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In cheap eats

Easy Marinara

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Hello! Tomatoes are easily one of my favorite things! I love fresh tomatoes, canned tomatoes, tomato salads, soups and sauces! Recently uncooked tomatoes have been giving me some sort of weird heartburn, so I have been cooking my tomatoes in different ways so I still get my “fix”. Since I also love pasta, an easy roasted tomato marinara seemed like just what I needed to make. This is a super affordable post which is surprising given that we’re using ten fresh tomatoes, and while you can definitely buy cans of tomato sauce for cheaper, but honestly this was so delicious that it felt fully worth the extra money. I also used a can of tomato sauce to make my roasted tomatoes go further so keep that option in mind as well! Roasted Tomato Marinara and Spaghetti $0.92 per serving or $5.50 for six  Ten tomatoes (five romas and 5 vine ripened)…

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In cheap eats

How to: Make Chicken Stock

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Hey guys! I wanted to do a quick post about how I make my chicken stock for zero dollars! This sounds crazy, I know, but I take rotisserie chicken carcasses from family members and friends, herbs from mine and my mum’s herb gardens, the ends of my veggies (I freeze them when I chop them up) and regular pantry staples. Even if you don’t have access to free chicken carcasses or herbs, keep in mind that chicken carcasses are food waste you’d throw out otherwise. A rotisserie chicken is often cheaper than a roaster chicken! Not only do you get 4 meals (or so) from it, you can make stock which can be the base of other meals as well. I like to make my stock in my crock pot. I love that I can turn it on and (mostly) forget about it. I put it on high for 4-6 hours…

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In Affordable Decor

How I Spent $660 to Furnish and Decorate my Living Room

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Hey all! I’m really excited to be writing this post today.  I have been waiting for the right moment to show you all my living room decor and I think this is it! I’ll start by saying,  I spent a grand total of  $660 furnishing and decorating this space.  While it is NOT complete by any means (I want to add a cosy rug to help dampen noise echo,  organize my TV stand better,  and get a piece of art for above the TV), I think it looks great and I’m so happy and proud of how its turned out. So how did I spend so little?  Well let me tell you first what I actually bought in here! The coffee table ($315, made by a local craftsman),  lamps ($160, Costco),  small chairs (second hand, $60), patterned pillows (16.95 x’s 2, grey pillows ($12.97 x’s 2) and side tables ($65 total at Homesense)…

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In cheap eats

How to: Freezer Bacon and Cheese Egg Wraps

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Hey all! This post is about one of my favorite recipes for the freezer to date- bacon and cheese egg wraps!  Honestly, making up a bunch of these and freezing them for myself is one of the nicest things I’ve done for myself in a long, long time! It’s an awesome way to have a quick and easy breakfast that really satisfies you if you have a long morning of meetings or running errands. If you are a non-pork eater, you can easily substitute a turkey bacon alternative. I have even heard of vegan friends making tofu and veggie scramble and a non-lard tortilla (yes, a lot of traditional tortillas are made with lard but not so much for store bought). The trick to executing this well and not having soggy tortillas is to cook everything and then cool it down to room temperature before assembling your wraps. This is also…

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In cheap eats

Burst Tomato Penne with Kale

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Hi! Today’s post is a quick and easy vegetarian dinner option that is so, so delicious and super healthful. This recipe is pretty close to my spaghetti squash with tomatoes and zucchini, but it’s a bit more indulgent and not gluten free. The combination of tomatoes, tomato paste, kale, minced onions and garlic, italian herbs and fresh basil is simmered with parmesan rind and then topped with grated parmesan and fresh basil. If you follow me on Instagram then you know this photo is one of my most liked, and it’s of this recipe! Burst Tomato Penne with Kale $0.80 per serving, $4.81 for 6 1/4 onion- $0.06 ~one pint of grape tomatoes -$2.47 1/2 a can of tomato paste- $0.33 previously frozen kale- $1.28 basil leaves- $0.67 Pantry items: parmesan rind (ask for it at the cheese counters, sometimes it’s free), salt, pepper, garlic, italian seasoning Start by chopping your…

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In favorites

June 2016 Favorites!

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Hey Guys! I wanted to try something new and record a video for a post, and I thought a monthly favorites post would be great to test it out on. I tried to record this about a week ago and it was a miserable failure, so I recorded and uploaded to Youtube a second attempt which didn’t upload well (choppy), so here I am a bit (lot) late with a third attempt! [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDHdvKJVc_k&w=420&h=315] Beauty and Skincare: Cerave Bioderma True Match Smashbox Household Items: Egg Carton (different) Egg Carton (exact) French Press (Similar) Clothing: Black Dress (similar, also Le Chateau and Canadian made) Joe Fresh two layer top (exact) Lastly, my book for the month! Please remember that if you buy this book, a copy goes to someone who is economically disadvantaged so please, please check out http://www.leannebrown.com/. ALSO, if you are in a tight place financially, you can…

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In cheap eats

What’s In Season for Produce

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One of the easiest ways to keep your food bill affordable is to shop what’s in season. While it’s pretty easy to crave a fresh, green salad in January, when you’re trying to keep your food costs under control, you have to think about when and how to indulge those cravings if you want to make serious cuts to your food bill. Here in Canada, we are so lucky to live in such an agricultural country. At this time of year you can find all sorts of things that haven’t had to be shipped from another area of the world and don’t have that added cost. I love visiting different farmers markets because what is available is by default what is in season. I can’t always afford to buy anything at the farmer’s market (it was $5.50 for a pound of peas this weekend!), but it is a great fact finding…

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In Lifestyle

Affordable Decor – Entertaining Dishes

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Now that I no longer have a roommate, I feel a bit more comfortable investing in pieces I love for the kitchen and entertaining. When people come into my house, I think there’s always quite a bit of surprise when they realize this girl that loves bows and sweet dresses has a home styled in an industrial-rustic way, with loads of black pieces and natural wood anchoring a bright, open space. I love this aesthetic because it allows me drop in mirrored pieces, touches of pink and pattern without my house screaming “single female”. Everything is functional, comfortable and durable for when I want to have a few friends over. When I bought my home I didn’t have much in the way of decor, and expensive projects like custom blinds sucked up all of my “fun” money I had laying around. When I realized things like dishes and glasses were being…

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In cheap eats

35 Day No-Buy Recap!

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Hello! So my 35 day no-buy for groceries was officially over on Friday, but I didn’t go grab groceries until Sunday so here I am now, giving a bit of a recap on how 35 days of not buying groceries went. It went surprisingly well. In retrospect, I don’t know that I could have chosen an easier month to have a no-buy on, because there was both of my parent’s birthdays, Father’s Day, a family dinner in Red Deer, and a family dinner with friends that took care of five dinners, plus loads of opportunities to visit my parents, and my mum is the best and always feeds me. So there’s a bit of cheating there but it doesn’t entirely wipe out the significance of not buying any groceries from May 25th to July 3rd. So did I buy any groceries? Yes and no. I bought shrimp on sale…

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In Cheap Housekeeping

How-to: Keep your house cool

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I live in a three story townhouse, and my bed is on the third floor. Sometimes, it can get so, so hot and I’m tempted to turn tail and hide at my parent’s place, where I not only sleep in the cool basement but also they have air conditioning! While that compulsion isn’t so bad on the weekends when I don’t have to get too much done, during the week that means I have to get up about 30 minutes earlier and spend time packing work clothes/makeup to get ready in the morning, as well as drive into my house on the highway to tuck my car into the garage before walking to the bus station. It’s a lot of variables to add to an already hectic average work day, so I really try to keep my house cool to avoid doing that, as much as I love midweek visits…

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