Graham crackers

I'd decided I wanted to make a banana cream pie.  There's a place not too far from us that carries some great pies, but I don't want to spend that much of our budget on it.  I figured we'd be able to make one that's got to be just as good or even better.  I didn't want a regular pie crust because I think banana cream pie is best served with a graham cracker crust.  It turns out that that I cannot find a box of graham crackers that doesn't have high fructose corn syrup in it.  I'm certain that I could find a box somewhere but I'm not going to run around town looking for one when I can probably find something on-line.  After a short period of searching, I found this recipe from Smitten Kitchen.  That woman is an awesome blogger and an even better cook and baker.  It is no surprise that I found the best graham cracker recipe where I have previously found my most favorite recipe of whole wheat ricotta berry scones.

I'm not generally big on graham crackers.  I've never gone out of my way to think that I needed a box of them to snack on.  They are usually summer fare, paired with a marshmallow roasted over a fire and some chocolate.  I remember my brother used to put a bunch in a bowl, crush them up, and pour milk over them, eating it like cereal.  I tried it once or twice, but never really LOVED graham crackers.  But, I do love graham cracker crust for pies.  

So Jaimie and I were making this dough last night, in the midst of trying to get a toddler and an infant with a cold to go back to sleep, because they kept waking.  After starting to put together the recipe, we decided to double it.  Going by the reasoning in the movie Contact - Why stop at one when you can have two at twice the price?  So the flour and sugar are in the blender (we don't have a food processor), we put in the frozen cubed butter for one recipe's worth.  At this point we decided to double the recipe.  I added the other amount of flour and sugar, but we didn't have more frozen cubed butter, so I cubed some and put it in the freezer.  We got distracted with the kiddos and eventually got back to making the crackers.  We put the recipe together and Jaimie rolled it out to the 1 inch as directed.  Once it was cooled in the fridge, I discovered the butter for doubling the recipe in the freezer.  Too late now.

I took the dough out of the fridge and then started to cut it.  I asked Jaimie why he had the dough so thick when the recipe called for 1/8 inch.  He informed me that I was to have rolled it out to 1/8 an inch AFTER it was refrigerated.  Oops.  I didn't want to ball it back up, especially because I was going to crush up the crackers anyway to make a crust, so I just pressed them with a roller and they looked not-so-pretty.  We put the other half in the fridge for making the next day. 

We did follow the recipe for actually baking the graham crackers.  They smelled really, really, really good.  When we got them out of the oven, they tasted really, really, really good - even with half the butter, even with uneven thickness, and looking as blah as a cracker could look.  They were quite crispy though, and Jaimie noted that they were very difficult to roll out before going in the fridge.

Jaimie said we had to make the other half of the dough today, because he would not be able to leave enough for the pie crust otherwise (we've got to also leave enough bananas for the pie, but we'll eventually get this pie assembled).  Tonight, we made the other half, with even thickness (though still short on the butter).  The recipe calls for cutting them into even squares, maybe even putting a line of holes down the center like store-bought crackers, but we're more au naturel here.  I just cut them into pieces with the rough edges from rolling and put 'em in the oven (our awesome, wonderful oven).  The house again smells delicious and we've got an evening of snacking ahead.  If we don't eat them all (and all the bananas again), maybe I'll get to post about making our banana cream pie.

Week 4: $25 in groceries

With a plethora of decent coupons and sales, we got more than I expected we'd be able to with this week's $25.

We paid $15.29 on 2 bags of tortilla chips, grapes, clementines, heavy cream and cheddar cheese.
We spent another $4.16 on 2 avocados, one (more) bag of tortilla chips (we tend to go through a lot), and carrots.
Later, we spent $.79 on bananas.  I bought some last week thinking we'd make banana cream pie, but the bananas disappeared into little girls' bellies.
I still have just enough to buy 2 gallons of milk with a 2/$4.88 coupon!  I think we'll make more cheese out of it.  Ok, we're really .12 over, but I think it's pretty darn close.

[We didn't end up getting the milk, because we still had some, so we still made it under $25 with more bananas, - still need to make the pie -  garlic, and lasagna noodles.  Our toddler didn't feel well though, so we did buy some grapes which made us exactly $2 over.  I know we're slightly over, but the grapes were worth it for a sick babe].

menu plan (1/30/12)

Saturday we made a delicious chicken. (I know, we don't follow our meal plans very closely).  I can't believe how much chicken we have left over when making this huge 7 lb chicken!  This week's plan has to incorporate that.

Sunday:  Chili - we used some left over chicken in this.  It was a bit hot for Lily (I put tongue tingler salsa in there) so Lily decided against it, but the adults enjoyed it.

Monday:  macaroni chicken salad (still using up that chicken).  Jaimie made two types, one with a creamy dressing and one with a vinegar dressing.  Both were gone very quickly and both girls loved it.

Tuesday:  Beef roast in the slow cooker with potatoes, onions and carrots.  I don't think we would have planned for so much meat so many days in a row but we started thawing it and you just can't re-freeze it after that.

Wednesday:  Leftovers

Thursday:  Quinoa with veggies.  Somehow we never seem to get around to this one on the menu, but here it is again.  It is Imbolc, so maybe we'll make something with eggs or milk (ooh, creme brulee for dessert!)

Friday:  Pesto.  Last time we had cilantro pesto and it was delicious.  I think we're out of the nasturtium leaf pesto, but I'm certain we have oregano and basil in the freezer and in the cupboard.  Maybe we'll use spaghetti squash rather than pasta.

Saturday:  Maybe grilled cheese.  Maybe leftovers.  Maybe something else.  Whatever it is, I'd like to take this Saturday to just wing it.

Watch this movie! (thru 2/1)

Join the good food movement and see this movie free until February 1st.

Scholarship opportunity - Got Milk?

Hey high school students:

The Got Milk? campaign is offering a lucky high school senior a $7,500 scholarship. 

Check out their Facebook page for details.  Applications are due March 9, 2012.

Progress in our food challenge

It was about two or three years ago that I read Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle.  It inspired me to grow my own food, more than just for eating fresh.  I was planning on gardening when we bought our home just over 2 years ago, but I didn't really have a plan for growing the bulk of our food and preserving it for future use. 

About a year ago now, Jaimie and I started to make plans for changing our eating habits.  We did the same things as most people do, like grab a quick bite at the local fast food joint and regret the feeling in your stomach later, or buying crap food because it was quick to make and relatively cheap.

We wanted to incorporate our changes slowly so that they would "take."  We started our wellness plan by drinking more water. As part of our water challenge, we would each drink 64 ounces (8 glasses of 8 ounces).  If we had caffeine or alcohol, we had to match that amount in increased water intake.  Jaimie admits he did not do terribly well, but the point wasn't to meet the goal so much as it was to bring awareness to what we're drinking and to increase our hydration - simple things to make us become healthier.

We added other little steps in the plan, like increasing vegetable varieties, not allowing any boxed mixes in the home (like boxed cakes or brownies), working toward more whole wheat rather than just white flour, those kind of things.  We were also going to have more fresh food by growing our own.  

I was very excited to plant when we bought our home.  We moved in in late September so we had to wait until the following spring.  Jaimie built two raised beds and we filled them with compost.  We realized exactly how much can come out of raised beds (much more than just in the ground), and we built 4 more.  We knew we could fill our freezer and canning room with home grown foods and last the winter.  We found local sources for humanely raised meats, and a local place for beautiful eggs.

Though we were limiting what we were eating (no high fructose corn syrup, no extra additives that aren't pronounceable), we ended up having MORE variety.  I think people who eat crap food get stuck in a rut and end up with the same menu of burgers, pizza, "chicken" in nugget form, boxed macaroni and powdered "cheese" etc.  We kind of did the same thing.  Now, I see the grocery ad for shelf stable cheese and I know that there is no way that can be healthy.  How many additives are in it to make a product that naturally goes bad and needs refrigeration into something that can be on the shelf?

My sister posted an article that addressed the habits of poor people.  The first habit listed is that poor people develop a habit for eating crappy food.  Both Jaimie and I were relatively poor growing up, and though my family wasn't ever on food stamps, I can see how the article defined our family's eating habits perfectly.  But, eating healthy doesn't have to be expensive.

I agree, the $1.37 I spent on one orange was a bit startling when I bought it, but there are options for eating healthy.  Canned beans are cheap (only 55 cents at Aldi, but sometimes more than $1 elsewhere), but buying a bag of dried black beans for $2 has the same amount of beans as 6 or 8 cans.  It does take some forethought to plan ahead for dinners, but the cost difference is evident.  I am noticing now that we can buy healthy food for less than what we were spending on terrible food before.  The two pizzas we made last week - $5 for both!  That fed our family for two meals.  Even though there are many cheap healthy options (quinoa, oatmeal, yogurt), we will pay a premium for things that are worth the extra cost, like sustainably raised meats or vegetables, or for picking our own berries at a place that doesn't spray.  

I don't want to get off on a tangent ranting about how others can change eating habits, but wanted to note how we changed ours and what our changes have been.

Besides knowing that we are eating food that is better for us, we have noticed other changes as well.  Jaimie went to the doctor for some back issues and went again a month later, each time being weighed.  He noticed that he was losing about a pound a week, without exercising or moving any more than he normally does.  (Actually, I moved much less during that month because of the back injury. -J)  I have noticed my own weight loss but was uncertain whether it was just from breastfeeding my daughter and losing the after-pregnancy weight.  We're eating just as much as we want and continue to snack, but we always know what is in our food.

We have also noticed that other foods don't taste as good.  The meals at most restaurants don't compare to the full flavor of foods we get at home.  It tastes like we're eating gourmet every night.

Another change I've noticed is that my allergies have decreased.  I still have them, but not as severe.  I used to be very allergic to cats, needing to have an Epi-pen.  Now, we've got two cats and I can tolerate them.  Even though I can sometimes itch, my throat doesn't swell up.  That is a drastic difference.

We notice how our bodies feel so much more than we ever had.  We're changing and loving it.

Week 3: $25 in groceries; free food!

I will admit right off the bat that we did dine "in" one night with ordered pizza.  I was considering including that cost against the $25 for the week, but I know that there will be other times in the next several months that we will go out to eat and it will not be counted.  Plus, we used a gift card that we had before we started our $25 a week budget.  It was an evening where I worked and Jaimie's appointment went a couple hours longer than expected, so the girls were picked up two hours late from day care.  Jaimie mentioned that it would take an hour to boil the beans and I suggested that we just bake a pizza.  I've got to say, it really was delicious.  I love the Gourmet Veggie pizza at Papa Murphy's.  It's one of the very few places where we can get Real food. 

This is how our week went:

2 gallons of milk (no rBGH), with coupon: $4.58
Bananas: .69 & .56
Coconut milk: $2.98 (for making sticky rice, or maybe coconut ice cream)
puff snacks for June (not natural, and not real, but I got them because they are convenient for the car and she likes them): $3.34
eggs: $3.50
flour: $3.00
Tortillas and cheese: $6.11 (I didn't split this up because I don't recall what the exact separate amounts were).

That comes to $24.76, 24 cents under budget. 

We also went to a swap this week.  There was a food swap in the cities that I have wanted to go to but it was shut down because trading homemade foods is "selling."  It's unfortunate that I didn't get to attend because I really wanted to try out other people's things and have people try some things from us (especially the coveted violet jelly).  Anyway, we went to a swap at the SPC.  Basically, you could bring your things that you wanted to get rid of and swap them with other things people brought.  After everyone has gone through and taken what they want or need, the rest is bagged up and donated to Goodwill.  Well, one person brought a large amount of nuts (I don't know that Goodwill would have taken them, but it made sense to bring them to the swap if anyone wanted them).  I got over a gallon of nuts (still in the shell).  I'm certain we will be making some more crack granola soon, at least by next weekend when it was requested of me to specifically bring it.

Would you like some free food too?  Try entering the Whole Foods Pantry Stock-up Contest.  You must enter by January 31st and write them an e-mail telling them what items are must-haves in your pantry.  They will select e-mails at random.  There is a grand prize of a Whole Foods Gift card for $599!