Category Archives: simple foods

Monday Rain,again:((

Posted in California, cooking, simple foods by

Menu monday

Last night we had tilapia and a fall-type salad with brown rice, butternut squash, spinach, pumpkin seeds, and pomegranate seeds. Quite tasty.

Tonight, I’m going to heat up the French Onion soup( Costco) in the oven and serve with some sourdough bread.

Tuesday- Amy’s enchiladas( freezer to use up and a jar of my pressure-canned beans.

Wednesday- I have spinach that needs to be used so I’ll do a quiche with feta and some mushrooms.

Thursday- This is my daughters late night so usually I do something easy like breakfast for dinner or a soup.

Friday- maybe a pizza. The Costco pizza was ok, nothing to write home about, and I have 2 more of them to use. So far, the best frozen pizza we’ve had is called Home Run. I should get back into making my own pizza, but I haven’t really felt motivated or maybe just lazy.

Saturday- I have some breaded chicken for burgers on a roll with some fries.

I usually just have a menu as more of a guideline rather than anything absolute.

It’s raining again today. So much rain!!! I’ve decided to hunker down and stay home. I did go to the gym yesterday, but the rain was torrential, and I-80 was closed in numerous places due to stupid people going too fast.

I’ve been watching the Iron Man movies; they’re kind of fun.

I have the leftover brown rice to make the nut loaf today, and then I’ll freeze it. I think I’ll put them in the Souper Cubes so they’re portioned in 2-cup servings.

Menu Monday

Posted in budgets, California, cooking, meal planning, simple foods, Uncategorized by

We had a fun time down at my son’s place yesterday.. We went to the farmers’ market and I loved it. Not too big, and not too small. I bought all the fresh veggies I need for the week, plus some yummy hummus dips.

Tonight: tilapia and farmers market broccoli some naam bread with hummus.

Tuesday: tacos of some sort. I have some WW tortillas, so I could do beans or grill some chicken.

Wednesday: quiche I have in the freezer with more broccoli on the side.

Thursday: This is my Velcade day, so something easy, baked potatoes from the freezer and leftover grilled chicken.

Friday: pizza from the freezer.

Saturday: TBD.

I don’t always follow these days exactly. It gets adjusted based on what we feel like eating/cooking.

I cooked the last pork roast I had from the freezer in the crockpot yesterday while we were gone. It was ok. My daughter’s not crazy about pulled pork, so I probably won’t do that again and just buy the packaged one from Costco.

I’m still learning about what we’re actually eating and what is getting wasted. It’s been a learning curve with grocery shopping and not overbuying. Freezer stuff I don’t mind, as that can be used as needed. I find it very interesting that since Barclay has died, we eat differently. Not sure why that is. Maybe it’s a lack of interest in cooking stuff, or ?? Really, I don’t know. Plus, my daughter is doing some of the cooking, and she likes low-carb, anti-inflammatory foods. Well, interesting to say the least.

Simple Sunday

Posted in California, cancer, cooking, decluttering, home stuff, Pantry, simple foods, Uncategorized by

I didn’t sleep well last night. I’m not sure if it was the heat or what. So, I decided not to walk at 6am and will go to the gym to use the treadmill. Some days are just like that. Today is the last really hot day. Then it looks pretty nice after Tuesday.

Things are quiet around here, and I’m glad. After all the chainsawing last week and giant machinery, it’s welcome. This coming week looks OK. I’ll go pick up the sleep test in Roseville. I’ll need to Google it as I’m not sure where the location is. Then I return it a few days later. It would all be a lot easier if they just looked at my Apple Watch data, which says sleep apnea. sigh:( I’ll proceed with what the Dr. says, but I don’t even see him again till late October. The world of doctors and medical appointments really does suck.

I’ve done a little more decluttering, mostly paper stuff, but some odds and ends too. I have quite a few books to donate to either the library friends or the pet bookstore, whichever comes first.

Last night I cooked a crockpot meal, and it was good. I had 2 bags of cooked chicken, although it wasn’t a lot in each bag, and I had a bag of chopped peppers from who knows when. So I chopped up an onion, added a can of cream of mushroom soup that I had in the pantry and wanted to use, and a random pouch of onion soup. I added some taqereia sauce to add a little spice. I just cooked on low for a few hours because the chicken was already cooked. Then I boiled some egg noodles and added them. I liked it. It’s probably not my daughter’s favorite, but I use up a bunch of random things. So win-win.

This is my son’s chair he had in the barn, so I’m using that a my place to sit in B’s office. It’s very comfortable, although you wouldn’t guess that. I’m debating moving my Heywood desk in there. I guess I could try it, and if I don’t like it, move it back out. The Heywood is very heavy, though.

Am I a minimalist??

Posted in books, California, Death, decluttering, home stuff, simple foods, simplicity, Uncategorized by

After reading the latest book,

I’m pretty sure that’s a spoof on her ‘author’ moniker.??

I wondered what I still had that was not really worth keeping. Or was it now something no longer needed? I’ve gone through a lot of shelves, drawers, closet ( we only have one closet) and took a hard look at things. Some things are left to deal with later, but a great deal was eliminated.

The author asks, “How do you want your home to ‘feel?’ “and then this is your why. I really want things to be simplified. It’s that simple. I want things to be uncomplicated and simple. Simple meals, simple house chores, simple maintaining the house, etc.

One of her tidbits was to go around your house and identify what irritates you or bugs you, and toss or throw them in the goodwill box. I like that idea.

This is part of the latest pile. 😦

Of course, having my husband just die is a motivator. Some of the things to let go of are those that I have no use for. Half-used notepads, a zillion pens, old T-shirts. ( I have saved some of his T-shirts like Grateful Dead, for now. I don’t know how I’ll feel in 6 months. Here I thought we had really prepared for his passing by getting rid of things, but honestly, it’s a shock what’s there. We have been on our minimalism journey for over 15 years, and here I am scratching my head going”why”?

As I’ve always contended, life is about change and trying to be in the season of your life as it is. I’ve never been here before, so I have to make the changes.

I’m not planning on canning in the near future, for example. So I don’t need a bizillion canning jars. I’ve given away on our Pay it forward group over 3 dozen jars. Now, of course, I’m holding back getting rid of my water canner and my All-American. Why? I don’t know, except I like canning, and I still might in the future. That is too early to tell, because this year, with Barclay dying, we didn’t have any garden. So time will tell on this one.

Even the yard stuff has been a lot. My son has done 3 trips to the dump already. And we still have at least 2 more that are mostly old wood. All this should have been done long before now. We’ve lived here 30 years, and well, stuff does accumulate, especially old wood from projects, scrap metal, old coolers, etc. I’m seriously thinking of hiring someone who does junk to get rid of it.

I suppose all things change as our attitude, circumstances, and perspective change. I’m glad mine is continuing to evolve and change with my current circumstances. I just wish Barclay were here to do this with me. 😦

Saturday Stuff

Posted in bread, California, cooking, home stuff, Pantry, simple foods, Uncategorized by

No tree guys yesterday. I guess they got busy somewhere else. They might show up today though as they do work Saturdays.

It’s another sunny day but cold. The rain starts to come back in next week. I like the sun better but rain is always good. The yard needs some attention so with the sun my daughter can do some clean up. She actually does all the yard work except the little I do. When B is feeling good he does a lot too.

I plan on doing a pantry challenge till the end of the month. I have a list of quite a few things to use/make. I have quite a few freezer things that need to be used.

So far I have:

1.use the tortillas in the fridge( maybe quesadillas)

2.the 2 frozen pizzas

3. black bean burgers, I think there’s like 3 left

4.beef burger, this is a question mark. they’ve been in there a while and I’m not sure if they will taste ok. I think I’ll try one for lunch this week and see.

5.chicken broth in the freezer

6. vegetable won tons in the freezer

7. ravioli and Rao’s sauce for a ravioli bake with the mozzarella in the fridge

8. check if I have frozen beans

9. use the sauerkraut in the fridge with beef hot dogs( I think I have a few Kirkland ones in the freezer.) otherwise I’ll do baked tofu wth cheese.

10. english muffins in the freezer ( maybe a welsh rarebit night)

11. the double stuffed baked potatoes( 4 left)

12. fish from Alaskian Fish, there’s a pice of halibut,rockfish and 2 pieces of salmon

That’s all that comes to mind for now.

This morning I’m planning on making a sourdough ( get it started) and then wash the mirrors, dust, and mop.

It’s nice to have a relaxed morning at home.:)

Thankful Thursday

Posted in California, cancer, cooking, Gratitude, peritoneal mesothelomia, simple foods, swimming, travel by

It’s been a week since the surgery and B is doing fantastic. He’s doing mostly his normal chores just being more careful. So I’m so thankful he has a great response.

I’m thankful the drive to Palo Alto and back were uneventful (except for a few assholes) but mostly it went smoothly.

I’m very grateful for the Sheraton giving us a discount that was probably half of what the room rate was. When we’re down there next, if it’s a week that’ll add up but we don’t really have an alternative. An Airbnb would probably cost more.

I’m thankful my dentist appt went well too and is over.:) I do have a cleaning coming up so there’s that. 😦

As always I’m grateful to be able to swim and go for walks. I’d like to ramp it up some but honestly, it feels like this is the best I can do at this time. So I’ll take what I can do and not worry about adding to it.

I made the garlic confit yesterday but cooked the garlic too long and some burned so I just drained the olive oil into a jar to use and threw out the garlic cloves. It tasted good. ( the olive oil).

This is the homemade butter I made using heavy cream I had frozen. I made it in the Kitchen aid.

Frugal Friday

Posted in books, bread, budgeting, budgets, California, decluttering, freezer cooking, frugalism, simple foods, velcade by

The week was overall frugal. I didn’t need gas yet in Santa Fe. I’ll fill up at Costco next week.

I went to the gym and library before my Velcade shot. Gettting books at the library always saves me from buying some random cookbook( a weakness(. I looked at two already, and there’s nothing I’d cook from them. They’re pretty books, but not how I cook. For instance, last night, we shared a steamed artichoke, and I made an us omelet to share with sprouts, cheese, salsa, and sour cream. We eat fairly simply.

I went to Costco after swimming on Wednesday and spent $250 or so. Some of that was snack/foodstuff for my daughter to take to work. She doesn’t get a full lunch break because of her hours, so I bought some beef sticks, egg bites (Kirkland brand), and something else I can’t remember. The two kinds of beef sticks were expensive, grass feed. I’ve actually never had one, so I can’t tell you if they’re any good, but as a high-protein snack, I could see it working. Organic eggs were 7.99 for 2 dozen.

Today is a home day because of Dex, but I feel pretty good this morning. I plan on vacuuming, dusting some, and doing a bit of decluttering odds and ends. I also have a pack of Kirkland I need to use, so I’m thinking of some meatballs I can freeze. We( my daughter and I have decided to mostly cut beef out of our diets. We don’t eat it often, so it shouldn’t be hard at all. But I have this to use and one other in the freezer, and I don’t want to waste it. If we go out together, we definitely would think about an In an-Out burger, but that’s pretty rare for us to do.

The rain is supposed to come by noon today, and it looks nonstop for days. I think I’ll plan on some soup dinners with homemade sourdough.

Simple Sunday

Posted in budgeting, California, cooking, home stuff, meal planning, seasonal things, simple foods by

A nice walk this morning. 6:20 till almost 7 right now is a good time. We still need our headlamps when we start but by the time we’re finishing it’s getting light.

I went to the auburn gym and then over to Bel Air. I needed cardamom for the khruchiki to drop one of my knives off to get sharpened. They are also called Fattigmands Bakkelser I think in Sweden. My mother made the these at Christmas every year. I never knew their name because we called them ‘krusts’. I think because in Polish it’s pronounced Chrusciki. Martha Stewart’s mother had a recipe but it’s a little different than the Betty crocker cookbook’s one. Anyway they are quite rich but not that sweet except for sprinkling powdered sugar on top.

We watched Elf last night and that was fun. Then we watched an episode of ‘Astrid’ . If you have PBS masterpiece theater, I believe that’s where it is. It is superb. We linked it with our Amazon Prime acct.

I have my schedule for Christmas cooking laid out. Tomorrow, I’ll make the ‘krust’ dough and keep it in the fridge till Tuesday. I’ll make the cheese lasagna Tuesday as well. I have garlic bread and I’ll put together and antipasto plate. whatever I need, I’ll go down to Holiday and pick up. I’m also planning on cooking some cornish hens that Costco had. They only have them at Christmas time. So the meat eaters will have something besides cheese lasagna.

Other than that it should be a mellow week. B contacted Stanford but everyone is out on vacation till the first week of january. So no appts for a while which is a relief actually.

Menu Monday

Posted in California, cooking, meal planning, simple foods by

I need to look and see what needs to be used up in both the fridge and the freezer.

Sunday- shrimp scampi with broccoli. I still have some broccoli to use so I’ll plan that

Monday- Breakfast for dinner. I have hash browns to use and lots of eggs. I also need to use up the veggie sausage.

Tuesday—I have some whole wheat tortillas to use, so I’ll make some bean burritos. I have frozen beans, or I can use my canned ones. I have lettuce but no avocado, but plenty of cheese and salsa.

Wednesday- I have some burgers in the freezer that need to be used. They’re from the summer so I don’t know if they are still ok or have freezer burn. But I’ll check it out and if they are ok do a burger night and fries. I have a Boca burger left over in the freezer too.

Thursday- This might be mystery night but I’m guessing soup. Either lentil or white bean. I try and do soup once a week.

Friday- I’ll make a pizza because I have a log of fresh mozzarella to use up. I may stop at the store for a few toppings like mushrooms, pepperoni, and peppers but I’ll wait and see.

Saturday- unknown !

Simple Sunday

Posted in California, cancer, cooking, Flylady, husband, simple foods by

HAPPY FALL EQUINOX

Happy Birthday to B!!!! 74 years young today!!

Happy birthday to Bilbo and Frodo too!!

My son came over yesterday and we had a birthday dinner of tofu burgers and fries. Quite yummy. Then we watched Shrek 2. That’s my favorite with Puss in Boots.

Then this morning he made a huge brunch, also delicious.

I headed to the gym for a quick workout. I plan on making some brown rice for dinner and to use tomorrow too. I think I’ll also do some salmon. Then I have some salad stuff to use up.

Tomorrow I plan on going to the Roseville gym but I might wait till Tuesday. It depends on how much I get done today.

I think the Flylady zone is the bedroom so I usually do that and the Living zone together. Both don’t really require a lot: just dusting, watering plants, mirrors, and vacuuming. Plus just a general tidy up and putting things away that need to go elsewhere.