Getting Things Done

I finally perfected a recipe for 100% whole-wheat pancakes . . . one that is #1. easy and #2. fluffy! Here it is- note that you can leave the wheat germ & oat bran out, add more or just use one if you want!



Our boys are gone for the weekend and don't come back until Monday! It's so nice to have a break . . . all of us (houseparents) are always ready for the end of the year about a month before it really IS the end of the year! This little break helps push us through! Today we hung out as a family, did some grocery shopping, read a LOT of books and went for walks. Now that Shannon is in bed and Jer is watching a movie (that I don't want to see), I'm cleaning out the computer. Namely, my favorites folder . . . I have collected quite a long list of blogs that I read or skim through and decided tonight was the night to delete, delete, delete. I need to watch what I spend my time on and I need to make sure that the things I'm reading are worthwhile and not random collections of junk. We'll see how short I can get my list.

I'm also working hard at coming up with ways to save on our grocery budget! You'd think we'd be pretty good in this area because we can eat breakfast & dinner in the cafeteria, but we're not. I don't plan ahead enough. We eat a lot of small meals. And we like to eat healthy. Which often means we don't eat the cafeteria meals! I do a few things right, thought it can be hard or require more work to eat healthy AND cheap.

1. Buy what's in season. A lot of it. Right now that's sweet corn (10 for $2 today!), strawberries (2lbs for $3.50). When asparagus was in season, we ate it every day. I won't buy apples until the fall because it grosses me out to think those poor things have been in storage since last September! If you have a farmer's market that you can go to, even better. Buy a lot and freeze stuff. Or make jam like some of my industrious friends do!

2. Scout out unusual places to get stuff. We like to go to a huge flea market on Saturdays. I just noticed a guy selling honey and got a large mason jar of it for $7. I checked out "raw honey" at Whole Foods (meaning it's unprocessed and not all junked up!) and it was between $12 and $14. And it didn't taste that special. The honey that I got was labeled "Orange Blossom Honey." And you probably don't believe me, but when I opened the jar, it smelled like orange blossoms!

** I should mention here that I don't normally even like honey! Well now, one of my favorite treats is this honey on toast! mmmmm!

I'm spending more time online these days hunting up good (meaning tried and true) recipes and ideas. But I think my time will pay-off in the form of saving money, and that's NEVER a bad thing!

Happy Memorial Day!

I finally perfected a recipe for 100% whole-wheat pancakes . . . one that is #1. easy and #2. fluffy! Here it is- note that you can leave the wheat germ & oat bran out, add more or just use one if you want!