Monday evening was super windy. We lost another tree. Usually the trees come up roots and all. But this one snapped off and splintered a stump, about 6 feet from the ground. It didn't do any property damage, but these trees are massive, and this will be a mess to clean up.
Then, Tuesday evening, the winds started again. It's not expected to be as windy as Monday, but with the soil so wet, and root movement in the soil after the earlier segment of this storm -- I'm a bit nervous when the wind kicks up.
Other things, I unclogged the drain hose from the dishwasher's airgap, using, of all things, picture hanging wire and boiling water. First, I took a long piece of stiff wire, made a loop at one end, and snaked it up and down the hose, through the airgap. I pulled out what look like sticker from a piece of fruit or a piece of a label. It was coated in gunk, so hard to tell exactly. The hose would still not allow water to flow through. So, I poured boiling water down the draining section of the airgap. If you take the cap off of the airgap, there are two sections, one for incoming drainage, and the other where the dirty water will flow back down to the garbage disposal or drain. I used the wire and poured the boiling water down the latter of the two sections, using a narrow-spouted watering can to get the water into the narrow hole. At first, the boiling water just sat in the upper part of the hose. then I heard a whoosh and I knew I'd unclogged the drain. The clog was likely a combination of fat and food particles which clung to the inside of the hose. I have to do this about once per year. Our dishwasher was only out of commission for one dinner, until I could work on it. Not bad.
What else? Lite Mock Apple Pie. This is my latest dessert-in-a-jiffy creation, using applesauce, cinnamon-sugar, saltine or graham crackers. You can see where this is heading, right? Put two saltines or one square graham cracker in a microwaveable bowl, topped with applesauce, sprinkle generously with cinnamon and sugar. Microwave for 15 seconds. Mug cakes are sometimes too heavy, that's when a lite apple pie is just perfect.
And now, I think I'm actually going to get a good night's sleep, after last night's wind storm. Have a great day!
Tuesday, November 14, 2017
Monday, November 13, 2017
I'm working on a big project, plus have some other stuff
This week and next will be super busy for me. We have birthdays, Thanksgiving, a big project for me, and all of family life's other little things to tend to. I'm still living frugally, mostly by force of not having time to actually spend much money.
- We still continue to cook all of our meals at home.
- I made laundry soap, again, as we ran out last week, and I haven't had time to buy more. (And by homemade laundry soap I mean I melted a bar of hotel soap in a pan of water, and just use the gloppy, melted soap for the laundry.) Homemade laundry soap doesn't remove stains or whiten as well for us as commercial detergent, but it cleans the fabric (gets dirt and oil out, just not stains) well enough in a pinch.
- I used a gift card and coupon to order myself a new fleece jacket, as my old one now has several holes and bald spots (13 years old and worn daily for 9 months of the year). I can sew up the holes, but I can't reweave the bald spots. Besides, as it is balding, it doesn't keep me warm like it used to.
- I used the library for books that I needed, instead of buying the books.
- My daughter used a coupon code for Redbox for a free movie that she wanted to see.
- I made a so-so dinner on Friday; we ate it anyway, and remedied the blandness at the table with a small pitcher of soy sauce for everyone to add.
- My daughter made Monday's dinner in advance. She will be home late tonight, so she put together a casserole on Sunday, which just needs heating, and everyone can serve themselves.
- We received the gift of pumpkin-spice coffee creamer on Friday, so we've been enjoying flavored beverages all weekend, for no extra cost.
- I watched a show on my laptop, through PBS.org, for free. We don't have cable or satellite, just rabbit ears.
- I continue to use up what we have, such as face cream samples, hotel soap and shampoo samples, perfume samples, and a brand of vitamins which I don't enjoy as much as another brand, but we have them, so I'm finishing them.
What's new in your life? How was your weekend? I hope that your week is off to a great start.
Friday, November 10, 2017
Cheap & Cheerful Suppers for November busy week
Friday -- 30 minute supper
I had mentioned not having an appetite for a couple of months. I think I just needed better-tasting foods in the house. I went shopping today, and picked up frozen veggies, potstickers, and white rice, among other things. For dinner I made pot stickers and veggies over rice. I make my own sauces and keep them in the fridge. This sauce was soy sauce, ginger, garlic, onion flakes, chicken soup base, vinegar, and sugar.
While the pot stickers were sauteeing in a bit of oil, the white rice was cooking. White rice only takes 20 minutes. (We usually eat brown rice, so the white stuff was a treat, and I think tastes better with Asian foods.) After browning the potstickers I pulled them out of the pan and quickly cooked frozen veggies (an Asian mix), added some sauce, and some chopped cabbage. I tossed the potstickers back in the pan, and heated through. The whole thing was ready to serve in 30 minutes.
Saturday
Polish sausage slices and potatoes, oven-baked
carrot sticks and homemade 1000 Island dressing
Sunday
Bean, rice, and cheese burritos
Monday (daughter cooked)
carrot soup
frittata
Tuesday
sausage and lentils
smashed potatoes
sauteed zucchini
carrot sticks
Wednesday
Turkey and gravy from freezer
cornbread stuffing from mix
mixed veggies
sauteed zucchini
Thursday
Spanish rice mix that was a freebie, combined with cooked lentils, chopped zucchini, peppers, canned tomatoes, and chopped, cooked meatballs, all topped with cheese. Applesauce for anyone who wanted some.
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Tuesday's dinner had a favorite side dish of mine -- smashed potatoes. I love this not only because it's delicious but also because it is sooooo easy, and fast to make. It takes a little over 5 minutes to make, not bad, right?
No peeling, no boiling, cook in the microwave, ready in minutes
Wash several thin-skinned potatoes, like red or white potatoes, not russets (skin is too tough)
Cut out eyes, prick with fork or knife, and microwave until you can squish it. I used 6 small-ish red potatoes, and microwaved them together, for a total of about 5 minutes.
Squish the potatoes slightly with hands/fingers, and put into a bowl/dish. Add a spoon of butter, some milk, salt, cream cheese or sour cream, and a bit of minced garlic, garlic granules, or garlic powder. Mash until mixed together, about 1 minute. There will be skin pieces in the potatoes. If overly large pieces of skin remain, you can use a sharp paring knife and fork to quickly cut through the largest pieces.
This is a chunkier version of mashed potatoes. Someone with texture issues may be bothered by the lack of smoothness. I like them just as they are, though. Interestingly, these are easier and have less clean-up than regular mashed potatoes, but I've actually seen this dish on menus at restaurants.
Thought I'd share.
Have a happy weekend!
Thursday, November 9, 2017
Remanufactured printer ink cartridges
I do a lot of printing at home, using black ink cartridges. I had been buying HP ink cartridges from Office Depot, but the price just kept creeping up, and the coupons became fewer and fewer. Seriously, I go through a cartridge every 2-3 months.
In an effort to save some money I looked into remanufactured cartridges. I bought a set of 3 remanufactured ink cartridges from Amazon, back in September, with a hope and prayer that they would be okay-enough for my needs.
I read the reviews and braced myself for the possibility of a dud. I have been pleasantly surprised at how well they perform. And the price is a steal. I could have had 2 of the 3 cartridges fail, and still come out ahead. I was paying about $45 at Office Depot for 1 HP cartridge. I bought a set of 3 remanufactured ones from Amazon for $30. Really, really pleased. Office Depot does have a store-brand printer cartridge, but only for select models (and mine no longer was one).
Anyways, I'm pleased with how these worked for me. Has anyone else tried remanufactured cartridges for their printer? What was your experience?
Wednesday, November 8, 2017
Senior shopping day
Three very full hours from the minute I drove out of the driveway, until all of the groceries were put away. Gosh that is exhausting. I made myself some lunch then went to sit down for an hour and work on some writing.
What I noticed --
- not as many deals as last year
- orange juice, peanut butter, and soy milk prices are high
- meat is still largely unaffordable
- egg prices are slowly rising
- no butter deals (yet),
- almonds are a bargain this year
- Fred Meyer is carrying more and more whole grain versions of traditional, house-brand favorites, such as hot dog buns and saltine crackers, and at the same price as the non-whole grain
I thought about not making a list (I know, stupid, stupid, stupid), because I didn't want to spare the time writing stuff down. Then, I played the tape to the end (a mental thing where you envision the whole process and what will likely happen). In my mental tape I realized that not having a list would mean that I would wander aimlessly throughout the store and my shopping would likely take twice as long, and I would be more exhausted because I would be making choices on the spot for the whole grocery trip. So, I went online and loaded coupons to my card, read the sale flyer, and made my list.
I spent a lot, but I got a lot. The above photo is what I bought (minus a bundle of bananas, and a bag of zucchini that I left on the counter). I filled the trunk, then added a few bags to the back seat of my tiny car. I went early (thank you, change back to standard time), and that was a big help. The store was not terribly crowded, and I had pick of the markdown produce. I passed by the markdown stand twice, once at the beginning, and a second time just before leaving. I was able to score additional produce by making the second pass. Between sales, mark downs, coupons and the Senior 10% Discount, I saved a lot.
My family will be very happy that we are so well-stocked. As mentioned in comments the other day, managing the kitchen is a big job. It's not something that we just do in our free time, or as a hobby. I think we forget just how time-consuming and exhausting this job is.
Tuesday, November 7, 2017
The holiday cup
My daughter took a friend to Starbucks yesterday. I was excited for her, not because of the coffee or friendship, but because of the holiday cup. My first question was not "what did you order?" No, it was "what does the holiday cup look like this year?" I enjoy finding out what the cups look like each holiday season. Some years, I actually do go to Starbucks during the holidays, and actually get a cup of my own. Other years, I find myself too busy. When I do make it there, I save my holiday cup for a while, as a memento.
This year's cup is cool and unusual, in that the design on the cup is meant for coloring in.
Kinda cool. I don't carry markers or crayons with me, but this would keep a little one entertained for a little while, while mom or dad enjoyed a cup of coffee.
My favorite autumn/winter drink is the peppermint mocha, followed very close behind with pumpkin spice latte. I usually make my own coffee drinks at home, for pennies, using a mini-candy cane, cocoa, milk and coffee for the peppermint mocha, and this easy recipe for homemade pumpkin spice syrup for pumpkin spice lattes. (Now I'm in the mood for a mocha!) Both are especially yummy with some homemade biscotti. And as luck would have it I have all the ingredients that I need to make my own coffee drink and biscotti right here at home! I know what I'm doing later . . .
Monday, November 6, 2017
28 things that I do to stretch our groceries
This post came about because I did nearly everything on this list, just last week. It made me think that we all do a lot of things to save on grocery spending.
1-always use a rubber spatula to scrape out jars. When someone in the family uses the last of a jar of peanut butter, they put the near-empty jar in the fridge. Sometime, when I want peanut butter on bread, I use a spatula to scrape out 2 or 3 jars and get just enough peanut butter for my slice of bread.
2-gladly accept gifted foods and freebies. I volunteer at a luncheon/tea every month. The kind lady in charge gifts us with a bunch of leftovers. I always accept and make use of what is given to us. I also pick up the Friday Freebie, even if it's a product that I would never normally want. I figure a way to use the item in cooking, or offer to a family member.
3-reserve someone's leftovers to serve to them at the next meal. We've done this for years, when one of the kids wouldn't finish their dinner, because they weren't hungry, I would cover the plate or glass and refrigerate it until the next meal. This still happens with glasses of milk. I'll pour too much for one of the family members, they can't finish it. So, I refrigerate it, and serve it to them at the next meal. It's just "normal' for our family. If I don't eat all of my dinner one night, I eat my own leftovers for lunch the next day. I don't know why some people won't eat leftovers. When they eat in a restaurant and don't eat a whole meal, they ask for a box to take home their leftovers. So home-cooked leftovers shouldn't be any different.
4-use someone else's leftovers for myself, with a little "surgery." If one of my kids starts eating a piece of fruit, then decides they don't like it. I'll refrigerate the rest, even if it's been, um, chewed on. Later, I'll trim away the parts where they have eaten, and I'll cut up the rest for myself. It doesn't matter to me that the piece of fruit that I eat is not "virginal."
An example, my daughter began eating a pear of which she didn't like the texture. She thought it was mealy. I refrigerated it, and the next day, I cut away the bite marks, chopped the pear, and made a salad for myself, with this chopped pear, lettuce, chunks of cream cheese, a few pecans, and a dressing of mayo, jam, and water. My salad was delicious, and the piece of fruit was not wasted.
5-serve myself or others only the amount we will eat, such as with bananas -- I can't eat a whole banana, so it's common for me to cut a banana in half, and leave the remaining half on the counter for someone else to snack on later that day. On the rare occurrence that the other half of the banana is not eaten that day, I'll pop it in the fridge or freezer.
If I'm hungry for some bread, but not super hungry, I cut a slice in half and leave the other half in the bag. If I'm serving something saucy and there's too much sauce on my plate, I take a half-slice of bread instead of a whole slice, if that's all I want.
6-use leftover tiny amounts of food from dinner in a tossed salad or soup the next day
7-rinse out milk jugs with a little water, swish around, then pour into a glass or pot of soup/gravy/sauce. This is like using a rubber spatula to get the last bit. In a jug of milk (or any liquid), there's always about 1 teaspoon of liquid that is still on the sides of the container and would take a while to totally drip out. So, I just rinse with a bit of water and use this thinned down milk. I began doing this years ago, adding to my coffee. Since I can't "do" cow's milk any more, I've found ways for the milk rinsings in cooking, or adding to others' glasses. However, I use this trick with my soy milk, and tea for myself. The containers have to be rinsed out anyways, for the recycling bin, so I'm using the rinsings.
8-rinse tomato paste cans, jam jars, salsa jars, any food jar whose contents are sticky, leaving small amounts on the jar's insides. I rinse with water (as I do with more liquidy things like milk) and the rinsings go into something that we will eat. Jam jar rinsings are often added to my tea. Salsa and tomato paste rinsings will be added to a savory dish. Applesauce jars, rinsed with water, and add the watery applesauce to muffin batter. Similar to peanut butter jars, there is usually about 1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon of food left inside a jar. Applesauce jars are the worst. All of the interior ridges of the jars trap a lot of applesauce. Rinsing gets all of the contents out, and cleans the container for recycling.
9-rinse similar food item containers, as above, but with vinegar and use in homemade salad dressing. Jam jars rinsed with plain vinegar, and added to oil make a wonderful salad dressing.
10-use cores of lettuce, cabbage, cauliflower, thin sliced and chopped or julienned, in soups, salads, and stir-fries.
11-use cookie crumbs from the cookie jar or package in muffin batter.
12-serve myself just a little bit less than I think I want. I eat my meal, wait 15 minutes to see if I want more. Almost always, I am completely full within 10 minutes.
13-share meals in restaurants. Restaurant portions are huge. It's bad for my health to eat as much as many restaurants serve. If one meal looks like it will be slightly too little, we also order one appetizer, or an extra side dish. My daughters and I occasionally go to a teriyaki place nearby and split one meal 3 ways. It's plenty of food for us, and in the event that we're still a little hungry afterward, we wait until we get home and make some dessert.
14-grind coffee beans extra fine. most of the time I buy the less-expensive cans of coffee (storebrand). When I do buy the grind-it-yourself beans in the grocery store, I grind them to "espresso" fineness. I get more flavor out of the grounds this way, and can use less to make a pot of coffee. I use paper filters, which catch and hold the fine stuff, making a flavorful cup of coffee.
15-with the above, pricier coffee grounds, I mix them half and half with cheap coffee, and still get a satisfactory-to-me cup of Joe.
16-keep a "dessert tin." When we have leftover odds and ends of commercial desserty things, like graham crackers, marshmallows, chocolate pieces from s'more-making, or a few savoiardi biscuits, or a couple circus peanut candies, I put them in the "dessert tin." Some night after dinner, I pull out the tin and circulate it around the table. Everyone chooses something from the tin for their dessert.
17-trim small amounts of mold off of hard cheese and use the rest in cooking. According to the Mayo Clinic, it is "safe" to trim mold from hard cheese and still eat the rest. here's the article which explains which cheese you can trim and eat, and which you should discard if it becomes moldy. We've become so mold-fearful that we forget some molds are not harmful, such as the ones which are used in cheese-making.
18-use milk and eggnog that is one, two or three days past sell-by date, in pancakes or baked goods. If milk is at sell-by date and we won't drink it all, I pour some of it off into containers to freeze, then use in baking, later.
19-keep the fridge on the more-empty side, rather than the more-full. This helps me stay on top of our supplies and use them all up. The above photo shows what my fridge looks like for a couple of weeks every month. It looks like there is nothing to eat in there, but I can scrounge quite a bit, even in this fridge. It's much more likely that I will have to throw away food when I am keeping the fridge very full.
20-keep our fridge at 39 or 40 degrees F and our freezer at 0 degrees F. These are the FDA recommended max temperatures to prevent spoilage.
21-when placing just-purchased groceries in my freezers or fridge I spread them out, so they chill faster, and again, prevent spoilage.
22-save leftover coffee or tea in the fridge. If I don't drink all of a cup or pot of coffee/tea, I save it until the next day, even if it's just an inch or two in the cup.
23-when I still feel tired, after my 2 cups of coffee in the AM, instead of more coffee, or some sugar, I drink a glass of water, step outside for some deep breaths of fresh air, and wash my face. All of these are good-for-me activities, but they save money on groceries, as a bonus. With the glass of water, I usually take this as an opportunity to take my C and B vitamins. I need to take those anyway, and both may help with energy levels. I may still want a cup of tea or coffee later, but for the most part, I drink less tea and coffee when I remind myself to have water and get fresh air to invigorate myself.
24-use small bits of leftover bread in savory or sweet bread pudding. If the amount is very small, I may only make a 2-serving dish of bread pudding. I had 2 scones, a half slice of white bread, and 1 small slice of French bread the other day. Because the scones were sweet, I made a sweet bread pudding. There was just enough for dessert for the small group eating at home that night.
25-I assess the amounts of ingredients that I have on hand before making my menu for the evening. If I anticipate the full family for dinner (5 or 6) I make my menu out of the ingredients of which I have a lot. If I anticipate just 2 or 3 of us eating that night, I seize that as an opportunity to use the small amounts of leftovers to feed a small group. The above mentioned small dish of bread pudding was made for a night when only 3 of us would be eating at home, or eating dessert (one family member is avoiding sweets for the time being). This worked perfectly. The previous night, we had the whole crowd for dinner. I had found a full pint of lemon sorbet in the freezer, and saved that for a night when everyone would be there. A pint of sorbet, plus a savoiardi biscuit made a light dessert and was enough for all of us.
26-I play "musical chairs" with the milk in my fridge and freezer. This may be difficult to explain in type, but here goes. I have 3 jugs of milk, all with near expiry dates. Jug A has enough milk for 1 day, is in the fridge, and has a use-by life of about 2 days. Jug B has enough milk for 4 days, is in the fridge, and has a use-by life of 2 days. Jug C has enough milk for 3 days, is in the freezer, and has a use-by life of about 3 days once thawed. How do I manage to have enough milk for every day, without waste or spoilage? I pour 1 days milk out of Jug B into Jug A, then pop Jug B in the freezer. This will give us enough milk in Jug A to get through 2 days.
But with Jugs B and C in the freezer, they will take 2-3 days each to thaw in the fridge, so we will be out of milk while we wait for them to thaw. If I keep Jug B in the fridge, now, it will go off before we drink it all, so it is best kept frozen until needed.
So, I take the frozen jug, Jug C out of the freezer, and place in the fridge to thaw, while we use Jug A. In 2 days, Jug C will be partially thawed and I can swish it enough to get frosty milk out of it, to use at meals on day 1 of its use, and will be totally thawed on day 2 of its 3-day use. When we finish Jug A, I then take Jug B out of the freezer and begin thawing in the fridge. It will take 2-3 days to thaw. About the time that Jug C is empty, Jug B will be ready to use, and will keep for 2-3 days.
Did anyone follow that? I hope someone got it. -ha ha- It's my system for using milk that's soon to go off, while maintaining a steady supply of milk for drinking and cooking.
27-if I accidentally take more butter than I really want for a piece of toast, I put the little bit that I don't want back on the butter dish. In the above photo, there's a tiny dab of butter on top of the stick. That would be mine from the other day. I used this butter, along with the half slice of bread from #5 to make myself some cinnamon toast for dessert after lunch on Friday.
28-the end of bags of chips (tortilla and potato) or packages of crackers get dumped into whatever casserole I make next.
I'm sure we can keep this list going and hit 100 things that we do to stretch our groceries. What's on your list?
1-always use a rubber spatula to scrape out jars. When someone in the family uses the last of a jar of peanut butter, they put the near-empty jar in the fridge. Sometime, when I want peanut butter on bread, I use a spatula to scrape out 2 or 3 jars and get just enough peanut butter for my slice of bread.
2-gladly accept gifted foods and freebies. I volunteer at a luncheon/tea every month. The kind lady in charge gifts us with a bunch of leftovers. I always accept and make use of what is given to us. I also pick up the Friday Freebie, even if it's a product that I would never normally want. I figure a way to use the item in cooking, or offer to a family member.
3-reserve someone's leftovers to serve to them at the next meal. We've done this for years, when one of the kids wouldn't finish their dinner, because they weren't hungry, I would cover the plate or glass and refrigerate it until the next meal. This still happens with glasses of milk. I'll pour too much for one of the family members, they can't finish it. So, I refrigerate it, and serve it to them at the next meal. It's just "normal' for our family. If I don't eat all of my dinner one night, I eat my own leftovers for lunch the next day. I don't know why some people won't eat leftovers. When they eat in a restaurant and don't eat a whole meal, they ask for a box to take home their leftovers. So home-cooked leftovers shouldn't be any different.
4-use someone else's leftovers for myself, with a little "surgery." If one of my kids starts eating a piece of fruit, then decides they don't like it. I'll refrigerate the rest, even if it's been, um, chewed on. Later, I'll trim away the parts where they have eaten, and I'll cut up the rest for myself. It doesn't matter to me that the piece of fruit that I eat is not "virginal."
An example, my daughter began eating a pear of which she didn't like the texture. She thought it was mealy. I refrigerated it, and the next day, I cut away the bite marks, chopped the pear, and made a salad for myself, with this chopped pear, lettuce, chunks of cream cheese, a few pecans, and a dressing of mayo, jam, and water. My salad was delicious, and the piece of fruit was not wasted.
5-serve myself or others only the amount we will eat, such as with bananas -- I can't eat a whole banana, so it's common for me to cut a banana in half, and leave the remaining half on the counter for someone else to snack on later that day. On the rare occurrence that the other half of the banana is not eaten that day, I'll pop it in the fridge or freezer.
If I'm hungry for some bread, but not super hungry, I cut a slice in half and leave the other half in the bag. If I'm serving something saucy and there's too much sauce on my plate, I take a half-slice of bread instead of a whole slice, if that's all I want.
7-rinse out milk jugs with a little water, swish around, then pour into a glass or pot of soup/gravy/sauce. This is like using a rubber spatula to get the last bit. In a jug of milk (or any liquid), there's always about 1 teaspoon of liquid that is still on the sides of the container and would take a while to totally drip out. So, I just rinse with a bit of water and use this thinned down milk. I began doing this years ago, adding to my coffee. Since I can't "do" cow's milk any more, I've found ways for the milk rinsings in cooking, or adding to others' glasses. However, I use this trick with my soy milk, and tea for myself. The containers have to be rinsed out anyways, for the recycling bin, so I'm using the rinsings.
8-rinse tomato paste cans, jam jars, salsa jars, any food jar whose contents are sticky, leaving small amounts on the jar's insides. I rinse with water (as I do with more liquidy things like milk) and the rinsings go into something that we will eat. Jam jar rinsings are often added to my tea. Salsa and tomato paste rinsings will be added to a savory dish. Applesauce jars, rinsed with water, and add the watery applesauce to muffin batter. Similar to peanut butter jars, there is usually about 1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon of food left inside a jar. Applesauce jars are the worst. All of the interior ridges of the jars trap a lot of applesauce. Rinsing gets all of the contents out, and cleans the container for recycling.
9-rinse similar food item containers, as above, but with vinegar and use in homemade salad dressing. Jam jars rinsed with plain vinegar, and added to oil make a wonderful salad dressing.
10-use cores of lettuce, cabbage, cauliflower, thin sliced and chopped or julienned, in soups, salads, and stir-fries.
11-use cookie crumbs from the cookie jar or package in muffin batter.
12-serve myself just a little bit less than I think I want. I eat my meal, wait 15 minutes to see if I want more. Almost always, I am completely full within 10 minutes.
13-share meals in restaurants. Restaurant portions are huge. It's bad for my health to eat as much as many restaurants serve. If one meal looks like it will be slightly too little, we also order one appetizer, or an extra side dish. My daughters and I occasionally go to a teriyaki place nearby and split one meal 3 ways. It's plenty of food for us, and in the event that we're still a little hungry afterward, we wait until we get home and make some dessert.
14-grind coffee beans extra fine. most of the time I buy the less-expensive cans of coffee (storebrand). When I do buy the grind-it-yourself beans in the grocery store, I grind them to "espresso" fineness. I get more flavor out of the grounds this way, and can use less to make a pot of coffee. I use paper filters, which catch and hold the fine stuff, making a flavorful cup of coffee.
15-with the above, pricier coffee grounds, I mix them half and half with cheap coffee, and still get a satisfactory-to-me cup of Joe.
16-keep a "dessert tin." When we have leftover odds and ends of commercial desserty things, like graham crackers, marshmallows, chocolate pieces from s'more-making, or a few savoiardi biscuits, or a couple circus peanut candies, I put them in the "dessert tin." Some night after dinner, I pull out the tin and circulate it around the table. Everyone chooses something from the tin for their dessert.
17-trim small amounts of mold off of hard cheese and use the rest in cooking. According to the Mayo Clinic, it is "safe" to trim mold from hard cheese and still eat the rest. here's the article which explains which cheese you can trim and eat, and which you should discard if it becomes moldy. We've become so mold-fearful that we forget some molds are not harmful, such as the ones which are used in cheese-making.
18-use milk and eggnog that is one, two or three days past sell-by date, in pancakes or baked goods. If milk is at sell-by date and we won't drink it all, I pour some of it off into containers to freeze, then use in baking, later.
19-keep the fridge on the more-empty side, rather than the more-full. This helps me stay on top of our supplies and use them all up. The above photo shows what my fridge looks like for a couple of weeks every month. It looks like there is nothing to eat in there, but I can scrounge quite a bit, even in this fridge. It's much more likely that I will have to throw away food when I am keeping the fridge very full.
20-keep our fridge at 39 or 40 degrees F and our freezer at 0 degrees F. These are the FDA recommended max temperatures to prevent spoilage.
21-when placing just-purchased groceries in my freezers or fridge I spread them out, so they chill faster, and again, prevent spoilage.
22-save leftover coffee or tea in the fridge. If I don't drink all of a cup or pot of coffee/tea, I save it until the next day, even if it's just an inch or two in the cup.
23-when I still feel tired, after my 2 cups of coffee in the AM, instead of more coffee, or some sugar, I drink a glass of water, step outside for some deep breaths of fresh air, and wash my face. All of these are good-for-me activities, but they save money on groceries, as a bonus. With the glass of water, I usually take this as an opportunity to take my C and B vitamins. I need to take those anyway, and both may help with energy levels. I may still want a cup of tea or coffee later, but for the most part, I drink less tea and coffee when I remind myself to have water and get fresh air to invigorate myself.
24-use small bits of leftover bread in savory or sweet bread pudding. If the amount is very small, I may only make a 2-serving dish of bread pudding. I had 2 scones, a half slice of white bread, and 1 small slice of French bread the other day. Because the scones were sweet, I made a sweet bread pudding. There was just enough for dessert for the small group eating at home that night.
25-I assess the amounts of ingredients that I have on hand before making my menu for the evening. If I anticipate the full family for dinner (5 or 6) I make my menu out of the ingredients of which I have a lot. If I anticipate just 2 or 3 of us eating that night, I seize that as an opportunity to use the small amounts of leftovers to feed a small group. The above mentioned small dish of bread pudding was made for a night when only 3 of us would be eating at home, or eating dessert (one family member is avoiding sweets for the time being). This worked perfectly. The previous night, we had the whole crowd for dinner. I had found a full pint of lemon sorbet in the freezer, and saved that for a night when everyone would be there. A pint of sorbet, plus a savoiardi biscuit made a light dessert and was enough for all of us.
26-I play "musical chairs" with the milk in my fridge and freezer. This may be difficult to explain in type, but here goes. I have 3 jugs of milk, all with near expiry dates. Jug A has enough milk for 1 day, is in the fridge, and has a use-by life of about 2 days. Jug B has enough milk for 4 days, is in the fridge, and has a use-by life of 2 days. Jug C has enough milk for 3 days, is in the freezer, and has a use-by life of about 3 days once thawed. How do I manage to have enough milk for every day, without waste or spoilage? I pour 1 days milk out of Jug B into Jug A, then pop Jug B in the freezer. This will give us enough milk in Jug A to get through 2 days.
But with Jugs B and C in the freezer, they will take 2-3 days each to thaw in the fridge, so we will be out of milk while we wait for them to thaw. If I keep Jug B in the fridge, now, it will go off before we drink it all, so it is best kept frozen until needed.
So, I take the frozen jug, Jug C out of the freezer, and place in the fridge to thaw, while we use Jug A. In 2 days, Jug C will be partially thawed and I can swish it enough to get frosty milk out of it, to use at meals on day 1 of its use, and will be totally thawed on day 2 of its 3-day use. When we finish Jug A, I then take Jug B out of the freezer and begin thawing in the fridge. It will take 2-3 days to thaw. About the time that Jug C is empty, Jug B will be ready to use, and will keep for 2-3 days.
Did anyone follow that? I hope someone got it. -ha ha- It's my system for using milk that's soon to go off, while maintaining a steady supply of milk for drinking and cooking.
27-if I accidentally take more butter than I really want for a piece of toast, I put the little bit that I don't want back on the butter dish. In the above photo, there's a tiny dab of butter on top of the stick. That would be mine from the other day. I used this butter, along with the half slice of bread from #5 to make myself some cinnamon toast for dessert after lunch on Friday.
28-the end of bags of chips (tortilla and potato) or packages of crackers get dumped into whatever casserole I make next.
I'm sure we can keep this list going and hit 100 things that we do to stretch our groceries. What's on your list?
Friday, November 3, 2017
Cheap & Cheerful for the beginning of November
Weekend (husband cooked)
scrambled eggs, cole slaw, fried corn tortillas, cooked zucchini, oven-roasted potatoes, canned tomato sauce, garbanzo beans and Polish sausage
My husband's cooking style is mostly about putting food in the stomach. I'm having a hard time with really starchy meals, so on Saturday he made a few vegetable dishes, which really helped me.
Monday
My daughter had made dinner in advance, on Sunday for tonight. She made pumpkin-shaped pizzas, pumpkin soup and cole slaw.
Tuesday
I heated some turkey in gravy from the freezer, plus cornbread stuffing from a package, leftover cole slaw, spaghetti squash, mini candy bars
Wednesday (family dinner)
I made spaghetti and meatballs, using frozen meatballs, frozen tomato paste, garden herbs/garlic, whole wheat spaghetti noodles, also had a kale/zucchini/onion stir-fry, garlic toast from a small loaf of homemade French bread which had gone stale, and for dessert -- lemon sorbet found in the freezer and some savoiardi biscuits bought a really long time ago. I continue to find goodies tucked away in the freezer and pantry.
Thursday
I used some leftover pizza sauce, pasta, zucchini, and meatballs for a one-pot meal, and served applesauce, and bread pudding. Easy-peasy
Tonight
I think we'll do a repeat of Tuesday's turkey, gravy and stuffing. I have turkey and gravy in the freezer, the stuffing is packaged. I need to get out to the store and pick up some veggies. I'll see what looks good, and what might be on sale, and will use that as a side dish.
I hope that your week of meals was interesting and warming. Have a great weekend!
scrambled eggs, cole slaw, fried corn tortillas, cooked zucchini, oven-roasted potatoes, canned tomato sauce, garbanzo beans and Polish sausage
My husband's cooking style is mostly about putting food in the stomach. I'm having a hard time with really starchy meals, so on Saturday he made a few vegetable dishes, which really helped me.
Monday
My daughter had made dinner in advance, on Sunday for tonight. She made pumpkin-shaped pizzas, pumpkin soup and cole slaw.
Tuesday
I heated some turkey in gravy from the freezer, plus cornbread stuffing from a package, leftover cole slaw, spaghetti squash, mini candy bars
Wednesday (family dinner)
I made spaghetti and meatballs, using frozen meatballs, frozen tomato paste, garden herbs/garlic, whole wheat spaghetti noodles, also had a kale/zucchini/onion stir-fry, garlic toast from a small loaf of homemade French bread which had gone stale, and for dessert -- lemon sorbet found in the freezer and some savoiardi biscuits bought a really long time ago. I continue to find goodies tucked away in the freezer and pantry.
Thursday
I used some leftover pizza sauce, pasta, zucchini, and meatballs for a one-pot meal, and served applesauce, and bread pudding. Easy-peasy
Tonight
I think we'll do a repeat of Tuesday's turkey, gravy and stuffing. I have turkey and gravy in the freezer, the stuffing is packaged. I need to get out to the store and pick up some veggies. I'll see what looks good, and what might be on sale, and will use that as a side dish.
I hope that your week of meals was interesting and warming. Have a great weekend!
Thursday, November 2, 2017
October 2017 Grocery Journal
I think this month will turn out well, grocery spending-wise. Keeping fingers crossed!!!
October 3. Senior Discount Day at Fred Meyer. This is such an awesome deal for my area. I can use the discount, plus coupons and/or on sale, and on store-brand products (price already competitive). I checked the e-coupons and made my list. This is what I bought: 3 cans of Kroger crescent roll dough ($1.30 each), large bottle canola oil (48 oz maybe?) for $1.79, the last 4 48-oz jars of applesauce ($1.30 each), 2 15-oz cans of pumpkin ($1.29 each), 16-oz jar peanut butter ($1.25), 32-oz pure maple syrup ($11.24), trident gum (freebie), about a pound of freshly ground Seattle roast coffee (dark roast, the good stuff), $4.45, 1-lb whole wheat saltine crackers (90 cents), 3/4 lb of sunflower seeds ($1.07), 1.39 lb of raisins ($2.59), 10 lbs potatoes ($2.99), 1/2 gallon soymilk ($2.06). 2 dozen eggs (71 cents/dozen), 5 lbs carrots ($2.69), large head each of green and red cabbage (49 cents/lb), 3 packages flour tortillas (89 cents each), green onions (79 cents), radishes (79 cents), head each of red leaf and Romaine lettuce ($1.29), 4 bags of marked down apples, mix of Rome and Granny Smith (each weighing about 2 lbs) for $1 each, or about 50 cents/lb, about 14 bananas at 49 cents/lb, 4 loaves of whole wheat bread (81 cents each), 1 2-litre bottle of lemon-lime soda (69 cents), 7 anjou pears (99 cents/lb), 1 package whole wheat hot dog buns ($1.12). Total spent -- $71.23, plus I used a coupon for 200 extra fuel reward points.
Oct. 9 My son was coming over and I wanted to show him how easy it is to make pizza at home, using some commercial ingredients. I made a special trip to the store, and lucked out with the marked down produce. They had just put a shopping cart full of bagged produce out. Fred Meyer bags the marked down produce in small net bags and sells the bags for $1 each, except bananas, which are 39 cents/lb. I weigh several bags to get the best price per pound. This time around, I got apples and tomatoes at about 50 cents/lb, and winter squash for about 30 cents/lb. I also bought a bag of 3 Asian pears for about 66 cents/lb. For the pizza, I bought 1 Pillsbury refrigerated pizza crust for $2, a jar of pizza sauce, 99 cents, 1 large green pepper, 99 cents, 3 mushrooms (yes, just 3 mushrooms, I love that you can buy just a couple of mushrooms at a time), 1 Italian sausage from the butcher, $1.25, 1 small can sliced olives, 99 cents, 2 packs of English muffins for 69 cents each, and 1 yogurt, freebie. My homemade large pizza cost about $5 to make, as there was leftover sauce, mushrooms, green pepper to use in another dish, and the crust was very good, I thought. Total spent -- $21.48
Oct. 12. A family dinner night, and wanting some beef. I bought a small roast for $4.99/lb. I have never in my life paid that much for beef. I also bought frozen pie crusts, for $1.50, a 4-lb bag of sugar for $1.89, and a head of Romaine lettuce for $1.29. Total spent -- $13.86
Oct. 17. Dollar Tree for tortilla chips and salsa, spent $2
Oct. 25. Yes, another family dinner night, and wanting to make grilled cheese sandwiches, so need cheese. I bought a 2-lb block of cheddar for $5.99, 2 13-oz turkey Polish sausage links/loops for $2.50 each, head of cabbage for 49 cents/lb, head of red leaf lettuce for $1.29, 8-oz sliced mushrooms for $1.19, 4 bags of marked down apples at $1 each (worked out to about 50 cents/lb again for apples), 4 half-gallons of 2% milk marked down to 99 cents each, 1 half-gallon of pumpkin eggnog marked down for $1.50, 2 dozen eggs for 79 cents/dozen, 1 package potato and broccoli soup mix, freebie, and 1 package of peanut M & M's, freebie. Total spent -- $25.66.
For the month of October I spent a grand total of $134.23
Even though I made several trips to the store, just to buy a special dinner or lunch worth of ingredients, I still did not spend much. We are trying to use up what we have in the freezers and pantry, still. I had $180.91 going into October, so this means that I have $46.68 leftover. Woo hoo! Personally, I haven't had much of an appetite this past month, the effect of that being that I don't buy much. I am keeping lots of produce on hand. I enjoy salads for lunch. I am also buying a few convenience products, such a the refrigerator roll dough and commercial bread. I should add that mid-month, one daughter and I volunteered at a luncheon/tea for the day and were gifted with enough produce to last us about 5 days of salads and fruit, plus milk and lots of bread products. Those items did not go onto my list of what I bought, but did help us stretch our budget. I have no idea of what November will cost.
A bonus this month -- I thought that we were completely out of all-purpose flour. There is a large container in the pantry that I thought was all whole wheat flour. Turns out it's white flour. I have a partial bag of whole wheat flour, still, so I've got plenty of both! That was a bonus! I wonder what else I'll find as we plow through the freezer contents.
What I bought
Produce
4 large jars of applesauce
2 cans pumpkin
1.39 lb raisins
10 lbs potatoes
5 lbs carrots
head red cabbage
head green cabbage
5 lbs carrots
bunch of green onions
bunch of radishes
3 heads of lettuce
36 apples
20 bananas
7 anjou pears
1 large green pepper
8 assorted small winter squash
3 Asian pears
8 lbs of tomatoes
3 mushrooms
8 oz package mushrooms
Meat
1 Italian sausage
2 lbs beef roast
Dairy/Fridge
3 cans of crescent roll dough
half-gallon soymilk
2 dozen eggs
individual container yogurt (freebie)
pizza crust dough
Freezer
pie crusts, 2
Pantry
48-oz bottle of canola oil
1 jar peanut butter
quart real maple syrup
package of gum (freebie)
1 lb of ground coffee
16 oz saltines
.74 lb sunflower seeds
3 packages of flour tortillas
4 loaves bread
1 package hot dog buns
2-litre lemon-lime soda
small jar pizza sauce
12 English muffins
small can sliced olives
1 jar salsa
1 bag tortilla chips
4 lbs sugar
package of M&Ms (freebie)
October 3. Senior Discount Day at Fred Meyer. This is such an awesome deal for my area. I can use the discount, plus coupons and/or on sale, and on store-brand products (price already competitive). I checked the e-coupons and made my list. This is what I bought: 3 cans of Kroger crescent roll dough ($1.30 each), large bottle canola oil (48 oz maybe?) for $1.79, the last 4 48-oz jars of applesauce ($1.30 each), 2 15-oz cans of pumpkin ($1.29 each), 16-oz jar peanut butter ($1.25), 32-oz pure maple syrup ($11.24), trident gum (freebie), about a pound of freshly ground Seattle roast coffee (dark roast, the good stuff), $4.45, 1-lb whole wheat saltine crackers (90 cents), 3/4 lb of sunflower seeds ($1.07), 1.39 lb of raisins ($2.59), 10 lbs potatoes ($2.99), 1/2 gallon soymilk ($2.06). 2 dozen eggs (71 cents/dozen), 5 lbs carrots ($2.69), large head each of green and red cabbage (49 cents/lb), 3 packages flour tortillas (89 cents each), green onions (79 cents), radishes (79 cents), head each of red leaf and Romaine lettuce ($1.29), 4 bags of marked down apples, mix of Rome and Granny Smith (each weighing about 2 lbs) for $1 each, or about 50 cents/lb, about 14 bananas at 49 cents/lb, 4 loaves of whole wheat bread (81 cents each), 1 2-litre bottle of lemon-lime soda (69 cents), 7 anjou pears (99 cents/lb), 1 package whole wheat hot dog buns ($1.12). Total spent -- $71.23, plus I used a coupon for 200 extra fuel reward points.
Oct. 9 My son was coming over and I wanted to show him how easy it is to make pizza at home, using some commercial ingredients. I made a special trip to the store, and lucked out with the marked down produce. They had just put a shopping cart full of bagged produce out. Fred Meyer bags the marked down produce in small net bags and sells the bags for $1 each, except bananas, which are 39 cents/lb. I weigh several bags to get the best price per pound. This time around, I got apples and tomatoes at about 50 cents/lb, and winter squash for about 30 cents/lb. I also bought a bag of 3 Asian pears for about 66 cents/lb. For the pizza, I bought 1 Pillsbury refrigerated pizza crust for $2, a jar of pizza sauce, 99 cents, 1 large green pepper, 99 cents, 3 mushrooms (yes, just 3 mushrooms, I love that you can buy just a couple of mushrooms at a time), 1 Italian sausage from the butcher, $1.25, 1 small can sliced olives, 99 cents, 2 packs of English muffins for 69 cents each, and 1 yogurt, freebie. My homemade large pizza cost about $5 to make, as there was leftover sauce, mushrooms, green pepper to use in another dish, and the crust was very good, I thought. Total spent -- $21.48
Oct. 12. A family dinner night, and wanting some beef. I bought a small roast for $4.99/lb. I have never in my life paid that much for beef. I also bought frozen pie crusts, for $1.50, a 4-lb bag of sugar for $1.89, and a head of Romaine lettuce for $1.29. Total spent -- $13.86
Oct. 17. Dollar Tree for tortilla chips and salsa, spent $2
Oct. 25. Yes, another family dinner night, and wanting to make grilled cheese sandwiches, so need cheese. I bought a 2-lb block of cheddar for $5.99, 2 13-oz turkey Polish sausage links/loops for $2.50 each, head of cabbage for 49 cents/lb, head of red leaf lettuce for $1.29, 8-oz sliced mushrooms for $1.19, 4 bags of marked down apples at $1 each (worked out to about 50 cents/lb again for apples), 4 half-gallons of 2% milk marked down to 99 cents each, 1 half-gallon of pumpkin eggnog marked down for $1.50, 2 dozen eggs for 79 cents/dozen, 1 package potato and broccoli soup mix, freebie, and 1 package of peanut M & M's, freebie. Total spent -- $25.66.
For the month of October I spent a grand total of $134.23
Even though I made several trips to the store, just to buy a special dinner or lunch worth of ingredients, I still did not spend much. We are trying to use up what we have in the freezers and pantry, still. I had $180.91 going into October, so this means that I have $46.68 leftover. Woo hoo! Personally, I haven't had much of an appetite this past month, the effect of that being that I don't buy much. I am keeping lots of produce on hand. I enjoy salads for lunch. I am also buying a few convenience products, such a the refrigerator roll dough and commercial bread. I should add that mid-month, one daughter and I volunteered at a luncheon/tea for the day and were gifted with enough produce to last us about 5 days of salads and fruit, plus milk and lots of bread products. Those items did not go onto my list of what I bought, but did help us stretch our budget. I have no idea of what November will cost.
A bonus this month -- I thought that we were completely out of all-purpose flour. There is a large container in the pantry that I thought was all whole wheat flour. Turns out it's white flour. I have a partial bag of whole wheat flour, still, so I've got plenty of both! That was a bonus! I wonder what else I'll find as we plow through the freezer contents.
What I bought
Produce
4 large jars of applesauce
2 cans pumpkin
1.39 lb raisins
10 lbs potatoes
5 lbs carrots
head red cabbage
head green cabbage
5 lbs carrots
bunch of green onions
bunch of radishes
3 heads of lettuce
36 apples
20 bananas
7 anjou pears
1 large green pepper
8 assorted small winter squash
3 Asian pears
8 lbs of tomatoes
3 mushrooms
8 oz package mushrooms
Meat
1 Italian sausage
2 lbs beef roast
Dairy/Fridge
3 cans of crescent roll dough
half-gallon soymilk
2 dozen eggs
individual container yogurt (freebie)
pizza crust dough
Freezer
pie crusts, 2
Pantry
48-oz bottle of canola oil
1 jar peanut butter
quart real maple syrup
package of gum (freebie)
1 lb of ground coffee
16 oz saltines
.74 lb sunflower seeds
3 packages of flour tortillas
4 loaves bread
1 package hot dog buns
2-litre lemon-lime soda
small jar pizza sauce
12 English muffins
small can sliced olives
1 jar salsa
1 bag tortilla chips
4 lbs sugar
package of M&Ms (freebie)
Wednesday, November 1, 2017
It's a good thing that I did not spend a lot of money on Hallowe'en candy
We had zero trick or treaters. This is a first for us.
The houses are too far apart and set too far back from the street in our neighborhood. I think that if I were a kid, I would choose a different neighborhood, too. So, I've already eaten more than my share of these candy bars. I suggested to my daughters that we freeze half of them, to pull out some week when there aren't any goodies around. These would be good, chopped and added to scratch brownies. In addition, there's a Baby Ruth and apple salad recipe that looks interesting (Baby Ruths, whipped topping, and chopped apples -- that's it).
How about your house? Did you get many trick or treaters?
Monday, October 30, 2017
I'll be back on Wednesday
I've got a project that I'm working on, and fighting a cold at the same time. One good thing about both of those scenarios is I am not spending any money while I'm pre-occupied. I hope that your week is off to a great start!
Before I go -- a photo of something cute my daughter did for dinner tonight, mini pumpkin-shaped pizzas.
Before I go -- a photo of something cute my daughter did for dinner tonight, mini pumpkin-shaped pizzas.
Friday, October 27, 2017
Cheap & Cheerful for (oh my goodness!!) the end of October
Where did the month fly to? We'll be planting spring gardens before we know it, at this rate.
This past week --
Over the weekend, we had rice and lentils, snacks, garbanzo bean spread, salads, and fruit. One daughter and I volunteered at a charity luncheon on Saturday and frankly were too full ourselves to eat much for dinner that night. Sunday's dinner was more usual, with the lentils, some veggies, garbanzo beans, tomatoes, and potatoes.
Monday -- daughter put together a dinner of baked squash, leftover rice and lentils, spinach-onion-tofu saute
Tuesday -- hot dogs in whole wheat buns, tomato wedges, sauteed cabbage
Wednesday -- (family dinner) grilled cheese sandwiches, tomato bisque, potato chips, curried slaw, pumpkin eggnog
Thursday -- leftover tomato bisque (I made a huge pot on Wednesday, sent some home with my son, and we still had enough for last night), whole wheat Yorkshire pudding wedges, tossed salad of lettuce, cabbage, tomato, and cheese cubes with homemade dressing
Friday -- after our discussion about cabbage the other day, I picked up some turkey Polish sausage. I'll be making sausage, mashed potatoes, and cabbage for dinner tonight. Thank you for the idea the other day!!
I was looking out the window today and had a thought about the landscape in autumn. Colored leaves lay everywhere in a haphazard way, yet the world looks beautiful in all of their mess. Usually I associate beauty with a somewhat tidy appearance. But there is something beautiful in nature's untidiness. In case you hadn't guessed, no one in our house has raked any leaves yet. Perhaps this weekend. But if we don't get to the raking, we can still enjoy nature's untidy beauty. Anyways, just my thought as I gazed out my window. I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
This past week --
Over the weekend, we had rice and lentils, snacks, garbanzo bean spread, salads, and fruit. One daughter and I volunteered at a charity luncheon on Saturday and frankly were too full ourselves to eat much for dinner that night. Sunday's dinner was more usual, with the lentils, some veggies, garbanzo beans, tomatoes, and potatoes.
Monday -- daughter put together a dinner of baked squash, leftover rice and lentils, spinach-onion-tofu saute
Tuesday -- hot dogs in whole wheat buns, tomato wedges, sauteed cabbage
Wednesday -- (family dinner) grilled cheese sandwiches, tomato bisque, potato chips, curried slaw, pumpkin eggnog
Thursday -- leftover tomato bisque (I made a huge pot on Wednesday, sent some home with my son, and we still had enough for last night), whole wheat Yorkshire pudding wedges, tossed salad of lettuce, cabbage, tomato, and cheese cubes with homemade dressing
Friday -- after our discussion about cabbage the other day, I picked up some turkey Polish sausage. I'll be making sausage, mashed potatoes, and cabbage for dinner tonight. Thank you for the idea the other day!!
I was looking out the window today and had a thought about the landscape in autumn. Colored leaves lay everywhere in a haphazard way, yet the world looks beautiful in all of their mess. Usually I associate beauty with a somewhat tidy appearance. But there is something beautiful in nature's untidiness. In case you hadn't guessed, no one in our house has raked any leaves yet. Perhaps this weekend. But if we don't get to the raking, we can still enjoy nature's untidy beauty. Anyways, just my thought as I gazed out my window. I hope you have a wonderful weekend!
Wednesday, October 25, 2017
Oh, how I love cabbage (and other romantic odes)
I was chopping cabbage last night and thinking to myself how much I love cabbage. It isn't that cabbage is the yummiest food on Earth. But it's cheap (49 cents/lb the past month at Fred Meyer -- a bargain for veggies), keeps in the fridge for weeks and weeks, and is versatile enough to make either a hot dish or a cold salad.
Last night, we had sauteed cabbage, seasoned with soy sauce, garlic, ginger and a pinch of sugar. Tonight I'll add cabbage to our dinner of soup and sandwiches, as a slaw-style salad like this curried peanut salad, using peanuts from some trail mix which has had all of the other goodies gobbled up. I try to keep a jar of sliced red or green cabbage in the fridge, just waiting to be added to impromptu salad snacking. It's handy stuff for quick side dishes. I don't buy a lot of the usual convenience foods. But I do consider a head of cabbage to be something of a convenience item, as it doesn't require a lot of prep work, and can be ready to eat in minutes.
This time of year, cabbage makes into many of our meals and snacks.
Tuesday, October 24, 2017
How do you store opened packages of cream cheese?
For many years, I would store an opened package of cream cheese, as is, still in the foil wrap, inside the small box. What would follow is the cheese would linger in the fridge, to mold and/or dry out inside the foil package.
About a year ago I began keeping the cream cheese on a plate, under a small glass bowl, upturned. What I noticed was that the cream cheese not only did not mold readily, as it had in the foil package, but it also was in view in the fridge, and was consumed at a faster rate.
Anyway, this is my homespun cheese dome. You can spend about $15 to $20 and buy a cheese dome, or you can simply use what's in the kitchen -- a plate and a small glass bowl. Saving the cream cheese saves money.
About a year ago I began keeping the cream cheese on a plate, under a small glass bowl, upturned. What I noticed was that the cream cheese not only did not mold readily, as it had in the foil package, but it also was in view in the fridge, and was consumed at a faster rate.
Anyway, this is my homespun cheese dome. You can spend about $15 to $20 and buy a cheese dome, or you can simply use what's in the kitchen -- a plate and a small glass bowl. Saving the cream cheese saves money.
Monday, October 23, 2017
Pumpkin-sausage pasta (using leftover canned pumpkin)
In answer to a request in the comments from Friday, here is something I do with leftover cooked or canned pumpkin. Since the amounts of ingredients varies with the number of servings, I've given estimates of what I use. You can adjust to your own meal prep situation.
cooked pasta, according to package directions, enough to serve family, cook pasta, drain and set aside
large Italian sausage links, about 1/4 lb each, 1 for every 2 servings (I use 2 or 3 links for 5 adult servings)
chopped onion, about 1/2 large onion for 4-5 servings
minced garlic, garlic powder or granules, equivalent to 2 cloves of garlic for 4-5 servings
chicken stock, 2 cups for 4-5 servings
pureed pumpkin, canned or fresh cooked, about 1 cup
sage, fresh minced or dried crumbled, equivalent of about 1-2 teaspoons (or to taste) dried, rubbed sage
cream or milk, 1/4 cup
Parmesan cheese, 1/2 cup
dash nutmeg
salt, to taste
red pepper flakes, pinch
Parmesan shavings, for garnish, as much as desired
Remove sausage from casing, brown and crumble in a skillet. Set sausage aside. Pour off all but 1-2 teaspoons fat from the sausage. Saute the onion in the sausage fat. Add the garlic when the onion is translucent. Cook until onion is barely golden.
Add the pumpkin, chicken stock and sage. Bring to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes. Add the browned sausage and heat through. Toss in the cooked pasta, along with cream or milk, cheese and nutmeg. Taste and add salt and red pepper flakes. Garnish with additional Parmesan.
notes:
I sometimes use turkey Italian sausage, in which case there is little residual fat in the pan. For turkey Italian sausage, use about 2 teaspoons of olive oil to saute the onion.
This is a less-meat dish. you can certainly use more Italian sausage, if you have heavy-duty carnivores in your house. you can also omit the sausage for a vegetarian dish. I don't think this would be very tasty as a vegan dish. It seems to need the flavors of the sausage and/or the Parmesan. I go easy on the cream/milk. But if you like a creamier dish, use as much as 1/2 cup of cream/milk.
For buying Italian sausage, the butcher counter in our local Fred Meyer carries pork Italian sausage links to be purchased one at a time. When I made sausage pizza a couple of weeks ago, I bought just one sausage, to brown and crumble. It may not be the cheapest per pound way to go, for Italian sausage, but if you only want 1 or 2, it is simple to just buy what you need. I also buy the turkey version, in tray packs by Jennie-O. The turkey Italian sausage links in those packs go to mark down frequently, as they're sold refrigerated (not frozen, though you can freeze them once home). When I find them on markdown I will buy several packages, split into packets of 2 or 3 links, and freeze.
Very hearty and warming for a fall evening. I serve this with a green salad or green veggies, and a baguette, if we're extra hungry.
Pumpkin-sausage pasta
cooked pasta, according to package directions, enough to serve family, cook pasta, drain and set aside
large Italian sausage links, about 1/4 lb each, 1 for every 2 servings (I use 2 or 3 links for 5 adult servings)
chopped onion, about 1/2 large onion for 4-5 servings
minced garlic, garlic powder or granules, equivalent to 2 cloves of garlic for 4-5 servings
chicken stock, 2 cups for 4-5 servings
pureed pumpkin, canned or fresh cooked, about 1 cup
sage, fresh minced or dried crumbled, equivalent of about 1-2 teaspoons (or to taste) dried, rubbed sage
cream or milk, 1/4 cup
Parmesan cheese, 1/2 cup
dash nutmeg
salt, to taste
red pepper flakes, pinch
Parmesan shavings, for garnish, as much as desired
Remove sausage from casing, brown and crumble in a skillet. Set sausage aside. Pour off all but 1-2 teaspoons fat from the sausage. Saute the onion in the sausage fat. Add the garlic when the onion is translucent. Cook until onion is barely golden.
Add the pumpkin, chicken stock and sage. Bring to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes. Add the browned sausage and heat through. Toss in the cooked pasta, along with cream or milk, cheese and nutmeg. Taste and add salt and red pepper flakes. Garnish with additional Parmesan.
notes:
I sometimes use turkey Italian sausage, in which case there is little residual fat in the pan. For turkey Italian sausage, use about 2 teaspoons of olive oil to saute the onion.
This is a less-meat dish. you can certainly use more Italian sausage, if you have heavy-duty carnivores in your house. you can also omit the sausage for a vegetarian dish. I don't think this would be very tasty as a vegan dish. It seems to need the flavors of the sausage and/or the Parmesan. I go easy on the cream/milk. But if you like a creamier dish, use as much as 1/2 cup of cream/milk.
For buying Italian sausage, the butcher counter in our local Fred Meyer carries pork Italian sausage links to be purchased one at a time. When I made sausage pizza a couple of weeks ago, I bought just one sausage, to brown and crumble. It may not be the cheapest per pound way to go, for Italian sausage, but if you only want 1 or 2, it is simple to just buy what you need. I also buy the turkey version, in tray packs by Jennie-O. The turkey Italian sausage links in those packs go to mark down frequently, as they're sold refrigerated (not frozen, though you can freeze them once home). When I find them on markdown I will buy several packages, split into packets of 2 or 3 links, and freeze.
Very hearty and warming for a fall evening. I serve this with a green salad or green veggies, and a baguette, if we're extra hungry.
Friday, October 20, 2017
Cheap & Cheerful for a mid-October week
It's getting cooler and darker in our area. We have curtains in the kitchen eating area which I've felt the need to close before we eat our dinner. We've been using a jar candle on the kitchen table some of the nights, too. This candle was a gift from friends last holiday season. We have a large assortment of candles and I thought this year, we'd try to use them. They do add a nice ambiance to chilly fall and winter days and evenings.
the weekend -- I think we ate a lot of eggs over the weekend. As I've been telling the family, I'm pushing eggs. I had a few dozen left from a major purchase in early September. One night my husband made French toast for dinner.
Monday -- my daughter made dinner for us. She made egg fried rice. She made this on Sunday afternoon, then reheated Monday evening. It worked great, and she made so much that I had some for lunches during the week, too.
Tuesday -- (family dinner night) beef and bean burritos, using leftover pot roast from last week kept in freezer, canned beans, commercial tortillas and cheese, chips and salsa (both Dollar Tree), baked acorn squash, tossed salad with homemade dressing, scratch cake
Wednesday -- leftover beef and bean burritos, tossed salad, pear slices, refried beans and cheese, chips and salsa, baked squash
Thursday -- turkey-noodle soup, pumpkin muffins, apples
Friday -- leftover soup tonight, with muffins and applesauce
Saving time this week -- On Tuesday, I made twice as much as we needed, so Wednesday was just leftovers, with a fresh salad and fruit. Thursday, I did the same, made twice what we needed so there would be leftovers for Friday. I need to buy more produce very soon. I'll get out to a store in the next day or two. Otherwise, our supplies are still good. I cleaned up the pantry this past week and took a cursory inventory. It looks like I am well set for confectioner's sugar. Somehow I got overstocked on that last year. And I still have enough canned pumpkin for 10 pies. I do use pumpkin for soups and pasta sauce, though, so I will still buy more this fall. I am also well stocked on whole wheat flour, rolled oats, steel cut oats and brown rice. No chance of running out of grains any time soon.
How about you? Are you using what's on hand this month? Beginning to do some stocking up? Does anyone have a particularly good authentic Thai recipe, for a main dish? I'm looking for an authentic, but easy to make, and with few extra ingredients to buy (given your standard American pantry) Thai recipe.
I hope you all have a great weekend. I will hopefully be around more next week, than the past couple of weeks. Life got crazy for a bit, there.
the weekend -- I think we ate a lot of eggs over the weekend. As I've been telling the family, I'm pushing eggs. I had a few dozen left from a major purchase in early September. One night my husband made French toast for dinner.
Monday -- my daughter made dinner for us. She made egg fried rice. She made this on Sunday afternoon, then reheated Monday evening. It worked great, and she made so much that I had some for lunches during the week, too.
Tuesday -- (family dinner night) beef and bean burritos, using leftover pot roast from last week kept in freezer, canned beans, commercial tortillas and cheese, chips and salsa (both Dollar Tree), baked acorn squash, tossed salad with homemade dressing, scratch cake
Wednesday -- leftover beef and bean burritos, tossed salad, pear slices, refried beans and cheese, chips and salsa, baked squash
Thursday -- turkey-noodle soup, pumpkin muffins, apples
Friday -- leftover soup tonight, with muffins and applesauce
Saving time this week -- On Tuesday, I made twice as much as we needed, so Wednesday was just leftovers, with a fresh salad and fruit. Thursday, I did the same, made twice what we needed so there would be leftovers for Friday. I need to buy more produce very soon. I'll get out to a store in the next day or two. Otherwise, our supplies are still good. I cleaned up the pantry this past week and took a cursory inventory. It looks like I am well set for confectioner's sugar. Somehow I got overstocked on that last year. And I still have enough canned pumpkin for 10 pies. I do use pumpkin for soups and pasta sauce, though, so I will still buy more this fall. I am also well stocked on whole wheat flour, rolled oats, steel cut oats and brown rice. No chance of running out of grains any time soon.
How about you? Are you using what's on hand this month? Beginning to do some stocking up? Does anyone have a particularly good authentic Thai recipe, for a main dish? I'm looking for an authentic, but easy to make, and with few extra ingredients to buy (given your standard American pantry) Thai recipe.
I hope you all have a great weekend. I will hopefully be around more next week, than the past couple of weeks. Life got crazy for a bit, there.
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