What Would Lasagna Be Without It?

Posted on Wednesday, November 10th, 2010 by Erica

I decided yesterday that I was going to go grocery shopping today and buy the few things I needed to make lasagna while Sophia was at the neighbor’s house. I wrote a list out of the few ingredients that I was missing from the pantry and made my way through the store crossing things off the list as I picked them up. Once home I of course put everything away. I calculated the time I would need to cook things up, assemble, and bake and began at a time that would have us eating at a reasonable dinner hour. It wasn’t until I reached the assembly part of the process that I realized I was missing one rather key ingredient specific to lasagna…The fuckin’ lasagna noodles!

lasagna noodles

I called in my request for Kurt to run to the store. He laughed and said, “Wow talk about pregnancy brain.” Yeah, yeah I know. It would have made me feel so much better if when he arrived home and handed me the noodles he had asked, “So what’s for dinner?” However, that didn’t happen.

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Fear of Pumpkin Waffle Change

Posted on Wednesday, November 3rd, 2010 by Erica

A few months ago I came across a carrot pancake recipe from Weelicious. I didn’t use her exact recipe. Actually, I didn’t use her recipe at all. I used my own pancake recipe and just added the nuts, carrots, and cinnamon from hers. Well, I guess I didn’t warn Kurt that I was going to make that change because when he saw the carrot in his pancakes he started to say something about it. With eyes wide open I stared at him from the kitchen and then looked in Sophia’s direction to indicate I was trying to pull a fast one on the child. Gee I wonder where she gets her lack of food adventure.

Sophia did notice the shredded carrot but she must have eaten enough of it to realize that it wasn’t all evil. She didn’t try to pick out the carrot or eat around it like she does when I make blueberry pancakes, which is good because I put so much in there either task would be quite an undertaking. They have both has since eaten carrot pancakes several times and both are doing well.

More recently, I wanted a recipe that would use up leftover pumpkin puree, so I went into the Weelicious archives and found Pumpkin Waffles. This time I warned Kurt about the extreme act of deception I was about to orchestrate for the mornings breakfast. You should have seen the look of horror on his face. “Pumpkin puree in the waffle iron, won’t that ruin it?” He actually asked with a straight face.

Sometimes I wonder if my life would be easier if perhaps his degree were in chemistry and not engineering. Maybe I should look and see if Atlon Brown has a recipe for pumpkin waffles so that I can show the video to Kurt. Does Alton have any upcoming lectures on the science of how squishy fruits and veggies can be mixed in with bread recipes and it still turns out bready because you simply use less water, milk, or oil? Ruin the waffle iron, really? It’s not like I was just going to smear straight up pumpkin puree on it and call it a waffle.

By the way like all other recipes I find I never make them exactly the same. I always have to tweak something, so here are the changes I made to the Weelicious pumpkin waffle recipe ingredient list…

1 1/3 + ½ Cups All-Purpose Flour
2/3 Cup Whole Wheat Flour
1/3 Cup Light Brown Sugar
2 ½ tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda
½ tsp Salt
2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
½ tsp Ground Ginger
4 Eggs
1 Cup Milk (I used 2% milk)
1 Cup Buttermilk (I used low fat)
1 Cup Pumpkin Puree

I read somewhere that with most if not all quick bread (any bread not using yeast to rise) recipes 1/3 of the all-purpose flour can be substituted with whole-wheat flour. I only used half the amount of ginger, I used 2% milk (not rice “milk”), and I completely omitted the SIX tablespoons of butter. I didn’t even make a substitution and it turned out better than just fine.

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Wordless Wednesday: Stand Out From the Crowd

Posted on Tuesday, April 13th, 2010 by Erica

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Scratchy Pumpkin Pie

Posted on Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010 by Erica

Our dog sitters usually get compensated with tamales, and they did again for watching the dogs while we were in Hawaii, but this time I also left them a little something else. I always leave a note on the freezer with instructions for how many scoops of kibble goes to which dog and who gets how much of what medication.

The friend that would be feeding the dogs for us on this occasion is similar to me in our cooking methods. We feel spending three hours in the kitchen to create a meal similar to those served by a farmer’s wife in the 1940’s is more satisfying and nutritious than the “Hungry Man” in the freezer section that takes five minutes in the microwave. Neither of us even owns a microwave. I know, it’s sacrilege. At the bottom of the dog feeding instructions I left the following note:

The half a pumpkin pie in the refrigerator is for you and your hubby. Don’t worry, we didn’t touch that half. I made it all myself from scratch, including the crust. Well, actually I didn’t grow the pumpkins from seedlings with time, love, and bedtime stories. I didn’t even buy pre-nurtured pumpkins from the store to use. They were all out. I guess this year was a bad one for pumpkin growing. I did however use two very nice undented cans of pumpkin puree. Oh, I also didn’t milk the cows for the cream I used, or raise the chickens for the eggs. *hanging my head in shame* I didn’t even grow the spices. Damn, I guess it’s not as scratchy as I made it out. But it’s still really good pie. I hope you enjoy it.

scratchy pumpkin pie

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Hunger Challenge Three-Day Pork Tenderloin

Posted on Wednesday, November 4th, 2009 by Erica

Our oatmeal breakfasts and sandwich lunches are rather mundane but our dinners do have flare. Yesterday I made pork tenderloin that I would normally cover with a plum sauce I made from plums given to me, but we can’t use foods given to us or already in stock. So the pork tenderloin I marinated in soy sauce, cooking sherry, garlic, and brown sugar was eaten without the extra topping – still very good with broccoli and rice.

Tonight the leftover will be cut in half a used in Fortune brand mushroom flavor Udon soup (7.26 ounce noodle package from the refrigerated section $1.48). I’ll add some baby bok choy, half a package of portabella mushrooms, onion, and basil.

Day three of the pork tenderloin will be mixed in with Fortune brand Yakisoba stir fry noodles (7.7 ounce package in the refrigerated section for $1.98). This will be dressed up with baby bok choy, the rest of the mushrooms, onion, carrot, broccoli and basil.

Going into this I new that in order to stay within the $18 a day budget challenge for our family I’d have to stick to things that produce tasty leftovers and buy condiments for use in multiple recipes. This week has had a bit of an Asian theme to it so far.

Pork Tenderloin Marinade:
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon dry sherry or Chinese rice wine
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 clove garlic, minced

Plum Sauce:
2 pounds ripe plums
¼ cup honey
1 tablespoon ginger
4 cloves garlic, minced
¼ to ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper, crushed red pepper flakes, red chili paste (basically add heat to your taste or none at all)
¼ cup soy sauce

Pit the plums and add everything except the soy sauce to a pan
Bring it to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until the plums are soft (about 15 minutes)
Remove from the heat and stir in soy sauce
Puree in a blender or food processor

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United Way Seven Dollars a Day Challenge

Posted on Monday, November 2nd, 2009 by Erica

I’m taking the United Way of Snohomish County seven dollars a day challenge. It started yesterday. After signing up on the local United Way website a page showed with the rules including a set of more challenging rules, the rules that food stamp recipients actually follow. With the more stringent rules our family doesn’t receive $21 a day, we only get $18. I like a challenge, I’ll take it, but I’m finding that my biggest hurdle is getting my husband Kurt to join in. He’s having flashbacks to nights of liver and onions on the days just before payday. His family actually needed these services when he was growing up and if his mother reads this post I know what she’ll say, “I wish I had eighteen F*&#^&% dollars a day to spend on our family of four back then!”

The Rules

You should eat breakfast, lunch and dinner, spending only $7
per person, per day on food.

Salt and pepper don’t count as expenditures, but all other
seasonings, cooking oils, condiments, snacks and drinks do.

Don’t use food you already own.

Don’t accept food from family, friends, coworkers or others
in the community. That includes free samples at your local
grocery store!

Try to include fresh produce and healthy protein each day.

Want more of a challenge?

Purchase only what the Washington Basic Food Program allows. This means no fast food (including hot items from the grocery store deli), alcohol or tobacco.

Participate with your family, coworkers or other community group. The amount of benefits changes based on the size of your “household”:

Household Size – Hunger Challenge Budget
1 $7/day
2 $12/day
3 $18/day
4 $22/day
5 $26/day
6 $32/day
7 $35/day
8 $45/day

I’ve made it my job in the last two years to save money on groceries, since I’m not bringing in an income, without compromising taste or quality of food. If I come off sounding like this is too easy it’s due to some practice. I’ve never actually done the math to figure out how much I’m spending over a week, month, or year, all I know is that I’m keeping the food spending in check by buying on sale, embracing certain store brand items, and utilizing the bulk food section. I don’t bother with hours of coupon clipping and didn’t for this challenge either. There are some stores that are just cheaper than others like Ranch 99 and WinCo Foods and have the same food quality as “high end” stores.

Fred Meyer has milk on sale every week. One week it’ll be ten half-gallons for ten dollars and the next it’ll be one gallon for a dollar ninety-nine. Normally I buy my milk, cheeses and a few other food staples at Costco. Milk there is always a dollar ninety a gallon, which is important to know for a family that drinks four gallons a week. Yeah I know, that’s A LOT! Buying in bulk saves a lot of money, but most Costcos don’t accept food stamps and we aren’t supposed to use food we already have. Also buying cases of food would put me way over budget for one week. In some ways, this would be a lot easier to do over the course of a month.

I never considered my almost daily mochas as a food item, so in my past grocery-cost bill-analysis they never made the cut. Though I have been trying to quit them for a while not because they are very expensive. I’m using this week to help me drive past the stand without stopping in for my fix. Our other major switch for this week is Kurt will be bringing lunch to work instead of going out, which means I have to get up at zero-crack-of-dawn-thirty to make it for him.

I bought oatmeal, raisins, and dates in the bulk section for breakfasts, and didn’t have to leave out the ever important brown sugar and cinnamon. I wound up spending thirty-eight dollars and eight cents on condiments for this week. Most of which will be used in multiple recipes.

Yesterday we had muesli for breakfast (I didn’t add nuts or fresh fruit), chicken salad sandwiches for lunch, and ‘Chinese Chicken’ with broccoli and rice for dinner. Today we had oatmeal for breakfast, ham and cheese sandwiches for lunch, and we’ll be eating leftover ‘Chinese Chicken’ for dinner.

Chinese Chicken recipe:

Foster Farms’ directions on this recipe says to cook in a dutch oven on the stove-top. I baked our chicken in a cast iron dutch oven in the oven at 350 degrees for about 1 ½ for a 3 ½ pound chicken so I skipped the bit about browning the chicken on all sides and just popped it in the oven with the sauce. I used a slice of regular onion instead of green onion and left out the sesame seeds.

Mixture:
1/3 cup soy sauce, regular or reduced salt
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon catsup
1/4 cup dry sherry or apple juice
1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper (optional)
1 clove garlic, pressed
1 green onion, sliced

Other:
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons water
2 teaspoons toasted sesame seeds*

1. Remove giblets, rinse chicken and pat dry. Heat oil in Dutch oven, brown chicken on all sides.

2. Mix together soy sauce, brown sugar, water, catsup, sherry, red pepper, garlic, and green onion. Pour mixture over chicken. Cover and simmer 35 to 45 minutes or until meat is no longer pink at thighbone.

3. Turn chicken once during cooking. Remove chicken to platter, draining juices back into pan. Skim fat from sauce.

4. Blend together cornstarch and water and stir into sauce. Cook, stirring constantly, until thickened. Spoon some sauce over chicken, sprinkle with sesame seeds. Serve chicken with remaining sauce.

*Sesame seeds need to be toasted to develop their nut-like flavor. Toast sesame seeds in shallow pan at 350 degrees for 10 minutes, stirring frequently.

Here is the United Way of Snohomish County blog. There you can see what other people are doing for this challenge.

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Very Basic Fresh Tomato Marinara

Posted on Monday, March 30th, 2009 by Erica

After watching several cooking shows and doing several Internet searches for good basic marinara sauce, I’ve found that that Italian cooking generally uses fresh ingredients and keeps it simple. I like that and kept that in mind while searching for recipes to make my own. I’ve also discovered the difference between the cheap almost scentless olive oil I get in bulk at Costco and a good flavoring/salad dressing olive oil. I still use my Costco olive oil for cooking, but to add olive oil flavor, I get out the good stuff.

As a half beaner I’m not going to make any claims to the authenticity of the Italian-esk marinara recipe that I’ve come up with, but if nothing else it’s a great base to build upon.

¼ cup of good flavoring/salad dressing olive oil – It should say on the bottle that it’s for flavoring
1 onion, chopped
5lbs of tomatoes – Aside from cherry, grape or other tiny tomato, to me it doesn’t matter what kind of tomatoes. Ideally they should be ripe, but if they aren’t that’s ok.
1 carrot, very finely chopped. Very fine. Like bits the size of a baby’s fingernail, fine. This can be omitted if the tomatoes are all perfectly ripe. I use a carrot instead of refined sugar to cut down the acidity of the tomatoes. Don’t worry if you absolutely hate cooked carrots, if it’s chopped finely enough I promise you won’t taste it at all. Really, you won’t.
Fresh basil
Salt
Pepper

Chop the onion and sauté in the olive oil until translucent. Start a pot of water boiling to dip the tomatoes in. They’ll only be in for a minute or two until you see the skin start to split. Move the tomatoes to a bowl of cold water to cool and peel the skins off. Then either coarsely chop or blend the tomatoes depending on the desired consistency. Add the carrot, two or three sprigs of fresh basil, salt and pepper to taste. Bring it all to a boil, and then simmer for thirty to forty-five minutes for the flavors to meld. I remove the basil before storing, but if the majority of your recipes call for basil, there isn’t any reason for removal. This recipe makes about six cups of marinara.

I don’t use garlic in my basic marinara because not all my recipes use garlic and some use a ton of garlic. I don’t want to have to adjust all my recipes or make multiple batches of marinara with varying garlic content so I simply leave it out.