Sunday, June 30, 2013

Beating the Heat and The Budget

It's been a while since I've had 8 or 9 people living in my house at once, in fact we are down to just 3 at this moment (it could change), but one thing has stayed constant; Summer is hot and the budget is tight.

I've managed to keep a good grip on the budget tiger by becoming a big fan of our market's Manager Specials. This also means that my freezer is kept full of items from the specials and my meals can be just a little more odd... no, make that more creative than your standard Betty Crocker family dinning fare.

Yesterday I visited the freezer to give my daughter the benefits of my latest Manager Special harvest, mozzarella and other various cheeses (I don't do the cow). While there I noticed my stock pile of Naan and brought some in.

Today's summer temperature just begged for a zero cooking tolerance. Alas, the family begged to be fed. Then it hit me..


Ladies and Gentleman, I present to you :: drumroll :: Hot Day Pizza!

In just minutes, I had sliced the last two Roma tomatoes in the fridge and lay them on the Jalapeno Goat Cheese topped Naan. The added bonus to this all was that "the Boys" were as impressed with the shared meal as I was with the ease.

Did you notice the mason jar glass of green goodness? More Manager Special ingredients; 1 marked down bag of salad greens, 2 red apples, 6 ice cubes in a blender. The slight splurge was also from a previous Manager's Special purchase. I added a splash of Zeta Olive Oil with Lemon.

All in all, a happy mom. One who has more time to jump on the bike, I might add ;)

Friday, June 28, 2013

Everything Old is New Again (at least to me).

I am so glad juicing has found it's way into America's kitchens.

Back in the day, I would come home from work and too tired to cook, or just not interested in cooking for one, I would throw any veggie within reach into the blender with ice (I have no idea why I used ice instead of water).

On a few occasions I might use fruit and yogurt. Those were the throw-caution-to-the-wind days since it took more effort to clean the blender afterwards. As a single woman living in San Francisco, it was more likely that you would find me leaning over the sink at midnight, rushing to finish the yogurt before it's expiration date.

After a while, I traded in my whole-food-wheat-grass-vegetarian life for one that was just a little more acceptable to my new life of being evolving wanna be gourmet chef as the perfect wife slash mommy. During my attempt to bring home the bacon, fry it up in a pan with all the ease of Martha Stewart, I hid my pregnancy cravings of large quantity of lettuce and dined on a steady supply of Burrito Supremes. While my then husband would make his pilgrimage to Taco Bell, I would greedily consume complete heads of lettuce in secret.

Confessing my shame to my OB/Gyn he pointed out that your body often craves what it needs. I needed more Chlorophyll which I was getting from my leafy greens and the beans assisted in my body's desire for protein. All good things that the baby would like too.

Fast forward to my recent years which include a new and improved husband,  I've returned to my old ways. The meatatarians in from life might ridicule me just a tad but over all they're jiggy with it, as long as I still throw some baby backed ribs their way every now and then.

Last week I was watching one of "those" documentaries Fat Sick & Nearly Dead and my husband pulled up a seat to watch. This was monumental. On most occasions, he'll stand in the doorway, heckle some or pause slightly as he walks through the room on his way to the kitchen - pausing only for that little wink at his wife.

As I said, he pulled up a seat. He sat forward and watched, really watched. He stayed. the. entire. time.

The next day, he watched Forks Over Knives with me and told over people about it!

Today, I didn't feel like getting up early and making our traditional family breakfast that could feed a few farm hands.  On his suggestion, I threw some vegetables into the blender for a long lost feeling of nostalgia. Why, oh why, did I ever give this up? I wondered out loud.

Then I heard it, those magic words, "You know honey, I bet you'd like a juicer". After that, he took me to the Farmer's Market where I bought goat cheese with glee (and not one snicker). I love this man.