This week, I had time to do a lot of things in my home. Many of them saved money. One thing is did is made home-made basil-ranch salad dressing. I had been to the store twice already and suddenly realized that we were running extremely low on ranch dressing, so rather than head out yet again, I made some. All it involved was some buttermilk, mayonnaise, salt, pepper and 3 cubes of pesto Rob made last summer and froze in ice cube trays. Everyone loved it at my sister’s house at Family Sunday Dinner.
I made homemade sea foam candy, and dipped it into my bargain milk chocolate chips mixed with my 49c box of dipping chocolate that was scored after some holiday last spring. I got the recipe from Taste of Home’s website and it was called Angel Food Candy. I want it for a gift for my niece, who loves that particular kind of candy and buys it every time we visit the beach. I’ll have to say I have a much higher regard for candy makers that supply those shops now. If I wanted to become proficient, I would need a lot more practice!
Rob stumbled upon a deal on bananas–these bundles for 50c/each. He bought 10.
I lost about 3 or 4 bananas that were so bruised they were unusable. The rest were like this inside:). I made banana bread, froze some for smoothies, we ate a bunch and I made frozen banana punch base for Christmas.
We are doing one more week of homeschool before Christmas break. I’m loving some of the books we are reading aloud in right now. Patsy just finished the book “Around the World in 80 Days.” I told her that when she finished, she could watch the movie. I ordered it from the library and we waited a couple of days. An old version has come in, and she is watching it, then we will watch the newer version when it comes in, if she wishes.
There were some good grocery deals this week. We got eggs for 88c/dozen. There were loaves of bread for $1. We scored several items from the Whoo-Hoo rack at Fred Meyers. Several of them were added to the Christmas gift pile since they were not even close to being outdated, and were tasty snacks. We are having quite a few extra guests at Christmas this year, so I’ve been picking up small gifts when ever I find them. It’s going to be fun!
Other than making fudge once or twice, candy making has always seemed rather intimidating to me. It sounds like you had some excellent savings last week. Your “whoo-hoo” rack made me smile. Gotta love it.
Boy, that Whoo-Hoo rack has helped me out a lot this holiday season. I simply cannot account for the fact that some things were there, with pull dates months from now, but they were. Since I give food items to certain people as gifts, I was thrilled to find some things that were so yummy just waiting for me to grab….I just used some dipping chocolate I got from there a while back that was only 49c/package and was still officially good until next March!
The ranch dressing sounds yummy. A great aunt of mine who is now deceased had a candy making business and everything she made was so, so good. One of my favorites was just craisins stirred into melted chocolate and dropped by the spoonful. She used premium chocolate so I am sure that was key. Those extra gifts tucked away are a lifesaver at Christmas. I have two boxes of chocolates for just in case and it is peace of mind!
At this point, what I have left that is not accounted for is a large tin of popcorn and one small fleece blanket! Yikes! So, the guest list has room for 2 more and then…..I will be getting creative. Seriously, I think all the kids that have a friend have already invited them and one niece’s friend just told her she can’t come, so I’m probably ok:). I do love that the kids that have grown up feel comfortable to bring their friends around. It means a lot to me that they feel that way.
Very creative on your dressing. Your candy looks yummy. I made brown sugar fudge yesterday and boiled custard (here in Ky, boiled custard is a drink similar to eggnog). I plan to make other goodies today. Glad you are getting to spend some time at home for a change & hopefully relax a bit. Hope you have a great holiday season.
That sounds yummy! I’ve never heard of boiled custard before, but I do love eggnog! Merry Christmas to you, too:)
NEVER HEARD OF BOILED CUSTARD!!! I make it all the time when I have milk that is a bit old because heating it keeps it from souring. I use raw, unpasteurized milk.
Take a two-quart pitcher that will fit into your microwave, add 4 – 6 eggs, 1 cup sugar, fill with milk, blend with a hand blender then put in the microwave until it begins to simmer. Take out, blend again, add 2 tablespoons (yes, 2 tablespoons) of vanilla. Chill. You can add more or less sugar, eggs, milk or vanilla.
Recipe #2
Add 1 of the big packages of instant vanilla pudding mix and 1 tablespoon of vanilla into a 2-quart pitcher of milk. Blend with a hand-blender and chill.
Egg nog usually has liquor, boiled custard does not. My family loves it.
Jeannie@GetMeToTheCountry
Yum! I have to admit, I’ve never made my own eggnog, either. On the rare occasions that we have it, we just buy it, and never add any kind of liquor. We do usually cut it in half with milk because the purchased kind is often very, very sweet and rich.