We are very grateful the hot, humid weather has disappeared and we can get back to normal living and tasks. Our tomato plants are still fruiting although the plants themselves look like they are on their last legs.
Here's what we've been up to -
* Made up a jar of French onion soup mix. I used a couple of packets from the supermarket and added my own ingredients from the pantry to stretch it further.
* I filled up both slow cookers with sausage casserole using the sausages I received last week. From that one tray of sausages I made 12 dinners ( 24 serves ) for the two of us. 11 dinners were portioned out into containers and frozen for easy meals.
* Made rosemary powder from the rosemary I picked from our garden a few weeks ago that I'd been drying. Rosemary powder is great to use of roast potatoes. The powder sticks far better than the usual dried leaves.
* Refilled my herb and spice jars with bulk purchases from Hindustan Imports. This is a huge saving over supermarket prices.
* Made three loaves of wholemeal bread with extra goodness.
* Upcycled 20 + department store bags by decorating over their store logo / name.
* Darren picked oranges from Megan's tree. Some will be used to make 50 / 50 cordial and the rest will be frozen whole to use in baking.
* Gratefully received tomatoes from my Dad's garden. I cooked them down and made a big pot of spag bol sauce ( with meat ). I added grated zucchini from our garden and a couple of carrots. We ate spag bol for dinner that night and another 6 meals ( 12 serves ) went into the freezer.
* Found a large toy truck for $7 and two hooded towels for $6 each. All were on clearance and will be given as presents this year.
* Darren has been feeding the large cardboard box from our mattress into the compost bin. We were quite surprised that our mattress was delivered flat in a HUGE cardboard box as well as being wrapped in plastic on the inside. The plastic was saved for veggie garden projects and the cardboard was cut into manageable pieces and soaked in water before putting in the compost bin.
* Baked ANZAC biscuits for our snacks using dough I'd made and frozen last week.
* Planted 7 sprouting potatoes into the veggie garden.
* I picked raspberries, beans, tomatoes and a zucchini from our garden.
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| Upcycled gift bags |
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| Sausage casserole |
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| Portioned for freezing. |
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| French onion soup mix |
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| Processing dried rosemary |
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| We might be getting mandarins this coming Winter. |
Hi Wendy
ReplyDeleteCan you include the recipes for sausage casserole and rosemary powder. They sound great.
Curried sausage casserole recipe is in the recipe section on the blog. Rosemary powder is dried rosemary I blitzed in a coffee grinder.
DeleteThose gift bags look fantastic. I like the french onion mix I love having french onion bread instead of garlic bread.
ReplyDelete# Stewed pears and peaches up rather than wasting them.
# Made up small bottles of cordials and fruit flavoured drinks. Saving heaps on not having soft drinks.
# Got some super cheap oranges half went in the fruit bowl and half in the freezer.
# Made a couple of sandwiches up and froze them. Mum likes exspensive meats but it normally gets wasted before she eats it all so frozen sandwiches which she doesn't know about.
# Made a large batch of lamb shank vegie soup and roasted the cooked shanks for a roast meal.
# Made sultana cake and vanilla cupcakes. Mums morning and afternoon teas.
# Potted up more cuttings and transplanted bulbs into pots.
# Started to record TV programs to watch. Saves mum from wanting to go out all the time. Really enjoying the new version of All Creatures Great and Small.
# Still drinking gifted tea and coffee. I have put all the satchets I already had in a basket and i am using them up. Surprising how many were lurking in the cupboard.
# Was given some herbs which i have dried out I can't grow mint no matter how i try. I like to use parsley and rosemary in cheese scones.
# I have mended a skirt and cut some older T Shirts up for rags. I wear knee high stocking so went on a hunt looking for working pens, pegs and stockings. Found enough that they are off my shopping list.
# Opening mail carefully as I am reusing envelopes mum is getting a care package and i have had to send a lot of papers to various places. Mum's 93 and my first needs are new wheelchair, commode and walker hers are all quite old she wont know herself.
# I work in Aged Care and i bring home the empty pad bags they have a handle on them i hang one off the side of mums bed on her drawer handle makes it easier for her to put her tissues and lolly wrappers in. I use them to line the bathroom and kitchen bins saves having to buy bin liners. If you ever need boxes when moving its always a good idea to ask your local nursing home if they have any. We get so many boxes that the incontinence pads come in that it is so easier to give them away than put out for recycling. They are really big and sturdy.
# I changed the cat to tinned whiskas over the satchets. Saving about a $1 a day.
Still hoping to save enough money to get my house. A few small savings here and there do add up to big savings. Blessed to have friends, a roof over my head, and food on the table. Stay safe and everyone take care Happy Valentines Day or Happy Heart Day to you all. Leanne.
You certainly have been busy Leanne. We have our cat on Woolworths tinned tuna for about $1 a tin and she gets 5 meals from it. It looks very meaty too.
DeleteI can't grow mint either. It tends to die after about a year.
Love the sound of your lamb shank soup. I'll be making some when we weather is cooler.
Wendy you have really had a good week! Well done.
ReplyDeleteI would love to know how you make the cordial. My next door neighbors tree is full of oranges dropping into my yard!
Take care,
Patti
Hi Patti. The 50/ 50 fruit cordial recipe is in the recipe section under drinks.
DeleteHello!
ReplyDeleteCan you detail how you treat the rosemary? Sounds good and I have an enormous bush. Thankyou!
I don't treat it. I just pick young tips / branches and dry them in paper bags. I then take all the dried leaves off and blitz in the coffee grinder.
DeleteYou do so well. Thank you for the tip about the rosemary. Our bush is huge and. might make some powder to try.
ReplyDeleteThis week I have tried to keep the food spend down. However, we did buy 9 litres of olive oil for half price. We also stocked up on some cleansing products. Some meat was purchased and my mother was horrified at the cost.
Olive oil at half price is a good deal. Maybe it was a good thing that your mother was shocked at the price of meat.
DeleteThank you for the tip about the rosemary. I'll have to try it!
ReplyDeleteI have a huge Rosemary bush so I am about to give it a big trim and dry the cuttings and make powder as well as some dried rosemary.
DeleteI am hoping to start another bush with a cutting...so fingers crossed!
Vicky
Good afternoon Wendy,the high humidity is certainly hard to handle even if we haven't had the super high temps! The first few months of the year seem to be always very expensive, so I just like to keep things under control by cooking from scratch,watching out for specials and keeping ahead of the birthdays. Love your do ahead casseroles and I've been doubling the biscuit mixture and freezing half which pleases the grandies. Think we may try for a 'no spend' July ! Have a great week, bit of cool change on the way😎
ReplyDeleteJenny, with just Darren and I at home, I still cook recipes as if the girls are still here and just freeze the leftovers. Such an easy way to do bulk cooking.
DeleteHi Wendy, please tell me more about how you freeze and use oranges. Do you have to treat them? I was able to get 3 large bags of oranges and would love to be able to freeze them. I think your idea for rosemary powder is genius! I don’t think I can grow rosemary here but will certainly try drying and powdering it when I get an opportunity. Thanks for all you do. You are an inspiration and I’m glad to see you posting again! I missed you!😊. XxSendee
ReplyDeleteHi Sendee. I just put them in a plastic bread bag and freeze as is. Once upon a time I would blitz them and freeze in containers but the containers would smell of oranges even after they were washed.
DeleteI make whole orange cake so the orange is put in the food processor, blitzed then the other ingredients added. If I want to make the cordial I zest the oranges and lemons, then juice them and freeze ready for Summer.
We bought 4 containers of pita meat (chicken and turkey)BOGOF, and then I had a voucher for an 80-cent discount as well.
ReplyDeleteWe made a strawberry cheese cake from a box dd2 received for St Nicolas. We had great fun making the cake (with discounted fresh cheese), but the cake didn't taste very nice. I will try baking it tonight, to see if the taste improves.
We had 2 family bicycle tours around our village and through a bit of woodland, thanks to the wonderful weather.
Free coffee after church, and interesting conversations with a few of my fellow church members.
2 loads of laundry line dried because of the wonderful weather.
DD1 went to a friend's niece's 3rd birthday party (who she babysits occasionally), and the gifts came from my stock in the attic. I put any gifts dds receive and don't care much for, in the attic to re-gift. It has helped me out frequently.
I've baked the cheesecake, the taste did not improve, so now it's in the compost bin.
DeleteI find your blog so inspiring!!!
ReplyDelete