Aldi's to the rescue!

January is always a hard month for us financially.  We are still reeling from the post Christmas expenditures and can never seem to get ahead until mid February.  One of the easiest ways to pinch pennies is in our food budget ('cause there's no way I'm cutting out my internet and cable!).  I have found that shopping at Aldi's is so much better than trying to use coupons or shopping at the big box stores.

You really can't beat $1.89/gallon organic milk and .99 eggs!

Aldi's is no frills, but that doesn't mean they skimp on quality.  So far, everything I've purchased from them has been as good as name brand or better.  They have a large selection of organic, gluten free, and grass fed beef products that you won't pay an arm and a leg for, but there are a few things you need to know before making your first trip:

Bring a quarter. You are going to need a quarter to get your cart. The quarter is returned to you when you return the cart. You do the cart returning so they don’t have to pay someone to do it, and those savings are passed on to you! If you are one who likes to practice random acts of kindness leave your quarter for the next person.

Bring a bag. Save some green and go green at the same time. Bring a reusable bag (or two!) with you. ALDI does not hide the cost of bags in their grocery prices.You can bring your own bags to shop at ALDI, or buy their eco, paper, plastic, or insulated bags for a very nominal charge. But if you happen to forget your bags in the car (like I do from time to time) don’t worry! They have very low-priced bags you can purchase at check-out (.10 each).

Pack it yourself. Here is something you may not find at your grocery store. There is no one to pack up your purchases. The check-out clerk will put your groceries in a cart for you but it is up to you to take your purchases to the packing counter and pack them up. By not having to pay a bagger they are passing those savings on to you! I don’t know about you, but I am willing to pack my groceries to save some green!

No credit cards. That is right! No credit cards are accepted at ALDI. (But your debit card and cash are always welcome!) Once again, this saves on credit card processing fees and ALDI is able to pass the savings onto you.

No Fancy Shelves. ALDI products are not placed individually on the shelf. Instead, the products are left in their cartons and placed directly on the shelf. This is yet another way ALDI saves on overhead costs. I don’t know about you, but I will take savings over individually placed items!

So this week, money is tight!  Sunday night I sat down to plan out our menus for the week.  Check out Aldi's weekly flier for specials and try to plan around them.  Meal planning is imperative to saving money, do NOT stray from your list!

Here's what we're having:

BREAKFASTS

Oatmeal

Poached eggs on toast

Smoothies 

(Still have left over bananas and frozen berries from Costco!)

Cereal bars

LUNCHES

Ham and cheese sandwiches, chips

PBJ sandwiches, chips

Take and Bake pizzas ($4.47 for a large pepperoni)

Leftovers

SNACKS

Roasted almonds

Apples

Kefir

Chips and salsa

Veggie straws

Popcorn
Kale chips (from the garden)

DINNERS

Spaghetti with meatsauce, garlic bread

Spinach fritatta with salsa

Shredded BBQ chicken sandwiches with corn on the cob

Baked ziti with roasted kale (from the garden)

Stuffed peppers with spinach salad

Chicken fajitas with refried beans

Meatball subs and kettle chips

All of THIS:

For a grand total of THIS:

Merry Christmas 
from the Creamers!

The Sugar Plum Princess

I have wanted to take Mary Grace to see the Nutcracker since she was a baby, and at the ripe old age of three, I thought now was the year to start that tradition.

She had to have a new dress for her first ballet!

This gorgeous gifted red embroidered satin fit the bill perfectly and I used the Geranium Dress pattern to sew it up.  I used vintage gold buttons (from my prized stash) to finish off the back.  It turned out so cute that I think it will double as her Christmas Mass dress, too!

Nana came with us to the ballet, it was 

'Girls Night Out' afterall. I love these pics of Mary Grace! 

In every one of them her eyes are darting to the side.  There was so much to take in that I'm not sure if she was amazed or scared to death!

Here's what you get when you try to take a selfie 

with a squirming toddler.

I was worried that a two hour production would be too much for her, but she LOVED it!  She followed the story and sat mostly still, going between my lap and her Nana's.  And during the car ride home, she talked all about the Nutcracker fighting the Mouse King and "cutting his tail off!"

I think we've found a new Christmas tradition!

Paint and Brush

John Paul is a self taught artist. 

He started with some watercolors 

and a YouTube video.

As his love of art grew so did his desire to use different mediums, and that's when we found a local artist who teaches classes a few days a week.

The studio contains a wonderfully eclectic mix of artists and 

they have embraced him whole-heartedly.  

John Paul feels free to let his creativity come out 

with his paint and brush.

They say that creative people are messy...

Then John Paul must be the most 

creative person in the universe!

It drives his "Type A" mother a little insane.

But I think for now, I'll look past the mess

to see the beauty.

Wisemen ADVENTures!

The Wise Men are back at the Creamer household 

and are in search of the baby Jesus!  

Follow me on Instagram 

(link at the top right of the blog page) 

to see their daily ADVENTures:

Happy Advent!

Hot Chocolate

It has been mighty cold here in south Texas,

and by cold, I mean in the 50's.

People are acting like it's the next ice age,

and by people, I mean my kids.

So I've warmed them up with an 'All You Can Drink' 

hot chocolate bar...

Creamer Family Hot Chocolate Mix

Mix together equal quantities of:

Unsweetened Cocoa

Sugar

Dried milk

Powdered coffee creamer 

(I like a flavored one like French vanilla)

Mix together and store in an air tight container.

Put 2-3 teaspoons of mix into warmed milk or water.

Just remember to drink responsibly!

Just call me Lady Marmalade

The very first fruit tree I planted in our backyard was a Satsuma Mandarin orange tree.  We've only gotten 2-3 oranges the past couple of years, but this year we are up to our eyeballs in oranges!

 I thought a great way to preserve them would be in a batch of marmalade.

Ingredients:

About 9 medium sized Mandarin oranges

Juice of two lemons

Approx 2 cups of water

3 cups of sugar

Peel oranges. Scrape the white pith off the peels using a butter knife or edge of a spoon. Cut the peel into fine strips. The amount of peel depends on whether you'd like more or less of it. I used almost 2 cups of cut peel. Place cut peel into a large pot and add the 2 cups of water. (If you're using more peel, add enough water to cover the contents of the pot).

Boil peel until soft, about 10 minutes. Measure out the liquid that's left (I had about 1 cup) and replace with the same amount of fresh water. Do this to lessen the bitterness, you can always omit this step if you like your marmalade more bitter. 

While the peel is boiling, pick off as much of the white pith and membranes of the oranges segments as you can. Also remove any seeds. Place fruit and lemon juice in a food processor and puree til an almost smooth consistency. Add this mixture together with peel and water into a large stainless steel pot and bring to a boil.

Add sugar. Stir often until consistency thickens, about 30 mins. depending on how juicy the fruits are, or until a candy thermometer reaches 220˚F (104˚C), that's the gelling stage.

In my batch below, I decided to just thinly slice my lemon instead of juicing it.  I like the look of "slices" in the marmalade and it also added a nice texture.

Fill into sterilized jars, seal with their lids and allow the jars to sit in a hot water bath for 10 mins. Remove and let cool at room temperature until you hear the "pop" of the button on the lid.  That means it's sealed properly and those jars will keep on the shelves for months. Those that don't seal properly can be kept in the fridge.

This is seriously good stuff!

It might even make you sing, 

"Gitchi Gitchi Ya Ya Da Da!"

Halloween, just a few days late!

We had a super fun day on All Hallow's Eve starting with pumpkin carving.  The boys did great jobs on their pumpkins 

(and freaking out Mary Grace with "pumpkin guts!).

  

Kyle carved this awesome skull in a cave:

We stopped buying costumes years ago because I insist that we make them, I think it's sooo much more fun that way!
We had watched, "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" a few days earlier and Danny thought it would be funny to be Charlie Brown in his ghost costume.  There really is nothing better than a plain white sheet and black paint for a ghost costume!

"Did you get anything good in your treat bag, Dan?"

"I got a rock."

John Paul totally embraces the 

guts and gore of the season:

A little face paint and LOTS of fake blood 

and we have the "Turtle Creek Slasher!"

Last of all is the 

PRINCESS!

I made this princess dress without even asking Mary Grace what she wanted to be.  After raising four boys, I was going to get my pretty pink princess, dag-nabit!  

When I revealed her dress to her she was totally disappointed.

"I want to be Cookie Monster!" she said.

"Too bad, sister!  You're a princess THIS year!" I said.

And once she realized people give you candy, 

she was OK with it.

Now time to raid my kid's candy bags,
but not Danny's, 
all he got were rocks!

Happy Halloween!

Because I'm too cheap to buy a card...

Happy Anniversary,

Doug E.Poo!

October birthdays

This past week was book-ended by birthdays!

Mary Grace and John Paul's birthdays are just a mere six days apart, which means lots of cake, presents, and celebrating...heck, it might as well be called 'Birthday Week!'

Mary Grace turned THREE!

I can't believe our sweet little baby is a big girl now!

We celebrated with a shopping trip to Build-A-Bear.  Mary picked a pink ballerina bear, complete with tutu and pink slippers. Pizza, cake, and ice cream were on the menu that evening as we had a book party for the birthday girl.  
She absolutely adores books!

A few days later, John Paul turned THIRTEEN!

He's very happy to finally be a teen ager now, and reminds us of his status quite frequently.  All he wanted to do on his special day was go to Barnes & Noble for books and then to the craft store for painting supplies. 
I cannot tell you how happy that makes me!

You might have noticed that the cakes look the same.  I found an awesome recipe on Pinterest for 'Crack Cake' because when you're thinking of a cake for children, you want to hear the words "crack" and "wine" right?

Crack Cake

**1 box Duncan Hines yellow cake mix 

1/4 c brown sugar 

1/4 c white sugar 

**1 box vanilla pudding instant mix 

**2 teaspoons cinnamon 

4 eggs 

3/4 c water 

3/4 c oil 

1/2 c white wine (really any kind) 

 Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

Mix the above ingredients by hand or hand mixer. 

 Grease a bundt pan. Pour into pan. Bake for 50 minutes.

 When cake comes out of the oven... 

 Melt 1 stick butter into 1 cup sugar and 1/4 cup wine.

 Pour over hot cake. Cool. Flip out of pan onto plate and serve.

**JP wanted a lemon cake so I used: 

1 box lemon cake mix

1 box lemon pudding mix

2 teaspoons lemon zest

This cake is delicious and super moist!

It gets better the longer it sits,

so make it the day before!