Update

So, we've decided that we will no longer have a garden. We don't have the room to have a garden in our yard if we want to have any play sets for our child. We will still have our rhubarb and possibly and herb garden, if I have time to tear us part of a flower bed. We still have our raspberries, but I don't think they're doing very well. It's somewhat overrun by weeds and I'm not brave enough to figure out what is a thorny raspberry vine and a thorny weed. I am working on some recipes that I would like to try out. Hopefully they will be really yummy!

Freezing Meals

I have decided to adopt the idea of freezing a lot of meals so we don't have to cook as often. I'm starting with just a couple of weeks worth first. And I've picked some easy recipes: Rice and Bean Burritos, Chicken Soup, Chicken Casserole and Scalloped Potatoes and Ham. Of course, since it is summer time here, I'm using some of the chicken to make chicken salad. It's amazing how far two whole chickens will go! I spent about the same amount of money for two and a half weeks of groceries as I normally would for one. Of course I'll still have to buy milk and fresh produce, but I think this will help us save money in the long run.
We're also having a meatless meal once a week, and a breakfast meal once a week as well. I'm hoping these ideas will help us since I don't work during the summer and therefore have less income.

SpringTime

It's officially spring time! The weather has actually stayed fairly warm and it's been raining quite a bit. Most of all, I was able to pick rhubarb!
I cut up about three cups for ourselves and gave the rest to a friend of ours. I'm hoping to make some rhubarb sauce. It's getting to be that time where we'll start making some homemade ice cream which goes great with the rhubarb sauce. We'll have another batch of rhubarb ready to pick soon and I'll be able to make some other rhubarb goodies!

Early Arrival

So our little one came earlier than expected. We did not get all our meals ready before he showed up. My husband has been wonderful since we have all been home and has been cooking for me. He has also managed to make a batch of pulled pork to partially freeze and several pounds of taco meat to freeze as well. He goes back to work soon, so it will be really nice for me to have some of these things to just heat up for lunches. He has realized that it is much easier to cook in the early evening, otherwise our kitchen gets hot quickly. The temperature here has been in the upper 70's, lower 80's these last couple of days and we're trying not to turn our air conditioning on.

My husband has also been making the menus for the week and doing the grocery shopping. He's not doing too bad! He reports why he got what he did and if there was something he didn't get, he explains that too. I am very lucky to have such a supportive, helpful husband.

More Meals

Today we bought a fairly inexpensive ham, which I cut in half. The first half I sliced enough for our dinner on Tuesday, I diced about a cups worth for Wednesday's dinner and used the rest in a green bean casserole for supper tonight. The other half I cubed and was able to put into three different freezer containers for the summer. Depending on what we use it for, that's at least three meals. Possibly even more! Later this week, I'll be making taco meat to freeze as well. Our meals for post partum are coming along, slowly but surely.

Farmer's Market

I have been thinking about selling items at the local Farmer's Market. Of course this summer, it's going to be very difficult to do with the new baby. I've picked a few mix recipes and have been trying the different goodies that can be made by the mix to see if they are any good. I have a long way to go, but my husband is enjoying the experimentation immensely.

I've also been doing some cost analysis to see if this venture is worth the effort. Any helpful tips would be greatly appreciated!

Baby Quilt

I have finished making our baby quilt. It took a lot less time than I thought it would.
This is the fabric I used.

Here are some of the squares sewn together.

Here is the finished project. I'm so glad I got it done so early. I've been able to show it off and double check to make sure everything is all right.