Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Beans Beans Everywhere

We had friends that told us that they were done picking beans in their garden and that we could pick some.  We have planted some in our garden, but they are not ready yet.  We got our garden in late because of all of the wet weather.  Here is what we picked last night in under an hour.


We will snap them today and I hope to can them tomorrow.  I like to have about 50-75 cans of beans to last the winter. We eat them about once a week and I always bring them when someone has a need for a meal.  Fresh beans are yummy.

I have to buckle down and get some schoolwork done.  I am enjoying the summer break too much.  We spent all yesterday afternoon by the pool and had a great time.  Oh well, it is summer and I am enjoying my summer.

I have also been walking.  I enjoy walking down the country dirt road near my house.  Here is what the view looks like.


Isn't that lovely.  We have been living here for about five years and we love the country.  Sometimes the kids miss having kids in the neighborhood nearby, but we import plenty and we love our quiet time.  I love socializing with others, but at heart I love just being at home with my family.

I guess I am going to go walk.  Evan wants to go with me and do some running.  He wants to get ready for soccer.  Gotta love some kids who like to be active.

Monday, June 1, 2015

Summer Begins Now

Well I was supposed to go to some training today and my summer was supposed to start tomorrow, but I got an email that it had been cancelled so now my summer starts.  We are going to do some cleaning and putting away today and go shopping this afternoon.  Ashley needs some shorts.  We are going to start at Plato's Closet.  If you haven't been there it is a great consignment store.  It mostly sells teen clothes, but sometimes we find mom jeans and shirts.  They have name brand stuff at good prices, so we will start there.  If we don't find much then we will go to Kohls.  We always have coupons for them and they have decent prices.

We had  deacon's dinner at our church last night.  We had smoked chicken and everyone brought sides.  Sometimes I am asked how do we afford not only to feed our family, but to bring dishes to church event, bring other families meals, and have others over all the time.  One way is to have some tried and true recipes that are cost efficient and can be made with bulk items that I keep in stock.  One of our favorites is crock pot mac and cheese.


This is easy.  I cook about three cups of macaroni noodles in boiling water.  In the crock pot I add half a stick of butter, about a cup of milk, three eggs, about three cups of shredded cheese, and a teaspoon of salt.  I mix it all up a cook on low for a few hours.  I like to add some Velveeta if I have it.  If it starts looking dry I add more milk.  This gets eaten every time I bring it somewhere.

I buy macaroni noodles in five pound bags and cheese in five pound bags from Sams so I usually have them on hand.  Having main ingredients for several basic dishes makes bringing a dish somewhere easy, especially if you work full time and don't have time to go to the store.

Well, I have to get off the computer and do some exercise.  My goal is to walk in the mornings and swim in the afternoons.  I have gotten soft this winter and eaten way too much junk.  Time to do something about that!