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
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