We became the Sullenbrands! And here we are, already hard at work on making a new one. It's hard to believe it's only been that long, but then again, it's also hard to believe that this month marks just three years of Matt's and my knowing each other--probably because it's so hard for me to imagine my life without him!
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Cheap Dates...
Matt and I both are, and also enjoy going on them. While we've cut back as much as we can financially lately, we've also tried to make allowances for little luxuries here and there that don't cost too much, but keep us from losing our motivation to stay frugal.
Dates that cost us under $10 are one good way to do it. Recent opportunities: free pancake day at IHOP, on which we got up early and went out to IHOP to each enjoy a free short stack of (read: 3 giant buttermilk) pancakes. We also got there early enough to qualify for the early bird specials, one of which was 2 eggs, 2 slices of bacon, 2 sausage links, hash browns, and toast for $4.99--which was more than enough for us to split. The only "request" IHOP made was that their patrons "consider making a donation to the Children's Miracle Network." Well, we honestly did consider it, but we also considered that our charity budget had been spent elsewhere, and the fact that our waitress was likely to get stiffed on tips all day because everybody was getting pancakes for free. So instead we gave her a $5 tip and still came in right at $10--not bad at all for such a robust breakfast, and we had a great time doing something so weekend-ish on a Tuesday morning before Matt went to work.
Tonight we're going for free chili at the Hard Times Cafe. We've never been before, but I heard on the radio yesterday that tonight everyone gets a free bowl of chili with any purchase. I'm figuring that one of us can get a side of fries and the other can get a dessert, and that will again be plenty to share and should clock in at under $10 with a tip. I also got a coupon for a free Chili Mac (which seems to be chili and cheese over pasta) for joining their email club, which we can either save for another time or use tonight, should we still be hungry after all that.
It's nice to be able to fit in a few outings a month like this for less than it would usually cost for one meal out, if we did so with a little less planning. As mentioned above, we do try to build in a decent tip for our server so that we don't look like total cheapskates, and that way everybody comes out ahead.
Dates that cost us under $10 are one good way to do it. Recent opportunities: free pancake day at IHOP, on which we got up early and went out to IHOP to each enjoy a free short stack of (read: 3 giant buttermilk) pancakes. We also got there early enough to qualify for the early bird specials, one of which was 2 eggs, 2 slices of bacon, 2 sausage links, hash browns, and toast for $4.99--which was more than enough for us to split. The only "request" IHOP made was that their patrons "consider making a donation to the Children's Miracle Network." Well, we honestly did consider it, but we also considered that our charity budget had been spent elsewhere, and the fact that our waitress was likely to get stiffed on tips all day because everybody was getting pancakes for free. So instead we gave her a $5 tip and still came in right at $10--not bad at all for such a robust breakfast, and we had a great time doing something so weekend-ish on a Tuesday morning before Matt went to work.
Tonight we're going for free chili at the Hard Times Cafe. We've never been before, but I heard on the radio yesterday that tonight everyone gets a free bowl of chili with any purchase. I'm figuring that one of us can get a side of fries and the other can get a dessert, and that will again be plenty to share and should clock in at under $10 with a tip. I also got a coupon for a free Chili Mac (which seems to be chili and cheese over pasta) for joining their email club, which we can either save for another time or use tonight, should we still be hungry after all that.
It's nice to be able to fit in a few outings a month like this for less than it would usually cost for one meal out, if we did so with a little less planning. As mentioned above, we do try to build in a decent tip for our server so that we don't look like total cheapskates, and that way everybody comes out ahead.
March Menu
photo by Jonathan Caves
Since we order a lot of our food from a monthly co-op these days, we've had to get back into monthly menu planning. It's a little bit trickier than week-to-week, and takes a decent amount of time to plan and budget, but once it's done it's done. Here's what March will look like around here:
WEEK ONE
1. Chicken & noodles
2. Chicken pot pie
3. Pizza
4. Garlic soup
5. Twice-Baked potatoes
6. Potato soup
7. Enchilada casserole (with or without chicken, depending on if there's any left over)
WEEK TWO
1. Mexican casserole
2. Egg salad sandwiches
3. Pizza
4. Tomato soup & grilled cheese
5. Baked ziti (we make ours a lot like this, though usually minus the egg)
6. Mattar Paneer & basmati rice
7. Sausage & potato soup
WEEK THREE
1. Quesadillas & salsa
2. Gnocchi with garlic-butter sauce
3. Pizza
4. Spaghetti
5. Lentil soup
6. Scalloped potatoes
7. Tamales & salsa
WEEK FOUR
1. Macaroni & cheese
2. Tomato & sausage risotto (but cheater-risotto style, with brown rice)
3. Pizza
4. Split pea soup
5. Cauliflower soup
6. Pasta & alfredo sauce
7. Chili & cornbread
Pretty much every dinner gets served with a big dark-green salad, which is usually garnished with some assortment of sunflower seeds, hardboiled egg, olives (for Matt), sometimes raisins, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil. Lunch is almost always leftovers. Breakfast is usually scrambled eggs with spinach and cream cheese (so good), plus a bowl of some type of hot grains--steel-cut oats, bulgur, rolled oats, or Bob's Red Mill 12-Grain Hot Cereal (which we got off of Freecycle). Except on the weekends, when, well, you know what happens. Pancakes or waffles or crepes or sausage gravy and biscuits...
Sausage and Potato Soup
We made this a couple of weeks ago, but I just haven't gotten around to posting about it. But it was awesome, and has earned a permanent spot on our dinner roster.
It might be more accurate to say we were inspired by the original recipe, rather than actually making it. While it called for a pound of sausage and a slice of pancetta, we just used a 1/4 pound of sausage; we eliminated the boullion and just used water with salt and pepper to taste; we substituted spinach for kale; we pureed half the potatoes and onions for a creamier base, and to that end, we also doubled the amount of heavy cream in the recipe.
The verdict? AMAZING. Looking at the recipe, I wondered how it could possibly have any kind of flavor with virtually no spices to speak of-- but it does. It's earthy and delicious and wonderful.
It might be more accurate to say we were inspired by the original recipe, rather than actually making it. While it called for a pound of sausage and a slice of pancetta, we just used a 1/4 pound of sausage; we eliminated the boullion and just used water with salt and pepper to taste; we substituted spinach for kale; we pureed half the potatoes and onions for a creamier base, and to that end, we also doubled the amount of heavy cream in the recipe.
The verdict? AMAZING. Looking at the recipe, I wondered how it could possibly have any kind of flavor with virtually no spices to speak of-- but it does. It's earthy and delicious and wonderful.
We served it with crusty bread and a green salad. Yum!Sausage and Potato SoupINGREDIENTS
1/4 pound sausage
1/2 medium onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 cups water
2-3 large potatoes, cubed (we left the skins on)
2 cups chopped frozen spinach
2/3 cup heavy cream
Salt and pepper to taste
DIRECTIONS
Cook the sausage until done. In a medium-large saucepan, saute the onions until translucent. Add garlic and saute for one more minute. Add water and potatoes and bring to a simmer for about 15 minutes, or until potatoes are tender. Remove about half the potatoes and onions to a separate bowl with a slotted spoon, and puree the remainder with an immersion blender. Add back the reserved potatoes and onions, along with the kale, cream and sausage, simmer for 5-10 more minutes and serve.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!
Today we want to wish a happy birthday to my dad--AKA Jim (pronounced "Heem")--a wonderful man, loving father, and all-around handy daddy. We wish we could be there to celebrate with him and the rest of the family, but he's been on our minds all day long. Happy birthday, Dad! We love you very much!
We Think We Can...
photo by coconinoco
...is what we were saying to ourselves when we received almost 100 free canning jars/lids off of Freecycle. This was exciting, because someday we'd love to have a big garden and can tons of our own food, and hey, we love free stuff.
The catch? These canning jars were full. Of canned food. From 1995.
So after loading them up into the car (pint, quart, 2-quart, you name it), we drove them back to the apartment, hunkered down next to the curb and proceeded to pry the lids off of every single one and dump out the contents. Some, like canned tomatoes, slid out easily. Others, like applesauce, took some hard shaking. And then there was what we termed "black mash"- a black, sticky concoction, like molasses or something, that had to be dug out with a knife. The food we sloshed into a garbage sack (we ended up creating two full yard-waste-sized bags of what looked and smelled like vomit) and put in the dumpster, and the jars we carried in, rinsed out in a sink of hot soapy water, and then ran through the dishwasher. Some of the lids were salvageable while others weren't; we're not sure if they can be reused for canning, but we figured they would work fine for dry storage (grains, beans, flour), which is something else we like to use jars for.
All in all, I'm glad we have the jars, but I'm also glad that's over. And glad that I was in my second trimester when we did it. Now we just have to figure out where we're going to keep all of them.
The catch? These canning jars were full. Of canned food. From 1995.
So after loading them up into the car (pint, quart, 2-quart, you name it), we drove them back to the apartment, hunkered down next to the curb and proceeded to pry the lids off of every single one and dump out the contents. Some, like canned tomatoes, slid out easily. Others, like applesauce, took some hard shaking. And then there was what we termed "black mash"- a black, sticky concoction, like molasses or something, that had to be dug out with a knife. The food we sloshed into a garbage sack (we ended up creating two full yard-waste-sized bags of what looked and smelled like vomit) and put in the dumpster, and the jars we carried in, rinsed out in a sink of hot soapy water, and then ran through the dishwasher. Some of the lids were salvageable while others weren't; we're not sure if they can be reused for canning, but we figured they would work fine for dry storage (grains, beans, flour), which is something else we like to use jars for.
All in all, I'm glad we have the jars, but I'm also glad that's over. And glad that I was in my second trimester when we did it. Now we just have to figure out where we're going to keep all of them.
Friday, February 20, 2009
It's About TIME
Time Magazine has finally posted an intelligent and balanced article about birth! More specifically, about VBAC. You can find it here: The Trouble With Repeat Cesareans. Among other things, they do a nice job synthesizing the statistics about risk, as well as pointing out the irony of a laboring VBAC's having to drive 100 miles to another hospital rather than labor at a local hospital with on-call (rather than round-the-clock) anesthesia. Heaven forbid she labor at home instead--far from the risks of Pitocin induction or augmentation ordered by an impatient doctor, and with the continuous 1:1 presence of a trained, supportive midwife at her side--but it doesn't go quite that far.
In case you missed it, the New York Times ran an article last month about the dangers of scheduled Cesareans at 37 or 38 (versus the recommended 39) weeks of gestation. Among other things, more than a third of scheduled Cesareans are scheduled before the recommended 39 weeks, and a 37-weeker is twice as likely as a 39-weeker to experience problems such as respiratory distress. Not something that is being disclosed to women by doctors who are anxious to schedule Cesareans before the chance that a woman will go into labor first and--gasp!--call them in in the middle of the night.
Update: Midwifery Today has an article from 2006 (somewhat confusingly) titled "50 Ways to Protest a VBAC Denial." There are actually only 11, but they're very good ones.
Update: Midwifery Today has an article from 2006 (somewhat confusingly) titled "50 Ways to Protest a VBAC Denial." There are actually only 11, but they're very good ones.
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