Cheap & Cheerful Meals -- Mid-November

Monday's roasting pan dinner

Friday
sausage pizza, beet salad, spiced fig-applesauce, chocolates

Friday is pizza and movie night, here, where I make a scratch pizza and we watch a free movie on the Roku. I was temporarily out of pepperoni, so I cooked up some Italian turkey sausage to top the pizza. Turkey sausage is dry and lean, and our current mozzarella is on the low-fat side, so I added a bit of cheddar cheese to add some fat to the pizza toppings. That little addition made the whole pizza very tasty. In addition to the pizza, I made a beet salad and some spiced fig-applesauce. The beet salad is a quickie to make. I use a 15-oz can of sliced beets (50 cents at Walmart), cutting the slices into matchsticks then dressing in vinegar, oil, salt, sugar, ground cloves, and onion powder to taste. I let it chill for 30 minutes while I finished up the pizza. And as I've described here before, the fig-applesauce is my homegrown and sweet-preserved unripe figs pureed with some applesauce and a bit of cinnamon and ginger to flavor. Our dessert was a chocolate out of the box of chocolates given to us last Christmas. Yeah, I can hardly believe that we didn't gobble up the chocolates before now, either.

Saturday
baked potatoes topped with greens in cheese sauce and bacon bits, roasted pumpkin cubes, curried slaw, pumpkin snack cake.

This was a busy day for us. We had a tree guy come out to cut up and remove the tree from our roof. After he left, my husband and I had a huge clean-up job to start in on. By late afternoon, my back was tired and I knew I still needed to make dinner. So I made something fairly easy with little hands-on time involved -- baked potatoes covered with greens in cheese sauce and bacon bits, along with roasted pumpkin cube, curried cole slaw and a no-egg pumpkin snack cake that I'd baked in the morning. For the greens, I chose Brussel sprout leaves. The tree removal was hard on the patch of Brussel sprouts, so I thought I'd better use some of the greens while I could. The pumpkin cubes came from another one of our small garden pumpkins. And like before, I washed and froze the seeds in the baggie with other squash and pumpkin seeds to roast up once I have a large amount. I was able to bake the potatoes, roast the pumpkin cubes, and steam the Brussel sprout greens in the oven at the same time, just putting them in the oven staggered, to reflect the different cook times needed.

I made these cakes for Monday, not Sunday.
Sometimes, I'm so hungry that I forget
to take a pic before devouring dinner.

Sunday
homemade flour tortillas. scratch refried beans,  canned tomatoes, cabbage in lime dressing, brownies

My husband made dinner for us today. I had some cooked beans in the fridge that needed using up, so I suggested he make something using those. He loves Tex-Mex meals, so that was the theme. My daughters and he prefer the flour tortillas fried (I like them soft), so for the 3 of them, they had fried tortillas -- a lot like those tortilla salad bowls that taco salads are served in. My daughters baked scratch brownies in the afternoon for our dessert. Some day, I think my daughters will reflect that someone was always cooking something in the kitchen during the years they were in this house. That's the way it seems. Earlier in the day, the two of them made a big bowl of popcorn for all of us, too. Someone is always cooking.

Monday
TVP and ground beef meatloaf and gravy, oven-roasted garden baby carrots and garden purple potatoes, garden tossed salad (radishes and their leaves, nasturtium leaves, watercress, beet greens, carrot leaves, lentil sprouts), pumpkin snack cake

I stretch 8 ounces of ground beef with some rehydrated TVP in the meatloaf. This serves four adults. The beef was 73/27, so there's always a lot of fat that seeps out of the loaf while baking. I surrounded the loaf with baby carrots and chunks of potatoes to roast in the fat from the meatloaf. There was still a lot of residual fat in the pan after baking. I used this excess fat to make a gravy to go over the meatloaf and vegetables. Waste nothing. I had about 1/4 cup of pureed pumpkin lingering in the fridge. This was just enough to bake a half-batch of pumpkin snack cake. I baked the batter in 2 small round bakers. After baking, I made a small batch of icing to frost the tops of each little cake. Two cakes served as small servings of dessert for our family of 4 for 2 nights. I continue to find leafy greens in the garden to use in salads. This last week, I found several rogue watercress plants. These are usually a spring thing for us. I picked lots of their leaves to add to a tossed salad. By the time I washed and tore all of the greens, I had enough salad greens for 1 family dinner and 2 me-lunches.

Making meatloaf gravy -- the fat from meatloaf often has zero zip or flavor. Even with rinsing the roasting pan with water to use in the gravy, at most I wind up with a tan thin paste. I stir some flour into the fat left after cooking the meatloaf, heat, and stir in liquid (rinsing from the roasting pan). To flavor, I add some dried herbs (this time I used thyme), onion powder, black pepper, and beef bouillon. If the gravy still tastes a bit flat, I add about 1/2 teaspoon of vinegar. Vinegar adds zip without increasing the sodium.

Tuesday
lentil-vegetable soup, French bread, pumpkin snack cake

We didn't use all of the gravy from last night's meatloaf, so I added the leftover gravy to tonight's soup. I was able to use more baby carrots in the soup as well as Brussel sprout leaves. Our Brussel sprout plants are still doing okay despite taking a hit from the tree removal. Each time I use the leaves in dinner, now, I have to rinse off the sawdust before washing the leaves. As you might imagine, sawdust is a bad thing to put down the garbage disposal. I had to unclog the disposal earlier this week. Now, when I rinse off the sawdust, I dump that rinse water outside. 

Wednesday
chicken divan (chicken, broccoli, cheese sauce casserole), garlic toast, steamed carrots, bar cookies

One of my daughters made dinner for us tonight. They each have 1 night per week. This not only gives me a night off, but is also strengthening their skills to take care of themselves. Sometimes they come up with an idea that they want to make. Other times, I check our ingredients and look for recipes that would be easy and quick to suggest. The chicken divan recipe called for basic ingredients: cooked chicken, broccoli, cheese, milk, flour, butter, mustard powder. A lot of quick and easy recipes call for convenience foods that I may or may not have on hand, such as cream of chicken soup. But this one didn't. And my daughter who made dinner today said that the recipe was very easy. I helped her by poaching a chicken breast earlier in the day while I was doing other things in the kitchen. But the rest was all "her".

Thursday
spaghetti in meat sauce, celery and carrot sticks

Thursday was my other daughter's night to cook dinner. I suggested spaghetti in meat sauce. I don't have a recipe written out for the sauce for her, but instead gave her basic instructions, using 8 ounces of ground beef, 6 ounces of tomato paste, minced garlic, onion flakes, dried oregano, salt, pepper. I asked her to save the fat from browning the ground beef. We'll use this meat fat in cooking at another time.


Breakfasts this week included toasty o's cereal, toasted homemade French bread, homemade yogurt, frozen and dried fruit (raisins, home-dried prunes, home-dried dried cherries, frozen foraged blackberries), milk, canned tomatoes, coffee, tea, milk. I was too busy with other things to make pancakes, waffles, muffins, oatmeal or even Cream of Wheat. It was a get-it-yourself breakfast week, so I brought out a box of toasty o's for the cereal lovers in the family.

Lunches this week included salads from the garden, toasted tortillas and cheese, leftovers, frozen and dried garden fruit, bananas, sunflower seeds, almonds, cabbage, carrots, celery, lentil sprouts, kale, brownies, bar cookies, bread, graham crackers, rice, macaroni.

What was on your menu this past week?

My Week -- Lots of Carrots

this year's carrot harvest

The tree is still on our roof. That says it all, right?

We worked hard on Friday, trying to get some of the tree mess cleaned up, having a rather impromptu Lumber Jill contest. Surprisingly, my two daughters are pretty good with an ax. I'm better with a saw. The three of us were able to cut part of the tree into fireplace lengths using a hack saw, bow saw and an ax while my husband worked up on the roof cutting off what he could. We hope to have the tree removed on Saturday, weather permitting. And yes, there appears to be damage under the tree, which we can't completely assess until the tree is off the roof.

I harvested all of the carrots this week (well, all but 2 carrots left in place to generate seeds next summer). These are carrots that I grew in 2 large pots, so not a whole lot of space. In total, my harvest was about 7 or 8 lbs. The square footage of the surface of these 2 pot combined is about 5 sq. feet -- just sayin' as a guide to know how much carrot harvest we can get from such a small area. Next spring, I hope to plant carrots in 2 large troughs, which would triple my harvest. The big advantage to growing carrots in pots this past year was that we had zero wireworm damage. 

After pulling the carrots, I cut off the green tops to wash for use in cooking and left the whole carrots to dry out (unwashed) overnight. The next day I sorted the carrots by size. I was able to use even those teeny tiny carrots that might otherwise be thrown out. Some of them were really itty bitty. However, I used them in a large pot of vegetable soup for lunch on Tuesday. I also set aside some young carrots for Thanksgiving dinner. The rest of the carrots are bagged up and in the fridge to be used as needed over the next month.

Also on Tuesday, I harvested our first batch of indoor-grown radishes to use in dinner. I am so pleased at how these radishes are doing. The roots are large and free of bug damage, while the leaves are tender enough for salads.

I peeled, cubed and oven-roasted one of our small pumpkins, as it was beginning to feel a bit soft. I set aside a handful of the seeds to dry to use for next year's pumpkin patch and washed and froze the rest of the seeds to roast with those from other pumpkins later this fall (when we have more than just a handful).

We had a tornado warning in a neighboring county this week. How crazy is that? I guess tornados are not completely unheard of in the Puget Sound region. My brother lives in the county where the warning was issued. He said it was very, very dark for most of the day, but that they never saw anything resembling a tornado. In my own county, it was extremely windy with strong gusts. So, I quickly moved all of our patio furniture into the garage. Our power never flickered, but my brother said theirs did.

The weather has fluctuated between mild and pleasant, with sun here and there, and stormy and cold with hail pelting the yard. On the mild days I've taken walks through the neighborhood. Feeling in a holiday mood, for one walk, I made myself a peppermint mocha (using peppermint oil, cocoa powder and sweetening in my coffee) to sip as I toured the neighborhood. I did spy one holiday-themed wreath on a neighbor's door. Something interesting -- some of my neighbors spring-flowering shrubs are flowering right now. I checked out my own yard and found that my rosemary bush has put on new growth, too. This is exciting, as I can take another small harvest from my rosemary for use later this winter. 

I spent some time in the pantry organizing and refilling containers. I like to do this a few times per year. I always find surprises and learn what we need to use soon and which items we may run out. We have lots of canned tomato products, canned tuna, canned green beans, flour, rice, sugar, oil, oats, peanut butter, and raisins. We are just now transitioning to using more of the pantry staples as our garden slows down considerably. There are still Brussel sprouts, kale, turnips, beets, and Swiss chard in the outdoor garden, with, as I mentioned, radishes in the indoor garden. I'll be starting some indoor spinach under lights this weekend to add to our winter veggies. Up to now, I have been using one light fixture for growing indoors. I just recently ordered my birthday, Christmas, birthday gift (I often tell my husband not to get me anything so I can later order something I need or want) of another grow light set-up. I'll be able to not only expand what we grow for the table in winter, but also expand the seed starting in spring for our expanded garden.

I didn't make any grocery pick-ups this week, but I am putting an order together to get over the weekend or early next week. This order will have the remaining items we need for our Thanksgiving dinner.

I spent some time on Thursday getting caught up on bills and going over the budget for the winter season. I'm sure you've heard this but heating prices are expected to increase for most of us. So far, it looks like electricity will see the lowest percentage of increase (averaging about a 6% increase over last year), while the biggest increase will come on propane (about 54% increase over last year). The increase on the cost of heating oil and natural gas fall somewhere in between, at 43% and 30%, respectively. So, I'm trying to maintain a low indoor temperature for this month in order to "bank" some extra in the budget to cover more expensive colder months. I also have our 2 electric space heaters available to use to heat one or two rooms that we might all be sharing during the day or evening when I keep the rest of the house cool. This would also be a good time to get the draft snakes out and put them at the base of doors that we seldom use. Have you thought much about how you might keep your own heating bills from skyrocketing too much this winter?

And now here we are, back to Friday again. This past week flew past, perhaps because we were dealing with this tree mess. I hope you had a great week. What were the highlights for you?

Cheap & Cheerful Meals in this post, here.

Cheap & Cheerful Suppers This Last Week

first harvest of indoor radishes

Friday
pepperoni pizza, fig-applesauce, carrot sticks

Saturday
TVP meatballs and spaghetti, green beans, coleslaw

Sunday
spinach frittata topped with marinara, brown rice, steamed carrots

Monday
TVP, mushrooms, carrot greens in leftover beef gravy over slices of French bread, roasted pumpkin cubes and broccoli

Tuesday
tuna noodle casserole, garden salad (garden greens, lentil sprouts, indoor-grown radishes and their greens), chocolate chip bar cookies

Wednesday
chicken teriyaki over rice, steamed carrots, green beans

Thursday

vegetarian chili, cheese biscuits, carrot sticks

Breakfasts included oatmeal, toasty o's cereal, homemade yogurt, toasted homemade bread, peanut butter, roasted almonds, canned tomatoes, frozen blackberries and blueberries, dried prunes and cherries, juice, coffee, and milk

itty bitty carrots that I used in a large pot of vegetable soup

For lunches this past week, I made 2 large pots of soup, one garden vegetable and the other tomato-basil soup. We also used leftover cooked macaroni noodle, cooked rice, and pizza sauce, plus bread, peanut butter, cheese, peanuts, almonds, celery, carrots, cabbage, lentil sprouts, frozen and dried fruit, juice, yogurt, and milk. One of my daughters enjoys smoothies with her lunches and will often combine some yogurt, frozen blackberries, honey, and milk in a blender. We all like salads and combine chopped raw veggies with lentil sprouts and a creamy dressing for an easy slaw. I also just like simple meals, such as a meal of toast, cheese, nuts, and raisins.

We baked 2 large loaves of French bread, a pan of chocolate chip bar cookies, a batch of scratch brownies, and another batch of pumpkin-chocolate chip mini muffins this week. We seem to gobble up any and everything I bake.

Our meals are humble and very basic. I keep thinking that this weekly post must be boring to read. I sometimes wish I cooked more interesting meals. But this is the type of cook that I am -- basic, but meets our needs.

What was on you menu this past week?

My Week -- Mostly Good

Hi friends,

How has your week been? It's been a mostly good week, here. Wet and windy and all that brings to our area.

I was in the mood for chocolate chip cookies last week but didn't want all of the sugar and fat that cookies typically contain. So, I made chocolate chip mini muffins. The batch made as many mini muffins as the same amount of chocolate chips would make cookies. Only, I used more flour, less sugar, and less fat (and I used oil instead of butter). These were very tasty. I added a full tablespoon of vanilla extract and some molasses to boost the flavor of the batter, and whole wheat flour for part of the flour for added nutrients.

As it turns out, both of my green pumpkins are showing signs that they will turn orange. That's exciting for me. In total, we got 12 pumpkins and winter squash.

I thought I'd share an update on my indoor radishes. They really put on growth this past week. I think I'll start harvesting them for use in a toasted salad on Friday, where I'll use both the leaves and roots.

Believe it or not, I'm still harvesting fresh raspberries every few days. These are overbearing raspberry plants. They produce medium size crops in mid-summer and larger crops in fall if kept watered through summer. The small bowl above was harvested early on Thursday (Nov. 4). There are still more berries forming on the canes, which I expect I'll be picking in a few days. Depending on when cold weather sets in, I may or may not get 2 more pickings. (Or maybe not, keep reading.) We began this one patch with a single cane and will be moving some of the escaped canes to a new bed next spring to double our output of overbearing raspberries.

I'm still harvesting from the garden every day. I have Brussel sprouts, beets, turnips, kale, Swiss chard, green onions, cauliflower (that never flowered but I'm using the leaves), parsley, spinach, lettuce, and nasturtium leaves that I can pick, at least in small amounts. Planting several items in troughs and containers on the deck for a fall garden has worked out very well for us. The deck veggies seem to be doing better than those down below in the garden.

Late Thursday afternoon, a large tree came down onto our house, taking out the back part of the vegetable and raspberry garden. We've had some heavy rains and then Thursday had some gusty winds. The soggy soil loosened the roots enough that a big gust of wind was able to topple the tree. My husband and I spent an hour cutting away what we could and will work more on it Friday before hiring someone to finish the job. We're not even sure yet if there's significant damage to the roof as it came down onto attic space. One of us will go up to the attic to check for openings in the roof later today. While this was definitely not a good thing, our garden will receive more sun in spring and summer as a result of this tree coming down. Looking for the silver lining to this cloud. We've lived in this house for 26 years and have now had 8 trees come down unplanned, hitting the house on 3 of those occasions. You'd think we'd want to move to a treeless lot, wouldn't you?

I had another curbside grocery pick-up this week, again at Fred Meyer. This bag charge thing seems to be fluid. This week, no charge for the bags, and they were using plastic bags that were printed "Pick-up". I don't know if they were using up their old supply of plastic "Pick-up" bags so didn't charge me for them, or if the bag charge on pick-up orders only has been rescinded. I'll find out next time. Anyway, back to my order, I found eggs on sale for 85 cents/dozen in 18-ct cartons (with coupon, limit 5 cartons). I bought the limit, which came to 7 1/2 dozen eggs. This should last us a while. I also noticed that Fred Meyer's 5-dozen box of eggs was less expensive (and not on sale) than a few weeks ago, leaving me to wonder if egg prices are moderating a bit. 

A mostly good week. What were the highlights (or lowlights, as the case may be) of your week? Any interesting weather in your area? 

2 extra posts:

Getting More Servings of Fruits and Vegetables Into Each Day

Cheap & Cheerful Meals This Past Week

Cheap & Cheerful Meals This Past Week

Friday
sausage-pepper-olive pizza, spiced fig-applesauce, carrot and celery sticks

Saturday
TVP meatballs, marinara and spaghetti, sautéed kale, mini chocolate chip muffins

Sunday
eggs and sausage, pan-fried garden potatoes, steamed carrots, cole slaw, popcorn balls

Monday
Italian vegetable-sausage-lentil soup, scratch cornbread, spiced fig-applesauce, blackberry-rhubarb crisp

Tuesday
baked potatoes topped with kale in cheese sauce and bacon bits, pumpkin souffle, slaw salad, leftover blackberry-rhubarb crisp

Wednesday
pot roast with potatoes and carrots, cornbread, celery sticks

Thursday
chicken pot pie, cole slaw

Another week of all home-cooked meals. We must be saving some serious money without ever getting take-out or buying last-minute convenience foods. As you can guess, we're sliding into hearty fall and winter menus. We haven't had pot roast or chicken pot pie in many months, but this sure seemed like the week for those comfort foods.

We had half of a red pepper that needed using up, so Friday's usual pepperoni pizza morphed into a sausage and pepper pizza. I also had about a dozen or so olives lingering in the fridge, so those were chopped and added to the toppings. Spiced fig-applesauce made it to the menu twice this past week. This seems like a successful way for me to use up some of these preserved green figs and their syrup. My husband does a good job with TVP meatballs, so that job went to him on Saturday evening to go with spaghetti, tomato sauce, and sautéed garden kale.

Sunday was Halloween and we wanted something quick and easy for our dinner so we could get right to making popcorn balls. (We give out packaged candy but save the popcorn balls for ourselves.)  Eggs and breakfast sausage make such a quick and easy entree. On Friday I had browned 2 meals worth of Italian sausage when making a pizza. I used the second half of this cooked sausage in a soup on Monday, when I also made a double batch of cornbread to be used on Wednesday to go with the pot roast.

Breakfasts also reflected more cool weather cooking with a batch of crockpot Cream of Wheat and another batch of crockpot steel cut oats. We also had yogurt, bran cereal, various frozen and dried fruits from our garden, carrot sticks, canned tomatoes, applesauce, cheese, toast, coffee and milk.

It was get-it-yourself for lunch this week. We all made our own using cabbage, carrots, celery, lentil sprouts, cooked lentils, rice, bread, peanut butter, cheese, eggs, frozen and dried fruits, juice, popcorn, tomatoes, greens from the garden and dinner leftovers.

I only baked a few time this past week, making cornbread, fruit crisp, mini chocolate chip muffins, and 2 large loaves of French bread. The popcorn balls satisfied our sweet tooths, as did a microwave s'more set-up in jars on the counter (graham crackers, mini marshmallows, chocolate chips to be assembled and microwaved).

What was on the menu at your house this past week? Are you finding more comfort foods making it into your meals?

Getting More Servings of Fruits and Vegetables Into Each Day

spinach, carrot, and beetroot powders

A while ago I mentioned I was working at getting more servings of fruits and vegetables in each day. I think this is a challenge for many of us. And yet, as I get older, it seems more important than ever to try really hard to eat more produce for health and digestive benefits. So I thought I'd share what I've been doing that is really helping with this challenge.

I've been doing this for the last couple of years, with the past six months finally reaching what I think is a good amount for my body. I estimate that I consume about 6 full servings of fruits and vegetables each day. To get there, I have 2 key moments every day that help put me over this threshold.

The first key moment comes with my first meal of the day. I eat 3 small to medium servings of fruits and vegetables with breakfast each morning. I'm not a huge breakfast eater. If this meal looks small, keep in mind that I eat small to begin the day then add a snack mid-morning if I'm working physically. 

typical breakfast: carrot yogurt, prunes, canned tomatoes

So, this is a typical breakfast for me. The yogurt has 1 tablespoon of carrot powder stirred in, plus vanilla extract and honey for flavor. Those are home-dried prunes equivalent to 3 full plums. And the small dish of tomatoes is a few tablespoons of canned diced tomatoes doctored up with dried herbs and onion flakes. This is a sample meal. I switch up the produce depending on mood and availability, eating fresh cherry tomatoes, fresh berries or plums, frozen berries, carrot sticks, pumpkin puree, or other dried fruit. I have yogurt with breakfast almost every day. I rarely eat grains for breakfast. But when I do, it's something like Cream of Wheat or oatmeal and I stir in some fruit, grated carrot, or pumpkin puree. In one of the shows I watched on WWII in Britain, they were making muesli and adding a lot of grated carrot, chopped apples, and raisins to the oats. This is the sort of way I eat grains at breakfast, with a lot of fruits and veg mixed in. Breakfast done, and I've had 3 different fruits/vegetables in about 2 1/2 servings.

The other key moment where I sneak in extra fruits and veggies is my afternoon drink snack. I use this as a work-out recharge and endurance drink. It's fruit juice with vegetable powders mixed in. Beets have been shown to increase endurance in athletes, so I always add beet powder. I also add spinach powder, and depending on the juice, I sometimes add some carrot powder as well. My two favorite combinations are orange juice spiked with beet and spinach powders and apple juice with beet, spinach, and carrot powder mixed in. 

orange juice with beetroot and spinach powder

I drink a small juice glass of this as I work out each afternoon. Each glass contains about 5 ounces of pure fruit juice and 1 teaspoon of beet powder, 1/2 teaspoon of spinach powder, and 1-2 teaspoons of carrot powder when using apple juice as the base. I top this juice-powder combination with a little water to thin the taste. And I save myself some time by making a large glass bottle full, enough for several days of the week. If you're curious, the juice with veggie powder mixed in is not as sweet as plain fruit juice and has a mild fruit and vegetable flavor.

So, for your information, 1 teaspoon of beetroot powder is roughly equivalent in nutrition to 1 whole beet, 1/2 teaspoon of spinach powder is roughly equal to 2  1/2 tablespoons of fresh, chopped spinach leaves, and 1 tablespoon of carrot powder is equivalent to 1 large carrot. So, in my juice drink, I am getting 1+ servings of fruits and vegetables in a quick and easy refreshment. I could just drink a large glass of fruit juice, but by mixing in the veggie powders, I am getting more vegetables and greater variety than I might otherwise eat.

With these 2 moments in each day providing about 4 servings of fruits and vegetables, whatever else I eat at lunch and dinner puts me way over the 5-a-day that's recommended and into the 6 plus territory. I typically eat 1 small to medium serving each of fruit and vegetables at lunch and about 2 servings of produce with dinner. Like everyone else, I have "off" days where I just don't eat as much produce at lunch and dinner, but I do try very hard to eat my 4 at breakfast and afternoon snack.

a cup of frozen blackberries,
good thawed with a honey drizzle

We all know that fruits and vegetables can be expensive in the grocery store. My garden really helps with these foods. In winter I grow lentil sprouts and this year am growing radishes and other greens under lights indoors to supplement our usual purchases of celery, cabbage and carrots, veggies that are always on the less expensive side. I also buy bananas, fruit juice, and sometimes oranges (in season) and apples to provide variety when we're getting tired of frozen garden and foraged fruit in the off season. Remember all of those blackberries we foraged and froze? We're definitely eating a lot of those now.

So, these are the 2 things I am doing to make sure I eat more fruits and vegetables each day, produce-heavy breakfasts and super-charged juice in the afternoon.

Happy November 1st

one of a dozen popcorn balls

Hi Friends,

I hope you all had a lovely weekend. Our family continued with a favorite fall activity and made popcorn balls on Halloween, following the recipe in the post in this link. Last night, we worked roasted peanuts into the popcorn balls. But I wanted to also say that sometimes we make our popcorn balls for Christmas, and then we work roasted almonds and pecans into the popcorn balls. Nut-filled popcorn balls are a very tasty way to do our holiday sweets.

our November dinner plates

And then this morning, I woke up and it was November. Suddenly, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's don't feel so far away. One November 1st tradition in our house is getting out the "turkey" plates. Away go the sunny, floral plates and out come scenes of autumn and winter on our dishes. It's a task I enjoy with the changing of the seasons. 

November 1st is a significant date for another special reason. It's my mother's birthday. She would have been 84 years old today. I don't think we ever stop missing our mothers after they pass away.

On another note, I'm making plans for Thanksgiving dinner already. I have a frozen, bone-in turkey breast and the fixings for family favorite casseroles and a couple of pies. I'll have my work cut out for me later this month.

How as your weekend? We had more trick-or-treaters than I'd planned for. I can never guess correctly in advance. I bought some of each family member's favorite candy, hoping for a few leftovers. Oh well. At least we had our yummy popcorn balls. Have a wonderful evening!

My Week: It's Definitely Fall Now

Last Friday, I made a Walmart pick-up order in the morning. The parking lot was about half full, and I was the only pick-up while I was there. They were out of a couple of items on my list and made substitutions with more expensive brands. Our state has implemented a plastic shopping bag ban in stores and all stores must now charge a bag fee. This went into effect on October 1. My family and I have since made pick-ups at a few different stores and have had differing experiences with the bag ban. With pick-up orders, most stores allow the option of not using their bags and having the employee transfer the merchandise to your own bags, avoiding the bag fee. The information for a bagless pick-up is not always easy to find on the order form. At Walmart, I have so far avoided the per bag fee, by ticking the bagless box on the form. However, they've continued to use bags and not charge me the fee. At other stores, I've either paid a per bag fee or had small numbers of items transferred to boxes or bags set up in my trunk. 

In the evening that same day, we had our usual pizza and movie night. We watched Beetlejuice, which seemed appropriate for the Halloween season.

Saturday was a day of puttering. I got quite a lot done and felt productive. I had been thinking about using the preserved figs and decided to try pureeing them and mixing them with the last of a jar of applesauce. I used our smoothie blender to get a good puree. There wasn't much applesauce in the jar, so this was mostly green figs. The flavor was flat and color was a little off-putting (pale green applesauce), so I doctored it up with about 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger. We all enjoyed this very much and I plan on making another batch to go with tonight's dinner. I think this would be a good solution for other fruits that don't seem popular in my household that we wouldn't want to waste. I have some pears in the freezer that I've been avoiding, but now think I'll puree and mix it with applesauce.

I made a delectable pot of tea over the weekend, using 1 cheap black tea bag and some lavender from my garden. I've mentioned this before, black tea with lavender tastes a lot like Earl Grey tea to me. I was able to get several mugs of tea from that pot.

I potted the tomato cutting that I rooted in water and have noticed it now has some new growth! I don't know if I'll be able to keep it alive long enough to actually grow a tomato or two, but I'll give it a shot. not only can I see new growth, but there are also the teeny tiny buds just beginning to form. This just might work . . .

Also this week, I picked the last 2 green pumpkins. One of the pumpkins has a slight yellow cast under the green skin. This one may ripen fully to orange, given time. The other pumpkin I'm not so sure about. I'll wait another few days to see if it, too, shows signs it could ripen before deciding if I should cook it as a green pumpkin or wait. I took a long length of vine with each pumpkin, with the hope that a long vine would continue "feeding" the fruits for a couple of days. Both pumpkins are sitting in a south-facing window, not that that would help with the dark and dreary days we're having this week, but a little extra light nonetheless. So, my morning ritual of going out to the pumpkin patch to check on my pumpkin babies has come to an end for this year. 

My new morning ritual is to check on my radish babies. The radishes are not only growing greens, but several radishes are now developing red, bulbous roots.

Later in the weekend I watched the Christmas edition of Victorian Farm. This was very interesting. The crew celebrated Christmas in the Big House -- the landowners home. Everything was much more elaborate than the humble celebration shown in a previous episode, from gifts, to gift wrap, and the foods eaten. I have made plum pudding before and may try it again this year. My recipe for plum pudding looks a lot like their recipe for Christmas pudding.

I packed up most of my collected seeds, using repurposed envelopes from solicitations for donations. We get a lot of requests for donations to various causes. I save the inside envelopes for purposes just such as this -- something to hold small items.

My new computer arrived, and I can't believe how much easier this is to use! I should be able to do some things with this blog that weren't possible with my last computer. I answered a lot of questionnaires to earn enough for this new computer!

On Wednesday, a bunny managed to get into a fenced area where the Brussel sprouts are growing. I spent a good hour fixing the fence. Fortunately the bunny didn't do too much damage to the sprouts. He did, however, manage to clean out the Swiss chard in another bed. Oh well, I can let a little garden produce go for nourishing our cute critters. I will, however, work on fencing for all of the beds before planting in the spring.

Our natural gas company is now sending out audits where they compare your natural gas usage to that of similar homes in the area. It didn't surprise me that our usage falls very low in comparison to other homes. We do keep our home on the cool side and we try to take shorter showers. While their comparisons were interesting, I think that their analysis doesn't take some things into consideration. The utility company doesn't know how many people live in each house (more heated showers or loads of laundry) or how well insulated each home is. In addition, some folks need to keep their homes warmer in winter. I don't think a utility company should be guilting some folks about their natural gas use.

My baking this week included 2 large loaves of French bread (instead of sandwich bread, for a change of pace), blackberry and rhubarb crisp (using frozen fruit from the summer's garden and foraging), no-egg pumpkin snack cake, and a batch of brownies. It seems to take a lot of baking to keep my family full! I also made a batch of yogurt on Thursday. I'm still using decedents from the same original yogurt as my starter, freezing a few cups of freshly-made yogurt every other month.

More baking, a garden coming to completion for the season, the furnace running daily, and lots of rainy days -- this definitely feels like fall is here.

What have you been up to this past week?

Two more posts this week:

Cheap & Cheerful Suppers For the End of October

Making Instant Cocoa Mix

Chilly Weather Calls for Some Hot Beverages: Making Instant Cocoa Mix

The weather is turning, we're all wearing sweatshirts and fleece jackets indoors, and cups of hot cocoa have been on all of our minds lately. This last week it was apparent that now was the time to start up the instant cocoa jar for the season. I make instant cocoa by the quart for everyone to help themselves whenever they wish.

Sure, I could buy instant cocoa packets and for less than homemade instant cocoa costs. However, commercial instant cocoa has very little nutritional value. For example, Swiss Miss packets make an 8-oz mug of cocoa and provide 1 gram of protein. 1 gram! 2 tablespoons (1 ounce) of liquid milk have 1 gram of protein. That's how little actual milk is in each packet of Swiss Miss. Sugar and corn syrup are the number one and two ingredients in Swiss Miss instant cocoa. According to the box's label, there are 23 grams of added sugar in each serving of SM. That's about double what my homemade mix contains. So, by making my own instant cocoa mix, I boost the protein content and cut the added sugar content in each cup.

I used to mix this in a bowl, but I've gotten lazy and have discovered that I can mix it up in a quart canning jar and save myself from having to wash a bowl. I don't often follow an exact recipe, but follow loose proportions and taste the dry powder as I go. One quart of instant cocoa mix reconstitutes into about 8 mug-size servings.

My ingredients:

• instant powdered milk
• baking cocoa powder
• powdered (confectioner's) sugar
• salt
• mini chocolate chips

For each mug's worth of cocoa mix, I use about 1/4 cup of instant milk, 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder, 1. 1/2 to 2 tablespoons powdered sugar, and a pinch of salt. So -- about as much instant milk as cocoa powder, sugar, and salt combined (maybe slightly less on the sugar). 

I layer these ingredients in the canning jar in half-jar batches and stir the first half-jar batch before adding the second half-jar batch and stirring. I taste the dry powder and when it tastes "right", my mix is about done. At the very end, I toss in a handful of mini chocolate chips then stir and shake the jar to distribute.

To make a mug of cocoa, use a scant 1/2 cup of mix to 8-9 ounces of hot water. 

The chocolate chips are definitely an extra ingredient. But I know one daughter especially enjoys their addition. She tells me that the cocoa tastes like truffle cocoa with the chocolate chips.

Pricing of ingredients

My best local price these days on instant powdered milk is at a Kroger affiliate, lower than Walmart. I buy cocoa powder at either WinCo ($4.48/lb) from the bulk bins or Walmart ($3.96/lb) in 8-oz canisters. I think the WinCo cocoa powder is slightly better and has a slightly richer flavor than the Walmart cocoa powder. By the way, Kroger cocoa powder costs between $4.58 (on sale) and $5.18 (regular price) in my area. I pick up confectioner's sugar when I find a good price, and I buy several bags as it keeps for years. Currently, Walmart's confectioner's sugar is 2 cents cheaper per pound than Kroger brand. Walmart and Kroger's house brand of mini chocolate chips cost $1.98 to $1.99, respectively, for 12 ounces. If I didn't have mini chocolate chips on hand, I would use regular chocolate chips and hand chop them into smaller pieces. The smaller chips melt better in a mug of hot water. As always, it pays to shop around, stock up when you find a good price, and work from the perspective of the Pantry Principle (Tightwad Gazette).

Cheap & Cheerful Suppers for the End of October

Friday
Homemade pepperoni pizza, beet salad (using canned beets), sautéed garden greens, pumpkin cookies

Saturday
Refried beans and cheese, rice, homemade flour tortillas, carrot sticks, Cole slaw, fig and applesauce (pureed green figs in syrup with applesauce plus cinnamon/ginger)

Sunday
Spaghetti and TVP marinara, sautéed garden greens, steamed carrots

Monday
Kale, bacon and egg quiche, roasted carrots and potatoes, blackberry-rhubarb crisp

Tuesday
TVP & beef meatloaf, rice and gravy, pumpkin soufflé, autumn garden greens salad, blackberry-rhubarb crisp

Wednesday
Lentil-vegetable soup, garlic toast, no-egg pumpkin snack cake (this recipe)

Thursday
Easy chicken-Brussel sprout leaf (tastes like broccoli) Alfredo over cooked pasta, carrot sticks, leftover pumpkin snack cake

So, I found another way to use my less-than-popular-with-my-family preserved green figs. I pureed some figs with their syrup and mixed into applesauce then spiced up with cinnamon and ginger powder. This was very good and got high praise from my family. some thought this was even better than the cake I made with pureed figs.

The beet salad was simply drained canned beets dressed with oil, vinegar, salt, pinch sugar, pinch ground cloves, and dash black pepper. My family enjoys this and it's super easy.

We are almost out of fresh eggs. So I've moved on to using frozen eggs whenever possible. Last week, I thawed a 6-egg container of eggs (mentioned in this post) for some baking I was doing. These are eggs I froze in 2020 while egg prices were still low. Thawed eggs will keep in the fridge for about 3 to 5 days. So, I try to do whatever egg-using baking I can within this time period. I made an extra batch of pie pastry for the freezer (1 egg), a batch of brownies (2 eggs), and a batch of muffins (1 egg) during the previous week. That left me with the equivalent of 2 eggs that were thawed and needed using ASAP. Sunday afternoon I made a 2-egg quiche to serve for Monday's dinner. You read that right, a 2-egg quiche. That doesn't sound like much protein at all. So I "fortified" it with cheese and 8 slices of bacon (saving some bacon to break over the entire baked quiche at the last minute). Eggs have increased in price about 60 cents per dozen in my area. I have several dozen in the freezer from 2020, bought at the lower price. I'll continue using the frozen eggs while I watch for a sale. In addition, I'll use my no-egg and low-egg recipes as much as possible (such as the no-egg pumpkin snack cake).

I used some of the bacon fat to oven-roast carrots and potatoes to serve with the quiche. Very tasty!

On Tuesday, I stretched 8 ounces of ground beef with rehydrated TVP for a meatloaf that served all 4 of us. Meatloaf stretched with TVP is more crumbly than regular meatloaf, but we enjoyed it just the same. I used the fat drippings from the meatloaf to make a gravy to pour over both the meat and rice, flavoring the drippings with thyme, beef bouillon, onion powder, and black pepper.

One daughter made the lentil-vegetable soup for us (following a recipe that I use) and the other daughter made the easy chicken-brussel sprout leaf Alfredo (following some rough guidelines I jotted down). As much as I can, I'm trying to make sure my daughters learn how to cook mostly from scratch, so they can cook for themselves in their own homes some day and not spend a bundle on convenience foods. So when they cook for us, I try to find easy and relatively quick recipes. We'll see if it works this way for them.

The pasta in Thursday's dinner was plain old elbow macaroni. Spaghetti noodles and elbow macaroni are the least expensive pasta shapes in my area, especially when bought in economy sizes.

So, those were our dinners this past week. What was on your menu?

My Week -- Glorious Autumn

It's been a mostly beautiful autumn week, with a few warm and sunny days for talking long walks to see all of the gorgeous leaf colors. On one walk, I came across these remarkable mushrooms. I had no idea brightly-colored mushrooms existed in real life. Many of the yards in my neighborhood are littered with wild mushrooms/toadstools this year due to our very wet late September and early October.

So, last Friday, I did make the pumpkin-shaped sugar cookies. And then on Saturday, my two daughters helped frost and put candy corn eyes and noses on each. My frugality sometimes intersects with my sense of humor. As I was making the frosting, I teased my daughters that I was planning to make a pastel orange icing, you know, to save on food coloring because I'm cheap. My daughters joined the joking around and suggested we just put a thin scraping of icing on each cookie, so thin that some cookie crumbs come off the cookies and onto the knife. As you may have guessed, the icing was neither pastel nor thin on the cookies. It was a fun afternoon in the kitchen with my girls.

Also on Saturday, both daughters helped me pick all of the crabapples. This was a poor year for crabapples. Perhaps the blossoms were badly timed with wet weather and bees couldn't pollinate. That happens.  Anyway, we got all but the requisite few left for critters. (I always leave a couple of pieces of fruit on our trees for critters so they're not too disappointed when they come along later.) I simmered the crabapples in water to extract the juice while we decorated cookies. The kitchen-y smells were definitely autumnal.

Our crabapples are not only tart, but astringent. I've tried a variety of ways to use them. Mostly, I make jelly and that's always appreciated. This year, because there were so few on the tree, the yield of juice was only about enough for 3 or 4 small jars of jelly. Instead of making jelly, I decided to save this juice for adding to commercial apple juice to make a hot cider. 

On Monday, I finally got around to making the spiced cider in my crockpot. In addition to commercial apple juice and a couple of cups of the crabapple juice, I added lots of cinnamon, cloves, and some of the spiced heavy syrup from canning green figs. (Another use for this heavy syrup -- bonus!) The hot spiced cider was a hit with my family. I froze the last pint of crabapple juice to make spiced cider another time this fall.

We had a bit of orange frosting leftover from the cookies just sitting on the counter for a few days while I pondered how to use this up. In the meantime, it hardened to a crust on the inside of the bowl. By Wednesday, I knew I either had to use it or wash the bowl. I was baking a pumpkin pie for that night's dessert and thought, "why not." I soaked the inside of the bowl with the milk I'd planned on adding to the pumpkin filling until the frosting was soft enough to dissolve into the milk. I then mixed this sweetened milk into the filling, cutting back on the sugar called for in the recipe. I saved a bit of sugar and didn't waste the frosting. And, yes, the pie was delicious. 

In the garden

Over the weekend, I collected dill and lettuce seeds this week. Some of the dill seeds will be for planting and some will be for cooking. On Thursday, I picked and dehydrated the final batch of oregano, sage, and rosemary for the year.

With the crabapples and figs now harvested, I just have the 2 green pumpkins and 1 winter squash, some carrots, beets, turnips, and lots of greens left in the garden. I check on my pumpkins daily. The weather next week looks like it will turn cold enough to warrant picking them before Thursday. They may or may not ripen indoors. We'll see.

In a normal year, after harvesting the crabapples, I would move on to picking cranberries. However, this year, there are no cranberries at all. The spot where I once picked 3 quarts of cranberries has grown too shady. Last spring, I took a cutting off a cranberry vine and rooted it. This plant will go under and around the blueberry bushes once I top off that soil later this fall. 

Back when I was harvesting the last of the tomatoes, I noticed one of the plants still looked surprisingly healthy. Being a curious person who likes to experiment, I cut off the last 10 inches of a branch and plunked it into a jar of water. This branch has now rooted in the water. I plan to pot this cutting in soil and see what happens. I imagine it won't survive very long without long, warm natural light. I may put it under the lights which are currently dedicated for the radish greens. Gardening experiments are always fun and cheap entertainment.

Indoor gardening

I keep one jar of lentil sprouts in the just-started stage and another jar in the ready-to-eat stage at all times. We've all taken to making Cole slaw with both cabbage and lentil sprouts to have with our lunches. A fresh batch of sprouts takes about 5 days from initial soak to full-grown. So, I'd say sprouts are a very quick produce item to grow at home.

My radish greens continue to grow well under the lights. The longest leaves are about 3 inches right now. I think my most mature batch will be ready in another 2 or 3 weeks. After we enjoy the radish greens, I'll try some spinach under lights.

Free internet shows

I found 2 more historical farm shows that are interesting -- Victorian Farm and Edwardian Farm. The cast and format for both shows are the same as for Wartime Farm. These historical shows are not only interesting, but they've expanded my view of what domestic hardship entailed in the past as well as provided a helpful tip or two. I can also appreciate the simpler values of times in the past. If you had food, weather-appropriate clothing and shelter, there was little more one could want. If the Farm series shows sound like they'd interest you, I've found episodes for free on YouTube, TubiTV, and Daily Motion. 

Our beautiful autumn weather is giving way to cold rains in the next day or two. The weekend looks to be very rainy. Should be a good time to check out more episodes of Victorian Farm.

What were the highlights of your week? Have you ever seen colorful wild mushrooms/toadstools before? I think these ones are poisonous, but they sure are fun to look at.

Cheap & Cheerful Meals for a cozy week in this post.

Cheap & Cheerful Meals: Cozy Dishes for Autumn

Simple meals are some of the best meals. This week we ate some of our favorite comfort foods, some smothered in cheese sauce or gravy, and others sweet and spicy like pumpkin pie or hot cider. All delicious and I could eat them all again.

Our menus:

Friday
pepperoni pizza, grilled canned pineapple, celery sticks, chocolates

Saturday
corn tortillas, refried beans, cheese & salsa, sautéed cabbage, carrot sticks, frosted cookies

Sunday
chicken in gravy, garden potatoes, steamed carrots, Cole slaw

Monday
baked potatoes topped with kale in cheese sauce and bacon bits, pumpkin soufflé, watermelon pickles, spiced cider

Tuesday
beef and bean chili (with the very last of the garden peppers), cornbread, carrot and celery sticks

Wednesday
chicken and vegetable soup, toasted cheese sandwiches, pumpkin pie

Thursday
rice and beans, sautéed Brussel sprout leaves, pumpkin pie

Breakfasts included yogurt, stewed prunes, frozen blackberries, fresh tomatoes, raisins, apple cider, eggs, toast, granola, toasty o's cereal, smoothies, milk, coffee and tea. My usual breakfast these days is a small cup of homemade yogurt with carrot powder, honey, and vanilla, some fresh tomatoes, and either frozen blackberries or stewed prunes.

Lunches included homemade bread, peanut butter, cheese, leftovers, frozen berries, fresh tomatoes, cabbage, carrots, celery, lentil sprouts, homemade dip, yogurt, eggs, potatoes, rice, and homemade desserts and treats. 

Again, another week of simple but comforting meals. I'm not sure which dinner I enjoyed most, perhaps the baked potatoes topped with kale and cheese sauce, or maybe it was the chicken and vegetable soup with the pumpkin pie, or just maybe it was the chili con carne or pizza. Now I've done it. I'm getting hungry again. 

What was on your menu this past week?

My Week: Still No Computer

Hi friends,

I am still without a computer this week. Please forgive any strange autocorrects. I finished harvesting all of the green, unripe figs and preserved all of them as whole, sweet figs in spiced heavy syrup. As I made each subsequent batch, I grew a bit horrified by how much sugar these were using. So I’ve figured it would be wise to use this syrup as part sugar/part water in future baking. I began by trying out a spice snack cake recipe. This actually took care of 2 problems in 1 go. Not only did I use some of the syrup, but I also used some of the preserved figs in a way that my family loved. I puréed a half-dozen figs in some syrup and used in place of puréed pumpkin in a snack cake recipe. I then cut the sugar in half and subbed syrup for water in the recipe. The cake was delicious. Even my sometimes picky husband said the cake was very good. On Saturday, 1 daughter and I will pick all of the crabapples. I’ll extract the juice, using some in jelly and some mixed with commercial apple juice and spices for hot spiced apple cider.

Remember last week when I mentioned my green pumpkin in the garden? Well, guess what? I found a second green pumpkin hiding under a shrub at the edge of the pumpkin patch. So I may end up with 2 green pumpkins to experiment with. Such a pleasant surprise!

I don’t know if you know this, but the leaves on Brussel sprouts are edible — not just the sprouts. I’ve been mixing these leaves with other garden greens this month. Then Wednesday, I used only Brussel sprout leaves as a sautéed leafy green veggie. The leaves have a nice texture, neither tough nor too chewy, but still a substantial and satisfying texture. Brussel sprout plants can yield more food in leaves than sprouts in many varieties. Yet many people throw away the leaves.

The photo at the top of the post is of my indoor radish green operation. I’m growing radish greens under lights to use in salads and cooking in early November. The “pots” were made with gallon plastic milk jugs. I cut off the handle and spout, leaving a 4-inch or so base in which to fill with soil and plant with seeds. I used a corkscrew to puncture drainage holes in the bottom before adding soil.

What I like about using milk jug bases as planting containers —they are free, and they are square in shape. I can fit more planting area beneath the limited lighting space using square pots compared to traditional round growing pots. They seem to be doing well. I add a new pot of soil with seed as we finish drinking a jug of milk. I need just 1 more empty milk jug to fill out this growing space under the lights.

The Weather

The weather experts say this October has had temps more like what we typically see in November. I believe them. To combat the chilly temps, we’re all dressing in layers, plus I’m keeping a pot of hot tea in the kitchen all day for anyone needing a quick warming up. I make a large pot with 1 teabag of black tea plus a tea ball of herbs from my garden that I dried in summer. One of my favorites is peppermint and black tea. The other herbs I use in tea are black currant leaves and berries, lemon balm, cherry stems, and lavender— all are delicious on their own or when blended with black tea. And all of the herbs are free to me from my garden.

I’m also keeping myself physically active, exercising whenever I feel a chill during the day. I encourage all of my family members to move more when they’re cold, too. This winter is expected to be an expensive heating season. So we’ll be doing what we can to stay warm without breaking the bank.

A funny aside on the cool temps — the activity monitor on my phone added a new activity category. At the top of the info is a listing for “downhill snow sports distance”. I’m not sure if I accidentally enabled tracking of my snow sporting activities or this was added by some algorithm, but I find it entertaining every day as I track my steps.

The Bunnies

Despite the chilly and wet weather, the bunnies return to our front and back lawn every afternoon. They are so adorable! I totally forgive them for munching on my garden this summer. Watching the bunnies is our free entertainment each day.

Seed Collecting

One quiet, rainy afternoon, I sat down to remove seeds from the pods I’d been drying indoors. My work went something like this. With my mug of tea and a large piece of junk mail spread on the kitchen table, I brought several containers of various pods to pop open. One daughter entered the kitchen seeking a snack and asked, “whatcha doing?” Me: I’m getting next year’s garden seeds for free. Daughter: Cool. Next daughter enters the kitchen: What’s going on? Me: These are next year’s seeds. I’m popping open the pods to get them out. Daughter: Can I help? Me: Sure, just put the seeds in this envelope. Husband hears us girls gabbing in the kitchen and comes down for tea: Is this a party? Me: Just getting next year’s garden seeds, all for free! We popped open radish pods, bean pods, and pulled nasturtiums and spinach seeds off the dried vines — an idyllic sort of afternoon.

I have now collected seed from nasturtiums, radishes, spinach, green beans, bell peppers, petunias, and marigolds to use in next summer’s garden. These seeds are in addition to the seed potatoes and garlic cloves that are ready for next year.

This afternoon I’ll be baking pumpkin-shaped sugar cookies to frost and decorate Saturday afternoon. This is an October tradition in my family that goes back over 30 years for us. I almost skipped them this year then received a special request to do them again. I don’t really need a bunch of frosted cookies around, but maybe my family does for their sentimental value. Traditions — the things, rituals, and activities that uniquely bind each family together.

How was your week? Does it feel like fall in your neighborhood yet? What were the highlights of this past week?

Have a wonderful weekend, friends!

One other post — Cheap & Cheerful Meals