Frugal Wedding Gifts

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This is an excerpt from my weekly newsletter with a few extra ideas.  If you are popping over from the newsletter for more ideas, skip down to #4 and start reading there.

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Wedding season comes right after graduation season and in the midst of Mother’s Day and Father’s day.  If you also have family birthdays on your calendar, this time of year can feel a bit like a hot Christmas.  With a little creativity and planning, you can still show your love and give help to the bride and groom without breaking your bank.  

  1. Frame their wedding invitation.  Look through their registry to get a feeling for their decorating taste and choose an inexpensive frame that coordinates.  In the midst of the chaos, many brides forget to save themselves a copy!  Check out this link for instructions to make the project extra special:  http://www.ehow.com/how_2167336_frame-wedding-invitation.html'
  2. Make a collection of jar mixes and give them in a large basket with a kitchen towel liner.  Many newlyweds are busy and a selection of easy to fix meals would be a helpful treat.  Here  are some recipes:  http://www.mixesinajar.com/
  3. Choose a bowl or kitchen utensil from the registry and sew an apron to go with it.  Here’s a fast and easy pattern that looks great on many figure types:  http://www.blesseddesigns.net/store/results2.asp?Cat=Apronpatterns
  4. Make a set of cloth napkins for every day and give with a recipe box filled with your favorite recipes and some blank cards for the bride to add her own.  Here’s a great tutorial for a beginner seamstress to make napkins:  http://lovetocrochetandknit.blogspot.com/2008/01/cloth-napkin-tutorial.html
  5. Sew a set of placemats and napkins.  Use the registry as a guide for choosing the fabric.  Here’s a placemat tutorial:  http://twinmommyproductions.blogspot.com/2007/10/patchwork-placemat-tutorial.html
  6. Do you know the couple well?  Add essential oil to olive or almond oil and make a massage/spa basket.  Here’s a recipe:  http://tulsacraftmafia.wordpress.com/2009/02/09/spicy-sensual-massage-oil-tutorial/  Print and laminate a card with massage instructions to go with it.  Here are some tips to choose from: http://healing.about.com/od/massagetips/Massage_Therapy_Tips.htm
  7. Candles make lovely gifts and don’t have to be expensive.  You can even make your own, by melting down stubs of used candles.  Here are some tutorials:  http://www.candlehelp.com/
  8. Create a memory album for the couple’s to use to document their honeymoon.  http://designwithink.blogspot.com/2009/03/tutorial-here.html Add a few items like sunblock, aloe gel and an underwater camera.
  9. Make an after the wedding survival basket with snacks and often forgotten items, such as a toothbrush or travel sized products.  Be sure to mention it to the gift attendant, so it makes it in the getaway car.
  10. If none of these ideas float your boat, check out the extra ideas here:  http://www.thriftyfun.com/tf50297515.tip.html and here:  http://weddingstyle.suite101.com/article.cfm/homemade_wedding_gifts

Give Away! No More Bricks Breadbaking Book

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 Up for Giving Away this week is Lori Viet's Book, No More Bricks.  Lori is a talented baker and mom who is dedicated to feeding her family wholesome food.  In No More Bricks she teaches you how to make 100% whole grain bread that is light and fluffy and holds together beautifully for sandwiches.  Here's the description from her website:  www.breadclass.com

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"Part One contains all the how-to's and why-to's of whole grains and breadmaking – from milling your own flour (or not) to the best way to slice your bread.  It even includes a Quick Start Guide so you can start making bread right away, before you read the book.  Part Two contains detailed instructions of how to make bread with ANY type of mixer or machine, or by hand.  Each recipe is scaled in four different batch sizes (1,2,3, or 6 loaves), so you can fit the capacity of your machine, without the guess work!  Once you've mastered the basics, you can follow my suggestions for creating your own unique bread recipes on the reproducible blank recipe chart.  148 pages with 75 photos."

This book is a must read for anyone who would like to include more whole foods in their diet.  To enter for your free copy, simply add a comment below.  In your comment tell me your favorite kind of bread or one childhood memory with bread.  If you are unable to add your comment, let me know at angela@groceryshrink.com and I'll enter you.

The winner will be selected June 25th.


Chock full of Veggies Bread

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I'm still thinking of ways to use up zucchini.  I made up this bread recipe today and it was delicious!

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1/4 C warm water

2 T butter, melted

1/4 C honey

1 egg

1/2 cup shredded carrots

1/2 cup shredded zucchini

1 t dried chives

1 t dried parsley

1 t salt

3 C whole wheat flour

1 T yeast

Place all ingredients in the bread machine on dough cycle. It will make a very soft dough. Then stir down dough and pour into a greased bread pan.  Let rise about 30 minutes and bake at 325 for 4o minutes.

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Chocolate (zucchini) Pancakes

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A lady at our church has been out of work for quite awhile.  She frequents the food pantries in town at the last minute, when they are getting ready to throw everything away, and takes it all home.  Most of the food is at or past its sell date and is donated by grocery stores.  There is some life left in it, if you don't mind cutting out some spots or freezing it and cooking it quickly. 

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Last Friday, she brought an entire car full of zucchini to church, and I was thrilled!  She offered 2 big bags to me and I took it.  Unfortunately I'm the only one in the family who gets super excited about the tasty green vegetable and I need to use it up fast!  My solution is to hide it in everything.  Yesterday for lunch we had crockpot zucchini casserole. And today for breakfast we had Chocolate Zucchini pancakes.  Though if the kids ask, they are chocolate pancakes.  They were delicious.  Here's my recipe:

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1 C shredded zucchini

1/4 cup oil

1/4 cup honey

2 eggs

1 teaspoon soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon cloves

2 cup flour (whole wheat pastry or all purpose)

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1/2 cup buttermilk (I used 1/4 C yogurt and 1/4 cup milk)

Mix up and cook like pancakes.  We had them with regular maple syrup, but I think they would have been great with real honey sweetened whipped cream.

Basic Drop Cookie Recipe

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I rarely cook with recipes, but I always have a proportion or formula in my mind.  Doing this allows me to make pancakes, gravy, yeast bread, cookies or quick bread wherever I might be visiting, no matter how many people there are to cook for.  It's so fun to put the lady of the house to bed for a nap and tinker in the kitchen with my recipes in my brain!  By having certain porportions in mind, you can switch ingredients around in any recipe to suit your health or taste preferences and still have a delicious end result.  This also helps if you are cooking with what you have on hand and need to substitute ingredients.  I'll be posting formulas for other foods too, but today I'm going to tell you all about the best drop cookies! Here's the basic recipe:

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Basic Drop Cookies

1 C solid fat (butter, shortening, lard, coconut oil, or peanut butter–or any combination of them)

2 C granulated sweetner (sucanut, turbinado sugar, white sugar, brown sugar, powdered sugar, equivalent of stevia, or splenda–or any combination of them)  Note:  Stevia is best used with real sugar.  Substituting all of the sugar for stevia will mess up the chemistry of your recipe and give it a bitter aftertaste.  One teaspoon of granulated pure (undiluted) stevia extract is equal to about 1 cup of sugar.

1 t salt

1 t baking soda (if using acid ingredients such as brown sugar or citrus, 4 t baking powder if not)

1 t flavoring (vanilla extract, almond extract, peppermint extract, orange extract or 2 T orange zest, dried lavendar etc.)

2 eggs (or 1 egg and 1/4 C orange juice or other fruit juice, sour cream or yogurt, or substitue 1 T soy flour and 1/4 C water for one egg.)

3 C flour (white, whole wheat, brown rice, corn,  etc.A half a cup of this could be cocoa powder)

2 Cups chunky grain based mix-ins: (if adding chunky grain mix ins–leave out 1 C of flour) Rolled oats, crisp rice cereal, cereal dregs, wheat germ, bran, etc. or any combination of them 

2 Cups non absorbant mix-ins:  chips;(white chips, butterscotch chips, peanut butter chips, chocolate chips, cinnamon chips, lemon chips etc); nuts (peanuts, almonds, macadamia nuts, pistaccios, hazelnuts, walnuts, pecans); crushed candy such as peppemint or butterscotch, raisins, craisins, currents, or other dried fruit. If your mix-in is super sweet like candy or chips you can leave out up to 1/2 cup of the sugar.

Directions:  Cream fat and sugars.  Mix in eggs and flavoring.  Stir in salt and levening, flour and mix-ins.  Place by spoonful onto greased cookies sheets and bake at 350 for 11 minutes.

The applications of this recipe are limitless.  Here are some options

  • Use 1/2 cup of peanut butter and 1/2 cup butter, rolled oats and milk chocolate chips!

  • White chips and craisins with almond extract

  • Orange zest, orange juice and dark chocolate chips

  • Butterscotch chips and rolled oats

  • 1/2 c cocoa powder and peanut butter chips

  • Crushed peppermints and chocolate chips

  • Almonds and crushed Heath bar

  • White chips and macadamia nuts

  • coconut oil, lime zest, dried papaya and pineapple bits, and macadamia nuts

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Cutting back on dishes and laundry the frugal way

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With 5 children and a husband hanging around all day, I've been washing my fair share of glasses and cloth napkins.  We tried to cut back on the dishes by writing the kids names on plastic cups.  That wasn't a good fit for my personality :).  When one child was thirsty, I had to dig through countless cups until I found one with his name on it.  Usually I wasn't patient enough to find the cup and assured the child that whoever's name was on the cup would be glad to share it.  The consequence was that I never could remember who drank out of which cup and I was washing some 21+ cups a day.  We're going through that many napkins too which has been adding up to a lot of laundry.

I had a brain spark this week after seeing those adorable coffee cup cozies.  I've been wishing for a reason to sew one, but we don't drink coffee.  Then I thought if each child chose their favorite fabric from my stash, I could make them their own cup sleeve and matching napkin.  We would all know whose is who's–and they can use the same cup and napkin all day. I used the tutorial from House on Hill Road for the cozy and it was perfect.  Here's a quick peek at the first 3 cozies.

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Giveaway! Pack and Tote Reuseable Shopping Bag

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Giving away stuff is so much fun that we're doing it again!  This time it is a Pack and Tote Reuseable Shopping bag from www.neadstuff.com Here is the description from the website:

"Unique and green reusable grocery bag made of recyclable polypropylene. Holds 45 lbs. Two bags lock open in cart. Arm straps keep hands free for doors and keys. Velcro top strap secures load for transport. Hard folding bottom. Folds to small clutch purse size. Helps environment by reducing the use of plastic / litter. Great functionality (has many uses), bag stretches around groceries, seals shut and saves trips. Safe with food (unlike canvas)."

Neadstuff

Unique and green reusable grocery bag made of recyclable polypropylene. Holds 45 lbs. Two bags lock open in cart. Arm straps keep hands free for doors and keys. Velcro top strap secures load for transport. Hard folding bottom. Folds to small clutch purse size. Helps environment by reducing the use of plastic / litter. Great functionality (has many uses), bag stretches around groceries, seals shut and saves trips. Safe with food (unlike canvas).

It comes in 3 color choices–black, hunter green, and navy blue.  The one we are giving away is hunter green.  It retails for $8 each or 2 for $15.  What I noticed right away about the bag is its generous size and rugged straps.  The way it hooks onto the cart for easy loading (with sturdy plastic hooks), makes it perfect for stores like Aldi where you bag your own purchases with bags brought from home.

To win the bag, leave a comment to this post by clicking on the tiny "comments" word below this post and then filling in the white box at the end of the list.  For extra chances to win, subscribe to my free newsletter at www.groceryshrink.com and get the best frugal living information available delivered to your inbox on Fridays; post this giveaway to facebook, twitter, or your blog.  Do 3 of the 4 things and get 10 extra entries!  Tell me about what you've done in your comment.  Good luck.

P.S.  The winner will be chosen, Wednesday, June 17th.

Vado HD Pocket Camcorder Given Away!

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Congratulations to Joe Webb!  He won the Vado HD Pocket Camcorder.  His name was drawn (fairly and without prejudice) by my seven year old son.  I tried to do the drawing myself, but I was so tempted to peek!  Check back soon for our next giveaway!

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Surprise Salad

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I love gardens, but I'm not a good gardener.  My garden went to seed last year and I should have pulled it up, but instead I let the seeds scatter all around.  That made for some nice volunteer lettuce and cilantro plants this year in the garden spot.  I also have some hanging baskets on my front porch that were full of beautiful impatients last year.  Over the winter they dried up and I pulled the stalks out but left the baskets hanging.  I never have gotten around to planting anything new in them.  A few weeks ago when I pulled up to my house, I noticed a green plant poking up over the edge of one of the baskets.

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I walked over and peeked into the basket.  You can imagine my surprise to find…

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A lovely black seeded simpson lettuce plant ready for picking!  It's on the opposite side of the house from the garden.  I wonder if a bird helped me out? 

My mother in law is a fabulous gardener.  Below is a photo of one of her lettuce stands.  In the next post I'll show you a series of her beautiful flowers.

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Win a Vado HD Pocket Camcorder!

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Hi Friend!  I'm so excited!  Creative Technology Inc. has donated a Vado HD pocket camcorder just for the readers here to win!  I am a proud owner of a Vado HD already and if you've seen my videos on Youtube, they were made with the camera.  It takes great video and is about the size of a cell phone.  I love that I can drop it in my tiny purse or put it in my pocket for recording anytime.  It recharges with a USB plug that folds right out of the camera.  It couldn't be easier.  It also has a USB extension cord so it will work with any computer setup.  When it's time to download your video clips just plug it into your computer.  Built in software on the camera takes care of the rest.  My computer came with Windows Movie Maker built in and the videos interfaced well with the program for editing.  I also love that there are no pricey tapes to buy.  The video is stored on the camera and then downloaded.  The video can be burned to a DVD from the recording for playback on any family theater system.  Retailing at $229, the price is hard to beat for High Definition recording.  If you are interested in videoing special family moments, or giving your business a boost through internet video, this is the camera for you!

Creative Vado HD

How to enter

Entering the contest couldn't be easier.  All you need to do is sign up for my free newsletter (easy web from below) and then write a comment to this post and tell me you did it! If you are already signed up; let me know. That counts too. For 20 additional entries do 3 more of the 4 following things:  Share the opportunity to win with friends–Twitter about the contest with a link to this blogpost, facebook about the contest with a link, blog about the contest with a link, or post a Youtube video about the contest, why you want the Vado HD and a link back to this entry page.  Be sure to write a comment telling me what you've done.  The winner will be chosen via a drawing held June 10th, and the winner's entries will all be verified before the prize is awarded.  Good luck!  Your chances of winning are very good if you enter!