Working out at home

I recently stumbled upon this website, exercise.tv, because I was looking for exercise videos I could get for FREE!!!

I just tried this free cardio kickboxing one and I really enjoyed it! (It helped me feel warm in my cold apartment!)


They way I got myself to finally do it (I found this site several weeks ago and didn't do anything yet!) I set a timer for time I coudl do work and then when the timer went off I got my workout clothes on and moved my chair aside and did the workout in my office/living room. I feel pretty pumped and it's nice. I miss exercise. I used to do a boxing class at the gym across the street form my work and I loved it. I'd never done kickboxing before, I'm sure my kicks aren't as high or as properly formed as they could be but I think if I continue to do this video I'll get better.

I'm excited about this! I also got Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred workout on my netflix cue, should receive that real soon and then decide if I want to purchase it.

Some things to try for to convince yourself to exercise
(good luck remembering them, try writing reminder notes, and setting alarm reminders for workouts):

• take note of how great you feel at the end of a workout and remind yourself every time you don't feel up to working out
• bribe yourself for workouts. Every workout is $1 towards new lingere, every workout is $1 towards a new book, every workout is $1 towards your next vacation. Get creative, think about the things that will encourage you the most
• Write notes to yourself (I have one on my mirror that says "DON'T BE LAZY, work out, go for a run, don't forget to stretch")- it all depends on how you talk to yourself :P

The workout I just did was only 22 minutes. It is totally possible to make time for that in the morning before breakfast. Now that I did my exercise for the day, I'm going to make dinner! Yay!

Eating well on a downsized budget - NYTimes article

Eating well on a Downsized Budget By JANE E. BRODY, March 2, 2009

"So let’s welcome back to the American table meals made from potatoes, eggs, beans, low-fat or nonfat yogurt and milk (including reconstituted powdered milk), carrots, kale or collards, onions, bananas, apples, peanut butter, almonds, lean ground beef, chicken and turkey, along with canned or frozen corn, peas, tomatoes, broccoli and fish. For nutrient-dense beverages, Dr. Drewnowski suggests 100 percent fruit juice blends and fruit-and-vegetable juice blends."

yay, I have and have been eating most of these things!

Farmer's market trip

Rainy days are my favorite for farmer's markets, fewer people and still fresh tasty local produce! I went to the Farmer's market today with $22 in my pocket for food for the week (in addition to my 2.5 hour grocery shopping last week) and this is what I came out with:

$6 Rosemary plant
$2 4 ears of corn
$1.5 pumpkin
$6 1/4 peck of Ginger Gold apples
$3 large bunch of kale
$1.5 quart of small squash
$2 head of broccoli

$22 TOTAL
All local, fresh, in season, some of it organic (but I didn't,honestly, check that).

So meals for the week might include:
baked apples for dessert!
Roasted Acorn Squash (from last week's grocery store visit)
Potatoes (past farmer's market seconds at $1.5/pound!) with rosemary and kale
Steamed broccoli with elbow noodles, cheese and pepper
Sauteed baby squash and kale
Roasted Pumpkin soup

I finally bought bread last week which took forever because I didn't want it to have sugar in it. I finally found a loaf of organic bread with honey sweetener. I am still trying to avoid processed sugar. I bought a small amount of maple sugar at the co-op ($3 worth, a tiny little bag when it costs about $13.50 a pound!) in case I need to sweeten something. I also have honey from my summer in Vermont, honey from my brother in Oregon and maple syrup from Vermont (but that's mostly reserved for acorn squash!). I have still been thinking a lot about making bread. I also have a bunch of plums I bought last weekend that I might make a baked good with... I'm really feeling the baking jones. Need to make something!

Latkes to warm my cool fall apartment

The air is cooling off and it's been a bit windy today, time to close the windows! I am debating weather to bake or fry my latkes, olive oil is good for you so if I don't use too much it's probably ok. Having the oven on would heat up the house a bit though... hmmm... I'm going to make the mixture first and the decide how best to cook them.

Latkes (how I make them!):
3-4 russet potatoes
1 onion
2 egg
1 clove of garlic, pressed (or diced as finely as you can get it!)
4ish Tbsp white whole wheat flour
salt to taste
olive oil for frying

1. Clean potatoes and grate with a coarse grater into a big bowl. Sprinkle with salt, let sit while you do the dishes. Come back and squeeze out excess water from grated potatoes.
2. cut onion into small pieces (I like smaller pieces, some people probably like bigger slices of onion. Just don't make them too big or it will be hard for the latke to stay together during cooking.)
3. Stir together egg, garlic and onion in potatoes, add a little salt. Slowly add flour, but don't let it get too dry!
4. Using two spoons or your hands, form little pancakes, don't make them too thick or the centers will be undercooked. If you are frying and the latkes are a little too thick, you can put a lid on the pan and sort of bake them while they fry. Or if you want to bake them make them pretty thin and then flip them over part way through cooking (as suggested by this google search result for baked latkes).

Serve warm, with apple sauce, or sauerkraut, or slices of fresh apple, or sour cream, or salt!

mmm

Oh Chow and Bon Appetite, why do you taunt me so with your tasty sounding dishes and beautiful food porn?!

Trying to figure out what one thing I want to make this weekend from a fancy recipe. Probably something apple based cause it 'tis the season and I LOVE APPLES!

The local apple I got is called Paula Red, it's the best apple I remember having both baked apple and fresh with peanut butter. Mmm, mouth watering, back to the great recipe hunt!

New cookbook!!

I just received my copy of Baked, I'm so excited to make something out of it, everything looks amazing!!
The brownies look good, the pumpkin chocolate bread, the coconut snowball cupcakes, the sugar cookies decorated... and especially the grasshopper cake (mint and chocolate!!! YUMMY!)

Actual cooking experience to be blogged later :)

Debates

I have this internal debate. Mostly it stems from the relationship of time, money and exercise. My school is located at the top of a hill at the base of which I live. It takes me about 25 minutes to get to class and probably a little less to get home. When I finish class at noon I want to go home and make lunch but I also feel encouraged to stick around on campus. On Friday nights there is a grad school happy hour at 4, and I haven't really been around most Fridays to check it out but if I walk home am I really going to walk back? In undergrad I was in studio all the time, it was also 5 minutes away, and I didn't have space to work at home. Now it's a uphill trek, I have an apartment all to my self and a room with a table to work on. I can also cross my legs under my table at home which I cannot do at my table in studio. A negative.

If I stay later than class, and didn't bring anything for lunch because I wasn't planning on staying there is also the debate: do I purchase food which will most likely be disappointing, or do I go home and plan to come back?

Coming back to studio after 5pm means I could park for free on campus (without a permit) and drive up here. It was nice when I did that on Wednesday for class because I went to the library afterward and then didn't have to carry all the books downhill, but it took about as long to get here as it would have to walk because of all the pedestrian traffic.

"Le sigh."

How to try to be a part of the group, and still get work done in a comfortable setting, and eat good food (which seems to mean that I made it or it's from one of my favorite restaurants in Brooklyn!).

Fall dessert, finally, baked apples again!!!

Baked apples are probably one of my favorite desserts. Especially with vanilla Ciao Bella gelato, however I don't have that. I do have some whipping cream so I'll probably whip some up (assuming it's still good, the sell by date has passed, and I don't know how long it stays good after that).

I'm not sure what kind of apple I got but it's flesh is pure white and it tastes like real apple. It is the best apple I've had in a while. I love apple season!!!!

Baked apple for me (for one :) )
1 apple (in a tall ramekin) cored (I left the skin on, but I wish I hadn't)
some butter
some oats
some raisins
some cinnamon
some sliced almonds

set oven to 350 degrees
bake for 30 minutes

mix up all the stuff except the apple, keeping the butter in little cold chunks, and pour into cored cavity of apple in ramekin

top with ice cream or whipped cream or yogurt or sour cream

Budget woes or The conscientious eater - what can I eat?!

My budget is small. Not by the standards of some, but compared to what I'm used to from when I was working full time in high end projects in New York City (where the cost of living is also higher). Getting used to this is hard. To be invited to go somewhere for a weekend throws my gas budget way out of proportion. I was living the last month like I wasn't on the budget that I am an it's frustrating to see that at the end of the month I haven't paid (or received) my gas/electric bill yet and now I've spent my September money and so that will have to come out of October, along with October's gas/electric. I also have 2 trips planned to attend weddings one of which we will be staying in a hotel. Time to buckle down more than I have been. When grocery shopping I have been price comparison shopping and opting not to get things that are not in season.

I spent 2.5 hours grocery shopping because all my learning about the food system is making it even harder to shop. I see fresh strawberries that are organic and I get excited until I walk up to them, realize they are from California, a wave of guilt rushes over me and I pass them by. I walk to the freezer and look at berries and I don't know where they are from and I think about if they are from California as well all the energy it takes to truck frozen goods across the country. It makes me wish I'd been here in the summer to get my own produce and freeze it/preserve it. My goal for next summer is to U-pick a lot and preserve as much as I can. Canning, filling my pantry and freezing, filling my freezer (it's supposed to be more efficient when full anyhow). I'm only feeding myself so a freezer and cupboard full of preserved food ought to last me a while. I asked a professor of mine if he could teach me next summer how to preserve things and he said he will.

So, before next summer, I need to:
- save money to buy more food than I need in the summer
- read about preserving
- scout deals on jars for preserving
- figure out if I'm going to plant anything and what I want to pick and preserve (Pesto, tomato sauce, fruit, veggies, pickles, sauerkraut, etc.)
- hit the library, cause I can't afford to buy the books that I want!

Argh. Money. I have some food in my pantry so I will probably be having rice and beans and using the things I have in my freezer like that pound of ground beef from the farmer's market. My biggest fear is wasting food. Making a bunch of it and not finishing it and letting it go to waste. That's been one of my biggest hurdles, and I no longer have the excuse of roommates moving my food in the fridge (which tends to lead to me forgetting about it). It's all me!

I've also been keeping close track of my spending by keeping receipts and obsessively checking my mint.com account. I did start using my credit card again, so that I can get Amazon rewards, to buy books I need for thesis research and cookbooks. But still trying to make sure that I can pay off the credit card as soon as I get home- no balances carried over. (Making my credit card work for me). I also need to figure out how to save some money every month for bigger purchases like a flight home at Christmas time, postage for mailing New Years cards (cause no one's getting an actual present, unless it's home made and made from things I already have).

Ok, this is too much stress talk before 9am. Must study a bit before climbing the hill to school. I have a free bus pass but am enjoying the daily exercise (with the exception of arriving to school sweaty and then getting cold because I'm sweaty!). Come winter time though, we'll see if I feel the same.

Kitchen ballet or sea scallop dinner.

2 oz whole wheat spaghetti (1/8 of a box) $1.50 or so for a box of spaghetti
1/3 head of broccoli $2 for a head
4 sea scallops ($10.99/lb I got 8 for just under $4, about 50 cents a piece at Wegmans)
1 clove garlic
olive oil
Parmesan cheese
ground black pepper

(wish I had: fresh lemon juice)




How to do it seamlessly (a kitchen ballet if you will...):

Start water for pasta, put pasta in when boiling. Dice clove of garlic and broccoli. Heat up saute pan with olive oil, put broccoli into the pasta water, put garlic in saute pan. When oil is sizzling, set sea scallops in (make sure there is oil right where you set them). Pull broccoli out of pasta water with your trusty kitchen tongs, shake off water and plate. Flip sea scallops, hear them sizzle. Check that pasta is done (hopefully it is by now). Pull out of pot with tongs (or strain if you must) and let water drip off a bit before plating. Sprinkle Parmesean and pepper onto broccoli and pasta, plate scallops, grab toasty garlic bits and put on pasta and/or broccoli. If you have lemon juice (why, oh why, didn't I buy at least one lemon yesterday on my 2.5 hour grocery shopping trip!?) put it on now (you lucky so-and-so). Dive in!!!!

Smoothest meal I ever made!

A couple pieces of dark chocolate for dessert (though I probably should have waited a little bit before eating them!) I'm also realizing I need to get wine. Red and white. Probably in a box so that it keeps longer because I never finish a bottle of wine on my own (though I would if I made sure to cook with it, I was told that red wine makes homemade tomato sauce even better!)

I finally bought a loaf of bread

Ah, the sweet simplicity of a peanut butter and jam sandwich.

Back from a weekend away... no new groceries

Breakfast was... uh... some OJ, I forgot if I ate anything else.
Lunch was leftover black bean chili I made last week
For dinner: camping casserole: 2oz cooked pasta, 3oz tuna packet, thin slices of cheese and ground pepper. I would make that differently if I had some broccoli I could have cooked and could have stirred that in, alas my only veggies are a cucumber and some frozen peas and I wasn't really feeling the frozen peas tonight.

This leads me to: meal planning and grocery shopping tonight! (After catching up on some work, I'm glad the grocery store is 24 hours.)
One thing I noticed is that I need bread! I have peanut butter and black raspberry jam but nothing to eat it on and BP&J is a great quick lunch.
I need toilet paper...

I've been wanting latkes for a while so I will pick up some ingredients. I've also been thinking about trying to make something new at least once a week from one of my cookbooks. I generally make the same stuff over and over with little variation and I want to learn to cook more things. I've got my index card ready for making my grocery list, and my cookbooks are out and ready for me to meal plan as soon as I finish this bit of homework...

Time Out!




Later: Grocery store tomorrow night, too sleepy and need to get to sleep- didn't get enough sleep last night!

In Brooklyn = ethnic food!

Indian food for lunch!
So apparently I don't like Mango Lassi that much... it's kind of sour
Tikka Masala, with rice and Naan
That's $20 out of my food budget for the month but soooo worth it.

I also splurged today on some books, one that I think will be really helpful for my thesis research: Hungry City and a copy of the current issue of Threads Magazine. I have some sewing projects on the board for a couple events in October and I'm always looking to learn better tailoring techniques. I splurged a bit on books the other day and today but I should be good with plenty to read now!


And tonight, Italian with my man, celebrating my birthday (a little late... part of the LDR deal).
Yay Brooklyn, back to lunch and studying!

Thursday overview and start of Friday

My breakfast was a small glass of OJ and the last of my hard boiled eggs. This was insufficient to get me through beyond lunch. My stomach was even gurgled outloud during class! Then on campus I grabbed a sandwich: $3.11 for rye bread, mustard, lettuce, tomato, cucumber and provolone. It was tasty and filling enough but I needed something sweet. I walked up to the Ag Quad and there was a fraternity sponsored farm day going on! There were cows and calves and sheep to pet. One big cow with one one of those hatches to get into its rumen. It was in a large pen with a grid painted on the ground for cow-pie bingo- you win if it poops in your square! There was a stand of free apples from the Cornell, I had one yellowish green one that was really really tasty. Then I spent $1 to get some Cornell Dairy chocolate ice cream and off to class I went!

After class I headed home and drove to Brooklyn where I joined my boyfriend for dinner at his friend's house. They made an amazing dinner including the most elaborate salad I think I've ever had. It had beets, endive, some other kind of lettuce, goat cheese, orange wedges, a tarragon dressing and probably something else. It was soooo good! Building up salads is fun, I haven't been much of a salad eater lately but I definitely have had salad phases. The salad was followed by pasta with homemade pesto, seitan (which was way tastier than I expected, not sure how they cooked it but yum!) and halved cherry tomatoes. For dessert there was some chocolate tasting- an apricot milk chocolate and a cherry dark chocolate and homemade coffee and chocolate ice cream. Quite the feast!

Now I am off to get my morning bagel so that I am appropriately hungry when lunch time comes around for either Thai or Indian food... I haven't decided yet! Oh the tasty choices in Brooklyn, mmmm

An uneventful day in the life of food, evening edition

Before I went to my evening class I grabbed a little applesauce cup. I used to buy the applesauce jar but I never, NEVER ate all the applesauce before it went bad. So I stick to the small cups so I have it when I need it (I use it for baking and pancakes instead of oil).

For dinner I made blackbean chili nachos by lining a pan with blue corn chips, piling the chili (made yesterday) on, heating at 350 for about 8 minutes, taking out, adding grated cheese, and heating ntil the cheese was melted. It was pretty tasty though maybe a little too much food!



It was suggested to me to include the price of making meals... I had begun this at the beginning of hte blog but was unsatisfied with the pricing. Some people divide up how much of a package you used. Like say you used 1/4 of a box of pasta and that pasta cost $4 so it says in the recipe financial analysis: pasta $1

I don't really see it that way because once I buy the pasta it's in my pantry and I only really account for purchases based on newly purchased food for a specific recipe or set of recipes. I'm not totally sure how to deal with this just yet, but attempts will be made. Another thought is just to look at what's in the pantry and how much I spent for the week and then follow with what I made that week using what's in my pantry. I'm proud of myself for not going to the grocery store this week and working with ingredients I have. I grew up in a Costco household so I am used to always having lots of food on hand but as a lone apartment dweller it makes less sense than the family of 4 pantry logic.


There will probably be some dessert later (after laundry and flashcard studying)... I do have whipping cream that expires on the 13th... and some defrosted berries I didn't use yet.... and some chopped up dark chocolate... hmmmmm


Addendum:
10:15pm, just home from doing laundry, got in minutes before the rain started! Yay! Had a soda and the sugary coating made my throat feel much better! I think I might be too full for my dessert though...

An uneventful day in the life of food

Running late this morning for lack of sleep. Throat is feeling dry and scratchy, for the 3rd day in a row but so far that is the only symptom. A glass of orange juice as a poor excuse for breakfast calories and a walk up the hill. Two big ol' mugs of tea and a walk downhill home.
I'm hungry. I spot my car, I remember I have some road trip snack left in the back seat.
If you like Cheetos and cheese and crunchy pufy things that have nice texture and tasty flavor then I highly recommend these chip. I can not get enough of them! One thing i think is especially neat about them is that they don't have wheat! They are corn meal and rice flour based (gluten-free!) and real cheese and whey and buttermilk (boo lactose intolerance).

My absolute favorite chip (at present), which I constantly tell myself is the last time I will buy them, but it never is...



Before attacking dishes I had some cheese and then made some pasta and started chowing down on the leftover tomato sauce I made last Monday. Then I started writing another blog post I had an idea for and in doing the online research for that I learned that pasta sauce shouldn't be kept after 5 days. It's been about 10. Now I've sort of lost my appetite for eating what's on this here plate. Good thing I have brand new chili for dinner and I keep my fridge a little colder than average which I'm finding is keeping my veggies crisp a little longer. So after I throw out this plate of pasta... time to figure out something else to eat. Oh! Leftover hardboiled egg with salt! I'm not the biggest fan of lots of yolk (unless it's mixed with mustard) so I tend to not eat te whole yolk, but I love the texture of hard boiled egg whites!

That's all for now until dinner... which will be black bean salsa chili, possibly made into nachos over top a bed of blue corn tortilla chips... Fancy, I know :)

dinner: other half acorn squash and mustard lover's deviled eggs

My dinner was the other half of acorn squashed, baked with maple syrup and butter. Then when I was still hungry an hour later... I hard boiled some eggs (thank you Joy of Cooking, they came out to perfection!!!) and made my mustard lover (mayo hater) deviled eggs. Very very, incredibly simple.

Hard boil eggs (take eggs out of fridge, put in pan, cover with 1 inch of water, bring to big bubbled boil, turn off heat, cover and let sit for 17 minutes (covered!) Remove eggs with a slotted spoon and run under cold water, or set in bowl with cold water. Tap egg on a plate to loosten shell alll over. Breaking it up into little pieces (while still attached to membrane below). Then peel off off the shell and membrane. Hopefully it comes off smoothly, it did for me today!! I always love when that happens. Then! Cut the peeled egg in half the long way, dump egg yolks into small bowl, mix in a couple heaping teaspoons of dijon mustard, mix together, put back into eggs sprinkle with paprika and eat! (There's no serving here when it's just you!)


Wash down with a beer :)


My dessert is a little bowl of frozen blueberries, I love the texture of frozen blueberries!

TO prep for tomorrow and the rest of the week I put some frozen berries in a bowl in the fridge to hopefully thaw a bit for tomorrow yogurt. Yogurt with only frozen berries (as opposed to just fresh or fresh and frozen) was too hard and thick to make in the blender, hopefully this will help. I'll find out in the morning!

I also made some blackbean salsa chili, a recipe given to me by my friend Erin who made it up. It is fantastic! satuee 1 onion + 1 cove garlic, pour in 1 jar salsa, 2 cans beans, sprinkle with some frozen corn. Proportions are up to you. Serve with cheddar cheese and blue corn tortilla chips. I like to sprinkle the cheese on top and then dip my chips, Erin likes to put cheese on the bottom of the bowl and then put chips in and crunch them up. So for meals the rest of the week I have leftover spaghetti sauce (to be eaten tomorrow before it goes bad!), black bean chili, yogurt, a cucumber, possibly spinach (it was starting to smell a little funny), too many lemons and 2 granny smith apples. My goal is to not need to go to the grocery store (or go out to eat) before I head back to Brooklyn again on Thursday evening. I think I can do it!

Cheers to frozen blueberries and beer!
Time to do some homework, good night!

I said no outloud, in my head

to cookies! My instructors on tuesday and thursday provide snacks to keep students from passing our or eating inedible berries on plant walks. Today I told myself not to have them because I will feel gross after eating them and they won't help me to reach my fitness goals. I stuck to the food I brought foe myself today minus one big pretzel stick.



Breakfast:

Remainder of vanilla yogurt

Plain yogurt (switching because of added sugar in vanilla flavor)

frozen blueberries

Frozen blackberries



Tossed in blender eat with sprinkling of grapenuts



Lunch;

Pretzels

Fresh tomato eaten straight-up

One ounce seriously sharp cheddar



Dinner:

Tbd when I get home but will definitely include the other half of the acorn squash!



I have also decided to get a pedometer- I have been climbing the hill every morning and tromping back every afternoon and I'm quite sure I'm putting on some miles over the week. Oh and this morning I was down two pounds! That makes healthy choices a little more encouraging when you see numeric results!

Movie: Our Daily Bread

I watched Our Daily Bread last night. It was a narrator-less film which made it all the more startling. It is filled with the sounds of machines, young chicks, squealing pigs. It shows, without comment, the inner workings of industrial agriculture systems. I highly recommend it. If you can, see it before Food Inc. Without the commentary you can get ideas before you hear anything form the filmmakers. It's available on Netflix.

Simple but tasty dinner: brocolli and acorn squash.

Broccoli appetizer and squash main course:

Cut acorn squash in half, scoop out seeds and strings, place face up in pan drop in a pat of butter and some maple syrup and bake at 400 degrees for an hour.

While that's cooking and you are hungry and waiting:
Chop up some broccoli and parboil it (I won't be steaming anything until I get steel wool to clean my steamer sized pot) (get your water boiling, drop in the brocolli, then strain before it starts to lose it's bright colors! Toss with juice of half a lemon and fresh ground pepper and eat while waiting for acorn squash!



It's like dessert, with the butter and maple syrup. Sooo tasty! Probably could have cooked just a little less to avoid the extra burning... but still, tasty!

I'm contemplating documenting all my meals with at least a description of what I ate. I think it will be interesting to follow (for me at least!) especially in regard to my interest in slimming down. I've also been cooking at home way more than I did in Brooklyn, I think in part because I miss Brooklyn food and have been disapointed with everything I've gotten here and just wished I'd waited 'til I got home to make something that I knew would be good! I have several cookbooks to work from, and several I'm eying. Wish me luck and feel free to leave comments, especially encouraging ones!

Again, Acorn squash... so good


Addendum: Plus a bottle of Brooklyn Lager, my carbs of choice :)

How to use the last 2 zucchini and 3/4 of an onion?

Spaghetti sauce! A quick dinner and the long simmer time gave me plenty of time to do my reading homework!

3/4 onion
2 small zucchini
1 clove garlic
1 large can diced tomatoes
2 oz. spagetti noodles

1. Chop the onion into tiny pieces (or whatever size you like really- I like my onion small, I really don't like big chunks of onion, layers still nestled together, in my spaghetti sauce)
2. Saute the chopped onion and garlic until the onions are light brown and translucent, toss in the zucchini and saute for a bit until they start getting light brown spots and pour in the can of chopped tomatoes.
3. Keep at a simmer for 45 minutes, stir occasionally- don't worry, all that liquid will cook off- you'll see!
4. Prepare pasta according to the directions serve on a small plate with warm sauce and some grated Parmesan on top!
5. So tasty :) enjoy!

Tips:

• measure your pasta on a digital scale. It keeps portion sizes under control, which saves money because you are getting all the servings out of a box of pasta rather than half the servings :P
• You could probably put pretty much any vegetable in this sauce. I've used carrots in the past, celery would probably be good. Chunks of squash perhaps? Anything that sounds good sauteed with tomato!
  

Side notes!

I realized today that it's been 2 weeks since I went out to eat/ got take out. I think I'm going to try the whole month- with the exception of when I go visit Brooklyn these next two weekends. If I can just eat at home I will save a lot of money. Especially if I don't over purchase and make sure I use everything I have! The list of the contents of my fridge is slowly shrinking but I really need to be more careful next time I go grocery shopping. I need to start meal planning!

Also, I planted some dill and leafy greens and one of them sprouted today! My basil is slowly coming back to life, I think I will bring it inside so I remember to water it more often. My mint is growing again! Also need to bring that one inside.

And I love my new cast iron pan. I also bought a cast iron dutch oven!! Very excited to use it to make stew when it starts getting colder!

Happy cooking!

What to do with broccoli stems and other bits of veggies?

I followed the advice of a friend on facebook and also this video tip from Chow and popped them in a bag int he freezer. I should have some decent vegetable stock this upcoming soup season!

How I spent my summer

I don't remember if I ever posted a link to the blog for my summer project... so here it is!
I was in Warren, VT at Yestermorrow doing a Natural Building Intensive. A 12 week course in which me (and the 9 guys!) and our instructors built a timberframe and strawbale building. I learned a lot about building science, construction methods, construction site management and about myself and how I am in community and social situations. It was an amazing experience and anyone who is able to participate is a lucky soul!

A day at home

I made scrambled eggs with spinach and cheddar for... brunch :) And then I sauteed 3 little zucchini and a tomato and mixed with rigatoni for dinner, making enough to have it as a cold pasta salad tomorrow.

Tomorrow I'm having a little get together. I just got here but I met my neighbors and a friend's girlfriend and invited them all over for a little potluck! Not sure what I'm making yet, but I want to make something using things I already have (of which there is a list on the fridge, to remind me NOT to go grocery shopping again, because I love shopping for groceries!)

(the little asterisk means it's in the freezer)

One of the things I did today was watch the rest of project runway season 5, disc 3 (still have some catching up to do, and I don't have cable... or a TV, so I'm always a season behind!). So I started draping with fabrics I already have. I'm so not allowed to buy anything except for notions I need to finish a garment! So I played with some draping, not sewing anything yet- I have a few patterns I want to make and I'm still a little intimidated by draping and making patterns from draping because I'm all self/book taught and in the past it hasn't gotten me too far with draping... hopefully that will change!

Pretty elementary, but mostly fun to work on! (Though I really should have been reading, grad school is a lot of work!)

Oh basil, the headache you cause me

I went to the farmer's market and basil is spendy. I really wanted to make fresh pesto! Then one booth had these pre made pesto kits with basil, already picked off the stem and the garlic and parsley. It just needed a couple more ingredients to be set. I was psyched! I bought it on Saturday... come today when I finally make time to make the pesto and the basil has all but turned completely black. So I love the "pesto pack", only $6 when a bunch of basil is $4 and won't get you the 3 cups this bag has. But I've learned... pesto must be made with the freshest of basil!

Pesto-less lesson learned :(