Hello!
It's been ages since I've blogged! I just looked and saw the last time I wrote anything we didn't even know when we were moving! Crazy! We've been in Cincinnati for the past 3 months! Chad started working shortly after we got here. We went back and forth between his mom's and hotels for the first couple of months due to things just not working out with the apartment we wanted to get into. It ended up working out though! We ended up moving into the house the church owns. It wasn't available when we moved here, but it became available later. We originally thought we didn't want to live here for various reasons, but we ended up deciding that it would be a good idea. I love being in a house and not having to worry about neighbors living above or below us! Now we are working on saving up some money for a car. Having a car would make things a lot easier in a lot of ways, but then we would have to pay a car payment, insurance and gas. I think that we're finally getting to the point where we can save up and actually have some money to put down on a car be able to afford something.
Living in Cincinnati is very different than living in Chicago. Slowly but surely, I'm adjusting to living here, but there are still moments when I miss the big city! The public transportation system here leaves something to be desired. For the last 10 years, I've always lived close to several buses and for most of that time we always had at least one train close by as well. We do live right off of a bus line, but it doesn't take us to a lot of the places we'd like to go. Right now we are dependent on people to get us where we need to go unless we're doing something in our neighborhood. Thankfully we do have a lot of stuff in walking distance. Unfortunately, Chad's job isn't close by or off a bus line so he has to get rides to work. We did figure out that he can take the bus fairly close to his job and he could probably get a ride from there to work.
I need to get a job as well. That would help us be able to get a car quicker, but I may need a car to get a job. It would be nice if I could get into teaching piano and voice lessons and maybe even some beginner flute lessons. I really enjoy teaching lessons. I'll just have to figure out how to find students. It would be nice to be able to work at home so that when we start having kids, I don't have to quit my job. Chad could teach trombone lessons as well to make a little extra cash.
My parents are coming this week to visit. I'm looking forward to seeing them and showing them around Cincinnati. I know we're going to Jungle Jims. We've also discussed going to the Creation Museum, but it's pretty expensive. There is plenty to do around here in just a couple days. I'm sure we'll figure stuff out.
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Holding pattern
We don't have much more of an idea when we're going to move to Cincinnati, but I think we are moving at the end of April if not before. Chad doesn't know when his start date will be for work, but hopefully he'll be able to get some side jobs if we end up moving before he starts. We were thinking that I would be able to keep working here for now, but it's looking like that may not happen. I'm not sure, but I may have been let go sort of. Although I still have their car seat and gate and garage openers so who knows. In a way not working would be helpful because then we aren't limited to weekends to travel and visit and such.
We really need to go look for a place to live down in Cincy. It's been hard for us to figure all of this out. Especially when our finances are so tricky right now. We don't have much money left and we aren't really bringing in anymore right now so what we have we need to save for deposit and first month's rent. We also want to go to Iowa before we move to visit my parents and grandparents since we'll be farther away in Cincy.
For now just having some boxes would be great so we can get started packing the stuff we can live without for a month. Otherwise we're just sitting around waiting and we need to get going on what we can. I'd usually hate to pack, but I think I'm just getting anxious to get going and move on with our lives! We'll miss Chicago and the people here, but we're both ready to see what God has for us there.
We really need to go look for a place to live down in Cincy. It's been hard for us to figure all of this out. Especially when our finances are so tricky right now. We don't have much money left and we aren't really bringing in anymore right now so what we have we need to save for deposit and first month's rent. We also want to go to Iowa before we move to visit my parents and grandparents since we'll be farther away in Cincy.
For now just having some boxes would be great so we can get started packing the stuff we can live without for a month. Otherwise we're just sitting around waiting and we need to get going on what we can. I'd usually hate to pack, but I think I'm just getting anxious to get going and move on with our lives! We'll miss Chicago and the people here, but we're both ready to see what God has for us there.
Monday, March 21, 2011
It's been a while....
I haven't blogged in ages. Life hadn't changed much until recently. I've just been working as much as I can. Chad has looked for jobs, but hasn't had much luck in that department. Our money has been slowly dwindling. We figured out last week that we really only have enough to make it until the end of May and then we will be done. Last weekend Chad went back to Cincinnati to preach at his old church, to look into possible future ministry opportunities and to see about going back to school to finish his degree. We feel like God is leading us to go to Cincinnati. We fought against that idea for a long time, but as the money is dwindling and things just aren't working out too well here, we decided that it was for the best. We almost feel like God had to take us to the point where all the doors were closing here in Chicago for us to be willing to make a change. Chad is going to be able to get his old job back in Cincy. We're not sure about all the details yet, but Chad will be probably be moving to Cincinnati before I do and all our stuff does. He can go down and start working before we have a place to live and be able to look around and see the places we are interested in, in person. I can be here getting the apartment packed up and ready to move so that when we find a place to live, we can be ready to go. Life is probably going to be really crazy for a while and there are a lot of unknowns which is kind of scary, but I'm getting excited. God has been providing so many things and we are excited to see what God is going to do.
I've done a lot of cooking lately and have been looking for more recipes all the time. Since we haven't had much money, I've had to get creative with my recipes. Black beans and rice has become a staple in our diet. We love it and I've gotten more creative with the ingredients and spices I add. It's total comfort food for us. Today I made some rice pudding for the first time. It was really easy to make and it's tasty too! Chad loves it! I found the recipe online here. I added a little cinnamon and used regular raisins because I couldn't find golden raisins.
I've done a lot of cooking lately and have been looking for more recipes all the time. Since we haven't had much money, I've had to get creative with my recipes. Black beans and rice has become a staple in our diet. We love it and I've gotten more creative with the ingredients and spices I add. It's total comfort food for us. Today I made some rice pudding for the first time. It was really easy to make and it's tasty too! Chad loves it! I found the recipe online here. I added a little cinnamon and used regular raisins because I couldn't find golden raisins.
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup uncooked white rice
- 2 cups milk, divided
- 1/3 cup white sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 egg, beaten
- 2/3 cup golden raisins
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions
- In a medium saucepan, bring 1 1/2 cups water to a boil. Add rice and stir. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
- In another saucepan, combine 1 1/2 cups cooked rice, 1 1/2 cups milk, sugar and salt. Cook over medium heat until thick and creamy, 15 to 20 minutes. Stir in remaining 1/2 cup milk, beaten egg and raisins. Cook 2 minutes more, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, and stir in butter and vanilla. Serve warm.
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Yesterday was a good day! Chad and I went out for lunch to TGI Fridays with a gift card we'd gotten for Christmas and a coupon for buy one entree, get one half off coupon. We ordered drinks but the machine wasn't working right when we got there so Chad got his Dr. Pepper, but I couldn't get a Sprite. Oh well, we were disappointed but it wasn't the worst thing in the world. We both ended up ordering one of the sizzling chicken meals. I got the sizzling chicken with cheese and Chad got the sizzling Parmesan chicken! It was so good and we both had some left over so we had dinner for last night too! The pop machine started working at the end of our meal and I did finally get my Sprite and Chad finally got another refill of his Dr. Pepper. It was good and I wished I could have had more of that during my meal! Oh well, it was worth it because our waitress didn't charge us for the pop! Yay, that means because we used the coupon we still have a little over $5 left on our gift card! It was just so nice to go out to eat and not feel guilty that we shouldn't be spending money! And it was nice to have some time with Chad that was just about enjoying each others company. Since we're both unemployed I think sometimes I thought that we'd just be doing that all the time, but we both end up doing our own things a lot of the time that's interspersed with enjoying each others company. It's okay and it's probably good that way so we don't get tired of each other.
Because I do most of the cooking at home, Chad and I have a deal that if I do the cooking he'll do the dishes. I love this arrangement because I love cooking and creating great meals, but I despise doing the dishes afterward! I think Chad doesn't mind doing the dishes so long as he doesn't have to cook and he gets lots of yummy meals to eat as well!
Because I do most of the cooking at home, Chad and I have a deal that if I do the cooking he'll do the dishes. I love this arrangement because I love cooking and creating great meals, but I despise doing the dishes afterward! I think Chad doesn't mind doing the dishes so long as he doesn't have to cook and he gets lots of yummy meals to eat as well!
Friday, January 21, 2011
Date afternoon!
It's date afternoon! We're going to TGIFridays today for lunch with a gift card we got for Christmas! We're so excited about it that we looked at the menu online yesterday to see what we might like to get. We also have a coupon for buy one entree get one half off! I can't wait to go! Is it lunch time yet? It's been forever since we've been on a date! I hope that it will be relaxing and enjoyable to get out of the house and spend a little time together away from the stress of everything.
We're almost to our grocery shopping day so we're getting to the end of our food a little bit. I've started getting creative with stuff. Last night I made au gratin potatoes(from a box we had in the cupboard) and then added some hamburger and onions and frozen green beans that I'd cooked. I stirred it all up together and then baked it for a little while longer. It was really good and it was just something a little different! I am always looking for new things to eat so that we aren't stuck eating the same thing all the time. Chad could probably eat spaghetti every night, but I would get tired of it after a few nights. I made a menu for the next two weeks so that we have a plan and it will help our grocery shopping have a focus rather than just buying the same things every two weeks. Some things will be the same, but others are different. One of the biggest things I've seen as a way to save money is to have meatless dinners at least once a week. I think as Americans we tend to think that we need meat every night and it needs to be the main part of our meal. I'm trying to get away from that and make meat just one part of the meal. Don't get me wrong, I love meat as much as any carnivore, but I also know that our expenses need to go down! Yesterday I went through Aldi's and wrote down the prices to everything we are planning to buy there. It helped a lot because then I could see how much everything cost so I could adjust the list a little bit to get things a little cheaper. I've never thought so much about how to save money and how to make our grocery money go further before, but I've learned so much and knowing that I'm doing everything I can helps to take a little bit of the stress away.
We're almost to our grocery shopping day so we're getting to the end of our food a little bit. I've started getting creative with stuff. Last night I made au gratin potatoes(from a box we had in the cupboard) and then added some hamburger and onions and frozen green beans that I'd cooked. I stirred it all up together and then baked it for a little while longer. It was really good and it was just something a little different! I am always looking for new things to eat so that we aren't stuck eating the same thing all the time. Chad could probably eat spaghetti every night, but I would get tired of it after a few nights. I made a menu for the next two weeks so that we have a plan and it will help our grocery shopping have a focus rather than just buying the same things every two weeks. Some things will be the same, but others are different. One of the biggest things I've seen as a way to save money is to have meatless dinners at least once a week. I think as Americans we tend to think that we need meat every night and it needs to be the main part of our meal. I'm trying to get away from that and make meat just one part of the meal. Don't get me wrong, I love meat as much as any carnivore, but I also know that our expenses need to go down! Yesterday I went through Aldi's and wrote down the prices to everything we are planning to buy there. It helped a lot because then I could see how much everything cost so I could adjust the list a little bit to get things a little cheaper. I've never thought so much about how to save money and how to make our grocery money go further before, but I've learned so much and knowing that I'm doing everything I can helps to take a little bit of the stress away.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
I love food!
I'm really enjoying my new job, but I know that it's just a part time/temporary job and that I need to start looking for something more permanent. My boss asked what I'm looking for and if I want to keep nannying or if I want to do something else. I think I'd really rather do something else, but I have no idea what. Ideally, I'd like for Chad to get a full time job and I could stay home at least for a little bit to figure out what I want to do and just babysit to make extra money. Sadly, I don't think that's really going to be possible even if Chad has a full time job so I guess I need to figure out what I want to do or at least do for now. Decisions......
Last night I made turkey burgers. They were really good although I want to make them again so I can work on the recipe a little more. Not bad for a first attempt though! Since there is just two of us, I just used a 1/2 lb. of ground turkey. I mixed it with a little bit of minced garlic, 1 egg and about a 1/4 cup of Italian bread crumbs. I stirred it all up until it all stuck together. I formed it into a mound with my spoon and then cut it in half and formed the patties by hand. I cooked them in olive oil on a medium heat. Once they were done since, I'd put the Italian bread crumbs in the meat, I sprinkled some Italian shredded cheese mix. I sauteed some onions real quick after I finished the burgers and put those on as well. We ate the burgers on some toasted hearty whole wheat bread. When I make these again, I'm going to add some salt into the meat and possibly some finely chopped onions. It didn't quite have enough flavor. I thought that maybe with the garlic and the Italian bread crumbs, that it might be too much to add salt too, but it definitely needed something more. Although the sauteed the onions added lots of flavor. I love the versatility of burgers because you can put so many different toppings on them. I just put a little mayo on the bread, but if I'd had it, I would have put avocado, tomato and maybe even bacon on it.
Turkey burgers!
Today for lunch we had a box of mac and cheese. I love that it's only $.29 at Aldi's. It's such a good easy meal to have when we want something other than a sandwich for lunch. When I was a kid, my mom put a can of tuna in it to make it go further. Chad doesn't like tuna so I can't do that, but you can put pieces of ham or hot dogs or even leftover meat and vegetables! We had it plain today, but I think sometime we might put some broccoli or green beans and some leftover meat in it as well!
I'm trying to decide what to have for dinner. I already spent our grocery budget for the next two weeks, but I'd like to make some nachos for dinner and we need some salsa and I'd like to have some lime and cilantro as well. If I don't do that, then we'll just have frugal turkey pot pie again. I'd like to do something else though.... Hmmmm..... I think we got the local grocery ads today in our mail box so I'll have to check those and see if anyone has those things on sale!
ETA:
I did go to the grocery store tonight. I got some limes, cilantro and salsa from Pete's Fresh Market. (my new favorite store!) We ended up having something like a burrito bowl from Chipotle. Cilantro lime rice, black beans, ground beef, onion, green peppers, cheese and salsa. I had it with chips on the side and Chad had it plain. It was so good. It was light, yet filling.
Here are Chad's and my plates!
Last night I made turkey burgers. They were really good although I want to make them again so I can work on the recipe a little more. Not bad for a first attempt though! Since there is just two of us, I just used a 1/2 lb. of ground turkey. I mixed it with a little bit of minced garlic, 1 egg and about a 1/4 cup of Italian bread crumbs. I stirred it all up until it all stuck together. I formed it into a mound with my spoon and then cut it in half and formed the patties by hand. I cooked them in olive oil on a medium heat. Once they were done since, I'd put the Italian bread crumbs in the meat, I sprinkled some Italian shredded cheese mix. I sauteed some onions real quick after I finished the burgers and put those on as well. We ate the burgers on some toasted hearty whole wheat bread. When I make these again, I'm going to add some salt into the meat and possibly some finely chopped onions. It didn't quite have enough flavor. I thought that maybe with the garlic and the Italian bread crumbs, that it might be too much to add salt too, but it definitely needed something more. Although the sauteed the onions added lots of flavor. I love the versatility of burgers because you can put so many different toppings on them. I just put a little mayo on the bread, but if I'd had it, I would have put avocado, tomato and maybe even bacon on it.
Turkey burgers!
Today for lunch we had a box of mac and cheese. I love that it's only $.29 at Aldi's. It's such a good easy meal to have when we want something other than a sandwich for lunch. When I was a kid, my mom put a can of tuna in it to make it go further. Chad doesn't like tuna so I can't do that, but you can put pieces of ham or hot dogs or even leftover meat and vegetables! We had it plain today, but I think sometime we might put some broccoli or green beans and some leftover meat in it as well!
I'm trying to decide what to have for dinner. I already spent our grocery budget for the next two weeks, but I'd like to make some nachos for dinner and we need some salsa and I'd like to have some lime and cilantro as well. If I don't do that, then we'll just have frugal turkey pot pie again. I'd like to do something else though.... Hmmmm..... I think we got the local grocery ads today in our mail box so I'll have to check those and see if anyone has those things on sale!
ETA:
I did go to the grocery store tonight. I got some limes, cilantro and salsa from Pete's Fresh Market. (my new favorite store!) We ended up having something like a burrito bowl from Chipotle. Cilantro lime rice, black beans, ground beef, onion, green peppers, cheese and salsa. I had it with chips on the side and Chad had it plain. It was so good. It was light, yet filling.
Here are Chad's and my plates!
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Recipe Request and Sharing
We got some ground turkey at Aldi's yesterday and I want to make some turkey burger patty melts this week. Does anyone have a recipe that they wouldn't mind sharing?
Also, I am looking for some interesting tasty uses for the leftover turkey we have in the freezer. I have some ideas about how to use it, but I would also like to find some new ways to cook it so we don't get tired of it as soon! We're not against casseroles since it usually helps the the meat go further and we can have more than one meal from one dish.
One of our favorite dishes is something that is really easy to fix! I kind of came up with it based on other dishes we've had. It's a pasta bake that is super easy and delicious! I don't really have any measurements since I don't really measure anything if I don't have to! I cook up some whole wheat rotini pasta and brown 1/4-1/2 lb. of ground beef. Mix that with with some pasta sauce in a 1 1/2-2 1/2 qt. baking dish and cover with cheese. We used mozzarella and an Italian mix of cheeses and both are fabulous. Bake for 30 minutes at 350ยบ. We like to have a slice of 5 cheese garlic bread from Aldi's along with this and sometimes some green beans or broccoli. I love easy meals like this that usually produce more than one meal for us.
A while back I had seen a recipe for Frugal Turkey Pot Pie on my friend Lisa's blog. It looked really good and it didn't disappoint! It was super easy and delicious! Total comfort food.
Frugal Turkey Pot Pie
2 cups cubed turkey
1/2 bag frozen mixed vegetables
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can of biscuits
Coat cooking spray in a 2 qt. casserole dish. In dish combine turkey, soup & veggies; mix well. Bake 350 degrees F for 20 minutes. (or until heated through) Remove casserole dish from oven. Place biscuits on top of casserole. Increase heat to 400 degrees F and bake an additional 15 minutes. (or until biscuits are golden brown and mix is bubbly)
We managed to stretch this to 2 meals for us, but we ended up being hungry a little while later. I think when I make it again, I'm going to try to find a way to either make it heartier or we may just make it a one meal plus one leftover portion.
Speaking of dinner, it's time to get dinner going. Thankfully I just have to reheat the baked pasta from last night and throw some garlic bread in the toaster oven. I may cook some broccoli as well. We have two bags in the freezer since I thought we were out and bought another one yesterday. Oops! In my defense, the freezer is really full and it was buried under all the leftover turkey and turkey broth!
Also, I am looking for some interesting tasty uses for the leftover turkey we have in the freezer. I have some ideas about how to use it, but I would also like to find some new ways to cook it so we don't get tired of it as soon! We're not against casseroles since it usually helps the the meat go further and we can have more than one meal from one dish.
One of our favorite dishes is something that is really easy to fix! I kind of came up with it based on other dishes we've had. It's a pasta bake that is super easy and delicious! I don't really have any measurements since I don't really measure anything if I don't have to! I cook up some whole wheat rotini pasta and brown 1/4-1/2 lb. of ground beef. Mix that with with some pasta sauce in a 1 1/2-2 1/2 qt. baking dish and cover with cheese. We used mozzarella and an Italian mix of cheeses and both are fabulous. Bake for 30 minutes at 350ยบ. We like to have a slice of 5 cheese garlic bread from Aldi's along with this and sometimes some green beans or broccoli. I love easy meals like this that usually produce more than one meal for us.
A while back I had seen a recipe for Frugal Turkey Pot Pie on my friend Lisa's blog. It looked really good and it didn't disappoint! It was super easy and delicious! Total comfort food.
Frugal Turkey Pot Pie
2 cups cubed turkey
1/2 bag frozen mixed vegetables
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can of biscuits
Coat cooking spray in a 2 qt. casserole dish. In dish combine turkey, soup & veggies; mix well. Bake 350 degrees F for 20 minutes. (or until heated through) Remove casserole dish from oven. Place biscuits on top of casserole. Increase heat to 400 degrees F and bake an additional 15 minutes. (or until biscuits are golden brown and mix is bubbly)
We managed to stretch this to 2 meals for us, but we ended up being hungry a little while later. I think when I make it again, I'm going to try to find a way to either make it heartier or we may just make it a one meal plus one leftover portion.
Speaking of dinner, it's time to get dinner going. Thankfully I just have to reheat the baked pasta from last night and throw some garlic bread in the toaster oven. I may cook some broccoli as well. We have two bags in the freezer since I thought we were out and bought another one yesterday. Oops! In my defense, the freezer is really full and it was buried under all the leftover turkey and turkey broth!
Monday, January 10, 2011
I'm becoming a couponer!
I feel kind of dorky getting into the whole coupon thing, but it's such a great feeling to leave a store knowing that I've saved money! I used to not really pay much attention to sales and coupons ahead of time, although I did often go for the product that was on sale if given that option. Since I don't have a regular job anymore and we have to save all the money we can, I have become a big searcher for deals. I got a CVS card this morning and we've already gotten some really good deals and are going to save a bunch of money on stuff that we need! We are heading out to get groceries in a little while. I'm looking forward to seeing how much money we can save on our groceries. Since Aldi's is so much cheaper than everyone most of the time, I look for deals that can beat Aldi's. Then you know you're getting a good deal on something. For example, CVS has a deal that if you spend $20 on Pepsi products, you get $10 in extra bucks to spend some other time at the store. We do in fact have other things we can get and have coupons so we can get them for even cheaper so that we can get more stuff for free! So at the end of the day we can get 6 12 packs of pop, a bag of Dunkin Donuts Coffee, 2 packs of razors and shaving cream for around $20! I love it! The goal for us is to only spend $40 for two weeks of groceries. That doesn't include personal items or household items like razors, contact solution, or paper towels. Those we just try to spend as little as possible by buying on sale and trying to use coupons as well. Getting a Sunday Tribune to get all the weekly ads and manufacturer coupons is the biggest way we save money. I'm still learning about all of this stuff, but I'm finding some pretty good sales. I don't have time to do as much as the crazy people on Extreme Couponing, but I also don't really need to. We don't have the space to store as much as these people do. They are kind of OCD hoarders! I just buy what I need. I might stock up a little bit on things like the Pepsi that was on sale, but I don't have room to store 40 boxes of pasta and 40 jars of sauce in our apartment like they buy! I love saving money!
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Cooking and crafty stuff
Ever since I lost my job, one way I knew I could probably make some money was selling my knitting. I have so much yarn in my apartment that I need to get rid of and since it's been so long since I bought most of it, it would be like 100% profit. I've been looking around for patterns and stuff, but I realized that other people's patterns are copyrighted and I can't sell something made with those patterns. I was okay with the hats because those were patterns I had sort of made up and figured out on my own because the size and exact patterns I found online never really worked. I would keep making hats, but I lost one of my double pointed needles so until I can get some more or find the one I lost, I'll just have to stick to scarves. I am having to come up with my own patterns for them and that is a little harder to do. I did figure out how to cable knit without a cable needle since I don't have one. Hooray for youtube videos to learn those kinds of things! Once I get some pictures taken of my knitting stuff and loaded onto my compute I'll post them on here and then get them onto etsy.com.
Last night I made a roast turkey. It turned out pretty good too! It was very juicy and tasty! All I did was melt butter and put it under the skin. We had turkey, stove top stuffing and green beans for dinner last night. After dinner I got all the meat I could off the bones, measured it into two cup portions, wrapped it in foil and put it in freezer bags in the freezer. Today my goal has been to boil the bones to make turkey broth. They wouldn't all fit into the pot so I'm having to do it in two batches. I did the first batch this afternoon. I don't know exactly how much broth I have so far, but it's going to be at the very least 6 qts and at the most 10 qts. Plus I already got almost 2 cups of meat from that first batch. I love cooking and this has been really fun for me to learn about cooking a turkey and how to take care of the leftovers! I think I'm stockpiling right now since money is tight and I want to make sure we have enough food to last a while. We're okay for now, but I think I just want to be prepared for anything right now.
Tonight we had leftover turkey and mashed sweet potatoes for dinner tonight! I scrub the dirt off the potatoes, cut off the ends, poke holes with a fork on a couple sides of the potato and the wrap them in foil and bake them. Once they're baked, I take the skin off and put the sweet potatoes in a bowl and mash them with butter, salt and brown sugar. I'm not sure the measurements of the ingredients since I do it by sight. I would say, that for about 4 potatoes I used around 1 1/2-2 tblsp of butter, a couple tsp of brown sugar and a pinch of salt. Chad loves them and I think they were pretty darn good too.
Last night I made a roast turkey. It turned out pretty good too! It was very juicy and tasty! All I did was melt butter and put it under the skin. We had turkey, stove top stuffing and green beans for dinner last night. After dinner I got all the meat I could off the bones, measured it into two cup portions, wrapped it in foil and put it in freezer bags in the freezer. Today my goal has been to boil the bones to make turkey broth. They wouldn't all fit into the pot so I'm having to do it in two batches. I did the first batch this afternoon. I don't know exactly how much broth I have so far, but it's going to be at the very least 6 qts and at the most 10 qts. Plus I already got almost 2 cups of meat from that first batch. I love cooking and this has been really fun for me to learn about cooking a turkey and how to take care of the leftovers! I think I'm stockpiling right now since money is tight and I want to make sure we have enough food to last a while. We're okay for now, but I think I just want to be prepared for anything right now.
Tonight we had leftover turkey and mashed sweet potatoes for dinner tonight! I scrub the dirt off the potatoes, cut off the ends, poke holes with a fork on a couple sides of the potato and the wrap them in foil and bake them. Once they're baked, I take the skin off and put the sweet potatoes in a bowl and mash them with butter, salt and brown sugar. I'm not sure the measurements of the ingredients since I do it by sight. I would say, that for about 4 potatoes I used around 1 1/2-2 tblsp of butter, a couple tsp of brown sugar and a pinch of salt. Chad loves them and I think they were pretty darn good too.
Happy New Year!
I haven't posted since before Christmas! We went to Cincinnati for the holidays. It was good to see Chad's family. We went down on Christmas Eve. We went out for Chinese which is apparently a very popular thing in Cincy. Who knew? The restaurant was packed and there was a line of people waiting to get in. The food was really good and it was a fun new way to do Christmas Eve! Afterward we went to Chad's brother's house to open presents and hang out some more. I got some awesome slippers/boots! They are super warm and cute too! Plus Tina, my awesome sister in law knitted all the girls hats and scarves. They are cute and fun! We also got a tin with chocolate and pistachios from my mother in law and a bunch of gift cards which are much needed. We are trying to decide how to best use the gift cards since we don't have much money right now and we need lots of things around the apartment. Christmas day was nice and relaxing. We slept in and hung out. And then after a while we went out for a drive to get out of the house and to get Chad's mom some Parmesan cheese. That was a difficult thing to find. Especially since nothing was open except for Walgreens and CVS. Oooh, speaking of Walgreens. While we were in there I saw they and Aplets and Cotlets which are some of the most disgusting things I've ever attempted to eat! If we weren't so poor I would have bought some just to see if Chad's nephews would eat them and then brought the rest back for Mary Pat and Andy. They introduced them to me on New Year's Eve once. We were playing a game where if we won a part of the game we had to eat one. I couldn't swallow mine and ended up running for the garbage. Andy and his friend Joe ran after me with their cameras hoping to get a picture of me throwing up. No such luck! Haha! So anyways, back to Christmas Day, Chad's dad, brother, sister in law and nephews came over for lasagna and one of his sisters came with her husband and dog a little later. It was fun to hang out with everyone.
Sunday morning Chad and I sang a special at his home church there and Chad preached. It was a really good sermon. It's only the second time I've heard him preach, but I've seen how much God is going to use him in this. He's a good preacher and I was so proud of him! After church we went out to dinner with some people from church and then spent the rest of the day relaxing. It ended up being a good thing because I got a babysitting job for the 28th for a kid from the British School. I had to be there at 6:30 am and anyone who knows me, knows that I'm not a morning person and waking up then is pretty hard for me. I had a great time watching him and they paid really good so that was a major plus! Hopefully I'll be able to watch him again.
Thursday the 30th, we met up with Brooke and Greg and headed up to my nephew Matthew's 6th birthday party! I can't believe that kid is 6 already! It doesn't seem like too long ago that he was born. He was such a little peanut! He went through this phase when he was a newborn when he looked like either an old man or an alien. He was still extremely cute! I think he learned his social butterfly ways as a newborn being passed around where ever we went. More than once Jen would realize she hadn't seen him for a while and have to look for him at church or my niece's gymnastics training, etc. He didn't really mind it then and he's still sort of like that now! He's insanely funny and dramatic! This kid needs an outlet for all that drama and my sister can't wait until he can do Christian Youth Theater. Just a couple more years!
For New Year's Eve, we decided to just stay home and have a nice quiet evening. We had talked about going out earlier in the evening or in the afternoon, but we didn't want to use our gift cards and we couldn't afford to go anywhere really. We decided to just get some steaks and tortellini from the grocery store. We also found some ice cream on sale and along with the sparkling wine we'd gotten the day before, we had a really great night at home. The steaks and pasta was fabulous. It was the kind of meal that was so delicious that we just didn't want it to end! We watched tv and just hung out. It was a really relaxing night and it was fun.
We've started going to Harvest Bible Chapel at the Chicago North campus. It's really easy to get to since it's just off of Western Ave and we really like it there. We thought it might be weird to go to a church where the sermon is on a video screen. It's not really weird at all. Plus they have live worship. We are looking forward to getting involved and getting into small groups with the people there.
I wanted to post about some of my knitting projects lately and some of my cooking I've done lately, but it's after 1 am and I need to get to bed! Hopefully I can get a post out tomorrow with some pictures. Goodnight world!
Sunday morning Chad and I sang a special at his home church there and Chad preached. It was a really good sermon. It's only the second time I've heard him preach, but I've seen how much God is going to use him in this. He's a good preacher and I was so proud of him! After church we went out to dinner with some people from church and then spent the rest of the day relaxing. It ended up being a good thing because I got a babysitting job for the 28th for a kid from the British School. I had to be there at 6:30 am and anyone who knows me, knows that I'm not a morning person and waking up then is pretty hard for me. I had a great time watching him and they paid really good so that was a major plus! Hopefully I'll be able to watch him again.
Thursday the 30th, we met up with Brooke and Greg and headed up to my nephew Matthew's 6th birthday party! I can't believe that kid is 6 already! It doesn't seem like too long ago that he was born. He was such a little peanut! He went through this phase when he was a newborn when he looked like either an old man or an alien. He was still extremely cute! I think he learned his social butterfly ways as a newborn being passed around where ever we went. More than once Jen would realize she hadn't seen him for a while and have to look for him at church or my niece's gymnastics training, etc. He didn't really mind it then and he's still sort of like that now! He's insanely funny and dramatic! This kid needs an outlet for all that drama and my sister can't wait until he can do Christian Youth Theater. Just a couple more years!
For New Year's Eve, we decided to just stay home and have a nice quiet evening. We had talked about going out earlier in the evening or in the afternoon, but we didn't want to use our gift cards and we couldn't afford to go anywhere really. We decided to just get some steaks and tortellini from the grocery store. We also found some ice cream on sale and along with the sparkling wine we'd gotten the day before, we had a really great night at home. The steaks and pasta was fabulous. It was the kind of meal that was so delicious that we just didn't want it to end! We watched tv and just hung out. It was a really relaxing night and it was fun.
We've started going to Harvest Bible Chapel at the Chicago North campus. It's really easy to get to since it's just off of Western Ave and we really like it there. We thought it might be weird to go to a church where the sermon is on a video screen. It's not really weird at all. Plus they have live worship. We are looking forward to getting involved and getting into small groups with the people there.
I wanted to post about some of my knitting projects lately and some of my cooking I've done lately, but it's after 1 am and I need to get to bed! Hopefully I can get a post out tomorrow with some pictures. Goodnight world!
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