My first "Use What You Have"

Children are the masters at using what they have on hand to accomplish their goals and dreams.

Have and empty wall that needs decorated? No problem! Only have a stripey skirt, dotted shirt and beaded necklace to wear? No problem! (don't tell- the fashion secret is that the sparkly, fancy shoes pulls the whole outfit together!) Hungry but "can't" find the fruit and veggies in the fridge but know where the cookie jar is? NO Problem!!!

We could learn a lot from children.

Last night I was thinking about various opportunities I had to use what I had this Christmas when I remembered what was probably my first "use what I had" Christmas gift.

I was about 8 or 9 years old and of course had no money for Christmas gifts. But I really wanted to do something really nice for my mother. I wanted to get her a jewelry box. I still remember trying to figure out how I would make this happen on my non-existent budget. And then it came to me. I could make her one! Brilliant!

(By the way- I did think this dramatically when I was a little girl. I've like totally grown out of that phase.)

I gathered my supplies- a couple of toothpaste boxes, a baking soda box, a small gift box, purple silky fabric from my mom's stash and a stapler. I cut and stapled all the little boxes together to make various compartments and then staples the purple silky fabric to cover the whole thing. As an added touch, I made a bracelet out a rubber band and some beads from my craft stash. I wrapped it up and put it under the tree.

I don't remember my mom opening the gift, that Christmas but I know she was sweet enough to not say anything and she kept it for many years. When I was in her drawers, I'd see it and remember how I had made it especially for her.

Now that I'm a mom, I know I will receive these kinds of lovely, wonderful gifts from Bram and it makes me feel so blessed.

Love you Mom!

(photo- Women's Day)

Spaghetti with Eggs and Bacon (but without the bacon!)

(Hmmm...somehow most of this still applies to this barely Italian girl. Must be very strong genes!)

A few months ago I was in the grocery and spied some Italian sausage on Manager's special. And I love, love, love Italian food so I picked it up. Score! But when I got home I realized it was not simply Italian sausage but it was HOT Italian sausage. Yuck! I dislike hot sausage as much as I love Italian food.

So what's a girl to do?

Shove it in the back of the freezer and never fix the meals you "planned" it with, that's what.

Fast forward to today. My husband asked what was for dinner with a look that let me know he had something in mind already. I asked what he was thinking and he said "what about Spaghetti with Eggs and Bacon?" (one of his absolute favorites). I told him I didn't have any bacon. But jokingly, I also told him I still had that horrible spicy Italian sausage in the back of the freezer. (Sounds appealing, doesn't it?)

But it got me thinking, "what if I did use the horrible Italian sausage in Spaghetti with Eggs and Bacon? Would that be so terrible?" So I decided to use what I had!

The cast of characters:

Fresh Eggs
Kraft Parmesan Cheese (the shredded kind is super tasty but this is what I had on hand)
Spaghetti
Salt
Pepper
and of course...
Hot Italian Sausage!

Step One: Boil water for the pasta and cook the sausage (I cut mine up and fried it in a pan)

Hmmm... Looks good already! I chopped it up a bit more after it was cooked through.

Step Two: Scramble one egg per person (I did two), add the Parmesan Cheese, salt and pepper. I usually guess on the salt and pepper and add more at the table. Cook the pasta until it's al'dente. Note: You will need to time the cooking sausage, boiling noodles and scrambling eggs to be done at the same time.


Now here comes the part that will either amaze you or totally gross you out. You might question my sanity and never want to open this blog again. Or you could just pretend you're Rocky Balboa, getting ready for the fight of his life and end up eating some of the yummiest pasta ever. (I think you know where this is headed.)

Step Three: Turn off stove. Drain cooked pasta, and dump IMMEDIATELY back in hot pot. Put the sausage and scrambled eggs in the same hot pot. Stir until the eggs look creamy but not chunky. You must do this step VERY QUICKLY!

In case you didn't catch that: you don't cook the eggs- the hot pasta and leftover heat from the pot cook them. The first time I made this recipe I was pretty scared and over cooked the eggs. I might as well have made scrambled eggs and bacon then threw it in the pasta pot! Not so good.

This way is much better, I promise you.


Even Bram thinks so!

Use what you have!

Do you find yourself heading towards the kitchen with the intentions of whipping up something nice only to find you are missing an ingredient?

Have you ever seen a REALLY cute craft on another blog but when you try to recreate it yourself, it only ended in despair because of lack of supplies?

Do covet those super cute, artsy-looking, Anthropologie-style clothing but would have to sell your first born to get them?

What about your home or apartment? Do you feel like having a prettily decorated place is out of your reach?

Are you feeling resentful or discouraged because your budget is preventing you from living "The Good Life"?

Well then, welcome my friend!

This blog came about after the last minute decision to host my family's Christmas (all 11 of us!) at my home for four days. It was the first time we had hosted anything like this and it came at a "bad" time for us. You see, my husband had just started law school a few months before and our income had shrunk considerably. It also came at the end of the month, which as we all know is when we have the least amount of money in our bank accounts! But I thought it would be so much fun, we plowed ahead with the idea!

Throughout the planning of the holiday season, when faced with a decision to buy something, I found myself saying "what do I have already?" or "what's in my cupboards that will do the trick?". We even suggested using this principle towards gift-giving. So after a VERY successful Christmas (which did not break the bank!) I thought there should be a place where we can all encourage one another with our frugal resourcefulness.

So this blog was born!

I'll be happy to post as many of my projects as possible but I want to hear from y'all too! If you have a great project that you worked on, let me know and maybe we can arrange for a guest post!

This is going to be so much fun, I can feel it in my bones!

(photo-CountryLiving)