Rethinking how I do things

Hello Everyone!

We're hunkered down here in the homestead; just like everyone else I suppose.  We're living thru a historical moment with this Covid-19 virus.  In all honesty, it still feels surreal to me.  Surreal , but serious.  Please, please please, take this serious.  This is not the flu.  This is way different.

My family doesn't leave the house except to go to work.  I have three men in this house still working.  I'm very thankful for that, but nervous a well.  When they get home from work it is in the shower for them and in the laundry for their clothes.  Because they're working and coming home, I'm reluctant to go anywhere or have anyone come by; for others protection as well as our own.

I say that, but old habits die hard.  My first thought is "oh I'll just run down to (fill in the blank)".  Grocery stores, Walmart, Lowes, all these places are still open.  We can go thru a drive thru for dinner as well.  But here is what I'm learning, and believing.  Just because someplace is open, doesn't mean I have to go there.  *** And can I say, if you do have to go there, please don't wait in long lines for the store to open.  Go somewhere that's already open, or wait til your favorite store is open.  If you're standing in line with 10 other people, then you're in a gathering greater than 10!  You're at risk!***

Now don't get me wrong.  I'm trying to do my part to help the small businesses in my area, but I have to do so in a way that protects them and my family.  For that reason I'm re-thinking how I do things.

For example:

This is the time of year we put in our garden.  I've planted seeds and they're doing very well.  But there were things I needed; mulch for the walkways between raised beds, pine straw for on the beds, and I also needed potting soil.  I didn't want to go into a store.  Plus I wanted to shop locally.  I tried a local hardware store that has a well known name, but is independently owned, and was told they aren't doing deliveries.  Okay.  Then I'll look elsewhere, and I did.  I ended up ordering from a small family owned feed and seed store near by.  Their prices were much better anyway, and he delivered what I ordered to my house.  I was able to stay far away from him as he unloaded everything I purchased.  I supported a small local business, and was able to get what I needed and stay on track with the garden.

Another item that needed our attention was the housing for our small bantam chickens.  With the arrival of spring their egg laying has increased.  Problem was they were in the Rooster run and it was never designed for hens.  It needed to be re-designed so we had access to the eggs.  My first thought was I would just have to run to Lowes and grab some stuff.  But then I stopped myself and asked myself did I have items here I could use, and not make the trip to town.  Well, we did.  Now granted, when you make do on something, you don't have plans or measurements to follow....ehh it can kinda look like the villains lair in the old Batman series, but, hey, it's functional, and it will do until we can make a trip to town.  Point is.  We thought things thru and ended up not going.

As for provisions,  I was fortunate that I had already done the monthly grocery shopping the Friday before things went south( no I did not buy toilet paper.  We already had some).  So we are pretty well set.  Plus I keep a pantry.  It wasn't my normal pantry as I had kinda slacked off in recent months, but we're okay for a bit.  I've been tempted to go to the store to pick up a few things, but have decided against it.  This has forced me to really push myself into A) using anything and everything I have in my pantry/freezer, and B) Learning what all I can make on my own.  As it stands now, I will never by Mayonnaise, ketchup/ BBQ sauce, flour tortillas, or peanut butter granola bars at the store.  I already don't buy Bread, English Muffins, Bagels, Dog treats, choc syrup, jams/jellies, Season Salt, Taco Seasoning, Granola/Cereal.  It's become a challenge to me now to see how far I can make this stuff go.  Technically I get more grocery money in 2 weeks when Hubby gets paid, but there is no guarantee I'll be able to shop like I normally do; by the month and stock up when an item is on sale. We have a local farmers market that has ingeniously adapted to where you can call them ahead of time and give them your order.  You let them know when you'll be by, and they will bring your order out to your car; wearing gloves and the whole bit.  They're a mile from my house.  Since they're a farmers market, I'll utilize them when I need some fresh items.

The garden is starting to produce a little spinach and lettuce.

Plus the hens are really laying now.  We're getting 8-10 eggs a day.  And I just found out you can FREEZE raw eggs!  How awesome is that!  This is one of those times where gardening and raising chickens is more than a hobby.  It's also one of those times where I say to myself I will do this as long as I can.

More than likely you are cooped up like we are.  I have a friend who took this time to learn to make her first bread.  It turned out beautifully.  Don't you think?

Now is a good time to do all the things you've been meaning to at home but just didn't have the time. Sure it's not a vacation you would choose, but now that you have it, make the most of it.  You never know what you can accomplish!  See what happens!

Here's to "making the most" posts!

Good morning! Hope everyone is doing well, especially with all this virus hulla ballo going around.  I could throw in my two cents worth, but 2 cents doesn't go as far as it used to.  Nope, instead I'll stay in a practical frame of mind.

This post has been a few days coming.  Mainly because it took a few days to get things ready.

Back around Thanksgiving I bought two rather large turkeys on sale at our neighborhood Kroger for .47 cents a lb.  There weren't a lot of great turkey sales this past year, sad to say.  This one was the best, but limited to two.  Since I was limited in quantity, I had to make the most of the ones I chose.  So I bought two ginormous turkeys.  Between 20-25 lbs.  I cooked one around Christmas and did all this then as well, but this go around I wanted to share the process.

Turkeys bought on sale can be great resources of meat, and broth.  Pus there is a side benefit for my furry friends and feathered food producers (Chickens).

This bad boy weighed in at 23+ lbs.  I placed it in the fridge to thaw for about 3 days.  Then came the day of.  Since I'm making a whole turkey anyway, turkey was on the menu for that nights dinner.  Saves me from having to do anything.  Win win.  Anyway, I put the turkey in my trusty old roasting pan and baked for almost 5 hours til done.  Once dinner was over, and the turkey had cooled, I deboned it, while placing all the bones in my crock pot.  I ended up with a huge breast in my fridge to use for sandwiches.  Plus all this other meat!

Having all the bones, giblets, etc back in the crock pot, I proceeded to add some celery (2 large stalks), some carrots,half a large onion, couple of tsp salt, and 2 tbs vinegar.  I then covered the whole shebang with water, put the lid on and set it to low.  

It cooked for over a day, maybe 30 hours?  Then I turned it off to cool.  Once cool, I strained off all the broth that had been made and placed it in the fridge for the fat to solidify on top.  The scraps were tossed to the chickens!  This morning, out came the broth.  I scraped off the fat at the top and put it in a jar to make dog treats for the fur babies.    I brought the broth to a boil and then proceeded to can 4 quarts of bone broth.  Liquid gold!  This is the stuff that make's homemade chicken noodle soup cure what ails ya.  

As a side note, these quart size jars range in age from a few years old to way older.  I've inherited jars from my mom, and my grand mama.  In fact one of these jars is a commemorative jar celebrating the bicentennial of the USA!  Can you see it?  

How bout now?  Lol.  So from a 23 pound turkey, I was able to use just about all of it.  That's the best part of stretching what you have.  Make sure you get the most bang for your buck!

Pinto beans..not just for chili. Who knew! (recipes enclosed)

I eat dried beans.  I do.  Usually in something.  Usually in Hispanic cooking; but I rarely eat them just by themselves.  That is until last night.  Oh my!

A couple of weeks ago I cooked a ham in the crock pot.  Turned out great!  The meat we used for dinner that night, and subsequent lunches and breakfasts thru the week that followed.  The fat was taken off and given to the chickens.  They love that stuff!  It's funny to watch them when they get something they love.  It's like watching chicken football.  They grab a piece and run to a corner somewhere trying to play keep away from the other chickens who are convinced they only want the piece of meat another chicken has.  Anyway, I digress.

So after all of those uses, I still had these wonderful juices from cooking the ham in the crock pot.  So I did what any other sane person would do.  I stained out the broth and placed it in a container to let it cool and solidify the fat that would rise to the top.  It did, and I pulled out the fat and put it in a jar.  That will be for the dog treats.  That recipe calls for 1/3 cup of oil.  I'll use the ham fat to replace that.  The dogs won't complain.  The broth I stored in the freezer until yesterday.

I've cooked dried beans before with a ham bone, and while it added some flavor, it wasn't much different than water to me.  But because people cook beans with ham, I decided to cook these in the ham broth.  I cooked 2 lbs of beans.  I had about 4 cups of broth, so I added enough extra water to cover the beans.  That broth was pretty concentrated anyway.  Then I let the beans slow cook on the back of my stove...all day.  This made a big pot of beans; about a full dutch oven's worth.  We didn't eat nearly what was cooked.

Yesterday was a baking day.  I made loaf bread, bagels, and granola.  Since I was baking anyway, I used up some cornmeal and made two pans of cornbread; one was for dinner, and one was for the freezer.

I liked these beans so much, I'm using some of the leftover beans for re-fried beans today.

Re-fried Beans 

1 quart of cooked pinto beans with the broth
1 quarter of a large onion, finely chopped
2 tsp minced garlic
Olive oil or Lard

Heat a little oil or lard in a skillet,  I use a cast iron skillet, but any will be fine.  Once oil is hot, add your onion and garlic.  Saute until they start to brown.  Then add your pinto beans with the both.  Add a little water if you need to in order to make it soupy.  Let it simmer for a bit.  I've let mine simmer about a hour.  The beans should thicken up as they simmer and the water cooks off.

Now I just mash mine up in the pan and don't use additional oil for frying, but if you want to, you can heat another skillet, add some oil, and mash your beans up as they fry in the skillet. 

I just mash mine in the skillet where they are.  This keeps some of the fat and calories out, and also keeps dishes used down to a minimum.

Can't have re-fried beans without tortillas so here ya go!

Flour Tortillas

4 cups all purpose flour
1 ts salt
1/4 ts baking powder
1.4 Cup of lard or softened butter
1 cup ( plus up to 2 TBS ) warm water

Mix the flour, salt, and baking powder.  Cut in the lard/butter (I used Lard).  Add the water little by little, tossing to mix.  If you need to add the extra 2 TBS of warm water, you can, but do it a little at a time.  You want the dough to stick together, but not be real sticky.  You'll add water, toss, add water, toss, until the dough forms a ball.  Just until the dough forms a ball.  Divide the dough into 16 equal pieces and shape them into a ball.  Cover them and let rest for 15 minutes.  Once 15 minutes have past, take each ball and, on a floured work surface;  flatten it with the palm of your hand.  It should be about 3 inches in diameter.  Once you've flattened each ball, start with the first ball you flattened and roll it thin, about 1/8th inch thick. Repeat this process with all 16 tortillas.  I stacked mine loosely on a plate.  Heat a skillet well on low-med heat.  Add a little oil or lard.  You should only have to do this once.  Fry each tortilla 1-2 minutes each side.  When you see little brown spots on the cooking side, it will be time to flip it to cook the next.  As each tortilla is completed, remove and put on a plate and keep covered by a towel.  Makes 16 tortillas.

Here's a pic of the finished product.  I had to take these out of hubbys lunch, as these were the last ones!  So, sorry the pic isn't great.

Our Terrific, Frugal, Very Good, Never Bad day (recipe enclosed)

Hello!


How's everyone?  We're doing good here.  No rain today so that's great!

Hubby has no where to be.  He is normally off on some wrestling venture as a mean ole manager, a ring announcer, or a Friend in low places.  Today , and this weekend, he is home.  Yay!

We decided to enjoy the day together.  Now at our age, that means we went to run errands.  We picked up Chicken feed, bird seed, and potting soil (needing to start my tomato plants).  I needed some zip ties for a doll I'm repairing.  For fun we bought a new bird feeder for the front deck, and a hummingbird feeder for the back.

My hubby is a big spender let me tell you.  Nothing is too good for the little wife!  We had a gift card for use at Racetrac; where we each got a cup of freshly ground coffee.  We had lunch at Subway.  Lol.  We like Subway.  It keeps us from straying too far off the healthy eating plan.

After lunch it was off to Goodwill to see what we couldn't live without.  The first Good will was a bust, but the second one was a charm.  We found

A full box of hanging file folders-  I've been needing to buy some more, but haven't pulled the trigger yet.  To get the box new would have cost us $10.  We got them for $3.  New box.  It had been opened, but still had the full amount in it.

7 heavy identical glass drinking glasses. 7 was a good number because we had a matching glass at home.  It's partners had long since met a drastic fate.  Now it has a new family to call it's own, and we have a setting for 8.  Yay!

A Blue Ray of the movie "Australia".  Hubby was on a mission it seemed.  I used to have this movie, but it was accidentally left in a DVD player we donated.  Hubby was determined to find this movie again.  He was very proud, and I was very happy.  Guess what we're watching tonight?

So then we headed home.  The plan for dinner was turkey burgers with oven fries.  That is until I got home and remembered I was out of ketchup.  Ooops.  We were home by then and there was no going out again.  Desperate times call for desperate measures.  Right?

Yall I made Ketchup!

(Here comes the recipe)

Ketchup

1 can tomato paste
1/3 cup distilled vinegar
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup sugar
3/4 tsp salt
Good dash cinnamon
Good dash paprika
1/3 tsp ground allspice
Good pinch of ground mustard
Good pinch of celery seed
1/2 tsp onion powder

Whisk all in sauce pan and simmer about 5 minutes.  That's it.  I put the homemade ketchup in an existing ketchup bottle and no one is the wiser.  It's good.  Seriously.  Never buying ketchup again.  that one little can with vinegar, spices, and water made about 18 oz of ketchup.  The cheapest ketchup I can find that has no high fructose corn syrup in it is about $2 for 16 oz, and that's not even organic!  Mine cost me about .40 cents. I'd say win win!

Now what else can I make!  What kind of convenience foods do you make in your homestead?

Odds and Ends

It didn't rain today!  That is amazing.  My back yard, however, is like a wet sponge.  (Sigh) and it's supposed to rain tomorrow.  According to the meteorologist, this is a pattern we will have for the next 3 weeks.  UGH!

Oh well.  Either way, I had to take the opportunity available to get outside and get some long over due work done.

My main thing was to get the rooster Run cleaned out and ready to house the Bantum hens (and rooster).

We bought a chicken house.run that's supposed to house 3-4 birds.  (Eye roll) it barely houses the 4 Bantums.  So the Rooster run has been readied now and the little darlings are on board.  Moving them was fun.  One got out.  Note to self:  Bantum chickens are harder to catch...BECAUSE THEY FLY!  This hen took off and flew half way across the garden!  But, I was patient and just kept herding her to where I needed her, and eventually I won.  Neener, neener.

 Contrary to the phrase "chasing chickens", ones doesn't actually chase the chicken.  That is highly discouraged.  You will tire yourself out.  The best thing to do is walk slowly, and purposefully; heading off any avenue of escape until you have them cornered.  Then you catch whatever part of the chicken is handy.  So eventually I got her in.  Another of the hens, and she is a full size hen hatched by the tiny Bantum mama, literally started screaming when I caught her.  Interesting sound.  But she calmed down as soon as she realized she was just moving.  So all in all they all got moved and are happily ensconced in their new digs.

Also on the chicken front, we're getting about 4 1/2 dz eggs a week now.  So I'm starting to sell some to offset the cost of feed.  I sold 2 dz today for $6, and plan to sell another 2 dz tomorrow.  I'll do that every week or two.  As we get more, I'll be able to sell more.  That's a nice little benefit. But don't worry, we will still have plenty of eggs for us. 

After all that fun, it was a just matter of repairing the hoop house cover, and cutting the grass.  Yep! We've had mild enough temps to where the grass is growing.  Well the weeds are growing.  It was getting bad.  I'd put pre-emergent on if it wasn't for the fact we'd have no lawn.  lol.  Cutting the grass was interesting on the low end of our property.  It is a mucky yucky mess.  Had to drive very slow to keep from getting stuck.  But I really didn't have a choice.  It needed to be done.

So all that and throw in some kitchen cleaning, floor sweeping, bed making, and doll clothes sewing, and all in all a productive day.  My house is a mess.  The yard needs still more work, but I put in a full day.

That's the important thing.

"You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be happy, and it shall be well with you"  Psalms 128:2

Rainy Days and Mondays

Had a bit of a sad morning today. We lost one of our oldest hens today. I just think at her age, she couldn't handle all the damp cold we've had recently. We had 3+ inches of rain this past Friday, then turned off cold really quick, and 4+ inches of snow Sat. Then today is the start of another cold 3+ inches of rain today and tomorrow. This has been our weather pattern in the last month. Just can't seem to dry out. I found her semi conscious in one of the nesting boxes when I went out this morning to check on everyone. I brought her into the house and put a warm towel in a box and let her have her last little bit of time in a warm dry area with no other hens walking all over her(yes they were doing that very thing). Chickens, especially these are cold hardy, but I think this was just too much for her. She was 6 years old. Heat lamps can be dangerous, and so we have opted to not put them in the coops, until today. After finding her, I made an executive decision and pulled out the heat lamp and put it in the coop to give them a warmer, dryer spot to stay. For safety, it will be turned off tonight, because we will be asleep and can't watch it. Plus the light can mess their sleep schedule up. So turned off tonight, but in the mean time, it will give them a dryer spot and warmer spot and when they are getting ready for bed, they will be gathered together for warmth. It will go back on tomorrow during the day.

It must be good. I just went outside in the rain to check on the rest of them. The light is still on, and just about every chicken we own is in that one coop next to the light. I'm glad it's helping, I just feel bad we had to lose one before we did this. Smh.

Finally!

Whew!  It has been a long month in regards to our food budget.  The joys of having 3 paychecks in a month is tempered by having to stretch what grocery money you had into 5 weeks instead of 4.  That can get a little tricky.

In addition, I made the mistake many make, I think, after the holidays.  We wanted to get back to eating healthy.  I wanted to encourage everyone in our household to do the same.  While not buying diet food, I did purchase a lot of things I don't normally buy.  My son likes salmon, and wanted to have that on hand for meals so he could stay on track.  I agreed to buy him 1 weeks worth of salmon and asparagus (ours isn't up yet), but he had to take over the rest if he was to stay on it.  I bought protein bars, thinking this would keep me from having to bake cookies.  Both sons enjoy these.  Yes, it did make it where I didn't have to bake cookies, but was way more expensive than if I had just baked cookies, and I question if it was the healthier alternative to home made 100% fresh ground wheat cookies.  So I read the label....yea... I think the cookies would be the better alternative all round.  I bought other things as well.  These are just a few examples.

This was also a time where things needed replenishing.  Some things that I buy in bulk, only have to be purchased every few months or so.  In addition, there were things I had stocked up on in the past that were allowed run out, hoping I would see the items on sale for restocking; sugar was one of those.  I never saw sugar go on a good enough sale.  It went on sale once during the holidays, but it was a limit of 5 4 lb bags of sugar.  That lasts us about a month or so.  Not enough to really replenish anything.

For all of these reasons, January was a tight month when it came to the food budget.  The benefits of this are:

 A)  I have really used up items in the freezer and pantry.  The past couple of weeks, maybe longer, have seen my menu planning based on little bits of things in the pantry, fridge and freezer.  Many times it's re-purposing left overs. 

B) It has pushed me back into what I know and that it scratch baking on a grand scale.  All our breads, cookies, breakfasts items, etc have all been made from scratch.  We haven't been starving, but everything I had to eat, had to be combined to make what I needed.  There wasn't much of  "I'll just grab something".  At least there wasn't until I made it.  This even went so far as making the dog treats.  I have to say I had gotten comfortable buying these in bulk at the warehouse store, but ran out a few weeks ago.  I've decided to keep that going.  It's better for them, and it isn't too had to make these.  If you would like the recipe, it's on my "Pet Care" page.

C)  It really cleans out the pantry, fridge, and freezer!  Makes it really easy to defrost the freezer, organize the pantry, and wipe out the fridge.

So today is the day I finally get groceries!  It's still tight, but that's okay.  I have new resolve to keep doing what I'm doing.  I should have been doing this all along.  But, you know, even a Frugal maven can have an off day (er week, ah month).

So in preparation of today being grocery day; yesterday was spent, primarily, in the kitchen.  I made English muffins, bagels, sandwich bread, hamburger buns, dog treats, coffee creamer, and chocolate syrup.  Granola and cookies will come this afternoon.  I'm out of oats.  I get them today.

Can I just add here, all this scratch baking doesn't take long.  It isn't too hard.  If I can learn to do it, and do it, so can you!  Yes, I was in and out of the kitchen yesterday, but it isn't where I stayed.  The time spent making bread items, is mainly in waiting for it to rise.  It takes about 15 minutes to mix and knead bread dough.  The rest of the time is spent waiting.

I fell into the trap of wanting things convenient.  Yes, buying something pre-made is easier, and if you have little time, then that's what you need to do.  But if you can, then try it.  Start small, make a few things that aren't too taxing.

"A penny saved is a penny earned".  Just remember Uncle Sam hasn't yet figured out a way to tax money you save, but he does know how to tax money you earn.