In The Refiner's Fire

Baklava!  I made baklava this last week for a school event. YUM! I did some baking trying two new recipes this past week -  all from items we had in our house.  I had purchased phyllo dough several months ago for something different that never was made.  I used it to make baklava. I also made English toffee for an event at my children's school this past week. Both turned out very well - yum!  Baklava was not a low-cost recipe, so I will probably not make it often but it was a fun treat and I now know how to make it relatively well.  The English toffee turned out very good and was inexpensive to make, so we will make that more often. We did not spend much this week and are eating mostly from the freezers and pantry. I will be inventorying the freezers and the pantry this week to put together a menu for May as much as possible.  Here is what we are eating this week: Sunday, April 28, 2019:     Breakfast: Yogurt and Toast ...

Our budding rhubarb - before I cleaned out the flower bed of all the winter leaves.  It has grown so much since this photo and I am so excited for rhubarb this spring! We did not buy much this weekend - our freezers are full and so is our pantry and we need to eat some of it down before all the summer produce starts to come in. I had a short stack of Target gift cards that I had earned using their in-store deals (buy so much and receive a $5 gift card) and I decided to use some of those for part of today's purchase.  We then went to the grocery store and did the rest of our shopping.  My children put the groceries away before I could take a photo - so I gave you a photo of our rhubarb sprouts instead!  It is early here yet - the southern part of the state received snow this week (we did not).  I will not be planting vegetables outside for another 2 weeks, though I did start seedlings inside. Here is what we bought this weekend: Target: $11.97...

Our Rhubarb Pant, Approximately 1 Week Ago.  It is now about three times as big. Holy Week is always busy for a Pastor and their family.  This year was no exception!   And I feel like I have run a sprint for the last two weeks and have been grateful for the days of the Easter holiday off school and work so I can get myself back together.  I also feel like we have spent quite a bit of money in the last two weeks - quarterly taxes were due, the children needed new shoes for Easter, and we completed a few small household repairs.  In the midst of all that, here are a few things we did that are frugal: * We enjoyed almost all our meals at home.  The exceptions were: Easter Sunday, where we ate all three meals either at church or with friends; Palm Sunday with the brunch at church, and a couple of Wednesday evenings with Lenten dinners, also at church.  * Our friends gifted us leftovers after Easter dinner. * I made bread, spiced carrot ca...

Our Easter Morning Table This Year Happy Easter!   I hope everyone who celebrated had a wonderful holiday!  We did, though now John is completely exhausted and taking a few days off for a well-deserved rest.  Our weather was perfect and we enjoyed two meals with friends - I had to do no cooking or baking, other than what I chose to do!  Lovely. We have a refrigerator full of leftovers (thanks to our friends and a meal at church) this week, so we are trying to finish those up.  I am grateful for that, too. Spring term is almost over here at school and Summer term starts almost immediately after.  Our children will "graduate" from 8th grade in a few weeks.  They were able to spend a day over the Easter holiday "shadowing" at the high school they will attend next year.  They had an enjoyable day, meeting new friends and attending classes.  They are very excited about their new school now and I am very grateful!  They have been...

Chicken Pot Pie (Plate Size) and Fruit Salad. Holy Week is always busy for a Pastor's family - four worship services, a funeral, two committee meetings, Confirmation, and all the other things that come with Holy Week.  Plus extra worship, dance and music practice for the children.  And all the other things that happen in a typical week.  Whew! We spent $37 on groceries this week - fruit, spinach and a bit of diary. Eggs were on sale and so were blackberries, so we bought extra of those this week.  Here's what we are eating this week: Sunday, April 14, 2019, Palm Sunday      Breakfast: Toast and Smoothies      Lunch: At Church (Palm Sunday Brunch)      Dinner:  Roasted Veggie Couscous, Tortilla Chips Monday, April 15, 2019      Breakfast: Bagels with Cream Cheese      Lunch: Leftover Couscous and Chips, Grapefruit      Snack...