365 decluttering

After talking last night, I figure out that Hubby feels that if he lets go of all the stuff he won't be able to replace it if we need it. We talked about our different faiths and how we each deal with that. I did point out to him that he refused to give a toy he had as a child to a grandson that asked for it to only leave in a dirty box. I asked him if he even knew where that box was...of course not. I do as I had unearthed it looking for something else.

We decided TOGETHER, key words there. That I will do the decluttering and if it is something of his, he has to make a decision of what to do with it within a week, if he don't then it's my choice of what to do with it.

Also, everything that needs to be burned (yes we have open burning here) gets burned asap (not when we have winds that will blow it to the barns) and not set aside in the garage, like I found 3 boxes.

Everything I put in the trash goes to the end of the lane on Tuesday morning for pick up. I will put this sack in a different place because Hubby is tempted to put it aside when he knows there is not bad food in it.

Everything that goes to the thrift shop goes on Thursday when we run errands into town. We try very hard to limit our runs to town to save on gas and spending.

Okay...being that said...it's one "item" each day, I decided that I don't care if it's only one item or 27 items. ONCE a day I will declutter something.

I plan to post on Thursdays what I decluttered for the week.

Blessed be

Pantry eating

Saturday Hubby asked for chili, worked for me since I had canned several jars of chili last November.

Sunday we have pumpkin soup (I was finishing putting pumpkin in the dehydrator only have another 2 to deal with) and BBQ pulled pork in tortilla wraps. Another pantry meal.

Don't know what we are having tonight as I have the crud and Hubby is on dinner duty.You can never tell with him.

Be safe, be warm, be well.

Blessed be

365 items in 365 days

I had to really think about this and I can see a couple of you scratching your heads wondering what is there to think about.

I have been trying to declutter for the past 10 years. That is when we moved from the old homestead, in town, of over 2000 sq ft, a full basement and a 2 1/2 car garage that Hubby had packed with so much you had to move things to get in. Every spring I would rent a dumpster and toss the "trash" and donate the rest. He would go to auctions and yard sales and dumpster diving and fill it back up by the following spring.

In 2004 we moved to the country and an 1200 sq ft house with only a garden shed with a lean to.Hubby got a large storage unit and older daughter kept some of the stuff with her at the old homestead.

 In 2008 we moved to an 800 sq ft house with a one car garage , Hubby got 3 storage units because older daughter was starting to declutter stuff in the garage.

In 2010 we moved here with 2000 sq ft house,2 car garage  and the use of a farrowing house and pig house for storage (no pigs) SO Hubby got rid of the storage units.

I THOUGHT I was doing good, we weren't paying out for the storage units any more AND I was sorting through boxes and sacks getting rid of stuff...except what I thought was going to the local thrift shop was actually going out to the farrowing house being put under other things so I wouldn't know they were still there.

But hey, guess what, I have a couple kids that decided Hubby and I could store their stuff also and mentioned it at Christmas that they thought they had sent that with him instead of keeping it, would I please look....OH YEAH.... I looked (no, their stuff wasn't there ) but the stuff that was suppose to be gone was.

SO with this 365 challenge also has to come with rules.

Tuesday is our trash day, so anything needing pitched has to be in the trash can by that morning.

Thursday is our errand day, it will now be the day of drop off to the thrift shop.

Those two things have been added to my weekly routines.

Hubby and I had an open discussion of hoarding and why things need to go. I feel dealing with other family member's hoarding has made him realize he doesn't want our kids to go through what we and the family that had to deal with it has.

THEN I had a discussion with the ones that we are storing things for. They have until the end of June to have their stuff removed from here.I don't mind storing furniture that came from us or the family if they don't have a place to use it (4 out of 5 moved this year) until they decide to either move (3 are already talking of moving) or not keep it any more.BUT other than that, they are going to deal with it.


SO yeah, I had to think about making this a priority.

Blessed Be

Frugal items done

I mended my socks. That's a biggie for me because even though I will mend anything else, socks is something I don't do but Hubby does.

I made apple butter and apple Jelly from the apples given to us from a friend of a friend.

Hubby cut up a 65 lb pumpkin for me to roast and then dehydrate, the last of it will be in the dehydrator this evening. AND I have a couple more that is equal to 50 lbs.

We have ate from the pantry every day.

I ordered heirloom seeds for my garden so I can start saving my own seeds and not spending the money.

Not a big list...or I should say not as big as I would like to see. I think the goal of doing one frugal thing a day will help that.

Blessed be

Saturday..in the kitchen

This is 2/3rds of the 65 lb pumpkin that cost us $1 this past fall.Hubby whacked into pieces for me this morning. The first 3rd is already in the oven roasting. I already roasted the seeds, got about 1 quart, for Hubby to snack on. When the pumpkin comes out of the oven I will put the pulp into the dehydrators and but another section in the oven. I have found that even though it takes more time to do pumpkins this way, I save more room in the pantry, save on the amount of canning jars I have to use and don't waste pumpkin because I had to open a half pint when I only needed a couple tablespoons for something. The last batch of pumpkins was 50 lbs total and I ended up with 1 1/2 quarts of powdered pumpkin when I was done. WHICH is now gone.I have another 50 lbs of pumpkin in the butler's pantry to do also. Another $1 buy that will provide many meals.

I finished the last of the apples we had stored from fall, they are now apple butter and apple jelly that I made from the peels and cores of the apples.

With the price of food going up and our budget for food going down. I am really going to have to put extra effort in stretching it as far as it can go.Not just focus of using from the pantry but stretching that pantry farther than I originally planned.

When I am preserving from our gardens I figure for it to last 2 years, just in case the next year is a bad harvest. Have dealt with that before.After a talk with my Dad, I have decided to focus more on 3 years and using heirloom seeds to gather my own seeds and not have to spend so much money on seeds. I don't do very well on raising plants. Still going to try to do some of the seeds. I don't have a place that is warm and gets a lot of light and can't afford to run the electric bill up to grow seeds. I do have a produce auction that also sells plants through the spring to late summer so I will put money back for that.

I ordered seeds for spring planting, checked out all the places I ordered and the best deals and then ordered for the spring planting. I can do the summer seeds order when I get the money up. I listed prices so I know how much I need to save up.

I am have selected more of the veggies that was in the Victory Gardens in this area.

Last night we had tuna noodle casserole with peas for dinner and homemade rolls.

I was going to have baked acorn squash stuffed with sausage but with the pumpkin still taking up the whole oven for a few more hours I am going to pancakes,eggs and bacon and Hubby can take leftovers to work for his lunch.

Meantime it's back to the pumpkin as the timer is buzzing to let me know to put the next part in.

Blessed be

DUH moment with Pantry challenge

It's Thursday, this is our errand day, go to the bank,post office (got extra stamps as they are going up in price) and store and what ever else is on that list.

It was nice to get out of the house that we are no longer 30 to 45 below with the wind chills. Our dogs loved going for a ride in the truck also.The older one would live in the truck if we would let her.

I did mention to Hubby that I was sticking with cash for our groceries while on the pantry challenge (I set the amount at $400 a month) but I was going to buy some things for Operation Thank You to send to our deployed soldiers that would come out of my checking account.

Good thing I had that cash because ...DUH.... I forgot the check book and my credit card in my other purse so had to pay for it out of my grocery cash. SIGH....

Even for a DUH moment...it worked out okay. I only spent $33.46 on food and $82.70 for non-food so I had more than plenty to spend on OTY. I combined sales with the coupons I had and did very well all the way around. I still have $283.84 left in the grocery budget.

Last night I made sweet and sour pork out of leftover pork roast and used up some veggies that were getting ready to go bad and served it over the last of the instant rice that was out of my son's pantry.

Tonight I am frying chicken as I am craving the local restaurant's fried chicken (it won't measure up any where close), making mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans,corn, home made bread and apple crisp and vanilla bean ice cream. Maybe the apple crisp will calm the craving...probably not.

Another  DUH moment was when I put the chicken for tonight to soak in buttermilk that I should have bought buttermilk. It went on the list for the next time I go to the store which I don't plan on doing for 2 more weeks if not longer. If I need more than the 1 cup I have left I will have to make it myself with regular milk and lemon juice or apple cider vinegar.

Blessed Be

Cold weather

I feel lucky, this morning was the first time we lost power through all this bad weather and it was only out 3 hrs.

We ate leftover pork roast sandwiches on and odds and ends out of the frig for dinner on Saturday.

Scalloped potatoes and ham and I tossed some sliced carrots in with it from the left over ham bone.

Last night we had homemade beef and veggie soup and homemade bread. I made a large batch of beef and veggie soup at Thanksgiving and canned it. Was nice to open the jar up and enjoy the soup.

Tonight we had pot stickers and eggs rolls. I had several in the deep freezer and was tired of moving it around from shelf to shelf.

Right now I am trying to get our bedroom above 44 degrees with the heater vent wide open and the furnace at 72. I have our electric heater in there now and hope by time I crawl in to the bed it's at least 55. I feel like I am back in my childhood bed, at least I don't find snow on top of my covers or my water beside my bed froze solid.

Stay safe, stay warm
Blessed Be

Frugal Friday including eating from the pantry

It's been a very frugal week...that's great because there was no extra money for anything including groceries for this week. Glad I have already planned to eat from the pantry this month.

We had an early dinner today, Hubby's work for tonight got cancelled (OUCH) so he ran the snow blower in the lane since they are forecasting 4-8 and winds for here this weekend.

I know how he would come in, get warm and then pass out( he works graveyard) until 2-3 am so I fixed bacon, eggs, leftover home fries and toast . If either of us gets hungry later we can have leftover pork roast sandwiches or cheese and crackers.

Today I processed in the pressure canner 14 pints and 6 quarts of different broths from carcass and bones given to us , 3 pints of apple butter (apples given to us this fall) and 2 pints of homemade BBQ sauce using my own red sauce as the base. I am now out of quart jars and down to 8 pints and 24 1/2 pints (jelly jars) left to can in.

Hubby used some Gorilla tape to tape the hole in the top of my barn (rubber) boots, hopefully they will last until late spring.

THEN Hubby used the same tape to tape my jacket back together after the pup got his nails caught in to the fabric. It's a very old jacket, was my son's and its cracking in places but I was hoping to make it last through this winter as my other jacket has zipper issues that I haven't been able to fix.Either it doesn't want to zip, or it zips and I can't get back out of it without pulling it over my head.

Hubby has finally gotten in the habit of turning off the power strip to the TV and computer after turning them off. Our electrician talked to him about ghost power and batteries that still use power even though the item is off. I marked it on our calendar when I started turning it off (which was every night) and our electric dropped almost $20.

We sent in a rebate that Hubby usually just pitches and doesn't bother to give to me. But he realized that even though it wasn't for very much it could add up and with spring coming I would need every little bit of extra money to buy for the gardens. I do collect some of my seeds but haven't done as well as I would like to. I think I have a black thumb to my shoulder :(

I need to go watch the local weather on TV even though I am already prepared for bad weather, I like to take the dogs out a bit more before it actually hits so their cabin fever doesn't get so bad.

Blessed Be

Jan 2nd 2014 Blistery cold out

with the wind chills hitting 15 below here on this farm out in the boonies. The pup was wanting to go out and play more than our older dog or I was willing so he got hyper on me, took him out to play ball (we call it 10 because I throw it 10 times) and at 6 he wanted back in...reminded me of all the times I bundles the kids up to go out and with in less minutes that it took to dress them they would come back in and be done playing out side.

 Hubby had some issues getting the Ford out of the garage, but that was the worst part of our lane which is 1/5 of a mile long. Up around the house with all the barns and buildings around the garage usually is the worse.

We ate from the pantry today...actually we ate from my son's pantry, he gave us some of his canned goods when he moved in with his lady;and we ate from my mother's pantry that my brother and I split between us when she died and our own pantry. Hubby had beef and potato soup and grilled lunch meat and cheese sandwich, I had tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwich. He took leftovers from last night's meal for his lunch. He usually does take leftovers for his lunch anyways.

I wrote out what I want to plant this year. I would like to try for a 4 season garden but trying to keep a hoop house over any of the gardens out here in this wind is hard. I will have to think about it some more. Next I will sort through what seeds I have and figure out what I need to buy.

Going to flip a coin to see if I am sleeping in the bed tonight or on the couch, the wind is sucking the heat pretty much out of the bedroom tonight.

Good night

Blessed Be

Happy New Year ..Eating from the pantry challenges

I hope everyone has the best year they have ever had in this coming year.

Jessica Fisher over at goodcheapeats.com

and

Mary Ostyn over at owlhaven.net

are both having pantry challenges which I will be doing also.

When I started before, I got sidetracked with my health and frankly got in a rut. I figured out at that time there are times I work (in the home) right up to the time of supper and then don't want to fix what is chosen because of the time it takes to put on the table.

So Hubby and I sat down and came up with what we call our fast food menu to keep us from going out or running in to town (wasting gas also) for something. We came up with 12 meals that even he could fix and not be grumpy about doing. He is a fix it in one skillet and eat out of the skillet type of guy.

To start off we have decided on $400 a month for food. This does NOT include our non-food.

We decided that meat must be below certain costs and listed those prices.

We took a good look at what we are eating from the harvest that is in the pantry to know what we need to plant this coming year.

I need to go back to bread baking. I try to stay away from preservatives and have gotten lazy about my baking. My health has taken the hit from that lazy time.

We found a great sale of meat last week and filled the freezer back up.

Last night we had ribs,black eyed peas and raw collard greens (YUCK) but I ate them anyways.

Tonight we are having pork roast, kraut and mashed potatoes.

I need all the luck and blessings I can get.

Blessed be

Happy Birthday Jesus

and Merry Christmas to all.

The First week of December

We have eaten at home every day, leftovers from Thanksgiving mostly that I had put in the freezer for future meals

 I finally broke down and fixed pork chops in the crock pot with a honey garlic ginger sauce just to have something different yesterday.

Tonight I used some of the sausage that I had cooked,bagged and froze, on top of 2 pizza crusts that didn't get used at Thanksgiving, added a chef salad that I made to round out the meal.

Fixed a sausage french toast casserole for tomorrow as it needs to sit over night in the frig. Probably will have it for breakfast or dinner depending on if we eat the 2nd pizza for breakfast or dinner.

I plan to pull out the last rib roast from the deep freezer and a box of the pie dough to see if I can make some cookies from it.Got a few recipes from the internet but not sure they would pass with my crew.

I decorated the front room tree today. Have the dining room left to clean and decorate tomorrow and then start upstairs on Tuesday.

Monday is kitchen day along with laundry. I am working on Christmas presents, Christmas cards and cookies and candy for the kids and grandkids besides decorating the dining room.

We talked about our eating from the pantry and buying less at the store. I want to save up some money to buy garden items, seeds and plants this spring which is only a couple months away as I cover a couple of my square foot gardens with hoop houses and plant early.We were trying to decide what amount to spend and on what.

I will have to think about that a bit longer, check out some others that have done the same thing also.

Everyone stay safe, stay warm and Blessings on you and yours.

It's Thursday, Thursday is our errand day or at least the morning is. This is how the dogs are after we get home. They don't help unload or put away. HA HA. The one on the left is Kira (not our daughter and no, we did not name her , she was five when we got her so felt she should keep her name).She is a black lab retriever.The "pup" on the right is Rascal (because he is a rascal).We adopted him when he was six weeks old, he will be two in March and he is an Australian cattle dog(blue heeler)/ Australian shepherd mix. He is my ball player and she is the one I walk the perimeter with. The only thing she plays with besides the chew bones you see between them is empty coke bottles even if she has to empty them herself.

We went to pick up the snow blower that had to be fixed, maybe we won't get that bad of a storm that they are forecasting for us since it is fixed so I can start it.

Then it was off to the post office, then the bank, the Joann's for yarn to finish some Christmas gifts and then ....

The grocery shopping. I shopped for the rest of the month except for meat that will go on sale....stay with me.

I bought milk,heavy cream,half and half , buttermilk (yes we use all of them) the season's coffee creamer (my present to myself otherwise Hubby spends a couple bucks once a week to get me a cup at the local gas station and I can spend a couple bucks and have it all month), apples for Hubby's lunch, coffee beans for Hubby, bread (because I have been baking daily for Operation Thank You to send cookies to our deployed soldiers and will start baking for the family) tea for me (Can't drink coffee when my Crohn's is acting up), eggs, salad items,potatoes, sweet potatoes,bananas, pomegranates  and that is basically all I have been picking up for us. I check the non food items and fill in as needed. I try to make those last 2 mos since I do have the space to store it...like under my bed,couch, love seat etc.

On the other hand...cookie and candy ingredients were the main items on the grocery list today for the family and friends. AND I am able to buy that much (think 3 coolers full of brown sugar, xxx sugar, choc chips of different kinds, peanut butter and butter etc. I already have over 50 lbs of flour and 25 lbs of sugar in the pantry) because I grew canned, froze and stored the garden, I "gleaned" from anyone that had produce to give away and I shop the sales on meat (usually, not always but usually).I vacuum pack anything that goes in the two deep freezers.I boil any meat bones for broth, I boil veggie peelings (I was the veggies before I peel them ) for broth. I render "lard" from any of my fats from my meats. I use my leftovers in other dishes or soups.

I just mentioned to one of the kids that they needed to get their self a deep freezer. Turkeys and hams are on sale and when else can you get meat for less than a dollar a pound? Pork roasts and pork loins will be coming on sale. I use the loin to cut boneless pork chops from along with lean roasts. I will pay the price (after calling around and shopping for the lowest price) for Rib roast. I order a twelve rib roast. I cut it myself , four ribs for Christmas Eve and then rest as two bones and vacuum seal them for the rest of the year.

Tea time...Blessed Be

Sorry I went into Thanksgiving mode

We still ate from the pantry most night until .....I went into Thanksgiving cooking mode. See I make homemade beef and noodles and homemade turkey noodles for the family (usually at least around 40). So about ten days out from when we have our meal (the Sunday before Tday) I start a turkey for the turkey noodles. On that day we have turkey and the next day we have turkey noodles for dinner. The following day is beef roast...same routine, beef roast that night , beef and noodles the next. By that time I am baking breads,cakes and stuff that I am no longer cooking dinner. It becomes what ever leftover has been shoved in frig, freezer or soup from the pantry.

After our Thanksgiving dinner, I make a list of the leftovers and what I can make from them since I will be making candy and baking cookies for the Deployed troops  and the kids...BUT this year we had Thanksgiving at our oldest daughter and one of the other daughter's had friends that wasn't going to have much of a meal if any...so we didn't bring home many leftovers.In fact I even complained to my daughter because when she took the meat off her turkey carcass she threw it away instead of saving it for me to make broth..no extra noodles for her.

In that respect. Hubby wanted a turkey wrapped in bacon for today...Okay, I will let you know how that one goes.

I have bought turkey and ham for the freezers. Finding meat for less than a DOLLAR a pound is few and far between and when I do I stuff the freezer.

Have a great Thanksgiving .

Blessed be

Frugal accomplishments

It's Nov. Money is tight between the higher utilities and the holidays coming up. Add to that my medical bills from this last hospital stay.

Since I had already filled the pantry for eating from it through this winter, that is in good shape. Will have to buy meat for the holiday meals and a few odds and ends but that bill will be well below the budgeted amt for the groceries.

Mean time I have harvested the last of the lettuce from the garden and some of the horseradish. I still have apples and pumpkins in storage to process but they are holding very well. I did the last of the red tomatoes in the oven for slow roasted tomatoes for this winter. I have a few green roma's that look to be turning red before Tday. I wished they would last to then but probably won't.

I started my writing with National Novel Writing month over at www.nanowrimo.org

I mended a couple shirts and a skirt

I checked through last year's left overs for Christmas gifts to try to use up those crafts.

I started working on this year's Christmas gifts. Goal is to be done  wrapping presents and decoration on Dec 1st. so I can sit on my butt and relax or go visit others and sit on my butt there.

May you and yours be well and healthy through this season.

Blessed be

Eating from the Pantry and just out of the hopsital

SIGH...the best laid plans of mice and men....

Get kicked to the curb when my Crohn's hits. Went in Oct 24th  and 4 am until Oct 27th at noon. Still not recovered but everyday is better even with adding that I threw my shoulder and neck out being sick with the Crohn's.

As from eating from the pantry

Oct 23rd we had fish,gnocchi,zucchini fritters, southern style black eye peas and pumpkin crunch. My last good meal. HA HA

Oct 24th until Oct 31 Hubby has done his best of pulling things out of the pantry for himself and fixing his dinner and lunch for work. He didn't tell me what he was eating since I still wasn't to the stage of eating anything myself. Jello anyone?

Nov 1st was the first "regular" food meal I could eat plus it was the beginning of  National Novel writing month  over at Nanowrimo.org In celebration we had smoke ribs and pasta salad from Davis meats....and all was well except for the shoulder and neck that is SLOWLY going back in to place and calming down.

Nov 2nd we had pasta with meat and veggie sauce.

Today Nov 3rd we are having sweet and sour pork with mushrooms and pineapple over rice.

Blessed be Juls

Oct 22 Menu update, still harvesting

I am still harvesting from the gardens. We had to cover some due to the frost that hit this morning. Dodged it a couple times before it got us. I checked it seemed everything was okay for a few more days if not longer.

My mudroom is full of apples,red and green tomatoes(granddaughter helped me clear the tomato gardens on Friday),jalapeno peppers (2-5 gal buckets left to do) bell peppers and potatoes.

At this time of year I get tired of the harvest and what to throw up my hands and quit....BUT come Thanksgiving when I pull the dinner mostly from the pantry I sing praises of the blessings....I remind myself of that when I get grumpy.

As from eating from the pantry.

Sunday 10/13 123 pantry

Monday 10/14 a casserole

Tuesday 10/15 We went to the Inn Between Tavern

Wednesday 10/16 we ate leftovers from the Inn Between Tavern

Thursday 10/17 Little Caesar's Pizza because we had the grandkids over night

Friday 10/18 we had leftover from the pizza the night before. The rest was stuck in the freezer.

Saturday 10/19 we had chuck roast marinaded in balsmatic vinegar,rice,cooked carrots,mushrooms,onion,and bell peppers.

Sunday 10/20 sausage gravy, Texas toast bread and mashed potatoes

Monday 10/21 pork chops,mashed potato patties, and corn.

Tuesday 10/22 (tonight) Beef stir fry, rice, egg rolls, and pot stickers.

Got to get back to the harvest...have a great one

Blessed be

Eating from the Pantry

We haven't done as well as I had planned with eating from the pantry. Part of it is lack of planning for the work load of the day and the other is I am still sick, now down graded from bronchitis to viral infection.

Last Sunday we had rib roast,carrots,potatoes and watermelon

Monday we had homemade pizza because I found more crusts in the deep freezer and needed it out of the way.

Tuesday we ate at our local favorite place.Inn Between tavern and got their fried fish special with onion chips (like onion rings) and cole slaw.

Wednesday was Hubby's birthday so I pulled out rib eye steak from the deep freezer and added baked sweet potato and steamed some cauliflower,broccoli and carrots to make California blend veggies that is his favorite veggie.

Thursday we went to the store and ran errands. We got all that we needed (3 things) and then got what we wanted and still came in under budget for the next 2 wks. I fixed sausage patties and French toast for dinner

Friday I made Cinncy chili ...that is chili on top of pasta. I used up some of the Ramen noodles.

Last night was Subway subs. I had worked on fall cleaning all day and Hubby was at a HAM radio class.So he picked it up on the way home.

Have a Blessed Day

Saturday Rainy and cold and eating from the pantry

It's raining and it's cold. That weather report doesn't mean a thing to the pup that thinks I still need to go outside and play ball with him. So instead I propped open the door and tossed the ball out across the front porch while I caught up on my email here at the desk. Yes I know I am being lazy. Our older dog understand rainy and cold days mean stay in where it's warm and dry.

I was suppose to go down to our son's today to help move somethings around for him with Hubby but I have a fever and a cough...again. So stayed here. Didn't think anyone would appreciate me passing to them...again.

We are eating from the pantry.Have shared our bounty with 2 of the kids that are out of work.One starts work Monday and the other one is waiting on the Gov't to get it's act together.

I went to the store on Thursday, our normal errand day. It felt weird to go into the store, not get a cart or buggy (depending on which state I am in ) and only pick up a gallon of milk and 8 lbs of sugar for jelly and jam making. Hubby asked if we were allowed to only get that much.  I spent the rest of the "grocery" money on canning jars which once again I was out of.

I fixed pork chops, mashed potatoes,corn, baked apple with maple syrup and had cottage cheese and apple butter on Oct 1st.

I reheated the turkey and dumplings on the 2nd.

On the 3rd I made mashed potato cakes out of the leftover mashed potatoes, and fried green tomatoes out of the garden and served it with leftover pork chops and the last of the baked apples.

On the 4th we had nachos...neither of us was hungry after a big lunch due to fasting for blood work that morning. It was a quick and simple meal to put together and plenty for both of us.

Tonight I am thinking pizza.

I ran across a recipe for Indian Lentil soup on Mary Ostyn's blog at http://www.owlhaven.net/2013/10/04/pinteresting/

I think I will  have the soup tomorrow with homemade bread to go along with the homemade jam I just made.

Are you eating from your pantry?

Have a Blessed Day

Started early

That's what I get for saying something to Hubby about starting to eat from the pantry Oct 1st instead of Jan 1st.

His response was "can you start tonight?"

I pulled some leftover turkey pieces from the deep freezer, diced that up and added to it diced onions,diced celery, diced carrots and diced garlic. Sauteed that for a little bit to soften the veggies. Added broth and milk. Let it get hot again then added frozen peas and the dumpling dough I made from the Bisquick( which I realized I was low on). Served applesauce on the side and called it done. I drew a star on the date on the calendar and thought one down.

Tonight is cubed steak. But since there is only 3 small ones and I know that's not enough for our dinner and Hubby's lunch I am slicing it in strips and cooking sliced onions and mushrooms to add to it. I will serve it on what ever bread I have. I will serve with it a tossed salad loaded with veggies and french fries that are in the freezer,cottage cheese that Hubby will eat with apple butter on and I will drink a V8 fusion. I will make a Waldorf salad but use crunchy peanut butter instead of mayo as that it Hubby's preference. Another star on the calendar.

I have 4 more trays in the new dehydrator of ripe tomatoes and  4 trays of bell peppers in the old dehydrator. I don't think there is going to be any more bell peppers out of the garden.

The square foot gardens are pretty much done and ready to be prepped for winter. That leaves the 2 tomato patches, if I can call a garden that has 120 tomato plants in it a patch, yet to wrap up. Tomatoes are still okay there so I might have to cover them if we get a frost any time soon. That only leaves the horseradish left to dig up after the first frost.

Have a Blessed Day. Talk to you tomorrow