Ahhhhhh, Fresh Eggs!

My neighbor Georgianne brought back some farm-fresh, free range, brown eggs for me from Gloucester, Virginia about an hour away.  I made simple scrambled eggs with salt and paper with them.  Oh the butter, golden goodness and an intense egginess that you don't get in store-bought eggs.  I just had to put them in a plan white bowl on an old kitchen scale.

YUM O!

We had a fabulous lunch Saturday at Felinni's in downtown Norfolk, VA. We split a Greek salad with grilled chicken on top and an order of focaccia. Greek salad is a particular favorite of mine. Their Greek salad is one of my top two favorites in the area.

Felinni's is my favorite kind of place...local, independent...not a chain! Felinni's does something very interesting with their sun-dried tomatoes that I really like. They reconstitute them in boiling water and then add them to salads. Try this, it is quite delicious.

For more information about Felinni's and to see a menu, visit them at

http://www.fellinisva.com

Homemade Yogurt and Pizza

For all of you bloggers and lurkers out there who are hoping for a Kim from Daisy Cottage-style gorgeous blog post, this isn't going to be one! http://deardaisycottage.typepad.com/

Folks are worried about the economy and complaining about food prices. One of those people is a friend of mine whose husband eats lunch out EVERY DAY during the work week. This astounds me. If you can afford to spend over $1,400 out per year on lunch, the economy hasn't hit you yet.

Over the last year, we have vastly reduced the amount we spend and continue to look at ways to do even better They have been small changes, things like buying cheese in bulk and doing the shredding at home, buying regular carrots instead of baby carrots, shopping at the Dollar Store and Big Lots, eliminating diet soda, etc. The small changes led to the big change of cutting our grocery bill in half.

The last four pics represent a very successful attempt at making yogurt without a special appliance. I found the recipe here:

http://www.allfreecrafts.com/giftinajar/homemade-yogurt.shtml

Unlike the recipe, I did not buy a candy thermometer. I heated the milk to just under boiling when the bubbles formed at the sides and let it cool until my pinkie felt comfortable in the milk, but it was still hot. That would be Annie's thermometer, I guess. I let it sit overnight on the blue heating pad you see with a towel over it. If the yogurt isn't think enough for you, let it sit in a sieve lined with at paper towel or coffee filter for about a half hour. It came out just perfect.

One of the biggest changes is my commitment not to waste food. For several months, I have used up every morsel of food that has entered our house, as well as composting every bit of that which is not edible. That's not spoiled food, mind you, there hasn't been any spoiled food. It is the papery skins of onions, carrot tops, celery bottoms, etc. I have carefully utilized food in such a way that nothing has gone bad. That's the way it should be, but has not always been, here at the house at 256.

Americans waste an appalling amount of food with no excuse. It isn't that we don't have electricity of proper storage methods. We are simply lazy and inattentive when much of the world goes hungry. There's an interesting blog about it here: http://www.wastedfood.com/ There are moral implications to wasting food, as well as economic ones.

In my new effort not to waste food came last night's dinner, whole wheat pizza with dough made from the breadmaker. My recipe makes two small pizzas. I found it here: http://www.recipezaar.com/Whole-Wheat-Pizza-Crust-for-Bread-Machine-142788

I use whatever I need to use up in the fridge for pizza. Yesterday I had: a small amount of cooked, crumbled sausage; 1/4 of a package of sundried tomatoes; several onion halves; about 20 black olives, two tomatoes getting slightly soft, some pine nuts; some mozzerella and some ingenuity.

I carmelized the onions, which you can see in the first pic. I don't always use marinara sauce on pizza. This time, I brushed both pizza doughs with EEVO. I put black olives, sun dried tomatoes, sausage, fresh tomatoes, parmesan, onions, and mozzerella on one. I put black olives, 1 box of frozen spinach, two cheeses, onions, garlic, and pine nuts on the other. I topped both with crushed red pepper and Italian seasoning.

Last year, I would have thrown out the onions, the tomatoes, the pine nuts, and the olives. I'm glad that economic necessity prevented that this year. I hope you also enjoyed the shot of my cell phone. I have no idea why I left it in the shot.

The Eggs and I

I was having such a good frugal day on Monday. I went to the Dollar Store and got a great deal on shaving cream, some spices, and a replacement for the funnel Bruce decided to throw out, for whatever reason.

Then on to Farm Fresh, in the next parking lot over. Consolidating trips to save gas, don'tcha know. Got rutabagas, cabbage, and fruit that was on sale. The rutabagas and cabbage sound grim and Oliver Twistian, but we love both. Boneless chicken breasts on sale...rock on. Good price on eggs...way to go. Get three dozen. Request Monday military discount. Call to ask hubby to pick up windshield wiper fluid instead of Windex when he gets the dog food, thank you, Debra: http://debrasotherthoughts.blogspot.com/

Rush home to pop pre-made dinner in the oven: meatballs parm. Good job. Dinner will be ready on time. Carry all the food up the five steps to the house. Talk to sister on phone. Consider that if my sister and my phones were wiretapped, we would shock many. Smash six eggs while distracted. NOT FRUGAL!

Last year I would have thrown them out. On Monday, I thought about them. I could scoop them out, nuke them and mix them to supplement with dog kibble. I could make a stir fry now for tomorrow and use the eggs in an "egg drop soup" effect.

Eureka! I can make up three breakfast sandwiches for Bruce. I can do that and still talk to Kerry on the phone. I made a plain omelet and added a few bacon bits I had left over. I cut the omelet into three. I had buns in the freezer from a bargain shop last pay period. Added slices from a leftover tomato and a tiny sprinkling of grated cheese and voila!

Now before I get some comments, I broke the eggs when they slid out of my hand into the kitchen sink. It was a smooth move reminiscent of dumping the compost from under the sink all over my sneakers and the kitchen floor on Sunday when I went to take it out to the composting pile. I was fragrant. I would not use eggs that came from the store broken, because they could have salmonella poisoning.