Tri-tip with Chimichurri

14 Friday Jul 2017

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We made a new discovery this week. We tried it one weekend, and then decided we liked it so much that we made it again the second weekend. So, if you noticed tri-tip in my grocery purchases twice in the same week, that’s why.

I didn’t invent, or even much alter, these recipes. I just put them all together. The first time through we tried sugar snap peas as the side. We all agreed that while we liked sugar snap peas (and I had them already needing to be eaten with something), they weren’t right for this dish. The cauliflower was a much better option, but we may continue trying other sides.

First the tri-tip with chimichurri. This was a nice, simple recipe from Bon Appetit. There were a few modifications:

We omitted the sesame seeds.
I substituted 1 Tbsp sugar for the agave nectar.
Next time I’m going to try making the chimichurri in a food processor or blender because we’d prefer the greens a bit more broken down.

Next, the bread. This is King Arthur Flour’s French-Style Country Bread. I’d never made it before pairing it here, but it is very good and will definitely enter the rotation with other meals also. Note, the first time I made this I used 2 hours for the starter and the full times for the rises. This produced a very soft bread with larger holes. The second time I was in a bit of a hurry so I shortened all the times a bit. Both were tasty, but I’d recommend going for the longer times for truly light, airy bread.

Not pictured, but with the bread, we had guacamole. Definitely recommend putting this on the bread.

The cauliflower held its own much better than the peas. It’s a recipe we make a few times a year. The kids prefer it without the cheese sauce which is easy enough to accommodate.

June 2017 Grocery Review

10 Monday Jul 2017

Posted by Nora in Groceries

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Grocery Spending

I’ve had an unplanned two week hiatus as I managed to get a long cold following the end of school and for 4th of July week. I’m on the mend now so we’ll plan to get back up and running per normal.

At some point I’ll post the grocery trips from the missing weeks. Meals have been very similar to baseball season since there’s was essentially no gap between spring and summer baseball this year. The summer season does have a more regular schedule. So, the plan is for quick/split dinners Tuesdays, Thursdays, and one weekend night. But, we’ve already had a few rain outs and rescheduled games so some flexibility is required.

On to the shopping. I tried to stock up before the kids were out of school for the summer so I wouldn’t need to make too many trips with lots of people. Therefore, I’m expecting a slightly higher total.

June TOTAL: $1,379.78

Stop & Shop: $138.53
Wegman’s: $499.62
BJs: $428.46
Other: $313.17
- Local: $103.25
- Star Market: $147.87
- Trader Joe’s: $0
- Target: $62.05
- Other: $0

I only made three stops this week, one of which was tiny.

Last Monday I went to Wegman’s. This was mostly shopping for three meals – french toast, hot dogs & sausages, and tri-tip with chimichurri. I picked up a full load of milk also, it just didn’t make the picture.

On Thursday, I picked up three items at Stop & Shop.

Then, on Saturday I was back at Wegman’s for the next weekend’s meals. I should see if Stop & Shop carries tri-tip. I don’t think they do.

Last Week’s Accomplishments – It’s all About 5th Grade

20 Tuesday Jun 2017

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Andover Collection, Pavers by Ideal

While school doesn’t let out until later this week, last week was dominated by 5th grade activities:

Graduation ceremony
Pool party
Singing the National Anthem at opening night for minor league baseball

We also had:

The last of the spring baseball activities
Two birthday parties
One Dr. appointment
The last day of preschool for this year

On the house front, our patio installation is almost finished. We need the sod/seed to take and then the patio will be sealed before we move the cooking and seating onto it.

The patio is about 300 ft² using Pavers by Ideal’s Andover Collection – Oxford grey set stone pattern with GrandStone.

Grocery Update & What We Ate – Week 24, 2017

19 Monday Jun 2017

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There’s no other way to say it. I made a lot of stops this week. I went to Stop & Shop twice, Wegman’s twice, and Shaw’s once (no picture of that one).

My first trip to Stop & Shop was on Monday. Hopefully this is the beginning of the transition from quick meals to full family affairs.

Friday I made a very small stop at Wegman’s.

I made a very small trip to Stop & Shop on Saturday.

Then, on Sunday we went to Wegman’s again for a Father’s Day meal.

Hopefully I won’t have to go again soon. Though, I’m certain milk will be the deciding factor.

We were still busy with baseball this week, but had the weekend free for the first time in a long while.

Monday:
Kids: Hot dogs
Adults: Chinese take-out

Tuesday:
Kids: Chicken nuggets
Adults: Homemade pizza

Wednesday:
Spaghetti & meatballs

Thursday:
Kids: Pancakes
Adults: Homemade pizza

Friday:
Kids: Eggs
Adults: Homemade pizza

Saturday:
Sous vide salmon, pan fried potatoes, spinach salad

Sunday:
Steak, baked potato, creamed spinach, Caesar salad

Last Two Week’s Accomplishments – Spring Sports are Done!

13 Tuesday Jun 2017

Posted by Nora in Accomplishments, Family, Sports

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Yes, soccer and baseball are finished for the spring. Now, a short respite until summer. We would have liked to continue baseball for one more week, as our oldest lost in the second round of the playoffs. But, it was a tight game to finish out their season.

So, this will be the last post for a while that is sports dominated:

We had 6 baseball games and 3 baseball practices.
We had 6 soccer games and 2 soccer practices.
Our oldest went to the 5th grade track meet.
Our oldest had a few extra baseball lessons.
Our oldest went on the 5th grade camping trip.
We had our last Math Morning.
I went to a retirement party for the preschool director.
I also met the incoming preschool director.
We had a preschool play date.
I had a doctor appointment.
We attended two birthday parties.
It finally warmed up so we went to the pool. Our preschooler spotted a bunny.

The warm weather must have been exhausting because multiple people fell asleep on the floor.

We thought a sky scraper had sprouted in town, especially as the first time we saw it, it was a dark and rainy day. In actuality it is a church steeple wrapped in scaffolding, which is a bit easier to see in this sunny day picture.

IMG_6472 cropped

Grocery Update & What We Ate – Week 23, 2017

12 Monday Jun 2017

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I made for grocery stops last week, which is more than usual. One was the monthly trip to BJs. Two were to Shaw’s! I usually only go there once every six weeks or so. But, they’ve been very low on pizza dough when I’ve gone recently and we’ve been using more of that because of baseball season. You may see it as one of my stops this coming week also.

On Monday, I made my first trip to Shaw’s. I restocked on oatmeal, which was on sale. Kraft shredded cheeses and grapes were also on sale. The Coke was for that afternoon. And, I got all the pizza dough balls they had.

On Wednesday, I went to BJs and Stop & Shop. Both trips were for primarily non-food items that were on sale/had coupons. You’ll see in the menu below that the chicken nuggets are not lasting long right now.

Now for Stop & Shop. Rather than listing everything that was on sale, I’ll just say that the bananas (39¢/lb), shallot, and bagels were not on sale.

Then on Friday, I tried Shaw’s again. Two was it for pizza dough, but I did find some of the large bacon packages.

As for what we ate, it was incredibly boring!

Monday:
Kids: Chicken nuggets
Adults: Homemade pizza

Tuesday:
Spaghetti & meatballs

Wednesday:
Kids: Chicken nuggets
Adults: Homemade pizza

Thursday:
Kids: Take out pizza
Adults: Homemade pizza

Friday:
Kids: Pancakes
Adults: Indian take out
Carrots
Popovers

Saturday:
Eggs

Sunday:
Kids: Chicken nuggets
Adults: Pan fried steak, potato pancake

Fitbit Service vs Performance

09 Friday Jun 2017

Posted by Nora in Product Reviews

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Fitbit, Fitbit Charge

Not sure if this is a positive endorsement, or an indictment of Fitbit.

I was gifted a Fitbit Charge about 10 months ago. I’d thought about getting one for a while, but hadn’t pulled the trigger. Having set it up, its been interesting to see what it had to say but I try not to be a slave to it.

Most noticeably, while the base flights of stairs goal came almost automatically, getting to the magical 10K steps was rare initially. I bumped the stair goal to 20 flights a day and I still get there most of the time without thinking hard about it.

The steps, on the other hand, were interesting. Moving alone added a couple of thousand steps. Yes, we have a bit more square footage. But, from Fitbit’s perspective its the attributes of newer houses that increase the steps. For example, modern hallways are wider by code so just crossing the hall from the bedroom to the bathroom takes almost twice as many steps.

So, it does what it says it should do. And, its interesting data for one’s life. Does that make it worth purchasing? That would be your decision.

Now, for the meat of the post though.

Over the winter the band on my Fitbit Charge started bubbling and then last month it separated entirely so it is no longer a band, but an open circle.

Mr. Google told me that this was a reasonably common problem and I should contact Fitbit for a replacement. This was a remarkably quick, hasslefree process and my replacement (now purple as I couldn’t find red on the color choices) arrived soon after. It synced and we were off and running again.

But, then I discovered that the only two other people in my immediate family to own Fitbits also had theirs fail (for various reasons) within the first year and were having Fitbit replace them at no charge. So, now a bunch of folks I know plus all those who wrote in to Google about their experience have free replacement Fitbits. (There was also an option of a significant discount on an upgraded model.)

So, is this a ringing endorsement. It does perform as advertised. It’s easy to use. And, their customer service is great.

Or, is in an indictment of their poor quality. Maybe both.

May 2017 Grocery Review

06 Tuesday Jun 2017

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Grocery Spending

May is the heart of baseball season, so its almost all quick meals around here. We’re also starting to transition from winter to summer foods (although now, in early June, its only in the mid-50s). I did make two trips to BJ’s, so that number is higher than usual.

May TOTAL: $1,129.20

Stop & Shop: $91.30
Wegman’s: $397.18
BJs: $350.77
Other: $289.95
- Local: $131.49
- Star Market: $120.06
- Trader Joe’s: $0
- Target: $38.40
- Other: $0

I made a few small grocery trips last week.

Monday I stopped at the farm stand, primarily for green beans.

Wednesday, I went to Wegman’s.

Finally, on Thursday I made a very small trip to Stop & Shop for taco supplies. Cheese was on sale plus I had a coupon.

As for eating, it was a typical baseball week.

Monday:
Hamburgers

Tuesday:
Kids: Chicken nuggets
Adults: Homemade pizza

Wednesday:
Kids: Pulled pork, pan fried potatoes, watermelon
Adults: Take-out pizza

Thursday:
Tacos, corn

Friday:
Chinese take out

Saturday:
Kids: Chicken nuggets
Adults: Homemade pizza

Sunday:
Spaghetti & meatballs

Chicken and Walnuts

02 Friday Jun 2017

Posted by Nora in Recipes

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Chicken, tofu

This is a very Americanized version of an Asian inspired dish. It works equally well with tofu to produce a vegetarian version. It is also easy to double or triple depending on your needs. Serve over rice or noodles with a vegetable on the side.

Ingredients:
1-2 lbs boneless chicken thighs, cut up
*** works equally well with tofu or boneless chicken breasts, depending on your tastes
¼ cup brown sugar
1/3 cup soy sauce
¼ cup apple juice
2 T red wine vinegar
2 T vegetable oil
½ tsp ground ginger
½ tsp pepper
¼ cup sliced scallions
½ cup walnuts

Directions:

Combine brown sugar through pepper to create the marinade.
Marinate chicken at least half an hour.
Drain chicken, saving the marinade.
Stir fry the chicken with the scallions.
When the chicken is cooked through, add the marinade to the pan and reduce.
Add the walnuts just before serving.

Product Thoughts – Socks and Goldfish

01 Thursday Jun 2017

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Large Family

I didn’t really have enough to say on either to make they’re own post, so let’s put two random things together.

A request to the sports sock makers – and really all sock makers out there: Please include the size on the socks. We’re all now used to baby/toddler socks being marked with the size. It’s a useful pattern for their anti-skid materials.

But, it can be done with big people socks also. See how the M for medium is stitched into the red bulk socks from Target. I have “S” and “L” Target socks too. It makes life so much easier.

In contrast, the yellow soccer socks are entirely unmarked. These are a small and large pair. And, yes, its reasonably easy to tell them apart. But, that’s just because we don’t have anyone wearing medium at the moment. Plus, I hand down soccer socks to the next person, which often means storing them for a bit. So apart from yellow (town team sock color), I try to buy different colors for different sizes. But, that’s not the best solution. Just stitch the sizes in. Thank you, in advance.

On an entirely different topic, I was given a pack of whole grain cheddar Goldfish crackers. Now, they don’t taste bad. But, they definitely don’t taste like the original. I think they’re less tasty, which might also lead one to eat fewer. Whole grains might be better for you, but is part of that “betterness” just that we’re eating fewer of those carbs because they don’t taste as good? As you can see, the main nutrition spec on the package is almost exactly the same.