Frugal Friday: Kitchen Tip/Tutorial: Yeast

For today's Frugal Friday post I want to talk about yeast. You may know by now that I love to make yeast breads and yeast and I have become rather good friends during the last few years. But it hasn't always been that way. Our relationship was quite strained during my early cooking days and I've had many cooking catastrophes that were caused by yeast defects. Now of course I understand that they weren't really yeast defects after all, but simply my own misunderstanding of the properties of yeast. I hope today to be able to clear up a few of those for you if you're having difficulties. Or if you're already a yeast expert I'd love to hear you share some kitchen tips of your own about yeast.

So how does this topic relate to Frugal Friday? Well, hopefully that will become clear as we go, but in a brief synopsis here let me just say that cooking catastrophes cost money (not to mention time and energy and stress). Understanding about yeast will help avoid a lot of the waste that comes from cooking catastrophes. Less waste means more money saved. And more money saved is what we're all trying to achieve, right?

So here we go...

KITCHEN TIPS: YEAST

HOW YEAST WORKS
Yeast is a living organism that is found in the "wild" - or in the natural world around us. Manufacturers of yeast have domesticated it and then dry it, package it and sell it. Yeast is used in all types of bread doughs to make them rise. Yeast loves to eat sugar and will start out eating the sugar in the dough as it's first course. When it runs out of sugar to east, yeast will convert the starch that is found in flour into sugar and then eat that. As yeast feeds it gives off C02. The C02 becomes trapped within in the fibers of the bread and that causes the bread to rise. Like a balloon, the more elastic the dough, the more the bread is able to expand with the CO2. The gluten found in bread helps increase the elasticity of the bread, and thus, helping it rise better.

If bread is allowed to rise too much, you may have noticed that it will start to sink again. This is not because the yeast stops eating, but rather because your bread has risen so much that the elasticity has become leaky (like a popped balloon). The C02 is no longer trapped and will escape into the surrounding environment instead of staying within the dough.

TYPES OF YEAST
There are different kinds of yeast. Two of the most common that are found in recipes are Active Dry Yeast and Instant Yeast. Here is the difference between the two types:

• Active dry yeast is a dormant form of yeast and usually needs to be re-hydrated (or proofed) before it can be used in a recipe. The re-hydrating is not hard to do, but it does take a little bit of time. The yeast is dissolved in warm water with a little bit of sugar added. Then the mixture is set aside to rest for a brief time until the yeast is activated and then can be used in a recipe.
• Instant yeast is yeast that is ready to use directly in a recipe with no proofing required. If you compare the granules of instant yeast to the granules of active dry yeast, the instant yeast granules are smaller in size. Because they are smaller, instant yeast dissolves faster in the water and the process of rising the dough gets started quicker. Instant yeast is my prefered type of yeast to use because of the ability to add it directly into recipes without proofing first.

A FEW TRICKS WITH YEAST

1. Yeast likes warm temperatures and it will activate faster if the dough is warm. I usually help this happen by heating my water to between 110 F and 130 F. Water that is too hot (above 139 F) will kill the yeast and your dough will not rise.
2. As a rule, don't let the yeast touch the salt. Salt is osmotic, pulling water out of the yeast's cells and thus inhibiting the action of yeast, causing it to slow down. If there is too much concentration of salt near the yeast it can even kill it. I like to put salt in first and then add my yeast on top of the flour so I make sure it doesn't come in any direct contact with the salt.
3. Use rising times in a recipe as a guide, not an unbreakable rule. Lots of things affect rising times. Some examples are room temperature (generally yeast likes to rise in warm temperatures), barometric pressure, and even how often you bake bread. If you bake bread a lot, there are higher quantities of wild yeast found in your kitchen, thus helping bread to rise faster. If it's an especially cold day, I'll sometimes let my bread or rolls rise in a warm oven. I turn the oven light on, turn the oven on until it starts to barely warm up and then turn it off. The oven should not burn at all if you touch inside it, just be comfortably warm. I leave the oven light on to keep the oven warm while my bread or rolls are rising. 
4. I like to buy my yeast in 1 lb. vacuum packed bags (or bricks). For best results yeast should be stored in an airtight container in the freezer after the sealed package is opened. I know those that even store the vacuum packs in the freezer, but I haven't found it necessary to do that. The yeast will go bad a lot faster if it is exposed to air and at room temperature (especially if the temperature is above 70 degrees). I use SAF yeast almost exclusively in my recipes because it's an instant yeast and I've always had good results from it. I always use my yeast directly out of the freezer without waiting for it to thaw first and have always had great results.

HOW TO TEST IF YEAST IS STILL ACTIVE

This is important because you don't want to make bread with bad yeast. The ingredients cost money and and when the bread turns into a brick after you put all that into it, it just is not worth it. I had some yeast that someone gave me the other day and I was a little skeptical about it and wondered whether it really was still good. So I performed this test that you can do too, if you're wondering if your yeast is bad.

1. Add 1/2 cup warm (110 - 115 F) tap water into a measuring cup. 
2. Stir in 1 tsp. sugar and 2 tsp. yeast (either kind).
3. Check the yeast after 10 minutes. If foam and bubbles have formed, then the yeast is still alive and active. The mixture will be approximately half milky looking water and half foam.

In the picture below I put my test yeast in the cup on the left and the yeast that I knew was working in the cup on the right. The top row of pictures shows a side and top view of the yeast mixtures right after I mixed them with the water and sugar.

The bottom row of pictures is what the cups looked like 10 minutes later. You can see that from this I determined that yes the yeast I was testing was still good because it foamed and bubbled just as much as the yeast that I knew was alive. 

To be honest I was kind of hoping that the yeast had gone bad so I could show you the difference in what it would look like if it had gone bad. But at least I saved a little money from having to throw the bad yeast out, right? :)

If you want to learn more about yeast (things that are beyond the scope of this post), I found this tutorial really helpful. And like I said earlier I'd love to hear about any successes or failures you've had with this interesting organism. I consider yeast one of my good friends now, but it's been a rocky road to get there. Hopefully this post will help someone who's in the same boat that I was in. 

Happy Frugal Friday and have a great weekend! Oh and I won't be posting this week because I'll be spending some extra time with my family during spring break. So have a great week.

This week I'll be linking to some of these link parties.

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Fresh Peach Syrup (No Sugar)

One of the things that I've missed being sugar-free six days a week is the sweet pancake and waffle toppings that I used to enjoy. But most syrups, jams and jellies are loaded with sugar. I usually eat my waffles or pancakes with unsweetened applesauce, but recently I came up with this peach syrup as a variation that I love. 

Fresh Peach Syrup (No Sugar)
Printable Recipe

*Makes about 1 cup

INGREDIENTS:
1 Cup peach puree (I used a blender to puree the peaches) *See Note
2 Tbsp. Xagave nectar
Sprinkle of vanilla powder, optional

*Note: If peaches aren't in season you can use thawed frozen or canned peaches with all the liquid drained off

DIRECTIONS:
Combine ingredients and mix well. Serve on fresh waffles or pancakes. Refrigerate leftover syrup for up to a week.

Recipe Source: healthyfamilycookin.blogspot.com

Here's some of my favorite pancake and waffle recipes to serve this syrup on:

Wheat Pancakes

Wonderful Waffles

5 Grain Waffles with Flax Seed

This week I'll be linking to some of these link parties.

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Frugal Friday: Gardening

It's that lovely time of year again when the world starts awakening out of it's cold, deep sleep. Bulbs burst out of the ground into amazing blooms. Buds start to form on trees and then flower into beautiful blossoms. Bees begin their busy work of pollinating.

Daffodils that bloomed this week are covered with snow today...
...that's spring for ya!

This week has had some ups and downs for me, like all weeks do. Yet it has seemed like this week the ups have been higher and the downs have been lower than even most weeks. Towards the middle of the week I decided I needed a break from the stress and put myself in full-day timeout in the garden. I spent the day planting peas, onions, carrots, beets, turnips, rutabagas, and spinach. I puttered around cleaning out weeds and straightening flower and strawberry beds. I love the feel of my hands in the rich earth. The breeze on my face. The sounds of excitement as the birds prepare to build their nests and raise their families. I came in after the long day so refreshed with life again and ready to tackle the problems and stresses of the week. That's what a garden does for me.

Today for Frugal Friday I want to talk about some of the other benefits that I've found from gardening.

Frugal Benefits of Gardening

1. Health Benefits - Gardening is active. It gets you out in the fresh air. It gets your heart pumping and your spirits souring. It's good for the body and the soul. Not only that but you start to eat healthier because healthy food is convenient - it is literally on hand in your backyard. The health benefits of gardening is actually a frugal benefit too. It saves you money in long-term health problems (and even short-term sickness, etc). 
2. Storage Benefits - Growing food in your garden usually creates an abundance of healthy food. Usually more than you know what to do with. That's where the canning, freezing, preserving and storage comes in. Not only do you eat healthy food while it is growing, but now you are storing the excess for those months that it's not growing. One of our favorite things to grow in the garden for this reason is Winter Squash. It's now March and I still have winter squash in my basement from last year's harvest (in October) that are still good. In fact, we ate one just last night. If you store them correctly, winter squash do not even need to be processed to store. Since I can store my own healthy food from the garden, I don't have to purchase as much from the grocery store, which saves me money and keeps us eating healthy all year long.
3. Cost Benefits - Gardening can be expensive when you are starting out. The cost of tools, land, water systems, etc. seems a little weighty at first. But I like to think about those things as an initial investment. If you take good care of those things, they will last for many years and the initial cost starts to level out the more years you do it. There will still be the costs every year like seeds and water, but those things I've found to be minimal in comparison with all the benefits you receive from the garden. In our area, spring gardens are wonderful because we don't have to pay much to water them during most years. There is enough rainfall to keep the ground moist enough to grow. If you can't afford to start a full garden, even just growing a few things in pots and containers around your yard is a great way to start adding healthy food into your diet at low cost.

For more posts and ideas about gardening, see my Gardening Page. 

Now it's discussion time. Do you grow a garden? Or want to start? What frugal benefits do you see in growing a garden? Happy Frugal Friday everyone. Hope you've had a wonderful week.

This week I'll be linking to some of these link parties.

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Chocolate Chip Cookies - Yep! Sugar Free

These cookies are my dream come true. Seriously. The fact that I can still have cookies and not sacrifice my health over it makes me so happy. :) I was at a friend's house and she had made these. She knew I was sugar free and let me try one. I'll be honest and tell you that on the first bite my taste buds were taken a little off guard. The flavor is quite different than my taste buds were used to in a cookie and it might be for you too. I mean honestly, whose taste buds wouldn't choose a sugar-y chocolate chip cookie over a sugar free one, right? But by the middle of the cookie, those taste buds had forgotten their initial reaction and started rejoicing over the deliciousness of this very decadent (and healthy) cookie.

Well, I begged my friend for the recipe, and she was nice enough to share. I made them as a surprise for the kid's as an after school snack. What was their reaction? Actually my kids didn't like them at first (I think it was because of that first bite thing...and they never got past the first bite...), but I was secretly glad because it meant that I could have more...Since then I've made them again and my husband and I have ranted and raved about how good they are. My youngest gave them another try and loved them even after just the first bite. The oldest still hasn't been brave enough to get past the first bite...but he will. I'm certain. But I'm in no hurry to encourage him....cause that would mean less for me.

Chocolate Chip Molasses Cookies (Whole-grain and sugar free)
Printable Recipe

*Makes 3 to 4 dozen depending on how big you make them

INGREDIENTS:
½ Cup coconut oil
¾ Cup honey
½ Cup molasses
2 eggs
3 Cups whole grain flour (I use wonder flour; my friend uses whole-wheat)
1-½ teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups (12 ounces) dark chocolate chips (I use these homemade sugar-free chocolate pieces) *See Note

DIRECTIONS:
In a large bowl, beat the oil, honey and molasses. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking soda and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture. Stir in chocolate chips (if you are using homemade sugar-free chocolate pieces *See Note below). Because of the honey, this cookie dough is very sticky. Wet your hands thoroughly to keep the dough from sticking and roll into 1-in. balls (the original recipe said this makes 7-1/2 dozen...well I didn't get anywhere near that many, but maybe it was just me...). Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 375° for 8-10 minutes or until edges are firm (maybe a minute or two longer if yours are a little bigger like mine...). Remove to wire racks to cool. Or if you're like me, gobble them up before they have even started to cool...

*Note: If you use dark chocolate chips, they do actually have some sugar in them. There are chocolate chips that you can buy that are sweetened with more natural sugars (grain sweetened I think they're called), but they are quite expensive and hard to find. That's why I used the homemade sugar-free chocolate pieces. As I mentioned in the post about them, you will have to kind of fold these into the recipe because they are so soft. Here's what I did. Instead of adding the chocolate chips to the entire batch of dough, I took a ball of cookie dough with my wet hands and folded in a 3 or 4 of the homemade chocolate pieces into each individual ball of dough and then reformed it into a ball. It worked good and shall I mention just once more that the cookies turned out amazing?

Recipe Source: Adapted slightly from a recipe shared with me by my friend Cherylyn



This week I'll be linking to some of these link parties.

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Frugal Friday: The Cost of Convenience

How much do you pay for convenience? Last week I really enjoyed reading this post by Katherine at Proverbs and Pacifiers on this very subject. In the post she talks about how we often choose convenience without thinking about the consequences. We go buy bread from the store when we can make it at home. We run to the bank for a loan instead of taking the time to save the money for ourselves. She pointed out that not all conveniences are bad. But we often take the easy road of convenience without really thinking about the cost. And sometimes those costs include our health, our happiness, and even our families.

So today I want to pose this question to you:

What conveniences are you willing to pay for and what really is the cost? 

I'll give you just a few examples and then I'd love it if you would share your own.

Example 1: What's the cost of convenience for buying prepackaged quick foods or fast food over making food from scratch?
These "convenience" foods are often loaded with junk that our bodies don't need, cost a lot more money, and really don't save a whole lot of time. Point #1, I can make a whole-grain pizza from scratch in less time than it takes to call and order a pizza and go pick it up. So why does it still seem more "convenient" to just go pick it up? Point #2, My uncle Brad shared an interesting post on his blog where he actually did a comparison with making Hamburger helper from the box and from scratch. He found that the stuff in the box actually took longer to make, cost about twice as much, and of course lacked nutrition (not to mention flavor).

So why do people buy those kinds of foods? Because it's convenient. What's the cost? More money, our long-term health, and I'd even go so far as to say our happiness. (Pardon me, but...Blech!)

Example 2: What's the cost of convenience for paying with a credit card or loan over working to save for it?
It is a lot more convenient to buy now and pay later, isn't it? But there is a cost. For one thing, you have to pay interest. And that interest is always there, accruing night and day. And then there is the stress. Too much debt starts to affect your peace of mind and I've known those who have had their health decline over it. It also weighs heavily on marriages and families, even breaking some apart. Maybe you read my post last week where I talked about financial self-discipline. Financial self-discipline is truly the harder road, but I believe that in the end it's much less costly than the alternative.

Example 3: What's the cost of convenience for placing our children in front of electronic babysitters instead of actually spending our time with them? 

We took our son out to a restaurant the other day to celebrate how well he did in the State Chess Tournament. It's a rare thing for us and a real treat for the kids when we do. I walked by a couple that were sitting at dinner and had their tiny son (probably 2) hooked up with headphones to their ipad watching a movie while he was eating dinner. Now let me just tell ya. I know what it's like to have an active 2 or 3 year-old boy, especially in a restaurant. I could tell you stories about some of the adventures we've had, but I'll spare you today. But how else are children going to learn to behave in a restaurant or other public place if they're not given the chance to do so? Plugging children in to electronic devices is the easy way out and I think it comes with a cost. The cost is their creativity, their health, their independent minds, their drive for life, their ability to develop personal relationships, learning to control their behavior, etc., etc., etc.

What other conveniences do we choose at a heavy cost?

• Being lazy on the couch instead of working our bodies and minds?
• Buying something new instead of fixing the old or making do with what we have?
• Letting electronic communication take the place of person to person interactions?

Nowadays we're infiltrated with options for convenience at every level. But those options do not come without a cost. In weighing these costs we have to remember that creating a healthy family takes work and it takes effort. Do we over-use convenience, thinking that we can take a shortcut and create a healthy family without the work and without the effort?

Now it's your turn to share. What do you think? What conveniences do are worth it and which are just to costly? Happy Frugal Friday everyone! Hope you have a great weekend.

This week I'll be linking to some of these link parties.

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Sugar Free Chocolate Pieces a.k.a Homemade Chocolate Chips

Today I'm sharing another great sugar free recipe with you. This is a recipe that I just discovered this week that I found over at Domestic Diva and it truly will change the course of my sugar free existence. That sounds a little dramatic, but I'm really not joking here. This recipe is amazing. Throw a few of these guys in a batch of sugar free cookies (and yes....I am planning on sharing my favorite recipe with you real soon...) and you honestly feel like you've died and gone to sugar free heaven. Enjoy.

Sugar Free Chocolate Pieces (Homemade Chocolate Chips)

Printable Recipe

*Makes quite a few...

INGREDIENTS:

1 Cup butter or coconut oil

3/4 Cup honey

1 Cup cocoa powder

1 Tbsp. vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:

Melt butter or coconut oil and honey in small saucepan. Stir in cocoa powder and vanilla extract until smooth and remove from heat. Line a 9 x 13 pan with wax paper. Pour chocolate in tray and freeze for 1-2 hours or until set. Chocolate may still be somewhat soft and pliable. Cut into small pieces. Use immediately in any recipe calling for chocolate chips or store in the refrigerator in an airtight container to use later.

*Note: Fold these homemade chocolate chips carefully when you use them in a recipe so that they stay together. Don't mix or over-stir or they'll just crumble apart. The result will still taste good, but I like to get a big bite of chocolate once and a while, don't you?

Recipe Source: Slightly adapted from domesticdiva.ca

This week I'll be linking to some of these link parties.

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Frugal Friday: Financial Self-discipline

Being healthy financially is integrally connected with applying the virtue of self-discipline. Self-discipline is a virtue that we should practice in all areas of our lives, including finances. Has anyone else noticed that these core virtues that were fundamentally part of healthy families and a healthy society in previous generations seem to be slowly fading away and even disappearing? Our society today is becoming more and more fast-paced and less and less patient. Clever marketers and advertisers convince many that the way to happiness is through the accumulation of stuff. Their message seems to be, "Why wait when you can have it all right now?" That attitude leads many to rack up so much credit card and other debt that they are literally enslaved to it. The burden is so heavy that they may think that it's too late and they'll never recover.

But the truth is, it's never to late to begin practicing self-discipline in our finances, whether we have a mountain of debt or not.

So how do we do it? Well, self-discipline is a lot like a muscle in your body. And like muscles, self-discipline doesn't just happen overnight. To get a stronger muscle, we have to add weight and pressure and exercise it regularly. And that's the same with self-discipline. As we practice self-discipline, our self-discipline grows.

Here are some ways that I've thought of that we can practice self-discipline financially:

1. Have you fallen for the "buy now, pay later" mentality? First step. Get rid of the credit cards. Do "plastic surgery" as I've heard it called. Yep. Cut 'em up. All of 'em. Remove the temptation to rack up more.
2. Start now to pay off debt. And pay all your bills on time or early.
3. Don't buy on a whim. I love this idea of the 30 day rule for impulse spending. I think most of my whims would come and go after 30 days...
4. Make a shopping list and stick to it. And limit your shopping trips.
5. Start now to save for things you want. Pay cash every time. 
6. Set long-term financial goals. This really helps. If you see the long term picture, it's easier to not fall for the daily wants.
7. Be okay with less than perfect surroundings. Don't compare yourself to others or try to keep up with your neighbors (See my previous post on being content right now).
8. Say yes to needs and no to wants. Be honest with yourself about what is really a need (See my previous post on Luxury vs. Necessity).
9. Track all of your expenditures and stick with your budget- We try to do this weekly and as long as we do it that often it only takes about 20-30 minutes. When you miss a few weeks it takes a lot longer, so stay on top of it. For more info, see my previous post on Budgeting. 
10. Work Hard - this should go without saying, but I'll say it anyway. Self-discipline takes work and a lot of effort. Be willing to put forth the effort to see the results.

Self-discipline is key to most areas of success in our life, including financial success. And by financial success, I mean having our debts paid and spending less than we earn. This is something that we all can achieve if we're willing to practice self-discipline, no matter where we are right now.

I'd love to hear your ideas. Have you thought of more ways that we can practice self-discipline financially? What's worked for you? Happy Frugal Friday everyone and hope you all have a fabulous weekend.

This week I'll be linking to some of these link parties.

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Best Banana Bread

Isn't it so true that "necessity is the mother of invention"? That's been the case with me as I've started to change my diet to become sugar free six days a week. I've literally been on a rampage to convert a lot of the recipes that I love to eat to be sugar free so that I can still enjoy them. It's been a lot of fun. Today I'm sharing with you a recipe that I've made and loved for a long time, and just recently converted to be sugar free.

This recipe comes from a good friend and roommate of mine in college. She made this ALL the time and every time I make it, it reminds me of that happy time and how good it tasted to us. She called it "Best Banana Bread" and it really is. I've been making it whole grain for several years now, and really, why not? The whole grains found in it make it so delicious and flavorful, not to mention making it healthier. I love it. And I hope you enjoy it too.

Best Banana Bread
Printable Recipe

*Makes 2 Loaves

INGREDIENTS:
2-1/4 Cups Whole Grain Flour (I use Wonder Flour)
1 tsp. baking powder 

1 tsp. baking soda 
1/8 tsp. salt 
½ Cup butter 
1-1/4 Cups sugar (I use 3/4 Cup honey)

¾ Cup sour milk (3/4 Cup milk with 1 Tbsp. lemon juice or vinegar) 
2 beaten eggs 
3 ripe bananas, peeled and mashed

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350 F. In medium bowl, mix together dry ingredients. Set aside. In another medium bowl, blend the butter, sugar (or honey) and milk, until creamy. Add the beaten eggs and banana pulp and stir until thoroughly mixed in. Then add the combined dry ingredients and stir until just barely combined. Dollop the batter into 2 greased and floured bread loaf pans. Bake in the center of the oven 45-50 min. Do not overcook. The bread is done when a toothpick poked in the center comes out clean. Cool before slicing. 

Recipe Source: Adapted from a recipe given to me by my friend Lavinia

This week I'll be linking to some of these link parties.

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Frugal Friday: Frugal Date Night Ideas

As you may know, on this blog I talk a lot about creating healthy families. One of the most important parts of a healthy family is a healthy marriage. Healthy marriages, like families, take work and effort and don't happen without planned time together. But dates can be expensive. If you count the cost of a babysitter, going out for dinner and tickets to a movie or other activity...that adds up! And often the cost is unrealistic for a couple trying to be frugal and live within their means. My husband and I have been married now for eleven plus years and we try to have at least one date every week, often more. I've come up with a list of over 50 frugal date night ideas that won't break the bank or the budget.

One of our "date night dinners" my husband and I have enjoyed. One of our favorite date night traditions is drinking homemade grape juice, which we save for special occasions only...

1. Candlelight Dinner - This is one of our favorite dates. We send the kids to bed and cook a yummy dinner together (or my husband will cook it for me since it usually falls on Saturday - his night to cook)...
2. Have a music or dance night - turn on the music and dance or if you're not the dancing type, then just listen and enjoy.
3. Have a picnic in the backyard - You can even go stargazing afterward if it's a clear night.
4. Go on a hike - Another favorite of ours. Get away from the crowds for a little while and enjoy nature together. Pack a lunch or dinner and have a fun get away.
5. Be a tourist in your own town or a neighboring one - go see the sites you've heard about, but never taken time to see. Take pictures, talk to people, and learn some interesting stories about the area.
6. Plan a dream vacation or your next anniversary celebration - If you're really serious about it, start talking finances and see how much you can save each month to make it happen.
7. Fly a kite at the park - Make your own or go buy one for cheap at the dollar store.
8. Dates don't always need to be at night. Get up early and watch a sunrise together
9. Play Frisbee - a lot of parks have free Frisbee golf courses that you can use
10. Make a puzzle together
11. Play a card or board game - some of our favorite games for two are: monopoly deal and speed scrabble.
12. Watch home videos and relive the happy and funny moments of your life together
13. Spend time doing something you both enjoy together - Love art? Do it together. Love to read? Do it together. We both play the piano and love to play duets together.
14. Go for a random drive, and then get out and go for a walk
15. Browse together at a bookstore or library - create a list of books that you want to collect for your own home library someday.
16. Write a script and create a funny video to show the kids later
17. Return to your younger days...Play at the park, go sledding or build a snowman 
18. Make a fire in the backyard - and cook your dinner or dessert over it.
19. Work on a project together - A home repair or remodel project, working in the garden, folding laundry, or just something that just needs to get done.
20. Go bird or animal watching - take pictures
21. Go on a bike ride - this is one of our favorites
22. Check out an origami book and fold some interesting figures
23. Find a sandy beach and build a sandcastle
24. Make something useful out of recylables - a toy for the kids or a work of art to display somewhere
25. Play the penny game
26. Have a pillow fight
27. Check out a book or CD on a foreign language and start learning some words and phrases together
28. Bundle up, get umbrellas and go for a walk in the rain or snow
29. Have a loose change date - collect all your loose change in a jar and each week spend only that amount for the date.
30. Bring your favorite treat and go watch the sunset somewhere - Watermelon is one of our favorite summer treats to enjoy on our dates.
31. Go window shopping. Remember, don't buy, just look.
32. Take a free community class together - often you can find free classes at hardware stores, garden centers, the library, etc.
33. Go to the store and buy five random foods each (without showing the other person). Then blindfold each other at home and taste test the foods, trying to guess what they are.
34. Bake cookies or your favorite treat together
35. Go sit out in the garden or have a late night BBQ
36. Make a map of places you've been or want to go
37. Play basketball at the park
38. Check out a movie at the library and watch it together after the kids go to bed - we do this one quite often as well because it's cheap and we don't have to find a babysitter.
39. Drive the highest point in town in the early evening and watch the lights go on
40. Go for a drive in the ritziest neighborhood around to see the beautiful homes, come back and plan your dream home
41. Find a fountain and each throw in 10 pennies making wishes
42. Set up a practical joke for the kids
43. Make up a recipe for dinner using only ingredients that you already have in the house
44. Buy a carton of ice-cream and make homemade sundaes
45. Plan your next family vacation
46. Take a walk down memory lane. Visit a place or places that you've gone together before as a couple. Relive the magic.
47. Get lost in the woods. But be sure to bring a compass or gps to help you get home. :)
48. Build something together, even if it's just out of legos.
49. Cook a meal together for someone in need and then go deliver it
50. Wash the car together and then have a water fight

Need more ideas? Here's a few more great lists that I found online:

99 affordable date night ideas

100 ways to date your spouse

My husband and I on some of our dates...

Or check out my lists for frugal family activities for different seasons. 

A lot of these would work for dates as well.

> 100 Frugal Family Activities for Winter

> 100 Frugal Family Activities for Summer

>100 Frugal Family Activities for Spring

> 100 Frugal Family Activities for Fall

And now I'd love to hear from you. Do you have any ideas to share? What are your favorite frugal date nights? Happy Frugal Friday and I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

This week I'll be linking to some of these link parties.

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