One difficulty I’m having in this experiment is that I regularly have company. We’re celebrating birthdays and Missionary homecomings etc, and there’s always food involved. My impulse to “love my family with food” is counter to my plan to limit food spending.
I went to the grocery store after 26 days and spent a total of $150. This amount excludes toilet paper and other cleaning supplies, but includes about 20 pounds of lean meat, 8 pounds of peanut butter, 2 gallons of ‘wet’ milk and 2 loaves of soft, white, “whole grain” bread and three dozen fresh eggs. The rest of the money was spent on leaf lettuce, potatoes, cabbage, carrots, onions, green pepper, bananas, apples and grapes. I also stocked up on corn starch, some additional spices/seasonings and baking soda and baking powder. (I’m not counting the rootbeer Chris specifically requested. You can’t get it in Zimbabwe, and he loves it!)
I’m finding that I waste less food, as I value each ingredient more. Last night, I made a dinner that they all enjoyed. It was leftover mashed potatoes made into potato cakes.
1 cup mashed potatoes, (just potatoes, salt and milk)
2 tablespoons chopped green chilis, (canned)
double dash of salt
3 tablespoons shredded cheese
1 egg
1 tablespoon whole wheat flour.
Mix well and fry in non-stick griddle over med-low heat.
I removed the potato cakes when brown and crispy and cooked a chopped onion with a chopped, lean, boneless (already cooked) porch chop. I added about a half a cup of water and a tablespoon of beef gravy mix and stirred it until a little reduced and the onion was tender.
Yesterday I had to leave half way through the “batter rise” (see bread recipe below)of a batch of bread. When I remembered it in the fridge, in the early evening, the batter had turned sour and “whiskey” tasting, so I threw it out and started over.
Pumpkin Chocolate Cake
I like to add canned pumpkin to cake mixes. The most recent cake mix has two cups of pumpkin to a regular cake mix. I reduced the oil by half, but not completely. I added a teaspoon of cinnamon to punch up the chocolate flavor. It’s extremely moist and very tasty. ADD 10 minutes to the baking time!
I do this for wedding cakes, too, and it seems to insure a very moist, flavorful cake.
No Comments