Someday A Goat

Two reckless months of fun

In the past two months, we threw the budget out. We had multiple $100+ dinners, bought anything we pleased, entertained friends, traveled for football, didn't balance the checkbook and paid without thinking. Basically, it was like the 2005 version of us returned. Our budget will survive, no bills went unpaid, and we're much better able to afford a break from the budget, but now we have to be good for the next few months.

 Over the last week, I've slowly been clawing my way through receipts and balancing the checkbook, and each time I see a reckless expenditure, it's hard not to want to continue with eating out at a nice restaurant instead of an inexpensive home-cooked meal. To buy that nice bottle of bourbon. To say yes to fun events. With the pain of revolving credit card balances just a memory, it's so tempting to continue living in the moment. But we won't, because the next few years could mean a lot of changes -- in residence, in employment, in dreams realized. If we want to be prepared for those changes, and be able to welcome them, now is the time to make it happen. As we approach our mid-thirties, it's make it or break it for living the life we want.

Veggies for the week

In what has been a strange development, we eat salads for a meal regularly, and our vegetable consumption is at an all-time high. I think I might have outdone myself at the farmers market today, though.

Included in this photo:

- greens - baby romaine, spring mix, butter leaf, plus swiss chard and other braising greens

- beans - long beans and green beans

- baby tomatoes for my salads

- cucumber and zucchini

Not included in this photo:

- Bought at Harry's - 3 lemons, 1 lime, 4 apples, 4 bananas, 2 heirloom tomatoes, bag of cherries, glorious Nut Thins

I don't doubt it's possible, but I'm going to be impressed if we don't waste a single thing. I'll keep you posted.

Pearson Farm Peaches

Sadly, this was the last week at the Marietta Square Farmers Market for Pearson Farm. We've been eating a ton of peaches each week, and since this was the last week, I HAD to buy two bags.

They were just picked yesterday and won't be completely ripe for a while yet.

Last week, my husband made a really fantastic peach sauce with bourbon and chipotle. Recipe. He used Eagle Rare bourbon, rice vinegar and chipotle sauce, but pretty much followed the recipe. He also added a bit of extra water, and had it on low with foil to totally soften the peaches. Berries wouldn't need as much cooking. We had the sauce on pork chops, and it's better than fun dip circa 1986.

With this big final batch of peaches, I'm thinking we need to make a large quantity of peach sauce for the low months of winter when nothing sweet is available locally.

Goats right around the corner!

There's a weedy kudzu-filled patch right around the corner from my house, in between an elementary school and church. Well, it used to be full of weeds and kudzu. Thanks to the new sheep, goats and a sweet herd dog, the weeds are way down. The goats and sheep had tons of visitors on the Sunday I stopped by to snap these pictures, and no doubt the schoolchildren adore the new addition.

I checked out the company listed on the signs -- what a fabulous business idea! They're sure to have plenty of business. It's a mobile flock of sheep and goats -- the animals eat well, no chemicals are needed, landowners are happy and this guy should be in business for years. Wonder if they would loan us a goat for our backyard??

Eweniversally Green's web site

AJC article on Eweniversally Green

2011 Cookfest One: Apple Butter

On Sunday, I peeled, cored and sectioned 6 pounds of apples by hand. It took much longer than I thought, but I had apple butter on the agenda.

I followed Money Saving Mom's crockpot apple butter recipe, but for the intial apple cook-down, only used 1 tablespoon of vanilla, which was plenty.

 

After about 3 hours of cooking, the apples started to go down in volume.

 

After 7.5 hours of cooking, it was time to add the sugar and spices. I only added 1 cup of turbinado sugar (1/2 cup less than recipe), and the butter was still too sweet with the variety of apples I used (Sweet Tango and Winesap). Left out the cloves, and only added a scant 2 teaspoons cinnamon. Next batch is getting some kosher salt, and perhaps something a little spicy.

Two months until xmas

We have 2 months until Christmas -- 62 days to be exact! Have you started budgeting and planning for the holiday? We set aside our first small amount mid-month (only $20, but you have to start somewhere!). The $200 we have scheduled over the next two months won't cover all the gifts we plan on buying, but it's something. We started late this year, and in prior years, we always used the "extra" October paycheck from my husband's company (he's paid biweekly) to put aside Christmas present money. This year our budget is structured a bit differently, so we'll have to be creative in both present selection and carving some extra Christmas budget from everyday spending.

2011 Cookfest One: Butternut Squash

I kicked off 2011 Cookfest One on Friday night, roasting the butternut squash. I used Once a Month Mom's method -- it worked perfectly fine, although with the convection oven it cooked maybe a little too long. I just mashed with a fork and portioned for storage. I yielded 4 cups and change from a regular-sized butternut squash.

Prepping the squash to cook.

Immediate plans for said squash:

- butternut squash risotto

- butternut cornbread muffins - Publix recipe that I don't see online yet

- harvest pancakes

Husband isn't sure how well he likes butternut squash, so we'll see if it becomes a staple.

Roasted squash.

2011 Cookfest One main post

2011 Cookfest One

Stock pot with chicken and lovely trivet, halfway through filling with water.

Besides a birthday party Saturday night, we had a blissfully unscheduled weekend. The freezer is almost empty and I've felt out of sorts for weeks, but we had a cooking and yard-work filled weekend; now everything is a bit better.

All told, we:

• cleared acorns. It's our second bumper crop year in this house. Removing untold number of acorns is pretty heavy physical labor, done almost entirely by husband. I set some aside to make acorn flour. If I can get them cracked and cooked in the next few days, it's a success.

• roasted butternut squash. I now have some stowed in the freezer for those tasty fall recipes that call for squash.

• made chicken stock. We have stock leftover from summer, but it was time for a new batch, and we also need precooked chicken for easy weeknight dinners. This one is potent. I've made many stocks over the years, and the Le Creuset cast iron trivet has made it so much easier, it was a gift from my in-laws a year or two ago. Any food-safe cast iron trivet should work just the same. I layer vegetables under the meat, and the trivet easily holds both layers down, making it easy to skim the stock while cooking.

• rendered lard. The jar of rendered lard cooling on the counter, I swear it looked as if it were filled with lemonade. Husband is going to post about the project later this week.

• made apple butter. I've been missing apple butter for the better part of a decade, I don't know why I stopped buying it. Well, now I've made it.

• chopped veggie snacks for me to take to work.

My big kitchen focus for fall is baking bread, but first I needed to get a batch of stock out of the way. Now that it's done, this week I'll be prepping dough to cook over the weekend.

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Linkity Link 10.20.2011

A few favorite blog posts from the past few weeks. Links open in new window.

Crockpot Apple Butter Great topping for work breakfast, although I'll likely reduce the sugar. If it's sweet enough after the first cooking session, I might leave out the sugar. I keep meaning to check out Aldi, inexpensive apples might be just the opportunity.

A Dose of Financial Reality Today v. 1970: Affording education and housing, from Trent at The Simple Dollar. I'm lucky that my parents paid for my college education. I know people still paying off loans, and others who aren't going back to school because of the cost. This can't be good for the long-term success of the U.S. over the next few decades.

The Forever Recession Seth Godin perfectly delineates the changes I truly believe are coming to the way we structure employment. There are days I sit in my cube with literally nothing work-related to do, but management still freaks out about internet usage. I'd be happy to take less money and only come to work when I'm needed, freeing up time for other income-producing pursuits.

The Style Guide: "Comfortably Dressy" For too long I've let lack of money be my excuse for not being more thoughtful about my appearance. I can guarantee I have more clothes than Rachel at A Small Notebook, but look nowhere near as polished. Wearing a bit of mascara and powder to work for the past two weeks has been my first step toward looking nicer. Working on my clothes is next. Money Saving Mom also linked to a fantastic scarf tutorial.

A small habit for a big car loan

With the cloud of layoffs looming at my job, I've been hesitant to throw every last penny at the car loan. Our second largest monthly bill after the mortgage, we've paid the balance down by about 22% in the first 11 months of the loan. We have miles to go and can't sprint through a marathon; with an interest rate of 1.9% on the loan, it makes more sense to focus on emergency savings.

If I'm honest, we could cut our spending -- no cable, no trips, no weddings, etc. -- to speed up the measly pace at which we're building an emergency fund and paying off the car. But we're pretty frugal already, and at this stage of our financial lives, living bare bones isn't a necessity. Balance, however, is.

In early March 2011, I found a way to achieve a little balance while making headway on the loan. Biweekly payments are a popular way to reduce mortgages and pay down principal, why couldn't I do the same with the car loan? We allocate certain bills to each paycheck (more on this habit), and the car loan comes from husband's paycheck. Since he's paid biweekly, with half a payment per check, the timing was already perfect, and we have no prepayment penalty clause.

Not only are we saving on interest and shortening the loan term, it's also an emergency backstop of sorts, feeding my need for security. Due to the way payments are allocated, additional or advance payments are applied to the next payment. So by making biweekly payments on a monthly loan for the last 8 months, we're more than a month ahead of schedule and closing in on 2 months of breathing room. Sure, I could direct the bank to apply any extra payment to the principal, which would save even more on total interest paid, but at 1.9%, I like the double whammy of breathing room for job loss and a shorter loan term with less interest than if we made normal payments.