Frugal February

Eating Local / Frugal February / Retro Kitchen — No Comments
13
Mar 11

Meatless Mondays

I feel the need to start diversifying my diet by trying new food items on Mondays… Specifically meatless new menu items. While tomorrow is kind of off the cuff, here’s what I have on the menu.

Breakfast – Oatmeal with Cinnamon and half & half with a couple of scrambled eggs with Veggies.
Lunch – Egg Salad
Dinner – Lentils of some sort with a salad.

I made up the egg salad tonight after getting home from working in the garden. It looks and tastes delish:
DSC_6355

Oh and that rich yellow color you see, the result of the wonderously yellow yolks from Mrs. B’s Chickens (they are fed all kinds of goodies – veggie scraps, weeds from the garden). Here’s the recipe.

3 Hard boiled eggs finely diced
1/4 of a large onion finely diced
1 tbsp dill relish
1/4 cup Mayo (or Miracle whip if you prefer).
ground pepper (to taste)

Put all in a bowl and mix together. Chill until nice and cold. Serve on crackers or bread of choice.

Frugal February — 2 Comments
4
Feb 11

Frugal February Days 3 and 4

Day 3 of Frugal February was a bit weird. I was originally scheduled to leave for a meeting but that got cancelled due to the weather. If I would have gone, there was no guarantee when I would have been able to get home today. So I didn’t carry my lunch or use the bus yesterday. I ended up driving in yesterday and grabbing lunch. I must be getting used to carrying my lunch because it felt weird to grab lunch from a restuarant. This is a good thing overall because it means I’m getting the habit back.

The wait for the ice storm that didn’t start until midnight was nerve-wracking to say the least (note to self keep the TV OFF in these situations, the local weather casters just made you jumpy). And while I was tempted to grab and go for dinner well, I ended up grabbing a couple things at the store and came home and made my own version of Seven Layer Dip. I started with my beef/bean taco mix recipe (see below) and added tomatoes, gaucamole (homemade) sour cream, a little bit of cheese, and then Pico de Gallo on top. It was pretty delicious.

I guess today made up for the weirdness of yesterday. I spent the day working from home because it wasn’t safe to travel this morning. I left the house a couple times just to check things out, but overall my focus was on work and getting a few small projects done. Lunch was leftover seven layer dip. Dinner was a couple of small potatoes sliced up and cooked in olive oil and then when they are almost done, I put in half an onion sliced so they can soften and get a little bit of carmelization. My mom used to make this all the time. I forgot I had some ham in the fridge, or else I would have added that to the mix.

Beef and Bean Taco Mix
1 lb ground beef
1 14 oz can of black beans or pinto beans, rinsed
1 package taco seasoning
2/3 cup water

Crumble beef into fry pan and brown. While the beef is browning, open and drain off the sauce in a can of black or pinto beans. Once the beef is browned, pour into a colander and rinse off. Put back in the pan. Toss the beans in the colander and give them a final rinse before tossing into the pan. Add taco seasoning and water. Bring to a simmer and cook until water reduces.

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2
Feb 11

Frugal February – Day 2

This last year, I wasn’t as good as I’ve previously been about using the bus. I did a lot of driving and consequently put a lot of wear and tear on my car in one year. I’ve been determined since the start of the new year to cut back on my driving. First of all, it stresses me out and secondly, I’d like to put the time I use for driving towards accomplishing other things (like writing posts for this blog and my other blogs, reading, or crafting). And finally 12x$140=too much money going to the parking garage people.

I’m very fortunate in that I work for a company that encourages you to keep your car off the road. I get a decent monthly subsidy for using Metro. They offer van pools. We can work longer days and flex one day a week. We can tele-commute. I’ve even used the bus to go from my home-based park-n-ride to Bush-Intercontinental for a business trip. I also try to ride-share if I’m driving.

Commuting whether it via public transit or sitting down at my computer and logging onto the VPN at work is a great way to stretch my budget, get some down time for myself, and help reduce my carbon footprint. I’m looking at other ways to reduce the amount of gas I use.

Frugal February / Retro Kitchen — 1 Comment
1
Feb 11

Frugal February – Day 1

The first day of February has kicked off with a raging blizzard over most of the upper midwest and brisk, crisp winds that have dropped the temperatures here in Houston. Since these chilly temperatures are going to stick around for the next few days, I think a nice big pot of chicken soup is in order.

[Note: When I make things like Tandoori Chicken, I'll take the remains of the carcass (back, skin and neck) and chunk them into a freezer bag. When I make chicken soup like this, I'll add the extra carcass bits to the pot and I get a wonderfuly rich, thick and flavorful broth.]

Ingredients:
1 whole chicken
3 stalks of celery
2 medium onions, cut into rough dice
3 cloves of garlic, minced (add more if you really like garlic)
6 carrots, sliced
3 bay leaves
3 handfuls of fresh mixed herbs (rosemary, parsley and thyme)
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste

Thoroughly wash the chicken and clean off any pin feathers you may find on the chicken. You can chop the chicken up if you want, or leave it whole. Put in a very large pot (along with any previously collected chicken parts that you may have stashed in the freezer). Toss in about half the veggies along with the bayleaves and two handfuls of the herbs (you’ll use the rest later). Fill the pot with water until almost full. Bring to a boil and then turn the heat down. Let the chicken simmer for 1-3 hours skimming the top of the broth as necessary. When you’re satisfied with the broth, pull all the chicken out of the pot and put on plate to cool.

Add the rest of the veggies and herbs to the pot and bring back to a boil and cook for about 20 minutes. While the additional veggies are cooking, pull the meat off the bones and discard the remains. Add meat back to the pot.

Other ideas for this soup:
Add peas, bok choy or other veggies.
Add Egg Noodles (either frozen or homemade)
Add dumplings.

Once everything is cooked, check to see if additional salt and pepper is needed. Then serve yourself and your family a nice warm meal!

(PS I’m planning to make some of this tomorrow night and I’ll take some pictures then).

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31
Jan 11

Planning for Frugal February has Begun

A few days ago in my post, What’s Next, I talked about my next area of personal growth. For the month of February, I’m going to be practicing what I call Frugal February. For me, being frugal is not about being cheap. It’s making the most out of the resources I have, and blessing myself and others in the process.

Yesterday, I started a bit early and put at least part of Frugal February in action a few days early. I planned a grocery list and started putting together meals for the first part of the week that are quick and easy for me to take to work. The good news is I have a mix of quick to eat things when I get home as well so I don’t have to fuss too much in the kitchen at night. That means more time for other things (like writing blog posts and taking pictures of course)!

As I was writing my morning pages this morning, the ideas were coming fast and furious as to how I could be more wise with my resources. So I jotted them down and now have a rough writing plan for the next month. I see some of the following topics in my future: Cooking (with recipes), Creative storage, gardens (for those in apartments and who have access to a small plot of land), some focus on finances, and creative gift giving to name a few. I’m really kind of excited to see where I end at the end of February.