euphrasyne

We have all been sick the past week. Plague test came back negative, so it was just a seasonal flu. Feaver, shaking chills, headache, muscle aches, diarrhea--it was nasty. Everyone is starting to feel better this week, but stuffy head and headache are still an issue. I made spaghetti and meatballs with green beans, garlic toast, and fried eggplant fries for dinner last night. DD14 loved the eggplant. I've been in a bit of a dither because I'm not sure what I want my prepping to look like this coming year. I always plan my focus around this time and I'm just up in the air as to what I want to accomplish now. I'm hoping that getting over this crud will bring some clarity.

Have you considered a rotating compost bin? You can make or buy them. The bought ones look something like this: Amazon.com : F2C Compost Bin Outdoor Dual Chamber Tumbling Composter 43 Gallon BPA Free Large Tumbler Composters Tumbling or Rotating w/ Sliding Doors & Solid Steel Frame Garden Yard Black : Patio, Lawn & Garden

Aluminum Foil tip: If you hate using foil to cover dishes while they bake because you think it is a waste, hate aluminum, etc.... use a cookie sheet. Put the casserole in the oven then place an upside down cookie sheet on top of it. Remove it towards the end for browning. Less waste, same effect.

We are sick of beef this week. The last few weeks we had a lot of beef. I made smothered round steak, cut a roast into 3 meals: Swiss Steak, Beef Curry (Thai green type,) Balsamic roast. There were lots of leftovers so I just froze 2 quarts of Beef Curry and the Swiss steak. Beef Pot Pie: 2 piecrust made or bought Leftover smothered round steak with gravy and mushrooms all chopped small Leftover Balsamic Roast chopped small 1 packet brown gravy Remainder of qt beef broth leftover from DH drinking it for colonoscopy leftover french fries diced smallish *2 cups 1 can mixed vegetables italian seasoning Mix everything and place between 2 pie crusts. Baste with egg wash if desired. Bake 375F 45m. Dump in freezer for later because sick of beef. Having trouble finding premade Teriyaki we like to buy: 1 knob minced ginger large spoon minced garlic sesame oil 1/2 c soy sauce dumped out of takeout packets 1/2 c mirin (rice wine vinegar or regular vinegar) 1/2 c sake or white vinegar of choice. 2 T leftover honey 3 T leftover orange marmalade (served with another meal in a ramekin and saved in tupperware) Heaping spoon of brown sugar to taste 1/3 c cornstarch slurry 1 c water 1/3 bottle Hosin sauce (just to use it up, optional) sesame seeds in desired amounts Sauté ginger and garlic in sesame oil. Add soy sauce, mirin, and sake (or vinegar.) Add honey, marmalade, brown sugar. Make a slurry with the cornstarch and water, stir into sauce. Add remainder bottle of Hosin sauce to use it up. Add in sesame seeds for texture. 10 stars from family. Served with pan fried tofu, stirfry fresh bean sprouts, frozen asian veg, water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, and 1 circle cut asian eggplant. All served over noodles.

Prayers for Annarchy. Yesterday, DD14 and I went out to Once Upon A Child (2nd hand kids clothes) and got a cold weather wardrobe for DD2. They outgrow everything so fast at that age that it isn't much worth buying expensive stuff unless it is super cute. We spent $100 and got 6 dresses, 3 pair of pants, 1 shirt/pants outfit, 3 pair pajama tops & pants, 1 heavy coat, 1 light coat, 1 knit cardigan, 1 denim jacket, and a butterfly Halloween costume with dress, leggings, wings, and headband doodlebobbers. I was happy with the prices and items. Next we went to the Asian grocery and stocked up on a few needed items. Prices were up and they were higher for some things than the regular grocery. I was very unhappy and will only go back for very specialty items like rice paper for raw spring rolls. Lunch was at the Indian place near where we were. It was good, but it wasn't as good as the one in Suffolk. Rajput is just amazing and I haven't found better in any place. Lastly, we went to the Indian grocery. Some of the prices were high, others were very reasonable. The spices were extremely reasonable. I got several bags 14oz-16oz for the price I would normally pay for a jar. Some seeds, some ground. They also had rice flour and besan flour very reasonably (chickpea or gram do not confuse with graham which is a type of wheat). Luckily DD14 helped me carry it inside and I didn't have to explain to DH why I bought 10 pounds of spices and more flour. Today was DD2's 2nd birthday. I ran out to Kroger this morning to pick up a cake because I didn't manage to make one yesterday because I was too tired. While I was there I did some grocery shopping. O> MY> Goodness> I haven't been there in quite some time. I've been ordering pickup online, shopping at Aldi, and eating down all the meat in my freezer. Sticker shock. Almost everything was much more expensive than it was last year. Chicken last year was 1.79 and has been for at least 5 years. 1.49 on sale. Today it was 2.49 and the name brand chicken was 4.59. Loaves of Italian bread have gone for $1 forever are now $2 each. Tonitos Pizzas used to be .99 and went up to 1.25 about 2 years ago. Now 1.99 each. My green tea used to be 4.99 for 12 and is now 6.49. The whole store was like that. There was 1 open register with a checker and a bagger. There were 8 open self checkouts with 2 monitors for them. I did see lots of workers going around with all the carts gathering pick up orders. I will most likely not shop there anymore. Also, the shelves were fronted with only a few items and nothing behind them, fewer choices, many brands no longer carried. After the shopping trip, I put everything away, took everyone to the Park to celebrate the birthday, ate lunch out, and came home for a nap, cake, and presents in that order. It worked out well. She loved the park and climbed the steps to slide dozens of times. The flower blocks we bought were as big a hit as we had hoped. She is in heaven.

Becca Anne, I'm so jealous. Your kitchen looks amazing. We really need to get off our rear ends and redo ours.

I like to sew as long as there are no darts to figure out. Baby cloths are simple. Do not ask me to make tops or dresses for anyone who isn't stick straight.

I prefer poured and painted over tile because of maintenance and cleaning issues.

We went shopping to Dollar Tree and Lidl today. Dollar Tree raised the prices to $1.25 and fired all the cashiers. It is now self check out only with only 1 or 2 people working the store on the weekends. Tell me more how great the economy is. We got some squish for the baby's birthday next weekend and some things for fall. Terry is helping us model the new pumpkin and bat wings. The rest is older stuff I'm fixing or working on.

Lazy German Rouladen (almost no measuring involved) 1 pack mystery meat ** Carrots ((like maybe 3?) Mushrooms (8oz pack button fresh) red onion yellow onion Dill pickles (eh... like 2? medium dills jucy wet is good.) Start wanting to do German, get everything out. Decide you are very lazy and dice everything into about the same size. Toss it in the Crockpot. Add: 2 T beef bullion 4 c water 1/3 bottle dijon mustard rinsed out with above water sprinkle carraway small sprinkle brown sugar. Cook 9 hours on low. Make a slurry with 1/3 c (eyeball it) cornstarch and add to crockpot. Decide to be ambitious and make spaetzle. Add to crockpot and serve. Very Lazy Spaetzle 2 eggs 2 c flour 1 t salt 1/2 c water Mix all and pinch off into boiling water. Boil as for flat dumplings, ready when float to top, do not crowd pan. Amazing hit, everyone loved it. Zero beef roll browning on all sides required. **(package --ziplock bag in my handwriting which was dated a year ago--said beef, but looked a lot like boneless porkchops to me before and after. no one could tell before or after but everyone agreed they were good regardless of what type of cow/pig they were. there were 4 of them maybe 1.5lbs)

Cherry Juice is also really good for female problems. It helps regulate your cycle. Some people also use it to help relieve gout symptoms.

I think fear is a great motivator for either side. I also love to watch the 'unsafe' practices. I know there are better ways, but I love knowing how people perserve food. Just because I see how they do it doesn't mean I will do it just the same. Understanding what they are doing and the type of recipes used often translates into understanding more about how and what we eat. For instance: Chimichurri sauce is the modern FAD. It is everywhere, it is delicious, and pretty much all green sauces are now 'chimichurri.' It is also a pesto type version of British Parsley sauce....from the 1500s. It is almost identical to French Persillade sauce, Italian Gremolata, and various 'green sauces' from Europe that are all older than the United States. The canning techniques are old and outdated, but they influenced modern recipes and techniques. To me they are worth watching just to see how one is influenced by the other.

I cheat all the time with my orange grapefruit jelly and use bought orange juice. It always turns out fine. I have not done this with any other juice, but my ex-mil did make some with applejuice.

Husband used to have this as the background on his license plate for his truck. He got his vet tags awhile back and swapped to those.

My rosemary bushes have taken over. I have enough rosemary for an army and am going to transplant it to the front yard to make a hedge. I'm looking for tried and true recipes or crafts using rosemary. Please post them if you have them!

It depends on what type of bread you want to make. Vinegar gives you a fluffier loaf and will make the crust more crispy, but it will take longer to rise. A LOT longer. Up to a whole day depending on temperature/altitude/humidity. If you have the time for it, it can give good results, but remember that it is liquid and does not offset the other liquids in equal measure to itself. Start with a standard recipe then experiment for the ratio that works for you. I do this occasionally, but I don't have as much time as I used to at the moment. Perhaps when the youngest gets bigger. It also works best in less dense loaves (not oatmeal for instance) and those where you use a smaller amount of honey/sugar as those things will make it more dense. A nice french bread recipe usually benefits the most.

I cooked last night and did not use any new items beyond a packet of yeast. Everything else was either leftovers or fresh produce. *I do not consider spices as part of this as I use spices in everything. There are just the 2 of us and the baby right now so I'm cooking for much fewer people than normal. Bread 1c water warm 1/2 c sour cream 1 T oil 1 T sugar 1 t salt 3.5 c flour (started with 3 but very humid day needed 1/2 c more at kneading) 1 packet yeast Make dough and rise. Roll out 1/2 inch thick. Spread with cream cheese. Sprinkle with everything bagel seasoning. Fold over cream cheese touching cream cheese. Roll chopped parsley into top at about 1 inch thick. Cut into long wide strips about 3 inches wide. Grease dish. Grease cup and put in middle of dish. Wrap strips around cup cut side up (up and down for middle strips). Rise 30m. Bake 350F 30-40m. Stuffed Portabella Mushrooms 2 portabella mushrooms leftover stuffing leftover turkey sauce from previously cooked turkey. Parsley Mix enough leftover stuffing with parsley, diced mushroom stem, parsley, and turkey juice. Place in greased dish (I reused the bread dish) and bake 350F 30m. Leftover Stuffing made the week before 1 Box stuffing mix turkey flavor 1/2 diced unknown pepper given to use by coworker (I think it was serrano) 1/2 diced red onion 4 sliced mushrooms 1/4 c sausage tvp mixed with 1/2 c water handful chopped pecans Make stuffing according to box directions. Sauté everything else but pecans in 1/2 stick butter. Mix Everything together and heat through. Orange Cranberry Turkey Breast made the week before 1 package of 2 turkey breast 1 can jelly cranberry sauce orange juice 1 packet onion soup mix Use a stick blender to mix cranberry sauce with enough orange juice to have a medium sauce. Add remainder and cook in crockpot on high 4 hours. Super tender! Save leftovers and sauce. We at 1 breast and had 1 leftover. Parsley Sauce Large handful fresh parsley Large handful fresh cilantro Heaping spoon minced garlic 1/2 c olive oil 1/4c lemon juice Blend all to sauce. Add more liquids as necessary to consistency. Serve cold Leftover Turkey Slice turkey breast into slices, reheat and spoon parsley sauce over. I spooned it over first to keep it from drying out as I just reheated it in the microwave. Fried Zucchini Sliced Zucchini Milk mixed with paprika Flour mixed with cajun seasoning Panko mixed with cajun seasoning Dip Zucchini into milk. flour. milk. panko. coating all sides. Deep fry 350F 5m. Serve with comeback sauce Fast 1m cheating comeback sauce Ranch hot sauce 1 packet arby's horsey sauce garlic powder Worcestershire sauce paprika Mix in desired amount, never measure, just taste as you go. Banana Pudding Chimichangas 2 tortillas leftover banana pudding powdered sugar mixed with cardamon Spoon 4 T banana pudding (cookies, bananas, and pudding, should be very soft leftover) into small tortilla and fold over as fir burrito. Deep fry 350F 4m. Sprinkle powdered sugar Fast weeknight Banana Pudding 1 packet banana pudding made according to package 1 box chessmen cookies 2 bananas Layer Tupperware or Pyrex with cookie, banana, pudding, cookie, banana, pudding. Chill. It ended up being way too much food & carbs for me, so I only ate half my mushroom and turkey and no bread. I saved the chimichanga dessert for today. DH ate all his and said everything was wonderful.

If a weed can grow in concrete, you can find a way.

You can make veggie nuggets with shredded zucchini and use those anywhere you would meatballs. Just shape them round instead of flat ovals. You can also use ground chicken or already cooked chicken to make chicken zucchini balls. I season them with a bit of nutmeg and basil. They do well in cream and red sauces but brown sauces usually overpower them.

I like the gear toys. River turns 2 next month so she is a bit young for them yet though. The flowers were big enough that she couldn't swallow them. DD14 loves her spirograph. We have an entire bookcase of board/card games. I have a few for small children and a lot for older kids/ adults. We also have a ton of paper and digital RPG manuals and campaigns. Think Dungeons and Dragons type stuff. We have a TwixT game that looks exactly like the one in the bottom pic of the wiki page. It has to be about 50 years old now. TwixT - Wikipedia Recently, we have been playing Catan and Catan Seafarers.

@jeeepers that is perfect thank you!

I've been having issues with my wrist and the ankle/knee I twisted at the car rental place so I haven't been doing very much beyond trying to keep up with the house basics. We took River to the VA Living Museum yesterday and she loved seeing all the animals and fish. They had an exhibit on pollinators that she enjoyed. They had flower blocks that really caught her attention. When we got home, I ordered some from Amazon; they should be here next week. The opossum was out and about waddling everywhere and she did not want to leave him. Today we went to BJs (like a Sams or Costco). 2 hours with a husband and a baby and now I am ready for death to take me. All the prices were much higher than last year. A 6 pack of canned chicken was 12.99 regular price last year and today the size was the same, but the price was 18.99. Needless to say we did not get any. There were a lot of things they did not have and we noticed that they were extremely limited on disposable silverware, cups, and plates. Usually they have a whole isle of it but it was only a quarter of an isle and it was mostly empty today. I spent way too much, but I only go there about once every 3-4 months so I stock up. I had diaper coupons, but the price of it almost gave me a heart attack so DH is going to pick up some from Target next week. I've been ordering a lot of stuff on Amazon this week. Mostly storage items so I can get things a bit more organized. Some divided lunch tupperware, and a toy rack for the baby, some refillable squeeze pouches for applesauce, a roller for the coffee pot to sit on so it comes farther out from under the cabinet so less water mess, and other kitchen organization mostly. DH is laughing at me because between us there has been 1-3 boxes delivered every single day for the last week. I had to pry the child away from the flower blocks at the museum. I know she is going to love them when they get here. Her birthday is in about a month, so I just have to stop myself from giving them to her before that. Amazon.com: Flower Garden Building Toys, 200 Pcs Flower Building Toy Set for 3 to 7 Year Old Boy Girl Gifts, Build a Flower Garden Educational Stem Toddler Toys for Birthday : Toys & Games

I saw this picture and now I'm obsessed with collecting fabric to make one.

I keep all types of journals. Most of mine are DIY. I'm currently using a disc bound base (Happy Planner). I use an half size weekly planner to breakdown what I cook and eat all week. My preserving and shopping are mixed in with that. If you are less of the DIY type and just want canning, I think something like the etsy download below is what you are looking for. It would also be fairly simple to just sketch out the columns on a notebook if you wanted to personalize it. I could probably mock something similar up if you tell me what exactly you want to track. Mother's Day Giftcanning and Preserving Journal for - Etsy Planners are my second biggest hobby after antique cookbooks.

Why not? Its better to have and not need than to need and not have.