Random Thoughts

Well, it really sucks when you get used to doing something, and then can't. Still no luck with the Blogger app for my phone, so I guess it's back to getting the photos off of my camera.  I just hate that extra step I have to take. . .

The vegetable garden is really taking off, and I made some home made marinara sauce with the bumper crop of tomatoes the other day.  Just chopped tomatoes, a splash of balsamic vinegar and a teaspoon of sugar and I let that cook up until the tomatoes started to fall apart.  I then put that through a food mill to get the skin and most of the seeds out and simmered the remaining liquid until it had reduced by about a third. Salted to taste, and it was really, REALLY good.  My husband commented how the taste does not compare to store bought spaghetti sauce.  The only downside was that I did not have enough to can, so next time, I will wait until I have a large stash in the freezer.  I had been reading up on tomatoes in my copy of The Encyclopedia of Country Living, and I saw that you can freeze whole tomatoes until you have enough to make a big batch. I will give that a try.

I got dinner going rather late yesterday as I had a migraine for much of the day.  I saved dinner by cooking a whole chicken (purchased for $2.50 when on sale) in my pressure cooker with a splash of lemon juice, several dashes of dried minced garlic, pepper, some Montreal Steak Seasoning and a bit of soy sauce.  Cooked that under pressure for about 30 minutes while I chopped up several zucchini from the garden and pan fried that with garlic powder, salt and pepper and some Italian seasoning.  The chicken was falling off the bone at the end of cooking.  My husband is on a low/no carb diet now, so that's all he had.  The boys ate it along with some leftover mashed potatoes from the other night. So the total outlay for dinner was only $2.50!

I realized yet again that I need to utilize my pressure cooker more often.  It makes tough cuts of meat tender AND cooks it faster than conventional cooking. If I remember to do that, it will help reduce our electric bill.  Our house is all electric, so it adds up after a while.  Need to find more recipes. . .

The food mill was a splurge item for me a while back.  I had been coveting one for a LOOOOONG time.  I had a $50 gift card from Williams Sonoma, but the All Clad mill I wanted was over $100.  That's more expensive than any of the pots and pans I own. Do I get it or a cheaper model that was mostly plastic?  I decided to go for quality because I knew I would be using it a whole bunch once I had enough tomatoes to can the surplus.  Though I still cringe when I think of the cost, I have not regretted the purchase. It is a joy to use, and has 3 interchangeable disks. I made some vegetable cream soup with it when I first got it, and it was so velvety smooth without the addition of cream.  My husband taught me that if you need a tool, one should always go for the best you can afford so you don't have to replace the item over and over.  In the long run, it's frugal.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it!