Homemade Lasagna

I realize most of you already have a 'favorite' lasagna recipe but I thought I'd post mine since we just had it last night and it's easy and was delicious as always. The recipe is actually my sister's, who is an awesome cook! I will be featuring several of her recipes (including Ramen Noodle Salad, Ham Balls and Wassil ~ a hot Christmas drink) in the future as they have all become favorites of mine. For now, here is the homemade lasagna recipe:

1 lb. ground beef
1 jar (1 lb., 10 oz) of spaghetti sauce (Prego, Ragu, whatever is on sale) :)
8 lasagna noodles
12 oz. cottage cheese
12 oz. mozzerella cheese
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1 beaten egg
1) Brown ground beef in skillet; drain; add spaghetti sauce and simmer (with lid on to prevent splatters)
2) Cook noodles in boiling, salted water for 8-9 minutes; drain and rinse in cool water
3) Mix cottage cheese, mozzerella cheese, parmesan cheese and egg in a medium sized bowl.
In 13" x 9" pan (I use a Pampered Chef Stone Baker and I don't have to grease), layer noodles, then beef mixture, then cheese mixture, then repeat.
4) Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

I usually serve it with greens and breadsticks. Enjoy and God bless ~ Thrifty Gal

Free Reads for a Good Cause

We are fortunate enough to get away a couple of times a year and stay in a hotel. We generally stay at Country Inn & Suites because we have found them to be clean and quiet and they have a great FREE hot breakfast (remember, I'm thrifty)! :) They also have a great program called "Read It and Return" Lending Library. You can borrow any of the books (usually paperback) that they have on display in their front lobby, take it home, leisurely read it and return it upon your next visit ~ to any Country Inn & Suites in the U.S. With each book returned, a donation is made by the hotel chain to a literacy organization.

I was able to pick up several new titles this summer on our vacation to the South. I just started reading Sue Grafton's "R is for Ricochet". Others I've borrowed and read include "The Perfect Day" by Richard Paul Evans, "Murder on the Orient Express" by Agatha Christie and "Good Hope Road" by Lisa Wingate. As mentioned on the Country Inn & Suites website, other books currently available include: Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson; Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte; Stuart Little by E.B. White; Cinderella Man by Marc Cerasini; Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson; The Ant Bully - Movie Novel by Judy Katschke; Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie; Riding the Bus with My Sister by Rachel Simon; Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl; The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd; Big Fish by Daniel Wallace; Super Fudge by Judy Blume; Charlotte's Web by E.B. White; The 100 Simple Secrets of Happy People by David Niven; The Sugar House by Laura Lippman; and The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket. As you can see, there are some classics and kids' books available in addition to recent releases. I love the idea of getting a book to 'borrow' and then having a non-profit organization benefit from it! (And no, I did not get paid by Country Inn & Suites to post this blog....not even a free nights' stay! :)

It's here! The Fall, Y'all Bloggy Giveaway!

I'm participating in the Fall, Y'all Bloggy Giveaway being hosted by Shannon here and I'm so excited! I think it's going to be HUGE and there will be lots of great products up for the taking! I haven't mentioned this yet, but I own an Ebay store, Treasure Trove Clothes, and because I want to support the 'landlord' of my business, I've decided to giveaway a $25 Ebay Gift Certificate ~ PERFECT for buying Christmas presents! It does not have to be used on my auctions or at my store but you CAN, if you like :) All you'll have to do is leave a comment on this post (just one comment per person please ~ no duplicates). I will leave the contest open until 9 p.m. Central Time, November 2, and then I will randomly draw a winner from the comments I receive. I will post the name of the winner on my blog at 10 a.m. Central Time on November 3. I will also notify the winner via email AND deliver the gift certificate via email so you can use it immediately! The contest is open to bloggers and non-bloggers alike from all over the world! HAVE FUN!

Answered Prayers and Thankfulness

I've been praying this past week for my nephew, his wife and their two daughters (2 and 1). They live in Ramona, California, and were driven out of their homes last Sunday by the 'Witch Fire', which spread throughout Southern California. They had spent 6 days living in my nephew's office on base at Coronado (he's a Navy Seal). They got to return to their home Saturday night and PRAISE BE! Our prayers were answered and their home (and animals) were SPARED! They are making due with bottled water and will have to wait until city water gets restored (could be up to a week or two). Prayers will continue, however, for many of their friends who lost everything and will be rebuilding. Makes me very thankful for all my blessings ~ a warm and comfortable home, clean air to breathe, homemade popcorn and t.v. watching with my loving family :) I'll be back tomorrow with information about the Fall, Y'all Bloggy Giveaway! God bless ~ Thrifty Gal

A 'Not So Thrifty' Day

I took my DD out of town today to get her fitted for toe shoes for her ballet class (she's been dancing for 7 years!) and the total cost for shoes, pads, covers, elastic and ribbons.... $85!!! But she's worth it :)

Yummy Pumpkin Cake!

I have to admit, I did not develop a taste for pumpkin pie, pumpkin bars or anything pumpkin flavored for that matter, until I was (ahem) older. But now that I do enjoy a pumpkin thing or two around this time of year, I've been looking for easy, made-from-scratch recipes to satisfy my sweet tooth. I found this great Pumpkin Cake recipe at one of my usual blog stops, Unfolding Grace, and decided to bake it yesterday afternoon for my husband's football potluck (he's an assistant varsity coach at our high school here in town). You can find the recipe here. It turned out terrific and was quite tasty! Thanks Mrs. Elliott :)

God bless ~ Thrifty Gal

Beauty Bargains

I have tried every skin care regime there is and, in fact, have sold both Mary Kay and BeautiControl. And while I loved the products made by these companies, I just couldn't justify the amount of money I was spending. So I began my quest for less expensive products with a rich feel and all I had to do was hit the Dollar General store down the street.

The items pictured are my two favorite ~ the moisturizer costs $2 a bottle and the cleanser costs $3 a bottle. I use the cleanser twice a day and the moisturizer just in the a.m., under my make-up. It says on the bottles to compare to Oil of Olay products and I did... and they are just as good and make my skin feel wonderful. God bless ~ Thrifty Gal

Homemade Honey Wheat Bread

My wonderful, gentle dad was unusual in that he liked to cook ~ which he realized in the Navy during World War II. He was a cook on a minesweeper and once told the story of having to peel over 100 pounds of potatoes in one day! Following the end of the war and the return home, he gave up cooking large quantities and became a back-seat chef to my mother, who cooked most of the evening meals. But for some reason, every Christmas, he received the most recent "convenience" appliance or Ronco gizmo ~ most of which ended up at the local Goodwill. But one such gift, a bread maker, was given to me upon his passing and I've been using it ever since to make this delicious homemade honey wheat bread:

1 2/3 cups water

2 teaspoons butter or margarine, softened

1/4 cup honey

2 teaspoons salt

2 1/4 cup whole wheat flour

2 cups bread flour

2/3 cup toasted, silvered almonds (I do not include these because we don't care for them and the recipe turns out just fine without them)

2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Here are the assembly directions for my bread maker. Please check your bread maker manual for proper order of ingredients:

1) Measure and add liquid ingredients to the bread pan.

2) Measure and add dry ingredients (except yeast) to the bread pan.

3) Use your finger to form a well (hole) in the flour where you will pour the yeast. Yeast must never come into contact with a liquid when you are adding ingredients. Measure the yeast and carefully pour it into the well.

4) Snap the baking pan into the breadmaker and close the lid.

5) Select appropriate buttons on your bread maker for "whole wheat bread" setting.

This makes a 2 pound loaf. It is outstanding toasted for breakfast ~ we eat it every morning! ENJOY and God bless ~ Thrifty Gal

A Treasure Chest of Values

I'm lucky enough to live in a small town that has an AWESOME thrift store which we locals call 'Treasure Chest' (well, that it's actual name ~ I just thought it sounded cool saying 'we locals') :) The store is staffed by elderly volunteers and the donations are readied for sale by residents of Comp Systems ~ a non-profit organization which provides housing and employment for the mentally and physically challenged. There are two outlet locations ~ one in my town and another in a town about 20 miles away. I try to frequent the local store at least twice a week ~ they are always putting 'new' merchandise out so every day there is something to see that I haven't seen before. Every month, there is a calendar published of the special sales for every day of that month. The most popular clothes shopping days are the $1.00 Bag Sale days. They count 10 items as a 'bag' so you can pick up 10 items of clothes for 10 cents a piece! That goes for everything ~ including jeans which are sometimes new with tags! Today was 50% off Linen & Draperies Day and while I wasn't able to find any vintage fabrics that I couldn't do without, I did manage to pick up some great deals!

(sorry, I'm going to have to get better at this picture-taking thing!)

Anyway, my finds are a grapevine tree ($2), an Oneida Buffet Caddy ($2 ~ looks new!), two golden decorative pears (25 cents a piece), 1 package of orange cocktail napkins (25 cents), 1 package of silvery gift wrap (50 cents) and one beautiful antique letter opener (25 cents). I have been looking for an antique letter opener for a long time and couldn't believe my luck today! This is nice and heavy and the inscription on it reads "Floraine ~ Sheffield, England" and I do love on any thing British! I plan to decorate the grapevine tree with white Christmas lights to use out on my back steps this holiday season. I will use the buffet caddy to hold my serving pieces when I serve Christmas dinner to my father-in-law and sister-in-law & family. The gift wrap is in a new unopened package ~ just like I like it :) I only use thrift store-purchased gift wrap and I'm able to find so much of it that I never have to buy any at retail price. I will use the pears in my cornucopia display for Thanksgiving and finally, the cocktail napkins will be saved for a future Halloween get-together. All this for $5.50 ~ Yippee!

I'll be back tomorrow with my bread machine recipe for our favorite Honey-Wheat Bread. God bless ~ Thrifty Gal

Homemade Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

When I decided to quit my full-time job and be a stay-at-home wife and mother, I decided I was going to have to start cooking from scratch in order to save money on our grocery bills. My husband, a school teacher, is a creature of habit ~ he has eaten the same lunch for over 16 years: a ham or turkey sandwich, a small container of strawberry applesauce, a flavored water and a pre-made chocolate chip granola bar. The price of pre-made granola bars has risen sharply since he first started teaching so I knew this was one item that I wanted to learn to make from scratch. I finally found a recipe out of a magazine, I tweaked it a little bit to suit his tastes...and I've been making these ever since. They are delicious! Here's the recipe:


2 cups old fashioned oats, uncooked (you can use quick oats but they are better with the old fashioned variety)

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup chocolate chips

3/4 cup packed brown sugar (light or dark, doesn't matter)

1/2 cup toasted wheat germ

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup pure maple syrup (too expensive for me!) OR maple-flavored syrup (much cheaper)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract (real or imitation)

1 large egg

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Farenheit. Grease 13 x 9" metal baking pan. Line pan with foil; grease foil.

2. In large bowl, with spoon, mix oats, flour, chocolate chips, sugar, wheat germ, cinnamon, salt, oil, syrup, vanilla, and egg until blended. With wet hand, pat oat mixture into prepared pan.



3. Bake 25 mintues or until edges turn pale golden. Cool completely in pan on wire rack.

4. When cool, invert pan and remove foil. Cut length-wise into the size of strips you would like and then cut crosswise in half. Then wrap each bar in plastic wrap.





These are good for at least a week if properly wrapped. I plan on giving these away for Christmas and will wrap in red or green plastic wrap. ENJOY and God bless :) Thrifty Gal

And so it begins...

Well, I've finally decided to leap into the bloggy world after reading so many wonderful blogs written by my 'thrifty sisters'. I will attempt to pass along some of my deal-finding expertise, my experience in cooking from scratch and the many ways I try to stretch the 'almighty' dollar. I hope to begin with a YUM-inspiring post tomorrow about my husband's favorite homemade granola bars...but I have to go bake them now so he can take them in his lunch :)
God bless ~ Thrifty Gal