Banana Tartlets

(The recipe calls for these tartlets to be unmolded but if you can't get them out, they are just as good in the mold!)

Sunday recipe post! Have some leftover bananas and sick of banana bread? Try this fantastic banana tartlet. If you don't want to make your own pastry, a store-bought refrigerator pastry will work just fine.

SERVES: 6

Stir the rum into the hot caramel carefully, as it tends to spatter.

PASTRY
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
1 stick plus 2 tablespoons (5 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces and chilled
1 large egg
1 tablespoon water

FILLING
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
8 bananas (2 1/2 pounds), 4 mashed
3 tablespoons honey
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup light rum

Make the pastry: In a food processor, combine the flour, sugar and salt and pulse to blend. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse meal. In a small bowl, beat the egg with the water, then add it to the processor and pulse until combined. Transfer the dough to a work surface and gather it into a ball. Divide the dough into 6 equal pieces and flatten each piece into a 4-inch disk. Wrap each disk in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes or up to 1 day.

Preheat the oven to 350° and lightly butter six 4-by-1-inch ring molds or tartlet pans with removable bottoms. If using ring molds, line a baking sheet with parchment paper. On a lightly floured work surface, roll the pastry disks into 1/8 -inch-thick rounds and gently ease them into the molds. Trim off any overhang. Bake the pastry shells for about 30 minutes, or until golden all around and cooked through. Let cool completely before unmolding.

Make the filling: Melt half of the butter in a medium skillet. Add the 4 mashed bananas and the honey and cook over moderately high heat, stirring, until hot to the touch and very smooth, about 2 minutes. Add 2 tablespoons of the lemon juice and the nutmeg, then transfer the puree to a bowl to cool completely. In a medium bowl, whip the heavy cream with the confectioners' sugar until firm. Fold the banana puree into the whipped cream and refrigerate.

Up to 1 hour before serving, slice the remaining 4 bananas 1/3 inch thick and toss with the remaining 2 tablespoons of lemon juice. Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter in a medium skillet. Add the granulated sugar and cook over moderate heat, stirring, until an amber caramel forms, about 5 minutes. Remove the skillet from the heat and at arm's length, add the rum. Stir until smooth. Add the sliced bananas and stir to coat with the caramel.

Spoon the banana cream into the pastry shells and arrange the caramelized banana slices decoratively on top. Transfer the tartlets to dessert plates. Spoon any leftover caramel sauce over the bananas and onto the plates and serve.

It's Earth Day!

Let's be nice to our planet! On this Earth Day let's stop fighting over who's greener. Let's just focus on being the greenest that we can be. Let's stop questioning the motivation of a company that takes a green initiative and just congratulate them for doing it. Whatever they do, whatever we do, whatever our neighbor does, it's a step in the right direction.

We are waking up and becoming more mindful of the impact we have on this planet of ours. Let's be upbeat and supportive of each other's efforts. Let's get there on a flood of positive energy.

Have a happy Earth Day today and every day!

Pet Insurance - What Do You Think?

There’s an interesting discussion thread going on over at the Bargaineering forums on pet insurance, with the predictable arguments on both sides. I’ve got a dog with some problematic allergy issues, the diagnosis and treatment of which have been costly. It’s too late now but the discussion made me wonder if I would have been wise to get some pet insurance when we got the dog.

I’ve been doing some research and was surprised by the large number of policies available out there. Google “pet insurance” and you’ll see what I mean. I clicked on a few to see what they offered and, perhaps more importantly, what they excluded. One of the big ones, Veterinary Pet Insurance (VPI), has a whole list of breed specific maladies which are excluded from coverage. Additionally, they exclude all hereditary and congenital issues. So, if you purchase pet insurance as soon as you bring your little German Shepherd puppy home and he later develops hip problems, as many German Shepherds do, that would not be covered. He would also not be covered for calcinosis circumscripta, degenerative myelopathy, dermatomyositis, exocrine pancreatic insufficiency, lupoid onychopathy, nodular dermatofibrosis or pannus (superficial keratitis), which are evidently all German Shepherd issues.

It looks to me like a mutt might end up with better coverage than a pure bred dog. I find that distinction interesting because I’m assuming that the expense of the dog might be a consideration when making a decision about pet insurance. You might be more apt to purchase pet insurance for your expensive pure bred dog, which would end up having less coverage based on the breed specific list of exclusions, than the mixed-breed dog for which you didn’t get coverage since he was free from the pound. As a point of clarity, mixed-breed dogs also have hereditary and congenital exclusions.

I also checked out the ASPCA’s pet insurance. They have very similar exclusionary policies. Neither company covers elective procedures like tail and/or ear docking or dew claw removal. VIP calls these “cosmetic procedures” while the ASPCA classes them “inhumane procedures”. Pre-existing conditions are uniformly excluded, which rules us out! A lot of wellness procedures are also not covered, which surprised me.

They all seem to offer several different levels of coverage, just like human health insurance policies do, including major medical and injury plans and various riders that can be added to the policies for an additional charge.

In the personal finance blog world one commonly suggested solution to the pet insurance dilemma is to start your own contingency savings account for unexpected pet expenses. Clearly the ASPCA pet insurance people have come across this thinking and have the following to say:

“You could put money into a savings account to help pay your veterinary bills, but this has its drawbacks. For instance, you have to be disciplined enough to stick to your savings plan. You also have to guess how much you should save, since you can’t predict how much it will cost if your pet gets hurt or sick. Your pet could also need care before you have a chance to save enough money to cover your veterinary expenses.”

I’m not sure how seriously I take that demur. Clearly paying your pet insurance premium also takes discipline and, like most insurances, whether or not you’ll need that insurance is pretty much of a crap shoot. At least they took a stab at it.

After my research I suspect the left behind pug’s issues would not have been covered, his continuing care certainly would not be covered and, in addition to the cost of that care, I would be saddled with insurance premiums so I’m glad I don’t have pet insurance. On the other hand, if he gets hit by a car (heaven forbid) and survives, I might change my tune. Therein lies the rub with insurance. It’s a waste of money until you need it!

How do you feel about pet insurance? Do you have it? Do you wish you’d had it before something happened to your pet? Have you ever considered it?

Carnival of Debt Reduction

Editor’s Pick – Are you wondering how to take a vacation this year? After all, we can’t work ALL the time! The Digerati Life is taking a look at Naming Your Price with Priceline for Bargain Travel. I’ve not tried Priceline but maybe, after reading her article, I will!

Editor’s Pick – Man vs. Debt has a good article on Discovering Your Financial Priorities. It’s important to figure out what is best for YOU as you try and balance frugal living, debt reduction and quality of life. It’s also important to acknowledge that no matter how much we know we need to be doing everything right, sometimes we just can’t.

Art of the Coupon is looking into debt consolidation firms and wondering, “Are they Ever Worth it?” Maybe, but tread carefully!

When trying to revamp your financial life, knowing your credit score can be a big help. The Canadian Finance Blog has a link to a calculator that helps you Calculate Your Credit Score for Free. Gather your information and give it a try!

Are you trying to stick to a family budget but having some trouble? The Online Tribune has identified 3 Reasons That Can Cause Your Family budget to Fail. Budgets are an important part of managing your finances. Perhaps some of these tips can help you get yours back on track.

Debt Reduction Formula is checking in on his current debt load with Outstanding Debt as of April 2009. He has now paid off 55% of his debt. Congratulations! More than halfway there!

As we all know, times are tough. The Wealth Pilgrim would like to encourage us to think long and hard when wondering, “Is it Smart to Fund Your Child’s Business?”. You won’t do yourself or your child any good if you ruin yourself trying to keep your child’s business afloat.

Free Money Finance reminds us that Debt is A Marriage Killer. Be honest and upfront about your finances with your spouse and work together as a team to get your debt under control.

Is your mortgage getting the better of you? Bargaineering takes a look at the Making Home Affordable Mortgage Refinance and Modification Program. The qualification requirements, as with any government backed program, are pretty strict but, do your homework and maybe you can benefit.

Budgets Are Sexy is wondering where the help is for those of us who pay our debts on time but could use some extra money. He’s just discovered that they Can’t Refinance Their 1st Mortgage.

Do you need Jenny Craig for Your Debt? Christian PF has been working on a program called Debt Goal, which is now up and running. Maybe it will be just what you need to achieve your debt related goals.

Stop The Ride recently got a boost in her income and found her perseverance put to the test. Sticking To The Plan can be tricky, especially when things start to loosen up a bit.

We’ve all been hearing about credit card company tricks lately. Credit Card Assist has a new one called Balance Chasing where the credit card company continues to lower your limit as you pay down your balance. Ever vigilant appears to be the watchwords for consumers and credit users everywhere.

Leave Debt Behind has some sensible advice with the Top 5 Ways To Get Out of Debt. Common sense all, but sometimes a reminder is a good idea.

Working on reducing your bills? Billeater has a primer on changing electric companies. Electric Choice – Compare providers; Switch and Save. Maybe you can reduce your electric bills. Every bit helps!

Debt Free Destiny explains the benefits of repairing your credit in Why Repairing Your Credit Makes Sense and Saves you Money.

Have you ever wondered What Are Secured Credit Cards? Ask Mr. Credit Card endeavors to answer that question. Secured credit cards can be very useful when you are trying to build or re-build your credit.

Are you looking for Simple and Easy Methods to Reduce Your Debt Significantly? Discover Debt Freedom lays it all out. Clearly it’s easier said than done as so many people are still having trouble!

Is college looming large for you or one of your children? Finance Tips 101 wants us to remember that Scholarships Come in All Shapes and Sizes. Sometimes you just need to work a bit to find them!

The Smarter Wallet wants to help us unclutter and make some money at the same time. How To Sell Used Items: Profit From Your Gently Used Items goes over each of the most popular selling sites and gives us a little idea how they work.

How do you handle combining finances with your significant other? M is for Money recently combined her finances with those of her debt-ridden partner and is having a little trouble coming to terms with their new status in “Til Debt Do Us Part. It seems like everyone has their own ideas about this topic!

The Canadian Finance Blog has a second submission this week dealing with combing higher payments and the bi-weekly mortgage in Increasing Your Mortgage Payment. Always a great idea if you can do it. One of the blogs readers left a comment looking for advice on where to allocate some funds. In explaining his situation he divulged that he had a 40-year mortgage. Gasp – I’d be throwing money at that thing!

Does Delayed Gratification Exist? Studenomics wants to know! If we weren’t overly familiar with it before, I hope we’ve renewed our acquaintance with it by now.

Have you automated your savings? Automatic Finances has 5 Reasons Why You Should!

That’s it for this week’s Carnival of Debt Reduction. Thank you for your submissions. I hope you’ll give your fellow submittees some of the attention you hope for and read and comment upon their submissions. Please help promote the carnival by linking to it, Stumbling it, Tweeting about it and just generally helping to spread the word!

You can submit articles for consideration for next week’s carnival here.

Cajun Spiced Grilled Shrimp and Corn Salad

Grilling and salad, what better combination could there be for summer? Serve this salad as a main dish, or throw a steak on the grill when you're done cooking the shrimp and corn, and serve it as a side. Either way, it's a treat!

This recipe comes from Chef Laurent Tourondale of BLT Restaurants in New York City and is one of my favorite summer salads.

Serves 10

Ingredients -

PICKLED RED ONION
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 tablespoon kosher salt
1/2 tablespoon sugar
1/2 tablespoon freshly ground pepper
1 medium red onion, halved and thinly sliced

SALAD
1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning
1 teaspoon Cajun spice blend
1 teaspoon hot pimentón de la Vera (smoked Spanish paprika)
1 teaspoon chopped rosemary
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
20 large shrimp, shelled and deveined
7 ears of corn, shucked
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
Salt and freshly ground pepper
4 Kirby cucumbers, diced
2 Medjool dates, pitted and diced
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
Pea shoots, for garnish (optional)

Directions
1. PICKLE THE ONION: In a small saucepan, bring the vinegar to a boil with the salt, sugar and pepper. Cook over high heat until the salt and sugar dissolve, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in the onion slices, and let the onion pickle stand at room temperature for 1 hour.

2. MEANWHILE, MAKE THE SALAD: Light a grill. In a large bowl, mix the Old Bay, Cajun spice, smoked paprika, rosemary, cayenne and 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Add the shrimp and toss well. Grill the shrimp over high heat, turning once, until the shrimp are lightly charred and white throughout, about 2 minutes.

3. Rub the corn with the butter and season with salt and black pepper. Grill over moderately high heat, turning occasionally, until the kernels are charred and tender, about 10 minutes. Let the ears cool slightly.

4. Using a serrated knife, cut the kernels from the ears over a large bowl. Toss the corn with the cucumbers, dates, cilantro, lime juice and the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Drain the pickled onion strips and add them to the salad. Season with salt and pepper and toss well. Transfer to a platter, top with the grilled shrimp, garnish with the pea shoots and serve.

MAKE AHEAD The pickled onion can be refrigerated for up to 3 days. The dressed salad can be refrigerated for up to 2 hours; serve lightly chilled.

NOTE: There is too much pickled onion in this recipe for my taste. I'd recommend about half the amount called for. The onions are delicious so, if you make the full amount, add them judiciously until they balance and then save the remaining for another use.

Don't you just love summer salads?!

March of Dimes March for Babies, A Plea for Help

(Little Caylee at 9 days old.)

When I was a teenager living in Potomac, Maryland, I used to participate in a March of Dimes Walk-A-Thon every year. It was a 25-mile walk around Washington, D.C. It was a real test of your mettle and quite an accomplishment if you completed the whole walk. I don’t know if they do that particular walk anymore but those walks are a fond memory for me.

The very sweet daughter-in-law of one of my closest friends is participating in a March of Dimes, March for Babies on May 2nd. She is doing it as part of a team who are walking in the name of one of their friends who delivered a baby three months premature. Their walk is a way to honor the work the March of Dimes does to help children who get off to a tough start in life.

If you are so inclined, this team and the March of Dimes organization, would welcome your help. Times have changed drastically in the 30 years since I used to walk. Instead of going door-to-door collecting donations with a sponsor sheet, the March of Dimes now collects sponsors on the web. My walking friend’s team has a sponsor site set up here, through which you can make a safe, secure contribution.

If you are able, your contribution would be greatly appreciated!

The Wisdom of Yoga

I’ve been doing a lot of yoga lately and I really love it. I’ve always preferred slower, more deliberate forms of exercise and yoga fits in perfectly. Getting the most out of yoga requires looking inwardly and really focusing on the movements of your body. When you are doing a yoga position, you are taught to exhale into it. Not to strain or force yourself but to relax into the position when you breathe out. I’ve never been very physically flexible and yoga is helping me with this area of my physical fitness regime.

Easing into things, instead of forcing or straining is good advice in many aspects of life. When we want to make a change in our lives, many of us make all sorts of plans and then push and force and strain to get where we want to be. When things don’t move the way we want, as quickly as we want, we get frustrated. Plan-making is a wise thing but perhaps we need to step back just a bit and allow the change to happen; allow ourselves to ease into it.

Whether in business or personal relationships, always pushing and pulling to get what we want can do some real damage. If you want to see change, present your case and then have the patience to stand back and allow the other person or persons to consider and decide if they want to join with you or not. If they don’t want to come along, don’t waste your energy being mad at them. If you truly want the change you seek, keep your focus but don’t try and force it. If it’s the right thing, it will happen for you.

If allowing things to happen doesn’t come easily for you, start out small. Ease into it. Are you one of those people who feel the need to ensure that everyone knows everything about something that’s going on? Unless you’ve been specifically charged with that task, try stepping back and just allowing things to come together without your help. You may find, to your surprise, that they come together just fine. You may also find that you are much less stressed.

When you feel yourself getting frustrated by the pace of allowing things to happen on their own time, take a breath, and focus on releasing those feelings. Differentiate between things you can affect and things you cannot. You may be able to affect a change in your poor time management but there’s not a whole lot you can do about your boss’s ability to appreciate you. Additionally, think about the things you NEED to affect versus the things you don’t. You may need to be personally responsible for getting your kids off to school in the morning but do you really need to be responsible for making sure your chronically late girlfriend makes it to lunch on time?

If you’re unhappy about being single, beyond making an effort with your personal appearance and getting out there and being social there’s not a whole lot you can do to speed up the process of finding a mate. If you’re unhappy with your job, beyond working on your resume, brushing up on your skills and keeping your ears and eyes open, you can’t force a new job to magically appear. You’ll only make yourself crazy if you allow yourself to become too frustrated with the pace of change. Learning to allow change to happen can be difficult at first but well worth the effort.

Like we learn in yoga; inhale and then relax, ease into the posture of change and just allow it to happen. Another thing we learn in yoga? The strain that we feel today, will make us stronger tomorrow.

A Little Link Love 4.16.2008

Of Cabbages and Kings takes on Twitter in her article, If Real Life Were Like Twitter. If you haven’t checked out her blog yet, you should. She’s funny!

Allison, over at WomenBloom, has an excellent article on the Social Security crises. She wonders if everyone were forced to go live with their kids for a month if both sides wouldn’t work harder to come up with a solution!

Through a mention on Allison’s site I was introduced to Ronni Bennet’s site, As Time Goes By, where I read a disturbing article, Elders’ Triple Economic Whammy. Did you know that, according to U.S. News and World Report, “about 433,000 unemployed Americans age 65 and older were actively seeking employment in February, more than twice as many as in November 2007, just before the recession began.”? Sobering stuff.

Connections for Women has a very thought provoking article touching on several different challenges that face us in our future. Retired Spouse Syndrome is just one of them!

Blogging for Change is celebrating Financial Literacy Month in a big way over at her blog. She created a mini-site for the purpose. She came up with a topic for each of the days of the month of April and then invited a different blogger to tackle each topic. I’m up today with a post on commitment. Stop by each day for some excellent reading!

As usual, there are some great recipes and projects in this week’s Make It From Scratch carnival at I’ve Got A Little Space to Fill. I was especially entranced by the garden markers Wendy Piersall presented at Craft Jr. I don’t know how well they hold up but they sure are cute! I’m giving this microwave cracker recipe from Knit Wit on the Prairie a try. What a neat idea! Funny About Money had another great article about using olive oil as a facial cleanser. I’ve been using baby oil as a makeup remover but really want to get away from as many petroleum products as I can. This might be just the ticket!

Do you use Twitter? There are different reasons to follow different people. Here are a few of my favorites to follow for this week:

@jnickles is the force behind My Super-Charged Life. Like me, personal finance is only one topic he explores on his site, which he writes as a resource to help people live life to its fullest.

@netta50 is a freelance writer whose site, WordWebbing allows her to express her thoughts on the craft of writing.

@MMarquit is a personal finance blogger who writes at Yielding Wealth. She covers a lot of interesting topics over there. If you’ve not read her blog, you should!

@thegoodhuman and I don’t always see eye-to-eye but I admire his goal of educating us to help save the planet, which he does with aplomb at The Good Human.

I like following all these people because they are friendly, responsive and interesting and I think you’ll like them too!

How is Disney Holding Up?

I’m going to Disney World in September with my younger sister and her family. Other than one afternoon spent at the Magic Kingdom more than twenty years ago, I’ve not been before. Like everyone else, the Disney Corporation is hurting these days. They've been offering all sorts of specials and discounted plans to entice visitors to holiday at the Happiest Place on Earth.

We signed up for their free dining plan, which includes two meals a day plus two snacks for each member in the group. In order to take advantage of this deal you have to book an on-resort hotel for at least 5 consecutive nights with at least a one-day park pass. The visit has to take place between August 16th and October 3 of 2009, an historically slow period for Disney as the weather can be dicey and the kids are newly back in school. It will be nice to have everything paid for in advance and not have to worry about the cost of the meals. If you’ve ever taken a look at a Disney menu, the onsite restaurants are quite expensive and eating can really add up over the course of the week. All in all, we got a pretty good deal and are excited about our trip.

We’ve been doing a lot of research in order to ensure things go smoothly and that we make the best use of our time. I’ve had a few surprises. Very few of Disney’s properties offer Wi-Fi, there is a charge for wired internet access, the value resorts don’t offer coffee makers in the rooms and a little fridge costs $10 a night. I haven’t stayed in a hotel or motel in years that didn’t have a coffee maker in the room and charging $10 a night for a refrigerator that can be purchased at Wal-Mart for $100 seems excessive, especially at an expensive destination like Disney. The biggest surprise for me though, was the absence of free Wi-Fi. It never occurred to me that such a forward thinking place as Disney wouldn’t have park-wide wireless internet access. Wired internet, where offered, runs about $10 a day. The All-Star Music Resort family suite in which we are staying has a rack rate of $184 a night. Charging us for Internet access on top of that seems excessive.

I’ve been listening to the WDW Today podcast everyday while I workout and heard an interesting little factoid the other day. Evidently Disney employs people whose job is to stand at the various exits and count the number of bags people carry out; an indicator that guests are spending money in the parks. Although, thanks to the various deals and discounts being offered, the parks are full of people, they aren’t spending a lot of additional money. “Bag counts” are way down. In other words, people are still going to Disney but they are watching their pennies and not doing a lot of shopping in the Disney stores; a big source of revenue for the company.

The MouseSavers Newsletter recently reported that Disney has been quietly raising prices on all sorts of things inside the park in an effort to increase their revenue stream. The cost to rent a stroller within the park has risen 100% since 2005. Even with a pre-payment discount, renting a double-stroller for a week will cost you $189, more than the cost of many rental cars! In the restaurants, Disney has increased prices and reduced the amount of food you receive in return. A reduction in portion size is not a bad thing on its own but, combined with higher prices and fewer choices; I don’t think Disney had our health in mind when they made the change!

The Disney Corporation has reportedly laid off approximately 1900 employees, about 1400 at the Disney World Resort. Profits are down at Disney, as they are everywhere, and they are struggling to weather the economy in a business that is the very definition of that “extra”, which people are trimming from their budgets. Although I’m griping just a bit, I hope Disney can hold it together. It really is a fun place to visit and I’m looking forward to going.

Do you have a big vacation planned this year or are you sticking closer to home? What effect has the economy had on your plans?

Pineapple-Crusted Salmon

This recipe appears in the Make It From Scratch carnival at I've Got A Little Space to Fill. If you came from the carnival, welcome! I hope you'll look around and consider subscribing.

How about a different Easter dinner? Try this tangy, delicious salmon recipe for a unique main dish for your Easter table.

Finely chopped pineapple forms a wonderful crust that is baked onto salmon fillets. Lime zest and crushed red pepper flakes add a little kick. This is also a great choice for a quick meal; it takes less than 45 minutes to prepare, including 20 minutes for the pineapple mixture to sit before coating the fish.The recipe doubles easily. Serve with a simply prepared green vegetable.

Makes 2 servings

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup finely chopped pineapple with its juice (about 4 ounces total)
• Finely grated zest and juice of 1 medium lime
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 tablespoon light brown sugar
• Pinch salt
• 2 6- to 8-ounce salmon fillets (each about 1 to 1 1/2 inches thick at the thickest point)

Directions:

Combine the pineapple, lime zest and juice, crushed red pepper flakes, brown sugar and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside for 20 minutes to allow the flavors to blend.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a shallow roasting pan, large enough to comfortably hold the fish, with aluminum foil or parchment paper and lightly grease it with nonstick cooking oil spray.

Place the fillets in the pan skin side down with 1 to 2 inches between them. Sprinkle each fillet lightly with salt. Top each fillet with the pineapple mixture, evenly coating the tops. Bake for about 10 minutes per inch of thickness, until the fish is cooked through, but not dry. If the topping looks overly moist (and not crustlike), place the fish under the broiler for 1 to 2 minutes to evaporate the excess moisture. Serve hot.

Make It From Scratch - Spring Has Sprung Edition!

(The most beautiful garden in the world! My sister's backyard in Maryland.)

Spring has sprung in my environs. I know it’s nigh on summer where Funny About Money is and some of you are probably still in the grip of winter but it's Spring here! Spring makes me happy and productive and that’s a good state to be in for this week’s wonderful batch of recipes and DIY projects.

Recipes - we all certainly were in a cooking mood this week, weren’t we?!

Who doesn’t love pizza? Jim at Bargaineering, one of my favorite personal finance blogs, shares the best way to enjoy a good pizza – make it yourself! Making Your Own Pizza Dough takes the mystery out of this handy “bread”. Give it a try, it’s easy! Homemade pizza is a great way to stretch whatever’s in your fridge.

Recession Depression Therapy has the best therapy of all with a fantastic recipe for Homemade Bread: Easy with a Few Hints and Tips. Is there anything more welcoming than the smell of baking bread? I don’t think so!

I love a little tart and Homesteader Belle has some lovely Pecan Tarts to try. Your own personal tiny pecan pie!



A Coffee Cake Made Healthier? Oh my, Local Nourishment knows the way to my heart! I’ll take any excuse to eat a good coffee cake

I’ve Got A Little Space to Fill is dieting (who isn’t?) and shares what looks like delicious recipes for Pasta Primavera and Meatless Chili Pots. These look way too good to be diet food!

A new-to-me blog, The Austerity Kitchen, has a new-to-me recipe with Clostridium Capers: The Wonders of Salt Rising Bread. Clostridium, in case you didn’t know (I didn’t) is the bacteria that leavens bread. I can’t wait to give this one a go! I tried and tried to leave her a gushingly complimentary comment but Blogger was determined to keep me out! So AK, great job!

Wondering how to stretch your grocery dollars this week? Back to Basics has some great ideas for Discount Dinners.



Here’s an interesting bargain dinner idea from last week’s host, Christ’s Bridge. Potato and Corn Flake Casserole sounds surprisingly yummy!

It’s Frugal Being Green presents a perennial favorite, Pasta with Easy Italian Meat Sauce. Still cold where you are? This might be just the thing for your dinner table.

Family Balance Sheet links us to a good recipe for homemade granola. She’s right, granola is delicious and multi-purpose. Not sure I could eat it three times a day but her article makes me want to whip up a batch!

Coincidentally, our queen of the carnival Stephanie is also thinking about homemade granola this week. Maybe I’ll have to make a batch of each!

For the finest in college student cooking, Craft Stew presents 1-2-3 Bean Burrito. My goodness, it couldn’t get any simpler than this!

Here’s another back-to-basics, gussied up by making it yourself! Mac ‘n Cheese doesn’t have to come in a blue box! It’s quick and easy to make from scratch and How To Tips and Tricks tells us how. Give it a try!

Lighter Side has one clever idea for a quick and easy fruit turnover. Do you have kids at home? I’ll bet they’ll love these!


(Another shot from my sister's garden. The rest are from mine!)

Projects

That incredibly versatile crocheter Recycle Cindy doesn’t disappoint with yet another clever project. This one is a Cassette Tape Clam Shell Clutch. Now that’s what I call recycling! (She calls it upcycling!)

We can never have too many shopping bags! Cockatoo Dreaming has instructions for how to make your own Tote for a Teenager. Use different fabrics and you’ve got totes for everyone!

A lot of us are dabbling in homemade laundry detergent these days. Condo Blues is trying out a Powdered High Efficiency Laundry Detergent to go with her new HE washing machine. She was pretty happy with the result. Give her recipe a try and see if it works for you!

I’m a pretty crafty girl but I’ve never heard of Needle Felting. A House Called Nut explains how this fun project is done.



Other

Funny About Money, another of my favorite personnel finance blogs, says her post is a little cooking and a little other. We had so many recipes this week that I thought I’d let her shine here in “other”. Garden as Income Stream is a great update on her garden, which I love to read about because she always includes some tasty ways to enjoy the bounty!

Tales From My Tiny Kingdom knows the way to get my attention with an article on…be still my heart…vermicomposting! Her article on The Slimy Way My Garden Grows talks about her experience with an indoor worm bin. I love my worms too! You worm-less people don’t know what you’re missing!

Thank you everyone for your submissions. It's great to see so many newcomers to this fun carnival!

Don’t forget to link to the carnival from your site. Please promote the carnival through the various social media avenues you enjoy. Also, why not show a few of your fellow participants some of the attention you are hoping to achieve by visiting, reading their articles and promoting their sites?

Next week's carnival will be hosted by I've Got A Little Space to Fill. Submit your recipes and projects here!

Simplify Your Life

Oprah had a show recently where she dealt with ways to simplify your life. It’s a good topic and one which bears repeating. Whether you are overspending and in debt or just have too much stuff and too many activities, the “What Can You Do Without Challenge” is a great exercise to help you get focused on what you really need. Seven days of no shopping, no spending, no wasting.

A lot of us spend and do and run around without giving it a lot of thought. It’s important to take a break from the non-stop, hectic pace of our lives in order to assess where we are and what we really want. On the show, Oprah featured two families who had taken up the challenge. One family with two small children had enough food stored up to last them a year. The young mother said she shopped every day. This wasn’t exactly a hoarding situation, she wasn’t stockpiling and then throwing away perishables, it was more like the Grocery Game run amuck. She had large shelves in her food storage area and all her groceries were neatly arranged and organized. As part of her challenge, she was limited to $25 a week for perishables and had to give some of her inventory away to a needy family.

The other family featured a widowed mother with five children. She had a closet full of expensive shoes and clothes, many with the tags still attached. She owned a large home and lots of stuff but was questioning whether she’d been happier in her smaller home with fewer things. She realized she’d been assuaging the pain of the loss of her husband by buying things. She was spending $400 a week on groceries even though she and her family ate most of their meals out. She was throwing away piles of food every week. Part of her challenge was to pack up everything in her closet that still had tags attached and anything that hadn’t been worn in two months. She was limited to $100 a week for groceries and prohibited from going out to eat for a week.

Both families were to limit driving (both lived very close to their family’s schools, two blocks in one case, and yet never walked). No shopping except for their grocery allowance for an entire week. No television and no computer. The idea was to live more consciously. This is the key. We go through our lives, always moving. We run from place to place, eating, doing and spending without thought. It shows up in our over-scheduled days, our obese bodies and our maxed out credit cards.

This challenge isn’t just about spending less. A lot of us are doing that already. It’s about living with more thought. If we cannot plop down in front of the television when we get home from work, we are forced to think about what we are going to do with ourselves and our children. If we cannot pick up the phone and order a pizza, we are forced to think about what we are going to do for dinner. If we have to limit our driving, we are forced to consider walking! If we stop running for just a week, we allow ourselves the time to think about what we are doing and what we really want.

This is not a punitive change and it should not be addressed that way. Children should not be told you are taking their television away as if it’s a punishment; but that you are going to spend more time together. You should not tell yourself that you are giving up a thing; you are giving yourself the opportunity to make a better, more fulfilling life. In the case of both of the Oprah families, the children were unhappy when the rules were announced but within a couple of days were happy with the new lifestyle and were not missing the things that had been removed.

Could you take a form of this challenge? What are you doing without thought? Could you give it up?

Spinach and Feta Phyllo Pie

This recipe was a big hit when I made it for my family in Florida this past week.



Ingredients -


20 oz (600g) spinach leaves
knob Butter, plus extra for greasing
1 large red onion, finely sliced
3 oz (85g) toasted pine nuts
2 oz (55g) raisins
freshly grated Nutmeg
salt and freshly ground black pepper
8 oz (225g) Feta cheese, crumbled
3 Eggs
1/2 pkg (225g) Filo pastry (about 10 sheets)
melted Butter, for brushing

Directions -

1. Wash the spinach and lightly cook it in with a knob of butter for a few minutes. Drain well, squeeze the excess water from the spinach and then chop it.

2. Preheat the oven to 400 (200C/gas 6). Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a small frying pan and fry the onion for 5-6 minutes until lightly browned and softened.

3. Transfer the onion to a large bowl and add the chopped spinach, pine nuts, raisins, some nutmeg. Stir together, season well and set aside to cool. Stir in the feta cheese and eggs once the mixture has cooled.

4. Lightly butter a 9 x 11 (30 x 23cm) shallow-sided non-stick baking tin. Press 4 sheets of pastry into the tin, brushing well with melted butter between each layer and allowing the excess to hang over the sides.

5. Spoon in the spinach mixture and level off the surface. Fold over the pastry edges and top with a further 5 sheets of buttered filo pastry. Lightly score the top of the pie and bake for 45-50 minutes, or until a deep golden brown.

We halved this recipe in Florida and used an 8x8 dish. I served 6 people and everyone wanted more!