Saturday, February 11, 2006

Frugal Entertaining When You Have No Time to Prepare

After two weeks of Jim working nights, the house was a mess this morning. I really depend on him to help keep things going smoothly! Jim was taking the boys to karate, I had to go to work and his parents were coming by at 1:00. We had a lot to do in very little time.

Since Jim left first with the boys, the girls and I divided up the chores of getting the house presentable. We needed to vacuum, empty and reload the dishwasher, clean the bathroom, do something with the piles of paper that accumulate over the week and make a snack to have with coffee. We were working against time, I had to leave for work in 45 minutes.

The girls did the vacuuming and dishes, while I put together scones to have with coffee. I used my version of the scone recipe from the Complete Tightwad Gazette. To make it a little fancier I added chopped walnuts, a few chopped apricots and a drizzle of maple syrup over the top. While that was baking, I gathered up all the miscellaneous papers and made 3 giant piles on my bureau, where they couldn't be seen by company. The girls finished wiping down the bathroom and we made it out of the house just in time. Whew!

By the time I got back from work with the girls, my inlaws were enjoying coffee and scones with Jim and the boys. They had no way of knowing how quickly we pulled it all together or how easy those tasty scones were to make.

If you have a few fast, frugal recipes to fall back on in situations like this, you can almost always avoid a last minute trip to the store for cake or cookies. Your wallet and your waistline will thank you.

2 comments:

Barbara said...

Question on the scones recipe.. the vinegar you put in with the soymilk, is this regular white vinegar, or apple cided vinegar? I want to give them a try, but don't want to use the wrong thing.

Thanks!

Barbara

Katie said...

Hi Barbara,

I use plain white vinegar but I think any vinegar would work. I've also heard of using lemon juice instead of the vinegar.