All posts by Becky

Menu plans

What Did We Eat? July 19, 2018

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That’s just my harvest from today!  Over the past week, I think I’ve picked around 35 zucchini. I have shared many, many zucchinis, served them frequently, and still have a bunch.  Tomorrow, I have a day off and hope to preserve some of them.

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We have had mixed grill basket, stir fry, zucchini bread, gf zucchini muffins, and zucchini cake with browned butter frosting (thanks to Lovana).

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I found 2 turkey drumsticks in the freezer.  They were from our old house! It was time to use them up and then some. I found a recipe in the Fix and Forget It (For Entertaining) cookbook and made it.  It was a BBQ sauce with 1/2 cup ketchup, 1/3 cup molasses, 1/4 cup white vinegar, 3 T Worchestershire sauce, 2 T dried minced onion, salt and pepper.  I sprinkled the drumsticks with salt and pepper, mixed the other ingredients, put the sauce over the drumsticks, set the Crock Pot to “low” and left.  5-6 hours later, it  was edible, and I ate some for lunch, but let it go another 2 hours and it got more tender.  I picked the rest of the meat off the bones and put it and some of the sauce in a bowl and put it in the fridge for tomorrow.

On that same trip to the shop where I was digging into the freezers, I found some pork from our old house, as well.  I marinated it in olive oil, mustard, salt, pepper and a sprig of rosemary.  Rob grilled it tonight, and we ate part of it.  He also did chicken drumsticks, and we ate part of them, too.  Now, I have main dishes for the next 2 days, and maybe more.  There are a few more things in the freezer that need to be targeted another time.

We also got out some beef brisket that we have not known what to do with.  When we bought 1/4 beef, it came with it.  We’ve bought beef for years, and did not get this cut, but the last 2 times, we have.  So, Rob’s been looking on-line and in cookbooks, and is ready to tackle it.

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I have been picking lots of veggies from the garden.  The potatoes are the ones that grew all by themselves in the compost heap.  I cut them into chunks and roasted them.  I cooked some garden carrots in a little butter and apple juice for lunch.  I’ve been freezing all the little bits of strawberries I collect.  I just drop them into the freezer bag.  When it gets a bunch in it, I’ll start a new one.  I will have lots of strawberries frozen by the end of the summer, if all goes well.  I got about 2 Tablespoons of shelling peas today.  I’m shocked and amazed that snow peas are still growing, despite the heat wave we’ve had.

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I’ve been skimming the beans, and have enough for tomorrow’s meal. I did lose some blossoms in the heat, but am going to have lots.  I cut what I thought was tons of lettuce a few days ago, but I realized today that we have eaten almost all of it, due to the many salad suppers we had when it was so hot.  I have a few more heads to cut, then will have to wait for some little lettuces to grow.  I’m hoping to plant even more seeds in the next couple of days.  I’m very happy because I was able to eat or share much of this batch before it bolted.  There are a few bolted plants I did leave out there from the first batch–hopefully, they will self-seed and I will have volunteers, or I will collect some seeds.IMG_7539

The tomatoes are just starting. What a treat!

We cooked for the college-aged kids on Tuesday, at church.  It is a fun group to cook for.  It seems that no matter what we make, it’s “their favorite” and they slick it up.  We served salad bar, with toppings for both taco salad and chef’s salad, pork and beans (cold, right out of the can), deviled eggs, zucchini bread and gf zucchini muffins, and watermelon.  It went well, and they loved it. It was very hot, and it hit the spot.  Of course, we ate with them that night.

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This account would not be complete without eggs.  Just plain, simple eggs, scrambled with salt and pepper.  I was able to get eggs for 99c/dozen and bought 5, just for us.  That does not count the 3 dozen I turned into deviled eggs for the college kids.  Jake decided he is in a mood for eggs.  He has had scrambled eggs more than once this week, and today ended up eating 4 eggs, total–first I scrambled 2, than 2 more on request.  When I got him into the car after our early morning swimming excursion, he gravely explained that he had not had a single thing to eat today, and was HUNGRY!  The last time he told me that, he meant he had eaten nothing but DONUTS, so I didn’t take him too seriously until those 4 eggs went down the hatch.  Rob did pick him up very early, and then took him to the pool….

Jake has still been eating lots of ramen noodles this week, his favorite, but it was really nice to see him eat so many healthy eggs.  Other family members have been hungry for eggs, too.  Maybe I should have bought 10 dozen……

The one thing you don’t see us eating lately is food from a restaurant.  We just aren’t going out, even for French fries.  It’s been a few weeks now.  It’s been a little hard on Jake and Michaela without the McD’s, but they are getting used to me skipping it.  We (their mother and I) agreed before Rob’s job ended that it would be better for them to eat less of that food, and boy was I glad we had already decided that when his job ended.  It’s been good for both the budget and the waistline.  Rob and I will go out to eat for a date soon, and enjoy every minute of it, and we will take the kids for a treat sometime, but I really want it to be a treat, not an expectation and not too frequent.

food preservation, Saving Money

Thriving in My Thrifty Week–July 15, 2018

33 Comments

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I canned 2 pineapples.  They are going to be great for pizza, fried rice and more.  They were on sale for 99c each, and they got really ripe, really fast.  I got 8 1/2 pint jars for $2.

I made peach-blueberry jam with frozen peaches and blueberries from my bushes.

I picked and froze Marion berries, blueberries, raspberries and a handful of strawberries.  There is another bunch of green strawberries coming on now that Rob has fixed the sprinklers so that they are getting enough water.

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I made stir-fry, enchilada casserole, chicken soup, hot dogs, scrambled eggs, tacos, sandwiches, blueberry muffins, many salads,  tuna melts and defrosted bean soup for lunch one day.  I’m using garden produce as much as possible, but already cannot keep up with the zucchini.

I wasn’t going to shop this weekend, but the store “got” me.  There was ice cream for 99c a carton, and I bought the 5 allowed.  I got 2 bags of Ore-Ida French fries for free, using the Ibotta app.  I have no idea why it was one offer at Fred Meyers and one at Safeway, both for a different amount, but in each case the fries were free, and I even made a few cents at Safeway.  I got a few other things, and I got more milk, as we were running out more quickly than I thought we would.  Hopefully, I won’t need much this week.

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The garden is looking good, for the most part.  The tomatoes are giving me some worries, as the leaves are curling and they don’t look so good.  On the other hand, I’m getting a few tomatoes from the earliest variety, and there are lots of green ones on the Wilamettes.  The San Marzano Gigante Romas only have 1 or 2 tomatoes set on the entire row.  Hmmmm.  Lots of blooms, though.  It’s been awfully hot and that experimental red mulch may not be letting them get the water they need. I hope that’s all that is the matter.  Besides the zucchini, we are eating lots and lots of lettuce.  There are a few snow peas every couple of days and all the green onions I care to harvest.  I’ve been giving away excess lettuce and zucchini.  The lettuce is bound to bolt in this heat, and so I want it used up.  If we go a week or so without lettuce, no problem.  There’s new plantings growing and lots of other veggies to eat.

My new planting of lettuce came up, as did the handful of snow peas and green beans I planted.  The new, fall crop, of zucchini is up, too.

My husband spent quite a bit of time on the phone.  During his many, often lengthy, conversations he managed to 1)lower a phone bill by a significant amount each month by lowing our data plan and putting it on auto-pay.  Auto-pay alone saved $10/month. 2)get the pharmacy and doctor on the same page about my meds and our new insurance–they have to line everything up just right so it will pay, and now that’s done for now.  I picked up my first batch of meds today, so things are working well at last.

He and his mechanic friend fixed the air conditioner in our van.  Soooo nice now:). His friend didn’t charge him, just supervised and helped as needed.  My husband is not a mechanic and he knows it, but can do simple fixes just fine, especially with a helping hand.  My car is still in the shop, but there is a plan in place of what needs to be done, and now we are waiting for our turn in line behind 3 motors that need replacing.

We worked with the kids 4 days this week.  On Friday, the library had a free (as all their programs are) sing-along movie.  It was The Lion King, my niece’s favorite.  She can quote it pretty much.  We took only her, and she sat between us holding her stuffed Lion King stuffed animal, wearing her Lion King shirt and sang her heart out–so cute!  She had so much fun.  On other days, we did chores, took them swimming, read books,  Rob took our niece to her Thursday volunteering for Meals on Wheels, went to the library and more.  There was a comedian (for children) at the library on Wednesday so we took Jake to that.  We also took him to 7-11 on 7/11 between 11 and 7, to get the free Slurpee.  (We have only him on Wednesdays, her daddy takes Michaela to her horse grooming volunteer activity at the special needs horse ranch, where she also gets to ride–it takes hours–glad he does it for her!). It takes a team for these kids!!

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Everywhere we went, we packed food and drinks for those who might get hungry or thirsty, especially in this heat. We were sorely tempted to stop and get dinner one night when it was so hot, but we powered through and came home and made tuna melts.  Boy were they good!  We used some of the tuna we purchased off the docks last summer and canned.  It won’t be long until we go searching for some good tuna again.  It’s almost time:)

 

Saving Money

Thriving in My Thrifty Week–July 8, 2018

18 Comments

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I went to the garden with a large bowl, and picked every beet that was of good size.  I was hoping to get a big batch of pickled beets.  I got 2 pints:). Sometimes it turns out that way.  I am glad to have the 2 pints, though, and there are more beets that will grow larger.  It was odd because the ones that were large were getting quite large, and were needing to be used, and the rest were super tiny.

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I used strawberries that were frozen in 2015, plus the small amount I picked from my bushes to make a batch of jam.  I am only picking a handful of berries at a time from my bushes right now, so will freeze them when I get them for smoothies next winter if they don’t get eaten on the spot. I was happy to use up the older berries in a yummy way.

I processed 40-50 lbs cherries into pie filling, canned cherries, cherry jam and frozen cherries.

I picked and froze more raspberries, blueberries and blackberries.  I weeded and hoed.  I planted a few more lettuce, snow pea and fall zucchini seeds. Towards the end of summer, my zucchini often succumbs to the powdery mildew so I usually plant another bush or two that will come on then and just pull out the bad ones.

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We had a simple 4th of July celebration at home, and my aunt and niece came over for that.  We bought a very few fireworks, and my niece brought some, too, and the girls had a great time lighting them off.  Then, my niece was still wound up from the excitement, and didn’t want to take her dog home while others were still blasting off fireworks, so she, Patsy and I watched the movie, “Heidi” until 11:30.  We really had a good time.  I was a little tired the next day…..I’m not as young as I once was:)

We had a wonderful birthday breakfast with my Mom yesterday.  Rob and I went to a few garage sales later in the day.  I found several things that were on my list:  very small Rubbermaid containers with lids for 10c and 25c (somehow they have disappeared, probably due to the amount of lunches we take places and the fact that they are sometimes put in the microwave), a large tea ball that I will use for spices when I make relish and so on for a quarter, and some children’s books for 25c.

I got a dress for Patsy for $2. I’m very pleased with how far the clothes money I set aside last spring is stretching.  I got her a sweatshirt and 2 tops down at the beach last week, which were new and on great sales, but the rest have been from yard sales.  IMG_7502

The best find of the day, though, was a hiking backpack and mat for $10.  This will go to our niece, Alissa, as she was using a borrowed pack on the last trip and it was not adequate for the hike.  It was more like a day pack, and this one will hold enough items for the 2-night hike she is planning on joining in on next.

I am still searching for a few things, but am super glad with what I found so far.  It is taking time, but right now, I have more time than money.

I am very happy to report we now have health insurance.  My daughter actually had a need to go to the doctor, so that happened just in time.

This week will be pretty calm, as my kids are going to camp, and I will not have my niece and nephew until Wednesday.  I hope to get a few projects around the house done tomorrow and Tuesday.

I took Patsy to the library and they are no longer going to charge money to borrow DVD’s.  I’m super excited and will be checking their movies out ASAP!  We only saw the sign as we were checking out, so hadn’t even looked at them, as they have been $1 each to borrow the entire time we have lived here.  At our old house, we didn’t have hooked-up t.v. for 10 years, but instead used library videos because they were free there.  I’m going to check out their selection here and see what they have.

 

Garden

Garden Update–July 5, 2018

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I’m so excited!  I picked the first zucchini, and stir-fried it up for dinner with a few snow peas, onion and celery.  There are 2 others that will be ripe soon.

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There is more broccoli to cut, beets that are close, the first planting of snow peas is almost done, and I’ve moved on to the 2nd planting of lettuce.  I have a lot of weeding and some re-planting to do for the next succession of lettuce, snow peas and may do a few more green beans for fresh eating into the fall months.  It takes about 2 months to get green beans to produce, so anything planted now will come ripe in the beginning of September.   So, I have time to grow a few more plantings of several items for fall eating, but I have to start planning for that now.  (Update:  I started working on this post on Tuesday, and yesterday I was able to re-seed a little lettuce here, a few snow peas there, and a few green bean plants.  The garden is pretty full!)

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There are a lot of nice herbs.  I’ve been using them frequently this year.

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I’ve been picking raspberries, black (Marion) berries, blueberries, and a few strawberries.

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Rob and I have been freezing them all, except for the few we eat fresh.  He used some for this dessert for 4th of July.  We had my aunt, and my niece over, and had a very relaxing evening.

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Jake’s method of planting is working!  After 2 unsuccessful plantings of slicing cucumbers, I handed him a packet of seeds from the Dollar Store (25c) that were from years past and told him to go for it!  He planted them in a big clump, down the sides, buried extremely deep, and so forth.  We covered them up, and wow!  They came up:) So there will be slicing cucumbers after all, at least in August:). I may have to start marketing the “Jake Method of Planting.”  I might make a fortune!

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I’m not sure if you can see all the zinnias that came up volunteer at the edge of the Sweetmeat Squash bushes.  I just left them.  A spot of color in the middle of the squash?  Works for me:)

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I’ve got some dahlias and calla lilies starting to bloom.  Frankly, I’d like a lot more flowers to bloom, so am waiting impatiently for my zinnia to get big enough.  I planted them from inexpensive seeds, and there are plenty.  It’s just a matter of time.  Patsy also planted 3 more dahlias in the corner of the garden, and I’m eager to see what colors they turn out to be.  It’s fun to be surprised sometimes:)

 

 

 

food preservation, Fruit

Cherries, Cherries, Cherries! July, 2018

13 Comments

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My sister has cherries, and I was invited over to pick what I wanted.  I went early in the morning yesterday, and had a good visit with her while we picked.

I was fortunate enough to find all 3 available kinds:  Ranier (light), Dark (like Bings or Lamberts), and pie cherries.  Then, I spent yesterday processing them.

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I canned 7 quarts, and 22 pints of sweet cherries.  Some jars were dark, some light, and some, like these, were mixed.  They were very ripe and sweet, so I used a 6:1 water/sugar ratio.  A little sugar helps them stay firm and fresh longer, but they sure didn’t need much.

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I made pie filling, and got 7-3 cup jars, and 7 pints.  That was a lot of work, because I had to pit all of those little cherries, but I’m super happy to have the pie filling.  I used the recipe here.

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I made cherry jam for the first time. I used a mixture of dark and light sweet cherries for that.  I used a low-sugar recipe.

With all these projects, I finished off the pie cherries and light cherries, except for a few I kept out for eating fresh.

I used some of the dark ones, but there are quite a few left in the camper fridge.  I plan to pit and freeze those today.

I’m very excited to have so many cherries.   I’m only guessing, but I think it was between 40 and 50 pounds combined. We have been completely out for a while, so this will fill things back up nicely.

 

 

Summer Fun With Kids

Thriving In My Thrifty Week–July 1, 2018

21 Comments

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I was able to pick enough flowers from the yard for a bouquet today.  Even better, I was able to clean off the table so there was a nice place to put it!  I’m slowly chipping away at the mess left over from both the backpack trip and the camping trip.

Today, the nieces and my aunt joined us for Family Sunday Dinner.  I made lasagna, and used up some cottage cheese, ricotta, parmesan, and some frozen pasta sauce.  These were all items that had been lingering in the fridge and freezer, so it felt good to use them up.  I made an extra lasagna to freeze, and a tiny one to freeze in the camper.  I also made salad from garden lettuce and some Brazilian Bite rolls I bought a while back.

Yesterday, I defrosted the camper freezer and wiped both it and the fridge out.  Now, I’m starting to restock both for the next trip, using fresher items.  I’ve put the older things in the house freezer to use up in the near future.

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We had a very nice and frugal week at Ft. Stevens State Park.  We kept things extremely simple. One thing Jake has wanted to do since last summer was to ride the big “Beast” army truck at the historic area.  So, one day, we went over there and did that, as well as let him crawl all over the batteries and play with the replica guns/cannons.  We had to pay for the ride, but it was less since Rob did not care to ride.  The museum was free, and the kids enjoyed seeing that yet again.

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One morning, Rob took only Patsy out fishing, and she was successful!  Another day, I took just her around the tiny outlet mall near the campground, and got her 2 shirts and a sweatshirt at a sweatshirt shop.  I am still working on her wardrobe, and slowly acquiring items for her as I find them on a good sale.  I also wanted to pay some extra attention to her, and that was a good way, since it’s a project I’ve been working on.  She wore the shorts I fixed for her, and I will keep looking at yard sales and at store sales to keep stretching that small amount of money I have set aside for this purpose.

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We caught a few fish.  You should have seen the one that got away!  I lost a big one.  Much, much, much bigger than this one, I’m sure.  Too bad I couldn’t measure it, but I’m sure it was practically a whale:)

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They were nice size and we ate them over the course of the week.

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It wasn’t Jake’s turn to catch one.  Still, he went fishing several times, and I spent quite a bit of time working with him on his casting skills.  He hooked other people’s lines.  I moved him to a less populated area. He hooked mine.  He moved right back to where the people were. He hooked uncle’s chair.  I moved him again.  He wrapped his line around his pole numerous times.  He cast so hard he flipped the end of his pole right off and into the water.  After I freaked out, thinking we lost it forever, several calm male voices from the surrounding fishermen just said, “keep reeling, it will come.”  And, it did.  I guess all those fishermen in the area had seen this before:). He moved back over near all the people.  And on, and on it went.  Finally, one day, the dock came available, and we moved out there.  Even though he didn’t catch one, he spent quite a bit of time bragging to everyone about his “huge” one he caught at Detroit recently, and seemed happy.

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The kids fed the seagulls every stale cracker we could round up, and probably some that weren’t so stale.

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Fire poking was an on-going activity.  Occasionally hot dogs or marshmallows were roasted as well.

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We saw quite a few elk wandering around the area.  One day, we even saw them in the tiny town near the park.

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The kids and I took a lot of hikes.  One day, Jake and I got on a wrong trail and though we thought we were going .4 miles, we actually went 1-1/2 miles.  He was a little grumpy, but made it.  With a couple of other little hikes we took that day, we ended up hiking a total of 3 miles.  Other times, Patsy went as well.  Rob’s having a lot of trouble with his hip, so he did not hike at all but he was always willing to drive us out to a trail and drop us off so we could hike back to camp for exercise.

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Every night, glow sticks came out, and were enjoyed.  One night, I got up in the middle of the night, and saw that Jake had them around his ankles, wrists, and neck, making a nice glow in the night:). So cute!  Most of these were from the dollar store, or from the after-Halloween clearance rack at Safeway, so were quite inexpensive.

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The rose garden at the museum was lovely.  Patsy took about 14 pictures of roses, each more beautiful than the last.

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Once I got home, I got right to work on the berries.  There were lots of raspberries to pick, and I popped all these berries right into the freezer to save for winter.  I froze them on the tray I picked them on, and will transfer them to cartons or baggies once they freeze.  I was able to package up 4 pints from the ones I put in there before I left.  Those were the first of the blueberries and blackberries, and I got a quart and a pint from each.  They are also in the freezer.  The few strawberries I picked are in the fridge.  I ran out of time.  We may just eat them, there aren’t many.

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There was a little rain.  Rob was able to capture a raindrop falling into a little puddle.

The week was extremely fun and very frugal, and we worked hard to keep it that way.  I guess it’s a matter of what we did not do that added up as well.  We did not go to the movies or ride rides in nearby Seaside, or any of the other attractions that were available.  We did not eat out, except once and that was with money we had saved in a can for this purpose.  That can paid for the truck ride at the museum, as well.  There is $14 left for the next time.  We did not buy excess groceries, but instead used many items up from the camper stockpile and freezer. I cooked a lot more than normal, because I didn’t pre-cook food, but it worked out well.   We did not drive around a lot, and when we did, we went short distances.  We brought wood from home to burn and did not buy any.  Because we have a park pass, we camped for free, so we only paid the $6 registration fee.  We took lots of naps and hikes and did simple things for entertainment.  There is so much more to do that we didn’t get done, such as clamming (tide was low at 5 a.m.–too early for our crew), more hikes to take, digging in the sand (too cloudy and rainy the day we wanted to do that), and much more.

Jake’s already asking to go again:). I love going, but also love the fact that this week I have plans to get a lot of things done here at my house.  He’s going on vacation with his parents, so I have high hopes that I will get some of “those” projects done while he and Michaela are away!

 

 

Menu plans

What Did We Eat? June 29, 2018

20 Comments

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Before we left for camping, I grabbed whatever I could from the garden and fridge.  There were some sad and sorry carrots, the end of a bunch of celery, some nice fresh snow peas, and an onion.  I made stir fry and cooked some white rice I unearthed in the camper cupboard.  I did go to the store and buy another fresh bunch of celery and a few carrots.  Jake ate 1 piece of chicken under duress, and 1 snow pea, and noodles.

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Since we are camping this week,  we got to enjoy trout, fresh from the lake.  The first one I fried in a pan for breakfast.  These 4 got better treatment.  We put fresh dill from the garden in side, along with Lowrie’s seasoning salt, and Rob grilled them.  Yum!  Jake ate 1 bite of trout under duress, and noodles.

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We had some hot dogs, so grabbed those, of course.  We had to buy marshmallows to roast.  There were none in the camper cupboards.  That’s probably a good thing.  Last summer’s marshmallows don’t sound very tasty to me;). We just went without chocolate bars this time.  Jake ate noodles and bread.

We also had lots of cereal from the camper cupboard, plus various bread products I grabbed from home.  Jake was on a Top Ramen and Cup-o-Noodle kick, and wanted bread, bread, bread with butter, butter, butter.  We’ve used almost an entire tub of “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter” I got on sale before the trip.  I was happy to buy another loaf of 100% Whole Wheat Bread for him.  It’s better than those noodles for him.

As I cleaned out the camper cupboards, things like a few pieces of hard candy, some cookies, a hidden package of Bugles, and other treats were revealed and wolfed down.  I made some cookies from chocolate chips that had seen better days.   Anything that was really, really over the hill went to the sea gulls, so provided entertainment of another sort.  Jake ate Bugles and cookies.  I put oatmeal in the cookies, so felt pretty good about that one.

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Rob grilled a couple of steaks from the freezer and 4 ears of corn Jake talked me into buying at the store.  He ate noodles and bread with butter.

I made one simple soup from the end of the sad carrots, celery and bullion.  I put rice in it, too.

In the end, we ate like kings and queens.  I spent a little grocery money, and we did go out to eat one time with the coins we saved in a tin can for that purpose. (Thankfully, Rob changed it into bills before we left–it would have been awkward to take that many coins to a restaurant:) ). We went to a pizza place for an all-you-can-eat salad and pizza buffet.  I asked if they had gluten-free, figuring I might just be eating salad.   They surprised me by making me a pizza, after asking me what kind I wanted, and then they sent me home with the rest of it–for no extra charge.  We felt bad and offered to pay whatever was fair for the rest (I know how expensive gluten-free ingredients are), but they would not take any money.  That was an unexpected blessing, so I had pizza for breakfast today:). Jake ate pepperoni off Rob’s pizza, and watermelon.

I had one day where Jake and I walked a total of 3 miles, broken into pieces.  Another time, we did almost 2 miles.  We’ve done other walks, too. I’ve done more cooking in the camper than I usually do because I didn’t get to prepare ahead of time.  I’ve used up lots of odds and ends. It’s been fun to get in there and get creative, and fun that we’ve walked so much that I have felt like I could eat a little more and enjoy it!

 

Vacations, Watching my pennies

Thriving in My Thrifty Week–June 25, 2018

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Patsy, Alissa and I had a wonderful time on our backpack trip. We went to Tumble Lake, which is near Detroit Lake.  It was very frugal.  We had to chip in $5 each for gas.  Some of those Mountain House dehydrated meals were donated to the youth group, and we had those a couple of times.  I actually bought one gluten-free one at the store, not knowing if there would be any gluten-free options, and I also took a bunch of other food for myself, but did find a breakfast in the available options that I could have, so used that.

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The hike was extremely rigorous.  Patsy and I were not as fast as the others, especially the football player.  So, we came along at our own pace, and enjoyed the view.  Going out was extremely difficult.  My phone’s app claims we climbed the equivalent of  27 flights of stairs.  I believe it!  But, we made it:).IMG_7370

There were tons of salamanders that the girls enjoyed playing with.  Several of the guys fished for hours, but let them all go but one, since they were so small.  The kids roasted hot dogs and marshmallows, and we played a game that was like charades for hours around the campfire. One girls had an app on her phone and you chose a category, then held the phone up to your forehead so everyone could read the word.  They were to describe it to you, and you had to guess.  If you got it, you ducked your head, if not, you tipped your head back to pass, and the phone kept track of the score.  It was really fun to spend time with the kids, and they were a cheerful, happy group.  Of course, there was no phone service, but the game still worked.IMG_7392

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When we arrived home, we were SO tired, but I was super happy.  I had a really good time.  We put those things away and packed the trailer for camping.  We traded our niece for our nephew and were off again.

I did not have time to pack the usual picnic for our ride to the campground.  Instead, I just fed everyone well (Rob made omelets and there was cereal) and when we stopped at a rest area, I climbed into the camper and  grabbed snacks, bars, drinks, etc. and let them eat what they wanted.  It wasn’t the healthiest, but it worked.

I picked lettuce, snow peas, green onions, parsley, cilantro and mint from the garden to take with me.  I found some chili in the camper freezer that I defrosted and put half with some noodles to make chili Mac for our first supper when we arrived.  I also made a cornbread mix I found in the cupboard.  We used some for dinner, and some for breakfast, and I froze a bunch of it, as it made a LOT!  Usually, I make a casserole or something for the first night, but had no time to do it this trip.  I cleaned out one of the cupboards in the camper as I found a home-canned jar that had popped its seal.  I plan to clean under the seats on this trip, as I think there is food under there as well.  I have a goal to use as much food as I can this trip out of the camper since it’s been in there for a long time.  That will also save on the grocery bill, since it’s all been purchased long ago.

I’m looking forward to a restful week!

 

Uncategorized

Thriving in My Thrifty Week–June 17, 2018

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I was able to pick and use strawberries, raspberries, green onions, lettuce and snow peas this week from my garden.  I froze a pint of raspberries and there are many more to pick.

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I picked snow peas several times, and got a handful each time, until early this morning, when the bowl just kept filling…I will share some and plan some meals around them for the upcoming week.  Yum!

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For Ja’Ana’s birthday dinner, she wanted pizza, so Rob went to Little Caesar’s and got extremely inexpensive pepperoni pizza and some bread sticks.   I ate gluten-free pizza I had made and frozen a couple of weeks ago, saving around $20 or more.  Seriously.  It costs so much to buy gluten-free pizza from a pizza place around here.  Ice cream has been on sale lately, and so I’ve grabbed a few cartons to stash in the freezer for occasions that I know will come up.  I was able to pick enough strawberries from our back yard to serve with the ice cream.  J isn’t much of a cake person, so she was happy with ice cream.

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I think we attended the last party for a while, last evening.  It was lovely.  All of the parties have been very fun, and we have enjoyed ourselves.  I am looking forward to settling down to normal, everyday life, though.  In my room, I’ve been tripping over bags of gifts, cards and decorations now for over a month, and I’m looking forward to cleaning it all up!  Most of it has been given out, so that should be quite easy at this point.

I cleaned, gardened, did laundry, etc. for 7 hours straight on Friday, at which point I plunked down on the couch and did not move for quite a while.  Believe it or not, I could do it again tomorrow–there’s that much to do:).  However, I will try to do a little each day, as I don’t have that kind of a block of time available this week.

 

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I have been preparing for a backpacking trip on Friday.  I’ve already loaded the pack part way and have been walking around to make sure it’s as comfortable as can be, and not too heavy.  I’ve practiced putting up my tiny, little tent.  I’m going with the teen-agers from church, including Patsy and Alissa, and am not in charge, I’m just a woman sponsor.  I have absolutely no hope of keeping up with those young kids, so will let the youth pastor and his wife do that.  Instead, I will bring up the rear, at my own pace, and enjoy myself, nature, and being with the kids.  When I catch up.  Possibly much, much later.  But, I’ll get there.  After all, I’ve been taking Pilates for 9 months now.  Right?

We have gone through things in the shop, gathering up what I think I will need.  I haven’t backpacked for many years, so I’m trying to remember everything I need without being ridiculous.  I don’t want that pack too heavy.  We bought a few items we think I will need that we did not have.  I am taking all my own food.  Even though there are some of those freeze-dried meals available that Mountain House donated for the trip, they all contain gluten as far as I can tell.  I’m very excited, and will be packing and re-packing all week, I’m sure, in-between working, doctor’s appointments, and so on.

How did your week go?

 

 

 

Birthdays, Eritrea

Birthday Party #4 –June, 2018

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Happy 4th birthday, Danait!

Danait’s birthday party went very well.  Harnet, her mother, had asked Rob to barbecue months ago, and so of course, he agreed.

We picked up Jake and Alissa, who agreed to help, bright and early this morning, and headed up to the park where a covered area had been reserved.  We set up while my sister Rosalie took Jake and went for balloons and the cake.  It was fun for Patsy and Alissa to be handed a bag full of “Frozen” themed decorations, and get to put them up any way they wanted.  A friend had made a poster of Danait since birth, which really added to the decorations.

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They did a great job, and there were decorations all over the place.

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Several families arrived, and soon everyone was feasting on hamburgers, hot dogs, injera bread, lentils, Coalwa (beef), chicken in beriberi sauce, vegetables, potato salad, and fruit.  Harnet had been cooking up a storm.  The kids played and played on the equipment, and with bubbles Patsy patiently blew and blew and blew and blew.  Rob barbequed the meat.  I noticed that some of the parents could not get enough of the African food.  It was a new, very delicious treat for them.  Of course, the American food went down well, too, especially the hot dogs with this crew.

 

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There was a really cool “Star Wars” themed party near us on the lawn.  It was so cool, that Jake joined it.  I went to fetch him back to the “Frozen” party, and he told me the people said he could stay.  They were very welcoming to him, and indeed had said he could stay, but I pulled him away after a few minutes, and we went back to our own party.

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The kids weren’t too excited about eating.  Playing was more fun!

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Pretty soon, it was cake time.

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Alissa was such a big help with everything!

Jake and the other kids ate some cake, the presents were opened, and they went off to play again. Jake joined the Star Wars crew again.  I wouldn’t let him stay over there for very long during the time, since we didn’t even know the people AT ALL, but he came back pretty soon on his own to sadly tell me that Darth Vader floated away.  It was a balloon and we explained that all the kids hitting the balloons with the pool-noodle foam light sabers were supposed to get rid of Darth Vader!  It was a very clever idea where they had staked out many white (storm trooper) balloons, and 1 Darth Vader balloon, and let the kids hit the tar out of those “bad guys” until they were gone!

Families started leaving, and as I was cleaning up, Jake re-appeared wearing a mask, holding a foam light saber, and clutching a goodie bag from the Star Wars party.    I went and thanked them for their kindness, and they said, “Well, he’s a boy, and it was “Frozen” or “Star Wars” and we don’t blame him for choosing Star Wars!  They were so kind and gracious.  I’m grateful to them for that.  He had a great day, because he got to have some fun there, as well as the party cake, candy, and company at Danait’s party.  It is a big deal for him to get an invitation in the mail for any party.

Soon after transporting the remaining items back to Harnet’s house, we took our crew and headed back towards home. We stopped off at a double graduation party–2 sisters from church–one graduating from college and one from high school.  It was really a nice party and we ended up staying for and hour and a half.  Then, home to collapse.  Tomorrow, we will serve leftovers.

At last communication with my die-hard sister who was still there, more people had shown up at Harnet’s house and she was pulling out more food and the fun was continuing!  I’ll bet none of us are too full of pep tomorrow, but we had a good day, and it was worth it to see a little girl who was so happy.