Protest and Pretzel Rolls

 

While I loved my 4th of July ensemble, the protest we participated in was a bust. Maybe 100 people, and no energy. Since I had a portable speaker, I played some protest songs, but the organizers did nothing but babble over their portable speaker in response, about other events. We packed it in after an hour. 

We decided to keep with the traditional Independence Day meal, which I sourced on Flashfood. I picked up the pretzel rolls from Dashmart -- along with three packages of chicken sausage (because they were a good deal), and the hamburgers from Tops. We had corn and salad fixin's in the refrigerator already. We grilled two ears and all four burgers. The other two burgers will go into chili. A cheap meal -- under five bucks for the two of us.

I do not shop for meals. I shop for bargains and my pantry. Either I am buying food on sale, or I am choosing my items because I want to have them on hand. The meal ideas will follow. Also, if I am in a store and only need one or two items, I will look for other items I know I want to haveon hand. That means I don't have to keep coming back. My Price Rite trip was specifically for potatoes. But I also know we can always benefit from having pasta on hand, plus canned tomato for marinara. Price Rite has better quality for all of these items (especially the potatoes), so it made sense to go there.

The deal for Simply Potatoes was great. However, this stuff is too high in sodium. That's why I wanted real potatoes. It might seem odd to combine my own mashed potatoes with the store-bought kind, but I wanted the flavor, just not all the sodium. So, I cut and boiled a potato, mashed it up with some Half & Half and butter, then mixed in the Simply Potatoes. Half was for dinner tonight; half was for the freezer. Dinner was a grilled NY Strip steak (thin cut) from Flashfood. It was $3.17. Again, we had salad fixin's on hand. The corn was the other two ears from what we started on the 4th. This meal was under six bucks for the two of us. This is why we rarely dine out...

Finally, I have been sewing. Frankie will be spayed on Monday, and I wanted to sew a protective collar for her. I also made a pillow out of the same old flannel material. I do not like the hard plastic Elizabethan Collars the vets use. We have an inflatable donut, but I wanted something that would be like a soft hug. When I used to groom her before she went into the show ring, I put a gator on her to keep her fur down. This will cover her torso and hopefully protect her sutures. I may put on elastics for her legs to keep it from riding up. She did not fight this, and I think it will be comfortable for her.

I hope everyone in the US had a good holiday and that you are surviving this heat. Hopefully no one was affected by the horrible flooding. For those outside of the US, thanks for putting up with the crazy that is America. I am hoping Democracy will prevail and you won't suffer the ill-effects from what is going on here. Peace out!