Nancy on the Home Front

Recipe Box: Wild Strawberry Spice Muffins

Every year our fields are full of wild strawberries.

strawberries, prudent living — Wild Field Strawberries

They are tiny but full of flavor.

fruit, wild, berries — Tiny Strawberries

However it takes a lot of time to pick a cup or two, which is generally what you need to make muffins. Our pug, Purtie, used to spend hours grazing eating every little strawberry she could find.

We sure miss her but we are able to find a lot more strawberries this year. My husband was sweet enough to spend some time and picked me a full cup of strawberries.

strawberries, prudent living, recipes — Cup of prepared berries

In exchange I made him a batch of his favorite muffins. I’m sure they would be wonderful with blueberries or regular strawberries but we just love them made with the wild strawberries.

Wild Strawberry Spice Muffins

1 ¾ cup flour
½ cup sugar
2 ½ tsp baking powder
¾ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
1 egg, lightly beaten
¾ cup milk
1/3 cup butter
1 cup wild strawberries

Topping (optional)

1 Tbsp sugar
¼ tsp cinnamon

In a bowl, combine all the dry ingredients. Combine the egg and milk. Add the egg mixture and butter to the dry ingredients; stir just until moistened. Fold in the strawberries.

muffins, recipe box — Gently fold in strawberries

Fill greased or paper lined muffin cups two-thirds full.

batter, muffins — Muffin tin filled two-thirds full.

Combine the topping ingredients and sprinkle over the batter. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Cool for five minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack. Makes 1 dozen.

Enjoy!

muffins, berry, strawberries — Wild Strawberry Spice Muffin

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Rhubarb, Date and Apricot Chutney

Today I have yet another recipe using rhubarb! Last week’s chutney recipe was so delicious I decided to try this Rhubarb, Date and Apricot Chutney recipe. This one uses dates, apricots and ginger. The dates and apricots are supposed to give a rich flavor to the sweet-sour taste of rhubarb. What’s not to like! The recipe is from my all time favorite canning book, Small Batch Preserving

by Ellie Topp & Margaret Howard. I don’t think I’ve ever made a recipe out of this book that wasn’t absolutely delicious! As the title indicates the recipes are all for small batches. You will only end up with three to four cups. Some of the pickle recipes make more, so you might end up with 6 pints. This Rhubarb, Date and Apricot Chutney is a perfect addition to my pantry!

Rhubarb, Date and Apricot Chutney

Ingredients:

4 cups sliced rhubarb
1 cup chopped dried dates
1 cup lightly packed brown sugar
½ cup chopped dried apricots
½ cup cider vinegar
¼ cup finely chopped onions
¼ cup finely chopped crystalized ginger
1 tsp curry powder
¼ tsp salt

Directions:

Combine rhubarb, dates, sugar, apricots, vinegar, onion, ginger, curry powder, nutmeg and salt in a medium stainless steel or enamel saucepan.

Bring to a boil over medium high heat; reduce heat and cook, uncovered, for 8 minutes or until thickened and fruit is soft, stirring frequently.

Meanwhile prepare your jars for canning.

Remove hot jars form canner and ladle chutney into jars within ½ inch of rim. Process 10 minutes for half-pints and 15 minutes for pint jars.

Makes about 3 cups.

My Garden: June Update and The Experiment

It’s been a rainy week here in Vermont. Rain is good for the garden so I don’t really mind. Plus it gives me a chance to get caught up on those inside chores that I’ve been neglecting! In the meantime I thought you might like to see an update of my early June garden.

The seeds planted are sprouting along with the weeds! My garlic patch is very robust.

Remember my new garden bed? It hardly looks like a new garden now!

My poor peppers are doing well but not enjoying this cool week.

Happy to see flowers on the tomatoes.

tomatoes, prudent living — Flowers on the tomatoes!

The first strawberry was also spotted, I’ll be able to enjoy fresh strawberries very soon!

strawberries, fruits — The first strawberry!

I also want to share an experiment I’m trying this year – growing potatoes in buckets. After checking out numerous videos on YouTube I thought I’d give it a try. We have a bunch of white five gallon buckets that I usually use for covering plants during an early spring frost. I figured I could still use the buckets in the spring even with holes drilled in the bottoms.

First we drilled holes in the bottoms of the buckets.

potatoes, gardening — Drilling holes in buckets

I then placed a few inches of dirt in the bottom of each bucket.

potatoes, experiment, prudent living — My potato patch

On top of the dirt I then placed three pieces of potato. These pieces of potato had been cut the day before so the cut sides could heal. This way they are less apt to attract disease organisms.

I then sprinkled another few inches of dirt on top of the potatoes. As the potatoes start growing I will continue to cover them with more dirt. Eventually when the potatoes are ready to harvest I will just dump the dirt out of the buckets and harvest the potatoes. At least that’s how it is supposed to work in theory! I will let you follow along with this experiment.

After a week of rain I am still waiting to see signs of growth!

Linked to: AnOregonCottage, MsGreenThumbJean, SideWalkShoes, ASouthernDaydreamer, TheBrambleberryCottage, BlissfulRhythm, TootsieTime

Frugal Tips: Creating a Working Budget

We are just about halfway through the year which is a perfect time of year to review your budget. If you aren’t following a budget it is a perfect time to create one!

I grew up and attended college and learned the skills needed to earn a living, but I was never required to take even one class on how to manage my money! I never learned, based on my level of income, how much I could afford to spend on housing, food, transportation, insurance etc. Instead my husband and I learned through trial and error, mostly error! I read numerous books and finally learned how to create a budget.

budget, prudent living — Financial Books

A budget is a written plan to determine how the income will be allocated in a proper balance to meet all the needs and goals.

It’s never too late to start living on a budget. Creating a budget really isn’t that hard and you don’t need to make it hard. Your first step is figuring out just how much money is coming in each month. Add in all sources of income, this could be salary, gifts, interest or tax refunds.

income, salary, budget — Figuring out your income

The next step is to figure out what you need to live on each month. Go through your checkbook and figure out all of your fixed expenses such as utilities, mortgage or rent, insurance, auto/transportation and groceries. Determine what you owe as well for credit cards, loans, etc.

budget, prudent living, frugal tips — Determining your Expenses

By adding up your total income and subtracting your expenses this will give you an idea as to where you stand. Ideally you want the income to be greater than the expenses!

Once you have the big picture down on paper you can take a hard look at where your money is going and areas of spending where you can cut back.

There are many books and online resources to help you have a balanced budget. One of the best books I’ve read recently on the subject is called The Money Saving Mom’s Budget.

financial, budget, prudent living — The Money Saving Mom's Budget

It is well written and easy to read and understand. If you’ve been putting off creating a budget this book may give you the encouragement you need. One of the best suggestions the author gives is that if you are new to budgeting give yourself time to work out a full-fledged budget. Start first with a single area of spending – a food budget, this will help you to shift your habits. You’ll see changes there which will help you to move on toward developing a full budget for your family.

Linked to: LearningTheFrugalLife , TheThriftyHome, WeAreThatFamily, FeminineAdventure

Pasta Spinach Salad – Delicious

Summertime means grilling and spending time outside. I’m always looking for light summer pasta salads and this Pasta Spinach Salad is one of those recipes! We enjoy it so much I usually double the recipe! When you’re looking for a light and flavorful salad look no further than this delicious concoction.

Pasta Spinach Salad

Ingredients:

6oz of pasta (I used bow ties)
2 cups torn fresh spinach
1 cup grape tomatoes
¼ cup sliced scallions
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp Dijon mustard
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
½ tsp salt
½ tsp sugar
Toasted pine nuts

Directions:

Bring a large pot of water to boil and cook the pasta according to the package directions. Drain the pasta well in a colander.

In a large bowl, combine the cooked and drained pasta, the spinach, tomatoes and scallions. In a small bowl, combine all the remaining ingredients except the pine nuts; mix well. Pour dressing over the spinach-pasta mixture; toss well. Top with toasted pine nuts.

Serve immediately. Serves 6-8 servings.

This salad paired well with grilled pork glazed with my rhubarbeque sauce! It would be equally as delicious with any summertime meal like grilled chicken or even hamburgers.

I love using cooked pasta when making summertime salads. You can mix up the salad in the morning, put it in the fridge and enjoy a cool meal at the end of the day.

If you plan to mix up this salad a head of time I would suggest mixing the pasta with the spinach, tomatoes and scallions. Then cover and chill and just before serving add the dressing.

Apple Rhubarb Chutney

This has been an incredible season for rhubarb. Despite the fact that I have shared my rhubarb and even bartered for bread I still have plenty to pick. I’m not even sure you can tell that any rhubarb has been harvested! In searching though my recipe books, I found this recipe for Apple Rhubarb Chutney. Sounded good to me!

Apple Rhubarb Chutney

Make 4 pints

Ingredients:

4 cups diced peeled cored apples, treated to prevent browning and drained. (Basically soak the diced apples in a mixture of 1/4 cup lemon juice and 4 cups of water.)

4 cups sugar
2 cups diced rhubarb, fresh or frozen
½ cup water
Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
½ cup dried cranberries
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground nutmeg

Directions:

In a large stainless steel saucepan, combine apples, sugar, rhubarb, water, and lemon zest and juice.

Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and boil gently, stirring frequently, for 15 minutes. Add cranberries, cinnamon and nutmeg. Boil gently, stirring frequently, until thick enough to mound on a spoon, about 15 minute.

Meanwhile prepare canner, jars and lids.

Ladle hot chutney into hot jars, leaving ½ inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace, if necessary, by adding hot chutney. Wipe rim. Center the lid on jar. Screw band down until resistance is met, than increase to fingertip-tight.

Place jars in canner; make sure they are completely covered with water. Bring to a boil and process for 10 minutes. Remove canner lid, wait 5 minutes, then remove jars, cool and store.

If you don’t have a canner I’m sure this sauce would freeze well.

I found this recipe in the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving.

This sauce is delicious; it would be wonderful on toast or served with grilled pork.

My Garden: Creating a New Garden Bed

I love creating new garden beds. When I divide my perennials I hate to throw them away so I just create a new garden bed to move them to. I’d much rather have more garden beds and less lawn! When you want to turn an area of your lawn into a new garden bed you must get rid of the grass.

expanding your garden, gardening — Garden bed - early spring.

There are different ways to go about this, some methods give you quick results while other take a bit longer. There are four basic ways to go about this.

Digging a new bed. This method produces the quickest results and allows you to plant your garden immediately. It also takes a bit of hard work. Using your spade or fork you must remove all the sod.

If the sod is in good condition you can use it elsewhere in your yard. Use an edger or a sharp spade to cut small sections of the sod. This makes it easier to remove. If you don’t plan to move the sod and are just going to compost it try to remove as much of the soil as possible. Inspect the soil for any hiding grubs and decide whether or not you want to add any compost before planting your garden.

Another method to create a new garden bed is to break up the sod with a tiller. One advantage of using this method is that the organic matter is retained in the garden as the sod is turned under. You can also add compost or manure before tilling. This bed can also be planted immediately but you may have to do some weeding as you may have turned up some weed seeds.

A third method to try is smothering the sod or unwanted plants.

gardening, gardens, prudent living — creating garden beds by smothering

I have used the first two methods but I have never tried this. You just cover the grass with plastic, newspaper or cardboard. Depending on the type of material you use this method could take several months. The newspaper and cardboard will decompose but the plastic will have to be removed eventually. This is relatively simple; lay your material down over the sod you want to eliminate. Cover it with grass clippings, mulch or compost to hold the layers in place. You will want to lay down six to eight pieces of newspaper, use only the black and white sheets. Your objective is to eliminate light, causing the chlorophyll to break down. Once this happens, photosynthesis stops and the grass will die. After this happens you can begin to plant your garden, if you’re using cardboard or newspaper just plant your plants into holes that you have punched through the paper to the soil. When we were out hiking earlier this week I happened to spot this garden. A perfect example for smothering the weeds!

The last method I will mention but I wouldn’t recommend it. You can also use herbicides to kill the grass. The downside of this method is that you may injure or kill nearby plants; it can also result in environmental contamination or harm beneficial organisms if used improperly. We have kept beehives near our gardens and for this main reason we do not use this method.

I have been working on expanding a garden on the east side of our house. It is shady and the existing garden had a curve in it which was hard to mow. I wanted to increase the garden bed, transplant some hostas and have less lawn to mow as well as having the existing lawn easier to mow. First I marked off the new garden area.

I dug up the hostas I wanted to divide and transplant.

perennials, dividing plants — hostas to be divided

Used some river rock to edge the new garden bed.

creating gardens, prudent living — Edging the garden

A little mulch and my new garden is finished! I am so pleased with the result. Plus other than the cost of the mulch and some hard work it was an inexpensive project!

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Frugal Tips: Rhubarb for Bread

I’m sure many of you are familiar with FreeCycle. It is a network of 5,042 groups with 8,961,499 members around the world. It’s a grassroots and entirely nonprofit movement of people who are giving (and getting) stuff for free in their own towns. It’s all about reuse and keeping good stuff out of landfills. Local volunteers moderate each local group. Membership is free. To sign up, find your community by entering it into the search box on their website or by clicking on ‘Browse Groups’ above the search box.

I am a big fan of FreeCycle. We have gotten rid of numerous things as I have also gotten things all for free! When you sign up for a group you’ll get an email anytime someone posts about something they are looking for or something they want to get rid of. Last winter I was lucky enough to get two dozen canning jars!

As you might remember I have a lot of rhubarb.

barter, FreeCycle, Prudent Living, Frugal Tips — Rhubarb - Before

Last Thursday I saw on FreeCycle that someone was looking for rhubarb! They just wanted to come harvest what I didn’t want. After a few emails back and forth it was set up that the woman’s husband would stop by on Saturday to pick some rhubarb. Oh yes and did I want any bread as she’d love to barter! I wasn’t expecting anything but after her husband had picked a large bunch of rhubarb we had two loaves of French Bread, two packages of large grinder rolls, a package of sandwich rolls and a loaf of sandwich bread for the freezer! I just love bartering!

barter, Frugal Tips — Just some of the bread!

Even after all the rhubarb he picked I still have more. I found another recipe for Apple Rhubarb Chutney that I’m going to try this week. Look for it on Thursday’s post!

Spring, Vermont, rhubarb — Rhubarb - After

Linked to: LearningTheFrugalLife, PremeditatedLeftovers, Raisinghomemakers, FrugallySustainable, WeAreThatFamily, TheThriftyHome, FemineAdventures, Thrifty101, LifeAsMom, RaisingArrows

Chicken Salad with Berries

I am always looking for simple salads that come together quickly and are perfect for a quick lunch or dinner. This salad was good enough to serve for company!

Chicken Salad with Berries

Ingredients:

4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (4 ounces each)
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
6 ounces fresh baby spinach
1 cup fresh blackberries or raspberries
1 cup halved strawberries
2/3 cup crumbled goat cheese
3 Tbsp chopped pecans, toasted
¼ cup prepared raspberry vinaigrette

Directions:

Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Grill chicken, covered over medium heat for 4-7 minutes on each side or until juices run clear. Let cool.

In a large bowl, combine the spinach, berries, cheese and pecans. Divide among four serving plates. Slice chicken and arrange over spinach mixture; drizzle with vinaigrette.

Serves 4

Rhubarbeque Sauce

The rhubarb in my garden is finally ready to be picked. It has come in in such abundance this year that no matter how much I pick I don’t make a dent! My favorite way to enjoy rhubarb is by making Victoria Sauce or as we call it in our family Rhubarbeque Sauce! It is a wonderful sauce that is perfect on grilled chicken or pork. It’s very easy to make and the recipe makes exactly four pints so you aren’t overwhelmed. I usually double the recipe and make eight pints. We enjoy it throughout the year.

This recipe can be processed in a water bath canner for storage in your pantry or frozen for storing in your freezer. Follow your manufacturer’s directions for using your water bath.

Rhubarbeque Sauce

Ingredients:

2 quarts chopped rhubarb

1 ½ cups raisins
½ cup chopped onion

3 ½ cups brown sugar
½ cup vinegar
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp salt

Directions:

Combine rhubarb, raisins, onion, sugar, and vinegar in a large saucepot.

Cook until thick, about 25 minutes. As the mixture thickens, stir frequently to prevent sticking. Add spices; cook 5 minutes longer.

Ladle the hot sauce into hot jars, leaving ¼ inch headspace.

Adjust two-piece caps. Process 15 minutes in a boiling water canner.

Yield: 4 pints