Preparing for a White Weekend

Sunday was just a glimpse of snow. The warm temperatures later in the day and Monday left just little traces here and there. Tuesday though, the cold came in and even pup, who loves it outside, did his business then wanted back in. It's the wind he doesn't appreciate blowing on his bits when he lifts his leg. Poor little fluff ball. We had blizzards in the far northeast corner of our state, Canada and northern North Dakota border. We held a state wide meeting on Wednesday and one of our colleagues was participating on-line/phone and mentioned she couldn't see anything out her windows but white. We are expecting 4-6 inches between Saturday late afternoon and Sunday morning. We had fluffy flakes yesterday, but they just seemed to blow around like flakes in a snow globe, nothing accumulating.

No furniture delivery as one of the three parts of the sectional still has not arrived at the warehouse. I'm really annoyed, disappointed, and frustrated that  it has been nearly nine weeks since we ordered, and still no delivery date confirmed as they won't until the final piece gets in and they won't commit to a date for that. I'll go ahead and get the living room tree set up, the stockings, a few other things, but won't do the village as that is where the risk of breakage would come when the furniture gets delivered. I probably won't bother now as it takes so much time, for so few weeks.  We'll see. 

I'll make a run tomorrow morning for the odds and ends for my Christmas baking and settle in for the weekend. Here's my baking-preparing list. I need it to stay cold now as I use my porch as an extra freezer. I have decided for my immediate work team to put together small boxes, Chinese food container like, of sweets and treats. I have the boxes and that will just be seven. Once I've cleaned up up my kitchen, I'll post my versions recipe of each of the treats, indicating which are (or can easily be) vegetarian, gluten free, or vegan.

• Mounds bar truffles
• Oreo Truffles
• Nutter butter truffles
• Caramel corn
• Chex mix (always different as I wait to see what things are on sale to include)
• Pumkin bread 
• M&M cookies (DD will make these) 
• Peanut blossoms

I have a change of plans tonight. My brother in law won tickets to see White Christmas at St Paul's Ordway. My sister was surprised he actually wanted to go. I got a call yesterday from my sister. He decided she might enjoy it more with a daughter, friend, or sister. Her single daughter had no interest, her other daughter had no babysitter, and she knew I would enjoy so I'm the lucky guest. She would have brought DD with her, my little musical lover if DH had not been willing to forgo wine club tonight. He really does wine club for my benefit any way. I borrowed a photo from the Ordway site to show how spectacular the venue is at night in December.

Welcome to My Kitchen

I'm not thinking too clearly so a fresh post would be quite incoherent. It dawned on my muddled brain that this week and weeks to come you'll all be hosting more people or bringing side dishes along to friends and family. This can add up to be budget busters. If you haven't wandered on my Sam's Kitchen page, I invite you to do so. I've linked my posts that hold some of my favorite frugal recipes. If you've tried any, please comment. I'm particularly finding the broccoli salad and roasted yams-carrot-squash side dishes are my favorites. I now though make without cinnamon at home as DD1 prefers plain. The risottos are terrific leftover holders for bits of veg and really make groceries go far.

I'd like to start adding more links to other recipes. If you have a post with a recipe that you're particularly fond of and want to link it up on my page, shoot me an email at samandcoffee65@gmail.com or send link in comments. Happy cooking.

Encouraging Others in the Kitchen

I tend to work later on Thursdays as DH has the day off (mostly), and can do any drop off or pick up needed. Last night he even made dinner and it was ready when I got home. He had thrown a bag of boneless, skinless, chicken breasts in the crockpot, took a few out and shredded them and added BBQ sauce, then put in a smaller crock to simmer and stew. He also attempted coleslaw. DH loves coleslaw on pulled chicken or pork style sandwiches. It looked, good, but my first bite was so disappointing. I asked how he made it. He didn't know why it had such a heavy taste. Unfortunately, he thought coleslaw was just a bag of cabbage, mixed with mayonnaise.  I explained there is more to the slaw dressing than mayonnaise, and I attempted to correct it by stirring in a bit of cider vinegar that had some sugar dissolved in it, and a bunch of black pepper. Stirred around and thinned out, it tasted much better. 

DD2 is just taking an interest in learning to cook. I know at 15 she should be well past learning, but better late than not at all. She's attempted a few things over the years and has proclaimed herself a failure in the kitchen. Not always one to read a direction twice, she has skipped steps in a recipe, like omitting salt, or adding 3/4 of a cup of something when it called for 1/4. I'm not a good role model there as I often just guesstimate, but I've been familiar in a kitchen for 40 years and you get familiar with how ratios work in baking and cooking. She has ingredients this weekend to make red velvet cupcakes for her friends and wants to give making curry a go by herself on Saturday. I say, welcome to my kitchen.

Besides being a basic skill every human should have. We all have to eat, and often the lack of time and energy pushes me to pick up take out or fast food. Having others take on the load once in a while for me means we are turning to those more expensive and less healthy options less and less. Sometimes smiling and just appreciating the effort goes a long way in encouraging more help. Next time DH's slaw will be better and over time DD2 will get a better comfort level baking and cooking. 

The picture above is from 4th of July three years ago when DD2 was 12. She makes a desert every year for the cabin with some red, white, and blue theme. I thought it was an appropriate picture for Veterans Day. Thank you to all who served. We might be a nation of people without our crap together right now, but you exemplify what a great country we can be. 

Whats for Dinner, Lunch, and Snacking....

After my massive shop at Aldi's last Friday, that I am counting on the June grocery budget, other than milk, juice, and bread, we didn't need groceries this week. DH has this weird obsession though with grocery shopping and when he got frozen pizza and ice cream post concert, he picked up other things. Then on his day off, he managed another shop, and I am pretty clueless now what we have causing the freezer to practically burst. On my schedule today is to do a good look through and hopefully do some batch cooking. With two soccer games wedged in with a hectic work week, and finals for DD before her last day of school, and preparing for an out of town tournament, attempting organization in the kitchen will be key. 

Batch cook
Chili-I have the fixings to make a super huge pot of it. Even with the warmer weather, we still enjoy it as a hearty and easy to pull together meal. 
Bean Burgers-I have several cans of chili beans, a drawer of onions and carrots, and can do a batch of 8, saving a few for later in the month when we'll see DD#1.
Chicken-I'll cook up the lot and then freeze some in diced portions for pasta sauces and stir fries and curry's, sliced for on top of spinach, and some in small cutlets that can be seasoned and reheated on the grill
Ground Beef-Same as chicken, cook it all up with the chili, but reserve some portions for pasta sauce and hot dish
Banana bread-I think the banana's are multiplying in my freezer. A double batch, using my mini loaf pans will be perfect for quick breakfasts, snacks, and to freeze for the tournament, and later in the month for the cabin.

I wish I had better a better storage system to create crock pot meals, ready to go, all laid out in my freezer. Maybe in another life but the prep above will help clean down the freezer, and give me bases to get a quick meal pulled together on week nights. 

We've had some additional expenses with fee's for concert tickets and the play,  plus upcoming costs of the hotel, more gas, plus a meal or two out  for the tournament. DD#2 is in desperate need of swimsuits as the bottoms didn't quite work anymore either.  Because of these cash flow items, I'd like to hit below $350 for total groceries, and use up household goods to keep that expense low as well.  We have the use of the cabin for three days at the end of the month and will have a few extra kids, and DD#1 so on top of the $350, I thought I'd add another $90, or $30 per day to accommodate teen appetites. I need to find receipts and do some math, but I am probably at $200 already in June with a lot of month left. However, becasue of the packed cupboards and freezers, I feel strongly I can do this. I might just  have to hide DH's wallet to get there.

The Take Home Chef

We have gone three days with an extra teen in the house, and so far so good.  Both have been incredibly busy with school, play, and soccer so really fairly quiet.  The last two nights they didn't have to be back at school for  a couple hours so came home on the bus. They made dinner. Well, M made dinner and DD assisted. This girl can cook! Last night it was meatballs in a doctored up barbecue sauce. Tonight was penne pasta with alfredo sauce. I still  had those gourmet cupcake mixes and got a call from DD wondering if they could make that.  Have at it! The cupcakes are a bit flat and spread out because DD didn't know where I kept the muffin pans. I mean, why should she know that after 15 years of living here and the storage spots being exactly the same places ever since we moved in 10 years before she was born? 

Their practice schedule has been day to day so who knows what tomorrow's dinner may be. I won't be home as I'm attending a talk at a natural food coop in Minneapolis with a work colleague to learn about cooking with roots and berries. Saturday she wants to make egg's Benedict for breakfast. I asked if she could make mine eggs Florentine and add some spinach? "Not a problem." I may need to keep insisting on a few vegetables, and request a few less sauces if this keeps up. Either that or add some more miles to my walks. Yet, I'm not about to spoil their fun. It has felt like I'm on the show, The Take Home Chef and Curtis Stone jumped into my kitchen. 

Table for One

I was on my own for dinner last night but after a weekend of not really cooking a single proper meal, there wasn't any leftovers to heat up. The girls had grabbed a quick sandwich before play practice and texted about making a frozen pizza when they got home. The daughters and I never did make masala over the weekend but I had a package of naan in the fridge that I had bought at half price and thrown in the freezer for a future use a few weeks back that now needed to be used. Some whole milk mozzarella, a little olive oil, garlic powder and Italian seasoning, and the naan, and a couple flat brad pizza's were born. We had some leftover sliced tomatoes, iceberg lettuce, and a few crumbly pieces of bacon left hiding from DH's last Thursday's BLT's DH. I made a nice side salad, topping with some of the leftover seeds from my Friday office salad.

 It felt like a proper meal and I actually sat down at the table to eat it, instead of hunched over my computer screen. I had intended to eat just two quarters from one of the breads, but darn, if  the whole thing was devoured. I guess I know why my weight loss continues to stall. There was plenty of salad fixings for DH, plus the other bread. My husband is not much of an international eater and had no idea what the base was for the pizza's. "Is this focaccia bread?" he asked, though pronounced it like "foe ka chi a" which I know he did to get a rise out of me, as mispronouncing words even after being corrected on the proper pronunciation drives me nuts! He'll also call ciabatta bread chobani, like the yogurt, bread. 

It was such a nice night, one where I hardly cared it is only Monday of the week. I left work early and got home to take the pup for a long walk. We had a couple close calls with other dogs when one nearly jumped the fence barking. The owners claim he can't, but I feel like he get's higher  each time I walk past that yard. When pup was about 6 months old, a boxer burst through a back gate and tried to attack him when we were on a walk. I managed to defend him before he was hurt, but I got pretty banged up in the process. This isn't the same dog, or even house, but the same type and next door to the other occurrence so we're both still cautious walking by. At the next cul de sac, part of our walking route, a  lab who pup normally greets with some friendly sniffs and tail wags had two other big dogs in his yard and all three ran at us-not to us, but then  were diverted by being called back to the yard. Each one was triple pup's size. My heart was in my throat for a few seconds. The rest of the walk was just a smelling bounty for pup, but no more dogs trying to get to him. Later, while my pizza's baked and then after, I got caught up on some unfinished work by logging into the office. 

Now that the nice weather is in, I'll need to be planful about dinner so as not to waste the nice nights indoors. If I can come across more of the packaged breads on clearance, as I think a bit pricey at full cost, I'll stock up I can as these were quick and easy, and a little variety from a traditional frozen pizza. Anything could go on top, but I like flatbreads simple. Here's to the rest of a promised sunny week.