Questions, Answers and Comments Oh My!

Well Hello...I have been resting.  I needed it and I'm glad I took the break.  Of course, all work didn't stop. Does it ever?  There are so many necessary things we must do.  But you know it was awfully pleasant to take a magazine to the front porch and enjoy the breeze, to take morning Bible study on the back porch with my coffee and watch the sun rise higher in the sky.  Lovely.

I thought I'd answer your questions and comments from April.  I like to let you know that I've been reading but I don't always have time to reply right away.  I know you all understand that.

My first Frugal Week post  several of you commented on my statement that I'd forgotten broccoli I'd steamed in the microwave the day before.  I'm torn between being terribly glad that I'm not alone in being forgetful...and can't help but wonder how much is busyness and how much is mid-life mind...which I truly do think is more related to busyness than any of us give credence to!  Susie & Courtney, at least I know I'm in good company!

Weekly Meal and Job Plan: May 11-17

Another week has flown past.  I have finally made out my project list.  It should take me until sometime this time next year to finish it all.  I decided to take a break from project planning and do something less tiring, like planning meals.  I have all the materials on hand for that!

The weather has heated up nicely.  We saw 90F days several times last week.  Time to start thinking of summer meals.  I even got a little sunburn one day while working outdoors.  Yep, the warm weather is here.  And warm weather makes me ready for strawberry shortcake.  I shall have one this week, a good old fashioned sort with biscuity cake and lots of juice and lovely real whipped cream.  It's a springtime favorite and once upon a time, many many years ago, I would serve a strawberry shortcake supper to my children, not a thing more and all they could eat.  When you're broke as we were, this seemed a rather glamorous and frivolous sort of meal but it wasn't really.  I mean honestly, a proper shortcake is cheap as can be to make.  Strawberries in season, about a quart of good ripe berries...the most costly thing was the whipped cream and that was cheap compared to the price of meat!

Fried Chicken, Potato Salad, Fresh Green Beans, Coleslaw
It mightn't seem a summer sort of meal but to me it is, when I can have fresh vegetables and they are fresh just now.  I don't have to fry a whole chicken for just the two of us, but a couple of extra pieces will work out nicely for a cold supper one night.

Happy Mother's Day!

My children helped make me who I am.  I love them all dearly, every single one.  They have pushed me to limits I might never have reached and not always in a good way, lol,  and taught me as many things as I taught them.  I am proud of the people they have become.  

My Frugal Week: May 3-16

I was ready for a new image for the header for this series.  How do you like it?  It's one of the frugal activities we employ.

Saturday:  Kept the breakfast meal simple and easy to serve, which also happens to be fairly frugal.  Peanut butter toast and bagels with cream cheese served up with a yogurt smoothie for the children and good hot coffee for the adults.  This meal not only a frugal breakfast but an energy saver.  I had company (hence the children) and was expecting still more and needed to prepare a meal.

My intentions had been to purchase take out fried chicken from the local diner and make the side dishes. My budget was a wee bit snug and due to get downright tight so I decided last night to thaw ground beef and make a meat loaf.  It extends nicely.  I used end pieces of frozen bread that I grated as bread crumbs in the meat mixture.

Weekly Meal and Job Plans

I'm running a little behind already this week.  I had company over the weekend and pushed myself to clean house when they left yesterday and then I was done done done.  The upside is that today I have very little that must be done and I am calling it a day of rest.  It's a beautiful day, too.  All blue and green and sweet smelling with privet and honeysuckle.  Were it not for that pecan tree out back I'd spend all day long on the back porch, which is where we spent the bulk of the weekend anyway.  I couldn't help but smile Friday afternoon and again Saturday after dinner when I saw mine and John's vision of family time on the porch come to fruition.  It was just lovely.  Now I need to get my front porch cleaned and painted fresh and make it family friendly as well.  Projects abound this time of year it seems, more than at any other.

Meatloaf, Mashed Potatoes, Steamed Green Beans, Squash Casserole, Peach Cobbler
I'd thought I'd send the kids into town to pick up chicken but after all the grocery budget was overstretched a bit last week, so I opted to use what I had.  The squash and beans were grocery purchases.  I thawed peaches from last summer for the cobbler.  Meatloaf was a hit with the four year old grandson.  He had two whole pieces and kept telling me how good it was with every bite.  I was impressed with myself for pleasing him so.
I had some meatloaf leftover and made up pizza doughs that evening, topped one with a bit of leftover meatloaf and peppers and onions, topped the other with cheese.  Daniel wanted meatloaf pizza for his supper.  This gramma must have made a very special meatloaf.  Wonder if I can ever replicate that recipe again?  I tend to just freehand meatloaf.

My Frugal Week - April 26 to May 2

Saturday:  A very relaxed day for us.  We don't normally do much on Shabat and we do even less when John's worked Friday and Shabat evening/night.   I had no clue what I'd make for breakfast but decided upon Breakfast sandwiches.  It's quick, easy, and filling.  I depress the middle of a piece of bread, place on a cookie sheet and break an egg in the middle.  I put cheese slices on a second piece of bread.  I bake at about 400 until the egg is fully set (I like them well done) and the cheese melted.  This morning I topped with cooked sausage, too.

Made sure the AC was set at daytime temps.  It was.  I'd forgotten to turn it down last night, which is a good thing.

I put a turkey breast in the crockpot to cook.  I'd meant it for dinner but even after a week in the fridge the thing was not fully thawed.  Looks like Sunday dinner...

Which meant I had to cook dinner.  We always have a splurge meal of specialty cut steaks when we go to the meat market.  Not cheap but it's a once a quarter treat for us.  However the side dishes were inexpensive or salvages.  One big baking potato, halved between us.  The remainder of the bag of salad that John brought in from work.

I poured the broth off the turkey into a gallon sized pitcher.  I put that in the fridge so the fat could congeal on top.  I'll skim it off and then pour into a jar for the freezer.

I discovered this morning that the onions had started to go bad.  I peeled them all, salvaged what I could of them.  I made onion rings from some of those slices, put the rest in the fridge to use in cooking over the week.  I used the saved pancake batter to make the onion rings.

Shabat Thoughts: Learning the Roots of Our Faith

Following my recent Coffee Chat  mention of the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Breads, Sarah asked me a series of questions about resources, reasons,  and such  of how to begin discovering the Jewish roots of the Christian faith.  She said she felt she had to do so.  And that is what makes me attempt this post.   This is not the first time these questions have come to me over the last few weeks.   There's a quote from a Richard Bach book that I've remembered all these years:  We teach best what we most need to learn.

Honestly, when I am asked these questions I feel so overwhelmed with my lack of knowledge that I struggle for words.    And yet, I continue to practice the things I've attempted to learn and so I will try to share what I know, give answers where I can, and help.