This year I’m trying to keep it simple and give affordable consumable gifts. One of my favorite consumable gifts is organic vanilla sugar. Your friends can use this gift year round for baking or flavoring coffee or tea.

This gift is so easy to assemble.

1. Get an airtight container
2. Fill the container halfway with organic sugar
3. Place two or three vanilla beans in the container
4. fill the container to the top with more sugar
5. Close the container and give it a good shake
6. Let it sit for a week or two so the sugar can absorb the vanilla flavor

Make a label and tie a ribbon around the jar and you’ll be all set.

I’ve had my jar of vanilla sugar for two years and every time it runs low I just add more sugar. The vanilla beans crystallize and stay fragrant for a long time.

The staff here at GLoaB has taken too long of a break from our wine finding adventures lately, but this past week we found a new wine that we thought everyone could enjoy.

The wine is Campanile Pinot Grigio 2005 from Delle Venezie, Italy.

The bottle looks like this:

You can find this wine online at www.cellar360.com for $7.99. It has a nice pear taste with a crisp finish. The wine is a great pairing with chicken and fish.

Tonight I made individual rustic cherry pies for dessert. They were inexpensive, simple to make, and tasted great. The best thing about the pie crust is that it isn’t too fattening.

Servings: 4
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Bake Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

1 cup of all purpose flour

2 tsp sugar

3 tbsp cold butter cut into cubes

3 tbsp water

cherry pie filling

Instructions:

Preheat the over to 400 degrees.

For the crust, combine the flour, sugar and cold butter in a food processor, then add the water and run the processor again. Once you have a solid ball of dough break it into four even pieces. Roll out each piece on a floured surface.

Place two heaping tablespoons of pie filling on each of the four individual crusts then fold over the edges making a pocket around the filling. Don’t worry about it looking symmetrical it is supposed to look rustic and handcrafted. Place the pies in a glass baking pan.

Bake the pies for 20 minutes or until the edges are golden brown. Remove the pies from the oven and let them cool for 30 minutes before serving.

Quick Tip: If you have hard water stains on your glass shower doors the best way to get rid of them is to use rubbing alcohol.  Pour rubbing alcohol on a rag and wipe down the doors. You will see the stains are easily removed.

Question:

What is the better bargain, a box of 100 Calorie Pack M&Ms or a package of Fun Size M&Ms?

Answer:

1. The Fun Size package costs about $2.00 less than the 100 Calorie Pack.
2. There are ten less calories in one Fun Size pack compared to one 100 Calorie Pack.
3. There are more servings in the Fun Size package. There are eight individual packets of Fun Size M&Ms sold per package compared to seven in the 100 Calorie Box.

You can do this comparison for almost any 100 Calorie Pack including Snickers, Twix, etc. Now that I have compared the differences I think I’ll be sticking to the Fun Size packages and getting more bang for my buck.

Not sure how to entertain? Here are few books that can help you decide how to theme your next party and help you create a great menu.

These are my favorite entertaining books in order of how often I use them as a reference.

1. InStyle parties

I love this book because it educates you on different cheeses and wines. It has great themes and menus.

2. RealSimple Celebrations

Celebrations has affordable and practical entertaining ideas.

3. Barefoot Contessa Parties!

This book has great recipes and the photography gives you lots of ideas.

With a few resources you can plan a great gathering of any size. Check out these books to learn a few new tips that will kick your next event up a notch.

This week we recommend the Geyser Peak 2007 Savignon Blanc.

This wine is crisp and fresh. There are hints of lime but it is very smooth. I brought this wine to a picnic over the weekend and it was very refreshing on a warm summer day.

You can find this wine at Trader Joe’s for ~$9.00 or at BevMo.com for $10.99

A few months ago I wrote about my strategy for saving my recent raise and getting out of debt. I am happy to report that I paid off my credit card two weeks ago. I feel like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders, but this was no easy feat. I had to budget and plan every step of the way. Here is the recap of my strategy:

1. I kept three bank accounts: a) out-of-pocket expense account, b) bill pay account c) savings account.
2. Every payday I transfered the bulk of my paycheck into my bill pay and savings accounts.
3. I kept $200 in my checking account per pay period to use for my out-of-pocket expenses including - gas, groceries, clothes, going out, etc. ( FYI - I get paid once a week.)
4. After I paid all my bills for the month and paid off a considerable amount of my credit card debt, anything left in the bill pay account would be transferred to savings.

Now that the credit card debt is paid off, that money will go directly into my savings account rather than the bill pay account.

My current goal is to grow my savings account so that I have a nice nest egg by the end of the year.

I have been to three different grocery stores on three different occasions this month where I have accidentally purchased expired food. I’ve never had this problem before, so I didn’t think to examine the expiration dates.

Today while shopping I checked every item I bought since I have been burned too many times recently. I found a few dairy items that were on the brink of expiring. I don’t know if it is the recession or what, but it’s very annoying.

Make sure to check the expiration dates while grocery shopping so you don’t run into the same issue.

I’m a total makeup junkie. If I go to the mall I will spend a good hour wandering around Sephora testing all the products.

A few weeks ago I was at Target and I saw an ad for LashBlast mascara by CoverGirl. I decided to give it a try, and I have to say, I love this mascara. There is something about the brush that really works for me. It is the best mascara I have bought in years and it was only seven bucks.

Go pick it up and give it a try, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.