Food and Frugality

Last night, I roasted a chicken for supper. I used the Pampered Chef stoneware roaster. I rinsed the chicken, and put it into the roaster. I added 1 cup of orange juice, and sprinkled the inside of the bird's cavity with some dried orange zest that Daniel and I have been saving when we eat an orange. I sprinkled some Bell's Salt Free tomato-Basil seasoning over the bird,sprayed it all over lightly with some olive oil spray. The lid went on and into the oven it went. When it came out, it was golden brown, juicy, and very flavorful. We had salad, mashed potatoes, and garlic bread from the leftover hoagie rolls from the day before.

There was a small bit of breast leftover, and a wing. So for lunch today, I took the leftover garlic bread (I know... amazing I had leftover garlic bread!) and put pizza sauce on it. (Pizza sauce made from 1 can of tomato sauce, with 1 tsp each of basil and italian seasoning stirred in). I put mozzarella cheese over the sauce, and tore the leftover chicken into bits, and topped the cheese with these. On a few, I put more of the sliced portabello mushrooms. I spritzed the portabellos with olive oil spray. These warmed up in no time to a hearty lunch, with leftover salad on the side.

Tonight, I am trying something a bit different for us. I mixed up some dried cornbread stuffing/dressing left from Ben and Tommy's Thanksgiving dinner. I added sauteed onions, celery, and a handful of dried cranberry craisins. I put the mixture into an oven pan, and topped it with pork chops. The pork chops are sprinkled with a bit of "soul" seasoning.

We are making roasted veggies in the PC roaster to accompany this. (chunked potatoes, onions, and carrots tossed in olive oil... portabello mushrooms to be added the last 20 minutes of cooking. Sprinkled with garlic granules and sea salt.)

I haven't ever tried baking naked pork chops over stuffing before, so we will see how this turns out. Since I bought salad makings at Sam's- we are having a garden salad as well. (Yeah, the portabello's were a Sam's buy... so we want to eat them up instead of wasting them.)
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I know that Becky and Nola have been making their own laundry soap for awhile now. I have been apalled at the cost of the liquid laundry soaps I have been purchasing lately... and looking everywhere for the washing soda so that I can try my hand at making some laundry soap for myself. Today, I went ahead and purchased a "kit" that has the essential ingredients in it. I will be able to make 2 1/2 gallons of liquid laundry soap for $4.50 (plus shipping... but to make shipping worthwhile, I bought two kits and two extra bars of the laundry soap itself, in anticipation of finding the washing soda.)
While I was at the site, I also ordered some wonderful hand made goats milk soap for ME. I had ordered some of this soap in the past, as part of mother's day gift baskets for my moms and MIL. It smelled so good- I wanted some for ME! I love giving unique gifts to others. Today I treated myself.
Here is the site I ordered the soaps from: http://crystalscountrystore.com/

Since I have purchased from this place before, I will add that I was just the tiniest bit disappointed in the size of the bars of goats milk soap. But that was my only disappointment. They shipped quickly, and the product is GREAT!
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I have been trying to be more frugal... not letting things go to waste. Or making the best use of our finances in small stuff like laundry detergent, and stretching the dishsoap. It seems some days I am a dismal failure at not wasting things. Food gets tossed, my 'saved' items are tossed away by someone who thought it was garbage left out. (Orange zest drying in a dish). I look forward to having our own place, with a garden.
I want to plant lavender, roses, and herbs. Grow blueberries and blackberries and plums. Make my very OWN soap and not just buy the 'kits'. Have chickens and critters everywhere. (mr C isn't too big on critters everywhere, but didn't seem to mind the chickens). Go back to canning and freezing stuff we grow ourselves, and just TRY to buy as little as possible.

God knows my heart!