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HSmom

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About HSmom

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  1. I forgot something I wanted to say. I think some of the pressure we feel about meals is societal. We feel that it is expected that we make "new" and "interesting" things everyday. We've been told that "leftovers" are not okay. We've been told that it's not okay to make chicken salad one day and tuna salad the next. I've been re-reading the "Little House" books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I'm noticing that they often ate the same thing day after day. I also noticed that there weren't separate "breakfast" and "dinner" foods. In one book, they had prairie chicken for supper (because "dinner" is at noon) and the leftovers for breakfast the next morning. A wise choice in an era without refrigeration, to be sure. Why can't we do that? My dh takes the exact same lunch EVERY SINGLE DAY. Why do I have to make up new stuff every night for dinner (cuz we eat "lunch" at noon )?
  2. This is a REALLY good thread. I think meals are a challenge for many of us. Whenever I identify a problem, such as "I never know what to make for dinner," my first priority is to ask myself some questions. In this case, the first is: Would a meal plan help me? From experience, I know that the answer to that is "It depends." Next, would cooking ahead help me? That's a resounding YES! I keep asking questions until I've gotten to the root of the problem. In my home, it's complicated by two picky eaters. Like Stephanie, I try to use home canned goods to make "easy" meals. My favorite is a pint jar of hamburger. I toss it - along with its liquid into a saute pan and add taco seasoning. I open a can of refried beans (if I planned ahead, I'd pull homemade beans from the freezer), slice some onion, grate some cheese and - if I have some - slice some lettuce. We either have nachos, on purchased corn chips, or I make tortillas. I keep a homemade dry tortilla mix on hand - just add water. I can make two tortillas for EACH member of the family by the time the meat is done. Y.T., you have made a lot of excellent suggestions; thank you for your input!
  3. Now that's a cheap meal!!! Today for lunch: Smoothie made from purchased plain natural yogurt (75c) and home-grown, home-canned plums Corn on the cob - straight out of the garden Garlic toast - free "day old" bread, spread with about 10c worth of "garlic spread" from the store. Soup made from home-canned chicken broth, minute rice, freeze dried peas, freeze dried corn, TVP and salt. (maybe 10c). Dessert was free "day old" cinnamon bread. Total for three people: less than $1.
  4. WOW! Have you seen the number of view on this thread? Awesome!
  5. Here's some detailed info: http://www.eggsafety.org/f_a_q.htm
  6. Pumpkins are a great idea! I love the rich yellow yolks. Mmmm...I had sunnyside up eggs - with very runny yolks - just this morning. They are so awesome!! Anyway...if your hens are getting a "layer" feed or even "all-purpose" they aren't supposed to need calcium. I do offer calcium in a separate feeder. Initially, I bought crushed oyster shell from the feed store. Now I just feed them back their own egg shells (well crushed, so they don't LOOK like eggs - you never want your hens to figure out that eggs are food). I've heard different things about grit. I've heard that if they are on pellets they don't need grit, cuz it's just mash pressed together into the pellet shape. Therefore, if they eat "real" food, they would need grit. OTOH, if they are free-ranging, they supposedly will find their own grit in nature, as they go along. I've had these hens about 18 months, and I've never given grit. They eat mostly pellets, with some produce refuse thrown in. They do not free-range, but have a small yard where they can make dust-bath holes and scratch for bugs. At times, I've "tractored" them, but that has proved pretty labor intensive. BTW, your question lumped together grit and calcium. Just in case anyone is confused: calcium is just that. It makes bones strong, and egg shells too. Grit is rocks that ALL birds eat. Birds do not have teeth. The consume grit, which resides in the "crop" (an out-pouching - sort of - of the esophagus). The grit then grinds the food in the crop. I think the idea with pellets is that they disintegrate in moisture - such as stomach juices. Moving on, I've always used supplementary light in the winter. Hens need 14-16hrs of daylight to stimulate the pituitary gland to lay. By nature, they only want to lay in the spring, when their chicks will come into a warming world with increasing food supply. Artificial light "tricks" the hens hormones. I use a CFL bulb on a mechanical timer (CFL bulbs and electronic timers don't get along). I do refrigerate all of our eggs. If they are clean, I NEVER wash them. If they get laid outside the nest and are muddy/poopy, I leave them dirty until I'm ready to use the egg. Then I wash in plain water using only my hands to scrub. If an eggshell is cracked, I immediately boil the egg and give it to the dog (after it cools).
  7. This has been a crazy-busy month, with travel, home improvement projects, extreme weather...you name it. I've bought things I don't normally buy - even when money is okay - such as frozen corn dogs (for the kids, not me! gag). Life is settling down again now, and I started really cooking again yesterday. Look for more posts next week. Here's something to think about: beverages.
  8. This website http://www.umext.maine.edu/onlinepubs/htmpubs/4029.htm is titled "Saving Money with Homemade Convenience Mixes." It's quite extensive, and well worth a look-through.
  9. HSmom

    Day 23

    I'm noticing that I "stop by" the grocery store a lot. I used to have a specific day that I shopped (while the kids were in an activity - which they no longer are), but now I tend to go whenever. I need to get back into menu planning. Anyway, here are my recent purchases, a combo of the store and the fruit market: Gallon milk, bananas, roma tomatoes, spinach, a single jalapeno pepper, 5lbs chicken thighs, fresh cilantro, green onions, head lettuce. Total $19.21. I made some pico de gallo. It took me about 20 minutes and cost under $2 for about the same amount as the store sells for $4. It'll be even cheaper when I have ripe tomatoes and peppers in the garden. YUM!! Yesterday, I taught my 10-year-old to make flour tortillas; she LOVES making them and eating them. We had a couple leftover and found that when rewarmed with a wet paper towel, they soften right up again. It makes me wonder what all they put in store-bought ones to keep them so soft. Yuk. Today, dh is assembling and mounting my Country Living Grain Mill. I got it for Chirstmas - not last Christmas, but the one before! It's about time I got around to using it. I hadn't been cooking much the past few months, so my whole grain flours have gone rancid. I didn't have any in large quantities, fortunately. That was why I bought some plain old white flour last week. I do have two types of wheat berries on hand: Hard White Wheat and Soft White Wheat. The HWW is high in gluten and good for yeast applications; the texture and color of the product is said to be lighter than Hard Red Wheat. The Soft White Wheat is where "whole wheat pastry flour" comes from. It is good for non-yeast applications, such as tortillas, muffins, cookies, biscuits and so on. We're getting lots of fruit from our landscape and I see some veggies in the near future. I'm seeing that we are eating more healthy foods, and I've lost three pounds.
  10. If you ever want/have to use white sugar, try dissolving it in the water before mixing the water into the PNB powder.
  11. HSmom

    Italian Dinner

    This recipe is based off another that was shared with me years ago. I've made so many changes and adaptations to it that I consider it mine. Can you share your white chili recipe? That is also a favorite of mine.
  12. HSmom

    Italian Dinner

    Soak and cook in the usual manner: 2 cups small white (navy) beans in 4 cups water. Add to the mixture: 1 Tbsp dry minced onion 3 Tbsp Tomato powder 2 cloves garlic, pressed 2 tsp salt 1/2 tsp oregano 1/4 tsp rosemary 1/4 tsp basil and cook on low for at least an hour or two - until the flavors are well blended. Alternatively, you can make this recipe in a crockpot. Serve in bowls, garnishing with parmesan or mozzarella cheese. Goes well with homemade garlic bread and salad.
  13. Double success today! I made refried beans! And homemade flour tortillas! I took my refried beans recipe from Rodales Natural Foods Cookbook - out of respect for their copyright, I won't post the recipe. Next time I'll cook the beans "to death" - even after running them through the Cuisinart, they still have more texture than store-bought. I do, however, like the seasonings and flavor. My tortilla recipe came from the Make-A-Mix Cookbook...I was maybe going to use the one from Cookin' With Home Storage, but sometime in the last couple of days I've misplaced it. The Make-A-Mix recipe is super easy. I also reviewed a number of web-based instructional videos regarding tortilla-making. My conclusion is that the key to making good flour tortillas is rolling them thin enough. Some of mine were too thick to compare to store-bought, but were good in their own right. Ah, the taste of sweet success.... Oh, yeah, and I had to buy the flour for the tortillas, so another $4, plus I grabbed another case of coke for $8. By the way, any reason NOT to compost old rancid whole wheat flour?
  14. HSmom

    Money and Marriage

    You know ... I love my husband. He really is a good guy. But he sure pisses me off sometimes! Here we are in this financial pinch. We talked. We agreed that we needed to be prudent and really avoid spending money. I've been doing the things I've described here. Yet, a few days ago, he stopped by the store and bought tortilla chips, breakfast sausage and a comic book for the kiddo. How are those necessities? I'm beating myself up over a jar of PNB (which I did NOT return), and he's buying comic books?! I've given up some of my kids' organic foods for the sake of money, and he's buying breakfast sausage?! After I was done being mad at him, I told him I loved him, but that I felt those purchases were out of line with our new situation and agreement. He shrugged and said (regarding the sausage) "It's a weekend thing." When I pressed him, he said that there were plenty of times when I've spent money on myself, but he couldn't give me an example. I gotta tell you: I'm pretty thrifty and rarely splurge on my kids, much less myself. Regardless of who spent what, there are a couple of lessons to be learned here. The first is that no one is perfect. Marriage is a partnership between two fallible humans; there will be problems. Lesson number two: Be glad for what you have. He only spent $10-$12, rather than $200 for a box of practice ammo (defense ammo is acceptable, practice ammo is just for having fun at the range). Lesson number three: When your partner splurges, DO NOT RETALIATE BY SPLURGING YOURSELF!!! Now, go to your local library, check out and read Suze Orman's "Women and Money." - - - - - - - - - - - - We brought more bathroom tissue out of long-term storage and made more grocery purchases, as follows: Fruit market: quart yogurt, brocolli, 2 ears corn, head lettuce, green onion, asparagus $10.81 Grocery store: 2 gallons milk, organic grapes (I WON'T buy grapes from Chile; these are probably the only grapes we'll have this year), bananas, 2 cans refried beans, 2 packages (on sale) lunch meat, fresh pico de gallo 2lb cheddar cheese. $33.60. Analysis: The quart of pico de gallo was DELICIOUS!! However, for $3.99, I think I'd be better off finding a recipe to make it myself; it's just tomato, onion, peppers and cilantro. I also need to make our own refried beans. I bought the cans because I wanted them RIGHT NOW - to go with the pico de gallo. It would be much more economical to make them ahead and freeze in small quantities. I've really been craving these fresh summer-time foods, and they are so healthy that I have a hard time denying myself. We are still eating our home-dried and home-canned fruits, plus getting more fresh berries from our land. Confession: Do you recall my pining for caffeine? I've been weak: I bought a case of Coke - ah, ice-cold-Coke-in-a-can! It's SOOOOOO good. Add another $10 to my purchases. Summary: it is now mid-month and I've spent $101.40 on grocery items. That is substantially less than my usual. While I think it could be better, I am pleased with the progress I've made so far.
  15. We - as a family - have become very dependent upon sandwiches of some sort - on bread, in pita pockets, wrapped in a tortilla, or even on crackers. I can bake bread, pita pockets and tortillas look do-able (though I have yet to try them)....but lunchmeat? How am I going to make that? It's not practical or economical to substitute a hunk of chicken or turkey breast for the thin-sliced stuff I buy at the store. And tuna? Well, one can only stand so much tuna. There's egg salad, but only half of us will eat that. So what's a prudent woman to do? I've come up with two new ideas. The first is peanut butter. I've always thought of PNB as "kid food," but I must say that PNB on squishy bread, with plenty of jelly is pretty good. It's just a bonus that it's gooey-ness encourages me to drink a bone-strengthening glass of milk. My second "find" is my very own home-canned boneless skinless chicken. It mashes up like canned tuna and mixes well with other ingredients. Yesterday I mixed a pint of raw-packed breasts with low-fat creamy Caesar dressing, a dash of onion powder and a dash of garlic powder. I spoon the mixture into a pita pocket (found in the freezer - that thing is a veritable treasure trove), with lettuce and tomato chunks. That pint will fill six pita-halves (or three whole pitas) YUM! Canned chicken also goes well with tex-mex seasoning, then wrapped in a tortilla. For breakfast today, I stuffed pita pockets with scrambled eggs. Your ideas?
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