Menu Plans, Wish Wash and Saying No to HFCS

There's something about fall that causes me to want to do things around the house and the range from cuddling up under a blanket with a good book to actively doing things around the house. The past few weekends, I've been making progress on several projects.

1. I've almost caught up reading all of my Gourmet and Bon Appetit magazines and this morning actually constructed a meal plan before going grocery shopping. This evening I kicked off my week of meals with a hearty cannellini bean, tomato, spinach and sausage stew (I subbed sausage and spinach). Very delicious indeed. For the rest of the week, I plan to try my hand at a chicken and cashew stir fry (I'm trying to replicate take out so I can eliminate all that MSG); Crisp Pork Medallions with Creamy Caper Sauce; and I'm also going to make and freeze some Make Ahead Lunch Wraps so I can avoid eating out so much.

Here's a pic of tonight's stew:


















2. Today I made my own laundry detergent. Yea you heard me. I know it sounds crazy. But when I have to dish out $15 to $18 for a huge bottle of Tide, it's painful. And, I've got to think that there's a bunch of chemicals in there that aren't necessary. So I found this simple recipe online and made it myself. It took about 30 minutes and cost about $2. That will be about a $0.01 a load. Now I have some extra cash for saving for my next trip or my next splurge on good cheese.

3. I made and canned salsa a few weekends a back with the last of the good summer tomatoes and Serrano peppers from the farmer's market in Muskegon. It was my first time canning on my own and if I ever have my own garden some day, I'm definitely going to do more of it.

4. I've also been trying to stop eating high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) altogether. It's really difficult to eliminate it completely. Usually I cook things fresh, but sometimes ingredients you have in your pantry sneak it in there. Ketchup will be the toughest thing to give up I think, though I have read recipes for canning this...I'm intrigued. I also discovered recently that Worcestershire sauce has HFCS in it and the label says the recipe is from the early 20th century. I'm not a betting girl, but somehow I suspect HFCS wasn't in their original recipe. I wrote the manufacturers a scathing letter. :-)

5. I've also made some progress on my living room pillows, but not enough to really report yet. More on that later.

I Define Blogging Underachievement

As much as I really enjoy writing, it seems that I don't do all that much of it on here any more - for the love, I've been averaging one post per month!

But regardless, assuming anyone actually reads this anymore, I thought I'd share my top five summer highlights:

Number 5 - Herb Garden
I've always wanted to have a garden, but living in an apartment has its limitations and access to soil is indeed one of them. But, this year, I did manage to put some herbs in two four foot long planters on my patio and the herbs have grown beautifully and made my salads, sauces and dinners all the more flavorfull and delightful. This weekend I made a roasted vegetable lasagna with a fresh marinara sauce with thyme, basil, oregano and Italian parsley from the garden - delicious.

Number 4 - Patio Paradise
One of the perks of my place is the size of the patio and I promised myself this summer that I would make it an extension of my living space with some chairs, a rug and a fountain. The two chairs I bought at IKEA have the design elements and appearance I love, but also they are super comfy. I've sipped many a cocktail out there this summer and Sallycat seems to enjoy the purple rag rug as well.

Number 3 - Making Gazpacho in my Cuisinart
I knew the Cuisinart I received last winter would be put to good use and I knew one of those uses would be to make gazpacho. It's funny because the recipe for this deliciously fresh and cold soup in the Cuisinart instruction manual is actually quite delicious. After a trip to the farmer's market, I can barely wait to head home make this...and I have been all summer long.

Number 2 - Getting a shout out from one of my favorite bloggers

Number 1 - Canoe trip to the Quetico Provincial Park in Canada
I had always hear the Boundary Waters was a terrific place to go, but when I was invited to go north of there to the Quetico with a small group, I could hardly turn it down. I spent seven glorious days up there in July, paddling, trying to learn to fly fish and cooking gourmet meals over a camp fire. I tried northern pike for the first time and had small mouth bass prepared as ceviche (a cooking method where the acid and citrus from lime juice cooks the fish) - terrific! The weather could have been warmer and less rainy, but the location and the remote wilderness experience made me forget about feeling soggy. I long for the next time I go there. I have never been somewhere that I went almost seven days without hearing anything mechanical or seeing another group of people. It was the best.

Becky Had a Little Lamb (with beans and sundried tomatoes)

Tonight I made Lamb and White Beans with Rosemary from Everyday Food Magazine - a Martha Stewart publication. One of my co-workers is ever so very generous each month and lets me have the whole magazine. Her husband gets it and reads it, but never even rips out the recipes. I've made some delicious things out of it before, but this recipe was indeed one of the best. The lamb was delicious and the beans and sundried tomatoes were cooked to perfection. The recipe doesn't call for parsley but I threw some in for some color at the end. I paired this deliciousness with some snow peas made Italian style and a fine glass of red wine and it was a great evening.

These Are a Few of My Favorite New Things

Since the holidays I have been so fortunate as to acquire a few new items around the house - many of which I've been coveting for a long time. Three are gifts, one is homemade, two are fun purchases, two were offered to me and one appeared naturally. Here is the run down...(ahem)...clockwise from the top left:

1. Gift - Pottery Barn Cheese Plates - A gift from my brother-in-law for Christmas, this set of four vintage look cheese plates made me giggle with glee. Not only do I love cheese, love vintage label art and asked for them specifically for Christmas, they also filled the plate rack in my kitchen that has been sitting empty for some time. Note: the fourth plate - a green one - does not fit in the rack and is currently taking up residency in the cupboard. The plates read: "Camembert Superieur"; "Bumble Bee Brie"; and "Five Point Cheese Company: Parmigiano Reggiano." Perfect.

2. Homemade - A funky green tablecloth with ball fringe (my absolute favorite sewing notion) that I made with the careful assistance of the Joanie (aka my mother). She's trying to teach me to sew and this being the simplest thing a girl can make, it was a good starting project. I really enjoyed the project because it's very fun to actually pick out the fabric you like for something to make it as opposed to being limited to what manufacturers are putting out there. And, did I mention the ball fringe? No really...did you see the ball fringe? I love the ball fringe. I think I'll say it one more time..."ball fringe."

3. Purchase - I've been coveting this green leaf serving platter at Target for some time now. This weekend I was at Target with my friend Rachel and it was marked down to $5. I purchased it immediately. I'm seeing some lovely sushi or bruschetta on it in the future.

4. Gift/Offered - I received The Silver Spoon, one of the greatest Italian cookbooks of all time for Christmas. I've been dreaming of owning it for months. In addition, I received some correspondence from one of my airline frequent flier programs that I had to use some of my miles or lose them, so I subscribed to Gourmet and Bon Appetit for free. I've already received two issues and I've really enjoyed the articles about food around the world. They are different magazines than Cooking Light and a nice change. They tell the stories of chefs around the world. One of the interesting facts I've read so far is that prosciutto di parma (the really yummy Italian dried ham I adore) is so yummy because they feed the pigs the whey from making parmigiano reggiano cheese. Who knew?

5. Naturally - The snow today! Grand Haven got over 6 inches of snow today while I was at work. It is absolutely beautiful. What I love about the picture is that it is taken in color but looks black and white. Those are the trees across the field that my apartment overlooks. In other related snow news today...my office overlooks the Grand River in downtown GH. The channel is just now starting to freeze. The floating ice masses become little boats for the sea gulls. There were whole flocks of them riding ice boats down the river. It cracked me up. Some were only large enough to hold one bird, while others hosted whole flocks.

6. Purchase - Behold the new curtains in my spare bedroom. I found them yesterday and splurged on them. I think I really like them, my only concern is that they might be too 1970s and in a few years I won't like them. They are made from a light blue dupioni silk with screened flowers in navy highlighted with gold. They match my navy bedspread really well and give the room more color. One of the things I don't like about my apartment is that the walls are all white.

7. Gift - And finally, the food processor. I can already taste the gazpacho in the summertime from this baby. I should admit to the Internet that I actually watched the instructional video and enjoyed it. Yep, that's me...total kitchen GEEK.

So that's the tour. I assure you not much else has changed around here. But, if you are curious about any of the above...come visit. I'll make dinner with my food processor from recipes from Silver Spoon, Gourmet, and Bon Appetit, serve it to you on my leaf platter and cheese plates on my green tablecloth, while you blissfully watch the falling snow and anticipate sleeping in the very well decorated spare room.

Cue Julie Andrews...I'm out.