Seven Things About Me

 Seven things about myself:

1. I enjoy blogging. I have loved creating this blog and enjoy taking pictures and sharing them with my friends on here.  

2. I was born and raised in Illinois, but now live in Tennessee. I graduated from high school in 1985 in a small town in Illinois. I moved with my parents here to Tennessee in 1986 and have been here ever since.

3. I am a single Mom. I was married in 1989 and divorced in 2000. I tell people I was married for 10 years and it took another year to get the divorce, lol. Our daughter was born in 1997. I never intended to have a child and then raise her all by myself, but that is what happened and we are doing just fine. :)

4. I am a Substitute Teacher. I sub at the middle school and high school levels. I love interacting with the students and most of them like me too, so it is a mutual admiration. When we are out of school for the summer, I miss them.

5. I love Frugality. I was first introduced to the Tightwad Gazette in 1992. I was in Target and saw it on the bookshelf and didn't buy it! Can you believe that? It took a second trip to Target before I bought the book. I also subscribed to Amy D's newsletter and still have those original newsletters. Getting one of those in the mail used to be the highlight of my day.

6. I am a prize winning chef! I've received awards for my peanut butter cookies, peach preserves, and my pickled grape tomatoes.  I have two of them on my refrigerator and one of them tucked away in my recipe box. 

7. I raise chickens. We currently have 15 chickens in our back yard and I enjoy raising them. Sometime soon I will be doing a blog post on them, so stay tuned.

Blog Giveaway

One of the goals for my blog is to increase the number of followers I have. You can see my list of followers on the right hand side of my blog, the fourth item down. In order to increase the number of followers I have I am going to have a blog giveaway. 

The other day when I was at the used book store, I saw a very affordable copy of one of my favorite cookbooks: Christmas from the Heart of the Home by Susan Branch. Now keep in mind that this is a second hand copy, so it will not be brand new and in perfect condition, but I promise you will enjoy it and in plenty of time for the holidays. 

I'm going to give this book away to someone from my followers list, so if you want to be included in the giveaway make sure to become a follower. At the end of the month I will place all of my followers in the contest and draw one person to win this special book. If you are a follower and don't want to be included please let me know and I'll be sure to keep your name out of the hat. :)

Belinda

© Belinda Richardson and Frugal Workshop, 2012.

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do, do without”

Complimentary Tea Bags

I love a cup of hot tea with honey added. For a limited time, Twinings Tea is opening up their pantry and allowing visitors to select three complimentary tea bags of your choice. 

Here is the link:

http://www.twiningsusa.com/pantry/ 

Enjoy!

Belinda

© Belinda Richardson and Frugal Workshop, 2012.

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do, do without”

Homemade Gelatin Cups

Another way we save money at the Frugal Workshop is by making our own gelatin cups with fruit. Remember when I bought the mandarin oranges for 66¢ per jar at IGA? I also bought some Great Value orange gelatin at Walmart for 56¢ per box. Today, I made our own version of gelatin cups with fruit. I made 16 gelatin cups in all for a cost of 30¢ each. Compared to the store bought ones, which sell for anywhere from a little over 50¢ to $1.00 each, our homemade ones are definitely a money saver. These will go in a couple of my lunch boxes this week. They are so good and refreshing especially in this hot weather.

Belinda

© Belinda Richardson and Frugal Workshop, 2012.

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do, do without”

Dinners this Past Week

This is what we've had for dinner this past week at the Frugal Workshop:

Sunday Dinner

Smoked Sausage Links

Greens Beans with Potatoes & Onions

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Monday Dinner

I woke up Monday morning and was still tired, but I had to sub that day, so I had to push through the tiredness. By lunch time I was physically exhausted and by 3 p.m. I was dragging for some reason. In my mind I knew I had some things in the fridge that I could pool together to make dinner. I came home and took out a package of Italian Sausage and cooked that on the stove top while boiling the Penna Rigate pasta I bought from Vitacost last month. I had pizza sauce, pepperoni, black olives, and mozzarella cheese to add to it once it was all cooked. Sort of like a Pizza Pasta dish. It was very filling and everyone loved it! Here is what it looked like:

Pizza Pasta

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Tuesday Dinner

Homemade Chicken Tenders
Mashed Potatoes and Gravy
Homemade Cole Slaw
Sweet Iced Tea

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Wednesday Dinner

Tacos with all the Fixings
Sweet Iced Tea

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Thursday Dinner

Planned Overs from Tuesday's Dinner

Garlic Bread

Sweet Iced Tea

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Friday Dinner

No Photo, Sorry

Homemade Chicken Tenders
Baked French Fries
Cauliflower, Broccoli, Carrot Blend
Baked Beans
Sweet Iced Tea

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Saturday Dinner

Found a package of the Tortilla Pan Sets at a yard sale for 25¢ last week, so I decided to give them a try today and see how they worked.  They work by putting a tortilla in the pan and forming it into the shape and then baking them in the oven to get them crisp. No oil required, which saves money over frying tortillas for tacos. Ours came out very crisp and were a nice change of pace from having tacos as we do enjoy the Taco Salads served in a tortilla bowl at Mexican restaurants.

 

Here is what our dinner looked like when after they were made up:

Taco Salad Bowls

with all the Fixings

Sweet Iced Tea

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There you have a whole week's worth of meals that we had this past week.  ALL breakfasts, lunches (except for daughter's free lunches at school), and dinners were made at home. No eating out at all, which makes me very happy. I'm hoping for a repeat this next week. :)

Belinda

© Belinda Richardson and Frugal Workshop, 2012.

“Use it up, wear it out, make it do, do without”