I got it planted and I got two new planters made!
There's a five minute YouTube tour of the garden. I'm going to try to do a video every month so you can see the growth and change.
What's in your garden?
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April 2016
04/29/2016
04/25/2016
Menu Plan Monday April 25-29 2016
This week we have two weeknight baseball games! :( I'm hoping coach cancels practice on Tuesday since we have two other nights going but I can't count on it. I also have a PTA meeting on a practice night and we have school carnival set up this week. It's that crazy time of the school year! I also planned a craft retreat week for myself so that I can relax a bit. I'm getting overwhelmed. Since my craft room is at mother in law's it's easy to feel like a retreat without leaving town. That means today (Monday) I'm finishing up a bunch of home stuff and the rest of the week I will be at my craft room when the kids are in school (during the time I'm not also at school volunteering or running errands).
That said, dinner plans this week took some creativity.
Here's what I came up with:
Note- For my own menu I'm streamlining this week to make it easier. I'm having eggs with roasted veggies and greens all week except Wednesday and Friday, which are days I can eat what the kids do. I'm having a juice from the juicer or smoothie and either nuts or veggie sticks for lunch daily, and for dinner I'm having a salad with chicken except Tuesday.
Monday: the kids have cereal every Monday, We have a baseball game so I'm taking chicken parmesan sammies and fruit to the fields for dinner on the go.
Tuesday: the kids have french toast for breakfast and I'm putting in a 3 envelope roast for dinner. I don't actually use envelopes. I make my own dry mixes for this, but I still call it three envelope roast. I need to make mashed potatoes in the morning and put them in the fridge to just reheat for dinner. We have a PTA meeting after school and baseball practice so I will have no time except the morning for any dinner prep at all.
Wednesday: All of us will have no nitrate bacon and various fruits for breakfast. Hamburger chili dish for dinner.
Thursday: Another baseball game day . The kids will have cinnamon toast, fruit, and yogurt for breakfast. I'm inventing a chicken broccoli noodle bowl to take to the fields for dinner. There are a ton of recipes for this type of thing, but I'm going to wing it.
Friday: We all have homemade turkey sausage and applesauce for breakfast. For dinner we'll have Mexican chef salad. It's quick and easy and we'll be coming home from carnival set up about half an hour before dinner.
See yesterday's post if you'd like to know what I do for weekend meals.
What are you guys planning for this week? If you've created a blog or YouTube post about I'd love to see a link in the comments! Or even just a rundown of you plan in the comments!
04/24/2016
Frugal Family Food
I belong this Facebook group called Frugal Family Food. I just posted the update that I'm copying and pasting here because I realized this morning that I've had a routine for saving money on groceries for a few years now that helps me save not by menu planning (though I do that diligently), and not by shopping deals (which I also do diligently), but by just wasting less. I've built a refrigerator cleaning routine and menu planning routine that builds in the need to use things up. Just wanted to share it!
Here's what I posted:
Sunday is always my clean out the fridge and menu plan day. I realized just today that my whole method for meal planning and fridge cleaning is built around frugality.
I only meal plan Monday through Friday (basing it around deals, the pantry, and freezer of course) and take note of any special things for the weekend that might need a plan. Then on the weekends we eat leftovers or I reinvent stuff. Doing this every weekend has made me be more consistent about using stuff up.
An example: this weekend we had a leftover buffet for lunch Saturday because we had enough leftover things to choose from. I had to use up some blueberries so I made blueberry muffins for breakfast and put the rest in the freezer for smoothies. Today for breakfast I roasted the leftover half of a red bell pepper and half a container of mushrooms. Then I pan fried a chopped up leftover baked potato and scrambled eggs with the potatoes red bell and mushrooms (so good!). With remaining stuff in the fridge I'm making an appetizer night for dinner that will have a crudites with tail ends of veggies, deviled eggs made with a few hard boiled eggs, mini pizzas on leftover hamburger buns, and mini fried rice bowls made with leftover brown rice and half a package of frozen mixed veggies. I might put those on romaine spears I have instead of in small bowls.
I don't know if it helps anyone to read that very long post, but I really always just recommend the stocking up on sale items thing when talking about frugal cooking and cooking with cheaper ingredients like potatoes. It wasn't til today that I remembered my whole routine building a few years ago in an effort to just waste less.
That was it. You can check out the Frugal Family Food Facebook page here!
What other things do you do to save money on groceries or waste less food?
04/22/2016
Kitchen Haulage!
I went to a mall over an hour away to look for two specific things, which I didn't find. But I had a gift card and made a day of slow shopping for myself. It was nice. I made a video of my haul but I also have a few shots of things I fell in love with but didn't buy. Please excuse the paper crinkles!
While I was there I saw quite a few things I loved but didn't get. There were various reasons for that. But I took some quick snaps with my phone to share them.
At Crate and Barrel:
Cute kitchen towels! I need kitchen towels, but I wasn't willing to pay $7 for each one today.
I love the weights and measures towels above. The cake plates and mixing bowls next to it is also an idea I love, just not the color scheme I would choose.
I was also partial to this one with the herb bottles on it.
I didn't get those fluted pie plates mostly because they were in the window and I forgot about them until I was on my way out of the mall. Maybe next time.
I loved these noodle bowls with the chopsticks through the handles. I already have one bowl very similar to this that I can put chopsticks through so I didn't get these. Not a bad price either!
I liked this pitcher, but it was small. It was bigger than a creamer but smaller than a regular pitcher. I thought about getting it for flowers but I don't have room for many vases.
I loved these wooden bowls. They might be my one regret of something I walked away from and wish I bought. But it's OK, because when I walked away I knew I needed to make an online order for jar lids that they didn't have in stock, so I might just add them to my order. I think they might be perfect for salt and pepper next to my stove. I currently use two little plastic bowls for that while I wait to find a fabulous alternative.
And the last thing at Crate and Barrel was this pretty and fresh looking Mother's Day table setting. It was a great balance between fun and bright and fancy. I'm still not sure I like how they have salad plates poking off the edge of the dinner plate though.
After Crate and Barrel I went across to William Sonoma. Didn't find anything I had to have there. I did like this place setting (below) but don't need anything like it. It's a great balance of bright and vintage. That's a painted lemon peeking out under that napkin, by the way.
After William Sonoma was Pottery Barn. It was a surprisingly small PB and I didn't feel the need to share anything great in there.
My last stop at the mall was Macy's. I hadn't planned on going to Macy's because I do have one near my home, but this was a very large (multi story) Macy's Home. And since it was so close to the other stores I decided to check it out. I was impressed at the selection. They also have a cooking class there, which I've never seen in a Macy's. I have heard about them, but only in the flagship store in New York. Over all though, there's just one thing there I took a picture of to share, and it's something I already had my eye on at my home store. It's this Martha Stewart retro style juice pitcher.
The Sur La Table stuff I shared in video, but I also visited a Marshall's on the way home. I saw this great canister set. I might need these parts of it.
So that's it for my haul and not-haul. ;) Any kitchen items you've had your eye on?
04/15/2016
The Struggle Is Real - Frozen Mocha With Greens
Sometimes I battle it out in my head for far too long...the fight between the healthy green salad with grilled chicken breast for lunch, or the chocolate mocha that my taste buds are more into at the moment. Usually this is where I end up eating crud because I've waited too long to eat. Not today, uh uh. Today I combined the ideas.
This is the best of both worlds. Believe it or not there are greens in there! I figured if I could make green smoothies that taste like fruit and not the greens, why not add greens to another type of smoothie...the one that feels indulgent.
Here's what I put in it:
2 frozen bananas
1 large handful of mixed greens
1 heaping tablespoon of cocoa powder
1 large cup of room temperature leftover coffee
1/2 ripe avocado
a handful of ice (optional)
If you want perfectly creamy, leave out the ice. If you want a treat that's a little more like a frozen dessert, put the ice in.
Next step is to enjoy it with no guilt!
You're welcome.
04/14/2016
5 Things I Love Right Now
Just random bits of happiness:
1- My new Sloggers for garden work. These are actually my first pair. I needed something like these for garden work and agonized way too much over which ones to get. I also agonized over patterns. My middle daughter ended up picking this pair out for me.
2- Mini cast iron pans. These fit in my hands. Aren't they adorable?
3- My middle kid's individuality. She does her own crazy hair styles, and wears them to school. She doesn't care if anyone thinks she looks weird. Every day is either crazy hair day or pajama day for her.
4- Roasted veggies...of all kinds...yum. More on this later this week.
5- This chocolate coffee from Trader Joe's. If you're a coffee drinker, it's a must try.
What's making you smile lately?
04/12/2016
How I Reuse Canning Jar Lids and Bands
In the last few years my canning repertoire has broadened. I used to make two jellies; now I create my own recipes for jellies, and also make pickles and peppers, and can items from my garden. As any canner can tell you, I have a lot of those lids left after opening a jar of homemade goodness. The bands are reusable but the lids are supposedly not reusable. But I do...reuse them. Gasp! Here's how:
1- I reuse them for canning. I know! I'm not supposed to do that. I don't recommend doing that, but I had to be honest here. I check them carefully and if the there are no dents, rust, etc...and the rubbery part around the edge seems totally in tact and not dried out, I reuse it for canning. I've never had a problem. Again, do so at your own risk. This is not a recommended practice from any canning agency.
2- I reuse the ones that have dents (like the one below) for fridge and pantry storage. What do I store? Anything I put in mason jars! Not everything in a mason jar is canned. Have you ever frozen a smoothie in a mason jar? I put bulk spices in mason jars. I put dried beans other dried goods in mason jars. These non-canned items get my reused lids. The picture below is a juice I made and stored in the fridge for the next day. If you don't need some crazy awesome seal for shelf life, you can reuse a lid that has already been used.
3- I use the lids for storing things in the freezer. I make large batches of chili, pasta sauce, bone broth, etc... and I freeze them instead of canning them. For these I use the 'second time' lids. Make sure you leave more head space here for expansion while freezing.
So when do I throw them away?
1- When they're rusted. For some reason that just grosses me out.
2- When they're too dented to keep liquid in the jar. Sometimes I (or my kids) really bend a lid. Out it goes. But if I can put a juice in a jar and put on the used lid and band and lay it on its side without the liquid leaking out, I still use it.
Do any of you reuse canning lids? Tell me how!
04/01/2016
April Food Holidays
Ok, so they aren't real holidays, more like celebrations, still...who doesn't want another excuse to eat food? April 3rd is National Chocolate Mousse Day! I better make sure I'm celebrating that one, it's a big part of my life you know. And April 11th is National Cheese Fondue Day! I know one daughter that will be as excited about that one as I am. And April itself is National BLT Month...oh the possibilities.
This list is from Foodimentary.com - click on the calendar picture if you'd like to go straight to their full post. My list here is just my favorites.
And some of my favorite highlights:
National BLT Sandwich Month
National Soft Pretzel Month
National Grilled Cheese Month
National Garlic Month
April 12-18: National Egg Salad Week
Caramel Day
What day are you most excited about and how would you celebrate it?
Alicia Christian
- Want to contact me?E-mail me at stampified@sbcglobal.net
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