All Things EARTH... part 2

[geocruiser]

3 hours ago, Anita Latte said:

pacruise...I bet you are glad to have DD home in the midst of all this crazy. Did you move DD out? or does she still have stuff in her dorm? DS still has just about everything in his room in his hall. I have no idea how that is going to play out...he literally got onto a plane with his backpack with his laptop and necessary school related items. Fortunately, his Florida wardrobe is completely unsuited for London, so he has a second wardrobe here...and all essentials are duplicated because of the whole power plug difference. Our plan has always been for him to be able to travel light between London and here...but now I must admit that this situation is causing me a bit of anxiety as I have this feeling of unfinished business...something that may need to be dealt with that we may not be able to deal with depending on how everything plays out.

 

Did I say this already? I forget who I tell what...I have moved my recumbent bike onto our covered patio. It lives outside now...and it has been really nice to have it outside. I get on it and work my knee. I haven't really been trying to work it for cardio...just moving my knee around and get a bit of blood flow going.

 

And I've been doing some exercises that we have learned from the MAT therapy DH was doing.

 

Mom gifted me with a bistro set for our patio too...in honor of my birthday...it has been so nice to have. DS is in the third bedroom (his "cave"), DH has been using the desk that I had moved out to the living room after the holidays (so glad I did), and I have been outside at the bistro set! We eaten outside several times too...I've been cooking up a storm. So. Much. Cooking.

 

Everything feels so mellow. There's no other place to be...no worries about packing DH a lunch...no wondering if I should go to the store. I stocked up on a HUGE amount of food...and I haven't been back to the store since last weekend. It's all been something of a fun exercise to be thinking about the inventory in the kitchen and how to stretch it out and use it all before spoilage and expiration/use by/sell by dates. I usually don't do much in the way of processed food...so I had a LOT of produce...OMG...I ended up doing 3 rather large shopping trips...the first in Walmart when I started to see certain shelf items get low...then Publix when it was becoming clear that people were likely going to be homebound...and then AGAIN right before DS came home when I realized that there would be 3 of us and that self isolation with our newly arrived Londoner was going to be a definite and not just some sort of maybe.

 

It's actually been kind of fun. 

Are you able to freeze or cook the fresh food before it spoils? This is what  I did that to celery🥬. I did peel it  first before freezing.  I know it will not be the best when thawed.  But I use it for soups, and what I plan to do is to throw the stalk in to the soup in big pieces, and remove it when the soup is done.  I will be using it more for flavor then to eat.   It it cooks up good, the I will cut it up and put it back into the soup. I peeled and froze my extra carrots🥕

It the soup goes through the blender, then can leave it in.

 

Thank you all for letting me just into this conversation.

 

Maria

[Sailor_Sally]

Maria, Welcome I have never thought about freezing celery . I have been getting pretty creative with my meals like Anita I want to use all my items . This time is weird kind of like snow days that never end . 

[geocruiser]

1 hour ago, Sailor_Sally said:

Maria, Welcome I have never thought about freezing celery . I have been getting pretty creative with my meals like Anita I want to use all my items . This time is weird kind of like snow days that never end . 

I also freeze peppers.  I clean and cut them is strips.  They freeze well.  We also make roasted peppers.  I freeze them too.  They taste wonderful after defrosting.

I brought a bag of peppers to make sausage and pepper and onions.  I will freeze the peppers until I use them.  

Another food that I freeze is shredded mozzarella.  I use this when I make pizza.  It works out fine.

[pacruise804]

Daughter is completely moved home including stuff. I wish we had a covered porch, but at least we have a porch and yard 🙂 

 

Welcome, Maria!  Great idea to freeze.  I read years ago about soup buckets: take your leftover veggies and meat that aren't quite enough for a meal and freeze, adding to it until full (one for beef, one for chicken).  Once your container is full, it makes an easy soup.  Most fruits can be frozen for either baking or smoothies - probably spinach too.

 

I did a big grocery run last week and another yesterday.  I just want to pick up a few things at Walmart today (other direction than where I was yesterday) including some home repair.  We are also mailing postcards to the children's church kiddos and I'm going to pick-up for the 2 year olds - figuring even if they can't read their parents will appreciate it. 

[awhfy]

I made a chicken cacciatore in my crockpot the other day. Leftover rotisserie chicken, two almost dead tomatoes, a small can of tomato paste & a cup of ( good) Pinot Grigio).  Lots of Italian spices. Threw in a cup of angel hair the last 30 minutes. Came out much better than I anticipated...maybe it was the 2 glasses of Santa Margarita Pinot Grigio I drank 😉. We have enough leftover for two complete dinners too Melody

Edited March 25, 2020 by awhfy

[MJC]

Looks delicious Melody. Years ago when we were in Italy we discovered Santa Margherita at a local market. The lira was low at the time, I think we payed $3-4 per bottle!

 

I have limited freezer/refrigerator space. I miss my extra refrigerator at the lake! My freezer is mostly filled with meat, chicken, and fish, and frozen veggies to last a month. After that it will be lots of pasta and canned food until I feel safe enough to go to a store again.

 

[geocruiser]

9 minutes ago, MJC said:

Looks delicious Melody. Years ago when we were in Italy we discovered Santa Margherita at a local market. The lira was low at the time, I think we payed $3-4 per bottle!

 

I have limited freezer/refrigerator space. I miss my extra refrigerator at the lake! My freezer is mostly filled with meat, chicken, and fish, and frozen veggies to last a month. After that it will be lots of pasta and canned food until I feel safe enough to go to a store again.

 

With pasta you can stretch a lot of meals.  

Pasta and beans

Pasta and peas,

Pasta/Spaghetti and broccoli (can add sausage)

Pasta or ravioli and spinach  

Pasta & lentils

Spaghetti with tuna sauce, or shrimp 

Just to name some   I make these all the time.

Edited March 25, 2020 by geocruiser

[Anita Latte]

Maria...so glad that you jumped in over here! I think it's really important in this time of isolation and separation that we have as many connections as we can...it helps I think.

 

I live in an apt and my freezer is one of those lower drawer type freezer spaces...which means that it's really limited. So I didn't think about freezing any of the produce. I seriously want to grab my receipts and catalog everything that I bought. I did however, bring in the large dorm fridge from our garage (it's a separate additional rental on property) to help expand our fridge space. I wanted to add some of the bread products to the fridge space...and some of the not necessary to refrigerate produce (like potatoes, etc) to also prolong their life.

 

I've only had one casualty so far...sort of...so I have this English cucumber...the kind sold in plastic wrap?...and where it was in the fridge...it has frozen solid. The fridge was so packed...some areas are sensitive like that...and I didn't realize the cuke was in one of those places...the bagged spinach was too (but I cooked that into a Saag Paneer, so no big there)...but totally not sure what to do with the frozen cuke outside of making a smoothie...any suggestions?

[Anita Latte]

Melody...I've never tried adding pasta to the slow cooker...that's pretty convenient. 

 

pacruise...I'm totally hoping that the improvement in our eating...less eating out...and eating a lot of homemade food...will result in some trimming down. I'm reluctant to just say weight loss...I want to lose FAT LOL...and gain muscle...lose the big belly...trim the thighs...LOL...body sculpting! It's taken a bit to get into the groove of things here...it's a bit awkward at times to have DH home working because he is almost ALWAYS on the phone, in conference calls, and so there is an element of needing to not make a ton of noise that factors into my life. He can mute the calls and there doesn't need to be absolute quiet...but still...I'm figuring out how to work with the situation.

 

Margaret...your situation strikes me as the most difficult to deal with to maintain the social distancing...following your intuition on how to deal with it is the best thing to do IMO.

[Sailor_Sally]

I saw it mentioned on another forum that meals are becoming like episodes of chopped .

 

How is everybody doing mentally ? I am fine except for occasionally .I have been calling friends and my daughter a lot to stay connected. Gary has been great . My favorite person to be stranded with . 

[geocruiser]

http://www.pennilessparenting.com/2011/04/frozen-cucumber-salad-recipe.html

Frozen cucumber salad

[geocruiser]

1 minute ago, Sailor_Sally said:

I saw it mentioned on another forum that meals are becoming like episodes of chopped .

 

How is everybody doing mentally ? I am fine except for occasionally .I have been calling friends and my daughter a lot to stay connected. Gary has been great . My favorite person to be stranded with . 

I find it hard to watch TV with the numbers of cases going up.  I agree with you, keep in touch with family and friends.

I have been more on CC and also doing a family tree.  Found new cousins, and have been in contact with them.  Will be talking to one of them in Canada today again.

I am doing house cleaning and will do baking too over the next week.  And maybe make some candy too.

Is it all right for me to post about food here, or do we need another thread?  I don't want to high jack the thread.

Maria

[pacruise804]

 

Anita, my husband is on calls a lot too.  The workouts so far don't take much space so I can use the bedroom which is the opposite end of the house from his office area.

 

I have enough weight to lose that losing the fat should make the scale drop, but I agree that toning and being healthy is more important than what the scales say.  When I lost a lot of weight a few years ago I feel I looked better at 155 but toned than I did in high school and college at 135-145.  I could even wear my prom dress!  Even having regained most of the weight I feel better at 205 now than I did when I was losing the first time.

 

Beach body is offering some free workouts if anyone is interested.  I've been doing some the last 2 weeks and it has been interesting switching from mostly weight/strength training to including cardio and core work.

 

1 hour ago, Sailor_Sally said:

I saw it mentioned on another forum that meals are becoming like episodes of chopped .

 

How is everybody doing mentally ? I am fine except for occasionally .I have been calling friends and my daughter a lot to stay connected. Gary has been great . My favorite person to be stranded with . 

 

Sally, I'm assuming Gary is your husband ❤️ It's great when we actually like the people we are stuck with 😉 

I am mostly fine, but have also been so busy it doesn't feel "real" yet.  I'm also struggling some with guilt because in many ways I can find positives in the situation, but I know many others are really struggling during this time 😞 

 

Maria, while we talk about fashion here we also talk about everything else 🙂 I won't speak for everyone, but personally I would appreciate food posts.

[Anita Latte]

Maria...this thread is pretty much a whatever we want to talk about thread. I think we manage to keep it relevant to this board with enough talk about hair and makeup and outfits and cruise planning...but for sure...we venture into all sorts of other topics. 

 

Thank you for the cucumber salad! That's a perfect idea.

 

We don't have "tv" in the traditional sense...no cable and no antenna. We stream everything using a Roku. There are a few channels that offer "Live" in their app on the Roku and we have done that during football season but for any shows we watch (just me really), I stream the next day or later. Or we pick out what we want to watch on Prime or Netflix. Therefore, we aren't subject to breaking news or any news really...I suppose we could stream news...

 

I seek out the information I want online...it's my way of controlling what info I get...limiting it to what I am truly interesting in and not bombarding myself with too much information. This is my way of dealing with all the information out there...we are in the information age and it's like information overload if you leave yourself open to it all...so I almost think of my method as shields and I venture out in a somewhat guarded fashion to gather what I truly want to see and read. I cut things off if it goes in a direction I don't care for...and this is how I deal with all the news of the world...and it hasn't changed with COVID.

 

Sally...I LOVE that reference. Chopped everyday. And I have thought that. I have literally gone looking through the fridge for the dates on things and seeing the condition of things...and doing what I can to extend the life of things. For instance, my kale is currently all chopped up and in an airtight container with a damp cloth on the bottom...it is staying FRESH. I'm quite impressed. I did buy the curly kind which I think is a bit hardier than some others.

 

The family tree is fun...a while back I started doing research on DH's family which is a bit less convoluted than my own.

 

Mentally...I think I'm doing okay. My daily hasn't changed that much. I didn't get out much before all this...and now, I don't get out much BUT I have company. And DH and DS and I all get along really well...it hasn't been an issue to date. DH and DS were getting a bit of cabin fever...so they went for a drive the other day..they hit up a few stores that are further away and more toward the country to see about TP. That's still a concern here...LOL. Stupid TP.

 

pacruise...my apt is pretty small. Under 1400 sq ft...which it a really good sized apt, but I have a relatively large laundry room and REALLY big bathrooms...and BIG walk-in closets in all 3 bedrooms...which means that the bedrooms are on the small side. The king-sized bed in our room takes up most of the space...I'm fortunate that the master closet is huge, my dresser is in THERE...we took the door off the hinge and it's become my dressing room ( I wouldn't have room to maneuver otherwise) and yay, there's another walk-in closet off the bathroom so that's DH's. We make it work. And I generally enjoy it all...but DH is in the living space which is one big open space with the kitchen and a dining room area. I used to be able to get out and use the common rooms...fitness center and streaming studio, large clubhouse with offices for resident use...but the community areas are shut down now so my resources have diminished...like I said...I'm getting it figured out. It's another reason why finally having some furniture on our covered porch (which is actually quite large) has been such a blessing.

 

It's my birthday day...DH went to the store to get orange juice and champagne (he was hoping to get some TP too but the seniors bought it all in the first hour)...I'm going to dye my hair purple, then do a mani/pedi on the porch while drinking mimosas and letting the dye sit. There are leftovers for lunch that everyone can heat up when they want...and I'm thinking that maybe we will brave some food delivery/take out and get some pizza for dinner...maybe even some chicken wings!

[awhfy]

5 hours ago, MJC said:

Looks delicious Melody. Years ago when we were in Italy we discovered Santa Margherita at a local market. The lira was low at the time, I think we payed $3-4 per bottle!

 

I have limited freezer/refrigerator space. I miss my extra refrigerator at the lake! My freezer is mostly filled with meat, chicken, and fish, and frozen veggies to last a month. After that it will be lots of pasta and canned food until I feel safe enough to go to a store again.

 

Love Santa Margarita Pinot Grigio 

Edited March 25, 2020 by awhfy

[MJC]

Anita, I have a bottom drawer freezer too. It is deep so things can get lost in there. 🙂 I made a list as I filled it of what I bought, including how many servings I had, and as I use things I check them off. I normally do food rotation as part of dealing with my food sensitivities, but for now we'll eat what I cook until it's gone before we start the next thing. I bought bulk packages of chicken and larger roasts and things than I usually do. I don't have any ice cream. 😞 It just takes up too much space. 

 

I have never prepared three meals a day like this. Even when one of us has been laid up at home, there's usually been takeout a couple days per week, lunches out, weekend meals at the lake. I miss my Dunkin decaf lattes and DH misses Chinese food.

[MJC]

p.s. Hi Maria, welcome 🙂

[Sailor_Sally]

Happy Birthday Anita ! This is a birthday you will not forget .

[MJC]

Melody, how long did you have the chicken and tomatoes in the crock pot to heat up before you added the angel hair? How much time would spaghetti take?

 

 

Happy Birthday Anita! I would bet you've found a fun way to spend your day. 🙂

 

 

 

[geocruiser]

Anita,

 

Happy Birthday to you.  🧁 Birthday cake and flowers being for you.🍰

💐🌹🌺🌼

[Sailor_Sally]

By the way I got 25 rolls of  toilet paper on Amazon. It was delivered yesterday so we are set.

[awhfy]

Anita, happy bday to you! This is one for the books!

[awhfy]

Margaret, I put the chicken, spices, sad tomatoes & wine on low for 2 hours (the chicken was already cooked, otherwise I’d have done on high for 3 hours). I turned it up to high & threw the (cut) angel hair in with it. Stirred it in & let it cook for 30 minutes, turned it off & let everything sit for another 30 minutes. It was remarkably good, we’ll finish it off tonight. Margaret, has you & DH considered going to the lake house for the shut down, or wasn’t that an option because of his hip?
 

Maria, welcome...we chat about everything!  

our kids have been great about checking in, can’t hug them, just wave. This was our son at the sliding door on Monday, no he didn’t leave coffee or donuts!  Les is starting to improve; Sally, this bronchitis is just awful, glad you’re better.  
 

the state of Colorado went on a two-week mandatory shutdown this morning. Really enforcing the stay at home order except for groceries & medical appointments. Our SIL is home unless there is snow, then he’s considered mission essential (they’re doing all the house projects in new house, so glad they had the materials ready...middle daughter was going to start a few projects with school spring break...they’re now out till 17 April, but expect it will be extended to May 4. Son & DIL work from home, they’re still working. Oldest daughter works for Northern Command. They’re on 24-7, 12 hour shifts. She directs the VTC center so is very, very busy. 
 

boy, I got chatty!  Melody

Edited March 26, 2020 by awhfy

[geocruiser]

Thank you all for the welcome.

Today I am freezing a bunch of parsley that I brought a few days ago.  It made its way  into the back of the Ice box (I call it that because that is what my dad would call the fridge, he was born 1908, so, it was a ice box).  So, I pick off all the leaves and have it soaking in water.  I will spin it dry in a spinner and then put it into a freezer zip lock bag and freeze.   What I like about this is when I take it out of the freezer I keep crunching the bay of parsley and it breaks up into small pieces.  The more bag squeezing or crunching the small the frozen parsley will become. I store it in the freezer for future use.

[geocruiser]

Awhfy,

Happy to hear that Les is improving.  Very scary to be sick now.  Glad that both of you tested negative for the virus.

Every time is see your Chicken  dinner on my computer screen I want to bit my computer screen, it looks wonderful.