euphrasyne

The local Indian market is a good place to buy beans, ours is called Royal Bazaar.   I also buy them in bulk elsewhere around 50lbs so that makes them cheaper.  Location makes a huge difference on prices.  I haven't bought kidney beans in awhile, but I have a LOT in my pantry right now.   I like to make them into red beans &rice or kidney bean masala.  Black beans I also have a lot of...I use them in many Mexican and Cuban dishes.  Borracho black beans are a favorite at my house.  

We don't eat a lot of pasta, but if it gets to more than $1 per pound, then I would go to strictly homemade.  I have the attachment for my mixer that maxes pasta noodles easily if I do not feel like hand cutting them.  It is a lot easier than it sounds.  Takes maybe a half hour from start to finish to make scratch noodles from flour.  It can be done in 5 minutes for basic noodles, but you should let them rest before cooking.  

current prices here:

Aldi's butter 1.99lb

Kroger Turkey *was .49lb earlier in the week

Royal Bazaar: most Dhal (mung bean/split pea) is on sale for slightly under $1 lb  I'll buy kidney/black beans when they go on sale and I need them.  

Aldi: 32oz spaghetti $2

Some things are worth the convenience, some are not.  I prefer more convenience at breakfast than dinner because of my preferences.  Some of those I prep in advance and some of them I buy.  Overall, grocery prices are way up, and location makes a huge difference on how much they are up and what they were before also.  Things here are more expensive than where I used to live, and things there were more expensive than were I grew up.   I seem to move to more expensive places.  

I never spend more than $1 per pound of bean.   Margerine is usually less than $1 per pound and I buy butter at $2 per pound.   Prices change by location and time though.  20 years ago in MS I spent about half as much on each.  

What will be cooking for the next week?  Leftovers du jour.   

I've got divided tupperware with 2 sections and more with 3 sections.  I will make up several and freeze them for DH lunches.  

Started a Cajun spiced turkey earlier.   

Yesterday I made ambrosia, apple and cherry cheesecake tarts, cheeseball, deviled eggs.

Today I make green beans with mushrooms, rolls, sweet potatoes, dressing, cranberry sauce, onion gravy.    

I used to make green bean casserole, but I'm the only one left who likes that so I don't make it anymore.  I'd make more if we had more people, but we have shrunk from 30 to 4.  Things change over time.  We will have leftovers forever now.  

Everyone should do as they see fit.                 the

life as an appoonant souldd  seem as as nothing. 

Here, the Aldi butter gets down to 1.99 near Christmas (and based on current prices it seems maybe 70% likely this year) and I will stock up then.  It is currently 1.99 just checked so I will start my daily stocking up as my husband has time to stop by.  I still have around 17lbs frozen butter and 10 tubs 3lb country crock light (not updated current used list--size of a dollar store shopping list-- yet so iffy) so I'm not urgent. 

Instead of a shopping list, I have a 'used' list on the fridge.   We mark down things I track in the pantry and freezer.  I do not track fridge items.  I do not track junk food or convenience items like Poptarts, storebought breakfast burritos, frozen dinners, chips, bought cookies, ice cream, etc.  I have a separate list in my planner that people are responsible for marking when we are out for those non-essential pleasurable foods.  Those in my house know what I do and do not track.  I don't care what they eat, just what they track so I know when to buy more.  When the list is full, I reconcile it to my spreadsheet and print off a shopping list of what we are 'low' on for essential purposes.  When I was younger, my essential was a week. 

It grew over time to a month, few months, a year, and finally a cycle of how long things are good for vs how fast we use them.  I'm old enough to know what we use and also old enough to know that we outgrow what we use and change patterns over time.  

Today, I have literally been either cooking or cleaning all day.  I made ambrosia, tarts to completion, the start of dressing, turkey, green beans, sweet potatoes, others, and I sent my husband to the store for the forgotten. We always eat thanksgiving dinner at a 12 o'clock lunch meal and put up the tree after.  I intend for that to continue until I die.   It was more forgotten and smaller today than most of my life, but I remember the reason:  Get along with those around you."  At the end of the day, compromise and make a life.  

No matter what history or hype, Thanksgiving was w holiday created because we can appreciate other people and being alive.   Someone started to understand the other and that deserves the most understanding I  can muster.  

In all the places I've lived, you have to have a license even if it is on your own land.  My family was avid hunters and some of them have been on the outs with the local game wardens.  There can be serious consequences....everyone should choose their comfort and risk level.   I think the various licenses are BS, but a family member lost his job over some game trouble.  

Hunted meat isn't free.  The 2A items, bows, arrows, hunting licenses--it costs more than it should.  Don't forget all the 'hunting clothes', scent spray, beer, deer blinds, etc. 

I was a vegetarian (lacto/ovo) for 7 years and a true vegan for a year.   I've been back on the meat for a long time now.  I feel better and am healthier when I eat meat.  It is possible to do a very healthy vegan diet, but you have to be vigilant in eating proteins and not just carbs and too much soy in the diet causes a lot of estrogen problems--I had a lot of them. 
 

Chickpeas (garbanzo beans) are the best bean and can make basically anything including whipped cream (aquafaba).   Indian food is a great way to experience veganism.  Our local place, Rajput even has a Jain vegan menu.  (Jains do not eat roots like garlic or potatoes because it kills the plant.)  Sacrilege for me because there is no such thing as too much garlic in my household.   However much garlic the recipe calls for, I add more.  I've had no complaints on this ever.  

Bear is extremely greasy and slightly sweeter than venison.  It tends to look a bit like beef.  I mostly either BBQ it with a strong sauce or put it in gumbo when I have it.    

I am strongly anti-bug.  Other people can love them, but not me.  I'd eat a cat first.  (case in point I have had mountain lion--in a gumbo.)

I have a similar recipe that uses cocoa powder instead of Nesquik.  

HOT CHOCOLATE
1/2 c sugar
1/4 c cocoa
dash salt
1/3 c hot water
4 c milk
3/4 tsp vanilla
Combine sugar, cocoa, and salt; blend in water. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until mixture boils. Boil and stir 1 minute. Add milk, stir and heat till serving temperature. DO NOT BOIL! Remove from heat, add vanilla. Serve.

I mix it up with the equivalent of powdered milk for the brand and heat it with hot water and almond extract instead of vanilla to serve.  One of my huge cooking secrets is to use almond extract instead of vanilla extract with most sweets.  It makes an amazing difference and people go crazy over it.  

I will eat any animal not bugs or fish (allergic to fish).   I highly recommend Game Cookbook by Geraldine Steindler.  It is the best for hunters or wives of hunters.  I've used it often over the years.  I grew up in MS with a season for pretty much every animal and we ate them all.  

Squirrel smells and tastes similar to pork chops.  If you cut it up first, you can lie.  I don't recommend lying, but sometimes you have to do what you have to do.  

When in doubt, make gumbo.  Gumbo disguises all things.  I had a friend who only made it when he had 7+ types of meat available.  

My DH works for the Navy.  For many decades now.  His family mostly does the same.  It is hard to imagine different.  We talk about moving more inland and retiring to a bunker in the middle of the country, but who knows how that will play out.  I hate sand and the beach.  

I grew up in a smaller city with family in the country.  Real country where nothing was near but farmland.  I miss that.  

I am doing a whole lot of nothing this weekend.  DD3 has been getting up at 230am every night for the last 2 weeks and requiring me to sit with her for an hour to go back to bed.  It is exhausting and I hope temporary.  

The soup was good, a bit acidic, so I added a pinch of baking soda and a huge sprinkle of tropical sazon for seasoning.   

Last week I used the last of the 2020 beef roast in the crockpot.  Everything else is 2022+.  Apparently, I did mostly canning or dehydrating in 2021 and not much freezing.  I haven't thawed anything for today, but I have  a storebought cooked chicken in the fridge from yesterday's groceries.  I'll do something with that.  Cooked chicken is cheaper than raw chicken.  It is crazy that way.  

I have on a pot of leftover soup.  I make it about every 2 months or so.  

Recipe:

Throw every* (that makes sense) leftover in the fridge into the crockpot.  Add water or broth.  Add seasoning or extras as needed. Cook all day.

It was a rough week and the family did not eat the leftovers well, so today we have soup.  Deboned chicken leg quarters, peas, cheesy  Mexican corn, chicken and potatoes in some sort of creamy sauce (I forget what I made), broccoli, half a box of off-brand velveeta.  It looked like the basics for chicken enchilada soup to me, so I added in  a quart of vegetable broth, a quart of poblano chicken broth, and some salsa.  I'll add in some fajita seasoning or cumin later depending on how it tastes in a few hours.  

There was rice, stuffing, and field peas also, but I felt like people would eat these and that they would not do well with the rest.  

I'm at in the middle of book 597 for the year.  My goal was 600, so I'm sure I'm going to surpass it.  This month I'm primarily reading sci-fi space romance or fantasy orcs.  My kindle/audible memberships are completely worth it.  

When I fell off the ladder and ended up in the ER after surgery, I had a trech down my throat and could not talk. I was also cuffed to the bed  because that is what they do to people who are trecheyed so they don't pull it out.  I started signing one handed because I know some sign language.  The nurses freaked out and started to get me an interpreter before I told them I could hear in sign.  

Came to reality cuffed to a bed not knowing what was going on with a tube down my throat and started signing.  It is good to have multiple ways to communicate,  

With kids and teens, you tend to go through a lot of bread.  I think they inhale it like cocaine.  

6 minutes ago, Necie said:

Today is Day 1. Every day is Day 1. Just keep repeating and don’t give up. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.
I have been repeating for 10 yrs, 11 months, 2 days. And am doing it again today. God willing, again tomorrow.
 

 

That resonates a lot.  

'

vodka.  i lost Wednesday.  

Today I reclaim reality.  The struggle is real.  It means a lot to me.  

We went to Ikea today.   They had a shopping cart full of textiles to the top for $15. It had cushion covers, towels, hand towels, curtains, sheets, loose fabric, and lace.   It was all neatly folded--that is how much there was.  And it was a big Ikea sized shopping cart.  I showed it to DD15 and she said 'take it out of my allowance, this is mine.'   I got it for her and I'm keeping the towels and a bit of the green flower fabric, but the rest is for her to have fun with.  

River got a huge stuffed puppy --probably 2 ft in length.  She keeps sitting it down and saying 'stay here puppy.'   We have no dogs, so I'm not sure where she learned that, but it is very cute.  We went to Mission BBQ for lunch afterwards and I got a big plate to split with R.  She ate the smoked sausage!   I can barely get her to touch meat that isn't lunchmeat or chicken nuggets and she ate smoked sausage exclaiming yummy!  Multiple pieces.   It was a good day for everything but my wallet.  

My family...is what it is and nothing I do will change anyone else on an adult level.  The kids at home are on track for what I want them to learn.  The kids away from home know what I have said and are living their lives as they see fit--which is the best possible outcome.   The other family....I mostly try to avoid.  My views do not need to be everyone's views.    This is a hard pill to swallow, but I love my children and everyone deserves to make their own decisions.  

That being said, River is amazing on preschool, DD 15 is doing well in HS, and I am reading a lot of brain fluff to distract me from current events.  DH has lost so much weight that he has gone form XXXL to L.   We have a plan in place for X-mas and before, and we are supporting all the kids as best we can. 

We had 2 days without any form of internet and it was enlightening...A contractor tore up a fiberoptic cable and it was bad.  It was a good learning experience on what we had on and off the network.  

We are having a lazy, rainy day.  I have the heat/air off and a few windows open since it just a light rain and not coming in the house.  I prefer the humidity and though it is not dry here, it is less humid than I prefer/ am used to.  

I was watching The Love Between Fairy and Devil in Mandrin with subtitles, but River came in begging to watch Masha and the Bear, so I have it up on monitor 2 now while I read on monitor 1.  Husband is alternating napping on the couch and watching Star Wars spin-offs on his computer.  The teen is actually being productive--she did dishes and is now sewing up River's 'MUST HAVE' blanket and organizing fabric by project.  

I haven't decided on my Halloween costume this year, but I'm thinking through what I already have.  DH ordered a giant blow up stegosaurs costume for himself and a ghost cape with hood for the toddler.  She really wants to be a ghost and keeps throwing her blanket over her like a hood and screaming OOOOOOOOOOOOOO all through the house.  The teen wants to be a matching ghost.  We unpacked some of the fall stuff today (we are really behind this year) and she is also toting around a skeleton rat and a skeleton bird.   The rat is missing its tail and I can see that a trip to the dollar store is in order.  

That looks great!  Congratulations on getting it going!

I also make pancakes, muffins, cornbread, etc with sourdough.  

Misc Sourdough Recipes from my recipe file:

SIMPLE SOURDOUGH BATTER BREAD
2 c sourdough starter
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp butter or olive oil
1/2 c milk
2 Tbsp sugar
3 c flour
Mix all ingredients, adding flour 1/2 cup at a time (you may not need it all depending on thickness of your starter). Batter will be quite thick. Spoon into a greased loaf pan. Let rise until about double (1-2 hours). Bake at 375° F for 40-50 minutes.

SUE'S SALT RISING BREAD
Starter:
3 medium-sized potatoes
1 tsp sugar
4 c boiling water
3 Tbsp cornmeal
1 tsp salt

Dough:
2 c lukewarm milk
2 Tbsp melted shortening
1/8 tsp baking soda
1 c water
1/8 tsp salt
flour

Pare and slice potatoes. Add corn meal, sugar, 1 teaspoon salt, and boiling water. Wrap bowl in a heavy cloth. Cover and allow to stand in a warm place overnight.

In the morning, remove potatoes. Add milk, water, baking soda, salt, and shortening. Add sufficient flour to make a dough just stiff enough to knead. Knead until smooth and elastic; form into loaves. Place in well-oiled pans. Cover and let rise until double in bulk. Bake in moderate oven (about 400° F) for about 45 minutes. Makes 3 loaves.

ANOTHER POTATO STARTER
4 c unbleached flour
2 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp salt
4 c lukewarm potato water

Put all ingredients in a crock or large glass bowl and let stand in a warm place, uncovered, several days.

POTATO SOURDOUGH STARTER
1 x unbleached flour
1 x potato water (left from boiling potatoes - waste not want not!)

Boil some potatoes for supper, save the water, use it lukewarm with enough flour to make a thick batter. Let it stand a day or so until it smells right. Mmmm... sourdough smell!

SOUTHERN SOURDOUGH BREAD
1 pkg yeast (1 Tbsp)
1 c bread flour
1 tsp salt
2 1/2 c warm water
2 c potato flakes
1/2 c sugar
Dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup warm water. Add water, flour, salt, sugar, and potato flakes; mix well. Put in glass or plastic bowl (NO METAL!). Let stand uncovered (I cover mine with a thin cotton dish towel) on counter for 3 days, cover at night. Stir down as necessary. Transfer to a glass jar, cover, and refrigerate 3 to 5 days. Makes about 2 cups. (This is supposed to smell “spoiled”!)

To continue starter:

Take 1 cup of starter for bread. Add to the remaining starter: 3 Tablespoons potato flakes, 1 cup warm water, and 3/4 cup sugar. Mix well. Let stand on counter 8 to 10 hours, stirring as necessary. Refrigerate and use within 6 days. (I have lost my starter on the 7th day, so I use it, or feed it and give away a starter on or before the 6th day)

 To make bread:
1 c starter
2 tsp salt
1 1/2 c warm water
6 c bread flour
1/3 c sugar
1/2 c vegetable oil

Remove 1 cup starter, feed remaining starter. Let the starter for the bread reach room temperature. Mix flour, sugar, and salt. Make a well in mixture, and add starter, warm water and oil. Beat until blended well. Oil top of dough, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise until tripled in size, 4 to 12 hours.

Beat down, turn dough onto floured surface, and knead 8 to 10 minutes. Divide into 3 parts, shape into loaves, and place in well greased pans. Oil top of loaves. Cover with plastic wrap, let rise 5 to 6 hours, until tripled in size.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, bake bread 30 to 40 minutes. Bread will rise about 1 inch during baking. The fresher the starter (first 3 days) the quicker the bread rises. (I have never had it take as long as the recipe suggests to rise the with either rising.)

*I have used the starter in other recipes that call for starter (rolls, pancakes, etc).

*The bread is wonderful. I really like this recipe because you have to add yeast only when you originally make the starter.

SOURDOUGH STRAWBERRY BRAID
*Please note – this one takes a long time!
1 Tbsp yeast
1/2 c warm water
1/2 c sourdough starter
4-5 c flour
1/4 sugar
4 Tbsp melted
3/4 tsp salt
1 egg
2/3 c strawberry or other preserves
powdered sugar icing, if desired

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Set aside 5 minutes. Add 1/2 cup starter and 1 cup flour. Mix thoroughly and let stand 8 hours.

Next day, stir to dissolve crust that has formed. Add 2 cups flour, sugar, butter, salt, and egg. Mix thoroughly. Add enough remaining flour to form a soft, smooth ball. Place in a greased bowl and turn. Cover and let rise 1 hr.

Punch down dough. Make a 9-inch square, and place preserves down the middle third. With scissors, cut strips 3" long and 1" wide on both sides of middle third. Fold strips towards center, alternating sides, over filling. Place on greased sheet.

Cover, let rise until double, about 30 minutes.

Bake at 375° F for 30-40 minutes, or until done. Cool on wire rack. Drizzle with powdered sugar icing, if desired.

MOTHEREARTH'S EVERLASTING YEAST
1 quart warm potato water
1/2 cake of yeast (or 1/2 Tbsp dry yeast)
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp flour

Stir in all ingredients well, put in warm place to rise until ready to mix for baking. Leave a small amount to keep the yeast going. Keep in a cool place, and add to the yeast all of the above ingredients EXCEPT the yeast. Do this each time and you will never run out of yeast, this is somewhat like sourdough.

SOURDOUGH NOT-JUST-BREAD
Sourdough bread is so easy and tasty, but sometimes I like something different. A big advantage to using a sourdough starter is that you don't need to keep a store of yeast. You can probably adapt your favorite sourdough recipe as follows:

1. Pizza Crust:

Let it rise as usual, but right before baking, stretch it out on a baking pan and use it as a pizza crust. Top it with sauce and toppings, and I usually bake on the lower rack for almost 30 minutes at 350° F.

*I tried spreading it out then letting it rise in the pizza pan once, and it was "fluffy", but I like it better like above.

*We sometimes fix one pizza and two bread loaves.

2. Cinnamon Rolls:

Prepare up until the point of placing in the bread pan to rise. Roll out. Melt 1 Tbsp margarine, and add 1 tsp ground cinnamon. Spread on dough with brush. Sprinkle with 1/4 c sugar. Roll up, cut, and place in pan. Let rise. Bake at 375° F for 20-25 minutes. Drizzle with icing. Refrigerate remaining rolls.

Cinnamon Roll Icing: Mix 1 c powdered sugar, a dash of salt, and 1/4 tsp vanilla with a little milk to a fluid consistency.

3. Sourdough on a Stick:

(I have not tried this but it sounds interesting!!)

You need: sourdough bread dough, or use dough made from plain pancake batter using less liquid than called for.

Optional - honey, cinnamon, butter

Prepare the dough. Roll pieces of dough into long skinny sausages about 1/4" thick. Wet a green stick and heat it over the coals. Wrap the dough around the warmed stick. Hold the dough over the hot coals until baked, turning to prevent burning.

*Dip the dough in a mixture of melted honey, butter, and cinnamon before baking if desired.

I loved your video stories and think you should do more.  We appreciate them, and I'm sure your kids/grandkids/down the line would love them even more.