Cheap & Cheerful Suppers and we're eating well this week!

Friday
Homemade wonton soup (yes, I made the wontons myself -- and this soup was so wonderful!)
Fruit salad of banana, orange segments and dried cranberries
Pumpkin pie

Saturday
Chicken, rice, spinach, onion enchiladas
Avocado
Chocolate chip cookies

Sunday Brunch
Heart-shaped pancakes with red currant syrup
Crustless mini quiches with spinach, onion and sausage
Bacon
Fruit salad
Cream puffs filled with frozen strawberries and whipped cream

Monday
We had a late lunch with my father-in-law and his wife, so when we came home, no one was hungry. I made a bowl of popcorn and some cocoa

Tuesday
Southwest pumpkin, bean, potato soup, topped with avocado, salsa and Cheddar cheese
Pumpkin muffins
Rhubarb-plum sauce

Wednesday
Egg salad sandwiches
Roasted tomato soup
Pumpkin pie (from freezer, last pie from the batch)

Thursday
Meatloaf with gravy (I made 2 and froze the other one)
Mashed potatoes (extras so I can make a turkey-rosemary-potato soup in a day or two)
Oven-roasted canned tomatoes
Grilled onions
Pumpkin pie


I have to thank YHF for her suggestions and encouragement on making wontons last week. The only time I have made wontons before, they were the cream cheese filled kind that you deep fry (popular at bridal showers in the 80s). In this week's wontons, I used ground pork, finely chopped fresh mushrooms, onion powder, garlic powder, ginger powder, soy sauce and corn starch. After forming them, I froze them all on a baking sheet, then transferred them to a ziploc bag for freezer storage. When making the soup, I used chicken stock, onion, garlic powder, onion powder, ginger powder, soy sauce, chive blossom vinegar, and salt as the broth. To that, I added a few tablespoons of thawed, frozen spinach, a beaten egg, frozen peas and some dices of tofu. I brought the liquid back to a simmer, and dropped in the wontons, set the time for 7 minutes, and put the cover on the pot. Once the timer rang, they were done. I have to say, this soup was restaurant-caliber, it was that good. I think it was a combo of the ground pork, garlic and mushrooms in the wontons. The flavors were fantastic together.

Saturday's enchiladas were no slouch meal, either. Thanks again to Belinda, from Frugal Workshop for her quick and easy enchilada sauce recipe (using paprika, chili powder, salt, oil and flour). Enchiladas are becoming a "regular" in our house. I love enchiladas, for their taste, of course, but also they're a great way to use up leftovers, deliciously. This week's enchiladas had the last of the chicken that I picked off the bones, when making stock for the wonton soup plus some thawed frozen spinach lingering in the fridge too many days, and leftover cooked rice. I added chopped onions, garlic powder, tomato sauce, onion powder, black olive juice and chili powder to the chicken/rice/spinach mix for flavor.

I listed Sunday's brunch menu, instead of a supper menu, as the brunch was our main meal of the day. Dinner was free burgers from Jack-in-the-box, and a buy one, get one medium curly fries w/coupon). I made sauteed spinach and green beans in some bacon fat at home to go with the burgers and fries. This dinner cost $3.49 for the one order of curly fries that we paid for. The burgers were so huge (double patties), that all of us cut ours in half before even taking one bite. We saved the halves for the next day. That $3.49 comes out of our "entertainment" budget, by the way.

Tuesday's soup was remarkably good, considering I was combining two thoughts, a pumpkin soup and a Mexi-inspired soup. And avocado on top of thick soup is quite good, in case you're needing to use up some ripening avocados.

I had some boiled eggs lingering in the fridge way too long. My boiled egg eater has gone off of boiled eggs! So we needed to use them this week. I made sandwiches both Wednesday night and for Thursday's lunch. The ones in Thursday's lunch also had some slices of ripe avocado on them. Creamy and delicious! And the roasted tomato soup sounds much fancier than it was. I used all of the canned tomato liquid (which was more like a puree), and diced up the last of the oven-roasted tomatoes from earlier in the week. To this, I added sauteed onions (which got a little over-done, but the burnt bits kind of blended in with the roasted tomatoes), onion powder, garlic powder, and salt. Good for something so simple.


What was on your menu this past week? Anything that really stood out as something you want to repeat soon?

February gardening in the Pacific Northwest -- indoors and out

I'm spending about an hour every day gardening, now. Some of that time is spent indoors, starting seeds or planting pots. The rest of the time is spent outdoors, planting some of those bulbs I potted, as well as pulling weeds and invasive plants.

Do you remember this pot from late November? I had trimmed various shrubs from around the property and poked branches into a pot of soil.

I took that wintery-looking pot, and cleaned out all of the branches. I repotted with spring-flowering bulbs. I spread out some newspapers and worked on the kitchen floor, where I was cozy warm. 

I have a nice stash of potted bulbs to choose from, these days. I just step out to my deck and pick a few little pots. This has worked so well for me, that I think I'll be doing this again next year (buying bulbs on clearance and potting, with the idea that I can use them in spring).

It's a bit of a mess right now. But once a rain washes the leaves, it should look much better. I used some pink hyacinth, purple grape hyacinth and mixed purple and white crocus in this pot. I also potted up a single pink hyacinth into a smaller pot for the bedroom window.

While gardening, I also moved more lettuce seedlings out to the portable greenhouse, and began some more vegetable seeds.

If you're following along with my vegetable garden for this year, so far:

• I've started a couple dozen green leaf lettuce seedlings (Black Seeded Simpson). I tried several old packets of seeds, and this one particular seed is the only type that has germinated. Green leaf lettuce it shall be!
• I've planted 2 dozen seed-starting cells with green onions. So far, about 1/3 of those cells has germinated. I'm hoping for more in the next few days.
• I've planted 18 seed-starting cells with green cabbage. They are just now beginning to germinate.
• Yesterday, I started 18 cells of kale seeds and 27 cells of Spanish white onions.

All of these are for transplanting into the garden in March. Last year, I direct seeded the onions and they just didn't have enough time, so I'm trying seedlings this year. The cabbage, as well was direct seeded last year, and I'm curious if we could be harvesting cabbage in summer, by starting the seeds indoors this year.

For plastic seed-starting cells, I'm reusing some that I've had in the garage for a long time. My flats have all cracked and now leak, but I did find some aluminum foil trays and large baking pans that I can use for flats, for the time being. (My husband brings these home after group lunches at work. I'm glad to finally find a use them.)

In the garden itself, shallots and garlic are up, the kale, Swiss chard and radish greens are still usable. And in the perennials, the chives are up and could be used, as well as the sorrel. The rhubarb is just now poking through the soil. I'm thinking rhubarb pie in about a month!

February gardening is easy and slow. There's no rush this time of year. However, when March rolls around, I'll definitely feel that rush to get everything going. It's nice to have this month to ease into the heavy gardening.