Salmon Cakes

This is a simple recipe that is quick, and uses very convenient canned salmon.  Canned salmon is a lot cheaper than fresh, and is packed with heart healthy omega threes.

1-14 or 15 oz can of salmon
2 eggs
1/2 cup of bread crumbs
4 tablespoons finely chopped red pepper
4 tablespoons of finely chopped onion
Seasoning of your choice

Crumble the salmon into a small dish.  Add the eggs, chopped red pepper, and chopped onion.  Add seasoning your prefer (I go through my cupboard and throw in whatever sounds good)  Mix well.  This is going to be pretty soupy.  Mix in bread crumbs so that excess moisture is absorbed.  Divide and pat into 8-10 cakes.

In a hot skillet coated with oil, add salmon cakes.  Cook on each side until golden brown, and serve while hot.

I like to eat mine with cheap yellow mustard, or with a dollop of honey mustard.

Yogurt with fruit or with frozen fruit.

This also is a very simple recipe.  And it is a great way to use frozen or canned fruit to provide a full fruit serving in your day, especially when  you can't find fresh fruit at reasonable prices.  It is a lot healthier than those yogurt cups that have ... well... basically a squirt of fruit jelly in them to flavor them, which is what you are buying in those flavored yogurt cups.

To do this the least expensive way, buy plain yogurt (or vanilla yogurt) in large tubs or make your own homemade yogurt... or scrounge stores for cheap yogurt cups, like the 25¢ a cup Stoneyfield Farms Greek yogurt cups I found at Amelia's this week.

If I am making yogurt up for lunches or breakfast for the week, I will line up my bowls (with lids) and put in about 1/2 cup frozen fruit, top with 1/2-3/4 cup yogurt, and whatever sweetener I would like to use (if using plain yogurt... the vanilla is already sweetened.) I put the lids on, and put them in my fridge. When I go to eat them, I stir them up, and eat.  My favorite is frozen black cherries, though they are hard to find inexpensively. This is also awesome with frozen mango (which is a clean 15 food), frozen strawberries, blueberries, or raspberries.  I also like frozen peach slices.

However, recently, I found an even cheaper alternative. I have cans of pineapple tidbits I bought for 75¢ at Target, which contain 5-1/2 cup servings.  At 15¢ a serving, it is hard to get frozen fruit at this price.  However, pineapple and milk often will curdle when put together, so I package my pineapple separately from my yogurt... when I go to eat it, I just pour the pineapple over the yogurt and eat (I do mix some sweetener into the plain yogurt), rather than mixing it all together.  With my organic Greek yogurt find this week, I now have organic yogurt and a fruit serving from the clean 15 list for 40¢.

Cucumber Salad Recipe

This week, Aldi's had a great deal on cucumbers... 29¢ each.  I can remember the day when it was easy to come by cucumbers at 4/$1 or 5/$1, but in recent years, the price has jumped often to 75¢ or more each.  I was tickled to get them at this price this week. here, you can see them nestled on top of the bags of carrots I also stocked up on at Aldi's for 49¢ a bag.

I live in PA dutch country, and we like our sweets and sours, so this is a basic "pickling" recipe I use over and over... however, you do need to adjust the sugar/vinegar ratio to suit your own personal taste or either sweeter or more vinegary.

"Pickling Juice"
1 cup water
1 cup vinegar
1 cup sugar
salt and pepper to taste
Mix all together in a large bowl until all sugar is dissolved.

For this simple salad:

3-4 cucumbers sliced very thin (if waxed, like they are at Aldi's peel first.  If not waxed, I like to let the shell on... and I use my pampered chef slicer to get this very very thin)
1 onion, sliced very thin.

Put them in the pickling juice, refrigerate,  and let sit for at least 24 hours.

I also use the same pickling juice recipe for tripe, picked heart or pickled tongue.  Yes, these are PA dutch delicacies as well... however, tripe, tongue and heart are difficult to get at decent prices these days!

Pantry and Freezer Challenge week:

I've talked about the fact that some weeks I spend more than $25 on groceries, and some weeks less. The last several I have spent more (though the menus came out to be $25 or less per week), some weeks I spend less. When I have multiple weeks in a row where I have spent more, I do a pantry and freezer challenge.  This challenges me to use up the food I have stockpiled... there is nothing worth than throwing out food because it has gotten to old.

To do this, first I look in the fridge... does anything in there need cleaned out?  Then I look to my cupboards and freezer.  What is there that I could stand to use up?

I still have a pork loin and tub of mashed potatoes in my fridge from the awesome Target deals the other week, so they definitely need to get used up.  I also have cabbage and baby carrots, since I seriously stocked up on both of them recently.

While my goal was to just spend $10 a week, I found 1/2 gallons of organic milk at Amelia's for $1.99. I now have 4 of them in my freezer, as organic milk deals are hard to find.

It is not the most inventive menu, and very few recipes will be needed for this, but here it is:

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
Breakfast	Breakfast	Breakfast	Breakfast	Breakfast	Breakfast	Breakfast
oatmeal with milk, 35¢	bagel with peanut butter 45¢	yogurt w/frozen mango, 48¢	egg and toast, 20¢	oatmeal with milk, 35¢	banana smoothie, 35¢	Homemade Latte70¢
Mid-Morning	Mid-Morning	Mid-Morning	Mid-Morning	Mid-Morning	Mid-Morning	Mid-Morning
Lunch	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch
egg salad sandwich, 45¢	Salad, 55¢	Salad, 55¢	egg salad sandwich, 45¢	Salad, 55¢	tomato soup, 30¢	EAT OUT
carrots, 10¢	Pork Loin, 75¢	1/2 can tuna, 35¢	carrots, 10¢	1/2 can tuna, 35¢	grilled cheese, $1.20
cantaloupe, 25¢	dressing, 15¢	cantaloupe, 25¢	cantaloupe, 25¢	cantaloupe, 25¢	cantaloupe, 25¢
	orange 40¢	dressing, 15¢		dressing, 15¢
Dinner	Dinner	Dinner	Dinner	Dinner	Dinner	Dinner
Pork Loin, 75¢	Baked Chicken thights, 76¢	Salmon Cakes $1	Spaghetti w/meat sauce, $1	Hamburgers 75¢	Scrounge for leftovers	Frozen pizza, purchased with coupons, $2
Mashed potatoes (from a tub) 0¢	rice 15¢	salad w/ honey mustard dressing, 70¢	salad w/ dressing 70¢	oven fries, 25¢
cucumber salad, 20¢	Cabbage, 25¢	baked potato w/butter 25¢		cucumber salad, 20¢
Snack	Snack	Snack	Snack	Snack	Snack	Snack
yogurt w/fruit	yogurt w/fruit	yogurt w/fruit	yogurt w/fruit	yogurt w/fruit	NA	NA
0.48	0.48	0.48	0.48	0.48
Cost	Cost	Cost	Cost	Cost	Cost	Cost
Total cost per week:					$22.52

Awesome finds at Aldi's and Amelia's today!

One of the areas I struggle with is finding low cost organic dairy OR at the very least, from cows not treated with growth hormone. I have a female issue that is definitely affected by the hormones.

Well, at Amelia's today, I hit the jackpot... 1/2 gallons of Horizon Organic fat free milk at $1.99, and Stoneyfield Farms 4 packs of non fat plain Greek Yogurt for 99¢!

I have never done it before, but I have read multiple times you can freeze milk.  I bought 4 half gallons. I figured at that price, it is worth a try.  The yogurt will be used for breakfast and snacks this week.

Aldi's has some AWESOME produce deals.  Artisan lettuce for $1.49, grape tomatoes for 89¢, baby carrots for 49¢, and cucumbers for 29¢. Also a three pack of peppers for $1.99.  Fresh mushrooms were also 69¢ for an 8 oz pack.  They also have 8 packs of whole grain hamburger rolls and hot dog rolls for $1.29.  I bought some for the freezer, as I find their whole wheat products tend to disappear pretty fast.

After a week of salt and starch, I am ready for some lighter fare!

 I should have some weekly menus out by tomorrow, focusing on what is in my pantry/freezer, and the fresh produce and dairy products I scored today.

Pantry Challenge!

Over the last several weeks, I have spent more than $25 a week for groceries.  That isn't a bad thing... it left me stock up on some staples, and take advantage of some really good sales.  Because of that, my menus for next week are going to be developed around what I have, not what I can buy (unless I find something too good to pass up).  So, I am going to aim to spend no more than $10 a week for the next two weeks, mostly on perishable items, such as milk, fresh fruits and veggies, and bread.

While I can provide you with a weekly menu, the purpose of my blog isn't so much for you to follow it each step as to learn how you need to shop, stock, and plan so that you too can achieve the same savings.  You will not be able to duplicate everything that I do. For example, I often buy meats that are reduced for sale that day. You are not going to be able to find these. Or you may not have a Aldi's or the same access to farmers markets that I do.

The other thing having a pantry challenge does is help us from developing a stash of food that never gets used and eventually goes bad. I have been very guilty of this in the past, especially since I love to grocery shop, and really hate to cook.  Together, the two can add up to lots of wasted food.

Take a moment to look in your refrigerator.  What is in there that needs used?  What do you like to eat that uses those ingredients?  What did you put in your freezer a year ago that might not ever see the light of day?  What about your cupboards?  How many canned goods to you have that are more than a year old?

What kind of meals can you plan from YOUR pantry this coming week?  Let us know in the comments below!

The picture?  I only wish I produced something like this from my kitchen. This was at Hash House A Go Go in Las Vegas, Nevada, and a meal feature on Man Vs. Food.  This is a pile of luscious, buttery smashed potatoes topped with a split biscuit, scrambled eggs, spinach, bacon, sage fried chicken breasts, chipotle cream... all topped off with grilled cheese.   For a Vegas meal, it was inexpensive and enough for 2 (or even 3) people.

I've set a financial goal... now what?

Once you've decided on a specific SMART goal (see yesterdays post), now what?

Setting the goal is just one part of the process.

Here is an overview of my goal:

Specific:  I want to be debt free.  The first  goal in achieving this is paying off my vehicle loan.
Measurable:   My current pay off is: $16,363.96  When I started this pay off it was: $17,941.03
Attainable:  To make this doable, I need to determine where I can find this money in my monthly budget. Through a lot of number crunching, I would have to pay off $1,196.07 cents a month.  My normal car payment is just around $400, so that means, I need to figure out how to come up with an "extra"$796 a month to make this goal.  This will not be easy, but if I am extremely frugal, there is a good probability I can do this.  Cutting my grocery budget to $25 a week gives me $200 a month to put toward my goal. Now I have to find $600 more.  I have eliminated cable, salon hair cuts/colors (and do it at home, myself. I am happy to report I am very happy with my hair cut and color), decreased my spending allowance,etc.  It will be tight, and I will need to focus.  
Relevant:  It is extraordinarily important to me to not have this debt.  I want to flee from debt the way the gazelle flees from the hand of hunter.  
Time bound:  1.25 years.  This isn't forever.  After this time period, I can ease up, and increase my 401K contributions so that I can hit another long term financial goal... retire without worry.  

However, if all I do is write it down, what I have is a nice cozy dream on paper.  

Achieving a goal takes consistent action.  Like most goals, it is not achievable overnight.  So what I need is persistence.  My pastor would call it Grit.  (If you want a good book on persistence, I would highly recommend The Grit Project by Gerry Stoltzfoos.  The kindle version is $2.99, or a hard copy is $9 on Amazon)  Or, another recommendation... reflect on the tortoise and the hare.  The tortoise won because he was persistent and stayed the course.  

I need to not take my eyes off the finish line. I need to want to reach that finish line more than I want cable TV, more than I want Vera Bradley luggage, and more than I want to eat out every night.  When I veer off course, I need to immediately get back on track.  

One of the ways I have done this is to try to set up a system of accountability.  One of my accountability systems is writing this blog. Some of you can use your spouse as an accountability partner if they are on the same page.  Some will have a friend who can do this.  Quite frankly, my friends think I have lost my mind.  

Set up a routine schedule with your accountability partner (or system) so that you are forced to revisit your goals frequently, and make the necessary adjustments to stay on track. 

This will not always be 100% perfect.  For example, over the last year I have had many respiratory infections.  Birds were making nests in, on, or near all of my window A/C units, and there was really no good way to clean them.  I do not tolerate hot, humid weather well.  My health is most important.   I replaced all 7 window units to the tune of $1,100 just this past weekend.  Guess what?  I am not going to be making much progress on my car pay off over the next few weeks because I have to pay for A/C units.    A large tree in my backyard also came down with a disease, and my guess is it will cost me $500 to have it taken down.  I don't want it falling down on the neighbors or doing damage to my property, so I have to divert the money to this project.  

But part of making progress toward your goals is being flexible, and not using obstacles as an excuse for not running toward the finish line as fast and as hard as you can.  

The picture?   A true testament to persistence, little by little.  Taken this past September at Grand Canyon National Park. If you've never seen it, it is an awe inspiring site.  It boggles the mind that the persistent, continuous movement of water carved those canyons into the rocks.  Persistence pays off in the end.  

How to set a financial goal

We typically all have financial goals.  The problem is, for most of us, they are to vague: "I want to be rich", "I want to retire early", "I want to be debt free".  They are all goals, and they are better than no goals.  But goals setting and goal attainment have been studied, and there is a clear path to setting goals and achieving them.

I've had a goal of getting out of debt for a long time.  And I've made progress on it for a long time. But until I broke it down into specific steps, and put some clearly stated objectives and timelines with them, I didn't make a lot of progress. Once I started making clearly definable goals, noticeable progress started.

There are multiple methods of setting goals.  I will review one strategy, and that is setting SMART goals

Specific-- that is your goals should be specific.  While my over all greater goal is to be debt free, right now I am focusing on paying off my car early. I have broken this down into even further steps to make this achievable, and you are on my blog about cutting my grocery expenses to $25 a week in order to make this happen. I am also cutting spending in many other areas of my life as well, which you don't see here.
Measurable--my current goal is easy to measure. At any time, I can check my car payoff amount, and compare that to how much shorter it is making the length of my loan. So far, it is about 4 months shorter.
Attainable--this means, the goal actually has to be something you can accomplish.  If my goal were to be to pay off my car AND save $25,000 in one year, on my income, it would simply be IMPOSSIBLE.
Relevant--this means it is important to me and brings me some worth. Because it is relevant and worthy to me, I will be willing to put the time and effort into achieving it.
Time bound-- goals without an end date are likely to never be reached. In this case, I want to do it in 1.25 years.  I may be able to hit it in 1 year, but 1.25 years is more realistic.

Studies have shown if you write down your goals, you are more likely to achieve them. I often have a goal list taped up right next to my computer.  Every year, I set goals for leisure/fun, personal growth, financial, professional growth, and health.

I have found if I focus intently on one area, another slips. Right now, I have two goals... spend $25 a week AND lose weight. Right now, I have been struggling on getting the two to balance.  I know it is possible, but I haven't taken the time to figure it out (a bagel with peanut butter is cheaper than yogurt for breakfast, but it has a LOT more calories).  This is going to be something I focus on in the next couple of weeks.

I don't recommend having more than ONE goal that takes a lot of focus and energy, unless you are one of those rare people with lots of extra time on your hands.

Pickled Red Beet Eggs.

I talked about this in an early post this week.

Here is the official recipe:

1 dozen hard boiled eggs, cooled and peeled
2 cups sugar (more or less, depending if you like a really sweet pickle, or a more sour pickle)
2 cups apple cider vinegar
2 cans of whole peeled beets, juice drained and reserved.
2 cups beet juice from the can (you will probably  need to add a little water to get the full 2 cups)

In a medium sized bowl, mix liquid ingredients and sugar until sugar is dissolved.  Add eggs and top with beets (this helps keep the eggs down in the liquid).  Let sit for a minimum of 24 hours in the refrigerator.  The ones here have been in there about 36 hours.  The longer they sit, the further the pickling juice makes it into the eggs.

These are delicious on their own. I also loved to make the sandwich out of sliced pickled eggs and mayo on some whole grain bread.  The eggs are also great chopped into salads.

If you painted and hid hard boiled eggs, this is a great way to use them up!

Judy and Bob's rice and beans.

My friend Judy married Bob. Bob's favorite meal of his mother's was rice and beans, so Judy learned to make it.  When she invited me over for a dinner of rice and beans, I thought she was nuts.  I couldn't imagine it even being fit to eat.  My only other exposure to beans were baked beans. I like them baked in a sweet tangy sauce.. but bland beans and rice?  I thought I would quietly suffer through the meal.  That was at least 15 years ago... and I am still making rice and beans!  I might add, this recipe has convinced many people that rice and beans is a gourmet treat!

If you haven't visited the ethnic section of your grocery store, this is the time to do so.  Goya is a popular brand, and this dish is not very tasty if you don't use these ingredients.  The Sofrito is a tomato cooking base, and Recaito is a Cilantro cooking base.  The contents of these jars mold pretty quickly after you open them, so when I open a jar, I spoon the leftover into ice cube trays, and then pop the frozen cubes into freezer bags for future use.  The sazon Goya is in an orange box, and comes in individual packets.

3-15 oz cans dark red kidney beans
1-15 oz can diced tomatoes
1 onion, diced
1 cup diced ham
1 heaping tablespoon of Goya Recaito
1 heaping tablespoon of Goya Sofrito
1 packets of Sazon Goya con culantro y achiote

Simmer all ingredients together (except ham) for one hour, or alternately cook in a crock pot on low for 8 hours.  Stir in ham and heat through.

Serve over cooked white rice.

Alternately, if you don't have leftover ham, you can simmer a ham hock in the mixture, remove ham hock, pick meat off and put back in.  In a pinch, I've used Goya Jambon seasoning, which adds ham flavor as well.

Ham Pot Pie, Pennsylvania Dutch Style

In my neck of the woods, pot pie is NOT a deep dish baked pie.  It meat broth, meat, onions, potatoes, .pot pie noodles, which are typically a thick homemade noodle,  and sometimes hard cooked eggs.. and parsley.  Chicken is probably the most well known, but my favorite is ham.  If I make a ham, it is a pretty sure bet the next thing on the menu is ham pot pie... unless I have an abundance of green beans, which then lends to another PA dutch classic, Ham and green beans.

The thing with pot pie is this: I never use a recipe. In fact, the way I learned to make pot pie noodles was be requesting to watch several people make them.  And being the lazy cook I am these days, and I am usually making this after a large meal for family, I generally am tired enough to depend on bagged pot pie noodles which are easy to get here, especially in Amish markets.  They are much more expensive though.  You will be able to tell by my "recipe" for this meal, I don't typically use a recipe. :)

Ingredient list:
ham bone
left over ham bits
4 potatoes, diced (or more.  My dad loves lots of potatoes. I don't)
2 onions, diced
6 hard cooked eggs, chopped
dried parsley, 1/4 c
Pot pie noodles

In a soup pot, cover your ham bone with water and simmer. If you have leftover drippings from cooking a ham, add that too.   After simmering, remove bone and strain excess fat.  Add parley, onions and potatoes, bring to a boil

Meanwhile, make your pot pie noodles:

     2 c. flour

1/2 tsp. salt
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 egg
1/3 c. water
Boiling pot pie broth

Mix oil into dry ingredients. Stir in lightly beaten egg and water. On a floured board, roll out as thin as possible and cut in 2" squares. 

By now, your broth with the potatoes and onions in it should be at a rolling boil:
Drop in squares 1 by 1. Stir with a spoon after each addition and make sure you are not going so quickly the boil stops. Dough squares must be covered by liquid. Stir again and cover pot and cook for at least  20 minutes. If you must add water, add "boiling" water.  When it is done, the noodles will be tender and the broth will be thick and gravy like.  

After noodles are cooked, stir in bits of ham meat and chopped hard boiled eggs.  I usually make a pretty meaty pot pie, so I use the bits I scraped from the bone and the pieces from carving that are on the smaller side.  Heat through and serve.  When serving leftovers, it often helps to add a tablespoon of water or so. 

This is almost always served with a side of coleslaw in Lancaster County, PA. 

This is a rich, yummy meal, and the precise meal I cried over after coming home from Haiti... because I was rich enough to have 6 eggs in my refrigerator.  Even with a budget of "just" $25 a week for groceries, I am so grateful for the bounty that fills me refrigerator and cupboard.