Frugal Portland Living

Barbara's kitchen open for business again!

2011-07-05T15:49:00.000-07:00

The title refers to the fact that we moved recently, still in the Portland area though. And yesterday was the first time I had unpacked enough to be able to really cook.

Today I was getting food ready for work tomorrow. I still have to make smashed potatoes. But I did make an awesome veggie chili and a black bean, corn and red pepper salad.

For the salad, I used one can of black beans, rinsed, 1/4 of a huge red pepper, chopped and about 3/4 cup of frozen corn. Before I did that, I put in some red wine vinegar, and some dijon mustard from Trader Joe. Whisked that together with some dried thyme, salt and pepper. Whisked in just a little bit of olive oil. Put the veggies in, added a little more salt and pepper and some garlic and onion powder. Tastes great and it should be even better tomorrow.

The veggie chili was white and red kidney beans, crushed tomatoes, corn, onions, garlic, fresh cilantro. Put in some cumin and chili powder. Can't find my smoky paprika yet or would have used it. Put in a dash of cayenne, a little sugar, and some pepper. Made up some water with masa flour and put that in after letting it cook down for about a half hour. Thickened it up nicely. Very tasty as well. Going to put that over my smashed potatoes.

I've got steel cut oats cooking in the rice cooker and the dishwasher running. I'm in good shape for tomorrow.

Barbara

Zojirushi NS-LAC05

2011-03-29T17:11:00.000-07:00

The title of this post is the name of my rice cooker. It's a 3 cup one, kinda small but perfect for me and my partner.

I wanted to post for my reference and others how to cook things other than rice in the cooker. These have all been tested several times by me and they work well. When I say 1 cup or whatever, it refers to the cup that comes with the rice cooker, not a standard cup.

Steel cut oats
1 cup steel cut oats
2.5 cups water
use the porridge setting

I usually set this up the night before on the timer. Hot oatmeal for breakfast, yum!

Polenta (aka grits)
1 cup of polenta
water up to the 2 cup brown rice level
use the white rice setting

I put some butter and cheese in this and it's a great breakfast.

Quinoa
1 cup quinoa
1.75 cups water
Use white rice setting

The cooker will keep things warm up to 8 hours. I would suggest not waiting too long to take the quinoa out. You need to fluff it with the rice paddle then remove it. It's a bit more delicate, I feel.

Give these whole grains a try!

Barbara

The 21-Day Veggie Detox Diet is here!

2010-03-09T20:55:00.001-08:00

If you're still trying to find the best way to eat healthy, lose
weight and gain real health, this is the solution for you!

Veggie nutrition expert Kardena Pauza has just created a new "21-Day
Veggie Detox Diet Plan" that will help you kick-start your weight
loss the safe and healthy way.

Each day outlines what to eat and includes portion size guidelines,
PLUS it also includes her secret daily habits that help detox the
negative energy and stress from her busy 50-hour training schedule
and living in busy rush-rush-rush Southern California.

You'll discover how to start your day off in a positive mind set
and little things you can do at night to calm your flustered mind.

Combined, this nutrition and mental detox program will have you
looking and feeling 10 years younger, and probably 10 pounds lighter
as well.

You'll get the 21-Day Detox as part of the Easy Veggie Meal Plans
System here:

=> Easy Veggie Meal Plans

This detox will help break addictive habits and flush out addictive
chemicals that can be trapped in your cells and causing your body to
have cravings.

I promise this will help you lose weight and overcome stress. I've been using
it for a couple of weeks and have really noticed a difference in my energy.
And yes I've lost weight.

Barbara
Again, the link for Easy Veggie Detox Diet

PS - Once you complete the 21 Day Detox, continue eating healthy and
small portions throughout the day.

This is where the Easy Veggie Meal Plan program will guide you
through regular day-to-day nutrition.

To your success!

Spring has sprung early

2010-02-25T18:13:00.000-08:00

The last two weeks we have had a lot of sunny days and temperatures consistently in the mid to upper 50s. Even though we still have some winter to get through. This has apparently confused the flowers and trees though. Flowering bushes and shrubs are in bloom, cherry trees have started blooming and daffodils have come up already. It's obviously been a very mild winter this year here in Portland.

I am hoping for a cool summer, I don't like high heat which we can get here. I guess we'll see!

Pantry challenge

2010-02-21T18:33:00.001-08:00

I've decided to try a pantry challenge. I have stocked up lately on so much food that it's literally overflowing. My freezer and cabinets are full and other places in the kitchen I store things are also full. So I'm going to try to eat from the pantry/freezer as much as possible and get the amount of food down. Wish me luck!

Soy candles

2010-02-11T00:25:00.000-08:00

My brother and his wife have started a small company selling soy based candles. It's called B&K Candles and you should visit. It uses US soybeans, and has a huge variety of scents for every occasion. They smell great and burn uniformly. I am planning on buying more, for myself and for gifts. Check them out at B&K Candles.

Eating healthy and loving it!

2010-01-09T14:05:00.000-08:00

Since the new year I've been eating healthy much more. I've made quinoa pilaf with mushrooms (good but needs more seasoning) and potato barley soup. I love barley, but it sucks up liquid like crazy and ends up being very thick unless you eat it immediately after making it.

Hope everyone is having a Healthy New Year.

Barbara

Cooking up a Storm!

2009-12-16T21:45:00.000-08:00

Cooked up some tasty sloppy lentils today and tomorrow I'm making my non-dairy potato corn chowder. Then I will be all set for my next work week.

I also have some steel cut oats ready for breakfast and some new cereals to try. One is called Multigrain Oatbran flakes and the other is Heritage Flakes, both from Nature's Path. I also have soymilk and Nature's Path Heritage O's at work, for the munchies.

Have a great week!

Lovely Potato corn chowder

2009-12-03T20:15:00.000-08:00

I made my favorite soup, I think, a non-dairy Potato corn chowder from Table for Two by Joanne Stepianak. Here's a link to the recipe on Recipezaar. You can make it McDougall friendly by switching water for the oil.

And here's a picture, not very good.

And here's a link to another post about this soup with a much better picture.

I put just a little salt on it right before I eat it. It's good by itself or with some crusty bread.

Barbara

Save-a-lot deals

2009-08-18T13:54:00.000-07:00

I went to Save-a-Lot grocery store today. They are small stores, but have a lot of private label foods and great prices. I buy canned sliced potatoes there, bought some red and russet potatoes, and they have the best price on shredded frozen hash browns anywhere.

Today's find though, was ZerGut Russian Style dill pickles. The lid says all natural, no preservatives. I checked it out and it's also no dyes or colors. Yes, if you read labels, you'll find most pickles have dye to make them look pretty. Not these. They are marked as made in Bulgaria. It's a 56 oz jar (it's huge!) for $4.99.

Here's the ingredient list: Pickles, water, salt, sugar, acetic acid (aka vinegar) red pepper, hot pepper, garlic, horse radish, dill, bay leaf, black pepper. And you can see the garlic and peppers still in the jar.

Healthy and low cal and low cost. What else can you ask for?

Barbara

Tasty

2009-07-25T10:28:00.000-07:00

I had some Acini di Pepe today, which I made to put in a soup to take to work. I made too much, so I had some for breakfast with marinara sauce. Very good. The other day I dry fried some leftover polenta and mixed that with marinara. Also excellent. Enjoying the simple flavors and tastes.

Barbara

New Seasons shopping trip

2009-07-24T11:52:00.001-07:00

I went to a local natural foods supermarket here in Portland called New Seasons Market. They are a local chain and a great place to shop. I spent some time there today, got some nice carrots, tomatoes, cucumber and various salad greens. This is embarassing, but I bought carrots with the tops on them. I believe this is the first time I've bought carrots that didn't come in a plastic bag.

I also picked up several McDougall friendly items there. First is one that I found out from a post on the McDougall board. It's called Zevia, from a small company in Seattle Washington. I wanted to try the black cherry flavor, but New Seasons had only Twist (lemon-lime), Orange and Root Beer. So far, I've tried the root beer. It's pretty good, although not as strong as root beers I've had before. I'll post my thoughts on the other two flavors as I give them a try.

Next is a whole wheat pasta called Acini di Pepe, from an Italian company named Delallo. 100% whole wheat. It sort of looks like couscous, but it's not. I'm going to try it in some tomato basil soup in a aseptic carton I found either at Trader Joes or Fred Meyer's natural foods section.

One more pasta is Eden Organic Kamut & Quinoa Twisted Pair (aka gemelli) pasta. I am interested in seeing how it tastes.

Next is Ancient Harvest Quinoa Polenta. This looked so interesting I had to pick it up. It comes from the same company that makes prepackaged polenta in different flavors. The ingredients list is: Water, organic yellow corn meal, organic red quinoa, organic black quinoa, salt, tartaric acid (naturally occuring acid used to control ph), ascorbic acid (vit C), beta carotene (vit A). It will be interesting to see how it tastes.

Last, two fat free dressings by a Hood River, Oregon company called Deerfield's Foods. One is Moroccan Orange Vinaigrette. Ingredients: Cascadian Spring water, pure orange concentrate, wildflower honey, apple cider vinegar, fresh ginger, fresh garlic, spices and seasonings, xanthan gum. The other is Rosemary Apple Vinaigrette. Ingredients: Cascadian spring water, apple juice concentrate, apple cider vinegar, fresh garlic, fresh ginger, xanthan gum, spices and seasonings. I'm hoping that they taste good.

Barbara

mcdougall friendly food, zevia, quinoa polenta

Summer Bounty

2009-06-28T15:09:00.000-07:00

I am enjoying the bounty of summer lately. I've been eating a lot of cherries, blueberries and strawberries. The other day I went to Olive Garden and had this dessert that they only have in summer. It's berries, strawberry sorbet and this creamy Italian custard. It is just heavenly. At home I mostly eat the fruit just plain, although sometimes I dip the strawberries in powdered sugar. Yummy!

I've also been making pancakes using a mix called Kodiak Cakes. It's whole grain and you only need to add water. They have been coming out perfectly on my fairly new Lodge cast iron grill/griddle. It's the kind that covers two burners on your stove.

Barbara

Strange pricing

2009-06-06T18:46:00.000-07:00

The internet has led to some strange pricing. I like Bob's Red Mill Quinoa. I live about 2 miles from Bob's headquarters. To buy a 4 pack of quinoa at the store is $41.14. To buy it from Amazon and have it shipped to my house, it's $35.94 and if I put it on a subscription, I get 15% more off and free shipping. It's amazing that I can get something sent to my house cheaper than going to pick it up myself and the place it comes from.

Barbara

This is where Portland's water comes from

2009-06-03T01:25:00.000-07:00

This is such a beautiful picture, I had to post it. Portland has great water that is so pure it doesn't get filtered. It comes from the Bull Run wilderness area, in the shadow of Mount Hood. It tastes great too.

Yes, I love living here!

Soups

2009-05-28T21:53:00.000-07:00

It's warm here in Portland but I"m making soups anyway. I enjoy them and they are filling. I made a barley-mushroom-kale soup and a black bean soup. I made some baked corn tortilla chips this morning, before it got too hot.

My black bean soup has evolved. I take one or two cans of Trader Joe's black beans and rinse them. Put in a pot with this small cube of frozen cilantro I have, some veggie broth (mine is from Pacific Foods), chili powder, onion and garlic powder. Let that warm up on low. Take about half the beans and enough liquid to cover and put in a blender. Blend well then put back into the soup. This thickens it. I like to have whole beans in the soup as well, so I don't blend up all of it. Add some salsa (I use Pace Picante) and corn. I had some leftover mushrooms from the barley soup so I tossed those in too. Heat and store for delicious meals! I heat up the soup then put in the baked chips.

Barbara

Diabetes

2009-03-23T10:59:00.000-07:00

I was recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. I’m still trying to get my medication sorted out. I haven’t really done much with my diet yet. I am moving slowly (as usual!) toward the McDougall lifestyle. I do know I do better, blood pressure and health wise in general when I do that. I’m just stubborn about changing completely over to a full vegan diet. The strange part is I do enjoy the vegan food I make/eat.

I recently made a new dish, got the recipe from recipezaar.com. It’s called barley casserole and it’s vegan and easily made McDougall friendly. It is just soo good! I love barley and I’m going to try some new barley recipes I found there.

Barbara

Creative cooking

2009-03-21T19:30:00.000-07:00

The other day I made pizza dough. I took what was left, cooked up some ground turkey I had and planned to make calzones. I have to admit, it didn't turn out too well. So I had a lot of cooked ground turkey left. I had already mixed in the little bit of pizza sauce that was left. So today, I cooked up some angel hair pasta, added some jarred pasta sauce and the turkey and had that for lunch at work today. Very tasty. Never used angel hair in spaghetti before, but it worked very well.

Still working on the pantry oversupply and it's slowly being eaten away.

Barbara

Pantry cooking

2009-03-08T17:09:00.000-07:00

I recently realized that I have a LOT of food in my pantry (shelves, refrigerator and freezer). So yesterday I wrote up a week's worth of menus using only what is already in the house. It was easy to come up with 3 meals a day and I have a lot of ideas for at least another week. I shop way too much. Maybe a way of feeling secure, I think. Anyway, we need to continue to economize and this is a good way, getting rid of what we already have.

Health update

2009-02-14T14:24:00.000-08:00

Well, I recently got diagnosed with diabetes. My A1c test came back at 11.1 which is quite high. My blood sugars were in the 250 range.

Of course my doctor wanted to put me on statins, for no apparent reason, my cholesterol is 197 which is fine. I refused. He put me on metformin, which I've stopped taking because of the side effects. I'm taking various herbals and eating a completely vegan low fat diet (Dr John McDougall's diet). It's working well, my blood sugars are down and my blood pressure is amazing.

More later.

Words to Remember

2009-01-20T20:20:00.000-08:00

"We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals."

President Barack Obama, Inaugural address, January 20, 2009

Bravo, sir, bravo.

Tasty Soup

2008-12-17T21:58:00.000-08:00

I made soup today with veggie broth, some frozen kale I had steamed, and pearl barley. I love barley. No pictures, I ate it up, it was so good and just hit the spot on this cold day. Made some generic muffins which were very tasty as well.

Barbara

Free workouts

2008-12-11T21:08:00.000-08:00

I use a system called Turbulence Training for a lot of my workouts. As an early Christmas present, the guy behind the system has provided a free pdf of 10 minute workouts to do when stressed for time, like now during the holidays. You can get it here and there is no need to buy anything or sign up for anything. It's a 20 page pdf and it's free!

Barbara

A few updates

2008-12-11T13:21:00.000-08:00

Well, in the last two months I have lost 35 pounds. Not quite sure how. I haven't been working out, if anything I'm moving less due to issues with my left knee. I have been eating smaller portions or leaving food on my plate, which I never used to do. A month or so back I was getting nauseated after eating, no matter what I ate. That seems to have gone away, thank goodness.

I made some new recipes last week, but I really didn't like them. No fault of the recipes, just my personal taste.

Today I had hashbrowns with salsa, one of my favorite breakfasts. I put some spanish rice ingredients in the crock pot and have that cooking.

I've been doing some knitting, mostly dishcloths. When I finish the two I have on the needles, I plan on starting a sweater! Probably a bit ambitious for me right now, but I want to try anyway. It's the Central Park Hoodie, which is supposed to be a good first sweater. We'll see.

Barbara

Quinoa Potato Chowder

2008-12-03T19:01:00.000-08:00

I just got the "McDougall Made Irresistible" DVD and I tried making the Quinoa Potato Chowder from it. The recipe for this is also available in the November 2006 newsletter.

It tasted wonderful and even better with some of my fresh made whole wheat bread. I've got several other recipes I'll be trying soon and posting about here.

Barbara

Moxxor Omega-3 Oils Really Work!

2008-11-16T14:42:00.001-08:00

I've delayed posting more about Moxxor, the new product I am using and distributing, until I could give some real results. I have been using it almost two months now and I have noticed changes.

I haven't changed anything else about my supplementation routine. I've just added taking 2 tiny Moxxor gelcaps per day. I have noticed that I have more energy, my knees feel better and a gum infection that has been hanging on is slowly going away, even though I have stopped taking antibiotics. And although I can't attribute this to Moxxor specifically, I have lost weight these past two months as well.

If you are skeptical, there is a new article posted about the benefits of Moxxor's anti-inflammatory mussel oil. Moxxor can be helpful if you have arthritis or any other inflammatory disease.

And since it is such a potent source of omega-3 oils, it's a quick and easy way to enhance your health and get all the benefits of taking omega-3 oils.

So please check out the health benefits of Moxxor and if you are interested, click on the links on the side of the page for more information.

Barbara

Moxxor- an exciting new product!

2008-10-23T21:14:00.000-07:00

I've recently become involved with a new company with an exciting new product. It's called Moxxor and it is a powerful omega 3 oil combined with antioxidants from grapes.

The supplement comes from New Zealand and the omega 3 oils come from green-lipped mussels. One gelcap of Moxxor is equal to 248 capsules of salmon oil. It has high concentrations of Omega 3 oils and it is extracted carefully to get the full benefits into the product. It also includes, in one very small gelcap, a powerful antioxidant made from grapes grown in pristine New Zealand.

There is much more to this, including an opportunity to become a distributor. This is a brand new product (with more in the pipeline) and this is an opportunity to get in early with a great product, no fillers at all, and a chance to have a safety net for you and your family. If you are interested in this, please contact me through the website, or if you want to go for it, you can click the Enroll Now link on the website.

The website (mymoxxor.com/realhealth) is also the place to go to place an order. Give it a try, I think you'll like it. It's done great things for my bad knees and ankles and I've only been using it about 3 weeks.

Barbara

Amazing knitter

2008-09-21T20:04:00.000-07:00

I'm on Ravelry, which is a must for anyone who knits. You have to be a member to view items, so I can't link directly. But I found this amazing knitter, username Ishi. From her project notes, she is amazing fast knitter and amazingly good. I've already favorited some of her projects. One is an intarsia yoke sweater called Poeme, a lace shawl called Lattice Lace Wrap that she did in a week. Wow, when I grow up, I wanna knit like she does!

Barbara

Improv Bean and corn enchiladas

2008-08-23T12:53:00.000-07:00

I had some leftover black bean/corn soup and some leftover refried beans. I poured out most of the liquid from the soup and put the beans and corn in a bowl. Mad some quick enchilada sauce (using Mary McDougall's recipes) and while that was cooking I mixed the refried beans into the black beans. I then added a few sliced black olives. Used small corn tortillas and made about 5 rollups in a round casserole dish. Poured the sauce on the bottom and top and baked. Came out great and tasty.

Back to work tomorrow. Two more weeks on this awful 4am-2:30pm shift. Not sure what shift I'll be on then, but I'm sure my boss will find a way to mess with me.

I've lost 4 pounds in 6 days so far eating McDougall vegan. My blood pressure is also down and I've stopped my bp meds. I'm so excited about that!

Barbara

Summer doings

2008-08-22T08:45:00.000-07:00

Well, our trip to Victoria BC was wonderful! The weather was great, the city is sooo lovely, and the people are nice. Had great food but with all the walking we did, I actually lost weight. We went to the museum and Parliament, which was right across the street from our hotel. We stayed at a place called the Embassy Inn, about a block from the Inner Harbor of Victoria. My partner's mother came with us and she had a great time as well. The Prieus used only about 18 gallons of gas to drive up there and around the area, then back.

Now we're back and back at work. I started eating more vegan again, but not going to say much about that until it sticks for longer.

Barbara

Trying to stay cool

2008-07-24T15:31:00.000-07:00

Had some nice days here in Portland and had some not so cool days. Staying inside, fans on, trying to stay cool. I'm cooking a bit, mostly salad type things. I'm also doind some more knitting. Did a beautiful dishcloth and using now for the dishes. My partner and I are going on vacation soon, with her mother, up to Victoria BC. None of us has ever been there, so it should be fun.

Barbara

Rice cooker and Trader Joe goodies

2008-06-14T15:21:00.001-07:00

I bought a Zojirushi NS-LAC05 Micom 3-Cup Rice Cooker and Warmer. It wasn't cheap, but I believe it to be a frugal purchase. From my research on the web, it seems to be sturdy and makes great rice. It's also the perfect size for the two of us. I've already made steel cut oats in it, came out perfect. I also made long grain brown rice, which came out not quite perfect, but I didn't rinse the rice as directed. I bought some bulk brown basmati, which I will be making for some stir fry to take to work tomorrow.

I also wanted to show off my purchases at Trader Joe's today. Got all the things I wanted without having to go anywhere else. I picked up:

- tomatoes
- 3 cans of garbanzo beans for hummus
- 3 bananas
- a bag of stir fry veggies to go with the rice for tomorrow
- baby lettuce mix and baby spring greens mix
- red plums (they smelled sooo good!)
- bag of valencia oranges
- whole wheat pitas
- whole wheat lavash wraps

Total cost was $21.26. (no sales tax in Oregon)

I'm off to do some cooking!

Barbara

106 unread books

2008-05-17T14:13:00.000-07:00

I don't do memes usually, but this one caught my eye.A website called Library Thing had a list of the top 106 unread books on peoples lists. I was amazed at how many I had read. So here it is.

Asterisk – I own the book
Bold – I’ve read the book - w/link if reviewed
Italics – I’ve started the book
Stricken – I hated the book
Underline – on my current TBR list

*Jonathan Strange & M. Norrell
Anna Karenina
Crime and Punishment
Catch-22
One hundred years of solitude
Wuthering Heights
The Silmarillion
Life of Pi: a novel
The Name of the Rose
Don Quixote (Read in Spanish)
Moby Dick
*Ulysses
Madame Bovary
*The Odyssey
Pride and Prejudice
Jane Eyre
A Tale of Two Cities
The Brothers Karamazov
Guns, Germs, and Steel: the fates of human societies
War and Peace
Vanity Fair
The Time Traveler’s Wife
*The Iliad
Emma
The Blind Assassin
The Kite Runner
Mrs. Dalloway
Great Expectations
American Gods
A heartbreaking work of staggering genius
*Atlas shrugged
Reading Lolita in Tehran
Memoirs of a Geisha
Middlesex
Quicksilver
Wicked : the life and times of the wicked witch of the West
The Canterbury Tales
The Historian
A portrait of the artist as a young man
Love in the time of cholera
Brave new world
The Fountainhead
Foucault’s Pendulum
Middlemarch
Frankenstein
The Count of Monte Cristo
Dracula
A clockwork orange
Anansi Boys
*The Once and Future King
The Grapes of Wrath
The Poisonwood Bible
1984
Angels & Demons
The Inferno
The Satanic Verses
*Sense and sensibility
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Mansfield Park
One flew over the cuckoo’s nest
To the Lighthouse
Tess of the D’Urbervilles
Oliver Twist
Gulliver’s Travels
Les misérables
The Corrections
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
The curious incident of the dog in the night-time
Dune
*The Prince
The Sound and the Fury
Angela’s Ashes
The God of Small Things
*A people’s history of the United States : 1492-present
*Cryptonomicon
Neverwhere
A confederacy of dunces
A Short History of Nearly Everything
Dubliners
The unbearable lightness of being
Beloved
Slaughterhouse-five
The Scarlet Letter
Eats, Shoots & Leaves
The mists of Avalon
Oryx and Crake : a novel
Collapse : how societies choose to fail or succeed
Cloud Atlas
The Confusion
Lolita
Persuasion
Northanger Abbey
The Catcher in the Rye
On the Road
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Freakonomics
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
The Aeneid
Watership Down
Gravity’s Rainbow
The Hobbit
In Cold Blood
White teeth
Treasure Island
David Copperfield
The Three Musketeers

So I own 10. I've owned many more in my life, but have gotten rid of them since.

I’ve read 39

I’ve started 2

I’ve hated none
And none are on my TBR list
How do you fare against the 106?

Barbara

Hot, hot hot!

2008-05-17T01:06:00.000-07:00

Today it reached 95 in Portland a new high for the day and month. Odd weather we've been having this spring. It should be back in the high 60's where it belongs by Wednesday. Even the coast got very hot, which is unusual.

I'm still plugging away at knitting and starting to have fun. I'm working on a dishcloth at present.

Barbara

First farmers market of the year

2008-05-15T02:07:00.000-07:00

Went to my first farmer's market this year. It's the Moreland Farmer's Market and today was their opening day of the season. I got there early but it was already quite full of people. Not a lot of produce yet, of course. The Sellwood Middle School Marimba band was playing and it was fantastic. Very upbeat, cheery music.I bought some cookies and some Sensei Sauce.It's really tasty and will be a good addition to my stock of sauces.

Barbara

Yarn Harlot in Portland!

2008-04-22T21:53:00.000-07:00

I went to the Yarn Harlot's tour and got this great button!

It was a good time and free. I've never seen so many people knitting before. And wearing such gorgeous knitted things!

Stephanie McPhee is very funny. There was laughter and a song that you had to be there to appreciate. If you ever get to listen to her speak, do so. It's well worth it.

Barbara

Little bit chili

2008-04-15T23:02:00.000-07:00

I got the idea for this chili from Frugal Guy. I love his blog. He talks about making chili by just tossing in some of this and some of that. In other words, a 'little bit' of this and that chile! So I gave it a try.

Fried up some ground beef with spices (celery seed, onion and garlic powder, some dill weed, salt, pepper and a few shakes of some others). Put in some chopped green pepper and minced garlic. Then a can of turkey chili with beans from Trader Joes. Then a can of black beans. A little bit of V8, pace picante, lots of chili powder, some cumin and cayenne, some water and the reminder of my spanish rice. Smells and tastes good.

Barbara

Tasty breakfast

2008-04-15T18:06:00.000-07:00

I had such a tasty breakfast this morning. First, buttered 2 slices of dill rye. I love this bread.

Then into a small frying pan, some earth balance, 2 eggs. Scramble up a little, put in some nitrite free smoked turkey, all torn up. Then about a half cup of brown rice, cooked. When it's almost done, about 1/2 cup spinach leaves mixed in. A little salt and fresh ground pepper and done! Very tasty and cheap.

Tonight I'm having a salad and making chile from some leftovers. I make this 1000 island dressing from Table For Two. It's so simple. Some Veganaise, ketchup, onion powder, dill relish, dash of salt. Mix. Soo good!

Barbara

Spring again

2008-04-11T21:25:00.000-07:00

It's spring again in Portland. Today was 70 and sunny, blue skies. I took walks on my lunch and break. Got some sunshine on my bare skin, got the body making some Vitamin D. Tomorrow is supposed to be much the same, but 75 degress. I have already planted pansies outside and they are doing well.

I've been experimenting with recipes lately, but honestly, nothing worth mentioning. Some didn't turn out right and others just weren't appetizing. I think my body is changing too. Things I used to be able to eat now bother my stomach. Not quite sure what that is about.

Happy Spring!

Barbara

St Patrick's food, a bit early

2008-03-12T20:27:00.000-07:00

We had a St Patrick's day potluck at work today. I found these recipes and decided to try making colcannon.

It came out fine, kept it heated in my crock pot at work. Most of it went, so I was happy about that. I enjoyed it. I used russets, kale and cabbage.

A lot of work though, my kitchen was a mess when I got done.

Barbara

Spring has arrived!

2008-03-09T15:26:00.000-07:00

It's definitely spring in Portland. I went for a nice vegetarian breakfast at Bob's Red Mill yesterday and the weeping willows were a lovely shade of oh so pale green. The cherry trees are blooming all over the city and the daffodils are in flower already. And as I write this at 3:30pm, it's sunny, blue skies and 64 degrees here. I love living here!

Barbara

Portland in VegNews

2008-02-25T17:16:00.001-08:00

The March-April edition of Vegnews has a great article about the vegan minimall at 12th and SE Stark in Portland. Just a heads up!

Barbara

Giving up on seitan

2008-01-22T18:42:00.000-08:00

I know a lot of people like seitan. I have tried it boiled, baked and now steamed. They all came out fine. I just don't like the taste. I'm giving up on seitan and just using vital wheat gluten in my whole wheat bread dough. I may give tempeh another try, it wasn't my favorite the first time I made it.

I've been eating a lot of potatoes lately, and noodles in veggies stir fry. I want to try Veganomicon's chickpea soup, it's supposed to be quite tasty.

Barbara

Darn cheezy sauce

2008-01-07T22:17:00.001-08:00

I keep trying recipes for cheezy sauce to put on noodles, potatoes, veggies, etc. I had high hopes for one I found on 'A Vegan for Dinner' (sorry at work and can't get the link). It was okay but still not right. I think I've made about 4-5 sauces with no luck.

I actually enjoy only one thing, and this is just something I do from a suggestion I read. I make noodles, put in a bunch of Earth Balance, then sprinkle nutritional yeast till all the noodles have some, then some soymilk till the yeast is all mixed and it's slightly creamy. Good for quick noodles, but not what I'm looking for.

Barbara

Veganomican, try 1

2008-01-06T15:36:00.000-08:00

I've been trying some recipes from Veganomican. It's a great cookbook. I plan on trying a lot of the recipes in it.

I made rosemary focaccia bread. It came out fine, but didn't have much flavor. I much prefer the italian peasant bread I made off a recipe on recipezaar.com. It was much more flavorful.

I also made jelly donut cupcakes. They tasted great, but the preserves I used didn't sink down and get covered by the batter. My partner didn't like them, said there was too much nutmeg. I took a bunch to work and no one even noticed the nutmeg.

I have already made the chickpea cutlets and I plan on making more this week.

I also have a list of recommended recipes from this book that I've accumulated and will be slowly trying out.

Barbara

Happy New Year!

2008-01-01T18:25:00.001-08:00

Well, it is 2008. It's been a good past year, I found a job and continued our frugal ways. We got a bit spendthrifty towards the end of the year, but that will be changing.

I am back to eating vegan again. I just feel better. Been busy planning and cooking food for home and work. And I'm back exercising. This should be a good new year.

Made bean soup today and tomorrow I'm having bean and rice burritos. On Dr McDougall's DVD, I got a recipe for cabbage with some rice vinegar and lime, that makes a great taco/burrito addition.

Barbara

Some frugality, some not so

2007-12-15T12:16:00.000-08:00

We've been doing some frugal things and some not so frugal.

My partner needed a good keychain for her keys from work. She wanted a carabiner type thing. We were going to buy one till I remembered that a small maglite flashlight I had gotten as a gift from a place I worked at. It had a keychain just like that with it. So, no money spent.

We did go to a play. This is the first time we've done something like this in the five years we've lived her. We could never afford to do anything like this. We bought tickets for "A Christmas Carol". We enjoyed ourselves immensely and felt it was well worth it. Maybe not frugal, but we got a great deal out of spending that money.

Barbar

Frugal Cooking

2007-12-03T11:42:00.000-08:00

I take a lot of my inspiration from Katie at my favorite blog, Frugal Veggie Mama. I had some leftover stew with pinto beans, corn, some brown rice and diced tomatoes. I read through some of her old posts and came across two I used. One had Ruthies cornbread recipe and one mentioned a sort of cornbread chili pie.

So I took my beans and corn, added in some tomato paste, water, some fresh mushrooms, chili powder and cumin and some onion/garlic powder. Made the cornbread and put it in a pan, making sides to it. Here's how it turned out:

The other day I made sourdough bread from my 1834 Oregon Trail starter. Turned out great, with a good sourdough taste. This morning I made Fronch toast with it, a recipe from Vegan with a Vengance. Very filling. Here's what a slice of the sourdough looked like:

For lunch at work today I have black bean soup with homemade corn chips. Love this soup!

Barbara

Getting Ready

2007-11-19T20:56:00.000-08:00

I've been getting ready for Thanksgiving here. Luckily both myself and my partner are off on Thursday. I've been cleaning out the refrigerator of leftovers so we'll have room for more leftovers!

I had some pasta sauce sitting there and I had bought several boxes of Golden Grain multi-grain spaghetti at 50% off, so I made a nice baked spaghetti with parmesan puffs. They didn't puff all that well, but they tasted okay.

I'm going to try some different things with the stuffing. Definitely add some pine nuts. My partner also loves those toasted, just to munch on.

I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving!

Barbara

Tasty Eating

2007-11-12T12:40:00.000-08:00

My body has been rebelling lately at all the junky food I've been feeding it. So I'm trying to turn over a new leaf. I went to Dr McDougalls Free program and printed up some recipes. Today I'm trying the day one recipes. I made the savory chickpeas and put them on some whole wheat bread (after letting it sit overnight to blend the flavors). I also made my version of black bean soup and also made up some baked corn chips to put in the soup.

For breakfast, I made steel cut oats, a new favorite. I had only eaten quick cooking oats before and no matter how thick I made them, they were never thick enough. The steel cut are chewier and just what I like. I soak them overnight then just heat them up for about 10 minutes in the morning. I put in a little bit of maple syrup and some cinnamon.

Barbara

Busy, busy

2007-11-10T12:24:00.000-08:00

I've been quite busy recently. Working full time of course, taking care of the apartment and yes, doing some cooking. I've made a couple of recipes from Isa's Veganomicon. The chickpea cutlets were quite tasty. The creamy tomato soup came out all right, but I didn't have enough tomatoes to make it correctly.

I needed a new non stick skillet, as my previous one had the coating starting to peel. I had a $35 gift card from Sears from work, so I bought a T-fal 9 inch skillet, (made in France). Didn't cost me anything due to the gift card. It has a black enamel on the outside and a neat red spot in the middle that changes when the pan is preheated.

Barbara

Thursday cooking

2007-10-19T14:31:00.000-07:00

I was home so I did some cooking on Thursday.

First up is some skillet cornbread, using Ruthie's recipe. It came out fine, but a bit dry for my taste.

Here is it, fresh out of the cast iron skillet:

And here is the first slice:

I also made a new recipe, Potato soup with whole-wheat dumplings. It made a mess of my stove, but it tasted good.

This last one is homemade biscuits. I followed a recipe from Hillbilly Housewife. I did sub Earth balance for shortening. This is the first time my biscuits came out high and fluffy. I was so happy!

Barbara

Change Begins at Home Award

2007-10-11T10:29:00.000-07:00

Wow! My friend Katie has nominated me for the Change Begins at Home Award. This award come from Melanie at Bean Sprouts:One Family's Search for the Good Life.Melanie states that the award is for bloggers who live what they preach, who try to make the changes in their own lives that they would like to see in the world.

I've had fun sharing what I learn on my frugal journey here. And along the way, I hope I've given ideas to those who have stopped by to read. My main contribution so far has been a really tasty, soft crust, whole wheat bread recipe that lots of bloggers have tried and loved. And that is very gratifying.

So thanks Katie and Melanie!

The rules for the award are:

1. Nominate three bloggers who epitomise "Change begins at home"

2. Link back to the person who nominated you, and link back to this post

3. When you receive the award, you may display the "Change begins at home" button on your blog.

The three bloggers I want to nominate are:

1. Johanna3 at Tropical Vegetarian Family

2. A Frugal Living Blog by a Frugal Guy

3. Frugal Homemaker Plus

Barbara

The Rains

2007-09-28T02:17:00.000-07:00

It's 2am and I am sitting here listening to the rain. The rains (fall, winter,spring) have come to Portland. Forecast for the next week is rain, or showers and highs 58-60. A lot of people around here don't like the rain, which is hard to avoid, since it rains mostly all the time from now till about April. I'm different, I love the rain. It's great to sleep when it rains, everything gets green here. And the constant overcast gray days don't depress me.

On frugal notes, all the stores here are starting to sell reuseable shopping bags. Our local Fred Meyer is selling them for 99 cents. This week they are on sale for 79 cents. I didn't pay for mine, I got a coupon in the mail from them to get 3 for free, which of course I took advantage of. My only problem with them is remembering to take them with me. I have to get into the habit of putting them in the back seat of the car.

I also took advantage of a sale at Fred Meyer's to get a good deal on a Rival Crockpot, six quart.Since my partner and I now have quite different schedules most days, she tends not to cook much so I'm stuck with trying to make something for myself late at night. Plus she doesn't eat as much as she should either. The crockpot, which I've never had one before, once I get used to it, will help with that. I can start a meal before I leave and have tasty food when I get home.

Barbara

Cooking frugally

2007-09-17T18:41:00.000-07:00

I've been finding some good deals at the store. I had a $10 off coupon at Safeway. I picked up some chicken breasts that were 50% off, and a whole cut up chicken, also half off. I froze the breasts and made chicken soup and then chicken salad for sandwiches out of the whole chicken. Safeway is not the cheapest store, but they have some good deals and I really like their meat.

Barbara

Good numbers

2007-09-03T14:05:00.000-07:00

I recently got health insurance, so I went for a physical and some blood tests. I am very happy to report that my numbers are the best they have been in ten years (which is when I started keeping copies of tests). I mostly very proud of my blood sugar, which was 82. And my cholesterol, which at 167 and 47 HDL, is at it's best level ever. I've always been around 200 before.

Eating healthy has really paid off. I am also seeing a naturapath, since I don't like taking drugs.

Barbara

Bean soup

2007-08-21T22:19:00.000-07:00

Lately I have been addicted to bean soup. Super easy and cheap. For example, yesterday I took a can of black beans from Trader Joes'(79 cents a can). Opened it and poured it in without rinsing into a pot. Added some water, a few squirts of Braggs, some onion and garlic powder and the item that really does it for me, Gourmet Garden cilantro paste. It comes in a tube and you have to keep it refrigerated. I use about two toothpaste head sized pieces of paste and heat all of it up. It just tastes great!

I also will make chips from corn tortillas and put them in the bottom of the bowl before heating the soup. It is all so tasty!

Barbara

Eating too much?

2007-08-01T07:17:00.000-07:00

Everyone is aware that there is an obesity epidemic in the US. I think a large part of it is that we have no sense of what we should be eating. You see enough supersized portions at restaurants, they begin to look normal.

We are supposed to eat 5-6 small meals per day, about 300-400 calories each. Well, I found this great post with pictures. It's called What Do 300 Calorie Meals Look Like? it is very interesting to compare how much you should be eating to how much you are eating.

Barbara

Update

2007-07-24T10:39:00.000-07:00

Yes, I'm still here. I've been busy working. I will say it is nice to be able to continue our frugal ways AND put money in savings. It's been a while since we had anything extra in the budget. I'm also getting caught up on our utilities instead of being slightly behind.

Had a rear taillight on the car go out the other day. We bought the bulb at Wal-mart (with my partner's discount of course!) and changed it ourselves. Fairly simple and saved the cost of having someone do it.

Didn't take a picture, but dinner last night was tasty. I dredged some cut up chicken breast in flour and stir fried it a little while. Then I put in some water and braggs, and tossed in some farmer's market fresh green beans. Then added some frozen broccoli and more braggs and then some Barilla plus spaghetti. The flour, water braggs made a light coating over everything. Some mixed spring greens on the side completed the meal.

Barbara

Busy Saturday

2007-06-30T14:45:00.000-07:00

My partner is out of town this weekend, so I took the opportunity to go do some things I've wanted to do for a while. I went to a Jewish Sabbath service, which is something I've always wanted to do. I enjoyed it. Then I went downtown to try Veganoplis, a vegan cafeteria. I had the buffet. It was pretty good and filling. Then back home.

Used my free from work bus pass for all this traveling. It was a nice day and not a bad way to see your city.

On another topic, I'm still saving money. I have an Emigrant Direct savings account, which I am steadily adding to. What I am also doing is whatever is left in our joint checking account when the next pay period comes around, goes into savings. That in addition to our $25 monthly savings deposit, is helping increase our joint savings.

Barbara

Saving

2007-06-28T20:49:00.000-07:00

I have started saving money from each paycheck already. It's not a lot but it's more than I had a month ago. This check also started taking out for my 401k (no match, sadly). I love pretax deductions. I put in 27 bucks and change in, and it only cost me 16 bucks in take home pay reduction. We're also saving money from our joint account.

Barbara

Bike commuters

2007-06-25T05:49:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to share this tidbit from Willamette Week, a local weekly.

"According to the latest Census Bureau data, Portland has more bike commuters than any other US city, but that's just still 3.5 percent of Portland traffic."

Portland is very bike friendly and the weather isn't bad, although the cold damp of winter does discourage a lot of commuters, I'm sure.

I had a nice birthday weekend. Back to work this week all refreshed and ready to go. Made some New Farm Mac and Cheez for lunches this week. I love this recipe.

Barbara

Waste not, have tasty soup!

2007-06-17T13:12:00.000-07:00

I took a page from my favorite blogger, frugalveggiemama. (Hi, Katie!)

We went to a southern food restaurant last night after a concert at church and picked up some food to go. I got fried okra and a large container of red beans and rice. The okra was fine, but the beans were mostly beans and very little rice and pretty tasteless. So, what was I to do with all those beans?

I did what Katie would do! Today I put some of the beans and rice in a sauce pan, added 1/2 cup water, put in some Braggs, onion and garlic powder, a little salt, and a small amount of cilantro paste that I had bought a month ago but hadn't tried. I heated up the soup, crushed some tortilla chips in a bowl and poured the soup over it. Very tasty! I'm going to make more with the rest of the beans for later.

Barbara

Saturday Brunch

2007-06-16T13:20:00.000-07:00

Today was Saturday brunch, brought to you by Vegan with a Vengeance : Over 150 Delicious, Cheap, Animal-Free Recipes That Rock. I made herb roasted potatoes, Fronch toast and scrambled tofu.

Everything was tasty. My partner tried the tofu, didn't care for it. She liked everything else though. Tofu is not my favorite thing, but it was good.

Eating vegan McDougall style is working out well.

Barbara

So far...

2007-06-13T05:31:00.000-07:00

So far, my McDougalling ways are working out fine. I've been eating healthy and not starving. Cooking hasn't been much of a problem so far.

I got myself and my partner hooked on Nature's Path Optimum Power Cereal. It's super healthy, with lots of fiber and whole grain, but it's sweet enough for my partner but not too sweet for me.

I have been eating the red lentil loaf and mushroom gravy I made over the weekend. Today for lunch it's some homemade sourdough bread (my first try!) and spaghetti and meatballs. Golden Grain multi grain spaghetti, Trader Joe's Tomato Basil marinara (tasty!) and Trader Joe's mock meatballs. Oh yeah and some grapes. :)

Barbara

Weekend cooking

2007-06-10T20:13:00.000-07:00

I was busy this weekend cooking. I'm going to start eating the McDougall diet. I used to eat that way a long time ago and I felt great and I lost substantial weight, for pretty much the only time in my life. So I'm basically going vegan.

First, for lunch, I made Red Lentil loaf, from frugalveggiemama's recipe. Looks pretty doesn't it?!

To moisten it and make it even tastier, I made some mushroom gravy. I used some veggie broth powder I have around the house. I'm getting low on it and I don't remember where I bought it at. I need to mark the container.

.

I got a bunch of sourdough starters and I am trying one, it's called Carl's 1847 Oregon Trail starter. Yes it's really that old. I made a whole wheat loaf. As expected it took longer to rise and I don't think it will replace my usual whole wheat bread, but it's pretty good. You can taste more of the wheat and just a bit of the sourdough flavor.

Lastly, for my last omni meal, I had grilled chicken breast and Yorkshire pudding, which is a particular favorite of my partner.

So tomorrow I start, eating starch and veggies and fruits and grains. For my health and to lose weight, which I need to do desperately.

Wish me luck!

Barbara

The Debt to the Penny and Who Holds It

2007-06-08T21:33:00.001-07:00

I thought this was interesting (and a bit scary). It comes from the US Treasury Department. This webpage is called The Debt to the Penny and Who Holds It. Go take a look!

Barbara

Portland thoughts

2007-05-26T05:10:00.000-07:00

I've been working now for two weeks. And I commute via bus every day.I've noticed a few things about my fellow Portlanders and I just had to share them.

First, people here are very polite. About 80% thank the bus driver as they leave, even if it's from the back door. When the buses are full, people automatically move back to make more room when they are standing. Men (of all ages) hang back and let women get on the bus first. And I even saw a teenage girl give up her seat to an older woman. Not elderly, but older.

Second, there are a LOT of bike commuters. On an average day, I will see at least 75 commuters along my ride.And in general, bikes, cars and buses all coexist peacefully.

Third, I am constantly amazed at the number of restaurants in Portland. I go down this one street, NW 21st ave, where on one block alone there are 4 restaurants, all full when I go past about 5:30-6pm.

I've said it here before, but I will say it again, I do love this city. Oh yeah, and roses are in bloom everywhere!!

Barbara

One year diet and cola free!

2007-05-25T06:31:00.000-07:00

Today is May 25th. One year ago today, I stopped drinking all diet sodas and all colas. This is after drinking huge quantities of Diet Coke for all of my adult life. I stopped because of all the bad things I read about diet sodas with aspartame and so on. I also know that colas are bad for your acid/base balance and for your bones.

I've actually found it fairly easy to give it. 90% of what I drink is just plain, filtered water. I really enjoy it and drink it all day. I also drink chocolate almond milk sometimes, a glass of orange juice maybe once a month, V-8 and about once a month or so, I'll have a Fanta Strawberry soda or a Sierra Mist. However I have gotten so into the water habit, that recently I went out to two fancy restaurants (as a guest) :) and just had water.

Barbara

Sunday cooking

2007-05-13T21:03:00.000-07:00

I did some cooking and baking today, preparing food for lunches this week at work. I know there is a refrigerator and microwave there, so I know what kind of things I can bring.

I made some sloppy lentils with kale. I also made some italian bread, which fell a bit but will work for a side at lunch and breakfast. I've been eating Nature's Path Optimum Power cereal with soymilk for breakfast. It's a very tasty, sweet yet high fiber, multi-grain and tasty. I also grilled up some chicken breasts.

I'll make some of my famous whole wheat bread tomorrow.

Barbara

Portland Vegfest 2007

2007-05-12T19:10:00.000-07:00

I went to the Portland Vegfest 2007, put on by the NW Veg group. I had a blast and came home with lots of literature, some samples and a nicely full belly.

Bryanna Clark Grogan and Julie Hasson gave a cooking demo with some very tasty treats then did a Q&A session in the Veg101 room. I attended two sessions there and they were very well attended. There were also salad samples in the back of this room from several restaurants and they were all excellent. This photo has Bryanna on the left and Julie on the right.

There were tons of exhibitors and lots of free samples. (Yes I'm all over the free food!) I did find out that this all vegan restaurant called the Pirates Tavern is actually about 4 blocks away from my new job. I told my partner we'll have to go on a Monday night, when they have live jazz.

Two pictures taken from the food court area should give you an idea of how many people were there. It was crowded but polite.

All in all, it was a good time, I learned a lot, tried foods that I will be buying in the future (and some I won't!) and I plan to come back next year.

Barbara

Couscous

2007-05-11T15:46:00.000-07:00

The other day was a couscous day for me. I made Sweet Breakfast Couscous for, guess what, breakfast! :) It was nicely sweet. I don't remember where I got this recipe though.

Sweet Breakfast Couscous

1/3 cup water
1/4 cup orange juice
1/2 cup couscous
1/4 cup raisins
1/2 tablespoon honey
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1. Put all ingredients in a pot.
2. Bring to a boil, cover, turn down to low. Cook for about 3 minutes.
3. Remove from heat, keep covered. Let rest for 3 minutes.

I used whole wheat couscous. It turned out great.

For dinner I made black bean and couscous salad. Didn't take a picture but it was a very tasty cold salad.

Barbara

Yay! Got a job!

2007-05-09T22:27:00.000-07:00

Well, it's finally happened. After 2 1/2 years of not working I found a job. And it only took 10 days total.

I posted on craigslist that I wanted a job as a dispatcher. I figured, what the heck, I might get a bite. And I did, from a company affiliated with Trimet, Portland's bus/rail company. I emailed back with my resume and they called me for an interview. That happened last Friday. They said they were very impressed with me and sent me for a drug test. I emailed details of my jobs on Monday and today they called and said I'm hired. I start on May 14th.

I don't know much as far as details yet. I should make as much as my partner makes and maybe even a little bit more. This will double our income. We can pay off our one credit card, get some emergency savings and set some goals. I'm getting a book from my local library about couples and financial goal setting.

We're both excited. It will be nice to not worry quite so much about money, since we'll have some to save.

Barbara

2007-04-29T23:50:00.000-07:00

I did more cooking today. Make spicy chili beans for tomorrow and some frozen fruit dessert, also for tomorrow. I also cooked up some garlic mashed potatoes and some homemade mushroom onion gravy. They both turned out pretty tasty.

I also made some chocolate chip cookies. They came out great. Tomorrow I'm going to try a breakfast couscous recipe. Then for lunch I'm going to the Bay Leaf Restaurant. My friend was there yesterday and said it was great. I've also read reviews of it by Jess at Get Sconed. Can't wait to try it.

Barbara

New places to shop

2007-04-28T08:31:00.000-07:00

I've found some good deals at new places recently. One of our Dollar Tree stores added a freezer section. Now the items they have vary a great deal, but for a dollar I've gotten cheese raviolis and potato pierogies. Each package has been enough for a meal for myself and my partner.

Right next door to the Dollar Tree a store called Save-A-Lot recently opened. I checked out their corporate website and they are a 'limited selection' store. They don't have ten different sizes and varieties of diced tomatoes for instance. They also don't carry many brand name foods, but mostly private label. They say these are from major companies, just without the expensive brand name.

They sell canned vegetables for .25 a can. I've tried several varieties and they have all been good. I actually like their tomato sauce and pastes better (less sugar in them). Their shredded cheese is a better value than Wal-Marts. I'v also gotten good deals on hash browns. And they carry a brand of frozen hamburgers, called Holten, which I used to buy when I lived in Arkansas but hadn't found here. They are very tasty and cheap at Save-a-lot.

Barbara

Food adventures

2007-04-17T19:05:00.000-07:00

I've been baking and cooking like crazy lately. Yesterday I made an old favorite and a twist on something I've made before.

First up is Vegan with a Vengeance's Chickpea Broccoli casserole. Simple, but tasty.

Then I tried a recipe from the Post Punk Kitchen forum, Baked Seitan. It came out well, but I'm not fond of the flavorings and neither is my partner. My rule when trying new recipes is to follow it exactly (or as best I can) then change it next time. I'll be fiddling with flavors next time.

Barbara

Doing it yourself

2007-04-16T09:00:00.000-07:00

I have a recipe in my favorite cookbook, Vegan with a Vengeance : Over 150 Delicious, Cheap, Animal-Free Recipes That Rock that I want to try.

The problem was it called for chickpea flour and I couldn't find any. So I went to the bulk foods at Fred Meyer's, picked up a pound of dried chickpeas ($1.19 /pound) and brought them home. Tossed them into my Waring Pro blender and in about a minute, I have chickpea flour.

I am wondering if I can leave it out (it's in a tupperware container) or if I need to refrigerate it. If anyone knows, please leave a comment. Thanks!!

Barbara

Lettuce and greens

2007-03-28T14:31:00.000-07:00

As part of trying to eat healthy, we've been buying mixed spring greens. Lots of different types of greens, all nice and healthy and good for you. Unfortunately, for the frugal part of me, it's not so frugal. The pre-bagged greens are usually $2-3.50 per bag. New Seasons Market sells them in bulk, at $6.99 a pound. Still not a good value.

I think I may have found a more frugal, if slightly less healthy alternative. I buy a head of iceberg lettuce. (Not much in the way of vitamins there, I know). This provides bulk. Then I buy a bunch of spinach (at least for now, since I can find it fairly cheap). Add some spinach leaves. That adds some vitamin goodness. So for now, that works for us.

Our car lost all it's transmission fluid yesterday just as we got back home. Had it towed today and it was a tube had come loose. Tow was $72 and repairs, which included 6 quarts of transmission fluid, was $72. Not too bad.

Barbara

Spring 2007 in Portland

2007-03-24T23:34:00.000-07:00

I went out to a local park last week and took some pictures. Spring is definitely here in Portland. Temperatures in the 50s and 60s and even 70 one day. I love this city.

Daffodils, tulips and all sorts of flowering trees and shrubs are in bloom everywhere.

I also wanted to put in a picture of the trees in the park. Remember, this is in the middle of a city. These trees are probably a hundred years old and about 60-70 feet tall.

I love spring!

Barbara

Yet more benefits of price books

2007-03-23T12:53:00.000-07:00

I've been using a price book and really keeping track of prices for about a year and a half now. It has really paid off. Yesterday was a good example.

I go grocery shopping every two weeks. Between trips I write down things as I think of them, as they come up, as we run out. On Wednesday, I took my list and put it down on a sheet of paper. I list each store I go to then what I need to buy there. For the first time, I went through and estimated how much all the items would cost and I wrote this down next to the store name.

For Fred Meyer, I had coupons for toilet paper and english muffins. I also found a dollar off in store coupon for tampons I used. I bought everything on my list and the only two things I bought that weren't on the list was a head of lettuce and a large bunch of spinach. My estimate was $50. My total: $50.00!! :)

I was also on target for most of the rest. Wal-mart estimate $10, actual $10.31. New Seasons Market estimate $15 actual $15.63. Trader Joe's surprised me. The automatic dish washing detergent I use (along with washing soda and borax) was WAY cheaper then the Seventh Generation one I bought about a year ago. I estimated $30, actual was $20.

Of course, this works if you only buy what's on your list. Other than the lettuce and spinach, I did not buy anything not on my list.

I think I'm finally getting the hang of this frugality thing! :)

Barbara

Great chicken deal

2007-03-20T18:41:00.000-07:00

I went to the library today to return one book and get two others, and the DVD set of "I, Claudius". On the way back, I stopped at a local QFC grocery store. I like this store, because it is small, friendly and open 24 hours. It's prices though, are a bit higher than other stores. However, when they have sales, often they are really really good sales.

I had talked to my partner about eating more chicken and less beef and she was amenable to this. So I checked out the meat counter. I found they had quite a bit of split fryer chicken breast that was expiring today. This is free range chicken, very good stuff. It was marked down to $1 a pound. I bought five pounds, which came in the form of six large chicken breasts. The three largest I put in my Nesco roaster and roasted them.

The other three I put into my stock pot with water, carrots, turnip, onion, garlic and lots of celery. Cooked it for an hour then took the chicken out. I let them cool a bit, then removed the skin and bones and put that back into the pot and cooked it another hour or so. The chicken meat will be put away for stir fries and chicken salad. The roast chicken will be used in sandwiches.

So for $5, I got five pounds of boneless skinless chicken breast and a huge pot of chicken stock. I'll put that in the fridge tonight (after removing all the veggies and chicken parts) and remove the fat tomorrow. Then store it in the freezer in various size plasticware.

Barbara

Cooking update

2007-03-15T08:29:00.000-07:00

I've been busy cooking and trying new recipes lately, with good results.

First up is a Pizza Quesadilla. It uses mozzarella and cheddar cheese with pepperoni and italian seasoning inside. Very very tasty and good dipped in marinara sauce.

Then I tried a Potluck Chicken casserole. I grilled up some chicken breast, mixed it with a can of cream of chicken soup and some sour cream. Put that in the pan. Made a mixture of crunched saltines, melted Earth Balance and celery seeds. Put that on top of the chicken and baked for 30 minutes. Made some rice on the side and it was great!

Yesterday I made chocolate chip cookies. Well, I made some and the rest of the dough I left for my partner. She loves to eat chocolate chip cookie dough and this is way cheaper than buying it. The cookies came out great. Last time I didn't put enough flour in and they spread all over. It was nasty.

Then I made Challah (or since I made 2 loaves, Challot). Challah is a egg bread that is slightly sweet. It came out great, both my partner and I loved it. It's not a sandwich bread, it's a rip off pieces and have with butter or dip into stews. Very tasty and it looks nice too.

All in all, a good few days of cooking.

Barbara

Pinto corn barley stew

2007-03-09T14:00:00.000-08:00

Today I did what I think of as Katie cooking. Some leftovers, some new stuff and voila! A tasty dish.

I had a little bit of leftover homemade enchilada sauce and some pinto beans. I added some water to the sauce, a little seasoning, then added the pinto beans and some frozen corn. I cooked that down some while I made some barley. Here's the result:

It was tasty and filling. Ended up as more of a stew than a soup.

I love barley. I think it's not used as much as perhaps it should be. This great website, World's Healthiest Foods, is a great source of information on all kinds of good foods. Here's the page about barley. It's very healthy and it will hold up for about a week in the fridge.

I also used this site to find out about nuts. Everything you read is about eating almonds and walnuts. Neither are favorites of mine. I'll mostly only eat them if they are very finely ground and mixed in other things. But I do love cashews and I found out that they rate very high in antioxidants and in keeping your bones healthy.

Barbara

Bob's Red Mill deals

2007-03-08T07:53:00.000-08:00

I love living just a couple of miles from Bob's Red Mill headquarters and store. I ran out of yeast and I was low on a few things so I stopped by there this morning.

Whole wheat flour was on sale, so I got 20 pounds for $8.06. I also got a free clip that is perfectly sized to close five pound bags of flour. I also picked up a few smaller ones, which work on the smaller size bags they sell and also work to close other bags, like frozen veggies and such.

I also got 8 ounces of yeast for $3.39. I know I might find flour a bit cheaper elsewhere, but I know that BRM products are fresh, high quality flours, beans, lentils, whatever.

Barbara

Peasant bread and sloppy lentils

2007-03-05T13:39:00.000-08:00

I tried some new recipes today and they all turned out great.

First up was a recipe from recipezaar.com. Italian peasant bread. Supposedly it tastes like the bread at the Macaroni Grill. Don't know, never been there. (Here's the link, if you're interested.)

I tried this with half wheat and half white bread flour. Tasty, smells great. Tried 4 different seasonings on top and they all came out great. (Rosemary, italian seasoning, onion/garlic powder, and Vegebase powder).

I bake a lot of bread and this one was very easy to make. It's not sandwich type bread, but good for tearing off and dipping into stews or soups. Or just munching.

I had mine with sloppy lentils. I've gathered about four different recipes for this, so I made kind of a generic version. Mine had red lentils, kale, celery, green pepper, onion, carrot and garlic. It was very tasty and good with the bread.

Barbara

Heathy vegetable bouillon finally

2007-03-02T18:54:00.000-08:00

I was shopping at my local Fred Meyer's this morning and found VegeBase, by Vogue Cuisine. I hate buying the containers of vegetable broth because I end up not using them quickly enough and wasting money by throwing them out. So I've been looking for a veggie soup bouillon. Most have too much sodium and have MSG. This one seems different.

A 1 tsp serving is 15 calories with only 140 mg of sodium and 1 g of protein.No preservatives, additives and is gluten free. It makes a tasty veggie broth. I think this one is a keeper.

Barbara

Source for reduced cost building materials

2007-02-13T06:18:00.000-08:00

I came across this today and definitely wanted to share it. Habitat for Humanity operates retail stores called ReStores. They sell donated used and surplus building materials. Everything they sell is donated and the proceeds go back into building even more Habitat homes in your area. This page will let you see if there is a ReStore in your area.

I think this is a win/win situation. You get cheap materials and Habitat gets funds for their work.

Barbara

How not to be frugal

2007-02-06T19:38:00.000-08:00

I usually don't get into politics but this does have to do with money. Our money (if you live in the US). These are quotes from The Daily Reckonging, about Bush's new budget.

First about defense:

"The Bush budget includes about three quarters of a trillion dollars for
defense. But defense has little to do with it. Defense against whom? A
disorderly bunch of fanatics with explosives around their waists and
box-cutters in their hands? The amount of money in the 'defense' budget
earmarked for these guys is trivial. And rightly so...the danger they
represent is trivial. No dear reader, the defense budget can better be
described as hundreds of billions of dollars we don't have, to buy weapons
we don't need, to fight enemies that don't exist.

The whole spectacle is breathtaking...and, like all public
spectacles...absurd."

And here is the non-frugal part, that just boggles my mind:

"Nearly half a trillion in debt will be added over the next two years
according to the Bush plan. Americans have neither the will, nor the money
to ever repay it. They cannot even keep up with the interest payments. So,
now the debt feeds on itself.

For one year, the budget includes 624.6 billion dollars for defense. To
help put that in perspective, here's an interesting tidbit: the defense
budget is more than the budgets for the Department of Education,
Agriculture, Commerce, Energy, HUD, Interior, EPA, Homeland Security,
Justice, State, Transportation, Labor, NASA, Engineers, Judiciary, and
VETS. COMBINED. And with 63 billion left over."

Barbara

Quiet month

2007-01-20T06:39:00.000-08:00

I haven't done anything much lately that seemed to deserve a blog post. I've been busy being frugal, because money has been very tight. I did find a great deal on Kashi GoLean Crunch cereal and Silk soymilk, so I've been eating a lot of cereal and soymilk lately.

As usual, I go to Trader Joes and look for what I need first, then follow up at other stores. TJ's is usually better quality and lower price. I don't know how they do it, but I'm glad that they do.

I've been working out just about every day and at the same time rehabbing (on my own) a bad shoulder bursitis. That is slowly getting better.

Still making my whole wheat bread and eating healthy.

Barbara

Whole wheat rolls

2006-12-26T19:27:00.000-08:00

I made some whole wheat rolls from a recipe at recipezaar (which I really like). It was a huge hit with my partner.

Link for the rolls here

It does use one egg. Came out soft. I just subbed whole wheat for the white flour and added a little vital wheat gluten. They rose beautifully.

Hope you all had a great Christmas!!

Barbara

Christmas things

2006-12-23T23:40:00.000-08:00

Haven't been doing much of late, beside cooking and cleaning and working out and rehabbing my shoulder. Made wonderful whole wheat bread today and I'm making rolls from scratch for Christmas. We're not having anything fancy, just staying at home. Looking forward to the New Year!

Thanks to everyone who has stopped by, commented and especially those who have really made my day with their wonderful comments about my soft, tasty whole wheat bread. :)

Happy Holidays!

Barbara

Need help with Biscuit recipe

2006-12-08T14:27:00.000-08:00

I may be able to make whole wheat bread, but I have problems with biscuits. I've made this recipe about 4 times and while they are okay, they could be better. I've tried white flour and whole wheat, regular milk and soymilk. They never really rise or get fluffy at all.

Here's the recipe I'm using:

2 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup butter or margarine, cold
3/4 cup milk, cold

1. Preheat oven to 425 F Mix first 4 ingredients together in a bowl.
2. Cut in butter with a pastry blender or a fork, or two knives, until crumbly.
3. Add milk.
4. Stir until it forms a ball.
5. Add a bit more milk if necessary to make a soft dough.
6. Roll or pat to 1 inch thick.
7. Cut into circles with a biscuit cutter or a floured glass.
8. Arrange on a greased baking sheet.
9. Bake in 425 F for about 10- 12 minutes or until risen and nicely browned. (in my oven it usually takes 15 minutes).

Any suggestions?

Barbara

Oatmeal comparison

2006-12-01T21:02:00.000-08:00

I keep an eye on what we eat, not just how much it costs. I try to avoid certain ingredients. I decided to compare oatmeal. I used Quaker Oats since they have a variety of products and the info is easily available. I would buy oatmeal in bulk, to save money.

Starting with the heartiest oatmeal. Quaker Steel Cut Oatmeal. 1/4 cup dry (40g)

Calories 150, from fat 25. Fat 2.5g Sodium 0 mg Carb 27g Fiber 4g Protein 5g
Ingredients:100% WHOLE GRAIN STEEL CUT OATS

Next, Quaker Old Fashioned Oats 1/2 cup dry (40g)

Calories 150, from fat 25. Fat 3g Sodium 0 mg Carb 27g Fiber 4g Protein 5g
Ingredients: 100% NATURAL ROLLED OATS

Last, a new Quaker product, Quaker Weight Control Oatmeal. It comes in Cinnamon, Banana Bread and Maple/brown sugar flavors. These stats are for the Cinnamon version. 1 packet (45g)

Calories 160, from fat 25. Fat 3g Sodium 270 mg Carb 29g Fiber 6g Protein 7g
Ingredients: WHOLE GRAIN ROLLED OATS, MALTODEXTRIN, WHEY PROTEIN ISOLATE, SALT, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVORS (CONTAINS BARLEY GLUTEN), OAT FLOUR, CALCIUM CARBONATE, GUAR GUM, CINNAMON, CARAMEL COLOR, SOY LECITHEN, ACESULFAME POTASSIUM, SUCRALOSE, NIACINAMIDE*, VITAMIN A PALMITATE, REDUCED IRON, PYRIDOXINE HYDROCHLORIDE*, RIBOFLAVIN*, THIAMIN MONONITRATE*, FOLIC ACID*. *ONE OF THE B VITAMINS CONTAINS MILK AND SOY INGREDIENTS.

The calories and nutrient profiles are almost identical. However, the weight control oatmeal has several ingredients I try to stay away from. Whey protein doesn't bother me but it can cause mucus and congestion in a lot of people. I especially do not like Acesulfame Potassium and Sucralose, both artificial sweeteners, which I do not trust.

I am sure even if you bought the Quaker brands instead of bulk, the Weight Control oatmeal would be more expensive, for oats which are perfectly fine by themselves, without all the added chemicals.

Barbara

Funny Wal-Mart Story

2006-11-29T20:36:00.000-08:00

My partner works at Wal-Mart. For Christmas, they wanted their cashiers to wear Santa Hats. So, did they go to their Christmas section and get some? No, they went across the parking lot to the Dollar Tree store and bought them there!

So I guess the moral of the story is, when Wal-Mart can't afford to shop at Wal-Mart and must shop at Dollar Tree, it's time to worry about the economy.

Barbara

Save on Prescription Drugs

2006-11-28T16:52:00.000-08:00

This post is for those who live in Oregon. If you don't have prescription drug coverage and are a resident of Oregon, you can get a discount card for prescriptions free from the State. I'm not sure how much the discounts are, but I do know when the measure to expand this program to everyone (not just seniors) came up for a vote this year, no one was against it and the state said expanding it would actually save them money, due to bulk purchases.

Anyway, you can send in the very very short application after December 7, 2006, when the new program takes effect.

For you Oregonians, here is a link:

Oregon Prescription Drug Program.

Barbara

Oven Fried Potato Wedges

2006-11-19T19:41:00.000-08:00

I had a few potatoes from a ten pound sack that were getting old, so I made oven fried potato wedges. Came out really well. Used some olive oil, garlic powder and rosemary. Some organic ketchup and yum! a meal.

Barbara

Great bread again!

2006-11-13T21:22:00.000-08:00

I made my soft crust whole wheat bread again (recipe at this link).

It came out great again. Put one in the freezer for later in the week. My partner loves that bread and so do I. We use a presto bread cutting guide I picked up at Goodwill for a buck, still in the original box. Makes nice even slices.

No cooking today, my partner is off work and she did the cooking. Nice to have a day off!!

Barbara

Changes

2006-11-11T17:56:00.001-08:00

Well, no bread or cookies today. I did spend two hours at a bubble tea shop writing. Got my daily quota done.

I did make TVP sausage and Table for Two's Potato Corn Chowder. Unfortunately, I fell asleep and burned the brown rice I was making. Not too badly at least.

Barbara

Brussels Sprouts

2006-11-10T21:32:00.000-08:00

Part of our dinner tonight was a recipe from Vegan with a Vengance. I love this cookbook.

I made Roasted brussels sprouts with toasted garlic. We've had it before and we both like it. Neither of us really ate brussels sprouts before.

Tomorrow I plan on making 2 loaves of bread, baking some chocolate chip cookies and maybe use up the last of the potatoes and make Potato corn chowder from Table for Two. I am also going to a Nanowrimo write-in at this bubble tea shop. Went last Saturday and it was nice. I'm about 3K words behind, but I'll make it up soon.

Barbara

A fixed oven!

2006-11-08T10:26:00.000-08:00

Ever since we moved into this apartment, (1.5 years ago), we've had a problem with the oven. It's gotten worse as time has passed. We have an oven thermometer inside and to get the right temperature, we would have to make adjustments. For instance, to get a temp of 400, I'd have to set the dial at about 360. It made baking things quite an adventure.

Monday we had some problems with the lights in the kitchen, so I called the apartment manager about that and about the oven. The guy came today, fixed the light problem and fixed the oven. The sensor rod thing wasn't attached in the right place. So now it works.

Baking should be a lot less interesting now. I like it!

Barbara