Chicago: Whaaaaaaaaat?

The other day, I saw this article about a school in Chicago that has decided to ban all lunches brought from home by students unless the student has an allergy or other excused medical condition. I like that what is basically a total ban is here referred to as "some lunches banned."

I know this is really not the sort of thing I typically write about here, but I am furious to read this! I understand--the school is trying to ensure that kids are eating healthy meals. But they're losing a golden opportunity to be proactive about not only educating their students but the families of those students.

Don't ban lunches from home. Give nutrition classes. At least come up with food that tastes good, as the fallout from the project at the school seems to be a vast number of children simply throwing their food away and going hungry because the food isn't even good.

Require nutrition class. I and many others will back you up. Better yet, teach Home Economics to all high schoolers. Do it for all four years, even. Make damn sure that children graduating today know not only how to plan and prepare nutritious food, but also balance a checkbook, plan a budget, and take care of themselves. By serving bad-tasting food in the name of health, all you're doing is teaching children that healthy food has to taste bad. By requiring students to eat at a cafeteria without the option of bringing food from home--yes. You're stopping some students from eating McDonald's every day for lunch. But you're also teaching the lesson that you aren't responsible for your own diet, health, and welfare.

Is that really a lesson we want to support?

DIY Steampunk/Victorian Skirt

So, I don't know how many of the fans of this blog are also into steampunk, and of those how many like sewing and costuming, but, I saw this pattern for a simple faux-bustled skirt today and pretty much had to share it. My understanding from chatting with an acquaintance who's made it is that it really is as easy as it looks.

I haven't figured out yet how to work my sewing machine with a broken right foot, but as soon as I do (and find just the right fabric) I'd like to give this a try. Why? Well doesn't every girl need a bustled skirt in her wardrobe?

Shut up. Every girl needs that. It's true.

Stop looking at me like that.

Full pattern and instructions from the fabric.com blog can be found here.

Nutella Mug Cake!

I admit, I am posting a link to a recipe I haven't tested and won't be able to test, because Mr. Scrimp and I don't have a microwave.

it just looks so GOOD

I know, I know! Crazy, right? Not owning a microwave? Who even does that?

It isn't something we did on purpose. We just didn't have one when we got married (there was a "wait, you don't own a microwave?" "I thought you did!" "I thought you did!" conversation), and we didn't really have the money to get one at the time*. We could buy one now, but it's been nearly two years of a no-microwave life, and I have to admit, it's grown on me as a lifestyle. Slow food is sort of de rigeur when you have no microwave. What started out as a disorganized accent has become a life choice we now actively uphold.

The one thing that does make me sad is that we will not be able to sample this particular mug of deliciousness from The Family Kitchen. A chocolate mug cake with a twist--a little extra oil and a big scoop of Nutella make for a cake that is moist, gooey, and about as decadent looking as you can get with microwave cookery.


* We did the same thing with a vacuum cleaner and made do without for over a year before a kind relative donated an unwanted one. I am not enough of a hipster to do everything the old-fashioned way just because I can.

Recipe: Apple Cake

I broke my foot on Saturday! This probably means good things for readers of my blog, because it's going to force me to do a lot less running around and being busy and a lot more sitting down and working on projects to pass the time, which means I'll have a lot more to talk about here on Scrimpalicious.

Today, I'm sharing a recipe for Apple Cake. I wish I had pictures to show you, but we ate this thing so quickly that I didn't have a chance. I originally found the recipe on AllRecipes.com, but it was cloyingly sweet and very high in fat, so I modified it. This variation on the recipe is property of your truly.

Homemade Pop Tarts

I think most people under the age of 30 love Pop Tarts, or have loved them at some point in the past. But if you're like Mr. Scrimp and me, that love has been tainted by your knowledge of how absolutely terrible they are for you--am I right? (You don't need to answer that; I know I'm right)

Pop Tarts, for me, have always fallen into that heartbreaking category of "processed foods that are impossible to make at home," along with Ecto-cooler, Little Debbie Oatmeal Cakes, and Eggo waffles. Let's just face it, people. Some foods are delicious because they are full of horrifying chemicals. And, probably thanks to their vividly colored fillings, neon sprinkles, and tooth-aching sweetness, I just always assumed Pop Tarts were one of those things.

Proof that I was wrong?

Enter the Los Angeles Times (really) and their recipe for homemade Pop Tarts--oh wait, I mean toaster pastries, because convention demands we lie to ourselves and pretend that toaster pastries that aren't Pop Tarts are still worth eating.

Are they Pop Tarts? Technically no. Stupendous Man refuses to eat store-bought organic toaster pastries and although I know he'd try these, I doubt I'd be able to manufacture something that tastes like a perfect replica to him, primarily because there are only one or two situations in which I will willingly use corn syrup and as for the rest of the crazy things they put into Pop Tarts, I don't even know how to pronounce half of those ingredients, let alone where the home cook might buy them.

Still, a toaster pastry that I can fill with my own homemade jams or jellies? Or frangipane? Or Nutella? A Nutella-filled pop tart!! You have my ear, L.A. Times. I am definitely going to give this recipe a try, and I am just going to try and ignore the fact that each one has nearly 500 calories in it. I sleep through breakfast and skip lunch on many Saturdays, making this a totally acceptable weekend breakfast because shut up.

So it might not be healthy in terms of calories, but I'd rather sit down and split a single, chemical-free homemade, Nutella-filled pop tart with Mr. Scrimp any day than stock my pantry with brand-name cancer pastries.

New Year's Resolutions: Declutter a.k.a. Throw Stuff AWAY!

Ok. You may ask, what am I doing writing a New Year's Resolutions post two weeks after the New Year? Well, they say that most resolutions are broken within two weeks. Isn't that awful? Yeah, I thought so too. For a while, my response to that was just to refuse to make resolutions. Then I thought, no, that's the wrong answer. I think the answer is to make resolutions more mindfully, putting a lot of thought into them beforehand and being sure well before the New Year that any resolution I make is a life change I'm ready to commit to.

My big resolution this year? Declutter. What does that mean for me? Throw stuff away.

That may seem weird to you. Or maybe not. Maybe you're nodding your head fervently as you read this, saying "oh my gosh, I have so much stuff I could get rid of! Oh, the clutter. Oh, the mess. Oh how I wish it were just more organized."

Now, let's be clear.

Review: Canning For a New Generation

For Christmas this year, my brother and his wife gave Mr. Scrimp and I a copy of Lianna Krissoff's Canning for a New Generation. Being readers of Scrimpalicious, they knew about my sometime love affair with canning, and also that Mr. Scrimp and I tend to be, well, I hate the word "foodie" because it's a silly-sounding word, but if the shoe fits...

First of all, this book is beautiful. It's worth owning just for the eye candy, in my opinion. From the appealing cover to the photographs sprinkled lavishly throughout, this book is just pretty. I would (and already have) just leave it on my coffee table for people to flip through as an aesthetic pleasure.