Coupon Adventures 4/16

If you get the food lion Shopper's Companion email each week, you probably saw the coupon for mac & cheese. Well print it. Its for $1 off 2 boxes and this week at food lion, their mac and cheese is on sale and with the coupon, its only four cents a box!
Happy Couponing!

Garden Adventures-Starting with Seeds

As spring is ushered in, my gardening instincts go into high gear. Often, when hardly anyone has given a thought to a garden, I am starting seeds in my dining room and basement. Yes, I said dining room. My mother got me a small portable greenhouse and I set it up to start seeds. My reasoning is simple. Our basement is COLD and seeds do not like to germinate(even on a warm seedling mat) in the winter. So I start them upstairs in the somewhat warmer house. I make pots out of everything from soda bottles to toilet paper tubes, oatmeal containers and milk jugs. Last year I acquired two garbage bags full of plastic greenhouse pots, so this year, I am using those. I already have my garden plan outlined as I do this in the dead of winter. So I pull out all my seeds and "commence ta plantin'".
I have an abundance of herbs and vegetables planned this year. Since we have only been living in our current home for a few years, most of the property is not garden-friendly. We have no pasture; we have five acres of woods. Full sun is not a term my yard is familiar with. Each year I try new tactics to expand my growing area. This year we are doing fabric pots and tire gardens in addition to the raised beds I made out of recycled window frames and the rows and beds that I have in one small area of the yard.

Isn't it a lot of work? 
You might wonder why I don't just buy plants at the corner feed and seed or home improvement warehouse? Mainly because if I start my own seeds I can often use seeds I saved from a previous year. But I can also save a lot of money. A packet of seeds, that might plant 50 tomato plants is less than $2.00. Six small plants can cost anywhere from $2 and up. I don't have to use all the seeds I purchased either. If kept in a cold, dry place, the seeds will last for years. Its a sound investment. Another reason for me, is the availability of heirloom and open-pollinated, organic seeds is much more plentiful than flats of the same. If you were lucky enough to happen across a flat of this type of plant, its unlikely that it costs $2.00!

the dining room green
house is the perfect
warm, moist environment
for seeds.

Getting Started
I am a long-time fan of square foot gardening methods for seed starting. I have tried organic mixes and found them to be useless. Most seem to be loaded with spores for various molds and I battle damping off and fungus; something I rarely had issue with when I used my own dirt. On this property, the lack of dirt has hindered my ambitious plans. We have clay and rocks. We also have rocks and clay. None of these are conducive to plant growth, unless you plan to raise moss. So, I have tried making my own mix this year using sifted compost and putting a small hole of vermiculite in the center to start the seeds off right. After placing a seed in each hole, I water with warm water that has been infused with chamomile tea. Chamomile tea inhibits damping off. Then
I label the pots using a variety of different types of labels. My favorite is to take a plastic tub, like for sour cream or cottage cheese and cut it into strips. I mark the plastic tags with a black permanent marker. I have found it best to label each pot since they get moved around and if you only label one in a flat, you may not know what you have later.

shoplights make great seed
starting lights

Transitions
Once they germinate, I move them to the basement. I have a make-shift set up that involves shop lights outfitted with daylight florescent bulbs strung over a table that has a seedling mat across the top. I have also been known to wrap it in plastic to keep in the warmth on cold nights and to keep out the occasional mouse that finds anything green a tasty morsel. This spring it has been warmer, so I have not had to wrap things up. The mice don't care about being in the basement when its not too cold outside.

Are you wondering about the aforementioned mouse? One morning last year, I went down to dote on my seedlings, only to find all of the lovely plants completely gone; nibbled down to the soil's surface. Needless to say that set me back a few weeks. I replanted and wrapped everything up. A few weeks it happened again. The solution was to not only wrap it all up, but to add mousetraps all over my table. The traps would go off as I tried to unwrap my plastic barriers to water the plants. That was a cumbersome mess!

I bring my seedlings out during the day if weather allows and then bring them in at night. I try to keep the stronger, older seedlings in one tray as they can stay out longer and only let the little-guys out for a short time so they don't get fried in the sun.  Once the time nears for setting plants out in the garden, I leave them out for longer and longer periods of time to allow them to acclimate to the sun and wind. Then, on a cloudy day, I transplant them and water well. After that, I watch for new growth, which tells me that they are happy in their new home. At that point I can clean up the flats and set up for my fall garden, which I start planting in July.

This year I have planted 3 varieties of lettuce, cabbage, collards and peas. When it is warmer we will have 8 varieties of tomatoes, 3 varieties of cucumbers, 2 types of squash, 1 small watermelon and will put out 4 varieties of beans. In addition, we have garlic, onions and variety of herbs.

What have you planted in your garden?

Green Pastures: How to take it

I get questions all the time about how to take Green Pastures Fermented Cod Liver Oil, how I get my son to take it, and how we can stand it :)

Lets face it folks, its fish oil. Its not going to taste good if you don't like fish and its oil, so it sticks to your tongue and your mouth and your teeth and it doesn't go away easy. Here are my thoughts on the matter:

1. Take it with something. 

My son likes to get it squirted in his juice. It floats and some of it lines his cup when he is through, but most of it gets in his stomach. I have squirted it in his mouth prior to drinking komboucha or fermented grape juice. Its also good followed up with orange juice. But having a "chaser" is one way to go. I have had customers also say that a warm chaser helps get rid of the oil in your mouth.

2. Put it in something

Try squirting it on a piece of bread and then eating the bread.

3. Mix it in a smoothie

It was suggested that you mix with yogurt and frozen fruit and blend it well. You can use the unflavored kind for this or maybe a fruity orange flavor. Try with strong flavored sweet fruits that mask the flavor of the oil.

4. Try the gummies

Now they have gummy fish. Kind of like the swedish fish in size, they have the kid-appeal of gummies. If your child KNOWS he has to take it, this makes it acceptable to some.

5. Capsules

While not the most economical method of taking it, the capsules are easier to swallow. No gummy residue in your mouth. Take with food, which prevents the fishy burps that may result in taking on an empty stomach or with your morning juice.

Swidget 1.0 2

I have been using Swag Bucks for some time now. I am amazed at how quickly the points add up and I am able to order gift cards at my favorite places. Recent winnings have included Amazon.com, Target and Starbucks. Sometimes I use the cards myself and sometimes I give them as gifts. Either way, its amazing that I can win prizes for doing a simple search! Try it out for yourself!

Food Lion Mobile Deals

Food Lion has a new Mobile Club that sends texts directly to your phone with coupon deals you can use at an FL store if you have an MVP card. By using texts, you can load your card with some great deals.
One current promotion is for a box of Simple Living cereal. Its free once you have signed up and send in the offer codes.

To sign up for the Mobile club, text CLUBFL to 467467

For the free cereal, text FREECEREAL to the same number. Offer good through may 15th

http://foodlion.com/Current-Promotions/area-mobile-promotions

$10.50 in Arm & Hammer clumping litter coupons

Arm & Hammer clumping litter coupons. Receive up to 10.50 in coupons just for signing up with your email address. Easy Peasy!

Wandering back to Egypt...

Khan el Khalili bazaar

On my trip to Egypt last year, one highlight that comes back to me over and over was our trip to Khan el Khalili, a bazaar in Old Cairo. The bazaar is over 1,000 years old and contains over 500 shops. We ate at Naguib Mahfouz. A restaurant, named after Egypt's Pulitzer Prize winning author. I tasted several new dishes. My favorite was a wonderful dish considered a staple there. Its name is Kosheri.
Once I got home, it was the first thing I craved. I searched and searched for a recipe that was similar to what I tasted there. This was the end result…





Kosheri
SERVES 6 -8
* 1 cup lentils
* 1 quartered garlic clove
* 1 tablespoon cumin
* 3 large onions
* 1 cup oil
* 6 ounces uncooked elbow macaroni
* 2 cups dry rice
* salt
* chicken stock or vegetable stock
* 1 (15 ounce) can tomato puree
* 1 dash lime juice
* 2 minced garlic cloves
* 1 dash yellow mustard
* 2 tablespoons vinegar

Garlic vinegar(a condiment)
3 cloves of garlic chopped mixed with 3/4 cup vinegar. Warm and set aside.

Directions
Chop the onions into small pieces ( I use the small electric food chopper and chop them in batches ) Reserve 1 tablespoon of the chopped onions for use later in the sauce. Heat the oil on med high heat, you want the oil to be very hot before putting in the onions. Add the onions in batches and fry until you get a deep brown (but not burned) color. You want them to be crispy. Be sure to watch them carefully as they go from medium brown to dark kind of quickly. Drain them onto paper towels and set aside.

Boil lentils in water (about 4 cups) along with 1 clove garlic cut into quarters, and 1 tablespoon cumin until cooked, drain and set aside.

MEANWHILE: 
Boil the macaroni until done (about 10 min). Cook the rice in the chicken stock, adding salt if the stock is unsalted. Put them all together in the same pot and mix well.

Now make the sauce.
In 1 tablespoon oil heated over medium heat add 2 cloves minced garlic, 1 tablespoon chopped onions that you reserved from before, and a dash of salt, stir and fry about 2 minute. Add 1 and ½ teaspoon sugar to the onion garlic mixture and mix well. Add tomato puree, 2 tablespoons vinegar, a small squirt yellow mustard and a dash of lime juice. You can adjust the amounts according to your personal taste but it should have kind of a slight puckery bite. Sprinkle in a dash of cayenne pepper according to taste. I liked it kind of hot.

To serve, put the kosheri onto a plate and add a SMALL amount of sauce to the top. (A little goes a long way, and you can always add more according to taste) Sprinkle the whole thing liberally with the fried onions and a bit of the garlic vinegar. Mix together and enjoy!