Using Up Leftover Cooked Rice With the Help of My Blender

We've had this cooked rice (mix of white and brown) lingering in the fridge for almost a week. We've used most of it. But I just couldn't get us to finish off that last 1/2 cup. Instead of freezing it for another time, I decided to use the cooked rice in pancakes. If cooked rice in a pancake sounds unappealing, let me share how I make the rice near undetectable.

Here's the key -- before mixing the dry with the liquid ingredients for a batch of pancakes, I puree the cooked rice with the other liquids, in this case the milk, egg, and oil. In my experience, a batch of pancakes or 12-ct muffins can handle up to 1/2 cup of leftover cooked rice. I used my smoothie blender this time, but I've also used our pitcher blender with success. 

I begin with the rice and about half the liquid in the blender and puree until the blender seems to need more liquid, then blend in the rest of the liquid. At this point, I mix the liquids into the dry ingredients and make pancakes or muffins as usual.

Here's a cut pancake. You can see inside the texture looks like a traditional recipe pancake. I came across 1 particle of rice in my pancake, but it wasn't anything that bothered me. And they taste exactly like regular pancakes.

This also works with leftover cooked oatmeal. Leftover oatmeal can be blended and pureed with the liquids for pancakes, waffles, muffins, snack cakes, and quick breads. Oatmeal tends to puree to smooth texture more quickly than cooked rice. But both can be pureed to smooth enough consistency that my family doesn't even notice this added ingredient.

Skin-On Pumpkin Cooking Technique to Minimize Waste and Maximize Value

I wanted to show you how I cook Jack o' lantern type pumpkins. These are the large carving pumpkins that are usually the least expensive per pound. Jack o' lantern pumpkins have a high water content and are lower in natural sugars than sugar pie pumpkins. They can also be more stringy than pie pumpkins. But they do have food value, and if you process them right, the water content can be reduced and stringiness eliminated. And if you get a great price on these pumpkins, they can be an affordable yellow vegetable. Also, many folks buy pumpkins for carving Jack o' lanterns. This is a great way to get full use of those Halloween decorations. 

I use these carving pumpkins for making puree for breads, muffins, pies, and soups. And now I have an even simpler and less wasteful technique for cooking them. I leave the skin on and puree them flesh and skin together. I've long thought commercial canned pumpkin must be made with the skin on. It seems to me that would be not only be possible with commercial equipment, but would also ensure the greatest profit to use more of the pumpkin than our grandmothers could in their home kitchens. Today, we have food processors and immersion blenders to help us get a super smooth end product in our own kitchens.

My skin-on technique works with smooth skinned pumpkins, like below.

This is Happy Jack. We carved him from a 13-14 pound pumpkin the afternoon of Halloween. We used battery-operated candles inside for the evening. At the end of the night, I took out the candles and popped all of Jack into the fridge. When we carved him, I saved the seeds, the carved out pieces, and all of the inside stringy stuff in the fridge. A couple of days later, I washed and froze the seeds for future roasting. And the stringy stuff to be added to the first batch of cooked pumpkin for puree.

The next morning, I gave Jack a bath, then I began chopping up the little feller. With the skin still on, I chopped the pumpkin into 1 to 1 1/2-inch cubes. 

The only part of the pumpkin that I did not use was the stem (but I used the orange flesh under the stem), the blossom spot (but used the flesh under the blossom spot) and scarring on the skin (I gently trimmed away scars, preserving as much flesh as I could).

I began cooking the pumpkin in batches.

I put the cubes of raw pumpkin into a saucepan and added about 1/2 to 1-inch of water to the pan. I brought to a boil, covered, reduced to Low, then simmered for about 30-40 minutes, stirring twice part way through cooking to prevent scorching. When I could cut the skin on the pieces easily with the edge of a spoon, I knew they were done.

I scooped the cooked pumpkin into the food processor and pureed. Large pieces of skin would collect on the side of the processor bowl, so I stirred them back into the puree with a table knife.

After pureeing a bit more, the skin pieces were considerably smaller. Oddly, they mostly collected on the side of the bowl and seemed to almost vanish when I dumped the puree into the sieve.

I scooped the pureed pumpkin into a mesh sieve set over a large bowl and allowed it to drain and thicken for about an hour while I did other things in the kitchen. The mesh sieve held about 1 saucepan of cooked pumpkin puree. While the next batch cooked/cooled, the puree of the first batch drained.

You can see the difference in thickness at this point. It had reduced in volume by about 20%. I packaged the thickened puree into pint containers for the freezer.

This is the strained-off liquid from the pumpkin puree. I ended up with about 2 quarts of this liquid. I've used some already this week in soup. It has a mild flavor and can be used in soups as stock and in gravy. As it has both flavor and nutrients, I consider this remaining liquid to be of culinary value and not waste.

My original pumpkin weighed about 13 to 14 pounds. I paid between $3.64 and $3.92 for the whole pumpkin. In addition to the 2 quarts of pumpkin liquid, I also ended up with 6 & 1/2 pints of thickened pumpkin puree and about 1 1/2 cups of seeds for roasting. If I calculate the value based on just the puree, each pint costs between 56 and 60 cents, plus the cost of using the stove (a couple cents per pint). In this scenario, the pumpkin liquid and seeds are a bonus freebie. Store-brand canned pumpkin is currently selling for between $1.47 and $1.59 per pint at my nearby stores. I saved about 90 cents per can of pumpkin puree.

I had wondered for several years if I could just cook and puree the pumpkin skin with the flesh. I read in a couple of places that this could be done. So I gave it a try myself. We're very pleased with the results. My husband was skeptical when I told him I would be doing the pumpkin this way. He was sure the skin would ruin the texture and was completely surprised that the skin bits could not be detected in either the pumpkin soup or the pumpkin soufflé made this week.

The Last Big Push to Get Everything Harvested

Our weather turned much, much colder this week. Next week, we may have snow and rain mixed. Some items (like cabbage, kale, Brussel sprouts, turnips) will hold in our garden through a light dusting of snow and no prolonged freezing temps. But there's the more tender produce that needs to come in. I got the last of the green beans harvested, as well as the last of the carrots. I want to use the carrot tops as well as the roots, and I wasn't sure how snow would affect the tops. They're harvested now, the roots are stored and the greens are washed and wrapped in a tea towel in a plastic bag for me to chop and freeze tomorrow. All of our squash and pumpkins (the few there were) are in now, too.

I'd been putting off harvesting the crabapples this year. Our cool spring meant a late ripening. This morning I noticed the leaves were beginning to turn yellow on that tree and the crabapples looked as ripe as they were going to get.

Everyone was home this morning, so I sent out an all hands on deck. It took 4 of us 1 and 1/2 hours to pick them all. If it had just been me, I would have spent all day harvesting crabapples. Once they were picked, I processed the first half of the batch into crabapple sauce and crabapple juice.

I made some hot spiced apple cider with some of the juice, some regular apple juice, part of a cinnamon stick, a few whole cloves and a little sugar to compensate for the tartness of the crabapples. I froze several quarts of crabapple sauce and 2 quarts of juice. Tomorrow, I'll process the other half of the crabapples.

These are long and tiring days. However, there's an element of satisfaction that makes it all worthwhile. 

Refreshing My Fall Wardrobe on a Budget

I recently bought 2 new-to-me tops from Value Village to refresh and recharge my casual and nice casual wardrobe for the fall season. In addition to shopping at thrift store prices, I also snagged the 30% off Senior discount for being 55+. Currently, it looks like Value Village stores across the US are offering this discount every Tuesday. I couldn't confirm this on their website, but the cashier at the store and several "savings" websites indicated this discount is available US-wide. So you may want to give your local VV a call to verify for your location. 

Anyway, both shirts were originally priced at $6.99 each. The discounted price as a senior 55+ was $4.89. So, for a total of $9.78 I now have a new-to-me casual knit top and a new-to-me blouse.

I wear the dark teal knit top around the house paired with black leggings. It's tunic length and trimmed in machine crochet lace at the hem. Most importantly, as a knit, it moves with me and is very comfortable.

I wore the new floral print blouse the day we attended the play in which my daughter had a role. 

I paired it with the cashmere sweater that I bought at St. Vincent de Paul's for 99 cents a few years ago, my black jeans, and my trusty, favorite short boots. I'm a big fan of Ann Taylor Loft and have picked up several tops and sweaters at Value Village by this brand. The blouse is more loose fitting around the middle than I find flattering. However, I remedied that with the sweater buttoned mid-waist for a few buttons.

I used a gift card from one of my daughters to pay for both tops. There's still some balance on the card, which is good, because I have a couple more items to find on my list.

I love shopping thrift stores for tops, sweaters, and lightweight jackets. I can get several items for the price of one brand new one. I'm pickier about the fit of pants and jeans, so I buy those in traditional retail stores.

How about you? Do you ever shop thrift stores for clothing? Do you have some items that you prefer to buy brand new but others that you're willing to do thrifted?

October 2022 Grocery Journal

the finished trick-or-treat bags

Oct.2 Big grocery shopping day. I checked prices online for both Fred Meyer and Walmart, thinking I would just shop at one of the stores. But there were deals I wanted at both stores. So I went to Fred Meyer first, then Walmart right after. The two stores aren't super close to each other, but driving to both and home makes a loop, so I was okay with the small amount of extra gas.

First stop, Fred Meyer -- I went straight for the dairy section, hoping to find milk on markdown. The only "milk" product marked down was a half-gallon of pumpkin eggnog, exp date 10/6, $2.39 (reg. $4.69). I'll freeze what we don't drink in small containers later this week to pull out a little at a time this fall. I didn't buy any other milk here, as I knew milk was less expensive at Walmart. Next stop the egg cooler. I had a coupon for eggs and even with coupon, they were so much more expensive than Walmart. So I didn't buy eggs here either. I swung by the clearance aisle and picked up 2 small containers of colored sugar crystals for cake and cookie decorating, 1 blue, 1 red, 39 cents each. These keep forever, so I know we'll use them eventually. Next I hit the meat aisle. Whole chickens and chicken thighs were 99 cents/lb. I bought 5 whole chickens and 2 large packs of chicken thighs. I may go back in the next day or two and pick up another couple of chickens and 1 more pack of thighs. This is a good price for meat for us. I had a coupon for a free bag (any variety/size) of Private Selection frozen vegetables (the premium store brand). After considering the different kinds, I chose a 16 oz bag of edamame. We'll enjoy this added to stir fries and fried rice. Total spent at Fred Meyer -- $50.57. I also bought trick-or-treat candy, but that doesn't come out of my grocery budget, so I don't include it here.

Second stop, Walmart. I had planned on being in and out as quick as I could. I quickly found 5 bananas (58 cents/lb), 2 gallons 2% milk ($3.27 ea), and 1 60-count large eggs ($7.72). I spent the next 20 minutes searching for sliced pepperoni. I even asked an employee for help finding it. She took me to the spot with other pizza fixings, but the pepperoni there was the expensive kind. I knew there were more choices somewhere in the store. So I searched and searched. I finally gave up and went to the meat section to buy Italian sausage to cook up for the pizza. I picked up 3 lbs of the sausage, turned around, and there staring at me were a bunch of different packages of sliced pepperoni. I put the sausage back and grabbed 2 mega packs (21-oz each) of Great Value pepperoni ($7.68 each). Total spent at Walmart -- $30.69

spent for the day -- $81.26, that's more than I spent in the entire month of September!

October 5. I didn't go back for more chicken at Fred Meyer. My freezer is too full. If I see a price of 99 cents/pound again for bone-in chicken, I'll buy more then.

October 12. You know that eggnog I bought on markdown? I wound up freezing part of it, my family drank part, and 1 1/2 cups lingered in the fridge. A week past the expiration date I thought it was probably on its way to not so great to drink. I made a batch and a half of eggnog scones with that last bit of eggnog. Problem solved. This large batch made 24 scones. I'll freeze some of them to bring out later.

October 18. No car last week or this week. It's getting some body repair after an accident caused by my daughter in September. I've had a couple of moments when I thought "gee, we could use some such and such. I'll just run out and pick it up." Only to then realize there's no car and no possibility of a car for a while longer. Oh well, I'm saving money by not going to stores. And my shopping list grows . . .

October 24. We have the car back (no, it's not fixed -- long story). Due to a poorly performing pumpkin patch, I decided to go buy some pumpkins and squash at the produce stand on the highway before it shuts down for the year (in one week). WinCo is on the way, so we (one daughter and I) stopped there first. All of their pumpkins were out in front and the large Jack o'lantern types were priced at 28 cents a pound, pretty great price for this year. All of their squash and sugar pie pumpkins were much more expensive, between 99 cents/lb and $1.49/lb. We decided to not get pumpkins just yet, but check out Country Farms (produce stand) price first. We did go inside WinCo because I had other things to buy in the bulk bin section. I bought some Parmesan ($4.98/lb), wheat berries (79 cents/lb), 3 gallons of milk, 2 for drinking/cooking, 1 for yogurt-making ($3.27 each), 4 cans of black olives (98 cents each), and some trick or treat candy from the bulk bins. I don't include the trick-or-treat candy in my budget. Those come out of a holiday budget. I spent $16.52.

We drove down the street (about 2 blocks) to Country Farms where, to my surprise, big pumpkins were 50 cents/lb (compared to WinCo's 28 cents/lb). Their sugar pie pumpkins, which are denser, meatier, and less stringy than Jack o' lanterns, were 79 cents/lb (compared to WinCo's at $1.48/lb). So I bought 6 sugar pie pumpkins. While waiting to check out, the lady in front of me had a huge cabbage for making kraut. I know this stand sells kraut cabbages for much less than regular green cabbage. So I hunted around to find them and picked up one of the smaller kraut cabbages (9.66 lbs). These were priced at 39 cents/lb (compared to the green cabbages priced at 79 cents/lb). I also perused the marked down bin and found a bag of 3 green peppers for $1.29. I spent $21.33 at the produce stand.

Back up the street to WinCo where I chose 4 good-looking Jack o' lantern pumpkins at 28 cents/lb. I spent $9.83. I prefer sugar pie pumpkins for oven-roasting cubes of pumpkin and use Jack o' lanterns for making pumpkin puree for baking and soup. You can roast cubes of the cheaper pumpkins, but they are a tad stringer than the sugar pie ones.

Total spent today -- $47.68. Spent for the month -- $128.94

Both WinCo and the produce stand are on the drive to rehearsals and shows for my daughter. She has a rehearsal on Thursday and may make stops to pick up an extra pumpkin or two (the less expensive ones) and another head of kraut cabbage.

While I was paying for the 4 Jack o' lantern pumpkins at our second stop at WinCo my daughter walked over to Dick's. Dick's is a Seattle area walk up burger place. There's no seating inside, you walk up to the window to order and folks either eat in their cars or take their burgers some place else. My daughter bought 1 hamburger and split it with me. A single hamburger is $2.30 at Dick's. They discount this burger by 10 cents if you get it plain. They charge for what you get, meaning if you want ketchup, they charge extra for that. Dick's is more expensive than McDonald's, but I like that their employees are paid well for fast food -- beginning at $20/hr and $25/hr after a 12-week (I believe, but not certain) training period. They also provide free health insurance for all employees. So, I just like this place and how they run their business. But I'm not a fast food burger type of gal, so we don't go there very often. Anyway, my daughter paid for my half of the burger. Sweet daughter.

October 26. My daughter was going to Value Village, so I tagged along so I could go to Walmart (right next door) and save gas for a second trip to this center. The only food items I was planning on buying were ketchup and decaf (I also bought OTC meds and toiletries). The tags on the shelf indicating price per unit are sometimes wrong, so I used the calculator on my phone to find the best price per ounce on the ketchup. I bought a 64 oz bottle for $2.98 and a jar of decaf instant coffee for $3.93. Total spent -- $6.91

Total spent for the month so far -- $135.85

October 28. I got this panicky feeling of stockpiler's remorse earlier this week. I began to feel like we could never use all of this produce before it spoiled. So, I told my daughter not to pick up extra pumpkins or kraut cabbage. 

Our grocery spending for the month of October ends with $135.85.

I spent more in October than in September, but both months are lower than my budgeted amount to spend ($275/month). That's because we stocked up on pantry staples in the summer, going way over my budget for several months in a row. I will need to be under budget for November, December, and January to compensate for summer stock-ups. I hope we can do that.

Just to note -- I buy very little convenience snack foods. When my daughters get a hankering for chips, commercial granola bars, jerky, or the like, they buy their own. My husband and I do snack, but our snacks are mostly homemade foods, like muffins, toast, popcorn, leftover pizza, spiced apple compote, granola, pan or oven-fried potatoes, sandwiches, etc. Everybody gets what they want and are willing to pay for. Both daughters also like to treat us to extra snacks from time to time. This week we have a box of store brand pop-tarts and some Target brand mini candy bars courtesy of both daughters. When I'm making lunch for the household, I try to make it a filling one, so that we snack a little less.

what I bought in October

dairy and eggs

1/2 gallon eggnog

5 gallons milk

5 dozen eggs

~1/2 pound Parmesan cheese

meat

42 ounces sliced pepperoni

5 whole chickens

2 family packs chicken thighs

fruits and vegetables

5 bananas

6 sugar pie pumpkins

4 Jack o' lantern pumpkins

1 bag frozen edamame

1 super large head of cabbage (kraut cabbage)

3 green peppers

pantry

~1 pound of wheat berries

4 cans black olives

1 jar instant decaf coffee

64 oz ketchup

2 containers cake sprinkles

If you made it all the way to here -- Bravo! Sorry I was so long-winded this month. I'm posting this early today, as we'll be busy later this evening. Have a lovely evening!

Cheap & Cheerful Meals: A Car Picnic for Lunch Saving $$ Compared to a Restaurant Meal

My "new" kitchen dish towel from Value Village.
The same towel is listed on eBay for $19.98, but still has tags.
This towel couldn't have been washed more than once, it's
in that good of condition.

Friday

Friday

split pea and garden vegetable soup

tossed garden salad

rhubarb-blackberry pie

Saturday

Saturday

bean burritos

sautéed kale and onions

mixed fruit cup

Sunday (no dinner, just snacking for those who were hungry, see below on what we did this afternoon)

Monday

Monday

egg cups baked in ham slices

roasted pumpkin cubes

tomato-basil soup

roasted purple potatoes

I grocery shopped in the AM, hitting a few stores. I was bushed when I came home, but still had usual Monday chores. By dinner prep time, eggs seemed the simplest to make. The tomato-basil soup was canned tomatoes pureed with some onion, garlic, and lots of basil. I topped each cup with Parmesan cheese, because yay! I bought more Parmesan this morning. Leftover soup was reheated with cabbage, diced carrots, TVP, olive oil, and celery leaves for a cabbage soup at lunchtime later this week.

Tuesday

Tuesday

toasted cheese and pizza toppings sandwiches

carrot leaf soup

apple chunks in caramel sauce

Just cooking for three tonight. I had thought I would make pizza, but that sounded like too much work. So I went with toasted cheese sandwiches that were topped with pepperoni slivers, diced green pepper and onion, thin-sliced tomato, and a sprinkle garlic powder. These were so delicious that I think I'll make them again this coming weekend. The carrot leaf soup was made with some of the carrot leaves from harvesting carrots this week. I'm trying to use all of the leaves as well as the roots. Leftover soup was used in lunches.

Wednesday

Wednesday

chicken fajitas in homemade flour tortillas

apples in caramel sauce

garlic green beans

Our first harvest of apples are going wrinkly, so we're using them every chance we get. We also have a jar of homemade caramel sauce that needs using up, so apples and caramel sauce have been on the menu 3 times this week. My daughter made the tortillas and there were leftovers to use in lunches the next day to make bean burritos.

Thursday

Thursday

chili

scratch blackberry coffee cake

tossed salad of radish greens and roots, mache, carrot leaves and roots, red lettuce, and lentil sprouts

We're enjoying the mache in salads. It's flavor is slightly nutty and it's texture is a bit more firm/succulent than young spinach. It's delicious and I plan on growing an even larger patch next fall.

Breakfasts

steel cut oats, toast, homemade yogurt, frozen blackberries, apples, eggs, potatoes, scones, milk, Toasty O's cereal

Lunches

carrot leaf soup, cabbage patch soup, roasted pumpkin, potatoes & onions, bean burritos, fig-applesauce, egg salad sandwiches, apples, popcorn, peanut butter, homemade bread, scones, raisins. We are low on cheese right now, so no cheese with lunches. I'm waiting for a sale or coupon for the cheese. For baked goods we had sugar cookies, cupcakes, and pie, all scratch made.

I'm cooking hot lunches several days per week as a way to warm up that part of the house, as well as whoever is eating with me that day. We had our furnace serviced one week ago and are now using it every day, but we're trying to hold off on using it a lot, when the house just needs a little heat to take the chill off. 

On Sunday, the day we all went to the matinee of the play my daughter is in, we had to drive down early for my daughter's call time (when she has to be at the theater, usually about an hour before curtain time), having just one car between the four of us. My other daughter made brown bag lunches for all of us to eat in the car while waiting for curtain time. She packed egg salad on homemade bread, homemade eggnog scones from the freezer, raisins, and apple chunks in caramel sauce. My son and daughter-in-law had a birthday party to go to around noon, so they met up with us at curtain time. My actor daughter was able to get 4 comped tickets. We needed to buy one additional ticket, which we were able to get a discount as seniors. The play was Clue, and my daughter plays the French maid. It's a comedy and was hilarious.

That's what was on our menu. What were the highlights of your meals this past week? Do you make hot lunches in the cooler months? Are there any foods/dishes that warm you up more than others?

Wishing you a wonderful weekend!

Our October Cookies Making Me Happy

Earlier this week, one daughter baked the cut-out sugar cookies
and made orange frosting for us to decorate our pumpkin face cookies.

I bought this pumpkin-shaped cookie cutter from a Hallmark display in the grocery store in 1982. There's even a date on the back of the cutter that indicates it was made in 1982.

There's also a price on the back of the cutter. I paid 75 cents at that time. To give you an idea of what 75 cents could have bought in 1982, a first class US stamp was 20 cents, so I could have sent not quite 3 letters or cards for the cost of the cutter. A first class stamp is currently 60 cents, FYI. What else could I have bought for the cost of this cutter? About 2 pounds of apples, or a little more than a loaf of bread (59 cents on average), or about a dozen eggs.

I remember that fall season the year I bought this. I remember shopping in the local grocery store buying cuts of banana squash for 17 cents per pound. Banana squash are very large, and stores used to cut these large squash into 1 to 2 pound portions and wrap in plastic film to sell alongside the other produce. I haven't seen cuts of squash sold in a grocery store in a couple of decades. But this was something done back then and made for a very inexpensive vegetable. I also remember that generic canned products were relatively new then. The cans were labeled in plain white with bold black lettering, "green beans," "dog food," "luncheon loaf" (spam), and there was even "beer." I was on a tight budget, so I actually tried and regularly bought the generic green beans (not the beer, though). The manufacturers of generic canned goods saved costs on advertising and marketing and passed those savings on to consumers. Their quality was inconsistent. Sometimes the product was pretty close to name brand, sometimes it was rather poor. I often found twigs and blemished beans in the cans. But this I overlooked for the savings. 

The year I bought this cookie cutter I also bought my first, very own Jack o' lantern pumpkin as an adult. I carved the pumpkin on October 31, then cooked and pureed it on November 1 to use in a pumpkin sheet cake for a birthday party for a friend's one-year-old later that week.

Shaped cookie cutters are a great value for seasonal celebrations. The same cutter can be used to make special holiday cookies every year for many decades. My pumpkin cookie cutter has seen 40 autumns. At this point, that works out to under 2 cents per year to own and use this cutter. I have my mother's heart-shaped cookie cutter, which she bought in 1958. That's over 60 years ago. I use it every year to make her favorite Valentine cookies. Someday, I'll pass my pumpkin cutter on to one of my kids and they can make our family's October cookies and get that same happy feeling I get making these each fall.

Making Homespun Trick-or-Treat Bags

Just doing something fun and creative this month. 

We get a handful of trick-or-treaters each year, all neighborhood kids. Our neighborhood is not considered one of the desirable T or T neighborhoods, as the houses are far apart and driveways long. So, the ones who do come I know are neighbor children. I like to do something nice for each of them. This year, I made small bags to fill with candy and trinkets. Here's how they look so far. Once filled, I'll turn the top down and thread a yarn through holes and tie closed.

Here's how I made these.

the finished bag

I used some of the brown packing paper that came in
boxes of groceries I ordered during the pandemic.
I mentioned this paper last fall.

These are supposed to look homespun, so the wrinkles in the paper
 don't matter. I cut the paper into lengths suitable for a small bag.

I rubber-stamped the center of the paper.

After stamping, I used glue stick along one of the
ends that I would be sealing to form a bag.

I flipped the paper over and added glue to the corresponding "flap."
Glue stick adheres best when both surfaces are coated with glue.

I used a small box to serve as a form for making a bag. I taped a string
around the box, so I could slide the box out after glueing
the ends and bottom flap. I wrapped the paper around the box
and sealed the edges together.

After glueing the back, I glued the bottom flap,
as I would if I were wrapping a gift. 

I pressed the glued sections together well,
and creased the corners with my fingers.

Here's the bag flipped over.

While the box was still in the bag, I used pinking shears
to cut a zig-zagged edge along the top of the bag.

Now the box is ready to be pulled out of the bag.

I know this craft will probably not be up your alley. But I thought I'd share what I'm doing, as these bags are translatable to birthday party goodie bags and birthday and holiday gift bags. You can used lightweight brown paper sacks, gift wrap paper, white printing paper, newspaper, magazine pages, or any other paper, colored, printed, or plain. Just find a box to use as a form that is about the size of what you want to contain. Glue stick or tape works. You can add handles with ribbon, raffia, yarn, or cord.

When the Homegrown Pumpkin Patch is a Bust

 

These are not pumpkins that I grew in my little patch. I bought all of these at both WinCo (the large Jack o' lanterns) and the produce stand (the sugar pie pumpkins) today. I had intended to also buy some winter squash, but the prices seemed high to me this year. Prices ranged from 99 cents/lb to about $1.50/ lb for winter squash. I passed on buying those.

A few small pumpkins and squash did grow in my patch. But it's pretty evident that I need to work on the soil in that spot.

I am grateful for finding good prices on the farm-grown pumpkins -- the carving pumpkins (which I'll also use in cooking) at 28 cents/lb and the sugar pies at 79 cents/lb,  You can do a lot with both kinds of pumpkins. I used half of one of the smaller ones in dinner tonight, prepared as roasted pumpkin cubes. So delicious! I'll carve the largest Jack o' lantern on Halloween afternoon, then cook to puree the following day. The rest of the pumpkins should keep for about a month in my cool storage room, giving me ample time to either use in meals or cook and process for the freezer. 

What are pumpkin prices like in your area?

Cheap & Cheerful Suppers for a Week with Lots of Chicken Leftovers

Sometime late last week I roasted a whole chicken. These chicken get larger and larger each year. This one was huge.  Friday evening I cut as much meat off the bones as I could, then froze them in meal-sized portions. I simmered the carcass in the crock pot overnight, then picked the remaining meat off the bones and set the bones in a new pot of water for a second simmering overnight for bone broth. We used some of this stock and bone broth in soups this week and froze more. Once the bones were completely cleaned, I baked them in the oven until browned and pounded into bone meal for the garden. The smell can be overwhelming when baking, so I opened doors and windows and ran the exhaust fan. I'll probably freeze bones through the cool months to bake to dry once our weather turns door-opening warm in spring.

You may have noticed, we're eating more meat at dinner these days. I'll cook more beans again in winter. For now, we're enjoying some of the chicken and ground beef that I stocked up on this past year.

Friday

Friday

I roasted a chicken earlier in the week and had everything needed to make hash. I love hash! Cat had mentioned (in the comments) making hash a couple of weeks ago and it had been in my mind since. And now that I'm digging the potatoes, I once again can make it economically. Almost all of our potatoes are purple this year. The purple fingerling seem to be very productive in my garden, while the white potatoes not so much. So grateful for the green beans and salad greens to round out the meal.

chicken hash, using purple potatoes, celery, and sage from garden, and leftover chicken and gravy, plus store onions
garlic green beans
tossed garden salad

Saturday

Saturday

My husband made soup for us tonight. I find the ingredients for him and he puts it together. He toasted up the leftover scones, which I think really improved them.

chicken-vegetable-pasta soup

tossed garden salad
leftover eggnog scones, toasted

Sunday
I was in a period of fasting and prayer. I think my family had burritos and salad.

Monday

Monday

Since I needed to use up chicken last Friday, I put off making the pizza until Monday. I had some summer squash and some green beans, but not enough of either one for the whole family, so I combined them with garlic, onion, tomato, basil, and oregano. Those raspberries are ever-bearing variety. This variety produces two crops, an early crop (just before the main crop July-bearing canes we also have) and a mid-fall crop. We had just a few pears this year. I'm working on improving conditions for our pear trees so they will produce well again.

homemade pepperoni pizza
Italian vegetable medley
tossed salad
fruit compote of apple, pear and raspberries

Tuesday

Tuesday

This was an easy dinner night. One daughter and I put it together. Our September apples are dwindling now. We'll be moving on to the later apples (already picked and in the garage fridge) in about a week. In any case, apple wedges are an easy side. 

kale frittata
brown rice
apple wedges
tossed salad

Wednesday

Wednesday

The same daughter who I worked with on dinner last night made the meatloaf meal tonight. We love meatloaf in our house. I think it gets a bad rap. Meatloaf is delicious. The potato salad was made with our purple potatoes, our garden celery, onions, mayo, boiled egg, and a bit of curry powder. I have yet to grow early potatoes, so we don't get potato salad until after summer is over (when our garden potatoes are finally ready). I'm thinking of ordering some early-crop seed potatoes for this coming season. It would be nice to have some potatoes for dishes like potato salad in summer.

meatloaf and gravy
potato salad
tossed salad
garlic green beans

Thursday

Thursday

My other daughter made dinner for us tonight. The soup used garden celery, garlic, potatoes, carrots, carrot leaves, plus onions and leftover chicken in stock from the freezer. Surprisingly, the muffins tasted like blueberry muffins. Delicious! I ate 2, one more than I should have. She baked a large batch to freeze some for her own snacks and breakfasts as well as some for the family. She also made a rhubarb-blackberry pie earlier in the week that she was going to serve tonight, but we were all too full. The rhubarb-blackberry pie finished off our garden rhubarb for the year. Despite our long stretch of dry weather, I kept the rhubarb plants watered with kitchen waste water. I think that helped.

chicken and vegetable soup
blackberry muffins

Breakfasts this week included leftover scones, bacon (I saved the fat for cooking with), steel cut oats, Toasty O's cereal, toasted homemade bread, frozen blackberries, apples, milk, and yogurt. My sleep is wonky this year. I keep waking around 3 AM. One night I got up and started some crockpot steel cut oats at 3 AM. I cooked it on HI and they were perfectly done by 7 AM. My favorite add-in for steel cut oats is a little maple extract and some honey.

Lunches included tomato sandwiches, leftover pizza, tomato-basil soup, spiced fig-applesauce, tossed garden salads, chicken-apple-celery salad, eggs, peanut butter, apples, raisins, refried beans, sausage, homemade tortillas, bread, cupcakes and cookies. 

Here's something really cool about teaching my daughters how to cook from basic ingredients: when they get a hankering for something, they know how to make it themselves. One daughter saw the buckets of newly dug potatoes and said what she most wanted to make from some of them was potato salad. so she did. The other daughter wanted some muffins to use as snacks and breakfasts on the run. She found my rhubarb muffin recipe and modified it for blackberries. She used some of these muffins in our dinner on Thursday. When they have their own places, I'm confident that they'll be able to economically cook for themselves.

I finished digging the potatoes this week. I used muscles on my backside that I'd forgotten existed. Yes, I'm a bit sore and stiff tonight. Anyway, I'm looking forward to making a pan of oven-roasted potatoes for lunch tomorrow!

The garden still has celery, kale, cabbage, Brussel sprouts (although very tiny), turnips, beets, spinach, mache, Swiss chard, green onions, carrots, lettuce, green (unripe) figs, a couple of pears, raspberries, and a small amount of green beans growing. I used some odds and ends to make sweet pickle relish for the year. It's been a very good year with the garden, even with me still needing to learn a lot more.

My meals are humble, using very basic ingredients and simple cooking processes. Humble meals make for affordable eating. Nothing fancy, but nothing lacking either.

Those were our meals. What was on your menu?

How Would Your Life Be Different If You No Longer Had Internet Access?

I ask this question because of how I spent my day, today. Early in the day, we lost our internet. All 4 of us have limited data plans on our phones, relying on our home wi-fi for internet most of the time and saving the cell data for when we're out. Our home internet was restored just as we were sitting down to dinner (about 6 PM). So, I spent the better part of a day in non-tech mode.

A few ways my day was different:

• I read an actual hard copy of the Bible for the daily reading in our church. I knew where we had left off the previous day, so I just had to find my place and guess at how long the reading was supposed to be. Of course, I couldn't leave any comments about my thoughts or read other's thoughts on our reading. I'll catch up with my group tomorrow.
• I worked outdoors in the garden more than I might have otherwise. I harvested the last of the summer squash, green tomatoes, and tiny peppers and made 3 jars of sweet pickle relish. I also dug the entire 2nd bed of potatoes. Both daughters came out late in the afternoon to help with the potatoes, as it really was a big job. We harvested about 20-25 pounds of purple potatoes. This was more work than I would normally take on for the day. I otherwise would have dug about half the bed this day and tackled the other half the next. But today, I had all the time in the world without the internet beckoning me.
• I went for a longer walk than I'd normally take, because, why not? And I took my time really looking at all of the front yards, the flowers, fall decor, new paint jobs, fence installations -- all things I'd quickly walked past ion previous walks. I guess you could say I slowed down to smell the roses.
• My husband took the bus to the public library to do some work for the office. While this wasn't "my day", where he is for the day does affect my day.
• I played 3 games of solitaire with a deck of cards. I laughed at myself when I waited for the cards to be dealt, then realized I had to do that myself, no auto-dealing.
• We spent more time talking with each other.
• And now I'm more tired than usual after putting in a hard physical day.

My concluding thoughts about how I spent my internet-less day were that I was more productive, more physically active, and more intentional in exploring my surroundings and developing my relationships. I could have skipped the card games. It was mostly frustrating that I had to keep my piles of cards straight and deal them myself.

I'm glad to have access back. I get to write to you because I have internet tonight. But I do think I would be more productive without internet. But I also wonder how long that would last. Maybe I would find other ways to be less productive.

So, my question for you -- how do you think your life would differ without access to the internet?

Getting Every Last Dollop of Conditioner and Toothpaste Out of the Tubes

A common frugal move is to cut the bottom off of toothpaste and other beauty care tubes when the tube has been squeezed to the point nothing else will come out. A friend was mentioning that she had just done this with her toothpaste, hoping to scrape out another few brushings worth of toothpaste. I said I do that too, and I also slit up the length of the tube from the bottom, then snip the back near the neck of the tube into wings. I'm able to get every last bit out. With some products this is very helpful. Anyway, my friend suggested I post photos of what I was explaining, here.

My hair dye kits come with this great conditioner. The conditioner comes in plastic tubes that can only be squeezed so much, then the last little bit just won't come out. If you remember, I "shampoo" my hair with conditioner now. Earlier this week, I checked the conditioner supply in the shower and found 2 of these nearly empty, squeezed tubes of conditioner. 

I knew I wouldn't be able to get much out while standing in the shower, so after cutting off the end, I slit the back of each tube with scissors and snipped the "wings". 

The result was I was able to scrape out enough conditioner to co-wash my long hair from these 2 opened up tubes.

My toothpaste also comes in those plasticky tubes. I slit the backs of the tubes and snip wings on those, too. It may only be a little bit of extra product, but 1, 2, or 3 extra portions every couple of weeks adds up.

Will You Feel Priced Out of Celebrating Thanksgiving This Year?

I read a news story that highlighted a survey about this upcoming Thanksgiving in the US. The survey asked if folks would skip Thanksgiving altogether because of our current high inflation, and 25% responded "yes." 1 in 4 Americans feel priced out of celebrating Thanksgiving. The survey also asked if folks would consider measures to reduce the cost of the meal. These measures included paying attention to deals, using coupons, start shopping early, sticking to a grocery list, comparing prices, buying in bulk, shopping the pantry first, planning leftovers for the turkey, skipping travel, and buying a smaller turkey. While I think these measures could help a family save some money on their Thanksgiving plans, I also think they missed several thrifty ideas.

Here are a few of my alternatives:

• choose a different main course. If turkey is too expensive, buy a whole chicken and roast that instead.
• focus on the cheap traditional Thanksgiving foods -- potatoes, onions, carrots, bread stuffing, and cabbage and build the bulk of the menu with those foods.
• find substitute ingredients for the more costly ones such as this recipe for sautéed onions and bread crumbs in place of Durkee's fried onions in green bean casserole
• bake the dessert at home instead of buying a ready-made pie. If someone doesn't feel capable of making a pie crust from scratch, skip the pie and bake a pumpkin sheet cake (in the pan) and frost with simple buttercream frosting. If canned pumpkin is too expensive, cook up the Halloween Jack o' lantern. Here are four methods for cooking whole pumpkins.
• host a potluck and assign menu categories (salad, vegetable side dish, starchy side dish, dessert) to each attendee.
• host a Thanksgiving brunch, tea, or hot dog cook-out instead of the traditional turkey dinner. (We had a hot dog cookout for Thanksgiving 2020, for other reasons, but enjoyable nonetheless.)
• if the cost of travel is out of budget for both Thanksgiving and Christmas or Hanukkah, choose one of the two holidays for traveling out of area and celebrate both special days, just one or two days apart. I know a family where the kids are grown and married. The parent couple "got" Thanksgiving weekend (instead of Christmas week) for all grown kids and spouses/grandkids. So they celebrate Thanksgiving on the traditional Thursday, then Christmas on the Saturday of that same weekend. It's not quite the same as being able to go to a Christmas Eve or Day church service together as the whole family, but they're grateful to get to spend holiday time as a large family. 
• if any travel at all is out of budget, you can still have a wonderful Thanksgiving meal. Find other "orphaned" families/friends to celebrate with. For  most of our marriage, we haven't had a single family member outside of our small group. We've hosted many "orphans" and have been lucky to be asked to many other families' celebrations. And we've caught up with out of town family with long phone chats early on the big day.

From what I've read, the original pilgrims likely didn't have a turkey at their first Thanksgiving. According to New England.com, they likely ate duck, geese, venison, shellfish, corn, nuts, and possibly cranberries,  currants, corn bread or corn pudding, onions, beans, pumpkins and/or squashes. No green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, pie, or mashed potatoes. I think we get ourselves into a rut thinking that everything has to be exactly as we had it before and resist changes to family traditions. The fact is, this isn't the first Thanksgiving that many, many folks have struggled financially and won't be the last either. My thinking is that we should find alternatives that do work within our budgets and make the most of the holiday. I hope those 25% that have decided they'll just skip Thanksgiving will reconsider. Anyway, just my thoughts.

If you couldn't afford the typical American trimmings for Thanksgiving (or even Christmas, as the economy is not likely to fix itself between now and December), what tips and tricks would you employ to make your holiday celebration affordable?