Saturday Shopping and Baking

Morning started today at 4am with baby-feeding, but thankfully Robert went back down till seven, a slightly more humane hour. M and I swapped off watching him and each got a facsimile of sleeping in that way. It's not like the old days when we'd snuggle in together until halfway through the morning or later, but sleep is sleep. It helps that Robert is at his most charming in the morning, happy and smiling and noisy with sounds that aren't crying. We still have a lot of new-parent hormones flowing, and a big gummy smile can turn either of us into a cooing parental puddle, which is pretty funny to watch and oddly enjoyable to experience.

I didn't make it out shopping last night like I was going to, thanks to a sudden and acute attack of the lazy, but I went out today to Kroger with Robert. I used to do my WIC shopping and non-coupon shopping at Meijer, but I am still unhappy about the way I was treated last month, so boo to them. Kroger was very busy, something about one of the other nearby Krogers being closed for some reason, but we soldiered through anyway. I picked up some escarole for the birds because the vet says they need more veggies, and a little ball of lettuce is just the right size. I also got some bananas and a cantaloupe, and two boxes of Mother's Milk Tea , because I was totally out. The stuff is horrible, but it really works, I had some of that and some oatmeal this evening, and it made a real difference when I pumped, plus Robert was less fussy.

The WIC voucher this week got us milk, cheese, eggs, juice, beans, rice and peanut butter, all the nutritious staple foods. I did make the mistake of setting the voucher down in the carseat while I was bagging the lettuce, and when I looked over again, Robert had it clutched in his teeny little fist. He was happy about it, too. I had visions of trying to present a crumpled up, soon-to-be-drooled-on voucher at the checkout, and spent several minutes carefully prying it out of his hand. The time when I could use his lap as my coupon table is past, I think. Ah well. While we were there, I browsed the clearance carts and shelves as well. Kroger usually has interesting things on clearance, and sometimes I can get really good deals. Today I got some lemonade tubes and some almond-cranberry oatmeal for well under a dollar each, and I picked up a NUK Learner Cup  for just 3.19 on clearance. Good deal! Robert won't be ready to use it for awhile yet, but might as well get it now when the getting is good!

At the checkout, I found that my cashier had the same midwife as me, Sister Kay, which was cool. I felt bad though, because she had her baby less than three weeks ago and was already back at work. I think that's just awful, but what can you say? It's not like she probably had much choice in the matter, checkers don't get paid maternity leave. It was another reminder to me to be grateful for all that I have, even if sometimes I feel frustrated or like we never have enough. I'm actually very fortunate to be in the position that I'm in and have the opportunity I do. Once we got home, Robert went down for a nap and M and I cleaned out the birdcages, then he did all the dishes. Woo-hoo!

Having all the dishes done put me in a creative mood. I haven't been using eggs as fast as we get them lately, so a lot of them have built up in the fridge, and I decided to use some for baking. I found a cool recipe for cinnamon-sugar biscotti and made that. It was easy, and I even got down the food processor to give my flour a proper sifting. M and I both thought it turned out really well. I would like to try it sometime when I have real butter on hand, I think it would be even better. I tried some with my tea, but that was actually kind of icky, because it made me taste the tea for longer. I ended up going with my usual technique, letting the tea cool till tepid and then chugging it as fast as possible. Undignified, but it works.

March 5-8, the messy weekend

My computer is in the shop for repairs, which is why the last entry there is so backdated, and why I haven't posted any food minutae for so many days. I thought that I'd lost that entire post, but thank God for Blogger's autosave feature. I came back today, and there it was where I'd left it. Hurrah! I wish I could hope the same for the contents of my hard drive, but oh well, c'est la vie. At least it was still in warranty and doesn't cost anything to fix but time. Right now I'm using M's old workhorse of a laptop, which is a bit slow, but has a huge screen that is something of a novelty. It's the one we normally use for watching movies. 

There wasn't really much to report on the food front this weekend, except large deviations from the plan. Thursday M had chili for lunch and I had pork, and there was so very much pulled pork left over that we decided to have it again in the evening instead of tuna melts. Five pounds of pork is a lot, seriously. Thursday night, I made shortbread cookies. I loooove shortbread cookies, but they are five dollars for eight cookies, and that's just crazy. Butter was on sale at Aldi's, so this seemed a good week to give it a whirl. With a food processor, making shortbread cookies turns out to be a breeze. Pop in a quarter-cup of sugar and let it spin to fine down a bit, add three-quarters of a cup of flour (My sifter is messed up, so I spun that a bit too), and then chop in a whole stick of butter, pulsing it till it turns into a doughball. Refrigerate for an hour, then divide the ball in eight circles, smash them with a cup, poke them with a fork, and bake at 350 for 20 minutes. They turned out wonderfully. I made two batches, which made sixteen good-sized cookies for basically a dollar's worth of butter and maybe fifty cents worth of flour and sugar. Not bad! Not good for me, but oh well. 

Thursday I also started a new experiment, washing clothes by hand. We've been doing a laundromat trip a month, which is a rather expensive proposition that takes hours out of one single day. What I've been doing is washing 5-10 pieces of clothes at once in the bathtub, rinsing them, then hanging them to dry on a tension rod with a plastic bin underneath it. It's really good exercise, so I don't feel quite as bad about the buttery cookies. If I keep this up, I'll have arms like Michelle Obama in no time! Well, as long as I don't go nuts with the butter, of course. 

Friday I went in to school with M, so a shortbread cookie on the way out the door was all I ate at home all day. Speaking of going crazy with cookies, sheesh! I hung out in the grad student lounge all day and finished another hat, my fourth in two weeks, and got a little much-needed human contact. I also got coffee and even more cookies, as well as a pulled pork sandwich from home for lunch. After M finished his classes, we went to a Friday evening program the UC Wellness Center was putting on. They showed a bunch of 80s cartoons, fed us healthy snacks, and had trivia raffles for fabulous prizes! I fell in love with the amazing taco dip they had there. Full of fresh veggies, guacamole and black beans, it filled a lot of cravings I haven't satisfied lately with the drive for thriftiness. Even better, there was a fresh fruit plate with pineapple, strawberries,  blueberries and muskmelon, all things that are out of our price range when out of season. I'm not ashamed to admit I made a bit of a pig of myself, but since it was lightly attended, there was plenty for all. M and I, being trivia buffs, also did quite well in the trivia raffle. I came home with a giant bouncy ball and a Fraggle Rock DVD, and he scored a set of Matchbox cars and a Barrel of Monkeys. (If you recognize the slap bracelets in the picture, then you know you are from the 80s.) It was a very fun evening, and all free! 

On Saturday, we slept shamelessly late, the last day before springing ahead made us wake up early, and took Pookah in once more to the adoption event at Petsmart. Once again, there were no takers, but she's showing better, without turning her back on anyone who might be the least bit interested. Adoptions have been slow these past few weeks, which worries me. We're going to hit kitten season soon, and fat, loveable five-year-old Pookah is not going to look good against a cage full of adorable, playful kittens. Fingers still crossed! While she was strutting her stuff, we took M to get a haircut. One of his Christmas presents was a card for a dozen haircuts, so he has no excuse to get a real grad-student scruffiness going on. I went over to Kroger and picked up the turkey breast I'd gotten a rain check for. A big six pound breast, originally twelve dollars, now six. That'll be several meals! 

Saturday night, there was a party at one of M's friends' apartment. It's graduate recruitment weekend, so there were new potential grad students who needed to be shown that the department is cool and fun and has parties. (This is in fact true, if you count very nerdy fun, which I do.) For the party, I bought a box of generic Ritz crackers (they actually taste very good) and made a cheese ball from one of the mixes M's mom sent us. A pack of cream cheese, half a stick of butter, once again with the food processer, and voila! White chocolate cherry almond cheese ball. We didn't eat supper that night because we went to the party, where we had nachos and veggie tray, cheeseball and potato chips. We did outlay some money, though. Last year when we were graduate candidates, some of the grad students took us to Graeters, a local institution and home of the Best Ice Cream Ever. They paid for our ice cream and told us that if M came to the school, he should pay it forward next year. So, as promised, we took one of the candidates and took him to Graeters, where we introduced him to the wonders of black raspberry chip ice cream. It was ten dollars for the three of us, but it was worth every penny, and fulfilling a verbal contract. 

Today I would've taken a stab at getting back on the plan, but I had leftovers that needed using up first. For lunch, I warmed up the last of last week's split pea soup, which was getting crowded out of the freezer, and paired it up with corn muffins. Corn muffins make soup a real meal, I think. For dinner, I used the last of the pulled pork and my carefully reserved pork liquid to make fried rice. The cold pork water was gross, with an inch of fat on the top of the lid, but when I removed that and microwaved the jellied juice, it was the perfect medium for cooking rice. I didn't have peas to add this week, but I tossed in two eggs, all the rest of the pork and a packet of seasoning mix, and we got a very good meal of pork fried rice. No picture this time, but you've seen it all before. 

Now, though, I have to totally rewrite the plan for the coming week. Not following the plan for three days means that there are perishables that need eating, and meals that need filling. I was supposed to make penne hot dog casserole tonight and send the leftovers to school tomorrow, so that meal needs filled, etc. It's not a big deal, and I'm still glad to have a plan. My mom tells me that she's been inspired enough to start making a plan, and I'm glad. They waste more food than we eat, I think! Besides, between working out with the Wii and washing clothes today, I'm ready to sit down and let my aching muscles and blistered foot relax. 

March 2 and 3, new recipes

I'm rolling two days together here, which may become my new pattern. My six-month-old laptop has decided that working is bourgeoisie, and instead it will turn itself off at random intervals to keep me on my toes. So it's going back to Compaq Heaven to get a new set of fans and probably a complimentary hard drive wiping, while I make do with M's old five year old Gateway laptop, which is a fricking workhorse for all it has no battery. This is sad, because while I'm using the Gateway, we will have nothing to watch our Netflix on. We may have to finally dig up the actual discs we got about four months ago and send them back to continue on with our queue. At least those we can play on the actual television. 

Anyway, in the food department, yesterday was a day for an exciting new recipe, tomato soup lasagna bake. I found it on the label of the tomato soup can. Basically you brown and drain a pound of ground beef (I used turkey) and a diced up onion. Shake in a teaspoon of dried oregano, and if you're addicted to italian seasoning like me, throw some of that in. Over that you glop on a carton of ricotta cheese as evenly as you can. I was going to sub in cottage cheese, but was tickled pink to find ricotta on sale at Aldi's this week. It makes a difference! Over the cheese you put four cups of uncooked rigatoni, and then over that you pour two cans of tomato soup mixed with one cup of water. Squish it all down so it's all wet, then simmer it in the pan for 15 minutes, till the pasta is cooked, and then toss on a cup of grated mozzarella. 

I didn't take a picture, mainly because I was starving and worried that the burger bottom was going to burn even more than it already had if I didn't get it served up right away. If I make this recipe again, I will definitely half-cook the noodles ahead of time, because they simply took too long. By the time they were done, my ground turkey had burned black on the bottom. Other than that, though, it was a really good recipe. It wasn't hard, it didn't take a lot of attention, and the flavor was great. Excellent way to use two of my dozen free soups. There were plenty of leftovers for lunch today. 

For supper this evening, I wanted to give M a treat. A new favorite dish he's discovered since we moved to this area is Cincinnati chili, an odd dish that really isn't much like chili at all at least not to me. It's really hard to describe, watery and sweet beanless chili that's served over spaghetti. If you've ever had three-, four-, or five-way chili at a restaurant, you've probably had it. I'm not terribly fond of it, but it's okay. It's very expensive to buy at a fast food joint around here, five or six bucks for a one-person serving. This week at Meijer, though, they had seasoning packets on sale, and all they required was water, tomato paste, and ground meat. Score! I cooked up the chili for more than an hour in my six-quart pot, then boiled up some spaghetti noodles, then served it garnished liberally with low-fat cheddar and oyster crackers, very traditional. 

It turned out really well. I actually liked my homemade stuff better than the stuff from Skyline or Gold Star Chili, partially because it was less greasy and partially because the whole pot cost about 5 bucks. M was also a big fan. He had seconds, and there was plenty to pack up for his lunch tomorrow. There might even be two days of leftovers for him in there, since I think I'll stick to the turkey sandwich plan and leave the chili to someone who can really appreciate it. 

I've also been making granola this week. I got all the ingredients together and made a batch last night, which turned out delicious. I didn't put in sesame seeds, subbed in pecans for almonds and peanuts, and only used craisins for fruits, but it was snacking genius. I tried to make another batch today, while the chili was simmering, but M came home and I got distracted and left it in the oven way too long. It's not bad, a little carmelized, a little carbonized, but edible. I love making granola because it's the only way I can afford it, and it makes me feel handy and clever. 

I've been reading lately about container gardening online. We've got this nice patio here, and it gets good sun during parts of the day, so I think it could work. I need to get some containers and some dirt, but after that, smooth sailing, right? I'm thinking I could maybe decorate the outside of a plastic storage tub and plant into there, plus I have a kitty litter bucket and an empty hanging basket for tomatoes. A garden like that wouldn't have a big yield, but I think it would be satisfying to watch growing. And being able to grow some of my own herbs, garlic and green onion would be very handy, since I'm always running out. 

Saturday, February 28, cooking, shopping, and a lesson learned.

This is a couple of days rolled into one post. Friday wasn't a very interesting food day, I made chicken artichoke spaghetti, which is tasty, but not something I haven't made many times before. I diced and cooked two chicken breasts in a little olive oil with some italian seasoning, then dumped a huge jar of spaghetti sauce over them, then added a drained and chopped up jar of marinated artichokes. Added yet more italian seasoning (I love it!), then simmered it for about 20 minutes, finally adding a whole bunch of shredded mozzarella cheese. I boiled up a pound of angel hair to serve it over, and it became Friday dinner, Saturday lunch, and part of Saturday dinner as well. It's really very delicious, and all the more so because I haven't made it in a few weeks. 

Saturday was the last day for last week's Meijer sales, so I went out just long enough to pick up the items I wanted from the circular. I did very well, picked up a five pound pork shoulder at 99 cents a pound, a dozen chicken drumsticks at 89 cents a pound, and a nice rope of beef sausage for 1.50. I did also buy another bunch of boxes of blueberry tea, still on clearance sale. It's pretty good, and I made four boxes last two weeks and a little more. I also got  another six pounds of apples for the dehydrator, some thin spaghetti noodles, and two packs of Cincinnati Chili mix. If you don't know Cincinnati Chili, it's very weird stuff, not really like chili at all, but very watery and sort of sweet, and served over spaghetti noodles and with lots of shredded cheddar. M is wild for the stuff, so I'm going to see how it tastes when made at home. I got some shredded cheddar and cream cheese on sale, and a bunch of canned mushrooms for my next few pot roasts, then finished it off with two family sized bags of sale tortilla chips, one for each of us. It came out to 44 dollars total, which is really not bad, especially with all that cheese and meat. I do have to economize and make sure that the rest of this period's shopping reflects the fact that I already spent so much.

Last night I tried something new, making jalepeno corn bread  by adding extra stuff to a Jiffy mix. The texture was really good, separating the eggs and whipping the whites to stiff peaks adds a huge amount of volume and lift to the bread, and I soured my milk with a little vinegar instead of buying buttermilk. Unfortunately, I forgot all the rules of not being a dumbass in the kitchen and didn't wear gloves when I was dicing the four jalepenos for the bread. Owie, owie, owie! By the time the bread was in the oven, my hands were in agony. Washing with Dawn didn't help, so I wound up going on the internet for more remedies. I ended up washing my hands in vegetable oil, peanut butter, baking soda, rubbing alcohol, apple cider vinegar, astringent, and some other things I can't even remember. In the end, I don't know what worked, but after an hour or so, it felt mostly better. I can still sort of feel it today, though. (That's one big reason I didn't post this last night!) Next time I make the bread, I think I'll skip the peppers and add parmesan cheese instead.With a texture like that, cheese would be awesome. 

Tuesday, February 17, the big dinner

It didn't all go exactly as I planned, and it was on the table later than I thought, but for a meal I'd never prepared before and have only eaten once or twice, it worked out well. I ran out of flour while making the pasties, due mainly to changing recipes after I'd already done the shopping. The dough was a simple business of flour, shortening, and salt all cut together, then mixed with water and rolled into a ball. I didn't have any waxed paper to wrap it in, so I improvised with a stylish paper plate hat so it could sit in the fridge for an hour. 

While that was sitting, I made the apple crisp. That was an easy recipe, though after trying the finished product, I think I would add more cinammon and less nutmeg. I was using fresh-grated nutmeg (nutmeg is not cheap, but I got a tube of nutmegs two years ago and they've lasted very well,) and it's quite a bit stronger than what you shake out of the canister. No cream or ice cream to go with it, since the stuff I got yesterday at the store has Oreo bits, but it held up fine on its own.

When that was cooking, I started cutting up the veggies for the pasty and defrosting my ground turkey. If you have anyone who buys you kitchen presents, ask them to get you a mandolin slicer. I got one for Christmas this year, and it has saved me hours of work and made cooking veggies much more enjoyable. I cut up potatoes, carrots, rutabaga, and onion, then mixed it all together with the raw meat like a very lumpy meatloaf. 

Not having flour for my hands, the board, or my nonexistent rolling pin made the pasty dough a sticky situation. I wound up greasing a cutting board and spreading the dough more like pizza dough, then dumping a lump of the filling on top, folding it over, and trying to get it onto a cookie sheet without the whole thing falling apart. For reasons I am not certain of, after I had my four pasties on the sheet and in the oven, I still had a little dough and about half the filling left. That was meat and veggies, and I wasn't about to just waste it. 

By this time M was home and hungry, but the pasties needed to cook 70 minutes. In a fit of inspiration, I mixed the dough and filling together, added a handful of rolled oats, some garlic salt and some pepper, then formed it into balls and fried them in veggie oil. They turned out quite tasty, and made a great first course. I skipped the cheesy biscuits at this point, realizing we were going to be pretty full as it was. We had a romantic first course of apple crisp and meatballs, then finally the pasties were done. M was very happy. I was almost full already, but I ate half of mine. Pasties are a great idea, but I think I'm going to find a new recipe for next time. 

The best part, though, is that with all the food we had for supper, there are plenty of leftovers. We ate two of the four pasties, so instead of turkey sandwiches tomorrow, we'll get to have these again. Nice! 

Tuesday, February 17, Unplanned cooking

The food plan for the first half of this month called for two bunches of bananas. I elected to buy both of them in that first shopping trip, one nearly ripe, and one extremely green. I put them in the refrigerator when they turned yellow, and for the most part it was okay. I did end up with four blackened bananas that neither of us wanted to eat. So today, since I've already got my baking gear out, I decided to use those bananas up in a very simple banana bread. Bananas, little margarine, little sugar, little flour, one egg left over from last week, bit of baking soda and vanilla. Voila! It's still baking right now, but it smells amazing. When it's done, I'll finish the dishes and get to work on tonight's supper. 

I've already started setting the table for tonight, something I rarely do. We almost never eat at the table. But Valentines, even belated, is a special occasion. I'm going to be trying my hand at pasties, one of M's favorite dishes from college, which are little bread pockets full of meat, rutabaga, potatoes, carrots, and other good things. Rutabaga is a very weird-looking vegetable, I must say. But nothing tastes quite like it. 

Update: It's done, and it looks great! It'll be breakfast tomorrow.