WHAT'S COOKING -
Several months ago, I found boneless pork roasts on sale for $1.69 a pound. I bought 5 of them. Three of them were sliced in 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch slices for boneless pork chops and vac sealed 3 per bag (Jeff eats 2, I eat one), then frozen. One pork roast we've already eaten as a roast when we had company for dinner. Today I've gotten the last one out of the freezer to have for dinner tonight. We will be having Pork Roast with fresh Rosemary and Garlic, baked acorn squash (on sale last week), home canned green beans (from the garden), and home canned applesauce. Sounds like a Fall Feast to me!
We had a large jack-o-lantern pumpkin out on our front porch for a Halloween decoration. I brought it in today, opened it up, removed the seeds, and popped it in the oven where it's cooking as I write this. My house smells like Fall :) Once it's fork-tender I will take it out, remove the skin, process in the blender and freeze for pumpkin puree. I use pumpkin or sweet potato puree in the dog food I make for Sophie. I also found what looks like a good recipe for a yeast pumpkin bread that I'll try in the next week to see if it might be good for the Thanksgiving dinner table, perhaps as rolls. Depending on how much pumpkin puree I get, I might make some pumpkin butter. And of course, there's always pumpkin pie! Here's the link I used on how to make Pumpkin Puree.
WHAT'S THE PLAN - Normally Monday is my "Big Cleaning Day" but I had a mid-morning doctor's appointment, and have a visiting grandchild tomorrow, so Big Cleaning Day will be on Wednesday this week. More details then.
This is what my Week Schedule looks like. I'll provide more details as each day arrives, but this gives you an idea:
Monday - 8 hour Cleaning Day, Menu for the Week
Tuesday - Do something from the Master List (more on that later), decluttering, organizing
Wednesday - Baking, canning, freezer meals, laundry
Thursday - 4 hour cleaning, sewing or free afternoon
Friday - Errands, grocery shopping, sewing
Saturday - Free Day, try and do something fun
Sunday - Free Day, laundry if we stay home
My Daily Chores List is completed every day, no matter what else is going on. I get all these done first thing in the morning. It takes about 30-45 minutes.
-- Make bed
-- Trash Out if needed
-- Quick Clean bathrooms, check bathroom supplies
-- Sweep or vac kitchen floor
-- Good general pick up
-- Food from freezer for dinner if necessary
-- Fresh Kitchen linens
-- Wipe counters
-- Dishes out of dishwasher and put away
-- Clean kitchen sink
So Today's To Do List is relatively easy:
-- Daily Chores (see above)
-- Doctor's appointment
-- Quick grocery shopping (I actually only went to see if I could get more pumpkins, hopefully for free. Unfortunately, they'd already thrown out their leftovers. I put a notice on my Calendar app for next year to call the Produce Department right before Halloween and ask them to save me some!)
-- Windex the deck table and deck patio doors
-- Call the Groomer. Sophie needs a spa day
-- Cut herbs in garden and dehydrate. (Oregano, lemon balm, sage, basil, mint). Pack in jars and vac seal.
-- Pick Swiss Chard from the garden. Process for freezing.
-- Sew loose yarn ends and finish up socks, package to mail.
-- Make bread
-- Bake pumpkin and freeze puree
WHAT'S HAPPENING - It's such a beautiful Fall day! I decided to save working in my sewing room for tomorrow (rain is forecast), and deal with my herb garden today. I popped out a nice little dill plant that had re-sprouted on its own, and put it in a pot, as well as some Rosemary. I cut basil cuttings and put them in water to root and plant later. I picked oregano (lots!!), lemon grass, sage and mint. The oregano and mint are in the dehydrator and making my house smell SOO good!!! The lemon grass will be washed and cut into 3-4 inch strips and put in the freezer for future chicken dishes.
WHAT I LOVE -There's something so calming about picking herbs I've grown in the garden, then sitting on the deck and plucking the leaves from the stems. It's so "hands on" and the smells that come from those leaves... oh my. And for months and months, I can reach up into my spice cabinet and pick up a jar of those same herbs and use them to flavor our food in the nicest way. I think if I had to choose to grow either herbs or vegetables, I would choose herbs. I look forward to having pots of fresh herbs growing on my kitchen windowsill all winter.
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