A Recipe...

how many of you have spent hours making bread from scratch?

my hand is raised.

After you try this you'll never slave again.

Beer Bread.

1 bottle warm beer.

(the only time alcohol is in my house!)

I set it near my fireplace on cold days, out in the sun on hot to get it warm.

1/3 cup sugar.

3 cups self-rising flour.

that's it.

Mix the ingredients,

if you have a cast iron pan USE IT!!!!

if you don't -GET ONE!!!

I promise you'll love it and use it for everything!

I use my 8 in.

But if you are going to ignore me on that, I suppose any regular round 8-10 inch pan could work.

I suppose.

Butter the dish, pour in mixture,

bake @ 375 for about 35 min or until top is browning.

Serve with butter, jam, whatever.

Delicious!

I often serve this with soup, or ribs, or , well, whenever I get a hankerin'.

God Bless,

Mandy

A Budget...

Okay here we go...

remember how i said that we'd talk money on monday?

first order of business,

grocery shopping.

in a family of 6 our grocery bill can get to be quite astronomical. 

let's just say i usually spend more than our mortgage.

and that's never going out to eat!!!

my new grocery goal?

$125.00 / week = $500/month for  a family of 6.

and i was successful in the first week!!!

i take cash and a calculator!

i really believe the key to this is planning, planning and then planning.

on sundays i sit down and write out a menu for the week, including each meal and snacks and drinks.

i look at the store ads to see if there are any good deals that i can build a meal around,

or cheap snacks.

i usually shop at wal-mart and safeway.

safeway for the sales and meat, staples and whatever else wal-mart.

then i pull out recipes if needed, or by heart,

and look through my cupboards and make sure i have everything i need on my list.

be sure to check little things, like baking powder, flour, oil, etc.

there are items that are on my list every week,

such as 2 gallons of milk,

at least 2 boxes of cereal,

etc.

when you go to a store with a list in hand it's amazing how much less you buy!

and i'm telling you,

running in the store once a week, my day is mondays, sure beats running in 4 days/week and then grabbing 10 other items you hadn't planned on.

another thing i do to keep the kids from asking me what's for dinner,

or what their snack choices are, is write it up on a white board in the dining room.

they can see the whole weeks menu.

this gives them the chance to complain on monday about the enchiladas you're making thursday.

hey, i'm always here to help.

well,

i'm off to shop.

if you haven't jumped on the  dave ramsey  bandwagon, check him out!

God Bless,

mandy