In my home this week, I am continuing to try again. I had plans made for last week and then a sick little one sidelined those plans, as did an unexpected two days spent out of the house. I accomplished a few things from my list, and some that weren't on the list but were bugging me. I'll settle for getting a few things done over getting nothing done. At this point in time, any tasks done are bonus in my opinion. Yes, I'd prefer to set a plan and work it, but we do what we must where we are at the moment. This is where I am.
Menus didn't go to plan due to needing more time to prep and cook than I had time for. Outdoor work didn't go at all. I sort of got the kitchen under control, but not mopped. No lists made though lately I've been shoving things on my Amazon list as I think of them (online list not a paper list). Checkbook was squared and I sorted out where our money is going at present and John determined what our next moves were to be. But honestly? Not a lot of 'real' work got done. And that's just the way it happens at times, isn't it?
So off to try again this week. Start all over and begin afresh and have the best intentions. But I'll hold my plans loosely enough to see how things actually work out and cram in little pockets of work as I can.
Work:
Pick up limbs in the yard. It's just as well I didn't get to this last week as we had a big blowing storm on Thursday night and heavy winds Friday and today. Limbs keep dropping. It should be calm next week, but rainy. I'll try to find a pocket of time to get in the yard and at least pick up limbs.
Gather all the dead plants and stack all those pots together until I can empty and clean them.
Visit Mama one day this week.
Have Millie come pay us a visit.
John and I have three separate church meetings (2 for me, 3 for him) from Sunday through Friday nights. That means that I have to have something cooked or out to be cooked at least two of those nights. It would ease the passage of a working mom if I had a meal cooked and waiting on the one night for sure.
My new freezer is also meant to arrive this week. At some point after it's been on for 24 hours, I'll offload the chest freezer to the upright. I wonder how much stuff I'll end up eliminating or trying to figure out what to do with? This is the part I dread/look forward to. It really is a duel of emotions, lol.
Lists, lists, lists. They are so necessary as a reminder to self. I really need to take the time to just settle and jot down the things I know we need or that must be done. Then I can tick off the things that fit the time/money slots I have. And I need to do the calendar work that is required so I know where we are and what we need to be prepared to do each week. I'm literally flying by the seat of my pants and a poor memory and it's simply not working for me at present. We've too many things on the table that must be attended to!
Zone 3 shall have to be bedrooms and baths this week. I've touched on two portions of the house and the porches were at least blown free of debris last week. Not nearly enough done in any zone, but you know I really need to spread out my focus or other areas get out of control.
Kitchen:
I either need to make bagels or buy them this week. And no, we don't just absolutely have to have them but it's a nice no brainer sort of Saturday morning breakfast for us all. For that one morning a week, I don't have to even think about making anything, can just go straight for coffee and let everyone help themselves (well excluding the little one, but he could almost help himself).
Plan meals (which I'll do next) and do as much prep in the early part of the week as I can towards those meals. It's just such a more efficient way to work if I have done as much as I can towards being ready to put a meal on the table at the end of the day.
I also want to plan some sort of appetizer we can take with us to the group meeting on Friday night. People seem to like having nibbly sorts of things and since most all of us miss dinner that night, it helps fill the void.
One quick note, I may have mentioned last week, but when I made the beef pot pie last week, I used the easy pourable crust topper. That turned out really well and John raved over it. Hard to say though if it was just the crust or the combination of the leftover roast gravy I used as the base for the ground beef. At any rate, it was an experiment that worked out super well.
This past week when I was shopping, I picked up two packages of pork 'cubes' which look like stew meat. It was marked down to about $1.50 per pound which is a very good price for meat these days. I've been trying to find various recipes that I could use this cut in. I've never bought pork cubes of any sort before this, but I was pleased to see I might use it in stir fry or stews. One site suggested as carnitas (pork tacos) but I've no taco shells or tortillas on hand and not sure I'd have time to make any this week.
Meals:
Corned Beef, Sauerkraut, Potatoes with onions, Apples
Quick Potato Soup, Reubens (must buy rye bread and Swiss cheese)
Spinach Stuffed Chicken Breasts, Pasta, Salad
Sweet and Sour pork, Rice, Broccoli
Brunswick Stew, Cornbread
Black Beans and Rice, Corn Muffins, Pineapple Salad. I know...but it's going on the menu anyway. I'm hungry for this dish but we simply haven't had it in all these weeks of it being on the menu.
John and I out.
Personal/Leisure:
I am getting used to sleeping on the other side of the bed. John and I both had a most excellent night's sleep Friday night. I think key to that was turning the mattress (head to tail). It's been a few months since we last did so and since the mattress is a type of memory foam it really does require it periodically.
I've set up a lot of outfits over the past two weeks and I've worn nearly all of them. We have been going out more than usual...So back to piecing together outfits once again. I need some for mild weather and some for much cooler/cold weather, some for sunny brisk weather and some for rainy/warm and rainy/cold. Highs this week from 70F to 40F during the day and near freezing every night. Love living in Georgia. The weather is positively all over the place.
Journal. It's been key to helping me not complain and key as well to emptying my mind of incidents prior to their becoming festering sores that lead to complaints.
I have some new eyeshadow and brow makeup that i want to play about with. Also a matte liquid lipstick that I need to figure out how to use. I also want to attempt to oomph up my hairstyle. It's fine as it is, truly, but every now and then I'd like the option of styling it differently.
Read. I haven't read nearly as much this past week as I'd meant to do. I want to make time each day to read.
Continue the Bible study. I'm coming to the end of the study about the Kings that Isaiah served under and then I'll start work on Isaiah himself. Having an understanding of the world Isaiah saw and what was going on in his own country both politically and economically will hopefully expand my understanding of what he was experiencing and what he prophesized.
9 comments:
I make pork stew which tastes like beef stew to us once it is all cooked. I also make pork roasts interchangeably with just about any beef recipe and it is just as good but way cheaper.
I have been cooking pork in many ways for quite a while now, and we like it. A few years ago it seems like the beef from the stores around here got much tougher. I still cook it the same way, same recipes, pans and stove as I always did, except now I keep trying different ways to tenderize it, and it is still not as tender as it used to be. Has anyone else noticed beef being tougher now than it used to be where they live?
Lana Thank you. I'll keep that in mind. I know that the most delicious pot roast I've ever eaten was one Katie made when she was learning to cook and budget here at the house. She subbed a Boston Butt for a much pricier Chuck Roast. Boy was that delicious!
Susie, I smiled reading what you wrote because a friend of mine's grandmother used to tell us constantly that beef didn't taste the same any more. She swore we were eating buffalo instead, way before buffalo became popular and was pricier than beef, lol.
I really do think WHERE you shop may be a problem at times. I often have really good luck with some stores and not with others and it's nothing to do with price/chain. I would suggest just shopping around and if that's not possible with your health and your husband's willingness, then you might just look up recipes online and see if they have suggestions for cooking that are different for the cuts you use. It does make a huge difference in how it's cooked.
I don't know about you, but I no longer buy the same cuts I used to buy only because I can't get them. I've mentioned the scarcity of round steak for instance. No such critter to be had. The roasts I can buy now are not the same cuts I've bought in the past. I loved a 7bone roast but nope, can't find one. Or a chuck roast with the bone in. Nope. The change in meat cuts required a different approach to get the tender flavor we typically look for in the previous cuts.
Sorry about the comment being made twice. The first time it disappeared from the screen before I hit publish, I thought, some other part of my hand must have touched Publish.
The beef pot pie sounds really good! Making crust is my nemesis. Hope everything out of the old freezer will fit in the new one. We have a small chest type freezer and it can be a pain to dig out something, which is usually at the bottom.
Enjoy your week! The Farmer has an early morning dental appointment on Monday and the dogs go to the vet on Thursday. So far that is all that is on the calendar.
I like pork cut up in sweet and sour pork, where you simply make a cornstarch/vinegar/sweetener sauce and add things like pepper pieces (frozen for me at this time of year), canned pineapple, etc. I'm sure there are lots of exact recipes out there on the internet. I don't make it often, though because it is very carb-filled over rice and messes with my blood sugars. Once in a while, though....
The other thing I like to do with pork cubes is put them in a crock pot with salsa verde and cook. Then serve over rice, orlike a rice bowl, maybe with other things like veggies, or in a taco shell. I make my salsa verde from green tomatoes because that is what I have (not tomatillos) and can it, but I know you can buy it as well. If you added pinto beans, it would basically be Chile verde with pork, which is also good. If you didn't have green salsa, I don't know why it wouldn't taste good with the red, but I' haven't tried it. I have cooked pork cubes with other sauces, such as plum sauce, or peach salsa that I canned one time or other, in the past.
Donna, I hope you give it a try. It was really good!
Becky, Thank you, these are all great ideas and helpful. I'll let you all know what I end up doing with them, since I have two packages.
Becky had the same idea I did for the pork cubes - sweet & sour pork. I don't think I've ever seen that type of pork around here either. We don't eat much pork at all except bacon. Not sure why, especially since my husband's grandfather was a pig farmer. LOL
On the beef pot pie menu item I was going to share something I saw the other day and never thought of. It's a lady I follow on Instagram (I think you'd like her, her account is @shifferdiane) and she put dumplings in her beef stew. I had never thought of that but it sounds delicious!
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