Okay, folks, time to recycle that tall piece of greenery you have stuck in the corner of your living room. While most of us just toss it out with the trash, did you know that you could actually eat it? I’m serious, you really can. I’ve known for a while that you can actually eat pine trees. In fact, you should…
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I Fixed it All By Myself!
Yeah, I’m ranting. Frankly I’m proud of myself! See that cutting board in the picture there? Well I’ve had that cutting board for several years now and some time back it split right in two! For a while I just used it as two separate little cutting boards but for things like cutting meat or kneading bread I really missed…
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Grocery Shopping
I went shopping with a friend today at Sam’s Club. Just a few things—you know how it is.I wanted a beef roast that I could cut up for stir fry and whatnot and found a nice big one for $2.48/lb. Nice pretty beef eye of round that set me back $13.66 for a chunk of meat that will last me…
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Salad for Dinner
Breakfast this morning was half of the cantaloupe for the two of us, and dinner tonight was a salad. I grilled a chicken strip, added the salad mix, some of the cheese (grated), some black olives left over from last night, tossed in some croutons and added my dressing—it was heavenly! I am so stuffed however that is all I…
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The Subway Cheat
Yesterday ended up being an absolute dream. We did splurge on 2 ice cream cones from The Ice Cream Factory on 2nd street ($2.50 each but the portions were large and the quality was excellent). The puppies even got a good long walk while Katie got to practice her skateboarding! That was when we spied the Subway advertisement. We love…
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Life Without a Refrigerator?
I stumbled upon an article about people living without a refrigerator. This is an interesting thought, and I have wondered if personally I should exchange my fridge for a small chest freezer and a cooler. I don’t plan on making any drastic changes, but it makes sense when you freeze more than you actually chill. Most of what is in my refrigerator…
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Grocery Shopping
I went to the Kroger today and spent $18.00. This bought: Gallon of milk Gallon of ice cream Box of generic grape nuts Bag of almonds Cole Slaw mix 2 pot pies Stauffer’s lasagna box The ice cream was a treat since I’ve been craving it lately, and the little box of lasagna will make me 2 meals for a…
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“Food Revolution” Makes Financial Sense
The talk of America seems to be Jamie Oliver’s quest to make America’s schoolchildren—even America itself—eat healthier. He serves up chicken, foccacia, stir frys, and various exotic dishes that some have never heard of, and as a result meets criticism at every turn. What foods did you grow up eating? I grew up eating homemade hamburgers topped with green onions…
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Busy Day
Today I stirred up the batch of liquid laundry soap I started yesterday and added more water. This bucket is pretty close to five gallon size, so when I dilute this in a 50:50 solution for the final product I should get close to 10 gallons from the mix. This batch of liquid is thicker than my last batch, I’m…
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A Simple Breakfast
For those days you want something quick and simple, try a smoothie. The simplest versions are composed of simply a cup of milk and a cup of fruit tossed in a blender, while the more elaborate include a cup of ice as well. This can be any type of fruit or a combination – just whatever you have available. This…
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Homemade Donuts?
Good evening! Katie came home in good spirits today, talking of Yu-Gi-Oh cards she trades with her friends. Surprisingly, she played at my feet and in the living room for most of the evening without even asking to get on the computer to check her Webkins or watch a show! I finished a book entitled Affluenza, which was a wonderful companion…
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Groceries
Tonight I watched my daughter enjoy watching the season of The Saddle Club that she checked out from the library today. She watched every single episode, and one episode twice! We went to Sam’s Club to purchase potatoes, yeast, baking soda, brown gravy mix, vinegar and some meat. Total bill was $36 and change. Not bad for what we got. Everything but…
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Wants, Needs, and Urges
I want a vegetable peeler. I don’t NEED one. In fact, I haven’t owned one since I gave the one I inherited from my mother away years ago… I never could figure out how to use it, so out of my home it went… but now I am thinking that perhaps one may be useful for the larger volume of…
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How to Tenderize Meat Without a Gadget
If you have ever dealt with a tough piece of meat, you know it can be frustrating. The temptation is high to buy that hammer especially designed to tenderize that piece. You don’t have to. In fact, you already have something in your kitchen that will tenderize that cut of meat just as well as a mallet. It’s called a…
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The Vegetable Garden
In today’s world of mass-market food fluff there is a small blip on the radar. That blip is the vegetable garden. If done right, a small garden can provide a wonderful service to our budget as well as a fresh and healthy taste to our palette. It isn’t an instant thing, however. A large number of us (myself included) grew…
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Grocery Dilemma
Today the need arose to restock some perishables, so off I went to the grocery. Pork loin was $1.69 a pound, but only if you bought the mega family size packs. The next best price? $2.99 a pound. Such a dilemma. Do I purchase several pounds of a food we don’t eat regularly? Package it, freeze it, hope to skate…
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Spoilage
Despite my best attempts, some things still get forgotten. Someone had given me a large amount of cucumbers. We have eaten and eaten, yet some were still left in the fridge. The other day I purchased a small amount of squash for meals next week, carefully placing them and the corn in the veggie drawer. My loving daughter decided to…
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Today’s Meal Plan
For breakfast the rice cooker is whipping up a batch of rice. Rice with cinnamon sugar and cream – a staple around here. Leftovers will be saved for dinner. I think for this evening I will fire up the little hibachi grill to cook up a purely vegetarian meal of bbq cabbage, corn on the cob, and either grilled bell…
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Following a hunch
When you become closer to the Universal Mind, sometimes you get hints, or hunches that guide you in interesting ways… Like the hunch to move to a house that didn’t really suit us.. but across the street moved a lady who had a mobile home for sale that did – a mobile home whose layout is strangely similar to the…
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Daily Mumblings
I spent a portion of last night relaxing and listening to music, and woke up to an email that my old company is hiring more people. So I have reapplied. I enjoyed that position. Also fixed homemade biscuits and gravy for breakfast, watched my daughter play with her beads (she actually made a skirt from beading today), worked a tad…
