January 19, 2010

Happy Tuesday! Its hard to believe that this month is over half way gone! Today I set up the classrooms at school with their boxes for Boxtops For Education. I am the coordinator for the Primary school in our district. I have to say I am very glad to have that checked off my to do list!! I spent the day in the office so had alot of "adult" conversation. You tend to feel a little crazy when most of your daytime conversations are with a 6 year old child or cats!

I wanted to talk a little tonight about Frugal Beauty. I used to go every few months to get my hair cut/colored, eyebrows waxed and even had acrylic nails. Ahh the life. However, those just are not expenses I can justify anymore. So I have made some adjustments. Now, no way am I going to "go gray" but unfortunately, early gray is something I have inherited from my family. I started coloring my own hair with great success. I have found a few colors I really like and was excited to recently find, the "good" brands at the Grocery Outlet for $3.99!! So for $4 and 30 minutes of my time I have great new color and have saved myself about $70. Now to tackle the "eyebrows". I am not a big fan of waxing my own because I was afraid of accidentally taking them off. I tried several products that just did not work well for me. I recently purchased a Skin So Soft waxing kit from Avon for $6. It will last me at LEAST a year. With a little practice, I have it down now and can wax my eyebrows for pennies. That is a savings of $12 each time.

I tried a recipe last week that I was very excited about, Stir Fry Pork and Cabbage. However, a crucial element to cooking is to READ THE RECIPE FIRST. I added salt to the cabbage while I cooked it and then the pork as well to give it flavor. Then realized when I was done cooking it, there was no salt in the recipe because of the chicken stock and soy sauce. It was so salty we ended up throwing it out. But I was determined to try this dish!! So I added it to the menu for this week. I still had 1/2 the cabbage and 3/4 of the bag of carrots left as well as part of the chicken broth. This time it was DELICIOUS. Even my 8 year old asked for seconds and she ate the cabbage!

ORIENTAL PORK CABBAGE STIR FRY
6 cups chopped cabbage cut in 1" pieces
3 tsp vegetable oil divided (I used olive oil)
4 med. carrots julienned (I have a julienne slicer from Pampered Chef LOVE it)
1 pork tenderloin (1 pound) cut in 3/4" pieces (I used marked down boneless chops)
2 T. minced fresh ginger root
1 c chicken broth divided
1/4 c soy sauce
4 tsp cornstarch
Hot cooked rice (optional)

In a large non stick skillet or wok stir fry cabbage in 1 tsp oil for 1-2 minutes or until crisp-tender. Add carrots and stir fry 3-4 minutes longer or until carrots are crisp tender. Remove from pan and keep warm.

In the same pan, stir fry pork in remaining oil for 2 minutes. Add ginger and stir fry for 2 in or until pork is lightly browned. Stir in 3/4 cup broth and soy sauce. Bring to a boil. reduce heat and cover, simmer for 3 minutes or until meat juices run clear.

Combine cornstarch and remaining broth until smooth. Gradually stir into pan. Stir in the cabbage mixture. Bring to a boil and cook 2-3 in or until thickened. Serve with rice if desired.

Now this was an inexpensive meal:
1/2 cabbage (paid $1.27 for the whole thing) .64
marked down pork $1.78
carrots (paid .88 for the whole bag will use for 3 meals) .30
ginger .05
chicken broth (pd $2 for pkg used 1/4 of it) .50
soy sauce .25
rice .30

I used such small amounts of oil and cornstarch I am not counting those.
Total for this meal: $3.82 this served 5 so .76 per serving and very filling!