Tuesday To-Do 5/12

Last week inside: Purge office.  Breakfast sandwiches.  Peanut butter crackers.  Popcorn.  Grapes.   Deep clean 2nd bathroom. Clean ceiling fans.  Check AC filters. Clean under kitchen sink.  Reorganize pantry. Gather dead plants and compost.  

Sausage, egg, cheese bagels
to freeze for family's
weekday breakfast.

This week's chores inside are: Finish last week's chores.  Clean kitchen corner.  I had a plastic drawer storage container break and I need to reevaluate and reorganize everything that was in that container and in that corner.  I need to organize the green baker's rack that has spices and other baking items. Make more of hubby's oats.  Reorganize the living room bookcase.




Last week outside chores:   Finish weed eating the driveway.  Fill the raised bed on the other side. Sow tomatoes.  Plant pole beans, squash. Work on doggy door path.  Dust the chicken coop. Wash the feeders and tub.  Find DE (diatomaceous earth)-it wasn't at the closest feed store so will check in big town. Stake peach tree.  Go through wood pile for new step. Breed Flower and Thumper (rabbits). Reorganizing the tool shed.  Start on burn pit.  Cut down saplings.

This week's chores outside are: Finish last week's list: Catch the newest litter of free range bunnies before the hawks get them.  Fill one trash bag from porch.  Straw the ducks.  Cut the weeds around the front steps.  Wash the house and the feed shed where it is getting yucky and green moldy looking with vinegar water.  If that doesn't work, I will pour in some Joy dish soap, but vinegar usually does the job. Pull the honeysuckle off of the garden fence, and inspect where rabbits might be getting in...still. 

Honestly, last week seemed very busy but just with the basic chores.  Weeding the garden, watering the garden, taking care of the livestock, sowing and transplanting, making lunch snack bags and cooking meals and extras. I just didn't get to progress with the chores as I should.  I think that the next two weeks (or more) are going to be the same way.  My daughter has a lot of things going on such as concerts, graduation and all of the ceremonies that go with that, and banquets for chorale, etc.  I am feeling unproductive on paper, but busy as a bee in real time.  That can make one anxious if you don't sit down and remember what you really did.  For example, it took over two hours just to mulch the blueberries after taking the wheelbarrow down into the woods, raking under the pine trees, sorting a little bit, running from ground hornets, packing it in the wheelbarrow and pushing it back to the yard, opening the berry fence and then finally actually mulching the berries and giving that a good douse of water.  Of course, then doing that one more time just for good measure.  Also, Oreo has a horrible cut on his front leg that we are trying to mend.  I believe that he got hit by a car.  His head healed and I see where his back is somewhat scraped looking under the fur.  We are spraying his leg with Blue-Kote and wrapping it up until he tears it off a couple of days later and then we do it again.  I am not sure it is healing, but I did give him penicillin shots and he definitely feels better and the "infection" smell is gone.  Oh, and having only worked in the medical field for 18 years or so, although in a clerical / supportive role, transcribing the doctors' notes from various fields, including family practice, it never occurred to me that being allergic to penicillin and it touching your skin would cause an allergic reaction.  Good thing I am staying on the farm now, I guess.

Oreo recovering from
his outpatient procedure,
or just trying to milk it to stay
inside...

Food Friday- Menu for 5/9

I have to admit that perusing the ads this week was very disappointing.  Since living on a very strict budget, trying to get the most bang for my buck at the grocery stores is very hard. I guess that's why we are having so many soups this week, just as the weather heats up. Yay!

Saturday-
Brunch.  Blueberry ricotta bread to use up leftover ricotta and frozen blueberries. I'll have to re-find the recipe though. Scrambled veggie eggs and maybe bacon.
Supper. Ham, cabbage and potato skillet and green beans.

Sunday-
Pankcakes, bacon.  
Pizza-buffalo chicken with homemade ranch instead of blue cheese for hubby.

Monday- Split pea soup.  I have leftover ham and a bag of carrots and split peas just begging to be used up. I'll just turn up the air conditioner this evening.

Tuesday-
Our weekly spaghetti with homemade canned sauce, homemade bread, salad with lettuce from the garden.

Wednesday-
CORD soup.  Yep, that frugal Clean Out Refrigerator Day Soup.  So far this will most likely include a ham cabbage potato skillet, left over  green beans, broccoli and cooked carrots.  

Thursday-
Bean potpourri pot.  A few times a month I will throw in beans, rice and tomatoes with chilies with a little chili powder, cumin and cayenne for the sake of frugality.  This time I will be using black beans. Aldi had a great deal about two or three months ago and we have really enjoyed them.  I kept them dry though and didn't can them.  Maybe next time.  Hopefully soon because I am almost out!

Friday-
Grill day (weather permit).  I have split breasts and leg quarters in the freezer. I think this would be a good BBQ day. Homemade BBQ sauce,  Potato salad (Cook's Country recipe-LOVE it!), cole slaw, sun tea and fresh lemonade for a couple of Arnold Palmers.  And the easy peach cobbler for dessert.  Sorry mom, not traditional like you do. (This is the extravagant day since payday).
Grilled hot dogs with leftover salad and slaw.

LUNCHES- leftovers, tuna salad, chicken salad, and pb&j. May break down for some cheap bologna for sandwiches for their lunches. I am wanting to make about 2 dozen or so PB&J to put in the freezer. 

Recipes I am trying:
Blueberry Ricotta Squares (allrecipes)
1 c. flour, 3/4 c. sugar, 1 1/4 tsp baking powder in a bowl.  Mix 1/3 c. milk, 1/4 c. shortening (I will be using butter), 1 egg and lemon extract (which I will omit as I don't have it, but I do have some lemon zest in the freezer that I may sprinkle in).  Add egg mix into flour mix.  Pour into a greased 9-inch square dish.  Layer the berries.  Mix the 2 eggs, 1 1/4 c ricotta, 1/3 c. sugar and 1/4 tsp vanilla until well blended.  Spoon over berries and spread evenly.  55-60 minutes at 350.

Texas Potato Salad (Cooks Country)
Combine 1/2 c. red wine vinegar, 1 1/2 Tbl sugar, 1 1/2 tsp salt in bowl.  You are supposed to microwave this, but I don't have a microwave, so I just leave out covered. Add 1/2 red onion and 1 minced jalapeño and 1 sliced. Set aside for 15 or more minutes. Strain onion and jalapeños over bowl. Reserve pickled vegetables and vinegar mixture separately. Meanwhile, boil 3# of Yukon Gold potatoes. Reduce heat to medium and simmer 15 minutes. Drain potatoes, transfer to large bowl and drizzle 2 tablespoons reserved vinegar mixture over potatoes until evenly coated. Refrigerate until cool, about 30 minutes.  Whisk mayonnaise, mustard, ½ teaspoon pepper, and cayenne until combined. Add mayo mix, pickled vegetables, eggs, and celery to potatoes and combine. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover and refrigerate to let flavors blend, about 30 minutes. Serve. (Luckily I am of German descent and don't mind a warm potato salad because sometimes I just can't wait. :)

Peach cobbler (memorized from somewhere??)
Melt 1 stick of butter in a cake pan. Mix 1 c. flour, 1 c. sugar, 1 Tbl baking powder.  I sprinkle a little salt in.  No real measurement.  I add 1 c. of milk and stir.  Once the butter is melted I pour the batter over the butter without stirring.  I add a large can of canned peaches in heavy syrup, or if it is a light version in its own juice, I will sprinkle about 1/3 to 1/2 c. of sugar on them.  Bake it at 375 for about 40 minutes or so. 

GROCERY LIST:
Can of tomato juice
Blue cheese dressing (Aldi)
Cherry tomatoes
Ketchup (Sam's) divide into 3 reused bottles
Brown sugar
Jalapeno (Aldi)
(Got red onions last week at Aldi 2# for $.69)
Yukon Gold potatoes
Mustard (Aldi) Probably will start collecting mustard bottles for a Sam's purchase
Bologna (Aldi)
Hot Dogs (Sam's) Grilling season is here!  Freeze extras.
Mozzarella (Sam's)
Lemons (Aldi or Sam, depending on quality)
Tea (Aldi)
Peaches (Aldi)
Cabbage
Peanut butter (Sam's)
Jelly (Aldi)
Bread (Aldi) x 4-5
Grapes
Bananas
Cantaloupe
Split breasts (BiLo for $1 lb.) Restock freezer 
Tuna (Sam's)

Garden Journal 5/7/15

Now that the Holidays are over (May the 4th be with you, Cinco de Mayo), it's time to get back to serious food production in the garden.

Admittedly,  I have done a horrendous job of labeling.  I hope that from this point forward I can do better job.  One will never make it to the Farmer's Market that way! "Do you have Homestead tomatoes?"  "Yes, I do."  "Which ones?"  " I dunno."
But it seems I am somewhat cursed.  The ones that do have a label die and those that don't seem to do fine.

Nonetheless, I carry on sowing and planting.  Right now in the garden I have lettuce, radishes, snap peas, cucumbers, 1 green bean?, kale, beets, hot peppers, sweet peppers, wheat and corn (a patch of each for experimental purposes and hopefully animal feed).  Things are up and growing.  It is the best it has been at Lost Arrow Acres since we now have a fence.  However, we did find a dip in the ground that something (a rabbit) must have gotten in and decided to eat half of my beets.  But on the upside, nothing else.

With a possible rainstorm over the next couple of days, I sowed a few more seeds.  More beets, kale, lettuce (green towers), glory blend lettuce, Kentucky Wonder pole beans,  Avalon and Honey Select corn, and a new green bean from Park Seed, Advantage.  So we shall see. 

In my raised bed where I planted lettuce, spinach, radishes and tomatoes, my radishes were growing amazing leaves, big and beautiful, but a teeny tiny radish.  So I harvested all of the lettuce and 2 radishes that are actually a good size and planted some corn that would suck the overly abundant nutrients out of the soil.  Now my menu has changed a bit for tonight. Chef's Salad it is!

 
 
 

Tuesday To-Do

Last week inside:
 Deep cleaning the master bathroom. Store and clean up (light box, trays and labels, heat mat back out to the big greenhouse, etc.) Wash the windows and scrub the floor. Purging in the office. Clean out the fridge.  Make homemade instant oats.  Homemade maple pancake syrup. Sausage and egg mini bagels, bacon egg and cheese mini bagels, peanut butter crackers.  Make pimento cheese. Bag up some snack-size grapes, almonds.  Pop some popcorn.

2c shredded cheddar
 8oz cream cheese
1/2c. mayo
 1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. onion powder
small jar of pimentos
 1 minced jalapeno

This week's chores inside are:Finish last week's list: Purge office.  Breakfast sandwiches.  Peanut butter crackers.  Popcorn.  Grapes. 
Deep clean 2nd bathroom. Clean ceiling fans.  It's still nice and cool in the mornings and evening so ceiling fans instead of the air conditioner.  Check AC filters. Clean under kitchen sink.  Reorganize pantry-how does it get so messed up??  Gather all empty pots and a few dead plants that didn't make it through the winter and put in compost pile.

3c. oats in blender to fine meal
6c. quick cook oats
1 c. dry milk or creamer
1 tsp salt
3/4-1c. brown sugar



















 

Last outside week:
Weed eat up the driveway.  Rake the goat yard.  Fill the raised bed.  Plant a few tomatoes, pole beans, summer squash and more lettuce and radishes.  Sow jalapenos, tomatoes, and flowers (cosmos, bachelors buttons, sunflowers and other bee/bird attractants). Doggy door path. Straw the ducks. Clean the chicken coop, dusting the corners.  Wash all feeders and water tub, add a diatomaceous earth and vinegar . Stake the peach tree.  Gather pine needles to mulch my blueberries.  Get a hive ready for new bees.  Steps to the back porch. replaced RENAILED.

This week's chores outside are:
Finish last week's list: Finish weed eating the driveway.  Fill the raised bed on the other side. Sow tomatoes.  Plant pole beans, squash. Work on doggy door path. Dust the chicken coop. Wash the feeders and tub.  Find DE (diatomaceous earth)-it wasn't at the closest feed store so will check in big town. Stake peach tree.  Go through wood pile for new step.
We have a new baby buckling, Mad Max, that I am still bottle feeding 3 x / day.  So there is a bit more time involved in the animals. Breed Flower and Thumper (rabbits). I have created a family project list for this month and have told them to choose a couple of projects to work on over the next 4 weeks.  It is going to be a super busy month with graduation, choir concerts, hubby's work, etc. so I am expecting these to last into June - just don't tell them or they won't even try!  So far it looks like I am stuck with cleaning and reorganizing the tool shed.  Ugh!  But I am here and I do have a pet peeve of not putting the tools back so we can find them next time.  So I will begin that this week.  I am going to work on sorting out duplicate tools and maybe I can sell them and make some extra cash. (Especially since I did put us a in a bit of bind with buying Max, but he will hopefully make up for it in a few months). Garden chores continue, hoeing, planting, weeding, thinning, cutting lettuce, eating radishes.  The asparagus also has a few stalks that have gotten out of control.  I will trim some of these back before letting it go completely. We need to get the mower and tiller back in working order so I can mow the "orchard." Work on a burn pit for all the extra trees and tree limbs that need to be burned.  Cut down saplings and young trees that are growing in all the wrong places.

 I did start some extra cardio and then figured out that all of my tennis shoes are not worthy of walking.  Now I am limping and walking even slower than normal.  Yay!  Nevertheless, I shall prevail!

*recipes are from allrecipes.com and DoItOnADime YouTube videos, with some tweaks.

 

 

Somewhat Silent Sunday

Dinner time

Lucy photobombing the bunnies
 

After dinner nap

Potting table

Mini Greenhouse

Boss Tweed (maybe) copper bearded iris

Spanish lavendar

Dianthus

Blueberries are coming on!

Blackberries

Someone has found a new nesting area...

Peach tree

Plum tree
 

Food Friday

Most of the grocery ads come out Wednesday around here so I wait for those before sitting down and putting together a 10-meal menu.  Hubby is home for lunch on Friday and sometimes the kids are home for a lunch on the weekend...sometimes.  Seven suppers and three lunches usually do the trick. Aldi's ad comes out on Sunday so I try to get that great priced produce. We get paid every two weeks, so week one is usually good with a variety fresh produce and special meat.  Well, needless to say this is week two and more of the "clean out the fridge and pantry" menu. I try to budget a little bit for the second week just in case there are fabulous sales.  Yes, I should do a 2-week menu, but I never stick to it for that long.  A week, yes, 10 days, usually, but 2 weeks, never.

Saturday-
Brunch.  Our fresh eggs, probably scrambled with some spinach from the garden, sausage gravy (using 1/2 of the pound), and the never-fail mayo biscuits.
Supper. Beans and leftover ham, fried taters, spinach (canned), cornbread.

Sunday-
Sunday is always pancake and pizza day. I am out of leftover pancakes that I freeze so I will double or triple the batch.
Pankcakes with the remaining sausage.  Will make enough syrup for Hubby's oats for next week.
Pizza-pepperoni, black olives and I may rehydrate some mushrooms I have jarred up. I still have one jar of my homemade sauce.  I may take one can of tomato sauce from Sam's and can some more next week. I have frozen green peppers I can mix in too.

Monday- It is "May the 4th be with you" but I don't know what Star Wars themed foods I can do.  Fried Ewok?  Wookie Cookies? Light saber stew?
Unless I get super creative, it's spaghetti, salad (add lettuce and radishes from the garden), homemade bread or breadsticks.

Tuesday-Cinco De Mayo
Tacos (obviously), Mexican rice.

Wednesday-
Grilled chicken breasts with mango salsa and a rice pilaf.

Thursday-
Buffalo chicken salad with ranch-salsa dressing.

Friday-
Homemade corn dogs, French fries/homemade chips, carrot sticks.
Deerloaf, mashed potatoes, gravy, frozen green beans, cob corn.

LUNCHES-pimento cheese sandwiches, PB&J, ham&cheese sandwiches, leftovers

ON HAND:
Eggs, Sausage, Flour, Butter, Mayonnaise, Great Northern beans (canned 2 weeks ago)
Cornmeal, Sugar, Pepperoni (Sam's), Black olives (leftover in fridge), Mushrooms (dehydrated),
Pasta (Sam's), pizza sauce (homemade), Tomato Sauce (Sam's),  Rice, Hot Sauce, deer burger, green beans, mixed veggies (Sam's), Baja vegetables (Sam's), Ranch mix (Sam's mixed with homemade), taco seasoning (homemade)

GROCERY LIST:
Milk (Sam's) - freeze 2-3
10# potatoes (Ingles 2.98)
Spinach (Aldi)
Taco shells (Aldi)
Tomatoes (Sam's)
Bag of shredded cheddar (Sam's) - freeze
Iceberg lettuce (Aldi)
Chicken breast (Ingles? 2.48)
Mango (Aldi)
Hot dogs
Carrots (Aldi)
Corn on the cob (BiLo 3/$.99)
Refried beans (Aldi)
Tomatoes with chiles (Aldi)
Avocado (Aldi)

Because of Cinco De Mayo, Aldi especially has great deals on their Mexican foods.  I will stock up on the tomatoes with chiles, probably an extra box of shells for emergency taco suppers.  I will buy extra mango and chop and freeze for smoothies or fruit salads.  Pork loin is on sale at ingles for 1.98/lb.  Probably get one to put in freezer. Bologna at BiLo is 1/2 price, might have that available for lunches too.  Other than that nothing screams to me.  
If I missed a good deal-let me know!

Tuesday To-Do

I am making my weekly to-do list today, yes, on Tuesday.  Mostly for alliteration purposes, but also as Matt 7:13 says Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. Is that taking it too far?  Nonetheless, I do like to zigzag traditions occasionally.  Hamburgers for Easter dinner (at least its not bacon), feeding the chickens by the feed shed instead of in the coop (it is too entertaining to see them "run" up from all directions when they hear the door shut), I could go on but I have things to do...

This week's chores inside are: 
Of course there are the everyday tasks one must do-laundry, supper, making the bed, general picking up, dust, vacuum, sweeping, etc.  This week I am going to focus on deep cleaning the master bathroom.  I turned on the lights around the mirror and it smelled like something was burning.  Dust.  Good grief!  I will hopefully get that done today.  I need to clean the dining room.  Although we are still needing drywall, I must take it back to a working dining room.  This winter it was the seed starting, chick and duckling rearing area.  All of those things are now back outside where they belong and we can get back to having supper at the table.  Back to zigzagging, aren't I?  To that I have a lot of things to store and clean up (light box, trays and labels, heat mat back out to the big greenhouse, etc.) as well as wash the windows and scrub the floor to make sure all poultry evidence is gone.  I would also like to do some purging in the office now that it has opened up a bit. Before grocery day, I need to clean out the fridge.  I am pretty sure I saw some asparagus that I picked a while back shoved into a corner.  Lord only knows what else may be hiding.  Got my vinegar bottle ready for attack. I have a few food things to do for easier meals for the kids and hubby: make homemade instant oats and pack up the homemade maple pancake syrup for hubby's first break, sausage and egg mini bagels, bacon egg and cheese mini bagels, peanut butter crackers and make a double batch of pimento cheese for sandwiches.  I would make chocolate chip granola bars but our honey supply is so low, I am holding off.  I will come up with some other sweets for my sweets.  The grocery ads come out tomorrow and although I won't buy those boxed, chemically colored and flavored items, they give me inspiration to make my own.  And yes, they are still sugar-laden sweets but a little less toxic I hope.  I will also need to bag up some snack-size grapes, almonds or other nuts for their healthier snacks.  I need to pop some popcorn and bag up in sandwich bags. Those are the main inside chores. 

This week's outside chores are:
This is where I need to focus most of my time this time of year.  There are the basic chores here as well, feeding, watering animals and plants, mowing, weed eating the yard.  I also need to weed eat up the driveway, the 6/10 of a mile driveway.  I need to rake the goat yard.  I don't know where they find all the bricks and sticks and even glass pieces??  I need to fill the raised bed in the garden with our chicken coop/rabbit shelter compost and a couple of bags of top soil that I had to buy since the beds are brand new.  I am hoping to get a few tomatoes, pole beans, summer squash and more lettuce and radishes in this week.  I am going to sow more jalapenos, tomatoes, and flowers (cosmos, bachelors buttons, sunflowers and other bee/bird attractants).  The weather has been so wet that tilling any more of the garden has not happened.  I need to work on my doggy door path to the chicken coop.  I need to straw the ducks, clean the chicken coop, including dusting the corners.  This week is chicken week.  I need to wash all their feeders and water tub, add a little diatomaceous earth and vinegar to their feed and water, respectively. I need to stake the peach tree that is leaning a bit.  I would like to gather some pine needles and mulch my blueberries.  I need to get a hive ready for the bees coming in a couple of weeks.  I am going to put the new girls closer to the garden.  The steps to the back porch have a board that needs replaced.  I will look around the wood pile for a replacement and get that cut and nailed before someone falls (most likely me while carrying a full basket of clean laundry).  I think that will do it for now, unless of course something urgent happens, as it does often, but that's what keeps the monotony away. 

Another thing that I am wanting to focus on is getting some cardio in.  After a winter of testing donut recipes and reading books, I have to get into better shape so that I can do my to-do!