The Ways of My Household ... 7/24/2017

(It looks like we're going to have a bumper crop of grapes this year!!!)

The big news last week was the heat and humidity in our area.  At times it felt like you could literally scoop it out of the air!  We've been under heat advisory warnings for a good part of the week.

Needless to say we didn’t spend a lot of time outside and when we did, it was early mornings!  I even was out mowing the yard at 6 a.m. one morning this week!  

Here’s how our week looked …

I harvested this cucumber from our garden on Monday and made a cucumber, vinegar, onion, salt and pepper refrigerator salad.  Yum, it was good!

I also harvested some jalapeño peppers, cayenne peppers and hot banana peppers.  The cayenne peppers are drying on my window seal and the jalapeño and hot banana peppers were chopped and dehydrated.  

I had some ginger and horseradish in the refrigerator so I chopped and dehydrated those.  It will be good to have both of these on hand when it’s time to make cider fire again.

A neighbor called and asked if we wanted the okra in his garden.  We said yes, and went and harvested it early one morning.  (We don’t turn down free food … period!) We added 3 extra large vacuum sealed bags of okra to the freezer part of our pantry.

I needed to put my sourdough starter on hold for a while so I fed it like I was going to use it and spread it out on a parchment paper lined flat pan.   I put it in the oven with the oven light on and placed a wooden spoon between the stove and the stove door to keep it from closing.  (This is the only place I can dry it due to the extreme humidity in our area right now.) I did this so that it would dry without getting too hot which would kill the starter and to remind me that my starter was in the oven as it will take a few days for it to get completely dry.   After it is completely dry, as in breakable, I’ll break it into small pieces, put it in a jar and close it up with a screw on lid.

The only groceries we purchased were a box of sausage!  This was made possible because of keeping a well-stocked pantry.

We continued to add to the compost bin.   We’re working toward some good compost soil for next year!

I spent a good portion of last week sketching poster size characters for a chalking class I help the instructors prepare for each year. I don’t teach the class but I do help with the sketching as they need 500 – 600 sketches for the students to chalk.  I used up 2 pencils and 100 pieces of poster board!  Don't know what chalking is ... read this post.

What did you do to add to your pantry or live frugally?

patsi

A Working Pantry

She looketh well to the ways of her household … Proverbs 31:27

My other blog:  She Hath Done What She Could

Disclaimer: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links.  This means that if you click on the link and place an order, etc I earn a small fee at no increased cost to you. Thank you for your support through these means. 

Photo Friday ... those toe things!

You know ... those foam toe things that you put between your toes when you're painting your toenails to keep from getting your polish smeared???

Well, I have another use for them ...

I keep my full or partially full sewing machine bobbins in them!

These were in a box of stuff a dear friend from Tennessee gave me while visiting her.  I knew immediately what I would do with them once I got home.

The bobbins fit perfectly, there are no hanging threads and I can see at a glance what I've got.

When it comes to bobbin storage and care, in my book, it doesn't get any better than this!

How about you, how do you store your sewing machine bobbins?

patsi

A Working Pantry

She looketh well to the ways of her household … Proverbs 31:27

My other blog:  She Hath Done What She Could

Disclaimer: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links.  This means that if you click on the link and place an order, etc I earn a small fee at no increased cost to you. Thank you for your support through these means. 

My 100 Day Sewing Challenge #3

Hoot! Hoot!  I've gotten to sew 3 days since my last sewing challenge post!  

That puts me at 8 of the 100 Days!!

Want to see what I stitched up???    

Here you go ....

I finished the robes for the princess class I'm teaching.  The girls will wear them in our finale in a couple of weeks!

I stitched up this pillow case, I have one more cut out ready to stitch up and then it will be time to crochet an edging on each. 

Not shown, but with the scraps I cut 2.5 inch strips, 2 inch strips, 1.5 inch strips and 1 inch strips.  The 2.5 inch strips, which are the widith of the fabric, are being added to a jelly roll I am putting together and the other strips (various sizes) are going into a plastic container specifically for each size.  What do I plan to do with these strips ... use them in a quilt, of course!

And finally, I stitched up these two bed buddies.  They have rice in them and can be thrown into the microwave to heat and then use!  I made them out of flannel.

patsi

A Working Pantry

She looketh well to the ways of her household … Proverbs 31:27

My other blog:  She Hath Done What She Could

Disclaimer: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links.  This means that if you click on the link and place an order, etc I earn a small fee at no increased cost to you. Thank you for your support through these means. 

The Ways of My Household ... 7/17/2017

We went ‘afar’ and did our grocery shopping last week and boy, did it pay off.  Look at the cart of marked down produce we got…

(I prayed before this shopping trip, on the way to this shopping trip and as I entered the store ... God did indeed answer my prayers!)

We were especially excited to find this marked down produce as our fruit trees ... all of them ... bloomed out during our unusually warm February and then got damaged in our unusually cold March.  There won't be any fruit harvested from our small orchard this year so finding the produce was a blessing!

Here's what we did with all this produce ...

Peaches ... I  peeled the peaches, run the meat of the peaches through my nutribullet, poured the mixture into ice cube trays and made peach cubes for using in smoothies.

I also used some of the peach meat to make peach bark.   I spread the mixture out on lined dehydrator racks and dehydrated it to the point that it would break apart. I vaccum sealed it into pint jars. I'll use it in smoothies as well.   

I then took the peelings, dumped them into a crockpot, added some water and simmered them for a few hours to make peach juice.  I froze the peach juice in ice cube trays.  I'll add them to tea to make peach tea.  

Apples ... I peeled the apples and sliced them into approximately 1/4 inch slices and dehydrated them. 

I also chopped up several and dehydrated them that way. 

The slices will be used in cooking and the chopped ones will be used in granola.

I again took the peelings and started 4 more quarts of vinegar and added the rest to a pot along with water to make apple juice.

Peppers ... 
We made stuffed peppers (21 in all) and froze them for future meals. We did have stuffed peppers for a meal last  week.  

For the stuffed peppers I cut the top off straight across.  Did I throw that part away?  No ma'am, I chopped them up and dehydrated them.  I'll use them in soups, casseroles, omelets, etc.  (Sorry, I don't have a picture of the stuffed peppers. They are vacuum sealed and in the freezer and I didn't get a picture before putting them there.)

The tomatoes, avocadoes, mango, pawpaw and papayah were eaten throughout the week.

Not shown in the picture but purchased at the same time were 3 bundles of marked down bananas.  I sliced them into 1/4 inch slices and dehydrated them.  Boy oh boy are they good!

There were also 5 clemetines in the basket and after eating them, I used the peel to make a pint of citrus vinegar. I'll use it in cleaning recipes!

We paid $35 for all the produce and it's value was well over $100!   Score!!!!

One more thing before we move on, I used everything except the peach seeds (There is some debate on them being poison so I didn't add them ... better safe than sorry!) and the rotten spots.  I even plan to use the produce nylon bags to make pot scrubbers!  Waste not, want not!

In addition ….

I downloaded this book for free:  Amish by Accident.   

Gratefully received a gift of bay leaves. (Thank you again Annabel!)

I dehydrated garlic (chopped), the last 3 squash from the garden (I chopped them as well) and some hot banana peppers and yes I chopped them too!

I downloaded this free 18” doll circular skirtpattern/tutorial.   

It was an extremely busy week because marked-down produce won't wait, but that's okay, the end products were well worth the hustle it took to get it all done!

What did you do to add to your pantry or live frugally?

patsi

A Working Pantry

She looketh well to the ways of her household … Proverbs 31:27

My other blog:  She Hath Done What She Could

Disclaimer: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links.  This means that if you click on the link and place an order, etc I earn a small fee at no increased cost to you. Thank you for your support through these means. 

Photo Friday

This is just so handy ....

... my craft cart!  (It's made of a lightweight metal, not plastic.)

I purchased this cart at Michael's Craft Store a couple of months ago when I had a 50% off coupon. You can also find them on Amazon HERE.

I brought it home, put it together and added a little 'froo-froo' to it!  The 'froo-froo' is paper flowers that I got on sale at Michael's Craft Store as well.   Similiar paper flowers can be found HERE.

This cart holds my current projects.  Depending on the size of the project it can hold up to three, but that's not the best part.   The best part is the wheels!  I can roll it to where I want to use it and if I'm expecting company I can roll it into another room ... out of sight!

This has just been the handiest thing to keep my craft/sewing 'works-in-progress' organized and ready to work on when time presents itself.

patsi

A Working Pantry

She looketh well to the ways of her household … Proverbs 31:27

My other blog:  She Hath Done What She Could

Disclaimer: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links.  This means that if you click on the link and place an order, etc I earn a small fee at no increased cost to you. Thank you for your support through these means.