Baking and Thrifting

Even if I get to thrift on a small scale every week....it's seldom I find something that strikes my fancy.

I was rewarded last thrusday with this delicious carafe!

I've found quite a few Pyrex carafes in my day but this is my first all orange!

It's full of sunshine! I just couldn't leave there, I had to bring it to Vonlipi's House of Pyrex!

Over the weekend I had the deep craving for some cranberry and orange bread. A treat my mother made quite often when I was young. To my dismay I couldn't find the recipe! Rats!

But I remembered that it was a Quaker Oats recipe, so off I was to surf the web.

You can find the recipe HERE

I was delighted to see that they made the recipe healthier. I myself divided the flour as follows 1/2 cup of unbleached flour, 1/2 cup whole wheat and 1/2 cup spelt flour. I alos added the zest of a whole orange.

I baked it in Pyrex, of course.

I prefer to bake 2 smaller loafs.

   

YUM!

Off to bed I am, sleep tight and don't let the bedbugs bite!

Bandito is spending the night at the vet motel and will get de-balled tomorrow.

We choose that vet because they are close and very professional. They mucho get on my nerves because they talk about money all, I mean ALL THE TIME!

When we went for shots about 2 weeks ago, they presented us with a quote for the castration. Tonight after we gave them the cat (OUR cat, yes we decided to adopt it) they asked for a deposit.

I WAS SO INSULTED! HEY PEOPLE I'M LEAVING YOU MY CAT FOR THE NIGHT, A CAT I'VE DECIDED TO TAKE CARE OF AND LOVE UNTIL HE DIES AND YOU WANT ME TO GIVE A FREAKING DEPOSIT?????

Of course I didn't say anything, but I was boilling inside. Dan said: I knew you would flip out, I just knew.

 And of course I know that it's their policy because some yahoos left their cats and ran away without paying. But it still pisses me off! 

Cream of lettuce and poached salmon

Did I ever mention that I grocery shop via the internet? And that the supermarket gives us free products when we spend a certain amount of money? Well Friday morning after I received my groceries I found out I had 2 FREE iceberg lettuce-ugh! I'm not a big fan of iceberg, to me it's a big ball of crunchy nothing!

I hate to waste food...so I had to find a recipe! FAST! Of course I went surfing....I found this french recipe Creme de laitue http://www.soupsong.com/rlettuc1.html

Of course I fiddled with it! I did not have romaine, I forgot the watercress, and I skipped the cream and the 2 egg yolks-I don't need anymore fat! LOL! And I threw in some tired green onions. Oh I'm forgetting about the potatoes! I had some boiled potatoes lying around in the fridge so I threw them in!!! DELICIOUS! That was a mighty tasty soup!

I wanted to eat salmon, but didn't want to roast it in the oven because it was so hot and muggy so I turned to thie recipe Poached Salmon with Green Goddess sauce. http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/poached-salmon-with-green-goddess-dressing

I cooked the salmon as per the directions but fiddled with the sauce! LOL. I put less parsley,more tarragon and no fresh garlic, I used a bit of garlic powder maybe 1/2 a teaspoon. This was sooo good! I swear I could slather that sauce on everything!

And the salmon was even better cold the next day! No I didn't take a pic of that...I was too busy stuffing my face! And I served it my green beans from the garden....YUM!

The big garage sale was a total bust....nothing vintage and what they had was way too expensive! The Salvation Army was not better. Dan pointed a vase and said: We have a vase just like that! And I answered: Not anymore... It's our vase! that was hilarious!

Good food!

I love trying new recipes, but I find that nothing was enticing me lately....Too much recession cooking! Don't get me wrong, some of the best recipes are thrifty recipes and I have been cooking like that for ever.

My mom was really frugal and my dad as well so I went to the frugal cooking school. I make my own chicken broth, I buy chicken breats with the bones in (cheaper) and rarely buy convenience food.

So I was really surprised to see (first photo) the salmon in pastry sacks on the Rachel Ray show...that one got my tastes buds going! Not exactly a cheap recipe, but if you like salmon it is an excellent recipe for company (or a romantic diner...) Very tasty and easy! Here's the link : http://www.rachaelray.com/recipe.php?recipe_id=2638

Last night I tried Sticky Hoisin Chicken from Chatelaine and that was delicious as well. Skinless,sweet, simply yummy! And the chicken tight were on sale!

I found that recipe while I was cleaning my humongous folder where I keep all the recipes I save from the magazines....I really should stop doing that because I try maybe 5% and the rest just yellow....

I served it with asian coleslaw and steamed broccoli....Mucho Yummo!

I made another batch of sauce to marinate small chunks of tofu...That was tonight's super....Delicious as well

http://recipes.chatelaine.com/recipe2/article.jsp?recipeId=8722

If you ever make one of those recipes,please leave a comment I'd like to hear from you!

Goodnight my friends