Cornish Hens with Apples and Lemons

Although this recipe does not follow the pattern for The Suburban Challenge, I found it while exploring my French cookbooks. I translated and converted...and ate. Delish.  So, I'll share.

Serves Four:
1 onion chopped
2 Cornish hens
4 tablespoons canola or corn oil
3 apples, cored and sliced into wedges with their skins left on
zest of 1 lemon
1 bay leaf
1/4 cup raisins optional
1 fresh sprig of rosemary
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
salt and pepper to taste
1/3 cup of dry white wine
1 chicken bouillon
3 carrots, pealed and sliced into rounds
4 green onions diced

1. In a small pan, heat 2 tablespoons of oil. Cook the onion until translucent, about 5 minutes. Set aside.
2. Meanwhile, In a large oval roasting pot (my slow cooker insert can go on the stove top, so I used it) heat the rest of the oil over medium high heat. Place the chickens in the pot and brown them, about five minutes each side. Browning the chicken before you cook it allows the skin to harden on the outside and lock in the chicken's juices while it cooks.
3. Add the onion, apple wedges, and lemon zest and cook for five more minutes. Transfer to a slow cooker. Sprinkle the top of the dish with the cloves and add the bay leaf, raisins if using, white wine, bouillon, and place the Rosemary on top. Cook on low heat for one hour.
4. Add the carrots and green onions and continue to cook for another hour on low.
5. Serve by cutting hen in half down the middle of the breast, neck to butt.

The chicken fell off the bones! In one dish, you have a low fat protein, a fruit serving, and a vegetable serving. Seen here with a serving of rice before Steve split it for the two of us.

Three Ways To Save Money in May

One of the main focuses for this blog is addressing life as a domestic diva on a very tight and strained budget. Saving money is crucial. I have always lived more successfully if I set small, attainable goals. That said, here are my three goals for May:

1. Recycle at Staples. Did you know that Staples will take your used ink cartridges from work and give you store credit in return.  A couple of months ago, I recycled 10 (that is their monthly maximum) cartridges. I got an email coupon for a $20 store voucher.  I can buy new ink cartridges for our home computer this month and not spend a dime! 

2. I wear Aldi Make-up. There I said it, and I am no longer embarrassed. About a year ago when things began to get tight, I bought foundation from Aldi because I could not afford to go to Belk and get my usual Lancome product. Once I discovered that my skin was not going to turn orange and fall off, I also bought their powder, facial lotion, and blush.  Well, a year later, I am still using their product and here is why:

• It is an award wining skincare system that is sweeping Europe.
• It is made in Germany which, as part of the European Union, has the same safety standards as France's Make-up industry - Chanel, Dior, Lancome.....
• Lacura's Q10 Anti-wrinkle Night Cream came out on top in European quality tests alongside major brands such as L'Oreal, Olay and Helena Rubenstein.
• Every product ranges in price from $1.49 - $3.99.  Now you are talking my language. Much better than Lancome's $15.99 - $59.99

So, not only am I no longer ashamed that I had to purchase Aldi make-up, I am going to continue doing it and celebrate the process.

3. I am going to go the whole month of May with no AC or Heat. I am also going to try to use the oven minimally since it is very efficient at heating the kitchen. How am I going to do this? Well, as far as the oven, I have learned to cook almost everything in my slow cooker.  It uses less energy and doesn't heat the kitchen up like the oven does. For the AC, May is usually a mild month. The windows are open and the fans are on. This morning I have some extra time, so I am changing the flannel sheets out for our cotton summer sheets, and I am going to fold the down comforterr up on the end of the bed and use a lighter quilt/coverlet for the month. Since Steve and I are trying to save money to repaint the house and buy new shutters, my goal is to put about $75 dollars back into Steve's checking account from the power bill this month. Our bill last month was $85. So, is $10-$15 out of the question? We shall see.

Suburban Farms

It is time to plant now.
For most of us, we do not have large estates with a staff to maintain our organic, heirloom gardens - such as the case for Martha Stewart and The Fabulous Beekman Boy, my two personal favorites. Some of us have gardens large enough for canning hobbies and some of us just have the Noah's Arc garden (two of each to last the summer). And some of us just go to the farmer's market or Patterson's for the latest harvests.

At any rate...it is time to plant.  Here are pictures of friends and family who have found creative ways, despite living in suburban neighborhoods, to grow their own cornucopias.

Leslie wanted to plant on a particular side of the house because of the sunlight. However, in this spot next to the driveway, she could not dig due to gas lines. Solution - a raised bed. You can fill the bed with compost, top soil, etc... It took her 15 bags of topsoil to fill this bed.

Lacie is building a raised bed. These are easy to do because you don't need footers.  Just nail the corners together.  The point is to just hold some dirt long enough to grow okra and corn and....

My mom did not like the soil or sunlight in her back yard, so she just dug up the front flower bed next to the driveway. Here you can see her Swiss Chard and Romain Lettuce.

Here is another angle of my mom's front yard garden. She has got the stakes for the tomatoes ready.



These are called Earth Boxes. You water the box through the black tube. (Look on the far right corner of the back box to see the tube.) The results are amazing.  I have seen peppers, cucumbers, radishes, and lettuce all come out of these boxes.  In this picture, red lettuce is in the front and green lettuce is in the rear.

Here is a picture of my Aunt Cathy's Earth Boxes. She has broccoli in the first box, tomatoes in the second box, and I forgot what was in third box, HA!

Extreme Couponing on TLC

Have you seen this yet? These women (and men) are amazing.

The show estimated that Americans throw away about 57 Billion dollars of coupons per year. 57 Billion!! That is why Joanie collects 500 coupons a week. She does this by dumpster diving at the recycling center after everyone throws away their coupons from the newspapers. She estimated that she spends 30 hours a week couponing. One lady spoke about how her family of six only budgets $160 a month on groceries.  I think my family of 3 spends around $250 per month.

Joyce, AKA "Coupon Diva", rang up two buggies full of groceries totalling $230.38. After her coupons were rang in she paid $6.92. I find this absolutely remarkable. During her interview she said that someone once told her that, "I just don't have time for coupons." (Sounds familiar). Her response was, "Well Baby, You just ain't been broke enough."  Well Joyce... excuse me.... Coupon Diva, I am broke enough! I want this also!

Apparently the trick is to save all coupons and then match what is on sale each week with collected coupons.
I am ready to take the challenge. Here is my story.....

Sunday morning Steve went out and bought a Sunday Charlotte Observer.  I spend 30 minutes that morning cutting and organizing all the coupons. Mom brought over her circulars from the Independent Tribune later that afternoon, another 15 minutes spent cutting and organizing.
Sunday evening after I put Cam to bed, I took the CVS flyer for the week and spent another 20 minutes matching the sales to coupons I had collected. I then grabbed the calculator to estimate how much I would spend.  My total came to $91. So, I went back through the pile and eliminated the larger items - medicines, etc..- that I didn't need and reduced my expected bill to $20.
Monday afternoon, I went to CVS with coupons and flyer and made my purchases.  While I was there, I reduced my list by two items because the sales were not as good as it looked. This took around 15 minutes.

Total Time Spent:         1 hour 20 minutes
Total Money Spend:     $17.88
Total Money Saved:     $33.48

Here were my scores! Savings like that makes me giggle inside. But here is the question I pose myself and I pose to you - oh anonymous reader - Is it worth it? Are there Coupon Divas reading this blog who can offer their words of wisdom to all of us fighting The Suburban Challenge? Do any of you know of websites to get coupons easily without having to download a coupon maker?

At the end of the day, I spend $17.88 on items I did not need! Did I really save any money?

A Garden "Hoe-In"

The next two-three weeks are going to be very busy if you are planting a garden. There is a lot of work that will need to be done. If you planted Spring Vegetables, it is time to fluff, feed, and harvest.

• All lettuce leaves are ready to start cutting for salads.  You do not have to pull the plant out of the ground, just trim off the amount of leaves you need for a salad and the plant will continue to grow through late June.
• Broccoli, Sprouts, Beets, etc... are not quite ready. Take a hoe and loosen the ground around the plants (see photo) then add fertilizers such as 10,10,10 if you choose.
• If you started a plant from seed such as Carrots, you may need to thin them out.  Look at how close the plants are that actually emerged and move them if they are less than 6 inches apart.  (I usually put a lot of seeds in the ground since not all of them properly germinate. I have no idea how many will actually sprout and succeed.)

In this photo, I have loosened the dirt around my broccoli and applied 10, 10, 10 fertilizer.

Get ready for Summer Vegetables:

• Time to plant cucumbers, beans, peppers, squash, zucchini, and tomatoes.
• Start your herb gardens.  Keep in mind that Sage, Thyme, Rosemary, and Oregano will not die during the winter and will only keep getting larger each year.  Choose a part of your yard, close to the kitchen, where they will not be tilled or plowed up next year.  My herbs are mingled in with my rose garden along the patio wall. Basil, Parsley, Cilantro, and Chives will all die with the first frost but grow great in pots close to the back door.  You want to be able to get to your herbs when it is pretty, when its raining, or if its dark so you can continue cooking.
• Plant, and watch it grow! You will find that plants are not the only things blooming!

Lemon Oregano Chicken

"Poulet Marine au Citron et a l'origan"

A simple marinade can go a long way. However, sometimes making marinades from scratch can be very costly. Oils, vinegars and fresh herbs are not always cheap. If you do not have an herb garden, the little plastic pouches of fresh herbs run $3-4 each at the grocery store. My suggestion is to bulk up. If you begin making three-four batches of marinade at a time you will make the most of each ingredient you have to purchase. (I can't recall how many times I bought a packet of basil, used enough for the one tablespoon in the recipe, and then watched the rest rot away over the next three weeks while I searched for other recipes needing fresh basil.) This recipe calls for one lemon. It is more cost effective to buy a bag of lemons. Therefore, I recommend making three-four batches of the following marinade and storing it in the fridge (it will become solid but will return to a liquid after 30 minutes at room temperature) or tossing it into a bag of chicken before freezing. 

One batch of marinade:
1/3 cup olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 teaspoon fresh oregano, finely chopped
1 teaspoon fresh thyme, finely chopped
1 tablespoon honey
zest of one lemon
juice of one lemon
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Whisk all ingredients together in a bowl.

For The Suburban Challenge I made three batches and did the following:
1. Marinated chicken wings for the grill.
2. Placed a batch in a plastic bag with three chicken breast and froze it for a latter date.
3. Cooked it in a Slow Cooker with rice: I mixed 3 cups of chicken broth with 1.5 cups of rice. I then placed the rice into a slow cooker with the marinated chicken breast on top of the mixture dumping all of the marinade into the crock. I cooked it in the slow cooker for 2 hours on high. Alternatively, you could cook in a casserole at 350 for 50 minutes, or until the rice has absorbed all the liquid.

Here is a bag ready for the freezer. Next time Steve wants to grill, I'm ready.

Saturday night's chicken wings.

Individual Chocolate Cake

What?!?!
Can it be true?!?!

My world has been revolutionized! I received an email Tuesday, April 5th, from my dear friend Maureen for a chocolate cake recipe. Upon further review, I noticed that this recipe makes one serving in a coffee cup, in the microwave, and in less than 5 minutes.  Do you realize what this means! I can now have chocolate cake anytime I so choose. It also means that there are going to be more coffee cups in the dishwasher.

Although it has nothing to do with The Suburban Challenge....unless you negotiate the tendency to eat more than one serving of fresh chocolate cake....I will share with you this recipe. May it bless you life as it has enriched mine. (Insert noises of birds chirping.)

5 MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE
4 tablespoons flour
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
3 tablespoons chocolate chips (optional)
A small splash of vanilla extract
1 large coffee mug (MicroSafe)

Add dry ingredients to mug, and mix well.  Add the egg and mix thoroughly.
Pour in the milk and oil and mix well..

Add the chocolate chips (if using) and vanilla extract, and mix again.
Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts.
The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed!
Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired.
EAT ! (this can serve 2 if you want to feel slightly more virtuous)

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3 Ways to Save in April

1. Reuse your plastic baggies. I give full credit for this to my friend Kimberly.  She encouraged me to start turning all my plastic bags inside out, wash them, and reuse them. Not only is it better for our environment, but I haven't bought a box of baggies in almost a year now.

Here is a large bag drying with all the other dishes.
2. www.zulily.com Credit for this idea goes to my cousin Becky King. I was a little skeptical at first. Designer children's dresses for $20 is still $15 over-priced for my budget. However, last week they had Crocs on sale for $15 for the whole family. Now that is a sale! Rather than just being another discount website, you register with zulily and receive the weekly specials via email. Thus, it is one less website to stalk.

3. Collect coupons for one month. Have you never been a coupon queen before? Well, for one month, clip all coupons for products you currently use. The key is "for products you currently use." Sometimes clipping coupons doesn't save you money because you end up buying products you don't normally need and thus spend extra money. At the end of the month, when Harris Teeter or BiLo have double coupon week, cash in. I'll send an A.P.B. out when this occurs.