Our chickens didn’t lay many eggs during the colder months. That’s perfectly normal, but when it started warming up they started producing like crazy. We were getting overrun with eggs. We knew that it was time to start giving them away. I took them all out and did the egg test to see if they were all still fresh. We don’t wash them until we use them because it keeps the bloom on them and they stay fresh much longer.
We ended up having 107 eggs. We gave them to neighbors and co workers. We still ended up having too many so I decided to freeze them. Did you know that you can freeze raw eggs? The method I used was washing the eggs and then cracking them into silicon muffin pans.
After they are in the cups you just sprinkle them with salt, this keeps the yolks thinner, cover them with cling wrap and freeze. When they are fully frozen, you just pop them out and store them in a freezer baggie. They can last up to a year.
I also made soy marinated eggs. They were so good.
I did a batch of pickled mustard eggs also but they need to pickle for about 10 days so I haven’t been able to try them yet.
I save all of my glass jars to reuse so if you happen to look in our fridge that’s what you’ll see most of. I use them for sauces, leftovers and pickling.
I also have a new favorite meal. I keep roasted sweet potatoes in the fridge at all times because they are a healthy snack and I eat them every day with fried eggs. If you haven’t tried it yet I highly recommend it.
It only takes about 25 minutes to roast a whole pan and they reheat well.
I have not wanted to go to the grocery. Aldi has completely rearranged their store and it’s so confusing because items are not grouped together like they should be. I decided that we really need to use up what we have before I actually forced to go shopping. Because the weather has been absolutely beautiful these past few days we have been eating outside and I’ve been sprucing up the patio. The hens have been laying again so that means more meals using our eggs.
Dinner was a hit with everyone. I whipped up a ham and cheese quiche. I pulled some spiral sliced ham out of the freezer and I had cheese in the fridge.
We also had some strawberries and blueberries that needed to be used for something so I added sugar and some water and cooked those down to make a compote for waffles.
It does take a while for the berries to cook down, but it’s so worth it.
I just make the waffles while the quiche is cooking.
I found the best recipe for waffles.
While I was cleaning out the pantry I found a can of sweetened condensed milk and made some cookies. I had never made these before, but they were so good.
I feel like I’m really late getting my seeds started, but I was able to get a plant table done. We got the mini saw horses at an estate sale last year. I had the boards so I just stained them all dark walnut. I plan on painting the saw horses, but I didn’t have enough paint.
I love sprucing up getting ready for summer. I try to use what we already have. I am planning some fun, funky additions to our little patio. It basically serves as another room since we tend to eat and spend a lot of time out there. I can’t wait to get started.
The snow and ice seems to have skirted us. It’s still very cold and rainy, but luckily nothing too bad. It’s days like this that I like some good old comfort food. Tonight I decided to make Chicken and Dumplings. It’s a good stick to your ribs kind of meal. I have the copycat version of Cracker Barrel’s pinned to my board on Pinterest. This is my favorite Chicken and Dumpling recipe.
No matter what, when I use flour, baking soda/baking powder, I ALWAYS sift it. Sometimes the soda or powder can get clumpy and if you get a bite with a clump it is SO bitter.
The dumplings call for 3 cups flour, 1 T baking powder, 1 1/2 tsp salt and 1 cup + 2 T milk. just mix that together, roll it out into a big rectangle about 1/4 inch thick and use a pizza cutter to cut it into squares.
Cook your chicken breasts (or whatever chicken you like) in 6 cups chicken broth. I only had 2 cups so I used to bouillon cubes. You would think just boiling the chicken in water would be enough, but you really want that chicken flavor. Add 1/2 onion and some celery. Cook it partially covered for about 30 minutes or until the chicken is done.
Remove everything but the broth. Bring it to a simmer and add the dumplings. Make sure you add quite a bit of flour to the dumplings when you roll them out. This makes the gravy. Simmer for 30 minutes. Add the shredded chicken and that’s it. I add a lot of pepper once it’s cooked, but I find I don’t need any extra salt.
It was so good.
The other night Jackson wanted shrimp Po boys again. I found this shrimp at Super 1. It’s breaded raw shrimp and I just pan fried it.
It was SO delicious! I only cooked half of the bag and there’s plenty left for the next meal. I think it was $17.49 for the box, but if you think about how much a shrimp dinner is at a restaurant, it’s a good deal.
Lately some of our chickens have been very bad. There are 3 ring leaders that insist on flying over the gate and running amok in our yard and all of the neighbors’ yards. I spend a lot of time during my day herding chickens back to their yard. Donny and I spent a lot of the day outside. I was taking down the Christmas lights and he was adding more insulation to the coop because we are supposed to be getting some colder weather later this week. Those 3 chickens plus some other followers in the group kept getting over the gate. Donny realized what a pain it was to be wrangling chickens multiple times. He brought out more chicken wire to raise the gate area even more. We thought that worked until one of the chickens flew right over it. I had had enough. I decided to do whatever it took to keep them in our backyard.Donny told me, “you can be serious?’. Oh, but I was. All it took were 2 brooms and a rake plus several zip ties. I also got our scarecrow out of the shed and made sure to chase the chickens around waving it and growling loudly. I figured if they were scared of it they wouldn’t come near it. This is how it turned out.
Donny’s first reaction when I was finished was, “what are the neighbors going to think?’. I told him I didn’t care because I was sick of chasing chickens. Let’s cross our fingers that this works. Let’s hope the HOA is okay with it. Ha had, just kidding, we could never live with an HOA because I’m pretty sure we would get fined every day and/or kicked out.
Hannah treated her boyfriend to dinner since tomorrow is his birthday and she has to work tomorrow night. Since they were already going to eat we decided to try out our new Long John Silver’s. I know, I know, most people think it’s gross, but it has a special place in our hearts here in Longview. You see almost 2 years ago it was not doing so well and they were going to shut it down. That’s when our Facebook group “All Things Longview” went on a mission to save it. And save it we did. Several months ago they completely tore it down so they could build a new store that wasn’t grimy and greasy like the old one. The brand spanking new LJS opened a few days ago and I’m happy to say that we had to wait in the to-go line for quite a while. Even the inside was full and there was a line in there also.
The food was actually SO good. Everything tasted so fresh and it wasn’t overly greasy. I was quite pleased. They also got the order 100% correct. Go LJS! I hope you stay this busy.
Today we woke up to fog rolling in. It was just a foggy muggy start to the day.
We hadn’t planned on really doing anything, Donny and Hannah were both off. We decided, at almost 1:00, that we should make breakfast. I decided to try out the big griddle for bacon and sausage and the smaller round griddle for french toast.
I think I may have had the heat up too high because the house filled with smoke from the bacon although it turned out good. I love the smaller griddle to make french toast. We kind of had a mess everywhere. One thing I love about cast iron is that the clean up is pretty easy. Just scrub, scrub, scrub and if something is stuck on, use salt.
Donny and I had to run to Drug Emporium and when we got home Hannah was outside drawing on the chalkboard. We have now made her the official chalkboard artist and she will now be handling what goes on it.
I love it when she takes the time to do her drawings. I can’t wait to see what she comes up with next.
For 2025 I’m going to be doing a whole house clean out which means I shouldn’t have purchased what I did at Drug Emporium, but it smelled so good I couldn’t resist.
It’s a new line they are carrying and this was only the second tester I tried, but I knew right when the fragrance hit my nose that it was the one. It smells so good.
Tomorrow I am going to start the clean out on the kitchen. I need to find a place for the huge pot I just got for Christmas. I figured while I’m doing that I might as well do the whole thing.
Has anyone else started season 2 of Squid Game? We just started episode 4 and so far it’s been really good. I also want to recommend Black Doves. We were really impressed by it.
Hannah has her first retail job. She actually really likes it, but the holiday hours before Christmas day can be rough. Friday night she was scheduled to get off at 12:10, but ended up actually leaving close to 1 am. I don’t mind waiting for her to get out, but I had taken my supplements right before I left to get her, with not enough water, and ended up with the worst heartburn and nothing to drink. Then neither one of us could go right to sleep when we got home so it was a late night.
The next morning she had to be at work at 11:00, but since it was Saturday, and Donny has to do his store meeting, he needs to leave the house by 8:30. Since I was already up making breakfasts and lunches for everyone I decided to go ahead and bake some cookies. This is what I walked by into when I got back from dropping Hannah off.
Still hazy from cooking bacon even with the fan on.
This morning she had to be at work by 6 am. That means we got up at 4:30 so I could make her breakfast, bag up her lunch and get her there on time. We did make it, but I know we are going to be dragging by tonight even though I want to go look at Christmas lights. We’ll see how that pans out.
Because I was really tired yesterday, I made the easiest dinner. I had roasted some chicken breasts the night before. I cut up some carrots and roasted them with soy sauce, garlic powder and honey. I cut up the chicken breasts and heated them up in the Korean Chicken sauce we picked up at the Asian market. I cooked some ramen noodles, drained them and added the spice packets. It was so good. The whole family liked it. I don’t really like chicken so I just had the noodles, carrots and green onions.
I also went from not a single present wrapped to all of them wrapped. I do not like wrapping, but it had to get done. We only got the kids 5 gifts each. One big one and 4 smaller ones. I think they will love them.
And here’s one of my favorite Santas. I love weird art.
Around here everyone has “their” breakfast that I make them. Hannah”s choice is two sunny side up eggs with a sausage patty. Jack has two, either a breakfast on a Bun with sausage or a breakfast taco with sausage, egg and cheese. Donny has two slices of bacon, 3 scrambled eggs with cheese and hot sauce. I have never really had a favorite, must eat this, breakfast until now.
On my last trip to Aldi I picked up the thick cut Appleton bacon that I always buy. When I pulled it out this morning to make Donny’s breakfast I noticed that I had picked up the maple bacon. I always either get the peppered kind of just the normal one. I didn’t even know that this company even made maple bacon.
After I made Donny’s breakfast our house smelled SO good. I love the smell of maple. It’s just that cold weather cozy smell. After I dropped Jackson at school and walked back into the house I could still smell it. It’s like we had a maple candle burning. This, of course, prompted me to want some of that bacon. I am not a huge breakfast eater. I love breakfast foods, but I normally don’t eat in the mornings. Not this morning though. I decided that nothing would go better with bacon than some sourdough french toast with maple syrup. I was not disappointed.
This is 100% my favorite breakfast. Thank you, Aldi because everything came from your store. I cannot wait to have it again tomorrow morning.
On another note, I was in Dollar tree last week. Our dollar tree does not have a lot of products that I’ve seen people showing online. I don’t know if everything just sells out and I miss something because I rarely go into that store. When I was there picking up candy for the stockings I happened to walk into the kitchen side of the store and found this product on one of the shelves, completely misplaced.
I am extremely leary of dollar store beauty products, but this one checked all of my boxes.
And one of the best things is that it’s…
I don’t know why the picture is blurry, but you get the idea.
Now, all of this doesn’t mean a hill of beans if it doesn’t work, but this stuff really works. I just spray it on my hair, especially the ends, and blow dry. It makes my hair soft and shiny. I don’t like to use heat on my hair, but during the colder months, I can’t have a damp head or else I’m freezing all day. If you find this at your Dollar Tree it’s definitely worth a try.
And just because, here’s Monkey napping. She won’t come inside during the hot months, but rarely leaves the kitchen during the colder ones. Such a strange little cat.
If you have a TikTok account you must follow Kevin Ashton. He is a chef for a sorority house. He is the Bob Ross of cooking. You’ll know what I mean if you see his videos. His voice is so soothing and I just love to watch him make each magnificent dish. I saw a recent video of him making green Verde chicken enchiladas. Because he cooks for about 25 girls, you kind of have to guess the measurements, but it isn’t hard. I had leftover chicken in the fridge that I needed to use up so this is what I made.
shredded chicken
tomatillos
poblano peppers
jalepeno peppers
white onion
chicken broth
oregano
salt
cumin
cilantro
garlic cloves
shredded Monterey jack
shredded colby
tortillas
Heat olive oil in a pan. Add the tomatillos, poblano peppers, onions and jalapenos. Just stir them around until they start getting soft.
Add the chicken broth and cook for about 30 minutes on a simmer.
After it has simmered add the oregano, cumin, salt and cilantro. I used a stick blender, but you can use a regular blender. Just blend it until smooth. Add a generous amount of sauce to your chicken. Next add a generous amount of Monterey Jack. Mix that all up.
Pour some sauce into your baking dish. Grab your tortilla and put the mixture in the middle and roll it up. After you’ve done all the tortillas, spoon the sauce over the enchiladas and add more Monterey jack and Colby. Pop it into a 400 degree oven for 25 minutes. Y’all, it was so good. I should have added more peppers, but they were so hot that I was afraid it would make the sauce too hot. As for the spices, just add as much as you like. I used 1/2 of a large onion, 4 large garlic cloves and 10 tomatillos.
Yesterday the wind picked up. Everything was blowing around. The cats didn’t want to be outside. The chickens stayed in their coop most of the day and even put themselves to bed early. All of the blustery weather was worth it because today was the perfect Fall day. It was a flannel shirt and boots kind of day.
Since I knew Donny was going to be off today and that we needed to get some errands run, I made tonight’s dinner yesterday. The recipe also said that it’s even better if you let it sit in the fridge overnight.
It’s called short rib ragu. Donny watches the Today show every morning and they had a chef on making it and it looked so good I just had to try it. It’s time consuming because you have to let it simmer for 3 1/2 hours, but I was in a cooking mood and had the time. I actually used a roast because it’s what we had in the freezer.
It calls for 1 1/2 pounds of short ribs or roast
3 T olive oil
3 large carrots, diced
3 stalks of celery, diced
1 yellow onion, diced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups of beef broth
1 3/4 cups of red wine
fresh thyme, rosemary and basil (however much you like)
freshly grated parmesan
Heat olive oil in a heavy Dutch oven. Salt and pepper the meat. Sear the meat on all sides until nice and brown. Remove meat.
Add the carrots, celery and onions. Saute until fragrant (about 7 minutes). Add garlic and saute for 30 seconds. Add the broth, wine and fresh herbs. Add meat and bring to a boil for about 5 mins. Cover and cook on low for 3 1/2 hours.
After it has cooked, remove and shred the meat. The recipe said to remove half of the sauce and put it in a blender until smooth. I just used my stick blender and it worked just fine. Add the meat back in. I let mine cool and then put it in the fridge. If you don’t have time to do that, boil your pasta. While it’s boiling, add 1 cup (or more) of the cheese to the sauce.
It was SO good. You can use any type of pasta you prefer. I forgot to take a picture when it was finished, but I took one after everyone had eaten.
It looks a mess in this picture, but I promise you, it is so flavorful, hearty and stick to you ribs kind of meal. I served it with garlic bread. Does anyone else use a peeler to shave off butter for toasted bread. I haven’t owned a toaster in forever because I like to make mine under the broiler.
I can’t believe that November is almost over. I was outside getting the Christmas decorations out when I saw Queso playing with something in the grass. The cats are always finding lizards or bugs to chase around. This time it was neither of those, but this cute little guy that Queso would pick up, let go, chase and then repeat the whole process over again.
He snuggled right up in my hand. I took him into the backyard and let him go into the tree line. While I was back at the shed, about 20 minutes later, I saw something running toward me with Queso chasing it. It was the little mouse running to me. I scooped him up and put him inside the chicken coop where he seemed very happy. Some chickens will eat mice, but mine don’t seem to care. They have very different personalities than most chickens as they don’t like worms, but love tortillas, Mac ‘n cheese and french fries. Plus the little guy will be safe in there away from the owl that seems to like to hang out in the trees behind our house. Maybe I’ll see little mouse again soon.
Some days I just don’t feel like cooking a big, made from scratch, meal. Last night I made one of the easiest dinners ever. Prep time took 5 minutes and everyone loved it.
You just take 8 frozen burritos. I get the bean and cheese in a bag from Aldi. 2 cans of enchilada sauce and a block of colby jack cheese. You can use whatever cheese you like, but i highly suggest grating it yourself because it just melts better.
Preheat oven to 375. Grease a 9×12 dish. Put the frozen burritos in the dish. Pour both cans of enchilada sauce on top and bake for 30 minutes. Put the grated cheese on top and bake for an additional 5 minutes. There you go, that’s it. I made cilantro lime rice to go with it. It’s even good heated up the next day if you happen to have leftovers.
I also picked this up from Aldi. I have a slice of sourdough toast every morning and this with it just hits the spot.
One thing I love about Fall is all of the spicy smells. I’m not a big pumpkin spice fan, but I love cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, etc. I found this Mrs. Meyers dish soap and had to give it a try. It smells so good. I normally use the lilac scent, but I love this for Fall.
The Funky Frugalista 