Four.Twenty.Eight

Faves and Raves!

Taking a quick break from the December Photo Project, I decided to share the after-Christmas special of Faves and Raves - what I have discovered lately to be completely awesome.  Enjoy!

1. Really enjoying this season's Starbucks Skinny Peppermint Mocha.  100 calories for a tall, peeps!
2. I haven't had a chance to use it yet, but I plan on having many delicious and healthy smoothies with my Cuisinart SmartPower Compact Blender.  It comes with cups, blending carafe, and a smaller carafe that chops nuts, herbs and spices.  You can blend your smoothie right in the cups.  I seriously considered throwing out my old, standard blender in favor of this one, but I won't yet!
3. Although you never want to have to use it, I really love my Nathan VitaBand I got for Christmas.  It's so geeky-techy for runners.  You can upload all your emergency contact and medical info (from your insurance info to your blood type) and it even has a chip linked to a Visa Prepaid Debit Card that you can use at stores with contactless payment.  You always have a little money on you and all your info.  Safety, y'all - it's important.
4. I can't ever say enough about Feetures Socks.  How did I go so long wearing crappy, standard-sized socks that stretch out, ride up on the heel, and bunch?  These changed my sock world. Price is a tall one, but worth every penny.
5. Along the same vein as #4, I can't say enought about SmartWool Socks. I discovered these first for skiing. Now, I run with them in the winter.  They simply rock.
6. I am enjoying Twitter's new site layout and features. They really improved it. If you aren't on the Twitter bandwagon yet, get ye there! It's fabulous for little quick-hits of information daily.

Recipe - Camp Wuckamuck Bran Muffins

My great aunt has apparently been making these muffins for years and I tried them myself this weekend.  They take some prep-work, but are fairly easy.  The best part is that they make a lot, and freeze very well.  You can then just pop a couple out, microwave, and you've got a snack or breakfast on-the-go.  P.S. I have no idea where or what Camp Wuckamuck is.  I've never been told.  ***Insert your own tall tale about a magical place called Camp Wuckamuck here.***

In a large roasting pan or washtub, mix:

3 cups sugar

5 cups flour

2 tsp salt

5 tsp baking soda

Mix, then add to above:

1 cup vegetable oil (can substitute 1/2 cup apple sauce and 1/2 cup vegetable oil to cut down on fat)

4 beaten eggs

1 quart buttermilk

Mix with above: One 15-ounce box Kellogg's Raisin Bran (approximately 8 cups)

Mixture must "season" before baking - preferably overnight.  I just cover my pan and store in the fridge overnight.

Spray muffin tins with Baker's Joy; bake 18-20 minutes at 400 degrees.

You can store this mixture in the refrigerator in a covered container; will last 2 months.  I prefer to make the whole batch and store in the freezer.

Makes approximately 4 dozen muffins.

Menu Plan Monday

It always helps me stay on my menu track if I put it in writing!  Here's my plan for the week:

1. Pork Tenderloin, Green Beans with Toasted Pecans & Wheat Biscuits
2. Adobo Lime Chicken Tacos (SUCH an easy recipe that I will share soon) - 2-night meal
3. Salmon with Creamy Caper Sauce, Zucchini & Squash with Parmesan

For breakfast on the go: Ezekiel Cinnamon Raisin Toast

For lunch at the office: Salmon salad & crackers, frozen Evol burritos or this Kashi frozen meal I still have in the work freezer

Faves and Raves!

Here's a few things I am really loving this week:

• The upcoming season of Surviving the Cut on Discovery Channel.  I have not watched before, but it looks like a good show.  It looks intense!
• The smell of 4-Wheelers parked in the garage.  I know you think I'm nutty.  I'm not.  Really.
• The iPhone (and iPad) app Pack the Bag.  Very useful to me this week, but it takes some getting used to in order to set up your list.  P.S. I'm a nerd.  You should be used to this by now.
• I rediscovered the Endangered Species Chocolate bars.  I have purchased them either at Whole Foods or Sprouts.  I used to eat these a lot, but got out of it.  I bought another this week and remembered how good they are.  I can break off a strip for a little after-lunch snack and get just enough.  Pretty healthy, too!  Favorites include 72% cocoa with hazelnut toffee and 72% cocoa with almonds & cranberries.
• This song by Bob Schneider.  Just because.  Quite possibly one of my favorite songs of all time, and that is saying a lot.  Also this new one here.  I can't stop listening to it.

It's the little things!  What makes you smile today?

Menu Plan Monday

The menu plan will be cut shorter this week, and that will be good for the budget!  Today was a relaxed, eating out day, and Friday will be pack-the-bags day for the next week's COLORADO trip, so that amounts to dinner plans for only Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.  Here's what I have planned this week!

1. "Bruschetta" style turkey burgers (from the freezer) with Chip-Ins chips

2. Leftover beef & chicken fajitas

3. Either grilled turkey tenderloin or grilled garlic-pesto marinated chicken breasts (both from the freezer) with a veggie to be determined

Menu Plan Monday

Sticking to the budget!  I would say we are doing pretty well reigning in the big, bad grocery budget.  This week, like I mentioned in this post, we are partially raiding the freezer.  I'll notate that on my menu item.

My meals for the week of 6/27/11-7/1/11:

1. Grilled butterfly pork chops (freezer) with grilled broccoli and wheat biscuits (seasoning for chops & broccoli to be determined)

2. Chicken Piccata Pasta Toss (2 night meal)

3. Ground bison (freezer) crunchy tacos with Uncle Ben's Mexican Recipe Rice (pantry)

For the tacos, I will create my own taco seasoning.  I just can't do store-bought seasoning packets, they have about 2 days worth of sodium in them.  My taco seasoning will be a mixture of standard chili powder, authentic New Mexican chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper, cumin, oregano and sea salt.

Is this blog about FOOD? A follow-up on iced coffee...

I'm starting to think I should rename my blog "Four Thousand Twenty Eight Ways To Talk About Food."  I need to write about something else.  Or maybe not, I do love food.

So, as a follow-up, I did make my two batches of iced coffee that I mentioned in this previous Tweet.  I purchased one pound of Starbucks Pike Place Roast and one pound of Starbucks Decaf House Blend.  I wouldn't have made both decaf and regular, but Sammy does caffeine and I do not.  For supplies, I already owned a mesh strainer and I purchased cheese cloth from Sur La Table and an 8.5 quart container from where else but: Container Store.

I proceeded exactly like the recipe and left my coffee to steep all day.  I returned home and got to straining.  The process was, needless to say, messy.  You tend to forget that looking at the quality photos on the step-by-step instructions.  However, it cleaned up fairly quickly, so no biggie.  The only thing I underestimated was my storage situation.  It strangely never hit me that I was steeping coffee in two gallons of water (actually a total of 4 gallons with both coffees) and I would probably come close to getting that amount of coffee out of it.  So, I pulled out whatever drink dispensers I had and made a run to Wal-Mart for another cheap one (not pictured).

As for the results?  Divine.  Tastes just like Starbucks that you buy for $4 each.  So I guess my homemade was still a bargain versus purchasing from the barista.  I just add some 1% Horizon organic milk and a dab of splenda.  If I had some vanilla syrup, I would use that, but I haven't had a chance to get any.

Here is my "results" photo of just the Decaf batch.  That is a one-gallon drink dispenser in the back.  I think next time I will half the recipe, no doubt.

Menu Plan Monday

Okay folks.  I'm going to get back to my blog.  Here is my attempt.  Hope it meets all your expectations - or not.  :-)

I thought I would start sharing my weekly menu plan.  Maybe by sharing, I can keep on my weekly meal track!  Sammy and I found out lately that we were blowing our weekly grocery budget out of the water.  By approximately double, sometimes more.  It was really bad, and opened our eyes, so we have committed to trying to keep our weekly grocery budget around $100-120 including breakfasts and lunches.  It can be a real challenge.  Eating healthy is hard to keep in a budget and it's hard for us with our work schedule.  However, I have devised ways to keep the cost down.  A couple of ways:

1. Plan weekly meals in advance (including breakfast and lunch).  It is easier to stay on track with a plan.  Our breakfasts and lunches are either on-the-go or at work.  It is often the easy way out to go to the deli for lunch or grab a bagel on the way for breakfast, but a commitment to buying breakfast and lunch items in advance really helps the budget.  This week, I bought a package of Ezekiel Cinnamon Raisin English Muffins and I keep a small tub of butter at work.  Sammy bought Van's Frozen Waffles for his breakfast.  For lunch, I bought bread and chips and plan on using some peanut butter and jelly I already have in the work fridge for PB&J sandwiches.  Sammy will be doing Evol frozen microwave burritos.

2. For one weekly meal plan per month, raid the freezer and raid the pantry.  My theory is that one week per month, we can save a huge hunk of the budget by essentially buying very little at the store.  At any given time, I may have a partial box of pasta, multiple canned goods, or other various half-used items in the pantry.  I may also have several Food-Savered and frozen meat items stashed in the freezer.  I can find recipes to utilize what I have on hand.  I plan on using the "raiding" method to cut the budget drastically at least one week per month.

3. Eat leftovers.  I often plan one or more meals a week that I know will yield leftovers.  The leftovers can make what I call a "two-meal recipe" or they can go to work for lunch the next day.  It saves on the budget and time when you can make recipes that will yield leftovers.

4. Buy meats and produce when they have specials and use the freezer.  I will openly admit that I am a meat and produce snob, and that can be pricey.  I like my Central Market and Whole Foods.  There are just some things I won't skimp on, and that is okay with me for the most part.  With that said, I always grab the Central Market Weekly Specials out of the junk mail flyer and look for what is on special.  Sometimes they have excellent meat specials, like $2-3 off per pound on pork tenderloins.  When these come around, I either stock up, Foodsaver and freeze or I will plan a meal around what is on sale.  It may bump the budget up that week, but I know it will balance out in the future.

So, with all of those ideas, I hope to keep my budget more in check.  I will try to provide an update in the future to see if our grocery budget has dropped.  For now, here is this week's dinner meal plan.  We typically treat Friday as our dinner-out day, so I plan for 4 meals per week.  I don't set any meal to a particular day, I play it by ear and see what works best that particular day.

1. Grilled turkey tenderloin (2 in a package, I Foodsavered/froze one), strawberry & blueberry fruit salad with vanilla greek yogurt & cinnamon

2. Grilled chicken breasts, this spicy pasta salad

3. Naan bread pizzas (2 nights) - Wheat Naan bread, chopped bell pepper, jalapeno olives & nitrate-free pepperoni

This Means War!

Sammy and I have, over the 5 years we have lived in our town home, gotten to know some of our neighbors pretty well.  It is really more Sammy than me, he will say hi and introduce himself to anyone, and I am typically just able to go along with his lead.

Last weekend it just so happened that we got even more neighborly.  We were working hard out in the garage doing some serious organizing (post to come) when one of our neighbors came by with a request for us to be "judges" in their "Neigborhood Food War."  We couldn't say no, of course.  It turns out that they have been doing a food competition every couple of weeks that other neighbors have to judge.  Two neighbors must create a dish on a theme and at least 3 other neighbors must pick a winner.  It's all in good fun and it really gets people out socializing with other great people that live right next door.

So, this weekend it was our turn.  Our theme was dessert.  The dessert I decided to make was flan.  We were also required to make a main dish that would serve as a "tie breaker" and I made my healthy enchiladas.  All in all, it turns out to be two main dishes and two desserts, more than enough for a meal and for everyone to have some.  Here's my WINNING entry in the competition (yes, I won this round).

My Flan (My only annoyance is that the platter has a rim that did not allow it to sit evenly in the middle)

 

The Competition - Our neighbor made Tres Leches cake, it was very, very good!

 

My "tie break" main dish - Healthy Turkey & Bean Enchiladas

 

We're looking forward to the next round (and judging)!  I think the next event will be "Grill Wars" and the guys will have to bring their A-Game.

A Favorite Salad & My Ever-Present Helper

I'm working this morning on getting Sammy's favorite salad ready for dinner tonight.  Doesn't it look fabulous?  The only drawback to this salad is the prep. involved.  It takes more time than most to chop all the broccoli, grapes, and green onions, in addition to toasting the almonds, browning the bacon, and making the dressing.  Every step uses a different pan, bowl, board, knife, or cooking method, so it takes some time.  But Sammy loves it.  So, I'm starting early today.  I still have to make it to the grocery store later.

 

I do have an ever-present helper, though.  I really don't know why he's hanging around - grapes are toxic to dogs, and if he got a piece of broccoli, I don't think he'd think much of it.  But, nonetheless, hope springs eternal!

Also, I wanted to share a little cooking tip with you that I have found to be most helpful - the "trash bowl."

You're probably wondering what the heck that is, but it is my trash bowl.  I have an old, fairly large mixing bowl that I don't use anymore for actual cooking.  My trash can is somewhat far from my counter top, and I don't want to put everything down the disposal, of course.  So, I use this bowl to collect my trash when chopping and cooking.  At the end, I dump it in the trash can.  So very handy.  No more back and forth, back and forth to the trash can - it's the perfect sized trash receptacle that can sit right next to the cutting board, stove, sink, or wherever your cooking is taking place, and it can get as dirty as you want it to.  Try it out!  I am sure you will like the convenience.