Triple Clicks

Friday, April 3, 2020

What To Do When We're Stuck

I think most everybody in the States is mostly stuck at home right now.. Whether it's self quarantine or government quarantine.. We're pretty much stuck..

Now, staying home the majority of the time is not new to us.. But there's something psychological when you choose to stay home versus being told "you HAVE to stay home"...  Honestly for us, this stuff hit at the end of the month and got bad RIGHT before grocery shopping... I had planned on going a little earlier so we had a month of groceries, no problem... then the city issued a plan to keep the kids  at home, germs at bay and only essential outings needed.

Let me tell you something about our monthly shopping trips.  I NEED help.  It's not negotiable.  Typically my help is my kids as we go when hubby is working...  I cannot do a month of shopping by myself because two of the three stores I NEED two carts.   I'm also 25 weeks pregnant.. so pushing one cart is hard on me and baby by the end of the store, but two.. Nope I can't do it.  I can't the pull and pick up options because everybody is booked out a month at least in advance... SO... we are shopping the sales ads from our local store weekly.. The problem with that? The supplier has put a limit on how many pounds of food they can order.  WHY? I HAVE NO IDEA.  So, they are only getting essentials that are needed and those are now limited.  Our fresh veggies are getting low.   EEEK.   I'm hoping we can make it to a bigger store and to get honey before the governor issues a shelter in place order...  Then I'm relying on the local store only.   And when I say we, I mean Dennis and the kids in the van with me going into the store to get what's needed for the week-with extra peppers and onions, because those are freezable.

So what are we doing?  Impatiently waiting for the weather to warm enough to work outside and in the garage...  I have many projects waiting and going on.

We've also decided we need to be serious about eating healthier... and that means looking at all the labels and figuring out what all of those scientific names are-because some of those names are vitamins.   So.... we're starting with breakfast, pasta and breads.   Now, I wasn't planning on going into ALL the breads...then I went grocery shopping.  Guess I'm making tortillas.

So what's changing with breakfast?  Mostly the cereal..  Everything else we eat for breakfast is already real food.  Which is pretty awesome.  So I'll be making granola so we have some easy breakfast around.. But my PLAN is to just start making the kids' breakfast-whether it's hot oatmeal, baked oatmeal, coffee cake.. You get the idea?  I can't just do eggs and bacon and toast because one of our girls can't eat eggs... SO it has to be other things. 

Pasta.  The pasta sauce we buy is actually pretty basic as it is.   (Prego, Bertolli and sometimes Rinaldi.)  Dennis bought me a pasta roller and cutter when he bought me the kitchen aid mixer.  That thing is awesome.  I finally found a YouTube video on how to make pasta successfully.  Flour it until you think it's too much, then you're good.  This last batch of pasta turned out great.  My next experimental pasta is going to be farfalle and ravioli.  The kids eat macaroni and cheese a lot, so that's a meal that needs changed.   I don't have the fancy farfalle and ravioli cutters-but I have read a knife or pizza wheel works just fine, just seal your ravioli.

Bread.. Hoagie rolls, garlic bread, bagels...  We're using the hoagie rolls for the garlic bread.  Bagels were actually pretty easy, though they didn't come out very uniform in size, but I'll figure it out.  Apparently I'm making tortillas..because the store was wiped out.

Hoagie Rolls

Bagels

Corn chips! 

Cinnamon Sugar Donuts

This week I made granola and German pancakes...  The German pancakes didn't go over that well.. But it's a great protein for this mama so I'll make a single batch at a time after this.  They are eating the granola this morning..  Elijah isn't sure about it, but I've seen him eat the crunchy granola bars no problem, so he'll eat it.  It smelled pretty awesome-too much sugar for this momma. 

This weekend is my pasta experiment weekend.  We'll see how it turns out.  I'm also going to try French bread instead of hoagie rolls for the garlic bread... 
I also attempted homemade corn dogs.. that didn't turn out well... Apparently the hot dogs (or in our case, brats) have to be room temperature if not warmed up a little to get the batter to stick.... So.. we'll try again..  At least the batter could be used as corn bread muffins. 

Now, if you need help with preserving any excess groceries you might be able to pick up and are worried about spoiling, check out Jammerill's vlog.  She's freezing things I haven't heard of freezing before and I'll definitely keep them in mind.    Yes, I realize the length might be a little intimidating, but the awesome thing about Jammerill and her vlogging, she explains EVERYTHING so you don't have to watch, I usually turn it on while I'm lesson planning, folding laundry, sewing...  Might as well learn something while I'm doing housework, right? 

Be safe.  Don't forget to give time to God.  His peace passes all understanding, it's unexplainable.

~Tabitha

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