Memorial Day 2012
28 May 2012 Leave a Comment
Today is the day we remember those who have served and are serving in our Armed Forces.
Hubby did his stint in the Navy.
Today is also the day that marks the first day of summer, the first day the grill is fired up, the first camping trip of the season. It’s also a day to enjoy great food.
For us, that meant the Grill Master was in action.
He was grilling up steaks,
And brats, and hotdogs.
Inside we had baked beans,
potato salad, black olives, sweet pickles, and deviled eggs.
For dessert there was the family tradition…..Blueberry Surprise.
Start with a basic nut crust. I used pecans.
Next, a layer of sliced bananas
Soften up some cream cheese
Add some whipped cream. You could use homemade, but I was lazy
A couple splashes of vanilla
A half cup of sugar
Spread it over the bananas
Top with a can of blueberry pie filling. Of course it would be better with homemade, but I haven’t made it into canning yet.
Pop this into the fridge to chill for a few hours. If you can stay out of it that long.
How was your Memorial Day?
Friday Musings and “The Shining” Hotel
26 May 2012 1 Comment
in crafts, Family, Food, General
It has been a really long week, but fortunately we are up to the long weekend. Yay! I can’t wait!
This weekend I intend to make my very first ever batch of homemade soap. I have all the equipment and ingredients gathered. I plan to get up early and run through the housecleaning so I can get it started early.
After that I intend to spend some time with a friend, Church and visitation on Sunday, and major BBQ on Monday. Ah….the summer fun begins.
While we ladies were on our retreat we had some free time so DIL-to-be, one of my friends and I went into town to visit and tour the Stanley Hotel made famous by Steven King’s The Shining. The hotel and the grounds are gorgeous.
The view of Lake Estes from the hotel.
This is the main lobby seating areas.
Here are pictures of the main stair case going up to the hotel rooms. We were not allowed to go up as it is for guests only.
The hotel was built by F.O. Stanley who built the Stanley Steamer cars. Here’s one in the lobby.
We decided to take a tour of the Concert Hall which is supposedly the most “active” paranormally. DIL-to-be is really into the whole ghost thing. Me? I have an opinion that is not generally accepted by mainstream folks so I’ll just keep that to myself.
Anyway, it is a lovely old building. It was being set up for a wedding.
It was a beautiful hotel to visit and it was great to take a break from the retreat and just chill for a few hours.
Check back tomorrow. I hope to have pictures of my soapmaking. Otherwise, have a great weekend!
Paring Down the Food Budget
16 May 2012 Leave a Comment
It’s taken awhile, but I’m finally starting to see a lowering of my grocery bill. I’ve been buying more ingredients and fewer products, plus we’ve added more bean meals. I try to plan a nice variety of meals so the crew doesn’t balk about the additional beans. Here’s my menu for the next two weeks as an example:
African Chicken
Pork chops
Meatloaf
Salisbury steak
Split pea and potato soup
Southwest beans
Pasta fagioli
Hamburger helper lasagna (homemade)
Hamburger helper Cheeseburger Macaroni (homemade)
Hurry curry
Baked chicken
Ham casserole
Stroganoff
BBQ
I won’t be serving beans three nights in a row, that’s just how I listed everything. Here’s how the grocery list looks:
paper towels (I’m working on it)
ground meat
porkchops
navy beans
green beans
corn
peas
milk
lunch meat
spaghetti noodles
cereal
ice cream
bananas
crackers
french onion soup
beef boullion granules
chicken boullion granules
split peas
egg noodles
eggs
string cheese
brats
canned baked beans
hot dogs
steaks
baking mix
Remember, Memorial Day is coming up before my next shopping trip so I have included extra meat for a bbq. Hubby is a master on the grill. There are still a few things I need to work on as far as making myself, but I’m doing so much better. Hubby is even drinking more lemonade (2 mix packets at 12 cents each plus my one cup of sugar for a gallon) and more tea rather than so many cans of coke. Much easier on the budget.
I’m still working on it, but the budget is getting smaller. Yay!
Prepping for Breakaway
15 May 2012 Leave a Comment
in Faith, Family, Food, Thrift
This weekend is our Women’s Retreat or Breakaway. And I’m in charge. Oy vey.
I’m in the midst of massive prepping to finish getting ready for it. Not only do I need to finish printing out the announcement sheets, but I need to practice my lessons and make sure all the other printables are done and in the bag ready to go. Oh, did I mention I’m teaching two lessons this year? And again….oy vey.
We like to take good care of our ladies on retreat so we have coffee and snack tables available the whole weekend. I did my fairly extensive shopping trip on Saturday to pick up everything we need for it.
However, that is not the most effective method of transporting everything up to the mountains. We are taking a truck (as usual) so I packed everything into a plastic tote. Much nicer.
yes those are marshmallows. Of course we have s’mores!
While I’m almost ready for the retreat itself, I need to make sure things on the homefront are taken care of. Yes, hubby is quite capable of taking care of himself, but I like to know he’s not subsisting on cold cereal and delivery pizza. I’ll be cooking up his favorite dish (African Chicken) for him and I will have cold cereal and frozen pizza for him so he can have a “break” as well.
When I get home on Saturday afternoon, I know I will be far too pooped to even think about dinner so I’m making dinner tonight to freeze for Saturday. I wanted something easy, something I could do in the crockpot tonight, and, bonus, a bean meal sinse we are trying to eat more beans to save on the grocery budget. This is what I came up with…..Split Pea and Potato Soup. Easy ingredients…..
A bag of split peas, about 6 potatoes diced, one onion chopped fine with 5 or 6 small cloves of garlic, and bacon. I popped the bacon into the oven while I worked on tonight’s dinner. Thank you Alton Brown and Food Network for that little trick. So much easier than standing over the stove.
Put all the ingredients into the large crockpot crumbling the bacon. Add a good sprinkle of basil and a good handful of dried thyme crushed up. No salt yet, don’t want to harden the split peas. Water to cover, give it a good stir and let it simmer away on low overnight. Tomorrow I will put it into containers for the freezer. I’ll call hubby Saturday morning to pull the containers out of the freezer and I’ll reheat it when I get home and up from my much-needed nap.
Oh, and tonight’s dinner? BBQ chicken and mashed potatoes and gravy. Hubby had corn too, but I didn’t want any for me. Yum.
I’ll be doing my regular bi-weekly shopping early this week so I won’t have to cram it in on Sunday after church. Busy, busy week.
The Helping Hand Update
14 May 2012 1 Comment
in Food
I’ve been asked for the exact recipe for the homemade Hamburger Helper Lasagna, so here it is….
1 pound ground meat
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can tomato paste
1 1/2 cups egg noodles
2/3 cup powdered milk\
1 tbsp cornstarch
1 tbsp italian seasoning
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
3 cups hot water
1/2 to 1 cup shredded cheese
Brown ground meat, drain, add all other ingredients except cheese. Stir. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer 12 minutes. Add cheese in last 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit for 5 minutes, sauce will thicken as it stands.
To make ahead….
In a gallon ziploc bag place egg noodles and tomatoes and tomato paste. In sandwich size bag place all sauce mix ingredients. Put sandwich bag in gallon size bag. Write instructions and add ins on gallon size bag, store in pantry.
Hope this helps!
The Helping Hand For Dinner
13 May 2012 1 Comment
I’ve been collecting some DIY recipes for a little while and last night I decided to try another one. I decided to try homemade Hamburger Helper Lasagna.
It starts out with your normal browning of a pound of ground meat….
Then there’s the diced tomatoes, tomato paste and egg noodles…..
Then there’s the secret. The seasoning packet. The recipe called for powdered milk, cornstarch, italian seasoning, onion powder, garlic powder, sugar, salt. It makes a lot more than the little seasoning packet in the box, but these days you have to add fluid milk so really it’s about the same……
Throw all the ingredients together with 3 cups of hot water, bring to a bol, simmer for 12 minutes and voila!
It made a lot more than a regular box mix of hamburger helper. Was it cheaper? Not really. Did it taste better? Yes. Was it better for us? Definately. No unpronounceables in the homemade version. Plus, all the ingredients except for the ground meat can be put together ahead of time just like having the box on the shelf. This is definately something we will be doing again. Probably fairly soon.
I found the recipe at the Tip Garden.
Dishwashers, Grocery Lists, and Other Assorted Oddments
01 May 2012 2 Comments
in Family, Food, General, Thrift
Does anyone else suffer from my particular malady? No, not that I don’t have a dishwasher – I do. But, I can’t seem to load the doggone thing properly to save my self.
It’s true! I keep telling hubby and dil-to-be that they do a much better job at loading the dishwasher than I do. And it’s not just because I personally would rather UNload than LOAD a dishwasher any day. They really do a better job. I’m spatially challenged. I always end up with dishes leftover in the sink, while they never do. It’s really quite sad.
And speaking of dishwashers, I had to add dishwasher soap to my grocery list for this pay period. I always start on my list at the beginning of the week because it gives me time to make sure everything makes it on the list and I can gather any coupons needed. My list this time is out of control! This is what it looks like so far. Are you ready? Here goes in no particular order…
coffee
tuna
dog treats
sugar
baking soda
pinto beans
lentils
navy beans
green beans
corn
peas
egg noodles
spaghetti sauce
bath tissue
dawn
travel gel
hairspray
deodorant
green chilis
chicken boullion granules
ground cumin
chili powder
bacon
potatoes
spinach
snack bags
lard
peanut butter
canned chicken
milk
bread
lemonade mix
canned tomatoes
tomato sauce
dry milk
blackeyed peas
salsa
sour cream
dishwasher soap
lunchmeat ham
lunchmeat roast beef
lunchmeat pastrami
That’s it so far. See what I mean? Out of control. There’s not a lot of meat on the list this time, but it is still a huge list. I know it’s mostly staples, but good grief! And yes, I know there are things on the list that I could make myself. Please remember I work outside the home and only have a limited amount of time for making from scratch. I am working on it though. In fact, I have a dog biscuit recipe I’m planning on trying out this weekend. Those things are expensive!!! Sigh. Hopefully, I will stay in budget despite the number of items.
I had my follow up appointment with my eye specialist today. We decided to continue with the antihistimine eye drops and do warm compresses for at least six weeks. My eyes are not cured of their excessive watering, but they are definately doing much better. I’m glad he didn’t suggest surgery right away. Messing with my eyes bothers me. I read too much and do way too much on the computer to have something happen to them.
It was a long and busy day today so I’m off to do a bit of relaxing.
Making Mixes and Dog Days
28 Apr 2012 2 Comments
Today has been busy trying to fit in as much work as possible before going to Kenya Fest. I started off taking Sengi the dog to the groomer. I think he was in pretty desperate need of a grooming. What do you think?
The groomer did a great job. He looks so much better. I think he feels better too.
While I waited for the groomer to call I decided to tackle a small cleaning project. This cabinet in my laundry room was a disaster.
First I got everything out and wiped it all down.
Then I consolidated a few things, like my baking mix. Putting it in a plastic container is much nicer. Then I taped the box recipes to the side for easy use. Yes, I know, I should make my own. I’m working on it.
I put my bin of baking chips and nuts in the back of the cabinet sinse I don’t use them everyday.
The more every day things are up front. I think it looks much better and will be easier to find things and put them away properly.
I also had time to make up some ready-made mixes. Because we will be eating a lot more beans in the coming months, we will also be eating a lot more cornbread. I found a great “fake” mix for my favorite boxed brand of cornbread mix at Fake-It-Frugal. In just a few minutes I mixed up four bags of cornbread mix with directions. Now, when I come home at night I can grab a bag, add the wet ingredients and throw it in the oven. Easy-peasy.
Well, it’s off to church now for Kenya Fest. Hope you had a blessed Saturday.
I will be linking to Barn Hop.
Heart Doctor And Other Things
28 Apr 2012 Leave a Comment
in Family, Food, Thrift Tags: beans, impossibly easy pie, Kenya Fest, wolfe-parkinson-white syndrome
I finally had my follow up appointment with my heart doctor. Back in September, I had to wear a heart monitor 24/7 for a month. Ick. But, I did it. Anyway, seems I have a condition called Wolfe-Parkinson-White syndrome. It’s a cute little thing where you have an extra electrical pathway in your heart that can somtimes confuse your heart into taking the wrong electrical path. Thankfully, it’s an easy fix if it needs to be fixed. In my case, it doesn’t bother me, I hardly notice anything amiss and the heart monitoring only showed one significant episode in the whole month. So, the doctor said “Call me if you need me”. Hah! Works for me! No heart catheterization, no hospitals, no nothing. Woohoo!!! So very happy.
With that out of the way, I came home and started cooking. So, what’s for dinner? Impossibly Easy Taco Pie. Yep, one of those wonderful baking mix throw-it-all-together-and-bake dinner pies. It’s relatively cheap – ground meat, onion, green chilis, taco seasoning, two eggs, 1 cup milk, 1/2 cup baking mix, salsa and sour cream. It’s very quick and very easy. And it tastes good. I also have a huge pot of beans cooking for use probably Monday. It has a good chunk of pork neck bones, half a jar of salsa, one onion, garlic, cumin and I might add some green chilis to it too. Add some cornbread and it’s dinner for another night.
So, why is the pot of beans not dinner for one day this weekend? Well, tomorrow we are all volunteering at Kenya Fest at church so we will be eating pizza for dinner there. Then Sunday is visitation for ds. Normally, hubby eats whatever he can find in the house and dil-to-be and I grab fast food after visitation that night. It’s not the cheapest way to do things, but I haven’t yet figured out a better way. I’m working on it.
Tomorrow is grooming day for Sengi the dog and project and cleaning day for me. At least as much as I can fit in before we have to leave for church. See you here tomorrow!
New Challenges
25 Apr 2012 2 Comments
in Family, Food, Gardening, Thrift Tags: garden, herbs, lentils
Well, the old car needs a new transmission. Rats. I was hoping it was something different. So, I am ramping up the austerity measures a little bit more. Hubby said he would eat more beans each week so I’m taking him at his word. In fact, tonight he is eating lentils for the very first time. I ditched my meat-based meal plans and made lentil stew instead with no meat. Now, normally Iwould cook any kind of beans with a ham hock or pork neck bones, but tonight I decided to try it vegetarian. Here’s the recipe I used:
2 cups lentils
3 potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 onion peeled and chopped
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can chicken broth (optional can use water)
1 can sliced carrots
salt and pepper
basil to taste
garlic powder to taste
chipotle chili powder to taste
Boil the potatoes and lentils til just tender
Saute the onion in olive oil til softened
Add the rest of the ingredients and the lentils and potatoes. Simmer for approximately 20 minutes to meld the flavors.
Serves 6 – 8
With the garden pretty much in, I have come to the realization that I do not have enough room anywhere in my yard right now to grow the kinds and amounts of herbs that I want. Plus, the cost to buy enough plants for what I want is just prohibitive at this point even if I had the room. So, I have resigned myself that I will need to purchase my dried herbs for my salves, ointments and tinctures. I made out a list last night of the herbs I will want to purchase. So, sometime late summer or early fall I will do just that. Time to start saving up for it now though. Ahhh. I can’t wait for it. It’ll be fun.
I’m off to look for more bean recipes.
