Quiet Times

 For our vacation we once again got to visit our happy place. We head to the mountains in Alberta, but not those around Banff. We find that area to be much too busy for relaxation. Instead we head up to Jasper. It is much quieter, and we can relax surrounded by beautiful scenery.

We usually break up the trip there and back by stopping at our oldest son's place about 5 hours from the park.

Day one saw us arrive at Kurt's place and enjoy some time on his lovely deck.

He has things set up so nicely and we enjoyed an adult beverage (or two) as well as the stew he had made for us out here.

The next day saw us head to Jasper.

Our lovely cabin with Harvey already relaxing on the front porch.

The cabins are located on a bluff overlooking the Athabasca and Miette Rivers. I usually take my coffee in the morning and sit on one of the wooden chairs and gaze at the wonders around me.

That night the firepit circle had some entertainment. We had First Nations Drummers come and explain what the songs and drums meant. Of course I learned something new in that the drums are all handmade and named. 

Love her ribbonskirt, and the large circle in the front is of a wolf and is a drawing that she did herself.

This little fellow kept wanting to play his Mom's drum.

The next day we traveled into the village and walked around. Harvey bought a Buffalo skin wallet as his wallet is starting to wear out. I bought a package that contained 3 different teas. Not too sure how I am going to like them as they are all maple flavoured. We shall see. 

Home to the cabin and I took a walk around the site, of course ending up on the bluff once again.

Now the elk are in rut right now and you can hear them calling constantly so it shouldn't have come as a surprise to see this doe frolic in the water.. However I had to run back and get my camera so missed taking pictures of her splashing and jumping. I did get these once she tired out though.

Turns out she was showing off for a male across the river which I didn't see until he moved when she reached the shore. 

That's enough for today. I have more to show you all soon. 

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.

Thrifty Tuesday

 

Not many thrifty moves this past week but there were a few.

Packed all food (except for a couple of items like eggs and milk) for our vacation.

Made a lunch to eat while coming back from leftovers from the trip and brought what we didn't use up home.

Darned a pair of socks today (the extent of mending for the week). 

Using up all that I can.

Borrowed 2 recipe books from Kurt that struck my fancy and found lots of recipes in the one I have perused. Some are even good for batch cooking which is what I would like to do, others that I have looked at make you cook a lot for one meal and then the leftovers can be made into other meals that are totally different.

I did my shopping today and I am hopeful that I bought enough to last us for two weeks. What with the Delta variant taking hold here I am hopeful of keeping visits out of the house down to a minimum. 

Used orphan balls and yarn that has been around for awhile in my knitting projects. Hopefully this will clear out space.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Menu Monday

 

I am back from holiday and raring to go. Well that could be a bit of an overstatement, I am ready to go as I have pretty much caught up on the household tasks. 

I will share pictures of our trip on Wednesday.

Since the oven is still out of commission (hopefully fixed tomorrow or the next day) meals will be stove top, BBQ or slow cooked. This does mean a few changes to what I had planned.

Monday

Hamburgers, sliced cukes and tomatoes.

Tuesday

Sundays leftovers warmed up in the microwave. This consists of rice and chicken in Honey Siracha sauce. Served with sides of sliced cukes and tomatoes. Perhaps some sliced green pepper as well.

Wednesday

A package of leftover chicken made into chicken a la king along with toasted homemade bread.

Thursday

BBQ ribs, corn, rice, and sliced fresh veggies and dip.

Friday

Glace and eggs (cause if the oven isn't fixed this can be made on the stove top).

Saturday

Leftover ribs and rice.

Sunday

Hopefully I can roast a chicken. Serving it with mashed potatoes, gravy, peas and carrots. If not I will warm up some of the leftover ham and serve it with scalloped potatoes, peas and sliced fresh veggies.

Off to visit and try to catch up with you all.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Sorry

 I got so busy visiting with Kris yesterday that I did not post the salsa recipe I used. I am sorry, and so today before I get busy I will post it for all of you.

Picante Salsa from Company's Coming Preserves

4 1/2 lbs of ripe tomatoes, scalded, peeled and chopped

1 large spanish onion, chopped

1 large green pepper, chopped

1 medium red pepper, chopped

3-6 chopped jalapeno peppers

3 mild green chilies chopped

5 1/2 oz can of tomato paste

3/4 cup white vinegar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 tbsp coarse pickling salt

2 tsp paprika

2 cloves garlic minced

I didn't have the green chilies so just added a couple more jalapeno's and a sprinkle of cayenne powder.

Combine all ingredients in a large pot. Bring to a boil uncovered, over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Boil gently for about 60 minutes until thickened to desired consistency. Near the end of cooking taste to see if you would like to add more jalapenos. 

Pour into sterilized jars to 1/4 inch from top. Seal.

This is really good on nachos, quesadillas or burgers.

Enjoy.

Everybody have a wonderful day.

God bless.

Frugal Friday

 The end of what used to be our work week, but now that we are retired is pretty much just another day.

So what frugal happenings have been taking place on the old homestead.

1.  It is still nice enough to hang the laundry outside to dry and with the breezes we have been getting things are still drying quickly.

2.  Windows were wide open for all but the last couple of days all day and all night. It did get warm enough over the last while that we needed to close them and let the air conditioner cool things down.

3.  Walked every day and I seem to be getting my steps in just fine. In fact one day I almost made 15k steps. Don't ask me how as most days I struggle to get 10 or 11K. 

4.  Using up produce from the garden and I hope to use up even more when we get home. I do think the cucumbers are slowing down a bit.

5.  Back to baking bread twice a week. We only go through 2 loaves a week (some weeks even less) and I was getting very lax about baking my own.

6.  All meals made at home from things I had on hand.

7.  Saved $29.34 on groceries this week just buying what was on sale and what was on my list.

8.  While this was not really frugal, I bought a counter top portable toaster oven. A big one. Eventually it will save us electrical costs as it does not use as much power. I just have to learn how to use it. 

Other than those things the appliance repair guy dropped by today and told me if he had the baking element at home he would be back tomorrow after giving us a call first. If not it would need to be ordered and could take 10 days or more to get here. Now I am really glad that I got this new appliance cause I know I will be making more eggplant parma before that.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

Thursday Tidbits

 It has been an upside down kind of day. Things started off very well, but got worse as the day progressed.

I got up, had coffee and started the salsa. My recipe is one from Company's Coming a series of Canadian cookbooks that I really like as the ingredients are easy to find. I will share it with you all on Saturday.

We are not big salsa eaters and so these 5 jars will last us the winter. Still lots of tomatoes to use and I must figure out if I want to make more. Surprisingly the recipe said 5 pint jars and that is exactly what was made.

I then went shopping and I was in and out before Harvey was even dressed. That was after dropping the donation bags at the Salvation Army. The store decided to move a few things around so I had to do a bit of a search even.

After lunch I decided that I had better use up the eggplant and so started my Eggplant parma.... I turned on the oven to warm it up as I sliced and peeled the eggplant and got started with the coating. Hmmm, all of a sudden my stove made a strange noise. I didn't pay any attention and continued with my task. The eggplant was ready to be baked to a golden brown and was put in the oven. Surprise my oven would not heat up past 270F and it needed to be at 350F. So I kept fiddling and even though the temperature said it was correct it kept dropping. I left them in to see what would happen (they didn't get as baked as they should have) and read my manual. I think the baking element is gone, and once I figured that out made a call to someone to fix it. Lord knows when we will hear from him.

Now those trays of eggplant needed to be made into parma and I  had no oven to bake them. What to do.

Thank heavens we are able to buy a few things without worrying about where the money is coming from anymore (there was a time when that was not the case). I quickly drove to Walmart and searched the shelves for a large toaster oven. Found exactly what I was looking for (can you believe this large one was less money than a smaller one?) grabbed it and headed home. 

I did have to bake them one at a time, but at least there are 4 meals in the freezer.

All labeled, cooled and put away.

This one, however became our supper.

I was just too tuckered out to make the stew I had planned. I will do that tomorrow.

Now I just have to figure out where to store the rather huge new appliance I now have. Has to be fairly close to the kitchen because until the oven is repaired I will be using it to make meals. Next thing I will try is cookies, I think I have a small enough cookie sheet to fit.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.

A New Month, Update on Goals, New Monthly Goals

 

Well I guess I had better own up to how poorly I did last month, though I do have a bit of an excuse for failing.

1.  Work on cross stitch. Not done at all.

2.  Make those darn cards I keep putting off. Ditto with this.

3.  Work on t-shirt rug. I did do a bit of work on this.

4.  Sandwich and quilt one top (perhaps even get some binding on it as well). Done

5.  Cut the denim from those jeans that Kurt brought home into 4" squares. Done

6.  Knit two scarves.  Got one scarf done.

7.  Work on processing the garden produce.  Been working on this one constantly.

One of the reasons I did not get more done is that a little fellow saw his grandmother's prayer shawl and asked if her friend would make him a green one. I found green yarn in my stash and have been working on that. As the yarn is fairly fine, it is taking much longer than I thought it would.

I also needed to clean up my sewing/craft room so that I had the space to work on those cards. I should be able to do them this month.

So onto the goals for this month.

1.  Cut the clothing my friend bought that belonged to her Dad to make a quilt for remembrance. 

2.  Start the quilt and finish it.

3.  Work on T-shirt rug.

4.  Watch the Bible Study Video's and chose which one/ones I would like to lead and pick which time I will attend.

5.  Work on Cross stitch.

6.  Make Salsa.

7. Knit two scarves.

8.  Finish little guys prayer shawl.

9.  Sew labels on finished prayer shawls and drop them at the church.

10.  Sandwich the quilt top that is in the sewing/craft room. Perhaps even get it quilted and bound (that could be pressing things though).

11.  Make Eggplant Parma for the freezer.

Long list, but if I put my mind to it I can probably make a huge dent in it.

I was asked if it was hard to grow eggplants. The answer is not really. They love hot weather so this growing season has been perfect. The problem I find is getting seeds or plants. It used to be very easy when I first started growing them, but now gardeners have found out how wonderful fresh eggplants are in comparison to store bought and finding plants or seeds is very difficult. This year Kris found some seeds and started them in his little greenhouse for me. We had thought they might not make it, but finally took hold and really grew like weeds.

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.