Up and About

We decided I was doing well enough to go out and help run some simple errands.  My husband drove me, did the cart pushing, and all the lifting.  Bless his heart!  However, I think we accomplished everything and are set up for the rest of the month.  (We do have one more errand to run on the day I have a doctor's appointment, but beyond that I think we are finished.)

1.  I had to return a school book by mail.  This will net us a full refund minus the small amount of postage.  He handled this errand for me and I sat in the car.

2.  We dropped off a donation to Goodwill and I walked down one aisle.  I'm looking for a 9x13 casserole dish that does not have the end handles like typical Pyrex does.  My small oven will not hold my dish because of the handles.  Sadly, they didn't have one.  I'll keep searching.

3.  I had a short list for Dollar Tree.  I needed Valentine's Day cards to mail to my nieces and nephews.  I bought oatmeal crème pies, 4 jars of mushrooms (thanks Carol for the head's up that they had them), 2 rubber spatulas, 2 sets of measuring cups, 6 aseptically sealed cartons of soy milk, 2 graham cracker crusts,  and 1 small baking pan, 1 cake mix, and 1 brownie mix.

4.  While I was in Dollar Tree, my husband, who had a coupon for five pads of paper for $1.00, walked to the Staples next door to pick that up.

5.  In that same complex is Michaels.  In keeping with my resolution to not shop for crafting items unless I need them for an ongoing project, I picked up two skeins of yarn to go towards the afghan I am working on.  I believe I now have enough to finish it.  (This will be my first completed Christmas present for my 2017 list.)  I also bought a ball of #10 thread.  I use this on and off and had just finished up my last ball.  I had a coupon for 30% off all yarn purchases and used this to reduce my costs.

6.  We went to the library to pick me up a couple of books.  I picked up two mysteries to read and one audio book so that I can listen while I crochet.

7.  On our way back home, I thought I was running out of energy, but by the time we got nearer I thought I could finish up by hitting Aldi.  We had a reasonably small list.  We came home with:
4 bags of corn chips (on sale for 99 cents each), 2 jars of organic salsa, 1 package of mint cookies, 1 package of fig "newtons," 3 containers of vanilla soy milk, 1 carton of lactose free milk, cabbage, zucchini, cucumbers, 2 bags of radishes, 2 bags of kitty treats, 5 lbs of red potatoes, bananas, 2 boxes of pop tarts, 4 cans of vegetable soup for my husband to take with him, and 3 cans of vegetarian chili.

Needless to say by the time we got home my daughter said I was walking like an old lady.  I was exhausted.  After all was put away, I made us a quick and simple lunch.

1 can of the vegetarian chili, 2 baked potatoes, and a bit of Daiya cheddar crumbles -- easy, less than $1.50 a person.
 

Slowly Working

I've reached the stage where I feel just good enough to be miserable. 

With a little help I can piddle in the kitchen and kitchen work always makes me happier.

 

We had 3 sweet potatoes that needed to be cooked.  I tossed them in the Instant Pot and put them on for 30 minutes.  I let the pressure drop naturally and when I could handle them I mashed them. A cup went into a dozen muffins and a tiny "tea" loaf.  I added raisins and flax seeds, and I used whole grain flour to make this pretty healthy.  To veganize them I used egg replacer and coconut sugar.

 

 

Friday night was pizza night.  My daughter likes her without sauce and she requested cheddar cheese.

 

We had our vegan pizza -- sauce, Daiya mozzarella, onions, bell pepper, and olives.

Both were made on homemade whole wheat crusts.

 

 

 

I used labor saving devices to help me stick to healthier eating and to increase my productivity.

The pressure cooker and the bread machine are both easy to operate and pretty energy efficient.

 

Free Food Preservation

 

My husband came in and his first words were, "I know the timings bad, but...."  All I could think was what now...lol

Turns out someone had given him a large bag of apples.

 

I knew I would not be able to can them alone, but with the three of us working together we managed to get them put away.

 

My daughter brought in the canner and the canning supplies.

We got the jars going and then I sat at the island and we worked on the apples.  She cut and I cored.  Everything went into the pressure cooker, along with some water, spices and coconut sugar.

8 minutes in the pressure cooker (once they came up to pressure)

 

Then my husband mostly drained the apples and I pureed them with an immersion blender.  (I saved the liquid and sealed it in a jar.  It will be used to make "apple syrup" for pancakes.)

 

We ended up with 5 pints of apple butter and the pint of "apple juice" that I will thicken with cornstarch when we use it.  We also saved out a small bowl of apple butter to use now.

 

A little family cooperation and nothing was wasted!

 

 

 

 

Pressure Cooker Love

 

 

The instant pot is hands down my favorite kitchen gadget -- it works well when I am pressed for time, or in this case, when I have low energy.  I also like that it is an energy saving device. 

Half a package of pasta, a jar of organic marinara, bell pepper and onions I froze, Gardein meatballs, and water.  Six minutes on high pressure and while it was coming up to temp I made garlic toast with my homemade wheat bread.  This made enough for supper and leftovers for next days lunch.   

"Sits and Thinks"

  My husband's favorite quote (or one of many) ---  "Sometimes I sits and thinks and sometimes I just sits." That seems to sum up my day yesterday.  

I'm not one for sitting for hours on end.  I'm forbidden to go up and down the stairs alone.  Forbidden to lift anything.  For someone who is a constant piddler, this is quite stifling. I'm spending an excruciating amount of time sitting and thinking.   The highlights of yesterday were limited.
I'm rewatching the Inspector Morse mysteries on Acorn TV.  

I also am working on a crocheting project.  I have three skeins of the variegated yarn and one solid gray.  When I mentioned Christmas gifts I forgot to add that my uncle gave me two skeins of yarn for Christmas.  The gray was the second skein he gave me and it seems to be going well with the variegated from my stash.  I am hoping the four skeins will produce a decent sized throw.

 

The second skein he gave me was a variegated yarn and I believe the color way was called Woodlands or something similar.  I crocheted a really cute bucket hat with it.  It used the entire skein except for maybe enough for the center of a granny square.

 

 

I also cooked supper with my daughter's help.  It was a simple meal, but it seemed to take twice as long as it normally would.

I cooked rice and soy curls stir fry.  I used the Instant Pot to cook the rice and made a double batch.  I also made enough stir fry to send lunch with my husband and have leftovers for myself.  

 

This was my first time trying the soy curls and I was pleasantly surprised by how good they are.  Since I wasn't sure about the yield, I cooked the whole 8 ounce bag.  It looks like a fourth of the bag will be enough for one meal for my husband and me.  I have the leftovers in the fridge to use in a different meal.  I'm leaning toward some kind of casserole or perhaps a "chicken" soup type dish.

 

 

Even with the soy curls, this was a pretty frugal meal.  I buy rice in bulk, the peppers were some I bought on sale and froze myself, the broccoli was an Aldi purchase, and I made my own sauce using corn starch for a thickener.

 

After dinner my husband took me for a short ride just so I could get out of the house.  I came home, he helped me shower, and it was back to my trusty recliner.  So I could "sits and thinks" some more.

 

2017 Goals

We actually kind of went over these a few days into 2017 because I was in full recovery mode (read that as filled with pain medicine) and I was totally unproductive.

Our "big" goals in general:

1.  Plan one large family vacation.
2.  Do some redecorating and repairs on our home. (It's time.  We will have to pay someone to do a lot of the painting because of the open foyer.  There is no way I am climbing scaffolding over open stairs.  If I were to fall, I imagine the medical bills would far outweigh the costs of a painter.  We also need a new stove and to do some general light repairs.  Now that we are down to 1 child at home we are also going to rearrange some things.  I will also be replacing the living room furniture.  The pieces I am using now will go to our other place, where we need living room furniture.)
3.  Get our daughter enrolled in the local university.  (She will finish at the community college this summer.)
4. put a raised garden bed along the edge of our home

Our usual little goals:

1.  continue to tweak our budget
2.  work on better organization

My personal goals:
1.  continue to use up craft supplies on hand (My goal is to only purchase supplies if I am using them at the moment and I have run out of what I need.  For example, I had everything for my current quilt but basting pins and quilting thread.  I picked those up -- using coupons to off set costs.)
2.  streamline my wardrobe and sew more of my own clothes
3.  work on handmade birthday gifts for my youngest nieces and nephews
4.  utilize the library more often
5.  return to my charity knitting, crocheting and sewing

So those are our broad stroked plans.

Bits and Pieces

 

I can't believe how fast the month flew by.  We've made it through Christmas and had a lovely family time.  My surgery wasn't as simple as they were expecting and I will be down and/or limited for 4 to 6 more weeks.  (I've been down almost 2 now.)  Due to this I will not be taking any classes this semester and I've been left wondering if I will go back at all.  Time will tell I suppose.

 

These are just a sampling of some of the many things we've been cooking.

The eggs in the wrap are my first taste of vegan eggs and they were actually not bad at all.

Of course, chili seemed perfect for our recent snow storm.  I even baked the goodies to in tins to help get my family  through the housebound time period.  The casserole dish has a roast dinner of cauliflower, carrots, potatoes, herbs, and vegan kielbasa...all cooked in the air fryer. 

The noodle mixture is a cajun bean pasta over kale, which I served with "cheese croissants" and next to it is "sausage" stuffed buns.  The pizza was my first taste of vegan pepperoni and it wasn't too bad.

Soups, pastas, etc.  lots of comfort foods and my newest doily. 

Then the vegan shepherd's pie was what I had for Christmas dinner.  It was excellent.

 

I made a homemade seitan that is fabulous. 

top (left to right)

bbq "chicken" seitan, mashed potatoes and peas

Gardein "fish" sandwich and slaw

blueberry pancakes

"fish" dinner with red potatoes, slaw etc.

"chicken" casserole

fried potatoes

grilled "cheese"

orange "chicken" stir fry

beans and rice

 

 

I'm spending a lot of time in my recliner with my kitty sitting with me.

I've used up a cone of cotton making dishcloths.  My mom received the yarn for Christmas, but she doesn't like to work with it.  I made her 10 dishcloths and 1 scrubby.

The doily is for my dining room table.  It took more thread that I expected, but I used a free vintage pattern and I really like the way it turned out.

Just before my surgery I worked on piecing a new quilt together.  I've slowly started hand quilting it now.

I also placed an order for some vegan supplies from Amazon.

 

Life sounds kind of boring around here, but I promise it has been full.

 

I got a couple of great Christmas gifts.

2 12" pizza pans from my mom

(These fit in my toaster oven and I love them!)

5 thrift store find soup mugs from my son and daughter in law

(My request if she could find any and I love that they are recycled.)

2 Christmas music CDs from my daughter, who knows I listen to Christmas music all year

1 large purse -- a Vegan brand and big enough to hold all my medical supplies -- from my husband and daughter

2 pair of earrings from my husband

a wall hanging from my brother

 

I loved that everything was practical and so me.

 

I hope everyone is doing well and had a great holiday season.