Food frugality in 2012

Although I haven't calculated the totals yet, I'm pretty sure we didn't overspend on food during the past month of festivities and such. To be fair, I've only done two proper grocery shops including meal-planning since M was born (now 10 weeks ago), and a number of quick dashes to various stores. Regardless, I want to make food savings a priority in 2012. One strategy I'm particularly excited about it getting into a new cookbook.

Now, I have more cookbooks than I really need, but this one is something special. It was sent to me by my friend Morgan a few months ago, who discovered it as a resource to help social work clients. It's called The Basic Shelf Cookbook, and it was designed in 1987 by the City of York Health Unit for penniless students, senior citizens on a fixed income, families on a tight budget, etc. Not only are the recipes frugal, they are also nutritious and (I assume will be) delicious. As the title would suggest, the "basic shelf" refers to non-perishable items, and the authors provide a list of grains, meat alternatives, seasonings, baking ingredients, produce that can be kept for a long time without refrigeration (in most cases). They also have nutritional information for each recipe, an excellent substitution list and lots of tips on getting the most out of what you buy.

I'm very much looking forward to testing out several of these recipes for some special visitors we'll be having two weeks from now: my in-laws! And they're bringing an uncle with them, so I'll get to see what it's like cooking for five adults (and one toddler). I've started the meal-planning already, and we're using some of our Christmas money to invest in a chest freezer, which means I may even get some of the cooking out of the way before they arrive. The biggest challenge, I think, will be lunches, since D and I tend to keep it very simple: dinner leftovers, PB & J, egg salad, tuna sandwiches, and the like. I don't imagine we'll have a ton of leftovers, and I don't think most people would enjoy such basic sandwiches day after day. We'll see how it all plays out.

Eat well for less, doctor's orders!

First snow of the season

Today, I'm reading: The Woefield Poultry Collective (not, as I initially misread, The Woeful Poetry Collection). This is a recommendation from my trusted friend Morgan. It's also the first time I've been able to snag a copy of a new release from the library without placing a hold. Perplexingly, although there are ten copies in circulation, two of them were at my local branch. One of them was titled Home To Woefield.

I'm knitting: The lovely Damask, and hoping to be done by Christmas for maximum seasonal wear. By the number of rows I've knit so far, I'm 25% done, but they are ever-decreasing, so it's probably more like 30%.

I'm making: beef stew and bread, using two of my favourite winter appliances (crock pot and breadmaker, respectively)

D is busy marvelling at the snow; she remembered what it was!

When making lasagna is a good idea

Ordinarily, I don't find making lasagna from scratch to be very effective in terms of cost or time; it's certainly more delicious and probably healthier, but when you can buy one for around 6.99$, it's not really cheaper. At least not for me. Although I do usually have some of the basics like ground beef, crushed tomatoes, and the required seasonings, I don't tend to keep things like cottage cheese, mozzarella cheese, and lasagna noodles around. Buying those three things alone will generally run you over 7$.

But this time around, I actually had mozzarella from last time cheese went on sale, and I had lasagna noodles in the cupboard (they were the kind you have to boil, which is why they had been there so long; on the plus side, they were whole wheat), and cottage cheese was on sale last grocery shop. We had ample ground beef in the freezer, and everything else as well, including parsley to sprinkle on top! In typical nesting fashion, I made two lasagne: one for dinner tonight (of which we only finished half), and one for the freezer. I'm going to say that my pre-Cashew cooking is done now. Baking is an entirely different story.

Here's the final tally:
-roasted butternut squash soup
-turkey leek barley soup
-2 turkey pot pies
-lasagna

Serendipitous soup

If it's a cold, wet day in autumn, then I must be making soup! Today's offering is a lovely roast tomato soup, the recipe for which comes from an Australian cookbook I got for Christmas from my awesome in-laws. (Another favourite recipe from there: passionfruit shortbread. And yes, it's even better than it sounds.) It calls for a lot of tomatoes, which I don't usually buy en masse unless I'm planning to make this soup. However, yesterday my parents found themselves with an abundance of tomatoes, and they passed most of them along to me. They also had bought a roast chicken on Saturday, and I'm using the bones to make stock, along with water from vegetables I cooked for dinner last night. So there was the other main ingredient. The tomatoes have been drizzled with oil, salt and pepper, and they are presently cooling as the stock keeps boiling away in the crock pot. This should be a very delicious dinner indeed. I just need a protein side... devilled eggs, anyone?

What I've been up to this week

This last week of September has been a busy one over here! On Thursday, my young charge E had her last day at our house (aside from much-anticipated future play dates) for awhile. I had been hoping to take the girls to the big park, but unfortunately the weather was uncooperative. So the kids played in the living room while I vacuumed the main floor, which was one of many things to check off my preparing-for-Cashew list.

The poor weather meant that there was also a LOT of knitting that went on this week. (I have a lot on that list, too.) I finished up three things, each of which could easily merit a blog post of its own. First, the long-awaited end of the aran sweater I started knitting for my dad last October. I folded down the arms in a weird way to show the detail that continues from shoulder to cuff. The construction was really neat, even if the process took me forever. It felt really good to cast it off, although it needs a good wash and some blocking.


Second, a blanket for my friend Jasmine, who taught me how to knit five years ago, and who just had her first baby a few weeks ago. We held a shower for her last weekend, and prior to the shower, everyone who knew how to knit (and even some who didn't, and even some who couldn't be at the shower) sent me 4x4 inch squares, which I sewed together and to which I added an edging. One of the most precious squares (the green one with the ladybugs) came from Jasmine's mom, who doesn't knit but learned how to. She lives several hours away, and couldn't be there in person, but she mailed me her square a few weeks before the shower. She also called me to find out how many stitches to cast on and how many rows to knit. Jasmine couldn't believe it when I told her that her mom contributed to our group gift! It looks a little motley, as you might expect when ten people knit things at different times and different tensions, but I think it's a beautiful keepsake, and the perfect size for a stroller blanket. Plus it's all acrylic, so it can be machine washed and dried!

Finally, the monkey hat. Close observers will note that this is not the same yarn I started with, which was far too thin for the pattern. I don't know why I thought I could make it work, especially given that I've never crocheted anything before. D was supposed to get it on her birthday next week, but she found it the morning after I finished it and put it on right away! That was before I added the pom pom. Now I'll be a sneaky mom and hide it on her. Before anyone suggests that I could make and sell these, I should mention that I did not enjoy the process and will not likely be crocheting again anytime soon. The crochet monkey hats just happened to be cuter than the knit ones.

Aside from all that, there's been a lot of laundry, cleaning and cooking. I've made and frozen two soups now for after baby arrives: turkey barley leek, and butternut squash. We got a utility turkey for 8$ last week, and it was good to us. Not only did we enjoy a pre-Thanksgiving turkey dinner, but I also made stock from the bones and had enough leftover meat for the aforementioned soup and an upcoming turkey pot pie (also to go in the freezer for later).

Tomorrow's going to be a busy day: my mom, sister and I are going to get D's flower girl dress, and run a bunch of other wedding errands while the menfolk (and D) work on finishing the basement. It's a project that's been in the works for some time, but just got off the ground this week. When it's done, there will be a bedroom, play room, bathroom, and laundry room, with a bit of storage space. I can't wait!

The loveliest of Labour Days

Our little fam has had a wonderful long weekend so far, capped off by a great day today! The only thing that could have made it better would have been for me to go into labour, but then I'd be 6-8 weeks early in delivering Cashew. Here's what we got up to today.

D and I started off the day with a visit to my dear friend Julie (Auntie Ju-wee to D); we had snacks at her apartment, then went down the street to visit her parents, then to an awesome park a block away, then back to her place for a yummy lunch of sandwiches, chips and veggies. On the way home, we had a couple of errands to run, then we stopped in to see if anyone was at my parents' house. As luck would have it, not only were my sister and her fiancé there, but my brother showed up, too! We talked wedding stuff (have I mentioned my sister really has her stuff together with the planning?), while D amused herself pottering around. She did that a lot this morning, too, and listened very well when I'd ask her to do something, or not to do something. Hubby and I have been doing a lot of disciplining lately, so I'm encouraged to see that it's having an effect (never having raised a kid before). D's also been quick to apologize when she does something wrong, too, which is great. Her manners are really coming along; she even said "thanks for having us" to Julie, and "love you guys" to sis & fiancé today!

We got home around 3 o'clock to find Hubby hard at work in the garage. With the winter fast approaching, he was keen to get the space tidied up so that we can park my car in there. He did an absolutely amazing job! All his tools have been put away, either on shelves or in the shed, and it's so much cleaner than it was when I left this morning. He even built some new shelves for the recycling bins! There are still a few things we're going to move elsewhere, like the big cooler and D's painting easel (she's a bit young for it). Hubby was very pleased with himself and had me examine his work a few times. That guy is endearing!

Sis and her fiancé were coming over for dinner, so I had to get to work preparing pretty soon after we got home. We had run out of potatoes and a few other things as we tried to stretch our grocery shop to next week, and I needed to get a bit creative. It would have been easy and simple to do a homemade pizza with cut veggies, but that's what D and my sister had on Thursday when Hubby and I had our date night. Instead, I checked the fridge and smittenkitchen, and came up with a roasted cauliflower and caramelized onion tart (quiche, really), and zucchini fritters. It was a particularly winning combination because I had bought cauliflower and zucchini at the farmer's market on Saturday, so everything was fresh and flavourful. Sis tested out red velvet cupcakes for dessert, and we all agreed that these should be served at the wedding. D was extremely pleased to lick one of the icing beaters; originally this was to be Hubby's job, but after a taste she asserted "D hold it", and later declared the icing to be "very yum". She was too cute for him not to oblige. Earlier, she had eaten her way through a decent sized bowl of applesauce (courtesy of our neighbour's apple tree) in the slowest way possible, sniffing every bite before devouring it, and explaining "it smell good applesauce".

Sis gave D her bath, Hubby cleaned up the kitchen, and we all relaxed in the living room for a bit before the engaged couple headed out. Now D's happily tucked into bed, and we'll be turning in as well, after a bit of knitting. I should mention that D has not had an afternoon nap since Thursday, and while this made for some unpleasant afternoons and evenings on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, it wasn't so bad today. No tantrums, and no freak-outs unless she hurt herself. We will likely instate some kind of quiet time in her room so that Mommy can nap or get things done in the afternoon, seeing as D doesn't seem to need her nap anymore.