Wednesday menus #7 and turkey 2.0

The dealership that Firstborn works at always gives them a turkey for the holidays.  I wait a while after the holidays, then roast it up on a day off.

I love roasting a whole turkey with the intent to cut the meat up for several meals.  It makes the house smell wonderful, reminds me of Thanksgiving.  Every part of the bird will get used: the meat will be divided up into zip locs, the drippings will be saved for gravy, and the bones will make great soup stock.

Stock gently simmering

and roasting pan clean.

Wednesday - Coney Islands (with homemade turkey chili), tots
Thursday - Easy Parmesan Garlic Chicken Breasts, cabbage and carrots
Friday - Tilapia Mexicano, salad with avocado
Saturday - Hubby grills
Sunday - (freezer) Crock pot Beef Tips with Gravy, mashed potatoes, veggie or salad
Monday - Turkey Stir Fry with brown rice (from the bird above!)
Tuesday - Crock pot of beans with bacon, cornbread

Cooked turkey, ready for a meal!

Stock - I will skim off the fat and freeze in a Ball jar.

I recently cleaned out the freezer and have been good about using up what is left in there.  But its great to have some cooked turkey all cut up and ready to go.  As a birthday gift, I got a cookbook with ideas for rotisserie chicken meat, and I am going to adapt the recipes for turkey.  And, I plan on making my own pie crusts to freeze so turkey pot pies will be a breeze!  

Gina

What the week holds, and Treaty Oak

On Sunday we took Scout with us to the wine pick-up party at Wimberley Valley Winery.  It was such a pleasant afternoon, but we didn't bring any card games to play or get there early enough to snag a table, so we decided to take him by a distillery nearby, Treaty Oak Distilling Co.

We got there around 3 p.m. and was surprised that it wasn't busier, but they weren't offering tastings and didn't have any live music happening.  Plenty of folk were enjoying the wide open spaces - a lot of them brought their kids, since there is a playscape and lots of horseshoe and beanbag pits.  And they had helicopter tours, although we didn't plunk down the $45 apiece it costs.

Hubby and I had just visited them on Friday and took a tour of the distillery.  They make bourbon, rum, vodka, and gin.  It's a neat place, and the tour came with a tasting.  

 

 

Scout declined a drink, settling for water.  He's not much of a fan of drinks, but Dad and I enjoyed a cocktail while we all watched the helicopter come and go.  The weather was unbelieveable for "winter" - temps in the high 70's.

 

We were only there a short time, but it was lovely.  This week I am setting out some sussies for my menfolk on Tuesday morning, but we probably will not *celebrate* Valentine's Day. Hubby goes to see the eye doc for a pre-op on his cataract surgery, and Bubbie has solo and ensemble performances with band.  We've got some severe weather in the form of rain in the forecast tonight and I plan on sleeping right through it!

What does your week look like?

Gina

Recycle and trash decluttering

This week the declutter challenge was recycling and trash cans.  Austin has a pretty progressive recycling program.  It's all single stream, meaning we don't separate out anything.  We have two dumpsters provided for us to use - one for trash, the other for recycleables.  And the little area they live in needed some cleaning up.

They live behind the photinia at the corner of our house.  You never see them from the street.

The patio pavers were left over from a long ago project, so I placed them here so the cans wouldn't sit in mud, but its pretty messy back here and could use a raking.

 I raked and sprayed the stones off.  When they were just about dry I put the cans back and moved on to the next project: breaking down several large boxes to recycle from a garage project I had also started. 

It's not fancy, but no one ever sees it!

Austin picks up yard waste weekly.  In addition, there are a couple of times a year they will come get big limbs and big trash.  Bulky Trash Pick-up happens next week starting Monday.  The best thing to do is get your big trash out the week before.  Junk dealers and neighbors will take unwanted stuff off your hands.  All you have to do is haul it out to the curb.  

About every three months or so I go out to the garage and pitch a fit over the way it looks.  A couple of hours later, I have straightened it up.  But we seriously own too much stuff.  I have talked about that many times before on this blog... This time around I managed to toss a roll of vinyl flooring from years ago, a broken down bike, a vacuum cleaner, some landscape lighting, a large broken pot, a futon, and two barstools.  But there is so much more in here to get rid of.  

 

Part of the problem is the stuff from the two grown kids who have left their belongings here.  

I even cleared a mini path back to the lawn sprinkler system control box, which you can barely see on the wall (gray box).  And all the scrap wood got straightened up, too.  I emptied some of my terra cotta pots which had dead plants in them.  I will clean them up in the spring and pot some new plants.  Then I called it a day.  Until next time.

Gina

Wednesday Menus #6 and wine storage

The cabinet under the cookbook counter was a train wreck.  It held serving dishes, a container of batteries, a basket of wax tarts and votive candles, crystal stemware we have never used, and wine.

Mostly the trash can sits in front of it, so I can close it up and forget about it.  But it's not being put to good use and the wine bottles were destined for breakage!

Storing them on their sides is good - balancing them on top of one another, not so good.

I pulled everything out of the cabinet intending to remove the shelf, but it is in there permanently. Believe me, I tried!

So I google around a bit for wine racks and was mostly discouraged until I remembered that IKEA has them for cheap - about $10 apiece.  Sold!  I headed over there and within a couple of hours had two of them built and ready to use, travel and shopping time included!

Simple.  Stackable. Inexpensive.

Wednesday - Chicken Tacos (freezer leftovers), salad with guacamole
Thursday - Hamburger SOS on toast - broccoli/cauliflower
Friday - Italian Layer Bake, kettle chips
Saturday - Dad grills
Sunday - Slow Cooker Steak and Potato soup, rolls
Monday - Honey Mustard Chicken Crock, rice, peas and carrots
Tuesday - Biscuits with sausage gravy, eggs

  

I cleaned out the floor of the pantry, added the shelves, stocked the wine stash, and organized the picnic and lunch totes.  I feel like they will stay reasonably cool down in here, too.

A happy consequence of that was that I was able to find a safe spot for the stemware and organize the serving ware with room to spare.  I love the empty spaces down here and now I can say I am officially done with the kitchen decluttering for January!

Gina

What the week holds, and the rest of January kitchen declutter

I finished up the January declutter challenge, (except for one more project involving wine storage) which was all about the kitchen.

Week 3 was all about cabinets - under the cooktop is where I have pans and lids.  I pulled everything out, wiped the shelf liner with windex, and organized it all as I put it back.  Mostly, my method was "like items together".

Bakeware was next - easy.  It lives under the oven and was pretty well organized.  Just needed some wiping down.

For the canned food part of the challenge, I cleaned out the entire pantry. Along the way I built a couple of wine racks from IKEA.  Our pantry doesn't get too out of control or cluttered.  Mostly because I only buy groceries once a week and I buy what we will be eating fairly soon. However, I did toss some stuff that I figured was too old - instant rice and old cereal.

Next on the list was organize spices.  I know that technically you aren't supposed to store spices close to the stove, but that's where I use them, so I leave them in this small cabinet.  On the bottom shelf is a lazy Susan, the middle shelf is large spice containers and oils, and the top shelf holds a basket of over-the-counter meds.

Over the range hood is another small cabinet with mostly Christmas mugs, and other items Hubby holds dear, including coffee mugs from various scout camps.

The cupboard shelves were also easy - I have to purge them a couple times of year.  There's only two wine drinkers here so what is up with all those wine glasses?  

Coffee cups live in this cabinet near the coffee pots.  The ones on the top shelf don't get used often, but I face them out so I can enjoy the photos on them.  The middle shelf is Hubby's coffee and tea, the bottom shelf has hot chocolate and mugs.

The cabinet over the microwave was a royal pain.  Basically it's where I store things I will rarely if ever use - china, crystal, silver. I stacked some stuff in there so I could make room for that crystal pitcher.

Some of this was wedding gifts, some inherited. 

The freezer and fridge were a chore - I didn't realize how messy they were with spilled food and things we just plain needed to toss.  I organized the freezer shelves top to bottom. 

My least favorite thing to do is clean the fridge.  I cleaned all of the shelves, and consolidated leftovers. I even pulled a turkey out of the freezer to thaw so I could remember to roast it. And all of the cubbies in the door got wiped out and organized.  Nothing but a weather radio gets stored on top of the fridge so all I had to do up there was Windex it.

Once of the challenge items was to go through your recipes and cookbooks, which I did.  I even ended up taking some cookbooks, along with some novels I was done with, to Half Price Books and earned a tidy $21!  I tossed recipe cards for things I vowed never to make again - mostly involving casseroles. And my stack of cookbooks got tidied up.

The tops of the cabinets I cleaned just after I put Christmas up, so I consider them done. 

It's pretty simple up there!

And that was the end of the January kitchen challenge for me.  Along the way everything got thoroughly cleaned and I feel like I have more empty space in here and I like that a lot.  This week is another slow week. What does your week look like?

Gina

5 thing Friday - jewelry cleaning, spoons, candles, pho, nails

I've been after Hubby to let me take his James Avery things to get them cleaned but he won't take them off. Getting mine cleaned thrills me every time - it's like getting new jewelry!

 My two favorite rings look brand new.

A friend gave me these cute ceramic measuring spoons.  I put them in an old mug on my counter, putting a bit of brown rice in the bottom of the cup - mostly to keep them from banging each other, but also to clean them gently after I use them for spices.

My holiday candles are still going strong, including this one that I love lighting in the evenings or on dark mornings.  Candle glow is very soothing.  I want to toss all of the cheapie jar candles I have and buy soy candles from now on.  Better scents and less indoor soot.

Hubby and I were watching Martha Stewart make pho one day and it got me hungry for some, so I made my own.  Ramen, carrot shreds, some grilled pork, and cilantro made a great cheater pho.  The thing about ramen is that you always have to add protein to it.  Otherwise you will be hungry 30 minutes later.

 Again with the nails.  Or more accurately, still.

 

I bought this nail oil at Sally and will try it for 30 days.  If it helps, great, if not, I will move on to something else.  I am also going to see a dermatologist. I've tried a variety of things - lotions, biotin, nail oils, polishes, no hand foam at work - but I have made no headway.  Time to call in a professional.

Gina

Wednesday Menus #5 and a cute button craft

Last week I was all about the creativity.  I cross stitched a couple of things.  I organized and cleaned things.  I decorated things.  Made a Valentine banner.  And I made a button craft.  Here was my inspiration:

 

This is from a cute crafty blog that you can find here. 
 And this one, too:

From this blog
I merged the two!
 And here is my version:

I used some pre-made burlap covered frames from Wal-Mart that were 2 in a package for $6.  I just propped it on a tiny easel near my cookbooks.  I love that I was able to use a lot of old buttons in there - some are made of shell and somewhat antique.

Wednesday - Brinner with Hayride Bacon (flavors of cinnamon, nutmeg, pumpkin), omelettes, skillet apples
Thursday - Buttery Garlic Parmesan Chicken, rice, salad
Friday - Turkey Sloppy Joes, sweet potato fries
Saturday - Dad grills
Sunday - Crock pot Carnitas
Monday - Honey Soy Chicken, masheds, green beans
Tuesday - Skinny Beef Enchiladas, charro beans, salad
Dessert this week: Sour Cream Raisin Pie for Hubby's Birthday

I made one for The Girl, too.

I'm going to package it up with some chocolate and love for her Valentine's day!

Gina