hqueen's collection of Far From the Usual stuff.

[sumi]

@hqueen13 I would roast the chicken and use the leftovers for sandwich fillings, pies, salad... Chicken is so versatile, there are loads you can do with it.

To save on your grocery bill and time.. What I did when I was working, managing stuff on our farm and raising a small child, to save time, was to cook in bulk. When I made pies for dinner, I'd make 20 smallish ones. It didn't take a ton of extra time and by baking them all at once I had 10 dinners ready and saved a lot of electricity. Pop the extras in the freezer and warm them up with a side of vegetables for dinner. (When my ex didn't eat them all for lunch while I was at work ) Soup is another thing that can be cooked in bulk and frozen. Line a bowl with a freezer bag and spoon the soup into the freezer bag until you have a bowl of soup in there. Tie up and toss in the freezer.

 

[baymule]

Left over chicken-
chicken tacos
Chicken enchiladas
Chicken salad

Buy a whole ham and cook it, next night have leftovers
Fried ham, eggs and biscuits for supper
Big salad with chunks of ham and boiled eggs
Fried ham in grill cheese sandwiches
hambone and beans with cornbread

Cut up a steak in strips, put in zip lock bag with seasonings and a little soy sauce. Do enough for several meals.

Stir fry with vegetables and serve over rice
Make quesadillas with cooked strips of steak, can cook with bell pepper strips and onion or leave plain. flour tortillas, cheese and you have a meal.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I like to cook up a big pork shoulder and use it for pork tacos, pulled pork, and carnitas for DH. Big pot of chili...and put half in the freezer for quick meals. We don't eat a lot of carbs, but a baked potato stuffed with some chili - yum!

 

[Britesea]

I like using canned tuna for a fast meal. Besides the ubiquitous casserole made with cream of mushroom soup, you can make a very nice pasta alfredo with tuna, as well as a tuna curry, plus a mediterranean tuna salad with tiny potatoes and green beans. (if you are interested in any of those, I can post the recipes)

 

[hqueen13]

Yall are awesome, thank you!
I don't often cook in bulk, that's something I need to do more of. I often don't take the time to do so, and then I end up wishing I had. When I do it makes me really happy, LOL. We have a habit of eating all of it right away, though, sometimes.

Currently at Cowboy and Coyote's borrowing the washer and dryer and catching up on a few things on the computer. I was able to do in 2 loads what would have taken me 4 loads in our washer. I can't wait to have a nice big washer and dryer!
Oh yeah, the BF looked up the dryer timer part that seems to be the issue with ours, and it's $400. How about no.

AKk BF is pulling up now, I"ll be back later!

 

[hqueen13]

Ok, back again! LOL
The BF was coming here to drop off a bobcat, and I had to go out and get it so that he could get his truck off the road, which is a 2 lane road that everybody drives too fast on. I had to drive it back down my friend's very long driveway, and it is LOUD. It's a track cat, so that makes it even noisier. I texted the BF and told him to bring my ear plugs back with him and make sure he doesn't forget his, too. He's parking the truck at our house tonight so that he can leave in the morning and deliver something north of here, which will cut down on his driving time. So hopefully we can finish this crazy project tonight because I'm so ready to be done with it. Well, we won't finish it tonight, but I hope that we can finish this phase of it so that we can get paid and maybe take a little break before we continue on with the next, and last, phase.

So anywho, that's about all that has happened around here at the moment. I hope yall have a great weekend and I'll catch up again next week.

 

[hqueen13]

SO we managed to get all the work done, or at least as much as we were going to get done at that point. I'm really pleased with how everything turned out, and I stopped back by on Sunday morning to chat with GH and SH about it, and they LOVED it. I was SO relieved. SO now I have to come up with a total, and send an invoice for them. I'm a little nervous about that, but SH was in a good mood yesterday, so hopefully he stays that way.
Not much else to report. We didn't get much done this weekend over all. I was hoping to do more, but the BF worked on Saturday morning, which was good for the budget, and I had barn chores to do since I had some extra jobs. We didn't eat out a whole lot, which is another good thing, so the budget is fairly quiet which is helpful. We both get paid at the end of the week, and I like pay day!
SH is fine with us taking a bit of a break before we start up work again, which is a relief. We need to be able to focus on the house and stuff for ourselves for a while. We REALLY need to get the shed done so that we can start moving forward on some of these projects again. It's been way too long and the dirt is now washing down the hill because the silt fence is wearing out.
The other good news is that SH and GH will be home this week, so I won't have to go to Cowboy and Coyote's every single day. I'm SO grateful for the break! That IS the positive thing about being paid a flat rate, every break I get I can really enjoy because I know I'm not losing money on it. My tank of gas in my truck will actually last me ALL week (which is GREAT because I don't have any money in the budget for more until I'm paid anyway!). Wednesday I have NO WHERE to go, which is so exciting! Now I just need to set myself up to make the most of the time and get lots of things done. I have several partially finished projects that just need to get completed. I've got messes in a few places that need to be taken care of. Things need to be caught up so that stuff isn't a wreck before my parents get here. I have this weekend empty (and no extra farm chores as of right now!), and then KN is back for a lesson, which takes up Fri night and Saturday morning, and then the next weekend JS is back doing body work (which is MUCH needed), and then I have one weekend break, plus the 4th of July in there, and then DR is here, but that is mostly Friday night into Saturday morning early, and doesn't take up a lot of time, and then my parents are here. So now much extra time at all.
So now I just have to make the most of the time I do have!

 

[baymule]

Bring on Wednesday! No where to go!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Wednesday I have NO WHERE to go, which is so exciting!

Don't say that out loud, or it'll be like a great big black hole and dozens of things will need to be addressed! Just stay quietly in bed with the blankets over your head and hope that nobody notices that you have a day to yourself!

 

[baymule]