They want to be just like us…..

Blogging marathon #5….  This is Maggie playing with my expired coupons.  They really are not interest in toys.  We’ve given our children way too much stuff in their lifetime.  One thing I’d change if I could do over.  Now we’re getting better, but still need improvement.  But much much much better than before.

Homemade Salmon Cakes

OK, today is a blogging marathon.  I’ve made pics of this stuff during the week, but haven’t found the time to get it onto my blog.  I know I could save it and post later, but then the info is old.  I don’t like posting old info, even if it is new to you.  So I end up with a file of drafts never published.  It only takes me a second to write a post about something I think.  I can write thoughts very quickly.  But it takes more effort to get pics up.  And much of what I do isn’t really interesting without a pic.  This for example…

Last week I had lunch out, which is rare for me.  I ordered exactly what I wanted:  Salad with crab cake.  It was $12 not including drink.  It was at a very nice restaurant so my expectations were high.  Yes, I was very disappointed.  The crab cake was frozen in the middle.  I guess they take it from the freezer to the frying pan and just stick on a bed of greens.  I could do that with a costco trip.  I sent the crab cake back and it returned a rubbery heated ball.  I just said thanks and let it go.  Some things are not worth the fight and I was focused on other stuff at the time.

This week I reinvented the salad and mine was 500% better.  I had leftover cooked/seasoned salmon that I crumbled into a bowl.  I added one egg, a few capers, lemon juice, 1/2 sleeve of crushed ritz crackers, a couple of huge spoons of mayo and pepper.   About one cup of salmon made 4 medium sized cakes.  I fried them in a little veggie oil.

For the salad, just fresh tossed greens, sliced bell peppers, green onions and goat cheese.  I used a red wine vinaigrette for the dressing.  I topped the salad with the hot salmon cakes and lemon wedges on the side.

Husband thought he had died and gone to heaven it was so good.  I made two salads with two cakes each for much less $ than the one I had out (which only had one cake).  You just can’t beat eating at home.

Gotcha day anniversary

4 years ago we were in China to meet our new daughter.  What a joy.

Frozen Key Lime Ice Cream Dessert

This is one of my favorite summertime desserts and great for brunch.  And so simple with 3 ingredients.  I’m trying to keep the oven usage down to only a few times a week, so this is one more treat that doesn’t heat up the house when being prepared.

You only need key lime ice cream (blue bell is my favorite), whip cream and granola.  Layer icecream, granola then whip cream in the bottom half of your glass.  Next more ice cream, whip cream and top with granola.  I used homemade coconut granola in my treat.

Doctored Chocolate Cake from a Mix

This has been a cooking week.  I try to keep desserts around the house and my family has a fondness for chocolate.   I get a ton of cake mixes for very little $$$ using coupons.  But I think a cake mix just with oil, eggs and water tastes boring.  You can, however, doctor it up and make it taste gourmet.

I start my cakes with a mix (almost free with coupon) then doctor them with other ingredients to make them taste purely homemade.  These are so good I cannot justify doing it totally from scratch.   Some of the best ingredients to use in cake doctoring are mayonnaise, buttermilk and sour cream.  This week I used mayonnaise.  It is a great use for mayo if you need to rotate this item through your pantry before it expires.

One of my favorite cook books is “the cake doctor”.  Here’s a recipe similar to the one I used from my cookbook, mine also had vanilla as an ingredient.

I almost never use store bought icing b/c I can taste the difference between this and homemade.  If you save time with a cake mix, then use the extra to make frosting from scratch.  It will make all the difference.  For the icing I used two use dark chocolate bars (thanks for leaving these Melissa), butter and powder sugar.   The icing was too sweet for me, but the family thought it was great.  We had extra icing, so we also dipped strawberries… yum yum.

Check out this cake:

Clearance meat galore

This week I crowned myself the clearance meat queen.  I went to Randall’s at 9 am to shop for their reduced price meat.  I scored.  My freezer is full.   I think Randall’s is one of the best places to get meat and they mark down their stuff big time.  I got all this (pic below) for $106.   Full price would have been $425.  About $75 of this was for meat items and will last my family of 5 at least 2 months.  And 4 of us eat at home 3 meals a day.

I have a few strategies when I purchase clearance meat.

• I shop after holidays for meat because grocery stores over stock for  the holiday crowd.  For example, the day after Christmas is the best. Other ladies hit the mall for after Christmas sales.  Instead I hit the grocery stores the day after Christmas.  I get up early and visit at least 4 grocery stores.  Last year I got 7 butterball fresh turkey breasts for almost nothing, regularly $16.  We eat this for about 3 months after Christmas.  I do it again at Easter.  And then after July 4th.

• I buy meat that was already on sale as a loss leader,  which has been additionally marked down for quick sale.  Randall’s had a sale on Ribeye’s (ended Tuesday midnight).  They had gotten a ton in for 4th of July.  I purchased at least 10 huge ribeye steaks.  I also got pork ribs, Italian sausage, chicken, and 6 corned beef briskets for 49 cents a pound (regularly 3.99 a pound).  Many other items, but I won’t bore you with a list.

• Whenever I buy marked down fish, I always take it to the butcher and ask that they double check it for me.  Once I had a butcher check it and he said don’t buy it and he tossed it.  I’m not an expert on seafood, so I defer to them.  And I talk to the butcher, not the young stocker who is working in the department.  I have never gotten a bad fish.  This week we ate a huge piece of Salmon for $3.99 (marked down).  It was enough for two meals.

• I never buy anything that has already expired.  That should not even be on the shelved.

• I’m selective on which stores I will trust in this area.  I know this is controversial, but I think very highly of Randalls and will also buy Kroger’s marked down meats.  I do not at HEB or other smaller local grocers.

• I also check their shelves for products I like but are hard to find on clearance.  For example, I love the organic chicken apple smoked sausages that are $6 a pack for 4 sausages.  Whenever I see these are going to expire in a couple of days I take them to the butcher and ask that they mark them down to 99 cents.   I’ve only been told no once.

• When I get home it goes straight to the freezer.  I don’t let it sit in my fridge for hours before I transfer the meat.  Or I cook that day.

• Iit helps if you look and act like a lady when you shop.  If you show up with sweats, messy hair, no makeup and screaming kids you don’t get the same response when you’re asking for favors.  I’m not saying you go in an evening gown with jewels, but go looking nice.  Both males and females respond more positively to someone who is presentable.

Houston Crime

I keep hearing about “stuff happening”.  This is not crime that makes the news, but crime here and there.  I’m hearing about it more and more.   Even places where you don’t expect it.

My husband works in a tall building downtown.  He takes the elevator bank up to  the middle of the building and walks down the stairs each day.  Yesterday he found a lady’s wallet hidden in the corner of the staircase.  He took it back to his desk and started trying to find the owner.   It had credit cards and cash.  He could not find her work phone from the info, but did notice she used the same credit union that we have.

He called the credit union and gave them his info, asked that they call her and give his contact info.  Had they given us her info, we’d have been very upset.  They called her and she immediately called him.

She is in her 20s, two kids and works downtown.  She was mugged in her office building about 20 floors up from where hubby found the wallet.  The scumbag ran down the stairs and hid the wallet, not even bothering to get the cash… so police assumes he was coming back.   Lady was very shaken.   You’re more on guard for this in a parking garage or street, but not inside / top of an office building.

Good news is scumbag was caught.   Bad news is he’ll probably be back on the streets soon.  Too many of these walking around.

I was in Randall’s a few weeks ago.  A male about 55 years old standing too close to me in line -  in my personal space.  My four year old was in a dress and her undies showed a little because she was sitting in the buggy with legs hanging out (no more dresses when going to the store).  This guy was making me very uncomfortable.  I turned to look at him and he was staring at her bottom.  I started making a scene.  Very obvious pervert.  I said a few words and he responded  saying it was not my kid but my radiance.  Yea right.   A real gentleman would have realized momma bear saw him as threat and he’d have backed off.  But this guy just responded with insults.  Pests like that out for little kids need to be removed from the planet.  However, he’d done nothing illegal (right there) but be a jerk.

We just need to be even more careful.  And we can’t assume everyone is out to get us.  This weekend my mom was in the grocery store.  Her bill was $28.  She went to get money from her purse and found her wallet wasn’t there.  She only had $10 cash.  They guy behind her told the checker he’d cover the balance of $18.  He was not a rich looking fellow btw.  When my mom got back to the car, she found her wallet on the floor.  She found the guy in the parking lot and tried to repay the money.  She only had a $20.  He would only take the $20 if he had change to give her $2 back.   He joked that he would not accept a tip.   There are still many good folks out there…. just watch yourself.

Looking for pest control options

Today I’m joining wearethatfamily for Works for me Wednesday.

My conundrum is pest control.  We live in Houston and fight all kinds of bugs and rodents.  We’ve had a pest control service, but I won’t even say how expensive that is.  But is has worked and I can’t imagine what they are putting in our house that is killing the bugs (and us).  So I’m researching “home remedy” bug solutions.

I have the typical spiders and other crawlly things.  I also have lots of little bitty ants that love any open food.  I’ve tried to keep everything sealed in my pantry, but almost impossible with 2 dogs, 5 people and 3 meals a day +snacks.

I’ve not had the service come back and I can tell the bugs are starting to move in.  What can I do?  Any ideas much appreciated.

Cash for Clunkers

I missed the cash for clunkers  passage while I was on vacation and just heard about it.  I hate the stimulus spending, but since it is here take a look or at this toyota ad.. if  are shopping for a new vehicle and will be trading in an older automobile.  You can get up to $4,500 for your clunker.

Here are a few facts from the gov’t site:

• Your vehicle must be less than 25 years old on the trade-in date
• Only purchase or lease of new vehicles qualify
• Generally, trade-in vehicles must get 18 or less MPG (some very large pick-up trucks and cargo vans have different requirements)
• Trade-in vehicles must be registered and insured continuously for the full year preceding the trade-in
• You don’t need a voucher, dealers will apply a credit at purchase
• Program runs through Nov 1, 2009 or when the funds are exhausted, whichever comes first.
• The vehicle that you are trading in is required to be destroyed. Therefore, the value you negotiate with the dealer for your trade in is not likely to exceed its scrap value. The law requires the dealer to disclose to you and estimate of the scrap value of your trade-in vehicle.

Little house on the prairie – living off grid

Yesterday afternoon I watched 4 hours of Little House on the Prairie.   We took a break and came downstairs for a snack.  The girls told Dave what we were doing and they were so excited Mom was watching the show with them.  Dave got a grin on his face and proceeded to tell them that I wasn’t watching Little House on the Prairie but was watching living off the grid.  That was really funny and partially true.  I love living off the grid stories…. even if they are a few steps from true living off the grid reality.  I wish someone would do a real show on this life.  We have the Les Stroud show, but it is not representative of what really happens.