Halfway feelings

Now I feel the real trial has begun.  Not getting what we want when we want is the real issue.  Delayed gratification when it comes to food and snacking---there's the kicker.

 A month of perceived deprivation is tolerable, it doesn't seem too long.  But we've done without our "favorites"" for a month already, now that we're on our way down the home stretch, it is harder to hold in the reins on everybody, myself included. 

 Everybody has wants and wishes that must be said no to sometimes, but when there are a lot of everybodys in the house, the mom feels their pain.  Easter and its feasts are not so far away, though, so some reprieve is around the corner.

Day 35, halfway through the project, Peter goes back to college, and we open the nacho sauce

I finished posting on yesterday's menu, with some pictures, so you can check out the end of that one too, if you like.

The beginning of our day smelled good, as you might imagine from the picture below.

Saturday morning has always had a tradition of pancakes, so I brought them back this morning.  I prepared a batch and a half, so Peter could eat his fill without anybody crying foul.  Look, they're whole wheat!  It's the only flour I have in the house right now.  Who says whole wheat pancakes aren't good?

Fresh buttermilk is the secret to making the best pancakes anybody has ever eaten...try it. 

 The "bestest" recipe is on the back of the Darigold buttermilk carton, not their plastic bottle.  I modify their recipe by adding extra buttermilk, to make the batter more "pourable."

Check out the awesome plateful below...

Cousin Carrie is awesome!  Look at the cookies she brought us.  My niece Laura, who is following the blog from far away, read about my sad chocolate-less state, and felt pity. 

She and her sister Carrie colluded to delight the Boothies with a special treat of chocolate.  We, in turn, sent her home with some of her favorite, and usually very expensive cereal, Oatmeal Squares.

Don't they make your mouth water?

There is Peter, packing up for the trip back.

Handsome...and as you can see, it's short sleeve weather today!

Noah gives a big squeeze to his favorite and only brother.

We had a little conference about the progress of the 10for10for10 project on this day, which marks the halfway point.  Trudy was chilly, so I put my gloves on her feet.  She is one of the great apes now.

I put my vest on the poor waif, to warm her.

We are eating healthy brown rice!  It has more vitamins and fiber than the white rice, and happily, it was cheaper.

Wow, our palates tingle from the spicy cheese sauce.  I purchased it for half price, because the store worker had dropped and dented it.  I didn't care about that dent.

Here is my little scale, weighing 8 oz of cheese sauce for my tuna and cheese sauce.

Minced ham and scrambled eggs.  I haven't had them for so long!  Since eggs have been so cheap lately, we are going to be using them a lot to provide our protein needs.

 I'm not much of a salsa eater, but most of the family had a larger amount of it with their chips.

Here is the breakdown for the day's cuisine: 

breakfast menu:  pancakes with butter and jam, tea

Cost:  $2.68

1 1.2 batch pancakes:  1.65

pwdrd sugar for garnish:  2 tbsp:  .05

jam:  .20

1.2 cube butter:  .13

milk for tea, 5 cups:  .65

lunch menu:  minced ham in scrambled eggs, green salad, dressing, tortilla chips with nacho sauce and salsa

Cost:  $3.97

3 hearts of romaine:  1.32

8 oz cheese sauce:  .40

12 oz tortilla chips:  .24, with a coupon special

4 oz salsa, .32

11 eggs:  .90

8 oz ham:  .7

dressing, 1 0z, plus 2 oz leftover and paid for yesterday:  .04

Snack:  cookies from Carrie

no charge, a gift from our cousins, thank you Laura!

Supper menu:  tuna and cheese sauce with peas, over brown rice

Cost:  $3.94

brown rice, 3 cups dried:  .69

tuna, 2 cans @ .49:  .98

1 lb frozen peas:  .98

8 oz nacho cheese sauce:  .40

flour for thickening, 1 cup:  .10

salt:  .01

milk for the sauce, 6 cups:   .78

Today's total bill, with 11 people, plus Peter for breakfast:  $10.59, we stayed in budget. 

Day 34, leftovers for breakfast, a first... Plus a funeral service

I've never saved leftover hot mush for anything but putting in my bread.  Yesterday, though, there was so much leftover that I couldn't bear to throw it away, and I couldn't make bread, so I saved the cereal to add to this morning's new batch.  Being on a strict budget does give me new eyes in that way.

Many years ago I read a book called "I Was a Slave in Russia," a story of a young American man who was sent to the gulag after WWII.  I have found myself thinking of him, strangely enough, when I peel my carrots.  Or I think of A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. 

What they would have done with my carrot peels, or my potato peels!  How much they would have treasured the nutrition in our waste products!  With that in mind, I did not peel the carrots which I put into this evening's gravy.  Nobody cared.  Nobody even noticed!  A small victory against waste.  Time, money, and nutrients were saved.

I just realized I've go to run teach my class.  More to come...

I finally decided I had to do something about my chocolate cravings.  Noah helped me make a batch of brownies.  He likes to scrape out the bowl afterwards, especially. 

 Brownies are pretty cheap, and scrumptiously chocolatey.  One batch makes enough for everybody to have 2 brownies. 

The twins' whole class was bussed from school to attend the memorial service for their friend Julia's brother.  He died from complications of muscular distrophy.  What a lovely service.  He spent his last year completely devoting himself to following and pleasing Jesus.   You can read in his own words about his experiences on his website:  www.fromwhereimseated.com/testimony/ 

Julia's family hosted a party at the winery near their home.  Pat had said just before he died that he wanted to have a party there soo...this was that party.  I didn't know Pat, but having heard about him at his funeral, I wish I had had a chance to.

 I wonder what this old building once was, before they transformed it into a winery.

Well, there was some emotion today!  Funerals serve a good purpose to make us reflect and contemplate life, the shortness of life, and what is really of value.  Our food life, everpresent though it is for me, is not where the essence of our existance is. Even so, it is ever present, and important, even for funeral goers.  Julia's family and their church provided a veritable feast for us as we comforted and consoled each other together.

breakfast menu:  hot cereal mix, milk and sugar

Cost:  $1.67

left over hot cereal:  paid for yesterday

farina, 1.5 cups:  .68

crushed graham crackers:  .25

milk, 5 cups, for cereal:  .65

sugar:  .09

lunch menu:  tortilla chips and nacho sauce, carrots, brownies

Cost:  $3.38

nacho sauce, 2 oz each, 26 oz:  1.22

tortilla chips:  24 oz:  .43

carrots, 20 oz:  .34

brownies:  1.39

supper menu:  chicken and dumplings with gravy and cooked carrots

Cost:  $4.72

1 can chicken meat:  1.26

double batch biscuits for dumplings:  1.32

canned broth to boil the dumplings:  .50

11 oz carrots:  .19

1 cup flour, for thickening:  .10

2 oz chicken flavoring:  .35

salt:  .01

half gallon orange juice:  .99

Day 33, Thursday brings Annie's favorite breakfast and takes away Grandma

Today the day has not been so much about the food, but the visit.

We stayed home a bit to hear stories from Grandma over tea (with sugar).

Sarah with Grandma

Kate enjoys her Grandma

Emily Lucy and Grandma Lucy

Mercy, Grandma, Charity

Peter, Grandma, Noah

Trudy gives a hug

Christiana gets a hug

 Breakfast menu:  my special mix of hot mush, milk and sugar

Cost:  $2.13

2 cups oats:  .24

1 cup farina:  .25

2 cups cornmeal:  .30

1/2 pkg graham crackers, about 6 full crackers:  .25

1/2 gallon milk, for cereal and tea:  1.00

sugar:  .09

Sack Lunches:  spaghetti, carrot sticks, tortilla chips

Cost:  $3.33

1.5 lbs noodles:  .90

hunts spaghetti sauce:  .79

spaghetti sauce flavor packet:  .33

19 oz carrots:  .32

1 bag chips:  .99

Dinner menu:  chef salad with croutons

Cost: $7.54

2 hearts romaine:  .88

1 head iceberg:  .83

1 head leaf lettuce:  .20

carrots:  .12

22 eggs:  1.80

8 oz parmesan cheese:  1.00

homemade croutons:  .99

garlic powder:  .10

8 oz ranch dressing:  .25 (from a gallon I just bought at cash & carry)

2 oz fat free italian:  .13

1 lb cottage cheese:  .99

butter for croutons:  .25

Today's total:  $13.00

Day 32, Irish fare and the story of Saint Patrick's life over dinner

We talked together this afternoon about the Irish potato famine, and about related topics---starvation, emigration to America, rich landowners and oppression of the poor...

We looked up some info online about Saint Patrick.  There are 2 remaining letters written by him, one of them a defense of his lifework, which included biographical information.

He lived very early, earlier than I had imagined.  He was stolen from his home in England to become a slave in Ireland. 

 Years later, after his Christian faith was strengthened in the loneliness and hardship of slavery, and having learned the language and culture of the Irish, Patrick, acting upon a vision from God, escaped on a ship back to his family.  Later, he acted upon another vision in which the voice of the Irish were calling for him to come.  

 He returned to Ireland where, using his knowledge of the Irish language and customs of the Irish druids, he spread the knowledge of Jesus Christ until, in his lifetime, almost all of Ireland had converted to Christianity.

Here was our Irish cuisine of the day.

boiled cabbage, cooked in the broth of the pork roast

chopped by a left-handed twin

who wore a special Irish headdress

Plain and simple as it was, I thought they wouldn't much care for the cabbage, but I could have made twice as much.  They were all asking for seconds.

There it is, not much color, boiled cabbage, potatoes, and pork in gravy

We added another table to make enough room for 13.  Grandma got the head of the table tonight.  She is part Irish.  We would have made her special Irish Dill Bread if our oven had been going.  She had to content herself with white fluff from the store instead.

We colored up the applesauce.  Wow, that was the greenest applesauce ever!

Cherries we canned from the orchard this summer added more color and flavor!

There are always plenty of dishes to do at our house.  Extras tonight with all the goblets we used...

Leftovers were plentiful.  Sarah and I will eat them tomorrow, because we can't eat the tomato sauce in the spaghetti for lunches

There was pork and gravy leftover as well.

After supper Rodger and I got lunches ready for tomorrow.  He peeled the carrots.

I cooked noodles and spaghetti sauce.

I mixed them together.  Macaroni noodles are easier to eat at school than long noodles.

It smelled good around the house tonight, plus lunches are made!  Whew!

 I was afraid to add up the price tag, suspecting that we had gone over again, but we slipped through under budget, even with the raspberry acai juice on the menu.  We had 3 extra bucks, with three extra people.

 Today's total:  $12.15

breakfast menu, Grandma style:  western omelets, toast and pancakes

Cost:  $3.32

14 eggs:  1.17

toast,  free from the store, really!  (I guess everybody who came into the store was given a free loaf to try a new brand which Albertsons is introducing.  I got handed one at the checkout counter.   I'm so happy, because my oven isn't functional, and Grandma loves toast.)

diced celery:  free from last week's bride

Onion:  .10

batchand a half of pancakes:  1.45

jam:  .30 

Lunches:  hamburger soup leftovers from last night, already paid for in yesterday's totals, fry bread, peaches

Cost:  $1.80

12  containers soup and 1 of potatoes and gravy:  no charge, paid already

fry bread, two loaves worth:  .60

1/2 cup oil for frying:  .20

toast for Grandma:  free from Albertsons

peaches:  2 quarts:  1.00

Supper menu:  mashed potatoes, pork roast in gravy, boiled cabbage, applesauce, canned cherries, raspberry acai juice

Cost:  $7.03

7 lb potatoes, mashed:  .70

2 lb pork sirloin roast:  2.00 what a deal

1 head cabbage,2 lb:  .78

flour 1 cup for thickening:  .10

gravy flavoring, 2 oz:  .35

1.5 qts applesauce: .60

1 qt canned cherries:  1.00

acai juice:  1.50

And a happy time with Grandma was had by all.

  Peter even helped with the dishes again.

Day 31, and Grandma makes 13! Hearty vegetable beef soup with brown rice. Whole wheat bread. Healthy.

Here is our precious Grandma, Rodger's mom, visiting from Canada.  An added bonus to having Grandma visit is that the children are allowed to have sugar in their tea during her whole stay.

beef and vegetable soup with brown rice, very hearty

half the fry-bread was dipped in cinnamon sugar for dessert

here is the whole wheat plain fry-bread, which we dipped in our soup

soup with an African tablecloth on the table

Noah made sure he had a place next to Peter.  Boys have to hang together when they can in this family...they're outnumbered 10 to 2.

Trudy taking a call from her cousin Grace before her first bite

It looks like fried chicken, but it's not.  It's whole wheat fried bread.

I fried the dough because my oven isn't functional yet since the baking day at the school.  A range top is all I have.

I also fried up enough for tomorrow in the sack lunches, much to everybody's delight.  Hopefully I'll get an oven going soon.  I don't like serving too much fried food.

breakfast menu:   cold cereal and milk

Cost: $2.90

14 bowls of cereal (Rodger and Peter got a double portion):  1.40

3 quarts milk:  1.50

Sack lunches:  whole wheat cheese sandwiches, carrot sticks, gogurt for the kids, canned peaches

Cost:  $4.06

2 boules of my honey oat bread:  .76

8 oz cheese (Rodger sliced it very thin):  .75

1/2 head iceberg lettuce:  .42

24 oz carrots:  .41

one box gogurt (8 individual):  .72(close dated)

2 quarts of canned peaches:  1.00

Snack:  2 sleeves of crackers

Cost:  $.50

Supper menu:  beef/vegetable/rice soup with fry-bread

Cost:  $4.52

1 lb brown rice, boiled in the soup base:  .49

hamburger meat:  .86

1/2 full stock of celery, chopped:  .38

20 oz carrots:  .34

2 oz beef soup base:  .49

1/2 lb each, frozen peas and frozen corn:  .98

1 diced onion:  .10

whole wheat fry bread:  .60

1/2 cup oil for frying:  .20

1/2 cup sugar:  .04

cinnamon:  .04

Today's food bill (remember, we have 2 extra people, so I am allowing 2 extra bucks for spending):  $11.98

   Having extras to feed isn't usually a problem for me, but this time, with our project going, plus being tired from the baking, has me discombobulated.  I was in a pretty good rhythm, and now things have been shaken up a little bit.  It takes more mental effort.  

Tomorrow we will have 3 exra Boothies.  Grandma B can't eat potatoes, so we'll have to come up with something else for her tomorrow, even though it will be Saint Patrick's Day.