Thursday night after midnight, we loaded the dishwasher. I remembered to put the wash cycle on normal instead of heavy. I highly doubt it saves water, but it does save time and electricity. I managed to put a week's dishes in and a dozen new quart jars. I need to store beans in the jars. Update: I put the dishwasher setting on normal instead of heavy and that did not shorten the time!
The jars are some I have had, just still were in the package. I found three pantry moths, and do not want to encourage them. I put beans in quart jars with the canning lid and freeze them for at least three days.
Even after yelling about not using real spoons but wanting to use plastic, Tommy has adapted and uses the new flatware. We no longer buy plastic. I think we have a box of each for emergencies but do not use them. He yelled that he did not want to use anything but paper plates. Wednesday, I lamented that neither of us remember them when we go to the store. He said, "Well, we have those two divided plates you bought and there are the plates from my parents, so we can use those." Amazing! It appears we are paper- and plastic-free. It is hard to believe after all the fuss he has made. I told him we could resort to the Christmas plates.
When I put the chopped mushrooms on to cook on the stove, I turned it on simmer and left the kitchen just as Tommy was going into the kitchen. In about three minutes he came and told me the mushrooms were popping and making sounds. "Is this right?" Well, NO! So, I rushed in to find the mushrooms about to be scorched. Well, there was liquid, but with the heat so high, in one minute they would have scorched. I did get them turned down in time. Why, oh why have I put things on "high" instead of the lowest possible heat? rhetorical question.
Today, I ate some of the leftover spaghetti pasta with mushrooms, olive oil, and Parmesan cheese. It was wonderful! We can personalize a spaghetti meal, too. Tommy wants salsa on his spaghetti, and I want mushrooms. Neither can stand the other's choice. So, this works.
Friday is a beautiful day, blue skies and few great big, fluffy clouds. The view out the front door from my chair makes me very happy.
Tommy and I have been considering, pondering what we can do to make money. For me, sewing was always a path. My sewing machines are not set up and there is no room for them in the chaos. That was one thing the cleaner could help me with in one bedroom. He has no woodworking skills, no skills. I have woodworking skills but would need a table saw and a death wish. I do not want to resale online.
My choice would be to make American Girl doll clothes or maybe Barbie clothes. But, I am not out and about and have no idea if there is a market. My items are well-made, sturdy, and stand up to washing like regular clothing. Remember, I sold Cabbage Patch clothes for years.
My doll clothing is not cheap! They are not shoddy, either. The fabric and construction are of high quality. They would sell.
We have mulled this over and considered a few things. Tutoring always paid well, and I had no problem finding people. I doubt we would live through one day of a craft show. I have other ideas. Years ago, I wanted to make aprons and egg aprons and tote bags.
Tonight, I put lots of chicken in the oven along with four large potatoes cut in wedges and a pound of carrots. I put in: 5 huge chicken breasts, four gigantic chicken thighs, and two skewers with breast, onions, and green peppers. The package labeled turkey tenders was turkey necks! Everything was seasoned with garlic powder. Each chicken breast is three helpings since they are huge. The skewers carrots and potatoes are dinner tonight. There should be enough leftovers for us both to eat five more meals and for me to have chicken for lunches. We will have salad tonight, also.
I may boil the turkey necks for meat to put in chicken and dumplings. Necks are delicious in chicken and dumplings. Okay, they are in the pot seasoned with only salt.
Do you put the turkey or chicken neck meat into chicken and dumplings? Mama did, and it was delicious.
Do you have a sideline to make money?
Bailey has her reselling second hand clothing business and I did have an Etsy shop for a while. We also have our Blogger income. I like to store my beans in glass jars too. They look so pretty on the shelf all lined up.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking about an Etsy shop and eBay, but I don't really want to do that. I should. I store beans in glass jars to keep air and bugs out. But, I store them in the dark to retain the beans nutrition. Never in the light.
DeleteWell it seems you have got Tommy to realize it is better to use real dishware and silver. I am guessing that he finally saw the advantage of using a real plate. So much easier to balance and cut on a real plate than one made of paper when you take your meals in a chair. You will save a lot of money on throw away items.
ReplyDeleteI never used turkey necks in chicken and dumplings but of course I only dealt wirh whole tukeys during the holidays.I would cook them with the liver and gizzard and that meat would be added to the gravy. Don't know it is normal but I was taught to put chopped boiled eggs in the gravy also. Should work fine. You can use the broth as well in the dish. I love chcken and dumplings more when fall comes. I make drop dumplings from scratch, they are better than using canned biscuits in m opinion, Do you make your own or use the biscuits?
I do surveys online at swagbucks,com to earn extra money. I am also looking into donating plasma for money. I am not having any trouble with my finances but I like to be frugal and look for ways I might earn a little extra so I don;t have to pull from my retirement funds until I have no choice. It would also be a benefit to many people that need plasma to combat a health condition. 2 birds one stone as they say.
You might check with your city goverment, sometimes they need people to just sit and sign people in and out of different meetings or conferenes, You could see if there is anything you could do at the library a few days a week that does not requiring standing or walking. Maybe the reference or check out desk.
Let me know what you think about those ideas. Have a geat weekend!
TExas,
DeleteHe gets these things in his mind and will not change. Then, he acts like it is his idea like with using real plates when there is no more paper...lol. Eating in a chair is bad enough, but a paper plate makes it so much more trouble!
During the holidays, if I cannot get the frozen turkey thawed, I just cook the bird with giblets inside and throw them away. I know--terrible and wasteful. Mama put all giblets and the neck into the giblet gravy. Yes, it is good and proper to chop boiled eggs. Lots of people think it is gross, including Tommy. He hates any kind of gravy, so he can pass on giblet gravy. I am freezing the neck meat for fall and the broth, too. I make the dumplings.
I wanted chicken and dumplings one year and Mama was not here to tell me how to do it like she did. I sat and imagined going into her house and smelling it after school. I decided she only used salt, pepper, and ground sage. There was only chunks of chicken and dumplings. Lots of the recipes on the internet call for onion, carrots and all sorts of ingredients that was not in hers.
There is a place to sell plasma a mile from here, so it has crossed my mind. Since it is such a problem to find a vein, maybe that would not be a good idea. Plus, in a blood test, it showed I had hepatitis C. I have not been that ill. So, obviously a mistake. They are begging for plasma, so good for you donating.
Since I am trying to avoid people still, anything where people come and go does not seem like a good idea. Besides, tutoring is much more lucrative. Those are all good ideas. Really, I would do those things. Actually, substituting is even more lucrative, not that it pays a lot.
i put the celery,onions and some carrot in the pot when I am cooking the giblets to make a tasty broth, I drain those out for the broth to make the gravy. Just add the meat and the eggs at the end. I can't imagine that any one does not like gravy. Gravy is a staple, sausage, bacon, chicken, beef and pork make every dish yummy. Not good for you in some case it can really make a meal better. Tommy is one kind of different guy. My husband would fuss it there was no gravy!
DeleteTexas,
DeleteThere is no celery, onions, or carrots in my giblet gravy, just brown gravy, meat, eggs. It is tasty.
I asked him after years of knowing him why he does not like gravy. He says it bloats him and he can feel oil pooling on his face. Both are very odd to me. But, if he does not want gravy, he can leave it all for me! Really, my gravy is not greasy. If I suggested he eat sausage gravy, he would be upset. He hates it. He says he hates basil, but when I put it in a dish, he never notices. He has to see it to hate it.
I have only bought turkey necks open time and bought them to make broth since the bony pieces make the best broth. I was surprised how much meat was on them so after they cooked I took the meat off the cooked the bones even more.
ReplyDeleteI used the meat in turkey tetrazzini
Anne,
DeleteI will use the broth in the chicken and dumplings, just like mama did when she cooked the neck separately from the turkey. There must be two cups of meat from four necks. The meat from the neck is the only dark meat I like. turkey tetrazini sounds yummy right now.
Everyone's chicken and dumplings and neckmeat bits and giblets sound so delicious, especially because our air conditioning is running on for some reason tonight in my house and it feels like a cool fall night.
ReplyDeleteI used to work at the National Military Personnel Record Center before it burned (several floors of the building burned in 1972) in summer during summer before I graduated from high school and after I graduated and was going to secretarial school. I stopped working there when I finished secretarial school and got my first full time job as a secretary. That was just a month or so before the fire. I was young and had a beginners job of retrieving military record packets from the huge tall shelves in that building where all of the military records were stored. They were stored in open topped cardboard boxes on open metal shelves that were really tall. They had very tall ladders with wheels to wheel them around from aisle to aisle to climb up and down to get the files. Luckily the ladders had handrails on the sides of them. I could not believe all of the thousands of records all stored in open topped cardboard boxes. I mostly worked retrieving files from the WW1 section. There were so many boxes. Some of the projects I had to pull certain parts of the record and get information out of them, when I got back to my desk. So many young men died in that war from mustard gas. Anyway, it was a physical job and by lunchtime, my friends and I were starving. They had a cafeteria there with really reasonably priced meals and we would buy turkey or chicken tetrazini every time they had it available. I used to try to cook it after I was married, but it never tasted as good as what they made there. I had never before had it because my Mom never cooked casserole dishes because my Dad didn't like them. Funny how reading about chicken tetrazini this morning took me back so many years, to before I was even twenty years old, and could go up and down those ladders all day long and not even be tired at the end of the day. Those were the days.
Enjoy your day today.
susie,
DeleteI was thinking about the same type thing about being only twenty or so and hauling boxes for packing, climbing ladders to paint and just seemed to have no bounds when it came to agility and energy, both of which are at almost zero right now. Did all those records burn? Memory is a wonderful thing.
My former FIL's military records were burned in that fire. He was never able to get benefits because of it, and he was pretty darned pissed about it. My father's records were not in the same depository, and he certainly got great medical care from the VA. It's horrible to know that so many veterans were denied their rightful benefits because of that fire...
DeleteMy ancestor got benefits with no records, just testimony from others in military and in community. That is a shame to be denied benefits.
DeleteThe huge fire that destroyed all of the WW1 records that were there and many of the world WW2 records was awful. I still lived with my Mom and Dad when the fire happened. The top floor was totally destroyed. Ash and pieces of papers were launched into the air currents and floated down into yards a mile or two away. People were asked to return any pieces of paper that had any recognizable information on them. There was ash dropping into my Mom and Dad's yard 2 miles away. Many people had jobs after the fire trying to piece what remained of some records, flame and water damaged as they were. They were able to get some information from some of the records recovered. I don't know if there are still people working at trying to get the records restored or not. But they did work at it for a long time. It was a huge disaster.
Deletesusie,
DeleteTommy said I was talking about state records, not the same one you were describing. That is awful about the records of so many people. After 911, my daughter in Brooklyn said she found papers with the tower numbers on them and all sorts of ash. I cannot imagine how your experience was finding so much ash falling. It is good some info was recovered. Thanks for this info.
Susie, I am glad to learn that serious effort was made to recover information after the fire. My FIL was very bitter and convinced the fire was set on purpose so the government could deny benefits and save money. Did they ever find out the cause of the fire?
DeleteI use the neck but not the giblets in my gravy. I am grossed out by the organs in a whole chicken or turkey. I bake the neck in the bottom of the pan with the bird, along with carrots, celery, garlic cloves, and onion for flavor. After baking I strain the juice (throwing away the veggies), de-fat it, and then make a flour/butter roux in a pot and add the juices. Lots of salt&pepper and Bob's your uncle!
ReplyDeleteNever have I EVER put HB eggs in my gravy. My momma did not and so I don't. She would be scandalized. That's just...weird. Must be a Southern thing? Y'all put HB eggs in darn near everything!! I thought eggs in tuna salad was bad enough. ;^) :^) LOL!
I ate the organs chopped in the giblet gravy until I cooked turkey for holidays. Then, I decided a bit of meat from the turkey would work. I use celery instead of carrots because that is what Mama used for flavoring--the Holy Trinity.
DeleteIt seems wrong not to use hb eggs in giblet gravy or tuna salad. Yes, it is a Southern thing. I have been wanting tuna salad for ages and I have boiled eggs, so maybe it is time.
I also make my own dumplings and season the flour quite liberally with onion & garlic powder, salt, pepper, and a bit of cayenne for fun. My dumplings are even better than my momma's! Sorry Mom--it's true!
ReplyDeleteSue,
DeleteThat is funny. I don't want mine to be better than Mama's dumplings. I want them the same. I really never thought of flavoring in the flour, but I might try that for something else.
Oh, but mom got me back for my insufferable braggadocio. When I announced that I made XYZ better than her, she would smile and pleasantly reply, "Oh, is that so? Well, then you can make XYZ from now on!" And she would not let me off the hook, either. I was really slow to learn to keep my mouth shut about that, and she took full advantage...
DeleteMy mother was and still is clever like a fox that way!
Sue,
DeleteI always asked Mama if I made it just like hers. The only thing I did "wrong" was to use dark brown sugar in pumpkin pie while she preferred light brown sugar. Plus, I used too much sage for her taste in dressing. I kept the dark brown sugar and lowered the sage for her.
PS Tommy is just like every other man in the world in that no idea is worthwhile until he's convinced he thought of it first. Then and only then is it worthwhile.
ReplyDeleteThey are all the same! I told my husband my next vehicle (I have a 15-year-old Honda Odyssey van) needs to be a Honda Ridgeline. He scoffed. Couple days later he says, "You know, I've been thinking that our next vehicle needs to be a truck. I read that Honda Ridgelines are a good choice."
OMG, my eyes just about rolled out of my head! I replied, "Damn, you're a genius, hon--wish I'd thought of that!" I have ridden him mercilessly ever since then for being such a typical male jackass. He has taken it in good humor, though, because he knows it's true!
Sue,
DeleteYou are exactly right. Also, my mother always told us not to ask Daddy for whatever we wanted until he had his dinner. I have used that, too, to help him realize what he wants to do...lol. I try not to laugh too much when he discovers what we need to do.
Perhaps Mr. Tommy can be rented out as an escort?
ReplyDeleteMy side gig used to be taking photos, but my full-time job (and life in general) keeps me busy enough.
ReplyDeleteJane,
DeleteI remember that. Because I took great pictures, someone suggested years ago that I should take up photography, but I was unsure of myself then and would be horrible at it now...lol.