How Do You Save $ on your Grocery Bill?

So in lieu of making a great big list of New Year's Resolutions that will only bite the dust in February, I'm considering making 2010 the Year of Challenges. Every month, I pick one thing to try, consistently, for a month to see if I can incorporate some changes. If it doesn't happen, OK, but I will at least commit to one solid month of trying hard.

I'm thinking next month will be Frugal February. I am still looking for another job (applied for a secretarial position at DMU -- please keep that in your prayers for the next week or so!), and while we are OK financially, this seems like a good time to exercise my creativity where our grocery bill is concerned. I am still learning how to be a good helpmeet in this area -- I'm used to buying and cooking for a hungry farm family of 10 - 12, so it's an adjustment to plan for just two!

I have already made a few changes. Specifically, I have agreed with myself that I will buy ONE 12-pack of what I am learning to call "pop" a month, and ONLY one. As opposed to my usual 1 1/2 a week. The consumption of that much carbonation, artificial sweetener, and chemical dye can't have been good for my system, AND I'm saving about $5 a week that way. Although I do miss my fizz!


 DH and I spend quite a bit on good cheese, fresh fruit and vegetables, and dairy products -- we don't buy a lot of convenience items, but we do like good food. I am thinking that incorporating even more meals based on soup, lentils, beans, and beans + a little bit of meat may be a good idea. Actually, I am going to challenge myself and see if I can go all February without buying any meat except for sandwich meat for Dennis -- I bought 6 lb of pork roast on sale at Hy-Vee, have a whole chicken, a few chicken breasts, and a LOT of deer meat in the freezer (thanks to my brothers, the Mighty Hunters!) -- so we should be in good shape for that challenge.

This is where I would LOVE your input. How do you save on your grocery bill? I would love tips, links to websites, recipe suggestions ... anything and everything! And not just food -- by "grocery" I also mean things like toilet paper, aluminum foil, and cleaning supplies. I am not afraid to buy in bulk, cook new things, or try anything else you can throw at me, so fire away!

I Want Gourds and Palm Trees

Another snowstorm today -- outside my window the world is white, the dingy grime of old snowdrifts blanketed by the clean new fall. The sky is so opaque, so pale, that it nearly blends into the fallen snow. It's a beautiful landscape -- all clear lines, blank and pale and very clean looking. Beautiful and bleak.

Last night, DH and I reached I Kings 6 in our reading together. Compared to the blank white in my window, the description of Solomon's temple made a vivid impression on my summer-starved mind. The author spends the whole chapter describing Solomon's construction of the temple in exuberant detail -- the measurements, the materials, and the decorations. This is an astonishing house -- the place where God physically dwells among His people. And the details of that house almost explode with hugeness of the joy of God's presence. Imagine walking into Solomon's temple -- built of costly stone, cedar, and cypress. All over the interior of the house is carved with gorgeous gourds or pomegranates, palm trees, and open flowers. Everything is overlaid with a layer of gleaming gold, and the air is thick with incense.

If we walked into a church and saw what is described in I Kings, we would be shocked at how gaudy it was.  The note in my Bible suggests that the carvings in the temple evoke the Garden of Eden. I was reminded of the rich language of the Song of Songs, the garden images of blooming and ripeness and abundance. Maybe a temple like Solomon's is no longer necessary, or culturally appropriate, but the imagery of the temple still speaks to who He Is. God is with his people like a bridegroom with his bride. In His presence is fullness of joy, an overflowing delight that explodes outward as if in tendrils and green leaves and gorgeous flowers and ripe fruit, filling up the world around it, unfurling into every space.

Solomon's temple reminded me that Christianity is not about my sacrifice or my endurance, although it does include those things. Instead, it is about life and growth where everything was once dead and cold. At the heart of Christianity is an enormous, uncontainable rejoicing in my God and His love.

Trojan Holiday

No, my computer didn't get attacked over Christmas. Instead, we got to spend Christmas with our families after all!

Despite my aversion to new years' resolutions,  there are definitely some things I want to do differently in 2010. Specifically, more deliberately. But first, Dear Reader, a quick visit to December 2009.

Or maybe not so quick. Since concision is not my strong point, either!

As a few of you know, I quit my job at Monster Financial almost a week after my first Iowa blizzard hit. This is still a little painful for me to talk about. It's difficult for me to trust my husband that we will be OK financially until I find more work. Even more difficult is accepting my own inadequacy. Physically and mentally, I just could not handle the work any longer -- including getting-ready and commute time, I was spending from 6:00 am to around 5:30 pm on a job that was both extremely easy and emotionally draining. The prospect of getting up even earlier to handle the winter weather was the proverbial last straw.

So you can pray that God will help me to repent of feeling guilty for not being able to do more (because that is just PRIDE), and help me to humbly embrace the opportunity to do what I CAN ... whatever that is ... without worrying over what I should have been able to do, or what someone else might have been able to do. Right now I'm looking for work closer to home, maybe even something part-time. That, and sleeping A LOT!

After I quit, DH and I were super-excited to be free to visit our families for Christmas! We crammed gifts for our families into DH's tiny car along with the gifts they had already mailed us, and hit the road. During the 11 hours from Iowa to Tennessee we watched the fields outside the windows turn from white ... to dead brown ... to patchy green.

It was such a blessing to spend the holidays with our families. We spent five days at my parents' farm in Troy. Coming from a small family, I don't think DH appreciates how restful it was for me to be in the middle of ten or twelve people's constant noise and busy-ness! Christmas day we travelled to Dennis's parents home, and spent several days enjoying their company as well. I am so grateful that we were able to make the trip down to Tennessee.

Then we s l o w l y drove back from 20-degree weather to negative 20! Seriously -- negative 20 degrees Fahrenheit. I am still incredulous.

I loved our vacation, but it was wonderful to worship with our church again this week. And today was Dennis's first day back at school--yay!

That wraps up our holiday, and our news. Now it's back to the routine, or some semblance. Although I would like to say that we are having Gulasch for supper, using a recipe from an Italian cookbook Dennis's sister gave us. I substituted the deer meat my brother Nate sent back with us for beef, and threw it in the slow cooker. With all the lemon zest, spices, and cheapo Cabernet Sauvignon, it smells AMAZING.

February FAIL Syndrome

I don't trust New Year's resolutions.

Whenever January rolls around I remember the harsh smell of chlorine. I can almost hear the muddled roar of yells and splashes echoing over the indoor pool where, as a teenager, I used to practice with a small swim team. Most of us complained about the workouts, the battle to finish just one more grueling butterfly set, the bathwater temperature of the pool and (for the girls, anyway) the way it made our hair take on a greenish tinge. Solemnly, Coach B. would assure us his heart was bleeding in sympathy for our pain. Then he would tell us to swim another 200 fly.

Really, though, most of us loved practice. What we really hated was the annual invasion of Resolutioners who were sure that this year, this year, they were finally going to lose twenty pounds, get six-pack abs, run a five-minute mile. We Flying Fish met at the YMCA every Tuesday, Thursday, and often Saturday to swim for two hours. Many of us cross-trained with the treadmills and weight machines, too, pushing our bodies week after week. And now, in January, suddenly we had to crowd into two tiny lanes of the pool. Getting a decent workout in the weightroom was almost impossible.

Kicking one another, waiting ten minutes for a turn in the pool, was wretched. The only reason we didn't go crazy was that we knew February was only a few weeks away. And then we would have room to breathe again; by March, everything would be back to normal. We would have all the space we wanted, we could go back to complaining about pushups and sprint sets and the other teams.

We just had to wait until February.

I didn't post Friday because I was fixing this for dinner ...

This is one of the best things we've had for dinner lately. Oh man, this was good. And since I followed Ashley's technique and read a couple recipes, then basically did my own thing, I am TOTALLY taking all of the credit for it! Don't be intimidated by the loooong ingredient list -- this is one of those recipes that basically uses half the spice drawer. It's really easy to make. And of course, feel free to change ingredients or quantities to suit your taste!

CHICKPEA POTATO CURRY
Serves: 2 plus extra for seconds or leftovers (maybe 3 full servings)
Time to make: 15 minutes prep + 30 minutes simmer

2 teaspoons vegetable oil
Pinch mustard seeds
1/2 large onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 cloves of cloves (whole, not ground)
1/2 cinnamon stick
2 teaspoons fresh ginger, minced or grated
2 small jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon ground red (cayenne) pepper
About 1 cup diced tomatoes (I used canned)
1 can chickpeas, drained
1 1/2 cups broth (I used low sodium chicken bouillon)
1 large or 2 smallish potatoes (Yukon gold or red), largeish dice

Fresh cilantro, optional

Heat oil in a nonstick pan. Cook mustard seeds until they pop. Add onion and cook 5 minutes or so. Add jalapenos, garlic, ginger, and spices; cook and stir another couple of minutes. Add tomatoes and cook another minute or so. Add chickpeas, broth, and diced potatoes. Bring to a simmer and let simmer 25 minutes uncovered, or until most of the liquid is gone.
Serve with brown rice and/or naan; garnish with fresh chopped cilantro if desired.
I also served with a frozen vegetable mix -- microwaved it with a few tablespoons of the cooking liquid from the chickpeas.

IN OTHER NEWS my husband had his LAST FINAL on Friday and is now done with his first semester of podiatry school! I am so pround of him! And also addicted to exclamation points, apparently!!! We are both looking forward to visitng our families for Christmas next week. And I am gleefully gloating over my successful Christmas shopping.

I may not post at all next week, since my parents have a horrible Internet connection (although my Mom seems to manage beautifully). If not, I wish everyone a very happy Christmas.

The Bread Blog

Complete with pictures, mostly courtesy of my Dear Husband :)

Neither DH nor I are a big fan of what we call "gummi bread" (the cheap sandwich bread you buy at the store). However, we wince a little at the thought of paying $3 or more for a loaf of the good stuff. Ergo, I make bread most weeks. The process is a little involved, but after the first loaf or two it really isn't difficult. My usual recipe is a very simple bread -- using whole wheat and rye flour give it more nutritional value and flavour, and baking it at home gives it an amazing crust. You can whip it up in a heavy-duty stand mixer if you have one, but there is something deeply satisfying about thumping into a fragrant, elastic mass of dough.

Start the bread the day before you plan to bake it. Mix up the sponge (kind of a cheater's sourdough starter) and let it sit overnight. The next day, expect to spend about 4 to 5 hours shaping, rising, and baking the bread.

HEARTY COUNTRY BREAD

DAY ONE: SPONGE

This is the easy part!

1/2 teaspoon dry yeast

1 cup warm (not hot) water

1 cup bread flour

1 cup whole-wheat flour  

In a really big mixing bowl, stir yeast and water to dissolve. Stir in flour. Cover with plastic wrap or a lid and let sit at room temperature at least 5 hours—I find it is easiest to mix in the evening and let rise overnight.

In the morning, it will smell AMAZING and yeasty and look sort of bubbly like this:

DAY TWO: DOUGH

3 cups bread flour

½ cup rye flour

1 1/3 cups warm water

2 tablespoons honey or molasses

2 teaspoons salt

Dump all ingredients in on top of the sponge from last night. (NOTE: I usually dissolve the salt and honey or molasses IN the water, as shown above, so that it mixes more evenly. My bread flour canister contains bread flour, not poison. And there is no hot sauce in this recipe!)

Mix well -- it will be pretty stiff. I mix it in with my hands and then go straight to kneading the dough, right in the bowl, to make cleanup easier. Knead for 10 minutes or so till elastic—you may knead in ½ cup or more of additional bread flour.  The dough should hold its shape like this:

Let rise at least two hours, till tripled in size, like this:

When dough has risen, spray a baking sheet. Form the dough into a sort of oblong football shape: gently spread it out, bring the "sides" in to the middle and pinch, then turn over so the seam is on bottom (try not to deflate it too much—handle gently) on the sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise till almost doubled in size, 45 minutes to 1 ½ hour:

Meanwhile, move oven racks so that one rack is in the lower middle position and the other rack is below it. On the lowest rack, place an old baking dish or something (to hold water). Have some water heating on the stove or in the microwave. AND TURN THE OVEN ON TO 450deg F!

When bread is risen, slide the baking sheet with the bread onto the upper oven rack. QUICKLY and CAREFULLY pour about 2 cups hot water into the old tray underneath it and close the oven door. All that exciting steam helps the bread develop that fantastic crust.

Bake 35 to 40 minutes. Crust should be quite dark. Turn the oven off, open the door, and let sit for 10 minutes. Remove bread and let cool at room temperature before slicing (if you don’t wait at least an hour it will be gummy).

YUM.

A few more notes:

This recipe is from this amazing cookbook. You should buy it! You can play around with the proportions of wheat, white, and rye flours, as long as you keep the total amount of flour the same. If you aren't familiar with rye flour, it gives the bread a wonderful, deep sort of flavour, AND it is PURPLE! Well, okay, really more of a lavender-grey. But still. Try it if you can find it. DO use bread flour instead of all-purpose flour. It is not too hard to find and really improves the texture of the finished bread.

Just a Link Today

because I am tired.

"Ars Poetica (cocoons)," by Dana Levin.