Spiders...

When my youngest was just learning to crawl one day he discovered a dead spider near the fridge....well what was he to do but put it in his mouth and eat it of course!!

I have used a combination of Pebbles Inc papers and embellies for this layout...this week we were to take inspiration from an image found on Pinterest, and this was mine!

 I've been playing with my Cameo again to cut out these spiders!

Onion Fritters with Fresh Green Chutney

 The town I live in is pretty small and rural.  In fact, if you go down the street and make a left you'll run into a cattle farm.  To push my point even further, we were a dry county (no beer or alcohol sales allowed) until just about a month ago.  It's just a nice, small, old-fashioned kinda town.  While we do love living here, sometimes we miss living in a bigger city with all it's conveniences.  

However, just last week our little town had a grand opening for a brand new very fancy grocery store.  I was beyond ecstatic!  For four years I've been running to the "city", which is 30 minutes away, to get all my special hard-to-find grocery items.  Now all those special ingredients are right at my fingertips.  All I have to do is go down the street and make a left when I see the cattle farm.  It's literally minutes away.

My neighbors are laughing at me because I've been to the new grocery store every day since they've opened.  I know you all understand.  I can't believe that here, in what feels like the middle of nowhere, we now have a grocery store that has a sushi bar, and get this....a cupcake bar.  You can literally make your own cupcake.  Can I just tell you that this grocery store sells everything?  Heck, they even sell whole (skinned and deboned) frogs!  Crazy, huh?  

So anyway, I've basically been stalking the place with big wide eyes full of wonder.  It's safe to say that I've spent way too much money buying up all the ingredients that I've been dying to get my hands on all these years.

Chickpea flour, or besan, is one of the ingredients that I've been searching for until now. Chickpea flour can be used for many things, but what I've been wanting to make with it lately are these savory and totally addicting onion fritters. 

The batter for these fritters consists chickpea flour, egg, four different spices, green chile, and fresh cilantro.  The batter rests for awhile so that it has a chance to soak up all the great added flavors.   The diced onion is thrown in at the last minute right before frying.  These fritters are okay on their own, but magic happens when you dunk them in this Fresh Green Chutney.  The chutney is fresh from the addition of mint and cilantro, tangy from the yogurt, and a little bit acidic from the lemon juice.  It is a perfect pairing.  I served these as an appetizer prior to serving Jaffrey's Delicious Chicken Bits that I posted here last month.  If you're looking for a new way to prepare your chicken, please try those chicken bits.  They are absolutely incredible!

Onion Fritters with Fresh Green Chutney

1 large egg

4 tablespoons water

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 cup chickpea flour (also called besan)

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/2 teaspoon garam masala

1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric

1 fresh, hot green chile, finely chopped (do not remove seeds)

2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

vegetable oil, for frying

1 medium-large onion, peeled and chopped into medium-size dice

Break the egg into a bowl and beat well.  Add the water and the lemon juice.  Mix.  Add in the chickpea flour and mix well with a whisk.  Put in the salt, cayenne pepper, garam masala, cumin seeds, ground cumin, turmeric, green chile, and cilantro.  Mix well and set aside for at least 10 minutes.  Mix again with a whisk.  The batter should be of a droppable consistency.  

Put the oil in a wok or deep fryer and set over medium heat. You should have at least 3 inches of oil in the center of the wok.  When the oil is hot, put the onion into the batter and mix.  (This should always be done just before frying).  Remove heaping teaspoons of the batter and drop it into the hot oil.  Use up all the batter this way.  Stir and fry the fritters for 7 to 8 minutes or until they are golden red.  Remove the fritters with a slotted spoon and drain on a plate lined with paper towels.  Serve hot, as soon as the fritters are made.

Fresh Green Chutney

6 tablespoons plain yogurt

 2 heaping tablespoons coarsely chopped mint

2 heaping tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh cilantro 

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1/3 teaspoon salt or to taste

Put 2 tablespoons of the yogurt and the mint, cilantro, lemon juice, and salt into the container of an electric blender and blend until smooth, pushing down with a rubber spatula if necessary.

Put the remaining 4 tablespoons of yogurt into a bowl and beat lightly.  Add the paste from the blender.  Stir to mix.

This chutney may be stored, covered, in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 days.

Eat 'em all up til they're gone!

Theme: Relishes, Chutneys and Pickles

simple solutions: Deals to Meals

It happened again. I was in the checkout line at Walmart and the cashier totaled my transaction. He looked at the register and motioned to the person in charge. As she walked up, the cashier said two words, "price matching." The PIC smiled and used her key to "unlock" the transaction (or whatever they do), so we could finish up.

So here's the deal. Apparently, if you save TOO MUCH money or more than a certain percentage at Walmart, it requires someone to take a second look to see why. Yep, twice now in the last two months. Getting a really good deal on something is a total rush for me--seriously. Getting a great deal on food we eat every day--even better.

photo source

It drives me nuts to see other people spend more than they need to, so if you're shopping at Walmart, and I see an item in your cart that can be price-matched that week, I will hunt you down tell you. :) So far everyone has been super grateful and not thought I was a freak.

One "new friend" grabbed a bunch more of the item she was purchasing--crackers I think, then looked in my cart. "Can the butter be price matched too? And how about those beans?" Yep, yep, yep. Then of course she wanted to know how I did it. I showed her my list and explained how Deals to Meals works. She wrote down all the information and thanked me like a million times. It was hilarious, and fun, and exciting!

photo source

photo source

I can't even remember how I found Deals to Meals, but I LOVE it. It's very simple to use and saves me a ton of time and money. It also works for the way we eat. Feeding my family good, healthy food is important to me. I will scrimp in other areas, but not on my food budget. But seriously, I can't believe how much food prices have gone up! This service really helps me keep my budget in check.

Here's how it works:  

SIGN UP
After a FREE two week trial, you sign up. There's no contract (hooray!), and it's $4.95 a month. Yes, seriously! If I used my list to purchase just my produce, I'd save a lot more than that. The service is available in many states already and they're working on bringing it to all 50 states.

 
GO TO THE WEBSITE
I look forward to Wednesday morning, because that's when the ad prices are listed in my area. The company compares the ad prices of all the major grocery stores in your area to Costco, Sam's Club and Walmart, then rates them:

All the work is done for you!

*I sort by the great and good deals. 

ADD ITEMS TO YOUR LIST AND PRINT
The program is set up so you just check the items you want, create your list, and print it out. It gives you the option to print your list by store or by category.

SAVE
You can go directly to the stores listed, or you can price match at Walmart. If I'm in the area or Walmart doesn't carry a brand I want, I go to the store listed. Ninety-five percent of the time I price match at Walmart. When you get to the register, tell the cashier, "I have items to price match." I like to group everything together when I empty my cart to make it easier. Then as the cashier grabs each item, tell them the price and store you're matching. Example: "Those are $1.39 at Macey's."

Keep your list in your purse.
In the beginning I would do one trip each week for all the items I had on my list. Then when I went back for additional items I needed later, I didn't have my list. The savings for those small trips adds up quickly! And I use my list every time I go to the store.

Use Deals to Meals to build your preparedness/food storage.
This is a great way to simply build your three month supply or long term storage.

Purchase the items you use regularly.
Think about it. If you're purchasing the items you use anyway--when the prices are their best--you have that much more expendable cash in your food budget. Or you can save it for something else.

At $1.19, I did break down and purchase store-bought cookies. I'm not the meanest mom in the world anymore. :)

Write down the original price of the items you purchase while you shop.
I don't do this all the time, but sometimes just for fun to see how much I saved. With the example I shared at the beginning of this post, my total was $56.74. My savings was $50.76, so I saved almost 50%. Score!

* We go through whole wheat Ritz crackers like nobody's business. I stock up when they are on sale for $2.50 a box. This trip I price-matched them for $1.37 a box. (Yes, I bought a dozen or more.) I saved a dollar a jar on Best Foods Mayo and paid .75 for ww lasagne noodles, instead of the original price of $1.88.

Use Deals to Meals menu planner.
As an added bonus, Deals to Meals also compiles a weekly list of menus with the recipes, based on what items are on sale each week. There are great recipes for everything imaginable.

Ready to give it a try? Go HERE. When you sign up for your two week trial, you are required to give a credit card number. There is no catch and it's all on the up and up, I promise. Otherwise, I wouldn't do it. (This just makes it easier when you sign up for the monthly service after your trial.) You're going to LOVE it and thank me like a million times! :)

Disclosure: I contacted Deals to Meals and told them how much I love their service. I also asked how I could help spread the word. They have a great affiliate program, so I signed on. This means I will receive compensation for each person who signs up for Deals to Meals through my site.

Oh!

It's my day to post over at The Alley Way Stamps.  I used the set Framed, the highlight of which are the two Polaroid frames that you can tuck anything into for a fun card.  (I used one on my new release card.)  But the great part of The Alley Way Stamps sets are the little images that are "hiding" in each set so I used the quirky little smiley face on this fun card.  I think this card could be used for so many things..."Oh, you're great!"..."Oh, what a surprise"..."Oh! I forgot"


I used the layout from Freshly Made Sketches.  This is a small invite sized card to accommodate the tiny little faces.

• Stamps: The Alley Way Stamps Framed
• Paper: Stampin' UP Crumb Cake CS and dsp
• Ink: Memento black and fluorescent Copics
• Accessories: Hobby Lobby brand ribbon, Spellbinders squares and circles

Celebrating my family...

I've been playing with BasicGrey's Serenade collection, not my usual bright style but I love the understated tones it has given to my layouts. This first one celebrates my little family of four with a recent iphone photo.

...and this one with an older photo from when my second was born celebrates the three most important boys in my life.

Passion for Papertrey: Some Inky Love

The blog challenge, A Passion for Papertrey, challenges us to use a Papertrey Ink set that hasn't seen love yet.  That's so easy for me that it's almost hard!

I am a collector as much as I am a cardmaker - so I have no shortage of uninked sets.  For this card, I narrowed it down simply by the fact that I had the unused PTI tree die out with an idea for a different card.  This pointed me toward Christmas, which then led me to the very unique set Peace Be Still - an unused stamp and an unused die.  Then I decided to really throw caution to the wind and I pulled out some unused PTI paper!!

I cannot believe that I hadn't shown love to any of these unused products!!I did the tree as a window because I loved the cards that I was seeing over at The Catered Crop's Challenge to accentuate the negative!!A marching band update - bittersweet news.  My son's band did move up a spot to 9th in the state, but only the top 8 bands competed in finals - I think it was almost worse for them to get that close.  On the other hand, they moved up by beating their cross town rivals for the first time EVER and that took A LOT of the sting out of missing finals.  We have plans today to gather around the TV and cheer for our Denver Broncos. (I only have five minutes to type and link this!)  But Andrew is so exhausted from the last few weeks of marching band, that he stumbled downstairs, ate some breakfast cereal and is already sound asleep on the family room floor. We decided to let him sleep a little as long as we could hear the football game over his snoring!

• Stamps: Papertrey Ink Peace Be Still
• Paper: Papertrey Ink Fine Linen and Ripe Avocado CS, Holiday Flourishes and Swirls dsp
• Ink: Papertrey Ink Ripe Avocado, Fresh Snow
• Accessories: Papertrey Ink Peace Be Still die and tree die, May Arts gold twine, Recollections gold (on the leaf sprig), Martha Stewart Fine Crystal glitter (on the tree), sparkle white embossing powder (on bird)

HOUSTON!!!!!!

Houston!!!!! So amazing...so FUN...so EXCITING!!!!! I am already looking forward to next October :o)

I am going to start off with my most exciting moment, Thomas Knauer! Thomas has been kind enough to share with me some of his super fun and cool fabrics from Andover Fabrics. His latest Frippery was over the top and I had to play with it IMMEDIATELY!  I knew I was going to make a quilt for his newest addition. I used Jeni Baker's giant star pattern and added a little funky scrappy twist. It was quilted by the OVER THE TOP awesome Lisa @that crazy quilt girl!!!! I love that girlie, her pink hair, her purple tutu and giving her piggy back rides ( true story and there are photos somewhere).

The quilt was made using Frippery and Kona solids. It was quilted with Aurifil 40wt using three colors.

I was able to nab it from the Andover booth ( they sure are a trusting bunch) and have the lovely Elena at Aurifil hold it up for me to grab some shots of the beautiful quilting!!!!!

I was also lucky enough to play with Savannah Bop! I made this adorable bib for the wee one too! The embroidery using Aurifil 12wt is a free pattern from Thomas on Sew Mama Sew and the bib pattern will be available soon on Pellon Projects.

I loved working on this quilt and for the record...all of my quilts are hugged before they leave me! Thank you Thomas and Congratulations to you and your beautiful family!!!!!!!