In The Refiner's Fire

Angel Food cake batter - Missy loves making these! This was a busy week - things going on with the remodel, having my cousin, Diane, here overnight at the beginning of the week and then few days into this weekend due to a medical procedure (she lives quite far away from the hospital here), the first full week of programming at church (mostly virtual or take-home) and first exams for both of my classes at work. Whew!  I'm grateful that it is the weekend. We did not do too many things this week outside of the ordinary due to the number of things we had on our plate this week.  Here are some things we did this week that we counted as frugal: * We made all our meals at home this week or packed lunches to take with.  I even sent some snacks to the hospital with Diane.  Meals included two types of soup,  stir fry, soft-shell beef tacos, and baked chicken.   * I repaired a fallen hem on a skirt. * We harvested tomatoes, eggplants, lettuce and green beans from the garden this week.  I wi

  We made spaghetti and meatballs at the cabin we rented this summer.  I often "cheat" and buy our favorite store bought meatballs when they are on sale - so much less work and cheaper than buying the ingredients for homemade meatballs.  We do prefer the taste of homemade meatballs, but these are good most of the time. We still have garden produce coming in right now - tomatoes, lettuce, green beans, eggplant (aubergine) and winter squash (acorn squash this year).  I am hoping to can salsa this week some time - I received a cookbook on small batch canning for my birthday this summer; it is perfect for our little garden!  John loves their salsa recipe so I will can some for him to eat later this year. Here is what we will be eating this week: Sunday, September 20:         Brunch: Egg Bake with Potatoes and Spinach; Blueberry-Banana Smoothies         Snack: Popcorn         Dinner: Roasted Chicken, Salad Monday, September 21:          Breakfast: Eggs and Toast          Lunch: Le

  Everything is back to a new "normal" this week. I am always grateful for getting into a routine.  I find routines very comforting and calming.  Our routine is certainly different right now - work and school look so different than before and with our remodeling project continuing, each day looks a little different.  It is all good and we are so looking forward to the result!  Here are some of the frugal things we have done this week: * We cooked all but one lunch at home.  For breakfasts we ate homemade lemon poppy seed muffins, eggs and toast, overnight oatmeal, cold cereal with milk, and fruit and yogurt smoothies.  Lunch was leftovers, pulled pork sandwiches, or noodles with pan seared veggies and cheese.  For dinners we made pork stir fry with rice, sloppy joes on buns with cut veggies, breakfast for dinner (pancakes, bacon and eggs), pork loin with couscous and a spinach salad, spaghetti and meatballs, and homemade pizza.   * John stopped at the grocery store to pick up

Whew!  We're all back in school now and things are starting to fall into a routine.  The first week or two of school is always chaotic and this year is particularly chaotic with all of the additional things needed for (hopefully) preventing the spread of Covid-19.   I think we are back into a routine for the time being!  We started on our big remodeling project - I am SO excited about this!  The rain has slowed things down a bit but we should be back on track soon. Here are some things we have done since the beginning of September that we consider frugal: * We have made all but one meal at home, including two types of soup, pizza, overnight oatmeal, fried eggs and toast, bagels with cream cheese, egg bake with spinach and sweet potatoes, BLT's, fried fish, roasted veggie couscous, chicken lasagna, pasta with meatballs and marinara sauce, hamburger gravy over rice with a tossed green salad, chicken with potatoes and carrots, and for Labor Day we grilled with wieners and bratwurs