Menu Plan for the End of February/Beginning of March

Nature can't seem to decide if it's winter or spring.
The native plum is in bloom, but I woke up to snow.
Later in the day we had hail, graupel, then large heavy snowflakes.

Last week's menu went close to plan. We did swap out a couple of side dishes for items that we needed to use soon. But the mains were all as planned. So, in reality, successful menu planning requires some flexibility in its execution.

Here's our menu plan for this coming week.

Monday (one daughter)

Green vegetable frittata, using frozen garden greens and onions in the egg dish

Brown rice

Apple wedges

Tuesday

Beef braised in a tomato sauce (I have some leftover pizza sauce to use up) 

Mashed potatoes (the instant variety -- not my favorite, but it is what we have)

Carrots added to the beef braising sauce

Creamed frozen garden greens

The cut of beef is called a heel roast. I’d never heard of this cut before, so I googled how best to prepare it. Braising it is!

Wednesday (other daughter)

Cabbage patch soup

Toasted cheese sandwiches

Apple, garden-fresh kale and cranberry salad

Thursday

Taco bowls using leftover beef from Tuesday, green pepper, tomatoes, avocado, garden watercress, cucumber slices, cheese, and tortilla chips

Mixed fruit crisp (using frozen apple chunks, frozen blackberries, and frozen rhubarb dices)

Friday

Pepperoni, green pepper, mushroom, and olive pizza

Steamed garden-fresh Brussel sprout greens with onions

Carrot-raisin salad

Weekend dinners:

One night of mostly leftovers from the fridge. The other night will likely be a meatless meal, using dried beans (black-eyed peas).

Lunches:

We're experiencing a brief return to winter this week. After a couple of weeks of slightly warmer days, we've now had snow and hail in the last 24 hours. I'm thinking hot soup and egg salad, toasted cheese or peanut butter sandwiches plus apples and a batch of slaw will be welcomed by all for lunches. I'm baking 3 loaves of whole wheat bread today and will make some cookies tomorrow to add to our lunches.

Breakfasts:

I made a large batch of raisin bran muffins over the weekend that we're still working on. In addition, breakfasts will consist of eggs, toasted homemade bread with homemade jams (gotta use those up before spring and summer inspire me to make lots more), juice, homemade granola, and a breakfast casserole. Kris's mention of lots of leftover breakfast casserole from an event at church made me hungry for some myself. I have some cooked sausage in the freezer that I can use in a strata-type casserole, adding some chopped green pepper, onion, eggs, cheese to cubed bread and diced cooked sausage.

We're at an interesting place in the season. On the one hand, I'm trying to use up the frozen garden produce from last season. While at the same time our warmer early February has brought the spring return of some of our hardier garden greens. 

What's on your menu for this next week?

Thoughts and Review of February's 1950s Tuna Bake Meal

All of the recipes came from Better Homes & Gardens New Cook Book, publish date 1953. To refresh your memory, here's the menu from the other night:

Tuna Bake -- Cheese Swirls

Green Beans in Crumbs

Deviled Beets

my plate

I had several thoughts about each recipe. Again, my entire family commented that everything was delicious. I was unsure if we'd all like everything. But as it turns out, this was another winner of a menu.

Tuna Bake -- Cheese Swirls (all of the full recipes are in this post)

Ingredients:

• chopped green pepper
• chopped yellow onion
• cooking fat (I used vegetable oil)
• salt
• flour
• can of condensed chicken with rice soup (I used homemade chicken stock, seasonings, and leftover cooked rice)
• milk
• canned tuna (I used 2 cans)
• lemon juice
• Cheese Swirls for topping

to give you an idea of what the cheese swirls were,
this is what the casserole looked like before baking

Cheese Swirls

Ingredients:

• flour
• baking powder
• salt
• shortening
• milk
• American cheese (I used cheddar)

The things I liked about this recipe:

1) This recipe called for basic pantry items, such as yellow onions, flour, canned soup (which I was easily able make a substitution), and canned tuna. I also happened to have a green pepper in the fridge needing using, as well as almost all of the rest of the ingredients.

2) Even with making my canned soup substitution, the filling part was still a quick recipe to throw together.

3) The recipe is very budget-friendly. The topping was very do-able and inexpensive. The recipe for Cheese Swirls called for 1/2 cup of shredded cheese. That's really not very much. Canned tuna is under $1 a can in my area still. That's a good price for animal protein.

4) Not only was it tasty and filling, but it seemed "lighter" to me than traditional tuna casserole. I am not a fan of lots of pasta to wade through in tuna-noodle casserole just to get some tuna.

5) This could easily be turned into an all-in-one meal by simply adding 1 1/2 to 2 cups of fresh, frozen or canned vegetables, such as frozen peas, canned green beans, or chopped spinach. This would be a very good use for fresh spinach that was on its last legs.

6) I was able to put together almost all of the casserole in advance and have it waiting in the fridge to bake just before dinner.

7) Made according to the recipe, this likely would serve 6 adults, or a family of 8 if some were children. We had enough for all four of us both for dinner and a smaller portion for the next day's lunch. I made 12 cheese biscuit pinwheels to go on top of the filling, giving 3 to my husband, 2 to myself, and my daughters took 1 each for dinner. That left 5 pinwheels and the filling beneath each to serve us all for lunch the next day.

8) This was easy to make and didn't dirty too many dishes. I really appreciate that now that I'm washing all dishes by hand.

9) The rice in the soup (or my homemade rendition) added body to the tuna filling. Additional vegetables would have served the same purpose.

10) The biscuit topping was delicious and economical. Some casserole toppings can be on the more costly side, such as potato chips, lots of shredded cheese, crumbled cereal or crackers, or nuts. Scratch biscuits are right there with buttered bread crumbs for a frugal casserole topping. The biscuit topping also served as the starch part of the meal. So a dual purpose topping.

What I didn't like about this recipe:

1) The canned soup. I don't keep canned soup on hand. Even if I did, this would be an odd type for me to have chosen. Since I was able to find an easy work-around for the canned soup, I wish the recipe had just added an alternative to the chicken with rice soup, something such as " or 1/2 cup leftover cooked rice, 2 teaspoons of chicken bouillon granules, plus water to equal 1 1/4 cups."

Green Beans in Crumbs

Ingredients:

• canned green beans
• butter (I used part butter, part vegetable oil)
• salt
• cracker crumbs
• black pepper

The things I liked about this recipe:

1) We loved this! It was tasty and the cracker crumbs added texture and flavor. The key to making this is to either drain out or simmer out all of the water content before adding the crumbs. While the casserole was baking, I put the saucepan of green beans with butter and seasonings on the stove on Low to simmer until all I could hear was the fat crackling a bit. When all of the water had cooked out, moments before serving, I added the cracker crumbs. There was still a bit of crunch to some of the crumbs.

2) A great use for broken crackers. I used club crackers, but I remember my mother using Ritz crackers this way. It takes fewer crackers than you might guess (1/4 cup crumbs). I crushed about 7 or 8 small crackers and found I had more crumbs than I needed. I saved the remaining tablespoon of crumbs in a sealed baggie, waiting to be added to another dish.

What I didn't like about this recipe:

1) Although this can't be helped, as some things change in 6 decades, the size of can called for is one no longer sold. However, the recipe did provide the amount in cups, as well as size. So I was able to figure this out quickly.

Deviled Beets

Ingredients:

• butter
• prepared mustard
• honey
• Worcestershire sauce (I used a combo of soy sauce and brown sugar)
• paprika
• salt

The things I liked about this recipe:

1) This was a very tasty way to serve cooked beets. I'm not a huge fan of hot beets. I prefer them in a marinade and chilled. But I thought these were good, and I will make them again.

2) I cut the recipe in half, so I only used one 14.5-oz can of sliced beets. This was a good amount for our family of four.

What I didn't like about this recipe:

1) I felt it had too much butter. There was a smear of butter on each of our plates afterward. The full recipe called for 3 tablespoons butter. I think one could use 2 tablespoons butter and still have a great tasting side dish.

Key takeaways from this menu:

I missed having a light and cold side dish, like a salad or marinated vegetables. However, this was a filling, comfort food meal that was good for a chilly day. 

While we all liked the tuna bake, my husband really, really, really liked it! The combination of biscuit topping with the creamy tuna filling was a hit with him. We all enjoyed the leftovers the next day, too. Fish is not my favorite food, yet this was very good, and even I liked it the next day.

I'm inclined to make all of these recipes again. In the future, I would turn the tuna bake into a one-dish meal by adding vegetables to the filling. This would cut down on my kitchen time for a meal such as this. I think I spent about an hour to an hour and a half over the course of the day in hands-on work. 

I liked the way the biscuits were prepared. To me, rolling out the dough, then rolling up jelly roll-style and cutting felt less time-consuming than rolling out biscuit dough and cutting with a cutter, followed by re-rolling the scraps and cutting. And yet, the end presentation following the recipe was very nice. My mother-in-law would have been very impressed, if I'd served this to her. Yes, I do think this could make a nice potluck or informal gathering dish. If one wanted to simplify the cheese biscuit topping, drop scratch cheese biscuits (wet biscuit dough with shredded cheese mixed in) or canned biscuits topped with cheese could be used, saving 15 minutes or so on the preparation time.

This was a frugal meal for my family. The main protein was inexpensive (as far as meat goes), and the rest of the ingredients were basics for me to keep on hand. Not only was this a budget meal, but it also used basic cooking techniques, making this a good meal for anyone of any cooking ability to make. Canned vegetables are a big help for meal prep on busy days. There's no cooking, just heat and flavor right before serving.

I've had fun cooking recipes from this 50s-era cookbook. It's been a great way to shake up the cooking doldrums that can set in after many years of family cooking. I'll continue to look through this cookbook and do another meal in March. I hope this has been enjoyable for you to read about.

Dinner at 50's O'Clock: 1950's Pantry Staple Recipes

More recipes from my mother's copy of the Better Homes & Gardens New Cookbook, publish date1953

Tonight's 1950's dinner relies on several pantry items. Since I wasn't going shopping specifically for this menu, I needed to find recipes that used foods I had on hand. As it turned out, I used a lot of basic pantry foods, such as canned vegetables, crackers, and canned tuna. The main dish recipe called for a can of condensed chicken with rice soup. I made my own version of a condensed chicken with rice soup. Walmart sells a Great Value brand of this sort of soup for 92 cents, so not real a budget buster to buy a can. But like I said, I was using items I have on hand.

Better Homes & Gardens budget meal recommendations usually have a main dish (one that contains both protein and starch), a hot vegetable side dish, a cold vegetable salad, and a dessert (often fruit). I wanted to try new recipes, and my fresh vegetable selection is limited right now, so I went with two hot vegetable dishes instead of a vegetable dish plus a salad.

Again, I'm feeding a family of four adults.

Here's the menu:

Tuna Bake -- Cheese Swirls

Green Beans in Crumbs

Deviled Beets

I didn't choose a dessert recipe for tonight because our house is currently deluged with desserts that need eating up. We'll have a choice between leftover Valentine's cake, scratch brownies, or blackberry crisp for dessert.

Tuna Bake --Cheese Swirls

Cheese Swirl recipe

This is a no-noodle tuna casserole that is topped with cheese pinwheel biscuits, which are like cinnamon rolls only with cheese as the the filling instead of cinnamon and sugar.

I put the dry ingredients for the biscuit dough together, first. 

Next I assembled the casserole filling. To make the chicken with rice condensed soup, I used a quart of homemade chicken stock to which I added a pinch of thyme, a pinch of sage, the excess onions (about 2 tablespoons) from the casserole base, and some leftover cooked rice (about 1/2 cup). Since my chicken stock was not condensed, I simmered it on the stove to reduce it to equal roughly 10.5 ounces once rice was added. The stock simmered while I was working on other dinner recipes. This was one of two deviations from the original recipe. Canned chicken with rice soup would also have some vegetables in it, like diced carrots and celery.

I used bottled lemon juice, which I always have on hand. The recipe suggests fresh, frozen or canned. Maybe bottled lemon juice was not a thing then?

the casserole filling in the dish,
waiting to be topped a baked just before dinner

The other deviation was I used two cans of tuna instead of one. We all know cans of tuna have become smaller and smaller over the years. My two cans yielded 8 ounces of drained tuna.

I tasted the filling and thought it was quite good and a bit different from standard tuna-noodle casserole fillings.

the biscuit dry mixed with fats

With the biscuit recipe, I used half Crisco shortening and half butter. Although I usually make biscuits with oil, I wanted to stick with a solid shortening in following this recipe. And my cheese is cheddar instead of American. I prepared the dry ingredients of the biscuit recipe with fats cut in early in the day. This would be my one last big thing to do for dinner before baking the casserole -- stirring in the milk, then rolling out and filling with cheese. I wanted to make the recipe as close to the book as possible. In my real life, I could see making a drop cheese biscuit with this casserole filling.

Green Beans in Crumbs

Here's an odd thing -- apparently stores used to sell a size of canned foods that equated to 2 1/2 cups. Most 14.5 ounce cans of vegetables contain roughly 1 1/2 cups. The 24-ounce can, that is also found in grocery stores today, contains 3 cups of drained vegetables. Since I didn't have a No. 2 can of green beans, I used 1 1/2  14.5-oz cans of green beans. (The leftover 1/2 can of green beans will get mixed in with Thursday's vegetables to make a vegetable medley.)

This is a super easy recipe. I was able to put everything except the crack crumbs into a saucepan early in the day and allow it to sit on the counter until just before serving. At that point, I heated the green beans and seasonings/butter through, then stirred in the cracker crumbs just before serving (so they wouldn't become mushy).

all of the green bean dish ingredients
 except the cracker crumbs

Deviled Beets

Today, a deviled food generally means a recipe contains prepared (bottled) mustard and other spices -- think deviled eggs or deviled ham salad. Many years ago, deviling meant a lot of fiery spices were added to a dish. I know my family enjoys mustard with foods, so I thought this might be a good one. 

This recipe also calls for honey, and honey-mustard carrots are always a hit in my house. I used one 14.5-oz can of sliced beets for this recipe, cutting the recipe in half. I didn't have Worcestershire sauce, so I used a substitution recommended by All Recipes online, soy sauce and a pinch of brown sugar. Here's the link to 8 different Worcestershire sauce substitutes.

As with the green bean dish, I assembled the beet one in advance. I made the sauce in a saucepan and dumped the drained, canned beets on top. Just before dinner, I heated the dish and gently stirred it all together.

the beet dish, ready to heat and serve
the orange color of the sauce
 is the combo of mustard and paprika

I don't know if my recipe selection for a single dinner menu would be representative of a typical 1950s meal. As I was cooking, it did seem like I was using a lot of butter. Where I could I used less butter and substituted a little oil or shortening. In the green bean dish I used 2 tablespoons butter and 1 tablespoon oil. In the biscuit dough I used part butter, part Crisco. I didn't want to burn through our week's butter in one meal.

I suspect we will have enough leftovers for lunches tomorrow. I could have cut both the tuna dish and the green bean dish down and still had enough for my family of four.

I'll update with photos of my plate and feedback from my family later.

It's that time of the year again . . .

You know what this means, right? It's indoor seed-starting time in my area. I've got my empty cells, seeds, potting soil, and master list of what I plant, how much, and when.

Once the seeds are planted, I need a way to tell which are which. Some seedlings look an awful lot like others. And sometimes, they require different spacing when going out into the garden. So I took an empty plastic milk jug and cut it into strips, using ordinary kitchen scissors. Sharpies work great on this plastic surface. I made a mistake on one and could not rub off the name. So, I'm pretty certain these plant labels will fare well with watering. Free plant labels. Woo hoo!

My flat of early season veggies is seeded, labeled and under lights. Now it's a matter of waiting for sprouts to grow.

I'll start a second flat of different veggies, flowers and herbs in another 10 days. I have indoor capacity under lights for 4 flats altogether. And every year I use every last spot for seeds.

How about you? Will you be starting some seeds indoors any time soon?

Menu Plan for Presidents' Week and My Recipe for Peanut Butter Granola

Most of last week went according to the menu plan. I had some leftovers from Valentine's Day that needed using for Thursday's dinner (fresh strawberries instead of the planned creamed spinach) and some rapidly ripening avocados and Roma tomatoes that I ended up using for Friday's dinner instead of the steamed broccoli. And of course, we had lots of waffles and scones left from Wednesday brunch to add to breakfasts, lunches and snacks for the remaining day of the week. We're back on track now with all of the leftovers gobbled up.

This week, I have another 1950s dinner menu planned. The main course is something I made for my family many years ago. It was well-received then and I expect it will be enjoyed again this week. I'm still pinning down the side dish and dessert. I'll let you know all about it later in the week.

One daughter is dog-sitting for a few days, so again, no twinner-cooking this week. 

Here's what I've got planned for our meals.

Monday (one daughter)

Curried lentils with carrots, celery, onions,  frozen garden greens, homemade chutney and brown rice

Apple wedges

Tuesday

Stir-fried beef  with cabbage, broccoli, carrots, green onions, Swiss chard, and homegrown mushrooms over rice

Blackberry crisp

Wednesday

Another rockin' 50s dinner from my mother's 1953 cookbook

Thursday (other daughter)

Meatloaf

Mashed potatoes and gravy

Roasted broccoli

Friday

Pepperoni pizza

Creamed garden greens

Spiced fig-applesauce

Weekend dinners -- one night of miscellaneous leftovers from both fridge and freezer. The other night baked beans with ham, Cole slaw, honey-mustard carrots

Breakfasts -- peanut butter granola, Cream of Wheat, toast, eggs, peanut butter, apples, bananas, milk

Lunches -- egg salad sandwiches, peanut butter sandwiches, toasted open-face cheese sandwiches, homemade tomato-basil soup, carrot sticks, apples, raisins, cabbage, cookies, various leftovers

Peanut butter granola is something I've made for my family for many years. The recipe is my own. I came up with it as a way to boost the protein content of quick breakfasts and as a way to use up lingering jars of peanut butter in the pantry. Since I've mentioned this as a breakfast food in our house in previous weeks' menu plans, I thought I'd share the recipe today. If you're a fan of peanut butter cookies, this granola may just be your new favorite breakfast cereal. Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Granola

large jelly roll pan (baking sheet with 4 raised edges)

microwaveable mixing bowl and large spoon

Butter the baking sheet. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

1/2 to 2/3 cup peanut butter

6 tablespoons of brown sugar (or granulated sugar plus molasses)

1 to 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, butter, or coconut oil

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 to 2 teaspoons vanilla flavoring/extract

2 tablespoons water

3 cups rolled oats

Dump all ingredients except oats into large microwaveable bowl. Stir together. (Don't worry about lumps of butter or coconut oil, if using either as your fat.) Microwave for 30 to 40 seconds. 

Finish combining these ingredients. 

Stir in the oats. (Taste a small amount for sweetness at this point.  Add additional brown sugar if desired.) 

unbaked

Spread in the prepared baking sheet.

Bake for 20 minutes. Check. Stir the edges into the center and spread out again. Return to oven for 9 to 10 additional minutes, until the granola looks golden. 

fully baked

Turn off oven, open the oven door a crack, stir the granola again and allow to cool in the warm oven. When completely cooled, the granola should "feel" dry when stirred. 

I bake granola on an insulated sheet (double-layered). If baked on a single-layered baking sheet, the bottom may brown faster than mine. You may want to adjust the time slightly, for example, reduce the first baking period from 20 minutes to about 18 minutes, and the second baking period from 9-10 minutes to about 8 or 9 minutes. Also, stirring the granola more frequently should prevent over-browning of the granola.

Update on the Mushroom Growing Project

If you recall, I received an indoor mushroom kit as a Christmas gift. I began the kit on the 26th of December. By early to mid-January, we had bowls of mushrooms.

I sautéed mushrooms daily for about a week to ten days. 

I did have some difficulty getting the right amount of humidity and light for the kit, moving it from one window area to another, and trying out different coverings. In the end, a spot in the family room away from the window but still bright with indoor temps in the low to mid-60s, and covered with a large clear plastic bag seemed to be what it needed.

New mushroom development slowed down by the last week of January. I wasn't sure I'd done a very good job with the kit and wondered if I'd be able to get another flush out of it.

I followed the instructions and uncovered the block and allowed it to dry out for about 10 days. At that point I soaked it in clean water for a day, keeping it submersed with a heavy bowl on top. I pulled it out of the water and set it on the make-shift rack over a plastic bin lid and covered it with the clear plastic bag. Like I said, I wasn't sure anything extra would sprout.

That's a developing mushroom!

Well low and behold, after spritzing it with water daily for a week, the block began sprouting new mushrooms! I'm excited to see how well it will do for a second flush. Supposedly, I may be able to get a third flush from the block. So after it slows down this time, I'll repeat the resting period followed by soaking and see if any more mushrooms will sprout at that point, too.

When I think the whole block is about finished, I'll break it up into an outdoor pot and see if any will grow over soil outdoors. Worth a shot, right?

Happy Valentine's Day, Friends!

Here's how our Valentine's brunch turned out. 

Here's my plate.

You may notice the waffles have a non-waffle shape. I found this waffle iron, still in box, with instructions, and still two sides zip-tied together (never used) at Goodwill a couple of weeks ago. Since my 30-year old waffle iron died last year, I thought I'd pick this one up at a bargain basement price. It worked great today!

Valentine's hugs sent out to all of you!

Pro Tip: Best Time Ever to Go to Home Depot

 

If you want the parking lot practically all to yourself, lots of employees to answer questions, no wait to check out, then I have the absolute best day/time to go to Home Depot.

I'm not really into football, and the commercials and half-time entertainment are often not my thing. So, skipping the Super Bowl seemed like a good opportunity for me to go to Home Depot to pick up some flowers for a large pot by the kitchen door. I've been needing a bit of cheer to get me through some down days this month. When I thought about what would bring a smile to my face, spring flowers was the answer.

Sunday afternoon, just after 3 PM PST, one daughter and I headed out to get some flowering plants. When we pulled into the parking lot at HD, it was almost comical how few cars there were. And I'm assuming several of those cars were employees'. Even the employees inside the store were joking around about how empty the store was. Everyone was in good humor and very helpful. My daughter and I walked out with plenty of spring flowering plants and no hassle getting in or out of the parking lot.

I'll keep this in mind for next February. Now, I have to go outside and plant these into the pot's soil. 

Menu Plan for Valentine's Week 2024

blackberry crisp, bubbling hot out of the oven

As I said about last week's menu plan, "if all goes according to plans." We all know that weeks where things do go to plan are rare. Mine are no exception. So, here's the plan from last week in brief, and where things changed:

Monday- bean burgers, rice or instant mashed potatoes, steamed carrots, sliced tomato, mixed fruit crisp

Tuesday- beef stew, banana muffins, cabbage slaw

Wednesday-leftovers from Monday

Thursday- plan: Shepherd's Pie. This is where I discovered we were accumulating too many leftovers. So the plan shifted at this point. Reality: I reworked the leftovers so we had bean burgers, skillet baked beans, instant grits, cabbage/sprout slaw, tomato and avocado slices.

Friday- plan: pepperoni pizza, spiced fig applesauce, Reality: Shepherd's Pie, using leftover grits mixed with leftover mashed potatoes as topping, with cheese on top of that, plus chocolate-covered raisin clusters.

This coming week, here's our menu (again if all goes according to plan):

Monday (one daughter's night)

Green vegetable frittata, using frozen garden greens and onions in the egg dish

Brown rice

Apple wedges

Blackberry crisp

Tuesday

Roasted whole chicken

Mashed potatoes and gravy

Steamed carrots, make double

Leftover blackberry crisp

Wednesday (other daughter's night, but the two of them have been working together on parts of this dinner)

Homemade stuffed-crust pepperoni pizza (you use string cheese to stuff the crust)

Sautéed green beans

Tossed salad

Valentine’s cake (already baked and in the freezer)

Thursday

Leftover chicken/gravy over slices of bread 

Leftover carrots

Creamed spinach

Friday

Chicken, noodles and gravy

Steamed broccoli

Weekend dinners: one night chicken noodle soup and slaw. Another of cooked pinto beans done Mexi-style, with rice, tomatoes, avocado, cheese, and apple wedges.

Wednesday brunch (Valentine's Day)

waffles, raspberry silken tofu, ham, sausage, strawberries, scones, apple slices, and chocolate in some form

The rest of the week's breakfasts will include homemade bread, either steel cut oats or cream of wheat, homemade muffins, eggs, peanut butter, milk, and fruit.

Lunches will include homemade tomato soup, smoothies, cheese sandwiches, deviled eggs, peanut butter, apples, Cole slaw, bananas, and various leftovers.

We don't go out to eat on Valentine's Day simply because we don't feel we receive very good service when restaurants are so crowded as they are on some holidays (Mother's Day is another such holiday). Instead we cook at home, or occasionally pick up something from the deli at the grocery store. In addition, we like our own cooking. If what I wanted was to avoid washing dishes after the meal, I'd have us use paper plates and grill our dinner. As it is, while we're not thrilled to be hand-washing all of our dishes these days (broken dishwasher), it's not something we complain about (at least not much). And this year, I'm in luck. One of my daughters is really into cooking these days and wanted to prepare dinner on Valentine's Day. So I'll get my night off from cooking without eating out.

So what's on your menu for the week? Do you like to go out to eat on holidays like Valentine's Day, or do you prefer to eat at home?

Working on Our Valentine's Brunch Menu

This year, we'll all be home in the morning on Wednesday. So I thought a quick and early brunch for Valentine's Day would be a special way to celebrate. While I'm still working out the details, here's my rough list of foods for the menu.

Foods I have everything on hand already:

• homemade waffles (I have everything I need to make waffles)
• ham slices (in the freezer leftover from New Year's Day ham)
• sausage patties (I found a pound of breakfast sausage in the freezer this week)
• heart-shaped scones baked in my heart-shaped cast-iron pan, then dusted with confectioner's sugar
• assorted jams and spreads for the scones
• fuji apples, sliced thin (I have a bag of fuji's in the fridge)

Foods I will need to buy before Wednesday:

• fresh strawberries (will need to buy those on Tuesday)
• tofu-raspberry jam dip/spread (I'll buy silken tofu at WinCo tomorrow, then combine with homemade raspberry jam)

It seems wrong to me to not have something chocolatey for Valentine's Day. But I can't think of anything I'd like to make for a brunch food that features chocolate. Any suggestions?

Taxes and Can Ordinary Bath Soap Be Used For Dishes?

I'm working on our taxes this week. I need to get them done before I get bogged down with more dental and medical appointments. On top of those, we have 4 spring birthdays, a spring wedding anniversary, a week where my hubby will be out of town, Easter, and a possible surgery for me. So, while my mind is clear I want to get the 2 sets of taxes in.

Now to the question about mild bath soap used on dishes. You know I like to experiment. This morning, I was melting a bar of Jergens soup, the very mild kind. I blend melted bar soap with a little laundry detergent and enough water to fill 2 large jugs of pourable semi-homemade laundry soap. My husband prefers this for his clothes and the towels and bedding as it leaves fabric very soft. 

Anyway, as I was washing up the breakfast dishes I wondered to myself if this melting bar soap would work on the dishes. So I poured a little of the melted soap into the washpan of dishes. Here's my conclusion. Melted Jergens soap works on dishes, glasses, silverware and cooking utensils, but not on anything really greasy. The skillet from frying my eggs and turkey bacon needed additional dish detergent. Apparently, bar bath soap is much gentler than dish soap.

The reason I went down this path is my first of two bars of actual dish soap given to me at Christmas has about 1 week to 10 days left on the bar. I still have the second bar for washing, though. So there's no hurry to find a substitute that I like or buy more of these bars myself. This one bar will have lasted about 2 months for us. Buying new bars myself will be more expensive than buying Dollar Tree dish detergent. So I wanted to see if there's something else I could use that would be in bar form. I really dislike the plastic bottle waste and want to find alternatives where I can. So I had to try out ordinary bath and face soap to see if it would work.

One of my original thoughts was I wouldn't like the fragrance of bath soap on my dishes. Then I remembered my grandmother's favorite liquid dish soap -- Ivory. Ivory definitely had a non-kitchen fragrance to it, a lot like their bath soap, as I recall. So, if Jergens soap has a non-kitchen fragrance, at least there's something of a history to dish soap with this sort of scent. It's funny that we like a floral scent on our bodies, but not on our dishes. And we like a citrusy or fruity fragrance on our dishes but not necessarily on the soap we use on our bodies.

Back to my experiment. This is good to know that in a pinch, we could wash the non-greasy dishes and cookware with ordinary bath soap if we began to run very low on the dish soap and couldn't get out to buy more, such as in a storm or when convalescing from an illness or surgery. I'll file this tidbit of information away in a back corner of my mind.

One note of caution -- I made sure to rinse those dishes really well this morning. Bath soap may contain additives that are not food-safe. And I wouldn't want to get any of that stuff on a plate where I plan to put my food. Just so you know, none of the dishes or cookware from my experiment had a soapy fragrance after rinsing. And they passed the finger test for squeakiness, indicating no soap residue left after rinsing.

It seems as if I'm not the only one who has ever had these curious thoughts. Apartment Therapy offers some info in this article about washing dishes without actual dish soap. If you'll recall a post I wrote a while ago about using baking soda to wash dishes, this article suggests baking soda as one of the best dish soap alternatives. Hmmm, now I think I need a second experiment. . . .

What are your best local prices on . . .

I brought in the last 2 dozen eggs from the garage fridge the other day. I knew we were running low and would need more eggs soon. So, I've been checking egg prices when out shopping. Last Friday I went to Walmart to pick up some produce. I cruised by the egg section and was shocked to see that the 5-dozen case of eggs had skyrocketed to almost $20. Then this morning I checked again, this time online, and they were up to $26 for 5 dozen! I have never seen eggs this expensive, ever. That works out to $5.20 a dozen! And these are the cheap eggs, not brown or organic or pasture-raised. Just plain white eggs.

So I checked online at every other store in my area that provides prices on their websites.

The wholesaler's price on the 15-dozen case (cheapest price per dozen there) is up to $79.99. I used to buy those cases for around $17 for 15-dozen. Fred Meyer (Kroger) is more sane, with 18-count cartons priced at $4.39 ($2.93/dozen). 

I decided to check Target's price online. They had a dozen eggs for $2.59. I thought that might be my best bet. I needed to go to Target anyway this morning, so I swung by the egg section. First of all, the $2.59/dozen eggs were $2.89 in the store. However, the 18-count cartons were less in store than online, priced at $3.69 instead of the online price of $4.29. I picked up 4 of the 18-count cartons, for a total of 6 dozen eggs and brought them to the checkout with my other items. They rang up at the higher price. Luckily I noticed this and pointed it out to the clerk. She honored the price on the shelf for me for all the cartons. 

So, I bought 6 dozen eggs for $2.46 per dozen. That beat all of the other prices I found in town. (I also checked Safeway, Albertsons, QFC, and Walgreens).

I'm also checking prices on other items on my shopping list for the week. I especially track the price on butter, eggs, milk, and gas for the car, as I notice and remember those specific items.

What's your best local price on:

one pound butter  $3.75/pound in a 2-lb bundle at Fred Meyer (Kroger) 

dozen eggs  $2.46/dozen in 18-count cartons at Target

one gallon milk  $2.99/gallon at WinCo, limit 1

gallon regular unleaded gas   $3.89 at ARCO on the main highway

Are my prices in line with what you're paying? Have eggs skyrocketed in price in your area, too? 

Menu Plan for This Week in February

I haven't done a meals' post in a while. I spent some time this morning menu planning for this coming week. In February, I find we are in use-it-up mode with regards to everything in the freezer. So here's our coming week in meals, should all go according to plan.

Dinners

Monday
Bean burgers w/ cheese slices, mustard sauce using some honey mustard lingering in the fridge 
Roma tomato slices
Steamed carrots
Choice of instant mashed potatoes or leftover cooked rice
Mixed frozen fruit crisp

My two daughters cook dinner for us on Monday and Wednesday. This is part of how they contribute to the household. In recent weeks, they've been teaming up on Mondays and making double what is needed for one meal and serve mostly leftovers on Wednesday. They call this effort "twinner."

I help in the menu planning for their meals, guiding them in what's available to use or in need of using. This week, we have leftover cooked pinto beans and leftover cooked rice. I also helped with the dessert today. I made a mixed fruit crisp, using 3 different fruits from the freezer, apples, blackberries, and rhubarb.

Tuesday
Beef stew w/carrots, peas, onions, frozen garden greens, barley, and beef 
Cole slaw
Banana muffins

There are two almost black bananas sitting on the kitchen counter. Those will go into muffins for this night's dinner. I'll also be using random garden greens that I find in the freezer in the stew, along with the other ingredients. Cole slaw because cabbage is one of our cheap veggies.

Wednesday (the second half of twinner)
Bean burgers w/ cheese, any remaining mustard sauce 
Apple wedges
Steamed carrots

Leftover rice or potatoes

Thursday
Chicken shepherd's pie, using carrots, onions, frozen celery, frozen garden greens, frozen peas topped with mashed potatoes

Friday
Pepperoni pizza
Broccoli
Tomato and cucumber slices
Spiced fig applesauce

The weekend dinners will consist of one vegetarian Mexican night, with refried beans, cheese, rice, salsa, avocado, tomatoes, and corn tortilla chips and one leftovers night, using what ever is left in the fridge.

Lunches

Curried pumpkin-peanut butter soup pot, using some frozen pumpkin puree

Cream of frozen garden greens soup pot

Cabbage patch soup pot, using canned tomatoes, cabbage, frozen garden greens, onions, garlic, and TVP

Assorted breads and other leftovers

Breakfasts

Breakfasts are a get-your-own sort of thing in our house. My husband likes to cook himself some meat and have toast with it. I alternate between toast, egg, turkey bacon and a bowl of bran flakes and stewed dried fruit. There's also peanut butter granola in a jar on the counter, and there will be lots of leftovers, including leftover fruit crisp and leftover banana muffins.

What's your plan for this next week's meals? Do you plan ahead a week or plan one day at a time?

Valentine Gifties From Dollar Tree, Grocery Outlet, and WinCo

I wanted to share some inexpensive gifts that I found in my favorite budget stores. These are for my two daughters for Valentine's Day. I'll have a filled tin for each of them.

From Dollar Tree:

• a pair of cozy socks, $1.25, who doesn't love a pair of cozy socks? 
• a small container of hand and body cream, $1.25, these are for normal to dry skin. I also bought one for extra dry skin for myself and I love it for my hands!
• a bath bomb made to look like a conversation heart, $1.25, cute and Valentine-themed gift for gals

From Grocery Outlet (grocery salvage store):

• Russell Stover dark chocolate covered marshmallow heart, 33 cents. These are $1 at Fred Meyer. And who wouldn't want something coated in dark chocolate?

From WinCo:

• assorted foil-wrapped chocolate hearts, 94 cents from the bulk bins

If you're doing the math, each filled tin cost just over $5 plus tax on the Dollar Tree items. (The tins are reused every year.)