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Archive for October, 2013

A freeze is a'comin'...

October 20th, 2013 at 09:48 pm

Or so they say. By they, I mean the weather forecasters. It is inevitable, since today is halfway through October in the Midwest.

I had been drying herbs here and there to keep some available for the winter. DH decided we needed more so he brought in a bunch today and I spent a big share of the afternoon drying them and putting them in jars. I have more sage than I can probably use, but I was thinking of making gift baskets with biscuit mix in them for Christmas, so maybe I can add some sage in a small bag to use if they wish.

He picked all the bell peppers we still had, pulled all the carrots and onions, and picked all the ripe tomatoes. My kitchen looks similar to a root cellar. Which is OK.

Tomorrow while I'm at work, he's going to pick the green tomates and wrap them in newspaper so hopefully we will continue to have some ripening after the freeze.

The past couple of weeks have been very busy with work. Plus, I broke a tooth and had to spring for a crown. I have a temporary crown until the permanent one is made. That was an unexpected $821! However, the dentist did point out, it might have been a blessing of sorts...my tooth was also cracked right where there was a root and it hadn't broken off, but he said seeing where it was, if it had, I probably would have had to have a root canal, so maybe this saved me money in the long run. At least I wasn't in any pain other than the financial one.

I have a relative who asks to eat out with them at the spur of the moment. We usually turn this person down. Like many of you, I plan my meals for the week. Often I have taken meat out of the freezer to thaw in the fridge and I don't want to put it back in the freezer or waste it. He complains how they are having money problems, yet they eat out every day. Hmmm...wonder if there is connection there? Anyway, I have repeatedly told him we eat most of our meals at home. I don't mean to be rude or thoughtless, but I hate the thought of wasting food.

I did score a lovely suit at a thrift shop a couple of weeks ago. I had to hem the slacks and then had it dry cleaned since there was a stain on the slack and it was dry clean only. I normally do not buy dry clean stuff, but it was well made, and lined and I will wear a blouse under the jacket. It is for cold weather. So, with the cost of dry cleaning and the original purchase, I have a nice suit for $23.50.

DH brought in some cherry tomatoes...guess I better get busy making tomato sauce!

I'm in love with Mason!

October 14th, 2013 at 04:06 pm

It's true, I have a love affair with Mason.

Mason jars that is!

I find these jars the handiest things. Yesterday I had the opportunity to make 2 quarts of tomato sauce. What handy creatures those jars are for storage.

I use them to make tea and store in the fridge. When I make apple juice and apple sauce, they serve me well.

I have one where I throw extra buttons to keep them so when I need a button, I can find them.

I do have Mason jar envy, though. We visited a friend Saturday and she has been canning up a storm. She has over 40 quarts of green beans and over 40 quarts of tomatoes. There's a jewel like quality of seeing all those vegetables in those shiny glass jars!

On Pinterest there are always great ideas for decorating with Mason jars.

When I was growing up, the mayonnaise jars were glass and my mom used them for canning. She thought she had hit big time when she went to a rummage sale and bought a case of "real Mason jars." I wonder if that is where my esteem for them started.

So, DH isn't jealous of my crush on Mason jars. He says he reaps the benefits of my using them. Plus, it saves us money by using and reusing.

So, the love affair continues!

Paying with cash article

October 14th, 2013 at 12:14 am

There's an article about paying with cash costing Americans money.

Not the surface kind of answer, but the fact people are paying fees to pay with cash. I can't figure out if the gist of the article is to go cashless or just reporting. I don't trust media anymore because gone are the days when they just reported the facts...so many stories are so biased.

Here is the URL:

http://www.today.com/money/paying-cash-costs-americans-200-billion-year-8C11363366

This has been a nice weekend, but I have spent money. We walked around our downtown area yesterday. We have lots of small locally owned shops. I like the idea of supporting local small businesses. One place had 20% off things and I did buy quite a few things, but they were things I would have purchased anyway. Two things were presents so saving the 20% was nice. We also went to a local wine store. We aren't wine drinkers, but we were looking around for a nice bottle to give as a present and found one, I think, this person will like. We made our way to the grocery store and came home so I could begin supper.

Today we hit a flea market and an antique mall. We didn't spend much, but we had a nice time looking. We came home to get to work.

DH picked cherry tomatoes. I dried parsley and put it in a jar for this winter. After DH brought in the tomatoes, I washed them and went out and picked some of the onions we have left, some basil, and DH picked a bell pepper. I made two quarts of tomato sauce...that is a lot of cherry tomatoes for that much sauce!

We had sloppy chicks for supper (sloppy joes made with ground chicken) and I used half of a quart of sauce. The leftovers will be lunches for this week. But, I will now have 11 quarts of tomato sauce in the freezer. Not bad for those little tomatoes!

Take Out Thursday

October 4th, 2013 at 01:01 am

Today was "Take Out Thursday" at our house.

I'm not talking about buying take out by any means, but taking stuff out of the fridge and using it.

Supper tonight was a pork stew. The pork was leftover from last night. I had roasted some yellow squash with onions a few days ago, and I took some leftover fresh vegetables (carrot, onion, mushrooms, celery, and zucchini) out of the fridge, saute'd them, and used the chicken broth I had made earlier in the week from leftover chicken parts. As it simmered last night, I also added a pint of my homemade tomato sauce I had made earlier in the week as well. DH said it was very good and bet I could sell it if need be. I don't know about that. To go with the stew we had crackers taken out of the pantry and sliced tomatoes taken out of garden and we finished up the fruit salad taken out of the fridge. There was even enough to DH to have a hearty lunch tomorrow. Not bad with bits of this and some leftovers.

I did try a new recipe this week for chicken casserole. It was pretty easy and DH liked it.

Chicken casserole

1 cup of cooked chicken, cut up
2 eggs
2 cups of dressing (or stuffing)
1 tablespoon of fresh sage
1/2 cup of milk or half and half
3/4 cup sour cream
2 teaspoons of butter

Whip eggs, milk, and sour cream together. Put dressing in a greased baking dish. Add chicken and mix with the egg mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes (covered). Take out of oven and put butter on top. Serve. It was pretty tasty and I think there could have been different things added to it to give it different flavors. It was easy and quick. I actually used raw chicken and baked for an hour and it was great.