Sad Season for Poinsettia

It was doing so good.

But then something happened, and I have no idea what.

My poinsettia is losing its leaves.

It looks so sad! Looking back in my archives, I see it dropped the green leaves last spring too, so this must be normal, unless I'm consistently doing something wrong. I wish there was a way to prevent it because the plant had been looking really nice! The red leaves are all still intact and there has been quite a few more new ones growing since I last updated you all. You can see in the picture above that there are three groups of red leaves. I hope they keep on growing to become full flowers and don't end up falling off like the rest of them. I was getting rather excited to see the new growth! I wish I was able to take a picture right before it started shedding to show you how full it was looking. Oh well. It happened. We'll see what this summer brings. Do you think it will keep growing or fall apart completely?

This is what it looked like last April (2016).

Transplanting Tomatoes

I finally got the chance to take care of our growing tomato forest! We had beautiful weather yesterday which made for a perfect opportunity to get out and play in some dirt. I'd been meaning to get around to transplanting the seedlings for some time, as they had been outgrowing their little starter pellets. This is something I've never had to do before! In the past I've been so late in the game getting my seeds started that they've been only this tall by the time the weather was ready for outdoor planting. The last frost date is still a month away for where we are in mid-northern Michigan, so things are looking promising for an earlier harvest this year. Everyone always seemed to have tomato sandwich juice dripping down their chin way before we had our first ripe fruit. 

After one unsuccessful try using potting soil last year, I hesitated at the idea of moving the plants to bigger pots, but my brilliant man suggested using dirt from our garden. It's going right back in there anyways! So that's what I filled them with. Somehow our trowel has gone missing since last summer, so I had to get creative and used a teacup to scoop the dirt. 

I took Adam out with me expecting him to get dirty, but he spent half the time sitting on the grass playing with the pots. It surprised me, since I know he likes playing in dirt! Then he spotted a rock peeping out of a deer track and went on a mission uncovering it. He plopped down on his belly and dug away! The boy mom in me chuckled as he got up and wiped his hand across his mouth, and then reached in and grabbed his tongue with a puzzled look on his face, leaving a nice brown streak behind. His immune system should be nice and strong after this summer! I've heard that kids should consume a certain amount of dirt in their childhood, so we're off to a good start on getting that accomplished. 

Cooking for a Crowd: Episode 3

After a several month hiatus on the crowd meals, Free Time Mom is at it again! Due to the birth of our baby girl (born January 29), we were removed from the monthly responsibility of lunch for 40 so that we could rest up, find our new normal, and enjoy our new bundle without the added stress of extra cooking. In a blog post the end of January I wrote that I'd be back later this spring with more, and here I am!

For those of you who are new here, every week two ladies from our church group pair up and take on the lunchtime meal. One is in charge of providing the main course (including side dishes), and the other provides dessert. Currently there are four moms on full-time rotation, and two as part-time or fill-ins. This works out that I do the main meal or dessert about once per month.

Now that it's springtime and the weather is warming up, I don't consider soup a good option for a main dish anymore. While there are people who consider it a year-round dish, plenty of others view it as something to serve only on a cool day, which is the category I fall under. So with soup being out, something like a casserole makes a great second choice. I opted for one of my go-to quick meals, which is also one of my husband's favorites, a Cheesy Beef and Macaroni Casserole. It's sort-of like a goulash, or homemade hamburger helper. But since I don't like goulash and hamburger helper is boxed food and full of a bunch of added ingredients which I stay away from, lets pretend I didn't compare it to those. This recipe is one that I plan to share with you all sometime, because it doesn't take long to prepare at all, tastes amazing, and leaves few dishes for you to clean up afterwards. When I made it this weekend, I served a pot of our homegrown sweet corn, french bread, salad, and applesauce as sides.

This week there were a few extra mouths to feed, so instead of cooking for the usual 40, I was serving 50. Here's the run down of my ingredients and expenses:


Main dish:

5.5 lbs Ground Beef         $11.00
3 lbs. Macaroni                  $3.00
2 lbs. Mozzerella               $7.00
Beef Broth                         $4.76
Tomato Sauce                          -
Milk                                           -
Spices                                      -

Total:                               $25.76


Sides:

3 heads Lettuce                 $5.34
3 Peppers                          $1.43
4 Tomatoes                        $1.61
Cucumber                          $0.78
3 loaves French Bread      $5.97
4 qts. Applesauce                    -
4 qts. frozen Corn                    -
1 stick Butter                     $0.75

Total:                               $15.88

Expenses Grand Total: $41.64


When I'm cooking for 40 people, I try to keep my budget at $30 or below. Knowing I had an extra 10 mouths to feed, I decided $40 would be a reasonable number. Not bad being only $1.64 over! The foods with a dash in the cost column are ingredients that I either had already home canned from last summer, didn't have any cost into, or have no way of figuring (such as spices which I didn't measure).

At the end of the day, this is what was left: One loaf plus a few slices of bread, one head of lettuce, one red pepper, a container of salad (enough for a lunch for me), and a container of the casserole, which Aaron took with him for lunch today.

Ways I Could've Cut Cost Further:
I could've made my own bread. Normally I do, but I didn't have time. I figure I'd have saved around $3 if I did. Also I should've done my own beef broth. I don't have a whole lot of my homemade stuff left in the pantry, so I bought what I needed for this meal. I should've planned ahead and checked with my local butcher and made my own. That would've saved me a few dollars there as well. Apparently there is a shortage on lettuce, so prices have been increased by 50% at my grocery store, so that was more than I was expecting there. But as I said, I had aimed for a $40 meal, and only barely missed the mark. Cost per person ended up at 83 cents each. Success.

Household Hacks: Removing Pilling

I'm sure we've all dealt with those nasty fuzz balls on our clothing. I can try my very hardest to keep a piece of clothing nice but somehow my knits always end up pilling. I almost decided it would be easier to hand wash and dry everything that might possibly end up that way! Since being a housewife/ mom, I've realized the importance of reading labels and following the original washing instructions, as it is entirely up to me to ensure our clothing is washed properly. Okay. I confess. I don't follow the instructions to a T, because I prefer washing with cold water and there's no way I'm dividing up my clothes into several itty bitty loads just to comply with manufacturer recommendations. But as far as hand washing, line drying, or laying flat to dry, I pay attention. Sure there are times I miss a certain piece while digging through the dirty laundry pile, but ya know, that's life, sometimes unfortunately.

Maxi skirts are the worst. My husband officially decided he didn't like them because after a couple wears they look like trash. I've had a few in my day and have tried several different washing methods, but somehow after a couple wears, they do end up looking like trash! I have one maxi dress and one skirt that somehow have been spared thus far, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they stay nice. I think there are some cheaper versions of the maxi skirt, and some more high end, and the more expensive "higher-end" ones that I own are the ones that have stayed nice. Anyway.

 

I also have a sweater. It's one of the few pieces of non-maternity clothing I've bought in all the years being married (I admit... but there really aren't good clothing stores here!). Aaron loves this sweater, and he compliments me on it every time I wear it! But it had the same problem when I bought it (yes, second-hand), in that it was all pilly. I ignored it for awhile but then one day decided it indeed looked nasty and I was going to do something about it. 

There are several methods to removing the lint balls, but pulling them by hand really doesn't leave you with a neat looking outfit, plus it takes a lot of time and frustration. So the method I used - which totally makes sense - was a razor. I mean, what else do you use to remove unwanted fuzz? Just sayin'. 

Because of the tool involved, I'm going to include a disclaimer: please test in an inconspicuous area first. And work slowly. Just in case. Certain materials may be more prone to snagging than others. Now that my hands are free from blame if you happen to cut a hole in your garment, I'll also add I've never had tears happen while using a razor to remove pills. But be careful. 

I found that it worked best to run the razor across the material with the grain. It was more efficient that way, and left much neater results. After shaving off the pills, I used my lint roller (which was invented in my birthtown of Flint, Michigan, by the way), to pick up the shavings. It's much easier to use a lint roller or something sticky than trying to brush them off with your hands.

I couldn't believe the difference it made having the pills removed. It's so smooth it almost looks new again. I'm very happy with the results, so I'll call this household hack a success. 

Starting Seeds

In honor of the first day of Spring, I finally got my seeds started! Actually the season change wasn't the reason I waited this long to finally get them in some dirt. I fully intended to have them done a couple weeks ago, but once I finally got into town, it took me several tries to even find a store that carried the little seed starting pellets that I like to use. (If you remember in my post We Have Tomatoes!, I had much better success with these than when I tried using potting soil.) Two years ago I didn't start them until the first week of May, so I'll call this a nice, early start! 

Eating Alkaline

In an effort to include more alkaline-forming foods in my diet, I've been experimenting with my own new recipes and reintroducing other yummy foods that I don't normally purchase on a regular basis. 

One of my more delicious meals features a knock-off oatmeal - made with millet, and enhanced with cinnamon, butter, and maple syrup. I kind of happened on it by accident. 

I thought I was cooking quinoa but didn't realize until I had eaten most of it that I had grabbed the jar of millet instead. I thought the texture seemed different but figured it was because I didn't cook it quite long enough (though I followed the directions... for quinoa), and it didn't click how vastly different the flavor was! You'd think I had never cooked either before. Well ... I hadn't, but I've eaten them both a few times in my day. 

The blooper ended up being much better, and I think a far more pleasing flavor too, than it would've been had I grabbed the jar of quinoa. The unfortunate part of this dish is after checking the two stores in town that sell bulk grains, I realized millet is hard to find, as neither carried it. I would guess the health food store in the "city" might, but I don't know. 

I'm not an oatmeal person (unless it's baked), so this discovery may add a nice variation to my old breakfast routine, which was most often just eggs and toast. Pairing the millet with an egg and grapefruit gave me a bit of protein and made it a well-rounded (pun intended) meal. Another reason I give this plate such a great rating is because I felt absolutely amazing all morning. Breakfast didn't sit heavy and lasted me well until lunchtime. 

Duck Eggs

Lately I've been getting eggs from some Amish a few miles down the road. Yesterday when I made my egg run (because we only had one more dozen, which is basically the same as being out), I was informed that they only had blue eggs left, which made no difference to me. When she came back out with an armload, the top carton was so full it couldn't close. I had told the girl I was hoping to get 5 dozen if they had them, but she only had four dozen chicken eggs, so she brought out some duck eggs and said they only cost 50 cents more! With the size of them, it really wasn't any more expensive volume-wise than the chicken eggs. I have never seen duck eggs sell so cheap. $3.00/ dozen! While I wouldn't necessarily choose duck eggs over chicken (simply because I have no reason to), they are delicious and it has been good to be reminded of their flavor, as I hadn't tasted one in probably 10 years. It has been kinda fun switching up my morning breakfast some!

Here's a comparison between a regular-sized chicken egg (comparable to 

the grocery store Grade-A medium), and an extra-large duck egg.