Frugal Friday: Gratitude

Today I want to talk about Gratitude. You may be wondering what gratitude has to do with being frugal, but hopefully I can explain with this picture:

It does, doesn't it? Being grateful means counting the blessings that already surround us instead of counting the multitudes of things we don't have. I love this quote by Sarah Ban Breathnach:

"All we have is all we need. All we need is the awareness of how blessed we really are."

So lets focus ourselves and our family's on counting those blessings that we have. When we start to realize how much we truly have, it will help temper the desire to accumulate more and more.

And this is a perfect month for it - the month of Thanksgiving. Here are a few ideas that I love for helping your family share what they are grateful for this month:

1. Start listing out things you are grateful for and put them on the walls of your home. Maybe it's a thanksgiving tree like this one,
2. Or a fat turkey with feathers like this one,
3. Or a thankful chain like this one.
4. Start a thankful journal or a blessing book.
5. For thanksgiving set a plain tablecloth and have family members sign their names and what they are thankful for. You could make it a tradition and use the same cloth every year that you add to like this one.

What better way to kick off the holiday season than by focusing ourselves and our families on what we already have. And truly feeling grateful. Then when the glitter and sparkle of ads, commercials and toy catalogs induces us to spend, spend, spend and buy, buy, buy and get, get get this holiday season, maybe we'll remember what's really important. Maybe instead, we'll thank the Great Giver of all for what we already have: food on our tables, love in our hearts, and more than enough bounty than we really need.

What are you grateful for today? I'd love to hear your thoughts on gratitude or anything else you want to share. I hope you have a Happy Frugal Friday and a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Linked to: Frugal Friday, Hearts 4 Home, Thrifty Thursday, Finer Things Friday, Frugal Tuesday, Mommy Club

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Parmesan Baked Tilapia and Butternut Squash

Tuesday night our family dinner theme is fish/meatless. This is one of my favorite dishes to make on Tuesday nights when squash abounds during the fall. I actually adapted the recipe from this Betty Crocker Recipe for Parmesan-Butternut Squash Gratin that we love. I converted it from a side dish to being a full meal. This is a great no-hassle recipe that is both healthy and delicious!


Parmesan Baked Tilapia and Butternut Squash
Printable Recipe

*Serves 4

INGREDIENTS:
1-2 lb. Butternut Squash
1/4 Cup butter
2 large cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/4 Cup bread crumbs *See Note
1/3 Cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
4 4-oz. tilapia fillets
1/4 Cup chopped fresh parsley, optional

*Note: We like panko bread crumbs because they are extra crispy. If you are trying to make this gluten free, I've also done this recipe with chopped up pistachios and it is delicious.

DIRECTIONS:
Heat oven to 400 F. Spray a stone or glass baking or casserole dish with cooking spray. Peel squash, cut in half lengthwise and remove seeds. Cut squash into 1/2" thick slices. Arrange slices in the bottom of baking dish, slightly overlapping.

In a small saucepan melt the butter over medium heat. Reduce heat to low and add the chopped garlic. Cook 2 or 3 minutes or until garlic softens and you smell a strong garlic aroma, being careful not to let the butter brown.

In a small bowl combine the bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper, and 1 Tablespoon of the butter-garlic mixture. Brush the squash slices with about half of the remaining butter-garlic mixture. Sprinkle with about half of the bread crumb mixture. Bake uncovered in the preheated 400 F oven for 20 minutes.

Remove dish and increase oven temperature to 425 F. Rearrange squash slices to the sides to leave room in the center of the casserole pan. Lay the tilapia in the center of the baking dish, being careful not to overlap. Brush remaining garlic-butter mixture and sprinkle with remaining bread crumb mixture. Bake in the preheated 425 F oven for 20 minutes or until squash is lightly browned and fish flakes easily with a fork. Before serving, sprinkle parsley over the top if desired.

Recipe Source: Adapted from Parmesan-Butternut Squash Gratin by Betty Crocker

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Frugal Friday: Living on the Edge Financially

I know a lot of folks that have been hit by hard times financially. And who knows how soon that will start to change. It makes me sad to see people that struggle to make it month by month by month with an almost insurmountable task to make every penny stretch as far as it can go. That's tough. Really tough. Maybe they've lost a job. Maybe they've had some major medical expense. Maybe for some other reason. These are folks who live on the edge of their incomes, not by choice, but really because they have no other choice. If you're in that boat and are making it work, I applaud you! Good for you! That's amazing. I hope along with you that this is only temporary for you.

But I know a lot of folks who may think they're in that same boat, but they're not. Maybe they blame it on a financial crisis, but really there's always a financial crisis with these kinds of people. No matter what they make, every month's income is spent. Completely. If the income rises, so do the expenses. These people think they are being financially responsible because they try not to accrue much debt. But they also leave no cushion. They are much like a toddler trying to walk a balance beam that's narrow and rickety. Can they do it? Yes they are capable as long as the balance remains. But what happens if one toe steps off? Or in the case of finances, one extra expense comes up that was unexpected? It's so easy to fall off when you are living on the edge.

Living on the edge financially means spending all or more of your income every month. 

So how do you stop living on the edge? You start to build up a safety cushion. You SAVE. Not just later. Not just when you're life will get easier in the bright, far off future. You save now. You set aside money each month before expenses. Not after. After expenses there will be nothing. So count on that. You will always have expenses. So you save first.

How much do you save? Sit down with a budget and plan out your necessary expenses. Notice I said necessary. You have to be careful with this and you might want to read my post on luxuries vs. necessities before you do it. Then determine how much you can possibly save each month. Be honest with yourself, realizing that this is your key to financial freedom and stability. Save as much as you possibly can.

Once you've figured out how much to save, then you need to apply it. As soon as you are paid you transfer the amount you decided on to savings. You can do a transfer yourself or even have it done automatically - there's lots of jobs that will let you transfer $ to savings automatically through direct deposit. However you choose to do it, do it religiously. Especially if you've fallen into the habit of always spending what you have.

Each month, as you save a little more and a little more, your safety cushion will grow. If you do happen to fall off the edge a little, you'll have a cushion built up so that you won't fall so far and it's easy to step right back on.

Now I'd like to hear from you...Have you ever struggled with living on the edge of your income? In what ways have you found to cut expenses so that you could save even more?

Happy Frugal Friday everyone. I hope you have a lovely day.

Linked to: Frugal Friday,

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Applesauce Bread

Mmmh I love apple season. Crisp, juicy, crunchy, perfectly ripe apples. There's really nothing to compare with a fresh, home-grown, picked-at-it's-peak apple. And if you've never experienced it because you don't have apple trees, go read my post on food foraging. You don't have to have fruit trees to find good fruit. 

This year I inherited my Grandmother's champion juicer, which I love. It's been so much fun to make fresh apple juice and we've enjoyed it immensely. But there's always this question of what to do with the skins and pulp that comes out... One day I was considering this and I wondered if it would work to use the skins and pulp in a recipe that calls for chunky applesauce... So I pulled out this family favorite recipe for applesauce bread and used the skins and pulp from the juicer and guess what? It worked great! I'm so excited. I've already made 6 loaves of this bread this year and have enough pulp to make at least 10 more....so you know what we'll be eating for the next several weeks...

I hope you enjoy this delicious whole-grain applesauce bread. It is perfect for a healthy dessert or after-school snack. Enjoy!

Applesauce Bread
Printable Recipe

*Makes 2 loaves

*This recipe freezes great!

INGREDIENTS:
1 Cup wonder flour *See Note below
2 Cups whole wheat flour *See Note below
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. allspice
1 Cup butter, softened
1 Cup brown sugar, packed
½ Cup granulated sugar
1 egg
2 Cups chunky applesauce
1 Cup coarsely chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray two bread pans with nonstick spray.

In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients and set aside. In a separate bowl, combine butter and both sugars together. Add the egg to the butter-sugar mixture, beating well, and then stir in applesauce. Next add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients until the batter is fully incorporated, but do not over mix. Fold in walnuts or pecans if desired. Pour into bread pans and bake at 350 F for 60 to 70 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean when pierced through the center.

*Note: Try any combination of whole-grain flour

*Recipe Source: healthyfamilycookin.blogspot.com

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