2011 Week 4 Eating

Sunday - I made a HUGE chicken pot pie with boneless, skinless chicken thighs, lots of veggies and homemade stock for the sauce. It was COTC (clean out the cupboard) for the pastry, I had a box of Robin Hood which I used to make the top. It was delicious! And it also was served 2 lunches.
And I also made these cinnamon cream cheese breakfast bars for during the week. They were very good, but run rather expensive since they use refrigerated rolls. I might try making them with phyllo pastry in future.

Monday - leftover chicken pot pie.

Tuesday - pigs' hocks with Brussel sprouts and boiled potatoes. They were a little dry as I had cooked them on Sunday thinking to reduce the time.

Wednesday - spaghetti and sauce. DH has been stocking up on sauce when it is on sale.

Thursday - Again, COTC, made Spanakopita from Kevin's Closet Cooking. Since finding this recipe I haven't used another one. The phyllo pastry was in the freezer, the spinach and feta were bought for this and we had leftover tzatziki to serve with it.

Friday - ordered chicken kickers and pizza from Dominos.

Saturday - made a big lamb curry using up whatever we had which meant carrots and potatoes with homemade chicken stock. Served over rice and with naan bread from freezer.

2011 Week 3 Eating

So the plans for this week were:

Sunday - boneless rib roast (bought yesterday on special for $11 and cut into 3 portions for 2 of us) with broccoli and potatoes. The gravy was made from homemade beef stock that had been frozen in an icecube tray so was very easy to take some out to use.
I also made a raspberry banana cake using previously frozen bananas and raspberries from the freezer.
It made 2 loaves so we froze one. It was definitely a keeper!

Monday - chicken thighs (from freezeer stockpile) in oven with roast potatoes and corn with (feeling lazy) VH strong garlic sauce from a jar. Was terrible no flavour at all.

Tuesday - DH away on business. Dinner out with a GF.

Wednesday - DH only home after 9PM fried egg sandwiches.

Thursday - Take out fish and chips.

Friday - was supposed to be soup night but decided to use more of the freezer stockpile and had homemade pizza. Only purchase required was green peppers and mushrooms everything else was in freezer.

Saturday - steak

New Blogs This Week

Cow patty Surprise

http://www.cathyhasantsypants.com/

The Spotted Canary

Greens and Chocolate

365 Decluttering - Week 4

This was a very productive week, not sure I can exactly outline each day's decluttering items, as it was a very hectic week workwise.
However, one of the charities that pick up in the area called last week-end and said they would be picking up on January 28 so this is what we put out.



Thursday Jan 27 - we went quickly through our closets and managed to pile this up for tomorrow's charity pick up.

Sunday - I worked on the kitchen drawer. I emptied everything out and then scrubbed the cutlery tray.

Items to go!

The rest of the week was mostly paper - 2010 bills, statements etc. were cleared out.

Saturday Jan 29 - more paper work weed through and DH's business files set up.

A very satisfying week of decluttering!

Thirsty Tuesday - Punaluu Hawaii

Coffee shop on the Big Island in my favourite place to stay - Punaluu.

365 Decluttering - Week 3

So far so good, it is nice getting everything sorted and cleaned. Because, of course, when you start emptying stuff you then end up cleaning it out.

Perfect example on Sunday I decided to go through my bowl of match books from various places. This meant emptying it out, taking photos of the interesting ones, washing the bowl. Now I need to see if there is any value to some of these.

Sunday - match books - found several cards etc that didn't belong in there. Garbage.
Also found some old pens and stuff in my camera bag that were broken.
A box in my box collection that didn't mean anything to me and also was way too big for my collection criteria - charity pile.
Sorted through the stuff on shelf as you come in the door, various keys were collected and put in 1 place - the sewing machine drawer. Will need to find a use for these.
Found an old timer in the drawer - charity.
Wanted to make a cake that used molasses, however it ended up being thrown out as it expired in 2007!
Have another bread recipe that requires orange peel so when we finished our oranges I took the peel and chopped it in blender and it is now in the freezer for whenever we need it!


Monday - 2 books received as a gift that I know I will never read. Likely given to a friend who will like them.

Tuesday - put on white shirt for work and decided I didn't like the fit. Charity.

Wednesday - straps that are supposed to keep your fitted sheets on the bed. Charity.

Thursday - incense???? Why did I have this in the kitchen?

Friday - 3 months of old cable magazine and 1 2010 calendar. Recycle.

Saturday - monthly 2010 house bills entered on spreadsheet and shredded.

New Blogs This Week

Thrift Chicks
Love her title and page
Jenn from You Know...That Blog

JennyMac is one seriously funny lady!

And a couple of ladies from Ontario!

Vintage Gal

The Summer Porch

This has tons of blogging tips

Wednesday's Words - No Words

There are no words to describe what I watched yesterday as one of Toronto's finest was laid to rest.

Thirsty Tuesday - Kona Hawaii

These were taken at a beachside coffee shop on Kona.

Monday's Child - Athens Greece

The dogs in Athens are so well behaved and wander the streets. They are gentle and sleep wherever they want. The city takes care of them, ensuring they have checkups.

Some new blogs this week

Mennonite Girls Can Cook has some great recipes especially soups.

http://jillthinksdifferent.blogspot.com/ has a soup called itlaian One Night Stand soup!

A blog by a woman licing life as if it was 1957.


Tender Crumb was found when I was googling whether I could make bread pudding from cake.

and I will definitely be trying her apple cake recipe! And these muffins!

365 Decluttering - Week 2

Sunday
While looking for something else, came across old digital camera that I thought we had already gotten rid of. Found a 2GB card in it and added it to our others.

DH went through some old CDs with obsolete software that went into the garbage.

Two shirts into the charity pile.

Decided to go through the fridge and cupboards to take stock (see this related post).
Combined the 2 open maple syrups into the favoured container and discarded the other container.
Threw out the jar of tahini as it had no expiration date and I have no idea how long its been there.
Also thrown out was a jar of Coleman's mustard - not the dry kind, I am ashamed to admit that the best by date was 2002!

Also found was a pastry mix - will be used for chicken pot pie shortly.
A biryani mix - which will also be used soon.
One old baking powder tin went into the garbage as there was a new unopened one. As well as the sticky sesame jar. OH and I found a new sesame jar unopened with expiry date of late 2010, will hang on to it for now.

Need to find a use for some of the cereal we bought because it was on special that we don't really like.
Emptied opened box into container.
Used the box as a temporary home for all the loose hot chocolates there were there. When I go to the Dollar store I will get a basket to hold these loose items.

Found a jar of kalbi jiim that can be used to make Korean spare ribs using this recipe. I just won't be making the sauce from scratch this time.

Why do we have a fajita kit when we normally make them from scratch? Use this up shortly.

There is also a jar of marmalade that I wanted to make cranberry muffins with orange marmalade glaze from http://www.eatathome.com/. And/or perhaps these orange marmalade cranberry sweet rolls. Or perhaps vegan-recipe-damp-orange-cake-with-marmalade-glaze or even chocolate-cranberry-orange-marmalade-cookies from a new blog  In the Kitchen with Polly I just found.

Put the opened bag of noodles into the correct container.

I have a container from a gift of scotch that my husband received from a neighbour as a thank you for being his computer tech support throughout the year that I want to use for storage but not sure for what as I already have one I use for spaghetti.

Next large job to tackle is spice organization!

Monday - Wore my black turtleneck to work and now it is in the charity pile. It reminded me of an an article I read about turtlenecks being one of the worst things to wear so it is gone!

Tuesday - found my new winter coat, purple!! Old coat immediately into charity pile.

Wednesday - found 2 little purses/bags I bought in Greece and brought them in for 2 coworkers.

Thursday - randomly found an orange shirt I don't like. Gone.

Friday - sorted through the vitamin collection, combined and discarded some.
Took the juice container and the measuring container from the hand blender and will put in the basement to see if I miss them.

Saturday - Phoned friend's daughter that is moving into her own place at end of month and offered some kitchen stuff. She will be getting 2 small round Pyrex dishes that i never use which were taking up room on top shelf of cupboard.
I aslo decided I did not need 2 thermos warmers. I got rid of the green one as it was marked inside. I love using these for gravy for a large crowd, so much more sensible than a gravy boat!

Pondering
2 year collection of Photoshop magazines  - keep/sell/give away?? Just checked out their website and it really has everything one would need on it, tutorials etc. Also looked on Ebay and saw lots of back issues for sale with no takers.

2011 - Week 2 Eating

On Sunday I looked through the freezer for something for dinner. Normally I'm an old-fashioned type and love to do a roast on a Sunday. We thought we'd have steaks but didn't have any potatoes or crusty bread in the house. DH suggested going out to get them but I said, no there is so much stuff here let's just make do.
So again, we had sausages with pita and tzatziki, making use of our stockpile again.
Once this pile goes down a bit I'll be more creative and interesting.

While freezer diving I found 2 packages of oxtails for soup. They were frozen but I put some olive oil in a pan and browned them with some garlic, onion and a carrot. When they unfroze I separated them and continued the browning process. Then I added water, salt, pepper, bay leaves, thyme, sundried tomatoes (because I had a jar from a gift in the fridge) and let it simmer away. Barley and carrots were added to finish the dish.

DH decided to make some popcorn from a free sample of microwave popcorn we had gotten. Another good reason for decluttering... it stunk up the house and was uneatable as well as having a July 2010 best by date. Have I mentioned how much I HATE microwave popcorn anywhere near me? It is the most grotesque smelling!

Monday - leftover pea soup as DH decided.

Tuesday - Steak sandwiches using up leftover frozen steak.

Wednesday - Takeout fish and chips  from Olde Yorke - was soooo good. I took the photo only after I was half way through it.

Thursday - DH away on business and I went out for drinks and nibbles with 2 friends.

Friday - Ox tail soup and biscuits. DH had been in Montreal on business and didn't arrive home until 9 pm so soup was perfect.

I also started out to make aloo gobi to use up the cauliflower but added too much liquid so instead made a curry potato and cauliflower soup for during the week.

Saturday - Since it is a cold snowy day I'll make my tried and true favourite shepherd's pie made with lamb. I use Emeril's recipe with ground lamb and homemade lamb stock. I also add some nutmeg for an interesting twist.

Again using up some stuff already in freezer - the lamb and the stock..



Some new blogs/sites

These are some new blogs/sites I found recently. I find them either from other blogger links or when reading Comments and clicking on interesting commenters.

Peachy Chic is a shop with DIY jewelry and ready made pieces. They also carry purses.
I'm not a quilter but I have friends that are.Fabric Worm carries some amazing fabrics.
Jen at Fortysomething has a blog called Food and Whine.
Domestically Speaking has a fun blog.
Honey, We're Home has a closet makeover.
Steamy Kitchen isn't a new blog to me but I did think her recipe for egg rolls today looked really good!
Tales of Fruit and Cake tells a hysterical story about being locked in.

Hop on over to Ikea hacker to vote for the best hacker idea.

Thirsty Tuesday - Anacortes, WA

Spring 2008

Anacortes is on Fidalgo island in the state of Washington. Anacortes is known for the Washington State Ferries dock and terminal serving Lopez Island, Shaw Island, Orcas Island, and San Juan Island, as well as Victoria, British Columbia (via Sidney, British Columbia) on Vancouver Island.
The name "Anacortes" is a consolidation of the name Anna Curtis, who was the wife of early Fidalgo Island settler Amos Bowman.
These photos were taken at The Brown Lantern serving Anacortes since 1933.

2011 Week 1 Eating Review

One of the things I would like to get under control this year is our food budget. It's not really about the money but rather the waste. As well my freezer is stuffed and we really need to use up this stuff and get better control over meal planning and incorporate more vegetables into our diet.

I think I do a pretty good job with making soup stocks so there isn't any waste there. I keep baggies in the freezer labelled beef, chicken, turkey, lamb, ham, vegetable and pork. Leftover bones are place in them and leftover vegetables are added as well. I throw in baked potatoes, onions, peppers, tomatoes and any other leftovers.
When full I put them into the stock pot add water, bay leaves and appropriate other herbs. I leave them simmering and then strain and end up with amazing stock.
This week I saw a commercial for Knorr's Stock Exchange and suggested to DH to add to grocery list. He responded why not make our own? DUH!
Then today, when I was looking for something for dinner I found in the freezer exactly that! I had made beef cubes using an ice cube tray a while ago. Note to self - buy some ice cube trays at dollar store.

So this week:
Sunday - leftovers as I had cooked a primb rib for New year's Day.

Monday - leftovers again.

Tuesday - neither of us remembers...

Wednesday - was supposed to be Chinese style green beans with ground pork like this recipe which is more or less the same as mine. Mine doesn't have any sugar or sherry. Will post mine one day soon.
But instead we ordered chicken from Swiss Chalet.

Thursday - used up some pita and Italian sausages from freezer to go along with the tzatziki that was in the fridge. Check out this post.

Friday - made pea soup from some ham stock that was in the fridge and some cheddar biscuits using my tried and true recipe from the CopyKat site. These are a knockoff on the Red Lobster biscuits that everyone loves. We decided that Friday night would be soup night going forward.

Saturday - home made pizza. Had everything in freezer, fridge and cupboard.
Also felt guily about not eating the ground pork so made it into a meat loaf with apples and sage.

Some Fantastic New Blogs

I found this list of amazing personal finance blogs while reading the Toronto Star. They were part of a blog written by Give Me Back My Five Bucks. This is a blog written by Kyrstal from Vancouver who is an amazing young woman.
This list was compiled with Amber from Blonde and Balanced.

I've copied the article below from her blog.

The Top 10 Realest Personal Finance Bloggers!


1.Fabulously Broke in the City – I’ve known FB for a long time. Her blog has evolved a lot since she began writing, and I think she does an amazing job coming up with unique content every day that combines life and personal finance. She really takes pride on making her blog great – editing photos and creating a story behind each post.

2.Well-Heeled – I’ve been reading her blog since I started PF blogging. I think we have a lot in common – especially because we were both unemployed at the same time earlier this year and both got jobs around the same time too. I really like how thoughtful and relavent her posts are.

3.Girl Red Balloon – Red is a 20-something blogger finishing up her college degree. I enjoy her posts on being frugal and saving money because it always reminds me that, even though I’m almost 4 years out of college, living and budgeting like a college student can still be done in a fun way – and save you tons of money.

4.Punch Debt in the Face – I heart Debt Ninja. His posts are always hilarious and unexpected – between his stick figure drawings to his personal finance ninja rapping, he always comes up with surprising ways to entertain his readers.

5.Budgets are Sexy – I remember when J$ first came on the blogging scene, I thought to myself: “this guy is crazy!” And I was right. He makes personal finance fun in a very unique and engaging way. He very recently got laid off, and is now trying his hand at becoming a full-time blogger! He has the drive and ambition to succeed so I’m excited to read about his freelancing journey.

6.Enemy of Debt – This is a great blog, and it is inspiring to know that he came from over $25k worth of debt and was able to eliminate it all in 18 months.

7.Stacking Pennies – SP is amazing! She is a running machine, goes on amazing hiking trips (maybe one day BF and I will get to go hiking with her!), and is great at budgeting and saving.

8.Small Steps for Big Change – SSBC writes an amazing PF blog about getting out of debt, saving, living frugally, and life in general.

9.Young and Thrifty – She is a fellow Vancouverite who has just bought her first house! She blogs about investing (which I need to learn a lot about), savings and personal finance tips. I also cannot wait to hear more about her new place! Maybe … some pictures? Hint, hint.

10.Paying Myself – She is a lawyer from Ontario who has set up her own practice. Her goals include getting out of student loan debt, saving and living frugally. I love how she blogs about her real life issues and problems with money. It’s interesting and refreshing.

Recipes - Pork Meat Loaf with Apples and Sage

Feeling guilty that I hadn't used the ground pork as planned with green beans for dinner last night I searched for something I could make with it and heat up later. I found this at Put Pork on Your Fork. I had all the ingredients at hand so it was easy.

Apple and Sage Meatloaf


Yield: Serves 8
Cooking Time: 90 minutes
Preparation Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients



2 lb (1 kg) Lean ground Canadian Pork

1 cup (250 mL) finely diced onion

1 cup (250 mL) fresh breadcrumbs

1 cup (250 mL) milk

1/2 cup (125 mL) apples, roughly chopped

1/2 cup (125 mL) chopped parsley

2 Tbsp (25 mL) Dijon mustard

1 Tbsp (15 mL) chopped fresh sage

1 egg

1 tsp (5 mL) each: salt and ground black pepper

2 Tbsp (25 mL) butter

1 medium onion, sliced

2 Ttbsp (25 mL) flour

2 cups (500 mL) beef bouillon

Cooking Instructions


Pre-heat oven to 350°F (180°C). In a large mixing bowl, combine ground Pork, onion, breadcrumbs, milk, apples, parsley, mustard, sage, egg, salt and pepper, being careful not to overwork the mixture. Place in a greased medium loaf pan. Place pan on a baking sheet and bake for about 90 minutes, or until the middle of the meatloaf registers 160°F (60°C) on a meat thermometer.



Sauce: In a small saucepan, melt butter, then add onions over high heat. Cook onions until browned. Away from heat, stir in flour until fully incorporated. Return to heat and whisk in bouillon. Bring to a boil and adjust seasoning. Simmer for about 5 minutes.

Recipes to Try - Korean Short Ribs

This is definitely going to be tried! Korean braised short ribs or kalbi-jjim from Appetite for China blog.

Soups - Recipes to Try

Just came across this Baked Potato Soup with bacon, onion and cheddar at The Kitchn

Italian Wedding soup

Thirsty Tuesday - Birmingham

Along the Canal

Monday's Child - Egypt

CAIRO/MEMPHIS

A young woman works on a carpet at a carpet school in Memphis, just north of Cairo; they attend school in the morning and then work in the afternoons in the factories.

365 Decluttering - Week 1

So I'm going to bore you with my organizing plans in 2011.
A GF and I have a pact to do at least 1 organization activity per month with before and after photos.
I actually plan to try the 365 Decluttering which I first saw some time last year over on this blog. Since then I've seen numerous other blogs on the same subject if you Google it.

The idea is to remove at least 1 item per day by either throwing it out, donating it, gifting it or even selling it!

Day 1 Sunday
Started on bookcase beside computer. UPDATE not finished.

Emptied one of the cases for holding CDs - going into charity bag
Now have to go through the CDs and determine what's worth keeping.

Chinese calendar from restaurant - charity
NY Times crossword puzzle - charity
Mom's crossword dictionary with her tags - charity

Debated book 1001 books to read - kept it, love the art work in it.

Foreign money from trips - odd ones into baggie that was there - baggie going upstairs, not sure where.
US and UK money sorted and into baggie.
Cdn coin and old bills - will research if any value in keeping - UPDATE  just looked on Ebay and not much value for US 1964 half dollar or Canadian 1964 silver dollar. Also have a 1929 nickel, and a Bahamian 1 cent which is very pretty andd has a star fish on it. Maybe make jewelry out of them???
Then headed over to Etsy to see if anyone there would be interested and found this lovely bank! And the seller is located here in Ontario.
Did get some other ideas - coasters,
Or I cound add them to a coin bracelet my grandmother had made years ago....
Added them to the foreign coin bag and the Harrod's box they were in went into charity pile.

3 work books - DH's to go upstairs with his stuff. BONUS he threw 1 book out.
Threw out mag cover I was keeping??

Convinced DH to move humidor to dining room. this meant moving speakers on top of stereo to make room, which meant dusting first!

Sorted pile of International Living magazines - sat and read December's. Looked for article on best time to book flights. Found it!!! Will post soon.

Found bunch of things from trip to China including the sillhouettes that were made by a street vendor in Guilin. What to do with them?
Nice Chinese map - contemplating whether to frame or not....
Ten Yuan note - into foreign money collection.

Day 2 Monday
Remembered that Katy over at Food for a Hungry Soul blog loves old cookbooks so I dropped a note asking if she was interested in these 2 cookbooks and she was so they are being gifted to her! Love it when something goes to a new home. Now I just have to mail them to her.
This was given to me by a friend of my mother's and it is from 1930.

Don't you just love the first chapter in the book!

Found a bunch of CDs with downloaded music and had DH listen to them and load some on the laptop and then threw them out.

Day 3 Tuesday
Put a pair of yoga pants (too short) and a shirt, bought, worn once and disliked, into the charity pile.

Day 4 Wednesday
4 coffee mugs and a tray - ask friend if her daughters would like them for their new condo.

Day 5 Thursday
In speaking with a friend at work about something she mentioned her router at home only had 1 connection so I brought her an extra one that we had in the basement. Another good home.


Day 6 Friday
2 half full (or half empty?) jars of vaseline combined into 1.
Finished book that I will pass on to a GF as it is full of references to Edinburgh where we had both been in the spring.
Picture of our trip on video.

Day 7 Saturday
A quick clean out of sock drawer yielded 4 pairs of white socks, several pairs of hose that haven't been worn in I don't know how many years. BONUS DH put a shirt in the charity pile.