No canned mushroom soup, french fried onion topped green bean glop for me. My green bean bundles have gained wide acceptance among the in-laws as the way to have green beans at family gatherings. Even some of the kids are on board with these beans.
The trick to making them so delectable is what I've come to understand as the food trifecta: salt, fat and sugar. These aren't every day beans. They've been primped. They're special party beans.
Green Bean Bundles
3 cans whole green beans the first instance of salt $1.50
1 pound bacon salt + fat $3.49
1 stick of butter fat + salt 57 cents
1/2 cup brown sugar sugar 25 cents (?)
garlic powder to taste
Cut the bacon in half, lengthwise. Roll up 8-12 green beans in half a slice of bacon. Place seam side down in a 9 x 13 baking dish.
Bring the butter and sugar to a boil. Pour over the green beans.
Bake at 375 for 40-50 minutes.
Total: $5.81. This makes about 24 or so bundles. That would make each bundle 24 cents. Two make a good side dish size serving. Not totally cheap but more impressive and way tastier than green bean casserole.
_________________________________
Breakfast: Um, a tortilla with ham (free) and a slice of cheese with horseradish. Yeah. 38 cents Not counting the horseradish--it's medicinal.
Lunch: Enchilada 99 cents
Snack: Clementine and Granola Bar 56 cents
Dinner: Green Bean Bundles $1.68
Total: $3.61
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Monday, November 29, 2010
'Tis the Season
"Take a look at the five and ten/glistening once again/with candy canes and silver lanes aglow. It's beginning to look a lot like" sinusitis. Ah-ha...this isn't a sing-along post. It's a post about my head cavity problems.
Thanksgiving has past and Christmas will soon be upon us. That means it is time, once again, for my head to stop up, my eyes to get red and water, and my nose to start its incessant dripping.
The moment it began, I was onto it. Friday night. The throat starts to tighten on the left side. Phantom pressure floats from my nose to the space behind my right eye and them marches across my face. In the morning, my teeth hurt to brush them. Oh, sinusitis, how I've missed you.
In high school, I spent most of American Government asleep. It was not for the lack of entertainment to be had in class. My teacher was delightfully loud and kooky. My fellow classmates climbed out the window and talked about stockpiling guns in the basement of the Catholic church so they'd be ready to take over the world when the Pope gave the signal. It was delightful but I missed out on so much thanks to Dimetapp.
As I've grown older, I've become more averse to taking drugs, especially over-the-counter and prescription drugs. I mean, c'mon, where's the fun in that? Plus I don't think you're supposed to consume alcohol and what would I do without my bourbon? No really ;o notice the wink, normally my symptoms are gone in the same amount of time if I take something as if I don't take something. So why bother?
Well, did you know that your sinuses can become impacted and back up into your eyes and they you start oozing from your eyes? No? It's a pretty convincing sick-day excuse, especially when it starts happening at work and then you have to drive an hour home clutching a tissue to dab at you oozy eye. Even when it happens that week between Christmas and New Year's when no one wants to work and everyone thinks about faking sick--it's still really convincing. Not that that's happened to me before! ;o
This year I'm hoping to avoid looking like I've come down with a mutated version of eye Ebola. I'm trying to attack my tormentor early with some home remedies. Here's my top 10 list:
1. Cultivate a breath stench that would make a corpse flower wither up and die. So far, I've drank apple cider vinegar/garlic-infused hot water, I've eaten raw garlic (mixed with some tapenade to take the edge off) and I've eaten a weird mix of horseradish, olive oil and lemon juice. The apple cider vinegar is gross but I think the garlic makes it better somehow. I rather enjoyed the horseradish. I ate it on a saltine and kept looking for the raw oysters to go with it.
2. Make your husband think you're cooking something that smells good. I think I've pointed out before that my husband always thinks my cooking stinks. So today when I was heating water with pressed garlic to take the steam, he commented on how good it smelled. Let me get this straight, if Imma eat it, it stinks; if Imma make something that is purposely supposed to stink to open my sinuses, it smells good? I also cooked up some ginger water to make a hot compress for my face. (P.S. My microplane is worthless. Garage sale!) I'm also hoping for some unknown benefits for my pores.
3. You should have to run to the bathroom every 20 minutes. Word is, the more you drink, the thinner your mucous is. I use this as an excuse to buy the good flavored sparkling water. Also sage tea. Why sage? I don't know, but it doesn't suck so that's ok.
4. Steal your kid's vitamins. You should probably always steal your kid's vitamins. If they need vitamins, you should be feeding them better foods, anyway. Also, grape seed extract. Why are your kids buying weird supplements? Steal them, too.
5. Poke your eyes out. Sinus massage not only feels good, it is brings a fresh blood supply to the area. Plus, weird red marks all over your face. These will be helpful if you decide to leave work early. You'll look sicker.
6. Pour some salt on that wound? If you're like me, by this time, your nose is all chapped and raw. The last thing that sounds appealing is to snort saltwater or pour it in your nose-hole. But science disagrees with me. I haven't Neti-ed up yet.
7. Give up the good stuff. Dairy, Alcohol, Sugar. Life is no longer worth living.
8. Sleep. Ok, that makes it more bearable.
9. Exercise. Shoot! I just used this as an excuse not to exercise.
10. Carry around a handkerchief until you feel better. A red old man one. They're cheaper than tissues and you can use them to avoid unwanted human interactions. Don't want to talk to someone? Pull out your old man kerchief and start blowing your nose everywhere.
______________________________
Breakfast: Oatmeal, powdered milk, orange marmalade, blueberries
Lunch: Loaded Scalloped Potatoes
Snack: Clementine and granola bar
Dinner: Celery Fancy Snacks and Green bean bundles
Total: Oh, I don't know. I'm sick, give me a break.
Thanksgiving has past and Christmas will soon be upon us. That means it is time, once again, for my head to stop up, my eyes to get red and water, and my nose to start its incessant dripping.
The moment it began, I was onto it. Friday night. The throat starts to tighten on the left side. Phantom pressure floats from my nose to the space behind my right eye and them marches across my face. In the morning, my teeth hurt to brush them. Oh, sinusitis, how I've missed you.
In high school, I spent most of American Government asleep. It was not for the lack of entertainment to be had in class. My teacher was delightfully loud and kooky. My fellow classmates climbed out the window and talked about stockpiling guns in the basement of the Catholic church so they'd be ready to take over the world when the Pope gave the signal. It was delightful but I missed out on so much thanks to Dimetapp.
As I've grown older, I've become more averse to taking drugs, especially over-the-counter and prescription drugs. I mean, c'mon, where's the fun in that? Plus I don't think you're supposed to consume alcohol and what would I do without my bourbon? No really ;o notice the wink, normally my symptoms are gone in the same amount of time if I take something as if I don't take something. So why bother?
Well, did you know that your sinuses can become impacted and back up into your eyes and they you start oozing from your eyes? No? It's a pretty convincing sick-day excuse, especially when it starts happening at work and then you have to drive an hour home clutching a tissue to dab at you oozy eye. Even when it happens that week between Christmas and New Year's when no one wants to work and everyone thinks about faking sick--it's still really convincing. Not that that's happened to me before! ;o
This year I'm hoping to avoid looking like I've come down with a mutated version of eye Ebola. I'm trying to attack my tormentor early with some home remedies. Here's my top 10 list:
1. Cultivate a breath stench that would make a corpse flower wither up and die. So far, I've drank apple cider vinegar/garlic-infused hot water, I've eaten raw garlic (mixed with some tapenade to take the edge off) and I've eaten a weird mix of horseradish, olive oil and lemon juice. The apple cider vinegar is gross but I think the garlic makes it better somehow. I rather enjoyed the horseradish. I ate it on a saltine and kept looking for the raw oysters to go with it.
2. Make your husband think you're cooking something that smells good. I think I've pointed out before that my husband always thinks my cooking stinks. So today when I was heating water with pressed garlic to take the steam, he commented on how good it smelled. Let me get this straight, if Imma eat it, it stinks; if Imma make something that is purposely supposed to stink to open my sinuses, it smells good? I also cooked up some ginger water to make a hot compress for my face. (P.S. My microplane is worthless. Garage sale!) I'm also hoping for some unknown benefits for my pores.
3. You should have to run to the bathroom every 20 minutes. Word is, the more you drink, the thinner your mucous is. I use this as an excuse to buy the good flavored sparkling water. Also sage tea. Why sage? I don't know, but it doesn't suck so that's ok.
4. Steal your kid's vitamins. You should probably always steal your kid's vitamins. If they need vitamins, you should be feeding them better foods, anyway. Also, grape seed extract. Why are your kids buying weird supplements? Steal them, too.
5. Poke your eyes out. Sinus massage not only feels good, it is brings a fresh blood supply to the area. Plus, weird red marks all over your face. These will be helpful if you decide to leave work early. You'll look sicker.
6. Pour some salt on that wound? If you're like me, by this time, your nose is all chapped and raw. The last thing that sounds appealing is to snort saltwater or pour it in your nose-hole. But science disagrees with me. I haven't Neti-ed up yet.
7. Give up the good stuff. Dairy, Alcohol, Sugar. Life is no longer worth living.
8. Sleep. Ok, that makes it more bearable.
9. Exercise. Shoot! I just used this as an excuse not to exercise.
10. Carry around a handkerchief until you feel better. A red old man one. They're cheaper than tissues and you can use them to avoid unwanted human interactions. Don't want to talk to someone? Pull out your old man kerchief and start blowing your nose everywhere.
______________________________
Breakfast: Oatmeal, powdered milk, orange marmalade, blueberries
Lunch: Loaded Scalloped Potatoes
Snack: Clementine and granola bar
Dinner: Celery Fancy Snacks and Green bean bundles
Total: Oh, I don't know. I'm sick, give me a break.
Friday, November 26, 2010
Black Friday
Although you may expect that I planned my stops for the wee small hours of the morning to buy the latest toys, electronics, blue-rays, and fuzzy slippers at a steep discount in a big box store because we have less money to spend than we did last year, I did not. Here are the reasons why:
1. Shopping makes me sick. In high school, I used to get really dizzy and gross feeling if we spent too much time in the mall. I am allergic to it. I actually had a name for it: "mall sickness." The only cure is a cherry limeade and maybe a big soft pretzel.
2. I've passed out in a Wal-Mart before and have no desire to do it again in an inopportune time and get trampled.
3. I have experienced a raging case of people-induced claustrophobia before. I get worked up if all I can see around me is people and they're all up in my personal space.
4. On a normal day, I have little patience for people who are blocking the aisle with their carts or talking loudly to their shopping party or behaving badly in general, especially while shopping. It makes me wonder why I quit smoking. (Hint: it had something to do with passing out in Wal-Mart.)
5. I don't enjoy partaking in mob mentality. If I want to be involved in a spectacle on Thanksgiving night, I'll go watch Christmas lights being turned on somewhere.
As much as I enjoy a bargain, I would never go shopping on Black Friday. In fact, I've been cultivating a plan to avoid holiday shopping altogether. I, for one, love giving the impersonal present of a gift card. I like getting them, too. I don't need someone all up in my business, trying to think about what I would like. I also don't want to bother someone to make me a list. And besides, the gift card is the classy version of a wad of cash.
My avoid-holiday-shopping plan involves saving all year...by shopping all year. I use my credit card for every single purchase I make, trying to rack up the rewards points. Then when Christmas rolls around, I thoughtfully sit down at my computer and think long and hard about which store (that has a gift card offer through my credit card) my family members would like to shop at most. Then I push a couple of buttons and voila! Christmas shopping is done.
And everyone is happy. My father-in-law can buy bullets and long underwear at the outdoor store, father can buy drill bits and wildflower seeds at the home improvement store, my niece can make her own stuffed toy and my nephew can have an excuse to browse for hours in the book store before finally making his selection. Shopping for yourself at your leisure is a fun experience. Standing outside of a box store for two hours at 1 AM to try to be the first in line in the hopes that you can get one of the four laptop computers in the entire store is not fun. Just thinking about it makes me dizzy. I'd better quit before I have to make a late night run for a cherry limeade.
1. Shopping makes me sick. In high school, I used to get really dizzy and gross feeling if we spent too much time in the mall. I am allergic to it. I actually had a name for it: "mall sickness." The only cure is a cherry limeade and maybe a big soft pretzel.
2. I've passed out in a Wal-Mart before and have no desire to do it again in an inopportune time and get trampled.
3. I have experienced a raging case of people-induced claustrophobia before. I get worked up if all I can see around me is people and they're all up in my personal space.
4. On a normal day, I have little patience for people who are blocking the aisle with their carts or talking loudly to their shopping party or behaving badly in general, especially while shopping. It makes me wonder why I quit smoking. (Hint: it had something to do with passing out in Wal-Mart.)
5. I don't enjoy partaking in mob mentality. If I want to be involved in a spectacle on Thanksgiving night, I'll go watch Christmas lights being turned on somewhere.
As much as I enjoy a bargain, I would never go shopping on Black Friday. In fact, I've been cultivating a plan to avoid holiday shopping altogether. I, for one, love giving the impersonal present of a gift card. I like getting them, too. I don't need someone all up in my business, trying to think about what I would like. I also don't want to bother someone to make me a list. And besides, the gift card is the classy version of a wad of cash.
My avoid-holiday-shopping plan involves saving all year...by shopping all year. I use my credit card for every single purchase I make, trying to rack up the rewards points. Then when Christmas rolls around, I thoughtfully sit down at my computer and think long and hard about which store (that has a gift card offer through my credit card) my family members would like to shop at most. Then I push a couple of buttons and voila! Christmas shopping is done.
And everyone is happy. My father-in-law can buy bullets and long underwear at the outdoor store, father can buy drill bits and wildflower seeds at the home improvement store, my niece can make her own stuffed toy and my nephew can have an excuse to browse for hours in the book store before finally making his selection. Shopping for yourself at your leisure is a fun experience. Standing outside of a box store for two hours at 1 AM to try to be the first in line in the hopes that you can get one of the four laptop computers in the entire store is not fun. Just thinking about it makes me dizzy. I'd better quit before I have to make a late night run for a cherry limeade.
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Poor Man Fancy Snacks
Happy Thanksgiving! It's the official start of the holiday season. And you know what that means...lots of people coming in and out of your house or you going in and out of a lot of other people's houses. You don't want to be seem an ungracious host or guest. So take some snacks!
I love snacks. Who doesn't? I think every day is snack-worthy, but some people reserve snacks for special occasions. Nothing is more special than the holidays. So you can't just be like, "Ya want some chips?" You should serve fancy snacks. And because I Can't Afford It, and maybe you can't either, try some Poor Man Fancy Snacks.
My favorite category of Poor Man Fancy Snacks is "You c'n put it on a Saltine." (Note: Today everything that is written in quotes has an accent when I say it in my head. Think NASCAR and Busch Light before noon--all in all, a pretty good life. But not cooking meth and losing teeth--those people wouldn't appreciate fancy snacks. They'll be happy with a bag of chips and a bowl of Skittles.) If you happen to be more flush with cash, you can also put these things on fancier crackers, or those little bread slices. You can even put them on vegetables!
Today's "You c'n put it on a Saltine" snack was inspired by black olive tapenade and Laughing Cow cheese. I liked to put this on my celery, but then I ran out of it.
Here's how it happened: Saturday, "as I was gittin' the mustard for my corn dog" I noticed a forlorn half jar of green olives. Then I remembered that I had a few roasted red peppers in oil left in a jar in the back of the fridge. Then the wheels in my head started turning. And ladies and gent, I present to you:
Green Olive and Red Pepper Tapenade
1/2 jar green olives, liquid drained off
1/4 - 1/3 jar of roasted red peppers in oil
couple peeled garlic cloves
Throw it all in the food processor. Dump it back in one of the jars to store. Fin
I don't know how much this costs. Maybe 70 cents for a cheap 1/2 jar of olives. Maybe the roasted red peppers were $1.33. And the garlic was like 10 cents. So $2.13 total? And I probably have 10-20 servings in there so about 20ish cents per serving? The good thing about this is that you can use up things you buy for one recipe but end up with leftovers you don't know what to do with--you can use green olives, black olives, capers, roasted red peppers, anything that is in a salty-briny solution, plus something olive oil-y (or just add some olive oil to the food processor). I think garlic or a little bit of onion is a good addition.
I like this on a cracker or a crispy vegetable--celery, thick slices of cucumber, etc--with a shmear of cheese. Laughing Cow is great but regular cream cheese works.
And there you have it, your first installment of Poor Man Fancy Snacks--You C'n Put It on a Saltine. I look forward to trying out/making up more Poor Man Fancy Snack recipes in the future. My mom's old Betty Crocker cookbook from the early 1970s is rife with inspiration. I'll have to figure out what to substitute for the MSG some recipes call for, though.
_______________________________
I'm visiting family for Thanksgiving so I scheduled this to post. I don't know what I'm eating today, but most of it will be absolutely free. Time to camel up!
I love snacks. Who doesn't? I think every day is snack-worthy, but some people reserve snacks for special occasions. Nothing is more special than the holidays. So you can't just be like, "Ya want some chips?" You should serve fancy snacks. And because I Can't Afford It, and maybe you can't either, try some Poor Man Fancy Snacks.
My favorite category of Poor Man Fancy Snacks is "You c'n put it on a Saltine." (Note: Today everything that is written in quotes has an accent when I say it in my head. Think NASCAR and Busch Light before noon--all in all, a pretty good life. But not cooking meth and losing teeth--those people wouldn't appreciate fancy snacks. They'll be happy with a bag of chips and a bowl of Skittles.) If you happen to be more flush with cash, you can also put these things on fancier crackers, or those little bread slices. You can even put them on vegetables!
Today's "You c'n put it on a Saltine" snack was inspired by black olive tapenade and Laughing Cow cheese. I liked to put this on my celery, but then I ran out of it.
Here's how it happened: Saturday, "as I was gittin' the mustard for my corn dog" I noticed a forlorn half jar of green olives. Then I remembered that I had a few roasted red peppers in oil left in a jar in the back of the fridge. Then the wheels in my head started turning. And ladies and gent, I present to you:
Green Olive and Red Pepper Tapenade
1/2 jar green olives, liquid drained off
1/4 - 1/3 jar of roasted red peppers in oil
couple peeled garlic cloves
Throw it all in the food processor. Dump it back in one of the jars to store. Fin
I don't know how much this costs. Maybe 70 cents for a cheap 1/2 jar of olives. Maybe the roasted red peppers were $1.33. And the garlic was like 10 cents. So $2.13 total? And I probably have 10-20 servings in there so about 20ish cents per serving? The good thing about this is that you can use up things you buy for one recipe but end up with leftovers you don't know what to do with--you can use green olives, black olives, capers, roasted red peppers, anything that is in a salty-briny solution, plus something olive oil-y (or just add some olive oil to the food processor). I think garlic or a little bit of onion is a good addition.
I like this on a cracker or a crispy vegetable--celery, thick slices of cucumber, etc--with a shmear of cheese. Laughing Cow is great but regular cream cheese works.
And there you have it, your first installment of Poor Man Fancy Snacks--You C'n Put It on a Saltine. I look forward to trying out/making up more Poor Man Fancy Snack recipes in the future. My mom's old Betty Crocker cookbook from the early 1970s is rife with inspiration. I'll have to figure out what to substitute for the MSG some recipes call for, though.
_______________________________
I'm visiting family for Thanksgiving so I scheduled this to post. I don't know what I'm eating today, but most of it will be absolutely free. Time to camel up!
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
I'm Declaring Every Day Thanksgiving
I had a different blog post half-written for today, but something happened at work that got me thinking thinking thoughts. It all started innocently enough, with the only man in my office sharing via email a somewhat humorous advertisement for the JC Penney's jewelry counter.
My boss responded, with a "funny" story about how one time her husband got her a vacuum cleaner for Christmas and a toaster for her wedding anniversary. Sometimes it's just better to get nothing at all! Now let's all lol!
Except I wasn't feeling very lol-y. One of my co-workers responded, in a self-deprecating way, that she would welcome the gift of a vacuum cleaner. I didn't respond at all. If I had, it would have been something like, "Oh, yes, that is so funny. I hate it when someone spends over $200 on something that I need and would use, thereby saving me from having to spend that money. I'm so glad my husband doesn't have a job so he can't get me something expensive like a vacuum cleaner. This commercial is so right on!"
The more I thought about it, the more lathered up I got. I'd heard this story once before from the boss. That time, it was prefaced with, "We don't buy each other gifts anymore. If we want something, we just go out and get it ourselves." Well, isn't that a nice thing to do WHEN YOU HAVE THE MONEY TO GO BUY WHATEVER YOU DAMN WELL PLEASE.
Sidebar: I'm trying very hard not to virtually burn my boss in effigy in this blog post. Let me just put it this way, have you ever read GOOP, you know Gwyneth Paltrow's lifestyle blog where she's all, "My friend Mario Batali says you should only eat mushrooms from northern Italy that have been discovered by midgets who can find them better because they're closer to the ground. At $500 per ounce, these are a bargain!" and "I think everyone should have their own personal uniform. It makes it easier to start your day when you know your style can take you from dropping the offspring of myself and singer-songwriter Chris Martin off at school to a lunch meeting with movie producer and my godfather, Steven Spielberg, at The Connaught Bar to a night out with my very good friend Vince Gill after we sing together onstage at the Country Music Awards. I put mine uniform together with the help of my good friend and fashion designer Stella McCartney." Like she hasn't even imagined that some people can't afford a Christmas get-away to Puerta Vallarta, much less being able to dine in the best restaurants once you're there? On a less ostentatious scale, that is my boss.
Sidebar #2: I also was thinking about how we are so politically correct about everything. Maybe we should all stop and think about being a little more politically correct about money. I mean, if I were to go deaf tomorrow, I hope my boss wouldn't try to share a CD of an amazing Christmas cantata. You know, this is the lady to whom I had to confess that we wouldn't be able to afford to put my husband on my health insurance plan. I didn't say, "We just like to gamble," I said, "We just can't afford it." It's not like she doesn't know. But I'm probably just being too sensitive...
Once I got over being bitter about it, I started thinking about how that commercial paints us, as wives, as husbands, as white middle-class, as Americans. It is pretty awful, if you think about it. The man thinks he can purchase something to make the woman's life easier--a flawed premise, if you ask me. The woman is so ungrateful that she throws the man in prison. Wow, how many people out there would love, love to be able to afford a fancy vacuum cleaner, or any vacuum cleaner at all, or the house to use it in?
So I'm putting my foot down. I may not be able to get this through Congress, but I can get this through to the what four? of you that read my blog regularly. Thanksgiving may very well be the best American invention ever. It deserves better than the fourth Thursday of November. It deserves better than turkey and dressing (and the good macaroni & cheese--you know who you are!). Thanksgiving should be every day. We should reflect on all the many, many, many blessings we have not just on one day, but on every day. If we can't be bothered to marvel at our own good fortune and give thanks for it, we all deserve to be in the dog house.
_____________________
Breakfast: Oatmeal and free blueberries (Thanks, Mom, for your hard work in picking and preparing those berries and for sharing them with me.) 11 cents
Snack: Granola bar (I'm very thankful to Smitten Kitchen for sharing the recipe for these granola bars with the internet.) 21 cents
Lunch: Enchilada (How blessed I am to be able to just stop by the grocery store on my way home from work to pick up what I need to make enchiladas for dinner any night I want!) 99 cents
Dinner: Massive Amounts of Junk (I may not be able to afford much, but if I feel the desire to go to the grocery store for some stress-eating foods, I am thankful that I can blast my food budget out of the water and get whatever junky stuff sounds good.) I ate some chocolate covered peanut butter sandwiches that cost about $1.40 and a hot pocket that cost $1.25 and some jalapeno popper things that were about $1.50.
Total: $5.45
And I'm thankful that I have great friends who read this blog, not because I'm the picture of virtue and perpetually upbeat, but because I'm bound to fail occasionally, get down about it, and pick myself up. We all do it. That's just what makes us interesting.
So, a day early and every day after, what are you thankful for?
My boss responded, with a "funny" story about how one time her husband got her a vacuum cleaner for Christmas and a toaster for her wedding anniversary. Sometimes it's just better to get nothing at all! Now let's all lol!
Except I wasn't feeling very lol-y. One of my co-workers responded, in a self-deprecating way, that she would welcome the gift of a vacuum cleaner. I didn't respond at all. If I had, it would have been something like, "Oh, yes, that is so funny. I hate it when someone spends over $200 on something that I need and would use, thereby saving me from having to spend that money. I'm so glad my husband doesn't have a job so he can't get me something expensive like a vacuum cleaner. This commercial is so right on!"
The more I thought about it, the more lathered up I got. I'd heard this story once before from the boss. That time, it was prefaced with, "We don't buy each other gifts anymore. If we want something, we just go out and get it ourselves." Well, isn't that a nice thing to do WHEN YOU HAVE THE MONEY TO GO BUY WHATEVER YOU DAMN WELL PLEASE.
Sidebar: I'm trying very hard not to virtually burn my boss in effigy in this blog post. Let me just put it this way, have you ever read GOOP, you know Gwyneth Paltrow's lifestyle blog where she's all, "My friend Mario Batali says you should only eat mushrooms from northern Italy that have been discovered by midgets who can find them better because they're closer to the ground. At $500 per ounce, these are a bargain!" and "I think everyone should have their own personal uniform. It makes it easier to start your day when you know your style can take you from dropping the offspring of myself and singer-songwriter Chris Martin off at school to a lunch meeting with movie producer and my godfather, Steven Spielberg, at The Connaught Bar to a night out with my very good friend Vince Gill after we sing together onstage at the Country Music Awards. I put mine uniform together with the help of my good friend and fashion designer Stella McCartney." Like she hasn't even imagined that some people can't afford a Christmas get-away to Puerta Vallarta, much less being able to dine in the best restaurants once you're there? On a less ostentatious scale, that is my boss.
Sidebar #2: I also was thinking about how we are so politically correct about everything. Maybe we should all stop and think about being a little more politically correct about money. I mean, if I were to go deaf tomorrow, I hope my boss wouldn't try to share a CD of an amazing Christmas cantata. You know, this is the lady to whom I had to confess that we wouldn't be able to afford to put my husband on my health insurance plan. I didn't say, "We just like to gamble," I said, "We just can't afford it." It's not like she doesn't know. But I'm probably just being too sensitive...
Once I got over being bitter about it, I started thinking about how that commercial paints us, as wives, as husbands, as white middle-class, as Americans. It is pretty awful, if you think about it. The man thinks he can purchase something to make the woman's life easier--a flawed premise, if you ask me. The woman is so ungrateful that she throws the man in prison. Wow, how many people out there would love, love to be able to afford a fancy vacuum cleaner, or any vacuum cleaner at all, or the house to use it in?
So I'm putting my foot down. I may not be able to get this through Congress, but I can get this through to the what four? of you that read my blog regularly. Thanksgiving may very well be the best American invention ever. It deserves better than the fourth Thursday of November. It deserves better than turkey and dressing (and the good macaroni & cheese--you know who you are!). Thanksgiving should be every day. We should reflect on all the many, many, many blessings we have not just on one day, but on every day. If we can't be bothered to marvel at our own good fortune and give thanks for it, we all deserve to be in the dog house.
_____________________
Breakfast: Oatmeal and free blueberries (Thanks, Mom, for your hard work in picking and preparing those berries and for sharing them with me.) 11 cents
Snack: Granola bar (I'm very thankful to Smitten Kitchen for sharing the recipe for these granola bars with the internet.) 21 cents
Lunch: Enchilada (How blessed I am to be able to just stop by the grocery store on my way home from work to pick up what I need to make enchiladas for dinner any night I want!) 99 cents
Dinner: Massive Amounts of Junk (I may not be able to afford much, but if I feel the desire to go to the grocery store for some stress-eating foods, I am thankful that I can blast my food budget out of the water and get whatever junky stuff sounds good.) I ate some chocolate covered peanut butter sandwiches that cost about $1.40 and a hot pocket that cost $1.25 and some jalapeno popper things that were about $1.50.
Total: $5.45
And I'm thankful that I have great friends who read this blog, not because I'm the picture of virtue and perpetually upbeat, but because I'm bound to fail occasionally, get down about it, and pick myself up. We all do it. That's just what makes us interesting.
So, a day early and every day after, what are you thankful for?
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Chicken Pot Pie
Did you ever watch the TV show Just Shoot Me? Whenever I think of chicken pot pie, I can't help but sing it in my head, like David Cross. It also makes me think of William Hickey when he was on Wings but I can't figure out why.
I've never made a chicken pot pie from scratch before. We used to have those pre-made frozen ones from the grocery store. I hated them as a kid. But I got a little nostalgic for them in college and had them every once in a while.
I made this on Sunday. I didn't really have a recipe, I just kinda winged it. I intended to have leftovers that would get us through until Thanksgiving. Then we invited my in-laws to join us for dinner. I figured at least I'd have something to take for lunch this week. Well, the chicken pot pie was gone by yesterday's lunch. I underestimated its appeal. I think my husband would have eaten the whole thing by himself.
This was really good. I dug in for seconds just because I was afraid there wouldn't be any left to enjoy. Then Monday, by the time lunch rolled around, I was so ready to dig into the pot pie. There wasn't really much pie crust left, but it was still very tasty.
Chicken Pot Pie
1Tbsp and 2 tsp oil, 3 cent
1 pre-made pie crust $1
Chicken from a leg quarter, cooked and cut up 75 cents
1 cup chicken stock free
1/2 leek, chopped 50 cents
2 carrots, chopped I dunno, 30 cents?
2 stalks celery, chopped 8 cents
1/2 pound green beans, bite-size pieces 50 cents
1 cup frozen peas, thawed, 42 cents
2 cloves garlic, minced 10 cents
chicken gravy this cost, like maybe 12 cents?
1/2 egg, beaten, 4 cents
So here's what I did. First, I heated up 1 tablespoon of oil. I had 3 leg quarters that I pulled the skin and most of the visible fat off and I browned (both sides) it in the oil. Then I threw in the chicken stock and let the chicken cook until it was done.
Meanwhile, I cooked the celery, onion, carrots and garlic in the 2 teaspoons of oil. Also I thawed out the peas (and green beans).
When the chicken was done, I took it out of the pan. I threw in some chicken gravy I had made earlier. We didn't eat much of it, so I put it in the freezer. Basically, chicken gravy is just the oil/fat/broth that the chicken was cooked in, plus whatever you want to season it with (Mine had salt, pepper, and marjoram.), plus some milk mixed with some cornstarch. I used powdered milk in my chicken gravy. Keep stirring it until it thickens.
While the gravy was cooking, I pulled the meat off the leg quarters. I cut it all up. I kept the meat from one quarter for the pot pie and put the other meat in two zipper bags in the freezer. (This is a pretty great meal helper. On the way home today, I stopped off at the grocery store and bought enchilada sauce and green chilies. I knew I had everything else to mix up some chicken enchiladas quickly because of the freezer chicken.)
Then mix up all the stuff and put it in a round 2 1/2 quart dish. Put the pie crust on top, brush it with the egg to make it shiny. (Yeah, I saved the other half of the egg for a breakfast sandwich. I can't believe you couldn't figure that out. It's like you don't even know me!)
Then bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes.
Total: $3.84
This is probably about six to eight servings. 64 cents
And you know what the best part is? Making people sing this all day.
________________________________________
Breakfast: Oatmeal and orange marmalade with clementines 60 cents
Snack: Banana 11 cents
Lunch: Miner's Casserole 54 cents
Snack: Granola Bar 21 cents
Pre-Dinner Dinner: Celery and Cream Cheese-Tapenade 43 cents
Dinner: Chicken Enchilada 99 cents
Total: $2.88
I've never made a chicken pot pie from scratch before. We used to have those pre-made frozen ones from the grocery store. I hated them as a kid. But I got a little nostalgic for them in college and had them every once in a while.
I made this on Sunday. I didn't really have a recipe, I just kinda winged it. I intended to have leftovers that would get us through until Thanksgiving. Then we invited my in-laws to join us for dinner. I figured at least I'd have something to take for lunch this week. Well, the chicken pot pie was gone by yesterday's lunch. I underestimated its appeal. I think my husband would have eaten the whole thing by himself.
This was really good. I dug in for seconds just because I was afraid there wouldn't be any left to enjoy. Then Monday, by the time lunch rolled around, I was so ready to dig into the pot pie. There wasn't really much pie crust left, but it was still very tasty.
Chicken Pot Pie
1Tbsp and 2 tsp oil, 3 cent
1 pre-made pie crust $1
Chicken from a leg quarter, cooked and cut up 75 cents
1 cup chicken stock free
1/2 leek, chopped 50 cents
2 carrots, chopped I dunno, 30 cents?
2 stalks celery, chopped 8 cents
1/2 pound green beans, bite-size pieces 50 cents
1 cup frozen peas, thawed, 42 cents
2 cloves garlic, minced 10 cents
chicken gravy this cost, like maybe 12 cents?
1/2 egg, beaten, 4 cents
So here's what I did. First, I heated up 1 tablespoon of oil. I had 3 leg quarters that I pulled the skin and most of the visible fat off and I browned (both sides) it in the oil. Then I threw in the chicken stock and let the chicken cook until it was done.
Meanwhile, I cooked the celery, onion, carrots and garlic in the 2 teaspoons of oil. Also I thawed out the peas (and green beans).
When the chicken was done, I took it out of the pan. I threw in some chicken gravy I had made earlier. We didn't eat much of it, so I put it in the freezer. Basically, chicken gravy is just the oil/fat/broth that the chicken was cooked in, plus whatever you want to season it with (Mine had salt, pepper, and marjoram.), plus some milk mixed with some cornstarch. I used powdered milk in my chicken gravy. Keep stirring it until it thickens.
While the gravy was cooking, I pulled the meat off the leg quarters. I cut it all up. I kept the meat from one quarter for the pot pie and put the other meat in two zipper bags in the freezer. (This is a pretty great meal helper. On the way home today, I stopped off at the grocery store and bought enchilada sauce and green chilies. I knew I had everything else to mix up some chicken enchiladas quickly because of the freezer chicken.)
Then mix up all the stuff and put it in a round 2 1/2 quart dish. Put the pie crust on top, brush it with the egg to make it shiny. (Yeah, I saved the other half of the egg for a breakfast sandwich. I can't believe you couldn't figure that out. It's like you don't even know me!)
Then bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes.
Total: $3.84
This is probably about six to eight servings. 64 cents
And you know what the best part is? Making people sing this all day.
________________________________________
Breakfast: Oatmeal and orange marmalade with clementines 60 cents
Snack: Banana 11 cents
Lunch: Miner's Casserole 54 cents
Snack: Granola Bar 21 cents
Pre-Dinner Dinner: Celery and Cream Cheese-Tapenade 43 cents
Dinner: Chicken Enchilada 99 cents
Total: $2.88
Monday, November 22, 2010
Unexpected Benefits of a Shorter Work Week
It wasn't until my first Friday at home that I started to realize that other savings, besides just gas, tolls and wear & tear on my car, are to be had from a shorter work week. Here is what else I came up with:
1. I don't have to take a shower. Savings: Water, Gas, Soap
2. I can wear my after-school-clothes that I've been wearing after work all week. Savings: Water, Laundry soap, Being able to wear my black pants for another six years before they fall apart.
3. I can avoid temptation from the million coffee shops within three blocks of my office and the danged Honor Snack box. Why does a single serving bag of Cheetos ever cost a dollar? Why didn't I think to extort someone like that?
4. I don't have to put on make-up. Do you throw your mascara out every three months? In theory, I get it, but it also seems like a good way to sell more mascara.
5. I don't have to fix my hair. Savings: Electricity, hair product, sanity
6. I can turn off all the lights and other energy using devices that my husband leaves on. I can also sneakily turn down the thermostat. Savings: Breath I would waste on fruitless nagging.
I'm sure there are many other benefits to this new arrangement and I can't wait to find more of them.
______________________
Breakfast: Oatmeal with peaches 13 cents
Snack: Granola Bar 21 cents
Lunch: Chicken Pot Pie 64 cents
Snack: Clementines and Celery with Cream Cheese and Tapenade $1.13
Dinner: Grilled Cheese with Turkey 81 cents
Total: $2.92
1. I don't have to take a shower. Savings: Water, Gas, Soap
2. I can wear my after-school-clothes that I've been wearing after work all week. Savings: Water, Laundry soap, Being able to wear my black pants for another six years before they fall apart.
3. I can avoid temptation from the million coffee shops within three blocks of my office and the danged Honor Snack box. Why does a single serving bag of Cheetos ever cost a dollar? Why didn't I think to extort someone like that?
4. I don't have to put on make-up. Do you throw your mascara out every three months? In theory, I get it, but it also seems like a good way to sell more mascara.
5. I don't have to fix my hair. Savings: Electricity, hair product, sanity
6. I can turn off all the lights and other energy using devices that my husband leaves on. I can also sneakily turn down the thermostat. Savings: Breath I would waste on fruitless nagging.
I'm sure there are many other benefits to this new arrangement and I can't wait to find more of them.
______________________
Breakfast: Oatmeal with peaches 13 cents
Snack: Granola Bar 21 cents
Lunch: Chicken Pot Pie 64 cents
Snack: Clementines and Celery with Cream Cheese and Tapenade $1.13
Dinner: Grilled Cheese with Turkey 81 cents
Total: $2.92
Sunday, November 21, 2010
This Week's Lessons
So what did we learn this week?
1. And, of course, gas prices went down again. As not predicted. Because then I wouldn't have gone on about it in this post.
2. We finished this already. It's delicious!
3. My mom tells me that she used to cut her own hair. With just two mirrors and a scissors. And my dad's help, until he messed up--on purpose.
4. Do not drink and cook and blog. Even with the mistake, the husband is well on his way to eating all this. And he liked how it smelled!
5. What's my line? In case figuring out how to be married isn't difficult enough on its own...
6. I may have paid $7 for popcorn, but at least my drink order isn't pink.
_______________
Breakfast: English Muffin with butter and orange marmalade 28 cents
Second breakfast: tortilla, peanut butter, banana, bacon 67 cents
Snack: granola bar 21 cents
Lunch: miner's casserole 74 cents
Snack: banana muffin 5 cents
Dinner: chicken pot pie and banana muffin 69 cents
Total: $2.64
That's a lot of food. I'm stuffed!
1. And, of course, gas prices went down again. As not predicted. Because then I wouldn't have gone on about it in this post.
2. We finished this already. It's delicious!
3. My mom tells me that she used to cut her own hair. With just two mirrors and a scissors. And my dad's help, until he messed up--on purpose.
4. Do not drink and cook and blog. Even with the mistake, the husband is well on his way to eating all this. And he liked how it smelled!
5. What's my line? In case figuring out how to be married isn't difficult enough on its own...
6. I may have paid $7 for popcorn, but at least my drink order isn't pink.
_______________
Breakfast: English Muffin with butter and orange marmalade 28 cents
Second breakfast: tortilla, peanut butter, banana, bacon 67 cents
Snack: granola bar 21 cents
Lunch: miner's casserole 74 cents
Snack: banana muffin 5 cents
Dinner: chicken pot pie and banana muffin 69 cents
Total: $2.64
That's a lot of food. I'm stuffed!
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Waste Not
This week it looks like the forgotten food was 1/2 cooked sweet potato. I meant, I'm sure, to have this for breakfast, cooked with a banana. That didn't happen and so, to the trash it goes. In terms of throwing money away, technically I didn't because the sweet potatoes were free. But if you consider that I ate something else instead of the sweet potato, I did waste a few cents.
Here are my two loss prevention strategies:
1) Making a list. This helps me to remember what is in the fridge, going bad, that needs to be eaten. Keeping stuff in the see-through plastic containers is also a helpful reminder to keep edible things out of the trash or the compost pile.
2) Get up earlier or get ready at night. Any day this week, I could have enjoyed sweet potatoes and bananas for breakfast, I just didn't get out of bed early enough and I didn't plan ahead. Usually getting my breakfast and lunch ready the night before is the best fit for me. That way I don't have to think in the morning, I can just grab it and hit the road.
There were some other "waste not" successes this week. We're getting ready to move at work and Whatever uncovered a bunch of stuff we don't need to move and store. It's good and perfectly usable stuff that would have gone to the trash can. I'm bringing some of it home. I'll either use it here or put it in our next garage sale and hopefully bring in a few cents.
In terms of cash wasting, I'm totally guilty this week.
Exhibit A: I bought coffee at the gas station on Tuesday. My defense: I didn't have time to make it at home and had a 12 hour day of work ahead of me. Verdict: Guilty
Exhibit B: I bought $7 popcorn at the movie theater even though I just ate. Plea: Guilty
Exhibit C: I bought a $1 Reeses from the Honor Snacks on Thursday. It was gross, even. Plea: Stupidity.
And now for a contentious "waste not" failure. Yesterday after the recycling run, the husband decided he needed a fancy coffee drink from McDonald's. This is how he wants all his drinks, fancy and frou-frou. I offered to make him one at home but he said he wanted caramel in it. Note: He ordered a regular mocha--no caramel. It cost $3 and he didn't have any cash on him. So guess who paid. I was resentful but I tried to refrain from pointing out that I've eaten for a whole day for less money. Additionally, I had wasted a little over $9 this week myself. I felt pretty smug when he admitted that it was the worst coffee drink he had in a while. I doubt he's learned his lesson, but I will remind him of this vignette to avoid future $3 coffee drinks.
Sidebar: I think men are more comfortable ordering a pink cocktail with an umbrella or a frothy, foamy, sugary, flavored, milky coffee than they used to be. If I stop at the gas station for a coffee--which is few and far between--, I always have to wait for the man in front of me filling up his cup at the cappuccino machine before I can get the regular swill. The husband's theory is that men have "evolved" over time to the point that they can admit they like to drink things that taste good. He, however, can't understand how I can drink bourbon and enjoy it. I just like it--and I have since I'm a kid.
________________________
Breakfast: oatmeal and peaches free peaches! 13 cents
Snack: granola bar 21 cents
Lunch: I had to do a talky thing for work so lunch was free and so was the husband's! It's like I'm making money--I don't mean by working, that's a "labor of love."
Dinner: Popcorn. Like 15 cents with butter, maybe?
Total: 49 cents
Here are my two loss prevention strategies:
1) Making a list. This helps me to remember what is in the fridge, going bad, that needs to be eaten. Keeping stuff in the see-through plastic containers is also a helpful reminder to keep edible things out of the trash or the compost pile.
2) Get up earlier or get ready at night. Any day this week, I could have enjoyed sweet potatoes and bananas for breakfast, I just didn't get out of bed early enough and I didn't plan ahead. Usually getting my breakfast and lunch ready the night before is the best fit for me. That way I don't have to think in the morning, I can just grab it and hit the road.
There were some other "waste not" successes this week. We're getting ready to move at work and Whatever uncovered a bunch of stuff we don't need to move and store. It's good and perfectly usable stuff that would have gone to the trash can. I'm bringing some of it home. I'll either use it here or put it in our next garage sale and hopefully bring in a few cents.
In terms of cash wasting, I'm totally guilty this week.
Exhibit A: I bought coffee at the gas station on Tuesday. My defense: I didn't have time to make it at home and had a 12 hour day of work ahead of me. Verdict: Guilty
Exhibit B: I bought $7 popcorn at the movie theater even though I just ate. Plea: Guilty
Exhibit C: I bought a $1 Reeses from the Honor Snacks on Thursday. It was gross, even. Plea: Stupidity.
And now for a contentious "waste not" failure. Yesterday after the recycling run, the husband decided he needed a fancy coffee drink from McDonald's. This is how he wants all his drinks, fancy and frou-frou. I offered to make him one at home but he said he wanted caramel in it. Note: He ordered a regular mocha--no caramel. It cost $3 and he didn't have any cash on him. So guess who paid. I was resentful but I tried to refrain from pointing out that I've eaten for a whole day for less money. Additionally, I had wasted a little over $9 this week myself. I felt pretty smug when he admitted that it was the worst coffee drink he had in a while. I doubt he's learned his lesson, but I will remind him of this vignette to avoid future $3 coffee drinks.
Sidebar: I think men are more comfortable ordering a pink cocktail with an umbrella or a frothy, foamy, sugary, flavored, milky coffee than they used to be. If I stop at the gas station for a coffee--which is few and far between--, I always have to wait for the man in front of me filling up his cup at the cappuccino machine before I can get the regular swill. The husband's theory is that men have "evolved" over time to the point that they can admit they like to drink things that taste good. He, however, can't understand how I can drink bourbon and enjoy it. I just like it--and I have since I'm a kid.
________________________
Breakfast: oatmeal and peaches free peaches! 13 cents
Snack: granola bar 21 cents
Lunch: I had to do a talky thing for work so lunch was free and so was the husband's! It's like I'm making money--I don't mean by working, that's a "labor of love."
Dinner: Popcorn. Like 15 cents with butter, maybe?
Total: 49 cents
Friday, November 19, 2010
Role Reversal
For much of my childhood, I lived in a one-income household. My mom rocked as a SAHM. I mean, she kept me in stitches--literally. (Except when she made me stand very still and try on a garment that was still pinned together.)
I had some friends whose moms worked. I was both envious of days spent with other kids at "the babysitter's" and confused as to why that was necessary at all. We weren't wealthy. We lived in a rural area in a small town and we did better than ok. We could afford Great American Roadtrips in a rented RV to see Great American Things every few years. Like many kids, we had more toys than we could play with in a day. Sure, I wore my brother's hand-me-downs and rode a brown boy's bike with a banana seat during my early bike riding years, but I kinda thought everyone did.
I don't know if this was the typical one-person-working-outside-the-home 1980s family life. It may have been a little Walton-y. Mom got up early and fixed breakfast. We all sat at the table together, said our prayers, and ate. We made our Halloween costumes ourselves and went 20 miles to Walmart to pick out a pattern and material for Christmas and Easter dresses. We picked strawberries and green beans and peas and corn and tomatoes and anything else that grew in the backyard garden. In the summer, Saturday morning cartoons were always accompanied by shelling peas or snapping green beans, the rest of the year, we folded laundry with the Smurfs and Snorkels. In the winter, we were sent downstairs to grab a jar of green beans or tomatoes or a pack of corn from the freezer. These came out of our garden in the summer and were put up by Mom and were a thousand times better than cans from the store. We knew how lucky we were when we spooned up hot, golden, sweet "real" corn for dinner. We didn't know that the few cents it saved helped us to have such great present bonanzas at Christmastime. Mom ran the house and Dad worked hard, bringing home the check and handing it over to the coupon clipper and sale shopper.
But times, they are a'changing. I know a lot of stay-at-home men, these days. Most have a woman wage-earner but not all. Our neighbor is a stay-at-home dad. Our friend has been out of work for over a year. My friend's ex and my other friend's boyfriend are both unemployed. And the husband. Likewise, the first rider of my boy's bike was out of work for a few weeks. All are or were out of work for different reason. Nonetheless, it's a scary economy and it seems to have hit the men I know harder than the women.
I'm sure it must be hard for the dudes. The husband has been through bouts of unemployment before but I think having a partner that does get up and go to work every day must make it harder. He's much more interested in what happened at my work. He wants to show me all his accomplishments when I get home. (And they are many and somewhat impressive.)
It is hard not to be jealous of those accomplishments because they are so much more tangible than anything I do at work. It's not that I ever wanted to stay at home, although I admit, I get more satisfaction out of gardening and home chores, big and small, than I do at work. But it is kind of hard to reconcile the role reversal of having a stay-at-home husband, even when I hope this is temporary. There are things I expect him to do and to be, because they are the things that (from experience) I expect from the stay-at-home half.
I expect him to be better at the whole idea of home economics. But he's not the most thrifty person. Like when I sent him to the grocery store Monday morning to pick up some lunch meat for the step-daughter and he returned with the cheap lunch meat and the expensive pre-made muffins and flavored milk. Or when he grabs a sandwich with friends and wants to go to the movies. (Although the popcorn was totally my fault.) He's made great strides at curbing his impulse spending on bigger ticket items, but not in the little ways that add up over time.
Also, he's hopeless in the kitchen. I think he doesn't eat lunch and he has no earthly idea what is in the refrigerator. I don't know if: a) he's actually not hungry, b) he just forgets, c) it doesn't occur to him that there is something he could eat in the refrigerator, or d) he can't figure out what to do when he opens it so he doesn't bother. It's probably e) all of the above. I asked him to flip my grilled cheese sandwich Wednesday and he said, "How am I supposed to do that?" with some incredulous panic in his tone. I said, with equally incredulous disgust, "Good grief!" (Or I might have taken the Lord's name in vain.) He figured it out.
Sometimes, I want to come home from work and follow my dad's lead: eat the dinner that is waiting for me, grab a beer, and settle in for some television. But at the same time, boring, plus I know I can't hang a door or do body work on the old car like the husband does. The things that I want the husband to do are the things that I can bring to the table. And I know I would be a wee bit jealous and would flounder to figure out my role if someone were to take over those jobs.
In the end, what I know is that we have to find our own way in this world as a team. It's not about fitting into an outdated prescription. I want to bring home the bacon and fry it and give the husband the opportunity to find a life's work that is enjoyable and fulfilling. And if I can put a dinner on the table that I grew part of in the garden and used coupons to get the rest; if I can make the husband stand very still while I pin up a hem to sew in his pants; if I can dazzle my step-daughter with my crafty costume making skills; and if I can occasionally sit down with a bourbon and a tv show after a hard day's work, then I know that I've learned a thing or two from both my role models and I've made a way for myself that fits me perfectly--even if it is still held together by pins.
______________________
Breakfast: Waffle with butter and syrup 40 cents
Lunch: 1/2 c taco soup and corn dog 93 cents
Snack: granola bar 27 cents
Dinner: miner's casserole and poor man fancy snacks 75 cents
Total: $2.35
I had some friends whose moms worked. I was both envious of days spent with other kids at "the babysitter's" and confused as to why that was necessary at all. We weren't wealthy. We lived in a rural area in a small town and we did better than ok. We could afford Great American Roadtrips in a rented RV to see Great American Things every few years. Like many kids, we had more toys than we could play with in a day. Sure, I wore my brother's hand-me-downs and rode a brown boy's bike with a banana seat during my early bike riding years, but I kinda thought everyone did.
I don't know if this was the typical one-person-working-outside-the-home 1980s family life. It may have been a little Walton-y. Mom got up early and fixed breakfast. We all sat at the table together, said our prayers, and ate. We made our Halloween costumes ourselves and went 20 miles to Walmart to pick out a pattern and material for Christmas and Easter dresses. We picked strawberries and green beans and peas and corn and tomatoes and anything else that grew in the backyard garden. In the summer, Saturday morning cartoons were always accompanied by shelling peas or snapping green beans, the rest of the year, we folded laundry with the Smurfs and Snorkels. In the winter, we were sent downstairs to grab a jar of green beans or tomatoes or a pack of corn from the freezer. These came out of our garden in the summer and were put up by Mom and were a thousand times better than cans from the store. We knew how lucky we were when we spooned up hot, golden, sweet "real" corn for dinner. We didn't know that the few cents it saved helped us to have such great present bonanzas at Christmastime. Mom ran the house and Dad worked hard, bringing home the check and handing it over to the coupon clipper and sale shopper.
But times, they are a'changing. I know a lot of stay-at-home men, these days. Most have a woman wage-earner but not all. Our neighbor is a stay-at-home dad. Our friend has been out of work for over a year. My friend's ex and my other friend's boyfriend are both unemployed. And the husband. Likewise, the first rider of my boy's bike was out of work for a few weeks. All are or were out of work for different reason. Nonetheless, it's a scary economy and it seems to have hit the men I know harder than the women.
I'm sure it must be hard for the dudes. The husband has been through bouts of unemployment before but I think having a partner that does get up and go to work every day must make it harder. He's much more interested in what happened at my work. He wants to show me all his accomplishments when I get home. (And they are many and somewhat impressive.)
It is hard not to be jealous of those accomplishments because they are so much more tangible than anything I do at work. It's not that I ever wanted to stay at home, although I admit, I get more satisfaction out of gardening and home chores, big and small, than I do at work. But it is kind of hard to reconcile the role reversal of having a stay-at-home husband, even when I hope this is temporary. There are things I expect him to do and to be, because they are the things that (from experience) I expect from the stay-at-home half.
I expect him to be better at the whole idea of home economics. But he's not the most thrifty person. Like when I sent him to the grocery store Monday morning to pick up some lunch meat for the step-daughter and he returned with the cheap lunch meat and the expensive pre-made muffins and flavored milk. Or when he grabs a sandwich with friends and wants to go to the movies. (Although the popcorn was totally my fault.) He's made great strides at curbing his impulse spending on bigger ticket items, but not in the little ways that add up over time.
Also, he's hopeless in the kitchen. I think he doesn't eat lunch and he has no earthly idea what is in the refrigerator. I don't know if: a) he's actually not hungry, b) he just forgets, c) it doesn't occur to him that there is something he could eat in the refrigerator, or d) he can't figure out what to do when he opens it so he doesn't bother. It's probably e) all of the above. I asked him to flip my grilled cheese sandwich Wednesday and he said, "How am I supposed to do that?" with some incredulous panic in his tone. I said, with equally incredulous disgust, "Good grief!" (Or I might have taken the Lord's name in vain.) He figured it out.
Sometimes, I want to come home from work and follow my dad's lead: eat the dinner that is waiting for me, grab a beer, and settle in for some television. But at the same time, boring, plus I know I can't hang a door or do body work on the old car like the husband does. The things that I want the husband to do are the things that I can bring to the table. And I know I would be a wee bit jealous and would flounder to figure out my role if someone were to take over those jobs.
In the end, what I know is that we have to find our own way in this world as a team. It's not about fitting into an outdated prescription. I want to bring home the bacon and fry it and give the husband the opportunity to find a life's work that is enjoyable and fulfilling. And if I can put a dinner on the table that I grew part of in the garden and used coupons to get the rest; if I can make the husband stand very still while I pin up a hem to sew in his pants; if I can dazzle my step-daughter with my crafty costume making skills; and if I can occasionally sit down with a bourbon and a tv show after a hard day's work, then I know that I've learned a thing or two from both my role models and I've made a way for myself that fits me perfectly--even if it is still held together by pins.
______________________
Breakfast: Waffle with butter and syrup 40 cents
Lunch: 1/2 c taco soup and corn dog 93 cents
Snack: granola bar 27 cents
Dinner: miner's casserole and poor man fancy snacks 75 cents
Total: $2.35
Thursday, November 18, 2010
The Unfortunately Titled Miner's Casserole
I was having a conversation with Whatever today about the standards are for cheap food. Generally I want something that is made of real stuff, but I'm not above Kraft cheese slices melted into a pot of macaroni. This is what my step-daughter thinks of as "good" macaroni and cheese. Poor thing. So this casserole--and the substitutions I made to the original recipe--is a good example of what you could call my "standards."
I found this recipe from one of the best places to scout cheap recipes--the family cookbook. Well, if you're in my family, that is. My mom made a cookbook for the family reunion one year. It was actually a year-long process that involved gathering recipes and designing the book and having it printed and bound in the pre-FedEx/Kinkos days. It was printed on our dot matrix printer if that tells you anything about the age of this thing.
Isn't Miner's Casserole the worst name ever? It was submitted to the cookbook by Barber Larry. They (yes, it's a couple and that is my nickname for them) are friends of my parents and since this was in the family cookbook, they are also distantly related. I have no idea what inspires the name of this dish. Maybe because it's a gold color? Maybe I don't want to know?
Sidebar: The first time the husband went to my parents' church with me, he left thinking I was related to every church member. This is not the case, but I can see how he made the mistake.
I've made this once before, shortly after the cookbook came out. I used all the "proper" ingredients at the time. It probably took years off the lives of everyone who ate it. But man, it was tasty.
Sidebar: I just noticed that I left the casserole sitting in the oven with the timer running for 55 minutes. Too bad I forgot to turn the oven on. Dinner is delayed for an hour. Effffff!
Miner's Casserole
24 oz cottage cheese $1.88
1/2 lb Velveeta Ok, I love sticky, spongy, glowing orange bricks as much as the next person but I used shredded cheddar, about 2 cups $1.25
1/4 c margarine, cut in crumbs Here I used butter. We shy away from margarine in our house. But no judgment. 28 cents
6 beaten eggs 42 cents
6 tablespoons flour 3 cents
10 oz package chopped frozen spinach, thawed, squeezed dry, and pulled apart 99 cents
1/4 lb Italian Sausage I added this to make it seem a little more hefty. It gives it a little something extra 75 cents
Mix everything up. Put it in a greased 9x13. Bake one hour. Cool five minutes. Cut into squares.
Confession: I forgot until right now to add the flour. Dang you, bourbon!
Total: $5.60
I cut it into 15 squares so 37 cents for a square.
___________________
Breakfast: Oatmeal with blueberries and some powdered milk I have a bunch of powdered milk in the freezer for bread recipes so I'm starting to use it when I cook. The blueberries were free. 14 cents
Snack: Banana 11 cents
Lunch: Taco Soup 86 cents
Snack: Pretzel twist (free!) and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups From the Honor Snack box. Sometimes it is impossible to resist. But it is highway robbery at $1 per snack.
Dinner: Miner's casserole x2 that's what happens when you wait an extra hour to eat 74 cents
Total: $2.71
I found this recipe from one of the best places to scout cheap recipes--the family cookbook. Well, if you're in my family, that is. My mom made a cookbook for the family reunion one year. It was actually a year-long process that involved gathering recipes and designing the book and having it printed and bound in the pre-FedEx/Kinkos days. It was printed on our dot matrix printer if that tells you anything about the age of this thing.
Isn't Miner's Casserole the worst name ever? It was submitted to the cookbook by Barber Larry. They (yes, it's a couple and that is my nickname for them) are friends of my parents and since this was in the family cookbook, they are also distantly related. I have no idea what inspires the name of this dish. Maybe because it's a gold color? Maybe I don't want to know?
Sidebar: The first time the husband went to my parents' church with me, he left thinking I was related to every church member. This is not the case, but I can see how he made the mistake.
I've made this once before, shortly after the cookbook came out. I used all the "proper" ingredients at the time. It probably took years off the lives of everyone who ate it. But man, it was tasty.
Sidebar: I just noticed that I left the casserole sitting in the oven with the timer running for 55 minutes. Too bad I forgot to turn the oven on. Dinner is delayed for an hour. Effffff!
Miner's Casserole
24 oz cottage cheese $1.88
1/2 lb Velveeta Ok, I love sticky, spongy, glowing orange bricks as much as the next person but I used shredded cheddar, about 2 cups $1.25
1/4 c margarine, cut in crumbs Here I used butter. We shy away from margarine in our house. But no judgment. 28 cents
6 beaten eggs 42 cents
6 tablespoons flour 3 cents
10 oz package chopped frozen spinach, thawed, squeezed dry, and pulled apart 99 cents
1/4 lb Italian Sausage I added this to make it seem a little more hefty. It gives it a little something extra 75 cents
Mix everything up. Put it in a greased 9x13. Bake one hour. Cool five minutes. Cut into squares.
Confession: I forgot until right now to add the flour. Dang you, bourbon!
Total: $5.60
I cut it into 15 squares so 37 cents for a square.
___________________
Breakfast: Oatmeal with blueberries and some powdered milk I have a bunch of powdered milk in the freezer for bread recipes so I'm starting to use it when I cook. The blueberries were free. 14 cents
Snack: Banana 11 cents
Lunch: Taco Soup 86 cents
Snack: Pretzel twist (free!) and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups From the Honor Snack box. Sometimes it is impossible to resist. But it is highway robbery at $1 per snack.
Dinner: Miner's casserole x2 that's what happens when you wait an extra hour to eat 74 cents
Total: $2.71
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Breaking Up Is Hard to Do
Even when it is just with your hairstylist. I really like my hairstylist. She first cut my hair when I took off a mega-ton of inches to donate to Locks of Love. (Why can't I write that donation off my taxes?) She's kept it in shape all summer and fall.
But, I have no money. And when I have no money, one of the first things to go is the regular haircuts. That's actually one reason I grew my hair out in the first place. I couldn't afford the upkeep. I mean, sure, I use a lot more conditioner when I have long hair, but really that is it. I don't use more shampoo. I don't even use the blow drier more. In fact, I probably dry my hair more now than when I had long hair and just threw it in a ponytail wet. (Everyday, because I care about what my co-workers think of my hair.)
Sidebar: I really don't like sitting in a chair that long to get my hair cut. I'll gladly be immobile for any number of reasons (reading, tv, staring off into the middle distance, getting a cavity drilled) but a haircut isn't one of them. I think it's from all the time I spent in rollers as a child. I sported a perm from 3rd grade until 9th. I want my youth back, but not the Little Orphan Annie hair-do.
So getting a haircut just feels too indulgent right now. But I still need at least one paying cut. (My stylist shapes up the back and thins out the sides for free. I guess stylists consider "preventing mullets" a worthy cause.) So I'm trying to be very strategic about my last $40 haircut.
Sidebar: My husband cuts his own hair. I was tempted to try it. But I won't, the results would probably cost more than $40 to fix.
I think I'll go in and ask for her opinion. But first, I'll say, "It's not you, it's me."
____________________________________________
Breakfast: Tortilla, Banana, Peanut Butter 31 cents
Snack: Granola Bar 47 cents
Lunch: Taco Soup 86 cents
Dinner: Grilled Cheese and Turkey 83 cents
Movies: Popcorn $7! SEVEN dollars. I could eat for two days on seven dollars! What was I thinking?
Total: $9.47
But, I have no money. And when I have no money, one of the first things to go is the regular haircuts. That's actually one reason I grew my hair out in the first place. I couldn't afford the upkeep. I mean, sure, I use a lot more conditioner when I have long hair, but really that is it. I don't use more shampoo. I don't even use the blow drier more. In fact, I probably dry my hair more now than when I had long hair and just threw it in a ponytail wet. (Everyday, because I care about what my co-workers think of my hair.)
Sidebar: I really don't like sitting in a chair that long to get my hair cut. I'll gladly be immobile for any number of reasons (reading, tv, staring off into the middle distance, getting a cavity drilled) but a haircut isn't one of them. I think it's from all the time I spent in rollers as a child. I sported a perm from 3rd grade until 9th. I want my youth back, but not the Little Orphan Annie hair-do.
So getting a haircut just feels too indulgent right now. But I still need at least one paying cut. (My stylist shapes up the back and thins out the sides for free. I guess stylists consider "preventing mullets" a worthy cause.) So I'm trying to be very strategic about my last $40 haircut.
Sidebar: My husband cuts his own hair. I was tempted to try it. But I won't, the results would probably cost more than $40 to fix.
I think I'll go in and ask for her opinion. But first, I'll say, "It's not you, it's me."
____________________________________________
Breakfast: Tortilla, Banana, Peanut Butter 31 cents
Snack: Granola Bar 47 cents
Lunch: Taco Soup 86 cents
Dinner: Grilled Cheese and Turkey 83 cents
Movies: Popcorn $7! SEVEN dollars. I could eat for two days on seven dollars! What was I thinking?
Total: $9.47
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Taco Soup
Last weekend My Office Space and I ran a 5 mile trail race. At the end of the race, there's soup, which is the perfect thing to warm up with after a long slog through the woods. Out of the many options, I chose taco soup. It was so good. I knew that most of the ingredients it would take were on sale at the grocery store that week and that I had some ground turkey patties in the freezer, so I went home and found a recipe online.
This if very chili-esque, but a nice change from chili. And it's very quick to make, but could simmer all day in the crock pot if you wanted.
I don't remember where I got this recipe from. Most of them were very similar, just with tiny variations. I made some variations of my own.
Taco Soup
3/4 pounds ground turkey. It called for 2 pounds of ground beef. In my opinion, 2 pounds would be too meaty. $2.25
1 package taco seasoning. 50 cents
1 1/2 cups water. I know water isn't free but I'm considering it like salt and pepper and herbs. It would take more time to figure out than it is worth.
1 can mild chili beans. 50 cents
1 1/2 cans pinto beans. I used more pinto beans because of the less meat. I used dried pinto beans but I don't know what that would cost, so canned would cost 75 cents
1 can stewed tomatoes. 80 cents
1 can diced tomatoes. 80 cents
1 small can diced green chilies. 98 cents
1 package ranch mix. $1.47
1 can corn. I used frozen corn but canned would cost 50 cents.
In a large pot, cook the turkey. Add all ingredients.Simmer 15 minutes, stirring occasionally until heated through.
Everything together costs $8.55. It makes about 10 cups so about 86 cents a cup.
____________________________
Breakfast: Banana and peanut butter on a tortilla 31 cents
Lunch: Working lunch on the road! (Chicken fried steak, if you must know.)
Snack: Free doughnut!
Dinner: Taco soup and crackers 89 cents
Total: $1.20
This if very chili-esque, but a nice change from chili. And it's very quick to make, but could simmer all day in the crock pot if you wanted.
I don't remember where I got this recipe from. Most of them were very similar, just with tiny variations. I made some variations of my own.
Taco Soup
3/4 pounds ground turkey. It called for 2 pounds of ground beef. In my opinion, 2 pounds would be too meaty. $2.25
1 package taco seasoning. 50 cents
1 1/2 cups water. I know water isn't free but I'm considering it like salt and pepper and herbs. It would take more time to figure out than it is worth.
1 can mild chili beans. 50 cents
1 1/2 cans pinto beans. I used more pinto beans because of the less meat. I used dried pinto beans but I don't know what that would cost, so canned would cost 75 cents
1 can stewed tomatoes. 80 cents
1 can diced tomatoes. 80 cents
1 small can diced green chilies. 98 cents
1 package ranch mix. $1.47
1 can corn. I used frozen corn but canned would cost 50 cents.
In a large pot, cook the turkey. Add all ingredients.Simmer 15 minutes, stirring occasionally until heated through.
Everything together costs $8.55. It makes about 10 cups so about 86 cents a cup.
____________________________
Breakfast: Banana and peanut butter on a tortilla 31 cents
Lunch: Working lunch on the road! (Chicken fried steak, if you must know.)
Snack: Free doughnut!
Dinner: Taco soup and crackers 89 cents
Total: $1.20
Monday, November 15, 2010
Compressing the Work Week
Have you guys seen gas prices lately? Have they gone up as much in your town as they have here? They're something like $2.73.
Sidebar: Liberal Ideology Alert! Please skip down the the un-italic section if you do not wish to think me a "dirty liberal." I dare say there also may be Conservative Ideology Alerts in the future of this blog. I can't be expected to fit into one neat label. I think our (the US's) gas is too cheap. Artificially so--it doesn't take into account the "real cost" of this very useful, very limited, not-very-clean, non-renewable resource. Just because it's there, doesn't mean we have to suck every reserve dry. That's the smug, washed hippie in me. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to be a sanctimonious hypocrite, I drive a lot more than I should or than I want to. My commute is 45 miles one way. I cringe every time I think about it. I even tried to figure out how to take public transportation. But that involved either driving 26 miles in worse traffic to catch the right bus, or spending a minimum of 3 hours and 48 minutes on public transportation, one way, every day. That is unpossible. It would take less time for me to bike to work. I actually did the math on that, too.
I used to try to predict when gas would go up. I tried to fill up when I thought it was cheapest, only to see it for less the next time I drove by the gas station. It is, as Whatever and Ever Amen has been know to say, like pulling the lever on a slot machine in Vegas--you can hope for the best but never know what you're going to get.
This summer, I talked to my boss about working four long days a week instead of five. I had a feeling gas was going no where but up and wanted to have a back-up plan in case it did. Then the Deepwater Horizon exploded. I'm no conspiracy theorist, but I truly believe big oil decided to keep gas prices low to distract the American public from thinking long and hard about our gas-guzzling culture. I mean, an ecological disaster (and an economic disaster for the Gulf region) on top of sky-rocketing gas prices on top of the already existing detractors of big oil could have created big problems for oil, not just BP. So, I continued, like the rest of America, to drive.
I'm glad, though, I designed a escape plan for driving 5 days a week and had floated it past my non-committal, though receptive, boss. The first thing I did Monday morning after the husband was made redundant, was to re-institute Project 4-Day-Week. (After checking on the devilish health insurance, that is.) The deal is, I'll work 4 long days and be available from home on the other. There isn't one day that is set in stone as my "day off." I'm flexible.
I hope this current rise in prices recedes or at least levels off. I know I still may have some options left to economize. I mean, I'm not planning on picking up an unwashed hippie sitting at the entrance to the turnpike and trying to get some gas money out of him any time soon. But I could try to find a fellow commuter. I used to say confidently, "My next car will be a hybrid," just because I so dislike the act of putting gas into my car. And maybe if I keep this car for 75 years, I'll be able to afford a hybrid! In the mean time, we try to keep my tires properly inflated and not drag around too much recycling in my trunk. I try to drive the speed limit or a little under. But usually I'm guilty of hitting the accelerate button on my cruise control a few too many times. I wonder how slow I could drive on the Interstate before I would piss off the other drivers and trick them into thinking I'm a really young looking 97-year-old woman.
As far as trying to get cheaper gas, I know there are places online like gasbuddy.com that are supposed to compare prices of gas in your area. But gasbuddy.com relies on users to report gas prices and there don't seem to be many users in my area. My grocery store uses some confusing algorithm for giving you a discount on your gas if you bought groceries that day. So I usually try to buy gas on the days I buy groceries. I never know how much I should get back, so I just pull that lever and hope for a win.
Sidebar: I wish gas pumps were more like slot machines. It would make getting gas a lot more fun.
__________________
Breakfast: egg on English Muffin 27 cents
Snack: granola bar 47 cents
Lunch: taco soup 86 cents
Snacks: celery 7 cents
Fake Dinner: Free McD's French Fries
Dinner: sausage sandwich and sweet potato patties 89 cents
Total: $2.56
Sidebar: Liberal Ideology Alert! Please skip down the the un-italic section if you do not wish to think me a "dirty liberal." I dare say there also may be Conservative Ideology Alerts in the future of this blog. I can't be expected to fit into one neat label. I think our (the US's) gas is too cheap. Artificially so--it doesn't take into account the "real cost" of this very useful, very limited, not-very-clean, non-renewable resource. Just because it's there, doesn't mean we have to suck every reserve dry. That's the smug, washed hippie in me. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to be a sanctimonious hypocrite, I drive a lot more than I should or than I want to. My commute is 45 miles one way. I cringe every time I think about it. I even tried to figure out how to take public transportation. But that involved either driving 26 miles in worse traffic to catch the right bus, or spending a minimum of 3 hours and 48 minutes on public transportation, one way, every day. That is unpossible. It would take less time for me to bike to work. I actually did the math on that, too.
I used to try to predict when gas would go up. I tried to fill up when I thought it was cheapest, only to see it for less the next time I drove by the gas station. It is, as Whatever and Ever Amen has been know to say, like pulling the lever on a slot machine in Vegas--you can hope for the best but never know what you're going to get.
This summer, I talked to my boss about working four long days a week instead of five. I had a feeling gas was going no where but up and wanted to have a back-up plan in case it did. Then the Deepwater Horizon exploded. I'm no conspiracy theorist, but I truly believe big oil decided to keep gas prices low to distract the American public from thinking long and hard about our gas-guzzling culture. I mean, an ecological disaster (and an economic disaster for the Gulf region) on top of sky-rocketing gas prices on top of the already existing detractors of big oil could have created big problems for oil, not just BP. So, I continued, like the rest of America, to drive.
I'm glad, though, I designed a escape plan for driving 5 days a week and had floated it past my non-committal, though receptive, boss. The first thing I did Monday morning after the husband was made redundant, was to re-institute Project 4-Day-Week. (After checking on the devilish health insurance, that is.) The deal is, I'll work 4 long days and be available from home on the other. There isn't one day that is set in stone as my "day off." I'm flexible.
I hope this current rise in prices recedes or at least levels off. I know I still may have some options left to economize. I mean, I'm not planning on picking up an unwashed hippie sitting at the entrance to the turnpike and trying to get some gas money out of him any time soon. But I could try to find a fellow commuter. I used to say confidently, "My next car will be a hybrid," just because I so dislike the act of putting gas into my car. And maybe if I keep this car for 75 years, I'll be able to afford a hybrid! In the mean time, we try to keep my tires properly inflated and not drag around too much recycling in my trunk. I try to drive the speed limit or a little under. But usually I'm guilty of hitting the accelerate button on my cruise control a few too many times. I wonder how slow I could drive on the Interstate before I would piss off the other drivers and trick them into thinking I'm a really young looking 97-year-old woman.
As far as trying to get cheaper gas, I know there are places online like gasbuddy.com that are supposed to compare prices of gas in your area. But gasbuddy.com relies on users to report gas prices and there don't seem to be many users in my area. My grocery store uses some confusing algorithm for giving you a discount on your gas if you bought groceries that day. So I usually try to buy gas on the days I buy groceries. I never know how much I should get back, so I just pull that lever and hope for a win.
Sidebar: I wish gas pumps were more like slot machines. It would make getting gas a lot more fun.
__________________
Breakfast: egg on English Muffin 27 cents
Snack: granola bar 47 cents
Lunch: taco soup 86 cents
Snacks: celery 7 cents
Fake Dinner: Free McD's French Fries
Dinner: sausage sandwich and sweet potato patties 89 cents
Total: $2.56
Sunday, November 14, 2010
This Week's Lessons
So what did we learn this week?
1. "If you don't stop crying, I'll give you something to cry about." --My Dad, and maybe, God.
2. If your husband tells you your cooking stinks (as in literally smells bad), you've probably just made a delicious dinner. At least he's never said something I cooked smelled like a vagina. Oh, wait, yes he has.
3. Health insurance is the devil. If only our skin was so strong.
4. Sweet potatoes deserve better than to be covered in marshmallows. And if you need me to do something for you, free food is a good bribe.
5. J'adore Grocery Store. In case you're wondering, the clothes I wear that I wore in high school are: a short gray wool skirt with two rows of buttons down the front and my Charlotte's Web t-shirt. I think that's all.
6. I probably ate a moldy muffin. But then again, who hasn't.
_________
Breakfast: Bacon, egg & cheese sandwich 52 cents
Snack: Banana 11 cents
Lunch: Taco soup 86 cents
Snack: Free brownie at a work function
Dinner: Free Taco Bell courtesy of the in-laws and a granola bar 47 cents
Total: $1.96
1. "If you don't stop crying, I'll give you something to cry about." --My Dad, and maybe, God.
2. If your husband tells you your cooking stinks (as in literally smells bad), you've probably just made a delicious dinner. At least he's never said something I cooked smelled like a vagina. Oh, wait, yes he has.
3. Health insurance is the devil. If only our skin was so strong.
4. Sweet potatoes deserve better than to be covered in marshmallows. And if you need me to do something for you, free food is a good bribe.
5. J'adore Grocery Store. In case you're wondering, the clothes I wear that I wore in high school are: a short gray wool skirt with two rows of buttons down the front and my Charlotte's Web t-shirt. I think that's all.
6. I probably ate a moldy muffin. But then again, who hasn't.
_________
Breakfast: Bacon, egg & cheese sandwich 52 cents
Snack: Banana 11 cents
Lunch: Taco soup 86 cents
Snack: Free brownie at a work function
Dinner: Free Taco Bell courtesy of the in-laws and a granola bar 47 cents
Total: $1.96
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Waste Not...
If you're going to make an omelet, you have to break a few eggs. Also? If you're going to store two cartons of eggs in the refrigerator door, you're going to make an omelet.
This week I broke five eggs by opening the refrigerator door. The first time, I had half an omelet for dinner and half for breakfast. Before I'd even gotten the breakfast half eaten, I broke four eggs in one fell swoop. So, I picked up the carton, and threw the broken eggs (sans shells, of course) into the frying pan. Quick egg muffins, I figured.
In the past, I've been really bad about throwing food away. But guess what, we can't afford it anymore. Plus, it is kind of an asshole-y thing to do, if you think about it. It seems these days that nothing is more American than throwing half an apple pie in the garbage. And what kind of an asshole throws away apple pie?
I've seen other bloggers posting pictures of the food they throw out in an attempt to make themselves accountable. It was a big thing there for awhile, I think. Food Waste Fridays or some such. Well, good on them. As usual, I'm still tightrolling my pants while everyone else is onto fraying cuffs. So here is what I wasted this week. But no pictures, I don't need to subject you to moldy muffins, plus I don't want to get a flickr account for moldy muffins...yet.
I made some pumpkin muffins. They didn't turn out so well. But they tasted ok. Then I noticed they were moldy. I ate some the day before I noticed the mold. I'm pretty sure I have an iron stomach.
Ginger. I don't know how long I had this ginger. I didn't even know it could go bad. I planned to use it in my sweet potato patties. I used the dried kind instead.
And now for the non-edible consumables. (See, all you trendy bloggers, I just took your idea and did one better. Frayed cuffs and flannel shirts!)
Once upon a time, I was really concerned not just with what I put in my body, but what I put on in. I still am, really, but I can't afford it. (Tom's deodorant for $4 or Suave for 50 cents. That math is easy, although justifying the potential risks is much more difficult.) So I had purchased this olive oil soap. It was Kiss My Face and it scored a 0 on the Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety Database. That's the best score and I felt very much like a smug, washed hippie. I bought and used two or three bars and then developed some allergy. I broke out all over the inside of my arms in little, itchy bumps. It sat on my side of the shower. I'd try to use it every now and then but always with the same results. I just tried again this week. So I'm giving up and tossing it. At least I know it won't poison the landfill?
You know what I would gladly waste, though? My step-baby's-momma is making her go to her gymnastics meet today. The one I paid for her to enter. In case you forgot, my step-daughter was diagnosed with pneumonia on Monday. She hasn't been to gymnastics practice for two weeks. I would gladly waste the entry fee for her to have more time to recover and feel better before trying to compete. Despite this, she did ok in the meet. But she was really tired.
_____________________________________
Breakfast: English Muffin, Laughing Cow Cheese, Pear 81 cents
Snack: Granola Bar 47 cents
Lunch: Smoked sausage sandwich and free french fries 42 cents
Dinner: taco soup, crackers, cream cheese stuffed peppers $2.15
Total: $3.85
This week I broke five eggs by opening the refrigerator door. The first time, I had half an omelet for dinner and half for breakfast. Before I'd even gotten the breakfast half eaten, I broke four eggs in one fell swoop. So, I picked up the carton, and threw the broken eggs (sans shells, of course) into the frying pan. Quick egg muffins, I figured.
In the past, I've been really bad about throwing food away. But guess what, we can't afford it anymore. Plus, it is kind of an asshole-y thing to do, if you think about it. It seems these days that nothing is more American than throwing half an apple pie in the garbage. And what kind of an asshole throws away apple pie?
I've seen other bloggers posting pictures of the food they throw out in an attempt to make themselves accountable. It was a big thing there for awhile, I think. Food Waste Fridays or some such. Well, good on them. As usual, I'm still tightrolling my pants while everyone else is onto fraying cuffs. So here is what I wasted this week. But no pictures, I don't need to subject you to moldy muffins, plus I don't want to get a flickr account for moldy muffins...yet.
I made some pumpkin muffins. They didn't turn out so well. But they tasted ok. Then I noticed they were moldy. I ate some the day before I noticed the mold. I'm pretty sure I have an iron stomach.
Ginger. I don't know how long I had this ginger. I didn't even know it could go bad. I planned to use it in my sweet potato patties. I used the dried kind instead.
And now for the non-edible consumables. (See, all you trendy bloggers, I just took your idea and did one better. Frayed cuffs and flannel shirts!)
Once upon a time, I was really concerned not just with what I put in my body, but what I put on in. I still am, really, but I can't afford it. (Tom's deodorant for $4 or Suave for 50 cents. That math is easy, although justifying the potential risks is much more difficult.) So I had purchased this olive oil soap. It was Kiss My Face and it scored a 0 on the Skin Deep Cosmetic Safety Database. That's the best score and I felt very much like a smug, washed hippie. I bought and used two or three bars and then developed some allergy. I broke out all over the inside of my arms in little, itchy bumps. It sat on my side of the shower. I'd try to use it every now and then but always with the same results. I just tried again this week. So I'm giving up and tossing it. At least I know it won't poison the landfill?
You know what I would gladly waste, though? My step-baby's-momma is making her go to her gymnastics meet today. The one I paid for her to enter. In case you forgot, my step-daughter was diagnosed with pneumonia on Monday. She hasn't been to gymnastics practice for two weeks. I would gladly waste the entry fee for her to have more time to recover and feel better before trying to compete. Despite this, she did ok in the meet. But she was really tired.
_____________________________________
Breakfast: English Muffin, Laughing Cow Cheese, Pear 81 cents
Snack: Granola Bar 47 cents
Lunch: Smoked sausage sandwich and free french fries 42 cents
Dinner: taco soup, crackers, cream cheese stuffed peppers $2.15
Total: $3.85
Friday, November 12, 2010
Memorizing the Circulars
The day the grocery store circulars arrive in the mail is one of my favorite times of the week. I have a friend in Knoxville—we went to grad school together. One time she confessed that she liked to read stolen restaurant menus while soaking in the tub. That is how I feel about recipes and grocery store circulars. But substitute the tub for bourbon—or maybe I could just soak in a tub of bourbon.
I’m currently developing my grocery store attack method. There are two, sometimes three, people who live in my house. When we just bought whatever we wanted, I usually spent more than the grocery budget every month. I bought organic things sometimes, and the pricey local dairy flavored milk and butter, and the *good* frozen pizza. I would compost spoiled, shriveled, moldy, and otherwise gross vegetables. I know we can do better.
And the thing is—I like doing better. It somehow brings me joy to win at the grocery store. I’ve always been proud of a good deal. Complement me on something I’m wearing, and my likely reply is, “Thanks! I got it on sale!” or “I’ve had this since high school.” (Although the things I still wear that I wore in high school are few and far between, by now—almost fifteen years later.)
Sidebar: You know how some people shop for shoes or handbags or clothes or electronics, whatever and call it "retail therapy." In grad school, grocery stores became my retail therapy. J'adore grocery store, not Dior.
So my first step in my grocery store attack is to sit down with the circular (and bourbon) and figure out what’s on sale. I write down everything that I might be interested in and how much it costs, and check it against my price book. Heh, price book: Total nerd alert!
So my first step in my grocery store attack is to sit down with the circular (and bourbon) and figure out what’s on sale. I write down everything that I might be interested in and how much it costs, and check it against my price book. Heh, price book: Total nerd alert!
Then I check my coupons for what is expiring soon and what can be combined with any sales at the grocery stores for an extra-good deal. I add these to the list.
Then I check what we already have and make my shopping lists. Generally anything that makes it to the shopping list has to be something that: a) we’ll eat; b) is needed to be combined with something we already have for a recipe/dinner; c) is a good deal.
Then I make two lists. One is things I’ll buy on Thursday or Friday—when the special sales are happening. The other is things I’ll buy on Sunday. I prioritize the lists and write the amount I want to stay below when I go shopping.
At the store, I keep a running total in my head as I put items into the cart. If something is on the end of the list but I’m over budget, I put it back. My Thursday/Friday trip also lets me scope out things that aren’t listed on the circular, but might be a good deal to consider for my Sunday trip.
And because I’ve done all this work, my mom and select co-workers are also alerted to the good sales at the grocery store! So, for example, if my co-workers pull a banana out of their pocket, I’ll say, “Bananas are on sale today for 33 cents a pound!” Everyone wins!
____________________________________________
Note: This accounting for the food I eat is a bit embarrassing. I'm not a light eater although I may pretend to be sometimes. As you will see below, I can eat a whole medium french fries on the way home AND have a girl-sized dinner. I guess if you're reading this blog, you either know this about me, or have inferred it from the number of times I go to the refrigerator during the work day.
Note: This accounting for the food I eat is a bit embarrassing. I'm not a light eater although I may pretend to be sometimes. As you will see below, I can eat a whole medium french fries on the way home AND have a girl-sized dinner. I guess if you're reading this blog, you either know this about me, or have inferred it from the number of times I go to the refrigerator during the work day.
Breakfast: Egg omelet: 1/2 egg, 1/8 c egg white, 1/8 c cottage cheese, 1/4 can corn, green pepper: The pepper was free! 34 cents
Snack: Granola Bar 47 cents
Lunch: Sweet potato patties, Celery and tapenade $1.07
Snack: kiwi 44 cents
Fake Dinner: McDonald's French Fries FREE
Dinner: Sweet potato patty, smoked sausage 73 cents
We're going to get some FREE desert from McD's right now.
Total: $3.05
Lunch: Sweet potato patties, Celery and tapenade $1.07
Snack: kiwi 44 cents
Fake Dinner: McDonald's French Fries FREE
Dinner: Sweet potato patty, smoked sausage 73 cents
We're going to get some FREE desert from McD's right now.
Total: $3.05
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Sweet Potato and Leek Patties
The best thing ever is free food, no? It doesn't matter if I have to suffer through awkward work lunches or birthday doughnuts, I'll do it. I don't care if I have to like Kraft on Facebook or promise to get junk email from Oscar Mayer, I'll do it. I'll even go to McDonald's on four separate occasions between now and Monday to redeem all the french fry coupons the husband accrued during his working days--drive thru, here I come.
Free food is awesome. Even if it is something I would avoid on a normal trip to the grocery store (Deluxe Kraft Singles? I would turn my nose up at you, were it not for the free coupon I have.), I'll indulge. Not that we're that hard up, but *win*, right?
What's even more awesome is free produce from someone's garden. For this particular recipe, it's my parents'. They had a bounty of sweet potatoes--which means we have a bounty of sweet potatoes.
Sweet potatoes are delicious on their own. I eat them cooked with bananas for breakfast, microwaved with some butter, and, of course, mashed. No marshmallow topped casserole dishes for me. But I wanted to try something different. These patties are good and make a good main dish. But, for us, I don't know if I'd go to the trouble again.
Sidebar: My husband was afraid I was ruining good sweet potatoes. As I think will become a theme of these recipe-post sidebars, he likes these patties.
Sweet Potato and Leek Patties--adapted from the 1001 Classic Recipes book my dad gave me for Christmas years ago. Unfortunately, too heavy to take in the bath with your juice glass of bourbon.
2 pounds of sweet potatoes Free! One sweet potato was two pounds. How do I know? I weighed myself on the scales holding the sweet potato and then without it. Trying to figure out how much food weighs is generally the only time I get on the scale.
2 teaspoons plus 3 tablespoons olive oil $1.39
2 medium leeks, thinly sliced $2.00. Yikes--you can totally reduce this cost by using onions--maybe one small onion. They were organic and I splurged without thinking. Oh well, this way I could say, "no," when the husband asked if there were onions in it.
1 clove garlic, minced 5 cents is what I guessed last time.
7 ounces corn 25 cents
2 tablespoons plain yogurt 7 cents. Buyer beware--I love plain yogurt. I happened to buy the store brand because it was cheapest. When I opened it and licked the lid I discovered it was sweetened. Nothing on the carton indicated that it was sweetened except the ingredient list. But it worked ok for this recipe because of the natural sweetness of the potatoes, corn, and cooked leek.
1/2 cup flour 4 cents
some shakes of ginger I'm not going to be anal and try to figure out how much some shakes of ginger costs. Same thing applies to salt and pepper--we're actually using free salt and pepper because it came in our wedding gift salt & pepper grinders. It's probably too old now but the pepper is still spicy.
Cook and mash the sweet potatoes. Meanwhile heat the 2 teaspoons of oil and cook the leeks and garlic. Add some shakes of ginger to the pan.
Stir corn, leeks, and yogurt into potatoes. Season with salt and pepper.
Form patties and toss in flour to coat. Chill in refrigerator. I cooled them overnight simply because I can't sit around and wait dinner for some potato patties to cool.
Brush patties with oil and broil 6ish minutes. Turn over and broil another 6ish minutes. I like them to look a little bit brown and feel dried out.
This recipe made fifteen patties. One makes a good side and two would be a good meal. That equals about 26 cents per patty.
There is a fancy sauce but I didn't make it. It called for things like ginger wine and stuff. I like them plain. The husband plans to use a lot of butter. He cannot be tamed.
*Note: I made these yesterday. That's why they're not in my food count for today.*
________________________________________
Breakfast 1: 1/2 banana with sweet potato. I ate this before I ran. 12 cents
Breakfast 2: English muffin, Laughing Cow Cheese Wedge, Pear: 81 cents
Snack: Chewy Granola Bar: 47 cents
Lunch: Pulled Pork Sandwich and cup of soup--I had a working lunch today, but not one of those awkward ones. $8.95 but not because expense account!
Dinner: Pumpkin polenta; bacon, 1/3 leek, Brussel sprouts: 71 cents
Total: $2.11
Free food is awesome. Even if it is something I would avoid on a normal trip to the grocery store (Deluxe Kraft Singles? I would turn my nose up at you, were it not for the free coupon I have.), I'll indulge. Not that we're that hard up, but *win*, right?
What's even more awesome is free produce from someone's garden. For this particular recipe, it's my parents'. They had a bounty of sweet potatoes--which means we have a bounty of sweet potatoes.
Sweet potatoes are delicious on their own. I eat them cooked with bananas for breakfast, microwaved with some butter, and, of course, mashed. No marshmallow topped casserole dishes for me. But I wanted to try something different. These patties are good and make a good main dish. But, for us, I don't know if I'd go to the trouble again.
Sidebar: My husband was afraid I was ruining good sweet potatoes. As I think will become a theme of these recipe-post sidebars, he likes these patties.
Sweet Potato and Leek Patties--adapted from the 1001 Classic Recipes book my dad gave me for Christmas years ago. Unfortunately, too heavy to take in the bath with your juice glass of bourbon.
2 pounds of sweet potatoes Free! One sweet potato was two pounds. How do I know? I weighed myself on the scales holding the sweet potato and then without it. Trying to figure out how much food weighs is generally the only time I get on the scale.
2 teaspoons plus 3 tablespoons olive oil $1.39
2 medium leeks, thinly sliced $2.00. Yikes--you can totally reduce this cost by using onions--maybe one small onion. They were organic and I splurged without thinking. Oh well, this way I could say, "no," when the husband asked if there were onions in it.
1 clove garlic, minced 5 cents is what I guessed last time.
7 ounces corn 25 cents
2 tablespoons plain yogurt 7 cents. Buyer beware--I love plain yogurt. I happened to buy the store brand because it was cheapest. When I opened it and licked the lid I discovered it was sweetened. Nothing on the carton indicated that it was sweetened except the ingredient list. But it worked ok for this recipe because of the natural sweetness of the potatoes, corn, and cooked leek.
1/2 cup flour 4 cents
some shakes of ginger I'm not going to be anal and try to figure out how much some shakes of ginger costs. Same thing applies to salt and pepper--we're actually using free salt and pepper because it came in our wedding gift salt & pepper grinders. It's probably too old now but the pepper is still spicy.
Cook and mash the sweet potatoes. Meanwhile heat the 2 teaspoons of oil and cook the leeks and garlic. Add some shakes of ginger to the pan.
Stir corn, leeks, and yogurt into potatoes. Season with salt and pepper.
Form patties and toss in flour to coat. Chill in refrigerator. I cooled them overnight simply because I can't sit around and wait dinner for some potato patties to cool.
Brush patties with oil and broil 6ish minutes. Turn over and broil another 6ish minutes. I like them to look a little bit brown and feel dried out.
This recipe made fifteen patties. One makes a good side and two would be a good meal. That equals about 26 cents per patty.
There is a fancy sauce but I didn't make it. It called for things like ginger wine and stuff. I like them plain. The husband plans to use a lot of butter. He cannot be tamed.
*Note: I made these yesterday. That's why they're not in my food count for today.*
________________________________________
Breakfast 1: 1/2 banana with sweet potato. I ate this before I ran. 12 cents
Breakfast 2: English muffin, Laughing Cow Cheese Wedge, Pear: 81 cents
Snack: Chewy Granola Bar: 47 cents
Lunch: Pulled Pork Sandwich and cup of soup--I had a working lunch today, but not one of those awkward ones. $8.95 but not because expense account!
Dinner: Pumpkin polenta; bacon, 1/3 leek, Brussel sprouts: 71 cents
Total: $2.11
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Devilish Health Insurance
One thing that sucks about losing your job is losing your health insurance. Especially if you have a pre-existing condition and had back surgery less than a year ago. You just know, without even checking, that no one is going to give you individual insurance.
There is a natural inclination to just slide. What’s the worst that could happen? Surely you’ll get a job soon. Just stay away from power tools and you’ll be ok.
Except when you’re not. On Monday, we found out my step-daughter has pneumonia. Sometimes these things just happen. I wonder what the $75 cocktail of medicine would have cost without insurance—not to mention the doctor’s visit and chest x-rays.
A sidebar that could be a post all on its own, my step-daughter concocted a nirvana alternate universe in the car on the way to the doctor’s office. No one ever gets sick. Your skin is too strong to get hurt. You don’t need surgery on your back like Dad or on your shoulder like Aunt Dolly. And doctors and nurses and other medical professions only exist for when you’re going to have a baby or when you need a check-up…but that’s just for your weight and stuff. Also? No need for health insurance or those ugly brick office buildings. Those were added due to my prompts.
Being my mother’s daughter (read: a worrier), I asked my boss how much it would cost to add my husband on my insurance. For the both of us it would cost—get this—$666.
I think that says it all.
We don’t know if we can afford it or not. But maybe the question is: Can we afford not to?
________________________________________________
Breakfast: Sweet Potato & Banana with nuts: 54 cents
Snack: 7 ounces of plain yogurt, blueberries, old granola leftover from a McDonalds's fruit and yogurt parfait: 49 cents
Lunch: Pumpkin Polenta with Beans & Greens: 70 cents
Snack: 2 stalks of celery, 1 triangle of Laughing Cow & some tapenade: 98 cents
Dinner: 1/4 chicken breast, sweet potato patty: $1.50
Total $4.21
There is a lot of hold-over expensive food (tapenade, cage-free chicken) that I'm trying to account for here so I'm probably not extremely accurate. But it is my best guess while not trying to under-estimate.
There is a natural inclination to just slide. What’s the worst that could happen? Surely you’ll get a job soon. Just stay away from power tools and you’ll be ok.
Except when you’re not. On Monday, we found out my step-daughter has pneumonia. Sometimes these things just happen. I wonder what the $75 cocktail of medicine would have cost without insurance—not to mention the doctor’s visit and chest x-rays.
A sidebar that could be a post all on its own, my step-daughter concocted a nirvana alternate universe in the car on the way to the doctor’s office. No one ever gets sick. Your skin is too strong to get hurt. You don’t need surgery on your back like Dad or on your shoulder like Aunt Dolly. And doctors and nurses and other medical professions only exist for when you’re going to have a baby or when you need a check-up…but that’s just for your weight and stuff. Also? No need for health insurance or those ugly brick office buildings. Those were added due to my prompts.
Being my mother’s daughter (read: a worrier), I asked my boss how much it would cost to add my husband on my insurance. For the both of us it would cost—get this—$666.
I think that says it all.
We don’t know if we can afford it or not. But maybe the question is: Can we afford not to?
________________________________________________
Breakfast: Sweet Potato & Banana with nuts: 54 cents
Snack: 7 ounces of plain yogurt, blueberries, old granola leftover from a McDonalds's fruit and yogurt parfait: 49 cents
Lunch: Pumpkin Polenta with Beans & Greens: 70 cents
Snack: 2 stalks of celery, 1 triangle of Laughing Cow & some tapenade: 98 cents
Dinner: 1/4 chicken breast, sweet potato patty: $1.50
Total $4.21
There is a lot of hold-over expensive food (tapenade, cage-free chicken) that I'm trying to account for here so I'm probably not extremely accurate. But it is my best guess while not trying to under-estimate.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Pumpkin Polenta with Beans and Greens
One thing I’m wholeheartedly embracing about being poor is eating poor. I like trying out recipes and figuring out how to use what I’ve got and what’s on sale in a way that will taste good.
Also? I like math. So whenever possible, I’ll try to include what things cost.
This is a really tasty and hearty dish. Perfect for autumn. I like the salt of the bacon (who doesn't?) and the stickiness of polenta. The pumpkin and Parmesan add the smallest kick of flavor.
Sidebar: Husband’s Comments on Polenta
Husband: What’s that? Cornbread?
Me: It’s polenta. It’s kind of like cornbread.
Husband: Why are you always making weird stuff? Why can’t you just make something normal like cornbread?
Note: He now likes polenta.
Pumpkin Polenta with Beans and Greens—This is adapted from a Rachel Ray magazine recipe
3 cups chicken broth Free—I made it myself from old chicken carcass.
2 tablespoons of butter 14 cents
2/3 can pumpkin 66 cents—It calls for a can but I only had 2/3.
1 ½ cups corn meal If you figure about $2 for a 5 pound bag (per Google) then this costs about 19 cents—The recipe calls for instant polenta but I can’t figure out who thought it was so hard to make polenta from scratch that they had to make it easier.
¾ c Parmesan cheese 56 cents—Again the recipe calls for a whole cup of Romano, but I use what I got.
Bring the broth and butter to a boil. Mix in the pumpkin and boil. Turn down the heat or else hot cornmeal mush will splat up on you. Whisk in the cornmeal a little at a time. Cook 10-15 minutes or until thick. Stir occasionally. It should get difficult to stir (Bonus: arm workout). Mix in the cheese.
3 slices of bacon, chopped up I don't remember how much I paid for the bacon. Maybe $3. So probably 56 cents. Two would have been enough. You can substitute 2 tablespoons of oil for the bacon.
½ onion, diced Totally guessing: 16 cents. I buy the bags of onions when they're on sale.
1 clove garlic, minced 5 cents. I'm guessing. Garlic is usually 50 cents for a bulb and there are probably 10 or more good cloves in there.
10 oz frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeeze out the water 99 cents
1 cup beans 25 cents. This isn't really what I paid because I used dried beans that I had bought a while ago, but half a can of beans would be about 25 cents.
Chop up the bacon (use a kitchen scissors) and cook it for a few minutes. Add the onion and garlic. Add the spinach, separating any big chunks, and the beans and heat through.
Serve the spinach over the polenta.
The polenta makes about 8 servings and the spinach about 4. I halved the spinach because I didn’t think my husband would be too interested in eating it.
If I did my math right, that was $1.55 for the polenta and $2.01 for the beans and greens. So $3.65 for four complete meals plus four servings of leftover polenta.
I ate lunch for 70 cents today.
Also? I like math. So whenever possible, I’ll try to include what things cost.
This is a really tasty and hearty dish. Perfect for autumn. I like the salt of the bacon (who doesn't?) and the stickiness of polenta. The pumpkin and Parmesan add the smallest kick of flavor.
Sidebar: Husband’s Comments on Polenta
Husband: What’s that? Cornbread?
Me: It’s polenta. It’s kind of like cornbread.
Husband: Why are you always making weird stuff? Why can’t you just make something normal like cornbread?
Note: He now likes polenta.
Pumpkin Polenta with Beans and Greens—This is adapted from a Rachel Ray magazine recipe
3 cups chicken broth Free—I made it myself from old chicken carcass.
2 tablespoons of butter 14 cents
2/3 can pumpkin 66 cents—It calls for a can but I only had 2/3.
1 ½ cups corn meal If you figure about $2 for a 5 pound bag (per Google) then this costs about 19 cents—The recipe calls for instant polenta but I can’t figure out who thought it was so hard to make polenta from scratch that they had to make it easier.
¾ c Parmesan cheese 56 cents—Again the recipe calls for a whole cup of Romano, but I use what I got.
Bring the broth and butter to a boil. Mix in the pumpkin and boil. Turn down the heat or else hot cornmeal mush will splat up on you. Whisk in the cornmeal a little at a time. Cook 10-15 minutes or until thick. Stir occasionally. It should get difficult to stir (Bonus: arm workout). Mix in the cheese.
3 slices of bacon, chopped up I don't remember how much I paid for the bacon. Maybe $3. So probably 56 cents. Two would have been enough. You can substitute 2 tablespoons of oil for the bacon.
½ onion, diced Totally guessing: 16 cents. I buy the bags of onions when they're on sale.
1 clove garlic, minced 5 cents. I'm guessing. Garlic is usually 50 cents for a bulb and there are probably 10 or more good cloves in there.
10 oz frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeeze out the water 99 cents
1 cup beans 25 cents. This isn't really what I paid because I used dried beans that I had bought a while ago, but half a can of beans would be about 25 cents.
Chop up the bacon (use a kitchen scissors) and cook it for a few minutes. Add the onion and garlic. Add the spinach, separating any big chunks, and the beans and heat through.
Serve the spinach over the polenta.
The polenta makes about 8 servings and the spinach about 4. I halved the spinach because I didn’t think my husband would be too interested in eating it.
If I did my math right, that was $1.55 for the polenta and $2.01 for the beans and greens. So $3.65 for four complete meals plus four servings of leftover polenta.
I ate lunch for 70 cents today.
My New Catchphrase
My new catchphrase is, "I can't afford it." This started out as irritation about being nickel-and-dimed at work...insurance goes up and it comes out of our paycheck, we're moving offices and going to have to pay for parking or hike three blocks in the Kansas winter...that kind of thing.
But this Friday, shit just got real. I found out on my commute home that my husband just lost his job. So what did I do? Well, I'll leave out the part about texting a friend at 70 miles an hour and skip to when I made it home.
We crunched numbers. We figured out who owes us money and how to get it. We talked about severance and unemployment benefits. We talked about health insurance. We returned the expensive, awesome mattress we purchased for my step-daughter but had not picked up yet and picked out a model that cost $250 less. We considered if there were any other recent purchases we could return. (I haven't returned my new coat, yet...technically it is a Christmas gift from my parents who gave me the money to buy it. And it is awesome. And my old coat is OLD and very "Almost Famous" furry. And it was half-price, anyway...It's like I'm making money.)
Then it was time to read the saving money articles on the internet. I've been reading these for a long time and following their tips as the mood hits. I'm pretty good at being poor, if I have to be. I paid off outstanding credit card debt while on a graduate student stipend, after all. So even though I knew what would be in them, I was disappointed.
"Take your lunch to work," "Cancel premium cable channels," "Cook meals at home." Who are these people talking to? I already take my lunch to work and it's not because I love leftovers. Premium cable? How about no cable--and we haven't had it since 2005. A fancy dinner out for us involves hitting the drive-thru and sitting on the kitchen floor. (Why the floor? I don't know--because it's like a picnic?) I guess fast food carpet picnics are out of the question, now.
My next internet stop...the grocery store circulars. And boy, I hit them hard. Yesterday night my husband opened the cabinet and said, "Why do we have four jars of Peter Pan peanut butter? Don't you know I just lost my job?"
"Yeah," I replied. "Peter Pan (his favorite) was on sale for 98 cents. Do you know how much it regularly costs?" So, of course, he knew he lost that argument.
Anyway, I hope you can live vicariously (and I mean that, I don't want anyone else to lose their jobs...I already know too many people who have) though me as we wade through this era of the dwindling middle classes, many of whom, like us, can't afford it.
But this Friday, shit just got real. I found out on my commute home that my husband just lost his job. So what did I do? Well, I'll leave out the part about texting a friend at 70 miles an hour and skip to when I made it home.
We crunched numbers. We figured out who owes us money and how to get it. We talked about severance and unemployment benefits. We talked about health insurance. We returned the expensive, awesome mattress we purchased for my step-daughter but had not picked up yet and picked out a model that cost $250 less. We considered if there were any other recent purchases we could return. (I haven't returned my new coat, yet...technically it is a Christmas gift from my parents who gave me the money to buy it. And it is awesome. And my old coat is OLD and very "Almost Famous" furry. And it was half-price, anyway...It's like I'm making money.)
Then it was time to read the saving money articles on the internet. I've been reading these for a long time and following their tips as the mood hits. I'm pretty good at being poor, if I have to be. I paid off outstanding credit card debt while on a graduate student stipend, after all. So even though I knew what would be in them, I was disappointed.
"Take your lunch to work," "Cancel premium cable channels," "Cook meals at home." Who are these people talking to? I already take my lunch to work and it's not because I love leftovers. Premium cable? How about no cable--and we haven't had it since 2005. A fancy dinner out for us involves hitting the drive-thru and sitting on the kitchen floor. (Why the floor? I don't know--because it's like a picnic?) I guess fast food carpet picnics are out of the question, now.
My next internet stop...the grocery store circulars. And boy, I hit them hard. Yesterday night my husband opened the cabinet and said, "Why do we have four jars of Peter Pan peanut butter? Don't you know I just lost my job?"
"Yeah," I replied. "Peter Pan (his favorite) was on sale for 98 cents. Do you know how much it regularly costs?" So, of course, he knew he lost that argument.
Anyway, I hope you can live vicariously (and I mean that, I don't want anyone else to lose their jobs...I already know too many people who have) though me as we wade through this era of the dwindling middle classes, many of whom, like us, can't afford it.
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