Notes on my congee experiment

I posted to Facebook that I was trying to cook congee for the first time, and a pal from my parenting group wanted a recipe. Well, this was my first time making it and I consulted about 10 different recipes before striking out on my own with my congee experiment. It was a hit with my family, so I am sharing notes on what I did.

The first thing you should know is that congee, or rice porridge, takes a lot more liquid than your average 2-to-1 ratio for making fluffy white rice.  This is what I used for today's dinner:

--8 cups of chicken broth
--3/4 cup of white rice

Let's start with the liquid. You can use water if you want to make a plain congee that will be used as a palette for other strong flavors. I used chicken broth made with bouillon because I knew I was adding chicken later.

As for the rice, many recipes call for jasmine rice. I personally don't like jasmine rice. The one time I've had it, I couldn't handle the perfume-y taste. I used white rice. I don't know if it was medium-grain or long-grain rice -- we buy whatever the basic inexpensive white rice is at the grocery store and dump it into our rice container as soon as we get it home.

Another thing that differed among the recipes is whether to wash the rice. Many recipes didn't mention washing the rice, but the ones that did mention washing the rice emphasized it strongly. As far as I could tell, the bloggers who said to wash the rice were Asian so I figured that was more authentic advice. Some said wash it twice and others said wash repeatedly until the water is clear. I split the difference and washed my rice three times.

Anyway, let's get to cooking! I put the rice, the broth, and four dime-size slices of ginger in my slow cooker and put in on high. This was a big mistake because it ended up boil over twice. Next time I would start earlier and put it on low.

At the same time, I put three chicken thighs and three drumsticks in my other slow cooker with water and a garlic/black pepper spice blend. They were frozen because I didn't think ahead, but they still cooked in time. I am saving the leftover water for another soup. I hesitate to call it "stock" because it tastes like greasy water to me, just like every other time I've tried to make stock. Maybe it will taste better when I use it for the next soup and fancy it up with more seasoning and some onions and carrots.

After about six hours, the congee was the consistency of thin oatmeal. I was supposed to pull the ginger out at this point, but I couldn't find it. Hopefully no one bites down on it and gets a shock! I added the shredded chicken and a can of no-salt-added corn. Scoop it into your bowl and add a little soy, sesame oil, or fish sauce.  Most recipes call for adding chopped green onions which I'm sure I would have enjoyed, but I didn't have any on hand.

As I said, we all enjoyed the end result. Even ABM ate it, which is unusual because he has pretty much been preparing his own food since getting his lap band several years ago. I would definitely do this again because it isn't that much work, and it is definitely going in the book of staple recipes for the kids.

Less stitching, more cooking, and other nonsense

We are couple days into February, and I am already trying to talk myself back into my year-long afghan square project. The first crochet square for January went fine, but instead of going on and doing the second January crochet square I thought I should make a start on my knit afghan square. Not only did I make a royal screw-up of the pattern, but it also hurt my hands so much that I haven't even looked at yarn since I posted the square-in-progress two weeks ago. For now at least, crochet seems to be easier on my hands than knitting. I feel like such a quitter dropping the knitted squares this early in the year, but I know myself. If I force myself to finish the knitted January square before I move on to anything else, then I will just keep putting it off and not get anything done. So for now, I'm setting the 2015 Block-A-Month Knit-along aside and moving forward with the crocheted squares.

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This week I've spent some quality time with my slow cooker on both of my days off.  I think I'm cooking to avoid my homework because I can't think of a premise for my project! At any rate, today I am trying my hand at making congee, which is an Asian rice porridge that you can dress up with any manner of flavorings. ABM accidentally made something similar when he tried to make chicken and rice soup and the kids enjoyed it, so I figured I should try making it on purpose.

C1 has expressed an interest in cooking her meals ahead for the week. I explained to her the concept of once-a-month cooking, and we may end up trying it. I tried it once 15+ years ago with little success and I keep meaning to try it again now that I am more experienced in the kitchen. There are also more once-a-month cookbooks out with different recipes that may work better for me.

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It's been over a year since I started my current job. I am still fighting the blues, but I guess you could say I am making some progress. I've gone from being physically ill before every shift to being resigned to the fact that this is my life right now. Even after ABM finds a job, I won't be able to quit because we've got to dig ourselves out of debt. So my life now isn't about me being happy; it's about keeping my head up for my kids. After 21 years, I'm finally learning what it means to sacrifice for your children.

Am I getting in tune with the seasons?

This week I have been craving fruits and veggies like apples, cabbage, cauliflower, and sweet potatoes. I've been looking for recipes that feature them and telling myself that I can't wait until fall comes so these items will be in season. Although I'm still not great at it, I've been steering ABM toward buying seasonal produce so that we can save money on getting it fresh rather than having to buy frozen veggies all the time.

I can hear some of you shouting, "Fall is already here! It is October!" Yes, I know what month it is, but cut me some slack for not being in fall mode. Just three days ago it was 80 degrees outside. I didn't start feeling a snap in the air until yesterday. It has taken 30 years for me to stop associating the first week of September with corduroy skirts and sweaters, which is what I wore to grammar school as a child in New York.

Anyway, the craving for cabbage and such got so strong that I consulted the app that I bought for my iPhone ages ago, called What's Fresh. I rarely buy apps but this one is worth the $2.99 that I paid because it tells me at a glance what fruits and vegetables are in season in my area. (This is not a sponsored review; I just like the app.) Lo and behold, it turns out that all the produce I was craving is in season right now! I've heard the theory that your body craves certain foods because it is missing certain nutrients. Could I have been craving cabbage because my body knew it was cabbage season?

Playing with zucchini and canned pork

First time cooking with zucchini
Originally uploaded by daniinnc2010

In my ongoing effort to eat healthier and try new foods, I used zucchini for the first time this week. I doubt I would have sought out zucchini at the grocery store, but ABM's aunt (the maiden aunt with no children) has taken it upon herself to bring us food the way ABM's mother used to do. So far, all I've done with it is through it into a stir fry, which the kids thoroughly enjoyed. I also plan to try making zucchini bread.

That same stir fry gave me an opportunity to use some of the canned pork in my pantry. If you have never used or seen canned pork, it is one of those commodities that you find on websites that cater to survivalists and doomsday-prepper types. Somehow my late MIL got her hands on several cans and passed it along to us, which is what she would do with any food she was unfamiliar with. It tastes OK, but it is minced so finely that the texture is unsettling to me. It seemed disrespectful to my MIL's memory to throw it out, though, so I came up with a way to make the pork more palatable.

--Make six cups of plain rice (we used our $12 rice cooker).
--While rice is cooking, saute half a can (about 12 oz.) of the canned pork and and one large onion together.
--When rice is done, mix the meat and onions into the rice.
--Prepare your own veggie mix to go on top. I went with Asian flavors in the sauce (soy sauce, ginger, red pepper flakes, brown sugar, garlic, cornstarch) and threw in whatever vegetables looked like they needed to be used up. Today, that was broccoli, carrots, snap peas, celery, and zucchini. I imagine you could also go with Mexican flavors or Italian flavors, as well.

Meals like this remind me that I have gotten much more comfortable with experimenting in the kitchen. In the past, I would have accepted the zucchini and let it rot in the bottom of my fridge. Now I am trying to find a use for every product and spice in our pantry. I guess it is part of my Fearless 40s -- I'm getting tired of the same old thing in various aspects of my life, including food, and I am doing my best to branch out.

Another Roast Chicken Sunday

This is my third Sunday in a row making roast chicken. Since I still haven't gotten over my onion obsession, I altered the basic recipe a tad by stuffing a quartered onion in the cavity. I'm also going to stray from my usual plan for the leftovers. Instead of chicken and rice soup, I'm going to make chicken fried rice on Monday. My kids love Asian-inspired dishes, so I'm sure they won't mind.

Roasting a chicken may seem like a modern foodie thing to do, but it fits in with my retro sensibilities. Can't you see me with an apron on, bringing that chicken to the table? I want to reach back to the past and find out how housewives back then provided for their families. I know everything wasn't perfect then, but it seems that getting back to basics would be better for our health and our bank account.

In the early years of my marriage I fought to split household tasks equally, but the older I get the more I want to be "wifey". That doesn't mean I want my husband to make all the decisions and ignore my input; I'm not reaching that far back into the past. What I want to do is put my talents and interests to work in creating a comforting home, especially at this point in our lives when I have more time than money on my hands. What could be more "wifey" than getting two or even three meals out of one chicken?

When did cooking get easier?

Today I planned to make spaghetti and meatballs for dinner, but we were out of spaghetti sauce. No problem, I thought. I had one bag of frozen Roma tomatoes left from a friend's garden, several cans of diced tomatoes, and various seasonings in the pantry. So, I proceeded to throw these ingredients in a pot, along with some butter and onions, and I made my own sauce. Easy-peasy!

The fact that I thought this was easy made me think about how far I've come in the kitchen. I'm no great cook, by any means, but I am no longer whining about having to make dinner from scratch. Part of this willingness to take a few extra steps at the stove probably has something to do with the fact that I am still unemployed. Not only do I have to stretch our food budget by making the best of every item on the shelf, but I also have the time on my hands to do so.

When I was working, I would say a silent "Thank you!" to God when ABM suggested that we pick up McDonald's meals or a pizza on the way home. After a day at one of my boring jobs, I wanted to do nothing more than sit back with some fast food and a book or TV show. My kids ate their fair share of Hot Pockets and ramen noodles in their early years, so much so that now even my meager attempts at home cooking are met with cheers.

Now that I am trying to stay away from boxed meal helpers and be more creative in the kitchen, the kids are stepping up and trying new recipes, too. DJ was the one who helped me with the sauce tonight, and he also make the turkey meatballs. C1 can't wait for us to have a cooler day so we can try making bread again. Even M, my picky eater, has branched out and is making fish in foil packets instead of living on plain rice. Hopefully this means that they will feed their future offspring less junk than I fed them.

Trying out the "How to Cook Everything" app

Last week Apple celebrated the fifth anniversary of its app store by giving away five utilities and five games. One of the utilities was an app called "How to Cook Everything". It is the official digital version of the well-known cookbook by Mark Bittman. I've wanted this app since I saw it reviewed on iPad Today, so of course I snatched it up last week to save myself the $10.

This isn't a full-on app review because I'm not good at doing those. However, I did want to mention a few things about the app since I tried a recipe from it today and since I also happened to have a copy of the physical book "How to Cook Everything: The Basics" on hand.

STOP THE PRESSES! I just discovered as I was looking up the links I wanted to add to this post that the app I saw reviewed on iPad Today was "How to Cook Everything: Cooking Basics", which is the digital version on the book I have on hand. The app I downloaded corresponds to his original book. I'm tempted to splash out $7.99 to get this version because it has video cooking classes, where the app I have does not. OK, carry on.

The recipe I tried today was Simplest Whole Roast Chicken, Six Ways. Many of the recipes in the app are configured this way. You get the very basic method for roasting the chicken and then you get six flavor variations. This is great for me because I usually don't have all the ingredients for a specific recipe. With this arrangement I have the cooking method separated out and can look at the variations to get some ideas of other flavor combinations that will work. I'm not an intuitive cook so this is the type of help I need.

I noticed that there are some differences between the simple roast chicken recipe in the physical book and the one in the app. In the app it calls for fresh herbs, but in the book Bittman also gives the equivalent amount of dried herbs you could use. In the app he talks about roasting the bird in a cast iron skillet, but in the book it says it needs to be in a pan on a rack. There are a few more differences like this that could make a difference in how your bird turns out.  I didn't look at the book version until I had already cooked my chicken by the directions in the app.

One of the features that elevates the app and makes it more than just a PDF of the original book is the embedded timer. When the recipe tells you to, say, flip the burger after five minutes, you can click the link and start a five-minute timer. You can then go on to another recipe in the app and get that started. You can even have multiple timers going at once, each with the name of the recipe and what step you are on so you know what to go back to when the bell rings. This is great for me because I have a lousy sense of time so I have to set timers for practically everything I cook.

As of this posting, the "How to Cook Everything" app is still being offered for free. I would say grab it while you can. Besides the timers, there are hand-drawn illustrations of various techniques like chopping, weekly featured recipes, and shopping lists you can email to yourself or someone else. You also get the written commentary from the author, something that is missing from other cooking apps that didn't start out as cookbooks. It feels like the physical cookbooks I grew up with but improved by the addition of technology. I plan to make sure M has a copy when she moves out on her own.

By the way, the chicken was delicious.

Is sauerkraut my new miracle food?

When it comes to how I eat, there are a few holdovers from my childhood in New York. When kids here were eating hot dogs with chili and coleslaw, I was eating them with sauerkraut and mustard. I eventually adjusted to the southern way, but I still like sauerkraut a lot. I don't buy it that often because for a long time I was the only one in the house who ate it. After my experience this week, I may keep a jar or two in the fridge all the time.

From time to time, I wake up with my stomach burning. Usually I drink ginger ale, which eases it a little but not much. Last week, I had this problem again and I happened to have a jar of sauerkraut in the fridge. Lunch was to be hot dogs and sauerkraut, so that's what I ate. The next day I had the same thing again for lunch. It didn't hit me until the third day that my stomach burning was gone. Last night it came back, so I had some sauerkraut again today to see if it helps again.

I've been reading about the Paleo way of eating, and one of the things mentioned in the book Practical Paleo: A Customized Approach to Health and a Whole-Foods Lifestyle is that fermented foods like sauerkraut are good for stomach health. I'm not ready to embrace the entire Paleo lifestyle, but I think I can manage eating a little sauerkraut every day if it will save me some misery.

Update on the butternut squash

Remember when I made butternut squash soup on Sunday and said it was so bad that we poured it down the drain? Well, it turns out that wasn't the entire truth. I thought that everyone hated it. It turns out that C1 liked it and she held some back for herself. She had tasted a soup made from butternut squash and pumpkin when we were on our last cruise and really liked it. I didn't remember this because we let the kids sit at their own table and order for themselves when we are on a cruise.

Another development:  a couple days after the soup flop, ABM turned to "Iron Chef America" and was rather interested in what they were doing with the different varieties of squash. Judging from the actions of at least two of my family members, I may be trying butternut squash again, after all.

What I learned from making butternut squash soup

Today I made butternut squash soup for the first time. When I say "first time", I'm not only referring to trying this recipe; this is the first time I've ever tasted butternut squash, period. As part of my quest to put more simple and unprocessed food on the table, I'm trying produce that I've never cooked myself or sometimes even eaten before.

When I first moved out on my own, I was a slave to the written recipe. As a kid I didn't stand at my mother's elbow and learn my way around a kitchen because daily cooking for sustenance was a chore to me. The only cooking I enjoyed was following unusual recipes from the cookbooks that fascinated me, usually vintage volumes or books outlining authentic recipes from foreign cuisines such as Chinese or Mexican. Nowadays I still feel more comfortable with a recipe, but more often than not I don't have all the ingredients at hand. So I go on the internet and pull up several versions of the same dish to give me an idea of how to cook it and go from there with what I've got.

I used this same recipe-summary approach to make the butternut squash soup today. Here's the rundown:

--Roasted the squash for 30 minutes in the oven with onions, garlic, and chicken broth.
--Added pumpkin pie spice and ginger.
--Pureed the lot and then simmered on the stove for 30 minutes.
--Added milk and brown sugar.

Unlike the spaghetti squash I made a couple weeks ago, there was nothing I could do to make this soup palatable to me. I should have guessed that I wouldn't like the soup when I didn't like the taste of the plain squash when I took it out of the oven. ABM and the kids don't like it, either, so it will get poured down the drain.

I've learned not to get angry when one of these kitchen experiments fails. Part of the reason we lived on frozen pizzas and hot dogs all these years is that they were safe bets. It frustrated me and ABM both to spend money on spices and fresh ingredients, only to end up throwing the result in the trash because no one would eat it. Now, instead of getting angry, I treat it like a learning experience. We want to eat fewer processed foods, so we have to learn what healthy foods can take the place of the frozen burritos and Lean Cuisines.

It helps that the kids are older. C1, C2, and DJ each cook dinner at least once a week, which takes the burden off of me. I am less annoyed about standing at the stove for so long today (I cooked dinner in addition to fiddling with the butternut squash) because I know that tomorrow night I can get one of them to cook dinner. The kids have grown into teens with more varied palates (other than M, who is my perpetual finicky eater) and they welcome trying new dishes. Out of the five of us still living here, chances are that at least three of us will like a new recipe. This rate of success makes it easier for me to deal with the few failures.

One step closer to fresh, and other thoughts on food

--ABM and I are finally on the same page when it comes to healthy eating. Not the same sentence, mind you (he had us on a severe low-carb regimen for two months), but at least we are on the same page. This means that we are bringing in more fresh foods to try. Since I am home all day and I have the kids to help me, a task like dicing fresh onions instead of using a bag of frozen ones from Walmart doesn't seem like such a chore. We probably won't go so far as eliminating all processed foods, but we are getting closer to simple old-fashioned eating.

--This week, I tried cooking spaghetti squash as a replacement for angel hair pasta. There was a sticker on the squash that gave cooking instructions: prick the squash with a fork, microwave for 15 minutes, bake in the regular oven for 60 minutes, then cut open. I've since learned that I could have stopped after the microwaving because the squash was done. Anyway, after I cooked the squash I added my favorite jarred spaghetti sauce. I didn't like it at first, but I'm glad I followed my instincts and put the leftover squash in the fridge. After a couple days, I reheated it with some cheese and mild Italian sausage. That made all the difference. The sausage added more flavor, and I think sitting in the refrigerator helped the texture of the squash. I would be willing to cook spaghetti squash again, especially since it would save me 180 calories a cup over pasta. This is one low-calorie substitution that doesn't feel like a sacrifice.

--Smoothies have been on my list of recipes to work into my diet for a while and I've finally started to do it. Calcium is one nutrient that I sorely lack, as evidenced by how easily I break myself! I remember being told by a doctor once that I have the bones of an 80-year-old woman, and I doubt the situation has gotten better over the past 20 years. Drinking smoothies seems like a painless way to increase my calcium on board, as well as up my fruit and veggie intake. So far, I've mainly been using strawberries, bananas, and peaches with milk. I tried spinach once and that was pretty good. Next on deck is carrots. 

--It's time for me to start thinking about having a spring vegetable garden. I've skipped gardening for the past several years for various reasons, but it would be a shame not to plant something this year while I am unemployed and have the time. I must resist the urge to go overboard, however. The seed catalogs always tempt me into believing that I can handle more than is realistic. Right now, my thoughts are to plant tomatoes, bell peppers, basil, and chives. Hopefully I can stick to that!

No Thanksgiving leftovers here

Last week I listened to a segment on Marketplace Money that talked about how much food Americans waste at Thanksgiving and throughout the year in general. Looking at turkey alone, Americans throughout $280 million worth a year. The thought boggles my mind, especially right now when I am unemployed. I'm not trying to say that we are poor; even without my income, we are above the poverty line. However, expenses like tuition and healthcare put a strain on the budget and food is the category where we tend to cut costs first. The idea of buying so much food that there is enough to throw away later is outside our experience.

There are two things that we do that prevent us from having a refrigerator full of leftovers that we are sick of. The first one is fairly obvious: don't cook so much. Like many families, we have certain dishes like baked ham that we only cook for special occasions. Having ABM's special macaroni and cheese makes the meal feel so much like a feast to my kids that we don't have to load the table down with 13 other dishes.

The second thing we do is spread out the Thanksgiving meal over the entire weekend. We started doing this about 10 years ago and it was originally a way to respond to ABM's desire to go eat at his grandmother's house on Thursday but still have leftovers at home. With my recent unemployment issues, it has also become a way to still have food for the weekend instead of blowing all our food money on the Thursday meal. For example, this year I had a menu for what I was going to cook but then ABM had some different dishes he wanted to make and started cooking them on Wednesday night. There ended up being so much food that it didn't make sense for me to try my recipes that day. I ended up cooking my food on Saturday, which was a good thing because the ham was practically picked clean by Friday evening.

You can enjoy your Thanksgiving meal and celebrate your blessings without buying and wasting tons of food.

My spur-of-the-moment tomato soup

My spur-of-the-moment tomato soup
Originally uploaded by daniinnc2010

I have been craving tomato soup and crackers for the past two days, but of course the one meal I wanted was not in my house. However, I did have several canned tomato products (whole tomatoes, diced tomatoes, tomato paste) and a pantry full of seasonings. I figured I could come up with something close to soup.

Because I am still unsure of my skills in the kitchen, I had to find a recipe. Using the Relish app on my iPhone, I found a recipe called Three-Tomato Soup. I didn't have all the ingredients but it helped to have a guideline. Here is what I did have on hand:

Olive oil
1 onion
1 14-oz can of reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 14-oz can of petite diced tomatoes
6 oz of tomato paste
Thyme
Balsamic vinegar
Freshly ground pepper
Garlic salt

The recipe called for pureeing the soup, but the tomatoes were diced finely enough that I didn't see the need.  I would like to try preparing the original recipe, but I think my version was tasty. If I make it again, I might add a little sugar to cut down the acidity of the tomatoes.

My Legacy: I'm the Soup Mom

Part of all the seeking and experimenting I do in my life is to find something that I will be known for, something that my kids remember about me after I am gone. In my fantasies, they remember me as a fun mom or a snappy dresser. In reality, they will probably remember the chicken carcass soup. I've made it often enough that if we have roast chicken on Friday night, they expect soup on Saturday. I call it chicken carcass soup because the chicken carcass is the only consistent ingredient. Tonight's version of chicken carcass soup has rice, broccoli, and onions in it.

Chicken carcass soup isn't the only soup that the kids ask for. C2 has been nudging me for a week to make the potato soup recipe I tried out several months ago. I think my kids ask for soup because it is a from-scratch meal that I am more likely to make. All I have to do is chop up the ingredients, throw them in a pot, and walk away for a little while. Half the soups I try out go in the slow cooker, so I don't even have to worry about them burning.

If you asked my kids about me today, they would probably say that I am absentminded and prone to falling. Hopefully they will also remember that I put a hot bowl of soup on the table every so often.

Organizational tool: Ziplist

Last week I talked about finding a new organizational system. I still haven't found an overall tool yet, but I am trying out a grocery shopping site/app called Ziplist. I've been using it for a week and I think I might stick with it for a while.

Ziplist is a free website that helps you organize your grocery shopping and meal planning. There is also an app for iPhone and Android devices that syncs up with the website so I can always have my list with me. I created an account using my Facebook log-in and started making a shopping list right away. The items are categorized automatically by the section they can be found in at the market, but you can change that. For instance, the program put "stir-fry vegetables" in the Produce section, but I actually buy a frozen mix so I changed it to Frozen.

I haven't done much with the meal planning functions yet, but I'm looking forward to putting them to use. Ziplist acts a recipe box in the cloud. You can type in your own recipes that you've been saving on index cards or, in my case, newspaper clippings stashed in a folder. There is also a cool toolbar that lets you "clip" a recipe from another website and save it to your Ziplist recipe box. Any recipes that you have in your box can be added to your grocery list with one click, so you don't have to add each ingredient individually.

Another feature is the meal plan. The meal planner is basically a calendar that can be exported to Google or Outlook. There is a weekly queue where you can easily switch menus around, which will still give me some flexibility.  I am attracted to this right now because I have to jump on the menu-planning train. Our food budget has gotten even tighter than before. ABM wants to start using coupons and wants to buy just enough for a week's worth of meals at a time. Add in the fact that he likes to shop on the spur of the moment. All this means that I need to be ready at the drop of a hat to go get groceries. I think that planning several meals ahead is what I have to do. I've always resisted this because I tend to cook according to what I have a taste for, but I guess I can get used to having a plan.

No matter what organizational system I pick for other household duties, I think that Ziplist will work well with it. If you try it, let me know what you think.

I miss pork and other thoughts

--Tonight M is cooking pork chops, caramelized onions, and homemade mashed potatoes. I basically gave her the instructions and set her free in the kitchen. At 19 she is still acting like she is a baby who needs to have her hand held through everything, and I'm not buying it any more. M spent nine months living without us at uni and got along fine, so while she is home for the summer I am throwing her into the deep end of the pool and forcing her to swim. Hopefully tonight's meal will be edible.

--Speaking of pork chops, I didn't realize until recently how much I miss eating pork. The kids and I really enjoy pork tenderloin and thick pork chops, but we rarely get them. We buy ground beef and chicken almost exclusively because those are the two least expensive meats at the market. I keep seeing blogs where people talk about finding chops for 99 cents a pound but I never see them in the circulars for less than $2.99 a pound. To be fair, I don't look at the circulars every single week but now that I am unemployed I should probably start, especially if I want to have pork more often than once every few months.

--Last night we were catching up on America's Got Talent and the getting-to-know-you package for one of the acts made me think about my goals for our house. The leader of the Aurora Light Painters gave a tour of his home and commented that he and his wife made a rule about only hanging art that they created themselves on the walls. That is something I would really like to do, but I can't seem to make that step. My biggest fear is wasting money. When I am working full time I don't have the energy to pour into creative projects, but when I am unemployed money is too tight to spend on art supplies. Still, that urge to create won't go away. I've got to find a way to create something out of materials we have on hand.

Life Skills Summer: How do you teach teens about money?

Since I am a housewife again and the kids are out of school, my plan was to work on turning all of us into better household managers. On Facebook, I referred to this as our Life Skills Summer. That was meant as a joke, but I actually like the sound of it. 

I discussed this plan with C1 and C2 a few months ago, and they were both on board. They expressed a desire to become more proficient in the kitchen. I'm not the best cook myself, so this was to be a learning experience for all of us. They really want to do some baking, but with the heat wave and limited A/C in the house I think that is out of the question until winter. 

My desire to work in the kitchen has also been dampened by a couple recent dinner disasters. One attempt to jazz up ramen noodles with a curry sauce was so gross we actually had to throw it out. I had some cabbage and some potatoes on hand so I decided to try making an Irish dish called colcannon. It was not bad, but it wasn't wonderful, either. In this heat I'd rather not waste more time in the kitchen making dishes no one will eat. 

To salvage this Life Skills plan, I need to go in another direction. So I am going to start Monday morning with a mini-course in money management. I've always tried to be as transparent as was appropriate with the kids regarding our finances, but I've never talked with them to see how much they've learned in school about budgets and checkbooks and such. I do know that M managed to go off to uni without knowing how to write a check or use an ATM card, and I am terribly embarrassed that I missed that.

QUESTION: Do any of you have suggestions for games, books, or websites that would make it more fun to discuss money with teenagers?

Apple Pie Afternoon

In keeping with my goal of spending more time in the kitchen with the kids, at the end of January we made apple pies. I've been letting the girls help me decide what recipes we try, and making a pie was what C2 suggested. This was a new experience for me as well as the girls. I've baked apple pies before, but it was during my newlywed days and I used a recipe that called for dried apples. The cost of dried apples has skyrocketed since then, so I went with fresh apples this time.

The photos were taken by C2, our budding photographer. C1 did most of the actual cooking while I supervised. Even DJ had a hand in peeling and coring the apples, which proved to be the most time-consuming part of the prep work.

On the subject of the apples, I never knew how gross the coating on fresh apples can be. I purchased a bag of apples and was expecting to be able to give them a quick rinse and be done with it. These apples had a sticky/greasy coating that would not rinse off. Apparently that shine that consumers look for on their apples is the result of something called "food-grade shellac". Excuse me? Shellac is something to put on floors and furniture, not food. Now I understand why my normally frugal mother-in-law kept a bottle of Fit Fruit & Vegetable Wash by her sink.

Anyway, the pies turned out better than our attempt to make ravioli from scratch (hint: buy a pasta maker if you want to make noodles that are so thick they can choke a horse). We will probably do this again, maybe when peaches are in season.

"Once-a-Month Cooking" by Mimi Wilson and Mary Beth Lagerborg

Once-a-Month Cooking: Revised and Expanded: A Proven System for Spending Less Time in the Kitchen and Enjoying Delicious, Homemade Meals Every Day by Mary-Beth Lagerborg


Genre: cookbook
On my TBR list?: No

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

If you've read any blogs about parenting or homemaking, then you've probably run into the concept of batch cooking. As far as I know, these authors are the originators; the first edition of Once-a-Month Cooking was published in 1986. The basic idea is to do one big shop for all the food items you'll need for a month, and then the next day you spend about eight hours cooking and freezing dishes. You group similar tasks together, such as browning all the ground beef and then dividing it among the different dishes that call for it. Then the rest of the month you just pull a bag out of the freezer, thaw, and cook.

I read the first version of this book years ago when I was a newlywed. I took the whole plan on faith, cooked every recipe, and hated it. Many of the recipes tasted good to me when fresh but awful when reheated. In hindsight, they probably weren't that bad, but ABM and I ate out several nights a week so I was a lot pickier about my food.

It is now 20 years later and with four kids and a job (and the lower standards that come with them!), I thought it might be time to try a newer edition of the book. Dinner has become a real sticking point around here; no one wants to cook so we all end up living on the quickest thing we can warm up, like ramen or French fries. Being able to pull something out of the freezer and heat it up sounds like a dream, no matter how it tastes. After flipping through the book, however, I could tell that most of the recipes for dishes that my kids wouldn't touch.

All is not lost, though. The benefit of this book is that is gives you the idea of what types of foods and recipes freeze well. For instance, I never thought of freezing the chicken breast in the marinade. I didn't like many of the marinade recipes in the book, but now I know that I can use my own. Also, I think for my time and budget, even the two-week plan is a bit much. I would take maybe two hours on a Saturday and do only beef recipes, then the next Saturday do only chicken recipes.

Bottom line: I would say take a look at this book for the methods, but not necessarily the recipes.



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Beige American Meal

Beige American meal
Originally uploaded by daniinnc2010

Aren't you proud of me? I actually cooked a Sunday meal. Despite the unending beigeness of the food on the plate, it is actually the healthiest meal I've fed mi familia in a while. It is roast chicken, steamed cauliflower, and biscuits. If I have chicken left when I get home tonight (and I should because I roasted two whole birds), then I will probably make either chicken and dumplings or be really healthy and make chicken and rice soup with spinach.

Don't worry, readers -- I'm not going all domestic on you. We will probably be eating hot dogs for the rest of the week :-).