Five Frugal Things -- I Finally Made The Viral Feta Tomato Bake!
1) I shored up some stitching on my kid's bluejeans, thus ensuring they'll continue to last as long as possible. My stitches were noticeably thinner than the original ones, so I doubled up each one. This area lies under the fly flap, so it's not visible either way.
I also mended the crotch area, but I'm pretty no one wants me showing photos of that on the internet!
2) Yesterday and today have been hot here in Portland, which is always an issue as few Oregonians have central air conditioning. We're able to stay comfortable thanks to our Buy Nothing group ceiling fan, which has been a literal game changer! Both for the cool breezes, but also the relaxing white noise.
Ahh . . .
We did run a window unit AC in our West-facing bedroom for bedtime, but otherwise kept cool without it.
Although we always have seltzers in the fridge, I kept hydrated with homemade sun tea, concocted from random hotel room tea bags.
3) I started and finished my library copy of Abby Jimenez's The Night We Met, which was an amazing read. The kind where you deliberately slow yourself down to make it last longer.
4) I heated the kitchen up to bake this Feta/tomato pasta Instagram recipe, as my husband came home ravenous from playing baseball in the heat. You may recall when this dish went viral a few years ago and although it was on my radar, I didn't make it at that time.
I saw that Winco had their cherry-ish tomatoes priced at 88¢, so I grabbed some bags, as well as an inexpensive 8-ounce block of feta. (You can see the ingredients in the above photo.) Other variations of this recipe call for shallots, but I simply added a couple hunks of red onion and I replaced the garlic with garlic powder. (Me = lazy) I lastly topped the dish with fresh basil and parmesan we had on hand.
PEOPLE -- this recipe lived up to the hype! The hands on time was maybe five minutes and good enough to serve to guests. Definitely adding this simple dish to the rotation.
5) My friend Lise texted to ask if I was interested in accompanying her to Trader Joe's last night, which was a solid "yes" as we were down to a dribble of milk.
I kept to my list, (milk, bananas, hummus) although I did grab a jar of sun dried tomatoes to try out the similarly viral marry me chicken/chick peas recipe that dominated my algorithm last year. I'm always happy to find new and interesting bean recipes.
I have a container of scratch cooked chick peas in the freezer in danger of being lost to the depths, so this is the perfect opportunity to try out another new recipe.
Now your turn, what frugal things have you been up to?
1. I saved money on gas by attending a meeting on zoom rather than in person. While I listened I made plum jam with very tasteless Costco plums and very lovely plums from neighbor.
2. I continue to diligently put rinse water from kitchen sink onto my garden. I have a free 1 gallon bucket in my kitchen sink that catches the warm up and rinse water. I have a small single kitchen sink and still prioritize having the 1 gallon bucket in it from May to October.
3. My gluten eaters are gone and I froze all leftover gluten containing cookies for when they come back. I also made a mug microwave cake with the last of the milk (previously frozen) since my gluten eaters are also my milk eaters. The cake went in the freezer too. I really aim for zero food waste.
4. I'm short of mulch in my garden so I chopped up plants that I had pulled and left them on top of the patches of bare soil. Bare soul is always the worst choice as it requires more water and erodes with wind and rain. I have rice straw (seed free) around food plants and chipped wood (free from tree trimming trucks I see passing by) around landscape plants. I grow landscape plants and food side by side so I can maximize water. The chopped plants won't last as long as rice straw or wood chips, but they'll do for now. I usually come across a free source of mulch from time to time, and then fill in any bare spots.
5. Divided some Santa Barbara daisies to fill in some areas. Someone looked at my garden and said they had the same color scheme as mine. I told them that the only scheme I have is that the plants are free!
I had extra pieces of chicken breasts that I had trimmed to fit into my baking dishes. The recipe suggested 4 chicken breast halves per 9x13 casserole and to be sure not to crowd them. I was doubling the recipe, so 2 - 9x13 pans and eight pieces of chicken breast. They were very large breast pieces so I trimmed them so they would not touch each other. That left me with about a cup and a half of meat to use for another meal.
I also had a lot of extra carrot and celery sticks, plus several pieces of raw broccoli to use up. I knew it was time for a stir fry. I made it last night and there is enough left for 4 more meals. It went together quickly since a lot of the chopping was already done and since it was extras leftover from a luncheon, it felt almost like free food.
Thanks, Katy, for the Feta Tomato Pasta Recipe. I happen to already have everything on hand so I will be making it soon
I’m in town because I have an early doctor’s appointment. It’s so hot. I headed to the bins and then IKEA. I think I saw your husband at IKEA? Maybe you were nearby eating a veggie dog. IKEA is a good place to stay cool!
1. The bins weren’t great today. It happens. The important thing is that I didn’t buy stupid things I don’t need!
2. I took 3 bags of cans to the bottle drop.
3. I found $1 in the parking lot at the bottle drop.
4. At IKEA, I bought shelves to fit some IKEA brackets I found in a free pile.
5. I got a free Big Gulp at 7-11!
Bought tires online, then made appt at tire store to mount and balance, saving $18/tire.
Picked the remainder of the broccoli and cauliflower. The heat is really hard on the plants.
Picked the wintered over kale. The goats and calves are loving the garden treats.
Planted basil, sage and lemon thyme and more garlic chives.
I harvested/thinned scallions for broccoli and beef over special rice. Invited new neighbors to dinner and a sit down at the pond. It is about 10 degrees cooler there.
Made a pot of sun tea, got out my snoopy ice shaved ice maker. I picked up a 1950's oven roaster in a free pile. I don't think it has been cleaned in 75 years, so I will take it as my hand work while we visit with the neighbors.
I added 4 inches of hardwood sawdust to the blueberry patch.
The fawn is still laying there, I have to water at dawn break before his mom drops him off for the day. We had planted 5 blueberry plants in a semi circle as a way to camouflage the Nat gas generator. He is camping out in the circle. Aww.