Frugal week....some LOL

I planted the last of the sweet potato slips I had raised....only to have them hit by frost the last 2 days. I am hoping that dead leaves is the only thing that died on them. I think the eggplant got nailed also, but if that's all I lost, that's not bad.

I picked some rhubarb and added it a casserole we were having as there wasn't enough to really do anything else with.

I picked cucumbers and we had them for supper.

I repaired our trellises to the gardens with what I already had.I used red yarn I had from my yarn stash to tie the tomato plants to the bamboo poles and trellises.

Planted peppers,strawberries, onions, broccoli, cauliflower,basil,cilantro,rosemary, chocolate mint, peppermint, spearmint and more tomatoes in the gardens and pots..

We gave 4 flats of different plants to a friend who just had her 7th daughter.

We gave 5 flats of different plants to 3 of our kids that are trying  to garden and put fresh food on the table.

I went through my seeds and gathered what I want to plant this coming week/weekend.

I went through the produce that was in storage in the upstairs and brought it down to the kitchen to focus on using it up and looked up some new recipes for using it. One that will be tried is spaghetti squash as hash browns.

I set the big dehydrator up so I can deal with the last 4 pumpkins this week. I'll cut them into pieces , bake and then peel and then puree in the food processor and then dehydrate...THEN grind to powder in the blender and store in mason jars. I use it in powdered form a lot fast that way since it's just us and I don't want to open a pint of pumpkin. Easy to toss powdered into sauces and stews also for a bit more nutrition.

We ate from home, though I did buy some things from the deli at the local IGA  for over the weekend as we going to be gone 2 days most the day and I knew our habit to whine "we'll have to cook" would cause us to buy out.I chose things that were on sale and then got 5 cents off for bringing my own bags and fuel pts.  Good thing I did as Hubby got sick and I was asleep on my feet when we got back in both nights.Would have costs us 3 times as much to order out or get fast food than what I spent Helped us limp through the weekend into this afternoon (both of us still battling feeling ill) when we finished it for lunch instead of the order of pizza and chef salad we would have went with or fried chicken from the local restaurant.

I went to Aldi's for my fruits and vegetables. They have good food a lot cheaper than other stores.I got $3 off 2 different packages of refrigerated ravioli that they will no longer carry. They don't sale well here.

 I shopped Krogers for the sales and moved our grocery day from Thursday to Friday so we could get double fuel points. I had over $25 in coupons and clearance there.

Still about 1/4 under budget, we run mid-month to mid-month. WHICH was good as the printer DIED and that's not something we can go long without and we went to physically see the one I picked out to order on line at a store we were going by anyways between deliveries to the kids and found one like we used to have that was over $200 for $110(about $50 cheaper than the one I had planned to buy). So I paid for it out of the grocery money and STILL am under budget. That money now goes back for meat in the fall.

My older daughter gave me some skorts that a co-worker was getting rid of, they were big on my daughter so she knew they would fit me. Means the fabric I just bought can be saved for later or used for something else. A couple of the skorts still had tags on them.

I did/do have 2 stress fractures in my feet...I have tape and knew how to deal with that. Will have to get new shoes as these are definitely worn out and no longer supporting my feet. I try not to wait too long because I do get stress fractures easy (bones in ball of feet too close together) and KNOW better.SO buying a new set of every day shoes is on the to do list this week.

I'm still dealing with issues of my nose....see the ENT doctor on Friday and hopefully (probably wishful thinking) he can do something about the constant blockage on the left side and the bruising that turns even my right eye lids black and blue. I thought the first round of surgery had dealt with the issues, seems like it just transferred the problem to the other side of my nose even though BOTH sides were fixed. LOL  The BLESSING is I do NOT have nose bleeds any more...probably just jinxed myself.So the expense of tissues is WAY down.

I have cut the electric bill down again. Even the landlord was shocked as it's NEVER been this low in over 10 yrs. I think I just walk behind my Hubby and unplug and turn off things.

I continue to use the water filter pitcher for our drinking water and coffee makers instead of buying water.

I used the empty water jugs to fill for emergency water. Figured I wouldn't be making coffee in the coffee maker if there was no electric to run the pump.

I started putting back distilled water for the humidifier for this fall and winter. Figured I could pick up a case (3-1 gal jugs) a couple times a week I should have enough to get a good start this fall. It takes 21 galls a week during Dec - Feb. BUT by keeping the humidity up, we can keep the heat down and we don't have the sinus problems either.

Hope everyone is having a great week.

Blessed be

2016 International Year of the Pulses

Which is dry peas, beans, lentils and chickpeas. Check this out for more information of eating Mediterranean.

http://oldwayspt.org/community/blog/8-ways-eat-mediterranean

A cook book my son suggested and I love is Italian Country Cooking  The Secrets of Cucina Povera by Loukie Werle. My favorite being Pancetta,red wine and radicchio risotto.

My Nonna (actually my great uncle's mother in law, my adopted by heart grandma) was from the old country...Italy...Northern Italy. They raised cattle so beef there and here. Meals are more "earthy" in the north than the south that has access to the sea and it's food. More cream and butter in the north with more tomatoes and salads in the south.

I loved and felt more at home at Nonna's than any where else. Looking back I know it was the lifestyle and the food that I was comfortable with.

My parents grew up eating beans, fried potatoes if they had it, bread....and if they had it,milk gravy and bread or oatmeal for breakfast. My Dad never saw a day that there wasn't something on the table to eat.My Mom wasn't so lucky. There was time neither of them got anything for Christmas or their birthdays but felt lucky because the family was together and could sing together. Other families during the Great Depression didn't have their families together.

In that, Mom wasn't much of a cook, Dad actually was better, being the only boy and the middle child he was taught by his sisters(his mom was disabled completely), Mom taught me to read a recipe, Dad taught me to cook without one.

Nonna....raised poor, married poor,  and lived a different way.I learned about frugal meals that were flavorful and healthy. How to grow vegetables that my parents had never heard of and how to preserve them.

Now that I'm older I understand that the convenience of our food has caused our health more harm than it has ever given with easy it was suppose to be.

Check out oldways