$0.20 Bargain Twice-Baked Broccoli and Cheese Potatoes!

Twice Baked Broccoli and Cheese Potatoes

I got a great bargain on potatoes this week: five pounds of potatoes for $1! ONE DOLLAR! I bought the limit, of course, which was two bags. Our oldest daughter loves baked potatoes, so I decided to scrub these babies up and pop them in the oven.

I lined them up nice and pretty on baking sheets and put them in the oven. From ten pounds of potatoes, I got 25 potatoes... for only two bucks! (There were actually 26, but one was gross, so I threw it away.)  That's only 8 cents each!

I set my oven at 380 and left these beauties to cook and soften for about an hour. They weren't quite finished at an hour, so I left them in for another 30 minutes.

Once they finished in the oven, I stuck a fork in them, and it came out easily. The skin even has a different texture too when they're done cooking.

Next, I sliced the tops, and scooped out the middle of the potatoes.

I cooked up a big bag of frozen broccoli, and I mixed it with about a cup of mozzarella cheese. My family likes broccoli cooked really soft, but you can cook yours to your liking. You can use about any kind of cheese you like. I couldn't find any cheddar, so I reached for the mozzarella.

Mix it all up together really good. You could definitely add some softened butter at this point, but I wanted to keep these pretty lean. Add quite a bit of salt and pepper to this mixture.

Scoop the mixture and form it to fit inside each potato. Add a fair amount of mixture to each one. Pop these back into a hot 425 degree oven for about 15 minutes until the tops begin to brown.

When you take these out of the oven, let them cool for a bit before diving in! You could add some sour cream or a bit more cheese if you'd like. Or bacon. Bacon would be really good.

See how soft these are when they're finished?

I paired these potatoes with some grilled chicken, and some veggie quinoa. It was delightful!

Here's the math:

2- 5# bags of potatoes          $2.00 (on sale)

1 bag of frozen broccoli       $1.50 (Sam's Club regular price)

mozzarella cheese                $1.50 (ALDI regular price)

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                                             $5.00 Total Recipe Cost!

Since this recipe yielded 25 potatoes, that breaks down to 20 cents per potato! Talk about a bargain! I served these up for dinner, then I wrapped up the others and popped them in the freezer to use on a particularly hectic night when dinner is testing my patience.

Recipe: Twice Baked Broccoli and Cheese Potatoes

Ingredients-

10 # potatoes ( I used Russets)

1 large bag of frozen broccoli

1 cup  shredded mozzarella cheese

4 T butter, softened

salt and pepper

Instructions-

Preheat oven to 380 degrees. Scrub potatoes under hot running water. Arrange on sheet pans and bake until tender, about 90 minutes; turn potatoes over after 40 minutes. Allow to cool slightly, then slice the potato skin carefully to open just the top of the potato.Cook the broccoli until tender. Carefully scoop out the inside of the potato and place in a large bowl. Scoop insides from all potatoes, and mix together with cooked broccoli, mozzarella, salt and pepper. Mix thoroughly. Fill each potato generously with the broccoli cheese mixture. Top with a small amount of softened butter, then return to a 425 degree oven for 15 minutes until the tops of the potatoes brown slightly. Serve as meal or on the side.

Working Out at Home Doesn't Work for Me!

Changing my lifestyle became really important to me a while ago, but my goals came into sharp focus last summer when I was working with some teens in my church on the topic of the fruits of the spirit that are discussed in Galatians. I think I might have learned even more than those teens because when I examined my own life against that passage of scripture, this is what I found: I want to profess my belief in Jesus, but I need to start producing some fruits, and self-control really got me. When I look in the mirror, my body doesn't exactly scream "Self-control!" I am a walking, talking embodiment of my beliefs, and if I can't get my self under control, no one will look at me and see the awesome power of Jesus that I know is real.

I want to workout in my home. I have even purchased some equipment to help me in my endeavors, but I never can seem to keep up the habit of regularly burning those calories at home.


Our current situation has my husband and me raising three young kids, my husband juggling an exceptionally stressful career, me working part-time and staying home raising our family, us balancing church responsibilities, our kids active in tee ball, dance, and children's activities in our church. Working out is low on the list of priorities. Over the last couple months though, I have been attending Zumba classes at a nearby church two nights each week at a rate of $5 per class. I love going, and I don't mind the cost because my long-term health is worth $10 per week! Last night, though, our schedules had a serious conflict, but I had a stern resolve that I was working out, no matter what. Nights like last night are why I don't workout at home though.

My husband and I both worked during the day, and we had already eaten dinner and taken kids to tee ball practice, and I was planning a 40 minute workout with Zumba for the Wii. I knew my husband had a meeting that he planned to go to in a few minutes, and I thought I could squeeze in a quick workout while he was gone.  As I bent down to put the Zumba disc into the Wii console, my 18 month old son came over to me with an odor. It was clear that he needed a new diaper. My husband had a meeting to go to within a few minutes, but he reluctantly agree to change our son's diaper before he left. So I went ahead trying to get things going on the Wii. For some reason it wouldn't work, and I realized the little receiver communicator piece that is supposed to sit on or around the TV had gotten knocked down by someone's little hands. I got it figured out and started my workout. My two daughters wanted to workout with me, and I cautioned them that they should scoot away from their mama for their own safety.

The three of us were getting involved in the first of many songs. It was fun. We were stepping and sliding and punching the air when my husband finished the diaper change and brought the little boy back into the mix and headed out the door to his meeting. Our son saw my Wii remote and thought he needed to hold it, so he began attacking me while I was still in motion. He grabbed and reached and reached and grabbed, but my cat-like speed was no match for his less than 3-feet-tall frame. When he realized I wasn't going to stop to allow him to take away my Wii remote, he grabbed on to my right ankle and hung on tight while he wailed about this terrible injustice! He got to go for a little ride before I realized his resolve to hang on to my leg might get the both of us hurt. So, I scooped his crying little body up and grabbed his chair from the table in the dining room where I could strap him to keep us safe! I pulled it into the living room while he kicked and screamed under my arm, sat him down so he could watch, fastened the straps, and I resumed dancing within five feet of him. He began to cry as if he had been deserted. I did my best to ignore him, and I continued my calorie-torching dancing.

Though I was ignoring him, his sister wanted to console him and help him to stop crying so she ran upstairs, grabbed the Kindle Fire and gave it to him while it played some songs. All the while, I am sweating to my Zumba! When she finally got back to her own version of Zumba beside me, she apparently forgot the rule about keeping her distance from mommy. I reminded her a couple times, "Mommy.... (huff).... (puff)... is... moving... (huff).... around.... a... lot... scoot... over... so... (puff)... you... don't... get... hurt!" We danced and moved, and she zigged when I zagged, and my heel connected to her little arm while I was mid kick. She alerted me to the injury, but I could tell that she was injured emotionally more than anything, so I kept on moving and dancing while she cried on the bench in our living room.

While she still cried from getting a gentle kick (that she had been warned about numerous times), her brother decided to throw the Kindle Fire across the room in anger from being strapped in his booster seat for his own safety. Once the Kindle was lying on the floor, he decided to mourn his loss by screaming as loud as he could. The oldest of the three was beginning to lose interest in the fitness program, and she went to the kitchen to get a drink for her and her crying sister. I'm still dancing. I could see from the corner of my eye that our oldest was getting two very large cups of water filled with ice. It looked rather refreshing. I was super sweaty by this point. When the song finished, I grabbed my own water, and took a nice long drink. The strapped-in young boy apparently felt thirsty too because he was crying and motioning for my water bottle. I handed it to him as the next song began and I resumed my calorie massacre. He threw my water bottle to the floor in anger as well.

His sister had by this point recovered from her injury, and she went in search of her own beverage. When she got to the kitchen, she began to get her own cup with ice water, and our oldest daughter became outraged that her sister wanted to get her own beverage because there had been one already prepared for her. What happened next, I can only describe as a very loud cat fight that caused me to PAUSE the Wii. The fight between the two girls was about a cup of ICE WATER. I sent the screaming, crying, mass of older daughter to her bedroom while our younger daughter got her own cup of ice water. I went back to the living room, where our son was staring at our crying older daughter as she cried her way up the steps. I hit resume and went ahead with my workout.

My mom-eyes were still monitoring the kitchen situation where our younger daughter was asserting her independence from her sister's ice water regime, and she was filling a different cup with water and ice cubes. As I was doing leg lifts, I heard a small gasp and saw about 12 ounces of water and ice go flying across the kitchen, dripping down through all kinds of worksheets and art projects that came home from school today. I was so frustrated with the whole mess of an attempt at working out that I ignored her and kept on dancing, realizing that the mess was just water, and it would wait for me.

Naturally, the daughter who had been exiled to her room for her extreme overreaction about a cup of ice water wondered when she could come rejoin our wonderful Zumba group. I gave her a time and some stipulations through my huffing and puffing and side stepping and squats. She rejoined the mess just as the last song was coming on. He brother was throwing the Kindle Fire some more, and her sister was partly dancing while keeping her distance and retrieving the Kindle for the loud little boy to keep throwing.

For this particular workout, the cool-down song is "Bailamos" by Enrique Iglesias, and  when I heard the beginning notes of the song I said outloud, "Praise the Lord!"  The girls looked at me with confusion on their faces, but I knew the only way that I can burn any calories at home is with the help of the Almighty! My Wii told me I burned almost 500 calories in that 40 minute crazy-fest! And I thought to myself, "This is why so many young ladies are overweight! This was a nightmare!"

Working out with small children around is a chore! Even if I liked working out, it would still be a miserable experience! Besides all the mess that I just described is the "mom guilt" that comes with not giving my full attention to my children in the evenings. I miss them while we are apart during the day, and I know they need me to hear about their day and their frustrations.

I know we have another conflict later this week, and I am not sure how I will proceed! My out-of-the-house Zumba class is my preferred method of working out, but my husband has more meetings on Thursday during Zumba time, and I cannot justify spending money for the class and  a sitter!

What do you do to make exercise a priority? Leave a comment below!

Galatians 5:22-23
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentlesness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

A Day to Honor Fools

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but 

fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Proverbs 1 :7

I hate April Fool's Day. It is my least favorite day of the year, followed closely only by St. Patrick's Day. You might think, "What could you possibly have against having a little bit of fun?" Even as a child, when I figured out that people were out to trick each other, I knew it wasn't something I wanted to be part of. April Fool's Day is shrouded in trickery, surprise and otherwise throwing people off their plan for the day. Essentially, tricksters aim to make someone feel foolish. I get angry when people think that they can get away with messing with people because of a date on the calendar. Granted, there are some tricks that are all in good fun, but then there are tricks where people are cruel and hurtful to others. I'm not okay with that no matter what the calendar says. Yes, I have been accused of being a "fuddy-duddy," and I am totally fine with that. 

Some people might think I am a crumby mom because of the advice I gave my Kindergartner this morning before she left for school. It dawned on me that she hasn't really had any experience with April Fooling, so I cautioned her that people are going to try to trick her today and maybe try to make her feel left out or give her some kind of false hope toward something that isn't real. Naturally, she was confused. When I told her that, often times, adults get involved, she seemed a little apprehensive to go to school. I told her that most everything is done in fun; she was eased a bit. I told her that even though people might try to trick her today, I didn't want her to get involved in the foolishness. She seemed completely okay with that. Even as a young person, she can sense that foolishness is volatile and dangerous. You really can't predict what fools will do!

My Bible supports me in my refusal of playing into the notion of fools, and it supports my endeavors to gain wisdom. Here's a sampling of what my Bible says about fools in Proverbs.

"How long will mockers delight in mockery and fools hate knowledge?" 1:22

"Then [fools] will call to me but I will not answer; they will look for [wisdom] and not find [it] since they hated knowledge and did not choose to fear the Lord" 1 :28-29

Yikes! That doesn't sound like a joke to me!

"The wise inherit honor, but fools get only shame." 3:35

"Folly is an unruly woman; she is simple and knows nothing... she says, 'Stolen water is sweet; food eaten in secret is delicious!'" 9-13, 16, 17

"A wise son brings joy to his father, but a foolish son brings grief to his mother." 10:1

"...a chattering fool comes to ruin." 10:8, repeated in 10:10

"...the mouth of a fool invites ruin." 10:14

"The lips of the righteous nourish many, but fools die for lack of sense." 10:21

Wow! That's quite a prediction! Death from lack of sense!

Here's the one that seems most fitting for today:

" A fool finds pleasure in wicked schemes, but a person of understanding delights in wisdom." 10:23

"The way of fools seems right to them, but the wise listen to advice. Fools show their annoyance at once, but the prudent overlook an insult." 12: 16-17

The list could go on and on about all the misery that happens to fools. In short, foolishness is dangerous!   A lot of the problems that happen with fools comes from their mouths and their own plans and can lead them to misery or death. I don't want to be a fool, and I also don't want to endorse a day that honors foolish behavior. 

Proverbs 22:15 says, "Folly is bound up in the heart of the child, but the rod of discipline will drive it far away." Each day that is wasted with foolishness is a day that I can't ever get back to work on wisdom in my children's lives and my own. I feel like I have encountered some adults that never got the folly driven out of their hearts by the rod of discipline when they were children because their parents thought that foolishness was funny or cute. Foolishness in adults is a character trait that is neither cute nor funny; fools end up miserable and often don't even recognize that their own behavior led them to their miserable state.

Have I ever participated in April Foolishness? Yes, as a child. Do I like a good practical joke every now and again? Absolutely. However, I don't ever want to make anyone feel like a fool or be a fool myself, and  I certainly don't want to raise fools. 

Rather, I want to instill great wisdom in the lives of my children, whether that is popular or not. "For those who find [wisdom] find life and receive favor from the Lord," according to Proverbs 8:35. What do you think? Is April Fool's Day fun for you?

 Have you ever had wonderful things happen as a result of an April Fool?

Easy Recipe for Delicious Ham- My Own Version of Copycat Honeybaked Ham

My husband's family LOVES Honeybaked Ham. For years, his family would purchase a Honeybaked Ham at the mention of any holiday meal, but when all of their kids got married and started having kids like crazy, the grandparents wanted to spend their money on gifts for the kids instead of a hunk of ham. I knew it was a sacrifice for them, so I committed (to myself) to find a recipe that was delightful.

Pinterest helped me very much in my endeavors, and the copycat version that I found was very good. With a few tweaks, I think I have it spot-on now! Check out this step-by-step version, followed by the recipe!

Ham

First, I was given this bone-in ham in a frozen state; I thawed it in my fridge. It was already fully cooked and smoked, but not yet sliced, so I did my best to cut it into pieces without demolishing it. I sure could use some lessons on slicing up meats! I lined my roasting pan with two layers of Heavy Duty aluminum foil in a crossed pattern to be sure to cover all of the pan... I hate doing dishes! You can get a pre-sliced ham if you'd like, and you don't have to use the foil if you like to scrub pots and pans.

Glaze

Next up, we are going to make a beautiful syrup to pour over the ham. We're basically cooking sugar into almost a candy state along with a bunch of yummy spices and then letting it set on the ham.
First into the pot is sugar. Plain old granulated white sugar.

Onion powder goes in next. It adds quite a savory element to the mixture.Then cloves, paprika, and ginger. Ginger is not my favorite flavor, so I go easy on the ginger in this version. You can add a bit more if your family likes the flavor more.

                                                   

                                                   

                                                   

Alton Brown is one of my favorite TV Chefs, and he always touts the superiority of freshly ground nutmeg, versus its pre-ground counterpart. I always grate my own as a result of AB's teachings! (My hubby got me this nice little Microplaner a few years ago, and I use it often to zest citrus, shred up Parmesan cheese, and grate some nutmeg into my favorite dishes!)

                                          

Next, add some water to turn this mixture into a paste.

                                                 

Stir this very well and then put on the stove. You're going to need to turn on the heat to this and cook it for several minutes. Also, turn your oven broiler on. Mine only has a "HI" setting and a "Lo" setting. I put mine on low and took out the top oven rack to give me plenty of space.

Cook it over medium high heat for several minutes; the mixture will start to bubble around the edges. Keep on cooking until it comes to a nice boil.  The color will even change just a bit because of all the bubbles.

Take off of the heat, and begin pouring it over the ham. You can spoon it, ladle it, or just go for it and pour from the pan! I chose to ladle it today.

Keep spooning, ladling or pouring until you get the ham covered nicely.

Once your ham is covered, you're going to put your ham in the oven under the broiler, and you're going to WATCH IT. Almost immediately, you're going to hear sizzling. Do not walk away. You can even leave the oven door open to watch it. 

I like to turn my ham a few times to be sure that all of the sugary coating turns into a sort of bark.

You want the sugar to caramelize but not burn. Keep turning it as needed.

Your house will begin to smell fabulous at this point when the heat warms up all those beautiful spices.

Look at all that beautifully caramelized sugar bark on this lovely piece of ham! There should be a bit of a crunch. 

You can serve this as it is, you can warm it up so that the meat is warm all the way through, or you can put this whole thing in your fridge and let all the spicy goodness in the coating really sink into the meat.

Let this ham be the star of your family gathering this year! Your guests will "ooh" and "ahhh" over the wonderful flavor of this ham!

Recipe for Copycat Honeybaked Ham

Ingredients

Pre-cooked, pre-sliced, bone-in ham

2 cups granulated sugar

1 tsp onion powder

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp freshly ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp ginger

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp paprika

a couple tablespoons of water

Instructions

Line a roasting pan with heavy-duty aluminum foil with excess on each end. Use an additional layer to form a cross with 3-4" excess all around the pan. Place the meatier side of the ham face up in the pan. If desired, score the meat. Pre-heat broiler.

In a saucepan, combine the rest of the ingredients. add enough water to form a thick syrup. Heat over medium- high heat stirring until the syrup reaches a full boil. Boil one minute until almost a candy state. Remove from heat and ladle over the ham. Cover all of the visible areas of the ham.

Place in the pre-heated oven. Watch the ham carefully. Turn the pan as different areas of the ham glaze become caramelized. Keep turning as needed. This process takes five to ten minutes. When the glaze is caramelized onto the ham, remove from the oven.

To Serve Cold: 

Cover the ham with the excess foil, put the lid on roasting pan, and place in the refrigerator. Refrigerate until ready to use; several days in the refrigerator will allow the flavors to penetrate the meat.

To Serve Hot:

Heat your oven to 350 degrees, and cover ham with excess foil. Bake for 30 minutes until ham is hot through.

Frugal and Artsy Links

Festive Fruit Salad

Apple Nachos

Save Money on Easter Baskets

My Kids Keep Hitting Me with (Mile)Stones

Most everything about being a mom hurts. From the process of becoming a mom, to the headaches from sleepless nights, to the weird pain transferred to moms when their kids get injured. Motherhood is painful. I think the worst pain of all isn't physical; it comes when you can't seem to pause long enough to take it all in.

I knew when our youngest was born that he would be our last. One of my favorite parts of all three of our children has been the very tops of their heads when they were first born. All three of my kids were born with thick, beautiful hair (thanks for all the heartburn, kids!), and I absolutely loved it. In the wee hours of the morning, I would nurse them, rock them to sleep, and then gently brush my face across the extra soft newborn baby hair. I would linger an extra moment soaking in that baby smell and that smooth, fine, pristine feeling against the skin of my cheek and then brushing gently against my lips as I would kiss the head of the little one as I laid him or her back in their bassinet, so I could feebly attempt to sleep for a few moments.  One by one, my children somehow learned to sleep through the nights, and they lost that gentle softness on the tops of their heads, and they lost their tolerance for allowing me to mess with their hair at all. 

Recently, our youngest hit me smack in the lips with a (mile)stone. I went to kiss the top of his precious not-so-little-anymore head as I laid him down for a nap, and his hair is COARSE. Not gentle. Not soft in any manner of speaking. His baby hair is GONE, and it has been replaced with the bristles of a brush instead.Our last baby has lost all of his precious super-soft baby hair and traded it in on little boy hair. This stuff is not suitable for snuggle time with mommy.

Speaking of snuggle time with mommy, our oldest was in desperate need of a nap today. Want to know why? I sneaked into her room last night and gave her a flashlight, so she could keep reading her book after it was time for lights to be out. She's only six, but she's a girl after my own heart. She just couldn't put the book down. I stood last night in the hallway with her door closed and listened in pain as my six-year-old read page after page after beautiful page of a chapter book about the curious narrator Nancy Clancy. That stone hit me square between the eyes, and it brought tears to my eyes. 

My four-year-old is registered for Kindergarten. Ouch! But she's so little and fragile. I wonder if I will weep all day long on her first day of school like I did when her sister went to her first day of Kindergarten. I might. It hurts just thinking about it now.

I often wonder if the pain of motherhood eases as time progresses, but I can already see as I look at moms who are in different stages of life that the answer is a solid "NO".  But the words to this hymn seem to be a clear message from above.

Day by day and with each passing moment,

Strength I find to meet my trials here.

Trusting in the Father's wise bestowment,

I've no cause for worry or for fear.

He whose heart is wise beyond all measure,

Gives unto each day what He deems best.

Lovingly it's part of pain and pleasure,

Mingling toil with peace and rest.

Mingling toil with peace and rest is part of pain and pleasure? Hmmm. That's an interesting thought to ponder. These words are beautifully true. Even though it is painful to watch my children grow and not need me as much anymore, there is an element that is a bit freeing. That loss of sweet baby gentle hair also means that I am not dealing with the burdens of burping a baby and changing a diaper at 2 a.m. That little girl sitting in her bed reading by the light of a flashlight means that though she's not my itty bitty infant anymore, she is growing more independent and strong everyday. Kindergarten registration means that I will have a bit more time to take care of our home next year instead of rushing to and from preschool twice each day.

The stones just keep coming. Some days they're bigger than others, and some days they make me laugh instead of cry. I guess all these milestones aren't meant so much to hurt moms as they are to encourage children to grow along their way. Those first smiles. Taking first steps. Holding a bottle. Crying when mommy leaves. NOT crying when mommy leaves. First words. Moving beyond pacifiers.  Roasting a marshmallow in a campfire. Sleeping in a big boy bed. Potty training. Dressing independently. Learning the alphabet.  Losing that tooth. Those little fingers figuring out for the first time how to pull those shoe strings into a solid bow on that shoe. Singing a solo in front of the church.  My prayer is that we are rejoicing outwardly for each of these stones that hit us and hurt us moms and dads as we look on these young intricate little people growing into beautiful, generous, kind, loving, grounded, responsible, intelligent individuals.




View my post about Five Tips for Saving Money on Easter Baskets When You Have Children.

Five Tips for Saving Money on Easter Baskets When You Have Children

This year, I have earnestly tried to get a handle on what my husband and I consider unnecessary spending at holiday times. After holidays, our home is littered with stickers here and candy there and kids arguing over whose plastic egg is whose. We decided we are not spending half of a paycheck toward items that aren't important or lasting.

That said, I do want to create a sense of excitement and celebration in our household when celebration time is upon us. Here are some ways that I save money on Easter this year or start early for next year! (Please forgive my dreary photos for this post. I was snapping photos of the kids' already prepared baskets in the basement while my unsuspecting kids played nearby. They almost caught me! I would hate to ruin their Easter surprises!)

1. Reuse Baskets

Some families have traditions surrounding Easter Baskets, while others buy new ones based on yearly trends. Our kids have received baskets from us, their grandparents, aunts and even some friends from church. I save them from year to year, as long as they are in good condition. This year, I was really tempted to buy a super cute Paw Patrol bin for my daughter, but it was $15! No way. The plush was cute, but there's no way that it would hold up for years to come in storage in my basement, and I realize that just a couple of years from now, she will be too cool for Paw Patrol. This year, I am spending $0 on baskets for my kids. We only have three children... see our collection of baskets with experience?

2. Reuse Easter Grass

I remember as a kid, Easter grass was nothing more than an annoyance when I was trying to get the jelly beans out of the bottom of my basket. I would go to the living room with my basket, take out all the goodies, then I would promptly scatter the Easter grass all over the interior of the trash can. 

As a mom though, I see how pretty Easter grass makes my kids' baskets looks. It's festive and exciting. Last year, I had the forethought to scoop the kids' grass from their baskets and place it in zipper bags and store it with all of my Easter things. This year, I am spending $0 on Easter grass for my kids.

See how pretty the grass makes these baskets look, even in the darkness of my basement?

3. Skip the Giant Chocolate Items

Giant pieces of chocolate might create a sense of wonder in kids, but they do not support my efforts to teach my children that Easter is all about Jesus, not a creepy giant rabbit. I am not spending money on chocolate bunnies. In addition to not wanting my kids to fixate on a rabbit, I do not want them to have control over two pounds of chocolate. Instead, I purchased several bags of mixed yummy chocolates that look pretty and festive in their colorful packages. I gave each kid a handful of candies festively displayed in a large container in their Easter Basket, then I stuffed the rest into plastic eggs to hide later at large group family Easter gatherings. There were somewhere between 100 and 200 eggs, and I spent around $10 on candy for baskets and eggs.

Here's another basket.

And another basket...

4. Make Your Own Specialty Items

Pretty packaging sucks me in all the time. I like to buy items for gifts when they look nice, so colorful, bright packages are an excellent marketing tool. Since I am wanting to save money, I want to be smarter than good marketing, and use some of the pretty ideas to spur some of my own projects. The bright colored marshmallow birdies, the patterned colorful chocolates, and especially the orange colored foods that are packaged to look like carrots reel me in. I decided this year, I would try to make my own "Carrots" for Easter baskets. I gathered some clear sandwich bags, green ribbons and string, and orange cheese puffs; then I filled the bags with the cheese puffs, and tied the top at an angle with the green string or ribbon.

Ta DAAA! Carrots! Aren't they cute?

In addition to these beauties, I have attempted making some specialty chocolate covered Easter Egg treats. This recipe for Butterfinger Copycat Eggs is easier than you can imagine, and they are SO delicious! I also tried a very easy version of Mounds and Almond Joy Copycat Eggs with great success. Be creative on making your own items!

5. Skip the Expensive Egg Coloring Kits

Our family delights in coloring eggs. It is a tradition that we look forward to yearly, but those egg kits really pique the interest of my kids... and if I'm completely honest, I'd probably rather use the kit that has the pretty stickers inside too. Those kits are just so tempting! And the box is pretty! And they're not very expensive; they're only a couple bucks!

Seriously though, you probably have everything you need to color eggs in your house already. If you have cups, eggs, a box of the primary colors of food coloring and some kind of vinegar, you're set. The food coloring box probably even has a nice recipe for dying egg shells! If you've already bought yours for this year, don't despair. Use it, and save that cool little metal egg scooper, so your kids can use it again next year. I have kept these cool little cups from when I got sucked into buying this kit a few years ago. We have used them several years in a row now. We draw on the eggs with crayons to add pretty designs before dipping them in color, get our eggs colored nicely, find some stickers that we have lying around, and dress them up. Once we add them to the kids' baskets, the baskets look extra special!

Holidays are a time for celebration, but not for forgetting your budget. We should always be celebrating well within our means and never using holidays as an excuse to pull out a credit card and lose our self-control. What are you doing to save money this Easter?

A Reality Check

We needed help. Serious help. We were sitting at our dining room table trying to figure out where all of our money was going. We had thousands of dollars of income, and somehow we weren't able to make the payments on all of our bills, and we weren't even tithing. When my husband suggested we figure up how much money we were spending each month on food, I got a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.

Line item by line item, we totaled our restaurant spending that month, and we learned that we had spent more than $800 in the previous 30 days. I was horrified. To add insult to injury, we totaled our grocery store spending, and we had spent more than $600 at the grocery store too! $1400 in one month on food items! And we needed groceries! At that time I reminded myself of this girl!

(No credit for photo from Facebook- I have no idea who made this beauty)

I feel like I should accept the blame for my husband and me because I was the one who was standing in the grocery store every time a whim struck me. I was the one who was trying to fill a hole (caused from missing my family in another state) with grocery shopping and dining out.There were many times that we justified eating out on credit cards or purchasing groceries courtesy of Visa, Mastercard, or American Express. Ridiculous, I know.

Thankfully, we made a commitment that day that we would get things under control for the sake of our future, and for the sake of our kids. At that time, we only had one child, and I was pregnant with number two. Our family of three was spending $1400 per month on groceries and dining out. For shame!

I am pleased to say that isn't the case for us anymore. Over the course of the last five years, we have learned all about self-control, one of the fruits of the Spirit. We now have a busy family of five, and in the past 30 days, we have spent about $500 on groceries and $200 on dining out! That is a savings of $700 per month for us coupled with a serious lifestyle change! How did we do it?

Let me tell you, the change was especially hard for me.
-First, I tried using coupons, and that works well with groceries and restaurants, but it is a hassle to keep up with expiration dates. For a while, I even had a binder. I was serious.
-I also became aware of sales. I stock up on items when they are on sale. I currently have a nice stash of butter quarters in my freezer because I found them at a great price!
-Then I had to commit to making meals at home and actually eating them instead of eating out.
-Next, I started gardening to get some fresh produce for very little money.
-Then I started canning. I can a lot of the items I grow in our garden, and sometimes people give me their abundance of produce. I can that too. Sometimes, I freeze produce too.
-Most recently, and probably the best for our family has been making a meal plan and using freezer meals. This one is pretty great because it helps with my stress level with finances, cooking, meal clean-up, and health all in one! Check out my Stuffed Shells-Freezer Meal Edition post.

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Galatians 5:22-23