Italian Style Black Bean Soup

 

This soup is easy and delicious and makes just enough for one or two people plus leftovers for another meal.  Not too much that you end up getting sick of eating it, but also it may not be enough that you end up wanting to make more.

 

Italian Style Black Bean Soup 

 

½ cup dry black beans, rinsed and checked

2 Tbs. finely chopped onion

1 carrot finely chopped

½ lb. Italian-style sausage, browned and drained

1 15oz can Italian-style diced tomatoes

1 heaping tsp. minced garlic

½ tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. dried crushed basil

1/3 cup frozen chopped spinach

Salt and pepper to taste

 

Soak beans overnight in cold water.  Drain and place in a small slow cooker.  Cover with warm water and cook on high for 4 hours stirring occasionally and adding water if needed.  Brown sausage with onion and carrot, drain away any fat.  Add to beans along with tomatoes, garlic, garlic powder and basil.  Add one tomato can full of water to the soup, stir to combine all ingredients.  Cook one more hour until beans are tender.  Stir in chopped frozen spinach and serve.

 

This soup goes together wonderfully with a big garden salad and some freshly baked cornbread.  It freezes nicely too.

 

Setting Up My Living Room

 

The living room was the last space I set up and for quite a while it was messy and chaotic.  It was the area where I received shipments, sorted through packing boxes, put furniture together and basically treated like a garage, initially.

 

When I moved in the previous owner had left behind a fairly new recliner which worked out rather well for me because I had no furniture at the time and it was nice to have a place to sit other than the floor.  The recliner isn’t something I plan to keep, but it is serving a useful purpose until I figure out exactly what I want instead.  I have a lot of ideas, I guess I just need to make up my mind.  Sometimes that is harder than it seems.

 

I had brought the TV stand and my great grandmother’s end table from my previous home and they are working very well in the new home.  I also brought the new electric fireplace I had purchased last spring on clearance so I’d have some ambiance here in my tiny home in the mountains.  I was grateful there was the extra space available in the U-box so I could bring these things.

 

I added a new smaller craft cart to hold my paper crafting supplies.  I downsized over half of them before I moved and I also decluttered a grocery bag full of items I no longer plan to use as I was setting it up the new cart.  I was thrilled to discover the printer is the exact size as the top of the cart so it now has a home that is no longer the floor.

 

My shoe rack fits neatly next to the front door to hold my socks, shoes and my purse plus whatever shopping bags I happened to have used last and need to be put back in the car.  The existing coat rack is more than adequate to hang my jackets and keys so I kept that.

 

All in all, it took me a total of six weeks to move in, furnish and arrange my new home and I have enjoyed every minute of it.  It has been so much fun to unpack my treasures and welcome new items into this house.  It is exactly how I envisioned it could be when I very first set eyes on that listing back in late July.  I am so incredibly grateful this home is now mine.

 

What's For Dinner? New House Edition #2

One of the things I love to do when the temperatures start to dip and the Fall season arrives is to put on a pot of chili and bake up some cornbread so that is exactly what I did.  I was able to put away one small container into the freezer for later and I enjoyed the rest.

 

Chili with cheese & cornbread - so good! 😋

Chili over a baked potato and topped with cheese and sour cream is also a favorite of mine.  A hot and hearty meal to carry me through the day.  I added some steamed broccoli on the side.

 

A NY strip steak provided me with two meals.  Meal number one was with a baked potato and steamed broccoli on the side.  Meal number two was to thinly sliced the other half of the steak and serve it over a bed of salad greens with some bleu cheese dressing.  Both meals were delicious.

 

The last time I had fish & chips in a restaurant it was $20.  I decided to make my own fish & chips dinner with frozen fish fillets, some frozen tater tots and my homemade tartar sauce.  A dish of mixed veggies on the side made it the perfect dine-in diner style meal for me.

 

I also made chicken & rice

In that same vein I enjoyed homemade cheeseburgers with homemade steak fries on two separate occasions and a corndog with tater tots as well.  No need to go through the drive-thru and pay top price for mediocre food.  Instead I did it at home and saved myself a bundle.  I think my versions tasted better too.

 

Pumpkin waffles are another Fall favorite of mine

A pot of Italian black bean soup was the next thing I put into the Crockpot.  I had leftover cornbread from when I made the chili so that was a perfect pairing with this soup as well.  I enjoyed two meals and then put the rest into a small freezer container for later.  I’ll be posting the recipe for this soup soon.

 

Quesadillas make for a quick lighter meal in the evenings

Sandwiches are always a win with grilled tuna and homemade tomato soup, egg salad, fried egg & bacon sandwiches making an appearance.  You’ll probably notice a theme here lately with me gravitating toward more comfort foods this past month and you wouldn’t be wrong.  And they were all very tasty too.  What meals have you been making lately?

 

My Tireless Retirement - Week 237

 

It was particularly wet and rainy for me this past week and I took full advantage of the weather, hunkered down and practiced being a bit lazy.  I tidied up here and there, baked some delicious muffins, did a fair bit of reading and writing and just enjoyed some well earned downtime.  As a result I quite literally have nothing to report.  With that I hope you have a wonderful weekend and joyous week ahead.  Take care my friends!

 

Starting A New LTFS On A Budget

 

A big life change and cross country move into a darling tiny home on a small lot in a 55+ community in the mountains required a lot of downsizing in order for me to be able to successfully accomplish this goal.  That included the complete obliteration of my two year long term food storage system (LTFS).  I literally gave it all away and believe me when I say, it hurt, a lot.  The big question once I got here was would I build a new one and before I was even settled in I knew the answer.  Yes!

 

I was able to bring the dehydrated and freeze dried foods

As the summer was winding down and we headed into fall I was already working on a new plan and a strategy.  The first thing I did was to sit down with the spreadsheet I had made up for tracking the inventory of my old LTFS and reconfigure it for my current lifestyle.  The most important question one should ask is who are you stockpiling for?  Me,

 

Slowly I am beginning to add items like those
2 big jars of peanut butter behind the cocoa powder

The next thing I did was go through the spreadsheet and eliminate everything I personally do not want to eat and anything that wasn’t a necessity.  Next I determined how much of each item I will need to store in order to feed myself for six months.  I decided to do this in baby steps for several reasons.  One, I don’t have the space in this home I had in my last one.  Two, I don’t want this process to have a big impact on my budget. Three, I don’t want to acquire too much and risk food waste.  Four, I want the time to make wise decisions about what I am stockpiling and how much I am paying for it.

 

I made this spreadsheet to help me plan and track my inventory

I even got some freebies!

In the past I have talked about all the reasons why I have one, not the least of which is simply to be prepared for any unexpected situation that may arise.  Inclement weather and power outages, unforeseen financial situations such as car or home repairs, a sudden loss of income, there are many reasons to be better prepared.  Having a LTFS system in place has allowed me to be able to successfully retire early and combat the rise in grocery prices we’ve been seeing.  It also gives me great peace of mind.

The cloth storage cubes I bought at Dollar Tree can safely
hold lighter items like dehydrated potatoes, pasta and baking mixes 

My first LTFS did not happen overnight.  I began in 2020, during the pandemic, after witnessing seemingly normal people act anything but normal as grocery store shelves were cleared and fights broke out while people panic shopped.  I decided right then and there to take steps to insure and protect my family.  Now that my children are grown and I’m an empty nester I still see the value in keeping and maintain a LTFS in my retirement years.  I just don’t need to feed a family or prepare to feed anyone else, but myself right now.

 

I used the other cube for extra household items, toiletries, etc.

I have begun by making a detailed list for my new LTFS with just the basics.  Safeway had a sale on canned tomatoes so I purchased six cans in a variety that I could use to make pasta sauce, soups and chili.  I then added a two pound bag of rice, a two pound bag of pinto beans, a one pound bag of black beans and a pound of dry pasta.  The FREE table at the club house offered me the opportunity to add another two pound bag of pinto beans, another can of diced tomatoes, a can of green beans and a package of powdered milk.  Next I added ten pounds of flour – 5# of all purpose flour and 5# of whole wheat flour that I keep in my freezer, two boxes of Jiffy corn muffin mix, another pound of pasta, two forty ounce jars of peanut butter – one creamy and one crunchy and a pound of lard.  I know this doesn’t sound like a lot of food right now, but it’s a start.

 

I had room to pack the TP and Kleenex supply - Thank goodness! 😂

Moving forward I will be adding items to my regular shopping cart to add to my six month stockpile and updating my spreadsheet as I do.  I want to add another pound of black beans, more canned goods, some dry potatoes and a bit more pasta, as well as some more beef and chicken to the new freezer  and plenty of frozen vegetables to the new refrigerator so I will be working on that next.  Once I’ve accomplished my six month plan I will begin again and work on extending my LTFS to a one year supply.

 

I'm adding things a little bit at a time as part of my regular shops

The biggest thing for me when I initially began my LTFS plan was to realize I don’t eat as much as I thought I did and to scale my needs accordingly.  With that in mind I don’t think it will take me long to complete the six month plan as we head into winter.  In fact, I feel confident I’ll be working on my one year plan soon enough.  By steadily working on it each week as I do my regular grocery shopping I’m sure I’ll be back on track and stocked up in no time.  Is this way of stockpiling and preparing something you think you could do right now?

 

Setting Up My Dining Room

 

My dining room is situating between the kitchen and the living room area with a little nook or bay window, if you will.  I decided to really maximize this space by tailoring the table and chairs to fit this unique area.  I had an idea to find a triangular shaped table and only have two dining chairs.

 

As luck would have it I was able to order a guitar pick dining room table in the perfect size to nestle inside the nook right up against the window so it wouldn’t stick out into the walkway.  On each side I positioned two simple mid century modern style chairs I ordered from, of all places, Home Depot.  This set up is perfect for me and Yes!  I really do sit at the table and eat my meals.

 

The bonus came when my tiny freezer showed up and fit in the space between the dining set and the wall along the refrigerator.  I couldn’t believe that it fit there as I was originally thinking it would end up somewhere else entirely.  I think the style of the table and chairs is absolutely the best.  I love my cozy little tiny dining room!

 

A Tiny Freezer For A Tiny House

 

By now I’m sure you are all aware of how heartbroken I was to give up my long term food storage (LTFS) in order to make the move to my new house.  Well, I’m feeling a whole lot better about now because I got the cutest tiny little freezer and it fits perfectly in the dining nook along the wall next to the fridge as if that spot was custom made for this darling freezer.

 

The new freezer is a 3.8 cubic foot chest freezer and it holds a lot!  I am impressed.  After loading it with my last Butcher Box order I had a ton of room leftover.  I was able to add some salmon fillets and a couple chicken breast halves I got on sale at the local Safeway.  They fit perfectly in the two hanging baskets along the top.

 

I still have loads of room so now I can plan my next Butcher Box order as well as take advantage of any sales I happen across without worry of where to store things.  Now I can use the freezer on top of the fridge for storing frozen vegetables, butter, my flours, leftovers, frozen treats and to make ice.  For me this is the perfect setup.

 

This little freezer was exactly what I needed to start up a LTFS that is tailored just for me.  I am super excited about it.  Safeway had boneless skinless chicken breasts on sale for $1.27 a pound a couple weeks ago so I picked up two packages to vacuum seal and put away in here.  I’m going to have A LOT of fun rebuilding my new LTFS.  Hurray!