Eggplant Parmigiana 

Eggplant parmigiana is one of my most favorite things to eat!  When I make it, I make a bunch!  Here’s is how I make it (learned it from my mom):

Eggplant  (I typically buy the largest eggplant I see - I used 2 this time)

4 bottles Ragu (24 oz) approximate amount

3 pkg mozzarella (8 oz) approximate amount

5 eggs and some milk  (whip together)

Several cups of flour

Olive oil

12x9 pan – 1

8 x 5.5 pan – 2 

(can also use smaller pans to make more individual servings – this dish freezes and reheats wonderfully)

1)  Peel and slice the eggplant (about ¼” thick).

2)  roll in flour and then dip in the egg mixture (yes, do it in that order).

 

3)  fry the eggplant and drain on paper towels.

4)  Pour some Ragu (or other spaghetti sauce) on the bottom of the pan.

5)  Put a layer of eggplant on top of the sauce.

6)  Pour spaghetti sauce on top of the eggplant and then sprinkle mozzarella on top of that.

 

7)  Repeat layers until pan is full – spaghetti sauce and cheese will be the last layer.

8)  Bake at 350 until sauce bubbles and the cheese is melted and a golden color.

Note:  if you plan on freezing the eggplant, you do not need to bake it first.

ENJOY!!

Food Prep Day 

One of my best money saving tips is food prep day.  Having the food items already prepped for the week makes it highly likely they will be used.  I don’t want to waste food and having ingredients just sitting around until they go bad is not good.  But, I also don’t want to have to cook bacon or a waffle or French toast, etc. every time I want some. 

By cooking a pound of bacon at a time, I can snack on a piece whenever the mood hits.  Same thing goes for fruit smoothies and chilled Frappuccino’s.  I make a mess for one day during the week and then can enjoy the fruits of my labors the rest of the week. There are several things that I only make about once a month as they last longer than a week.  Prep day is a lot of work but then no fuss, no mess to clean up the rest of the week.  Here are some of the things that I make:

Bacon

Chilled Frappuccino

Keto Friendly Fudge 

Pumkin muffins

Fruit smoothies

Belgian waffles

French toast

Let’s get started!

Making the Bacon

There are quite a few ways to make bacon.  Frying pan, oven, air fryer . . . to name a few.  But there is also another way.  Using a deep stock pot – cut the pound of bacon in half – separate the strips and layer it on the bottom of the pot.  Don’t worry about all the bacon being in a pile – it will cook.  Cook on a low flame and flip them over every 2-3 minutes so that they all get cooked.  It took approximately 26 minutes to fry the pound of bacon up in the pot.  Here’s how it looked: 

 

  

If you don’t like your bacon cold, it only takes about 15 seconds (give or take) to heat up in the microwave.

If you want to make the bacon in the oven, see blog post dated December 21, 2020

Chilled Frappuccino

For instructions on making the Chilled Frappuccino, see blog post dated June 2, 2020.  I store the Frappuccino in mason jars in the refrigerator.  One batch will make a quart and a pint of Frappuccino.

Use a smaller cup and you will get a few more servings.  This also will last me for a week (if I use a smaller cup, not the one pictured).

  

Keto-friendly Fudge

If you are on a keto diet, you may have heard of fat bombs.  This fudge recipe is similar to a fat bomb.  They are really rich and just one piece usually satisfies those cravings.

Ingredients list

4 tbsp of creamy peanut butter

1 tbsp coconut oil

1 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp butter

1 tsp cocoa powder (no sugar added)

1 oz cream cheese

1.5 packets of non-sugar sweetened (Truvia)

1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

Put all ingredients into a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 30 seconds.

Remove from microwave and stir for 10 seconds.  Put back into microwave for 30 seconds more.

Remove from microwave and stir – until blended all together.  Pour into a greased pan (8” x 8” or smaller)

Put the pan in the freezer.  After 30 minutes, take the fudge out of the freezer and cut into pieces (it is easier to cut at this point).  Store them in a plastic bag and put back in the freezer..  They will keep in the freezer for a long time – if you don’t eat them all . . .  (I don’t make this every week as this lasts me several months - I usually make a double batch)

  (The pan that I used in the below photo, holds a double batch of the fudge)

  

Pumpkin Muffins

Fall is now upon us . . . and there are pumpkins everywhere.  What to do, what to do . . .  Make pumpkin muffins!  If you will be using a fresh pumpkin, it will need to be cooked.  

To cook the pumpkin:  cut the pumpkin into several pieces and scoop out all the seeds and stringy stuff. (You can also toast the seeds for an extra treat!).  Put the pumpkin on a cookie sheet (have the outside shell be on the top and cut side face down on the pan).  It will take approximately 45 – 60 minutes in a 400 degree oven to cook (depending on how big your pumpkin is).  Once the pumpkin is done (the insides are soft), allow the pumpkin to cool.  Once it is cool, scoop out all the flesh and puree it in a blender or food processor. 

If you don’t want to mess with cooking a pumpkin, a can of pumpkin puree will do just as nicely.

Recipe

3 eggs

1 cup of oil (I use olive oil but any oil will do)

2 cups of sugar

2 cups of pumpkin (or one can)

3 tsp vanilla

2 tsp cinnamon

3 cups of flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

¼ tsp baking powder

½ cup of nuts (optional - I like to use macadamia nuts but I will use whatever I have on hand)

Directions

Preheat oven to 325.

Stir together eggs, oil, sugar, pumpkin

Add flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, baking powder, vanilla and nuts

Grease and flour muffin pan – unless you are using the paper cupcake liners

Bake for 40-60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean

Makes 24 muffins

I wrap each muffin individually with plastic wrap and then put in a ziploc bag for the freezer.  This will last me for about 1-2 months.

  

Fruit Smoothies

I use the big bag of frozen fruit from Costco – it has a good variety of fruit.  A couple of handfuls of the frozen fruit along with one banana, water and flavor enhancer is all I use.  I fill the blender with water and add a couple of squirts from a flavor enhancer (the kind you mix with water).    A full blender will make a quart and a pint of the smoothie.  Gives me plenty for the week!

Belgian Waffles

I use Krusteauz Belgian Waffle mix.  Typically, I use the ingredients for the 4-5 waffles but I always get about 8 waffles when all is said and done.  After they are done and cooled down, I wrap each one in plastic wrap and then put them in a Ziploc bag and throw in the freezer.  When I want one for breakfast, I heat it up in the air fryer.  It tastes like I just made it!

(I don’t make this every week as it lasts me longer than a week) 

French Toast

Another breakfast treat that I make is French toast.  I usually cook 8 or 9 slices of bread.  It takes 3-4 eggs and some milk beaten until blended.  I butter the frying pan and then cook them up.  After they are done and cooled down, I wrap each one in plastic wrap (and put in a ziploc bag) and throw in the freezer.  I also reheat these in the air fryer and they taste like they are freshly made.  (I don’t make this every week as it lasts me longer than a week)

That’s it!  I now have either Belgian waffles, French toast, bacon or pumpkin muffins for breakfast along with a fruit smoothie.  I also have chilled Frappuccino for after dinner with a piece of fudge.  And I won’t have to mess up the kitchen to enjoy any of it!  At least not until it is food prep day again . . .

 

The Good Ole Days

Grocery shopping sure has changed over the years.  I have been grocery shopping for over 50 years and one thing has stayed the same - the need to save money on what I am buying.  There may be people in this world that have an unlimited budget when it comes to buying food.  I have never been part of that group!  But we always had enough food to eat with the help of coupons.  My mother used coupons and she taught me how to save at the store.

Back in the "ole days", coupons and refunds were a big part of grocery shopping.  Stores would compete with each other and give out coupons for free items.  

Manufacturers were also in competition and would offer refunds on their products.  You would save the label from a certain item and then mail it with the form and in about 6-8 weeks you would receive a refund of some sort.  Could be a $1.00 or even the full price of the item you bought.  Many times, it would be a gift or a toy.

There were coupon clubs where people would meet and exchange coupons that they didn’t want for those that they could use.  In the 70’s and 80’s newspapers were full of coupons.  Stores would offer to double the face value of a coupon in order to get your business.  Then other stores would offer to triple the value of coupons.  Coupon wars! Sometimes there were limits and sometimes there weren’t.  But usually, any amount less than a dollar was either doubled or tripled.  Many times, it made the item free.

In September of 1979, one of the local newspapers (The Star Ledger) was running stories on how people were fighting inflation.  I contacted them and described how I save money with coupons and refunds.  They did a story on me!  The reporter followed me around the store which created a lot of curiosity among the other shoppers.  When I was done shopping, my grocery bill was over $60.00.  After deducting my coupons, I only paid $8.29.

Then in July of 1980, I was featured in another newspaper (the West Essex Tribune) and a reporter went with me on another shopping trip.  This time the total was $77.89 before coupons.  After the coupons were deducted, I only paid $3.89.  

It did take time to cut out coupons and save labels, etc. I usually spent about 2 hours a week organizing, cutting coupons and saving labels. I considered it my part-time job.  All in all, it was time well spent when you saw how much you saved on the food bill.

Coupons Clubs weren’t the only way to get extra coupons.  There were also conventions!  Some were just one day long and others may last the whole weekend.  Attendees would bring boxes of labels and box tops to trade for items they needed for a particular refund.  Example:  If you have a refund form that states you can get $1.00 back from buying dog food but you don’t have a dog, you would trade for the labels you needed.  

There were also magazines that were dedicated to letting you know what refunds, coupons and conventions were available.  They had a pen pal section so that you could find like-minded people and possibly trade coupons, etc.  One magazine (The National Supermarket Shopper) attended a refund convention that I was at and I even got my photo on the cover of the magazine!  (The little arrow under the sign is pointing to me - in the middle.)

Those were the days.  Things are different now.  The newspapers don’t carry a lot of coupons.  But you can find some online.  Some stores have coupons on their website.  You log in at the register and the coupons come off your bill – no need to cut them out.  Refunds are almost non-existent.  I can’t even remember the last time that I was able to send in a refund form.  And it seems like stores are no longer in competition with each other.

But, we can still save money.  It may take a little more work initially but it could end up saving you some cash.  One Saturday, I look the time to travel around to several different stores and check the prices on things that I buy.  I wrote it all down (no way I would be able to remember it all!).  I created a “price book” and listed 3 stores with the prices of each item.  It helped me to see which store had the best price on various products.  But, not all the items were cheaper at the same store.  For me, all 3 of those stores are located on the same street so I was not wasting gas running around town.  I was able to shop at each store and get the best price for the items I needed to buy.  Each person would need to calculate the cost of gas to see if it is worth it to travel to different stores to get the cheapest price.

Fast forward to 2021 when we were all dealing with covid.  Store shelves were empty, and prices were rising almost every week.  Here’s an example of the price of a 4 lb. package of bacon at Costco:

2/4/21 – 12.99

4/1/21 – 14.99

4/22/21 – 16.99

8/19/21 – 18.99

9/9/21 – 19.99

10/14/21 – 21.99

4/1/22 – 14.99

Thankfully, the price has come down.  The bacon is just one example as all the stores were raising prices, not just Costco.  I think the most frustrating thing was finding empty shelves.  It certainly changed the way that I did the grocery shopping.  Now, if I need an item, I will typically buy 2 so that I also have one in reserve. I try to make sure that the pantry and freezer are well-stocked, just in case we go thru another pandemic or a hurricane or some other event that would prevent me from going to the store.

So, coupons are few and far between and refunds are pretty much non-existent, but we still have opportunities to save.  Some stores do the BOGO (buy one, get one free) sales and many stores will allow you to use coupons on those items.  Also, look out for clearance sales.  Every little bit helps!

For many years I have been using a “shopping notebook” – it helps me to stay on track.  Details about that are part of another blog that I wrote June 7th – November 6th, 2020 (6 part series).

Times may/will change but don’t give up!  You can still save money on groceries!

 Topless Greenhouse Final Update

This will be the last update on the Topless Greenhouse.  All in all, I am quite pleased with how this experiment played out.  I have learned a few things – mostly what “not to do” in the future.  I am already planning another garden which I will start in August.  My area of the country gives us enough summer weather to have 2 plantings.  We have put in more cinder blocks around the inside of the fence.  I will be planting a variety of herbs and flowers (the kind that deter insects) in those holes.  Soon I will be starting seeds for bell peppers (yes, I will try them again), pumpkins, watermelons, tomatoes, beans and beets (and I am going to try them again also).  In the fall, I am hoping to plant more lettuce, romaine and cabbages.   There is just something so satisfying about eating veggies that you grew yourself!

Here's how it finished up:

June 26 – Hubby finished the fence and took down some of the walls (on the fence side) of the greenhouse.  The garden is much easier to water now with the walls down.  The fence is connected to the front and back end of the greenhouse - makes it one big area.  The walls on the other side of the greenhouse act as a "fence" on that side.

June 30 – The corn is done – got 4 ears but they were all deformed.  The chickens loved them anyway!  Hubby pulled out the cucumber plants – they fizzled out - and he leveled out the dirt and compost.  I moved 2 of the marigold plants to the fenced area and planted them in the holes in a cinder block.

July 3 – I put up 3 pinwheels on the fence – hopefully it will discourage any critter that may want to try and get into that area.  I took a video of all 3 of them spinning at the same time.

July 4 – Picked a big tomato today – 4” across!  We have a yellow garden spider living in the greenhouse.  I will leave him be for the time being – maybe he will eat some bugs.

July 6 – It's time to pull up the green bean, eggplant, pepper and sunflower plants – they are done for now.  The tomato plants still have tomatoes on them, so I will leave them for a while longer.  I moved the onions to the other side of the greenhouse.  I am not sure they will make it – I don’t think they like being moved.  Plus, it is not the right time of year for them to be planted.  They may go dormant – I will just have to wait and see.

New spot for the onions   

 

As of today, July 10, I have harvested the following:

Green beans – 38  (cooked them up and had them with a pork roast for dinner)

Cucumbers – 4 (gave one to the chickens – full of bugs)  Ended up giving 2 more to the chickens as we weren’t eating them (I really wanted to grow a bunch to make pickles).

Tomatoes – 33 (plus several more that got thrown onto the compost pile – bugs)  I think we have at least 10 more still growing on the plants.

Corn – 4 (gave to chickens)

Romaine – 4 cuttings

Red Leaf Lettuce – 7 cuttings

Bell Pepper – 1

Radish – 1

I had fun doing this experiment. It was exciting to watch my idea come to life.   I know some people thought it was crazy, but it isn’t crazy if it works . . . right?  I hope this encourages others to think outside the box – take a chance and do something different.  It just might work!

PS (July 15):  Picked 16 more tomatoes before pulling up the plants. We also took out the raised beds and made it all even.  Here’s the beginning and ending of the garden (March 11^th to July 15^th.)  

Topless Greenhouse Update #3

Things have been going pretty good in the greenhouse (mostly).  We are enjoying lots of tomatoes (BLT’s and tomato sandwiches) and a couple of cucumbers.  The chickens still don’t seem too interested in the sunflowers though.

June 14 – The green beans are growing up the roof beams and then back down the other side.  Every day or two I can pick a couple of green beans.  I am storing the harvested ones in the freezer until I get enough to cook for the 2 of us.  The cucumbers are growing up and out of their area and over to where the sunflowers are.  

The tomatoes are a tangled mess but have lots of tomatoes.

The corn is looking so good . . . but trouble is coming. 

June 16 - We had some severe storms, and they did some damage to the corn and sunflowers.  It beat the corn down to the ground and bent over the sunflowers.  I was able to pick a couple of ears (kind of deformed but the chickens liked them) and I was able to tie the sunflowers back up.  

The sunflowers keep on blooming – being bent over didn’t seem to hurt them.

 

And I picked a really big cucumber – 11 inches! 

 

June 17 - The new area got covered over with cardboard and then a lot of compost was spread on top.  The bad storms that we had also washed some of the compost off the cardboard.  

June 20 – To prevent future storms from washing away the compost, hubby created a gulley alongside the garden (the water seemed to flow that way).  In the photo above, it is in between the new area and the greenhouse wall.  Hopefully, it will direct the water past the garden into the back of our yard.  Hubby was outside moving more compost over to the garden and our neighbor spotted him and offered to help. He has a front-end loader – took 3 trips and it was done!  Hubby then started putting up the fence.

 

June 25 - As of today, we have harvested the following: 

Romaine – 4 cuttings

Red Leaf Lettuce - 7 cuttings

Bell Peppers - 1

Radishes - 1

Green beans - 26

Cucumbers - 3 (gave one to the chickens)

Tomatoes – 20 (plus several more that got thrown onto the compost pile – bugs)

Corn – 2 (gave to chickens)

 

Still no eggplants forming but there are lots of flowers.  The onions are hanging in there – probably too hot for them but you never know.  All in all my topless greenhouse experiment is doing good.  I am learning what to do and what not to do next time.

Here is a current photo of the front of the greenhouse.  Till the next update . . .

 

Topless Greenhouse Update #2

Here’s what’s been happening in the topless greenhouse during the last 2 weeks.  On May 29^th, we had our first sunflower open up.  Since then, we have had a few more open up.  I gave them to the chickens.  They didn’t seem interested, but this was their first time having sunflowers.  If it turns out that they don’t like them, then I will not grow any more. 

I added more trellis for the green beans.

June 7^th, I picked a cucumber – it is 10” long!  In the past 2 weeks, I have picked 12 green beans, 1 cucumber and 5 tomatoes. (Previously I have harvested romaine, red leaf lettuce, 1 bell pepper and 1 radish.)

As of now (June 11^th), we are getting lots of sunflowers, the tomato plants are full of tomatoes, the corn is looking real good, the cucumber plants have a lot of cucumbers on them, and the onions seem to be doing well.  So far, most seems to be good . . . except for the bell peppers and eggplant.  There was a lot of bug damage on the bell pepper leaves but they are now starting to come back and there are flowers again.  I have been diligent in going out there every day and checking for any signs of those pesky critters (little black caterpillars) and picking them off.  I think it is working as I don’t see as many as I did before.  The eggplant is growing tall, and it has flowers, but nothing has developed into an actual eggplant.  

I am still hopeful . . .

   

In other news, the gardening bug has hit us hard!  We have decided to add a fenced area to the greenhouse and grow more stuff.  We may take down the walls (that will be inside the fenced area) and kind of make it one big section.  But that is still in the design process.  We won’t actually be planting anything in the fenced portion until next spring.  In the meantime, we will cover the grass with cardboard and then pile a lot of compost on top.  Hopefully, by spring, the soil will be ready to plant.

Here's how the greenhouse is looking now . . .     

                                                                                             

 

                                                                      

Money saving tip for compost:  There was a tree-trimming company working in our area.  Our neighbor told us that we could just ask them to dump the chips (after they grind them up) in our yard.  So, we did ask, and they did bring it to us!  It has been several years since we got the chips, and it has turned into some really nice compost.  That is what we will use on top of the cardboard in the new area.

Stay tuned for the next update . . . hopefully I will have gathered lots of veggies and the new area will be fenced in.  Till then . . .