Tuesday, January 29, 2013

You know that joke about social media, where people post about what they are eating. Well I would do that a lot so instead I started this blog.  Tonight for supper we had pork loin, carrots and home made french fries.  It was easy and cheap.   I really want to post about it on my 'status update' but i am sure no one would care so I will share it here.
No frills this week had on sale the pork loin that comes precut.  I divided it into 3 sections and froze two which is 3 or four chops.  This may not be enough for your family but it is for ours cuz our kids are small. A 3 lb bag of carrots was .97cents and a 10 lbs bag of potatoes was $1.97. The pork loin was about $5.00.  Our supper was $7.94 divided by 3 = $2.65 for our family.  These are the things that excite me.  Supper was so good.
Pork Loin - 3 chops in a pan on broil for 10 mins each side.  Instructions were on the bag.
Homemade fries - I cut 6 potatoes into wedges and tossed them in a bowl with 1/4 cup of veg oil ( you can use olive oil) and 1 tbsp of dried oregano leaves, salt and pepper. Also I put aluminum foil on my cookie sheet before I put the potatoes on.  I started cooking these at 450 degrees oven for 15 mins before I cooked the meat with broiler on.  Toss the fries around when you go to put the meat in.  The fries will brown up nice finishing them under the broiler.  Just watch them cuz your oven is probubly hotter than mine. 
Glazed Carrots - I don't have amounts but this is how I do it.  Peel and chop carrots. Put in a frying pan with high sides. Put in enough water to cover. Cook uncovered on high til water evaporates. add a big  tbsp of butter and 'some' white sugar. Keep tossing. As the carrots continue to cook the butter should start to brown and the sugar with caramelize the carrots.  Taste one when you think they are ready to eat.

Friday, January 25, 2013

I don't have any exciting recipes to share today.  It is just another Friday at the end of a busy week.  My family has been fighting the stomach flu the past 8 days.  We haven't been eating much but I still have to provide meals. I cooked a turkey on Sunday that I had kept from Thanksgiving when they were on sale. We ate bits of that all week. I have made a lot of soup and sandwiches.  Today everyone is feeling better and looking for food.  Because of the flu I have not been grocery shopping in a couple weeks.  I want to express how much I appreciate my method of freezer meals ahead for many days.  Once again this morning I looked in the freezer and found homemade apple sauce, frozen strawberries, ground beef.  Today the girls and I made applesauce muffins, Smoothies with the strawberries and we will have meatloaf, potatoes and frozen corn and carrots for supper. We have our own beef from our dairy farm but our neighbours sell beef with that is hormone free and would recommend splitting a cow with a friend and stock your freezer.  This is more cost effective and so much healthier when you read about all the contamination scares.
  I am always so thankful by how much we all have.  I think we should have National eat out of your freezer week. In our house we could eat for a month without buying anything at the grocery store.  It is a great comfort to me to know we have this food planned ahead. However it does speak to consumerism and how much we think we need verses how much we actually need.  I take comfort knowing these strawberries and apples in my freezer (as well as pumpkin, rhurbarb and other foods) we have grown or gotten from our neighbours. So that is what I am promoting. Plan ahead, stock your freezer while food is locally ready, Eat out of your freezer as much as you can in the winter.  Save money, Eat better, Stress less.