Tasty Dish and Wasted Bananas

 When looking into my cans of food, I found a can of Campbell's Broccoli soup and it inspired me. I had a huge head of broccoli that was still a beautiful green and I did not want it to turn yellow. I had cooked lots of chicken the night before--skinless legs, bs chicken breasts, and half a package of tenders. We had that on Wednesday night with vegetables I forgot now. 

Do you remember when I bought a tall jar of Poultry Seasoning for $0.33? I used the spice blend on most of the chicken, just what I put in the oven. Tommy loved it. It was okay but not what I ever want my turkey to taste like. I only use sage on the turkey or chicken intended for Thanksgiving. 

On Thursday night, I put the tenders into a pot of water to boil. I trimmed and washed almost the whole head of broccoli. I layered the chicken first in a small casserole, put broccoli on top, Then, I poured the can of soup and half a can of water over the top. I meant to stir in a tiny jar of pimiento, but forgot. I used 1/4 cup uncooked brown rice on top of the chicken and another half cup of water. So, I decided when it was done and I had put grated cheese on it to cook uncovered, I would put grape tomatoes on top and bake it as the cheese melted. Then, I forgot the tomatoes. 

However, tomatoes are good raw when I forgot. This was delicious! So, it was an easy dinner. I only used enough rice for one serving since neither of us needs rice. This was a small dish in the oven, so it was eaten in one meal. No leftovers.

Use your own measurements for ingredients. My casserole dish had a solid layer if chicken and a solid layer of broccoli. 

Chicken

broccoli

rice

soup of any kind

water

grated cheddar cheese

I used no salt or other seasoning since the soup and cheese were salty enough.

Pimiento or grape tomatoes--I forgot both. 

I think I baked it about an hour, maybe less. Remember, the chicken was cooked before it went into the oven. 

This casserole was by no means original, just what I did with what was here.

Friday night, we are having carrots, potatoes, and cabbage with meatballs.  There will be enough left for several meals, thankfully.

Saturday, I have plans for several chores, so I will make us a chicken sandwich to take with us in order not to get a burger or whatever. 

I have so many bananas frozen that I refuse to freeze more. However, I waste bananas since I should not eat a whole one.  Tommy will not consider even a taste of banana. 

The whole side of my face hurts, so I will take another round of meds. I have no idea what is wrong with the side of my face and my ear. I am scheduled for an implant, but I won't have that done until I am free of pain. 

So, these are my thoughts on Friday night.

Stupid Frugal Purchase

 Bananas are at the top of the grocery list most days I go to the store. Actually, bananas were the only thing on the list today. I wanted to go to a store I rarely shop. As I went in, I glanced in the reduced cart where I saw Community Coffee, 12 oz. bags for $1.50.  The catch? It was about 2 weeks past the best by date. I called Tommy who was in the car and he said to get it. So, I did, 3 bags. 

It was whole bean, not ground! I have no coffee grinder, nor does he! I had a nice KitchenAid, and want another. 

Then, I came to bananas. There was a five-pound bag for $1. Yes, I got it. They look pretty good, not many black spots. Slaw mix and pasta shells were the only other things I brought home. 

I can barely tell my shoulder was sore. At this point I am still petting it along a bit. Tommy said he could tell it really hurt me. I can now turn my head. 

Today, we play barber shop in the driveway. Tommy's hair looks like a hippie's. While there is nothing wrong with that, he is not the hippie type. So, he procrastinated! A haircut is on the agenda for tomorrow.

Dinner tonight will be leftover baked chicken and carrots along with cabbage that is cooking.

Have you gone back to your hairdresser and shop for a haircut yet? 

Bananas, Pillows, and Roaches

 Friday, I bought bananas, five green ones and one slightly riper but still greenish. It was gross when I ate it this morning. Bad signs are green tint, green smell that is stronger when the banana is peeled, green taste, and I can hear the peel coming off. 

My goal in a few minutes is to find an apple and a paper bag and put the banana and apple in the bag to ripen the banana where I can eat one. I refuse to try to eat a green banana. 

Today, I was going to go to a church nearby to see if they were having a yard sale. They never advertise, just start slowly putting items out for sale on lots of tables. This works for me. But, since it is only 45F, I doubt they are having a sale today. 

A few minutes ago, I heard a soft "plop" outside the door. I knew it was my pillow. It was and it was in a heavy plastic bag with a zipper and handle. Of course, there was a white packaging over the handy bag. This is my new, favorite pillow on sale for 50% off, so I bought two. It seems my advanced age requires more pillows!  I bought one when I came here with no pillow. 

Plus, I bought a cheap pillow for the living room for my head. It has just about disappeared because it never fluffs up again. Right now, it is about three inches thick if I hand fluff it. Now, I need pillowcases. I have a couple of extra pillowcases so this won't be a problem. 

I ordered two pillows on the same order on the same day and only one was delivered. The other is still listed, so I know it is on the way. How is this efficient? 

Tommy suggested we throw out his toaster when I asked him where to put it. I had told him that if one roach had been on the counter, they had gotten into the toaster. He never wanted toast again. That was easy to get rid of it! Right now, I am going to clean some of the junk off his small table in the kitchen so things are easier for both of us. 

He has finally agreed I can spray for roaches. I did furtively spray when I first came here and he never knew. Now is the time to do the job right. I hate roaches. I have called him to kill them lately, so he knows how many I have seen all along. I have washed everything before I used it! He has just used dishes/utensils without a care. I know! It's disgusting!

When I came here, they ran freely all over the place. I had driven them back, but now is time to eliminate them. 

It appears the temperatures are going up slowly to almost 70 by Wednesday. Hopefully, the people in Texas will start to recover.

This is not the way I have lived or ever aspire to live. Have you ever had an infestation of roaches? 

That was so hard! Bananas!

 Sunday--Tommy had to go pick up meds from the pharmacy window. I told him on the way back that we were putting the shelves together. He agreed.

Because it is almost pitch dark in the area where it needed to be put together and used, we had to assemble it in the living room and carry it to the kitchen! 

There were numerous parts we did not need, so we were confused for a bit. No, we were confused for a long time! Of course, the number for customer service was not open on Sunday. Finally, I declared we would use the parts that I thought we needed. There was no  place for the other parts. 

Amazingly, neither of us injured ourselves or each other handling the heavy parts and four 6-foot legs! I did considering hurting him when he did not attach pieces the correct way. The whole unit is 6-foot tall and holds 1350 lbs. It is 3 foot wide and 16 inches deep.    

Thankfully, it is done. Two people in our condition should not be assembling things this heavy and large. Lesson learned. It would have been worth money to have this done for us. 

I am glad I have leftovers of chicken and vegetables! If I live for another hour, I might make a peach cobbler. The peaches are commercially canned but will be delicious. This is a dump cake in a 9'x13' dish. 

That was so hard! But, I can get the mess of food off the tables, chairs, floors and off boxes. Do you ever have to do something that is just beyond your physical abilities and only realize it too late? 

I wanted to get the $.99/lb grapes, both the red he likes and green I like. The green were not fit to buy. I think I bought 3 pounds of the red, so they will last a long time. 

Bananas were reduced to $.1/bag. I think there are 20 bananas in the ten pounds in the bag. Today, I have to mash them and freeze. This will probably be all I buy to freeze. 

It is about noon on Monday, and I still hurt. I asked Tommy just now if he wants to put his old chairs out as we empty food from them. He said, "Might as well." YAY! I will do this one more hard thing today. 

I am still hurting and asked Tommy if assembling the shelf unit hurt him. "No." Me?...sigh

Since I bought tomatoes and squash Saturday at the Farmer's Market, both are on the menu today. BLT and squash and onions sound about right. I suppose this is the end of fresh tomatoes and squash. This summer has seemed so short. 

But, pecans will be at the market soon.

Have you tackled a task that was beyond your physical ability and only realized it too late? Will you get to eat one last BLT?

 

Ball Canning Jars at Piggly Wiggly and Other Stuff

 It was a mistake. There were no Roma tomatoes for $0.99/lb. anywhere. I thought they were at the Pig, so went. Instead, I got a dozen Ball 4 oz. jars. Bananas were $0.24/lb., reduced,  and I got 1.955 lbs., so I spent $0.47 on five bananas. I will mash four and freeze. Once again, I will eat one for breakfast. I still have three greenish ones and a speckled banana, all  bought at store prices, whatever that price is. Mashing done. One more cup of frozen mashed banana is in the freezer. 

I found another item to compare--another brand of Roast Beef with Gravy. 

$4.31 Hormel Roast Beef with Gravy

$3.40 Armour Roast Beef with Gravy

$2.90 Harvest Creek Roast Beef with Gravy

While I have never heard of Harvest Creek, I bought a can to give it a try. The very best is Hormel and it is from Brazil. I think their standards for beef are higher than our standards. Anyone heard of Harvest Creek? We will try it in a few days, as I have had too much beef lately. 

Wednesday night, I sort of wanted KFC but settled for hotdogs and chili without beans and some vegetable from a can. While I was looking for the hotdogs in the refrigerator, I found a meatloaf in the little pan where I cooked it. So, dinner was a very tiny bit of meatloaf and most of a can of green beans. Tommy only eats a bit of green beans. After dinner I told him to eat fruit, too. He did with no complaint. 

By the way, my Piggly Wiggly had about 30 boxes of Ball jars but no lids or rings at all. I use the tiny 4 oz. Ball jars for all sorts of things. They are great for tiny leftover amounts. I use them in the freezer for partial cans of stuff I did not use. I may make tiny meatloaves and bake them in the jars. That way I would not have to rebuy plastic freezer bags. We would need two for our meal, but that is okay. 

About 15 years ago, I grew Cayenne peppers and made hot pepper jelly and some mild. I sold the 4 oz. jars for $4.50 with a 50 cent refund when I got the jars back. I offered the buy back on the jars when people said it was too expensive. I sold dozens of jars and never had anyone want a jar fee back. Canning is hard and I am not giving away my produce, sugar, jars, and time. 

Wednesday, I ordered 19 spools of thread for the serger. I ordered 4 black, 4 white, 3 each in different shades of pink, 1 red, and 6 colors I do not remember at the moment. A $49 order has free shipping. I should have ordered needles, too. With 3000 yards on each spool, I will probably never run out of the black and white. 

I just had a thought! I put food in the freezer on a  baking sheet if I am quick freezing lots of produce to shove in a freezer bag. I have been using a paper plate when I have a pint of bananas to flatten to freeze. Just now, I was putting the Styrofoam "tray" the bananas were on with another Styrofoam tray headed to Publix for recycling. It occurred to me the clean tray could be used to put the flattened bag of bananas into the freezer. I can just store the tray in the freezer when I am not actively freezing something. 

Reduced bananas are always on Styrofoam trays. I refuse to buy other produce items on Styrofoam! 

Have you ever heard of Harvest Creek canned food? Anyone found Ball lids and rings in stores?

New Books, Curb Shopping, Food Deals

 We went to the free book place and, as I said, we took 8 of Tommy's books. I think we got 21. The next time we go, we will return as many books as we got in the two trips. I wanted to get books before they were exposed to rain or just damp air. As before, some books have never even been opened.

We cruised a bit, not much. This area has fraternity and sorority houses besides grand old homes used for student apartments. I saw a pile of junk and we stopped. I scored a tiny ironing board, the kind you put on the counter to use. Then, a sheet caught my eye. It was clean, new and MINE. There was a tiny rip near the top hem where it looked like the sheet might have been caught in a tug of war. It may be turned into curtains. It is going into the washing machine. 

I knew we would both have low blood sugar if we did not take something to eat. So, I asked him to grab crackers and juice. He got two of both, not what I meant but okay. 

So, it was my idea to wash the chairs early in the day, but I wanted books, and we left. At 4:30 or maybe before, he got up to wash chairs. About halfway through, I asked him if he would like these chairs instead of his dining chair. The answer was an emphatic YES. 

My plans that he did not dispute--take off seats and have new ones cut, get new padding, upholster with fabric he likes and maybe get it laminated, put slides on the bottoms of the wooden legs. My kitchen chairs were never used on carpet, so I put the carpeted slides on the bottom. His chair will be on carpet, so I will put the smooth glides on his chair legs. These are the things on a nail that is nailed in the bottom of the chair leg. I asked him if he wanted the chairs painted or like they are...like they are--wood. There is hope! 

He got so much dust on him and nasty water. So, he is covered in dust that looked like the residue of sanding seams. The white stuff was not paint, mostly sheet rock mud since it was thick in places. All but two or three specks did come off. I took a fingernail and scraped off some tiny immovable specks. My emery board will take care of the other few. It took a little over two hours. He is in the shower.

These chairs are very sturdy. There are two stretchers on the front and both sides with only one stretcher across the back. The original papers were still stapled to the bottoms of the chair. There is no zip code  on the address which were officially implemented in 1963 but in use some places during WWII. I am going to research the company and find out when these were made. If made in 1962, the chairs are 58 years old. I sat on one of the chairs and they are large enough for my ample bottom that they were comfortable. 

Dinner Tuesday night--either we go buy something or have a hotdog with chili with no beans and cheese and the leftover mashed potatoes from last night and whatever is in the other three containers. He said the hotdogs and leftovers would be okay. I think I need KFC.

I cannot list books now since I need to put hotdogs in the microwave. Okay, Tommy had hot dogs and bread and chili without beans, mashed potatoes, and cantaloupe. I had cheese and no bread, no cantaloupe. Good enough!

Ronco Pasta--In the last batch of coupons that are thrown in the little pink bags, I found Ronco coupons--75 cents off two packages. Well, I have six coupons and can only find two. I will find them. I went to the Pig and found no Ronco spaghetti, just vermicelli and thin spaghetti. I cannot stand either. 

But, Ronco Rotini was there. I bought two bags for $1.54 each. The 75 cent coupon doubled. So, rotini was $3.04-$1.50 doubled coupon=$1.54 or $0.77 for each bag of rotini. That will be four servings or two meals, less than 20 cents per serving for this ingredient. 

I will save the 5 coupons left to try to buy at the Pig when they have more Ronco spaghetti. 

Bananas--1.825 lbs. bananas reduced to $0.29/lb and I have 5 bananas for $0.53. These have bumps and bruises, I am sure. But, you never can tell. I will mash and freeze at least one cup of these and eat the rest, probably just one. Okay....There was exactly one cup of mashed banana from four of the five bananas. This morning, Wednesday, I ate the other for breakfast in a sandwich. 

Speaking of Piggly Wiggly, I tried their cheese because it was cheap. It was fine, not quite as tasty as Kraft, but not like some other cheeses I have tried. So, I am sold when I cannot find Kraft cheap enough. 

That was Tuesday--free books, Ronco coupons used, curb shopping, bananas cheap. 

Wednesday morning I awoke after five hours sleep and finally got up because I was hot. I feel better, but not well by any means--lower temperature but not gone, less pain, less congestion. Now, it is Wednesday afternoon and after a four-hour nap, I feel even better, but not completely well. 

How was your bargain hunting or finding lately? Any sales? 

Wednesday

 The effects of hurricane Sally so far have been minimal even though the weather forecast had rain at 100%. However, the local city forecast for Hueytown showed no rain, just a cloud. So far, maybe a sprinkle. 

We had thought about meeting friends in Cullman after we all got our take out lunch. They offered to sit on their porch and eat. This is the couple we eat with at the lake under a pavilion when we pick up a lunch. Today was spaghetti day. It would have included a nice salad. It would be nice to visit, but the chance of rain and maybe storms was too great. The clouds and rain bands are swirling up that way, so need to set off and encounter a storm. 

I had 11 tiny bags of baby carrots, the kind in kids lunches or box lunches,  a total of 1 lb in the 11 bags. Tommy cut them all into chunks and they are in the sink in ice water and another batch just went into boiling water to blanch, and he is working on a 1 lb bag. Those he is cutting into coins. So, this is a production line. These will be good in soup this winter. That makes 10 pint bags with almost 2 cups each this afternoon.

Tuesday, I bought bananas because I was out. Right there in the produce department was a dozen or so reduced packages of bananas at a quarter a pound. I now have 37 cents worth of 5 bananas to mash. Actually, these are nice enough for me to eat. I will mash these and freeze. This will be another 1 cup of mashed bananas in the freezer. 

Even though I got a heaping cup from five bananas last week, I bought four bananas this week and got a bag with 1 cup and another with 3/4 cup. These bananas were so firm and free of blemishes and rot that they went further than the more ripe bananas.  I will put enough bananas in the bag with little so that it is one cup, also. 

I ran out of pint freezer bags and we had to go get more. I only needed three to finish the bananas and carrots. When I went to Publix, they had none. A guy who works there told me they cannot get canning jars, so people were switching to freezing. At the Pig, there was a whole shelf full of pint bags. I got two just in case they are going to be scarce. That is only 40 bags. If I had not found any bags, I would have frozen in half-pint jars. 

Now, I have two packages of chicken to put into a cooking bag for dinner and for freezing and for another meal tomorrow. 

Still, it is only sprinkling here. It was 69F here at 5 pm, and the rain with sprinkling and ac in the stores made me very chilly. Of course, when I dried out, I felt warmer. 

Maybe I will cut and freeze red onions this evening. 

Is anyone finding freezer bags scarce? There were very few on the shelves here.

Butternut Squash, Peppers, Bananas

 Today, four butternut squash came my way! Nice! Plus, we got a gallon of milk and two artisan, round loaves of bread. There was a box of four custard-filled long johns that may be my dinner. 

There was other stuff I will give away, stuff we don't eat. Tommy wants to keep the pop tarts and another sweet, but I may throw it in the trash, all naked of it packaging. 

Today, I found my favorite olive oil, Pompeian, on sale. I quit buying it because they switched from glass to plastic bottles. The bottle I bought today will be the next one I use, that I keep on the shelf instead of putting it in the freezer. It was a bogo at Publix.

At Piggly Wiggly, I bought produce from a grocery cart, all reduced.  Four largish Bell Peppers were $0.94. They are not perfect, but they don't have rotting holes like some did. All are sealed in plastic, so it is hard to tell. I will freeze. Tommy loves cooked Bell peppers. Me? Not so much, but I love things seasoned with peppers. If chopped small enough and cooked to a mush, I will allow they in my mouth....lol 

Five or six bananas were $0.34. These are destined for smoothies, black-bean brownies, or banana bread. Of course, they can replace oil in other baked goods. The peppers and bananas were sealed in plastic on a tray, so no inspecting individual items. However, I could see holes and rotten places inside some of the packages of peppers. 

Bananas, butternut squash, and peppers--not bad for one day, free or sooo cheap.     

This was not a fall. It was a sway and a slide. But, it hurt me. I felt tippy, no vertigo, just swayed to one side. I caught myself on a glass table with both hands and I was afraid I might put my hand through the glass. Now, I was off-balance and things were happenings--1) I was turning a heavy crystal bowl over on the table; My antique lamp that is pot metal and milk glass was sliding away and was going to fall behind the table; 3) as I slid down, my thigh scraped against the corner of the box with a printer in it. Only #3 was painful. This happened on Friday. Today, I have a bruise over 12 inches x 5 inches long on my thigh. It gets bluer every day! 

Now, I was on my knees and could not get up. Tommy put both hands on my hip bones and pulled me up to one foot. He pulled on just the side where my knee was still on the floor and pulled me until I could get that foot on the floor.  Whew. 

I am going to a physical therapist to get exercises to strengthen me so I can rise from my knees! 

I found something I could not find for a while and finally forgot about--Fresh Success (Concord) Roasted Potato Seasoning Mix. There is about 3 Tbsp. mix in the package, but I only use a Tsp., so the package lasts longer and it is tasty. Each package was $1+ 10%= $1.10 at Piggly Wiggly and $0.99 at Publix. I will buy several of these to put away for future use aka stockpiling. There are other varieties for other fruits and vegetables.  Has anyone tried this product?