Sunday, October 4, 2009

The highs and lows of all this extra cooking

Since I cut my food budget by 2/3 and the eating out budget pretty much shriveled up and died, I've been cooking an awful lot from scratch and using tons of food storage. I didn't realize how many meals we were purchasing (especially lunches at work) until I started cooking everything. Mostly we're still eating really yummy stuff, with a few failed recipes. I've been losing weight as a happy side effect!

The downside is that I wash a lot more dishes and I've burned myself a lot more. Usually because my brain gets a little fried after working all day and then trying to rush around in the kitchen. The other day, I grabbed a cookie sheet with my bare hand, that had just been removed from the oven. Mind you, I was reaching with my pot-holdered right hand and for some reason I first grabbed it with my bare left hand. Not one of my more intelligent moments. Another night, I got in a rush and stabbed a blender blade under my fingernail when washing the blender. That hurt.

Now here is the proof that we've been eating healthy and/or tasty food.

My first attempt at chocolate lava cake. This recipe only used cocoa so I wouldn't have to buy chocolate. It was good!



I've been making hot grain cereal for myself. Nathan won't eat it. It's super cheap, super healthy, and I don't need milk to eat it, which helps the frozen (on sale) milk last longer. This particular batch was wheat, rye, and flax seed. I added brown sugar and raw sunflower seeds after cooking it.


We were given yellow and zucchini squash. Here is stir fry with brown rice, a jar of home-canned chicken, the free squash, broccoli I froze months ago (on sale), dehydrated carrots, and onions (bought 25 lbs. on sale). For seasoning, I used garlic powder, ground ginger, and salt. Yummy!


I always thought I didn't like bread pudding but recently discovered I like it, and also learned the basic ratios so I can make it without a recipe. This batch used homemade bread (made from scratch last week, healthily made with freshly ground flour and molasses), apples (more of the free ones), and powdered milk plus various other things I always have on hand.


I attempted bagels for the first time. These are also healthy, with whole wheat flour and honey. They were actually really easy and very tasty. I'm now totally sold on homemade bagels. They turned out a little flat but I know exactly what I did wrong so I can fix it next time. Here's the recipe I used.


I'm so grateful for food storage, my crockpot, and my pressure cooker! Oh, and I'm also super thankful it's a new month so I have grocery $ again. I spent last month's budget stocking up on ground beef, cheese, and onions, all on sale.

5 comments:

Jaime said...

Oh my gosh, you're amazing! Those bagels look awesome! Be sure to use that hubby as your big little helper! I think you'll both be surprised how much more he can do than mac 'n cheese!

Evie said...

It all looks so delicious! You need to teach a cooking class so I can sign up for it!

Cherish said...

Jaime - It's the step by step instructions that drive me nuts when he helps!

Eve - I'm actually going to be teaching a food storage cooking group pretty soon. Do you want to participate?

Miriam said...

I voted for the bagels, so thank you! Thanks for the recipe. I'll see if I can get Breanna to make them when she comes next week.

Unknown said...

Wow Cherish....I didn't believe it till I saw it. Brownies and Onion dip. You should ask John on the bagels, he sports a "war-wound" from his bagel boiling days:) Thanks so much for your help with the blogging universe. Oh, and for keeping my hubby in line. I know how the COB can be:)