QFC Grocery Basket 11/12

Was it cold at your house this morning??  When I got up at 7:00 this morning it was 19 degrees!!  Now that is getting down there, don't ya think??  The first thing that came to mind was that I hadn't unhooked the outside hoses yet.  Actually, I've never done that but last year it caught up to me with a geyser the first time I turned on the hose last spring.  How embarrassing to have to listen to my son, the plumber, lecture me about good home ownership while he was fixing it.  This from a kid who you could smell his bedroom from the front door when he was a teenager.  Sheesh!!

So, with that in mind, I bundled up and headed out with pliers in hand only to be turned back.  I couldn't get the darned things to budge so to cover my back I sent a text to my son asking him to do it for me when he comes up next time.  That way, if it happens again I'll be covered because he didn't get up here to take care of it, so it would be is fault.  Smart, huh??

When I was out the other day hacking, I mean pruning my forsythia because it was laying all over the yard after the wind storm, I noticed how beautiful the hydrangea was.  I meant to take a picture but forgot.  When I went out this morning the above picture is what I saw.  You snooze, you lose.  I was also going to take a shot of my ex beautiful begonia girl but couldn't bare it.  It is shocking what a hard freeze will do to your garden and pots.

This is Izzy.  She has been at the shelter for months and nobody would take her home because she had been a feral cat and did not want anyone to hold her.  Of course, my sister the big softie, decided that she would be very happy at her office building, so she adopted her.  Izzy loves her new digs and while she doesn't want you to hold her is happy to have lots of petting and lovin'.

Okay - let's look at the ad for this week which is a carryover from last week.  What I'm gonna do this week is take advantage of the Buy 10/Save $5 promo.  When I was there last week I was surprised to see the vast amount of items with this tag.  I am particularly interested in the canned tomatoes that come out to 49 cents a can, as well as canned beef broth.  I make lots of chicken broth but never any beef.  I tried it once but it turned out kind of gray looking and gross.

I've been making soup lately and I've decided on Rachael Ray's Lentil and Sausage Soup for my next adventure.  I have lentils left over from our Indian dinner so I can use them up.  I've been filling my freezer with soups, stew, and even a couple stuffed pepper meals.  It is so handy to have real food available when there hasn't been any cooking done for the day.  I just dump a frozen lump of stew into a heavy bottomed pan and let it simmer on very low for a couple hours.  Yummy!!

Another cat picture.  I'm really not a cat lady.  This morning I opened the front door for DC.  She insists on going out every morning before retiring to her chair.  This morning she headed out and then came to a screaming stop.  She then turned around and was just a blur as she headed for her chair.  Too cold for the kitty.

QFC Grocery Basket 11/5

I love barberries.  They come in so many different colors and are pretty maintenance free.  This one is a lime green in the summer and changes to this gorgeous mix of fall colors.  Notice the red berries.  The birds certainly enjoy them.  Notice also all the fir needles in my beds.  They are everywhere and not just in the flower beds but in my house, too.  Every wind storm brings more of them.  I wonder what my gutters look like...hmm.

Anybody who knows Miss MoneyPenny knows that she is addicted to cooking shows.  I mean where real people cook real food, not those competitions where everyone is rushing around madly and sweating like crazy into the food.  I mean cooks like Rachael Ray, Ina Garten, and Melissa d'Arabian who cook real food that is fresh and healthy, that anybody could make at home and not break the bank.

Melissa d'Arabian has a show called Ten Dollar Dinners where she makes a meal, usually complete with desert, that you could even serve to company - all for $10.  Recently she made a broccoli and cauliflower salad that looked pretty tasty so I tried it.

Since my garden is no longer producing I actually have to go out and buy my veggies and am shocked at the price.  I've noticed that broccoli and cauliflower go on sale a lot and are usually paired together (not this week, though).  When I saw this recipe I thought this is something that I could keep in the fridge for a few days and eat off of it - only adding the crisp bacon when I dish it up.  I'm here to tell you that this is good stuff!!  This is her recipe:

• 

Broccoli and Cauliflower Salad

 Ingredients

• 1/4 red onion, thinly sliced
• 2 slices bacon, cut in small pieces, cooked to crisp
• 1/2 bunch broccoli, cut into small florets (about 1 1/2 cups)
• 1/2 small head cauliflower, cut into small florets (about 1 1/2 cups)
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1/2 teaspoon seafood seasoning, such as Old Bay
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Shock the onions in an ice water bath for 10 minutes to temper the sharp flavor, and pat dry.
Place the bacon, broccoli, cauliflower and onions in a large salad bowl. In a small bowl, whisk the sugar, vinegar and Dijon mustard. Slowly drizzle in the oil, whisking to make an emulsion. Mix in the mayonnaise and seafood seasoning. Season with salt and pepper. Pour the dressing over the vegetables and toss.

Recipe courtesy Melissa d'Arabian

This is what mine looked like before I mixed it up:

The finished product:

If you make this be sure and use the Old Bay because it really added that somethin' somethin' to the salad.

Okay - let's look at the ad.  Sorry to tell you but this is a two-weeker again.  I wish that they would quit doing that!!  Anyway, there are a couple things I want to talk about.  One is that they are running their Buy 10/Save $5 promo again.  Now is a good time to get out your coupons or download them for your favorite canned, frozen, and packaged products.  Think ahead about what you will need for holiday meals like canned broth, cranberry sauce, cream of mushroom, etc.

The other thing is that I didn't put roast beef on the list because it is on sale for $3.99 and $4.99 a pound which means that you could easily be paying $12 to $20 for the thing depending on the size of your family.  Maybe for some of us the days when you have a big hunk of meat for dinner are going to be few and far between.

Ground beef and turkey are on sale again this week.  I made some seriously good stuffed peppers out of the ground turkey that I bought last week.  I was going to use the colored peppers that were on sale for 2 for $3 but when I got to the store I chose the green because they were 50 cents a pepper cheaper.

Here is the list for this week:

Spice Island Spices - 50% off

Fage Greek Yogurt - $1/7oz

Kroger Cottage Cheese - $2.50/24oz

Simple Truth Cage Free Eggs - $2.50/doz

Kroger Frozen Vegetables - $1/10oz

Jennie-O Ground Turkey - $4.99/20oz

Lean Ground Beef - $5.99/lb

Broccoli Crowns - $1.29/lb

Honeycrisp Apples - $1.88/lb

Large California Navel Oranges - $ .99/lb

Tomatoes on the Vine - $1.99/lb

I don't know what is so special about this pink cat bed but they all love it.  Poppy, the Boston Terror, grabs it from under the cat and hauls it all over the house and I've seen all of my critters in it at one time or another.  I wondered why Suzy hadn't come to bed.  When I went out to find her she was looking pretty guilty like I had caught her at something.

QFC Grocery Basket 10/29

Check out my new enameled cast iron pot!!  I mentioned in an earlier post that my old one from the 80s was not big enough so I jumped on the sale at Macy's.  Who knew that these things sold for $149.99??  Anyway with the sale and my $20 off coupon I ended up paying $54.99 which is a savings of $95.  I also ended up with a new fleece jacket and five Bali brassieres for $100 so I had a good day at Macy's.  If you are patient, keep track of your Macy's coupons, and watch the sales you can save a lot over retail.

Are you ready for Halloween??  I'm not a big fan of this holiday but I still bought a giant Costco sized bag of treats yesterday for $15 rather than spend a small fortune at QFC.  On our way home we got caught on the bridge.  We decided to try out the candy while we were waiting.  Good thing we were only stuck for about 10 minutes.  After that I decided that the best place to store the candy was the car.  No need to even bring it in until the goblins get here.

Okay - let's look at the ad for this week.  To be honest it is not very exciting but there are a couple things to mention.  Ground turkey is on for $3.99 a pound which would make a yummy pot of turkey chili if you are having people over for Halloween.  If it is just you and your sweetie you could make an elegant meal with a couple of Cornish game hens at $3 a piece.  My sister makes this killer dish with game hens.  Maybe she will share the recipe.

Here are my suggestions for this week:

Spice Islands Spices - 50% off
Peet's Coffee - $6.99/12oz or 10ct K-Cups
Kroger Cottage Cheese - $1.50/16oz
QFC Large Eggs - $2.50/18ct
Tyson Cornish Game Hens - $3/ea
Kroger Frozen Vegetables - $1/10-12oz bag
Farmland Pork Rib or Loin Chops - BOGO
Foster Farms Ground Turkey - $3.99/lb
Pears - $ .99/lb
Fuji or Braeburn Apples - $ .99/lb
Colored Bell Peppers - $1.50/ea
Organic Grape Tomatoes - $2.99/10oz

I also want to mention that if you have been watching the sales and managing your pantry you would have all of the ingredients for chili on hand.  All you have to buy is the ground turkey, and frankly, nobody would know that it is not ground beef by the time you get done adding beans, tomatoes, peppers, and lots of spices.

Last summer I bought this very soft king sized blanket at Costco.  I thought that it would look nice folded up on the end of my bed.  As you can see and I don't know how she does it but somehow Poppy flips that thing around and around and drags it up to the eyelet pillows.  Then she makes a cocoon and there she stays - all nice and warm.

Cooking Rachael's Mulligatawny Soup and Green Raita

This is the last of anything to eat from my garden, except for the chard.  I needed onions for my soup but decided that once I got out to the garden I might as well harvest the whole shooting match.  As you can see there are peppers, Walla Wallas, shallots, spuds and carrots in the pile.  I will really miss going out to the garden and deciding what's for dinner but it will all happen again next spring.

Okay - I made the Mulligatawny Soup and the Green Raita.  I wasn't that impressed.  Maybe it was
because I had Miss Jenny's very excellent chicken curry recently and this soup is basically a chicken curry soup served with a spoon of rice and raita to garnish.  Don't get me wrong here.  It was good but needed much more in the way of spices.  If I were making it again I would add a couple tablespoons of curry powder and maybe more ginger than she called for.

The good thing that came out of this exercise is that I actually for the first time in my life cooked good rice.  Normally I just boil rice like pasta, then drain it and I'm good to go.  I decided to try the directions on the package using a heavy small dutch oven and it turned out perfect.  I think that the heavy bottom of the pot is the secret because I've always burned the rice.

Even though I was disappointed in the Mulligatawny Soup I will be trying more of Rachael Ray's soup recipes because that Butternut Sausage soup was way over the top delicious...maybe something that the Soup Nazi might make.  I had to find this clip from Seinfeld where Elaine had so much trouble getting a bowl of soup from him and you can watch it here.

There are few sounds as sickening as your glass coffee pot hitting the sink just right during morning dishes.  Not only are you not gonna have coffee tomorrow morning but you gotta dig the glass pieces out of the soap suds.

I have been using one of those free Gevalia coffee makers that I got about ten years ago after agreeing to buy their coffee for about six months.  It has been a wonderful coffee maker.  I decided to go on EBay and see if I could get a replacement.  Man are they expensive.  You could get a whole new setup from Ebay cheaper that the replacement.  I went to Gevalia but they want $16.99 plus $7.00 shipping.

So I dug around in my cupboards looking for one of those cone things that you put on your coffee cup and then pour water over the grounds.  The picture below is what I found:

I do not recognize this coffee maker.  There are no bells and whistles and, of all things, it is white!!  I would never buy white because it shows every little coffee drip.  The only thing that I can think of is that one of the assortment of men who have tried and failed to live with me left it here.  It works great so I'm gonna continue keeping it until somebody asks for it back.

QFC Grocery Basket 10/22

Check out this unreal picture that my sister took while she was hiking the Grand Canyon a couple of weeks ago.  Doesn't it look like it should go on an expensive calender??  Even though this place is gorgeous you couldn't pay me to hike there.  What about snakes!!??

My whole life I've had an over the top fear of snakes and spend a lot of time watching for them when I'm out in the great outdoors.  I was even looking for them when the Bradster and I were up at Sol Duc last month.  My favorite ex-husband used to assure me that there were no poisonous snakes on the Olympic Peninsula when we were out for a hike but...he used to assure me of lots of things and we know how that went.

I've been working on getting the MoneyPenny household ready for winter and I'm almost there.  My car has been serviced, my heat pump also, I've gotten my flu shot, the gutters have been cleaned out, my deck furniture cleaned and stored, and I've got flannel sheets on my bed.  I'm in the process of putting my gardens to bed and getting the leaves raked for compost.

I do all these things to avoid spending my money on expensive repairs and replacements and getting sick.  That would not be stretching a buck.  Miss MoneyPenny's motto is "Maintenance not repair".

As far as the garden is concerned I've learned that if I spread mulch and steer manure and then cover the raised beds with cardboard or my assortment of old rugs they are ready to go in the spring.  The best part is there are hardly any weeds to pull and what there are (all yellow looking and sickly) come up easily.  When it is time to plant I just remove the rug from the section I want to work on and leave the rest until I'm ready for them.  Genius!!

Okay - let's look at the ad and see if we can find some real food for a decent price.  I was at QFC last week picking up some bulk sausage and ground beef for meatloaf.  I was shocked at the price!!  I asked my cute friendly butcher what was going on.  He told me that the prices on meat are skyrocketing and even they can't believe it.  At that point my sister-in-law, Miss Denise, who also works in the meat department told me that the lamb that they just got in was $3 a pound more than last week.  I guess that means we'd better be very careful how we buy our meat.

Here are my suggestions for this week:

Napolean Olive Oil - $4.99/16.9oz
Seattle's Best Coffee - $4.99/12oz
Del Monte Vegetables - $1/can
Bush's Beans - $1/can
Hunt's Tomatoes - $1/can
Ocean Spray Craisins - $1/5oz (for those of us who hate raisins)
Starkist Chunk Light Tuna - $1/can
Fage Greek Yogurt - $1/7oz
Kroger Cottage Cheese - $1.50/16oz
Kroger Sour Cream - $1.50/16oz (note the higher sale price)
Chuck Roast - $3.99/lb
Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast -BOGO
Fresh Dover Sole Fillets - $6.99/lb
Pork Shoulder Roast - $2.49/lb (remember when we could get it for $ .99/lb??)
Asparagus - $2.49/lb
Colored Bell Peppers - $1.50/ea (used to be $1/ea)
Red, Green or Black Seedless Grapes - $1.68/lb
Ghiradelli Baking Chips - $2.69/12oz

Since it looks like we are finally leaving our summery fall days behind us I've been on a soup kick.  I've been looking for hardy soups that don't break the bank but are still delicious.  Last week I made Rachael Ray's Butternut Squash and Italian Sausage soup and it was crazy good and made lots.  I'm thinking that my next soup will be her Mulligatawny Soup which uses chicken and lots of Indian type spices.  If I find that it is wonderful I will share.

Cooking Rachael's Soup

Hands down, in my opinion, Rachael Ray makes the best soups and stews, or stoups, as she calls them.  They always look so good when she makes them so I thought that I would give it a shot.

I've been looking for a recipe that uses that cut up butternut squash that Costco sells.  Now you know that there is no way Miss MoneyPenny is gonna cut up a hard squash because that would most likely be a quick trip to the emergency room.  The best I can do is those tasty Delicatas because they are small and sometimes that can get dicey.

 I came upon Rach's (we are bffs) recipe called Sausage, Butternut Squash, and Alborio Rice Soup and that one sounded really good.  Of course, I did change it up a bit by using orzo pasta instead of the rice because I didn't have it.  As you can see from the above photo it turned out crazy good.

The first thing I did was brown a pound of bulk Italian sweet sausage in a large Dutch oven.  Mine was barely big enough so that gives me the excuse I've been needing to buy a new one.  Then add a chopped onion and three cloves of chopped garlic (all from my garden).

After they have sweated out for about five minutes add a bay leaf, two pounds of cut up squash, and season with salt, pepper, and a pinch of nutmeg.  Stir in the six cups of chicken stock and two cups of half & half and bring to a boil.

Reduce the heat and add a bunch of cut up Tuscan kale.  Simmer until until done.

When the soup had cooked down some, I took my masher to the squash making it thick and yummy, leaving some chunks for texture.  I cooked 3/4 cup of orzo separately and added it to the soup.

At serving, Rach suggested a drizzle of olive oil and sprinkle of Parmesan.  I didn't do the olive oil but the Parmesan really took the soup to perfection.

Here are the ingredients:

2 T olive oil
1 pound bulk Italian Sweet sausage with fennel (couldn't find it so I went with just sweet)
3-4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 large bay leaf
2 pounds butternut or pumpkin squash, cut up into 3/4 inch dice
Salt, pepper, nutmeg
6 cups chicken stock
2 cups half & half
1 small bunch Tuscan kale (any kale will work or maybe even chard)
3/4 Arborio rice or orzo pasta
Parmesan for topping

FYI:

Several years ago, Miss Know-It-All told me that WD-40 should be in every woman's tool kit, so I bought some and it has languished up in the cupboard.  Until Saturday morning.  I got up and turned on the coffee, let the dogs and cat out, and let them all back in again.  I fed, watered and medicated everybody, grabbed my cup of coffee and sat in my chair to watch the news.

Now my LazyBoy came about in the early 90s when my favorite ex husband was racing stock cars.  He usually kept his winnings to put back into the car or buy beer for his pit crew but one night he gave it to me and I bought the recliner.  And it is the most comfortable chair in the world and holds myself and all my critters at one time but that morning the footrest got stuck at half mast and wouldn't budge.

People that know Miss MoneyPenny know that she did not get the fixit gene...just like my dad,  I immediately break out into sweat and start cussing when something needs me to fix it.

I decided that maybe something had come loose underneath, so to the chorus of all three dogs barking at me, I turned the chair over and looked.  All I could see were bells and whistles and springs that meant nothing to me but everything seemed to be intact.  Then I was hit with a stroke of genius.  I grabbed my can of WD-40, hoping that it would still spray, and gave everything that even looked like it could move a good squirt.  The whole house smelled like WD-40 but I sat on the couch and had my coffee.

After my coffee I felt almost human and brave enough to turn the chair upright.  Guess what??  It worked like a charm.  After years of fighting that stiff handle on my chair I can now raise the footrest up or let it down with one finger.  Who knew!!

Miss Know-It-All always know best.

QFC Grocery Basket 10/15

I grabbed my camera yesterday afternoon when the sun peaked out and got this picture of my red maple all ablaze and looking gorgeous.  My son, the plumber, gave this to me for my birthday the first year I lived here.  At that time it was a twig in a five gallon bucket and I worried that it wouldn't make it because the ground was so hard and cold when we planted it at the end of the year.  But 19 years later you can see that it did just fine.  My fence is six feet so you can see how big it got.

It is hard to see but there is a rake in front of the tree.  I go out every day and rake leaves until there are no more.  Leaves are like gold to me because they are the "brown" in your compost.  I just throw them in all three of my composters and they break down fine because the leaves are fairly small but if you have larger ones you can run them over with your lawnmower.  I also mulch with them and get great results.

I mentioned earlier that my besties and me were putting together an Indian meal.  This is a great way to try out new foods and recipes that you might not be familiar with.  Miss Jenny made a true chicken curry with all the wonderful spices and there wasn't a drop left.  Miss Know-It-All took care of the rice and made the above desert.  Now - I want you to know that she knows her deserts but this one definitely needs more work.

Miss CutiePie provided the big kitchen, the naan bread, and the cute baby.  I brought the cucumber raita (sp?), dal, and my peach chutney.  The cucumber dish and dal were pretty good but I'm glad I brought along some storebought chutney.  I thought that the chutney was expensive to make and not near as good as storebought but most of it got eaten.  Good friends are wonderful aren't they??

I didn't get a QFC ad this week (probably because of the holiday) so I got this list off the website.  I hope it is accurate.  If you are gearing up for holiday baking check out the ad because there are lots of deals on ingredients.  Kroger spices are 50% off  and canned pumpkin is $1 a can.  A 4 pound bag of sugar is $2.99 and I will buy some for my hummers.  You do know that this area has hummingbirds all year long??  I found out a couple of years ago when I saw them hovering around the seed feeders.

Here are my suggestions for this week:

Gold Medal Flour - $2.79/5lb
Kroger Sugar - $2.99/4lb
Kroger Spices - 50% off
Starbucks Coffee - $6.99/12oz bag or 10/ct
Kroger Pumpkin - $1/15oz can
Chobani Greek Yogurt - $1/5.3oz
Fage Greek Yogurt - $1/7oz
Kroger Sour Cream - $1.50/16oz
Kroger Cottage Cheese - $1.50/16oz
QFC Large Eggs - $1.99/doz
Boneless Pork Tenderloin - $2.99/lb
Fresh Wild-Caught Cooked Dungeness Crab - $6.99/lb
Pears - $ .99/lb
Greens - $1.50/bunch
Simple Truth Organic Grape Tomatoes - $2.99/10oz

This handsome little guy is Cooper Lee.  It seems like we waited a long time for him to get here.  Mr. BlueEyes sat at the table and interacted with us.  He would smile and look us in the eye and listen to everything that was being said.  He is a very calm and relaxed happy baby.  His mommy and daddy are doing good work here.