Have you ever noticed that males of all species have a tendency to (How can I put this delicately?) be malodorous?

I’m talking from a position of knowledge and experience here; I have a husband, five sons, and two male dogs.  We also have chickens and a cat. My boys tromp all over the yard without regard to the location of dog or chicken scat.  I feed my family a great deal of beans. My dogs get gassy when they’re nervous.* There are ample opportunities for ‘the stink’ to arise.

*Boy, do I wish I was joking about that.  Last summer we took the dogs to a family reunion in Southern Michigan.  We got stuck on the Ohio Turnpike in 90°F temperatures.  Our air conditioning broke and only one of the windows in the van worked.  It was the window next to yours-truly’s head.  So all the air exiting the van went right. past. my. face.  Remember that.  It will become very important to my story in mere moments. And the dogs?  Well, let’s just say being stuck in traffic was as hard on their nerves as ours.  Being stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic in sweltering temperatures with a flatulent eighty-five pound hound dog and his equally foul-smelling and obese beagle buddy was -in a word- horrific. You could have calibrated a 30-second hourglass by timing the brief respite between ‘episodes’ from Hambone and Diggedy.  I was traumatized. We all were.

I learned early on in my mother-of-many-boys career that eliminating the causes of ‘the stink’ was nearly impossible; I learned it was all about making a pleasant smelling oasis in each room.  And I spent money on it.  Oooh, baby, did I spend money; scented candles, gel air fresheners, room sprays, linen sprays, plug-in room deodorizers, misters, potpourri (sidebar: My mom fed boiled potpourri on a taco to my German exchange student friend in high school.  But that’s a story for another time. Hi, Mom!)

When I learned that three of my babies had asthma, all that stuff went out the window.  Actually, it went in the trash, but you savvy, right?  All the pretty smelling stuff went buh-bye.  Laundry detergent, fabric softener, cleaners?  All unscented.  Boo hoo.  Poor me.

The allergist told me I could use essential oils in small amounts in little bowls or reed diffusers, but I found that the scent dissipated too quickly.  I had to find something that smelled nice (or an inexpensive carbon filter face mask comfortable enough to wear 24/7) or risk losing what little sanity I had left.  It took five years…

You’ve heard that necessity is the mother of invention?  Well, I’m the mother of five little necessities and I had a perspiration. (My Dad defines ‘Perspiration’ as an inspiration that hurts.)  Homemade all-natural, essential oil powered, gel based air fresheners.  They met all the requirements to keep my poor asthmatic kids from doubling over and wheezing.  They smelled great.  They lasted a good long time.  They were cheap to make.  They had five ingredients you could find at any grocery or department store.  And this mom was happy.

Now a word or two about essential oils: they’re pretty powerfully scented, so go easy on how much you add.  You don’t want to add more than 30 drops per air freshener until you know just how strong your oil is.  The basic air freshener base recipe is listed and my favorite scent combinations are given below it.

For a printer-friendly version of this recipe sans photos and yakety-yakety, click here!

Homemade Essential Oil Air Fresheners

Ingredients:

• 1 ounce granulated or powdered gelatin
• 2 cups cold water, divided
• 20-30 drops of your choice of essential oil
• 1 Tablespoon salt
• optional, food coloring to tint the air freshener

Also needed:

• heat-proof jars to hold the hot gelatin liquid
• a disposable chopstick or skewer to use as a stir stick

Bring one cup of water to a boil in a small saucepan.  Sprinkle the gelatin over the boiling water and whisk until smooth and all the gelatin is dissolved.  Add the salt and the second cup of cold water and whisk.  Set aside.

Add the desired amount of essential oil and food coloring, if using, to the jar(s).  Quickly pour the hot liquid gelatin over the essential oil and food coloring.  Stir until evenly colored.

Allow to cool, uncovered on a heat-proof surface.  When it reaches room temperature, place wherever you want a lovely scent.

Sweet Basil and Lemon  Air Freshener

• 20 drops Sweet Basil essential oil
• 8 drops Lemon essential oil

Rosemary Orange  Air Freshener

• 25 drops Sweet Orange essential oil
• 5 drops Rosemary essential oil (The Rosemary essential oil is mighty strong stuff.  Keep a light hand with this!)

Fresh Pine Scent Air Freshener

• 25 drops Fir Pine essential oil
• 3 drops Lemon essential oil
• 2 drops Sweet Orange essential oil
• 1 drop Bergamot essential oil

Pure Lavender Air Freshener

• 30 drops of Lavender essential oil

Essence of Provençe Air Freshener

• 20 drops Lavender essential oil
• 5 drops Thyme essential oil
• 2 drops Lemon essential oil

~~~

This year, if we have to take the dogs on another road trip, I’m prepared; I’ll just cram one of these up each nostril and pray.

I told a friend I was planning on writing a post on fish cakes.  Her response? “Ew.  Fish cakes?  Ew.   That just sounds so wrong.”

Point granted. Admittedly you don’t often hear the words ‘fish’ and ‘cake’ put together.  But crab cakes are amazing, how could fish cakes sound so wrong? We’re talking about crispy, brown, fish patties flecked with onion, celery and herbs topped with creamy tartar sauce.

“I don’t know.  The dish sounds good,” she said, “but that name needs some serious help.”

“How about New England Fish Cakes?” I asked.

“Oh yeah!” she said, “That sounds wonderful!”

Problem solved. Everything fish-related sounds a little better with ‘New England’ tagged on to it.  It conjures up visions of craggy faced fishermen in bulky sweaters and yellow rubber boots haggling over prices for their day’s catch at the wharf.

~~~   ~~~   ~~~

My dear friend’s reaction notwithstanding I am 100% head-over-heels for these fish cakes, er, New England Style Fish Cakes.  They have that satisfying crunchy brown outside that can only come from time spent with a hot skillet and sizzling oil.  Laced with tiny bits of scallion, parsley, celery and other herbs and spices, the inside is everything fish should be; flavorful, light textured, and moist.

Fish, while fantastic for your health*, is not something that dings everyone’s chimes.  I was so confident in the flavor and texture of these that I served one to a confirmed fish-hating friend. With a little cajoling she ate a bite.  Then she finished her portion.  Then she asked for a second helping.  The next week, she made them for her family.  She’s been making them regularly ever since.  And she still swears she hates fish!

*According to the American Heart Association, “Fish is a good source of protein and, unlike fatty meat products, it’s not high in saturated fat. Fish is also a good source of omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3 fatty acids benefit the heart of healthy people, and those at high risk of — or who have — cardiovascular disease. Research has shown that omega-3 fatty acids decrease risk of arrhythmias (abnormal heartbeats), which can lead to sudden death.  Omega-3 fatty acids also decrease triglyceride levels, slow growth rate of atherosclerotic plaque, and lower blood pressure (slightly).”  For more details on what fish can do for you, visit the American Heart Association’s page on fish!

For a printer-friendly, photo-free version of this recipe, click here!

New England Style Fish Cakes

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds firm fleshed boneless and skinless white fish fillets such as cod, blue hake, or haddock
• 2 cups of freshly made medium fine breadcrumbs.  This is roughly equivalent to 6 slices of bread.
• 3 medium stalks of celery, finely diced
• 1 bunch scallions, thinly sliced then chopped again until finely minced
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
• 3 large eggs
• 1 Tablespoon dried basil
• 1 ½ teaspoons Old Bay Seasoning or other seafood seasoning blend
• salt and pepper to taste
• neutral oil, such as canola, for pan-frying

Line up your fish fillets on a clean cutting board.  And don’t walk away from the cutting board to answer the phone or people (and by people I mean my children) are bound to mess with your ingredients. See what I mean?

"Ground control to Major Tom..."

Remove the Lego David Bowie from your cutting board and roughly cut the fish fillets into two-inch chunks.

Place the pieces into the work bowl of a food processor fitted with a blade. You are going to puree your fish.  I’m aware that sounds revolting, but keep on keeping on, please.  The end result is more worth it than I can possibly express.  Pulse several times until the fish is broken down into a puree that still contains some pieces. No pieces should be larger than pebble-size.  It should look like this.  It only gets better from here!

Add the processed fish and the remaining ingredients to a large bowl and mix until uniform.

Place a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat and add a thin coating of oil to the pan; a tablespoon should be sufficient.  Swirl the oil to coat the pan.

Don’t pre-form all your fish cakes, because the patties tend to fall apart if left to rest on a plate It’s best just to form right before adding them to the pan.  To do this most easily, rapidly form ½-cup of the fish mixture into a thin patty.  Don’t squash them mercilessly!  That light end texture relies on a gentle hand.

Quickly and carefully place the patty into the oiled pan.

Using a 12-inch pan should allow you to cook four patties at a time.  Once all four patties are in the pan, raise the heat to high and cook for five minutes. After five minutes, use a wide spatula and an additional rubber spatula, if needed, to flip the patties one at a time.  Take care to control how your flip them so you’re not splattered with any hot oil in the pan.  The first side should be a beautiful brown when they’re turned.  This first side looks like perfection.

Fry the second side for five minutes and transfer the fish cakes to a plate lined with a paper towel.  Repeat with the remaining fish mixture, adding a little oil to the pan as necessary.

Serve immediately, either plain or with tartar sauce. They definitely have enough flavor to be served alone…

If you serve with tartar sauce, make it a good one.  These New England Style Fish Cakes deserve the best!

For my money, this tartar sauce recipe is the best you can possibly make.  It is the massively down-sized recipe that The Evil Genius learned to make when he worked at a very popular South Florida restaurant.  He recalls making multiple twenty-five gallon batches for daily lunch and dinner services.  We’re talking about one seriously road-tested and approved tartar sauce recipe.

This addictive tartar sauce is much more flavor-packed than most alternatives.   Oh yes, put it on fish, but don’t stop there.  It’s an explosive change to the usual mayonnaise on a hamburger. French fries take on a whole new dimension when dipped into Tart-er Tartar Sauce.  Once you’ve tried it, you’ll plan meals around it!

Tart-er Tartar Sauce

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Greek yogurt
• ¼ cup mayonnaise
• ¼ cup minced scallions
• 2 Tablespoons minced cabbage
• 1 Tablespoon minced green pepper
• 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons dill pickle relish
• ½ teaspoon dried dill weed
• ¼ teaspoon celery seed

Stir all ingredients together in a bowl, cover tightly and refrigerate for at least an hour before serving.

A Disclaimer

I love barbecue; real barbecue.  I’m talking about meat that falls apart when a fork looks at it because it was cooked for hours over the smoking remnants of fruit trees.  I refer to the method that requires hours of time spent lovingly tending a fire outdoors and turning and mopping meat. Please let this stand as proof that I do know what ‘real’ barbecue is.  And also, that I know that these sandwiches do not constitute REAL barbecue since they were neither cooked over wood nor in a pit.  Thus, barbecue ’style’.  And if you think this disclaimer is unnecessary, you haven’t met many avid barbecue aficionados.  That being said, these three-bite, pulled pork sandwiches are made of melt-under-your-teeth tender, smoky meat dressed with real Carolina or Kansas City barbecue sauce.  And if you can come up with a better way to get a barbecue fix in the center of snow-bound Amish country in the middle of winter, I’d sure like to hear it.  I’m waiting…

Some decisions end up being much harder than you thought they would be.  Toilet paper roll over or under? French fries or baked potato? Dog or cat?  Kansas City or South Carolina?

In the wonderful world of barbecue there are many regionally distinctive styles of barbecue sauce.  Most Americans are familiar with Kansas City style- a thick, sweet tomato or ketchup based barbecue sauce of varying degrees of thickness- while few are acquainted with some of the other barbecue sauces of American origins:

1. South Carolina Mustard Sauce- This yellowish brown barbecue sauce takes its color from the prepared yellow mustard base.  Tangy, zippy, spicy, and smoky, this barbecue sauce makes you salivate just to smell it.  It goes with pork like Abbott went with Costello.
2. East Carolina Sauce- (Pardon me for a moment while I don my Kevlar undies to wade into territory where I have no business being; the great barbecue sauce debate.)  Arguably the mother of all barbecue sauces, East Carolina Sauce has its roots in the slave population of the Carolinas.  East Carolina Sauce is just crushed red pepper flakes and ground black pepper mixed with vinegar with very little or no sugar.  This is vibrant and acidic and is meant both to tenderize the meat and break up some of the richness of fatty barbecue.  This is also fantastic with long-cooked pork.
3. Texas Sauce (a.k.a. Thin Tomato Barbecue Sauce)- Where’s the beef?  Right here.  Texas Sauce is a miracle worker when it comes to tenderizing notoriously tough beef briskets.  It’s another vinegar based sauce, but this one is laced with chili powder, cumin, fresh onion, meat drippings, other spices and just the teensiest kiss of tomato sauce or ketchup.  It’s not just an afterthought, though.  Texas Sauce is usually mopped on while cooking and then used as a dip or topping to finish the meat.
4. Lexington Dip- This is kind of like a gentler East Carolina Sauce.  It contains all the same ingredients, but also has a hint of tomato sauce or ketchup added.  The small amount of sweetness from the tomato cuts back the pucker power of East Carolina Sauce ever-so-slightly.

…And that’s just barely scratching the surface.  My loyalties lie with South Carolina Mustard Sauce and Kansas City Sauce.  If you hold a slow-cooked spare rib to my throat and force me to pick, I’d probably go with the South Carolina Sauce, but that’s a barbecue sauce lover’s Sophie’s Choice. Now give me that rib.

Recently we found ourselves with a large quantity of leftover slow-cooked, shredded pork* and a pan full of crusty, garlic dinner rolls. While I tried to summon culinary inspiration, The Evil Genius passed by me muttering, “How about barbecue pork sliders?”  Eureka!  He had it!  But then came the real dilemma. South Carolina Mustard Sauce or Kansas City Sauce? “Why not both?” quoth he as he passed the other direction.  Sidebar: he was not reading my mind.  I have a habit of talking to myself in the kitchen. That day, someone answered.

*Why?  Because I slow-cook ten-pound pork shoulders when I make my melt-in-your-mouth Cuban Pork and even we can’t eat all that in one sitting.

Why not, indeed?  At only a couple minutes of hands-on time each it was easy to whip up both.  And so we did.  And boy, were they both good!  This dinner took five minutes of hands-on time.  I’m sure you could figure out something to do with a little time you save making dinner, right?  (Don’t tell, but I spend that extra time hiding in the closet eating the last brownie.  I told the kids the dog got it. And I don’t feel an iota of guilt.)

These irresistible little sandwiches are equally at home in a week-night dinner,  on a party buffet or as a midnight snack. They’re also pretty addictive.  But that’s okay, because they’re little so they’re low-calorie. Right?

South Carolina Barbecue Sauce

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Ingredients:

• 1 cup prepared yellow mustard
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar
• 3/4 cup cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon white pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon soy sauce or Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon liquid smoke

Stir together all ingredients except the soy sauce, butter and liquid smoke in a heavy-bottomed saucepan.

Simmer 30 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent scorching.  Add the soy sauce, butter and liquid smoke and stir well.  Return to a simmer over low heat and cook another 10 minutes, stirring often.

Cool to room temperature before transferring to a jar or squeeze bottle.  Store, tightly lidded, in the refrigerator.

Kansas City Barbecue Sauce

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Ingredients:

• 1 cup good quality ketchup
• 3/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 2 Tablespoons cider vinegar
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons prepared yellow mustard
• 1 Tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon liquid smoke
• 1/4-1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, according to heat preference
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Combine all ingredients in a heavy-bottomed saucepan and bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally, over medium heat.

Simmer for 10 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent scorching.

Cool to room temperature before transferring to a jar or squeeze bottle.  Store, tightly covered, in the refrigerator.

Barbecue- Style Pulled Pork Sliders

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Ingredients:

3 cups slow-cooked, shredded pork

1/4 cup preferred barbecue sauce, plus additional sauce for serving (Carolina Style Barbecue Sauce Recipe and Kansas City Barbecue Sauce Recipe)

12 warm dinner rolls (preferably crusty rolls, like these Garlic Bubbles.)

Toss shredded pork and barbecue sauce together in a microwave save bowl.  Cover and reheat on ‘HIGH for one minute.  Alternately, you can toss the pork and barbecue sauce together in a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan and reheat -covered- over a low flame until warmed through.

Split the rolls in the center with a serrated knife.  Sandwich about 1/4 cup of the saucy meat in between the top and bottom halves of each roll.  Serve immediately with sauce on the side.

And here’s where I need your help.  While I’ve already stated my preference, if forced to choose, would lie with the mustard sauce, it’s just barely a preference.  The Evil Genius threw down his lot with the Kansas City Sauce.  The kids were evenly divided, since two liked the mustard sauce, two liked the tomato sauce and one couldn’t make up his mind and opted for a banana instead.

Give a girl a little help, would you?  Since we can’t decide, and I have another pork roast languishing in my meat drawer, I want your opinion.  Do you like South Carolina Sauce or Kansas City Sauce better?  Do you prefer your own concoction?  Do tell.  And share recipes if you have one you love more than a bag of chips.

Laundry has never been my friend.

I need to make this perfectly clear.  I’ve never liked it; emptying pockets, washing clothes, drying clothes, folding and sorting clothes and putting them away.  Ugh.  I am not naturally inclined toward good housekeeping.  I’d much rather sit down with a cup of tea and a good book or some knitting or quilt blocks.  I might even rather have extensive dental work done rather than tackle a pile of dirty clothes.

Over the years, my ability to ignore laundry has become legendary.  And the problem has grown as my family did. 5 active boys + 1 Evil Genius + 1 clothes horse/baker/homeschooling Mom = 1 big-old-laundry pile.  And thus far, my patient and studied approach of ignoring it long enough for someone to invent self-cleaning/folding/putting away laundry* has gone unrewarded.

*To my husband, The Evil Genius:  Hello, sweetie.  If you read that paragraph above, please know that I am in no way disparaging your progress in inventing self-cleaning laundry.  I understand that it is lower on the priority list than ruling the universe, tesseracting, and DIY space/time continuum rift kits, but if you get a few spare moments…

And I have another good reason to detest laundry.  We have many allergies in our family.  (I’m convinced that I  have an allergy to laundry and they just haven’t discovered the test to prove it.  But that’s not my point; I am referring to my kids’ perfume and dye allergies…) This means that I’ve sprung mad cash on ‘Dye Free/Fragrance Free’ laundry soaps over the years.  Mucho deniro.  Beaucoup d’argent.  Mega bucks.  And I am cheap.  It pained me to spend so much money on an activity that I dislike so very much.

So, when I did began the series in early January on saving money around the kitchen (see Parts I, II, III, and IV ) and I asked for readers’ money saving tips, I was intrigued when I read these two comments:

“Jennifer

January 15th, 2010 at 10:46 pm

I make my own laundry soap. I can make a batch that lasts me the month for approx $1.”

and

“Marcia

January 16th, 2010 at 1:35 pm

I make my own laundry soap, which costs about 1 cent a load. I am going to try the twix bars, they look wonderful!”

Jennifer and Marcia had my interest.  A buck a month?  A penny a load?  Well, geez.  Even I could get excited about THAT little laundry innovation.  I got in touch with Jennifer (because -quite conveniently- she is married to my cousin.  Does that make her my cousin-in-law? ) and she was kind enough to share her recipe for homemade laundry soap.  She also told me that she’s been using this homemade laundry soap for about four months and that she does a great deal of laundry.  (Poor thing.  She has my sympathy.)

Laundry soap for a penny per load was not a difficult experiment to sell to The Evil Genius because his affinity for saving money overrode any skepticism he may have had over the science of the endeavour.  I made a batch.  I tried the soap.  I rejoiced.  Let me tell you, this laundry soap is -in a word- awesome.  My laundry -without using any fabric softeners- came out of the washer and dryer more soft and supple, more vibrant, and better smelling than it has with even the best allergen free laundry soap I’ve ever bought.

No cries of foul allowed; I have a high efficiency washing machine, Jennifer has a 13 year old regular top-loader.  If it worked for both of us, it’ll work for you! I washed an incredibly dirty load that included jeans my son had worn to dirt bomb down our hill and jeans that I had worn for a marathon baking session.  They both came out cleaner than I could have ever imagined.  Go on and look at me.  Am I getting excited about laundry?  I have photographic proof:

Aidan’s jeans after dirt-bombing.  These jeans sat in the hamper for 9 days before being washed.  I had written them off completely.  (I TOLD you I’m bad at laundry.)

Before:

Okay, it didn’t get the stain out.  But the light stain?  That was nine-days-in-the-hamper-my-fault.  It ended up much, much better than I expected and the resulting jeans are perfectly acceptable for everything from visiting with friends to spending the day in town.  That is an improvement over the ‘only-good-for-further-dirt-bombinb’ appearance I expected.

After:

Now, for my jeans.  Check out the fact that the entire leg is dusted with flour while there are many little areas of ground in, caked on bread dough.  If they were human I’d tell you to look at their pallid color; all dingy and faded.  So sad.  I feared for my jeans.

Before:

Wowza!  Look how clean they got.  There’s no foolery here.  These are the same jeans! Not a trace of the full-leg coating of flour OR of the little mini-loaves of bread that were ground into the fabric.  Total, 100% win on these!

After:

Look at the advantages:

1. It is really, really inexpensive.
2. It is environmentally and septic-system friendly.  No worries about phosphates or other nasties.
3. You can customize the scent of your laundry.  Want lavender, lemon, orange, fir pine, or coffee scented clothes?  No prob.  Just grab the appropriate essential oil.  Want to repel mosquitos with your clothes?  Add citronella essential oil.  Want no scent at all?  Don’t add oil!  Piece of cake!
4. It’s really cheap.
5. It is allergy-sufferer friendly.  You can use the mildest bar soap on the market (Dr. Bronner’s Mild All-In-One for Babies gets my vote.)
6. There are no dyes in it to irritate sensitive skin.
7. Did I mention it saves you a ton of money?

Let me break down the cost for you:

• Box of Borax: $4.00 at my local small grocery store (Dial #00368 76OZ 20 Mule Team Borax)
• Box of Washing Soda: $3.50 at my local small grocery store (Arm & Hammer Super Wash Soda, Detergent Booster 55 oz (1559 g))
• Water:  FREE baby, free!
• Essential Oil: $4.50 for a 2 ounce bottle in the Walmart craft section (Essential Oils)
• Ivory soap: $1.50 for a three-pack of bars at my local small grocery store

The amounts needed end up costing this:

• Washing soda: $0.35 for one batch (10 batches worth in the box.)
• Borax:  $0.17 for one batch (24 batches worth in the box.)
• Soap: $0.50 for one batch (3 batches worth in the three-pack.)
• Essential Oil: $0.10 (this is an estimate based on pure guess work.  It’s a big bottle of oil and I used very little.)

Total cost for the batch: $1.12.  If I left out the essential oil, the batch would have cost $1.02.  Let me repeat: $1.12 for nearly five gallons of allergy-sufferer friendly, superior laundry detergent.  Beat that.

For a photo-free, printer-friendly version of this ‘recipe’, click here!

Homemade Laundry Soap

Ingredients:

• One five gallon plastic bucket with a tight fitting lid.  (Can be found at Walmart or Home Depot near the paint sections.)
• One bar of gentle soap  (You can use Ivory, Dr. Bronner’s or any other non-beauty bar.  In other words, no lotion in the soap!  My Amish friends told me they use 1/3 of a bar of Fels-Naptha for their homemade soap.  That’s a little harsher than I want to use on my allergy-prone babies, but there’s no doubt that’ll get dirt out of anything…)
• 1 cup Washing Soda (This is available in the laundry aisle at Walmart and my tiny small-town grocery store.  I’m sure you can find it.  If you don’t have luck, Amazon.com carries it.)
• 1/2 cup Borax (This is also available in laundry aisles and Amazon.com.)
• 4 cups warm water plus 4 gallons warm water, separated.
• Optional, 10-40 drops of essential oil of your choice (Strictly optional, folks.  But shhhh… I used 35 drops of lavender essential oil.  Don’t tell the menfolk.  They don’t care for smellin’ purty.)

Grate the bar of soap on a metal cheese grater.

There is a large part of me that is so conditioned to what you normally do with cheese graters that I had to restrain myself from eating the soap.  Doesn’t it look like a beautiful pile of mozzarella?  It looked so good that I was tempted to cuss just so I could try washing my mouth out with it.  But I didn’t…

Do not use a plastic cheese grater as plastic is more likely to absorb odors from the soap. Put into a stainless steel or glass saucepan on the stove with 4 cups of warm water.  The same warning applies here as to the cheese grater. Don’t use a pan that will absorb odors.  Non-stick surfaces are more likely to soak up that soapy scent and flavor.

Heat while stirring until the soap is all dissolved.  Set aside.

Put 4 gallons of warm water into the large bucket and thoroughly stir in the Borax and Washing Soda. When those are dissolved into the water, stir in the melted soap. After pouring the melted soap into the bucket, plunge the pan up and down in the water a few times to stir the contents.

Look at that squeaky clean pan.  Stir and clean at the same time?  I’m all about efficiency!  But don’t forget to rinse it thoroughly before drying.  Nothing like soapy soup to bring you down.

Stir in the essential oil at this point if you are using it.

Allow the soap to sit, tightly covered, overnight.

The next morning you will find the soap to have a thick, gelatinous appearance.  Use a long spoon to break it up and stir it.  And don’t forget- use a spoon that won’t soak up the scent or soap flavor.

Hey look- this soap looks like brains.  The kids have been sick and I’ve had very little sleep. You could probably transplant this into my cranium with no appreciable difference in performance.

You will probably not be able to completely break up the lumps, but this is not a problem.

Congratulations: You have now joined the Tightwad Fraternity.  But you don’t have to tell anyone.  Just reap the compliments when people remark that your clothes look so nice and so clean and smell so fresh.

This is now usable!  Store tightly lidded for up to two months.*

*If you cannot use this quantity of laundry soap within two months, you can definitely reduce it.  To make a much smaller batch: use 1/4 of a bar of soap, grated into 1 cup of warm water; 1/4 cup of washing soda, 1/8 cup of Borax, and 1 gallon of warm water.  If you opt to use the essential oil, you would use between 3 and 10 drops in the micro-batch.

To use:

Use one cup (8 liquid ounces) of the laundry soap per load of laundry.  As this soap does not create suds, it is acceptable for use in high-efficiency machines as well as being good for the standard top-loading machines.

These muffins won’t win any beauty contests.  They’re not the prettiest muffins on the block.  They have a muffin face only a mother could love.  But man-oh- man, they’re delicious.  Let me break it down for you…

1. They have bacon.  That alone should be enough to convince you.
2. They have Swiss cheese both in them and toasted on top of them.  If the bacon didn’t do it, the Swiss should.
3. They have rye.  Rye?  Because it’s delicious.  That’s rye.  (Hi, Dad.  Thanks for the line.)

Any of those ingredients alone would be enough to make me dive mouth first into a muffin, but putting them together?  Oh my.  Oh me.  It’s enough to drive a girl crazy with food lust.  The salty, smoky bacon, pungent Swiss cheese (nothing neutral here) and sharp Rye flavors are all enhanced by a subtle presence of onion.  It’s the ultimate deli experience encapsulated in one lovely (in a ugly duckling to swan sort of way) muffin.

Get in my belly!

What can you serve with these muffins?  Soup, salad, or nothing at all.  While they make a wonderful companion to creamy and brothy soups, or dinner salads, they stand alone as a hearty snack or breakfast, too.  They store well, wrapped, in the refrigerator and I would imagine they freeze well, too.  There is a disclaimer, though; we’ve never had a batch last long enough to freeze.  Mainly they vaporize within a day.

In the interest of science, though, I wrapped and hid three muffins in the back of the refrigerator for four days.  Okay, the truth is I put three muffins in the fridge and ate one the next day.  On the second day I ate another one.  On the third day, my son broke his arm.  On the fourth day, I ate that last one.  It was still marvelous.  It was, as I said, a highly scientific process.

One more look before we make them?  Certainly.

For a printer friendly, photo-free version of this recipe, click here!

Bacon and Swiss Rye Muffins

Adapted from King Arthur Flour’s Ham-and-Cheese Rye Muffins

Ingredients:

• 2 cups (7 1/2 ounces) whole rye flour (also known as pumpernickel flour)
• 3/4 cup (3 1/8 ounces) high-gluten flour (also known as bread flour)
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
• 3/4 teaspoon granulated onion
• 1 1/2 cups Swiss cheese, grated and divided
• 1 large egg
• 1 1/2 cups (12 fluid ounces) buttermilk (or 1 1/2 teaspoons cider vinegar in a measuring cup topped with enough milk to reach 1 1/2 cups)
• 1/2 cup (4 ounces by weight) melted unsalted butter
• 1/2 pound of bacon, sliced into thin strips and then cooked until crispy and drained on paper towels

Preheat the oven to 375°F.

Generously grease a muffin tin or line with papers that are sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.  This may seem like overkill, but the cheese likes to stick.  Greasing the papers or the tins will ensure that you don’t have to gnaw crispy cheese bits from paper or a pan.  I’ve done it.  Trust me.  In a big mixing bowl, whisk together the rye flour, high-gluten flour,  baking powder and soda, salt and granulated onion.  Toss in 1 1/4 cups of the grated Swiss cheese to ensure it’s coated with flour.

Whisk together the egg, buttermilk and melted butter in a separate bowl or large measuring cup.  Pour into the flour mixture all at once and stir until it is evenly moist.  Do not overmix.  Gently stir in the crisp bacon.

Scoop the batter into the prepared pan.  Since whole grain muffins do not rise as much as their non-whole grain counterparts, you can fill these tins or papers fairly full.  You should get 12 muffins out of this batter.

Evenly divide the remaining 1/4 cup of Swiss cheese between the tops of the muffins and put the pan in the oven.  Bake 25 minutes or until the cheese on top is toasty and deep golden brown and the muffins test done.  (To test muffins, insert a skewer or toothpick into the center.  If it comes out clean- with perhaps a little oil from the cheese or bacon but no clumps of batter- the muffins are done.)

Allow the muffins to cool in the pan for 5 minutes then turn them out on a rack to continue cooling.  Or just eliminate that step and eat them immediately.  I won’t tell.

We’ve been enjoying a lot of the foods that go along with this season, hot teas and cocoa, soups, homemade breads and muffins, and I’ve been coming up with some interesting combinations as I work through my pantry.  In one of my ‘what will I find in here today’ searches, I found a lonely cup or so of arborio rice. For those of you who are familiar with this rice, you know it is THE rice to use to make risotto, a creamy, flavorful and often cheesy Italian dish. It’s comparatively easy to make, but does take some time and patience since it requires close to continual stirring for about 20 minutes, but while it is often served as a side dish, it can serve as the main part of your meal–add a little salad or some grapes or sliced fruit, a little glass of wine, and you’re good to go.

Some basic risotto ingredients

I was going to try a crockpot risotto recipe, but I decided to stick with the tried and true–it had been so long since I’d made this, I wanted to be sure we would enjoy the end product, especially since it was going to be the main course.

As mentioned earlier, the main essential to a good risotto is good arborio rice; you can usually find it in most good grocery stores, or through a whole foods co-op, or (gasp!) Amazon!

I’ve been checking out alternate sources for certain grocery items, and sometimes Amazon has the best price, and with free shipping, there are no additional costs.  They also offer ’subscription’ service which means you set up an automatic order for 1, 3 or 6 month terms, which entitles you to an additional 15% off the regular price. I ordered an 11 pound bag of rice today that normally cost $22.00, but came to 18.70 after the discount, coming to $1.70 per pound, much cheaper than at the grocery store, and 35 cents per pound cheaper than what my co-op could offer, and to get their best price I would have had to order 50 pounds at once.  I can just see my husband’s face as I ask him to carry that bag to the basement!

Good olive oil, butter, and savories such as onion, shallots, leeks, garlic, herbs–there’s a lot of room for some variety there. White wine is usually one of the ingredients, and I definitely prefer the version with wine than without–it helps cut some of the richness, adding a bit of a sharp note against the cheese that is added later. Broth is the main liquid; I’ve most often seen chicken broth used, but a light beef broth would probably work, or a good flavorful veggie broth.

Freshly shredded parmesan is best if you have it; if not, I get shredded parmesan in 2 lb. bags from our local restaurant supply, and keep it in the freezer to use in dishes like this. The per pound price is cheaper than most of the grated parmesan products in regular stores, and the flavor much better. Regular grated parm can be used, but try to find a brand that is as close to 100% cheese as possible.  Cream and extra butter is often stirred in at the end, but we no longer do that–we like the risotto just a little lighter.  Final touch for me is grated lemon rind and a good squeeze or three of lemon juice. Like the wine, it helps balance out the cheese in the dish.

Adding veggies to the dish? No problem. I really enjoy peas or mushrooms in risotto, and I usually prepare them separately and add the last couple of minutes before serving, so they just heat through but don’t have time to really cook any more. Mushrooms I sautee until browned, peas are simply cooked in a little salted water till just done. (If using the petite peas, I often just let them thaw, heating them through in the end–I like them to have a bit of a bite.)

As I mentioned earlier, this is an easy dish, but does take some attention. It’s a good time for listening to your favorite music, or just enjoying some quiet time at the stove (quiet time at the stove is probably something we empty nesters enjoy more often than some!).  Without further ado, here is the recipe I made last night.

Risotto with Parmesan and Lemon

1 cup arborio rice

4 cups chicken or veggie broth, kept hot in saucepan

1 small onion, chopped fine

2 cloves garlic, chopped fine or pressed

2 T. olive oil

2 T. butter

1 t. dried thyme

1/4 t. nutmeg, freshly grated

1/2 cup dry white wine

2/3 c. shredded parmesan

Ground black pepper to taste

Grated rind of one lemon

juice of 1/2 large lemon, or whole small lemon

Heat broth in a separate pan, and keep warm while you prepare the risotto.

Heat olive oil and butter in a larger flat-bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Toss in onion and garlic, and sautee until transparent. Stir in rice, and mix until the rice is all coated, then add thyme and nutmeg, stirring till well mixed.

Add the 1/2 cup of wine, and stir for a few minutes until the wine is absorbed and your spoon leaves a clear path on the bottom of the pan; at this point add about a half cup of broth, again stirring until it is absorbed. Keep repeating this a few times more.  If the broth seems to absorb to quickly, you should turn down your heat a bit so you won’t run out of broth before your rice is cooked.

After about 20 minutes or so have elapsed, taste a grain of rice to check for doneness. It should be firm, but not at all crunchy. If more time is needed, continue to add the broth and testing the rice every couple of minutes. Once the rice is fully cooked, and you have a nice creamy sauce holding it together, it’s time to add the cheese and lemon. I add the cheese and lemon rind together, making sure it is well incorporated, then squeeze in the lemon juice. I usually have to taste a couple of times before I’m satisfied with the balance–I definitely want the lemon to come through, but not to overpower the dish.

This is also the point where you would stir in a little heavy cream, a little extra butter, and any veggies you would like to add.

And that’s it. Serve it up in some nice bowls, sprinkle with a little extra parmesan (I had a tiny bit of extra nutmeg on mine),  have a nice plate of freshly sliced kiwi fruit nearby, and pour yourself a glass of that nice dry white wine.  I have to say, that is as close to a perfect meal as I’ve had in a while!

I told Ty to look thoughtful. Did he break his brain? What, in heaven's name, is that boy doing with his lips?

It was quite likely all but inevitable.  In a house with five sons you might think this would’ve happened long ago, but you would’ve thought wrong.  On Monday, Ty and one of his brothers were taking turns leaping from the couch (HOW many TIMES have I said don’t DO that?).  Now that’s verboten enough… but here’s where it gets fun.  The non-jumper sat behind the jumper who was crouched like a ski-jumper.  Non-jumper applied swiftly moving feet to jumper’s backside to provide added acceleration as the jumper leapt.  The first round went smoothly as can be;  Crouch, kick the bum, fly, land, accept accolades on an impressive performance from your brothers.  Then it was Ty’s turn.  Ty crouched, jumped, received the boost from the brother behind him, flew through the air and landed square on his wrist.*  Cue pain.

*You may be wondering how all this escaped my notice.  It didn’t.  I was in the kitchen, I heard the first thud, dropped my dinner preparation and was on my way into the room hollering, “Knock it off!” as Ty hit the floor.  Boys can move remarkably quickly when they’re afraid the game will be stopped by Mom.

I knew there was a big problem as soon as Ty hit because that boy does.not.cry.  And well, he won’t like me saying it, but he was crying.  Big time.  It took The Evil Genius forty-five minutes to get home since he was already en route and he hasn’t figured out tesseracting or self-contained flight pods just yet.  By the time he got home, Ty had eaten his dinner (“But MOM!  I have to eat if I’m going to the hospital!”) and his wrist had started looking mighty big and there was a lump where one ought not be.  And my ankles started feeling weak.  Because isn’t it really all about me?  (Sorry, son.  I’m trying to improve.)

Getting his coat on was tricky -and completely mandatory since it was a balmy 12°F outside.  The Evil Genius rigged up a splint (of course he did) and got Ty out to the car and strapped while I grabbed insurance cards and our five-gallon bucket of hand sanitizer.  (I’m kidding, it was really only a half-gallon.  That’s the biggest size I can find locally.)

The Urgent Care department wasn’t exactly hopping (there was just one woman in the waiting room) and Ty was triaged straight into the examination area.  This was greeted with protests from the other woman who had apparently been “…waiting for two hours with a very sore throat!” and insisted on being seen ahead of my child whose arm was dangling (oh dear Lord please help me not look at his dangling arm.  I already can’t feel my feet.*)  The last I heard, she was still complaining loudly as the door closed behind us in the Urgent Care area.

*Unlike my R.N. mother and First Responder father, I have an extremely helpful auto-response to other people’s pain.  I go numb.  Physically.  It starts at the feet and the more I observe pain/bruises/cuts/contusions, etc… the less of myself I feel.  My parents have at times found this to be a hilarious parlor game.  Talk about awful stuff seen at work/on ambulance runs and watch Rebecca dissolve into a puddle of uselessness on the floor.  Har har.  Hilarious when in my misspent youth, but not so useful as a parent.  When Leif fell down the stairs and stood up with a bloody head years ago the most vivid memory I have of the whole thing was vaguely dabbing at his head-wound with a dishrag.  Not a clean one.  Oh boy.

So the kind nurses and doctors iced Ty’s arm and wheeled us toward radiology because that bump on his wrist was growing larger by the moment. (Help!  I can’t feel anything from my knees down!)  Ty, at this point, was cracking jokes with the doctors.  His humour was mainly revolving around the fact that he had uncontrollable gas that was the result of the massive pile of refried beans he had consumed for lunch.  That’s right.  A likely broken arm and my boy was breaking wind in public and joking about it.  I can at least say this; he’s consistent.

The radiologist had me wait outside while she snapped many, many lovely interior pictures of my third born.  I was slumped on my back in a chair and my legs flopping akimbo in the waiting room since I was now without sensation from the waist down. The radiologist popped her head around the corner and motioned for me to join them.  I jumped up, trying to act all casual like that’s just how I always sit in waiting rooms.  She apologized because, “He hadn’t liked her much when she had to twist his arms like this…”  GACK!  My eyes!  They are NUMB!”  When the room stopped twisting I realized she was telling me that there were ‘obvious breaks’  (BREAKS!  Plural! Oh heavenly father.) and ‘less obvious areas of concern’.  She took a few more films and decided that Ty had a fracture in not just his radius, and not just his ulna, but his radius, his ulna AND his humerus.  That’s right.  Because when we do things in our family we do them ALL THE WAY.

And then they said they would send us home.  Now hang on one cotton pickin’ second.  “Home?  With no cast?”  asked I, “You do know I have four other sons, right?”  They said, “Don’t worry, ma’am.  We’ll put a splint on him and you can go see an orthopod in the next day or two.”  DAY OR TWO?  Come on, people.

Well, as it would turn out, they knew what they were doing.  (Go figure.)  The swelling (oh dear, the swelling…) had to subside so they could cast him properly.  And the orthopod was quick to get us in the next morning.

Ty left the office (where he cracked yet more gas, beans and related jokes and was joined in the tomfoolery by his Nana.) with a spiffy camouflage full-arm cast.  I left feeling a little more fortified since his arm was now protected (although it was a near thing when they removed that sling and I saw his REALLY PUFFY arm.  Oh my poor baby.)   I felt equal to talking loudly to cover up the fact that I was about to fall over every 15 seconds when I looked at his puffy fingers poking out of the cast.  Nana treated us to a fun lunch at Subway (What, Mom?  Do I look peaked to you?  I don’t know what you mean…) and we got home before getting socked by a winter storm.

And Ty?  Well, he’s doing just fine.  He took the news that sledding season is over for him with a reasonable amount of aplomb for an eight year old boy.  He discovered that his cast makes a mighty formidable weapon of intimidation against his brothers. (“I’ll brain ya with THIS if you don’t back off!”)  And he managed to make it a full 43 hours before he was compelled to, just had to, felt an undeniable biological need to wrestle with a brother.

They were happy to oblige.

As for me, it took me twelve hours to type this since I did it from the floor with the keyboard resting on my stomach with completely sensation-free wrists.  If someone could just proof-read this for me…

My father has told me more than once that he has one huge regret about how he raised my siblings and me.  If he could go back and do it all over again, he would not teach us to love potato skins and the heels of bread loaves because he had to fight for every one he ate after he did.  Does he have any other parental regrets?  Who knows?  I stopped listening and started drooling after he said ‘potato skins’.  Sorry, Dad.

Ah the potato.  God’s perfect tuber.  I am eternally grateful to my Dad for selflessly showing me the delicious potato skin path through life.   Baked potatoes topped with butter, salt and pepper are a wondrous thing but they’re not the only thing baked potatoes can do.  Loaded Baked Potato Soup (shameless self-promotion alert), our family favorite baked potato bar, and twice-baked potatoes are all stupendous.  But the apotheosis of potato preparations, the be-all-and-end-all of potato eatery is the baked potato skin.  Fresh from the oven, crisp on the outside and fluffy on the inside, seasoned and cheese laden, the baked potato skin is what every little spud aspires to become.   Can you imagine anything more perfect than this?

Well, okay.  How about anything more perfect than this?

Every time I see a plate of 12 dinky potato skins for $6.99 in a restaurant*  I want to jump on the table and yell, “I can make four times that amount with four times the toppings for that same price!  Highway robbers!”

*You know, on those 2 nights a year we eat in a restaurant.  Maybe The Evil Genius would take me out more frequently if I stopped jumping on tables and haranguing the staff.

This is truly a wallet-friendly party food.  Out of the same batch of baked potatoes that you got your Loaded Baked Potato Soup you can get these stupendous Baked Potato Skins.  Let me lay out the plan for you.

• Night 1: Bake 12 potatoes along with whatever number baked potatoes you can eat with dinner.  Cool the 12 extra potatoes on the rack while you eat your dinner potatoes.
• Night 2: Hollow out the 12 cold potatoes as directed in the recipe below.  Use the potato ‘guts’ to make Loaded Baked Potato Soup.  Place your potato shells on a rimmed baking sheet, cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 2 days.  If it’s going to go beyond that, you can pop the shells into the freezer.  When they’re frozen solid, transfer to a zipper top bag and keep frozen for up to one month before using.
• Night 3 (or 4, 5, etc…): Make your Baked Potato Skins and accept the praise and adoration lavished on you for serving such a delicious and festive food.

And, hey!  Sunday is the Super Bowl and the Olympic Games start next week.  This is hard-core finger food time, people.  Whether you’re attending a party, hosting a party or attempting to become one with your couch, you need to make these.  They’re guaranteed to win friends and influence people.  At least it wins and influences me.

Hey there, handsome...

For a photo-free, printer friendly version of this recipe, click here!

Baked Potato Skins

Ingredients:

• 12 baked potatoes, cooled to room temperature
• 2-3 cups grated cheese (I prefer extra sharp Cheddar, but you can also use Monterey Jack, Colby, Pepper Jack or any combination of those cheeses.)
• 1/2 pound of bacon
• 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• a batch of Creamy Onion Topping (full post here, or printer friendly version here.)
• additional thinly sliced green onions for topping

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Cut each baked potato into quarters, taking care to keep the skin as intact as possible. But don’t just cut them willy-nilly.  Take  a second to consider your potato.  Cut in half first.

Now look at your halves.  See how potatoes are generally oval shaped?  You want to cut those halves in half again, but cut them so that you’re cutting it through the longest angle of the oval so that your quarters will be relatively stable on the pan when you lay them down.  That would be front to back on the left potato half or side to side on the right potato half.

Use a regular soup spoon to carefully scrape most of the insides out of each potato quarter into a large bowl, leaving behind a shell of about 1/4 to 1/2 of an inch.

I know some folks take more of the potato out of the shell, but I like my potato skins a bit more substantial.  Feel free to cut back on the amount of potato, just be sure to keep a shell intact or your potato skin will go floppy.  Not so appetizing sounding, is it?

When you have eviscerated all your potatoes divide your potato shells between two rimmed baking sheets.  Use the potato ‘guts’ to make baked potato soup or tightly wrap with plastic wrap, refrigerate and make soup within the next three days.

Drizzle the extra virgin olive oil evenly over the potato shells using about two tablespoons per baking sheet.  Sprinkle salt and pepper over the potato shells to taste.  Remember that potatoes love salt and pepper, so don’t skimp here.

Place sheets in the top third of your preheated oven.  Set timer for 10 minutes.

While the potato shells are toasting, turn your attention to the bacon.  Slice the bacon into 1/2-inch thick strips and slide into a large skillet over medium heat.

Cook until the bacon just begins to turn crisp.  Transfer to a paper towel lined plate to drain.

Move the drained bacon to a cutting board and coarsely chop.

Remove potato shells from the oven and generously cover with the grated cheese, using about 1 cup per baking sheet.  Scatter the bacon pieces evenly over both sheets.

I used a mix of cheeses including copious amounts of white extra sharp Cheddar here. Because the potatoes were so hot when the cheese went on it began melting immediately. Whilst it appears these potatoes are almost naked I assure you they weren't. I wouldn't do that to a potato.

Sprinkle the remaining grated cheese over the bacon and return the pans to the oven.  Bake for 6-8 more minutes or until the cheese is melted.  If you like your cheese a little on the more toasty side -and I do- allow to cook an additional 2 minutes or just until the cheese is beginning to brown on top but is still gooey underneath.

Move baked potato skins to a platter.  If so desired, garnish with sliced green onions and serve with a bowl filled with the Creamy Onion Topping.

And boy, do I ever so desire.

Later this week, in keeping with our preparations for the Super Bowl and the Olympic Games there will be an epic barbecue smackdown wherein I take on…

Myself!

What will win?  My Carolina Style Barbecue Sauce or my Smokey Tomato Based Sauce?  Hmm?

Can we talk for a second?  I feel the need to tell you something. I love you.  Really, I do.  Let this soup stand as proof.  Because, baby, it is cold outside and this soup is going to warm you from your inside out.  From your toes on up to your nose.  If I could I’d deliver a big old tureen of this right to your door. (Yes.  I have a soup tureen.  Don’t you?)  Alas, I will have to settle for sharing the recipe with you here.

This Loaded Baked Potato Soup has everything a baked potato should have and more.  I guess you could say it’s all that and a bag of chips- minus the chips.  It starts, of course, with a mess of baked potatoes.  Why bother?  Baked potato soup is to regular potato soup what J. Lo was to the Fly Girls.*  Baked potatoes have an intense potato flavor -an earthiness- that boiled potatoes just cannot achieve.  And that intense potato flavor is perfectly complimented by Creamy Onion Topping, crisped bacon, sliced green onions and sharp Cheddar cheese.  I dare you to try not to like this soup.  It can’t be done.  I mean, really, look at it…

This soup calls to you whilst it bubbles on the stove top.  In fact, it sings.  It sings, “Don’t. Don’t you want me?  You know I don’t believe it when you say that you don’t need me… Don’t you want me baby?  Don’t you want me? Ooooooo-oh!”*

* I’m so sorry.  For some reason I’m very much stuck in a 80’s/90’s pop culture thing today.  It’s been all Human League, Thompson Twins, In Living Color, and whatnot today.  I think it’s because I read an article about Milli Vanilli yesterday.  Clearly I’m traumatized. And the J.Lo analogy is not as tortured an analogy as it might seem.  J.Lo was fine and dandy as a member of the Fly Girls, but she was a star on her own.  See?  I made it work.

But as if the soup wasn’t enough on it’s own, there’s another great reason to make it.  When you make this soup you are more than halfway done with the ultimate finger food for this Sunday (a.k.a. Superbowl Sunday, a.k.a. national holiday in my man-cave of a home.)  Making this soup leaves you in possession of a whole pile of potato skins.  So today I’ll teach you how to make the soup that’ll bring them to their knees and tomorrow I’ll show you how to make the potato skins that’ll keep them coming back for more! Sneak peak?  Why sure.  For you I’d do anything…

For a printer friendly, photo-free version of this recipe, click here!

Loaded Baked Potato Soup

Well, it’s been a while since I last posted; some of you may remember a posting from Beccy back in June when she shared I’d been diagnosed with breast cancer. Since then, I’ve had a couple of surgeries, some chemo, and radiation, which is now ongoing, and except for the cancer, I’m in really good health! During much of the recovery from surgeries and from the treatment itself, I’ve been feeling like I’m draggin’ my wagon, both physically and mentally. But things are much improved, and I’m happy to be finally sharing another post with you all.

This won’t include a recipe, but I did want to share some thoughts about feeling the pinch. Financially, that is. While we have excellent insurance, the deductibles and copays for all our visits to the medical world have taken a substantial bite from our budget, and that along with the fact that I’ve had to give up my part time job with the local library means a little less coming in. Fortunately, I’ve been able to find some ways of stretching the food budget, and I thought I’d share these with you.

First, I’m finally using up things from my pantry.  I told Beccy that I seem to still have the impulse for stocking the shelves the way I used to when we were feeding the kids before we entered the empty nest stage. I have enough rice, flour, brown sugar, dried beans of various sorts to last us through much of this year, but I find myself still picking up some extras when they are on sale. (Valerie, Just Say No!) I’ve been making myself stop when tempted to do that, reminding myself of the sagging shelves at home. (By the way kids, birthday presents this year will probably be jars of jams, jellies and preserves…I’m sure they are still good!)

Another thing I’m doing is trying to cook for two instead of 8 or 10. Leftovers are all right with some things, but not so attractive with others, and it’s nice to end a meal without having to add more dishes to the refrigerator with a bit of this and a dollop of that. Too many of those already in the refrigerator (okay, today’s the day I get rid of those…no comment from the husband, please.) Let me emphasize that I am NOT anti-leftovers—certain kinds make wonderful soups, casseroles, etc., but there are certain things that just are not better after a day or two in the refrigerator.

Eating from the freezer—much like using pantry items up, freezer items don’t stay nice forever, so it’s better to use these up rather than keeping them for ‘someday.’  I think part of my problem is I get a degree of security from seeing loaded shelves, and I want to get over that. There is enough food, and I can get more if I need it.

Another problem—false sense of deprivation. This kicks into play when you are gifted with or able to buy some special item that you don’t normally get, and you put it on the shelf, waiting for that special moment when you will get the maximum enjoyment from that item. What happens? The months, nay, the years(!) pass, that item gets pushed to the back of the shelf, and by the time it sees the light of day, you don’t even have the courage to open it, much less taste it.  Special foods?  Carpe diem! Seize the day!  Enjoy it now, for tomorrow may not come! (Sorry for the drama, but it works for me.)

One other very good and helpful thing is the S.H.A.R.E program. Beccy has mentioned Angel Food Ministries in the past, and S.H.A.R.E is much the same. It provides basic foods on a monthly basis for less than most of us would pay at the store.  The picture I’ve included in this post shows the foods that we picked up today, for a total cost of 43.90. This included their main box of food (25.00) which includes meats, fish, poultry, usually pasta of some kind and a few canned goods and/or mixes for quick breads, as well as 9 to 10 pounds of fresh produce. You are able to select separate items as well, and I ordered two more portions of the fresh produce ($14.00).  There is a 10% shipping charge ($3.90) and a $1.00 handling fee.   This month’s box included the following items:

5 lb. chicken leg quarters

1 lb. ground beef patties

1 lb. pork tenderloin

1 lb. tilapia fillets

12 oz. brown and serve sausages

12 oz. precooked cut up chicken

1 8-oz. shrimp, vegetable and pasta meal (For Jim, I’m not that into Shrimp)

12 oz. egg noodles

1 qt. wild mushroom marinara sauce

1 can cling peaches

1 can peas (erk, it’s been a long time since I’ve looked one of these in the eye)

4 oz. jar chopped garlic

6 grapefruit

15 oranges

15 red delicious apples

15 kiwi fruits

3 lbs carrots

3 cauliflower

3 3-lb. bags potatoes

3 2 lb. bags onions

They also offer a couple of organic items, usually some kind of meat or poultry, and a box of produce is always offered, 10 or more pounds of mixed fruits and veggies for $15.00.  I order these when the budget is a little more healthy, and the variety and quality is always excellent.

Where we live, here in the Northern U.P. of Michigan, it’s not that easy to find good fresh produce at these prices. Summer and fall offer better options, but we still can’t get the variety of meats and produce for this price. And it’s definitely enough for the two of us. And with my attempts to eat out of the pantry and freezer, there is very little we have to purchase at the store. Milk, eggs, cheese, a few more fruits and veggies (usually the ones on sale) and the odd baking supplies now and then seems to take care of what we need.

My goal for the next 3 months is to come in at under $100 for each month; in January, we spent just under $90.00.  In February we might go over a bit due to a larger order I’ll be making from our co-op that includes almond milk.  But we should be at least close.  I’ll be writing more about this later.

All that being said, I hope all our readers are enjoying these winter months.  I thought it would be nice to include a picture of our own status today–sunshine is abundant, sky is clear, and it is COLD.

Here is how things are looking for us right now at home.