Trash or Treasure?

Its snowing in NY! The kids have no school and are all still snuggled in bed, except for one son who's upstairs attemping to pour me some coffee. The dog is nestled under my desk by my feet. Sometimes the simple things in life just make me smile.

Yesterday we spent a great deal of time cleaning and organizing. Its amazing how quickly messes grow! Our house tends to be the last resting place of unwanted goods before they are donated or thrown out. Family and friends alike, often give us things to see if we can use them. We've gotten some gems this way; housewares, furniture, clothing, and toys. We've also wound up with things that aren't useful to us like housewares, furniture, clothing and toys. Notice how the list is the same?

Amy Dacyzyn discusses this in The Complete Tightwad Gazette. To summarize her thoughts, you never know what treasures might come your way but you have to show that you are open to hand me downs and that might mean taking some junk along the way. Honestly, some of the things we love the most have been deemed "junk" by the givers. Our personal challenge is to go through these treasures in a more timely fashion.

To keep down on clutter and increase the likelihood that things actually make it to the donation spot, I've begun putting any bags of items to be donated on the front seat of my car. I see them, they bug me and I keep an eye out for a drop off bin in my travels. Gas is too expensive to make special trips. Freecycling or ecycling is another great option.

On the menu tonight, Peanut Soup (check the archives Wednesday, November 30, 2005)with black eyed peas and greens. I'll also be making some Overnight Apple Butter (check the archives Tuesday, October 11, 2005) for tomorrow morning. I'll be starting out with the apple sauce I canned in the fall.

To start with apple sauce, just pour it in your crock pot, rinse the jar out with a little water and pour that in too. Add the cinnamon and nutmeg and let it cook until it thickens. If you don't have a crock pot you can just cook it on the stove with very low heat.

But Its a Bargain!

I've gone through the cupboards and I've poked through the freezer. My suspicions were right on target up to a point. I do have very little tomato sauce left, although I still have tomato and celery canned in tomato juice which will work in most chili recipes. As I suspected, I have a lot of applesauce. I'm planning to make some more apple butter and use it in place of the maple syrup I've run out of.
Since we normally only use pure maple syrup this will save us quite a bit and the kids all love it.

My search through the freezer revealed that there are still a great deal of greens in there but there were a few surprises. First, there is quite a bit of frozen strawberries, bananas and pumpkin/squash (I use them interchangeably). Those were the good surprises. Then there was the several containers of tahini.

The tahini dates back to my early days as a member of the food cooperative. I just looked back through my invoices and discovered that I bought 9 pounds of tahini on October 4, 2004 for $18.12. What a bargain, except that I still have at least half of it in the freezer. Aside from making hummus, the occassional batch of uncheese, or the rare occasion some sleepy lunchmaker mistakes it for peanut butter, its just going to sit there.

I dragged out the cookbooks, made a batch of Buffalo Mosterella from Joanne Stepaniak's Uncheese Cookbook and then tinkered around with the recipe for Tahini Sauce in The New McDougall Cookbook. The Buffalo Mosterella (a faux mozzerella) was very good, the tahini sauce was not. With the help of my daughter, Leen, we came up with a much tastier version simply by adding, mixing and tasting over and over again. Here's the recipe for anyone else who finds themselves with unwanted tahini.

Leen's Tahini Sauce
Combine all of the following in a blender:
1 cup tahini
3/4 cup water
1tsp garlic powder
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup ketchup
2 Tbs tamari
1/2 tsp seasoned salt

Whirl in blender until smooth. Scrape out with rubber scraper. Pour 1/4 cup water into blender and whirl to get most of residue off sides of jar. Pour this into tahini sauce and whisk together. We served this over pasta and green peas, first as a hot dish and then the following day as a leftover cold pasta salad type dish. It was extremely filling and quite good. If you find the sauce is lacking something, try an extra squirt or two of ketchup, it seems to be the magic ingredient.

A New Twist on the Red Lentil Roast

I got bored. Then I got creative. The next thing I knew, I was tinkering with the Red Lentil Roast recipe. I still like the original (its posted again in yesterday's comments) but this is just another loaf option.

Barbequed Red Lentil Roast
In a medium pot place:
2 large potatoes, chopped
enough water to just cover the potatoes (the exact measurement depends on the size of your potatoes)

Add:
3 cups uncooked red lentils
4 cups water
Simmer until soft and water is absorbed, about 25 minutes

In a seperate pan saute:
2 large chopped onions
3 cloves garlic
You can sautee in oil or water, your choice.

Combine:
1 cup ketchup
1/4 cup brown sugar (although I think you might be able to use less)
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1 tsp mustard (its supposed to be dry mustard but regular works fine in a pinch)
2 Tbs flax seed meal
1 cup oatmeal
2 tsp dried parsley

In a large bowl mix together potato lentil mixture, onion garlic mixture, and remaining ingredients. The mixture should be fairly thick. If it seems too soupy add a little more oatmeal. Spoon into greased 9x12 pan. Bake at 375 for about 45 minutes or until crispy on top.

If you mix together a batch of your own barbeque sauce, you could either top it before baking for extra flavor or put it on the table at serving time.

I didn't forget the freezer/canning evaluation. I'm still working on it.

What's Left? Evalutating the Canning and Freezing Efforts of this Past Year

Its January and although I'm perusing seed catalogs, growing season is a long way off. Now is a great time to see how much is left in the freezer and the cupboard. Will we make it to the end of May without buying veggies, frozen berries and applesauce? Am I using things evenly or is there a glut of something and too little of another thing?

I suspect that I've used a lot more tomato sauce than I intended. I also suspect that despite using a lot of greens, I haven't used them as much as I've used other veggies. Finally I keep forgetting about the applesauce and I think I need to use more than I have been.

Later today, I'll be investigating my suspicions and I'll let you know where we stand tomorrow.

On the menu tonight, Red Lentil Roast with gravy and mashed potatoes. There will be another veggie on the side but I won't know what until I investigate the freezer later today.

Oatmeal Pie

I mentioned this recipe a few days ago. It is from New Penny Pincher's Cookbook by Sophie Leavitt. This is one of the many cookbooks I've acquired over the years from library book sales. I'm a big fan of the bag or box days where you fill up for a set price, around here its usually $3. BTW, neatness counts when filling a bag or box. The neater you place those books (or clothes or whatever you're allowed to fill the bag with) in, the more you can fit in the bag or box.

My kids really loved this recipe. Naturally, I've changed it around a bit, but longtime readers already knew that. Don't let the name Oatmeal Pie fool you. Based on the amount of sugar in this recipe, it is a dessert, not a breakfast.

Oatmeal Pie
Whisk together:
3 Tbs flaxseed meal
1/3 cup water

Add in:
1-1 1/2 cups brown sugar (I used 1 cup but I can see that you might want it sweeter.)
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Stir in:
1 cup quick cooking oatmeal
1 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
2 Tbs water

Place this mixture into an unbaked pie shell. I didn't have one so I used enough unseasoned bread crumbs (saved from slicing my own bread) to cover the bottom of my pie plate and mixed them with 2 Tbs canola oil. Another option for the crust would be graham cracker crumbs. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. My kids said it was better second day cold but ate it willingly enough right out of the oven.

BTW, non-vegans can use 3 eggs in place of the flaxseed meal/water mixture.

A Quick Hearty Sauce

We took the kids to the discount movie theater to see the Wallace & Grommit movie. Tickets are $2 per person anytime, so for $12 we all had a big treat. What a funny, well done movie.

Afterwards I made pasta with sauce along with leftover black bean soup for dinner. The sauce was especially simple and yummy. Here's the recipe.

1/2 can of black olives chopped small (put the rest in the fridge for another time)
4 cloves of garlic, minced

Put these in a pot and let simmer until garlic is tender but not browned or burned. Add a little water or juice from the olive can if it starts to burn.

Pour in:
1 quart of tomato puree
2 cups TVP
2 cups of water
1 Tbs sugar
1 Tbs Italian seasoning

You made need to add a little more water if it seems to dry. Let it simmer 10 minutes while your pasta cooks and enjoy! I know most recipes that call for TVP rehydrate it first but it seemed to work out fine without doing that in this recipe.

Gardening & Cooking

Its freezing in NY! I kept warm yesterday by watching the first of the Square Foot Gardening videos by Mel Bartholomew. I am really excited about giving his system a try. He relies on 4 foot by 4 foot raised beds. The beds are then further divided into 1 foot by 1 foot squares. Each of these squares contains one type of veggie. This fits in nicely with our plans to gradually create a garden at the cabin.

He saves his extra seeds by placing them in a glass jar in the fridge and claims they will last 5-10 years using this method. Can you get any more frugal than that? Now I just need to scrounge some boards to make the sides of my raised bed...

I've also been experimenting with the a cookbook from the 70's called New Penny Pincher's Cookbook by Sophie Leavitt. I made oatmeal pie last night and actually it was pretty good, a sort of low budget pecan pie. I'll share some of my more successful experiments over the next few days.

Pizza Dough One Year Later

Here's bizarre little coincidence, it was on this date last year that I first posted our pizza dough recipe. Check out the archives to see how the recipe has evolved.

I make this dough in the bread bucket but you could easily use, a bread maker on a dough only setting or a mixer with a dough hook. The recipe makes two pounds of dough or enough for two thick or three thin crusts, depending on the size of your pizza pan. Since we're feeding 6 people, and they're getting hungrier every day, we use two large 11" x 17" cookie sheets.

2 Tbs olive oil
1 3/4 cup warm water
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp dry yeast
1 tsp salt
4 1/4 cups whole wheat bread flour

Combine the olive oil, water, sugar, yeast and salt. Let sit until the yeast starts bubbling away. The most important lesson I've learned about using yeast is, let the yeast get active before adding the flour. Usually 15 minutes is plenty of time for the yeast to get bubbly.

Add three of the cups of whole wheat bread flour all at once. Gradually add the remaining flour as you are mixing, paying attention to the consistency of your dough. It should be elastic but not sticky. You may find you need a little more or a little less flour. Whatever you discover, make a note of it on your recipe so you know for next time.

Here's an important tip. Don't let your 13 yr old add the flour when she's trying to sneak a peek at the episode of Cyberchase that her brothers are watching. Depsite the educational aspects of the show, she will lose count.

I let the dough rise for about half an hour before rolling out but, like the recipe Shaunta mentioned in yesterday's comments, it works fine without any rising time.

If you're freezing the extra dough, get it in the freezer ASAP and check on it after an hour. You may find it has blown the cover off your container and needs to be punched down again.

Pizza, Frozen Dough and Double Duty With a Sticky Pot

This has been an incredibly long week. I think I like the snow days more than the kids do. We're going to celebrate Friday with homemade pizza. The key to keeping it frugal and sane is to make several batches of pizza douch at one time and freeze the extra in useable portions.

Useable portions is really the key here. A frozen blob of dough that makes 12 pizzas is not helpful to me, in fact its a source of aggravation. Three packages of frozen dough that will make four pizzas each is a godsend! You have to think about how much your family uses at one time and do your freezing based on that, no matter what you're freezing. Sounds simple but it took me a few years to figure that one out.

We're going to make southwestern pizza tonight by using black beans, salsa and cilantro as our topping. I'm going to peruse The Uncheese Cookbook for a possible cheesy topping but we may just use a sprinkle of nutritional yeast instead. (Store bought soy cheese is just too pricey.)

Tonight is game night with the kids. I may make a batch of the caramel popcorn from The Complete Tightwad Gazette. The kids love it, and so do I. I usually make a batch of granola before I make the popcorn because I can reuse the same huge pot (and then its just one gunky sticky pot to clean!) If I plan things right, I can have snacks and breakfasts already made for the early part of next week. I'll just have to make sure some of the popcorn is put away before the kids get home from school!

Introducing Mary to the Thrift Store

Yesterday, I introduced my sister, Mary, to "Family Day" at the Salvation Army thrift store. On Wednesdays, all but one tag color are 50% off. She got 3 pairs of jeans and a shirt for $11. Now she's hooked! Its really cool to watch someone experience thrift store prices for the first time.

I was able to pick up a beautiful winter jacket for my older son for $4. It won't fit hime for a year or two but he's hard on coats, so it pays to have a replacement in the wings.

On the food front, we're still enjoying vegetables that were either frozen or canned over the summer and fall. I think we may make it all the way to the first harvest from our CSA in June! (If you're not sure what a CSA is, check out The Robyn Van En Center to learn more or to find a CSA near you.

Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew is on hold at the library for me. Check out Mel's website for a plethora of frugal gardening info.

Vegetarian Slow Cooker Group Corrected Link

I accidentally posted the link to an inactive vegetarian crock pot list. I've corrected it in my earlier post. The correct link is below.

Healthy Vegetarian Crock Pot Cookery

I've also just been made aware of Vegan Crock Pot Cooking

Sorry for the confusion.

Refrigerator Potato Rolls

I was really pleased with these rolls. I believe the original recipe was from the Cornell Bread Book. I've made it vegan by eliminating the powdered milk and eggs and replacing the honey with blackstrap molasses. I also substitute flaxseed meal for the wheat germ in the original recipe. I just never have wheat germ in the house but I always have flaxseed meal.

Here's my version of the recipe:

Cut 3 medium potatoes into small cubes, leaving the skin on. Boil until tender. Drain, reserving potato water, and mash them adding in potato water as needed to get the right consistency. (If you don't like the "chunks" of potato skin, run it through a food processor.) Set this aside to cool

Place the following in your bread bucket or mixing bowl and mix to combine:
1 1/4 cup of the reserved potato water (this needs to have cooled to 105-115 degrees, it should feel warm, not hot. If it is too hot it will kill the yeast.)
4 1/2 tsp active dry yeast (this is the equivalent of 2 packages)
1/2 cup canola oil
1/3 cup blackstrap molasses
2 tsp salt

Let this mixture sit for about 5 minutes until the yeast begins to really bubble. Add in:
1/3 cup flaxseed meal
3/4 cup soy flour
5-6 cups of whole wheat bread flour

Mix until all ingredients are well blended and then knead lightly. (I used my bread bucket and stirred for about 5 minutes.) Place in an oiled bowl in the fridge for at least 5-6 hours. To bake shape into rolls, crescents, breadsticks, whatever you like. Cover with a damp towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about an hour. In a pinch you can skip the rising but your roll will be denser.

The general rule for baking this is 350 degrees for 20 minutes but you made need more or less time depending on how big your rolls are.

I was able to make four batches of 12 rolls from this dough.

The Evolution of a Casserole

Last night I made a casserole of lentils, brown rice, TVP, carrots, bok choy, bulgur and cheeze sauce. The dish just evolved as I stood in the kitchen. I had put 2 cups of lentils, 2 cups of brown rice, 1 Tbs of olive oil (to prevent foaming) and 8 cups of water, into my pressure cooker because once again, dinnertime snuck up on me.

As I waited for it to come up to a boil, I mixed 2 cups of TVP, with about 4 cups of boiling water, 1 tsp of sesame oil, 1 tsp of garlic powder, 4 Tbs of tamari and 1 packet of duck sauce that I found in the fridge.

Then I poked around the cabinets and found a cheeze sauce mix that I had made from Joanne Stepaniak's Uncheese Cookbook. I made a quadruple batch of that. Along the way I also defrosted carrots and bok choy in the microwave.

I greased two 9x13 pans and divided everything between the two pans and topped it all with the cheeze sauce. A little bulgur was sprinkled on top because I thought it seemed to liquidy. I baked it at 350 degrees for 20 minutes and boy did it taste good.

How to Say Thank You with Pasta, Peas, Potato Rolls & Leftover Sloppy Joe

Some days I just have trouble thinking it all through. Yesterday was one of those days. We left the house early to pick up a couch and recliner from my inlaws. Thanks to a rented a van and some borrowed some muscle from my brother-in-law, we got our "new" furniture in the house with relative ease. Unfortunately, during this flurry of activity, I forgot about planning something to eat.

Thanks to some quick thinking on Jim's part, I made peanut noodles with peas but it didn't seem like enough, especially for a guest who had just lugged a monsterous couch across the icy tundra that is my front yard. Thankfully, I still had some refrigerator potato roll dough which I quickly shaped into rolls. I put these near the wood stove to rise. I gave them barely 15 minutes before popping them into the oven. We also had some leftover vegan sloppy joe, which I warmed up to serve with the rolls. In the end, it looked like quite a spread.

Ironically, dinner snuck up on us as well. All the furniture moving sparked a cleaning frenzy and no one noticed the time until it was well after 6pm. I rummaged through the fridge and came up with small containers of Peanut soup and Sweet & Spicy Lentil Chili from the week. Tasha minced two cloves of garlic. Leen chopped one onion. I added one quart of carrots, frozen beet greens, the leftovers and a handful of bulgur. 15 minutes later, we had a pretty good soup along with toasted potato rolls and the remaining peanut noodles. Whew!

Your Money or Your Life

I finished the above mentioned book by Joe Dominguez two days ago. It was a very interesting read. Initially, the mind numbing attention to detail regarding past income seemed like a bit much but having read the whole book, it makes more sense. This attention to detail really isn't all that different from the price books that many of us already keep.

He wants you to look at where you've been financially, where you are financially and where you're going financially. He asks you to explore the expendidtures you make for your income (gas, clothes, lunches etc.) and then determine what your income really is.

His whole purpose is to help you pinpoint the moment where your investment income surpases your expenses, thereby making you financially independent. You'd really need to read the book yourself for a better explanation. Personally, I'm left pondering the whole experience of reading it for right now.

I made a big batch of granola for breakfast this morning. It was a nice change.
There will be no post tomorrow, I've got too much to do.

Sweet and Spicy Lentil Chili Review

I added a link to the Vegetarian Slow Cooker group to yesterday's post. Its a great resource for slow cooker recipes. The Sweet and Spicy Lentil Chili was delicious and so were the potato rolls. No one was thrilled with the greens (turnip and beet) that we had as a side dish but everyone agreed they prefered them on the side rather than added to the chili.

We made banana cookies for dessert from an old fashioned woodstove cookbook. The kids liked them but I thought they needed work. I suspect part of the problem lies in the fact that the recipe had no oven temp or cooking time. (It said cook in a moderate oven until lightly browned.) I made a double batch of batter so I'll be playing with that recipe a bit more later today.

Today's menu is still up in the air. Its Friday and I'd like to make it a fun menu, like pizza but I'm beginning to run low on sauce. I'm leaning toward vegetarian sloppy joes made with TVP served on the potato rolls. I made this last week from scratch for the first time and it was a big hit. A veggie soup would round things out nicely, and if I run it through the Vitamix, no one will complain about the greens.

Also on today's agenda, organizing the kids, their chores and our expectations. We had a family meeting last night and we have part two tonight.

Tomorrow, I'll give you my two cents on the Joe Dominguez book.

Happy Friday!

Hand Me Down Jackpot!

Tke kids have a two hour delay today because of icy roads. Welcome to winter in the Hudson Valley. I don't teach on days with delayed or cancelled school. So far, I've only taught aerobics 2 days this week but I burned plenty of calories chipping ice off the driveway.

Yesterday, I taught my nutrition program at the preschool. We were learning about where flour comes from and how to make bread. In years past, I used an electric breadmaker, this year I used the old fashioned bread bucket exclusively. The kids got to sniff the ingredients (did you know yeast is stinky?) and do all the mixing. I've been doing this for 9 years and I've never gotten as many compliments on my program as I did yesterday.

I just found a recipe for Sweet and Spicy Lentil Chili from the Healthy Vegetarian Slow Cooker group I belong to. I'm going to give this a try for dinner tonight. I'm also planning to debut the refrigerator potato rolls.

Last night we visited my in-laws for dinner. They are in the middle of a huge purge. We left last night with 2 comforters, assorted games, a tracphone (I don't care about it but my daughters are thrilled), and a host of other things that I can't remember. In the next week or two, we'll be taking their couch and reclining rocking chair. Due to a lack of kids in their home, these are in much better shape than my newer couch and chairs.

The moral of that visit is:
It pays to make it known that you don't mind hand me downs!

Tomorrow I'll give my reviews of the chili and potato rolls.

My Productive Day

Yesterday was extremely productive inside the house which almost makes up for the fact that we didn't finish clearing the snow/ice outside the house. Later this afternoon I've got to shovel the path and finish the driveway. (Who's idea was this really long driveway anyhow??)

With a little help from the kids, I packed away the Christmas decorations. I'm really not a scrooge but the tree was in the way. We baked 6 loaves of whole wheat bread, 4 loaves of cinnamon bread and I finally made a batch of refrigerator potato roll dough. I figured the bread bucket was already dirty, why not keep going! I've frozen some of it, hopefully for next week.

For dinner I made a split pea soup with Cajun Seasoning. Its a variation on a recipe from Nava Atlas' American Harvest Cookbook.

In a crock pot on high:
Spray bottom with cooking spray
Layer into crockpot:
2 chopped onion
2 cloves of minced garlic
5 diced potatoes (I leave the skin on)
2 bay leaves

Cook on high for 1/2 hour
Add in:
2 cups dried split peas
1 cup frozen corn (optiona)
Boiling water to cover (I go about an inch above the split peas/corn)

Cook on high 5-6 hours
During last 1/2 hour uncover and add 1 tsp Cajun Seasoning or more if you like it spicy.

It's really hearty and delicious. I didn't have corn so I used carrots that I'd canned this fall. They worked very well in the soup. BTW, it cooks well on stovetop too.

Breakfasts, Snacks and What I'm Reading

Last night, after driving home from the Adirondacks, I made four loaves of pumpkin bread to use as breakfasts for the week. Then I left the house to teach a class. When I returned, one loaf was almost gone. This my friends is why nothing lasts in our house. Someone is always hungry and whatever I've baked for breakfast makes a convenient snack as well.

Actually, I don't really mind. I'd rather have them eat something healthy than junk food. Although they'd have to go to someone elses house to find the junk food, so maybe that's not a bad idea either!

On today's agenda, baking some whole wheat bread, possibly baking some cinnamon bread and making some hearty soup for dinner. (Its snowing like crazy here and we've all got stuffy noses.) School has already been canceled for my kids, so I have some helpers. We might even get to make the pretzels my kids keep asking about. The bonus of all this cooking is it helps keeps the house nice and toasty.

We're really sticking to only using the woodstove for heat (except when we're away). We have a little more than a $600 credit balance with the oil company (we use the budget plan) and our oil tank is currently 3/4 full. We're aiming for a refund at the end of the season.

In the mania of the holidays, my pantry inventory sheets weren't really used and need to be updated. Unfortunately, same goes for the freezer. I'm hoping to get to it later this week.

I'm reading Your Money or Your Life by Joe Dominguez. Its very interesting so far.

Thanks to Ruthie and Shaunta, I've really gotten into Path to Freedoms's website

BTW, in the category of things I'm not thrilled with, what happened to Budget Living Magazine? Gone are the cool do it yourself projects and instead there are "bargain" $89 jeans. My renewal was only $5 last time and boy am I glad.

Free Entertainment Finds

Yesterday we watched a few hundred people take a Polar Plunge into Lake George. I'm told the air temperature was about 23 degrees and the water temperature was about 40 degrees. Depsite this, people came from as far away as Rio Dejanero to jump into the water. My kids were just thrilled by this. They couldn't believe what they were seeing, and frankly, neither could I! Does free entertainment get any better than this? It was well worth the drive.

We also discovered in our travels that a nearby park has free ice skating, snow tubing, cross country sking and snoeshowing. We usually spend $16/family member, $8.00/boy because they're 6 or younger, to go to a local ski resort to tube for 2 hours once a year. The notion of it being free was intriguing. We'd need to buy a snow tube for each child would it be worth the money?

A little online research revealed snow tubes for $13.99-$89.99. We're seriously considering tubes that are on sale for $13.99 with free shipping. In one use the tubes will almost pay for themselves. (The kids have agreed to use some of their Christmas money to purchase their own tubes.)

Here's the interesting thing, this free park is not advertised anywhere that I've seen. We stumbled upon it by turning at a sign that said "Recreation Area" with an arrow. Our neighbor who lives there year round didn't know about the park and she's lived there all her life. So keep your eyes open, you never know what you'll find.

Happy New Year 2006!

A new year, filled with new opportunities, and new possibilities is here. Enjoy!

How'd We Do With Our Goals for 2005?

Here's a quote from my blog this time last year:

So what's in store for 2005? I'm hoping to get more earth friendly and decrease my global footprint even more. Solar ovens, compost tumblers, and rain barrels are all things I'll be exploring. Planning our retirement home and life is also on my mind even though I'm only 34 and my hubby is only 39. The choices we make now will forever impact how and when we are able to live our work free years. I'll also be reading and trying out new recipes, especially ones written about lean times. One of the most creative cookbooks I came across was Grandma's Wartime Kitchen. It certainly wasn't veg but there were some great veg recipes in there.

We did use solar cookers this summer with pretty good success. Using a solar cooker is very similar to using a slow cooker. We'll definitely be using solar cookers again this summer and perhaps even earlier in the season.

The compost tumbler plan was aborted in favor of the worm bin (check out the archives for Monday May 23rd). I couldn't bear to spend the money on the compost tumbler. I'm really pleased with the worm bin. Those little guys are still eating away in their winter domain (a huge old cooler in our basement). They were instrumental in the success of our container gardening this past summer.

I never got around to doing anything with the rain barrel but I'm still planning to give that a try.

Planning our retirement is still high on our list of priorities. We used this year to take a hard look at where we are and where we'd like to be. Aside from the obvious things like paying off debt, things like planting the currant bushes, making plumbing repairs and insulating the attic at the cabin all tie into this. We want to get the big expenses out of the way while we are still working. We still don't have an exact timeline on this but in 2006 we will continue to solidify our plans. Spending the summer here really helped us realize that we could live happily in a smaller, simpler house in a smaller, slower community.

As for reading and trying new recipes, for me this is a joy and there will be more of that in 2006 as well.

When I teach Yogaball, I end our meditation with this thought:

Remember that yoga is a practice and there is something to be learned each and every time we practice, both in our successes and the things that continue to challenge us.

I think this applies to frugal living as well. Happy New Year to all!

Some Goals for 2006

Its that time again. Here are some of the things that top our list of things we'd like to accomplish in the new year.

First, I want to pay off all of our debt, (excluding the mortgages). We kept having runs of big expenses in 2005. They always came in bunches. You know the kind, you just spend $1000 on a car, then an $800 medical bill arrives, followed by a $1200 car repair. I want all that gone! We've mapped it out and should have it paid off by November. As soon as that's paid off, we'll shift into paying off the mortgages early.

Second, I want to continue to prep our cabin for our eventual permanent move there. There are repairs that need to be done and space/storage issues to work out (our house is about 1,800 square feet, the cabin is just 1,000) but mainly I'm talking about more plantings. This year we put in the currant bushes. I'd like to add something like that each year, so that by the time we make the move, we have well established, productive fruit bushes. This year, I'm hoping to add gooseberries and possibly blueberries. What I actually add will depend on how productive a plant is and how shade/acidic soil tolerant it is.

When I get dejected about the size of the land (its measured in feet rather than acres) and its ability to produce food, I draw inspiration from my great aunts. Behind their apartment house in Brooklyn, they had planted an incredible garden of tomatoes, peppers, fig trees and heaven knows what else all in a plot of land considerably smaller than ours.

Third, I want to continue to simplify and declutter the house. I'm a packrat at heart.

On a personal level, I'd like to finally get my website up and running. I've got the domain name, now I just need to get my butt in gear and actually put something together in Frontpage. I'm toying with a lot of different ideas that I'd like to explore but I need to get that website going first!

Tomorrow, I'll look back at our goals for 2005 and how we did.

Loving All the Leftovers

I'm kind of sad, tonight I might actually have to cook something from scratch for dinner! We have been living on Christmas leftovers since Sunday and its been a bit of a vacation for me. I've had a little extra time for other projects, like those darn drapes that I don't think I'm ever going to finish! So how do you keep the family from revolting when you're serving leftovers night after night? Here's how I did it.

First you may need to vary the presentation. In general, leftovers presented in the same crusty pot they were cooked in are unappealing to anyone. Having said that, some things work really well in the original pot. For example, the Tofurkey was long gone but the pot still had a good amount of stuffing in it, as well as a spoon or two of mashed potatoes and some leftover roasted veggies. We also had a huge amount of leftover gravy. I added some rehydrated tvp to the pot and mixed in some gravy. Viola, faux turkey casserole.

The Red Bens and Rice returned first as itself served with some leftover squash biscuits that were toasted to give them a new lease on life. They made their final appearance as burgers when I mixed the last bit with some oatmeal and flaxseed meal (these work as binders to hold the burger together.) I served the burgers with a soup made from the leftover veggies and broth from the gluten pot roast recipe and some leftover foccacia bread. The gluten roast itself never made it long enough to become anything but itself, my daughter and I really enjoyed it.

The leftover pasta was combined with the sauce, sprinkled with a cheese substitute called Fake Fake (its a mix of walnuts, nutritional yeast and garlic powder), and baked in the oven. I served this with focaccia as well.

The White Beans and Tomatoes haven't made a second appearance yet because I opted to freeze them. This will make my world an easier place on some future hectic night.

The baked goods have all made appearances as quick breakfasts for my husband on his way to work. A quick toasting does wonders for biscuits, breads and Apple Butter Pull Aparts that have gotten a little soggy from being in the fridge.

Shayla asked for some input on her new slow cooker, my response is in the comments section of yesterday's post for anyone else who might be interested.

Tomorrow I'll share some of our goals for 2006.

So How Was that Holiday Menu?

To be frugal is to admit what worked and what didn't, especially in the kitchen. Having said that here's a review of the culinary side of our holiday. BTW, Ruthie was right on target with her plan to pare down their holiday menu (she is wise beyond her years!) There is part of me that is so afraid of running out of food that I always make way too much, but we'll get to that later.

Here was my plan for Christmas Eve Dinner:
Tofurkey with Roasted Root Vegetables and gravy
Potato Rolls
Molasses Cookies

Here's what we actually had:
The only change to this menu was the potato rolls. I made mashed potatoes instead. I should mention that since Tofurkeys are pricey little buggers, I always make a batch of my own rice stuffing to go along with it. The molasses cookies were the standout hit of the evening.


Here was my plan for Christmas Day Brunch:
No Fry Donuts (The Encyclopedia of Country Living by Carla Emery)
Apple Butter & Pumpkin Butter Pull Aparts (Vegetarian Resource Group)
Squash Biscuits (Grandma's Wartime Kitchen)
Cinnamon Yeast Bread (Feed Your Family for $12.00/day)
Homemade applesauce
Strawberry Banana Smoothie

Here's what we actually had:
Time ran short for food prep on Christmas Eve and because of that we nixed the donuts. We ran out of pumpkin butter, so we just had Apple Butter Pull Aparts. No one was in the mood for smoothies, so I didn't bother making them. As for the apple sauce, my inlaws brought tangerines and we had those instead. The cinnamon bread was the standout hit of the morning but everyone enjoyed the biscuits and pull aparts as well.


Here was my plan for Christmas Day Dinner:
Not Your Mama's Pot Roast (Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker by Robin Robertson)
Pasta with Chunky Sauce (my own chunky sauce made with TVP to give a meaty texture)
Red Beans and Rice (Harvest Cookbook by Nava Atlas)
White Beans and Tomatoes (Miserly Moms by Johnni McCoy)
Molasses Cookies
Any Leftovers from brunch may be used as desserts
The Most Fabulous Frozen Peanut Butter cookies on the Planet Earth we used carob instead of cocoa powder

Here's what we actually had:
Actually there were no big changes here except not a single molasses cookie made it to dinner and I made Foccacia to go with the pasta. BTW, Foccacia is just pizza dough with Italian Seasonings and a spray of olive oil over the top. The pasta was the big hit but that is to be expected. People like to stick with the familiar, especially when dabbling in vegetarian fare. Most everyone tried a bit of everything. As I also suspected, the gluten roast was only enjoyed by my kids. The texture of gluten is something that not everyone is ready for, still I'm glad we included it this year.

Tomorrow I'll tell you about the plethora of leftovers and how we made them palatable day after day!

Christmas in the Rearview Mirror

The holidays always amaze me. Like a roller coaster ride, you creak up the hill and then suddenly, its happening, you're flying down the hill whether you're ready or not. Sometime on Christmas morning, I experience that same feeling, company is here, ready or not! Overall, I'm really happy with the way our holiday unfolded.

Our kids made us a beautiful patchwork quilt for our bed upstate (baby, its cold up there!) Perhaps it was the ultimate testament to our journey into frugality as a family. The only supply they bought new was quilting thread. The fabric was from freecycle, I believe a local seamstress was retiring and clearing out her fabric supply. The backing was a queen size fleece blanket that we already had. I had bought the batting over a year ago, on sale of course, with the intention to make a quilt for the same bed. To give my kids proper credit, I should remind everyone that they are 14, 13, 6, and 5. (My 13 yr old, the sewer of the group, did ask for some technical advice along the way but the kids did all the planning, cutting, sewing, decorating and embroidering.) I'm not sure anything that follows can top this gift!




For the kids, we kept it low key. We gave the kids personalized bathrobes (most were from the thrift store, one was acquired from my sister-that adds cool appeal, one was made from scratch using towels.) The kids all modeled these Christmas morning. Learning to embroider is such a useful skill at a time like this. The kids also got some books, some shirts, a new sheet set and the third Harry Potter DVD (used of course!) Jim and I exchanged some records (he collects them) and books (I love Joyce Carol Oates.) We also reminded the kids of the canoe we had purchased earlier in the year as a family Christmas present.

Santa brought the girls old style metal Atra razors (I've mentioned before these last forever. These were the most expensive item we bought, $57.77 for both of them on ebay, but, when you consider how long I've had mine, they were a bargain.), white Ked type sneakers (they wanted to decorate these with fabric paint), shaving cream and hair gel.

For the boys, the big man left a guitar (freecycle), a recorder (ebay), crayons, colored pencils, drawing paper, wallets and gloves. Throughout the day, the boys were seen playing music and discussing the songs they should write. At the end of the night, we found them in their room, tushes sticking up in the air, coloring.

For extended family, we made a variety of things based on the recievers lifestyle (I mean we couldn't give homemade placemats to my 18 yr old sister who still lives at home.) For some we made placemats and matching napkins or potholders, for others record bowls filled with cookies. Everyone got a flower pot decorated by the boys.

Not all the gifts were homemade, some were acquired creatively. One of my sisters was looking to go back to the gym. We gave her a gym bag, water bottle and jump rope that I had planned to use as a giveaway at work two years ago but never got around to. My brother recieved a brand new, still with tags on, Rangers pullover jacket that had been left at a friends house when they moved in. The price tag said $100, I got it for nothing and my brother thought it was a great story.

Some gifts were a combination of homemade and acquired, like the ceramic pig lamp for my sister in law (she loves pigs!) The lamp was perfect, the shade was not. We recovered the shade with fabric that matched her home's color scheme.

Three gifts were just bought, a griddle for my parents that we chipped in on with my brother, a bath set for my youngest sister, and a mesh bag and bath toys for my one year old niece.

The final price tag for the whole holiday was about $100 ($225 if you include the earlier purchase of the canoe). Tomorrow: a review of the food we served and how we're dealing with the leftovers.

It Beginning to Get a Little Manic

Things are falling into place, although I'm really regretting my offer to sub for a friends two classes Saturday morning. What was I thinking???

Tomorrow, I will spend the early part of the day working with the kids on finishing presents. If all goes well, in the evening I will switch over to food prep. If all doesn't go well, I'll be sewing at the kitchen table while directing a teenage girl to chop, slice, mix and stir. You do what you've got to do. Its a fun kind of mania, especially because the kids are into it.

I will try for one more update tomorrow evening but there is a very good chance that there will be no postings until Monday morning.

For last minute food ideas check out www.vegweb.com, www.vrg.org, www.cok.net

Happy Holidays and Peace to All

Our Christmas Menu

After much deliberation and scanning what's in the freezer and cupboards, we've settled on a menu. I also take into account what can be prepared ahead of time, what can be cooked in the slow cooker, what needs the oven and what needs the stove top. There is no bigger pain in my behind than planning a great menu only to discover you don't have enough room to cook it.

There are a couple of things worth mentioning. First, I don't include a lot of snack foods in my menu, that is deliberate. We don't need to snack on salty yum yums all day long. Also my family typically brings an assortment of snack foods. Second although this may seem like a huge amount of food, for the number of people we entertain, it really isn't. Everything I've chosen freezes very well so leftovers are welcome. Finally, since few of our family are vegetarian much less vegan, I like to offer a variety of taste experiences. I include the familiar, pasta, with the unfamiliar, gluten roast. Here's the menu...

Christmas Eve Dinner
Tofurkey with Roasted Root Vegetables and gravy
Potato Rolls
Molasses Cookies
(I'm sure there will be a fair number of candy canes and other treats from a variety of sources as well.)

Christmas Day Brunch
No Fry Donuts (The Encyclopedia of Country Living by Carla Emery)
Apple Butter & Pumpkin Butter Pull Aparts (Vegetarian Resource Group)
Squash Biscuits (Grandma's Wartime Kitchen)
Cinnamon Yeast Bread (Feed Your Family for $12.00/day)
Homemade applesauce
Strawberry Banana Smoothie

Christmas Day Dinner
Not Your Mama's Pot Roast (Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker by Robin Robertson)
Pasta with Chunky Sauce (my own chunky sauce made with TVP to give a meaty texture)
Red Beans and Rice (Harvest Cookbook by Nava Atlas)
White Beans and Tomatoes (Miserly Moms by Johnni McCoy)
Molasses Cookies
Any Leftovers from brunch may be used as desserts
The Most Fabulous Frozen Peanut Butter cookies on the Planet Earth we used carob instead of cocoa powder

Holiday Finances

My holiday party at work was yesterday evening. It was a low key affair, in the gym. Everyone brought a dessert to share. I got to try wasabi crackers with tabouli. It was hot enough to bring a tear to your eye but really delicious. The conversation was the best part.

One close friend confessed to spending $1500 on immediate family. I almost passed out. When I told her our holiday expenses so far were about $25, it was her turn to gape. (Its actually closer to $150. If you recall we bought a canoe for the family back in late October that was tied into our holiday budget. I did tell her that once I remembered.) What followed was a fascinating conversation on the act of holiday giving.

In the end, we weren't that far apart on our philosophies. My friend had only used cash, it was money that was specifically ear marked for holiday spending and she had not impacted her overall cash flow in any way. She had spent what she could afford to spend. I should also mention that she is a very highly paid computer programmer who moonlights as a fitness instructor, a scrapbooking consultant, a Mary Kay consultant and a trainer at Uno's. We all make choices.

On the food front, let the holiday food prep begin! Tonight we will finalize the holiday menu. Christmas Eve dinner is a quiet affair with just Jim, myself and the kids. My brother, his wife and daughter will stop by for dessert and coffee. Christmas Day is my big gig. We call it an open house. Family and friends come any time that is convenient for them. The hope is that this will lower the stress of a set time. We start the day with brunch type foods and then around 1:30 we change everything over to more substantial, dinner type food.

I'll share our decisions tomorrow morning.

We've Run Out of Pasta!!

We ran out of pasta last week, talk about inconvenient timing. Our food cooperative order is scheduled to arrive on 12/24. The challenge, can I make it to Saturday without any pasta in the house?

Since both of my quickie meals rely on pasta (Mac Uncheese and Peanut Noodles), I need a quickie alternative. I've set my sights on bulgur. I don't think it would be partcularly good in either of my quickie meals but it does cook quickly and the grains stay seperate, unlike millet which always winds up a gummy mess in my house.

Last night I tried this substitution in a recipe from the Vegetarian Resource Group for skillet macaroni with tvp and sauce. It actally substituted very nicely, almost better than the original. I've found in the past pasta can get gummy in this recipe.

Busy Little Elves

Its very busy around here. Everyone seems to have a project that they are working on. Jim is putting together his first batch of homemade wine. The girls are working with the boys on a present for Jim and I. I'm alternating between doing laundry and working on holiday presents.

So far I have two bathrobes personalized, one with a name the other with a name and picture of a dog that looks remarkably like ours. The picture was scavenged off a never worn tshirt that my sister was getting rid of. I'm currently working on a belt for a robe that was missing one. There's definitely a bathrobe/sleepwear theme going on this Christmas.

The pumpkin butter was pretty good. We used it to top pancakes, in place of apple butter in the Apple Butter Pull Aparts recipe and my sons ate it out of a bowl as is.

I'm going to go with some lentils for dinner. We need a quick cooking meal.

Pumpkin Butter and Kale Stems

When I was making bread the other day, I put it near the wood stove to rise. We are currently enjoying some of the fluffiest whole wheat bread I've ever made. I'll definitely use that trick again.

Last night I was on a quest to find a recipe for pumpkin butter. None of my cookbooks had it. If you knew how many cookbooks I have and how many time periods they cover, you'd understand how impressive that is. I ended up online and even vegweb.com didn't have a recipe. A google search revealed a plethora of recipes. I'm experimenting with one in my crock pot now. I'm hoping to use the pumpkin butter as a filling for holiday baking. We'll see how it goes.

I managed to get one of the bathrobes embroidered yesterday afternoon while everyone was at school. I'm hoping to get two more done today but we're already working on a two hour delay and I'm afraid school might be canceled all together.

Last night we had chick peas cooked with stewed tomatoes, onion, garlic, turnip greens, basil and finely chopped kale stems. I served this over brown rice cooked with some garlic scapes I had frozen a few months back. It was delicious.

I had read that kale stems can be used like celery but was a little apprehensive since my experience was that they were too woody to be palatable. During one of our steaming/freezing sessions this growing season, we finely chopped the stems and steamed them so we could give them a try over the winter. I'm really glad we did.

I feel experimental today, and with a two hour delay I don't have to go to work, so I'm planning to try a new recipe for dinner. Now I just have to find one that appeals to me.

A Magical Culinary Combination?

I'm beginning to think that the following combination is some sort of magic culinary bullet.

1/2 cup tamari
1 Tbs nutritional yeast
1 Tbs maple syrup
2 tsp garlic powder

That combination made some fairly bitter greens, chick peas and bulgur into "the best soup ever." Jim said that and believe me, he's not one to give out unwarranted praise.

I have a two theories about this. First, I gave the greens a whirl in the Vitamix. I think the fact that no one ended up with a chewy mouthful of bitterness had a lot to do with the success of the soup. Also, I served the soup with Oat Sticks, which are basically quick bread sticks. They were a high fun factor food which ties into my long standing when in doubt add a fun food theory. Even grown ups like to have a little fun.

I'm a lot more confident today about getting through all the greens in the freezer. I should also mention that even though I'm calling this soup, if you stuck your spoon straight into it and let go, the spoon would continue standing. This was very thick soup.

Gooey Squash

Yesterday afternoon I discovered that one of the butternut squash in the basement had gotten all gooey. That one went out to the compost bin and the other eleven got cut in half and baked. We had some with dinner. They were so delicious that we just ate them plain. I think everyone assumed I had put some margarine on it but I hadn't.

The rest were scraped out and put into a bowl in the fridge. I made squash biscuits this morning and I'll probably make some muffins tomorrow. The rest will get frozen in the amounts that I commonly use.

I just put some chick peas up to soak. I'll be making the chickpea and greens soup tonight. I'm going to see if I can sneak in some of those not so favorite greens. Later today I will be baking bread. The upswing of this is the heat of the oven will be welcome. Its mighty cold in NY right now.

Holiday Countdown

Last night I made veggie chili with the kidney beans. We topped it with some leftover cheez sauce (Easy Breezy Cheezy Sauce from How it All Vegan). I added a little oatmeal as a binder to the leftover peanut soup/black eyed pea concoction and shaped them into burgers to have with the chili. I thought we might have some left for lunches but we didn't.

On the holiday front, some good progress has been made with the kids. Wednesdays are family day at our local Salvation Army thrift store. That means half off everything except one tag color. Last week I was able to get bathrobes for both girls, really nice ones. I'm embroidering their names on them but I have to do it while they are at school. I have several easy reader books for Ameleii. Yesterday was the coup de gras, I got Kyle a kids guitar off of freecycle. He's been asking for one for weeks.

I acquired a Scooby Doo sheet set and valance off freecycle a while back. That had me stumped, what good is one sheet set when you have two boys who both like Scooby Doo? I ended up pairing the patterned sheets up with plain sheets to make two complete sets. One set has a plain blue sheet on the bottom and a Scooby Doo sheet on top, the other a Scooby Doo sheet on the bottom and a plain sheet on top. The pillow case was missing so the girls are taking plain white pillow cases and personalizing one for each boy.

On Sunday, the boys and Jim mixed and shaped dough for the dog biscuits that we give all canine family members. They are in the freezer waiting to be baked. The girls are working on their own projects as well. Its all still a work in progress, but at least I feel like we're making progress.

Is this Christmas on the cheap too extreme? I don't think so. My kids don't feel deprived, in fact they get right into the challenge of it all.

Finishing Up Before Getting Started

Sometimes you have to finish one project before you can get started on another. What a pain it can be! I still had a pile of fleece and four curtains to finish lining from my project weeks ago. I just never got around to the last four curtains. Now I needed some of the leftover fleece for a holiday project but I had to make sure I left enough for the curtains. There was no way around it, I had to at least cut the fleece and pin it to the curtains. Its all pinned but I still need to finish sewing 2 1/2 curtains. At least I know I have enough fleece left.

I ended up making peanut soup last night. I added black eyed peas and bulgur to it. The whole concoction ended up being more like a beans with a sauce than a soup. It was really good. Tasha chopped the veggies from the fridge to make vegetable soup. We didn't bother with the beets, turnips, carrots or celeriac since these all store well in the fridge. On the other hand, the bok choy, mystery greens, radishes and daikon radishes needed to be used. I tossed them into a pot with some onion and let it simmer for a while. We added a little tamari and then pureed the whole thing. We had a little last night, it wasn't bad but it needed some dressing up.

When in doubt about a meal, always serve a favorite food with it. We had homemade French fries with last nights meal, just in case!

On tonight's menu...something with kidney beans.

Dogs, Holidays and Cleaning Out the Fridge

All Santa's little elves are scurrying around as I write this. There are plenty of craft projects to be started and many more to be completed. Later this afternoon the boys (Jim included) will begin making the mix for the dog biscuits. There are a lot of special dogs in our family who need gifts too! Each dog will get a bag of biscuits and a braided rope toy. The braided ropes are made from old cotton shirts. The dogs love them and you can throw them in the washer if they get too nasty.

Dinner tonight will revolve around cleaning out the remaining fresh veggies from the fridge. To my memory there is still some bok choy, turnips, beets, radishes, carrots and cabbage in there. Lately, things have been so busy that its been easier to dig into the freezer or cupboard for precut, prelabeled produce than to take the time to wash and cut the things in the fridge. Who says canning and freezing don't save time?

Anyway, all signs point to vegetable soup as part of tonights meal. There's a good chance that peanut butter will be involved as well since I have to grind some more peanut butter for the week. As I've said before, I like to use the water I rinse the blender with rather than just pitch it.

A Successful Holiday Gift

Yesterday was the first of outing of this years handmade holiday presents. Naturally, I was up completing it Tuesday evening when I should have been sleeping but I'm a born procrastinator. These gifts were for three special coworkers at the preschool where I do a nutrition program. (BTW, I don't personally think every coworker needs a gift but these ladies are more longtime friends than coworkers.)

I made them a quilted potholder each using multicultural angel fabric and a blanket for the batting. I already had both of the raw materials on hand so the cash outlay was nil. I used three of the flower pots that my sons painted this weekend and a candy cane. The pot holder was folded into quarters and stuffed into the flower pot so it looked much like a flower. The candy cane was inserted next to it. It didn't look like anything in particular but it added a nice touch.

I added this message to the tag:

Here's a pot holder for all the wonderful things you cook this holiday season, a candy cane to sweeten things and a flower pot to help remind you that spring will be here eventually!

This was perfect because all of these ladies like to cook and garden and none of them like the cold weather.

My Granola Recipe

Harmonia asked about it and I thought I'd post it here rather than hide it in the comments section. This recipe has evolved from an old Vegetarian Times recipe and the one in The Complete Tightwad Gazette. I've simplified it by eliminating every extra step possible.

Katie's Granola

In a large bowl combine:
5 cups rolled oats
1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup sunflower seed (walnuts or almonds work well also but sunflower seeds are the cheapest option)
1/4 flax seed meal or wheat germ

In a smaller glass microwavable bowl or in a small pot combine:
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup molasses
3/4 cup sucanat or brown sugar

Heat these ingredients until the sugar melts. If you're using the microwave do it in no more than one minute increments and make sure you don't use a plastic container. On stove top, heat over low to medium heat until sugar melts. Either way, stir frequently. Pour melted mixture over rolled oat mixture. Then pour a bit of boiling water into whatever you used for the sugar mixture and whisk it around to get the residue off. Don't use more than a cup of water. Pour this over the oat mixture. Mix until everything is coated. Spread onto greased cookie sheet and place in 350 degree oven. Bake 15 minuted, stir mixture and return to oven for 15 more minutes. Let cool and enjoy.

If you like dried fruit add it when you serve the granola, don't bake it with the granola.

Last Minute Meal

Lately, I seem to be running perpetually short on time. I keep finding myself at about 3:30 without a concrete plan for dinner and very little prep work done. Five minutes later my sons get off the bus, the dog needs to run for half an hour and there's a pile of book bags and papers on the kitchen table. Its not the best time for me to ponder what culinary delight I can pull together.

Last night, I checked the freezer/cupboard inventory clip board and made a quick plan. I know this sounds anal but the clip board is a huge time saver. I grabbed a container of split pea soup from the freezer, a quart of canned carrots from the cupboard and an arm load of potatoes from the cabinet. I certainly wasn't in the mood for split pea soup and I was pretty sure no one else would be either so I needed a treat to make it fun, that's where the potatoes came in. I scrubbed the potatoes and cut them into strips to make French fries. The carrots and split pea soup went into a pot, along with some leftover bulgur. No one complained about the soup because they were too busy eating the French fries! We ended the meal with popcorn which, despite its simplicity, everyone loves.

Holiday Ideas

Yesterday I made two big batches of granola. It was a nice change from muffins for breakfast, although it does require more time to eat. Today I've got to make bread, I meant to yesterday but the holiday crafting began and took longer than I anticipated. You just can't walk away from a 5 & 6 year old who are wielding sponges and craft paint.

This year we wanted to give something that was not only frugal but useful. That can be a struggle, useless crap is cheap, easy to make and easy to give. Jim helped me come up with a really good idea that takes advantage of materials we already have on hand and also shares a little piece of our philosophy. Hey Audrey if you're reading, skip this part for now. We're making placemats and matching (or possibly complementing colors) napkins. The whole family will have a role in their production. Jim even offered to sew!

Steamed Brown Bread in the Slow Cooker

I swear people eat more in colder weather or maybe its because everyones been out running with Biscuit (labs need a lot of exercise). In any case, I can't keep muffins, biscuits, scones or any quick grab food in the house! Each night this week I've thought that breakfast was set for the next day only to discover its gone.

Last night I was too tired to stay up while something baked in the oven so I gave steamed brown bread a try. The recipe was in 125 Best Vegetarian Recipes by Judith Finlayson but, as always, I experimented a bit. Her recipe called for cooking on high 2-3 hours and using 3 individual 13 oz cans to cook in. I cooked it on low overnight in a pyrex bowl and it came out fine. She also used white flour, rye flour and whole wheat flour.

Here's my version of the recipe:

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup cornmeal
2 Tbs sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 cups plain soymilk plus 3 tsp vinegar (this is a buttermilk substitute)
1/2 cup molasses
2 Tbs olive oil (I used this but I think canola oil would work just as well)

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Combine wet ingredients in seperate bowl and add to dry ingredients. Pour into greased oven proof container of choice (remember it has to fit inside your slow cooker). Cover with foil and place in slow cooker. Pour boiling water into slow cooker. It should come up about an inch of the way on the OUTSIDE of the container with the bread batter. I screwed this step up and filled the slow cooker to an inch from the top of the container and it worked out fine. Turn cooker on low, cover and cook about 8 hours.

The Frugal No Bark Solution

In an effort to get ready fot the arrival of Biscuit this past Sunday, I had to suck it up and go to Petco. I'm not a fan of big box retailers, but I needed a very specific collar and I needed it ASAP. Sometimes you have to compromise. The irony is, in the long run, I ended up returning the collar, it wasn't all it was cracked up to be. Two visits to Petco in less than a week. That's a new record for me.

The variety in a store like that is enough to make my eyes fall out. Looking for an appropriate chew toy took half an hour because there were so many. Am I the only one who yearns for the old Sears catalog where there were generally three choices of any given product and they were labeled good, better and best? But I digress.

Biscuit has had his fair share of health problems arthritis from malnutrition during a growth spurt (I know it sounds ridiculous but if you had seen him limping you'd understand) to hook worms. Now that Biscuit is eating regularly and taking meds for the arthritis and hook worms, he's a much perkier guy. Last night he was so perky, he wouldn't stop barking when we crated him for the night.

Now I know there are quite a few no bark items sold and I know they're pretty pricey. Thanks to my neighbor's suggestion, I threw some change into an old empty coffee can and shook it whenever the dog barked. The result, almost instantaneous quiet. The cost, nothing the coins were foreign ones that we've saved over the years. The benefit to my mental health, priceless.

Peanut Soup

The Hopping John (black eyed peas and rice) was yummy last night. I made a double batch of cornbread, one to go with the meal and one to use as breakfasts this morning. I also tried something new, peanut soup. The inspiration was a recipe from a book called The Seven Days of Kwanzaa by Angela Shelf Medearis. I veganized it and changed it around a bit and it was delicious. Best of all it was super quick and simple.

Here's the recipe:

Place 2 cups of peanuts in blender and blend into course crumbs(I don't think a regular blender is capable of handling this so you may want to start with 2 cups peanut butter instead.)

Pour in:
3 cups soy milk
2 cups water
1 Tbs Braggs or tamari
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp seasoned salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tsp whole wheat pastry flour

Blend this well. In a large pot, steam chopped kale or collards until bright green. Pour blender contents into pot. Put one cup of water into blender and blend to get residue out of blender (makes it easier to clean later and you don't waste any.) Pour into pot. Bring pot to a boil, lower heat and simmer 15 minutes.

TVP & Black Eyed Peas

Biscuit is adjusting nicely, although he's really thrown off my schedule with his frequent potty runs. But in the grand scheme of things, I much prefer running outside whenever he whines to dragging out the carpet cleaner because he didn't whine. Thankfully, we seem to have a pattern of walks now and he's now willing to come downstairs while I'm on the computer or doing laundry. If anyone tells you getting a dog isn't a lot like having another kid, they're just plain lying!

Last night I sauteed some frozen green peppers and some onions, added some of the tomato sauce that I canned, about a tablespoon of tamari, 1 tsp of chili powder and finally added some rehydrated tvp. The end result was a sloppy joe type concoction that I served over brown rice. The leftover soup was served on the side. It was all quite good. I'd forgotten how fast and convenient tvp could be. (This month tvp was on sale through our cooperative, hence its reapperance in my cupboard.)

Black eyed peas were also on sale this month, so tonight we'll be having Hopping John with steamed greans and corn fritters or maybe Ruthie's corn muffins instead. I like black eyed peas because they are fairly quick cooking compared to other dried beans. I've still got a fair amount of kale and collards from the bonus CSA pickup before Thanksgiving. I'm planning to steam it all tonight and whatever doesn't get used will get frozen.

Biscuit took up a lot more of my time than I anticipated so my holiday list is still a work in progress.

The Frugal Dog Bed and More

This weekend we added an 8 month old yellow lab mix to the family. We found him in the petfinder.com website in the classifieds section. This is a section where individuals, rather than organizations, can lists animals in need of new homes. It is searchable by location which is always useful.

Aside from a routine vet check up tomorrow and an appointment to be neutered next week, there was no charge for his adoption. A wonderful woman named Tracey had found him and just wanted him to get into a good home.

We're opting to crate him at night for now, so I needed a dog bed for inside the crate. I used an old twin size fleece blanket that had seen better days as the inner stuffing. I figured it washes nicely, holds it shape well and really provided a nice bit of cushion and warmth when folded to fit into the crate.

I folded it into the size I needed and then did a basting stitch through all the layers to keep it together. I suppose you could just fold it without sewing it but with the dog moving around in the crate it might not stay nicely. Then I took some heavy cotton fabric that I had and stitched a simple pillow case to slip the folded blanket into. I left one side open so I could remove the blanket if I needed to wash just the case. (Here's a tip, whenever anyone offers you fabric, say yes. I never thought I'd have a use for this loud zig zag red and black print but it made a great dog bed pillow case!)

Knowing that last night might not be restful, it was Biscuit's first night at home, I put some leftover black beans, some leftover veggies, a bit of leftover rice, some chopped up kale, a bit of tamari and the hot water that I used to get the peanut butter residue out of my Vitamix (it adds a great flavor) into the crock pot last night. This morning everyone could just pop it into their insulated bottles and head off to school and work. It worked out well because my youngest was a little concerned about the size of the dog and must have gotten up 15 times last night. We're all a little delerious this morning.

I'll use that soup either as a side to go along with tonight's dinner or I might add to it and make it the main course. I'll have to check what's in the fridge.

Also on today's agenda, making a plan for holiday gifts. We had the discussion with our families about keeping things smaller, now its time to put pen to paper and figure out how to make it all happen.

The Fork Is Mightier Than the Sword!

I couldn't get my behind out of bed so as predicted, the crepes never happened. In fact, neither did the potato scramble. We enjoyed the carob banana muffins, squash biscuits, oranges and grapes at brunch.

Later in the day, the Red Lentil Loaf was a big hit. The squash biscuits, pumpkin soup, pumpkin pie and carob banana muffins were all delicious as well. I ran out of soy milk Thanksgiving morning so I made a quick batch of almond milk and used that in the pumpkin soup instead of soy milk. It seemed to taste better using the almond milk. The roasted root vegetables were a really nice addition to the meal as well. My mom even made brussel sprouts! I'm really glad my mother was open to trying/including so many things.

Along with all our vegan choices, there was also a turkey and a ham. In an ironic twist, the turkey was untouched at the meal's end. The fork really is mightier than the sword!

Vegan Thanksgiving Planning-Down to the Wire

Well there's not a whole lot of time left before the clock strikes twelve her in NY but here's a last minute update for any diehards who are curious. With the help of my daughter(she did the peeling), we rescued last nights very unimpressive squash dish and used it in our squash biscuit recipe. The thyme, oj and maple syrup that it had cooked in really lent a nice flavor. That took care of one request from my mother to go along with dinner. It will also do double duty as part of our brunch when my inlaws visit tomorrow morning.

I rescued some very spotty bananas from my mom's (she was on her way to throwing them out) and experimented with using carob in place of cocoa powder in a cocoa banana muffin recipe. They were a hit, so they will also be on the table at brunch. We'll round out that table with homemade applesauce, sprinkled with cinnamon and potato scramble. I want to try and make crepes too but I don't hold out a lot of hope that it will actually happen.

The Red Lentil Loaf with gravy is still coming to my mom's and I may be making pumpkin soup as well. (I still have to call my mom to find out if she wants it tomorrow morning.) The pumpkin pie is in the works as we speak. Whew!!

There will be no post until Friday evening when I look back at the whole affair. In the meantime, Happy Thanksgiving to all! This holiday season be at peace with your own choices, share your good food and woo others to your cause by way of their taste buds.

Peace

The Thanksgiving Menu Plan-Subject to Change at the Last Minute Of Course

Despite all my tinkering, I've run low on time so the centerpiece of our Thanksgiving meal will be the Red Lentil Roast with gravy. I was thinking of serving roasted root vegetables with it but they don't hold the heat well. Since I'm cooking at home and bringing the food to my mom's, I'm going to bring a baked acorn squash dish. It sound similar to a glazed sweet potato dish (a little brown sugar, a little margarine, a little cinnamon.) I'm cooking it tonight and I'll post my review and actual recipe of it later this evening, probably much later this evening!)

There's a vegan pumpkin pie recipe that I'm going to try, that's been highly recommended. Heather on the vrgparents list shared it a few days ago. It is from Joanne Stepaniak's Vegan Vittles. Here it is.

Pumpkin pie- makes 1 pie, 8 servings

1 10.5-oz pkg firm silken tofu
1 1/2 c. unsweetened canned or pureed cooked pumpkin
1/2 c. maple syrup
1/4 c. cornstarch
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground cloves

Dump everything in the food processor or blender and whiz until
completely creamy and smooth. Pour this mixture into the crust (if
it's homemade, it has to be prebaked).Smooth out the top, and bake on
the center rack of your oven at 350F for 45 minutes.
Remove pie from oven, and let it cool thouroughly or refrigerate
until ready to serve. Remember the veg whipped cream!!
Hope you enjoy it.

I'm so glad Heather shared this recipe since the one I'd been using didn't always set up firmly.

Now back to the kitchen!

Acorn Squash Update
The recipe I tried was a stinker. The one I ended up trying used maple syrup, orange juice and thyme. It was ok, but clearly not worth the work involved. The biggest drawback of the recipe was that you cut the squash into rings which looked pretty but were a pain in the tush to scrape the cooked squash out of. Back to the drawing board on that one.

I'll give the brown sugar and margarine glaze a try tomorrow.

Getting Ready for Thanksgiving

What a busy weekend it was! Lots of little projects were completed, including installing the door sweeps to the exterior doors to keep the drafts out. I confess I still haven't finished lining the four living room curtains with fleece but I'm cutting the fleece as soon as I finish blogging! Lining the curtains has made a huge difference in keeping the bedrooms warm.

The door sweeps cost $4.99 a piece but work much better than the homemade draft dodgers we had been using. A draft dodger only works if you remember to put it in front of the door and even then, it only works if the dog leaves it there!

I've been tinkering around with some Thanksgiving recipes. I made a tofu/red lentil stuffed roast last night. It was a little sandy tasting but it had potential. I'll keep tinkering for now. I'm not worried about the stuffing portion of any roast, I'm just trying to find the best housing for the stuffing. I'm planning to play around with veganizing an acorn squash recipe that I saw on one of the morning cooking shows. Tonight I'll experiment a little more and, hopefully by tomorrow I'll have a Thanksgiving meal plan.

Using Leftovers to Make Yummy Patties

Last night's dinner was quite an entertaining mish mash that, in the end, pulled together nicely. We had leftover Mac Uncheese, baked potato and vegetable soup. Everyone seems to love baked potatoes in our house.

However, it didn't use any greens but thanks to Ruthie reminding me, we're having the garbonzo and greens soup concoction from my Wednesday, October 12, 2005 post (check out the archives.)

This morning I took some baked squash seeds that had been languishing about and ground them down in the blender. I added this to some leftover Lentil Soup, a tiny bit of split pea soup and what little remained of last night's vegetable soup. I added a scoop of peanut butter, a squirt of Bragg's and some flax seed meal mixed with water to bind the whole thing together. I plopped scoops down on my cast iron griddle. I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best, knowing that ketchup would cover almost any disaster I had caused. The end result was a tasty little patty that I liked with mustard rather than ketchup.

The secret to concocting something like this is to taste along the way and, unless you're sure you love what you're adding, only make small additions. I'll serve the rest of these with tonight's dinner.

Incentives & Food from the Freezer

I taught my last evening nutrition class for the year Wednesday night. I really enjoy sharing info with people but I'm thrilled that I no longer have to run out Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. The challenge now is to clean out the bags I use for each course and prep them for February. This will also free me up for a little more creative cooking during the week, which my family will appreciate.

I've continued to dip into the freezer for the last two evenings meals. Tuesday night I dug out a lentil soup, to which I added some millet to make it more substantial. Wednesday I made Mac Uncheese (the recipe is from www.cok.net ). Its a very simple and quick recipe. I added cauliflower and green peppers from the freezer to it, although you could add whatever veggies you like.

In the interest of not ending up with only greens left in the freezer, tonights menu will probably include some greens. (I'm still in the planning stages for tonight's dinner.) Knowing that greens in general are not a family favorite, I'm planning to include a favorite dessert as an incentive just in case the meal is not a hit.

Eating From the Freezer

Last night I began my foray into the freezer. Sure, I've been dipping into it here and there but as of Sunday night we officially ran out of fresh veggies. (I'm not counting pumpkins, squashes, potatoes, garlic or onions just the less hardy veggies.)

On the menu was pasta with sauce (I sauteed fresh garlic, frozen green peppers and added frozen sauce), split pea soup (also from the freezer) and biscuits made with dill and onion powder (these had nothing to do with the freezer but they sure tasted good!) Dessert was an experiment, peanut butter and carob chip cookies. As experiments go, it was pretty successful!

Project Updates

The attic is finally insulated! What a disgusting, dirty, dusty job! In some ways I hate a job like insulating because the savings aren't immediately evident. In fact, we had to lay out a little cash for supplies! Patience is a frugal virtue, though. I have to remind myself, changing our oil burner last year, to a more efficient model, resulted in a savings of about $240 during the heating season despite the increase in heating oil prices. The rewards of frugal living are often best viewed over the long haul.

The curtain projects continue, mainly because I'm making these last curtains into draw drapes. (In defense of my apparent insanity, the rod was already there!) Its actually not as difficult as it sounds, I'm just double and triple checking my math along the way to make sure I don't royally mess up. I've started by sewing a large rectangle of my curtain fabric. Then I've taking the fabric that I'm lining the curtain with, in this case an old barney blanket, and cut it to the size I need for it to lie flat against the window. Then I've marked the blanket at the points where the drapery hooks will attach and where the pleats will be. This is where it gets tricky and time consuming, but I'm getting there.

Here's a picture of the first panel of the curtain.

My Vegan Whole Wheat Bread Recipe

I got a couple of questions about the whole wheat bread recipe that I've had really good success with. Its a variation on the 100% whole wheat bread recipe from The Cornell Bread Book. The recipes in that book are easily veganized. The main change needed is the omission of dry milk and subbing in either soy powder or soy flower.

I use an old fashioned bread bucket to mix my bread but I don't see why this wouldn't work with other mixers. The batter is loose enough that hand mixing with a spoon wouldn't be impossible if you chose to go that route.

Place 3 cups warm water and 1 cup of raisins in a blender and puree until the raisins are just little pieces. Pour into mixing bowl and add:

2 pkgs dry yeast (this equals 4 1/2 tsp of dry yeast if you buy it in bulk)
2 Tbs. blackstrap molasses
2 Tbs. canola oil
1 Tbs. salt
4 Tbs. flaxseed meal

Let stand until little eruptions begin to form as the yeast becomes active. When the entire surface has "erupted" add the following:

1 1/4 cup soy flour
5 cups whole wheat flour

Mix until well blended. Let rise until dough has doubled, about an hour. Turn onto board and shape into three loaves. Place in oiled bread pan. Let rise until dough doubles and bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. Lower oven to 350 degrees and continue baking for 45 minutes. Cool on rack.

Menu for a Productive Saturday

The Chinese food last night was a big hit. I ended up doing things a little differently. I marinated cubed tofu in the tamari for about 15 minutes and then placed the tofu on a greased baking sheet. I cooked it in a 400 degree oven for about 15 minutes, while I chopped and stir fried the veggies. I poured the tamari from marinating into the veggies and then added the baked tofu and mixed in the rice. I think baking the tofu really added a special flavor.

We've got a busy day ahead of us, we're finally insulating the attic over our bedroom. While Jim heads up the insulating job, I'll be working a lining the remaining unlined curtains. We're starting the day with a hearty breakfast of pancakes, potato scramble and Clementines. Lunch will be a quick grab, leftovers or sandwiches, so we don't lose a lot of time.

Dinner will be Red Lentil Loaf and a variety of roasted veggie sticks (carrots, turnips, and potato). You can either spray the cut veggies with olive oil or put about a tablespoon of olive oil in a bowl, cover and toss the veggies to coat. My kids love these with ketchup and they are so much healthier than conventional French Fries. Sweet potato fries are also really delicious if you have sweet potatoes on hand. I'm still thinking about what dessert to make.

We'll also spend a little time adding some additional mulch around the currant bushes to protect them from what promises to be a cold Adirondack winter. Fortunately for this frugal gardener, Mother Nature has dropped an abundance of leaves and pine needles for us to use.

Vegan Barely Fried Rice

My daughter, Tasha, was kind enough to chop up the greens yesterday. What a relief to have that done. Fried Rice is super easy to make, although the version I make is really more honestly called Vegan Barely Fried Rice. I usually use just plain old brown rice but basmati rice would work nicely too. Honestly, any rice except arborio rice (think risotto) would work well.

Cook the rice, per package instructions. While that's cooking, you get to be creative. Chop up some onions, mince some garlic and then poke around your fridge to see what else you have in there. Chop up any veggies you like or use frozen veggies. I've used bok choy, napa cabbage, regular cabbage, peas, carrots, broccoli, anything I feel like. Try to organize your vegetables by the time they take to cook to your liking. (Personally, I'm a tender crisp kind of a gal.)

Root around in the fridge a little more to come up with some tofu, tempeh or leftover beans. If the fridge has nothing to offer, open a can of beans from the cupboard.

When the rice is cooked, spray the bottom of your frying pan or wok with canola oil and add a few drops of sesame oil, toasted sesame oil is even better. (The sesame oil adds a nice flavor but it has more polyunsaturated fats and a bit more saturated fat than canola oil. It also has a lower smoke point. By mixing the oils you get the flavor without as much of the other stuff.) Heat the pan and toss in your onions and other long cooking veggies, like carrots. Next add the garlic, remember to keep stirring. Toss in any veggies that need a little less cooking, adding quick cooking veggies last. Toss in tofu, tempeh or beans and stir to avoid sticking. If things do begin to stick add a little water to the pan.

Pour in 1/4 cup tamari (remember I'm cooking for 6 hungry people, so this is a huge stir fry. You may want to use less tamari.) Add in rice and stir to mix evenly with tamari vegetable mixture. For a sweeter taste, add a tablespoon of brown sugar to the tamari before adding it. Serve and enjoy. This is one of the simplest recipes that my kids like the most.

I Forgot!

Oops, I forgot about making Chinese food and ended up making vegan Baked Mac & "Cheese" with collards and brussel sprouts. I made two pans of it which will take care of dinner tonight and lunch tomorrow. My kids love brussel sprouts which amuses people to no end. I'll shred the greens tonight so I remember to make the Chinese Food Friday night. Then I'll share the recipe, I promise!

I just took the book No Need to Knead out of the library. I'm curious to see what it has to say. The gist of the book is the bread recipes in it have a looser batter than most bread batters, hence there is no need to knead the bread. I'll let you know what I discover. Right now, I'm really happy with the whole wheat bread recipe that I use. Interestingly enough, its a pretty loose batter as well.

We've had two fabulous free finds in the last few days. A car stereo lying around in my parents garage collecting dust was a perfect fit for Jim's broken car stereo. My parents also had a ceiling fan that they removed a long time ago collecting dust. Jim just put it up this afternoon to replace our broken one. My parents were going to throw both of these things out! Thank goodness we happened to mention the broken radio and fan during a visit.

Jim's getting ready to give homemade winemaking a try. It will be interesting to see how that turns out.

Chick Peas

I love chick peas! Today as part of my preschool nutrition program we made hummus and served it with pretzels. For tonight's dinner we'll be mashing up some of those chick peas, adding a little vegan mayo, garlic powder and lemon juice and serving the whole concoction on toast. We'll have leftover vegetable soup on the side.

The last regular CSA pick up was pretty big. I'm going to try to use the greens in this batch first to avoid a total glut of greens in the freezer. I'll be planning my meals for the rest of the week around the greens. Tomorrow night will probably be some type of Chinese food, probably Vegan Fried Rice. That will allow me to use quite a bit of the greens as well as some of the chick peas. I'll share my recipe tomorrow morning.

When Leftovers Go Missing

Last night, when I went to make the casserole for dinner, I discovered the leftover lentils had already been eaten. Instead I made a quick potato leek soup in the pressure cooker. Actually it was onion, I finished the leeks a few days ago. Instead of adding soymilk, I used the leftover gravy from our Tofurky. It really gave it a rich creamy texture.

I pureed some steamed greens along with some tomato and garlic and used this to top the feeble bit of leftover pasta that remained in the fridge. Finally I made a batch of Stedda Egg Salad (as in Instead of Egg Salad) from The American Vegetarian Cookbook by Marilyn Diamond, which we served on whole wheat toast. It's tofu and a mix of spices like cumin, curry, tumeric plus a few others. The pureed greens were tolerated but everyone loved the potato soup and the Stedda Egg Salad. My teenage daughters even took it for lunch today, that's the true mark of success.

I've begun the day by getting a batch of vegetable soup into the slow cooker. That cleaned out the last of the greens, carrots and parsnips from the fridge. This will become the base for the next few days meals.

Book Updates & Freezer Organization

I've just about finished reading Don't Eat this Book by Morgan Spurlock (Supersize Me). Its definitely worth a read. I did finish reading The American Vegetarian Cookbook by Marilyn Diamond. She had some very interesting recipes including one for sunflower seed "milk". I recommend taking it out of the library and mining it for recipes that you find interesting but I don't think you need to buy it.

Today I'll be making a casserole with the veggies and leftover lentils in the fridge. Tomorrow is our last regular CSA pick up of the season. (There is a final, special Thanksgiving pickup the Saturday before Thanksgiving.) Next week my cooking will shift from what's in the fridge to what's in the freezer. I'm double checking my inventory sheet to make sure its all up to date. This will help me plan meals that will give us a variety of veggies. Hopefully it will also help us avoid being stuck with only greens for the month of May (CSA pickups begin in late May or early June.)

Making Do With Food On Hand

We ran out of soymilk yesterday but I didn't notice until I began making pancakes this morning. There was no way in the world I was running out to the store. Instead I took the water I had saved from cooking pasta and threw it in the blender with some sunflower seeds and some flax seeds. I blended the whole thing together and used it in place of the soymilk in our favorite pancake recipe. The result was some delicious pancakes with quite a bit of holding power.

I also took the leftover peanut noodles, which had gotten rather dry, mixed them with some leftover veggies, some water and a bit of oatmeal to bind it all together. This mix became some rather yummy patties that tasted like a cross between a hashbrown and a veggie breakfast sausage. I had planned to make a smoothie but due to the lack of soymilk, made an apple juice slushie (apple juice and ice cubes blended together) instead. The best part everyone enjoyed the meal.

We spent the afternoon chopping and stacking wood from trees we had to have taken down earlier this year. This was our first foray into wood splitting but Jim seems to be a natural. The kids and I gathered up the small pieces and the bark to use as kindling.

Affluenza

I finished reading Affluenza and I really enjoyed it. It confirmed a lot of things that I suspected like the increase in home sizes over the years. The average size of a first home in the 1950's was 750 square feet and the average today is 2300 square feet, despite the number of kids we have decreasing over the years. Hmmm, I grew up in a 1,000 square foot ranch with my 4 siblings and both parents. (I'm one of four sisters and we only had one bathroom!) I don't remember feeling particularly crowded or deprived (although since I only have one brother, that bum got his own room while the girls shared!)

The biggest point the book drove home is the utter lack of satisfaction peoples feel despite the accumulation of material things. Its very good food for thought as we get into this holiday season. I don't think its a must own book but definitely a worthwhile read from the library.

On today's agenda, some cleaning and a lot of organizing. We really lose control over the household neatness during the week. Laundry gets washed but never put away, papers are brought home but left on counters, lunch containers lose their lids (within the house!!), shoes are everywhere, you get the idea.

On the food front, I'll be steaming some more greens to freeze, although freezer space is very limited right now. I've never been so thrilled to run out of space before!

Thanksgiving, A Practice Run

Last night I decided to make some Tofurky. Our coop food order had come in Tuesday so everyone saw the Tofurky come in and was itching to have some. Its like this every year around this time. I've played around with making it in the slow cooker quite a bit and here's my favorite recipe. Its a variation of the basic recipe on the Tofurky box.

Thanksgiving Tofurky Feast

2 Tofurky Roasts (frozen is ok)
1 small onion
potatoes
carrots
parsnips
beets
any other root veggies you enjoy

Grease the sides and bottom of your cooker and turn on to high. Slice onion thinly and spread over the bottom. Cut potatoes & beets into quarters, cut carrots & parsnips into coins. Add any other root veggies you like but try to keep the size fairly uniform to allow for even cooking. Place veggies on top of onions in cooker, being sure to leave enough room for the Tofurky roasts. Remove plastic covering (if frozen, let sit in hot water for a minute to assist with this) and place Tofurky on top of veggies. You can fill in around the Tofurky with any remaining veggies.

Combine:
1/4 cup apple juice or apple cider
2 Tbs tamari
2 Tbs maple syrup or other sweetener
1/2 cup water

Pour this mixture over Tofurky, place lid on and cook 3-4 hours on high or about 8 hours on low. I have tried cooking this with the gravy in the cooker but the Tofurky disintigrates a bit so I prefer to cook my gravy seperately.

I also steamed some brussel sprouts and baked some potatoes to go with it. Everyone was thrilled. I mashed together the leftover Tofurky, root veggies and potatoes with some leftover gravy this morning and used it as a sandwich filling. So far the reports have been postive!

On tonight's menu, Peanut Noodles. The reason is quite simple. I just bought 30 pounds of organic peanut butter stock from our food coop and I need to make a big batch of peanut butter in my Vitamix. Since the Peanut Noodle recipe calls for a certain amount of water, I can use the water I rinse the Vitamix out with and thereby minimize my left behind peanut butter!

Homemade Margarine

I'm really enjoying reading Morgan Spurlock's book. He's got a very witty way of getting dry, factual information across.

Today I gave making my own margarine a try. Someone had posted a recipe on one of the lists I belong to and it was too intriguing to pass up. It was actually quite good and based on the prices of the two main ingredients, it cost about $2.25 less than our current margarine. Here's the recipe:

Homemade Margarine
Place 1/2 cup plain soymilk into blender and begin to process on highest setting. While processing, through the hole in the lid, pour in the cup of oil slowly. Continue blending until the hole in the center fills in. Turn off blender and add a tiny bit of tumeric for color, a few drops of lemon juice for freshness I believe, salt to taste (we used about 1/2 tsp of salt.) Blend briefly on low to combine. Pour into airtight container and store in fridge.

We tried this on baked potatoes and it was a big hit. It is not as firm as regular margarine but just as tasty.

My Trip to the Library

Yesterday I hit the library because some books I had requested were in. I brought home Affluenza (the book based on the documentary, I was inspired to check this out after reading Barbara's blog), Don't Eat this Book by Morgan Spurlock (Supersize Me), and The American Vegetarian Cookbook by Marilyn Diamond. I also got a few craft books for my daughters to check out.

There's a quirky librarian there, who's on the same page with me regarding frugality. He always gives a little critique of what I take out. His comment yesterday was, "Affluenza? I hear there's an epidemic but if they're counting on me to go out and spend this holiday they're going to be very dissapointed." Here, here!

The Slow Cooker Keeps Saving Us Money

It's been a rough go the last few days. We've been really busy and I've been relying heavily on the slow cooker to help us avoid ordering take out. It hasn't been anything fancy but here's an example of how the slow cooker helped me get through Tuesday, which is by far our most hectic night.

Last night before bed, about 10:30pm, I put frozen lentil soup into the slow cooker on high. This morning at 6:30am, the soup was hot and ready to go into everyone's insulated lunch containers. As soon as I finish blogging, I'll be chopping up the remaining cabbage, carrots and collards from last weeks CSA pickup to add to the broth that's left from the lentil soup. This will be served as a vegetable soup along with tofu "steaks" for tonights dinner. A quick simple supper is a big help since Jim has to go to the CSA tonight and I have to teach my vegetarian nutrition class.

Here's a quick way to use green peppers and tomatoes that are getting a bit soft. Slice the peppers into strips, removing the seeds and the white stuff. Dice some tomatoes that may also be headind past their prime. Finally, thinly slice some onions into rings. Put a drizzle of olive oil into a skillet, toss everything in and cook until the onions are soft. By the time the onions are soft, everything will be soft but that's ok. Serve over toast with a shake of garlic powder on top. Jim and the kids loved this.