It's August and before we know it, fall will arrive.
At least I hope we have a fall. It seems like the past few years we had summer, a day or two of fall, and then wham, winter! Same thing with spring, winter which lasted like forever, a day or two of spring, then summer.
DH's garden is slowing down. For a few weeks we were getting tomatoes galore. It was amazing! I canned and canned. At first, DH said maybe I should wait, and I said wait for what? We have the tomatoes, we want them this winter, so I need to can. He gave away tomatoes too. Well, it seems that was the big influx and now things are slowing down. As long as we still have some for the table, I'm happy. I'm just glad I canned and made spaghetti sauce.
Today we dug up the first planting of onions. I have used quite a few already so there were not many still in the ground, but we dug those up, and planted the last of the onion sets. I know we won't get any big enough for slicing, but we will have green onions into the fall. Although DH works the soil and has put down top soil, it was still kind of clay like. I think we are going to have to invest in some sand to loosen the soil up. I put egg shells, tea bags, and coffee grounds throughout the year to help replenish some nutrients and DH uses Miracle Gro granular fertilizer. Anyway, that was hot, dirty work to get the soil ready to plant the rest of the onion sets.
I think I have spent more time outside this year than I have since we married. I don't "do" outside due to allergies, but with DH's garden, I felt I needed to help him. He planted more tomatoes this year. I also helped him when he was trimming bushes earlier this summer.
The last few weeks our grocery bills have really gone down. I have worked to make things that we get from the garden. For brunch today we had tomato-basil omelets since we had a bunch of cherry tomatoes and plenty of basil. Last night we had chicken stir fry. I used onions, and bell peppers from the garden and mushrooms I had in the fridge. I normally also have zucchini and celery, but we didn't have either, so I just added more pepper and onion. It was delicious and hubby was happy to eat the fruits of his labor, so to speak.
I thought I did pretty well as far as the chicken. I bought a package with two chicken breasts. We had one chicken breast sliced in half long ways for supper Friday night, Last night was chicken stir fry with rice. So, one package of chicken and two meals. It sure helps with the grocery budget.
I have started picking and cleaning herbs and putting them in the sun room to air dry. Hopefully I will get the bulk of this done before fall arrives instead of rushing to finish like I normally do.
DH's bell peppers are really starting to come on. I normally chop a bunch up and freeze them so I have them for soups and casseroles during the winter.
I thought I'd post what our menus were this past week:
Sunday brunch: scrambled eggs with onions, bell pepper, Avocado, mushrooms, and oregano, sliced tomatoes, fruit salad
Sunday supper: Italian wedding soup (from freezer), applesauce
Monday lunch: Salad with cherry tomatoes
Monday supper: tuna cakes, risotto, sliced tomatoes, fruit salad
Tuesday lunch: peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, sliced tomatoes
Tuesday supper: Leftover beef roast from the previous week, mashed potatoes, carrots, sliced tomatoes, fruit salad.
Wednesday: sandwiches with thin sliced chicken and cheese, potato salad, sliced tomatoes, applesauce
Wednesday supper: spaghetti with homemade spaghetti sauce, green beans, cottage cheese, fruit salad
Thursday lunch: we went out!
Thursday supper: scrambled eggs, toast, sliced tomatoes, fruit salad
Friday lunch: Deli meat sandwiches, sliced tomatoes
Friday supper: thinly sliced chicken breast floured and seasoned and browned in olive oil, mashed potatoes, bell pepper, sliced tomatoes, peaches for dessert
Saturday brunch: we went out to a local restaurant
Saturday supper: chicken stir fry with rice, sliced tomatoes, fruit salad.
Groceries and the Garden
August 16th, 2020 at 10:01 pm
August 16th, 2020 at 11:04 pm 1597615455
August 16th, 2020 at 11:08 pm 1597615698
Maybe once I retire, I'll have time for something like that again! In the meantime, I'm hoping for a tomato plant next summer, something I haven't done in about a decade now (not since leaving teaching).
August 17th, 2020 at 11:44 pm 1597704250
Your menus look delicious & healthy. Good use of all of those tomatoes! 🍅
August 19th, 2020 at 03:15 am 1597803358