This is so me.........

I got a shock when I saw this, as although I don't drink alcohol, and I am still wearing a bra 😋…...not sure for how much longer though...…….this could be me!!!

I know things will get better............just not sure when!

Social Distancing.............

Truth to be I am fed up to the back teeth with that phrase, but it's something we all have to do.

I am missing my grandchildren something awful and will say I do feel for all parents with children young and old, being stuck at home.  They do need to try and help their children to keep up with their school work along with everything else they have to do.  Will say the parents of our grands, are doing a great job.  Although we have not been officially told that school's will be closed until September, my guess is they will.

One thing I have been doing is texting over a letter everyday to two sets of grandchildren with tasks to do.  This is an example of what I have texted over:

I do this Monday through Friday, as even Nana's need a rest😃  Thank goodness for modern technology where we can see and talk to the grands through various means.

Again, "short term pain, for long term gain," comes to mind!!

Are you doing anything for your children or grand children to keep them busy/occupied?

More about food we eat.......

When I talk about garden salad, for us it means, lettuce (generally romaine lettuce), tomatoes, cucumber, sweet pepper, red onion and radishes.

When you make a salad what is your go too salad ingredients?

One thing I made this week which is super simple is a Quinoa Salad.  I make this "salad" using either quinoa or couscous, both are simple to prepare.

If you have not cooked quinoa before here are the basic instructions.  In a pan bring to boil 2 cups of water, a tablespoon of oil and a teaspoon of salt.  Add one cup of quinoa, stir and turn down the heat to low.  Cover pan and on a low boil cook for 25 minutes.  You know it is cooked when you see those little white "rings."  I used a multi-coloured quinoa this time.  Let it cool.

As I said I make this as simple as possible by adding diced cucumber, grape tomatoes sliced and sliced red onion.  Mix with the quinoa and I use a prepared salad dressing, as I love this particular one, which is the Greek Feta variety.  Mix some in and let sit for a couple of hours for the flavours to mix together.

 This is what my supper looked like on Friday and it was so good.  I enjoy the Low Calorie Creamy Poppyseed Dressing that Kraft makes.

Back in 2016 it was the International Year of the Pulses.  I believe including various pulses in your meals is a good thing.  I did a post about this back in January 2016 here.  If you have time please check it out as there as a couple of recipe links there as well!

Things I am doing to save money..........

I want to clarify first that we are fine financially, however what worries me is that we don't know what is going to happen after this pandemic ends; or even when this pandemic will end.  So I feel for the moment it makes sense to tighten our belts on our outgoings and try and save where ever possible until we see how things pan out.

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The first thing we did was do up an excel spreadsheet of all our monthly outgoings.  When I did that I realized I could save some money if I did a couple of things.

1. Cancel our weekend newspaper.  It's a want not a need at the moment, and with watching so much news online and on the tv, we have no need for the newspaper as well.  Saving $20

2. Try to lower our internet/cable/telephone bill.  Did that and will end up saving $35+ a month.

Doing both of those things, which took me half an hour means a savings of $55 a month.

In Ontario we now have off peak hydro/electricity rates all day, seven days a week for the next 45 days.  I am hoping that will be extended, but meanwhile I will take what is offered.

The weather is starting to get better, so I am hanging out my laundry.  Some people can't/or are not allowed, but if you can, hang out your laundry and that will save you even more money.

Cooking from scratch. With all the restaurant closures due to the pandemic, other than ordering in, cooking from scratch is the way to go.  I am hoping to give you some easy ideas on homemade cheap meals as the weeks progress.

I cut/shaved my hubby's hair on Friday.  I do this regularly anyway.  With the hairdressers being closed now would be as good a time as any to try your hand at that.  We bought a one similar to this one and it works great. At $20 a haircut, we were saving money by the time I had cut/shaved his head twice.

What are you doing to save money during this trying time?  Looking forward to hearing about your great tips.

Not a vegetarian but.....

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I don't eat a lot of meat.  Our menu this week has been the following:

Monday: Potato, onion and cheese "quiche," garden salad and garlic bread

Tuesday: A repeat of Monday.....it was that good!!

Wednesday: Cauliflower with cheese sauce and garlic bread...…..on a roll with the garlic bread!!

Thursday: Cauliflower and sweet pepper soup with bread.

Friday: Baked fish, garden salad.

So basically, so far this week we have had no meat, other than some fish today and we are fine with that.

The Potato, onion and cheese quiche was super simple to make.  I used a store bought pie shell, but you could make your own. 

Ingredients:

Pie Shell
Two medium potatoes, sliced very thin (I used the side of my box grater)
One large onion, thinly sliced
Big chunk of cheese, grated.  I use an old cheddar.
4 eggs whisked in a jug with enough milk to make around 1 1/2 cup of liquid
Salt and Pepper.

I don't blind bake the crust, just take it straight out of the freezer and fill.

I start with a sprinkle of cheese on the base of the pie crust, then layer with potatoes, onions, seasoning then cheese.  I managed three layers, finishing with cheese.  Carefully pour over the eggs and milk mixture .

Place on a tin foiled lined cookie sheet (in case it bubbles over!) and bake at 375 oF for around 45 to 50 minutes.

I served mine hot with a garden salad.  Add what ever seasoning you like.  I prefer things quite bland, so spice it up to your tastes.

Cauliflower with cheese sauce and garlic bread is such a simple supper to make.

Pre cook your cauliflower florets.  Too make a cheese sauce, it's super simple:

Ingredients:

1/4 cup of margarine/butter
1/4 cup all purpose/plain flour
2 cups milk
salt and pepper
tablespoon mustard (optional/your choice)
couple cups of grated cheese

Melt the marg; stir in the flour and keep stirring for a minute or so to let the flour "cook." Add milk slowly, whisking it in and bringing it too a boil.  Turn off the heat and then add in the seasoning, mustard and cheese.  Continue stirring until it's all combined. If any of that doesn't make sense, here is a more detailed recipe for you: https://www.allrecipes.com/article/cheese-sauce-made-easy/ 

Place your cauliflower in a casserole dish.  Pour over the cheese sauce.  I make bread crumbs from the crusts off loaves of bread.  I generally use one crust, made into bread crumbs, mixed with some grated cheese, put too one side.

Bake the cauliflower at 350 of until warmed through; around 20 minutes.  Add the breadcrumb/cheese mixture on top and cook for a further 10 minutes.  At this point I usually add the garlic bread to cook at the same time.

If you pre-make this dish and then pop it into the oven cold, you will need to bake for a few minutes more so it is fully heated through.

I will do a post for making soup.  I did pick up a couple of cauliflower's on the reduced bin and a couple of sweet peppers, there, so that is why I made what I did this week.

We're living in crazy times that's for sure.........

It's been a few months since I last did a blog post.  Between now and then all sorts of things has happened, but none as dramatic as the Covid-19 crisis that is exploding world wide.

I have been in two minds about jumping back into the blogging bandwagon but I feel I may have useful information to help us through these trying times, that could help out in a small way?  Some things people already know what to do, others may not.  Also each country has set up different systems to deal with this crisis.  Also each person/family is dealing with this crisis in their own different way.

In our family we are fortunate that so far everyone is still managing to work; either from home or still at their place of work.  Daycare's and school's are closed but the grandkids are lucky to be able to be at home with one or both parents.  I must admit I am missing them like crazy, but thanks to modern technology I can see and talk to them frequently.  However it's not the same as being able to give them a hug, but that will happen soon enough.

One thing I think that has affected probably everyone is the panic buying of food and supplies.  It has happened all over the world and I think some have suffered more than other's.  Personally I think things are beginning to settle down; at least in my area, as the shelves in the stores are a little more fuller.  I know I have had to alter the way I do things and for the first time in my adult life I was concerned about whether or not we would be able to get fresh fruit and veggies...……...and no I wasn't one of the crazies that bought all the toilet paper...……….never did understand why people were bulk buying toilet paper? 

As I said so far everyone is still working in the family, but no job is 100% secure and if we were to rely on the government to support us we would be unable to cover all our bills and still be able to eat!!  So over the next few days I will do various posts about various topics to help us through these trying times.  If there is anything you want me to cover please ask.

I already make 90% of our meals from scratch and now it's up to 100% so will share some cheap and easy meal ideas.  I will go over how to budget and save money doing various things.  Also I am hoping between us all we will be able to come up with various ideas that will help us all not just now, but in the weeks and months after this crisis is over with.

Finally:

And please stay safe and listen to what your government is saying about social distancing!