February 10, 2014
February 3, 2014
August 4, 2013
July 30, 2013
More-with-Less Cooking
A while ago at a used book sale I saw a cookbook that looked familiar; sure enough it was a copy of one of the staple cookbooks which a dear friend and mentor had on her shelf. I bought it for about $2 and forgot about it.
I found it again at it is a perfect guide for the food project we are setting out on. The book was published in 1976 so some of the statistics are wrong now, however, how to make sure you are eating whole proteins with legumes and grains hasn't changed, nor has the fact that meat costs a whole lot more per gram a protein as the vegetarianism options.
The book is More-with-Less Cookbook by Doris Janzen Longacre and is filled with good old fashion Mennonite cooking sense. Now I am not Mennonite myself but every Mennonite I have met has had an appreciation of good food, and usually lots of it.
So here we go, aiming for a less meat and lower cost meal but more filling and satisfying!
First meal attempt:
Six-Layer Dish
I was craving a casserole type bake anyway.
Layer in order given in a 2qt. greased casserole, seasoning each layer with salt and pepper:
2 medium potatoes, sliced
2 medium carrots, sliced
1/3 c. uncooked rice
2 small onions, sliced
1 lb ground beef
1 qt. canned tomatoes
Sprinkle ove;
1 Tbsp brown sugar
Bake at 300 for 2 1/2 - 3 hours
Options:
Just before ground beef add 1 c. cooked kidney beans, drained.
Substitutes browned book sausage for ground beef.
I'm adding the beans, substituting chicken and omitting the onion, mostly because of what we have available in our pantry. It's not normally what I would make, but nothing we wouldn't normally eat, and it does look more filling than what I would normally make. I am looking forward to it.
I found it again at it is a perfect guide for the food project we are setting out on. The book was published in 1976 so some of the statistics are wrong now, however, how to make sure you are eating whole proteins with legumes and grains hasn't changed, nor has the fact that meat costs a whole lot more per gram a protein as the vegetarianism options.
The book is More-with-Less Cookbook by Doris Janzen Longacre and is filled with good old fashion Mennonite cooking sense. Now I am not Mennonite myself but every Mennonite I have met has had an appreciation of good food, and usually lots of it.
So here we go, aiming for a less meat and lower cost meal but more filling and satisfying!
First meal attempt:
Six-Layer Dish
I was craving a casserole type bake anyway.
Layer in order given in a 2qt. greased casserole, seasoning each layer with salt and pepper:
2 medium potatoes, sliced
2 medium carrots, sliced
1/3 c. uncooked rice
2 small onions, sliced
1 lb ground beef
1 qt. canned tomatoes
Sprinkle ove;
1 Tbsp brown sugar
Bake at 300 for 2 1/2 - 3 hours
Options:
Just before ground beef add 1 c. cooked kidney beans, drained.
Substitutes browned book sausage for ground beef.
I'm adding the beans, substituting chicken and omitting the onion, mostly because of what we have available in our pantry. It's not normally what I would make, but nothing we wouldn't normally eat, and it does look more filling than what I would normally make. I am looking forward to it.
Hopefully it cooks down, or the 2 qt. pan might not have been big enough...
July 23, 2013
A Quest to Eat for Less
So we're looking ahead at our third month in Saskatoon. It's not as glamorous as we hoped but we are making ends meet, barely. Eventually my husband will get more hours at his job but it means lots of work first and probably two more years of school before he's at sustainable full time. That seems to be the difficulty of breaking into the counselling business.
There are three major things that we're working on at the moment; two are for our personal lives, one is for work.
For work, both of us are working together at setting up a group pre-marital counselling seminar. It is going to be ten three hour sessions, likely once a week for four to ten couples. This is something that after talking to pastors from various local churches seems to be a need. So we're putting our schooling to work at getting this together. Eventually, my husbands boss would like to offer this through his work too, but since he is not working at a Christian counselling center we will have to modify it to be less Christian. Now, I don't know how that will change it, other than some wording, because I feel that all sound marriages are based in Biblical principles whither or not the couple believe in the One who created those principles. We will just have to work it out.
For ourselves we are going to do to things: We realize how much stress we have been under with the move and are going to take some time for ourselves just to study Scripture together. We're using a book to guide us, it is one that I have read before but am looking forward to reading again. The Good and Beautiful God: Falling in Love with the God Jesus Knows by James Bryan Smith. We also have the second book in that series, The Good and Beautiful Life: Putting on the Character of Christ. I am looking forward to working through these and memorizing Scripture with my husband.
Second, we are looking to eat better, really to eat for less. Both in the sense of eating for less money as well as for less junk and calories. Both of us, when we are stressed start to eat more food, and less of it healthy. So we are sitting down and actually planning out healthy meals, instead of just cooking whatever we can find. This means eating less meat, it is often the most expensive thing we eat, and making sure that we are getting full proteins and lots of vitamins and minerals from what we are eating. Lentils and beans are becoming our friends, they are cheep, chalked full of goodness and I still get to feel full after eating.
God is good, all the time. The work will be worth it when it all comes down to it. I know that even though we feel like we are coasting at the moment, God has a plan for us. Sometimes I worry but I know that we can lean on God and do the best with what He gives us. Moment to moment. All the time, God is good.
There are three major things that we're working on at the moment; two are for our personal lives, one is for work.
For work, both of us are working together at setting up a group pre-marital counselling seminar. It is going to be ten three hour sessions, likely once a week for four to ten couples. This is something that after talking to pastors from various local churches seems to be a need. So we're putting our schooling to work at getting this together. Eventually, my husbands boss would like to offer this through his work too, but since he is not working at a Christian counselling center we will have to modify it to be less Christian. Now, I don't know how that will change it, other than some wording, because I feel that all sound marriages are based in Biblical principles whither or not the couple believe in the One who created those principles. We will just have to work it out.
For ourselves we are going to do to things: We realize how much stress we have been under with the move and are going to take some time for ourselves just to study Scripture together. We're using a book to guide us, it is one that I have read before but am looking forward to reading again. The Good and Beautiful God: Falling in Love with the God Jesus Knows by James Bryan Smith. We also have the second book in that series, The Good and Beautiful Life: Putting on the Character of Christ. I am looking forward to working through these and memorizing Scripture with my husband.
Second, we are looking to eat better, really to eat for less. Both in the sense of eating for less money as well as for less junk and calories. Both of us, when we are stressed start to eat more food, and less of it healthy. So we are sitting down and actually planning out healthy meals, instead of just cooking whatever we can find. This means eating less meat, it is often the most expensive thing we eat, and making sure that we are getting full proteins and lots of vitamins and minerals from what we are eating. Lentils and beans are becoming our friends, they are cheep, chalked full of goodness and I still get to feel full after eating.
God is good, all the time. The work will be worth it when it all comes down to it. I know that even though we feel like we are coasting at the moment, God has a plan for us. Sometimes I worry but I know that we can lean on God and do the best with what He gives us. Moment to moment. All the time, God is good.
May 5, 2013
Start of the Great Church Hunt Adventure
Today is the first Sunday we are here so that means our first new church! My husband and I have agree to searching criteria:
Lawson Heights Pentecostal Assembly is first on our list.
- They need to have sound doctrine and theology
- thanks to Bible college we know what we believe and have talked about this extensively
- Enjoyable music
- for us that is a healthy mix between new and old songs
- a willingness to try old songs in new ways
- Active and healthy community
- we may have been spoiled by our Bible college town church but I hope not
- Close to where we live
- we feel that geographic location is important to worship
- I feel that it is a part of the way that God built us to live in community
- Larger congregation (this is my husband's desire)
- He comes from a larger church, I from a smaller church. This is just a common disagreement from our rural/city out looks. Although it's not as important as the other points.
- Feel
- This will likely be the deciding factor. Feel may not be the proper description for it: it will be part discernment, part prayer, part weighing the other criteria. It's a discussion that will not be taken lightly.
My husband is pessimistically expecting this adventure to take about two months. I am hoping for a shorter time than that. I would like to set down roots in a community soon, but I do want to find the right place to do so.
In a sea of boxes.
So today is the second full day we have been at our new apartment. I got my computer and internet set up but we are still in a sea of boxes. The living room is almost free: I count only eight where at one time it was full, but the rest of the house is still fairly stacked. We packed just about forty cardboard boxes and a few totes on top of that. Who knew we had so much stuff?
My In-laws are still here and I am so thankful for them. It helps my motivation for unpacking to have them around as well as it makes it seem a little more normal. I am sure I will be lonesome when they leave. Adjusting will be interesting.
My In-laws are still here and I am so thankful for them. It helps my motivation for unpacking to have them around as well as it makes it seem a little more normal. I am sure I will be lonesome when they leave. Adjusting will be interesting.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)