Homemade Slurpees for a Hot Summer Day -- AKA How to Use That Flat Cola

I've mentioned before that we buy a 2-liter bottle of cola every Christmas season. A 2-liter bottle is the least expensive size, cheaper than a small bottle. However, we never drink more than half the bottle, leaving us with several cups of flat cola to deal with. I've used it in baked beans and sloppy Joe mix. Yet I still had more to use.

Monday was hot, hot, hot (for my area, at least). I decided to use my ice cream maker to make a slushie-type drink. I froze the chilling chamber overnight. Then Monday afternoon I poured the cola into the chamber and churned in the same way I would for ice cream. 

One difference between making ice cream/sorbet and using cola for a slurpee is in the texture upon freezing. Bottled soda freezes more solidly. I found that at the end of the freezing/churning, I still needed to use a large spoon to knock some of the frozen cola off the sides of the chamber, then chop it ups with the same spoon. In the end, the texture was great, and we had a very cooling drink to enjoy on the hottest day of the year so far. To note: our cola slurpee was not nearly as sweet as 7-11's version. But I actually think that was a good thing.

Anyway, we have some fruity soda that's gone flat, too. I'll be using this in future slurpees this summer when it heats up again. 

This has turned out to be a great way to finally finish off those open 2-liters of soda that linger in my fridge. I now know that if I can't use it up in winter meals, I can use what's left in summer cooling treats.

Cheap & Cheerful Meals for Father's Day Week

Friday
pepperoni pizza, tomato-basil soup (canned tomato paste, frozen basil from last summer, garlic, chicken stock), steamed broccoli and turnip stem pieces (saved from the turnips I harvested earlier in the week)

As usual -- your homemade pizza dinner for Friday. I love pizza and look forward to this dinner every week.

Saturday
scratch refried beans, homemade tortillas, carrot sticks, garden green salad

Sunday (Father's Day BBQ)
barbecued burgers on homemade buns from the freezer with lettuce from the garden, homemade dill pickles and onion slices, steamed broccoli in cheese sauce, potato chips and dip, canned pineapple chunks and banana slices, ice cream sundaes

My daughters prepared the Father's Day meal. This was as much a gift to me as to my husband. For dessert, they made a fudge sauce and a caramel sauce to go on vanilla ice cream and the leftover chocolate brownie ice cream from April birthdays. 

Monday
chicken pot pie, leftover bananas and pineapple, toasted burger bun, green fig pickle slices

Tuesday
sausage patties, lentils, rice and gravy, sautéed turnip greens, oven-roasted turnip chunks

Wednesday
tuna casserole using the last of the cheese sauce from Sunday as a binder, garden greens and lentil sprout salad, chocolate chip cookies

Thursday
leftover tuna casserole, Swiss chard frittata, carrot sticks

Baking this week -- I baked 3 loaves of bread, some chocolate chip cookies, and a batch of corn muffins. I also made another jar of instant brown sugar and cinnamon oatmeal for family members to make a bowl of oatmeal at a time. I've been working in the garden every day and have had little time for baking this week.

My friend with the fridge problems received her new fridge and freezer on Saturday (2 days late, they had to reschedule). She came and picked up her freezer items and returned the picnic cooler. I went shopping and bought another gallon of whole milk for making yogurt and did just that on Tuesday. Breakfasts included homemade yogurt once again.

Mid-week, I made soup for lunch that lasted 2 days, using leftover cooked lentils, sautéed turnip greens, chicken broth, garlic and some Parmesan cheese. It was delicious and appreciated by my family members to have something easy for their lunches. I also made 2 batches of rhubarb sauce and 1 bath of spiced fig-applesauce. We are low on fresh fruit and our strawberries are still not ready. Adding fruit sauces to the bananas, raisins, and canned pineapple makes our fruit selection more interesting. We also opened one of the packages of uncured hotdogs (bought on clearance) to use in lunches and ate leftovers or peanut butter sandwiches.

From the garden this week, we harvested lemon balm, rhubarb, turnips, Swiss chard, beet greens from thinning, lettuce, nasturtium leaves, radish leaves, and chives. The weather finally warmed up this week after weeks of chilly rain. I'm hoping the garden takes off with the warmer weather.

These were the meals we ate this week. What was on your menu?

Shopping and Gas This Week: A Few Bargains at the Store

Nothing to do with shopping and gas this week. Just one of the joys in my life. This is one of the salad baskets that I planted in spring. However, I haven't picked from this one in a month. You want to know why? There are a couple of birds nesting in this basket! I am trying to leave them alone in their space. As the weather dries out, I may have to water the basket a bit. So far, it's been very rainy, so no need to water.

Shopping

I finally went grocery shopping. I went to Fred Meyer, in part because I needed potting soil, hair dye, and an incandescent lightbulb for reading (easier on my eyes than LED or CFL), but also for milk and bananas. Hair dye was a buy 5, save $1 off each. So I bought 5 boxes, enough to last many months. They were nearly sold out of potting soil at this Fred Meyer. I bought what I need to get through the summer and hopefully early fall (growing veggies indoors under lights in fall and winter).

In the food half of the store, I found half-gallons of skim milk marked down to 99 cent each. I bought 8 half-gallons, enough for the next 4 weeks. The sell-by date is the 23rd of June, so I'll be freezing most of this milk. I also bought 1 gallon of whole milk for making yogurt ($3.29). In the shelf-stable clearance section, I found a single, dented can of mushrooms for 49 cents. There was really nothing else of interest in this clearance area this day. In the packaged deli section, I found 14-oz packages of uncured hotdogs marked down to 99 cents. I bought 8 of these packages. I froze 7 of them. Bananas have gone up in price from 49 cents/lb to 59 cents/lb. That's still a pretty good bargain for fresh fruit, so I bought 2 bunches. In total, I spent $22.22 on food. I also picked up some items for Father's Day dinner. However, my two daughters paid me back for those items, as they cooked Father's Day dinner as their gift to their dad. 

Gas this week

Driving home I saw diesel for $6.19/gallon. That's pretty shocking. I remember a time when diesel was always cheaper than unleaded.

It was my other daughter's turn to pay for gas this time around. She shopped around a little. The station directly across the street from the pharmacy where she was picking up a prescription had unleaded for $5.44/gallon. The closest Costco has gas at $5.16 today, down 17 cents from the $5.33 price last week. The high price in my area is $5.99/gallon at the local Shell. The neighborhood 7-11 that I've followed for the last few weeks had lowest octane unleaded at $5.83/gallon this morning, no change from last week.

My Front Yard Pumpkin Patch

Last winter, I mentioned the huge mound of compost we had delivered. I think it was 10 yards. We top-dressed our front lawn, mulched all of the areas that dry out in summer, and amended the soil in the backyard vegetable beds. 

With the very last couple of yards, we built a patch in the front yard (hidden from the street by some trees and shrubs) for my newest vegetable planting area.

In mid-May, I hurriedly got everything planted after we returned from our trip to Arizona. Above is what it looked like by the end of May. The white things near the back are milk jug protective coverings for the corn plants. At this point, I didn't have everything in the ground yet.

Here we are about 3 weeks later. My new area is neither a bed nor a row. I like to think of it as a patch. It's my warm season patch. In it, I've planted pumpkins, winter squash, summer squash, peppers, corn, pole beans, sunflowers, and the last 4 tomato plants that didn't have a home (others are in the back yard beds). I planted the whole patch rather densely, with the idea that weather, slugs, raccoons, squirrels, or rabbits might thin it for me. So far, not much has been thinned and I may need to thin some out myself.

The idea for the patch came from a neighbor who has grown pumpkins in a stretch alongside her front yard lawn for the past couple of summers. I loved the idea of a larger pumpkin patch and one with more sun than my backyard patch provides. We had this space in the center of our circular driveway that we've been planning to re-landscape in the next few years. So, why not put it to use to grow my much-wanted pumpkin patch this year and next? From there, I began planning to add more of the heat loving plants that sometimes struggle in my more cooler backyard. The front yard patch is bordered by our asphalt driveway and in full sun for most of the day. As I planted the backyard beds, I ended up with some extra plants. So in those went as well.

I'm excited at the prospect of more pumpkins and squash. We'll have to see how it all grows.

My Tea Shelf of Homegrown Teas

This is my tea shelf for my homegrown teas. The shelf beneath this one holds my collection of commercial teas. And the shelf above has my boxes of plain black decaf, plain black with caff, and green tea.

In the homegrown collection, I have cherry stem, peppermint, rose petal, lavender bud, black currant leaf, and lemon balm. I use these herbs, fruits, and flowers in both hot and iced tea, often blending several with some inexpensive black or green tea. I can stretch a single purchased tea bag to make a large teapot full, keeping the leftovers in the fridge to warm later or drink chilled.

I've also grown chamomile, pineapple mint, and spearmint in the past for teas. None of those plants were hardy enough for my climate to last more than a couple of years.

I'm always looking for new teas to grow. Do you grow any herbs for tea? Are there any plants that you recommend for growing in the home garden for tea?

Cheap & Cheerful Suppers for Early to Mid-June: Using Lots of Garden Produce

this week's beverage experiment -- if rose-ade was good, perhaps lemon balm-ade will also be delicious
I packed a bunch of lemon balm leaves into a quart jar, then filled with water. I'll let it stand on the counter for 2 days, then sweeten. Here's hoping it's good.

Friday
homemade pepperoni pizza, frozen broccoli microwaved, apple wedges, leftover rhubarb custard pie

Saturday
refried beans, homemade tortillas, carrot sticks, Swiss chard, leftover cookies/pie

Sunday
chicken and vegetable soup, radish green and nasturtium leaf salad

Monday
meatloaf, gravy, brown rice, roasted turnips, sautéed turnip greens, rhubarb-Koolaid sauce, pumpkin pie

I used more of that Koolaid that my daughter bought but didn't like in a rhubarb sauce. It added flavor and sweetness, while using up something that was just lingering in the fridge.

Tuesday
pumpkin pie, ham and potato casserole, broccoli and turnip stem pieces

I used the leafy part of the turnip leaves in Monday's dinner. I cut away the thick stems. I was going to compost these stems, then I tried cutting them, and they seemed tender enough to cut, not stringy. So I set these aside to add to broccoli. They worked well and kept me from wasting another food item. By the way, you can do the same thing with kale stems, if you're using fresh kale in salads and don't want the thick stem pieces in a salad.

The casserole was tasty. I had about a tablespoon of cream cheese that needed using and some frozen chopped chives and garlic. I mixed these items into some mashed potatoes, then layered with ham chunks I had in the freezer. That ham had been frozen in ham stock. I saved that ham stock and used it in a soup for lunch the following day.

Wednesday
tomato soup, sandwiches, canned pineapple, rice pudding

Both of my daughters received coupons for free sandwiches at a local sub shop. One daughter used her coupon for a footlong sub tonight to serve with other items. The rice pudding used rice leftover from Monday's dinner. It's the baked kind of rice pudding.

Thursday

sandwiches, meatballs in BBQ sauce, radish green and lentil sprout salad, applesauce

The other daughter used her coupon for another footlong sandwich. We had an "incident" with one of the freezers (not the one my friend had her stuff in, thankfully). A couple of prepared items in the freezer felt like they should be used right away, hence the meatballs with dinner. Most of the rest of the frozen foods will be okay and safe to eat. I used a digital thermometer to check the temperature of various foods we had in that freezer.

spinach pesto on pasta using stems as well as leaves of spinach

Foods I'm harvesting

We are still stuck in a heavily cloudy, rainy, and cool pattern of weather. That means that the warm weather veggies of our garden are stagnating. However, I continue to find foods to harvest. I've used small nasturtium leaves in salads and large nasturtium leaves shredded in soups. I pulled out the last of the spinach plants from one pot on the deck and used all except the roots (meaning I used stems, leaves, flower heads not yet in bloom) in lunch one day. I made a pesto with the spinach plants, garlic, and Parmesan cheese. I tossed the pesto with cooked pasta. It made a delicious lunch addition. I also harvest a bunch of chives and garlic greens to chop and freeze for later in the year. I pulled a few more turnips for dinner one night. I roasted the roots and chopped the greens to sauté. Before I chopped the leaves I removed the thick stems. I set aside these stems to chop small to add to broccoli later in the week. On Tuesday, I steamed some of the chopped turnip stems along with some frozen broccoli, stretching my dwindling supply of frozen broccoli. I harvested rhubarb to use in sauce and to toss with sugar then dehydrate for use later. I also dehydrated more rose petals to use in winter tea. And of course, my indoor radish greens and counter top lentil sprouts always provide something for salads.

Lemon Balm and Rose Petal Tea Cake

My lemon balm is quite bushy this week. I read a couple of recipes online that use lemon balm and settled on this recipe for a lemon balm tea bread. The recipe reminded me of one I saw in a Victoria magazine many years ago. That recipe called for lemon thyme and rose petals, plus maybe the lemon balm. Anyway,  I decided to make something similar to that Victoria recipe. In the Taste of Home recipe, I used the lemon balm called for, but I also used 1/4 cup of finely shredded rose petals and about 3/4 teaspoon of lemon extract. I didn't have any lemon zest at home for the lemony flavor, hence the extract (which, oddly, I do have). The rest of the recipe I baked as directed, leaving off the lemon glaze, as I didn't want a too sweet tea bread. While I was chopping the lemon balm, I chopped enough to freeze for a couple more loaves of tea bread at a later date.

It looks absolutely beautiful, doesn't it?

Now the bad thing. The recipe only calls for greasing the pan, which I did. I think with this recipe, you should also line the pan with waxed paper or parchment going up 2 sides, so that it will come out of the pan easily. Mine stuck and then broke in half as I tried to remove it. Disappointing. I'll try again, though, as I really liked the flavors of the rose petals, lemon balm, and lemon extract.

Those were some of our meals this past week. What was on your menu? Have you ever had a cake not come out of the pan? It's frustrating, isn't it? Do you have a tried and true way to make sure cakes don't fall apart when taking them out of the pan?

Shopping and Gas This Week -- Early to Mid-June

I didn't grocery shop this week like I had planned to do. Friday evening, a friend called desperate to find some freezer space for some of her food. She came home from work in the afternoon and found her fridge/freezer had stopped working. She had thought this might happen soon, but was hoping it would be later rather than sooner. She went to Home Depot and ordered a new fridge/freezer. But it couldn't be delivered for almost a week (Thursday of this week). My friend lives about 5 minutes from my house, so she called asking if I had freezer room to spare for her frozen foods. I knew I could make this work for her. I shifted some of my frozen food around and made enough space for her frozen foods. I also lent her my hard-sided picnic cooler and all our frozen ice packs, so she could keep her refrigerated foods safe to eat for several days. 

Anyway, without my cooler I can't make yogurt. That left me with one extra gallon of milk (which had been set aside for yogurt) that my family can drink for the rest of the week. Which means, I have no real need to go grocery shopping just yet. And I didn't even order anything, food or otherwise. So I spent zero on food this past week. If you're keeping track, it's now been about 2 1/2 weeks since I grocery shopped last. We are out of bananas and down to the last few apples, but we're doing fine on produce despite this.  And I have plenty of eggs still. Milk, produce, and eggs would be the motivating purchases which would prompt a grocery trip. We'll get by for a few more days. And I'll have my picnic cooler back by then so I can make yogurt with newly purchased milk. So, big story just to say I didn't go grocery shopping this past week.

Gas for the week

Gas prices are still inching up, but not by as much this past week as previous weeks. In my town, unleaded was $5.83/gallon at 7-11. Last week, I posted that gas at this station was $5.79/gallon, so it's up 4 cents a gallon at this station. The Shell station currently has unleaded at $5.69/gallon cash or $5.79/gallon credit, which is what it was last week. If I drive one town over, where the Costco is located, lowest octane is $5.33/gallon at Costco. In this same town, I found gas for $5.39/gallon at an ARCO station. So, the benefit for buying gas from Costco is a savings of 6 cents per gallon this week. Not nearly as remarkable of a savings as last week. Gas prices seem to be see-sawing their way up, going up at one station before the rest, then the others catch up somewhat. It pays to shop around, using one of the gas comparison websites or apps, such as gasbuddy.com.

Using the Liquid from a Can of Beets

I actually made this using the liquid from 2 cans of beets. These were plain canned beets NOT pickled beets. Canned beets are generally just beets, water and salt (you can sometimes find beets canned in water-only). Some of the beet nutrients and flavors leech into the canning water, making canned beet liquid a by-product worth saving.

I had been saving this liquid for a couple of weeks (although I've read you should use it within about 1 week), waiting for an opportunity to use it. One day last week, the cold and rainy weather motivated me to make a nice soup for the 4 of us, using up the beet liquid. In addition to the beet liquid, I used half of a small onion, a small carrot, a bit of vegetable oil, potato flakes, and chicken bouillon.

I cooked the diced onions and carrots in the vegetable oil until translucent, then added the beet liquid and a little water, cooking until the veggies were soft. Next, I stirred in enough potato flakes to thicken and the bouillon to flavor. That was it. It came out creamy and lightly beet-flavored. This was such a hit with my daughters that they've agreed to save the liquid from cans of beets that they buy for themselves (yes, they like canned beets that much, they'll buy some just for themselves).

Just another way to use a food by-product that might otherwise be tossed out.

Rose-ade -- a beverage flavored with rose petals

the finished rose-ade, ready for consumption

I wanted to update you on the rose beverage I began last week. First of all, although the articles I read suggested it was a rose "lemonade," it tasted nothing like lemonade. However, it was quite nice, despite the misnaming.

Rosa rugosa 'Hansa'

To make it, after rinsing the rose petals (Rosa rugosa 'Hansa'), I infused an extra large handful of the petals only in a quart glass jar of water on the kitchen counter. I had read some people make this as a sun tea, but we're stuck in a cool and cloudy pattern right now with very little sun. 

beginning of infusion -- the water is still clear

So on the counter it went. I waited 2 days. 

after 2 days -- the water is peachy in color

The water part had become ever so slightly peach-colored. I strained the petals out and took a whiff of the liquid. It was lightly rose-like. 

I sweetened the liquid with honey until it tasted sweet enough then added 1 teaspoon of bottled lime juice. (I would have used lemon juice, but I was all out.)

Both my daughters and I enjoyed the rose-ade. We couldn't get my husband to even try it. Perhaps this isn't the beverage for men. But us ladies thought it was good. I would definitely make it again as a special beverage, but not every week. Rose petals contain a small amount of vitamin C, so this could actually be a beneficial-to-one's-health type of beverage.

The type of rose I used has only a slight fragrance. A heavily perfumed English rose may be overpowering in a beverage, in my opinion.

I'm something of an adventurer when it comes to scavenging food from the landscape. I enjoy trying new things, so this was right up my alley.

By the way, I've been collecting additional rose petals and dehydrating them. I'll use these in tea this coming winter.

Cheap & Cheerful Meals for Early June

Friday
homemade pepperoni pizza, rhubarb-vanilla sauce, cream of sorrel soup

Saturday
pancakes, sausage, carrots sticks

Sunday
refried beans, homemade tortillas, garden green-lentil sprout salad

Monday
meatloaf and gravy, crockpot polenta, roasted turnips, sautéed turnip greens/onions/garlic, rhubarb-koolaid jello, freezer brownies

Tuesday
rice & lentils with leftover turnip greens and 4 oz sausage (I used chives and garlic greens from the garden in place of store-bought bulb onions and garlic), leftover jello, leafy green garden salad with oil/vinegar dressing, brownies

Wednesday
ham, lentil, vegetable soup, cinnamon-raisin scones

Thursday
tuna salad on nasturtium leaves. carrot sticks, toasted homemade bread, rhubarb custard pie, chocolate chip cookies

This the rhubarb and Koolaid jello salad from earlier in the week. About a month ago, my daughter made a pitcher of an orange colored Koolaid that she said tasted like citric acid, so she didn't want to drink it. (She's the only one who drinks the Koolaid.) She paid for the Koolaid packet, but she used my sugar. I didn't want this to be wasted, so I told her I'd make something with the Koolaid. What I did was I stewed chopped rhubarb in some of the Koolaid, added a bit more sugar until it tasted right. I pureed the stewed rhubarb with an immersion blender, then set it with plain gelatin. Everyone loved it.

curried lentils with peanuts and homemade plum chutney -- made a great lunch for us on Thursday

Lunches
garden green/lentil sprout salads with oil/vinegar dressing, grape leaf-rice-lentil-dill weed soup, homemade hummus and crackers, curried lentils with homemade plum chutney, leftovers

Breakfast
toast, homemade yogurt, homemade instant oatmeal (I made a new batch this week)
I have this theory that we use less milk on cooked cereals like oatmeal than we do on dry cereals like Cheerios. My idea is there are so many places the milk can "go" in a bowl of Cheerios. Whereas in a bowl of cooked cereal, the milk can only sit on top. Anyway, just trying to stretch our use of milk a tad. In addition, cooked oatmeal is a whole lot cheaper than boxed dry cereal.

this is a rhubarb custard pie with a crumb topping   recipe in this link

Desserts and Baked Goods

homemade cinnamon rolls, rhubarb-Koolaid jello, scratch brownies, scratch chocolate chip cookies, homemade rhubarb pie, a 3 loaf batch of French bread dough baked in loaf pans

My family agreed, the best meal of the week was Monday's dinner. These were the first turnips of the season. I oven-roasted the roots and sautéed the greens. Turnip greens are a bit bitter, yet we enjoy them, especially with a salty meal like meatloaf and gravy. I did the polenta in the crockpot, as Kris had mentioned she does. And I used regular cornmeal. In the past, I've always used polenta cornmeal. I'm glad to now know that regular cornmeal will work in polenta, too.

We're shifting our eating to more and more garden produce while at the same time trying to use up the last of the produce from summer 2021. So many yummy foods to make, so little tummy space.

That's what was on our menu. What was on yours?

Shopping and Gas the First Week of June: Toilet Paper Inflation, Ack!

I didn't shop for food this week, but I did put in an order for bathroom tissue. I'm sure you've noticed the price on even this necessity is going up and up. What I used to buy at Walmart for $9.02 just 2 years ago is now selling for $11.24. That's a shocking 25% increase in price! So I began hunting around for a better deal on TP. I found shipping-only Kroger brand (I was buying Great Value brand) priced at $10.79, when price adjusted for the same amount as in the Walmart package. I ordered the limit and added 2 more items that I could get through Fred Meyer for less than my other stores, so I could get free shipping. So my inflation rate on the bathroom tissue will be 19%. It's sad that I'm considering this "good."

In our one-car household, we share the cost of gas by alternating who fills the tank. Because my daughters drive more than my husband and I combined, we've divided up the responsibility by three (daughter 1, daughter 2, husband/I combined). Just 2 years ago, our agreed upon amount was $30 per turn. A year ago August, we increased that to $40 per turn. Just this week, we upped that amount to $50 per turn. Mind you, this does NOT fill the tank. 2 years ago, $50 would overflow our car's fuel tank. We now get about 2/3 of a tank. It was a daughter's turn to pay for gas. Gas is zooming toward $6 a gallon in my area. It's $5.79 at the 7-11 in my town and $5.89 at the Chevron and Shell! Costco has been my benchmark for cheap gas (although we don't have membership so don't buy our gas there). This week, Costco's lowest octane unleaded is $5.19/gallon, up 30 cents/gallon in the last 2 weeks. To allow for the inflation on gas, we are trying to drive less, but also cutting back in other areas of spending. Interesting -- gas is cheaper inside the Seattle city limits than it is here, about 20 miles north, and then cheaper if I drive another 20 miles north of us.

100 Days, 100 Harvests

rhu-sins, dried sweetened rhubarb  recipe in this link

I'm doing this thing where I'm trying to harvest something, anything, and put it away for next fall or winter, 6 days a week for about 100 days or 3 and 1/2 months. I began in late May, harvesting some greens to freeze, dehydrate, or can. I've since added herbs and dried sweetened rhubarb that I can use in place of dried cranberries.

chive blossoms to freeze for use in cooking later

I know that as the summer progresses, I'll have even more to harvest. My intent is to not only spread out my harvesting and food preservation, but also to get me to start thinking of all of the food available on my property and see new sources of edibles as well as notice the foods that I often overlook until much later in the season. By the end of September, I hope to have put away enough produce to get us through early to mid-winter.

bundle of 20 grape leaves, tied up with thread, blanched, frozen, and thawed ready for stuffing

When it comes to preserving the harvest, I tend to think about the "regular" garden veggies, like green beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, peas, and the like. Yet, as I've discovered, there are so many other "fruits" and "veggies" that can be preserved. Two years ago, I decided to try freezing grape leaves. I roll a bunch up, tie with string, then "blanch" in the microwave. I then bag them up and keep in the freezer. They work well for stuffed grape leaves later in winter. This year, I decided that in addition to making chive blossom vinegar, I'd also freeze some whole blossoms to add a pop of spring in cooking when the garden is asleep. 

my latest experiment -- rose "lemonade" no lemons involved

Earlier this week, I'd read about making rose "lemonade" by steeping rose petals in water for a couple of days then sweetening. I've got a jar going. If I like the flavor, I'll be harvesting and dehydrating a bunch of rose petals to use later in the year. While walking the perimeter of the yard this afternoon, I noticed the black currant leaves. They look fresh and bright green. I think I'll pick a few handfuls tomorrow to use in hot tea when the weather chills. They're rich in vitamin C.

100 days, more or less, for at least 100 harvests. This is part of my plan to get more out of my garden this year than I did last year.

I found another blossom that we like in salads

On top of the light green lettuce leaf in the salad spinner --

Isn't this pretty? This is a cluster of pale pink thyme flowers. They're tiny but packed with classic thyme flavor. Our thyme just began blooming last week. I've been using the little flowers to add punch to meals, including in salads or broken up over meatloaf and polenta. With some flowers, all they add is beauty to meals. But with thyme blossoms, even the flowers are loaded with flavor. I'm looking forward to other herb blossoms. I'll be trying them all!

What's Your Go-To Graduation Gift?

"It's that tome of year, when the world falls in love. . ."" oh no, wrong song, not that holiday. But it is that time of year -- graduation season. Who knew graduates would get a whole season? Eons ago, when I graduated high school, we got a day and a night. Then it was off to our summer jobs the following day. Now, according to Yahoo!, MSN, Fox News, etc, graduation is a season. In some ways, that's a good thing. In theory, a season gives me more time to figure out my response to the announcements that come in the mail. 

I'm really honored when a friend from years past counts me among those that they want to share this news about their child's major milestone. I do enjoy seeing the photos, and I want to offer my congratulations for their hard work and achievements. Deciding on how best to respond takes me a while, though. And I'm not the only one who is thinking through how to respond -- whether or not to send a gift, and if so, what seems to be the going amount to spend? A friend emailed over the weekend with just such a quandary. So I told her that I'd put the question to you, friends.

When you receive a graduation announcement, how do you respond?

• if you haven't seen the graduate in many years, nor kept an active friendship with the parents vs if the graduate is the child of a close, current friend
• or if the graduate is an extended family member (niece, nephew, grandchild)
• if the graduation is high school vs. university

What do you prefer to give a graduate?

• what's your budget for the above different scenarios?
• do you like to give cash? (How much is too much, how little is too little?)
• or small package by mail?
• or hand delivered gift?
• just a card?
• do you give handmade gifts?
• is there a difference if you're invited to the graduation, or to a party, or just received an announcement?

Some ideas that I've used in the past or that have been given to my own kids:

• cash in the amount that corresponds to the current graduation year -- some friends of ours gave one daughter $20.19 in cash, because this daughter graduated in 2019.
• if the graduate will be going on to university in the fall, I've given gift cards to restaurants or stores in their future university town, along with a small map showing the proximity of the restaurant or store to their campus.
• I've also given merchandise purchased from the future university book store, such as socks and ball caps, with the uni's logo.
• One university had electronic dollars that could be purchased by parents or friends for the students to use on campus and at some local eateries. This made a handy high school graduation gift for my nephew. Once on campus, he had some spending money to do things with roomies and new friends.
• For an inexpensive gift, I've given M & M's in school colors.
• For a graduate who won't be going on to further education but instead will be entering the work world, I've given practical gifts. 

Now, over to you, friends -- do you have a go-to graduation gift idea?

Cheap & Cheerful Suppers for Memorial Week

Friday
homemade pepperoni pizza, chopped vegetable and fruit salad (carrots, radish greens, apple, raisins, peanuts in a sweet and creamy dressing, brownies from the freezer

Around Wednesday of every week, I start looking forward to pizza Friday. It's my favorite meal of the week. And I think homemade pizza is the best pizza. 

Saturday
refried beans, cheese, and homemade salsa, homemade tortillas, carrot sticks

The beans were cooked from dried. I cook a large pot full of pinto beans every few weeks, then store them in quart containers in the freezer until needed. Homemade refried beans are super easy to make once the beans are cooked. At their simplest -- cooked beans in a pot, some water, chili powder, salt, and garlic powder, then mashed with a potato masher until smooth.

Sorry no photo of Sunday's dinner. It was rehydrated TVP in a tomato paste marinara over cooked spaghetti noodles, plus steamed carrots.

Sunday
TVP spaghetti, steamed carrots

Monday (Memorial Day)
grilled burgers on homemade buns with garden lettuce, lentil-barley salad with (food save) past-its-prime celery that I rejuvenated in chilled water overnight, chive blossoms, herbs, and radish greens, and vanilla-rhubarb sauce (I add a bit of vanilla flavoring to rhubarb sauce at the very end of cooking. It seems to offset the acidity of the rhubarb.)

I baked a large batch of hamburger buns the day before, dividing into packages of 6 (when son and daughter-in-law are here) or 4 buns (just daughters, husband and I) each. Hamburger and hotdog buns are easy to make and oh-so-good. I wrapped them while still warm and they stayed super moist until the next day's dinner.  I make lentil-barley salad a few times in summer. It's a nice, cool way to serve beans and grains on a hot day. The dressing is some variation of a vinaigrette, sometimes with mustard added, or sometimes even a creamy vinaigrette (with mayo). Any fresh herbs from the garden add some zip. In this salad, I added chive blossoms, garden parsley, and thyme.

Tuesday
open-faced hot chicken sandwiches (chicken in gravy from freezer over freshly baked bread), frozen corn that had previously been canned, green bean casserole 

Comfort food for a week of weariness. It's a tough time for my family right now.

Wednesday
cranberry-chicken salad (using 99 cent/lb chicken thighs) on a bed of nasturtium leaves, lettuce, chive blossoms, parsley, lentil sprouts, with crackers and carrot sticks

The chicken thighs were roasted, then meat picked off the bones. We saved the chicken fat for cooking later and tossed the bones and skin into the crockpot to make stock. The next day, I was able to pick about 2 tablespoons of additional meat from the bones, with which I made myself a nice little chicken salad for my lunch.

Thursday
refried bean, TVP and cheese burritos (food save --I had to rehydrate the tortillas with damp paper towels in between each tortilla in a stack in a bag, then microwave for about 15 seconds), apple wedges, honey-mustard carrots

We had these 4 flour tortillas lingering in the fridge for weeks. Fortunately, none of them got moldy. As said, I rejuvenated them with moisture and heat. They turned out great and made terrific burritos. And bonus -- one less thing in the fridge that could spoil or mold in future days/weeks. The hone-mustard sauce for carrots, is just that, a bit of honey and a bit of mustard. one mustard bottle was about empty, so I rinsed it with water and used that in the sauce. I also add a knob of butter and sprinkle of salt. Yum! My favorite way to eat cooked carrots.

I am making the most of what I can get from the garden right now. This week, I was able to use radish greens, lettuce, chive blossoms, parsley, thyme, rhubarb, and nasturtium leaves.

I made my last batch of waffles over the weekend. While the waffle iron was cooking, it began sparking in the back, then blew the fuse. I unplugged it from the outlet, then noticed the cord was barely hanging onto the waffle iron. The sparking left a scorched pot on the counter. (I was able to clean that off.) I've had that waffle iron for 30 years. It provided a lot of good service. My husband said it could possibly be repaired. So I won't throw it out just yet. This isn't the kind of repair my husband could do. But if I find someone who does this sort of thing, I'll see about getting it repaired. In the meantime, it's pancakes for us.

I hope you all had a great week and area looking forward to a lovely weekend. What was on your menu this past week? Any food saves recently?

Shopping and Gas This Week -- Last of May/Beginning of June

I grocery shopped in person at Fred Meyer (Kroger affiliate) this week. It had been 2 weeks since I last bought milk and we were, as I predicted, completely out of drinking milk at this point. I still had some slightly sour milk in the freezer, which I used. I made a small batch of biscuits one evening and some waffles over the weekend with this sour milk. My family still had plenty of homemade yogurt and cheese to get their dairy fix, though. I do have some powdered milk in the pantry. But I consider this to be true emergency milk. Running out of milk for two or three days doesn't constitute an emergency, IMO. 

So, I needed milk. I bought 1 gallon of whole milk for making another batch of yogurt and 3 gallons of 2% milk for my milk-lovers. The last time I shopped, I bought 2 gallons of 2%. This is my compromise while the price of milk feels high -- one shopping I'll buy 2 gallons and the next I'll buy 3 gallons. Milk, by the way, was $3.09 per gallon last week. I went online just now and milk has been marked up to $3.39/gallon. Thank goodness we don't drink organic milk. Name brand organic milk was $8/gallon at a store near me.

I found the "new" clearance section in Fred Meyer. Very little food items in that section. But I did find a deal on tissues (89 cents/box of 144 ct -- I bought 6 boxes, next winter's supply) and a box of foil that had been damaged for 99 cents. I slowly perused every aisle that I thought might have clearance items. In the packaged deli section I found 4 1-lb chubs of pork sausage marked down to 99 cents each. I bought all four. So, I'll tell you something about the sausage. When we were traveling to and from Arizona, one of the items that wee all really enjoyed from the included breakfasts was the sausage. In the car, we had talked about me buying some sausage for occasional breakfasts. Once home, I priced out the least expensive pork sausage. Cash & Carry Chef'Store had 6-lb rolls for $2.71/lb. Walmart carries the same brand in 1-lb rolls for $2.88/lb. I didn't get top buying the sausage, so I was very pleasantly surprised to find four 1-lb rolls on clearance at Fred Meyer for 99 cents/lb! 

In the meat department I found some 24 oz marinated pork tenderloins for $3.99. I only bought one of those, even though there were several. I'm not a huge pork fan (unless it's ham, bacon, or sausage), so this one will be enough for us. I'll may use it on Father's Day. As just a regular sale item, I bought 1 large family pack of bone-in chicken thighs at 99 cents/lb. Once I got the package home I divided it into 3 meal packets. And I also bought 2 bunches of bananas at 49 cents/lb. In total I spent $27.03. I had other non-food items on my list. One daughter needed some disposable cups for a sub teaching project and I needed another bag of potting soil for starting more radish seeds under lights indoors. My indoor radishes seem to grow better than outdoor ones. Even though I have a garden growing outdoors, I'll be growing the radishes indoors this summer.

It looked like there was still plenty of food in the store, but it did look like there was less of everything, fewer packages, items moved to the front of the shelf with no back-up stock behind those items, fewer choices in brand and style of many items. The produce department does not look bountiful, although there is still produce there. The tofu section was still down to just a couple of cartons. It's been almost a year now that tofu seems to be in short supply. Such an odd item to have low inventory. They were pretty low in inventory of infant formula, as well. On their website, you can still order most formula brands, but there are limits. On Walmart's website, they have more formula in stock in the store than Fred Meyer, it appears. But again there are low limits to how much one can buy.

In addition to shopping at Fred Meyer, I placed another online order for chocolate chips and cocoa powder through Walmart.com. (Yes, I did a little panic shopping.) I was pleased with how well the chocolate chips shipped the last time. They packed them in a foam-lined box with ice packs. The ice packs were completely melted by the time I received the box, but they still felt a little cool. More importantly, the bags of chocolate chips felt like the chips maintained their shapes and didn't melt into a large blob. So I bought another 6-package lot of chocolate chips and a few more cans of cocoa powder. I believe we have about how much chocolate and cocoa powder that I'd normally have going into the fall and holiday baking and candy-making season.

The least expensive unleaded gas is hovering between $5.30 and $5.50/gallon in my little town. One town over I can find gas for $5.09/gallon at a couple of stations. 

Inflation, inflation, inflation. I do feel we're being squeezed from every direction. Our homeowners' insurance comes due in July. It too went up quite a bit. But, we have our garden. I know we will be provided for, and abundantly so.

How was the shopping in your area this past week?

Does It Really Save Money to Wash Those Flimsy Plastic Bags

As I was washing out the plastic bags on Monday (yep, that's how I spent my Memorial Day, doing housework), I was calculating the cost of washing those thin grocery store, produce, and bread bags as compared to the cost of a roll of plastic wrap. We have several food items for which we prefer the flexibility/conformity of thin plastic wrap or bags as opposed to rigid food storage containers. When bags were free with grocery purchases, it seemed like we had an endless supply of them. Now that those bags are no longer available (most of our stores have switched to non-complimentary paper sacks), I've turned to washing most of our bags. (If a bag is torn or has held meat, I throw it out.)

If I didn't wash the bags to reuse, I'd use thin plastic wrap, the kind that sells for $1.97/200-foot roll at Walmart. I estimate I'd use a sheet about 12 X 20 inches on average. A sheet this size costs me about 1.6 cents. I washed 16 bags the other day, or the replacement for 26 cents of plastic wrap.

Water and soap isn't free, however. I washed all of the bags together in a large sink of water (with a squirt of soap in the wash water, clear water for 2 rinses). I used about 3 gallons of water in each sink-full, or 9 gallons of water total. A gallon of water (with wastewater disposal) costs me about 1.1 cents per gallon. I used about 10 cents of water and about 1 cent of dish soap. My water had to be heated, so I'll add 2 cents to the wash calculation. Washing my 16 bags cost me about 13 cents. I hung them to dry on the laundry rack afterward, no cost there. I saved myself about 26 cents on the plastic wrap. So, I netted 13 cents by washing the bags.

There's an extra factor to consider. If I had something more lucrative to do in those 10 minutes, I could have earned more money than I saved. However, I didn't have anything better to do Monday morning. I'll take the savings.

I wash bags every other week, about 15-16 bags per time. I wait until I have enough bags to make the work worthwhile. In one year, I'll save $3.38. I certainly won't get rich on that savings. But as is often quoted, pay attention to the pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves. Another way I look at it when finances are tight -- it's better to save some money than to spend some money.

Using Chive Blossoms

Some years we're eating quite a lot from our garden by the end of May. Not so much this year. It's been very cool and rainy for the entire month of May. Even the kale and chard have been sluggish. What I do have in abundance right now, though, are chives and chive blossoms. So, I've been brainstorming different ways to use them in meals. Here's what I've been doing with the chive blossoms:

I began with making chive blossom vinegar. Each year I make two or three kinds of flavored vinegar. Chive blossom is always one of them. I also make a green herb vinegar (usually rosemary and/or thyme). And some years I make a fruity vinegar (plum, blackberry, raspberry, or blueberry). Flavoring plain white vinegar is both inexpensive and extremely easy. And having a variety of flavored vinegars on hand throughout the year provides a head-start in making salad dressings from scratch. The above is one week old chive blossom vinegar. I'll leave the blossoms infusing in the vinegar for another three weeks before straining out the blossoms and decanting the liquid into a bottle. BTW, I use repurposed commercial pickle jars for the infusing process. One of the problems many folks have with reusing pickle jars is the vinegar odor is sometimes hard to eliminate from those jars. Well, no problem when making a flavored vinegar, right?

I've also been adding chive blossoms to salads. Monday night I made a lentil, barley, greens, and chive blossom salad. The blossoms have a fresh onion flavor when raw. 

We did burgers for dinner this weekend. I'm down to the last few whole onions, and I don't want to spend too much money on more onions until I can buy a 50-lb sack of the new crop in late summer. In place of sliced onions on our burgers, I made a 1000 Island type dressing for the buns, subbing chive blossoms for the relish I might normally use. The chive blossoms added a mild oniony flavor to the burger toppings.

I've also been cooking the chive blossoms. Cooking the blossoms mellows the oniony flavor. This is a potato and chive blossom soup. I used about 2 cups of fresh chive blossoms, cooked in almost a quart of veggie stock. I added about 1 cup of potato flakes, salt, and pepper to the soup. I simmered for about 15 minutes. At that point I removed the pan from the heat and allowed it to cool for 10 minutes. Then I pureed the soup in a pitcher blender. I estimate this soup cost about 25 cents (for the potato flakes) and made enough for 4 servings. This could also be made with leftover mashed potatoes or 1 potato diced and simmered in the stock. My stock for this soup was also a bargain. Last week, I peeled 7 large carrots to make a bucket of carrot sticks for snacking. I saved all of the peels and used them to make a stock. After simmering and then straining, I had about 1 quart of carrot stock, which I kept in the fridge until I made the soup over the weekend.

So far, these are the ways I've found to use my abundance of chive blossoms. I'll continue to seek out new uses over the coming week or two. Using what we've been given and grateful for it.