Ask the Audience: Peanut Butter

Heather says:

Recently someone sent in a post suggestion via Twitter:

As I was fixing my lunch I had an idea for a Home Ec post: what to do when you love
peanut butter but are tired of common jellies and honey.

We have had an incredibly busy summer and my favorite snack is a good old PB & J.  I was shocked the other day.  I went to fix myself a sandwich, opened our economy tub of peanut butter, and realized we’ve gone through nearly six pounds of the stuff in only a few months.  Yikes!

Sometimes for lunch I stir peanut butter with a little vanilla yogurt and honey. The kids then use apples to scoop it up. Other times I leave it plain and give the kids unbuttered popcorn, celery, apples, and raisins to dip and eat.  I also like it as a base for a Thai peanut sauce for chicken or pork, but Mr. Heather isn’t a huge fan, so we don’t use it too often.

I have friends who make marshmallow fluff sandwiches.  Ivy’s grandma used to make peanut butter with bacon sandwiches and my father loves peanut butter on hot dogs.  Both sound terrible, but the mixture of salty and sweet is something like the Thai peanut sauce mentioned earlier; may the food snobs forgive us all.

So, Home Eccers, it’s your turn:  What are your favorite uses for peanut butter?

Weekly Project: Getting That Email Under Control

Ivy says:

Anyone who has ever emailed me knows- I’m very haphazard about whether or not I’ll reply. It’s not that I don’t want to reply or anything, I just am extremely disorganized when it comes to email. I’ve been using the email program that comes with my Mac OSX software lately, and I’ve been even worse than usual about remembering to respond to email. So I’ll be going back to Thunderbird for my email client, and then I’ll be searching all around the ‘net for good tips on email organization.

So, let’s hear it from you, Home Eccers- how do you keep your email under control?

Ask The Audience: Tablecloths, Placemats, Or Both?

Ivy says:

Hey Home Eccers! Let’s talk about setting a pretty table. One of the things I like best in this world is to sit down to a table with a crisp tablecloth. Now, my mom always puts placemats on top of her tablecloth to keep it clean, but I find that to be overkill. I have another friend who hates anything on her table at all, so she doesn’t use either. What do you use?

Also, while we’re at it, let’s talk about what kind of tablecloths we like. Me, I vastly prefer a cloth tablecloth, although I’ve been known to buy a plastic tablecloth if it’s really cute or pretty. Finding plastic in 70 inch round, however, is an exercise in frustration. Come on, tablecloth manufacturers, 70 inch round is where it’s at! All the cool kids have a table that needs a 70 inch round tablecloth! Okay, maybe not, but oy.

So what kind of tablecloths are you digging for your tables?

Also: go enter the giveaway I’m hosting over at Love Shak, Baby for a gift pack of green cleaning products! Who doesn’t love more cleaning products?

We Save So We Can Splurge

Ivy says:

My mom bought a new couch for her office recently. The day her couch came, her house was hit by lightning, frying most of her electronic equipment. I joked that the gods of finance sent that lightning bolt for buying something so expensive. She was not amused. I was.

But she said something I think we all can dig: We save in some areas so we can splurge in others. I like that, I really do. I think her 42 million Tiffany lamps are ridiculous, she thinks it’s ridiculous that I must hie myself to a beach at least twice a year so I can bury my feet in the sand and really feel alive. Unless you’re ridiculously wealthy, you can’t have everything you want. But you can save for what you need- even if your need seems dumb to someone else.

I know a guy who eats out for every single meal, yet slept on a futon mattress for 2 years until he could save enough for a nice mattress. In my mind, he could have eaten at home for 2 months and saved that money, but see, that’s the thing. He really enjoys going out to eat. Sleeping on a futon mattress was for him, less of a big deal than giving up going out to eat.

I see an awful lot of judgment on this here internets about what people choose to spend their money on. Awhile back I saw a post on a frugality community I read where someone was having (or trying to have, I don’t remember the exacts) a baby and wanted frugal baby tips. One of the commenters said something like, “Yeah, to save lots of money on having kids, DON’T HAVE THEM. Kids are expensive.” That led to a big argument on whether kids are worth the cost, etc. But the point is, who were they to judge?

That’s why I’m here asking you guys what your “stupid” splurge is. Maybe if we admit what our splurges are in a non-judgmental space, we can stop feeling guilty about our splurges and move on. And next time you’re getting some harassment about what your splurge is, direct them to this post.

I’ll start. I have a few splurges. I have the good cable. I have HBO and Starz and I have a DVR. That’s practically tightwad sacrilege, but I’ll qualify that with the fact that I own almost no DVDs and haven’t been to the movie theater in forever. Sure, I could watch most of this stuff online, but I like my cable.

And like I said up top, I have to get out to the beach at least twice a year. This wouldn’t be much of a splurge if I happened to live near the ocean, but I’m in Tennessee. I save money on that by having friends I can stay with for free, (Do you live near the ocean? Want to be my friend?) and I try to cut down on costs in several other ways. Look for a post on saving money while vacationing here soon.

Finally, I like to go out to eat. If having the good cable is tightwad sacrilege, then this is downright tightwad blasphemy. I’m surprised the financial gods didn’t hit my house while they were at it. Now, we don’t eat out nearly as much as my pal up there who slept on a futon mattress, but we do like to hit the ol’ Blue Coast Burrito every now and again.

Let me admit- when money gets tight, these splurges do stop, so don’t lay awake at night worrying if I’m able to eat because I have the good cable, okay? But I do budget for these luxuries, and I feel blessed that we are able to have them.

So, don’t let me hang out there in the wind, Home Eccers. What are your splurges?

Ask the Audience: Taking Requests

Heather says:

Today’s Ask the Audience is a chance for you to help Home Ec 101 better serve you.  I try to be very thorough when testing recipes for this site as we are trying to provide a resource for those venturing into the kitchen with little experience and those working toward reducing their grocery budget.  When not tweaking recipes for posting I am more of an impromptu chef, I have a menu item in mind, but it is altered according to my whim.  I wish I could teach that style of cooking on a large scale, but it’s somewhat like riding a bicycle, it takes practice, a little courage, and a willingness suck it up and try again. It is hard, for me, to convey in a print format.

I know I dropped the ball with the bread making tutorials, but as I live near Charleston, SC and will not engage in heavy baking until the heat breaks. Hang in there, somewhere around October I will begin again.

So with baking temporarily off the table what kind of recipes and tutorials are you interested in?  Is there a sadly neglected food group or menu style you would like to see in the spotlight?  Please keep in mind that the recipes tested are actually fed to my guinea pigs family, so the speed of posting is highly dependent on budget, mood,  and our activity level.  Now, someday if we land a totally fab corporate sponsorship (one can dream, right?) I’ll be able to address requests in a more timely manner.

So let’s hear it, Home Eccers, what do you want to see on the Home Ec 101 menu?

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