The 30-Day Food Challenge: My focus

Yesterday I blogged about a 30-day food challenge to be more efficient in the kitchen: to buy more locally, eat more healthily, and be less wasteful overall.  My focus is a little different than the challenge creator over at Living On This Farm.  I'm using this as an impetus to go forth with buying local and eating better, but I'm also addressing some other issues I have.  Those issues are sticking to my grocery list, and making too much food to the point that I have to throw stuff away. 

I've been in the beneficial habit of making a weekly menu and an accompanying grocery list, but I always wind up coming home with stuff I didn't set out to buy.  My pantry is not bursting at the seams because of it, but my bill at checkout time is always higher than it should be.  I keep a notepad on the side of my fridge, and when I'm running low on an item, I write it down.  When I make my menu, I write down the recipe-specific items that I don't already have on hand.

I also wind up throwing away leftovers too often.  In our house, I'm usually the one who will be stuck eating leftovers and there are numerous times when I'd just rather eat something different, or I've made more than I'm willing to polish off by myself.  This needs to stop.  We are a family of three, and while my husband can pack it in when he's been playing a lot of hockey and my growth-spurt-having almost-4-year-old daughter can, too, there's no reason for me to have to toss food like I do now.

Here's the beginning of my challenge to myself.  I'll be posting my menu, my grocery list, and my overages from the grocery store trip.  Hopefully, putting this down in writing will help me, and you, to be more vigilant.

Everything on this list is made from scratch, except for the chips.  Also, the corned beef comes with a seasoning packet.


Menu for October 1-9

• Chicken noodle soup (leftovers will be lunch)
• Split pea soup (lunch for myself and my daughter)
• Shepherd's pie
• Corned beef and cabbage, potatoes and carrots
• Chicken Parmesan, baked ditalini (like ziti, but smaller pieces), and balsamic vinegar-tomato bruschetta with ciabatta bread
• Chicken Cordon Bleu (non-breaded experimental recipe), salad, steamed green beans
• Wienerschnitzel, potato pancakes, homemade applesauce
• Beef enchiladas with ranchera and chile verde sauces, papas con chile
• Hamburgers, chips (lunch)
• Ham steak, hash browns, pancakes with peach puree

Shopping List
Oatmeal
Orzo
Croutons
Lunch meat- ham and turkey
Orange juice (We go through a lot of O.J.  It ain't cheap!)
Fettuccine
Sugar
Ham steak
Potatoes (I buy Yukon Golds.  They're much less starchy than Russets.)
Primatene inhaler refill
10% benzoyl peroxide gel
Ditalini pasta (Short little tubes)
Fresh green beans
Pork cutlets
Buns
Bread
Chips
Cereal
Corned beef
Cabbage
Lettuce
Pears
Carrots
Corn tortillas
Paper napkins
Juice
Queso fresco
Margarine
Poblano chiles
Cilantro

I got everything on my list.  I was able to save $3.45 using coupons.  I've recently begun printing coupons off of a couple of different websites, and they're very handy.  You have to be careful with coupon usage- it's very tempting to buy something just because you have a coupon for it.  Remember that you're only saving money if you're buying an item you actually *need* already.

I also saved $0.50 by bringing my own grocery bags.  I have ten canvas tote bags that I keep in the trunk and bring for every single shopping trip.  My local store pays $0.05 for each reusable bag.

I wound up buying several items that were not on my list.

Non-List Items
Kraft Colby cheese (1 package) - $2.40
Justification: regular use, sale price

Hatch tomatoes and green chiles (2 cans) - $1.00
Justification: sale price

Frozen easy-peel tail-on shrimp (3 one-pound bags) - $8.97
Justification: deep discount (weekend seafood sale)

Turkey franks (1 package) - $2.67
Justification: We had leftover chili to eat them with and my husband and child like them.

Kiwi fruit (3 pieces) - $1.00
Justification: None.  Total impulse buy.  They were there, and they're delicious.

Bananas (1 bunch) - $1.28
Justification: regular use, low price for organic.

Butternut squash (1 piece) - $1.93
Justification: None.  Total impulse buy.  I've been wanting to try it as a side.

The sub-total for my non-list items was $19.44.  Local sales tax adds 8.917% for a total of $21.17.

I spent an EXTRA TWENTY BUCKS on stuff that was not on my list.  Sheesh.

Date night! (BONUS = Local chocolate!)

As we stay-at-home moms know all too well, it's not common enough that we can get out of the house for dinner with nice clothes, makeup, and good hair.  I treasure every single date night that my husband and I can manage.  Thankfully, I have awesome (childless) siblings who are always up for niece-sitting.  On this eve in particular, my sister was home without her business-tripping husband and graciously provided her services.

Our night out was fantastic.  We started off with dinner at a local Mexican joint, Compadres Mexican Grill and Cantina, where we scarfed down chips and queso before enjoying fajitas and carnitas tacos.  We polished it off with the best flan this side of the Pecos and a couple of sopapillas that were to die for.  Sure, the food was good, but our waiter was out of this world.  His name was Samuel, and if you ever make it to the south Tulsa location of Compadres, make sure you sit in his section!

After dinner, we took a drive, meandering north toward downtown.  A leisurely drive through the Brady Arts District took us past a glowing window that looked to me like a chocolatier.  Cody drove around the block for a second look, and sure enough, that's what I saw.  (Does this tummy have GPS or something?)

We walked into a charming small chocolate shop, Glacier Confection, with the most gorgeous hand-crafted candies I've ever seen- glossy jewel tones, domes of silky chocolate, intricately painted truffles, and artisan chocolate bars from exotic locales.

We wound up buying a selection of truffles and a dark chocolate bar.  The truffles were fantastic- my favorite was the amaretto.  And the lemon.  And the dark chocolate.  We scarfed down all nine of the truffles while standing in the dining room.

Owner and Chief Chocolate Officer Bill Copeland was wonderfully friendly and helpful, explaining all about the bean-to-bar chocolate he offers from Askinosie Chocolate.

Askinosie's mission is small batch chocolate making that allows the purchaser to know where the beans themselves came from- there's a photo of the farmer on the bar's package!  If you're looking to know more about the origins of your food, this chocolate is a good place to start.

All in all, this was a freaking awesome date night.

The 30-Day Food Challenge - A Cooperative Blogging Effort

 

This image is of a poster from the Depression, published by the U.S. Food Administration to encourage responsible eating during tough times.  These days, with so much overabundance and over-consumption, it's not a bad idea to return to the ideals embodied by the hard times endured by our grandparents and great-grandparents. 

A friend pointed me in the direction of a blog called Living On This Farm the other day.  The author, Lisa, is a self described "former restaurateur from Seattle who was abducted by aliens and placed on a farm in rural Oklahoma."  (That part made me giggle.)  She has issued a fun but meaningful challenge to her blog's readers to adhere to the 6 tenets of the poster pictured above for 30 days.   

My husband and I have had several recent discussions on the merits of locavorism, the practice of eating locally grown and produced foods whenever  possible.  I'm committing to join Lisa in her challenge and finally make the leap to buying food locally.

I'm hoping to join the Oklahoma Food Cooperative this weekend and start shopping online for anything that tickles my culinary fancy.  I've already mentally chosen free-range eggs, potatoes, spinach, and cherry tomatoes.  The list goes on.

I'm super excited and I hope you'll join us in this effort to eat in a way that nourishes our bodies, our state, and our community.

Key Lime Icebox Pie

The recent grocery store find of $0.89/pound bags of organic key limes sent me scurrying to the recipe from Cook's Country for Key Lime Icebox Pie.  I'm a huge citrus fan and have wanted to try this recipe for a while now.

It's a simple, no-cook dessert, and despite being a *bit* too tart (which I could've fixed but didn't- don't ask me why because I don't have a good reason), we still enjoyed it after adding ridiculous dollops of homemade whipped cream.

My first task was to juice two pounds of key limes.  The original recipe calls for using regular (Persian) limes, which would've been easier, but apparently I'm a glutton for punishment.  Juicing 50 to 60 teeny tiny limes is a great way to find every single cut and hangnail on your hands! 

It's also time-consuming, but I just juiced a few here and there while I was doing other stuff in the kitchen, rather than all at once.  And thankfully, these little green gems were thin-skinned, which made for easier juicing.  Take note- it's also easier to juice citrus that has been brought to room temperature rather than cold fruit.

So tiny and cute!

Strained juice, lime carcasses, and whole limes being stripped of their zest.

The chilled pie, complete with homemade graham cracker crust.

Plain slice - a bit too tart for our tastes but still pretty!

Now *that's* more like it!  :D

Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Every little kid likes cookies, and my kid is no exception.  I recently decided to make a batch during daylight hours (daytime baking is a rare treat for me- most of it is done well after dark).  So I got my mini helper in the kitchen with me for some tasty treats.

My go-to recipe for chocolate chip cookies comes from the ever-trusty Alton Brown, of the Food Network show Good Eats.  Alton is my culinary crush (nerdy, cute, a killer cook- what's not to love?) and his recipes are at the top of my list when I'm looking for something new to try.

Alton's recipe uses melted butter instead of softened.  An article in my local paper got me thinking.  The article described a chocolate chip cookie made with browned butter- a simple but significant tweak in the flavor of that baking standby, by which the butter is melted in a saucepan and gently cooked until the butter solids turn golden brown.  This imparts a nutty, toasted flavor to the butter that is a great complement to many baked goods.

Since Alton's recipe has more brown sugar than white, I figured that the browned butter would go nicely to further the caramel-y flavor of the cookies.  I was right!

I didn't make any alterations to Alton's recipe, with the exception of browning the butter.  Make sure you are patient with the dough chilling portion.  I'm always scooping the dough while it's still soft, and my cookies are always too flat.  But they manage to wind up in my tummy anyway!  :)

First, get yourself an assistant-slash-taster.

Melt the butter gently in a saucepan.

It will foam quite a bit.  You can sorta see the solids browning.

Nope, that's not beer.  It's butter, baby!

Cute assistant sold separately.

Ghirardelli bittersweet chips are *the best tasting* chocolate chips for baking.  America's Test Kitchen told me so, and they were right!

Gotta make this kid earn her keep somehow.  Lookit those guns!

A one-ounce ice cream scoop works well for measuring out the dough.  It's also useful for meatballs.

Lumps of happy goodness waiting for the oven.

If you aren't impatient like me, your cookies won't be so flat.  Let the dough chill completely before scooping.

Flat or not, they taste frickin' awesome!

Campfire Cookin' - Pork Chile Verde

This past June, I had the distinct pleasure of taking a road trip with my brother, sister, and brother-in-law to a family reunion in Montana.  On the way there, we camped out in Yellowstone National Park.  Hooray for that!  It was my first ever time camping and I had a great time, although I froze my ass off that night, had to get up to pee at o'dark thirty (sans contact lenses, in an unheated bathroom that thankfully had a flush toilet but no hot water), and I'm pretty sure I was sleeping head-down on an incline.  >.<

That being said...when we began to plan our camping portions of the trip, I decided that it would be a blog-tacular culinary adventure to cook over a campfire.  I offered to make the food for our dinner in Yellowstone, and I had the perfect adaptable recipe from the March 2010 issue of Bon Appetit magazine- Pork and Poblano Tamale Pie.  I blogged this recipe previously as part of my Operation: Expand Horizons.

I made some changes to the recipe to make it a little simpler for campfire preparation, brought along my trusty Lodge cast iron Dutch oven and some nonperishable supplies, and bought the rest of the stuff in Cody, Wyoming, a charming little burg you'll want to visit some day.

The adaptations I made to the recipe were mostly to make the dish cheaper and easier to cook out of a cooler.  Instead of the scratch cornbread topping, I used a box of trusty Jiffy brand corn muffin mix and left out the cheese.  I omitted the freshly ground spices and opted for the simpler taste of the roasted peppers.  I didn't spring for any cilantro, and I used canned corn instead of frozen. 

It was simple and rustic and tasted freaking delicious, although my own tastes and the compliments I received may have been tinged somewhat with a healthy amount of road weariness and an overdose of convenience store snacks.  Either way, mission accomplished!

Supplies

Blurry picture- pretty sure it's my fault.

Dutch oven on the campfire

Sauteing the pork cubes in olive oil

Adding salsa verde, onions, garlic, water, and chicken bouillon cubes

Lazy girl's chile-roasting setup for 2 poblanos and 1 bell pepper

Peeling roasted peppers

Dicing roasted peppers

Adding corn and roasted peppers...looking good!

Cornbread topping.  If this was oven-baked, or perhaps buried in coals, the cornbread would brown.  Since we used the Dutch oven's lid and bottom heat, it steam-cooked and was light and fluffy.

We pretty much ate the whole pot.

I ate lots of roasted marshmallows for dessert!

Cooking 101: Lesson One - Prep work is everything!

If you're new to cooking, there are a few things you should practice along with the actual food.  Preparation is the key to successful food making.  It's especially helpful in lowering your stress levels while learning a blood pressure-raising task such as cooking.

The French, while snotty and lacking in personal grooming, have their shit locked down in the kitchen.  There is a French term, "mise en place," which is used in the restaurant industry.  It means "putting in place" and refers to the chef's setup.

When I get ready to cook dinner, there are several steps I go through before I ever turn on a stove burner or the oven.  They help me maintain an organized workspace, an organized brain, and a cleaner kitchen.

Begin with clean countertops and an empty sink.  You'll be glad you did.

1. Look at your recipe.  Give it a good read and determine the time needed for the steps.  Is it a crockpot-dump-and-forget-it, or is there ongoing work?  Do you have all of the ingredients?

2. Sharpen the knife or knives you'll be using.  I use a sharpening stone with two wheels- one rough and one smooth.  Wipe the knife with a clean towel to remove sharpening debris.

3. Get out the pans you'll need and set them on the stove.  Also retrieve any utensils you will be using- wooden spoon, rubber spatula, garlic press, measuring cups and spoons, etc.

4. If the kitchen trashcan is not near your work area, move it next to where you'll be standing.  If you use a compost bucket, have it nearby as well, ready for veggie scraps.

5. WASH YOUR HANDS with soap and warm water.  Dry them on a clean kitchen towel and keep that towel handy.

6. Get out all the ingredients you will need- spices, meat, veggies, eggs, olive oil, etc. and set them in your work area.

7. Measure out spices and put them in small bowls.  I have 4 tiny glass bowls I got at a restaurant supply store.  Each only holds about 2 Tbsp. but they are perfect for minced garlic, spices, and small amounts of garnish like chives or parsley.  Also measure out any liquids you'll be using, such as chicken stock, water, or milk.

8. Starting with vegetables, do all of the necessary chopping.  Set veggies aside in small bowls.  You can combine the ones that will be cooked together to save space.  After all of the veggies are prepped, cut your meat, if using.

9. Put the meaty cutting board and knife in the sink, wash your hands again, and wipe down the countertop.

10. Now...cook!

Vegetables prepped for a Japanese style hibachi stir-fry

Mise en place for rice pilaf- minced garlic, chopped onion, vegetable bouillon cube, thyme sprigs, white and wild rices in measured amounts

Mise en place for spring vegetable couscous.  Here are my tiny prep bowls- so cute and so functional!