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.

Wednesday's Bounty

We got a bit off schedule with shopping over the long weekend, but today marks getting back on track. We have soccer tonight and it's our turn to provide snack for the team. We bought a bag of apples and some juice pouches. It's not as exciting as yogurt tubes, but it should be fine. I can send a few bananas too and maybe Danno and I can bake some oatmeal cookies while Andrew is at school.

Looks like salad and sandwiches for lunch :)

Today we spent just over $20 and we got:

6 bananas

4 oranges

1 large tomato

1 big package of baby spinach

1 bag of apples

1 pack of ground beef

1 loaf of rye bread

4 buns for sub sandwiches

1 box of juice pouches

sandwich meat for the kids.

Wednesday, shopping day

Today we bought:
4l 2%
1 box cereal
1 box hamburger dinner
7 small bananas
4 large oranges
3 pears
applesauce for Craigs lunch
small natural peanut butter
1 frozen OJ
a side of paint and an american girl doll :)
Total $20 I left my reciept in the stroller but it was around that.

Last night we had whole wheat spaghetti, meat sauce with butternut squash and spinach added. and corn on the cob. Craig brought leftovers for lunch with a banana and some cheese and crackers. We're out of crackers now so I'm going to look for a recipe to make some. I'm also going to make some more bran muffins with 1 of the applesauce containers instead of butter since we are low on that. This morning I made a batch of hummus with a can of chick peas from the pantry and some tahini and garlic I've had for a little while. A splash of olive oil makes it very nice. The kids took their lunch plates before I snapped a picture, but they had cheese sandwiches, banana, a few animal crackers and OJ for lunch. I had a large tomato and about 3 inches of cucumber with a side of hummus for spreading. It was very tasty and filling.

tuesday, may 13

I'm not sure why these pictures are sideways...Today's lunch was similar to yesterday's. We had bran muffins and fruit for breakfast. I still have a lot of produce left so tomorrow I'll buy some peanut butter for Craig's lunches on days where there are no leftovers. I do plan to make spaghetti for supper tonight so he can take some for lunch tomorrow too. He can be tricky to feed, but he's never one to complain so I consider myself lucky. He's a great guy and even came up with a surprise for me on Mother's day. We were outside playing with the kids on Sunday, digging around in the sandbox when I found something that made my heart feel funny. It was the keypad half of what appeared to be my LG cell phone. It was clearly broken beyond repair, full of sand and looked like it had been used as a shovel by the boys. My heart sank, we just got our cell phones a couple months ago and they are not cheap to replace... I was thinking to myself, "I thought we were watching the kids better than this, how could this have happened? I always put my phone away ina safe place.. oh my.." I showed Craig and he asked if it was mine. It sure looked like mine. I asked our 2 year old if he broke my phone and he said " phone, dig, break!" oy.. So I dig around some more, looking for the screen half of it so maybe we can take it back to telus and get a warranty replacement or..something? a laugh is more like it, right?

So I go in the house and check to see if my phone is really gone, the damage to this phone is pretty extreme, how could my kids do this? My phone wasn't where I thought I left it so Craig and Andrew go in the house for a minute and andrew comes back out with a surprise for me in his pocket. He pulls out my phone, unharmed and working perfectly. Craig is such a stinker, he was walking outside downtown one day on the way to another building at work and he found this broken phone that looked exactly like my LG phone. He planted it in the sandbox on Mother's day, planning to freak me out by "finding" it himself, or one of the kids finding it. How funny that I found it, but it was soooo not funny at the time.

Monday lunch

Time for lunch! I've been eating raw veggies for lunch every day. It's working well so far, I am hoping to lose some of this baby belly, yeah it's been 2 years...:)

I'm having an organic baby arugula salad with fresh mushrooms, a plate of baby carrots, cucumber and pears. the kids are having yogurt, cheese, baby carrots, pears and hot dogs..I know I know... gotta work on that, but andrew is a picky eater since having chemo... if it's any consolation, neither of them ate all of the hot dog, but they ate everything else.

some receipts..

I found a receipt from last week, and there are two more but I don't know if I still have them. I'll have a look in my other stroller on the way to school.
on may 10th I bought:
yogurt for the kids 3.37
4l 2% milk 3.58
organic baby arugula .98
5 bananas 1.55
18 large eggs 2.95
1lb strawberries 1.95
4 large oranges 2.18
4 red delicious apples 1.45
total 18.01

today I bought:
2l 2% milk 2.08
4 bananas 1.32
3 large tomatos 2.48
4 bulk buns .96
1 box smarties for the kids (it keeps them happy on the way home) $1 totally worth it since today it was raining on us.
4 large oranges 1.79
small bag of bulk mushrooms .60
2 pears 1.04
1 english cucumber .85
block of cheese 3.75
pack of ground beef 2.45
total with tax because of the smarties: 18.44

Can we eat more fresh foods and save money? We go like this and try..

This is completely experimental... But I started it early last week. Basically I'm trying to get more fresh foods into our diet, and save some $ if I can. Every second day I take the kids and $20 to the grocery store. I buy what we will eat for the next two days. Fruit, veggies, milk, etc... we have been eating way more fresh than ever before because we get only a few of a lot of variety and it's always fresh. There's nothing wasted and we have plenty of options. I am loving it and andrew loves all the strawberries we've been getting this week. We also get the benefit of catching all the unadvertised specials in the store. We walk there, andrew rides his bike and I bring daniel in the double mountain buggy so the empty seat beside him is my shopping cart LOL. no gas use, no shopping bags and andrew and I get some extra exercise. I've been eating a lunch of raw veggies for a week and I feel good! if this keeps working well I will be spending $300 a month of our budgeted 500 on fresh stuff and we'll have $200 leftover to stock up on flour, pasta, sugar, coffee etc.. to keep in the freezer. It's quite interesting so far, I'm much more aware of every $ that is spent since every $20 counts. Before when we were spending $250 at a time, twice a month it was easy to see how $20 or $60 even was spent on treats and junk we really didn't need. I should start photographing and blogging my grocery adventure lol.

k, I just remembered I have a blog from long ago. I've opened it up again so I can blog about this experiment.