Meal plan for October 22nd – 28th
Phew, another busy, but fun weekend almost wrapped up! I’m counting down the days until canning is over (I think I’ll be all done in about 2ish weekends) so that I can have more normal time on weekends. With Troy being gone, weekend evenings are my times to get stuff done for the week (and occasionally relax, but that is overrated, right? RIGHT?), but this squirrel must hoard, so during canning season, everything takes a backseat. Apologies to anyone who has emailed me in the last few days…I’m so behind on responding!
My tomato plants need to be pulled and the green tomatoes need to be sorted, but I just can’t find the time to get that done. Part of me isn’t too motivated to do it knowing that those green tomatoes will likely turn to red tomatoes which means I’ll eventually have to can them. I don’t grow things to let them go to waste, but there is a small section of my brain that says, “oh just compost everything”.
This week I made another 5 quarts of tomato soup, 18 quarts of pears, and 20 quarts of applesauce. My cousin and I picked apples at my church yesterday, and after looking at the pile of apples and trying to gauge when I could process them, I gave her the whole lot. Troy was very proud of me. HA!
I had some fun thrifting adventures this weekend which I will be sharing with you later this week. Jack (such a little gentleman) also took Troy and I out to breakfast yesterday and it was SO nice to have someone else cook. Last night, I made a meal from a Thrive package that a reader sent me to sample and it was super easy, delicious, and cooked up in 15 minutes. I served it with some home canned peaches, and a loaf of no knead dutch oven bread that I pulled from the freezer. Love those kinds of meals!
Here is what we’re having this week:
Monday:: everyone is working late. No dinner. Troy and I will scavenge when we get home, and Jack will eat whatever I pack for him at my aunt’s.
Tuesday:: Troy and I have been invited to a couple’s house that we aren’t related to. So, an actual adult dinner party. I’m not sure how to wrap my head around that one because I can’t remember the last time it happened! My father-in-law will be watching Jack, and I’m making them my $.42 a serving for local and organic ingredients frittata. It will be paired with salad from the fall garden, and home canned fruit.
Wednesday:: Lentil soup in the crockpot ($.27 a serving for organic ingredients!), no knead dutch oven bread, and fruit.
Thursday:: a baked tilapia recipe I found that I’ve been dying to try. It will be served with salad from the garden, rice, and fruit.
Friday:: Troy and I are celebrating our 8 year anniversary!…3 months late. Our wedding anniversary is July 24th, and this weekend was the first time our schedules worked out to celebrate. Our lives are awesome, right? Jack will be staying at my in-laws, and Troy and I are using a giftcard (we’ve had for 4 months) to a restaurant, and then going to see Taken 2 (shouldn’t it be called Takener?). Then…as much uninterrupted sleep as we want!
Saturday:: I have a work event in the city, so the boys are on their own. I’m guessing quesadillas will make an appearance. And probably chocolate chips or something.
Sunday:: Dinner at my parent’s.
This week I didn’t spent any money at the grocery store, but typing this menu up made me realize I need to get some heavy cream for the dessert (raspberry creme brulee) I’m taking to the dinner party, and ginger, a jalapeno, and some cilantro for the tilapia. Darnit! I also need our weekly half gallon of raw milk, so add $3.50 to that.
I had my monthly Azure Standard order pick up this week. I hadn’t ordered anything in two months. I spent $172.75 on: a thing of Braggs apple cider vinegar, 40 pounds of pears, lots and lots of butter, a little container of coconut butter that I’m going to use for my lotion bars, and um, 50 pounds of russet organic potatoes.
“50 pounds of potatoes”?!?! you say? I’m guessing your thought process is a lot like this right now:
“Who on god’s green earth needs 50 pounds of potatoes”?
“Why those will go bad before her family can use them”.
“Wait a second…don’t tell me…”.
“That dumb idiot is going to can them, isn’t she”?
Bingo.
Will you do a post on that? People are interested! And by people, I mean me.
Oh 60 degrees not good at all.. Also I bought a food mill and love it……
I also can my potatoes so I do not think this abnormal at all. Have you ever dried any mashed potatoes. Very easy to do and easier to store.
I haven’t done that before. Can you please tell me more about it?
You know what’s great? Pickled green tomatoes! You could even do a batch of “quick pickles” with some of them and keep them in the fridge because it’s so fast and easy. Maybe that could save some time later…
Do you have a good recipe?
I can potatoes with great results. Try adding a bit of pickle crisp to the jars before processing; it helps keep them firm. That way you have more choices. We rinse our potatoes when they come out of the jar (too starchy otherwise) then either put them in potato salad, mash them, add them to stews or soups or heat them with butter.
FYI, the potatoes would probably last if you had a dry, cool spot to put them. As long as your basement isn’t overly damp (and you have a basement) you could keep them there for close to a year. If you buy potatoes in July, most likely those have been stored since the October harvest the year before. Don’t worry if you don’t get to them for awhile!
I read that tip on Gardenweb, and was totally planning on adding it. Great minds, right? How much do you put in there?
Sadly (but also great for heating), our basement stays at least 60 degrees year round. It’s a terrible place for storing produce.
1/4 tsp a quart 🙂
You may not have to process all of the potatoes. You can also bag the really good ones in 1 meal servings in paper bags, like lunch bag in a supermarket bag. Don’t wash befor you do this and only save the really good ones
Our basement stays at 60 degrees, so long-term storage for root crops isn’t ideal. And for me, if I’m going to the trouble of getting the canner out, etc., I want to do it all at once.
You could cook off some if the potatoes into (baked) fries, tots, hashbrowns, or steam for future mashed potatoes then freeze. My mom used to do this to “round off” meals where one thing would be relatively easy. 🙂
That is my hope with the canned spuds – to have them ready to go for later. It’s going to be an annoying night of canning, but I’ll have ready to use spuds for later.