Cookaholics Bulletin Board

The Caramelized Pears (I have to admit that one is also CI.) or the Asian Pears?

Edited to add: Ooops, just realized the asian pears are next week; getting a bit ahead of myself.

The caramelized pears spoke to me, too. They don't seem to have ever made it into the print magazine and I came across them while searching for Walnut Tart. Geekboy thought that the caramel sauce from the Walnut Tart would be "awesome" with some roasted pears. I guess he wasn't the only one.

Just checked it out. I will make that one for sure! Thanks.

Mary

Your menu's sound so good, what time did you say dinner was??

Approximately 30-45 minutes later than I think it will be.

So, this week things return to normal, actually I'll need to be a bit more frugal than usual since I need to recover (financially and otherwise) from all the beer.

Sun. (Harry's last day) - Chicken Livers with Grapes and Caramelized Onions, Roasted Sweet Potatoes, Whole Wheat Rolls, Sour Cherry Cobbler with Ice Cream -- $3.50/serving (this is off because I can't find the price of the cherries) -- Pilgrim's Dole Wheatwine by The New Holland Brewery
Mon. - Broiled Tilapia and Glazed Carrots -- $2.26/serving
Tue. - Leftovers (soft ones because of further root planing)
Wed. - Make-Ahead Pizza and Caesar Salad -- $3.14/serving
Thu. - Glazed Meatloaf and Ten-Minute Root Veggies -- $2.15/serving
Fri. - Pork Lo Mein and Asian Pears in a Wine Reduction -- $4.08/ serving (This was planned for when Harry was here, but he's going home a day earlier than we expected)
Sat. - Salerno-Style Spaghetti with Fried Eggs and Bread Crumbs and Caesar Salad -- $2.24/serving

We are living on my wife's pension and SS. My pension pays the mortgage/taxes/insurance/lawn and my costs come from savings. My busness start up requires some travel so that isn't trival.

We do watch costs on food, mostly buying and freezing large quantities of loss leader, sales and the like. Flour and sugar get purchased in 25 lb bags, spices in resturant put ups and the like. Oils in gallons. We try and keep kitchen costs under $125/week for the two of us and two cats. They get Costco bulk cat food and all the mice and chipmunks they can catch. Wine, and we have a glass with dinner, is not included. Mostly we drink an Austrailian boxed wine. $16 for 3 liters, shiraz or chardonay depending. Cooking wine, which we do drink from time to time, is out of the food budget.

I just put up 60+ pints of chicken stock at a cost of about $40, mostly for chicken backs but a lot of vegetables also. I also did lobster (from left overs) and vegetable stocks. We also keep pork, veal and dark beef stocks on hand.

I'm planning on adding a guesstamate calorie count to the menus (see http://menu.vldyson.com). I don't know if I want to keep track of food costs, but the scallops for last night cost $2.99 so that is total cost of less than $3 each. Tonight is a small rib roast bought on loss leader and fabricated into much smaller pieces. The bone will be saved for dark beef stock.

In the summer vegtable scraps become compost, in winter I worry about slipping and falling getting back there so they don't get saved.

Okay, a new week and a new menu.

Sunday -- Pasta with Salmon and Tomatoes; Caesar Salad - $2.39/serving - This dish is supposed to be made with fresh salmon, but I use the stuff in the pouch. I have tried it with fresh, but I actually like the way the pouch stuff blends into the sauce. And, of course, it's way cheaper.

Monday -- Steak, Mushroom, and Blue Cheese Salad - $7.53/serving - No real justification. I do need to use up a bunch of blue cheese that Harry bought while he was here, but there are plenty of less expensive ways to do it. Every once in a while, I just crave a steak.

Tuesday -- Potato Gnocchi with Chicken Livers and Pancetta; Green Salad with Roasted Pears and Blue Cheese - $4.09/serving - It would be more, if I didn't have all that free cheese. I'm on a bit of a chicken livers kick, lately. Also, I'll be subbing bacon for the pancetta because I really hate pancetta.

Wednesday -- Pepperoni Pizza-Style Stromboli; Caesar Salad - $2.21/serving

Thursday -- Slow-Cooker Black Bean, uhmmm, Capsaicin-Flavored Stew?;Avocados - $2.94/serving

Friday -- Baked Ravioli (one of the few convenience foods I'll still buy is frozen, cheese-filled ravioli);and, you guessed it, Caesar Salad - $2.85/serving - Well, Caesar Salad is easy and cheap, not to mention that I just really like it.

Saturday -- High-Roast Chicken and Potatoes; Salad with Roquefort (well, some kind of blue, anyway), Beets, and Fried Shallots - $3.36/serving

All I can say is YUM!

Thanks, Mi. Say, where are you exactly? I went to school in the Keweenaw. I also see that you are in the RV business. I spent a summer living in Elvis's RV (well, really the band's RV, but I'm sure he had the pink slip.). I was sad when my Granddad sold it without telling me. I would have loved to gut it and refurbish it. It didn't have any value, really, as a collector's item, but it was very well built and still running like a top. I just love all the little things they find a way to tuck into RVs. It had a great stove, too.

I'm in Cadillac, about 45-50 minutes from Traverce City and the same to Manistee. The RV business is just getting started for the season here. In a few weeks we'll be really rolling. It's a fun business to be in, lots of happy people looking for their dream RV. And fortunately in late December and January we get to travel to places warm! To much snow here for me and we got dumped on again over the weekend. I am oh so ready for spring!