French Toast Omelet (or making a single serving of French toast with 1 egg and 1 slice of bread)

Several us us here find ourselves cooking some of the day's meals for fewer people than we did in our past years. Even with 4 adults in our house, we all get our own breakfasts most days, so I'm often cooking something just for myself. 

On top of cooking for fewer of us, I'm eating less than I used to. So making a hot breakfast like a single pancake or one piece of French toast has become more of a challenge, when that's the sort of breakfast I'm a hankerin' for. 

Here's my solution for a single slice of bread and one egg "batch" of French toast -- a French toast omelet. I use 1 large egg, 1 slice of bread, just a splash of milk (I use soy milk, about 1 tablespoon), a sprinkling of sugar, and a few drops of vanilla extract.

I beat the batter together and slice the bread into 4 to 6 sticks. I soak the bread sticks on all sides, 

then place them into a small heated and oiled skillet (the kind that is often referred to as an omelet pan).

I pour the remaining batter on top and between the sticks in the skillet, filling in all of the gaps between them, and making one large "pancake". 

After browning on one side, I flip it over and cook until that side is done. The egg batter firms up during the cooking. The end result is a cross between French toast and a slightly sweet omelet.

I've made this for myself several times in recent weeks. It's delicious and just the right amount of food for me with no leftovers. Plus I get all of the protein in one egg with only one slice of bread.

What family-size recipes have you modified to make just one or two servings for a shrinking household and/or smaller appetites?

How Many Pairs of Jeans Does a Gal Need?

Talking about dyeing my black jeans last week got me to thinking about how many pairs of jeans is a reasonable amount to own. I have 5 pairs of jeans. That number may sound high. However, I keep my jeans until they can no longer be repaired. 

I even hang on to jeans that I've outgrown, because I know my body. I may be too big for a pair one year, then 5 years later that same pair is the right fit, until they aren't. My body size goes up and down, and I'm comfortable with that.  So my jeans are in a couple of sizes. I have jeans that I bought when I was slightly larger and jeans that I bought when I was slightly smaller.

And (a big and) I don't buy really trendy styles in jeans. As you can see, these jeans go back more than a dozen years. I never did go in for the skinny jeans. I didn't think they would look good on me. I pretty much avoided low-rise jeans, as well, when they were "in" 20 years ago. I stick with cuts and styles that are flattering to me. That means that jeans that I bought 15 years ago are not so extreme that their fashionableness or unfashionableness is obvious. And at my age, no one is expecting me to look trendy, one of the gifts of aging.

I have both work and good jeans. When I'm at home working in the house or yard, I put on the work jeans. When I go anywhere, I put on one of the good jeans.

The two pairs on the left are my work jeans. The far left pair used to be my son's when he was in high school. The second ones over used to be my "good" jeans in 2012. They're now my go-to jeans for gardening. By always wearing these jeans when doing physical work, I keep my good jeans looking nice for longer. I patch and mend these jeans as needed. 

For slit type of holes, I use the zig zag on my sewing machine to go over the hole multiple times, adding a scrap of fabric on the underside. 

For small wear spots, like around button holes, I sew a scrap of denim over the spot. 

an inside patch in a hole in the crotch of my work jeans

For larger wear spots and holes, I sew a scrap of heavy denim inside the jeans, 

reinforcing the patch on the top side as needed.

The three pairs on the right side of the pile are my now "good" jeans, one dark blue, the other two black. I take good care of these jeans to keep them looking as new as possible for as long as possible. Some of the things I do to keep them looking nice: 1) I hang these jeans on hangers in the closet; 2) I launder them inside out in cold water; 3) I hang them on a rack indoors to dry; 4) I never kneel in these jeans; 5) I never wear these jeans for physical work; 6) you already know this, I over-dye these jeans when they begin to fade.

So that's my number. I seem to need about 5 pairs of jeans, some larger, some smaller, some older, some newer.

How about you? How many pairs of jeans do you own? Do you separate your jeans into work jeans vs nice jeans? Do you tend to hang onto jeans that you outgrow, or do you pass those on to someone else? At what point do you retire a pair of jeans?

Front Porch Update: Some Furniture and a Close-up of the Door Mat

Here are the two Adirondack chairs that my husband and I put together yesterday afternoon and this morning. Whoever thought this was a 30 minute assembly (recommendation online) didn't have the type of dyslexia that I have, where I can't easily read maps or diagrams. Even with using some of my tried and true tips, I still had some confusion with parts and which end or side went where. My mind flips things around, but only in maps and diagrams.

I also wanted to show you a close-up of the door mat. I like to use repeating designs or patterns to tie elements together. When I saw this door mat, I knew it was the one we wanted. My illustrator daughter also caught the design element. 

The mat is a series of tessellating diamonds. 

Our front door also has a diamond pattern, seen in the glass panes. I just liked how these two elements went together.

Anyway, I am loving our new morning and evening space. 

More updates to follow . . .

A birthday wish fulfilled (or in process to be fulfilled)

As Tina mentioned in the comments from yesterday's post, today was my birthday (and it was Tina's, too).

When asked what I really wanted to do on my birthday, I said I wanted to overhaul our front porch. The porch had become rather neglected and unkempt-looking over the past couple of years. It was an eyesore. I had been thinking for a couple of months what I would like done here and made a list of what I wanted/needed to get it done. 

Just a warning, this won't be a budget makeover. This is my only birthday gift. I have tried to avoid overspending, but I did spend. My hope is that we'll have a lovely place to sit on summer evenings, chatting with neighbors as they walk past. I'll take you along with me for this project. It won't be a one day and I'm done sort of job, but will take several days, maybe a week or two to get it finished.

Here is today's start.

During the day, my daughters went to Home Depot and Value Village with me in search of some of the things on my list. After coming home from shopping, my daughters and I had a lovely lunch on the patio then got to work.

Here's the sad before picture. I'm so embarrassed to even show it to you, as it demonstrates my neglect in keeping things looking orderly and nice. Neither the bench nor the chair are suitable for actual sitting. My husband will take a look at both and see if they can be repaired. The stone was covered in moss and has been too slippery on rainy days to allow anyone to step on it. The wall pots have been ravaged by squirrels. The cushion is faded. And the whole space looks cluttered.

After dragging everything off of the porch, I got out a spade and began scraping the large patches of moss. One daughter came behind me and scooped up the loose moss to add to the compost. We got out the power washer and all took turns cleaning off the stone. This in itself made such a difference in the appearance of this area. It never ceases to amaze me how simply cleaning something can add so much improvement to that thing's appearance. 

Once the porch was washed, I added a new doormat. (The one in the before photo is our Christmas door mat -- oops!) Both daughters helped me plant these new hanging baskets. So far we've put begonias into the baskets. I'd also like to find a trailing plant to add to each.

A couple of new lanterns will add ambiance to our summer evenings. These are LED candles that can be turned on/off or set on a timer with a remote.

Next up is some seating. My husband came home as we were finishing with the cleaning. After we put all of our work tools away, he helped me assemble part of the new seating. I'll show you more tomorrow.

One of the activities I love most is sprucing up our living areas. It brings me so much joy in all stages, from the planning, to the actual work, and finally to the enjoyment of a refreshed space. To spend an entire day immersed in one of these projects with my family alongside is my dream day. I love my family for taking part in my dream today. This is a birthday wish fulfilled. I hope you all had a wonderful day, today, too!

Using Logs as Budget Rustic Patio or Yard Furniture

I saw this done in a photo online when searching for budget or cheap patio furniture. I thought it had a nice look for a rustic setting, such as when placed around a fire ring. 

Last summer and now this year, I've been working on fixing up our outdoor living areas. We use 4 resin Adirondack chairs around the fire ring and whatever small tables we can borrow from other areas. We find it's nice to have a small table within reach of each chair, as when we cook out around a fire, we also take our meals right there. Having someplace to set your glass down within reach is a nice extra to have.

Seeing the online photo of logs used as stools and small tables really clicked with me.

This last weekend, we had an overgrown birch tree taken down. It was shading a section of the roof and depositing a ton of leaves each fall on the shingles, which ultimately led to a leak in the roof in that area this winter. It's the same basic area we've had previous leaks before the last re-roofing. It was recommended to us to remove that particular tree. Sad as we were to lose a beautiful tree, we welcome having our new roof (later this month or early next month) not have that same leak issue. As a bonus, we have lots of beautiful logs for our use now.

Saturday's weather was gorgeous, bright and sunny with just enough sun to want to spend some time in the evening outdoors. It seemed like the perfect day to have a cook-out. One daughter and I brought 6 of the birch logs to the patio and set them up to use as side tables. I like the rustic look, and for now, logs work well for placing a drink, pot of flowers, or a plate of s'mores fixings.

Cheap & Cheerful Suppers Using Up Odds and Ends

Friday

scratch pepperoni pizza, using tomato paste and dried tomatoes in the sauce

Cole slaw, using a leftover dressing packet from a salad kit last month

apple wedges

chocolate chip cookies

Saturday

various leftovers turned into soup (lentil soup from earlier in the week stretched with leftover lentils, rice, and veggies)

homemade tortilla chips

cake

Sunday

peanut butter sauce with frozen spinach over

mix of brown and white rice

buttered carrots

leftover cake

Monday

beef and bean enchiladas

Cole slaw

leftover cake

Tuesday

leftover enchiladas

steamed carrots

Wednesday

tuna noodle casserole

steamed broccoli

Thursday

tofu and vegetable stir fry

brown rice

pumpkin souffle

pumpkin chocolate chip snack cake

This was an exhausting week for me. I did my best with meals. I'm rushing to get the garden planted at the same time I'm juggling medical and dental appointments. This past Wednesday I had another long dental appointment, another crown. This one exhausted me. I did very little after coming home. But I did rouse myself enough to make a soft dinner. Thursday's dinner was another soft one. The nerves in my mouth are easily irritated still. I slept poorly Wednesday night. I'm hoping tonight's sleep is much better. I go in for more testing to see how my thyroid is doing on Monday. I'm hoping that there's been some improvement.

My husband pitched in on Saturday and Sunday and my daughters made the enchilada dinners on Monday and Tuesday. I'm thankful that I didn't have to cook every night. Thursday I got a bit of an energy burst and did some extra cooking and garden-harvesting so there's plenty of easy foods to grab. I picked a bunch of kale, turnip greens, Brussel sprout leaves, and watercress today. I washed it all, used some in dinner, then put the rest in containers in the fridge for lunches the next couple of days. The pumpkin shuffle was made with the 25 cent/cans of pumpkin that I bought at Grocery Outlet. I used 1 1/2 cans of pumpkin, making enough for leftovers to use as a vegetable side for breakfasts or lunches. The other 1/2 can went into the snack cake, hence the 2 pumpkin items on one meal's menu.

We're making progress using up foods from the deep freeze. I want to get that freezer thawed and cleaned sometime in May before I begin freezing produce from this year's garden.

I went grocery shopping earlier this week, mostly buying produce, milk, and eggs. My plan is to spend less on groceries for the month of April, both to use up foods in the freezers and pantry and to offset our big beef purchase last month. This looks do-able.

How were your meals this past week? Did you have any favorites?

Wishing you a wonderful weekend!

Answering questions about dyeing clothing and some beginner tips

These are my best tips from 40 years of dyeing my own clothing and household linens.

For a beginner, choose an item that you have less attachment to, such as a shirt that you'd been thinking you might just donate, or something bought at a yard sale, thrift store, or other discount store, or a garment that won't be on display in public, such as undergarments (slips and underwear). My very first try at dyeing clothing was a pair of cheap, white cotton sneakers bought at the drug store. This was back in the early 1980s. I think I paid $1.99 for those sneakers. They were white, but what I wanted was a pair of pale pink sneakers. The finished dye color was pale enough that any imperfections were barely visible. 

Liquid dye is great for beginners. It costs a bit more than powder, but liquid dye is pigment that is already dissolved, eliminating the chance that dye particles will speckle your fabric. You can also be thorough in dissolving powder dye. The last couple of times I've used powder dye, I've dissolved the dye in a saucepan of simmering water while stirring constantly. I've been pleased with the results of the finished dyed item by dissolving the powder in this way.

There are specific dyes for synthetics like 100% polyester. Regular Rit Dye won't work on polyester. But they (and other brands) do make a product that will. Regular dyes, the ones found in craft and sewing stores all work on cotton, linen, nylon, wool, silk, and blends.

Don't try to home-dye a textile that can't be subjected to a hot water wash. Home-dyes require hot water to help the dye attach to the fibers.

If the textile is brand new or has been worn, used, or starched since the most recent washing, launder it to remove fabric finishes (if a new item), laundry starch, or stains, body oils and/or sweat embedded in the fibers. Even light coatings of any of the above will prevent dyes from attaching to fibers or cause uneven dying.

instructions on rit.com   https://www.ritdye.com/2015/01/12/dye-painted-sneakers/

You can improve your satisfaction with a dye job by following a few rules for dye color selection.  1) Aiming for a pastel shade instead of a deep color lessens the chance of noticeable dye blemishes. With that pair of sneakers, I wanted a pale pink. As I said above, any dye blemishes were hard to spot with that pastel shade. I dyed my sneakers in the bathroom sink. But you can also dye-paint sneakers, using a sponge brush. Check out the link on the photo above.  2) Opt for darkening an existing colored textile just one or two shades of the same color, an example being the refreshing of my newest black jeans. I wasn't trying to change the color, just boost the intensity and renew the look of my already black jeans. Although Rit Dye does make a "denim" color, if you want to refresh blue jeans, many people recommend using one box of Navy and one box of Black dye. Instructables has a good tutorial here.  3) Dye textiles that already have some variation in the thread colors. Denim is a good example of this. If you look closely at denim fabric, you'll see it isn't made of all blue or all black threads. You can sometimes see this best on the inside of a pair of all-cotton jeans like Levis. This variation in color will help hide any perfections in the home-dyed outcome. I haven't done this yet, but I've long wanted to over-dye a pair of worn denim jeans with a color dye, such as green or purple. I like this look for a fun pair of jeans. Over-dyeing a color over denim works best with faded jeans.

color dyed over blue jeans

Wet the fabric with hot water before dyeing. I do this in the kitchen sink and ensure I get the garments thoroughly wet on the inside as well as outside. I then roll the items up to transfer them to the dye bath with minimal dripping.

Use the hottest water available for the dye bath and use the salt recommended (1 cup of ordinary salt per box of dye). Salt is a mild color fixative for home-dyeing and works well with cotton fabrics. Some folks use vinegar as a color fixative in home-dyeing. Vinegar works well to set color in wool, silk, and nylon. Home-dyed color fades more quickly than commercially set color. However, Rit Dye (and other companies) has a product that works better than salt as a fixative, ColorStay Dye Fixative. If someone was wanting to dye a more vibrant color, a fixative would be a great addition to the dye process. If your tap water isn't very hot, bring some water to a boil on the stove and pour that into the washing machine, bucket, or sink where you'll be dyeing the textiles. Rit Dye recommends water that is at least 140 degrees F. This is hotter than the setting on many households' water heaters.

For my personal uses of choosing pastel colors or refreshing the color in clothing items, I'm okay with fading. I did a batch of bath towels for one daughter about 6 years ago. They're now looking like they could use a refresh on their color. I'm happy to re-dye her towels for her. Ditto on refreshing my jeans multiple times. I hope to keep my darkest black denims looking new or near-new for many more years with a refresh of black dye every year or two.

Push all of the fabric beneath the dye bath surface at the very beginning of the dye process. This sounds like a no-brainer, but especially in heavier weight fabrics, such as denim, large air bubbles can form in the legs or sleeves, which will cause some of the fabric to float at and above the surface of the dye. I sometimes have to work at moving those bubbles to an opening, so I can fully submerge the fabric.

Keeping the fabric moving in the dye bath is essential for a good outcome. While the agitate cycle on a washing machine is good, you can enhance the movement of dye through the fabric by putting on a pair of gloves and "regroup" the fabric folds periodically. Every 6 to 10 minutes during the agitation in your machine or during stirring in a pot on the stove, pull the clothing up out of the dye and re-lay it in the dye slightly differently than it had been. For example, with sleeves or legs of pants, pull the sleeve or leg to change where it is creasing and flatten out any ridges in the wet fabric. This sounds like a hassle, but doing so will prevent concentrated dye from pooling and dying more strongly in spots or leaving streaks.

After the dye time has been completed, drain the dye water and rinse the fabric under cold water until the water runs clear. Some people will opt to skip this. If you don't want the dye color of your refreshed black jeans to rub off onto your aunt's lovely cream-colored sofa, rinse, rinse, rinse. If you rinse until the water runs clear (or near to clear), you don't need to worry about dye rubbing off on other clothing in the wash. Although, I do recommend washing with like colors only and in cold water for the first few washes after dying. If the wash water is warm or hot, dye can leach out into the wash water.

While it's not necessary to turn clothing inside out before laundering after home-dyeing (if you rinsed until the water ran clear), I always wash my jeans inside out, always. I turn them inside out and zip the zipper, button the button before washing, even when not a home-dyed pair. Doing so prolongs the color saturation for as long as possible. Denim fabric seems to fade and develop wear-patches more than other fabrics. I also always hang my jeans to dry. Taking these extra steps seems to substantially prolong the "newness" of my jeans.

As I said at the top, I've been home-dyeing for 40 years. I've dyed sneakers, clothing, undergarments, towels, pillow cases, and tablecloths. Some of my dyeing efforts have been to breathe new life into something that was looking worn. Others have been to change or coordinate the colors of textiles. For example the tablecloths, I have a bunch of inherited white and ecru tablecloths. I've dyed a few of these so I have more color options when setting a table. I had a set of mismatched towels and a bathmat that I gave to one daughter for her bathroom. I made them "match" with the help of dye. Some were a pale pink, some a pale yellow, and some white. I made them all peach with a couple of different dye baths. Sometimes dye can minimize the look of a stain. I had a favorite white cotton blouse that I bought in 2002. After about 10 or 11 years, it developed underarm stains that I could not remove. I chose to dye the shirt pink. The pink shirt still has some underarm staining, but the stains are less noticeable against the pink fabric than they had been against the white. When my mother was alive, she had a fancy engagement to attend with my father. The dress she wore was just sheer enough to require a slip underneath. Her beige slip showed too much beneath the fabric. I helped her dye the slip to match the color of her dress. She looked lovely that evening. 

All of my home-dyeing exploits began with a cheap pair of sneakers. I took a chance and I'm so glad that I did. I've never had an item than I ruined that could not be remedied. The worst that has ever happened was that colors turned out differently than I intended. In these cases, I "fixed" them by removing the dyed color and starting over. And I have "saved" so many items and kept them in use for many additional years with a packet of dye. 

If you have any other questions about using dye, I'm more than happy to answer them.

What do these three clothing items have in common?

They're all going into a black over-dye bath today.

There are two pairs of "black" jeans and one long sleeve t-shirt. The oldest of the black jeans are now gray. The newer ones are just beginning to fade. The older pair actually fits me better these days. So I'd like to bring them back to a darker black color. And I just want to refresh the newer pair. They'll fit better again someday. The t-shirt has cotton sleeves and a lace-over-cotton front. The sleeves have faded so much, yet the lace has not at all. I'd like the entire t-shirt to be black again.

I happened to have one package of black Rit dye in my craft and sewing stash. I think I'd long ago planned on over-dyeing the older pair of black jeans. Then I grew out of them, so I nixed that idea. But now they fit again. So, I'm hoping to make these a nicer pair of jeans to wear when I go out. (I have other worn jeans that I wear around the house and in the garden.)

(a couple of hours later)

I followed the directions on the dye box. I just had the one box, and generally it's recommended that if dyeing dark colors to use two boxes. So I did everything I could to make the most of this one box. I made sure the dye powder was completely dissolved by heating it in a pan of water on the stove, then used the least amount of water I could in the washer, and ran the agitate cycle for 60 minutes. The box recommends at least 30 minutes.

Everything is out of the dye now and hanging to dry. I've just finished cleaning out the washer. The dye did stain some plastic pieces on the inside of the washer, but I hope that will lessen over time. It's not bad, though and shouldn't rub onto clothing. The stains are up high where water splashes just under the lid.

It's too soon to tell just how dark everything dyed. However, here are the still wet items hanging to dry.

the black jeans, older pair on the left, newer on the right

The jeans look like they'll look improved. The older pair won't look "new" but they should look a lot less gray and more "almost black." The newer pair should look really good once dry.

the black and lace tee

Here's the t-shirt hanging on a drying rack. I think this will look improved quite a bit, although it's still too soon to tell. One cotton sleeve is hanging to the right of the lace front. It's still damp, but if you compare it to the photo up above, it does look like the sleeves will look more black and less gray.

What I need to do is take a photo in the same place as the one at the top of this post and in the same lighting conditions once everything is dry. Then I'll be able to see how dark I was able to dye the items. I'll let you know how they turned out.

All in all, I think I'll be pretty happy with the results. I improved 3 items of clothing and I used up a box of dye that had been taking up space in my sewing box.

Do you ever refresh older clothing with dye?

edited 4/10 to add a photo of the finished items:

So here are the dyed items. The shirt sleeves and neck trim are definitely darker. And both pairs of jeans look darker, too. The lighting in this spot washes out color intensity. But you can make a comparison with the photo at the top of the post. I wore the older black jeans today. Their color is an off-black or very, very dark gray. Before dyeing, they definitely looked worn. Now they look pretty decent. The newer black jeans look like new now. It's hard to tell in the photo, but they are thoroughly black and nicely refreshed. They could easily be mistaken for new black jeans. When I do another batch of black dye, I think I'd like to do the shirt another time and try to intensify the black sleeves further. Anyway, I'm overall pleased with the outcome.

Tote, Bin, and Bucket Gardens

For those who can't grow a garden in the ground, here are a bunch of unusual and thrifty containers to use for gardening. 

last year's container garden

Perhaps you recall that last year I grew our salad greens in containers on outdoor shelves. I used the bottom halves of gallon milk jugs for my containers. This worked pretty well, but I had wished my plants could have had deeper soil than the 4-inch milk jug pots provided.

This year I decided to buy some plastic bins/tubs to use for our salad green growing containers. I bought 6 of these 16-gallon bins at Fred Meyer, for $3.99 each less a 30% discount that week. So they were under $3 each. I was hesitant to drill holes in them (and make them useless as future airtight storage containers), so I delayed getting these started for a couple of weeks. 

However, 10 days ago I finally got out the drill, filled them with soil, and planted 4 of the 6. I drilled 8 holes on the bottom of each and 4 holes on the lower sides of each for drainage. I used the soil from last year's milk jug containers boosted with a dose of granular fertilizer. This year's containers are about 7 inches deep, so they used considerably more soil than last year's. 

4 of my 6 bins filled and planted

I had enough of last year's soil in the milk jug containers to fill 4 of the 6 of these large bins.

spinach and watercress on the outdoor shelf

Our nights are still quite cool, so I have only put the two most cold-hardy containers (spinach and watercress seedlings) on the shelves on the deck and move the other two in and outdoors for daytime hours. I hope those will be ready to move outdoors in a week.

My hope is that because these containers hold more soil, they will allow greater root growth and will also hold moisture for the plants later in the season when things warm up. Also, because there will be fewer of these containers, I should be able to move them into partial shade off of the shelves for salad greens even on hot summer days.

I first got the idea to use storage containers from watching a YouTube video a couple of years ago of a family growing some vegetables in larger totes. They recommended those extra large totes that you might store items in in a garage or attic. Since I wanted mine to be a little portable (for moving later in the summer), I chose a smaller bin. 

What I love about this idea is you can set up a temporary vegetable garden any place on your property that meets sun requirements. At the end of the season, you can clean that space up and us it for it's regular purpose. Or for renters, you can have a vegetable garden without disturbing the owner's landscaping. My husband and I had a container garden on the balcony of one apartment where we lived. In two other homes we rented, we got permission from the landlords to dig in the yard. The downside for us was that we had to then return the landscaping back to its original state when we moved out, which meant replacing lawn in both homes' yards. A tote garden would have been simpler for us.

For beginner gardeners, a tote garden allows a cheap entry into the world of vegetable gardens. One wouldn't need to have a dozen bins, but instead could begin with one or two. I find large bins and tubs at Value Village and Goodwill all season long. A large, albeit dirty, secondhand tub costs about $4 in my area at thrift stores. 

The fill for a tote garden can be a mix of organic material from your yard and bagged soil. One video I watched suggested filling the bottom few inches of the tote with partially to fully decomposed homemade compost before adding commercial potting soil. One of my daughters used a large plastic pot to grow her own kale a couple of years ago. I suggested she dig into one of our compost heaps and fill the bottom half of the pot with our compost before topping off with bagged soil. Her plants did marvelously well. 

Some folks get very creative up-cyling items that were destined for the garbage or recycle bin. These are a bunch of 2 liter bottles with bottoms cut off, hanging from a fence. Each bottle holds one plant. Very thrifty and very Econ-friendly.

5-gallon buckets can be repurposed as planters, also. Here's someone's bucket garden supported and corralled with a 2 X 4 frame.

The above buckets look like the size that we used to get dishwashing detergent in. I don't know if the owner of this garden painted used buckets or bought them already in a colorful state. In our house, we use containers similar to these (but white or blue) for our laundry "hampers". But I can see that you can grow decent-sized plants in this type of bucket.

Not handy with 2 X 4 building? Or you want something truly temporary? Here's a gardener's simple rack for their tote garden made with 4 X 4s and cement blocks.

Tote gardens can also be turned into self-watering planters with the help of some PVC pipe or even a length of bamboo. The Seattle Times ran an article about 14 years ago showing how this would work.

I also wanted to share the following article from Farm and Dairy. It has a lot of good tips for successful container gardening, including information for size of containers needed to grow specific vegetables.

We had our first salad of the season the day I planted my seedlings into the 4 bins. I thinned as I planted, giving us enough baby greens for a large family salad.

I still have two more bins to plant later this week. My seedlings for those are just about ready for transplant. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that my family can harvest salad greens all summer long from my bin garden. I'll follow up with you later in the season to let you know how it's going and growing.

Easy Crafting for a Semi-homemade Birthday Card

So I'm sharing this little bit of creativity because I think many of us have a large supply of blank greeting cards. Sometimes, we want the cards to look a bit more special, or we want to tailor them to a specific occasion. 

We receive a lot of these blank cards for free from charitable organizations. So my price point going in is zero. 

I needed a birthday card this month but wanted something that wasn't just a blank card. I wanted a card that would have the look and feel of a birthday card. Using just a couple of materials from my craft and sewing supplies, I embellished one of the blank greeting cards and made it into a lovely birthday card.

I chose this nice, but plain, "sunflower" card from my stack because it looked sunny, and the person I'm sending this to is a "sunny" person. 

To embellish the card, I smeared a small amount of gold glitter glue on the front in spots where the sunlight might normally reflect, such as the blossom's center and along the petals. It's just a small amount of glitter, but it's enough to make the card sparkle here and there.

Then for the interior of the card, I used my computer and printer to make an insert for the card. I used my computer's document program to craft a meaningful birthday message, then printed it out on standard printer paper and trimmed it to just slightly smaller than the blank card.

To attach the insert, I used yellow embroidery floss and a needle, sewing it into the fold of the blank card.

I left a 6 to 7-inch length of floss at each end of the exterior of the card's fold after sewing the insert in place. I brought these ends together along the "spine" of the card and tied a nice little bow. After tying the bow, I trimmed the ends of the floss to my desired length.

The entire process required minimal artistic skill and about 20 minutes of time, from start to finish. The end result is a blank card transformed into a birthday card, just what I was needing. 

March 2024 Grocery Spending -- It Was a Doozy!

Wow, all I can say is it was an expensive month for us. Between getting another order of beef, my twin daughters' birthday, our wedding anniversary, and Easter, I felt like I was spending money every time I turned around.

I shopped at Fred Meyer 3 times, Grocery Outlet 1 time, WinCo 1 time, and Walmart 1 time. My arrangements with the rancher for beef are handled online and delivered to us.

I spent $65.54 at Fred Meyer, buying coconut milk, deli salads, bananas, strawberries, taco shells, potato chips, watermelon chunks, rye bread, tossed salad kits, cheese, butter, green cabbage, sparkling water and milk. A lot of these items were for a picnic celebrating my daughters' birthday and the cake that followed, plus a nice anniversary dinner at home.

I spent $16.61 at Walmart, buying corn tortillas, milk, prune juice, canned olives, Roma tomatoes, and bananas.

I spent $25.71 at Grocery Outlet, buying Cheez Balls snack, canned beets, canned pumpkin, graham crackers, saltine crackers, and a bag of apples. This was a stop after church. We discovered they mark a lot of items down on Sundays. Everything on the list above was significantly reduced in price, such as graham crackers for 49 cents/box, canned pumpkin for 25 cents/can. I stocked up! 

Last but not least, I spent $55.16, buying milk, dried dates, smoked salmon, eggs, cheese, grape tomatoes, sliced pepperoni, 2 bags of apples, tofu, peanuts, radishes, bananas, asparagus, celery, and strawberries. Most of what I bought on this day was for Easter dinner.

So, in grocery stores I spent $163.02. Our beef order came to $359. So in total, I spent $522.02.

April shouldn't be too bad for grocery spending for us, much, much lower than March. We do have 2 birthdays this month, and those always add something to our grocery spending. However, we are trying to empty one of the freezers, so I can defrost it before I begin to harvest and freeze garden produce. And that effort will encourage us to use what we have on hand.

How did grocery spending go for you in March? Do you tend to dine out for special celebrations, or do you cook at home? If you use a budget, how does holiday and special occasion meal-related spending fit in with your regular grocery budget? I used to keep a separate budget for holidays and special occasions. I dropped that a few years ago, mostly to simplify the budgeting.

Savory French Toast Sticks

This was another food I made for Easter dinner. In lieu of making scratch dinner rolls, I used some thick homemade bread slices from loaves I baked earlier in the week to make these, saving me some time and effort in making a bread side for our dinner.

Savory French Toast Sticks are just what they sound like they would be. They're thick slices of bread cut into sticks, then dipped in an egg, milk, and savory-seasoned batter before frying in olive ad/or vegetable oil. 

For my batch of Savory French Toast Sticks, in addition to the beaten eggs, I used coconut milk (both DIL and I avoid cow's milk), salt, black pepper, fresh parsley, dried oregano, garlic powder, and a couple of tablespoons of Parmesan cheese for the batter. I rolled the dipped bread sticks in additional Parmesan cheese before frying on four sides in a skillet with a combo of olive oil and vegetable oil. 

I made these earlier in the day, then reheated on a baking sheet and covered with foil in the oven just before dinner. These were very tasty, even as leftovers the next day we all thought they were good.

The bread I used was our usual homemade half whole wheat/half white sandwich and toast bread. However, I also think these would be tasty if made with whole slices of a narrow French baguette to use as a side for a soup or salad supper, like garlic bread but more flavorful and with the added bonus of protein from eggs and milk. Or, served as appetizers for a snack-y type of meal.

A week ago I mentioned I had scrubbed up several clay flower pots to use for serving foods on the Easter table. The Savory French Toast Sticks were one of the foods for which I used 2 plastic wrap-lined clay pots, one at each end of the table.

Have you tried a non-sweet French toast before?

A Simple Trick for Making Radish Flowers

How was everyone's Easter? If you made or enjoyed a special Easter meal, how did that go? 

I find I learn something new with the food preparation for every special occasion. This time, I tried Live and Learn's suggestion for spinach squares. I found a recipe online and made a batch for my family. They were well-received by everyone. I will be adding these to my variations on using leafy greens. Thank you, Live and Learn. I think these could also work well with kale, Swiss chard, and broccoli in addition to spinach. They reminded me a bit of Impossible Pies in texture and use of eggs  (also a great brunch or supper dish), without needing the prepared biscuit mix.

I wanted to show you a great trick for turning radishes (and other firm veggies) into blossoms. It uses a tool that many of us have in our kitchens, an apple corer/wedger.

After washing and trimming the tops and tails from radishes (this works best with larger radishes), I cut each radish in half. Placing the trimmed end (top or tail) down, I gently press the apple tool onto and through the white of the radish, not quite all the way down (that would break the radish into pieces). The result is a little flower. 

I used about 12 radishes, making 24 flowers, then placed them all into a lined clay flower pot for the table. Each flower took seconds to make and are beginner-easy. 

As you may recall, I themed this year's Easter dinner table and dining room decor to a spring garden. So, radish flowers served in a clay flower pot seemed just about right.

Not only do radish flowers look pretty on a vegetable tray, but they also make a lovely garnish for main dish salads. These would be an especially nice addition for platters for bridal and baby showers or ladies' luncheons, I think. The stem and blossom end of both cucumber and zucchini can also be turned into "flowers" using this technique. Cucumber flowers make a pretty garnish for a tossed salad or a sushi plate and zucchini flowers are lovely on top of casseroles or bowls of soup. Use about 1 1/2 unpeeled inches of the blossom or stem end of either cucumber or zucchini to make those flowers.

So, back to my original question, how was your Easter? Anything new to you on your menus?

Just in Time for Easter Dinner: My Latest Vintage Shop Finds

My husband was out of town over the weekend and into this week. So, my daughters and I ventured out to the vintage district one day they were both off of work. 

A favorite antique mall with many vendors had lost their lease, leaving the vendors to scramble to find new locations and sell off merchandise. The sign out front said it was their last day, and the discounts were deep. It looked somewhat empty inside, with just a few items here and there remaining. I checked every nook and corner to see if they had something I collected or was needing. 

Something that has always irritated me when we're entertaining guests is that we don't have enough serving spoons for the different dishes. I always make-do with a large tablespoon used for servings foods where portions might tend to be smaller. But I had always wanted at least one other serving spoon to go with the ones that are part of my stainless flatware set.

When I came across the basket of miscellaneous silverplate and stainless serving pieces, I pawed through the entire thing, hoping to find my pattern or a close match. Well, lo and behold, there was a pattern of silverplate that looked similar enough to my stainless flatware. In fact, there were 3 of these serving spoons in that basket. The vendor originally priced all of the serving spoons and forks at $3.75 each. With the moving sale, they'd each been marked down to $1.33 each! I quickly checked online and found an exact same piece for sale priced at $14 through eBay. I bought all 3 spoons. I'll be using them on Sunday in serving our Easter dinner.

Here's a comparison between my stainless pattern and these serving spoons. The handle on the far right is the stainless pattern. They look close enough, don't you think?

I also looked closely through the stacks of vintage books. Here's one that caught my eye, a Sunset magazine cookbook. The copyright on this cookbook is 1949 and the publishing date is May of 1963. It's old-school, complete with pen and ink illustrations in place of modern color photos. There are over 1000 recipes inside, and practically all of them are for cooking from basic ingredients. That's the kind of cooking I do. The cookbook was also on steep discount, with the vendor originally asking $10 for the book. I got it for $2.38. I'm sure I will find this cookbook not only entertaining but also very useful. And of course, I'll share recipes with you, as well. Just a P.S., in searching online, someone on eBay has the same quality of this cookbook (meaning in very good condition) listed for $11.99.

Anyway, those were my finds this time in the vintage district. It's nice to know that I could resell any of these items and make a profit, if need be.

Wishing you all a very lovely Easter weekend with friends and family. I'll be back on Monday.