Feather your Nest Friday, 1st August, 205.
Welcome to August! Already!
This week I made an enormous pot of pumpkin soup and a lot of scones. This time cheese scones. Well, they are delicious, the kids love them and they go with soup perfectly. So lately scones are almost a constant.
I was given oranges and lemons.
I got busy and made Orange Cakes. You can find the recipe at my old blog (The Bluebirds are Nesting) titled Winter Sunshine cake. I made one GF and one regular in my baking dishes.
I used the Stephanie method. (Stephanie of The Tuesday Afternoon Club.) Her method is to bake giant slabs of cake then cut them up to smaller cakes as you want to eat/give/share/freeze. It saves a heap of work and washing!
My goodness they smelled so beautiful and were so orange! Oranges and orange eggs!
As you can see the right side of this cake was sliced off for Chloe and the kids!
I also made a big pot of spaghetti sauce. I included tomatoes I cooked last summer and froze. Zucchini I grated and froze... fresh parsley from the garden. Also using the Stephanie method I made a large GF lasagne... one end has cheese topping... this is going to be sliced up tomorrow. The cheesy bit is mine... I think I will get three serves. The other six serves will be for Mum.
I finished another quilt block...
Today I went to a garage sale in town. It was quite a crazy sale but I found a brand new, never opened, Australian wool Queen sized quilt, shed supplies like painters drop cloth and fire starters and more. Oh and yarn! Plus the op shop... a beautiful coat for Lily!
The last couple of years I joined in the #everybitcountschallenge This is Jessica's challenge from Three Rivers Homestead. It is her peak season garden harvest time. For me it is winter but I still managed to do the challenge last year any way! I am a flexible about it. Anything added to the pantry is good! If you want to join head to her You tube channel, the #everybitcountschallenge on Instagram and The Tuesday Afternoon Club where I will be posting every day! Quite a few Bluebirds also have already joined and will be posting daily. Finally, each Friday I will list here the seven days results.
So for day one... I harvested most of my broccoli crop.
I am so happy with it, it's my best success so far!
I blanched it all (in batches) for two minutes.
The they were cold I bagged them up to freeze.
I did this method last year and it was so good. When I used it from the freezer there was just no way you could tell it had ever been frozen.
So that is my day one!
My Broccoli plants might still grow some smaller heads, we will see,
I have to add Sparkie photos of the week. 😊
Today was busy with a garage sale, thrift shopping and grocery shopping which yielded some amazing bargains! It was so exciting! I will try and get some photos over the weekend as I ran out of daylight! I also got free celery and lemons. 🍋🍋🍋
I hope you had a good week. How did you build up your nest? We love to hear!xxx
Annabel, Your broccoli look amazing. Sparky is adorable. So happy you did so well finding items at the sales.
ReplyDeleteI am traveling this coming week so I will miss the challenge. Though hoping to step I when I return.
I have been fortunate this week to finish the fencing in front of the house and at a 75% savings as we found it on clearance at the stores. We had to go to two to get enough but he savings was worth it.
I used up bits and pieces to make muffins for us, part of my cleaning out the frig usefully.
I'm crocheting an afghan with yarn I was able to get free from our neighborhood facebook site.
I was able to save 50% off on our grocery bill by only buying sale items, using coupons and rebates.
In the next week I hope to visit 3 thrift stores hoping to find some bargains.
Dear Rosanne, I hope you have some great finds o your trip! Absolutely it's fine to ump into the challenge when you get back!
DeleteUsing things up before you go away is very good. Have a great trip! With love, Annabel.xxx
Hello Annabel and Bluebirds!
ReplyDeleteI love everything you post here but Sparky stole the show. I just love his litlle smiley face.
I will join, too, the challenge. It is in my DNA that everylittlebitcounts. For Day 1 I will count calendula, mint and basil - I dry them and than use in salves or oil infused, tea and meals.
Today is August the first, the first wave of price increases - all the month of July we hunted for good prices and top up the pantry with essentials, for both us and the animals, also we have budgeted to be prepared for much higher utilities bills in the winter. I am proud to say I took all the measures I could, balanced the money until it was 0.00 lei and still put some away for rainy days - nothing is taken for granted here.
My son has finished his first year of nursing school year with a few weeks of practice in a surgery center while he was having a full time job - it wasn*t easy but he managed to complete the whole year while having some fun, too. Ahh, young people.....
Today, the first of August, my husband and I will celebrate our fist love date (30 years ago), as we do every year with a single red rose. He will come home late from his second job and we will have a nice dinner at home, and as a gift, I printed at a profesional printer some of our most precious photos to put in the family album. Memories are the most precious. I think.
Sending everyone much love from far away.
Laura_s_world from Romania
Dear Laura, How beautiful to have 30 years of happy memories! Your son has done so well! I love that everybitcounts is in your DNA. Also thank you for joining the challenge! You were wise to get ahead before the price increases. It is horrible to think how every family will be hit. I hope many opportunities come your way in this harvest season and challenge! With much love Annabel.xxx
DeleteCheese and bacon scones sound so yummy!
ReplyDeleteI think yes they might be next!
DeleteDearest Annabel, another beautiful week ! Gorgeous quilt and so talented to do this ! It's looking gorgeous !! I am always astounded how much you achieve in a week ! The scones look so delicious 😋 and what a bounty of oranges and lemons. With those lemons I would make lemon butter and sell it if I was you ! Set up a farmer market stall and you could sell eggs, your lasagne , cakes, jams etc. however I'm sure with the farm you're too busy.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful cakes also ! And I'm sure your mum enjoyed the lasagne and scones too. Next time you could make savoury "scrolls". The ones at Bakers Delight here in Sydney are $8 each ! The "plaited" savoury loaves are also $10. For bacon and cheese !! I would love to learn how to make such items but I've a tiny kitchen.
Bless you Annabel for another beautiful week and post. And Bless all Bluebirds across the world. Sonia in DYDNEEY
Thank you Sonia you are so kind! I did used to sell Lasagne and cakes etc. When the girls were young. Now I do these things to help them and keep ahead at home. Mind you... I dot mind some good trades and a foodie gift can be very good and the gift of help too. If you could pick up a second-hand (or borrow one) bread maker... to make scrolls you just make dough and press it out, add cheese, whatever you want. Roll them up and cut them through and let them rise again and bake them. Very inexpensive. I do believe you can actually buy bread dough... I have heard of that... you then form it and fill it how you want and bake. $8 each is a lot! I reckon you could make 16 or so for that amount! Thank you for all your encouragement! Love Annabel.xxx
DeleteHello Annabel (and everyone),
ReplyDeleteSparkie is the cutest ever, and I love your quilt squares! Your broccoli and scones and cake look great!
Extremely busy time at work now (in good news, I got a raise!), but I'm trying to get some bigger projects done at home. The first one was cleaning and organizing my pantry closet; I got some large fabric baskets to corral everything and it is looking so much better - and there's more space! In this vein I started washing the windows one at a time; harvested a ton of tomatoes; rooted some chocolate mint starts; and took a carload of donations to the thrift. Wednesday was dinner with my dad, and this weekend I hope to do a little baking.
I hope everyone has a great weekend.
<3
Kathy
Dear Kathy, Congratulations! I know this would be well deserved! Clean windows truly make everything seem brighter and beautiful. Doing one at a time is a good way to go. I am glad you are getting so many tomatoes! So many uses for them and just fresh they are delicious. Have a great new week! With love Annabel.xxx
DeleteHi Annabel
ReplyDeleteSparkie is such a little dear! I love to see the photos.
Your cakes all look so good, the scones, lasagne etc and you're off to a great start with the broccoli for the every little bit counts challenge.
My first day today was home made chicken stock I have put in the freezer. I love using every little bit of the meat and carcass to make stock.
I have picked from the garden French beans, carrots, potatoes, courgettes, cucumbers, lettuce, tomatoes and sweet peas. My husband's client sent him home this week with figs for me, plums and tomatoes.
No batch cooking this week.
I finished the baby cot quilt at long last! Posting it off tomorrow.
I'm still clearing our bedroom and had a long session checking a huge amount of tights, both woollen and others, chucked out those which were saggy or had holes. Plenty to see me through winter.
I sorted and cleaned the herb and spice supplies, I don't throw things out just because they've reached their use by date, I sniff and taste and make a judgement. There were a few jars I thought needed replacing and I'll buy those over the next few weeks.
We needed several greetings cards this week and I headed to a budget card shop, chose three and at the cash desk was told it was four for the price of three. I chose a sympathy card as the extra as sadly we seem to need those fairly regularly.
It's so good for me to look back over the week on Friday because sometimes I think I haven't done anything over and above the usual household chores and cooking and it cheers me up to realise I've achieved a few extras.
Best wishes to all Bluebirds.
Penny in the UK
Those cakes look wonderful and what a great job preserving all that broccoli! I don't have a garden (or even a balcony) but we are starting to get some deals in at the grocery store now that the Canadian harvest is coming in. So far I have frozen rhubarb, strawberries, peppers and celery and I'm on the look out for blueberries this coming week - so far the only cheap ones are from the US so I will wait for the Canadian ones. It's not a lot as I don't have a lot of room but every little bit helps and means that I won't have to purchase it for another two or three months.
ReplyDeleteI've been inventoring my pantry as well and making a concerted effort to rotate back and forthe between the fridge and the pantry for meals. Thank goodness we are getting a few days break from the extreme heat and humidity this weekend so I intend getting as much done in the apt. as possible before it returns. It is a holiday weekend here so I get an extra day to work with.
And aunt died a few months ago and recently my uncle made a trip up to see us and brought clothes, purses, scarves and jewellry for us all to share. All the leftovers have come to me to donate to my church - my aunt loved to shop so even after sisters, SIL's and nieces took what they wanted there is a ton for me to deal with. My living room is a bit of a mess at the moment but I'm getting it packed up bit by bit to take in. I washed 6 heavy fleece jackets today and I'm going to wash a few coats tomorrow - just to freshen them up and then I'll start taking them in. We run a "boutique" along with our feeding program so they will be well received and I know that she would be happy knowing that they are going to a good cause and that nothing will go to waste.
Tomorrow I'm going to get up early to cook salmon and ground beef. New Zealand grass fed ground beef has been on sale at a really good price (for here) at various supermarkets over the past few weeks so I've been stocking up. I'll use what I bought today to get some HM ready meals into the freezer. I can't wait for it to be cool enough to get back to baking - I love cheese & chive scones!
Annabel, every time you post a new quilt block I think that’s my new favourite! Can’t wait to see them all together. Your cooking for the week sounds fantastic, hard to beat cheese scones. The broccoli looks beautiful. I’m sure you had fun at the garage sale 😉
ReplyDeleteToday I found 1kg trays of beef mince for half price, I was over the moon. I just need to find some room in the freezer lol.
Last week I added pork legs to the freezer and I have one slow cooking now to have a pulled pork pie for dinner.
It’s a lovely day here, the washing is out on the line and we have nothing on! I love days like this.
Have a great weekend
Jen (NZ)