Saving on Salad dressings

We enjoy eating salads at our house and lately I have decided it would be fun to make our own dressings (I have done that some in the past as well but had gotten out of the habit) to save money and also to give us hopefully healthier food.
I thought I would share a couple of quick salad dressing recipes with you.

Italian Dressing

3/4 cup oil (olive oil is preferred)

1/4 cup lemon juice or vinegar

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper or lemon pepper

2 cloves crushed garlic

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon dried basil

Just put everything together in a jar and shake it up good. Serve on your salad.

Ranch Dressing
1 cup mayo
1 cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons finely chopped green onions or chives
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
2 teaspoons minced parsley (or 1 teaspoon dried)
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper.

Mix well and then refrigerate. I actually have halved this recipe because I wasn't sure how long it would stay good in the fridge. Also feel free to adjust spices to suit your tastes. Just play around with it and have fun!

Another nice frugal addition to your salad is Sprouts. Also homemade croutons are very yummy! Here is a recipe for them.

Croutons
Mix: 4 cups bread crumbs
1 1/2 tablespoons melted butter
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
Other optional additions are: 4 tablespoons Parmesan cheese, 1/2 teaspoon oregano, 1/2 teaspoon basil, 1/4 teaspoon garlic salt and 1/8 teaspoon celery seed.)

Lay in baking dish and either

• Microwave on high for 3-5 minutes (stirring each minute) until sizzled and browned. OR
• Bake at 300 degrees for 30 minutes, stirring every ten minutes.

When done, store in an airtight container and enjoy on your salad!

I would love to hear about any salad dressings you make or any other frugal ideas for salads.

For more frugal Friday tips visit Biblical Womanhood.

Pancake Supper

This past Sunday night at church we had our monthly Singspiration (a night full of congregational singing as well as special numbers, skits and sometimes readings) and this month we thought it would be fun to have a pancake supper afterwards. So we invited and encouraged others to attend and planned the food. It was quite exciting to have nearly double the regular number of people to come. (Unfortunately we hadn't planned for that much food wise so Emily had to make a quick trip to the grocery store ~ so in the end it turned out fine.) It was fun. Many people helped to work and bring food and the food turned out pretty yummy. In the first picture Luke is working on the sausage and Jake and Mary are working on some pancakes.
Next are Keren and Ben flipping more pancakes!
The next picture is of the kids and I with our neighbor girl Shelby and a Rajdeep a friend from India who had never been to church before. She was quite excited about coming and seemed to have a good time.

Over all the Pancake supper was quite a success and a lot of fun!

WFMW ~Less stress at mealtimes

I know that for many families with young children, getting them to eat healthy food can be a very stressful venture. I thought I would share with you what works for us in our family(with kids ages 2-8) to make mealtimes less stressful. Here is basically what we do:

• We give the children small plates with small portions. (We almost always serve them rather than letting them serve themselves.)
• If it is a normal meal (not a large feast like Thanksgiving dinner, a potluck or leftover buffet) everybody is required to take everything being served whether it is a favorite or not.
• No complaining about food is allowed. If it happens the complainer forfeits any possible dessert or snack before the next meal.
• All food must be eaten. If for some reason they feel they just cannot finish then they can put it in a container and put it in the fridge and save it for when they are hungry again. So before they can eat a snack or another meal they need to eat that food. This makes sure they don't get conveniently full just because they don't like something, it is also helping to make sure our children are not that picky and it prevents food waste. There are times we do forget about the food for a meal or two (though actually often the kids will remind us!) so then we end up pulling it out then and having them eat it for that meal instead. Also sometimes the kids will have not wanted to eat because they were actually getting sick -in that case often their meal will get thrown out.

This method might sound strict but it really works very well for us. We have pretty much no arguing over eating your veggies or whatever kids might not like. The kids know the routine and except it. There have been things that they didn't like for a while (for instance Mara with mushrooms) but since they have to eat it anyway (we don't allow pulling items off or out of a dish) they have often learned to like it or at least not mind it. We have very fun mealtime conversations and really enjoy that time together as a family.

That works for me! I am interested to here how you deal with feeding your kids.

For more Works For Me Wednesday tips visit Rocks in My Dryer.

Tipster Tuesday ~ Cleaning your houseplants

The plants around my house tend to get a little dusty from time to time. This is not really good for the plants nor does it look very nice. I could (and I have before) take the time to carefully wipe off each leaf but since I have 30 some houseplants that would take not a little bit of time. So the method I have found easier is just have them one at a time take a shower with somebody. I have also showered them by themselves but it is always a little difficult to get them all washed properly while I stay dry. It is much easier just to pull them in with you if you aren't to shy. :-) A little soap doesn't seem to bother them, just set them in a place where they will get some of the water and proceed to take your shower as normal, they will probably be quite clean by the time you are done and watered as well. You save time and water with this method.

To see more tips visit BeCentsable.

Enjoying Vermont!

We had a fun time studying about Vermont. Even though I have never been there I feel connected with the state in some ways because I have had several friends that have lived there and I have heard a lot about it. It seems to me that most people who have lived there look back on their time there very fondly. I think I would like it too. It seems in many ways like MN and the addition of mountains would be a nice one.

It was very appropriate that we studied about Vermont while we were in the middle of Maple syruping. Above is a picture of some of the Maple Syrup that I canned that week. Producing Maple syrup is something that Vermont has long been famous for. Cheddar cheese is another of their specialties (though they actually produce more Mozzarella). Also in the food line is Ben and Jerry's Ice cream. Ben and Jerry are from Vermont and they started their ice cream making by taking a $5 correspondence course. (Ken wonders how well it works to take a correspondence course for making ice cream? I guess for them it worked fine.)

The state fruit is an apple and they seem to enjoy lots of baked goods with apples in them. Something we enjoyed was apple muffins.
We also tried and enjoyed Green Mountain Corn Chowder. There are lots of other Vermont Recipes at this site that also look yummy. At the Vermont Specialty Foods Association you can find a lot more recipes.

Some of the things we found interesting about Vermont were:

• No Billboards are allowed.
• They were the last state to allow Wal-mart to have a store there.
• The kids found the pictures of a granite quarry very fascinating. It looks dangerous but interesting. They also have marble quarries.
• They have a lot (maybe the most?) or covered bridges.
• Vermont was the state that the Von Trapp family located in when they came to the U.S.
• Vermont became a State on March 4, 1791. The 14th state and the first one that wasn't one of the original colonies.

Vermont is a state that is known for it's beautiful fall leaves, pretty old fashioned towns and getting a lot of snow (like MN). I think I could feel pretty at home there.

What do you like about Vermont? By the way we are studying Ohio this week and would love it if you would share any information about that state. Thanks!!