The Tightwad Gazette (TWG) - A Partial List of TWG Recipes

The Complete Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyczyn is a revised collection of articles and ideas from Amy's previous Tightwad Gazette newsletters. The book is full of tips on how to save money as well as instructions to make a variety of craft items and other how-to ideas. Scattered among the articles and tips are many recipes.

This is a list of some of the over 86 TWG recipes found in the book and the page they are on in the book.


Tightwad Gazette Recipes

1. After-Thanksgiving Soup 72

2. Apple-Oatmeal Bars 349

3. Bean-bacon Chowder 160

4. Bean Soup Mix 129

5. Biscotti 499

6. Bread Bears 91-92

7. Burritos 377

8. Cake-mix Cookie 505

9. Candied Orange Peel 500

10. Carrot Pumpkin Pie 626

11. Cheese Ball 500-501

12. Cheese Sauce 355

13. Chilli 454-55

14. Chocolate Syrup 424

15. Coffee and Tea Mixes 128-9

16. see 422-25

17. Cookies and crackers 291, 498-99, 501, 505-6, 681, 905

18. Corn-broccoli Casserole 714

19. Corn casserole 41

20. Corn pone 160

21. Cracker Jack Snack 360-61

22. Cream Soup mix 424-25

23. Croutons 231

24. Cuban Bread 521, 542

25. Dunkin Soup 160

26. Gazpacho 379

27. Granola 27

28. Heart-shaped cupcakes 673

29. Hot cocoa 81

30. Hot rice with milk and sugar 354-65

31. Jam and milk popsicles 377, 417

32. Jell-O eggs 164-65

33. Jim’s Best Candy 138-39

34. Lentil burgers 376-77

35. Lentil-rice Casserole 453, 505

36. Maine Baked Beans 159-60

37. Mint Candy 158

38. Muffins 466-68, 682-83, 859

39. Mustard 766-67

40. Onion-Soup Mix 424

41. Orange Marmalade 813

42. Oven-Fried Potatoes 186

43. Pancake Snacks 608

44. Pancake Syrup 122-23

45. Peanut-butter Snacks 534

46. Pie-making…..633-35

47. Pigs in a blanket 805

48. Pilaf, Universal 824-25

49. Pizza 309-11

50. Pizza Casserole 772

51. Pizza Sauce 904

52. Potatoes and toppings 355-56

53. Potato-peel Appetizers 638

54. Puffy Pancake 858-59

55. Punch 859-60

56. Purple Cow 379

57. Quiches 134-35, 761-64, 872

58. Raisin-Oatmeal Scones 89-90

59. Refrigerator-dough 597-98, 626

60. Rice and beans 229, 245

61. Rice-a-Roni-style ground beef dish 738

62. Salad Dressings 230-32

63. Salsa 501

64. Seafood Casserole 211-12

65. Seasoned Rice Mix 426

66. Seasoned Salt 423

67. Shake and Bake Mix 265

68. Shake and Bake Potatoes 734

69. Soft Pretzel Valentines 389

70. Sourdough Bread 668-69

71. Stained-glass Cookies 498-99

72. Stuffing 423-24

73. Sweetened Condensed Milk 204

74. Taco-Seasoning Mix 423

75. Toaster Pastry 814

76. Toffee 500

77. Tomato Soup 424

78. Tuna-Cheddar Chowder 570

79. Turtles 868-69

80. Universal Casserole 625

81. Whipped Topping 352

82. Whole Wheat Crackers 501

83. Whoopie Pies 398

84. Worcestershire Sauce 290-91

85. Yeast Bread 885-87

86. Yogurt 715-21

Over time, I will post some of the TWG recipes I attempt to make. 
 

Om Shanti Om -- Yoga Your Way with Kate Barron

Ohm
Shanti
Yoga

  Yoga Your Way

with Kate Barron

Merida, Mexico

Yoga therapy applies yoga principles and techniques to
specific pain, conditions, imbalance and post surgery
physical recovery. This type of yoga targets specific areas to
help people in various ways such as back pain relief,
mobility in post operation scenarios etc.

Restorative Yoga or Deep Stretch
This type of yoga is for those people wanting to learn
simple relaxing and yet toning poses/asanas, techniques to
reduce stress, muscle tension from the body, address and
promote healthy sleeping patterns.

Vinyasa Yoga
A fluid fast flowing or softer movement yoga which
synchronizes the poses/asanas drawing on the breath to
maintain poses. There’s an element of cardio to this type of
yoga which makes it suitable as part of a fitness program.

Benefits:
Increases core strength & muscle tone
Lower blood pressure
Improves digestion, circulation & immunity
Provides pain & tension relief
Increases mobility, balance, posture & flexibility
Improves self-acceptance, concentration & memory
Classes tailored to
Meet Participants’ real needs.
Yoga for couples
Individuals/private sessions
Small group

Instructor Kate Barron Bio
My passion is the ancient art and philosophy of yoga, with
its use of graceful poses to achieve deep spiritual insight,
tranquility, strength and flexibility.

I have led yoga classes and meditation in Italy, Thailand,
Africa and Mexico for over 10 years.

Certificates/Licenses:
Fully licensed yoga instructor with formal training in:
• Meditation and training, Kenya, Africa, 2009.
• Meditation and training, Tulum, Mexico, 2010.
• Meditation and training, Southern Thailand.
• Pranayama techniques for stress management,
Rome, Italy.

 All ability levels are welcome,

Inquire at your hotel to arrange a class.

Contact Information

barron.kate@yahoo.com

Throw Together Cucumber Sandwiches

I am in Cucumber heaven!!

My cucumber quick pickles came out great.

The cucumber water was refreshing and the water seemed to keep the cucumber slices crisp. So, I grabbed a few slices to make a sandwich and then, I added more water to the jar.

I also grabbed some:

Cream cheese
2 Slices of multi-grain bread
some Basil
some Paprika
Ground black pepper

After slathering the bread slices with cream cheese, I topped the cheese with a few cucumber slices.

Then, I sprinkled the slices with crushed basil and paprika. I added a few grinds of ground black pepper and slapped the two pieces of bread together. No way am I going to cut of the crusts, they are the best part.

I cut the sandwich into quarters and ate them.

They were good. There are many ways to make cucumber sandwiches, maybe someday I will try some of those variations.

I had a lot of fun using one cucumber to make five different recipes.

#GERD-friendly if you use little to no ground black pepper. 

Vignette: Mary's Story

Mary's Story

Late one Halloween evening as I got ready for bed, I got indigestion. I was unable to lie down, sit down, or standup with any comfort. I hurt. Nothing helped.

By morning, I called the doctor and made an appointment. I went by cab. Once there, I threw up. The doctor told me to go the hospital and asked how was I getting there. "Cab," I said but, at that moment, a neighbor stuck her head in the door and offered to drive me. She had followed me to the doctor’s.

After an agonizing ride and entrance interview that I moaned and stumbled through, I was taken up to a room. Surrounded by doctors, nurses, interns, and residents who kept asking questions, I rolled on the bed unable to lie down. Eventually, I faded out of consciousness, vaguely aware they were attempting to hookup an IV and were having trouble inserting the needle.

Time blurred.

I moaned and groaned my way in and out of a fever. I heard indecision above me about what was the true nature of my illness. I buried myself in blankets, levered myself up to a sitting position, and rocked between sleep and consciousness. I dreamt in purples and greens, and somewhere in the middle of it all, a woman in the next bed moaned and groaned, too.

Gradually, I became aware I had a roommate, Mary. She and I agreed to moan together. As I lay there drifting in and out, between the doctors and nurses who kept telling me I was seriously ill, Mary told me about her family, a living horror story, and I remember thinking this is too much.

Here's a woman next to me with her whole body out of whack and a family from hell. She had worked two jobs to support her fatherless family, buy a home and literally with every ounce of her soul, her energy, and her body, she supported countless people who gave her nothing in return. She had more stamina than I could ever dream of.

I fell asleep thinking I would die with her life's story in my ears. I thought it an irony as my consciousness faded. As I regained consciousness again, my inside voice said, "you can be positive or negative about this, you make the choice."

I woke up laughing.

I joked with the nurses and doctors, said please and thank you, and tried not to complain. Eventually an exploratory procedure found the blocked bile duct and it was cleaned out.

Nothing in my life helped me understand what was happening to Mary. I listened as she told me of generations that pulled away, each generation less supportive, less warm. Now there were grown children who had forgotten what it meant to be human.
I heard of beatings, theft, vandalism, drinking, unwanted children, abandoned pets, and fights. I heard of her attempts to hide food and money from her children because they took everything. I heard of her attempts to shield her aging father from her children's physical abuse, going so far as to put a lock on his door.

What advice could I offer her after all her years of doing? I had no children. Silly me, I tried to teach her meditation exercises to reduce stress. I remember lying there trying to describe, in an unpracticed voice, mountains, ocean beaches and forests, wishing for some comfort in her life.

When I visited the hospital chapel, I thought this Mary's story and that her survival was a miracle, her strength a wonder, so much without joyous fruition.

As medications began to make me feel better, Mary and I became "the pajama party" on the floor. Mary joked constantly. We laughed and teased the interns, technicians, nurses, and doctors. We had IV contests to see whose IV needle would stay in the longest. I lost.

All day and all night, she worked her phone managing her home and family from her bed, paying bills and instructing family members to care for her aging father left at home. By the end of the week, he, too, was admitted to a hospital.

Then, it came time for surgery. After I was prepped, moved onto a gurney and rolled out of the room, Mary came up to me and wished me luck.

The last face I saw before going into surgery was that of the Indian resident. He was beautiful. I could not have asked for a better last vision. I smiled and thanked God.

After surgery, it was pain big time and, of course, they wanted me to get up and walk immediately. I did and Mary and I called it the gall bladder slide as I shuffled my feet and pushed my IV along the floor.

I had not eaten in a week. When they brought my first meal, I could not even eat a pea. My mouth just would not accept it. Great way to diet, I thought. For the rest of my stay, I gave most of my food to Mary. She either saved it in plastic baggies she brought with her or feed her family when they came to visit.

When any of her children entered the room, darkness descended as they stood like large, grim, silent shadows against the wall. No words of affection or concern. No smiles. Pain from low self-esteem like beaten dogs emanated from them.

Once Mary sighed and said she wished her family had sent her flowers. When they came to take Mary for her procedure, I went to her side, squeezed her hand and wished her well.

As we both began to get better, we talked more. I was eager to return to my life. I do not think Mary was. She had been hospitalized many times for an odd digestive aliment I did not understand. Her throat, her stomach and most of her digestive organs were scarred and ulcerated. I think her hospital stays were a respite from her life.

The time we spent together in that room was intense. She was more comfort to me than I was to her but we had a good time. When I started roaming the hospital floors, I ventured downstairs to the gift shop and bought Mary flowers and a teddy bear. I got a nurse to help me surprise her. She was. I wanted give her something to take home.

Becoming a Tightwad

Becoming a Tightwad

Anyone who knows me, knows I love books. My interests range from mysteries to scientific non-fiction. I also like self-help books. Several self-help books have enhanced my life. One book saved my life, The Tightwad Gazette (TWG) by Amy Dacyczyn.

If you are not familiar with the Tightwad Gazette, let me briefly describe it. It is a book about money, how to save it, how to spend it wisely, how to understand the power of compound interest and the power of setting financial goals.

Sounds like more dry text about math, stocks, and mutual funds doesn’t it?

Well, does saving vacuum cleaner lint, storing cans of tomatoes under your bed, buying pounds of chicken on sale, or yardsaling with a map, thermos, and a packed lunch sound like dry complicated math?

These are just a few tactics from thousands of similar tips offered by the author, Amy Dacyczyn, and her readers, to save money.

Conversion to becoming a tightwad was a joy. The book made me laugh. But conversion to becoming a tightwad was not without its mishaps.

One fundamental of being a tightwad is cooking your own meals from basic ingredients and not buying ready-made foods, or eating out a lot. I am not a cook, So, I learned to cook, sorta.

When I got the TWG in the mid-1990s, I had one cookbook, a rice cookbook. I made a lot of rice dishes. Having only a microwave also limited my cooking repertoire. But, hey, I could do potatoes five different ways.

Plus, I made muffins. Of course, I had to experiment in order to get them right. It amazed me how recipes try to describe the correct consistency for dough mix. I made probably thirty muffins before I got it right.

Then I went and made over 100 muffins and ended up offering them to anyone who would take them. I finally stopped making muffins when my consumption dropped and the muffins turned green.

Two other TWG tactics I use are the once a month shopping routine and the price book. You enter the price of items from receipts, or from direct mail advertisements into a small notebook to carry with you to compare prices when you are out shopping to determine if you are getting a good price. What a wonder, I had no idea how many sales were not really sales.

Using the price book idea also added a sense of intrigue to the task of grocery shopping. In the States, when I was in a grocery store comparing the prices of various gallons of ice cream, I found myself blushing as if I were doing something illegal. When what I had discovered was I could get ice cream cheaper at a competitor’s store.

Though I already had ceiling fans, used cloth napkins, and bought used clothes, books and various household items, I still felt like a failure as a tightwad. I didn’t salvage items from alongside the road, or bargain with yard sale entrepreneurs for a reduced price. It felt like I paid full price compared to the deals Amy got, like tennis shoes from a freebie box, or a blouse for a quarter because it had a small tear.

I did learn to make pickles, apple crisp, and use leftovers in various ways.

Using the price book as a guide, I held the line at .99 for a pack of four rolls of toilet paper. You have no idea the joy in finding toilet paper on sale for less than .25 a roll.

I had to figure out what fruits and vegetables were in season in order to catch sales at their peak, it was like surfing a monetary wave.

I’ve got good at making milk from dry powder and I would go out of my way to buy juice concentrates on sale. I had enough shampoo to last a year, several boxes of raisins in the refrigerator, and tubs of butter in the freezer I got on sale over a year ago.

Amy also suggests saving 10% or more of your salary. While I was working, I did this. As my savings grew, I was able to put some of the cash into certificates of deposit, which at that time, paid higher interest rates.

Mexico Update

The above article was written in the late-1990s. Today, I still struggle to be a good tightwad. Yet, it is because of the TWG I was able to travel to Mexico to get good, affordable, accessible health care and survive on my emergency savings.

When I look at the various frugality posts on my blog, I see I could do better. For example, I could find a bank where I can get an ATM card and make withdrawals for no fee. Banking in Mexico is complicated.

When I started a new “frugal” hobby, making my own earrings, I hesitated to begin a new hobby because I had a bad habit of buying supplies for a new hobby and never investing time into the hobby.

But, I love earrings (aretes), so after spending $900MX (~70.00US), I have made more than 80 pairs of earrings, so far.

In the marketplace, street vendor or retail store, aretes (earrings) can run from 20pesos to hundreds of pesos.

What is also great about my hobby is if I need a gift for someone, I make a pair of aretes. Or, if I want aretes to go with an outfit, I just make a pair.

I think my aretes now cost about 12 pesos a pair. So, you could say my hobby has already paid for itself.
 
But, I could go more often to open food markets or flea markets to buy food, or household items, spices, clothes, and other items for less.

I could learn to “haggle”, to negotiate for a favorable price with a vendor. I have heard that “haggling” is common in Mexico.

I do research and attempt to understand the local economy. Because the minimum wage is low, I am not comfortable “haggling” for a lower price. Usually, if I do not like the price, I do not buy the item.

In the case of a taxi ride, I do know how much it should cost to go from A to B, so if the taxi does not have a meter, I ask the driver what the price would be to go to B. If the price is too high, I decline the taxi.

Living between countries puts pressure on my limited tightwad abilities. I still haven't figured out the an easy, frugal way to travel.

But, that is part of what it means to be a tightwad, to me. It's means you continue to experiment with, explore, and research ways to save money that will enhance your life. I can't paint, dance, write poetry, or other artistic endeavors, but I can creatively save money. Being a tightwad is a creative endeavor anyone can do.

Hotplate: Salmon and Cheese Chowder

I am enjoying making soups from various recipes.

The original recipe can be found in the Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacycyzn on page 570. I made adjustments in an attempt to make it #GERD-friendly and based on What You Have on Hand.

 Hotplate: Salmon and Cheese Chowder


Ingredients:

2 Cups water
1 1/2 Chicken bouillon cubes
1/4 Cup butter or margarine
2 Carrots, grated or 2 Cups shredded carrots
1 Tspn onion powder
1/2 Tspn Worchestershire sauce
Ground Black pepper to taste
1/4 - 3/4 Cup flour
1 2/3 Cups milk, deslactosada (Lactose-free)
1 140g (4.9 oz) Can of Salmon (or Tuna), drained
1 Cup Cheese, mozzarella or other, grated
Garnish: Parsley fresh or dry, crushed (Optional)

Process:

Add 2 cups water to a microwave container.
Add bouillon cubes.
Microwave on high for 3 minutes or more to dissolve cubes in water.
Remove and stir.
Set aside.

In a large pot, add butter.
Add carrots.
Stir.
Cook on medium, saute carrots.
Add onion powder.
Add Worcestershire Sauce.
Add Ground Black pepper.
Stir.
Saute for a few minutes.
Stir occasionally.
Add 1/4 cup flour slowly.
Stir as you add the flour, in an attempt to avoid lumps.
Add 1/2  Chicken stock.
Stir continuously to reduce lumps.
Stir for until flour has been mixed thoroughly.
If soup has not thickened, add a bit more flour.
Add remaining stock.
Stir.
Add milk.
Stir thoroughly.
Reduce to simmer.
Stir until the mixture bubbles.
Add salmon or tuna.
Stir.
Add cheese.
Stir and heat mixture until the cheese melts.
As you serve in a bowl, add garnish, if desired.

 

Microwave: Baked Apples with Jam, Oats and Cinnamon

Update 2/11/2020

I just made this recipe, again, because in the first recipe, I used wax paper, and overcooked the stuffed apples. I microwaved them on high for 10 minutes and they came out like hard candy. I don't think the wax paper was useful.

Today, I covered the stuffed apples with plastic wrap and microwaved them on high for 3 minutes and they came out perfect.

I, also, made some minor adjustments to the ingredients.

So, I altered the recipe to reflect these changes.

You can find several online cookbooks at The Guelph Family Health Study.

I appreciated their goals of involving children in cooking in the kitchen and making recipes to avoid food waste.

Often, when I buy even 1 or 2 apples, somehow they don't get eaten quickly. So, I have to devise ways to cook them to preserve them. Often, I can freeze what I have cooked.


Microwave: Baked Apples with Jam, Oats and Cinnamon
(Adapted from: Baked Apple with Crisp Topping https://guelphfamilyhealthstudy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/GFHS-Fall-2016-Cookbook.pdf)


Ingredients:

4 small apples
4 Tspns of Jam
4 Rounded TBspns Oats
2 Level TBspns Flour
1.5 - 2 TBspns Sugar
4 Dashes of Cinnamon powder
1.5 - 2 TBspns Butter, softened
Plastic wrap to cover microwave dish


Process:

Wash apples.
Cut apples in half, horizontally.
Place apple halves in a microwave dish.
Scoop out cores.
Fill space with a Tspn of jam.

In a bowl, stir and mix flour, sugar, oats and cinnamon.
Add butter.
Stir and cream the butter into the mixture.
Add about 1 TBspn of mixture over top of apple halves.

Cover microwave dish with plastic wrap.
Microwave on high for 3-5 minutes for small apples. Microwave a few more minutes, if the apples are larger.

New picture of 2nd Batch of Baked Apples