March 10th 2008

Editorial

Hi there – I was planning on getting this newsletter out to you on the 28th of February and here it is March 10th already. I actually had quite a bit of it ready when the flu hit our house. Between running a fever and taking care of the rest of the family, I barely had enough energy to check email – so please excuse this newsletter being so late.

I will try to get another edition out to you this coming Thursday. I have quite a few fun things to share with you for Easter that I think you’ll enjoy. Keep an eye out for some of them on the blog this coming week as well.
If you are having a group of friends or extended family over for the Easter holiday, take a look at this “Stress Free Easter Holiday” ebook.

It includes plenty of Easter recipes including complete menus for both an Easter Brunch and a Dinner. And I love the fact that they also included quite a few checklists. I usually jot down or type up my own to make sure I don’t forget something important (like start cooking the ham on time).

Speaking of forgetting something… last year I forgot to shop for easter treats early and ended up paying a lot more than I usually do for a few fancy chocolates that were the only thing left and then had to get creative about the rest of the treats. This year I started early and took advantage of some easter candy sales. Not my only problem is to make sure this stuff stays hidden for another two weeks

My daughter and I spent a fun playdate with a mom and three little girls in our neighborhood yesterday. It was nice to be well enough to venture out again. The girls had a great time playing and then got to decorate some egg shaped sugar cookies with frosting and assorted colorful candies. Apparently cookies aren’t just for Christmas anymore. It was such a cute idea, I’m going to have to make a few more for our table Easter Sunday.

Warm Regards,

Susanne – The Hillbilly Housewife

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Inspirational Quote

“Don’t be pushed by your problems. Be led by your dreams.” ~Author Unknown

Reader Questions

Here’s this week’s question:

Just wondering if I could get a good recipe for Breakfast Sausage, we are living in Mexico for a time, and no sausage here, If you do ask for Sausage here you get a hot dog. I would like to make some for breakfast and also for on top of Pizza. – Sherry in Mexico

Hi Sherry,

I lived in Europe for almost a year and my husband and I had a few food items we just couldn’t live without. I remember trying to make some icing for his birthday cake and without a recipe for it, I failed miserably. This was before we had Internet access, so there wasn’t really an easy way to find a recipe.

Back to your question… there’s a recipe for pork sausage (or use turkey), right here on the HBHW website. Give it a try and feel free to experiment with the spices to get it to taste just like the particular brand you like. I’ve been experimenting with fresh thyme and rosemary lately in addition to lots of sage and we really like it.
Featured Article

With grocery costs at an all-time high, I thought it might be a good idea to revisit this article on grocery bargains. I’ve been trying to work more of those into my weekly budget to help offset the raising cost of groceries and so far it seems to be working

Don’t forget to look for loss leaders too… these are items that stores purposely sell at below cost to get you in the store in the first place. Look through grocery flyers before you go shopping or even better – make your weekly budget based on what’s for sale this week at the stores in your area.

Frugal Tips From Our Readers

I received so many great frugal tips from our readers the past few weeks that I thought I’d skip the regular frugal tip section and just share a bunch of these submitted tips instead. I’m sure there are quite a few that you will be able to start using right away.

Here is a laundry tip I wanted to share.
Have a tough stain? Try old fashioned Fels-Naptha soap! A bar costs about 1.00 and is available in all the local grocery stores in the detergent section. Just dampen and rub on the stain and launder as usual. I have had great results for grass stains,collar grime and even ink. The price is better than those other stain removers and a bar lasts a long,long time! Denise from Pa.

Here’s some things I do that save us time and money:

1. I dilute liquid handsoap a bit and it really does fine. Because the h/s is so thick it just glops out down the side of the dispenser anyway. Even diluting just 1/4 will save you money, little by little.

2. I pour some liquid dishwashing concentrate (Dawn, etc.) into a spray bottle (less than 1/4 full) and then fill the rest with water. Shake up, and I have a wonderful handy DishSpray! It is more convenient than filling a sink of water and then pouring soap in and mixing up, etc. It is esp. helpful with weird-shaped things with nooks and crannies, like the blender blade, etc. You just spray the soap-mix and scrub with a brush and you’re done! No more gunk sitting in the blender soaking – because it’s no longer a hassle!

• I also use this same spray in place of Spray-n-Wash – which I now no longer have to buy!
• To wash the car quickly, when the weather is too cold to be out, my 14 yr old sprays the car with water hose, then uses this dish-spray on the dirtier parts. Scrubs it with a long-handles brush, and it’s all clean. No more having to fill up a 5 gallon bucket and pour soap, slosh it around, etc!

3. Also another GREAT timesaver and elbow-grease-saver: I use old gift cards (hard plastic Wal-Mart, etc.)

• To scrape my baked-on food in pans. I spray the pan with hot water, spray on some dish soap, and then scrape. It does not scratch my pans, makes the washing go MUCH quicker and doesn’t gross-up my scrub brush or sponge.
• I also use the gift cards to scrape the dough, flour off the counters after baking. This saves scrubbing time and my rag/sponge doesn’t get all doughy. (NOTE: do not put the flour, etc., down sink. It makes dough! I found out the hard way when I was first married! Stopped the sink all up!)

- Lisa S.

When making pancakes or waffles, make extra. Place the extras on a cookie sheet. Make sure that they are not touching; use aluminum foil between the layers. Place your pancake laden cookie sheet in the freezer overnight. Once they are frozen, put the pancakes into a large, plastic freezer bag. Put the pancakes into the toaster to re-heat. Great for busy (or lazy) mornings! This works the same way for waffles. Far cheaper and healthier than the ones found in the frozen food section of the grocery store.

- Karen H.

And here are a few more great tips from the same Karen

This is in response to your request for baking soda uses? here??”s a few more ideas for the list:

1. 1 tsp in a cup of water does wonders for getting rid of a bubbly tummy; it tastes nasty but works quickly. (Much faster than GasX ?? talk to your doctor first if you are watching your sodium intake)

2. I make my own ??Sscouring powder? ?? take a clean jam jar and punch holes into the lid, this is your shaker. Fill the jar about ¾ full, add about 1-2 Tbs salt (for extra abrasion, do NOT use salt on delicate surfaces), and add a few drops of essential oils in your favorite fragrance for a nice fresh smell. Shake it up and use just like Comet. What??”s really nice about this is that it is safe enough that even your youngest child can safely help with the cleaning. Doesn??”t hurt that it is cheap and environmentally friendly too.

3. Carpet Freshener ?? clean jam jar with holes in the lid as a dispenser. Fill with baking soda and 15-20 drops of essential oils. Blend well (I use a fork to break up the clumps, but I??”m sure a blender would work very well too) and LET IT SIT OVER NIGHT, this way the oils won??”t stain your carpet. Shake it onto carpet and leave on for 15-20 minutes. Vacuum up and enjoy a fresh smelling room that doesn??”t have that chemical odor! Completely safe for pets and children – even if they walk. Sit, play, or even eat on it before you get to the vacuuming!

- Karen H.
Featured Recipe

I picked one of our family favorites for Sunday Supper for this week’s featured recipe – it’s a yummy and easy oven pot roast recipe. I end up making it at least one Sunday out of the month, twice a month if I can find roast meat on sale. We almost always have enough left over for at least one more meal. The leftovers make for some great beef burritos or enchiladas, or I cube or pull it and make sandwiches out of it or add it to chili.

Reader Recipe

This sugar cookie recipe came at a perfect time. I’m going to give it a try next week to make easter egg shaped cookies. it would be easy to add a little food coloring to the dough before baking to make them some nice pastel colors for Easter too. Of course you could also tint some simple white powdered sugar frosting or use a bunch of colored candies to decorate them and make them nice and colorful. Here’s Hannah N.’s family recipe for perfect sugar cookies.

Sprinkle Cookies

We just called them Sprinkle Cookies because that’s
all we ever put on top of them. I love these because
you don’t have to double the recipe to make a bunch,
and all the measurements are based on 1-cup or
1-teaspoon. Less mess is best!

Mix together:
5 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
Set aside.

Mix together:
1 cup vegetable shortening
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla

After these ingredients are well mixed, add 1 cup of
milk and mix again. This will look odd, kind of
curdled, but don’t panic, it will be ok! After adding
the milk, mix the dry ingredients in gradually. Drop
the batter by teaspoonsful onto an ungreased cookie
sheet (note: do NOT use an airbake sheet for these)
and add sprinkles of your choice (I like nonpareils).
Bake at 350 degrees for at least 10 minutes – the
bottoms will need to be pretty brown for these so that
they don’t “fall” (although my husband likes them fine flat!).
I??”m Looking For ?

This section is going to be all about you. If you are looking for a particular recipe or a tip on how to do something, email it to me and I will post it in an upcoming newsletter. I??”ll give you my input and will also post any suggestions other readers of the newsletter come up with. So take a moment to write me your questions and of course if you have a tip or idea for any question posted in this section feel free to send me that as well.
Does anyone have a recipe for this?

Years ago I used to buy German black bread from an Albertson’s in store bakery in Caldwell, Idaho. It was the best tasting bread I have ever eaten. It was in baguette size loaf and was actually blue in color.
I have tried numerous recipes gotten from the internet and nothing even comes close. Most Rye or black bread recipes call for more white flour than rye and completely lack that sour nutty yeasty taste that goes so well with sharp Cheddar cheese and ice cold milk. I know they specify the white flour to get the bread to rise properly but it ruins the taste for me. I don’t mind adding gluten to make the rye flour rise, I just need a recipe that will bring out that unique flavor.
Even though I lived in Milwaukee for many years, a city with a large ethnic German population, I was never able to find any German black bread. Go figure, it tastes so good that they don’t eat it.
I surely hope you can help me. Thanks Gary

And here’s another one…

I’m looking for a dessert that might be regional to MN area, I lived there for awhile during grades 5-6 (approx 1986-87) and at lunchtime the school cafeteria would serve this dish that was kind of like corn bread that had a syrup poured over the top- maybe maple-but runnier? has anyone ever heard of this? Since then, I’ve lived in OR, and never saw anything like it again. It was really tasty. – Brandy

And one more…

When I was little my mom would make a chocolate malt cake that actually was from a mix. it was light an fluffy cake. It went off the market and I wondered if anyone had a recipe for a chocolate malt cake? - Donna

Last week’s question was from Christy…

I was wondering if you could help me out with a recipe….Years ago, my friend’s grandmother would make us cracker-like snacks with white bread (almost like a melba toast). She would butter both sides of the bread and then she would bake or broil it, flipping it every so often (not really sure what exactly she did, I was only 12 ;o). The end result was a crunchy, buttery, cracker…not browned at all. So, anyway, I have a huge craving for it, and don’t even know what it’s called! I know if anyone can help, it’s you ;o)

Thanks for your help!!!

Christy

And here is the reply …

About the craker treat…. my mom used to make something like that…

1c brown sugar
1c margarine or butter
soda crackers… enough to line the pan with

cook sugar / marganie until liquid (use saucepan)

pour over crackers

Bake crackers in over at 425 for about 5 minutes…

(you can also let it sit for about a minute and sprinkle chocolate chips on it)

Chill for an hour and break into pieces

from Veronique

Inspirational Story

I just have to tell you that I love your website and your newsletter. I am a single mom of two kids on a teacher’s salary. I will be unemployed as of tomorrow as I gave up my position due to personal reasons. We are moving across the country from Co to Ga at the end of the month to be closer to friends. I have used and recommended your site so many times I can’t even tell you. I thought I was pretty thrifty and I’ve still learned so much! I recently realized that I depended
way too much on stores to make my food for me. I now make all my own bread, dough, and pretty much everything else. I could not have done it without you. Now that my income is going to be very limited again I know I will use even more of your tips. Thank you.
Jaime Grimes
Single mom in GA

What??”s your inspirational story – Send me an email so I can share it with our readers. You never know whom you may inspire.

Final Thought

That??”s it for this edition of the Hillbilly Housewife Newsletter. I hope you??”ve had as much fun reading it as I had creating it for you. I also hope that you have found the information helpful and useful.

Do you have a question, a tip, a recipe or a story you??”d like to share with us? Email it to me and I??”ll include it in a future issue. Can??”t wait to see what you have to say.

Warm Wishes,

Susanne – The Hillbilly Housewife

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