Slow and Steady Wins the Race . . .

Over the years, that's been my approach to getting everything put together for holidays. Everything gets made or set, and I don't feel totally exhausted. 

Sweet potato casserole, ready to top and bake

This year, I have a lot of help from my daughters for which to be thankful. The two of them are preparing a large part of Thursday's meal, then helping me with Friday's meal. In addition to all of their help, I'm preparing casseroles and sides today and tomorrow, to be baked at the last minute on Thursday or Friday.

this gooeyness is a praline topping for the sweet potato casserole -- brown sugar, butter, chopped pecans

The Thanksgiving dishes and glasses are now on the table. I like getting all of this done as early as I can.

I've also been cleaning over the past 10 days, leaving little sticky notes throughout the house, indicating those areas are off-limits as they've been cleaned. No sense burning out before we even sit down to eat on Thursday or Friday.

Of course, to compensate for this time spent preparing, our meals this week have been significantly simplified, as in we're having pancakes for dinner tonight. 

Throughout the week, I've been thinking about my gratitude list. Here is what I've come up with so far. I'm thankful for heated homes as commonplace, not just for the elite. I'm thankful for indoor plumbing. When I was out in the garden this afternoon, my fingers froze as I was cutting stems of kale. I can only imagine what going outdoors for the facilities several times per day in bad weather must've been like. I'm thankful for phones so I can hear the voices of people I care about but cannot see. And I'm thankful for the 55 cent postage stamp and 50 cent greeting cards from Dollar Tree, so I can send my love in a keep-able form to someone dear to me but nowhere near to me. I'm thankful for tears, because they mean that I care, and my heart has not hardened. I'm thankful for good jokes because laughter will pick me up on the downest days. I'm thankful for sugar and spice. I cannot imagine pumpkin pie without some sugar and a bit of spice. But most of all, I am thankful for those who love me and I can love back. Love without a place to put it is grief. I'm thankful for less grief and more love in my life. 

So, how are you plans for the holiday coming? What are you thankful for this year?

Wishing those of you in the USA a very happy Thanksgiving. And if you're not in the US, I'm sure you still have much for which to be thankful.

Pink Banana Squash

Have you ever seen a squash like this before? Its variety is commonly known as a banana squash. Believe it or not, this as the smallest of the banana squash when I was at the produce stand a month ago. I paid 33 cents per pound, which I think is a pretty good price for fresh veggies these days. I'm going to hack into it today, so I wanted to show it to you while I could. While this one is a pink banana squash, there are also blue-green and all-white varieties.

Banana squash are hard-skinned, so are considered to be long-keepers. As you may have noticed, it's not the most attractive of the squashes. Perhaps that explains why you just don't see these in markets much these days. The squash that seem to populate the produce bins in autumn in my grocery stores are all the thinner-skinned and much more attractive squash. Those also happen to be the short-keepers.

This one is almost 2 feet in length and weighs about 8 pounds. I believe that I'll be able to get about 5 family meals out of this one squash. Once the squash is cut, any unused/uncooked portion will keep in the refrigerator for up to 10 days. 



I could have kept this longer. However, I needed some vegetables for our dinners this week and this one was taking up a large share of the food storage space. While I said banana squash is hard-skinned, the shell is not as difficult to cut as Hubbard squash, if you're familiar with that variety. I was able to cut this one into 8-inch chunks, using my serrated bread knife. Its interior flesh is deep-orange and about 1  1/4 inches thick all around.

You may have bought banana squash from the produce department of your market at some point. Markets used to regularly sell 4 to 6-inch cut chunks of banana squash which were over-wrapped in plastic wrap. Back when I was single and living on my own, cut pieces of banana squash were the cheapest fresh vegetable in the produce department. As I had very little money in those days, I ate quite a lot of this variety of squash.

Banana squash are sweet and mild-flavored. I'll be using this one in soup, oven-roasted in chunks, and baked and mashed.

Cheap & Cheerful Suppers for November

As you know, on Tuesday, I went to Fred Meyer to get a free turkey. I made my minimum-spend primarily on non-food items, but I also bought 6 cans of cream of mushroom soup, 4 bottles of sparkling cider, 4 half-gallons of milk, some nutmeg from the bulk bins, and a bag of mini marshmallows, spending $16.92, along with my free turkey. I also went to Dollar Tree and bought 1 box of crackers, spending $1. This brings my November spending up to $130.35. I still need to go to one other store this month. Hopefully I can arrange for time with the car tomorrow morning and will take care of that last bit of shopping.

Friday
French toast
sweet potato fries
vanilla yogurt
orange juice

Saturday
assorted leftovers from dim sum with friends earlier in the day
scrambled eggs
steamed carrots
lentil sprout salad

Sunday
fried homemade flour tortillas, topped with
refried beans
hubbard squash

Monday
bean and squash soup, using all leftovers
leftover rice and egg casserole
orange wedges
blackberry cobbler

Tuesday (daughter's night)
pasta smothered with chicken in sage and winter squash sauce
orange wedges
leftover cobbler

Wednesday (other daughter was sick, so I stepped in for her at the last moment)
scrambled eggs with sausage, onions, garlic, and radish greens (from the trough planter on the deck)
fried brown rice and lentil sprouts
carrot sticks

Thursday
scratch waffles and syrup
scrambled eggs
orange wedges


I wasn't really in a cooking mood last night, so I made a batch of waffles. I have never bought pancake or biscuit mix, but have always made pancakes and waffles with a scratch batter. Mixing my own batter is really not any trouble and saves money over buying the boxed mixes. 

Cost of scratch waffles
Boxed biscuit mix contains flour, shortening, baking powder (or equivalent), salt, and sugar. Walmart sells a Great Value Biscuit Mix, 40-oz. for $2.50. This size box makes about 50 waffles, if following the Betty Crocker recipe on the Bisquick recipe site. Not including the egg, milk, and additional oil required by the recipe, the mix for a 12-waffle batch costs about 54 cents, or a single waffle about 5 cents. When I make waffles from scratch, my batter for an 8-waffle batch costs about 25 cents, not including the egg, milk, and 2 tablespoons of oil to make the comparison close to equal, for a cost of about 3 cents per each waffle's basic ingredients. In addition, my waffles are Belgian-style, so they are thicker and denser than the waffles on the Betty Crocker site. An 8-waffle batch is the right amount for our family of 4 for one meal. So, my savings for one family meal is about 16 cents. 16 cents doesn't sound like much. However, if I save 16 cents on each dinner for a year, I will have an extra $58 in my pocket. I recognize that you may have more lucrative things to do with your time than I do, so this savings may not be as meaningful to you.

Convenience factor of scratch vs. boxed waffles
A person still needs to add egg, a liquid (usually milk), plus additional oil if making waffles with a commercial biscuit mix -- that's a combination of 4 ingredients. The Betty Crocker website says that the prep time is 15 minutes. I can't imagine it taking 15 minutes to break an egg and measure oil, mix, and milk. So let's say using a mix takes 7 minutes. My own pancake/waffle recipe calls for flour, salt, baking powder, sugar, oil, egg, and milk/water, for a total of 7 ingredients, just 3 more than using a boxed mix. Since I've memorized the "recipe" (it's a rather loose recipe), the measuring and mixing process goes very quickly, faster than my waffle iron can preheat, in fact. I estimate that it takes about 9 minutes to measure and add all 7 ingredients, or 2 additional minutes. So, I save 8 cents per extra minute of time for making scratch waffles over boxed mix. 8 cents per minute works out to $4.80 per hour, if I were doing similar cost-saving tasks for an entire hour. Considering I probably waste at least an hour each day, spending the time to save money doesn't cut into my "real" money-earning time. For a batch of waffles, I think I can afford 2 extra minutes.

The taste of scratch waffles
Unless someone has been raised on commercial biscuit mix waffles, and therefore only feels that type of waffle would be palatable, scratch waffles have the potential to be so much tastier, heartier, and more nutritious than boxed mix ones. So, I save money and serve a better waffle by mixing a batter from scratch.


Onto other meal-subjects -- We are definitely into orange vegetable season. Sweet potatoes, squash, and carrots made into our dinners on 6 out of 7 nights this week. We still have some greens in the garden and on the deck, as well as the lentil sprouts and kale microgreens in the kitchen. The garden greens may be in the last week of their season, however.

For those of you who live where snow is a usual item in the winter forecast, it may be difficult to understand my excitement over next week's forecast for the Seattle area. We might get snow on Thanksgiving weekend! To put this in perspective for my area, we still have a few green leaves on otherwise deciduous trees and vines in the yard, and one of our rhododendron bushes has blossoms on it. A lot can change in a weather forecast in the PNW, so time will tell.


So, how was your week of meals? What was on your menu this past week? Anything especially good? Have you found that you're using a lot more orange vegetables this month, too?

Wishing you all a lovely, weekend!

Using Painters Tape on Paper for Stenciling

I just wanted to show you another use for spray-paint, this time to stencil light card stock for making gift tags. One of the days that I was spraying the gilded leaves, I thought I'd spray a strip of card stock, too. I just wanted to paint an edge down a long strip, so I could cut the strip into small card size rectangles. In order to keep the center portion of the strip free of paint, I used some painters tape.

This is a tip that I learned from my artist daughter. She uses painters tape when marking out an edge on a leaf of watercolor paper, sort of a frame for a work. Painters tape that is adhered to paper, as is, will likely damage the paper when removing it. So, one needs to make the tape slightly less-sticky. To do that, my daughter showed me how she presses the sticky side of the tape against a sweatshirt, t-shirt, or jeans' leg (basically any fabric that is slightly linty). The sticky side of the tape will pick up a small amount of lint, but still be able to adhere to paper. Once the artwork is completed, the tape pulls off the paper, leaving the paper in good shape, instead of peeling off the top layer of the paper with the tape.

So, to make these gilded-edge gift cards, I used a long strip of lightweight poster board that I had in my stack of scrap papers/board. I made a long strip of painters tape slightly less sticky by pressing onto my jeans' leg 2 or 3 times. Then I pressed the tape down the center of my board. 

I sprayed the strip, tape and all, and allowed the paint to dry. Upon peeling the painters tape off, I was left with a long strip of board that is edged in gold paint.

Once the strip was edged in gold, I cut it into sections to fold into small gift enclosure cards. Tip to fold stiff card stock: lightly score the top side of card, along the intended fold line with a craft knife, box cutter, or kitchen paring knife. The stock will fold neatly along the scored line.

I embellished my small cards with small, gold-painted leaves, attached with a glue dot. Rubber stamps or felt pens could also be used to include a simple message on the front of the card.

I "bought" my Thanksgiving turkey, and yes, it was free!

Yesterday morning, I got myself pulled together early, printed out my shopping list, and headed to Fred Meyer. The store was surprisingly uncrowded, perhaps because this was a second bonus Senior Shopping Discount Day. And to be honest, I, myself, was beginning to tire of getting up and out early on Tuesdays to snag whatever discounts there were for the previous two Senior Shopping Discount Days. 

You see, I share a car with my two adult daughters. They are both working and use my car to get to and from work as substitute teachers. Taking a city bus is not always convenient for their sub jobs, and in some cases, not even possible (as the buses don't even come close to a few of the schools where they can sub). On occasion, they find sub jobs at the same school or at a neighboring school. Other times, one will sub at one of two neighborhood schools that are within walking distance. And still other times, one will drop the other off at a school then travel on to their own school for subbing. Then there are the occasions where both of them find sub jobs along a city bus line. 

Most days, I don't have a car between 8 AM and 4 PM. On those days, I try to get up and out early if I have errands, so I can bring the car back for them before 8. That usually means that I leave the house early enough to be standing there at the store's doors before official opening. Our Fred Meyer tends to open a few minutes before 7 AM, even though 7 is the official opening time. If I have a list with me, I can get in and out of the store in about 45 minutes or less, leaving me just enough time to pull into our driveway for my daughters to help me unload the trunk, so they can take the car for work. Sometime in this next year, my daughters will either each buy their own car or will buy one car to share.

Anyways, back to getting my turkey. I had my list finalized and ready to print. Too early for me to even think clearly, I dressed as quickly as I could, pulled my hair into a ponytail, and grabbed what I needed for shopping. This was no time for silly things, like you know, eating breakfast. I made a cup of coffee to go and booked it out the door. Everything went as planned. Absolutely everything on my list was available. How often does that happen? Not often for me. As planned, I bought very little food. Instead, I bought mostly consumable, non-food items, such as LED lightbulbs (including some of those pricer indoor floodlight-style can lights), copy paper, OTC meds and supplements, dish detergent, carpet cleaner, and hair color. I also bought 2 gifts and about $16 in food. 

Absolutely everything that I bought either received a discount, was on sale, or both. In most cases, I bought a 6-month to 1-year supply of items. I spent $165, not including tax. On one of the gifts, if I find that item for less in the next 30 days, I will return this one to Fred Meyer and keep my free turkey, as I will still be beneath the $150 spending threshold.

I know that I've mentioned this before, the free turkey deal is one of the few "free major food item with a minimum purchase" deals available during the year. The stores near me never have similar promotions at Christmas or Easter. This is just a Thanksgiving deal. So, I work my long and short-range plans to take advantage of the deal without overspending to get there.

Since I can use non-food items to make the needed minimum purchase, it makes sense to allow our stock of non-food consumable items to be depleted during the late summer through fall months so that I can then restock during this free-turkey promotion.

One 21-pound turkey later, and I'm a pretty happy woman. In November's budget, I had allocated $12 to $14 for a turkey. Since the turkey was free, I put an additional $6 toward sparkling cider, which gives us enough sparkling cider now for Christmas, New Years, and Easter. That leaves me with $6 to $8 in surplus for the month's groceries, which I can "invest" in additional sale items as I see them.

You already know this -- these "deals" are only a deal if you don't overspend in order to meet the requirements. Stores wouldn't make these offers if enough people didn't do just that, go wild in their spending just to get that free item. Thanks to all of you who helped me stay on track with this!

Free Cellophane Gift Packaging from Boxes of Tea

more free gift packaging ideas

Do you have any food or spa gifts that you'd like to package in clear cellophane for gifting? This kind of gift-packaging can be very appealing for both homemade and commercially-made gifts. I can think of several commercially-made gifts that come in a large bag that could be divided up into smaller gifts by repackaging. Bath bombs, candies, nuts, and even tea bags often come several to a large package, making them ideal for divvying up into personal gifts.

Both large and small boxes of tea come over-wrapped in thin cellophane to preserve the freshness of the tea itself. This same cellophane can be carefully removed from the package and repurposed/recycled into gift packaging. Perhaps you recall seeing this post, where I showed you how I used the cellophane from a tea box to overwrap a bar of homemade soap. I carefully cut the cellophane off the box and wrapped the soap as one would a boxed gift, using glue stick to seal the cellophane wrapping in place of tape. I want to emphasize that you do have to carefully cut away this type of thin cellophane, as it can tear. With that said, it is free packaging for gifts. And free is always a good thing, right?



Yesterday, I was filling the birthday gift bag that I made from an H & M store shopping bag, and needed 2 small cellophane gift bags for repackaging commercial candy as part of the gift. I have these 2 small boxes of holiday tea that both came over-wrapped in cellophane. Once removed from the boxes, these would make perfect little gift bags for candy.

After turning the boxes on end, I carefully cut the top off of the cellophane from one of the ends of each, leaving the rest of the cellophane in an open box-like shape.

I carefully scrunched and slid the cellophane off of each box until I had an empty rectangular "bag" for each.

The bags were now ready for filling. Once I'd added the candy of my choosing, I straightened and cut an ordinary twist-tie in half and used these to secure the candy bags closed. Tied up with ribbons and I have a couple of nice-looking bags of candy for gifting.

Repurposing the cellophane packaging from my boxes of tea is not only a freebie, saving me money on gift wrap, but it also gives a second use to something that might otherwise go straight to a landfill.  So much of holiday gifting creates excess waste. I think that it's nice to add a few gifts that do something good for a change.

Transforming Paper Store Bags into Gift Bags with Spray-Paint

Do you have a bunch of store shopping bags, the kind that you get when you buy merchandise from a clothing or gift store? Since I have young adult daughters in my house, these bags find their way into our possession with moderate frequency. Some of them are quite nice as they are, and we reuse those bags for gifts within our family. Others are okay -- good bags, but with a prominent logo on each side. They're not as nice for gifting, especially outside of our immediate family. 

With a couple of cans of spray-paint (I used matte silver and matte gold), these store bags can be transformed into nice gift bags.

Here's an H & M store bag. There's not especially nice about the bag, except that it's in good conditions and has a nice gift bag-style handle (instead of just a plain paper sack).

I taped off the handle with painters tape because I wasn't sure how easy it would be to spray-paint or how well the spray-paint would adhere. For instance, I was concerned the spray-paint might rub off when being handled. So, I taped it with painters tape.

Next, I stuffed the bag with plastic bags and wraps from packages, such as the plastic wrap from a large package of bathroom tissue. With the top plastic bag, I fixed the plastic so that it was level with the top of the bag. The plastic bags and wrap protect the interior of the bag from overspray as well as hole the bag open completely, even on the sides.

After taping and stuffing the store bag, I gave it 3 light coats of one color (silver) of spray-paint. You can see that when the paint is still wet, the logo beneath shows through. 

When the paint dries, the logo basically vanishes.

(My indoor lighting is bad for photography, but IRL this bag is silver striped with gold.)

After the third coat of paint had dried, I used a second color of spray-paint (gold) to add some visual texture to the bag in the form of diagonal stripes. The purpose for this second color is to camouflage any of the logo that might show through. 

I am really pleased with how easy this was as well as how nice my new "gift bag" looks. This bag will soon be used, as I needed a gift bag for a birthday gift this week. I'll be rounding up the rest of my store bags later this week to make holiday gift bags. 

Cheap & Cheerful Suppers for November

This photo is from our family trip to the pumpkin farm several weeks ago. I love this! The trees are so beautiful.

For those of you who shop at Fred Meyer, I'm really happy to report that there is another bonus Senior Discount Day, Tuesday, Nov. 19. AND, the turkey deals have been announced, so if you're buying your turkey at Fred Meyer and you're 55+, you can save on your turkey and everything else you might buy at Fred Meyer. Plus, there's a friends and family pass (discount in several departments) in the circular. See the front page of this week's circular.

I went to Fred Meyer for the first bonus Senior Discount shopping day on Tuesday and spent $18.75, bringing my spending up for the month to $112.43. (I bought sugar, eggs, and coffee.) My daughters paid me a couple of dollars for something, so I used that money to buy an additional gallon of milk for the month while I was at Fred Meyer.

Here are this week's evening meals.

Friday

Friday
meatloaf with gravy
freebie mashed potatoes
Swiss chard and onions
butternut squash

Saturday

Saturday
rice and beans
lentil sprouts in vinaigrette
orange segments

indoor lettuce in pots

Sunday
peanut noodles
lettuce (from indoor pots) with dressing

kale and apple salad

Monday
baked chicken leg quarters with gravy
fresh whole wheat bread
kale and apple salad (both garden items)
sweet potato fries
scratch brownies

Tuesday

Tuesday (daughter's night)
pumpkin, bean, and sausage soup
tossed salad using the last of the lettuce, plus some kale
zucchini bread from the freezer

Wednesday

Wednesday (other daughter's night)
chicken and vegetable soup (made with chicken bones from Monday, carrots, onions, and kale from garden)
scratch whole wheat and raisin muffins
chocolate chip cookies

gingered carrot and lentil sprout salad

Thursday
gingered carrot and lentil sprout salad
curried butternut squash and peanut butter soup
bread and butter
apple wedges and last of the homemade caramel sauce



You may have noticed, we have brownies often. I think this is one of my daughters' favorite thing to bake. About once per week, the two of them will hang out in the kitchen late at night, talk, and bake. Years from now, when they are both busy in their own lives, they'll remember all of those late nights together in the kitchen baking brownies.

Do you remember those 64-oz jars of peanut butter that I bought for $2 at a new dollar store in our area? They have an expiration date of January 2020, so I've been trying to use peanut butter in meals. This week, we did peanut noodles and a squash and peanut butter soup. I also made peanut butter granola yesterday to go with a fresh batch of yogurt (also made yesterday).

We finished off the potted lettuce this week. It did okay sitting in the window for over a month. It did, however, develop a small aphid problem, only noticeable when I was rinsing the leaves. We've now moved on to kale, chard, and sorrel (in garden) and radish greens (in planter on deck), plus sprouts and kale microgreens. All of the greens are generously supplemented with winter squash, canned pumpkin, sweet potatoes, and carrots. 

I continue to look for new ways to use the lentil sprouts, since these are so easy to grow in my kitchen. If you recall, last week I made a stir fried rice and lentil sprout dish. This is my go-to quick snack or lunch, when there's nothing easy to grab and I have leftover cooked rice on hand. This week, I made a carrot and lentil sprout salad which was very tasty. I'm sure that I will share many more creations that use lentil sprouts in the coming months. (And you're all sitting on the edge of your seats, waiting in anticipation for these fascinating lentil sprout reports -- ha ha!)

How has your week gone? Was there anything interesting on your menu this week? Any big plans for the weekend?

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!

Non-Food Items to Bulk up the Grocery Shopping and Get the Best Turkey Deal

The turkey deals have been announced. The best deals in my local stores involve very large (for me, at least) purchases in order to qualify. At Fred Meyer, if I spend $150, I can get a 20-lb turkey for free. If I spend just $50, I can get a turkey for 49 cents per pound. WinCo also has a free turkey deal, with a minimum spend of $100. I will be sticking with Fred Meyer for my turkey, though. Here's why. Fred Meyer is a department store, much like Target, selling an extensive variety of non-food goods in addition to groceries, whereas WinCo is more limited in what they carry.

The last two afternoons, I have brainstormed all of the products that I could possibly buy at FM (and not overpay per item) and spend that $150. I actually don't buy a lot of food at Fred Meyer, because frankly, I can do better, price-wise on food items at many of the other stores and markets in my area. But I do buy household items at Fred Meyer, because their store-brands of household items are quite good. For example, I buy Fred Meyer's Everyday Living LED lightbulbs and Office Works copy paper -- both are house-branded, priced well, and have performed well for me. 

So my list is comprised of almost exclusively non-food items that can be found at Fred Meyer and many other grocery stores. It occurred to me that some of you might also be considering whether or not you will be spending a substantial amount in order to qualify for a free or reduced-price turkey. I thought I'd share what I've come up with for bulking up my grocery list and snagging myself a free turkey.

I'll be buying my turkey (or rather, getting my free turkey) on this coming Tuesday, which happens to be another bonus 55+ shopping day at Fred Meyer. In putting together my shopping list, I have literally walked around my home and garage, opening drawers and cupboards and asked myself "is this something I would normally buy at Fred Meyer?" I discovered that there are quite a lot of non-food items that I buy over the course of a year, there, or in a similar store. Here's a list of items that I've come up with so far.

Bathroom

• bath tissue
• facial tissue
• hygiene supplies
• toothbrushes/paste/mouthwash/whitening strips
• personal items like lip balm, cosmetics, soap/body wash, shampoo/conditioner, hair color
• first aid, such as epsom salt, bandages, ointments, cotton or gauze balls/pads/swabs, hydrogen peroxide, rubbing alcohol
• OTC meds and supplements
• bathroom cleaners, sponges, toilet brushes, shower squeegees
• travel containers for vacations
• hair accessories, tools, and appliances
• razors
• baby supplies

Bedroom

• hangers
• moisture control products for the closet

General

• lightbulbs
• batteries
• cleaning solutions (hard surface and carpet/upholstery) and tools
• candles, matches, lighters, pressed logs, charcoal briquets, flashlights  

Office

• copy paper
• tape -- duct, Scotch, packing
• pens, highlighters, Sharpies
• sticky notes
• file folders
• scissors, rulers

Kitchen

• dishwashing liquid
• dishwashing powder
• paper towels, waxed paper, plastic wrap, foil, baggies, napkins, coffee filters
• small kitchen tools/gadgets, like can/bottle openers, rubber spatulas, pancake turners, mixing/serving spoons
• storage and lunch containers, glass or plastic
• small electric appliances -- mixers, kettles, stick blenders 
• bakeware, cutting boards, cooling racks

Garage

• motor oil, other car fluids
• chamois cloths
• gas cans
• ice scrapers for windshields
• bag of sand or kitty litter to keep in trunk for dealing with snow/ice
• spray paint, wall patch putty
• measuring tape
• snow shovel
• emergency auto supplies, like road flares

Holiday Specific

• holiday lights
• extension cords
• wrapping paper
• small gifts/stocking stuffers

Personal

• umbrella
• mittens
• socks
• shoe polish, shoe inserts

This isn't a list of everything I intend to buy, but simply a list of possibilities. Many of these items I buy at other stores, simply because they're less expensive at places like Dollar Tree, and I only need a basic level of quality for particular items. I left them on this list because they may be less expensive for you at the store with your best turkey-deal. 

Do you know what? I am extremely close to that $150 threshold for a free turkey. It helps that I've spent extraordinarily little on things like lightbulbs, bandaids and tape, and just allowing us to run out of many of these items over the past 6 months. In addition, I'll be buying a couple of holiday gifts at FM, ones that turn out to be less expensive there compared to other stores. I need just a couple more items to reach that spending threshold. I'm looking for suggestions for my list, if you can think of anything else. 

So, what else could I add to my list of possibilities?

Silvery Leaves

The other week, when I was spray-painting the paper stars, I also painted more leaves. I had previously painted all of the leaves that I'd gathered in early October with a gold spray-paint. One of you lovely people suggested that I paint some leaves in other metallic colors. Since I had a can of matte silver, that's what I chose. I went outside and gathered more leaves to press and dry. Then a week later, I painted this batch.

Having different colors of leaves adds depth and interest to the layout. If I could make one other addition, I would buy a can of copper or rose gold spray-paint for 3 metallic shades. However, the two matte metallic shades are also nice. So, thank you for the comment, friend!

As I mentioned before, the smaller of these leaves (the birch leaves) will be reused on holiday packages in December. I love that I can get additional use from our Thanksgiving table decor.

Meal Prep Sunday (or Monday, When There's a Monday Holiday)

kale and apple salad

Who knew that this was a thing, a trendy thing? Many of us have been using some form of meal prep, in advance of actual meal times for years. Back when my kids were littles, I did OAMC, where I would spend an entire Saturday making 25 family dinners for the freezer. Then later, when most of my family members were brown-bagging it to work or school, I meal-prepped lunches, making several casseroles and salads for the fridge, to be grabbed in the minutes before heading out the door each morning. Recently, my daughters inspired me to meal-prep some lunches and breakfasts.

doesn't look like much right now, but this container of onion soup will be
delicious when reheated, one bowl at a time, and topped with melted cheese

Apparently, meal prepping, especially Sunday meal prepping, is an "in" thing. Reddit has at least 7 subs dedicated to meal-prepping. I think that's a lot, considering Reddit tends to attract a lot of younger people, Millennials and younger. My favorite sub-Reddit is MealPrepSunday. If you're looking for ideas and inspiration for your own weekly meal prep, this sub is filled with tantalizing photos, recipe links, and simple-enough ideas.

the other soup that I made -- curried butternut squash and peanut butter.
So, delicious I had to have a small bowl before I put the rest in the fridge.

I know that Alice, here, likes to meal-prep for the coming week's lunches and dinners. I've appreciated Alice's ideas as they've offered inspiration for some of my own meal prepping.

So, what would be some of the advantages of meal-prepping, even for someone like me who is home most of each day?

• for starters, the obvious -- to make meals easier in the moment, saving time and energy expenditure. The time we save may get us out the door faster in the morning or give us a few minutes to relax at the end of the day.
• meal-prepping is a way to be more efficient with our work. If I am chopping carrots and onions, it's a lot more efficient to chop a week's worth in one go, than to get out the knife and cutting board on  5 or 6 separate nights, saving my time as well as electricity and natural gas for cleaning the cutting board, knife, peeler, food processor and any other tools I might need.
• to ensure that we eat what we intend to eat. You know the scenario -- you go to the store and buy a bunch of healthy produce, lean meats, and whole grains. Then at the end of the week, you discover that no one ate the healthier stuff, because in the moment, fixing those foods sounded much more involved than grabbing any of the prepared  foods, such as cookies and pastries. As a result, we might not eat the amount of veggies that we intend for improving our health. Intentional eating benefits our health, as well as our wallet. Which brings me to the next benefit.
• to limit eating only the more expensive foods, whichever those may be for your kitchen. In our house, more expensive foods would include nuts, cheese, and meat. It's fine to eat these foods in moderation, but if we only ate these foods, and none of the less expensive foods like squash, apples, legumes, or garden leafy greens, we wouldn't be able to keep our budget where it is.
• to minimize the reliance on last-minute take-out or restaurant eating. Eating out is a fun experience. I am definitely not anti-eating out. However, I think that some of the fun of eating out is diminished when we do it too often, or it's too last-minute. I like to anticipate restaurant meals. I feel like I double my fun through the anticipation segment of restaurant dining.

cinnamon rice -- a complete meal all on its own, grain, nuts, vegetable

There are as many forms of meal prepping as there are individuals. One family may meal prep a full week's worth of meals, breakfast, lunch, and dinner, one day per week, or even one or two days per month. Another family may double-up when preparing weeknight dinners, making twice every item, then use the leftovers on another night. A single individual might make their own individual freezer meals, using purchased or repurposed sectioned meal trays. Someone else may find it simply beneficial to pre-chop a bunch of veggies and meat to simplify nightly stir fries, soups, or casseroles. Some folks like to bag crockpot ingredients, for and easy dump 'n go in the mornings. For my family, I use meal-prepping as a way to use up lingering foods from the fridge and garden produce that may not last much longer. I pre-portion some items (when I really want us to use these up), while leaving others in large casseroles or tubs. 

So, what did I meal-prep this weekend? As I said before, I tend to use meal-prepping as a way to use up lingering foods, which could account for some of my odd-sounding dishes. Nonetheless, here's my list of foods that I prepped for the week:

• onion soup
• butternut squash-peanut butter soup (like Live and Learn's pumpkin-peanut soup, just with butternut squash)
• chunks of butternut squash to be topped with butter and salt
• cinnamon rice -- like fried rice, but a sweet version of cooked brown rice, chopped almonds, cinnamon, and small chunks of cooked butternut squash, all sauteed in a mix of oil and butter. My preferred way to make cinnamon rice is with raisins, but I was out of them, so I subbed some cooked squash in their place. This is a favorite breakfast dish of mine when I'm out of homemade yogurt. 
• kale and apple salad in a sweet dressing made with melted jelly, mayonnaise, and vinegar. Kale is one of a couple of green leafy vegetables that holds up well after dressing, keeping in the fridge for several days without wilting. I tossed the apples in lemon juice before adding the rest of the ingredients, to prevent browning.
• gingered-carrot salad, using candied ginger and shredded carrots, in a dressing of honey and mayo. Carrots are another "salad" vegetable that will hold up in the fridge for several days after adding dressing.
• chard, rice, milk, and egg bake -- this one was made with my husband in mind. He enjoys rice baked with eggs more than I do. However, this was a great way to use up some thawed (previously frozen) eggs that had been lingering in the fridge a few days.
• whole wheat bread -- I baked 4 loaves of whole wheat sandwich bread, which, of course, will pair nicely with all of that homemade soup.
• boiled eggs -- not much to preparing these, but having eggs already boiled makes grabbing a high-protein food super easy for my family
• oven-roasted sweet potato wedges

an extra-large batch of sweet potato fries about to go into the oven --
some for dinner now, some for later

As much as possible, I made my work easier. For instance, some of these items were part of dinner one night. I just made lots so that there would be leftovers for another meal. I used my food processor for shredding and chopping. I used my stand mixer for mixing and kneading the bread dough. And I didn't peel the sweet potatoes -- healthier and easier.

Now for the burning question -- did you do any advanced meal prep this past weekend? If so, what did you make for this week's meals? Do you tend to meal prep dinners more than lunches or breakfasts, or do you like to meal prep for several types of meals?