How to stay ahead of the game!

Have you or your husband/wife ever said the words, "Where does all our money GO?!" I was hearing these words exclaimed every single week as my husband looked over our bank account and shook his head. Then I found Bottomline Budgets :) (Did I do a good job sounding like an infomercial? Hehe :) I'm not getting paid to advertise this site or anything, but I do want to let you know how awesome it is and how much it's helped us! After looking at a bunch of budget templates online, this is the one that made the most sense to me and what I knew would help us the most. I've never enjoyed making a "budget" per say... allotting certain amounts of money to each category and trying to stay within that amount. That's too much effort! But I do enjoy keeping track of our finances. With this template I am able to set aside money week by week for things that we are saving for without having to physically move money from one account to another, I can enter in all fixed expenses that I know are coming up that month, and I can enter in expenses as they happen so that we know how much money we have left to work with before we get paid again. I love it and my husband loves it! Especially when I tell him how much money we have left over that week :) He thinks I'm a genius, when really...Bottomline Budgets does it all! But don't tell him :) I like being a genius :)

Happy Borcht-day!!

On Sunday, I told my mom I'd be trying my hand at making Borcht. I had never heard of it until searching for recipes that included beets and she had never tried making it, so she said I had to post a picture when it was all said and done. So, her you are mom! Happy Borcht-day! Hehe :) I'll take it one step further, though, and include the recipe, or rather, my version of the recipe, because it really turned out delicious! This soup is a staple in most Eastern and Central European countries and can be made either hot or cold. The main ingredient is beetroot which turns the whole soup an awesome pinkish-purple color. It would be great to serve on Valentine's day :) It was fairly easy to make, just a lot of chopping vegetables, so if you have a food processor, that would be the way to go! I doubled the recipe I found, because I love leftover soup for lunches, and it freezes well, but if you don't want to make that much, then just half it. Oh, and this soup is extremely healthy! Especially if you choose to include mostly organic ingredients, like we did.

Borcht-day Soup

Prep time: 25 min /Cook Time: 1 hour

Serves 16

6 cups water

6 cups organic vegetable broth

1 chopped large yellow onion

1 cup chopped organic carrots

1/2 cup chopped organic celery

1/2 cup chopped organic bell pepper

3 organic beets, diced

2 cans organic diced tomatoes

6 potatoes, quartered

4 Tbls organic butter

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 head organic purple cabbage, finely shredded

1/2 cup organic milk or cream

4 potatoes, diced

2 Tbls dill weed

Salt and Pepper to taste

Sour cream if wanted

1) Place water, broth, 1/2 of the chopped onion, carrots, celery, bell pepper, beets, 1 can diced tomatoes, and quartered potatoes in a large stock pot over high heat. Bring to a boil.

2) Melt 3 tbls butter in a separate skillet over medium heat. Saute remaining chopped onions and garlic in butter until tender, approximately 5 minutes. Stir in remaining 1 can of diced tomatoes, reduce heat to medium low, and simmer for 15 minutes. Stir in cabbage and continue simmering and stirring until cabbage is tender, about 10 minutes.

3) Remove quartered potatoes when they are tender with a slotted spoon or tongs, and place in a bowl with remaining 1 tablespoon of butter and the milk or cream. Mash together until smooth.

4) Stir in diced potatoes, sauted cabbage, and mashed potatoes into the stock pot. Make sure mashed potatoes are stirred in well. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes more. Add dill weed, salt, and pepper. Serve warm with a dollop of sour cream on top and warm bread.