If I wasn't so lame I would have taken photos of my soup but this looks pretty close.
About 3:00pm on Tuesday afternoon I started thinking about what to have for dinner. Usually I start a lot earlier than this but I had a late lunch so I wasn't really hungry until 3. I'm very food driven so once I get started thinking about dinner it usually consumes a big portion of my brain functions.
My thought processing for dinner works sort of like this; pasta? Nah, had that Sunday night. rice? Nah, made vegetable risotto last night. potatoes? Nah, don't feel like it.
Mexican sounds good but what? Tacos, enchiladas, burritos, nachos? None of those sounded any good. Mostly because they take some work. Work. Is a bad four letter word for me.
Well, nachos did sound good but I didn't really want nachos. Too much cheese (did any of you think I'd ever say that? Me either. I may need to see a doctor.)
What I wanted was soup. Then I thought, why not use all those things I'd put into fresh black bean and corn salsa (my all time favorite salsa) and nachos into soup. Tada! Dinner.
Dinner so good I was told by JR that I needed to make this again. SOON!
Nacho Soup
1/2 cup chopped onion 1/2 cup chopped green pepper 1/2 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped 1 clove garlic, chopped 1 small can chopped green chilies 1 can diced tomatoes 1 small can tomato sauce 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed 1 can corn, drained 2 cups water 1 tablespoon cumin 2 tablespoons chili powder 2 tablespoons olive oil 1/3 cup packed chopped cilantro 1/4 cup sour cream
Toppings: grated cheddar cheese chopped cilantro chopped fresh tomato diced avocado or guacamole Frito corn chips or crushed tortilla chips
Cook onions, jalapeno, green pepper, green chilies in the olive oil until soft. Add garlic. Cook another couple of minutes. Start opening cans. Drain beans and corn. Add to vegetables. Add tomatoes, tomato sauce, water, cumin and chili powder. Let simmer while you get the toppings together. Just before serving stir in sour cream and cilantro. Cook another couple of minutes. Top and serve. Makes about 4 to 6 servings.
FYI - don't cut up the jalapeno then rub your eye. I'm just saying it stings a bit.
I have 2 tintypes in my collection of old family memorabilia. I found these buried among JR’s Grandma’s stuff. Stuff that included stacks of receipts, piles of letters bound by string and ribbons, photographs tucked into books, in the folds of letters, and enclosed in envelopes, things that make up the minutiae that represent what we know of her and her family’s lives.
I belive that the guy on the right is JR's great great grandfather.
Tintypes or melainotypes or ferrotypes (all the same thing. There was a little controversy about who and what invented the tintype in the U.S. that I'm sure included pistols at dawn) are photographs created by making a direct positive on a sheet of metal; usually on iron or steel never on tin. The name tintype may have been given to them because they were cut from the plate of steel or iron with a pair of tin snips.
Tintypes were the working man’s photograph. Developed in 1853 in France, tintypes made their way to the U.S. in 1856. They were popular from 1856 to 1880 when new Kodak technology made them obsolete.
I could have cropped this one a little better.
Tintypes were very popular with Civil War soldiers and their families. The equipment required was very portable. Photographs could be taken in the field or at home and given to the customer almost immediately. Put into a sleeve they were easily mailed.
Another use was to take pictures of infant or young children when they died as a rememberance. Sounds morbid but you have to remember that the infant mortality rate was very high. A mother wants to remember her baby. Finally. now, she had a way to do so. Sad but true.
Tintypes have no negatives so they are mirror images. If a person looks like they are holding a glass in their left hand they are really holding it in their right hand. Cool huh?
I suspect that these gentlemen were the 4 Norwegian brothers that immigrated to America in the 1850s. They are JR's ancestors. I have some cool stories about these fellows that I will relate later. JR's direct descendant and his brothers turned out to be quite the characters.
At our 25th anniversary party JR had the following conversation with our friend Cindy.
Cindy: JR, what's your song?
JR: Huh?
Cindy: You know, your and Michele's song. The "song". The one that defines your relationship.
JR (without missing a beat): Highway to Hell by AC/DC
Cindy: Ohhhh I can never get a straight answer out of you. I'm going to ask Michele.
Cindy storms into the party room.
Cindy: Michele, do you know what your husband just told me your "song" was?
Me: No and do you know how much I hate conversations that start with "do you know what?"
Cindy: Whatever. He said that your "song" was Highway to Hell. Tell me he wasn't lying to me.
Me: He wasn't lying. It is Highway to Hell.
After 25 years we can support each others lies without missing a beat. We are made for each other.
Love, M
PS. I guess I should have said that JR celebrated our 25th a year and a half ago. I just thought about AC/DC when Keely mentioned it in her post yesterday and thought I'd pass along this cute story.
When I think of Texas I think wineries. No, that doesn't sound right. Not that I don't think about wineries. We all know I think about them way too much but Texas isn't known for it's wineries. Who knew?
There are something like 176 wineries in the state (I foresee a lot of driving). They grow the most grapes around the Lubbock area. I'm still shaking my head in wonder. Lubbock? Who'da thunk it?
This is the Pleasant Hill Winery in Brenham, Tx. Brenham, the home of Blue Bell ice cream creamery. The half way point on the way home from Austin. The cute little town with a pretty good Italian restaurant.
Quaint No?
We got a nice little tour of the winery. When I say little, I mean little. I think my house is actually bigger than the actual processing room. Which looks a tiny bit like a mad scientist works there. Close enough, I guess, the wine maker is a retired mechanical engineer wine maker hobbyist turned salesman/wine maker/vintner. What they lack in size they more than make up for in their Sauvignon Blanc. (Mary Anne, you'll want to try this).
JR was pretty sure that this vat of mashed grapes was not going to turn into enough wine for me for a year. I'd have like to have called him on that one but I would probably have lost. I'd have to use math to figure out the cubic inches of this bucket o'mash; then the finished wine to mash ratio; then yearly consumption. Now, I just have a headache.
Here is the wine makers wife. She wants me to send her some recipes for the Texas wine growers cookbook. She really was lovely.
She did sort of get strange when she found out I was a vegetarian. When I was looking at the cookbook she pointed out a beef recipe she thought I might like to try. I said, that might be really nice with tofu. You would have thought I'd grown an extra head and a tail (that might be a good look for me).
She spent a good portion of the next hour apologizing for eating meat and explaining that she wants to cut back. She went so far as to stop her husband from talking about which meats go with which wines so I wouldn't be offended. I tried to tell her it was no big deal. That JR still eats meat. I just don't cook it or eat it. She really was trying to be nice in a make the vegetarian stand out like a freak kind of way. I just don't think she knew how to handle it. I was probably one of the first vegetarians she'd ever met. Not unusual here. *sigh*.
All in all, we had a lovely road trip, bought a couple of wines, had a nice Italian dinner (and yes the waiter was freaked out also) and picked up some plants at the local lavender farm.
I didn't want those candied walnuts to go to waste so this weekend I used them to make breakfast and dinner on Sunday.
If you didn't see the candied walnuts recipe it's right here.
This is a three part recipe. You've got your filling, your pasta, and your sauce. I cheated on the sauce by using some bottled sauce I had on hand. The ravioli is sweet so you'll want to have a savory sauce to put on top. I'd stay clear of a regular tomato sauce because it tends to be sweet.
You don't have to make your own pasta. I did because I didn't have any won ton wrappers on hand. You can cut out a lot of the work in this recipe by using won ton wrappers. If you've never had homemade pasta you've missed out on a treat. I try to make it every couple of months because it is so dang good.
All in all this looks fancy and sounds like a pain in the tush but really it's not. The filling is a make ahead deal and with won ton wrappers assembly would be a snap.
CandiedWalnut Ravioli with Sundried Tomato Sauce.
Filling: 1/2 cup ground candied walnuts 1 cup low fat ricotta cheese 1 egg 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
I crushed up the walnuts in my food processor in the morning to make pancakes so I just went ahead and made the filling for the ravioli at the same time. This cut back considerably on the prep time in the evening.
Empty the walnuts out of the food processor so you can grind up some Parmesan cheese. That is if you don't buy it already grated.
Toss the walnuts back into the pool. Add the 1 cup of ricotta cheese and the egg.
Blend until it is a stiff paste.
Wow, I could have so cropped these pictures better. Now, you can see what a truly messy cook I am.
Pasta: 2 cups flour 3 eggs
In a large flatish pan/bowl thingy. I use the pan that I make brownies in. I think it is a 9" X 9"baking pan. Some people make their pasta dough right on their counter top. I like mine a little more contained then that.
Dump in the flour. Make a well in the flour. Crack eggs into the well. Mix gently. I use a fork until I get the eggs somewhat incorporated then I dig right in with my hands. Gently knead dough until it gets smooth. You may have to add a little water or flour to get it to the right consistency. Or do yourself a favor. Skip this part altogether and buy some won ton wrappers.
Let it rest on a floured surface at room temperature for 10 to 15 minutes. This is a fine time to either make your sauce if you're going to, make your filling if you haven't already or, and this was my choice, have that first glass of wine.
Cut dough into quarters.
Roll out dough. I used my pasta maker but it is just as easy to use a rolling pin.
You want long thin strips. The pasta maker pretty much takes care of this but if you are rolling it by hand you'll want to keep this in mind.
Aren't those the cutest little mounds of filling? I use my baby ice cream type scoop to get them looking like this. It pays to have a husband that works for a restaurant supply store.
Scoop a little of the filling onto one strip of dough. Space them out about a little more than an inch or so. You need some space to work with.
Cover with another sheet of dough. Squeeze the dough around the mounds of filling to get the air out.
I used a pizza cutter but you could use any ole thing to cut your ravioli. Crimp the edge with a fork. I doubt if this last step is mandatory but it does make prettier ravioli. Wondering what I did with the leftover strips of pasta dough. Yeah, I didn't think so but I'll torture you with the answer anyway. I cut it into egg noodle type strips and refrigerated it. Tomorrow or the next day I'll use it for something.
Let the ravioli sit while you bring a pot of water to a simmer. This step dries them out a little. That's a good thing.
You don't want a rolling boil on this one, fans. These babies are just too tender for boiling. Drop 4 or 5 into the water. No crowding the pool. Cook until they float to the top. I'd say about 5 minutes. They take so little time that this should be done after you have everything else ready. Boil only those that you are going to eat right then. Cover the others with a damp paper towel. You'll get to these after dinner.
Serve immediately. Enjoy! Makes about 20 ravioli.
Cook the remaining ravioli. Pour a tiny bit of olive oil over them to keep them separated. Refrigerate.
I served mine with dilled peas and some crusty bread. Yummy.
This makes a terrific Meatless Monday dinner and lunch the next day.
Believe it or not but the holiday gift giving season is just around the corner. By starting early you can save money by finding things on sale and by stretching those gift dollars over several paychecks.
I think I've found the first of my gifts. I'm not sure exactly who in my family will receive these wonderful play sets but I'll think of someone. Though not family I think Keely would appreciate these sets. Keely have you got a set of these yet?
What's a zombie Play Set without an angry mob.
Goofy stocking stuffers......check and check.
Love, M
PS: link to the toys was made possible by Miss wonderfulness herself Julie.
They say that necessity is the mother of invention and in our case that was so true. It was necessary for us (the half dozen or so) teenagers to own a boat. It is pretty hard, impossible really to water ski without one. You also needed all the gear. And a car to tow the boat to the lake is pretty handy also.
How could we come up with the money for all this? Get jobs? Get real! Jobs would just cut into our water skiing/beer drinking/party time. We needed to come up with a much better solution then that.
Our solution, which was totally brilliant, BTW, was to hold a kegger. You've all heard "it takes money to make money". As true now as it was then. It also takes some serious project management to pull off a profitable kegger.
You need: A venue: Our venue was Dave's house. Technically, Dave's dad's house. Specifically, Dave's dad's house when Dave's dad was not at home. This was not as big of a problem as you would think. Dave's dad was gone quite a lot. Dave's dad had businesses around the Pacific Northwest that needed his attention. This left his house and kids up for grabs.
Dave's house was chosen for it's location. As the real estate people say; location, location. location! Dave's house was in the perfect location. It was on fraternity row for the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington. In fact, the nearest frat house was 3 houses down. Oh yeah, this was the money district. Those private christian college frat boys would shell out for a drunk like no one else I've ever seen.
A product: Easy enough. Beer. That's it. That's all we offered. Whoops, that's not totally true. Beer and a red plastic cup. We had one simple rule; lose your cup and you had to buy another one. That would cost you a dollar.
Though none of us was 21 (the drinking age in Washington State in 1975) we knew of all the bars that would sell us kegs of beer. There were 3 in Tacoma that had, shall we say, a liberal interpretation of the drinking age.
With any keg you had to have taps. Since, we were frequent purchasers of kegs, a couple of kegs a month, we owned our own taps. Sometimes, it's best to make a capital investment. Taps were a great investment.
Pricing strategy: Charge $1 for every cup. Lose your cup; pay another buck. This was an all you can drink affair. FYI, frat boys lose a lot of cups.
Planning and sticking to your timeline: We started our planning for the keggers season early. It was not unusual for us to have kegger planning meetings around Christmas. All keggers needed to be during the semester. Preferably, the week after midterms, a couple of weeks before finals and the week before move out. The plan had to be fluid enough to adapt to problems such as Dave's dad not being out of town on the proposed date and our own school class schedules.
Ultimate money maker: This was a two prong approach. 1. cup clean up management. We would periodically sweep the house for unattended cups. If you leave your cup to take a piss you would have to buy another one. You drink that much beer you were bound to break the seal. When you came back your cup was gone. Paying that dollar for a new one was the definition of a pisser.
2. crowd control. Though we never denied anyone the opportunity to squeeze into the house we did develop a plan to control the flow. This was a simple and dare I say genius plan. At midnight we called the police. That's right. We called in a complaint to the local police department in order to have the party raided. Nothing clears out a bunch of drunk frat boys and slutty sorority sisters faster than police sirens. After, the party goers left we would refresh the keg and pull out cups of a different color, usually blue. An hour later we would start the kegger up again. This entailed charging everyone another dollar to get another cup.
This plan work excellently. After two or three keggers we were able to purchase our ski boat and motor and a 1967 Chevelle. Both items needed work but the men in our group were more than up for this. They worked on the Red Dog (the Chevelle) for over a month. It didn't look pretty but it could smoke anything off the line. The boat motor took another month.
Dave's dad also owned a bare piece of property on Lake Tapps (the lake nearest my house). We would spend all summer camping out at the lake; skiing, drinking, and well.....having a really good time. And whenever we needed more money we held another kegger or two.
Did I mention that Dave's dad was awesome! Someday I'll tell the story about Dave's dad selling one of his hotels to a madam. She ran a pretty skanky whorehouse out of it until he had to foreclose. The guys in our group wanted to take the mortgage payment out in trade. Teenage boys are such asses.
I've been out of town most of this week. Add that to the fact that The Boy has left to go back to college has added up to a no cooking week. This turn of events meant that there was no Foodie Friday for me because I won't put up a recipe that I haven't personally made and loved. It's a quality control issue for me. I'm just thinking of you all.
On about Wednesday or Thursday I had a major Wedge Salad craving. Casey, which day was it? Let's just say that Wedge Salad played a significant role in my restaurant ordering choices while in Austin.
One of my favorite parts of a Wedge Salad, (beside blue cheese because damn, it's blue cheese, it's cheese), is spiced candied walnuts. These take a while to bake but well worth the effort. Here's the recipe.
Spiced Candied Walnuts
The hard and software.
Preheat oven to 250 degree.
Whisk together and spread out on a cookie sheet. 1/2 cup sugar 1/4 cup flour 1/8 teaspoon salt 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon allspice 1/3 teaspoon each ginger and nutmeg
Combine and beat slightly 1 egg white 2 tablespoons whiskey - I used the good stuff.
Coat in egg mixture. 1 cup walnut pieces
Drop nuts in the sugar spice mixture. Mix them lightly to coat.
Keep nuts separated (this sentence just sounds wrong.). Shake off excess. Hands work the best for this. Sorry about this picture. How much more creepy can my hand get, wrinkles and brown turdy looking things. These are really better than they look in this picture.
Place them on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake for about 1 1/2 hours. Remove from the oven and shake off excess sugar. Store in a tightly covered container.
My two favorite uses for spiced nuts are; "Blue Cheese Wedge Salad" and "Spiced Walnut and Ricotta Ravioli". Or if you really wanted to you could also just snack on these. Along side of some sliced pears, Yummm........
I hope you enjoy them as much as we do.
Love, M
This will make a wonderful Meatless Monday add on. Give it a try.
Hi everyone! I'm over at Keely's place where the weather isn't 96 degrees with 91% humidity. It's more like 53 degrees or as they say up there 9 degrees and 41% humidity. 53 or 9, They both sound too cold. I'll have to be raffling through Keely's closets for a sweater (and porn), working my way through her wine and pretty much making a pest of myself.
JR travels a lot so he signed up for the Priority Member Club at the hotel he stays at the most. Good idea, huh? It sure is. He already has 2 or 3 free nights to use with no blackout dates. There are supposed to be other great perks though I don't know what they are.
Keeping this in mind when I needed to go to Austin this week I book at the same hotel. I picked the one that overlooked the lake. Those extra perks were in the back of my mind. Could I get an upgraded room? Plumper pillows? Extra towels? Better view?
With that lovely Priority Member card in my hand I was hoping to score a view like this.
Or maybe this.
What view did I score?
THIS!!
Oh Yeah, Baby! That Priority Member Club is really working out for me.
See you all later. I'll be over at Keely's place on Sunday. She had to nerve to go on vacation. She left a few of us in charge of her blog. She may want to rethink that plan for her next vacation. I'm just saying.
She's gone. Ten years of taking care of her are over. Granddaddy is still around to take care of. I still have JR and the boys to take care of; which helps but it's just not the same without her. There's a void. I have too much time on my hands. I'm never good when I have too much time on my hands.
At the end I was spending hours upon hours helping her dress and undress, making her meals, then watching so she ate them, taking her to doctors appointments, and reading to her because she just couldn't see well enough and it was her one true passion.
I braced myself to start cleaning out her room. This is really hard. A lot of her life is neatly arranged in this room. Oh, I'd been in it many many times before but now it's empty. Now, it's just stuff. Now it's just her stuff and I'm almost afraid to go in there. Instead of taking out a nightgown out of the drawer for her to wear to bed I'll be packing up those nightgowns forever. It's really hard.
Hauling in boxes, packing tape, and a Sharpie I make my way in to her room. The boys are at school, JR is at work, and Granddaddy is at my house next door taking a nap. I've got a good 2 hours to make a dent in this chore.
First dresser drawer; socks, hose and underwear. This is doable. Nothing here I hadn't delved into before. Just pretend I'm moving her to another room.
Second dresser drawer; nighties, slips and such. I've been in this drawer also. No surprises here. Or were there? Buried deep in the drawer. Wrapped in a full slip hid this little blue book.
Why ever would she hide a book in the bottom of her drawer wrapped in a slip? Unless, of course, the book happened to be titled..........
Sane Sex Life & Sane Sex Living.
This stopped me in my tracks. This I had to read. This I had to show JR. Wait, maybe this was something he didn't want to know about his mother. Was it really hers to begin with?
The copyright on this book is 1919 with reprints in 1922 & 1937. His parents weren't married until 1940. Was this really his mother's book? Did it belong to his grandparents? Maybe, his grandmother passed it on to his mother when she got married? It could have been Granddaddy's book but I really doubted that. Mago's parents were much more well read and would have bought into this kind of thing then Granddaddy's farmer parents.
What and who were the Eugenics people? There was no internet to turn to for information so off to the library I went; dragging 2 elementary age boys and one geriatric man. Sending them off to their respective corners I start my digging.
It seems this group had a vested interest in sex or at least procreation. They believed that you could discourage negative traits and genetic abnormalities by discouraging reproduction between people who had bad traits or bad genes. Sound familiar?
Hitler was all over this shit. I'm pretty sure the Eugenics people didn't mean it to be used quite the way Hitler did but there you have it.
After finding out who the Eugenics people were I came to the conclusion that this book had to have been Mago's mother's book. the Progressive Era was just her cup of tea.
Whoever's book it was originally doesn't really matter at this stage but what does matter is that it give me an interesting look at my mother-in-law and her mother. It gives me an interesting look at how sex was viewed by this particular group at this particular time in American history.
And damn! It's one of the funniest reads I've ever had. I thought so then and I think so now. I did share this with JR years later when the pain of losing his mom wore off a little. We got a good laugh out of it.
Love, M
PS: enlarge the pictures and read the table of contents and you tell me if this isn't the funniest thing you've read in awhile.
Librarians spend a good deal of their day looking up stuff. It's our job. We're trained to do it. We actually get masters degrees is looking up stuff. A job ad usually reads: Must be good at looking up weird and obscure stuff.
Julie and I have a motto: We're librarians, if we can't find your information.....you don't need it.
Sometimes in our search for stuff we come across silly and funny stuff. My librarian friend Julie is the queen of finding silly things. She promptly sends them off to me. This is her latest find. It cracked me up.
Knowing how some twitter addicts tweet every time they pour a glass of water or walk across a room the fact that twitter went down must have been devastating. By the way, what is that all about? Every time you have a thought in your head it doesn't need to be tweeted. Seriously, give some of us a break.
Hope you get as big of a kick out of this as we did.
So Keely from the Un-Mom is on vacation this week but is that any reason not to do a (rant) Random Thoughts Tuesday. I DON'T THINK SO! How else am I going to (vent) express myself in a (maniacal) reasonable way? Totally rhetorical question.
Buck up everyone. How bad can it be. Don't answer that! Just read.
Seriously! Who can I kill over the new Baskin-n-Robbins commercial that is running on HGTV? That commercial can not be more annoying if it tried. Truly, it makes me want to reach into the TV and strangle someone. Really anyone.
While the house that we rent is kind of a POS (interpreted for those of not U.S. extraction; Piece of Shit. Like you didn't all ready know. I'm giving an old gentleman hurruffn on this one ) the landlords are great. They got right on the roof and ceiling repairs. Sure, we put up with a week of repairs but the kitchen and breakfast room have never looked better. Considering that the kitchen is still circa 1980 Ollie did a terrific job. After a complete cleaning to rid the place of that thin layer of drywall dust I couldn't be happier. Well, I could be but I just don't seem to be wining the lottery any time soon.
One of the things I like about living Houston, TX is the lushness of the plants. We planted these as starter plants (about 6 inches tall) about 8 weeks ago (maybe less). Now, look at them.
Hibiscus are like weeds around here. I'm going to be painting this. Jen (SK), you want the results?
I've placed 3 wind chimes around the back door. The summer breezes keep these things singing all day long.
How great is that?
Of course, the plants are so lush because the place is SO hot and humid.
Jeez, I thought Phoenix was bad.
I guess it really doesn't matter whether it is 115 and 23% humity or 96 and 63% humity. IT'S ALL HOT! FYI, next weekend JR and I are putting in our kiddie swimming pool container vegetable gardens. We purchased 3 pools on Sunday. We are now into the garden for the tune of $31.50. I'll be sure to document it for ya'll. (Texas talk. I'm trying to fit in).
Saturday was the 40th anniversary of the Beatles's Abbey Road album. Yeah, so I remember when it came out. I was only 10. Anyhoo, people, (who don't even remember when it came out because they weren't even born!!!), are like freaking out. Okay, I'm a big Beatles fan (I'd DO the live ones. The dead ones......not so much. Ewwww.... and maybe not Ringo. I never was much of a Ringo fan) but even I wouldn't snarl traffic in order to celebrate this album. Get a life people!
So that is my random thoughts for this Tuesday. The rest of you may have totally more important things to talk about but hey.....my blog......my bullshit. The rest of you are on your own. HA! Like I'd leave you all alone.
Head over to Keely's place, even though she's on vacation I bet there are some random thoughts floating around.
Becky over at Suburban Matron unknowingly reminded me that I had written this post weeks ago (she'll be sorry I'm sure). I've been holding it in reserve for a time when I just didn't have anything. Well, that time is now.
It can be done. I have a family of 3 adults and we get by on about $75. This figure does not include wine. Sure, I may think it's a food group but others don't. Idiots! It's a fruit.
I suspect that when the Boy goes back to college in 2 weeks this amount will drop a little. With JR still commuting to Dallas every Monday our August food bill should be much less than $400.
One of the best ways to spend less on your groceries is to stop buying prepared foods. No easy task you say. I totally understand. One could get in the habit of buying these items. Your life is busy. Work, family, commuting, shopping, and just life in general can get in the way of making meals from scratch. But, truly with a little bit of planning you can easily get out of the pre-made food habit.
I've talked about it before but I'll say it one more time. On your days off cook rice, potatoes, soak and cook beans, and boil up a couple of types of pasta. All these things store very well and can be used throughout the week. By pre-cooking staples you can save time and money.
Another bonus of making these staples ahead of time is that you are serving foods that are closest to their original form. When foods are processed they lose a lot of their nutritional value. Pre-made food is also packed with salt and preservatives.
Oh sure, that box of mac & cheese is calling to you but resist. That little package of powdered cheese is not real cheese. It is more like crack than cheese. I call it crack cheese. I can't even purchase this stuff because I can't resist it. That orange, (not found in nature), powdery goodness calls to me. Add the 1/4 cup butter, (the real stuff thank you very much), and cream, (because skim milk is for pussies), and you've got a cancer/heart attack recipe that I can not pull myself away from. Please don't call my cardiologist.
This is from a msnbc article about how to feed your family of 4 for $100 per week. You can see why I focused of it.
Become a flexitarian
Make beans the "meat" in some of your dishes.
One of the healthiest ways to save money is to swap meat for beans as your protein source a few meals a week. Packed with high amounts of protein, fiber, and antioxidants, "beans are one of the healthiest foods on the planet," Sass says. They are also one of the cheapest things you can find in your grocery store, especially if you buy them dry and soak and cook them yourself. Try them in burritos, soups, chili, and salads. Cutting back on meat is not just good for your wallet, it's good for your health as well. Most Americans far exceed the recommended meat and protein allowances for our diet, and with that meat can come unwanted saturated fat.
Okay, so I'm a bit obsessed. The meat industry can bite me. Go Meatless on Mondays!
From the same article:
Grow your own
Try budget-friendly backyard gardening.
Gardening can be a fun way to cut food costs and get your kids interested in fresh fruit and vegetables. And it's not as hard as you might think, says gardening expert Rosalind Creasy, author of Recipes from the Garden. For first-timers, she recommends starting out with a small summer plot of tomatoes, peppers, beans, zucchini, and herbs. Broccoli, lettuce, and chard can be planted in the fall.
Find a sunny spot in anywhere in the yard. Turn over the soil, add compost and a little organic plant food, and then plant your seedlings or seeds. Water regularly. If you have more veggies than you can use, freeze them to use in winter months.
If you need help deciding what and when to plant, check out the National Gardening Association’s food gardening guide.
The first thing that JR and I do when we move into a house is plan for our garden. Sometimes it is a large plot or sometimes it is pots sitting on the patio or deck. We've grown tomatoes, green beans, lettuce, eggplant, and zucchini in pots. Herbs and tomatoes are the easiest. Corn is the hardest but anything can be grown in a pot.
I saw the coolest thing awhile back. Urban gardens were being grown in those solid plastic kiddie pools.
This is so perfect. They are small enough to go on a patio, in a small yard or on a roof top. They are deep enough to grow everything except maybe the longest carrots. And, if you put them in a place where you can walk around it to weed and harvest you'll save yourself some bending and stretching. Oh and, they are cheap. Whoever thought of this was a genius. There is a ton of information out there. Here's some info if you want to give it a try. Here in Houston I have to start now because we have two growing seasons; spring and fall. I'll be heading out to buy 2 or 3 of them next week.
Do any of you cook ahead? Do you grow veggies in pots or in a garden? Have you given up or cut down on the amount of meat that you eat? Are you eating out of your pantry (I said pantry, you pervs).Inquiring minds want to know.
This week we have been kitchenless as we have the spontaneous water feature repaired. There is paint and drywall dust everywhere. While, I, personally, think Ollie, our, now, favorite drywall guy, is terrific I want him out of the house. (good grief that sentence has a lot of commas) I want to wipe every surface in the house down with cleaner and/or those nifty Swiffer dusters. Raise your hand if you like Swiffer dusters!
While, having an indoor water fall is probably fashionable I can't recommend it for the breakfast room or, at least, not if you have no choice as to its placement. It seems placement is key for this sort of thing.
Since, cooking is out (see cleaning requirements above for excuse). I decided to entertain you with pictures of the Hindu Temple we stumbled across on the way home from eating out. It has some big long Indian name that I couldn't begin to spell or pronounce. Doesn't matter. It's fantastic!
This is the view from the parking lot. Awesome!!
We got there just as the sun was setting.
The grounds are fantastic. With flowers and ponds and waterfalls. (not like the one in my breakfast room. More like serene planned ones).
There is carved marble everywhere. As I took my shoes off at the base of the steps I expected them to be a little rough but they were smooth as a baby's bum.
The cravings are intricate and, I'm pretty sure, filled with all kinds of meaning that completely escaped me but I can appreciate the workmanship.
I'm going back. Soon! During the daytime.
It is totally understandable how one can be spiritual in a place like this.
Now, that I know which sections women can go in and which they can't. Did you know they politely lead you out of the men's section when you miss reading the sign? They do. And they do it with all these nice teenage boys dressed in white. So polite. Yeah, I'm a dork.
Love, M
Julie, They have a yogi center. I'll be checking that out. I'm hoping they offer classes. I need bendy and meditative things right now.
If I wasn't so lame I would have taken photos of my soup but this looks pretty close.
