Day 26 & 27: Running Low (3 Moms)

Nearing the end of our 31 day challenge my budget is running low. I have needed to make adjustments where necessary.

I made sweet corn bread and baked beans for dinner Monday (and forgot to take pictures). I'd never used the corn bread recipe before, and I was a little…no, a lot surprised at the amount of sugar in the recipe, but I was quite hungry by the time I made dinner, so I just made the recipe as is without searching for a different recipe. The only weird thing about the cornbread was that it browned a lot on the top during baking, but it actually turned out quite tasty.

I'm not sure where I got the recipe originally as I apparently didn't record the source when I formatted it and printed it out, but I thought I'd go ahead and post it, because it did taste pretty good. If I make it again, I may not use the same recipe, however, because the amount of sugar just seems a little high to me. If you recognize where this recipe might have come from, please let me know and I'll add proper attribution. I've searched online a bit, but I can't find out where I found it. Kate…Toni…is this your recipe somehow?

Sweet Corn Bread

3/4 c. cornmeal

1 1/4 c. flour

1 c. sugar (that's a LOT of sugar!)

1/2 tsp. salt

3 tsp. baking powder

1 egg

4 T dry milk

3/4 c. warm water

1/4 c. melted butter

Combine dry ingredients. Combine liquid ingredients. Mix together. Bake in greased 8 by 8 or 9 by 9 pan at 425 degrees for 25 minutes. Can also make muffins. Bake until light brown. Dry milk + warm water = 7/8 cup milk.

Last night I made PB & J for myself, and the rest of the family ate Jerah's pizza for dinner. My originally planned baked potatoes didn't happen since my schedule got messed up because of a storm and I had to go into town over dinner time.

While in town, I picked up our last groceries at Wal-Mart and we are now officially down to 8 cents left in our May grocery budget. Since my grocery budget was originally intended for all food, paper products, and basic household supplies, I did have to fudge a little bit and purchase some outdoor supplies (ant killer and wasp spray) with money that had been designated for clothing for the month instead of our grocery money since there wasn't enough in the food budget. Next month I may just set aside a small amount specifically for outdoor upkeep since we're hitting the summer months and I don't want to drain my grocery budget too much.

I've been asked to make dinner for a new mom just home from the hospital this Thursday, and since I only have enough chicken left for one meal this month, I'll be making chicken and gravy in the crock pot and add it to some rice to take to her. We'll make baked potatoes and beans on Thursday instead of our chicken meal, and then we'll have pizza as planned on Friday. I do still have 8 oz. of sausage left over, so we'll probably end up making sausage gravy and biscuits Saturday morning, too.

This morning I have to come up with something to bring as a fingerfood for our end-of-the-year homeschool party. I'm thinking I'll make some kind of breadsticks, but I haven't decided yet.

With budget running low I have learned how to be very creative. Is this a new life skill?

Head on over to Toni's and Kate's to see how their last week of May has been going.