Saturday, June 6, 2020

Belinda's Homemade Potato Salad

Listed below is my own recipe for potato salad. I made a batch of this yesterday before we went to Sweetwater to pick up our hamburger. We came home and I made hamburgers and served it with this potato salad.

Belinda's Homemade Potato Salad

Ingredients:

6 medium white potatoes ~ Skin On, Quartered

1/2 red onion, diced

4 hard boiled eggs peeled

1 & 1/2 cups mayonnaise

1/2 cup sour cream

1/4 cup dill pickle relish

1/4 cup sweet pickle relish

2 tablespoons white vinegar

1 tablespoon mustard

1 teaspoon dill

1 & 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Paprika for Garnish

Directions:

Cover potatoes with water in a saucepan & bring to a boil over medium-high heat.

Reduce heat to low and simmer until potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes.

Drain and cool slightly.

Combine mayo, sour cream, relishes, mustard, vinegar, dill, salt & pepper in a large bowl. Add potatoes, onion and eggs and toss gently.

Sprinkle with paprika. Serve chilled or at room temperature.

I've been working on my recipe organization this week and posting some of them on the blog and making sure they are listed in the recipe section. Just in case you're wondering why so many recipes lately. I'll be continuing this for the next few weeks. I hope you have a great Saturday!

Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~ My Linktree

Thank you for using my Amazon affiliate link when placing your Amazon orders. I earn a small percentage that doesn't increase what you pay and it helps me to earn a living here at Frugal Workshop.

Friday, June 5, 2020

Frugal Friday ~ June 5, 2020

Welcome to Friday!
My exciting news for the week is this...The United Grocery Outlet in Sweetwater had a contest on their Facebook page to win a free package of their Butcher's Blend Burger.
I mentioned on their Facebook page that we had trouble getting hamburger down towards Cleveland and they mentioned the UGO in Cleveland had been talking about putting in a meat counter for some time now. That would be so terrific!
I said all of that to say this: we won the package of meat! This is the first hamburger we will have had since we've been staying home due to COVID19.

In other news this week...

When the shutdown for the pandemic first started and schools were closed, I tried to file for unemployment. The online system was bogged down so much so that I had trouble getting it to take my information correctly. So, I gave up and didn't complete my application.
Then I spoke with my brother in law and he said he didn't think I would qualify for unemployment. In my mind I tended to agree with that statement, so I didn't bother even trying to apply again.
This week I saw a post from one of the other substitute teachers here who is receiving unemployment benefits. So, I messaged her and sure enough, she is eligible for this for subbing.
So, I filled out my application this week. She told me it took her about three weeks to start seeing any money, so if I do qualify for this, it will be around the end of June for me if it happens. I'll keep you updated.
On Thursday evening I tried a new recipe for Sausage Green Bean Potato Casserole. It had a lot of flavor and was a big hit. Here is the recipe if you're interested:
Sausage Green Bean Potato Casserole

Ingredients

1 & 1/2 lbs pounds sausage kielbasa or smoked sausage, cut into slices

2 pounds potatoes, diced

2 - 15 oz cans green beans, drained

1/8 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup butter

1 cup onions, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon pepper

1/4 cup water

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400° and spray a 9x13 baking dish with a non-stick spray.

Wash potatoes and dice.

Add to a bowl along with oil, seasonings, pepper, and then stir to combine.

In a large frying pan, add sausage and water and cook over medium high heat until sausages have browned and most of the water has evaporated.

Remove sausage from the pan and add to the bowl.

Melt butter in a frying pan and add onions and garlic, cook until onions are translucent.

Add to the bowl and stir to mix.

Add green beans to the bowl, stir to mix, then empty the contents into a baking dish.

Cover with foil and place in the oven.

Bake for 40 minutes or until potatoes are tender.

In other news this week, I unsubscribed from multiple emails that were trying to sell me stuff since I'm on a spending freeze right now. I also sold one item on eBay this week.

How was your week?

Thursday, June 4, 2020

Enchilada Sauce Recipe

We use enchilada sauce here on a regular basis. I've tried multiple recipes before and often buy canned sauce, but find it to be expensive. This is a recipe I tried and really enjoy this recipe.

Enchilada Sauce:
Heat together 1 quart cold water 1/2 cup chili powder 1/2 cup paprika 1 teaspoon salt
Bring to a boil and then stir in: 2 tablespoons oil 4 tablespoons flour
Stir and heat until well mixed.

This is what it looks like afterwards, the picture does not do it justice as it was velvety smooth.

Wednesday, June 3, 2020

Mexican Pinwheels

This is a tried and true family favorite. I've been making this since my daughter was a little girl and she loves them and requests them often.
This recipe has been made with all kinds of ham. Leftover ham from a holiday meal, sandwich ham, you name it and it will work in this recipe. Even the measurements do not have to be exact for this to work. Use what you have on hand.
Mexican Pinwheels
2 - 8 ounce packages cream cheese 1 pound ham 1 can black olives Flour Tortillas
Directions:
Using a food processor grind the ham into very small pieces. Do the same thing with the black olives. I make this in my food processor and do one package of cream cheese at a time and mix it with half the ham and half the black olives and then I do the second half of the recipe.
I do this because my food processor will not hold the entire batch at one time. Afterwards I place this all into one bowl and make sure it is incorporated well.
Then I pull out a flour tortilla and spread some of the mixture on there and roll them up. I don't cut them into pinwheels anymore as I normally serve these like you would a sandwich, so I just cut them in half and place them in the refrigerator to chill.

Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~ My Linktree

Thank you for using my Amazon affiliate link when placing your Amazon orders. I earn a small percentage that doesn't increase what you pay and it helps me to earn a living here at Frugal Workshop.

Tuesday, June 2, 2020

Using Up Food While Preparing Meals

Whenever possible, we prepare some of our meals in a way that allows us to use them for more than one day.

For example, when we bake potatoes, we often bake extra potatoes to be used the next day. They can be reused in a variety of different ways.

We might use those potatoes as part of a breakfast skillet the next day. Or, we might use them in a soup or a casserole dish. We might just chop them up and toss them with scrambled eggs or use them in a taco or burrito filling. Baked potatoes are really versatile that way.

Oftentimes when making side dishes we'll consider how we can reuse the item later. It's easy enough to cook a little extra now to have on hand when we want to use the item later in the week.

Both grilled chicken and rice are good examples. The other day I made grilled chicken fajitas for dinner, I served it with buttered rice on the side.

The next day I was able to take both the leftover chicken, rice, and onions from the meal the night before and turn it all into fried rice.

All I had to do was add some seasoning, broccoli, a couple of eggs, and some soy sauce. It was an easy way to use up the leftovers, everyone enjoyed the meal and we avoided food waste, which saves us money.

How have you been saving money in your kitchen lately?

Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~ My Linktree

Thank you for using my Amazon affiliate link when placing your Amazon orders. I earn a small percentage that doesn't increase what you pay and it helps me to earn a living here at Frugal Workshop.

Monday, June 1, 2020

Monday ~ June 1, 2020

June 2020
Today marks the beginning of a new month, June 2020. A fresh start to have another chance to get it right.
Today I've been doing laundry and working and cleaning in my kitchen. I took my Mother's vintage Tupperware lid holder and moved it to the cabinet under the stove top. It works better to use it for the lids for our pots and pans.
Rather than use paper towels in our kitchen, we use dishtowels, dishcloths, and cloth napkins. In fact, I've not bought any paper towels since April of 2018.
These are the workhorses of my frugal kitchen and save me a lot of money. I figure I save right at $200 a year by not buying paper towels or tissues.
My dish clothes were bought at Amazon where I was able to get 24 of them for $12.95. They will last much longer than a roll of paper towels. I keep them close by the sink, so they are always ready to use.

The majority of my dish towels are Christmas ones, but I still use them for everyday use. These are the dish towels that people get rid of at yard sales, and I come in and buy them. That is why we have so many Christmas ones. Buying them at yard sales saves me money.
Sadly, I don't think we will be participating in yard sale season this year because of corona virus.
Here is another money saving tool in my frugal kitchen: Potatoes

We regularly make a meal out of baked potatoes. We buy the eight pound bag of baking potatoes at Walmart for $5.92 right now and we normally get two bags per month. Even at that price each potato costs around 50¢ each, which makes for a frugal meal.
I normally serve steamed broccoli with them and have toppings such as sour cream, shredded cheese, butter, bacon bits, chives, dill, and salt and pepper. To me all a potato needs to be good is salt and pepper, but the other items are good as well when we have them on hand.
Another regular item we use here are onions. I start most of our meals by sauteing an onion. They always make the house smell good and add flavor and goodness to any meal for pennies.

Since I was puttering around in the kitchen I looked through my pantry and decided on what to make for dinner.
Cocktail sausages with barbecue sauce from my freezer, copycat Red Lobster biscuits, rice and cheese, and mixed vegetables from the freezer.
What's for dinner in your home today? Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~ My Linktree

Thank you for using my Amazon affiliate link when placing your Amazon orders. I earn a small percentage that doesn't increase what you pay and it helps me to earn a living here at Frugal Workshop.

Friday, May 29, 2020

Frugal Friday ~ May 29, 2020

Welcome to Friday and what, hopefully, is the beginning of a great weekend for everyone.
How are you doing during the pandemic? Many are predicting that the world we once knew is no longer and there will be a new normal when all the dust settles.
As for me and my house, we are continuing to stay home. Thankfully my daughter had the wherewithal to start her own business at home while she was still in college and that has helped to keep our household afloat during these trying times.
Last weekend we did a Walmart grocery pickup and had it delivered to our home via one of the locally owned dinner delivery services. This was the first time we had done that and tipped very well as we were so grateful for this service.
Checking our records, the last time we did a Walmart grocery pickup was April 27th, which was approximately one month ago. So, this latest order should last another month as well.

In our kitchen this week we've been cooking and baking. My daughter has been baking cookies this week and has made both peanut butter cookies and a pumpkin cookie recipe she got from Ryland Adams.

The pumpkin cookies are so good and we will definitely want to make them again. She has also been watching TikTok cooking videos and had me make her this egg and cheese sandwich.

She really liked it and wouldn't mind me making her another one anytime soon.
This week I decided to use up some melting chocolate I had and made some chocolate covered pretzels with pecans. It was a nice treat for this time of year.
Also this week I sold a bicycle rack on Facebook Marketplace. We practiced social distancing when the buyer came to pick it up as well.

We bought me a new Signature Sleep mattress this week from Amazon. It came via an Amazon Prime delivery truck and we had no problem bringing it into the house and setting it up.
The air conditioner we bought was finally installed last week after Lowe's contracted installer cancelled our appointment. In the end Lowe's had to refund our money as we went with another company, who charged less, to install it.
That's all the news from here this week. I hope you are staying healthy during this uncertain time. Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~ My Linktree

Thank you for using my Amazon affiliate link when placing your Amazon orders. I earn a small percentage that doesn't increase what you pay and it helps me to earn a living here at Frugal Workshop.

Friday, May 15, 2020

Frugal Friday ~ May 15, 2020

Hello to all my readers! Friday used to be my favorite day of the week, but nowadays it seems like every other day.
We did not shop for or have a pick up order for groceries this week. We have food here, which we've been cooking for meals, so no need to shop.
I've been getting creative with meals and yesterday made a Mexican inspired dish using chicken, Mexican Rice, cream cheese, cheddar cheese, chili beans, and corn. I lined my casserole pan with tortillas and then served this with mixed vegetables on the side. Everyone enjoyed it, which made me happy.
We did pick up a prescription at Publix this week, but we paid for the order online and used the drive thru, so minimal contact there and the cashier did not have to touch my debit card.
My daughter bought dinner for us on my birthday last Saturday. We chose a locally owned Italian restaurant. We had it delivered via a delivery service, so no contact there either.
The local community college is offering several online courses for free. I've decided to take one of the classes to teach myself about WordPress.
I made my first sale in my Etsy shop this week. I was very excited and wanted to say thank you to Jill, who is a blog reader. :)
The Green Book

Image Credit

We watched The Green Book for family movie night this week. Set in 1962, the film is inspired by the true story of a tour of the Deep South by African American classical and jazz pianist Don Shirley and Italian American bouncer Frank "Tony Lip" Vallelonga who served as Shirley's driver and bodyguard.
Gas prices remain at $1.29 per gallon here, although I've not bought any gas since last month since we are not going very many places.
Not shopping for supplies or going anywhere certainly saves us money. How have you been doing in the saving money department?
Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~ My Linktree

Thank you for using my Amazon affiliate link when placing your Amazon orders. I earn a small percentage that doesn't increase what you pay and it helps me to earn a living here at Frugal Workshop.

Thursday, May 7, 2020

Thrifty Thursday ~ May 7, 2020

Hello to all my readers, I hope you are doing well. Certain events in our lives combined with isolating ourselves at home has me feeling downhearted.
To combat some of our sadness, Bailey and I have went walking each afternoon during the last two weeks to get both some exercise and vitamin D from the sunshine.
Some of the frugal things we've done recently include earning $13 in Amazon credit rewards from Microsoft Rewards and the Checkpoints App.
I used some of the credit to order some new wash cloths for the kitchen. For some reason I was down to two of them, but will add 24 more to my collection as soon as they arrive.
My daughter and I both cut our hair at home this week.
For a donation of $1.10 we were able to order eight packages of seeds from FreeHeirloomSeeds.org.
This week I went through my clothes and took out several of them that are too big for me now. My daughter will be listing them in her reselling sites. This helps her out since she is unable to source new inventory with coronavirus right now.
In the home maintenance category, we decided to purchase a new air conditioner for the main part of the house two months ago.
With coronavirus the process proved to be more challenging than normal. Keeping my fingers crossed, hopefully it will be installed tomorrow.
This week I received several birthday freebies such as $10 to spend at Torrid, a free milkshake from Steak & Shake, and a free blueberry biscuit from Bojangles.
Normally we go out to eat for each other's birthdays, but that won't be happening this year. Instead we are going to have food delivered to our home using a delivery service, which we haven't done before.
Mother's Day is Sunday and I asked my Mom what she would like and she said I didn't have to buy her anything. Don't all Moms say that?
She does love my beans and cornbread, so I will make her a special dinner for the day, which I know she will enjoy. I tease her regularly and tell her she would go over to the enemy if they offered her cornbread.
I hope all of you are doing well and are enjoying these beautiful spring days. :)
Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~ My Linktree

Thank you for using my Amazon affiliate link when placing your Amazon orders. I earn a small percentage that doesn't increase what you pay and it helps me to earn a living here at Frugal Workshop.