Before this last week it has been a while since I baked bread. I work outside the home full days and ride the bus to and fro which means by the time I get home it's 6 pm and I'm not thinking about creative stuff, including cooking/baking. The exception to this rule is unless we have guests in our B&B in which case I work hard at creating baking treats for our guests. (http://www.dayspringbb.com).
I finally checked the dates on my yeast because I have had minimal success with my last 3 loaves of bread. What's up with that??
It's fine to want to use what you have but I've decided it's wasteful to use tired and outdated yeast that doesn't rise your bread. Nobody wants to eat a hockey puck or door stop. It wasn't quite that bad but you get the idea.
So, here goes the confession ... I'm throwing out my old yeast...wasting it....there, I said it. It's dead and not useful so instead of producing bread nobody wants to eat, I made a decision to invest in some new yeast and to use it!
I'll make a fresh loaf tomorrow. Currently baking homemade pizza used with the old yeast and perhaps that's why it didn't rise. Oh well. It will taste good nevertheless.
But the lesson here is: Breadmaking 101 - make sure you use fresh, live yeast, otherwise you will get discouraged and quit making bread. And that will not do!
On to the next loaf,
Mavis
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Boulangerie...
I always loved that french word for "bread bakery", as opposed to Patisserie which is the "pastry, etc. bakery".
bou·lan·gerie (bo̵̅o̅ länz̸h rē′)
noun
a bakery shop, specif. one that specializes in breads, rolls, etc.
Source: fenichel.com
I love baking bread. I buy organic wheat berries and grind my own flour using my Champion juicer with wheat grinding attachment. My husband bought it long before we were married and I was so grateful that he had it when I started baking bread. Besides the grinder, I also have the following excellent breadmaking tools: Bosch Bread Mixer and the Compact Bosch Bread Mixer.
Here's a picture of a big Bosch. I have had mine for about 15 years and I love it!!
And here's a compact Bosch. I inherited my mother-in-law's about 9 years ago when she moved in with us. It does maximum of two loaves at time. I use this one for making small batches of bread or pizza dough. The big brother Bosch does 5 loaves at a time but doesn't knead small batches very well. That's my justification for having 2! The second one cost me nothing. The first one we traded for a computer those 15 years ago.
Now, back to the bread baking today. Awhile back I purchased some dark rye flour. I think I was enamored by some dark russian rye bread at a local cafe called The Roost and figured I could make my own.
It's a home day for me today as I nurse a sick doggy and get some things done around the house. I decided to make some bread and found a recipe from allrecipes.com for a dark russian rye. I changed the recipe because we're not fond of caraway and I didn't have all of their ingredients. Here is my version prepared in a Baby Bosch breadmaker which doesn't include the auto-baker. I like to shape the loaf. It's a small version of the big bosch that does 5 loaves at a time. I could have done 5 loaves but rye bread is not something you want to eat every day. Today we're having it with some canned tomato soup from the pantry.
Here goes my recipe:
Dark Russian Rye Bread
Ingredients:
It's a bit of a dark photo but you get the idea. The dough is already sort of formed into a ball except for the hook and its work of kneading.
Once it has kneaded for about 10 minutes, I oil up the counter and take the dough from the bowl. I flatten the dough ball with the balls of my hands and then roll it up into a loaf shape. At this point I slap the dough down on the counter 3 times. This releases the air bubbles inside (or so the theory goes). I then gently reshape it into a loaf. For this bread I wanted a peasant shaped loaf so it's circular. Here it is on the counter ready to go on my Pampered Chef baking stone:
1 1/2 cups water 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar 2 1/2 cups bread flour (plus more until right consistency) 1 cup rye flour (plus more until right consistency) 1 teaspoon salt 2 tablespoons melted butter 2 tablespoons honey | tablespoon brown sugar 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder 1 teaspoon instant coffee granules 2 teaspoons Fermipan instant yeast 1 tablespoon Dough Enhancer (creates a lighter loaf) - optional |
If you have an auto bread baker then you should follow the instructions from your machine. Here is my bosch method which is the same method you could use hand if you're kneading by hand.
In bowl place the warm water, melted warm butter, honey, vinegar, sugar, cocoa, coffee, salt and dough enhancer. Add the heaviest flour first, namely the rye. Add 1/2 cup rye flour. Add about 1/2 cup of the bread flour and let the machine knead it on a low speed for about 2 -3 minutes. This develops the gluten. From that point, continuing adding the rest of the white flour and some rye flour until the dough clears the bowl.
Once it has kneaded for about 10 minutes, I oil up the counter and take the dough from the bowl. I flatten the dough ball with the balls of my hands and then roll it up into a loaf shape. At this point I slap the dough down on the counter 3 times. This releases the air bubbles inside (or so the theory goes). I then gently reshape it into a loaf. For this bread I wanted a peasant shaped loaf so it's circular. Here it is on the counter ready to go on my Pampered Chef baking stone:
And here's another picture on my Pampered Chef baking stone (it's not dirty; it's getting nicely seasoned which is a badge of honour!)
I cut a cross-slit in the top and it's now rising in the oven. I turn the oven on to about 200 degrees while I'm preparing the dough and turn it off and keep the oven light on. I have found that this is a perfect temperature for letting the dough rise. I usually eyeball it when it's time to bake. After about a half hour this one is not yet done. It should be about 2/3 of the baked size. I use fermipan instant yeast so I don't have to rise it in a bowl with a second punch down. I prepare the dough, shape the loaves and then rise and bake.
The bread should be baked at 350 degrees until it sounds hollow on top. It should be approx 30-40 minutes. Your house will smell heavenly and you'll have people lined up in the kitchen waiting to sample it when it's done. You can use an egg wash and sprinkle sesame seeds if you like. I chose not to this time.
If you're interested in Pampered Chef products I have a great consultant. Here's her website: http://www.pamperedchef.biz/susanhadden
I'm off to check on the bread status. I'll post a picture appended to this post when it's finished baking (minus the wonderful smell ~ sorry) .
Ciao for now!
Mavis
Ta-da!
I confess that I don't think I'll ever win a blue ribbon for this one. It would have been better in a loaf pan. I laughed when I saw it done as the x in the top didn't spread like the peasant loaves in the bakery and it sorta resembled a turtle whose head and legs were inside his shell. But here is a picture of the side view. It was very moist and tasty but a bit too much cocoa. I'm going now to amend the recipe. I think the gluten could have been more developed as well. This means I should have left it longer in the Bosch before adding the final flour.
Ta-da!
I confess that I don't think I'll ever win a blue ribbon for this one. It would have been better in a loaf pan. I laughed when I saw it done as the x in the top didn't spread like the peasant loaves in the bakery and it sorta resembled a turtle whose head and legs were inside his shell. But here is a picture of the side view. It was very moist and tasty but a bit too much cocoa. I'm going now to amend the recipe. I think the gluten could have been more developed as well. This means I should have left it longer in the Bosch before adding the final flour.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Nabob and the Coffee Snob
So...we got to the end of the expensive Kicking Horse coffee. Our other favourite is the Alex Campbell Signature Series Sumatra Gayo Mountain (yes..we ARE coffee snobs in our house...at least I am!). We buy the whole beans and grind them ourselves. Superb coffee! But in the War On Debt scheme of things, shouldn't I really put my snobbery aside and settle for Nabob?
I was in Save on Foods the other day and noticed the Nabob on sale so I bought it thinking "suck it up buttercup!" A lot of people drink Nabob and find it quite acceptable.
I'm sorry...I just couldn't do it. Brave first day but by the second day I was waving the white flag. But my brilliant husband came up with an idea so that we can use our 'yuk' coffee and fool me. He's using half Nabob with half of our other coffee. It's mighty fine I have to say!
I'm sitting here sipping while I blog right now. The result of this discovery? It makes me want to dig into my coffee/tea drawer to see what else is lurking unused and on the verge of being wasted.
I dunno. I'm quite inspired. I'm using it but not suffering. That's a good thing right?!!
We have to clean out that cupboard. We have boxes and boxes of teas, including some loose tea we received from Japanese and Korean students, and impulse buys along the way ~ you name it!
We're still doing fine in the meal department as well, slowly using up what we have. There haven't been any 'earth-shattering meals out of nothing' so I haven't bothered to blog about the daily grind. But we're forging ahead and the fridge is looking great! I still haven't used my challenge ingredients from the contest but so far I have had one entry to the contest so Jake will be winning my bread unless someone else steps up to the plate (forgive the pun). You can email me at mavisreyn at yahoo dot ca if you don't have a google account to reply to my blog. You can also find me on facebook. Put FRIDGE CHALLENGE in the subject line.
Off to savour the last few sips of my coffee and then to take stock of the tea/coffee cupboard.
Until next time,
Mavis
PS - I've just found out from my brilliant husband that he apparently gave me the 'blend' the day before and I didn't notice. So there you have it!
I was in Save on Foods the other day and noticed the Nabob on sale so I bought it thinking "suck it up buttercup!" A lot of people drink Nabob and find it quite acceptable.
I'm sorry...I just couldn't do it. Brave first day but by the second day I was waving the white flag. But my brilliant husband came up with an idea so that we can use our 'yuk' coffee and fool me. He's using half Nabob with half of our other coffee. It's mighty fine I have to say!
I'm sitting here sipping while I blog right now. The result of this discovery? It makes me want to dig into my coffee/tea drawer to see what else is lurking unused and on the verge of being wasted.
I dunno. I'm quite inspired. I'm using it but not suffering. That's a good thing right?!!
We have to clean out that cupboard. We have boxes and boxes of teas, including some loose tea we received from Japanese and Korean students, and impulse buys along the way ~ you name it!
We're still doing fine in the meal department as well, slowly using up what we have. There haven't been any 'earth-shattering meals out of nothing' so I haven't bothered to blog about the daily grind. But we're forging ahead and the fridge is looking great! I still haven't used my challenge ingredients from the contest but so far I have had one entry to the contest so Jake will be winning my bread unless someone else steps up to the plate (forgive the pun). You can email me at mavisreyn at yahoo dot ca if you don't have a google account to reply to my blog. You can also find me on facebook. Put FRIDGE CHALLENGE in the subject line.
Off to savour the last few sips of my coffee and then to take stock of the tea/coffee cupboard.
Until next time,
Mavis
PS - I've just found out from my brilliant husband that he apparently gave me the 'blend' the day before and I didn't notice. So there you have it!
Monday, February 14, 2011
Valentine's Day!!
We had a gift certificate for $50 to one of my favourite restaurants, Zambri's. I emailed my husband from work to ask him if he wanted to use it tonight. They don't take reservations so we would have to be there right at 5:00 if we wanted to get a table. His reply? He was going to surprise me and show up at work at 4:25 and take me there.
So, the kids ate something from the freezer (the last of the frozen pizzas) and we dined fine!
Now that the frozen goodies are gone we are going to have to take stock and make a plan because come 5:30 tomorrow, it could be a tad interesting to create dinner without some standbys.
Wish me luck!
Mavis
So, the kids ate something from the freezer (the last of the frozen pizzas) and we dined fine!
Now that the frozen goodies are gone we are going to have to take stock and make a plan because come 5:30 tomorrow, it could be a tad interesting to create dinner without some standbys.
Wish me luck!
Mavis
An uninspired Sunday...
Yesterday my daughter and her friend made us lunch based on pantry and fridge ingredients. It was a larger lunch than I needed and as a result we just snacked for dinner. We were still full of chili and tomato sandwiches!
Would you believe I was munching on my homemade granola and yogurt for dinner? No inspiration at all but neither did I spend.
Maybe tomorrow will spark some creativity.
Mavis
Would you believe I was munching on my homemade granola and yogurt for dinner? No inspiration at all but neither did I spend.
Maybe tomorrow will spark some creativity.
Mavis
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Saturday dinner
The ham and scalloped potatoes actually happened today. The only ingredient I was lacking was 1 egg. I therefore decided to do my grocery shopping today instead of tomorrow. Spent $96 for fruits and veggies, 1 pkg of extra lean ground beef (thinking of spaghetti tomorrow to use up some of the pasta in the pantry), and various dairy items and some special requests from my son (bread and cheese).
What I used on hand:
Potatoes, cheese, onion and milk for the potatoes
Ham from the freezer
1 Can of niblets corn mixed with 1 can of creamed corn
Special addition: our home made sweet and hot mustard. My kids think this is a side dish it's so good. I kid you not. You can ask my daughter any day if it's not her favourite part of this dinner. As I said, I was lacking only one ingredient...I needed an egg for this recipe:
1/4 cup dry mustard
1/4 cup vinegar
Put in stainless steel saucepan, mix together and cover. Let sit for 1 hour.
Turn on over medium heat and add:
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
Salt to taste
Heat over medium heat until thickened. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.
Add:
1/2 cup mayo
Stir and serve. Must be refrigerated. Serve with ham.
Family VERY happy with dinner.
Bon Appetit!
Mavis
What I used on hand:
Potatoes, cheese, onion and milk for the potatoes
Ham from the freezer
1 Can of niblets corn mixed with 1 can of creamed corn
Special addition: our home made sweet and hot mustard. My kids think this is a side dish it's so good. I kid you not. You can ask my daughter any day if it's not her favourite part of this dinner. As I said, I was lacking only one ingredient...I needed an egg for this recipe:
Sweet & Hot Mustard
1/4 cup dry mustard
1/4 cup vinegar
Put in stainless steel saucepan, mix together and cover. Let sit for 1 hour.
Turn on over medium heat and add:
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
Salt to taste
Heat over medium heat until thickened. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.
Add:
1/2 cup mayo
Stir and serve. Must be refrigerated. Serve with ham.
Family VERY happy with dinner.
Bon Appetit!
Mavis
What do these items have in common??
Soya Sauce
Capers
Salsa
Duncan Hines Vanilla Icing
Biryani Paste
Plum Sauce
Sliced Jalapeno Peppers
Teriyaki Sauce
Sambal Olek (chili sauce)
Concentrated Mint Sauce
Sun Dried Tomatoes
V8 Plus
Egg Whites in cartons
If you guessed they are all in jars you would be almost right. If you guessed they are all refrigerated you'd be 100% right (in my house). But that's not the answer.
Ready? The answer is these are all challenge ingredients currently in my fridge for which I have little to no inspiration to use up. I need your help!
I'm putting a challenge/contest out there. Please spread the word to your friends. The one who posts or emails me the longest list of suggestions on how to use these ingredients will get a prize of my Blue Ribbon Whole Wheat (fresh ground flour) Bread. Of course, you have to live in Victoria to win this prize. Deadline: Friday, February 18th.
Ready, set go!
Mavis
Temptation is everywhere!!
It's a rainy Saturday afternoon, and here's the scenario: I'm blogging and proofreading my previous post before publishing. The Monetize ad thingy at the right is flashing with an ad for shoes! I'm a shoe girl people and I have to tell you that I couldn't believe my eyes at these beautiful shoes from "Shoe Dazzle". Don't go there if you are at all tempted. Gorgeous, albeit impractical shoes everywhere! I think it's a shoe club...you know where you give them your size, etc. and they mail you shoes monthly. Move over Amelda!
I confess I have a fabric habit like that called "Sweet Treats" which I usually do for a few months each year. It's been a very hard and stressful last couple of months and I love the treat of opening the mail to see what gorgeous bundle of fat quarters (a quilter's term) they have sent me this month. I have to add that I use these to make baby quilts for our little darling new arrivals at Church so I consider this to be charitable work. Justification at its finest!
I digress.
My point is: temptation is everywhere!...whether it's in the grocery store (I don't shop hungry), online shoe ads or fabric ads. It takes strong resolve not to cave and buy, buy, buy. I didn't even think twice about joining that shoe club in case you were wondering. I'd have a LOT of explaining to do and a bunch of fingers wagging in my face. I also must mention that I did exercise self-control just for the sake of reducing debt. It wasn't just the fear of wrath from the family and fellow war-on-debt army members. I know I did the right thing. The point here is to say to you...watch out people! You never know where that minefield is going to pop up. You could be innocently blogging then 'bang'...there it is! Stay strong friends!
Now I must go and think about whether or not I can really justify my 'sweet treat' fabric program. I think I know the answer but for today I'm going to go and fondle my fabric and dream about a quilt for a new baby in our congregation. What a great feeling!
Oh yeah...and then I'll go and peel those potatoes for dinner tonight which was supposed to be the topic of this blog. Forgive my rabbit trail dear readers.
Until next time,
Mavis
I confess I have a fabric habit like that called "Sweet Treats" which I usually do for a few months each year. It's been a very hard and stressful last couple of months and I love the treat of opening the mail to see what gorgeous bundle of fat quarters (a quilter's term) they have sent me this month. I have to add that I use these to make baby quilts for our little darling new arrivals at Church so I consider this to be charitable work. Justification at its finest!
I digress.
My point is: temptation is everywhere!...whether it's in the grocery store (I don't shop hungry), online shoe ads or fabric ads. It takes strong resolve not to cave and buy, buy, buy. I didn't even think twice about joining that shoe club in case you were wondering. I'd have a LOT of explaining to do and a bunch of fingers wagging in my face. I also must mention that I did exercise self-control just for the sake of reducing debt. It wasn't just the fear of wrath from the family and fellow war-on-debt army members. I know I did the right thing. The point here is to say to you...watch out people! You never know where that minefield is going to pop up. You could be innocently blogging then 'bang'...there it is! Stay strong friends!
Now I must go and think about whether or not I can really justify my 'sweet treat' fabric program. I think I know the answer but for today I'm going to go and fondle my fabric and dream about a quilt for a new baby in our congregation. What a great feeling!
Oh yeah...and then I'll go and peel those potatoes for dinner tonight which was supposed to be the topic of this blog. Forgive my rabbit trail dear readers.
Until next time,
Mavis
Calling it Day 8
Last night I had hoped to cook a small ham that was in the freezer and combine it with some yummy scalloped potatoes. It didn't happen. Tired happened.
So we ate our leftover salmon, brown rice and frozen peas from the night before. Cute comment by the hubs..."how thoughtful". He was referring to the addition of some baby gherkin pickles that I found in the fridge. AND we found some tomato chutney in the larder which was a gift from someone a few years back. It was delish! The only complaint from the first night of the curried salmon was the overpowering of the curry flavour. Funny how adding this chutney enhanced the flavour and subdued the curry.
Enjoyed some Cabernet Sauvignon from the wine cellar (DH is a winemaker so this was from his 'stash'). Felt pretty fortunate to have such an excellent dinner without doling out the money for it this week.
Tonight will be the baked ham, scalloped potatoes and probably some canned corn or carrots as those are the veggies we have left. I'll probably have to shop for fresh stuff tomorrow but the bank account has been VERY happy this week!
Until next time, frugally yours,
Mavis
So we ate our leftover salmon, brown rice and frozen peas from the night before. Cute comment by the hubs..."how thoughtful". He was referring to the addition of some baby gherkin pickles that I found in the fridge. AND we found some tomato chutney in the larder which was a gift from someone a few years back. It was delish! The only complaint from the first night of the curried salmon was the overpowering of the curry flavour. Funny how adding this chutney enhanced the flavour and subdued the curry.
Enjoyed some Cabernet Sauvignon from the wine cellar (DH is a winemaker so this was from his 'stash'). Felt pretty fortunate to have such an excellent dinner without doling out the money for it this week.
Tonight will be the baked ham, scalloped potatoes and probably some canned corn or carrots as those are the veggies we have left. I'll probably have to shop for fresh stuff tomorrow but the bank account has been VERY happy this week!
Until next time, frugally yours,
Mavis
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Day ? - blogging absence
Hello fellow foodies!
I've been sticking to my program (promise!) but haven't been blogging about it much. It was a busy weekend and week. I can hardly believe tomorrow is Friday!
On the weekend, I was sewing with my friends at Church in the morning and can't remember a thing I made on Saturday. I just know I stayed the course of reducing bulk in the freezer/fridge/pantry...with no cheats! I spent the majority of the afternoon and evening doing bookkeeping so that I could sew again on Sunday.
As you know, it was the Superbowl on Sunday and I joined an online Superbowl Mystery Quilt day on Sunday, skipping out of church. My friend Pam came over and we sewed together from 10 a.m. to approx. 10 p.m. Talk about a marathon. We both finished quilt tops and had a great time together. Busy hands mean you aren't snacking!
She brought us some muffins and I made lunch (turkey soup from the freezer together with some foccacia bread from Cobb's Bakery which was in the freezer). My friend raved about my soup and secretly inside I was patting myself on the back...even with company I managed to share a fine meal without shopping. I'm loving this challenge more and more every day! Since we sewed until about 10 pm we also had to think about dinner. She wanted to order a pizza to share but my conscience was wincing! We ended up making a salad and baking a frozen pizza from the deep freeze. It was excellent and we sewed on until we were finished our quilt tops. Phew!
Monday night I made one of my favourite recipes...Pasta with Feta Cheese. It has so much more in it than just pasta and feta cheese but that is the official name. Actually, I think I will share the recipe here because everyone who has this at my house always asks for the recipe:
Pasta With Feta Cheese
Linguine to serve your number of family members (I've used both fresh and dried linguine and both are good). Of course you can use spaghetti or fettucine if that's what you've got and want to use up! Heck...we even had fettuguine! We had a little fettucine and a little linguine so we combined them!
While you are boiling the water and cooking the pasta, prepare the Al Fresco (served fresh, ie not cooked):
In a large bowl: (this serves 4 people so you will have to adjust for larger crowds)
3-4 chopped tomatoes (I prefer Roma but will use whatever we have. I have also used canned tomatoes - drained, but it's better with fresh tomatoes)
3-4 chopped green onions
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese (I use lite)
1/3 cup parmesan cheese
3-4 cloves of minced garlic (or to taste)
1/4 cup (or to the consistency you like) olive oil
1 tsp dried basil (really good with fresh basil too)
Salt & Pepper.
Stir all these ingredients together. It should be kind of like the consistency of egg salad. It should stick together and not be runny.
You can either toss it with the hot linguine or place a spoonful of the sauce over top of your pasta on each bowl. I prefer the second way because that way everyone gets some of the veggies and cheese. I find with the first way of tossing, that some of the stuff falls to the bottom of the bowl or gets taken by the first served and then the last guy is left with noodles only.
One warning ~ because the sauce is al fresco and at room temperature, this cools off fast. Cooking the sauce totally changes it, so in my opinion, timing it just right produces the best results. You will never burn your mouth on this pasta. And guaranteed you'll make it more than once!
It is one of my kids' all time favourites. Try adding black olives! It's yummy too!
So that was Monday.
On Tuesday, I had to take my son to the hospital on the mainland for a monthly treatment. Rather than eat the ferry food, I took my home made granola (from Michael Smith's cookbook) and some yogurt and ate it inthe lineup waiting for the ferry. I also brought my coffee from home. Mike always looks forward to the Belgian waffles so I indulged him and bought myself another cup of coffee on the ferry.
For lunch I took from home some egg-salad sandwiches but bought coffee at Second Cup at the hospital. Since we missed the 5 pm ferry home, we went to White Spot and had dinner before heading out to the ferry. So I guess on Tuesday, we really cheated half the day but I think I should get extra points for taking my brekky and lunch with me.
Wednesday ~ hmmmm ~ Oh yes...it was my Weight Watchers meeting. My husband made dinner and at my suggestion we had tuna casserole made with the tri-colour rice pasta we had in the pantry, the tuna and cream of mushroom soup also from the pantry, an onion, and the rest of the celery. It was amazing. We topped it with the Panko crumbs and some parmesan cheese that we had on hand. So, for dinner, no cheats!
And Today - Thursday - Would you believe we had the courage to combine some salmon from the freezer with some Tandoori curry paste? Along with that we cooked up some brown rice and some frozen peas. It wasn't one of my better ideas as the curry paste kind of overpowered the salmon. But hey ~! we emptied that jar of curry paste from the fridge so I think that's worth some points right there!
I'm beginning to see bare shelf space in the fridge. Very promising. The pantry doesn't look emptier but we're getting there. I expect for Saturday we will need some fresh veggies, fruit and some milk and maybe some more protein. I'll have to check the freezer.
And...as for the Weight Watchers...I am still managing to come down in numbers. This 'eating from the pantry' sounds very 'carb' rich but I lost another .6 lbs this week for a total weight loss of 15 lbs. Lovin' it!!
Until tomorrow friends,
Mavis
I've been sticking to my program (promise!) but haven't been blogging about it much. It was a busy weekend and week. I can hardly believe tomorrow is Friday!
On the weekend, I was sewing with my friends at Church in the morning and can't remember a thing I made on Saturday. I just know I stayed the course of reducing bulk in the freezer/fridge/pantry...with no cheats! I spent the majority of the afternoon and evening doing bookkeeping so that I could sew again on Sunday.
As you know, it was the Superbowl on Sunday and I joined an online Superbowl Mystery Quilt day on Sunday, skipping out of church. My friend Pam came over and we sewed together from 10 a.m. to approx. 10 p.m. Talk about a marathon. We both finished quilt tops and had a great time together. Busy hands mean you aren't snacking!
She brought us some muffins and I made lunch (turkey soup from the freezer together with some foccacia bread from Cobb's Bakery which was in the freezer). My friend raved about my soup and secretly inside I was patting myself on the back...even with company I managed to share a fine meal without shopping. I'm loving this challenge more and more every day! Since we sewed until about 10 pm we also had to think about dinner. She wanted to order a pizza to share but my conscience was wincing! We ended up making a salad and baking a frozen pizza from the deep freeze. It was excellent and we sewed on until we were finished our quilt tops. Phew!
Monday night I made one of my favourite recipes...Pasta with Feta Cheese. It has so much more in it than just pasta and feta cheese but that is the official name. Actually, I think I will share the recipe here because everyone who has this at my house always asks for the recipe:
Pasta With Feta Cheese
Linguine to serve your number of family members (I've used both fresh and dried linguine and both are good). Of course you can use spaghetti or fettucine if that's what you've got and want to use up! Heck...we even had fettuguine! We had a little fettucine and a little linguine so we combined them!
While you are boiling the water and cooking the pasta, prepare the Al Fresco (served fresh, ie not cooked):
In a large bowl: (this serves 4 people so you will have to adjust for larger crowds)
3-4 chopped tomatoes (I prefer Roma but will use whatever we have. I have also used canned tomatoes - drained, but it's better with fresh tomatoes)
3-4 chopped green onions
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese (I use lite)
1/3 cup parmesan cheese
3-4 cloves of minced garlic (or to taste)
1/4 cup (or to the consistency you like) olive oil
1 tsp dried basil (really good with fresh basil too)
Salt & Pepper.
Stir all these ingredients together. It should be kind of like the consistency of egg salad. It should stick together and not be runny.
You can either toss it with the hot linguine or place a spoonful of the sauce over top of your pasta on each bowl. I prefer the second way because that way everyone gets some of the veggies and cheese. I find with the first way of tossing, that some of the stuff falls to the bottom of the bowl or gets taken by the first served and then the last guy is left with noodles only.
One warning ~ because the sauce is al fresco and at room temperature, this cools off fast. Cooking the sauce totally changes it, so in my opinion, timing it just right produces the best results. You will never burn your mouth on this pasta. And guaranteed you'll make it more than once!
It is one of my kids' all time favourites. Try adding black olives! It's yummy too!
So that was Monday.
On Tuesday, I had to take my son to the hospital on the mainland for a monthly treatment. Rather than eat the ferry food, I took my home made granola (from Michael Smith's cookbook) and some yogurt and ate it inthe lineup waiting for the ferry. I also brought my coffee from home. Mike always looks forward to the Belgian waffles so I indulged him and bought myself another cup of coffee on the ferry.
For lunch I took from home some egg-salad sandwiches but bought coffee at Second Cup at the hospital. Since we missed the 5 pm ferry home, we went to White Spot and had dinner before heading out to the ferry. So I guess on Tuesday, we really cheated half the day but I think I should get extra points for taking my brekky and lunch with me.
Wednesday ~ hmmmm ~ Oh yes...it was my Weight Watchers meeting. My husband made dinner and at my suggestion we had tuna casserole made with the tri-colour rice pasta we had in the pantry, the tuna and cream of mushroom soup also from the pantry, an onion, and the rest of the celery. It was amazing. We topped it with the Panko crumbs and some parmesan cheese that we had on hand. So, for dinner, no cheats!
And Today - Thursday - Would you believe we had the courage to combine some salmon from the freezer with some Tandoori curry paste? Along with that we cooked up some brown rice and some frozen peas. It wasn't one of my better ideas as the curry paste kind of overpowered the salmon. But hey ~! we emptied that jar of curry paste from the fridge so I think that's worth some points right there!
I'm beginning to see bare shelf space in the fridge. Very promising. The pantry doesn't look emptier but we're getting there. I expect for Saturday we will need some fresh veggies, fruit and some milk and maybe some more protein. I'll have to check the freezer.
And...as for the Weight Watchers...I am still managing to come down in numbers. This 'eating from the pantry' sounds very 'carb' rich but I lost another .6 lbs this week for a total weight loss of 15 lbs. Lovin' it!!
Until tomorrow friends,
Mavis
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Day 5 - Later that same day...
Well, I thought the memory card was in the camera! But I was mistaken.
Sorry folks ~ no pictures but I'll try and give you word pictures instead.
The muffins ~ I used a basic cheddar cheese muffin recipe from the Best of Bridge but did my own version. First I used the remaining buttermilk in the carton, a bit of milk and then added some Bolthouse Yogurt Dressing (Ranch flavour) to make up the balance of the liquid to match the recipe. I added cheddar cheese and chopped fresh spinach AND the Epicurian Foccacia bread spice. They were moist, fragrant and lovely.
The soup turned out great. I threw the remainder of the spinach in about 5 minutes before serving as the muffins were finishing in the oven.
My daughter made a delicious chocolate pudding cake to satisfy her chocolate craving...so we even got dessert from stuff already in the house!
First day of grocery shopping since Monday so that's not too bad. Just the essentials mind you. No extravagant expenses!
Bon Appetit and I hope you come back tomorrow!
Mavis
Sorry folks ~ no pictures but I'll try and give you word pictures instead.
The muffins ~ I used a basic cheddar cheese muffin recipe from the Best of Bridge but did my own version. First I used the remaining buttermilk in the carton, a bit of milk and then added some Bolthouse Yogurt Dressing (Ranch flavour) to make up the balance of the liquid to match the recipe. I added cheddar cheese and chopped fresh spinach AND the Epicurian Foccacia bread spice. They were moist, fragrant and lovely.
The soup turned out great. I threw the remainder of the spinach in about 5 minutes before serving as the muffins were finishing in the oven.
My daughter made a delicious chocolate pudding cake to satisfy her chocolate craving...so we even got dessert from stuff already in the house!
First day of grocery shopping since Monday so that's not too bad. Just the essentials mind you. No extravagant expenses!
Bon Appetit and I hope you come back tomorrow!
Mavis
Day 5 - Saturday...a more relaxed day.
Hello foodie friends,
Saturday is my favourite day of the week. I can slowly wake up without having to dash out the door to work, I can linger in my jammies and I can really enjoy my coffee leisurely. Today happened to be my quilting day at our church (my other blog has highlights of that: http://dayspringquilter.blogspot.com). I did have to shed the jammies for my casual Saturday clothes and still had to leave the house but it is fun! We have lots of babies on the way in our congregation so we have lots of sewing to do. So, we sewed from about 9:30 until noon. On the way home I stopped at the Red Barn Market, where I was able to grab some great fruit and veggies for $21.60. I had in mind to make some soup for supper.
I also have some bookkeeping work to do this afternoon, so there's nothing quite like a pot of soup simmering on the stove while I'm doing another task. The wonderful smell is the promise that at the end of the day there will be something enjoyable at the table.
I have some Foccacia bread spice mix on my shelf from Victorian Epicure. I don't have time to make some Foccacia bread to go with our soup, but I'm wondering what some savory muffins might be like with some spinach, buttermilk, and some of this spice. Sounds yummy to me. And muffins only take about 1/2 hour so I can think about that later.
While the soup is simmering, I must get down to some work. I'll post pictures later.
Ciao!
Mavis
Saturday is my favourite day of the week. I can slowly wake up without having to dash out the door to work, I can linger in my jammies and I can really enjoy my coffee leisurely. Today happened to be my quilting day at our church (my other blog has highlights of that: http://dayspringquilter.blogspot.com). I did have to shed the jammies for my casual Saturday clothes and still had to leave the house but it is fun! We have lots of babies on the way in our congregation so we have lots of sewing to do. So, we sewed from about 9:30 until noon. On the way home I stopped at the Red Barn Market, where I was able to grab some great fruit and veggies for $21.60. I had in mind to make some soup for supper.
I also have some bookkeeping work to do this afternoon, so there's nothing quite like a pot of soup simmering on the stove while I'm doing another task. The wonderful smell is the promise that at the end of the day there will be something enjoyable at the table.
I have some Foccacia bread spice mix on my shelf from Victorian Epicure. I don't have time to make some Foccacia bread to go with our soup, but I'm wondering what some savory muffins might be like with some spinach, buttermilk, and some of this spice. Sounds yummy to me. And muffins only take about 1/2 hour so I can think about that later.
While the soup is simmering, I must get down to some work. I'll post pictures later.
Ciao!
Mavis
Day 4 - How the Mighty Have Fallen!!
Friday night is a notoriously bad time for weakening my resolve to stick to healthy eating. I know for our family, if there's a night where it is going to be take-out, either Chinese food (around $35.00 for the family) or Pizza (around $25.00 for the family), it will be Friday, after Mom has worked a long week and lacks energy and enthusiasm.
I knew this would not sit well with my friends in the blogosphere so there was no way I was going to go the take-out route for last night, given my commitment and all! That didn't change the fact that I came home exhausted and had no creative juices flowing.
My previous nightly ride home on the bus produced a really great idea as I sat gazing out the window! Tony was different ~ my blank stare out the window produced this: "Do we have pork and beans?" was the email missive I sent from my blackberry to my husband. Sad, I know, but that's all I had energy for...beans on toast would work just fine, thank you very much!
Well, we didn't have any pork and beans but we did have some 97% fat free cans of chili in the pantry. Voila...dinner! He pulled a loaf of bread out of the freezer, I heated up the chili and no complaints from the family. And, it fit into the Weight Watchers program too...bonus!
Here's the picture, sad as it is, from last night's dinner:
Day 5 will hold a little more creativity, I'm sure. After all, it's Saturday. I love Saturday.
Until tomorrow,
Mavis
I knew this would not sit well with my friends in the blogosphere so there was no way I was going to go the take-out route for last night, given my commitment and all! That didn't change the fact that I came home exhausted and had no creative juices flowing.
My previous nightly ride home on the bus produced a really great idea as I sat gazing out the window! Tony was different ~ my blank stare out the window produced this: "Do we have pork and beans?" was the email missive I sent from my blackberry to my husband. Sad, I know, but that's all I had energy for...beans on toast would work just fine, thank you very much!
Well, we didn't have any pork and beans but we did have some 97% fat free cans of chili in the pantry. Voila...dinner! He pulled a loaf of bread out of the freezer, I heated up the chili and no complaints from the family. And, it fit into the Weight Watchers program too...bonus!
Here's the picture, sad as it is, from last night's dinner:
Day 5 will hold a little more creativity, I'm sure. After all, it's Saturday. I love Saturday.
Until tomorrow,
Mavis
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Day 3 - Very Excited!!
The bus ride home from work can be great thinking/planning time. That's just what happened tonight. I had no clue at 4:00 p.m. what dinner would look like. By the time 5:30 rolled around and I landed at my stop, I had a plan. I knew I had some fresh spinach that had to be used. I had some cheese ends that needed to be finished before they got 'furry'. (Don't laugh ~ you know what I mean and I know it's not only at my house!)
Here's a picture of the ingredients I pulled from the pantry and fridge. Any guesses yet?
I pulled out my baby Bosch machine and my Joy of Cooking cookbook (Christmas present at my request ~ thank you DH) and gathered my flour, olive oil, warm water, yeast, salt and sugar. You figure it out yet? It's Pizza Night! The dough is currently rising on the pizza pans.
My son chopped the black olives we found in the pantry (I love it when the family cooks together) and rolled out the dough for me. I grated the cheese and washed the spinach, peeled the garlic and made the garlic butter for the crust. I didn't have any tomato sauce but that works well for my plan because I happen to love the Spanakopita pizza at our neighbourhood Pizzaz Pizza and they use garlic butter with spinach and it's divine!! So my version also features melted butter with crushed garlic, brushed lightly on the crust.
In reference to my mention yesterday of Weight Watchers, the garlic butter doesn't impact the points plus value of the pizza much because I used only a teaspoon over the whole crust.
So now the crusts are sitting there, while I blog here, soaking in that wonderful garlic butter infusion, waiting to rise so I can add the remainder of the toppings ~ fresh spinach, black olives, chopped sun-dried tomatoes, onion, more sliced garlic (DH has a cold and it will be my contribution to his cure), and lastly the fine assortment of cheeses in my fridge.
It smells heavenly in here and all I've done so far is melt the butter and add the garlic. The oven is heating up with my pizza stone in place and we eagerly await the pizza masterpiece! I'm so pumped. My daughter just gave me a hi-5 and is SO very proud of me. It's nice to have the family behind you to the point of helping you chop olives and giving you a hi-5 when it's deserved...and apparently it's deserved!
So dear readers, I hope this inspires you. I'm inspired! I was exhausted on the bus and wondering how I was going to accomplish the evening's task of dinner and then some office work. I'm now totally rejuvenated ...by the idea, by my success of coming up with a dinner plan, but more by the creativity of producing a meal without a trip to the store, using what I had on hand and it NOT being Kraft dinner. Yay!
Here's some progress pictures:
Here's a picture of the ingredients I pulled from the pantry and fridge. Any guesses yet?
I pulled out my baby Bosch machine and my Joy of Cooking cookbook (Christmas present at my request ~ thank you DH) and gathered my flour, olive oil, warm water, yeast, salt and sugar. You figure it out yet? It's Pizza Night! The dough is currently rising on the pizza pans.
In reference to my mention yesterday of Weight Watchers, the garlic butter doesn't impact the points plus value of the pizza much because I used only a teaspoon over the whole crust.
So now the crusts are sitting there, while I blog here, soaking in that wonderful garlic butter infusion, waiting to rise so I can add the remainder of the toppings ~ fresh spinach, black olives, chopped sun-dried tomatoes, onion, more sliced garlic (DH has a cold and it will be my contribution to his cure), and lastly the fine assortment of cheeses in my fridge.
It smells heavenly in here and all I've done so far is melt the butter and add the garlic. The oven is heating up with my pizza stone in place and we eagerly await the pizza masterpiece! I'm so pumped. My daughter just gave me a hi-5 and is SO very proud of me. It's nice to have the family behind you to the point of helping you chop olives and giving you a hi-5 when it's deserved...and apparently it's deserved!
So dear readers, I hope this inspires you. I'm inspired! I was exhausted on the bus and wondering how I was going to accomplish the evening's task of dinner and then some office work. I'm now totally rejuvenated ...by the idea, by my success of coming up with a dinner plan, but more by the creativity of producing a meal without a trip to the store, using what I had on hand and it NOT being Kraft dinner. Yay!
Here's some progress pictures:
 |
| Waiting for the dough to rise and then we spread these yummy ingredients. |
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Day 2 - 6:15 and what's for dinner?
Today is my Weight Watchers meeting after work and I get home at about 6:15. It's Day 2 of "the Challenge" and I'm ready to tackle the task of the hour ~ dinner in less than 1/2 hour with what's in the pantry/freezer/fridge.
There were 2 chicken breasts left in the freezer. I had brown rice in the pantry. I had some celery, onion and yellow pepper left in the fridge. A drawer in the pantry cupboard revealed a package of Taco Seasoning...hmmmm. Oh look...there's opened Salsa in the fridge needing to be emptied.
Brown rice always takes about 40 minutes so I put that on and then had some time to mull over the various options given the ingredients I have on hand.
In less than 1/2 hour I had my 19 year old son begging to know what smelled so good. Saute the onions, the pepper and celery. Add the chopped up chicken breasts. Add the taco seasoning. Add the salsa and a bit of water to make it more saucy and let it simmer until the brown rice was done. This is not what I envisioned when I was thinking of brown rice + chicken + ? = dinner. I had something entirely different in my mind. Isn't cooking creative? One ingredient leads to another and voila! Dinner is ready.
Pull out the shallow bowls; start with the brown rice and top with my chicken fiesta (?) Does that sound feasible? It sure was tasty. The salsa was a bit hot for my taste but hey...it's gone! Also, I had some limes cut up in the fridge and they were just the ticket to finish off tonight's dinner. A little squeeze of lime juice just added a nice tang. The only thing I wished I had was some cilantro. Nobody but me missed it.
Out of pocket costs for dinner: zilch!
Benefits: Lofat dinner; healthy brown rice; satisfying; happy family; inventory reduction!! Woo hoo!
For day 3 - fresh veggies are getting depleted so it may be a challenge to make dinner from the freezer tomorrow, but I'm up for the challenge.
Bon Appetit!
Mavis
There were 2 chicken breasts left in the freezer. I had brown rice in the pantry. I had some celery, onion and yellow pepper left in the fridge. A drawer in the pantry cupboard revealed a package of Taco Seasoning...hmmmm. Oh look...there's opened Salsa in the fridge needing to be emptied.
Brown rice always takes about 40 minutes so I put that on and then had some time to mull over the various options given the ingredients I have on hand.
In less than 1/2 hour I had my 19 year old son begging to know what smelled so good. Saute the onions, the pepper and celery. Add the chopped up chicken breasts. Add the taco seasoning. Add the salsa and a bit of water to make it more saucy and let it simmer until the brown rice was done. This is not what I envisioned when I was thinking of brown rice + chicken + ? = dinner. I had something entirely different in my mind. Isn't cooking creative? One ingredient leads to another and voila! Dinner is ready.
Pull out the shallow bowls; start with the brown rice and top with my chicken fiesta (?) Does that sound feasible? It sure was tasty. The salsa was a bit hot for my taste but hey...it's gone! Also, I had some limes cut up in the fridge and they were just the ticket to finish off tonight's dinner. A little squeeze of lime juice just added a nice tang. The only thing I wished I had was some cilantro. Nobody but me missed it.
Out of pocket costs for dinner: zilch!
Benefits: Lofat dinner; healthy brown rice; satisfying; happy family; inventory reduction!! Woo hoo!
For day 3 - fresh veggies are getting depleted so it may be a challenge to make dinner from the freezer tomorrow, but I'm up for the challenge.
Bon Appetit!
Mavis
The Challenge!
Welcome to my new blog. I decided to start this blog after my husband and daughter returned from a 'First Steps to Success' conference in Los Angeles (see danijohnson.com for further info). I'm planning on going to the next conference at the end of March but until then, I'm extracting all the superb teachings from my family.
There's just too much to share here about the conference. You'll just have to check it out for yourself.
I'm here to share one challenge with you that we as a family have undertaken. It feels so right. Dani challenged the group in L.A. to look in their pantries and see all the food going stale and challenging people to eat from their pantries. The goal, of course, is to save money. We're all for that and all felt convicted about the wasteful way of our old habits.
My additional challenge, or criteria, if you will, was that I have joined Weightwatchers and am always concerned about the nutritional content of our meals. I'm down 14 pounds and don't want to lose ground just because we're being frugal.
About me ... I love to cook. I take great pleasure in planning elaborate Christmas dinners with all the trimmings, in different themes every Christmas. Making the grocery list, planning the decorations, setting a decorated theme table - I just love it! It sure isn't cheap though but Christmas is a time for special meals with family and friends, and time to make tender memories for the years to come. I usually start dreaming and planning Christmas in early November. It's a truly creative process and it takes time. I find cooking creative. I'm not sure about you.
The rest of the year I know we can do better at saving money and not living in excess. That's why I'm very excited about this challenge and what it will mean for our family, our health/diet and our finances.
Today was Day 2. I had the blog idea today...one day late. So, let me tell you about yesterday's meals.
Day 1 - February 1, 2011
Breakfast for my husband consisted of cereal in the pantry. Here's a picture of our pantry cupboard:
I confess that we have at least 3 boxes of prepackaged cereal in our kitchen pantry slowly going stale. His first commitment was to eat the cereal until it's gone. No more buying new cereal. For me, I take some dry oatmeal to work and add some 1% milk that I've stocked the fridge at work with. Cost out of pocket for breakfast: zero. What it could have cost? $10 easily if I had stopped for a specialty coffee at Starbucks and grabbed either a muffin or one of their yogurt parfaits. I gave up buying coffee en route to work over 2 years ago and I'm so much the richer for it. It's a small sacrifice to have that extra $200 a month in my purse.
Lunch cost me money because I wasn't prepared. I was in a hurry in the morning and forgot to grab my lunch out of the fridge. However for about $5.00 I enjoyed a healthy lo-fat Subway sandwich. It was a wiser choice than the $15.00 high calorie salad at my favourite restaurant.
For dinner I started the challenge in earnest. I had frozen chicken breasts in the freezer, soup mix (which I don't even remember buying) chicken stock in the pantry and some celery and onions and carrots in the fridge. Sounds like soup doesn't it? And that's exactly what I made I also had some lo-fat cheddar cheese in the fridge and whipped up some cheddar cheese scones which were amazing (not so humble eh?). The famiily were over the moon with this 'comfort food' meal and I felt satisfied that I hadn't spent a dime but just used what I had on hand. Day 1 ~ success and contentment.
Let's see how day 2 goes.
Mavis
There's just too much to share here about the conference. You'll just have to check it out for yourself.
I'm here to share one challenge with you that we as a family have undertaken. It feels so right. Dani challenged the group in L.A. to look in their pantries and see all the food going stale and challenging people to eat from their pantries. The goal, of course, is to save money. We're all for that and all felt convicted about the wasteful way of our old habits.
My additional challenge, or criteria, if you will, was that I have joined Weightwatchers and am always concerned about the nutritional content of our meals. I'm down 14 pounds and don't want to lose ground just because we're being frugal.
About me ... I love to cook. I take great pleasure in planning elaborate Christmas dinners with all the trimmings, in different themes every Christmas. Making the grocery list, planning the decorations, setting a decorated theme table - I just love it! It sure isn't cheap though but Christmas is a time for special meals with family and friends, and time to make tender memories for the years to come. I usually start dreaming and planning Christmas in early November. It's a truly creative process and it takes time. I find cooking creative. I'm not sure about you.
The rest of the year I know we can do better at saving money and not living in excess. That's why I'm very excited about this challenge and what it will mean for our family, our health/diet and our finances.
Today was Day 2. I had the blog idea today...one day late. So, let me tell you about yesterday's meals.
Day 1 - February 1, 2011
Breakfast for my husband consisted of cereal in the pantry. Here's a picture of our pantry cupboard:
I confess that we have at least 3 boxes of prepackaged cereal in our kitchen pantry slowly going stale. His first commitment was to eat the cereal until it's gone. No more buying new cereal. For me, I take some dry oatmeal to work and add some 1% milk that I've stocked the fridge at work with. Cost out of pocket for breakfast: zero. What it could have cost? $10 easily if I had stopped for a specialty coffee at Starbucks and grabbed either a muffin or one of their yogurt parfaits. I gave up buying coffee en route to work over 2 years ago and I'm so much the richer for it. It's a small sacrifice to have that extra $200 a month in my purse.
Lunch cost me money because I wasn't prepared. I was in a hurry in the morning and forgot to grab my lunch out of the fridge. However for about $5.00 I enjoyed a healthy lo-fat Subway sandwich. It was a wiser choice than the $15.00 high calorie salad at my favourite restaurant.
For dinner I started the challenge in earnest. I had frozen chicken breasts in the freezer, soup mix (which I don't even remember buying) chicken stock in the pantry and some celery and onions and carrots in the fridge. Sounds like soup doesn't it? And that's exactly what I made I also had some lo-fat cheddar cheese in the fridge and whipped up some cheddar cheese scones which were amazing (not so humble eh?). The famiily were over the moon with this 'comfort food' meal and I felt satisfied that I hadn't spent a dime but just used what I had on hand. Day 1 ~ success and contentment.
Let's see how day 2 goes.
Mavis
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Vegan Breakfast Cookies
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