Fridge Fare (or using what you have)...

We had a lot of vegetables in the fridge.  I didn't want them to go to waste, and stir fry sounded really good to me last night.  And, most importantly, it's easy and quick.  I even had sugar snap peas.  I didn't have carrots, which is so out of the norm, and while I really wanted some, I did without.

It was exactly what I wanted.  I had looked up an easy stir fry sauce, and added that at the end, and let it thicken a little before removing from the heat.

The easy stir fry sauce is from Simply Whisked.  I threw it together using what I had, and leaving out what I didn't, and it still turned out great.

Recipe as it was published:

1/2 cup reduced sodium soy sauce

1/2 cup reduced sodium chicken broth

1 to 2 Tablespoons cornstarch

1 Tablespoon minced garlic

1 Tablespoon minced ginger

1 Tablespoon brown sugar

1 Tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon rice vinegar

1/2 teaspoon sesame oil

I had the reduced sodium soy sauce, and used about 1/4 cup.

I used a teaspoon of chicken bouillion powder with about 1/4 cup water.

I had the cornstarch so added it.  (I would consider this essential for thickening, but not at all needed for flavor.)

Did not have time or energy to peel and mince fresh garlic, so I just threw in some dried minced garlic.

Didn't have fresh ginger, so I used about 1/4 teaspoon of really old powdered ginger.

I left out the brown sugar.

I had olive oil so added it.

I had rice wine vinegar so added it.  

I was out of sesame oil, so left it out.  (Though it would have been great!)

I am saying all this because I rarely follow a recipe to the letter, and at least 95% of the time no one but me would ever know.  Don't fret about it unless it's something essential like a leavening agent in a baked good.  In a pinch, I've even used another flavor of extract when I was out of vanilla.

Oh!  Here's a little confession.  For the past 49½ years, I have cooked rice and had it boil over...every...single...time.  I even bought a rice cooker for the microwave, and IT boiled over in the microwave!  Counting yesterday, I have twice prepared rice without a mess.  I've started rinsing the rice before adding it to the water in the saucepan.  It didn't boil over either time, and it didn't stick and clump together.

I'm sure I am the last person on earth to learn this.

What I'm reading Wednesday...

Fifty-first challenge finish of the year.

This one has been on my Kindle for exactly ten years (September of 2015).  You've already seen its cover picture a couple times lately on 'What I'm Reading Wednesday' posts.  I took my time reading it, because there were other priorities claiming my time.  

I enjoyed it very much.  The dual timeline was handled in a way that I found much less jarring than many others that I have read.  The characters were such that I would enjoy visiting with them over coffee (or another beverage).  I would happily read others by this author.

Fifty-second challenge finish of the year.

I had never read The Secret Garden.  I have heard a lot about it, but had assumed that it was a children's book.  It would be a good book to read aloud to children; I think a child reading it would have to be a pretty advanced reader to read and understand the Yorkshire accent that a lot of it was written in.  It also had some pretty advanced vocabulary.  Its plot dealt with lack of parental attention, improving health by being out in the sunshine and fresh air, exercise and healthy eating, using self-reflection and the will to change to improve our relationships with others, and treating others with respect.  Reading aloud to a child would be a great opportunity to ask them how they felt about how the characters dealt with these topics and changed through the story.

But it is not just a children's book.  I enjoyed it very, very much.  It was a pretty quick read at 281 pages, and I barely put it down.  I did not own this one, and couldn't find an e-book edition with formatting I liked from the library, so I shelled out a whole 69¢ for it from Amazon.

And that brings me to...

...the end of the challenge.  There have been additional prompts introduced through the year that one can carry on with, but I am happy to have finished the original 52.  There are so many other books I've come across this year that I want to move on to.

Before I heard about the challenge (thanks, Juhli!) my goal was to read 14 books (one per month, and two alternates) that had been lingering on my Kindle unread.  When I decided to do the challenge, I perused the prompts and my Kindle content to match as many prompts as I could with books I already own.  I have cleared at least 22, so exceding my original goal.  :)

Now going forward:

Friedrichsburg: A Novel by Friedrich Armand Strubberg

translated by James C Kearney

This one is a new acquisition at our library.  It is about the German immigrants who colonized the part of Texas we live in (and other parts as well).  So far I am still in the introduction.  The novel itself was published in Germany in 1867 by the first colonial director during the founding of the communities.  It is said to interweave his story with a fictional romance.

We live surrounded by original German settlements.  One church we attended regularly had a German-language service until the 1960s.  One of my favorite things about the area was sitting in the crowd of parents and grandparents (when our kids were younger and involved in community sports) and hearing German, Spanish, and English conversations going on around me.  So I had to be first in line to reserve this new addition to the library.

What I'm reading Wednesday...

 

Restless by William Boyd

Halfway through with this WWII spy story.  Enjoying it.

2025 Frugal Friday File, September 12...

 

1.  I haven't been cooking at all this week, since I'm still having a lot of knee pain.  But having frugal and/or homemade meals in the freezer and ready to pop in the oven helped limit the number of times we had to fall back on takeout.  

2.  I remembered to make dental appointments for each of us this month (prompted by email reminder that we shouldn't let our insurance benefits go unused for the year).  We hadn't used this insurance before, as I think we had to have it for at least a year before coverage kicked in.  I'm not sure that's right, but it was something like that.  So I wasn't sure what it would actually cover, but a preliminary check by the dentist's office was that it would pay 80% of my visit today for exrays and cleaning.  The dentist came in to look at the images, and said I was blessed with really good teeth.  Boy, don't I know it!  Sixty-seven years old and no cavities!  (I did have one small cavity once, but I don't count it because I broke the root of that tooth grinding my teeth in my sleep about twenty years ago, so it is gone and has an implant in its place.)  Carey's appointment is next week.  It will probably be more expensive, because he wasn't quite as lucky in the teeth department.

3.  I have a book ready to pick up at the library tomorrow.  And I found another that I'm looking forward to, but I'm number sixteen in the reserve line for it.  But that's good, because I have plenty of others to finish in the mean time.

4.  We were going to go to the movie theater tomorrow for the Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale opening day.  But with my dodgy knee, I really don't want to do all that walking, so I think I'll wait for streaming release.  Besides, do I need all that expensive, salty, greasy popcorn?  No.  Want it?  YES, but I'll live.  :)

5.  I still have all the ingredients in the fridge, so tonight I think I'll try to replicate the omelet I made last week.

What we ate this past week:

Saturday:  Family supper at Kasey & Beau's

Sunday:  takeout barbecue baked potato

Monday:  frozen pot pies

Tuesday:  oven-ready meal from grocery: salmon, potatoes, green beans

Wednesday:  homemade meal from freezer: Jambalaya

Thursday:  takeout burgers

Friday:  omelet

**designates meatless meal

What I'm reading Wednesday...

 

Fiftieth challenge finish of the year.

This one is my book club's selection for October, so it's playing double duty counting it for  my 'Read In A "-ber" Month' prompt.

Really lliked this one.  Good research, likable characters.  I did get a little annoyed with the main character's inability to control the things she said; but offending people was probably all it took for a woman to be arrested as a witch in 1600s New England.

And I always love when the Author's Notes and the Acknowledgements are interesting.

Sunday afternoon...

Sunday afternoon my eldest cousin called me.  He was named after my dad, and has always been the absolute best about keeping in touch.

So he says, two of my siblings (family of 11 kids) want to know why your mother was buried in a little town in Nebraska and not with your dad.  I told him she wasn't.  (Well, she was buried in a little town in Nebraska [still is], but not the one he named.  And she is lying next to my dad.)  He said, "I texted them your number, and said call this number to find out.  But I'd be surprised if they call."  (I'm not even sure he told them whose number he sent them.  LOL)

I told him, "Well if you give me their numbers, I can go one better and preemptively text them a photo of the headstone with both names on it."  He thought that was a great idea, and was tickled that they would receive it out of the blue.

This is where the story gets interesting.  I texted both of his siblings.  My youngest cousin (baby of the 11 kids, and maybe a whole 6 months younger than me) texted back thanks, and we talked a little about our boys (now men).  Then he texts me, "Well, explain this to me," accompanied by a photo of a funeral card with my mother's name on it...almost.  I told him the birth and death dates were not mom's nor was the middle initial.  

He said, "Well, I'll be darned.  I don't know why we have this funeral card.  I guess it's a mystery that will never be solved."  Maybe I should add here that the card was dated 1985, and they had apparently been holding on to it all these years later.

I had to laugh, because my mother would have.  I told him that Mom would have gotten a kick out of his confusion, because she loved to trick people...maybe she still does?  :)

He replied, "Yes, she would."  I could almost see his smile.

It was just a nice little connection with family that hasn't seen or talked with each other for too long, and it reminded us all of our connection, and our parents.

And some unknown lady with a familiar name.  :)

2025 Frugal Friday File, September 5...

1.  I have NOT been in the mood to cook lately.  Today at five forty-five p.m. I hadn't even thought about supper yet.  I had quite a few eggs in the fridge, some bacon ends and pieces, and colorful peppers.  Also had a variety of cubed cheese left from the charcuterie board I made for book club.  I fried some pieces of bacon in a non-stick skillet over medium heat. After cooked to fairly crisp, I set aside on paper towel to wick away grease.  I removed some of the bacon grease from the skillet, and added the chopped onion and pepper to the pan.  When they were tender, I crumbled the bacon and sprinkled it evenly over the top of the onion and peppers.  On top of the bacon, I added some cubes of smoked cheddar, gruyere, and jack cheese about every 3 inches across the top, as the cubes were about 1" cubes, I didn't want to over do it.  Then I poured six beaten eggs over the top.  As the edges cooked, I lifted them  with a spatula to let the uncooked egg flow to the bottom of the pan.  Then I lowered the heat to low, and put a lid on the skillet to let the eggs cook through.  

After a few minutes, I folded the omelet, cut it in half, then plonked the two halves on plates.  We were eating by six thirty.  And actually, this was the best meal I made this week.  The outside of the omelet was tender, but lightly browned from the bacon having been cooked in the pan first.  The cheese cubes melted into little cheesy pools.  The eggs were just perfectly cooked; still moist, but cooked through.

It was possibly the best omelet I've ever made, I didn't have to work too hard, and I used up things from the fridge that needed using.  I'm considering making another one for breakfast in the morning.  😋

2.  After bemoaning the sad state of my bra-drawer contents, I decided to buy a new model to give it a try.  If it passes the comfort and support test, I will get more before letting the old ones go.  

3.  I remembered to water the plants before they croaked.  Honestly, these monsteras are the hardiest plants ever!  

4.  I started the next book for book club.  It was one we chose because it had been an Amazon First Reads option that several of us had clicked on for free (for Prime members), and others of our group were able to get it for free as well after the club met.

5.  I have a 2026 calendar (23" x 34") in my shopping cart.  It's the whole year on one large sheet, and it has daily squares big enough to write a couple of appointments on.  It can just sit there till I have other things to add to the order.  

What we ate this past week:

Saturday:  Family supper at Kasey & Beau's

Sunday:  leftovers

Monday:  takeout Tex-Mex

Tuesday:  Poppy Seed Chicken, Cranberry Sauce

Wednesday:  grazed the fridge

Thursday:  leftovers

Friday:  Omelet: bacon, onion, yellow bell pepper, variety cubed cheese, eggs