Exploring Our Town - Botanical Gardens

Last Saturday was free Museum Day (I had posted this on Facebook last week) and we chose to go to the Idaho Botanical Gardens.  I had downloaded our tickets a few days before and we decided to go first thing in the morning before the crowds.  It was a gorgeous day, still hazy from the forest fires, but sunny and warm.  Perfect temperature for enjoying the gardens.

Even in fall the gardens are gorgeous.  We really liked all of the paths and trails that wind through to various spaces.  We took our time enjoying each place we found ourselves in, even checking out the darling playhouse in one of the children's gardens.

We spent a good two hours roaming about and as we prepared to leave we were happy we had decided to come early as loads of people were coming in as we left.  I prefer to roam these gardens when it is quiet and it was about to become anything but that soon enough.  Lots of families were there to take advantage of Museum Day.

I think it is a wonderful thing to have museums and gardens to visit and even more wonderful when they can offer discount or free days so they can be enjoyed by people that might otherwise not be able to afford it.  Especially with large families the admission adds up to a pretty hefty chunk of change.  Just for our little family admission to the gardens would have been $21 and not something we would have done that day, although it is well worth the price.

If you live in Boise or find yourself here visiting I strongly recommend the Idaho Botanical Gardens as a place to visit.  It is located off of Warm Springs Avenue and is right next to the Old Idaho Penitentiary, another great place to visit as well.  From here you can take advantage of many walking and hiking trails including the one that leads up to the cross on top of Table Rock.

I feel very blessed to live in such a beautiful city that offers so much to the people that live here.

Big Fall Meal Prep

I've been itching to do a really big meal prep and boy did I ever get that one done over the weekend.  I broke it up into two parts getting the bulk of it done in three hours on Saturday evening.  I spent an hour on Sunday morning finishing up.

I began by making a list of items I wanted to have on hand in our freezer.  Full meals and components of meals to make life a little easier during the busy school year.  Then I made a grocery list of all the things I needed to pick up at the store based on what was on sale.  It worked out better than I could've imagined.

Fred Meyer had 3# packages of ground beef on sale, the main ingredient in this prep, for $5.64 each plus I had a $3 OFF coupon for their meat department making my total for nine pounds of ground beef $13.92.  I only needed two of the packages for this meal prep, or six pounds of beef, so the other three pounds went into the freezer for later.

This is the list of what I used for my meal prep:

Lean ground beef - 6# - $9.28

Italian sausage - 1# - $2.99

Tomato sauce - 3 - 28oz cans - 82¢ each

Tomato sauce - 8 oz. can - 26¢

Italian diced tomatoes -  28oz can - 82¢

Diced tomatoes - 15 oz can - 46¢

One very large onion - 35¢

One large green bell pepper - 58¢

Sloppy Joe seasoning packet - 2 - 34¢ each

Jar of salsa - 99¢

Rice - 2 cups - 50¢

Cheddar cheese - 8oz pkg, - 99¢

Dried basil, oregano, garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, cumin, Worstershire sauce, salt & pepper - already had on hand

Preparing Sloppy Joes

I chopped up the onion and bell pepper first and got the crying out of the way.  Then I took two pounds of ground beef, 1/4 of the onion, 2/3 of the pepper and browned that in a pot.  I skimmed off the fat and added one 28 oz can of tomato sauce, one 15 oz. can of diced tomatoes and two packets of Sloppy Joe seasoning.  I stirred it all together and let it simmer for 15 minutes.

My girl's favorite pasta sauce

Meanwhile I combined two 28 oz. cans of tomato sauce in a large pot and seasoned with basil, oregano, garlic powder and some leftover minced garlic I had in the refrigerator.  Once it came up to a slight bubble I removed three ladles full of sauce to three small freezer containers for pizza sauce.  I added a 28 oz. can of Italian style diced tomatoes to the remaining sauce and in a separate pan browned up a pound of Italian sausage.  Once the sausage was fully cooked I added it to the tomato sauce and let it simmer for 20 minutes.

Finished Sloppy Joes

I started a batch of rice and moved on to put the Sloppy Joes into freezer containers.  After washing out the pot I placed a pound of ground beef into it and browned that with 1/4 of the chopped onion and the rest of the bell pepper.  Then I seasoned it with chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder and cumin.  I also added in a half packet of taco seasoning I had leftover in the cupboard.  I let that simmer while the rice cooked and the spaghetti sauce simmered.

Spanish Rice ready to go into the baking dish and get topped with cheese

I put the taco meat and spaghetti sauce into freezer containers and then did a quick wash of the pans.  I used the big pot to brown a pound of ground beef with 1/4 of the onion, skimmed off some of the fat and added in 2 cups of salsa and the 8 oz. can of tomato sauce.  I let that simmer for about ten minutes and then combined it with the rice and some leftover pinto beans I had in the refrigerator.  I sprayed a 9" X 13" baking pan with some non stick pan spray and put the rice mixture into it.  Then topped it with the cheese.

We mixed this up to make six large burger patties

Lastly I took the remaining two pounds of ground beef and the chopped onion and combined it with garlic powder, onion powder, Worschestershire sauce, salt & pepper.  After it was all mixed together I formed it into six 1/3 pound burger patties.  I used waxed paper cut to sized to put in between the patties and placed them into freezer containers.

I labeled all of my containers and into the freezer they went except for the Spanish rice casserole which will be baked and served in a couple of days so it went into the refrigerator as well as one of the containers of Sloppy Joes.  Two meals into the refrigerator and eleven into the freezer!

I also have this smaller pan of lasagna in the freezer
that I made last week

The next day I made six pizza dough balls for the freezer placing each one into a ziploc bag.  All we'll need to do is pull out a dough ball or two and a container of pizza sauce and put them in the refrigerator to thaw all day and we'll be able to quickly make pizza that evening.

I'm really happy with all that I got done in such a short time.  Loads of good food to feed my family and it will really save me a lot of time in the weeks ahead.  I'll be sure to post how I end up using all of this as well.

Christmas Project #9 - Wine Cork Reindeer Ornaments

Last year a friend of mine showed me this post from another blogger and I've been saving my wine corks ever since.  I plan to make these with my girls this fall and I thought I'd better share with you.  I think these are darling.

Wouldn't this be great paired with a bottle of wine as a gift?  Just put one around the neck of the bottle and add a bow.  Personally, I would love to receive this as a gift.

If you are not a wine drinker yourself, that is fine, you can still make them as corks are sold in the craft section at JoAnns.  Hobby Lobby carries them too and of course Amazon.  This craft project is going to be fun!

Last Week's Thrifty Moves

This past week was another one of those that went by in a blur.  It was the beginning of the week and then it was over, that fast.  On Sunday I woke up to find myself feeling a bit under the weather, feeling extremely tired and it carried over into Monday.  Both days I rested as much as possible and went to bed early each night.  By Tuesday it had passed and I was back to normal.  Not entirely sure what that was all about, but very glad it didn't stick around.  The rest of the week was the usual stuff with work and school.

I made a big batch of homemade granola for my girls

I prepared all of our meals using items we had on hand.  On Sunday I pulled out sausage, turkey chili, pinto beans, chicken breasts and soup from the freezer and worked off of that making several meals that kept us fed for dinner and the next day for lunch.  I began by making two pans of lasagna, one for Sunday supper and one for the freezer for another time.  The girls enjoyed that for supper twice and lunch twice throughout the week.  Soup and chili was served up in between.  Wednesday I stir fried the chicken with veggies, removed some for me and then did the remainder as pan fried noodles with hoison sauce for the girls.  Thursday I made pepper jack cheese omelets for supper.  Friday and Saturday we finished up leftovers.

One lasagna now and one for the freezer

I picked tomatoes, carrots and green onions from the garden.  The hens kept us well supplied with fresh eggs.  Someone at work brought in tomatoes and someone else brought in pears so I was able to add some of that to our produce for the week, the pears are delicious.  Our HR manager gave me a pint jar of her wonderful homemade fresh salsa.  I love this time of year when my co-workers share the extras from their gardens.  There were loads of sweet treats and goodies at work too, but I stayed completely away from those.

Last week I downloaded vouchers for free admission into the Idaho Botanical Gardens.  Saturday was perfect weather for enjoying our little excursion.  I took full advantage of it and shot some photos of my oldest while we were there for her senior pictures.  My goal is to put together a little portfolio for her by the end of the school year in time for graduation.  We had a fabulous time!

My two favorite people in the world

A very delicious cobb salad for me

On the way home from the gardens we ran our errands.  I picked up some groceries at Winco, stopped at ShopKo to pick up cat food that was on sale, filled up at the gas tank at Fred Meyer and stopped into their grocery store to pick up some ground beef that was on sale for some meal prepping I had planned.  I also grabbed a couple other items on sale for Christmas gifts.  Shhhhh, don't tell anyone.  We even managed to fit in a quick lunch out at Red Robin using my birthday coupon for a free burger, which my oldest enjoyed for me.

Winco haul

When we got home I put away the groceries, started a load of laundry and took a small break while the washing machine ran.  Once I caught my second wind I was in the kitchen ready to get started on my meal prepping which yielded 15 substantial meals for the weeks ahead.  I'd say that was a pretty good prep!  Details on Wednesday.

How was your thrifty week?

A Couple More Thrifty Little Projects

I had a busy week last week, but I still wanted to create a few crafty things for our home.  The first thing I made was super quick and super easy to put together.  I wanted to make a tiered cake plate.  I've wanted one for a long time and decided to make one using a couple items I picked up at dollar tree.

I purchased a clear glass candlestick and a clear glass plate.  I used some E6000 glue I had and ran a bead of the adhesive around the top of the candlestick.  I glued it to the center of the underside of the plate and set our newly filled soap dispenser on top of it to act as a weight.  I left it sit overnight.  The glue cured completely in 24 hours and it was ready to use.

I like having it to put fresh fruits and veggies on.  It is also a really versatile piece to use for entertaining.  By pairing it with various dishes I have I can make it tiered for serving desserts or appetizers.  Who knows?  I may even put a cake on it sometime.  Or cupcakes.

The other project I did was to create a fall banner for our fireplace mantle.  This one was super quick and easy too.  I had some twine and a package of mini craft clothespins already in my stash.  I picked up this 50 piece package of leaves at the dollar store.

After cutting a piece of twine the length I needed I evenly spaced the leaves and pinned them in place with these cute little clothespins.  When I was done I just used a couple pieces of tape to attach it to the mantle.  How cute is this?

I used the leftover leaves to decorate the mantle and centerpiece on our table a little bit more.  I think it all turned out really pretty.

My New Morning Routine

Now that I have a new work schedule and school is back in session I thought I'd share my new morning routine with you.  I go into work an hour later than I used to and I find that I can be pretty productive in that extra bit of time I have each morning.

I used to get up at 5:30 and start my day, but I've bumped it to 6:00 now.  I get up and make my bed right away, first thing.  Then into the bathroom to wash my face, brush my hair and plug in my flat iron.  I shower at night before bed so the girls have full access to the upstairs bathroom in the mornings.

Zucchini bread makes a quick breakfast for the girls

Next I head into the kitchen and get myself a hot cup of coffee and fix our lunches.  They usually are made up of leftovers and most of the time I have that dished up the night before so all I need to do is assemble everything into our lunch boxes and add the ice packs.  I also start a little bit of hot soapy dishwater to wash up any dishes from putting lunches together and the girls fixing their breakfast.

As you may already know I have 15 minute chores I do each day to stay on top of our housework and I do those in the mornings now instead of after work like I used to.  If it is a watering day I will also go outside and start the sprinklers and set the timer to remind me to move it or shut it off.

The girls leave before I do now so that gives me a good forty five minutes of solitude and quiet.  I will usually spend that time checking emails, writing, paying bills or financial planning.  It is also a great time for me to check the weekly grocery ads and do meal planning too.

Fifteen minutes before I leave for work I flat iron my hair, moisturize, put on deodorant, lip balm, get dressed and I am ready to go.  I keep a very simple and basic work wardrobe that is easy to maintain and makes decision making easy so I spend about ten minutes tops with five to spare.

Lastly I empty out the dish drainer, wipe down the counters and rinse out the sinks.  Once I make sure all the lights are off and doors are locked I'm headed off on my five minute commute to the office.  I am very thankful to live so close to work and not have a long commute and I really like my new schedule too.  It allows me to get more done at the beginning of my day so I'm freed up at the end to spend more time with my girls and their activities.

Healthy Low Carb Oatmeal

I love oatmeal, especially on a chilly morning, as a hearty and delicious way to start the day.  Being on keto however I thought oatmeal wasn't going to be a part of my diet anymore.  Fortunately, that isn't quite the case.  I just have to make it as healthy and low carb as possible.  And as luck would have it, it isn't all that difficult to do.

Surprisingly the quick cooking oats are lower in carbs than steel cut or old fashioned so that is what I used.  I also made sure to check the ingredients to make sure there weren't any preservatives or additives.

I think the serving size on the package is a bit too big.  Even before keto a full cup of cooked oats was too much.  I would usually make two servings and the girls and I would share it with some leftover.  None of us could eat it all.

I began by making a single serving of oatmeal.  One cup of water, a pinch of pink himilayan salt and 1/2 cup of oats.  Once the water and salt came to a boil I added the oats and cooked it for a minute, then covered the pan and removed it from the burner to sit for five minutes.  After it was done I added 1/4 cup of chopped walnuts, a packet of stevia with erythritol, a little bit of vanilla extract and some cinnamon and stirred it all together.

I divided the mixture in half to create two nice servings and topped each one with a couple tablespoons of cream and another sprinkle of cinnamon.  It was delicious!  The perfect size serving at only 12 grams of carbs.

While oatmeal won't be a part of my daily diet, it will still be a part of it on occasion.  I like that when it comes to my old favorite foods all I have to do is come up with really healthy way to prepare it.  I think I certainly accomplished it here.