Transforming my life AND my day old doughnuts

Eat the Food: Last week when I was craving doughnuts, I made pancakes instead. Though I love my recipe, the pancakes did NOT end my craving.

Skill Up: Yes, mending my gloves was a way for me to "skill up" as part of the Independence Challenge. Does the fact that I pricked my finger say it all? ;)

Preserve Something: As you can imagine, Grandbaby, strapped to my chest in her infant carrier, was a big help when it came time to finally use that salsa mix that'd been in my pantry for so long. Still lacking the confidence to actually can anything, but feeling pretty good about the jars of salsa now in the freezer!

Make Over Leftovers: No, I wasn't thinking 'Now, how can I make doughnuts less healthy?' Just trying to enjoy the dozen day old doughnuts I bought when I at last gave into my craving. I froze the doughnuts right away, so I could eat them a few at a time. These'll keep me from giving into the urge to drive into town next time I get a craving. A real money saver, eh? *wink* Anyway, my dad came up with this method to slice stale doughnuts and fry them in a smattering of butter. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and EAT WARM. The ultima comfort food!!

Now, don't get me wrong, I like my life but there's always room for improvement. I keep taking on new challenges because the only way I'm going to steadily improve my life (Kaizen, baby!) is to change what I do for something better. Doing something different daily seems to be the key. Loving this Indpendence Challenge because it helps me to daily think of categories certain to improve my $$ bottom line.
   Time for me to get off this computer now and go do something different!
   Whassup in your world? Taken on any new challenges lately? Leave a link if you're so inclined!

Lovin' this Independence Challenge; Laziest 'icing' ever

Lemon Shrimp...yup, this is me cutting down on animal protein. When the folks came back from Florida recently and gifted us with FIVE POUNDS of Royal Reds (oh, yeah!), we divvied the shrimp up into 1/2 pound bags and froze it. Totally resisted the urge to fry up and scarf down a pound of it for dinner the first night. Sadly, eating this sweet Gulf shrimp in smaller lots feels a little chintzy, but I will be happy to have it last longer. We had the leftovers from this tonight, with steamed broccoli added in, along with 1/2 jar of organic baby food peas that I didn't want to give to Grandbaby today since it'd been opened on Friday. (Yes, I hate wasting food so much I'm willing to eat baby food...well, as long as it's heavily disguised.)

HARVEST: Hubby harvested our first mess of kale from the late planting he'd done. Some of it is red kale, a new crop for us. I LOVE kale. What's more, I LOVE the Independence Challenge reminding me to get off my tuchus and go see if any of our winter crops are ready to be harvested.

WANT NOT: Unfortunately, a loved one was in the hospital over the weekend...a hospital two hours from here. Before we and some others hit the road, I tossed a box of Clif bars, bananas and a water bottle into a bag. So, during this family medical crisis, I did not eat any hospital food! (Our dear one is MUCH better and well on his way to complete recovery, thanks!!)

EAT THE FOOD: After getting only about 45 minutes of sleep Friday night, I did not feel like cooking when we got home Saturday night. Didn't want to go out to eat either...too much food in the fridge at home. But comfort food was definitely wanted, so I baked a box mix White Cake and topped it with the quickest, laziest icing ever: 2 cans sweetened condensed milk mixed with 3/4 cup lemon juice then poured over the cake.

WASTE NOT: Scraping out the edges of my powder make-up. I buy and use this powder stuff only for traveling, because it's more expensive than my everyday makeup. I don't want to waste even ONE application!

EAT THE FOOD: Our refrigerator is jam-packed with cheeses that need to be used up (bought before my resolve to eat less animal protein/eggs/dairy). To up the vegetable proteins, I added some freshly harvested, sautéed Swiss chard into the Rotel Dip that jazzed up my mushroom tacos. Didn't take much of the spicy cheese dip to take my vegetarian taco over the top!

Happy Monday!! Anything getting harvested, eaten, saved or wasted in your neck of the woods??

Minimal animal protein and dairy for life--can she do it?

Made spaghetti recently with only a 1/4 pound of Italian sausage, and Hubby didn't even notice I'd reduced the meat! Had enough leftovers to make chili, and since it was chock full of black beans, onions and peppers, Hubby didn't even notice that there was VERY minimal meat. Any time I make chili or other casual, stain-producing meals I use our oldies-but-goodies cloth napkins. BTW, Grandbaby serenaded us during this lunch with her baby drum--that girl can jam! ;)

My most recent pot of Potato Soup contained only scant pieces of chicken from the homemade broth made from the carcass of my most recent Roasted Chicken (a variation of this one). Actually, the majority of our meals contain minimal meat, except for the first night of eating a newly roasted chicken or smoked pork loin, for instance. My challenge will be to keep Hubby from eating mega meat on those first nights, to spread the animal proteins even further. Aside from any health benefits, no doubt this challenge will save us money!

Oh, yes, I DID eat my chocolate ice cream with peanut butter mixed in while in my car with a copy of The China Study glaring up at me! The kinda folks who praise this book are impressive, to say the least, including a Nobel Prize winner. Not even finished with the book, I am convinced that eating MINIMAL animal proteins/eggs and MINIMAL dairy is the way to go for optimum health. (Starting right after eating this free ice cream gotten with a previous purchases reward card!)

A BIG Thank You!
Thanks, Yummy Little Cooks, for thinking me Liebster Award worthy! Of course, her lovely, absolutely yummy site would definitely make my short list of the blogs with less than 200 followers that I enjoy immensely. (Never got around to becoming a "follower" of any blog; I subscribe to folks' RSS feeds.) I have a tough time making lists because I hate leaving anyone out, so very many of you edu-entertain me. I will have to name another five very soon!

1. Yummy Little Cooks (Like my own private cooking school with glimpses into an exotic cuisine.)
2. Minting Nickels (Dunno how many followers Lindy has, but she makes me laugh while reminding me of my goal to save $$.)
3. Simply Self Sufficiency (Becky mixes frugal, simple living with preparedness.)
4. Sue's Garden Journal (When I visit Sue's site, I feel like I'm looking over the shoulder of a master gardener.) 
5. Living a Little Greener (Bruise Mouse offers a little bit of everything. Always worth a visit.)

   Time to close this post and go read an intriguing article over on Organic Soul's site: Fighting Your Nature Deficiency: Tips for Natural Health. Oh, and I cannot wait to try this recipe over on Seasaltwithfood's site: Baked Potato Skins Pepperoni Pizza. Where are you headed next??

Making over flopped Amish Friendship Bread; Free garden seeds at TreeHugger

My Cranberry Walnut Bread Pudding with Vanilla Sauce is a riff on Charlie Trotter's Cinnamon-Raisin Bread Pudding with Vanilla Anglaise. Actually riffed on his Cinnamon-Cranberry Bread Pudding recipe but couldn't find the recipe online, and you know I am too LAZY to type it up myself! I used 3/4 cup of dried cranberries and 3/4 cup of chopped walnuts with the last of the Amish Friendship Bread that was in the freezer. I'd screwed up one batch of the Amish bread by forgetting to add oil, but the bread pudding recipe made DRY AS TOAST friendship bread into something moist and yummy! (My vanilla sauce recipe is much simpler than Charlie's: Put 1/2 cup melted butter, 1/2 cup canola oil, 1 cup milk, 1 tsp. vanilla extract into a small pan, add 1 cup sugar with 3 tablespoons flour whisked into it. Cook and stir 'til the sauce thickens and coats the spoon.)

Hey, check this out over at TreeHugger's site: "5 Ways to Get Free Seeds for Your Garden." Okay, time for me to get off the computer and do some seriously mindless activity for awhile. Such a BUSY day...my brain could use a rest! *wink* What mindless activity is in store for you tonight?

Make Over: Pimiento Cheese to Cheesy Baked Onions

Did Hubby REALLY put all that roasted garlic on his hotdog? Oh, yes, he did. Ugh!

Hubby finds my fondness for Cincinnati chili just as gross!

Just to prove hotdogs aren't all we eat--this pork loin came off the grill tonight. We'll eat it mañana, and of course, the leftovers from that meal will likely go into another three or so minimal-meat meals.

Made Blackberry Farms Pimiento Cheese recipe again. First time I used vinegar 'cause I didn't have any pickle juice on hand and we LOVED the stuff. Well, guess what? I don't like the pickle juice version as well. So, using the pimiento cheese and a bit of olive oil, I made Cheesy Baked Onions for Hubby, who is more of a pickle lover than I am.

Cheesy Baked Onions

Any leftovers being transformed over at your place?

You're either getting better--or you're not

"I challenge everyone to

consider the direction and the value of your days–

because like it or not, those days are going by and

either you're getting better at something, 

getting stronger and more experienced…

or you're not."

Steve Richert, Living Vertical

Trying to improve upon the original Cherry Swirl Coffee Cake (which we like but always room for improvement, eh?), I subbed blueberry pie filling for the cherry filling and added grated orange rind for my Blueberry Swirl Coffee Cake. Less sweet than a regular "cake," this is perfect for breakfast. Mighty fine for after dinner dessert too!

Roasted a chicken yesterday...
will get at least four meals out of this bad boy.

On surfing the top ten adventure blogs (link shared yesterday), I came across the quote above and absolutely fell in love with it. I figure "you're either getting better or you're not" applies to just about everything, including recipes. Never had a problem motivating myself to tinker with recipes. Wish I could say the same when it comes to motivating myself to exercise!
   Any tinkering going on over at your place lately?

Had planned to make chicken pot pie using some of the chicken leftover from the roasted chicken, but since we had Grandbaby today, I didn't have time to make a pie crust. So, we had Chicken Pot Pasta instead. ;)

Make over: Unwanted cereal to snack; On a roll with leftover pork

  Double click on the pic if you'd like to enlarge the recipe. Bake at 250F for 15-20 min.

Oh, yes, I did buy Cheerios in a humongous, bulk package. Oh, no, Hubby won't eat them, and now that I'm into breakfast smoothies, I won't either. Solution: make snack food of the cereal--now Hubby's eating it by the handfuls. Though better with oyster crackers, this recipe worked well with the cereal too.

Ranch Cherrios

Hey, I didn't forget Meatless Monday yesterday. I had "Big Salad" for lunch. Really need to get on the ball and come up with some impressive vegetarian entrees though, if I intend for Hubby to embrace this Meatless Monday business. His salad had turkey on it. That's my favorite commercial salad dressing, btw. If I could make a Caesar dressing homemade that tasted as good, believe me I would!

   I am completely and utterly addicted to mellowcreme pumpkins. In fact, I consider it my great fortune that the only candies I crave are seasonal: these Brach's pumpkins, Brach's Christmas peppermint nougats, and Whoppers' Robin Eggs. Best thing about lovin' seasonal candies is that I get to buy 'em half price after the holidays!  

The sweetest little helper assisted me in making lunch this morn! Boy, do I LOVE using an infant front-pack carrier...and so does Grandbaby! We vacuumed this morn and then made lunch together. No worries, baby was sleeping when it came time for the frying!

Can't believe I ever used loads of paper towels to soak up grease, when newspaper topped with ONE paper towel turns the trick. LOVE spending less money on one-time-use products like paper towels.

I am the condiment queen. My Swiss chard/pork/carrot/onion egg rolls tasted so yummy with a mixture of hoisin and sweet chili sauces. These egg rolls transformed 1 1/2 leftover pork chops into our lunch today with enough leftovers for Hubby to have some tomorrow too. We are still getting Swiss chard and peppers from the garden. Yea! Oh, yeah, I ate the egg rolls even tho' it's not cheat day. Shamey Shamey! ;)

   Any leftover makeovers goin' down at your place tonight?

Lazy cooking: Roasted Chicken; Treehugger's Backyard House

Oven Roasted Chicken. Oy vey, I forgot to take an "after" pic...until we'd demolished the bird! Seriously, we don't generally eat half a chicken at one sitting, but this one turned out too yummy to resist.

Back before Hubby retired and I stopped working, boneless/skinless chicken breasts were the order of the day. I seldom bought anything else, because I figured boneless/skinless was the quickest way to get dinner on the table when I finally got home at night. (Those were the days before I was turned on to the concept of eating like our ancestors did and started consuming poultry WITH the skin. Y'know, eating Real Foods.)
   Besides, now that I've switched to buying only humanely raised chickens, I can't bring myself to buy anything but the whole chickens, which are cheaper than buying parts. That's when I discovered roasted chicken, and OH, MY, they are soo easy...easy enough for a lazy, don't-feel-like-cooking day!!

Roasted Chicken before. Just took out that innards sack, stuffed the cavity with a microwaved bacon end, rubbed the thing with a chili lime seasoning, Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, and then sprinkled with a little bacon grease and Worcestershire sauce. For the last 10 minutes of its baking, I poured some salsa over the bird's top and dotted it with a couple of tablespoons of butter.

Made a quick taco soup to use up the last of the leftover chicken: Bush's Black Bean Fiesta, leftover navy beans, salsa,  powdered vegetable soup base and a little water. I got a boat load of Bush's beans at Target at closeout sale prices awhile back. Gonna really miss that stuff when I use 'em all up, 'cause they sure make for quickie soups.

   On another note, I want one of the Backyard Houses I saw over on Treehugger's site! Too cute!! Hope you're having a terrif weekend!!

No such thing as leftovers around here, by golly!

Eggplant Parmesan becomes Eggplant Pasta with the addition of penne, fresh tomatoes and red pepper flakes. Such slight changes are the equivalent of the "spoonful of sugar" that makes the leftovers go down for Hubby. Luckily, he will eat most anything without complaint, but he seems to feel a bit better about leftovers if they are transformed into something new.

Are you like me...one of those people who can eat the same thing over and over and be perfectly fine with it? Or do you HATE leftovers?

Freezer love!

   Hubby doesn't actually hate them, and he's not one to complain. BUT he's not exactly enthusiastic in coming to the table when leftovers are on it. My mom claims to be able to eat the same thing over and over, but their refrigerator tells a different tale, cram-packed as it is with leftovers destined for the trash can. Oh, the waste!
   Around here, leftovers mostly morph into something else. Sometimes soups, which Hubby will eat the first day and I eat on daily until gone. What won't easily transform goes into the freezer, to be eaten anew another day.
   Okay, okay, I'm admittedly not perfect. Leftovers sometimes languish undetected behind something bigger and get tossed. *SIGH* But I'm better about staying on top of things than I used to be. Gotta love that! (Check out 10 Tips to Reduce Your Food Waste over on Slate.com.)
    As Hubby has gone to the farm for the day, I get to eat some leftover soup. What'll it be at your place today: leftovers or original issue?

P.S. Tomorrow is Ten on Ten. Won't you join us??

On my mind: 'Always been there' makes unused stuff invisible!

Unused bread box, why did you continue
to take up space even after I stopped using you?

Space, glorious space--top shelf says goodbye bread box!

Some 29 years ago, Hubby and I received this bread box as a wedding gift. Don't remember who gave it to us. Not long after getting it, we learned the prevailing wisdom that nothing would make bread mold faster than being in a bread box. So we took the top off but continued to store our bread in the box in a cabinet, figuring it would keep the bread from being smashed.
   All was well and good while DD was living at home. Bread got used up quicker than it could go stale. When DD moved out leaving just Hubby and me, we soon learned a whole loaf of bread goes to waste around here.
   We then divided each loaf in half, freezing half, but even a half loaf would go to waste in the bread box...out of sight, out of mind. Nowadays when we have bread around, half gets frozen and half sits on the counter or in the fridge so we will see it and eat it.
   This unused bread box continued taking up space in the tiny cabinet by the stove. The box was in there only because the old habit of it always being there somehow made it invisible to me! It would be there still if I weren't inspired by Zero Waste Home to take a look at everything with a minimalist's eye.
   Hauled off a load of stuff to give to charity yesterday. Bye, bye bread box!
"Slow Carb" Update 
   On another note, I'm really getting a kick out of practicing my own version* of the 4-Hour Body recommendation of eating only slow carbs (veggies/protein/legumes) with one cheat day per week. (*As my goal is to eat less sugar, I allow cheese/yogurt.)
   Here's a pic of the mish-mash I made the other day. Yesterday, I put the little bit of leftovers into a bowl & topped them with a couple of beaten eggs & gruyere for a lovely makeover crustless quiche mish-mash. Too easy! I haven't eaten this many veggies in my life, so I'm really getting a kick out of this new eating plan.
   But don't get me wrong, I LOVE cheat days. I've got a cake cooling on the counter now--just have to keep my hands OFF 'til Saturday! Hope something yummy is cooling on your counter right now??

Latest minimal meat mish-mash: broccoli slaw, yellow peppers, sausage, Greek seasoning.

   Thanks, Rhonda at down-to-earth, for sharing this On My Mind concept. What's on your mind today? Share your link here or on down-to-earth. 

Repurposing leftovers: Étouffée-ish Lentil Chicken Veggie Mish Mash

Only risk with winging it in the kitchen is that you must be willing to eat the results! Latest experiment in cooking turned out just fine, and another minimal meat meal has come and gone: this time an Étouffée-ish Lentil Chicken Veggie Medley.

Creole Trinity: onions, peppers and celery.

   Finally found a source for antibiotic-free, humanely raised chickens, so I'll be adding chicken back to our meal offerings, while keeping to my plan of preparing more minimal meat meals (saves money and also lightens our carbon footprint). Cooking more and more vegetarian meals, but as I'm not only cooking to my tastes here, minimal meat seems a good compromise.
   I didn't really follow any recipe for my lentil chicken mish-mash, but used the seasonings for étouffée found in Chef Paul Prudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen as my jumping off point. After I took the above picture, I ended up adding a bit of leftover lentil soup (cooked out the liquids), along with some prepared mustard and a bit of Sweet Thai Chili Sauce too. And stole the onions out of a leftover cucumber and onion salad, so they tasted vinegary going in. Couldn't really taste any vinegar once the onions were cooked!

The seasonings used, as in Chef Paul Prudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen.

   Posting this is my way of showing what goes on around here most days: repurposing leftovers and using less animal protein. Any leftovers making their way to your table today? 

Eating more "slow carbs" like lentils, as suggested by The 4-Hour Body book.

Leftover Roasted Chicken, with garlic and potatoes. (Aren't chickens gross when cold?)

Only added one chicken thigh but end result enough to feed two.

Quiches are great for using up leftover stuff

Smoked Salmon Asiago Quiche

We've been eating quiches around here ever since I discovered the recipe in my 1976 copy of Laurel's Kitchen. It contained a quiche recipe that is soo easy to adapt to whatever ingredients are on hand. And quiche works beautifully for a minimal meat meal (2 to 3 oz. smoked salmon in this quiche) or with leftover veggies as a vegetarian meal.
   Storming here in Kentucky and looks like we're in for another week of rain/storms to come.
   I'll share my favorite zucchini quiche recipe another time. Care to share your favorite quiche combination?  
   What's cooking over at your place? As always, feel free to leave a link to a post you'd like to share. I'm always looking for new ideas for ways to use leftovers.
   Hope you're having a fantabulous weekend!!

Here is the Laurel's Kitchen recipe slightly adapted:
Basic Quiche Recipe
3 eggs
1 3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup grated cheese
1/4 to 1/2 to 1 cup leftover proteins or veggies
1/2 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
pinch freshly ground pepper (or to taste)
sprinkling of ground nutmeg
butter
9" or 10" unbaked pie crust
Sprinkle cheese over bottom of pie shell; then sprinkle with the cooked leftover of your choice. Whisk together eggs, milk, salt and pepper. Pour over the cheese and leftovers into the pie crust. Sprinkle with ground nutmeg then dot with butter. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 30-45 minutes or until set. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

1/3 c. liquid (half water/ half vodka) makes 2 crusts easier to handle but still flaky.

I always try to make two pie crusts, 2nd to freeze for later.

Uncooked quiche with dots of butter floating on top.