Monday Message

"Let us be in a position so we are able to not only feed ourselves through the home production and storage, but others as well." (President Ezra Taft Benson)

"A cardinal principle of the gospel is to prepare for the day of scarcity. Work, industry, frugality are part of the royal order of life." (Bishop Keith B. McMullin)

We are in this very hot weather spell so I work in the mornings on the garden, then inside when it is too hot outside.

One night early on we lost power towards evening for two hours. It was very much a flashback of the derecho - hot and getting too dark to work on anything or read.

It is to even be hotter next week. So that has me thinking of what to do for meals...

https://chickensintheroad.com/cooking/homemade-hamburger-helper/ - this is the first thing that comes to mind for cooking on top of the stove.

https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/one-skillet-pasta/ - another idea.

https://insanelygoodrecipes.com/summer-crockpot-recipes/ - I so hate adding heat to an already hot day so great ideas here.

https://growingupgabel.com/slow-cooker-peach-cobbler/ - this would be a good thing for sure. I use this same recipe in the oven but the crockpot would be great in the summer.

If you have a heads-up that you are in for a hot spell, plan easy, cool meals. The instapot is helpful as well if you have one. I got an off-brand of one from a thrift store right before the pandemic. I have not yet had time to do much in it.

https://www.sixsistersstuff.com/category/recipes/method/instant-pot/ - these sisters offer a lot of recipes for using in the instapot.

Don't rule out using mixes, they help at this time as well.

https://www.littlehouseliving.com/10-mixes-that-should-be-in-your-pantry.html

https://www.budget101.com/recipes/516-complete-mix-recipe-index/

I try to do any baking early in the morning. I also try to do more than one meal so it will help the next day.

One thing I have done lately was to print out a couple of free clothing patterns.

https://peppermintmag.com/sewing-school/ - I did the patterns for the pocket shirt and the loungewear set.

And always remember - you can trace off a pattern from something you already have that you know fits well.

Building our skills is very important in helping our family and budgets.

I have been doing some organizing this week when I am inside. One of the things I have been wanting to further learn is my Toyota knitting machine, building on what I already know. So I have been organizing the tools, books and planning where my machine should go. So this is a skill I will be working on.

Chocolate Nice Cream! (This is so like chocolate ice cream - yum!)

You cut three good size bananas in less than half inch coins and freeze.

To make up, you pull out your bag of frozen bananas and put them in your blender.

Add a half a cup of milk to start with, you can add more as you go to get the thickness you would like.

Add two tablespoons baking cocoa.

Blend and add milk as needed.

Oh this is soooo good! Just what you need on a very hot day.

Missy wants to remind you to keep working on building your storage as it looks like harder times are coming and we should get ready.

Gus says to pick some skills that you already have and build on them and if there are some you don't have, learn them as we will need them.