Pennies From Heaven

 

Hello Dear Ones!

How was your week?  Last week ALMOST kinda sorta fooled us into thinking Spring is not far away! Well, I knew better, but I say it because I discovered these showing their lovely little green selves in my back yard. . . 

Aren’t they LOVELY???  I think so!  I love daffodils!  I love that they bring Spring with them, I love that they return year after year, and I love that the deer usually leave them alone—though I have to confess I have sometimes had those pesky squirrels actually dig them up and LEAVE THEM LYING ON THE GROUND!  They are not even eating them, but I guess they wanted to take a taste and see if they wanted to eat them?  Needless to say, therefore I have lost some of my daffodils and crocus as well due to the squirrels, but in the big picture, they are usually left alone by hungry critters. This clump of bulbs always emerges first, and I know where to look for them.  They bring cheer to my soul, even though I knew better than to completely believe the song they were singing to me, because THIS week our area is freezing to death! We are currently WAY below what our neck of the woods usually gets EVER! Maybe Canada has misplaced some of its weather down South here? They are welcome to take it back, truly! ;) 

Anyway, these daffodils are an example of a frugal habit that I am now reaping the happy results of.  When we first moved to our home, I spent several cold Fall days planting these bulbs in our back yard, over multiple years.  I remember my hands getting so cold as I was planting them—but now I am so happy that I did!  

Last week I mentioned that I had made air fried tofu for the fried rice that I made, using up bits and bobs of various leftover veggies into a new meal.  I had a friend ask me about how I make my air fried tofu, so I thought I would take pictures this week when I made the same recipe (is a dish made of leftovers a recipe?).  It is very very simple to make.  I am afraid I never think about keeping track of the exact time I let the tofu stay in the air fryer, but I suppose different air fryers may “fry” at different speeds anyway, and it really is more of a “until it looks done” kind of thing.  That—and of course you can always do what I do and sample a piece of it and if you like it that way then you call it “done!”

First, you do need to be using water packed tofu, and preferably a firm or extra firm variety.  The silken tofu I do use for other things, but it will not work in this type of recipe.  So drain the water off of your tofu, and then slice it into chunks like this. . . 

Sprinkle some soy sauce into a bowl with your tofu chunks.  I use a low sodium type of soy sauce, but you can use what you like.  I don’t measure how much, but enough so that the lower layer of tofu chunks can be submerged.  I will then kinda stir them around gently so I don’t break the tofu all up—it’s fragile!  Sometimes I just dunk in a few chunks of tofu at a time, moving them from the soy sauce into the air fryer.  I do try and make sure they have had a little time to soak some soy sauce up, because tofu on its own doesn’t have a lot of taste. 

I give a quick spray with non stick cooking spray into the bottom of my air fryer basket before I put the tofu chunks into it.  I spread them out, and you want them pretty much to be in a single layer if you can manage it.  My air fryer is not huge, and this shows the one pound package of tofu all chunked up and after their bath in the soy sauce.

Here they are after they have been air frying for probably ten minutes.  I think my air fryer is on 350 degrees—honestly, it is just a dial and I never change the temperatures on it!  At this point I pulled the basket out and gave it a little back and forth shake.  This helps unstick the tofu from the bottom of the basket, and changes the side of the tofu that is “up” and getting browned.  Then back into the air fryer they go again, probably for another five to ten minutes.  Then I pull them out and look at them again. . . 

Here they were the next time I pulled them out—to my taste buds, these are perfect!  I promptly declared them “done!”  While they had been air frying, I had been sautéing the rest of the items—I started with an onion and carrots thinly sliced, then once they were cooked a bit I added in some leftover frozen corn and peas from the freezer, and some already cooked brown rice.  And remember that bowl of soy sauce that the tofu chunks took a bath in?  I just put that soy sauce over the rice when I added it all to my large cast iron frying pan.  So it didn’t go to waste! Last I chopped some kale from our garden and mixed that into the rice right at the very end.  This mixture I put on our plates at this point, then I put the air fried tofu on top of each mound of fried rice.  Yum!  I am getting hungry now just thinking about it! 

Do you have an air fryer?  If so, do you use it for very much? I have also made yummy French fries in mine, and air fried zucchini is delicious!

Well, on to the rest of my frugal endeavors! In addition to 1) appreciating the daffodils I previously planted, and 2) using leftovers up in fried rice, I:

3) Found three books at our local thrift store.  One I will definitely keep for myself—it is a wonderful little book on the 66 books of the Bible.  It gives a short one page summary of each Bible book, along with what the theme of the book is and a key verse from that book.  I really like it! And even though I have read through the Bible many times, I really like the bird’s eye view this little book gives of each book in the Bible.  The other two books I found were brand new in shrink wrap, so they might become gifts at some point.  One I for sure have my eye on for a nephew, as I really think he will like it.  The other one I kinda want myself, so it just may end up a gift for myself! :D

4) I accepted some work—so a small paycheck will eventually come my way! My work is part time temporary.  When there is a need for me, I work.  But it is nothing that is a regular schedule.  So it always is like a happy surprise when a paycheck comes my way!

5) My niece came and stayed two nights—yay for me!  Happily, I live in an area where she has many friends.  So while she does not live in our town, she is not too far away and will often text and ask me if she can stay the weekend, and I always say yes! We like having a visit from her!  Frugal for me, because I don’t have the expense of traveling to see her (not that I wouldn’t, of course).  Frugal for her because I am happily a free bed and breakfast for her!  Speaking of breakfast. . . 

6) I made oat waffles!  I was well into my waffle before I thought to take a picture, but it is smothered in peanut butter and apple butter on top of that!  I stay away from sugar entirely now (I feel much better, and my blood sugar is happier), so instead of a sugary syrup we will use a fruit sauce or apple sauce or bananas or as pictured peanut butter and apple butter—there are lots of toppings that can go on waffles!  And these waffles are literally made of oats, water, salt and vanilla.  It doesn’t get much less expensive than that! I do have a waffle maker that flips over—and it does make a huge difference in helping these be on the lighter side, since they do not have any baking powder or baking soda in them.  The flipping action helps add in a bit more air into them, though they are certainly still on the denser side especially compared to white flour low fiber waffles. These will fill you up and are a meal when topped with fruit! I usually eat either one and a half, or two waffles at the most and I am stuffed!

7) I was blessed by a store employee! This is not really something “I” did, except I suppose I was friendly.  I was shopping and struck up a conversation with an employee about how lovely the orchids were on the table near her cash register. She agreed with me, and we started sharing back and forth different things we had learned about trying to keep them alive and get them to rebloom.  There was no one else in line behind me, so I just stood there quite a while and we chatted.  I shared that I was going to be watching to see if they went on clearance after Valentine’s Day, because several other years I have purchased some from this same store on clearance, and how since I do not ALWAYS manage to keep them alive I like to get them at a clearance price to start with in case they die on me!  Well, I had no idea she was going to say this to me next, but she commented then that she was the one in charge of the plants at this store, and she knew they would not be selling all of the orchids they had—and they would definitely go on clearance.  She said she would rather I get to enjoy one that was blooming now, rather than let it start to die in the store and then I buy it, so she tells me to go pick out one and she would mark it down for me! I was shocked!  I truly had no idea she was the plant person at that store! 

And so now I am blessed to enjoy this beauty right now! Wasn’t that sweet of her?  It was such a happy surprise that came my way! 

Well, that was my week.  I hope you had some happy surprises in your week!  I would love to hear about what you did to be frugal, or what someone else did that blessed you.

Until next time,

Friend