Cheap & Cheerful Suppers for Easter Week

It's been a busy week. 

Leading up to the Easter holiday last weekend, I spent a lot of time in the kitchen. I spent a bit of time Thursday and Friday prepping, followed by most of the day Saturday. The dinner went well and left us with a lot of leftovers. 

Once easter was over, I had to get to the garden and work on getting veds prepared and planted. I had spent Monday afternoon working in the garden, so a quick and easy dinner of leftovers on Monday was welcome. In fact all week I've been busy in the garden. As a result, our dinners have been streamlined compared to my regular cooking. I did whatever I could to make meals simpler, including using cheese and crackers as a dish one night and dried fruit right out of the bag on two nights.

Rain is expected to return on Saturday, so I'll put in one more long day getting stuff done in the garden. 

Here's what we've been eating this week.

Friday (daughter cooked)   pizza and movie night -- we watched Sherlock Jr. (1924)

scratch pepperoni pizza

fresh strawberries

frozen peas

Saturday (other daughter cooked)   first cookout of the season

hot dogs

scratch biscuits

fresh strawberries

tomato and avocado

steamed spinach

Sunday   Easter dinner

roast chicken, gravy

dinner rolls

smoked salmon and crackers

deviled eggs and cherry tomatoes

kale, cranberry, pumpkin seed salad

asparagus with lemon butter

mustard glazed carrots

plum and cherry pies

Monday   

leftovers

Tuesday

chicken salad sandwiches

sautéed kale and Brussel sprout buds

dried prunes

leftover cherry pie

Wednesday

clean out the fridge soup, using the carcass from the chicken, mushrooms, green pepper, garlic greens, celery, leftover gravy, leftover stock, leftover drippings, frozen mixed vegetables

leftover crackers and sliced cheddar

dried Asian pears

leftover plum pie

Thursday

beef and broccoli over brown rice

orange wedges

What was on your menu this past week? Did you end up with leftovers after Easter?

Have a great weekend, friends!

Do you have a favorite productive hobby?

I'm using the word hobby loosely, meaning anything one does for pleasure, even if it technically falls within their job responsibilities. As far as the term productive goes, I'm defining this as something that develops needed skills, produces items needed for living (such as making clothing, or obtaining heating for the home, produces/gathers/acquires food or water, or builds/maintains shelter), produces items or services that bring in income, or elevates the living experience through one's talents. The key is, you derive pleasure from doing any of the above.

So what is your favorite productive hobby?

Can you guess what mine is?

I love to bake. I would bake even if it wasn't part of my job description. 

I began baking when I was 8 years old. My best friend and I went to different schools. But on Saturdays we would get together, and instead of playing Barbies, we'd bake something in her mom's kitchen.

I suppose some of the motivation was that I got to eat some of what I baked. But also, I just enjoyed baking. 

Over time it became something I could do with success, most of the time.

I have other productive hobbies. When my husband and I got married, we talked about how we could spend our free time in ways that brought us closer to our financial goals. I pledged to vegetable garden, sew and repair clothing, bake, and learn to make our spaces more beautiful with little money. 

I don't always love vegetable gardening. Today was just a lot of hard physical work, as I dug compost into another bed. But I reminded myself that not only am I working toward providing more fresh food for my family, but I am keeping myself fit as I grow older. 

Sometimes sewing holes in socks is boring. But it's something I can do that will extend the life of clothing and postpone the purchase of new items. I enjoy making things, using the skills I learned as a girl. I sometimes sew clothing (like pajama pants) for family members as gifts. By buying fabric thoughtfully and carefully arranging the pattern pieces on the fabric, I can make a pair of pajama pants for less than the cost of a new pair of quality ones. 

I know my baking is very productive. I can bake a loaf of really good wholegrain bread for a lot less than buying commercial loaves. And it's just fun to bake. I take a bunch of ingredients, combine them in specific ways according to recipes, and poof, a wonderful baked good results. That's really satisfying.

What productive hobbies do you enjoy, and which one is your favorite? Has anyone here turned a hobby into a side hustle?