Cookbook Reviews

I really enjoy cooking.  I’m definitely not a “great” cook (yet) but I like to think that I can throw a meal together.  I also like cookbooks and I am always on the lookout for new recipes to try.

So I’ve decided to embark on a rather daunting journey.  The task that I have set for myself is to try my hand at reviewing a few cookbooks! (This will also be my first blog SERIES!  Woo hoo!!) Here will be my criteria:

1.  Practicality of recipes-- While it’s nice to dream about a perfectly stocked kitchen with every baking tool I may need at my fingertips, let’s get real.  I live in a rental.  I’m on a budget.  So I will be basing my review on how practical the recipes really are.

2.  Ease-- I would love to be able to devote whole days to whipping up fabulous delicacies in my rental kitchen.  But again...not so realistic.  I’m on a time crunch here, people!

3.  Other cookbook-y stuff-  If you read the intro to your cookbooks, usually they contain great tips and hints for cooking:  Ingredient substitutions, hardware substitutions, tips for special techniques, etc.  That’s one of my favorite parts about cookbooks.  I learn so much from the intros!

4.  My whims- Anything else I feel is pertinent to share with my adoring fan base.

Stay tuned for my first review!

How To Eat Organic On a Budget

The other day, I made a salad for lunch that involved lettuce and cauliflower with some chopped apple for sweetness.  Pretty healthy, right?  Well...calorically speaking it was.  But, had not most of the ingredients been organic, I would have ingested 109 different hazardous chemicals.  Chemicals that, when transported in a tanker truck, get the privilege of being marked with this symbol:

Those chemicals could have gone into my body.

The USDA found 42 recurring pesticide residues on the average apple.  16 different pesticide residues were found on the average cauliflower.  Pesticide residues on the average head of lettuce numbered 51.  (http://www.whatsonmyfood.org/index.jsp)  These chemical residues include known and suspected carcinogens, known and suspected hormone disrupters, neurotoxins, and reproductive toxins.

“BUT E!!!!  ORGANIC FOOD IS SOOOOO MUCH MORE EXPENSIVE,”  you whine.  First, remember that organic food is the cost of real food.  The $1 hamburger at McRestaurant is NOT real food...therefore it costs less than a real hamburger does.  This post will outline some tips for buying organic on a budget.  Remember, I am a poor school marm and Z has a less than reliable work schedule.  But we manage to do it WITH money left over...so can you.

Step 1:  Cut the Crap
Part of the idea of eating organic is eating less processed food.  The more processed an item is, the more chemicals are in it.  The closer an item is to its natural state, the better it will be for you.  So stop eating garbage.

Nom Nom Nom!  I love pink slime!

When you cut processed chips, ice cream, cookies, donuts, fake meat, soda, juice, etc out of your grocery bill you will be amazed at how much money you have left over for good food.  For example:  An average container of “fruit juice” at my grocery store is somewhere in the $2-$4 range.  Turn it over and look at the label and you see chemical after chemical after chemical.  Even if it doesn’t have high fructose corn syrup in it, the first ingredient is probably water.  So rather than paying $4 for what is essentially water...we drink...WATER.  It’s FREE.  Let’s say you buy two jugs of juice a week.  That could be $8.  That’s enough to buy 4 organic peppers for the beginnings of a delicious stuffed pepper recipe for dinner one night.

And the same principle applies to all of the processed food filling your cart.  Why buy a box of 100 calorie fake food snacks when you can buy a bag of organic celery?  (And the celery is going to be less than 100 cal/serving anyway)

Do you or I have the money to just ADD organic food to our grocery bill?  Probably not.  But look at your receipt.  How can you move around the existing dollars and cents to make room for more organics?

Step 2:  Know your Stuff
I do not buy ALL organic food.  Now that really is too expensive.  But our friends in cyberspace have come up with a two lists for those of us who don’t have tons of extra cash lying around:

The Dirty Dozen:

• Peaches
• Apples
• Sweet Bell Peppers
• Celery
• Nectarines
• Strawberries
• Cherries
• Pears
• Grapes (Imported)
• Spinach
• Lettuce
• Potatoes

These are the foods that have the most pesticide residue.  And so these are the foods that I try to ALWAYS buy organic.

The Clean 15

• onions
• avocados
• sweet corn
• pineapples
• mango
• sweet peas
• asparagus
• kiwi fruit
• cabbage
• eggplant
• cantaloupe
• watermelon
• grapefruit
• sweet potatoes
• sweet onions

These fifteen foods have the lowest traces of pesticide residue, so with these I skip the organics and just buy conventional produce.

Also in the “know your stuff” category:  Know the difference between an organic label and an all natural label.  A USDA organic label means that product follows USDA organic regulations:  No sewage sludge, irradiation, or gmo in any stage of production and no antibiotics or growth hormones were given to livestock.  Livestock were also fed 100% organic feed.
 

A “all natural” label means squat.  It’s a marketing technique.  There is no regulation of “all natural” and you might as well save a few bucks and buy the exact same product that doesn’t say “all natural” on it.

Step 3:  Know your Limitations
After you follow step one (cutting the crap) know what you realistically can and can’t afford and go as organic as possible.  Two examples of this from my own shopping cart include meat and milk.

Grass fed organic meat is SUPER expensive where we live.  We realistically can’t afford beef that has not been given hormones and antibiotics and was slaughtered while covered with its own dung.  So we just eat less of it.  We limit our meat consumption (much to Z’s dismay) to about 3 times a week.  I also have the grinder attachment for my stand mixer.  If we want hamburger, I will buy one cut of meat and grind it myself.  Yes, it is probably still chock full of hormones and antibiotics.  But at least I know it all came from one cow, reducing the risk of cross contamination.  It is also all meat...and not pink slime.

Organic milk is another thing we realistically can’t afford.  A half gallon of organic is the same price as a gallon of conventional milk.  I have found one brand, however, of conventional milk in my regular grocery store that claims to only use milk that comes from cows not treated with rBHT (the growth hormone).  I figure that’s the best I can do right now.

What you can afford and what you can’t depends on your income, priorities, and where you live.  Maybe you live next to a farm with grass fed beef that you can get on the cheap from the farmer but organic strawberries are $3 more in the grocery store.  Do what works for you.

Step 4:  Don’t make yourself crazy

Every organic apple you eat is 42 less chemicals that you putting into your body.  If you can afford the apples one week, but not the next, don’t go crazy over it.  Every little bit will help.

And think of it this way...the money you are spending now on organics is money you are saving on future cancer treatments, fertility treatments, and thyroid medication.

Good luck!  Happy shopping.

Honey-Do

In “our house of dreams” (re: Anne Shirley to Gilbert Blythe in Anne of Windy Poplars) we have some sort of outdoor space for Z to do manly things.  His tools are currently stuck in the hallway closet, which is not conducive to most manly activities.  

This outdoor space might be a shed.  It might be a garage.  We won’t know until we find “our house of dreams.”  One thing I do know:  I’ve got a Honey-Do list a mile long just waiting for Z when we find it!! The following is a list of things Z is going to make for me...he just doesn’t know it yet.

This one assumes that our dream home also includes some outdoor entertaining space.  But is this not genius? A wall mounted cabinet/shelf thing that you can fold down when you are using it and fold up when you are not!  Genius, I tell you!  This is for sale here but it's totally a DIY.

Serena at The Farm Chicks included this lovely idea in her kitchen remodel.  It's a cutting board with a hole over the trash can!  No more walking all the way across the kitchen with a balancing act of kitchen scraps, only to have half of the scraps go over the sides when you get to the trash can anyway.  You may call this idea lazy.  I call it genius.

This idea for storing cutting boards and cooking sheets uses tension rods and comes from Martha Stewart's design blog.  Now if it just uses tension rods, why do I need Z to make it for me?  Good question, glad you asked.  In our town house, I don't have a pantry as shown in the picture.  I really can't complain about the storage I do have in the kitchen...it's a lot given that we are in a rental.  But I tried this idea and, unfortunately, over every cabinet is a drawer.  Which means there is nothing for the top of the tension rod to "tense" against.  So my idea is a free standing doo-dad with the rods secured in some sort of a base.  Z!!!  I NEED YOU!!!

This last one may need to happen sooner rather than later.  Our shoe "corner" by the door is a hot mess.  This beauty is from The Container Store and I've seen other ones like it in other stores.  But  I have a hard time paying $30 or $40 for this when it's so obviously an easy DIY.




*Sigh...* those are just a few things on Z's honey-do list.  Guess I'll keep dreaming for now.

My Take On a Greek Myth

There are these new things for teachers coming down from on high.  They are called the Common Core Standards and they strike fear into the very souls of those who educate.  Basically, someone in a Washington DC boardroom decided that it would be a good idea if ALL CHILDREN in America were held to the same standards of knowledge (I feel a future post coming about why THIS IS A TERRIBLE IDEA).  And thus, the Common Core were born.  Up until this point, each state has set its own standards of knowledge (for example:  “cite evidence from a given text to support generalizations”) but now many states are adopting the Common Core.  It is not mandated yet that they be adopted, but I’m sure that is where we are heading...in all the wisdom of those on high.

Anyway...one of the common core standards for seventh grade language arts is “Interpret figures of speech, such as mythological allusions, in context.”  (Again...post coming later about why THIS IS A TERRIBLE IDEA).  Well, I don’t have much background in the traditional myths beyond what I have seen in pop culture.  Thank goodness for Disney. So I found a copy of Heroes, Gods and Monsters of the Greek Myths buried in the back of the school library and began reading.

WHY HAVE I NEVER READ THESE BEFORE???  Talk about enough drama for your mama...

Here’s a synopsis of my favorite so far:




Arachne was a young female weaver who was pretty good.  In fact, she was the best mortal weaver ever.  One day she says to herself “I’m so good, I think I’m better than Athena!”

Athena hears her say this and is all like, “Oooo, child.  Don’t you know I INVENTED weaving??”  So Athena decides to pay a visit to Arachne.

Athena knocks on Arachne’s door and as soon as Arachne opens it, she knows she is in for it.  Athena doesn’t just show up on your doorstep every day.

“You have something you wanna say to me?”  Athena bellows.
“ No ma’am,” responds Arachne.
“Fool!  I heard what you said about me behind my back.  Don’t you know I invented weaving?  So here’s what we’re gonna do.  Ima put you in your place.  We’re going to have a contest.  We’ll both weave a blanket.  The townspeople will vote on who’s is better.  If you can beat me, I’ll let you live.  Understand?”
“Yes ma’am,”  whimpers Arachne.

So the next day Arachne and Athena start weaving.  By this time word has gotten out and everyone has gathered to see the showdown.  Arachne’s blanket is pretty good.  After all, she is the best MORTAL weaver around.  But Athena kicks her butt.  And Arachne knows it.  So rather than waiting for Athena to kill her, Arachne goes off and hangs herself.

After Athena finishes her blanket and declares herself the winner (‘cause goddesses can do that and it is totally legit), she goes searching for Arachne.  She finds her hanging from a tree with her face all distorted and her eyes all bulgy.  Athena is pissed that Arachne killed herself rather than letting Athena do it.  So Athena curses Arachne.  She touches Arachne’s shoulder and her face gets even more distorted and her eyes even bulgier.  The rope that she is hanging from turns into a silken thread.

And Arachne is turned into a spider.  Doomed to spin and weave for the rest of eternity.

Seriously...why have I never read these before??  These are like soap operas...I can’t tear myself away.

Do you have a favorite Greek myth?  Please share!!

Couponing 101?

Sunday afternoon on EZ’s street is devoted to grocery shopping.  Don’t be offended if you ask if I want to hang out on Sunday and I give you a blank stare.  Hang out?  Sunday?  Those two words go together?  It’s not you...it’s just that, well, Sunday afternoon is devoted to grocery shopping.

I am most definitely not a Coupon Queen (Watch and laugh.  Please.) I have, however, devised a system that allows me to save somewhere between $20-$30 every week.  

Here are the things that I did/do that worked/work for me:

1.  Prioritize:  Decide what is important to you and your family.  The reason setting your priorities is important is that it will, to some degree, influence how much money you are able to save.  My priorities are lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, organic when possible/practical, and time.  Fresh fruits and vegetables often don’t have coupons in the regular sunday paper or on the mainstream coupon websites.  It’s also rare to find coupons on organic items in those same places.  But I have made time and health a priority.  Could I save more money if I went to multiple stores after perusing multiple store fliers to find the best deals on individual items? Or if I bought less fresh fruits and vegetables and more processed food?  Probably...but having some time on Sunday afternoon with my husband while both of us are healthy and happy is more important to me.

2.  Set aside some time:  That being said....you are going to have to spend SOME time preparing.  You can’t just walk into the nearest grocery store without doing any prep work and expect to come out with big savings.  My preparation involves finding recipes for dinner for the week, making a list from those ingredients, “shopping” the house to see what we need to restock (or, more commonly, asking Z “do we need more toilet paper? What about rice?”), cutting coupons from the paper, printing coupons from websites, organizing coupons in my coupon book, pulling the coupons that I think I will want to use, and throwing away the coupons that have expired.  Ummm...that’s why I can’t hang out with you on Sundays.

3.  Make a list:  This step is important (at least for me) because without a list, I usually end up forgetting about 3 things I need.  That means multiple trips to the grocery store throughout the week, which is a waste of time.  Also, without a list I end up with a mish-mash of stuff and no idea what to do with it for dinner.

4.  Cut coupons:  I love coupons.  I really do.  Each one is like money in your pocket.  I use the Sunday paper for coupons but I also check out www.coupons.com, www.coolsavings.com, and www.couponbug.com.  www.horizondairy.com and www.stonyfield.com offer some coupons on their organic dairy products.

Also check out your local grocery store’s coupon policy.  A lot of places will double your coupons up to a certain amount if you have a member card with them.

5.  Organize:  This was the most important step for me but I imagine this is also the most personal step.  I used to keep all of my coupons jumbled up together in an envelope in my purse and I never knew what coupons I had and what I didn’t.  I also had to go through EVERY SINGLE COUPON every time I wanted to use a certain coupon.  Again- waste of time.  Then I tried one of those accordion wallet things for coupons.  But I found that I still couldn’t keep track of what coupons I had and what I didn’t have.

So I got a small photo album and it changed my couponing life!!  I am able to see each and every coupon that I have.  I have them organized by section of the store.  They are also organized so that the coupons that expire earlier are on top while the ones that expire later get put in the back.  It’s got a nice hard cover that I can use to write on while at the store.  Mine even has a rubber band around the outside that I use to hold the coupons that I use so that they are out of the way but still easily accessed at the checkout.

6.  Pat yourself on the back:  The grocery store that I go to puts the savings on the bottom of the receipt.  I love looking at the total and telling myself that, because of a few hours spent on a Sunday afternoon, we have an extra $20-$30 in our pockets.  YAY ME!

Some final thoughts:
-  I don’t look at the store fliers included in the Sunday paper.  I find that when I start buying stuff because “it’s a good deal” I end up spending more money and have a pantry full of stuff I don’t need.
-  I go to the same grocery store every week.  It saves time because I know where everything is.  The store I go to also gives gas reward points (money off a gallon of gas for money spent at the store) which I think helps to even out the possibility that I could save more money elsewhere.
-  Get a shoppers club/VIP/members card.  Not all of my savings come from coupons.  A lot are from deals that are given to store members.  Also, at my store, coupons up to $.99 are doubled with a shoppers card.  That means a $.75 off coupon turns into a $1.25 off coupon.
-  It’s just me and Z at home...so I’m sure these rules will change as our family grows.  
-  Finally:  Take what works for you.  Ignore what doesn’t.  If none of this makes sense...do your own thing.  Whatev.

Do you do anything different?  What works for you?  Care to share?