In The Refiner's Fire

Christmas Dinner this year. I am having a hard time believing 2019 is almost finished.  Where on earth did it go?  Here's our menu for this last bit of 2019 and the first bit of 2020: Sunday, December 29:     Brunch: Out, courtesy of my Father     Snacks: Crackers and Cheese     Dinner:  Salmon, Maple Glazed Brussels Sprouts, Couscous Monday, December 30:     Breakfast: Pancakes with Blueberries     Lunch:  Salad with leftover Salmon     Snacks: Christmas Cookies     Dinner: Leftovers Tuesday, December 31:     Breakfast: Oatmeal Muffins, Bananas     Lunch: Leftovers     Snacks:  Christmas Cookies     Dinner: Appetizers, Christmas Cookies Wednesday, January 1:     Brunch: Buttermilk Coffee Cake, Bacon, Fruit     Snacks: Crackers and Cheese     Dinner: Jambalaya Thursday, January 2:   ...

Sweet pickled cucumbers from this past fall - every time I look in the cupboard, I am grateful (this was right after I put them in the jars, so the jars have not all sealed yet!). It's been quite the week!  The children auditioned for the spring musical at school and landed HUGE roles in the production cast.  They are thrilled - a lot of work ahead but very exciting for high school freshman!   John had two funerals - one that was just fun and one that had to have plain-clothes police in the congregation (yikes!). One of our children's really good friends was the victim of a very nasty bullying incident at their new high school. His mother hosted an impromptu get-together for his friends from his old school (our children's old school), so of course out children had to attend (they were quite irritated on their friend's behalf!) and our son ended up sleeping over with several other male friends.  And, I ended up in the emergency room with what turned out to b...

I found this photo while cleaning off old photos from my phone.  Think spring!  We have not even really had winter yet.... We had an early snow here this year.  It has mostly stayed, making winter feel long already!  Typically, we do not get a "real" snow - snow that stays more than a day or so - until the end of December.  This year, it was middle of November!  I am hoping that means winter will be done by mid-April.  I am not making bets about that but I can hope, right? Anyway, it is a good week for soup and other winter meals.  Here is what we are eating this week: Sunday, December 8:     Breakfast: Toast, Strawberry Smoothies     Lunch: Egg Sandwiches, Carrot Sticks, Apple Slices     Snack: Popcorn     Dinner: Turkey Stir Fry, Rice or Noodles   Monday, December 9:     Breakfast: Eggs and Toast     Lunch: Leftover Stir Fry     Snack: No Bake Bites ...

A recent sunrise - with the day starting later, I am so grateful that we get to see the sunrise on a regular basis! We have had lovely warm-ish weather the last few days - right around 40F (~4C).  That is normal weather for us this time of year, but with the cold snap we had a few weeks ago, it feels quite balmy.  We finished hanging the outdoor Christmas decorations and made sure the walkways were treated for ice.  I think we are officially ready for winter here! We had a very busy week this past week - auditions for the spring musical at school for the Children, another school event, John has several parishioners on Hospice (end of life) care and two upcoming funerals. I am heading into final exams for the term, which always seems crazy busy.  My Mother had two outpatient surgeries this past week and is doing well.  Add in all the busyness of Advent and the upcoming Christmas holiday, and I feel like we never stop! Here are some of the frugal things we...

A gender-neutral baby quilt! We have a dear friend who is expecting her third baby immediately after Christmas.  I typically do not give Christmas gifts to friends, apart from occasional baked goods (cookies, bread, and the like) but, her older children are school age and she donated all her baby things a couple of years ago.  I had all the materials in my sewing stash so, I made a small quilt for the baby.  My friends are not finding out the gender of the baby before the baby is born, so it is a deliberately gender neutral quilt.  You can make this in your choice of colors for either gender, gender neutral or whatever pattern or theme you like. Materials: * Four rectangles of fabric in your desired color(s) - mine are 12" x 8 inches.  I chose  one each of pink, yellow, green and blue. * A piece of fleece in coordinating colors for baking (large enough to cover the back of the sewn-together squares).  I chose a plaid in white, blue, pink and g...

Part of our carrot harvest this year - we planted "Rainbow" carrots: a variety of colors - orange, yellow, white, purple and red.  They are delicious! We are trying to eat from our stores as much as we can and stock up a bit this month at the same time.  We will be eating several things from our garden - including the carrots seen above - as the garden did very, very well this year! I inventoried the freezers and we have some frozen foods that need to be used up.  We also have several things that have been in the pantry for quite a while. Time to use those up! Here is what we are eating this week: Sunday, December 1, 2019:       Breakfast: Toast and Banana-Mango Smoothies       Lunch: Pancakes with Chunky Applesauce and Walnuts       Snack: Popcorn       Dinner: Three Sisters Soup, Cornbread Monday, December 2, 2019:      Breakfast: Eggs and Toast      Lunch: Left...

Our Thanksgiving Dinner this year. It was a quiet day and we were very grateful! So much for posting regularly this past month!  It has been a rough month and free time was almost non-existent.  Anything that was not essential, was set off on the side to be picked up at a later date.  In that vein, here are the frugal highlights for the bulk of November 2019: * We made bread, soups, muffins, stir fry, pizza and several other dishes at home. * My husband brought home the leftover turkey and stuffing from the Thanksgiving meal at church this week - the turkey and stuffing would have been put in the trash if he had not brought it home.  We reheated the stuffing for our own meal and froze the turkey for later use. * We bought a steeply discounted ham for our Thanksgiving dinner, since we had so much turkey from the meal at church. * We received a free apple pie from a local business.  I made an apple crisp from apples we already owned.  These two we...

One of the many photos I just cleaned off my phone - a summer camping meal from a couple of summers ago! We did not purchase much for meals this week - our pantry, freezers and refrigerator are quite full.  That is always a good feeling!  I did purchase some baking supplies for later this year on sale this week.  I am grateful for the money to stock up on things while the prices are good. Here is what we are eating this week: Sunday, November 9:    Breakfast: Homemade Cinnamon Rolls    Lunch: Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches, Apples    Snack: Popcorn    Dinner: Taco Soup, Cornbread Monday, November 10:      Breakfast: Eggs and Toast      Lunch: Leftover Soup      Snack: Cookies      Dinner: Linguine with Vegetables Tuesday, November 11:     Breakfast: Overnight Oatmeal     Lunch: Leftover Linguine ...

One of the many quilts I saw this summer at a quilt show in Rochester MN in June.   I have been going through some photos from the Minnesota Quilters Annual Quilt Show held in June 2019 in Rochester, Minnesota.   I've been doing quite a bit of sewing lately which has been an enjoyable change.  I have many plans for making items going forward and am excited for me to see how things actually play out. We had a quite week this past week. It was very nice after several weeks of busy, busy, busy, it was a lovely change.  Here are some things that we did this past week that we count as frugal: * We made homemade soup, pizza, breakfast tacos, and pasta sauce and garlic bread this week. * My husband and I each enjoyed one meal at work this week. * Our daughter won a homemade apple pie at a raffle and we enjoyed apple pie for several days dessert and/or snack. * I hemmed the pants for our son's concert tuxedo.  The school had recommended a seam...

Gift #1: Updated Earrings Our Christmas budget is tight this year - tighter than it has been in a long time.  That means I needed to get myself in gear and make some things for Christmas.  I started making one gift per week starting in September.  I also had several larger gifts that I worked on in bits and pieces as time allowed.   Hopefully, this series will give you some ideas and spark your imagination in your own gift-giving endeavors. Gift #1 is a pair of updated earrings for our daughter.  These were placed in the box shown and then tucked into her stocking.  We open stockings on Christmas morning before attending Worship and then open larger gifts after our Christmas dinner, which happens about 3pm. This gift cost me nothing out of pocket since I had all the pieces to make it. Our daughter has been very enthralled with the fringe style earrings that are currently in stores and does not own a pair.   I decided to make ...

Tomato Sauce - starting to cook down.  Yum! October has been a wild month here - we have had so many things happening.  Most have not been good - and completely out of our control.  I am thoroughly exhausted and am planning on sleeping until I wake tomorrow (Saturday), no alarm setting for me!   I may even take a nap in the afternoon too.  Our children have adjusted nicely to school and have made some nice friends.  Both children have attended birthday parties and, last night, a Halloween party with those friends.  I am grateful for new friends who have helpful, lovely parents and the same types of interests and goals as my children.  The children who hosted the parties are all Pastor's children which is another level of connection for our children - Pastor's children, whether we like it or not, always have challenges that non-Pastor's children never face. Our big good event in October 2019 was that our children celebrated Affirmatio...

A lovely snapdragon in my garden this year - they are still blooming! We have been passing a nasty head cold around here.  Not anything too bad, just enough to make everyone miserable and a lot of time in bed recovering with tea, toast and hot showers.  Yuck.  Not the way I want to spend my week and my weekend.  There was not much in the way of grocery shopping this week as a result.  We did buy some dairy, a package of bacon (for a recipe this week) and a couple of needed toiletries. Here is what we are eating this week: Sunday, October 6:     Breakfast:  Toast, Banana-Mango Smoothies     Lunch: Cheese Quesadillas, Apples     Dinner: Beef Chili Monday, October 7:      Breakfast: Toast and Eggs      Lunch: Leftover Chili      Snack: Cut Veggies      Dinner: Perfect Potato Soup, French Bread Tuesday, October 8:      Breakfast: Overni...

Phlox and Snapdragons in my garden earlier this summer. It's the first week of October this week!  I am amazed at how quickly this year has flown by.  We have a busy October, including a Wedding and helping my in-laws move to a new home.   We also have two baby showers for a my two sisters-in-law that are due with babies in January and February respectively.  It will be a busy month! Our garden is still plugging away - we harvested tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers this past week and are looking at harvesting more plus cauliflower, broccoli and carrots this coming week.  We have the end of year Harvest Party for our CSA on Saturday this week; something we look forward to each year. Here is what we are eating this week: Sunday, September 29:      Breakfast: Peanut Butter Toast and Raspberry-Banana Smoothies      Lunch: Waffles with Walnuts and Peaches      Snack: Popcorn      Di...

Tomato Sauce in the making! This week felt like such a busy week.  I ended up with a sinus headache the end of the week and that took up so much time.  We have settled into a schedule now, which does make things easier.  I am grateful for the weekend and some time to relax and play catch up with all the things that went undone this week. Here are the things we did this week that we count as frugal: * Made soup, two types of bread, roasted chicken and vegetables, and pancakes at home this week. * I started another Christmas gift this week.  I hope to finish it early in the week so I can make another this next week. * My husband cleaned out his office at work and brought home some unused notebooks for us to use at home. * I "canned' four more pint jars of tomato sauce this week. * We harvested tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers from the garden. * We cleaned out two more boxes of items from the utility room in the basement. * I picked flowers from the...

Do you see the purple peppers hiding in my pepper plant?  Yum! We have so much produce in our refrigerator and freezers right now - I feel like all I do is spend my time trying to use up and preserve produce!  That is a very good thing and I am feeling very blessed by it all. Here is what we are eating this week: Sunday, September 22:     Breakfast: Toast and Mango-Raspberry Smoothies     Lunch: Peanut Butter Sandwiches, Cut Veggies     Snack: Popcorn     Dinner: Scrambled Eggs, Cinnamon Biscuit Twists, Fruit Monday, September 23:     Breakfast: Eggs and Toast     Lunch: Salad with Walnuts, Grapes and Mandarin Oranges     Snack: No Bake Energy Bites     Dinner: Pasta with Meatballs, Garlic Bread Tuesday, September 24:      Breakfast: Overnight Oatmeal      Lunch: Leftover Pasta and Meatballs      Snack: No Bake Energy Bites  ...

Heirloom zinnias in my garden - these have made me so happy this year! And, hopefully, they will reseed themselves for next year! We are definitely heading into fall here in Minnesota.  The trees are just starting to change color, the breezes are returning and the nighttime temperatures are starting to drop.  Summer has made one more appearance this week with temperatures in the 80's F and 92% humidity (ick!) but that is okay.  Fall is my favorite time of year - I love the colors, the temperatures and all the fall produce from the garden - and I can wait a little more if I have to. Our summer felt very short this year so a few extra days is just fine. We have had a busy week this week.  Or at least it felt that way.  Today we have our fall festival at church and the children are heading to their first school dance of the year this year too.  They are so excited about both.  Our daughter's dance line received very nice ballet shoes yesterday and ...

Kellogg Breakfast Tomatoes!  We have a HUGE number of these right now. They are delicious. I always forget - on purpose I think - how busy the first part of September is every year.  This year we have had a lot of changes: new school, new friends, a change in activities, and a whole lot of other things as well.  Whee!!!  Hang on for the ride, right?  We are finally settling into a routine and I am grateful for that. Our garden has been prolific this year.  I think we have had just the right combination of rain, sun and warm for the plants to flourish.  We only have one tomato plant that has disease of any kind and it is in a pot - I will throw away the dirt at the end of the year and start over again with that pot next year.  I have been busy preserving produce for next year and taking advantage of some crazy good grocery deals at the store as well. Here are some details and other things that we did this past week that were frugal: * Mad...

Home canned tomato sauce - success at canning! I have never, ever water-bath canned before!  I have blanched and froze, dehydrated and done freezer and refrigerator canning.  We lot a LOT of freezer space earlier this year when our refrigerator died and we had to buy a new one - the size of the refrigerator with an above freezer is much smaller than our old model.  So, with our abundant garden this year (thank you perfect summer weather!), canning it is!  This photo was my first attempt.  It was successful - all four jars sealed right away!  YAY!  Jars were labeled and put into the pantry.  Later in the week I canned 5 quarts and 3 pints of sweet cucumber pickles.  All 5 quarts sealed and 1 of the pints.  I put the other two pints in my refrigerator - we will eat those this week.  We have had an expensive end to August - our water heater broke and spilled a LOT of water all over the basement floor.  Our basement is part...

Freshly Canned Tomato Sauce We have so many fresh vegetables right now!  Between the CSA (Community Supported Agriculture)  share we receive and our garden, I feel like I am almost drowning in fresh vegetables.  It is a great problem to have!  I finally broke through my personal inhibitions and tried water bath "canning" and "canned" tomato sauce.  Typically, I have been freezing tomato sauce but our freezer is full this year already and "canning" it is!   I am going to be making lots of pickles next - John really likes sweet and spicy pickles so that will be the type of pickles I make.   I was so pleased with how this worked!  This week we will be eating a lot of vegetables this week.  There were some really nice sales for meat this summer and our freezer is full with meat.  We will be eating some of that this week too. Here is what we will be eating this week: Sunday, September 1:     Breakfast: Toast and...

Heirloom zinnias in my garden this summer - so pretty! After two weeks away, I spent much of my free time this week catching up on yard work - our yard was a jungle (or at least it felt like it!).  I have weeded and weeded and weeded and dug out four volunteer trees from the flowerbeds that seem to have sprouted overnight.  The yard looks so much better now and I am feeling like I might actually be caught up - or at least almost. Here are some of the frugal things we did this week * We ate all meals at home this week, except one that was at a church event. * John brought home leftover apple pie and ice cream after the last day of Vacation Bible School at church - the pie would have been thrown away, as would the ice cream.  We enjoyed both! * We were able to bring home unused, uncooked pasta, some chips, two packages of dried plums, and 4 cans of soda pop after another church event. * We picked tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers from the garden this week. * ...

Flowers from my garden - I picked these as an "Anniversary Bouquet" for us.  We celebrated 21 years this week! It is August already.  Summer just flew by here this year - we were busy, busy and did a lot of different things this week.  We had a lovely beginning to August - we spent two weeks Camping at Minnesota State Parks.  We ended July at one park and then switched to another park for the first full week in August.  We love hiking and find the State Parks to be a great place to both hike and get away from everything going on in our every day life and just relax.  They make for quite an affordable vacation and we enjoy it very much.  We "cheat" and stay in a camper cabin - a rustic cabin with walls, roof, windows, door, bunks and a table and benches.  Some have electricity and some do not.  They do not have indoor plumbing.  We love it and rain is no big deal - we just hunker down and play cards, read, put puzzles together and ...

Our pumpkin plant, a few weeks ago. It is more than twice this size now!  I have been spending a lot of time in the garden this week and have accomplished quite a bit.  I still have some weeding to do to catch up from all the rain and heat we have had but, overall, things are looking good.  We have been harvesting string beans and strawberries.  I have one pepper almost ripe (this weekend!) and the tomatoes are so close.  Our CSA share has been giving us so many good things - their garden is about two weeks ahead of ours so I am expecting ours to be fully productive my mid-August. It seems like everything is slow this year.  We had a late spring here this year.   A friend also gifted us cucumbers and raspberries from their huge garden as well.  YUM!  Our weather has been lovely this week and I have greatly enjoyed being in the garden this week. Here are some things we did this week that we count as frugal: *  We ate all but...

Lillies in my garden this spring. So much good food to eat this week!  We got another CSA box this week containing many good things and we harvested string beans and a few strawberries from the garden as well.  We did go grocery shopping and bought mostly fruit and dairy products.  We did get pork on a buy one get one promotion, which I was delighted with!  We will be using that later this summer. Here is what we are eating this week: Sunday, July 21, 2019:    Breakfast: Bagels with Peanut Butter    Lunch: Waffles with Strawberries and Walnuts    Snack: Root Beer Floats    Dinner: At a Church Event Monday, July 22, 2019:     Breakfast: Bagels with Peanut Butter     Lunch: Leftovers     Snack: M&M Cookies     Dinner: Sheet Pan Nachos Tuesday, July 23, 2019:     Breakfast: Oatmeal Muffins, Strawberry Smoothies     Lunch: Bagel Pizzas with Cheese...

A lovely snapdragon in my garden right now.  I have others on my kitchen table as I'm typing! We have been HOT here this week!  Our actual temperatures have been in the mid-80's F (upper 20's C) but our heat index (combination of temperature, humidity, etc.) has been roughly 103 F (approximately 40 C).  We are very grateful for our central air conditioning and that we have plenty of water and easy-to-prepare foods so we did not need to heat up the house with the oven or stove.  At least for me, when it is so hot out, it is easy to stay inside and not spend much money. Here are the things we did this last week that qualify as frugal: * We ate in or packed a lunch every day this week even though I would have rather bought take-away. * I picked up a free loaf of bread using a punch card we won at a raffle.  (No having to turn on the oven!) * Picked flowers from the garden for the kitchen table twice. * Harvested the last of the lettuce and enough stri...

One of my beautiful roses! Thanks K.W. for sharing your photo! I do not have any food photos right now - so you get to enjoy one of my roses!  They are beautiful this year but the aphids are hungry and I have been spending a lot of time taking care of the roses this year. I do think the blooms are wonderful this year and well worth the extra time! We are receiving our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) Box full of veggies and some fruit each week.   This week we received: Green Cabbage, Broccoli, Green Onions, Kale, three types of Lettuce, Turnips, Kohlrabi, Asparagus, Mint, Dill, Basil, Pea Pods, and Beets (Beet Root).   All sorts of delicious things but no fruit this week!  We received strawberries the last few weeks and should receive raspberries this week. I also harvested lettuce and string beans from our yard.  Here is what we are eating this week: Sunday, July 14, 2019:     Breakfast: Toast with...