Week 1, Day 3

Breakfast: leftover cracked wheat cereal with the fixings.  Except Cress had oatmeal since she was still asleep when we ate and we finished up the leftovers.  The leftover pancakes have mysteriously disappeared.  Phyllis ate a little bit of leftover pumpkin because she was still hungry - but she was mad that I didn't let her have applesauce instead.

Lunch: Peanut butter and honey for Dai.  Peanut butter and banana for Cress and Phyllis.  I had cream cheese.  We all had toasted hamburger buns as the bread because I had them in the freezer for a long time and hadn't made bread yet.  Phyllis and Cress split a banana and they each had a cookie from yesterday.  I had more (but don't tell.)

Dinner: Brown rice with meatballs and brown gravy.  Salad - same type as last night.  Leftover pumpkin.  I did roast some with balsamic but it wasn't done in time.  We have a lot of leftover rice so we will do that for breakfast.  It looked so nice in bowls down the table.

As a side, we are using English cucumbers - about a half per salad.  And the tomatoes are not really in season, but luckily cheap anyway if a touch green.

Grocery shopped today. Has to renew Costco membership so that took most of this pay period's grocery money but we are fine.  I went to Fresco and Costco.

         Costco

eggs	$8.29
cheese	$12.39
sour cream	$3.99
mushrooms	$8.78
mandarin oranges	$5.99
Brussel sprouts	$5.99
Costco membership	$110.00
stamps	$45.75
	$201.18
Fresco
onions	$2.00
potatoes	$3.84
boiling onions	$3.98
tomatoes	$4.45
	$14.27

With Jason's raise we are less tight so I wasn't going to itemize, but I reviewed some old entries and how it made me more accountable.  So, I did.

I am making turkey soup in the crockpot tonight.  Using homemade turkey stock and half a pumpkin, celery, carrots, onions, potatoes, turkey, seasonings.  Hope it is good.  

Homemade Vinaigrette

Phyllis loves this so I am writing it down for future reference.  It seems to be pretty popular.

3/4 c balsamic vinegar
3/4 c plus 3 T olive oil
1/4 c water
4 garlic cloves
1 t garlic powder
1/2 t salt
1/2 t pepper
2 t brown sugar
1 t honey
1 T Dijon mustard

I used to make a light and a regular and store them in two small pint canning jars with lids and rings, but of course not sealed.  As they got lower, I mixed them and realized that seemed so much easier - so there it is.

I also have a Caesar dressing I have made in the past that I like well - so I will give that a try again and see how it goes.  

Week 1, Day 2

Breakfast: Cracked Wheat cereal with milk and brown sugar and raising and bananas an sauteed mushrooms

I grind the wheat myself - made way too much this time but a few days ago it was too little.  Ach so! I had bananas and had some mushrooms that I was afraid would go bad if we didn't get to them so I sauteed them.  Phyllis,Cress and I ate those.  Cress woke late so she didn't have a banana.  Jason had coffee and I had Roma with cream.  

Lunch: We had scrambled egg tacos - two each, I think.  The girls say that was their idea since I was serving warmed up corn tortillas and scrambled eggs.  They did ask for cheese, but really?  What e;se you gonna do with a tortilla and eggs?  Each girl also had a string cheese.  

For lunch Jason took leftover gringa beans and tortillas.  I guess two people at his work have commented on his near professional burritos wrapping skills.  

Dinner: Bean burritos, a salad made with lettuce, cucumber and tomatoes. toasted pine nuts for the salad (on the side) and homemade balsamic vinaigrette, except Dai who had store bought buffalo ranch from ages ago.  We also had iced-tea made with a loose-leaf herbal blend Nicole Tervalon gave us and sealed in teabags Lisa Hansen gave me for Christmas.  

Phyllis asked, as I was preparing to toast the pine nuts, if they could be eaten untoasted.  I said, "Yes, but they aren't as good" and she and Cress tried one - neither liked it.  After Phyllis had a big salad she asked if she could have some plain toasted pine nuts.  Since we said no, she had another big salad with nuts.  Then I divided the rest up between Cress, Phyllis and me before clearing the table.

We had bought ice-cream yesterday for after our hike, but never got to it, so we had milkshakes for dessert.  The girls had chocolate, I had blueberry (made with frozen blueberries that Tess Douglas gave us when she moved), and Jason had mint chip (made with leftover slow churn ice-cream Elise left behind when she was here in the first part of December).  Dai also made chocolate chip cookies today because she was looking for something to do.  We gave 10 to the Castros.  

Week 1, Day 1

I am still interested in what we eat.  As a nation as well as a family, but I can look at it on a family scale.  So here goes - again.I think I will also include some family favorite recipes, etc.  Of course, that doesn't mean I will never blog about food on my other blog...

Breakfast: Pancakes with maple syrup or applesauce

We use a whole wheat recipe but we also had 1.5 cups of a whole wheat mix that Tess Douglas gave us when she moved.  We used that up, too.  We have some leftovers in the fridge.

Lunch: Chicken salad and oranges

Jason used the last sandwich thin and the rest of us had crackers.  Cressida did not really like it but dad was sharing chocolate with those who finished, so she did.  Plus we were going hiking and required some fuel in her body.

Snack: Oranges and string cheese (we finished the oranges that Grandpa and Grandma Hansen gave us last Saturday from their tree)

Dinner: burritos with gringa beans and rice and all the fixings, except guacamole

Homemade Tomato Soup

Tomato Soup Recipe

6 large tomatoes

4 cloves garlic

onion, medium, diced

3 stalks celery, diced

1 t. chicken bouillon

2 cups half and half

1 t salt

3/4 t pepper

pinch cayenne

1/4 c fresh basil, chopped - not exactly sure how much

Blanch tomatoes and put in sink of cool water to cool.  Put diced celery in hot water used to blanch tomatoes.  Saute garlic and onions in a little water.  Remove tomatoes from water, peel, chop and place in pan.  Strain celery and add to pan with tomatoes.  Add garlic and onions and chicken bouillon.  Simmer for half hour.

Add 2 cups half and half.  Use immersion blender to puree to slightly chunky texture.  Add some cayenne - a pinch.  Add salt and pepper and fresh basil.  Heat through.

I modified this from a recipe I found online.  I was planning to add Campbell's soup to it but actually made that in a whole other pan for the kids because this was so good!! 

I made this after reviewing several recipes and it was fabulous - others asked for the recipe even, including Ela Wunderli and Heather Castro.

Spanish Eggs and Rice

This was a recipe I made when I was near the end of a pay period.  It was very well received.  

3 cups uncooked rice

1 14.5 oz. can of diced toamtoes

1.5 tsp chicken boullion

2 tsp chili powder

3/4 tsp oregano

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp cumin

Filled the rice cooker for the rice (4 scoops so to line 4) then added everything else plus a dollop of olive oil.  Stirred and set to cook.

I also made scrambled eggs.  

one onion, diced

1 T butter

7 ounce can green chiles

two tomatoes, diced and chopped

6 eggs

1 c. shredded Jack cheese

Cook onion till tender in 1 T butter.  Then add green chiles.  Add diced tomatoes. Cook a bit then add the eggs.  Add about a cup of jack cheese just before eggs are throughly cooked.

Put rice in a bowl and make a cavity in the middle.  Fill it with eggs which also may cover the top of the rice.

What is this?

This blog did not turn out as expected.  I am totally never on budget anymore.  I find to really be happy two things need to happen 1) I need to have a food menu plan and 2) we need A LOT of produce in the house.

This week I am back to meal planning.  It is so nice.  I do a lot more dishes.  But it is nice to know there is a plan because I usually do it.

I love food.  I like seeing what we eat.  Seeing as foods come into and out of fashion with our family.  But I am not willing to sit each time we eat, each time we shop and write it down.  So what do I really want to do here?  I am not sure.

This week we had the missionaries over for dinner on Monday.  I made oregano chicken.  Not exactly Jason's favorite, but i think mostly because the leftovers do not reheat well for lunch the next day.  I made 10 cups of rice in the pressure cooker - not exactly sure that it is 10 cups but it is 10 scoops and each scoop is 3/4 cup dry.

The missionaries loved it and Elder Eli Pine ate several helpings of rice with the sauce on it.  Then he commented about Phyllis, who was also on her third or fourth helping of rice.  He said he never saw a girl eat so much.  WE had enough rice left for two kids to have rice cereal the next day - that's it!

Tuesday I made chicken enchiladas with a cour cream and green chili sauce.  Quite great!!  I made it last week when Jason had a cold so he did not properly rave over it.  Then I made it this week but I bought a rotisserie chicken and deboned part of it for the enchiladas.  Jason liked it better with canned chicken.  Didn't help that I missed some little bits of bone stuff.  But that one is very good.

Wednesday we had aloo channa.  I made it in the pressure cooker the night before.  I have been working with mostly cook ahead meals because swim practice is from 5:30-6:15 so it is hard to get dinner made otherwise.  Wednesday morning I cooked rice in the pressure cooker (the aloo channa now in the fridge) and steamed carrots right after school.  It take between 8 and 12 decent sized carrots to feed my family.  Plus we have salad.  Salad is basic though.  A head of romaine lettuce, cucumber chopped up and grape tomatoes.

I wonder if grape tomatoes and cherry tomatoes are really different?    

Last night I made chow chow kootu - a chayote squash and garbanzo bean curry.  Again with rice and salad.  No hot veggies beside the squash in the curry.

Tonight the plan is paneer butter masala but Heather might invite us over for dinner and Wii.

A man and woman get married.  Traditionally, the woman would cook.  But surely she would incorporate some of her MIL's recipes into her own - that is how my mother got her potato salad recipe that is now our potato salad recipe (Jason loves it!)  But with the Internet - I wonder how that has changed if one was to do a study?  And the role of women is different.  More women work.  Eating out is more common than when I was a kid, I think - not just because we were poor.  More men cook and help with domestic chores.  We have more international cuisine cookbooks and restaurants - but is that because we live in the Bay Area.

We certainly eat with freidns more often than I think my family did.  The Castros, the missionaires and the tervalons most commonly.  Occasionally the Doiuglas's or others.