Food Waste Friday and True Food Confessions--August 31, 2012

It's time for Food Waste Friday, when the Frugalgirl encourages us to post pictures from the previous week of wasted food from our household. This accountability hopefully will help us to be more careful with our food and maybe save some money.

Also, I am using this public forum to encourage us to eat out less which includes better meal planning. You can follow how we are doing in this endeavor by reading, True Food Confessions.

This Week's Food Waste

This week we had no food waste unless you want to count this bite of food someone put in the refrigerator and never returned to. Also, I'm still having a hard time keeping up the fresh tomatoes. I better do some freezing tomorrow or you'll be seeing a picture of a yucky tomato next week.

 This Week's True Food Confessions

Here's what was for dinner this week.

We're into a comfortable routine now with our attempts at eating more at home. Lunches are catch as catch can with each person responsible for their own. Sometimes that means eating in and sometimes that means eating out. We eat most evenings at home with a plan for several dishes and ingredients at the beginning of the week. Usually, we make something, but sometimes we eat out. Our favorites for eating out (or bringing in) are Subway sandwiches or a Dominoes pizza. Both are reasonably priced and both can be reasonably healthy. My favorite pizza has double sauce with tomatoes on top. It's hearty, but in a good way. My favorite sandwich from Subway is a veggie with avocado spread. Now that you can get avocado on your veggie, it can also be hearty, but in a good way.

Saturday was the last day for our favorite roadside farmer's stand. We were lucky to get there before they closed and purchased peaches, apples, and corn on the cob. We enjoyed all of these this week. We also enjoyed vegetable soup, tuna casserole, spinach salad, and fruit salad.

There is lots of tweaking we could do to our eating plan, but I am happy. We do eat out, but now it is in moderation.

See you next week because it's you that keeps me honest.

Home Ownership

or Alas, that's the way it goes.

Among other things, the exhaust pipe to our furnace has to be replaced.

When we first bought a house, I was overwhelmed with all of the things we needed to set up. I knew that we would need curtains and a few more pieces of furniture. However, I hadn't thought about all of the other things we would need like trash cans, rakes, a garden hose, a lawn mower, etc. I was annoyed that we had to buy all of these necessities that cost a lot of money so that there wasn't much left for fun house things. I would have rather been picking out a comforter for my new bedroom than to be picking out a new trashcan for the garage. But, alas, that's the way it goes when you own a home.

As I adjusted to spending money for boring, but necessary items, I had to adjust to spending money for repairs instead of fun house projects. For example, we had to spend money to fix the plumbing rather than  redo the kitchen. But, alas, that's the way it goes.


And this is how it went in home ownership this week. We found out that our furnace needed a couple of thousand dollars in repairs. I wasn't happy with the news because I had other ideas for that money-like maybe a nice vacation next summer. But once again, alas, that's the way it goes.

_________________________________________________________________________________

Note:

• Ward might beg to differ about what is boring stuff and what's not. I think he much rather would have been shopping for a trashcan at Home Depot than shopping for a comforter in T. J. Maxx. 

• Also, I may be upset about the cost of the furnace repairs, but I'm the first to admit that I would rather have heat this winter than a big vacation next summer.

A Second Look--August 29, 2012

There is a hint of fall in the air even though the temperatures are still near 90. Only a few of the summer flowers are hanging on, and the fall blooms have just started with Autumn Joy Sedum being the first. In fact, I wouldn't have even noticed the sedum if it hadn't been for the bees buzzing around it. 

Also, the mushrooms and fungi are more common now. I don't know why that's a fall thing, but I noticed them more in the fall last year also. Now that I've done the Second Look for over year now, I'm starting to notice cycles that I've never noticed before. And I guess that's not really important in the grand scheme of things, except it makes me happy to figure this out. As I have mentioned before, "Sometimes it is the small stuff..."

Here's what I saw this week during a Second Look.

Bee on Autumn Joy Sedum

Do you see the grass skirt that Wally and I saw around this tree?

Coleus bloom

I don't know what kind of bird this fluffy, white feather came from.

Fungus on rotting tree stump

Bee on purple sage blossom

Autumn is coming.

Today

Today...

Look What I Found

or Sunflower Fields Forever

This is a crop for a local farmer.

 
Yesterday Ward and I visited the world-famous LeDew Gardens in Monkton, MD. Their claim to fame is topiairies with the most famous being a scene from a fox hunt.The day was overcast with the promise of thunderstorms which meant that we were practically by ourselves. We got an individual tour of Mr. Ladew's house and were alone most of the time while we wandered among the gardens. Did I mention that it was a perfect day? 

And do you know what topped it off? On the way home we found a large field of sunflowers. You may remember that we had a difficult hunt a couple of weeks ago for some sunflower fields. We eventually found them, and while they were pretty, they were engulfed with invasive vines.  The fields we found yesterday were very different. They were essentially void of weeds and were spectacular even in the rain that had just started to fall. 

You never know what you may find when you're not looking.

A Few of the Things We Saw at Ledew Gardens.

The hounds and riders of a fox hunting scene. If you look carefully, you will see one rider jumping over the fence and another to the side of him.

Passion vine flower

Terrace Garden leading up to house

Iris Garden. This is more colorful in the spring when the iris are blooming.

Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden

Swans riding waves in the Great Bowl Garden

Butterfly in the Pink Garden

Sculpture Garden

Thankful Sunday--August 26, 2012

I am thankful that peach season is still hanging on.

Wish you could smell this heavenly peach.

I Spy Purple

Can you find:

1. A book I liked as a girl

2. Something we have in our car every winter

3. A stinky marker

4. What I wear while doing dishes

5. A flower that looks like a balloon before it blooms

6. A puzzle Ward is going to start when the weather gets cold

7. Something that Wally and Theodore use more than Ward and I do

8. The litter we get for a good price at Costco

9. Old rickrack that I used to decorate a bib for Wally

10. A soft shirt that Ward likes

11. A plant they use to make a coffee substitute

Food Waste Friday and True Food Confessions--August 24, 2012

It's time for Food Waste Friday, when the Frugalgirl encourages us to post pictures from the previous week of wasted food from our household. This accountability hopefully will help us to be more careful with our food and maybe save some money.

Also, I am using this public forum to encourage us to eat out less which includes better meal planning. You can follow how we are doing in this endeavor by reading, True Food Confessions.

This Week's Food Waste

We only used half of this can before it languished in the fridge.

This week I threw away 1/2 can of evaporated milk. We used half of it in one recipe and I planned to use the other half in some soup. It turned out that Wally and Theo made the soup and didn't know about the plans to include the milk. By this point, I thought it was probably too old to freeze, so I watched sit in the fridge until it was definitely too old to use anywhere. Then out it went.

This Week's True Food Confessions

We were away for a few days last week and during the long drive, we talked about our new eating habits. The evening scheduling we were trying to do for dinner just hasn't been working because of the variability of work hours. However, we still want to target a specific time for dinner to be ready, and then people will eat when they can. We feel if we don't have a certain time for food to be ready, we're more likely to let things slide.  Also, we can feel ourselves starting to slide back into the takeout world. We think that we haven't gone overboad yet, but we want to be cautious of the slippery slope. We made a pledge to do better with planning and shopping which is the key to everything. We acknowledged that we are eating less junk food because there are good leftovers in the refrigerator.

Now onto what we fixed this week.

A sampling from this week.

Spinach pie: Simple to make with fresh spinach, Parmesan cheese, and spices in pie crusts. Next time I would like to try it with a healthier crust.

Zucchini, Green Bean, and Feta Cheese Casserole: Wally and Theo made this dish based on what we had in the fridge. The feta cheese and fresh lemon juice made it tart but creamy. This was a new dish and we will make it again.

Sloppy Joes: I added shredded carrots to this to get a more vegetables to our food. Usually I add chopped spinach, but we just had the spinach pie, so I used carrots instead.

Grilled cheese with bacon and Granny Smith apples: Yum! I had to do something with the bacon I baked.

Once again, we hope to have a supper plan for a week, and all of the ingredients on hand for it. We've never quite made it yet, but practice makes progress as Wally likes to say.

Work vs. Play

or Different Strokes for Different Folks

I've been trying to figure out for a while why what is work for some people is play for others. For example, I've been wondering why Uncle Billy likes to cook and I consider it a chore. Why Ward has fun raking and I find it tedious. Why Wally likes entropy and I love to put things in order.

And you know what? I figured out the obvious--we're all different. "Different strokes for different folks."

Different Strokes for Different Folks

Ward finds raking relaxing and I find it tedious.

Uncle Billy likes to cook and we just find it time consuming.  (However like Dog, we all like to eat.)

 

I like to plant and pull weeds and Theo only does it when he has to.

I like working with beads and Lucy would rather look at her toes.

I don't mind doing all parts of the laundry but Theodore doesn't like to fold.

But we all like the challenge of outsmarting the squirrels.

Second Look--July 22, 2012

On a Second Look, I often feature pictures that are close ups. This week, I decided to pull back a little and let you see more of the beds and land around them. It was good for me to do this because recently, all I seem to see are heat-stressed flowers and weeds when I look outside. While doing my exploring, I realized that we still have some nice beds in bloom. Once again, a Second Look is helping see things through a different set of eyes. That's why I do it.

Here's What I Saw This Week.

Coleus and Celosia

Marigolds

Hostas

Coreopsis

Black Eyed Susan

Balloon flowers

Storm clouds rolling in. I made it inside just before a huge clap of thunder.

Two fawns with their mother. We saw two more, also with their mother, on the other side of the yard.

Knucklehead by Jon Scieszka, a review

or Boys Will Be Boys

What? The book, Kuncklehead by Jon Scieszka. A memoir of growing up with five brothers in Flint, MI.


What is this book famous for? Creating the expression, "Boys will be boys." Well, maybe it didn't create it, but it could have. It is full of wild escapades of Jon and his brothers including explosions and fires, tying a little brother to his bed, and sword fighting while peeing/urinating. (There is a joke in the last two words that you will get after you read the book.)

Will it make you laugh or cry?  You will laugh until you cry.

Are all of the outlandish things Scieszka wrote about to be believed? I wasn't there as he was growing up, but according to Ward, Wally, and Theodore, they have done many of the same things. As they listened to the audio version of this book, they sometimes laughed because the situations were really funny and sometimes they laughed because they had done exactly the same thing that Jon and his brothers had done.

Who will enjoy it? The book is targeted for 4th -7th graders, but everyone will enjoy it.
 
Should I read it? Absolutely. 

Makin' Bacon

or Bakin' Bacon

As I was surfing the internet the other day, I found an idea that interested me. Or I should say, I found many ideas that interested me, but one of them I decided to try--cooking bacon in the oven. This seemed like a simple and appealing idea. No more standing over the stove dodging grease splatters or no more overcooking it in the microwave.

As often happens when I'm on the computer, one place leads to another which leads to another and before I know it, I now want to bake bacon instead of figuring out how to fix my washer. Anyway, the point of that is I don't have a credit for the baking idea or remember exactly what the favorite technique was. What I do remember is that it works better with cold bacon and a cold starting oven and should take 15-20 minutes. Also, you should use a pan with sides, so the grease won't run down into the oven.

So, I put bacon slices on my baking pan with sides, put it into the cold oven and set the temperature for 350˚ F. I checked it at 15 minutes and then again at 19 minutes where I found golden, crisp, long strips of bacon. Simple and delicious.

This is definitely something I will use in the future. The bacon can be baking while I am preparing another part of the meal, or if I have the oven on for something else, I can bake some bacon to be frozen for later use.  But the most important part of this experiment is that I got to do a post with the titles, Makin' Bacon and Bakin' Bacon. Once again, I amuse myself.

Thankful Sunday--August 19, 2012

I am thankful that I received a long, handwritten letter in the mail recently.
  

I Spy Orange

Can you find:

1. Leo and Annie's favorite toy

2. A fancy day lily

3. A tea kettle that went on camping trips with me when I was a girl

4. Ear plugs I use when I mow

5. A library summer reading program shirt

6. Tasty summer melon

7. The towel and wash cloth Wally took to college

8. My favorite crafting scissors

9. A flower that the butterflies love

10. A great fantasy novel

11. A word that rhymes with orange

Food Waste Friday and True Food Confessions--August 17, 2012

It's time for Food Waste Friday, when the Frugalgirl encourages us to post pictures from the previous week of wasted food from our household. This accountability hopefully will help us to be more careful with our food and maybe save some money.

Also, I am using this public forum to encourage us to eat out less which includes better meal planning.

 This Weeks Food Waste.

Two more tomatoes and a potato joined this one in our waste this week.

This was the week that the produce got away from us. We had three tomatoes that got rotten before we used them. Also when I was cleaning out the pantry, I found a rotten potato hidden behind a big box. That explained the smell we couldn't place last week. However with the rest of the tomatoes, Wally and I made spaghetti sauce and salsa that we froze, and Theodore and I made a big pot of potato soup from the rest of the potatoes (for the recipe, see Wally Makes Soup). Both were very good.

Last Minute Addition: A bag of burnt popcorn that is going to the squirrels and birds.

This Week's True Food Confessions

Even though it may not be soup weather, we really liked this potato soup.

We didn't exactly have a good food plan this week, but we made out okay anyway. We had to do some adjusting for the day we didn't have electricity, and we continued to so some catering to Theo's healing mouth. We did most of our meal planning from the produce that Uncle Billy gave us which included squash, tomatoes, and potatoes. We made squash stuffed with sausage, wild rice, and cheese. Everyone liked this even if they weren't big squash fans. It's amazing what a little cheese and sausage will do for a dish. We also made spaghetti and potato soup as mentioned above. One night we had Domino's pizza and it was very good. That's something that we have cut back on a lot since we been trying to eat at home more, so we really enjoyed it.

Now, here's the most important part. For the last couple of weeks, we have been trying to encourage each other to work with what we have at home to eat. When someone is tired or is having a craving for something out, another person tries to "talks them down." It helps that most of the time we have an alternate plan. But you know what, sometimes pizza that has been cooked by someone else just tastes good. I think it's that flexibility that is keeping everyone on board with this effort.

Today

 This post was inspired by the book, All in a Day by Cynthia Rylant.

Today, I'm going to:

1. Watch I Love Lucy instead of the news

2. Take a morning walk and not worry about my feet getting wet in the dew

3. Clean my refrigerator so I can enjoy its shine every time I open the door 

4. Go to work early

5. Eat an orange and not worry about the juice dripping down my chin

6. Say hello to strangers

7. Get gas at a full service station and leave a good tip--a treat for both of us

8. Play with my cats

9. Eat a good dinner

10. Look for the positive and smile

A Second Look--August 15, 2012

This week I did a Second Look at wildflowers. These were not from my yard, but I have many of the same kinds growing there. For more details on my wildflower walk read Sunflower Fields.

Here's what I found this week.