Project 365 ~ Week 4…yup only two day this week

It’s cold and very early and my family is all still snug in their beds! But I got up early to try to knock this post out before I wake the family and get myself off to church.

Truth: I enjoy the peace of my house in the wee hours while everyone is still asleep!

I knew it was going to be an off week but sadly I only got two days recorded this week.

But for all my lack of photographic evidence it was a relatively productive start to the week.

So here goes!

Monday, January 23

In last weeks post I shared with you about the impact that the show the Big Waste had on me. I am still pondering several aspects of exactly how much food we toss in the trash as a nation. One of the things that I started doing several months ago was a very simple one. If your a foodie and you love to cook then you will know that celery, onion, carrot and garlic are a very common staple item. I began to save up all the ends of all the veggies that I cut up in zip lock freezer bags. Plus every time I cut up a chicken instead of tossing the sections that normally end up in the trash I froze them in bags a swell. I kept them all in a small drawer at the bottom of my freezer. I was not sure how this was all going to tune out, having never done it before but I was very pleased with the result.

I made a huge batch of chicken stock with all my leftover veggies and chicken parts and it was awesome.

I tossed the frozen veggies and chicken parts in my big stock pot, tossed in a few bay leaves, a head of garlic (cut in half), a small handful of peppercorns and some kosher salt and let it simmer for a few hours and it was the beast pot of stock I have made in a long time….

I have three bags of stock in the freezer and I even took some and froze it off in some ice tray for those time when you just need a small amount. You can now call me thrifty……..Thank you I accept!

 

Later I made Chicken and Dumplings and they were really good as well.

Here is a little before and after of how puffed up the dumplings get!

Another finished prayer shawl.

I don’t know what it is about Sunday evenings but I finished this latest last night. I have learned that trying to get a good picture of a prayer shawl in the evening is just not a good idea. This one was a super quick project but it turned out well and again got snapped up as soon as I turned it in.

Tuesday, January 24

Am I obsessed with flour?

I think maybe so when you factor in how many different kinds of flour I have in my pantry. I did a bit of re-arrange in the pantry to try and better accommodate my stash. I am hoping that this new arrangement may be the solution. From left to right I have first, the reserve bags pending, I always try to keep at least one bag of all purpose, one bag of bread flour (sometime two of the bread flour, if it is on sale) pending. Then my container of bread flour, whole wheat flour, all purpose flour, the small container on top of that is the cake flour, then there is my self rising flour.

Why so many? Well after more baking disasters than I care to admit to I have come to the understanding that it is just easier to make sure you follow the directions and use the exact ingredients. I know there are some out there that say that you can substitute self rising for all purpose, and yes I do do it from time to time. However I learned a very valuable lesson about baking disasters and I now make sure I use the called for flour and save myself the mess and toil of ruined results.

I cut the label off the front of the flour bag and tuck it down inside the container so I know what kind of flour is inside each container.

Well that was my week such as it was.

Y’all head over to Sara’s and link up.

Blessings and I hope you did a better job of keeping up with you week than I did!

R