A nice quite change in the weather with clouds and quite a bit cooler. We had a nice walk even if AH was there stomping as usual. We just mostly ignore him.
Tonight, I plan on BBQing chicken to use in some recipes this week. I probably will BBQ some tofu as well. I think I’ll make a macaroni salad or use some potatoes.
I’ve been using the Zojirushi Bread maker to make the bread dough this week. I never cook the bread in the bread maker, just the dough and then do the final rise in a pan and bake. It’s nice to have the sandwich bread as opposed to the Dutch oven boules. I’ve been adding sourdough to the sandwich bread so there is a nice tang to it.
I’ve been rotating all the pantry items and freezer and it’s looking pretty good. I’ve used up stuff from the freezer such as frozen peppers, chicken broth, chicken, tomato sauce from last summer, so i think I’ll be ready for ‘new’ veggies from the garden and a restock of things. The prepper pantry also has been gone through and I have a good idea of what worked for us and what really didn’t. There definitely was a learning curve with the pandemic. Somethings I bought were definitely things we wouldn’t ordinarily use so I doubt I’d buy them again. Powdered whole milk being one of those things. I suppose in some baking I could use it but it’s not quite my style. Fortunately, the milk I bought was under $15. ( can’t remember the exact amount but like 12.99?
I put some items in bins labeled” prepper prepper pantry”. So there’s some pastas, tunas, canned chicken( Costco), soups, and a few other things. This is like the real prepper pantry if there was an emergency. So that’s what works for me. Also, I’m scaling back non food items too. I like having an extra Costco pack of toilet paper but I don’t need 3 containers of laundry soap. I am glad to have extra disinfecting wipes though. I can always use those.
So most of you know from reading my blog we lost our beloved cats Ollie and Winnie almost 2 years ago. We’ve wanted kitties but with the pandemic we didn’t feel we could go get any at a shelter. so I’ve been asking Ollie and Winnie and Tucker to send us some kitties. Well, about a month ago a young tabby showed up by the barn. My son started taking care of it and it’s quite friendly overall. So we thought great a barn cat , which we do need, to keep rats/mice out of the barn. We figured we’d get her fixed as soon as we could get close to grab her but this is what we found in the barn 2 days ago
Clearly, we missed that opportunity. These are at least 5 week old kittens so something was up we didn’t know about. We are thrilled really. But we’re not sure how to get them in the house or on the sun porch. They are too young to be taken from mama kat so??? We are kind of thinking another week and then try and take them to the sunporch. We’re not sure but probably these will be inside/outside cats. Normally I wouldn’t do that as coyotes do get cats around here but we need some mousers so it’s a conflict. They are pretty darn cute. So now we have an instant cat family!!!!
Tomorrow I go for labs so we’ll see how the lower Dex affected anything if at all.
Tahoe Girl 
Will mama cat let you get close enough to start handling the kittens? The next few weeks are critical for socialization.
You should try to get mama cat spayed ASAP too or you may have a kitty explosion. They sure are cute. If you check with some cat rescues in your area they may be able to point you to low cost spay/neuter resources.
Yes, mama kat must have been someone’s cat even though she came out of the blue. The kittens are getting used to us. I’m not sure what we will do yet, keep them or try and have them adopted.
You are so right – the pandemic pantry was a learning experience. I am using my powdered milk in recipes. The box I purchased has packets that make a quart at a time. I use it in soups and such. Things I should have known – we live in a rural area and the cows are making milk no mater what. There is a large dairy in a nearby town and they had contracts with schools for milk for lunches. They quickly offered wonderful online ordering with curbside pickup and, since they make ice cream too, you could add ice cream cones, sundaes and milk shakes to your dairy orders.
I purchased way too much pasta and ingredients for chili. I am not sure if I thought we would eat spaghetti and chili several times a week or what. But we need to use up a lot of tomato products before they expire.
I am rotating the canned goods, Again I purchased things we don’t normally eat because I was using online shopping lists and recommendations (as well as what was available). Lessons for next time (hopefully there is not a next time)
We need more pickles and mustard, less flour. I think have enough flour to bake for two years. Again – Things I should have known. We have a large commercial bakery in our town that makes buns and muffins for McDonalds. Employees are allowed to purchase over runs and I have a neighbor who is employed there. And I guess we don’t eat anywhere near the amount of bread that I thought we did. I am not so sure that I didn’t get the quantities from a Morman site that assumed we had a large family of children.
You’re so right. Condiments definitely were used up. It is interesting to go back and see what I bought.
good luck with the labs
I like your notion of pantry rotation – good idea
I learned a great deal with the pandemic about what to use and really about what we will eat.