{Strawberry Jam}

Picked. Hulled. Smashed. Sugared Up.

Cooked. Bottled. Bathed.

Enjoyed.

My sister, my mom and I spent some time this past weekend picking, smashing, and cooking strawberries into 31 500mL jars. They are delicious. I'm looking forward to my next canning experiment experience. Peaches? Pears? Applesauce for sure when the time comes.

Do you put up preserves? What fruit/vegetables do you bottle?

Super Easy Cucumber Salad Recipe

With last week being so hot all the time, with a history of throwing out the rotten lettuce before I remember to make a "real" salad, without having done groceries in almost a week, and with a desire to eat something cool and light rather than anything that would require turning on the oven, I turned to Google for a cucumber salad recipe.

I needed something that only used ingredients I had on hand - no fancy onions or extra vegetables, no specialty vinegars or sauces.

Here's what I came up with, based on a few different recipes I found:

Ingredients:
1 English cucumber, sliced thinly
4 tsp white vinegar
1/4 tsp white sugar
1/8 tsp salt

Source

Mix vinegar, sugar, and salt - I found it helped to toss it in the microwave for 5 to 10 seconds to help everything dissolve.
Pour over sliced cucumbers. Toss.
Drain excess liquid, so the cukes don't get soggy.

It's the perfect combination of sweet, salty, tart, and crunchy.  A nice light addition to many lunches and dinners in the last week or two.

Enjoy!

This Week's Eats

Happy Labour Day!

We spent the weekend working on the apartment we're "building" for ourselves at my in-law's.

We managed to prime and paint a first coat of the kitchen/living room, started the installation of the kitchen counters, cleared out the bathroom - it's now just about ready for the new countertop and a new sink to be installed.  It feels like some progress is being made, but we still can't get into what will be our master bedroom.  It hasn't been touched - there's still a bed, desk, dresser, two or three night stands, a matress, and a fold-up cot in there, not to mention the surface stuff - clothes and a computer with all the accessories, and papers and books, etc.

Trying not to stress over it, but time is getting shorter and shorter.

Anyway, on to better things -- FOOD.

This week's menu is intended to be as easy as possible, since programs at church start up again this week, there are meetings and appointments and shopping trips to make.  

Monday - Chicken Pasta Salad

Tuesday - Indian Butter Chicken with Broccoli, served over Rice

Wednesday - Macaroni

appointment

Thursday - Baked Chicken Breasts, potatos, green beans

meeting

Friday - Sloppy Joes & Cucumber Salad

church program

Saturday - leftovers

**Menu-Plan-Monday is hosted by Laura of I'm an Organizing Junkie**

This Week's Eats

  

Menu Plan Monday with OrgJunkie 

I think the best part about this week's menu is that absolutely everything I need is either already in my cupboards/fridge/freezer or is on sale at one of the local grocery stores this week.

I love taking an hour on Friday or Saturday to plan out the menu according to what's on sale - it saves me so much money!  Andrew and I listened to a Focus on the Family podcast last week that was all about living frugally, and Andrew learned about "loss leaders" - he's very excited to use his new knowledge, both of the term and of the concept of shopping from those front and back page deals.  You can check out the podcast for FREE on iTunes, too!

Sunday: Canada's Wonderland Day Trip 

(providing Andrew gets home on time and it's not thundering outside)

Monday: Roasted Whole Chicken, corn on the cob

Tuesday: Pork Loin & Roasted Potatoes

Wednesday: Spaghetti

Thursday: leftovers

Friday: chicken pasta

(William's FIRST BIRTHDAY!! - holy cow, this year went fast)

Saturday: planned dinner out with my in-laws to say THANKS for letting us turn their house upside down and move in while we pay off debt and save up funds

A Happy List

Company Girl Coffee is a part of Rachel Anne's project, Home Sanctuary.  Follow the link to find out more about Company Girls, Small Things, and making your home a sanctuary, one small step at a time.

It's been a big week - 

1) Last Friday I had my scope done - it didn't end up being a camera, like I thought, but you can read about the results HERE.

2) Friday through Sunday was our first weekend away from William since he's been born.  He stayed with my parents, and had a great time.  And so did we!  It was wierd, though, not to have to think about what time he ate last, whether he needed a diaper change.  I did miss all the cuddles, though.

3) Last Saturday was Focus on Marriage, where I learned a LOT about apologizing, forgiveness, bitterness, and releasing hurts to God. And I've received so much Grace in this area this week.  Healing has been happening, for SURE.

4) Sunday we sold my car!  Andrew had promised to get it sold by the end of February, and before church on the 28th, a friend from church took a test drive and agreed to the price we were asking!

5) Sunday afternoon, my family gathered at my parent's house to enjoy Mom's cooking and a Men's Hockey Olympic Gold!  What a joy to celebrate a national victory with my family.

4) This week Andrew has been working a regular-hours day shift job at the railway.  He's been home every evening, and the "weekend" for this particular job is Friday/Saturday!

5) I baked bread this week - from Scratch!  Read about it HERE.

6) Today we are going to the bank to pay off a loan - in its entirety!  I'm really excited about this, even though it sounds pretty mundane.

7) This evening my sister-in-law is coming over so I can pass on my maternity clothes! I'm looking forward not only to getting them out of my basement/closet, but to watching her grow in the joy of motherhood.

8) Tomorrow my littlest sister is coming to visit! She'll spend Saturday afternoon through Sunday morning here, the first to use our guest bedroom [although, I admit, she's bringing her own sheets...we haven't any and no money for them, either!].

What's on YOUR happy list?

Oatmeal Bread

I got this recipe from my sister, and tried it yesterday.  Mmmmm.  I didn't expect it to be half as easy or nearly as tasty as it turned out.  And I already had ALL of the ingredients, which is key now that we're down to one car.

It turned out so well, I thought I'd share the recipe:

1 pkg.active dry yeast (2 1/4 tsp)
1/2 cup warm water
1 cup quick oats
1/2 c whole wheat flour
1/2 c brown sugar or molasses
1 tbsp salt
2 tbsp butter or marg.
2 cups boiling water
5-6 cups of flour

Dissolve yeast in warm water.
In your mixing bowl combine oats, whole wheat flour, sugar, salt and butter and mix well. 

Pour boiling water over and mix well. let cool down to lukewarm.
Stir in yeast.
Mix flour in slowly.  The dough shouldn't be too dry, but not too sticky, either.
Place in a well greased bowl, cover and let rise until doubled.  (I turned my oven to its lowest setting while mixing the dough, turned it off, and let the dough rise in the warm oven - it took about 1 1/2 hours).
Punch down bread and shape into 2 loaves.
Place in greassed loaf pans and let rise again. (another hour or so)  

*I did one loaf, since I only have one loaf pan; I rolled the rest into balls, and put them in a muffin tin.  I would do this differently next time - I think I'd put the balls side-by-side in a greased glass pan so that they'd actually look like buns rather than muffins.*
Bake at 350 for 30-40 min. 

Brush crust with a bit of melted butter - this leaves the crust soft (and tastes oh so good!)

Enjoy!  (Please, oh please, eat some of it warm!)

PS: Like my signature?  I learned how at Blue Cricket Design.

Gramma Soup

for Anna♥

Ingredients:
1 lb lean ground beef
2 packages dried vegetable soup mix - I always use the Knorr brand
salt and pepper
nutmeg to taste (but certainly at least a few shakes...this is what makes it taste and smell like Gramma Soup)
vermicelli noodles, broken into 1/2s or 1/3s
Optional
2 stalks celery, sliced
2 carrots, sliced
1 cube beef boullion

Recipe:
[If using celery and carrots, saute until there's only a little firmess left in 'em - no one likes crunchy soup.]

Fill large soup pot 2/3 with water.  Bring to a boil.
Crumble ground beef into boiling water (careful! it splashes and burns).
Add salt, pepper, and nutmeg, and allow to simmer for 15-20 minutes.

Add vegetables and soup mix.  Simmer. 

**At this point, you can freeze the broth in portioned containers for future uses...DO NOT freeze with the noodles already added. Believe me.  Eeww.**

Add vermicelli noodles.  For a full-sized batch of soup, I usually use the amount of noodles that fits between my thumb and first finger, broken in 1/2 so the noodles are less "slurpy"


Serve with Maggi liquid seasoning and (heavily) buttered fresh bread.