Make It Monday: Worth-It Fast and Fabulous Recipes for Clean Eating

Achieve wealth with health! Start here with a holiday gift to yourself and/or loved one.

How is clean-eating worth it? As an investment in your health, your long-term healthcare savings account and health of our planet! As an advocate of clean-eating and frugal, sustainable living, I got chosen to be one of Lisa Leake’s new cookbook ambassadors 🙂. In the New 100 Days of Real Food: Fast & Fabulous cookbook, released last Tuesday, learn how clean-eating with real food can be budget-friendly and doable with easy-to-find ingredients. Scroll down to get another sample recipe, in addition to last week’s here.

What I Did With Inedible Oranges

(Canning…I can cross it off my bucket list.)

**Important Note: The following post may inspire you to try canning. If so, please read the comments below the post for safety tips. There are many safety issues regarding canning, which are essential to know before seriously taking on this hobby. Please use the post below as an inspiration, not a tutorial. Thank you! Marilyn, TFF

Homemade jelly!

Yesterday’s post on inedible fruit made me realize I had to act quick before it all spoiled. I have made orange cookies before, so that was not a challenge. So…I canned the oranges into orange jelly! (I still have those bruised apples to contend with…) My box of $3.99 tangerines turned into an additional $15 worth of items for canning.

I’m fairly certain there are very few canners in our town – even the local Bed, Bath & Beyond told me they don’t sell canning jars (shock!). Five stores later at a Stop & Shop, I found a decent deal of four jars for $5, not too terrible for starting out. (Luckily, I had the time yesterday to do this.)

Here’s my Canning 101 in a Day Course (I literally learned how to can the oranges in a day and I hope I did it right!). I quickly read up on canning on other sites that had Canning 101 articles. I figured it “looked” easy so why not try it out.

What Do I Do With a Bin Full of Ugly & Unedible Fruit?

Seeds to the left, bruises to the right. I’m stuck with fruit my family won’t eat, so I have to get creative in the kitchen and quickly before the fruit really . Photo: TFF

Though it’s been said that households around the country throw out 40% of purchased food a year (National Resources Defense Council), I like to say that I try to throw out a lot less of that in our house. I’m stuck with some bad fruit purchases and I refuse to throw the whole thing out.

Two Frugal Fairfielders Expands

We are proud to announce that Two Frugal Fairfielders is expanding and branching out to serve our readers in a more laser-focused way! Thank you to those of you who have been with us since we began the blog in 2008. Our newly designed blog has links that will allow you to get the information that interests you most through our destination sites and content.

From Aimee:

Enjoying the last tomatoes of the season. Looking forward to drying and cooking with the abundant sage in the background.

As you know from reading my posts, the core of my take is on living sustainably and frugally. It has been so rewarding to share ways of living-within-your-means that aim to sustain the health of self, family and nature with love, joy and strength! As I like to often say at the end of my posts, “Your Health is Your Wealth!”

If you have enjoyed my brief column, Quotable Quotes for a Sustainable Serenity, and would like updates on zero-waste living, clean-eating, and joyful parenting, go here and receive your FREE copy of my Small-Steps Guide to Zero Waste Living.

From Marilyn:

I love sharing unorthodox ideas and points of view about wealth, money, finances, abundance, saving money, spending money and teaching kids and teens about saving and spending money. There’s so much demand for information about how to achieve financial goals and stop worrying so much about money. My new sister site, Two Frugal Fairfielders Press (here) showcases the frugal living books (available on Amazon) that I’ve written and that are in the works.

My newest book, Ditch the Coupons: Save Money, Spot Secret Sales and Love Grocery Shopping…Without Couponing! is due out in the Fall of 2016. (Beta readers have dubbed it the “anti-couponing movement” book.) My new book teaches you how to grocery shop and save money without using coupons, and by using your noggin to easily find the best sales. It’s chock full of secret tips the stores don’t want you to know about…plus a ton of recipes that help you make the best use of your time, your sanity, and how to deliciously use up your leftovers with tons of simple and tested recipes.

Go here to make sure you know when to buy the Ditch the Coupons book on Amazon for a special limited time launch price of .99 cents (and there will even be a one-day pop-up free book giveaway).

• Other books I’m developing for 2017 include:  
  • Frugal University (lessons from the Tightwad Tutor, herself)
  • Money 101 (learn the basics of money, finances and budgeting–for teens…and adults!) and…
  • Money 911 (tips from others on how to handle everyday money emergencies)

There’s more (and more to come)!

• Newsletter with Free Gifts: If you want to know where to find free gifts from the personal growth, personal development, self-help industry, tap into my free Serenity on a Shoestring Newsletter here. The newsletter emerged out of my 2016 book, Serenity on a Shoestring: Achieve a Peaceful and Prosperous Mindset by Discovering the Secret World of Free Personal Growth Resources.
• Free Financial Cheap Sheet Download: And, if you want to keep up with your bills without missing a beat, be sure to download TFF’s exclusive 11-page Essential Monthly Budget Schedule (a popular and frequently-downloaded tool that’s been redesigned to help you keep your monthly and yearly bills in order so they don’t go unpaid!), go here, add your email address on the box at the top of the TFF Press page and download the beautifully designed cheat sheet for FREE!

Lastly, we have redesigned our logo that better represents the different approaches we embrace in order to help us save money and live a rich, frugal life. We will continue to share tips, ideas, guides and books that will help you live the best life you possibly can.

~Aimee and Marilyn

 

Make It Monday: Frugal & Frozen–Refreshing Homemade Ice Pop Recipes for Summer

Here’s a previous post that ran in 2012, when my kids were younger…but still a favorite here at TFF!

Homemade ice pops are tasty, inexpensive, and healthy. Here are some versions to try this summer. 

Make It Monday Recipe Week 15: Easy Vegetarian Creamy Tomato Soup

Ingredients of Trader Joe’s Organic Creamy Tomato Soup. Xanthan gum isn’t one of the most sinister ingredients, but highly industrially processed.

My Make It Monday recipe doubles as a Meatless Monday one for this week. This is also a shout-out to my sister, sister-in-law, and daughter who have all gone vegetarian. Though I am not ready to give up my omnivore status, I enjoy many veggie and vegan dishes. This creamy tomato soup goes well with grilled cheese sandwiches.