Amanda's Attitude

I’ve moved!

Better Is Little — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 03:25:12 +0000

Being new to the “blog thing” I hastily came up with the name “Amanda’s Attitude”…I’ve since gotten more familiar with blogging and no longer feel that “Amanda’s Attitude” best suits me or my blog. So, now that I am an ole pro at blogging I’ve decided to move and change my blog page to Better is Little.

Be sure to bookmark the new address. I will leave “Amanda’s Attitude” up for awhile but eventually I will delete it from cyber space

Come and visit me at Better is Little!!

More…Please…

Better Is Little — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 17:38:15 +0000

That’s what I hear every time I make this dish. The great thing about this recipe is that it’s SOOO easy! Quick and easy suppers (that taste good too!) are a life-saver to all us busy moms. Even if this doesn’t sound very good I encourage you to try it…you might just like it. For our big family I usually double the recipe and rarely have leftovers.

Mordecai’s Chicken

2 chicken breasts, diced
1 1/2 packets dry Italian dressing
1 thin cooked spaghetti
1/2 cup olive oil
3 Tbls. soy sauce

Saute’ chicken in olive oil in large skillet. While chicken is sauteing, cook spaghetti, drain. When chicken is done add dressing and soy sauce to chicken, warm through. Add in drained spaghetti. Stir to incorporate the mixture well into the noodles. It’s a nice addition if you could sprinkle shredded Parmesan cheese over top of each individual serving!

Special thanks to Sarah Epstein and Antioch Baptist Church recipe book!

Let me know if you’ve had this before and what it was called. Leave a comment if you try it and how you varied the recipe.

Family Pictures

Better Is Little — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 21:54:08 +0000

Hey! If you haven’t done so already, check out the new updated pictures I’ve posted on my “Meet Me” page!

Our New Pet

Better Is Little — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 03:05:20 +0000

Today we saw they were giving away free puppies at Wal-Mart. I love puppies…but they cost a lot of $$ when you figure in food, shots, grooming, etc…SO we decided on a different pet…one that we found in our very own yard! FREE! And it eats so much less food than a dog and no poo in the yard!

O.K. so it’s a Black Widow…Poor things, they don’t MEAN to be poisonous…They were just created that way. They are not aggressive spiders…You just have to “give them their space”…Can’t we all be a little like that?

Oh me, oh my at the strawberries!

Better Is Little — Sat, 31 May 2008 12:18:46 +0000

Last year a lady in our church kindly bought us quite a few strawberry plants. We planted about 25 and then gave away the rest. Having heard that strawberries were hard to grow, we never bothered with taking care of the plants (protecting them through the winter, pinching off blooms or whatever your supposed to do to be a good strawberry caretaker ).

We got almost nothing the first year but we were told to expect that.

But this year we were so surprised!

We’ve had SOOOO very many strawberries! We’ve picked every other day for a few weeks now and have gotten basketfuls every time!

We’ve made strawberry ice cream…

Strawberry Yum Yum…

Strawberry Freezer Jam…

Strawberry and Whatever-Fruit-We-Had-On-Hand Smoothies…

Strawberries & Cream Oatmeal

And I will admit to sneaking a few while we were picking…

No doubt about it, I will be taking care of my strawberry patch from now on!

Frugal Friday

Better Is Little — Fri, 23 May 2008 13:55:19 +0000

Yesterday I discovered a great little used-bookstore. I had known about this bookstore years ago but a friend discouraged me from shopping there because they supposedly didn’t organize the books into categories. I did not care to rifle through hundreds of romance novels to find one good book so I never bothered to check it out. (I suppose this friend wanted to keep this little secret all to herself)

I’ve never really cared to shop at used bookstores, preferring to shop at the mega bookstores while sipping a tall Mocha. But in the last couple of years our financial situation has changed drastically, and I can no longer justify spending the money on full-price books. So I was excited when a friend told me about this little used-bookstore…that they did organize and have general categories for their books AND that I could swap my old books for new-to-me books!

Yesterday I invited myselfshe showed me around the place and told me how it works. She had even traded some old books of mine that were being donated to the thrift store to get me credit to shop! YAY! So I spent that credit, came home got Dearest, packed up more books to swap, went back (sipping on my mocha I had made at home) and swapped and got more books!

Every used book-store is different I’m sure, but our Book Cellar gives you store credit for every book you bring in. They “pay” you 1/2 of what they can sell the book for. You in turn can buy more books with your credit. It is unlike a consignment store in that you don’t have to wait until your items sell to get your credit.

As an added bonus they have FREE books that they can’t sell sitting outside under a covered walk-way! We went through those boxes and came away with several really good books and magazines.

I can tell you I will be making more trips to the Book Cellar! I’ve got boxes of books in our closets that we no longer want/need.

So I encourage you to check out YOUR local used-bookstore and see what gems you can find.

Browse through more Frugal Friday tips over at Biblical Womanhood!

Wordless Wednesday

Better Is Little — Wed, 21 May 2008 22:29:55 +0000

A simple game of charades. Any guesses?

Saving some green at the grocers

Better Is Little — Tue, 20 May 2008 16:01:32 +0000

My husband and I stopped in at Kroger yesterday and bought just a very few groceries. I was expecting everything to cost about $30 max. NOT! Our few grocery items of fruit, coffee creamer, tortillia chips etc cost over $40!
I had noticed that it seems as if cheese (any kind) has gone up at least a $1, along with other dairy products such as milk, cream, even eggs! We’ve not noticed in our home the rising cost of rice or flour, but I am almost at the bottom of my 5 gal bucket of wheat flour and will be looking for a good deal on that soon!
One media outlet stated we are experiencing the worst food inflation in almost 20 years! Another suggests giving our children soda rather than milk because it’s cheaper!? (We’ve not bought any soda in months so I don’t even know the cost but I suggest you give children a much healthier choice – WATER…would save even more $$)
Food is not the only place we’re noticing a squeeze in our budget. I am sure you all have dreaded pulling into the gas station and filling up. Here in my town gas was $3.75 for a gallon of unleaded! Wowzers! But still gas is cheaper than a gallon a milk…go figure. I was surprised however that the average American spends more on groceries than on gasoline. Households spend an average of 13% on food but only 4% on gas. While we need to budget the gas and be frugal with our trips, I think it would be wise to find ways to cut our grocery bill as much as possible.
Seeing that we can’t just boycott food (although it would hurt some of us eh!?) here are some ways I’ve compiled to help us save some green at the grocery store.

1) See my previous post Quit wasting food as well as wastedfood.com to find a wealth of interesting and informative articles on this problem.

2) Grow a garden!

3) Buy local

4) Eat less…Drink more water. Most of us mistake thirst for hunger. So, next time you get that twinge of “hunger” drink a large glass of water. A good rule of thumb is to halve your weight and drink that in ounces. Say I weighed 130 lbs ;) 1/2 that to 65 lbs, so I should drink 65 oz of water a day.

5) Don’t forget to menu plan!

6) Make foods from scratch. Bread, muffins, cookies, ice cream, salad dressings etc.

7) Avoid processed foods, buy whole foods. Whole foods fill you up more and are better for you. Processed foods cost more per ounce than whole foods.

8.) Don’t eat out.

9) Skip aisles in the grocery store. You’d be surprised at how many aisles can be skipped in the store when you cut out processed foods! Flee the temptation to walk down aisles that do not have the food items you need.

and lastly

10) Budget and carry a caculator with you. Tally your purchases as you shop. Stay within your budget. Occasionally stop, look through your buggy and ask yourself “Do I really NEED this?” We’ve returned several items back to the shelf doing this.

There are a ton more ways to save at the grocery store but these are a few that I am partial to.

New Ice Cream Recipe!

Better Is Little — Sat, 17 May 2008 12:49:33 +0000

Awhile back I posted my super easy, no ice-cream maker needed, strawberry ice cream recipe. I have since experimented with different recipes and have come up with a chocolate/peanut butter version. Oh yeah!!

Here’s the recipe:

3 egg whites
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup cocoa powder
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup peanut butter

Beat on high 3 eggs whites, sugar and vanilla for 10 minutes. Should be light an fluffy. Add cocoa powder and beat another 2 minutes.

In a separate bowl whip heavy cream on high until light and fluffy.

Fold whipped cream into egg whites. Pour into a 9 x 13 in glass dish. Dollop with peanut butter. Depending on the type of peanut butter you use you can actually sort of drizzle the peanut butter. I use all-natural peanut butter and when warmed to room temperature it can be soft and easier to work with than say Jif.

Freeze for at least 5 hours.

Delicious!

And the winner is…

Better Is Little — Fri, 16 May 2008 18:26:01 +0000

Congratulations Kari Follett! My son spelled your name wrong…OOPS!
Hope you enjoy the book!