Gettin’ busy in the kitchen

I am in love with the prices at the commissary! When we first got here, I was really skeptical about whether the prices and service would be better. We try to plan to go every other week, on the non payday weekends since it’s less busy. It was pretty busy today, but there’s a four-day weekend for a lot of soldiers.

We got all of our food and household items (including toilet paper, paper towel, etc) for $125. That’s not bad considering we got a ton of produce and a few packages of meat. We get the 18-roll toilet paper and it lasts us like six weeks or something crazy.

So, we went to the store and then went and saw “Dream House”. It was pretty good! We bought the 2011 bucket of popcorn last time, which was like $15, but you get refills each time you go back to the movies for only $2.50. We got a large drink to share, so all in all, concessions were $8. Movie tickets are $5/person for military, so we spent $18 at the movie theater. We had been planning to go to the “Bodies Human” exhibit, but tickets were $15/person AND honestly, the preserved bodies creep me out. I know I’m a grown woman, but still.

After we got home from the movie, we found that someone had stolen our pumpkins from in front of our house! We picked them last weekend at the corn maze and were going to paint or carve them. 😦 That made me sad and upset. Who the frig steals pumpkins?!

I let out my frustrations in the kitchen.. I got a LOT of food prep done for the week, and even tried my hand at crockpot freezer meals. Well, one.

Pinterest has been my go-to place for recipes and ideas…

I got the freezer-to-crockpot idea here. On the left are veggies, spices and bouillon prepared to go in the crockpot with a roast. On the right are some of the leftovers of veggies and bouillon to start a homemade veggie broth. I can use it for vegetable beef barley soup or chicken noodle soup. Really, the possibilities are endless. And it’s a great way to use up that celery that’s kind of too flexible. I also hate throwing out the celery leaves.. great for flavor!

I also cut up potatoes, onion and garlic and they’re ready for cooking and mashing.

I got this idea for an easy breakfast here. I mixed up 12 eggs, cooked and crumbled bacon, cheese, milk, salt and pepper and cooked in muffin cups for 25-ish minutes at 350. Ready to freeze and heat up one-by-one, or two-by-two.

I got this idea for homemade chai from this site. I guessed on measurements, and tried it without the cardamom. It was pretty expensive, so I went without. It still turned out great! I would love to can this stuff and give as gifts. I’ve also found a dry instant mix version that I want to try sometimes. Mix the liquid concentrate with milk and/or half&half and done! I think next time I’ll try using less water so it’ll be stronger. I also need a very fine strainer. I rednecked it this time and used my flour sifter.

I guess I should also add to this post that I’ve accepted a full-time position at the tutoring place I’m at now. I interviewed last week for a teaching job at a charter school, but I doubt I got the job as they haven’t called me but said I’d know in the next couple days. It’s okay. We’ve been praying for a full-time job for me since the extra money is nice for saving and paying off debt. My prayers were answered, just not the exact way I wanted it. Oh well, as my dad would say, You can’t have everything!

In conclusion, I’m looking forward to two more days off with Aaron, and enjoying our time relaxing in this beautiful “autumn” weather… 75-ish for the high, 55-ish for the low. Perfect!