Fresh Deals

My newest excitement it stopping by our local grocery store and looking for "day old" produce bags at a great price. I mean it....I really get excited! Last week, I got the above bags for 99 cents each! The contents included

• 10 kiwi
• 4 yellow peppers
• 3 red peppers
• 3 orange peppers
• 2 green peppers
• 2 grapefruit
• 1 orange
• 1 potato
• 3 bags of shredded carrots
• 3 small zucchini

I used the potato in soup on Sunday, froze 2 bags of carrots for soups later, chopped and froze most of the peppers, sliced the zucchini and made fried zucchini for breakfast, along with grapefruit, and am hoping to make some coleslaw soon!

The week before I got a whole bag of bannans for 99 cents. :)

When I have found the good deals:

• Tuesday evening around 7pm.....the meat sales are just being put out and the veggies
• Friday morning at 9am

I hope to go again this week, since soon the fresh veggies will be out of season, so there won't be as many mark-downs. :)

P.S. Have any good ideas of what to use peppers in??

Pie Day

It was pie day again at work today.

I like pie day. :) This year I made a blueberry and a caramel-apple. The caramel apple looked nice on the outside but kind of gooey on the inside.....and the blueberry looked nice on the inside and a "little dark" on the outside. *sigh* Someday I WILL master the art of pie making (it's in my genes). (not in my jeans....though, I guess normally I am a pretty messy cooker!)

Today I thought my cold would be all gone. It's been progressively getting better every morning, but not this moring. I guess that made me a little grumpy. Plus the fact that I was being threatened by a very long and impossible to-do list. I don't like being grumpy in the morning.

But it's a beautiful, chilly day, and I had a chance to go for a walk in it on my lunch break, and I went to the library (though I didn't have time to stay), and I have some fun fall projects begging to be done....and I might have an evening soon to do them, horay....and my mom gave me a basket of potatoes, and sprinkles (not a basket), and cake, and it's almost October.....so there's lot's to be grateful for! :)

And here's a new favorite verse to share:

2 Thessalonians 3:5

May the Lord direct your hearts into God's love and Christ's perseverance.

Have a lovely afternoon,

Emily

I like these...

Don't these look fun?! Check out FunkyLunch.com to see more pictures. :)

Breakfast

I found this great website the other day while browsing for "breakfast ideas." I get kind of tired of poached eggs, so I was looking for some variety. (Neither of us is overly fond of pancakes either) But this site was thoroughly enjoyable!

Check it out here: What's Cooking America/Breakfast

I scribbled down some new ideas, and then Googled "breakfast ideas" to see how to "make it look nice!" It was fun.

This morning I made an effort to cook a healthier and bigger breakfast....that will see us past 10 o'clock in the morning! :) I made:

• Egg, Tomato, & Mushroom Omelette
• Wheat toast
• Strawberry smoothies

Everything was a bit of a rush this morning, but I did manage to cut my toast into triangles....since I believe that makes them "fancy" and fun. Of course, one of these days I'll be able to manage my time so that I can actually butter or put jam on the toast too!....... ha

By far the biggest success this morning was the smoothie. Delicious! I will write out the simple instructions below. I've made smoothies before, but the last one wasn't so tasty.....I added orange juice, bananas, and no sugar....and it was pretty much a flop. But here, here is the keeper:

Berry Smoothies

Ingredients:

• 5-6 strawberries (fresh or frozen....mine happened to be fresh - though old)
• 1/4 cup blueberries
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup plain yogurt
• 1 Tablespoon sugar

Blend it all up in a blender or food processor. Pour into cups and enjoy! (Can be adjusted for taste by using different berries and/or amounts of sugar) Also, remember to wash out the blender right away or you'll have a tough time later.... :)

More breakfasts to try in the future:

• Baked Eggs & Mushrooms in Ham Crisps (This will be great with the Sara Lee meat coupon floating around out there!)
• Eggs baked in Tomato Sauce
• Eggs Benedict & Fruit
• Poached Egg and Tomato on Potato Pancake
• Harvest Cinnamon Rolls
• Banana Almond Bread
• Mini Blueberry Turnovers
• Breakfast Tacos
• German Pancakes
• Casserole Florentine
• Virginia Ham Tarts (The best thing about these last two are they are Make-The-Night-Before kinds of recipes)

Something to Post

I wish I had a picture to post....or even something to post :)

Today I'm drinking hot tea, to soothe a sore throat. And I'm staring out the window hoping it will rain and not just be dark...because I like rain....because it is soothing and soft and pretty...

Last night I made some pillows. Little pillows. Pillows that are red with poka dots, and red with strawberries, and red with apples. I had a little helper over, and she had lots of fun stuffing "stuving" into each little pillow and watching me sew it up. After we finished 5, we took a pillow fight break. Then we had a tea party. (They go so well together don't you think!) It was good to have variety because *someone* was short on patience that night. And so we played dolls too.

And I made homemade bean soup last night....with a ham bone...and it turned out just right. And biscuits too. I'll have to post the pictures of those later....because they were great. I learned that if you place the biscuits in a circle (touching) the edges turn out flaky and soft....yum.