Summertime catch up

 Not a lot going on around here in the last two weeks. A little bit of grocery shopping where I picked up some produce and milk. I decided that we really didn't need to hang on to the two drawers and one cabinet of VHS tapes any longer and cleaned those out. I was unsuccessful at finding anyone who was interested in taking these and finally just bagged them up and tossed them in the trash can. We have curbside pickup so this cost me nothing. I then determined to use the freed up drawer space for table linens (everyday and holiday) and the cabinet for storage of serving pieces I don't use that often. This cleared up two china cabinets and two drawers in the dining room. I must say the cabinets look so much better without so much stuff piled in them.
Other than that I 've been reading and taking advantage of our free month of Netflix as well as doing the necessary housework and yardwork.


I did receive a phone call from the hospital on the job. They have made me a job offer contingent on me passing the physical and the strength test. I am scheduled for those this coming Wednesday. I have no worries on the physical exam but I am a bit concerned on this strength test. I watched the video they sent me on this and I am hoping it all goes well. After that I have an appointment at HR to fill out all the necessary new employee tax papers. IF I pass the tests then my first day of official employment will be August 10th, an all day orientation day with two weeks of daytime training to follow. School starts August 26th. This is going to be cutting it VERY close.

Remembering to count....

my blessings today. Yes I currently have $2 in my savings and $67 in my checking account but I have this twice a month cleaning gig and will be paid today meaning I can put $25 of gas in the car (which will fill it up) and get milk and still put $100 in my checking account to give it a cushion for utility bills until the next paycheck is deposited (another blessing is having my check divided into 52 weeks). I also unexpectedly found a brand new large box of dishwasher detergent in the basement, stuck in a box I looked into hunting for something else, so I don't need to buy more.  I also noticed a bottle of dish soap stuck up on top of the stand up deep freezer, another item I was low on and will not have to purchase! Financial blessings for sure.


And then there are the blessings no amount of money can buy me, good health, a loving family, the GF,  and good friends.


God is good.


All the time.

Good Eats

 With the food budget having very little in it at the moment even though I will be cleaning tomorrow (need to fill up the gas tank and get dishwasher detergent and milk with that) I am concentrating on using up what we have on hand right now. So far this week I have had:
Monday:
Breakfast: Toast with cashew butter, banana, coffee (kids don't eat breakfast)
Lunch: treated to lunch by a friend I treated to dinner last time we ate at Cracker Barrel together
Dinner: grilled cheddar brats, buttered elbow macaroni mixed with peas (off the dinner menus but adult son asked for this)

Tuesday:
Breakfast: toast with cashew butter, nectarine, coffee
Lunch: grilled cheese sandwich, carrots and celery sticks w/ hummus
Dinner: Two cheese sticks, a plum, and a handful of pepperoni (all by myself and I just didn't feel like cooking anything)

Wednesday:
Breakfast: Blueberry muffin, coffee
Lunch: cottage cheese w/ homemade pineapple jam, plum
Dinner: Roast leg of lamb, beef rice a roni, salad , strawberry shortcake

Thursday:
Breakfast: Blueberry muffin, coffee
Lunch: grilled tomato-mozzarella Panini

This is my version of what used to be my favorite sandwich at Panera that they no longer offer. I took a ciabatta roll (from Aldi), split it, spread Sun dried tomato pesto (from Aldi) on both halves, topped each half with sliced fresh mozzarella, topped with slices of tomato and some sun dried tomatoes. Sprinkled it with basil then brushed the outside with melted butter and pressed in my Cuisinart 5-in-1 Grill/Griddle/Panini Press.

 This handy little tool is used so often I keep it on top of my microwave.

Dinner: Pasta Au Pistou, salad.  I've been trying something a bit different with my recipe for this. Instead of using my food processor to blend fresh parsley, fresh basil, parmesan cheese and olive oil together I am using jarred pesto sauce, mixing it with the sautéed chopped onion, canned diced tomatoes and brown sugar called for in the au pistou sauce. Just as delicious and half the work and expense.

 

Today I have had Cream of Wheat cereal and coffee for breakfast. Lunch will be leftover rice a roni  and salad

Dinner is going to be grilled pork chops, scalloped potatoes, and corn on the cob (slight change in menu plan due to having corn that needs to be cooked).

Update: Lunch turned out to be Chipotle, a treat from college age daughter for driving her around to do some errands! Dinner got tweaked a bit when I decided to make garlic & parsley redskin potatoes (at GF's house, need to use these up) and peas and carrots (another item in GF's freezer that needs using up).

 



Baking! Blueberry Muffins and Biscuits

 On my to do list today was some baking. I had a pint and a half of fresh blueberries and wanted to use some of these up in muffins. I turned to my all time favorite basic cookbook, The Joy of Cooking. On a food message board that I used to participate in there was once a discussion of the best version of this cookbook. The majority agreed that it was the early 1970s version, an opinion I sided with. My much beloved copy finally fell apart due to so much use and I reluctantly purchased the newest version which revised the version that updated the 1970s one. I have to say it is way more like the 1970s copy that I had than the awful updated one. Lots of my favorite recipes reappeared (like tuna noodle casserole).
Both the muffin recipe and the biscuit recipe are ones I have been using forever from this cookbook (which btw all my married/on their own children have received as a gift).
I used the basic muffin mix recipe and added 1 1/2 cups of blueberries (that I lightly floured to prevent sticking together).

Blueberry Muffins:
2 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
Mixed together
2 large eggs
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup oil
added to the dry ingredients and mixed on low until blended
1 1/2 cup blueberries
folded into the batter.
Using my handy Pampered Chef scoop in the largest size they sell  I filled paper muffin liners with the batter:

 

I had preheated my oven on the convection baking setting to 375 degrees. They baked for 17 minutes and turned out looking delicious:

 

I upped the temperature on my oven to 400 degrees for the convect bake and turned to mixing up the biscuits.

 

Basic Rolled Biscuits:

1 3/4 cup flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons cold butter

I mixed the flour, baking powder, and salt together and cut in the butter using my KA mixer. I then added:

3/4 cup milk

and mixed the dough together. I turned it out onto my marble pastry board which I had lightly floured and used my marble rolling pin to gently roll the dough to 1/2 inch thickness. I used my 2 inch biscuit cutter to cut the biscuits out:

 I placed the biscuits evenly spaced on one of my stoneware baking sheets and lightly brushed the tops with melted Smart Balance:

 

I baked these for 13 minutes and am very happy with how they turned out:

 

So we have blueberry muffins to snack on (minus four which are going to a friend as a small thank you for something she did for me) and the biscuits will be served topped with strawberries and whipped cream for dessert!

 

 

 

 

 

Rainy Day To Do List

 I cannot remember another summer so rainy as the one we are having now. Last month the local weatherperson let all of us who may have been in a cave asleep know that we only had ONE day without some kind of rainfall in our area in the month of June. July actually got off to a roaring start with 5 whole sunny/partly sunny days. But our streak ended Tuesday with more thunderstorms. 
On the downside the grass is growing super fast and there is a limited window for cutting it. On the upside all my plants are getting free watering.
Today is going to be one long rain storm so I am going to focus on doing some things around the house. I intend to bake: Blueberry muffins & baking powder biscuits. I made bread yesterday (a loaf of white whole wheat) and I cut up the really ripe strawberries and sugared them for shortcake, hence the biscuits. I am also doing laundry: load one in the washer (I have used my clothesline a grand total of twice this summer and laundry needs to be kept up so the dryer it is). Drying racks are on my "needs" list if I get this job so that I can do inside drying on days like today. The basement is far too humid to hang anything down there and expect it not to smell damp. Despite fresh Damp-rid bags. All this rain, ugh.
I am also going to give the house a nice clean ( outside of the daily sweeping, swiffering, vacuuming ) and I will dust, mop the kitchen and bathroom floors, and clean the bath, the kitchen and the upstairs hallway.
Then I plan on settling in with a murder mystery before playing taxi driver for both college age daughter and college age son who both need rides to work later.
I also have more good news on the job front. I received an email asking for 5 references. Something they don't do if they are not considering you (according to my middle DD who works there). Prayers are still very much appreciated.

My last Aldi run

With very limited funds these days I have been cautious about how much money I am spending at the grocery store, limiting myself to no more than $250 (what I earn from my cleaning gig) for the month and having that amount cover household cleaning, health & beauty, and paper supplies as well as food. So far, so good. I've been to the farmer's market a couple of times, spending $70.72 the last run there for lots of fresh produce and couple of other items (apples, nectarines, plums, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, fresh green beans, tomatoes, lettuce, cucumber, lemons, eggplant, celery, carrots, red bell peppers, sun dried tomatoes, 6 ears of corn,  fresh mozzarella, a tube of polenta, and a small bag of pepperoni).
I finished off with a stop at Aldi where I spent $38.27 and brought home this shopping bag of goodies:

a tube of Pringles chips, two boxes of tri-colored rotini (for 4th of July pasta salad), a bottle of Zesty Italian dressing (also for pasta salad), a can of whipped cream, a box of crackers, a bag of shredded cheddar, a block of Colby-jack cheese (also for pasta salad), a bag of sliced provolone, two blocks of white NY sharp cheddar, a container of hummus, 2 tubes of buttermilk biscuits, 2 boxes cream cheese, 1 quart cottage cheese, 1 pint sour cream, 1 package fresco cheese, 1 bag string cheese, and 2 blocks Colby cheese.

These two shopping trips were necessary because my college age daughter thought it would be a good idea to clean out the fridge, tossing all of the fresh produce and most of the cheese without looking at sell by dates while I was at GF's house. I know she was trying to help out but honestly, LOOK at what you are throwing out.

Catching Up and July Menus

 I cannot believe it is July already and I have been on vacation for a whole month. Does not seem that long. I have been enjoying my time off, reading lots of murder mysteries, watching lots of Netflix, I've gone to the $5 matinee several times, gone to the zoo several times, and even spent three glorious days in the Pennsylvania countryside with my BFF (since jr. high) at her summer farmhouse. I've done some grocery shopping, mostly fresh produce and some small items from Aldi and worked my  2x a month cleaning job.
In bigger news I got called for a second face to face interview with the hospital. I really have no handle on how it went, I've never had an interview with a panel of people (3) before. They said I should hear something in about a week, this was exactly a week ago and still no word. <sigh> In the meantime I am focusing on my mental health, taking each day at a time and being grateful for the break.
I am a bit behind in my menu posting too. Here are the July menus I put together. I actually ate out the first two days of July, once with a friend, the second time with the GF and of course on the fourth we had our traditional all day family picnic at the park followed by fireworks viewing. GF provided the food and I did the cooking. I am trying several new recipes this month all found on Pinterest. Those are in bold print. Recipes using planned overs are in italics.

 

July Menu Ideas:

Apple glazed pork chops, rice a roni, peas

Spaghetti with meatballs, salad

Grilled Caprese chicken, risotto, corn on the cob

Polenta with grilled vegetables in balsamic sauce

Roasted leg of lamb, white and wild rice, salad

Shepherd’s pie, mixed veggies

Honey Apple Pork kebobs, chicken rice a roni, salad

Baked Cod, garlic redskin potatoes, peas

London broil, baked potatoes, salad

One Pan Balsamic chicken and veggies, rice

Salad Nicoise, rolls

Slow cooker beef brisket, mashed potatoes, roasted brussels sprouts

Papardelle with salmon, zucchini & walnuts, salad

Grilled pork chops, scalloped potatoes, green beans

Beef and Noodles, candied carrots

Roast turkey, mashed potatoes, corn

Asian Summer salad, rolls

Turkey enchiladas, Spanish rice

Horseradish encrusted tilapia, homefries, broccoli

Turkey salad sandwiches, hand cut baked fries

Turkey creole,  rice, salad

Honey mustard pork scallopine, german potato salad, green beans

Tuna and sun dried tomato penne, broccoli

Grilled chicken provencal, basmati rice, salad

Slow cooker chicken paprikash with drop dumplings, peas

Fettucine with pesto sauce, tomato salad

Spinach and tomato white pizza, antipasto salad

Pasta au pistou, salad