Simple, Rich and Old-fashioned

No - the title does not describe my last surviving aunt. If it did, the title would be "Simple, Rich and Dead Under Mysterious Circumstances That Points To Rose's Last Surviving Uncle". But I digress...

Pop with a patron

Saturday, I had the chance to go to the Worthington Farmer's Market - something rare these days. I was kinda disappointed - most produce was priced pretty high (being the cheapskate I am, I can't bring myself to buy hot house tomatoes or hydroponic lettuce) and there were way too many people offering baked goods. As I made my way around the market, I stopped in and visited a few old friends. The folks over a Meade Farms had tons of heirloom tomato plants for sale, so I bought a couple from them. The other booth I always make a bee-line for is Pop and Judy's. They do a wonderful job of growing the stuff I am willing to spend my hard earned cash on. This time it was an old favorite of mine, rhubarb. My parents had rhubarb in their extensive garden, and it had been years since I had been able to grab some fresh picked. The secret to really great rhubarb is to get small stems, before they get large and spongy or stringy. Pop and Judy's was just perfect and the price was right too - $2.50 for a pound bundle.



Since I had rhubarb, I needed some strawberries. The sad part is - strawberries are in season, but only one person had them at the market. The cost? $5/ quart!!!! No way! and they weren't even ripe! So, I headed over to Meijer and picked up a two pound pack. Not as good as home picked, but damn it! I gotta get my fix!

The best thing about strawberries and rhubarb is that you can do a minimalist approach to it and they still taste fantastic...

Rhubarb Compote or Stewed Rhubarb

1 pound of rhubarb, cleaned and cut up into 1inch pieces
1/4 to 1/2 cup sugar (depending on how sour you like it. I went with 1/4 cup!)
2 t of lemon zest

To clean rhubarb: First - never ever ever use the leafy part of rhubarb!!! It is poisonous!!! Cut off the leafy end of the stems and trim the bottom end. Wash to remove any dirt. The next step is optional. It all depends on big the stems are. Larger stems will have string in them (kinda like celery) and you have to peel them off to keep the compote from being tough and stringy. It's easy though. You just take a paring knife and grab the skin at one end. Pull and the strings will come right out along the whole length of the stalk.

Cut up the rhubarb, toss with the sugar and lemon zest. It then sat at room temperature for about an hour. This brings out the natural juices and keeps the flavors from being diluted. When you have about 1/4-1/2 cup of syrup in the bottom of the pan, simmer on medium heat for 7-10 minutes, until soft and cooked through. Cool and refrigerate until ready to serve.

That's it!

Strawberries are even easier.

Strawberries for shortcake

Clean and cut up the strawberries into slices. Toss with about 1/4 -1/2 cup of sugar depending on amount of strawberries. Let sit at room temperature for about an hour to bring out the juices then refrigerate.


Almost done!

I wanted something that would be serve as a base for stewed rhubarb and strawberries.

Then I though back to a dessert I had forgotten about - pound cake. I used to make pound cakes quite often about twenty years ago. My mother was very fond of them - chocolate pound cakes, lemon pound cakes, sour cream pound cakes, you name it - if it had a pound of butter in it, my mom loved it. I have tons of recipes from all over, but I just wanted a plain, simply cake that would set off the fruit.

I dug around in my cookbooks and settled on the Marion Cunningham version of the Fannie Farmer Cookbook. I picked it up for $1.00 at Half Price books a while back and it has been a fantastic resource. My hubby has a not so secret crush on Marion ever since he saw her on Baking with Julia a couple years back. Knowing that I use her recipes probably adds to his enjoyment in some perverse way...

With a cake this simple, it is really important that you use only the freshest ingredients. I actually went as far as to purchase a pound of Plugra ($2.28/pound wholesale) for the pound cake - in something this basic you can taste the difference. Plus, you never want to use a butter that has any off flavors - yummmm onion flavored pound cake!

Also, a low gluten flour is important here. If you have some White Lily or other low gluten AP around, you could try it instead...

The hubby started picking at the cake as soon as it came out of the oven - bad Tony!

POUND CAKE

1 9 x 5-INCH LOAF

½ pound butter

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 ²/3 cups sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla, or ½ teaspoon mace

5 eggs

2 cups cake flour

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Butter and lightly flour a 9 X 5-inch loaf pan. Cream the butter, slowly add the sugar, and beat until light. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating each in well. Stir in the flour, salt, and vanilla or mace, and combine well. Spoon into the pan and bake for 75 to 90 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes before turning out onto a rack. Serve very thin slices.

Oh yeah baby - look at that fine moist crumb. You know you want it!

Strawberry and Rhubarb Longcake

I can't really call it strawberry and rhubarb shortcake - 'cuz there ain't nothing "short" about it. It's long on flavor, long on looks and long on calories...

If you really want to gild the lily you can top everything off with whipped cream. Bar none - this is my favorite spring dessert!

Frugal Food: Buying foodstuffs

The Economics of Food

Ever since I read Becke's entry about eating out cheap, I've been thinking about how to eat cheaply at home. Unlike searching out coupons or dining specials, eating cheaply at home requires a different set of strategies. It requires buying savvy, storage capacity, cooking know-how and willingness to be flexible in your habits. I am sure that most of these strategies are old news for most of you, but bare with me. If you have some suggestions, toss them in. I am always looking for new ways to deal with old problems.

Think of your life this way – it’s really all about profit and loss. Profit means having money left over out of your paycheck at the end of the month. Loss means you had to charge your cable bill on the credit card once again. Your food bills can help you make or break your bottom line – since it is really one of those things that we just can’t do without. But it is a controllable cost. Unlike a fixed cost like your car payment or rent, you have the power to use strategies that can change the way you spend what money you have available to you. The more you think of your household finances as a business model, the better you will do in the long run.

Image by timsamoff. Click on the photo to see his original comments.

Knowing a deal when you see one

The first step is learning what the mean prices of your favorite everyday items are. For example: Boneless, skinless chicken breasts.

Go to your favorite store and take a look at the non-sale price.

Did your pulse stop racing yet? That stuff is expensive!

It’s important that you know what an item you regularly use costs at full retail. That is the only way you can know if something is a good deal. You can find organizers for price logs online. Me, I keep them in my head – but that also means when my memory is on the fritz, important details like where I live, where I work and who those strange people in the house are with me get lost. Eventually, I am going to have to start writing crap down!

Refresher Math Course! (This is for my math genius daughter, who can work advanced calculus problems, but probably can’t remember what a mean is.)

A mean price is the average for a range of numbers. You get the average of a set of numbers when you take all the values for an item, add them up and divide by the number
of values.

Chicken Breasts: a Mean

The prices you purchased your chicken breasts at the last five times: $4.50/lb, $3.75/lb, $2.99/lb, $2.49/lb, $1.99/lb

Mean: ($4.50+$3.75+$2.99+$2.49+ $1.99)/5= $3.14/lb

If you have some basic math skills, you should really use this formula . It’s so much quicker and easier.

There are other reasons why you need to know what you average cost is for regularly used items - and we'll cover that in another installment.

So how do we get what we want for less?

Loss Leaders – Every week, grocery stores offer deep, deep discounts on certain items. They are willing to sell these items to you at a thin profit margin to get you into their store to buy the other items you need at regular prices. You – the savvy consumer – can buy up those items and put them in your freezer or pantry.

My most recent buy was Chicken of the Sea tuna at Kroger’s. They had 20 cans for $10. $.50 a can is a fantastic deal, and I hadn’t seen a name brand tuna that cheap in years. I now have 40 cans in my pantry waiting to be added to salads, casseroles and pasta sauces

If you don’t get the Sunday ads for all the various stores nearby, then hop on the internet. Lots of the stores list their ads every week – and sometimes list the next week’s as well, letting you plan which day you will do your shopping to get the best deals.

• Kroger
• Meijer
• Marc’s
• Aldi’s
• Wal-mart

(Of course, maybe you should be getting the ads in the bag, but maybe you have a lazy shiftless goodfornothing bag delivery guy who simply tosses them all into a dumpster and goes off to smoke crack. Not that I am pointing fingers…FRANK!)

Discount stores – Let’s say you really want to buy something that isn’t on sale this week. Places like Marc’s and Aldi’s offer regular groceries at discounted prices, plus there are specialty shops like The Pepperidge Farms outlet store, the Wonder Bread/ Hostess Outlet stores and Arena Produce where you can pick up items on the cheap. Once again, beware! Just because the store says it offers discounted prices doesn’t mean that you can’t get the same item cheaper as a loss leader or with coupons.

Ethnic Groceries – I love cooking Indian, Mexican and Asian foods. Buying some of the more uncommon items in “regular” grocery stores can set you back a pretty penny. Produce like baby bok choy at Meijer will put you in the poor house if you buy enough for a family of four, but you can get a big bag of this stuff for $2.50 at a grocery store like CAM (Columbus Asian Market). Or stopping into Patel Brothers on Kenny Road, I was able to find really good cauliflower for only $1.75 per head. Olives and feta can be an amazing deal if you start frequenting Middle Eastern markets.

Of course, like any other grocery, you need to shop there on a regular basis to familiarize yourself with the products as well as the prices. Really small shops may not have the turnover that a larger store might have, and the quality of some items can suffer. On the other hand, I found some really good Cracker Jacks from 1964 with prizes they don’t put into them boxes anymore – so sometimes this could be a good thing. Try not to eat the canned chili from 1963 though – it was not a good year.

While I am not an expert on every shop in Columbus, I thought it might help if I listed a few of my favorites.

• Crestview Market
• CAM
• Tensuke
  Market (great place to shop, crappy website)
• La Michoacana Mexican Market (I shop the one on Morse Road and usually stop in to grab a couple tacos when I am out!)

Coupons – Yes those old stand-bys. You can get them from magazines, newspapers and mailers. Also, for those of you who didn’t know this – you can buy them on Ebay. My friend George turned me onto it. You buy a packet of identical coupons from sellers online – usually for about a buck plus postage. George used his coupons for Tabasco – which he eats on everything even the cans of chili from 1963. Combined with a really great sale price, plus double coupons, he was able to get small bottles of Tabasco for about $.08 each. I think he ended up with 70 bottles. Yes-he is that crazy about hot sauce - and the letter W.

I will confess I rarely use coupons. You know why? Because so many of them are for things that I don’t use (pre-packaged foods or the latest, greatest version of a name brand cereal with a cartoon character on it) or I can get store brands cheaper on sale without a coupon.

However, I know people who use them to great effect. It takes organization and perseverance to make the “coupon queen” thing work well and I have a lot of respect for people who work that system. That being said, I just don’t have the skill set necessary to get that system to work every time I go to the grocery store (IE: I am really incredible disorganized. I would be pulling expired coupons out of bodily creases for weeks afterward.)

Clearance – Perishable items are just that – perishable. Rather than throw out those items, grocery stores will mark it down a percentage of the original cost because something is better than nothing. Recent example: I went to Marc’s to pick up some items when I saw a three pound bag of carrots marked down to $1.00. Upon examination, I discovered that several of the overly long vegetables had snapped in half. They were otherwise undamaged. Considering the regular cost of a bag was $2.50, that is $1.50 I could spend on something else. (Remember that huge power outage? About three days into it, I got some great deals on shrimp and other seafood. And don’t let me tell you how cheap I got ice cream!)

The same holds true for pantry items as well. After the holiday season, Kroger had their 28oz cans of pumpkin 2 for $1.00. I ended up buying four cans. The expiration date was 2010. That means my pies for the next two years are already taken care of.

A few tips for buying clearance items:

· Inspect all your perishable produce carefully A bruised banana might make great bread, but not a bruised eggplant. Some items will develop mold inside their plastic packaging.

· Check the sell by date on the meats and dairy In stores with less than stellar product rotation, I’ve found bad meat and spoiled dairy lurking in the case with past sell by dates on them. Meat should be used or frozen ASAP. Some dairy products like milk have a couple extra days left in them after their sell by date, so you have a little leeway there.

· Check packaging for damage If it looks like the integrity of the container has been compromised, let it be. Better safe than sorry.

· Know your products Whenever you go into Meijer’s, they always have a huge rack of clearance food items. Some are there as part of regular stock rotation, some are there as seasonal clearance and some of them are there because they suck and no one will buy them. No matter how cheap the item is, money spent on something you can’t use is not a bargain. (Personally, I got suckered by a couple cans of Wolfgang Puck soups. He is now known as Wolfgang Sucks in our household because of his crappy canned soups.)

Sweat Equity – Don’t use boneless breasts. Get a whole chicken and bone it out. Make your kids learn to eat dark meat. Or buy bone-in breasts and take the bones out yourself. It isn’t that hard. Use those kitchen skills to save you money by expending a little time. Or better yet, make your kids learn to eat meat off the bone…geesh!

Bulk Purchases – Sam’s Club, Costco - or in our case Restaurant Depot - can save you tons on the items you use frequently. That is if you can use it all up before it goes bad. This is where a purchasing co-op can come in handy.

“A purchasing Co-op? What the hell is that?” you ask. A Purchasing Co-op is a group of people who band together to buy large quantities of items then split them up into manageable parcels. Example: Eric, Moose, Andy, Tate and my family have started shopping at Restaurant Depot for bulk meats. We recently purchased a case of boneless chicken breasts for $.60/lb. A case is 40 pounds. That’s a lot of meat for a family of three or a single guy to buy on their own. However, the seven of us were able to share the costs and storage of the chicken, making it a win-win situation for everyone.

One key to setting up you own private co-op is to make sure you have people who like-minded. If your best friend in the whole world is an organic vegan – then your chances of getting her to buy in on a great meat deal is pretty darn slim. However, if you too are an organic vegan, then you guys can buy a 20 pound bag of tofurkey and split it up – no problems. (If you do manage to locate a deal on 20 pounds of tofurkey, please do not call me. The thought of a tofurkey getting that big scares me!*shudder*)

The other key is to work with people you trust. A person who refuses to pay or to carry their share of the work will kill the whole group.

Shopping in Season - Seems pretty straight forward doesn’t it? In the summer, you can buy all your fresh veggies at the farmer’s market for pretty darn cheap. Now, you are paying $3.00 for a head for “out of season” romaine grown in a local greenhouse. Yes you are buying local – but buying yourself into the poor house. In winter, you see things like cabbage, citrus fruit and greens that are cheap and plentiful. True they may not have been grown local, but when you are strapped for cash – well, I am willing to bend my rules to make sure I eat healthy within my budget. Recently I bought some lemons (a 2 pound bag for $1.50, a standard sale price), and following tips from the internet, I am throwing them in my freezer for later in the year…lemon chess pie…yummmmm

Here is a resource map from Epicurious that outlines what states are producing what products in what months. Use it wisely.

Grow Your Own – This can be done fairly easy, even if you live in an apartment. A single tomato plant in a container purchased for $6.00 will easily produce more than $6.00 worth of produce in a season – as long as you take care of it. If you have a yard, convert one of your flowerbeds into a small kitchen garden. Hell, even a pot of cilantro on the window sill saves you some cash in the long run. If you wonder what a regular garden can net you savings-wise, check out this article over at Kitchen Gardeners International.

Barter – You find someone who has the item you want and work out a trade. One of my co-workers, Justin, hunts deer every year. I would really like to get some venison for stew/chili. He and I are negotiating to see what I can trade him in return for a few pounds of meat. So far – no agreement has been reached. I will let you know what happens.

Of course, buying stuff for cheap is just the beginning. These is so much more to Frugal Food - and we'll talk about that next time...

Randazzo Run

A long while back, Gail sent me this report on one of her favorite place of all time - Randazzo's. She has been talking about this place since I met her about ten years ago.

I will admit to being very tardy with posting her report - these pictures are from about a year ago - but better late than never. If you are near the Detroit area, this could be worth a visit.


Randazzo Report by Gail

My first house was in Livonia Michigan - 11 years, second house was in Plymouth, Michigan - 16 years. My Mom lived in Garden City, about 10 miles away. Every time I went to my mothers I had to pass the corner of Warren and Newburgh roads. On the Northwest corner was a large, treed lot.

One day I noticed some building going on and decided to make an effort to notice what was going on with that corner. The lot was cleared, a building went up then the sign went up on the side of the building "Joe Randazzos". What is a Joe Randazzo's I wondered. The next time I went to my Mom's I made a point to leave much earlier than I needed to so I would have time to investigate.

On the way in to the store I grabbed a cart, I didn't anticipate buying anything, but you never know. As I walked the store I noticed the prices and nearly swallowed my tonsils. The entire store was produce. Produce at prices so much lower than the grocery where I shopped that I began to wonder what was wrong with it.

I grew up on a farm, and on that farm we grew potatoes, (EIEIO,- oops got sidetracked there for a minute). When we took our potatoes to the processor they were all dumped into a multi-tiered machine, each tier having different size holes in its board. When they turned on the machine, potatoes would drop through the holes by size. The potatoes that would not drop through the holes rolled off the end of the machine through a chute and into baskets. Those were the ones we kept, the nonconformist sizes that just wouldn't settle for average, the rest we sold.

Well I noticed that the potatoes were many different sizes in one bag and realized that these were the naughty non-conformist potatoes. The green peppers had black streaks (normal), or were curved or warped in some way. WOW non-conformist Green and Red peppers too. At that time they were 7 for $1.00 as were the curved cucumbers etc.

Well I went completely crazy and filled my basket to overflowing with various lettuces, fruits, veges and herbs. Going through the back and outside I discovered they were selling trees, rose bushes, flowers by the flat, etc. Also priced irresistibly well. I further loaded my cart. When I got to the check out, shaking in my shoes hoping my check book balance would handle the excesses, I discovered I had spent a little over $20.00. I decided "I LOVE RANDAZZO'S".

Now living in Ohio it is a bit too far away to go to every week but when we go for holidays or to visit relatives I do a RANDAZZO run. If I have room in my car I go completely nuts and buy for Rosie and Debbie too and seldom spend over $30. I've tried to get Rosie & Debbie to make a trip to MI to do a Randazzo run with me but we seldom get a common day off. I'm sending these pictures to you Rosie, so you'll see what you are missing and we'll make a greater effort to go.

We need one of these here!!!!

As always, Love & Joy; With a Gail Twist

More Meat Deals

A couple weeks ago, I went to the Restaurant Depot with Moose and Eric in preparation for a horror movie marathon that Moose and Tate are hosted last weekend. I offered to become the "concession stand" for the 12 hours of scary goodness.

Some of the other folks attending thought all they would be getting to snack on was popcorn and candy, but personally, I think anything is fair game. Tony and I have been attending the horror marathons off and on for almost twenty years and you never know what you will be eating.

When the marathon was at the Drexel North, we used to go across the street and get G.D. Ritzy's hamburgers and shakes. Later on, when the horrorfest was at Studio 35, we would get pizza and subs,along with plenty of beer. When the marathon moved out to the Drexel Grandview (recently deceased), we would pack a cooler full of sandwiches and snacks to eat while shivering in the cold.

Besides chips and candy, I wanted to make a big pot of chili plus Texas queso dip. I could see lots of possibilities along with tortilla chips and possibly Fritos. Frito Pie anyone?

Once we got out to the Depot, we found that they had some really great deals on all kinds of meat. Between the three of us, we got 40 lbs of boneless, skinless chicken breasts for $.60/lb, 40 lbs of chicken leg quarters for $.35/lb, 40 lbs of chicken wings for $.75/lb, 15 lbs of bacon for $.99/lb and 15 lbs of pork butt for $.99/lb.

I will tell you guys right now - I know the big push is to eat local, eat organic and grass fed, but when money is tight you gotta do what you gotta do. Split three ways, these prices just couldn't be beat. True - the bacon wasn't up to Thurn's quality, but when I am feeding 10-15 hungry movie hounds, I am not going to buy them $5.00/lb bacon.

So I spent the next 6 hours breaking the meat into portions and vacuum sealing them with my FoodSaver (recently purchased from New Uses). Our freezers are now full of chicken and bacon.

The pork butts I kept out in anticipation of making something tasty. I had really wanted to make some sausage. I am envious of Dave and his experiments. However, I was pressed for time and needed something that would taste great, feed a crowd and be quick to fix. So I ended up with two creations: Pulled Pork and Rosie's Burrito Filling.

These are, once again, not really recipes. They are more like gestalt cooking: something read here, something half remembered from there, add a little of the stuff you have in the pantry and voila! You have dinner.

Rubbed Butt

The Pulled Pork was something I made up based on all the recipes that I have read over the last couple years. I rubbed the butt (hehe) with yellow mustard, then coated it with a basic rub: 1 part salt, 1 part brown sugar, .5 part black pepper, some garlic powder, and ummm, I think, some onion powder. I was flying by the seat of my pants. Whee!!! I then let the butt bask in the coating for about an hour while I fired up the grill.

The grill? you say! Why yes. I had an evil plot. I didn't have time to screw around with watching the Weber all day, so I devised a plan. First I would smoke the pork butt using an indirect method on the grill. Then I would finish it off in the oven.

I can hear the anguished cries of the purists now! "No Rose No! How can you do this?!" Will Dave come over and take my Weber for committing such sacrilege? Well, I figure not - I can bribe Dave with some excellent beer.

I think I saw this technique on tv, most like America's Test Kitchen. Yeah, I am a big enough whore that I'll steal from them. Hell they steal from other people - oh wait. They call it research. Yeah that's it! I "researched" this technique from them.

Smoked Butt

So I did a heavy smoke on the pork and let it form a nice brown crust. Then I tossed the bad boy into a 250 degree oven and baked him until he was really tender maybe 2-3 hours more. I kinda lost track of time, 'cuz I was also doing laundry and other stuff. The key to this is to keep testing it with a fork until it gets to the tenderness that you want. This was pretty soft, I should have pulled it out of the oven a little earlier, but I got into the Zen of Ironing.

Pulled Butt

Now while Mr. Pulled Pork was in the oven, I rubbed the other butt down with a mixture of freshly ground chilies (Guajillo and Ancho), garlic powder, oregano, onion powder, salt and pepper. I then threw him in the crock pot and cooked him long and slow with a couple whole onions.

Chili Butt

Once the pulled pork was done, I then moved this butt to the oven. I love to braise in the oven over the crock pot. I think that the slow cooker really dulls down the flavors. When I finished, I shredded the meat, and set it to one side. I then took the braising liquid and reduced it to about half its previous volume. I also cheated and added a little bit of liquid from the pulled pork pan. It gave it a mild smokey, sweet undertone. I then mixed the liquid back in with the burrito filling.

Ohio-Mex Butt

I know neither of these are authentic, but I will tell you they were damn good. My husband suggested some titles for this column. Among his suggestions were "Smoke my Butt", "A Tail of Two Butts" and my favorite "Spicy Butt Love". Ahhhhhhhhhh I love it when Tony waxes poetic.

So that was my meat field trip to Restaurant Depot. It was a lot of freakin' work, but now I have my freezer stocked full for the next few months. With the economy the way it is right now, I know that my hours at work will be cut back, just like a lot of other folks. So time to hunker down and get ready boys and girls. Time to put in the staples and prepare to conserve that cash.

Ribeye Stew

Tony and I have membership to the Restaurant Depot. I've mentioned it before a long long time ago when I was a happy little blogger, not the ass dragging overworked wage slave that I am now. The recent increase in food costs have driven a few of our friends to inquire about buying costly items like meat in bulk, then divvying it up amongst the group. In particular, steaks and bacon were at the top of the list. (Single guys...go figure.)

As those of you who buy at places like the Depot know, the wholesale cost isn't always as good as a loss leader at a regular store. For example, ten pounds of 80/20 ground beef was $1.99/lb at the Depot. I recently purchased a ten pound bag of 80/20 at Schumann's for $1.79/lb. Not a huge savings, but the quality at Schumann's was better to boot.

Today I picked up a whole ribeye. At $4.99/lb it was not a huge steal, but still good. I spent the afternoon trimming the primal and cutting it up into steaks to be vacuum sealed and put in the freezer against the long dark winter. I had lots of little pieces of meat left so I decided to try my hand at crock pot beef stew.

I will admit to lifting a tip from America's Test Kitchen. Well, they actually got it from someone else. I found lots of references to it on the internet once I looked. The biggest problem with crock pot stews is that they get really watery. With a heavy tight fitting lid, the water never has a chance to escape, plus you have lots of liquid coming out of the foods in the pot - you can see how it would end up meat-flavored water real fast. The instant tapioca was a great fix, and it left no floury aftertaste as if I had poured the broth into a pan on the stove and thickened it with a slurry, which is what I have done in the past.

True, I think its a huge cheat. I would must rather do it the old fashioned way, stews and soups taste so much better on the stove. Of course, when you still have to do things like run your 17 yr old daughter to the store to buy $100.00 worth of shoes, crock pots look real nice. (You still owe me $50 for those boots Annie!!!)

The recipe went something like this:

2 pounds of ribeye scraps, generally about 1" square
3 medium onions, fine dice
4 cloves garlic, squooshed
2 T tomato paste
2 pounds of potatoes, cut into large dice
1 pound of turnips, cut into large dice
1.5 pounds of carrots, cut into large dice
4 oz of dried mushrooms, re-hydrated and rough chopped
4 cups beef broth, from the freezer (yes, some of my stuff was saved!)
3T instant tapioca
Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper and 2 bay leaves

Sprinkle a little salt onto the meat. Put a couple of tablespoons of oil into a pan - I used a cast iron skillet. Get good and hot; brown off the meat. Remove to slow cooker. Lower heat to medium. Add onions to skillet and cook until transparent. Add in garlic and tomato paste. Cook briefly until you can smell the garlic. Remove to slowcooker. Add broth to pan and deglaze. Pour into slow cooker.

Add veggies and tapioca. Season to taste and throw in the bay leaves. Cook on low for about 6 hours. Taste towards end of cooking and adjust seasoning. I've been known to saute up another onion and a couple more cloves of garlic to toss in towards the end. The stew tends to have a flat taste after cooking so long and you need to brighten up the flavors. A shot of Tabasco or Worcestershire isn't bad either.

The stew went into the fridge overnight. We'll see how the tapioca reheats. Also, I plan on freezing half for a future dinner, so we'll see how the tapioca freezes as well.

News Flash: The stew reheated fine - but it never got frozen due to the fact that it was eaten very quickly. I also never got a picture of it. My camera is having issues. Ah - when it rains it pours!

I love electrons!

My street before the real damage. We lost nine trees on this street alone.

The rumors are false. I did not run away and join the circus.

I just got power back Saturday evening. It was a long long week. I had just stocked up on groceries and wham! Goodbye four dozen eggs. Goodbye motley collection of condiments who had taken over my fridge. I think maybe it was a blessing in disguise - I got to scrub out every inch of my ancient refrigerator with bleach. At least that is what I am telling myself.

Actually, the eggs did not go bad. I boiled them on my grill. My neighbors thought I was nuts - until I used up all the mayo in the fridge and made a HUGE batch of deviled eggs. I think they were gone in about two minutes flat. Tony was sad because he only got three eggs worth.

I also put my collection of cast iron skillets to work on the coals and browned off some ground beef. I was going to try making chili but it got dark - boy was it dark. I could see the stars without any light pollution.

Hard Boiled Eggs!!

My big freezer had been packed full and when I finally opened it yesterday, a lot of things were thawed out, but still nice and cold. I am cooking every thing off that I can.

Part of my bounty was shared with Eric, my hubby's best friend. I cooked off three pounds of Thurn's bacon for breakfast yesterday. Yum. And Eric called me a bacon snob. Hell yes. If loving Thurn's bacon is wrong, then I don't wanna be right.

Now that I have lots of freezer room, I am looking into 'Once a Month Cooking or OAMC, or something close to that. More like "make some stuff ahead so I have something to eat when I am too busy to cook" or MSSASIHSTEWIATBTC. Hmmm... That is a bit much. Kind of defeats the whole acronym purpose. Lets see... Too Busy To Cook... Yeah. T.B.T.C. I don't think it will catch on, but hey, ya never know.

A couple items I am looking at are from Cook's Country, owned by Cook's Illustrated. I read a while back over on Tigers and Strawberries about the problems with reproducing recipes from the publishing group. Well that and Barbara has personal issues with how Cook's Illustrated treats non-traditional foods, such Indian and Thai. I am surprised she doesn't have an ax to grind with other venerable institutions such as Better Homes and Gardens or Redbook as well. I guess having grown up in the era of Home Ec for every gal, I just don't get as worked up about stuff like dumbing down exotic cuisines for American consumption. I think of it as cooking with training wheels. Personally, I use Cook's Illustrated like any other resource, pick and choose what I like and leave the rest. And yes Barbara, Chris Kimball has quite an ego, but no worse than any other famous persona I've encountered. You get use to heads that large when you meet showbiz folks from time to time.

So as for plumbing the depths for ideas, I am looking at the freezer lasagna, the freezer enchiladas and the frozen pot pies from the Cook's Country. I also have a lot of other things like Cincinnati Chili (which I've made for years), spaghetti sauce and beef stew. I've been over the OAMC books plus the sites and most of the recipes leave me kinda cold. Anyone out there have other resources they can suggest?

So that's pretty much it. The next week is going to be hell at work. I don't anticipate having much free time, but if I get a few minutes, I'll make another post. If not, I'll surface eventually. I always do.

A tale of chicken - smoked chicken

My Weber kettle finally died. It has sat outside under the eaves of my house most of the time - seeing as I lack a garage or shed in which to house items such as a grill. I think that makes it's 10 year lifespan all the more impressive. Of course, a grill like that just couldn't go gentle into that good night - no, it went out with drama befitting our household.

I wanted to try butterflied grilled chicken. I love grilled chicken, but it has always been problematic - cooked over direct heat as suggested in most recipes leaves you with chicken jerkee. Yuk. So after seeing America's Test Kitchen and reading Mark Bittman's recipe for simple grilled chicken, I decided that yes! I could cook on my kettle using indirect heat! I also decided it should be smoked. Cuz having smoked cold chicken in the fridge is like having money in the bank. yummmmmmmmmm chicken sandwiches..... yummmmmmmmmmmm arugala salad topped with radishes, green onions and smoked chicken.

So I go to the store and buy me some hickory wood chips and charcoal, and a nice plump "natural" chicken (I would hate to have an unnatural chicken - would it have tenticles or something?).

I also stopped by the garden and picked up some radishes and arugala. (Yes - I did finally get my garden in, but it is not as ambitious as in past years. More on that later - this is the grill's story.)

I fired up the coals in the chimney, prepped the chicken, started the rice pilaf - everything's going good....

I stepped out, lifted the chimney, started pouring the glowing coals into the grill and the leg farthest away from me gave way and tilted the grill up against the brick wall of the house... I jumped about 10 feet away. I didn't think I could do that - being old and fat like I am - but hot coals have always been excellent motivators.

So - the conundrum - do I tip the hot coals out? Do I try to prop the leg back up? A holler to the kinfolk brought them out of the house and it was decided by committee that we would try to get the leg back under the grill and then be really really careful. Behold the power of grilled chicken. It makes idiots out of the best of us.

So using lots of oven mitts and more than a little caution, we got the leg propped back up where it belonged. Ms. Chicken went onto the grill - and we just held our breath. It worked. Yeah! The whole technique worked great. The smoke gave the skin a dark mahogany color, the chicken was just ever so slightly kissed by the hickory - and it was really moist. All over. I wished I could say I took a photo of it, but it didn't last that long. The wings didn't even make it off the grill - Tony went out and "liberated" them to see if they were "finished".

I finished off the meal with "fried corn". I had a couple ears of corn left from earlier in the week, plus two pablano peppers. I roasted the peppers over the hot side grill while the chicken cooked. The corn - well I was going to grill it, but all things considered I thought better of that. So I cut the kernels off the cob, fried a little bit of onion in some oil, raised the heat to high, added the corn stirring quickly to develop a brown crust. I pulled it off the heat, added the now diced roasted pablano peppers and a little bit of cumin butter, salt and pepper. (Yeah I cheated with the cumin butter - I melted a little butter in the still hot pan and stirred some ground cumin into it. The heat took the raw edge off the spice.)

Even as I am mourning my loss, I am excited because I get to BUY A NEW GRILL!!!! Wheeeeeee!!!!! I like plain charcoal grills - never really been into gas. The less complicated a tool is the less likely to have problems with it. I ended up buying a 22.5 one touch silver Weber Kettle - the big brother of my previous grill. The best thing about the larger cooking surface? Now I can cook TWO chickens at once. Which we did.

Yummmmmmmmmmm........chicken.......

A side note for those of you who are in the search for cheap kitchenware - Linen and Things up at Polaris is going out of business and right now all their kitchen stuff is 20%.

Chicken!

Just a couple of quick notes this week - I am trying to get the holiday baking excitement off to a start this week!

First - I finally got to meet Denise of 2Silos at the first Worthington Winter Farmer's Market. I love her! Its so great meeting people who have passion for what they do. We spent a few minutes chatting between egg sales and I am thinking about adopting a chicken. I would love to get some great eggs on a regular basis and the thought of a fat stewing hen at the end of the whole thing excites me. With a little luck, I hope to drive up to the farm sometime in the near future to see the chickens do their thing. If we do adopt, I already have a name for my chicken. It will be Henrietta - named after the famous 266 pound chicken from "The Hoboken Chicken Emergency" by Daniel Pinkwater. If you never read this book as a kid - get it now. Even if you don't have kids.

The Winter Farmer's market was OK. There was not a lot of fresh produce available - which I kinda expected. Pies, cakes and other baked goods, canned goods, wool goods, and Christmas decorations really dominated. There was a group selling hydroponic lettuce, Wishwell Farms had some greenhouse tomatoes and the folks (sorry can't remember their names off hand) selling fresh mushrooms were there as well. I ended up buying some eggs from 2silos, a small bag of the lettuce to see how it tasted (it was acceptable), a small pecan pie from Meade Farms ('cuz I love them so much!!) and a $4 box of mixed mushrooms. I ended up making omelets with the mushrooms and eggs along with a small salad for dinner that night.

I really like the idea of the Winter Market, but without more things like root veggies and other long storage veggies on site - I may just be going for the eggs! Denise said she will not be back at the Winter Market until after the first of the year - so stay tuned.

Also, just a note to let you know that some of the local foodies here in town will be eating at MiMi's next Saturday the 8th around 2pm. If you are interested in stopping by for a bowl of pho and some food talk - stop on in!

That's about it for the moment - I'll be back with more sweet talk later!

Old Mrs. Hubbard went to the cupboard...

Let's talk about the other factor in this recipe - the pantry.

I am not going to give you a list. While it would be amusing, I doubt if it would be of much use unless you cook the exact same things as I do. Which I am betting you don't - at least not every single item. I have basics - oil, flour, sugar, salt, pepper -things like that. I have the exotic - like lime pickles and sesame oil. And I do have a few items that I bought on impulse - like Lyle's Golden Syrup. (Strictly for my pecan tassie recipe -yum yum!) But your pantry will come to reflect what recipes you make on a regular basis.

One such item for me is canned tomatoes. I have several types in the cabinet at any one time. I keep an eye out for types that I use on sale. My favorite brand right now is Dei Fratelli. Why? They are raised and canned here in Ohio. A chance to "eat local" out of my cupboard all year long. Plus I like the quality. If they sucked - I don't care how local they are, I would not use them.

What can you do with canned tomatoes? Cream of tomato soup, chili, pasta dishes, "salsa", veggie soup, stewed tomatoes - hell that is just off the top of my head. I am sure you can think of at least a half dozen more.

Something I don't have in my cupboard? Canned green beans. Can't stand mushy bland beans. I use frozen instead.

As you develop your recipe repertoire, your pantry will adjust accordingly. The pantry I had in college - IE peanut butter, grape jelly, Wonder bread and ramen noodles is a far cry from what I have today. I still have ramen for the quick dinner - but I've dumped the pb&j and added capers, curry powder and whole wheat bread. Maybe in five years, you won't see a caper in sight.

Everything I used in the recipe below was either a pantry staple or something I had purchased as a loss leader. I do not normally buy roasting chickens - but they were on sale at an earlier time and I bought a couple for the freezer. We had roast chicken with rice pilaf and green beans Sunday night. Now I was stuck with half a chicken. Hmmm - what to do?

I always make stock with the carcass. Period. It's a free bonus. Don't have time to keep an eye on a simmering pot? Get out a 6 qt crock. It works great.

That leaves the leftover meat - It could mean a casserole, a soup, chicken salad - it's a blank palate ready to go.

So why did I make Chicken and Dumplings?

Here is the answer you were waiting on with baited breath - I splurged when I did the Bostini cakes. I bought cake flour. I never have cake flour in the house. I rarely ever bake cakes - from a mix or scratch. And I just couldn't stand the thought of the rest of the Swan's Down going to waste. So I pulled out the dumplings. (True - you can use All Purpose, but the dumplings just aren't as tender or light. And screw Bisquick. Nasty.)

All pantry baby!

The thing is, the base recipe is really similar to a couple other soups I do:

Potato soup - leave out the chicken and dumplings.Keep the herbs to a minimum. Add about 3 pounds of potatoes cut in 1 to 1.5 inch cubes. Cook until all veggies are tender. Add a 1/4 to 1/2 cup of cream at the end of cooking and "smash" the potatoes a little bit to release their starch.

Chicken and Noodle Soup - just throw in noodles (preferably homemade) cook until noodles are tender. Put the precooked chicken in the bottom of the bowls and pour soup over it.

Having a pantry and a standing repertoire of dishes means you are ready to go no matter what the occasion. It's that lil black dress you always wanted and were afraid you would get too fat to fit into...so what are you waiting for!? Get cracking!

And the gloves come off...

Like most mothers who are single, we have lives and children to feed and we are doing it the best way we can. So,
I can not slave behind the stove for 2 hours and 45 minutes with my mommy to make Rosie Eat Bite Your Tongue It’s SO Good Soup; and
After working all day, dropping kids off to sports and pick them up from after school programs I am tired as hell.

Do you have 5 kids and no husband or help?
So pardon me, I find it refreshing to see someone who can show me how to create meals in a short period, while using ingredients that I can purchase form the store (everyone does not have a Secret Garden in the back yard) so that I able to spend time with my kids before they fall asleep. I like eating around the table with my family, allowing my kids to assist me in preparing quick meals and having lively discussions with my kids and not passing out because I am tired. And too your comment about edutainment. I like the style. I can watch food programs with my kids that don’t bore them and me to death. No, Rachael is not for everyone...and sometimes she is not for me but, they are people out there who are looking for ways to create quick meals and spend time with family who can’t wake up in the morning and try out recipes all day long. She is popular for a reason.

I CAN NOT SPEND QUALITY TIMES WITH MY KIDS IF I AM PREPARING MEALS FOR 4 HOURS.

I have a 3 year old toddler, 5, 9, 13, and 17 year old - all boys and did I mention that I am by myself(38 year old MILITARY WIDOW for the last year and a half). So tell me when do I have time to create this dish: Rosie's It Too Damn Cold Outside Chili. Which should be titled,
Rosie’s Its too damn long from me to make this chili because I got kids to feed, homework to check, and work to finish.

You and your bloggers must come the some socio-economic demographic. You all (your bloggers) sound mad because folks can relate to Rachel Ray. I don’t have a husband that could watch the kids while I enjoy my “Lustful Apron Experience.” Do you have 5 kids and are on a limited budget? Could you see how that could be difficult? I pride myself on making meals that are healthy and affordable for my family. So, before you and your “friends” start to insult anyone you must consider that everyone is not in the same boat as you are.

Oh, by the way this is the Anonymous writer who you wanted to sign up so my name can be displayed. In reference to your “Back on the 4th I posted about how I had fallen out of love with the Food Network and garnered this comment.

Yeah, do you remember I talked about how mean you are. I was wrong, you are not mean. You are just not empathic to others lives.

Sammies,
Regina

And Roise I will advise you to respond with caution.

Regina - It is nice to put a name to the comments. The world is so large and there are so many people who feel that they can just "flame on" without standing behind what they have to say. Congratulations on having the courage to take responsibility for your words.

I did not intend for my comments to be a personal attack on you - how could they be since there was no name attached to the words? I do not know you or your situation any more than you know me or my situation. How can I be empathic to someone who I know nothing about? As far as I knew, you were one of Rachel's paid publicists who go around defending her honor. (And don't say there aren't paid guns who do it - that's the way it works in the big city.)

Actually Regina - I don't have time to slave over a hot stove every day either - even if I do only have one child and a even bigger baby (the hubby). I work full time with overtime, plus freelance graphics work and helping my hubby with the family business. That means I generally need to make decent meals in a quick amount of time. I am also always looking for the cheapest way to use my food dollars. I have better uses for my time and money then making high end meals every day of the week. (Actually, that is one of my pet peeves with other bloggers - but that's another column.)

As far as Rachel Ray is concerned - I do not think she is the only answer. I outlined my issues with her earlier. I still stand behind them. I am glad you and others like you love Ray Ray. If her show gives you inspiration-great. But she is not the only show in town - and "her" solutions are not always the only or best ones. Quick "one night stands" as I call them are something I resort to only when I haven't had the foresight to plan ahead or my plans go to hell in a hand basket -and we all have those weeks - sometimes more often than we care to remember.

However - that being said - I am also not a fan of Once A Month Cooking. For those of you who haven't encountered that before, it means you buy everything you need for an entire month of meals and cook it over a weekend once a month - usually with the help of others who split the rewards of the labors. Then everything gets tossed into the freezer and pulled out and defrosted according to a set menu. I don't have a whole weekend to give up for cooking meals - and I bet you don't either. I also dislike the fact you can't really shop for great bargains in the weekly ads. And I really don't love casseroles that much.

Planning ahead is just as important as "30 minute meals" in my schedule.

Sunday is generally my cooking/household chores day. It's the day the weekly ads come out and my whole family is home so I can use them as cheap slave labor. I get up early, hit the stores, come home and get to cracking. (Most of my blogs are written on Sunday too, by the way. I sneak it in between loads of laundry and dishes.)

Let's take that chili you disparaged - that is my mid sized car recipe. I make it about once a year or so when I have the good fortune to luck into inexpensive ground beef ($1.29/lb at Meijer's) When I wanna make my compact car chili - it's different. First, I cut the amount of meat by about 2 pounds. Second, I substitute about half the beef for ground turkey ($.79/lb at Aldi's). I also throw in a couple extra cans of beans to make up to difference in bulk. It makes it a little more beany than I like but hey - everyone gets to suffer with me afterwards. Then- the best part - it goes in the crock pot on low and cooks for six hours while I do some illustrations for one of my clients. When it's all cooled off, I then portion it out - some of it is for dinner the next day, but the rest goes into quart sized freezer baggies and tossed into my small chest freezer. (At $85 bucks on sale the freezer was a great investment.)

So how does the freezer chili get used? Sometimes it's chili mac. Boil pasta, toss into chili, top with cheese and serve with green beans and a salad. Or chili dogs - served with carrots and chips for a midweek treat. Sometimes I will make chili burritos - messy but good.

Another thing I do when I hit the cheap meat bonanza is to spend a couple of hours making up dinners that I can throw in my freezer. Ox tails on clearance? The it's oxtail pasta sauce. Fast? No- but the time it's in the oven on Sunday morning allows me time to get laundry done and clean the bathroom. Into the freezer when its done! Ground beef on sale? That means meatloaf and meatballs - essentially the same recipe. I make up a big batch of mix, portion out the meatballs, then add a couple more ingredients to the mix that left and portion into two loaves - one for Sunday night dinner and the other for the freezer. Meatballs get cooked in the oven, then tossed with a jar of sauce then frozen. Then the meatloaf is tossed in the oven with some potatoes. An hour later - dinner is served. And there are leftovers for lunch for me and the kid. Meatloaf sandwiches rock.

Chicken on sale? I like whole chickens best. I get more mileage from them than anything else. Last week, Meijer had whole chickens on sale, $.69/pound. My two birds when in the oven. Half of one chicken got eaten for dinner. I made plain white rice and served it with defatted pan juices and glazed carrots. I also chopped up a bunch of veggies for later in the week while I was hacking up the carrots and bagged them up. Meat got stripped off the bones and packaged up. Chicken bones went into the crock pot and turned into stock overnight using the tail ends of the veggies left over from preping dinner. Monday morning - took the stock out of the crock, quickly strained it and put it in the fridge. (I know you would not have time to throw the bones in overnight, Regina, with five boys to wrangle in the morning - so I would recommend throwing the bones in the fridge and doing the broth on Monday night on the stove. It's the type of thing that doesn't really need watching while you are bathing, cajoling, counseling and otherwise parenting your boys.) Monday lunch - chicken sandwiches for me and the kid. Monday dinner - fried rice made with leftover rice, plus the leftover chicken and a bag of stir fry veggies from the freezer. Tuesday - Chicken noodle soup made with the broth from the bones, the pre-chopped veggies from Sunday and a bag of noodles from Aldi's. Wednesday night dinner is usually something like a casserole - tuna or chili mac so that I can have leftovers for Thursday - which is usually my really long night at work. It is usually the hubby's night to cook as well. Maybe you could teach your oldest how to make something simple like spaghetti. I just taught my daughter how to cook baked pork chops so she can get dinner started on Wednesdays when she beats the rest of us home...

So there are some of my tips - true they are not recipes.They are not peppered with cute catch phrases - every person needs to come up with their own in my opinion (both recipes and catchphrases). And I am most likely not as photogenic as some TV hosts. But, I get the job done. No one in my family starves. They are healthy, well fed and happy. PLUS, I have a reputation as a great cook. And I don't need hoards of fans to convince me of that. I simply have to look at my friends and family to know it.

Rosie

PS Regina - my condolences on the death of your husband. My family and I appreciate the sacrifice he made for us so that we can live fear free in our homes. Maybe that is a small consolation to you considering that you still have to raise your family without him, but it is all I, a stranger, have to offer.

I'm back!!

Wow...the month of January officially sucked.

I have never been so continuously ill for a long time. And when I wasn't ill, I was so depressed about the amount of work that was piling up that I just didn't care about food at all. Amazing huh?

So now that I am finally healthy thanks to antibiotics and Vicodin cough medicine...I care about food again and celebrated with a trip to Schuman's meats. Fifty Dollars and a ton of meat later, I was feeling back to my old self. So Tony and I sat in the car and ate ham salad on white bread for lunch. Hmmmmmm damn fine stuff. All we needed was a pickup and a double wide.

So now on to the unfinished business of blogging...

The best thing about it being the new year? That the cookie baking season has come to an end.

Here is a list of cookies we made for the holidays:

Snickerdoodle pinwheels

Fig Drop cookies

Pecan Diamonds

Peanut Butter and Jelly Thumbprint cookies (Gail cheated here! Bad bad Gail!)

Payday cookies (aka peanut bar cookies)

Dream Bar cookies with white chocolate, dark chocolate and dried cherries

Rum Balls

Spritz cookies

Pecan Apricot balls

Decorated Sugar Cookies

Spice Krinkles

Lebkuken

Stroopwaffles (plus caramels with the left over filling)

Orange Ginger cookies

Pecan Sandies

Coconut Cherry Drops

Master Dough Cookies

Poppyseed rollups with orange flavored dough

Cherry Cranberry rollups with almond flavored dough

Chocolate Raspberry cookies

Chocolate Pigs

And boy! Are my arms tired!!

This year, we stayed close to home and baked the majority of the cookies at Gail's house. You have to realize just how small Gail's kitchen is - I won't even call it a galley kitchen. It's more like - an afterthought.

Builder 1: "Oh crap! We forgot to put a kitchen in these units!"

Builder 2: "That's ok, we'll just take out this closet. There will be plenty of room!"

Here are Gail and I in the closet - I mean kitchen - making lunch.

The good news is - working together for 10+ years has made it possible for us to waltz through such small spaces without any elbowed ribs or trod-upon toes.

This year was really a challenge because friends and coworkers were asking for specific cookies...snickerdoodles, peanut butter, chocolate chip...all violations against rule number one. Our general attitude is "we bake what we like and the rest of you are damn lucky to be getting at all!" Being generous, we decided that we would find decorative versions of these everyday favorites - namely snickerdoodles and peanut butter. But next year - no way! They can suffer and be glad for it!

Here am I showing my contempt by burning a tray of cookies...

Just last week, the clache united for a post holiday round up. Gail and Debbie had taken two weeks off during the post-holiday work slump so this was the first chance we had to get together and talk.

The first consensus - we did too many cookies. Surprise.

The second consensus - many coworkers have started taking the cookie ladies for granted. Those individuals think we are their own personal baking slaves. Got news for you folks - we ain't your bitches. Never were - never will be. The cookies ladies are now tired of being EXPECTED to do anything for ungrateful welps who can't even express a small amount of gratitude. Just see what that nets you next holiday season - I bet it ain't cookies...

So after several hours of pissing and moaning, we headed off to Whole Foods because Gail had never been there. Whole Foods is a danger to your pocketbook. Fortunately, the only things I bought were some fine cheese, a couple of Meyer lemons, a couple of blood oranges and a bottle of unhomgenized milk. Hot damn - I love the cream cap on top!

The reason I bought the Meyer lemons? The produce hunk cut one up for us while we were ogling the fruit and let us have a slice. A nice flavor - not too sweet not too tart...though a mixture of OJ and regular lemon would do in a pinch. And for a lot less money.

Oh yeah - also got a couple bottles of Small Beer from Anchor Steam. What is small beer you ask? It is second run of beer from previously used mash. It was very light and refreshing. I will be buying a few more bottles when the mercury starts to climb...

BTW I got yelled at for taking pictures of baked goods. So I just slipped my camera in my pocket in fear that they would insist I delete everything on my card. Here is some of my photography with my new Christmas present - a Canon Powershot. (Thanks Tony!! I love you!!!) Just keep in mind I risked the wrath of Whole Foods legal department to bring these to you!!

Gail and Debbie then got a bug in their ear for bubble tea made at home. So off we went to the New Asian Supermarket right across the street from Whole Foods. I love Asian groceries. Even if I can't identify was 85% of the items are in the produce department. Their produce looks wonderful - I plan on heading over there again soon to pick up some tasty greens for dinner. Even better, they have live fishes swimming in tanks that they will kill and clean for you. I know that this is not a new thing, but it just never occurred to me that I should be taking advantage of it. Duh!

We did find the makings for bubble tea - I still haven't asked if they have figured it out yet...

Plus Gail went crazy buying cute dishes for the grand-baby. Me? I am plotting on spending the income tax return on some lovely Japanese bowls for noodles among other things...

So that it about it. The rest of my sick time, I made a lot of my old standbys - quick and easy. Cream of tomato soup, potato soup, hamburgers - stuff like that. I did however make a recipe for Chicken Pot Pie. I kind of made it up as I went along, plus I stole an idea from the new Cook's Country magazine (brought to you by the folks at Cook's Illustrated). Damn fine recipe for a night when you are sick, depressed and cold.

Rosie's Chicken Pot Pie

4 chicken leg quarters

4 cups of homemade chicken broth

1/2 cup cream

4 tablespoons of butter

1/2 cup flour

3/4 cup chopped mushrooms

3/4 cup frozen peas

1/2 cup of frozen pearl onions

1 cup chopped carrots

1 cup of chopped celery

1/4 cup chopped regular onions

Salt, Pepper,Garlic powder to taste

Handful of Chopped Parsley

Box of Pillsbury's Pie refrigerator crusts (Sacrilege!!!)

1 egg, beaten

Poach the chicken leg quarters in the broth until tender and remove meat from the bone. Husbands who are watching television are excellent tools for accomplishing this while you are busy chopping vegetables.

Once veggies are chopped, add a small amount of oil to a pan and start sauteing the two onions. Once they are soft, add the carrots, mushrooms and celery. Cook until just tender. Toss in peas and parsley. Add chicken meat after vetting it for any random bits of skin. Note that there seems to always be a little less yield when the hubby does the chicken. Put into a round casserole dish.

Take the prepared pie crusts and beaten egg. Paint one crust with the egg and lay the other crust on top. You now have a heavy crust that can be used for potpie. This is the tip I borrowed from Cook's Country.

In a clean saucepan, heat up the butter until melted and hot and stir in the flour. Cook until the flour just starts to turn bone colored -a very very pale tan. Start adding the chicken broth a little at a time, whisking constantly. Once all the broth is added, let the sauce come to a boil. Add the cream and remove from heat. Pour over the meat and veggies, season to taste.

Top with the cheater's pie crust. Poke holes in crust to let the steam out and bake in a 425 degree oven until crust is brown and the filling bubbling hot, about 30-40 minutes. If the edges of your crust brown too fast, get out the foil and make reflector strips to cover them up.

So that's it. Most of the prep work could be done ahead and you could use leftover chicken from the night before. Easy as pot pie!

So I will get back to work now - I have a ton of cleaning to do and I will be much better about posting in the new year! Promise!