It's That Time of the Year! INDIANA STATE FAIR!

Doesn't this look like fun! These pictures are of yours truly and my HHBL back when we used to participate in 4-H.  This is just ONE of many sights you might encounter at the Indiana State Fair!

I love the Indiana State Fair!  It is a family tradition to go at least one day each year to sample the tasty food and see the exhibits.  This year, the Indiana State Fair runs from August 6- August 22. 

You can look forward to some Family Fair Days with GOODEness Gracious 'N Friends at the Indiana State Fair! So what is this all about? My bloggy friends and I will be personally visiting the State Fair and then blogging about some amazing activities sponsored by the Indiana Soybean Alliance!

To make things even better, the Indiana Soybean Alliance has given me and all of my bloggy friends 4 Indiana State Fair tickets each to giveaway on our blogs to our readers! Woo Hoo!  This Frugalista loves anything FREE!

Here is how you enter:
* Each person is eligible for 2 entries: 1 entry for following this blog and 1 entry for commenting.
* Please leave a separate comment below for each entry. (If you are already a blog follower, please just post a separate comment to let me know!
* On August 10, I will choose a winner of 4 Indiana State Fair Tickets courtesy of the Indiana Soybean Alliance.

Guess what?  You can check out these other participating blogs for additional chances to win!

2 Maids a Milking

3 Kids and Lots of Pigs

Alarm Clock Wars

A Latte With Ott A

Beyer Beware

Fence Row To Fence Row

Goodeness Gracious

Gal in the Middle

Going Jane

Lifes a Highway and Mine's Surrounded By Corn

Off the Cuff and Indypendent

Another Special Birthday

Happy Birthday To You! Happy Birthday To You! Happy Birthday Dear Gal in the Middle, Happy Birthday to You.

Believe me, I'm sure Gal appreciates my rendition of Happy Birthday over the Internet as opposed to over the phone.  We were not blessed with the the gift of harmony or rhythm in our family.

Anyways, today is my sister's birthday.  Be sure to wish her a Happy Birthday over at Gal in the Middle.

You might notice that it has only been a few days since my own birthday passed.  Gal insists that she enjoyed her first 7 birthdays best because she didn't have to share them with her bratty little sister.  However, I am sure that her 8th birthday was the best of all.  I mean what could be a better birthday gift than a little sister to pick on? 

Happy Birthday Sis! 

Happy Birthday!

Today is a special day! Twenty-five years ago today, this little baby girl was born.  Yep, she's a cutie.  Guess I am biased since this is a picture of me!  So what exactly am I hoping for my birthday?  I guess I have two bithday wishes.  1. I hope that I am a good momma when the day comes.  2. I hope that the baby girl growing inside me is as blessed as I am! 

Be sure to wish Cris over at Goodeness Gracious a Happy Birthday as well!

Frugalista Shopping: Week of July 25

I stopped at my usual places this week.  Found a few good deals, but I'm still waiting on one of those amazing weeks.  I had to spend quite a bit out of pocket at CVS, but I got several Extra Care Bucks for next week.  At Walgreens, I got a lot of clearance and sale items but didn't earn much back in Register Rewards.

CVS

Total Spent: $27.67

Total Saved: $25.15

Total ECB Earned: $16.99

Best Buys:

Pampers Diaper: On Sale for $21.99 minus $2.00 coupon= $19.99 + Earned $10 ECB

Palmolive Dish Soap: On sale for $.98 minus $.25 coupon= $.73

Kotex Pantie Liners: $4.99 minus 1.00 coupon= $3.99 + Earned $4.99= BETTER THAN FREE

Arm and Hammer Laundry Soup: On sale 2/ $7.00 minus $1.00 coupon= $3.00 each + Earned $2.00 ECB

Walgreens

Total Spent: $13.45

Total Saved: $28.80

Total RR Earned: $2.00

Best Buys:

Softsoap Refill Jugs: Buy 1 Get 1 @ $7.99 minus (2) $.50 coupons= $3.50 each

M&M's: On sale for $.49 minus $.75 coupon= $.12 each

Men's trouser socks:  On clearance for $1.29

Cheez-its & Austin Crackers: 5 for $5 + earned $2.00 RR

Nutra Grain Bars: On clearance for $1.99 minus $.75 coupon= $1.24

Dr. Scholls Skin Smoother Cream: On sale for $6.99 minus $5.00 in store coupon= $1.99

Nursury Update: Gliding in Style

Our friends were nice enough to pass along this glider for the nursery.  The only thing better than buying a glider is getting one for FREE!  Guess that is the Frugalista in me!  The fabric matches the room perfectly!  I can see many nights being spent with our little lady here in this glider! 

D-Day is quickly approaching, and the whole family is excited! Zuma Girl has found her new favorite place in the house! It is a perfect spot to watch over the crib!

Yummy In My Tummy: Zucchini Pie

I have oodles and oodles of zucchini.  This week alone, I have picked approximately 20 zucchini, all being on the large (slightly obese) size.  I ran into this problem last year.  I gave away dozens from my garden. Did I learn my lesson?  Nope, I think I even planted more this year than last.  In the past week and a half, I have made 5 large and 8 small loaves of zucchini bread, 2 zucchini pies, roasted zucchini for dinner, 11 pints of zucchini pickles and this doesn't include the 9 zucchini that I am taking home to give away to my family this weekend. 

Last year, I had a co-worker pass along this Zucchini Pie Recipe!  It is phenomenal if you like a good cream pie.  It is a mix between a sugar cream and pumpkin pie, if you can imagine that. 

This pie freezes extrememly well!  Just wrap it in a layer of plastic wrap, followed by a layer of foil, toss it in a plastic zip lock freezer bag, and throw it in the freezer. 

The blogosphere has been full of talk about weight loss and diets! Well YOU are in luck! This pie can be made with fat free evaporated milk, splenda, and without a crust for a low calorie treat.

First off, you need to cook your zucchini.  Follow these easy steps!

Start off with some peeled zucchini or bare-naked ladies as I like to call them!

Dice up the bare-naked ladies into large chunks.

Boil them in water until fork-tender.

Strain the zucchini.  I press the excess water out of the chunks with a paper towel.

Now for secondary ingredients. (Disclaimer: Only one egg was harmed in making this recipe.  It landed with a lovely splat as it hit the kitchen floor!)

Mix all the ingredients in a blender!  It is almost as fun as making margharitas (almost I said)!

Pour into a deep dish pie shell!

Bake in a 425 degree oven for 15 minutes, then reduce to 325 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes.  Sprinkle with cinnamon!

 

Zucchini Pie

1 cup cooked zucchini

1 can evaporated milk

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 Tbs melted margarine

1 cup sugar

2 Tbs flour (heaping)

1 egg

Bon Appetite!

Lets Get Snappin...Green Beans That Is!

Have you ever met someone who you very quickly knew you could be friends with? Well it just so happens that we got a new manager a few months ago at the potato chip factory.  At the time, I wasn't too thrilled with having to train a newbie.  Give me a little credit: I had just gotten pregnant and wasn't feeling so hot, AND I was still trying to learn my new job, let alone train someone else.

Anyhow, she was assigned to me and luckily, she turned out to be sown from the same seed.  I often refer to her as my partner in crime (PIC) at work, and just recently she has become my canning buddy.  I am pretty sure that all the other managers make fun of us for talking about gardens and canning and these sorts of things all the time, but that is ok because we enjoy it!

Believe it or not, I hadn't ever canned green beans before so my PIC (pictured below) invited me over after work for just that reason.  Oh boy, did she work me hard.  I believe that we snapped around 13 pounds of green beans! 

That is one large bowl of green beans!

Lets heat it up...for about 5 minutes in boiling water.

The pressure is on..10 pounds for 10 minutes!

We ended up with 12 quarts total!

Did I mention that we also canned bread and butter pickles!  Canning is definately easier and funner if you find a canning buddy!