Second Go around

whoa! This week seemed to fly by!

John's vest is finished!! Took me about 5 days of knitting, definitely fast and satisfying! The steeking was scary, but as I have read, it was completely easy :) I haven't blocked it yet, so no finished pics, but this is after I have done one armhole and the neck :)

It's only been three weeks since my last cooking adventure, but meat was on sale and I had the time this weekend to cook, so I went ahead and cooked the meals for March! I went bigger this month and prepared 13 different recipes and now have a nicely stocked freezer with even more variety! I will admit that this past month some of the meals were a little too familiar :) So this way I should only be eating the same meal once every two weeks (the 13th meal is moose roast and the 14th, spaghetti, but they were already prepped and frozen, so I didn't count them). I just love looking the freezer to see such variety and availability!!

Recipes for March:

1. Sloppy Joes
2. Chili
3. Double Baked Potatoes
4. Sweet n Sour Chicken
5. Lasagna
6. Shepherds Pie
7. Sweet BBQ Chicken Drumsticks
8. Moose Stew
9. Ginny's Beans
10. Chicken Quesadillas
11. Bean Burritos
12. Quiche Lorraine (an improved recipe over last months!)

Also just for good measure a pic of my little mad scientist, lol!

Pictures!

What to say?

What I hate the most about "taking a break" from blogging is that I feel like I have to "catch up"...which makes me not really feel like posting. So I am just ignoring that fact that I haven't posted in over a month....

I have several projects to post about...I even have pics of most of them. Alas my camera is in the car and I am on the couch....so maybe tomorrow I will do a wordless post to make up for today's lack of pics.

The biggest change in my house since I last posted is that I have gone to once a month cooking! I now have a large stand alone freezer (thank you Aunt Connie!!) and have 50lbs of moose and 30+ meals inside it! It took me around 6.5 hours to cook and then I was done! It's been very nice knowing that I will be having a real meal each evening while not having to decide what to cook. Plus I got to break the food up into portion size that make sense for our family as well. I am already looking forward to planning and cooking for next month as I learned a few things and have found some more good recipes!

well that's all for now and I will hopefully be getting some good pics up by tomorrow!

Tulips....where are you?

Today was a nice average day. Perfect for getting out into the garden. Which (after really putting it off) I did!!! With much help from my Aunt I was able to really get most of the big weeds out and really "bring to light" my bulbs and perennials! I really am wishing that I took a before picture as it was pretty bad. I have so much grass coming over from the next yard it makes it a little difficult to keep up with! Not to mention that I was pretty pregnant at the end of last summer and my garden really suffered. With most of the weeds out and everything cleaned up I am hoping to have a summer with lots of time tending my plants. A few didn't come back this year - but most are back a rearing to go. The new grass we planted has come in pretty thick and I think it's getting close to being ready to mow. I will be taking pics of freshly dyed fiber tomorrow and I will try to get some "early summer" pictures of the garden then too.

In the home I have been meeting more goals. All of our meals for the past week have been cooked from scratch and they all have been much heavier on the fresh fruits and veggies too! I just need to really keep things going to try and make this habit - I think the key for me will be having the evening meal thought out and ready before evening arrives. That is what's been working so far.

Anyhow no fun pictures or links tonight! Though I will most likely finish up some handspun yarn tonight that I plan on putting up in the shop! It has definitely been a while since I have spun yarn for sale.....I have been a little greedy ;P

I will include this recipe that is a favorite of my family - handed down by my Grandmother.

Ginny's Beans:

1 Can Pork & Beans
1 Can Lima Beans w/ham (I usually use butter beans...)
1 Can Kidney Beans
1 Can Tomato Sauce
1 Can Stewed Tomatoes
1/8 Cup (+or-) mustard (try different varieties to kick it up a notch)
1 Cup Brown Sugar
1/2lb-1lb Browned Ground Beef
1 Medium Onion, chopped (optional)
1 Green Pepper (optional)
1/2lb Crumbled Bacon (Optional)

Put all ingredients into the slow cooker. Cook on low for 2-4 hours. For the cans, just make sure they are all the same size - this recipe is very easy to double for more people! Yep that easy!

I love this recipe as it is easy to make last minute as the key ingredients are easy to keep on hand! Especially shopping at Costco. It is very flavorful and the mustard and brown sugar come together to make an amazing combination. This is one of my husbands very favorite meals - he asks for it often!