This Week In My Home

Hello!  Did you survive the first holiday of the holiday season?  There's plenty more ahead.  I was amazed at all that happened here in a week's time, all because I had a list of sorts to help me think. Guess who found Christmas cards as soon as all the newly purchased ones were addressed and stamped?  Yep.  That rule about 'A place for everything and every thing in it's place.'  I fudged a bit on it and stuck them in an odd spot.  So odd that I did a stumble upon after I was done.   Guess who has cards in the card file ready for next year? That would be me.

This week in my home, I:

Continue the freezer challenge.  

I didn't get into the big freezer last week very much.  I did pull out two items that had been there awhile.  And I'm going to go ahead and declare a bit of A Pantry Challenge for myself as well. Mama is always giving me an item she'd seen a TV chef use or that she's found in a store.  She buys two, one for her and one for me.  One of those items was currants.  I'd never used currants, never had a recipe that called for them.  I happened across one the other day and so I pulled out the currants...and they expired in 2013, which I think is about when she gave them to me.  Now I have no troubles using expired foods but these were no good anymore.  I took one look and dumped the entire box in the trash. 

I planned a meal from the leftover turkey last week, then we decided to have our Thanksgiving meal on Friday.  So Turkey Fried Rice never happened last week.  I have another idea for this week.

Plan meals for the week:

Leftover Makeover: Thanksgiving Leftovers

I have heard people say time and again how much they dislike leftovers.  Don't count me in!  I like leftovers for the possibilities they offer for future dishes.  I believe in transforming them so they become a different dish/meal.  I have the convenience of starting with a cooked item that cuts down on my preparation and cooking time.  My family seldom realizes they are leftovers.  I never heard many complaints about leftovers in my house.

I don't have photos to go with these recipes and ideas but I thought some of you might appreciate having an idea of how to use up Thanksgiving meal leftovers.  Especially if you did like I did and cooked a whole turkey and a full Thanksgiving dinner for two.  Some of these are tried and true and I'll be sure to let you know which of these are, and some are just inspirations I've had today while I was putting away my own leftovers.

Turkey Fried Rice (TNT):  It's best to start with leftover cooked rice.  I have rice in the freezer which I will thaw and use and by the way rice is one item that freezes beautifully.  When we used to get Chinese take out for the family, we'd always have more rice than we needed.  I'd just pop the cardboard container into a zippered bag and freeze it.  All that aside, start with leftover rice.

I use whatever vegetables I have in the refrigerator.  Here's a great way to use up a crudite platter of vegetables by the way.  Broccoli, carrots, cabbage, onion, snow peas, any color of bell peppers, green peas, celery, broccoli stems (especially nice by the way, if sliced), etc.   Dice about 1 cup of leftover turkey and about 2 cups of vegetables.  You'll want about 2 cups of rice as well by the way.  And 1 egg.  For seasonings: minced garlic, grated fresh ginger root and soy sauce.

My Savings This Week

Another of my 'trash' to foodstuffs.  Here I have used pieces of leftover dried bread, end pieces and odd shaped slices to make breadcrumbs,  crostini and croutons.  Five and a half quarts from a month or so of pieces many people just toss in the trash.  Oh and I have enough slices of slightly dry bread frozen. It will be perfect to French Toast.


Saturday:  My last job last night was to wash a full load of dishes.

Rinsed dishes and stacked for the day today.

John suggested we have fried chicken from the local diner for our dinner.  I made the side dishes at home.  He paid for the chicken from his allowance.  We had our meal and had enough for lunches tomorrow from the leftovers.

Sunday:  Saw John off to work this morning.  He had his packed lunch and his breakfast before going off.

I washed a full load of clothes and hung the bulk of them to dry here in the house (since they were done well before sunrise).  I dried undies and dishcloths in the dryer as I had less room for hanging those smaller items.

Colored my hair this morning.  I used 1/3 of the solutions.  This was a bit trickier than using half of each.  I measured with a ruler and divided by 3s.  It worked very well, my color turned out just fine and my hair was well saturated.  This stretches my current supply of hair color so that it will last me through 2017.

Went through the bill box and wrote out checks for tomorrow's Harvest day.  As I worked on my half payments, I realized I could push the electric bill and one other half payment over to the medical bills account, which allowed me to pay another portion of a good sized bill.  I will knock this one out a bit at a time, without borrowing or touching savings.  I had a portion of money left in that fund that will start the payment for December.

This Week In My Home

I plan a Freezer Challenge:

Two good reasons for this challenge: I have found my freezers are all three packed to the gills.  That means I need to use some of what is in them.  I hope to clear out some old things in there as well, provided I have time this week.  I might end up making freezer meals from a few of the items but I need to have a few of those on hand anyway.

I am also hoping to pick up one or two or three turkeys while the prices are so very low.  I cannot beat these prices at all, haven't seen anything like them in years upon years and it seems to me that turkeys (which keep frozen up to a year) are space worthy and very budget friendly.


I plan a Thanksgiving dinner for John and I:

We're simple folks and that is all there is to it.  Our menu seldom varies and the reason for that is my husband leans strong on tradition when it comes to his Thanksgiving meal.  He wants what he wants and turkey sandwiches to follow up with.  Normally for the two of us I purchase a breast only but with the excellent prices on whole turkeys and John's love of stuffing, which works best in a whole bird, this was the better option this year.

Turkey

Stuffing

Gravy

Green Bean Casserole

Broccoli or Brussels Sprouts in Cheese Sauce

Twice Baked Sweet Potatoes with Marshmallow Topping

Cranberry sauce and Cranberry Relish

Pumpkin Pie

I have all but the canned fried onions on hand.  I thought I'd just make my own onion rings.  It takes next to no time and can be done ahead since I will be putting them in the bean casserole to bake anyway.  I plan to 'work ahead' this weekend, since our dinner will be either Wednesday or Friday depending upon John's preference.  The turkey has been thawing in the fridge since Wedneday when I bought it.  I'll bake the sweet potato, make my onion rings and make my Pumpkin Pie today.  I plan to get my stuffing breads crumbled and onions and celery chopped.  I have broth thawing for gravy and stuffing.  

We determined we'd stick with our traditional holiday breakfast of  canned cinnamon rolls with a less fatty side and we'll have that on the proper day itself.  We'll at least have that much of a tradition for the day proper.

I plan meals for the rest of the week:

Coffee Chat: My Forgotten Mantra

Hello there!  Now isn't that heavy silver coffee pot just something?  I never really noticed it before when I'd used this photo but it came up very large just at first when loading in today and the ornamentation of that spout was something to behold.  And then I realized the heavy silver coffee pot, the wide gold bands on the cup and saucer, and the rare coin collection were all about the precious metals.  Ha.  It only took a few years of looking at this image over and over again, to gather all that information that came to me in a mere moment today

A lot like reading the Bible, is that photo.  I'll read over something dozens of times and all of a sudden 'click' and there is a revelation I've never had before.  It's kinda awesome.  I had such a moment this past week.  I've begun a daily Torah reading again, which is just working my way through the first five chapters of the Bible and then repeating as I finish it up.  Why?  Because there is a verse which says something to the effect 'I shall study Torah every day and be blessed',(why can I not find this verse at the moment?  And isn't that always the way?) and a whole lot of other verses which mention the importance of hearing or studying Torah...which happens to tie right in with the verse in Deuteronomy 6 which says:

 6And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. 7Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. 8Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. 9Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

My Weekly Savings

A practice run Thanksgiving table possibility...using what I have had for years mixed with the Brockaway amber glass I bought this year.

Saturday:  Poured cereal into a glass jar for storage.  This keeps pests at bay and means that we are the ones who eat the food we bought and paid for.  I save jars but also have purchased 1/2 gallon sized canning jars just for this purpose.

Saved the cereal bag to use to wrap meats in.  I have determined I shall forgo using zippered bags for this purpose in the future as it is an unnecessary expense.  I also emptied out several bread sacks and saved those.  I rinsed well and hung to dry in the laundry area, using a hanger and some clothespins.

Reused an empty canister to store brown rice I'd bought this week.  I put a label on the canister and wrote instructions for cooking a standard measure of brown rice (1 cup).

I don't have very dressy clothes but I needed something to wear to my niece's wedding. This brought about another closet clean out.  Nearly all my things are just too big.  I have no dress trousers at all. Thankfully Katie came down for the wedding and put together a nice outfit for me but it really pointed up my need to actively shop for a few key items.  Fun part was her creative use of accessories to go with my outfit today.  I wouldn't have paired up the bracelets she did but I could see right away how sophisticated it looked.

Katie gifted me another lipstick.  I won't need to buy any new fall/winter colors courtesy of her generosity.

The roast beef I cooked today netted me lots of leftovers.  I've planned leftovers into one meal this week but shall also be packing some of this into the freezer for future meals.  I cooked the beef only to rare, which will make it possible to reheat and prevent drying out the meat.

BOOK REVIEW: When Lions Roar, The Churchills and The Kennedys

With my interest in history overall, and having become a little fascinated with Winston Churchill (courtesy the BBC productions such as "Wartime Kitchen and Garden" and PBS "Homefires") and the fondness the British people held for him, I couldn't resist this title, which includes the Kennedys, another family I've only recently become interested in.  I was not disappointed in this book at all.

The book covers decades, starting with the Franklin D Roosevelt years in the White House and going beyond John F. Kennedy's assasination.  The Kennedy family ties to Winston Churchill first began in 1933 when Joseph Kennedy brought his family to England and spent some time at the Churchill home.  There began a long and sometimes tenuous association between two great families in two great countries.

The book is a tell all story, but not written in a trashy sensational manner.  It is however, an accurate accounting of the real and public lives of two families with enormous political influence in the world as well as in their own countries and the connected power influenced history in each other's country as well.

This is a hefty read at 643 pages but so fascinating that it hardly seems a lengthy book at all!  I highly recommend it if you are interested in historical and personal accounts of the Kennedys or the Churchills.