A frugal photo mish-mash post
I have more pictures than words today, it seems, so today's post will be a random collection of frugality-related photos.
This is a cup of mashed, cooked potato, frozen in a Chinese food take-out container (because I hate to part with my Pyrex!). I had some wrinkly potatoes, so I boiled them, mashed them, used 1 cup for a batch of potato bread, and froze the other cup for a future batch.
These are my rising loaves of potato bread, covered with a tea towel I got as a wedding gift almost 14 years ago. It's getting a little ragged, but it still works.
This is another Pineapple Upside-Down cake that I made to use up some more of my pineapple. I was hoping it would be a winner, but I thought the cake to topping ratio was off on this one (too much cake). I prefer a shorter cake, I think.
I have a little more pineapple, so I may try the other recipe again with a few tweaks.
This is the clip I use to keep my brown sugar bag air-tight. I salvaged it from a birthday balloon one of my kids got some time ago....the telltale piece of leftover curling ribbon might have tipped you off to that.
This is about half of the mulch my neighbor gave to me (you can read more about that on today's 365 post). Some potato bread served as my thanks to him. 😉
My muscles are sore, but I'm so pleased that all of my beds are mulched. This bed is populated with irises from Mr. FG's aunt, a Yucca plant from my neighbor, and some sedum from a church friend.
When you can't find the lid to one of your Pyrex containers, a cottage cheese lid just might work.
On Sunday night, I buttered some random, odd pieces of French bread, sprinkled them with cheese and pizza seasoning, and baked them until the cheese melted.
And Zoe helped me make popcorn, using our Whirly-Gig popcorn maker, which we picked up at our church's sharing closet (where everything is free).
She really was having fun, but for some reason, she's just lookin' serious in a lot of my photos of her lately!
Oh, and I don't have a picture of the finished product yet, but I updated this Goodwill pot a bit. And no, I didn't paint it black. 😉
And that's the last photo I have for you this Tuesday.
Ok, one more, just for fun.
Hope your day is sunny!
Today's 365 post: Mulching Helpers
Joshua's 365 post: Little Picnic
Good tip about the Pyrex. I have a 2c. round that was abandoned in the work kitchen (it was there for at least a year before I gave it a better home) but no lid. And I have cottage cheese in the fridge right now. Speaking of Pyrex, there have been $1 off 1 piece of Pyrex coupons in the inserts recently.
I keep a supply of those take-out containers to use when giving food away. No need to worry about getting it back.
The balloon clip made me laugh! I'm using one on a bag of pretzels right now!
I have the same balloon clip (but in orange) on a bag of cookies!
Me three! I have same balloon clip in use! Great frugal minds think alike!
I really love picture posts, and it's just so cool to see the everyday knick knacks/things that help make you so frugal. I'll always misplacing pyrex lids, so I'll have to give a yogurt lid a go. 🙂
Zoe looks like such a big girl in these pictures!
I have a solutionfor my lids....I have one a ziplock bag (it's slighter larger than a gallon...but a gallon one will do) and I leave all my lids till last when I wash dishes.
After they are clean, I dry them and place them in the bag. That way, I always know where the lids are. Plus, they "stand up" just like my baking sheets, so it's takes up little space in my sparse cabinets.
great idea Jeanine!
Can I just say that I love these kinds of posts?! Even something as trivial as a new use idea for a bag slip greatly excites me, lol!! Keep 'em coming...:)
Oops, bag clip.
Me, too! 😉
America's Test Kitchen has a fantastic recipe for Pineapple Upside Down Cake. I think this is the link for it: http://www.cooksillustrated.com/recipes/login.asp?docid=6329
Lovely! Your photos were just the right breath of spring air. Thanks again for the positivity.
Great pictures, thank you for sharing! It is raining here. And I do need to get some more dirt in our flower bed. Then I may mulch it. Mulch is free here but where to get free dirt? hmmmmm.
Have you noticed how Zoe is losing her baby look?? Love the picture posts!
Thought I would share my late Mother-in-laws recipe for pineapple upside down cake..
Marions Pineapple Upside Down Cake
Preheat oven to 350 (325 for glass pans) Use cast iron skillet or 8 in round cake pan
Put 1/2 cup butter and 1 cup brown sugar and put into heated oven (or microwave if using glass pan) to melt butter. Stir to mix. Add pineapple rings (save juice)on top with cherries in middle of slices.
In another bowl mix 3 egg yolks (save whites), 1 cup white sugar and 5 tbs reserved pineapple juice. Sift together 1 cup regular flour, 1 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt. Add to egg mixture. Beat 3 egg whites until stiff and fold into egg and flour mixture. Pour into pan over pineapple.
Bake 45-50 minutes. Flip over onto serving plate.
The top is moist and crunchy and has a great flavor...
THANK-YOU so much! I was looking for a tried and true recipe for this exact thing. My husband will be thrilled!
Nancy,
Thank you for sharing the recipe! I hope you don't mind but I have since your directions to my recipe book and I will be trying this one out tonight! I even have fresh pineapple I can use that I bought at Aldi's for just .99!! 🙂
So funny about the balloon clip. I have some clips from Ikea that are *meant for* closing bags and my kids have been using them to blow up balloons and pinch them closed since they don't know how to tie balloons.
I've been curious about Whirly-Gig popcorn makers... The hot air popcorn we got for our wedding (almost 14 years ago too) died so we've been using a plain ole pot and shaking it as the kernels pop.
You mentioned your church's sharing closet. Could you tell me how that works? That sounds like a great idea. It might be something my church would be interested in doing.
Thanks
I got a truck load of free mulch from the tree service who removed a few trees from my neighbors yard. They chipped up the branches and were happy to give them to me, so they didn't have to pay to dispose of them.
I eagerly await the finished pot.
Lucky you, with the mulch. Where I live you have to pay (lots) for a yard waste disposal bin that gets picked up like garbage and recycleables, so you pay again, then the municipality composts it and sells it back to you. Needless to say, I refused the bin, even though I still have to pay for it and the pick up, because I won't use it and don't need it in my yard, so I won't be buying any mulch from them. I compost my own and it takes quite a while to accumulate the amount you have. I'll have to look around for other sources as they do exist.
Mmm! Frugality is fabulous!!!! I make it a game to see what I can reuse or improvise with to get the job done. I am currently using clothes pins for bag clips (I have extra from a Buy One Get, One Free deal). I am also using empty plastic ice cream buckets for Easter baskets this year. My kid's are going to decorate them with leftover scrapbook paper and stickers I found at a salvage store. and I'm using shredded paper from our paper shredder in place of Easter grass (then I'll dump it in the compost bin). Thanks Kristin, I love all your great ideas for saving money!!!!!!!!!
I just use all of that stuff until it cracks and recycle it. Good work. Thanks for the tips. If you hurt you can soak in epsom salts for cheap and that will take care of it. Take care.
Cook's Illustrated has an amazing pineapple upside down cake. Ive made it numerous times. There should be a pic on my blog. Its seriously so good and there is a ginger/coconut version too.
Yay for Whirly-Gig popcorn makers! We got ours at a church rummage sale that we happened to notice as we were passing by. We love how the popcorn always comes out very light and evenly cooked.
But no popcorn for us this week, while we are celebrating Passover. Just talking about it is making my mouth water.