Using up onions

I've never been that huge a fan of French Onion Soup, but the thought occurred to me that I might like it better if I made it myself. When I was faced with a mega deal on 3 lbs of onion (realizing that I'd save money even if I didn't use them all, at the price they were offered) I found my opportunity.

The onions are nearing the end of their one hour sautee right now so we'll see how it goes. I used this incredibly simple recipe, which has step by step instructions WITH pictures. It is a very low ingredient count meal, especially if you have beef stock on hand.

I halved the recipe since there are only two of us, and I didn't really have THAT much onion left. She explains later that it will amount to 6 cups of chopped onion so I chopped three up and it was just about half of that.

Hope it turns out good.

FYI, the half recipe was perfect for one box of pre-made beef stock (4 cups). You'd need two for the whole recipe.  

The miracle of the salmon

Something you might not know about me is that I'm obsessed with the culinary arts. Mind you, I've never been trained in anything other than 7th grade home ec (which doesn't even exist anymore) but lately I've been expanding my knowledge base, and with it my interest, via the food network and other such programs highlighting the skills of trained professionals and those aspiring to be like them. I even have a cousin who is a personal chef and works for the Boston Globe in the food section, so I contacted her and got some fun tips on online cooking courses, now that I have more free time.

So the other night I was watching children make salmon en croute for Chef Gordon Ramsay and decided I'd like to try it. But when I looked up the recipe online, I found so many ingredients that aren't on my budget list or in my cupboard that my heart sank and I had resolved to let it go- it was a want not a need and I have plenty of other meals to make that I can do without buying a ton of one time use ingredients.

Tonight I went to our ladies' night activity at church and one of my best friends and the originator of most of the good ideas I ever have which end up posted here shared with me that Aldi has WILD CAUGHT salmon in their freezer selection right now for less than 4 bucks. And when I told her how I had written it down as an act of faith that maybe when I was out and about I'd find a good deal because sometimes faith is like that...I shared with her my desire to make this meal and she totally agreed, offering that she actually has coarse mustard and is going to a specialty store this week that sells cheap puff pastry. And then we had the brilliant idea to make it together! Seeing as how we're pretty sure no one else in our families will want to eat it, we can pool our resources and enjoy it together.

Just a little tender mercy from a loving God who saw I wanted to try something special and created a way out of no way. I was willing to "do without" but it looks like it will work out after all.

Here's the recipe if you want to give it a go. Good luck!

A Meal for 3

I got a call from the compassionate service coordinator at church yesterday asking if I could help provide a meal to a family of 3. I had actually seen the sign-up sheet go around the room on Sunday and let it go by because I'm trying so hard to pinch every penny in our food budget, I just couldn't see it working out. Even our left overs are accounted for in my meal plans.

So when I was caught there on the phone between wanting to help (and the pride of not wanting to say, I'm sorry, we can't afford it right now) and the work I've been slaving over to stretch everything so thin...I stopped and thought for a minute. I knew we had two big bags of potatoes and onions that we'll struggle to finish before they go bad. And that I got a whole package of pork for free last week.

So I'm making a big pork roast with very little meat in it and that's what I'll take over tomorrow and what my husband and I will have for dinner tonight. It caused me to shift some things around on my meal plan - potatoes were originally for the steak dinner on Valentine's Day, so I moved something else in there-  but it worked out. And I suspect we'll even have left overs.

So not only is the Lord providing for our needs, but He's seen fit to allow for ways to help others, even when we may be barely scraping by ourselves.

Poor man's pork roast:

3 small cuts of pork

1 c water

1 (or what remains of) left over package of herbs de provence seasoning

5 red potatoes

4 carrots

1/2 medium onion

salt and pepper to taste

I put the water in first, followed by most of the seasonings, then layered the pork, followed by all of the chopped veggies dumped on top and finished it off with the last of the seasonings on top. 

Cook on low all day in slow cooker, stirring once or twice to even out veggies.

Since my cooker is tall and skinny, I opted to add a little more water to try to coat it evenly, but in most cases, pork creates a lot of juice. Since I'm not taking this over until tomorrow, I have time to adjust the drippings. I could even drain them into a frying pan and thicken to make a gravy if it ends up too watery. 

Now my only problem to solve is finding a disposable container to take it over in. I think I have one small gladware square container left, but it might not be big enough. We got rid of all of our plastic containers in the move and switched to glass. This is where it's kicking my bum a little. But I did save some cottage cheese containers so that will work as a back up. Problem solved!

Post edit: Here is a picture less than two hours later after a stir. See how much the liquid increased?

When being poor gets hard

I've been able to keep my spirits up because I have so longed for this phase of life that I'm overwhelmingly happy to be home and done with work and that pretty much makes up for anything negative in my life right now, but there is a solemn truth that going without things takes its toll.

It is in our nature to want more, and to want what others have, but also to improve ourselves and see our investments in time and money yield something meaningful. Something we've been looking forward to. Something that excites us. Something at all...

I was sitting along side my husband at a hockey game. The local "minor league" team (not sure what the hockey equivalent would be called) was playing on the same night as the church youth group activity, so all the boys went. My husband is one of the leaders. They asked us to chaperone and provide rides in exchange for free tickets. It was an OK game- lots of action, but the score was very one sided and got a little depressing for the home team towards the end. I enjoyed the whole of it and was grateful for something fun to do, a night out, and for free. But about halfway through the third period I started getting weepy. You see, we had pulled into the parking garage to find a few gentlement manning the gate, collecting payment. When the attendant asked for 5 dollars and we were unable to produce it, Eric asked if we should back out. The gentleman waved us through and said, "Don't worry about it." It was so nice of him, and of course made all the difference in the world to us. But for some reason it kind of broke my heart. I mean, we can't even afford to park at a FREE hockey game? What has become of us! I was reflecting on how we wouldn't even be able to have done something like that without the boy scouts paying for it. And my little soul cried a little.

So it's hard some times. And wanting something you can't have is the pits.

But it's worth it to make wise choices. And things work out.

You should read my last post.

buying and selling

After going through the "new" budget and finding quite a large deficit, I made a quick brainstorm list of some things we might try to ease the large gap a little.

I know we have some returns to make and a few rebates that are still being processed so there's a little help coming. My main focus last week was saving the money we have, but this week I was looking into increasing the actual bottom line a little.

I've had a pile of clothes to be sold to a consignment store in the area, set aside for over 6 months. I had intended to do so before we moved so there would be less to take over to the new house. Eric added a few items since, and it's been sitting in the living room for way too long.

Additionally, there were a few items that we got as handmedowns from my friend for the new baby that are either the wrong size and season, or just not my style that were ALSO sitting in a box in the living room.

Yesterday was the day. We took them over (the stores are right next to each other) and I got $17.40 for just a handful of items. I'll keep the rest in the garage because
1) some are fall/winter that they aren't interested in stocking right now
2) the toys she said they just have a lot of currently but when the inventory runs low they would be interested
3) We can have a garage sale later in the year with more baby stuff she's done with, more of Eric's clothes and some things in the garage we aren't going to use in this house (a microwave stand and a chair, and possibly some other things).

So I'm limiting what I donate, which was always my go-to de-clutter method, and trying to exhaust any possible selling options first. I had a roommate in VA who sold her clothes and stuff online when she moved across the country. I thought it was a little presumptuous on her part initially, but really, why not try, right? I know she made quite a bit at the yard sale we had and she didn't stop there. So don't give up, and don't give it away quite yet.

This is an opportunity cost we can currently afford due to the extra storage space we have in the garage. Last year this wouldn't have been possible because we had nowhere to put it all.

And the best part of this story is that we walked into the paint store to get our pricing and make sure the color we want is actually still available, and were sold 4 paint rollers for less than the price of ONE at the usual price, and the total came to EXACTLY the amount I had gotten for my clothes at the women's consignment shop. To the penny. Crazy.

We have a 15$ off coupon, they are doing 30% off the kind of paint we want right now, and we have allotted some of our tax return for this project so whether I believe it or not, we might actually get this house painted this year! Again, it's all about waiting it out until the timing is optimal.

In the kitchen- pumpkin cereal muffins

I was in the mood to make pumpkin pie- snowy, dreary day- but we didn't have any condensed milk in the pantry. Normally I would have just run to the store for the missing ingredient. However, I've used pumpkin in cookies and muffins and breads, so I knew I could find an alternative.

I found this recipe for banana oatmeal muffins* and tried it two weeks ago. We liked it a lot, but I haven't bought bananas since. The other day Eric finished off a bag of cereal but there was a lot of broken up pieces left in the bottom and I knew I'd be able to find a use for them so I put them in my baking cupboard. I modified the banana recipe, used the cereal instead of oatmeal and pumpkin instead of banana, and added pumpkin pie spice.

I think they turned out great. And what a healthy breakfast option! Cereal, honey, yogurt, walnuts, pumpkin and eggs.

Look how much I got out of the bottom of the bag! Almost 2 cups. 

Cooling on the rack. I used the whole can of pumpkin and it made 17 muffins in all. 

*I also don't have any flax seed around so I substitute 2 T of whole wheat flour. My measurements are a little different than hers and I just use vanilla yogurt instead of plain (since we have that on hand) and omit the additional vanilla.

In the kitchen- stir fry

My "chopped" technique of using what I have on hand came into full force today. I had purchased some yellow and red pepper on special to go with the carrot, celery, broccoli, onion and shrimp I had left over from last week. (Actually, the shrimp was frozen from long before that).

What I didn't have was any teryaki sauce, and I know Eric usually uses that as his base in stir fry. So I winged it.

I sauteed the veggies in sesame oil, set them aside and then cooked the shrimp two ways- defrosted and cooked through in boiling water and then seared and seasoned in a pan with my new invention-
Soy sauce, Dijon mustard, black pepper, garlic powder, curry powder and ginger. After the shrimp was coated, I added the veggies back in and dressed it all in the sauce. Then, after determining that it was good but not strong enough, I recreated it in a serving dish and emptied the pan into that bowl when I was ready to serve, mixing to coat. It turned out great! Served over jasmine rice from the pantry, just a light meal before we go to a Hockey game with the church youth group tonight.