We're very lucky for the most part that our kids don't ask for snacks and toys in the checkout aisle. Well, not in earnest. They are at an age now that they notice these items and they will mention them to me but since we've never started the habit of buying them they don't expect me to do anything about it.

The exception is the Farmer's Market. I let the girls help pick out our purchases during the CSA season at the Market and I see no reason to change now that the season is over. Well, except that it's real money so I have to be prepared with actual currency before we go shopping.

The good news is that these impulse purchases are for things like eggplant and raspberries. Isn't that amazing! My kids are begging me - yes, begging me for eggplant. Mind you, they haven't begged me to eat it yet:) but they know what it looks like and they wanted to take it home. I figure that's the best first step to getting them excited about eating it and there's something tremendously cool about that.

It's time to try meal planning again.

You're not surprised are you? I usually post something like this every four or five months and my efforts last a few weeks at best. I know this, too. I recognize the pattern.

So, what's different about this attempt? Well - it's a multi-prong focus using tips from Erin Chase's The $5 Dinner Mom Cookbook: 200 Recipes for Quick, Delicious, and Nourishing Meals That Are Easy on the Budget and a Snap to Prepare and then populated with recipes from said cookbook, some family favorites, and other internet sites.

What exactly is this two-prong attack? I'll tell you but remember that it sounded better when I called it a 'two-prong focus' or whatever I just wrote. Erin, the $5 Dollar Dinner mom, talks about starting out with each night of the week already dedicated to a specific type of meal. We used this concept for a while when we had Taco Tuesdays, but now I'm expanding it so that my plan looks something like this:

Monday: Pizza
Tuesday: Breakfast for Dinner or Trip to Costco
Wednesday: Crockpot
Thursday: Pasta
Friday: Chicken
Saturday: Leftovers

I took out my blank template, wrote in the theme for the night and then began deciding what to make. I'm taking into consideration seasonal offerings especially since this is the first week of our CSA for the year. I also need to be realistic about what everyone will eat. I'm not about making more than one meal for the family so there needs to be enough available to everyone so that they can each be satisfied.

So far I have two weeks planned out and my hope is that I'll be able to stay a week ahead. I'm also hoping that this will make the remaining few weeks of school easier to handle because life sure isn't going to get simpler on it's own.

There's my plan. We'll see how it goes. If you don't hear anything that might be good news - or it might mean there's a need for another plan. If you have your own meal planning system and have something that really works for you, let me know. I have no trouble incorporating additional aspects into my new plan!

Finally there are no apples in my house. Whew!! But it took fierce determination and a lot of time, patience, and recipe help from some friends.

So just how many apples met their match? Well, I couldn't rightly tell you except to say that I bought 40 pounds of gala apples from my CSA - which gets them from an organic orchard near Charlottesville. Yep, I needed to debit my account quickly and large purchases like apples are the easiest way to do it.

At first I started out making applesauce and apple butter. I love both of these but Comfort and Joy won't eat either one so I don't make but so much. Some of the applesauce got repurposed into applesauce bread which I then took to a variety of social functions - a party, church, and used for a small group meeting at our house. I'm pretty sure this would freeze well but I haven't tried it yet.

But I still had a LOT of apples. So I made more apple butter and I cut several dozen into slices and flash froze them to store in the freezer for use in our Thanksgiving Apple Pie. I learned last year that a one gallon Ziplock bag of apples works for my recipe.

And yet there were more apples. I put out a call to some friends on an email loop and someone suggested apple cider and I thought they had lost their ever lovin' mind. Then I did some research - mosty confined to a quick Swagbucks search and learned that while you could invest in a press and yada, yada there was way to make apple cider in your kitchen with just items that I had on hand.

I will say that the cider doesn't taste like store bought, or even what you might get at a fair, likely because I only had one type of apple. I'll also tell you that I used the remaining 30 apples and ended up with 1.5L of apple cider. It was a great way to use up the apples and I'm glad that I have a new skill but if you're really interested in doing this you're going to need a LOT of apples. And invest in the cider press. Using the food processor worked for a small batch but if I were going to do this often I might think about something more efficient.

That's our apple adventure from this past month. Do you have interesting ways to get through bountiful produce at your house?

Most gardens are just beginning to push their way out of the ground but we're lucky enough to be eating more greens than Popeye right now!

How has this happened? Have I stumbled on some magnificent gardening version of the island on Lost that allows veggies to grow in variable plot lines? No, I paid a farmer to grow them for me.

Once again this year we've joined a local CSA and bought a share of a farm. Many CSAs give you a steady share of the yield all through the harvest but ours allows us to pick and choose what we want to 'buy' with our credit. I like this method because we have fewer dead veggies in the crisper at the end of the week but it does require that we stretch ourselves sometimes.

This week we went to the 17th Street Farmer's Market to pick up our veggies and Comfort announced to Farmer Charlie that she wanted rutabagas. Seriously. Now, I'm pretty sure she heard about rutabagas from watching 'Olivia' on Nick, Jr. and that she doesn't actually know what one is but she was ready to get one. Farmer Charlie said he didn't have any but he'd like one, too, and he talked to her about them while we picked out lovely heads of lettuce, bags of spinach, and a bunch of radishes. Then she points at the chives and declares that we should try them because they are pretty. And they are with their lovely purple flowers.

Finding a CSA isn't hard although at this time of the year many may not have shares left. Check Local Harvest for CSAs in your area. Also, you can also find farmer's markets listed as well. If you can't have veggies fresh from your own garden buying veggies grown locally is the next best thing and definitely a Cool Idea!

I had the great fortune to buy 40 pounds of organic Granny Smith apples for $25 last week and jumped at the chance. We all know that price doesn't come around every day. Of course the next problem was - what to do with them.

1. We pulled out the nicest and smallest for Comfort and Joy to eat. I say 'smalles' because these are lovely BIG apples. Most of them are bigger than both of my fists put together. The girl love apples and good, fresh fruit is expensive this time of the year so this is a nice treat.

2. I peeled, sliced and flash froze about 10 lbs. This fit in two gallon zip freezer bags and I'll use these for pies and for baking.

3. I made the Once a Month Mom Apple Streusel Muffin recipe, in it's full form, TWICE. The first batch is entirely mini-muffins for the girls because my toddler trial shows that they are more likely to eat the entire muffin if the good streusel topping is closer to the muffin. The second batch is two-thirds full-sized muffins which I'll used for book group and 1/3 mini-muffins for Comfort and Joy.

4. Applesauce! I've already have four quart put in the freezer from two batches of apples done in the crockpot. This recipe was easy - I filled the crockpot with apples - about 12 - and set it on low for 2 hours until they fell apart. Stir and allow to cool. I'd do more but Comfort isn't eating it and Joy doesn't need more fruit in her diet - if you get what I mean.

5. And I still have more apples!! Seriously. There's still about 8-10 lbs probably. So, I'm thinking apple butter.

I know that certain apples are better for making certain things but at this point I want to make sure I use these before they get mushy. Granted my kitchen is chilly [~65 degrees] but these apples won't stay crisp forever.

So, if you have any ideas for easy, inexpensive and easy to save things that I can do with these apples I'd love to hear it.

Kinda sounds like the election cycle doesn't it? I assure you that it's nothing so prolonged.

Remember at the beginning of the month I thought that maybe I could go this whole month without grocery shopping except for perishables. I promised check-ins for accountability so here I am.

I did add to the stockpile a bit last week and here's everything I bought:

• Worcertershire sauce was on sale/ with a coupon for something like $.54 for an 8 oz. bottle. That'll last us for many cookouts and through our winter of homemade barbecue brisket.
• Also, there was a great deal on Huggies at Kroger. I snagged as many as I had coupons for - which I think was 4 packs of diapers.
• We also bought 4 gallons of milk, 1 double pack of eggs, and some bananas at Costco.

So, this is all that we've bought. We do continue to go to the Farmer's Market to make our weekly CSA pickup but this isn't new money spent. This was money spent last year.

Sure another trip to Costco will happen this weekend for milk but that's life with two toddlers. In fact, DH will be making that trip this week since I'm going out of town. They'll probably get a rotisserie chicken while they're there or grab a hot dog but I'll cut them the slack.

Stay tuned for more about our month of little or no shopping. We're half way there!

It's been a while since I've checked in with how I've been doing on my resolutions. There's just been so much else to talk about. I hope you've been able to see how it all connects though. But, in the spirit of accountability, here is a point-by-point post:

Here, again, were my resolutions:

1. Do a better job with coupons and pantry stockpiling.
2. Continue to find creative ways to cut expenses
3. Meal planning/ smart planning
4. Increase my income as a stay-at-home parent
5. Find ways to live smarter in the balance between frugality and the environment
6. [not sure yet but I feel like there's something still there to be explored - so I'm leaving room for one more]

So, #1: I'm still using The Grocery Game and according to the Kroger check out slip I'm averaging 45-50% off of my bill using coupons/ in-store discounts. It's not as great as seasoned, hard-core couponers but it's working for us right now. As for stockpiling we're doing great on Goldfish crax, TP, canned fruit, canned tomatoes, canned beans, and other assorted items we used less frequently.

#2: Cutting expenses has been harder since we'd already done a good job weeding through expenses in the past year but Cable gets nixed this month. The weather is nicer an we'll be spending more time together as family so no sense paying for staying in and watching TV. That'll save us $80/ month. I did notice that my newspaper subscription went up so I need to check out alternatives and see if there's a less expensive option. If not, decide if the savings at the grocery is worth the expense of the newspaper.

#3: Meal Planning/ Smart Planning: We definitely don't go out at the drop of a hat any more. I'm proud of that. I still don't have a handle on finding foods that Comfort and Joy will eat on a regular basis - other than pasta, chicken nuggets, hot dogs, quesadillas, etc - but then again they are toddlers. I've even toyed with putting the weekly menu plan here on the page so that it keeps me honest but then I'd really have to be ready each week and some weeks it's just not that well planned out;)

#4: This month I've had several good Mystery Shops!! I just finished 2 grocery store shops this week so I got some free groceries!! Two weeks ago I had a different kind of shop. It was a revealed shop, where I went in and checked out how the store had the products placed. I made under $10 for 15 mins work but it all helped. Also, I cashed in some points from My Points and Opinion Outpost. The survey points paid in cash and it was enough for the babysitter the day I got my haircut. The MyPoints paid in gift cards so I'll have enough for a good book from B&N and lunch at Panera. These are the ways that I've traded my time for money. Time I have while I sit with the kids and money I need:)

#5: It turns out that I think I'm more in tune with things in the environment than I thought I was. This isn't a bad thing. I've enjoyed the seasonal shift that meant that I had more time to do laundry and I've enjoyed that the Farmer's Market is open and the CSA is providing us with yummy good stuff. This week we opted for carrots that had gotten caught in a freeze. They aren't pretty since they split open but they'll taste just as good in a salad and they were half off. Comfort and Joy are pretty easy to please when it comes to things like this.

And now we're in the middle of May. Books are being read. Dinners are being cooked. Kids grow up. School is almost done. It's all amazing and definitely Cool. Hang on with me because we're almost half way through the year.

Here’s a Cool Idea that couples my love of Books with something close to the Cool Idea of the CSA we belong to. Barbara Kingsolver’s book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle is about her family’s decision to eat locally for one year. This wasn’t an overnight decision for them but an enhancement of many of their previous life choices. One of the most significant choices they make is to leave their main home in Arizona to live full-time at their summer home in Southwest Virginia. They’d been making preparations for several years but still it was an adjustment to move from the arid southwest to the agricultural/ Applachian land in which they settle. They plant the garden, set the rules to eat by – to buy nothing that isn’t grown/ produced within their county and stick to the plan for one year.

The book follows their work month by month through the year. To me, it’s like being in school but more fun. I loved ready about how “I” could do things for myself if I just put my mind to it. Had I ever thought about the fact I could make my own cheese or yogurt? Of course not. Those things come from stores in my world. They had to because no one was producing them locally. Had I thought of canning my own tomatoes? No, I didn’t even have tomatoes except the ones that came in my farm box each week and I was still at the point of trying to consume them before they went mushy instead of putting them away for the winter.

I loved the pacing of the book. There are stories of their work along with essays and recipes. I did try the one for Swiss chard but I hesitate to tell you how it turned out. Let’s just say there was user error. The anecdotes about trying to get the turkeys to have sex or getting seeds out of the melon in Italy are unexpectedly entertaining and kinda remind me of listening to stories my grandmother might have told – if I had been old enough to understand what she was talking about.

Is this a Cool Idea? Absolutely! I’ve talked about this book to everyone with ears. In fact, I make a poor religious evangelist despite the fact I was raised Baptist but this is a book that I have practically handed out to strangers on street corners. Check out your library. It’s fantastic and beautifully readable.

"Fridays at the Farm" is a short documentary by writer/ director Richard Hoffman about his family's experience when they joined a community-supported farm. The documentary is part of the Green Series on the Sundance Channel. To take a look at this 24 minute film enter the password fridaysscreener. And if you're still looking around for a way to get involved with locally don't forget about Local Harvest.

Here's another opportunity to take part in the American political process. Voting for the White House Farmer is open until January 31st. You can, of course, vote for whomever you choose because this is a free country. However, if you are undecided I'd like to lobby for your vote - the co-owner of the CSA that I belong to - Charlie Collins of Victory Farms - has been nominated. This would be a great opportunity for Community Supported Agriculture to be placed front and center. You can only vote once but you can pass it around to any and all. Thank you for your support.

You might think it's too early to start to think about your garden but the seed catalogs are already in my mailbox and that means - IT'S TIME!!! Woo-hoo!! Think about those juicy tomatoes and crisp cukes and - wait a minute, I have a confession. I really, really would like to be one of those people that have a garden. Two things stand in the way. First, we have about two square feet of backyard and that's on purpose. Secondly, I'm really bad with plants. I kill them. Truly. Right now I'm looking over at the plants that I've brought inside for the winter and they are in sorry shape. Poor things. 

So what does a plant-killing, non-gardener do for fresh summer veggies? You join a CSA. CSA, or Community Supported Agriculture, is a farm in which you receive a share of the weekly harvest through the growing season. Generally, you pay for your share up front when the grower needs the money for seeds, maintenance, etc., and then over the course of the season you share the harvest with the other members.  Just like all aspects of farming there are risks - extreme weather could adversely impact the harvest, but our experience- even this past year - in which our state was in an official drought was with a plethora of produce and some weeks with a box that was so heavy it definitely needed two hands to carry.

What are some of the drawback to joining a CSA? Cost. In our area the range is $500-675 for the 20-30 week season. Also, shares are limited due to small farm sizes. That's why this post is being written in January! If you are interested, start looking now. Shares in popular CSAs may already be sold by this time of the year and wait lists will be starting to form. 

What is the bonus of joining a CSA? I will spend next to nothing on vegetables all through the summer. Seriously. We will work hard to eat from our share and let nothing go to waste. Unless, there is a very bad harvest all summer long we'll have fresh organic vegetables that are free to us from May to October.

Why is this a Cool Idea? Because local farming is always a good idea - as a way of life and as a way of providing good and nutritious food that doesn't travel all the way across the country to reach us. Besides, I like the idea that there are farms willing to do the work and not use pesticides to farm responsibly, thinking about what the land will need in the future and not just what we need now.

It's also a Cool Idea to keep a variety of veggies in the Food Chain and not allow producers to allow a handful of varieties of tomatoes or corn or beans to be cultivated. Varieties exist for a reason and so do those unusual veggies that are usually relegated to the back rack of your grocer's produce shelf. Sadly, kohlrabi has been known not to make it out of my crisper alive. I just can't fathom what it tastes like - it reminds me of the Sandman from Star Wars - but I can appreciate that it has a place in our food supply.

Is this a Cool Idea for you but the cost is out of reach? Split a share with another family. That's what we do. Not only does it keep the expense more manageable but when the bounty of midsummer production arrives and the box contains 3 lbs of potatoes, 5 lbs of tomatoes,  and I don't want to count how many cucumbers we got in one week - in addition to the handful of yellow squash, peppers, and other lovely veggies - we split it up and half of it went to someone else's home. It also works well if there are veggies you don't enjoy. Luckily our friends enjoy eggplant. They ate our eggplants. We ate their cucumbers. I think it was an even trade in the end - purple for green:)

How do you find a CSA in your area? Visit Local Harvest and click on CSA and type in your zip code. You can find all kinds of locally produced products that are available from this list. We have friends who buy their meet, eggs, and fruit locally as well as their summer veggies.  It depends on what's seasonal where you live, but give it a look. It may surprise you and it's definitely a Cool Idea.