There is so much happening in our garden during Summer. It certainly keeps us busy and we love being outside working with God's creation. We feel so blessed to have the space to grow some of our own fruit and veg. It certainly helps with our food budget.
Here's what else we've been up to this week -
* Turned out hot water temperature down by 5 degrees. Hopefully this will save a little money. It is recommended that hot water should be kept at 60 degrees or higher to prevent bacteria growth. Ours was sitting on 65 degrees. Now it's at 60.
* Sold 2 bottles of Miracle Spray to a friend.
* Bought a power board for our tv and dvd player in the lounge room. This power board has an on / off switch that I can easily access. Now the two standby lights can be switched off when not in use. The old way would have seen me climbing into the tv unit cupboard to access the power point on the back wall ( not an easy task ).
* I was recently given some TVP ( textured vegetable protein ) to try. It's added to meat to make it stretch further. I've successfully added it to beef mince to make lasagne, spag bol and chop suey without really noticing a difference. This has given me extra serves of the meals to freeze.
* Made a big batch of pita chips from pita bread. We use these as a cheaper version of dry biscuits.
* Defrosted our small freezer which helps it run more efficiently. This gave me a chance to take note of what meals we had in there and quantities.
* Cooked up lots of tomatoes my Dad gave me. From these tomatoes I was able to make a large lasagne that serves 16 people .
* Made an orange cake from a frozen orange ( 18 months old ). I gave one little cake to my Mum and Dad, two went into the freezer for future eating and we ate one fresh. With just the two of us, we don't eat as much baking as we once did. Freezing cakes eliminates waste.
* I found two silverbeet plants growing in the grass under a raspberry cane. I transplanted them into a veggie garden bed and watered them like crazy until they took off. It will only be a few weeks before we can start picking leaves.
* Froze lots of leftovers from some of our dinners. I still cook casseroles, stews, spag bol, chop suey and lasagne in quantities like when our girls were still home. Everything is frozen and written into the menu plan for when I need a night off from cooking.
* Made a big jar of seasoned bread crumbs from leftover bread crusts.
* Made icing sugar and castor sugar form normal white sugar. I did this by using our goffee / spice grinder.
* Gratefully received half a cabbage from a friend.
* Sold lots of muffins and a couple of jars of jam to a cleaning client.
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| A baking order for a friend |
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| From the garden |
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| A cucumber plant just popped up |
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| Cooking tomatoes from Dad |
Good afternoon Wendy, busy week at your house, I'll be making bread and butter cucumbers from gifted cucumbers and our tall thin ballerina apple trees have had a lovely crop so I will start processing some to freeze and maybe an apple cake or two! Is it much cheaper to make your own castor and icing sugar? Take care in our latest lock-in, hope it doesn't cause too many hardships over your way🙃
ReplyDeleteI haven't done the sums but I do know white sugar is cheaper than the other two. Time I have, money I don't so I don't mind making them.
DeleteHow do you cook up your tomatoes? I have been given a big bag of cherry tomatoes and won't be able to eat them all. I want to make tomato sauce and freeze it so I can use it later on with spaghetti
ReplyDeleteJ
We are in the midst of winter here... it was -14 this morning. Just reading about your garden warmed me up and got me to thinking about planting my garden in a few more months.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing Wendy. Your garden is very impressive. I'll be making mini quiches today for my teenage son to snack on. He is always hungry and I think the protein will help keep him full. Hopefully!!
ReplyDeleteHave a great week.
Rachel :)
We've spent the whole weekend sorting out the chicken coop and ensuring we are top of mites etc. This is it's monthly big clean. We have inherited a big black hen so they rest of the flock are getting used to that. So many projects on the boil too.
ReplyDeleteLove the photo of your peony (? rose? pink flower.) We are in the thick of winter here in the middle of the USA. Our current temp is -6F with a windchill of -29F. Dangerously cold out there. Farmer will chore again in a bit, giving the cattle & cats plenty of feed. The hardest part has been keeping the waterers open. Thankfully it's suppose to get warmer by mid-week and above freezing by the weekend.
ReplyDeleteI've been baking so the oven can help heat the house. I also make chicken bone broth to keep using up the chicken carcasses in the freezer. Mostly we have been staying warm and snug inside. Waiting patiently (or not so patiently) for Spring.