New Tries and Leprechauns!!

Ok, so as you may recall from my last post, I am really trying to cut back on the amount of shopping at the grocery store.  I have also been trying to make a lot more of what we eat from scratch.  I have been visiting lots of blogs to get food ideas and money-saving tips.  You may have already seen this blog advertised: www.blissfulanddomestic.com.  This family is living off of $14,000 a year, granted they paid cash for their house and have no car payments.  We are not quite there yet:-) However, I am totally impressed with what she is doing with her food budget.  It would basically mean that I would have to cut our budget in half just for groceries, but I am going to give it a try.  That also means that I am making a lot of stuff on my own.  That is fine; I hope I can save money and make healthier stuff in the process. Here are a couple of my attempts this past week!

I made homemade Butternut Squash Ravioli.  It was ok, but honestly, it tasted more like a dessert than dinner.  I put it with salmon, something I knew everyone would eat just in case this didn't go over very well.  I made the dough out of organic wheat flour.  They boys liked the squash inside better than the dough.  I think I will try it again with a different filling.  This would also be excellent with an apple filling for a dessert! I am not going to lie.  This took a lot of time, and I prayed everyone would like it because it was so time consuming.  Unfortunately, it was just ok. 

 

 

This was sooo much better!  Lyndon was not feeling so great today, so I wanted to make him comfort food.  I didn't have the right kind of noodles for chicken noodle soup, but I did have everything for baked potato soup!  This was a big hit!  It, too, was a bit time consuming, but it was worth it. Lyndon had three helpings, Logan had two and Luke ate a few bites (better than most stuff I make).  I consider that a win! 

Here is the recipe if you are interested: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Baked-Potato-Soup-III/Detail.aspx.

My weekend was  pretty exciting too! I found a composter on sale for $35 (it is the little things)!  I have tried to compost in the past by making my own compost container, but it just didn't work out for me.  I have been too cheap to buy one, but I couldn't pass this up.  I am amazed at the list of stuff you can compost!  I just visited few sites to put a list from including this one: http://www.plantea.com/compost-materials.htm.  I am really hoping that my compost will give my gardens a boost this year.  And, I am even more exited to tell you that I snagged several wood pallets to use as garden boxes as I plan to expand my small side-yard garden with the addition of two more garden areas in the back!  I will surely post pics when I get them all set up! 

We also had a wee visitor yesterday...

 

 

 

Decker, the Leprechaun, stopped by late last night for a potty break.  He has visited here a couple of times before and left a huge mess behind.  This time he left a mess, but he also left gold-chocolate coins for the boys.  They were so very determined to catch him this year and made their own traps.  They were disappointed that the traps didn't work, but they got chocolate, so who cares?! I should say that they have each started work on traps for next year...I have to find a place to store them until then.

Have a fabulous week!!