Second post of the day

UNBELIEVABLE HUH?

Well, here's some news for ya. Georgia farm women over a "Live on a Southern Farm" is having a giveaway of some chicken nest boxes that her and the hubby produce and sell. They look like this:

They are fantastic and now's your chance to try your luck at being the lucky winner of one. Go on over to "Life on a Southern Farm" and sign up..HAVE FUN! and GOOD LUCK!

Ok, now on to some delicious things.
Last Thursday was a park picnic day for us, so off we went to the park. I knew I would be pooped after a day at the park so I made sure dinner would be ready when I got home, enter the Crock Pot.

Into the crock pot here's what I stuck:
2 slices of boston butt, completely frozen (yep, hard as a rock)
 (this would be equivalent to a small roast. (we buy whole boston butts and have them cut into 1inch steaks and in this recipe, I used two)
1 small onion, rough chopped
1/2 bell pepper from the deep freeze
3 stalks of celery chopped
4 cups water
1 T. chicken bouillon
salt, pepper and a few dashes of soy sauce.
Turned the crock pot on high and walked out the door. When I got home, the aroma met us at the fence gate. YUM!!
Once inside, I gave the mixture a stir to 'pull' the pork apart, then added 2 cans of 'cream of soup'. You can choose whichever soup you prefer, chicken, mushroom, potato or celery. Since I had the mushroom on hand, that's what went in. I gave the mass a stir, boiled up some egg noodles to serve it over, veggie of your choice on the side, added a few dinner rolls to the fare and dinner was DONE!  DELISH! Try this one, you won't be sorry!
Ohh, this made enough to serve 6 that night, 2 work lunches and I still have a small/medium container in the fridge for munching on for lunches. If I have any leftover today, I'll put it in the fridge and when I've got some leftover mashed potatoes, I'll put it all together with some freshly chunked cooked potatoes for a hearty potatoe/pork soup! :) 

So you're frugal tip for the day, NEVER throw it at all possible. Think ahead about what you can 'change' it into and freeze it for later use. You MUST become the Fairy Food Godmother and wave a magic wand over some things to make them last!

Homemade Granola

Can't stand the price of the granola cereals out there? I know I can't and refuse to buy them, even though I LOVE granola.
Since I love granola so much, I started years ago making it on occasion. Being in the mood for some granola and NOT going to pay nearly 5$ a box for it, I pulled out my classic stand by recipe and began.
So here's the simple granola recipe that I use. This is a base. You can add extra items to kick it up a notch (see list at the bottom). You can always add fresh fruit when you serve it too. It doesn't take much for a serving, so start small, it will fill you up! Enjoy and reap the benefits of your own granola..laugh maniacally at the grocery isle granola as you pass it up!

3/4 C brown sugar
1/3 C Veggie oil (you fav. brand)
1/3 C honey (use a local honey if you can to help prevent allergies)
5 C whole oats. (oatmeal, NOT INSTANT and NOT ONE MINUTE)
3/4 t. cinnamon
pinch of salt
Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl. Grease a large cookie sheet and heat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Mix brown sugar, oil and honey in saucepan. Heat and stir till sugar dissolves. Pour sugar mixture over dry mix a little at a time and mix thoroughly. Continue till all sugar mix is used. You may have to use your hands for the final mix, be careful it could be hot. Spread granola onto cookie sheet and bake in oven for 10-15 minutes. Stir once about 1/2 way through cooking. Let cool in pan completely. Store in airtight container.

Extras that you can add (all items BUT raisins/crasins should be added pre cooking)
up to 1 C nuts, raisins, cut up prunes or craisins
up to 1/2 flax seed, sesame seed, wheat germ..get creative!
Play with these measurements, you may like more or less of any one item.
I usually mix about 1 C of nuts, then after baking about 1/2 C raisins
You can also add vanilla into the sugar mix if you like. Use 1/2-1 t. vanilla.
*One hint, do not add the raisins till after you bake in oven.
This granola has a longer storage life then the other recipe I've posted here made with butter. You can store this one in an airtight container for about a month.
Enjoy your homemade granola!