my mother juice in attempt to give her sickened body what it needed but it was a little too late. Looking back they smoked, drank, ate all the processed foods, hardly exercised, and wanted to eat what they wanted. What if they had juiced regularly? ate a more plant based diet? ate whole grain? cut out at least 75% of the processed foods we see today on the shelves of supermarkets? Does genes have a major role in cancer? What about our surroundings? nucular plants, pest spraying, additives to almost everything, smog?

There are a lot of what ifs.

I came across this video a few weeks ago and it has stayed with me.

Obesity
Cancer
Global warming
Curable diseases
The list goes on and on.....

   If we are going to leave our children a place to call home we as a people must change the world, that change starts with you.

"Growing food is like growing your own money" -Ron Finley




Here are just a few things growing in the garden.

We harvested 4.9oz of lettuce! whoop whoop. 

We made this with it.

My husband finally got around to making me a potting table from the free pallets we got from someone on craigslist.

This is our bean hut.... yeah...... well we decided to just leave it up and next year build a tepee instead. We'll see how it looks this summer with all the different kind of beans.

In other garden news, we've decided that the bottom half of the left garden is unusable this year until we figure out this flooding issue. The hubster agreed to let me use the other side of the main garden (out of the fence) to grow the pumpkins and melons. I'm thinking EarthBoxes will be used for them all and DIY trellises.

This week in the garden world I'll be transplanting my pomegranate trees into the ground, building trellises and re potting the rest of my tomato plants then hardening them off.




What is going on in your garden?

Peanut Butter Energy Bits

Eating clean has become a very important part of our lives, although you wouldn't have guessed during my birthday this past weekend. We ended up eating at barbaritos and crap trap at the end of the night I got sick from either over eating or eating things that my body is no longer used to, I'm not sure which. 

This recipe is super easy to do and everyone will be begging you for this recipe. 

Makes about 1 dozen cookie bits

1 cup almonds

1/4 cup dark chocolate

1 tsp homemade vanilla extract

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 cup pitted dates

1/2-3/4 cup natural peanut butter or any other nut butter

1/8 tsp salt

Put the almonds in the food processor until it resembles a crumble. Add all the other ingredients and pulse until it's a sticky dough. Give it a pinch and if it sticks together but not your fingers it's ready.  Roll the dough into a 1 inch ball and press a fork down into it to create a disk like cookie. Place it on a splat sheet and refrigerate for a few hours or overnight. You'll want to place in an airtight container to store.

I'm sure you could freeze them and take them out as you wanted them.

To make homemade vanilla just add vodka and vanilla beans, give it a shake every so often and let sit for several months.

Week 6 - Grocery, Couponing and Garden budget

With our new eating style I've noticed I spend a lot less scouring for deals and focusing on eating and feeding my family a whole grain/clean diet. Over the past month the hubster and I dived into juicing.

We haven't done a full cleanse but added a juicing drink as a meal supplement throughout the day. One thing is for sure, we have a higher metabolism and eat more often on this new eating style. I plan (not sure about the hubster) on rebooting myself every 3 months and do a juicing cleanse for 10 days. For me it's not about losing weight, it's about being healthy and putting things in my body that my body needs.

The past months have been filled with watching food documentaries like Farmaggedon, fat sick and nearly dead, dive! and other movies like that. A serious eye opener. The poor man opens the frig or pantry looking for a snack and sees stuff he no longer wants to eat... The cookies, chips, sauces, packaged stuff, canned stuff... the list goes on really.I have a feeling this year will be filled with me doing a LOT of canning and dehydrating things.

1/2 beet

1 grapefruit w/o peel

1 lemon w/o peel

2 handfuls of grapes

2 apples 

Publix Produce $ 66.85

 Publix Grocery/Couponing $10.59

Commi Produce $17.64

 Commi Grocery $ 76.53 I got a few lunch snacks for the family and I stocked up on oatmeal (I guess that could have gone into the couponing) and caved on some dark chocolates for valentines.

Commi Couponing $3.97
Not sure why I got the sandwich makers given the hubster might not eat them anymore but we'll see.


Minus having to go get milk and celery later this week, this all should last us (family of 5) two weeks. Keep in mind we have a stockpile of meats, cheeses, cereal, etc and some produce left over from last shopping trip.


Week 6
Couponing: $6.67
Grocery: $179.49
Garden: $13.71
Savings: $56.33

Other ways to save.

So you like the idea of saving money and you coupon here & there but do not have the time or patience to sit and clip.. I hear ya!! Anyway you slice it, saving your family money takes dedication and time. I'll give you some tips and hints to help you save money on your family grocery bill.

Shop to stock up don't shop just for the week.  I've done it, you've done it and your momma has done it; Shopped weekly based on meals you've already planned. You got your sunday paper, you've clipped all your coupons you want to use, list in hand you head to the store. Chances are you've spent and easy $150+ on that trip for about a weeks worth of food. Taking your cart full of things that will be gone in one week you feel like the store screwed you some how... I've been there.

You're going to start shopping from the circular. You will find the best SALE prices for the item and match it to a coupon in order to score the lowest price. When the price is about 75% off after coupon then you want to stock up. Buy about 4-6 of that item to last you until the next sale cycle.  Keeping this in mind will help further stretch your dollar.

Just because you have a coupon doesn't mean you should use it right away. Know when to wait and use it.. Stack your coupons for those super deals.

Stay organized or this will not work.  All the clipping in the world wont help you unless you are organized. There is the baseball card method (which most all newbies use), the filing method (the method I use) and the no clip method . Which ever method you choose to use, organize weekly.

Shop local and help your community.  With many of us wanting better quality foods on a low budget, joining a food co-op like Bountiful Baskets or visiting a local farmers market might be the key to your families budget and health. Not only will you get better quality and quantity of food but you will stimulate your communities economy and support small business owners. I encourage you to find a local food co-op in your area and join, it will be one of the best things you can do.  Many Co-op offer organic baskets, Grain baskets as well as 'specialized' baskets, check it out.

Buy in bulk but not from those 'bulk stores'  Places like Zaycon Foods offer large quantity of meats for low prices. I personal ONLY get my chicken from them but they also sell bacon, salmon, ground beef, fruits and more.  Those other 'bulk stores' tend to have the same market rate price as your grocery store but in bigger prices (It tends to make you think you're saving when you are not). If you can't wait for a Zaycon event then watch your circular ads for low prices on meats and stock up then. Always check unit prices.

When in doubt Grow Your Own. One of the newest and fast growing trend is Homesteading . With people losing their jobs, food recalls, FDA findings of chemicals being put in our foods many people have had enough of it. Going back to our 'roots' is not for every one but you can grow your own veggies and fruit right from your backyard. If space is an issue you can always try "square foot gardening" to utilize your space. Growing your own veggies and fruit give those who prefer organics a better $$ option. Plus who doesn't like to eat from the fruits of their labor?!

Feeding my family of 5 under $160 a month

The week has really flown by. I've been busy painting, fixing walls and packing... slowly. I need some advil for these back pains. There is so much to do with so little time, when am I going to find time to bake?!

 Albertsons #1 $ 2.15
My clan can go through about a gallon every few days! (4) gal milks, 1.5lb grapes, blueberries (My oldest LOVES these), Trop50 peach drink, 1lb chicken breast and marshmallows

#2 $.89 
This is more of the stockup transaction. With our up and coming trip across country we'll need a few fast snacks so pudding and crunch n munch made the list and who can go wrong with ketchup with a house full of kids?

 #3 - $.69
Making use of the manager coupons that Albertsons sticks on their meats I bought about 8lbs of meat and spaghetti noodles.

#4 - $2.15
This transaction would have been better but my youngest saw these bowls and wanted them, at $1.00 each you can see where I had to spend $2.15. I got 3lbs of tilapia fish, mussels and yogurt. YUMMMM


These transactions where purchased with the $20 catalinas that I got from Albertsons gift card deal. Looks like I'm going back to get more this weekend.

Bountiful Basket $15 for conventional and $10 for the Asian pack
If I wasn't so tired from the bountiful basket/wedding day I would have taken the time to actually weigh the food but I forgot. I really love that our location opened up extra packs and add ons!! I wish I got the blueberries because they looked fantastic.

6/10- 6/16 I spent $28.73 (I do not count the 2 bowls in that total)

Dinner meal planner for the next two weeks? (look out for pictures and recipes later on)

Sunday- Burgers and Sweet potato fries
Monday- Tilapia with Braised radishes
Tuesday- White bean and sausage soup
Wednesday- Left Over night ( We normally will have enough left overs after 3 days )
Thursday- Fish patties (a family recipe- sorry)
Friday- Pizza night (we make our own pizza)
Saturday- Napa cabbage noodle salad

Sunday- Left overs
Monday- Spaghetti squash 'spaghetti'
Tuesday- Salmon w/ nectarine salsa (previously canned)
Wednesday- Ginger sesame chicken bok choy
Thursday- Left overs
Friday- Pizza night
Saturday- Baked chicken with pasta salad


My shopping list for all that?.... red pepper, the fish paste, and salmon :-)


Where do you get your veggies and fruit?

 

Isn't she beautiful?! I'm so happy for them.