Pantry Challenge Day 16 and 17... I'm SORE!

 The white chicken chili on Monday was pretty good!!  Princess's boy was over, and he ate 2 bowls, besides the homemade bread we had with it.  I couldn't find a recipe that I had all of the ingredients to, so I improvised with what I had!

I had to work Monday night.  After work, I also had to meet with Princess's dad because she forgot her laptop there over the weekend.  Instead of driving over an hour to get it, he met me on my way home from work, about halfway between our towns.  I also got a new friend Monday night!  His name is Shadow.  He's a Holland.

I had been planning on leftovers for supper on Monday, but we didn't have enough so I threw together some cheesy potato soup.  There was only one bowl left after everyone ate! WOW!

Yesterday was Tuesday, so the truck came.  I went to see what there was to offer.  It was unusual that they had a TON of spices!!  I saw some ground cumin, which I'm currently out of, but somehow didn't manage to get one of those.  Some of the herbs and spices they had multiples of (big glass jars of ground coriander!!) but some they only had a 6 pack (like the cumin.)  I also got a case of plums, 60# of carrots, some red peppers, and part of a produce box (they only had 4 produce boxes this time.  I got a bag of potatoes, a bag of carrots, some pears, and a bag of apples in it... I shared the other stuff that had been in it) 

Yesterday I worked also. We had leftovers for lunch.  Princess requested some potato chips to go with the 2 containers of French onion dip in the fridge.  I also ran out of soy sauce a few days ago, so I stopped at the store and picked some up (farmer's market is in the store parking lot.)  I had some leftover rice in the fridge, so I made a fried rice for supper.  Generally when I make that, I put in mixed veggies, but I didn't know we were out of them.  I did have some plain veggies in the freezer though.  I added sliced carrots, corn, and green beans and made a pretty hearty meal.  I didn't have any meat to put in it but I did add 4 scrambled eggs.  It seemed to go over pretty well.

This morning I was pretty sore when I got up to do my workout.  It's been a while since I've been doing it, so I'm using muscles I haven't used in a while!  I chose just to do 15 minutes with MyFitnessCoach and it was recommended to be a "core" day, so I obliged.  I REALLY need to find my yoga mat - doing crunches and ball rolling on the hard wood floor is not comfortable!  My lower back has been aching all day.  I think it's a combination of the exercise and the canning.  I usually end up with some back pain during canning season with all the time on my feet.  The back problems go back to a car accident I was in my senior year.  But we'll talk about that another day.

Today was my day off, but I think I worked harder today than most normal days.  It was a canning day!!  I had 3 of my Cornish in my big roaster that had cooked overnight and made a BEAUTIFUL broth, and one cooking in my crockpot.  I peeled about half of one of the 30# bags of carrots and probably 10-15 pounds of potatoes, diced up 3 HUGE onions (I probably only needed 1-1 1/2) and blanched some sweet corn I had in the fridge from the last box.  (I also got a couple in this box).  I have to say.. I LOVE my Pampered Chef veggie peeler!  It makes peeling carrots SO EASY!!!

I put up 3 quarts of just carrots, 4 quarts of corn chowder base (onion, garlic, corn, potatoes, carrots, chicken stock), 7 quarts plus 9 pints potato soup base (onion, garlic, potatoes, carrots, and chicken stock), 9 pints of chicken, sliced up enough apples to fill 4 ice cream pails (2 were gallon sized, 2 were "family sized"), cooked down about 20 pounds of apples to make applesauce and eventually apple butter, and had a "family sized" ice cream pail of chicken stock left that went into the fridge.  It's getting too late to finish that up.

Chicken waiting to be canned

Even with all that I did there, I STILL have 45# of carrots and a case of plums left to process.  The sliced apples are for future use in apple pies and apple pie cookies (which I need to make tomorrow, along with bread for market and a birthday cake for Hubs!)

I admit, I don't always cook from scratch.  Today Princess wanted mac and cheese, and the boys wanted hot dogs.  I LOVE mac and cheese - but ONLY the blue box can do it!!

Supper we decided to try a chicken taco soup.  I still have a couple BIG bags of preseasoned chicken taco filling.  Princess thawed one out, and I improvised to make a really good, filling soup.

Recipe: 1/3 bag preseasoned chicken taco filling
2T taco seasoning
1 pint homemade Rotel
1 pint tomato juice

1 can whole peeled tomatoes

1 1/2 c frozen corn

1T paprika

2 c cooked beans

I also threw a little more chicken in there as I was deboning it.  Topped it with crushed tortilla chips, sour cream, and shredded cheese.  (One of these days I'll remember to take the guac out of the freezer too!!)

Tomorrow's plan for supper is meatloaf patties with potatoes and glazed carrots, and Friday is enchiladas.  I do have to pick up some tortillas for the enchiladas...

So now, where am I for the pantry challenge budget?

Monday: Spent $2 at the Dollar Tree to get some GOOD coffee creamer.  (I made some homemade and it just isn't the same.  I'm going to keep trying, but it's nice to have the good stuff around too)

Tuesday: Spent $7 at the local store, and hubby spent $5 at the other store on his way home.  I got 2 bags of chips and a bottle of soy sauce, he picked up a loaf of bread and 2 jars of pb. (Since the pb is on sale right now 2/$3, it told him to pick up some more - maybe a dozen jars - this week.  This will not come from our grocery budget, but our stock up budget since it will be going into storage.)

Total spent this week so far: $14.  Looking good to me!

The Weekend Pantry Challenge Days 13-15

 As always, the weekend was busy and full of projects.  Saturday we went to town to pick up some lumber for the new rabbit pen that Hubs is building.  I also wanted to stop at the hardware store because they had canning lids last time I was there.  (If you didn't know, there's a canning lid shortage going on right now and no one knows how long it's going to last.  And since I sell canned goods at farmer's market, and can a ton for my family, I need to be sure I have enough!!)  There were still a lot.  I got 15 packages and a new funnel since my backup funnel cracked. As I was standing by the checkout, some old lady came up to me and asked if I was buying ALL the canning lids.  No, I told her, there are still plenty on the shelf.  Well, she said, where can I find them? I don't see them anywhere.  I told her to go look in the canning aisle, where the rest of the supplies are!!  The tone of her voice really irked me.  I was making small talk with the clerk and told him I can for a living and my family.  He said he's noticed a lot of newbies canning this year and noticed the shortage, and was happy he could help me.

We spent some time looking for a new percolator since my decided to die.  For spending less than $10 on it, it had lasted about 3 years.  I don't drink coffee every day, but I've noticed on days that I do, I get a LOT more done.  Maybe I should drink coffee every day.....  After checking Home Depot and the hardware store, I hadn't found one yet.  I even checked at Walgreens when I picked up pullups (and forgot to pick up prescriptions 🙈). One last hope, we went to Bomgaards.  I was in luck!!  They had 2 left in the camping section!!

On my hunt several people asked me, why a percolator?  I have a few different reasons: 1) I think the coffee tastes a lot better.  Maybe because there's no paper filter to run it through?? 2) I don't have to depend on electricity any time I want coffee.  I have a gas stove I can light with a lighter, or I could set it on the wood stove in the living room or over a campfire if I needed to. 3) Every time I buy a coffee maker, it breaks in no time at all. 4) My Opa always made his coffee in a percolator, so it's sentimental.

Since we were in town so long we stopped at Perkins for lunch.  It's my go-to eat out place if we have time.  I prefer to not eat fast food if at all possible.  Plus the kids will eat pretty good there!  Scraps got half a sandwich, soup, and a piece of pie, and Monkey had "cakecakes" (pancakes) and French fries.  Hubs and I got sandwiches and fries.  I ended up eating half my sandwich, the meat off the rest, and a few fries. 

Once we got home, hubs worked on the barn and I split some more wood.  Man that's a workout!! The boys helped haul wood from the back side of the barn to the front, then loaded our gorilla cart with everything I split and put it in the mini storage shed closer to the house.  It's a lot easier to walk a few feet to get the wood in the snow than across the yard!!

Since we were so busy, I didn't plan supper, so we ordered steaks and burgers from the legion.  Once a month our local legion has a steak fry, and we like to be able to support them.

Sunday was "house" day for me.  I worked on cleaning the kitchen, doing laundry, washing bedding, and baking.  No one ate breakfast until after 1030, so I didn't even bother with lunch.  I did put a chicken in the crock pot to cook down, which I'll use today for lunch.  Scraps took out some goat ribs to put on the smoker for supper (I'm still learning how to use it) and they came out pretty good considering I didn't do the best job butchering the goat.  I served that up with a Knorr cheddar broccoli rice, homemade bread, and some sweet corn I had frozen a month ago.

I baked a TON for farmer's market... 3 mini apple pies, a batch of garlic chive rustic bread, 2 batches of regular rustic white bread, 2 pans of apple pie cookies... and I took a recipe for dinner rolls a friend gave me and tried it out as mini loaves.  YUMMY!!  I'll have to make some for tomorrow's farmer's market since I won't even be able to take it today (my family already ate a whole loaf at supper!!)

Hubs DEFINITELY enjoyed the cookies. I gave him ONE to sample... the next thing I knew half the pan was gone!!!  I made a second batch with one extra for him - and still tried taking more off the pan.  I compromised and gave him a mini pie to take for lunch even though I had already packed some cookies.  I told him the cookies take a lot more work since I have to cook the filling plus make the lattice, where with the pies I can just add the uncooked apple filling and put a plain crust on the top.

Today I actually got up kind of early and started up on my Miracle Mornings and SAVERS again (If you haven't read The Miracle Morning, I HIGHLY recommend it!!  It works if you just DO IT!!)  I used to do it all in order because I just HAD to, but now I think I'll change it up again.  I started with my E and got the exercise done right off the bat.  IT FELT GOOD!! I did 36 minutes on the Wii Fit (don't want to overdo it right out of the gate!!)  Played a couple balance games, obstacle course, boxing, rhythm step.  My age based on the testing is 36 - works for me!

I followed up with my SAV - set my timer on my phone for 10 minutes and tried to clear my mine.  THAT was hard... had a million things running through my mind and just couldn't shut it down.  For A and V I decided to take the digital route. I found apps for both - a Daily Affirmation app and a Vision Board app.  I set them up and played with them a little.  I'm putting off my R a little.  I have an audiobook I'm listening to when I go to and from work.  But I might read a blog I recently found that I like so far... I'll report back on it.  And updating my blog here will work for my final S.

Lars wasn't impressed with being up!

For today's lunch, I'm planning on a white chicken chili with the chicken I put in the crock pot yesterday... Supper will be leftovers.  Working on the plan for the rest of the week (I foresee a lot of soup since it's supposed to be chilly!!)  And the Princess has a cold :(

School - and Day 9 Pantry Challenge

 It's Tuesday.  Which means it's a school day and, this time of year, a farmer's market day.  Some days it's difficult to balance everything.  It's even more so when you have 2 children with special needs and a farm.  Fortunately, currently, the only real "farm work" that needs to be tended to daily is care for the animals.  In a couple weeks the animal situation will change a bit as my meat birds will be ready to process.  I'm also looking to get a ram goat so I can breed 3 of my goats.  I think I'm going to hold on to one of my dairy goats to give her another chance.  But I'd also like to breed my 2 meat goats.

Willow, my Boer (meat) goat breeder

Different days always look different for the homeschool life.  Today while Scrappy was doing animal chores (he even fed them today in addition to his normal chore of watering), I mixed up a double batch of rustic white bread.  My kids love this bread so much I think I'm going to have to be constantly making extra for the house!!  It is SOOOO good!  They will eat a whole loaf in one meal, if not just for snacks.

Today we started the CAT5 test for Scrappy. 

In Minnesota once kids reach the age of 7 they must have annual testing.  There is a variety of tests to choose from, but I prefer the CAT5 because I can proctor it myself.  Sometimes we do it all in one day, sometimes we spread it over a few days.  It all depends on our schedule.  Scraps started his this morning, he may do a section tonight when we get home, but he'll also work on it tomorrow morning before we go on our field trip.  Once he's finished, I send it in and in about 2 weeks I'll get his test results back.

While he's doing this today, Monkey is watching some history with Pipo on Amazon Prime (today we learned about the Aztecs) and some phonics for the letter D.

This is his normal way to watch his videos.  Some days he's more into it than others.  Today was a day he was actually engaged.

While both boys are occupied, I've taken advantage and started making a list of meals to work into my plan and researching using Supercook.com.  I've found a few new recipes I want to try...

So what's cooking today?

Breakfast I made up the last of my cabbage. My husband is going to be SO HAPPY when we're out of cabbage because of the effect it has 😂

For lunch we had leftovers.  Scraps had a leftover burrito from last night, then a few pancakes when I cooked up the last of the leftover batter for Monkey.  I had "hot dog soup" (which is full of cabbage 😆😆

Supper tonight will be baked chicken thighs for me, stuffed peppers for Hubs, and a mini meatloaf for the boys.  I'm not a big fan of hamburgers or beef meatloaf, and Hubs and Scraps aren't fans of dark meat chicken.  I can bake everything together for about the same amount of time (I have the thighs in packages of 2 in the freezer so they're portioned.)  I'm also going to roast my butternut squash from yesterday and some carrots that are in the fridge. And probably a loaf of bread on the side!

Days 3-8 Pantry Challenge

 I missed posting a few days.  It was a really busy weekend.  I built a new door on my rabbit hutch so it would be easier to feed the bucks, who are now all housed in the hutch.  The females were all moved to the barn, where a colony setup is in progress. One of my buns, Giselle, had to go in a timeout and be separated because she kept beating up on both Colette and Bunny.

Bunny and Clyde

Collette

Hubs has been working on cleaning out the barn and sorting.  I have some stuff I need to sort out and unpack.  We're still working on unpacking, but between both me and Monkey having surgery, plus the pandemic hitting (and the thousand-plus facemasks I've been working on since March) and farmer's market, I haven't had a lot of time to work on unpacking. 

We also started prepping the garden for next year.  It was the first year for this garden, so the GRASS grew really well.  I got potatoes, a handful of green beans, sweet corn, 3 tomatoes, and 1 zucchini out of it.  I have plans for next year, including covering the entire garden with cardboard, straw, and compost to smother out the weeds and fortify it for next year's crops

Hubs and I also foraged through the overgrowth in the back field to find all the squash that had grown.  There wasn't a lot, but at least we got some.  We have plans to control the weeds out there too.  I saw some pumpkins, but they aren't quite ripe yet.

I also did a LOT of cooking Thursday through yesterday.

Thursday was super busy.  Monkey had to go to Mayo late morning.  He had surgery about a month ago to have a g-tube (feeding tube) placed.  He had developed a mild complication with it.  As it's trying to heal, it pushed the skin up and outward, a condition called granulation.  It has definitely been bothering him, even bleeding at times.

Scraps, Monkey, and I went to the appointment.  The GI doctor was glad we had come in.  She treated Monkey's g-tube with some silver nitrate and gave us a prescription for a medicated cream to put on it twice a day starting Saturday.  We'll follow this treatment plan for the next 2 weeks and see how it does.  If it heals before then, we stop using it.  If not, we use it for 2 weeks, off a week, then start again.  He has a follow up appointment on Oct 9.  I happened to mention Scrappy's tube and compared how they looked.  She pointed out that Scrappy is due to get a larger tube, so we scheduled that also.

Dr appointments are always better when you're Batman!!

We had packed sliced pears, pb sandwiches, and granola bars for the road trip.  I wanted something easy after our long day, so we had pancakes for supper.  (I have a TON of flour... Hubs and I had bought 100 pounds when we went to the Amish store... and couldn't beat the price - only $30!!!)  I had some blueberries I needed to use, so I made a blueberry sauce for Hubs to put on his, and I fried some apples in butter, cinnamon, and sugar for mine. Hubs and the boys had sliced apples on the side.. We have a TON of apples.  Princess was at work.

Friday was kind of a rough day.  Hubs clipped Ruger when he ran in front of the van.  Hubs didn't mean it, didn't see him.  He had been running next to the van as he was going down the driveway, then darted in front of the van.  I had to take him in to the vet because I was worried his leg may have been broken.  They checked him out and said he's just bruised.  We got some pain meds and he's sleeping in the barn instead of on the porch for now.

 

I decided to try a new recipe I saw on Facebook... a taco casserole.  I used some taco meat and tortillas that I had in the freezer. Unfortunately I had made the meat a little spicy, but sour cream helped calm the heat!!  In the video, it was made in a bundt pan, but I didn't have one so I used my angel food cake pan.  Overall the premise of the casserole was good, but I'd make some changes along with the suggestions from my kids.  I'd make it in a casserole pan in basically the same layers - soft tortilla, cheese, meat, cheese, tortilla chips (I had taco shells in the cupboard and used those), then soft tortillas again, repeat, and repeat.  I would add beans and corn to the meat layer.  My family really likes that combination, and it stretches meat a lot further. I also think it was kinda dry...  Like I said, I liked the concept, but the execution wasn't there.

We did most of our yard work Saturday.  Princess had her boy over, so he helped with some of it too.  I had market in the morning, then made some "hot dog soup," as she used to call it because I had used brat-type sausages the first time I made it since I didn't have ground sausage.  This time I used some ground frozen Italian sausage I had, along with the rest of the purple cabbage I had in the fridge.  I had a loaf of rustic white bread left from market, which went well with the soup.

For supper I made a family favorite - Swedish meatballs with mashed potatoes and scalloped corn.  Ground beef, pork, and sweet corn from the freezer, and a 5 pound bag of potatoes that were barely still good.  It was the first time I had made the scalloped corn with frozen corn, and it was GOOD.  We had a second loaf of the rustic bread with that also.

 

On Sunday, since there were still chores to do and I had built up some leftovers, I just made breakfast.  Everyone got to fend for themselves for lunch and supper.  I decided to try a knockoff of Perkins breakfast smashers, scaled down a little.  I baked a couple partial bags of tater tots that were in the freezer, cooked up the rest of the sausage from the soup and made a sausage gravy, and scrambled some eggs.  Layered them - tots, eggs, gravy, and topped with cheese.  Another win with the family!!

I had to do some baking for farmer's market on Sunday too, since I wouldn't have time this morning.  I made another batch of rustic white bread (one of the three loaves swiped by the kids again), a batch of lemon zucchini bread, and some royal icing sugar cookies.  I'm not very good, but I do enjoy making them.

I made a few snacks for the house too.  I recently purchased a Pampered Chef snack bar maker, so I thought I'd try it out.  I made a batch of candy bars with various fillings (pb chips, pretzel pieces, marshmallows, chocolate covered espresso beans, dried cranberries) and a batch of granola bars with chocolate chips, pb chips, pretzel pieces, and marshmallows.  I also used the same granola bar recipe in one of my Pyrex pans.  I seemed to have found another winner... and they are a lot healthier than the crap from the store.  I used a no-bake recipe that has you microwaving the honey and toasting the oats on the stove.  I took a short cut with the toasting and used some toasted oat cereal with almonds in it that I had gotten a huge (20#+) box of.  It worked really good for that!!

Today for breakfast I was hungry for boiled cabbage - so I used up part of the green cabbage that was still in the fridge.  Served with milk and butter?? Oh yeahh...

Scraps and I grabbed some granola bars for lunch to eat on the way to work, with a chunk of bread.  Princess and Monkey made some pancakes with the leftover batter that was in the fridge. 

Supper was an old favorite - chicken, black bean, and corn burritos.  The tortillas and corn came out of the freezer, everything else out of the cupboard.  But I did use up a couple partial jars of salsa.

I'm working on my meal plan for the upcoming week.  Tomorrow I'm doing baked chicken thighs for me, mini meatloaf for the boys, and some stuffed peppers for Hubs, with some roasted veggies (ground beef and chicken from the freezer, carrots from the fridge, the squash I got today, and maybe a few other veggies I find in the freezer or fridge.)  Of course, like most other days, we have leftovers for lunch.

Now, let talk about how much money I have spent....

Friday I purchased a jar of baking powder for about $2.30, but this is mostly for work, so I don't need to include that in my budget necessarily.  I did purchase a bag of dried black beans at farmer's market on Saturday.  It was a couple pounds, and I paid $3 for that.  And Sunday I asked Princess to pick up 5 pounds of butter because we were OUT.  I'm NEVER completely OUT of butter, but I was Sunday unless there is some hiding in the bottom of one of my freezers!!  It turned out that butter was on sale 2/$5, so she picked up 6.  So last week: 3+15=$18 for the week. (We really didn't need THAT MUCH butter, but it was a decent price and I need to restock my supply!)

Today I spent $2 at farmer's market buying a butternut squash.

I think I'm doing pretty good so far!!

Asian Themes.. Day 2

 Today was pantry challenge day 2. We had some successes and some fails.  But the fails weren't spectacular.  I just know what NOT to do now... 

For breakfast Monkey FOUR blueberry freezer waffles!!  Wow, that kid can eat!! (If it's something he wants/likes!)  Scrappy and I both had yogurt with granola cereal.  We're starting to get low on yogurt, so I may have to either pick some up or make some in about a week... maybe.  Depends on if Scrappy keeps eating it 5x per day....

Lunch wasn't a very big hit.  Based on the suggestions of some members of a group I belong to, and after watching some Food Network, I attempted to make Egg Roll Ravioli.  The premise is to use the egg rolls in place of the pasta.  Yesterday at the food truck, I got a 10# box of uncooked Italian sausage, so I divided it up into about 1# packages, give or take.  I had thawed one out to use today.  

The ravioli would use some of the stuff I had in the fridge that needed to be used... egg roll wrappers, cottage cheese, and I have a lot of eggs.

To go with the ravioli, the boys had a choice of the leftover spaghetti sauce or a garlic pesto I made with some sorry looking garlic scapes, cottage cheese, and pinenuts that have been in the cupboard forever.

It was definitely VERY garlicky!!  I liked the filling and the sauce, but the ravioli itself left much to be desired.  I even tried frying one, and it didn't help.

Lesson learned.

For supper I pulled out a couple cabbage that were on their last legs and made up some egg rolls.  I made them after lunch so I could use everything I already had out.  I shredded up half a purple and half a green cabbage with a couple carrots and fried up the rest of the sausage.  Rolled them up in the remaining wrappers, and placed between 2 damp paper towels in a cake pan and covered with plastic until supper time.

I originally was going to make fried rice, but I remembered I had some rice noodles that needed to be used.  Unfortunately after cooking them I found out they weren't any good...  New plan.  Spaghetti noodles with lo mein sauce... Princess was very happy because she said she's been craving Asian food lately.  We didn't have any sweet and sour sauce, so I made that from scratch too.  Overall it ended up being a pretty good meal!

Even for snack I used up some leftovers!  I hadn't made banana rollups for a LONG time, so the boys had those for snack.  Monkey didn't eat the chocolate chips, which I thought was odd. But Scrappy ate the whole thing.  Pretty good for someone who claims they don't like peanut butter....

I had some filling mix left after making the egg rolls, so I mixed up some "egg roll in a bowl" and packed up 3 meals worth.  Hubs will have some good stuff for lunch tomorrow.

Before making supper, we enjoyed a little ride in the pickup though.  I was excited.... he even let me drive <3 <3

What did you cook today?

Pantry Challenge Day 1

 Today was the first full day from the Pantry Challenge.  Well, I should say, pantry fridge and freezer challenge.  It was pretty easy today!

For breakfast we usually kinda fend for ourselves unless it's the weekend or special occasion.  The boys often have breakfast before I get up because, let's face it, I'm NOT a morning person!  They often get up before Daddy leaves for work at 730, but I don't get up until 8 or 830 (9 if I'm lucky!!)  Scrappy has a tendency to just give Monkey a granola bar since he's not a cereal eater. Sometimes we change it up with peanut butter toast.

Scrappy likes oatmeal or cereal or yogurt with cereal or granola.  Rarely he'll make an egg.

I'm more of a Maltomeal or yogurt and granola breakfast person... sometimes an egg... 

So, I rarely "plan" breakfasts.

Today, Monkey had a granola bar and peanut butter toast, Scrappy grazed on all kinds of stuff before finally making a bowl of oatmeal, and I had some raspberry yogurt with granola cereal.

Lunch was a repeat of yesterday: Italian dunkers: the rest of the garlic Texas toast from the freezer - mine and Scrappy's with some cheese on it, and some leftover spaghetti sauce warmed up.

For supper I made a banana chocolate chip baked oatmeal and sausage patties. 

I was making an apple cinnamon one for a friend, so I threw one together for us while I had all the stuff out already.  (There isn't much left.... that may be breakfast tomorrow - depending on if Princess eats it tonight after work!!)

I've started planning a little bit of the week out.  I'm not sure how true to the schedule I'm going to be able to stay.  I haven't plugged in lunches yet because if I cook depends on how much leftovers we have.  Except tomorrow since I know we don't have much.

I have a list of some foods in the fridge I'm trying to work into my plan because I don't want to throw them out.  Here is this week's plan (so far!)

Wednesday: breakfast: yogurt & granola for me and Scrappy, freezer waffles for Monkey

lunch: Egg roll ravioli (using up some egg roll wrappers) stuffed with veggies, eggs, and cottage cheese with a garlic scape pesto

supper: Egg rolls with cabbage, carrots, and Italian sausage, veggie fried rice, and dessert egg rolls

Thursday (work day): supper: Pancakes with blueberry sauce

Friday: supper: chicken tacos (I have a couple big packages - about 5# each - of taco seasoned chicken in the freezer)

Saturday: lunch: chicken tortilla soup or white chicken chili

supper: Swedish meatballs and mashed potatoes

Like I said, this is the plan.  I'll see how well we can stick to it.  I'm hoping to get a chance to go through the freezer and see what else I have in there.  I want to cook up and can some of my dried beans since I'm low on canned beans.  I haven't seen a really good sale on them lately.  I did get some kidney beans in chili sauce.

Let's see how well we do!!

What did YOU make today?

It's been a while

A lot has happened since I last posted.  After my Opa left us, I had a hard time with a lot of things. 

But I'm back now. 

I'm better now.

And I have a mission.

I'm working on a frugality challenge right now.  I started it this afternoon.  But I need accountability to help keep me going and doing what I'm supposed to be doing.

Which is why I'm here.

And I'm inviting anyone reading this to join in.

Too often I find myself resorting to quick and easy fixes for meals, and don't worry about the nutritional value in the food.  Or the calories.  I really need to.

I had gastric bypass surgery on March 4 this year.  I had struggled with so many failed diets, then tore my calf muscle which benched me from exercise.  Then came the diabetes.  4 finger pokes a day.  2 insulin injections a day.  Struggling with lows because wasn't eating often enough.  Then the highs came.  300+ blood sugars.  Elevated liver enzymes. My health was going quickly downhill, so my doctors recommended bypass.

Here I am, 6 months later, and 60 pounds lighter.  I lost all of my weight so far in the first 3 months, and really haven't lost much since.  But I know I need to increase my activity.  And I need to be more conscious of the choices I make in my food.  Ideally, my diet should consist of 70% protein and 30% other (mostly veg).

So in addition to eating healthy, I'm giving myself a Pantry Challenge.

Here's the rules:

1) Anything in my pantry/fridge/freezer is fair game.  Pretty much, any FOOD in my house is fair game.

2) I'm allowing myself a WEEKLY budget of $20 to put towards any meals (milk is not included in this budget because my kids go through 1/2-1 gallon per day.  When I buy milk, I try to buy it when I go to town 30+miles away, because  (like today) I was able to purchase it for $3.19 per gallon, whereas if I purchase in town 3 miles away, it's $5.35 per gallon.  This morning I bought a gallon close to home because I NEEDED it, then I bought 6 gallons when I went into the bigger town)

3) I'm TRYING to get my husband on board, but I know he wants an exception for his Coke.  Without it, he gets migraines 😢

4) USE UP leftovers.  Yes, my chickens LOVE getting treats in the form of people food that would otherwise be thrown out, but we need to be throwing out LESS.

Now to the plan:

On Friday, we met with Hubby for lunch and took a couple pizzas.  There was half of each pizza left over, and he forgot them at work.  Today he brought them home so that was supper.  Quick and easy.

Tomorrow I have to work (unless Monkey has to go to the hospital... he had a feeding tube put in about a month ago and has granulation and bleeding coming from the tube.  Waiting to hear on what the clinic wants us to do... I messaged them yesterday, called and messaged and sent photos a couple times today... but the GI doc was out.)  I made an apple baked oatmeal to take to a friend today, so I mixed up a second oatmeal -banana chocolate chip - and stuck it in the fridge.  Supper tomorrow night - just 30-40 minutes in the oven and top with milk. Mmmm.

Tomorrow morning we are also going to another small town near us to see what's coming on the Food Truck.  Basically it's a mobile food pantry.  There are no income or residency requirements.  My great uncle actually works as a volunteer with it and said that if people don't show up for it, they won't do it.  It's all surplus food that is distributed so it won't go to waste.  (Even with the people showing up they still have excess food.)  Sometimes there are dairy boxes (milk close on date, 5 lb tub of yogurt, cheese, sour cream, etc), sometimes there are meat boxes (fully cooked frozen sausage patties, bacon, meatballs, etc) and there is always fruit and veggies (corn, green beans, tomatoes, peppers, and more).  There are usually other odds and ends.  Last time we got a big box (20+ pounds) of granola cereal, crackers, pina colada mix, instant mashed potatoes.  I can't wait to see what's on the truck this week!!

I'm going to start working on a list for meal ideas... tomorrow after we "meet the truck," I'll have a better idea of what is going to be on which day.  I'm hoping to post again then 😁😁😁

Let me know in the comments if you want to play along!  What meals are you making this week?