This is a lot of work.....

(no thats not me but I do look similar, right hair color.)


I've been busy the last few days. I spent a lot of last week wandering online and just enjoying the quiet with the man at work. It was nice to only have to think of me till 5pm. Of course we have new hrs and its killing me, but Ill adjust. He gets up at 6am to have some quiet too, with his coffee and computer. I don't mind as long as he shuts the door so I can sleep. At about 7am he comes in to shower tho and I have to get up. I have to make his lunch and let the dog out and things like that. Its how our old routine was until we got lazy being home all the time. Its just hurting us both some. I'm tired and hes sore lol but we will be fine.

And so I tore apart my bathroom last week. It needed a thorough cleaning really bad. I've just been doing what needed doing cuz hes been around here all the time. Its hard to start major projects when you get interrupted alot and have to cook, etc. And so I thought I'd enjoy the weekend but..noooo , he was out of clothes. I just finished the wash. But with him coming home dirty and showering and changing into clean, I forgot I'll have extra loads. So I started the wash Saturday.

I really needed to go grocery shopping too. Mom gave me a few $ for Vday and said I should spend it on me. Well I don't need much but I did want to go to the farmers market this weekend. They are starting an indoor one finally till the weather is nice. So I needed some nice fat crusty bread loaves from my favorite bread lady and I was almost out of local honey. I decided that's what I would use the money for if they were there. And so since I needed other stuff , the man gave me some money to try to fill up the house. So Sat. I went thru the newspaper flyers looking for coupons and sales.

These days I have to shop very very carefully. And I hate it. I haven't had to shop like this is 40yrs. And I'm glad I saw this coming and stocked up this past summer with buying in bulk and canning alot. Its really helping now. But still its hard cuz I'm starting to run out of things I kept around and some I cant replace. By the time I get the basics done, there's no money left. But I think I did pretty good this week.

First I hit the farmers market. My bread lady was there and it was so nice to see her again. She gave me big hugs and asked me how my folks are now. And end of last season I gave her roasted peppers that I canned. She said she loved them so I gave her a jar. She said they were so good, she ate them with cream cheese on the bread. I'm glad she enjoyed them. And so I got two huge loaves, one white and one whole wheat. This bread is like big fat baguettes. They are $6 loaf but so big I can get 4 meals from them. They are almost 6in. wide a a foot and half long and the best damn bread I ever had. And then I wandered around to find the honey people. I had a glass jar from last yr and they give you $1 off if you return it. So I got the big 48oz. jug for $19. I always buy the blackberry honey cuz I think it tastes the best.

And so Ill be set for a couple weeks which is good. The market apparently will be on and off till March, then it will be every weekend. Sadly there were no other food vendors, just lots of craft people. I don't buy any of that , I want a farm market. I thought there might be some who forage there or had greenhouse veggies. But no.......just those two, so I wont be going often till the veggies come in.

And so I headed right home cuz there was an accident. Traffic was really bad. I had two more stops in that area to do but decided Id do it later when things cleared up. And so I came home and made french toast for us. Then I went back out.

But these days I cant shop just in one place. And there are not many shops around here. But I go from store to store, knowing certain ones carry things with better prices. I went to the local BiMart to get some canned clams on sale, cheaper all the time there. I can make clams and linguine this week. Got some medicines too cuz their brand is cheaper. And some tuna, whats with tuna lately? Its higher and higher and the cans are smaller, so when I find a deal, I'm on it. Then I headed off to another local grocery store.

There are certain things I buy from this store now that I didn't before. That's the store that had those huge celerys I blogged about last yr. But I find good deals on produce alot. I got 1lb. bags of Ca. garlic from a place I know for $1.59 a bag. At the same time other stores were charging 99cents for ONE garlic bulb. So I keep grabbing a bag or two when I see it cuz I use alot. But this time I got a huge bag of Roma tomatoes, broccoli heads, cilantro, oranges. They had green peppers 3 for $1 which is cheap around here. Sometimes they charge that for one. Got chicken breasts and bacon cheap too. Oh and then I bought a bag of bananas at 25cents lb. They were pretty ripe but will be good for muffins and even my yogurt. And I'm finding that this store in particular does this. When I was little and shopped with my gramma, she used to look for the racks with day old stuff and produce. I used to think, yuck. But these days most stores don't do that anymore and its a shame. They throw it out. And so Ill be checking this store out more often looking for deals. And so I wandered off to the Grocery Outlet.

Now we had one near me in Ca. The first time I went there everything looked awful and so I never went back. But I guess they have improved. I buy my butter from there now cuz its $2.50 lb. Everywhere else is much higher and its from a dairy in CA. that I know is a good one. I buy bulk sausage meat from them too. Its a brand I know that I cant get anywhere else near me here. Celery was cheap too. And I got a big 3lb. bag of Kielbasa and a big bag of tater tots. Ive been wanting to buy some but the reg. grocery has been really expensive. This was a good deal for $5.99. The reg. stores have been that price for one lb. And then I finally wandered to the grocery near me.

Had to stock up on basics there , bread, milk, coffee, creamer, beef and a few other things. I do it this way so when I hit this store I'm almost out of money. I buy the basics and add it up as I go. Then I see if I can add some of the extras I need depending on how much I spent. Its a lot of work and by the time I get home I'm tired. At least he brings it all in the house for me. But then I have to make dinner and put it all away.

Usually end up doing the big putting away the next day, I just put in the fridge till then. And that's what I'm doing today. I had planned on making stock today.........and Kurt came home early. Why they didn't tell them Fri. they could stay home is beyond me......and so he had to get up just to come home in an hr. and no work means no pay. It sux. And so I had to cook for us and finish laundry and clean up all the mess in the kitchen from yesterday. So I decided to make the stock. Ill take some of that and add fresh veggies and noodles and that will be dinner with some of that yummy bread.

I toss all kinds of chicken bones and skin in the water, along with saved onion skins and pieces, celery trimmings, carrot trimmings, parsley stems and some garlic. I had some limp celery in the fridge I tossed in too. And  I found a bag with some beef bones in it I saved. And then I remembered my SIL gave me a big beef bone from the cow they bought. She didn't know what to do with it. And so this time I put it all in the pot. Funny thing,  I tasted it and it reminded me of my moms chicken soup. And then I remembered....mom used to put beef shin bones in her soup too. I used to love that meat from the soup. Hers wasn't just chicken tho and mine never tasted like hers.........till today. Its really yummy too. So tonight's dinner will be awesome I'm sure.

Once I get all the bread cut up and frozen, and the sausage cut up and frozen and the chicken deboned and frozen and the hamburger patties made and frozen and the bananas frozen too. And I think Ill blanch the broccoli cuz I bought alot and freeze that too. Gotta cut up the peppers too cuz I'm gonna make pepper steak this week with rice. But I look at all that I do these days with shopping and food and trying to make the most of it all and I wonder whats gonna happen if I go to work.  There's just no way Ill be able to do it all ..........

Doesn't anybody know how to cook anymore?

                                             Header from my food blog.

Ive been DVRing The Pioneer Woman's new show. I wanted to see how it would be. Its ok...very simple food actually. And that surprises me but when I think about it, it really shouldn't. I don't watch too many cooking shows anymore. I can do most of what they teach so whats the point? But I am always looking for new ideas and things that might inspire me. Its how I roll.

Ive never been able to just follow a recipe exactly. Well not true, sometimes I do. If its complicated, then I may do it exactly like the recipe says just to learn a technique or see how its supposed to taste. But often after  I do that, my mind starts running amok, thinking of things to add or flavors to change. Even when I read a recipe, my mind starts thinking oooooo this is good but I think it would be better with this or that. Its how I roll. :)

And so seeing Pioneer Woman on tv really got me thinking. First is a bit of envy.....hey I have a good food blog too, why am I not on tv...giggle. Well, she wrote a cookbook so that's probably why. And some have asked me to write one and I think.....why? Who would want to buy that, nobody knows me. But maybe I should, after all people who do know me rave about what I cook and my recipes. But I just don't see it...

You see Ive been cooking since I was a kid. I had some great cooks in my family too. Even now my dad takes my recipes and adapts them to his way of cooking and I take dads recipes and tweak them my way lol. But I think its precisely since I have been cooking so long that I don't understand what people see in what I make. Like anyone, I see my mistakes. Or Ill make something that to me is just ok and yet they rave. But mostly I think the new generation doesn't have the skills the older one did.

I talked to my bf about this today. I said I don't understand how kids today cannot cook. It IS a basic life skill everyone should have. But then I think of my generation and later and how fast food became a staple. Or how frozen meals or premade foods did too. Heck today so many do not even know where their food comes from. A whole generation or two.....that lost the art of creating a good meal.

I taught my kids. Well my daughter didn't want to learn but she couldn't help but have it rub off on her. My son however has the food gene in him like his mama. :) Hes quite creative and has gone off in a BBQ pit direction now. He loves to smoke meats and create sauces. And he isn't afraid to try weird combos and has come up with some good ones. My daughter tho over time had to learn cuz she had a family to feed. And that family spent time at my house and fell in love with many things I made. So daughter had no choice but to figure this out  to please them. I told her tho whatever she makes, make sure you put FLAVOR into your food.

So many recipes to me are just bland or blah and so I'm always adding more of the spices or flavorings than what are called for. I told her to make a recipe and taste it and if it doesn't taste right.......add more! More of something you like. And so she does that and now I see some of HER friends raving about her stuff. And one day I saw her say she does what her mom does.........she makes sure it has flavor. That made me smile. She may not have wanted to learn as a child but she listened.

And I think that's whats wrong with the newer generations. They have lost the art of eating and creating and cooking and have to be taught. And that's why I don't see why what I do is so special....until I realize so many today, just cant do it. Its sad really. So I said to my bf, maybe I really do need to make a cookbook lol............Move over Pioneer Woman, your not the only one who knows her way around the kitchen!

And a review!

I had a recipe published in the last issue Aug./Sept. issue of Country Living magazine. I sent them one of mine and they love it. It was quite a surprise.

And so now that the next issue is out, I can post the article copy they sent me. But in the October issue, someone sent a review of my recipe and I was so stunned to see it. Im glad at least one person tried it and love it. 


"The recipe for peach-almond galette sounded so delicious that I had to bake it for my monthly girlfriend-get-together. Trust me, it was a hit!"  ~Lori, Palm Coast, Fla. 


Lori may never see this but in case she does I want to say.... Thanks for the great review, Im glad you loved it. :)

Yesterday was a busy day....and today will be too.

When I was a little girl Id spend summer with my gramma. Gramma would take me grocery shopping with her. Now gramma was always looking for good deals so she often shopped the marked down shelves. Some of that stuff looked pretty creepy to me. But she made do and bought what she could use. This brings me to today.

My friend told me shes getting stuff from the Grocery Outlet for her chickens. But they are giving her some pretty good stuff. Its way more than she can use tho. So she wanted to know if when she got the stuff would I want to come get some. I said yes but really didn't know if I would take it or not. So today she went and called me to come get stuff.

When I got there she had her pickup truck backed up to where the chickens were. I guess whatever she didn't want, she would feed them with. There were several boxes. Most looked pretty tired but was still usable. So we sorted thru what we could use and tossed the rest in the box for the chickens. There was a big box of cantaloupes but they were really not worth it , same with a bag of potatoes.

The my friend was tossing stuff into the chickens pen. One time she tossed a coconut and OMG it hit one of the girls. We thought at first she was hurt bad.....she walked funny and hardly at all and her wings were out and weird looking. My friend ran to see if shes ok saying omg Ill never do that again. By the time she got to her she was walking fine and on the other side of the pen so she must have just got knocked silly for a moment.

But they tossed more stuff in and lots of corn too. Omg the girls were having a party. I wished I had my camera with me then cuz it was so funny. They were so excited and running around tasting things. Before I left she let them out to run around a bit and she said boy were they full, they ate alot. It was fun to see tho since I never grew up around that kind of thing.

But I got several bunches of asparagus that were a little worn but still usable. We got tons of small oranges and lots of lemons and limes. I got several bunches of cilantro,  some nice tomatoes, some zucchini, a few jalapeños too. Also got one jicama, that's all I took since I don't eat it much. And we got one usable coconut that has no milk but tastes good. So tomorrow I'm going to grate it and put it in the dehydrator.

While I was there we started doing the produce. I had all I wanted in my car. But there were tons of limes and she didn't want them all. So while I juiced all the lemons and limes, she cleaned the yellow squash, zucchini and her asparagus.

I got one quart of lime juice which I'm going to freeze in ice cube trays to use for cooking. Ill do the same with my lemons here tomorrow. I did her lemons and limes too. I told  her how to snap the asparagus stems so she could blanch them. She cleaned the squash and froze that too. It was a nice afternoon tho of yakking and learning. And for helping her I got spoiled.....she gave me a big bag of frozen razor clams to make chowder with. I cant wait for the cold weather, those are great clams to use.

And so now I decided to cut up and save what I could of the asparagus. There was quite a bit so I decided since they were free, I'd pickle them. And so I searched online for ideas and ended up with my own recipe. They are in the canner right now. Ill let them mellow for a few weeks then try them. If they are good I'll post the recipe.

I'm washing the cilantro right now. I'm going to save what I can and run it in the food processor with some olive oil, then freeze it in small freezer containers. This way I can just scoop some out when I'm making my Mexican stuff.

Tomorrow Ill worry about the rest. Ill juice the rest and freeze it. Ill zest the small oranges too. My hands are pruney today so I don't want to put them in the water anymore. We are supposed to get more on Thurs. This might get to be quite a treasure hunt every week lol.

And so while I normally wouldn't do this sort of thing, money is getting tight and free is good. Now I think I understand why gramma did this.