To Begin Again

A new year and a good time to begin again.

So far, over the past year, I have lost 17 pounds.

It's not the first time I have done that, I have lost more in years past.

But I have never been able to keep it off.

This time has been different.

Even though I have not been trying to loose any weight these last couple of months, I haven't been really paying attention either to what I have been eating.

And since the middle of summer, I haven't been tracking my food.

I still eat pretty good - more sugar than what I should be eating does seem to find it's way into my diet though.

Exercise is still a priority - but not as much as in the warmer months - the lake is frozen for swimming and the morning exercise routine gets done about half the time now.

But I must be doing something right - the weight has stayed off.

So, as the new year begins, I will start to pay more attention again and see what happens.

From what I am seeing, it can only be a good thing!

Butternut Squash Secret

Butternut Squash has never been my favorite.

As a kid growing up, I used to dislike to see it on my plate, so much in fact, I have never served it in my house.

Until this past week.

We were lucky enough to find a bag of it on clearance already cubed and ready to be cooked.

I really didn't want to buy it, but it was a 2 pound bag and my husband wasn't giving up on it.

I read the recipe on the bag about how to cook it - and there were also several ways to cook it.

I remembered the dry, stringy stuff from the past, and I was determined not to end up with that.

So, I decided to spread it in a baking pan and drizzle it with butter and sprinkle it with brown sugar.

After tossing it around to coat it, I baked it for about 35 minutes in the oven, turning it once halfway through.

It smelled really good while it was cooking.

But the test was about to come once it finished baking.

And I have to admit, that Caramelized Butternut Squash is really good.

It's a good source of vitamins A and C.

And that two pound bag has lasted for four meals.

So now that I know the secret of cooking it, it will certainly find it's way into the grocery basket again.

Buckwheat

I have heard of this grain, Buckwheat, but I have never seen or cooked with it.

My daughter uses buckwheat flour in her bread recipes, and she really likes it.

So when I found some buckwheat kernels on sale, I decided to give it a try.

One cup of it made a lot - it will be around for quite a few meals.

The taste is different - I prepared it as the package recommended - coating the kernels with an egg, cooking it in a skillet for a couple of minutes, then adding broth and seasonings and cooking until the liquid was gone.

I found the flavor to be strong but not unlikable.

We decided the next evening to cook some jasmine rice, and we made a mixture of 1/2 rice and 1/2 buckwheat on our plates.

That was just what that strong tasting buckwheat grain needed.

The rice mellowed the flavor and blended perfectly with the buckwheat.

It was really good, and I can see where we will be eating it on a more regular basis.

Something new and different for us and delicious to boot!

A Remembered Meal

Quite often when I use the oven for a roast or just for baking, I will throw a few potatoes on the bottom rack to bake too.

Multitasking the oven and the use of the fuel to heat it is always a savings.

With the leftover potatoes, I usually make them into hash browns which always go over really well in our house.

And since those potatoes are already cooked - those hash browns don't take very long to cook either.

I was whipping up another batch last night to go with the fish that my husband was cooking out on the grill.

He brought the cooked fish in and set it beside the pan of hash browns.

We both looked at each other with the same thought in mind.

It has been a good 20 years since we made a fish hash, but after 31 years together, I guess we think alike.

We chopped the fish and added it to the potatoes and onions.

It was as good as we remembered - and it stretched the fish and potatoes to make another meal.

We are a good team!

Turkey Markdown

We hit it just right at the market last week.

I was looking to cook a couple of small chickens so we could have a meal and some sandwiches for lunch.

I couldn't believe my eyes when we spotted a fresh all-natural turkey marked down to $9.69.

That was a lot of meat for the money as we soon found out.

That turkey served three people five meals each.

Homemade gravy from the drippings and homemade bread provided what was needed for the hot turkey sandwiches.

And our feral cat made out pretty good too.

He ate all week long the scraps that we picked from that bird.

So, when we figured it out, each meal cost us .65 cents each.

And the cat ate for free!

Now those deals are few and far between, but how we love finding the really good stuff for a great price!