The beauty of a well seasoned cast iron pan

A series of events led to this today, and apparently its not ruined.

I was making oats for breakfast this morning and I turned on the element. The oats were on the front burner and I had the skillet on the back burner. The wrong element was heating as you can guess. The oats were taking forever so I turned up the heat a bit. We got a new countertop fish tank this weekend and I was rearranging a few things and the container of cookies wound up on the skillet. The kids were fighting over one of those sea creatures that grows in water and the poor thing's tail ripped off. I was dealing with a devastated 4 yo when I smelled the cookie container and oh shit...

So, I let it cool and amazingly most of it lifted off with a lot of arm strength. Jut a note to anyone who may have this happen in their own kitchen, do not remove the lid of the plastic container. It's beyond horrible :) The kids have been happily scraping away at the remainging plastic and it's pretty much gone. Craig said he'll sand the remaining bits off so we're not heating the plastic deeper into the pan.

chocolate no bake cookies (sugar free)

These aren't the most healthy, but they are pretty close while still being a treat. I have been "eating right for my blood type" and this recipe is the result of a craving for some oats and PB.
in a large saucepan, over medium heat combine:
1/3 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup raw honey
1/2 cup butter (walnut oil may work as sub.)
1/2 cup soy milk
3 tablespoons cocoa powder

stir until a full boil, then stop stirring and let it boil for 1.5 minutes.remove from heat and stir in 3 cups oats and 2 teaspoons of vanilla. drop by teaspoons on wax paper and chill. Enjoy!

It's been a while.

With nice summer weather comes family outings and gatherings. I have neglected to update for a while, and in fact started spending more at the grocery store as we got busier. My home was full of family, and we had a lot of fun. We go like this and jump back in where we left off.
I have officially become the neighborhood crazy lady. With family around to watch the boys I've been walking an empty stroller to the grocery store to use it as my cart. To save appearances I've been placing a blanket in the seat "just so" so it looks like there could be a little baby in it :) I figure it's less obvious that way. In any case, I have the fanciest cart in the store and I can turn on a dime with my Mountain Buggy Urban single. I figure, it's paid for and can hold 77 lbs in the seat, plus bread etc. in the basket. With the seat reclined I can carry a lot of heavy produce and milk. And, it has nice cupholders so why not use it and save gas?
Today I bought a few things:
Big box of rice crispies 6.47
1 mango .58
2 boxes of nut snack bars 1.95 each
bag of sugar 3.49
garbage bags 1.27
1/2P blackberries .98
2 lb strawberries 3.00
1 doz eggs 1.86

total $26.00

I bought a lot of bread to freeze before my guests came and we still have it all. I've also got a really well stocked pantry so we should be in good shape until payday next week. We kept within our budget even with a week at the beach and their lovely yet $$$ bakery.
Any thoughts on going TV free or mostly? I've not watched any personal shows in weeks, only a couple movies and one at the theatre last night. The kids have been gone at the cottage overnight and all day yesterday and I've only gone downstairs to do laundry. I have big brother on the PVR but no desire to watch it. I've been enjoying my toy free, tv free living room. It feels quite civilized. :)

friday, herding goats..

Have you ever taken fully grown goats shopping for groceries? They try to open packages and poke holes in cellophane while I'm trying to keep a running total of my budget in my head, also while trying to keep a keen eye for deals. It can be tricky. The kids are getting used to shopping so often. I think it's good for them to practice being civilized :) Plus the little one usually gets a banana to eat on the way home. The big one is getting really good at riding his bicycle with training wheels. Today the clouds were threatening to rain on us so we hurried a bit on the way to and from the store. We bought:

4L milk 3.64

brick of mozza to make pizzas 4.00

big bag of red grapes, lovely and crunchy 4.23

4 large buns .96

5 bananas 1.32

ground beef 2.55

2 golden delicious apples .90

2 pears 1.03

loaf french bread 1.76

2 trays breakfast sausage for .97 each

1 avocado

total 23.33

So far I think my experiment is going well. It's satisfying to fill the conveyor belt at the store with generally good and fresh food, and spend relatively little $. This morning we cleared out a few things that had been forgotten in the fridge. It seems like we have almost too much food this week. We made some good juice with the last bits of spinach, some carrots and a lot of apples that we got earlier in the week for very cheap. Today I plan to soak some dried chick peas to make some hummus to go with my lunches. The kids had some leftover pizza for lunch, along with some of the new grapes and the juice we made. I had a slice of tomato, 3/4 of a banana that the daniel was finished with once he saw his grapes, green peppers, cucumber spears, and a few slices of cheese. We won't mention the cookies :) Grandma made some lovely cookies for us and we had some after lunch. I may have had 1 or 2... :)

late entry for the 28th

Wednesday we bought

4L milk 3.64

pepperoni 3.27

2 frozen apple juice 1.44

6 large buns 1.44

frozen pizza 3.37

1 avocado 1.00

dozen eggs 1.99

5 apples 1.53

2lb strawberries 4.98

5 lb oranges 3.00

mustard 1.37

total 27.13

slightly over budget... will even out on friday.

late entry for the 26th

I didn't post on Monday, but I did shop and take a picture.

we got:

a loaf of bread

4 oranges

1 avocado

8 apples

2lb baby carrots

2 slicing cukes

1 can of soup

brick of cheese

lots of yogurt.

I think this was about $19

I'm going to raise my shopping amount to $25, but only shop 3x a week. It works better with our schedule and it frees up time on the weekend and only raises our weekly budget by $5 on average. I think it will be fine.

Friday, shopping again

We are still well stocked for produce so I bought some meat and yogurt today. The kids had sandwiches on fresh buns, oranges, yogurt and juice. I had an organic spinach and carrot salad with some sugar snap peas on the side. I've still got lots of that big pack of baby spinach that I got for .98 I love when those are on sale, they are usually $5+

Today with my $20 I bought:

4 L milk

2 frozen apple juice

a dozen large eggs

large loaf of rye bread

2 big yogurts

italian sausages

6 bakery buns

and a pack of hot dogs.. yeah yeah I know.