Living comfortably on one income

So, it’s been 3 months since I left the rat race…and those around me know, I couldn’t be happier.

It hasn’t been so difficult frankly but a large part of that is attributed to the fact that we started downshifting about 2 years ago…learning to drastically reduce our spending, paying down our debt and building up our nest egg at the same time.

Here’s a glimpse on what we’ve had to sacrifice as well as what we’ve gained in all areas of our life.

Food:

You know it’s only the two of us but we used to spend upwards of $1000/month on food!  Lots of eating out, lots of coffee stops, lots of convenience items.  It was shameful!  Now we stick to a budget for $125/week for groceries (or $250/2 weeks).  This really forces me to shop according to sales, buy in bulk, sometimes shop different stores.  Now mind you, one of my favorite bloggers, The Frugal Girl, feeds her family of 6 on $80-$100/week, so certainly mine is not a super frugal budget.  However, we really try to focus on natural/organic foods most of the time and are willing to pay more for it (this is a priority for us).

We eat out only twice a month and usually do so for lunch as its typically cheaper.  Eating out is sooooo expensive.  Sure it tastes good and is convenient, but you pay for it.  We budget $100/month for eating out and this includes stops once in a while at coffee shops.

Total savings per month: $400

Entertainment:

We don’t spend any money on entertainment.  I know this is a steep one for people, but it helps that we are homebodies, love to watch TV, go on-line, read, listen to music, spend time out in nature, etc.

For TV, we need to go with satellite since we live deep in the mountains, don’t have cable as an option and can’t get TV reception over the air.  However, we used to have the premium $100+/month plan which we scaled down to the basic $40/month package.  There’s no MTV, E, VH1 and those type of celebrity channels, but I’m thinking we’re better off without them!

For internet, we used to have satellite (for the same reasons above) but researched and found a different option (point to point) which is good if you’re perched on a mountain and point to another point that has a tower, as in our case, and we were able to drop our internet from $80 to $40 a month.

We used to spend approximately $100 a month combined on book purchases and magazine subscriptions.  We since stopped buying books and magazine subscriptions and using the library exclusively (yes you can still get mags at the library!).

We canceled our $10/month Netflix plan and instead we scroll the menu guide on the weekends and see what movies are playing and set our DVR to record for later viewing.  Once in a while, if we’re really anxious to see a movie, we’ll go to RedBox and pay $1, so long as we return the next day but this is maybe once a month and nearly negligible.  We don’t go out to movies, we don’t go to concerts, we don’t go to events and we’re okay with that.

For music, we listen to Pandora (free again!) and one of our TV channels plays music concerts on the weekends.

I know entertainment is what some people crave and that’s okay too, but it’s about priorities…if you want to spend lots in entertainment, then something has to give.

Total Savings per month: $250 (approx.)

Personal Care:

Making yourself “pretty” – well, this one is easy but does take some discipline.  See, I rarely get my hair cut.  All the years of having a pixie style haircut and needing to cut it every 3 weeks taught me to learn how to cut my own (thankfully I have thick hair that is forgiving of mistakes).  Now that I’ve been growing it out for the past year, I’m just letting my curls out and letting it be.  I also cut David’s hair – he keeps it short and I can easily use the hair clippers on it once or twice a month.  Because we cut our own hair, we save about $100/month.

I don’t get manicures, that can easily be done myself and with pedicures, I usually treat myself to one a year, doing it myself the other times.  This can easily save me about $50/month.  I love massages, but we keep it to special occasions, otherwise, we use a homemedics massager that we bought years ago for about $50 and it really does work great.  David and I will rotate massages – he’ll give me a massage one night, I’ll return the favor another night.  This saves us about $600/year or averages about $50/month in savings.

As far as makeup goes, I still put some on everyday, but gosh, I swear I will not buy another piece of makeup until I’ve used what I have on hand.  At this rate, I won’t be buying another eye shadow for 10 years!  And same goes for body care…do we really need 15 different kinds of lotions/body washes/and specific-to-one-body part type of formula?  I don’t buy anymore soap until I’m out, same goes for all the rest of the body care goodies.  I have enough supplies from endless purchases in my former life.  And sure, this gets tricky when I smell something wonderful at the store and want to bring it home with me, but I really step back and think to myself  “do I really need this?”  I have to be very disciplined at discerning between want and need.  This saves me about $50/month.

Total savings per month: $250

Transportation:

Since David’s accident was ironically timed with my departure from work, we decided to stick with one car.  And it’s a ‘99 Volvo.  Certainly not a sexy car, certainly not new with all the bells and whistles, but it’s in decent shape and gets us from point A to point B.  Sure we’d love to have an updated vehicle, but it sure is nice not having a car payment.  Potential savings of $400/month (car payment), or $800 for 2 car payments and $75/month in car insurance .  Certainly not a viable option in most households (that is, keeping one car) but holding on to your vehicle for the long term is.  We also utilize our grocery stores gas discount (the 10 cents off deals) whenever we can.

Total savings per month: $475

Utilities:

Not surprisingly, our electric bill has gone up a bit since I’ve been home.  This is probably due to the fact that I always have TV or radio on while I’m crafting or putzing around the house and I’m cooking a ton now.  However, we keep our thermostat set to 66 during the day and 60 at night.  Yes, this means often wearing more clothes, but that doesn’t cost any.  Usually I’m moving around so I don’t need a sweater, only if I’m sitting for a while.  Also I time the sun and take advantage of passive solar heating – raising all the shades on our Southwest facing windows during the day and closing them as the sun sets to keep in the heat.  I like it cold when I sleep so I usually am fine with the 60 degrees, but on nights where I get a little chilled, I’ll put on thick socks, a thicker shirt or I’ll throw our rice-based neck pillow in the microwave for a couple minutes and that also keeps me warm.  I try these things before turning the heat up and almost never have to.

Our first year in our house, we flew through propane and had to fill it up twice that year.  We’ve since sealed up our house/window cracks and only need 1 tankful a year of propane.  This saves us $1000/year.

We don’t have a landline (savings of $40/month) and reduced our phone bill quite a bit last year by doing a family plan, reducing down to the minimum plan and getting rid of our wireless cards.  We still keep our texting plan as our nieces and friends use this as a primary means of communication, so it’s a splurge we’re willing to make.  Savings of $100/month.  We also quit our trash removal service and will keep our kitchen trash bags until they fill a large black trash bags which only cost $3 at the dump (we average twice a month) so $6 vs. the quarterly cost of $60+.  Savings of $15/month.

Total saving per month: $235

Discretionary:

Well this is a rather large category, but one that can get you into a lot of trouble.  We don’t shop all that much.  We know just walking into a Target can mean walking out $100 out with all these things we “think” we need, so we try to stay out of those places.  Most of my clothes are 5-10 years old.  I’ve always stayed with primary colors/fabrics with no patterns and it’s simplistic but classic and allows me to keep for years.  Right now, I’m wearing goucho/capri type pants (5 years old) a tank top (1 year old) and a cardigan I wore in college (about 14 years old!).  I only wear about 6 pairs of shoes, (sure I’d love more, but do i need them??  No) and I’ve even found many simple shirts at thrift stores.  Even random things like office supplies, houseware, etc. – I always ask myself – can I made do without?  Is there something else in my house that I could use to do the same function?  We used to spend about $300 or more/month in clothes/miscellaneous item that we didn’t need that we refrain from now.

Total savings per month: $300

Socialization:

We keep to ourselves, this is no secret but we do keep in touch with family/friends via online communities, talking and emailing.  We don’t live close to family so this is our primary means of connecting.  I do have a group of girlfriends locally however that I LOVE to visit with, so we usually get together twice a month, almost always getting together at one’s home and doing potluck – a much cheaper option.  Once in a while we’ll get together for drinks/meals at a bistro, but this is infrequent and helps us all to stay on budget.

We’ve made good friends with some of our neighbors and share desserts, meals and divide costs.  For example, one of our neighbors plows our road (we don’t get municipal services on our mountain-side switch-back roads) and we give him gas gift cards as a thank you, certainly much cheaper than hiring a professional to plow the road.  These same neighbors also exchange dog care with us when either of us go on vacation.  We used to spend about $800/week to board our 3 dogs in a nice facility (this is a non-negotiable area for us as we LOVE our pups and refuse to stick them in cages for a week).  Since we take several trips a year averaging about 4 weeks total, this is about $3,200/year.

Total savings per month: $350

Overall savings per year: nearly $27,000! (most people are happy to bring that home after taxes, commuting costs, convenience expenses, costs associated with working, etc.)

It should go without saying that our mortgage is a fixed amount, however, we’re paying more than needed each month so that our place will be paid off in 10 years, a personal goal of ours (it’s amazing how many years you can shave off when you pay a bit more toward your principal each month).  We also have made a committment to max out our retirement accounts (401Ks and IRAs) and set money aside into our saving account every month.

So, although we lost a chunk of incoming dollars, we also stopped a lot of money going out and as the saying goes, a penny saved is a penny earned!  We like to travel (and need to in order to see family), but especially enjoy going to new places that I can photograph, so we’re hoping that my new business will generate just enough money for our yearly travel needs and wishes.

By and far, the greatest thing gained is TIME.  Time at home, time with my husband, time with my dogs, time to do the things I love to do.  Though I keep very busy with all the things that save us money (researching sales, making food from scratch), I LOVE being my own boss and being able to wake up when I want, being able to take the time to sit in nature and enjoy the small but significant things Mother Nature shares every moment and being able to appreciate the simple pleasures in life.  As far as life currency goes, this is WAY more valuable to us than having the latest and greatest and flying through convenience gizmos.

Then again, it’s all about priorities and so my priorities are not the same as others and vice versa.  I’ve really learned that while you can’t have it all, we show our priorities each day by the way we spend our money and make choices.  And what you sacrifice in one area, you gain in another.  It’s all up to you on what that means.

Me?  I’d be willing to trade in even more if I had to in order to preserve my time, and I’m okay with that.  It’s amazing to see how much money goes out the door when you really sit down, save your receipts for a month, utilize a budgeting plan and see how much discretionary money you might be wasting.  Ignorance is not bliss if you want to save money or work less.  But only you can make those decisions and determine your priorities.

Amazing how your purchasing decisions can free you or trap you…

New DIY category…and here’s why:

 

As you’ve probably heard me say before ad nauseum, I like to think that I have a DIY gene, especially when it comes to domestic tasks.  I’m always trying to figure out how I can do things on my own, bringing things down to a basic level as a challenge to myself, but more importantly as a way to tread lighter on the earth and as well as on my wallet.  There is no doubt that making your own things, whether it be your own body butter with coconut oil and olive oil, furniture polish with oil and vinegar or your own bread reduces the need for packaging and is certainly cheaper when bought as individual ingredients. 

Now it goes without saying that this is certainly not a convenient option and requires more time which is a commodity in many households, but is incredibly rewarding.  Nothing like knowing that your soft skin is from all-natural ingredients, sans preservatives, that you made yourself (and a heck of a lot cheaper than the prepackaged natural/organic ones and a heck of lot healthier/chemical-free unlike those in conventionals and drugstores).  If you’ve been following my blog, you’ve seen that I’ve discussed making your own laundry detergent, mittens, even bagels.  I’m really trying to reduce my spending and choose what ingredients go into what I use/consume; therefore, making the convenient options that I used to buy in the store is one way to do it.

Last week, I had the opportunity to watch Food, Inc. – a movie that I’ve been wanting to see for some time, but knew that it would nothing new to me.  I’ve worked in the natural/organic food and products industry for 8 years and know a lot about where conventional food comes from and the chemicals and preservatives that are in everything we buy.  I was especially pleased that this movie was discussed in yesterday’s Oprah – who we all know has unmatched influence around the world.  Michael Pollan, a contributor to the movie and best-selling author on books exploring the food industry, talked about the importance of cooking at home using real foods (not food-like substances), learning where your food comes from and sourcing it from responsible growers and making the convenience foods you love.  He mentioned that he loves french fries, but that they are time-intensive to make, so he may only make them once or twice a month but with potatoes and oil – not from a bag sitting in a freezer for months.  It made me realize that I’ve been doing this along the way, trying to utilize raw ingredients to make things from scratch – as aforementioned, it requires less packaging, extends your dollars much more and gosh, have you tasted what fresh bread tastes like?

Now let me say this again, because I don’t want to sound preachy: I realize that this is not the convenient route, that I am home full-time, don’t have kids and can dedicate a good portion of my day to cooking from scratch and most people are in the complete opposite situation as me.  However, I’m hoping that if you see something you like, you’ll maybe take a Saturday off from shopping (aka retail therapy) or hours on the couch (aka TV therapy) and spend an hour in your kitchen, creating something that you never knew came any other way than in the bottle or bag you’ve always bought it in.  Everything we use/consume has to be made, so think about the items you buy often and see if you can make them yourself using the raw ingredients you can usually find in bulk.

At the risk of being labeled a hypocrite, I’ll be honest and tell you that I’m no angel and don’t make everything from scratch.  There are still some conveniences that I simply don’t feel like making or haven’t tried (i.e. I buy juice in cartons, pasta in boxes and yogurt in plastic tubs), but I’m taking baby steps and challenging myself to learn how to make something new each week that I used to buy as a convenience.  Usually it works and I’m a convert (mmm, homemade bagels), once in a while it doesn’t (homemade dishwasher detergent failed miserably!) but overall, I’m whittling down my reliance on the Heinz’ and the Krafts’ of the world.  I don’t have a cow, so I still need to buy dairy products, but have found a local woman who keeps chickens and will be purchasing my eggs from her, have sourced a local bison farm and plan to purchase a quarter buffalo in the coming weeks for all our beef needs and have identified the CSA I want to join this year for local fruits/veggies and chicken.  Because making these choices requires money up-front and takes a chunk of our food  budget each month when spread out, it’s forcing me – now more than ever – to sacrifice some of those conveniences we used to purchase, but it’s a sacrifice we’re willing to make.

So long, Doritos and Pepsi…was nice having you in our lives, but I’m thinking we’re better off without ya!

Our "bulk" cabinet; I stock up on items (flour, rice, beans, etc.) in bulk at my local health food store (which I then store in old pasta jars or Mason jars found at the thrift store); especially handy for the DIY cook!

Sharing what you know and learning at the same time

I had a great opportunity last week to “photo mentor” a high school student who is the daughter of a friend.  By the discussions we had, it sounds like she is enrolled in a very creative, free-thinking high school that encourages students to be open-minded, wordly and expressive of their personal pursuits.  Every Wednesday she is allowed to attend school or not in lieu of working on a project that helps her discover her passions.  She was interested in learning more about photography so her mom asked if I would be interested in showing her a few tricks.  Me?  A photo mentor?  I was honored and thrilled! 

Because the day was overcast/chilly and not so great for landscape photos of the omnipresent mountains in Colorado, I decided to take her to the Denver Botanic Gardens – a place where, I’m ashamed to admit, I have never been.  I’ve always wanted to go, but never trekked out, was always too busy with work that I just wanted to crash at home on the weekends and not to mention this place is a good hour away from where we live.  But now that I’m home free, I really want to take advantage of all the things/places around me.  I knew that this place would be a great spot and it did not disappoint.  It was certainly smaller than I expected, but then again, it’s the middle of winter and about 1/8 of the place is indoors, the rest outside where things are a crispy, uninspiring brown.  Didn’t matter…we spent a good 3 hours photographing the garden entrance (a waterfall/pond adorned with tulips and greens) and the rain-forest inspired dome.  I felt like I was in Costa Rica again and recognized many of the plants/flowers from my trip there this past summer.  The best part was that it was mid-week and we only came across a handful of other visitors so we were allowed to spread our tripods out, take our time and photograph to our hearts content.

One of the things that I informed my mentee is that you often times have to take a hundred pictures until you find one that you really like and this was no exception – I took over 500 photos and only ended up with a handful of keepers, but even that is a success in my book.  The above pics are representative of some of those keepers…the rest I’ve posted on my site: www.greenearthimages.com

I really enjoyed myself that day, sharing my knowledge and techniques but at the same time being brutally honest about the fact that I’m self-taught and still have a LOT to learn, that I still don’t understand my camera entirely, that I’m still learning about lighting and composition and that I’m, well, still a student.  But I guess that’s the best part, because if you know it all, isn’t that when you get bored?  Better to leave the door open so that you can continually learn and extend yourself. 

By the way, I learned that the Botanic Gardens as well as many other museums offer free admission once a quarter (or even once a month) to allow those on a budget the opportunity to engage in the beauty and art around them.  I encourage you to check out your local spots to see if they offer similar programs (or go on regular days and consider it your contribution to the arts!)

DIY Chai Tea Mix

 

I really enjoy a cup of hot chai tea (a spicy milk-based tea) every now and then…but David downright loves it and can drink it everyday.  He especially likes the kind that Tazo makes that comes in a concentrated liquid mix ($3.99 for a 32 oz. container, which breaks down into 8 servings of 4 oz. each – not to mention the other 4oz. of milk to add to it to make it a complete chai).  David can easily go through two of these containers and 1/2 a gallon of milk in a week for his chai tea fix.  Starbucks uses this same exact product for their chai’s but charges like $4 for one drink!  Since I’m keeping a mindful eye on our food budget and the DIY gene in me is alive and kicking, I decided to try to learn how to make it myself and for much, much cheaper.

I scrolled through various recipes and kind of mishmashed different ones to come up with a recipe that tastes great (and can be mixed with hot water in lieu of milk and still taste uber creamy).  Here’s what I came up with:

Ingredients:

• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 c. sugar
• 1/2 c. dry milk powder
• 1/4 c. powdered non-dairy creamer
• 1/2 c. unsweetened instant tea
• 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. ground cardamom
• 1/8 tsp. ground cloves
• 1/8 tsp. ground white pepper (black pepper, though not as aesthetically pleasing will work too)

Preparation:

Add the vanilla extract to the sugar; allow to dry and use a fork to crumble the mixture.  Add the rest of the ingredients to the vanilla sugar mixture.  Blend batches in a coffee grinder if available, food processor otherwise (can be dusty, be aware!).  When reconstitued, this mix will leave some sediments in the bottom of the mug, so if you rather not have this, sift mixture after blending to remove any larger pieces.  Store in a pint-size Mason jar or other similar-sized container.  Use 1/4 c. of mix to 8 oz. hot water. (Yields 8 servings and can be doubled or halved according to your needs) 

This is a cheap alternative, is non-perishable and means that no large Chai packaging will go into the trash.  As a sidenote, I buy most of the ingredients listed above in the bulk department of my local health food store which is also cheaper and reduces packaging.

This makes a great homemade gift especially if paired with a coffee mug or a side of cookies!  Enjoy!

Thrifty finds

So with making mittens and coffee sleeves (aka cozies) and even paper bows, I’ve been using lots of buttons and have taken especially to old, reused or vintage ones.  However, when I started looking into sourcing them online, many batches of 100 or so were going for $50+.  Well, that took the wind out of my sails!  I hemmed and hawed for a couple weeks and then remembered that my mom who used to sew all the time and rarely does now had tins of buttons.  I asked and she happily agreed to hand them over to me for free!  Some of these are vintage buttons from my grandmother’s era in the 40’s!  Most of them, however, are the funky chunky ones of the 60’s and 70’s.  They are quite fabulous especially housed in this vintage tobacco tin my mom kept them in for eons:

There must be hundreds of them in that tin:

Then today the local Arc Thrift Store sponsored a 50% off sale off everything in the store and that’s when I knew it was time to go and stock my fabric cabinet.  I bought about 10 wool sweaters that I’ll felt to make more mittens and coffee cozies (and I’m sure other projects I’ll come across).  Furthermore, David found 2 great sweaters, one an Eddie Bauer sweater, both for $4 each (and for someone as tall as him, it’s hard to find clothes that fit those long arms).  This thrift store in particular is really neat and well-organized and even has a craft area (oh yeah!) and I found some more thread, felt and tightly-wound kraft paper that will work just great as handles for the paper gift bags I’ve learned to make.

Since I am also doing my food blog at http://www.myyearofcookinglight.com and have been concentrating on improving my food photography, I decided I needed just a couple decorative plates/bowls to photograph my food on and was pleased to come across some great finds, including these plates:

As well as this great Mikasa bowl for $1.50:

Don’t knock the thrift stores in your area!  And be sure to check out any promotions, such as 50% off sale, like the Arc and Goodwill thrift stores on regular occasion.  Be green and save green!!!

Finally, sewing success!

Okay, so I’ve mentioned the new sewing machine in my life and how I was trying to get used to it so I could start making things.  You probably remember the mitten incident as well?  Finally, I figured out how to sew mittens the right way and I even lined them with polar fleece.  I actually did this the week of Christmas and never took pics (it was a present for my sister in exchange for the free sewing machine) and she liked them so much, she’s been taking them with her every day.  Luckily she left them behind today, so I was able to take pics so I could share with you all.  I’m very proud of my first successful sewing project!

My sister wanted grey mittens, so I used this reclaimed/upcycled grey sweater and hand-sewed a pink cashmere heart on top to give a feminine touch - also from a repurposed sweater

The underside; the funny thing is that when I first completed this, I was horrified to find that I made the wrists too small that you couldn't fit on, so I had to cut the bottoms and put in the ribbed part of the sweater which has extra stretch and lucky for me, it worked wonderfully (and save me from having to start all over again!)

 

To give extra warmth and softness, I lined the mittens with polar fleece which I was able to get at the thrift store, in the form of a queen-sized blanket for only $4.50! That blanket will probably make me another 50 liners! Good for the wallet and environment!

I’m excited to get back home and start making more of these.  Although this pair took me about 4-5 hours to complete, I know that once I get the hang of it, I can probably get these done in about an hour and plan to sell them on Etsy, the online marketplace where I’ve decided to set up shop.  If you’ve never been, please check it out: www.etsy.com - it’s a great place to support artists/crafters and there is some amazing stuff to be found!

New addition to the blogosphere

Ay-yi-yi!  Time is passing by so rapidly!

Well, to give you an update, I’m still at my sister’s house…finishing up week 2 and going into my last week here.  Trying to lighten her load, make family meals and help with trucking around the kids.  Anything that can help them out.  But boy am I homesick and miss my hubby, dogs and house!  At least I have the companionship during the quiet days of her loyal dog, Buddy:

So I admit, I’m kinda having writer’s block.  It’s tough writing about simplicity when you’re spending 3 weeks in someone else’s home.  And simple this home is not.  It’s like Grand Central Station and convenience foods/gadgets/etc. are a requirement in this time-starved household since not everyone can/wants to slow down.  I get that.  And as much as I’d love to impart lessons on how to save money, enjoy some downtime, forsake materialism for simple pleasures, it’s just not my place to be preachy right now.  So I will continue to support while leaving tiny nuggets of wisdom in my wake; perhaps in someone’s subconscious, it will be picked up.

Meantime, I’ve started another blog.  I know, strange if I’m having trouble writing here, but it’s timely and is charting something I’m trying to work on anyway.  It was inspired by the movie Julie and Julia…I’m not gonna lie.  But it’s called “My Year of Cooking Light” and is at http://myyearofcookinglight.wordpress.com – also listed under my blogroll.  So check both these blogs out, one of them is bound to have something good to read.

Once I get home and since the holidays are out of the way, I know I’ll be writing more on this site, so don’t give up on me yet!

Hope everyone’s 2010 is off to a calm and peaceful start.

Quiche is easier and lighter than you think!

I love a savory breakfast.  I’m not one for sugary items in the morning even though I do have one heck of a sweet tooth.  That’s why quiches are great for the morning and I often make one or two a week to last us (not to mention that David at 6′5 has quite a hefty appetite).  For years, I thought quiche had to be made with egg yolks and heavy cream and while those made with said ingredients are quite decadent, you can still make one with whole eggs (or egg whites even) and plain milk (skim does the trick too).  You load up with any veggies and/or meat that you have on hand, throw into a pie crust and voila. 

Sure, you can use a store-bought pie crust or go without (making it more of a frittata), but I prefer to use my mom’s pie crust which I think tastes the best and really is easy to make:

Lisa’s Foolproof Pie Crust Recipe (makes three 9″-inch pie crusts):

• 4 c. all-purpose flour
• 1 3/4 shortening
• 1 tbsp. sugar
• 2 tsp. salt
• 1 tbsp. vinegar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 c. water

Mix first four ingredients with a fork or pastry blender.  In a separate bowl mix wet ingredients; add to dry ingredients and mix in well.  Dough will be a bit crumbly but holds together well if you use your hands to blend and mold into 3 balls.  Save one for the quiche you’re using and throw the other two in the freezer for later use (only needs a couple hours on your countertop or overnight in your fridge to thaw out).

Roll out one of the dough balls onto your 9″ pie plate and shape accordingly.  Put in fridge for a good 30 minutes so sides of crust don’t slump down when being cooked.

 Easy-Peasy Quiche:

• 1 pie-crust
• 2 c. total of any veggie and/or meat mix of your choice
• 1 c. milk
• 3 eggs
• 1 to 2 c. shredded cheese (per your preference)
• pinches of salt, pepper and dried mustard

Take pie crust that you’ve rolled out onto 9″ pie plate from the refrigerator and pre-bake in an oven for 15 minutes at 425 degrees (to prevent the crust from puffing up, pour dried beans onto foil placed on top of crust to hold it down, or use pie weights).  Once pre-baked, pour 1/2 the cheese along the bottom of the crust, top with your veggie/meat combo.  Mix the eggs and milk and top the veggies with the mix.  Finally add remaining cheese, bake uncovered for 40-45 minutes to ensure eggs have set.  Enjoy!

This recipe is SO versatile.  I use different cheeses, veggies and meat – often depending what’s on sale or what I have hanging around in my fridge, but my favorite standby is broccoli/spinach/turkey bacon with whatever cheese I have on hand.  This also works as a lunch or dinner as well!  As its name implies, this recipe is easy peasy.

I’ll be visiting with family over the next couple weeks, so posts might be light.  Bear with me and have a great holiday/New Years meantime! 

Something so enchanting about a Christmas tree

Day in the life…of dogs

Our crazy “kids”…

Sierra, our big girl, will sometimes excercise incredible willpower when it comes to yummy treats, including this marrow-filled meat bone.  She “stood” guard over it for about 2 hours so I snapped a couple pics:

"Mmm, looks good but I think I'll wait"

"Maybe if I stare at it a little longer, it'll double in size!"

"Not sure how much longer I can hold off"

Zoe asks, "What the heck are you waiting for? I'll take it if you don't want!"

Peanut: "Zzzzzzz"