Curried Chickpeas and Tomatoes Recipe- Vegan, Grain Free, Gluten Free, Sugar Free

This curry recipe is a very easy and cheap dish to make, but the flavor is terrific, so you don't feel like you're missing out on the expensive ingredients. You can serve it hot or cold, plain or over rice or over pasta, with chutneys or by itself, etc... It's pretty versatile. The only part of it that is time consuming is cooking the chickpeas- but I like soaking and cooking a few pounds at a time and freezing them in smaller portions to defrost for use in specific recipes. You can use canned chickpeas for this as well, it's just more expensive and less healthy.

Curried Chickpeas and Tomatoes Recipe- Vegan, Grain Free, Gluten Free, Sugar Free

Thrifty Credit Card Tips

I am really not a big proponent of credit cards. I think they get people into more trouble than is worth it, and most people don't have the self control needed to not cause themselves big financial issues with their credit cards. Freelance writer, Nancy Evans, disagrees, and has shared this guest post on why credit cards can be beneficial for frugal people, and how to use them smartly so you don't get into trouble with them. 

Just about every adult has at least one credit card. And for many, credit cards are an absolute necessity. Even if these people don’t pull out plastic on a daily basis, credit can tie them over between paychecks and provide funds in an emergency. 

Although credit cards receive a lot of flack, they are crucial to establishing a credit history, and if you need to rebuild credit, they’re also beneficial in this capacity. But there is no denying the dangers of credit cards.

Using credit cards can get expensive, and if you’re all about thrifty living, it's best to minimize money spent on interest. There are, however, ways to keep costs to a minimum.

Living in Tiny Homes with Families

Img credit: Tumbleweed Houses

There's a story in my culture about a poor man who lived in a small house with his family, and went to his mentor to ask him what to do because his family was feeling overwhelmed and claustrophobic in his small home. He was told gradually to bring in one animal at a time into his house, until he eventually had cows, a goat, and chickens in his home in addition to his family in their tiny home, and when he was finally advised to take them all out again, the house felt so spacious and comfortable for his family.

I was reminded of this story this past weekend.
My family of 5 lives in a pretty tiny home- only 484 square feet- and I sometimes wonder if we should move to a bigger place. Mostly its actually family and friends telling us that we need a bigger place, that we can't possibly be comfortable living in that size space with that many people.
We spent the weekend with my friend, Cara (yes, that same one who wrote this guest post on using bikes to save money on transportation) and it was really nice, because we've got similar outlooks on life, including a desire to live within our means and not always being out to keep up with the Jones.
I found it really amusing that Cara read my blog post on how to have guests on a budget before we came, and implemented the same tips I talked about. She did a superb job!

Cara and her husband live in an apartment that is 225 square feet. Over the weekend, it was my husband, myself, and our three kids, together with Cara and her husband in that tiny space. We were a little cramped, not much breathing room (and we slept at a neighbor's), but other than the small space, we had a really nice time.
When we got home, however, we realized just how spacious our apartment was! If we ever felt cramped here before, after the weekend, we feel blessed by how large our home is! Kind of like that man who felt how "large" his home was after removing all the animals from his shack.

Indian Spiced Cabbage Recipe- Vegan, Gluten Free, GAPS and Paleo Legal

Cabbage is one of the cheapest veggies out there, I find, making it the frugalista's best friend in the kitchen. On the other hand, cabbage bother's some people's digestive system, making it a less appealing option. But sometimes the price of cabbage wins out, and I decide to go ahead and make cabbage, and as long as we don't have too much of it, its fine.
This is a yummy recipe for Indian spiced cabbage, and it is spicy and delicious. Feel free to adjust the spiciness if you don't like heat- you can leave it out entirely, but personally I think the heat adds a lot. I serve this with red lentil dal and chutney and rice. Delish!

Its gluten free, dairy free, refined sugar free, vegan, GAPS legal, Paleo/Primal, nightshade free (if you skip the hot pepper), and just totally awesome. Perfect for practically everyone.

Indian Spiced Cabbage Recipe- Vegan, Gluten Free, GAPS and Paleo Legal

Benefits of Bulk Food Prep, Assembly Line Style, To Save Money and Time

With my life having been crazy busy and hectic, I've been discovering just how many of the frugal measures I've been doing until now require time and energy that I don't have, at least not every day. But that doesn't mean we can afford to just ditch being frugal now- not at all.
The tough part is figuring out how to do the frugal stuff in as little time and with as little energy outlay as possible.
I wrote a post recently about quick and easy frugal suppers. But sometimes you need to do more than that. Sometimes you need to spend an effort to be frugal, but streamlining your efforts so that you aren't wasting time doing unnecessary things is very important.

Henry Ford revolutionized the automotive industry and the world in general by using the assembly line to manufacture cars en masse.
Using an assembly line to make large batches of whatever it is you're making is much more time efficient and allows you to be much more frugal than making smaller, individual batches as needed.

Cold Beet Borscht Recipe- Chilled Beet Soup- Vegan and Refined Sugar Free Options

I mentioned on Facebook the other day that I was serving borscht to my family for dinner. A friend of mine wanted photographic proof of my husband and kids eating it because she said that there is no way on earth they would actually be eating borscht.
That was a funny statement, because, it happens to be that cold beet borscht is one of my kids' favorite foods, and one of my husband's favorite chilled soups.
My family is of eastern European descent, and borscht is one of our traditional foods in my culture, but we never, ever had beet borscht growing up because my dad hates beets with a passion. (He used to call eating beets "getting beet poisoning".) Meanwhile, though my mom and all my siblings loved beets, borscht was one thing that mom didn't make- she didn't do "traditional foods" very much.
So I never had borscht until I was looking into traditional foods from various cultures around the world. An elderly Russian lady that I met in the grocery store gave me her basic recipe for borscht, which I then tweaked to suit my tastes and dietary needs.
Borscht can be either hot or cold, but this is a recipe for cold borscht. (Hot borscht is not just warming this up.)
Beet borscht is a delightful chilled soup for summer.
I make mine refined sugar free and vegan, but you can make yours not vegan or with white sugar if you don't care.

Cold Beet Borscht Recipe- Chilled Beet Soup- Vegan and Refined Sugar Free Options

Homemade Fish Sticks Recipe- Gluten Free, Egg Free

The ultimate of kid junk food- fish sticks. Masquerading as a healthy food, of sorts, many feed them to their kids for supper, despite the numerous unhealthy ingredients. I mean, its understandable. Kids love fish sticks. Most kids, if you'd offer them a dinner of fish sticks with ketchup and fries, they'd be thrilled. But buying them is expensive and unhealthy, and not the way I want to go with my family. So I made my own fish sticks. No, not breaded and fried fish fillets- that's something else. These are more kid friendly, not to mention egg free and therefore more allergy friendly.

I like to serve them with homemade tartar sauce (recipe soon) or homemade healthy ketchup.

This can be more or less healthy depending on the breading you use.

Homemade Fish Sticks Recipe- Gluten Free, Egg Free

Clothes Shopping Cheaply at the Thrift Store

I needed to go clothing shopping pronto because I had some events coming up that I needed to be nicely dressed for, and couldn't wear the same nice outfit I have over and over. I could have gone to a cheap clothing store like I have before, and I would have done that if I couldn't find anything... But today I went to the thrift store and came home with an amazing bounty.

What I always had the hardest time getting cheaply had been skirts, because I was wearing a large size that was rarely carried in thrift stores, and if it was carried, was outdated or unflattering for my body. Which meant I usually paid a lot of money for skirts, full price in regular, not so cheap stores. But I needed new skirts.
I was very excited today to realize that I have gone down 2 skirt sizes! (No wonder my old skirts were falling off...) And that is despite not having lost pounds on the scale...
And now that I'm down two sizes, I'm into the range of "normal" and what is typically carried in stores, even second hand stores...

So today I scored my best deal of second hand clothing yet...

Shirts were a little harder- my upper arms are big and muscular, and my shoulders are broad, so even though I thought I'd have an easy time finding shirts, many shirts that were officially "my size" I couldn't get because my arms and shoulders didn't fit.

I love my local thrift store, because prices there range from 25-50 cents an item, and with small items like accessories, 4 for a quarter!

Here's what I got!

My IHerb Order

I just got my order from Iherb.com today! I was really excited to see two packages waiting for me, two packages of things I've really wanted for a long time, and finally arrived!
I like buying from IHerb because there's free shipping in the US and pretty cheap international shipping (though each package has a pretty low weight limit). There's a good reward system and you get $10 off your first order if you order over $40, or $5 off if you order under that amount if you use this code: LPL829. They have pretty good prices for many healthy foods, vitamins, supplements, etc... But of course, do your own price comparison before buying to make sure it's the cheapest item.

So, what did I order?

Mocha Buckwheat Crunch Recipe- Gluten Free, Vegan

When you get super picky kids devouring something made with non commonplace healthy ingredients, you know you've scored big time. And that's what happened with this mocha buckwheat crunch.
My nieces and nephews are quite picky and were coming over for the weekend, and I had no snacks or desserts to serve and wanted to make something, but had very little time before they'd arrive.
Having known about the possibility of using toasted buckwheat in place of nuts in recipes, because of my buckwheat crispies recipe, I decided to try making something with toasted buckwheat and chocolate chips (which I'd bought in bulk). One batch I made with the addition of peanut butter, the other with some coffee. And they were both huge hits, the mocha one even more than the peanut butter one, surprisingly.

I have made it many times since, when I have a little time but want something yummy and easy to make. Decimated in seconds every single time.

As for health... well, it depends on how healthy your chocolate chips are. Use healthier ones to make this healthier, or cheaper ones to keep the cost down.

Mocha Buckwheat Crunch Recipe- Gluten Free, Vegan