Just curious who else is living super frugal

[lazy gardener]

It CAN be laid directly on the grate, but mine is never clean enough in my opinion for that. I have a 9 x 13 rack that goes in a lasagna pan for broiling (which i never do... but I digress...) I lightly oil the rack, and put the dough on the rack, then place it on the grill. You have to watch it carefully b/c it cooks so fast. Flip the dough, so the uncooked side is face down, and add your sauce, cheese, and COOKED toppings. Let it cook until the dough is cooked and the cheese is melted. Since learning to cook pizza this way, I've found aluminum sheets that are full of 1/4" holes. They're about 10 x 15, perfect size to go on the grill. They can be found in the grilling section at Walmart. It's much easier to use these, lightly oiled, and I can rotate them to get 2 pizzas done in record time. It's important to have the sauce, cheese and cooked toppings ready to go b/c it cooks so fast. The crust is so tasty when cooked this way, and has a fantastic texture.

 

[Arielle]

It CAN be laid directly on the grate, but mine is never clean enough in my opinion for that. I have a 9 x 13 rack that goes in a lasagna pan for broiling (which i never do... but I digress...) I lightly oil the rack, and put the dough on the rack, then place it on the grill. You have to watch it carefully b/c it cooks so fast. Flip the dough, so the uncooked side is face down, and add your sauce, cheese, and COOKED toppings. Let it cook until the dough is cooked and the cheese is melted. Since learning to cook pizza this way, I've found aluminum sheets that are full of 1/4" holes. They're about 10 x 15, perfect size to go on the grill. They can be found in the grilling section at Walmart. It's much easier to use these, lightly oiled, and I can rotate them to get 2 pizzas done in record time. It's important to have the sauce, cheese and cooked toppings ready to go b/c it cooks so fast. The crust is so tasty when cooked this way, and has a fantastic texture.

OMG, this sounds like heaven! THe boys like to use the grill-- which means collecting fire wood and building a fire. Total boy entertainment-- and they can fit in some cooking lessons, too, without knowing that is what is happening!! lol

I can see needing to have the toppings all cooked, only time to warm the toppings.

 

[Arielle]

On a totoally different subject-- I have nbeen drinking green tea daily for several days now and boy is my brain up and running and not in a daze!! FIgure it is cheaper than prescription meds for ADD. Or at least without the side effects!!


THe other cheap is taking two multivitamins a day. One is not enough. ANd keeping healthy is frugal-- I avoid the co-pay at the doctors.

 

[PlaidBattleAxe]

I love your car dryer. You could probably shut a piece of cheese cloth in the door, and let it drape down, tape in place if needed. I bet your car smells nice too.

Screens can be picked up wicked cheap at the habitat for humanity store. They'd need a good cleaning. Or you could use cheese cloth. It wouldn't be as durable, but it'd be inexpensive.

We've got a habitat for humanity store in Erie here and I've always wanted to go check it out. I've got some cheesecloth that I use when I'm making my herbal tinctures, I didn't even think about that for the windows--good call! And I'll tell you what---peppermint and chamomile drying simultaneously in my car is about the best smell ever.

BTW, my summer kitchen is my deck: Gas grill with side burner. I do a lot of foil packets for veggies, zucchini gets sliced lengthwise, marinated, and thrown on the grill with the meat. Any thing that needs to be cooked in a pot can go on the side burner. I cook breakfast in the house, but generally don't cook any supper meals inside. Grill stays set up all winter. I keep it shoveled out so it's ready to go if the weather allows. Pizza on the grill is super yummy!

I loooooooooooooooove grilled food. I just don't have a grill. Well, I've got a fire pit with a grill grate on a swivel that goes over it. I use it every other week or so when we have a bonfire.. but pizza on the grill sounds absolutely amazing right now. My mom (who is the queen of junking) found me an old smoker, and I've been using that on the perch we've been catching this summer and tried it out on a bunch of pork loins. I think I'm addicted.

You have me dreaming up what to try to dry !! We have days of blazing sun this week!!

My kids are asking for zucchini chips, so that's my project for tomorrow! (I've got to work, but I'll just crack the windows a little smaller than I normally would---I think if I went to work with cloth on my windows, they might send me home for a "mental health" day lol. Everyone already thinks I'm nutso for making deodorant and soap and stuff and for having chickens and hunting etc

)

It CAN be laid directly on the grate, but mine is never clean enough in my opinion for that. I have a 9 x 13 rack that goes in a lasagna pan for broiling (which i never do... but I digress...) I lightly oil the rack, and put the dough on the rack, then place it on the grill. You have to watch it carefully b/c it cooks so fast. Flip the dough, so the uncooked side is face down, and add your sauce, cheese, and COOKED toppings. Let it cook until the dough is cooked and the cheese is melted. Since learning to cook pizza this way, I've found aluminum sheets that are full of 1/4" holes. They're about 10 x 15, perfect size to go on the grill. They can be found in the grilling section at Walmart. It's much easier to use these, lightly oiled, and I can rotate them to get 2 pizzas done in record time. It's important to have the sauce, cheese and cooked toppings ready to go b/c it cooks so fast. The crust is so tasty when cooked this way, and has a fantastic texture.

I think you've decided what I'm going to make for dinner tonight!! I'm sitting here sipping on my smoothie and wishing it was a big slice of grilled veggie pizza.....

 

[PlaidBattleAxe]

On a totoally different subject-- I have nbeen drinking green tea daily for several days now and boy is my brain up and running and not in a daze!! FIgure it is cheaper than prescription meds for ADD. Or at least without the side effects!!


THe other cheap is taking two multivitamins a day. One is not enough. ANd keeping healthy is frugal-- I avoid the co-pay at the doctors.

Ditto!!! My go-brain-go juice in the morning is: 5 bags of black tea steeped in 24 oz of water----good strong ice tea!

 

[Arielle]

Quote: HAaaahaaa THAT is a lot of cafeine-- how do you get to work safely all reved up?!?!?!? lol

I quit caffine long ago-- horrible withdrawls and the headaches . . . so have never gone back to that addiction. Besides, Dr Amen's says caffeine is bad for the brain and Dr Atkins says it is bad for the body period. (Not meant to be judgemental as "AMerica lives on Dunkins" Just FYI.)

When I started the Atkins program I gave up both high carbs and the coffee ( pounding down 4-6 cups a day at work) aand found I could sleep much better thru the night within about 5 days. NO more insomnia. ( SOmetimes people have the opposite problem starting the low carb way of eating) With better sleep, I could function better the next day. Yeah!!

But I do miss a good cup of coffee and love a cup of hot brewed coffee even inthe middle of summer. And my youngest at 10 loves cofee too.

Honestly I hat DD coffee-- worst stuff ever-- I get a McD's, lol

With ADD, the brain doesn't fire as it should and there is a chemical in greentea that turns on the light, NOt sure how to explain it--- different than caffiene.

 

[PlaidBattleAxe]

My niece has ADD, I'll relay that about the green tea. No offense taken lol. I'm a cold hard tea addict. But my one glass (5 bags strong lol) lasts me all day. Coffee makes my heart do funny things. I used to be a multipot of coffee a day (on my night shift days) but my sleep was all messed up and my body tired but brain wouldn't shut down, so I've cut down a lot and feel much better.

 

[LindaB220]

ROFL-- since adding chickens to my life I have learned far more things that I dreamed I would. I did my first wiring to make an incubator and I have used an LG for years. yup, a big learning curve for both. Brain churning . . .

My family waited for months for me to fail with the idea of raising chickens. Let me tell you, my reputation has soared because not only am I raising them, they are extremely healthy and I'm incubating others. Imagine, old me doing all that.

 

[lazy gardener]

So, are you all saying that green tea has no caffeine? And that it's great for ADD? I can't wrap my head around the taste of it, but perhaps I'll give it an other go, with a lot of honey, some mint, and perhaps a bit of lemon. I'm having huge issues with sleep, or lack of it. And if anyone did an ADD profile on me, I'm guessing that i'd come out at the top of the spectrum. You'd ought to see how i do housework! And gardening/farming is a perfect occupation for someone with ADD. you can go in a thousand different directions at once, and still convince yourself that you're being productive.

While going out to plant some herbs this morning, i went into the coop to inspect the nest box... empty. From there, I walked the perimeter of the electric fence, and found a few Japanese beetles in a raspberry bush. Other folks nightmare offensive garden pest is my "OH boy, free protein for the chooks!" So it was back into the house to set up the 2 beetle traps I bought last week, back out to hang them, back in to find an ammonia bottle to make a hand held trap, out to the shop to cut the top off the cap, and cut the bottle into a scoop shape, back in to get a zip lock and screw it to the bottom of the ammonia bottle scoop with the topless cap, and grab a fly swatter, then back out for 2 slow trips around the yard and garden, wacking beetles into the bottle. Found that the lettuce was dry, had to water it, added some potato beetles to the Jap trap, dumped it into a water bowl several times so the chooks could bob for beetles. They won't touch a potato beetle, or anything that feeds on potato leaves. It's now 11:30. I think i should go out and plant those herbs!!

 

[msw1208]

So, are you all saying that green tea has no caffeine? And that it's great for ADD? I can't wrap my head around the taste of it, but perhaps I'll give it an other go, with a lot of honey, some mint, and perhaps a bit of lemon. I'm having huge issues with sleep, or lack of it. And if anyone did an ADD profile on me, I'm guessing that i'd come out at the top of the spectrum. You'd ought to see how i do housework! And gardening/farming is a perfect occupation for someone with ADD. you can go in a thousand different directions at once, and still convince yourself that you're being productive.

While going out to plant some herbs this morning, i went into the coop to inspect the nest box... empty. From there, I walked the perimeter of the electric fence, and found a few Japanese beetles in a raspberry bush. Other folks nightmare offensive garden pest is my "OH boy, free protein for the chooks!" So it was back into the house to set up the 2 beetle traps I bought last week, back out to hang them, back in to find an ammonia bottle to make a hand held trap, out to the shop to cut the top off the cap, and cut the bottle into a scoop shape, back in to get a zip lock and screw it to the bottom of the ammonia bottle scoop with the topless cap, and grab a fly swatter, then back out for 2 slow trips around the yard and garden, wacking beetles into the bottle. Found that the lettuce was dry, had to water it, added some potato beetles to the Jap trap, dumped it into a water bowl several times so the chooks could bob for beetles. They won't touch a potato beetle, or anything that feeds on potato leaves. It's now 11:30. I think i should go out and plant those herbs!!

You know what's funny about the green tea and caffeine issue, is that there are many opinions about it. However! There is still a tad bit of caffeine in green tea. But the health benefits are worth every little sip!

I grew up on drinking green tea as my grandma is Japanese. After I left home, I don't drink it like I normally would and I can feel a difference!