A Well-Heeled Life

A Breadmaker is Born! Success! They may not look like much, but they taste wonderful! I baked two loaves of honey whole wheat bread today. Took all day, but that was a combination of poor timing and just a really busy day. The recipe is actually really simple. From start to oven it;'s about 90 minutes. I won't bother to share a recipe because there are so many available online. I just searched for something similar to the type I buy each week. I found several recipes and decided to try one that called for ingredients that I already had on hand. Well, except for yeast. I bought a three pack at Fred Meyer for $1.89. Everything else I already had in my pantry. So, I got two loaves of bread for $1.89. The house smells amazing! My official taste tester (e.g. my 6 yo) said it was delish straight out of the oven. We toasted up a slice this morning and it was equally good. This will definitely stay in the weekly routine.   A bakery window in Paris, France Def...

I Gotta Cut the Grocery Bill...Fast! I have a confession. One of my favorite TV program these days is a reality show about people who use coupons to cover the majority of their grocery costs. We're talking  70, 80, 90 - percent or more. It's amazing! Here's the thing I noticed though when I'm watching it. During most episodes, the people dedicate 20+ hours each week to prepping for their shopping trips. Oh, and then they are often buying enormous quantities of items that I believe are far beyond the needs of the typical family's "stockpile" (that's couponer lingo). For example, I recently saw an episode where the woman purchased 75 bottles of ca particular condiment and 200 packs of candy. It's honestly amazing to see the cost savings. I started dreaming about my own grocery bill savings, but I realized very quickly that I don't have the space for a stock pile of that magnitude and I'm not able to dedicate that much time to gro...