Cleaning My Oven the Non-Toxic Way

After the holiday baking and roasting season, one of the first jobs on my spring-cleaning list was to clean the oven. I didn't start out to clean my oven the hard way. In fact, my plan had been to use the self-clean feature. I set the oven to "clean" then sat down to eat my lunch. I was actually looking forward to the extra heat the cleaning cycle would give to the kitchen. Out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw a flash. I looked over to the oven and nothing. A minute later, another flash. And again looking at the oven, nothing. Then a bunch of flashes and I caught those. A few seconds later, a little fire broke out inside the oven. Not knowing what to do, I grabbed the box of baking soda (thinking I would douse the little fire) and turned the oven cleaning off. Only, the oven would not unlock as it was still too hot to be safe. 

So, I sat there, watching the little fire burn itself down, and after a minute, finally out. What worried me was that the little fire was burning right beneath the heating element. I was afraid the element could be damaged. When the oven finally cooled enough for me to open the door, I did. I waited for the interior to cool enough to get in there and scrape up the stuff that I should have scraped before cleaning. And before I knew it, I was cleaning my oven the old-fashioned way.

For my own health, I try to use non-toxic cleaning products as much as possible. Which means I don't use spray oven cleaners. As a bonus, what I do use for cleaning is often super duper cheap, using ingredients like vinegar, baking soda, hot water, and liquid dish hand washing soap. But as you know, cleaners like these also require a good deal of elbow grease to get the job done.

My oven cleaning technique was a bunch of scraping, scrubbing with baking soda and warm water, followed by scraping and scrubbing some more. I was able to get the floor of the oven pretty clean. The oven window was another story. Even though I'd just cleaned my oven in the fall, all that holiday baking and roasting left the window covered in baked-on grease splatters. I scrubbed that window with baking soda, a scrubbing sponge, some dish soap . . .and got no where. That's when I thought of scraping the glass with a paint scraper. I couldn't find the scraper that has a razor blade, but did find the flat edged one that I use when scraping old paint or varnish from furniture I plan on refinishing. But surprise, surprise, this actually worked. I first tried to scrape the dry window with little success. Then I thought to wait until just after I baked something and try cleaning the window when the oven was just a little warm. This was slightly better. Next, I added some baking soda and rubbed it around with a wet cloth. This is when I had success with the scraper. After scraping until the window was nearly clear, I then polished off any little bits of grease with more baking soda and water.

What I noticed was the part of the oven window that I began on first, when the door was still slightly warm, scraped off more cleanly and with less effort than the half of the window that had fully cooled. The heat from the oven must slightly soften the baked on grease, much like a warm from the oven cookie comes off the baking sheet more easily than when fully cooled. And the thin baking soda paste must have also led to some softening of the baked grease. Good things to know for next time.

I still have the sides of the oven and racks to clean. I've worked enough for one day. I'll tackle those tomorrow.

Cheap & Cheerful Suppers in Mid-Winter

Mid-winter meals -- lots of meat, lots of potatoes, and lots of comfort foods. There was meat in our meals 5 of the 7 nights and some of the lunches. 

We're using near the end of fresh produce from the fall, homegrown and purchased (potatoes, turnips, pumpkin, and onions). As that's not nearly enough for family meals, we're also digging through the freezer for vegetables, using canned vegetables and fruit, and filling the gaps with winter staples like oranges and cabbage.

Friday (Friday movie and pizza night -- we watched A Prairie Home Companion)

scratch pepperoni pizza

mix of frozen broccoli and Brussel sprouts

orange wedges

As I was going through the deep freeze a week ago, I came across a mostly empty bag of Brussel sprouts and a mostly empty bag of broccoli. Either one alone wouldn't be enough for all four of us. But the combined bags were just enough. I have extra pizza cheese this month. One daughter had been staying at the house where she was dog-sitting for 10 days. Her sister was visiting her one evening and they wanted to bake cookies together, but didn't want to use the dog-mom's supplies. I traded them a bag of chocolate chips and a stick of butter for a 32-oz bag of shredded mozzarella one daughter had leftover. She had bought it to make pizza for her theater cast and crew and didn't need as much as she'd bought. I think I got a good deal. They think they got a good deal. We both won! Looks like Friday pizzas can continue without extra shopping.

Saturday (sorry, no photo)

bean burritos (sprouted pintos, seasoned and wrapped in scratch flour tortillas

roasted pumpkin cubes

Cole slaw

We continue to use the fresh pumpkins that we bought at the end of October and that grew in our garden. I've got them in the cold storage room (about 52 degrees F) and they're doing okay. I've got 3 left and will try to use them in the next couple of weeks.

Sunday

TVP "meat" balls with pasta sauce over spaghetti

frozen spinach and onions

My husband cooked tonight and this turned out to be very tasty. To make the TVP "meat" balls, he rehydrated the TVP, stirred in seasonings, oil, flour and an egg, then baked them. Other times, we like to fry these in oil in a skillet on the stove.

Monday

meatloaf with gravy

brown rice

roasted pumpkin cubes

sautéed cabbage and onions

I mentioned in the comments earlier this week that I've stopped using egg in meatloaf. It seems to hold together okay for me. This meatloaf was made with 12- ounces of ground beef, 1 slice of homemade whole wheat bread, some water, some tomato juice, salt, minced onion, garlic, and oregano. And again with the roasted pumpkin.

Tuesday

roasted chicken and gravy

roasted root vegetables (last of garden turnips, onion, canned beet root, canned carrots)

chunky hash brown potatoes

I'm so grateful that I bought several whole chickens last fall when I found them on sale for 99 cents/lb. We used one of these chickens for Thanksgiving dinner instead of turkey. They're pretty large (6 lbs or so), and provide a lot of servings. I cooked the last of the fresh turnips I dug in October. They kept just fine in the fridge these last months. We are out of fresh carrots and fresh beets, so I added canned ones near the end of the roasting time.

Wednesday

leftover chicken and gravy

pan-fried potato slices

Cole slaw

Thursday

leftover chicken in tomato sauce 

assorted pasta shapes or brown rice

sautéed cabbage and onions

One of my daughters cooked dinner tonight. She picked apart the roasted chicken from Tuesday and made it ready for making stock. Are chickens getting bigger? The ones I've been buying seem to be a pound heavier than what I used to find at the store. So far, we've had 3 family dinners and 1 family lunch with this chicken. There is enough meat left now for one more family meal, plus there will be stock with bits of meat for making soup. 

That's it for this week. What was on your menu? Do you find you eat more meat in winter than other seasons? Or is that just my family?

Wishing you a wonderful early February weekend!

A Dozen (Soon-To-Be) Flowering Plants for Basically Nothing

Happy February! Putting January in the rearview mirror is always a joyous event for me. Days are getting longer. The sun is getting stronger. And flowers are just beginning to peek out, some on their own and others helped along.

On my midday walk Wednesday, I spotted two houses with pots of primroses near the front doors. These pots looked so cheery. I wanted the same for my front door. The last time I was at Fred Meyer, they were selling primroses in the outdoor section for $1.79 per 4-inch potted plant. So tempting -- to have some outdoor flowers in late-January or early February! 

a dozen small plants rescued from their overly shady spot

I was ready to head out to the store and pick up a few plants when I remembered the primroses in my own yard. In particular, I had long ago planted several white primroses around the base of a new shrub. Over the years, the shrub has grown and now almost entirely shades out the struggling primroses. Well, what do you think a frugal person like me would do -- go to the store and buy new ones or lift and move the struggling ones to a better location, this time into my own pots by the door.

I used rumpled and used Christmas gift wrap to catch the mess of repotting

If you guessed that I would dig up the white ones in my own yard, you know me well. That's exactly what I did. I lifted a dozen tiny plants and put them into new soil in individual pots. I've got the tray of them up against the south side of the house, where they'll get more sun, be sheltered from harsher conditions for the next week or two, as well as size up a bit before replanting. I'll be cleaning up the outdoor pots in the coming days, readying them for planting the primroses.

I used fresh potting soil (not quite $1 worth). So my total cost for a dozen "new" primrose plants was about half-price of what it would have cost to buy a single plant at Fred Meyer. I can't wait for them to bloom!

Although it's great to save money and use what I have on hand, I do admit there is one downside. The plants at Fred Meyer were already blooming. I'll have to wait 2-3 weeks before I see blooms on my plants. But I remind myself, blooms at the end of February are better than no blooms at all. 

How to Do a Chocolate Pudding Makeover for a Pan of Failed Brownies

First, bake a bad batch of brownies. Or, more likely, take a failed batch of brownies (or cookies or cake). Crumble as best you can into a pyrex baker.

Next, make a batch of scratch chocolate pudding.

After cooking the pudding, thin it with 1/4 cup of water (so it will soak into the hard brownie bits or cookie or cake crumbles.)

While hot, pour the pudding over the pan of brownie crumbles. Allow to cool on the counter.

Once cooled, chill in the fridge for several hours up to overnight. After a good chill, cut into squares or scoop into dishes (cutting vs. scooping depends on how thin the pudding was).

Back story to the bad batch of brownies. My two daughters wanted brownies in a hurry over the weekend. They followed the recipe in my 35 year old microwave cookbook. The microwave we had 35 years ago had a much lower wattage than our current one. But my daughters didn't know that little tidbit off info. They microwaved the brownie batter for the amount of time called for for the lower wattage microwave, which was probably 2 minutes too long. 2 minutes in the microwave is a big over-cooking.

The verdict on the chocolate pudding brownie dessert? Two thumbs up all around!

Grocery Shopping January 2023

I have no plans to grocery shop until February. So, I'll post my end of month spending now.

Jan. 2. Fred Meyer. 3.55 lbs chuck roast ($3.99/lb), 2 16-oz containers cottage cheese (50 cents each -- marked down due to dent in side of containers), turkey bacon ($2.79), fresh mushrooms ($2.59), plus some marked down treats for my fam (39 cents box of movie candy, 2 packs Top Ramen 19 cents ea, can Chef Boyardee 64 cents). Spent $21.96

Jan. 9. Costco with my daughter-in-law. I mostly went to see what Costco carries and compare prices to those I know from shopping my local stores. What I bought -- 1 4-pack uncured turkey bacon ($10.59), 1 gigantic bag whole, pitted dates ($7.99), 1.5 lbs brown mushrooms ($5.99), 32-oz bag fresh Brussel sprouts ($4.99). My daughter-in-law used self-checkout that required credit or debit, so I reimbursed her $30 with cash after shopping.

Spent so far this month -- $51.96

January 12. My daughter wanted to go to WinCo and Walmart to pick up snacks and some lunch items for herself. I went with her and bought foods for the household. I bought 3 avocados (68 cents ea), bananas (53 cents/lb), 1/3 lb of bulk Parmesan cheese ($5.09/lb), 1 gallon whole milk ($3.17), and 2 cups of mixed nuts to make nut bars for my son and daughter-in-law for Valentine's Day ($4.38/lb). I love the bulk bins at WinCo. There's so much variety, prices in bulk beat the like packaged foods, and I can buy as little as I want and not have waste. I spent $11.29.

At Walmart, the only item I bought was the large package of Great Value fig bars. Spent $4.78.

Total spent today -- $16.07. Spent for the month so far --$68.03

January 17. Grabbed a burger at Five Guys with my 2 daughters using a gift card, located in same complex as Fred Meyer. Nothing spent out of pocket for the burger. I ran in to the store afterward to get a jar of decaf coffee ($4.99). Also checked the clearance aisle and found a can of peaches (81 cents) and a can of corn (39 cents). Spent $6.19.

Total spent for month so far -- $74.22

January 24. Gas was $3.99/gallon, inching back up.

January 26. Fred Meyer for a few items. I bought 5 dozen eggs at $2.19/dozen. That's more than double what I was paying back in 2021. I bought 1 bundle of marked down bananas (45 cents/lb) and 1 bundle of non-marked down bananas (59 cents/lb). Also, found 7 packages of turkey bacon marked down to $1.99 each and 1 can of carrots marked down (dented) to 53 cents. Total spent -- $26.94. I had a couple of non-food items and something to pick up for my daughter as well. While the eggs seem expensive now at 18 cents each, that's still a comparative decent price for high-quality protein foods. Plus, it's quick and easy to cook eggs for one person as opposed to cooking a roast for 1 person. 

total spent for the month so far -- $101.16

January 28. One daughter went down to WinCo and then Walmart to pick up some treats and lunch stuff for herself. I asked her to also get 3 things for me that I couldn't find or were not a good price at Fred Meyer (Fred Meyer was sold out of cabbage and store-brand fig bars, and their oranges were pricey per pound this week.) She bought 1 head of cabbage (82 cents/lb) and 1 package of Great Value Fig Bars ($4.78) at Walmart and an 8-lb bag of oranges at WinCo ($5.98). I reimbursed her $13.43.

total spent so far this month --  $114.59

What I bought this month

3.55 lbs beef roast

8 regular sized packages (10-12 oz) turkey bacon and 1 Costco package

32 oz cottage cheese
1/3 lb Parmesan cheese
1 gallon milk
5 dozen eggs

2 lbs fresh mushrooms
2 lbs Brussel sprouts
3 avocados
4 bunches bananas
1 can of carrots

8 lbs oranges

1 head cabbage

2 packs Top ramen
1 can Chef Boyardee
1 box movie candy
large bag pitted dates
2 cups mixed nuts
2 packages fig bars
jar decaf instant coffee

I don't normally buy so much junk (Top Ramen, Chef Boyardee, movie candy), but these were all treats and on the clearance rack. My two daughters got the movie candy, one daughter got the ramen (a flavor she loves), and my husband got the Chef Boyardee.

You might notice that we only bought 1 gallon of milk for the month. Gone are the days of needing 8-10 gallons per month for my household. I'm now nearly entirely lactose intolerant, so I don't even cook or bake with cow's milk if I think I will eat any of it. (I mix up some soy milk for those recipes that I would use dairy milk.) For my family members, I stretch the purchased milk with powdered milk I have in stock. 

We are using stockpiled foods still. So, we were not needing to buy very much in January. Low spending in January is pretty typical for my household for a couple of reasons. One, I don't find very many deals this time of year. Secondly, we try to eat healthier, less rich foods following the holidays. Thirdly, we anticipate high energy bills in winter for heat, so we can offset those by spending less on groceries. And forth, Thanksgiving through Christmas is a high spending period. We like to cut back on all of our spending in January to make up for the end of year excess.

That's it for January's grocery shopping. Do you find you spend less in January on groceries than other months? Or do you pretty much spend the same amount each month?

Cheap & Cheerful Suppers: Late-January Garden Harvesting

Friday

Friday

homemade pepperoni and mushroom pizza (using the end of the Costco mushrooms)

crabapple-applesauce (homegrown crabapples turned into sauce mixed with commercial applesauce)

mashed winter squash

Saturday (just 2 of us at home, so I made an easy meal)

chicken breast diced and cooked with canned tomatoes, onions, garlic, and herbs

brown rice

frozen broccoli

Sunday

Sunday

bean burritos, made with scratch flour tortillas and home-cooked, sprouted pinto beans

canned carrots

Monday

Monday

pot roast, potato wedges and gravy

honey-mustard glazed carrots

garden fresh kale and homegrown sprout salad

crabapple-applesauce

Tuesday

Tuesday

ham and eggs

garden fresh kale, sprout and cranberry salad

roasted pumpkin cubes

leftover potatoes and gravy

Wednesday

Wednesday

split pea, leafy green (frozen carrot greens, frozen celery leaves) and ham soup

dinner rolls (scratch, leftover from New Years and kept in the freezer)

canned pineapple

Thursday

Thursday

teriyaki chicken thighs with garden fresh Brussel sprout leaves and frozen turnip stem pieces

brown rice

Another week of dinners cooked at home. Not only does cooking at home save money, but I've grown to really prefer my own cooking. I can make foods exactly as we need them to be cooked, omitting ingredients that one or more of us can't eat while bumping up the vegetable content. Having a tummy that feels good after a meal is worth more than the leisure of meals out.

I'm trying something new. I'm sprouting dried pinto beans before cooking them up. I only sprout until they have tiny "tails". I've read that beans may be more digestible if sprouted before cooking. This was the first week I'd sprouted pintos for cooking, so I'm not sure if I can say whether or not they're more digestible. I'll be doing this once per week and see what I think over time.

Our garden is producing some leafy greens for us right now. If the weather doesn't turn horribly frozen, we should be able to harvest some greens several days per week for a few weeks.  We have mache, 2 kinds of kale, and Brussel sprout greens producing. In addition, the chives are coming up in a pot I put on the deck. Some years are like this, where we can harvest from the garden beginning in January.  

On the bad news side, we found some tiny bugs in the brown rice container. These are teeny, tiny bugs, small enough to fall through the mesh of a sieve. So, in addition to storing all of the brown rice in the deep freeze, we're also rinsing and straining the rice before cooking. I rinse about 3 times in a bowl of water, about until the final rinse has virtually no tiny bugs. A few bugs won't harm us, right? We'll be eating brown rice more often to try and use this up soon.

That's about it for our meals this week. What was on your menu?

Have a great weekend, friends!

Baking Soda Got Lumps?

As I've mentioned before, I use a combo of baking soda and vinegar in place of baking powder. I also sometimes use baking soda with cream of tartar when needing a dry version. And of course, I have several recipes that call for baking soda itself. I find myself using baking soda several times each week.

While I love how simply effective baking soda is in baking, it does have one drawback, lumps. Those pesky little lumps can be small enough to miss by sight but will show up in the finished product, lending an off taste to a bite of cookie or muffin. I've been asked a couple of times how I prevent these lumps, especially in cookie dough. 

There are 2 ways I've dealt with soda lumps. One option, I mix together butter, sugar, and soda in the initial step of any cookie recipe that calls for creaming butter and sugar before adding other ingredients. This little trick works well in cookie dough. My other method for handling soda lumps in batters and doughs is to use this small tea strainer. I add baking soda directly through the strainer, pressing any lumpy bits through the mesh.

I've been gifted many tea straining devices and tools over the years. I decided to dedicate this particular one to baking soda. Because I now only use the strainer on soda, I don't wash it after use, but instead I simply shake and tap it (mostly) clean afterward. And it's small enough to squeezes in alongside the container of baking soda in my cupboard.

So that's my little trick for dealing with lumps in baking soda.

Repurposing Expired Hand Sanitizer

Quick survey -- how many of you bought or were gifted more hand sanitizer than you or your family could use during the pandemic? Those of you who didn't accumulate excess hand sanitizer -- bravo to you!

Hand sanitizer is dated for expiry. The alcohol-based solutions do not become unsafe to use, but they may become less effective beginning a few months after expiry. In addition to the expiration question, some of us may have simply acquired too much hand sanitizer. 

Our family wound up with far more hand sanitizer than we could use. I bought. couple of bottles in early 2020. Small bottle were gifts with purchase in some stores.  And pleasantly-scented, pocket-size containers were a popular holiday gift in my house in 2020 and 2021. On top of this surplus, one large bottle smelled particularly boozy to some of us, and so was completely avoided. So here I am, lots of partially used bottles of hand sanitizers floating around our house, car, purses and jacket pockets -- some expired, some not -- and I needed to find ways to use the stuff up.

My first thought was it does a great job stripping my hands of natural oils, so it must make a halfway decent degreaser. What I didn't know was that it would also be good at breaking down soap scum. Here's what I've used hand sanitizer on so far: cleaning the bathroom sink, the synthetic solid surface countertop (Corian), the bathtub, chrome faucets and handles, the glass shower doors, the seat and exterior porcelain parts of the toilet, and a hair dye stain on a white cabinet door (required multiple applications and some rubbing, but the stain eventually came out). I was very pleased with how well this worked on the shower doors. I've tried a bunch of different products on the soap scum with mixed success. A rag and some hand sanitizer really got the doors clean. As this is a sanitizer, bathroom cleaning seems to be the perfect use.

In addition to the gel hand sanitizer, I also received some spray alcohol-based sanitizer as gifts. I have found the spray kind makes a great alternative to deodorant. After working around the house and getting a wee bit sweaty, I give a quick spritz under the arms, allow to dry, and I'm fresh smelling once again.

Always nice to find uses for something that might otherwise be discarded.

Old-Style Waffle Irons

I wanted to show you something you may not know still exists (and is still manufactured). Before there were electric waffle irons, there were waffle irons that sat directly on a heat source, like a stovetop. The first American stovetop waffle iron was invented in the second half of the 1800s. It wasn't until the early 1900s that a waffle iron attached to its own heating elements was invented. Technology for these early electrified waffle irons improved between 1920 and 1950, giving us the waffle irons we remember from our childhoods.

My own waffle iron is one of those old-fashioned stovetop contraptions. There is no electrical cord and no heating elements. It bakes waffles with the heat from my stove burner. It can also be used over a wood fire, so long as there's a grill for the iron to rest on. (My arms would get tired holding the iron steady over a fire for more than a minute or two.)

The iron consists of two grid paddles connected by a hinge. Each side has a built-in simple thermometer, with just 3 settings, COLD, COOK, HOT. To use the iron, I must first pre-heat both sides on my stove's burner. I turn the iron over a couple of times over the course of 5 minutes or so, until the thermometer's pointer is on COOK for both sides. At this point, I add the batter to the iron and return it to the stovetop. I manually flip the iron over to cook the second side about 2 minutes into cooking. When the steam seeping out from between the two paddles subsides, I know my waffles are baked.

My purpose in showing you my waffle iron is really just for information and entertainment. It's different from what most of know as a waffle iron, so I thought you might enjoy seeing it. Why would someone buy this sort of waffle iron, you may wonder. Here are a few pros to old-style waffle irons:

• They can't really break or stop working, as there are no electrical cords or elements which could short out. Old-style waffle irons could in theory continue to "work" for centuries. I expect mine will be handed down to one of my kids or sold at an estate sale to be used for many, many more years.
• They can be used over a fire in the fireplace or a grill outdoors, so in theory it could be taken camping.
• They're less expensive to purchase than most electrified models.
• Without an electrical component, they have a slim profile and can be stored in tight spaces. This was important to us when we first received it 35 years ago, as we were living in a small apartment with little kitchen storage.

Still, there are some downsides to a non-electrified waffle iron.

• There's a learning curve to getting the waffles to come out just right. Without an indicator light to tell you when the iron is heated or the waffles are baked, the cook has to make educated guesses for its use.
• Because the iron has to be flipped over halfway through cooking, this type needs more attention than electrified units that cook on both sides at the same time.
• Waffles take a little longer to bake, as the iron has to be flipped on the heat surface to cook both sides.
• It can't be brought to the table for cooking additional waffles while the family eats the first batch. Some families like to have the electric griddle or waffle maker at the table, so the cook can eat alongside the family.

Anyway, I was making waffles for my family last Friday and thought about how unique my iron is in today's world, and a few of you may not realize these are still in household use.

Cheap & Cheerful Suppers Even When I Feel Lackluster

I'm sorry I haven't been posting this week. I'm just tired. I usually catch a cold about this time of year, shortly after the holidays. This year I didn't. But the holidays still tired me. And its all caught up to me this week. When I'm tired, I feel lackluster and boring, nothing to blog about. I did keep track of what we ate this week, though. Even when I'm boring, I can still make note of meals and share those. 

I also included some photos from our yard and nearby. It's turned cold and very wet this week, with highs in the low to mid-40s and puddles everywhere. Despite the less-than-wonderful weather, I push myself to get outdoors each day. I would rather stay inside where it's warm and comfy. But getting outside, even when it's raining, is better for my overall mood.

My son and daughter-in-law gave me this hummingbird feeder
for Christmas and I already have a "regular" hummer visiting.
He/she visits several times per day.

Friday

Friday 

scratch pepperoni, mushroom, olive pizza (using up those olives that had been lingering in the fridge since Thanksgiving) 

roasted Brussel sprouts

gingered fig-applesauce

This was the evening we took down the Christmas tree. We always wait until after Epiphany, and then have to find a night that works for the whole household. We played Christmas music while eating our pizza by the Christmas tree one last time.

Saturday

Saturday

bean burritos

canned green beans

The garlic that I planted in October is just now coming up!

Sunday

Sunday

TVP, eggs, and vegetables over rice

mashed winter squash

pumpkin pie

The last couple of winter squash desperately needed cooking. So I split them into halves and roasted them.  We'll be eating winter squash as a side dish for lunches and dinners this week.

Monday

Monday

cheese and vegetable lasagna

winter squash

Last time I was in Fred Meyer I found some cottage cheese on markdown. Most of the containers were priced at 99 cents each. However, there were 2 16-oz containers priced at 50 cents each. I bought both. When I got home, my 2 daughters told me they don't really like cottage cheese. I'm lactose intolerant, so that meant my husband had to eat all the cottage cheese, unless I found a plan to use some of it. So I made a cheesy lasagna for the 3 of them and a vegetable, noodle, and sauce layered casserole for myself. I added some chopped veggies to the cheese filling -- garlic, chopped canned carrots, and some fresh from the garden kale. Yep! We've got some kale to harvest already, or maybe it's "still."

On my walk this week, I spied some snowdrops
peeking up through the soil in a neighbor's yard.

Tuesday

assorted leftovers, plus orange wedges and pan-fried potatoes

Our potatoes are beginning to sprout and go a little soft. I baked about 10 small potatoes in the microwave today. I enjoy these, sliced and pan-fried in saved bacon fat mixed with oil.

Wednesday

Wednesday

beef hot dogs

brown rice

beet salad

canned green beans

leftover pumpkin pie

No buns tonight, but rice tastes good as a starchy side. We're using lots of canned veggies right now. The beet salad was simply vinaigrette-marinated canned beets. I saved the beet liquid and may try making pink rice with it.

I have a peculiar streak that pops up from time to time.
The pink spots are rose petals from a bouquet of roses last month.
Instead of composting the flowers and stems. I scattered the
petals over one of the vegetable beds (cuz I thought they would
look pretty). Every day when I take the 
compost out, seeing the rose petals scattered
across the soil makes me smile.

Thursday

tuna salad

canned pineapple chunks

avocado wedge

applesauce-rice muffins (using up applesauce that smelled like it was fermenting and leftover rice, pureed with the liquids)

Do you get the blahs after the holidays? Or does life (and your mood) just pick up, post-holiday season, where you left off in early November? I hope your luster isn't lacking this month.

What was on your menu this week? Have a great weekend, friends!

Cheap & Cheerful Suppers for Early January

Friday (pizza and movie night -- we watched Field of Dreams)
scratch pepperoni pizza
gingered fig-applesauce (home canned unripe garden figs blended with applesauce and spice)
cabbage and sprout slaw

Saturday

bean burritos in homemade flour tortillas

orange wedges

slaw

avocado

Sunday

bean and vegetable soup

Dinner sounds like a small meal today. That's because our main meal was a lunch-time winter tea. My daughters helped me put together a menu of scones, various spreads, egg salad sandwiches, tangerines, 2 pots of tea, mixed nuts, cookies, and homemade truffles. At dinner time, we all wanted a simple meal, and soup fit the bill.

Monday

scrambled eggs

grilled mushrooms

brown rice (topped with soy sauce and sesame oil)

mashed winter squash

roasted Brussel sprouts

This was the day I went to Costco with my daughter-in-law. You may recall, I bought mushrooms and Brussel sprouts. As you'll see, those packages last for a few meals. I got home with one hour to pull together dinner before one daughter had to leave for rehearsal. Eggs are pretty quick and easy. I pre-cooked the winter squash halves in the microwave before roasting them until done, along with the Brussel sprouts (on a different baking tray). I sautéed the mushrooms with garlic in butter and oil -- very, very tasty.

Tuesday

pot roast, potatoes, and gravy

grilled mushrooms

Brussel sprouts

mashed winter squash

I bought a chuck roast at Fred Meyer the week before. We haven't had pot roast in about 2 years, I think. I made a gravy, sautéed more mushrooms with garlic, and added some potato wedges to the pot in the last 20-30 minutes. The roast was large enough for 4 family meals. I froze half the cooked meat and used the other portion on Wednesday.

Wednesday

leftover beef from roast heated in salsa

corn tortillas

Brussel sprouts

orange wedges

A quick meal, using the leftover cooked meat and some salsa. In place of adding salt and water to the salsa and meat, I used some olive brine leftover from canned black olives, both salty and liquid to thin the salsa a bit.

Thursday

pancakes

bacon

pumpkin souffle

blackberries and blackberry syrup for topping pancakes

We still have mushrooms and Brussel spouts leftover from Monday's shopping. I'll be making a pizza with some of the mushrooms and serve a side of Brussel sprouts for tonight's dinner.  

I'm still cooking up fresh pumpkins and winter squash for both freezing and use in current meals. One pumpkin, upon checking earlier this week, was beginning to wrinkle and soften. So I cooked a large pot of pumpkin this week, using the skin-on technique for cooking and pureeing. Some of the pumpkin puree went into the freezer and some was used in Thursday's dinner. Lots of repeating ingredients this week.

Those were our main meals this week. What was on your menu?

Use-By Dates for Homemade Foods

We're all trying to avoid food waste these days. Well, many of us have been trying to avoid food waste for decades. It's just that right now, it's more expensive than ever to waste food that we've purchased. I wanted to show you something I do that helps in the war on food waste.

Commercial products have use-by dates printed on the container or package. Home-packaged foods, whether they be leftovers or a food you've made, lack these motivating labels. A while ago I began putting use-by dates on our refrigerated homemade foods, such as homemade soy milk, stock and yogurt, or containers with leftover cooked rice or oatmeal, or a quarter of a green pepper that may or may not get used before rotting, or the remains from an open can of veggies, or half a beaten egg, or reconstituted powdered milk . . . you get the picture. 

As I'm packaging a food for the fridge, I use a sharpie to mark a use-by date onto the containers themselves or onto a "label" I make out of a small piece of duct tape. I estimate use-by dates, erring on the side of caution. Mostly, these dates serve as reminders to use up the food soon. They also take the guess work out of remembering when a food was refrigerated, such as cooked rice or oatmeal. With a use-by label, I know when I need to use my home-prepared and packaged foods. 

As a bonus, Sharpie markings can be cleaned off of glass jars or wiped off of duct tape. I reuse the same piece of duct tape many, many times, that is until it loses its stickiness.

I was originally motived to do this when I found mold on the inside of a jar of homemade soy milk that had been sitting in the fridge too long. It pained me to have to throw that away. Unfortunately, I didn't learn my lesson. A few weeks later, I found some strained yogurt (to use as cream cheese) in a container  that had molded. You'd think I'd have done something at this point. But no. I'm a slow learner, I guess. Shortly after the yogurt molding, I found a jar of homemade pancake syrup that had spots of mold colonizing the surface of the sugary solution. I knew I needed to change something if I wanted to see less waste. That's when I began use-by dating foods that went into the fridge.

And it worked. We're seeing less food waste since implementing this small trick. Which reminds me, I need to use up a few foods soon. Time to make some soy milk-rice-oatmeal pudding with a side of olives and cooked beans.

My Trip to Costco

On Monday, my daughter-in-law took me along with her on her shopping at Costco. This was the first time in over 2 decades since I'd be in a Costco, so I was very curious about what I'd find there. I had a budget of $30 cash that I could spend. With the super large packages at Costco, I knew $30 would not go far. Here's what I bought and some price comparisons with my regular stores.

Brussel sprouts -- 32 oz bag, Costco $4.99 or $2.49/lb. This week at Fred Meyer -- $3.69 for 24-oz bag or $2.46/lb.

2.5 lb bag pitted dates, Costco $7.99 or $3.20/lb. I'm not certain on WinCo's price for pitted dates in bulk, but somewhere around Costco's. WinCo's bulk section is where I buy pitted dates.

brown mushrooms -- 1.5 lb container whole Baby Bella mushrooms, Costco $5.99 or $3.99/lb. Fred Meyer has fresh, whole Baby Bella mushrooms in 16-oz containers for $5.69.

40-oz uncured turkey bacon -- Costco price $10.59 or $4.24/lb. Fred Meyer has cured turkey bacon for $2.79/12-oz package or $3.72/lb.

So, some products were more expensive at Costco and some were less expensive. The bacon wasn't really an apples to apples comparison, as the uncured bacon is considered to be a premium product compared to cured bacon. Mushrooms were absolutely a better deal at Costco, over $1 in savings. I lost a few pennies on the Brussel sprouts and probably came out even on the pitted dates. (I'll be going by WinCo later this week and for my own curiosity, I'll be checking their price on pitted dates in the bulk bins.)

My thoughts on shopping at Costco

You have to know your prices and package sizes for calculations. For example, turkey bacon at Fred Meyer comes in 12-oz packages, while the turkey bacon at Costco was sold in a bundle of 4 10-oz packages. So, to simply find the price per package for comparison wouldn't work. Costco does provide unit pricing, but sometimes the units are less helpful, such as price per ounce when I'm recalling price per pound from other stores on most food items. I would still need to multiply by 16 to get the per pound price for making comparisons. The inconsistent unit pricing is not just a Costco thing. I see this often in Walmart.

I was surprised at the limited selection within each category. At a traditional grocery store, I might have  a dozen or more choices in a category. Whereas at Costco, there may be 1 to 3 choices in a similar category. I'll use fresh mushrooms as an example. This week at Fred Meyer, there are 23 different kinds and sizes of packaging choices for fresh mushrooms (sliced, whole, brown Baby Bella, brown crimini, whole/sliced white, portobello, organic, shitake, mixed gourmet, 4-oz, 8-oz, 16-oz, 24-oz, or bulk). At Costco, (if I remember correctly) I had my choice of 3 types of mushrooms (white whole, Baby Bella whole, Shitake, whole) each in 1 size. With pitted dates, at Fred Meyer, they carry 5 choices in brands/sizes of whole pitted dates. At Costco, I found 1 choice for whole pitted dates. This limited selection reminded me somewhat of the selection at our restaurant supply, but is very different from traditional supermarkets.

My daughter-in-law tells me that Costco stores in different regions carry different selections. Some items in my area stores may not be available in other locations across the country and vice versa. I was surprised to find so much organic and natural/specialty foods. For example, Costco carries a ghee (clarified butter) baking spray. I've never seen this product before. They also carry Waygu beef, both the Japanese version ($99/lb -- yep, you read that right, almost $100 for a pound) and American Waygu beef (much, much less, but I'm not sure I read the package correctly, it may have been under $20/lb). My Fred Meyer doesn't carry Waygu beef products at all. Costco also had a large selection of packaged products that were made with alternative ingredients for specific dietary needs, such as gluten-free and keto friendly. 

Would I want a membership? For me, I would have too much envy of others who buy the items I would like to have, but are out of my budget. And I'm talking beyond the foods. I would love to have a good single-cup coffee maker, like a Keurig. However, even if I received a Keurig as a gift, the k-cups are pricey and out of my grocery budget. Even with a refillable k-cup, I wouldn't be satisfied, as the time-savings of having a Keurig would be minimized if I had to spend time filling and emptying the little plastic cups. I also saw a computer monitor that I thought was beautiful, as those items go. Every time I passed that section, I know I'd have a feeling of longing for that item, even though the computer I have is a laptop and having a separate monitor would negate the primary benefit of a laptop -- high portability. 

The shopping carts are huge. What makes a trip to Costco so expensive are the large packages of everything. I bought 4 items and spent $30. These were treat purchases. I wouldn't normally buy 1.5 pounds of mushrooms at a time. I would buy an 8-ounce package of mushrooms for less out of pocket, and we would eat lesser expensive foods when the mushrooms ran out. Ditto on the pitted dates. I'm guessing we'll go through those dates fairly quickly. If I were buying dates at WinCo, I'd buy a small baggie of dates. When we ate them all, we'd switch over to fresh oranges (which are inexpensive right now) or home-dried or frozen, home-grown fruit (which is basically free to us).

I enjoyed the time with my daughter-in-law and getting a peek inside a Costco. I'd love to go with her again in a few months, perhaps just before my husband's birthday. I did see some special food items that would make a great dinner at home for him, perhaps not the $99/lb Japanese Waygu steaks, though. 

I'm glad I got this chance. I now know what I'm missing and what I am not.

What I'm Grateful for Today

I'm grateful that peanut butter comes in straight and smooth-sided jars with large openings.

The other night, I had this strange dream. I had ordered a case of natural, chunky-style peanut butter online to be shipped to my home. I had gotten a stellar deal on this purchase. When the case arrived, I opened the box, and to my surprise, the "jars" were tall, narrow, plastic squeeze bottles. I could only imagine the squeeze nozzle would get blocked by a chunky-style peanut fragment on the first squeeze. So I set out to decant these bottles into a large jar. Only, the insides of the squeeze bottle were convoluted and ridged, like a cross between a Gatorade bottle, a plastic applesauce jar, and a Honey Bear honey squeeze bottle. I used my most flexible, narrow rubber spatula, but was only able to get about 2/3 of the peanut butter out of the squeeze bottle. And I was picturing myself scraping out the natural peanut butter from every single squeeze bottle in the case.

Fortunately, I woke up about this point. But I did find myself surprised by my initial thought upon waking, "I'm so glad peanut butter doesn't come in narrow squeeze bottles."

I'm writing about this today, in part to amuse you. But also, I was thinking about what I would do if this did happen to me. A sane person would simply return the case of squeeze-bottle peanut butter. But remember, I had gotten a great deal on that peanut butter. The frugal side of me wouldn't want to lose the "savings" of such a deal. I would get out the most flexible and narrow rubber spatula from the drawer and begin scooping and scraping as best I could. I would probably then try shaking the remaining peanut butter up with a liquid for making a smoothie or adding to a peanut sauce. I am certain that I would spend more time extracting as much peanut butter out as possible than my own time was worth. And I would console myself with the dollars and cents savings.

Weird dream. But it did make me think about the efforts I'd likely go to save food and money. What would you have done? Would you have returned the case to get a refund, or would you have tried to scrape the peanut butter out of the strange bottles?

Cheap & Cheerful Meals for New Year's Week

I haven't posted on our meals for several weeks. It's been a very busy month. Life is getting back to normal for us. Are you back to regular routines, too?

I didn't take photos for several days in the middle of the week. You'll just have to use your imagination.

Friday
homemade pepperoni pizza

mashed acorn squash mixed with pureed pumpkin

orange wedges

Saturday (New Year's Eve)

frozen egg rolls
frozen sesame chicken (with peppers and broccoli added by me)
sesame and vegetable noodles
steamed rice
tangerines
pumpkin-spice cake

We watched The Bells of St. Mary's starring Bing Crosby and Ingrid Bergman. You may know this, in It's a Wonderful Life, there's a scene where the cinema marquee in Bedford Falls displays the title of The Bells of St. Mary's. We watch It's a Wonderful Life every year and have noticed the marquee. So this year we decided to finally watch The Bells of St. Mary's. We all really enjoyed the movie. 

Dinner was easy by design -- to give me an easy meal on a holiday evening.

Sunday
roasted brined whole chicken and gravy
scratch dinner rolls
frozen peas
watermelon pickles
leftover cake
sparkling water

Saturday afternoon I cleaned the chicken and made a brine with water, salt, sugar, and garlic powder. I brined the chicken for about 24 hours. About an hour before roasting on Sunday, I pulled the chicken out of the brine and drained it, then put it in the oven to roast. The resulting chicken was tender, juicy, and flavorful. My two daughters made the rolls from one of my mom's recipes. They did a fantastic job, and we've been enjoying the rolls all week.

Monday
leftover chicken and gravy
leftover dinner rolls
more frozen peas
more watermelon pickles
last of the cake

Monday's dinner was a complete repeat of Sunday's, reheating leftovers. Again an easy meal for me to prepare.

Tuesday
leftover chicken in last of the gravy over brown rice
canned green beans

One of my daughters put together dinner tonight. She worked as a sub this day, so I suggested a super easy meal for her. 

Wednesday
chicken enchiladas, using leftover chicken from Sunday 
avocado slices
apple wedges and peanut butter

My other daughter made dinner this night. I had suggested she make chicken nachos, but she wanted to learn something new and asked about enchiladas. The enchiladas were delicious. The recipe for the sauce comes from Belinda at Frugal Workshop. In the comments section, Belinda provides her recipe for the sauce in answer to my question. I told my daughter to make 1/4 recipe for the enchiladas for our family of four.

Thursday
chicken, vegetable and noodle soup
leftover dinner rolls
tangerines

And . . . the last of that whole chicken that I roasted on Sunday. We got 5 meals and an extra couple of quarts of stock (now in the freezer). To the chicken meat in stock, I added broken spaghetti noodles and frozen veggies from my garden (celery, carrot leaves, spinach, chives).

We're back to Friday, and we'll do either pizza or lasagna tonight and hopefully watch a movie.

I hope you all had a great week. What was on your menu this past week? Have you been working through holiday leftovers, too? Wishing you a wonderful weekend!

Making a Small Vial of Cake Decors Last for Years

 

Our New Year's Eve and New Year's Day dessert was a scratch pumpkin-spice snack cake, topped with vanilla buttercream frosting, bits and globs of white chocolate (leftover from drizzling onto some cookies for Christmas), and edible gold stars. I bought the star cake decors in 2019 for about $5.75. 

Every year, I make some sort of New Year's treat, scattering the gold stars over the top. I've made chocolate-tofu whip topped with the stars, homemade chocolate-frosted donuts topped with stars, frosted chocolate cake topped with stars, and this year a spice cake topped with the stars.

It only takes a teaspoon of stars to add sparkle to a family dessert. At this rate, my little vial of stars will last us another 3 to 4 years. That works out to about 72 to 82 cents per year for our special New Year's homemade treat. If $6 for edible accents sounds pricey, consider that as accents, I use them sparingly and get a lot of mileage out of a tiny vial.