Round-Up of Posts Week of August 26

This week . . .

We've had more cool and cloudy than sun and warmth this week. It sure feels like fall just slid on in. The cool weather made a great excuse to spend time in the kitchen cooking and baking. My family was pleased with this turn of activities while we're still technically in summer.

The figs ripened later this year than last. Last year we enjoyed ripe figs in late July, sharing with my son and daughter-in-law. This year, the figs didn't ripen until mid-August. That's an indication of our cooler summer weather this year. Anyway, I picked a bucket full the other day, using some fresh in meals and dehydrating the rest to enjoy later. 

After my last grocery pick-up, I made several jars of salsa. This week I've added more jalapeños and will be cooking up another 8 jars of salsa this weekend.

Our summer garden has provided almost all of our produce for this past week. But summer is fading, so I've continued to work on my fall garden. I transplanted a few more seedlings and planted some radish seeds. I'm hoping to have fresh fall greens and new root vegetables through mid to late November. 

This week, I have 2 posts for your weekend reading.

1) Making my grocery budget stretch during this period of food inflation is on my mind. In this post, I discussed my 3-pronged approach that helps me maximize our grocery budget.

2) What did you eat this past week? Anything especially stand out? In the second post, I've written out our meals for this past week, again eating all of our meals at home. 

Wishing you a wonderful weekend!

Cheap & Cheerful Suppers This Past Week

Friday
homemade pepperoni pizza, medley of sautéed summer squash, tomatoes, green pepper, Swiss chard, apple wedges with homemade caramel sauce

Saturday
beef and bean tacos (with homemade salsa), cabbage, carrot sticks, rice, blackberry pie

Sunday
pancakes, breakfast sausage, sautéed Swiss chard, cookies

Monday
meatloaf and gravy, rice, roasted zucchini, fresh figs, blackberry pie

Tuesday
chicken and vegetable soup, biscuits, cookies

Wednesday
hotdog cookout, potato chips, sweet potato fries, carrot sticks, apple wedges

Thursday
chicken and gravy, rice-stuffed grape leaves, sautéed Swiss chard, cucumber salad, brownies

Tonight -- homemade pizza again. I love our homemade pizza more than restaurant pizza. In fact, more and more I am loving home-cooked meals more than restaurant meals.

Breakfasts this week included homemade yogurt and blackberries, homemade granola, homemade instant oatmeal, raisins, applesauce, bananas, toast, eggs, milk, coffee, tea.

Lunches were more varied as I tried to use what I could from the garden. Most days, I set lunch fixins' on the counter for each of us to put together our own lunches on our individual timetables. These lunch components included cream of sorrel soup, Italian vegetable and lentil soup, white bean and vegetable sandwich spread with homemade bread, various leftovers, cheese and peanut butter sandwiches, celery sticks, carrot sticks, fresh blackberries, apple & kale salad, squash blossom salad, crackers, cookies, brownies, ice cream.

One of the commercial items that I hope to use less of this next week is crackers. My family loves them and can go through a box in a day or two. I'm planning on making some different types of buns and biscuits this next week to go with soups or salads instead of getting out another box of crackers. Baking scratch breads would stretch our supply of boxed crackers a little longer.

What was on your menu this past week? Are there commercial foods for which you try to find homemade substitutes?

The Three-Pronged Approach to Saving on Groceries

Grocery prices have been inching higher and higher every month this year. Yet, our income remains the same. So, I am having to double-down on managing our food supplies, using every trick in my repertoire. 

You know that I compare prices when shopping. Once I get those groceries home, I work to get maximum value out of what I purchase. To simplify, I follow a basic approach to providing meals and snacks on a low budget that incorporates 3 straightforward ideas. 1) I push what is cheap; 2) I stretch what is expensive; and 3) I use every morsel and drop of all food.

Push What's Cheap and Plentiful

When I say cheap, I mean both foods that are cheaply bought or that I grow or forage. So, here are some specific instances from this past week where I either nudged or served my family the cheapest of my food supplies:

a jar of homemade instant oatmeal just before stirring it all up

kale and apple salad using garden fruit and veg
plus toasted almonds and raisins

white bean and garden vegetable sandwich spread
w/ homemade whole wheat bread

• homemade granola
• homemade instant oatmeal made with my food processor, adding brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, and milk powder
• scratch desserts -- cookies, brownies, and blackberry pie using foraged berries
• homemade soups using garden vegetables -- 1) cream of sorrel, 2) Italian vegetable
• homemade bread
• salads from the garden, including a kale and apple salad one lunch, squash blossom salad another
• white bean and garden vegetable sandwich spread
• chilled bottles of tap water (to encourage inexpensive beverage consumption)
• more grape leaves stuffed with rice and garden herbs for a super inexpensive side dish and leftover snacking
• bottomless container of free foraged blackberries ready for snacking and meals

Stretch What's Expensive

Defining expensive is different for each of us. We all have those ingredients or foods that cost more relative to our budget. For my budget, meat, coffee, tea, chocolate, nuts, and butter all fall into that "expensive" category. Here are some ways that I stretched this category of foods this week:

meatloaf for 4 adults using 8 ounces beef stretched with TVP

homemade chocolate-almond candy

• I made large pots of tea with a single tea bag for us all to enjoy over the course of a day instead of each of us using our own tea bag. Savings -- 3 tea bags
• I love my coffee and decaf. However, to stretch what I have, I've switched from a 12-oz mug to a 6-oz tea cup for drinking coffee and decaf. Savings -- about 3 teaspoons of coffee granules per day
• I made meatloaf using TVP to stretch the ground beef. I rehydrated 1/2 cup of TVP granules and mixed with 8 ounces of ground beef to make a dinner for 4 adults. Savings -- 4 ounces of ground beef (I normally serve 3 ounces of beef per person in our house)
• I made scratch brownies with a mix of vegetable oil and plain yogurt instead of butter. Savings -- 1/2 cup of butter.
• When I baked chocolate chip cookies, I used 3/4 the amount of chocolate chips called for in the recipe. Savings -- 1/4 cup of chocolate chips.
• I used those remaining chocolate chips later in the week in a batch of chocolate covered almonds for my family. In our house, if we snacked on nuts, as is, we'd likely consume 1 cup of nuts in a day. Instead, I took 1/2 cup of whole almonds and coated them with melted chocolate for a candy treat for my family. Savings -- 1/2 cup of almonds. For our plain snacking during the week, I put out the much cheaper roasted peanuts. A note: while it's true we could just skip candy altogether, homemade candy is often a bargain compared to commercial candy. Example -- Hershey with Almond bar, 1.45 oz, 88 cents (Walmart). Homemade chocolate covered almond clusters, 1.45 oz,  about 40 cents.

Save and Use Every Morsel and Drop

I spend a fair amount of effort each week making sure we don't have to throw out or compost food. This week was no different. Here are a few ways I used every last bit of both purchased and homegrown foods.

squash blossom salad

• I made a beautiful and delicious squash blossom salad to have with lunches. Squash and pumpkin blossoms are often overlooked for their food value. They can be added to soups, casseroles, salads, or sauteed. The blossoms are delicate. I soak them in cold water to encourage insects to escape, then pull off the base of the blossom and tear the rest open along one side to lay flat, checking for bugs. I gently pat the mass of blossoms dry before tearing and arranging in a salad or sliced to add to cooked dishes. In the salad I made this week, I used squash blossoms, a tomato, and some greens, and arranged on plates. I dressed with an oil, vinegar, garlic, and thyme vinaigrette. As I said above, squash blossoms are delicate and this is not the type of salad to toss, but instead to arrange on plates.
• I used the bones, skin, and fat/drippings from roasting some chicken legs to make stock in the crockpot overnight. The next day I was able to pick off a bit more meat and then freeze this in the stock.
• When cooking carrots this week, I washed the carrots but did not peel them. Unpeeled carrots may not look as "clean" as peeled ones, but this ensured we ate as much of each carrot as possible. I also used the green tops of the garden carrots in the white bean and vegetable sandwich spread.
• I made a kale and apple salad early in the week, adding the bitter leaves from several garden lettuce plants that are going to seed. Lettuce leaves become bitter when the plants mature and develop blossoms. Most folks compost these leaves along with the tall stalks. I add them to salads that already have strong flavors. Every bit of edible garden produce that we eat from our garden during the growing season will spare some of the prime produce for freezing to eat later.
• When I cooked meat this week, I saved the leftover fat in containers in the freezer to use in cooking later.
• I rinsed and scraped the near-empty yogurt jars to add to the cream of sorrel soup. I also pureed the saved milk skin from making that yogurt, then added to the soup. When I make yogurt, I have to heat the milk to kill competing bacteria before adding the yogurt culture. This creates a milk skin that I then strain off for a smooth finished yogurt. I save the milk skin in a container in the fridge for use in cooking later. That's what I pureed and added to the soup along with the yogurt jar scrapings and rinsings.

This is my three-pronged approach put into action this past week. I know that sometimes it seems like I'm only saving a teensy tiny bit, but in the end, I am able to keep our grocery spending averaging less than half of the governments "thrifty" suggested food spending.

Weekly Round-Up of Posts

Our weather turned unseasonably cool and wet this past week, feeling more like fall than summer. I even made soup as a lunch for us on a couple of occasions and baked a lot as I tried to warm up the house a bit. This happens every August and it throws me for a loop. I start thinking fall when I should still be enjoying summer. Oh well, I'll have to get myself back into summer thinking.

I made a large batch (8 pints) of salsa this past week. My cilantro was ready for picking and I had the canned tomatoes, garlic, oregano already, so this was the week. I did have to buy the jalapeño peppers (as I don't grow those), adding them to my pick-up order on Monday. Next year, I may try growing one plant of jalapeños in a pot. My potted green bell peppers have done well this year. I'll make another large batch of salsa in a week, when I have more cilantro again. Sixteen pints of salsa should be enough to get my family through most of the year.

I also did some stocking up of meat. I bought ground beef, chicken breasts, pork breakfast sausage, Italian turkey sausage. It all seemed like a lot for us, but once I figured out how long this would last, I began to think I should put in another order just like this one. I'll do that next week. I also picked up a box of 5 dozen eggs. I could hardly believe how expensive eggs have become. This same sized box went from $4.75 a year ago to $7.47 this month. 

My daughters and I went foraging for blackberries last weekend, coming home with 3 ice cream pails of blackberries to freeze. It always surprises me that more people don't pick these wild blackberries. I mean, who wouldn't want free food, right? But that's their business. And it means all the more for me and my family. So far this year, I've just used the berries for fresh eating, as is and in yogurt, in pies, and freezing to use in winter. Later on in the season, I'll make a batch of pancake syrup and some jam. I freeze the pancake syrup in 1-cup portions, so I don't have to concern myself with mold growth if we don't get to using it all in a timely manner.

For your weekend reading pleasure, here are the latest of new posts.

My quirky (but useful) tendency of calculating the cost of everything has helped me figure out my goal inventories for our back-up pantry. You can read about how this relates to making pies and pudding in this post.

Do you use leftover pickle or olive brine? I used both this past week. Read about that here.

What was on your menu this past week? Our meals were simple but tasty, using as much as possible from our garden, orchard and foraging. The menus are in the post in this link.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!

Cheap & Cheerful Suppers From This Last Week

As the garden is doing well and we've been blackberry picking, most of our meals contained a fair amount of fruits and vegetables. Our suppers continue to be humble affairs. But everything gets eaten and every tummy is full. 

Friday
scratch pesto and cheese pizza, sautéed turnip greens, rhubarb and apple crisp

Saturday

lentil tacos, fresh blackberries, cucumber salad

Sunday

tvp, rice and peanut sauce, sautéed summer squash and cabbage, blackberries

Monday 
meatloaf with gravy, rice-stuffed grape leaves, fresh figs, cucumber sticks, sautéed zucchini, blackberry pie

Tuesday
pepperoni, green pepper and olive pizza, marinated carrot sticks, fruit salad, leftover pie

Wednesday
chicken, vegetable and sesame chow mein, scratch brownies

Thursday
bean and beef burritos in homemade tortillas, salsa, cucumber sticks, marinated carrot sticks, brownies

Friday's dinner will be pizza, again. I had mentioned to my family that I thought I could eat pizza a couple of times per week. Tuesday -- pizza, tonight -- pizza. Fortunately, my family agreed that pizza twice in a week would be a good thing.

Breakfasts continued to be yogurt with fruit (this week blueberries and blackberries), toast, cold cereal, fruit, juice, and sometimes leftovers from dinner. Do you like dinner leftovers for breakfast, too? Sometimes a lentil taco just hits the spot at 7 AM.

Lunches were homemade soups (one -- Italian lentil and vegetable, the other -- turnip stems, carrot and potato), leftovers, peanut butter sandwiches, garden salads, cheese, fruit& toast, plus cookies or brownies

Snacks included popcorn, fresh fruit, cookies/brownies, peanuts, raisins, crackers

What was on your menu this past week?

Using Leftover Pickle and Olive Brine

I just hate to throw out these liquids left at the bottom of a jar of pickles or can of olives. It always seems to me that there is something worthwhile left in there. So, I try to use those liquids at the very least for flavoring.

Pickled Carrots

This is so easy and one of my favorite uses for leftover dill pickle brine. I cut a couple of carrots into sticks and plunge them into the liquid left at the end of a jar of dill pickles. I let them stand in the fridge overnight and by the next day, I have carrots that are flavored with garlicky dill. The texture of the carrots is slightly softer than fresh carrot sticks, while still somewhat crisp. I reuse this same jar of liquid 3 or 4 times within a 7 to 10 day period before finally discarding it.

Black Olive Brine for Flavoring Meatloaf and Tomato Sauce

I made meatloaf earlier this week and used about 1/3 cup of the liquid from a can of black olives to soften the bread and cracker crumbs in place of salt for the meat/bread mixture. It was delicious and flavorful.

I also made a large batch of tomato-based pizza sauce, adding some olive brine in place of the water and salt. The added flavor and sodium in the olive brine uses something that would otherwise be discarded, while enriching the final cooked product at the same time.

Both pickle and olive brine can also be used to marinate meats, flavor salad dressings, and boost the flavor in soups.

These are ways to use it all up with just small savings. However, I feel keeping my mindset into using every part helps me save in bigger ways too.

Just How Many Pie Crusts Can I Make with a 3-lb Canister of Crisco Shortening? (And why would this even matter to you?)

With blackberry picking each weekend, this is pie season in my house. In fact, I was making a large batch of pie pastry this past week. I got to thinking about how much Crisco I'd like to stock up on.

Stocking up is not just about buying as much as I can. It's equally important to know how much I will use before the product expires. It's no savings to buy too much and have to throw some away. For some items in my pantry, I instinctively know how much we use in a month or a year, such as peanut butter. I know that we go through about 16 ounces of peanut butter each week. Knowing this, it's easy to figure out how much peanut butter to buy to last us say 6 months. I don't need to calculate how much peanut butter we use on each sandwich, and how many sandwiches we might eat in one month. Other items in the pantry are used more sporadically. One example of this type of item is Crisco-type shortening.

I use shortening mostly for pie pastry (and occasionally for biscuits). Knowing how much shortening to buy for a year's supply depends on me knowing how many pie crusts we will consume in a year and how many pie crusts I can get from one 3-lb canister.

The other day I did the calculation of how many cups of shortening are in one of those 3-lb canisters. For information, there are little over 7 cups per 3 pounds or 2  1/3 cups per pound of shortening. My bulk pie pastry recipe uses  1  3/4 cups of shortening for a 5-crust batch. So I figure I can make about 20 single or 10 double crust pies with a 3-lb canister of solid vegetable shortening.

I'm currently baking one 2-crust blackberry pie per week, using all of our wonderful foraged blackberries. I'll continue with the blackberries until the Italian plums are ripe in mid-September, when I'll switch over to single crust plum pies for a month. Then later in fall and in winter, I'll occasionally bake single crust pumpkin pies. 

With my rough estimations of how many pies we'll eat (plus a guess at how many batches of biscuits I'll bake) and knowledge of how many crusts I can get out of each canister of shortening, I know that I need 1  1/2 to 2 canisters of vegetable shortening for a year. 

Too bad I can't buy 1  1/2 canisters of shortening. Fortunately, it can be frozen to push its expiry out into the future. When I notice the best-by date on the can is approaching, I freeze the shortening in 1-cup portions. Frozen shortening needs to be brought back to room temperature for making pie pastry, but otherwise works just as well as shortening that's never been frozen. 

You may not use shortening or even be considering stocking up on any in the near future. So why read this post? Well, these types of calculations can be applied to other foods you may stock up on. When I'm trying to decide how much of an ingredient I may need for a year, I make calculations based on the amount I use for my most common recipe for that ingredient and the number of "servings" listed on that item's package. Another example is cornstarch. I mostly use cornstarch for making scratch pudding. My recipe for pudding uses just over 5 tablespoons per batch. A 16-oz box of cornstarch contains 45 tablespoons. So, one box will make between 8 and 9 batches of pudding. I also occasionally use cornstarch in cookies. At one batch of pudding per month and a few batches of cookies, I would likely go through 1 1/2 to 2 boxes of cornstarch in a year.

All of these calculations may sound too nitty gritty. Just like moving oldest items to the front of shelves and taking inventory every few months, I see these calculations as another necessary part of my stock management.

Weekly Round-Up of Posts

It's been another busy week for me. I'm experimenting with my own productivity this week. So, I finished up a bunch of posts all at once and will link to them from this post.

Highlights of my week:

A neighbor gave us a dozen ripe yellow plums this week. So very kind. And the plums are super sweet.

I harvested what I think is a year's supply of garlic for our family. That's about a $25 value. This all began with a single 33-cent head of garlic about 15 years ago, saving and replanting a little more each year.

I transplanted a bunch of lettuce seedlings into pots and baskets, collecting seeds from some of the spent plants, including nasturtium and spinach seeds for planting next year. I also collected chive seeds to top a batch of rolls. The radish seeds are not quite ready. I've let a lot of radish seed pods develop, as I hope to make radish sprouts this winter.

I'm working on my garden plan for 2022 already. I keep a small notebook with what worked and what needs improvement, adding content as it comes to mind while working in the garden. Two plans for next year are to increase the size of our pumpkin patch and add another potato bed. Canned pumpkin is a more expensive canned vegetable, averaging about 90-95 cents per can compared with other veggies that I can get canned for about 50 cents per can. With the potatoes, last year we ran out of garden-grown potatoes in early February. Adding another bed will yield enough potatoes to serve them often in fall and winter, with some perhaps lasting into spring (especially if I cook, mash and freeze some or dehydrate slices).

We are experiencing the smoke from California wildfires once again. The light looks pink and even though there aren't any real clouds in the sky, the light is on the dim side. I'm wondering what this does for growing vegetables. The smell is smokey, but not terribly bad. We did have a few nice days between spells of this smoke-filled air. We spent a lot of time outdoors on those days. Dinner outdoors is such a lovely summer treat.

I found a way to make previously frozen, thawed and badly separated milk more palatable for my family. (There's only so much pudding they can eat.) I added some powdered milk (2 tablespoons) to a couple of cups of the separated milk and ran it all through the smoothie blender. The milk treated this way did not appear to separate while sitting in the fridge overnight like the rest of the frozen/thawed milk did.

And now, as promised, some weekend reading for you -- a trio of posts. Pick and choose (click on links), if they sound interesting to you. 

What else can you do with the abundance of garden zucchini? In this link, here's what I wrote this week about how I make stuffed zucchini, with a bunch of variations that I've tried and enjoyed.

A couple of friends emailed wanting a recipe for jello made with flat soda pop. I typed up how I made it in this post. 

I know, we're almost half-way through August, and I'm just now getting to writing up my grocery shopping recap for the month of July. I've included our list of items, with prices, stores and quantities in the link in this post. I've also added a few more items to our list of foods that will likely see large price jumps in the next year.

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

Grocery Recap for July 2021 (plus another few items added to the possible shortages' list)

grocery shopping in 1938
photo source:
https://www.wbur.org/npr/139761274/how-the-a-p-changed-the-way-we-shop

In July, I began to feel the need to stock up on some staples again. I placed a few orders with walmart.com to be shipped to my house, made a pick-up at a Walmart store, and shopped in-person at WinCo, US Chef'Store (formerly Cash & Carry -- a restaurant supply) and Fred Meyer (while picking up gardening supplies). I spent a total of $293.58. (Of this, $10.75 was for foods for the 4th of July.)

Here's a comparison of what I've spent, month by month, in the last year. My spending in July is not bad, considering I stocked up so much.

Monthly food spending for last 12 months

Aug 2020   $92.18

Sept 2020  $182.30

Oct 2020   $304.52

Nov  2020  $189.45

Dec  2020  $77.98

Jan  2021  $54.07

Feb  2021  $184.66

Mar 2021   $152.77

Apr 2021  $447.19

May 2021  $285.53

June 2021 $127.98

July 2021 $293.58

Here's what I bought. You'll notice that I bought very little produce (the garden is prolific in July) and little meat. Most of what I bought was for my pantry stock-up.

12 bananas, 6 @ 46 cents/lb, 6 @ 48 cents/lb (Walmart and WinCo)

6 20-oz canisters raisins, $2.94 ea (Walmart.com)

bundle celery, 88 cents (WinCo)

5-lb bag carrots, $2.48 (WinCo)

4 gallons 2% milk, 1 gallon whole milk, $2.79 ea (WinCo)
pint whipping cream (for making ice cream), $1.87 (WinCo)

5-lb bag shredded cheddar and jack blend, $12.15 (US Chef'Store)
2 5-lb bags shredded mozzarella, $11.85 ea (US Chef'Store)
10  1/2-gallons 2% milk, 3  1/2 gallons whole milk, 99 cents/ea (Fred Meyer)

24-oz package pork bacon, $5.98 (Walmart)

2 27-oz packages pepperoni slices, $7.47 ea (Walmart)
2 dozen eggs, $1.15/dozen (WinCo)

2 10-lb bags all-purpose flour, $2.50 ea (Walmart.com)
5 10-lb bags sugar, $3.92 ea (Walmart.com)
2 gallons vegetable oil,  one at $5.60, one at $5.70 (Walmart.com)
4 5-lb bags all-purpose flour, $1.22 ea (Walmart.com)
4 boxes graham crackers, $1.23 ea (Walmart.com)
6-pack 32-oz spaghetti pasta, $7.92 total for 12 lbs (Walmart.com)

2 3-lb boxes macaroni pasta, $2.12 ea (Walmart)

4 32-oz raw honey, $7.93 (Walmart.com)

5-lb bag corn meal, $2.36 (Walmart.com)
26 oz canister salt, 40 cents (Walmart.com)
2 16-oz bags whole almonds, $4.96 ea (Walmart.com)

.55 lb bulk cocoa powder, $1.42 ($2.58/lb), (WinCo)
2 16-oz jars chicken bouillon, $2.74 ea (Walmart.com)
2 16-oz cornstarch, $1.08 (Walmart.com)

4 boxes toasty oats cereal, $1.23 ea (Walmart)

3 bags chocolate chips, $1.78 ea (Walmart)
2 bags mini chocolate chips, $1.98 ea (Walmart)
32-oz beef bouillon, $3.98 (Walmart)

25-lb bag regular rolled oats, $14.50 (WinCo)
25-lb bag lentils, $14.96 (US Chef'Store)
large container ground cloves, $14.98 (US Chef'Store)

88-ct corn tortillas, $2.39 (US Chef'Store)

4th of July
hot dog buns, 85 cents (WinCo)
2 packets Kool-Aid (1 red, 1 blue -- 4th of July jello), 18 cents ea (WinCo)

deli potato salad, $3.98 (WinCo)

whole watermelon, $5.56 (33 cents/lb), (WinCo)

This was the month that I was preparing to defrost 2 freezers, which meant I didn't have a lot of space to keep much in the way of stock-up freezer items. In August, I hope to stock-up on meat.

More foods to add to the possible shortages and price increase list

A few more foods have come to my attention that may see significant price increases in the coming year -- bacon, flour, and almonds. Last week, I read an article about Prop 12 in California which will ultimately drive pork prices up. Read it here. I read another article about the devastation of our regional drought to the wheat crop in Washington state. I suspect flour prices will jump, as Washington state is one of the 4 major producers of wheat in the US. This article is here. When wheat scarcity hits, many will turn to other grains, which could drive those prices up as well. And again with California in the news, almond growers in CA are tearing out their almond orchards due to record drought and water restrictions. 80% of the world's almonds are grown in the US, with California producing more almonds than any other state. The article on the almond growers can be found here. 

I can live with less bacon, and I'm also happy to eat turkey bacon. The wheat crop may be better in 2022, who knows. But the almond orchards being torn up could lead to longterm higher almond prices. This will in turn affect the price and availability of almond milk.

And yes, I did stock up on more bacon, flour, and almonds when I read this news. Some of these purchases fell in August, so they'll be reported in a month.

Recipe for Making Jello Salad with Flat Soda Pop

After last Friday's post, I received a couple of emails requesting a recipe for making jello with flat soda. So, here's my best estimate of what I used.

Jello Using Flat Soda Pop

3 teaspoons of unflavored gelatin

1/4  cup cold water

2 cups of flat fruity soda (I used orange soda, but I also have a half bottle of flat fruit punch soda waiting for more jello)

2 tablespoons lemon or lime juice

3 tablespoons of granulated sugar (to taste)

In a small dish, softened the gelatin in the water until all particles of gelatin are translucent. Once softened, melt the gelatin/water in the microwave in short bursts (15-20 seconds) until it is melted and liquid.

Stir the melted gelatin into a bowl with the soda, citrus juice, and sugar. Continue stirring until the sugar is completely dissolved. Chill for 4 hours or until set.

When mixing fruit into jello for a salad, I partially chill the jello before adding the chopped fruit. The fruit seems to remains suspended in the jello better if its (the jello) is more gloppy when stirring in the fruit.

The Many Variations of Stuffed Zucchini

Are you struggling to find new ways to use your excess zucchini crop? I've tried a variety of recipes and ideas over the years. I already mentioned the success of my zucchini chips, using the dehydrator. Well, here's another family favorite that even my zucchini non-enthusiast loves -- stuffed zucchini.

Zucchini can be stuffed with bread or cracker crumbs, cooked rice, cooked meat, shredded cheese, herbs, salt and pepper then baked into a yummy side dish or even light entree.

The easiest for me is to simply cut one slice of dense bread into tiny cubes, toss with chopped zucchini that I scooped from the insides to form the shell. I add 1 minced clove garlic, 1/3 Parmesan/mozzarella cheese, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper, 1 teaspoon oregano, thyme or savory. Then I stuff this into hollowed zucchini halves (sprinkled lightly with salt) and drizzle the whole stuffed zucchini with olive oil. I bake at 375 degrees F for about 25 to 30 minutes, or until the filling is lightly golden.

Because I don't pre-cook this filling in a skillet before stuffing, I only use about 2/3 of the scooped out flesh in the filling. Using all of it yields a soggy stuffing even after baking.

I use a melon baller to hollow out squash,
leaving 1/4 to 1/2-inch walls.
I chop the balls of zucchini
and add to the filling

hollowed shells sprinkled lightly with salt

before baking I drizzle with olive or veg oil

golden filling and slightly firm squash
 after baking

Here's another recipe that calls for the addition of a small amount of cooked meat. These can make a light dinner entree all on their own.

Sausage-Stuffed Zucchini 

4 small or 2 large zucchini (about 1 pound)

1/2 lb Italian sausage (pork or turkey, bulk or removed from casings)

2 tablespoons minced onion

1/2 cup of bread crumbs

2 to 3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley

1 teaspoon dried oregano

dash red pepper flakes

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

salt (for the empty zucchini shells) 

Also, if using turkey Italian sausage, 1 to 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil for sautéeing the meat, zucchini pulp, and onion.

Split the zucchini into halves, lengthwise. Scoop out the flesh, leaving about a 1/4 to 1/2-inch thick shell. Sprinkle the shells lightly with salt. Place on an ungreased baking sheet.

Chop the scooped out flesh. In a skillet, cook the sausage with the chopped zucchini flesh and onion until meat is cooked but not browned, drain (if needed) and toss with the bread crumbs, parsley, oregano, red pepper flakes, and Parmesan cheese.

Fill zucchini shells with the cooked mixture. Bake at 375 degrees F for about 25 minutes.

Other meat, cheese and seasoning possibilities: 

• chopped and cooked chicken with sage, black pepper, cheddar (white would be nice) in place of oregano/Parmesan/red pepper flakes
• browned breakfast sausage with sage, thyme and/or marjoram in place of oregano with or without cheese
• browned chicken and apple sausage with sage and white cheddar in place of oregano/Parmesan
• browned ground beef, chili powder, mild cheddar in place of oregano/Parmesan

Leftover crumbled cornbread can be substituted for the bread crumbs in any of the above combos.

Leftover cooked rice

Zucchini halves can also be stuffed with cooked rice and seasoning mixtures, with or without meat. I don't know about you, but I rarely make the exact amount of rice that my family will eat at one meal. Leftover cooked rice can be mixed in with cooked ground beef, some Italian or Tex-Mex seasonings and salt/pepper, then stuffed into zucchini shells. Top the cooked stuffed shells with either marinara (Italian) or salsa (Tex-Mex) plus some shredded cheese.

Leftover cooked polenta

Leftover cooked polenta also makes a good grain base for stuffing summer squash. Break up the cooked polenta, add some shredded cheese, chopped zucchini flesh, and maybe some diced red pepper. The resulting filling will be tender and flavorful.

notes:

When I plan on stuffing zucchini, I look for those that are about 11 to 12 inches long and 2  1/2 inches in diameter. These seem to cook evenly and quickly, while still providing plenty of stuffing capacity. 

My family prefers a firmer zucchini once baked. If you prefer a softer texture to the vegetable, you can steam the empty and scooped out zucchini halves in the microwave for a minute or two before filling and baking.

Quick message from me

Hi friends,

I just wanted to let you know that I'm trying something different with my schedule this week, so I'm not posting. I'll be back with posts on Friday.

Have a wonderful week! Enjoy the Perseids if you get a chance.

Lili

Can We Talk About Food Saves? Gelatin and Fruit Salad Using Flat Orange Soda

I've been slowly cleaning out odds and ends in the fridges. It appears that I have a daughter that loves soda, but never manages to finish a two-liter bottle. This orange soda has been sitting in the fridge for a few months. I finally got around to using it up in a jello salad.

I punched up the flavor with lime juice and sugar, mixed with softened and melted unflavored gelatin, and folded in some fresh fruit. The gelatin salad was delicious and we managed to use up a banana that was too ripe for anyone to want, a pear that had fallen off the tree, some blueberries, and that last 2 cups of orange soda. All in all, a win for saving food!

In the comments, please share your best food save from recent weeks.

This Week I Am . . .

• working on my fall deck garden. I cleared out another planter, mixed in compost and got it ready for some autumn kale.
• peeling, slicing and dehydrating apples. A sweet friend dropped off a large bag of her tree apples for my family. In addition to dehydrating, we've also been eating a lot of the apples fresh every day.
• harvesting green beans, blueberries, kale, chard, rhubarb, salad greens, cucumbers and summer squash. This is peak garden time. Lots of variety every day.
• enjoying these long sunny days. I'm not usually a morning person. But this time of year, I can't help but get up with the birds once the sky looks light.
• admiring the beauty and fragrance of the Oriental lilies in bloom in my yard.

So, how about you? What are you doing this week?

Cheap & Cheerful Meals for the Tail End of July

 

Hi friends. Happy Friday! And it's the last Friday of the month of July. How did your week go? I hope you found time to enjoy yourself as well as took care of your work. 

What we ate around here this past week:

Breakfasts: 

homemade raisin and spice granola, blueberry muffins, toast, homemade yogurt with raspberries, blueberries or blackberries, chicken gravy on toast, juice, milk, coffee

Lunches:

leftovers, cream of sorrel soup, turnip and vegetable soup, mixed green salads, hummus, crackers, cheese or peanut butter sandwiches, cookies, graham crackers, raisins, blueberries, eggs, sausage, zucchini chips

Dinners:

Friday
peppers and olive pizza, dolmades with yogurt sauce, sautéed summer squash, cookies

Saturday
hummus, fry bread, carrot sticks

Sunday
barbecued burgers, beet greens, tossed garden salad, cookies

Monday
eggs with chives, turnip greens, roasted root vegetables, rice and gravy, rhubarb crisp

Tuesday
chicken in thyme gravy, rosemary mashed potatoes, beet greens, leftover rhubarb crisp

Wednesday (my daughter prepared this)
beef with broccoli, chicken and vegetables, rice, egg rolls

Thursday (my other daughter prepared this meal)
scratch macaroni and cheese, turnip greens, summer squash, stewed prunes

This past week, I finally got around to thawing the chest freezer. Sometime in September 2020 I froze several jugs of milk in the chest freezer. One of the jugs split a seam and leaked 3/4 of a gallon of milk all over the bottom of the freezer, cementing anything sitting on the bottom of the freezer in place. I wanted to just get that cleaned up, but with a full freezer that's not terribly easy. I waited until that point in summer where we'd gone through most of our frozen foods from last summer's garden and foraging, but it was still early enough in this year's harvest so I wouldn't have as much food to stuff into other freezers. That moment came this week. It was a nuisance, but much more do-able that I'd thought it would be. So now I have this pristine freezer all organized and room to spare. How long do you figure this will last -- 3 weeks, a month? It doesn't seem to take too much rummaging to mess up the organization. But at least I now know exactly what we have in there. And yes, there were some surprises.

Last Friday, I was out of pepperoni for our weekly pizza. So I scrounged in the freezer and found some frozen pepper strips and opened a can of olives, yielding a pepper and olive pizza for the family. This week, I have pepperoni again for our favorite pizza topping. Plus, I'll be baking a blackberry pie later this morning. While cleaning out the deep freezer, I came across several bags of frozen blackberries from last year's foraging. Blackberry season is just about to begin for this year, so I need to do some quick baking, and jam and syrup making. So, tonight -- blackberry pie. I also came across a bag of dried prunes. And you guessed it, we're coming close to ripe plum season again. Stewed prunes were added to the menu this past week and will be on coming menus as well. I also came across several bags of blueberries. I made some blueberry jam and baked some blueberry muffins. Cleaning the freezer is a bit like a treasure hunt. I found so many odds and ends that will add to our upcoming meals.

When I wasn't cleaning out the freezer, I was in the garden or organizing our pantry. It's always about food for me these days.

How was your week? What was on your menu?

Got Zucchini? Make Zucchini Chips

I don't have the overabundance of zucchini that many gardeners seem to get. However, I have a daughter who is not wild about zucchini. So I am always looking for new ways to prepare this lovely summer squash that will appeal to her.

Enter zucchini chips. I got the idea when she bought herself some vegetable chips and was actually enjoying them. Then I discovered that many other folks make zucchini chips with their dehydrators, air fryers, and ovens. Since I have my dehydrator out and running this month, I decided to give that a try.

Here's what I did:

I sliced fresh, washed zucchini between 1/8 to 1/4-in thick and placed them, plain (no oil/no seasoning), on the dehydrator trays, up against each other but avoided overlapping. I set the dehydrator to 135 degrees F (the setting for fruits and vegetables) and left it for 3 hours. After 3 hours, I switched the trays around for uniform drying. After another 5 hours, the slices were dry.

I tasted a couple and really liked them. I could eat the whole batch myself, I think. It's late in the evening, so I'll season and add them to tomorrow's lunch. I think these will be a hit.

My zucchini chips are very thin. I started with 1/8 to 1/4-inch slices. I may try slicing the zucchini a little thicker for a sturdier chip next time (the kind that could stand up to some dip). The only downside to thicker chips is longer dry time. We'll see how they turn out. And just so you know, bigger zucchini is actually a plus, here. The slices shrink up considerably, so a fatter zucchini would yield more generous sized chips.

I didn't use any oil, but a light spritz of the trays with cooking spray might be good, especially for super thin edges when not getting a full slice.

Have you made zucchini or any other vegetable chips?

Thought You Might Like to See Another of Our Native Edibles Here in the PNW

Oregon Grape Low Bush

Oregon Grape (Mahonia aquifolium)

If you haven't spent much time in the Pacific Northwest of the US, you may not have come across this plant before or known that its berries are edible. Locally, it's simply known as Oregon Grape. As it is not a true grape, it's also sometimes known as holly-leaved grape or berberry. I would guess it gets it's name "grape" due to the long hanging clusters of dark blue berries it presents each summer. The edges of the leaves are serrated and prickly, much like holly leaves.

Historically, Oregon Grape berries were a part of the traditional diet for indigenous people of the PNW. Having tasted them myself, it's hard to imagine eating such tart berries as they are. However, I've used them in making very delicious jelly. They're high in pectin, which means I can make a jelly with just the berries and sugar.

Today, Oregon Grape berries are a common fruit for foraging in the PNW. But in my neighborhood, most of the landscapes have the bushes in abundance. The plants grow well in semi-shaded areas that receive abundant rainfall and require virtually no attention. I'm familiar with both the tall and low bush varieties. The tall bushes grow to over 7 feet high, while the low bushes stand about 2 to 2.5 feet in height. We have both growing on our property. These plants have been here since we bought the house 26 years ago, and in some cases, they've seeded new plants. We've never done anything to care for them, that's how easy they are to keep. 

In spring, the bushes are covered with yellow blossoms. And every year in early August, the berries size up, ripen to a dark blue with a whitish bloom, and are ready for me to make a small batch of jelly. The jelly is rich with spicy overtones, like an improved grape jelly. My own kids knew this as "grape jelly" for their PBJs when they were little.

I'm watching the berries this week and next. The birds love them as much as we do, so I have to be quick to grab what I can when they're ripe.

Working On My Fall Deck Garden

a trough of turnips just started

I've been clearing out early season vegetables from some of my containers so that I can plant some vegetables for fall and winter harvest. In my zone, most vegetables stop growing in early October. If I start cooler season vegetables now through mid-August, the plants should be mature enough to harvest by the time the light levels are too low for more growth. I won't be harvesting everything in October, however. Most of the plants I've chosen for fall and winter will "hold" in my deck garden for early to mid-winter harvest.

The deck is on the south side of the house. Right now, it gets part sun and stays cool due to deciduous trees. Once the leaves fall, my planters will receive full sun through winter. For now, the containers are a couple of feet away from the house wall. When temps cool more, I'll push them completely against the house to protect the plants from hard frosts. 

The vegetables that I've chosen for my fall garden are kale, cauliflower, turnips, beets, Swiss chard, lettuce, spinach, arugula, and green onions. Some of these vegetables will die out in early November (lettuce, green onions), but most of them will still be harvestable, with protection, through winter.

I love the idea of a four-season garden. Lacking a walk-in greenhouse, I'll have to be satisfied with a fall and early/mid-winter harvest from my fall deck garden. 

Did You Know Carrot Leaves Are Edible?

For those of you who are growing your own vegetables, do you use the leaves to your carrots? Carrot greens are edible and have a mild and pleasant taste that is like a cross between carrot and green herb.

I have 2 deep pots filled with carrots this summer. I cut a stem from a couple of carrots every time I gather greens for salads. Since I still want my carrots to continue sizing up, I try to not take more than one stem per carrot and also try to space out how often I cut from a particular carrot. The green leaves can be used up till harvest.

The stem itself is tough, but the tiny frond-like leaves are tender enough for salads. Carrot leaves can also be added to soups, pesto, rice, dressings, stuffings, and dips. 

I picked an assortment of lettuce, watercress, nasturtium leaves and blossoms, chive blossoms, and carrot leaves for this salad mixture to go with leftover dolmades for our lunch on Sunday. The carrot leaves added visual, textural, and flavor interest to the salad.

I'm making a real effort to use as much as possible from my garden this summer and through fall. This means I need to be resourceful and look to the different parts of plants that are edible.

Have you tried carrot leaves?

Cheap & Cheerful Menus for Late July

I made rosemary vinegar this week. It's simply fresh rosemary in distilled white vinegar. I'll allow the flavor to infuse over the next 4 to 6 months before using it. I love how herb vinegars look when they are first made. The vinegar is crystal clear, and the herbs still have their green freshness. 

Another end of a week. My how fast this summer is flying! 

A lot of very ordinary meals around here. But that's okay -- my family likes ordinary (after all, they like me, and I'm ordinary). Here's what we ate:

Breakfasts this week included toasted O's cereal, homemade yogurt, berries, homemade blueberry muffins, homemade bread, toasted, eggs, milk, juice, and coffee/tea. I just haven't had it in me to make pancakes or waffles. I'll have to do something about that now that the blueberries are ripening.

Lunches were more varied. I sometimes picked greens from the hanging baskets and garden for salads, and sometimes I made soup from the garden (sorrel one time, turnip stems and carrot another). We also had peanut butter or cheese sandwiches and hummus/crackers. Plus, we ate leftovers from dinners for lunches. There has been no shortage of cookies for quick desserts. Yesterday, I made some chocolate chip shortbread rounds -- very yummy!

Here are the dinner menus:

Friday
homemade pepperoni pizza, watermelon, roasted broccoli, rhubarb crisp

Saturday
TVP meatballs and spaghetti, green beans, blueberries and raspberries, cookies

Sunday
hot dog cookout, homemade buns, sauerkraut, carrot sticks, canned corn, garden salad

Monday
eggs with chives, sausage, brown rice and chicken gravy, sautéed summer squash, roasted turnips, sautéed turnip greens, vanilla rhubarb sauce

Tuesday
pasta, broccoli, and cheese, cookies

Wednesday
7-11 pizza (my daughter bought this), garden salad, blueberries and raspberries, cookies

Thursday
meatloaf, fresh bread and butter, stuffed zucchini squash, vanilla rhubarb sauce

I have a couple of meals that I make each week. My family doesn't notice the repetition and doing so eliminates some planning. As examples, I make the same basic meal every Monday and Friday. I always know that Monday's dinner will be eggs, rice, gravy, and whatever vegetables and/or fruit that we have. Friday is always pizza night at our house, with side dishes that vary. This week, I'll be making stuffed grape leaves again to go with the pizza. I noticed some of our grape leaves are the perfect combination of size and tenderness. I am all out of pepperoni, so I'll be rummaging through the pantry and freezer to find pizza toppings.

What was on your menu this past week?