May news #8 - mostly cooking

Hello everyone 

I finally made the chicken broth this morning.  I used vegetable scraps and chicken backbones, both saved from previous food prep and saved in freezer bags.  I put them in the crockpot and added water and let them cook all day on high.  

After cooking and straining,  there was close to a gallon of rich chicken broth.  I don’t add salt to mine.  The storebought broths are usually so high in sodium and we just don’t need that much extra salt.  

It will stay in the fridge all night.  Tomorrow, I’ll skim off the fat and freeze the broth in meal size containers.  

Homemade broth is easy and is almost free as it’s made from food that many people throw away.  

Supper was meatloaf made with this recipe.  I did alter it a bit,  using whole eggs, omitting the Worcestershire and doubling the recipe.  

Skinny Meatloaf

My husband and I really enjoyed this recipe.  I took some to my parent’s home and our son’s home and they all enjoyed it too.  

I will make this recipe again.  

This week’s to do list 

Hope you all are well

❤️ Rhonda 

May news # 7 - ordinary days

Hello everyone 

From comments from you all,  y’all  seem to like posts about everyday things.  I’m just doing plain, basic stuff right now so that’s what I’ll write about. 

But some people may think this kind of post is as boring as watch paint dry.  

Some of my grandchildren were here for their first sleepover in more than 2 months. They were so happy to be here and I know their parents enjoyed a break.  

We made play dough with corn starch and hair conditioner.  It makes a very soft, fragrant play dough and it cleans up easily.  

I’ve read you can do this with lotion instead of conditioner but I’ve never tried that.

It’s made with equal parts of both ingredients and then just add little dabs if it’s too dry or too wet.  

To make it thrifty,  use a bottle of conditioner from the DollarTree or use a bottle you already have at home but don’t like.  

We went for a walk and this one picked a bouquet of wildflowers for me ❤️

I went to my parent’s retirement home this afternoon and we visited with them on their 2nd floor balcony and me on the ground.  

It’s better than nothing.  They expect to be “Lock in” for 3-4 more weeks but who knows? 

I took them some pizza, art work from the grands,  bottoms of dress pants I hemmed for my son (my mom will use them in her crazy quilts) and newspapers.  

Besides hemming pants,  I altered the waist on a pair of my pants and sewed a simple swim poncho from an extra-long beach towel.  

It’s for the tallest granddaughter.  Her mom bought the towel and I just cut a neck hole and added wide bias tape to finish the seam.  

Her other grandparents have a very nice backyard pool so she can swim even if all the public places are not safe right now.mm

Meals have been simple too. 

Our weather has been mild and we’ve enjoyed outside several meals.

This very basic pepper steak as delicious.  It was diced up cube steak,  bell peppers from last summer’s garden, onions, and a spicy Szechuan sauce from Aldi,  served on rice.  

Those are the highlights from some ordinary days during this pandemic.  

❤️ Rhonda