Flexibility
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Two weeks ago my family was in Denver for a wedding (and we've been sick ever since). It was a lovely wedding, and I thought I'd share a couple of ideas the family used to save money.
The first- and foremost- was simply flexibility. The bride initially had a particular set of colors in mind. When her family went shopping for decorations, however, they noticed that all the Christmas decorations were 90 percent off. She changed her colors from a quirky but fashionable kiwi green and bronze to a classic cream and gold, and they swept through the store picking up all the golden, creamy ornaments they could find.
Lengths of golden or cream colored tulle wrapped around white fairy lights made for an elegant decoration without an elegant price tag. Sheer gold cloth draped over white tablecloths made the head table look regal. lengths of sparkly gold ribbon and other gold decorations on white tablecloths, lit with golden candles, also created an elegant ambiance.
The reception meal was stroganoff with meatballs, salad, and rolls. The meatballs were made in advance and frozen. The bride is from a large family, so her many siblings and another large family pitched in and made 1700 meatballs one day a couple of weeks before the wedding. Pasta was also cooked, and frozen in advance. This works if you cook the pasta just to barely al dente.
For favors at the table there were prettily stamped packets of wildflower seeds for guests to take home and scatter over our yards. For music, they downloaded this program, and one of my daughters took a couple of their CDs and edited the music to fit the timing they needed.
I would be sharing a picture or two, but my tech support daughter and I have just spent an hour trying to get pictures to load and it's not working (the problem is a glitch on our end, not wordpress right now). So you'll have to use your imaginations.=) We have company coming for lunch in two hours, and I don't have a thing ready yet. Here's what I'll be making:
Roasted Winter Vegetables:
vegetable cooking spray
2 lbs. winter squash such as hubbard, butternut, or acorn: peel, seed, cut into two inch chunks
4 large carrots, sliced
2 small parsnips, sliced
4 medium Potatoes, unpeeled, halved, sliced
4 medium onions, cut into wedges
(Actually, I will be using mostly potatoes and onions, with whatever root vegetables I have on hand
4-5 cups cooked Great Northern beans
4-5 cups cooked pinto beans
1 Tbs. dried basil leaves
1 tsp. dried thyme leaves
1 cup mixed dried fruit, cut into large pieces
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbs. white wine vinegar
3 Tbs. olive oil
1 cup parsley
Sausage
Line large jelly roll pan with aluminum foil; spray with cooking spray. Combine fresh vegetables and cooked beans on pan; spray generously with cooking spray, sprinkle with herbs and toss. Bake uncovered at 425°F until vegetables are tender, about 30 minutes, adding dried fruit the last 5 minutes Spoon vegetable into bowl. Mix vinegar and oil; drizzle over vegetables, add parsley and toss. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
This is sooo yummy. We have used diced dried apricots for the fruit because we had some, but raisins would work, too. I've also tried it with balsamic vinegar, and it was delicious.
I've also made it in my electric roaster for potlucks.
We will serve this with muffins or sunflower seed biscuits, and apple fritters for dessert. The reason this is our menu is because....
that's what we have in our hands. My husband works for a grocery store, and he recently attended a day long seminar on marketing produce and selling it in a grocery store. At the end of the day, they gave him crates and crates of produce. We gave away half of it, splitting it with another large family. We've eaten all the berries (about five pounds, I believe), most of the tangelos, all the avacados, bananas, and a few other things. We are still left with several bags of onions (three different kinds), many bags of potatoes (red and yellow), and a couple crates of apples (four different kinds).
Have a joyful day, and don't forget to look around and see what you have in your hand before you buy!
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3 Responses to “Flexibility”
February 29th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
I like the sound of this recipe, but wonder about the lack of liquid while baking,sounds like it might be too dry.
Loved the “Frugal Wedding”
March 1st, 2008 at 12:11 am
Chop up those onions and freeze them in recipe-sized batches. I usually use snack bags, then stick all of them into a larger Ziploc freezer bag. (We do the same with green and red peppers in the summer.)
March 13th, 2008 at 8:36 am
[...] Headmistress has this post at Frugal Hacks: Flexibility. Don’t be confused by the short headline, she’s got a great post about a bride who was [...]
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