Win Win !

another kitchen post!

I believe I complained a couple of times about my cooktop.....

It is a 1979 Jenn-air. The vent works perfectly and I loooove it!

After the repairman came and told me parts for this model don't exist anymore....I installed the grill.

So I had 2 burners and a grill. when you use the grill the vent turns itself on at the highest setting, it makes a lot of racket and the grill never really gets hot enough....

So I have 2 burners....

sometimes meal planning is really hard because of only 2 burners...

 

 I got the idea to buy a stand alone burner.....

I found out that Canadian Tire sells those....

 So we gathered all our Canadian Tire money,

$18.25 in total

and I bought myself this...

 I only paid $4.35 !

I am so happy, it works really well!

Yeah! Until we find parts for the cook top or save money to get a new one...

Those are expensive!

So I'll take my little extra burner any day!

Stay thrifty!

Seen Around

Last week we filled the car with boxes and bags to donate and headed west

to the nation's capital Ottawa.

This is called hitting 2 birds with one stone: we get a road trip and we visit a lovely Value Village

where they are not sick of us....

I love this picture.....

But I had to leave it at $9.99!

This is probably a frame destined for a child's bedroom...

REALLY???

The clothes look like they were made out of scraps to tissue paper 

and toilet paper....Pass!

I used to have coasters like that at my old house...

This jar would've been dyn-o-mite in my Etsy store...

BTW I reopened my Etsy store!

I have a soft spot for Scotties!

This piece of nail art, is as intricate as tacky.

That is a lot of work!

It was really popular in New Brunswick.

They would make fishermen and Sagouines

This fondue set really caught my eye...

But I was here to donate, after all.

These pieces were unmarked but I highly suspect they were BMP

Blue Mountain Pottery from Collingwood, Ontario.

Alo seen in the Byward Market

Sweet, sweet Easter cookies!

 The Byward Market is an outdoor market in Ottawa, Ontario.

It is surrounded by specialty food stores (cafés,fish mongers, charcuteries, cheese shops, butcher shops) and restaurants. We make a point to stop and shop every time we visit! 

We had a lovely time!

Until next time, Ottawa!

Lemons....

When we vacationned in Maine with my Dad he complained about the price of lemons.

They were $1.29 a piece. He flipped out.

OMG the lemons are soooo expensive here, next time we come we will bring lemons from Montreal!

Right Dad! Like we would be able to smuggle a bunch of lemons at customs.....He just spent thousands of dollars for a week by the shore, car rental and meals...Yet those lemons were bugging him.

In the past months Dad stopped buying lemons because he felt they were too expensive...He was buying limes instead!

Today I was grocery shopping in my secret thrifty no frills grocery shop....and I saw this:

Lemons .39 cents each

Just for you Dad, just for you!

This will always crack me up!

Thrifty Goodness

One of my fave grocery store is the kookiest or one of the kookiest in Montreal.

My Dad calls it the dirty grocery, I've called it many names....but in fact it has no real official name outside. The sign says 'épicerie' or grocery store.

I know its real name but cannot say it....It is one of Montreal's best kept secret!

If you can get past the smell (Dried salted cod), the chaos and the noise....you will be rewarded with thrifty goodness.

The produce can be fabulous, or past its prime and sometimes they don't have red bell peppers....

I go there with a list, but rarely buy all that is written on it. Because you never know what deals you will find!

Here is some of the goodies i got today.

The Cracker Barrel cheese was $1.99 for 250g (about 8 ounces)

That is a DYNAMITE deal!

The cheese expires in 16 days....

The butternut squash was a dollar a pound, so it came to $1.06 

And the Oka cheese , was $1.49 for 100g (3.5 ounces)

The company introduced the sliced version of this iconic Quebec

cheese maybe a year ago. I saw it first at my local Maxi & Cie

(Canada's Superstore) and it was $6.99 for a big package, don't know the weight

but this cut of cheese has been MIA ever since.

It smells of feet and is amazing on toast!

  I also bought an eggplant ($1.11), 3 zucchinis ($1.07) and a

red pepper for .57cents

With the veggies I made a pig pot of ratatouille.

Eggplant,zucchinis,onion,garlic,red pepper and tomatoes....LOVE!

I also add basil, S&P and some Johnny's seasoned salt

It will be sooo good with Italian sausages

It was hard

I do come from a family with hoarding tendencies....

I have a distant cousin who bought a barn to stash his finds and treasures....

Another complains that her boyfriend brings trash home but is will to take all kind of unwanted artifacts...

My Dad has various collections....Books, copper pots, yellow vases to name a few....

Me ? Well you know about the Pyrexia , the Lampalia, I love vintage ashtrays (we don't smoke), vintage linens, cotton sheets...

And Mason jars....My faves are the antique ones, I have great blue ones but basically I love them all!

They are so practical!

I was informed last week that I had a unknown stash of Mason jars in the basement ....They were all dusty,cruddy with dead bugs in some....

So I shaked the bugs out and put them all in the dishwasher.

I a quite a few

                               and a new box..... with a big zipper bag of rings

21 in all

I knew they had to go

but it was hard!

I didn't want to give them

I wanted to bask in the glory of the Mason jar!!!

In case you're wondering I have a box or 2 in the storage locker

ready to move!!!

And nearly all my dry goods are store in Mason jars....

Have a great day!

I'm cleaning the oven today!!!

Mexi what?

When I was 9 or 10 when had a cleaning lady that would come over on Thursdays...Her name was Maria and she came from the Accores. I guess part of the deal was that my mom was to feed her...and I don't really know how this happened but next thing we knew... The MEXICAN was born!!!

Did this concoction come from the Goodhousekeeping magazine that my mother enjoyed so? or McCall's ? I have no idea. What I know for sure is that my mom made it for Maria on Thursdays and then we were stuck with the leftovers....

In my family (really Dad, Dan and me) the word Mexican is a source of jokes and overall eeewww.

The Mexican was a casserole made of green bell pepper, cooked rice, canned tomatoes, ground beef and tomatoes. And it was cooked in a big orange Le Creuset casserole...the leftovers were left in the Le Creuset and shoved in the fridge.

Next day the Le Creuset was taken out of the fridge and soved in the oven and reheated for our eating pleasure (NOT)....the leftovers were re-shoved in the fridge and the next day reheated (in the same goddammed Le Creuset) and so on and so on....until Thursday when the circle started again!

I wished my mother had learned about freezing half of it and not reheating things endless times!!! Then again my mother thought food lasted forever in the fridge and if mold was present you could just cut it off and eat it and be happy!

When I inherited my mom's cookbooks, I don't remember seeing a recipe for THE MEXICAN, but looking back I probably just threw it out. Now 16 years later in the Kraft magazine...What do I see???

A mexican unstuffed pepper casserole! The ingredients were very similar but there was salsa instead of canned tomatoes and cheese!

You know what? It was really tasty and Dan loved it!

 

I added srirracha for some kick, switched white rice for brown rice and mild mexican cheese for habanero schredded cheese.

 

Here is the link just in case...

 

mexican-unstuffed-pepper-casserole

 

It is a great meal to stretch a buck!

Cold medicine

Now if you're still in the midst of cold season.....like I am....

You might need these 2 go to recipes to help you go through a cold.

1st one: Onion Juice.

Now we call it onion juice but it is more onion broth. You take 2 onions, cut them in half and place them in a medium casserole, cover them with water , bring to a boil and simmer gently about 30 min.

Now I don't even bother to put this in the fridge. The onion halves will continue to steep in it and in a maximun of 2 days you will have drunk it all. It is great if you feel you have chest or sinus congestion. It will clean you out too.

Now for the second one: Onion and garlic syrup

                                         You take a Mason jar and you fill it with chopped onion and garlic. I took a 2 cups (500ml ) jar for this. After you drizzle honey in it; it will take at least one cup to have everything covered. Let it steep on the counter overnight. In the morning, strain and keep in a jar in the fridge. You need to take one to two tablespoons in the morning and at night.

We've tested these recipes and they work well.

My Dad just had a baaaaad cold and I was worried because he has COPD. I told him about the onion broth and now he raves about it! Cleared most of the congestion in 48 hours.

Now about the last post....


I don't think I mentionned that everything was thrifted!

                                             The turquoise pitcher 75 cents in Brockville, Ont.
                                              The large seasshell was a gift, the smaller one I got as
                                              a twofer at Value Village for $1.99. The Yankee Candle was $1, new -                                              unused at a garage sale, the big ashtray was a gift as well
                                   and the needlepoint frame was a big ol'quarter at the church basement .
                                   Now just how sweet is that???

I've got to go, SNL is on!

Be well my thrifty friends