My 2021 Challenge

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alliesmama4
Posts: 8591
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:10 pm
Location: Southern IL

Re: My 2021 Challenge

Post by alliesmama4 »

I have amazed myself at stretching the leftover keto sausage gravy. At first I was going to open a small can of mushrooms to add to the gravy but realized I still had fresh mushroom in the fridge. I cut them up in to a dice and sautéed them in a little bit of butter. Added some of them to the sausage gravy. I cooked the ground chuck pattie first then simmered it in the sauce for a while. It made for a yummy dinner. I did not have time to bake my brussels sprouts so threw 6 of them in the microwave and nuked them then added a dab of butter. I still had a little bit of the sauce leftover so saved it for today. I added more sautéed mushrooms and made a 2 egg omelet for dinner using the sauce as a filling. Sprinkled the omelet with a little bit of shredded cheddar cheese. I still have enough sautéed mushrooms to make an omelet tomorrow.

Fresh mushrooms will keep a lot longer if I remove them right away from their container and put them in a bowl in the fridge. I use a cloth napkin on the bottom and one on top and they will last for weeks that way. Also when I bring cabbage and lettuce home I immediately remove them from their wrappers and wrap them in a kitchen towel. They stay fresh longer. I was watching a cooking show the other day. They did a test of various containers on the market that you can buy to keep herbs fresh in your fridge. The winner cost $17.00 and change. They said the herbs lasted for 8 weeks in the container. They are basically doing the same thing that I do. I put my cilantro in a glass quart size Pyrex measuring cup, add water, and then cover with the produce bag to make a tent. I check the water every few days and replace it.

Breakfast was 2 hardboiled eggs. lunch was tuna fish salad with gluten free crackers and dinner was my omelet. I did a quick fry with some oil with a few raw cashews for a snack mid afternoon. I was desperate for a snack and did not have anything prepared. I need to try to get to that sometime soon. I do have ingredients just need to find the energy to make things.

Teddi is so funny. I know he likes a change of taste too so gave him a couple of hard boiled eggs for breakfast. When I do things like that he holds off eating his dog food late in the day hoping for another treat. This evening he was so cute. He jumped up in my lap and looked deep in to my eyes as if begging for a treat. I told him, " no treat, no carrots go eat your dinner in your bowl" He made a gesture almost like a sigh. It is hard to explain but it was so cute he knew he was defeated and he jumped down went to eat his dinner.
Janet Alliesmama
HappyDaze
Posts: 4186
Joined: Tue Oct 15, 2019 11:11 am

Re: My 2021 Challenge

Post by HappyDaze »

Janet, you're doing a great job and your meals sound so good! A lot of my inspiration for using things up and stretching things has come from you - so thank you!

Teddi sounds so precious - you created a monster, lol. My daughter's dog gets very expensive treats because of allergies and the other night my daughter gave one of them to my Lucy. Now Lucy has taken to standing at the door of my daughter's rooms and barking - she wants more of those! I had to show Lucy some "tough love" last night to get her to come out of our "connecting room" (dining room) and go to bed!
"All his life he tried to be a good person. Many times, however, he failed. After all, he was only human. He wasn't a dog."

Charles M. Schultz
alliesmama4
Posts: 8591
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:10 pm
Location: Southern IL

Re: My 2021 Challenge

Post by alliesmama4 »

HappyDaze wrote: Mon Jan 18, 2021 8:06 am Janet, you're doing a great job and your meals sound so good! A lot of my inspiration for using things up and stretching things has come from you - so thank you!

Teddi sounds so precious - you created a monster, lol. My daughter's dog gets very expensive treats because of allergies and the other night my daughter gave one of them to my Lucy. Now Lucy has taken to standing at the door of my daughter's rooms and barking - she wants more of those! I had to show Lucy some "tough love" last night to get her to come out of our "connecting room" (dining room) and go to bed!
Sheila thanks for the kind words..

Yes I have created a monster..lol. Cute but still he is his own little personality.

Food is always a lure for pets. Hope you can get Lucy over her infatuation with having received a gourmet treat. It is a step up from a milk bone. lol
Janet Alliesmama
alliesmama4
Posts: 8591
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:10 pm
Location: Southern IL

Re: My 2021 Challenge

Post by alliesmama4 »

Time flies when you are having fun or just bored silly..lol. I have not been up to par due to fatigue but trying to make an effort. Teddi has been on strike recently not wanting to eat his canned salmon. At first he loved it and the boiled potatoes with a few finely cutup green beans and apple. Then he started to skip everything but the salmon. Then a few days ago he would take a couple of bites of salmon and not eat the rest of the day. Yesterday I made him two hardboiled eggs for breakfast and he scarfed them down and he ate 1 and 3/4 eggs this morning. So I know he is willing to eat just being picky. He still eats his baby carrots and his Pupperoni. I have drastically cut down on the portion size of his Pupperoni trying to phase them out.

Today I tackled a 6 lb pork butt roast to make food for Teddi. It was on sale for .99 Cent a lb. Thank goodness my aide thought to call to see if I wanted it cut up into steaks which was a good idea. It made it easier to cut it up. It still required a lot of cutting. It had a lot of fat on it that I trimmed off. Also had to work around a lot of bones. I was able to cut off an end piece to make in to a tiny pork roast for myself as well as saved several portions to make a meal of BBQ pork steaks for me sometime in the future. I froze them already but had to put the bulk back in the fridge in 4 containers to continue processing them for the freezer. I baked enough for Teddi for dinner tonight and breakfast tomorrow morning. I just gave him the meat cut up. He scarfed it down and was wanting more. I put some boiled potatoes on a plate and spooned some of the cooked meat juice over them and he scarfed them down too. So tomorrow I will combine them for his breakfast. I guess like people he was getting tired of eating the same things. I will try to alternate foods instead of a steady diet of the same protean.

I was so busy working on the meat I did not think about my dinner. By the time it was close to dinner time I thought a salad would be easier to make than cooking something. I was happily chopping away when I realized I had used the last of my store bought salad dressing and did not have time to make any from scratch or did I? I remembered seeing a chili lime marinade in the pantry. I had never used it before and not even sure where I bought it. I opened it and gave it a taste.. It was really yummy. However it was a marinade and somewhat thin for a salad dressing. So I decide to mix it with some mayo. Wow was it good. It would make a nice dip too. I hope I can remember where I bought this I would love to buy it again.

Today I requested 2 virtual Master cards from one of my survey sites. They use to pay through Pay Pal but they have had some kind of a disagreement with them. I could have had the cash directly deposited in my bank but did not want to go through all of the work setting that up. You can request the cards in $15.00 increments so i requested two. I have a balance of $12.00 left at their site so I should be able to cash out as soon as they send me another survey. I earn $3.00 for each survey they send to me. On another site I am going to request cash and will revive $35.00 from them. This money will go towards groceries I have already bought. I put the grocery charge on my credit card to earn cash back and will now use the survey money to pay off the credit card. Not a significant amount of money but still the groceries were free and a few pennies back from the credit card.
Janet Alliesmama
alliesmama4
Posts: 8591
Joined: Sun Aug 30, 2015 10:10 pm
Location: Southern IL

Re: My 2021 Challenge

Post by alliesmama4 »

Nothing new or exciting to report. Food wise working my way through things in the house. I have cut up and froze some of the 6lbs of pork butt that I bought for Teddi. I cooked off another large portion last night which will get him through a few more days maybe 3.5. He receives 2 oz of meat after the meat is cooked and it does loose weight after being cooked so 6lbs is not all meat. Also there was a lot of fat and bones that needed to be trimmed off. Today I am going to boil the bones and pick off the meat and freeze it for later. I had cut off a small portion to make a few pork steak meals for myself and a tiny roast. They are in the freezer but right now the smell of cooking pork meat is a big turn off for me so I might convert them in to meals for Teddi.

Teddi was suppose to go to the groomer's today but he had something going on. He was in emergency mode going outside to potty. We had torrential rain and he was in frantic mode wanting to go out to potty 4 times from 6:00 AM until a little before 10:00 AM. So I called to cancel. He was running in to the pine trees to do his business so could not determine what was going on. I will pay her $20.00. She is self employed and I know she has bills to pay and a cancelation at the last minute does not allow her to find anyone else. I feel fortunate to have her as a groomer. She and the other co-owner have been voted best in our area for several years running. Also unless you are already a client they are not taking new clients and have not taken any new clients since before I got Teddi. I was lucky that he was already established there with his previous owner. They do a fantastic job and it usually only cost $20.00 to $25.00 for a full grooming session depending on what is being done.

It is close to the end of January and already my thoughts are going to spring and gardening. I have been checking in to what to do with the squirrel situation. One or more of them completely stripped my apple tree of just about all of the apples even before they were ripe. I did some online searching and I need to buy some metal about 3 ft high to put around the base of the tree to prevent him/them from climbing the trunk. I have decided on a stove pipe. I will still need to trim some branches from other trees that are nearby. I bought a light weight battery operated small chain saw. I still need to put it together and give it a test run. However it will cut branches up to 4 inches in diameter. It is really going to come in handy when the weather is a little bit warmer and dry. I can use it to trim my fruit trees instead of using my long handled clippers. I still need to construct some kind of cages for the earth boxes on my deck. I do have scrap wood in the basement so need to start to haul it up to the garage a little at a time. Also have some chicken wire to use. Not sure how much what I have will contribute to my project but they will help somewhat to build cages. Every little bit helps to save a penny. I still have peat pots, potting medium and seeds from last year so that will keep my garden expense's down too. Just hope the weather cooperates. None of my neighbors were able to put in a garden last year due to Spring was too cold and wet.
Janet Alliesmama
mona50
Posts: 101
Joined: Tue Mar 28, 2017 8:24 am

Re: My 2021 Challenge

Post by mona50 »

Janet, include me as another one of your fans who gets inspired by your mastery of food concoctions. You come up with some great ideas to use what you have available.

I wanted to ask (I know it's been asked before) where are these decent survey sites? I just started trying to do them and the ones I've worked on have been so time consuming and pay SO VERY LITTLE! What am I missing, if you don't mind telling me???
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