Sick like a dog....

I had a deep hack having, phlem slinging kind of night. When I did get up (because I had to) I knew that this was an evil cold puncing on me and not fall allergies. I went to the PA ant work who told me I had what was going around. Joy and rapture unforeseen.

I pumped Lemon Zinger down my throat at regualr intervals and prayed against 2:00 PM.

I feel my bed calling me and I will collapse in it as soon I can tonight. My fervant wish is that the cats who share my space have the courtesy to not use me as a divan.

Asian Rub

Home Made Pickles

Chicken curry..

stuff...

Dollar Make Overs...

Dinner without massive prepwork-

I was hungry and wanted dinner. I had a long day but did not feel like spending two hours to get dinner ready. I wanted to make dinner in an hour. I looked through the fridge and here is what I had.

asian rubbed chicken
sage stuffing
garlic minted peas


Quick Asian Rub
3 tablespoons Chinese five-spice powder
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

Turned on the stove to 350 degrees and let it come up to temperture (this normally takes 15 minutes).

I cleaned the chicken (in cold water) and patted it dry. I whipped up the spice rub and patted it into the chicken. It was ready to go in the oven as soon as the time told me the oven was ready.

I keep quick stuffing in my pantry - the kind you boil the water and butter, throw in the stuff and pull it off the heat. I found a sage and onion type. I make two cups of dry stuffing mix at a time and it will last me for 3-4 days.

Peas- frozen or canned. A little butter and garlic added after they are prepared gives them the broke and fabulous gourmet taste without breaking the bank.

Once the chicken is in the oven, the water was ready and I made the stuffing.

The peas were already in the fridge from the night before. If I had wanted to make them, I would have done them at this point. I like the frozen steamer peas- $2.50 for 4 days worth of vegetables and if you catch them in sale, they are even cheaper. They are five minutes in the microwave and done. All you need to toss into them when they are done is a dollop of butter and a 1/2 teaspoon of crushed garlic.

Comfort Food-

I really wanted White Castles today. That is me go to thing to relieve stress. Since I wanted the real thing and not the frozen, I decided to eat sopmething else.

I had a big bowl of dip. If I decide one day to put the family recipe out there, I will. If not,it will go to the grave with me like my grandmothers' biscuit recipe did here.

Cherry Soup-


From my catering days, I really like cold fruit soup in the summer. The closet I saw to getting any this year was a cold peach soup at Whole Foods but mother does not the cream based ones. So I went looking in the archives and found one that was the closest to what I had back then.


Ingredients:
2.5 lbs. fresh cherries
3 cups of water
4 oz. of sugar
cinnamon
Juice of 1 lemon
3 tsp starch flour



Wash and pit the cherries. Put cherries in a pot and cover with cold water. Add sugar, a pinch of cinnamon and the juice of the lemon. Bring to a boil once. Dissolve the starch flour in a little cold water and add to the soup stir well. Let the soup cool down. Cover and chill the soup for two hours in the refrigerator.

Weekend find-

I was on my weekly shopping rounds- I found the coral/melon/salmon/peach rosebush I have been looking for since March. It was at Whole Foods for $8!!! Most rosebushes I have been looking at start at $20 but easily go up to $40.

Busted...

Today was not a good day at work. I decided to medicate with food.

I had mache with honey balsamic dressing, saffron risotto and a lamb chops I got at the store that were close to date.

The cost me under $2.00 after the coupon was used. I had the risotto in the cabinet and there was still a serving of mache in the salad bowl.

In the 15 minutes it took to have the oven warm up, I prepped the risotto. After the lamb went in the oven, I lowered the heat on the risotto to simmer.

20 minutes later, the lamb and the risotto where done. Salad was added to the plate and voila - dinner was done and after the first two bites, I felt much more better.

McGyver would be proud-

I needed to cut down ony my food bills (yes I am very much a foodie ;)

I planted basil, fennel, choclate mint and nasturiums (peppery tasting fowers).

I wanted to do a vegetable plot to augment the herb garden but they need more space and I did not want to trench another garden bed. I was at work and some machinery came in wooden crates. Aha, I said to myself, they would make a great raised bed. It took a batch of cookies to get the larger box to my house (it was 4 inches longer than my back seat).

I set the larger one on the smaller one (drainage) and voila, a raised vegetable bed. It took three bags of dirt to fill it but I can walk around it to get into my basement and hopefully it will confuse the vermin.

Num Nums.....


When I am having on of those paperwork type of day, I need brain food.

On any given data day I have in my num num bowl-

Raisin and a few nuts
lightly salted pretzels (they actually make them now)
thin ginger cookies
pizza flavored potato chips (one of my favorite Japanese snacks)
freshly made guacamole and tortilla chips
homemade granola


You can buy snack bags to pack your favorites in. If you mmake your own snack bags, you can portion control what you really like to munch.

Most grocery stores have a bulk section these day - I always can find raisins there.

You can get a largish bag of pretzels and clip it between fills.


The next time I make guacamole or granola, I will post the recipes.

Weekend stuff-

Memorial day is coming up. I decided to do a low dough feast.

Breakfast was cinnamon bread with honey butter and freshly made coffee.

The grill was fired up and we did burgers (I had a buffalo burger that was great), sausages, hot dogs and corn (ears buttered up, stripped of its silk and wrapped in foil).

Refrigerator review netted spicy macroni salad.

I made a cheesecake for a friend's daughter's graduation and with the extra batter, made a small version.

The total spent was $20 for a weekend's worth of food for the both of us and guests.

May Day-

The last two days have been rough and I could not wait until the weekend to get some rest. I got a call from friends to do babysitting and I get to sit a three year old, a nine month old and two pit bulls who think they are lap dogs.

I had a great peanut butter and jelly sandwich today - which got me thinking about making an upscale version of it and other compfort foods. I need to ruminate on it a little longer to see what I can come up with.

A Lovely Evening-


I was counting down the days till my new boss showed up. I decided I needed to eat something I hadn't had in a while.

It was Friday and on my hot bar run, I found some buffalo skirt steak and asian spice runned pork chops.

My plan is to pair the pork chops with tortellini with pesto and mache with peprcorn vin. I know it will be amazing.

When I figure out what I want to do with the buffalo, I will blog it.

Tummy Ache Days-

I am not a big fan of the change of seasons. I am a Northeast American big city child so I do need to see all four seasons of the year. The problem is that when the weather goes from hot to cold suddenly, my stomachs wacks out and cramps for a day or two.

For these days, the only things I eat are chunky applesauce with cinnamon, bananas and rice.

Hot Bar Dinner-

I treat myself on Fridays to a medium container from my favorite hot bar.


This past week, I got some great pulled pork and a bit of mac and cheese. There was salad and honey balsamic vin in the fridge at home and I had a fabulous no cook dinner for $6.00.

MYO ( Make Your Own) Sauce-

I found this recipe for teryaki barbecue sauce on Cook.com. It yields 10 oz. of sauce . It is not too complicated and tasty. I like BBQ sauce and have been looking for different flavors that what I normally see in the store. This will keep a week in the refrigerator.


3 tbsp. butter
4 garlic cloves, chopped
2 sm. onions, chopped or finely sliced
3 c. catsup1 tsp. chili powder
3 tbsp. mustard
6 tbsp. Teriyaki or soy sauce1
2 tbsp. brown sugar


Melt butter. Saute garlic and onions together until tender. Remove from heat. Add catsup, chili powder, mustard, and Teriyaki or soy sauce. Stir until well mixed. Add brown sugar. Stir while adding.

Excellent for pork chops, ribs, chicken, beef cubes, steak, and chopped meat (hamburger or meat loaf).

Coolness-

I got a present today -

Easter Sunday on the cheap-

I like lamb and found some really nice chops the last store visit. I had my brother up for the weeknd so I had to get an extra chop. Frozen peas were steamed and scented with butter and garlic. Rice is a staple and I added furikake for a little dash of flavor.

Candy was half price so I got my first chocolate in 40 days for $1.98.

Dinner and dessert for 2 people was under $7.

We had a blast and enjoyed an NCIS marathon to boot.

Today is my sister's birthday -

I sang her happy birthday and we chatted for a while.

I reminded her that today is a legal holiday so she was allowed to have dip. This particular dip a favorite family comfort food and I will not write down the recipe today but after the week I had, I will make some for myself.

Breakfast of this champion...

I firmly believe in eating breakfast to get going in the morning. Way before McDonald's made breakfast, I use to make breakfast to take it in to work - I had a mason jar full of flavored coffee (I added flavoring to half caff coffee grounds) and made the following sandwich -

1 toasted cinnamon raisin bagel
2 slices of cheese
3 breakfast turkey sausages

The sandwich is 450 calories and energizes me until lunch.


I started bringing into work a few weeks ago and the men who work for me ask me for one every day. Maybe I will surprise them next week and bring some in.

Loving it...

I decided to see what else I could do in fifteen minutes.

I got a cloth basket that had come with some stuff in it and put it by the front door - voila - an instant inbox. I gathered up all miscellaneous mail in the living room and cleared off the coffee table.

The day before trash day, I went through my inbox and shredded junk mail for fifteen minutes. The inbox lost 75% of its contents and the table is still clean.

Today is the day...

I decided I needed to eat my own cooking today. I decided I needed chicken with mushroom gravy, rice and galic scented peas.

For the chicken

1 package of chicken leg joints (4-5 pieces)
1 can of reduced fat cream of mushroom soup
1/3 cup of sour cream

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. If you don't have a fancy dancey stove that automaticlly preheats, it takes about 15 minutes for the stove to come up to temperature.

Clean the chicken under cold water and pull out extra fat pockets. Place in a shallow baking dish and lightly salt.

Mix sour cream and cream of mushroom soup and pour over chicken.

Cook for 1 hour. If the pieces are large, add 15 minutes. When done, poke with a fork and make sure juice runs clear.

For the rice


1 cup of uncooked rice

I use a rice cooker. I rinse the rice until the water runs clear. I then cover the rice with water until I have the first bend in my index finger is covered. I flip the rice cooker on and it clicks when it is done.

For the garlic scented peas

One bag of steamer peas and mushrooms. Five minutes in the microwave and it they are done. You will get a facial when you open the bag so be careful.


Dinner was delicious and my roomate asked for a plate. I spent just under $5 for the package of chicken legs. I jhad everything else in the house. I had to buy everything, it would have been $2.5 for the peas and 20 cents for the rice. For under $8, I had dinner for 4 days.

That kind of a day.....

I had a very rough day today. I had to drown my frustration in twinkies..... I know it was 300 calories but it was the leaset self destructive thing I could do.

And Then....

It was a I want to redecorate and I don't have any money day. What I did was to move some chairs, change the chachkas and baskets around and took some sheer fabric to drape over the windows. The place actually looked different and I was able to say I had a NO-DOUGH makeover instead of a low-dough one.

Today's stuff-

It was the day for jokes and I was really not in the mood for them.

My house "had gotten away from me" (Mommy's euphamism for it's a mess) because I had been runnig full tilt at work for six weeks.

I decided to clean for fifteen minutes today and my target was the bathroom. I took a shower a little earlier. Before I went into the shower, I powder comet in the toilet and sprayed the sink with scrubbing bubbles. When my shower was done, I sprayed the shower down with scrubbing bubbles. I literally swished the toilet bowl clean, wiped down the outside of the bowl fixture and cleaned the sink with the water I used to brush my teeth.

After the morning toilette was done, it took me five minutes to wash out the tub. Add another two minutes to wipe down the mirror and the bathroom was cleaned except for the floor. And I only spent an extra 10 minutes in the bathroom.

When I came home from work that evening, it was nice to know that I actually did a chore and it didn't kill me.

Clutter Control- This is how we do it...

I had a temporary roommate whose stuff would explode all over my living room when they got home. I was on a reclaiming the floor space riff and they weren't geting the subtle hint that I didn't want their stuff all over the room when they came in the door.

I decided I needed a defined space for them to drop their stuff. In Japanese homes they have a genkan (a place to put your shoes) when you enter a home. I wanted a genkan but didn't feel like doing the bamboo thing on the floor.

I went out and got two doublesided placemats (red and black) that were on sale for $2 apiece.

When they came home, they saw their stuff piled neatly on the red genkan. It was much better in the living room after that.

Planning a Tea Party-

The ladies at my church are having their annual tea this weekend. This is very cool for me because I have Scottish / British roots and with my love of things Japanese, tea is very high up my cool list.

I also have a British ex-pat family that recently moved to states to join my church. I promised them some scones - in reality it was just an excuse to make a big batch of them.

In my pantry, I have a baking section that covers most of my usual needs. I had to decide if I wanted plain scones or something else - I opted for blueberry scones. I used canned blueberries because it was the least amount of overage from what the recipe called for. The cans were $2.79 as opposed to $3.99 for fresh (I would definitely use the fresh in season - its way cheaper). The only other thing I had to buy for the scones was milk because I do not keep in in the house.

I used a basic recipe from Cooks.com. It took 20 minutes to get the batter mixed, rolled out and the scones into the oven. I was able clean the table off while they were baking and the dishes while they were cooling off. Got good reviews for them.


BLUEBERRY BREAKFAST SCONES

3 3/4 c. flour
3/4 c. sugar
1 tbsp. plus 1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/3 c. shortening
2 tbsp. cold butter
1 c. blueberries
3/4 c. milk
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

In a large bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut in the shortening and butter using a pastry blender or 2 knives until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add blueberries and toss lightly to distribute. In a separate bowl using a fork beat together the milk and eggs until well blended. Using a large spoon gently stir the egg mixture into the flour mixture. With floured hands gather the dough up and place on a floured surface. Sprinkle the top lightly with additional flour and pat the dough out to a thickness of about 1/2 inch.

Using a 2 1/2-inch fluted or rounded cutter, cut the scones out (dipping the cutter in flour before and after each one) and place them on a lightly greased baking sheet. Gather up the scraps and cut additional scones until all the dough is used. Sprinkle the tops of the scones with granulated sugar and bake for 10 minutes at 425 degrees. Do not over bake or scones will be dry.

Sweet and Savory Jones-

Every now and then I get the sweet and salt craving-

This is when I have a bowl of potato chips and ice cream. A bowl of Ben and Jerry's super fudge chunk and Lay's wavy potato chips are hut the ticket when I get this way.


A nurse friend of mine told me that when we crave something, it is because our body needs it. That's my story and I'm sticking with it....

No Time Dinner-

There are days when I want a hot meal but I don't want to spend time in the kitchen to get it. Here are some options for these days-

Salad with things in it-

I love spring mix. I get a tin a week and have never had to throw any out. If there is any protein in refrig, I add some to a large bowl of salad greens. In the summer, A summer variation is tuna fish. Add two pieces of home made garlic bread and I am a happy puppy.


Risotto -

You can get risotto in that takes less than 20 minutes to fix. My favorite is the mushroom variety. While the risotto is thickening up, I heat up a can of vegetable soup and get some frsh fruit. Simple and filling.


Breakfast for dinner -

Frozen waffles and sausage take less than two minutes to prepare. I usually have three types of jelly and and two types of syrup on hand so I use one that I have not had lately. Ice Cream is a great accompaniment for waffles and you don't have to use chocolate syrup - a berry jelly is wonderful. I love to do this when I have a movie night.

Relaxing at the end of the week-

For most of my adult life, I have worked off-hour jobs. I am not complaining - the best time for my brain is 4PM - midnight.

When I get to Friday, I treat myself to a medium sized container from my favorite hot bar or go to the charcuterie counter and try a starch or vegetable prepared in a way I do not normaly do. I have gotten some great inspiration for the meals tis way

My mad money limit is $10 a week. As my mother one told me, when you get paid, treat yourself to something small so you don't feel like every cent you make is going to pay bills. I did tell her recently how wise her words had been to me over the years.

Comforting Comfort food.

The last week has been brutal. Work has been off the chain and I have not had any me time. I decided I needed to have spaghetti, garlic bread and salad for dinner.

For spaghetti sauce -

1 lb of ground meat
2 TBs of oil (if you don't use a non-stick pot)
2 large can fire roasted diced tomatoes
2 TB chopped garlic
sesame oil
reduced sodium soy sauce
6 shakes of bitters - optional
mirin - optional
salt
pepper


Brown the ground meat in a large saucepan. If the pan is non-stick, you will need to heat about 2 TBS of oil in the pan. (When you see the oil swirling or flick a drop of water in it and it sizzles, the pan is hot).

Transfer the browned meat into a medium size pot.

Pour in fire roasted tomatoes.

Add garlic, sesame oil and soy sauce to taste.

I use bitters to punch up the tomato flavor and mirin to add a touch of sweetness.

After the flavor marinate for a about 30 minutes - taste to see if you need any more salt and pepper.

Seasoning spaghetti sauce is a very individualistic thing. This is my basic go to sauce. These are a few variations on my sauce-

spicy sausage - specialty stores have great flavored sausage. One of the best I ever had was soy garlic mesquite.

sliced hot dogs- when my nieces and nephews were younger, I added these for the cool aunt factor.

chiffonade of basil- roll basil leaves and slice thinly perpendicular to the roll. If you do this correctly, it lools like sting segments. If it is not in season, I will use dried.

pesto- I like pesto. You do not need a lot to flavor the sauce.

Chinese five spice - when I want something a little different.

A good sauce needs to sit and get better. I eat a small bowl the day I make it and then let the post of sauce sit overnight. It really does taste better the next day.

Spiffing Up Your Place-

It does not take a lot of money to make your place look nicer. A glue gun, cute stuff you have laying around the house and a little imagination. will have your abode easy on the eyes.

Low Dough Spiff UP#1-

Flowers all year round
I have wo trash bags filled with different plastic and silk flowers. While I would much rateher have bouquets of fresh flowers all around the house, my cat has a nasty habit of thinking that is his salad course. So went to a craft store and bought an armful of stems and fillers when they were 50% off. I was able to make three arrangements and had some to spare. I change the arrangements once a week like a fresh bouquet. A scented candle in the room that coincides with one of the flowers in the arrangement brings a touch of realism to your work.


Low Dough Spiff Up #2-

Fabric Wall Hangings

I like art but am too cheap to buy expensive prints and do not have artsy friends to make hangable art for me. I have a ton of extra fabric in the house from old projects. I also love to rumage in the ends bin at fabric places. I went to a dollar store and got a cork board. I covered it with about a half a yard of an red printed fabric and secured it with a staples on the back. I put a hercules hook in the wall and voila, a one of a kind accent piece.


Low Dough Spiff Up #3

Chachkas (Bric a Brac with a Flair)

Most folks have a lot of things we can display that are cool. I took clementine crates and used them as accent pieces in bookcase around the house. I put all kind of treasures in them - a tibetan singing bowl, a minature sake set, a cool candle that I don't feel like burning yet or something one of my nieces or nephews made for me. If you want to a very cool shadow box, go to the local thrift store and see if there are any hat boxes for sale.

Low Dough Spiff Up #4

Decorative Conatiners Full of Stuff

I did catering for many years so I have a collection of baskets. During the holiday season, there is no end of decorative containers. When you want to add a little zing to a room, you can fill up a nice glass container with colored stones (red and black is my favorite combo), a shallow vase with potpourri, or set out some scented candles in glass jars that you are always seem to be accumualting.



Low Dough Spiff Up #5

Impromptu Memory Wall

I belong to an online haiku group that has a tradition of sending New Year's postcards. I hand stamp a card with and pen haiku for the new year on it. last year, I made 45 cards and recieved and 32. There were a few I really liked and I moved them to a wall in the study from the living room. I have cards from far off places that frinds and family have traveled. Recently I framed a few matted printes and added them to the wall. Folks who visit can tell what I hold near and dear at a glance and try to see if they have sent wall worthy submissions.

Spring Cleaning-


As far as I'm concerned, "spring cleaning" is a misnomer. I start my spring cleaning every year on January 1st.

When I sit down and make up my yearly resolutuons, I decide how many boxes of stuff I want to shed this year. This year I want to get rid of 24 boxes of stuff. I went down to that basement I looked at the piles of boxes I have. I was able to go over and pick up two boxes I realized that I had unopened since I packed them over 10 years ago. I opened tham and saw I had replaced every item sitting in those boxes so I had my two boxes for the month. It only took my 15 minutes and I was on the road to an emptier basement floor.

Another thing I do in January is spend 15 minutes a day cleaning out the spare bedroom that serves as my office. It was a mess after the holday craft fest that I have during the month of December. In 10 days of working consistently for 15 minutes a day, I reclained the desk and half of the floor.

The next time you gave a large job, break it down into small sections, and you will be surprised to see that it will get done if you plug away at it.

Chicken in an hour...

You need to start with chick that is thawed, cleaned and dried. Unless you are doing something special to it, a baked chicken is cooked at 350 degrees for an hour. If the chicken pieces are really thick, you may need an extra 10-15 minutes. Most recipes will tell you chicken is done when you pierce the meat and the juices run clear. If you have cooked for long enough, you will be able to smell that the chicken is done.

Fried chicken is a totally different animal and I will address it another day.


I love the leg joint of the chicken. It has more robust flavor than the breast meat. It just takes a little more work to eat but since dinner is my favorite meal of the day, I do not mind taking a few more minutes at the table. Besides, folks need to stop grazing at meal time.

I cook a package of legs at a time so I have food options during the week.

There are many things that I put on chicken and bake it in the oven. Some of the my usuals are:

1 can cream of mushroom soup mixed with 1 cup of sour cream, adobo and 1TB minced garlic. This also makes a sauce to put over rice that is its typical starch accompaniment.

Cherry Cola BBQ sauce with a four extra spoonfuls of cherry preserves.

4TB maragarine metled with 2TB ancho chili wing spice mix

BBQ sauce with a pinch of season salt. There are a lot of great bottled BBQ sauces on the market.

honey mustard glaze-


Once the chicken is in the oven, you can putter around the house. This would be a good time to start the laundry, clean the bathroom or go through the junk mail. You will feel better when you know that not only you will have stress free meal, you can knock one chore off your list.

Dinner and a Clean Kitchen-

I love cooking, especially on the weekends.

I also make something that takes at least 45 minutes in the oven or on the stove. The reason for this is that I clean the kitchen while dinner is cooking. If I have chicken in the oven, I usally do the following - clean the inside of the microwave (10 minutes), wash all the prep dishes (10 minutes), wipe down the stove and refrigerator (10 minutes ) and wash the kitchen floor (30 minutes).

When dinner is finished cooking, I can sit down to a fabulous meal and when I am done, all I have to clean up is the dinner dishes - which is five minutes.

Weekend Fun-

Last weekend I had to go to work both days. It was not as bad as it sounded because I was able to get the shopping done and have a look at the hot bars for inspiration.


I saw cajun roasted sweet potato wedges - they were tasty and I was able to duplicate them at home.

Comfort Food-

After being sick like a dog for 4 days, I decided I was well enough to eat something hardier that chicken soup and crackers.

I had roasted asparagus, mushroom risotto and veal chops.

Roasted asparagus is very easy and comes into season at this time of the year-

Cut the last inch off the asparagus spears and lay out flat on a cookie sheet

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

for one pound of asparagus put into a small bowl:

1/2 cup of grapeseed oil
2T of walnut oil
2T mirin
a few dashes of soy sauce
salt and pepper to taste

whisk together and pour over the asparagus

roast for 12-15 minutes ( should be enough for small spears)

check to see if they are done enough - they should not be limp

Enjoy

Handy Dandy Side Dishes-

Part of a fabuolous meal is the non protein side dishes


Here are some favorites:

Veggie-

peas with garlic and butter

roasted asparagus

wilted napa cabbage with hot mustard dressing

stir fried yellow and red peppers

steamed broccoli with herb butter

mixed green salad with toated pinenuts and golden raisins with balsamic vin




Starch-

drop biscuits with honey

warm potato salad with bacon dressing

blueberry cornbread with hard sauce

mushroom risotto

sage stuffing

thick garlic toast


I try to shop in season (cheaper prices at the market)

A Simple Elegant Meal

There are days when I do not want to slave over a hot stove but want a truly satisfying meal. Everyone has favorites that can be pulled together in a pinch. Here is one of mine.

Herb Roasted Pork Chops, Risotto, Spring Mix with pomegranate vinagarette.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a small bowl, put in cracked black pepper, rosemary and a little adobo seasoning.
Cover the prk chops and place on a baking sheet.
Bake for 20 minutes and test for doneness. If needed, bake until the juice from the center of the pork chops run clear.

White the oven is heating start the risotto. I use a prepacked risotto mix. It will take about 25 minutes total.

Spring Mix is found in the packaged salad section of your grocery store. There are about 20 different kinds of lettuce in spring mix so I do not get bored with the taste.

Salad dressing is one of those things that folks have very strong opinions on. This is one I have in the fridge right now so I use it. Please dress your salad with what floats your boat.

At the Market-

Going to the market is like a safari - it it full if trphies to be bagged and pitfalls to be avoided. The best thing to do is to shop for the canned goods first then meats, produce and then frozen. This is because the folks that plan supermarket know that any extra shopping will occur when you come in and see all kinds of goodies that are not on your list.

To get away from this, you should walk briskly to the first aisle and avoid the perimeter until you have the bulk of your purchases in the basket.

Once all the dry/canned stuff has been gotten, You can head over to the produce section. There is already visually less space for you to pick up all the extra things that they have in the endcaps on the perimeter of the markets. After your produce is wrangled, head to the meat section and pick up what you need. Once the meat is in the basket, you need to realize that you shouldn't dally and get home quickly. The reason that the frozen section is last is that it will help keep the meats cold until you get home.

Before you go the market - Pt 2.


I have always liked food shopping. I realized this shortly after the chore was foisted on me by my father in high school. In a former part of my life, I lived with five other women and I did the weekly shopping for 9 out of the 10 years I lived there.

The first thing you need to realize is that you will not be able to get everything at one store. I regularly go three places every week to get the shopping done because every store has different things on sale every week. In the summer, I go to local farmer's markets. Once a month, I do a paper goods run at somepalce like Walmart / Kmart / Target. One one of the three regular markets is not in a direct line between home and work but I love the hot bar in the store and until recently, it was the only place I got raisin challah so the extra ten minutes once a week was well worth the trip for the weekend breakfasts. But I digress and will get back on track.

You need to get the circulars for what will be on sale when go you. In my neck of the foods, the sales run from Friday - Thursday. In the Wednesday paper, next week's food circulars come out. The best way to stretch your precious food bucks is to develop menus around what is on sale that you will actually eat.

After looking through the circulars, decide what you will purchase at what store. I understand every now and there might be some fanatastic unadvertised specials, but let them surprise you instead of expecting them.

If there is a few extra quarters in the budget, it is a good idea to stock up on shelf stable staples.

How to navigate in most supermarkets-

For folks who have not been used to shopping for themselves - these few rules will help you

Before you go-

1. Make sure you are not hungry when you go food shopping. It is amazing how much more stuff you have to buy when you are hungry.
2. Saturday is the hardest day to shop. If it is the only time you can go, be there by 8AM or wait until 6:30 PM. The first and the fifteenth will be busy most of the day. On any typical Sunday, noon -3Pm should be avoided.
3. Have a list of essentials written down. Take a pencil / pen with you and cross off what you have and keep a running total of what you have spent.
4. Coupons are your friends but only if it is something you typically use or a new product you want to try out.

Why the Blog-

The idea for this blog has been rolling around in my head for a while. When chatting with a friend about how tough the time had gotten, she remarked " I have been poor all my life. If I have to be poor for another year or two, it will be just fine."

Something clicked in the back of my brain. In my catering phase of life, as part of a kitchen crew, we had to create a working kitchen in an open space, plate and serve a great four course meals and then have the space look we were never there when we left.

Being "frugal" is also a way of life for most college students. I went college late and was basically broke for 4 years- the last year I walked 45 minutes a day to get to class because I had to save my tokens to get to a part time job. That was one of the best years of my life.

A few years ago, I was out of work for the first time in my adult life. It took a long time to get a job and what little I did have had to go a long way.

In the past few months, my love for cooking and crafting has been regalvanized. I am doing this blog to show my nieces and nephews that all it takes to look great, eat really well and have a great space is a little ingenuity, time, a cast iron skillet, a glue gun and duct tape.