In The Refiner's Fire

Giant Iris!  I have three types blooming in my garden right now This week was crazy busy with summer session happening, a LOT of rain (we received 5 1/2 inches in one evening at our home), and a variety of other things going on. The children had final exams this week and are very happy to have a week or two to relax before jumping into a babysitting job for the rest of the summer. Here are some things we did this week that were frugal: * We grilled hot dogs and bratwurst twice this week, roasted squash, made empanadas, baked homemade pizza, had pulled pork sandwiches, and several salads and no bake energy bites for meals and snacks this week. * I harvested lettuce and radishes from the garden this week.  We still have rhubarb too. * I planted bean, pea and carrot seeds in the garden this week. * I also spent quite a bit of time weeding and cleaning up the garden this week.  With all the rain, we had a lot of fallen branches and leaves and broken plants to clean up. * I

Empanada Filling! YUMMY! We started our week this week by making baked Empanadas.  Our daughter had an "extra credit" assignment from her Spanish teacher that involved making one of a list of possible recipes.  We chose these because we had all the ingredients on hand.  They were delicious!  We will definitely be making them again.  Here are the other meals we will be enjoying or have already enjoyed this week: Sunday, May 24, 2020:     Brunch: Cinnamon Rolls and Fruit     Snack: Fruit and Pretzels     Dinner: Empanadas, Cantaloupe Monday, May 25, 2020, Memorial Day:     Brunch:  Buttermilk Coffee Cake, Fruit     Cookout:  Hot dogs and Bratwurst served in Buns with pickle relish, tomato ketchup and mustard, corn on the cob, and fruit      Dessert:  Rhubarb-Blueberry Bars, Vanilla Ice Cream Tuesday, May 26, 2020:     Breakfast: Eggs and Toast     Lunch: Spinach Salad with Walnuts, Berries and Cheese     Snack:  Rhubarb-Blueberry Bars     Dinner: Sheet Pa

My lilac and bleeding heart bouquet this week - in a teapot! My lilacs are blooming!  They smell SO good and I am enjoying having a bouquet on my kitchen table.  I'm on bouquet #2 this week since lilacs do not live very long once picked.  That is quite okay - I am so happy they are blooming! Our week went by - ZIP - just like that - this week. It was a week where I kept saying things like "Today is Wednesday. Oh, wait, it's Tuesday" or "It's already Thursday? How did that happen?"  And yesterday I went in to work with an article of clothing on backwards (fortunately, no one noticed).  Yes, that is how my week went. Here are the frugal things we did this week: * We made homemade pizza, Venison with peppers, mushrooms and potatoes, Taco Soup with cornbread, scalloped potatoes with ham, poppy seed muffins, biscuits, and Finish Ribbon Cookies this week. * We ate all meals at home. I enjoyed a miniature sized desert that was left on my desk (my bo

Blueberry Cheesecake "Bars" - Delicious! We actually did not even go to the grocery store this week- we did not need anything!  That was a very nice feeling.  I still do not like going out if we do not need to.  Our state is easing up on some Stay-At-Home restrictions starting today but we have not hit a peak in cases yet.  I am not sure how I feel about that. Saturday, I baked homemade granola using items we already had in our pantry and I made a rhubarb crisp, also using items from our pantry and rhubarb from our garden.  Sunday morning, I baked zucchini bread using frozen shredded zucchini from the freezer.  Sunday afternoon, our daughter and I made No Bake Energy Bites, also using items we had in our pantry. Later this week, our son will make Finnish Ribbon Cookies for a snack and I will bake bread.  That should be a enough for eating and snacks for this week and the granola should take us for a couple of weeks. I also am harvesting lettuce from the garden.  I am

My first bouquet from the yard in 2020!  Dwarf Iris - two types. We had a quiet week this week.  The children had their Advanced Placement (AP) tests, I had finals and getting ready for summer session, and John was working on a lot of upcoming videos for church items.  We were definitely busy  - a quiet busy - this week! Mother's Day was lovely and we were able to have social distancing visit with my best friend and her husband on Mother's Day.  It was a treat for both of us.  The children had a friend drop off a gift for each of them - belated birthday gifts.  They also had a social distancing visit - their friend sitting in their car and our kids standing on the grass of the yard.  Both were a really nice break for all of us. Here are the frugal things we did this week: *  We made scalloped potatoes with ham served with salad, muffins and blueberry smoothies, a sheet pan dinner using sausage, peppers, onions and potatoes, a pork roast with mushrooms and pearl onion

Our children's Birthday table - those are confetti poppers on the placemats. I am hoping to start eating from the freezers and pantry in earnest and cut back on grocery shopping this week.  I feel like all I've done for the last few weeks is buy food!   Maybe it is because that is the only shopping I've done!   Who knows?   I had been doing some stocking up because I was not sure if we would have a week or two where we could not leave the house.  We have not been in that situation and it's time to start eating what we stocked up on! Here is what we are eating this week: Sunday, May 10, 2020, Mother's Day     Brunch: Maple Oat Scones, Blueberry-Banana Smoothies     Snacks: Popcorn     Dinner: Fish Chowder, Homemade Bread     Dessert: Blueberry Cheesecake Bars (My Grandma's Recipe - I made some last week and put them in the freezer) Monday, May 11, 2020:    Breakfast: Eggs and Toast    Lunch: Leftover Chowder    Snack: No Bake Energy Bites    Di

Dwarf Iris in my garden this past week. This past week, our children turned 15 years old.  I feel like that time has flown so quickly!  At dinner on their birthday, we spent time reminiscing about past birthdays. It was fun to hear what they remembered and how much they enjoyed the different things we have done.  We have not had a party since their 10th birthdays and will have one next year for their 16th birthdays, so not having a party this year was fine.  The printable birthday banner (I've had it on the computer for a while and don't remember where it was from - if you know, please let me know so I can add a link!) and a decoration from our Christmas box.  I was trying to get the extra decorations and it looks like I missed the end of the banner! I found a printable banner on my computer that I had download from online a while ago and our daughter assembled it.  We hung it between the kitchen and living rooms.  Then I hung some fold out decorations from our Chris

Chicken Lasagna - I tried to talk the family into having this on the menu this week.  No go.  Maybe next week! This week our children turn 15-years-old.  I don't feel "old" yet but that sounds so grown up to me!   We typically don't do huge parties or anything anymore for the children but I feel like we need to do something bigger this year, since Grandma and Grandpa cannot be here for their birthday and they cannot be at school with their friends.  We will see how the day goes! Here is the menu this week: Sunday, May 3:     Brunch: Maple Oat Scones, Grape-Banana-Blackberry Salad     Snack: Popcorn     Dinner: Perfect Potato Soup, Cornbread Monday, May 4:    Breakfast: Eggs and Toast    Lunch: Leftover Soup    Snack: Yogurt    Dinner: Fish Tacos, Apple-Grape-Blackberry Salad Tuesday, May 5:     Breakfast: Blueberry-Banana Smoothies     Lunch: Rice Bowl with Veggies     Snack: Yogurt     Dinner: Spinach Salad with Chicken Wednesday, May 6:    

Every spring, I enjoy every single new sprout as it pops up through the soil!  We had an early spring here and I have been so enjoying all the new things poking through.  This week my rhododendron bloomed and I am SO excited!  Once the rhododendron blooms, I know that spring is here.  After long winters it is wonderful and this spring, with everything being so strange due to Covid-19, I am grateful for the "normal" reminder that spring is truly here. Here are some things that I'm seeing in my garden that are making me so very happy this spring: Vincas in the flowerbed by the back entry. Radish seedlings - can you see them?  They're tiny in this photo! Dwarf Iris on the other side of the back entry - these always bloom first, since they are right next to the house and receive extra warmth from the walls. Lettuce seedlings - we have lots of debris still falling from the neighbors trees. It seems I remove dead leaves from this pot at least daily

My rhododendron this spring - I see this out my kitchen window every morning and I love it! We have had lovely, lovely weather this week and I have been so enjoying getting out in the yard and doing yard work.  I always love yard work and this year it is even better as it is so very different from the rest of our live; a little bit of spring normal.  I sat on the patio Thursday evening and listened to a very buzzy bee flitting around the couple of dandelions that were flowering in the yard.  Most of our flowers are not to the bud stage yet, much less blooming, but the dandelions seem to be doing well. I was able to pick up my seedlings from the green house at work this week.  They make me SO happy!  Now I have to "harden them off" before planting them outside in about two weeks.  I have 8 tomato plants, 6 peppers, 4 eggplant, a zucchini, rosemary and a couple of perennial flowers - a coneflower and 2 foxglove, as well as milkweed for the monarch butterfly nursery down t