celebrations Archives | Heavenly Homemakers

Earlier this week, I shared that I go ALL OUT at Christmas time and I don’t feel bad about it. Today I’d like to share some ways we save money all year round so that we can enjoy a big Christmas without guilt or challenge.

We definitely splurge here and there on fun treats throughout the year. But for the most part, most of the time we try to keep the special treats special. Here are some examples…

How We Save Year Round So We Can Enjoy a Big Christmas

1. We don’t frequently buy coffee from a coffee shop.

If we’re traveling or out for a fun event out of town, you bet we’ll enjoy a special drink from a coffee shop. But the hefty receipt reminds us why we don’t splurge on that treat regularly!

At home, we always have a pot of coffee ready to brew. We buy fun add-ins and enjoy delicious coffee in our own mug for a much cheaper price tag.

2. We rarely eat out.

Again, we reserve this for times of travel or for being out of town for an event. When we’re home, we’ll occasionally order pizza when there’s a great deal online or when I’ve had a full day from going to court or meetings for our foster kids. Otherwise, we mostly eat at home, which saves hundreds or thousands of dollars since our family is large.

3. We rarely go to movies.

Once a year or so, there’s a movie that Matt and/or the boys like to see in the theater. Otherwise, we wait for the movie to come out on Redbox. Lots of money saved, but still a lot of fun to be had!

4. We buy ice cream from the store instead of from a restaurant.

Ha, this is a silly one, and also a confession that we now frequently buy ice cream to keep in our freezer. :) What can I say? We have a lot of teenagers in our house. And a dad who likes ice cream.

All sugary confessions aside, here’s how we save money on this treat: We’ve found that we can go to DQ and spend $3.50 per person, or we can go to Walmart and spend $2.98 for our entire family. We don’t even just get the boring kinds. We get cookies and cream, chocolate chip cookie dough, peanut butter cup, chocolate mint, sea salt caramel. (Don’t look at the ingredient list…don’t look at the ingredient list…if you don’t know what’s in it, it can’t hurt you. Heh.)

So we’re getting the same deliciousness as a DQ Blizzard at a fraction of the price.

5. We don’t have cable TV.

We have zero channels, and we have Netflix. That’s it, and yes we miss watching sports sometimes but that’s what friends with cable are for. (We offer to bring food in exchange for watching the World Cup. It’s a win-win.)

I have no idea how much this saves us each year, but thousands I’m guessing. Hundreds at least.

6. I buy Christmas wrapping paper and decorations 50%-90% off after Christmas to prepare for the next year.

I took a friend with me last year to take advantage of the huge discounts. We’re still laughing about how much we got – and high-fiving about how much we saved!! It’s hard to pass up such inexpensive wrapping paper, right?

I always get lights to have on hand next year to replace broken ones, gift bags, tags, ornaments, paper plates and napkins, and whatever else I feel we can use. Oh my, and lots and lots of wrapping paper.

None of this is a judgment against those who regularly enjoy cable, coffeeshop coffee, ice cream outings, etc. This was just me sharing that we choose to enjoy treats at home more often than enjoying treats out.

And then when Christmas rolls around, we have extra money to splurge and enjoy extra special treats and outings. I don’t consider this a sacrifice – like we’re saving all year long so that we can have a big Christmas. This is simply our lifestyle, and it means that at Christmastime we kind of go nuts, because it’s fun and we feel that THIS is the time to go all out!

How about you? How do you save and when do you splurge!?

healthy_celebrations_med

Yum

Please join me in welcoming Holly, who is guest posting today to share her awesome Double Lemon Cupcake recipe with us! I can’t wait to give these a try!
—————————————————–

Hello Heavenly Homemakers readers! My name is Holly. I am a Christian, a military wife and momma to an 18 month old son, and I am really excited to be sharing a recipe (or three) with you. The past year I have been learning about traditional foods; I have reinvented how I shop, cook, eat, and feel about food. The most recent milestone in this journey was birthday cake. Remember when Laura asked us to choose between chocolate and vanilla? Well, to celebrate my 24th birthday I chose option C.

I wanted a birthday dessert that satisfied my emotional desire for cake, but also fulfilled my sensible need to eat wholesomely. I knew that if I did not satisfy both halves I would be left either feeling like a whole wheat martyr or a big sugar-filled failure. Yuck. Blessedly, I found a happy medium with these sweet and tangy cupcakes.

lemon_cupcakes_6

Let me just say that I am normally very relaxed baker, I never sift. I fudge the temperatures and can be lazy with the mixing. But for this recipe, if I say sift I do mean sift. The same goes for temperatures and times. It may seem fussy for some of you, but the results are rewarding.

Double Lemon Cupcakes

3 c whole wheat flour
1 tbsp baking powder
½ tsp sea salt
1 c butter, room temperature
1 c orange blossom honey
4 large eggs, room temperature
the zest of 3 lemons (I recommend organic because you are consuming the peel), plus 2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 c buttermilk

Preheat oven to 325° F. Butter and flour the inside of two round cake pans or two dozen muffin tins. Zest the lemons (just the yellow part, try to avoid the white pith because it is bitter), you want this to be very fine. Sift the dry ingredients together and set aside. Add the lemon juice to the buttermilk.

Cream the butter and the honey until they are nice and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, until well mixed in. Add the zest and vanilla. Add the flour and buttermilk in three parts. Beat until just combined. Pour the batter into the prepped pans and bake until golden brown and they pass the toothpick test, 30-35 minutes for a cake, 25 minutes for cupcakes.

lemon_cupcakes_2

While the cakes are baking, mix up a nice batch of…

Lemon Curd

8 large egg yolks
Finely grated zest of 2 lemons
½ c plus 2 tbsp lemon juice (about 3-4 lemons)
½ c orange blossom honey
teeny pinch of salt, about 1/8 tsp
¾ c unsalted butter (10 tbsp or 1 ¼ sticks) cold, cut in pieces

Wisk together all ingredients except butter and salt in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. When the mixture registers 160° F on an instant-read thermometer and is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon, remove from heat. This should take about 8-10 minutes. If you don’t have a thermometer, just do what I did and use good quality eggs.

Remove pan from heat and add salt and butter, one piece at a time, stirring until smooth after each addition. Strain through a sieve. It is normal for small bits of cooked egg to strain out, don’t worry you did it right. :) Cover this with plastic wrap and let it cool in the fridge at least one hour.

lemon_cupcakes_3

Fill your cupcakes with lemon curd. You can use a pastry bag and large tip, or poke a hole with the wrong end of a wooden spoon and use a plastic baggie with a corner snipped off. Spread extra curd on top of the cupcake. If you’re making a cake, spread the lemon curd between the two layers. Then whip up your frosting.

Soft and Fluffy Frosting

8 egg whites
¾ c orange blossom honey
1 tsp vanilla extract.

Combine egg whites and honey in a large heat-proof mixing bowl (or the bowl for your stand mixer if you have one and it’s heat-proof) set over a pan of simmering water. Wisk rapidly for two minutes Make sure your water does not boil! You will end up with scrambled egg frosting and it will be gross. Cook this until it reaches 160° F on an instant-read thermometer (or if like me you don’t have one, use good eggs and cook for two minutes). Remove from the heat and beat on your mixer’s highest speed for until soft and fluffy, about 7-9 minutes. Beat in the vanilla. Use this frosting immediately.

lemon_cupcakes_4

I used (some of the) leftover curd to decorate the tops of some of the cupcakes. Or you could eat it with a spoon and not tell anyone there were leftovers. I won’t look.

lemon_cupcakes

Thanks Laura for letting me share my recipes with you and your readers!

Holly wanted me to be sure to let you know that the curd will keep in the fridge about 3 days, but it is best served in the first 24-36 hours, and the frosting should be used immediately after it’s made, because it will start to deflate after a few hours. It’s still edible for several days, but the quality goes down after 6-8 hours.
——————————————————-

This post is linked to Works for me Wednesday.