Winner!

While I had particular reasons for hoping each of you would win, the drawing was completely random. I wrote all your names on small pieces of paper, one for each time you commented during the giveaway period, and mixed them up in a bowl. Then my 6-year-old closed her eyes and picked one.

And the winner of my giveaway is...Liz. Congratulations! I hope you have a great experience with this gift and with CSN stores (and we'd love to hear about what you get!). Please email me at katrinaskitchen35.blogspot.com and I will forward you the information from Alexandra with your gift code.

This has been so much fun for me, I hope to have another giveaway in the future. I have enjoyed the past 10 days immensely, appreciating the higher number of comments and my contact with you. Please continue to share your comments and help me know how the contents of this blog are helping you (or what would help you more). And, as always, if you have questions, ideas, or recipes for me, please email me at katrinaskitchen35.blogspot.com.

Budget Saver Tip #16: Reevaluate Your Phone Needs

For the last few years we have been paying about $85 per month for a land line and DSL internet, with unlimited long-distance, caller ID, and voice mail as part of the package (along with other things we don't use). It always seemed like a lot of money to fork out each month, particularly when we lived in the Great Depression that was graduate school. When we found out about Ooma I was very excited to convert, as I expressed in a previous post. It seemed the perfect solution for us, but I held off purchasing it since I knew we would be moving and didn't know if there would be Ooma service where we were going (since I didn't know where we going yet). Unfortunately, while we theoretically could have Ooma service, the small town we moved to has only one phone company and they don't allow you to have the internet without also paying for a land line (lame, I know). So Ooma was officially out as an option, since we don't use long-distance enough to justify paying for Ooma on top of the land line cost. But we were sick of paying $85 every month. So, we reevaluated our phone needs.

We decided that we could deal with the inconvenience of a phone card again, since we now live in the same state as most of our family and don't call long-distance a whole lot anyway. Next, we admitted that we could sacrifice caller ID for the good of our budget (and after a couple weeks, we did get used to it). Lastly, we made the easy decision to buy a new phone with a built-in answering machine rather than pay an extra $5 a month for the phone company to provide us with that service (since doing so pays for itself after six months)--and actually the manual VM is much faster and easier to use. Now our phone bill is down about $20 per month, which adds up to a savings of $240 a year. Not a ton of money, but I can think of a lot of things we could use that money for instead!

Giveaway Ending Soon

If you would still like an opportunity to win my giveaway, this is your last chance! It ends tomorrow, and Friday I will announce the winner.

Good luck to all have entered so far!

Garbanzos

Remember my post a while back about my love affair with hummus? Well, I'm on another hummus kick, so I decided to find out what exactly is in garbanzo beans/chick peas. I'm sure it's the combination of everything in the hummus that give it its appeal, but I'm also just as sure that this craving of mine has a lot to do with my body needing something that's in the beans themselves. Here is what I found out (see the link for all the details, including graphs):

Garbanzo Beans/Chick Peas are -

• Low in saturated fat (2% Daily Value)
• Very low in cholesterol (0% DV)
• Very low in sodium (0% DV)--assuming we don't add a lot of salt to them
  
• High in fiber (of course) (50% DV)
• High in iron (26% DV)
• Have a glycemic load of only 17--the total target per day is 100
• Good source of protein (15 g per serving)
• Good source of copper
• Very good source of folate, the natural form of folic acid (70.5% DV)
  
• Very good source of manganese (84.5 % DV)
• Have an amino acid score of 106--a score of 100 or higher indicates a complete or high-quality protein

So, really, what's not to love about garbanzos?

Ranch Dressing from Scratch

Have you ever noticed how many ingredients are in those bottles of Ranch dressing you buy at the store? How about soybean oil as a first or second ingredient? And do you regularly add these ingredients to your meals?: autolyzed yeast extract, tapioca dextrin, calcium lactate, caramel color, "artificial flavor" (don't you love that?), xanthan gum, sodium alginate, sodium metabisulfite, maltodextrin, phosphoric acid, sodium benzoate and sodium sorbate (preservatives), calcium disodium EDTA (to protect flavor). Bon apetite, anyone?

I've known for a long time that such dressings really have more gross ingredients than good ones, and that has bothered me even while I eat them, but I never got around to figuring out how to make my own Ranch from scratch. Now I have, thanks to this site.

Like my Italian Dressing mix, this recipe makes a large batch of the mix so that you have it on hand and can easily use 1 Tb. of it at a time to make the dressing. (Which isn't really that much harder than pulling that bottle of syrupy, preservative-filled stuff out of the fridge!) This is definitely a keeper recipe and I'm so glad I found it.

Homemade Ranch Dressing
Makes 12 batches (use 1 Tb. at a time)

2/3 cup dried parsley flakes
1/3 cup dried minced onion
3 Tbsp. garlic salt
2 Tbsp. onion salt
1 Tbsp. garlic powder
1 Tbsp. onion powder
1 Tbsp. dried dill weed
1/4 tsp. pepper

In a medium mixing bowl, combine all ingredients and mix well with a wire whisk. Store in airtight container in a cool dry place.

To make Ranch Dressing, combine 1 Tb. of mix with 1 c. mayonnaise* and 1 c. buttermilk**. Note: If you want it for vegetable dipping instead of drizzling over a salad, use about half as much buttermilk.

Refrigerate until serving. Yields 2 cups

*I used a combination of mayonnaise and sour cream and really liked it.
**Click here for easy buttermilk substitutions (if you're like me, you don't often have the real thing on hand)--for dressing I preferred to use vinegar rather than lemon.

Giveaway!

If you've been thinking about adding new console tables to your home decor, are looking for new shoes for one of your children, or simply need a new knife for your kitchen (this is my favorite that I use multiple times a day, and it's so inexpensive!), this may be your chance.

Thanks to the generosity--once again--of CSN stores, I am happy to announce a giveaway. A couple months ago I did a review of one of their products and was completely satisfied with the whole experience. This time they will give the winner $35 toward any product of his/her choosing (and if you're as frugal as me, you'll find something you like that is mostly, if not entirely, covered by the amount, including shipping). So now it's your turn to try them out.

The giveway begins today, October 18th and ends Wednesday, October 27th.

During those 10 days if you wish to be considered for the giveaway:

1. First become a follower of Katrina's Kitchen (if you aren't already), and

2. Post a comment to any of my posts during that time. For each comment you make (and please make them relevant, of course) I will enter your name into the drawing. So the more comments you make, the more chances you have to win.

It's that simple.

On Friday, October 29th, after randomly drawing a name, I will announce the winner and get you in contact with Alexandra at CSN who will give you specific instruction on how to claim your prize.

Good luck!

Don't Throw Those Leaves Away!

Here the "Garden Girl" gives three ideas for using your fallen leaves this autumn. As she puts it, having your leaves hauled away by the garbage truck is "energy misplaced." Why not use what Nature has provided (so often perceived as a nuisance) to help, protect, and feed your yard and plants? I think I'll add ours to the compost...

Winks and Weight

Last week we received this article as part of my husband's employee wellness program and I thought it valuable to share:

Want another reason to get your forty winks?

How about this: Not getting enough sleep may hinder the effectiveness of your diet.

A new study funded by the National Institutes of Health found that dieters who got an adequate night’s sleep (approximately seven and a half hours) lost more fat than those who slept about two hours less.

While both groups lost the same amount of weight, only one-fourth of the weight loss in the less-sleep group came from fat.

Those who slept less also felt hungrier, as their bodies produced more of the hormone ghrelin, which triggers hunger and reduces energy expenditure, reports Science Daily.

If your goal is to lose fat, sleep may be your secret weapon, helping your body to burn more fat and keeping hunger under control so that you’re better equipped to stick to your diet.

The National Sleep Foundation lists other potential dangers of too little sleep, including increased risk of motor vehicle accidents, increase in body mass index (caused by increased hunger from sleep deprivation), increased risk of diabetes and heart disease, increased risk of psychological problems such as depression and substance abuse, and decreased ability to focus and retain new information.

Probably most of us are already aware of much of these facts, but it's good to make all the connections.

Employee Wellness Programs

Many companies, in an effort to help their employees be healthier (and therefore be more productive and cost them less money), have instituted wellness programs that have incentives for improving their health in specific ways. My husband's job has one such program, which includes spouses, and we think it's great. But we found it interesting that there is no alternative for the weight loss program. Unfortunately, such a high percentage of Americans are overweight that apparently in this program they didn't consider the possibility that some of us simply aren't. And we're not the only ones. At a weekly weigh-in, a very tall, thin teacher commented to my husband that he honestly can't lose any weight, that it would be bad for his health. So...while this weight loss program doesn't benefit a small percentage of us, I guess it'll be easy to "reach" our "goal." And we're still glad for the program, which helps us keep our health a priority and motivates us to get those incentives. If your place of employment doesn't have a wellness program, it couldn't hurt to ask about it and see if there's a way to get one started.

Soda Bread

Here is another classic family recipe. I realized the other night that I hadn't made it for quite some time, so I was gratified that my kids really liked it.

Soda Bread

2 1/4 c. whole wheat flour
2 Tb. honey
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. cream of tartar
4 Tb. butter
1 c. buttermilk*
1/2 Tb. salt
1 egg, beaten

• Mix dry ingredients.
• Cut in butter until mixture resembles small peas.
• Pour in buttermilk and egg at once and stir with wooden spoon till moistened.
• Turn on floured board, shape into ball (frankly, I skipped this step and it turned out just fine).
• Gently pat into greased 8" pie plate (mine is 9"). Cut quarters an inch deep on top.
• Bake at 375 degree for 30 minutes.
• Serve warm with butter and any other desired toppings (such as honey or jam).
  

*If you don't often have buttermilk on hand, which I unfortunately don't, you can use an "emergency substitution": 1 Tb. lemon juice or vinegar plus enough milk to make 1 c. Let stand 5 min before using. Or you can use 1 c. plain yogurt.

Bountiful Baskets

If you live in the western section of the United States*, your area may have a wonderful produce program you can be involved in year-round, called Bountiful Baskets. And if you don't live here, I know there are similar programs in other areas as well. I was finally able to participate this past weekend and was delighted with the results! For $15 I got a huge basket of a great variety of fruits and vegetables, all fresh and in good shape, and all as locally grown as possible. There's no way I could get that kind of variety or quantity for $15 at my local grocery store! But this program doesn't just help those who purchase the produce, it also helps small farmers and cuts down on environmental waste, not to mention promoting healthier eating.

If you're interested in starting a Bountiful Baskets program, you can find the details here about what is required.

Does your area have a similar program? What is it called and how can someone obtain more information about it?

*2012 update: This program has now spread throughout the U.S. with new areas opening all the time, so check out the website for more information.

Homemade Barbecue Sauce

There are so many pre-made barbecue sauces out there, and many you can buy for cheap. But many of them also have extra ingredients that aren't desirable. If you make your own you can tweak it anyway you want to, make it hotter or more mild, according to your family's taste. This is a classic family recipe that makes the best barbecued spare ribs ever!

BBQ Sauce (for spare ribs)

1 onion
1 c. ketchup (preferably corn syrup free)
1 1/4 c. cider or water
1-2 Tb. vinegar
2 Tb. brown sugar (or 1 Tb. honey)
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. dry mustard
2 Tb. Worcestershire sauce
dash cayenne pepper