breakfast casserole

You may have noticed I like to save a penny here and there.  Some ideas work out great, like turning old sweaters or dress shirts into quilts.  Other ideas I wouldn't recommend, but they sure make for funny stories to recount.  

...Like, pulling out someone else's Taco Bell tacos out of the trash and eating them for lunch the next day {I mean, we were paying for grad school as we went, but was a 69 cent taco really too expensive?!}  

...OR, actually thinking a good way to save money on our honeymoon in Paris would be to stay in a convent.  AND, if it wasn't bad enough that I ever entertained that thought, how about the fact that we seriously went to a convent to meet with some nuns about the possibility of staying for there a few nights?!  {Fortunately, they didn't allow men overnight there anymore, so after considering a youth hostel, we decided to splurge for a $60 room - I mean, it was our honeymoon, right?}
...When we bought our first home, we were scandalized by the price of mail boxes.  So, Andy set out to build his own.  It was basically a smaller rendition of our house.  As soon as he set it out by the curb, the first snowplow to come along...Well, snowplow: 1, mail box: no longer.  Back to Lowe's to buy a $50 mailbox.

But really, here's some not-as-ridiculous ways to save:

-- Frozen orange juice.  I stopped buying OJ for awhile, because we go through it so fast.  Our family can drink a half-a-container in one sitting.  So, a friend suggested buying the frozen concentrate because it's cheaper.  I add the juice of one orange, and we would never know we are drinking anything less.  

-- Make a pack of green onions last a month.  This time of year, my green thumb gets that itch.  I tend to what I can indoors: stevia, rosemary, peppermint, thyme, sage all still growing strong.  But, who knew you could grow green onions indoors in 4 simple steps?  

1. Chop the green parts off of the onions {use in a recipe, like below}.

2. Place the white part, roots down in enough water to cover the root.

3. Put near a window.

4. Change the water everyday.

Watch them grow!

{I use organic green onions - not sure if what they spray on conventional ones would stop this from working.  Also, I discard them after awhile.  I've heard of people planting the roots then.  I'm just not there yet.}

And now, one of our new faves.

  Breakfast Casserole
{gluten-free, grain-free}
1 T. butter
5 mushrooms, sliced
3 green onions, chopped
1 cup cottage cheese
6 eggs
1 cup sour cream
2 T. cornstarch
1/4 t. salt
1/8 t. black pepper
dash of hot pepper sauce (like sriracha)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a square baking dish or pie pan.  Melt butter in a skillet and saute mushrooms and onions until tender (3-4 minutes).  Place cottage cheese, eggs, sour cream, cornstarch, salt, pepper, and hot sauce in a blender.  Pulse until combined.  Pour into the prepared baking dish.  Stir in mushrooms and onions.  Bake about 40 minutes, or until knife inserted near center comes out clean.  
Inspired by and adapted from: The Gluten-Free Bible

It's a Monday, all! 
A new day, another week, a fresh start, blank page, new mercies.
May we have open eyes.  To look for beauty.  To breathe as many thanks as possible.  To rise up.  And live this day to the fullest.  There will never be another like it.

Write it on your heart that every day is the best day of the year. 

~Ralph Waldo Emerson