One of my current household endeavors is not to waste food. I grew up in a full house, and family stopped by often. Nothing was ever wasted.

As an adult, I learned to freeze leftovers in individual portions, and eventually, how to cut up cooked meats and vegetables, and put them in soups, casseroles, and eggs. I learned that from Jacques Pepin’s memoir. It had never occurred to me to chop up cooked chicken and make it into some other dish.
Now our household consists of two adults, a small child, and a toddler. So sometimes the girls eat an astonishing amount, and other times very little. I hadn’t frozen chowder before  this week. It is a requested recipe of DD6 and SS. So when he lived here, there wasn’t any chowder  to freeze.

Heating the chowder was somewhat labor intensive, since I had to keep taking it out of the microwave to stir it. And to make sure the milk didn’t curdle. But not nearly so much work as making a fresh pot.

Having leftover rice to use for fried rice has been so advantageous that I’ve gotten into the habit of making extra and putting it in the refrigerator.

I’m still having to occasionally throw out food. But I’m hoping that we will use everything we cook this week, and begin to see an economic advantage, less trash, and fewer dishes.

I think Manchego is the musky Spanish cousin of Reggiano. I read that it, Manchego, is the favorite cheese of Spain. So I had to taste it. After all, the country that gave the world paella must know something about good food.

I like Manchego.  For some reason I imagined it to be very strong and stinky.

I asked DH to pick up a few food or cooking type books from the library the last time he went. He got Cheese Essentials, by Laura Werlin. It is as encyclopedic as any book about wine. But it isn’t intimidating.  I read a page or two when I have a minute. And now I’m very interested in tasting different varieties of cheese – the cheese section is the only part of the grocery that has improved, IMHO.

I have really liked cheese since high school. I went to a French club event and tried the usual suspects – Gruyere, Emmentaller, Brie, Camembert, something blue that made me gag, probably Roquefort. Before that I liked Laughing Cow, because my grandmother and I had walked to the store to get cheese and a baguette.  And we got Laughing Cow, which is ironic, since it is something like French Velveeta. And the standard Swiss cheese with holes that is available pretty much everywhere.

My renewed cheese love is kind of expensive. But I cut myself off when the meat and cheese drawer in the refrigerator gets full. Recently, we’ve had Cheddar cheese, which I tend to forget is really delicious when it is good cheddar, and not a plasticized, orange dyed variety. Also Gouda, and Havarti, all of which make an ordinary sandwich fabulous.

Ah, so nice to elevate the humble sandwich and so little effort to find the cheese slicer.

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The napkins are now part of a party themed aisle in the grocery, which is stocked full of junk that children like, at child level.  No, we really don’t need the Little Mermaid paper plates.  So annoying!  Previously, I could just not walk into the party supplies aisle.  (Sure there would still be some junk.) But now, if I want napkins, any type of napkin, I must travel to the very end of the store, to get them.  And the amount of toys and junk food interspersed with actual food and general household items is epic.  This is exceptionally annoying when I shop with my six year old.  But I still hate it when I’m shopping with the baby, who doesn’t beg for syrup, now located next to the bananas, to put on the bananas.  Because this arrangement makes the grocery shopping take twice as long.  She will at some point have a meltdown.  And I may leave the store with only half the items on the list – stuff we actually need.

Subsequently, in addition to diapers, which I began ordering because the chlorine-free are difficult to find, I have now purchased bizarre amounts of toilet paper, paper towels, and even coffee.  I think a case of toilet paper would generally be a purchase made by an office manager, not mom.  But c’est la vie, now I have a whole package in each bathroom and one in the basement on a shelf until it is needed.  Occasionally, this is not cost effective.  But usually it is.

Five Pound Bag of Coffee (camera for scale)

I have most recently been ordering through diapers.com and amazon.com, through their Amazon Mom program, that a friend recommended.  Years ago I used netgrocer.  And my all time favorite was the Webvan delivery service.  I was so sad when they went out of business.  When they folded, I had a bin that I hadn’t yet returned, sitting in my garage.  Now it’s a toy box.

All that said, I shopped with the girls today and their behavior was exemplary.  It was as though the planets had aligned.  I didn’t even bribe DD6 before we left.

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To my way of thinking, fresh produce is priceless. I have a six year old who snacks on fresh fruits and vegetables. Don’t get me wrong, if it were too expensive we would still be eating veggies from the grocery. But I don’t judge the value of produce by dollars alone.

DH says he’s not so sure we get a lot for our money with the Cumming Harvest. But I think we actually get more than when we go to the grocery because we typically eat every bite of the farmer’s market vegetables and fruit. Fresh produce from the grocery store often wilts in the fridge. It doesn’t taste so fresh. And I often ignore it in favor of frozen vegetables.

Vegetable experiments from any venue are hit or miss. Among these are anything that only one person likes that I try to arrange into a recipe that more of us will like. And things that we tire of quickly like breakfast radishes and okra.

Today we got tomatoes from the first local harvest of the season. They are delicious. I pre-ordered a pint of cherry tomatoes. And happily picked up yellow slicing tomatoes from the Extras bin. We also get to enjoy blueberries, pattypan squash, zucchini, bacon, onions, garlic, yellow beans and pole beans.

I already cooked an onion, the pole beans and bacon. And served it over rice for lunch. For dinner I shredded a zucchini and a pattypan and made a pilaf.

DH and DD6 made a tart with the blueberries that were left. DD6 devoured half of them minutes after I brought them into the house. Then she, DD1 and I ate all of the cherry tomatoes. We’ve definitely each eaten five vegetables today.

Other goodies I like to pick up are soap, bread and coffee beans. Our friend the beekeeper makes the soap. I consider natural soaps a necessity. Eczema is much less of a problem now than when we were using commercial soaps. The bread and coffee are luxuries that we really enjoy.

Blah blah blah. Just wanted to share my experience because I don’t want anyone to miss out on such delicious vegetables. Anyone like me who doesn’t have the dedication to properly tend a garden that is. Or can’t seem to rise early enough to get to a traditional type of farmers market.

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Ingredients

Oil
Butter
4 Green onions chopped
5 Bulbs Garlic
Fresh ginger slivered
3 cups rice
Can of coconut milk, or fresh if you can find it
1 Cream of chicken soup
1 to 2 cups water
1 Zucchini shredded
1 Summer squash shredded
1 Orange bell pepper sliced
1 cup Mushrooms sliced

Heat the oil and butter in a paella or cocotte pan.

Add onions, garlic and ginger. Saute until they smell warm.

Add the rice. Saute until warm and translucent.

Add coconut milk and cream of chicken soup. Heat through.

Add enough water to cook the rice. Reduce heat and cover for fifteen minutes.

Stir the rice mixture and add remaining vegetables. Add water if needed.

Cover and simmer for ten more minutes or the rice and vegetables are cooked through.

This is a good weeknight meal that I like to make when time is short, and children are cranky. My neighbor kindly brought over a big bag of squash from her garden.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup Cooking oil
Tsp butter
Chicken breasts
1 each seasonal vegetables – summer squash, zucchini
2 Carrots
Box of spiced rice
1 cup plain rice
3 cups water

Slice the chicken in thirds lengthwise so that it is thinner. Dice the summer squash and zucchini. Slice the carrots.

Heat a pan that has a tight fitting lid. A paella or cocotte is ideal. Add oil and butter.

Brown the chicken and set aside. Saute the carrots, then summer squash and zucchini. Drain excess oil.

Add box of rice and cup of plain rice. Stir. Add water and stir gently. Place chicken on top of rice. Cover with a tight fitting lid and simmer for 20 minutes or rice is cooked through.

Note: if you do not like boxed rice, use three cups plain rice, and chicken stock instead of water.

Last year one of my SILs made a turkey sage soup. And that is probably my most favorite use of turkey leftovers yet.

So today, I get to the Kroger, and there is almost no chicken for sale. Which is weird since there are dozens of poultry farms nearby. Are they called farms if it’s for chickens? Chicken ranch? Anyway, I saw only a few types of chicken. And all of it is more expensive than last week.

Am I the only person trying to buy chicken this week? How odd.

I made cadon for dinner. Pronounced kuh-doo. It’s Chamarro beef stew. I did this by accident, which seems to be how it always happens. I make lots of Guamanian food on purpose, especially the fried rice. But the cadon is always a surprise. I just put stuff in the dutch oven, and might even think to myself beef stew. But out comes cadon.

I submitted it on allrecipes. But it isn’t approved yet, so can’t share it yet. But I have two other recipes showing there.

DD ate a whole lot of it. I gave her a bowlful and she wolfed it down and asked for more. My dad would be so proud.

Cadon

I can hear her in my head all the time, saying what she would have said.  Today, it would be the standard, “Christine, what you cook today?”

She was always terribly disappointed if we were having leftovers, or sandwiches. And she was so proud of DH for becoming a great cook that she had been gifting him with aprons and potholders and things.

I’m sure she would laugh at me, making room in the shelves, all the while DH joking and saying what I usually say, “Don’t buy any canned goods until we make room in the pantry!”

I made stir-fry chicken, using up a half bottle of soy sauce, cup of Vouvray wine, can of sliced water chestnuts, and three cups of jasmine rice.

Bon travail.

Preparation time: 25 min    Cooking time: 15 min    Chilling time: 1 hour minimum – overnight is better
Yield: 8 servings

Salad Ingredients:

2 pounds (about 12) small new red potatoes
1/2 pound fresh green beans, cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces
8 ounces shredded cheddar cheese
12 ounces salami, cubed 1/2 inch

Dressing Ingredients:

1/2 cup Sour Cream (You can use low fat and it will still taste good.  But don’t use non-fat, or it’ll be terrible.)
1/2 cup mayonnaise (If you must be fat conscious, use yogurt.)
2 tablespoons country-style Dijon mustard or horseradish
freshly grated black pepper – grate over the top

Slice potatoes into 1/4″ wafers.  Do not peel.  Boil until crisp-tender.  Blanch green beans – about 3 to 5 minutes boiling time.  They should still be crunchy, just not raw.  Rinse potatoes and beans in cold water.

While vegetables boil, mix dressing ingredients, except pepper in a large bowl. 

Add cooled vegetables to the dressing.  They can be a little warm, but don’t curdle the dairy ingredients!  Turn gently to coat all ingredients.  Chill one hour or overnight.

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