We've been busy!

Easter Eggs filled with candy for the grandchildren! We made 17 total! The grandchildren love all the candy inside!

I began planting seedlings and putting them under my grow lights! They are all doing phenomenal and I can't wait to put them outside when it warms up. I did plant my over 70 pea seedlings outside and they are already starting to climb the back fence! I hear that stores are charging more this year for seed starts and I am so glad I do this from home. I calculated that if the stores charged me $3.00 per seed start, (and I hear that's low for what most stores are charging) then I have over $1100.00 worth of seed starts growing in my home! 

And we're getting a new bathtub put in! And yes, the pink one was the original from when the house was built in 1961! The 60's were full of bathroom choices. One of my neighbors has a completely blue bathroom and another neighbor replaced her yellow bathroom fixtures recently. We had replaced the sinks and toilet quite a few years ago but we waited until we could pay cash to get the new tub installed! It's going to look wonderful!

Lots of work and lots of fun going on over here!

 

A Blast From the Past!

Taking a trip down memory lane with this photo from about 14 years ago! Our family has really grown in those years and I am thankful for each member of our family!

As the world gets a little more off kilter with each passing day, I am grateful for those things that are the most important: faith, family, friends and knowledge! 

 

Why I Prepare!

These people are just some of the reasons why I prepare for whatever may be ahead. They are the reasons I shop wisely, store for the future and preserve each harvest season. They are the reasons we grow a garden every year and why we have chickens. They are the reason I read all I can about storing food and non-food items. In case of an emergency I want to be prepared to feed an army, my family!

A great resource for learning how to shop, store, plan and prepare is the Food Storage Organizer website. She has ideas, recipes and free printables to get you started on your journey to self-sufficiency! I have been doing this for years but I am always up for learning something new! Check out her website soon. You won't be disappointed.

 

Making Broth

This is what broth looks like after being in the crockpot on low overnight. In it you will find a chicken carcass and vegetable scraps that I've saved in the freezer.

Then it's time to get out the jars and lids.

And after processing for 20 minutes in the pressure canner I have jars of tasty broth. From a Costco rotisserie chicken I can make 5-6 meals and also produce 7 jars of delicious homemade chicken broth. Not bad for $4.99! 

 

Leftover Win!

We bought 3 Barred Rock and 4 Rhode Island Reds to replace the 5 chickens we have. Egg production is definitely slowing down and it's time to bring in new layers. They are the cutest balls of fluff!

Yesterday for dinner I realized that I still had some of the freezer items I had pulled out earlier in the week and I definitely needed to use them. I googled soup recipes using spaghetti squash and tomato sauce  and found a great recipe that I modified on what was in my fridge. It called for a lot of Italian sausage, (I had none) and zucchini, (I used Hubbard squash that I had also pulled out). I threw in some leftover breakfast sausages and a little bit of ham and instead of using diced tomatoes I used my unfrozen tomato sauce. You can find the original recipe on kudos Kitchen by Renee. I love that we still have lots of onions and garlic to use up and they and the spices totally made this recipe delicious. 

It was certainly a win-win recipe that used up items from my freezer and turned out to be very tasty! 

 

Prices are Definitely Going Up!

 

                                                                                

                                            

Because I bulk shop, I don't have to buy flour very often. But I noticed the other day that I was down to 2 plastic buckets of flour. I have been baking all our breads, rolls and buns and that has caused our supply to go down rather rapidly. So this morning on my way to buy some chicks, I stopped off and bought a 50 pound bag of flour. I had checked in my price book before I left and I knew that Cash & Carry typically had the best price so I went there. I discovered that the same bag of flour that I bought back in May of 2020 has gone up by $4.80! I knew prices were going up but this is crazy! I also picked up a #10 can of ketchup which has gone up by $1.00. So I will be using much more wheat flour in my recipes in order to stretch my all-purpose flour and I will be processing ketchup this fall from the tomatoes we will grow. This was definitely a wake up call for me at how much food prices are increasing. We all need to do all we can to grow and preserve our foods and keep an eye on what's in our food storage!

A New Oatmeal Recipe

Oatmeal Ready to Cook

I wish I could remember where I found this recipe but sometimes I forget to write down my source. But I love this for quick and delicious oatmeal in the morning.

The Oatmeal Mix

8 cups rolled oats

1/4 cup dry powdered milk

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon salt

Stir spices and salt together. Mix all ingredients in large bowl. Break up brown sugar chunks. Put in covered container. Replace after 3 weeks.

Oatmeal for 1

Stir 1/2 cup oatmeal mixture into 3/4 cup of water in bowl. Microwave 1 1/2-2 minutes. Let cool slightly. Add toppings.

 

Use it Up!

What a cute young man! So grateful for each of our grandchildren!

I am enjoying the challenge of using up what's in the pantry or the fridge before it goes bad. I often think of the early pioneers and settlers who used up what they had even if it meant eating the same thing day after day until it was gone. They didn't have the luxury of effective refrigeration to keep their food good for long periods of time so I'm sure they ate very simple and repetitive meals. As a society we are too easily influenced by the media which tells us that every dinner should be amazing and fancy. My dinners are simple and delicious but I use what I have in the fridge or the pantry and I will not run to the store if I'm missing an ingredient. That's why my food budget is so low, $200.00 a month. Keep it simple and use what you have. That's my motto!

 

Sharing the Goodness!

My friend Michele and I did a short road trip to Chattaroy, where a dear friend and former member of our ward was holding a special Valentine's Goodie Sale! 

Now, I am really quite frugal and I'm sure many would say that I could have made these myself to which I would answer, 'no way'. "No way" could I have made these delicious treats like my friend Amanda can. She is a gifted baker and cook and it was a delight to support her business, Chill Cakes! 

Two of the treats went to Doug. I had texted him with his choices and he chose a caramel cheesecake and a peanut butter chocolate cheesecake. I kept the chocolate mousse for myself and the rest we gave to friends. 

Sometimes you admit your limitations and enjoy the talents and gifts of others! 

 

A New & Delicious Recipe!

 

I am always on the lookout for an easy and delicious dinner idea and I found one on the YouTube channel Moss TV. It's called Chicken Tot Pie and we loved it!

Chicken Tot Pie

1 can cream of chicken soup

1/2 cup sour cream

2/3 cup milk

16 oz. frozen vegetable

1 tsp thyme & 1 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

4 cups chicken breast, cooked and chopped

1 cup cheddar cheese

enough tater tots to cover

Mix everything but the tots together in a big bowl. Put into a baking dish and top with tots, lined up in neat little rows. Bake in a 375 degree oven. 

This was also inexpensive because I used our harvested frozen veggies, our canned chicken and the other items were in our food storage. The only thing I bought were the tots. This was cheap and delicious and a keeper!

He's A Great Shopper!

 

This is a photo of 6 bags of soft flour tortillas. They come 10 tortillas to a bag. At Albertsons they will run you about $2.79 per bag. Doug noticed that they were on sale for $1.00 a bag. That's a great price and we would have been very happy with that price! However, when he got to the store he found that there was an additional discount which took another $3.00 off the total price! So 6 bags of tortillas that should have cost $16.74 regularly. And that would have cost $6.00 with the sale price. Actually ended up costing $3.00 with the additional discount! Fifty cents a bag for 10 tortillas is an awesome price!!!

 

We obviously don't live in the real world!

First off I thought I would share a picture of the triples!  So cute!

I just got our mail and we sure get our share of junk! Today's junk included an advertisement encouraging us to take out a loan against the value of  our home. They tell us that we can do so many fun things, trips, improvements to the house, maybe a new car! And they will give us a loan up to the full value of our home! What! We worked so hard to pay off our home and we are enjoying the benefits of no longer paying a mortgage! There really is no way I want to take out a loan and ruin the peace of mind that we currently enjoy! But they make it sound so easy and so fun! Maybe that's why so many people are in debt and struggling! No thank you! 

Thank you Dave Ramsey for preaching the benefits of being debt free! 

 

What is so magical and heartwarming about soups?

This is a wonderful Chicken Pot Pie soup that I made for dinner tonight. I continue to pull out fruits and veggies from my freezer to use throughout the week so that I have more room for next year's harvest. I had some thawed peas and celery that were starting to look a little sad and I remembered this recipe that Becky gave me last summer! I tweaked it to fit what I had in the house including substituting canned turkey for chicken and regular milk for heavy cream. But I've been tasting it as it simmers and it's delicious. I'm also making some quick dinner rolls from Jamiecooksitup.net to go along with it. It's a perfect meal for our gray and gloomy day!

Chicken Pot Pie Soup

Heat 1 T oil in soup pot and add 1 chopped onion, cook 2-3 minutes. Add 1 tsp garlic salt (I minced some cloves), 2 tsp thyme, 1 T parsley and 2 Yukon gold potatoes, chopped in 1/4 in. pieces. (I used regular potatoes, that's all I had at home). Cook 30 seconds and then whisk in 1 T flour and cook 30 seconds more, stirring continuously. Add 2 cups half & half, 2 cups chicken broth and 1 cup heavy cream. (I used regular milk) Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and add 2 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper, 3 cups cooked shredded chicken and peas and carrots. (I added peas, celery and a little bit of leftover corn) Simmer 30 minutes to 2 hours.

 

Comfort Foods

Sometimes you need a little comfort food to get you through a rough patch. Yesterday, Doug had some dental work done and he was advised to eat soft foods only! Meatloaf to the rescue. What is it about a good meatloaf that warms you up inside and out? It was just a basic meatloaf, nothing fancy about it. And yet it tasted so good and reminded me of when my mom would make her comfort foods. Some meals are a feast for your belly and your heart!

 

The Challenge is Over!

The January Pantry Challenge comes to an end for us and I am pretty happy about how we did! We did buy greens for salads and of course bananas. But I feel like we really utilized our freezers and pantry to plan and prepare meals all month. 

This past Saturday I inventoried our meat freezer and created a spreadsheet that will allow me to mark off what's in there and what we've pulled out. I also cleaned out our upright freezer and ended up dehydrating the cilantro, basil and thyme that I froze right out of our garden. We are well stocked up on herbs!

I really enjoyed seeing what I could create each day for our meals and feel that we can use up what's on the shelves before our next harvest! And isn't that how it's supposed to work?

 

Using Up the Harvest!

 This was my breakfast today. I would like to say that it all came from our gardens and chickens but no. The onions and kale came from our gardens but the chickens are on sabbatical, so right now we're enduring store bought. So sad!

But I want to chat about the kale. I love kale! And our kale plants grew magnificently this year. I had 9 plants and although I did my best to eat as much kale as I could fresh, there was just too much of it. And so, I froze it! I blanched it and then froze it in 2 cup servings. So now when I get a hankering, I pull out a bag and put it in the pan with some onions and let it cook a bit. Then I add an egg and I have a very filling breakfast! I love eating from our harvest. There's just something so satisfying about it!

Homemade Granola!

 

We love homemade granola for breakfast and as a quick snack. Nothing like grabbing a handful of this grainy goodness to tide you over until dinner! The base of the recipe which we use was found in an old magazine and is now stapled into a well used paper back book of mine. The front and back cover of the book are gone and I can no longer remember the author's name but the book is full of spills and there are pages that can sometimes stick together which tells you that it is a well-loved book. It also has a granola recipe so it is on this page that I attached the magazine recipe. So here is the Mitchell modified granola recipe that we have used for probably 20-25 years. I always double the recipe and will type it out that way. 

Homemade Granola

8 cups uncooked rolled oats (not instant)

1 cup shredded coconut

1/2 cup nonfat dry milk powder

2 TB cinnamon

2 TB brown sugar

1 cup honey

2/3 cup vegetable oil

2 TB vanilla

1 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Grease 2 jelly-roll pans. Mix oats, coconut, milk powder, cinnamon and brown sugar in large bowl. Combine honey and oil in a saucepan and heat until warm. Stir in vanilla. Pour mixture over dry ingredients and fold in raisins. Mix until well coated. Spread granola into two jelly-roll pans and bake for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Cool on a wire rack and seal in airtight container. You can add wheat germ if you so desire. I do not desire to. ;) I have added nuts when I have them in the house and that's always a treat! 

I always add a cup of chocolate chips to the granola once it's cooled. Love, love. love this granola and I also love how inexpensive it is to make at home. Have you priced granola lately? 

Another Delicious and Easy Dinner!

 

It started out with these ingredients!

And it ended up in all this deliciousness!

On most Monday's we enjoy a good soup for dinner. They're a quick meal to make after a busy weekend and on this Monday it was snowy and gray and just calling for soup. I haven't made this recipe in a while and I had forgotten how amazing it was. I'm going to give you the recipe I made, a bit varied from the original but not by much!

Harvest Vegetable Chowder

1 cup chopped onion

1 clove garlic, minced

1/4 cup butter

2 cups carrots (I used a pint of put up carrots) undrained

3 cups potatoes (I left the peelings on)

1 quart jar tomatoes

2 cups water

1 quart bag of homegrown frozen corn

3 beef bouillon cubes

1/2 tsp salt, thyme and celery seed

2 tsp cornstarch

1/4 cup water

Cook onion and garlic in butter until tender. Add carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, corn, bouillon and seasonings. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer until vegetables are tender. Mix cornstarch and water together and add to soup. Stir until thickened. Enjoy!

The cornbread was a  new recipe from The Mac's Happy Homestead that cooks in a cast iron skillet. A new recipe that turned out delicious. 

I want to add that the original soup recipe also calls for celery but since I didn't have any I didn't worry about it. In the early days of learning how to cook, I would have run to the store to make sure I followed the recipe exactly. Nowadays, it's cooking by the seat of your pants and a lot more fun!

Easy Rice A Roni Meal, Again, On the Cheap

This boy is just too, too cute!

Tonight I used another easy recipe for dinner because we came home late from a baptism. It's a homemade rice-a-roni recipe that is quick, easy and cheap as well as delicious!

You will need:

1/3 cup broken up spaghetti toasted in 3 T of butter. To this you'll add 1 cup rice, 2 cups water, 2 chicken bouillon cubes, and garlic powder and salt to taste. Bring this all to a boil and then cover it and simmer for 15 minutes, or until rice is cooked. When it's ready, uncover and add any leftover veggies and meats that you might have hanging around. I sliced up some baby carrots pretty thin, added some frozen pepper slices and about 2 T of leftover chicken that I didn't want to waste. 

I love how simple and quick this is and how I can use up any leftovers in the fridge. 

 

Easy and Delicious Dinners on the Cheap!

 

Sausage, Potato, Carrot and Onion Bake!

This easy-peasy recipe is one of our favorites! It's also very inexpensive to make! Dad had found some sausage dogs on sale at Winco and when he brought them home he put them in freezer bags, four to a bag! Whenever I want an easy meal I will pull out a bag, chop up the sausage and put them on a foil lined tray. Then I'll slice up potatoes, onions and throw in some baby carrots! You cover the whole thing with foil and cook at 350 degrees for an hour. The next step is to take off the foil and bake for another 30 minutes to make sure the potatoes are done. I also sprinkled some grated garlic and salt and pepper over all of it. Most of the recipes call for lots more meat but the 4 sausages work for us. And I will add that I did go and buy a bag of potatoes last week. I am realizing that we need to grow and store more root vegetables for our use. Lesson learned!

Cooking by the Seat of Your Pants

 

Above is the last of my spaghetti squash ready to go in the oven for dinner. I used a recipe that I had found online and made it some weeks ago. It was delicious! So I made it again and for some reason I didn't like it as well. All I can figure is, that I had to substitute something in the ingredients last time I made it and I didn't do it this time. It was good, but it wasn't delicious. That happens when you cook using what you have available. But now all of the harvested spaghetti squash has either been cooked or frozen. I hate to waste food so this makes me happy. Just like when we left town for Christmas and I processed the potatoes that were still in the bin. I turned them into frozen potato wedges and again, no waste. 

I want to share what I'm reading at the moment. Well, I'm actually reading a number of books but this is one of 6 books in a series that I picked up from the library. I read her books about 12 years ago and something made me remember them. Maybe it's the need to read about a more peaceful time where people are kind and things work out in the end. I highly recommend all of her books!

How I Beat the January Grayness!

Sweet Memories!

These pictures of fun in the sun help me to get through the January dullness and grayness! As I look at these photos I can feel the heat of the sun and hear the sounds of family interacting. I love it!

 

Monday's Are Always Full of Opportunities!

Siblings Are the Best!

What a great big brother Nolan is to help Auburn learn about percussion instruments! It's a reward of parenting to see your children actually help and like one another! Blessings for sure!

Monday's are always my most productive day of the week! I wake up energized and ready to 'getter done!' It's not quite 11 AM and while Doug has been painting Maran's old room I've made a 9-bean soup and I'm letting it simmer for a bit! It's full of canned tomatoes, leftover ham, carrots and my cannery bean mix. It smells like heaven and will be a perfect dinner for a gray and very cold winter day! I've also made pizza dough because I used my last frozen pizza crust last Friday. The recipe makes two and I just put it in the freezer to pull out on the next couple of Friday Pizza Nights! And all of my chores are done for the day. It's been a great morning!

I'll be spending the rest of the day getting other projects done like tying the quilt I have up on the rack and decluttering the family room and my office space! I love days where I can actually look back and feel good about what's been accomplished!

 

A Quiet Day

 

Finding Joy in Family!

In the midst of all the ugliness and confusion, the name-calling, the accusations, I find my solace, my peace, my sanctuary in pictures of our grandchildren! Who cannot smile or feel the spirit when you see the sweet and simple joy in the face of a child! And it makes me want to do better, to be better, to try harder to be a positive light in the world! I want to do all I can to make sure that this world is a bit better for Harper and Xander and Lacey and Mason and Sam and all their siblings! Thank you Harper for reminding me that I have a Heavenly Father who is in charge and that there is joy to be found if I just look in the right places!

Simple is So Good!

Quick Cooking Recipe I Love 

They no longer print the Quick Cooking magazine which makes me sad. I had a subscription to this magazine for many years and cut and saved lots of their recipes! 

One of my favorites was a recipe entitled Mom's Macaroni and Cheese which I made for dinner last night. I made a few changes based on what I had on hand and it turned out delicious as always.

Mom's Macaroni & Cheese

1 1/2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni            5 Tablespoons butter, divided

3 Tablespoons flour                                        1 1/2 cups milk

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese                      2 oz. process American cheese ( I used Mozzarella)

1/2 tsp salt, dash of pepper                             2 Tablespoons dry bread crumbs

Cook noodles and drain. Place in a greased 1 1/2 quart baking dish and set aside. In a saucepan, melt 4 Tablespoons butter and then stir in flour until smooth. Gradually add milk; bring to a boil. Cook and stir for 2 minutes; reduce heat. Stir in cheeses, salt and pepper until cheeses are melted. Pour over macaroni and mix well. Melt the remaining butter and mix with bread crumbs. Sprinkle over casserole. Bake, uncovered at 375 degrees for 30 minutes. 6 Servings

I like to add onions to this because we happen to love onions and we need to use up our abundant harvest of them!

A Blustery and Dangerous Day!

"Timber" All Over Town!

We were warned that there would be strong winds throughout the day but then the above happened. I was at the table enjoying my morning devotional time and Doug came out from our bedroom where he'd been getting ready for work and said, 'I heard a loud noise and I think a tree came down in the park'. Not sure how I missed hearing it but a tree indeed did come down. Not a great picture but I really didn't want to get any closer with the winds still blowing! If you look closely you will see the stump of the tree sticking out. It looks like the tree twisted off and then fell in between the surrounding trees. This was a blessing for those who live across the park. Had it gone south it would have landed on any number of homes.

Trees are coming down all over the city and unfortunately a woman was killed up on the south hill when a tree fell on the car she was driving. Many citizens have lost power and I keep hearing reports of small fires all over the city. This could be due to falling wires. And schools all over the area were cancelled. Today is a good day to stay home and read a good book!