Thanksgiving Gone, Christmas Music Here

 

I thought I started a new post. That must have been in my head! I had something to write about, but it has left my brain. Maybe if I ramble along, it will come back. I snoozed in my chair during the news. 

 All the Thanksgiving food is gone except for part of the turkey breast. I still have the thawed turkey in a pot in the refrigerator, so it will be baked tomorrow. Thankfully, Tommy is willing to take the meat off after I rip off the breast. I made such a little bit of gravy that I may make more gravy. However, coleslaw and green beans will be eaten instead of Stove Top and green bean casserole. 

My goal was to get Thanksgiving/Fall put away the day of Iron Bowl, Saturday, but I wanted Tommy to help. I did it myself. It is all gone and in two orange Rubbermaid type boxes. Now, to tackle the red boxes. 

I just cannot bend to dust. Sunday he used the Libman duster. It needs to be longer. When I pointed out he missed a table top, he said it was stuff stuck on. I think it was the residue that gas heat leaves along with dust. This is the dustiest place ever. So, I took a wet cloth and finally got it off. 

Saturday night, I told him what to do to six-foot long bookcase that is less than three feet tall. Useless piece of furniture! Sunday, before I got up, he had cleared one end off but did not dust it...??? There is junk on the end nearest him. 

Monday night late, after dark he covered up the plants outdoor with two sheets. I took the Libman duster out to shake and whack on the ramp railing. When he came in he said it scared him. I suppose I should have said something first. But, the duster is ready for him to dust the top of the bookcase which I cannot reach because of his junk in the floor! 

I noticed when I put out Halloween decorations on the bookcase near the door, a little short bookcase, too, but not long, he started suddenly to sort and clean off the bookcase. So, I may put out Christmas on his two bookcases and let him clean around them. 

The uti lingers. I have had an earache for a year or so, better some time than others. Okay, it has been two years. Now, it is almost unbearable! Plus, my back and kidney still ache. The fall did not help me at all. It might have contributed to the earache becoming so unbearable. I did land on the left side and barely hit my head. 

Today, I found out that my primary care doctor got a wheelchair. Yay!

Tonight, we had chicken/rice/broccoli from before Thanksgiving. We added green beans. I should have had some slaw, too. This weekend I put the package of chicken breasts in the crockpot on high and they were done so I could freeze them. These were the ones for which we paid $1.99/lb. When I have baked chicken, I can take it with me in the car so I don't get hungry and eat fast food. I had Tommy tear me off a piece, I sliced cheese and he put in one of the brown and serve rolls. That beats a cheeseburger for my health and is cheaper, too, although he never minds the cost. 

The next time the temp gets up to 70F, and it will, the lemon tree will spend the day outdoors. I am going to buy a grow light for the two citrus trees. Maybe I will just leave it inside and hurry to get a gro-light

Right after Halloween, Tommy found Christmas music on 96.5 FM here in Birmingham. So, I have been enjoying that on the run up to Halloween. The holidays will be gone too soon, it appears. 

I broke down and bought store-packaged pecans and they are good, not all dried out. I bought South Georgia Pecans at Publix for right at $10/lb. That is actually cheap. The ones at the flea market were almost that much for a sandwich bag full. These are great for a healthy snack.  Now, I will make a pecan pie and make the pecans unhealthy. I have not made or eaten pecan pie in over five years, maybe more. I won't gobble it down and will severely restrict other carbs! As of today, I am going to more actively try to lose weight! They may have been bogo. Maybe not. I cannot find the receipt right now.

Are you on a weight-loss journey?

Have you found a station to listen to Christmas music?

Have you decorated yet for Christmas? Or, maybe started?

Grocery Deals

 Today, despite how I felt, we shopped in three grocery stores. I felt so awful, I made him come with me. I am still fuzzy-headed, in much pain, and one kidney hurts, the one I fell on. Or, maybe it is the uti. This is groceries bought this week. The store was packed like it was the day before Thanksgiving. People were after the same BOGOs I was. 

Short and sweet...

Publix

two packages of 2 deep dish Pillsbury pie crusts bogo ... $4.59 for four crusts

2 red delicious apples $2.98, so large I will only eat 1/2 each day

2 Nestles semi-sweet morsels bogo, so $4.19 for both packages

Mandarins $4.99 maybe 3 lbs

4 one-lb packages Land O Lakes butter bogo, so $14, $3.50 each lb. These were packaged in half stick.

Carrots Organic 1 lb. $2.49, not a good price, but better than anything else.

Gold Potatoes, $6.99, not a great price, either.

Yellow onions $2.99

Lakewood Cranberry juice--only cranberry, one quart and $10.99, for uti that I have antibiotic to cure.

Savings--$36.41 

Total $79.64

Piggly Wiggly

Free item--McCormick Brown Gravy mix

2 Miracle Whip $10.80, $5.40 each

Broccoli Crown $1.93, but advertised for $.99. I will have to look into this.

Turkey-sized Reynold's cooking bags

Lewis Brown and Serve Rolls. $2.03. I wanted the cheap ones like I had at home. I waited too late last year. 

60 or Better We had a minus $1.18 x 3. Not sure how that worked. So -$3.54

Total $26.97

Food Giant

BSCB $1.89/lb, so got $12.92

Coleslaw $1.99

Total $15.43

Total Spent Today $122.04

WRONG

I bought at Publix Campbell's cream of chicken and cream of mushroom, no sodium, BOGO. So, it was $.99 cents/can. Then, bag of cornmeal, and one other thing on sale. That was another $7, I think. 

So Corrected Total would be around $130. 

This is regular spending with Thanksgiving bargains thrown in. Some of it may not be eaten until Christmas or next year. 

I am too sick to go over this post. So, here it is. 

We keep chocolate chips for a snack. It beats more costly and more fattening snacks. It might take us a year to eat the two cheap bags I bought today. I keep them in a short, amber, pink jar with a drinking lid. We just open it and shake the chips out. 

Of course, I will cook the chicken to freeze. I think we will have a chicken/brown rice/broccoli casserole. We will both have the chicken/brown rice and broccoli. Tommy loves that. I will make two small casseroles so I can put cheese and pimiento in mine. Each of the tiny casseroles will have one chicken breast and will make at least two meals. 

I wanted to make pumpkin pie without the pie crust. But, Tommy really wants a pie crust. So, he gets crust which I will eat, too. 

EGGS--I forgot them. 

Feverish and shaking here. Can barely walk. Tomorrow, maybe I can relate the fall from a height and uti and maybe cardiologist visit.

We are under a burn ban, and the weird neighbors with barking dogs had a huge fire in the carport. They also have pile of junk all over the carport. I did call police. I have no idea of the outcome of that visit. The bit of rain, measured in 100 hundredths of an inch, did nothing to assuage the danger. 

Are you finding good deals for Thanksgiving? We will only buy turkey breasts. So, I am ignoring turkey deals...maybe...lol. 

Worst Thanksgiving Company

                                                                 click to read

Have you ever had Thanksgiving company behave so ludicrously? What is your best worst Thanksgiving tale? Or, a funny story.

Halloween Lingers

 Elephant's Child, I cannot post your comment or reply to it. Sorry, not ignoring you. 

So, no one has found me? Can you not comment or just not reading my post. Tell me at lgd113@yahoo.com if you can read and if you can or cannot post. Thanks.

It is a slow start to decorating even minimally for Thanksgiving. The mums and big fake pumpkin are still out, plus the fall leaves. I had an orange watering can with black roses and orange peonies behind the three candles. So, I needed something else back there. Today, I bought a colorful turkey about ten inches high made of a very light something. 

I may get out all the tiny pumpkins and put them in a glass bowl with the leaves. I wanted a large cornucopia, but do not want to spend the money. Then, decorating is done. 

Okay, it is more than one Halloween item. In the grab bag I bought, there was a box of bright yellow pumpkins. I thought they were window stick-ons. No. Then, I thought they were to stick onto clothing or sew on. But, after picking them, trying to figure them out, I think they are iron-ons for clothing. I will wait until next year to figure it out.

Then, there was a package with a picture of three sunglasses-like items. No. Inside were a dozen pairs of cardboard glasses that looked like masks. Next year, I will post a picture. 

Third item was a banner that I thought would say HAPPY HALLOWEEN. But, there was a "U" in the mix of loose letters. There was a long ribbon to thread through the little holes at the top. So, there are three items to use next year or give away. It is all packed away, never to see the day of light until next year. 

All my plants are done. Now, we have to put the sleeping babies in the utility room. The lemon trees have been indoors for two days. They go back out tomorrow for a few days of high temps and sunshine. 

Something happened that never happened before. I ran out of bananas and apples on the same day. Horrors! So, they are on a list for Saturday. Exciting, huh? A peach sounds good. 

Saturdays we work around Auburn football and often include Alabama. Saturday, I have a list. Cook blackeyed peas, bake 9 bscb, buy apples and bananas, repair a necklace, make a return, buy a commode brush. Auburn plays Vanderbilt at 3 pm, so we need to get this done beforehand. It will be too dark early to do it afterwards. He plans to watch Alabama and LSU. Maybe I will bake something with the Granny Smith apples. 

What are your Saturday plans? 

Wednesday Night Progress

When I awoke this Wednesday  morning, I had slept more than usual and felt a bit better. I think it is because I slept and finally got enough cover on the bed to stay warm. And, the OTCs helped.

The chicken is ready to come out of the crockpot and the Jello is sitting in the refrigerator. At the right time, fruit cocktail, red Delicious Apple, and bananas will go in the big bowl. A little bowl is for exbf and without banana.

I am itching, so I must have gotten whole wheat in the dressing! argh, I hate this.

The list and progress below. This list was a great aid to my memory. Later, I will copy it and put on the refrigerator so I won't forget something in the morning.



So far, I have ready for Thanksgiving:

** things finished

**sweet potatoes
**apple pie

Plans for other food I need to make/cook:
**chicken instead of turkey (Wed)
**dressing
**gravy
**cranberry sauce (canned)
**boiled eggs to go into gravy (chopped now)
** deviled eggs
pumpkin pies (not happening)
**Jello fruit salad
**green beans in bowl to heat in microwave
mashed potatoes (nope)





9nope)

This Thanksgiving is controlled by my energy and now this cold or whatever coming on.

Right now, it's A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving for me. My son is probably watching this, too, since Snoopy is his favorite character.

Your turn
Did you watch A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving? How many times have you left something you prepared in the refrigerator or not served? What was it?

Tuesday and cooking

So far, I have ready for Thanksgiving:
**sweet potatoes
**apple pie

Plans for other food I need to make/cook:
**chicken instead of turkey (Wed)
dressing
gravy
**cranberry sauce (canned)
**boiled eggs to go into gravy
deviled eggs
pumpkin pies (not happening)
**Jello fruit salad

Today, I went to the church lunch: turkey, dressing,  gravy, corn, green beans, cranberry sauce, pecan pie. Delicious. I returned two items to WM.

Hopefully, I will get two pumpkin pies baked, put the breasts in crock pot, boil eggs.

A guy came Tuesday and carried off the dishwasher for junk. I picked up the cardboard and junk left in yard. I tried to get it up on Sunday, but the dishwasher was on most of the junk. YAY  for not spending almost $230 on delivery, installation, and haul off. He showed up exactly when he said he would and had it in the truck in five minutes. Whew!

Since today is the last day of $0.98 gallons of milk, I bought two, one for me and one for exbf.

I cannot find my pumpkin pie recipe from my mother. So, there will be no pumpkin pie unless I find the recipe.

** indicates what is done.

Your turn
It is 4 pm here and I am getting sick--sore throat.  How are your cooking and cooking and preps and Thanksgiving plans coming together?

Crockpot Days, Thanksgiving, Macaroni and Cheese

Saturday, I put seven boneless, skinless chicken breasts in the crock pot with a stalk of celery. When they were cooked, I put in a frozen hen. Both were seasoned with ground sage, salt and pepper.  My Thanksgiving dinner may include one or both of these poultry offerings.

That was followed by two pounds of carrots and an onion and a stalk of celery.  Since I am using the much smaller crock pot, I cannot put in so much. However, it is working out.

There were no potatoes at the Farmer's Market and I failed to go to the fruit stand, a permanent structure that carries flowers, too. A trip to WM was in order for potatoes. Okay, I went to WM and paid almost $5 for a tiny bag of potatoes. The two pounds of carrots I used cost me a quarter last week.

Three days of cooking in the crock pot should yield: 7 chicken breasts, one hen, 4 lbs. carrots, 5 lbs. of red potatoes along with the celery, onions, and garlic. I will put the rest of the potatoes in as soon as I remove the potatoes and carrots in there now, mid-afternoon on Sunday. I am going to search for something else to put in the crock pot to maximize the amount of cooked, ready-to-eat food and minimize spoilage.

People talk about using poultry seasoning on poultry. Today, I smelled my poultry seasoning and prefer to use just sage. I'm not sure why I have this, but I must have decided to try poultry season in the past few years.

Right now, two breasts are in the freezer. Four breasts await me. Well, I think there are four. Five? Did I eat one? They will be the basis of dinners and lunches and snacks. I see chicken sandwiches, chicken salad, chicken casserole, chicken in sandwiches in my future. Plus, the chicken can be part of a meal of cooked vegetables. For variety, I will have a can of tuna in a salad and pimento and cheese.

Even though I have an invitation for Thanksgiving, I will probably just stay home. I have formulated simple cooking plans. I will try for the traditional home-cooked dinner. However, I have choices. Stovetop stuffing, a jar of turkey gravy, and canned cranberry sauce will be here just in case I don't get around to the real deal. Diced boiled eggs can be added to the gravy.  YUM! I have cans of green beans, frozen broccoli, and other vegetables. When I make pumpkin pie and apple pie, I may make them without a crust.

Now, for the most important subject: macaroni and cheese. At home growing up we never had macaroni and cheese for Thanksgiving--EVER! I don't understand the importance people assign to it as a tradition.  I have never served it for Thanksgiving and never will. People say this is a Southern thing. Not in my experience!

As a matter of fact, I never remember my mother making macaroni 'n cheese. She may have gotten the blue box for my brother who is much younger and there long after I left home.

Your turn
What have you cooked in your crock pot lately?  Are you planning on a big Thanksgiving dinner? What time of day do you serve it? Is macaroni and cheese part of your Thanksgiving? Do you, as I do, think it is a strange item to serve? Are you from the South and think this is a Thanksgiving tradition?

Wasted Days and Wasted Nights...uh...I mean wasted celery

This celery looked much better when I bought it two days ago, and it was still in the plastic sleeve in the grocery store under their lights. Still, it is a nice head of celery.
Jonathan Bloom's query
At WASTED FOOD, he asks readers in his post, Turkey Week Project, for suggestions--"Yet, with all of our abundance, though, comes the threat of waste. That’s why I’m hoping you guys will submit some advice here and on the Wasted Food Facebook page about how you plan to avoid waste at Thanksgiving." I had started this post when he posed his question. This post is timely in more ways than one.

Confession
Celery is the one thing I waste the most. There, I said it, "My name is Linda, and I waste celery." Okay, now that I have that burden released, I will share how I try to handle the celery problem all year long. I have vowed I will not waste the rest of the Turkey Day celery as I am want to do. I would say I usually waste about a fourth of my edible celery. Shame on me.

I always justified my waste while cringing at wasted food and wasted money by saying, "Chickens need food, too. They love celery." And, they prefer it chopped!

Thwarting celery waste
Every time I buy celery, I am in great danger of letting some of it spoil. The most beautiful head of celery is awaiting my thrifty ways and a really sharp knife. Since there is only me, it is hard to use the whole head and not let some of it go to waste.

I will not actually eat celery raw, even with dip. It has to be diced small as in tuna salad for me to eat it raw or cooked. The taste of celery in cold salads or cooked foods is something I desire, so I keep buying and wasting celery.

By prepping my celery for Thanksgiving and Christmas turkey and dressing, I will have only spent $0.44 cents on celery for each day since I will not buy one head of celery each holiday. If celery goes lower than $.88 cents/head, I will buy another head, dice, and freeze for next year.

Of course, celery does make good chicken food when it goes South---NOT my intentions.

Prepping celery for Thanksgiving and Christmas
I will wash and dice up most of the celery for making dressing for Thanksgiving AND Christmas. Since I don't make much dressing for just me (9"x9" pan) but want it chock full of celery, the one stalk will do for two small pans of dressing. The rest will be cut into 4" or so pieces to be used while cooking the turkey breast I will have both holidays. I will just throw several pieces of frozen celery stalk into the turkey cooking bag. (I know they are plastic and wasteful.) (Okay, possibly toxic.)

Christmas celery prep on L,starting prep for Thanksgiving on R

Celery Prep
The white plate has a scant two cups of diced celery which will be frozen for Christmas. On the same plate are two pieces of celery that will be frozen in the same bag as the diced celery. Those two pieces will cook with the turkey breast. The one piece of celery in front of the cup  will go into a single serving of turkey salad next week. Pie pan contains chicken food. White dirty plate holds compost. Whole celery stalks are what I will prep later today or Saturday for Thanksgiving (my cooking will be on Sat.) and will be the same as the prepped Christmas celery. I use an old Corelle plate for dicing, chopping and cutting.

Onions, too
Onion is not so hard to use up before it turns. So, onion is never wasted. Today, I was going to  chop onions and celery for Thanksgiving and Christmas and freeze all. But, I became tired and lazy. The Thanksgiving portion of onion and celery will just wait patiently until I cook my dinner on Saturday. Thanksgiving Day will be spent in the company of friends in Birmingham.

No toxic celery leaves for my hens
The hens may not get the celery leaves, and I don't use them. Celery leaves have the highest concentration of pesticides; the stalk has much less. My hens don't need the leaves since I eat the eggs. Plus, I just don't want my hens to eat pesticides!

Celery leaves go into the compost until I can find organic celery. Pleeease, don't tell me I am making poisonous compost.

Buying only what I will eat...unless...
Since I only eat the breast of the turkey, I will buy a turkey breast for my Saturday Thanksgiving dinner. I am unwilling to eat anything but the breast. However, if I find a turkey at the right price--really low--I will buy and cook the whole turkey, sharing all but the breast with a friend who helps me with things I cannot do around the house.

Waste after Thanksgiving?
Do you mean the dinner? Not a chance! I love Thanksgiving food to the end! I am sad when there is no more gravy for the dressing.  Actually, I can make a meal of just my tasty cornbread dressing.

Your turn
Visit Jonathan's blog. And tell me, are you a celery-waster all year like I am? What is the one thing during the year that you waste? What do you waste at Thanksgiving? How can you avoid this waste? Okay, off to chop celery and onions!