Wherein I try my hand a cooking again.

I haven't done it too much lately, what with crock pots and sickness.

Breakfast: Claire made some really good muffins!

Lunch: Left-overs.

Dinner: Meatloaf balls, mashed potatoes, and caramelized onions. Yeah, it was good.

Daddy picked some more groceries up for us. He spent $64.31, bringing the grocery total to $283.81. Rather low for right here at about the time to go shopping for Christmas baking, but I get paid in the next couple of days!

A slow and drizzly Monday

That's certainly what yesterday was like! So much so that I didn't feel like I actually got going until 3:30pm! I did a few things here and there, but it was just slow...

Breakfast: Get whatcha want.

Lunch: Ditto... (Told ya it was slow...) I had a clementine.

Dinner: Daddy made turkey pot pie with more Thanksgiving left-overs.

I'm excited about a little project that was partially completed in the kitchen yesterday! Towel bars were installed! They're going to help us organize the lids to our pots! The pots and lids were all together in the cabinet, and it was terrible trying to find the right lid and extract it without pulling others along with it. Hopefully these will add a cheap, simple, but significant measure of sanity to our kitchen life. 

We'll be adding one or two longer towel bars on the wall on the right; the plan right now is for those to hold our larger lids. I'm really excited to see such progress to our home organization!

Thanksgiving Weekend Recap

I hope y'all had a wonderful Thanksgiving; we sure did! We went to my uncle's on Thursday, and had delicious food, lots of laughter, and a good time with family. Luke enjoyed being with our cousins immensely too! Friday we went to Dickson to Grammy and Granddaddy's for pot pie, our traditional after-Thanksgiving meal. We played games, ate candy, and again, had a good time with family. Saturday morning Mama, Claire, and I threw the Thanksgiving left-overs in a crock pot and roaster, and then went to Nashville. We had a couple of Groupons for ThriftSmart!!! First, however, we had to find somewhere to eat lunch, and, you know what? There's nothing around there if you don't want McDonald's, pizza, or hole-in-the-wall Mexican. I felt like we were cruising Merced, CA again! (Obviously we don't go to that part of town very often, or I wouldn't have been quite so struck by it...) We ended up getting cheese blintzes and hot wings at IHOP. Weird? Oh, yeah. Bad? Not really. I didn't think so anyway, but I am dealing with a cold this week. We found some good deals at ThriftSmart - all the clothes were on sale for $1.99!

We had to make a couple of quick grocery runs this weekend; we spend a total of $27.97 on things like eggs and Kleenex - essentials. That brings the grocery total to something like $348.12.

Yesterday Was Steaming Day

Just FYI. We steamed the molded (like, put into a mold - not molding...) plum pudding for a really long time yesterday. Now, if I have this right, we let it sit for a really long time - 4 weeks or so. As I said before, this should be interesting...

Daddy grabbed a couple of items for us yesterday as well; he spend $9.74, bringing the total to $376.04.

Breakfast: I don't really remember. Probably get whatcha want.

Lunch: Left-overs or get whatcha want.

Dinner: Chicken noodle soup. Still battling sickness around here, mostly colds right now.

Tomorrow's Thanksgiving. I canNOT believe it! Wow, this month's gone by SO fast! Happy Thanksgiving, y'all! At this point, I'm not sure when the next post will be; got a busy weekend ahead!

Stirring Day

Did you know that yesterday was stirring day? We're making plum pudding this year. It's our first time ever doing that, so we'll see how it goes. But yesterday was stirring day. Only, yesterday was Sunday, so we're doing our Sunday "days" on Mondays. So TODAY was stirring day. Make sense? Anyway, we got our plum pudding started! Tomorrow we won't be using the oven, because that will be in there steaming for 8 hours! Like I said, we'll see. Now, on to the rest of our day:

Breakfast: Eggs and toast.

Lunch: Claire made cheese toast and pulled out left-overs. I had tomato soup and brisket.

Dinner: Claire's night! She made chicken fettuccine alfredo.

We also finally paid for the past two weeks of extended CSA baskets! It was $40, bringing the total to $385.78.

This post is primarily about yesterday's food

Creative title, no?

Breakfast: Get whatcha want, I think.

Lunch: We were given a rather large, pre-cooked brisket, so all we did was thaw it, and throw it in a crock pot to take to church. In addition to that we took green beans and apple-pecan cake.

Dinner/Fellowship: Well, come to think of it, we didn't have anything real. We did a taffy pull, and ate cookies.

Now, I forgot to mention a $12.93 trip to Save-A-Lot that we had Saturday evening. That brings the total down to $425.78.

Busy Day!

We spent the day finishing the living room renovation project!

Breakfast: Bacon and whatever else you wanted

Lunch: Bread, grapefruit... get whatcha want. What can I say? We were busy!

Dinner: Daddy, Luke, and I are the only ones home, so we had left-over chicken and rice soup (and root beer floats to celebrate the newly-finished project!!!).

And no one was home...

The house was empty yesterday. We were all busy, busy, busy! Claire and Kyle were in the studio with the band; they're beginning to record another album! Daddy was working, and Mama, Luke, and I went grocery shopping for some things we'll need for Thanksgiving. Of course, we did some other things as well. :)

Breakfast: Get whatcha want.

Lunch: Mama, Luke, and I had Chuy's!!!

Dinner: Popcorn.

We spent $178.01 on groceries yesterday. That brings the total to $438.71.

WHAT'S ON THE MENU!

For Thursday:

Breakfast: Get whatcha want.

Lunch: Apple salad.

Dinner: Tomato soup, sauteed mushrooms, and bacon! Although there weren't many mushrooms left... *guilty*

BTW, y'all, I learned a rather neat trick yesterday. I was making white chocolate haystacks (of sorts... we didn't/don't have salted peanuts or cashews.), and having issues melting the white chocolate chips. I decided to stop before I burned them and do a little research. Turns out, I probably had already taken them just a little too far, but if I added a little bit of coconut oil it would stir in and continue the melting process. This would probably work with vegetable oil too, but I read to use coconut oil if you wanted the chocolate to harden at room temperature. And, of course, I did. Well, it worked like a charm! I was SO happy to find this out; I don't know how many times I've dumped a batch of white chocolate because I thought I'd heated it past redemption.

Wednesday had come and gone, and now it's Thursday

True, no?

Things are getting done around here!!! Yesterday, Claire and Kyle moved everything out of the living room into the dining room, and they painted the living room ceiling! Today the walls are getting their turn. I did my best to keep the rest of the house running while Mama did school with Luke and bookkeeping.

Breakfast: Get whatcha want.

Lunch: Bread. I made fresh bread! and I was exhausted after doing so. It takes me forever to recover from stomach things...

Dinner: Seemed like a good day to do chicken soup of sorts again. We have a ton of greens as well, so I did the chicken and rice with greens soup again. That certainly was better for my stomach than the chili we've had the last couple of nights!

Daddy did some grocery shopping for us yesterday too. He spent $114.71, making the new total $116.72. I got paid today, so the current grand total is $616.72.

Tuesday

Has come and gone. I was still a bit weakish from the stomach bug, but I managed to eat some.

Breakfast: I had yogurt. Not sure what everyone else had.

Lunch: French toast. We had some bread that was beginning to go bad, so Mama did a large batch. We froze the left-overs. Never done that before, so we'll see how it turns out.

Dinner: Left-over white bean-chicken chili and apple salad.

Well, guess what?

I got the stomach bug Sunday morning. That meant I missed church, and I didn't eat anything. I did manage to drink a bunch of Powerade, and I'm so thankful for my wonderful friends who brought me some carbonated water! Thankfully, the stomach thing seems to last only 7-10 hours, so today I've been able to eat, although I'm very sore from yesterday. TMI? Sorry. All that said, I really don't know what's been eaten and what hasn't in the past couple of days. I think the church had spaghetti for lunch, and I believe I understand that we're going to have left-over chili for dinner tonight (well, those of us who can handle it...).

Please continue those prayers!

Quickly about today

Today was the biggest day in our church's Reformation celebration, so we were with some of our favorite folks all day!

Breakfast: Oatmeal

Lunch: Barbecue catered by Whitt's!

Dinner: Chili

As it's 10:45, I will be brief, but I wanted to ask y'all to pray for our church family, friends, and community. There's a stomach bug going around, and I'm sure the sick ones would appreciate prayers for a quick and full recovery. Also, there are several of us who haven't gotten it yet, and we would most definitely appreciate your prayers that we would somehow continue to avoid it and whatever other sicknesses are around.

Thanks!

Oops

I let too long go between posts, and now I don't remember everything... I'll do my best though.

Thursday:

Breakfast: ... ... ... Nope, I don't remember. It was probably another get whatcha want.

Lunch: Left-overs, I believe.

Dinner: Popcorn and bacon. Yeah, I didn't feel like cooking...

I believe it was also Thursday when I paid Daddy $30 for getting some essentials (if we got the stomach bug that's been making the rounds around here). $348.81 was the new total then, I guess.

Friday:

Breakfast: Get whatcha want... maybe?

Lunch: I was grocery shopping with Mama. We had sushi from Kroger; I don't know what the others had.

Dinner: White bean and chicken soup, salad, and cornbread

As I have implied, we went grocery shopping yesterday. We spent $117.38 (and determined - I think - that paper towels are cheaper at Walmart than at Costco). The total is now $231.43.

Okay, hopefully all that is more or less correct information. Yesterday evening started our church's reformation celebration!

This is gonna be quick

'cause I'm really tired, and I'm in the middle of a zillion other things right now.

Yesterday:

Breakfast: Eggs and toast

Lunch: Fresh bread (had to make another batch a couple days earlier than usual, and it looks like I'm still going to have to make a batch tomorrow! I guess this is a good thing.)

Dinner: Chicken and rice soup. There's been a stomach bug going around (thankfully we've managed to avoid it thus far.), so that sounded like an ideal dinner option. I threw in a handful of greens in for added benefits too.

Today:

Breakfast: I grabbed the last slice of apple pie almost as I headed out the door to help our wonderful neighbors harvest vegetables and put out row covers.

Lunch: I wasn't home, but those that were had grilled cream cheese and apple sandwiches.

Dinner: Mama made a beef vegetable pot pie ... casserole thing.

Catchin' up

Again. Sometimes life just gets too busy to post about what we've bought and what we've eaten! First off, Claire went to town Saturday morning to pick up some things at the co-op, so I sent some grocery money with her. She picked up some eggs, milk, and hot dogs for us a Save-A-Lot for: $17.95 making the new total: $378.81.

Saturday:

Breakfast: I don't hardly even remember Saturday, so I'm thinking it was probably another get whatcha want meal.

Lunch: Lunch was more official. We all sat down and had enchiladas!

Dinner: The band members had a gig at another band member's church, and there was dinner. We all decided to go! We had to go in the truck, so it wasn't the most comfortable ride ever, but it was good to be together as a family.


Sunday:

Breakfast: Get whatcha want, I think.

Lunch: We took potato soup/mash (oddly enough, we ran out of milk, so the soup wasn't very ... soup-like.), hot dogs, and apple pie.

Dinner: I don't think we had anything in particular for dinner. Apple pie, maybe...


Monday:

Breakfast: Daddy and I left at 6am, and I don't think we had anything to eat (though we did grab our favorite coffee concoctions on the way out the door). I don't know what the others had.

Lunch: Daddy and I and another good friend we picked up on the way went to my uncle's house to disassemble and haul away a tower he had in his back yard. Uncle Craig is, by profession, a chef, and he fed us very well on potato soup!

Dinner: Claire made stew, greens, and bread.

A forgotten purchase

Or rather, a purchase that I forgot to record: $50 for 5 bushels of organic apples (2 bushels of Jonagold, 3 of Mutsu - Mutsu being our favorite!)! We picked them up a couple of weeks ago, and we've been enjoying them ever since! That brings the grocery money total to: $396.76.

While I'm on, here's yesterday's menu:

Breakfast: Get whatcha want.

Lunch: Bread, apples, apple butter, etc. (We were deep in the middle of canning apples at the time.)

Dinner: Spaghetti, winter squash (cut in half, seeds removed, butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, a dash of nutmeg, microwaved for 10 minutes, baked until we were ready to eat.), and bread.

We got 14 more quarts of apples canned yesterday! That used up all our quarts, surprisingly. I'm guessing they're all being used with green beans. We may can some more, but they'll be in pints instead. We're also really hoping to do some cider, but our cider press needs a little work before then. So, we'll see, I guess! In the meantime, we'll have apple pies! I've got 2 in the oven right now, and I should probably go check on them...

Another day bites the dust!

I'm quickly running out of ideas for creative titles... in case you couldn't tell...

Breakfast: Mama made apple muffins! Yay! It wasn't a get whatcha want!!! Today's is though...

Lunch: Potato soup. Joint effort between me and Claire. We made enough to work for Sunday lunch too! (Or it will be when we add a bit of milk.)

Dinner: Yesterday was Thursday, therefore a band practice night, therefore it was just me, Daddy, and Luke for dinner. Having been in the kitchen all morning making cookies, bread, and soup, I didn't want to go back in there, so we had Hardee's. That was convenient because we needed to pick up some hot dog buns for Sunday anyway.

Yesterday I got $12 back for non-grocery items from our last Walmart trip, and we spent $4.31 on hot dog buns and onions at Save A Lot. The grocery total is now, hopefully, $446.76. Today we'll probably be working on more apple things.

Another day on the town!

Yesterday we went to Cheekwood! It was an absolutely beautiful day to do it, too!

Breakfast: Get whatcha want (and quickly!). We were on our way by 9:45 or so.

Lunch: Loveless Cafe. Very expensive, and only mediocre, but none of us had ever been, and it's a Nashville icon, so worth a one-time trip.

Dinner: Left-over creamy, poppy seed chicken.

Today is the beginning of the third month!

Being November first and all...

So, today:

Breakfast: Get whatcha want. Again. Perhaps someday we'll get better at "doing" breakfasts...

Lunch: Tuna salad on crackers + left-overs (if you wanted them)

Dinner: Creamy, poppy seed chicken and left-over turnip greens

Claire and I spend almost all afternoon up at the guest house canning apples! Yes, we finally got around to doing some of that! We had time to do 3 water bath batches, or 21 quarts. Still being relatively new to this whole canning by ourselves deal (without Mama and/or Grammy), we weren't entirely confident about what we were doing, but I'm staying optimistic and hoping that the jars won't burst or not seal. ... I exude confidence, don't I? Oh, well. The green beans worked, so perhaps these apples will too.

We canned them in a very light sugar syrup. Our method, step by step (you were anxiously awaiting this, weren't you?):

• Got the canners and sugar syrup heating up. We had one canner on a propane burner on the deck. The other canner and the large pot of syrup were inside on the stove.

• I started using the handy-dandy apple peeler-corer-slicer to peel the apples (the corer-slicer part isn't functioning correctly, but thankfully it still peels well!), while Claire mixed up the sugar syrup and prepared the jars.

• Claire cut the apples into eighths (unless they were really small, then just quarters), and cut off the cores. I continued peeling, and the pots continued heating up.

• Once the sugar syrup finally got to boiling, we added the apple eighths. Then we did more peeling and cutting as we waited for it to start boiling again.

• Once the apples in the sugar syrup were hot, we pulled out the jars (which we stored in the oven - set at 170* - after we washed them.), and started filling them. I usually tried to cover the final apple slices with a little syrup, but after seeing the final product, I'm not sure that was as good an idea as it sounded at the time.

• The canner on the deck had long since started boiling by this point, so we filled that canner up first. Takes 7 quarts to fill a canner, so once we got all those filled, we dropped the rack into the water, put a lid on the canner, and started the timer for 20 minutes. I'm thinking we'll try 15 minutes next time... IF today's have sealed.

• Then we repeated the steps above. Filled the canner on the stove. Then the canner on the deck again.

• We put our finished quarts on towels on a table. That way they won't leave sticky rings on the table, and clean-up's only throwing the towels in the wash.

So, that's what we did. We'll see if we like them, if they seal, and if they keep as the year goes on.

Monday, Monday

Breakfast: Get whatcha want... I should probably fix that...

Lunch: Left-overs.

Dinner: Claire made pumpkin soup, fried apples, turnip greens, and bacon.

Mama and I went grocery shopping yesterday afternoon. We didn't feel like store hopping too much, so we only went to Walmart and Costco. Oh, I also got paid, so that brings the total to something like $454.45.

Today we're beginning to can our apples, so I'm trying to come up with a quick dinner idea. Thankfully I've already got a quart bag full of frozen, cooked chicken out thawing; if nothing else, that'll turn into something pretty quickly.