Roux, Dry

Dry Roux is a very useful item to keep in your spice cabinet. It can be used for making gravy, thickening (as well as adding character to) soups or stews and kick starting you to a perfect pot of gumbo. It is something that aspiring cooks shouldn't have to live without!

Toasted flour, that's all dry roux is! Get yourself a clean, dry (really dry) cast iron pan, some plain flour, a stirrer, and an oven and your in business! Now the game plan is to get the flour toasted as dark as possible without charcoaling it. Do you think you are up to the task? P.S. It's really easy!

Start with plain flour in a cast iron piece of cookware. I use this small Lodge Model LMSRD Lodge Round Mini Server. I set my toaster oven on bake, which energizes both the top and bottom heating elements, at 400 degrees with a thermometer sitting in the back on the oven rack rack.

Put enough flour in the pan to just cover the bottom about 1/4 inch. Head room is needed to aid in the stirring process lest you make a big mess! There is no need to preheat, just chunk 'er in there raw. Stir the flour when it starts to brown and then thereafter about every 15 or 20 minutes depending on how gutsy you are. However, should you scorch the top don't fret just shovel the burnt bits (which will have the consistency of charcoal and smoke badly) into the garbage and keep stirring. If dark spots that are a bit crunchy creep up that's good, crunch those up and keep stirring! Stop your Roux when it gets to be a rich dark chocolate like my top photo (camera flash bleached the color it's actually darker) and store her in an airtight container with your spices. Before long you won't know how you ever got along without it!

That there is my Implement of Destruction! I wish it had a longer handle but the stirring end is perfect for reaching across the rim of the pan and scraping the bottom. I just have to do it when the heating elements cycle off!

Remember what the Cajuns say! "The darker the roux, the richer the flavor!"

Hanukkah?

     Some of you may be wondering, "Why on Earth does she have a "Frugal Christmas" post on a Hanukkah background?" To me the answer is simple. This will be one of those "Rants/Raves/whatevers" I was talking about.
     I have listed in my profile that I am Christian. Basically yes. My mother's family was Jewish. A lot of whom have converted to Christianity. However we are Hebrew by birth as well. As for my own family (my husband and my children and I), we are always exploring our heritage. My husband's family is mostly German and we love attending German festivals, in German attire (lol), and even learning to speak German. So after we married we also wanted to incorporate our Jewish heritage into our lives as well. Being Christian I believe in the God of Israel. The God of Abraham and Issac. My Lord Jesus was raised in the Jewish faith and He, Himself celebrated Hanukkah and Passover and all the other ancient Jewish festivals and celebrations. I have never been shown in the Bible where we as Christians have been commanded not to continue these festivals or celebrations. Nor been told how they would contradict my faith that Jesus is the Son of God. Therefore, I believe that they should still be followed. Do I follow them all? No. I am not perfect. Do I follow them to the exact letter of ancient texts by being totally and completely Kosher? No, again not perfect. Do I try, yes.
     What about Christmas? In our home we do both, well all three. We celebrate Hanukkah. We celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ and we have Santa. Confusing you may say. Not to us. He is the same God. With the same commandments for Jew and Christian alike. The morals that come from trying to follow those commandments led the man, Saint Nicholas, to do the good deeds that he did. All the rest is just fun. My kids have the best holidays ever! We spin dreidels, eat latkes, light the candles, roast marshmallows, sing carols, decorate the Christmas tree, watch our favorite Christmas movies, and hang stockings. Why not let them have the best of both worlds?


Free MySpace Animations!

I'm Dreaming Of...

A FRUGAL CHRISTMAS


Here's what I acquired:
   
     1. 6 ft. white pre-lit tree including a felt holy covered skirt.
     2. 1 - 3in. roll of silver wire ribbon  w/silver Christmas Trees on it.
     3. 1 - 2in. roll of blue shear wire ribbon
     4. 1 pack of 4 rolls of assorted curling ribbon. ( I used silver, light blue, cobalt blue, and sparkly blue)
     5. 9 stalks of curly curls ( I am unsure as to what they are really called..I used silver)
     6. 20 assorted blue and silver ornaments.

How I acquired above items:

     1. Tree - Good Will - $6.00
     2. Ribbon and Curling Ribbon - Kroger - $12.00
     3. Curly Curls - Hobby Lobby - Floral Section - $1.00
     4. 20 assorted ornaments - cast offs from my mother because she wanted a red and gold tree - Free!
          (you can get them at Good Will FOR SUPER CHEAP!)

Set-up:

1. Set and Fluff out your tree.
2. Plug in. I do this first to not only make sure that the lights work before I cover it with decor annnnd
     because I love decorating my tree with the house lights out and my tree lit up!
3. Make your bow and tie to the top of the tree. Looks nice if there are a few lights behind the bow or up in it
     to make it light up.
4. Cut wire ribbon to length of the height of the tree and attach to top. (I wrap mine around my arm and then
     let it fall off to give it a nice curl. Attach under your bow to hide the ends)
5. Insert Curly Curls at top diagonally. To give a cute, professional look to your tree.
6. Curl your ribbon at different lengths and hang all of your tree just like you do that tinsel icicle crud.
     Remember to spread out your colors so you don't end up with a bunch of one color in one spot.
7. Hang ornaments. Again spread out your colors. Now you may say, " Twenty ornaments? That's not
     enough." Well you'd be right. If I wanted a 360 degree view of my tree it wouldn't be. But I always put
    mine in this corner so I don't fret about it. However when we build our new home...
     BAY WINDOW BABY! I'm just sayin' .....

I spent a grand total of $19.00 on this whole adventure. WOW! Under my budget of $20.00! I even impressed myself. Don't get all upset. This is my first time EVER! I was born to a Pack-Rat family and I was NEVER taught how to be frugal. I've been anything BUT! I chose to change that! I'm searching every day for new ways to do things. New and CHEAP ways! I hope that this helps all of you that are trying to pinch every where and for good reasons! Merry Christmas and LIVE FRUGAL!

Thanksgiving!!

I do hope that everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving! I am thankful for the time I got to spend with friends and family this year! It actually went off without a hitch or a fight! Awesome, Praise God! Be back soon with new blogs! Don't forget to check out my buddy Logan's videos @ Men Can Do It 2! On the left hand side of this blog.

Cleaning Micro-Suede aka Micro-Fiber

So my son has repeatedly spilled stuff on his little recliner that he received for Christmas last year. I got fed up with it and finally decided to try and clean it. Water will leave a mark on it. However after a little research I found that rubbing alcohol will not. It evaporates to quickly. So here's what I did.

What you will need:
     1 piece of Micro-fiber furniture (LOL DUH)
     1 Bottle of rubbing alcohol. It would be easier if it were in a spray bottle. I didn't have one so I just used it               straight.
     1 Dry Clean Sponge
     Paper Towels
     1 Scrub brush that's clean and dry. I use the Scrubba Dubba from The FlyLady!


Now prepare you furniture piece by vacuuming all the crumbs, dust, lint, hair, ect. off of it.

Notice the big stains? Since you cannot use water on these things. You really can't use any kind of upholstery or carpet clean either. So I used alcohol. Yup! The good stuff too! AKA ROCKET FUEL!

Like I said before this would have been a much smoother event if I had a spray bottle. Since I didn't I poured it on a clean dry scrub sponge. On the soft side.

Yes all that grunge you see on my sponge is off that chair! Ewwww! So I repeatedly poured a little, then scrubbed a little. Till it no longer appeared that I was getting more grunge off. Now because he spilled WATER on it there is a permanent mark. Then after letting it dry some I used my Scrubba Dubba from The FlyLady to "fluff" it back up. I read that you should do it in a circular pattern but that look weird on this dark color. Perhaps on a lighter color you could. I gave mine a comb-over. It looks much better! However the pics do show ever shadow and it might look a little rough but in real life it looookkkks soooooo goooood!

Let me know what you think and post some pics of something you clean! Have fun and thanks. I hope it works for you!

Monogramming

I have recently discovered a very deadly disease. Monogramming! Once you walk into a store that has this disease you have already been infected. It creeps in slowly. First symptoms is seen when you start to question the clerk about prices and how long it takes. Then onset is seen by the purchase of something small such as a make-up pouch that you have your initials put on. The final stage before financial death is when you purchase a gift for nearly everyone in your family and personalize EVERY SINGLE ITEM, EVEN THE HAND TOWELS!! There is no known cure for this horrible sickness. The only thing that can ease the urge of having something monogrammed is the occasional purchases of monogrammed items. The frugal way to do this is grab a sharpie, they come in many colors, and put your initials on EVERYTHING! Have a blessed day!

The Perfect Eggs

I have a wonderful 11 year old daughter named Marie. She is my world. She has recently started showing a real interest in cooking. Which I love because it gives me a chance to share with her a world that was one my secret happy places with my father and my grandmother. We would spend hours preparing meals. Real, from scratch, kind of things. Slow roasted, country-style, pork ribs or deep fried turkey. Baked macaroni and cheese or squash casseroles. You name it we could do it! Sadly they are both with our Lord now. So I'm very excited about her recent interest. She has learned to scramble eggs really well. However, she has also learned that my favorite way to eat eggs is Sunny-side Up. So yesterday she asked me how one would make such an item. So below is what I told her.

 *Just for future reference, I rarely use real measurements or nice technical terms. I cook by sight and taste. So you will just have to learn along with us because this is the only way I know how.*

Ingredients:

2 tbls. Veggie Oil
2 eggs (cage-free optional - I just like those)
salt and pepper

Place a small non-stick frying pan on the stove. I use a gas stove. Put the oil in the pan and heat on med-low. Place hand over the oil. When it feels hot it's ready. Break each egg, trying not to break the yolks, and put them in the oil. Side by side. They should instantly start sizzling. If not turn you oil up just a bit. If it sizzles to much turn it down a bit. It really varies with stoves. This guessing would probably be fixed if I knew the right temps to use with the oil, OH WELL! LOL! Don't fret. Let the whites cook. After they look done the tops my still be a bit runny. Using the edge of your spatula gently flick the hot oil on to the top. I don't like to get it on the yolk to much because it will over cook them.

Sunny-side Up Eggs are meant to have a totally runny yolk. Just in case you've never seen them.

Cute Ideas for Sunny-side Up:

Enjoy! Remember it's all in the wrist!