Self-Reliant Yuppies

Self-Reliant Yuppies is Moving!

2008-08-13T08:51:00.003+02:00

After much thought and consideration, I've decided to combine my blogs and everything will now be found at www.NoOrdinaryHomestead.com. There you can keep up with all our garden & home renovation projects, self-sufficiency things, our travels, Ayla, what's happening with the new baby and anything else that comes into our heads.

Hope you enjoy the new site and thanks for all your support! Please remember to update your bookmarks and links...as well as your reader software!

We've got worms!

2008-07-30T13:35:00.001+02:00

No, no problems or complaints in this post. We're not upset that we have worms but rather pleased instead. We recently started our very own worm farm after finding ourselves plagued with an endless supply of fruit flies in our kitchen who just loved munching down on whatever was waiting to go to our compost bin or recycling container. Naturally, this was something we wanted to eradicate as quickly as possible, and since we'd been researching about worm farms and vermicomposting already, we figured now was a great time to dive right in.

This is our current setup. We ordered about 400 worms online and they arrived about 36 hours later. Thankfully we'd already started building up our worm bin so they could move right in, once we'd filled the bin with damp newspaper shreds.

The bottom of the blue tub has a bunch of small holes in it, through which excess water can drain as well as worm tee, which is extremely high in nutrients and a wonderful natural fertilizer for your plants. We put some on our tomato plants and they seem to have really done well afterwards. We have no comparison plant but they are nearly as tall as the neighbor's tomato plants now, which are about a month ahead of ours. That must mean something, right?

We've had the worms set up for about 10 days now and have no complaints so far. Well, they could eat faster but each little worm can only handle so much food at a time. The fruit fly problem has been greatly reduced, especially now with our makeshift cover over the box. And it's pretty amazing to be able to walk back there, lift the papers to put some additional compost material, and come out with your hands still smelling clean.

There's quite a few castings in there now and Stefan thinks they have been reproducing also. I'm still a fledgling with these things and am pretty scared of killing them all; but they seem very hardy and happy so far. And with them just a few steps away in the mudroom, it's completely convenient to feed and check on them regularly. Now we just have to determine the best method for cleaning and sorting things out so we can harvest the castings to be used for fertilizer and give the worms a comfy new home.

Our first attempt at homemade ginger ale

2008-07-30T12:19:00.002+02:00

Since we had a bit of ginger root laying around and a few plastic soda bottles, we decided to try out making soda for the first time. It's a very simple process, some more simple than others, and to our slight surprise, it actually worked!

I don't know what the exact recipe we used was but it wasn't all that great so we'll have to do some tweaking and seeking for new ginger ale recipes. But after bottling, we waited 48 long hours, refrigerated the bottles to stop the fermentation process and waited until it was cool enough to drink. There was no doubt about it that we had carbonation. When we added ice to the glass, it also fizzed up again just like a real soda. It unfortunately just needed some different combination of ingredients because we just didn't like the final taste.

One of the cool things about making your own soda is that if you don't finish the bottle, you can leave it out, let the fermentation process start again and have a fizzy soda again in 24-48 hours. Pretty smooth in my opinion. Would be great if regular products did that! ;-)

I can't wait to try making our own cream soda, which should be no trouble at all. And we're looking forward to finding a few more recipes too play around with. There's no telling what crazy avenues our soda making escapades may take...and with any luck, we can use some fresh ingredients from our own garden too!

An update on what's growing

2008-07-29T17:10:00.001+02:00

On Saturday morning, I passed by the thyme plant growing in my herb container garden and saw this!

ICK!!!! I don't know where they came from or how they got to be over an inch so quickly but these little suckers were munching down on my thyme plant. I quickly picked them off and disposed of them and thankfully have not found any more...but why we have so many caterpillars around this year eating all our plants, I just don't understand.

Speaking of which, the evil little caterpillars that were eating my jostaberry bushes have nearly been eradicated. I check the plants about once a day to see if I find any new bugs and still find a handful at times, but it's nothing like it was the first day when the poor plants were just overrun with them. And I'm extremely happy to report that they are beginning to put on some new leaves which I hope to keep out of the mouths of those caterpillars...as well as big green grasshoppers like the one I found hiding in the middle of a leaf earlier today!

This weekend I planted one of the ginger roots that has been growing in the window. I still need to do the other one, but need to go dig a pot out of the cellar first. If I wasn't afraid of losing the thing in weeds, I would just pop it in the garden...but I think I'll just try them in containers for now and then transplant roots later after I've seen how they will do and know just where I want them since I've heard they can grow quite aggressively. The shoot on this one is continuing to grow so it would seem our planting strategy is doing ok so far.

We also planted one of the tomato shoots which sprouted really well in water. We'll see if the little tomatoes on it start growing again. The second smaller shoot needs to be planted as well, I'm just trying to figure out the best place for it so it won't be trampled by the dog.

Speaking of the dog, we had a mishap with one of the herb containers last week and she managed to empty the whole thing out in the courtyard. But somehow, I must have gotten the seeds back towards the top of the pot because it's starting to sprout. Either that or there are weeds starting in the pot which I also possible. I'm not certain whether it's basil or dill but I guess we'll know soon enough.

It's mystery partner is also starting to sprout so we'll see what happens. These were extremely old seeds which we found in the barn when we bought the house. I'm rather surprised they are doing anything since the rosemary and parsley seeds are not. But I haven't given up on them yet either.

When I did all the other herbs I also started a fresh pot of catnip, with two kinds of seeds for our kitties. They go crazy for the stuff and eat everything in sight so I'm giving them a bit of time to grow before I let the cats loose on it.

I also started lemongrass again, not only for us but also for the dog. It's supposed to be the dog equivilant of catnip so we'll see if Ayla likes it. I can only hope that she doesn't go all crazy after eating it like our cats usually do with catnip. She's nutty enough as it is, and when a 100 lb Newf goes crazy, you definitely notice!

And just because I haven't posted much about them, our Fordhook zucchini plants from Burpee are doing very well. We ate two of them already and they were really nice and tender. This one is just about ready to come off and we have a bunch of little ones starting; I just hope I get a male blossom ready at the same time as all the female flowers so I can pollinate them. For whatever reason, our zucchini plants don't do a good job of this themselves...but with a bit of help, we've gotten some nice results!

This thing is a mystery plant. When we came back from our vacation in Florida, this was one of the plants that was still alive. It was labeled as a Brandywine tomato but it hasn't looked anything like a tomato until just recently. I thought for a while it might even be some sort of pepper or chili plant but I just don't know. It has a few blooms on it now so I guess we will see if it does anything at all. But at the very least, it definitely doesn't seem to be a weed anymore.

As you can see, our tomato plants are also doing pretty well still but we have a ways to go before we can harvest anything. Three of them are Long Keepers and one is a Big Rainbow from Burpee seeds. We tried to grow Big Rainbow tomatoes from a seedling last year but never got too many tomatoes from it. Not sure if they're just not suitable to this climate or what. It's definitely one of the slowest to produce but if the fruits taste good, I guess it really doesn't matter. There should be plenty of others.

Don't you need to build a chicken tractor?

2008-07-29T13:04:00.000+02:00

Now this is a cool concept! We would love to have chickens at some point, mostly for egg production but perhaps we might one day get tough enough to butcher the birds ourselves. But when you have your birds totally free range, there's the issue of finding the eggs, catching the birds and predators having their way with your flock. But an idea that came up on a homesteading forum I subscribe to suggested building a "chicken tractor" which I think is brilliant.

I've borrowed this photo from the following website which goes into further into the process of building a tractor for your own birds although you will be hard pressed to find any actual plans online. I'm pretty sure most could just find a chicken coop to build and then mount the wheels and some handles on it so it can be moved.

Why move it? So that the chickens have fresh grass and bugs to peck at after they have decimated the patch of ground the tractor stands over each day. And of course, if you keep the birds confined in a space like this you don't have to worry about them flying into a neighbor's yard or eating things that they aren't supposed to, like your garden!

Although we don't have space for chickens right now, at some stage we hope to find a piece of land close to us where we can have birds, maybe a goat or sheep, fruit trees and even a little farming land for wheat, sugar beets and more. But until then, I'll just have to live vicariously through others who build these great little contraptions!

Want to cut your family's spending habits??

2008-07-29T12:32:00.002+02:00

I just finished reading America's Cheapest Family Gets You Right on the Money by Steve & Annette Economides. For some this book may be incredibly eye opening, and I did find their budgeting style quite interesting, as well as the concept of meal planning. But many of the other tips in the book are things that I did for years.

I have generally always considered myself a bargain hunter but after we first moved to Germany, it was much harder. For starters, the concept of a sale was completely foreign here. There were many restrictions about when sales could be and how much discount could be given. There's no double or triple coupon days...there aren't even coupons for the most part! When people are getting rid of something, it is often because it's completely been used up. Garage sales don't exist although flea markets can be quite big...but we have yet to find any that weren't just local vendors peddling new items instead of boxes of junk from someone's attic. But we'll not be deterred. With a new baby on the way, we need tons of stuff. And I know there are tons of baby & kid flea markets during the year so we're just going to have to try some of them out and see how it goes.

And thankfully it is getting easier to find bargains. There are still many places that think taking a few cents off an item that costs a few bucks makes it a steal...I have to disagree. But shopping fliers warrant a glance through them for specials...and end of season clearance sales generally have very big discounts tied to them, if you can manage to find something you like.

But all this has very little to do with the book itself. Overall it was very easy to read and is broken down so that you can read what is relevant for you now, or go in order to see the full package. I think their meal planning concept is fantastic because it not only makes things easier when you start wondering what you should cook every day, but you also don't need to constantly run out to the store. Generally that causes a lot of additional costs to be added on to your monthly grocery bills because you pick something up spur of the moment, get it home and then realize you don't have anything to prepare with it. So, if you're us, it stays in the fridge for a week or so, starts looking really gross and gets tossed out. Not wise spending at all. Plus, because we're buying large quantities of meat at one time, we can buy a huge package of chicken breasts, for example, repack them for 2 portions, freeze and just need to thaw them out in the morning before cooking.

If you're considering doing some cost cutting, this book isn't something that will rock your world because many of the tips are things you might be doing already...but it will put them all neatly together so you can get an idea of where you can continue to save, what you're already saving on and where you need to get better focused. They also outline emergency funds for your home, family, car, etc which are absolutely essential for those unexpected things that come up. And they really manage to put things in perspective when you consider they feed a family of 8 on only $350 a month! They don't even have a garden so just think how much more they could be saving!!

So in keeping with the saver spirit, don't go buy the book but borrow it from your local library or a friend...or find yourself a used copy if you prefer to have your own! :)

Chicken Divan is DIVINE!!!

2008-07-28T17:05:00.002+02:00

After the massive disappointment with our chicken curry recipe a few weeks ago, I was a bit concerned about trying another curry recipe, for fear that our curry isn't good although we just got it. But I picked out another recipe with less curry included in it and an altogether much more simple recipe in general. We ate it last night (flip-flopped our meal plan a bit this weekend) and it was SOOO good. Definitely another keeper from this meal plan! Stefan renamed it Chicken Divine because it was just that good :)

So far every recipe from the Southern Living cookbook has been excellent - not that I'm surprised because I grew up in a house where Southern Living was always subscribed to and I know how great the magazines are. In fact, I'm fairly certain that if we lived in the US, I would be getting it all the time now. But that's another story which ventures into my obsession with magazines, books and apparently all things printed in paper for the enrichment of my brain, body and soul :)

But back to the recipe. The only change I made from the original was to increase the amount of curry because there was only a hint of it in there...hence we added 3/4 teaspoon. But each curry is different so you can adjust to your own preference. Oh and I boiled boneless chicken breasts because I didn't have any with the bone in and just figured it was easier without the bones anyway. And we also omitted the paprika sprinkling at the end because we were so hungry when it came out of the oven that we forget to check if there were more steps in the recipe!

I kinda felt that the dish should be served with rice or pasta or something. It's not that it didn't taste good on its own and it certainly was filling, but chicken, broccoli and the curry sauce just seemed kinda strange. We ate a few crunchy breadsticks with it though and that was enough. It was really, really good in fact and I'm looking forward to the leftovers of this dish already!

Chicken Divan
Yield: 4 servings

4 bone-in chicken breast halves, skinned
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
1 egg yolk, beaten
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon rind
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 to 3/4 teaspoon curry powder
2 (10-ounce) packages frozen broccoli spears, thawed and drained
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Paprika

Place first 3 ingredients in a large saucepan; add water to cover. Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 15 to 20 minutes or until chicken is tender. Drain, reserving 1/2 cup broth. Let chicken cool slightly. Bone and chop chicken; set aside.

Metl butter in a small, heavy saucepan over low heat; add flour, stirring until smooth. Cook 1 minute,. stirring constantly. Gradually add milk and reserved broth; cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thickened and bubbly.

Stir one-fourth of hot mixture into egg yolk; add to remaining hot mixture and cook 1 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; stir in sour cream and next 5 ingredients.

Layer half each of broccoli, chicken and sauce in greased 2-quart casserole. Repeat layers. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees F (180 celcius) for 30 to 35 minutes. Sprinkle with paprika.

Source: Southern Living's 30 Years of Our Best Recipes

A very tasty Pasta Provencale

2008-07-28T16:48:00.002+02:00

We made this on Saturday night and it was, "Oh so good!!" I had some chicken breasts thawed which I didn't use on Thursday since I ended up getting pork cutlets for the sweet and sour pork and since we generally eat a lot of meat anyway, figured this recipe easily allowed itself to have some chicken thrown in. It turned our really excellent and, although a bit dry when microwaved the next day, it was still delicious. We used two zucchinis from our own plants, our first harvest, and they were so tasty and tender. Wish we had more of those suckers to eat up already but there's a third one coming in another week or so.

So, changes made: threw in 2 double chicken breasts that I baked in the oven beforehand with a bit of olive oil, salt & pepper. Omitted the mushrooms because we had no fresh ones and I didn't want to potentially ruin the meal by adding in limp canned ones.

This is a great summer pasta dish and if you're lucky, you might be able to make it with all your own veggies! Mix and match with whatever you have in your garden and enjoy! I'm looking forward to having this dish again, with or without the chicken! :)

Pasta Provencale
Yield: 6 servings

2 medium zucchini, halved lengthwise and sliced, or 3 large yellow squash, sliced, or 1 of each
1 (8-ounce) package sliced fresh mushrooms
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 green pepper, chopped
1/4 cup chopped onion
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 (14 1/2-ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil or 1/4 teaspoon dried basil
1 tablespoon fresh oregano leaves or 1/8 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
5 ounces dried penne pasta, cooked
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Garnish: fresh herbs

Saute first 5 ingredients in olive oil in a large skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high heat 3 minutes. Add tomatoes, basil, oregano, salt and pepper; stir well. Bring mixture to a boil; reduce heat and simmer 1 minutes. Remove from heat; transfer to a serving bowl. Add pasta and Parmesan cheese; toss gently. Garnish, if desired. Serve hot.

Source: Southern Living's 30 Years of Our Best Recipes

Sweet-and-Sour Pork

2008-07-24T13:04:00.001+02:00

This was very tasty! And we have plenty left over for at least 1 more meal. Tastes very much like our Thai take-out place down the street although clearly getting it from them is a lot less work...but not as much fun :)

The flavors are all good and I don't think we'd really change a thing although I do which the dough had stayed on a bit better during frying because we like the pork to be a little bit crunchy. But it was still good. And next time I will use a slicer for the carrots since doing it with a knife took longer than I'd hoped. A bit labor intensive all around, actually and quite a few pots needed, but we will definitely be making this again. I may even try canning the sauce part so that we only need to add the fried pork or chicken to the dish later on.

Sweet-and-Sour Pork
Yield: 6 servings

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup water
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 1/2 pounds boneless pork, cut into 3/4 inch pieces
Vegetable oil
1 (20-ounce) can pineapple chunks, undrained
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 large carrots, scraped and thinly sliced
1 green pepper, seeded and cut into 3/4-inch pieces
1 small onion, cut into thin wedges
1 clove garlic, minced
Hot cooked rice

Combine first 5 ingredients in a bowl; stir with a wire whisk until well blended. Add pork, stirring mixture well.
Pour oil to depth of 2 inches into a large heavy saucepan; heat to 375 degrees F. Carefully drop pork into hot oil, and fry 5 minutes or until golden. Drain on paper towels. Arrange pork on single layer on a baking sheet; place in a 200 degree F oven to keep warm while frying remaining pork.
Drain pineapple, reserving juice. Set pineapple aside. Add enough water to juice to make 1 cup. Combine juice, brown sugar, vinegar and soy sauce; stir until sugar dissolves. Set aside. Combine 2 tablespoons cornstarch and 2 tablespoons water, stirring until smooth; set aside.
Pour 2 tablespoons oil around top of preheated wok (or in a large skillet), coating sides; heat at medium-high (375 degrees F) for 2 minutes. Add carrot and next 3 ingredients; stir-fry 3 to 5 minutes or until crisp-tender. Stir in juice mixture. Bring to a boil and boil 1 minute. Stir in cornstarch mixture, cook, stirring constantly, until thickened. Add pork and pineapple; stir-fry until thoroughly heated. Serve over rice.

Source: Southern Living's 30 Years of Our Best Recipes

Torque Master Meatloaf

2008-07-24T11:04:00.001+02:00

I can't believe I haven't shared this recipe before because it is one of our absolute favs - and so easy when you freeze one ahead of time, leaving only the mashed potatoes to make for the evening. Serving this with ketchup might seem a bit strange but it really ties all the flavors together and the meatloaf is quite spicy on its own. I don't recommend trying the filling before adding the meat too it because it is over spiced to make up for the lack of spices on the meat. We make two small casseroles from this and freeze one for later. Just as good after freezing with only a fraction of the work!

Torque Master Meatloaf
Source: The Harley Biker's Cookbook: Big Bites for Hungry Bikers by Owen Rossan
Serves: 4 (8 by our calculations)

Ingredients
1 pound ground beef
1 pound ground pork
oil, for frying
2 onions, sliced
2 green bell peppers, chopped
4 stalks celery, chopped
2x 8-ounce cans water chestnuts, sliced
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 cups sliced mushrooms (I used canned)
2 tsp ground pepper
2 tsp thyme
4 tsp paprika
2 tsp dry mustard
4 tsp celery salt
4 tsp sugar
3 tsp Tabasco sauce
4 tsp lemon juice (about half a lemon)
5 Tbsp soy sauce
4 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

Mix beef and pork together in a large bowl.
In a skilled, pour in some oil and cook the onions slowly. Just before they turn brown, add the green bell pepper, celery, water chestnuts and garlic. As they get soft, turn up the heat and add the mushrooms and cook for a few minutes.
Turn down the heat and add pepper, thyme, paprika, dry mustard and celery salt. Cook for a few more minutes and add sugar, Tabasco, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and lemon juice. Stir in and heat for a minute.
Let sit for about 15 minutes and then mix into the meat. Place in a casserole. Cook in a 350 degree F oven for about 1-1 1/2 hours until done. If you split it into two smaller casserole dishes, baking time is 30-45 minutes.
Strain off any grease and cut into serving pieces. Serve with mashed potatoes and taco sauce or catsup.

Chicken Pot Pie with Cheddar Pastry

2008-07-23T11:26:00.003+02:00

A couple years ago, I got a fantastic collection of recipes from Southern Living called Southern Living's 30 Years of Our Best Recipes as a gift from my mom. I have only tried one meal from it so far which was fantastic, but I decided to use a few more recipes from it for my meal planning this time around. One of which is Chicken Pot Pie with a cheddar pastry crust.

I followed the recipe fairly exactly although I just used 2 double chicken breasts for the meat instead of buying a roasted chicken or roasting one myself. It was the easiest for me since I had a bunch of them in the freezer. I also split this into two smaller casserole dishes so that we can have it one multiple occasions and not have to eat chicken pot pie for the next week (although if it's good, I would gladly do that!) And I didn't do the lattice crust but a full top crust instead since I am a big fan of crust in my pot pie.

Since I had some crust left over, I made little thin biscuits to go along. Next time around, I might try to put a crust on the bottom of the dish also since I always like that more and feel a good pot pie needs a lot of crust. But it worked well to just crumble in some of the baked crust instead. I will also use a different veggie mix that includes carrots, peas and the like since ours wasn't quite what I had in mind - but you have to improvise in foreign countries!

Oh, and for anyone who may be living somewhere where pastry blenders do not exist (like Germany), you can use a fork or two knives to cut the fat into the dry ingredients...or just get your hands in there and rub everything together until it reaches pebbled consistency. The hands on method gets a bit dirty but it worked perfectly in the end and saves me needing to have one more utensil around here that I only use on special occasions!

Chicken Pot Pie
Yield: 6 servings

1/4 cup butter or margarine
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 3/4 cups chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
3 cups chopped cooked chicken
1 (1o-ounce) package frozen mixed vegetables, thawed
1/2 cup chopped celery
3 hard-cooked eggs, chopped
Cheddar Pastry (recipe below)
1 large egg, beaten
1 teaspoon water

Melt butter in heavy saucepan over low heat; add flour, stirring until smooth. Cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Gradually add chicken broth; cook over medium heat until mixture is thickened and bubbly, stirring constantly. Stir in salt and pepper. Stir in chicken and next 3 ingredients. Spoon mixture into a lightly greased 11- x 7-inch baking dish.

Roll out pastry to 1/8-inch thickness on a lightly floured surface. Cut into 3/4-inch-wide strips, using a fluted pastry wheel. Arrange strips lattice-fashion across top of pot pie. Combine egg and water; lightly brush over pastry. Bake pot pie at 400 degrees F for 35 to 40 minutes or until golden.

Cheddar Pastry
Yield: pastry for one 11- x 7-inch lattice crust.

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup plus 1 1/2 tablespoons shortening
1/2 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
4 to 5 tablespoons ice water

Combine flour and salt; cut in shortening with a pastry blender until mixture is crumbly. Stir in cheese. Sprinkle ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time, evenly over surface; stir with fork until dry ingredients are moistened. Shape into a ball; chill.

Garlic Herb Pasta

2008-07-23T11:22:00.000+02:00

This turned out quite well despite me being a bit concerned about it during the cooking process. If you don't have flavorful tomatoes, it's just not the same but hubby said it tasted very similar to an arrabiata he eats often at one of his favorite restaurants, except they add bacon and of course some chili. So next time around I will be trying that to give it a bit more zest. It is definitely something we'll try again and especially if we have an abundance of fresh tomatoes. Quick and easy always wins in my book, plus we almost always have all these ingredients on hand.

Garlic-Herb Pasta

Prep: 10 min., Cook: 18 min.
Makes 4 servings

Ingredients

8 ounces uncooked thin spaghetti
5 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 pounds plum tomatoes, cut into eighths
3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley
3 tablespoons thinly sliced or chopped fresh basil
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Preparation

1. Cook pasta according to package directions; drain. Place pasta in a serving bowl, and keep warm.

2. Sauté garlic in hot oil in a large skillet over medium heat 1 minute. Stir in tomatoes and next 4 ingredients. Cook, stirring occasionally, 5 minutes or until thoroughly heated and tomatoes release juices. Pour over pasta; toss to combine. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

Source: Brenda Russell, Signal Mountain, Tennessee , Southern Living, APRIL 2007

Meal plan for the next few weeks

2008-07-22T23:11:00.006+02:00

I started this list a couple days ago, but figured I might as well post the days we've already had as well. After just sorta playing it by ear for the last week, I have to say I find having a meal plan kind of nice. You don't have to worry about what you're going to throw together and have everything there when you need it. I had to run out for celery today and chose to go to the market here in town since I can go by foot. I paid €1.99 for beautiful celery which was very full and green. I guess that just further confirms that we need to be growing our own stuff. Only about half of what they sell in the market is grown in Germany...and unfortunately a much smaller portion of that here locally. And the prices are definitely not cheap even if the stuff does generally taste like it's supposed to.

But on to the meal plan...it's a bit chicken heavy but there are many ways to cook it and it's healthy so oh well. It just sorta happened that way this time around. Visit follow up posts on each recipe in the coming weeks after we've tried them out. Many of these recipes come from Southern Living's 30 Years of Our Best Recipes cookbook so I have to type them out...but will hopefully follow up and link to them again from here!

Friday (July 18) - Garlic Herb Pasta (on this blog with my notes)
Saturday (July 19) - Eating dinner at a friend's house
Sunday (July 20) - Indian Chicken Curry (This one will get no separate post because it turned out terrible - we'll try another recipe next time.)
Monday (July 21) - Frozen pizza since Stefan is away
Tuesday (July 22) - Chicken Pot Pie
Wednesday (July 23) - Leftover pot pie while Stefan is out (but I'll be making meatloaf with the celery I bought for the above dish since I don't want it going to waste)
Thursday (July 24) - Sweet & Sour Pork (or Chicken)
Friday (July 25) - Dinner at a wedding party
Saturday (July 26)
Lunch: Gourmet BLT's with cheddar slices (will post recipe when I find it again)
Dinner: Chicken Divan
Sunday (July 27) - Pasta Provencale
Monday (July 28) - Chicken Fried Steak with mashed potatoes & fried okra
Tuesday (July 29) - Shrimp Fra Diavolo
Wednesday (July 30) - Herbed Chicken Parmesan
Thursday (July 31) - Sweet, Stick & Spicy Chicken
Friday (Aug 1) - Stromboli
Saturday (Aug 2) LANTERN FEST!- Steaks on the grill, salad & fries
Sunday (Aug 3) - Garlic Shrimp with French bread

What we're growing right now...

2008-07-22T16:04:00.000+02:00

If you read this blog often, you know that we tend to grow some things that some might consider strange. Even for us they can be a bit abnormal, but as we try to become more self-sufficient and look towards a future where food costs just continue to rise, we find ourselves focusing on growing more and more interesting things.

For example, we're now trying to grow ginger root. We were in an Asia store the other day and saw a few pieces there which were already starting to sprout a bit. So we took a piece home and looked it up on the internet. Put two-thirds of a 2-inch or more section of root into water and wait until it starts to root. Simple enough.

If you can see the little green arrow on the pic at the bottom, that is where a nice strong root is sprouting. The next photo shows it a bitter closer up although blurry. Click on the photo to enlarge it.

And here you can see the other one starting to root as well...just barely. What are we going to do with all the ginger? Make lots of tasty dishes, and lots of ginger ale. I've never had any made fresh but I like the regular stuff so we're looking forward to giving that a try when we've finally got this producing some bigger roots.

We've had some windy weather here lately and one of our tomato plants got knocked over, breaking off this stem. There are a few little tomatoes on it so we figured we'd stick it in a jar and see if we might get it to root. It looks like it might be starting to sprout a few little roots and it's definitely not drying up or dying so we'll see. You can "clone" tomato plants by taking the little shoots that grow in the "Y" of a stem and we're trying to root one of those as well which was on this stem. No signs of roots there yet but it's still very early.

I'm also starting a herb container garden in my window sills. They get lots of sun during the day and have been very empty so the two windows closest to our kitchen are getting an array of herb seeds planted in them. We bought some thyme a while back and that plant is thriving. The rosemary unfortunately didn't survive but I have thrown some seeds in a pot to give a try along with small-leaf basil, parsley and tetra dill. The dog got to either the dill or the basil (she ate my markers out of both pots so I have no idea which is which now) so one of them is almost certainly not going to come up...but there's no harm in trying.

I would love for the banana tree we have to start producing something, but it has a long way to go still before that would be possible. It's only about 3 feet tall now. But as all banana plants do, it has lots of suckers and I decided to take those off the main plant today and see if I can get them to grow also. They will be given away to friends at some point but not until I determine if they are going to make it or not. You should really cut the suckers when they are 2-3 inches in diameter but since that's the size of my main plant, I took these off much smaller. They all had roots on them already so they should be ok. At some stage I will move one of these into the greenhouse (when it's heated year round) and then we'll really see if this thing will produce any fruit or not!

And we certainly can't eat it, but I'm happy to say that I have FINALLY found a corner where my poinsettia is happy. I always try to make them grow after we buy them at Christmas, but so far they have all died. The first one we had I kept alive for about a year but never did get it to turn red again...of course I also didn't lock it away in a closet or anything since I was just trying to keep the thing alive. I nearly killed this plant too but after moving it over here in the window, it's starting to thrive so perhaps this will be the first poinsettia I actually manage to keep for a while. I'm having fun trying at least. :)

Oh, and we have a zucchini which will be ready to harvest this weekend! There are a couple small ones coming along on there again also so we're quite excited. The tomatoes are coming along slowly as well and we did our first fertilizing of them with worm tee. They seem to like it so far and hopefully it will boost their growing a bit too!

Build Your Own Tortilla Press

2008-07-21T17:01:00.001+02:00

So I was thinking about various gadgets that are great to have in your kitchen and came down the list to the tortilla press. I know for many this would be an absolute waste, but we eat a lot of flour tortillas here (almost weekly taco nights) and at about 25 cents a tortilla (I did just find some on sale for 16 cents - the big ones of course), I have to think that there must be a cheaper way!

There are lots of cast iron tortilla presses out there but shipping a 5 pound box over to Germany just gets more and more outrageous in price, so I started to wonder if one could make their own press out of wood. And what do you know? My search came up with this nice little tutorial on Curbly about building your own press. Sweet!

Now one could just go low tech and roll out the tortillas with a rolling pin (sandwiching the tortillas between lightly floured plastic wrap sheets will help prevent sticking) but if you want to be a serious tortilla maker, you need a press.

So it's not at the top of my list of things for hubby to make...but it seems pretty simple so maybe one of these rainy days he can find some scrap would that will work for this :)

A few water saving tips we recently implemented

2008-07-21T16:27:00.000+02:00

Well, everyone is in full savings mode with the price of gas going through the roof and we're not much exception. We have cut back our spending in many areas and are using meal planning as one way to help us cut costs, but we're doing other things as well. Not only do the following help the environment because you're saving water, but it can also help cut your water bill too.

Reuse water from your shower on your plants, garden, yard, etc.
We now have a 10 liter bucket in our shower which we manage to fill up after about 2 showers. Then I dump it on the begonias growing upstairs outside our bedroom window once a day. No more filling a water bottle from the tap and it also helps me remember to water them when I see the bucket. They thrive with plenty of water so we're really happy to have come across this tip. The rest of our plants outside get watered from rain water collection barrels, our hand-powered ground pump or with water out of Ayla's bowls since she will only drink from each one once (can't blame her after seeing all the drool left behind!) If you use a water bath canner, you can pour off that water into your plants too - but not when it's hot. Boiling water will kill a lot of plants so unless that is your intention, let it cool down first.
"If it's yellow, let it mellow."
Now that I'm pregnant, I go to the bathroom all the time. Actually, to be honest, I usually drink a lot of water during the day anyway so I was constantly going before I got pregnant too. I never really thought much about it until recently when I started considering that if I flush once an hour, I use 36 liters of water a day with a 3 liter flush (no worries, we have double flushers that also have a 6 liter flush too.) That's 252 liters a week and 13, 104 liters a year. At least half of that could likely be saved by flushing 2-3 times a day instead of every time I'm in there. Ayla is a bit put off that she doesn't have a fresh running water supply in the toilet anymore, but she still gets her fill of water in her bowls.
Wash dishes in the water saving dishwasher instead of by hand.
I am notoriously bad about leaving the water running while I wash dishes. I generally try to put as much as possible into the dishwasher and rarely wash off the dishes before loading them in, but occasionally there are things which aren't so well suited for the machine. So now I'm trying to make a better effort to soap up my sponge, scrub things down in the sink and then rinse everything at once. And anything and everything I can put in the machine to make a full load goes in there.

What are you doing to save water??

Another hour in the garden...

2008-07-17T14:36:00.000+02:00

Just spent another bit of time pulling weeds, trimming trees and just trying to get a grip on things in the garden. Overwhelming is certainly one way of describing it! I took some more photos but I barely notice the progress myself...well, actually, I can see the progress in the photos! Woohoo :)

I primarily focused on the right side of the garden today, trying to trim down the grass and cut back the trees and roses so we can at least see what is what. There is a whole lot of grass back there which will need to come out, but at this point it's a bit like hay because it's grown so tall. So mostly I'm just cutting it down and will then collect it and start killing it off slowly where I know I won't be wanting it anymore.

BEFORE

AFTER
It may not look like much but I was only out there an hour and only about half the time was spent here. But you can see the wall now which was not so easy in some parts before! Plus I can also see dirt again which is a big accomplishment.

In case you're wondering about the rest of the garden, it still looks chaotic. We now have two beds which have been designated as weed piles...but we intend to pile everything up, let it die and compact a bit and will order a bio container in the coming weekends so we can dump everything in there. We would compost everything but there are tons of seeds from these weeds in here, not to mention a bunch of cuttings from the trees, rose bushes, etc., none of which break down very fast. So off it will be carted in a trash container. The issue will be getting it as close as possible to the garden so we don't have to carry all this too far!

About half of what is on top of the mound behind the strawberry bed is weeds. That bed is the highest mound of all of them right now so it looks a bit worse than it is...but in truth, it's still horrible. And our poor greenhouse - the roof is barely holding on now. But all that will be fixed up soon too! Ah, the to do list never ends!

I also realized we have a spot for one of the jostaberry bushes (assuming the evil caterpillars leave something of them behind - picked off more of those suckers today but massively less than the day before so the few sad leaves they still have will hopefully keep them going!) We removed a black current bush last year that wasn't producing so well anymore and had very yucky fruit. So one of them will replace it. The other, we'll have to devise a good spot for...but next year they will also hopefully start producing fruit! Then along with the red current and gooseberry bushes, we'll have quite a harvest of berries...oh and the strawberries and raspberries too of course!

Today I'm also going to be planting some herbs for my windows. I have a nice thyme plant growing already and bought a little rosemary shrub but it unfortunately didn't get replanted in time. So I hope that I can start some from seed, as well as dill, parsley and fine leaf basil. We're also going to give stevia seeds another go, just because we have them here. And I'll be starting another pot of lemon grass for the puppers as well as a new patch of cat grass for our kitties.

Oh, and did you know that mint can be used to repel rodents?? I'll be cutting some of ours down later and spreading it in the mud room and our storage rooms where I've definitely seen mice lurking. Can't leave out poison everywhere and the traps rarely work...but if they will stay away just because of the mint, I'll be thrilled! We have more than enough of it in our garden!

A bit of progress in the garden

2008-07-16T10:45:00.002+02:00

Well, we finally did something about the garden. I feel guilty for not going back there the last two days but Monday I was still recovering from working back there 3 hours on Sunday...and today it was just too hot in the morning to get out there. I may squeeze in a bit tomorrow morning but I have errands to run all day so I think Thursday will be my first day back out there...it should be a nice view of just how quickly things sprout up and may convince me to get committed to the 1 hour a day goal I'm setting for myself.

We really want to plant some fall-winter crops and now is the time so we hope to get the beds into planting shape by the end of the month. We want to add some real soil since ours is very clay-like (which we hope will be great for our earthen oven but is another subject altogether) and also some vermiculite or perlite which will hold a bit of moisture in it too. We water the plants off our ground well so it's free but we do need electricity to power the pump which pulls it from the ground. We could also lug it from the hand pump in the courtyard but 50 meters every few minutes doesn't seem ideal. Oh, and did I mention we want to cover the greenhouse with plastic panels that will hopefully also help us hold a bit of heat in? We want to see if we can't start growing a few more things in there year round too...oh yes, big goals for the fall in our garden!!

Anyway, I figured I would post a few photo updates of what transpired on Sunday. When I got inside I realized the photos aren't so great...but hopefully you will forgive me. It still doesn't look pretty out there but we're getting somewhere!

What the strawberry field & the bed behind it looked like BEFORE:

And what I managed to do to it AFTER:
Got most of the big weeds out of here and we're happy to report that the strawberries have spread throughout this entire bed and taken it over. Might not be good news to some but we have no problems with it. Strawberries are tasty and we should have plenty of room for everything else we may want to grow still!

This photo below may not look like much and I unfortunately don't have a before photo just like it, but if you open the before photo above, you will notice the raspberry supports and all the weeds around it. The photo below is still a bit weedy but when you are out there personally, you can actually see the individual plants and there are no weeds around them. Definitely progress! I managed to clear the weeds all the way down this side of the yard in fact. Now we just need to build a new raspberry support & plant some blackberries where some of the raspberries died out.

Looking back to the other side of the garden, things still look bad here. There's a lot of stray grass around that I'm going to have to tackle...either digging it up & flipping it to kill it...or pouring boiling water on it. Not really certain yet but I ultimately want to have the spaces under the trees for more herbs and there is another strong growing patch of strawberries over here so we'll see what we end up doing exactly. We did harvest gooseberries though and ended up with just over 4.5 kilos (about 10 pounds). The currents are unfortunately under siege by ants and a bit overripe so we left them behind. Painful but what can you do?

Again, my happy little bay leaf plant. About time to cut some of these sprigs off and dry them. This plant just thrives out there which I couldn't be happier about. Especially because we use quite a few of these and the leaves are really expensive here!

After the tons of seeds we started this year, here is what is left - 4 tomato plants which aren't doing too badly. They have their first baby tomatoes on them so at least we'll get a little fresh produce this year.

We've also managed to keep a couple zucchini plants alive and have one about ready for harvest now. They would be doing much better out in the garden I'm sure but it's incredible they have survived this long. The one with the mold looking stuff needs a bit of help I think but on the other hand, it has produced the most so far which means I'm just going to leave it be for now. We all know how I can get a bit overzealous when it comes to curing things!

Which brings me to our gooseberry/black current crossed plants (can't remember what they call them here) (EDIT: Josta berry or Jostaberry (Ribes nidigrolaria) - thanks to my mother-in-law who pointed this out!) but they are being ravaged by caterpillars...so I have to go pluck those little suckers off before they eat all the leaves off the plants! Still have to find a home for those in the backyard where they won't be bothered...

Bottom Round Roast with Onion Gravy

2008-07-11T12:13:00.002+02:00

I'm not sure I'll try this recipe again. The roast was extremely dry so were were very thankful for the gravy. The onions cooked way down and were a bit too mushy for my liking in the end but they did pick up the wine flavor which was nice. I made some modifications from the original recipe which were suggested by another reviewer. I am fairly certain that without them, this roast would have hardly any flavor at all.

Bottom Round Roast with Onion Gravy

PREP TIME 10 Min
COOK TIME 4 Hrs
READY IN 4 Hrs 10 Min
SERVES 6

INGREDIENTS

6 onions, sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 cup Merlot or other red wine, divided
1 (4 pound) bottom round roast
salt and pepper to taste
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon thyme
3/4 cup beef broth
thickening agent

DIRECTIONS

Brown roast in pot. Remove.
Place sliced onions in the bottom of a Dutch oven or stock pot. Add garlic and 1/4 cup wine. Deglaze stock pot, removing any brown bits from bottom.
Season the roast with salt and pepper, and place on top of the onions. Add the vinegar and bay leaf to the pan, and heat over high heat to get it simmering. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 3 to 4 hours. Try not to take the lid off while cooking.
When the roast is done, remove it from the pan to a serving platter & tent with foil. Mix the flour into the water, and pour into the drippings from the roast. Add rest of wine, thyme, beef broth and thickener. Simmer over medium heat, stirring frequently until thickened.
Carve roast, and serve with the pan gravy.

Carol's Arroz Con Pollo

2008-07-11T12:04:00.006+02:00

On its own, this dish is a little bit bland. But we were trying to find a dish similar to what they serve in Miami at a restaurant called Pollo Tropical. This is not it but it was still really good. A much more Mexican flair than I expected. The original recipe calls for fresh parsley at the end also but I skipped that. This meal was also tasty heated up in the microwave for the following couple of days.

What made this dish great, was a copy cat cause from Pollo Tropical or Chicken Kitchen which consists of the following:

Curry Mustard Sauce

2 tbsp Light Mayonnaise
1 tsp Yellow Mustard
1/2 tsp Curry Powder
2 tbsp water

Stir vigorously until water is well mixed into the mayo-mustard-curry mix. Add more or less water, depending on how "runny" you want the sauce to be. Curry is to taste!

Carol's Arroz Con Pollo

PREP TIME	15 Min
COOK TIME	30 Min
READY IN	45 Min

SERVES 4

INGREDIENTS

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon paprika
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 green bell pepper, chopped
3/4 cup chopped onion
1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 cup long-grain white rice
1 (14.5 ounce) can chicken broth
1/2 cup white wine
1/8 teaspoon saffron
1 (14.5 ounce) can stewed tomatoes

DIRECTIONS

Cut each breast into 1 inch pieces. Sprinkle chicken with a 1/4 teaspoon each of salt, pepper, and paprika.
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add chicken, and cook until golden. Remove chicken, and set aside.
Add green pepper, onions, and garlic to oil in skillet. Cook for 5 minutes. Add rice; cook and stir until rice is opaque, 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in broth, white wine, saffron, and tomatoes. Stir in remaining salt, pepper, and paprika. Return to a boil. Cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.
Return chicken to the skillet, and cook to reheat. Stir in parsley.

Sweet, Sticky & Spicy Chicken

2008-07-11T11:44:00.003+02:00

As the name suggests, this dish has a sweet side to it with a big kick of spice for those who like it hot. One could pair it with white rice or give our version a try - left-over penne noodles thrown in the pan once everything was cooked. I think we will definitely make this dish again...and probably with variations. One could easily throw in some snow peas, carrot shreds, etc to give it a bit more substance on the veggie side...but it's great as it was.

Sweet, Sticky and Spicy Chicken

PREP TIME	10 Min
COOK TIME	12 Min
READY IN	22 Min

SERVINGS 4

INGREDIENTS

1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 tablespoons honey
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 teaspoons chopped fresh ginger root
2 teaspoons chopped garlic
2 tablespoons hot sauce
salt and pepper to taste
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cut into 1/2 inch strips
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

DIRECTIONS

Mix together brown sugar, honey, soy sauce, ginger, garlic and hot sauce in a small bowl.
Lightly salt and pepper the chicken strips.
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add chicken strips and brown on both sides, about 1 minute per side. Pour the sauce over the chicken. Simmer uncovered until the sauce thickens, 8 to 10 minutes.

Easy Italian Pasta Bake

2008-07-07T17:24:00.000+02:00

This may look like your ordinary lasagna - but don't be confused. It's faster, easier and to some, maybe even tastier!

We tried the Easy Italian Pasta Bake last week and thought it was awesome although it was very bland. In its defense, I imagine they leave out all seasoning so people can add what they want or don't have to worry about dietary problems. But recipes in our house need way more "oompf" if they're going to pass the test.

I threw in some Italian seasoning oregano, salt, pepper and 3 cloves of garlic. Next time I will add a whole lot more or start with a sauce that I've customized already. Mushrooms would also be a nice touch or maybe even zucchini to give a bit more consistency to the sauce portion although it's not really necessary. And hubby suggested baking the dish with ricotta mixed in instead of mozzarella over the top. I definitely like this idea and think it would also give a bit more moisture to the dish so will definitely try it or cottage cheese in there next time. The mozzarella just tends to harden and clump and then you don't get to taste it with the rest of the pasta.

I will also freeze smaller portions of this meal (would have done so this time if we hadn't eaten the second one on the following day) for quick, easy weekday meals when I don't feel like cooking again.

Easy Italian Pasta Bake

Prep Time:
20 min

Total Time:
40 min

Makes:
6 servings, 1-1/3 cups each

1 lb. extra lean ground beef

3 cups whole wheat penne pasta, cooked, drained

1 jar (26 oz.) spaghetti sauce
2 teaspoons Italian Seasoning
3 cloves garlic, minced

1/3 cup KRAFT Grated Parmesan Cheese, divided

1-1/2 cups KRAFT 2% Milk Shredded Reduced Fat Mozzarella Cheese

PREHEAT oven to 375°F. Brown meat in large skillet with spices and garlic; drain. Add pasta, sauce and half of the Parmesan cheese; mix well.

SPOON into 13x9-inch baking dish. Top with mozzarella cheese and remaining Parmesan cheese.

BAKE 20 min. or until heated through.

A recap of the meal plan from last week

2008-07-07T16:09:00.005+02:00

Successfully not posted anything about the meals...doh! But I do have a pretty good excuse. Stefan and I have been quite under the weather for the past week. And although couch-locked most of the time because we were just too tired to move from the cold that Stefan brought home with him from the airplane. I guess I should have been able to post considering I wasn't doing much moving otherwise...but coherent sentences other than, "Pass the tissues," and "Do you remember which glass was yours or do we both need fresh ones now?" were about as good as it got.

Anyway, despite both of us ending up feeling pretty terrible (I didn't pick up the bug until about Thursday) and Stefan being written sick all week, we actually did manage to cook a little bit...and use up some of the good stuff in our freezer that I recently discovered again.

Recipes we did try from last week's meal plan:

Easy Italian Pasta Bake
Sweet, Sticky & Spicy Chicken
Arroz con Pollo with special sauce

From our freezer:
Chicken Quesadillas
Potato with ground pork "lasagna"

Amazingly enough, I thought I would need to go grocery shopping last Tuesday. But with Stefan being sick and then me following closely behind, I never made it there. And still we had plenty of stuff here to eat on. Kinda makes me wonder just how long we could go just from eating stuff in our freezer...but since we are also very mindful of being prepared for whatever may come our way in the future, it's always nice to have a few things stocked up for those times when you need them most.

What's on the menu for this week? Most of what we skipped before...and the rest we'll have to see for now cause my head is just not going to let me think too hard right now.

I'll go into more detail with the recipes in following posts! Enjoy ;)

Red Pepper Salmon Pasta

2008-06-27T16:30:00.000+02:00

We actually tried the recipe quite a while ago but I'm trying to turn over a new leaf or something so I figured I would finally post about it.

Red Pepper Salmon Pasta seems like a bit of a strange combo when you read it but it actually turned out quite good. I used pre-roasted & pureed bell peppers which I bought at the store just because it seemed easier and the flavor seemed appropriate in the end. I wasn't really certain how all these flavors would come together and if the salmon would work with the sauce, but it actually ended up being really good. It's not something we would add into our regular rotation but it's an interesting change from the norm.

Red Pepper-Salmon Pasta

INGREDIENTS

4 (4 ounce) fillets salmon
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 cup roasted red bell peppers
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 teaspoons minced jalapeno peppers
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 cup chicken broth
1 (8 ounce) package angel hair pasta

DIRECTIONS

In an 8 inch baking dish, arrange filets in a single layer. Sprinkle with lemon juice. Tightly cover dish with foil. Bake at 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). Cook until fish is opaque, but still moist looking in thickest part, 12 to 14 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a blender, smoothly puree red peppers, parmesan, cornstarch, chili, and garlic. Add cilantro and chicken broth; whirl to blend.
Pour pepper mixture into a 10 inch frying pan. Stir over high heat until boiling. Reduce heat to keep warm.
Cook pasta in 3 quarts boiling water until tender to bite, about 7 minutes. Drain, and return to pan.
Stir juices from the baked salmon into red pepper sauce. Mix 1 1/2 cups sauce with pasta. Spoon pasta onto plates. Top with fish, and drizzle with remaining sauce. Serve.

The initial challenges of meal planning

2008-06-27T16:21:00.001+02:00

Well, I'm taking on something new this week...in an attempt to use up the food we purchase more wisely and get better at budgeting, I am starting to do meal planning. I have tried this before and usually find that at the end of the week, I don't want to try any more new recipes or the old ones I'm using I'm sick of or any other combination of things. But I recently started reading America's Cheapest Family Gets You Right on the Money by Steven & Annette Economides and it's one of the concepts they recommend. Of course they suggest you do it up to a month at a time but honestly I just don't think that will be possible. I have yet to stick to one of these plans for an entire week...but you have to start somewhere right?

So what's on the menu for the upcoming week? Unless otherwise mentioned, it's just a dinner meal I'm focusing on

Saturday - Easy Italian Pasta Bake

Sunday lunch - leftovers
Sunday dinner - Sweet, Sticky & Spicy Chicken (this one I've been meaning to try for a while!)

Monday - Shrimp, Asparagus & Penne Pasta

Tuesday - Taco Salad Bowls

Wednesday - Arroz con Pollo with Curry Mustard Sauce (just like at Chicken Kitchen & Pollo Tropical for all you Florida lovers)

Thursday - Leftover Arroz con Pollo

Friday - Easy & Fast Cajun Chicken Caesar Salad with homemade dressing

Saturday - Bottom Round Roast with Onion Gravy

Sunday - Chicken quesadillas (search the blog - I'm sure to have shared this one already!)

I will do my best to post reviews and modifications to each recipe as it comes up...at least it's a reason for me to post finally! And amazingly enough, we have almost everything we need for all these recipes in the house already, which makes me very happy! :-D

Have a great weekend!!!