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

Holidays in Cucina

It is that time of year when we bake, bake, bake!  I have to get my gifts that need mailing ready to go and I need some cushioning for the contents.  The gifts are culinary in nature this year, so I thought that some caramel corn would be a perfect addition.

My sister and I discovered this recipe one year when we had a lot of leftover popcorn from stringing for the tree.

Oven Caramel Corn

Preheat oven to 200 degrees

12 cups of freshly popped pop corn, divided between two ungreased baking dishes

1 cup brown sugar

1 stick, or 1/2 cup butter

1/4 cup lite corn syrup

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Heat brown sugar, butter, corn syrup and salt in a saucepan, stirring occasionally, until bubbly around the edges.  Continue cooking 5 minutes more, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat.  Stir in baking soda until caramel is foamy.  Pour on the popcorn and stir to coat.  Bake 1 hour, stirring well every 15 minutes.

Now it looks like the caramel might not cover enough at first, but trust me, it gets around after all of that stirring.  This stuff is highly addictive!

I am bagging this up in celophane bags for transporting and freshness.

Until next time!

Birdie in Cucina

Fall turns to Winter

It has been a pretty uneventful month or so.  I have to say that we are generally pretty boring people.  My husband works from home and I am a homemaker, so we spend the day together, sort of anyway.  It is nice because we can eat lunch together and spend time with our dogs without them being alone for long stretches of time.

We have had a a beautiful fall season and winter seems to have come early this year.  We had our first snow storm of the year on the day before Thanksgiving.  We got less than they said we would, but it still made it difficult for travelers.  Thank goodness the roads were clear on the holiday and our family could still join us for our feast.

I took over Thanksgiving dinner a couple of years ago when my mother in-law decided she didn't want to do it anymore.  I certainly didn't mind.  The only challenge is fitting enough people around my table in my incredibly small dining room.

This year I decided that I would make as many of the dishes as friendly to my restrictive diet as I possibly could.  Preparations began a good month ahead of time with me looking through my favorite cook books, magazines, and websites for the recipes.  From there I made my grocery list and shopped on the Monday before Thanksgiving.

I could only find frozen turkey which I was very concerned about getting thawed before I wanted to cook.  Okay, there was one fresh turkey that was so big it would not fit into my oven and would take a new mortgage to purchase.  Early on Wednesday, I took out my turkey and prepared it for the brine.  I ALWAYS brine my turkey and I highly recommend it.  I learned this trick from Cooks Illustrated.  Into my biggest stock pot went about 2-3 cups of salt, the turkey and water enough to cover the turkey.  It sat in the brine, in the refrigerator, until I was ready to cook it at 6 am on Thanksgiving.  I aimed to get the turkey done early so it had plenty of time to rest and retain all of the juices.  I did not have to add any liquid to the turkey pan, as it produced quite a bit on its own.  I lay the turkey on a bed of carrots, celery and onion and placed a sage butter under the skin of the breast to keep things moist.  I did not baste so the skin could get nice and crispy.

This also opened up the oven for the side dishes.  First up was corn pudding since it has to cook for an hour.  I found this recipe this year and it sounded much more interesting than my traditional one.  The texture of the frozen corn and the flavor of the onion made such a big difference. 

Next was the Bourbon Sweet Potato Puree with Pecans. The bourbon adds rich flavor that is not too sweet and the nuts add texture.

I also roasted some mushrooms with salt and pepper and made polenta to go with them.  this was a nontraditional dish that my husband didn't think would go over with his parents, but they loved it.

Stuffing was a challenge to figure out how to do gluten free.  Last year I made a stuffing with gluten free bread and frankly, it was terrible.  But I ran across a recipe for Wild Rice Stuffing.  That would provide the necessary traditional  flavors and be acceptable.  You basically make your favorite wild rice blend, I used chicken stock for the liquid.  While that is cooking up you saute onions, celery, mushrooms, sage and other traditional stuffing seasonings in some butter.  when the rice is finished, add the onion mixture.  throw that in a casserole with a little more chicken stock and back for about 20 minutes.

Instead of the gooey green bean casserole, I made steamed green beans with some sauteed shallots and lemon zest.  Add the green beans to the saute pan to marry the flavors.  With all of the rish dishes, I wanted the beans to have a fresher cleaner taste.

We also had a nice green salad, some corn muffins with blueberries (a tradition in my husband's family), and then dessert!

I made a pumpkin pie with  a buttery pie crust recipe.  I substituted King Arthur Gluten Free Flour for the flour in the recipe.  The filling is from my very worn copy of Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook.  I substituted coconut milk for the evaporated milk.

All in all, I would say that Thanksgiving this year was a success.  Of course I made turkey stock from the carcass and it is now waiting to be soup.  Leftovers have been a joy to eat and have gone pretty fast.

Now the planning for this year's Christmas Eve open house begins!  It is going to be very different as we are having a pancake and pajama theme this year.  All breakfast foods!  Still in the planning stages, but I think it will be fun and different.

In Cucina

So, I am trying to not grocery shop quite so often and rely more heavily on my pantry.  I really felt that we had slim pickins for dinner tonight.  But I saw a can of tuna on the shelf and remembered the old standby, tuna noodle casserole.

Being gluten and dairy free, this could pose a problem.  So I did some searching and realized that I could make my own cream of mushroom base.  This may not be a revalation to a lot of folks, but I am not known for making things thick when they are supposed to be.  My gravy almost never thickens.  But I felt empowered, so I gave it a try.

In the skillet went a whole stick of butter.  I don't count butter in my dairy free world.  I suppose you could substitute margerine if necessary.  In went chopped mushrooms and shallot to saute.  Once they were softened, I threw in about 3 or 4 tablespoons of white rice flour and whisked away.  Once it was cooked a bit, I added a can of coconut milk and whisked away more.  I let it simmer a while and IT THICKENED!!!!  WHOO HOO!!!!  I added some garlic powder and pepper.  Yummy!

In it went with the pasta, tuna and peas.  Lots of pepper and I am good to go.  I know lots of folks add cheese and breadcrumbs and bake this a while and that would be good too.

I think I will try this technique with my gravy the next time I make it.

Until next time,

Ciao!

Birdie in Cucina

In Cucina

Fall means harvest time.  We recently stopped at the local farmers market and bought a large basket of red delicious apples.  My husband eats a lot of apple sauce, so I thought it would be fun to try and make our own.  This way I know exactly what is in it.

Red delicious apples are very sweet on their own, so I knew I would need very little additional sweetener.  I only used 1/2 cup of coconut palm sugar in this pot, along with the juice of one lemon, some cinnamon (of course), some ground ginger, and a wee bit of salt.  I also added about 3 cups of water. This pot is only half of the apples we purchased.  I made 2 batches in two days to give my hands a break on the peeling and chopping.  Cooked it down until the liquid was thick as I liked.  Then I let it cool and then bagged it in freezer bags and popped them into the freezer.

I am a bit too lazy for canning.  And I think I would like someone to teach me that first hand instead of just reading up on it.

I also stuck a bunch of the apple peels in the oven on cookie sheets at 250 degrees to dehydrate for snacks.  Why waste them?  Yum.

Until next time, 

Ciao!

Birdie in Cuchina

In Cucina

Yes, it has been a while.  It is now full on fall.  We are enjoying the last of our garden harvest.  I am disappointed to say that all but the fall lettuce I planted is gone, thanks to the nasty cabbage worm.  Poor skeleton kale plants.  But, it was a valient attempt.  Tomatoes are still ripening, so we are liking that.

Fall means football season.  Sundays are pretty lazy in our house.  As I made breakfast this morning, I also loaded the crock pot.  Two sliced onions, a sliced Granny Smith Apple, and a small pork loin.  Sprinkled with rosemary, salt and pepper.  Cooked on low all day.

With the crock pot, it is best to keep it simple.  My sister taught me that.  She would stick a whole chicken in the crock pot in the morning and come home from work to a perfectly roasted chicken.  It bastes itself.  I add a few seasonings, like grated ginger and orange zest.  Yummy!  Put in whole potatoes and come home to baked potatoes.  Some folks wrap them in foil first, but I don't.

On this particular lazy Sunday, I got too lazy.  I sauteed broccoli rabe without blanching it first.  Bad idea.  Blanching it gets rid of the bitter taste.  Always blanch!  We also had some mashed potatoes.

Okay, they were from a box.  My husband gets these wierd cravings for mashed potatoes, so we keep a box in the house.  I'm so ashamed.

So that is my lazy Sunday confession.

Until next time,

Birdie in Cucina

In Cucina

This grilled eggplant is the beginning of this evening's dinner and an another dish a bit later.  Pasta sauce!

We have had a huge increase in tomato harvest.  So yesterday I put them into the food processor.  The left jar is the roma tomatoes.  The right is the heirloom purple and the yellow cherries.  All of the roma and about a third of the others went into tonight's sauce.

First into the pan was olive oil, onions, garlic, mushrooms, and some carrots for a bit of sweetness.  When these sweat down, in went the next layer.  Some diced banana peppers, the tomato puree, seasonings, and a bit of leftover white wine.   oh, and the eggplant.

This simmered all the while the pasta water came up to a boil and the pasta cooked.  I have to say it was pretty darned good.  The eggplant and mushrooms gave it richness and flavor that meat usually contributes.  I just love playing in the kitchen!

Until next time,

Ciao!

Birdie in Cucina

Epicurious

Epicurious.com is an awesome recipe website.  I got the recipe for tonight's dinner from it.

Spicy Asian Noodle Salad

In Cucina

Tonight's dinner is brought to you by our garden.  Tomatoes, peppers, kale, eggplant.  There is onion and garlic, some anchovy paste, salt and red pepper flakes.  This is the first part of the saute.

This is after the the addition of the kale and left over pulled pork.

Addition of the cooked pasta and a bit of pasta water.  It tasted fresh and flavorful.

We need to be ready for a lot of tomatoes in the near future.  They are ripening fairly quickly now.  I may have to freeze them or learn to can very quickly.

Until next time,

Ciao!

Birdie in Cucina

In Giardino

I just harvested from the garden.  My favorite part of gardening, to be sure.  Some lovely leaf lettuce, some basil, and nasturtium.  Nasturtium in salads is just wonderful.   it has a peppery taste and every part of the plant is edible, leaves, flowers and buds.  Some folks pickle the buds and use them like capers.

As a lot of things are ripening, we are eating a lot of salads with our meals.  

Seems that we aren't the only ones enjoying our garden.  Methinks some birdies have been helping themselves to my tomatoes.  Sneaky birdies.

Until next time,

Ciao!

Birdie in Cucina

In Cucina Al Fresco

It is a lovely afternoon.  So lovely that my work from home husband is working al fresco on the patio and I am joining him to prepare dinner and harvest from the garden.  Here we have the first of the peppers to harvest, some cherry tomatoes with one heirloom and one each of the eggplants were grew.  Now I am no expert, but the eggplants havent increased in size in over a week, so I am assuming that they are ready to be picked.  I specifically chose them for their small size.  I am hoping to combine all of these beauties in some way in the next day or two.  Next to the bowl, I have some garlic chives freshly cut along with some other herbs.

The chives will go in some garlic mashed potatoes later today.  The herbs are for the herb butter to baste the grill roasted turkey that is in the grill as I type.   i am using the same technique that I used for the duck earlier - Indirect grilling.  This means on my gas grill I turn on just the rear and from burners.  I place the turkey on the stand up rack over an oven safe casserole.  This gets placed in the center of the grill and the lid is closed.  The heat surrounds the turkey to cook it.  I will baste occasionally with the herb butter, but I also slid some under the breast skin to keep that from drying out and add flavor.

I love cooking outside and we have really used our grill a lot this summer.  I foresee us continuing well into fall and maybe on nicer winter days too.  Beats heating up the house when it is warm, that's for sure.

i started the turkey pretty early, mainly so it has time to rest and be ready for eating when we are ready.  This turkey isn't very large, about as big as the duck was really.  So it should not take more than 2 hours, if that long.  I will do the potatoes closer to diner time.  Add salad and left over asparagus and that's dinner!

Tonight is graduation night for puppy school.  It starts at 6:30, so I want dinner to be ready before we go.  Not sure if we will eat before or after puppy school and that is okay, because I think everything will sit well if we need to eat it after.  Turkey is great for left overs and hubby can have his hot turkey sandwiches he loves so much.

Until next time,

Ciao!

Birdie in Cucina

Al Fresco

Tonight's dinner featured brined and grilled boneless pork ribs with a dry rub featuring cardemom.  Granny Smith apples sauted in butter with onions, coconut palm sugar, and fresh rosemary.  A salad featuring greens and tomatoes from our garden.  Al fresco on a beautiful day in mid August that seems more like mid September.

We worked up our appetite by taking the dogs to the dog park today.  I worked a bit in my sewing studio and we will close the day with a date night at the movies.  I cannot think of a better way to spend a day.

Until next time,

Ciao!

Birdie in Cucina

Birdies

So, it hasn't been the best of weeks.  My symptoms have been playing games with my head again, rendering me useless most of the time.  It has been a while since I have had symptoms this strong, so it is extra disappointing.  When this happens, I don't feel like doing very much.  Cooking hasn't been too necessary, as we have enough left overs to get us through the week.  I am keeping up with my household duties, as the schedule I have set keeps them easy to do.  I am thankful for that.

This all makes for some pretty boring blog posts, however.  As I rest, I can spend sometime outside with my camera, hoping for some good bird shots.  I finally got some shots of the Goldfinch that likes our sunflowers.  So, here he is.

In Giardino

So much for a serene and restful Sunday!  We worked hard today in the garden and the rest of the yard.

When we installed the patio earlier this year, it left us with this mound of dirt that we refer to as Puppy Mountain.  The dogs like to run up and down it and dig it up.  But it is ugly and hard to mow, so down it comes!  With the help of my hubby and a rental tiller, soon it looked like this:

Now we can get grass seed and have a nicer lawn along with the awesome patio.

While hubby worked on excavating Puppy Mountain, I worked on the new garden bed and fencing.

I planted my fall crops of kale, cabbage, arugala and lettuce.  Then mulched with straw to hopefully keep the weeds out.

Fencing is important when you have a puppy.   If there is no fencing, there if more excavation of those lovely veggies!

After a morning of hard work, lunch time!  Remember thise burgers I talked about last time?

Here they are all ready to be grilled, along with the sweet potato chips waiting to be baked and the lettuce greens drying.  A yummy salad and crunchy chips are the perfect burger accompaniment.

We still have more work in the garden to do this week.  Hubby has the week off, so we are trying to get as much done as we can.  Along with some fun stuff too.

Now to relax a bit:

A rose in bloom

Our sunny sunflowers.  The birds love them.  I wish I had my camera when the gold finch was visiting.

Until next time,

Ciao!

Birdie in Cucina