Tag Archives: food

Simple Sunday

Posted in budgets, California, cooking, decluttering, Flylady, Pantry, Uncategorized by

Wow, lots of rain yesterday. This morning is still a little drizzly. Sadly, there is no Sunday walk but once I see the PT I’ll ask if I can even do a little. I don’t see them till near the end of the month unless there’s a cancellation. Definitely difficult for me but also don’t want my knee to buckle and then if I fall cause some other problem.

We did venture out in the rain to get the monthly Costco done. I was quite surprised it wasn’t packed. We found a place to park near the entrance and had no problem going down the aisles. We even got to the register without waiting. By the time we were leaving though cars were circling the parking lot because of the pouring rain.

Today I plan on doing the Flylady zone of the bathroom and I’ll add the bedroom too. I usually do these together as both don’t take very long. I also want to write down the meal plan for the week and see what needs using. We had freezer stuffed peppers last night and I also have some chicken enchiladas that I took out so I’ll have those tonight. I have some rice so I thought I’d make my favorite Greek lemon rice soup. Plus I have a lot of Meyer lemons that were given to me to use.

I have put a few things on Facebook market place I’m not using to try and sell. One is the Food Saver vacuum thing. If it doesn’t sell then I’ll put in a box for the Assistance League thrift store. My food saver hasn’t been used this year except when I did the corn this summer. I can just use ziploc bags for that this summer. I did use it when we were in the pandemic for oats and such but now I’m not interested in that kind of food storage. We gave the food bank all the Mountain House food I’d gotten during the pandemic and lots of cans of things I don’t need. That felt good to do that. The barn pantry now is officially closed and I’ll only keep bulk items in the house either in my jars or in the 2 under the bed bins. I still have plenty of beans, rice and canned goods plus my own shelf stable foods I canned. I’ll have to think about what might need to get stored out there as I have the nice bins I bought for food and I’d like to see them used for something.

This just arrived from Williams Sonoma. It’s my Christmas present from my daughter. I’ve been using it constantly and it’s really great. The rice came out perfectly. If you’re going to invest in Staub, be sure to wait for the sales. Most of the time you can get 50% off if it’s around Christmas.

This week I’m planning the gym once if I feel my knee can get me in there and I need to drop books off at the library. If I’m wearing the knee brace my knee does feel more stable.

Frugal Friday and other random things.

Posted in Blood test, budgeting, California, cash envelopes, decluttering, Pantry, prepper pantry, Walking by

Another low-spend week. We spent $53 at Holiday Market. It’s way more expensive than TJ’s or Winco but it’s also 1 minute from our house. We used to walk down all the time but now we drive mostly because our driveway is very steep. So going down is fine but coming up is not. After I figure out what’s going on with the knee I may start going up and down to strengthen the muscles. We’ll see, I’ve been saying that for years and haven’t done it yet. ( haha).

We filled up the VW too. And we went on a coffee date.

I did order some things from Amazon. A different knee brace, some hangers to add to the ones I got my daughter for Christmas, cream for my knee, and 1 set of candles. The 4pk of candles I usually buy from Blue Corn Beeswax were out of stock. I also ordered the tuna in olive oil in a 12-pack because it’s easier than going to get them at the store. the price is almost the same as Winco, maybe 10 cents more. What I’m doing is using a virtual envelope for Amazon and giving myself $100 a month for household things. I won’t include the tuna as that’s food.

Saturday is my MRI and after that, I plan to go to Trader Joe’s and get a few things. Eggs, bread, cream, bagels, maybe some chips and a few frozen meals to add to the freezer. Last week we had the Kung Pao Chicken and it was very good.

Next week I have my labs and the appt with the PC about the next step with the knee once the MRI comes in. I guess I would hope that it’ll just be PT to help strenghten it but it’s anyone’s guess at this point. That’s it for the week. I doubt I’ll be going to the pool or the gym till I have a plan in place. Although, if the knee brace stabilizes my knee I will go do upper body weights. I’m pretty depressed about it all since I hate not being able to be active. But as always I’ll get through it.

We have a good size load in the back of the VW to drop off at Goodwill and Assistance league. B will do that today. It’s always a good feeling to great rid of stuff. I did put all the Mountain House dehydrated meals in the bag for the food bank and I’ll do that either today or next week. I still have some other food out in the ‘barn prepper pantry’ so I need to get that first. I do not plan on restocking any of that out in the barn. I’m just going to have my pantry boxes and what I have on the Ivar shelving unit. ( That’s for the pressure canned goods and jams, salsas, and tomato sauces.) I’ll always have some stock up pantry because I’ve always bought in bulk starting back in 1975 but I won’t do the same thing as when the pandemic hit. Having bulk rice and beans etc just makes sense for how I cook plus I hate thinking about what I need so I’d rather buy bulk and be done with it for months at a time.

Early morning

Posted in Bone marrow transplant, home stuff, husband, Uncategorized by

We need to be out by 6:30 so we can get his labs by 8:00 am in Sacramento and then clinic is at 8:30am with the NP. I think we will be out quicker this time.

  Speaking of labs my numbers came back with another increase:( So Kappa is at 25. Lambda went down to 11.3 but with that, the ratio went to 2.25. It’s still not alarming numbers and only slightly over high normal but it is a trend for sure. High normal for the ratio is 1.65 so .6 over. I’m sure my doctor is not worried at this point and I see him next week so we can talk.

Anyway, this is a good lesson for me to not obsess and just know treatment will resume at some point. I’m actually proud of myself for not being too nuts about it.  I guess that’s a good thing?

After clinic, I’m going to the gourmet store called Corti brothers. When we first moved to California in 1975, we would shop at the other Corti bros location. I had just started graduate school at Sac State and we practically lived in Sacramento. We were living in Foresthill(the same area we’re in today but not the same direction) and I was driving down 2-3 times a week. Back then there was little traffic on I-80 at night and during the morning.  Now any time of day I -80 is crazy. Anyway back to Corti Bros. So when I was at Kiwanis house and shopping over at Save Mart, I looked over and saw the sign for Corti Bros.  I wasn’t planning to go in till the person who owns the RV said ‘Hey, you should go into Corti Bros. ” So I did and first, the deli is amazing and I discovered they have the French ham I have always wanted to try. Of course, I thought I’d have to go to France but no, here it was. It was amazing. Since I do love cooking and food, it’s a fun store to look around in. Today, I’m getting some olives from their amazing olive bar and some special burger blend for 4th of July.

All in all, it should be a good day!

 

Simple Eating

Posted in bread, cooking, Uncategorized by

In this journey of minimalism, I’ve wanted to expand past the decluttering and streamlining things to food as well. Not so much decluttering that area but eating simpler and eating the same foods weekly to simplify menus etc. We do eat pretty simple but for some reason, I want to even more.

I’ve always bought bulk foods, rice, beans, etc since the 1970’s. Even soaps, detergents, canned goods etc because it’s easier for me and simpler to buy bulk and then not have to think about those things for 6 months. Back in the 1970’s we’d go out to a place called Mother Truckers by Ananda. Mother Truckers is still there and does a brisk business. Ananda is still there although many changes have occurred. It’s still a spiritual community based on Yogananda Paramahansa’s teachings. Anyway, we’d go out there, which was about a 2-hour drive for us, and get bulk shampoo, honey, etc.

Now co-ops are everywhere or Whole Foods and you can great bulk items.  I can even get Lundberg organic brown rice at Costco in a 12 lb bag. I can get a 10lb bag of sugar and there’s honey in large jars. I don’t use as much honey anymore so we just get a smaller jar.

I still get 10 lb bags of rice and beans and store in glass jars.  I use to buy the 25 lb bags but that was more than we’d use in a reasonable amount to time. I even have some of my original gallon jars I had from the 70’s. I use to go around to the restaurants and ask for their old pickle jars, mayonnaise because you couldn’t really buy the gallon jars anywhere.

I use a weekly menu that’s simplified to some extent but I’d like it to be more so. Maybe as I get older or further in this minimalist journey, I just don’t want to think about things like what extravagant meal do I want to cook. I want my food choices to be simple.

I like wearing the same clothes and keep my colors to black, white, gray and occasionally deep purple or navy blue.  So with food, I want to have fewer choices so I don’t have to think about it.

Our weekly menu looks like this

Sunday- BBQ or roast something ( need to refine this)

Monday- pasta something ( this can be mac and cheese,or lemon spaghetti, or ?

Tuesday- Taco Tuesday ( really anything Mexican)

Wednesday- Sorta whatever day ( this is the one I need to work on)

Thursday- crockpot something,  usually pinto beans or black beans Then we add tortillas, avocado, salsa,. If its soup in the winter fall, bread along side.

Friday- homemade pizza

Saturday- This turned into sammie Saturday. A simple sandwich of some sort.

I want to work on what foods we’re eating. We like and eat a lot of beans and then I usually use the rice cooker to make organic long grain rice for the week.

Some chicken, tofu, a little beef and a little fish (not too often).

Breakfast is always eggs/toast or bagel/yogurt/fruit

Lunch is a salad or leftovers or 1/2 sandwich

I just don’t want to cook extra fancy stuff too much anymore. I do love cooking and trying new recipes, but I still want a base to work from.

Paper whites

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imageSome nice paper whites my daughter started in her new Christmas greenhouse! And our stupid goat who roams free and eats everything. Sunday morning dex!

Cleaned what wasn’t done yesterday by B. most everything was done. I dusted, swiffered, and wiped the bathroom.

Then I made stuffed bell peppers for tomorrow. 3 meat and brown rice ,2 vegie.

Then I made chicken Parmesan for dinner, and they’ll be cheese ravioli for the vegies.

So, now I’m heading on the 2 -3 hour downhill slide with dex. I dont really sleep, (nap), but no energy after the burst and need to rest.

Next week, we’ll be on our way for our mini trip to Santa Barbara. I’m not planning on taking dex, although I will let him( my doctor know). I just need to be semi normal , even though I’ll still be on revlimid. I was trying to figure out how to work it in during the week, but there just isn’t a way. So…. I should get my lab results this week, if they can find them, since my doctor has moved to mercy cancer center in Sacramento . I pretty sure nothing has changed, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s another increasE. Revlimid seems to have worked its last magic, and I’m figuring, Velcade in the next few months. Thats what we had discussed so…..

its a beautiful day in Northern California .