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Lauriux

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Everything posted by Lauriux

  1. This week I've been hooked on hotdog tacos - grilled hotdog pieces, a bit of grilled onion, and some home-style potatoes in a hot corn tortilla. So delicious with a bit of green salsa. Will try to snap a pic next time I have this.
  2. I don't really like the flavor of the manuka honey, altho have eaten a jar of it this winter to help keep my sinus infections @ bay. Found it best on peanut butter toast I did find it to be outrageously expensive . . . anybody know a good source that's more reasonable (I pd $50, but saw another brand for $90, aaaagh) My favorite honey is a local one . . . have heard eating local honey helps with allergies, don't know how true, but my allergies are so bad, even placebo effect might help me!!
  3. I must get me one of these. Huge DK fan, and consider Oaxaca my "adoptive" home state. Glad I haven't sworn off adding to my cookbook collection
  4. today was an old favorite - scrambled eggs w/hotdog and salsa verde. i used a hotdog i'd grilled the other day and had wrapped in foil in the fridge. have never used grilled hotdog before w/eggs, but was even better than the already yummy scrambled eggs w/ hotdog. oh the smokiness of the grill added an extra dimension. this might sound silly to you, but its really good.
  5. I have Mexico the Beautiful and turn to it when I've forgotten how to make something (well, that and DK of course!). When I ate and made this food daily in Mxo, I didn't need a book, now its a great reference, and makes sharing recipes with friends much easier than having them watch me in the kitchen all day. I was thinking of getting the SE Asia Beautiful based on my experience w/Mxo, but perhaps that's not so wise. Maybe I'll just stick with the Vietnamese I already have, and not get SE Asia till I get a chance to look @ Savoring edition
  6. I was afraid to use the 10% allowable funds at first, because I hadn't made much of a dent yet, and because I was scared of going overboard. I've have finally made about all of my normal meals out of my pantry/freezer, and was just hitting the creative phase of using other things. I thought if I went to the store, I might fall back into the routine foodstuffs, and not get through the on-hand supplies. Ultimately, I had to hit the store . . . I got a 5 lb bag of flour, it was on sale & I wanted to make more of the 5 min artisan bread, 1 qt milk, 1 box frozen peas, 1 jicama, 1 pineapple, 1 cucumber, 1 box salad greens, 1 celery heart (shared from a costco bag w/friend) and a lg costco skippy peanut butterand a lg costco brick of sharp cheddar that was too good a price to pass up. Not too bad. I've been having 1-2 meals a wk away from home, but still feel I have too much foodstuffs so I'm going to keep going at this. Since my last post I've made the 5 min artisan bread, made a delicious risotto w/ dried mushrooms and shallots and homemade stock, and had more soup, rice and beans type things, and quesadillas. Oh, and I defrosted some salmon and threw it on the grill, using some of that jumbo bottle of chipotle rasp marinade, pretty good. Think that was 3-4 meals, all accompanied w/boxed couscous I had purchased about 18 months ago, 10/$10, must buy 10, there are now 3 remaining. Will be resisting those kinds of deals in the future. Last night had creamed chipped beef on toast (oh yeah, bought a loaf of whole wheat bread from discount shelf @ supermarket for $1.50, slightly squished bread is yummy), a childhood favorite comfort food - - taking advantage of the milk and the frozen peas. Today I sauteed 4 frozen shrimp and served it on top of ramen noodles drained, and made a great salad with those new greens, found half an avocado in the fridge which I sliced and added, plus some hearts of palm, as once I got deeper into the pantry I discovered I had 3 jars of them. Besides becoming more self aware about my planning, shopping and cooking habits, a few other things have surfaced throughout this challenge. I buy less stuff elsewhere now, not so much because of heightened awareness of wasteful spending and stockpiling, but because I'm not running out to the store for a few things and stopping off a drug store or else where while I'm out. Grocery store runs were usually the headliner activity of my errands, and once I stopped hitting the grocery store, I found it easier to not go all those other places for heavens only knows what. And the other thing is huge for me - - I don't use an ATM to get cash, as I often use my debit card @ supermarket and can then get $200 cash back, w/o any atm fee. No grocery store runs, no extra cash readily available. Have been more thrifty with my cash knowing I have to pay the atm fee to go get more. That has definately compounded my grocery savings!!! Thank you Fat Guy for your genious on inspiring this challenge. So I'm gonna keep pressing on, and will update periodically. Goal is to empty freezer in garage, so that all fits into the freezer in the house. Maybe I can even sell that extra freezer on craigslist and boost my gain from the project . . . but that would mean throwing out my equivalent of a security blanket, not sure I can go that far, but just entertaining the idea is huge for me. Can't wait for GMA on Monday. I haven't watched that in over 10 yrs, but will be tuning in . . .
  7. Since my last post, I've finished the last of my carnitas, and polished off the quiche I made last Friday. I pulled a couple of turkey burgers out of the freezer, ate 1, have another in the fridge for sometime over the wkend, and there are still 2 more in the freezer. Today I pulled a casserole out of the freezer that I made back in Jan, made 1 to eat then, 1 for later . . . so tomorrow will be the 2nd mediterrean tuna noodle casserole. Have also had jarred spaghetti sauce a couple of times this wk, and heated up a grilled sausage of some sort to go with it tonight. Now only have 2 kinds of rice, instead of 4 or 5, have only 1 canister of oatmeal instead of 2, and have only 2 boxes of pasta - - 1 long, 1 short. And i finished off 3 jars of mustard without opening a new one (still have several open in fridge). I went through a fair amount of beans and eggs, tho still have plenty. My fridge looks better than it has in ages, showing me its a fine time to do a thorough cleaning . . . a perk I hadn't contemplated from this challenge. Am making headway in the freezer, today found burger patties labelled 06 that don't even have freezer burn. I can only hope I reused the ziplock and forgot to re-lable Have lots of frozen fruit and proteins still piled up in freezer, pantry now mainly the asian and latin supplies I tend to stock pile (fear of running out prevails, especially on these harder to find, specialty items). I will be going strong for at least another wk. Do miss salad, and will eat lots of that when I do shop again. But know I will not do a big shopping again even after challenge formally ends, as this has taught me that I buy more than I use, based on habit rather than need. I'll never have a small pantry, but doesnt need to get me through this long of a stretch. My friends have always declared my house the meeting point in any kind of natual emergency, not because I'm centrally located for the group, but because I always have great provisions on hand. . . will still be true, just downsized.
  8. Chris, that cocktail is lookng mighty fine right now! Biggest change I've noticed in this challenge is that I am now forced to plan meals for the week, something that seemed to be a very old fashioned skill, tho suddenly becoming more vogue again. I grew up in a household where my mother planned meals in advance, and I leanred how to do this in girl scouts and home ec classes, but never really put it in practice in my own home (I plan special event meals, not daily grind meals). Planning makes it so much easier to have the right things prepared when I come home starving and with no patience, but its also easier as I'm not spending a dime eating out, so know exactly how many nites a wk I'll be home (all). Am now willing to make some nice dishes as I know they'll get eaten and not tossed out. Here's how I fared yesterday: the tomato, onion, and serrano chile lightly sauteing in oil for the huevos a la mexicana and the tortillas warming on the comal and the veryy yummy - and steaming hot - breakfast, using up the last of the refried beans and dinner was the last of the tortillas, with avocado slices and the reheated carnitas w/guajillo. . . normally I would have added some red onion or even pickled onion, but am out of my pickled onions and want to save my one last red onion for later in the wk! today was oatmeal, and have nearly finished the 07 frozen blueberries, chips and salsa for a snack, and then dinner was quiche with red peppers, spinach, and feta. and 3 hershey kisses (left over valentine's day candy) so, am now staring down a large bottle of Chipotle Raspberry marinade, more than half full - looks like a Costco size bottle, tho don't remember. any thoughts beyond putting chicken or pork in a ziplock and dumping some of this in?
  9. finally got this over stocked pantry shots up for you to see I am not kidding when I say ridiculously overstocked for a 1 person household. I won't try to explain how this came to be, but will acknowledge that several others have commented on their own well stocked provisions cupboards, and I'm grateful to be in such good company! (next on my learning curve, I'll learn how to properly rotate the images)
  10. I've been silently participating but not updated my progress. My initial post I set out to work down the pantry first, and then progress on the freezer. Alas, didn't quite go as planned. Initially I reported eating leftovers and not having to cook anything new yet, and that's sorta still the case, as I'd just made a fair amount of food when the challenge started. So, here's how I've been getting along: for snacking, I had some homemade hummus, tho I quickly ran out of pita, I did use up the last of the 2 sided pretzel-cracker combo thingamajigs I'd picked up over the holidays. I had made some carnitas with guajillo for tacos, and have enjoyed that several times, with a couple more servings to go . . . I heat up the tortillas, smear in a bit of the refried beans (only 2T left), a generous slice of avocado, and the carnitas meat - finger licking good! Am so grateful that my last food purchase before the challenge was 4 avocados, as that makes these tacos sublime. My biggest worry is that tortillas are almost gone, and I rely on those heavily, so when I do spend some of the new allowance $, top of list will be tortillas. And of course the black beans are nearly gone, will have to wait till next wk for more, as I make mine the old-fashioned way, with whats left in the bean pot @ the end of the week, so time to put on a new pot of beans, but the refried ones will be as the pot is almost used up. In spite of declaring to use my pantry first, I pulled out a few things to defrost from the freezer for this week. Tonight was a bit of a surprise . . . I thought I was defrosting a portion of pot roast, but alas, discovered it was Moroccan lamb stew . . .delish. I am usually really good about labeling stuff as it goes into the freezer, I guess when there was just the one portion, I thought I'd know what it was for sure. Anyway, it was the most recent item added to the freezer.. . first in first out is not my usual protocol! Also defrosted and then heated in toaster oven were turket croquettes I'd made with a 2nd turkey I got @ T'giving for 79c/lb. I love these croquettes, but hadn't had any of them yet. Usually I have them with cranberry mustard, but am out of that kind of mustard right now, and not going out for anything, but most of all condiments!!! So last night I had the croquettes (turkey & sweet potato). Both last night and tonight I would have liked a green salad, but at least I had good veg in the meal. Also defrosted was a pastry crust and a box of frozen spinach, plan to make a quiche w/ those ingredients, jarred red bell pepper, and feta. Breakfasts have been good so far, mainly alternating between cream of wheat (w/maple syrup) or oatmeal (w/blueberries in freezer from farmer's market). Have eliminated toast from a.m. options to help the bread last longer. While I still had a few english muffins, i enjoyed those w/p.b. and maruka honey a couple of mornings, accompanied by a grapefruit. And I still have a couple of greek yogurts, which I like w/cereal (instead of milk, I add yogurt to my cold ceral). I had eggs one of the first mornings, and may do that again tomorrow while I still have some tortillas around. My obstacle in all of this was that I unexpectedly went out of town for 3 days. The food I'd carefully been saving and stretching suddenly not all able to be used. I had to pitch the bean sprouts, broccoli, and red bell pepper I'd intended to use with some frozen shrimp for a stir fry with soba noodles. And the 1/2 c milk remaining went bad, as I didn't have the presence of mind to freeze it before I left home. Live & learn. But losing precious produce was devastating. On the flip side, I was gifted 4 gorgeous grapefruit from a friend. They have relatives in Florida who sent a gift box of oranges and grapefruit, my friend takes Lipitor, which clearly states no grapefruit, so I benefitted . . . and, oh, how I'm enjoying those. My fruit supply is still good, as I have 1 bosc pear, some kinda shrivelly clemetines, 2 oranges, and the grapefruit, not to mention loads of frozen berries from this summer's farmer's market . . . this may all sound good, but I really want a banana So, for now I have the carnitas to finish (I froze the meat when I went out of town, and then pulled it back out when I got home), and all ready to make the quiche. My fridge is rapidly emptying of food stuffs (still plenty of eggs), but the condiments appear to multiply. Am not going to open any mustard from pantry until I use up several that are already open. I am still steadfast to go at least another week, and will double my intent to work on that pantry. working on adding pix too
  11. I am so thrilled by this challenge. I read about this on the weekend, but am only now getting to post my story. First, last week I bought 4 avocados and milk on Friday. Atypical, as that was my only food shopping all week. Ordinarily I would have shopped since then, but decided to embrace this without pre-mediation or special provisions, going with what I have now. Since the new year, I've been trying to buy less and use things up, but I end up missing one or two ingredients for something that sounds good, head to the store for those 1-2 things, and come home with at least $30-40 of additional groceries (and sometimes much higher!). So I'm not allowing myself any special exceptions for at least 2 wks, no shopping for food, not even milk (meaning I may have to give up coffee unless I find a parmalat box milk tucked away in there). Now, my pantry story - - its ridculous. I know. I live in a 1 pp household, so beyond ridiculous. (I have 3 pix to upload so that you'll see this is no exaggeration, but am not seeing an intuitive paste or upload image prompt). I've decided that I need to challenge myself to use as much pantry and as little freezer supplies as possible. I hope to prolong the challenge and then work down the freezer stuffs if I am successful in Phase I. Have noticed others acknowledge this 1 wk challenge might not dent their stockpiles either.. . . So, my progress so far is nothing exemplary. I had enough stuff prepared from last week to have leftovers with not much cooking yet. I did splurge on breakfast this morning, using 2 eggs, 1 piece of toast from the half loaf of bread, and a grapefruit (1 0f 4). I had book group meeting @ lunch (took a turkey sandwich from home), and then tonight had to take advantage of IHOP's free pancakes. Not terribly nutritious day, but have had far worse. Need to eat or freeze more leftovers before I can start whittling down all the drygoods. Will soon be looking for suggestions of how to use some of more interesting ingredients I've gathered over time.
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