I have been away over night and the first thing I needed to do when I walked in the door was start the fire! It is cold! I don't get to the bigger stores very often and I had a chance to go to Aldi and Coles and do a stock up shop. It was very interesting. I got some op shop bargains too and even a Facebook Market place deal! As it was dark when I got home I have brought in all the food and everything else is in the car until tomorrow. I will take some photos then!
This regional centre is Mt Gambier. If you look for Australia on the map you have to go right to the bottom of Australia to find Mt Gambier. I noticed that the big stores I went into did not have the variety they once had. Like sections had shrunk. I still did well... but there were less choices. I also noticed a lot of empty shops in the mains street and also the arcade type areas there were so many boarded up and empty stores. Which is a bit grim.
Still I came home with plenty including a big set of tubs from Kmart to reorganise my last big freezer. This is the freezer in my laundry. Everything in the top half is beautiful stuff. What is in the bottom half is a complete mystery. As soon as I re group from this trip I am emptying it out and using tubs to organise categories. I found lovely tubs to use and can't wait to get this done. It's a strange job to be excited about! Ready to go meals and ready to go ingredients are a lifesaver. It wasn't until I saw on you tube a lady organise her freezer so well that I decided I can do this! Actually I will share this link as she motivated me in two ways.... 1/ the chest freezer and 2/ freezing eggs when I have an abundance. It is really good... Chest Freezer Organiser System the works!
So, back to earlier in the week. I needed to focus on Oranges. I am juicing and drinking oranges every day. When I go to Chloe's I take a fresh bottle and she gives me the last bottle back, like in the old days with the milk man.
I got busy and made two organs cakes... one regular and one gluten free.
I am showing this one un iced so you can see it is orange! Each contains about 3 oranges and six eggs. Hence the lovely colour!
Then more orange juice goes into the icing. It is called Winter Sunshine cake and if you look up my old blog The Bluebirds are Nesting - Winter Sunshine cake you will find the recipe.
It also smells like citrus so fresh and lovely.
Next I surveyed the veggies I had left over from the box of produce the man at the cabin gave me. These were zucchini, capsicums, onions and tomatoes. I chopped these and threw them into two dishes.
I also grabbed a bag of frozen cherry tomatoes from the freezer. So it was all free produce.
Anything roasted it just better.
I added meat balls as usual as the kids love them but I can happily eat this recipe without them. And cheese on top of course.
I made two trays. I am thankful because tonight I didn't have to think about what to have for dinner I just heated up a serve. And it was so good.
Tom explained to me that they all go back for seconds of this but then they go for thirds and they scoop up all the yummy sauce at the bottom and it is sooo good! Well all that yummy sauce is beautiful veggies. 😊
I also used up every single last apple. This became the next round for Ike. Apple is his favourite. At one stage I had so many apples and different types too. Every single one has been eaten fresh or made into something and everyone enjoyed them so much.
The space this left in my fridge was filled with oranges hoping to make some last even longer.
At the swap table I got a beautiful fresh bunch of leeks and a bunch for my friend. They smell so strong the whole car smells like onions. My favourite way to use leeks is chicken pot pies. We were both excited to get them.
I added a couple of rows to my wool patchwork blanket. I hope next week to sew rows together... when I figure out the arrangement. I ordered on a big sale flannelette quilt covers to cut up and use for the backings. I have enough squares for several.... and almost enough to make a girls one too.
I had one day feeling awful and all my plans came undone. So I thought I know what I can do! I went to bed with my two almost finished blankets for Ike and Chase... and I sewed all the ends in. It took all afternoon. I'm thinking five hours. But at the end two blankets were complete. Both are a good size, they more than cover a single bed.
Then I delivered them both to Chloe. Tom already has his. So only Lily to go and hers is started.
Chloe was very happy. She took these lovely photos.
My idea is if I made blankets big enough they will be a lifelong blanket from me. I really notice how kids know it is special. Someone made something just for them. And they remember!
It is so satisfying to compete a big project. Lily's will be a change as hers is the colours of sweet peas.
Sparkie stayed overnight with my friends. She has a second Mother she loves. This is very handy. 💖
I need to unpack but I got a box of vintage jug and basins.... one basin has birds painted inside it. The jugs are just heavenly. I met a nice lady in this exchange too.
I know I have forgotten things but I will make a new list tomorrow. Also a menu plan. I have pumpkins and baby butternuts to use next week... plus the leeks!
How did you build your home this week? So many things are just beautiful simple goodness that make everyone happy. My Mum used to make pancakes on Sundays after Mass. We loved them. Some flour, milk and an egg and they fed us and we thought is was go great. Mum would often make cup cakes and a cup cake in my lunch box at school always made me happy. And I remember all these years later! So don't forget fancy isn't necessary. Simple, wholesome and good warms the heart.xxx
I hope you are feeling better now. The blankets are beautiful and the cakes look delicious. I prefer leeks over onions in soups and stews.
ReplyDeleteHave a wonderful weekend.
Love,Glenda
Dear Glenda, Thank you I am feeling better. I am going to work on these leeks today. We have some sunshine after rain which is a perfect Sunday! With much love Annabel.xxx
DeleteAnnabel, What a full and lovely week you have had, well except for the one day you needed for recovery.
ReplyDeleteHappy you were able to do a stock up shop at the larger stores, though sorry to hear the variety has diminished.
It has to feel great finishing the blankets and seeing the excitement on everyone's face receiving them.
Our week seemed to disappear. I spent Sunday finishing my Mommy/Baby Blanket, it fills the top of a King size bed. Oh, how happy I was finishing it, I packaged it up for the baby shower and made large tissue paper flowers instead of using ribbon.
We had applesauce in the frig I made awhile ago, husband wanted muffins, so we worked together and came out with 16 muffins, I think 6 disappeared next door to the workers, whenever they come they ask my husband if I baked.
Our pantry is carrying us now as sales have been pitiful here. It seems prices are going up weekly. My husband made one pack of chicken thighs last 2 dinners and made chicken salad with the remainder to make 2 lunches for us. I made a fruit salad with fruit we purchased on sale, mangoes, red grapes and peaches. I had to go back to the store as they had charged me double the price on the mangoes.
We are still working on organizing, purging and cleaning our storage room in basement. One of these days it will be done, I had taken the time away from it to finish the blanket, so I would not be hurried right before the shower. So back to work again.
I pray all the Bluebirds are able to continue to add to their pantries and prepare.
Dear Rosanne, Thank you! Well done on also finishing a big blanket! We were both running toward the finish line! 16 muffins is good! I did stock up a lot. I cant only buy special offers now or my pantry would be going backwards. Prices are set to rise much more so it is better to buy now. Fuel looks set to go up a lot again this week. Have a good new week! With love Annabel.xxx
DeleteDear Annabel, reading about your week makes me happy. Your grandchildren are all very beautiful - also Sparky and the blankets, both crocheted and the wool squares. I love how you use up all the little things. I do that, too.
ReplyDeleteTalking about opportunities and using up everything:
- one day this week I was out of town with my boys one day and I have seen two big blue hydrangea bushes on the side of the road. I took a mental note of the location and, sure enough, on the way back we stopped the car and I took some branches and made cuttings and planted when at home. Now they have a plastic cover over the pot to simulate a greenhouse (that was what Monty Don, my fav. english gardener was doing with propagating hydrangeas)
- now that my hens are laying well I am freezing eggs for winter and also sell half of their production. The egg money I use to buy some of their food and some goes in the savings. The frozen eggs will be used up in omlettes, french toasts, baking, schnitzells, fried zuchinni slices dipped in eggs, etc.
- like you with oranges, we had a lot of sour-cherries and I made a nice sour-cherry cake that was a surprise for my husband (he adores cakes)
- We already are preparing for winter, last evening I made a batch of pickled cucumbers and put them away in the cellar and zuchinnies in the freezer, sliced for fried schintzell like.
Because of the heat wave and drought we expect things to go higher in prices after harvest, the cost of fuel and electricity will be reflected in the final price so we take a look of the fruits or vegetables our family use the most and, if possible, we stock up.
Have a nice weekend, I hope and pray to have rain where is needed and to have sunshine where is needed.
Sending warm wishes from far away,
Laura_s_world from Romania
Dear Laura, Thank you! I really hope the Hydrangea cuttings take off for you! Hydrangeas are beautiful! It is wonderful you have eggs, more eggs and eggs to sell! A cake for your husband would have made him very happy. Cake is my thing too!
DeleteVery good to be thinking ahead to winter and building up supplies. I have heard a lot about the heat wave and many crops being damaged. Especially tomatoes I hear, in some places. Fuel looks set to keep going up there is no good news on the middle eastern front. Have a beautiful Sunday and new week ahead. I had a major rest yesterday and now I am planning the week... we had rain overnight and now a beautiful day! With much love Annabel.xxx
Hi Annabel
ReplyDeleteMy goodness Ike is a bonnie baby! Tom and Sparkie are very photogenic too! Your blankets are so lovely, I'm looking forward to seeing the colours you use for Lily's blanket.
We have had a very nice but hot week. We went on a short boat trip with a daughter and GD to an island in the bay and spent time on the beach with a picnic. One evening I went to one of our beautiful beaches for an evening swim while my husband was at a meeting. It's easy to forget how lucky we are, people come to our county for their holidays and we're here all the time.
The garden gave us French beans, courgettes, cucumbers, potatoes, chives, basil and LOTS of plums.
I made two courgette cakes, one for now and one for the freezer and froze plenty of plums. We've given away produce to family and friends too.
I used two over ripe bananas to make a loaf cake for the picnic.
I bought yellow stickered ( reduced) beef mince and chicken livers for the freezer.
I cut flowers for the house.
My husband did lots of research and moved our car insurance to a cheaper provider with much the same cover.
Apart from that it's been a week of much laundry drying outside.
Counting my blessings every day.
Hope all Bluebirds are doing well.
Penny in the UK
Dear Penny, With the heat your beach outings sound beautiful. Your garden is giving you a lot of goodness! Well done to your husband for changing car insurance... that probably saved a good amount. You added to the freezer and also helped others! A good week! With love Annabel.xxx
DeleteDear Annabel,
ReplyDeleteThe blankets for Ike and Chase are absolutely beautiful. I love your hope that they will become lifelong blankets from you. Children really do understand when something has been made especially for them, and I’m sure they will remember that love for many years.
Your thoughts about simple things creating lasting memories stayed with me too. A pancake after church, a cupcake in a lunch box or a warm homemade meal may not seem fancy, but those are often the things we remember most.
You made such wonderful use of all the oranges, apples and vegetables again this week. The Winter Sunshine cakes look delicious, and your roasted vegetable dish sounds like the perfect meal to have ready in the fridge.
This week I built my home by making a use-it-up quiche with silverbeet from the garden and ingredients already open in the fridge. I also made progress on my rag quilt bed runner and began sewing hand towels for the gift pantry.
Have a lovely weekend xox
Dear Stephanie, Thank you! My Silverbeet is growing and I will be able to start picking soon. I know you understand the joy of finishing a big blanket project! My apples and veggies are used up but oranges will need a lot of using up this week, a couple have gone mouldy so I think I am running out of time!
DeleteHave a great new week! With love, Annabel.xxx
I've been freezing eggs also. I did freeze some individually but mostly I froze 3 eggs together to save me some time. Most of the time what I'm making needs more than 1 egg. If I only need 2 I'll save the 3rd for breakfast. I've had no trouble using thawed out eggs for scrambled eggs. I need to freeze more soon. At the thrift shop I found 150 plastic bags used for freezing breast milk for $6. With 3 eggs per bag I can freeze a lot of eggs very quickly. I drop the eggs in the bags, seal and freeze. So quick and I don't have to come back and pop them out of a silicone tray and bag them. The bags were in their original factory sealed container so I felt they were safe to use.
ReplyDeleteDear Margaret, Most of my cake recipes need two eggs so that is a good idea. The bags you got sound very suitable. Now my chooks are laying well again I am back in business! Have a great new week! With love Annabel.xxx
DeleteI love how you had to do something while in bed...your always getting stuff done!
ReplyDeleteWe found some great deals at garage sales yesterday. They are always a lot of fun.
Have a wonderful week.
Thanks Vicky, I always crochet in bed and write and pay bills and basically everything lol. I love garbage sales! Well done on finding some good deals! Have a really good new week! With love Annabel.xxx
DeleteHello, Annabel and friends. I thoroughly enjoyed this week's post, as I do every week. Your photos of your boys are so sweet. They always look so happy. Your comment about the lack of variety hits home with me. I noticed a few years ago the reduced choices in canned fruit. As I observed over the past few years, grocery stores have been rearranging their products to make this lack of variety less obvious to the average consumer. I feel people are noticing. It is concerning. I appreciate the reminder to freeze eggs. We cannot have chickens here but I try to buy extra when prices are down and freeze the eggs to use when winter comes and the prices rise. I am down to my last 5 frozen eggs, so it is time to watch for a sale. This week I did quite a bit of feathering even though we were out of town for a few days. I was able to can 19 pints of applesauce and 10.5 pints of tomatoes. I freeze the tomatoes to simplify the peeling process. That way I do not have to heat up the kitchen boiling water to skin the tomatoes and it save the wear and tear on my body. I also froze about a cup of green onions When we returned from our trip I had 25 pounds of yellow squash waiting for me in the garden. That is more than we can eat in a year and no one wanted any so I froze 8 pints, made a large casserole and froze in individual servings for future side dishes, and dehydrated the rest. I will powder the dehydrated squash and add it to our dog's dinners one teaspoon at a time to supplement her diet. I have since pulled all but 1 yellow squash plant in the garden. That should keep us in just the right amount of squash for the remaining summer. I had a coupon for a free box of taco shells and a buy one get one free jar of peanuts so I took the time to stop by the store to pick those up and added them to the pantry. Speaking of the pantry, we discovered sugar ants in the pantry the other day which led to a complete emptying of the shelves. I sorted, threw out, organized and cleaned every inch then Mr. Fix It sprayed. Once he gave me the all clear, he helped rearrange the shelves so things are easier to access and see. This has led me to want to pretty up the space a little and he is willing to help me by painting using paint we already have. I will look around for pretty baskets and bins to help organize for easy access. I think it will lift my spirits and help me use what we have (and we have a LOT), saving us money and time. Thanks again for your dedication to this community. You have been very inspiring and helpful. Marley in the Mountains
ReplyDeleteDear Marley, Well done on the tomatoes and applesauce! Even bigger well done on the pantry work! I know what a big job that is but also how nice it is once it is all wiped clean and newly stacked. Nice baskets are a huge help to group things together and they act like little drawers as you pull them forward. Trays can be helpful this way too. I also love old fashioned tins. I have all kinds of stuff in pretty tins... they look so vintage and as you say... this all lifts our spirits. You did really well especially considering you went away too! With love and thanks, Annabel.xxx
DeleteWow! What an adorable photo of Tom and Ike. Your grandchildren are all gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteAmazing work with the oranges and your cook up! Love it that the kids love all that healthy sauce.
I harvested basil, mint, rosemary, parsely and oregano. I made a basil sauce, mint sun tea, and added herbs to several dishes. We had an overripe pineapple that got cooked on chicken kabobs. I got 3 loaves of bread baked on cool days. I combined errands and got to shop the thrift store for a 100% cotton fitted sheet. I also purchased a skein of wool yarn for 30 cents!
A neighbor gifted me a zucchini that became zoodles and a chocolate zucchini cake.
Be blessed my friends!
Thank you, Annabel for this safe space.
Love, Leslie (Ohio)
Dear Leslie, You made the most of everything! And a cotton sheet and skein of wool are both very good finds. Both are expensive items these days. Sometimes I find one random ball of wool or cotton... but later it will fit in just perfectly with something Im making! You did well with the bread I know it's hot and a lot harder to bake in that weather! Have a beautiful new week! With love Annabel.xxx
DeleteWow, what a great week! Your grandchildren will definitely know your love with the blankets! Also, the wool quilt is beautiful already! I'm also an organizer by nature, so the freezer reorganizing sounds fun! Bless you and the Bluebirds!
ReplyDeleteStacy in Virginia
Dear Stacy, Thank you! Well I am about half way through the freezer. I love the baskets and the freezer wasn't as bad as I actually expected although the dogs got some meat and the chooks got some veggies from right at the bottom. Not too bad. Now I know what I have! This set me off to a good start for a new week, I hope yours goes well too! With love Annabel.xxx
DeleteI left last Wednesday to visit my son and DIL in eastern Idaho. They live 550 miles from me and I usually split it into a 2-day trip. We had dinner with friends at the halfway point and spent the night. When I came home Sunday, I drove straight through...and paid for it with a day in bed yesterday. It was worth it to get home a day early since I would have been tired regardless. And I saved about $175 on a motel room and meals for my daughter and myself.
ReplyDeleteI made apricot jam using low-sugar pectin last week and took a jar to my DIL. I don't care for apricots, either fresh or canned, but I do love me my jam! Fresh apricots are very expensive so homemade jam costs as much as from the store, but it is soooooo much better! I am going to see if I can still get apricots this week to make another batch.
My guy sends me unusual gifts. (I cringe whenever the Amazon truck stops LOL). The latest was a pack of two beeswax-lined canvas bags to store bread so it stays fresh (I live alone). So far, it works. I took the second bag to my son and he was thrilled (he is easily thrilled LOL). He buys expen$ive sourdough bread that is hard as a rock by the third day--before he can eat it all. It's now in its fifth day in the bag and still soft. This might be a tip for Bluebirds that make their own bread.
Best wishes to you, Annabel, and to all of your readers. Love hearing all of what you are up to.
PS My son and DIL gave me a brand new dog bed that was too small for their pup and not worth the shipping cost to send it back. I gave them a pickaxe and post hole digger that I hope I will never need again! He also sharpened all of my knives.
ReplyDelete--Maxine, aka mikemax