My Tireless Retirement – Week 116

 

After a pretty warm week we cooled down quite a bit and wasn’t too sorry about it.  Normally our super hot weather doesn’t hit until July and August but we got a taste of it a bit early this year.  The less I need to use the A/C the better so I can keep my power bill low, plus I always feel bad for how the hot weather affects my kitties and the chickens.  It will be warming right back up however.  It has been a weird year with our temperatures bouncing up and down like a ping pong ball.

 

It was a great week for me to earn some extra “cash” in the form of gift cards.  First I received the $40 gift card after signing up for my Costco Executive Membership.  The next day I received the $50 gift card for signing up for a Costco Visa card which also has my membership card on the back.  The next day I received the $20 Kroger gift card I had earned after the May bus riding challenge I had signed up for and completed.  After that I redeemed my Fetch rewards points that I earned over the past year which included 20,000 bonus points for scanning my receipt from buying my Costco membership and received another $25 Kroger gift card.  Not a bad haul at all!

 

I harvested all of the garlic from my garden and then laid it out in the garage to cure.  It is a small harvest, but I’m thrilled with it.  I feel like I planted the right amount for one person.  It is definitely something I’d like to plant again in the fall.  In the meantime I’ll need to collect more rabbit poo (that shouldn’t be a problem) to add to the soil as I understand garlic are heavy feeders and will deplete your soil if you don’t amend it.

 

I finished the rest of my grocery shopping last week

I was able to get outside and finish cutting up the dead limb I had removed from my maple tree and got it ready for the garbage man to pick up.  My poor tree has a few more dead branches I need to remove so I’ll be working on that project for a while.  I’m taking it a little bit at a time.

 

My little collection of freezer meals for the weeks ahead

Lately I’ve gotten back into the habit of meal prepping on Sundays once again and setting up my meals for the week ahead.  It has become very handy to have it all lined out and in the refrigerator ready for me to reheat when I get home.  Since I am still riding the bus most of the time and doing so much walking I’m usually pretty hungry and ready to eat once I make it back home.  Let me know if you have an interest in some more detailed posts of my meal preps.

 

The quiche was so good!

Meals I Prepared: 

I began the week finishing up the leftovers from the previous week.  I still had a lasagna and asparagus meal as well as a hot dog and some mac & cheese left.  Then I used up another sauce packet from the pantry to make a little bit of a pasta alfredo which I paired with shrimp from the freezer that I made into a delicious scampi.  The alfredo sauce was absolutely gross so I ended up giving the pasta to the chickens.  They enjoyed it, but I sure did not.  I guess not everything can be a culinary success.

 

I was not impressed by the sauce mix,
however the rice was very good

The scampi was quite nice

I had a store brand rice a roni box in the pantry to use up so I made it adding an extra ¼ cup of rice to the mix as well as an extra ½ cup of water.   I find it can be too salty otherwise and it also will stretch it out for an extra meal.  I then heated up a pint jar of pork roast in broth,  added a little cornstarch slurry to thicken the broth and put it over the rice.  I put away three servings into the freezer for later and the other two into the refrigerator which I ate last week.  It was surprisingly good. 

Last year's harvest

I had a quart bag of sliced strawberries and a quart bag of sliced rhubarb that I’d put away last summer.  Both of those needed to be used up so I decided to make a strawberry rhubarb pie for dessert to go with Sunday dinner and it was fantastic!  A friend brought over vanilla ice cream to go with the pie.

 

It had been a good long while since I'd baked a pie

Since I was baking I went ahead and made two small quiches with grated zucchini and carrot I had put away in the freezer last summer, some dehydrated onion, as well as some diced ham I had put in the freezer at Christmastime and some grated cheddar cheese.  I baked one for Sunday brunch and put the other one unbaked in the freezer to enjoy later.  Hands down, my favorite meal of the week!

 

I made some wonderful fresh salads

I am so glad I had my meals for the week lined out ahead for me as I ended up sidelined by a migraine.  I even missed a day of work because of it.  I hardly ever get them anymore.  Instead of how I used to get them every other week I now probably only get one a year or so.  With that in mind, and even though they are not much fun, I really have no complaints.  I know from experience it could always be worse and I’m super grateful it isn’t.  NO BAD DAYS!

 

A fun little goodie bag!

There was also a pair of sunglasses I gave to a coworker

I won something!  Tuesday morning I got an email from Valley Regional Transit that I’d won a drawing for a swag bag which they dropped off at my work.  It was a fun array of items that I will be sharing with others.  I also won a free bus pass, but since I don’t need one myself and it is transferable I’ll be gifting that to someone who can use it down at the senior center.

 

How did they know? 😁

I spent the entire day Wednesday just playing.  I have wanted to make myself a new journal specifically for me to use for meal planning, grocery shopping and tracking my LTFS, freezer and pantry inventory.  Pretty much all things food related.  It is turning out so cute and it has been a load of fun to work on.  I’ve been moving my food section from my dayplanner into the new journal and I think it will be very helpful and give me a lot more room to think, plan and stay organized.

 

I began working on a new journal
to track all things food related

After a rather chilly week it has begun to warm right back up again.  It is hard to know from one day to the next what to expect, so I just roll with it.  At least I got a good bit of rain to soak the garden and flowerbeds which is always helpful and appreciated.  How did your week go?

 

FYI - My retirement week runs from Friday through Thursday.