Living Small: Spending According to Our Values

During this lean season of graduate school we are working hard to live on less. However, this does not mean we never spend money on things beyond the basics for survival. Investing in our family's intellectual, physical, and mental health is important to us. We consider time and energy to be precious commodities as well.  Below are 10 ways that we invest in what matters to us.

10 "Extra" Expenses We Believe are Worth the Cost:

1. Babysitting costs when we attend our small group meeting, go out on a date, or I need someone to watch the kids
2. Eating out every Sunday so I don't have to cook
3. Oil changes done by a mechanic
4. High speed internet service
5. Certain convenience foods, like whole grain bread loaves and frozen pizzas
6. Disposable items like paper plates, since we don't have an automatic dishwasher
7. Travel
8. Sending each of our children to a year of part-time preschool
9. Books and DVDs from Amazon.com
10. Seafood, quality meats, and some organic produce

What priorities do you think are worth the additional cost for your family?

Summertime Crossroads

After 7 months away, I spent the morning as a substitute IEP instructor once again. I would like to transfer my confidence and enthusiasm for teaching into a drive to get my house in order, which is my real day job. For some reason, though, performing before an audience motivates me, while working on daily tasks at home does not. How can I increase my motivation at home? Any ideas?

Meanwhile, my daughters are finishing up with school, and starting next week we will have to decide how to arrange each day together. I am looking forward to these weeks, hoping to do activities that will help them develop spiritually, morally, and creatively. Yes, it is a daunting challenge, which is why I was thankful to discover a daily calendar resource in the latest issue of Thriving Family magazine. These summer months are such an important time to work on shaping their character, and I need to take all the help I can find to get on track and stay focused on what's important.

So the start of summer seems to be another crossroads for me. Will I use my time with my three children wisely and intentionally, making the most of every opportunity? Or will I drift and allow distractions to divert our attention from what we need most--obedience and a closer connection to God.

A Sloppy Joe Recipe for Omnivores: Pita with Lentils and Local Beef

This week I discovered a lentil sloppy joe recipe; it inspired me to combine leftover meat loaf with the lentils to create my own version for lunch.  Our sloppy joes turned out well, and thus I am happy to share the resulting recipe.

What delights me about the lentil-beef combination is that I can use less meat and still enjoy the great taste of our favorite sloppy joe recipe. Perhaps some day we'll try the full vegetarian version.   At this point, however, I remain a vegetarian wannabe who still eats meat, in part because I defer to the preferences of my husband and children.

In January I decided that I could not, in good conscience, buy cheap feedlot beef any longer. Driving past a blackened feedlot crowded with cattle was the disturbing impetus for this decision.  So we have been enjoying our freezer full of venison cuts as our primary source of red meat for many months.

My oldest daughter really misses eating meatloaf and sloppy joes, however. These two favorite dishes just don't taste the same when we substitute ground venison for beef.  After gulping at the price of grass fed ground beef in the health food stores, I resolved to find ethical meat at the farmer's market when it opened this month.

Success! We bought four pounds of local ground beef for $3.99 a pound last weekend. After our long beef hiatus, we thoroughly savored homemade meatloaf for dinner on Saturday.  And now we have another way to enjoy the meat in sloppy joe form later.

Lentil and Beef Sloppy Joe Recipe

Ingredients:
1 cup lentils
6 to 8 oz. ground beef, cooked and browned
Chopped onions, sauteed in oil
Pita pocket bread
Cabbage, optional
1/2 cup to 1 cup tomato ketchup
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp. apple cider vinegar
Mayonnaise, optional
Salt to taste


Directions:

1. Cook 1 cup lentils in 2 cups water for about 30 minutes or until tender and liquid is mostly absorbed.  
2. Add ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, and vinegar and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.  
3. Next, add ground beef and onions (or crumbled leftover meatloaf) and simmer for 5 minutes or until flavors have blended.  Add salt and additional ketchup, worchestershire sauce, or vinegar to taste.
4. Cut pita circles in half and spread a layer of mayonnaise.  Fill with one layer or torn or shredded fresh cabbage (optional). Then add lentil and beef sloppy joe filling.  
5. Serve and enjoy the tangy goodness with a smile.  Makes about 6 sandwiches.

Wondering what to put inside the rest of the pita bread?  Check several other ideas in this slideshow.  For other nourishing recipes that you can afford to make, head over to Pennywise Platter Thursday at The Nourishing Gourmet.   Friday Food and Food on Friday have even more recipes to explore.

Wordless Wednesday: Backyard Fun Without a Swing Set

This invention by my kids works for me !

To see other snapshots of life, visit Wordless Wednesday.
This post is also linked to Steady Mom's 30-Minute Blog Challenge.

Menu Plan for the Week of 5/17 with a Sprinkle of Good News

In the interest of keeping things simple, I am pulling most of my ideas from the family meals in the June issue of All You.  After being away for most of last week, I am eager to have a quick plan for this week's meals.

Another fun magazine also arrived recently--the June issue of Better Homes and Gardens. I received a complimentary copy because I made the honor roll in their monthly recipe contest.  Though my recipe was not published, I do plan to whip up my Ginger-Peach Spice Ice Cream Sandwiches this week to celebrate this recognition of creative effort.  Can you tell that I am externally motivated?

Here is this week's attempt to bring some order to each day:

Monday - Baked Pasta with Peas, Cheese, and Ham
Tuesday - Corn Chowder with Shrimp
Wednesday - Venison Steaks with Tomato  Bread Salad
Thursday - Seafood Risotto
Friday- Cold Sesame Noodles
Saturday - Tilapia and Rice


Lunches: Stuffed avocados, egg salad sandwiches, pigs in a blanket, pancakes, pita sandwiches, leftovers

Craft of the Week: Scrap Wood Geoboard

When I realized I had a small supply of scrap wood from a defunct door frame, I took the opportunity to make own own geoboard at home.   While a larger board is nice, the size I made is more portable;  I tossed it in the van as an activity option for our recent road trip to Oklahoma.

For my kids, manipulating the geoboard usually holds their attention for about 10 minutes or so.  When we play with it together, parent and child, they enjoy it even more.  It's fun to create and rearrange all kinds of geometric shapes with those stretchy bands.

I have an additional piece of wood about the same size as the one in the picture; I am contemplating laying a second board next to the current narrow geoboard to create a double-sized version.

Materials Used:

Scrap wood
Nails
Hammer
Rubber bands (we used colored hair bands, but latex rubber bands are best)
Paint, optional

This project idea is linked to Motivate Me Monday at Keeping it Simple and

More Essentials, Less Sand

We returned yesterday from a visit to Oklahoma to celebrate my mother's retirement from teaching in the OU College of Nursing.  The trip was planned before we knew which day the official program and reception would be held.  As God's providence would have it, the program was scheduled for Wednesday, the last full day of our visit!

My husband graciously served as the family photographer (I don't have pictures yet), and it was truly a day to remember!  Two of my mother's longtime colleagues were there, and I enjoyed recalling the moments I had shared with them over the years, like visiting with them at the office, playing with their children, and celebrating significant events like bridal showers and weddings. 

Thus, this week truly marked the end of an era, and I am thankful we were were there to celebrate with my mom. The trip did not come without a cost, but the once-in-a-lifetime memories were worth the time and energy we spent to be there.  My daughters gave up their end of the school year field trips to celebrate with their grandmother.  They truly enjoyed being with Grandma though.   My husband gave up any "down time" he could have had between the end of a grueling semester and the start of teaching summer school.  I missed the last lesson with my BSF group on the Gospel of John, but was able to attend the same lesson with my mom at a local BSF meeting.  So despite what we gave up, it was clear we made the right decision to be there this week.

As I return to our daily routine here in Nebraska, I hope to make better decisions on what I should and should not spend time doing.   A great challenge for me is to choose the highest priorities to accomplish each day.  Investing time to make fresh muffins on the morning of our departure from Oklahoma was not a step in the right direction however.

Thankfully, God's mercies are new every morning, and I have more opportunities to choose to do the ping pong balls first, before adding pebbles or sand to my daily cup.  So if anyone notices I am posting less, it may be that I am pursuing priorities that outrank posting and commenting, as much as I enjoy those pastimes.   Or it could be that the debris in my house is still concealing the location of my camera (along with my cell phone that vanished months ago).

Recipe for Pigs in a Blanket with Rainbow Relish

Last summer, salty beef franks spurred the invention of a new dish, more colorful and healthier than its plain predecessor, pigs in a blanket. The final version was so laden with cubes of fresh produce that my husband did not even know he was eating a hot dog.

What excites me so much about this dish/appetizer is that practically anyone can do it, since there are at least 3 variations possible. They are:

1. the “from scratch” recipe, which is what I made
2. the “middle path” recipe, where frozen bread dough (NOT pizza dough, which is too salty) could be thawed and used, and
3. the “oh so easy” method, where you heat up corn dogs or mini corn dogs (from a box), slice them, and top them with the simple relish I am about to describe.

Fresh Relish Topping

Ingredients:

• Cucumber, diced
• Ataulfo, Champagne, or Manila mango, peeled and diced
• Fresh tomato, diced
• Fresh basil leaves, chopped
• Lime juice

1. Mix roughly equal parts of the diced mango, cucumber, and tomato.
2. Add basil and lime juice to taste.

For those who have the gumption (and time) to make your dough at home, here’s my recipe:

Recipe for Whole Wheat Blanket Dough

• 3/4 cup water
• 5 Tablespoons oil or softened butter/ margerine
• 1 tablespoon flaxmeal plus 3 tablespoons milk or water*
• 1 cup bread flour
• 1 cup unbleached flour (or use bread flour)
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon (or less) salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dry active yeast

Add wet ingredients to bread machine first, followed by dry ingredients, with yeast being the last addition. Set machine to dough setting.

*One egg may be substituted for the flaxmeal and milk.

Baking and Assembly Instructions

1. Cut beef franks or hot dogs in half. Divide dough into as many portions as you have hot dog pieces (usually 12 to 16 for one package of franks). 
2. Wrap each hot dog piece in dough, pressing edges together to seal. Completely covering each hot dog with dough. 
3. Bake on a lightly greased cookie sheet at 350 for 15-20 minutes or until lightly browned. If desired, brush warm pigs in a blanket with butter or margarine to soften bread while they cool. 
4. When the pigs in a blanket have cooled enough to handle safely (after about 10 minutes), slice in half lengthwise and arrange on plate. Top with fresh relish just before serving.

The relish was tasty, but my husband thought lime juice would add a bit more kick; I obviously agreed. Hot and spicy fans might want to try adding some drops of Tabasco sauce too.

“Try it and you may I say!”

Those words of Dr. Seuss certainly apply to this recipe. And I’d like to know what anyone else thinks of these pigs with relish after trying them. Enjoy!

Looking for more inspiration? DIY Day, Friday Food, Foodie Friday and Frugalicious Friday have many more recipes and projects to browse.