Cupboard mess

I have been cooking from scratch for several weeks. For the most part, it's been great! Most of the food has been good and I've added a couple of meals to our favorites list.

Cooking from scratch requires that I buy a lot of food from the bulk bins: nuts, seeds, flours, rice, beans, dried fruit. Because of this, I am running into two problems.

1 - I'm slowly killing the environment with all of these plastic bulk bags. It's ironic, as I use reusable shopping bags to carry my groceries home!
2 - My cupboard is overflowing with ingredients and it's hard to find anything.

Help! Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I could do to eliminate at least one of these problems?


My scary cupboard

What's On My Nightstand?

Completed in June and July (links are to my reviews)

The Naked Sun, Isaac Asimov - 3 stars
The Robots of Dawn, Isaac Asimov - 3 stars
The Help, Kathryn Stockett - 4 stars
Mornings with Mailer: A Recollection of Friendship, Dwayne Raymond - 3 stars
The Boxcar Children, Gertrude Chandler Warner - 3 stars
Have a New Kid by Friday, Dr. Kevin Leman - 4 stars
The Faraway Horses, Buck Brannaman - 3 stars
Ramona the Pest, Beverly Cleary - 2 stars

Wow. Looking at this list, I am surprised. I thought I had completed more books than this. I think it's because I have a few books waiting to be reviewed and way too many in progress. Lately, I've been having a hard time finishing books, instead skipping around from book to book.

In Progress

City of Ember, Jeanne DuPrau - YA science fiction
Cleopatra, a Life, Stacy Schiff - Biography
50/50: Secrets I Learned Running 50 Marathons in 50 Days, Dean Karnazes - Health & Wellness
The Amber Room: The Fate of the World's Greatest Lost Treasure, Adrian Levy & Catherine Scott-Clark - History, Russia & WWII
Quiverfull: Inside the Christian Patriarchy Movement, Kathryn Joyce - Nonfiction, Religious Studies

Upcoming



I don't think I'll get through all of these books before they are due back at the library. The last couple times I visited the library, I succumbed to "hey, this looks good!" a few too many times. Ha! I've been in a reading mood lately but haven't had enough time to read so the books just keep piling up. And now that it's a Nightstand day, I'll be adding more books to my reading list!

Happy reading, everyone!

Menu Plan Monday

I am still working my way through the Newstart cookbook. I think it's going to take awhile before I make all of the recipes. As we complete a recipe, I put a little check mark next to the recipe title in the index. The check marks are very sparse compared to the number of recipe titles. At least I won't be running out of recipes any time soon!

Sunday
Breakfast – Smoothies - banana/peach
Lunch – Quesadillas
Dinner – Apple Burritos, pg. 28 with Maria’s Tortillas, pg. 10


Maria's Tortillas

Monday
Breakfast – Smoothies - banana/strawberry
Lunch – Subs
Dinner – Broccoli Amandine, pg. 108
*Extra – Make Three-Bean Salad, refrigerate overnight

Tuesday
Breakfast – Smoothies - banana/strawberry
Lunch – Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with Three-Bean Salad, pg. 141
Dinner – Spaghetti with homemade tomato sauce, pg. 96

Wednesday
Breakfast – Banana French Toast, pg. 27
Lunch – Subs
Dinner – Lentil Links, pg. 111

Thursday
Breakfast – Smoothies
Lunch – Stir-fry
Dinner – Tacos

Friday
Breakfast – French Toast, pg. 27
Lunch – Subs
Dinner – Tofu Loaf, pg. 113
*Extra – make pumpkin pie – Crust – pg. 58, pumpkin pie filling in cupboard

Sabbath
Breakfast – Smoothies
Lunch – Chow Mien
Dinner – Pizza – onion, mushroom, basil

Last week, I made summer vegetable enchiladas. The filling was extremely colorful!



We enjoyed the new cheese sauce and the tomato sauce but thought the filling was better suited for stir-fry. At least the enchiladas looked pretty!

This Week's Memory Text - Psalm 33:1

I have been faithfully reviewing my old memory texts but I haven't added any new ones in awhile. It's time to learn a new verse!

This week's text:

Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous:
for praise is comely for the upright.
Psalm 33:1

My prayers are mostly requests. I know I need to spend more time in praise. This week I want to make a more conscious effort to rejoice in the Lord, to praise Him in prayer. I also want to listen to more hymns as I go about my housework and my day. I have a lot of contemporary Christian music but there is just something special about listening to old hymns.

Let us spend some time rejoicing in the Lord this week, focusing on His goodness. I have a feeling that will help me be more cheerful!

My nephew's quilt - completed

Here is what I have been doing much of the last 6 weeks. Being the procrastinator that I am, I waited until the last minute to start on my nephew's quilt. While I was able to pull it off, it was a whirlwind and I wish I had taken my time. Still, I am very happy with how the quilt turned out! I learned a lot with this quilt and can't wait to start my next!

Some of the fabric

More fabric

First block

A bunch of blocks

Strips of blocks

Basting the layers in my tiny kitchen!

All done! My favorite quilt thus far.

Landon and his new quilt

"Thanks, Aunt Cassie!"

Menus!

I am finally back home. Whew! I thoroughly enjoyed my vacation but I'm also glad to be back to a routine. Breaks are nice once in awhile but I thrive on routine and plans!

One of the first things I did was create a menu for this week. Hubby and I are trying to lower the fat in our diet. We decided to break out the Newstart cookbook and start cooking our way through it. Well, I'm cooking and he's taste testing. All the recipes listed with page numbers are from Newstart and the rest are recipes I already make.

Sunday
Breakfast – Perfect Waffles, pg. 30
Lunch – Quesadillas
Dinner – Hot dogs
Other – Make Whole Wheat Bread, pg. 5

Monday
Breakfast – Rice Waffles, pg. 29
Lunch – Subs
Dinner – Scrambled Tofu in burrito shells, pg. 33

Tuesday
Breakfast – Smoothies
Lunch – Sandwich with nut butter and fruit spread (homemade), see pg. 140 & tofu cottage cheese, pg. 141
Dinner – Macaroni & “cheese”, pg. 107

Wednesday
Breakfast – Rice crepes, pg. 32 with blueberry topping, pg. 39
Lunch – Leftover macaroni & cheese
Dinner – Orange chicken

Thursday
Breakfast – Smoothies with toast
Lunch – Subs
Dinner – Pasta with yummy sauce, garlic bread

Friday
Breakfast – Cold cereal and fruit
Lunch – Avocado sandwiches
Dinner – Summer vegetable enchiladas, pg. 121

Sabbath
Breakfast – Smoothies with toast
Lunch – Leftover enchiladas
Dinner – Pizza with mushroom, olives, and onions

I'm so happy to be cooking again!

Hiatus

I hate to do this, but I'm taking another week off blog posting. My family being here was wonderful and crazy busy. They left and I stayed crazy busy. Now it's my turn to go down to their home and be crazy busy for another week. I hope to return to regular blog posts around July 18th.

I am so thankful for the Sabbath! I really need the weekly break.