Eating It Up

Potato Soup

2010-01-10T16:16:00.000-05:00

Last week my mom gave me most of a 10 lb bag of potatoes. I made Crash Hot Potatoes with some of them and decided to make Potato Soup with the rest of it. Here is the recipe I made up with what I had on hand:

~6 lbs of potatoes, peeled and cubed
1/2 onion, diced
3 stalks celery, diced
1 T minced garlic
2 T butter
2 cans of evaporated milk
8 oz cheese, shredded
salt and pepper to taste

Cook potatoes in water until tender. Saute onions and celery in the butter just until brown, then add garlic. Heat through until you can really smell the garlic.

Once potatoes are tender, drain off half of the liquid and half of the potatoes. Use your hand mixed (or masher I suppose) to create a puree right in the pan with the remaining water and potatoes. Stir in sauted vegetables, evaporated milk, and cheese. Stir until the cheese is melted then add in the remaining potato cubes.

***
Apart from the time spent peeling and cubing the potatoes, this was very simple to make. If I had it, I would have tossed in crumbled bacon and then topped with green onions. But they weren't on hand today. You could also use heavy cream instead of evaporated milk.

This recipe is one that is hard to mess up though. So, if you have less or more of something it probably wouldn't matter much.

What do you do with extra potatoes?

Week 1 Progress Update

2010-01-05T19:43:00.003-05:00

So far we are doing really good with the January Eat From the Pantry Challenge. I went to the grocery store Sunday night and spent $28, including 2 newspapers. I hadn't planned to buy clementines, but since the 5 lb box was on sale for $5.99, I picked it up. That is a good price where I live.

Our meals so far haven't been too far off the reservation, though tonight's dinner was a little unusual for us. My mom had a 10 lb bag of potatoes she wasn't going to use up so she gave them to me yesterday. I made our favorite potato recipe, Crash Hot Potatoes. That was the star of the meal, along with some appetizer type foods I had around - mini frozen crab cakes, summer sausage, crackers, and block cheese.

I did realize though, I will need to buy sliced bread. We eat way too many sandwiches around here to give that up and I don't have time this month to learn how to make an excellent sandwich bread. But I am still collecting recipes and tips in case anyone wants to chime in.

The more I look into our pantry, the more I know we can do this. There is just so much food in there!

Have you had to start stretching yet, or are your menus still pretty normal?

Week 1 Menu

2010-01-01T22:23:00.000-05:00

After browsing through my pantry and trying to figure out what we might eat that doesn't require a trip to the grocery store, I came up with a week's worth of dinner menus.

1 - Spaghetti w/ jar sauce
2 - Summer Sausage w/ crackers, cheese, and fruit
3 - Canned soup w/ crackers
4 - Caribbean Bean's & Rice (from recipe on light kidney bean bag)
5 - TBD Prepared meal from the freezer (I have several to choose from)

I realized that I don't have a very wide variety of items in my pantry. Spaghetti, soup, and rice dishes will likely be on the menu every week because I have a lot of those.

There are several cans of tomatoes - crushed, diced, whole, etc... that need to be used as well. I think they will work for chili a few nights. I wonder if my husband, Bruce, will miss having meat since I don't have a lot of that stockpiled.

Eat From the Pantry Challenge - January 2009

2009-12-31T23:08:00.000-05:00

I have once again accumulated more food than my family can reasonably eat so long as my food buying habits continue. My pantry items are spilling out and being stored in grocery bags on the kitchen floor. Because of that, I am delighted to participate in Crystal's (of Money Saving Mom) Eat From the Pantry Challenge.

I have created my own customized set of rules to set my family up for a healthy, frugal January. The timing of this is good too, since we go a little more than 5 weeks between paychecks this time of year.

Here are my three rules for January 2009:

Only buy produce and dairy items at the grocery store or farmer's market.
Go to the grocery store no more than once a week.
No eating take-out food because I had a busy day and forgot to defrost something. (Planned dining out for dates or social occasions is acceptable.)

And here is my first exception:

January 2nd is my dad's birthday and the party is at my house. I'll be providing the meal and dessert so those groceries and that trip to the store won't count - it is one of my gifts to him.

I already know I have a lot of canned tomato products in my pantry so I will specifically be looking for yummy recipes to use those up. If you have any, pass them along by leaving a link (or the recipe itself) in the comments.

Check back in a couple of days to see how well I am doing and if I can master homemade sandwich bread!

Hello Again!

2008-06-03T14:36:00.003-04:00

I have been absent from posting on this blog for awhile. You can read my excuses over at my family blog if you like.

I also have a new food website that I L-O-V-E! It is from Alltop and has everything to do with food. If you aren't familiar with Alltop, let me tell you about it. They take the top 100 sites in any given category (Food, Mom Blogs, etc...) and share the 5 most recent posts with the world.

It makes browsing the top content in any category perfectly easy and way too time consuming! The variety of their food coverage is amazing... everything from ethnic food and stories to southern cooking, as well as NPR Food coverage and the regular home cook.

Click on over today and check it out!

(By the way, this isn't a sponsored post, just something that I found through Buzz Agent and loved!)

One Million Blogs

2008-05-12T21:41:00.001-04:00

I am not sure how many blogs there are in the world. One source said that there are as many as 70,000,000. Whether or not those are active, who knows? But I do know that someone has started an interesting wiki to try and collect links to at least 1,000,000 of those blogs.

I did my part to help by adding both of my blogs to the list. My main blog, Family Musings, is number 1511. This blog, EatingItUp, is number 1512.

If you keep a blog, join the social experiment and head over to add it yourself. Scroll all the way down to the bottom and click,"Add your blog to the list."

F is for Fruit

2008-05-08T00:01:00.002-04:00

This list, my 9th edition of Thursday Thirteen, wasn't too difficult. I came up with it pretty quickly.

Fruit Loops - Not my personal favorite cereal, but I did see it featured on a poster I liked. It said, "Be the Fruit Loop in a bowl full of Cheerios."
French Fries - Is it safe to assume that we all know they aren't really french, they are Belgium?
French Toast - This isn't really French either, I don't think.
Funnel Cake - Greasy, fattening fair food doesn't get better than this. Unless it is topped with powdered sugar and mascerated strawberries.
Flounder (or just plain fish) - This was the only kid of fish I remember even knowing about as a kid. I didn't discover salmon or tilapia until after I graduated from college.
Fudge - I am not a huge fudge fan, but I do like fudgey brownies and fudgey cake frosting.
Frosted Flakes - Another cereal! I like these better than #1, and they are best with bananas or strawberries on top.
Fruit Salad - Just like with a regular vegetable salad, this tastes better when someone else makes it. One time a long time ago, my friend Barbara made one with sour cream in it. I think it was the best fruit salad I ever tasted.
Filet Mignon - Beefy heaven. I can't afford these at restaurants anymore, but oh man, these are good. Makes me wanna go and grill something.
Fruit Juice/Punch - I don't drink this sort of thing because it has a ton of sugar. I'd rather waste my sugar on chocolate.
Flour - OK. Technically, not a food in and of itself, but it makes all the baked goodness in the world possible. And who wants to live without baked goodness?
Figs - The first time I tried these I was an assistant teacher for a 3rd grade Vacation Bible School class. We were sampling biblical foods. I was surprised that I liked them, though I don't think I've had then ever since.
Flapjacks - Hey, no one said I couldn't use slang terms in my list. Who doesn't love a stack of fresh and fluffy flapjacks?!

Can you think of anymore F foods to add to my list?

Visit the home of Thursday Thirteen for more list fun!

Thanks Edi

2008-05-06T21:50:00.002-04:00

Thanks to the awesome Edi at Exotic Eating Experiment, I have my very own copy of Field Guide to Produce: How to Identify, Select, and Prepare Virtually Every Fruit and Vegetable at the Market!

I am so excited because this is one of the giveaways I really wanted to win. It arrived in the mail this weekend and I have already used it. I bought a mango at the store and was unsure how to prepare it for eating, so I looked it up in my new Field Guide.

You see, I've never had a mango before, but it was so cheap, I thought I'd give it a try. This little book sure came in handy, providing instructions on the best way to peel and serve the mango. I can now say that there will be many more mangoes in my future!

Thanks Edi!

Non-food Stash

2008-05-03T22:51:00.007-04:00

I mentioned my non-food stash at the very beginning of this blog and made the decision that it wouldn't be part of my experiment here. Instead, it has become its own game, a whole other creature. I thought it might be fun for some of you to see what I did at CVS this week to build my non-food stash, and to see pictures of where it is currently organized.

First, here is a picture of what I bought today. I spent $5.12 for everything you see in the first picture. I did this by rolling my ECBs and using CVS coupons that I either got at the store or in the mail. In exchange for my time and diligence, CVS gave me another $78.04 to spend next time I am in their store. To make it easier to spend, that amount is spread out over several ECB coupons though.

(2 blood sugar monitors, 3 boxes allergy tablets, 5 toothbrushes, 3 tubes of toothpste, 3 dental picks, 2 boxes of Tums, and a pop-up tape dispenser with 2 refills)

I have 6 shelves to hold my non-food stash. This is pretty much everything that I have, except for a few items that I know we will use in the very near future. Those are stored in our master bathroom. Here are the top two shelves. They hold cleaning supplies, some office supplies, and, on the bottom left, lotions. Some of the lotions were in gift packs, but most of them came to me free. As a matter of fact, everything in my stash was free or nearly free (less than $0.50).

On the middle two shelves, I have health and beauty aid heaven! More than 12 bottles of body wash, 20 tubes of toothpaste, several deodorants, toothbrushes, various hair care products and lots of sponges.

Finally, the bottom of this pantry is pretty random. I have smelly things (like the kind you plug in, spray, or leave on the counter), various medicinal items, and women's razors (mostly Intuition).

As I look at my well-organized pantry, I do see that I am very blessed to have discovered CVS and ECBs. If I can keep this up, I will never have to pay for toothpaste, tooth brushes, body wash, deodorant, or lotion again!

New Design

2008-05-01T21:17:00.002-04:00

I changed the template on my blog... what do you think?

The background is courtesy of Cutest Blog on the Block. I will just say it was the easiest thing to install too! If you want to add some pizazz to your Blogger blog, I suggest you head over and snag one of her many free backgrounds!

Free Coffee

2008-05-01T10:37:00.002-04:00

Who doesn't like free coffee? Hey, if it's good enough for Rachel Ray, it's good enough for me!

RSS Day

2008-05-01T10:09:00.003-04:00

I was all set to give my readers a different kind of recipe... one that provided all the ingredients and how to for utilizing RSS feeds to their best advantage. Then, I woke up today and read Abraham Piper's easy-peasy explanation in my Google Reader account. I really can't say it any better than he does. Go check it out then come back and subscribe to my feed in your new Reader account!

Cross posted at Family Musings.

E is for Egg

2008-04-30T22:55:00.000-04:00

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!

Eggs - fried, poached, scrambled, over-easy, sunny-side-up, hard-boiled, soft-boiled. Can you think of any more?
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.
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...
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
Eggo Waffles - Lego my eggo! My brother and I used to reenact the the commercials in our kitchen. Pretty dorky, isn't it?
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.
Earl Grey Tea - This is my mom's favorite tea. I don't drink tea as often as I would like.
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

2008-04-29T17:44:00.004-04:00

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

2008-04-24T00:01:00.001-04:00

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!

DumDums - This little pops are so cute. I like to pass them out to my students when they get a question right. Ironic?
Doritos - Just like the Cheetos from last week, my favorite part is licking the cheesy residue off my fingers.
Duck - I ate this for the first time when I was in China. I was amazed at how much I liked it.
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.
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.
Drumsticks - This is one of my favorite ice cream novelties. I remember getting them from the ice cream truck when I was a kid.
Dumplings - I've only really had these at Cracker Barrel, though I do have a package of frozen dumplins in my freezer.
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.
Dill - I've already made it clear that this is my favorite spice.
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!
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.
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.
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

2008-04-17T00:01:00.000-04:00

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.

Carrots - yummy steamed with a light sprinkle of Splenda

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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!

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.

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

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!

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

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

2008-04-16T00:01:00.000-04:00

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

2008-04-15T18:06:00.001-04:00

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

2008-04-15T09:33:00.002-04:00

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

2008-04-03T16:43:00.003-04:00

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

2008-04-03T13:19:00.005-04:00

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!

B is for Banana

2008-03-20T09:14:00.002-04:00

Carrying on in my new TT tradition (this is my 5th edition)... here are 13 foods that start with the letter B.

Bananas - my daughter's first food
Bacon - makes any sandwich better
Blueberry muffins - best when warm
Burritos - the more stuffed the better
Buns - Merita Lite Wheat, 'nuff said
Borscht - do people really eat beet soup?
Bread - we've been trying to avoid breads made with high fructose corn syrup, but that is hard to do
Bass - as in seabass... caught some once on a deep-sea fishing trip and blackened it up for dinner... yummiest bass I ever ate
Butter - not really a food in and of itself, but definitely a worthy ingredient!
Butterscotch - my palate isn't discerning enough I suppose because suddenly I can't remember the different between this and caramel
Beans - great for vegetarian dinner nights
Bagels & Bialys - a two-fer here... both great breakfast treats, especiall the Cinamon Crunch bagel from Panera Bread
Buffalo - I've never eaten this myself, but heard it is a very lean and good for you protein

Head on over to Thursday 13 for more list fun!

Gobble, Gobble

2008-03-16T22:29:00.002-04:00

At about 9 pm this evening, I e-mailed Murray's Farm about the place our new turkey grew up on. And wouldn't you know it, by 10:20 pm I had a response! I can't believe someone was up working this late on a Sunday. I sure hope he at least gets next Sunday (Easter) off!

The nice guy working this late, Steve Gold, fixed up the problem I was having and now I know - my turkey came from Koch's Turkey Farm. I'm not going to take the step of naming my new turkey (that is now frozen waiting for the right time to be eaten), but it is neat to know that he had a whole farm to roam around on and ate lots of yummy veggies.

Since I don't live anywhere near a Whole Food's and I can't normally afford a $35 turkey, I will make sure I enjoy every bite of our new turkey! And remember, I promised to tell you all about it once we cook the bird up!

Free Bird

2008-03-15T16:03:00.005-04:00

If I leave here tomorrow

Would you still remember me?

For I must be travelling on, now,

cause there's too many places I've got to see.

But, if I stayed here with you, girl,

Things just couldn't be the same.

cause I'm as free as a bird now,

And this bird you can not change.

I'm not really "free as a bird," but I did get a free bird today during my grocery trip. A dear family friend gave me a coupon for a free Norbest Turkey and I finally had a chance to use it today. It was an even better deal though because my Publix doesn't sell Norbest birds, so I got a Murray's Farm turkey! Their birds are raised the way nature intended on a family farm with no antibiotics nor hormones. There is even a really neat feature to learn more about the family farm your bird was raised on. I had some trouble with the code on the front of my turkey so I don't know which farm my turkey grew up on, but I do know my turkey was raised in "idyllic Blue Mountains in Pennsylvania’s Lancaster countryside." This was a $35 turkey that I got for free! Thanks Debbie! I did freeze it and will let you know when we cook it and all the wonderful things I use it for.

Since I only used $9 of last week's budget, I had $41 to spend this week. With that, so far I've only spent $30.79, which puts me UNDER BUDGET for 2 weeks in a row! Woo hoo! I might go back out tomorrow to buy some more frozen or canned veggies, thereby just being on budget. We'll see how the schedule goes.

And finally, since this post is already long, I think I'll make it just a tad longer and ask for your help. I purchased a bag of lentils today ($1.29) at Publix because I really want to try them. I understand they are incredibly healthy and a very frugal food. Maybe I even read somewhere that they are very good at taking on the flavor of other ingredients. (I'd compare them to tofu on that point, but then my husband might not eat them.) Here is where you, my wonderful readers, come in.

Please share with me ideas for preparing lentils. Sure, I could google lentil recipes (and probably will anyway), but how will I know if they are any good? Leave a comment with your time-tested, family-tasted favorite lentil recipes so that I know what the heck to do with these little green beans.

Oops!

2008-03-15T11:00:00.004-04:00

Last week I didn't plan a menu. That resulted in us eating spaghetti and sandwiches for dinner most nights. Surprisingly, Bruce was a very good sport about the spartan meals. I don't think he minded too much though since it meant fewer pots and pans for him to clean up.

I didn't post it yet, but I did make a run to the grocery store last week. It was a little early on in the week, but I went on Friday night. Here is my receipt:

I know, I know... I altered it. I spent over $30 and you are probably wondering why did I scratch through some of the items? The explanation is simple... we went to Disney the next day and I needed to pack a lunch. I knew it would be cheaper to buy sandwich stuff than try and eat in the park (it was), so really those groceries took the place of a meal out while we entertained some friends for the day. That's why they don't count and I officially declare myself UNDER BUDGET for the week. :)

Now, I am preparing to go out and do our grocery shopping for this coming week. I'll be back later to post my receipt and my menu.

Spaghetti Stick

2008-03-14T06:03:00.000-04:00

Does anyone else ever have a hard time trying to figure out how much dry spaghetti to make per person? We never seem to get it right at our house. I usually make too much and Bruce usually makes too little. And those times when I measure it to get exactly one serving (like when I am on Weight Watchers), I always laugh at the portion size. It is about half of what I really want to give myself.

Bruce recently asked me to buy him that gadget with the holes in it that suggest how much pasta you need for a certain amount of people. I do try to be frugal so when I found this one at the local thrift store yesterday for only 25 cents, I just scooped it into my basket... without even really looking too close.

I seriously doubt it is going to solve MY portion size problem though... at least Bruce and teenagers will be eating well.

A is for Apple

2008-03-13T12:12:00.001-04:00

I decided to make my life easier for the near future and stick with my alphabet theme for Thursday Thirteen. And because I enjoy order more than chaos, I am starting with the letter A. Oh, and to make this more of a challenge, I am NOT googling foods or using a dictionary! That would ruin my fun.

Apple (duh!)
Apricot
Anchovie (I've never actually had one.)
Angel hair pasta
Artichoke dip
Apple jacks cereal (can I use apple twice, esp since there really isn't any apple in this cereal?)
Anise (a spice, right?)
Akaskan salmon
Acorn squash
Asian food (like egg rolls and potstickers, yummy!)
Ahi tuna (I prefer my tuna from a can)
Albacore tuna
Asparagus

Wow... that is mostly produce. I wonder if the rest of my lists will work out like that. Stay tuned next week for the letter B!

Go to Thursday Thirteen for more list fun!

Chili & Naan

2008-03-12T12:15:00.000-04:00

Okay, so this post is a week past due. I've had the photos uploaded for several days now and just couldn't find a moment to put them together with the words in my head. I particularly enjoyed this meal both because it was tasty and because it was the first time I ever kneaded bread.

I found this box of naan bread in my pantry and am pretty certain it came from Big Lots for $0.70. How can I be so certain you might ask? Well, because there was a big orange sticker on the front of the box before I peeled it off to take this picture. Hee hee.

The first step to making a yeast bread is to proof the yeast. While I've never had any formal breadmaking experiences, my highly educated guess is you do that to make sure your yeast is good, so the yeast may prove itself. Fortunately for me, the yeast hadn't been hanging out in my pantry so long that it went bad. I found it nice and foamy when I checked on it after 10 minutes in its warm sugar bath.

Once the dough got going, I started in on the chili. Oops... it is expired. But that rarely stops me from using an ingredient... especially one like this in which the components are just dried vegetables and spices. I dumped this Bear Creek bag of chili mix into a pot of just boiling water and added 1-6 oz. can of tomato paste and some leftover ground, browned sausage. The directions said to cook for something like 10 minutes? However, my onions were extra hydrated from all the years in storage, so I added a wee bit more liquid and cooked it for closer to 30 minutes, basically until my nann was done.

Here you can see my lovely first attempt at hand-done bread making (I've used a bread machine before which did all of the kneading for me.). I never realized how much work it is to knead bread. My goodness! I only had to go for 3-5 minutes but my hands got worn out fast. I thought all the typing I did would have built up my finger muscles, but that wasn't so. I've had naan at Indian restaurants before and it was always larger and flatter than the naan I made. I think I left mine a bit too thick, but it still came out tasty. The denseness of the naan worked nicely with the heartiness of the chili. If the naan had been too light and fluffy it would not have held up its share of the meal.

Much to my delight, Bruce really enjoyed this meal. The extra naan stored well for lunches. I just added cheese to my chili, but Bruce was hungrier and put his over rice, and then added twice as much cheese as I did.

From my stash I used both the chili mix and the naan. The sausage was also from my stash and made an appearance in 3 different meals last week. It was pretty rubbery!

Thirteen T Foods

2008-03-05T19:50:00.003-05:00

I want to try and keep my Thursday 13 list on this blog food related. To do that might be a stretch for me, but since this is only my 3rd week participating it shouldn't be too hard, right? Wrong, I'm tired. I still haven't posted the pictures from dinner last night. But I want to play, so this week, enjoy my Sesame Street edition of Thursday 13....

13 Foods that Start with the Letter 'T'

Tacos
Tortillas
Tamales
Tomatoes
Texas Toast
Turtle Soup
Total Cereal
Tangerine
Turkey
Tapas
Tea (technically a beverage, but this is harder than I thought)
Tar-tar, as in steak
Taters (does this count?)

Sponsored by the letter 'T.' Click here for more Thursday 13 list goodness.

Grocery Shopping

2008-03-02T19:58:00.005-05:00

I did my weekly shopping on Saturday afternoon. And this week I took a picture of my receipt! I wasn't slacking in the budget department in previous weeks, I was just slacking in the blogging department. I came in just under budget, spending $24.91. There really wasn't anything spectacular about my shopping trip.

I also planned my menu for the week.

Monday - Spaghetti
Tuesday - Chili w/ pork sausage
Wednesday - Homestyle Chicken Bake (some pre-packaged thing that I found deep in my pantry)
Thursday - Slow-Cooker Apricot Chipotle Chicken, from MGFK
Friday - English Muffin Pizza

Exciting isn't it. I really haven't had to get into the super creative meal planning that I expected... maybe in another few weeks?

Quiche versus Frittata

2008-02-29T10:56:00.003-05:00

It occured to me as I was falling asleep the other night that maybe my Rice Quiche this week wasn't really a quiche, but might just be a frittata instead. The more I thought about it, the less clear I was on the difference between a quiche and a frittata.

In my mind, a quiche was something of a baked omelet with a crust. A frittata was the kind of dish you could throw all sorts of leftover sauted veggies and meat into, with a little cheese and an egg binder, then baked in an oven. But the dish I made last night, doesn't even really seem to fit into either of those categories and was more like just a plain old rice casserole with an egg and milk binder. KWIM?

So, like any other human of my generation, I googled it. The first link I clicked was at About.com. I don't generally care for the About.com sites because the layouts are are too cluttered and sometimes the content is pretentious. This one is just cluttered. Laura Dolson, the author of the article I read, does a fairly decent job of writing solid definitions for each of several types of egg dishes. By her way of explaining things, I simply made an Egg Casserole last night. And you know what, I'm okay with that... I don't need to be pretentious myself and try to pretend that I made a quiche or frittata (even though these dishes always sound fancier in my mind than casserole).

Then, here at the Passionate Cook, I found a more thorough explanation for the history of the frittata. I don't know why, but I always thought frittatas were of Spanish origin, maybe because I first heard of them while living in Miami? Johanna Wagner, the blog's author, also mentions something called a Spanish Tortilla, which is also an egg dish... I suppose I need to find out what this is too!

Rice Quiche

2008-02-28T19:53:00.004-05:00

At the beginning of the week I planned to make Rice Quiche. I am proud to report that my plan worked out and I made Rice Quiche tonight. I can also say I completely threw the original recipe out the window and just winged (or is it wung) it since I had to get it in the oven before my daughter woke up hungry for her momma's milk.

First, I threw some frozen broccoli pieces in the microwave to thaw. While that was thawing, I grabbed leftover rice from earlier in the week, 4 eggs, light cream cheese, and a block of cheddar cheese from the refrigerator. I enlisted my husband to scramble the 4 eggs while I shredded enough of the block cheese to make 1 cup.

When the broccoli came out of the microwave, I decided it was too big so ran my kitchen scissors through it a few times before mixing in about 2 cups of rice. Then, I added about 3 tablespoons of cream cheese to the eggs and mixed it as best I could since it was all at fridge temperature. This was dumped in with the rice mixture. I also dumped most of the cheese in and about 1/2 a cup of skim milk. I tried to stir everything together as best I could before spreading it out in my 8x8 stone baker. Sprinkled the remaining cheese over the top and popped it into a 350 degree over for about 45 minutes.

This was our vegetarian meal for the week. I found some lovely canned mandarin oranges in the back of my fridge and served those up, along with some fresh red grapes, to give the meal a brunch like appearance. Bruce approved whole-heartedly with the meal idea and even went back for a 2nd serving. This really surprised me because he isn't much for casseroles or meat-less dishes. This dish would have benefitted greatly from more salt, pepper, and sauted onions and mushrooms.

From my stash I used the frozen broccoli, rice, and mandarin oranges. My fresh ingredients were the eggs, milk, cheese, and fruit.

Thursday 13 - 2nd Edition

2008-02-28T05:55:00.001-05:00

I’m still new at the Thursday 13 game and haven’t got all of my most creative juices flowing to come up with the most amazing and stupendous ideas. So this week, since I am a food-related blog, I am going to share my 13 favorite foods with you.

1 – Pizza w/ jalapenos
2 – Fajitas from Chilis
3 – A really thick, medium-rare hamburger on a great bun
4 – Fresh sushi (because old sushi would be just plain disgusting)
5 – Peanut butter cup twister from Frostbite
6 – Spaghetti with meat sauce
7 – Little Debbie Fudge Rounds
8 – Buffalo Chicken Wrap from Frostbite (even better when paired with #5)
9 – Wings from Sticky Fingers
10 – Rainier cherries
11 – Lindt or Godiva dark chocolate anything (especially when it covers strawberries)
12 – Lucky Charms cereal
13 – Salad made by someone else (they ALWAYS taste better when someone else makes them!)

What is your favorite food?
Go read more Thursday Thirteen fun here!

Beefcake

2008-02-26T18:20:00.006-05:00

We had beefcake for dinner tonight... and I don't mean as a guest! Instead we had Beefcake au Poivre from My Girlfriend's Kitchen. Bruce declared it "very tasty!" Then, when he discovered I was quoting him, he amended his response to, "it had a light wine sauce taste but the mushrooms kept it down to earth." All in an effort to appear more high falutin' of course!

I have to say the directions on all of my MGFK meals are super easy to follow, but they don't all stand up to my taste tests. The flaw in this one is that the meat was too greasy, so when you put greasy meat in a pan with 1 T of olive oil, you end up with a lot of grease to drain off. Ick. The wine sauce did thicken up quite well though.

In an effort to expand our vegetable repetoire, I sauted asparagus after I put the beefcakes in the oven. I was a little nervous since I couldn't recall ever cooking this long vegetable at home, but they came out tender and still bright green!

As a side dish, I had planned to make Herb Butter Rice-A-Roni. But that takes a long time so it was a no go. Instead, I had a bag of Lipton Dirty rice and threw that in the microwave for perfect timing of my meal. I used up the rice from my stash and a meal from the freezer. The asparagus was my fresh produce purchse for the week.

Beefcake image at top courtesy of FoxNews.com.

Meatloaf Muffins

2008-02-25T06:06:00.000-05:00

This is one of our favorite recipes to make and it freezes really well. I think I got the recipe from either my friend Angela or Becky. It was a particular favorite when I was on Weight Watchers because in its original form these meaty little muffins are only 2 points each. I decided it was easier to make these using my scoop so they are smaller and I think if you did it the same way they would work out to 3 for 2 points. I have a couple of bags of these left in my freezer that I'm embarrassed to say are several months old.

Ingredients

1 package bread stuffing dry mix (I prefer the corn bread flavor)
10 oz canned diced tomatoes
1/2 cup fat-free egg substitute
2 pound raw extra lean ground beef

Instructions
Combine all ingredients, including juice of canned tomatoes (I prefer to buy Extra Spicy Rotel canned, diced tomatoes for more flavor). Portion into muffin pans. Bake @ 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Makes 18 muffins. 1 muffin is 1 serving.

These make great lunch additions, especially if you do bento boxes. They are also great on bread for a sandwich or tossed in with some pasta and sauce.

Menu Plan for the Week

2008-02-24T19:16:00.003-05:00

Fortunately, I have some spare time this evening to get my menu plan all made up. here's what is on the menu for this week.

Monday: Meatloaf Muffins (homemade from my freezer) with Mac & Cheese
Tuesday: Beefcake au Poivre from MGFK, with asparagus
Wednesday: Broccoli Rice Quiche, using rice leftovers
Thursday: BBQ Pork with Rice-A-Roni and green beans
Friday: Leftovers? Soup & Sandwich?

I did this week's grocery shopping on Saturday. I would have waited until Sunday afternoon, but we ran out of milk on Friday and I love milk, so I had to go a day early. My total at Publix was $24.19, but I forgot to take a picture of my receipt. It's now in the bottom of my trash can so I am sure you are glad I'm sparing you the visual.

I have to confess that I did add 1 thing to my stockpile this week. Bruce really likes Gatorade and Powerade type beverages and Wal-mart had the 20-oz bottles of G2 on sale for $0.50 each. That's right, half a dollar! Normally these cost $1.50 at the conveinence store where Bruce would normally pick one up. The hope is that he will remember to keep a couple of these in the fridge and grab one before he heads out. The bottles are probably too big to pack in his lunch box though. I decided these were worth the cost because they might encourage Bruce to become more hydrated. He doesn't drink enough water. I suppose technically I have to declare myself over budget becaus I bought 48 bottles and spent $24 plus tax.

This Week

2008-02-21T20:16:00.003-05:00

You might think that I gave up my experiment since there have been no posts in the last 7 days. But that is not the case. I have still been sticking to my $25 budget and making meals from my stash. I didn't do a menu plan (for lots of good reasons), but we did eat.

Monday - Pizza (from the construction budget since we were at HD for a LONG time)
Tuesday - Soup & grilled cheese (hubby was sick)
Wednesday - All-star Chicken from MGFK
Thursday - Spaghetti with meat sauce
Friday - Who knows what tomorrow will bring? I better go dig something out of the freezer!

My shopping trip for this week happened on Sunday evening. I completely missed the fact that Publix closes at 8 pm on Sundays so when I wandered up to the register and saw all of the front lights off I felt awful. It was a good thing I had kept good track of my totals and didn't have to send anything back. I was right up under my budget and spent $24.80. I didn't really make anything this week so there is no recipe of my own to share. I will point you to a yummy treat over at Edi's Exotic Eating Experiment. She made Apple-Cinnamon Burritos this week. I might try these for breakfast next week if I remember to buy apples.

Thursday Thirteen - 1st Edition

2008-02-21T19:55:00.003-05:00

13 Things in My Pantry Right Now

1 carton of quaker oatmeal
2 pouches of albacore steak
3 boxes of roganic macaroni and cheese
4 boxes of rice-a-roni (various flavors)
5 cans of green beans, all kitchen cut
6 boxes of organic, whole grain spaghetti, with flax seed
7 jars of pasta sauce
8 different bottles or packages of marinade
9 - 12 packs of soda
10 cans of cream of something soup
11 boxes of other kinds of pasta (not counting what I listed above)
12 - 6 packs of unsweetened applesauce
13 cans of ready-to-eat soup (mostly Campbell's Chunky)

Visit Thursday Thirteen for more 13 fun.

Thursday Thirteen Blog Roll

2008-02-21T07:54:00.000-05:00

Visit other Thursday Thirteen participants!

Chicken Tostadas

2008-02-14T18:12:00.005-05:00

Yummy, yummy, yummy, and rubbery!

Today was our crock-pot meal and I have to say I did a stupendous job. I put in about 3 1/2 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken breast and then mixed up the following to dump over it - 1 can of green enchilada sauce, 1 can of cream of chicken soup, ~1 cup of frozen, diced chicken breast, and 1/2 cup of chicken broth. The chicken was still frozen and in a huge lump when I left it on low this morning aroun 6 am.

When I came home around 4:30 I stirred it up and it fell apart into perfectly juicy, stringy pieces. And the house smelled great. That really is one of the best parts of using a crockpot - coming home to a house filled with the wonderful aroma of cooked food. I snuck a taste of the chicken and couldn't believe how tender it was, especially since my last couple of crock pot attempts turned out less tender.

Bruce heated up some corn tortillas in the frying pan for us. He used just the slightest amount of grease and then laid them out on paper towels so they came out light and toasty. He did burn one of them pretty badly though so I just broke those burnt bits off and enjoyed a little pre-dinner snack. I think he even toasted up a few extra and wrapped them in foil for leftovers. I didn't really give him very specific directions for turning plain corn tortillas into tostadas, but he did a good job none the less.

Once they had cooled a little bit, I placed some of the chicken over them then artfully layered salsa and cheese on top. We weren't sure if we would use silverware or not to eat them, but it came pretty clear pretty quickly that it was just easier to pick them up and eat them with our hands. The taste of the chicken was fairly mild and that's because I didn't have the can of green chiles that I thought I did and ran out of time to add the 1/2 of a red bell pepper that I defrosted. Oh well, maybe I can add it before I store the leftovers.

Oh, you might be wondering why I called it rubbery. Well, if you've never heard of rubber chicken let me explain. Rubber chicken is chicken that can be stretched out to last over a few meals. Tonight we had tostados. I can also use part of the chicken, because of its mild flavor, in a chicken salad for lunch tomorrow. If I buy flour tortillas I can make enchiladas. The chicken could also be used in a large number of different types of casseroles that I can't think up right now! That's stretchy chicken.

On a side note, I really am sold on making my own tortilla chips with corn tortillas. They are super cheap because they go on BOGO sale frequently at Publix. I spray them lightly with oil and sprinkle salt on them. I know I could get creative and add more seasonings, like cumin, or go sweet and add cinamon and sugar, I just haven't yet. When I do, you can be sure that you'll be the first to know!

98% FF = Blech!

2008-02-13T19:44:00.003-05:00

New England Clam Chowder is one of my favorite soup-type things to eat. I especially savor the opportunities to enjoy clam chowder when I am at a quality seafood restaurant. The delight of biting into a large chunk of clam as the creaminess of the soup washes it down is exquisite. In my book, nothing really beats a great bowl of chowder.

Normally, I let Bruce pick out the soup on soup and sandwich nights but I found a can of clam chowder and knew what I wanted to go with my sandwich. It got even better when Bruce agreed to prepare our meal while I gave our dear daughter some more bananas.

I was filled with anticipation as I brought the first bite to my lips and that is where it ended. I couldn't believe how horrible it tasted. Given the nature of this experiment, the first thing I thought is to check the expiration date on the can. You can bet I was surprised when Bruce said the can didn't expire until sometime in 2010! While I pondered my letter to Campbell's, Bruce re-read the can again. Turns out, I bought the 98% fat free version of my favorite soup. I'll never make that mistake again! It was awful. No amount of seasoning improved it either.

Oh well, live and learn. Bruce dumped that batch of soup and heated up another can. I sure hope we don't have anymore of those 98% fat free cream soups left!

Menu Plan Monday

2008-02-11T21:02:00.000-05:00

Better late than never...
Monday - Pan-seared Pork Chops with Butternut Squash Raioli
Tuesday - Napolean Artichoke from MGFK
Wednesday - Soup & Grilled Cheese
Thursday - Crockpot Chicken (chicken w/ a can of petite diced tomatoes poured over top), probably to be served over rice

A pretty boring week ahead of us since we had the most exciting meal tonight already. I have an appointment next Saturday to go back to My Girlfriend's Kitchen, but I think I'll be cancelling it for a lot of reasons.

First, I still have about 4-5 meals left from last time. Second, I think I can get a better deal if I book through a e-mail offer instead of on-site. Third, I might have to be out of town anyway. Fourth, I haven't decided if going back will break my ground rules. Any thoughts?

Late Dinner

2008-02-11T20:37:00.000-05:00

Tonight we ate too late. I am used to eating dinner around 5 pm or so, but due to circumstances, it wasn't until 8 pm when we sat down with our plate of food. It was so worth the wait! We pan-seared pork chops and then I got to deglaze the pan! Yeah! Have I told you that I only feel like a real cook when I am deglazing a pan? It is so true. Here's what I did tonight.

After an emergency defrost of 2 bone-in pork chops, Bruce sprinkled them with Tony Chachere's seasoning and then pan fried them. While those were going he put on a pot of water to boil the butternut squash ravioli I found in my freezer. I think I bought them out of the clearance freezer rack at Publix. Boy am I glad I did! After the pork chops were done, I swooped in to create a sauce for the ravioli. While it might seem odd, all I had to deglaze the pan with was water. I forgot to defrost my broth from 2 weeks ago and I didn't think red wine vinegar would taste right. So, I poured about 1/4 cup water into the pan and added 2 thin slices of REAL butter. Next came a very generous shaking of Dill Mix from Pampered Chef. Dill is my all-time favorite herb and I think it makes everything better. well, not Lucky Charms cereal, but that is already yummy enough!

I stirred constantly and let this cook down until I had a very dense and intensely flavored sauce. There were bits of pork, some of the Tony'seasonings, a touch of creaminess from the butter, and of course my beloved dill mix! This was poured over the ravioli and really made the flavor pop. The bag recommended a butter, sage, and parm cheese sauce and I am glad I skipped that. It would have been too heavy to really enjoy, especially this late at night.

Everything except for the butter came from my stash! That is a good use of resources my friend. The pork chops were buried in the very bottom of my freezer. So far down that my husband couldn't even find them. I had to go digging myself!

Also, I did go to the grocery store tonight. It is why dinner was late. I had made trip last Thursday for milk and bread so had already used up ~$6 of my weekly budget. I am proud to say that, including that trip, I stayed under budget this week. I spent just over $18 tonight and that included buying some personal care items! Of course, I forgo eggs, so we'll have to wait another week to enjoy those. I hope hubby likes the waffles and bagels we pull from the freezer stash.

Oh! And tomorrow is a big ay at school... my students are taking an important test and I know that not all of them will have a good breakfast. So, I had a $10 Publix gift card that I got as a rebate for an earlier purchase and used it to buy fruit and nut granola bars and a bag of apples. Hopefully at least a couple of kids will show up and be able to put food in their belly so they can concentrate on the test!

Friday Night Firsts

2008-02-08T18:32:00.000-05:00

Now, I haven't made a habit of posting about my family here, but since this is a food related blog, I thought this video was appropriate for this EatingItUp journey since our dear daughter is helping us use up our stash.

This is a video of the first time she ever ate something other than momma's milk. Click here to see her eating her first meal - think of it as a 6-month old's birthday present! Be warned, though. The file is 129 MB, so it will take a while to download and you'll need Quicktime to watch it.

I have several containers of mashed bananas in the freezer from a time I purchased them on clearance sale. They were something like $0.19/lb. The only way I knew to keep them and not waste them was to mash and freeze. I decided this would be the best food to try based on days of reading everything I could find online about baby's first foods, including this site. We gave her about a tablespoon's worth just so she could get used to the idea of having a new texture and taste in her mouth. I think you will see that she liked it. And some of those faces are priceless!

Grocery Day

2008-02-07T22:07:00.000-05:00

I have decided to try and change my grocery day. It makes no sense to go shopping for the week on Thursday night when I don't plan my menus until Sunday. How can I know what I am going to need come Sunday and menu planning day? I can't.

So, there will be no fun picture of my Publix receipt today. Sorry to disappoint all 2 of you who are following along with my little experiment. I do have to admit though, that I bought milk and french bread today at Wal-mart. We had run out of milk and since we were having spaghetti tonight I thought the fancy-schmancy bakery bread would be a nice addition. And boy was it! Bruce picked out the tomatoe basil twin load and it greatly exceeded my expectations... It smelled so good even that we snacked a little on it as we drove home from the store. I had to reseal the bag to help with the temptation to scarf it all down!

Recipe of the Week

2008-02-06T21:56:00.000-05:00

This week has been going fairly well meal wise and we are making good use of our leftovers in lunches. We even had enough left over food that I didn't make anything new tonight. So, our weekly meny is a little off. On top of that, we are taking our daughter for her 6-month pictures tomorrow night so I will probably stick to making the spaghetti and skipping the pork chops and ravioli.

That being said, when I started this blog, I did intend to share at least 1 recipe a week. I'm a bit swamped tonight with stuff to do, so I am going to point you to a yummy sounding recipe that I might try next week, but with pork. Do you think that would work?

I found this recipe at Scribbit, one of my favorite blogs. It is for Beef Carnitas. Head on over to her blog to check it out, then come back and let me know if you think this will work for pork or chicken too.

Menu Plan Sunday & Giveaway Winner

2008-02-03T20:59:00.001-05:00

I really didn't feel like planning a menu for this week. I'm tired and really want to go to bed, but know that without a plan, I'll be lost and more tempted to order pizza or make a quick dash to the grocery store. Well, it wouldn't be quick since Publix is 15 minutes away...

Anyway, here is my plan for the week. Somedays will probably get moved around depending on schedules, but at least the meals are decided upon.

Monday - Soup & Grilled Cheese

Tuesday - Ciao Bella Pot Roast (MGFK)

Wednesday - Spaghetti with Meat Sauce (an old favorite around here)

Thursday - Butternut Squash Ravioli w/ Pan-seared Pork Chops

Friday - Leftovers for hubbie because I'll be out of town

Now, onto the exciting part of this post! I'm please to announce that Mo is the winner of my spices, rices, and treats giveaway!

She won:

3 cookbooks (Delightful Deserts from Pampered Chef, All-Time Family Favorites Casserole and One-dish Meals, and 365-Favorite Brand Name Hamburger),
1 box of Whole Grain Rice-A-Roni,
1 box or organic macaroni and cheese,
Suisse Mocha hot beverage,
2 packages of Mahatma rice (jasmine and broccoli & cheese),
2 McCormick grinders spices, and some
hershey kisses.

As soon as she replies to my e-mail, I'll add some more sweet items based on her likes. After reading her blog I sure am glad her two little girls are okay... otherwise this food giveaway might not do them anygood!

Congratulations Mo!

Greasy Mess & Onion Gravy

2008-01-31T21:02:00.000-05:00

That is what I ended up with after making Chicken Fried Steak. Oh, and the flour club hand! I have never been able to get the dredging in flour and egg thing right. I'd share a picture, but I didn't want to dredge my camera by mistake! I do have a picture of the final outcome though near the bottom of this post.

As promised on Menu Plan Sunday, I loosely followed this recipe. I say loosely because I didn't have all of the ingredients and can't read my computer while I am in the kitchen. It's all from memory baby!

I started with chopped beef steak patties (fancy name for cheap, gonna fall apart hamburger meat?). I dredged them in flour that was seasoned with just salt and pepper. Next, as they began to fall apart I gave them a bath in an egg and milk wash. After that, back into the flour for another crumbly coating session and the finishing touches on my club hand.

As I slipped them into the heated skillet of vegetable oil, I forgot the first rule of frying - lay the meat AWAY from you. I've certainly watched enough Food Network to have this rule imprinted on my memory, but somehow in the heat of trying to not get my club hand all over the handle of my skillet, I forgot. Now, I have 2 nice little burn marks on my forearm to remind me. Anyway, I let the meat cook in the oil for a few minutes on both sides then laid it on some paper towels to absorb the oil. There was A LOT of it! This is why I don't fry things very often. (Even though I do have 30+ bottles of vegetable oil left!)

With the bits and stuff left in the pan I got to do one of my favorite cooking tasks - deglazing a pan! It is so much fun to see all the yummy goodness that is stuck to the pan come off the bottom to make a beautiful and yummy sauce!

Everytime I deglaze a pan I do it differently. Here's tonight's version and where I REALLY departed from the recipe. First, I poured in a large handful of frozen, chopped onions (maybe 3/4 cup?). After they cooked down and I scraped all the yummy bits off the bottom of the pan, I added about 1/2 a cup of chicken broth. Once I had stirred this all together I sprinkled in a couple of tablespoons of flour. As this was going in, I quickly stirred so that it wouldn't clump. By no measure am I a master at this, I just move my arm fast so my sauce doesn't taste like flour. Yeck! I let the sauce cook down to see if it was thick enough and decided that I actually didn't have enough. More broth and flour went into the pan until I was satisfied that there was enough to feed 4 people. (Why 4? I don't know, because I had 4 beef patties?)

I plated up a meal for my husband (who is working late tonight) and then decided to eat some of this wonderful dish myself. I was too tired to make another potato for myself and not really hungry after staring at all that grease, so I just had a small portion with onion gravy on top. I really outdid myself on the gravy - I think it was the best part! Hmmm... who would have thought I'd like onion gravy???

From my stash, I used the beef and broth. The beef was bought when I was participating in Angel Food Ministries. This is a great ministry that trys to get good food into the hands of needy people for a reduced cost. I highly recommend seeing if there is one in your area. As for the broth, since I didn't need the entire can, I took the rest of it and froze it in 1/4 cup portions so I can use it again. Just because I want to use up my stash doesn't mean I can afford to be wasteful and throw away 1/2 a can of good broth!

Weekly Shopping Trip

2008-01-31T20:45:00.000-05:00

Tonight I decided to hit CVS, Walgreens, and Publix. I didn't purchase any food items at Walgreens so I am not going to really discuss my purchases, but I had a $5 off $20 coupon and decided to pick up a few of my free-bate items. I guess I am still stashing HBA (health and beauty aids), but only when they are free with money back!

At CVS, I decided to take advantage of their $20 Pepsi deal and get $10 in ECBs back. In the end, I had 6 12-packs of Caffeine Free Diet Pepsi for ~$4. As you'll see later, it put me over my $25/week rule (not by much though), but it gives us drinks for our lunches for about a month and a half if we don't drink it at home. I decided it was worth the overage because it became the cheapest option for lunch beverages that I can get.

Earlier in the day, I also made a stop at the bread store. This is a must if I want to save money on whole wheat bread. We don't eat white bread. I spent $5.02 there and got 2 loaves of whole wheat bread (not the enriched wheat flour kind either!) and 1 pack each of lite wheat hamburger and hot dog buns. If I had bought these at Publix I would have spent an extra $3-4 dollars total and not been able to buy ice cream for my sweetie this week.

And speaking of ice cream (which is dairy and within my guidelines), here's what I took home from Publix. Not too bad, though grapes are still expensive! I don't know how to get them any cheaper. My only consolation is that this bag has at least 8 servings of fruit for $4, which is $0.50/serving. This is still on the high side for fresh fruit, but cheaper than processed snacks.

All in all, I spent about $28.50 this week. I hope this isn't breaking my own rules, but I don't feel bad about it since I still haven't spent up all the underage from my first week. At this point though, I've just about eaten all of that up!

Bloggy Giveaway

2008-01-28T20:58:00.000-05:00

I succumbed to the pressure and I am giving away something in Rocks In My Dryer's Bloggy Giveaway!

What will you receive if you win my giveaway, you might ask??? Well... how about food? Everyone loves food and we all have to eat, right? But first, I promise it won't be expired food from my pantry. It will be a wonderful assortment of new spices, rices, and treats! Plus cookbooks! Everyone needs cookbooks! (I'll post a detailed list and a picture of the contents later.)

Just leave a comment below with a way to reach you (either via your blog or e-mail address) and I'll choose a winner with a random number generator at the end of the Bloggy Giveaway Carnival!

Happy Eating!!! (Oh, and if you want to know what this blog is all about... read my concept post.)

EDIT: The contest is closed as of Saturday, February 2 @ 3:40 pm. Thanks to everyone for playing along. You can see who won here.

Menu Plan Sunday

2008-01-27T17:12:00.000-05:00

I am on the ball this week. I've already got my menu all planned out. Let's see how well I keep to it now.

Sunday - Pasta w/ Meatballs and Tomato Sauce
Monday - Chef Salad
Tuesday - Apricot Chipotle Pork Ribs, from MGFK
Wednesday - Shrimp Scampi over Linguini, from Rich Plan
Thursday - Chicken Fried Steak w/ Potaotoes,
Friday - Dinner out with new friends

As usual, our breakfasts will be cereal, oatmeal, or eggs and toast.

Lunches will either be planned overs, or since baked potatoes were on sale, I'll probably make some of those and take with a small box of frozen veggies.

Check out the other menus at OrgJunkie's site!

Saturday Night Dinner

2008-01-27T16:53:00.000-05:00

We don't normally cook dinner around here on Saturday nights. It seems we either end up eating out somewhere or we are too tired so fix leftover, or even cereal sometimes. But I had the chicken defrosted from earlier in the week and still hadn't made the Sweet & Sour meal that I had planned.

I cut 1-lb of chicken into thin strips and marinated it in flour, soy sauce, water, and that squeezable ginger and chili pepper paste you can buy in the produce section. After a quick stir-fry, I removed it from the pan. Next, I stir-fried 1/2 of a diced red pepper, about 1 cup of frozen, chopped onions, and a small handful of carrots, thinly sliced on he diagonal. Once they had softened up, I added the chicken back in. I let that set for a minute while I mixed up 1/3 cup of ketchup and sugar each with 1 1/4 cup water and some powdered sweet & sour mix from the back of my pantry. Pouring that over the chicken, I brought it to a boil and then let the sauce cook down and thicken. All of this was poured over cooked white rice and topped with pineapple tidbits.

I was very skeptical about the whole ketchup thing and am pretty certain the mix was just a thickening agent, but the meal was delicious! We are both looking forward to packing it for lunch on Monday.

From my stash I used up the powdered mix, rice (and I made extra for the week), the onions, and the pineapple.

Weekly Shopping Trip

2008-01-24T20:00:00.000-05:00

I made my weekly pilgrimage to Publix tonight in my quest to buy yummy food to go with my stash. I stuck to fresh produce, dairy, and whole grain bread except for my water. I can't drink the water where we live (horrible smell). I used to buy individual bottles, but realized that wasn't a very eco-friendly way to live. So now, I compromise and buy the 2.5 gallon jugs and then put it in my recycling bin once we finish it. I still keep some individual bottles around to grab on the way out the door, but use my Tervis Tumbler the rest of the time.

It was only my second week in the Eating It Up experiment and I already had to have the cashier take some items off of my bill. I guess I did a poor job adding up my purchases and had to put back the blueberries, plus my lite wheat hamburger and hot dog buns. I did not mind too much though since I was not sure we'd eat the blueberries and I can buy the buns for less money at the bread store if I plan my shopping trip for earlier in the evening.

After taking those items off, my total was $25.13. I am okay with going over my $25 goal though, because I was so far under it last week. Not that I want to go over every week, but $0.13 isn't going to break the bank. Yet. :-)

Oh, let me tell you about the dinner that we had tonight. It was the Tortilla Soup made from a mix by Bear Creek. I'll be honest and tell you it is the first expired item in my pantry. The use by date was September 2007, but I don't think it affected the taste at all. I added in a can of black beans and also a can of yellow corn to bulk it up some. It worked as a yummy meal and I got to eat the Harry & David chips with it! Bruce sprinkled some cheese on top of his and liked it. He topped his belly off with a hot dog though.

Tomorrow for lunch, we'll take leftover baked potatoes from last week and pour the soup over it with more cheese for something a little more filling. Trust me, you can't tackle the task of teaching 8th & 9th graders on an empty stomach!

Sausage Frittata

2008-01-23T19:20:00.000-05:00

Tonight we had a breakfast-inspired dish for dinner. I made a sausage frittata based on this recipe I found on-line. Here is what I did:

Cooked and drained 1 lb of ground sausage. Put sausage back in deep-sided pan and then poured 7 scrambled eggs over top. I moved the pan and eggs around a bit to let the eggs seep in through the sausage. After a few minutes I put a lid on the pan and then waited a few more minutes. Once the frittata began to setup I removed the lid and sprinkled cheese liberally over the top. I put the lid back on and waited for for the dish to finish setting up. To serve, I spooned salsa over the top and served with Harry & David tortilla chips.

I was able to use up 1 lb of frozen, Rich Plan sausage, some salsa (of which I have 4 jars still left unopened), and I got to open up the bag of delicious Harry & David chips! Bruce really liked the meal and said I could make something like this again. If I were to do it again, I would use more eggs (7 was all I had), 1/2 as much sausage, and I would saute onions and peppers with the sausage for more flavor and nutrition. Actually, I can think of several different ways I could add vegetables into the mix and still enjoy it. Plus, we get to enjoy the leftovers for breakfast!

I Know Where I Get It

2008-01-22T19:43:00.001-05:00

This past weekend I was at my mom's condo and she asked me to help her clean out her pantry (inspired in part by me I am sure). And now, I know where I get my tendency to have too much food.

She and my dad are the only ones who live there yet they were fully stocked with a ton of stuff (not as much as I had, but a lot considering my dad is gone 24 days a month and has his own pantry for trucker food). I wish I had taken a picture of it to show you the before and after. There was food in there from 2004. Now, I know I am bound to have something that old in mine too, once I get to the dark corners of my pantry, but until then... I'm going to talk about someone else's old food. :)

I really am not complaining because I ended up coming home with a bag full of food to add to my stock as well. This is okay since it didn't cost me anything other than time and the usual tiff that comes when my mom and I try to organize things together. I am almost certain that she has made some changes since I left yesterday.

Me: You have 2 whole cartons of oatmeal.
Mom: I like oatmeal; it's easy to make.
Me: But what about the 2 boxes of instant oatmeal. Aren't those easier for you to make?
Mom: I like it plain sometimes too.
Me: Okay then, I'll put the boxes stacked here, and the 2 round cartons next to them, one behind the other.
Mom: No. Put the spare oatmeal behind the cereal boxes. That way we have more room.
Me: But that doesn't make sense.
Mom: That's the way I want it.
Me: Why do you need all that space? Aren't you downsizing?
Mom: It's my pantry.

And that settled it. Of course, why the spare oatmeal? Is she afraid one will blow up and she'll need a back-up?

I tease my mom but only because as I point at her there are 4 other fingers pointing right back at me. I took her desire to get a good deal a ~~wee bit~~ whole lot further. Becky made a good point in her comment the other day about sales. Fortunately, I haven't had much to throw away (yet) as most of what I stashed is so full of preservatives it will last longer than me! We have typically been fairly good about eating the fresh produce I buy, except that 2nd bag of lettuce I have to get when it is B1G1 free!

Of course, being away all weekend until Monday evening, I did not get my menu planned ahead of time. I ended up eating cereal for dinner last night. I did have the foresight to take something out for tonight though - Allstar Chicken, from MGFK. I think it may be one of my favorite MGFK dishes ever! (Sorry no pictures, my camera batteries are dead.)

Better late than never, here is my menu plan for the week:

Monday - Allstar Chicken

Tuesday - Pasta with Tomato sauce and veggies

Wednesday - Breakfast for dinner! (Sausage from Rich Plan with eggs or pancakes)

Thursday - Tortilla Soup w/ black beans and maybe a sandwich for Bruce

Friday - Sweet & Sour Chicken w/ Fried Rice (hopefully using up 2 seasoning packets that I've had for who knows how long)

I'll let you know how this week's menu goes. I picked out several stashed items to use to start and make a dent in my freezer and pantry. I kind of had fun trying to find something to use!

1st Shopping Trip

2008-01-17T20:36:00.000-05:00

Tonight was my first trip to the grocery store since beginning my Eating It Up experiment. I knew that in order to stick to my 3 ground rules, I would need to stay on the perimeter of the store, this is where the freshest and least processed food is stocked. I headed to the dairy section first to pick up milk and had to struggle as I walked past the cheese and the yogurt. It isn't that these are not allowed, it is that I still have plenty left over from last week's trip and I don't need them this week. Even. On. Sale. I had to repeat that to myself several times.

As I talked to myself (in my head, not out loud, I'm not nuts) and walked over to produce I did make one circle around the clearance rack and told myself I didn't need anything on it. No matter how good of a sale it is. I had some version of all of it at home already, waiting to be used up.

My diligence was rewarded when I arrived in the produce section and saw that crates of clementines were on clearance for $2 each! Normally they are $6.99 and my personal target price is $3.99. Publix had them at my target price 2 weeks ago and I suspect that the 3 lonely crates left on clearance were from that sale. I knew that not all of them would be good and I'd have to toss some, but at that price, I bought all 3! (Plus some bananas, which are a staple in my diet.)

After swinging by and picking up a treat for Bruce (marshmallow fluff) I headed for the check out. Success! My savings were greater than my $12.74 total. I was $11.26 under budget!

(Oh, and we did grill the london broil tonight. It was tasty, but not as strong as I thought it would be after marinating for almost 24 hours. It is going to be used up in a salad and on a potato this weekend.)

Fast Food Again

2008-01-16T21:38:00.000-05:00

Okay now, I have a really good excuse for why we didn't eat our London Broil. It was worth it. Instead, we got a pizza. The best local place, Pizzanos, has a $5, one-topping special that we occasionally take advantage of. We always get ours with jalapenos, and drink it with a glass of milk. Unfortunately, when we got home, there was only about 2 oz of milk left. My dear husband let me have it. :-) We ended up sharing it, then eating ice cream.

I still haven't decided if I am going to make these quick dinner purchases count against my $25 a week. I think I'll take them out of our dome budget since they were related to the many hours it has kept us away from home. Yeah, that's what I'll do.

On Track

2008-01-15T18:24:00.000-05:00

As promised, we did have the Napolean Artichoke from My Girlfriend's Kitchen for dinner tonight. It had a mild flavor and the vegetables were kind of bland. I probably should have added more salt and pepper. I don't think I would make it again, except I have another one in the freezer. And... to make sure we are prepared for the next two nights, I've already started marinating the london broil in the cracked pepper and garlic sauce.

**By edit, I'd like to add that yes, we really do eat dinner sitting on the couch most nights. I had my daughter in my lap nursing and daddy wanted to be near us. :)

Mistake

2008-01-15T12:14:00.000-05:00

I'd love to write this morning and tell you how wonderful the Napoleon Artichoke was last night. I'd be delighted to share photos of an elegant and nutritious meal. It would be my pleasure to describe how delicious everything tasted.

But I can't. We went to the hardware store last night to pick out items for the house we are building and stayed for more than 3 hours. By the time we were done, we were too tired to face the prospect of waiting and cooking dinner when we got home. So we did what any other American family would - went through the drive through.

Yep, 2 days into my new eating experiment and I am already scarfing down fries and a chicken sandwich. How sad is that? I'll just have to move my menus back by one day to make up for this lapse. Tonight though, shall be different!

Menu Plan Monday

2008-01-13T18:32:00.000-05:00

Since this venture of Eating It Up is all about using up the food I already have, I thought it most wise to plan my menu ahead of time. Laura, at orgjunkie.com hosts a place on her blog for bloggers to share their menus and find new recipes. I am excited to join them this week, with the first planned menu of Eating It Up.

Monday - Napoleon Artichoke (from MGFK, "chicken sauteed with artichoke hearts, white wine, capers, red peppers and mushrooms" served over egg noodles)

Tuesday - London Broil marinated in a garlic & black pepper sauce, served with wild rice and vegetables

Wednesday - Steak Salad (to used up left over London Broil)

Thursday - Soup Potatoes (baked potato covered with soup and cheese)

Friday - Planned Overs (I'll be out of town so hubby will be alone)

Of course, my menu looks good and normal now, but wait until all I have is vegetable oil, applesauce , and peanut butter!!!

Our breakfasts are usually the same - cereal and a piece of fruit. Our lunches are either planned overs from dinner the night before or a frozen meal (Smart Ones or Lean Cuisine).

Day One

2008-01-13T17:58:00.000-05:00

Today was the first full day of my Eating It Up experiment. I looked in the freezer to see what would be easy to get started with and was pleased to find some chicken that had already been flavorized and was ready for baking. When my mom was here after my daughter was born she made up several freezer meals for us to enjoy in the weeks ahead. They were a real blessing and I was surprised when I found this last one (I think it's the last one anyway) hiding in my freezer.

It was meant to be the sample bag for my mom to take home with her since she had not tried either of the recipes I requested she make up for us. But, I guess she took the wrong one, so we ate it up tonight. There were 3 Parmesan chicken cutlets and 3 honey mustard chicken cutlets (recipes below). We baked them up at the same time. My husband had the honey mustard chicken and I had the parm chicken. It was all rounded out with a box of frozen seasoned veggies.

Both of these recipes work well in the freezer and are super easy to whip up on the spur of the moment. I was glad to find the again.

Parmesan Chicken

1 lb chicken cutlets

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (I prefer Kraft ParmPlus)

salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350. Rinse and dry chicken breasts, salt and pepper each breast, coat each one with 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese. Bake for 20-30 minutes until done.

Honey Mustard Chicken

1 lb chicken cutlets

1 cup honey mustard dressing

2 cups crushed corn flakes

1 bunch green onions, cut into small pieces

Preheat oven to 350. Rinse and dry chicken breasts. Mix green onions into honey mustard. Dip chicken honey mustard dressing then in corn flakes. Try to cover as much of the chicken as possible. Bake for 20-30 minutes until done.

It Ain't Pretty

2008-01-12T09:27:00.000-05:00

Just so you have an idea of what I am working with, let me give you an overview of my ~~stash~~ stockpile. I have limited cabinet space and no built-in pantry, so shortly after we moved in 4 1/2 years ago, we purchased a white shelving unit with doors to store non-perishables (left).

I also have reusable grocery bags that I don't use anymore, because they are storing even more items that I just had to stock up on. I have an upright side-by-side refrigerator/freezer that is almost always full. I just went to My Girlfriend's Kitchen last week and still have 11 meals left from that trip. We used to belong to Rich Plan and their quarterly meat deliveries holds up all of the stuff on the top layer of my chest freezer (not pictured).

I like to shop for deals. I like buying 20 boxes of whole grain, organic pasta from Big Lots for $1. I like not having to worry whether or not I have applesauce to pack in our lunches each day (below). Frozen vegetables are a necessity when you no longer have room to store the canned goods. And you never know when you might need 32 bottles of free vegetable oil (left).

I just went grocery shopping last night and spent $75. Was that cheating? No, not really? The idea for this eating it up experiment only came to me on my way home as I pondered my husband's earlier comment about having too much food in the house. As I mulled it over, I had to agree. I buy too much food. I wouldn't be surprised to find a bottle or can of something that is more than 2-3 years old as I dig further back into the archives that is my pantry. You haven't even see my cabinets, 2 of which also have food stocked up in them - one for baking supplies and the other for spices, snacks, and beverages.

The Concept

2008-01-11T20:51:00.000-05:00

What would happen if an average family decided to drastically cut their grocery budget and finally eat all of that food that mom has been diligently stockpiling for months? I'm not sure, but am willing to find out.

I got hooked on something called the Grocery Game several months ago and this led to massive stockpiling of non-perishable goods and marathon sessions of coupon cutting. I ended up with some junk food, some healthy food, and a lot of guilt when I didn't have the right coupon with me when I needed it.

Now, I've cancelled my newspaper subscription and my Grocery Game membership and am ready to find out just how long my 'stash' can last and just how creative I can be with 6 cans of Geisha pineapple from Walgreens and $1 a box whole grain pasta from Big Lots.

In order to know if my experiment is a success, I need to make some ground rules. Here they are:

My budget is $25 per week for fresh produce, dairy, and breads.
I can add other items to my shopping cart, so long as I stay under the $25/week limit.
I will post my receipt information and shopping list to keep me honest.
I have to try and be as creative as possible when using the existing ingredients in my pantry.

I kept myself to 4 rules to keep it simple. But I also have a goal of sharing one recipe per week so that I can discuss how I creatively used my 'stash.' This should get really interesting after a few weeks when we've used up all of the easy ideas. I predict that it will probably be pretty easy in the beginning, but should toughen up as we run out of items considered staples in our home (like cereal and cookies).