Category Archives: meal planning

Wednesday stuff

Posted in books, bread, California, cooking, meal planning, Uncategorized, Walking by

The plumber called back and was going to come the next day but in the meanwhile B figured out that by taking off the outside paneling he could do it himself as the pipes are right there. I was unhappy about this as I thought the plumber was a plumber for a reason, but I just acquiesced. Humm. I guess we’ll see.

I had a great swim yesterday and the pool was quite nice. I only had to share the lane for the last 10 minutes of my swim.

Today is just a do stuff around the house day and then go to town to drop off the Fiesta ware at the hospice thrift store. they only take donations on Wednesday so I’ve missed quite a few. I made a loaf of sourdough rye(24-hour slow rise in the fridge, I made homemade yogurt using a new-to-me method, and I vacuumed, and washed the kitchen floor. I also need to drop off an Amazon return for my daughter and go to the bank.

Tonight for dinner I have some ground precooked turkey so I thought I make a turkey chili mac. I have all the ingredients so that’s what’s for dinner.

I ordered some peaches from a farm in the valley. I bought two boxes so that should be enough for jam and a couple of pies. It wasn’t cheap but I hope they are delicious.

Tomorrow I plan to go to the gym and drop books at the library.

Another view of the ocean at New Brighton. The stuff you see at the top of the picture is what is left of the concrete ship and pier that used to be out there before the huge storms. To the left of that is where Seacliff was and that is all closed too.

Frugal Friday

Posted in California, camping, cooking, meal planning, Uncategorized by

Today we have to go pick up the truck because we leave Sunday for Capitola. The AC isn’t fixed but we will just have to deal with it. It’ll probably be the following Monday after we’re back that we’ll bring it back to the dealer. After the warranty is done (in August) we’ll just take somewhere local as we’ll be paying out of pocket on any repairs.

After that, I’ll go over to the Rec center as that’s just across the freeway, and do a workout. I have books at the library to pick up so I have to wait till 10 am to get them. I put about 12 books on hold. Mostly Louise Penny and Margolin. There may have another random book as well.

Then it’s back home. Most of my weekly chores are done and I need to just get a few things organized in Rubi for camping. New Brighton has Gayles Bakery and a Nob Hill plus Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, etc, so we can go get stuff once we’re there. But I like to have some basics like cream for our coffee and bread to make sandwiches when we get there Sunday afternoon.

B is going to head up to Home Depot to get some posts for more fencing behind the barn. He also needs to go the bank to get a statement that LLS needs that shows the insurance paid. I’m still waiting for funding to open up. It’s been 2 months and no Myeloma funding yet. Last time it was right about the 2 month mark when it reopened. But I’ll need these statements when it does. It’s a big hit when we’re not getting that reimbursed. So hopefully soon. I’m sure plenty of others are waiting too.

Spinach quiche and potatoes from this week’s menu.

Simple Sunday

Posted in Blood test, California, meal planning, swimming, Walking by

Another rainy Sunday. We need all the rain/snow we can get but it does get old after a while. We were able to squeeze in a walk before it start really coming down. After that, I headed into the Auburn gym just to get some weights done. It was busy but I did my round and then left.

Tomorrow I have my monthly labs so I’ll see how much of an increase there is. It’s hard for me to tell if anything is different. The only thing is being slightly more tired. Well, I’ll know by Thursday or Friday.

Tonight we’re having one of the nut loaves I made with leftover brown rice. I have some small potatoes to use up so I’ll either bake them or mash them. Not sure which. Probably whatever is easier. I haven’t put together a menu for the week so I’ll look at what I have in the freezer and pantry. I will go to Winco whenever I swim again ( it’s just across the street from the pool). I thought Tuesday but now the weather is still saying winter storm warning. So I’ll just have to be flexible.{ sigh……}.

Nothing much on the calendar for this week. I have a thrift store load to drop off but can’t do that if it’s raining. Hopefully, we’ll get a few sunny days to do some outside things. 🙂

The Flylady zones are the Living room and the entry ways. It’s split because of the March starting on Wednesday.

another snow picture

That’s all the bamboo leaning over.

Here are a few of my new obsessions with Arhoj pottery

Frugal Friday

Posted in budgeting, budgets, home stuff, meal planning, travel, Uncategorized by

Going over to Napa and spending relatively freely wasn’t frugal by any means. But we ticked off the boxes of what we wanted to do and it was fun for us. Since we generally do not go out to eat or buy expensive wines( ok, expensive to us is like $15 a bottle) it was an adventure.

It’s SNOWING right now. We decided to walk anyway and it was magical. Big fluffy snowflakes, the park all white, the white crane against the snow. Magical. Of course, that means no swim or gym day. But that’s ok, it is what it is. I’ll try for tomorrow. If it’s just raining, I’ll go. Right now I-80 is closed in both directions so if it opens up the freeway will probably be busy.

That’s the grey heron. The white one flew off across the pond.

One good thing is won’t have to go for any groceries except half and half. Both our containers of cream went off before their buy date. Weird. Plus I bought them both down at our Holiday Market. I have some milk so that’ll work for now. I’ll probably plan a Winco trip or Trader Joe’s for next week after a swim morning.

I started a big batch of pizza dough and will use one ball tonight and freeze the rest. I think I need to make some sauce though.

I’ve got March’s budget done. Everything looks about the same. I might pay the property tax just to get it done since I have the money in our annual bills account.

The (hoarder ) neighbor’s house has had some activity with a junk removal truck there at least 2x’s that we saw. I really do wonder what happened. I know she was quite unwell physically but to live in that garbage that we saw all over the floors is pretty awful. Would it be an eviction if the house was condemned? It’s sad really. I think that her home health aide, that was there at least 3x a week if not every day, would have called a family member or something so she could have gotten the help she needed. Years ago when she was an oxycodone addict we tried to help and offered to clean out some things and she refused. That was over 10 years ago or so.

Well, it’s still snowing. I swished the bathroom, started the sheets in the washer, did the pizza dough and am having the Eufy (the robotic vacuum) an inexpensive version of the Roomba vacuum the floors. I saw this on the Non Consumer’s advocate’s blog. And if she bought it she must have thought it a good thing as she NEVER buys anything if she doesn’t have to. I will say it does do a darn good job. It runs about $140. I think she got a sale and bought it for $99.

Friday Things

Posted in books, California, camping, meal planning, Pantry, reading, travel, Uncategorized by

Well, our trip to Napa has been on /off again till this morning when we checked the weather again and it looks ok. My concern was for the rain/snow here. But now it seems like that will hold off till Thursday. I guess we’ll see what it is tomorrow because you need 48 hrs cancellation. So I think that will be ok. It’s saying rain here Tuesday but not in Napa.

The gym was good although it seemed there were some new people I hadn’t seen before. I chatted with one of the guys from the pool and it seems he goes to the pool almost every day. The traffic wasn’t too bad for a Friday.

I just finished rereading for the hundredth( okay maybe 10th time) time Mary Stewart’s “The Crystal Cave’. I happened to see this in the Free Little Library at the park. Those books were a huge influence on me. I loved all things Arthurian especially Merlin. I guess I always have had my head in the clouds. As matter of fact, it was around the time when I was pregnant with Sachi that we called the baby “Em” which was short for Emryus, Merlin’s name was g Ambrosius. Fun fact. I’m going to hit the bookstore and see if I can get the second in the trilogy, ‘The Hollow Hills”.

I’m not planning on a pizza tonight so I’ll need to figure something out. ???? The whole pantry challenge has been great to do and we really used up stuff. There are still a few more random things and I still have lots of shelf-stable soups and meals. I have a pretty good idea of what I want to do this summer /fall for food storage. Some things worked great and others I won’t do again. It’s a bit of trial and error really.

I did come to the conclusion to NOT get a meat/bread slicer or electric knife. I guess it really came down to not wanting another appliance. So it took a while to process but I’m there now.

Simple Sunday

Posted in bread, budgets, California, camping, Flylady, meal planning, Pantry, travel, Uncategorized by

Another rainy Sunday.

I went to the gym in Auburn(Anytime Fitness) and did the treadmill and weights. Then I went to Safeway for some groceries to tide us over till we do Costco.

So far the menu planning for the pantry this week is:

Cheese/chile tamales from the freezer( used up the last 4) with refried beans and salad

Beer Brauts from the freezer( the last pack) with peppers, sauerkraut, canned baked beans( my shelf stable beans I canned, and Boca burger for B.

Chickpea curry over brown rice with broccoli( using up broccoli)

Tofu burgers

Chicken noodle soup/ lentil veggie soup

I’ll see what else is in the freezer and add a few more meals. I probably can’t get thru all February but I know I can do another week at least.

I’m back making some sourdough and have done a few loaves already. I plan to freeze 1/2 of each loaf so we have bread ready for toasting or grilled cheese.

I’ll see what else is in the freezer and add a few more meals. I probably can’t get thru all of February but I know I can do another week at least.

I’m back making some sourdough and have done a few loaves already. I plan to freeze 1/2 of each loaf so we have bread ready for toasting or grilled cheese.

There’s nothing on the agenda this week so It’ll just be normal stuff. B did book us a reservation at Napa RV in a few weeks. There are full hook ups which is always a treat and that’ll give us a chance to take Rubi out for the first time this season. It’s only 2 nights but it’s also only an hour and a half away. Maybe with towing. We really enjoyed our stay there last time and knew we wanted to go back. Unless there’s a really terrible storm we’ll go even with a little rain.

The Flylady zone is the kitchen if you want to do Flylady. Just set a timer for 15 minutes and declutter, wipe and clear counters, be sure there are no dishes in the sink or drainer, tidy shelves too. Just do what you can in 15 minutes and then do it again tomorrow. I have a laminated sheet that has my chores for the kitchen and I off each one when I’m done.

Simple Sunday

Posted in California, cooking, Flylady, meal planning, Uncategorized by

Another rainy Sunday but that’s ok, we really need all the rain and snow we can get. We’ve received almost 3″ of rain so that’s great. Tomorrow looks sunny and I think I’ll plan on going to the rec center and then the library. I’m reading the new Ann Cleaves, Vera book. She’s a good writer and Vera is a very interesting character and in the books, she is a much more complicated character.

This week Flylady zone is the bathroom and I did that yesterday as there was nothing else to do. I do a swish and swipe daily in the bathroom.

I might pop into town to get those GCs so it’s done but I’ll have to see how the rain is later. Christmas is 2 weeks away so there’s still time although I’d like to give the one GC to the garbage guy this week. Hanukkah is next Sunday so I might do the $10 GCs then to like Starbucks and In n Out Burger. I also wanted to get a couple of small boxes of chocolates to give to.

Menus for the week include:

baked chicken and potatoes of some sort with salad

tofu curry with rice

breakfast for dinner, probably pancakes and scrambled eggs

mushroom quiche with salad

soup of some sort maybe lentil

Mexican themed something maybe enchiladas and I did buy the Costo cheese and chile tamales which are delicious.

Well, that’s it for a rainy day.

Simple Sunday

Posted in California, cooking, Flylady, home stuff, meal planning, Political things, Uncategorized, Walking by

Another beautiful walk this morning although chilly at 37 degrees. No one at the park but us. It’s always a thrill ( okay that may be an exaggeration)to get there and walk by ourselves. The trees are lovely fall colors and the geese have been around too.

The pie came out really terrific. I might tweak the recipe some and use heavy cream instead of evaporated milk but overall it was delicious. It was soft but after refrigerating it firmed up nicely. I think I will make another next week or maybe pumpkin cheesecake.

This week we are in the Bathroom zone and 1 other room so I’ll probably tidy my office area.

We had one of our dead snags fall over the neighbor’s fence down in the woods so B has been chainsawing that up. We have 2 other dead snags that we’ll need someone to drop. We hadn’t planned on that as they are down on the very lower edge of the property but the neighbor indicated he’d like them down. As long as it is very little $, I’ll do it. If it’s more than $100 no, they can just fall. These trees have been dead for about 7 years from bark beetle so it’s natural that they would eventually fall. Our other 2 neighbors have lost about 12 large trees and supposedly PGE will take them but who knows when? PGE is so backed up with keeping lines clear of trees that it could be a while. These trees are not near any lines so I’m surprised PGE said they’d do it.

I’m not planning any extra cooking today. I’ve pulled a bunch of things from the freezer for the week. Some chicken, frozen lentil soup, spaghetti sauce, and frozen eggs. So I’ll plan some dinners from that.

Tomorrow I plan to go to the gym and Tuesday I have a dental appt. That’s it for this week with probably a swim day Thursday.

Here’s Friday’s pizza. I’m using Tony Gemignani 00 flour and it’s a game-changer for pizza dough. Plus I’m making 1 large batch and dividing it into 4 balls and then freezing it. It’s working great.

Good news for Democrats holding the Senate. At least something positive is happening.

Simple Sunday

Posted in cooking, Flylady, meal planning, simple foods, Uncategorized by

Our fall weather continues to be beautiful but changes are coming this week with rain Tuesday and Wednesday. Hurray for some rain! I guess we’re ready. We still need more firewood but have enough for the immediate future.

Yesterday, I made the pressure-canned enchilada sauce.

I ended up with 6 pints so I’m happy about that. I kept one out to use this week in a recipe and test it out. Last night we had one of the white bean ragouts I canned it was delicious. Overall, I am very pleased with trying pressure canning. This morning I prepped some onions, celery, and B peeled carrots and potatoes for a beef stew. I had two packages from Costco in the freezer that needed to get used up. So I got everything into my new All Clad stock pot and heated up. I had to wait to actually can it because I wanted to check out going to the gym on Sunday. So that’s what I’m doing now. The canning time is 90 minutes and you really don’t want to walk away from the canner( at least too far).

There wasn’t a lot of traffic on I 80 and the gym was basically deserted until 10:00am when I was leaving. So I might consider this more often. I’m all about going to the gym( or anywhere) when there are no people around. Introvert here! 🙂

We’re planning a Costco trip this week to get a bunch of things but mostly coffee. I think it’ll end up on the more expensive side as we need batteries, coffee, organic chicken, dairy, etc. Just the basics but everything is so expensive now. 😦 Increasing our food budget to $800 though has made a difference and I had both kids add some extra on their ‘rent’ to cover food costs( and everything else).

This week I have my annual mammogram and that’s it. Just my regular routines.

This week Flylady is in the Living room and then the entryways since it’s the beginning of the month. I need to tidy the patio anyway because there’s left over garden stuff all around. It’s time to get it all put away. I have some garlic to plant too. I read up on it and so you use your biggest bulbs that you had harvested and that’s what you plant. The ones I picked are so nice I hate to use them but I want garlic next year.

On a political rant, I read in the WP that Musk was contributing to the right -wing conspiracists that Pelosi’s husbands attack was all staged. I mean how sick is that. They even went so far to say he was drunk and this was his male prostitute. Such evil thinking. And to think now Musk owns and controls Twitter is down right scary. I have never used Twitter although I think I set up an account years ago. I probably should see about completely deleting that. It really makes me wonder where it will go or end. Misinformation is rampant about everything. Voting fraud, this attack on Pelosi, everything seems so out of control. Well, I voted and I’m very glad I live in California even if I do live in a very red county.

Simple Sunday on a Monday

Posted in Blood test, California, camping, covid-19, Lake tahoe, meal planning, swimming, travel by

We left Tahoe in the smoke and came home to smoke. Ugh….One day the AQI was 500, which is pretty bad. Today is also not looking good. Our weather is cooler so hopefully, that will help the firefighters.

My daughter went and picked up my VW on Friday and didn’t notice the fan was on full blast, and when I went to turn it down it wasn’t working. I tried a few times and then just decided I would need to confront the garage because it was working fine when I brought it in. So I went in this morning, a little defensive, and said this was working when I left my VW here and now it’s not. She said, we didn’t work on that and I said that may be but my fan control is not working now and it was when I brought it in. I said I would like it fixed. I haven’t heard back from them; hopefully, it is a minor thing. I better not get charged. And there was a diagnostic charge I said don’t bother with and they have it on there so another confrontation, which I do not do well.

I canned BBQ sauce yesterday with the last of the tomatoes. It’s way early for them to be done but this summer has been so weird that it’s just one more thing. It’s thinner than I wanted so I wrote on the lid to add ketchup to thicken it.

Yesterday was my sister, Heidi’s birthday. She would have turned 74. It is so strange how she just had a flare up of the interstitial lung disease and died. She had been coping with it for a number of years with no flare ups. Well, I guess when it’s time, it’s time. ( that’s just me rationalizing).

Tomorrow I have my labs and so I should have my kappa light chain numbers by Friday. I see my doctor next week. Then I scheduled my omicron booster for Friday. I didn’t have any reaction last time so fingers crossed this time. But each time is probably different so who knows.

We’re still on the fence about going to Southern Ca next month. I guess we’ll just keep sifting through our feelings and fiances about it.

My son is off on a cool adventure staying in a fire lookout up in the McCloud district( way Northern Ca). This can be booked like a camping spot and is fairly hard to get a reservation. Back in the 70’s we often went to the Duncan Peak fire lookout especially since our friend Shelley was the lookout person. I haven’t been in years and years and my son said all that’s left is the foundation as all lookouts are done with remote viewing.

I just looked outside and everything is a weird yellow color from the fire. I’m sure the air quality is awful. I was going to swim today but the pool is closed also due to the AQI.

I still need to plan some meals this week and write a grocery list. I need salad stuff so maybe I’ll do Winco for organic spring mixes. I did see a recipe on a youtube channel for a green soup. Lots of veggies and spinach and then blended. Green soup is one of my favorites and this one also had cauliflower and broccoli.