E is for Egg

I must admit that coming up with my E foods list was a little tougher than expected. Let's just say the cows ought to be happy this week because I'm pickin' on the chickens!

1. Eggs - fried, poached, scrambled, over-easy, sunny-side-up, hard-boiled, soft-boiled. Can you think of any more?
2. Elephant Ears - One of the ultimate fair foods ever! I remember thinking this was the bet way to spend my food money at the fair because they are so big and relatively cheap. As a little kid, anything bigger than my head was sure to fill me up.
3. Egg Salad Sandwich - This is one of my favorite comfort foods. I ate these a lot in college, and prefer them on the Publix White Mountain Bread. Mmmm...
4. Egg nog - I only buy this once, maybe twice a year. And then, just the small container. My husband liked it so much and knows he can only have it between Thanksgiving and Christmas. He doesn't want to waste it so he only has a little bit at a time. We usually end up throwing half of the first container because it expired before he finished it.
5. Eel - the only way I like to eat eel is on my sushi, teriyaki style. As a matter of fact, I think eel is my favorite kind of sushi.
6. Edible Paper - I had some of this recently. It was wrapped around a Japanese candy. Edi and her kids ate something like this last December.
7. Energy Drinks - Given my need for sleep you'd think I'd know all about these. But I don't. I've seen people drink them and practically jump out of their skin. These drinks scare me.
8. Eggplant - I've successfully eaten this in restaurants. I remember a napoleon made with eggplant once that was divine. My attempts at cooking this deep-purple vegetable at home have been less so.
9. Endive - This has to be one of the most elegant vegetables ever. Once, at a fancy restaurant, I had an endive salad. It was 3 single leafs of endive, drizzled with a bacon vinaigrette with crumbled goat cheese. Yummy!
10. Eggo Waffles - Lego my eggo! My brother and I used to reenact the the commercials in our kitchen. Pretty dorky, isn't it?
11. Earth's Best Baby Food - except for food that I have made myself, the only food my daughter has eaten is Earth's Best. It is all organic and comes in cute little glass jars I can reuse for canning.
12. Earl Grey Tea - This is my mom's favorite tea. I don't drink tea as often as I would like.
13. Extract - My favorites are vanilla and almond. I've even used them to make homemade coffee creamer.

On a side note, while I did not use it for this list, I found a neat food encyclopedia online.

Check out more Thursday Thirteen fun here.

Shredded Beef Tacos

Dinner tonight was yummy! And, I got to turn a doubting husband into a believer. A believer in the idea that is is indeed OK to use chicken stock in a beef dish.

I made shredded beef in my crockpot. And I know you are just dieing to read how I completed this culinary feat, given my recent crockpot failures. It was quite simple really. So simple, I'm surprised I made it up all by myself. Or at least I think I did. I don't remember reading this recipe any where.

I started by remembering to defrost the meat. That is the most important step in making a meat dish. Don't forget that girls... Actually, to confess, I only partially defrosted the meat. It was a big 3 lb. slab of chuck roast and
it was still a little frozen when it hit my chopping block. I cut the roast up into 2" cubes and tossed them in the crockpot. I added 1 can of organic diced tomatoes (purchased for just $0.16 at Wal-Mart), 1 can of chicken broth, lots of pepper, and a good bit of salt.

Setting it on low, I came back about 10 hours later. Because I had added enough broth to cover the meat, I now had a huge soupy mess. Or so I thought. Hidden in that mess was chunks of delicious beef. I used a slotted spoon and transferred the beef and diced tomatoes into another bowl. Then, I attacked it with 2 forks until I had tender, shredded goodness.

I had thought I would use this to make quesadillas, but as the beef began to pile up on my flour tortilla, I knew it was destined to become a soft taco.

A yummy soft taco. This was restaurant quality folks. No joke. Bruce ate 4 of them. I had considerable restraint and only ate 2. I think we'll be repeating this one tomorrow night.

From my stash I used the bee and the chicken stock. The tomatoes were only purchased this past weekend, so I don't think they count as stash quite yet. I try to keep cheese and tortillas in the house because they can be used for so many different recipes.

D is for DumDum

Here we are... already in the 4th week of my journey with food through the alphabet. I think this is my 7th TT post? Wow... time flies!

1. DumDums - This little pops are so cute. I like to pass them out to my students when they get a question right. Ironic?
2. Doritos - Just like the Cheetos from last week, my favorite part is licking the cheesy residue off my fingers.
3. Duck - I ate this for the first time when I was in China. I was amazed at how much I liked it.
4. Donuts - Krispy Kreme??? Take my advice, don't try to eat these warm with ice cold milk. When it all mixes up in your stomach, the feeling isn't right.
5. Drumsticks - This is my favorite piece of the bird. I love cold, fried chicken and would eat both drumsticks if the dark meat wasn't as good for you as the white meat.
6. Drumsticks - This is one of my favorite ice cream novelties. I remember getting them from the ice cream truck when I was a kid.
7. Dumplings - I've only really had these at Cracker Barrel, though I do have a package of frozen dumplins in my freezer.
8. Dates - I ate my first one when I was teaching VBS in high school. It was much stickier and sweeter than I thought it would be. I should try them again some day.
9. Dill - I've already made it clear that this is my favorite spice.
10. Dip - Onion Dip, spinach-artichoke dip, cheese dip, anything that I can scoop onto a hearty tortilla chip or ruffles is A-OK in my book!
11. Daichon - I have no idea what this is. Isn't it kind of like a radish? I'd google it, but am trying to avoid that. I hope someone leaves a comment telling me.
12. Do-si-dos - I am not a fan of this particular Girl Scout Cookie, even though it does contain peanute butter. I am told though that they are quite popular in my area, along with Samoas, something else I don't understand.
13. Deer Meat - Technically this is called venison, but my V list is still a long ways off and you will have forgotten by then that I have already used this food. I've had it once that I can recall and it was sooooo... yummy! Anyone want to kill a deer and have me over for dinner? I'll bring the bacon to wrap it in.

Go to the official home for Thursday Thirteen for more list fun.

C is for Casserole

I could just list 13 different casserole recipes, but then I'd probably have to go online to look for them. So instead, here are 13 foods that start with the letter C.

1. Carrots - yummy steamed with a light sprinkle of Splenda


2. Cottage Cheese - I would not eat this on a train. I would not eat this in the rain.


3. Candy Corn - I eagerly wait for this each Halloween season and by the time I finish 1 bag am so sick of it I don't need it again until the following October.


4. Chicken - fried, diced, grilled, baked, broiled, roasted, just call me Bubba!


5. Cereal - Lucky Charms anyone? I seriously think I could live on cereal alone if I needed too.


6. Cherries - Ranier cherries in the summer might be my all-time favorite fruit. I just wish they didn't cost $7+ a quart!


7. Cheetos - my favorite part of eating this snack, licking the cheese off my fingers!


8. Chocolate Cake - everyone thinks devil's food is the evil cake, but they are wrong... it is just chocolate cake that will be my undoing, especially when it is moist with rich, fudge-like frosting!


9. Coca Cola - or coke, soda, cola, pop, or whatever you call it in your part of the world. This reminds me of one of my favorite things to do at EPCOT. They have this little station where you can taste all different types of soda from around the world. Some are pretty yucky, like the apertif from Italy. But I really like the watermelon one from Japan.


10. Cheese - makes everything better, except Chocolate Cake, you can't really improve on perfection.


11. Cranberry Sauce - I tried to make this once in a blender. My cranberries wouldn't stay in the bottom so I pushed them down with a wooden spoon. Big mistake. There was no cranberry sauce at Christmas dinner that year!


12. Candy - put some peanut butter and choclate together and stick it in my mouth... these two ingredients make the perfect candy


13. Cookies - for that matter, peanut butter and chocolate also make the best cookies. A Girl Scout Tag-along anyone?

I made it through my 6th edition and am already working on future lists. Visit Thursday Thirteen for more list fun!

Breakdown

I broke down last week and went back to My Girlfriend's Kitchen. They were running a great deal - 10 petite meals for $70, that is a 30% savings over the regular price and WAY lower than any other deals they've had recently. At that price, I couldn't really pass it up.

Yes, I know... that is still more than I would spend by going to the grocery store, shopping sales, and making the meals myself. But given the way we've been eating lately, this is just something that my pantry and freezer needed to keep us from alternating between cereal and spaghetti. My husband loves me, but I am starting to push the boundaries of that love; if you know what I mean.

After my most recent trip to the grocery store (last Friday), I am re-committed to keeping my weekly trip under $25. I just have such a hard time passing up good sales when I can combine them with coupons. Case in point, Honey Bunches of Oats was on sale BOGO Free. I happened to have coupons for $2 off 1 box. Sooo... I bought 4 boxes for $1.16. Can you blame me? It was a good sale and we do eat a lot of cereal, but I need to just stick with buying milk to put on top of the cereal.

My total was ~$35, but that included buying breakfast for our Life Group class to eat on Sunday morning. I've done that for 3 weeks in a row now and think it is time for someone else to take care of it. The only problem is, I keep forgetting to pass the sign-up sheet around.

Casserole City

Tonight I got a little creative and pulled some random items from my pantry and freezer to make dinner. Bruce isn't a huge fan of casseroles, but if I add enough meat and flavor he can handle them on occasion.

For tonight's casserole, I took the 3 chicken breasts that Bruce defrosted and cut them into chicken strips. This was easier because they were still partially frozen. I browned the strips in olive oil then set them aside. While they were hanging out in a bowl next to my stove, I dumped in what was left of a bag of frozen peas along with 1 1/3 cup of water.

I let that heat up then added a box of whole wheat chicken flavored stuffing. I mixed that in just until moistened then placed the chicken over the top.

On top of the chicken, I put two things. First, I poured a mix of cream of celery soup mixed with 1/2 milk. Then, I shredded about 1/3 cup of cheddar cheese over that. Placing the lid on the pan, I let it heat up for about 5-6 minutes.

While this was cooking up, I made a green bean casserole for the oven. I did not have any french onions, so I decided to use Ritz crackers. This was a gross miscalculation. They got super soggy in the soupy mix. Plus, I was reminded that I do not like frozen green beans. I have made them a hundred different ways and have never liked them. So, I won't be buying them anymore, and I still have 1 bag left.

From my stash I used - frozen chicken, 1 can cream of chicken  soup, 1 can cream of mushroom soup, 1/2 bag of frozen peas, 1 bag of frozen green beans, and a box of instant stuffing.

Soggy Chicken

Last night Bruce dug down deep into our chest freezer and found a package of chicken dated sometime in October of 2007. He seemed concerned, but I pointed out that some pork we had last week was dated May of 2006 and it was fine, so the chicken probably was too.

They were chicken tenders, I decided they needed to be breaded and let Bruce pick the liquid for dredging. As a yummy and spicy choice he used Lawry's Louisiana Red Pepper Marinade. It made for a great flavor on the finished product, but since there was so much of it, the breading was soggy. It was too bad really because the taste was fine.

Lesson learned - make you you use your liquid sparingly when trying to bread meat.

Sorry there are no pictures of the soggy meat. We're a little sleep deprived at the Sabin house these days.

Still On Track

One might think that my ~2 week absence from posting on this site means that I have abandoned my EatingItUp experiment. But that is not the case. I just haven't had a lot of time lately to take pictures of and post my receipts. This week I am pretty much on target, having spent a little bit over $30, counting my trip to the bread store. It helped that I found a $30 Publix gift card lurking in my wallet. I was prepared to over spend a little today anyway because I decided to make some lasagna and a dinner for a friend who just had a baby. As it turns out, I only needed the cheese for the 2 pans of lasagna and the pasta for the Fiesta Chicken dish I made my friend.

My receipt looks super long because my favorite Green Giant frozen vegetables were on sale for $1 this week. I bought 10 and the cashier decided to ring them up individually. I am a little low on the produce purchases for the week and still need to find ways to add fruits and vegetables to our diet. I can honestly say it is not a budget issue, but a taste issue. My husband and I like main dishes and pasta. Even I, who grew up always being served a vegetable with dinner, sometimes just forget to prepare one. And by the time I've got the rest of the meal done, I don't feel like waiting for the veggies to be made. At least we still have the applesauce in our lunches.

I'll post a menu for next week when we get closer. Right now, I'm on Spring Break and am going to go play with my daughter while my lasagna finishes baking in the over!

Chicken Feet

I haven't abandoned this project... just been busy and out of town. I'm back now and while catching up on my blog reading, I found this post from Holly. It reminded me of my visit to China in 2005 and some of the food we ate.

I never had the guts to try a chicken foot while there, but I did buy one... and then put it in a friend's hot pot for fun. :) Thankfully, he was a good sport about it.

If I remember correctly, the foot only cost around $0.15 USD. Not bad for a practical joke!