Protecting Your Blueberries

So, I'm hangin' out at my parent's house in WV this week.  It is absolutely BEA-U-tiful here.  The piece of property is naturally gorgeous but my parents have put a tremendous amount of TLC in here to make it the place it is.  When I got here a few nights ago and opened the refrigerator, I found 3 gallons of blueberries.  Yes, 3 GALLONS.  They were beautiful, tasty blueberries. 

 Now I must tell you, I have blueberry bushes at home and haven't gotten more than a handful of blueberries off of them.  The birdies are much faster at getting to them than I am!  So, I was highly impressed with the number of blueberries my parents were able to collect from 1 picking.  I headed out to see what my dad had done to save the blueberries from the birds and saw this amazing concoction that he came up with.

He used PVC and this special netting made to keep birds out.   He can just lift up the rocks or boards on the ground to get under the netting and can pick berries with out removing anything.  He can then just take the netting down after the blueberries are done producing and save it for next year.  He spent right around $50 for all the supplies. 

Can you see the berries just hanging off this bush?

Pretty Cool huh?  Guess I know what my project will be when I get home!

We are enjoying these blueberries.  A couple of nights ago we made Blueberry-Lemon Crumb Bars.


This is the recipe from AllRecipes.

Ingredients

• CRUST:
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 2 teaspoons lemon zest
• 1 pinch salt
• 1/2 cup butter, chilled and diced
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
•  
• FILLING:
• 2 cups fresh blueberries
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
•  
• CRUMB TOPPING:
• 5 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
•  
• 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar for dusting

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease a 9x13 inch baking pan.
2. Start by making the crust. In a medium bowl, stir together the 2 cups flour, 2 tablespoons white sugar, lemon zest and salt. Cut in the 1/2 cup butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Beat egg and vanilla together; stir into the crumb mixture until a dough forms. Press into the bottom of the prepared pan.
3. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven, until golden. Remove from oven and set aside to cool slightly.
4. Sprinkle blueberries over the crust. Combine the 1/4 cup sugar and nutmeg; sprinkle over the blueberries. Make the topping: In a medium bowl, cream together the 5 tablespoons butter and brown sugar until smooth. Mix in the flour, so that the mixture is crumbly like streusel. Sprinkle over the blueberry layer.
5. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, until browned. Cool and then dust with confectioners' sugar before cutting into bars.

They were delicious!!

Linking up to these great parties:
We Are That Family

Fixin' Up Some Frugal Finds - The Power of Paint

I have had great success at my local Restore and at garage sales lately.  But everything I find needs just a wee bit of sprucing up.  I saw this candlestick for $1 at my ReStore and envisioned its potential.

I had been reading all over the blogs about Brushed Bronze spray paint and was just looking for an opportunity to give it a try.  This was it.  I cleaned off the junk with some sand paper and then just spray painted it.

Aren't the results Amazing?! I love this brushed bronze paint.  I've used it on other things too since I did this candlestick, but I'll save those for another day!

This is its new home...the window sill of one of the almost 100 year old windows in my home.  I just can't bear to replace it...it has so much character.

Linking up to:

Scrumptious Cheeseburger Soup

Ok, I know, I haven't posted a recipe in a while but frankly, I haven't made anything worth posting about...  until yesterday.  My mom sent me her recipe for Cheeseburger Soup and although yesterday was pretty warm here in NE Ohio, I just had to make this soup.  It is genuine cheesy cheeseburger in a bowl.  My mouth is watering just writing about it...I know...pathetic.  Anyway, here's the recipe I used.  My mom adds more ground meat than I did but I'm cheap frugal. 

Here's how I made it:

Place all the below ingredients into a large pot.

1 1/2 pound ground meat cooked ( I use ground turkey)

11 Small Potatoes diced

2 large onions chopped (could use onion flakes too)                                                 

1 cup diced celery                                                  

1 1/4 cup shredded carrots  

2 TBSP parsley flakes                                  

Cover veggies with water and add 1/4 cup (or to taste) of chicken soup base.  Cook until veggies are soft and cooked down.  

Once the veggies have cooked down, add:

12 oz American Cheese

1 pkg of cheese mix that came in a boxed macaroni & cheese

Stir until completely melted and then serve.

YUM YUM 

Linkin' Up At:

My Shopping Trip - Week of 6/19

We are taking a little vacation here soon and so my big shopping trip this week included a bunch of extras for the trip.  I spent $59 at Walmart alone...I was a bit frustrated at my spending but then remembered that I wouldn't be shopping at all next week.  Ok, that makes me feel better.  I did go to Giant Eagle and CVS for the deals.

I've really got to stop shopping hungry.

At CVS, I got:
2 Colgate Toothpaste
3 Bags Circus Peanuts
1 $1 Donation to Lou Gehrig's Disease
(I had to get rainchecks at CVS...they were out of a lot of the deals)
 Total OOP - $.61

Total Saved - $12.24

Earned - $4.00 in ECB

This is what I brought home from Giant Eagle
6 Hamburger Helper
3 lbs HoneySuckle Ground Turkey
4 Yoplait Gogurt
2 Schick Shave Gel
10 Bar S Hot Dogs
3 Fiber One Cereal

Total OOP $21.58

Total Saved - $46.21

Total OOP for this shopping trip  - $81.19

Total Saved on this shopping trip - $58.45
Total Earned on this shopping trip - $4.00

Next week, I won't be shopping unless there are some deals at CVS that I can't live without, or if I feel the need to roll over some ECBs.  I hope you all get a chance to shop and find some awesome deals!

Linking up:
Grocery Cart Challenge
Homemaking Mom 
Southern Savers

$10 Playhouse Revealed

So, last week I told you about the great community garage sales I hit last weekend...over 35 in a very small area.  The deals were crazy!!

When I came across this playhouse only two walls were up and the roof was laying on the ground but I knew I wanted a playhouse and when the seller told me it was only $10 I knew my Better Half and I could spruce it up and make it perfect for our princess.

We brought it home, put it together, and I immediately started painting.  My Better Half got busy shingling the roof and it no time it started to look better!

We built the door out of scrap lumber and used an old door handle that was being thrown out.  I gave it a fresh coat of paint and it looked like new.  The shelf braces were a $1 ReStore purchase.  I wasn't sure where I would use them but I think the little Princess is going to love having a little shelf to play store, drive thru or any other creative things she'll come up with.

We haven't gotten to the inside yet.  But I love the results of the outside!  The total price for the playhouse ended up being right around $62.

Playhouse $10

Shingles $47

Red Paint $3

Shelf Braces $2

Countless Memories to Come = PRICELESS

Linking up to these Great parties:
Thrifty Decor Chick

Funky Junk Interiors
Between Naps on the Porch 
Tip Junkie