A re-post from a year ago, but great advice. Just picked up this year’s basil plant at Trader Joe’s last week for $2.99. Nothing beats fresh herbs!

Now is the time — to plant basil!

This herb is wonderful with most any Italian meal, and it is so easy to grow. Cheat, like me, buy a $2.99 plant at your nearby produce store or home warehouse outlet. Honestly, if you have no planting room, just put it in a 6-inch pot in a sunny window, and you will reap the rewards for months.

With that little bit of work, you will net fresh basil for meals, for garnish and even for fresh pesto. Basil is a fresh herb where dried is just not as good. And it’s a money-saver — fresh basil in the store is $2.79 for a small bunch. This is a great way to save money and bring your meals to a higher level. Try it out.

I use jar spaghetti sauce in a pasta meal with minced fresh basil, and it makes dinner all the more special. It’s all about the details. Try it!

I love all this talk of “stay-cations” nowadays — hell, that was my life as a kid. We had one — count ‘em one — vacation in my childhood, and that was a trip to a family reunion in that holiday hot spot of Washington state.

The worst part is I still look fondly back on it. Motels were so cool!

But let me tell you, after having been on 25+ cruises to such spots as Hawaii, Acapulco, Victoria B.C., How I miss them — and don’t tell me it’s just as much fun to stay at home.

I can wholeheartedly say that “stay-cations” don’t match a true holiday– and, frankly, suck. How I miss that toilet seat wrapped in a paper liner saying, “Sanitized for my protection.”

Discuss.

I am not a huge fan of Emeril’s live show — I mean, the audience going wild every time he adds garlic? Gimme a break.

But, his Essence spice mix is pretty darn good. It’s a mixture of garlic salt, cayenne pepper and a couple other spices. You can get two free samples of it by clicking this link.

Oh, and on the form where it asks where you heard about this offer, click “other” and then fill in www.Prohomemaker.com. Maybe Emeril willl call me and say, “Thanks”

I was chatting with my client Erika — who is the mother of twin 3-year-old boys and a 4-year-old girl — about grocery shopping the other day. She is new to using coupons, and was lamenting she has not conquered the system.

“No worries,” I told her, “It’s baby steps.” The techiniques proffered at www.Couponmom.com will teach you how to do it quickly and nearly effortlesslessly.

But there are so many ways to save without even using coupons at the store! If you are new to trying to save money at the grocery store, try some of these tactics:

It’s baby steps – You can’t turn to a mega-shopper overnight, so be patient with yourself. Chart your savings as you learn the skills, and it will give you encouragement to do more. You’re trying, and that’s what matters.

I know any time someone says “French” and “cooking,” they automatically think “complicated.”

As they say in France, “No.”

This is a simple method called mize en place, which means “everything set” or “everything in place,” depending on which web site you go to.

Bottom line? It means having everything set before you begin to cook — all vegetables diced, all spices measured, all wet measurements set. Everything ready.

I have included a photo from yesterday, when I used this method making Beef Burgundy (or in my case, Beef Cabernet). I premeasured every aspect, and prepped all the vegetables and meat. The result? The actual cooking process was like a restaurant — I was done in 15 minutes flat.

Of course, there was a half-hour prep in advance, but, guess what? You would have done this anyway! By preparing everything in advance, there was no thinking when it came to the preparation.

This is what chef’s do. A sous chef preps everything, and then the chef comes in. Why not bring this to your home, too?

Granted, I don’t do this every night, but usually on more complicated recipes. But I have also done the same just making my Sloppy Joes recipe. It makes the cooking stress-free and mindless — you just concentrate on how things look as they come together.

Worried about extra dishes — yes, there are a few more small ones. But what I do is combine spices in one bowl if they are to all be added at the same time. Many other bowls just call for a quick wipeout, and they are ready to go back in the cabinet.

Try this method sometime — yes, it puts the main work up front, but you will be amazed how quickly a dish will be ready.

Oh, and how this works in these busy times, if you prep in advance (when the kids are at school, etc) you will be able to have dinner ready to go in the oven or all ready to go in 15 minutes. Now that makes sense nowadays.

Just try it and see how calm you will be when cooking!

A kinda odd post for me today, but I wanted to share what I saw when I was showing a house yesterday. It was one of those little “prayer o’ the day” paper calendars, and I thought it had a wonderful sentiment, which was to always begin your prayers with thanks first.

I liked that, because mine lately have been, “Lord, I am tired — just listen to me for awhile,” or praying for a couple of my friends who are having some major health problems.

I like the thought of starting with thanks first — makes you think, “Hey, what was good today that I would like to give a salute to God for.”

Today was a very trying day workwise, but I am looking forward to going to bed tonight and finding some things to say, “Hey, thanks for this.” 

Back to our regularly scheduled programming tomorrow. 

I love recipes that are delicious and deceptively simple, and I found a new one today when I searched Allrecipes.com for the ingredients I had, a great tactic noted in this post. Penne pasta in a pesto sauce with spinach and chicken. It got two thumbs up at dinner tonight. Add a salad or French bread, and you have a meal in minutes. Also, it’s a great way to use up the chicken after you roast one using this recipe (like I did today). I think you could make it vegan by cutting out the chicken and subbing in mushroom soup, too. Honestly, less than a half hour to dinner!)

Penne Pasta with Pesto, Spinach and Chicken

Ingredients:

3 cups uncooked penne pasta
1 can Cream of Chicken soup
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup jarred pesto sauce
1 1/2 cup diced, cooked chicken
1 1/2 cups ripped fresh spinach leaves (loosely packed)

Directions:

Empty soup into medium saucepan. Add 1/2 cup milk and 1/2 cup jar pesto sauce. Stir till smooth, heating over medium heat. Add chicken and heat through.

Meanwhile, tear spinach leaves and set aside. (You may also substitute one 10 ounce package of frozen spinach, defrosted and moisture squeezed out.)

Boil water for pasta in Dutch oven. Cook pasta according to package directions.

Drain pasta and put back in Dutch oven. Put spinach leaves on top. Pour sauce over and mix.  Serve.

Makes 4 servings.

Not a lot of good samples out today, but you can get a free sample of Artisan soap by sending a note to the email address below.

Per their advertisement, “Luna soaps are made locally using only natural-source ingredients like healing honey, pure olive oil, and fresh goats’ milk, along with organic oats, almonds and essential oils.”

Sounds like a great, free bar for the powder room.

Just send an email to: info@thelunacompany.com. Put “sample” as the subject and include your shopping info in the body of the email — that’s it.

Longer post tomorrow. ProHomemaker is pooped.

Hi everyone, sorry for being quiet the last two days — lots of work.

But I had a perfect post for today when I found out my grocery store stole from me this evening.

It was funny, the total came up at checkout, and something told me it wasn’t quite right. But I continued the transaction and went home with my deals. Scanning the receipt (which I normally do to chart my savings) I discovered two errors! One purchase was a BOGO (buy one, get one free) but I got charged for both, and the second was an in-ad coupon for Reynolds foil (which I combined with a manufacturer one) and was supposed to walk out for 99 cents. Instead, the in-ad coupon scanned for half of what it was supposed to do.

Now, here is where I got ticked. I called the customer service desk at the store after I verified everything, and the person said they would be happy to refund the $2 overage. “But what about the other people who are using the same in-ad coupon?” I asked. Met with a dumb silence and another assurance that they would refund the overage.

I just wonder how many people are going to be overcharged and not notice it. I got burned by this a couple months back, when my partner signed a receipt where they charged me for gift cards at the drugstore when I was supposed to get them for free for transferring prescriptions. Too bad I didn’t look at that receipt before tossing it — cost me $75 even after I fought it through the credit card company, but I had no proof.

The lesson here is always take the time to scan your receipts, and, even better, watch as everything is rung up.

People ask me where I come up with my tips, and many I’ve been using for so long that I think everyone else knows them.

Tonight was such a case, I was making my Tuna Noodle Casserole for my Dad (whose birthday is tomorrow — technically, today). When I added the frozen peas, I sealed the 16 oz. bag with some painter’s tape and put it back in the freezer.

“Hey, a lot of people don’t know this trick,” I said to myself, and hence this blog.

I love painter’s tape, as I mentioned in this post (with many other uses in the kitchen) more than a year ago. The thing with the blue tape is you buy it for a project, and then it sits in the garage for years! Not wanting to waste it, I started calling on it for other uses.

So, the tip today is to use painter’s tape to seal bags of vegetables when you put ‘em back in the freezer. Sure, you could use twistie-ties, but you end up with a big frozen ball, taking up a ton of space. With the painter’s tape sealing method, you can re-fold it into a nice rectangular package that allows you more room in the freezer ’cause you can stack the bags or place them on the door.

It works! And it makes it so easy to reuse and reseal, with no problem at all.

OK, gotta prep the French bread to go with dinner for my Dad (made in the breadmaker — a frugal tip noted in this post). And, for those with older parents, remember, homemade meals make a great gift, as I noted in this post.

See you tomorrow!