Here's what we had for Thanksgiving dinner this year:
Mushroom and Farro Pie
Smashed Potatoes with Roasted Garlic Gravy
Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Rosemary and Sage
Galicky Kale
Pumpkin Tart with Anise-Seed Crust
Haagen-Daz Five Brown Sugar Ice Cream
Mostly the same menu we had at our Thanksgiving dinner last year.
Friday, November 27, 2009
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Chickpea Tomato Soup
Made a simple soup from the Orangette blog last night:
Chickpea Tomato Soup with Fresh Rosemary
It's good. I knew it would be.
Chickpea Tomato Soup with Fresh Rosemary
It's good. I knew it would be.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Coffee Couponing
Just to make sure anyone who accidentally reads this blog is bored to death, let me recount my recent forays into couponing.
#1, Dominick's.
3 12 oz. bags Caribou coffee regularly 9.99, on sale for 4.99. I use 3 coupons for $2 off 1 bag. So, coffee only 2.99/bag. I also bought a big container of yogurt and a pack of tofu for a total of $14.40.
#2, Jewel. A Catalina deal.
2 12.-oz. bags Dunkin Donuts coffee, regularly 8.79, on sale for 6.99. Two jars Smuckers jam, 2.95 on sale for 2.00. I used two "$4.00 off ground coffee" coupons that I snagged off some liquor bottles. In IL you don't have to purchase liquor to use the coupons.
Paid 10.38, plus got a $5 Catalina back. Regrets: 1) the Smuckers contains HFCS. 2) Using the $4.00 off coupons makes me feel like I'm cheating. Maybe taking coupons from the Bailey's Irish Cream display is wrong, although other couponers do it. (Of course that's not a justification for unethical behavior.) 3) Decaf Dunkin Doughnuts coffee was sold out, so I bought more regular coffee. What I really need is decaf. 4) DD coffee isn't fair trade or shade grown as far as I know, so it's probably harming the environment and screwing over the people who harvest it. Caribou coffee is a little better. It has a Rainforest Alliance medallion on the packaging.
#3, Jewel. Trying to find some decaf coffee.
3 DD decaf coffee bags, on sale for 6.99. Total 21.44. Paid with $5 Catalina from yesterday plus $16.44 out of pocket. Got a new $5 Catalina back.
I tried to use the $4 off coupons, but the checker wouldn't accept them. Oh well.
So we're well stocked in coffee for a while (although still need more decaf, since I drink a 3/4 decaf concoction). Will this type of active couponing pay off? I'm not sure. I've also bought tofu at Trader Joe's and produce at Stanley's and Tony's, so it's not like I'm spending no money.
It's a little bit fun.
#1, Dominick's.
3 12 oz. bags Caribou coffee regularly 9.99, on sale for 4.99. I use 3 coupons for $2 off 1 bag. So, coffee only 2.99/bag. I also bought a big container of yogurt and a pack of tofu for a total of $14.40.
#2, Jewel. A Catalina deal.
2 12.-oz. bags Dunkin Donuts coffee, regularly 8.79, on sale for 6.99. Two jars Smuckers jam, 2.95 on sale for 2.00. I used two "$4.00 off ground coffee" coupons that I snagged off some liquor bottles. In IL you don't have to purchase liquor to use the coupons.
Paid 10.38, plus got a $5 Catalina back. Regrets: 1) the Smuckers contains HFCS. 2) Using the $4.00 off coupons makes me feel like I'm cheating. Maybe taking coupons from the Bailey's Irish Cream display is wrong, although other couponers do it. (Of course that's not a justification for unethical behavior.) 3) Decaf Dunkin Doughnuts coffee was sold out, so I bought more regular coffee. What I really need is decaf. 4) DD coffee isn't fair trade or shade grown as far as I know, so it's probably harming the environment and screwing over the people who harvest it. Caribou coffee is a little better. It has a Rainforest Alliance medallion on the packaging.
#3, Jewel. Trying to find some decaf coffee.
3 DD decaf coffee bags, on sale for 6.99. Total 21.44. Paid with $5 Catalina from yesterday plus $16.44 out of pocket. Got a new $5 Catalina back.
I tried to use the $4 off coupons, but the checker wouldn't accept them. Oh well.
So we're well stocked in coffee for a while (although still need more decaf, since I drink a 3/4 decaf concoction). Will this type of active couponing pay off? I'm not sure. I've also bought tofu at Trader Joe's and produce at Stanley's and Tony's, so it's not like I'm spending no money.
It's a little bit fun.
Stir-fried Winter Squash and Tofu with Soba
Winter squash, tofu, and soba are all favorites of mine, so how excellent to find a dish combining all of them, right? But no, Stir-fried Winter Squash and Tofu with Soba is not a keeper. It's not terrible, but suffers from "would you like some starch with your starch?" syndrome. Like potato tacos, or the complete breakfast of cereal with milk, toast, and orange juice once recommended by cereal commercials. Or grain-based veggie burgers on a bun. Yuck. I would not like some starch with my starch.
Not that butternut squash isn't delicious and healthy, but I feel like the soba noodles need something more zingy. And the squash took forever to cook, so my dish wasn't all pretty and bright orange like the picture, but brownish and messy looking. It seemed sort of bland, too.
Not that butternut squash isn't delicious and healthy, but I feel like the soba noodles need something more zingy. And the squash took forever to cook, so my dish wasn't all pretty and bright orange like the picture, but brownish and messy looking. It seemed sort of bland, too.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Couponing
There's been a lot about couponing in the media lately. After reading this article on slate.com, plus coming across Frugalista, a couponing blog associated with the Chicago Tribune, I was inspired to give it a try. I've curtailed our grocery spending a bit this year, but we still spend vastly more on groceries than the couponers I've been reading about. The Frugalista spends only $80 per week, and claims to buy organic fruits and vegetables! Plus she has two kids! It's amazing.
The problem is that most coupons are for the very most processed grocery products, which I don't usually buy. For my first couponing expedition, I found a deal on Kellogg's cereal at Target. The cereal was on sale, and if you also used Target coupons and manufacturer's coupons, you could get the cereal for practically nothing. I screwed up a little bit by handing the cashier the wrong coupon, but still, I got two boxes of corn flakes, a box of blueberry Special K, and a box of Smart Start for a little more than a dollar a box.
On arriving home, I discovered that the cereals contain high fructose corn syrup, plus other ingredients I find objectionable such as artificial coloring. Ugh. Mike said he was fine with eating Kellogg's cereal, and I've had some of the Smart Start, but overall I'm bummed out by it. Mike and I both like oatmeal, which is our standard cheap breakfast. According to my calculations, cheap quick oats cost about $.10 per serving. The 4 boxes of cereal have about 56 servings total, and cost maybe $5, so that's about $.09 per serving. Plus, I add stuff to my oatmeal, like raisins and chopped apple and maple syrup and milk. So yeah, the Kellogg's are a slight savings, but maybe not good enough to justify the crap ingredients. Not that cheap store-brand oats are exactly a high-quality ingredient, but at least they are plain.
For my second foray into couponing this morning, I went for a Catalina deal. If you buy $30 worth of a certain array of products at Jewel/Osco, you get a $15 coupon good for any future order of groceries. The Catalina-eligible products include Progresso soups (no vegetarian varieties), Scott paper towels, Betty Crocker cake mixes, Hamburger Helper, instant Knorr noodle and rice boxes, Breyer ice cream, Yoplait yogurt, Chex Mix snacks, Ragu, Wish Bone salad dressing, etc. None of these I particularly wanted, but I came up with a list of things that might come in handy:
Yoplait Grande plain yogurt
Scott paper towels
Gold Medal flour
Yoplait Yo Plus
Breyers natural vanilla ice cream
Ragu
Kleenex
Since most of these items are also on sale, it could be a very sweet deal, or even a moneymaker with judiciously used manufacturer coupons. Here's how my deal played out.
4 Scott paper towels @ 1.99 ea
Helmann's mayonnaise 3.39
2 Breyer's ice cream @ 5.99 ea
Gold Medal flour 3.79
3 Kleenex @1.29
This totals 30.99. Minus 11.90 of "preferred savings" (i.e., the items were on sale if you had a Jewel card) and one manufacturer coupon for .50 off Kleenex, plus tax: a grand total of $19.67. And then, I got $15.00 in Catalina coupons, which I immediately used on groceries I actually wanted. So the bottom line is I got that stuff for $4.67; not bad. Absolutely none of it I would have bought today out of necessity, but it's all stuff we will use. In fact, we usually buy Veganaise, Whole Foods brand ice cream, recycled paper towels if any, and whole wheat flour, but those things are incompatible with Catalina couponing, of course.
I had planned to buy some Yoplait yogurt, but they didn't have the big tubs of plain yogurt, and the Yo Plus packs contain gelatin. I also couldn't bring myself to buy Ragu. It's so gross, very high in sodium, sugar, and soybean oil. At least the varieties that qualify for this spectacular deal. There is some organic Ragu that I didn't examine too closely, as it doesn't qualify for the deal.
So, $15 Catalinas in hand, I went to buy my real groceries. If I would have bought just $15 worth of stuff and got it free, this might seem impressive, but I bought a lot of stuff. Here's what I got:
huge cylinder of store brand oats
2 big cans Hunt diced tomato
Organic Valley soy milk 1/2 gallon
Org. Valley 2% milk 1/2 gallon
brown sugar
2.25 lb. 8 o' Clock Bean Coffee ($11.49)
2 packs whole wheat spaghetti
Mountain High plain yogurt quart
organic ketchup
Barefoot sauvignon blanc (to use for cooking wine, $5.99)
big jar Smuckers natural peanut butter ($4.55)
5 lb. granny smith apples
2 lb. mushrooms
collard greens
Using my $15 catalinas, plus a couple coupons, all said and done it cost $39.78. My grand total for the day's shopping, $59.45. Not too bad, considering the "big ticket" items I got -- coffee, wine, peanut butter.
I think the verb "couponing" is amusing.
The problem is that most coupons are for the very most processed grocery products, which I don't usually buy. For my first couponing expedition, I found a deal on Kellogg's cereal at Target. The cereal was on sale, and if you also used Target coupons and manufacturer's coupons, you could get the cereal for practically nothing. I screwed up a little bit by handing the cashier the wrong coupon, but still, I got two boxes of corn flakes, a box of blueberry Special K, and a box of Smart Start for a little more than a dollar a box.
On arriving home, I discovered that the cereals contain high fructose corn syrup, plus other ingredients I find objectionable such as artificial coloring. Ugh. Mike said he was fine with eating Kellogg's cereal, and I've had some of the Smart Start, but overall I'm bummed out by it. Mike and I both like oatmeal, which is our standard cheap breakfast. According to my calculations, cheap quick oats cost about $.10 per serving. The 4 boxes of cereal have about 56 servings total, and cost maybe $5, so that's about $.09 per serving. Plus, I add stuff to my oatmeal, like raisins and chopped apple and maple syrup and milk. So yeah, the Kellogg's are a slight savings, but maybe not good enough to justify the crap ingredients. Not that cheap store-brand oats are exactly a high-quality ingredient, but at least they are plain.
For my second foray into couponing this morning, I went for a Catalina deal. If you buy $30 worth of a certain array of products at Jewel/Osco, you get a $15 coupon good for any future order of groceries. The Catalina-eligible products include Progresso soups (no vegetarian varieties), Scott paper towels, Betty Crocker cake mixes, Hamburger Helper, instant Knorr noodle and rice boxes, Breyer ice cream, Yoplait yogurt, Chex Mix snacks, Ragu, Wish Bone salad dressing, etc. None of these I particularly wanted, but I came up with a list of things that might come in handy:
Yoplait Grande plain yogurt
Scott paper towels
Gold Medal flour
Yoplait Yo Plus
Breyers natural vanilla ice cream
Ragu
Kleenex
Since most of these items are also on sale, it could be a very sweet deal, or even a moneymaker with judiciously used manufacturer coupons. Here's how my deal played out.
4 Scott paper towels @ 1.99 ea
Helmann's mayonnaise 3.39
2 Breyer's ice cream @ 5.99 ea
Gold Medal flour 3.79
3 Kleenex @1.29
This totals 30.99. Minus 11.90 of "preferred savings" (i.e., the items were on sale if you had a Jewel card) and one manufacturer coupon for .50 off Kleenex, plus tax: a grand total of $19.67. And then, I got $15.00 in Catalina coupons, which I immediately used on groceries I actually wanted. So the bottom line is I got that stuff for $4.67; not bad. Absolutely none of it I would have bought today out of necessity, but it's all stuff we will use. In fact, we usually buy Veganaise, Whole Foods brand ice cream, recycled paper towels if any, and whole wheat flour, but those things are incompatible with Catalina couponing, of course.
I had planned to buy some Yoplait yogurt, but they didn't have the big tubs of plain yogurt, and the Yo Plus packs contain gelatin. I also couldn't bring myself to buy Ragu. It's so gross, very high in sodium, sugar, and soybean oil. At least the varieties that qualify for this spectacular deal. There is some organic Ragu that I didn't examine too closely, as it doesn't qualify for the deal.
So, $15 Catalinas in hand, I went to buy my real groceries. If I would have bought just $15 worth of stuff and got it free, this might seem impressive, but I bought a lot of stuff. Here's what I got:
huge cylinder of store brand oats
2 big cans Hunt diced tomato
Organic Valley soy milk 1/2 gallon
Org. Valley 2% milk 1/2 gallon
brown sugar
2.25 lb. 8 o' Clock Bean Coffee ($11.49)
2 packs whole wheat spaghetti
Mountain High plain yogurt quart
organic ketchup
Barefoot sauvignon blanc (to use for cooking wine, $5.99)
big jar Smuckers natural peanut butter ($4.55)
5 lb. granny smith apples
2 lb. mushrooms
collard greens
Using my $15 catalinas, plus a couple coupons, all said and done it cost $39.78. My grand total for the day's shopping, $59.45. Not too bad, considering the "big ticket" items I got -- coffee, wine, peanut butter.
I think the verb "couponing" is amusing.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
sweet potatoes and special sauce
This is my favorite roasted sweet potato recipe. The spice combo sounds a little strange, but works. I take the lazy way out and don't grind the spices separately -- I used whole fennel seeds because that's what I have.
With these, I make a special secret sauce consisting of: two to three parts plain yogurt, one part hummus or Annie's Naturals Goddess dressing, hot sauce to taste. I use Louisiana hot sauce. Shhh, it's a secret.
These unlikely components, eaten together, are delicious.
With these, I make a special secret sauce consisting of: two to three parts plain yogurt, one part hummus or Annie's Naturals Goddess dressing, hot sauce to taste. I use Louisiana hot sauce. Shhh, it's a secret.
These unlikely components, eaten together, are delicious.
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