Okay family and friends out there reading this post, avert your eyes. This is a complete spoiler alert, so go away, skip to a different post. Starting last year I opted to make gift baskets up for my family and friends instead of trying to puzzle out individual gifts for […]
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Poached on Toast: Poaching Eggs the “don’t fuss” way.
I honestly have no idea why I decided to try poaching an egg. I also can’t remember where I learned how to do it. It’s totally different than how my mom showed me–which involved spooning boiling water and lots of fussing. Was it Julia Child? Maybe Martha Stewart?
In the last 2 years of living in Ames, I just gave it a shot. Now I have eggs and yogurt or eggs and oatmeal or eggs and greens or eggs and sausage (featured in today’s post) every morning.
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Making Fancy Yogurt on the Cheap
Two things recently happened that lead to me giving yogurt making another try. First, my dear Yankee friend Unplugged yogurt making with this great post on the process–no fancy equipment here. Second, I bought a dehydrator to make our own camping food. It came with instructions for making yogurt and a few dishes specifically for yogurt. How could I not try again? What happened the first time? Well, too hot, then too cold and that pretty much tells the story.
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Thrift Kitchen: Naked Burritos
Have you been to Pancheros or Qdoba? Have you tried their naked burritos? They are delicious! After going and spending $6 to get rice, beans, and what looked like what I usually have hanging out in my fridge from dinner the night before, I opted to stop “treating” myself to lunch there, and packing it for lunch instead.
Here’s how I generally make mine. You can vary it a lot. Mostly it depend what I have on hand – what came from the garden, the farmer’s market, what I made for dinner the night before. On nights we go out for wings, the next day I toss the leftovers in. Today’s version is a vegetarian naked burrito.
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Out of the Garden and into my Mouth
Thrift Kitchen Each Thursday I post about ways to be thrifty in the kitchen. To me, it isn’t just about being cheap, it’s about living creatively! Finally have some food for eating from the garden. I’m scarfing it all down as quickly as I can. I’ve stored the potatoes in […]
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Thrift Kitchen: Classing up Cheap Meat
Meat is expensive stuff. The difference in my grocery bill from when I was a strict vegetarian to now is huge. But I have to admit, I do love meat. And part of that love is my lack of interest in eating crappy meat. I don’t eat a steak that often, but when I do, I want it to taste AMAZING!
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Thrift Kitchen: Cutting Lettuce Easy Peasy
This is such a small thing, but it makes me happy and simplifies my kitchen, so I’m going to share it with you today. It’s one of those anti uni tasker moments. I like the idea of a lettuce knife, but wow, does that seem like a silly thing to have.
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Saving energy + money entertaining with summer grilling
Last night we grilled at the new house for the first time. We impromptu had a few friends over, and it was a blast. It made me realize that grilling is a great way to save money on energy and entertaining.
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Thrift Kitchen: Frappacheapo
I have to admit a shameful secret. I used to drink frappachinos. You know the ones in the bottle at the gas station. Talk about a sugar rush. It’s not the healthiest thing in the world and not to mention the expensive. YIKES! They are around $3 each here in Ames.
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Thrift Kitchen: Allrecipes.com
It’s amazing how resistant I can become to an idea out of sheer laziness. Once I finally get around to checking it out, I wonder how I got on without it in the first place. My sister has been preaching the wonders of allrecipes.com for years now. Literally years. When did I finally got around to looking up a recipe and then actually making said recipe? Just a few months ago.
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Farmer’s Markets and Crochet Market Bags
Here in Iowa, farmer’s markets are really starting to ramp up. It’s no longer just rhubarb and asparagus, but beans, peas, and so much more. Most weeks, it’s a better value to purchase produce from your local farmer’s market instead of the grocery store. I’ve most likely told you about this a million times before, Local Harvest is a great site to find farmer markets in your area.
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Thrift Kitchen: Vegetarian Spinach Lasagna
I started to wonder if I could get away with replacing the meat with some Textured Vegetable Protein and if it would pass the Jason test. (I’ve been trying to cut back on meat.) Taking a cue from the Sneaky Chef, I didn’t bother to tell him there was no meat in it until he had devoured the first piece.
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Thrift Kitchen: 7 Steps to Keeping the Fridge Clean
Now that I’m out of “half past overwhelmed” mode, I’m getting back to my weekly routine of cleaning out the fridge, finishing off any leftovers, and making up my grocery list. What I did with the fridge was the first step. Once you deep clean it, a weekly trash and swipe down will keep it clean for a very long time.
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Quick Treat: Chocolate Strawberry Yogurt
Strawberries are just starting to come into season around Iowa. You can get a huge gallon container for just $4. Usually that’s the cost of a pint. Unfortunately, a gallon is way too much for Jason and I to eat. I’ve been trying to come up with enough ideas to use them up before they go bad, things that can freeze and are healthy. Sure I could whip them all into strawberry tarts, but how many of those should I be eating?
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Thrift Kitchen: From Martha to my kitchen
Last week I got my act together and made a meal plan. I checked out the April issue of Everyday Foods and found this tasty little recipe for Mediterranean Chicken. Only problem is that when I bought the chicken for the recipe, I was headed to work. So I stashed it in the freezer at the office and forgot to take it home. Well, crap. Jason was at the gym and in possession of the car.
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Thrift Kitchen: Homemade Pizza Adventures
My sister rocks. She sent me a great two part gift: the most excellent pizza cookbook Pizza: More than 60 Recipes for Delicious Homemade Pizza, accompanied by my very own pizza stone, pizza cutter, and wood paddle set. I got it into my head to have a pizza making party last weekend, but then had too much work! So I had a mountain of pizza toppings, but no people to eat it and no dough to use them with.
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Getting my Garden ON!
The weather has been absolutely wonderful lately and I was pretty excited to get out into the community garden this weekend and even this morning. This morning we had a pleasant surprise–carrots! Check out these little stubby guys:
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Thrift Kitchen: Salad Tossed Up Instead of Out
A couple of weeks ago, I posted about how much I love salad. I’ve been making them at home lately and dressing made all the difference. While talking to my friend Aimee about the post, I realized that wasn’t entirely true. This made all the difference. My biggest complaint about […]
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Thrift Kitchen: Cinnamon Ginger Chicken
We’ve been having curried chicken quite a lot and I just wasn’t feeling that with the green peppers. Hmm… hmmmmmmmm. I started with soy sauce and started adding spices. It was absolutely delicious! Jason gave it 2 thumbs up.
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Thrift Kitchen: Getting a Grip on Grains
Grains are one of the best ways to add interest to your cooking and save money all in one fell swoop. Here are my three favorites and how I use them.