protein bars, mini banana loafs, popcorn, chips, limes, ketchup, a calendar, buns, walnuts, melon, 2 books, tomatos, salad, bagels, epsom salt, cheerios, dishwasher soap, onions, milk, granola bars, broth, breakfast burritos, spinach, cucumbers, chicken breast, prosciutto, raspberries, yogurt, butter, mousse, eggs, cheese, vitamins, queso dip, apples, olive oil, band aids, laundry soap
a jaw dropping $430
over on the old tickety toks people are making stuffed dates, date bark, and i'm over here trying to curb my sweet tooth and eat better so I gave the stuffed dates a try.
First i made the traditional ones - smear the dates with almond butter and dip into melted chocolate.
I was trying to be frugal with the amount of chocolate I used, so I ended up with a thick drizzle and a sprinkle of some old flaky salt from the cupboard, but oh man were they good.
Neither kid would try them and The Mister politely had one, but I nibbled through them somewhat slowly. Self control!
One afternoon everyone else was napping/gaming/out and I wanted a snack so badly. I had 4 dates left and needed something sweet so I made myself 4 almond butter dates, but instead of going through the hassle of melting chocolate and cleaning it up, I stuck a bit of dark chocolate bark into each one and gobbled them down right quick.
The Mister pruned one of our trees and while we were cutting up the branches into small pieces to fit in the car to take to the yard waste drop off, our neighbor very kindly offered to throw them and any other yard waste we had in his truck along with his stuff. We took him up on the offer and then went and pulled up a bunch of stuff in the garden to add to the pile
Our 2 cauliflower plants got huge, but didn't actually produce any cauliflowers, and our squash plant gave us a few yellow squashes before giving up. The raspberries are doing poorly. I think we need to find a new place in the yard to plant them. We are giving the carrots more time - I'm hoping for a good harvest but realistically probably not. We got one bug eaten cabbage, a handful of peppers and a meals worth of sprouts. The tomatos are hanging in there - we've never had such a good year for cherry tomatos.
We bought some Chase corn this year to boil and freeze and I decided to try the boil in the husk method -boil in the husk for 5 minutes, cut off the end and the corn slides right out, with no silk on the cob.
Worked like a charm!
coconut rolls, ramen, garlic spread, protein bars, salsa, corn tortillas, soap, flavored waters, nut butter bars, gummies
$92
A lot of things happened this summer, including both The Mister and I having less than stellar checkups with our doctors. The Misters was a bit of surprise, mine was not. I have been avoiding taking care of both my mental health and physical health, and that has come to bite me in the ass. Let this be a lesson to you - take care of yourself, you are worth it, even if you think you are not.
The day before we left for holiday I decided to stop doing laundry and packing and instead focus on what was really important - cleaning out my cookbook shelf.
Most of these are going because having so many cookbooks makes me tired and anxious, and I wanted to get rid of that feeling. And also, will I ever cook from most of these books again/at all? It was a hard question because I have loved cookbooks for so long, but it just isn't realistic for me any more.
So these 5 have hit the road. Another 5 tomorrow.
Back on the bookshelf - 20 Donated -26
Back before BC exploded into flames when you could sit outside AND breathe at the same time.
I swore this year would be different for me and the rhubarb plant. I wouldn't just let it sit there and get all old and fibrous and unusable. I would use it, all growing season!
I cut maybe 3 or 4 bunches and then was like my god, who can use up all this bloody rhubarb??? Why can't my teeney blueberry bushes that have each produced 2 berries be as hardy as this rhubarb?
I made Rhubarb shrub, which is rhubarb picked in sugar and vinegar, Once it's had its pickling time, the liquid is the shrub, to add to cocktails or mocktails, and the pickled rhubarb can be eaten.
Below is an AMAZING rhubarb and apple crisp, that was so good, but I can't find the recipe.
I also made a whole bunch of rhubarb butter.Recipe here.
These were delicious roasted carrots with parmesan. Maybe from tick tok?
Also from tick tok - my kids were dying to try the smores cookies where you put a graham cracker on the baking sheet, a marshmallow on top, and then cover with cookie dough and bake. I think 2 things went wrong for us - the kids eagerness to help meant none of the marshmallows were fully covered by the dough, which I think was important, and also I think you need A LOT of dough, and I only bought one tube, because I'm cheap. And, they tasted gross anyway.
Yes, I am an old lady, These applesauce prune muffins were SO DAMN GOOD.
We always seem to have bags of frozen ham in the freezer. This ham tetrazzini was delicious.
I am truly upset that I can't find this recipe. These were pork tacos with pickled onions and they were some of the best tacos I've ever had.
Also, a recipe without a photo - we bought some peaches and I decided to roast the ones that were still around after a week. I used this recipe and man, they were so freaking good. I'd planned to take a photo of the leftovers, but my dad scooped them all up and took them home.
And lastly, these chocolate and peanut butter cookie bars were chefs kiss.
The hideous before photo of our gross messy pantry where ingredients and supplies get swallowed up, never to be seen again.
