White Orchid Melody

Happy Halloween!

No big plans for me.  Brian is out of town on business, so I’ll just be watching some movies and handing out candy to trick-or-treaters.  One for you, one for me….just kidding.  I didn’t even get any pumpkins this year.  Up until last year, we always had a halloween party.  Then after the layoffs, our social network disappated all over the country.  But I’ve been thinking about next year, and how different that will be with a baby.  He’ll be old enough that we should be able to have an afternoon party maybe.  Something more family oriented for our friends with kids, which is most of our friends now.  I’ll be able to make cute kid food, like spiders and worms and things!  I just love throwing parties.  I’ve already started thinking about decorating for christmas, even though it will just be us and the inlaws, and I’ll probably be exhausted.  I’m still looking forward to the christmas tree and stockings to stuff and lots of yummy food!  I’ve been trying to brainstorm clever gifts for everyone.  I don’t want to just go out and buy junk that no one really wants or needs.  I’d rather make some junk that no one really wants or needs :)  I saw a cute idea for a brownie mix jar, where all the ingredients were layered in a glass jar, so it made stripes.  Food is always a good gift.  I usually bake cookies for friends and neighbors.  We took some to our neighbor, whose son was one at the time and were surprised that he like the gingerbread.  My gingerbread is spicy, but he was loving it.   He’s two now and still has sophisticated taste buds.  I was eating some extra dark (72%) chocolate and he was wanting some.  I gave him a bit, figured he’d think it was gross because it isn’t sweet.  But he loved it, wanted more!  I was astounded.  I think kids are more open to different foods at that age, when they have no preconceived notions about things.  It’s when they start hanging around other kids that they get the idea that certain foods are gross.  Ignorance is bliss right?  I don’t worry too much about it.  I grew up eating whatever I wanted.  My mom never forced the vegetables on me.  I eventually realized that vegetables weren’t that gross (especially compared to what’s in the meat at the grocery store!) and some even taste good.  Everything works out eventually.  Life is too short to eat food you don’t like.  Brian has a different view on this and thinks kids should eat whatever they are given.  We’ll see how that goes!  This is an interesting book on sneaking the healthy food in on your kids.  It’s by Jessica Seinfeld (Jerry Seinfeld’s wife), and her philosophy is to feed the kids things they love and won’t argue about, like mac and cheese, but to sneak in the veggies so it’s more nutritious.  But, I think most of my vegetarian recipes are pretty kid friendly.  And mac and cheese isn’t really that unhealthy, if it’s homemade, not prepackaged junk.  And what if you always put broccoli in the mac and cheese?  Would the kid ever think that it shouldn’t have it in there?  I guess it depends on how often you eat away from home.  I think mostly kids are just creatures of habit and eat what they are given, but what do I know?  Ask me again in a couple years!

This is my first Tuesday no longer working at the YMCA.  I don’t know what I’m going to do with myself on Tuesdays and Thursdays for the next 3 months!  Not that there isn’t plenty for me to do around the house, but it feels weird not having anything on the calendar. 

One thing I’m planning to do is start working on freezer meals.  I checked out some books at the library on freezer meal planning (which included some okay recipes, most were meat dishes).  I think alot of the meals I make are pretty simple anyway.  We eat a lot of pasta, so I will probably just make some large batches of sauce.  The process requires a bit of planning to be efficient.  You have to have some idea of what you want to eat the rest of the month.  This is tricky for me, as I tend to be “in the mood” for some particular something.  Deciding what I want to eat a month in advance is going to be tricky, but I guess it’s better than being exhausted and hungry and going out to dinner all the time.  At least if it is in the freezer and I’m completely done for the day, Brian can take it and put it in the oven.  One website I found suggested that if you are just cooking for two, you can cook extra and freeze half each time you do cook, rather than having marathon cooking sessions.   I’ll probably try it both ways.

With the one vehicle thing, I’ve been trying to figure out how to improve my Mondays.  I teach in the afternoon and then need to go grocery shopping.  And the traffic is just awful at that time of day.  By the time I get home, I’m hungry and too stressed and tired to cook.  But at the same time, I’d prefer to grocery shop on Monday, because then everything is fresh and ready to go for a marathon freezer cooking session on Tuesday.  Even with freezer meals, Monday presents a problem b/c I have to wait for the dish to cook/heat.  The solution: crock-pot.  That once a year item I use for cheese dip or punch at parties may be seeing the light of day.  If I can conjure up a crock pot meal for Mondays, one that would be ready when I get home, that would take some strain off of me. 

So, I’ll be experimenting with freezer and crock pot cooking (vegetarian style, of course).  If I come up with anything super fabulous, I’ll post it to Recipe Thursday!

This is a great little article about the benefits of breaking your shopping habits:

 http://down—to—earth.blogspot.com/2007/10/living-small.html

Those of you who are addicted to your caffeine fix, but are looking for a more frugal solution than a daily run to Starbucks, might find the following useful.

Some form of espresso/cappuccino maker has been a fixture on our kitchen counter since we got married.  We aren’t regular coffee drinkers, but love a good mocha.  Making a mocha at home is much more economical than buying one out.  It might not be quite as good, but it’s a heck of a lot easier on the wallet.  And actually, our mocha-making skills have improved quite a bit thanks to this book.  It’s about opening an espresso business, but the tips are useful for just making good espresso drinks at home too. 

In addition to a machine, to make a good Cappuccino or Mocha at home you need:

Fresh, cold water - make sure the water you put in the machine is nice and cold.  And depending on the type of machine you are using, it may need to be filtered. 

The right grinder - don’t buy pre-ground coffee for making espresso-based drinks.  The grounds are too big and you won’t get a good brew.  Buy whole bean coffee and and an inexpensive ($10) grinder and taste the difference!  Your grinder should have an espresso or very fine setting.

Well-tamped grounds - at coffeehouses, they have tampers which are round metal inserts that mash the grounds nice and tight inside the filter.  Most at-home machines don’t come with one, but you can make do with a coffee scoop with a flat bottom, or even the bottom of a shot glass.  Just move it around and press until the grounds packed down.  Tightly packed grounds hold the water, which allows the sugars to be extracted from the coffee.  You will know your grounds were compact if you see the crema form on the top of the coffee.  The crema is a light colored foam that comes from the sugars in the coffee.  You will see it on the surface of the coffee and it should cling to the sides of the pot.  If it starts to break down, you have brewed for too long.  You should turn off the brew, or your coffee will get watered down.

A stainless steel carafe - this is for steaming your milk (or soymilk).  The key to perfectly frothed milk is to have the tip of the wand right at the surface of the milk.  It should create a swirling effect by suctioning and steaming at the same time.  Put the wand in and leave it in one spot.  There is no need to swirl it all around the carafe.  Once you have the desired amount of froth, drop the wand below the surface to get the milk nice and hot.

You’ll want to steam your milk before brewing your espresso.  Or, if your machine allows, concurrently.  The key is to add the espresso to the milk as soon as it is done brewing, before the crema has a chance to break down.  The best espresso is brewed into the serving cup, thus preserving all of the crema.  This is sometimes difficult with a cappuccino as you need a larger cup.

Making good cappuccino at home requires getting to know your machine.  But these basic principles should help you with any type of machine.  I have seen an improvement in the end product on a $30 machine and a $200 machine, just by tamping down the grounds and getting the wand right in the frothing.  You will be able to finesse the timing of your brew based on your own machine though. 

Happy Caffeinating!

Another use for oat bran.  So I posted those oat bran muffins before, the recipe having come from a simple living book.  I wasn’t thrilled with them, particularly with the blueberries.  I may try them again as a savory muffin.  Anyway, I have the oat bran still, so I thought I’d try it in a more traditional muffin to increase the nutritional value.  This is a modification of a recipe from Joy of Cooking (which by the way, is the best cookbook ever).  They make a great breakfast or snack and are very filling.  You could use any fruit or nut combination.

Trail Mix Muffins

Preheat oven to 400.  Spray 12 cup muffin tin with non-stick spray (I use canola oil spray).

In a large bowl mix:

1 1/3 c unbleached all purpose flour
2/3 c whole wheat flour
1/3 c oat bran
2/3 c turbinado (raw) sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Add and mix well:

1/2 c chocolate chips
1/2 c dried cranberries
1/2 c walnut pieces

In a smaller bowl mix:

1 1/3 c soymilk (or organic milk)
3 1/2 tsp organic butter
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla

Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and combine with a rubber spatula, being careful not to over mix.  The batter should be wet, but still lumpy.  Spoon into muffin tin.  Cups will be full.

Bake for about 24 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of muffins comes out clean.

Yum!
 

I upgraded my hand mixer and I’m just beside myself!  This new mixer is FABULOUS!  I was previously using a low end ($20?) hand mixer that I’d gotten when I first got married.  It came with a couple different mixer attachments including one for cookie dough.  Cookie dough is about the only thing I use it for, as I rarely make cakes.  Well, the finish on the beaters started to chip off into my dough!  Ew!  That can’t possibly be good for you!  So, I upgraded.  I went with this Kitchen Aid Mixer, which was about $40.  Definitely worth every cent!  I always kind of thought you were paying for the brand with Kitchen Aid, but this is a really nice product.  It only came with one set of beater attachments, but they work for everything–simple and efficient!  Just goes to show cheaper isn’t always better.  Next on my upgrade wish list is this Kitchen Aid Food Processor which my mother-in-law has in her kitchen.  I used it last time we visited, and it was so much nicer than the Black and Decker model I currently use.  I read some mixed reviews about it not holding much liquids, but I use a blender to mix liquids, so I don’t think that should be a problem.  It chops and purees like a dream!  I think it will be worthwhile to upgrade since we will be making our own baby food in a few months.  With all of the purging and upgrading I’m doing, we’ll be having a really great yard sale next spring! 

Update: While creating the above link, I found the White Food Processor on sale through Amazon for $129.99!  That is $60 cheaper than I’d seen one anywhere else online, and it’s $249.99 in store.  I’d really wanted the red one, but couldn’t justify an extra $60 just for the color!  So, I ordered it.  I’m so excited!

Furniture just isn’t made like it used to be. 

We’re refinishing my husband’s childhood furniture for the nursery.  I’d considered replacing it, but couldn’t really justify the expense.  It looked pretty awful after a couple decades of abuse, but was still functional.  Initially I tried to find a crib that matched the original oak color, but was unsuccessful.  So we decided that Brian could stain the furniture to match whatever crib I chose.  I found one that was a cherry color, so Brian started to stain the other pieces.  It is kind of amazing, really.  This furniture is was not very expensive when it was purchased, but is solid wood with dovetailed joints in the drawers.  There’s not a piece of particleboard anywhere.  It’s even stamped “Made in USA.”  Don’t see that much anymore.  (I believe in a global economy, but its interesting that we’ve lowered our standards for how things are made)  In fact, we’d been looking at possibly buying a dresser for our bedroom and just finding solid wood is a challenge, and then it tends to be quite expensive.  So, I’m really glad we decided to reuse the old furniture.  It looks much better now, and I think the room is going to turn out really cute!

My cat of seven years is not faring so well.  He’s been having seizures for the past year.  We took him to the vet when it started, but they couldn’t figure out a reason.  Apparently seizures in cats are very rare.  We started him on medication to manage the seizures, which worked for awhile, but we’ve gradually had to increase the dosage.  And anytime we travelled, he’d be off the meds for a few days.  (My neighbors are kind enough to feed and water the animals, but I don’t ask them to administer pills.) Well as of late, he’s been having seizures again–almost everyday this week.  It is really stressful to see him thrash around, and it can be messy, as he drools a lot and sometimes urinates.  It’s a bad situation, but I don’t know what to do about it.  Should we put him down just because he suffers a couple minutes a day?  The rest of the time he is fine.  I know that eventually it is going to come to that, but I just don’t think that time is now.  If I felt like he was suffering all the time it would be an easy decision, but most of the time he is fine.  And even when it comes to that, I don’t know how to go about it.  He hates the vet!  I can’t imagine stressing him out by going to the vet only to have him killed!  That’s not how I would want to go!  It’s so frustrating.  

It’s been a crazy sort of week.  Last friday night we babysat a friend’s 2 year old.  Sounds scarier than it was.  She is actually really smart and communicates well.  The whole frustration with small children, I think, is their inability to communicate what they do and do not want.  So, we had a good time.  Then Saturday morning, we met Brian’s aunt and uncle for breakfast.  They were driving their RV through town on the way back to Minnesota.  We had breakfast at the historic Bevo Mill.  We’d never eaten there before.  It was really nice.  They had a great brunch buffet and were smart enough to seat the pregnant lady right in front of it!  I didn’t have to eat for about 8 hours after that!  (which is a big deal for me, I’m on a 2 hour feeding schedule!)  After breakfast we visited with them for awhile and then had to go to an appointment to show one of our apartments.  It seemed to go well.  We had another showing Tuesday, so hopefully one of the two will want it!  It will be a relief to have everything fully occupied!  Sunday we just worked around the house.  We are reorganizing our closets, which we thought would be a weekend deal, but it has taken about a month already.   Brian also started staining the furniture for the nursery.  Everything is coming along slowly but nicely.

The one-car simple living experiment is still going well.  Although, I think we’ll be making some adjustments to our schedule.  I’ve been running errands on Monday afternoons after I finish teaching.  This is such a headache for me.  First, I am not used to fighting afternoon traffic.  Second, the area where I get my groceries is under construction.  The combination is horrible!  It takes so long to get to the store and back home.  I would just shop elsewhere, but Trader Joe’s is so much cheaper than the other groceries.  So, I had a bit of a meltdown Monday when I was tired from teaching and running errands and then knew I had to go home and make dinner.  I came home crying (its the hormones!) and told Brian that someone else needed to make dinner.  So we ordered pizza.  But that is only a temporary solution.  We can’t eat out or order out every day I’m tired, because that would be every day.  We need to get a deep freezer so I can start cooking things up one day a week to have quick meals on hand.  That is going to be more important as I become more physically limited in the next few months.  Then after the baby, well, let’s just say Brian doesn’t really cook.   So, the plan of action is to have the vehicle every other friday to run errands and then cook like crazy one weekend a month to freeze for those “I’m exhausted” emergencies.

So then Tuesday, I go out to the garage to get my bike out to go to the gym and discover that our garage door is all smashed in!  Thank goodness we’d already sold the car!  Our garage opens up to an alley.  The neighbors across the alley don’t actually use their garages, so I knew it wouldn’t have been them.  However one of them is having some work done in the back, a wall built and the yard levelled.   So, I thought it might have been his workers.  I went and talked to him about it and he said, no, his workers weren’t there on Monday.  However, the contractor had advertised for free dirt and someone had come by to get the dirt.  That was the most likely suspect.  No one else would have been trying to back up or turn around in a 10 foot wide alley.  But seeing as how they weren’t noble enough to leave a note, we’re out the money for a new garage door.  We filed a police report, but the officer said unless someone saw him do it, or the guy admits it, we can’t really do anything.  Grrrr!  The joys of city living.  These are the sort of things that make me wish I lived out in the country somewhere! 

Relative to the start of the week, the rest has gone smoothly.  Yesterday was my last day of riding my bike to the gym.  I have a week more to work there, but I’ll have the vehicle all next week as Brian will be in training at his job.  It hasn’t been too bad, really.  In fact, I’m pretty sure it was good for me :)  But I need a nap after biking 40 minutes and working out between my classes.  It leaves me pretty worthless in the afternoons.  Maybe I’ll continue riding my bike for exercise while the weather is nice.  We’ll see.

This is a simple and spicy appetizer dip, great for parties or snacks.  You can make it with canned or dried black beans (the latter being more economical).  It is great served with pita bread, tortilla chips, or wheat crackers.  The fresh garlic gives it a spicy kick.  You can reduce the amount of garlic if you aren’t as fond of it as I am!

2 cups Black Beans, cooked, liquid reserved
10-12 cloves Garlic
¼ cup Soy Sauce
¼ cup Olive Oil
1 tbsp Lemon Juice
3 tsp Cumin
Fresh Cracked Salt and Pepper

In a food processor, blend Black Beans and Garlic to a paste.  Add Soy Sauce, Olive Oil, and Lemon Juice.  Blend until smooth.  Add liquid from cooking if necessary to achieve desired consistency.  Blend in Cumin, Salt, and Pepper.  Enjoy!