My Tireless Retirement – Week 121

 

Hello my friends!  How is everyone doing this fine day?  I hope all is well in your world and everyone is surviving the summer heat alright.  My main goal lately has been to keep everything well watered, including my animals and so far so good.  Despite the extreme heat and smoke from the wildfires everyone is doing well.

 

I am so pleased with my tomato plants this year

My tomato plants are currently loaded with green tomatoes as well as the pear and apple trees so I’m hopeful for a good harvest and busy canning season in the next couple of months.  Now if I could just get a few green peppers on the plants I’d be happy.  I have blooms, but no peppers yet.  I’m working on the new garlic bed for this coming fall and have already started emptying the bunny bin into it for the added nutrients and fertilizer for a good harvest next summer.

 

I won't show you a picture of my toe 😂

While filling and putting up the hummingbird feeder on the pergola I stepped up onto the patio chair like I always do and the seat gave way.  The way I landed with my leg through the chair I ended up breaking my little piggy toe.  Ouch!  I guess it could’ve been worse.  Upon further inspection I could see that the seats on the patio chairs have all weathered in the extreme heat and it would be quite difficult to repair them so I’m going to have to make arrangements with our trash service to get rid of them.  Bummer!

 

Meals I Prepared: 

As part of this month’s pantry challenge I was able to make quite a dent last week in the bin of items I’d collected from the pantry that had been hanging around for a while or that I just wanted to get rid of (processed foods).  First up was a pint jar of ground turkey I had canned, a box of cheeseburger mac Hamburger Helper (I added an extra ½ cup of elbow macaroni), the final remains of a jar of powdered heavy cream (to use in place of milk) and a can of green beans that hit its best buy date in December of last year.  A friend and I demolished this meal in short order.

 

Refried beans

Next I took a packet of Knorr Spanish Rice (I added an extra ½ cup of rice) that I made up.  I also made refried beans to go with it using 2 pint jars of beans I had canned earlier this month and rendered bacon fat from the fridge.  Half of the refried beans went into the freezer for later.  I grated up an eight ounce block of pepper jack cheese that I’d purchased quite some time ago and enjoyed all of that with a nice green romaine lettuce salad and some salad dressing I’m trying to use up.  I’ve decided that most of the store bought salad dressings just aren’t for me anymore.  They just don’t taste very good to me.  I’m ready to start making my own.

 

Jell-O Poke Cake 😋

Over the weekend I needed a dessert to entertain with so I grabbed a box of cake mix and a package of strawberry gelatin from the pantry (more items to use up and not repurchase) and I made a Poke Cake.  I had stopped on the way home from work the day before and picked up a container of non dairy whipped topping to frost the cake with.  It made for a nice, cool and refreshing dessert on a hot summer day and it was a big hit.

 

Chopped cabbage and grated carrot combined with a can of chicken breast and some Toasted Sesame dressing from the pantry made for a super quick and refreshing Asian style salad to serve to guests for lunch.  When I served the salad I topped it with chow mein noodles for a tasty crunchy garnish. 

I also made a fruit salad.  Very refreshing!

Next up on the docket, I grabbed an eight ounce jar taco meat I had canned last year and used that along with the leftover rice and leftover refried beans to make tacos using corn tortillas I had in the fridge as well as some chopped romaine lettuce and leftover grated pepper jack cheese.  Quick, easy and delicious. 

After removing and thawing a container of mushroom gravy from a recent meal prep I baked a couple potatoes, heated up the gravy to pour over the potatoes and finished up the leftover green beans.

 

Mushroom gravy over a potato I "baked" in the microwave

It was definitely a week of pulling together pantry items and thinking outside the box to come up with things I could prepare without a trip to the store.  The only thing I really needed from the store was the whipped topping which I literally paid for with loose change I had in my wallet, everything else I used I already had on hand.  I’m pretty happy with how that all turned out.

 

This month I was hoping to get a nice pork butt this month to cook in the slow cooker and also use up my big can of green enchilada sauce, but I didn’t find a roast for a price I was willing to pay.  My hope is to make up a batch of pork verde this summer and get it canned for the LTFS.  I currently have no pork verde on the shelves at this time and it’s a favorite around here.  Even if I don’t find one on sale or perhaps marked down for quick sale I have so many other options on the shelf right now.

 

Okay, here is my poor little toe
Looks pretty good after a week, it was a lot more colorful & swollen before 😧

Enjoy this weekend and the week ahead.  I hope you are all doing well.  Don't fall through any chairs! 😄