Homemade Granola

Last week I made some homemade granola in my crockpot. Now I have made granola in the oven before, but making it in the crockpot was very easy and did not burn like it tends to do in the oven. For me, making something like my own cereal at home is very satisfying. 

Homemade Slow Cooker Granola

Here is the recipe I used to make granola. Be sure to stir the granola with a wooden spoon every 30 minutes. Do not skip this step because you don't want your granola to burn. 

I added raisins to mine after it was cooled, and of course you could add anything you would like afterwards. I think some dried cranberries would go well in this too. 

Ingredients: 

5 cups old-fashioned rolled oats (12 ounces)
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
2/3 cup honey
1/3 cup coconut oil or butter
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 Tablespoon vanilla
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 cup raisins

Directions:

Lightly grease the crock-pot with a teaspoon or so of oil. 

Add the oats, almonds and salt. 

In a large measuring cup or small glass bowl, combine the honey, oil, peanut butter, cinnamon and vanilla. Microwave for one minute, stir and microwave an additional 30 seconds as needed to melt everything together and allow it to combine smoothly. 

Pour the liquids over the oats in the crockpot and stir well to thoroughly coat. Place the lid on the crock pot, leaving it slightly vented. Cook on high for about 2 hours, stirring every 30 minutes with a wooden spoon. 

Stir in the dried fruit right at the end. 

Spread the granola across a large baking sheet and let it cool before transferring to an airtight container.

Please let me know if you try this recipe and what you think of it.  

Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~

Memorial Day Dinner

Good morning! I woke up early Monday morning and started working in the kitchen. Saving money by cooking from scratch does require some time spent in the kitchen. 

Yesterday I bought some bananas at Kroger for 35¢ a bunch since they were very ripe. 

Since we are in super frugal mode for the time being,  I want to be sure to use what I have on hand instead of buying new. So with that in mind, this morning I used the last of a box of Bisquick and made banana pancakes for breakfast. 

I made sure to cut out the Boxtops for Education from the box and added it to the jar where I've been saving them. I counted how many I had today and I have 101 in the jar, so time for me to sell them on Ebay. 

We used to donate them to my daughter's middle school, but we've not done that since she has been in high school. I can sell them on Ebay for $10, so that is what I do with them now. 

For dinner today I have done the following...

Cut up the watermelon...

Shucked and cooked the Corn on the Cob.  

Food Lion was the only grocery store to have a great sale on it this week, 5 for $1.00, and when I got there I could see why. 

The ears were small and not as fresh as I would have liked. I made the trip though, so I went ahead and bought 5, but not the original amount I was going to buy ($5.00 worth). 

Made Cole Slaw...

And I will serve these with the Beef Hot Dogs I bought on sale at Food Lion last week. We don't have any beef in the house to make hamburgers, so the hot dogs will do instead. 

Watermelon $4.00

Corn on the Cob $1.00

Coleslaw $1.76

Hot Dogs $2.50

Buns 99¢

Total $10.25

$10.25 for dinner, which is much cheaper than eating out.  Plus we have plenty of leftovers, which is a win-win situation. :)

What's for dinner at your house today?

Belinda ~ Living within our Means ~


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My Frugal Weekend

On Saturday morning my daughter and I went to the drive in theater to their flea market and set up for the day. We had quite a bit of items to sell and ended up making $110 in the process. 

We left home early since the Flea Market opens at 6 a.m., which is too early for me to eat breakfast. The Flea Market was serving hot breakfast for a price, but we wanted to save money, so we took our breakfast and drinks with us and ate them when we were hungry. After our day was done we came home and made a late lunch of Mac & Cheese, Corn, and Cucumbers. 

There was no eating out for us this weekend and we did not spend any money on Saturday.

We are saving money for very specific things this summer and over the next two years. Eating out would prevent us from meeting our goals, so we have made a commitment to not eat out. 

On Sunday we ventured out and went to Kroger in Dalton and bought a watermelon for Monday and also found some bananas and red and yellow peppers on markdown.

Afterwards we came home to a dinner of Salmon Patties, Mashed Yukon Gold Potatoes, and Green Beans with Onions.

How was your weekend?


Belinda ~ Living within my means in Southern Tennessee ~
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Awesome Publix Haul

My daughter does such a great job with coupons and I just have to brag on her. While I was out and about yesterday running errands with Mom, she went to Publix and secured this great coupon deal. 

-Eight jars of Hellmann's Mayo that were BOGO $4.99.

-Eight French's mustards, four regular, two spicy, and two sweet. These were BOGO $1.63.

-Eight Vlasic Pickle Relishes that were regularly priced $1.39.

-Two Daisy Sour Creams that were BOGO 2.49.

-And, four DulcoGases that were on sale $2.99.

She used...

-Eight Publix store coupons that were $3 off a Hellmann's Mayo, a Vlasic Pickles, and a French's Mustard.

-Two $2 off $6 worth of Hellmann's coupons.

-Four $0.50 off French's Mustard coupons. (doubled)

-Two $0.50 off French's Spicy Mustard coupons. (doubled)

-Two $0.50 off French's Sweet Mustard coupons.  (doubled)

-Four $1 off two Vlasic Product coupons.

-Four $3 off any DulcoGas coupons.

-And, two $0.45 off Daisy Sour Cream coupons. (doubled)

Total Retail Value: $97.14
Total OOP: $3.45

Everything in this haul ended up being $0.12 each!

She achieved a savings of 96%!

Here is the deal she used at Couponaholic.com to secure this deal:  

Publix: AWESOME Hellmann’s Mayo, Vlasic Relish and French’s Mustard MONEYMAKERS

Belinda ~ Living within my means in Southern Tennessee ~
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Errands with Mom

School is officially out here for the summer, which means we are in super frugality mode until school starts back in August and I return to work. We will be on a very strict budget until then, and I have already been taking inventory in my kitchen to meet this goal. 

My Mom needed to run some errands today, and one of those was Walmart to get some items. I went inside too and found the following items...

One pound of Italian Sausage for $2.00.

Two & a half pounds of Italian Sausage for $5.07. 

Five loaves of Italian Bread for 50¢ a loaf. 

I also stopped in at Food Lion and bought Ball Park beef franks, which were on sale for Buy One, Get One Free, which worked out to $2.50 each. The Challenge butter was also Buy One Get One Free and priced at $2.15 each. 

And finally, I found this bag of Black Eyed Peas on the clearance rack at Walmart for 50¢.  

What good deals have you found lately?

Belinda ~ Living within my means in Southern Tennessee ~
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Graduation Day

My daughter graduated with honors tonight as a Tennessee Scholar and was awarded the Ronnie German Principal scholarship. 

It has been a busy and exciting week here and we have out of town guests, but I will be back next week. :)



Belinda ~ Living within my means in Southern Tennessee ~
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Happy Mother's Day

Image Credit

Happy Mother's Day 

Belinda ~ Living within my means in Southern Tennessee ~
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Teacher Appreciation Week

On Friday I received a copy of Chattanooga Times Free Press newspaper, a bottle of water and a bag of Twix candy bars for Teacher Appreciation Week. A very nice surprise I thought. 

I've already told you about the Purex detergent we did this week. We ended the week with 18 bottles, which should last us a long time. Other deals I was able to get in on this week using sales and/or coupons with the help of my daughter, include:

12 jars of Bertolli pasta sauce at 68¢ a jar 
10 pounds ground chuck at $2.28 a pound
8 Sure deodorant - 75¢ each (I normally pay $1.96)
4 Cheddar Cheese - B1G1F
3 Parmesan Cheese  - used this deal at Couponoholic
2 boxes Raisin Bran
4 dozen eggs

This morning I woke up early and got busy cleaning in the kitchen cleaning and gathering garbage to take off later. Since I was able to get some ground beef on sale this week, last night I made hamburgers for dinner and today I made some taco meat for dinner.

I also cooked two dozen eggs in the Instapot to make egg salad later. I love doing eggs in the Instapot now, which is just an electric pressure cooker. They only take five minutes and the egg shells come off so easily. 

Later on we went to town to meet a couple of people for sales from our local Facebook Yard Sale group. We've made $65 this week just selling some jeans that my daughter no longer wears. It's nice to make money this way instead of having an actual yard sale, which requires a lot of work. The only downside, of course, is when the buyer doesn't show, which has happened to me on occasion. 

I hope you are having a good Saturday.  :)

Thank you for reading,
Belinda ~ Living within my means in Southern Tennessee ~
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My Frugal Week

Thanks to a sale at Walgreen's and several valuable coupons, we are now stocked up on 15 bottles of Purex laundry detergent with Clorox. 

My daughter did this deal for us and combined coupons from Coupons.com, which also reset, along with Walgreen's reward points. She used $10 worth of her Walgreen's reward points, so the majority of the laundry detergent was free to us. 

The sale is going on through Sunday. 

There are several sales going on this week, which I hope to take advantage of, which include:

Aldi
Eggs 69¢ (limit 4)
Red Onions 99¢ (2 lb. bag)

Publix
Raisin Bran B1G1F + doubled coupon - $1.45 box

Piggly Wiggly
Ground Beef $1.99/lb. (wow!)

Kroger
Milk - 1/2 gallon - $1.00

Any good deals going on where you live?

Thank you for reading,
Belinda ~ Living within my means in Southern Tennessee ~
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