Fwd: Simple Times - 07/05/08 - Hummingbird gardens; simple & cheap recipes

[Guest guest]

We love those copy cat recipes. Many are available over the internet for free, so don't waste your money paying for them.

 

in my yard, my butterfly bush (buddleia) is the HUGE Hummingbird draw. The hummers love it more than the butterflies do!

 

CyndiGas prices getting you down? Search AOL Autos for fuel-efficient used cars.

 

 

Simple Times

________________________________

 

Vol. 10, No. 13 -- July 5th, 2008

http://thesimplemom.wordpress.com/

debi

Copyright 2008 Deborah Taylor-Hough

ISSN: 1527-1269

________________________________

 

Subscribe: join-simple-times

Un: leave-simple-times

________________________________

 

Celebrating 10+ years of saving your time, money and sanity!

________________________________

 

IN THIS ISSUE:

-- " Dear Readers "

-- Simple Living Quote

-- Gardening for Hummingbirds

-- Super Simple, Super Cheap Recipes for Summer

-- Letters to the Editor / Reader Tips

-- Assorted Information (archives, etc.)

________________________________

 

< < < O.U.R S.P.O.N.S.O.R > > >

 

" What the heck... I'll give it a try! "

 

" I have to say I'm so glad I purchased your DebtIntoWealth

System! I was skeptical at first, so I went to the website.

It sounded good, so I figured " what the heck, " I'll give it a

try. My goal was to pay off $5000 in credit card debt and a

car loan so I could buy a new home, and get me and my 4

girls out of our 2-bedroom apartment. It worked! It's now 9

months later and ALL of my debt is paid off, and I just

signed a contract on a new 5-bedroom house! There is no

better feeling than to have NO debts, and a savings account

too! Thanks to your system, my family is going to have a

better life by not being enslaved to debt. "

--Katrina S. in Houston, TX

 

What the heck ... Give DebtIntoWealth a try, today!

 

Click:

http://www.debtintowealth.com/simpletimes.html

 

________________________________

 

 

Dear Readers,

 

It's hard to believe, but today is my son's 18th birthday. It just

seems like such a short time ago that I was sitting in the grass

watching fireworks one 4th of July when I suddenly needed to leave

the fireworks show and head to the hospital. It really doesn't seem

like it all happened 18 years ago. Where did the time go? Hey, I

can remember my mom saying those same things when I turned 18, too.

Guess it runs in the family. ;-)

 

And on another note, we still have a few openings for sponsor ads

in Simple Times over the upcoming months. If you have a book, product

or service that you think may be of interest to this audience of folks

looking for practical ways to simplify daily life, contact Laura at

Laura to ask about the modest rates for reaching this

highly targeted audience. You won't want to miss this rare chance --

ad spaces go fast!

 

Simply Yours,

 

Debi

(Deborah Taylor-Hough)

Editor, Simple Times Email Newsletter

--Author of the popular 'Frozen Assets' series; 'A Simple Choice: A

practical guide for saving your time, money & sanity'; and 'Frugal

Living for Dummies®

--Editor, Simple Times, Solo Parents, and Bright-Kids email newsletters

________________________________

 

Visit my new site!

http://thesimplemom.wordpress.com/

________________________________

 

SIMPLE LIVING QUOTE

 

" Do what you can, with what you have, where you are. "

 

--Theodore Roosevelt

 

________________________________

 

GARDENING FOR HUMMINGBIRDS

Copyright Karen Bastille

Used with permission. All rights reserved.

http://www.grandmotherwren.com

 

 

Most plants with showy, tube-shaped, nectar-bearing flowers

(especially those that are bright red, pink, orange, or yellow)

will draw hummingbirds to your garden. Here’s a list that

includes flowers that bloom early and some that bloom late

in summer for a season of color. There are flowers, vines,

shrubs and trees.

 

FLOWERS: Bee balm, bergamot, bergena, butterfly weed,

cleome, columbine, coral bells, delphinium, evening primrose,

four o’clock, foxglove, fuschia, geranium, gladiolus, hibiscus,

impatiens, jewelweed, lilies, nasturtium, nicotiana, petunia,

phlox, salvia, snapdragons, and zinnia.

 

WILDFLOWERS: Cardinal flower and trumpet creeper, scarlet

paintbrush, columbine, red-flowering currant, lobelia, monkey

flowers, prickly pear, scarlet passion flower, wild pinks and

yucca.

 

VINES: Flame vine, honeysuckle, morning glory, scarlet runner

beans.

 

SHURBS: Azalea, coralberry, flowering quince, honeysuckle,

lilac, rhododendron, weigela.

 

TREES: Chinaberry, flowering crabapple, hawthorn, locust,

mimosa, tulip tree. Trees with dense foliage -- evergreens,

deciduous trees and shrubs -- may entice hummers to nest

in your yard.

 

 

HUMMINGBIRD TIPS AND TIDBITS

 

1) Worldwide, there are 320 species of hummingbirds. Of

the fifteen North American species, only the ruby-throated

is commonly found east of the Mississippi River.

 

2) On its migration from Central America in winter to North

America in spring, the ruby-throated hummingbird may travel

2,000 miles and cross the Gulf of Mexico.

 

3) Some hummingbirds can fly up to 60 miles an hour, but

they aren’t the fastest birds in the sky. One Asian swift can

zoom along at nearly 220 miles an hour, and the peregrine

falcon attains speeds close to 200 miles an hour.

 

4) Spiders, ants, gnats, fruit flies, and other small insects

and larvae provide protein for many hummingbirds.

 

5) Nineteenth-century naturalist John James Audubon described

hummingbirds as a “glittering fragment of the rainbow.”

 

 

THE LIFE OF A HUMMINGBIRD

 

A lady found a hummingbird nest and got pictures all the way

from the egg to leaving the nest. It took 24 days from birth to

flight. Because you'll probably never in your lifetime see this

again, enjoy; and please share. This is truly amazing:

 

http://community-2.webtv.net/Velpics/HUM/

 

Be sure to click on NEXT PAGE at the bottom of each page

of pictures; there are five pages in all.

 

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

--Karen Bastille (known online as " Grandmother Wren " ) has

a helpful collection of blogs and websites dealing with every-

thing from COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease),

to family living, to crafts, to creative grandparenting. Visit

Karen online at: http://www.GrandmotherWren.com

 

________________________________

 

O.U.R. S.P.O.N.S.O.R.

 

Copycat Cookbook . com

 

Cook your favorite dishes from your favorite restaurants

right in your own kitchen!

 

You will save thousands of dollars per year by cooking just

one of these recipes each week rather than going out to eat!

Learn to cook the highly guarded secrets behind dishes from

Red Lobster

Applebee's

Chili's

Olive Garden

TGI Friday's

Outback Steakhouse

Starbucks

 

http://stimes.drecipes.hop.clickbank.net/

 

________________________________

 

SUPER SIMPLE, SUPER CHEAP RECIPES FOR SUMMER

Copyright Deborah Taylor-Hough

Used with permission. All rights reserved.

http://thesimplemom.wordpress.com

 

 

I'm always on the lookout for super-simple, super-cheap recipes

for lunches, snacks and using up leftovers. I usually do okay

with dinners (there's almost always something tasty hiding in

my freezer), but sometimes I run out of ideas for the other eating

times during the day, especially on those busy days with little

time to cook.

 

A couple of simple things we do:

 

Tortilla Roll-Ups

Just spread cream cheese and a couple slices of inexpensive

sandwich meat onto a flour tortilla, roll up, and enjoy! I also add

sprouts or lettuce if we have it around. A friend of mine slices the

Roll-Ups into pinwheels for variety -- the Tortilla Pinwheels make

a nice snack item for parties, too.

 

 

Easy Fruit Salad

Fill a salad bowl with large cubes of fresh fruit (apples, oranges,

bananas, melons, etc.), and then pour a carton of vanilla-flavored

yogurt (NOT plain yogurt) over the fruit for a sauce. This is so

good, people are always asking me for the recipe at potlucks.

 

 

Pudding Pops

Prepare a box of instant pudding according to instructions, pour

into freezer pop molds and freeze. If you use chocolate-flavored

pudding, you have super-simple do-it-yourself fudgecycles.

Butterscotch pudding is really good this way, too.

 

 

Spinach Dip

1 package frozen spinach (thawed and drained), 16-oz. sour cream,

1 can water chestnuts (chopped) and 1 package buttermilk ranch

dressing mix. Mix together; chill. Serve inside large hollowed out

sourdough bread round. Serve with chips, veggies.

 

 

Sweet Fruit Dip

1 small container marshmallow cream, 8-oz. cream cheese. Blend

together thoroughly. Serve cut up fruit with toothpicks for dipping:

cantaloupe, honeydew, any melon, apples (red and green), bananas,

grapes.

 

 

Easy Pitas

Stuff a pita pocket with green salad (and shredded cheese if you

have it), and then top the whole thing with ranch dressing.

 

 

Easiest-Ever Snack

Spread cream cheese on a thin slice of ham, roll it up and insert

a toothpick. You can also use salami, cream cheese, and add

a stuffed green olive before rolling.

 

 

Super Simple Dessert Snack

Spread a graham cracker with cake frosting (my favorite choice is

chocolate!). Making a dessert " sandwich " out of graham crackers,

peanut butter and honey is especially delicious.

 

 

Healthy Melon Meal

Cut a cantaloupe in half, scoop out the seeds, and fill the hole

with cottage cheese.

 

 

Simple Snack

Apple slices with peanut butter ... yummy, cheap, easy. :-)

 

 

Easy Red Beans and Rice

Serve reheated leftover chili on top of leftover rice.

 

 

Easy Chili-Mac

Prepare a box of macaroni and cheese, and heat a can of chili.

Then serve the chili scooped over the macaroni. Using leftover

homemade chili makes this even more economical and a great

deal healthier

 

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

--Deborah Taylor-Hough (mother of three) is the author of several

popular books including Frugal Living For Dummies®; Frozen Assets:

How to Cook for a Day and Eat for a Month; and A Simple Choice: A

Practical Guide for Saving Your Time, Money and Sanity. For more tips

and ideas on cooking, parenting, saving money, and homemaking,

visit Debi online and to one of her free email newsletters:

http://thesimplemom.wordpress.com/

 

________________________________

 

Feel free to forward this newsletter to your family and friends. :-)

________________________________

 

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR / READER TIPS

We'd love to hear YOUR tips and ideas for simplifying daily life.

Send your simple living comments/tips to: DSimple

 

 

== Instant Books ==

We got one of those notepad " cubes " that you pull off one

sheet at a time. One day, my son pulled off 5 sheets at once.

They stuck together like a small book. So, we wrote a little

story in it. One side for words, then a picture opposite. We

gave one story to our friend in her birthday present. The next

day, I wrote a little book for each of my kids. Then my son

wrote his own little book (he's only four) by drawing pictures,

then dictating the words to me. It's been so much fun. I hope

we write enough books to give them as gifts to family.

--Debbie

 

 

== Using the Local Library ==

I grew up down the street from the local library branch and

would go there on my own quite often. As a child, I loved the

freedom of finding and picking out my own books and would

spend hours there, and knew the librarians well. I wanted my

kids to have that same love of libraries and reading and so for

the last 7 years, since we've lived in this neighborhood, we

have a regular library day. Every Wednesday afternoon we

go to the library. I chose Wednesday because that is the

day that the library is open late, so we don't have to rush so

much after school.

We often stop for a frozen yogurt beforehand because I really

want there to a positive association with visiting the library. The

frozen yogurt stop often persuades my children's friends to come

along as well (otherwise I don't think they would know what the

inside of the public library looks like).

Having the same day every week is also helpful to remember

when books, CDs and especially videos are due (videos are only

checked out for one week and they have much heftier fines when

overdue). Though I willingly admit that I don't mind paying library

fines (and I have paid some doozies), because I really want to

support and help the libraries stay open! That is probably the

only place that I actually don't mind paying fees.

My kids don't always want to go, but once they get there it's

hard to get them out. They all read and love books. They love

requesting books and then getting them at the next library visit.

It's like magic! We have missed some Wednesdays, but we

rarely miss entire weeks.

--Laura Ann in La Mesa CA

 

________________________________

 

SIMPLE TIMES RECOMMENDED BOOKS

Book list for frugality and simple living

Go to: http://snurl.com/simplebooks

_______________________________

 

< < B E . O U R . S P O N S O R > >

 

Would you like to place an ad in this newsletter? Contact

Laura at marketing Subject line: simple-times

Discover the modest rates for reaching this targeted market.

________________________________

 

SIMPLE TIMES ARCHIVES

 

Two years' worth of back issues are available by clicking the

" Read Messages " button at: http://snurl.com/st_archives

________________________________

 

As always, a special " Thank you! " goes out to Gary Foreman

and the friendly folks at the Dollar Stretcher for making this

mailing list possible!

 

== http://www.stretcher.com/ ==

________________________________

 

Feel free to forward this newsletter to your family and friends. :-)

________________________________

 

EDITOR'S BOOKS AND AUDIO RESOURCES:

Books and resources by Deborah Taylor-Hough

Editor, Simple Times Email Newsletter

http://snurl.com/debisbooks

________________________________

 

DEBI'S ON-LINE RESOURCES:

Personal Blog: http://dsimple.wordpress.com/

Frugality/Simplicity: http://thesimplemom.wordpress.com

Cooking Ahead: http://frozenassets.wordpress.com/

Bright-Kids: http://brightkids.wordpress.com

Tupperware®: http://snurl.com/DebiTupperware

Kids' Books: http://snurl.com/books4kids

________________________________

 

SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION

 

Subscribe: join-simple-times

Un: leave-simple-times

 

Please feel free to forward this newsletter to anyone you think

might be interested. This is a private mailing list which isn't sold

or shared with anyone else. Tips and articles are printed for

entertainment purposes only.

 

 

---

You are currently d to simple-times as: Cyndikrall

To send any message to the following address:

leave-simple-times-2345930W