Thrifty Thursday

This past week has been a very busy one, and I haven't been around home very much during it.  However, we did manage to make a few stops along our ways and found some great things! 

One of the places we stopped at was from the early 1900's and used to be a ballroom where they also held weddings and other social gatherings.  They even had rollerskating, and I didn't understand how they could do that on those beautiful old floors, {EEK!}, but they did! It was definitely a place we'll be going back to, if nothing more than to just look at the beautiful architecture.

Here are some of the treasures I found:

These were made in 1953 and from what the ad says, it "Saves 56% typing time!"   

I can think of a lot of ways to use those little letters in my Scrapbooks or Smash Journals!

This is just about a full box, with only a few plain paper tabs used out of it.  I can't wait to use some and probably list some for others to enjoy Ü.

 

With Spring coming soon, these two trims caught my eye right away!  They are the daintiest flowers ever and in such pretty colors!  I was able to get more than what's pictured, so I'm sure I'll have some to share in my shop also!

Laying this way they remind me of rows of flowers...

What would you use them for?

Then, I spotted these at the counter on my way to pay.  I am a huge collector of children's books and games and these were absolutely coming home with me.   

         I have this set of cards made in other years, but I never had this year before.

  I just love how the animals are each doing something different, and they are so fun to look at!  

The graphics are what reel me in every time, they definitely aren't modern!      

I'll leave you with this set of three cards to look at, since the Rabbit is in this photo and Easter is coming soon:

  He's just happy as can be, gathering his vegetables in his wheelbarrow!  I just noticed the knife hanging around his waist.  I guess he needed something to cut those heads of lettuce out of the ground!

Happy Thrifty Thursday!

Delicious Vegetarian Meatloaf

If you've never made or tasted vegetarian food, I really encourage you to try it once.  Even if you're not a vegetarian, it can be an added recipe to add to your monthly meals. 

I've seen many cookbooks and read many sites where this type of cooking means using a lot of ingredients I've never heard of, wouldn't know where to buy them and had no idea what they tasted like.  That can turn anyone off, if they're trying to get used to eating no meat or just trying to use pantry staples to make a meal!

The recipes I make are made by using basic ingredients.  Maybe you would never even think of putting them together to make a dish! 

Here is a great starter dish for you to try.  It has a great consistency, and flavor! 

Vege Meatloaf

1 stick of margarine

1 onion, diced

2C instant oatmeal

****

1C pecan meal or walnut meal

2C shredded cheddar cheese

12 oz. cottage cheese

2 Tbsp ketchup

1 tsp mustard

2 tsp steak sauce

1 tsp ground sage

2/3 packet George Washington Brown Broth

****

Topping

Ketchup, BBQ sauce ~or~ Ketchup and brown sugar!

A few things I want to mention before I go further.  If you have never bought pecan or walnut meal, they are easily made or bought.  You can find them in the baking section already in ground meal form, or you can buy whole and blend them into a meal.  I personally buy mine whole, and then grind them into small pieces.  This gives you something to actually "chew", and can give meat eaters the feel that they are eating meat, if that makes sense?

 

Also, George Washington Beef Broth is a vegetarian beef broth.  You can buy it at many supermarkets, right where you buy your other beef broth, boullions and such.  Pick 'n Save carries it, if you have one near.  It comes in a box, and has packets inside of seasonings.  It does contain a LOT of sodium, so I use it as sparingly as I can  and still get the flavor I want.

I realize also that a whole stick of margarine is daunting.  You could substitute some olive oil for part of it I think and have it still be okay, but I prefer margarine, and know the end result is just right.

How to:

Melt margarine in pan, add onion & cook til clear, add oatmeal and brown lightly.

~

Put mix in a bowl and add rest of ingredients.

~

Grease 9x13" pan and pour mix in.

Now, decide on your topping and cover your loaf with this.  I use ketchup and sometimes I will sprinkle a little bit of brown sugar over.

~

Bake 350* for 1 hr.

That's it!  Enjoy! 

And just for another dose of inspiration, here is another pic of the end result!!

Thrifty Thursday

I just love to go to the antique/thrift/swap meets and see what fun items I can find!  This Thursday I've got 3 things to show you that I added to my collections!
 

I'm not sure if they'll find their way onto my Etsy shops or not, so keep a look out if your interested.
This big stack of animal trading cards was a fun treasure.  If you look closely, you can see that they are all embossed!  I actually think it's 3 sets of animals cards because I see domestic/farm animals, wild animals and sea life.  They look wavy around the edges, but I think that's how they are supposed to actually look.

Here is another set of flashcards that I found.  I believe they are a part of a matching game because they also came with some little game boards with these pictures on them...so, I suppose for matching up the cards to the board pictures.  Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of the game boards.

Lastly, I was able to get these two beautiful lengths of lace!  I can't decide which I like more, the one with the white trim and little pink roses or the creamy trim with the little ivory roses and blue thread!  I have plenty of this, they were really nice lengths, so you'll probably see this listed Ü



Have you found any special items this week? 

Check back again for Thrifty Thursday and see what I add next!

Huge Lot of Scrapbook Papers Destash

  

A small assortment of my papers for sale

I've been going through my scrapbook studio and making some decisions about what I'm going to use and what I'm not.  I have so many papers from all different companies and include an awesome assortment of patterns, textures and prices!

In my ScrappinrenSupplies shop on Etsy, I have a listing up that is for 100 pieces of 12 x 12 paper!  This lot will include a value way over the listed price, you'll LOVE the assortment included!

Click here to view it:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/182801683/12-x-12-scrapbook-paper-lot-destash?ref=shop_home_active_9

 

So many different patterns, colors and themes!  This is a mere fraction of what I am selling!





A New Way

And now that I know this (if it's on the Internet, it has to be true, right? ;), things are going to change!

I'm going to work more on getting things done than on wasting so much time on getting them done perfect. 

You know when you read a blog, and they show their house and you wonder how they ever get everything so perfect?!  I'm not even going to worry about making my house as neat, orderly and pristine.  I would like things to have a place and get rid of some junk and I'll be happier!

I'm thinking of doing the 40 day / 40 bag challenge, but only different.  Like, maybe 30 days and 30 bags.  Maybe not even 30 days, maybe like 60 days.  Afterall, I do have other things to do. You know...like cook, do laundry, work, etc.

My usual mode of cleaning out, is that I have one bag left out that I fill as I go along, and after it's filled, I put it in my vehicle.  Once the back of my vehicle is full, then I go and donate it all.

This works great.

Only, I still haven't gotten everything done that I'd like to get accomplished.  So, my thought is that if I try to get more done in a quicker amount of time, then I'll have a greater sense of just getting done and I can move on.

Not everything I have is necessarily going to be donated, but a lot of it will be sold, also. Because of my stores, both online and b&m,  I have tons of items that are still waiting to be photographed and listed.  This is right now, probably the largest of my items. 

So, here and there I am going to make a greater effort to go through, get rid of, thin out, donate and list.  Ha, I almost said 'make room'....but wouldn't that defeat my purpose?  Because if  say that, it makes it sound like I want to make space for more!  And, I don't want to do that. 

Anyone with me on this? 

Anyone else want to clean out some stuff? 

Let's get going! Ü



Wendy's Copy Cat Chili and Canning

PRESTO

This year, I decided to treat myself to a new canner. I got a Presto 23 qt. canner and love it!

We have a few freezers and I have been wanting to can enough meat in them to downsize by 1 of the freezers.  What I've been doing is canning just some plain meat, and then some meals also!

Do you can?

Don't you love opening a jar and you already have something either made or partially prepared!?

Today I pressure cooked Chili!

We love chili!

Now, usually I have my own recipe that I always have made and it's really delicious.  I also add macaroni noodles to it, and after it's in the bowl, a bit of shredded cheese is sprinkled on the top.  Yum!!

This time, I tried a recipe I found online.  It's a knock-off (copy cat version) of Wendy's Chili!  Their chili is so good, that I knew I had to try this!  There isn't a Wendy's here, so I don't get to go there that often, but when I do, their chili is a definite must have!

If I can have a batch of soup at home that tastes very similar, I want it!

Here is a photo of it made:

 Here is the recipe I used:

5 lb. hamburger
2 C. onion ~ chopped
2 green peppers ~ chopped
4 stalks celery ~ chopped
2 Tbsp. minced garlc
2 Cans Ranch beans (15 oz)
2 Cans red kidney beans (15 oz) ~ drained
2 Cans Rotel (10 oz)
2 Cans stewed tomatoes (15 oz) ~ chopped
4 Cans tomato sauce (15 oz)
2 pkgs McCormick mild chili pkgs (1.25 oz)

Now, first I must say that the original recipe calls for 7 green peppers.  To me, that is just too much.  We like green peppers, but not that much!  So, I simply adjusted this amount to our personal taste.  That's the great thing about recipes...you can do that!

Now, onto cooking.

Fry the hamburger, drain.  I rinse my hamburger with water, getting rid of even more of the fat than simply draining.  When canning, I like to have as little fat as possible. 

Add rest of ingredients.

Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and let it cook until veges are softened.  I let mine simmer for 2 hours on a low simmer.  I put my into 2 large crock pots for this part.

Next, I put into my prepared jars and canned them!  I won't get into the canning part, as there are so many wonderful sites on how to do this.  For my area, I will say that I can them at 10 lbs. for 90 min.

Here's what I ended up with:

 7 quarts of wonderful Chili!! 

These are going to be great either as a bowl of chili, poured over french fries with some cheese on top, or on hotdogs!!