Last Weeks Thrifty Moves
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Sunday morning I was up early and got ready to head out to do some final grocery shopping for the month and for Thanksgiving. I decided to go to Trader Joes as most of what I wanted to get was produce and I knew they would have what I wanted and it would be great. Trader Joes did not disappoint. I was able to finish up my little bit of grocery shopping and get back home in 30 minutes.
Once the groceries were put away I tried another yummy and easy cake mix cookie recipe. I then got them all on a plate and ready to take to work and share with my co-workers. No way did I want to keep those in the house. Very dangerous. I'll be posting that recipe on Wednesday.
Sunday afternoon I transferred the big turkey I got last week from the chest freezer to our big cooler. I left it in the garage to slowly thaw which it did. It was only slightly frozen when I removed it Wednesday night to clean it.
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| My grandmother's roaster held that big turkey perfectly |
My daughter was out of school all week so no early morning runs to school. I still got up each day at the same time, but I enjoyed a much more leisurely morning at home which I thoroughly enjoyed. I also really enjoyed the break from packing her school lunch/breakfast/snacks.Tuesday my daughter did have to cheer at a basketball game, but other than that we had nothing important to do. Other than Thanksgiving Day, of course!
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| I love pumpkin pie! |
Wednesday I worked and as soon as I got home I made the brine for the turkey, a keto cheesecake and a keto pumpkin pie. We got the 20# turkey cleaned and into my big canner to soak in the brine overnight. No way would it fit into our refrigerator, however our garage was the perfect temperature so I lugged the canner out there and we left that bird to do its thing.
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| I made my roll dough in my bread machine |
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| Set to rise at our fireplace |
Thursday I was up early once again doing what I absolutely love to do. Play in my kitchen! I started dough for dinner rolls in my bread machine and then got busy peeling potatoes and assembling dishes to go into the oven. At 10:00 I had the turkey in the oven to roast and then took a short break before continuing on. We sat down to eat at 3:00 and there was so much food it was almost ridiculous. After games and desserts we finished loading the dishwasher and I ran that before heading off to bed.
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| The rolls were ginormous! |
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| So much wonderful food for our Thanksgiving table |
I worked on Friday and it was relatively quiet, even with a short crew as many of our co-workers had taken the day off. It was really nice to come home knowing that all I had to do was turn on the oven and load it up with leftovers to reheat for supper. Especially as I had a house full of company.
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| The one day of the year I allow myself not to be Keto Although most of what I made was actually Keto friendly, but not everything |
Saturday while everyone slept in I got up and started a fresh batch of dough in the bread machine to make more dinner rolls. It was heartily requested that I make more so I was happy to do it. As a break from the turkey I decided to put a pot of meat sauce in my slow cooker and serve that for dinner with pasta, the rolls and a nice big salad.
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| My daughter's roommate made this Taiwanese shrimp that was utterly fantastic! |
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| My first attempt at Keto pumpkin pie and it was a great success! |
I used some Bath & Body Works shower gel to make three batches of foaming hand soap solution and filled up all of our soap dispensers. I even colored some of it with food coloring to make it pretty. I used Marshmallow Pumpkin Latte and Warm Vanilla Sugar shower gels so we have a good assortment of nice smelling hand soaps to use. That day the hand soaps were on sale for $3 each in the store, which is a really good deal, but by making my own I saved myself $12 plus a trip to the mall. I didn't even have to get dressed!
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| Making foaming hand soap solution |
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| I think the green is adequate for Christmas |
The chickens ate like queens last week with all of the food scraps we gave them. We literally had no food waste which was fantastic.
I worked quite a bit of overtime again last week. My next paycheck should be a good one.
Investment cooking= I put the turkey carcass into my largest slow cooker along with some celery, carrots and an onion to make broth. I froze most of it and plan to make soup with the rest.
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| Neat & tidy |
Some of the 15 Minute Chores I accomplished to keep my home in order:
Laundry Room & Half Bathroom - vacuumed floors, cleaned sink & toilet. Daily swish & swipe.
Dining Room - vacuumed floor, cleaned inside the top half of the china cabinet.
Kitchen - vacuumed & spot mopped the floor, cleaned microwave, organized the pantry, cleaned and organized the spice cabinets.
Bedrooms & Main Bathroom - vacuumed & dusted. Daily swish & swipe.
Other - one large load of laundry, vacuumed & dusted living room, hallway & entry. Swept front porch & raked up a big pile of leaves.
How was your thrifty week?