Menu Plan Monday

Monday - use leftover baked winter squash to make curried squash soup (note - this was okay but not thrilling)

Tuesday - leftover meatballs, rice, salad

Wednesday - baked fish, mashed potatoes, green peas

Thursday - eggs, potato pancakes using leftover mashed potatoes

Friday - leftover squash soup

Saturday - leftover meatballs

Sunday - leftover soup (or something from the freezer)

I went to Trader Joe's today to get what we needed for this week and still manage to have a positive bottom line in the grocery budget (although it's less than one dollar!). Unfortunately, I have 3 coupons for things we actually use often that are expiring on the 28th and I really don't want to miss out on them, so I think I will actually end up going over budget this month to get these items. It should be $5 or less, though. Hooray!

Menu Plan Monday

It's Monday again. I went to Costco last week (first time in over 3 months) and thus obliterated our grocery budget. I knew that would happen because I don't like to go there all that often (it's definitely out of the way and hey, if I don't go in, I can't spend a ton there, right?), and I had quite a list. I also made my monthly run to Walmart to get larger quantities of things that are significantly cheaper (like YoBaby yogurt and single-serve Tillamook cheese for Gavin). Thus, with two weeks left in the month, I have $18.49 left to spend! But never fear, we have lots of perishables in our refrigerator I am determined not to waste and a well-stocked freezer. Here is the plan for dinners, without going to the store for a single ingredient.

Monday - leftover soup

Tuesday - chicken and rice burritos, spinach salad

Wednesday - baked winter squash, baked fish, spinach salad

Thursday - last of the leftover soup

Friday - pasta with alfredo sauce, with spinach, mushrooms and spring onions, possibly salad

Saturday - homemade barbecue meatballs, rice, leftover squash

Sunday - eggs, country sausage?, homemade granola (possibly with plain yogurt - but I would have to purchase this)

Monday - leftover meatballs, rice, veggie (corn or peas)

Thai Chicken Soup

The Thai Chicken Soup from last week's menu was a big success. Chad and I made it together on Valentine's Day evening, which was very nice since we haven't really had the time to enjoy cooking together for quite a while. Contrary to the recipe, it doesn't actually take a total of 18 minutes to prepare and cook it (they must think you've got 10 arms chopping all at the same time), but it was worth the effort! Here's the link to the recipe:
http://thaifood.about.com/od/thaisnacks/r/TomKaKaisoup.htm

Menu Plan Monday

Tuesday - roasted chicken (make 2, for other recipes), butternut squash with rosemary and sage

Wednesday - Spring asparagus and chicken pie (with fresh or frozen asparagus and nix the wine)

Thursday - leftover chicken and squash, or make spaghetti squash if no squash left

Friday - Thai Chicken Soup

Saturday - leftover pie

Sunday - leftover soup

Monday - whatever else is leftover

Menu Plan Monday

Monday - last bit of the leftover Polenta Pie, random other leftovers

Tuesday - potluck dinner, bring ice cream and cookies; steamed zucchini for Gavin

Wednesday - taco salad with Mexican Beans

Thursday - spaghetti with homemade marinara sauce, green peas

Friday - burritos using leftover Mexican Beans, make brown rice

Saturday - waffles (maybe try yeast variety), eggs (make extra waffles to freeze)

Sunday - leftover spaghetti, green beans

Monday - leftover waffles, eggs

Menu Plan Thursday

Last week I had leftovers to tide us over to Wednesday, so I didn't bother planning our menu on Monday this week. Here's the remainder of the week:

Thursday: more leftover Polenta Pie (I doubled the recipe and I think we've got 6 dinners' worth out of it. Good thing we all really like it!)

Friday: Egg brunch dish (from my friend Katie), possibly salad

Saturday: even more leftover Polenta Pie

Sunday: out and about - not sure

Monday: leftover egg brunch dish

I got 3 dozen eggs at Fred Meyer this week on buy-one-get-one-free sale (18 each), so I figured we'd better put them to good use!

Notes on last week's menu:

• The chicken broth from the leftover chicken backs and other random items in my freezer (neck, etc.) was really wonderfully tasty. I tossed everything into the crock pot on low overnight and pulled the meat off the bones the next day (I got the idea from my friend Laura).
• I made the pancakes with whole wheat pastry flour and they turned out great. Gavin and his cousin Elle loved them, too.
• I rarely come across a recipe I actively and wholeheartedly dislike. The black bean soup is one such rarity. I ate something that tasted similar a couple times during my first trimester of pregnancy with Gavin, and the onion overload along with my heightened sense of taste and smell has rendered everything I ever eat again that tastes like that to be gag-inducing. It didn't help that, since the soup was in the crock pot, the whole house smelled like it for quite a while. Thankfully Chad thought it was okay once he doctored it with hot sauce and sour cream, and Gavin seemed to like the beans just fine. At least I didn't waste the whole thing.

Even more snow??

How much snow can the Portland metro area get in one winter??? Usually a light dusting that sticks around for an hour is the highlight of our winter. This winter, however, we've already had a foot that stuck around for over a week (the most snow in this area in 40 years, apparently). And then Sunday we had an inch that melted off by late afternoon. And now today we've got another inch (that will most likely melt off pretty soon). Not that I'm complaining, because I love the beauty that it brings, but I am certainly surprised!

Peanut Product Recall

Just an FYI...

It doesn't seem like most people are aware of this yet, but quite a few products containing peanut butter or peanut paste are being recalled because of possible contamination with salmonella. This includes things like Clif and Luna bars (certain types with certain expiration dates), some cookies sold by the Walmart bakery, etc. etc. etc. Jars of peanut butter sold to consumers have not been affected. To see if a particular product has been recalled, you can check the FDA's website here. They are updating it as more products are added to the recall list.
http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/peanutbutterrecall/index.cfm

Menu Plan Monday

I've planned our meals to about Wednesday of next week since it seems that's when we'll be finished with the leftovers. Here's what we're having:

Monday - Chicken and dumplings using broth/chicken from the leftover chicken backs from last week.

Tuesday - leftover chicken and dumplings, roasted Brussel sprouts

Wednesday - Brazilian Black Bean Soup (from the Moosewood cookbook, but adapted for the Crock Pot), salad?, homemade buttermilk cornbread

Thursday - pancakes, omelets with broccoli and cheese

Friday - leftover black bean soup, salad (with homemade balsamic vinaigrette), leftover cornbread(?)

Saturday - leftover chicken and dumplings, sauteed zucchini

Sunday - pork spring rolls with lettuce and bean sprouts (The spring roll filling has been in our deep freezer for at least a year and a half! I hope it's still good!)

Monday - Polenta pie (from the Moosewood cookbook)

Tuesday - leftover pork spring rolls

Wednesday - leftover polenta pie

Organizing Meals - Menu Planning Monday

Inspired by Chad's high school classmate Emily and by my growing dislike of realizing it's 4:30pm and I have no idea what we are going to have for dinner (or what ingredients we have on hand to make anything), I have started planning the week's meals on Mondays. Also, after finishing up our 2008 budget and realizing for more than one month we spent almost $500 for groceries, I am trying to get our grocery spending back to $350/month. This mainly means spending much more time and effort planning meals, paying attention to sales, and using coupons. I'm definitely starting out small in the sales/coupon part and may not get much further than a dollar off here and there because of the time and effort required. But I am doing my best to be much better about planning. So, in that vein, here is what we're having for dinner this week (hopefully I will post this every week):

Monday - Oven-fried chicken, baked potatoes, raw carrots with homemade ranch dressing
Tuesday - Leftovers from last week - wild rice and mushroom soup, green salad with homemade ranch dressing
Wednesday - leftovers from Monday
Thursday - Chicken Cacciatore with whole wheat spaghetti or spaghetti squash
Friday - Borscht (from freezer), maybe green salad
Saturday - leftovers from Thursday
Sunday - something using the chicken backs left over from the chickens used on Monday and Thursday (suggestions are accepted!!)

If it's not obvious from the list above, I (almost) always make at least 2 or 3 times as much as what our family eats in one dinner so we have leftovers for the rest of the week, lunch and/or freezer.

Our eating habits are almost always all-natural, no preservatives or artificial flavors/colors/etc., meat/dairy without hormones, antibiotics or animal-byproducts used in feed, and some organic (especially fruits, vegetables and dairy when possible). That tends to increase our food bill significantly, so I am trying to find other ways to cut down on costs - like learning how to cut up a whole chicken into usable pieces (thus the leftover chicken backs).

Low Fat Whole Wheat Banana Bread

I had some brown bananas that needed to be made into something or frozen a few days ago, and Chad and I both love banana bread. Since we have been thinking more about what we eat recently, I decided to try some substitutions in my favorite recipe. It came out really well - very tasty with noticeable creaminess from so much yogurt, which I happen to like. Be warned that it is less fluffy and a little more grainy because of the whole wheat flour substitution, but I don't really notice anymore since I try to use whole wheat whenever remotely possible. I did some quick calculations and found that my substitutions cut out 72% of the fat and 35% of the calories from the original recipe. If I hadn't been a wimp and had substituted yogurt for all of the oil, I would have cut 91% of the fat and 44% of the calories. I am definitely trying that next time!

Banana Bread (lower fat and 100% whole wheat)
2 c. sugar
1 3/4 c. nonfat plain yogurt (or, 2 c.)
1/4 c. oil (or, omit oil if using 2 c. yogurt)
4 eggs, beaten
4 very ripe bananas, mashed
2 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. baking soda
3 c. whole wheat pastry flour

Combine wet ingredients. Add dry ingredients and mix. Bake at 350 in 2 loaf pans for about 1 hour or a 9x13 pan for about 45 minutes (my preferred method), or until toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean.

Assuming you get 16 generous servings out of this, there are 212 calories and 5 grams of fat per serving. If you happen to use 2 cups of yogurt and no oil, there are 183 calories and 1.5 grams of fat per serving. As a comparison, my original recipe had 325 calories and 18 grams of fat per serving (1 c. sour cream and 1 c. oil instead of yogurt, white flour instead of whole wheat). Wow.

Advent

This year we are taking part in Advent Conspiracy - see our other blog for my post about it.

Politics

Tomorrow is election day - I am so glad this craziness will finally be over. I am really tired of how the presidential election in particular can be so divisive and how we Americans can find so many reasons to dislike and ridicule each other. My college friend Amy found this article, and I agree that I wish we could have more of this sentiment displayed around the nation in the next days and weeks.

Photography

When I "retired" from the recognized workforce, I decided it would be a really good thing to have something I could learn that had nothing to do with my now-full-time job of raising our son. So, I decided to start learning about photography. Or really, continue learning about photography, but in a more concentrated and structured way. I've been taking photography classes from the Portland Parks and Recreation Department, which are taught by Peter Schutte. I have really enjoyed them so far (I am in the middle of Photo II, which focuses more on the creative side of photography once you have the technical basics down). There are many things you can learn from books and websites, but I think creativity demands personal contact. I have learned so much about my own creative process through Peter's classes and really enjoy him as a teacher. Right now, I feel like the gears and cogs of my right brain are finally starting to rid themselves of the cobwebs and are slowly beginning to turn, somewhat unwillingly and with lots of creaking. But I am enjoying it! (FYI, the gears photo at the top is from our first photo outing of the class I'm taking right now.)

Last Tuesday we went to a community garden and I found some beautiful dead flowers. I really like them in black and white. It's funny, because I wasn't sure I would like the prints at all while I was photographing the flowers. Suprisingly to me, this process of finding out what I like and don't like is actually a much more difficult, and I am finding, more important, one than figuring out what f-stops and shutter speeds mean and how to use them. Here are a couple photographs from our outing that I ended up really liking.

Family Blog

FYI, I am doing most of my posting on Gavin's blog. But I am going to try to post more often here, too, time permitting, with thoughts and things that don't pertain to Gavin.

Averaging once every three days...

If I posted once every day in November and then take all of December and most of January off, that still comes out to posting once every three days on average... and I think that's not too shabby. Anyhow, updates on some of the things I had posted about earlier:

December travel -
Our visit to Georgia and Tennessee was a good one. The airplane rides were great; Gavin was happy to sit on our laps and play or sleep or nurse except for the very last bit of the very last (of 4) plane rides, when I think his ears were bothering him, and nursing seemed to do the trick. The car rides were a different story - after 4.5 hours one day in his car seat, he was NOT ready for another 7 hours the next day and let us know in every way possible. We did survive, however, and even made it to our destinations with eardrums intact. We found a couple ways to help entertain him - helping him drink water from a water bottle (did I mean spilling water all over him while trying to help him drink in a moving vehicle?) and giving him water in a medicine dropper. Who knew water could be so useful?

Gavin got to meet his Great Granddaddy and Great Grandmama White (my mom's parents), his Great Aunt Muzetta (my dad's sister) and some other relatives whose exact titles in relation to him I'm not exactly sure of (Edison, Susan, Dasha, Jackie) while we were in Tennessee. Gavin and I hung out with my mom and dad in Georgia while Chad was at a business training class in Virginia during the week. We had our traditional Birthday Party for Jesus and exchanged gifts once Chad was back from his class. We didn't do much while were were there in the way of activities but generally relaxed and enjoyed being with each other. I left Gavin with Chad and my dad for the first time (for more than 15 minutes) and went shoe shopping with my mom one night for a couple hours.

Dietary Restrictions-
I finally decided to re-try dairy products a week and a half ago and discovered that small amounts of dairy are now okay with Gavin's stomach! Yay! I'm limiting myself to about one full serving of dairy products over the course of the day, but I don't have to read every ingredient on labels anymore or not try something at someone's house because I don't know exactly what is in it. That first bit of cheese was oh-so-tasty, and I've been able to enjoy small amounts of ice cream! I think what I disliked the most about the no-dairy thing was that (1) it took a lot of effort to adjust and come up with new things to eat since dairy had been such a large part of my diet previously, and (2) tasty food and trying new foods were one of the few simple, every-day things that I really enjoyed and that having a baby hadn't totally changed.

Indian Meal Moths-
I killed one yesterday. It's the only one we've seen since I froze everything in our pantry and put stuff into air-tight bins. As soon as I killed it, I put everything in the pantry that hadn't been put in plastic bins (we had been a little lax since they had gone away) into them.

Teething-
Gavin still has no teeth. See this post for more.

I think that's it for updates on past posts. My sister came and visited earlier in January since we weren't able to see her at Christmas or in early December. We had a wonderful Advent and Christmas here in Portland and enjoyed celebrating with Chad's side of the family (and we got to use the webcam to see my family on Christmas day). We even had a little snow on Christmas morning (but it didn't stick)!

Last NaBloPoMo Post

I thought it might be harder to do that it was, but I did actually manage to post once a day, every day for the whole month of November. Considering my previous blogging track record, that's a pretty big feat. But, I've always been the type that if I decide to do something and really commit to it, I do it. The trick is to get myself to really decide to do whatever that something is. Sometimes it's just that I don't really believe it's that important, and sometimes it just takes an external commitment (like signing up for NaBloPoMo) so that I have some tangible way to tell if I'm succeeding or failing. Anyhow, it will be a little while until I post next since we will be visiting relatives for a while.

Getting ready to travel

Today and tomorrow I am trying to get ourselves ready for some across-the-country travel but haven't made all that much headway today. We did get the luggage we ordered in today, and that's a really good thing since our old luggage is basically dead. We decided on Heys luggage but didn't actually get to touch the pieces we ordered until they arrived at our door. I'm pleased, though, and really excited about how well they roll - they have the inline-skate-type wheels. The biggest piece is 30" tall (and at the limit of size allowed by the airline), so we will be able to fit the cosleeper in there - a tight fit, but it does work. (I decided I wanted to take it so that Gavin doesn't get too used to sleeping in a bed with us again and so that there's somewhere clean and not-cold for him to sleep both at night and for naps).

Gavin, #6 for November

Today's post

Cloth diapering

We've been mostly using cloth diapers on Gavin since he was born. I say mostly because sometimes I forget to do the laundry before I'm totally out of diapers, or sometimes Gavin manages to soil all the covers in one day, and I prefer to use disposable when I don't know that I'll have a reasonably easy and clean place to change Gavin's diaper (it's hard to keep the cloth clean in a nasty store bathroom). Oh, and I'll definitely be using disposable while we travel across the country. We've tried several different cover and inner diaper combos. I tried an all-in-one and an insert-style, too, but couldn't really bring myself to spend so much money on them (the cost savings is one reason we do cloth). The only one I really considered seriously was the BumGenius 2.0 one-size, but it didn't seem to fit Gavin all that well, and I thought getting the insert in was much more annoying than folding a prefold or putting a contour diaper into a cover.

My favorite covers, so far, are the Nikkys. We use the Bummis Super Whisper Wrap, but they are not stretchy and tend to get dirty quickly around the edges (from poop). The Nikkys have a tighter fit, are thinner and are actually more waterproof. Not surprisingly, they're also 50% more expensive. But, it means we don't need quite as many.

For the inner diaper, I think I've decided I like the prefolds best. We have both Indian and Chinese, and I don't really have a preference between those. The Indian shrank a little less (so they're about 3/4" longer), so that's nice now that Gavin is getting bigger but wasn't as nice when he was smaller and we needed to fold the tops down. I got a dozen Kissaluvs contour diapers at some point because I like that they aren't as bulky, but Gavin is getting a little too big for them, and he's not anywhere near the 20-pound upper limit that's advertised. They also get saturated really fast and seem to ride down in the front easily (inside the cover). They're also three times more expensive than the prefolds.

One great thing about Portland is that cloth diapering isn't totally unheard of, and we have several great cloth diapering stores. My favorite so far is Babyworks - they have good prices, and it's only about a 10-minute drive from my house. They mainly do mail order, but they're also open three days a week with limited hours. And, they know lots and lots about their products (which is how I found out about the Nikkys).