What's 1 Small Frugal Thing You Do?

So, this may sound a bit oddball, but I learned this camping when I was young -- camp toast.

When I make an egg for myself or a family member, I use the remaining fat in the pan from cooking the egg (bacon grease, butter-oil mixture or ham fat) to toast bread and "butter" my toast. I drop a slice of bread into the hot pan and push it around the pan to catch all of the remaining fat. The pan and the stove top still have residual heat, so it even uses less energy to toast my bread this way, although I'll leave the stove on for a minute or two longer to continue the heat high enough to toast bread. When the toast is done, it's already "buttered" and just needs a bit of jam. The bonus is I use far less dish soap to then clean the pan. 

Save butter, save energy, save dish soap.

What small frugal thing do you do that may not be something "normies" do?

Our "Lighter" Apple Pie

This is how we've been making apple pies this summer and now fall. I love crispy and flakey pie crust, so I don't want to give it up altogether.  My husband loves a traditional apple pie. So, we've compromised -- a top crust-only apple pie. 

I use a deep dish pie plate, butter it well so the apple mixture doesn't stick, then I pile in the spiced and sweetened apple slices. Finally, I top the apples with a single layer of pastry, sealing it to the edge of the dish, and bake.

As you can imagine, slices of top crust-only apple pie don't come out neatly with a pie server. Instead, I cut the crust for each slice with a knife and scoop out crust slices and apples with a large serving spoon. It works. A little messy, but it works. And we all get what we want.

Covid, Asian Pear Bounty, and Too Much Pickling Spice

One of my daughters came down with Covid for the first time this last week after just one day in the classroom as a sub. She's doing fine. We're all taking turns delivering meals and beverages to her door until we're sure she can't pass it on to the rest of us. What I'm very glad of is that I had several quarts of chicken stock in the freezer. I made two large batches of chicken noodle soup for her, which she really appreciated.

Early Saturday, my neighbor knocked on the door with what we thought was a request for help with a tree. Part of her Asian pear tree had come down. My neighbor is older and lives alone. We all try to look out for each other. The three of us that aren't sick grabbed our work gloves and headed over to her property. As it turned out, she just wanted us to collect the Asian pears that had fallen onto her driveway and take them home to cook them into something. There were 3 flats of Asian pears that had fallen, and this was after she had collected a bunch to give to another neighbor. We also helped pull the large branches off her driveway and to a back area of her property, so she could get her car out if needed. 

Anyway, the daughter who has not been sick worked with me for 3 hours on Saturday washing, peeling, chopping, slicing, and trimming these pears so I could process them. All had some level of bruising, so it was imperative that we deal with them promptly. With the pears I made unsweetened pear sauce for the freezer, ginger-pear butter, dried thin slices of Asian pears for snacking, small dices of peeled Asian pears to freeze for adding to gingerbread cake, and large chunks with peel on to freeze for cobblers and crisps.  What I didn't know was that cooked Asian pears turn pink. The other thing I didn't know was how juicy Asian pears are. It seemed like forever for the sauce and butter to cook down. The sauce and butter turned out delicious. I brought some of what I made over to my generous neighbor. When I bake a pear and gingerbread cake later this week, I'll bring some of that over to her as well.

I inadvertently ended up with more pickling spices than I could use in a dozen seasons of pickle-making. Earlier this month at WinCo, I was buying bulk spices. I had used all of my pickling spices in last year's pickle relish. So I knew I needed more for this year. The bulk bin for spices is the type of dispenser where you pull a lever and out it pours. I wasn't paying attention and before I knew it, I had a full bag of whole spices. There's no way to put the excess spices back into the dispenser, so I bought them. 

Here's what I discovered. A spoonful of pickling spices adds nice flavor to chicken stock. I cooked the stock alone with the spices for an hour then strained them out before adding vegetables and noodles. I also imagine a spoonful of pickling spices could be tied up in a piece of muslin and cooked with the stock and additions, removing the spice-filled cloth just before serving. At least I now know going through this entire bag of pickling spice will be a do-able thing, and they won't go to waste. Next time, I'll pay attention when dispensing spices!

One more thing -- happy autumn everyone! How was your weekend?

Our Evolving Food Garden

On Wednesday, Kris asked in the comments if our apple trees were here when we bought our house or if we planted them. I replied that we planted the trees. I thought some of you might be interested in what we've added to our property, and in what kind of time frame that all took place.

When we moved in to this house, there were wild plums, wild blackberries, small woodland strawberries, and 1 non-bearing cherry tree. So not very much. It was our intent to plant a yard that would feed us at least partially each year. We continue to work on that goal, each year assessing what went well, what failed and then tweaking what we do.

Here's what we planted and an approximate timeline.

Buying our house was a stretch for our means, but not out of the realm of possibility. However, we needed to focus most of our surplus finances into meaningful repairs of our house. That first winter we replaced an all-electric forced air furnace with a natural gas one. Our heating bills plummeted from $250 per month to $60 per month. We also began replacing old windows with new double-paned, gas-filled ones. All this to say, we didn't have a lot of spare cash to make improvements to our landscape.

We moved into our house in late July, so it was too late to plant a garden. However, we began an open compost pile at the back of our property (up against the woods) right away. We couldn't even afford to purchase a compost bin at that time. Instead, we dug a hole and layered it with kitchen and garden refuse and nearby soil. We kept the top of the composting material covered with soil to minimize critter invasion and odors.

The following spring we began digging a garden space into the lawn behind the garage, improving the soil with that compost we'd begun the previous late summer. I didn't know what would grow well in our garden, so I tried many different types of seeds. It turned out that kale, tomatoes, greens beans, and peas did very well. What an odd assortment, right? Some cool weather veggies and some hot weather ones. We also bought some raspberry canes, 3 blueberry bushes, a bundle of strawberry plants, and 3 rhubarb starts. The raspberry canes didn't survive, but we still have those original rhubarb plants, blueberry bushes, and descendants of the strawberry plants.

Later that spring, our county held an eco-friendly gardening fair and sold simple compost bins for $10 each. My husband came home with one, and we continued to compost, but in a more civilized-appearing way -- neighbor approved.

For the next 5 years, I continued to focus my food gardening on vegetables that I could start from inexpensive seed packets. I began adding vegetables to parts of the yard that were not part of the vegetable garden proper. We grew artichokes for a few years in one of the ornamental garden beds.  And I added some asparagus to an ornamental and perennial bed in the front yard. When the artichokes eventually died out, the original 3 blueberry bushes and the rhubarb plants were moved into that ornamental area where they could benefit from a sunnier exposure. I also divided the rhubarb plants, giving us 6 plants for our harvests. (One rhubarb plant would die out on us years later.)

By year 6 on the property we could finally afford to buy a few fruit trees. We chose 4 apple trees, one a red apple for fresh eating (our early apple), one a green apple for baking, one a russet apple for fresh eating and cooking (our applesauce apple), and a pippin apple known for long-keeping. The pippin died out after about 5 years, but we still have the other 3. We're not sure if we'll replace that 4th apple tree. If we do, it will be another long-keeping apple to store for late winter fresh eating, a time of year when we tend to purchase apples regularly for fresh eating.

Also in year 6, my husband and I built permanent raised beds for our garden, using 8 X 16 concrete blocks. Initially, we used gravel for walkways between the beds. Over the course of a couple of years, my husband and I would replace the gravel with brick walkways. We also bought red and black currant bushes and cranberry plants. The red and black currant bushes still produce, but the cranberries nearly died out, due to crowding. For several years in a row, we harvested about 3 quarts of fresh cranberries every fall. I was able to rescue a couple of tiny cranberry vines and moved them to a spot where I can keep a better eye on them. They're doing well so far. My hope is to take cuttings off these vines in a couple of years and devote a sunny bed just to cranberries.

In year 7, we bought a second cherry tree, hoping to coax the original cherry tree to actually bear fruit. The original cherry was labeled and in looking up that variety, I found that it was partially self-pollinating -- evidently not enough to actually produce fruit in our yard, though. So I ordered another different self-pollinating cherry tree and we planted it about 20 feet away from the original one. This tree would ultimately be dug up in a few years and moved to a better location. It was still small enough to dig its entire, or most of, root ball and it survived the move very well. Both of our cherries trees now produce for us, some years providing enough cherries for freezing to use in pies. We also bought an evergreen huckleberry bush. It produces abundantly, but we mostly leave those to the birds. I have made jelly a few years with some of the berries, though.

In year 8, we developed 2 more areas of the yard and planted an Italian prune plum tree in one area and 2 pear trees and 1 crabapple tree in the other. The plum tree is so prolific. For the most part, when I've chosen varieties of anything, I've looked for ones that are labeled as prolific. The initial 2 pears trees did really well from about year 4 on, then seemed to be prone to several issues. One disease is known as pear rust. It became so bad for our pear trees that they would drop all of their leaves by mid-summer each year. It turned out we were harboring the other host shrub for pear rust, which is what this fungus needs to complete its life-cycle, juniper bushes. My husband removed the junipers -- they're just ornamentals, and we weren't fond of their prickliness -- and the pear rust began to lessen. A couple of years ago we added wood chips to the base of our pear trees as well as blueberry bushes and both types really began to thrive. We harvested our first big crop from this years' pears since the early years of these trees.  

Also later that summer, one of my neighbors gave me some raspberry plants she had dug up from her own garden. This variety had done well for her, so I was hopeful for our garden as well. Within a couple of years we had a huge raspberry patch that we would need to control ourselves.

In year 10, I bought 5 more blueberry bushes and 1 ever-bearing raspberry plant. The raspberry plants from the neighbor were July bearing only. The ever-bearing raspberries would provide an earlier summer crop as well as a light fall crop. I also bought 2 fig trees, which I grew in pots for many years. They only did so-so in pots.

In year 12, we dug up half of the raspberries and contained the rest in raised beds that my husband and son built from wood and metal brackets, placing them in a side area of our yard adjacent to our vegetable garden. Over the course of a few years, they would build 9 of these beds. I would eventually add potatoes to what I grow each year, using a couple of these beds, and move most of the strawberry plants to these beds. We still have the woodland strawberries in an ornamental part of the property to supplement our cultivated strawberries.

In year 14, we replaced our back deck and planted 2 more pear trees and some grape vines just off the deck. The grapes really need a structure to climb on, up and out of the shade of the pears. They did well initially, then the pear trees grew tall and wide. These pear trees, like their 2 siblings in the front yard, suffered from severe pear rust for several years. This year they really made a comeback. The pear rust is practically gone and all four trees (2 from year 8, 2 from year 14) produced pears this year, a first for one of the trees. With our pear trees, we chose 2 early season (ripening in August) and 2 late season (ripening in late September to early October).

I also bought 4 trough planters for the deck that spring. We've grown herbs and vegetables in these planters each year. Three of the troughs are still on the deck. But I moved 1 down to the garden area for better sun. I'll be moving 1 or 2 of the deck troughs down to garden level later this fall or early next spring. Those pear trees now shade the deck too much for most vegetables and herbs. We also moved the potted figs into the ground adjacent to the east end of our new deck. The figs have taken off and need a good pruning every other year. 

In 2020, like half the country, I was at home almost all of the time and put my work efforts into growing even more on our property. I repurposed our portable greenhouse shelving into a space to grow lettuce in spring and summer on the deck. I planted several hanging baskets on the south side of our house with greens and herbs that would be suitable for salads. 

2021 to now. I expanded our grow lights in the house in 2021 and began growing additional greens indoors each winter. My husband and I also started planning a new garden site on the property, a pumpkin patch next to the driveway but out of sight from the street. We had a load of compost delivered to this area in winter of 2022. We've experimented with types of vegetables that can be grown in this spot and don't attract critter pests (squirrels and rabbits). We've grown tomatoes, peppers, sunflowers, corn, pumpkins, summer squash, green beans, and fall turnips in this area over the past 3 years. As it has turned out, sunflowers and corn are a no-go for us, even with fencing all around. This year I planted tomatoes, pumpkins, winter squash, zucchini, tomatoes, peppers, and greens beans in the patch. We continue to improve this soil every year. It was practically dead soil when we first began growing here. It's getting better.

Going forward, we plan to expand the pumpkin patch area and add some attractive landscape features in this space. Right now, it's just a bare patch of ground sitting on the north side of a native growth (evergreens) area in the center of the circular drive. We may add a large apple tree in this spot with a bench beneath for sitting, as well as stepping stones throughout the garden patch and a low, raised cottage stone wall to hold in the soil and provide a neater appearance.

We also have one last spot in the garden to be developed. It lies between the driveway and the wooden raised beds. My hope/dream is to add a garden house to this spot, with a small patio in front and two beds for perennial and evergreen herbs. The garden house would provide winter storage for patio furniture and large sunny windows for starting or overwintering plants. It's possible we could have a small cellar accessed through this garden house, for cool storage of apples, cabbage, pears, squash, pumpkins, and carrots.

As noted at the top of this post, we began with 1 cherry tree, blackberry canes, woodland strawberries and wild plums. Here's what we have now and how we use the fruits:

3 semi-dwarf apple trees (fresh, baking, dried, sauce)
1 crabapple tree (jelly, juice, sauce)
1 plum tree (dried, fresh, baking, jam)
2 semi-dwarf cherry trees (fresh, baking, preserves)
4 semi-dwarf pear trees (fresh, sauce)
2 fig trees (fresh, canned)
multiple red and black currant bushes (jelly and tea)
2 cranberry vines (currently bringing back into production, previously I used them in baking and sauce)
8 blueberry bushes (fresh, smoothies, baking, jam)
5 rhubarb plants (fresh, baking, dried, jam)
raspberry canes (fresh, jam)
blackberry canes (fresh, smoothies, baking, jam)

grape vines (not productive with grapes currently, but I use the leaves for stuffed grape leaves)
cultivated and woodland strawberries (fresh)

1 evergreen huckleberry bush (jelly)
various vegetable and herb beds, patches, troughs, and pots

It's taken us 30 years to get to this point. We continue to work on soil and plant health. When our last 2 kids move into their own homes, I imagine my husband and I could provide most of our fruits and vegetables (with exception to citrus, melons, the occasional peach or nectarine, and vegetables that don't grow well here) for about 9 months of the year. If we don't stay in this house, we will leave a nice edible legacy to a new family.

Have a blessed weekend, friends.

Expanding Dehydrating Capacity With What I Have and How This Could Apply to You

My suggestions below are only for dehydrating plant foods and not meats.

My 1995 dehydrator originally came with 4 racks. A few years ago I bought 2 additional racks on ebay to expand capacity. Six racks do the job for me when I'm doing herbs or smaller amounts of fruits or vegetables. However, when I'm dehydrating fruit in late summer, I really need more capacity. I achieve this by using one of my ovens in addition to the dehydrator. 

Dehydrating foods require different temps depending on what they are. Recommended temperatures:

• herbs -- 95 degrees F
• mushrooms -- 100 degrees F
• vegetables -- 115 to 130 degrees F
• fruits/fruit leather -- 125 to 135 degrees F

Two options with using your oven to dehydrate herbs and foods 

1) What's the lowest setting that your oven uses with its element? I have two large ovens, one as part of the range/stove and the other, a wall oven. My wall oven can only go as low as 170 degrees F. But my oven as part of my range can go as low as 100 degrees F. I also have a small countertop oven (a toaster oven) that can heat as low as 90 degrees F. It's much smaller, so would have less capacity, but it could be used in a pinch. Just saying, in case the only oven you have that heats low enough is a countertop oven. You could do small amounts of fruits, fruit leather, vegetables, herbs, mushrooms, etc.

2) The second option works best with herbs or mushrooms, but you can test to see if the light provides enough heat for vegetables or fruit. Some oven lights do warm the oven to higher temps than others. You will need to check the temperature of your oven, using a non-instant read meat thermometer (old-style, mercury in the tube), a non-instant candy thermometer, or an oven thermometer. Turn the light on for your oven, place the thermometer in the middle of the center rack inside the oven, close the door, and wait 30 minutes. 

If your oven warms to a high enough temp with just the light, dehydrate herbs/foods by leaving in the oven (on metal cooling racks, like cookie racks, set on top of a sheet pan) with the light on and the door closed. If the temp is slightly too high, you can leave the light on with items inside and something to keep the door from closing completely, like a wooden spoon or silicone oven mitt or potholder stuck into the opening of the door, allowing a small crack in the opening, enough to vent and allow some warmth to escape.

Tips for using your oven

It's important to place your fruits/veggies on racks on top of a metal tray to create some air circulation around the foods. If your oven also has the convection option, use it. If your racks have slots that are too far apart (food will fall between as it dries), line the rack with parchment paper. The foods will still benefit from air circulation on the parchment. Check foods and turn over once an hour until done. Don't crowd racks used in the oven. If you can, crack the oven door to allow greater air circulation.

You can fudge on the temperatures by about 10 degrees higher than stated ideal. However, anything warmer than 140 degrees F will basically cook the foods and not dehydrate them.

This is how I've been dehydrating plums and apples this month, using my oven in addition to the dehydrator. I've expanded my capacity by about 3 to 4 dehydrator-size trays, without purchasing additional trays. As I said above, it's only a few weeks out of the year that I need extra dehydrating capacity, so it makes sense to find other ways to do this using what I have. 

One p.s., if you want to try dehydrating herbs, fruits, veggies in your car parked in the sun on a sunny day, check the temperature of your car's interior as discussed above for checking your oven temp with the light. Crack windows to both allow air circulation as well as adjust interior temp.

Open-Face Plum Pie

My mother particularly enjoyed plums. The only type of jam she ever made was plum jam. We didn't have fruit trees, so she, my sister and I would go to a nearby market and buy plums in summer. I can still picture the brown paper bag laying on the kitchen counter with purple plums spilling out, as she worked to pit and chop all of the plums needed for a batch of jam.

This is her recipe for an open-face plum pie. It's super simple, which makes it appealing for me at this busy time of the year.

Open-Face Plum Pie

Ingredients:

9-inch unbaked pie shell

enough plums to fill the pie shell, a couple of pounds (I used about 40 small plums for this pie)

2 tablespoons of flour

1/4 to 1/2 cup of granulated sugar (amount depending on sweetness of plums, I prefer 1/2 cup)

1  1/2 teaspoons orange zest (nice for flavor, but I often leave it out)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F

Wash, pit and quarter plums. Toss cut plums with the flour. Arrange plums in a tight circular pattern. Repeat in layers until the pie shell is filled. Sprinkle all over with the orange zest then sugar.

Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees F. Bake another 45 minutes.

Cool and allow to stand several hours or overnight to allow the juices to thicken and set.

I baked this pie yesterday afternoon, then served it tonight. So good. So juicy. And so pretty in a simple way. Took me back to my mother's kitchen table.

My Apple Program

crabapples a month from harvest

We have 1 crabapple tree and 3 large apple trees. I use the crabapples to make jelly, juice for spiced cider, and applesauce. The crabapples ripen in October. We still have some crabapple juice and crabapple sauce in the freezer. The sauce is astringent, so I mix it with plain applesauce as I serve it. I'll use the last of the crabapple juice in a hot spiced apple cider some chilly day later this month. And we'll continue to eat the crabapple sauce both as sauce and baked into bar cookies and snack cakes for the next several weeks. I harvest about 10 pounds of crabapples each year and make about 4 quarts of juice and about 12 pints of sauce with those.

With the large apples, I have 1 early season, 1 mid-season, and 1 late season apple tree. I harvest anywhere from 30 to 70 pounds of the large apples each year.

one of two full produce drawers of early apples still to enjoy 

The early apples are red over green, crisp and sweet, and seem to miss the apple moths plus are mostly immune to apple scab. They make great fresh eating apples. They're also super productive. I begin harvesting these around the first of August. Early apples don't tend to keep as long as later apples. So these begin to go wrinkly in about 2 months after harvest, even stored in a refrigerator. We use the early apples for fresh eating (as is and in salads) throughout August and September. I also bake a few into pies, if we're in the mood. When these early apples become less appetizing due to aging, I slice them thin (1/4-inch) and dehydrate them to have as snacking dried apples in winter and spring.

just starting to harvest the russet apples

Right now I'm at the beginning of harvesting the mid-season apples. These are a russet apple, tan over green. They have a wonderful flavor, almost spicy. This tree is moderately productive. If in good condition they make excellent fresh eating apples, especially with a bit of cheese. And they're long-keepers, lasting until late January. The downside to these apples is they blossom and develop just as the apple moths are in the area (we don't spray) and they have some susceptibility to diseases. So as I harvest these, I inspect them thoroughly and separate the ones I believe are free of apple maggots and don't look to have scab or other issues from the ones that most definitely look to have issues. The good ones get put aside for eating when the red over green ones are gone (first of October-ish), and the poor ones are cut up and trimmed of really bad damage and made into applesauce. I made 8 quarts of applesauce over the weekend and have enough of these apples still on the tree to make another 6 to 8 quarts, for a total of 14 to 16 quarts of applesauce.

the cooking apples still have 2 or 3 weeks until ready to harvest

The late apples are green cooking apples. They're crisp, large, and tart. These ripen late in September to early October. They mostly avoid the apple moths and only have a small issue with apple scab. They're also good keeping apples, lasting until late January to early February in the fridge. The tree would be more productive if it was in a better spot in the yard. Still, we harvest about 10 pounds of green apples in a normal year. I use these in mid-winter to make baked apples.

I didn't mention that I also pick up any apples that have dropped early or knocked off the trees by critters and chop these up for the freezer. I use these frozen apple chunks in sauteed apples all winter, spring, and into early summer.

We try to use every apple. If apples get bruised, I cut off the bruises and chop the apples for the freezer. If apples have maggot trails, I cut the worst of the trails out and use the rest of the apple in sauce. If the apples begin to go soft and wrinkly, I slice thin and dehydrate them, after all the wrinkly-apple stage is simply the beginning of the natural dehydration process. If apples are astringent (like crabs), I process the apples in someway and blend with non-astringent apples, spice them (as in cider), or bake them as sauce in applesauce bars. And the good ones we use for fresh eating, pies, and baked apples.

What I'm saying is that we have apples from our 4 trees in some form year round, fresh, sauce, juice, dried, and frozen. And that's my "apple program" for my household.

I hope you all had a good weekend. Peace to you.

Prudence

My Bible reading for today comes from the book of Proverbs.

A house and wealth are inherited from fathers,

but a prudent wife is from the Lord.  Proverbs 19:14

From the American Heritage Dictionary:

Prudent: Careful or wise in handling practical matters; exercising good judgment or common sense.

Prudence suggests foresight, developed skills, an ability of discernment, and an element of savviness in procuring and using resources. In speaking of homemaking, a prudent person contributes positively to the household, making decisions for the well-being of all and not just for their own benefit.

I strive to be prudent in my role in our home and family. I have a decent ability to foresee future needs and outcomes developed over years in my role. And I try to use what I have to prepare for future occasions and events.

How I'm trying to be prudent today

We have a large plum tree that is loaded with Italian Prune plums right now. The branches are burdened with the weight of plump blue and purple gems, sagging considerably, nearly touching the lawn.

I know that in winter we will be longing for homegrown fruit. My homegrown fruit is basically free and is never prayed with pesticides. And it tastes better than grocery store fruit. We can only eat so many fresh plums before they rot. It would be wasteful to simply allow the excess to spoil. 

So, I got outside this morning and picked 3 buckets of the ripest plums.  And they're now in the dehydrator turning into prunes. This tree's fruit will ripen over the course of a week to 10 days.  I will have to harvest plums daily and run the dehydrator 24/7 for a week to dry the bulk of the plums. But in the end, we'll have lots and lots of prunes to enjoy all winter.

Other ways we use our plums -- open-faced pie, plum kuchen, plum crumble, plum chutney, Chinese plum sauce, plum jam.

Hi friends,

I was in the middle of writing today's post when news came across of the assassination of a young man who was tremendously significant in many young peoples' lives. I won't be finishing up that post today. I have to get a dinner on the table early before heading out to a mid-week at our church. If you're a praying person, regardless of where you stand politically, I ask that you pray for the widow and small children of a young man, Charlie Kirk. Thank you.

What are your must-have condiments, and do you or have you ever made any of them yourself?

This topic came up at the dinner table the other day. We each had different opinions on which condiments are must-haves, as well as which ones we think we'd enjoy eating homemade. We also debated what defined a condiment.

Here's what Merriam-Webster says is a condiment:

"something (such as a seasoning, sauce, garnish, or topping) that is added to food usually after the food is prepared and that enhances or adds to its flavor."

Here's my must-have condiment list for savory foods:

• mayonnaise
• ketchup
• mustard
• pickle relish and pickles
• soy sauce
• chutney
• salsa
• barbecue sauce
• flavored vinegar

My family members add:

• tartar sauce
• ranch dressing/dip/seasoning
• hot sauce
• queso

Of my list of must-haves, I've made ketchup, mustard, pickles and relishes, chutney, salsa, barbecue sauce, and flavored vinegar. My family prefers commercial ketchup to my homemade. But they like my barbecue sauce. My husband prefers my homemade salsa. We all thought the homemade mustard was too hot. I make tartar sauce, and we all enjoy it. I prefer my chutney, pickles, and relishes. They're good, and they're unique. My family has never had commercial chutney, so they have nothing with which to compare it. I've never made mayonnaise. I know it's not supposed to be super complicated. However, I like the long refrigerator life of commercial mayo.

There are other condiments that we enjoy having periodically. These are simply my must-have ones, those that I make sure we always have on hand. 

So what are your must-haves, and what's your experience with making your own?

After 4 weeks, I finally did a major grocery shopping. I didn't spend as much as I would have thought. Why would that be?

So like it says above, I finally did a stock-up shopping after 4 long weeks. I'd been popping into the local Walmart to pick up milk, cheese, and bananas once per week (spending under $10 each week), but that was about it.

Then last Friday, I made a WinCo run. I had been keeping a list going as we'd run out of items. I brought a fist full of cash and a bunch of shopping bags. I cruised through the aisles, picking up the foods on my list. I thought I would spend a lot, a whole lot. 

At the check-out, I was rather surprised that I "only" spent $125.73. After allowing our supplies to dwindle for a month, I had anticipated spending closer to $200.

I was thinking about why I didn't spend more. Here's what I think. Like many questions in life, the answer is multi-faceted.

• Our garden has been in heavy production for the entire month of August and now into September. We have featured garden fruit and vegetables very heavily in all of our meals, meaning we used more produce and less of the ingredients that we would need to purchase to replenish. Most dinners included a serving of fruit and 2 servings of vegetables this past month. We snack on garden fresh fruit when hungry between meals. Every lunch contains 1 fruit and at least 1 veggie, sometimes 2.
• We used purchased foods that are low cost or practically free throughout the month. We turned to our surplus of dried beans instead of using all of our meat for protein. We used our copious supply of saved meat fat in place of vegetable oil or butter in cooking. This meant that I didn't need to buy more meat or more vegetable oil/butter.
• As our garden will continue to produce enough for our meals for another month, we have no need to stock up on frozen or canned veggies just yet. The only produce I bought at WinCo were 2 bananas, 1 bag of carrots, 1 bundle of celery, a bag of potatoes, and a bag of onions. We'll have enough produce with this purchase plus garden fruits and vegetables to last several weeks and still have variety.
• Stocking up on groceries may be more cyclical for some of us. Right now I'm still coasting on what we have on hand and not yet needing to make our big autumn stock-up purchases like a case of canned tomatoes and a case of tomato paste and a jumbo 50-lb bag of onions to get through fall, winter and spring. I'll need to buy those items in two to three weeks.

The lesson I learned is that August is a very good month for me to skip major grocery shopping. By shifting away from the pricier purchased foods and incorporating more of the almost free garden produce and low-cost purchased foods, fewer expensive foods need to be replenished after a month of eating.

Maybe you're curious what I actually bought at WinCo on Friday. Here's the list:

10-lb bag of potatoes (I'm 3 weeks away from harvesting our potatoes)

10-lb bag of carrots (I just have a small patch of carrots that we mostly eat as baby carrots)

2 bananas

bundle of celery (for fresh eating, our garden celery is better for cooking)

3-lb bag onions (to get me through until I buy a 50-lb bag in a few weeks)

10 cans tuna (still on sale)

1 jar mayo (still on sale)

2 large cans tomato paste (for pizza sauce)

1 large block cheddar

1 large block mozzarella

bag of pitted dates

25 oz of frozen sausage (on sale)

2 pints natural peanut butter

large bag roasted peanuts

large bag oats

salt

bulk cinnamon

bulk onion powder

bulk garlic powder

bulk peanut butter powder

bulk pickling spice

bag of raisins (smaller amount than I would normally buy, as we have so much fresh fruit)

2 lbs sliced pepperoni (on sale, to divide into 10 smaller bags for making pizzas)

1 gallon milk

5-lb bag whole wheat flour 

2 5-lb bags organic white flour (no additives that I'm allergic to)

2 canisters of cocoa powder

And that's it. I really didn't need all that much, even after going 4 weeks with minimal grocery shopping.

I have to include some pertinent information to our overall grocery spending. I will be receiving another delivery of beef (quarterly deliveries) in a week. That, of course, bumps up the actual grocery spending considerably this month. But that meat will last 3 months, so I divide the meat cost over those months when figuring monthly grocery spending for my own purposes.

Sometimes Simpler Is Best

I started out looking for a healthy apple dessert recipe. We still have an abundance of fresh apples. And apple crisp couldn't be it, as I just made that the other day, and I can only do oats every once in a while. I found many really delicious-looking apple goodies. My two favorites were Apple Fritter Bread and Apple Pie Squares. But both had way too much sugar and/or fat for what I was looking for. 

I may still try to make an apple-filled cinnamon swirl bread this weekend. I could do that with less sugar, and yeast breads can get by with less fat than most baking powder-leavened treats or pie pastry goodies.

But what I ended up going with was a batch of mini cookies, and I served those with apple slices from our surplus of apples. Although chocolate chip cookies don't sound like they're in the same league as a fruit-based dessert, because these are mini cookies (using the small cookie scoop), each one has a relatively small amount of added sugar and fat. The addition of fresh apple slices make the cookies a healthy choice in my mind. And yes, I did just have 1 cookie with my fresh apple slices.

I still have lots and lots of fresh apples to use. What are your favorite apple desserts? Bonus points if it's a healthy dessert.

It Feels Like the Bottom of the Barrel

I'm down to 2 packages of beef short ribs from our beef deliveries. I had nothing thawed for tonight's dinner. 

Rummaging through the meat freezer, I came across an old package of hamburger patties that no one knows when they were purchased. One daughter thought she might have bought them a couple of years ago. She said she would be thrilled if we used them up. 

There was about 1/2 cup of loose frost in the bag, and the patties themselves were covered with frost. I could just imagine the burgers would be freezer tasting, and the texture might not be great. 

I wasn't sure how to use them, but thought perhaps I could turn them into a meatloaf or meatballs.

After thawing 3 of the patties in the microwave, I ran them through the food processor along with bread, onions, celery leaves, and lots and lots of seasonings. Hiding any off flavors was my mission.

I baked the seasoned meat as a loaf, topped with ketchup. After baking, I added pickle and tomato slices and drizzled 1000 Island dressing over all. Surprise, surprise -- this tasted good!

I have 2 remaining long-in-the-tooth beef patties from this bag that I will turn into meatballs next week, using this same technique of running the patties through the food processor with bread and lots of seasonings.

The rest of our meal tonight also had that bottom of the barrel feeling. I used the last 2 potatoes (1 wrinkly, the other okay) as oven fries, mixed the last of the applesauce with some home-canned spiced figs in the blender for fig-applesauce, and stirred a small container of mayonnaise (from a picnic a few weeks ago) with the last of the sweet relish and some ketchup to make 1000 Island dressing. Man, I need to go grocery shopping soon!

Have you used preformed burger patties not cooked as patties before? What type of dish did you use them in?

If It Doesn't Bring Me Joy, I Won't Do It on a Sunday

This is how I view working on Sundays. 

I do enjoy baking cookies. So although baking is part of my work, it also is something that brings me joy. So I do bake cookies or pies or make dinner on Sundays.

I don't particularly enjoy painting the deck railing. So in this project I have never spent a Sunday afternoon painting. 

the completely finished part of the deck railing

I do, however, enjoy looking at a finished painting project or a partially finished one.

I'm a bit behind where I thought I'd be in this project. I "lost" 3 days to painting this last week. Last Wednesday it rained. (I was secretly gleeful over not being able to paint that day.) Sunday I didn't paint. And then Monday (yesterday) I was too busy to paint.

The next section needs top coats on 4x4 posts, and their finials need sanding and painting.
The section beyond that needs paint on all 4x4s, top coats on balusters in between 4x4s, and finials sanded and painted.

But I'm making slow but steady progress. Fortunately, we have about a week until the next rain is in the forecast. I'll be working as hard as I can these next few days. I hope to get everything done that is on the deck level and not worry about the stairs this year.

The far, far end hasn't been touched,
neither have either of the railings down the stairs.

I still haven't done a major grocery shopping. This will be 4 weeks without a stock-up shop. I've made a couple of runs to the neighborhood Walmart for milk, cheese, coffee, and bananas, and one quick run to Grocery Outlet for sausage and bacon for yesterday. But no other grocery shopping. I'm surprised we've made it this far. I will have to work a WinCo run in later this week. We need a few items that I only buy at WinCo (freshly ground peanut butter and bulk bin items).

If I found painting deck railings to be a source of joy, I might be further along in this project. As it is, having a break day and doing more enriching things gives me a peace that's more valuable than finishing the painting.

Last-Minute Labor Day Prep

a spicy apple crisp for the first day of September

I thought it was just going to be the 4 of us for a Labor Day cook-out. Then last night my son and daughter-in-law let us know that they'd be able to make it after all. A cook-out with just the 4 of us was going to be low-key, using up some foods from the fridge, cutting up apples, slicing some tomatoes and roasting hot dogs. With 6, not only would the meager leftovers not stretch for all, but we wanted to make this more special than the low-key plans. It's been a couple of months since we'd had our son and daughter-in-law over.

I used garden tomatoes (yellow and red), basil, celery, and oregano in the pasta salad

Anyways, we've been scrambling to clean up the kitchen, deck and patio. I haven't spent much time on housekeeping during this deck rail painting project. I also needed to come up with a game plan for our cook-out dinner. I made a run to Grocery Outlet this morning. Grocery Outlet has the best prices on bacon and a good selection of different varieties of hot dogs and sausages. I bought a package of bacon for bacon bits, a rope of kielbasa, and one bottle of mineral water. At home I had ingredients for the buns, 1 package of beef hot dogs, rotini pasta, pepperoni slices, and garden vegetables to make a pasta salad, kale and dried cranberries for a salad with bacon bits, cooked pinto beans to make a dish of baked beans, apples and baking ingredients to make an apple crisp, garden fruit for a fruit salad, cans of flavored sparkling water, and ingredients to make s'mores.

kale, cranberry and bacon salad

My daughters and husband have been helping me all day. Everything is looking delicious and clean. I'm now resting for a bit before putting on the final touches in 2 hours. And we'll all enjoy time catching up while sitting around the fire this evening.

hot dog buns just came out of the oven

Did you or will you do anything special today? Do you go to more effort to prepare a meal when family outside your household is coming than just you and the at-home loved ones?

Wishing you a lovely Labor Day.