Feather your Nest Friday, 29th May, 2026.
The next 8 days show rain. We are praying it actually starts... The house is silent so I can hear if there is even a drop!
The week went by so quickly and here we are almost at the end of May.
I do believe last Saturday I did nothing. The photos on my phone act now as my list for the week. I actually hope tomorrow I sleep in and do very little although I have projects in mind....
My first new week project was to make three GF Date Loaves. These were so nice and I gave one to Mum.
I slice them and freeze one slice to grab when I need cake. Which is pretty often. When all else fails a cup of tea and a piece of cake are therapy!
Next I decided to start on pumpkins and I filled my 12.5 litre Bessemer pot with three different types of pumpkin. My preferred recipe is pumpkin I have been given or traded for, a couple of huge onions, a large apple and chicken stock.
As this cooked down I added more pumpkin. Cutting up these pumpkins was daunting so I made a rule that every time I went into the kitchen I would cut off a chunk and add it in. This went on all day till 4 pm.
Finally I blended it and it was gorgeous!
This made so much it was shared around., several meals for me and frozen.
To make it a complete meal I made a tray of half gf cheese scones and half regular. It is a dramatic difference as you can see.
Then I decided to work on some apples. I made four GF Apple strudels. They were really delicious. One of these was share and two were frozen.
These was so nice and simple to make and I had pastry in the fridge so I made a giant one for Chloe's family.
I just put apples through the slicer/corer ..... made a long strip of pastry.... sprinkled the apples with sugar, cinnamon and sultanas.... and made a top and sealed it up.
I scored it to camoflagued the joins I had to make and baked it.
It was huge. Chloe baked it and served it with ice cream. Everyone had seconds and demolished it.
The good news is Ike has tried his first solids and loved apple puree!
Later Chloe said they wouldn't be upset if I made some more strudels haha.
Well, I did! I still had pastry and it is a long time before I run out of apples.
I made two more the same and gave them to her to eat on the weekend and freeze one.
I have my blanketing out and I did cut up squares last week but did not cut up even one this week! Maybe if it rains, sitting next to the fire cutting them out will be a lovely activity. I might lan to do ten a day or some goal to get them done.
Wow what a productive week! You deserve a sleep in!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much! Have a lovely weekend!xxx
DeleteThe strudels looks delicious, Annabel! I hope the rain comes as expected. I agree that cutting squares while it’s raining outside sounds lovely.
ReplyDeleteI did some decent stocking up this week, including 10kg of heavily discounted chicken breast.
It’s my daughters birthday, and we’ve planned a treasure hunt at a local park tomorrow.
I tried a new soup recipe with root vegetables which was beautiful, the website is Australian - RecipeTinEats. She has so many amazing recipes!
I’ve invested in some food flasks so that I can send the kids to school with hot soup or leftovers. I feel like a cup of hot soup on a cold day can really lift your spirits and hopefully help keep winter bugs away.
We have a long weekend and have people staying so that’ll be lovely. Lots of food will be eaten!
Have a great weekend
Jen (NZ)
Dear Jen, I absolutely love the idea of the treasure hunt. Everyone will have a wonderful time! I know recipetineats! Very reliable recipes! The soup sounds good. I think the food flasks will be great. You can do spaghetti, spaghetti Bol, macaroni cheese, so many things. You probably know this but if you fill them with hot water for half an hour before you all them with the hot food, it just stays hot hours longer.
DeleteThe ten kilos of chicken is a great stock up! Enjoy your weekend! With much love Annabel.xxx
Annabel, what a lovely and productive week you have had. The apple strudel looks delicious and the lamb roast, oh my! What a lovely substitute.
ReplyDeleteI have been trying to be frugal more than ever this last week here. We have only shopped sale items, reduced and clearance and did rebates. 80% Angus ground beef was on sale for an amazingly affordable price so at $3.99 we purchased a little over 4 pounds. I found old Tupperware containers to freeze individual burgers in, I only had 8, though this should prevent husband from purchasing pre-formed burger at the store.
I used fruit we purchased on sale to make a large fruit salad. It was filled with cherries, blueberries and strawberries. I made muffins from leftover corn cut off the cob for corn muffins and leftover whole cranberry sauce for cranberry muffins. I used some coconut i had to make frosting for a brownie cake I made.
I found out I will be a Great Grandma to a baby girl this year. So I went into my yarn stash and found yarn to make a baby blanket. I will be able to make 2.
Husband made 2 chicken breast last 2 dinners and made chicken salad with the remaining. He is on board with using every little bit. He even chopped up the 6 grapes that were leftovers into the chicken salad.
I finished all my trimming outside except for the far back of yard, so I felt good. Now waiting on my roses to bloom, eventually.
All in all it was a good week.
Dear Rosanne, Your cooking all sounds delicious! How exciting to be expecting a little girl in your family! I remember the burger gadget from Tupperware. You have me thinking because I dont like making meatballs they are too fiddly for me. But burgers.... I could do that! I am going to work on this as burgers would go over very well with all the kids!
DeleteI hope your roses are soon blooming for you! With much love Annabel.xxx
Dear Rosanne, I miss your inspiring posts. Sadly I cannot login to Facebook, so I can’t see anything. I love how your husband is on board with using things up! Also, congratulations- becoming a great grandma will be wonderful. You sure do make pretty things. Love, Bridget
DeleteDear Annabel, all your produce looks so tasty, now I am hungry! We had a shock last night - a russian drone struck a ten level block of flats in the midlde of Galati town, a densely populated area in Romania, injuring a mother and her 14 year old boy. It is far away from me, near the Danube and Black Sea but it is EU territory. russia's war of aggression has crossed another line. Now watching for what is next. And praying. Lots of love from far away , Laura_s_world from Romania
ReplyDeleteDear Laura, I saw and am about to write to you! I know this could mean a response from Nato. I did not know if it was a stray drone or intentional to attack Romania. Either way it is terrifying. I am glad it was not anywhere near you that is a big relief. I am thinking of you and praying this stays far from you. With much love Annabel.xxx
DeleteI saw the news and immediately thought of you and your family Laura! I'm glad you are safe, but of course I am very concerned with everything I see in our world.
DeletePatricia
Laura I was so worried hearing this news. I know it causes another level of anxiety for you and your fellow countywide. Oh, if only some of our leaders would come to their senses.
DeleteSo much goodness, Annabel! What a blessing to you and all you cook for! Your bounty is always inspiring. Love that baby Ike and even little Sparky get homemade nutrition.
ReplyDeleteThis week a dear friend had us over for dinner; her daughter is in charge of creating a Family Resource Center in our county and asked us to help design and put together a food pantry in the building. Food will be provided by United Food Bank and will include an industrial refrigerator to hold meat, dairy and produce--many shelves will hold nonperishables. Rather than being handed a box, locals will be able to register with the FRC and "shop" once or twice per week. The Center will also have a clothing "store" of children's clothes, a rec center, licensed family councelors, a homey room for foster kids to meet with their biological families for supervised visits, housing resources, and more. L is very excited and so are we.
The neighbor with breast cancer will NOT need chemo afterall. Yay! She's keeping some of their goats. My husband has been feeding them during her appointments in the city (about 3 hours away). I found an excellent covered baker and tote to deliver meals when she's recovering from a double mastectomy.
My sister said, "You have found your happy place!"
Yes, I have by the grace of God. Thank you for your example and encouragement.
--Elise
Dear Elise, What a great project your friend is working on! It sounds wonderful. I am so happy to hear some good news about your neighbour. I think your covered baker might be a bit like what I gave Mum on Mothers Day. These are the best things ever... you can transport a dish easily, hot or cold. I am sure she will so appreciate all of your support. It will Mae a world of difference. Yes you are so busy on very good things. God will keep you busy but this life of service to others is where happiness is found. With much love, Annabel.xxx
DeleteHello! I have never commented before but have looked at your blog for a number of years now. It is just wonderful. I live in a very small town in North Carolina/USA. It is so encouraging to see all you accomplish and your family. Very inspiring! I wondered if there is anyway you could post pictures or do a post on your office turned storage area? I am sure we all could learn so much from what you have done. I would love to see how you have it decorated and use of cabinets. As far as more details? Have a blessed day.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for telling me you are reading and for commenting! There are other Bluebirds from NC... Patsy of A Working Pantry is NC too.
DeleteOk right now I am adding a lot to my room pantry. I am doing some pantry work every day. So I will make a point of taking some photos soon. Thank you very much, Love Annabel.xxx
Your baking always looks so good and I hope that you get some of that rain! Weather here is a bit crazy - last Saturday it was barely 12C with pouring rain and howling wind - by Monday it was up to 24C and sunny! It looks as though it will stay around 22C for most of the next week so that will be lovely.
ReplyDeleteI spent a lot of the week doing some cleaning and getting ahead on some work at the office as I had my first cataract surgery on Wednesday! Everything went well and the difference is amazing even with just the one eye. I chose our OHIP option which the Govt. pays for and my only cost was $200 as I chose to have an extra test done. I will have the second eye done on June 10th! Very greatful for such great Health Care.
I will be taking it easy for a few days so no money will be spent. I sat today and added up my grocery receipts for May and it was another big spend month (as was April) but both months were major restock months so I expected that. I plan on June being a good bit lower in price! I am deliberately eatinh through many of those items already cooked and in the freezer so that I don't lose anything to freezer burn and I am also eating a few "picky bit" meals in order to use up a lot of odds and ends in the fridge - makes life a lot simpler. I cook a lot during the cold weather but come the Summer I give myself a bit of a break so planning for purchases around that now - lots of salads with eggs and cheese - pasta salads, sandwiches and the occasional tray of chicken batch cooked in the morning while it is still cool.
I am also ging to go through my Summer clothes - I have a few items that I will pass on to a friend as she has lost weight and I have gained it - no point of things sitting in a closet when someone could use them.
Have a lovely week.
Dear Margie, I am so glad your eye surgery went so well! And so successful! I also go for simple meals in summer and less cooking. Whereas right now I am cooking and baking as it is winter, raining, the fire is going.. so yes we did get the rain and it is still going!
DeleteA wardrobe clean out is great. I try and make new outfits but putting different things together. Saves thinking in the mornings! With much love Annabel.xxx
Didn't do a lot, but I made a pot of vegetable beef soup, ate it for two meals and froze the rest for two more meals. After I filled the freezer containers, there was a little bit in the bottom of the pot that I've been pouring over my dog's dry food. He loves it even more than the canned dog food he usually gets.
ReplyDeleteI also thought about making low sugar jam from some frozen huckleberries I was given, but so far, thinking is all I have done. But it's a start!
Dear Maxine, Soup is great! And any homemade nutrition is good for the dog. And you have added freezer meals which is very good! With love Annabel.xxx
DeleteHi Annabel
ReplyDeleteYour comment that most things can be improved by tea and cake reminded me of my lovely, late mother in law. When we got married my in laws gave us a very generous present but MIL also gave me personally a teapot. She said 'When it all feels too much, let the teapot take the strain'. What wise words they were! She had raised a family of four and I valued her advice.
This week I made a big moussaka and leftovers were frozen. I made my own vinaigrette and used broad beans, leeks, parsley and chives from the garden.
I cut roses, sweet peas and poppies for the house.
I took a bunch of Sweet William to a friend.
I emptied two big pots of spring bulbs and replanted the pots for summer colour, mainly with plants we've propagated ourselves. I put the bulbs to dry and will replant them in the autumn.
My husband has constructed a slide and play structure / den in the garden for our granddaughter. It's built around an apple tree.
I stocked up this week on a variety of greeting cards, I like to have them on hand for whatever occasion arises so I don't have to dash off to the shops.
The heat has been punishing here this week and I have felt wrung out. We had a spectacular electrical storm but very little rain. Looking forward to some respite.
Best wishes to all Bluebirds.
Penny in the UK
Dear Penny, I just love this about the tea pot. How true. In my life all serious moments, decisions, exhaustion, worry... have been supported by cups of tea. A cup of tea and something to go with it and with someone and a chat.... seems to basically cheer anyone up. I think it is very restorative. We could say something clever maybe about letting the pot do the brewing, rather than ourselves!
DeleteThe play area for your Granddaughter is going to be a hit. How beautiful. I hope it has cooled down... and the garden is ok.
Moussaka sounds wonderful. I just made a lasagne and a pasta bake. But now and then I love to do a moussaka if I am given eggplant. Delicious.
Have a good new week! With love Annabel.xxx
So many lovely foods you've made this week, Annabel! That cooked pumpkin looked gorgeous, and those strudels - my goodness, pure deliciousness! Sparkie made out like mad, too ! :) This week was hot here in central WI, and hubby was able to get more plants and seeds into his little garden - broccoli, carrots, eggplant (tubular one for me). The tomatoes and cabbages are looking nice, too, as are his strawberries. We made two trips an hour and a half north of us, once last Friday to take my sewing machine to be cleaned and serviced, and back again today to pick it up. Both times we stopped at some discount and bulk grocery stores to top off the pantry. We added 50 lb. bags each of hard red and hard white wheat berries and also rolled oats, some bulk herbs and spices, and other discounted groceries for the deep pantry. Several stores were Mennonite-owned, so we stocked up on some luscious German and Lebanon bologna from one deli, a real treat for us. We took some rural roads we hadn't taken before and saw several HUGE dairy farms (1000+cows) . We decided to enjoy a late lunch today on the way home at a family-owned restaurant called Melody Garden. It's a unique place because it's attached to an old rollar skating rink, and they even have a window inside the restaurant that faces into the rink to serve those customers, too. Plus, they are laughingly called "The Wrinkle Room" because they "specialize " in serving the senior citizen crowd, especially those visiting the nearby hospital. (They even have "The Wrinkle Room Burger " - a burger topped with BBQ sauce and a slice of grilled pineapple.) Food is homemade, with plentiful portions and good prices, plus the 90 year old owner makes delicious homemade ice cream! I came home with half my lunch, saved for tomorrow! All in all, a lovely day. Have a good weekend, Bluebirds!
ReplyDeleteDear Jill, I would love to see Amish and Mennonite stores. That would just be amazing to me. What a nice drive your trip was and I love the story of the restaurant. You made an ordinary errand into a lot of fun but all the wheat berries!! Wonderful! Everything you added to the pantry sounds so good. And hopefully your sewing machine is as good as new too! Just a lovely report! With love, Annabel.xxx
DeleteDear Annabel, This week my DH helped me harvest the remaining potatos growing "wild" in my potato box. 2.5 kilos of delicious baby "spuds". Yummo. Just now I am waiting for blueberry/apple muffins to cook - using up dried blueberrys and apples. I am then going to make an apple strudel - thankyou very much for the inspiration. And I just added pumpkin to my shopping list - your pumpkin photo made me hungry lol. I am still so slow but am getting more and more back to my old ways. Love Clare
ReplyDeleteDear Clare, The strudels were one of the easiest things to make yet so good! I love digging spuds and they are delicious! Pumpkin and sweet potatoes I think are so nice as they can be soup or roasted in so many meals. I am so glad hearing you getting back into things. I know you have one hurdle to go but son you will be all systems a go! With much love Annabel.xxx
DeleteDear Annabel, it’s so true about tea and cake! Your cakes look lovely. As does your pumpkin soup. I love how Sparkie benefited from the lamb too, so cute. Beautiful strudels. I love that with ice cream. We have beautiful weather and some seedlings are popping up. Lots of love, Bridget
ReplyDeleteDear Bridge, Every seedling that comes up is fantastic! I have parsley coming up all over the place. If something comes up in a weird place I move it but I try and keep them all going. I have felt exhausted and taken a break to have a cup of tea and time out and then felt ok I can get going again now. It does really help to give ourselves those rest and restore times. They make a world of difference. On weekends we need some time out too, even kids with boundless energy need some down time. I am having some today (Sat.) and it has been pouring with rain! With love Annabel.xxx
DeleteDear Annabel,
ReplyDeleteYour breads, soup, scones, and strudels look delicious! I must cook up my last butternut squash like your pumpkin.
Hope you are getting the rest you need today.😊
My week was good. I managed my time well on all but part of a day. Now that we are out of school, I can concentrate on homemaking. Sewing, gardening, baking and cleaning filled my days. I cleaned house for an older friend, Friday. She partly paid me with tomato plants and an air mattress. What a blessing! And I still was able to earn some gas money. She also blessed me with a large Boston fern and tips on how to propogate ferns.
My bartering friend blessed me with bagels, grapes, oranges, and leafy greens.
I failed to check in last week due to my daughter's highschool graduation. We are so thankful that she was awarded enough scholarships to pay for college and books!
I encourage all you Bluebirds to continue to bless those around you!
Love, Leslie (Ohio)
Dear Leslie, Congratulations to your daughter on her scholarships! That is amazing and fantastic! You must be very proud. Good for her.
DeleteYour work for cash, trades and bartering all added up to so much! I am hoping the tomato plants and fern also do very well for you. You have so much to work into the menu! So good! With love Annabel.xxx
Annabel your pumpkin soup looks divine and the colour so lovely and such a hearty meal for winter. I agree a cuppa and a cake is the perfect way to stop and unwind when you are very busy and we do the same with a cup of hot chocolate and a piece of cake too. The apple strudels look so yummy and I am not surprised Chloe asked for more. Glad you got some more baking dishes as well as I can tell you would use a lot of them with your meals and other family meals too. Like you we usually cook a double batch of meals and reheat for the next night it makes things so much easier.
ReplyDeleteThis week I found some real bargains in IGA and purchased 4 star beef mince marked down from $21kg to $6.04kg and you can bet I bought all of them lol, Old Gold chocolate half price at $4 block, 1.25lt Coca Cola reduced from $4.20 to $2 ea, Steggles chicken loaf on special reduced from $16.50kg to $13kg, 6pk jumbo hamburger buns reduced from $3.50 to $2.45. I saved $98.80 on usual prices.
We have a love hate relationship with technology even though I used to work in the field. With 3 solid days of rain and cloudy days before we had almost run out of power in our 24kw solar battery system and had to top it up. Only problem was when they installed the app on my computer they locked the battery settings growl. So I went searching for a back door into the app and found it and managed to get the battery charging back up from the grid YAY.
Our rainwater tanks are now full to overflowing which we are so happy about and I think we were down to a quarter of a 5000 gallon tank we were using but still had 5000 gallons as backup in the other two tanks. The grass is starting to get lovely green shoots in it again right in time for the frosts that are coming to burn it all off again lol.
DH and I started deep cleaning and decluttering in the home. DH took the bookshelf in the lounge room and has done half of getting rid of all the books that are outdated and washing and dusting the shelves and books and putting them back. He has sectioned the bookshelf into gardening, self reliance etc areas. I worked on the plastic kitchen storage container cupboard and two drawers above. Managed to clean out the two everything goes in there drawer and wipe out and clean them, then I did one big shelf of the plastics cupboard and got rid of any old lids that didn't have bottoms to them. I swept out the shelves, wiped over the shelf linings and all things in there and put everything back again.
Hope everyone has a wonderful week ahead.
Lorna.
Dear Lorna, Thank you so much. This week Ive been given some sweet potato and that is one addition to make pumpkin soup even better, though not necessary. But since I have it I sure will be doing everything I can with it.
DeleteI am learning a bit more about solar from watching Rustic Spirits Homestead. In this case of grid solar. It is looking more and more attractive to me. I do hate the thought of having trouble with the computerised/techy part!
I could truly give my "junk drawer" a deep clean... maybe next week!
Your bargains were great especially the mince!! And full rainwater tanks are truly wonderful. A green outlook is the icing on the cake. The same is here! I am thrilled.
We are I the same mode... I am trying to balance produce with progress in the house. With much love Annabel.xxx
This week has been busy and I am enjoying my Sabbath day of rest today. Like you, the way I keep track of what I have done is by looking at photos I have taken and my calendar to refresh my memory.
ReplyDeleteI was able to use Flashfood app (available in Canada & parts of U.S.) on my phone and buy (10) one pound packages of ground beef (mince) for $1.28/package! I kept one for us and used my burger press to make 4 lovely burgers for us and let my friend with teenagers pay for the other 9 packages to help stretch their budget. I also bought a boneless chuck roast(beef) for $3.40/pound.
I inventoried my peanut butter and bought enough to restock to a one year mark when it was one sale for 99 cents/jar. I have been slowly adjusting my inventory of food storage to a 12- 18 month level for our family of 2, so that has meant passing on to others some of our long term storage that was for our family of 13. There have been many families that have been gifted grains, etc that we had excess in storage.
Even as I can, I’m first looking at amount we have currently stored and adjust it up or down to meet our needs for a year. This gives us much more efficient space and is better suited for us. We rotate (eat) from our stored foods every single day which keeps our budget lower because we only buy at the store when the price is exceptional.
Quilting business has been steadily increasing at a rate we never imagined. My daughter and I each are quilting an average of 5-7 quilts per week for clients! That has really been a nice supplement to our family budget.
Our garden is beginning to harvest- leafy greens,strawberries, chives and our fruit trees are loaded!
We have been abundantly blessed!
Dear Pat, I am sure your friend with teenagers appreciated those burgers! It is awesome you could share your long term food storage. That would help others build up. I think a one year supply is so wise. From when your bought the long arm machine (if that is the right word) with your daughter you have gone from strength to strength. I am often amazed how many quilts you do in a week. What a great business. I know your garden would be lovely... I hope you get great harvests! With love Annabel.xxx
DeleteDear Annabel, here in my state we had rain for almost 8 days non stop. Was driving me mad stuck inside a tiny one bed unit is hard sometimes ! I didn't want to go out or drive in it ! It just poured and poured ! With pumpkin now on sale for $2.90 a kg your soup makes me feel inspired ! With winter officially started I plan to make soups, tray baked and cauliflower cheese !
ReplyDeleteLove Sonia
Dear Sonia, Yes winter has started with true winter weather! Having soup going and something in the oven is the perfect thing. I am making cauliflower an broccoli cheese too! I add broccoli if I have it and I do. Yum! With much love Annabel.xxx
DeleteAnnabel,
ReplyDeleteYour strudels look amazing! And the pumpkin is gorgeous. I wish I liked pumpkin. It would be good baby food for Ike along with the applesauce.
There is a dry spot in the bottom garden so we planted 175 onions. Some we will pull early like Spring onions or green onions as some call them. I go out and check the soil everyday because as soon as it's dry enough we'll be hustling.
I started the new curtains for my living room. They will be simple, but hopefully pretty. And mum bought me a pretty set of gold colored , metal measuring cups.
Am I the only one afraid to switch out measuring cups for new ones? I'm worried my baking will not be the same haha.
I cut out and sewed a bunny I just need to stuff it.
And I'm happy to report the solution I mixed up with water, salt and honey had worked nicely on the wounds my cat had from the abscesses. They are healed up and her fur is growing back. No infection.
I tidied some of my closet and have a bag of stuff to give away or donate.
Since it's been sunnier out the chickens are laying nicely again which is good since I've been doing so much baking lately. We had a dead one this morning, but we still have 18 left so all is good.
I hope all of the lovely bluebirds have a beautiful week coming up.
XOXO
Vicky
Cooked pumpkin is also good for when your dog is feeling poorly. For the dog, not you LOL. They will keep it down even when everything else is coming up.
Delete--Maxine in northern Idaho
Dear Vicky, Well done getting all the onions in and all the baking! I cant wait to see your new curtains! The chickens laying so wet is great and good for trading too! Mine are on the go slow but fair enough they laid solid for a year and now its cold and wet. I am still getting a few though. With much love Annabel.xxx
Delete