Author Archives: Nora

Grocery Update & Menu Plan- First Snow Day

12 Monday Dec 2016

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They had been forecasting the snow for most of last week so we had plenty of time to plan for Sunday & Monday.  As it turned out we got about an inch, followed by much rain that created icy slush.  The rain is supposed to stop about lunchtime so hopefully it will melt or I can get out to move it off the driveway before it freezes rock hard tonight.

I had a number of grocery stops this week.  On Monday I went to BJs; the coupons were set to expire.

Then on Thursday, I went to both Wegman’s and Shaws.  The first stop was Wegman’s.  Flour is on special for 99¢, limit 2, during the holiday season so you’ll see that in a few weeks worth of pictures.  Sugar is also limit 2, but I don’t need as much of that.

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The next stop was Shaws.  It was important to go Thursday because cheese was on sale.  This is the only store that carries the pizza cheese (and we’ve tried many others to less satisfaction) so I bought everything on the rack.  I also bought enough cheddar to last until I next see it on sale (its available at other stores).  I stocked up on bacon, hot dogs, and pizza dough which are only available at Shaws.  I also bought a box of oatmeal, but that didn’t make the picture.  Usually I only go to Shaws every 6-8 weeks (hence the stocking up), but the one box of oatmeal was all they had so I’ll need to go back sometime this week if only for that.

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We have a few nights out for the adults this week.  Plus, I don’t think the flight gets back Monday early enough for us all to eat together.  Tuesday & Thursday need to be quick as the boys have late afternoon activities.

Saturday:
Kids: hot dogs
Adults: Company dinner party

Sunday:
One gone for a business trip so take-out pizza

Monday:
Kids: Eggs
Adults: Homemade pizza

Tuesday:
Chicken pot pie
Green beans

Wednesday:
Potstickers (never got to this last week)
Soy dipping sauce
Broccolli

Thursday:
Asiago chicken

Friday:
Kids: Hot dogs
Adults: OUT

White Chili

09 Friday Dec 2016

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Here’s one way to use up your leftover turkey.  It’s especially nice that it has a different flavor profile from standard Thanksgiving fare, but will work even with a Thanksgiving-flavored bird.  I achieve the fresh cilantro by freezing it in chicken broth when I have extra.  One ice cube is basically 2 Tbsp.

We serve Tabasco, chives, diced tomato, cheddar cheese, and sour cream on the side.  We often have cornbread.

White Chili
Recipe courtesy of The Big Red Cookbook from Betty Crocker

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
3 cups of chicken broth
2 Tbsp fresh cilantro
2 Tbsp lime juice
1 tsp ground cumin
½ tsp dried oregano
¼ tsp red pepper sauce
¼ tsp salt
1 can (11 ounces) of corn
2 cups chopped cooked chicken or turkey

Directions:

  1. Heat oil in 4-Quart Dutch oven over medium heat.
  2. Cook onions and garlic until tender.
  3. Add all remaining ingredients except chicken/turkey.  Heat to boiling.  Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 20 minutes.
  4. Add chicken/turkey and simmer until hot.

Is this It?

08 Thursday Dec 2016

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I forgot to take a before picture, but suffice it to say that the stuff you see in the after pictures was distributed around the entire area under the stairs, covered with saw dust, etc.  There are six paint cans and some wood near the entrance still as I need to touch up those paint colors.  Then I’ll tuck them around back with the extra tile, grout, and other paint cans.  There’s also a bag of cement, but that needs to hit the trash as its already hardening.

Anyway, I moved everything out of the way, vacuumed the space and each item and put it back neatly so we can hopefully use the space to store other items also.  It will either be holiday items (don’t need them very often) or out of season sports equipment (would benefit from the confined space).  In the process, I learned that tile is much heavier than I thought, and boxes of tile become very heavy.  I got my workout yesterday!

I think this is the last batch of stuff left for us by the builder that needs organizing.  That just leaves the remaining boxes we brought from our old house.

Last Week’s Accomplishments – Holiday Season 2016

06 Tuesday Dec 2016

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Things have settled down a lot now that fall sports are done and Thanksgiving has past.

  • We had the last fall Before School Sports – one less morning we have to wake up extra early.  (Math mornings continue.)
  • The baby got her final flu shot.
  • I got a hair cut.
  • We had blinds put on the first floor.  I was trying to do something interesting here, but in the end went with the same basic honeycomb shades we put in the bedrooms.  I may change up the living room eventually, but for now they do the job of privacy and sun blocking, which were getting critical.
  • The older three boys were fitted for skis for their lessons which start in January.
  • We attended one birthday party.
  • The adults went out for dinner.
  • We finished the Christmas decorating – ornaments, village, and outdoor lighting.

November Grocery Review

05 Monday Dec 2016

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November was a great month budget-wise, especially since we had the Thanksgiving feast to account for.  I was at Stop & Shop more often than Wegman’s, but the totals ended up very similar.  The big local number was primarily the turkey purchase, although I also bought fresh fish while I was there for dinner before Thanksgiving.

  • November TOTAL: $876.10
    • Stop & Shop: $241.58
    • Wegman’s: $265.65
    • BJs: $110.25
    • Other: $258.62
      • Local: $194.90
      • Star Market: $43.80
      • Trader Joe’s: $19.92
      • Target: $0
      • Other: $0

As for this week’s shopping, I only made two trips to Stop and Shop.

The first trip was Monday.  One of the boys wants ham every day for lunch so I do have to get that weekly.  The chocolates were free; the Finlandia butter was 99¢ as I used both manufacturer’s and store coupons.  The chives and ham were the only items not on sale.

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My second trip was on Saturday.  Fewer of these items were on sale – Doritos, chicken, ground turkey, gravy, and juice.  The other items flesh out things I did purchase earlier on sale that we’ll be eating this week – hot dogs and ground pork.  Beyond the obligatory ham purchase, I got some salami.

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Saturday:
Kids: hot dogs
Adults: OUT

Sunday:
Grilled leg of lamb
Baked potatoes
Peas
Focaccia

Monday:
Kids: chicken nuggets
Adults: tuna noodle casserole

Tuesday:
Tacos
Corn

Wednesday:
Lemon chicken
Pan fried potatoes
Brussels sprouts

Thursday:
Pot stickers
Soy dipping sauce
Broccoli

Friday:
Kids: Eggs
Adults: Homemade pizza

House Design – Two Ovens?

01 Thursday Dec 2016

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I went into the house buying process with the goal of getting two ovens in my next kitchen.  It was by no means the reason for moving (we could have renovated the kitchen), but if I was going to move it was something I was looking for.

I had assumed that this would be stacked wall ovens, which one sees in most new home construction.  But, I didn’t want the range in the island and that meant a distinct lack of wall space.  So, I went round and round evaluating different options.  Some newer models come with a second oven instead of the storage drawer at the bottom, or have divided the full height into two ovens.  This wasn’t going to help much as my goal was to cook two larger items.  Then we evaluated side by side 48″ ranges.  These offer a standard size oven and a small oven.  For us this was an improvement on the horizontal divider, but since my cookie sheets didn’t fit in the smaller oven it was not ideal later.

Mr. Google led me to the idea of two ranges and eventually to this blog which showed side by side Frigidaire ranges – http://www.chrislovesjulia.com/2015/09/idaho-home-full-kitchen-reveal.html.  This could solve our problem!

We went with Kitchenaid instead, as we had already selected their fridge.  In the end we swapped the dishwasher for the Kitchenaid model also giving us a full suite.

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As you can imagine, once I requested this there were many questions – from the appliance guy, builder, inspector, plumber, electrician, etc.  And, Kitchenaid wasn’t quite as forthcoming as the blog asserted Fridgidaire was in endorsing this arrangement.  But, everyone agreed there should be no issues and we moved forward.

It has been a great decision.  These are 30″ dual fuel ranges (electric ovens and gas cooktops).  When one switches from gas to dual fuel, Kitchenaid switches the storage drawer to a baking drawer so we actually have 4 ovens!  The lower ones are very small and I’m still not sure of the value of them.  You can’t do much more than a lasagna, but I guess you’re not heating up as large a space.

I have run both simultaneously.  I really appreciate the extra space on top to put hot items fresh from the oven.  One doesn’t quickly identify them as two ranges.  There’s a seam in the top section and two clocks, but that’s about it.

It turns out two standard ranges are also significantly less expensive than dual ovens plus range, even the dual oven wall units.  Two of these are also less than either a 60″ or 48″ range, even by a similar grade manufacturer.  All in all I think we got great functionality for significantly less cost.  And, if someday we want to upgrade to a professional 60″ range, it should slide right in.

Last Week’s Accomplishments – Sorting the Hand-Me-Downs

29 Tuesday Nov 2016

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Thanksgiving was pretty much the focus last week.  We also started the run-up to Christmas.

  • I finally got a picture of the baby with all her shoes.  Note, these aren’t actually all the shoes I’ve found in the hand-me down boxes.  But, these are all the size 2s which is her current size (note, this is the smallest size I found).  I don’t think there are more than 4 pairs of any other size.  This seems like an awful lot for someone who can’t actually walk.

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  • We went Christmas tree shopping.  Many years back we had an artificial tree.  It got dusty and technology had advanced so we got rid of it and had real trees for a few years.  This year we decided to get a new fake one – LED, pre-lit, etc.  I had done some pre-shopping, but we ended up checking out Home Depot and BJs before settling on one from Lowe’s.  It’s not as thick as the old one, but it goes up much more quickly and I think we won’t notice once the ornaments are on.  One gripe I had about real trees is that often it seems like the ornaments are draped on the tree as there isn’t space for them to hang.
  • We also audited our string lights and discovered that they’re all indoor/outdoor.  I wasn’t expecting that, but we have more outdoor decoration potential here so it came in handy.
  • I got some new candles for the windows.  The ones we’ve had for the past 10 years were really dim so we’re trying a new brand.  I’ll see how one looks before opening the other boxes in case I need to return them.
  • I went to Kindergarten special person day with the baby.  We answered questions for the class about our family.

Grocery Update and Thanksgiving Menu

28 Monday Nov 2016

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I really got my act together this week.  I made one stop and the farm stand on Monday for the turkey and a handful of other items.  Then, I went to Wegman’s on the Saturday after Thanksgiving which should largely take care of this upcoming week.  The items on the left – fish, swiss chard, and tomatoes – are for Monday’s dinner.  The rest are for Thanksgiving.

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Given this, what did we have for Thanksgiving?  Well, I made:

  • Herb rubbed turkey
  • Apple cider glazed turkey
  • Oyster stuffing
  • Brown butter Brussels Sprouts
  • Steamed green beans
  • Boiled onions
  • Tossed salad

Others brought desserts and additional sides.  Generally, this menu went over well and the leftovers were enjoyed as well.

After Thanksgiving, I went to Wegman’s.  The primary purpose of this trip was milk.  But, I rounded out some items we were low on at home and added a few things to get through this week.  The shallots and tenderloins will be adult dinner on Tuesday (Kindergarten math night means we’ll eat separately).  The limes and Tabasco are for a white chili on Monday night to polish off the turkey.

Last Week’s Accomplishments – New Decor

22 Tuesday Nov 2016

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After a bit of a lull, we had a busy week last week.

  • We had two dentist appointments.
  • I went to the preschool parent/teacher conference.
  • The older boys saw Fantastic Beasts.
  • I finalized our Thanksgiving menu.
  • We discovered a problem with the siding.  Thankfully, this will be fixed under warranty.  Apparently there was a change in the manufacturing process, which didn’t work out well, so they went back to the old formulation.  In the spring when its warm enough to paint again they’ll replace the siding.
  • We finally got around to hanging the artwork in the front entry.  We’ve thought about getting some metal sculpture for a while, but we didn’t want to catch ourselves since they tend to protrude from the wall.  This location was perfect as its recessed and the sculpture is just the right size.

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  • I finished sorting/hanging all the hand-me down girls clothing.

Grocery Update

21 Monday Nov 2016

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This was my big Thanksgiving shopping week.  I will pick up a few more items, but mostly its done.

On Tuesday, I went to Wegman’s.  Actually, this was more of a restocking trip.  The only thing I’ll be using for Thanksgiving here is the Jiffy cornbread mix as I need some cornbread for the stuffing.  As an aside, Clementines seem now to come in cardboard boxes vs wooden crates.  And, Wegman’s asked if I really wanted to keep the box.  Since it was my first purchase of they year I did, to keep them from rolling around in the fridge.  But, I guess I only need one.  I’m not sure if they reuse or recycle them.

 

On Wednesday, I went to Stop & Shop.  This time the only items I’ll be using for Thanksgiving are cranberry sauce and some lemons.  The paper wrapper is fish (hence the lemons).

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Saturday, I went to Stop & Shop again.  This time Thanksgiving was in the offing.  For Thanksgiving, I bought onions, potatoes, butter, celery, garlic, herbs, and the green pepper.  The ground beef was for that night’s dinner (chili).  The leg of lamb was on a great sale; we’ll eat it after the holiday.

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