Trying my hand....fingers crossed!

With the uncertainty of the oilfield right now and having to really tighten our belts and stick to a very rigid budget, I have had a few ideas of how to try to save money. 

For Christmas Dave received a Brewdemon Signature Series home brew kit from his parents. It had just been sitting in out front room for the last two months. Last Sunday I decided we needed to try it out. Beer and wine will forever be a part of our home so in an effort to help cut some costs of it, I thought it would be fun to try our hand at making our own beer. Dave has done it before but this was my first time. The kit came with a pilsner which was awesome since I am not a dark beer fan.

So far it has just been sitting in the crap corner until Dave says it is ready.

The kit came with those plastic bottles in the picture but we are actually using Grolsch bottles because they are glass and have a gasket pop top.

I am really hoping it comes out good because I would like to try to have one or two homebrew batches a month!

I have grown over the last year or two my own cherry tomatoes, jalapenos, and bell peppers but I really want to expand my garden this year. Since we are going to be staying at our current home for at least another two years I am going to ground plant my seedlings this year. So far I have my green bell peppers in the ground with the jalapenos, cherry toms, celebrity toms, and cucumbers awaiting the rain/mud to subside.

I plan on buying okra and whatever else the nursery might get in that will fit in with what I have so far. The plan with the garden is to start canning. Ideally I would like to be able to can my own pickles, jalapenos, okra, tomato sauce, and apple sauce to start. When we move out to our property after we build our house my gardens are going to be well thought out and much larger than what I have here. I am just starting this adventure so any ideas/tips/suggestions would be great!

Last on the list to try my hand at is bread making. Dave and I usually do not eat a lot of bread....maybe for toast with breakfast or for an occasional sandwich but I think it would be a great skill to have as we start to grow a family. Dave's mom lent me two glass loaf pans and two books full of recipes which I cannot wait to try. Unfortunately this weekend is jam packed full of stuff all ready so my adventures will have to wait. We are having another garage sale tomorrow because we were rained out last Saturday and Dave will be home all weekend processing over 300 lbs of venison/pork for our sausage. This year we actually have an electric grinder so that should help out a ton! 

With our budget being so tight we have been eating at home almost exclusively which means I pack both our lunches. It has been a lot of fun to be able to try some different recipes that make large servings as well as know that I am really eating much better food than what I get around Alice. On the menu for Sunday was a pork roast that I will turn into pulled pork.

Not to pat myself on the back or anything but I am pretty good at making pulled pork! The bonus is watching the money stay in our checking account!