My husband made up the title for this sauce.  It’s his recipe and I just wrote it down.  Only a little bit of encouraging was needed.  It’s so good you’ll want a spoon.  A big spoon.  I spilled some on the counter and considered licking it off but stopped myself.  (Please don’t tell my kids I considered this because they’d be so busted if I caught them doing this.)  When this BBQ sauce gets cooking, our kitchen smells so good.  Now that we’ve got a batch, I’ll have to come up with something delicious to go along with the sauce.  The sauce is the best part of the meal.  You’ll love this, too, especially if you like garlicky, tangy BBQ sauces.

Here are his tips and why you should make this recipe…

• It’s easy to make
• Use it to baste whatever you’re grilling (chicken, beef, pork or shrimp)
• Serve extra on the side, at the table
• Best served warm but is still good cold

Best Ever Garlicky Tangy BBQ Sauce

Ingredients

• 3 Tablespoons butter
• 2 teaspoons canola oil
• 5 or 6 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
• 1/4 cup onion, chopped
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/2 teaspoon Smokey Cajun seasoning
• 1 teaspoon liquid smoke (any flavor you like, I go with mesquite or hickory)
• 2 teaspoons Frank’s hot sauce
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire
• 2 teaspoons pepper, freshly ground
• 2 1/2 cups ketchup (organic or other without high fructose corn syrup)
• 1 Tablespoon molasses
• juice of 1/2 lemon

Directions

On a stove top, over medium heat:

1. Melt butter in medium saucepan and add oil.
2. Add onions and saute until soft, several minutes.
3. Add garlic and stir together.
4. Add remaining ingredients.
5. Saute for about 20 minutes.
6. Let cool and enjoy.  Sauce is best served a little warm.

Tips for best ever garlicky, tangy BBQ sauce

• Use ketchup that does not have high fructose corn syrup in it.  This makes the recipe too sweet.
• When using the last of your ketchup, add 2-3 Tablespoons water (or beer!) to jar and shake well to empty container completely.  Add this to your saucepan.
• If you like thicker sauce, sauté for 20 minutes with the lid off of the saucepan.  If you prefer thinner sauce, leave the lid on the saucepan.
• Cool and serve at room temperature or warm.
• Store in covered container in refrigerator.
• May be made ahead and frozen.

Variations include adding 1 teaspoon chipotle peppers in Adobo sauce for a smokier, spicier, Mexican influenced version.  Or, you could add 2 teaspoons of Old Bay if you’re using this sauce on shrimp.

Don’t forget your big spoon with this recipe.  You can eat the sauce on its own but you really shouldn’t.  Thanks for sharing, honey!

Here’s a PDF version of the recipe: Best Ever Garlicky Tangy BBQ Sauce

What’s your favorite sauce for grilling?  Do you have a super-secret recipe?

Go Gingham Related Links:

Chipotle peppers in Adobo sauce
Spicing it up in the kitchen
Serve with this side: corn and black bean salad
Grilled Thanksgiving turkey

The goal in living frugally is to understand where you’re spending (or saving) your precious bucks and ensure it’s what is most important to you. The only way to achieve this is to take a hard look at what you are spending each month.

Looking at your account on-line doesn’t count as “balancing” your checkbook.  Yes, you can find out your balance but that doesn’t give you the entire picture.

Why you should balance your checkbook

1. Forces you to know and understand  the details.  You have to be able to see your statement, hold it and analyze it. Get a paper statement from your bank mailed to you.  They still mail statements.
2. Focus is kept on the pulse of what is happening in your household.  This is done relatively painlessly if you do it regularly.  Even if you don’t have an elaborate budget, when balancing your checkbook you get a clear picture of your finances.
3. Facilitates tracking and planning of your household budget.  Complete, accurate records allow for ease of planning going forward.  You’ll be provided with a consistent record of household spending which is useful in tracking for budgeting purposes.  If you don’t record everything, each month, you won’t have a complete record from which to summarize expenses into meaning categories (utilities, food, entertainment, etc.) to see where you are spending.
4. Fundamentally, you learn from the process.  You will gain knowledge and confidence as you go through it.  The smallest part is the actual balancing.

And because these little budgeting talks are so fun for me to write, I’ve got a few more points for you to consider.  Don’t forget about the errors that occur.  Banks (albeit infrequently) make mistakes and you want to know where you stand so you don’t bounce checks when those automatic deductions kick in.

Extra Credit

Get help.  If you don’t know how to balance your account, there are directions on the backside of your statement.  Also, your local banker would be thrilled to give you a lesson.  You can also check About.com for a step-by-step tutorial.

Simplify.  To make the whole process easier, limit the number of accounts you have as much as possible.  Are you a couple? Have one account, one statement, working and saving together.  It’s called teamwork, people!

Charge it!  I know it sounds counter-intuitive but don’t pay with cash.  Getting cash out with your ATM card is a black-hole of cash expenditures. Pay with something that gives you a paper trail.  Have only one credit card and pay it off every single month.  Or, if you know you don’t have the money to pay it off, don’t buy it.

Just get started.  Record things as they happen.  Find your method that works and stick to it.  If you haven’t been balancing your checkbook, you need to start somewhere.  Begin today by recording what left your bank account (ATM withdraws, auto deduction for utilities, etc.) or entered (paycheck deposits, etc.) your account.  This is the first step in making it so much easier when your next statement comes around.

Balancing your checkbook is an easy thing to skip.  It’s not the actual balancing that helps you.  Like most things in life it’s the learning through the process that is the biggest benefit.  All of the work, effort, and learning comes from the tracking of your expenses, not actually doing the balancing of your account.

So, balance that checkbook of yours and if you run into me on the street, don’t be embarrassed to tell me you do it regularly.  Be proud and shout it out, “I balance my checkbook!” I’ll high-five you or fist bump or whatever the latest expression of excitement is.  And, when you’re done, indulge in a few chocolate covered almonds…that’s how I like to celebrate this task being completed.

Go Gingham Related Links:

Frugal living is the key to saving
Money and your honey – relationships and money
Just get started – sometimes that’s the hardest part
The problem with budgeting
Living frugally by choice – yep, that’s me!
Don’t forget the big picture – how finances figure in frugality

I do love the finer things in life – lovely handbags, cashmere, finely made clothing, a nicely decorated home – but I don’t like to squander money or resources.  Purchasing items second-hand makes the most sense for the environment and my wallet but it does  require patience.  These are my tips for shopping second hand and they’re all very frugal, fancy and fun – all very Go Gingham!

Buy second hand first shopping tips

• Find out when a sale ends and go back when things are half off.  At estates sales, this generally means Sunday afternoon.  At garage sales, it can be past a certain time the very same day.  When I have a garage sale, I want stuff gone so I usually go half off after 12 noon.
• Go back the day after the sale and see if the people have a dumpster.  Sadly, lots of estate sale companies will get a dumpster and pitch what doesn’t sell.  Dumpsters are great places to look for items after a sale.

• When arriving at a sale, ask if there are any free items.  There’s usually a box of free stuff and it’s filled with broken items that are easily fixed.
• At estate sales, go to the basement for the best deals on tools and broken furniture that can be easily fixed.  The first words out of my big mouth upon arriving at an estate sale are, “Where’s the basement?”  Estate sales with basements are my favorite!

• Picture frames, sewing notions, craft projects, handbags, dishes, kitchen appliances are all good items to buy at estate and garage sales.  A tour of my house with a stop in the kitchen to see my second-hand beauties and you may never buy new again!
• No one should ever buy holiday decorating items and gift wrap new – it’s always for sale second-hand.  Yes, when I was a PTA president we had fundraisers that sold gift wrap and I bought some but honestly there’s no need to buy it new.  Between the never-been-opened-gift-wrap and old maps, you will find all of your gift wrapping needs met.
• Don’t turn your nose up at “free stuff” that’s on the street corner.  Half the furnishings in my home (certainly all of the chairs that are scattered around – but we won’t talk about my chair obsession today!) are from a corner free pile or when we lived in Washington, D.C. from bulky trash day which meant you could put out just about anything for trash collection.  We used to call it “alley shopping” back then.

It also helps if you like to shop, which I do!  I just shop at garage sales, estate sales, second-hand stores.  Find a friend or go on a date with your sweetie and go shopping – second hand, first!

What’s your favorite spot to shop?  What extra tips do you have?  Do you like second-hand shopping, too?

Go Gingham Related Links:
Shopping at “Goodwill Bins”
Estate sale finds: vintage wrapping paper
Light lanterns for garden – from the “Goodwill Bins”
The claw for the claw foot tub that got traded – even better than buying!
Our library book return basket is also second-hand
Hello handbag – a very stylishly frugal purse bought at an estate sale
Wine charms – from an estate sale

Hello Handbag

You started out as an estate sale reject and now you’re a coveted item.

Women eye you and tell me they have “handbag envy” when they spy you.

I have to keep a tight grasp on you.

You’re not the most practical of purses but you are lovely.

Yes, I had to rip out your insides and replace them with this adorable bikini fabric.

And, I had to add the little strap to latch my keys onto you.

The pocket put you over-the-top but what can I say?  I was only following the original lining you came with.

Hello handbag.  You were worth the $2 I spent on you at the estate sale.  Let’s go out together today.

Do you have a favorite second-hand item?  What is it?

Related Links:
Estate sale finds: vintage wrapping paper
A winter cape: sewn from2 second-hand prom dresses
Pretty wine charms: made from estate sale treasures
How to take apart a skirt - similar to taking apart the lining for this handbag
Repurposed bags: cover an unattractive logo with a pocket
Free stuff: tips for accumulating found treasures

Our brooder is set up in our basement and I’m not happy about this location.  The brooder is next to my laundry area where all of our clean clothes hang to dry.  Chicks create a lot of dust – their downy feathers are flying and it’s super dusty.  Dust with damp clothes?  The clothes are a magnet for the dust storm I’m sure of it!  That’s my warning.  Our garage is too cold otherwise these chicks would be out there.

How to set up a brooder for chicks

Components needed:

• Tub or large cardboard box
• Red heat lamp bulb (250W) and light – make sure you get one with a metal guard on it so that bulb can’t come into contact with anything.
• Adjustable chain for light – we bought our chain used at the ReBuilding Center and they have lots of used items for assembling brooders and building coops.
• Water dispenser – you’ll want to figure out how to keep this from being knocked over.  I used a piece of stretchy fabric and tied this onto the tub.
• Food bowl for chick feed – they’re growing babies and they eat – lots!
• Bedding – pine shavings and newspaper.  These can be composted and you don’t need too much of either.  Do not use cedar shavings which are poisonous for chickens.
• Screen – to go around tub or box and perhaps over the top.  You won’t believe how quickly baby chicks will begin planning their chicken run!
• Roosting bar – stick or wood dowel for chicks to sit on.  They love to roost.

Nice to have but not necessary is a thermometer – we have never used one of these but I mention it because you do need to keep chicks warm.  You can tell if they’re warm or not by their behavior.  Too cold – they’re huddled together directly beneath the light.  Too hot – they’re as far away from the light as possible.

Related Links:
Are backyard chickens right for you?
Good and bad of backyard chickens – pros and cons
Fall in love with backyard chickens
A home exchange turned into us getting chickens – find out how here
How to hold baby chicks is here

Even though my husband and I grew up on opposite ends of the country (me – Oregon, him – Maryland) we have come to realize just how similar our upbringings were.  Our Moms were very similar…just take a look at these pictures:

My mom sewed these matching outfits for my brother, my sister, and myself.

Meanwhile, my mother-in-law sewed these matching outfits for my brother-in-law, my sister-in-law, and my husband.

So sweet!  Hope you’re enjoying your day.

Related Links:
Frugal and fancy Mother’s Day
Because I love you so much….last-minute gift idea!
Gifts from the heart – Chicago Tribune article about Mother’s day – featuring yours truly!

Weekly Meal Plan

This meal plan is from Monday, April 30, 2012 to Sunday, May 6, 2012.

Monday:  Mexican lasagna

Tuesday:  fish, brown rice, green salad

Wednesday:  spicy lentils over spinach

Thursday:  (leftovers) spicy lentils over spinach

Friday:  homemade mac and cheese with tomato slices and green salad

Saturday:  street tacos with fresh tortillas, tri-tip steak, guacamole, fresh salsa, homemade tortilla chips (this was our Cinco de Mayo celebration)

Sunday:  (leftovers) street tacos with fresh tortillas, tri-tip steak, pinto beans (from freezer) and fresh salsa

My daughter ended up making lunch on Saturday and my son didn’t make dinner this week.  He claims he’s doing double-duty next week.  I hope I remember that he said that!  He was very busy this week.  We splurged and had beef on Saturday night with leftovers on Sunday.  There’s also a package of the leftover beef t in the freezer which I’ll trot out shortly and my carnivores will be so happy.

Treat.com treated a group of Portland area bloggers to dinner at Mother’s Bistro and it was very fun.  It’s always fun to meet-up in person and the restaurant was lovely.  It was a real treat!  My drink is pictured below.

What’s for dinner at your house this week?

Related Links:
Meals to plan, food to cook
The first meal plan I posted
Love your leftovers – I do!
Homemade tortilla chips recipe is here

These homemade tortilla chips are not like buying a bag of Juanita’s Tortilla Chips, which in my opinion are the best tortillas chips around. These homemade tortilla chips follow my regular home cooking strategy – taste good (if not great) but are healthier for you than regular store bought.  We all know how bad chips are for us to eat, but they taste so good.  These are chips you can make at home and you won’t end up feeling bad after you’ve eaten them.

These homemade tortilla chips are also excellent when making nachos at home.  They can withstand lots of weight – which is important when you’re making nachos, right?  We had a taste test when making these so you’re getting three versions – all are good for different reasons.  We love having taste tests of food!

Homemade Tortilla Chips

Set oven to 300 degrees

Ingredients

• corn tortillas
• salt
• canola oil
• spray bottle with water

Instructions

1. Cut tortillas into any shape you prefer – strips or triangles
2. Place shapes on baking tray – preferably one that is not solid – a metal cookie cooling rack or a Demarle rack will work here
3. Use your chosen version (listed below) to prepare your chips
4. Bake in oven for 25 minutes
5. Check for doneness by sampling

Version 1 – Just bake without any additional salt.

Version 2 – Spray with a mist of water and sprinkle with salt.  The water helps hold the salt on the tortilla.

Version 3 – Brush cut tortilla shapes with canola oil and sprinkle with salt.

Here’s what we found during our taste test session….

• If you’re going to dip your chips into guacamole or salsa, there’s no reason to add oil and salt.  The taste is masked by the dip.
• The plain chips (version 1) on their own are best when eaten with a dip.
• If you have any left, store in a sealed container.

A PDF version of the recipe is here: Homemade Tortilla Chips

Did you celebrate Cinco de Mayo at your house?  Do you like tortilla chips?

Related Links:
These chips are good with spicy homemade hummus
Other spices you may like to try on these chips can be found here
Weekly Meal Plan
These chips would be good with this salad, too
Chipotle peppers in adobo sauce

The good and the bad of backyard chickens

Good

• Easy, sweet pets:  Chicken farmers will roll their eyes at this but we’ve fallen in love with our backyard girls!  They have definite personalities and will purr when they’re happily taking dirt baths in the garden.  They love to sun bath with a wing stretched out and make you think chickens probably evolved from dinosaurs with how they run.
• More interesting than TV:  Pull up a chair and put your feet up and tune into the“chick channel.”
• Eat slugs in garden:  Chickens are good gardeners – before you plant your vegetables!  They love to dig with their feet and then pick out baby slugs from the dirt.  Watch their feet when you’re digging in the dirt!
• Waste is good for compost:  We have the best compost thanks to the pine shavings and waste from our chickens.  I also love to share this with my neighbors.  It’s the only time waste gets put in a paper bag and I can call around to say, “I’ve got a bag of hot sh*t for you on my front walk” and people come running!
• Chicks are cute:  They just are.  It doesn’t last long before they turn into naughty teens and start getting into trouble!  Live it up while they let you hold them because it doesn’t last long.
• Fresh eggs:  When you have backyard chickens, you don’t wonder where your eggs have come from or how fresh they are.  However, it takes awhile to break even on the cost with only a couple of chickens and they don’t lay in the winter, unless you light their coop.  Chickens need light to lay which is why they don’t lay in the winter.  It’s their natural rhythm and we go with it and purchase our eggs for the few months our girls take a break.

Bad

• Vulnerable creatures:  Chickens can easily be killed by predators.  Hawks, raccoons, cats or a giant slug can freak out chickens.  You’ll fully understand where the phrase “Quit acting like a big chicken” came from!  They can also get egg bound (have a stuck egg) or just up and die, like our friend’s chicken, Mr. Fluffy Pants did.
• Have an exit strategy:  Chickens don’t work out for everyone and that’s ok.  Just make sure you re-home your chicken.  Know your options if you have to get rid of an old hen or what to do if you have a rooster.  When we had to get rid of our chicken, Betsy Ross, she was “re-homed” and introduced to some nice country roosters!
• Eat everything in garden:  Find some inexpensive, wire fencing and keep them out of your vegetable garden.  You’ll thank me for this tip.  I found my neighbor’s chicken in our side-yard devouring my little cucumber plants.
• Muck out run area = smell:  The last time our coop/run area was really clean was before the chickens moved in!  They’re messy.  I’ve tried to train them to eat off of a plate but they refuse.  When spring rolls around, the run area needs to be mucked out and it can smell pretty bad.
• Chicks = rooster possibility:  I’m not buying this whole “sexed” thing where they can supposedly tell if it’s male or female.  Out of 6 chicks, we’ve had 2 roosters and we’ll have to see with our current batch of chicks.  My son has picked out both chicks that have become roosters so he no longer gets to pick chicks.  Plan on it being a 50/50 chance and be relieved when you don’t get a rooster.
• Need chicken sitter:  You can’t send chickens to a kennel but luckily, neighbors and friends are happy to chicken sit during vacations, if they get to keep the fresh eggs!

Related Links:

• A story about our old chicken, Betsy Ross, and how she left our hen house
• The New York Times article about finding new homes for old chickens
• Annie Kip’s (of Plenty Perfect fame) chicken, Mr. Fluffy-Pants just up and died one day
• One of our chickens got really stuck up after being in the newspaper – she became a “Chicken Diva”
• Baby chicks are here and how to hold baby chicks

Design Sponge posted recently about tray tables and I was admiring how practical and useful tray tables are. Then I remembered – I have a tray table – that I made.  It’s the coffee table in our living room and the table base part used to be a bench.  I don’t have the part that made it a bench any longer.  I removed the seat part because it was tufted orange velour and rather than a horizontal bench it was in a curved shape.  Flattened out, it probably stretched to 60 inches long and no, I’m not making this up.  It was so ugly but the base had pretty legs and that’s the part I needed to make a coffee table.

Coffee Table Tale

The top of the table is plywood that I cut to fit the table base and more importantly cut so that my tray could sit on the table.  Done!  My very own tray table.  My tray table doubles as a card game table with the tray removed.  Yes, poker with pennies.

I added the casters because I like things on wheels.  It helps in a small living room to be able to roll your coffee table out of the way for hula hooping, yoga mats or sleepovers – all of which are happening regularly in our living room.  Only 3 of the 4 casters match but that’s ok.  No one has noticed yet.

Then I used Wonder-Under Fuser to attach fabric to the plywood.  I wanted to pretty up the plywood.

Then I added this little table skirt.  It’s a rectangular table throw that is lined and I added piping.  I used fabric glue to keep the corners in those neat little pleat formations.  Yes, another slip-cover!

My tray table cost less than $10 including the non-matching casters which I found at Hippo Hardware, one of my favorite haunts.  The plywood was a scrap from another project and was collecting dust in the garage.  The tray I picked up years ago and it has a large crack in the bottom but it still works.

Related Links:

Decorating with tables
Just slip-cover it!
How to make a house home
Working with vinyl fuser

Are backyard chickens right for you?

Honestly, I was a little reluctant about keeping chickens but after a home exchange to Gouda in the Netherlands (where we had the pleasure of caring for 7 hens!), I realized how easy and wonderful backyard chickens really are.  If you have a chance for a backyard chicken test drive – take it!

City and county ordinances

Check with your city, county or local government about whether you can keep chickens in your backyard or not.  Most cities don’t allow roosters – with good reason!  Our chickens have a small coop that gives them about 2 square feet per chicken, as well as a modest run area .  We also let our chickens out every single day to run around and stretch their wings.

Space requirements

If you’re raising chicks you’ll need a brooder.  For keeping chickens, you’ll need a coop and run located in an area that will keep your chickens warm/cool, safe, and dry.

Labor and time

This will vary depending on how big your coop area is, but this is our routine:

• Daily :: minimum 10 minutes, let chickens out, collect eggs, and check food and water levels, and add as needed
• Weekly :: minimum 20 minutes to clean out coop
• Seasonally :: minimum 30 minutes, to muck out run area

None of these jobs take much time and if you have kids, I suggest assigning the weekly cleaning out of the coop to them perhaps as part of their allowance.  It’s not a difficult job but it needs doing because leaving it for too long smells and it can make your chickens sick.

Supplies and materials

The initial set-up costs for a coop and run area can vary greatly.  If you build your own coop, you can spend anywhere from $0 – $200.  If purchasing a pre-made coop or buying one second-hand, plan to spend anywhere from $200 – $1,000.  We built our chicken coop and run with leftover building supplies from rebuilding our garage.  Our greatest expense was the hardware cloth, which can get expensive.

The ongoing costs for chickens include feed, oyster shell, and pine shavings.  Chicken feed runs us about $15-$20 every couple of months.  Our chickens also get food and produce scraps from our kitchen that we would otherwise be composting.  Crushed oyster shells are inexpensive to buy and they’re needed for forming the egg shells.  The pine shavings are inexpensive also and are used for bedding.  These get added to our compost along with their waste.  It makes for the best compost!

We love having backyard chickens and it works for our family.

Related Links:

• Our backyard chickens were inspired by a home exchange visit to Gouda in the Netherlands
• Fall in love with backyard chickens
• We have baby chicks
• How to hold baby chicks with a video, too!
• Recipes that use lots of fresh eggs:  Betsy’s best brownies and egg salad sandwiches

Hello Go Gingham fans!  I am Annie from PlentyPerfect.com and Sara has invited me to guest-post today.  And nag you.  (She probably just invited me because she is too nice to nag effectively.)  Yes, I am here to nag.  I am a guest nagger.

Did you remember that Mother’s Day is coming up?  Yep – coming up really soon.  Um…you might want to get a present for your dear old mom.  It would mean a lot to her.  Really – have you thought about it yet?  You really should take care of getting a gift.  Have you done it yet?

Mother’s Day gift ideas

Occasions sometimes sneak up on me.  In a perfect world, I would have been making an album of memories, knitting a warm beanie hat, or otherwise planning ahead.  Instead – I have to come up with last minute gifts.  Here is one you can give to your mom – or anyone else worthy of a last minute gift.  This gift packs a lotta love but won’t cost you a lotta money…

…here it is…100 Days of Loving You in a jar!!!   An old friend gave me this idea for a Valentine’s Day gift and I made it in one morning.  Being a much better person than I am, my friend planned ahead with her gift.  She did a whole Year of Love and did 365 days of love notes!  And put pictures on some of the notes.  And made them bigger.  And more colorful.  She’s a bit of a show off.

If your mom or honey or mailman is worth making a gift for at the last minute, you can do this plenty perfect version pretty quickly and with very minimal effort and expense.

In a Word document, click on “Mailings” and you will find a place to make labels.  Find a label layout in the size you want.  I used the business card layout.  Make a “New Document” using your chosen layout and embellish as much as your technological abilities will allow you.  I used the “Insert” tab and put in rectangular shapes, filled with color and put a text box over that.  I am super fancy like that.  For you, just writing words would be fine.  Remember it is the thought, not the awesome graphic design skills that count here.

To avoid formatting a new page every time, I just hit “Save” for the document I wanted to keep (Love Notes1) and then hit “Save As” on that same document and changed the name (Love Notes2) to make a new document.  I then changed the colors and words and repeated the process.

Print out your labels on paper and cut them up.  There is a lot of room for interpretation here if you have time.  You can consider using different papers, cutting with fancy scissors, tearing instead of cutting, writing instead of typing, or adding photos like my show off friend.  The possibilities are endless, but if you are working last minute like me, the basics will work as well.

Fold up each note and tape it closed.  Making your mom go to the trouble of struggling to open the tape will make her remember that you are giving her a really special present each time.  If she rips the note, she will be super sad and value it even more!  I put mine in a cute jar with a bow, but you can really use anything.  Add a note -a  big heart or flower is cute – explaining your fabulously thoughtful gift and how it is to be used.  Maybe there are strict rules – depending on how controlling you are or not.  I think opening one a day or inviting the recipient to open one whenever needed is very nice, but you go ahead and do what you want.  You probably will anyway if you are that controlling.

This little Jar of Love could be used for any occasion.  It is an all-purpose last-minute, oops-I forgot-to-buy-you-something gift!  How plenty perfect.

What do you do when you have to come up with a gift at the last minute?

 Related Links:
Mother’s Day – frugal and fancy
Homemade cards – for Mother’s Day
Turn artwork into a gift with a frame

How to hold baby chicks

1. Grab the chick with one hand and place it in the palm of your other hand.
2. Place your chick’s head between your 2 fingers of your free hand and cradle the chick in your two hands.
3. Talk gently and reassure your chick.
4. Set the chick back in the brooder when they (or you) have had enough.

Here’s a quick video I filmed with our two newest chicks.

Do you like holding little creatures or do you prefer to watch others?

Related Links:
Baby Chicks!
Fall in love with backyard chickens
Chicks gone wild!
Backyard chickens – or how we ended up getting backyard chickens

With homemade hummus spread on pita bread, feta cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, onions, and a quick sour cream sauce, we’ve got Mediterranean tacos!  They’re a quick, healthy weeknight meal and good for lunch, too.  Too bad they were eaten before I thought to snap a picture.  I did get a picture of the whole wheat sourdough bread I’m experimenting with.  It’s made with all whole-wheat flour that I had to add EXTRA gluten to to make it work (obviously not gluten free!).  As soon as the recipe is good to go, you’ll read about it!

Weekly Meal Plan

This meal plan is from Monday, April 23, 2012 to Sunday, April 29, 2012.

Monday:  Mediterranean tacos

Tuesday:  pan seared fish, brown rice and green salad

Wednesday:  pan seared salmon patties with vegetables and homemade bread (pictured above)

Thursday:  whole wheat pasta salad with pacific shrimp and vegetables

Friday:  (leftovers) whole wheat pasta salad with pacific shrimp and vegetables

Saturday: oven roasted chicken, quinoa and green salad

Sunday:  pinto bean and (leftover chicken) burritos with fresh salsa

My 15-year-old son made dinner on Saturday and didn’t even look at the steps I had written down for him on how to roast a chicken!  My 13-year-old daughter made dinner on Sunday.  She took plain pinto beans (that I had cooked in the crockpot), added diced leftover chicken, tossed in some spices and we had delicious burritos.  She’s very tight lipped about her recipes these days.  I’m not even sure what I did while these meals were being prepared but I do know  I enjoyed a night off in the kitchen!

What’s for dinner at your house this week?

Related Links:
Homemade spicy hummus made with garbanzo beans
More meal planning ideas
Need help getting your kids to cook?  Check here.
I’m loving the tortillas I picked up at Trader Joe’s and they freeze very nicely – whole grain flour tortillas with rolled oats and flax seeds

Want an on-line meal planning service? Check out Food on the Table by clicking the image below.

When our backyard chickens first began laying eggs, we were so excited.  For those little creatures to produce an entire egg almost everyday was somewhat of a miracle.  Every egg was tallied (and still is) and we joked about how our chickens, who were finally laying eggs, were laying golden eggs because if we calculated the cost of those eggs, each egg was worth a great deal.  We baked, cooked, boiled, and hoarded our eggs. 

Then, one day our friends called to ask if we wanted to split the cost of a large, fresh salmon with them.  Why yes, we’d love to, and my husband went to pick up the prized dinner.  When he returned home with the salmon, we all admired it and talked about how we’d cook it.  Then I asked how much we owed our friends.  That’s when he told me the news we couldn’t believe.  He had agreed to trade 2 dozen of our chicken’s eggs for the salmon! GEEEH -say what?!  Total free-lancing on the golden egg sharing decision making!  We really let him have it.

Let this be a lesson:  Trade not golden eggs unless discussion precedes.

The salmon was delicious.  Our friends were paid off quickly so that we could go back to hoarding our golden eggs and my husband no longer free-lances on egg trades.  Good man.

It’s better to let fresh eggs sit for a couple of weeks in the refrigerator before boiling them.  They’re easier to peel if they’re not freshly-laid-eggs.

Egg Salad Sandwiches

Ingredients

• 8 hard boiled eggs
• 1 Tablespoon onion, diced
• 2 cups celery, chopped
• 3/4 cup mayonnaise, light
• 1/4 cup dill relish
• 1 Tablespoon white wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 dry mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon white pepper

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, combine eggs, onion and celery.
2. In a separate bowl, combine mayonnaise, relish, vinegar, cumin, dry mustard and white pepper.
3. Stir dressing mixture until well combined.
4. Pour dressing over egg mixture and stir until well combined.
5. Serve on sliced whole wheat bread with lettuce, tomato and thinly sliced onion.
6. Enjoy.

The combination of these spices is excellent in this recipe. You’ll be surprised how you won’t need to add salt or pepper.  Make sure to use dill relish and not sweet relish.

The PDF of this recipe is here:  Egg Salad Sandwiches

Related Links:
How to hard boil eggs
Fall in love with backyard chickens
Homemade brownies – made with eggs from our chickens
Weekly meal plan