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Monday, March 8, 2021

Meal Planning from the 1950s


Our conversations about favorite retro cooking last week prompted me to think about a section of my mom's 1953 cookbook. My mom was a very young bride by today's standards, 19 when she married my father. As a wedding gift from an aunt, she/they received the Better Homes and Garden's New Cook Book. A good deal of what my mother learned about cooking in those early years of marriage were found in the pages of this cookbook. 

As a teenager I had a crazy obsession with reading my mother's older cookbooks. When I was 18 and left home for college, my mom gave me this cookbook. Despite having taken Home Ec in middle school, I still had a lot to learn about cooking after I moved away for school.

One of my favorite sections of this cookbook has always been the meal planning one. I may not be wild about meal planning, but I like reading about how it could be done in someone else's household.

I think "ideal" meals of the 1950s were somehow lost by my own childhood years. On Leave it to Beaver (and other TV shows of its era), the star family, the Cleavers, always had dinner in a formal dining room, while the kitchen table was used for breakfast and lunch. I don't know if this is how families of the 50s actually ate their meals, or if this is just how TV families dined. But I always felt that family life had somehow shifted by the time I was in elementary school. Once we had a separate dining room as well as a an eat-in kitchen, my family always ate "regular" dinners in the kitchen, while the dining room was reserved for special occasions.

In addition to a shift in where Americans tended to eat their meals, the actual dinner menus from the 1950s (form my mom's cookbook) seem more formal than how my family today eats. In my mom's cookbook, the "dinner suggestions" section contains 6 different elements for each meal: entree, starchy food, vegetable, salad, dessert, and "nice to serve." Here's an example:

Rolled Rib Beef Roast
Browned Potatoes or Whipped Potatoes
Succotash or Broccoli with Hollandaise Sauce
Gold Coast Salad or Cranberry Salad Squares
Pumpkin Chiffon Pie or Date Pudding with Whipped Cream
Watermelon Pickles or Bouillon

Can you imagine making all of that on a random Tuesday? Okay, so maybe this would be a "special" meal. Here's another dinner suggestion:

Grilled Minute Steaks
Hash-brown Potatoes or French-Fried Potatoes
Buttered Corn or Wax Beans with Bacon Bits
Perfection Salad or Tossed Green Salad
Ambrosia or Walnut Gingerbread
Chili Sauce or Toasted Buns

My guess is these elaborate everyday meals went out of fashion as women's daytime hours were filled with work or other time-consuming activities. Here's another dinner suggestion:

Baked Pork Chops
Whipped Potatoes and Gravy or Corn Stuffing
Parsnips or Green Beans
Prune and Apricot Salad or Spiced Pears
Brownies a la Mode or Baked Apples
Relishes or Grape Juice

There's also a small section on meals that save you money. This section looks a little more like how my mother cooked (but with fewer and simpler desserts). Here are a few of those entries:

Meatballs with Spaghetti
Whole Carrots or Green Beans
Chilled Relishes or Mixed Greens with Garlic Dressing
Winter Ambrosia or Pineapple Sherbet


New England Boiled Dinner
Carrots, Potatoes, Onions, Cabbage (cooked with corned beef) or Turnips and Beets may be added
Apple-Raisin Salad or Molded Cranberry Salad
Lemon Meringue Pie or Maple Cup Custard


Tuna Bake with Cheese Swirls
Glazed Carrots or Buttered Green Beans
Tomato Aspic or Bouquet Salad Bowl
Emerald Isle Fluff or Lemon-Coconut Squares


Pork 'n' Apple Pie
Buttered Shredded Cabbage or Cauliflower
Chef's Salad Bowl or Celery-Apple Salad
Cottage Pudding with Lemon Sauce or Chocolate Bread Pudding


It's interesting, but the section that I think more closely reflects how many of us do dinner, now, is actually titled for lunches -- "Lunches your family will like." Many of the entries in this section would fall under a supper designation, in my mind. Here are several "lunch" suggestions:

Creamed-egg Casserole
Green Beans with Bacon or Spinach with Mushrooms
Circles of Head Lettuce, Russian Dressing, and French Bread or Waldorf Salad and Hard Rolls
Cherry Puff or Broiled Grapefruit


Creamed Dried Beef on Baked Potato
Pickled Beets or Brussel Sprouts
Tossed Green Salad or Citrus Salad
Applesauce Cake or Whole Apricots and Cookies


Spanish-rice Skillet
Buttered Asparagus Tips or Spinach with Mushrooms
Chef's Salad Bowl and Biscuits or Orange and Grapefruit Sections on Watercress and Relishes
Date Pin Wheels or Chinese Chews


Chicken a la King
Potato Chips and Fresh Buttered Peas or Corn Coblets
Pear Halves with Softened Cream Cheese and Cloverleaf Rolls or Tomato Slices on Lettuce with French Dressing and Biscuits
Orange Cake or Red Raspberry Fluff


Cheeseburgers
Potato Chips or French-fried Onions
Kidney-bean Salad, Dill Pickles Slices, Celery and Carrot Sticks or Tossed Green Salad and Cocoa
Banana Split or Fresh Fruit


Fluffy Tomato Omelet
Fresh Peas or Broccoli with Lemon Butter Sauce
Pineapple-Cottage Cheese Salad with French Dressing and Bread Sticks or Sunshine Salad, Celery Curls, Ripe Olives
Crispette Squares or Coconut-Banana Rolls

Those were obviously lunches to be eaten at home. There's another section on lunchbox ideas. Here are a few of those menus:

Deviled Ham and Pickle in Bun
Iced Tea
Potato Chips
Celery and Olives
Brownies or Pear Halves


Egg Salad in Coney Buns
Milk or Coffee
Whole Tomato
Grapes or Sponge Cake Bars


Vegetable Soup
Chocolate Milk
Crackers
Cottage Cheese, Tomato Wedges
Date Pin Wheels or Apple Wedges


Baked Beans
Cream Cheese Sandwiches on Brown Bread
Milk or Coffee
Chopped Vegetable Salad
Canned Peach Halves


Corned Beef Sandwich on Rye Bread
Cocoa
Mustard Pickles, Celery Hearts, Carrot Sticks
Baked Custard


Fried Chicken
Bread and Butter Sandwich
Mixed Vegetable Juice
Tomato Slices, Cucumber Sticks
Chocolate Cupcake


Baked Ham Sandwich on Whole Wheat Bread
Milk or Coffee
Potato Salad
Plums or Pecan Crispies


As a teen, I loved food and thinking about food. I was often dieting, so reading about these varied and full menus seemed to fill something in me. In any case, I thought a little trip down the memory lane of meal planning, via my mother's first cookbook, would be fun. I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did.




Friday, March 5, 2021

Your Retro Cooking Favorites

Earlier this week, I posted a modern rendition of a retro recipe from my childhood, creamed chicken and broccoli on toast points. My mother often used a white sauce or canned soup, along with frozen mixed vegetables, a mix of dark and light meat chicken, and white bread toast. With my family's more modern tastes I substituted a scratch cream of celery soup, frozen broccoli, chicken breast meat, and homemade whole wheat toast. My version reflects my family's preference for broccoli, leaner meat, and whole grains.

Later this week I made a childhood favorite dessert, sliced bananas in vanilla pudding. In my childhood, this was often served with vanilla wafer cookies. My more individualized and contemporary version used a scratch soy milk pudding to meet my personal dietary needs. I wish I'd had the vanilla wafers, but graham crackers had to substitute.

Ruthie expressed interest (in the comments) in hearing what you cook that is retro. I thought that was a wonderful suggestion. Today, I am curious to know what your favorite retro recipes are and how you adapt them to your modern tastes and needs. What do you still make, now and then, that takes you back to your childhood? How have you changed how the previous generation made this dish? Let us know in the comments!



Thursday, March 4, 2021

Shopping Intentionally Can Be Stressful (Warning: A Rant)

My twin daughters have a birthday later this month. So, I'm making plans for how to celebrate and what little gifts to buy. While I know I can't solve the world's economic or political problems all on my own, I've made a sort of deal with myself concerning the gifts I'm buying.

2020 and now 2021 has been a year of discovering the very worst about a couple of countries and many corporations. I feel compelled to use my wallet to make my voice heard. I won't buy items from countries whose governments are participating in egregious treatment of human beings and I won't support a corporation that supports organizations or industries that violate my conscience. 

So, with that in mind I went out shopping for a couple of small gifts yesterday afternoon. As if shopping with a mask that kept bumping up into my lower eyelashes wasn't stress enough to deal with, I was checking every single label on every single item in three sections of the store looking for the specifics of each's manufacturing info. If I were in store security, I'd have been monitoring my own curious shopping this afternoon.

What really stunned and saddened me was how few goods are actually made in the USA any more. When did this happen? Do we not make anything in this country any more? I spent several hours shopping and came home with just a couple of small items. Even many books are no longer printed in the US. Books are just paper and ink. How is that we can't do paper and ink any more?

I had an idea for a bunch of spa items for each daughter. Wow, the print on packages was so tiny! Most of the items were made in China, a couple in Taiwan, one in Egypt, and a couple in Indonesia. I had really wanted to support manufacturing in my own country, as I see us getting deeper and deeper into an unemployment hole right now. I wanted a shower cap, a scrubbing brush or loofah, maybe a bath bomb or two and a couple of hair accessories. A big fat "nope" on the shower cap, brush/loofah, and hair accessories. I checked every package. Brands that I thought were surely American-made are now all made some place else.  In the end, I found a couple of USA-made bath bombs, bath soaks, and a chocolate bar each. I also checked the clothing department of same store and found nothing my daughters would ever wear from the paltry amount of US-made items.

We did this to ourselves. We were so eager for bargain prices that we didn't notice that products weren't being manufactured locally. We knew that sometimes what we were buying didn't last as long as it should have or that we had known previous purchases had lasted. We didn't care. So long as it was inexpensive, that's what mattered. And deep down, we did know that many of our products were made elsewhere. It wasn't as if someone was fooling us. But we just didn't care enough, or I didn't care enough that I was buying products made somewhere else. Like I said, I felt saddened by this realization, like I sold out. 

The good news is that there are American companies out there. They're not the big names that we've grown up knowing as American, but instead, small cottage industry businesses. You won't find many of their items on the shelves of the big box stores. You have to search out these small businesses. When I got home, I spent time online looking for shower caps made in the USA. After a lot of google searches, I finally found several sellers on etsy. They're a lot more expensive than what I saw in the big box store. But maybe the higher price means that the worker made a fair wage for their time with my purchase. Plus, I think these are much cuter!

If I could, would I go back to not reading packages or caring where my money was going? I don't think I can. I can't un-know what I've learned this last year. But I hope that intentional shopping won't always feel this stressful.

Rant over.

Wednesday, March 3, 2021

Wild Greens Are up and Thriving in My Yard This Week


I planted watercress in my garden, once, almost 20 years ago. And now, it has seeded itself all over that portion of my yard. Every spring -- I feel so blessed.

The weather has been dry this week. So, I've been working outside while I can. I'm pruning fruit trees and cleaning vegetable beds. While outside, I noticed lots and lots of watercress plants popping up all over. It's a use-them-or-lose-them sort of thing in March. By the end of the month they'll have begun to go to seed and won't be so tender.


I picked a basket full on Monday and made a nice salad to go with our dinner that night. I'll be picking another basket full this afternoon.

My daughters have grown up eating watercress salads every spring. It's kind of funny -- I don't think they realize that watercress is one of those "fancy" greens that sells for a couple of dollars a bunch in the grocery store. I think they see our watercress salads as something "odd" that their mom picks from the yard, like a throw-back to a hunter-gatherer civilization. I'll be peeling bark off our trees for tea next.

Watercress has a peppery flavor, which I find very appealing this time of year. It's super healthy -- one of the most nutrient-dense leafy greens. And for me, it's free. I'll be making the most of our watercress riches in the next several weeks.


Have you ever eaten foraged greens? We don't get very many dandelions, but I've wanted to try those, too. Have you ever tried dandelion greens? Would you recommend them?


Tuesday, March 2, 2021

Retro Cooking: Creamed Chicken and Vegetables on Toast Points


An old time favorite using this recipe for cream of celery soup, some cooked chicken, and frozen broccoli -- Creamed Chicken and Vegetables on Toast. With cooked chicken and frozen vegetables, this was a quick supper, taking me under 30 minutes from start to table. 

I left the cream soup in the saucepan and reheated the cooked chicken on the stove over Low heat while I made the toast and microwaved the broccoli (so I could drain off any liquid before adding to the soup and chicken).

My mom made a similar version of creamed chicken on toast points, only she used frozen mixed vegetables in place of the broccoli.

Super easy. I just wanted to show you how this scratch cream soup can be useful for suppers other than casseroles.


Does anyone else still eat creamed chicken on toast points or am I really dating myself here?


Monday, March 1, 2021

Found My DIY Painted Speckled Eggs


March? What? Where did winter go? In the PNW, March is a month of erratic weather. We can have snow, hail, rain, sunshine, warmth, gloom, lightening, and white puffy clouds -- all in the same week. Despite the climate craziness, I try to send positive vibes out into the universe and think spring.


Sunday afternoon, I was getting out some spring decor pieces and found the egg carton filled with a dozen of my DIY painted and speckled eggs. Maybe you remember, I painted these a couple of years ago. I'm mentioning them again because a) it took me a couple of weeks to blow out enough eggs to do a dozen without cracking the shells, and b) this is a super frugal decor project. (I'd say super frugal is when you turn compost items into home decor, don't you think?) 

To get the clean eggs, I pricked both ends of each egg with a straight pin, making the hole in the flat end of the egg larger than the hole at the pointed end. To blow out the insides, I blew through the smaller hole. After blowing a batch of eggs for cooking, I washed the eggs in a bowl of warm soapy water, submerging the eggs and allowing water to seep inside. I then shook the soapy water around inside the eggs and blew out the soapy water as I had blown out the eggs originally. I placed the eggs on a heat register to thoroughly dry. Any warm spot will work, even an oven that is cooling from use in baking.


When I had a dozen cleaned and dried egg shells, I used a small dab of paintable caulk to seal the holes on both ends of each egg.  Once the caulk dried I hand-painted each egg a solid color with acrylic paints. Going for a natural look, I chose a pale green, pale blue, and tan for my set of eggs. I also think speckled eggs would be pretty in pastels, such as pink, yellow, lavender, and green.


After the base layer of acrylic paint had dried, I put all of the eggs into a cardboard box, then placed the box in the bottom of the bathtub for speckling. This part can get messy and might be a good project for outdoors, weather-permitting. But the bathtub worked and was easy to clean afterward. 

To speckle the eggs, I dipped an old toothbrush into dark brown acrylic paint and flicked it over the eggs, turning them over a couple of times to ensure they were covered on all sides with speckling.

Once dried, I used them in an arrangement, nested in with some moss.

If all of this seems like a lot of work for some spring decor, consider this -- I have saved and re-displayed these eggs several years in a row now. I keep the eggs in an egg carton from one year to the next. By being careful with handling them, I haven't lost a single egg yet.

Ah spring -- new life, painted eggs, crocuses blooming, birds chirping, and a bunny sighting. Spring stirs hope in my winter-weary spirit.

What says spring to you?


Saturday, February 27, 2021

Making Budget Foods More User-Friendly: Scratch Substitute for Condensed Cream Soups

Scratch Cream of Celery Soup to Use in Casseroles


Back to my weekend version of this blog -- basic frugal foods made easy. 

A lot of folks weren't raised learning basic frugal cooking skills. Instead, in their family homes of origin, a lot of foods that they consumed were what we'd recognize as convenience foods, such as boxed meal helpers. There's nothing at all wrong with that scenario. However, they now find themselves (through no fault of their own) on a very limited budget, unemployed or forced into early retirement due to this pandemic, struggling financially right now and looking for help so that they can help themselves. Enter Basic Frugal Foods Made Easy, my weekend version of this blog that goes back to the basics to help others make very delicious foods while sticking to a tight budget. Remember, once you learn a piece of information or a new skill, you own that information to use over and over again. 


M'm! M'm! Good! 
M'm! M'm! Good!
Here's a substitute
that's M'm! M'm! Good!

I wanted to share another recipe to add to your budget cooking repertoire -- a canned "cream of whatever" soup substitute for using in casseroles. This soup is delicious in tuna casseroles, green bean casserole, chicken and rice casseroles, combined with chunks of chicken and vegetables served over toast or biscuits, or just pouring over some chicken breasts to cover with foil and bake. 

I love that you can make a casserole from just about any cooked meat, some veggies, a starch like rice, pasta, or shredded/cubed potatoes, and a binder like a cream soup. If the soup is flavorful enough, there's little need for added seasonings for the casserole.

The following recipe makes 16 ounces, or about 1 can of condensed soup plus 1/2 can of milk -- which is the amount called for in many of my recipes.

The soup itself is delicious as is. To serve as a soup, this may be diluted with about 1/4 cup of water or milk to thin as it's quite thick. It could be made with vegetables other than celery, such as broccoli or mushrooms. I make this with celery, as that's the most economical version for use in casseroles. 

As you might already know, a cream soup is simply a white sauce with added flavorings and a bit more richness. If you can make a white sauce, then in addition to making a substitute for canned soup in casseroles, you can make a cheese sauce (for homemade mac and cheese or Welsh rarebit) or a cream of whatever you can imagine soup. In early spring, I make cream of garden sorrel soup and cream of garden watercress soup with this recipe. I also make cream of asparagus soup with the peeled ends from fresh asparagus. And in late spring, I make cheesy cream of kale and carrot soup using this recipe as a backbone.


Do you have about 15 minutes? The total time to make this soup is about 12-15 minutes, including chopping, measuring, cooking, and puréeing.


Cream of Celery Soup
  (yield: 16 ounces of thick creamy soup)

2 tablespoons butter
3/4 cup chopped onions
3/4 cup chopped celery
2  2/3 tablespoons flour
3/4 cup whole milk (I use part 2% milk and part heavy cream, but all milk --whole or 2% -- also works)
3/4 cup chicken stock (I use 1 teaspoon chicken soup base plus 3/4 cup water)
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/16 teaspoon black pepper
dash nutmeg
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1 tablespoon Parmesan cheese

In a medium-sized saucepan (about 2 quart capacity) -- over Medium heat, cook onions and celery with the butter until the vegetables are soft and translucent. about 5 to 6 minutes.



Stir in the flour and cook 1 minute. 


Add the milk and stock while stirring and cook until thickened, about 3 minutes. 


Add garlic powder, black pepper and nutmeg. 
Remove from heat. Purée with immersion blender, food processor or pitcher blender until smooth.


Add 1/4 teaspoon salt, onion powder and Parmesan cheese. Adjust seasonings, adding the extra salt as desired for recipe. To use in a casserole, you want the soup to be more flavorful and less bland. At this point, you could add a hit of red pepper flakes, more nutmeg, or more onion or garlic powder, if that suits your taste.


The soup is ready for your casserole.

Perhaps you remember casseroles that were topped with potato chips. Here's a bonus recipe for a casserole topping made with butter, bread crumbs, salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, a pinch of dried herbs, and Parmesan cheese.

Savory Bread Crumb Topping

I take 1 slice of bread (wide pan if commercial, otherwise a standard slice of homemade bread) and turn it into crumbs in the food processor. 


In a small skillet I melt 1 teaspoon of butter and toss in the bread crumbs. As the crumbs toast, I add 1/4 teaspoon salt, a dash each of pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, and the dried herbs. (I've used thyme, here, but I sometimes use dried basil or oregano, depending on what type of casserole this is for.) Then at the end, I add 3 teaspoons of Parmesan cheese, stirring in between each spoon of cheese.

before baking
after baking

The crumbs should not be too toasty-looking just out of the pan, as they'll toast up on top of the casserole upon baking.


You might be able to buy a can of cream soup for less than or equal to the cost of this recipe. However, the value is not necessarily in the money spent for homemade compared to a store-bought can of soup. The value is in looking at your pantry and not knowing what to make from what you have, compared to ordering a pizza or other takeout.

With a batch of homemade cream soup, plus pasta, can of tuna, some peas, and a crumb topping, you can make a complete dinner in about the same amount of time as waiting for a pizza to arrive, saving substantially.

In addition, you get to control the ingredients. So, for example, perhaps you want a dairy-free version. You can make this with an alternative milk. Or perhaps you want to avoid extra sugars or reduce the sodium, that's all in your control.


My family will tell you that this soup tastes better than any commercial canned cream soup. Either I have especially un-picky eaters in my house, or this is a good soup recipe.


Do you have an immersion blender? I resisted buying one for many years. About 6 or 7 years ago I finally bought one like the above. This one has a plastic casing. If I were to choose over, I might spring for one with a metal casing by a company like Vitamix. But so far, I've been satisfied with what I have. The shield around the blade is plastic, and it has developed a tiny crack in it, but it still works. I always wash the attachment by hand under running water (not soaking) and never in the dishwasher -- avoiding corrosion in the interior blade and shaft area. I prefer puréeing soups and sauce with this blender over the a food processor or pitcher blender, as I have less to wash up after cooking.

So, that's my recipe for a canned condensed soup substitute. If you make this, let me know what you think and how you tweaked the recipe.


Friday, February 26, 2021

Tomato Seedlings Are Launched


Last weekend, I started our tomato plants for our vegetable garden in pots indoors. 

You may remember that late last winter I was concerned I might not be able to get out to a nursery to buy our tomato plants for our vegetable garden, so I chose to start our plants from a small amount of seeds I had leftover from a few years prior. On March 1, I planted enough for 6 plants (of which 5 survived), using up all of the seeds. 

Those plants were just a little on the small and young side when I set them out into the garden. My primary garden pest in early spring is the slug. If seedlings are on the small side, I think the slugs believe I planted them just for their enjoyment. So, I waited an extra week or two to plant out the tomato seedlings, which meant the actual fruit developed a couple of weeks later than I would have liked. 

Fast forward to 2021, I ordered tomato seeds in January so I could be sure to get a variety that I know works in our PNW conditions and not pay too much. I began this year's seeds about 9 days earlier in the season with hopes for slightly earlier fruit and bigger plants at transplant time.

I now have a bunch of tiny seedlings growing under a plant light in the laundry room. I'll use 5 or 6 plants with the extra ones for giving away in mid to late April. I know a couple of people who aren't normally gardeners but might like to try a tomato plant, especially if it's free to them. We'll see.

I'm currently thinking through what I want to grow this summer and which other seeds I'll need to buy. Spring comes in a hurry, so I'd better get busy with planning.

How about you? Will you be growing a vegetable garden this year? Do you start any of your seeds indoors or do you plant them all out into the ground?


Thursday, February 25, 2021

Cheesecake Graham Cracker Snack

I was needing a little treat the other day, when I thought how delicious just a bite of cheesecake would taste. Not wanting to go through the trouble of making a cheesecake, I settled on this easy little snack -- plain graham crackers paired with a sweetened cream cheese spread that is topped with blueberry jam.

As commercial cookies go, graham crackers are a pretty good value. They're lower in sugar than many cookies and contain some whole grains. The once 16-oz boxes have now shrunk to 14.4 oz (or thereabouts), but for $1.70 to $2.00 (less when on sale) per box of store-brand wafers, that's not a bad price. 

My first thought was that I would just make a couple of tablespoons of some cheesecake spread. My second thought was the whole family might enjoy this. And I was right. The cheesecake spread on graham crackers got rave reviews.

The spread is a less-sweet version of cream cheese frosting, with butter, cream cheese, vanilla extract, and some powdered sugar to sweeten, but not enough to make the spread thick like frosting. Then I added a few generous spoonfuls of homemade blueberry jam (from last summer) to the top. Again, another way for me to use up some of those jams and jellies. The blueberry jam, by the way, was made with frozen blueberries and not fresh ones. Using commercial frozen berries made this jam more affordable for me, and it was just as good as jam from fresh berries.


Why am I telling you about our cheesecake snack? My daughter urged me to share this with you. You're welcome!


Wednesday, February 24, 2021

February Grocery Recap

(I needed something life-affirming this week. A potted tulip from WinCo was just the thing. I'll transplant these beauties into a pot on the deck later Thursday, so that they will slowly develop over the next month.)

Here we are, in the last week of February. Once again, it's time to wrap up my grocery spending for the month. I shopped twice this month: once, with a curbside pick-up at Walmart, spending $99.81; the second time, in-person at WinCo, spending $84.85, for a total of $184.66.

Here's what I bought, what it cost and where I bought it all:

2 boxes crackers, $1.78 & $1.68, Walmart
2 boxes graham crackers, $1.71 ea, WinCo
1 box animal cookies, $1.38, WinCo
80-ct corn tortillas, $2.18, WinCo
16-oz pretzels, $1.52, Walmart
9-oz bag oyster crackers, 80 cents, Walmart
12-oz bag oyster crackers, $1.18, WinCo
2 jars instant Folger's decaf, $6.32 ea, Walmart
2 jars instant Folger's decaf, $6.54 ea. WinCo
large jar Folger's reg, $8.65, WinCo
ketchup, 88 cents, WinCo
yellow mustard, 78 cents, WinCo
3 cans olives, $1.26 ea, Walmart
4 cans olives, 98 cents ea, WinCo
garlic powder, 98 cents, Walmart
1 package hot dog buns, 88 cents, Walmart
1 small bag mini powdered sugar donuts, 1 small bag chocolate donuts, $1 ea, Walmart
64 oz cranberry-black cherry juice cocktail, $1.78, Walmart

2-lb bag frozen broccoli cuts, $2 Walmart
2-lb bag frozen broccoli cuts, $2.30, WinCo
2 bags frozen mushrooms, $1.98 ea, Walmart
8 Roma tomatoes, 15 cents/lb, Walmart
1 head green cabbage, 58 cents/lb, Walmart
2 heads green cabbage, 78 cents/lb, WinCo
15 bananas, 42 cents/lb, Walmart and WinCo
3 heads iceberg lettuce, 25 cents ea, Walmart
5 avocados, 68 cents ea, Walmart
3 avocados, 58 cents ea, WinCo
6 lbs clementines, $5.96, Walmart
3 lbs fuji apples, $3.17, Walmart
two 3-lb bags fuji apples, $2.58 ea, WinCo
1 bundle organic celery, $1.26, Walmart
1 bundle celery, 98 cents, WinCo
2 green peppers, 73 cents ea, Walmart
3 green peppers, 38 cents ea, WinCo
2 lbs fresh carrots, $1.34, Walmart
5 lbs fresh carrots, $2.48, WinCo
6 oz dried apricots, $2.87, Walmart
24 oz dried cranberries, $4.94, Walmart
5 oz dried cherries, $2.98, Walmart

5 dozen eggs, $4.75, Walmart
2 dozen eggs, 98 cents ea, WinCo
7 gals 2% milk, 2 gal whole milk (for yogurt), $2.18 ea, Walmart and WinCo
2-lb block of cheddar cheese, $5.51, WinCo
1-lb block sharp cheddar cheese, $3.36, Walmart
2-lb bag shredded mozzarella cheese, $6.28, WinCo
pint whipping cream, $1.98, Walmart

2 packages turkey kielbasa, $3.16 ea, Walmart
2 packages turkey smoked sausage, $2.48 ea, WinCo
36-ct, turkey breakfast sausage links, $4.48, WinCo
21-oz pack pepperoni, $6.32, Walmart

You may not realize this, but I post these grocery lists for myself as well as you, friends. I find interesting insights in my own grocery shopping, sometimes helping me shop smarter in the next month. WinCo doesn't list any prices online, so I only know the cost of each item when I'm actually in the store. Pricing between Walmart and WinCo is very competitive on many items. However, there are a few things where I could save a bit of money by buying them at one store over the other. I'll be keeping that in mind the next time I need to shop. 

I haven't bought much meat in a while. Neither Walmart nor WinCo are my favorite places for buying meat. Next month I'll shop specifically for meat, going to another store. 

So, maybe you're wondering why I went to WinCo for my second shopping this month. My last batch of whole milk yogurt only partially set. I don't know what went wrong, but one thought was Walmart's milk supplier has changed their process (using a higher temp for pasteurizing could be an issue). I wanted to try WinCo's milk for my next batch. I also wanted to shop at a store that wasn't part of a mega-chain. During this past year, there's been a huge shift of wealth toward corporations like Walmart, Amazon, Target, Home Depot, etc. I don't want to lose the smaller venues, so I'll be trying to shop at more of the stores that I especially don't want to lose, WinCo being one of them. (WinCo is a chain store in both the western and central US, but they are employee-owned, which is a good thing for economy diversity in supermarkets.)




Tuesday, February 23, 2021

Our Winter Fruit Supply: Italian Prunes

Our Italian Prune plum tree may still be in it's annual winter dormancy, but we are enjoying its fruit anyway.

Let me tell you a little about Italian Prune plums.

This tree begins ripening in early September in my yard. In our rented unit many years ago, the Italian Prune ripened in August. I think it's a partial shade thing in this yard that leads to later ripening. I spend most of September harvesting all of those delicious plums. 

A couple of years ago, I bought a claw and basket fruit-harvesting tool to screw onto one of our extension poles. With this tool, I was able to harvest all of the plums myself without climbing the tree or using a ladder this year. The claw slides in between the stem and the fruit. With a quick tug, the fruit falls into the basket just a few inches below the claw. This tool is designed for apples and pears, but as I discovered, it also works well on smaller fruit like plums.

I estimate that I harvested about 40 pounds of fruit this past season. I'm certain that we have recouped our original cost of about $30 (mail order) for this plum tree (bought 15 years ago). In checking prices today for the same tree, a bare root sells for between $38 and $50. Mine is grafted onto dwarfing root stock, so it will never overtake its spot in our yard or become too tall for me to harvest.

Italian Prune trees are self-fertile (meaning they don't need a pollinator to produce fruit), heavy-setting, hardy in zones 4 though 9, have a chill requirement that will work for all but Florida in the continental US, and while experts say they require full sun, our partially sunny (5 to 6 hours of direct sun) backyard has been okay for our tree (ripens a few weeks before first frost). Our tree began fruiting at 3 years, with full production at around 5 or 6 years. 

In my area of the PNW, nurseries are just now beginning to ship bare root trees. I believe I planted our plum tree in mid-March. 

The fruit ripens on the tree over about a 3-week period in late summer and will keep refrigerated for about 10 days. Due to this short keeping time, the fresh plums need preserving in some way. I preserve our plums as pitted halves canned in heavy syrup, pitted halves frozen to use in pies and cobblers, as jam or in chutney, and pitted and dried as prunes. Plums and other fruit can be dried on trays in a low oven, in full sun on racks and covered by cheesecloth, or in a dehydrator.

Other details -- Fresh plums have a whitish "bloom" on the skin. This isn't mold. When I dehydrate my plums, the 'bloom" remains on the skin. Again, this isn't mold. Italian Prune plums are free-stone, so they're easy to pit for preserving.

Our family's favorite way to use the dried prunes is stewed. Stewed prunes sounds like such an "old people" food, right? But really, these are delicious, especially when flavored!

This is how I make stewed prunes:

  • I place about 1 cup of dried prunes in a stainless saucepan (enameled is good too), cover with water, then bring to a boil.

  • Once boiling, I reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.
  • After 10 minutes, I turn the stove off and add a tablespoon or two of sugar or honey and allow to cool.
  • A jar of stewed prunes keeps in the fridge for about 1 week.
  • The prunes can be flavored by simmering with aromatics, such as a slice of fresh ginger (my favorite), a few strips of lemon or orange peel, a cinnamon stick, a couple of whole cloves, a dash of ground nutmeg, and/or a few whole allspice berries, or with a few drops of almond extract or any of the above spices. ground, added after cooking. I sometimes use the pineapple juice from canned pineapple slices for stewing the prunes, too.
Pureed stewed prunes can also be used as a fat substitute in baking chocolate cake or brownies. 

I think prunes get a bad rap. And I'm not the only one who thinks that. Commercial packagers have begun labeling prunes as "dried plums." It seems the name "prune" has a derogatory association with it, calling a mean old woman an "old prune" or the description of how our toes or fingers look when they've been soaking in water or how prunes are often used for digestive reasons. Years ago, Prune was a somewhat common girl's name in France. I think that might be a hard sell as a baby name here in the US in the 21st century. Whatever the fruit is called, my family enjoys the plums fresh and preserved as prunes to use in winter. It's been a prolific tree for us and has saved at least a couple of hundred dollars over buying fruit.

How about you? Are you a prune-eater or a prune-hater?

Monday, February 22, 2021

Truly Scrumptious (“as a Cherry Peach Parfait") Fruity Granola

Hello, friends!

After a week of switching direction, I'm back to the blog. I spent a lot of time working in the kitchen. We're at the end of a 3-week grocery shopping cycle, so I had a lot of near overripe produce to deal with. I also just needed to give the fridge a good clean out.

In looking through my home-canned goods, I discovered that we have a lot of jam and jelly from last summer. While our garden-grown, fresh fruit is yet months away, I thought now would be a good time to begin using some of these fruity preserves.

I thought I'd share one item I made and has been particularly appreciated -- fruity granola. I use either jam or jelly plus some dried fruit to add sweetness and fruit flavor. In addition, I added nuts and seeds to this batch (read below to see what I was trying to duplicate). This granola is also tasty as a fruity-only cereal. With the nuts, it makes a great out-of-hand snack as well as a dry cereal. 

❝"

Fruity Granola

3/4 cup of jam or jelly
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons vegetable oil or melted butter
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon orange zest
3 cups oats
1 cup of dried fruit -- any combination of cranberries, apricots diced, cherries, golden raisins, or sweetened dried rhubarb dices

optional -- 3/4 cup of chopped almonds/hazelnuts (one or mixture of both), toasted
optional -- 2 to 3 tablespoons, total, sesame seeds, flax seeds, sunflower seeds, and/or pumpkin seeds

Butter a large jelly roll pan or baking sheet with raised edges. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

In a large microwavable bowl or casserole, microwave the the jelly or jam for about 30 to 45 seconds, until melted. Stir in the honey, oil or melted butter, almond extract, salt and orange zest. Toss with the oats and spread the mixture in the buttered jelly roll pan, pushing more of the coated oats to the edges of the pan and less in the center (for even baking).

Bake for 15-18 minutes. Turn off the oven. Stir the granola then leave in the cooling oven for 1  1/2 hour. After 1 1/2 hours, stir in dried fruit, nuts and seeds. Put back into the cooling oven for another 30 minutes to thoroughly dry.

If the granola does not have a crunchy texture, remove from the oven, preheat oven to 200 degrees F, turn the oven off, and place the tray back into the again cooling oven for 30 additional minutes. You don't want to bake the granola again, as the fruit will scorch. But it does work to put the granola into a cooling oven.

Once fully cooled, store in an airtight container.

There's a bakery on a nearby island in the Puget Sound, Blackbird Bakery. They're well-known in my area, especially for their pies, whole grain breads, and granola. The granola is loaded with nuts, seeds, dried fruit, and is lighter on the oats than most granolas. I first heard of Blackbird Bakery on the blog One Hundred Dollars a Month. The blog's author, Mavis Butterfield, posted about her experience there. Mavis used to live in the Puget Sound area but has since moved away. 

This Christmas, my brother and his wife sent us a large bag of Blackbird Bakery's granola. I recognized at once the bakery's name and unique raven logo on the packaging. This granola received a huge thumbs up from all of us. I'm usually only a so-so granola fan. But this stuff was very good. 


Fast-forward to this last week when I made a batch of my fruity granola enhanced with a bunch of nuts and seeds. My family thought this homemade granola was a close comparison to Blackbird's. 

What I used (listed as greatest to least): oats, toasted chopped almonds, crabapple jelly, dried sweetened cranberries, sliced dried apricots, honey, sesame seeds, flax seeds, vegetable oil, orange zest, almond extract, and salt.

For comparison, the ingredients' label on Blackbird's granola lists oats, hazelnuts, almonds, maple syrup, pumpkin seeds, honey, coconut, dried apricots, dried cranberries, sesame seeds, and unsalted butter.

As you can see, my fruity granola and Blackbird's have many ingredients in common. Mine was just a tad fruitier.

Truly scrumptious, just like the song from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Tuesday, February 16, 2021

Just to let you know . . .


I'm taking a couple of days off and will be back soon. This is my version of a vacation. Wishing you all a wonderful week!



Friday, February 12, 2021

Saying Be Mine with a Cupcake


Those pink, red, and chocolate pretzels were for someone outside our household. These Valentine cupcakes are for us. 


I used this scratch vanilla cake recipe, some Valentine-themed cake wrappers, pink frosting (dyed and flavored with maraschino cherry liquid), and then topped the baked cupcakes with holiday picks. I had bought the cake wrappers and holiday picks on clearance after Valentine's Day a couple of years ago. Now seemed as good as any time to use those fun things.


I pulled out our Valentine's Day tablecloth. I had bought this on clearance a few years ago and posted about that bargain then. Our kitchen table looks very Valentine-ish now. Over the years, I have collected several tablecloths for the kitchen to use when celebrating the various holidays. I love fabrics. And this is something that puts a smile on my family members' faces.

On another note, I went walking past the house with the gnome abode this morning. They saw my heart rock and moved it closer to the gnome family! That made me smile. It was very cold today, and snow flurries were flying. I hope you're safe and warm right now.

Thursday, February 11, 2021

Just Fun


In the next neighborhood over, there's a family with young kids that have set up a little gnome abode at the base of a tree along the sidewalk. In October, they put out some mini Halloween decorations, and at Christmas, they had mini lights, a tiny tree, and an itty bitty wreath on the gnome's front door. The kids have painted rocks and placed them in the gnome's miniature woods. It's been a fun spot to visit when I'm on my walks.

Meanwhile, sometime last week, a very nice someone left two small, painted Valentine's rocks on our driveway. I decided to bring one of those rocks with me to place in the gnome's "yard" yesterday morning.


The new rock is the one with the red heart. I hope the children are as delighted as they've made me.

Wednesday, February 10, 2021

A Tiny Bit of Springtime Just before Winter Returns


We've had a somewhat mild winter so far, with a small amount of snow in December followed by lots of rain and clouds. I was kind of enjoying thinking we'd pretty much skipped winter this year. Then, of course, the cold air returned this week. 

Just before, though, I grabbed a small pot with two small pink primrose plants from the back deck and brought it indoors. This will be my tiny taste of springtime, even with snow on the ground outside by late this week.

I have neighbors with crocus and forsythia in bloom. I think we were all thinking winter had skipped us this year. 

I'll enjoy my primrose sitting on the windowsill until real spring comes.

Tuesday, February 9, 2021

50+ Soup Toppings to Transform a Plain Bowl of Soup

Yesterday, I made a large pot of split pea soup for our dinner. As I was putting everything together to serve, it just didn't look like very much. Instead of making something else to go with dinner, I decided to enhance the already-made soup with a bunch of toppings. Raiding my fridge, freezer and pantry turned up a whole lot of possibilities.

 Why top soup? Topping a bowl of soup is a last-minute way:

  • to make something special out of something simple
  • to add concentrated flavor bites
  • to add freshness to long-cooked soups
  • to boost nutrient value
  • to retain the texture of topping ingredients
  • to make a bowl of soup visually appealing
  • to add texture to "cream of" soups
  • to customize each serving according to individual taste

And so, I wrote out a list of soup topping possibilities.

For Crunch:
  • cracker, pretzel, croutons, tortilla or corn chips, crumbled potato chips, bread crumbs sautéed in butter or oil with or without added herbs and minced garlic -- aka pangrattato
  • toasted chopped nuts, toasted seeds (sunflower, sesame, pumpkin), toasted coconut
For Added Protein:

  • diced hard-cooked egg, whole poached egg
  • bacon bits, sausage crumbles or dices, pepperoni strips, ham cubes, pan-toasted hot dog slices
  • shredded, diced, crumbled cheese
  • strips or shreds of cooked chicken, beef, or turkey
For Freshness:
  • minced fresh herbs
  • thin lemon slices, lemon zest
  • chopped fresh tomato, cucumber, bell pepper, celery, green onions (scallions), thinly sliced radishes
  • small dices of fresh apple or pear, tossed with lemon juice
For Creaminess:
  • sour cream, plain yogurt, unsweetened whipping cream (whipped or liquid), crème fraîche, cream cheese cubes
  • ripe avocado cubes, guacamole, seasoned oil or plain olive oil, herb butter, peanut butter
For Flavor Boosting:
  • salsa, chutney, pesto, olive tapenade, hot sauce, hoisin sauce, Sriracha, sesame oil
  • minced or sliced garlic fried in oil, chopped or sliced onions sautéed in butter/oil, sautéed mushroom slices
  • grated fresh ginger
For Added Texture
  • cooked cheese tortellini
  • cracklins (from rendering ham fat),
  • sliced olives
  • cooked whole pieces of vegetables that are also featured in a soup (such as asparagus tips topping  cream of asparagus soup)
  • thawed frozen peas (to top split pea soup)
  • stale bread cubes

While I topped individuals bowls for expediency last night, I also think a soup and toppings bar would be a fun way to do Soup Night.

What do you like to top your soup?


Monday, February 8, 2021

Valentine's Pretzel Treats for My Favorite Young Couple



using what I have on hand to make a tin full of treats for Valentine's Day


mini pretzels, semi-sweet chocolate chips, and pink and red Wilton's Candy Melts


I think they even look a little like hearts.




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