Laundry Quandry

Monday, I did laundry. I have 3 lines. They were loaded down. One end of the middle line came loose and that line's laundry went down in all the dry grass and dirt. (Yes, the very laundry you see in the picture above, and that afghan was a mess with the dry grass!)


Tuesday and Wednesday, I was down with a cold. Older Son was good and got the clothesline back up, and stretched and tightened them all.


Yesterday it was cloudy, VERY COOL, and it RAINED. So thankful, and I'm not complaining a bit! In fact, we'll take more of that anytime.


Now, after a few days of not doing laundry, towels have piled up, clothes have piled up, I need to do laundry. I was up early to fix Hubby's water jug before he left for work, so I threw a load of towels in, to start knocking down the heap that is taking over the back porch.


The NOAA site says 50 per cent chance of rain here. Today. The temps will be nice, but will it rain? Should I go ahead and brave the laundry line, and let it rain if it does? Now that it's 7:30 a.m. and light out, I can see the gray, somber clouds in the sky.


I HAVE GOT TO DO LAUNDRY. Yesterday was "clean up the disaster kitchen that got away from me while I was sick" day. That got done, and things are back to normal there. Today is the laundry. I HAVE TO! Well ... I will try it anyway. If nothing else, they'll get a rainwater rinse!

This-N-That

Various things going on in the household the last week or so.


Nectarines ready to peel, slice and bag for the freezer.




A few baggies of sliced nectarines ready for the freezer, plus a dish of some to enjoy right now with half-and-half poured over. (Yum!)




A custard pie. It didn't last long.




Laundry on the line.




Onion soup - I called it "Oklahoma Onion Soup," since I used regular wheat bread toasted and shredded cheddar cheese.




Hubby smoked some ribs the other day, and made seasoned mashed potatoes to go with them. (Also yum!)




You've heard of a cookie jar, well, these are cookies in jars, literally!




Oreos with two kinds of fillings - "berry burst ice cream" on the left, and "chocolate" on the right.

From Scratch

Younger Son likes the chicken noodle soup out of a can, but he only likes the noodles and a little (if any) of the broth. So today, after serving him a dish of the noodles and some broth, I decided to do something with what was left in the saucepan.


First, I peeled and chopped a potato into it, then added some onion. Then I boiled that until the potato was done. I added a bit more water and some seasonings. I dumped in a small can of chicken, juice and all. Then I got that all to a good boil. I added a few handfuls of dry noodles, and let that cook until the noodles were done. Older Son and I cleaned it up!


So what does it mean to cook "from scratch?" Now, I don't care for the canned chicken and noodle soup, but doing this little "doctoring" experiment with this broth turned out yummy. Hubby likes to doctor up a can of steak-and-potato soup with butter and noodles, and that's not bad, either. These little extras you add to canned or store-bought things just makes it seem a little more like home cooking. But that might not actually be considered "from scratch."


Now what I would consider "from scratch" chicken soup would be getting a chicken (or pieces) and boiling it/them until done, then de-boning the chicken and have the meat and broth. Then adding fresh vegetables to it, such as carrots, potatoes, celery, onion, etc. Noodles would be handmade. (You can buy that style frozen, and they're not bad, but I'm thinking homemade noodles.)


But I suppose if you wanted to get even more extremely "from scratch" than that, you would raise your own chickens (both for meat, and for eggs for the noodles) and grow your own garden (for the vegetables). Would it be too much to say raise your own wheat for the flour? Now that would be getting down to the nitty-gritty of "cooking from scratch!"


We used to laugh when we'd go out to eat, if it took awhile to wait on our food. If someone had ordered a hamburger, we'd say they had to go slaughter the cow. If it was dairy-related, they had to go milk the cow. If it was chicken, they had to go butcher the chicken. This all sure gives an appreciation for the convenience of our foods now. But I like that you can find a happy medium between the goodness of home-raised meats and produce, and the convenience of what you can purchase at the grocery store. "From scratch" can be various combinations of cooking and baking, but as long as it's reasonably healthy and your family eats it, that's what counts!

Variety

Not doing any canning, but I'm gearing up for maybe someday soon trying it. At any rate, I LOVE to use canning jars for all kinds of various things. I've seen lots of neat ideas on other blogs, and enjoy using these jars. I bought four different cases of jars throughout the summer, each a different kind. Wide mouth, regular, quart, pint, half-pint. So to get started using them, I washed a few of each kind, and put them to dry. I've also got some plastic storage lids if I want to do that instead of the metal rings and lids.


My main ideas are for food storage (like dry beans and pastas), leftovers, craft supplies, flowers, and for drinking out of. I guess if you're not very thirsty you could use the half-pint, and if you're REALLY thirsty you could go with the quart! So anyway, I'll start having fun with these now. :)

Planning ...

... for when the weather turns cooler. Because sometimes when it does, it does SUDDENLY and EXTREMELY. So I washed my coat and my hoodie jacket today, just to get them fresh and clean to start the fall season. Let the cold fronts come!

In the Freezer

I've been crabby lately when I want to cook something, and put onion or green pepper in it, and I don't have any. So I fixed this little matter. Green peppers and onions were on sale for a good price, so I got six of each.


Green peppers ready to cut in strips and put in baggies.




Six peppers filled three baggies with strips. Well, sort of filled them. Mostly filled them. I could probably have squeezed that all into two baggies! Oh well. I can use them as strips in fajitas, or they chop good when frozen to add to chili or something.




Next, I fixed three onions, keeping three for fresh use for awhile. I did the same thing, to just rough-slice into "strips," then if I want to chop them later, I can.




Part-way through slicing the onions, I had a little ... tear problem. Actually a very bad BURNING EYE problem.



Staggering trip to bathroom to wash eyes with cold water.


Trip to living room to get mini fan.


Back to kitchen to plug in said fan to blow the onion fumes the other way!


It worked. :)


Three baggies full of onion strips ready for the freezer. Both the peppers and onions, I wrote the date on each little baggie, then squeezed out as much air as possible. Then I put the green peppers and the onions each in a bigger bag, expelling more air, to try to control freezer burn. Now if I want some green peppers or onions, I HAVE SOME READY. It just took kick-starting myself to actually do it - this summer heat has really gotten me down. September starts in a few days, so maybe it'll take a hint and let some cool air move in! And some rain with it. Then I'll cook a big pot of chili with green peppers and onions.

Easy Casserole

Thought of a casserole today and couldn't get it out of my head, so I threw it together tonight to see how it would taste. I knew younger Son wouldn't touch it, and when I told Hubby what was in it, he wasn't interested. But as of now, before bedtime, it is GONE! Older Son and I cleaned it up! We each had some for supper, then I had a bit awhile ago for an evening snack, and he just now cleaned up the rest!


Easy Hamburger-Corn-Noodle Casserole


1 lb. hamburger
1 can condensed tomato soup
1 can corn
1/2 pkg. dry wide noodles, COOKED
salt
pepper
onion powder
garlic powder
paprika
cheese


Preheat oven to 350 degrees, spray a 9" X 13" pan or baking dish. Brown hamburger, drain. Add soup (undiluted), a dab of water, corn, cooked noodles and spices to taste. Pour into baking pan or dish. Top with shredded or sliced cheese. Bake for 30 minutes or until heated through. Try not to eat the whole thing at once, if you like this kind of thing.


I intended to cover this with a load of shredded cheese, but the guys ate it all! Not a speck of shredded cheese in the fridge. So I just grabbed a few slices of prepared sliced cheese, and at least had some kind of cheese on it. This is really versatile, you could add other veggies, like green beans (none of my guys will touch!), or any kind of noodles or pasta. Any kind of cheese. Just however you'd like it.


The only thing older Son and I agreed on was that it baked up kind of dry, though the taste was GOOD. I figure the noodles absorbed moisture, even when cooked. So maybe add a little more water or maybe some broth. Anyway, this will be a keeper, easy to make, and at least two of us will eat it!