Banana Whackers

It's Summer!  And, finally, it's so hot that I'm asking The Husband every day if we can go to get some ice cream after wherever we happen to be going.  Hmmm, ice cream.  It is also the official season of fruity alcoholic beverages made in a blender.  And this is my favorite ever.

Banana Whackers
Nouns:
1 Banana
6 ice cubes
4-6 ounces Cream of Coconut (NOT coconut milk!)
2 shots vodka
1 shot coffee liquor
1 shot irish cream
1 dash nutmeg (don't skip the nutmeg!

Verbs:
Put all the ingredients except nutmeg in the blender and blend 1-2 minutes or until ice is completely crushed.  Pour in to two glasses and top with nutmeg.  Drink.

***warning*** after drinking a banana whacker, you will be whacked.

Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

I did these in the crockpot, but you could certainly bake them in the oven instead.

Stuffed Peppers

Nouns:

4-6 bell peppers

1 cup cooked quinoa

1 half zucchini, chopped

1 half yellow onion, chopped

1 can diced tomatoes, drained

1 tsp basil

1 tsp oregano

rosemary, thyme and marjoram, to taste

4 slices cheese (I used cheddar)

Verbs:

Cut the tops off the peppers and remove the core and seeds.  In a bowl, mix the quinoa, tomatoes, spices, onions, and zucchini.  Spoon that mixture into the peppers, and level off the top with the back of your spoon.  Arrange the stuffed peppers in the crockpot so that they all stand up.  Cook on high for 4-6 hours, adding a slice of cheese over the top of each pepper in the last hour of cooking.  

Homemade Air Conditioner

Today, the Husband and I built a homemade air conditioner.  It is kind of awesome.

Here's what we used:

1 Pond pump
1 coil of plastic tubing
1 coil of copper tubing
1 package of zip ties
2 ring clamps
1 box fan
1 styrofoam cooler

(we ended up not needing the tube cutter, so we returned it.)

We connected the pond pump to the plastic tubing with the included connector.  Easy!

Then, we secured the copper tubing to the front of the box fan with zip ties.

Once we had used up the whole coil, we trimmed the zip ties so they wouldn't stick out, like they are in this picture.  This step isn't strictly necessary, but Moby kept chewing on them.

Then, we cut the plastic tubing in two pieces, one connected to the pump and one not connected to anything.  We used a ring clamp to connect the top end of the copper tubing on the box fan to the plastic tube that was connected to the pond pump.  Then, we connected the other piece of plastic tubing to the bottom end of the copper tubing.

Finally, we put the pond pump and the free end of the plastic tubing in the cooler, filled the cooler with water and ice, and turned on the pump.  The pump pumped cold water through the tubing on the front of the fan and back into the cooler, creating a circuit.  Then, we turned on the fan.  Voila!  DIY air conditioner.

This week's Meal Plan

Since I made a bunch of tasty yogurt last week, I am going to incorporate some of  it into our meal plan.  Also, as usual, I'll be trying to use lots of things that we already have on hand.  We have rice, black beans, chicken thighs, chicken breasts, onions and a few other odds and ends.

Salmon Cakes with Lemon Yogurt Sauce, cucumber salad on the side
Black Beans and Green Rice
Honey Lemon Roasted Chicken over herbed Quinoa, with yogurt citrus salad
Lentil Salad with peppers and feta
"Mexican" Casserole (The Husband specially requested this)

Yummm.

Yogurt making!

Last week, I made yogurt.

It was pretty awesome, and now I'm totally hooked.

The Husband and I have been trying to buy organic dairy products, and while we've completely made the switch with milk, we are often frustrated by the cost of organic yogurt and cheese.  But, I made a quart of organic yogurt for about a $1.50 worth of organic milk, so that was very cool.

For the project, I borrowed a Donvier Yogurt maker from some friends, but the yogurt maker is really just for the incubation part... it is  machine with individual yogurt cups that keeps the cups at a constant temperature for 10-14 hours so the cultures can do their thing.  The interwebs are all full of DIY yogurt incubator ideas, so if you don't have access to a yogurt maker machine, don't sweat it.

Here's what I did:
I gently heated a quart of milk over medium heat on the stovetop, checking with a candy thermometer to be sure the milk didn't get over 185 degrees (F).  Once it reached that hot, I turned the burner off and monitored the milk until it got back to about 115 degrees.  Then, I added a few tablespoons of store bought plain yogurt with live active cultures to a bowl, and poured over it a ladle full of the hot milk.  Once the milk and yogurt were stirred together, I added that mixture back to the full pot of 115 degree milk on the stove top and stirred thoroughly.

Then, I poured all the milk into the yogurt cups that came with the machine and kept them warm for 12 hours overnight.  In the morning, I had yogurt, which I popped in the fridge.  This yogurt is delicious with a drizzle of honey, a dollop of sugar-free strawberry preserves, or in smoothies.  I am making a couple recipes this week that will feature the yogurt as well.  Yummm!

Review of last week's recipes/ baking day

Well, last week went well!  The Thai fried rice turned out very well, and the quinoa was scrumptious.  I had to fuss with the veggie burgers a bit to get them right, but they turned out quite good in the end.

I learned that the veggie burgers need less time in the food processor, but more egg and bread crumb binder, than I originally thought.  So, the best ones were a mix of a cup or two of mushed black beans, a half block of frozen, pressed and crumbled tofu, 2 eggs, 1/2 cup of bread crumbs, a dash or two of worchestershire sauce, minced onions and spices.  I fried them on a griddle, because I was afraid they'd fall apart on a grill pan, and they were very tasty with cheese and ketchup on homemade honeywheat bread for buns.

Today is also baking day, but I didn't feel like going to the store for more yeast and flour, so I am trying a new, single loaf sandwich bread recipe, modified from this one: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/classic-sandwich-bread-recipe.  The only change I made was to use half honey and half sugar for the sweet, and we'll see if that works!  It's still rising.  I also decided to mix and knead the dough entirely in my mixer instead of by hand... we'll see how that worked.  It was so much easier, but also less tactile and fun.

I will post this week's meal plan in bit here.

Triumph!

Here is an important life tip:

If you are still in the population of people who pay for cable TV, and I know that many more people are considering switching to gettign content from the internet, netflix or other non-cable sources, then you need to call your cable company and ask for a lower rate.  I did, today, and got one.  Step 1- call your provider.  Step 2- select the options in the seemingly endless robot customer service system for "cancel or reduce service" Step 3- when the real live perosn you eventually talk to asks if there's anything they can do to keep you as a customer, explain that you just can't afford to keep it anymore, and wait for them to make you an offer.  If they do... you're in business!  Bargain them down to whatever rate new customers are getting theses days, which you can find on their website.  If they don't make you an offer off the bat, ask them if there's any way to get a lower rate, by cancelling some channels, getting a "bundle" or something, then mention the competitive rates of your local satelite or alternative company or the rates being gotten by your company's new customers. 

I have used this method each of the three or four times our "introductory" discounted rate expired with Comcast and have gotten reinstatement of the "discount" or an even lower rate each time.

Good Luck!

This week's recipes

This week, one of the meals on the plan is quinoa risotto, though I think now it will actually be a variation on this recipe: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/359410 with quinoa instead of the israeli couscous.  I got some wonderful asparagus and sugar snap peas at the farmer's market this week, and so it should be delicious.

Also, I plan to make veggie burgers, something I've never done before, from my own kind of recipe.  We have home-cooked black beans and a half block of firm tofu that I have frozen so I can defrost and crunble it.  I plan to mash up the cooked beans and crumbled tofu with breadcrumbs, eggs, worchestershire sauce and finely minced onions.  Then, I'll cook them on the grillpan and serve them with cheese, butter lettuce, and either ketchup or chutney on whole wheat buns.  I will post about how it turns out!

Ooops, I did it again...

I have a problem.  

I have written about it before, but to reiterate: I read too much.  And I read in a devouring, time-sucking, kind of crazy way that the Husband finds both amusing and disturbing.  There are certain books I should know to stay away from unless I have them all at my disposal and lots of free time.  Like Harry Potter, for example, which I can't read without immediately reading all 7 to the exclusion of everything else in the world.  Yes, even though I have read them before.  

One series that I have this problem with is the Vorkosigan Saga by Lois MacMaster Bujold.  I just shouldn't read these books, because every time I do, I have to read all of them, and there are a lot.   A LOT.

Anyways, I stupidly picked up one of them that I happen to own while I was waiting for the next trio of Robin Hobb books I requested from the library to arrive, and now I'm in a position I have been in before and seem powerless to prevent: the Robin Hobbs have now arrived, but alas, I do not want to read them, I want to read the Bujolds, which are, of course, not at my library, on my shelf, or otherwise within my grasp.  Drat.  And, if I were a normal person, it would end there.  "Drat," I'd say, and then pick up the Robin Hobbs and read those and be happy.  Instead, I am rereading the ONE Bujold book that I have, and waiting for all the rest of them to come in to the library on special order.  

I'm a crazy person.

Also, these books are awesome.

Meal Plan

We will have a houseguest for part of this week, but we also went a little overboard on groceries spending last week, so I am trying to balance the desire to buy very little against wanting to make tasty (local organic) and welcoming things for our guest.  So, here's the plan:

Ham and Noodles (with ham and homemade noodles from the freezer and parmesan we already have, so all we'll have to buy is peas and cream)
Thai Fried Rice (with shrimp from the freezer and rice from the pantry, so we'll be buying chilis, pineapple and soy sauce)
Veggie burgers (with tofu from the freezer, beans from the pantry and buns from the fridge, we'll be buying only lettuce and tomato)
Quinoa Rissotto- buying quinoa with whatever veggies look fresh and delicious at the farmers market
Stir Fry- With chicken from the freezer and whatever veggies look good at the farmers market, probably carrots, baby bok choi and a few other things.

Hopefully, we'll be buying only about $20 worth of stuff for the week, and still having some tasty meals!

Also, from last week, the burritos were delicious!  I cooked the beans in the slow cooker with chili powder and bay leaves, and I cooked the barley on the stove top with a bullion cube and five spice powder, and we ate them all week.  Yummm!

Thank you!

I am so grateful to all the people who have sponsored me for the charity run I am doing this month!  It's early yet, but I am one of the top 30 or so pledge-raisers!  Yay!  Thanks for your support, everyone!

Meal Plan for the Week of June 7

After being away a lot in May, I am going to work hard to actually post my meal plans and recipes this month!  We still have homemade pasta and bread on hand from the last baking day, and we have a few other things on hand that will enable us to do this plan on budget (I hope), most especially the cheese, nuts and tortillas.  The Husband had a few requests; predictably, he asked for chicken salad and husband soup.  But, it's finally acting like summer, so aside from those, I am trying to make summery things and we are going to cook outside!  Yay!

Tonight's Barbecue Party:
Shrimp Kabobs with pineapple
Crusty baguette
Grilled Balsamic Chicken over Summer Salad

This week's Dinners:
Curried Chicken Salad Sammiches
Coconut Curry Soup
Mac and Cheese with Broccoli
Arugula Salad with berries, feta and toasted pine nuts
Veggie Burritos- spiced barley, black beans, curried sweet potatoes, onions, peppers, goat cheese and peach salsa