How I Cut My Grocery Budget To $200 Per Month

There was a time I would shop pretty much every week, and could easily spend $200 or more per trip.

We live on a mountain top, and our local grocery store is small and definitely more expensive than the big stores down the mountain.

Easy Peasy Dinner Party Menus

I'm planning a dinner party for one of my dearest friends, as a birthday celebration. I've been thinking of this for quite some time, and have finally started the ball rolling by picking a day and sending invites. 

Now it's time to plan the menu!

Embracing Winter On The MountainTop

All over blogland and on Instagram I'm seeing lovely photos of spring flowers and posts about spring dreams. 

Up here on the Mountain Top, I know we've got a good two months or more left of winter, so there's really no point in getting too excited about spring just yet!

The best thing to do is to settle in and embrace what's left of winter. 

I mean, really - what else can you do?

Recipe Roundup - Top 16 from 16

Yeah, I know. I should have posted this last week. What can I say, I'm a busy lady! :)

A very sweet and talented friend and blogger suggested that I should do a recipe roundup. Thanks for the suggestion, Kim!

I went back through all my posts for 2016 and decided to repost the top 16 from 16 because I'm cheesy like that.

Yup, that's me. Mmmmmmmmmmm.......cheese!

Zucchini & Roasted Veggie Lasagna

I know I've been swamping you with zucchini recipes but I truly can't help it. As soon as I cook off a few zucchinis, five more are ready to pick! 

Lasagna Bolognese

It's a glorious morning in the mountains and I'm so excited to share one of my favorite recipes with you. 

No Spend Month - Week Three Recap

I can't believe it's been three weeks since I began my first no-spend month! I doubt that there has been another time in my adult life when I went three whole weeks without spending any money (other than on bills, of course!) and it feels amazing that I have made it this far!

The challenges have been few, as apparently I did quite a good job of prepping for my no-spend month. We certainly haven't struggled with food, that's for sure! I've been using up the perishables first, of course, and then going to the freezer to supplement. 

My daughter also picked up a few bits of fresh produce when she was at Trader Joe's so that helped. 

As you can see, my produce tower still looks pretty well stocked. Take note of the bananas and avocados in the second tier - my daughter bought those and they are still there because I happen to be allergic to both bananas and avocados! Otherwise they would have been all gone by now. 

I'm on my last bag of sweet onions. My potatoes are starting to grow eyes so I'm using them up these days. The sweet potatoes will need to be used in the next couple of days as well. I generally just wrap them in foil and pop them in the crock pot on low - they are cooked perfectly when I get home. Just remember to line the crock pot with foil as well - sweet potatoes leave an awful mess when they 'leak' out of the foil wrappers!

I'm starting to work my way through the fall produce now - I left it until later in the challenge as it lasts so much longer than things like fresh green beans, spinach, etc. 

See that monster green squash? I grew that baby in my little veggie garden - I had no idea what it was until my dear friend Maureen identified it for me! 

Apparently it's a Hubbard Squash - it seems the squash plant I purchased at the nursery was mislabeled as Acorn Squash. I still don't know what I'm going to do with it but at least now I know what it is. 

I still have that beautiful pumpkin also that I bought ages ago at the farmers' market - I had no idea what I would do with it but after that absolutely incredible Pumpkin Lasagna I made over the weekend I am definitely going to do the same with this pumpkin!

I'm completely out of fresh fruit and have been resorting to frozen fruit on my Greek yogurt in the mornings. I was also out of Greek yogurt but my sweetie picked up some when he was at the market - thanks, Sweetie! I just pop the frozen berries in the microwave for about 30 seconds before dumping them on my yogurt and it works like a charm. 

My grocery list is growing and growing....

....I have no doubt that next Monday when my challenge has ended I will need to hit the market on the way home from work!

My gas tank is a little over 1/4 full. I'm not sure I'll make it through to the end but we'll see. 

My wine supply is dwindling.....I'll have to re-stock after the challenge. Of course, I am still waiting for my daughters to replace all the wine they drank....ahem. 

I'm still puttering around the house, doing this and that, but not spending any money on the updates. 

My recent post on the lack of a proper entry in my house prompted me to finally hang some hooks by the kitchen door. 

I bought a few of these hooks back when I was moving into this house - there's one on the back of the other door that leads to the deck, also. And one in my daughter's room, by her door. I think I have one more, possibly two, in my utility room, just waiting for the right spot. You can't have enough hooks in my opinion!

Over the weekend I moved my Fiddleleaf Fig into the dining room so it can get some more sun. It seems to be kind of naked on one side, probably because I had it over next to the fireplace. Hopefully it will start to fill out now. 

And then I read Sarah's post about her Fiddleleaf Figs and how she makes the leaves shine - guess what I did last night while dinner was cooking?  It works like a charm - thanks, Sarah!

After dinner, when I went out to let the pups out, the moon was incredible and the sky so beautiful I had to run back in for the camera. 

And yes, I am still putting on my holiday lights every evening. I haven't unplugged the lights around the eaves yet....that will happen soon. The lights on the deck railing will stay - I use them all season when I sit out on the deck in the evenings. 

Seriously, just look at that sky! Gorgeous!

I'm thinking the full moon last night must have had something to do with the beautiful sky this morning as well. 

I feel so blessed. 

Pumpkin Lasagna - No, Really!!

I know what you're probably thinking....Really? Pumpkin Lasagna? 

I know. If I had seen it on a menu I would have kept on going. Not a chance would I order it. I honestly am NOT a pumpkin person. Does nothing for me. 

And I did not start out my day with any thought in my head of making pumpkin lasagna, that's for sure!

Nevertheless, that's exactly what happened. 

And it was so incredibly fabulous I had to share it with all of you!

It all started because I have all this fall produce that is still around. I cannot waste food . So, although I had no idea what I was going to do with this pumpkin I bought at the farmer's market, I simply knew that someday I would cook it up and give it a go!

Well, that someday was yesterday. It was time. The pumpkin needed to be cooked....even though I had no clue what I would do with it. 

I started with a tip from a dear reader - thanks, Pat! 

Pat suggested when she read my post on My Favorite Butternut Squash Soup that, in the future, I should put the whole butternut squash into the crockpot and cook it that way, no peeling required. 

I figured if it will work for a butternut squash it will work for a pumpkin!

So, in it went while I puttered around doing a bunch of chores. I figured once it was cooked I would figure out what to do with it. 

But while I was puttering around I kept thinking about it. I felt like making some sort of pasta dish and I remembered some pumpkin ravioli I tried many years ago - I recall being very surprised at how much I liked those ravioli!

Now the wheels were turning. I looked online to see if anyone else had the same idea and I saw a few recipes out there. But none were quite what I was looking for, so I did what I normally do in that case - take a little of each recipe, add them to what's whirling around in my head, and create my own concoction. 

And here it is for you. Because it was beyond amazing! This dish absolutely blew me away! 

I confess, I did not write down precise measurements however I did photograph the steps involved as I went on. 

Here is my photographic journey of the creation of my very first Pumpkin Lasagna. 

I can tell you for sure it will not be my last!

I started in the morning by cutting the top of a small pumpkin and putting it in the crockpot with about a half cup of water in the bottom of the crockpot. I did not use any seasonings at this point but just put the lid on and went about my day. 

I put the crockpot on high for the first hour and then set it to low for the next 5 hours. I cooked the pumpkin for 6 hours total. 

When it was time to cook dinner I removed it with tongs to a cutting board and scraped out the seeds. 

I then took a large spoon and scraped the cooked pumpkin flesh away from the skin and discarded the skins. Well - not quite discarded but rather into the compost bucket. 

The pumpkin flesh went into a bowl - I would guess I had about 2 cups pumpkin total. 

I mashed it up with a half stick of butter, some freshly ground sea salt and pepper, and about a 1/4 tsp nutmeg. I then added some chopped flatleaf parsley (1/3 cup) and a handful of sage leaves, which I also chopped. 

I had frozen both the parsley and sage at the end of the gardening season so I have fresh herbs for cooking all winter long. The parsley was chopped prior to freezing but the sage was frozen in whole leaves, which I pulled off the stems prior to freezing. Look how wonderful they still look all these months later!

The beautiful herbed pumpkin puree is ready to go. 

While I was preparing that, I was also sauteeing two sliced onions in a little olive oil. 

When the onions were nicely caramelized I made a hole in the center, dropped in a tablespoon of butter and sauteed a half a head of garlic, minced. 

I added a half bag of spinach once the garlic was fragrant and put the lid on the pan for a few minutes. 

Gorgeous! Wilted fragrant spinach. A sprinkle of freshly ground pepper and salt at this point and this layer was ready. 

I grabbed a glass lasagna pan and got busy layering. In the bottom of the pan I poured about a cup of fat free milk. 

Into the milk went two no-bake lasagna noodles. The milk will give them the layer of moisture they need to cook properly. 

On top of the noodles I sprinkled about  1/4 cup grated Romano cheese, 1/2 cup shredded Mozzarella, and some salt and pepper. 

Two more noodles went on top of this mixture, and the spinach mixture on top of those noodles. 

Two more noodles on top of the spinach layer, and then came the herbed pumpkin layer. 

More noodles on top of that, with a layer of Mozzarella and Romano cheeses. 

Another layer of noodles and then the final layer of Ricotta, Mozzarella, and Romano cheese. 

I poured a little half & half over the top to make sure all the noodles would have enough moisture for cooking, gave it a good sprinkle of freshly ground pepper, and covered it with foil. 

Into a 375 oven for about an hour or so. I took the foil off for the last few minutes and turned the oven to low broil to brown the top - and when I took it out it looked like this:

Isn't that just gorgeous?

I let it 'set' for a good 10 minutes before serving. 

A sprinkle of freshly shaved Parmesan cheese set off the final dish beautifully. 

I think it's fair to say we were all absolutely delighted with my latest experiment!

The creamy cheesy layers complemented the pumpkin herb layer so beautifully!

The sage and nutmeg were just enough to set the dish apart from my usual veggie lasagna but they were subtle enough that they just blended beautifully with all the other flavors. 

The spinach, onion, and garlic layer added enough savory to complement the sweet of the pumpkin. Amazing, seriously!

All in all, I am so incredibly pleased with my experiment and I only regret I didn't make another for the freezer. 

But that's ok....there's another pumpkin that needs to be used before long. 

And I know just what to do with it now!

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Recipe Roundup

I can't believe I've been blogging for just about 6 months now! And I've 'met' so many amazing new friends - what an incredible bonus that has been!

I know many of you have just recently found my blog and I am so happy you did! I truly cherish each and every one of your comments and I feel so incredibly blessed to have so many folks following my little blog. 

I have created a Facebook page for my blog which is interesting because I am NOT a Facebook person in the least! However, it's a great place for me to share some of the various articles that I find interesting as well as some recipes, cooking and house tips, and incredible houses. Please click on the link on the right side of my page to like me on Facebook - this way my posts will come right to your page. 

At least I think that's how it works!!  :) Correct me if I'm wrong....

Since so many of you are new to my world I thought I would do a little recipe roundup where I gather all the recipes I've posted so far into one convenient location. The link to each recipe can be found below the photo. 

Most of my recipes are fairly easy to make and are made with healthy ingredients like lots and lots of veggies! 

And cheese....always cheese. 

Enjoy!!

Tortellini with Fresh Tomato Basil Sauce

Roasted Tomato Soup

The Easiest Tomato Sauce Ever

The Very Best Veggie Lasagna

Farm Fresh Bolognese

Crock Pot Chicken Broth

My First Quiche

NuNu's Pizza

Deconstructed Lasagna

Bourbon Vanilla Cranberry Sauce

Mouth Watering Meatloaf

Red and White Winter Salad

My Favorite Butternut Squash Soup

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Red & White Winter Salad...and Weigh In

As you know, I've been trying to incorporate changes into  my diet and life to have a healthier me in 2016. 

Making healthier choices. Incorporating more whole foods. More fruits and veggies. 

I know it's only the first week, but so far so good. 

Friday has always been my weigh in day. And woo hoo!! I am down 4.8 lbs! I have no doubt much of that is water weight....but either way my eyeballs were super happy to see that number on the scale this morning!

Great motivation to keep going!

Last night I made a lovely winter salad that I thought I'd share with you today. This would be a great salad for a nice winter lunch. We had it as a starter before our main meal, which was Deconstructed Lasagna - one of my favorites! 

I based this salad on some of the veggies I bought when I was prepping for my no-spend month (which I'll post my progress on weekly, beginning on Monday!)

I have never purchased Endive or Radicchio before, but they looked so lovely sitting in the produce section I just had to give them a try. 

When I got them home I honestly didn't know what I would do with them! But I knew I'd come up with something. 

And I did. Something lovely!

I started by cutting the ends off the Endive and the Radicchio. I pulled all the leaves off the Endive and cut it into strips. 

The Radicchio I chopped into rough strips as well. It's so beautiful with all that glorious color!

Next came a small red onion, peeled, cut in half, and then into thin slices. 

A red pear, just ripe enough and super juicy and sweet, also cut into strips. 

Red grapes were cut in half and tossed into the mix. 

Just look at all that good stuff in there! 

I tossed in a handful of shelled pistachios for crunch and protein. 

Next came some good Gorgonzola. Because lets face it, there's no way I'm giving up cheese entirely. And Gorgonzola and fruit is the most amazing combination!

A drizzle of olive oil, some balsamic vinegar  - I used Blackberry Ginger Balsamic from the Saratoga Olive Oil Company - it's so amazing!

Some freshly ground pepper and sea salt and you're all done. 

The sweetness of the fruit balances out the bitterness of the Radicchio. The Endive has a great fresh crunch. And the onions gave just enough bite. Add the crunch of the pistachios and the creamy tart Gorgonzola and this was a match made in heaven!

The salad as a starter meant I only took half as much pasta as I would have without that fiber filling my belly. 

My body thanks me for this wonderful goodness I nourished it with. 

And it showed on the scale. 

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