I Love My Grandma.

I love my grandma.

That’s all I can think with each delicious bite of my waffle. She sent up a jar of rhubarb-blueberry jam and I have slathered my waffle with it. It is heavenly and my grandmother is a saint.

I love gifts of home-made food. I don’t think anything can show your love for a person better than something that both sustains life and provides pleasure.

Ham and cheese Pies

We ran out of sandwich bread but still had some deli ham. I try to do only one or two shopping trips each month so I put on my thinking cap. How could I avoid buying bread without wasting the ham.

Ham and cheese wrapped in leftover pizza dough and baked until, well you know, golden brown and delicious. Just like the ones from the store but with better bread. Oh, yeah… and they’re cheaper too.

They seemed to be well received.

It’s amazing the things you can make better, healthier and less expensive than store-bought if you just try.

Two Little Lifestyle Changes

During the month of May my family and I moved into a new apartment and this has led to two minor changes: we no longer have a microwave and we’ve just gotten cable t.v. again.

I realize now how much I’ve come to rely on microwaves in my ten years of having one. Now, I find myself stopping midway through a recipe and thinking about how to proceed. Which pan do I use? Is this oven safe? Should I use the stove top or the broiler to heat this? I actually find myself frozen in the middle of the kitchen totally unsure of how to do really simple things like melting butter or making a cup of tea. It makes me feel stupid and embarrassed even if no one is watching, but it also has another effect. In those pauses I’m given time to momentarily reflect on the absolute joy of working with food and I’m thankful for that. 

We’ve decided that we’ll hold off on buying or accepting a hand-me-down microwave until the fall. By then I’m sure the novelty of doing it slow will have worn off. Until then we’ll enjoy the adventure of reinventing the way we do things in our kitchen. 

The cable t.v. we had connected today means that we have the Food Network. We love the Food Network and I’ll admit that it inspires me. Cooking shows are wonderful for new recipes, inspiration in creating your own recipes, and instruction that you didn’t get from your mother and is difficult to learn from a book. New ingredients, new recipes, new methods–the bountiful offerings of cable t.v.! I’m looking forward to a few new things crossing our tables and infiltrating our palettes.

So, the message for today? CHANGE IS GOOD. A few breaches in routine have the effect of making everything new again. Change it up this month and fall in love with food again. (Or maybe your partner too??? Hmmm… there’s an idea!)

Veggie Lasagna. With Sausage.

I love vegetables and I love vegetarian meals, but vegetarian lasagna has never quite hit the spot for me. I hate(absolutely hate!) zucchini and squash which are usually used as a meat replacement in lasagnas and aside from a year of bet-induced vegetarianism I like to eat meat. So I created this lasagna loaded with both vegetables and meat.

1 lb. Italian sausage
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 medium onion, diced
2 medium carrots, grated
4 cloves garlic, crushed
3 teaspoons Italian seasoning
1 6 oz. can tomato paste
1 8 oz. can tomato sauce
1 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes
1/2 lb. mushrooms, sliced
1 10 oz. box frozen spinach
1 8 oz. package cream cheese
1 cup cottage cheese
1 large egg
1/2 lb grated mozzarella
9 Lasagna noodles, cooked

Brown and drain the grease from the sausage in a large pan. Add the pepper, onion, carrots and garlic and cook until the vegetables are tender. Add the tomato paste, tomato sauce, diced tomatoes and Italian seasoning and simmer about 20 minutes until sauce is thickened.

In a bowl mix the cream cheese, cottage cheese and egg.

Build your lasagna: a layer of three noodles, a third of the tomato sauce, half of the mushrooms, half of the cream/cottage cheese mix, half of the spinach, half of the mozzarella cheese, three noodles, a third of the tomato sauce, the other half of the mushrooms, the other half of the cheese mix, the other half of the spinach, noodles, tomato sauce, and the rest of the mozzarella.

Bake covered with tin foil at 350 degrees for about 45 to 50 minutes or until hot and bubbly.

You could, of course, make this a vegetarian dish by using two cups each of zucchini and yellow squash instead of the sausage. You do what you like… foul it up with zucchini and squash if you must… but, trust me, this is a really good lasagna the way it is.

Lemon Caper Chicken Pasta

It’s spring in Bozeman! It was beautiful and sunny today and I wanted a dinner to match this bright and lovely weather. 

1 Whole Chicken Breast
8 oz. Gemelli Pasta
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil, Plus Some For Cooking)
2 Cloves Garlic, Crushed
1 Medium Lemon, Zested and Juiced
1/2 Cup Parmesan Cheese, Grated
1/4 Cup Capers
Salt and Pepper 

Pepper the chicken breast and cook in olive oil and a little of the lemon juice. While the chicken is cooking boil the pasta. Remove the chicken breast from the pan and slice into pieces. Mix the two tablespoons of olive oil in the heated pan with the garlic, lemon juice and lemon zest. Add the pasta, capers and Parmesan cheese. Salt to taste and serve with salad and bread. Serves four.

It didn’t disappoint. It was absolutely perfect.

I purchased the pasta and capers at All Things Italian, a specialty store here in Bozeman. You can find any shape or size of pasta there and you can order from their online store!

Do It Better: Plan Ahead

Times are tough and even if you aren’t directly experiencing the effects of this bad economy you’re likely, at the very least, being more careful with your money. I’ve started doing a once-a-month major grocery shopping trip to both cut down on impulse buys and make it easier to track where my food money goes. I’m still working this whole planning ahead thing out (I’ll update on my progress later) but there are a few things I’ve observed.

Make it all about you- I cannot stress this enough. You already have habits, recipes and schedules. This is about refining and re-working what you already do; it is not about starting fresh. Take inventory for about a month–pay attention to how you shop, what you buy, what you cook, when and what you eat out or order in. Then decide what you want to change about your habits and begin planning for gradual change. You cannot simply pull a menu plan/shopping list from a magazine, cookbook or website and expect it to work for you–you have to plan around what you already do. This you-centric planning does require some work and time, but it will pay off in the end because your plans will be much easier to stick to.

Write it down-  Again, you have to figure out what method will work for you. I generally plan a week or two in advance on a cute little menu plan note pad that I picked up at a bookstore and my shopping list is kept on an iPhone application. That seems to work pretty well for me at the moment. I know a woman who has a calendar page that has a different meal in each box. She just cycles through each day and starts at the beginning when she is done. You could also plan on index cards, with computer software or with a blank book. Whatever appeals to you. The important part is that you have the plan where  you can reference it.

Stock your pantry/fridge/freezer- Buy the ingredients you use most in bulk or plan to buy them fresh on a regular basis. Magazines often run checklists of the five, ten, fifteen or so essential items you must keep on hand, but you might not actually use those things as often as the people writing those articles do. I say: do your research. What are you constantly running to the store to replenish? I discovered that in my household we almost always use two gallons of milk and three large containers of apple juice a month, among other things. I now buy these at the beginning of the month and I’m not running to the store every week just to pick up more(and whatever else catches my eye.) You are less likely to deviate from your plan if you have the ingredients you need on hand.

Make ahead- This goes hand in hand with the last bit of advice. If you have quiet weekends or free and easy Wednesday nights use that time to make extra or prep meals for the rest of the week. Incorporate leftovers into your plans too. I use leftover crock pot roast and mashed potatoes to build a shepherd’s pie. I toss it in the freezer, all ready to go, and all I have to do is pop it in the oven. Oh, yeah… it’s also really, really tasty.

Stick to the plan, but be flexible- Make your plan. Write it down. Buy your groceries. Do these things, but keep in mind that there will be some days that the plan just falls apart. Don’t beat yourself up if you order pizza because you forgot to thaw the chicken. If you see a recipe that looks really good, well, go ahead and make it instead of the pasta primavera you’d planned. Don’t be afraid to deviate from or change up your plan, instead use it to keep yourself in check.

Do it- Make an effort and be really vigilant about following your plan(at least most of the time) for two months. You’ll discover what works best for you and it will become habit by the end of that time.

So, what are you waiting for?

Get started by taking inventory. What do you have on hand? What have you used over the past month? How many times have you eaten out or ordered in? Check your bank statement and/or credit card statement and add up how much money you’ve actually spent on food. This all might make you say, “Ouch!” It might be a great big eye-opener. It was for me.

Now, make your plan.

(If you don’t feel confident doing this by yourself, then hire someone to help you–it’s very likely to be worth the cost.)

Sweet Pea Bakery

When the weather is as beautiful as it was last Friday, the first day of spring, you have to get outside and enjoy it. I like to take my son for walks in his stroller, but with obstacles like road construction, lack of sidewalks, snow banks, and springtime mud our options are limited. The Sweet Pea Bakery at 2622 W. Main St. is one of the places that we can walk to without much trouble, so I decided that we’d go get a fancy desert to have after our roast chicken dinner.

This may very well become a weekly or bi-weekly habit. And why not? Sweet Pea is a small business that uses local products as much as possible, which means that my money is staying a bit closer to home. I’m not a bad baker–I make a mean banana bread, tasty graham crackers and some really great cookies–but my talents are limited. Also, it’s just plain fun to eat fancy food that someone else made.

With such summery weather I thought a fruit tart would be an appropriate dessert. It was.

I can never pass up a lemon bar…

The flourless espresso cake looks really good, doesn’t it? Mmmm, maybe this Friday…

We also got a sample of the Nela Cookie. A great treat for any little one!

You can visit The Sweet Pea Bakery website, read their blog, or follow them on Twitter.

Yummy Tweets

The social networking/mini-blogging service Twitter has recently gained some notoriety in Bozeman. As a result many Bozemanites are connecting with one another or signing on to Twitter for the first time. Many of the new names we’re seeing are those of restaurants, specialty food stores and other small Bozeman businesses. I”m in love with the food related tweets and Twitter is an amazing tool for broadcasting lunch specials, happy hours, new products/shipments, or cooking classes to the hungry masses. I sincerely hope that more Bozeman businesses sign on and continue to use Twitter to let me know what they’ve got to offer. Here’s some to follow… let me know if I need to add anyone to my list!
All Things Italian specialty food shop
Bozeman’s Sweet Pea Bakery
Old Chicago-Bozeman
Olivelle-oil, vinegar and specialty products
The Bacchus Pub in downtown Bozeman(home of the Bozeman “tweetup”)
The Fresco Cafe on N. 7th
The Emerson Grill in the Emerson Cultural Center

Paulie’s Hot Dogs

Bozeman now has a hot dog shop. Paulie’s Hot Dogs is located at 801 West Main in the new building across from the Lewis and Clark Motel. They offer a huge selection of hot dogs, sausages and toppings and shoestring french fries–not healthy, of course, but fast, delicious and fun.

The shop is pretty small, but offers some outdoor seating. Service is fast making it a great place to grab a quick lunch or take food to go. There’s chalkboard paint on the walls which was great fun for the kids and some of the adults when I was there for lunch. I imagine that business is pretty brisk when school is in session because there’s so little wait and Paulie’s is pretty close to the high school. This will be a perfect place to grab lunch from and head up to Cooper park for a picnic when the weather is warmer. I can’t wait for summer!

Grilled Blue and Cheddar Cheese Sandwiches

This is a recipe that was passed along to me by my grandmother. I have no idea where she got it from, probably a magazine, but I always loved these when I was a kid. She’d make a whole loaf of them and freeze them right in the bread bag  so the only prep was buttering them and grilling them. 

1/3 Cup Mayonaise
2 Teaspoons Worcestershire Sauce
1 Teaspoon Mustard
2 Cups Grated Cheddar Cheese
1/2 Cup Crumbled Blue Cheese
2 Tablespoons Finely Diced Onion
1 Small Can of Mushrooms
1/4 Teaspoon Cayenne Pepper 

Mix the ingredients together, spread on bread, butter the outside and grill on medium-low heat.

I can’t decide whether I love these sandwiches because I love blue cheese or I love blue cheese because I love these sandwiches.