Miss America in the making! Words from a new pageant mom!

Recently Gracie participated in her first pageant.

We didn't prepare for it much, I really just wanted to see how she would do. And it came a few days after I was in the hospital with gallbladder issues. Needless to say, it was a learning experience. 

Lesson #1- people spend a LOT of money on pageants. 

Lesson #2- these girls were a lot more prepared than Gracie! She still did wonderful! 

Lesson #3- they are addicting! We have five more in the works for this summer. 

Lesson #4- even if you don't plan to spend a lot... You will. They aren't cheap. 

We picked a natural pageant so we didn't have glitz and glammer. We bought a simple Easter/church style dress. After choosing from 10 we tried on, this is what we chose! 

Bright colors look great on her and this one was too cute to pass up! 

One of the things we lacked on, was hair. After spending a night in the ER, and getting my fair share of pain meds, she didn't get the rollers that we had planned. So, she wanted pigtails, we did pigtails!!! We didn't paint her nails, we didn't practice her walk, and we didn't prepare a special wave. We just went onstage and gave it our best! She twirled and waved and looked to me for guidance. I had just as much info as she did but I tried. She didn't win the grand prize. She did win best smile and she won the title for "Tiny Miss Central Harrison County!" 

She was so exhausted by the end of the day that we couldn't even get her to stand up with her crown and trophy for a picture!

The state pageant finals are in July in Vicksburg, and we will be much more prepared!!! 

Saving money, spending coupons!

I coupon. No, I don't save $600 on 290 bottles of mustard like those people on that show "Extreme Couponing" do. I wont clear a shelf on a good deal, but I do have enough shampoo under my bathroom sink to wash my hair for two years... at least.

This was a $12 oop Walmart trip!!

I look at a coupon like money. Even a $.35 coupon is money that I have in my pocket instead of in someone else having it in theirs.

The trick is to only use them on things that you were going to buy at some point anyway. I wont buy things that I wont use (unless I can make money off of them which I will discuss later on). Coupons are meant to trick you into buying things, Say that you normally buy the generic brand ketchup, but you get a coupon for the more expensive brand and use it to get the good stuff. I bet if you  price compare the two, you actually spent more money. This leads us to coupon rules.

RULE #1: Do not think that just because you have a coupon for an item, it will be the best deal.
RULE #2: Get organized. I don't care if it is a binder, envelopes, or one of those cute coupon accordion style organizers... you need something to organize.

My method of organization is a binder, If you don't plan to spend as much time as I do with your coupons, something less extreme is fine. I started out in some envelopes. Each was labeled with a category. Then I progressed to a small binder with a few baseball card sheets and some dividers. Now I have a big zip up binder that has pockets, accordion sections, a pencil bag, currency sheets, and page protectors. (I will do a blog next on the binder itself, so stay tuned) If you just stick your coupons in your pocket, you will never get the maximum savings from them.

RULE#3: Be prepared to buy things that you WILL USE, even when you may not need them. An example of this is; I have toothpaste, Probably eight tubes. A few days ago the Dollar Tree had some Crest 4.2 oz tubes. I just happen to have $3 off of 3 tubes of crest. This made them free, I had two coupons so I left the store with six tubes of toothpaste that I only paid the tax on. Did I need toothpaste that day? No! Will I use these eventually and be glad that I didn't have to pay full price? Absolutely!

RULE#4: Utilize all your assets. Use every avenue possible to get the coupons and/or savings that you need. Websites, apps, blogs, store coupons, manufacturer coupons, mobile coupons... anything you can use, use. At Target you can use a target and manufacturer coupon plus cartwheel app and mobile coupons that they send out from time to time and sometimes get gift cards back. The deals work out like this...

ABC toothpaste $5.00 per tube
Target has a promo going to buy 3 get a $5 gift card
They have a coupon on their website for $2.00 off of ABC products
There was a coupon in your newspaper last week for $6.00 off of 3 tubes of ABC toothpaste
There is a 10% cartwheel for ABC products

You buy 3 tubes = $15.00
use 3 target Qs   -  $  6.00
use 1 man Q       -  $  6.00
                            =$  3.00 left to pay
Take 10% off of that with cartwheel leaving your total out of pocket to be $2.70. Then you get a $5.00 gift card. You just made $2.30.

Save your gift card until your next Target deal comes around for even less out of pocket expense.

This same principle works great at CVS and Walgreens.

Sweet Potato Tacos (Meatless Monday #4)

• 2 tsp. coconut oil
• 1/4 c. onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 c. kidney beans
• 3/4 c. water
• 1 tsp. cumin
• 1 tsp. seasoning salt
• 1 tsp. chili powder
• 1 tbsp. soy sauce
• 1 tbsp. mustard
• 2 c. mashed sweet potato
• 6 flour tortillas
• 1 c. shredded cheese

Saute onions and garlic in the oil in medium skillet. Mash beans and mix into the onion mixture. Stir in water and cook 2-3 more minutes. Remove from heat and mix in cumin, seasoning salt, chili powder, soy sauce, and mustard. Divide bean mixture evenly between tortillas and then repeat with sweet potatoes. Top with cheese and then put in fold and place on baking sheet. Bake in oven at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes. 

Serve with any of your favorite taco extras. My favorites are salsa, sour cream, guacamole, and green onions! 

Black Bean Burgers (Meatless Monday #3)

I love black beans. They make a great addition to any meal! I make them into refried beans, I use them in my salads, and I love them on wraps! Now that we are doing meatless Mondays, I have found a new use for them. They make a great substitute for meat! There is no picture for these. I did not think at the time that I would need one for anything and the next time I make them I will be sure to upload some photos for yall! 

Until then, here is the recipe for this amazing recipe! I have tried more than a few meatless burger recipes and this one is by far the best! 

2 c. black beans
1/2 c. green peppers, chopped
1/2 c. diced onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic
2 egg whites or 1 egg
1 tsp. seasoning salt
1 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. Thai chili sauce or hot sauce
1/2 c. bread crumbs (go here to see my recipe for making your own breadcrumbs)

preheat oven to 375
Drain and rinse black beans and then mash with a fork into a medium bowl. Use a food processor and chop bell pepper, onion, and garlic. Strain pepper mix with a paper towel, cheese cloth, or coffee filter to get rid of excess water. Stir into black bean mash. Stir in egg whites and seasonings. Mix in bread crumbs. Mixture should be sticky. Form 4 patties or 16 meatballs. Place patties or meatballs onto a greased baking sheet and bake 20 minutes, flipping over halfway through baking.

Tips:
Rub a small amount of oil on your hands to keep the patties from sticking while forming the patties!

Variations:
you can add corn before forming the patties
use crumbled Ritz crackers instead of bread crumbs for a slightly different flavor
add cilantro into food processor with bell peppers

I don't need a box for these pop-tarts...

Sitting at a friends house my daughter saw a box of pop-tarts and wanted to know what they were. I realized then that maybe I had ruined my kid by never letting her have any goodies!! This meant, that because of my hatred of boxed and prepared foods, and the knowledge from too much research of how bad for you pop-tarts are, I would have to learn how to make them myself.

The result did not taste just like a cardboard box full of toaster pastries filled with chemicals and preservatives. It did lead me to a delicious breakfast dish that would not only satisfy the, "Ive never had a pop-tart" issue we were dealing with, but also give us a delicious new food to our menu to make for special occasions. 

I would not say that my first attempt at these was even close to being much better than the boxed version, simply because I was not sure how they would work out, and I did not want to spend the time hand making pie crust for a dud of an idea, so I bought the refrigerated kind. 

These were so simple! I just rolled out the crust, used a pizza cutter to make some even sized rectangles, brushed them with an egg wash and then they were ready to fill. 

For my filling I used some strawberry jelly that I had in one of my many mason jars I keep in my pantry. There is a recipe I found online for brown sugar cinnamon filling, but this was so much easier! I simply spooned a little in the middle of one of the pastries, leaving about 1/2 an inch of space around the edges to seal them with, then top with another square (egg wash side down,) Use a fork to make the edges by just pressing down firmly all the way around. Brush the top with more egg wash, then use a toothpick to poke multiple holes in the top. (This is an important step, if you forget, they will explode and it wont be pretty.)

Then place them back in the fridge for 20 minutes, this will help the crust firm back up. 

Preheat oven to 375, then place chilled pop-tarts into the over for 20-24 minutes. 

Let cool and then frost. 

The frosting is 

3/4 c. powdered sugar

1 Tbsp. milk

1/4 tsp. vanilla extract

(I added a few drops of food coloring for the kiddos, makes it more fun)

Whisk all the glaze ingredients together until a spreadable consistency. Pour and/or spread the glaze over the top of pop-tart and enjoy! 

They weren't the prettiest, but they were delicious! 

Southwestern Salad with Cilantro Lime Dressing (Meatless Monday #2)

Salad Ingredients

• 5 c. chopped romaine lettuce
• 1/2 c. diced tomatoes
• 1/2 c. diced avocado
• 1/2 c. black beans
• 1/4 c. green onions
• 1/4 c. bell pepper (any color, I used yellow because I had so many)

Place in bowl and mix together

Dressing Ingredients

• 1 c. loosely packed cilantro
• 1/2 c. plain Greek yogurt
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 tbsp lime juice
• 1/4 c. olive oil
• 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

Combine cilantro, yogurt, garlic, lime juice, and salt in the bowl of a food processor. With the motor running, add olive oil and vinegar in a slow stream until creamy.

Meatless Monday Menu

Meat... What most people consider the main staple of ever meal. Sure, there has been a dramatic decrease over the past few years in the amount consumed. We are seeing more diets that eliminate most, if not all meat. That will not happen in my house though. One time for one of my bucketlist items, (See the bucketlist here) I went vegetarian for two weeks. It was not the most interesting thing off of the list that I have done. I am a Texas girl, born and raised, and we like our meat! That being said, we are working on being healthier and more frugal!

One of our first steps was something I read about online, Meatless Monday!

An idea that someone that came up with, that if you eliminate meat on one day you can save money. I think the blog I read said something upwards of $20 a week you would save. My own calculations looked something like this for a family with two adults and two small children.

(these are calculations from the brands we eat and the stores we shop, these are not exact calculations, just an estimate used to see what we saved)

Breakfast:
- nitrate free bacon (3.99/pack)

Lunch
- chicken breast (4.50/pack, prepped and using half)

Dinner
-ground turkey (2.99/lb)

=9.23 amount of money saved per week
36.92/month
443.04/year

Not enough to warrant a vacation to Disney World, but it is a start towards a financial frugality that we are working too

Here are a few of my recipes:
Cheesy Potato Soup
Southwestern Salad w/Cilantro Lime Dressing
Black Bean Burgers
Sweet Potato Tacos