Hi everyone! I hope you’ve had a wonderful weekend! I thought it would be fun to do a regular update on what’s going on behind the scenes around here, both in my own kitchen and our online one!
Getting a new food site off the ground means there’s always plenty to do, in addition to working full time and being a mom. The beauty of this site is that I have to cook anyway, so why not take great pictures and share the love? Frugal Foodie Moms fits easily into my crazy schedule. Things take a little longer when you’re constantly stopping to take photos, but the rest seems to fall into place. Of course, I also have little helpers that like to stop and have me take pictures of their Legos as well.
Personal Stuff:
It’s summer, so the ravenous teenager is eating anything and everything that isn’t nailed down. I’ve had to purchase strawberries twice already to do round #2 of the Strawberry Salsa recipe I’m working on. My husband is currently unemployed, so he’s also home eating everything and anything. And I’m trying to keep the budget down to around $400 a month. I’m finding this more and more difficult as food prices continue to climb. I’ve talked to a lot of other frugal moms, and many of them are struggling around the same amount. I remember when I could keep it to $200 a month!
I love to garden, and it helps with the food budget, but this year has been a disaster. We’ve had non-stop rain for four months! I’m not sure if we’re in the Midwest or Northwest some days. The weeds are happy, but not much else. I’m worried my garlic may be rotting from all the rain.
We also have four summer birthdays this month, which adds to the craziness (and the food budget!) My third son just turned 18. Next week my youngest turns 2 and my oldest turns 25! My dad is stuck right in the middle of their birthdays and turns 29 once again. 🙂 Practice makes perfect!
Web Stuff:
I’ve learned if you don’t enjoy what you do and it doesn’t fit your lifestyle, you’re less likely to do it in the first place. And you’re more likely to burn out. That certainly applies to websites. So I’m setting out to do it right and really get my workflow down well. Sometimes that means doing things myself, other times it means delegating to someone else.
So last week I hired a graphic designer through Fiverr to create a logo for Frugal Foodie Moms. I can’t wait to see what he came up with! I should have that up sometime this week.
I’m loving Word Press for websites. It’s soooo much easier than the things we had to cobble together when I first started online 17 years ago! I’m using Foodie Pro Theme, built on the Genesis Framework, as the theme here. I’m continuing to tweak the settings to make it faster, more user friendly and more responsive on mobile devices. You can always send me suggestions through the Contact Us page.
I’m also learning everything I can to improve my food photography. I currently use a Canon Rebel T3i and I love it! Two of the best investments I’ve made in the past month have been the Canon “Nifty Fifty” lens and Tasty Food Photography by Lindsay Ostrum from Pinch of Yum. Look at the difference a month makes with the same recipe, same kitchen, same dishes!
And I’m still learning! I can’t wait to see what my Roasted Sticky Chicken Legs will look like the next time I photograph it. I’ll keep you posted!
Yummy Stuff:
I’ve got a lot of recipes and features in the queue for the next few weeks. Here are just a few of them I’m working on. I will link to these when they are up:
Upcoming Features:
In Season: Garlic Scapes
OAMC Chicken Plan (revised)
Chain Cooking 101
Chicken Pot Pie Series- lots of different filling and crust options
Upcoming Recipes:
Kim’s 5 Way Chili
Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Jalapenos
Kim’s Hot Cacao (I drink this every day, even in summer!)
Breakfast Quesadillas with Strawberry Salsa
In The Test Kitchen:
Strawberry Shortcake Smoothie
Cookie Dough Overnight Oats
Garlic Roasted Corn on the Cob
Breakfast Enchiladas
As always, if there’s anything you’d like to see on the site, or share, feel free to drop me a line through our Contact Us page.
Have a great week!
Yours in frugal foodiness,
Kim 🙂
Disclosure: This article contains some affiliate links. These links help generate a little income for the site to cover expenses. I do not post anything that I don’t already use myself and love.
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