What is there left to eat?

Since all I seem to be talking about is food now, here's a more practical post that continues what I said about going back to eating a healthier diet, and why food isn't good or bad.  I guess that leaves the question of what exactly we're eating!  Well, I should preface by saying that I am not dealing with any food allergies or sensitivities, and a very short list of things people absolutely won't eat.  Really, almost nothing is on that list.  I wish I could take credit for that, but I've always been an adventurous eater so maybe it's genetic?  I know lots of parents struggle with picky eaters and I'm fortunate that I don't have to.

Now, I mean, everyone has preferences.  If I served the children a big ole' plate of canned beans they would be less than pleased and it might take a lot of ketchup to get them down.  They also don't love stuff like liver, or raw onions, or anything really spicy.  But to be honest neither do I so it isn't really an issue - I don't make these things because I don't like them!

So here's what we eat!  At breakfast we have eggs, fruit, cereal, sometimes meat, occasionally porridge.  I don't make pancakes and such anymore because I don't have the time or the space.  Every once in a while I'll do a big, fried breakfast with eggs and bacon and sliced tomatoes, or home fries.  Not often these days.

For lunch we almost always have leftovers from the previous night's supper, or else we have a simple soup and bread or salad type meal.  Sometimes I will make a prepared food type meal, like a frozen pizza, or a box of macaroni and cheese, or something like that.

For supper we eat a lot of one-dish meals - either cooked as a casserole type dish or in the slow cooker.  We eat chicken and pork most frequently, sometimes beef if it is ground meat or occasionally beef in another form, like a brisket, and a few times a year I buy a turkey to roast.  I also make an effort to serve fish once a week, although often it is in the form of tuna salad at lunch, or fish sticks for a fast meal before a church event.  We eat pasta and rice very infrequently, usually our starch of choice is potatoes - white and sweet, and sometimes plantains, cornbread, polenta, etc.

The sorts of meals we eat at supper would be things like - chopped root vegetables roasted with chicken pieces, a sausage and potato bake with a fresh salad, something made with spaghetti squash, ground beef, a tomato based sauce (home made or more likely a jarred sauce that has been added to) and cheese, a big salad type meal with lots of vegetables, hard boiled eggs, leftover diced meat, etc., a platter of different meats and cheeses with a loaf of bread and some home made pickled vegetables, a lentil or bean dish with bread, etc.  We don't eat a lot of legumes, but they are there, usually in another dish like chili or cooked slowly with a smoked turkey leg.

It's all pretty simple.

Spring Thoughts, Better Eating

Two weeks ago I wrote that spring was here, and then winter thumbed her bitter nose at me and there were two more weeks of cold, including snow and full on storms and awfulness.  Now, a better and more nervous person than I previously was, I'm going to say it again.  Spring is here.

*ducks*

It's chilly, but sunny, and it warms up enough in the afternoon that I can hang laundry and send the children outside and the snow is leaving us very quickly.  Plus all the other non-weather springish signs are appearing.  The red squirrels are chasing each other around and around the pine trees at the end of the street, the sandhill cranes are making an ungodly racket down by the lake...

Now that it's warmer I feel more inclined to work on being frugal and healthy again.  There's something about winter that just makes you (me) want to curl up in a ball with a warm cat on me and eat all of the food, so the warmth is definitely helping me to get away from that and back into the swing of projects.  I'm reintroducing a lot of the whole foods oriented cooking methods I used to use as a matter of course, before my husband became incredibly focused on school and our lives got a lot busier with the church.  If you have been reading my blog since the beginning you will remember that I used to make everything that could be made.  I would make bone broth weekly and soak grains and make yogurt and bake breads...I did it all.  Somehow a lot of that stopped in the past few years and I don't think there's one specific reason why - lots of things contributed.  Adding a third child to our family, working full time in ministry, all the school, a new town without a lot of connections and without a farmer's market in town, lots of elements changed our eating style.  And I'm a big proponent of Doing What You Gotta Do - no judgement here if you eat frozen lasagna every day and use disposable diapers and take antibiotics monthly.  You do what you gotta do.  And certainly this past few years we have done what we had to do to make it work with three little children and the lifestyle we found ourselves living.

But I'd be foolish not to say I missed it, because I did.  I missed the work sessions in the kitchen, making lots of healthy real food and finding ways to trim the budget and learning new recipes.  I missed the research, with friends and family and books.  I missed talking to like minded people about what we were all doing to improve our health and our knowledge.  I loved that area of life; I've always loved food and keeping house, and I wanted to be GOOD at it and I was good at it.  I was really good for a while, and then I wasn't so much anymore and I'm okay with that - seasons of life and all - but I'm excited to get back into it.

Last night I made apple, pear, cranberry sauce with cinnamon in the slow cooker, set two big jars of sliced beets to lacto-ferment on the counter into pickles, roasted another tray of beets, made a jug of iced pomegranate green tea and started an experimental batch of a lentil and barley meat replacement to extend some ground beef.  It was soothing, puttering around in my kitchen, doing the sorts of daily tasks that used to make up such a large portion of my days - it was like lapsing back into your mother tongue.

I don't want to make elaborate plans on what to do because I don't want to be disappointed if things don't move as smoothly as I'd like them to but I feel optimistic.  Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go make some bread.

Pickles

I adore making preserves - pickles and such.  This past summer I must have made dozens of jars.  But I will admit they aren't necessarily the easiest foods to incorporate into a meal when you're just starting out with them.  Here are my suggestions, or at least what we do.

I often serve a pickle tray at supper, and almost always when we have guests.  A plate with a selection of pickled fruits and vegetables on it to pass around seems weird at first but everyone gets used to it and they can pick and choose what they like to eat with their meats or on their own.  And it also makes guests feel honoured, I find, to be presented with something so clearly homemade.  Generally here's how I organize the plate - I include something everyone will like, bread and butter pickles are a good bet, and then I include a newer food if I've tried a new recipe, and I make sure there are a whole bunch of colours so it looks pretty.  It also helps to add cheese.  You can serve this plate if you're having a meal where they seem to fit naturally (salad, sandwiches, etc.) and also just as an accompaniment to a regular meat and vegetable meal.

There you go, pickles.

My children eat fish

Of course, it's not their favourite meal, but here's three ways (all very easy) that the children won't moan when I put fish in front of them.  Which I do.  At least once a week.  Because I'm mean.

Creamed Salmon (or tuna) On Toast

Essentially you make a bechamel sauce - heat a fat, whisk in a flour until smooth, slowly add warm milk until a thick cream sauce happens - and season with salt, pepper, etc.  Add your flaked canned fish, serve over toast.  You can add peas if you like.

Breaded Fish

Shake those pieces of fish in a shake-n-bake coating and bake them in the oven.

Maple Salmon

I marinate the fish in a marinade of garlic, ginger, soy sauce, maple syrup and then bake.

Saturday

Oh my word I just discovered that I'm supposed to be posting for seven days, not five.  Seven.  Which means that today, which I assumed was my last day of inflicting inane ramblings on the poor folk of facebook is, in fact, not.  I need to think of things to write about for another two days.  People, I'm not that interesting.

I woke up this morning, after having slept in until an embarrassing time, and David asked me if we could have company for supper tonight.  Now, I'm almost always up for company.  No, that's not true, here's the deal: when you don't have children entertaining consists of looking through lots of cookbooks and spending an afternoon shopping for food and possibly even a few days cleaning depending on how important your company is.  And then you all have a lovely long visit and eat all sorts of things and enjoy yourselves.

When you HAVE children, you can only cook in shifts, because otherwise whomever is in the kitchen is attempting to move around whilst dragging the dead weight of a toddler clinging to her legs asking for cheese/a drink of water/ cuddles/ more cheese.  "Oh how sweet' the childless among you coo; no it is not sweet.  It is, in fact, very far from sweet.  Your options are baby gates or a spouse who can effectively distract.

There is also no point whatsoever in cleaning anything because, as my living room can currently attest to, cleaning lasts 3.2 seconds.  And I'm not talking 'well we'll need to re-fluff those cushions' type cleaning.  There is currently a torn apart bun all over the floor.

This means that the only real option is so serve something from the slow cooker, arrange for the children to leave the premises for the majority of the day (or at least just before company arrives) and tidy everything by throwing it into the playroom.  I've been told that this changes as the children get older - but I can't see it from the trenches.

So, the company.  We're having it, and this company falls into the 'I'd like things to look and taste nice' camp, as opposed to family or friend company where my hope is that they like pizza.

I think I've decided to try and make my mother's recipe for zucchini stuffed chicken, and then serve that with something totally store bought, possibly even a store bought dessert.

Friday

When you are pregnant with your third child everything is very different.  There isn't the same level of nervousness when you get your ultrasound; you can recognize things on the screen; all is fine.  We're having a girl, it was discovered, and I'm very pleased.  As is typical of us, we have no name chosen but lots of ideas.  I don't feel any panic, though.  We'll figure it all out.

Today the telephone person is supposed to come and fix our line, and I have intentions to take Samuel to the library and possibly even playgroup, depending on how optimistic I am.  There will also be something decadent for dessert, although I don't currently know what that will be.  Possibly homemade popcorn balls.

Two Soups

We made both of these this week, and I thought perhaps, if you had similarly ravenous family members, then you would appreciate them.

Cream of Broccoli and Cheese Soup

Take three large bunches of broccoli and chop off the florets and peel and chop the stems and wash everything.  Put it in a pot with some water and simmer until they're still nice and green.  Throw them in a blender with four cups of milk and puree.  In a separate pot, make a white sauce from 2/3 of a stick of butter, flour, and four cups of milk.  Add it to the broccoli.  Grate cheese and mix.  Salt to taste and freeze it.

Roasted Vegetable Soup

Roast an acorn squash (Halved and seeded), a sweet potato (don't peel), two cloves of garlic and two green apples until the squash and potato are done.  You'll want to add some fat to the roasting pan, like oil or whatever.  Puree the vegetables with the stock from a roasted chicken.  Add a tsp of cumin and salt.

The Anniversary Gift

So here we are, the last Big Day of work this week.  I mean, don't get me wrong, Friday and Saturday will have their fair share of packing and general crazy, but today is the day filled with everything under the sun that seems to need immediate attention.  To combat this, here's a little bit of beautiful in the midst of it all. This is the tea set that David bought me for our anniversary this year.

It was the colours that drew me to it, and the simplicity of the design.  And when I was surprised with it I started to think about whether I'd be able to add to it over the years, and quickly discovered how expensive that would be.  But I'm thrilled that I have a two-person set right now.

Mystery Ingredient Monday

Alright, here's the Monday post I wrote on Sunday and posted on Tuesday, which is supposed to be about what I made for supper on Monday but is actually all about a late lunch on Sunday.  So whatever, off to a roaring start and all that.  Is this even Day 1 of the challenge?  Because I thought Sunday was.  But if Sunday was then I'm on day 3, and if today is then I'm on day....AGGGHHHHHH!

It doesn't. matter.  On to mustard.

 When I first decided to tag along on the mustard game, I figured I'd take the opportunity to use this ^ which has been sitting in my fridge forever, and actually contains the remnants of three or four identical products that people keep giving me when they move.  Except that I noticed that right beside this bottle was another bottle that contained Dijon mustard, which is so much better for cooking.  And since I tend not to use recipes, I needed all the 'high quality' ingredients I could get.

I kept backing and forthing on what to make and had almost decided on muffins (oh yeah - a good basic muffin recipe full of cheese, bacon, ham, chives, a bit of mustard....) but then couldn't 'mustard' the energy (oh come on, that was funny) and made meatloaf instead.

Here's what I put in it.  I even wrote stuff down and used measuring spoons and everything, which is practically unheard of around here.

1/2 kg med. ground beef (I was wrong, should have used lean.  Keep it in mind)
1 egg
1 Tbsp dijon mustard
1 Tbsp oregano
1 Tbsp thyme
salt and pepper
1 large cheese bun torn into pieces

Bake in muffin tins at 300F until done

The cheese bun was a late in the game decision - my last experience with using oatmeal in a meatloaf was unpleasant, and I didn't have any cooked rice or breadcrumbs and the crackers I had wouldn't have gone well.  So a cheese bun it was.

There you go.  Up a little late...but there you go.  Here's the link up!
                                                                                                

Grocery Day

Today was grocery shopping day.  Samuel and I went, and we went without a meal plan and without a list.  Horror of horrors.  And now I'm looking at what we bought for the next week's meals and I am completely unable to process how any of these things are going to become entrees.

Helphelphelp!

I took pictures.  Because I'm nerdy.

So here's the produce we bought.  Counterclockwise from the bottom left:

A bag of brussels sprouts
3 eggplant
2 tomatoes
A bag of green beans
A 'stew pack' (big thing around here - consists of 2 turnip, a green cabbage, parsnips and carrots)
A bag of yellow onions
A large bunch of collard greens
A bag of oranges
Dill
Garlic
Mushrooms
blueberries
ginger
apples
acorn squash
lemons

The only thing I can think of doing right now is our usual treatment of turnip, which is to cook them with apples.



Meat - but not all of it because I can't get my act together in one picture.  So here's what I bought:

Bacon
Chicken Strips
A roast of beef
tilapia
10 sausages.  They were on sale. 
Beef heart

Random *stuff*

Plain yogurt
Sour cream

Cheese (old cheddar)

pickles

olive oil

some canned beets.

Passion Orange Guava juice.

Bagels

Stuff that was still in the fridge that somehow needs to be incorporated into meals.

A head of cauliflower

2 sweet potatoes
a yam

celery

2 eggs
A container of egg

Arugula

There's also frozen pre-soaked beans in my freezer, and an assortment of little ends of frozen veggies.  There's a can of tuna, and one of chickpeas.  A few potatoes.  Rice.  Lentils, but not very many.  Plenty of spices.

I think the juice will become popsicles.  I plan to roast the cauliflower to make a snack for the children, and they'll also eat a lot of blueberries, pickles and oranges as snack food.  I have cheerios, so likely they'll have those for breakfast, or I might make pancakes with the eggs, or hot cereal with oats or maybe hot rice.

What on earth do I feed people this week?

Books, steak, church.



Lunch.  Steak and mushroom pie covered in phyllo pastry. 


Yesterday David and I spent some time getting our letter to the district typed up and sent to the superintendent.  This is the internship proposal that will get reviewed by prospective churches, who will then decide whether or not they want our family to come and intern at their church.  It's all very overwhelming and I'm glad the letter is sent, but also nervous now about the next step.

Finished reading Three Cups of Tea, finally.  Now I have to get One Thousand Gifts wrapped up so I can dig into the pile of books lent to me by a friend.  First up:  The Christian Atheist.

And now, to the melodious sound of crying children, I am going to get dressed and bring several large bags of clothing to the Salvation Army drop off and out. of. my. house.

Beans!

Thank you to those who read or commented on my rambling and rather depressing post about how lonely it can be in the ministry.  I hadn't intended to write a second post yesterday, but then late last night I was just not feeling well, and out it came.

And now for something significantly more cheerful!

I know, I know, everyone is talking about whole foods this and paleo that and blah blah blah.  I'm not going to talk about that sort of thing because I have very little idea of what I'm talking about compared to many others.  In fact, if you're curious about it, there is an amazing Christian blog, Keeper of the Home, and it handles just about every issue you could imagine and answers any question you could think of asking.

But what I know how to do is feed a family of four a healthy, high protein diet with lots of vitamin and mineral rich foods on a small budget.

Today I'm preparing my beans on the counter.  Actually, it's day two of bean prep!  Beans, lentils and the like are an important part of our meals and I have a four-day system to prepare them.  Now, some people can get away with using canned beans without any gastric side-effects, and that's great, but even if that's you I would suggest finding a good way to prepare dried beans simply to save on money.  If a can of beans has two cups worth in it, but costs $1, whereas you can get close to twenty cups of rehydrated beans from a 2kg bag of dried beans, and that will only cost you $6.  Well, then that's a savings of $4!

Alright, now for a recipe!  I never liked beans, or really legumes at all, and this recipe is one I made up myself and was one of the first ways I ever enjoyed eating them.

Amy's Bacon Baked Beans

2 cups of dried beans
1 tsp Worchestershire sauce
1 Tbsp ketchup
2 Tbsp packed brown sugar
1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar (or another flavoured vinegar)
2 bay leaves
1 clove garlic, pierced and peeled
1 onion, quartered
1/2 lb. chopped bacon
1.5 cups water

Now let me explain this recipe - it's approximate.  And it's mostly made up of flavourings.  So what you're going to have to do is use it as a guideline of sorts.  Saute your bacon and your onion.  Your beans will already be rehydrated, so add them in now.  Make a mixture of the various condiments and add those, and then pour over the water.  Simmer away until your beans are cooked.

You may need more water.  You may need more time than you think.  Try not to overcook them since your beans will get all mushy, and likewise if you are using canned beans you'll need much less time.


This post was linked to Your Green Resource.

Reading...

On our bookshelves these days...



Photo Credit



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Photo credit

 Desperate is the latest of Sally Clarkson's books, co-authored by Sally Mae.  It's the title we're studying right now in the mom's group I belong to.  If you are a Christian mother in a time of life where you are feeling seriously overwhelmed, this is a book for you.  I love how it focuses on building support networks, mentorships, and breaking out of the 'formula parenting' we're all so very fond of.

Seasons of a Mother's Heart is another title by Clarkson.  It was thoroughly recommended to me by my friend Ellie, a homeschooling mother of six (!) and future missionary to Bolivia.  Let me tell you, if Ellie recommends I read something, I read it.  Clarkson seems to have a way of explaining how making a home, being a mother, homeschooling your children...are all ministries.  She walks you through the 'how' of doing these things, but also the 'why' - this is a woman who knows her stuff.

Three Cups of Tea - well, so many people have read this book that I wonder if I'm the last of my friends to pick it up.  I'm trying so hard to focus on the wonderful work of Mortenson, but I have to admit that I'm getting a little sidetracked by the non-essentials of the book.  The co-author is effusive in his praise to an almost embaressing degree, and Mortenson's adoption of Muslim prayer and customs strikes me as a little...odd.  Did he convert to Islam?  Why is he praying in a mosque here?  Were the Muslim's insulted by this?  I know this has pretty much nothing to do with the basic premise of the book, but it's still really distracting to me.

Samuel is reading...


Photo source

{Oh, and I just have to share what we had for supper tonight...

Thyme Chicken (all approximate quantities - we're bad at measuring)

A Tbsp of thyme
Salt and Pepper
About 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil
A small chicken

Mix the spices and oil together and rub all over the bird.  Roast breast side down in a cast iron frying pan until done, basting once.

Mmmmm.}

Not Really Menu Planning

On Wednesday I went grocery shopping.

I shopped in the worst possible way; wandering around aimlessly, randomly purchasing things I wasn't entirely certain what I was going to do with, without a meal plan and without anything beyond a very rough budget.

I forgot deoderant.  And yeast.  And toilet paper.

But regardless, I bought a lot of stuff.  In fact, I bought almost twice as much stuff as I would usually buy.  And now I am determined to make it last twice as long.  Haha!  Which brings me to meal planning that looks like this:

Lunch:  something with potatoes.
Supper:  Um, leftovers.

Lunch:  Ham.  For the third day.
Supper:  Oh what does it matter.

*****

I also bought this:

Look closely at this picture.  Can you see any way in which this 'resealable bag' is, in fact, resealable?  Because I assure you it is not.  NOT. 

*****

In the time since I started writing this post I discovered I also did not get dish soap, garbage bags or laundry detergent.  Really, a super productive shopping trip.  Also not smart to forget the deoderant AND the laundry detergent in one swoop.
*****

The past two days have been just wonderful.  I know it's really not cool to brag up your kids but both of my children are just super fantastic and if you met them you would totally agree.  I mean, don't get me wrong, they're not perfect, but they're wonderful.  The days have been filled with beautiful moments and sweetness in between the normal chaos, and I am so grateful.

After Preschool Cookies

If you have small cookie-hungry children in the house, you're going to want to take note of this recipe, because it's going to save your behind many times at around 4pm, just before supper, when hungry bellies are gurgling and the toddlers are set on perma-whine.

Here you go:  Gluten free, refined sugar free, grain free and dairy free (but not, by any means, flavour free) After Preschool Cookies.

1 large sweet potato, peeled and cubed
1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp allspice
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup grated unsweetened coconut
1 egg

Steam your sweet potato cubes until nice and soft.  Then drain the water from your steaming pot and place it back on the burner with the heat turned off.  Mash the sweet potatoes in the hot pot until nice and fluffy.  I used a hand mixture for this. The extra heat helps get rid of moisture and 'dry out' the potatoes.  You don't want a wet cookie.

Mix potatoes together with spices, raisins and coconut until well blended.  Beat in egg at the end.  Spoon by 1 Tbsp amounts onto a greased cookie sheet and bake 5-10 minutes (the bottoms should be brown, but not dark) in a 350 F oven.

Note:  The cookies won't rise or flatten in the oven, so make sure your batter is in the shape you want your cookies to end up in.  I flatten my cookies slightly.



I don't know why the raisins show up as green, because they are not.  :-)  My camera is clearly not all that functional.



Dumplings. Sick. Bah.

We're watching endless movies (My Big Fat Greek Wedding is next whether you like it or not, Samuel) and eating Sui Mai, which were actually super easy to make, thank goodness, and also utilized the already thawed ground pork in the fridge.

Trees, supper, etc.

Big task of the day - I took down the Christmas tree!  It's only January 14th, after all.  The floors are cleared of the plethora of dead pine needles from the brownish tree and all of the furniture returned to it's original spot.  Combined with the great toy purge yesterday, the livingroom almost looks ready for company again.

We're having nachos for a late lunch, and then tonight - cheeseburger and french fry casserole!  Last night I was eating one of those microwaveable pizza pocket type things, and it had a cheeseburger filling.  I started thinking about it, and I bet you could make a casserole.  Something a bit healthier than a preservative filled pocket snack.  Of course, as soon as I Googled for ideas, it was pretty clear that a lot of people had thought of a cheeseburger and french fry casserole before me.

photo credit

photo credit

photo credit

Spaghetti Squash, books, etc.

Something interesting we tried with spaghetti squash tonight.

Cut and de-seed a spaghetti squash.

Place open side down on a baking sheet and roast at 375 F approx. 45 minutes, or until fork tender.

Separate 'spaghetti' strands with a fork and set aside.  Discard skin.

To make the sauce:

Saute fresh seafood in a little butter.  I used a fresh seafood mix from the seafood counter at the grocery store - it had salmon, shrimp, scallops and white fish.

Stir in dill cream cheese.

Serve to hungry people.

We had our first night with Tiffany, the babysitter who's going to come be my helper in the evenings.  I can see myself very, very quickly becoming addicted to the help.  In the hour and a half that she was here I managed to do the following:

I cooked supper.  By myself.  Using the stove.  By myself.
I fed everyone.
I cleaned up.
I switched all the laundry around.
I tidied the children's room.
I got the strollers and carseats put away.
I bathed, diapered, and pajama-ed Samuel.
I nursed Clara to sleep without the screaming soundtrack of Samuel.
I baked cookies.

While I was doing this, Tiffany read three books to Samuel, played with the children, cuddled Clara and offered something I don't think I realized would be a perk...she gave me company.  I mean, it was teenage girl company so it mostly consisted of me asking her about school (gosh I hated it when adults asked me about school) but still.  I am alone from 3pm onwards and I could really use the company.  Since David is working every evening this week, Tiffany will be here with me every evening from 4:30 until 6:30 when Clara is down for the night.

Frankly, I'm a little surprised that she's agreed to come back after tonight's practice run.  Samuel threw a complete fit at the table when he didn't want to eat supper.  Clara threw a complete fit when she realized I wasn't feeding her supper fast enough.  Tiffany turned to me and asked if this was a 'normal dinner'.  Oh yes, my dear, oh yes it is indeed.

The cookies, however, were great.  Chocolate oatmeal.  I ate five.

Mushroom Stroganoff

Do you ever find these at your grocery store?

The price says $5.99, and 50% off.  $3 isn't bad around here for mushrooms.

Large containers of sliced mushrooms on sale because they need to be eaten quickly?

Well, I do.  All the time.  And we love mushrooms so I've come up with a stroganoff recipe that uses them up quite well.

Grate 4 peeled cloves of garlic

Yeah, it's a lot of garlic.  But garlic is so good for you.  It lowers your cholesterol.

Slice half a sweet onion (I happened to use sweet because it was left over from fajita night, but use regular onion if that's what you have)

Fry in 1 Tbsp of butter.  I'm estimating.  I don't believe in measuring butter.  It's against my religion.

Have you noticed that I cook so many things in cast iron?  It really is the best way to cook.  The iron leaches out slightly into your food, helping to boost your intake of the mineral (especially good for women, who lose a lot of iron).  Not to mention that you need substantially less oil to cook with.  In fact, the butter I use in this recipe is almost entirely only for the taste, not the frying.  The pan is well seasoned.

 If you're going to serve your stroganoff over mashed potatoes like I am, get your potatoes ready.  We're trying to cut out as much white refined flour pasta as possible from our diets, so rice and potatoes are a staple around here.

Add the garlic, but lower the temperature first so you don't burn it.  Burnt garlic is gross.  And add a bit more butter, the mushrooms and some water.

Looks like a lot, right?  It's not.

Cover and cook.  The mushrooms, which initially appear to be more than you could possibly ever eat, will cook down.

See?

If you don't want as much 'gravy' you can let it cook uncovered for a while to evaporate the liquid.  Personally, I like it like this.  Now add a cup of sour cream, salt and pepper, and serve.

Over egg noodles if you're a traditionalist, or mashed potatoes like we did today, or even rice.

It easily will serve a family of four.  And is so filling.

I'm estimating the cost at about $5 for the entire meal.  A favourite around here.

Fridge Cleaning Noodle-less Lasagna

I had to clean out the fridge the other day, and I made up something for our supper last night that was good enough (I thought, at least) to bother sharing:

I'm not sure what to call it, but I'm saying it's Noodle-Free Roasted Vegetable and Sausage Lasagna.

Here's how to make it, if you are in the mood to clean out your fridge.

I had a package of sliced portabello mushrooms to use up, but I'm assuming you could use the mushrooms of your choice.  Saute lightly in about 1/4 tsp of butter.

Now, I decided to use pasta sauce from my pantry, and I chose the richest and strongest tasting one I had to  make up for all of the paler vegetable tastes.

 A layer of sauce, then of sauteed mushrooms.

Saute green peppers...

And add them as a layer.

A thin layer of grated strong cheese.  I used Gruyere.  Parmesan would work, too.

In the meantime, boil some sausages.  I used three spicy ones here.

And add some more mushrooms to your frying pan as well.  I ran out of portobello and used button mushrooms here.

Add some more tomato sauce, and then a layer of  zucchini.  Now, I imagine long slices of zucchini would be nice, but I had grated in the fridge so that's what I used.  Lightly steam or saute it and put on top of the tomato sauce.

Now the next mushroom layer.

Some more cheese, and then your chopped, cooked sausage.

Some more sauce, a final grating of cheese, then in the oven at 350 for about an hour, or until the liquid has mostly evaporated.