tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-61417496451302029732011-08-19T07:12:05.250-07:00The Lenten Experiment<i><b></b>In January of 2009 I began a Lenten experiment. I wanted to see if my husband and I could eat adequate amounts of tasty and nutritious food on a food-stamp budget. I also wanted to see what I might learn from the attempt. I recorded the experiment in fifty almost-daily posts on my blog Lively Dust. I am re-posting them here, beginning with the oldest, so you can easily read them in order of writing.</i>LaVonne Neffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12662198791868400418noreply@blogger.comBlogger501100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141749645130202973.post-11767196302452674682010-01-25T15:07:00.000-08:002010-02-10T19:39:17.818-08:001. Please advise us on our Lenten plans
The good news: I'm old enough now that not even the Catholic church requires me to fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday (scroll to Canon 1252).
But I want to do something meaningful for Lent, and I'd like it to be more significant than just giving up something (sugar? wine? whining?) or adding something (daily Mass? optimistic blog posts?).
So here's my idea. I think I'd like to try limiting LaVonne Neffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12662198791868400418noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141749645130202973.post-40695978638582035172010-01-24T07:01:00.000-08:002010-02-10T19:39:32.770-08:002. Canned food from Target
Thanks to all of you who have responded to the post about Lenten plans. Several have sent recipes for cheap, tasty, nutritious food, and with your permission I'll post some of these.
Now that I'm thinking about the Lenten Poverty Experiment, grocery shopping is turning into a challenging brain exercise. Monday, while at Target, I decided to pick up some canned goods to take to the People's LaVonne Neffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12662198791868400418noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141749645130202973.post-34997304314663816962010-01-23T11:57:00.000-08:002010-02-10T19:40:00.522-08:003. Cheap food as a spiritual discipline
My friend Jennifer read my January 18 post, "Please advise us on our Lenten plans," and wrote:
I would love to do this, but I confess it would be for material, not spiritual reasons--I need to save money! I answered:
The whole point of my blog is that the material and the spiritual are inextricably linked--so your reasons are fine.With unemployment rising and salaries being frozen or reduced, LaVonne Neffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12662198791868400418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141749645130202973.post-7984823657490637262010-01-22T12:38:00.000-08:002010-02-10T19:40:19.857-08:004. The rules
OK, you want to play the game. For a day, a week, a month, six weeks--you decide--you're going to try to eat tasty, healthy food without spending more than suggested in the U.S. Department of Agriculture's thrifty plan, which is the basis for food-stamp allotments.
To calculate how much you can spend, you can click the link in the previous sentence and work out a precise amount based on your LaVonne Neffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12662198791868400418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141749645130202973.post-27632090821287760212010-01-21T13:19:00.000-08:002010-02-10T19:40:40.376-08:005. Ten reasons to try the $6-a-day food experiment1. It might help with your blood pressure, glucose, cholesterol, or body-mass index
2. You only have $6/day to spend on food anyway, so you may as well feel righteous about it
3. You'd like to reduce your spending to $6/day so you can buy more books
4. You'd like to reduce your spending to $6/day so you can give an equal amount to your local food pantry
5. You're a misunderstood ascetic in a LaVonne Neffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12662198791868400418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141749645130202973.post-35574087256925541432010-01-20T07:15:00.000-08:002010-02-10T19:41:02.889-08:006. Lentil soup
Thanks to Jana Riess for this extremely easy, cheap, and tasty recipe. I plan to serve this soup regularly during the Lenten Experiment, along with homemade bread and perhaps a salad. Maybe we'll even be able to afford fresh fruit for dessert...
This recipe makes at least 10 cups of soup. If you need only one or two servings, you can freeze the rest. Or throw a party.
Rinse
one pound of LaVonne Neffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12662198791868400418noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141749645130202973.post-17089343765064837102010-01-19T08:03:00.000-08:002010-02-10T19:41:31.255-08:007. Uh oh
"The best way to gain weight in America is to go on food stamps."
--Dr. Mehmet Oz on Oprah this morning
So, if we do this Lenten Experiment, will we need to get Easter outfits in a larger size?LaVonne Neffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12662198791868400418noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141749645130202973.post-90749008987845099792010-01-18T15:26:00.000-08:002010-02-10T19:41:51.840-08:008. Trader Joe's or Aldi?If we're going to eat cheaply during Lent, I decided, it might be a good idea to find out how much food costs. So yesterday I went to Aldi and Trader Joe's, conveniently owned by the same family of German billionaires and conveniently located on the same stretch of Roosevelt Road in Glen Ellyn, IL. (To go directly to my downloadable chart comparing several dozen items at the two stores, click LaVonne Neffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12662198791868400418noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141749645130202973.post-78962215805000325532010-01-17T05:56:00.000-08:002010-02-10T19:42:08.333-08:009. The frugal couple considers wine, part 1
Ash Wednesday--the day we're going to start our Lenten Experiment of eating on a food-stamp budget--is less than two weeks away, and every trip to a grocery store has become a consciousness-raising experience.
If I really had only $12 a day to spend on food for two adults, would I have spent $3.49 on four small avocados? $2.99 for a box of blackberries? $2.49 for a bag of wild arugula? $3.49 LaVonne Neffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12662198791868400418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141749645130202973.post-57448681063345559292010-01-16T15:23:00.000-08:002010-02-10T19:42:24.457-08:0010. The frugal couple considers wine, part 2
So, I'm asking myself, can I do the Lenten Experiment and still buy wine?
Maybe, since really poor people--even in America, even with food stamps--can't afford wine, I shouldn't buy any either.
Maybe I should allow myself to buy some wine if I can manage to include it in the $6/day per person food budget (and still eat a balanced diet, of course).
Maybe this experiment is about food, not wine--LaVonne Neffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12662198791868400418noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141749645130202973.post-85614008360276989762010-01-15T13:35:00.000-08:002010-02-10T19:42:47.964-08:0011. The frugal couple considers wine, part 3
I asked some of my oenophilic friends to suggest drinkable wines that cost $5.99 or less. One friend responded, "I don't think you can get wine for $5.99 that you would really enjoy drinking. I'm not being snobbish, it's just that things have gotten so expensive that my favorite cheap wines now cost real money."
Another friend referred me to this depressing little article, now three years old, LaVonne Neffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12662198791868400418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141749645130202973.post-89714026265165613322010-01-14T12:41:00.000-08:002010-02-10T19:43:50.744-08:0012. Goody Two Shoes makes a troubling discovery
Being good is so depressing.
Several years ago my cardiologist, having determined that my heart is poorly constructed, told me,
The good news is, you don't smoke, so the situation isn't as bad as it could be.
The bad news is, you don't smoke, so there's nothing you can stop doing to make the situation better.
I felt like I feel when I read articles telling me I can look years younger! stop LaVonne Neffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12662198791868400418noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141749645130202973.post-25843027183665028602010-01-13T13:05:00.000-08:002010-02-10T19:44:22.519-08:0013. The frugal couple considers wine, part 4Yesterday I went to Binny's and picked up the 2006 Vinos Sin Ley M4 Bullas that Roger recommended. Usual price, $11.99 to $15.99. Binny's sale price: $5.99. Not a beginner's wine--one blogger describes it as "a dark, bitter, catalonian anarchist"--but one with enough guts to stand up to red meat yet enough complexity to be enjoyed on its own.
Moral: It is possible to get a good house wine for LaVonne Neffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12662198791868400418noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141749645130202973.post-77729340251544618062010-01-12T13:06:00.000-08:002010-02-10T19:45:55.483-08:0014. What we're going to do, and why it's not especially nobleI'm so ready for spring, so unready for Lent. Who came up with this idea of giving up things, anyway?
But yes. We are going to do it--try, that is, to keep our food budget under $12/day, starting tomorrow.
We will serve wine, but only when sharing a meal with others. We will eat in restaurants as required--which means that Mr Neff will continue to do business occasionally over meals. And I willLaVonne Neffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12662198791868400418noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141749645130202973.post-22535418688383164382010-01-11T15:23:00.000-08:002010-02-10T19:46:24.567-08:0015. Ash Wednesday: The Lenten Experiment begins
Want to make God laugh? Tell him your plans.
My plan
Get up at 5.45 for 6.30 Mass with imposition of ashes.
Come home, eat a light breakfast, and spend some time online with the Days of Deepening Friendship Lenten retreat by Vinita Hampton Wright.
Spend the rest of the morning attending an ongoing church history class at St. Michael parish.
Eat a light lunch (at my age I am not required to fast LaVonne Neffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12662198791868400418noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141749645130202973.post-4430242568676406592010-01-10T12:59:00.000-08:002010-02-10T19:47:00.896-08:0016. Our daily bread - breakfastsThroughout Lent, I'll be posting recipes, menu summaries, and Notes from the Frugal Side. I'm not going to list every mouthful I take, though, because I would lose all my faithful readers. Suffice it to say that my breakfasts and lunches are nearly always repetitious, boring, nourishing, and--to me--satisfying. They will look like Lenten penance to some, but I always eat that way. It's easier LaVonne Neffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12662198791868400418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141749645130202973.post-3941252146686429292010-01-09T10:55:00.000-08:002010-02-10T19:47:18.916-08:0017. Our daily bread - lunchesTo follow up on yesterday's blog about our boring breakfasts, I shall briefly describe our repetitious lunches.
Mr Neff usually packs a sandwich--he's on a peanut-butter-and-jelly kick this year--and a tub of yogurt and fruit (grapes, an orange, or a pear). Sometimes lunch is ordered in so the staff can keep right on working. Pizza and outsized sub sandwiches are popular. And sometimes he goes LaVonne Neffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12662198791868400418noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141749645130202973.post-83443805932671567432010-01-08T08:49:00.000-08:002010-02-10T19:47:49.030-08:0018. Less planning, more merriment
For me, the scariest aspect of the Lenten Experiment is not the frugality but the planning. I like to make things up as I go along. I don't like keeping records and figuring out the price of everything.
I'm solving the bookkeeping problem by keeping track of grocery purchases but not trying to price each meal, which would be impossibly complex.
And I've decided to solve the meal planning LaVonne Neffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12662198791868400418noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141749645130202973.post-34665277924653160352010-01-07T08:51:00.000-08:002010-02-10T19:48:08.086-08:0019. Panna cottaPanna cotta makes a quick and inexpensive dessert for Sundays in Lent.
Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our LORD: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength.
--Nehemiah 8:10, totally out of context, but nice anyway
We had panna cotta last night, after dinner with friends. I LaVonne Neffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12662198791868400418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141749645130202973.post-8479562282459662872010-01-06T15:46:00.000-08:002010-02-10T19:48:24.839-08:0020. Couscous salad and turkey legsLast night we ate leftovers. They were good, but you don't want to read about them. Instead I'll tell you what Janet and Ken are up to. (I want them to move in with me and take over my kitchen.)
Report on our frugal meals
Saturday: couscous salad, one of our favorites. We used the cooked couscous left over from the chicken leg meal, and added chopped cuke, tomato, celery, onion, sweet pepper, LaVonne Neffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12662198791868400418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141749645130202973.post-66210788920444320222010-01-05T17:45:00.000-08:002010-02-10T19:48:47.999-08:0021. Sacrificing to be frugal
My friend Jennifer Trafton may be the only person in the world who has two friends named LaVonne, and it is thanks to Jennifer that LaVonne Stratton Carlson and I are now Facebook friends.
Yesterday LaVonne C. sent me a note about how she and her husband and two young boys are bravely facing Lent. She's realistic about what this experiment is going to cost her in time and effort. Frugal eating,LaVonne Neffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12662198791868400418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141749645130202973.post-81295370278050836182010-01-04T15:00:00.000-08:002010-02-10T19:49:11.249-08:0022. Feeling good about leftovers
The most remarkable thing about my mother is that for thirty years she served the family nothing but leftovers. The original meal has never been found.
--Calvin Trillin
I'm feeling a lot like Calvin Trillin's mother.
Yesterday's fare involved lunch with two friends. I served leftover lentil soup to which I had added sweet potato and turkey sausage and whatever else took my fancy back when I LaVonne Neffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12662198791868400418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141749645130202973.post-86280486112600232962010-01-03T15:27:00.000-08:002010-02-10T19:49:36.839-08:0023. Matt Rodman's cream of mushroom soupLast night Mr Neff and I did not eat at home. Instead, we plunged deeper into Lent by attending a soup supper (yes, it's redundant) at St Barnabas Episcopal Church. Like winos at a city mission, we shared soup, bread, and scripture study. Unlike winos, we got to eat first.
The soups, provided by church members and served from crockpots, were excellent: cream of mushroom, lentil and ham, cabbage,LaVonne Neffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12662198791868400418noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141749645130202973.post-68399767857641601772010-01-02T12:22:00.000-08:002010-02-10T19:49:59.956-08:0024. Individual ricotta cheesecakes
Yesterday I realized I had an odd assortment of nearly postdated leftovers that, put together, would rock. What is more, though the top part of the dishwasher was full, the bottom was empty--a perfect time to use the food processor. So I got out Patricia Wells' Trattoria and adapted her recipe for ricotta cheesecake with pine nuts and raisins.
To produce four little custard cups of ricotta LaVonne Neffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12662198791868400418noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141749645130202973.post-73729469232047567202010-01-01T19:33:00.000-08:002010-02-10T19:50:30.281-08:0025. A fairly frugal feast with friends
This morning we met our frugal friends Janet and Ken at Caputo's Cheese Market in Melrose Park, just north of the intersection of North Avenue and 15th Avenue, in an industrial building bearing a huge "Wisconsin Cheese" sign. It's a great place not only for cheese (much of it made locally) but also for wine, pasta, deli meats, Italian canned goods, pastries ... all at very reasonable and LaVonne Neffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12662198791868400418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141749645130202973.post-79978984001709918582009-12-25T15:57:00.000-08:002010-02-10T19:51:14.289-08:0026. Second Sunday in Lent: whingeingLent would be a lot more fun if it weren't so long. And penitential. And guilt-inducing. And rainy.
OK, I've been spending too much on groceries. Though I now have lots and lots of exciting canned beans that will keep us putting along indefinitely. And onions, and potatoes, and corn meal.
If I could turn stones into bread or earn the kingdoms of this world with a simple miracle, I probably LaVonne Neffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12662198791868400418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141749645130202973.post-6410642522334303922009-12-24T15:39:00.000-08:002010-02-10T19:51:43.577-08:0027. Too much information?
Collin Hansen makes interesting observations in "Blogs: A Window to Our Souls." He doesn't encourage people to start blogging, he says, because "if you run your own blog, there is constant pressure to post so you won't lose regular readers. The Internet never shuts off."
I have an equal and opposite fear: if I continue blogging about everything we eat, readers may run for cover. Do you really LaVonne Neffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12662198791868400418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141749645130202973.post-24781411217073423882009-12-23T15:13:00.000-08:002010-02-10T19:52:19.945-08:0028. Betty's Armenian pilafBack when the earth's crust was cooling, Betty Tyler was a student in my 10th-grade world history class. A quiet girl who sat in the back row, she did not want attention. But she got it anyway when she handed in an excellent but unfinished short story about a medieval maiden in distress, as I recall, and I gave her an infinite extension if only she would tell me how it ended.
For many years LaVonne Neffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12662198791868400418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141749645130202973.post-19338061606140301452009-12-22T16:33:00.000-08:002010-02-10T19:52:44.346-08:0029. Homemade tortillasThe best way to eat well without spending loads of money is to find an ethnic grocery store in a neighborhood near you. No, probably not the one with Chianti and truffles and Belgian chocolates, though Europeans do eat about 40% less meat per capita than Americans so perhaps even la cuisine française could reduce a dedicated carnivore's budget. Well, make that la cucina italiana. And see LaVonne Neffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12662198791868400418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141749645130202973.post-8455826421449151042009-12-21T17:06:00.000-08:002010-02-10T19:53:18.937-08:0030. Table for one
Eating is a social activity. Or should be.
I've traveled a lot on my own, and I can dine solo in a restaurant if I have to. Alone at my table, wondering if I should read or just gaze into the middle distance while waiting for my dinner, I eavesdrop on nearby conversations. Once in Stratford-upon-Avon I overheard the jovial man at the next table tell his friend about a foreigner he knew who was LaVonne Neffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12662198791868400418noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141749645130202973.post-23118359593953750212009-12-20T15:59:00.000-08:002010-02-10T19:53:42.980-08:0031. Black bean stewEstelle Berger directed me to this quick-and-easy recipe for black bean stew from Cooking Light (August 2003). Today Ginger Cantu joined me for lunch. She brought two kinds of bread from Panera and a green salad, and I made the stew. For dessert we had warm berries 'n' dumplings from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food (March 2009).
Atypically, I followed both recipes as closely as I possibly could LaVonne Neffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12662198791868400418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141749645130202973.post-56973635448097659652009-12-19T15:19:00.000-08:002010-02-10T19:54:03.865-08:0032. TediumIt's not true that life is one damn thing after another;
it is one damn thing over and over.--Edna St. Vincent Millay
Ms. Millay's observation about life is also true of meals during Lent, though today's repeat of yesterday's meal included several improvements. If you make the black bean stew, do add sweet potato (or steamed plantain) to the mix, stir in a few shakes of turmeric, and sprinkle LaVonne Neffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12662198791868400418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141749645130202973.post-38392953531429445512009-12-18T17:11:00.000-08:002010-02-10T19:54:28.838-08:0033. Dailyness avoidance
Beware the ides of March.
Forget the Lenten Experiment--my major penitential act has been editing a manuscript that is taking much longer than I had anticipated. I thought I'd finish it last week, but now I'm wondering if I can get it done before next Sunday. The more I edit, the grumpier I get (cf. yesterday's post). Mr Neff has been marvelously patient. Right now, he's loading the dishwasher.
LaVonne Neffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12662198791868400418noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141749645130202973.post-37750579159854288072009-12-17T17:48:00.000-08:002010-02-10T19:54:52.652-08:0034. Saint Patrick de l'IrlandeTomorrow we are going to a St. Patrick's Day dinner of French and Italian food.
This makes perfect sense: tradition has it that the saint's grandmother was from la Touraine, the region made famous a millennium later by its chateaux; that Patrick studied for several years on a Mediterranean island near present-day Cannes; that he assisted the bishop of Auxerre in what would become Burgundy wine LaVonne Neffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12662198791868400418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141749645130202973.post-91599916548042636052009-12-16T14:57:00.000-08:002010-02-10T19:55:25.876-08:0035. RatatouilleRatatouille ... I'd never heard of it until I married a foodie's son and he insisted I learn to make it. Back then my motto was, if it takes longer than five minutes, we don't eat it. I thought ratatouille was extremely time consuming.
Then, nearly 40 years later, it became a movie about a rat and everyone learned how to pronounce it [ʁatatuj]. Nowadays I consider ratatouille to be the LaVonne Neffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12662198791868400418noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141749645130202973.post-74106669293609638242009-12-15T17:21:00.000-08:002010-02-10T19:55:52.209-08:0036. Leftover ratatouilleMr Neff and Muffin have a wonderful bond. They especially enjoy talking to each other after supper. That has little to do with tonight's post, apart from the fact that every meal is better when shared with friends. Muffin really wishes we'd share the ratatouille.
So what do you do with one serving of four-day-old ratatouille (once you've explained to Muffin that she can't have it)? Well, you LaVonne Neffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12662198791868400418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141749645130202973.post-68887058688204960682009-12-14T15:56:00.000-08:002010-02-10T19:56:17.742-08:0037. Refreshment SundayToday, the fourth Sunday in Lent, is Laetare Sunday in the Roman Catholic and Anglican traditions, though probably not many of us notice. (Laetare is the first word of the introit for the day: "Rejoice, O Jerusalem!") In the UK, it's Mothering Sunday, and sometimes it's called Refreshment Sunday. Hey, it's halftime. Those onerous Lenten restrictions can be relaxed for the day. Take off that hair LaVonne Neffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12662198791868400418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141749645130202973.post-3356460009368646872009-12-13T17:59:00.000-08:002010-02-10T19:57:39.778-08:0038. Lent and lentils continueTwo weeks until Easter. We're back from our week off from Lent, and of course we had lentil soup for lunch. Last Wednesday our daughter Heidi rolled her eyes when her sister, Molly, announced that dinner would be lentil soup. "All your posts recently have been about lentil soup," she said to me, exaggerating only slightly. The lentil does not fall far from the pod.
Dinner tonight, however, LaVonne Neffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12662198791868400418noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141749645130202973.post-58728355226860001632009-12-12T19:27:00.000-08:002010-02-10T19:58:00.317-08:0039. Homemade pizzaComing home from a lovely hour-long walk in the Arboretum, I couldn't resist stopping at Trader Joe's, and that's why we had pizza tonight.
They were selling rather large, healthy-looking pizza crusts: just add topping and bake. I chose the whole-wheat variety and picked up a brick of feta cheese. Yesterday I had bought a trio of bell peppers (yellow, red, and green) at Aldi's as well as some LaVonne Neffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12662198791868400418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141749645130202973.post-86844052625397068902009-12-11T17:40:00.000-08:002010-02-10T19:58:37.503-08:0040. Fish tostadas, a political discussion, and a nursery rhyme
Here is what the Neffs ate tonight. The bottom layer, which does not show, is a homemade corn tortilla. Next comes a handful of wild arugula ($1.99 for 8 oz. at TJ). On top of that, 1/2 of each of three bell peppers (red, yellow, green) sliced and cooked in olive oil with a sliced onion. Next, six TJ fish sticks. After that, a hearty handful of grated feta cheese. On top, a mixture of diced LaVonne Neffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12662198791868400418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141749645130202973.post-36544987241450725162009-12-10T19:35:00.000-08:002010-02-10T19:59:17.656-08:0041. Challah on WednesdayChallah is the traditional Jewish Sabbath bread eaten with the Friday evening meal. Back in 1973, when we lived down the street from an excellent Jewish bakery, we started buying challah every week. Mr Neff passed for Jewish (little did he know, back then, that he wasn't just passing) until one Friday afternoon when our neighbor Arthur J. Balderman saw him across the bakery and hollered, "Happy LaVonne Neffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12662198791868400418noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141749645130202973.post-53427972097742708122009-12-09T14:29:00.000-08:002010-02-10T19:59:39.684-08:0042. Lent with Charlie TrotterA funny thing happened back in 1981-82 when mortgage interest rates were 18% and inflation was rampant and we changed to lower-paying jobs and we ended up accidentally owning two houses. On a budget so tight that if I found a dollar I rushed out and bought potatoes, I began dreaming about dressing like Princess Diana.
With only a week to go in our Lenten Experiment, and with the automobile LaVonne Neffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12662198791868400418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141749645130202973.post-30180834622069890422009-12-08T18:25:00.000-08:002010-02-10T20:00:06.645-08:0043. Grocery shopping under duressI'm tired of Lent.
It's no fun having to think about every penny when I shop. No, probably shouldn't get those 49-cent gala apples at Trader Joe's. Guess I'll get the $1.00/lb yellow delicious apples at Jewel. Don't like 'em as well, but they're cheaper.
Except they turned out to cost exactly the same.
OK, we'll try the $1.59 yogurt, fillers and all, at Aldi's. Got two of them, then discoveredLaVonne Neffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12662198791868400418noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141749645130202973.post-84115162378835828652009-12-07T18:25:00.000-08:002010-02-10T20:00:32.414-08:0044. Mac and cheese for grown-upsFor 2 big servings or 4 little side-dish servings:
Cook 4 oz of your favorite dried short pasta, whether macaroni or some other kind. I used some of the gemelli we bought at our Caputo's expedition a month ago. Boil up some salted water, drop the pasta in, and cook until it doesn't crunch--usually 8 - 10 minutes depending on the shape of the pasta.
Meanwhile, make the sauce:
Melt 1/4 C oil (LaVonne Neffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12662198791868400418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141749645130202973.post-13764227433870753502009-12-06T20:12:00.000-08:002010-02-10T20:00:57.931-08:0045. Eating and cheatingTemperature in the lower forties, a bit too much wind, quite a bit of sun... so a friend and I met at the Morton Arboretum just before 11:00 this morning and walked through the woods until 1:15. Plenty of mud, no foliage to speak of, but good conversation and exercise.
We had lunch at the Ginkgo Restaurant by the big window overlooking the pond, where an egret was flying back and forth. It's theLaVonne Neffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12662198791868400418noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141749645130202973.post-3034444941891689582009-12-05T16:44:00.000-08:002010-02-10T20:01:25.188-08:0046. Fair frugal fareFrugal food tastes better if it looks good. This poverty meal was too beige, so I inserted a strip of warmed-up leftover spinach (Trader Joe's) down the middle. And leftover food tastes better with butter, so I stirred a pat of same (Aldi) into the spinach before serving.
On top, a quarter bag of gnocchi (Aldi) seasoned with a splash of olive oil (TJ), half a cut-up tomato (TJ), and a handful ofLaVonne Neffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12662198791868400418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141749645130202973.post-5203524848883291852009-12-04T15:03:00.000-08:002010-02-10T20:01:50.791-08:0047. The Lenten Experiment: final grocery billsWe did it!
The only shopping I'm going to do tomorrow will be a couple of items for Easter Sunday, and I've decided that doesn't count--it's a celebration and should not be part of the Lenten Experiment.
So, here's the bottom line for 5 1/2 weeks--39 days--from Ash Wednesday through Holy Saturday (tomorrow). Lent, of course, is a week longer than that, but we took a week off in March to LaVonne Neffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12662198791868400418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141749645130202973.post-60465871567267264782009-12-03T05:35:00.000-08:002010-02-10T20:02:12.102-08:0048. The last Lenten mealsJust a note to finish the food log (="flog"):
To the left is Thursday's meal, a homemade corn tortilla topped with a package of fresh spinach lightly cooked in olive oil, tilapia (bought frozen at Aldi and cooked in microwave with butter and lime juice), Wednesday evening's leftover beans, 4 oz colby jack cheese ($1.29 for 8 oz at Aldi), and a mixture of diced fresh tomato and diced avocado (69 LaVonne Neffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12662198791868400418noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141749645130202973.post-72535705381115026402009-12-02T14:28:00.000-08:002010-02-10T20:02:41.107-08:0049. Harrowing hell, and the hell of Alzheimer'sHoly Saturday--Jesus may have rested, but everyone in DuPage County is out buying groceries. Jesus may have been busy too. According to ancient tradition, he spent his down time in hell, or the world of the dead, or wherever Adam and Eve were hanging out in hopes that he'd show up. Orthodox icons show him lifting them out of the depths, offering them back the life they so badly messed up the LaVonne Neffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12662198791868400418noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6141749645130202973.post-25241338309137494162009-12-01T01:01:00.000-08:002010-02-10T20:03:24.053-08:0050. The Lenten Experiment: analysisYears ago I started keeping a list of every book I read, because when people ask me what I've been reading, I can never remember. Now I can at least say, "I'll get back to you."
When people ask me what we eat, I draw a similar blank. "Uh... let me look in the refrigerator and see if I can find any clues..." But now, thanks to the Lenten Experiment, I know what we've been eating recently.
I justLaVonne Neffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12662198791868400418noreply@blogger.com0