It's Apple Season ~ 3 Delicious Fall Apple Recipes

Apple season in one of our favorite times of the year. Please enjoy these Apple Recipes from the Family Balance Sheet archives:

My all time favorite fall desert is Apple Gingerbread Cake with Homemade Whipped Cream. This is so good that I am confident it will become your favorite fall dessert too.


Apple Crumb Pots are easy to bake and taste just like apple pie, but without the crust.

How to Make Sugar-Free Apple Sauce.

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This post is linked to:

• Finer Things Friday at Amy's Finer Things

It's Been an Expensive Week!

I never said the Road to Financial Freedom wouldn't be hard, but I wasn't expecting to hit a roadblock so early in the series.

I wasn't even planning on writing about emergency funds at this time, but with the week we just had, I felt it is warranted.

It all started last Thursday after cleaning a stinky toddler bum, I needed to wash my hands, preferably with hot water. When I turned the hot water on, a slow stream came out and it eventually dwindled...to nothing. I went to another sink and the same thing happened, but I could get cold water.

I won't go into all of the details of what followed, but our hot water heater had leaked and the outcome was not pretty...$670.

Yesterday when our 9 year old car was in the shop for its state inspection, we got 'the call'. Have you ever had 'the call'? When the mechanic calls to tell you that in order for your car to pass the inspection, there are a number of things that need to be done...cha-ching...$700.

$1370 spent in 5 days. The good news is we have the cash in our savings account, but the bad news is the TV in the family room that needs replaced will probably be pushed back for a while.

Have you ever had an expensive week? How prepared are you for life's sudden setbacks?

I will write more about emergency funds later in the series. Right now I need to go console my husband who is trying to watch a game on a TV that keeps going out.

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Black Bean, Tomato & Feta Salad

This is a delicious and easy salad to throw together.

Black Bean, Tomato & Feta Salad

• 1 can (15 oz) of black beans, rinsed and drained
• about 3 cups cherry or grape tomatoes, sliced
• 1 cucumber, chopped into small pieces
• 1-2 Tbsp chopped fine Parsley
• 1/2 red onion, chopped fine. You could also chop up a bunch of spring onions
• 1/2 Cup Feta
• 3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• pinch of salt

Combine the beans, tomatoes, cucumber, parsley, onion and feta in a bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the oil, lemon juice, garlic and salt to make a vinaigrette. Pour the vinaigrette over the vegetables and stir together. Serve with your favorite grilled meat and some fresh fruit.

One side note: This salad is served best the first day. If there are left-overs for the next day, you might want to pour the salad through a strainer right before eating, because it gets soupy. It tasted fine the second day, but there was a lot of liquid on the bottom of the bowl.

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This post is linked to:

• $5 Dinner Challenge
• Tempt My Tummy Tuesday at Blessed with Grace
• Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam
• Real Food Wednesday at Kelly the Kitchen Kop
• Foodie Friday at Designs by Gollum
• Ultimate Recipe Swap at Life as MOM

Four Ways to Help You Become More Financially Literate

Is financial freedom elusive to the financially illiterate? I certainly don’t want to find out. I am by no means an expert on the world of personal finance, but I do consider myself a life long student of the subject as I am always learning.

We are not taught a lot about personal finance in school. Unless we are taught by our parents or care-givers, we are quite frankly on our own. And there is so much to learn from the most basic of budgeting to home-buying/ownership to retirement and estate planning. It can be very over-whelming.

1. Read, read, read. And then read some more. Look for books, magazines, trustworthy websites related to your financial goals. My favorite personal finance magazines are Kiplinger Personal Finance and Money . I feel like they talk to the average person. Their topics range from: current financial news, home-ownership, investing, practical money-saving tips and so much more. There are currently two books on my bedside table right now, The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing and Your Money or Your Life .

2. Take a class...or two or three. I have taken classes on home-buying, retirement planning and investing through our credit union, our church, my former employer’s ‘brown bag lunch’ series, and our county’s extension office. Most of these classes were free or there was a small nominal fee. Also, check your local community college for adult, non-credit courses. Keep those eyes and ears open for opportunities.

3. Find a financial mentor. Is there someone in your life, whether it is a friend or family member that you look up to for advice? Maybe this person has achieved the financial freedom that you desire. This can be tricky, especially since personal finances can be a taboo subject to discuss openly. Does this person appear to make wise financial decisions for him or herself? And also, would they be willing to give you some guidance and advice?

4. Engage in on-line forums, like Early-Retirement.org and Bogleheads.org. I like these forums for investment discussions. People are very open about their finances on these forums and many people are asking the same questions that I have about investments. It is definitely a case where you could ask an investment question and get 20 different answers. You will have to disseminate the good advice from the bad advice, but I am finding these forums helpful.

How financially literate are you? What are some things that have helped you to become more financially literate?

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Blueberry and Peach Crumb Pots with Homemade Whipped Cream

Peach and blueberry is one of my favorite fruit combinations and this has become on of my favorite desserts.

Peach and Blueberry Crumb Pots with Homemade Whipped Cream

• 5 peaches, peeled, pitted and sliced
• 1 1/2 Cup blueberries
• cinnamon
• sugar
• 1/2 Cup sugar
• 3/4 Cup flour
• 1/3 Cup cold butter
• Homemade Whipped Cream
• 4 ramekins, if you don't have ramekins, you could put into a small baking dish

1. Fill each ramekin evenly with the peaches and blueberries.

2. Sprinkle the fruit in each ramekin with 1/2 tsp of sugar and a dash of cinnamon.

3. Combine the 1/2 C sugar, 3/4 C flour, 1/3 C cold butter and with clean hands mix until crumbly. Sprinkle the crumb mixture on top of the fruit.


4. Bake at 400 degrees for 40 minutes or until the pots are bubbling and the crust is golden.

5. If this looks a little naked to you...

Top with Homemade Whipped Cream or your favorite ice cream.

Enjoy!

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This post is linked to:

• $5 Dinner Challenge
• Tempt My Tummy Tuesday at Blessed with Grace
• Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam

The Road to Financial Freedom: Introducing a New Series at Family Balance Sheet

What does financial freedom look like to you?

When I envision financial freedom, I imagine being debt-free, having a well-funded emergency savings account, consistently funding our retirement savings, and being able to write a generous contribution to a non-profit. It also means a leaking roof won’t send us spiraling and an open weekend on the calendar turns into a road trip to the beach. It also means that retirement will be spent traveling, volunteering and exploring a new career. This is what financial freedom looks like to me. And I see it in our future…eventually.

Your idea of financial freedom probably looks different and that’s okay. We all have different circumstances. You might be a family of 4 with small children or maybe you are an empty-nest couple contemplating retirement in the next few years. Maybe you are single and climbing the corporate ladder or you are a double income, no kids couple debating your future family.

Whatever your circumstances, would you like to achieve financial freedom? The road to financial freedom might not be smooth. It could be downright bumpy or blazed with boulders as obstacles. We might have to get out of our comfort zone, and learn a whole new language of financial jargon.

In this new series, I want to explore the following topics that families and individuals face as they plan their financial future:

• Financial literacy
• Financial Organization
• What does financial freedom look like to you? Creating a plan for your future.
• Budget Planning/Spending Plan
• Emergency funds
• Replacement funds
• Debt reduction strategies
• Cash flow
• Retirement planning
• Estate planning
• College savings planning
• Fun Funds

Every path to financial freedom will be different and at the end of each post in the series I will give you some insight into our path pertaining to the post topic.

Disclaimer: I am NOT a professional financial planner. I am on the same path to financial freedom that you are on, although my circumstances will be different. I want to open up the line of communication to inspire you, learn from you and brainstorm with you, so hopefully we will all become financially FREE.

There is no set schedule for this series, but my goal is to have one post pertaining to this series every other week. I hope you will follow along.

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Calling All Gardeners: Name That Bug

Once again, I am stumped by my own back yard. My readers have helped me identify flowers and vegetables and now I need help identifying a bug.

As I was working in my yard, I noticed a cardinal flapping around on the ground. At first I thought it was injured, because it was really chirping and flapping his wings. But upon closer inspection, it wasn't injured at all, he was squawking at a bug.

It actually looked like they were fighting. I don't know if the Cardinal was trying to eat the bug, but I was able to get fairly close to them and the Cardinal didn't fly away.

I grabbed my camera and got a few shots. If you look closely you'll see a green bug in front of the Cardinal.



Eventually the Cardinal left and I got a closer picture of the bug. At first I thought it was a Praying Mantis, but when I googled for images online, I'm not so sure it is. This bug had quite a wing span and the pictures I found online didn't show that.

Does anyone have a clue what kind of bug this is? Please let us know in the comments.

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This post is linked to:

• A Garden Party at An Oregon Cottage

Watermelon and Feta Salad

I wish I could take responsibility for this beauty, but it came in our weekly share from our CSA. This melon was a gorgeous red and it was sweet and delicious.

I can take responsibility for this dish though.


Watermelon and Feta Salad

• 3 Cups chopped watermelon
• 1/2 Cup chopped feta
• 1-2 jalapenos, chopped fine - depending on your heat tolerance. Remove seeds if your heat tolerance is low.
• 1/2 red onion, chopped fine
• juice of 1/2 lime
• 2 Tbsp chopped fresh herb, like pineapple sage, mint, parsley or cilantro
• pinch of salt

Combine all of the ingredients in a bowl.

I served the Watermelon and Feta Salad with grilled chicken. You could eat the salad like a salsa with your favorite tortilla chips too!

Enjoy!

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This post is linked to:

• $5 Dinner Challenge at $5 Dinners
• Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam
• Tempt My Tummy Tuesday at Blessed with Grace
• Real Food Wednesday at Kelly the Kitchen Kop