Tuesday Meal Planning

The hubby had to work late last night and then found out it was going to be even later than he thought so I wanted dinner that could be reheated. So it was a one pot meal. I am always baffled why people buy hamburger helper type meals when you can make them yourself. They taste much better and are less expensive. Unless you get a really good markdown and have coupons. Then I guess I can forgive you for buying them.

One Pot Beef Dinner

1 pound of beef cut into chunks
1 Tablespoon oil
1/4 cup seasoned flour, if you dont have seasoned flour just add salt, pepper, garlic powder to plain flour
4 cups of beef broth
2 cups of dry pasta


Toss flour and meat until well coated. Place oil in pan and heat, add meat flour mixture. Even add the loose flour that didnt stick to the meat to the pan. stir to get the meat well coated and cook for 3-5 minutes. Add beef broth and stir well to incorporate the thickened flour to the liquid. Add the pasta and peas, cover with lid and bring to a boil. Once it boils turn burner down to simmer and let cook 12-15 minutes or until pasta is cooked.

You could add ground beef to this instead of the steak. Any vegetable combination would work. The peas were the first veggies I saw when opening the freezer door. This meal took about 30 minutes from start to finish and cost about $6 for four servings.

I have a few new meals to try next week. What good do all those recipes saved on Pinterest
do if I never try them?


Friday..............Easy Clam Chowder
Saturday..........Pizza
Sunday.............Parmesan Bacon Mushroom Fettuccine
Monday............One Pan Chicken Enchilada Skillet
Tuesday............Beef and Cheese Pasta
Wednesday.......Chicken Pot Pie
Thursday........... Chili


A few pointers for meal planning

Inventory what you have and try to use that in your meal plan. If you cant think of a use for it maybe you need to toss it.

What is something that you find yourself eating often? If your family loves spaghetti always have those ingredients on hand. Stock up on those ingredients when they are on sale.

Know how much of things you typically use in a week. We usually go through about a gallon of milk, 1 1/2 dozen of eggs, 2-3 pounds of chicken and  one pound each of beef and ground beef.

Shop around your store ads especially for meat. Most stores have at least one meat each week thats a great deal, If you keep track you can usually notice a trend.

Stock up on things you know you use a lot. I was able to get boxes of cereal for a dollar the past few weeks, I now have 12-15 boxes of cereal. That should last until I can get them for a dollar again.  That saves me at least 50 dollars a year. Same with pasta if you can get it for 50 cents when its normally a dollar thats at least a dollar a week and another 50 dollars in a year.

End of the month evaluatoion

The end of January is just a few days away and with any restoration project you  need to see if things are running on schedule, on budget and smoothly. After some thought I think I am going to drop trying to knock $20 off my grocery budget. I am doing pretty good at keeping the average at $120 a week for 4 adults and a $30 meal plan per person is pretty darn good. I will probably be able to lower it in the summer when we have more things coming out of the garden and more eggs being laid by the chickens but not now.

Meal planning is going fine. I really didnt see that as a huge issue it was mostly about having a good plan in place to avoid eating out as often. We averaged about once a week which isnt terrible in my opinion. When you plan 21 meals a week plus snacks I think you deserve one meal a week you dont have to cook.

Blogging is much better than it has been in the past but I could do better. I have blogged 23 days out of the past 29. I could use more structure in my blogging and I plan on working on that for February. Sort of a "where the heck am I going with this thing" sort of thing.  I really appreciate all of you who read my crazy thoughts and you have no idea how happy I get when you comment on something on my Facebook, Instagram or every day conversations.

As for my little business, its the one that I need to work on the most. I have some soap making classes I need to set up and a million other ideas I need to get sorted. I am not trying to make a lot of money just some extra cash and help others learn new things.

I think the thing I have learned most this month is something is always going to happen to your plans, Dealing with all this car stuff this month has driven me insane. Its not just the loss of the car but dealing with insurance and countless people who have not really been rude but definitely treat you like a piece of paper or a stinking claim number. We have to decide how we are going to accept these things that that slow us down. Sometimes its not a bad thing. Evaluating the situation and making changes can be a good and much needed thing.

I would encourage you to look back over your month and first write down what you are happy to have accomplished. I am pretty sure you will be surprised at how many things you have done right.

The above picture is of our Beagle, Balder. While I was looking for my fabric measuring tape in my sewing basket we found this chew bone. He was so excited to have found it. I am not sure which one of the dogs had dropped it in there in the first place. He sat there for a good 5 minutes before walking over to his blanket and lying down with it still in his mouth. He just knew at any minute one of his brothers was going to come take it away from him. I walked over to the doorway and put a gate up and he started chewing away. The auto accident was not the highlight of my month but I sure let it worry me silly and keep me from enjoying things.

How weird is too weird?

When you decide to put your thoughts and ideas out past your normal little circle of friends and family you sometimes worry about what others think about you. Your friends and family already know you are a little odd but they usually see it as just you and love you anyway. I honestly dont really worry about this too much but every once in a while I will be chatting it up with a stranger or sometimes an acquaintance and I see that look in their eyes that maybe I have shared too much.

Heres an example I was at Sams Club once talking to the sweetest cashier. She asked me why I didnt buy eggs. That she thought it was odd that everyone she had waited on that morning had bought eggs. We sort of laughed and I told her it was because I had my own chickens. She thought that was interesting and asked me a few questions. She asked how much bird seed they eat. I told her they didnt really eat bird seed that you can buy chicken feed but that if you let them forage through the yard they would eat bugs and worms. She was horrified. She had no idea they ate bugs and vowed to never eat another egg again. I tried to assure her it was a good thing. She was not having it. We get similar reactions when people realize we raise rabbits for meat. I dont mind when vegans or vegtarians find it wrong but meat eaters need to get off their high horse. I will just stop before this becomes a rant.

I have this really great sibling. Shes my favorite sibling and only sibling. We have the best conversations about crafting, cooking and total nonsense. She recently sold her home so I have been referring to her as homeless. She is also living in an RV down by a river until they find a new home but we like to say she lives in a van down by the river like Chris Farley on that old Saturday Night Live skit, Now dont get all bent out of shape thinking I am the mean one. I was recently talking about my composting worms and she said she was going to start saying that I had worms. So you can see shes really the mean one.

I love my composting worms. I find the whole process interesting and rewarding, I love how you throw scraps that most people, who dont have a compost pile, throw away and the worms turn it into the wonderful nutrient rich dirt. I love my outdoor compost pile but it doesnt do much in the winter. The potato peels, coffee grounds, egg shells and other things just sit there until it warms up. But the worm bin is inside the house and active and I get my compost pile on a much smaller scale in the winter. Once the temps get over 50 in the evenings we will sit them back outside.

When we were getting ready to bring the worms in for the winter we were going through the dirt. We had gotten some soldier flies in our bin. At first we thought it was the worse thing that could possibly happen but after more research we fund out it wasnt that bad, They actually compost faster than the worms, The problem is they eat more than the worms. We got all the larvae we could find but did not get it all so to keep them from getting out of hand I pick them out and feed them to the chickens. They are super happy for these tasty treats in the middle of winter when the ground is too cold to scratch. I found out there are place that only use soldier flies for their composting, They then sell the composted dirt to gardeners for a nice price. If you have a compost pile these flies will come naturally and you can get that expensive dirt for free. They do not look like a fly at all. You should definitely research these interesting things. I found this picture online of the different stages.

I asked Mr Ladybug if we could start a small soldier fly bin this spring and see who compost best, the red wiggler worms or the soldier flies. It also gives us free food for the chickens. Just dont tell the sweet girl at Sams Club. The picture at the top of the post is my german shepherd helping me look at the worms. Below that pic on the right is the shredded newspaper that the worms like to make a bedding with. The purple gloved had with the dirt and worms are just a big clump or worms. The top right is worms in their little habitat, the purple glove with soldier fly larvae and the harvest of soldier fly larvae to take to the chickens later this morning.

I have been MIA the pass few days because of dealing with insurance issues of a car accident that wasnt even my fault. Its easy to get all angry over this but the fact is. it was an accident, the other driver was at fault but she was driving a nice car that I am sure she hadnt planned on crashing into another car when she woke up that morning, The rental car  had to be returned yesterday and that makes three of us have a car to share. We have much to be thankful for. No one was hurt thanks to airbags. My son was sitting on the side that was hit. Even though returning the rental stinks since we havent got to replace the car and are waiting for the insurance check we do have another car some people would not. Sharing the car may be a little annoying for the next week or so its not the end of the world.

Yesterday as I went out to feed all the critters I was thinking about the whole situation and I remember thinking I really need to see the light at the end of this crazy car tunnel. I just aint there yet. I checked the nest boxes for eggs which have been empty for several weeks and I am almost out of eggs. There was an egg, The girls had stopped laying when it started getting really cold and the days have gotten shorter. As you can probably tell by my other posts I am full of sayings. I would like to create a new one today instead of saying "the light at the end of the tunnel" lets say "the winter egg in the nest box". For those of you that I have just lost with my nonsense it means that winter is not going to last forever and neither is whatever we are going through. There will be eggs again in the nest box!

Monday Monday Monday

Well it seems my Monday wants to kill me. I really need to cross stitch this little project in the pic above. I say this all the time and I absolutely get so excited when I finally get thyme to grow from seed.

Its actually nice outside right how with temps around 60 but I see tomorrow our high is 42. Oh well it is winter time, I actually raised a window in each room and opened the front and back doors to let air flow through. Its a bit windy so I am washing some rugs and the dogs beddings so they can dry outside before the rain comes in.

I made the instant oatmeal yesterday and the hubby ate some and said it was pretty good. I think I made enough to last us for at least 2 weeks. Its so easy too, You just have to measure 1/2 mix in your bowl and add hot water from your kettle. You could also add cold water and place the bowl with oats in the microwave for 1-2 minutes. I made mine in the blender and it really blends. My oats are more like oat flour. I may use to food processor next time so they dont get as ground.

Instant oatmeal

5 cups old fashioned oats

1 tsp salt

1 cup of sugar or brown sugar. I used brown and you can use more or less depending on your taste.

2 cups of powdered milk

Grind the oats and powdered milk together, pour in a large bowl and add the other ingredients. Mix well.

Add ins

 To two cups of mix add the following

Strawberries and cream......grind 1.2 oz freeze dried strawberries with 1/2 cup of white chocolate chips then mix with the 2 cups of oat mixture.

Cinnamon raisin....Add 1 tablespoon cinnamon and 1 cup of raisins to oat mix.

Banana Nut..... Grind dehydrated bananas with almonds or walnuts and add to oat mix.

Other flavors you may add in are apples, either add apple sauce to the mix when you add the hot water or chop fresh apples. You could add your favorite jelly to it too.

The plants are doing great. I cut some of the rashish sprouts, in the little blue container the other day for our tacos. I also cut a few of the onion sprouts. The larger container in the back is Alfalfa sprout and we will be using some of them later in the week. I also plan on starting another few containers this evening so we dont run out.

I hope your Monday is running smoother than mine. Without a rough start to our Mondays we wouldnt appreciate our Tuesdays very much.   I hope to have a few cleaning recipes for you tomorrow. 

Weekend Adventures

 I was in such a funk Thursday and Friday. I am pretty sure that it had lots to do with this weather. With the two holiday weekends, frigid temps and snow I realized we had been basically in most weekends for almost 6 weeks. Mr Ladybug must have sensed it and took the boy and  I out to dinner last night. It was the best kind of dinner, it didnt cost anything since he had gotten a gift card! 

Today my sweetie had to go to a meeting with the Pigeon Club then hes off to do a few errands. My kiddos are going to go to campus and that leaves me alone to do a little sewing, loom knitting some really cute pink mittens and reading. I am currently reading two books and listening to another. I like to listen to books on cd when I am doing things around the house.

We plan on watching a movie later this evening.  I had a freebie at Redbox and we decided on Cook Off. We love to watch cooking shows and this one is making fun of them. We have a Lowes trip planned to look at a future home improvement project. I am sure we will get sidetracked in the seed department. I am looking for Parisian Carrots. They are carrots but grow round like radishes. They are suppose to do really well in pots and indoors. I maybe see a Half Priced Book stop as well. As you can see we really walk on the wide side in our house.

I was a little bummed that I probably will not make my $25 Ibotta goal this month but I did make $10 from ShopKicks that I use on Amazon. While running an errand I passed by the restoration project I like to watch and that gave me the idea as using restoration as my word for 2018. I am sure the cooler weather has slowed them work down but I was happy to see windows going in this wonderful building. I am also sure people working on this project are looking forward to some windows as they work inside as well. It reminded me that a little progress is still progress. There will be setbacks and delays but  you will get there. I will probably earn $15 from my Ibotta giving me total of $25 free money this month. Thats $300 a year and thats nothing to be ashamed of.

I was trying to explain to a friend over the phone how Shopkicks works. I told her that you walk into certain stores and you earn points. You can use your phone to scan items in the store and earn points and if you purchase the products you earn more points, She said that it sounded like Pokemon Go. I said I guess except that you get gift cards.😀

We are unfortunately looking at cars, I say unfortunately because there was nothing wrong with our car until someone ran a red light and smashed into one of ours and totaled it. Luckily no one was injured. On our way home from dining out my guys wanted to stop at a dealership to look at cars that were similar to the ones we had. So we looked but somewhere along the way they got sidetracked. I am not complaining I can do that in Hobby Lobby. I may come out of there with maybe $20 dollars of stuff I didnt plan on but there guys were going to come our with $20,000 more than we planned on. So here they are looking at fully loaded Mustangs and Mazada Miatas.  Every time they asked  me if I liked one I said not and would point out things that I thought was ugly.  Secretly I thought the cars were pretty awesome but they still aint getting one unless one of them win the lottery. 

I hope you have a great weekend. I hope to have some recipes posted tomorrow. Remember if your goals are not going as well as planned no worries. A little progress is better than none at all. None at all can not always be helped either because life just really likes to keep us on our toes.

Finally Friday

Its here, the start of the weekend and I am still standing. Yesterday I did all my grocery errands and today I just have to do a quick Petsmart trip and a stop at Hobby Lobby to get some pretty yarn for some mittens. I have no idea where the first mittens I made went. I made a few mistakes in the first pair, one was bigger than the other since I used two different yarns. They are even two different colors. Never throw away the paper wrapped around your yarn that has all the info about your yarn on it. Your memory is not as good as you might think.

We dont have much planned for this weekend. We are going to put in our other grow light. I may attempt to grow radishes inside under a lamp. I was scrolling through old Facebook photos last night and it just made me miss my garden so bad. The temps are suppose to be in the upper 40's to lower 50's. That is a huge difference from the cold temps we have had recently.

A friend had given our daughter a pack of instant oatmeal and Mr Ladybug decided he wanted some as well but I didnt have any. I have old fashioned oatmeal but not that fancy stuff. While at the grocery I grabbed some freeze dried strawberries to make strawberries and cream quick oats for him. I was going to also make cinnamon raisin and banana nut. I will post those pics and recipes later.

I am happy to report that I was right on budget this week for groceries. They keep having good deal on cereal that I may end up with a years supply soon for the girl. Shes our daily cereal eater. Kroger has a deal if you buy 4 boxes of Kelloggs cereal you get a free gallon of milk. The cereal is 4 for $8.

I feel like I dont have much to say but we have been kind of snowed in or its been to cold to wonder too far. Have a great morning. I will try to get back on with a recipe for my homemade laundry soap and an all purpose cleaner along with the oatmeal packets later. 

Can you believe its only Wednesday?

This week is dragging along. I am so over this weather. I am having my very own pit-tea  party this morning. Speaking of tea I have still not bought any new tea and I still have so much tea. I know that doesnt sound like a real complaint but every time I go out I see a tea I dont have and actually dont need. I am pretty sure I have cabin fever and we still have to make it through February! Okay party is over time to move on.

I saw on Facebook a couple of my friends were baking yesterday. I found this interesting since I have been in a baking mood as well. I am running low on butter and was looking for an apple bread that didnt call for any. I found this one and I really liked it. Right before Thanksgiving I ran to a local orchard to grab some baking pumpkins and asked about apples and got this huge box for $15. We canned 8 pints of apple chunks and 6 quarts of apple sauce. I opened the first jar yesterday for the bread recipe and it was so good. We are definitely doing more canned apples this fall. The apple cider vinegar I made with the core and peels was a success as well. I wish I had done it by the gallons. I love apple cider vinegar and also use it as a hair conditioner. I halved the recipe and only used one egg.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/7003/applesauce-bread-i/

My onion seeds are doing very well. I am not sure what to do with them. I actually started them to use indoors while waiting for spring to plant outside. I think I still have two little onions left from last year. I still have garlic  but not sure if its enough to last until June with the garlic we planted on the fall will be ready to harvest.

Since the sprouting didnt do very well in the jars I tried a different approach. I was reading how you can take plastic containers you get from the store and use them as little greenhouses. I  had a container for Walmart that had little donuts in them. Mr Ladybug filled it with seed starter lightly sprinkled alfalfa seed on top and then covered lightly with more dirt, We use a spray bottle to mist it in the morning and evening, keep it on a heated seed mat and under a grow light with the onions and it started sprouting in 2 days. We will just cut it like grass and use it. You can just take a fork and turn the soil when you are finished and plant more. You get multiple uses out of the soil. When it comes time to plant outside just toss that soil in one of your garden beds. We started some radish sprouts as well, they are actually  my favorite ones. They taste so spicy.

I hope that wherever you are you are staying warm. I am going to try to find a cure for my cabin fever today that doesnt involve baking or being outside in this frigid cold.

Tuesday Menu Planning 1/19/1/23/18

I went to the bedroom around 9 last night.  Before lying down to read one of the free mysteries I downloaded I put a few pieces of wood in the stove and turned the damper down. When I woke up at 5:15 this morning I had two big chunks of still very hot coals in the stove. I grabbed some of the shredded newspaper, kindling sawdust and got that fire going with no problem at all. I filled the kettle with water and placed it on top of the stove and by the time the hubby left for work and the boy got up at 6:15 the water was more than hot enough for tea. These kinds of things make me so happy. I would say that I feel like a true pioneer woman but my thermostat is set at 65 so when the fire dies down in the night my furnace does kick on. The cost of the firewood evens out with the lower heating bills so we dont loose money but we dont save any either. Not that I am complaining. I try to get the most out of the use of the wood stove as possible, like cooking. I am enjoying it so much I really want an outdoor kitchen to try to do more cooking with wood. We do own a gas grill, small charcoal grill and a fire pit. But I have seen some really neat things on baking in a wood stove that I want to try. Lets not say anything to Mr Ladybug until I have all the plans in place. Anyway I asked the boy what he would like for breakfast and he said scrambled eggs. I hadnt tried that on the wood stove but was pretty sure I could handle it and I was right. I feel pretty confident that we could cook omelets on there if we wanted.

The meal planning is coming right along this year, I am actually an old pro at meal planning since I use to do once a month cooking when we had three very after school aged kids in several things. If you can plan breakfast, lunch and dinner for 31 days at time you can do 7 days in your sleep. I would like to say that if 7 days of planning does not work for you dont think you are doing anything wrong. If you spend more than $120 a week to feed 4 adults and you are fine with that. thats okay too. This is just one of those things that I actually enjoying doing. Last night we had homemade veggie soup and grilled cheese sandwiches cooked on the wood stove. My daughter took food to school to share with a friend so I fed 5 people for less than $5. I like to see how low I can get that number and still have good eating. Its sort of like how shoe lovers get excited when they find an awesome shoe sale. I would never wear shoes if I didnt have to.

I had a few changes to this weeks meal plan. That happens at least once a week. Either no one is digging what I had planned or we are all running in different directions that day and a plan b is needed. We didnt get around to fixing the quiche so I moved it to this coming weeks menu. Remember my menus run from Friday to Thursday with my grocery day being on Thursdays or Fridays.

Friday............Tacos Not sure what meat yet. I think we are all craving fish. Beans and corn for the veg.
Saturday........Beef stir fry, this was the boys pick
Sunday..........Rabbit, since we have lots of it in the freezer we need to use it
Monday........Quiche, it will be a veggie meal and I will make a fruit salad with it
Tuesday........Spaghetti
Wednesday...Chicken nuggets
Thursday......Potato and corn chowder with spicy shrimp.

If you would like to see if the kindle books I downloaded are still free here is a list of them. I have not read the authors before so I can not say if they are good, bad or offensive. I think most of these are the first in a series and may only be ebook authors. If you enjoy their first book show them some love and purchase the other ones. You could always try to earn free gift cards to purchase them with. The author makes money and you saved some.

A Scone to Die For by H Y Hanna
Someone Tell Aunt Tellie She's Dead by Christiana Miller
The Ghost of Marlow House by Bobbi Holmes
Southern Spirits by Angie Fox
Bundle of Trouble by Diana Orgain
An Affair to Dismember by Elsie Sax

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

I have been craving oatmeal raisin cookies for a few weeks now. I had all the ingredients but it always seemed that everyone wanted something different when it came to baking something. I love to make up a  big batch of cookies and freeze the dough in balls to bake as we want them.  If you make a few different kinds throug out the week when someone wants cookies its so easy to bake peanut butter, chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin and chocolate cookies with m&ms all on one cookie sheet. Everyone wins.

Mrs Ladybugs Oatmeal Cookie Recipe

1 cup of butter softened
2 cups of sugar
1 Tablespoon molasses
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3 cups of old fashioned oats
1 cup of raisin or more if you really love them like I do

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter, sugar and molasses together. Add eggs and vanilla. Combine and blend the dry ingredients. Mix the butter mixture with the dry mixture. Drop by rounded tablespoon fulls ( I like to use a medium size scoop) on cookie sheet and bake 10-15 minutes.

If you freeze the dough add a few extra minutes to baking, Dont let your hubby know you have raw cookie dough in the freezer or he will want to eat the dough all up without baking them. True story.

Hows it going?

We are a few weeks into the new year and in any good restoration project you need to evaluate how things are coming along. If you made a list this is the time to get it out and look over it and see how its going? If your list is really long you may want to tear it in half and then in half again. This is solid advice from someone who likes to get in over her head.

Mrs Ladybugs Realistic Goals

1. Meal planning....So far so good I am not really terrible at this but there is room for improvement. We did not grab anything to eat our last week because of poor planning, I do need to work on a few freezer meals though. I think that will be really handy.

2. Sticking to and cutting the grocery budget...I kind of set myself up for failure in the beginning by choosing to do this on long holiday weekends. We had a seafood extravaganza for Christmas and prime rib for new years. I am happy to report that this past week I was under budget by around $20. Lets hope this next week goes as well.

3.  Getting organized.... This one has been a little hard to accomplish with people being home a lot, the weather making the dogs crazy, my lack of enthusiasm. Instead of looking at the whole house I am definitely going to start on one little area at a time. If you are struggling with this too do focus on a whole room. Just do a small counter area, a book shelf at a time or a kitchen drawer at a time.

4. Earning at least $5 a month from Shopkicks and $20 from Ibotta. I have reached the $5 goal and am halfway to the $20.

5. Blogging.... I am doing pretty well at this one. Though some may think I could use some improvement. I enjoy it and honestly this is sort of one of those things that I am doing mainly for me and thats okay. I think sometimes we feel guilty for doing things just for ourselves,

6. Starting my little business...I got a Facebook page and an upcoming soap making class I need to schedule. Since the rest of my goals are going pretty well this week I think my focus should be on this one. I will get my calendar and get something on the book for my soap class. My sister suggested that I make a little "how to" video. Not sure what to do so any suggestions would be helpful.

7. Sending out cards...I actually really enjoyed making my few Christmas cards. Valentines day is one of my favorite holidays and is a perfect time to send out little love notes to those in your life who are special.

The goal list in my head is much longer than the one I have posted here but like I said we need to not bite off more than we can chew. Every step forward is a victory no matter how big or small.

Have a great Monday and let me know how your goals are coming along.

Sunday Slowdays

We have always been homebodies on Sundays if at all possible. With the exception of church. Not that we do not on occasion run to a store or eat out but generally staying home to rest up for the week ahead. I remember as a child everything being closed on Sundays. You didnt really have a choice but to stay home. If you have ever read Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder about her husband as a child they took Sunday pretty seriously. You cooked all your food on Saturday. The only thing you could do was read your bible and nap in a chair. Her husband, Almonzo and his brothers chose to sneak out while dad was napping. It didnt end well.

Even though its below freezing outside today the sun is shining brightly and is reflecting off the snow on the ground and has me day dreaming about the garden. The guys are watching Grand Tour, boys and their love of things that go fast, I just dont get it. The dogs are wanting to wrestle with each other and drive me crazy. Socks our cat keeps sitting on my keyboard looking at me like this because I am somehow suppose to make the cold and snow go away so he can hunt mice which he likes to leave outside for his brothers, the dogs, and I have to chase them to get them from them or we will find headless mice in our beds, behind couch cushions, or any other random place.

Just in case others are daydreaming about gardening as I am I thought I would share some garden info. If you are planning on growing onions from seed the time to plant them is within the next week. If you want to start them outdoors from sets you can do that on or after March 8th. I live in Zone 6 or at least thats what Mr Ladybug tells me. One of the reasons we decided to start onions for seed is its cheaper. We also chose types that we may or may not be able to find local. One of our favorite seed places closed down last summer in our area. I am going to probably offend a few people with this next statement but by the time lots of our big box stores get cabbage and other cole crops its too late to really plant them. They dont do great in the hot summer days. I am not saying they wont grow but if you have had trouble growing things its not always your fault.

Last night we had deer meat given to us. I looked at a million recipes and pieced a few of them together to get this one.

1 pound of deer back strap
1/4 cup of good balsamic vinegar ( we are total vinegar snobs and refuse to buy any under $16 a bottle)
1/4 cup worchestershire sauce
1 tsp chili powder
2 cloves of garlic (i sliced mine really thin but crushed should be fine also)
1-2 tsp molasses
1 tsp dijon mustard

Mix marinade and add it and the deer to a ziplock bag and marinate in the fridge for at least an hour. I  took mine from the marinade, sliced it in 1/2 inch slices and cooked in a Tablespoon of butter on the wood stove for 3-5 minutes on each side.

We had it with parmesan shells and peas. This is just a recipe in my head. I cooked 2 cups of pasta in boiling water, not on the wood stove. Its hard to get your water to a rolling boils for 12 minutes and you end up with icky gooey pasta that you feed to your chickens Learn from my mistakes and if you see someone who says you can boil pasta on their wood stove they  either have it really hot in their house or they are lying. About 2 minutes before pasta is done add your peas. Drain and add a Tablespoon or two of butter to your pan, add the pasta and 1/2  cup parmesan cheese and enough milk, maybe 1/2 to 3/4 cup, and heat on low until its melted and hot.

Weekend adventures 1/13/18

We were prepared for the worst weather and barely got anything. There are so icy roads out and about town but no power outages. Our plans for the weekend of being home bound included watching some movies, cooking on the wood stove, playing trivia and reading. Our plans now that we aren't as restricted are exactly the same and that' fine with me too.

The hubby and I love to identify birds and winter is a great time to see some that come down to winter in your area. I just wonder how terrible it is in Canada if some of their birds migrate to Kentucky! We still love to see our local birds at the feeders. Yesterday I saw blue jays, robins. cardinals, sparrows, purple house finch and juncos ( which are not local), and our favorite little woodpeckers.

We used our last suet cake the other day so this morning we made some for our feathered friends.  I found this recipe online and thought we would give it a try. We added sunflower seeds, raisins and peanuts to ours, We buy those to feed the birds anyway. We will be making more of these through the winter and will use dried mill worms and fruits as well.

https://www.thespruce.com/simple-bird-suet-recipe-386579

We decided to let the suet cool off in the snow on the potting bench by the back door. I half expected to see a flock of birds or our fat squirrels greeting me as I went to take this pic.

We will be doing more cooking on the wood stove and I am going to try another bread recipe. I think the girl and her father are planning a Planet of the Apes marathon, starting with the originals. I can not wait to write down some of the things that she says during the movie. She is  science person so she loves to tell us how things are not possible in movies. Whenever she tries to explain some things to me I tell her I prefer to think that it happens by magic, just to drive her crazy. She is a pretty smart little cookie and we are super proud of her.

Stay safe and warm and have a great weekend.

Expecting the Unexpected

Good morning! If I had written this about 3 hours ago I would not have called it a good morning. It all started yesterday afternoon. My dogs have been wild. It was 66 degrees outside. One would have thought they would have been happy. I went to pick up the hubby and he asked what was for dinner, I told him shrimp tacos. He wasnt feeling it. He suggested we just drive to our favorite mexican place. I told him we were eating at home since we have food. I remembered I had some breaded chicken tenders from a deli that I had gotten half off and I had bought some mac and cheese. Dinner change of plans cost us $5 instead of $40. I know that seems a little silly that a meal change would make one think their day wasnt going well. I was just trying to point out that I learned my lesson well last week when we ordered chinese when things werent going as planned.

I had been out feeding all the animals and saw that the bees were enjoying the warmer weather. We had already lost our smaller hive before it got cold. It wasnt a surprise but still very sad. We are doing our best to have bees. Mr Ladybug, i did finally tell him that I call him that on my blog and he wasnt offended or anything so its no longer our little secret anymore, decided to look in on the bees and they are doing fantastic! This makes us very happy. Anyway I had been at the hive earlier taking a video and pictures. The term "busy bees" is very accurate. On warm days in the winter, usually over 55 degrees the bees will clean house by removing all the bees that have died. You can see them along the board in the pic. As I was watching my husband inspect the hives from a safe distance I decided to go in the house and start dinner. I bee flew right into my face and stung me. On the way into the house to get the stinger our of my face another bee got stuck in my hair. We got that one out without injury to the bee or myself and I was able to get to safety. My reaction to stings seems relatively mild. My cheek is sore like a bruise and itchy. I think I will survive.

I had plans to do a bible study and have been excited about starting for a few weeks now only to have something pop up that make Thursdays not work for me. That was a bummer. I am pretty sure I can study the book on my own but I was so looking forward to meeting new friends and studying with an old one.

Since my morning plans had changed I was able to go with my daughter and take her puppy in to get spayed. Puppy hugs and kisses make everything better. This is one of my grand dogs, Sasha. She is so sweet.

Now we are expecting some yucky snowy icy weather into the weekend. Its easy to say our weekend is ruined but none of us have anywhere we have to be so we can stay home and be safe. Lots of times when they say our weather is going to be bad it misses us and thats awesome but one should always be prepared here are few things that we will be doing to insure if we lose power we arent too uncomfortable.

We do not have to worry about cooking since we have the wood stove. It will be meals as usual for us but if you do not have a way to heat things up I would suggest you think about having some things on hand. Your refrigerated foods should be fine for a day or two with no power.

We do not have to worry about heat since we have a wood stove. Dont worry I do not get paid for endorsing wood stoves. We have just been through a few power outages in our 28 years of marriage and have taken precautions to make things as comfy as possible. We will be moving wood closer to the house and have more inside the house so we dont have to go out and get if it gets too icky. We will also have plenty of kindling for starting fires in case we sleep too long and it goes out.

We have oil lamps and oil, flashlights that will be all charged up and candles.

I will be charging all electronics. Downloading a few things off amazon to watch if we lose wifi. Both college kids have battery bank thingies, you can tell I am the tech person in this house. NOT! My hubb and I share one since we dont really need it but thought one for camping and our other adventures might be a good idea.

Do all the dirty laundry. I know this seems like an odd one but if you do lose power for more than a few days you may need to do some laundry.

We will have to go out and check on all the animals like we do every day. They all have wooden building enclosures and are safe from the weather.

We are lucky enough to have a gas water heater so we can take hot showers and wash dishes with not problem.

If you have an out door gas grill or even a charcoal grill you can cook on those outside. We have done that before. If you have a camping stove make sure you have fuel for it. You can use that in the garage if its snowing.

The last thing that you have to have no matter what happens is tea. tea and if you forget more tea.

Life happens either according to our plans or not. We just have to learn to change right along with it. We dont have to like it but we do have to accept it or figure out how to change things. Nothing happens if we just get mad or sit around pouting.

Starting onions from seed, meeting goals, an easy dinner and yummy muffins.

I am on my last onion. I am going to go check the box in the garage and hope that I have missed a few. From March of 2016 until today I have not bought an onion from the store. If only I had started my green onion seedlings a bit sooner I would not have to buy onions. I can at least be happy in the fact that this is the longest stretch that I have not had to buy them and next year I will be more prepared. The picture above is the growing station for the winter seed starting. My little green onions are in the recycled sour cream and dip tubs and the onions that are suppose to get big are on the top shelf. I think my hubby said he planted at least 240! That will give us about 4.5 onions per week. I seriously have goosebumps.

Yesterday I had to run a few errands and picked up a few things that were on sale but going off sale today that offered Shopkicks points and I am happy to announce that I have already earned $5. Its only 1/3 of the way into the month and I have reached my goal. I am hoping to get another $5 this month but if not thats okay too. If you are a big online shopper, which I am not really you should really look into them. I do use Groupon and have no idea how we lived without Amazon and both are on the Shopkicks rewards from time to time along with several other stores.

Last nights dinner was fried rice with chicken. A pretty simple recipe that could be even simpler if making a few things ahead of time. The chicken pieces were the same recipe as a few days ago for my chicken nuggets. I just cut them into smaller pieces. The rice is one of those things that everyone has a different level of taste for soy sauce. I never look at a recipe for this I just start throwing things into a pan but I will try my best to type it out.

Fried Rice With Chicken

Cut 1-1 1/2 ponds of chicken into bit sized pieces and soak in milk. drain and roll them around in a bowl of seasoned flour. Any brand or homemade will be fine. Be sure to use paprika to give it that pretty golden color. put enough oil in your pan to coat the bottom and add chicken when oil is hot and cook while stirring it around. This wont take long if your pieces are small enough. I placed my chicken in the oven with a lid on it to keep them warm while I cooked the rice.

For rice I put 1 cup of rice in a pan along with 2 cups of water, a Tablespoon of butter and a few shakes of salt. Bring to a boil put a lid on it and turn it to simmer. Set a time for 25 minutes. I do check on it to make sure it not too dry but turning it down really helps it not be and at that low of a setting I have never burned it. Follow the same directions if you are cooking this amount or a bigger pot to freeze. I did fix a double batch of rice for this recipe. We had an extra guest for dinner and I still managed to feed 5 people for $5!

For fried rice it works best if your rice is cold. I usually spread mine out on a cookie sheet and pop it in the fridge or even the freezer if I am making it right at dinner, If your rice isnt already prepared cook it before the chicken and it can be cooling in the freezer while you are cooking the chicken.

Once your chicken is cooked and your rice is cooled you start by whisking 2 eggs. Heat oil in a pan and cook your eggs, I cook mine like an omelet and then chop it up when its done but you can scramble as you go if you wish. Once egg is done set it aside. Add sesame oil 2-3 teaspoons and add your rice and peas. Keep stirring so it doesn't stick and add 2-3 teaspoons of soy sauce, You can add more or less its up to your. Once everything is hot add your egg and serve. You can mix your chicken in if you want or you can add it to the side or top. Be creative.

Yesterday I made chocolate chip muffins for the boy. It was a new recipe and will definitely made made again. The hubby already requested blueberry for the next batch.

Here is the link

https://www.littlesweetbaker.com/2014/10/03/bakery-style-chocolate-chip-muffins-2/

Here is my muffin, hot tea and my stack of books I am currently reading or browsing
through.

Tuesday Menu Planning 1/12/18-1/18/18

Remember, I like to start planning for next weeks meals on Tuesdays. That gives us 3 days to get our act together. My menu usually runs from Friday to the next Thursday. I try to have at least one meatless meal. I have added an extra one the past two weeks but dont tell the boys. We have soup at least once a week but we really love soup and usually have it twice. We like to try a new recipe on the weekend and we usually have a hot sandwich like hamburger or bbq on Fridays with fries. I like to have something with rice at least once a week and something with noodles. You can never forgot the potatoes either.

This is what my menu looks like now

Friday Hot Sandwich with fries ( probably hamburger or quinoa burger for the vegetarian)
Saturday Deer roast with homemade bread cooked on the wood stove ( leftovers for the vegetarian)
Sunday quiche with broccol, mushroom and cheese
Monday Veggie soup with grilled cheese
Tuesday Burritos just like Chipotle but cheaper ( make one meatless for the veggie)
Wednesday Something over noodles, probably chicken with veggies ( once again just leave our chicken but use Barilla added protein pasta for her)
Thursday Potato Hash with sausage pepper and mushrooms ( leave out meat for the veggie)

Breakfasts are usually one of the following muffins, oatmeal, cinnamon toast, cereal, pancakes, egg Mc moms, biscuits with gravy or jelly  but never both together eww!

Lunches through the week are PB and J, leftovers if they have access to a microwave at work or school that day, ham and cheese sandwich, cheese and crackers, peanut butter and crackers and chicken salad. They usually have chips and a piece of fruit and sometimes cookies if I make them and they dont gobble them up too fast. On the weekend I usually fix at least one hot lunch and its usually pizza and we like to do appetizers for lunch on the weekend.

Snacks are fruit, home baked goods, crackers, chesse, popcorn and cereal.

With all this in mind I start constructing a list. Do I have any of these ingredients or do I need them? Which stores has the best sales on what, does Ibotta or Shopkick offer any cash back on the items I need?

 If you are not in the habit of making a menu and a list this seems kind of hard at first but once you get the hang of it you can do this pretty quick. If you find a recipe you really like put it on an index card. Having a menu also helps you plan ahead. Tonight we are having fried rice with chicken. I will cook my rice this morning so it will be cooled for later. When looking at the menu for the rest of this week and for next week I see I need rice two more meals. I will fix enough rice for at least 3 but probably 4 meals and put it in the freezer. That will be one less thing you have to do on that day.

The first two grocery trips have been over budget. Remember my budget is $120 a week, the first week we had decided on prime rib for dinner on New Years day and that thing was like $37! We did also get hot sandwiches out of it and am going to try a 17th century soup recipe with the last of it soon. The second week I was $10 over. I blame that on me finding a ham for $1.19/lb and they had an additional $3 off making it .89/lb. I cut it up and will get several lunches and future meals from it plus a big ham bone to cook in some beans on my wood stove. I will post my totals for this week and hope to be under.

Do you have any helpful tips you would like to share with others. I know I am always looking for new ideas.

Restoring what you like

Remember when you were a kid and your mom tried a new recipe or food you werent familiar with and you didnt want to try it? They usually said something like "how do you know you wont like it if you dont try it". It took me years to get my hubby to try something other than sweet and sour chicken off the chinese menu. When you take the time to restore an old home or a piece of furniture you have to know what you like or you are not going to like the finished product. Same goes for you if you are in a stage of life where so many things have changed and you need to change as well. You are going to have to try new things to see what you actually like.

I could give you a whole list of things I dont like. We can tend to become negative in life and only focus on those things. So finding things that interest us can be hard. We also tend to stay in our comfort zone. I am actually not a great seamstress. I like sewing and tend to stick with simplicity but I still try new things and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesnt and thats okay.

One of the things that brings me joy is repurposing things. One the things that drives my hubby crazy is having to make the things I want to change into other things so that I dont get electrocuted or cut off one of my fingers or arms.

These are a few of my favorite things, The teapot I thought about getting rid of because I never used it but my sister saw on Pinterest where you could put your yarn in it, only if the lid is big enough,  and use it to keep your yarn safe. This only works if you can sit it on a table while knitting. I will not use this when I am knitting in bed or something. The tape measure is something I remember always playing with that my dad had. We have numerous retractable tape measures but I like this fold out one the best and I keep it on a shelf as decoration and I always know where it is. The lamp. I bought this mason jar full of buttons and found the lid a few years later to turn one into a lamp. The collander lamp shade was an idea I had later. It makes a neat star pattern on the ceiling in the evening when we use it.

The hubby and I are on a new kick of cooking on the wood stove as you can probably guess. This weekend we tried a rustic bread. It was ok but we are looking for a new recipe for this weekend. Since its been so cold we thought that it would be wise to use the heat from the stove to cook on and save some electricity. Its always fun to have a partner in crime. It doesnt have to be a hubby and cooking on a stove, I have a friend that I like to garage sale with. You have friends you meet for lunch. Be creative.

I wont post the bread recipe until we find one that we really like but this tortellini soup. In the picture from top left its reheating the dutch oven, letting the dough rise, putting the dough in the dutch oven and letting it rise before baking and then end product which I seemed to crop out of the picture! Maybe I should learn a few photography techniques.

8 oz of tortellini, we use cheese stuffed
16oz jar or homemade spaghetti sauce
4 cups of vegetable stock

Put all ingredients in a pot, heat on medium heat until pasta is cooked. Top with cheese.

Seriously, how easy is that?

Weekend Ramblings

This is our cat, Socks. We found him as a tiny kitten almost dead. Everyone thought he wasn't going to make but me. He definitely is the boss of the house and he thinks hes a dog. I asked him to pose for my blog and this is what he did. He has his own style and I can respect that.

I have stayed close to home all weekend. I did my Kroger run on Saturday morning and Mr Ladybug and I ran to Lowe's for seed starting soil. We are an exciting pair. Our movie night was pretty good, I really enjoyed the new Flatliners. I actually told him that I wasn't sure if I would since the original had Keifer Sutherland in it. I am a huge Keifer fan and my family makes fun of me for it. I was over the moon when he had a few appearances in the new movie. Don't worry that's not really a spoiler.

So our oldest daughter came over for lunch. We decided on appetizers. I made a parmesan cheese ball, placed it on the coffee table where everyone was sitting, returned to the kitchen to start the next appetizer and came back to almost empty plate. They all loved it. I will have to add that one to the recipe box. Do you write your recipes down? Since Pinterest I am really bad at writing things down. Sometimes you go back to look at a recipe and the link doesnt work anymore.


Parmesan Cheese Ball Recipe

8 oz block of cream cheese at room temp
1/3 paremsan cheese, I used shaved but any should work
2 cloves of garlic or a teaspoon of garlic powder or garlic salt

Mix well with a hand blender and form into a ball.

As I have mentioned before a few of us are lactose sensitive so I stopped buying hot chocolate mixes and I can not find a powdered milk substitute thats affordable. So I make a mix and and we can add it to milk or almond milk.

Mrs Ladybug Hot Chocolate Recipe

1/3 cup of cocoa
1 cup of sugar

Mix in a blender or food processor until powdery. Use a heaping Tablespoon for each 8 oz of mild.

Whenever a seed catalog comes in I try to not thumb through it before my hubby gets home. Recently I have waited for him but while I am cooking dinner he will look at the catalog. How rude is that? Yesterday our Townsend and Son magazine came in. Its the place to get all your 17th supplies and our first order of seeds. Mr Ladybug had to go in to work so I didnt think twice about grabbing those seeds or thumbing through the catalog without him. I even sent him a picture of what he was missing.

We got the shelves up to start our plants indoors for the garden. We were going to put it in the living room, in front of our big picture window but we were afraid our cat would destroy it in our sleep. Hes a pretty evil cat but we are so lucky that he chose us as his family. I have to say that just in case he reads my blog. We decided to put it in our bedroom since we have a screen door on it. We did that so that we could keep critters, dogs or cats, in our out without closing the door. Expect to see lots of pictures of the plants and as get bigger!

Friday Funday

If you are reading this it means you are alive and have survived this week. It doesn't matter how you survived only that you did. I had an adventurous day yesterday. Nothing terrible but not what I was expecting. We had a morning appointment that lasted longer that planned. While my son was nice and warm in a dental chair I was in the waiting area where it was below 60 degrees. The plan was to be home by noon but that didn't work out and we weren't home until 2:30. I had driven my hubby to work and I needed to leave at 3:30 to pick him up on time. I fed and watered all our outside animals. With these below freezing temps keeping them with water has been fun. I hopped in the car got to his work on time and he texted to tell me he had to stay a bit later. I am sitting there thinking "if we get home at 5 and I start cooking then it wont be done until 6 or 6;30 and I will have to mess to clean up and I am really tired and blah blah blah". I ordered chinese from my phone and we swung by to get it on the way home. Momma can relax and everyone is happy.

The point I am trying to make is you can have all the plans in the world one little thing can throw off your game and thats okay. My hubby was probably confused by my sitting in a cold waiting room for several hours making me so tired but a few weeks ago when a car ran a light and totally smashed up our car I insisted on coming home and making homemade pizza when he suggested we grab something out.

I had lots of freezer meals made up to last us from Thanksgiving to Christmas. With our kids being our of school and everyone staying around home I didnt worry too much about cooking and what we were having. Next week everyone will be at work, at school, staying later, going out with friends that are back in town and I will be back in plan mode. I dont think it would hurt to have a few freezer meals ready for future hiccups in my schedule. Maybe even a few things that could be heated up on the wood stove just in case we loose power.

On to the weekend. We always try watch a newly released movie on the weekend. The first of July I purchased a Redbox gift card worth $20 for $12. Using Deals texts from Redbox a few times over the year, codes from Retail Me Not and free movies using the Play Pass on the Redbox website we have watched around 22 movies and still have $6 left on the card. I think we have decided on watching Flatliners and that will put us eligible for another free rental the next time we rent one. I have no idea why this makes me so giddy.  I guess all the money I save on movie rentals I can use to buy chinese food.

Do you sign up for text deals at places? I have started signing up for quite a few over the past few months and have gotten so pretty great food deals. Teenage boys are always willing to help you use buy 1 get 1 anything fast food deals.

Besides a movie we are having a family lunch tomorrow with appetizers. I will share those recipes if they are a hit. I think the sweltering 40 degrees its suppose to be on Sunday will have Mr Ladybug in the pigeon loft. I am hoping he doesnt mind me blogging about our racing season, We took last year off but hope to have fun with this hobby again. I am going to be throwing out the broccoli sprouts. A week and a half and only these tiny little things, They also smell weird. I will try radish and alfalfa. Hopefully its just the broccoli seeds. We will also be setting up our seed starting station. Thats always exciting.

One pot dinner, my new favorite cornbread recipe and a few other things.

I am so excited! Kroger is having a Saturday sale and Kroger brand 8 oz cheese blocks and shredded cheeses will be 99 cents and you can buy 5. I have been hanging onto a few coupons and I have two that will total $2 off 4 blocks of cheese. That means that this ladybug will get 5 blocks of cheese for $2.97. I also have a $5 off $50 spent and a $6 off of $60. Something tells me that I am going to be under budget this week or at least on budget but stocking up for future weeks without great sales. Also from the 4-7th you can download a digital coupon on your plus card and get 2X fuel points on your purchases. If you dont make your own toothpaste like I do Colgate toothpaste is on sale for 88 cents. I like to save coupons for toothpaste and buy them up and donate them to a womens shelter.

Cooking your dinner on a wood stove not only saves you money but makes you feel like Laura Ingalls Wilder. I cooked my dinner for about 5 hours on the stove. I mixed up some cornbread and when the hubby got home everything smelled so yummy and was ready to eat. I hope he doesnt expect dinner to be finished at 4:30 every day.

One dish potatoes, green beans and sausage

1 pound of potatoes sliced in to 1/2 inch
1 pound of smoked sausage
1 pound of fresh or frozen green beans

I put a little water in the pot and set on the stove that was around 300 degrees for 5 hours. I layered the potatoes on the bottom then the sausage and the beans on top. I also added chopped onions and garlic.

You could easily do the same thing in your crockpot on low or put everything on a sheet pan and toss with olive oil and bake in a 400 degree oven for 45-50 minutes. Whatever works best for you.

I tried a new cornbread recipe from the Bobs Redmill site and think we will continue to use this one. I made a few changes.

Corn Bread 1 cup Medium Grind Cornmeal 1 1/3 cups Buttermilk or substitute 1 and 1/2 Tablespoon Vinegar in regular milk  1 cup All-Purpose Flour 1/4 cup Cane Sugar or honey 2 tsp Baking Powder 1/2 tsp Baking Soda 1/2 tsp Salt 2  Eggs 1/4 cup Melted Butter cooled

Instructions

1. Combine medium grind cornmeal and buttermilk in a large bowl and let sit for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375°F. Spray an 8x8-inch baking pan and set aside.
2. Mix together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add to the cornmeal mixture along with the eggs and melted butter. Mix until thoroughly combined.
3. Transfer to the prepared pan and bake until golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 25 – 30 minutes. Let cool slightly before serving.
4. For muffins: Line a standard 12-serving muffin tin or a large 6-serving muffin tin with paper liners, then spray with pan spray. Bake for 15 minutes for standard muffins or 20 minutes for large.

I had read that you could stuff empty toilet paper rolls with dryer lint and use them as fire starters. I tried it and it worked!

Tonights recipe is cheeseburger soup. I hope to cook the ground beef and get it all put together and cook on the wood stove again. I may even try a crusty bread recipe in the crockpot. I am going to be gone most of the morning so who knows what will happen.