Not much going on...

This will be just a quick update for you. Last night we really enjoyed baked sweet potatoes and a salad. I cannot speak highly enough of sweet potatoes! They are really high on my list of favorite vegetables, and are SO good for you. They are versatile and delicious, as well as being nutritionally fantastic. A special dinner memory for me is Mom's creation of mashed sweet potatoes, orange juice, and a little brown sugar. This would be put into a baking dish and kept warm in the oven for celebratory dinners like Thanksgiving and Christmas. It's my very favorite way to eat them. Funny thing is, we'd never seen a fresh sweet potato when I was a young girl in Pennsylvania...Mom used the canned ones and that's all I knew until my sister introduced me to the fresh ones in our 20's. That was my first baked sweet potato, and a sweet memory it is too. Anyway, dinner was great.

Tonight was to be spaghetti with some of my husband's yummy sauce from the freezer, with the addition of 2 roasted red peppers I'd frozen. We were going to start off with broiled mushroom cap appetizers - yes, this was all on hand. Dinner plans have changed, though, and maybe we'll have the spaghetti tomorrow night. I'll let you know. Thanks for reading - let me know what you think!

Interesting conversation

Last night was to be some kind of surprise for dinner, as I hadn't even thought about it during the day. It was left up to my sweet husband, who always comes through! He did call me at the end of the day and ask me to pick up some evaporated milk so he could finish making dinner. Well, the only thing we make with evaporated milk is quiche, one of his favorite dinner items to make. Mom's 50-year-old recipe for Quiche Lorraine is quick and easy to put together, if you have all the ingredients. So I knew what we were having.

Our conversation when I got home went something like this, after I gave him the evaporated milk:
Me: So...Quiche Lorraine, eh?
Ken: I'm not telling.
Me: Huh. Okay, shall I make salad?
Ken: Nope, we're all set.
Me: (remembering what we have in the freezer) So, did you buy bacon?
Ken: No.
Me: (thinking that means we had bacon in the freezer, which I didn't remember) Oh, we had some in the freezer?
Ken: No.
Me: (My back hurt, so I wasn't paying attention) So you bought some?
Ken: (loudly) NO - IT'S A VEGETARIAN QUICHE.
Me: Oh...so did you buy anything for it?
Ken: (loudly) NO.
Me: So you found Swiss cheese and bacon in the fridge? (both of which Mom's recipe calls for)
Ken: (loudly, as if to someone of no wit) NO - IT'S A MIXTURE OF CHEESES AND NO BACON.
Me: Oh.

Well, maybe it was funnier the first time around, but it WAS funny. As I explained to him, I was just trying to ascertain the truth for my readers - what was from the freezer and what was purchased. As you can see from the above, the only purchase was the evaporated milk. :) That means we had eggs, cheese, onion and garlic (his additions) and a pie shell on hand. He meant to add a little leftover broccoli, but it ended up remaining on the breadboard instead of going into the quiche.

So ... what does this tell you? It tells me don't bother my husband with the details, just eat the darn dinner. What's he making for tonight? I don't know, but I'm not askin'. See you tomorrow.

Keeping up

So sorry to have been away...acute back pain kept me out of commission yesterday, but am much better today. We did have some dinners I wanted to tell you about. Sunday night we returned from our housesitting gig - friends returned from their trip. It's good to be back home but we keep reaching for things in the wrong places! We'd planned a simple dinner, and I went to the store to buy a few things, including a splurge of cheese and Triscuits. What came about - due to sheer laziness, I guess - was cheese and crackers, followed by popcorn for dessert. Yum. So the simple dinner made an appearance last night. We had scrambled eggs with sauteed onion, garlic and mushrooms, inside corn tortillas, topped with salsa. Everything was in the fridge, including the fruit cocktail for dessert. It was a nice light supper. There was some snacking going on later, though - I justified it because I had to take ibuprofen. We also thought we had a little ice cream in the freezer, but that was in our friends' freezer!

For the most part I'm still only buying milk, oj, lettuce and other salad stuff, cheese, and occasionally some other item or two. I spent about $30 on the above to keep us going for this week. I think we can work out of the freezer for the rest of the week...I'm planning more pizza, spaghetti and homemade sauce, and something with that poor can of tuna I keep looking at. My crockpot is calling, which means there might be soup in the forecast too - so stay tuned! Not sure what's on for tonight. See you tomorrow.

Winding down the week and some leftovers

What a nice dinner we had last night, all leftovers. I made Quickie Chickie again (finished the chicken) - it is SO good, and the recipe is in a previous post. We split the remaining baked potato (if you cut really small bites it lasts awhile!), and enjoyed a big salad with ... ONE of the remaining carrots. Ice cream hit the spot later in the evening (there's still some left, E).

I plan to make bread and cookies this weekend, possibly with the help of some grandchildren. Once we're back home from our housesitting gig, our own pantry and freezer will be front and center once again. With great plans in mind, I had brought some items from our pantry to use while housesitting...they never happened. They'll be first up at our house, though - a can of tuna, quinoa, some pancake mix from Trader Joe's (it's really good). Oh - not toGETHER, of course!

Once again, I realize just how easy we have it, trying to figure out what to make from items already on the shelf or in the freezer. I'm well aware that many do not have anything on their shelves to choose from...be thankful for what you do have, and for organizations like Meals on Wheels and InterFaith Food Shuttle. Thanks for reading and commenting - keep them coming. See you on Monday.

I'm back...

Oh, thank goodness I'm back in the system...it's been too long. Well, after a few wonderfully relaxing days at the beach, we are back at our housesitting gig. It's been a week of shrimp and potatoes - oh, too bad! The potatoes are lovely Yukon golds, which we've had for a couple of weeks now - they needed to be used. Shrimp has faded into beach memories. To the freezer! Tonight it'll be the remaining chicken, salad, maybe a potato, and probably a veg. YES, hard to believe, but we still have a few carrots.

These last almost-3 weeks have been an odd time, with unexpected grandchild care, housesitting, and a few days at the beach in between all that. It's been a little unsettling, and until today I haven't been able to tell you about the past week. Work is providing its own stress, particularly since I couldn't get to my blog. Thankfully it's fine now.

We're looking forward to returning home and resuming eating down of our OWN pantry and freezer, though have been glad to help out our friends! Look for more updates as we transition our stuff back home, pick up the pace of 'eating down' and saving money!

Winding down...

Well, I think we've recovered from the weekend (see my previous post). All is quiet on the housesitting front. We had a quick dinner last night of scrambled eggs, the rest of the beans from Sunday, and toast. I hosted my Scrabble group and, if you'll recall the events of the weekend, didn't really have time to create a special dessert for the ladies. I did, however, score a hit with Sara Lee pound cake, Breyers vanilla ice cream, topped with slightly warmed peaches.

A few weeks ago during peach season, friend Sandy's neighbor's peach tree was bearing prolifically. Sandy kindly gave me a grocery bagful of the sweet fruit, and after making jam and eating a few of them, I had frozen some of the peaches. I thawed them yesterday and added a few drops of vanilla, no sugar, and they were marvelous.

Tonight is spaghetti night with some leftover sauce - always a good choice in my book! This week we're going to take a break from 'eating down' for a couple of days for a little time out. My intention, though, is always to consider pantry and freezer options, no matter where you're cooking.

Sometimes a forgotten spice or seasoning packet on the shelf can lead to a creative and yummy approach to dinner. I plan to make friend Alicia's terrific Taco Soup over the next couple of days. I remembered some taco seasoning (my favorite is Wick Fowler's) on hand, and that led to thoughts of her yummy soup. It feeds a crowd, and one grandchild of ours can't get enough of it! With beans and canned tomatoes in the pantry, I think I can justify the purchase of some nice lean ground beef to make a pot of the soup.

Look HARD at your pantry shelves and freezer - I know you can do it! Think of alternatives to the usual breakfast, lunch and dinner items. What's wrong with cereal, milk and a banana for dinner?? I'll be back on Monday - let me know how YOUR pantry project goes!

really needs beach time...

What. a. weekend. You remember we're housesitting for friends and that's going just great. Lovely home, two cats, very peaceful. We had our grandchildren visiting us this weekend, which made it a bit more tricky to continue 'eating down' anyone's pantry and freezer. We did manage to use up some items, though. Friday night's supper was Quickie Chickie, which the children adored! Salad, broccoli and nice sauteed yellow squash were the accompaniments. Very well received - whew.

Due to some unplanned excitement on Saturday morning, we all needed nice hot soup for lunch, with crackers on the side. After an uneventful afternoon, dinner was also very successful - grilled brats on rolls, sauteed onions and green peppers, and the remaining macaroni and cheese. Andy really enjoyed the sauteed onions! We were going to have an ice cream snack later with a movie, but the evening's activities were cancelled due to other unplanned excitement.

After church on Sunday, we headed straight for brunch at Golden Corral. My frazzle factor had increased a bit after Saturday's unplanned excitements, so the 'easy' route was our choice. After a rather more calm afternoon, a little more excitement built up - but not too high - and a plain easy dinner of bean and cheese quesadillas with lots of salsa hit the spot for everyone. A trip to the airport to meet Dad rounded out the evening. My sweet husband and I came back to our "home away from home", dished out some ice cream (helping someone else eat down her freezer), and collapsed.

Oh...the unplanned excitement? How's this: a walkie talkie slipped into the pond (can't be retrieved); the canoe tipped over dumping my husband and grandson and gear (all were retrieved); I bonked my sweet husband on the head with the tailgate door of my car (no outward damage done); one cat who shall remain nameless stayed out all night, to be retrieved from the roof Sunday morning; some much-too-energetic and potentially dangerous horseplay sent two little people to bed at 7:30 on Saturday; and a miscalculation while backing up sent my car into a stone driveway pillar (I say it was due to distraction by little people in the back seat, but they don't agree). I think one of two old standbys are on tap for dinner tonight: spaghetti with leftover sauce, or some lovely organic eggs from our CSA and toast. I'll let you know tomorrow.

Confession time...

Going out for Mexican food is the best! We did NOT eat from the fridge or freezer last night...oh, wait...we had ice cream...but decided to head out and do some shopping in anticipation of grandchildren coming to visit this weekend. It wouldn't have made sense to eat at home when a nice Mexican restaurant is practically next door to the grocery store...does rationalization work for you too?

Our shopping did include chicken so we can make Quickie Chickie for dinner tonight. It's one of our favorite recipes and I think everyone likes these flavors. It's simple - broil boneless chicken breasts (or tenders) for about 6 minutes per side. Top each with a spoonful of salsa (any strength) and a nice slice of your choice of cheese (we like mozzarella the best for this). Pop back under the broiler for maybe 30 seconds - just till the cheese melts, but make sure it melts. This is delicious!

I think what we're actually doing is more conscientious planning from the pantry and freezer without the rote purchases. It's clear that we can't ONLY eat what's on hand. Well, we could, but it wouldn't be very healthy...our pantry is loaded with carbs. So we WILL want to augment what's there with occasional purchases of salad fixings, some pork or chicken perhaps. I find I'm craving fish. Once we go through our lone can of tuna, fish is probably going to make an appearance on our table.

It'll be an interesting weekend with the children. They're somewhat picky eaters, but they know when they're at Grandma's they must try everything. They don't have to like it, but they do have to try it. This usually refers to the dreaded VEGETABLES. However, we won't make a fuss and we'll see how it goes. We've got lots of activities planned for them, both inside and out, and a couple of dinners we think they'll like. Should be fun all round. I'll let you know how it goes when I see you on Monday. Have a great weekend!

Calm before the storm...

What a crazy day we had yesterday...well, kind of low-key crazy, but crazy for us anyway. First off, we're house-sitting for friends and getting used to their place, which can be disconcerting in itself. So yesterday morning, after our first night, I realized I'd forgotten some laundry at home that was meant to come with us. No problem - I'd stop on my way to work. One of us forgot to do the morning routine for one of the family cats, so the other of us took care of her, making one of us a bit late. The southbound route between their house and ours was jampacked with nonmoving traffic, so a detour was in order. Taking the detour meant not stopping at our house. So...onward to work, about 6 miles out of the way. No problem.

The evening schedule had me at handbell rehearsal and not home till 8 pm, and my husband at church, helping to pack medications for the Honduras mission trip. Knowing we'd be late, I just planned on spaghetti with sauce from a jar - one of my favorite quick dinners. Hah. Getting used to someone else's kitchen and stove can be a challenge, and I wasn't sure I'd get that spaghetti cooked before bedtime. But at 8:30 I sat down with my dinner and enjoyed it very much. Ken got home just after 9 and had the remainder of the spaghetti. An hour of TV, and I was ready for bed, but wait...the TV remote has once again stymied us. Somehow we lost the "Guide" screen, so we're guessing about what's on. I am proud to say that I discovered that a second remote has a guide that works, but doesn't control the volume on that TV. So - one remote for the guide, and one for the volume...we can live with that.

Oh - the title of the post? Well, our grandchildren will be staying with us this weekend, so we expect it to be a bit busier than usual. Lots for them to discover - they've never visited this home before. We'll be showing them around and playing games, exploring the woods, and probably making popcorn on a chilly evening or two. I guess it might not be a storm - just kind of an increased activity level!

And what's for dinner tonight? I have no idea. I'll let you know tomorrow.

We're coming along...

Not TOO much to report, except that our potato soup last night was spectacular. It's a very simple recipe, with lovely flavor. I pureed some of it to thicken before I added the milk, then threw in the remaining shrimp to 'kick it up a notch' - delicious. Just this moment I remembered we didn't sprinkle with parsley before serving...ah, well.

I'm realizing this project is going to last awhile. I'm certainly not looking at a specific date or a specific timeframe to finish eating down the pantry and the freezer. It's just taking longer than I imagined. Our usual food bill is only about $60 a week. Since we started this project, we have spent maybe $50 or so on food.

And so it goes...we keep working on it, and it's working. I'm still enjoying the challenge, and I hope you are too. Keep me posted via your comments, and I'll see you tomorrow.

Mmmm...macaroni and cheese...

Oh, that macaroni and cheese was SO good - probably since I'd been eagerly awaiting its consumption since Saturday! We had green pepper slices, thanks to neighbor Shearin's late-yielding garden, and the ubiquitous carrot sticks. This morning I started the potato soup for tonight, from that huge bag of potatoes Ken bought the other day. We'll reheat it and add the milk for supper tonight, throw in what's left of the frozen shrimp, accompanied by the rest of the homemade bread and remaining salad fixings. Yum.

Looking ahead to the rest of the week, plans include pizza once again, maybe with some onions and what's left of the fresh mozzarella cheese. Surely spaghetti or rigatoni will also make an appearance, either with Ken's frozen sauce or from the can that's on the shelf. Usually I doctor it up, maybe with some of those nice dried mushrooms and - SOME GRATED CARROTS!! Maybe that will use them up!!

Once again I'm rethinking how long this project will last. I looked at the pantry again this morning, and there's a TON of food there. It is a bountiful pantry, though I didn't fully realize that at first. We will be eating down for some time...that in itself is a humbling thought.

Some of you have commented that you've been inspired to do your own 'eating down' project, or at least try and be more conscientious about planning your shopping trips. Whatever you do, I'd love to hear about it. I think we're all better for learning from each other, and it's amazing what you have to teach me. See you tomorrow.

After a glorious weekend...

It's a beautiful Monday after a glorious weekend - love those open windows and wearing a jacket! When last we met, I was thinking about potatoes. I'm still thinking. With this cooler weather, I'm leaning toward a nice potato soup with a few remaining frozen shrimp thrown in. That would be for tomorrow night, if I get it started tonight after Scrabble. Tonight we're having the elusive baked macaroni and cheese. I call it elusive because I prepared it Saturday morning - using up the rest of the elbow macaroni, milk, and some of the sharp cheddar cheese, for Saturday night's dinner. Then friend Peggy switched the time we were meeting her, and we'd go out to dinner instead. Okay with me - I LOVE going out to dinner! So the mac and cheese would be for Sunday. Friend Emilie suggested a later time on Sunday for a planned get-together, so we went out to dinner on Sunday night too! With family obligations a little up in the air this afternoon, I decided to bake it this morning before work, and we'll nuke it for dinner tonight. I think carrots on the side would be good. Sigh...yes, we're still working on those carrots. If there's any homemade oatmeal bread left, we'll have that too. Speaking of homemade bread, the two loaves I made on Saturday turned out beautifully - and used up some flour, oats, wheat germ, yeast, and the other usual ingredients for bread.

Between hanging clothes on the line outside, finding a wooden drying rack at a yard sale for $3 just like we had when I was growing up, and baking the aforementioned bread, Saturday proved to be one of those feel-good memory days for me. It was a pleasant, happy day that, once again, underscored how very fortunate I am in what I have. Planning for the next dinner is a part of my thanks-giving. See you tomorrow.

Stir-fry and good weather

Oh, how I LOVE stir-fry dinners! With a bit of substitution, this is what we had last night. It's called Pork with Fish Flavor, named thus because it is made with the same ingredients often used by Szechuan cooks to cook fish. Here goes:
1 lb pork, sliced as you like - strips, matchstick, etc
2 T rice wine vinegar or dry sherry
1 T soy sauce
6 wood ears and 5 green onions (didn't use these)
2 cloves garlic fresh gingerroot
1/4 c water
3 T soy sauce
2 t sugar
2 t cornstarch
1 t rice wine vinegar
1/4 t whole black peppers, crushed (didn't use this)
1 T oil
1 t Oriental chili paste - this stuff is hot - 1 t is the right amount - no more!
Cut up the pork as desired and marinate in 1 T of the rice wine or sherry and 1 T soy sauce at room temp for 30 min. Mince garlic and grate 2 tsp ginger, set aside. Whisk together remaining rice wine or sherry, water, 3 T soy, sugar, cornstarch, add'l rice wine, and pepper - set aside. In wok or large skillet, heat oil on high and stirfry garlic, ginger and chili paste for about 30 seconds. Add sliced green onions if using. Remove all from pan. Add half of the pork to the wok and stirfy till no pink shows. Remove from pan and stirfry remaining pork. Add other pork back in and push from the center of the pan. Stir sauce and add to center of pan. Put everything back in (including the matchstick carrots that you forgot like I did)...stir for a few seconds till all is coated with sauce. Serve over rice.

The proportions of the ingredients seemed just right to us - this was DELICIOUS and we'll definitely make it again. We will make twice the sauce next time.

So we used up the pork chop, almost half our remaining rice, some more carrots, and threw in the bamboo shoots and water chestnuts that I found in the pantry. Funny thing is that I skipped over some recipes that called for black bean paste, hoisin sauce and plum sauce. Guess what 3 items I found on the refrigerator shelf??? You guessed it. I'll check them out for the next stirfry.

Meanwhile, I'm trying to think of creative ways to use all those potatoes. Will also enjoy the gorgeous weather we're having after all that wonderful rain. Have a great weekend, and I'll see you on Monday.