For breakfast today, I ate some delicious cucumber, tomato, onion and feta cheese salad. Then I ate a piece of pecan pie!
I've just polished off some mashed potatoes and a couple of deviled eggs. As you know, I've had deviled eggs from my neighbor as well as from my family of clients. I had no idea that deviled eggs were a Thanksgiving thing. I'm glad, though. I just happen to really like deviled eggs! In fact I'm thinking I might make some myself. They're a good protein-based "snack".
I still have some peas and some turkey and then all my Thanksgiving dinner foods will have been exhausted. I have been so blessed with these goodies!
My apple cider vinegar, made with peels and cores, is coming along. I have 3 quart jars filled with water and peels/cores. The quart jars are just covered with coffee filters turned upside down and fastened down with rubber bands. You can smell the stuff "cooking" when you walk into my little kitchen.
Not too sure about the sauerkraut. I did not understand, when I started it, that it needed to be in a "cool" place. "Cool" is defined as less than 70 degrees. I just had the big glass crock sitting on the dining room table. Well, two problems. I apparently did not have enough brine and it was too warm in the dining room. As a result, I ended up with mold on the top. I researched it and found out that some folks actually stir the mold into the kraut. Yuck! I tried an alternative. I removed the cabbage leaves I had covering the kraut. Turns out that it was these leaves that had molded. They did not get down in the brine......... So, once I removed the yucky cabbage leaves, I filled a gallon-size baggie with brine (in case of leaves) added brine to the kraut so that I no longer have ANY worries about oxygen getting to the kraut. The kraut is completely immersed and the baggie is weighted down on top. So, essentially I have created an anaerobic environment, just what was needed. Then I moved the whole thing to the garage where there is no heat and where it is, therefore, cooler. I also covered the crock with a dishtowel to make sure the crock wasn't in a lot of light. It now seems to be coming along fine, but I won't know til I taste it and I won't be doing that til Friday at the earliest. Most likely, if all is well, I won't be calling it "done" til at least a week from this coming Friday.
I worked yesterday. We were busy. I suppose no one expected that. So, once 2PM rolled around, the staff was minimal. It became worse later on because someone called out. My 2nd break was 50 minutes late. I honestly was okay with that because, though I battled the crowds in the front end the first 2 hours, after that I was in Lumber. The fact that I could sit for a few minutes now and then between customers made the extra time tolerable.
This coming week I had only 2 days scheduled. I was offered an extra shift which I snatched up. It's hard making it on 3 days, and 2 days is an utter impossibility without dipping into my hard won savings.
I am off today and tomorrow. I still have about 6 hours to go on "today". So far I've done some vacuuming with the Dyson, including moving some furniture. I've also hauled multiple loads of trash and recycling outside and sorted through some piles of mail. You may remember that I've been skittish about running a vacuum cleaner. That's why I bought the Roomba. However, I've found that my back seems to hold up okay if I limit myself on HOW MUCH vacuuming I do on a daily basis. So, for today I did part of the living room and a decent job out here. Tomorrow I'll go after the master bedroom/master bath. It's all part of the war on dog hair............
I've also been working on a menu for the next couple of weeks. For right now, the plan is to eat out of the freezer or the canned stuff on work days. I also have a small repertoire of really quick menu ideas. Nothing fancy, just something to keep myself one level above starvation. These quickie things will also be at play on work days. And, I'll be experimenting with Instant Pot recipes on the days I'm home. I found a website that has a 30-day menu plan, all Instant Pot meals. They are gathered from various sources around the web. I may hate some of them which means I will NEVER try making them again from the same recipe. But I plan on working through the list and then just rotating back through as I go along. I'll end up stocking the freezer with leftovers, I'm sure. And I'll get more servings of veggies which I need. We'll see how this all works out........
Tomorrow I need to get gasoline and cruise through a grocery store. Then I'll come back here and get back after things here. Picking up the pieces is a slow process...........
I think for my next project I'll pack up a couple of boxes with books that are going to be donated.
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