Back in Cucina

So yes, it has been a while, but here I am once again.  The meal planning is going really well and it has really helped with our grocery budget.  I no longer get things I do not need at the store, unless I forget to check the fridge or pantry before I make my list.  I do have trouble coming up with different meals.  I try to not get into meal ruts, such as when my husband accuses me of cooking pasta too often.  (As if there could ever be too much pasta)  So now I try and limit myself to pasta once a week and I vary it to different cultural noodles so it it not always Italian.

I also try to avoid red meat as much as I can because of the prices.  Beef is a once in a while treat.  We are not apposed to vegetarian meals, which are healthy and inexpensive.  Poultry gets boring if you don’t break it up with other things.  Pork prices are pretty good.  So I splurge on a pork shoulder once in a while and do pulled pork in the crock pot.  Crock pots are nice in the summer as they do not heat up the cucina.  In fact, this week will be meatballs in sauce a la crock pot for a couple of meals. 

The garden is up and running and we have had some success.  The lettuce table has produced a very nice crop of lettuce and we are on the second planting.  However my other plants are not producing stuff.  No flowers on the tomato plants and though the zucchini has flowers, it has no zucchini.  We did get kale and swiss chard.  We might get beans, but they are slow.  Potatoes are doing well in their buckets.  We just harvested our first bucket and got three meals out of it.

Tonight’s dinner is keilbasa and pirogies with green beans.  We will have pasta and meatballs tomorrow with the crock pot’s help.  We build in at least two left over days per week.  Meatball sammies and salad another day, grilled salmon and grilled london broil I found on special over the weekend.  That’s this week’s plan!  Until next time, ciao!

Meal Planning

I have a confession to make - I am a terrible blogger.  I really mean well, but I have a hard time coming up with things to write.  But here I am again, giving it a try.

My newest thing in the kitchen is meal planning.  I am trying to do this for a couple of reasons.  The first one is so I do not have to make last minute decisions about what's for dinner - I already know!  And if I want or need to change my mind, it is easy to do.

The second reason is to hopefully save us money on the grocery bill.  I wish to limit my grocery shopping to once a week, preferably on Monday.  The earlier in the week the better, but avoiding the weekends.  Grocery stores are evil places on weekends, at least they are to me.

I make my grocery list based on what I have chosen to make for the week, include the staples like coffee, bread, coffee, milk, and I am armed and ready to go shopping.  And the key here, which I cannot stress enough, is to actually bring the list with you to the grocery store!  Armed with my list and reusable grocery bags, off I go!  I am pretty good about sticking to my list.

Recently however, my husband and I had a discussion about our grocery budget.  I need to get it down a bit more.  So now I need to figure out a few things, like what is on sale when, what produce is in season, and where I can get poultry at a reasonable price year round.  We feed our dogs raw food, which includes raw meat.  Chicken is what we feed them the most, but we need to make it vary for the best nutrition.  Research will have to be done, as I do not believe the grocery store is the best place for the best price.

We do not have kids, so joining a super club store is not worth it for us.  And I am not the type to waste gas money and time going to three or more stores to think I am saving money.  I think one side trip would be okay, however.  I just need to find where that place is.

So, now I have homework to do.

Until next time,
Ciao!

Six months later

Well, it has been awhile again.  Six months later and that pavilion has been put up and we are enjoying spending time in its shade.  The dogs, especially Genny, appreciate the cover in the heat of summer.

The garden is growing just fine.  We need to pick the bolted romaine lettuce.  We have also joined a local CSA for produce.  The first haul was just the right size for the two of us and tasty, but I hope future ones are a bit bigger, as I think it was expensive. 

Lots of birds are visiting the feeders and I am having fun taking pictures of them.

I have started meal planning.  I like it so far, as it streamlines grocery shopping and takes the question of what's for dinner out of things.  Waste seems to be less.  It also allows us to try new things regularly, which we really like.  Lots of new recipes to try!  Tonight I will attempt a spinach and sausage stuffed shell recipe.  I rarely make baked pasta, so this will be something a little bit new.

I cannot say that life is very exciting.  Work is still stress free and a bit boring.  I already have all of my Christmas presents made and finished and it is only June.  I am kind of redoing my sewing studio, as I felt things were getting a bit chaotic.  Hopefully I will not make it worse before it gets better.

Until next time,
Ciao!
Birdie in Cucina

A New Year In Cucina

So, it seems it has been a while since my last post.  Hopefully, I will fix that and post more often.  The end of 2015 was a nice and quiet time.  My part-time job is easy and stress free, so I still have time to follow my interests and it gives me money to do so.  The garden had its issues.  The pepper plants never really grew or produced much.  The tomatoes did very well and we will need to build or acquire better cages than the ones we had this year.  I stil have a few cabbages in the garden and will make use of them yet.

The holiday season let me play a lot in the kitchen this time around.  A couple of coffee flavored cookies that I really like and a cranberry almond shortbread cookie I fell in love with.  The Mexican theme for our annual Christmas Eve Open House was well accepted by our guests.  2016 marries both Christmas Eve and Hanukkah, so we are going to go with Hanukkah favorites - that should be fun.

A new year brings a new resolve to lose some wieght for me.  So I decided to follow the Cooking Light Magazine diet plan.  For a small fee, I get to plan out my meals with a restricted calorie count.  I have choices of meals, so I am not locked into things I do not like.  They offer good recipes and it forces me to try new things and not get bored with what I make.  It even gives me a shopping list, which I really like.  My husband is going to join me on this little adventure, but we will see how long that lasts.

This time of year I also do an annual purge of unnecessary clutter.  My sewing studio and my tupperware pantry were victims so far.  How I ended up with 3 candy thermometers and 2 food mills in a baffler.  I have a planning journal that I use for goals and events that helps me to put ideas onto paper and keep ideas straight.  My frinds think I am silly because I already have plans for Christmas.  If they only knew what else I have outlined.

We are planning to build a permanant pavillion over our patio this spring.  I am going to get a couple of quotes to see how much it will cost for professionals to do it, but we may end up building it ourselves.  We are pretty handy people, but it would be nice to have some help at least, if not have someone else do it for us.

So, those are the grand intensions for the year so far.  We shall see what the months bring.  Wish me luck on the diet.  I am ggoing to need it!

Ciao!

Birdie in Cucina

In Giardino

Finally, a sign of spring!  The gold finches are back.  And this is no April Fool's joke.  It was a lovely day, so I was able to spend some time outside and birdwatch.  I am planning this year's garden and looking forward to planting in a few weeks.  Seedling are started and I will go get the rest at mid month.  We built some sturdy tomato cages as well as some outdoor dog beds.

This way the dogs can lay off of the ground.  Looking forward to spending a lot more time outdoors.  We will put up the gazebo on the patio this weekend.  Maybe celebrate with a fire.

Until next time, Ciao!

Birdie in Cuchina

Dreaming of warmer days

Hello friends.  I hope you have all been keeping warm this brutal winter.  It is so very cold this year!  So, I admit that I have been a bad blogger and haven't posted anything for a while.  I think the winter is getting to me.  It is effecting my imagination and motivation.  I long for the patio days, when we could spend more than a few moments outside without your face hurting from the cold.

You would think I would have a lot of time to cook and play, but it seems not to be the case.  Maybe I am not getting enough sunlight and need one of thise special lamps.

So, in the spirit of lightening things up, I have decided to revist some of my summertime memories.  I hope that you enjoy them.

I think I am now going to challenge myself to make some new and interesting meals.  Soups in particular.  I had found an interesting recipe for a sweet potato soup, which is something very out of the box for me.  I think a minestrone is in order, to get some vegetables in our meals.  So many times it is easy to rely on starch to warm up and fill out winter meals.  I recently ordered one of those veggie noodle makers, so I am looking forward to playing with that instead of pasta.

So, off to research some new soup recipes!

Until next time, Ciao!

Birdie in Cucina

In Giardino

It has been a very nice holiday.  We had our annual open house on Christmas Eve.  The theme this year was Pancakes and Pajamas.  So we had all breakfast foods and most of us wore pajamas to the party.  We always have a big crowd for our house and things get tight, but people do not seem to mind.  We had 3 kinds of quiche, 2 kinds of french toast casserole, corned beef hash, potatoes and onions, bagels with lox and the fixins, polenta with mushrooms and spinach, and a sweet potato and apple kugel - a recipe I found on pinterest.

 Christmas day is usually quiet.  We wake when we want, have leftovers for breakfast and open our presents, just the two of us.  My hubby made for me 5 beautiful bird houses for the garden.  One has a peekaboo back, so we can hang it in front of a window and peek in.  The others are a blue jay house, a cardinal house, and the largest is a screech owl house.  We will hang that one on our chimney, away from the others.

Here are two of the houses, ready for new tenants.  The garden is resting for the season.  I really miss those home grown tomatoes!

 Of course, the holidays are all about embarrassing the children.  So, here is our Genny, mortified that mommy insisted on this torture.

I also received a very large cast iron skillet for a present, so I will be seasoning that soon so it will be ready for use.  We are going to be grilling some ducks on New Year's Eve and I might use the skillet as the drip pan.  All of that duck fat should season it nicely.

Until next time,
Ciao!
Birdie in Cucina