Living on Less – A Giveaway and More

I have a giveaway for my readers.  I have a cookbook called “Not Just Beans” by Tawra Kellam to give to some lucky person.  It is even a signed cookbook.  This cookbook has great recipes and it doesn’t cost a lot to make any of the recipes in the book.  The name implies that to save money you don’t have to eat just beans alone.  Tawra Kellam, the author, has a website called Living on a Dime and you can find her website here at this link.

This cookbook has recipes from salad dressing to main dishes, to desserts and candies, to beverages and healthy substitutions and snacks.

To enter this giveaway, please e-mail me at pathtofrugal@gmail.com and tell me one way you have saved money over the past 6 months.  Your name will be entered into a drawing for the cookbook.

I have a blog entitled The Path to Frugality and you can find the link here. The link is also listed in the Oskaloosa News Blogroll on the right sidebar.  This month on my blog, I’ve been discussing the Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyczyn.  The Tightwad Gazette was one of the first books ever written for my generation about living frugally.  It was published back in 1992 and may have a few outdated tips, but the rest of the tips and Amy Dacyczyn’s philosophy of living below your means is very relevant for today.  Many people are pulling out their old copies of this book and re-reading it now to gain a new light on their finances and saving money.

I went to the grocery store today and didn’t pay for my groceries.  No, I didn’t shop lift.  I practiced what I preach by using strategic shopping methods.  I teamed up coupons, with in store coupons and deals to get the maximum savings on my grocery budget.    I was able to get 8 boxes of cereal, peanut butter, toothpaste and tuna fish for free.    If you are curious as to how I did this, click on the link here and I will clue you in.  In fact, I not only get everything in this picture for free, I got paid to go shopping.

Now for a recipe.  This is a great way to use up bread that is going stale.  While the recipe calls for French bread, you can use any kind of leftover bread, even hamburger or hot dog buns in this casserole.

French Toast Casserole

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup butter

2 tablespoons corn syrup

1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

6 eggs

1 3/4 cups milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 loaf French bread, cubed

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, mix and melt the brown sugar, butter and corn syrup.   Add the cinnamon.  Spray a 9 x 13 inch baking dish with non-stick vegetable oil and pour in the butter mixture.

Mix eggs, milk and vanilla.  Arrange bread cubes in baking dish.  Pour egg mixture over bread; don’t miss any area and use all the mixture.  Any extra will be soaked up by the bread.

Cover the dish and refrigerate overnight.  The next morning, simply uncover and slip into a preheated 350 degree oven for 30 minutes, then serve.

Variation:   Add some frozen or fresh blueberries to the bread cubes.

This does not come out goopy and slices perfectly.   I cut the pieces in squares and when I served them, I flipped the pieces over so the brown sugar mixture was on top.  This recipe is a cross between French Toast and a Cinnamon Roll.