Cooking ahead… Just in case

My husband spent a week in Arkansas, helping his elderly parents.

When he returned, he had a horrible respiratory illness. He did not go to the doctor, so we don’t know what it was, but he had the worst cough, and just felt terrible.

I was afraid I might catch his cold.

I washed my hands all the time and we stayed in different rooms

And I was just as careful as I could be.

But just in case I might get sick, I spent some time doing some cooking so we would have easy things to reheat

(But if or your family don’t like “leftovers” this blog post is not for you) 

I used this big package of extra lean ground beef that had been in the freezer for awhile 

I used these fresh ingredients plus some cherry tomatoes

Those are the dry ingredients

Results - 

Tossed salad, A box with sliced tomatoes and lettuce for sandwiches, and another container with toppings for tacos

I used about a fourth of the hamburger to make the goulash, the dish with tomatoes, bell peppers and macaroni

I  used about a fourth of the meat with brown gravy mix and it can be served over the cooked egg noodles

Then, about half of the meat was seasoned with taco seasoning, onions, and bell peppers

We don’t normally eat beef meal after meal but I was cooking with what I had and was doing it easy. 

 It’s also 96% lean beef 

I cleaned up as I went

From start to finish it took just a little over an hour

And I’m very happy to have the mess of cooking over with for several days.  

After I loaded the dishwasher, I sat down with a bowl of grapes and my bowl of water

    

To help my memory, and in case, my husband ends up doing meals, I wrote down the ready made foods and put the list on the refrigerator  door. 

My husband got back Wednesday and he is so much better now.  And so far on Saturday, I have no symptoms of what he has.

He had the worst cough, I really don’t know how he is doing so much better so fast.

Other times, when either one of us have had a bad cold or respiratory situation, it has taken at least 10 days to get over it

When he got back here to Oklahoma, he started taking this daytime and nighttime medicine

We don’t know if that’s why he got better so fast. It certainly seemed to help his symptoms.

I’m not a doctor and I’m not giving medical advice. I’m just telling you what worked for him.  

I was told by a visiting nurse who was caring for  my older relative that there is some sort of a mystery respiratory disease going around, it has symptoms like Covid and RSV but it is neither one of those.

And again, we don’t know what my husband had except what he had mostly had terrible respiratory symptoms

I hope you all are staying healthy and warm, if you’re living in this cold weather right now.  

❤️Rhonda 

Sewing in 2024

I have not sewn much in the last few years but my fabric and sewing supplies have multiplied several times because of getting so much stuff from 3 different people.  

So one of my plans for 2024 was to get my sewing room organized.

You’re going to see a lot of stuff and I even did a big declutter around November.  

The main thing that needed done was there so much fabric stacked in the closet and when I did want to sew, I couldn’t find what I wanted.  

I really should have taken before photos but here are the after photos.  

It’s nothing Pinterest-Worthy but now  I know where everything is and can find what I need in the future. 

The closet in this room is big but the sides are hidden by the wall so I don’t plan on using either end of the closet except for big things.  

There are several empty drawers.  So I may do even more organizing or I may just leave them empty.  

We are just 2 people living in a 4 bedroom house and that’s why I can have a whole bedroom dedicated to sewing.  

We’ve talking about moving someplace smaller but moving is so complicated…..so for now,  we are staying here.  



Here are my first sewing projects for 2024- extra large heat protective mats 

We tend to serve most of meals buffet style and so does our daughter

In their home, they have a huge kitchen island covered with a man made stone
I made the mats for their house very thick- denim on the bottom, 2 layers of Insulbrite and a thick twill on the top.  

I gave them to her Monday and she took them home and served their supper on them that same night

They had Thanksgiving leftovers that had been frozen.  

I made ours with just one layer of Insulbrite and quilting cotton fabric on both sides.  

All the mats are about 18 inches wide and 43 inches long.  

Now when I serve meals,  I won’t need to use wobbly trivets or all my potholders under the hot foods.  

If you don’t know sewing products- Insulbrite a heat protective fabric used mostly to fill potholders.  

Around Christmas we were at our daughter’s home and they cooked  4 sour dough pizzas for a group.  We were spreading our every potholder they owned to protect their 
island from the hot pizza stones.  

These runners will look better and be much safer than potholders.  I know they will use theirs often.  

❤️Rhonda