My Attempts At A Menu...

Let's see how well we do... Some repeats of super easies on the nights I have class and Dave is making dinner. I don't know if you can even read this!

Menu

Alrighty! I've soooo got to be better at making menus. It's not hard, really. I don't know why I struggle with it. Hopefully with the kids back in school I can make it happen.

Here's what I've come up with for the upcoming week. I'm trying hard to use what we have and shop sparingly.

Sunday- Pot roast, carrots, mashed potatoes, homemade rolls
Monday- Pork chops, spaghetti squash, rolls (hopefully there are some left!)
Tuesday- Taco salad
Wednesday- Kabobs, rice
Thursday- Teriyaki chicken and rice
Friday- Pizza, salad, breadstix
Saturday- Hot dogs

Nothing too exciting, but I have almost everything on hand. It already feels good to have a plan!

So whatcha fixin?

For anyone interested there is a lady that is bringing apples, pears and peaches down from Washington state on Monday here is the stats if you want to get in on it:::

Call Christy Roberts 884-0658 or email christyroberts88@yahoo.com
or acjj@qwest.net BEFORE Saturday (TOMORROW) afternoon and let her know you want any of the following:

Apples 20 lb case for $15 (gala, Golden Supreme, Jonothan)
Pears 20 lb for $17 not sure of variety
Peaches 20 lb for $17 (john henry variety)

Cherry/Apple fresh squeezed juice $5.50 a gallon -- $3.50 a half gallon
Apple juice $3.50 half gallon
Dried sweetened pie cherries 7 oz $3.50 -- 5 lbs $35.00

Sounds like you will just pay at pick up call Christy for further info :)

Pressure cooker

So I am embarressed to say that I had never used a pressure cooker in my whole adult life until yesterday!  My mom bought me one a few years ago and I did not even open the box until yesterday.  My mom used one a lot while I was growing up, but I had it in my mind that you used it only for canning and cooking beans etc. and it seemed like it was too complicated to use, but I ran across this article  and after reading it I realized that I never really understood the true function of a pressure cooker.  I decided to finally pull mine out of storage and literally blow the dust off the top of the still sealed box.  I looked up pressure cooker recipes online and found that there were tons of things you can make with a pressure cooker.  I finally decided on a simple recipe for pot roast.  I pulled a pot roast out of my deep freezer around noon and let it thaw out.  by the time I decided to start cooking it around 5:00 pm  It was still a little frozen so I was unsure if it would work out, but within 1 hour I had a fully cooked super tender pot roast :-) I was in shock!  It was tender like it had been in a crock pot all day, but in a fraction of the time!  I've decided that my pressure cooker is my new best friend in the kitchen!  Here is another good website to get recipes and info on how to use a pressure cooker

Michelle

Mother Earth news

Valerie,
I thought you might interested in this article on the Mother Earth News website.  It  reminded me of  the challenge that you are doing.
Michelle

Bountiful Baskets!

FRIENDLY REMINDER TO ORDER YOUR BOUNTIFUL BASKET RIGHT NOW!

Sneak peek at one of our Super Saturday crafts

Check out the cute bow/flower holder I made today that we will be making on Super Saturday as one of the crafts :-)  I am pretty pleased at how it turned out!
Valerie, I hope it is ok that I am giving people a pre-peek :-)