THE LIGHT SIDE OF BARGAINS

The DH and I have been away on a little holiday visiting family.  People take holidays for different reasons and some holidays are for relaxing, sports, sightseeing, shopping, culture, cooking, visiting, and/or gambling.  My holidays will cover a variety of activities but you can be assured that shopping is always included.  I have never been on a holiday where no purchases were made.  We all love finding a good bargain whether it is a food item, clothes or beauty product.  I actually will look for bargains that cover a wide gamat.  I will take the time browsing for things while on holidays that I would never do while at home and running the usual weekend errands.  You need to have patience to browse and be in the mood to try clothes on if you are in a clothing store.  I have found much patience during this holiday and have done a lot of browsing.  I did find a number of bargains and was pleased with all of my 'finds'.  Of course you cross compare the prices to what you would have paid at home and whether this item is something that you can't find at home or is such a deal that it is worth stuffing into your heavy suitcase.  I have fulfilled my tee-shirt fetish on this trip.

Starbucks, Trader Joe's and Target is a 14 minute walk from where I am staying and after walking for an hour or so in the morning, the route home usually involved going to Starbucks and then maybe dropping into Trader Joe's or Target.  For those of you that haven't been to a Trader Joe's, it is a great grocery store.  Both of these stores open at 8 am each day so it is quite convenient to involve them in the Starbuck's route.  One morning I went into Target with my skinny vanilla latte in hand.  How good does this get - Life is Good.  A big store with many bargains.  I decided that I needed to find some shower gel and spent time studying the various shower gels on the shelves.  I settled on rainbath shower gel from Neutrogena.  It was a great price and I like the Neutrogena product line.  The bottle I bought is enough for at least a month or two's worth of daily showers.  What do I do with the shower gel after a week's worth of washing as we would be going home??  I hadn't made much of a dent in the amount of shower gel used.  No one else would use it if I left it so I decided to take it home.  As it has a pump handle, packing it in the same bottle with the pump made me nervous as my luck and murphy's law would dictate that somehow in travel transit, the pump would get depressed or turned and I would end up with soap all over the suitcase.  So I had to find a travel container to transfer the shower gel into. Of course this required browsing through stores and looking for travel containers for my $5.99 shower gel.  Some effort went into finding a container including lots of gas.  I looked at Glad containers, travel bottles and other modes of storage.  During my investigation, I never thought of the size of travel bottle I really needed to find, this was a minor detail.  I was consumed with the type of closure the bottle needed to have.  I ended up buying a solid water bottle for $1 at the 99 cent store which by the way is a great store.  My rainbath shower gel bottle is 250 ml and the bottle I bought is a litre.  Such minor details.   The liquid left in the Neutrogena bottle is some water I put in to wash the remnants of soap left before putting the bottle in the recycle bin.  God love me. 

WONDERFUL FRUIT PANCAKES

I have made these pancakes several times now and each time they turn out wonderful and always taste great.  I have made them for friends and the DH and they all rave about the texture and taste.  The recipe calls for fruit and I have used a variety of fruit each time.  I have made the pancakes using frozen saskatoons, fresh strawberries and bananas chopped, or diced apples.  As this recipe makes 16 to 18 pancakes, I have made a full recipe and I have also halved it depending on the number of people at the table.  You can put the leftovers in the fridge for the next day.  I think what makes this recipe different than others I have made is the yogurt.  These pancakes are light.  The picture I have taken of my plate has peanut butter and a little bit of syrup smeared on my pancakes and a few pieces of crispy bacon.

INGREDIENTS:

1 3/4 cups of flour - white or a mixture of white and whole wheat
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 egg whites or 1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1 cup plain yogurt
2 tbsp honey or maple syrup (optional)
1 tbsp canola oil
1 cup berries or other fruit chopped or diced

DIRECTIONS:

Combine all of the ingredients except the fruit in a bowl and blend until smooth.  Stir in the fruit.  Heat a non-stick pan over medium heat and drop the batter by large tablespooons onto the pan.  Cook each side until brown (about 2 to 3 minutes).  Serve with maple syup, applesauce, peanut butter, syrup or your other favorite toppings.

ON MY TRAVELS

While on my little holiday travels I have come across some interesting things.  Last night while strolling along a street market, we came upon a store called 'Life Is Good".  Can you imagine that?  Of course I had to go in and inspect the premise.  They sold clothes including tee shirts with the logo 'life is good'.  After serious contemplation I decided to NOT buy a long or short sleeve tee shirt.  The prices were $25/$30/$35 depending on the tee shirt.  I thought about how many tee shirts do you need?  Even though it had the logo on it, I resisted buying a tee shirt.

While out today, I was in two stores inspecting the active ware tee shirts.  The stores are similar to Winner's.  Can you imagine at both stores I found 'life is good' tee shirts for $14.99.  I ended up buying two of these. I just couldn't resist.  A bargain is hard to resist.

After feeding the ducklings this past summer, I have thought about if they made it to a warmer climate this winter and survived.  While out walking on my daily sojourns on my holiday, I have come across some mallard ducks. There is a whole group on a golf course that I walk by everyday and maybe the ducklings are here too.  The picture of these two ducks were taken at another location.  All of these ducks that I have seen are well fed as people are feeding them.

XMAS BUFFET TABLES

A friend sent me this joke about buffet tables at Christmas time and words of advice on how to work a buffet table and what food to eat to your advantage.  Christmas was less than a month ago but it seems longer than that. 

10. CARROT STICKS  Avoid carrot sticks. Anyone who puts carrots on a holiday buffet table knows nothing of the Christmas spirit. In fact, if you see carrots, leave immediately. Go next door, where they're serving rum balls. 9. EGGNOG  Drink as much eggnog as you can. And quickly. It's rare ... you cannot find it any other time of year but now. So drink up! Who cares that it has 10,000 calories in every sip? It's not as if you're going to turn into an eggnogoholic or something. It's a treat. Enjoy it. Have one for me. Have two. It's later than you think. It's Christmas! 8. GRAVY  If something comes with gravy, use it. That's the whole point of gravy. Gravy does not stand alone. Pour it on. Make a volcano out of your mashed potatoes. Fill it with gravy. Eat the volcano. Repeat. 7. MASHED POTATOES  As for mashed potatoes, always ask if they're made with skim milk or whole milk. If it's skim, pass. Why bother? It's like buying a sports car with an automatic transmission. 6. PRE-EATING  Do not have a snack before going to a party in an effort to control your eating. The whole point of going to a Christmas party is to eat other people's food for free. Lots of it. Hello?   5. EXERCISE  Under no circumstances should you exercise between now and New Year's. You can do that in January when you have nothing else to do. This is the time for long naps, which you'll need after circling the buffet table while carrying a ten-pound plate of food and that vat of eggnog. 4. SANTA COOKIES  If you come across something really good at a buffet table, like frosted Christmas cookies in the shape and size of Santa, position yourself near them and don't budge. Have as many as you can before becoming the center of attention. They're like a beautiful pair of shoes. If you leave them behind, you're never going to see them again. 3. PIES  Same for pies. Apple, pumpkin, mincemeat. Have a slice of each. Or if you don't like mincemeat, have two apples and one pumpkin. Always have three. When else do you get to have more than one dessert? Labor Day? 2. FRUITCAKE  Did someone mention fruitcake? Granted, it's loaded with the mandatory celebratory calories, but avoid it at all cost. I mean, have some standards. 1. MOTTO  One final tip: If you don't feel terrible when you leave the party or get up from the table, you haven't been paying attention. Re-read tips; start over, but hurry, January is just around the corner. Remember this motto to live by: Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate in one hand, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and screaming "WOOHOO! What a ride!"

WATER FOUNTAINS

Sometimes on holidays you come across things that make you pause, laugh or shake your head.  As you know, we have a male yellow lab retriever.  Being a male, it is always important for him to leave his business card or calling card at certain landmark locations.  While out walking him, he has his favorite spots that require a sniff and then a lifting of his leg and a squirt or two of his calling card.  As there are a number of favorite spots for advertising that he has been there, I often wonder where he finds all of this volume of liquid; at times it seems like an endless supply. 

I came across a fountain today that made me laugh and think about our dog. This  fountain looks like a lab.

I would have liked to have seen a real dog viewing this fountain to see the reaction.  The other fountains and statues at this restaurant were interesting but not as funny as this dog.

MORE THAN JUST COOKBOOKS

About a year and a half ago or so I came across a blog site called the Pioneer Woman (www.the pioneerwoman.com).  This award living website belongs to Ree Drummond and she shares recipes, her photographs, home and garden ideas, homeschooling ideas and hilarious stories about her transition from being a city girl and growing up in a house that backed a golf course to being married to an Oklahoma rancher and living on an isolated cattle ranch with four children.  Her stories are funny, real and she loves to make fun of herself.  She wasn't looking to get involved with a rancher but a chance meeting changed her life.   Her blog started off because she wanted to share photos of her kids with her mom who lived in another state.

Within a week of starting her blog, Dee went from posting photos to sharing other things going on in her life.  About a few months after starting her blog, she posted photos in a step-by-step fashion on how to cook a steak.  That was her first foray into creating a whole section on her website devoted to cooking.   What her readers and I enjoy is that her recipes include photos of what the dish looks like before, during and the finished food product.  All the photography is done by her and it doesn't require a food stylist.   Dee started working on a cookbook awhile ago and this past Fall it was published.  It is entitled 'The Pioneer Woman Cooks'.  This cookbook was on my Christmas wish list and good friends bought it for me.  It is a wonderful cookbook and for me, it is more than just a cookbook, it is a book with wonderful photos of her ranch, her kids, cattle, horses and dogs.   This is a type of book that you keep on the coffee table or on a counter all the time.  It is not a cookbook to hide on a shelf.  The recipes with the step-by-step procedures are fantastic.   When Dee married her cowboy whom she calls the Marlboro Man she had to learn to cook food that cowboys would eat.  She had been at one point been a vegetarian and food snob living in Los Angeles so this lifestyle was a drastic change as these cowboys don't eat sushi.   For all these years on her website, she calls her husband the Marlboro Man and never uses his real name.  I finally found out his real name as she provided it on the back inside cover of her book.  His name is Ladd.  It is very fitting name for an Oklahoma cowboy.

Another Cookbook on my Christmas list was 'The Steamy Kitchen Cookbook'  by Jaden Hair.  The recipes are all asian and don't appear to be complicated.  I came upon this cookbook because I found her website 'www.steamykitchen.com' awhile ago.  This cookbook is of course different than the Pioneer Woman Cooks.  Jaden Hair uses the chinese recipes that her mother cooked plus incorporates thai, korean, japanese and vietnamese recipes into the book.  Jaden teaches cooking classes in Tampa and Los Angeles, writes columns in newspapers, is a regular guest on some US television programs and regularly blogs.  All the photographs taken in the cookbook were shot by Jaden.   Because I really like Asian food, I was attracted to this cookbook.   Each recipe includes a photograph and in a number of cases, detailed tips or notes and options.   I have made one recipe called coconut shrimp which it was very simple to make and tasty.  There are many recipes from this cookbook that I plan to make.

MAPLE COOKIES

I like using maple syrup in cooking,  eg glazing salmon with maple syrup before baking and adding to foods such as cooked oatmeal or plain yogurt.  I usually buy a big jug from Costco which has a grade of Canada number 1 light.  I couldn't explain to you the differences in grades and the effect of timing of tapping maple trees to darkness of syrup.  I have read that a syrup collected later in the season will be  darker and richer and have a more mapley taste.

I came across this recipe on the food site 'simply recipes' and thought that it would be a great cookie to make.   Cookies along with ice cream is at the top of my food list.  I haven't made these cookies yet but plan to do so in the near future.

MAPLE COOKIES

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup (1 stick) of unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup of dark brown sugar

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1 large egg

1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon of maple syrup (Grade B preferably)

2 cups of all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon of baking soda

1/2 teaspoon of salt

3/4 cup of chopped walnuts

DIRECTIONS:

Cream the butter and sugar together at medium speed for three minutes or until light and fluffy.  Add the vanilla extract and egg and mix until well incorporated.  Add the maple syrup and mix well. 

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt.  Slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix until just incorporated.  Fold in the walnuts.  Cover with plastic wrap and chill for thirty minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350F.  Drop spoonfuls of the cookie, about 1 inch balls, onto cookie sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges.  Allow to cool on the cookie sheet for a minute or two before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.  Makes 3 dozen.

BLACK-EYED PEAS AND CORN BREAD

Eating black-eyed peas at the start of the New Year is suppose to give you good luck according to those in the know who live in the southern U.S. states.   I am all for more good luck so I decided to make a dish with black-eyed peas this weekend.  Black-eyed peas is not a bean that I gravitate to on a routine basis.  I tend to cook more with chick peas, lentils, romano, black beans, kidney beans, yellow and green peas and northern beans.  Black-eyed peas is a bean popular in the southern U.S.  Why I have black-eyed peas in my pantry is due to a shopping spree several years ago at a local health food store.  I had the urge to buy 12 different kinds of beans in order to make a mixture up for soups.   I now have a collection of many kinds of beans.   The recipe I am providing below was interesting to me as it requires ham and I still have rosemary ham left-over from using some for the turkey stuffing for Christmas.  I did not make this recipe spicy as I didn't think cumin and cayenne pepper would go with rosemary.

What I probably enjoyed even more with this meal is the cornbread.  This cornbread tastes wonderful and the recipe is a keeper.  I even had a slice this morning for breakfast with melted cheddar cheese and tomato on top.

SLOW COOKER BLACK-EYED PEAS

INGREDIENTS:

4 ½ cups water

2 cubes chicken bouillon or 2 tsp of powder

2 cups of dried black-eyed peas

1 onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 stalks celery, chopped

1 red bell pepper, diced

5 ounces diced ham

4 slices bacon

salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

Pour the water into a slow cooker, add the bouillon cubes, and stir to dissolve.  In a frying pan, fry the bacon until crisp and chop into small pieces.  Add to the slow cooker.  Leave some of the bacon fat in the frying pan and sauté the onions, celery and garlic until golden brown.  Add to the slow cooker.  Add the remaining ingredients - black-eyed peas, bell pepper, ham, salt, and pepper to the slow cooker; stir to blend. Cover the slow cooker and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours until the beans are tender.  Serves 8.  The black-eyed peas do not require pre-soaking.

OPTIONS TO MAKE THE DISH SPICY:

1 jalapeno chile, seeded and minced

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1 1/2 tsp cumin

CORNBREAD

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups flour

1 ½ cups cornmeal

2 tbsp baking powder

1 ½ tsp salt

3 tbsp sugar or splenda

2 eggs

¼ cup oil or melted butter

2 ½ cups buttermilk or sour milk (directions below)

1 cup corn kernals, optional

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped, optional

DIRECTIONS:

In a large bowl combine the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, salt and sugar.  In a separate bowl, combine the eggs, oil and buttermilk.  Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and combine.  Add the corn and jalapeno if using.  Stir until all of the ingredients are moistened.  Transfer the batter to an oiled 13 X 9 inch baking dish.  Bake at 350 degrees F for about 35 minutes.  Cool for 20 minutes before cutting into wedges or squares.  Makes one large cornbread.

TO SOUR MILK:

For each cup of milk, add 1 tbsp lemon juice or vinegar to the measuring cup.  Allow to rest for 10 minutes before adding to the recipe.

Recipe from Bonnie Stern “Friday Night Dinners”

SANTA - HEALTH, LOGISTICS AND SCIENCE

If you believe in Santa Claus, you might not want to read this posting.......  A recent article in Science Daily (December 16, 2009) has questioned whether Santa exists.  It is based on an unhealthy lifestyle, working conditions and the stress of having to deliver gifts to 152 million homes in 24 hours.  Furthermore, these researchers from the University of Gotenburg in Sweden feel that Santa could not live at the north pole because there is a lack of reindeer pasture at the north pole.   Because of Santa's big round belly and red face, the researchers feel he is at risk for both a heart attack and a stroke and he likely has high blood pressure.

These researchers figured out the number of children (based on religion) that Santa would have to visit - 380 million.  They used the average of 2.5 children per house and got 152 million home visits on Christmas Eve.   Over a 24 hour period, that equals 900 visits per second.  To park his sleigh, climb down the chimney, distribute the Christmas gifts, shove some cookies into his mouth, take a swig of milk and then leave the building, his sleigh needs to cruise at the speed of 90 km per second or about 265 times the speed of sound.   Furthermore, the acceleration needed to accomplish this requires a g-force of 14 million times Earth's gravity.  Fighter pilots become unconscious at 7g's.   A further challenge is how many reindeer are really required.  To pull all of these presents for the 380 million children and knowing that a reindeer can pull 200 kilos, Santa would need 1.9 million airborne reindeer to pull his sleigh.  Finally.... the estimated speed of Santa's travel would make him and his reindeer explode and burn up-up.

I think we all need a bit of magic in our lives, so whether or not you believe in Santa, it is good to dream and wish for things that are magical.   The above picture is a male partridge who along with his female mate, come for an afternoon feed of bird seed each day in our backyard.   They are magical to watch.

LEFTOVER TURKEY

It is sometimes a challenge to figure out the many ways to cook or use leftover turkey.  I made a 12 pound turkey on Christmas day and there were leftovers.  Thank goodness I didn't cook the 17 pound turkey that I have in the freezer.  I made up a care package for one of my guests and still had a bag of sliced meat left.  I did freeze the bones to make turkey broth.  


In case you are wondering why there is tin foil sticking out of the bird, the rationale is that I use that to help pull out the dressing/stuffing from the inside cavity.  I learned this trick several years ago from a wonderful cook.  I take a large piece of tin foil, fold it over so that it is double strength and line the bottom of the inside cavity with the tin foil.  The foil will go up the sides a bit.  I then stuff the dressing inside the bird.  I always make more dressing than what can go inside the turkey and the extra dressing gets wrapped into tin foil pouches and baked for the last hour with the turkey in the oven.   Once the turkey is ready to be carved, I pull on the tin foil that is sticking out and the tin foil and stuffing comes out in one piece.  I no longer have to 'scrape' the inside of the bird to get all of the stuffing out.  I know that some cooks use a metal cage that fits inside the bird and holds the stuffing.  


After eating turkey two days in a row, it was time to do something else.  I made turkey vegetable soup today and besides using the turkey I also used some of the leftover mashed potatoes in the soup.   I still had leftover turkey so I decided to check a number of cookbooks and websites for something that would catch my interest to make for supper tonight.  As a break was needed from eating more potatoes, I thought of making a pasta based dish.    The following recipe was adapted from the pioneer woman website and a number of changes were made.  You can improvise and use a variety of vegetables.  I used spaghetti sauce as the tomato base but you can also use canned or fresh diced tomatoes.  I used whole milk and some whipping cream which is unusual for me to have in the fridge.  I bought whole milk, half and half and a cartoon of whipping cream today as I am making ice cream tonight.  One gift that I received is an electric  ice cream maker and I am curious to test it out.

This pasta dish that I made tonight is quite good.  I likely added too much chopped fresh parsley but I didn't mind the taste.  The recipe makes three servings.

Spaghetti with Turkey, Vegetables and Tomato Sauce

INGREDIENTS:

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp butter

1 clove garlic, minced

½ medium onion, diced

5 mushrooms, chopped

2 handfuls of fresh spinach

1 cup tomato or spaghetti sauce

1-2 cups of leftover turkey, chopped

½ cup whole milk and 1-2 tablespoons of heavy cream if you have on hand

1/4 cup chicken broth (more if required)

salt and pepper (to taste)

1/2 pound spaghetti

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

1 tbsp fresh chives (or other herbs) chopped

DIRECTIONS:

Cook spaghetti till al dente. Drain and set aside.

Melt olive oil and butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onions and garlic and saute for 2 to 3 minutes.

Add mushrooms and tomato/spaghetti sauce.  Stir and cook for 8 to 10 minutes. Add spinach and turkey.  Reduce heat to low. Stir in cream and chicken broth. Add salt and pepper to taste.  Cook over low heat until heated through, and then turn off heat.

Place drained pasta in a large bowl. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup parmesan. Pour sauce over the top. Add chives. Toss lightly to combine and coat; add a tiny bit of reserved pasta water if sauce seems too thick.