One Hundred Dollars a Month - Page 2 of 2157 - I am your typical housewife living in high maintenance suburbia. I have a handsome husband, 2 kids and a flock of pet chickens. I try and feed my family with $100 a month. With the help of coupons, gardening and bartering I am able to squeeze the most out of our grocery budget and still manage to have a little fun along the way.

Hussey’s General Store in Windsor, Maine

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By Mavis Butterfield on February 14, 2019 · 13 Comments

While out on our date day last week, we drove through the small town of Windsor, Maine and decided to stop by Hussey’s General Store. The original owner, Harland Hussey opened the store in October 1923, in a remodeled stable. Over the years, additions {and departments} were added and “today the store is home to over 30,000 square feet of groceries, sporting goods, clothing, formal gowns, hardware, and appliances. It truly defines the slogan “If We Ain’t Got It, You Don’t Need It.”

The store, seriously has EVERYTHING you could imagine. And if I lived in Windsor, or one of the neighboring towns, Hussey’s General Store would probably be the only place I shopped {well, outside of bakeries of course}. Helpful store clerks who actually know what they are selling, no automated checkout, no flashy {and time-consuming} shopper programs, and really just a good old-fashioned country store atmosphere. I loved the place!

Hussey’s has a decent produce section where you can get a 50 pound bag of Maine potatoes for $15!

A plethora of snow shovels, warm weather gear, paint, an enormous fishing section…..

Garden tools galore.

There’s even a section for the little woman to pick up some home decor items for the cabin.

And antiques! They were scattered all over the place.

Hussey’s General Store also has some really nice local items, like Pack Baskets which happen to be made about 100 miles north of the store in Lincoln, Maine {you can watch a video HERE of how they are made, it’s pretty cool}.

Then of course there’s some higher end items like Yeti coolers, which honestly, isn’t something I would expect to find in a general store in a town of 2,500 in Maine. Because seriously, who would pay $300 for a cooler bag?

But then again, in a town of only 2,500 people, I wouldn’t expect to find a store that sells guns and ammo on one floor, and wedding dresses on another. {There’s got to be a story there, right?}. I only snapped a photo of the clearance section, but if you take a look at their Instagram page, you can see the selection is rather large.

Maple sugaring supplies. The galvanized sap buckets were only $5.99 {I should have bought a few!}

We didn’t get around to marking our maple trees last fall, but now that I know where to get all the supplies for tapping trees, I know we’ll be going back to Hussey’s to next spring to load up.

So if you ever find yourself about halfway up the coast of Maine, drive inland a bit and stop at Hussey’s General Store. The store really does sell everything. 😉

Have a wonderful Thursday everyone,

~Mavis

P.S. Do you have fond memories of visiting a particular general store when you were younger? If so, leave us a comment. We’d love to hear about it.

Hussey’s General Store

510 Ridge Rd, Windsor, ME 04363

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Hot Milk Cake

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By Mavis Butterfield on February 13, 2019 · 14 Comments

A few weeks ago I came across The New Boston Globe Cookbook while the HH and I were at the library. After thumbing through it for a few minutes, I decided to bring the cookbook home. Five recipes in the book caught my eye, and this recipe for hot milk cake was one of them.

When it came time to bake the cake though, I had overlooked the part about needing a one piece 10 inch tube pan {a regular pan with a removable bottom would have leaked because of the thin batter according to the authors}. So we made do with a bundt pan instead, {only using about 75% of the batter so the cake wouldn’t overflow. 😉

And guess what? Darrrrrrrrling, the cake was FABULOUS! And unique. And has a VERY old fashioned and wonderful taste to it. After much deliberation, we decided the cake tasted like a cross between a pound cake and an angel food cake. Not to heavy, not to light, but just right.

In my opinion, this would be the PERFECT cake to bring along to a pot luck, or to serve at a family gathering. The cake itself {much like my neighbor Carole’s creamy grape salad recipe, is very unassuming, but after that first bite, people will be trying to track you down for the recipe. 😉 And that my friends, is when you know you’ve got a winner.

Make it! The cake is AWESOME.

Ingredients

3 cups all purpose unbleached flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 /2 teaspoon salt
6 eggs
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups milk {I used 2%}
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons powdered sugar

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Butter a 1-piece 10-inch tube pan and line the bottom of the tube pan with a circle of parchment paper. Butter the parchment paper and dust the baking pan with flour. If you don’t have a 10 inch tube pan, simply butter and flour an ordinary bundt pan and fill the pan about 3/4th of the way full with batter.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside.

With an electric mixer, beat the eggs and sugar until thickened and the mixture ribbons onto itself when the beaters are lifted {about 5 minutes}.

In a saucepan, heat the milk and butter to scalding.

With the mixer set on low, beat the vanilla into the eggs and sugar and then add the flour mixture slowly, making sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl until everything is combined.

Beat the hot milk mixture into the batter. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake the cake for 60 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.

Cool cake for 20 minutes, then remove from pan and place on a cooling rack until completely cooled. Remove parchment paper and dust with powdered sugar.

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Giveaway – Enter to Win Mavis’s Favorite Seed Packets from Botanical Interests

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By Mavis Butterfield on February 12, 2019 · 842 Comments

This will be my 7th year growing Botanical Interests seeds in the garden and to celebrate, the fine folks at Botanical Interests and I have put together a SUPER DUPER GIVEAWAY for the readers of One Hundred Dollars a Month.

Four lucky winners will each win a gift box filled with 12 of my favorite Botanical Interests seed packets. Yes, you heard that right, you and me baby, we’ll be growing the same things in our gardens this year…. Because we’re going to be totally awesome like that.

So, what are my all time favorite Botanical Interests seed packets you ask?

Sun Gold Cherry Tomatoes {Better than candy. Did I seriously just say that?}
Purple Cherokee Tomatoes {Perfect in salads as well as sliced and stacked with big rounds of mozzarella.}
Artisan Bumble Bee Blend {These were a BIG hit at my veggie stand last summer.}
Musquée de Provence {A must for the front porch!}
Sweet Meat Winter Squash {Perfect for pies and other baked goods.}
Blue Lake Pole Beans {Because you’re never too old for a bean teepee.}
Sunstripe Summer Squash {1. It just looks cool and 2. I think it tastes better than regular green zucchini.}
Telegraph Improved Cucumbers {Long and burpless, perfect for salads!}
Detroit Dark Red Beets {Hello, beets are AWESOME.}
Italian Genovese Basil {Nice big leaves, and it always does well in my garden.}
Coleus Rainbow Blend {Easy to grow in the shade and the foliage is spectacular.}
Mammoth Russian Sunflowers {I grew a 14 footer last year!}

So let’s do this!

Four lucky winners will each receive 12 of my favorite Botanical Interests seed packets:

How you can win the seeds:

Curious minds want to know…. If you win a collection of my 12 favorite seed packets, which fruit/vegetable/herb/flower will you be looking forward to growing the most? We want to know!

Just answer that one question below in the comment section here on the blog and you’re entered to win. Life, it’s pretty complicated sometimes, so I like to keep things simple around here.

Green Bean Salad with Cashew and Bacon Topping Recipe {Made with Blue Lake Pole Beans!}

Rules:

1 entry per person/ip address. If you cheat, you will totally be disqualified. {Comments may take an hour or two to be cleared, so please be patient}.

This giveaway ends Monday, February 18th @9 pm EST and the winner will be announced on Tuesday, February 19th. You will be notified via email and have 48 hours to claim your prize. If you do not claim your prize within 48 hours, the prize will be forfeited.

Note: This giveaway is only available to US residents. Due to national and international agricultural restrictions, Botanical Interests is only able to ship seeds within the United States.

Good Luck! I hope you win!

♥ Mavis

You can stay up with all the latest and greatest from Botanical Interests Seed Company on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter or Instagram.

This post may contain affiliate links. These affiliate links help support this site. For more information, please see my disclosure policy. Thank you for supporting One Hundred Dollars a Month.

How Much We Spent on Groceries and What We Ate – Week 6 of 52

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By Mavis Butterfield on February 11, 2019 · 29 Comments

Hello Monday!

I checked in with Mrs. HB last night and she said she has about 8 inches of snow on the ground in Gig Harbor, WA and that they are expecting more today. We currently have ZERO snow on the ground but according to the HH we might get around 8 inches of snow tomorrow evening. {I have no idea where he gets his weather info}.

So, at least Mrs. HB and I will be together again {if only in snowfall}. 😉

Last week started off with leftovers. On Monday we had the Brunswick Stew I had made a few days earlier and the next day we found ourselves standing around the kitchen counter snacking on the extra salami, cheese and salmon spread from the Super Bowl feast we made {with Miss Lucy on high beggar alert for any extras, especially the CHEESE}.

Big salad, big salad, big salad. 😉 If you grew up watching Seinfeld, you probably call them Big Salads too. Don’t know what I’m talking about? Watch THIS.

Fish and Brussels sprouts. Totally lacking in the flair department, but it was still good.

And then there was the giant egg casserole the HH made. The taste was FANTASTIC, and we still have leftovers in the fridge. Anyone else out there eat their eggs with ketchup? Of my goodness, I just can’t eat scrambled eggs without it.

Cheesy cauliflower soup.

And then there was our epic date day mini road trip adventure. It lasted 10 hours!!!! We started out bright and early with a trip to a new {to us} donut shop in southern Maine. {Which was excellent by the way, and I’ll tell you all about it in an upcoming post}.

After we filled up on donuts, we then made our way to Belfast, Maine then on to Camden {their public library is so cozy!}, then to Waldoboro for the highlight…. a Ruben sandwich at Morse’s Sauerkraut. I wanted to split a sandwich but the HH said he wanted his own and so I ended up going home with the other half and eating it cold the next morning for breakfast.

Copious amounts pastrami and cabbage… so early in the morning…. not a good idea. FYI.

Morse’s Sauerkraut $27.03

And then of course because you can’t leave Morse’s without buying some of their delicious meat and a few items from the refrigerated case, we picked up a jar of sauerkraut and pickled beets and a pound of pastrami {at $15.99 a pound but SO WORTH IT!}.

Pro tip: Save your sauerkraut jars because if you bring the container back {or one of yours for them to fill} they’ll knock $2 off the price.

Just look at it, isn’t the most beautiful and thinly sliced and stacked pastrami you’ve ever laid eyes on? You can’t get this stuff in a regular grocery store.

Morse’s pastrami, with a thick layer of horseradish mustard and a couple of heaping forkfuls of their sauerkraut, oh man, it’s good to the last bite. Pair it with a bowl of homemade split pea soup…. and you’ll be set.

It was a good food week. Half healthy stuff, half…. not so much. 😉 Everything in moderation though, right?

Have a great Monday everyone, and be sure to tun in tomorrow for a super cool giveaway!!

~Mavis

Total Spent This Week $27.03

Total Spent on Groceries in February $189.63
Total Spent in January on Groceries $41.19
Total Spent So Far on Groceries in 2019 $230.82 {Goal is to average $150 – $175 a month for the year}

You can go HERE to read more Shopping Trip Stories.

This post may contain affiliate links. These affiliate links help support this site. For more information, please see my disclosure policy. Thank you for supporting One Hundred Dollars a Month.