The Road Conditions by Rock the Snow Dog

 

Hello! This is Rock the Snow Dog reporting on today's road conditions in South Carolina.

It's a great morning to be out for a walk. They say it's 21 degrees and feels like 12 degrees. Whatever. It's beautiful! Of course, a nice heavy fur coat comes in handy for days like this. This part is easy for me since I was born with one! Those without heavy fur may need to get more creative.

Mommy is walking awfully slow. Come on! Are you afraid you're going to fall or something? I'm not having any trouble getting traction. But then, I have 4-paw drive!

I ran into my favorite neighbor. We go way back to when I was a wee pup and she rescued me! So I love her a lot.  She told me her husband (my other fave) took twice as long to get to work this morning. She also stayed up on her porch and we were on the other side of the road. Whatever. These people seem to think it's cold and treacherous.

I don't see what the problem is. This weather is great!

This white stuff covers up all kinds of lovely smells. Lots of things to stop and sniff.

So here's what I think about the current road conditions.

Get out! Enjoy! Walk. And walk and walk. Sniff everything. Run around the yard. Pull your humans with you.

Happy Snow Day, everyone!

Pantry Challenge Menu Plan

This is the second week of my two week pantry challenge. Random is the name of the game this week!

We're starting the Whole30 on Saturday so my goal is to clean out the bits and bobs before then.

The pantry challenge has gone pretty well. We've been sick and not quite up to par most of the last couple of weeks so our appetites haven't been normal. I've used up a lot of things but we still have some odds and ends.

Last weekend, I made a huge pot of chicken broth with bones and veggie scraps I'd saved in the freezer. I also added a package of chicken legs which added a good flavor. I made a big pot of chicken soup since we were sick which not only used the chicken from the broth but also a few carrots and celery that were nearing expiration. We ate on the soup for several days. Besides the soup, I was able to freeze 8 quarts of broth for later use. We were out of broth so this will come in handy in the weeks to come. Yay for getting a 16 quart stockpot for Christmas!

My initial goal for the challenge was to spend $0 for the two weeks in order to save the grocery budget for the Whole30. First, we were sick and needed a few supplies, then Andy's parents came to visit this past weekend so I bought a few extra things because of having company. Turned out to be a good move since I was sick while they were here. My sweet mother-in-law ended up cooking! I was a terrible hostess...:-)

In preparation for the weekend, I did make banana muffins from frozen bananas and baked an apple pie I had frozen. My mother-in-law brought some grapes, a bag of salad, an apple, a cucumber and some green onions which she thought might go bad at her house so we're eating those things up too!

Total we've spent to date is $41.03. Not too bad and a few food items will carry over to our Whole30 meal plan.

I scrawled a tentative meal plan for the week. We'll see how it goes from day to day. It really depends on how much we feel like eating! Some of the combinations are super weird-- we may change them up as the week goes on but really, who cares? We're eating things up!

Breakfasts:

• Hard boiled eggs, banana muffins, grapes
• Creamed eggs and waffles (I really want waffles before starting the Whole30!)
• Eggs in various forms

Lunches:

• hot dogs and buns (left from weekend)
• Chicken Cordon Bleu casserole from freezer (2 servings)
• Southwestern Lentils from freezer (1 serving)
• Chick-fil-a soup --free this month with the 2014 Chick-fil-a Calendar card
• Brown Rice, Carrot  and Ginger Cakes with leftover cooked lentils and rice
• Any other leftovers!

Suppers:

• Texas Chili (no beans; from this cookbook) with cheese, sour cream, green onions and olives, salad
• Thai Chicken with Peanut Sauce (from freezer), Cheesy Potato Balls (from freezer; made with leftover mashed potatoes from Thanksgiving!), steamed broccoli
• Spaghetti--have a half bag of rice pasta to use and a small jar of spaghetti sauce from freezer or we may use leftover Texas Chili on the pasta--we'll see! Also have a small amount of Parmesan cheese to use up. 
• Cheeseburger Soup (from freezer), Sweet Potato Souffle (from freezer; from Thanksgiving!) 
• Fish or chicken with whatever veggies and sides we have left or random leftovers

What are you eating this week? And if you're also doing a pantry challenge this month, how's it going? Please share in the comments!

**This post is linked to Menu Plan Monday over at I'm An Organizing Junkie! 

Two-Week Pantry Challenge

It's a new year and my pantry and freezer are full of bits and bobs of random ingredients.

Time to clean it out!

We'll be doing a two-week pantry challenge this month in preparation for starting the Whole30 cleanse on January 18.

Time will tell, but I don't think I'll need to purchase much in the way of groceries to get us through the next two weeks. So my financial goal with this challenge is to spend $300 for both January and February groceries. $300 is the amount I normally spend each month on groceries so to make it stretch for two months would be awesome! Don't know if it's totally doable with the cleanse (meat, produce, healthy fats) but I'm going to give it a try. February is a short month too, which should help me out!

Even spending $400 instead of $600 for two months would be good! We have a couple savings goals this year and being able to save $200 or more in the first two months of the year would make me very happy!

I'm starting the challenge today since we just got back yesterday from spending time with family. I'll update a couple of times during the challenge as to what we're eating and how we're doing money-wise.

Anyone else eating from their pantry this month in order to clean things out and save a little cash? 

About Those Recycled Storage Jars...

Since I'm in the midst of a two week vacation from work, I finally got around to finishing some of  these recycled jars for craft storage.

One lid was gold and the other painted black so I just left them as they were. Of the four that were left, I painted two of them red and then mod-podged fabric on the other two.

I received these awesome chalkboard labels for Christmas so I put a label on each jar and wrote the contents on the labels with a chalk marker.

To store zippers, I wrapped an old formula can with burlap and tied it with ribbon. Simple and functional!

Cost for project: Free!  Everything was either recycled or something I had on hand and the labels were a gift. 

I'm super pleased with how the jars turned out--much more organized than before too!

Merry Christmas

We're settled in and ready for a quiet Christmas at home since we won't be traveling to celebrate with family until later in the week!

Merry Christmas to all who stop by and read here. Enjoy your time with family and friends remembering the real reason we are able to celebrate the season: a Savior who came so we could live the abundant life!

Crockpot Hamburger Vegetable Soup

Needing a simple nourishing meal to offset the rich holiday foods?

This soup is perfect! Simple, healthy and nourishing plus it can cook for 10 or more hours in the crockpot. It's a great recipe for those long days at work.

1 pound ground beef, crumbled and browned
1- 16 ounce package frozen mixed vegetables
1 quart canned tomatoes
1 can chicken broth
1 small onion, chopped
2-4 cups water
Salt and pepper, other seasonings, to taste

Combine all ingredients in 3.5 to 5 quart crockpot. Cook on high for 5-6 hours or on low for 10 or more hours.

Thanks to my mom for sharing this recipe. We've been making this soup at least once a month lately. It makes about 3 meals for the two of us. 

McAbees' Apples

McAbees' Fruit Stand near Hendersonville, NC is our favorite place to stop to buy apples if we happen to head to the mountains in the fall. 

They are located right off I-26 in Flat Rock and can be seen from the interstate. It's a very convenient stop for travelers. 

According to the people at the stand, they should have apples to sell through the winter, until April, I think they said!  

They have a big variety of apples. My favorite thing here is the shelves at the back of the stand that are filled with 1/2 bushel bags of seconds for only $5 a bag. Seconds are typically smaller than first quality and are likely to have some bruising. That is what I usually buy for applesauce and apple butter since it really doesn't matter what they look like because I'm going to cook and smoosh them anyways.    

But first quality apples are still only $8 for a 1/2 bushel so still a great deal in my opinion! 

We filled the van up with apples when we stopped there this year. 

Yum! Homemade applesauce to eat all year long! 

Curried Green Tomato Sauce

After a frost, I ended up with a collection of green tomatoes from my garden plus a bag full from the children's garden at work. A few turned red after setting out for a few days!

What to do with them?

I finally decided to make Curried Green Tomato Sauce because I had all the ingredients on hand! Plus it sounded interesting.

I just poured the sauce into freezer containers to freeze rather than can.

The sauce is a different type of flavor combination for us. It's tasty though and on the spicy side! We ate it with fish and rice the other night and it was quite good.

I loved making something yummy out of these tomatoes instead of throwing them away!

Apples and Sewing

We stopped in Hendersonville, NC and bought five bushels (10-1/2 bushel bags) of apples on our way home from Pigeon Forge. So my evenings have been spent doing apples. My goal has been to do a 1/2 bushel (1 bag) most evenings and so far it's working well. I'm sure there are faster ways to accomplish this but this goal is attainable and not too overwhelming. 8 bags down, 2 to go!

I've been making applesauce, apple butter, dried apples and will also freeze some apples for pies and apple crisps. I think I'm done with apple sauce now; I have over 40 quart. We love homemade applesauce and eat a lot of it!

I've spent an hour or two each morning working on a big Etsy order--5 of these Christmas gift sets. They are packed and ready to ship off today-- I didn't get a picture of them before I boxed them up. But my sewing room looks like this...

Etsy by day; apples by night!

Housework beyond clean dishes, laundry and cooking hasn't been my top priority during this season as you can see. I'll get back to it soon! Starting to drive me a bit crazy as I really like things in order.

Our fall seasons are always jam-packed and super busy. This year is no exception!

What have you been up to?

Foothills Parkway

After two days at Dollywood, I was ready for something less touristy to do on our way out of town. I wanted to see some scenery!

Our GPS took us on the Foothills Parkway coming out of Gatlinburg. It was a beautiful day and the foliage was gorgeous!

There were places to pull over all along the parkway and we stopped at every single one. I took lots of pictures. It was all so beautiful!

As you can see, not all of the leaves have turned yet,but it was still lovely with lots of vibrant color!

Dollywood Vacation

A few months ago, Andy's parents asked if we would like for them to take us on a weekend vacation. Of course, we said yes!

We decided on Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, TN for our destination and chose to go the last weekend in October. We were so excited for the trip and weren't disappointed at all!

Andy loves Southern Gospel music so we were happy to be able to go during Dollywood's National Southern Gospel Festival and Harvest Celebration  and attend a number of concerts throughout the park. Our favorites included Legacy Five, The Mark Dubbeld Family, The Kingdom Heirs and The Smoky Mountain String Band. We also enjoyed a bird show that featured Challenger the Bald Eagle, a 50's show and the Southern Gospel Hall of Fame.

The weather was super chilly the two days we were there but at least it was sunny! Thankfully, some of the events were indoors.

Dollywood includes an amusement park but we both really don't care for rides! I did go on one ride with my father-in-law--one he referred to as a "sissy ride". It wasn't bad but reminded me again that I just don't like roller coasters and such! I seek thrills in other places--like thrift stores.

The park was beautifully decorated for fall with pumpkins, scarecrows , mums and the cutest flower pot people!

We had such a  wonderful weekend and thank  Mom and Dad for inviting us!

Southern Gospel Hall of Fame