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!

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.

Tips to combat rising food costs

By now I’m sure you’ve heard the news or noticed it yourself: the trip to the grocery store is getting more and more expensive. I’ve read article after article in our own Bozeman Daily Chronicle comparing the prices of food now versus a year ago and seen segment after segment on the cable news channels. So, what do we do? I’ve compiled a few quick tips.

Plan ahead: By mapping out a month or a week of meals in advance you are less likely to blow your food budget on eating out or high priced convenience foods. You can also integrate the leftovers from one day into the next day’s meals, which brings me to my next tip.

Use your food wisely: My mother didn’t raise me to be wasteful… I figured that out on my own. Periodically take stock of your refrigerator, freezer and fresh foods and use those things up before they go bad or get freezer burn. By doing this you won’t be constantly buying food to replace the food that would have been perfectly good if you’d just eaten it in time.

Buy in bulk: Buy giant bags of pretzels or chips and repackage them in snack size resealable bags to preserve their freshness. Buy canned goods that you use often by the case when they’re on sale. Check expiration dates and pay attention to what you can buy in a bigger size. Generally the larger size packages have a lower price per ounce and those nickels and dimes will add up.

Watch for sales: Keep your eye on the weekly advertising inserts in the newspaper and plan your meals for the week and your shopping around the good deals. Keep your eyes open though, the advertised sales aren’t always very good deals. If you end up buying frozen meals just because they’re on sale you probably aren’t saving as much as you could by putting in a little time in your kitchen and cooking from scratch.

On their own these ideas don’t add up to much, but in combination and with a little vigilance your trips to the store won’t seem to cost as much as a luxury cruise.