Cheap & Cheerful Suppers for the last of June

Friday

Leftovers for 1 (chili, bread and vanilla-rhubarb butter, tossed salad, carrots sticks and peanuts), dinner out with GF for son, and my daughters and I had a girls night out at Five Guys. Totally out of character for us, but we enjoyed it immensely.

Saturday

Scrambled eggs, topped with cheddar, salsa, chopped canned tomatoes and ground chipotle pepper
Rhubarb crumb muffins (scratch, Jayne's recipe)
Mustard glazed carrots (added mustard, brown sugar and butter to saucepan, after steaming carrots)
Tossed green salad from garden

Sunday

Roasted chicken leg quarters (the ones I bought for 49 cents/lb in 10-lb bag at Albertson's), canned tomatoes, salsa, black olives and seasoned with a mix of chili powder, oregano, garlic powder and salt, over
Brown rice
Sauteed kale, from garden, in saved ham fat from freezer
Fresh berries from the garden

Monday

Chicken and rice enchiladas (using the chicken left on the bones from the night before, mixed with leftover rice, for the filling, topped with scratch enchilada sauce from Belinda's site, topped with cheese and olives)
Green salad from garden, with homemade vinaigrette
Blackberry-rhubarb gelatin, using bulk gelatin, sugar, and wild blackberries, garden rhubarb

Tuesday

Garbanzo bean and pumpkin soup (pumpkin from the free pumpkins last fall, pureed and kept in freezer, plus homemade chicken stock, garlic powder, shallots and cumin, pureed with cooked garbanzo beans)
Garlic toast (on homemade hot dog buns from the freezer)
Green salad from garden, with homemade 1000 Island dressing
Fresh raspberries from the garden

Wednesday

Brown rice and yellow split pea pilaf
Deviled eggs
Salad of greens, garbanzo beans, black olives and vinaigrette
Poached plums (frozen plums, stewed briefly in their liquid, a bit of water and cherry extract)
Bran muffins
Brownies

Thursday

Cheese souffle
Pasta and veggie salad
Watermelon
Leftover brownies


I finally tackled that 10-lb bag of frozen chicken leg quarters. I broke it up into 4 portions, each portion has 2 leg quarters, which is about right for making something like enchiladas, or chicken in a sauce over rice.

And you'll notice that 3 of us actually ate out in a restaurant this past week. I was needing a girls' night out, my husband would not be home till almost 10 and my son was gone for the evening. So just us girls went to Five Guys. It was good, yeah, but I'm okay if we don't do that again soon. Two days later, us girls had more time together during the afternoon, and that time, we chose to bring sandwiches to the beach, along with iced tea, for an al fresco lunch by the Sound. And honestly, I enjoyed that just as much as the burgers and fries from Five Guys. Every so often, I need to stick my toes in the water to see if I'd like to go in. (That's me, every once in a while, eating out just to see what I am or am not missing.) Anyways, I didn't have to cook that night. Yay!

Also, still a lot of eggs and beans. I've come to really enjoy preparing eggs for suppers, as I don't have to think too far in advance, the way I do if I need to thaw meat or soak beans. And my family doesn't seem to mind all of the egg meals. So, alls good with that.

How about you? What was on your menu this past week?

A mop does not have to be pretty to work

I've seen those pinterest pages with very nicely done Swiffer-style mop heads that can be washed and reused. They're neatly sewn and look so professional. For a while,  I felt like my sad-looking mop head was put to shame. (Yes, I do sometimes catch a case pinterest-envy.) Then I realized, there are some things that don't need to look pretty to be functional. And to me, mop heads fall into that category. So, stand tall, old-rag-become-mop head. You're doing a fine job!

This is my reusable mop head. I fell into the same trap as many, and about 15 years ago bought a Swiffer because "it would save me so much time". For many years, I used rubber bands to hold rags onto the Swiffer. That did work. This past January, though, I got serious about mop heads (said, tongue-in-cheek). I grabbed one of my old pre-married life towels and turned it into a mop head that didn't require rubber bands.

I took a hand towel, folded it over, then folded this into almost thirds, measuring against the Swiffer head. Next, with my sewing machine I straight-stitched the ends to hold everything in place. I did this all rather hurriedly and spent at most 5 minutes. I didn't even bother with trimming the ends. I used an ordinary sewing needle, and my machine is nothing fancy, but it was still able to sew through all the layers of towels.

To use it, we slide the Swiffer into the opening and just line up the edges so the Swiffer is centered in the folded and stitched towel.

I didn't blog about this at the time, as I wanted to give this mop head a chance to prove itself. Six months of weekly mopping, and it's still holding up fine. The stitching hasn't broken. The mop heap still slips onto the Swiffer and stays on.

When my husband mops, he'll hold the whole thing under the kitchen faucet. When I mop, I spray the floor with a bottle of vinegar and water then mop. After each mopping, we put the mop head through the washer and dryer.

Part of me was expecting to have to mend this by now or have trouble keeping the mop head on the Swiffer. So far, no troubles.

Even if she isn't the prettiest of mop heads, she's doing a fine job.

The beauty of making this mop head with an old towel is that I have no shortage of old towels. When this one falls apart, I'll be able to make another.