Olive Bread with Sage & Oregano

May 7, 2012 by pearsonsprogress    2 Comments    Posted under: Baking, Blogroll, food

I first had olive bread in France at our kids house. It is so good, that it’s hard to keep from eating it. I found this recipe for Olive Bread with Sage & Oregano in the Australian cookbook series called The Australian Women’s Weekly. I have several of these cookbooks and have enjoyed many of the recipes.

Olive Bread with Sage & Oregano

4 teaspoons dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
1¼ cup warm milk

1cup warm water

2 cups plain flour

1/3 cup olive oil

3 ½ cups plain flour, extra

1 teaspoon salt

1¼ cup of seeded black olives, halved

2 tablespoons shredded fresh sage leaves- I didn’t have fresh so I used dry from my spice drawer

2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano- I used dried, and had I  bought fresh spices, I would have spent about 5€ more.

Instructions:

1. Combine yeast, sugar, milk and water in large bowl, whisk until yeast is dissolved. Whisk in sifted flour, cover, stand in warm place about 30 minutes or until is doubled in size.
2. Stir in oil, then sifted extra flour & salt. Turn dough onto floured surface, knead about 10 minutes or until dough is smooth and elastic. Place dough in large greased bowl, cover, stand in a warm place about 1 hour or until dough has doubled in size. Turn dough,  onto floured surface, knead in remaining ingredients.
3. roll  dough to 12×15 oval. Fold dough almost in half, transfer to large greased oven tray, shape dough into an oval. Cover dough, stand in warm place about 45 minutes or until dough has increased in size by half. Sift about another 2 tablespoons of flour over dough, bake in moderately hot oven about 45 minutes.

* I didn’t sift the flour.

My grocery envelope system

May 6, 2012 by pearsonsprogress    No Comments    Posted under: food, Grocery Challenge, saving money

  We’re not the only ones who get paid once a month and I like so many others have had to learn how to stretch the budget. This month will be a particular challenge but I took stock of what I already have in the pantry and freezer and did my marketing for the rest of the month. I have about 2,00€ (that’s about $2.64 USA) until the beginning of June.  I doubt I will even need to spend that because I feel I have enough food to last the month and have guests over. I keep all my grocery money in this pouch and add the receipts. At the end of the month I review the receipts so I am able to know the best prices and then throw them away and start fresh for the following month. Any money leftover is rolled to the next month.  I use CASH ONLY for marketing.

For May I bought:

plenty of fresh vegetables; potatoes, onions, carrots, leeks, broccoli, cauliflower, cherry tomatoes, regular tomatoes, lettuce, mixed bag of lettuce, fresh spinach, zucchini, cucumber, parsnips, turnips, celery, limes… and probably something else  I forgot.

frozen vegetables (to use toward the end of the month) … Brussels sprouts, spinach etc.

2 packages of frozen fish – salmon & monk fish

1 package of ground beef

milk, cheese (several kinds including , Machego, Roquefort, Emmantal ), yogurt, butter, etc.

walnuts & almonds

dishwasher tabs, toilet paper, toothpaste, soap, napkins, etc

I did buy an  ‘extra treat’ that was not on my list:  goat cheese (at our house it’s really a necessity) & 1 avocado and my total grocery shopping bill came to around 70,00€ or $92.40 USD… for the month of May.  I had only budgeted 50,00€ so I used  20,00€ from my personal allowance.  What else could I do? Today I baked bread because the baguette I purchased on my marketing day is now gone. Speaking of bread… You have to try this olive bread I baked…really… I will post the recipe and photos tomorrow.

Cleaning out the freezer I found BEEF

May 5, 2012 by pearsonsprogress    No Comments    Posted under: blessings, food, Grocery Challenge, saving money

Slowly, I’m working through my pantry and freezer to use up what I already have. I opened the small freezer to the fridge I have in the basement and found 2 packages of beef! One package has 2 good cuts of steak and the other package has 2 filets off a round steak. Boy, was I glad! I was explaining to John about our May financial situation and shared with him how we needed to be very conservative this month in our spending. I was recounting some of the meat I know I have on hand mostly pork and chicken plus a small turkey which I will use for guests and I had thought I was completely out of beef. Imagine my joy & thankfulness to discover that I had some left! We do eat a couple of meatless meals a week using my fresh eggs that my wee hens gift to me every morning and/or legumes.
Gathering up the bits and saving the pennies. I love it!

Friday Pasta

May 4, 2012 by pearsonsprogress    2 Comments    Posted under: food, recipes

Friday is Pasta Day! Again, my goal is to ‘work through’ and use up all the pasta I have. I usually buy in bulk or when on sale, but the time has come when I need to use what I have, and save the money. I have wanted a special trip for just John and me to celebrate a recent accomplishment, but the funds are just not there…. so, I double down on my efforts to save every penny. The grocery budget is where I can do this most easily. Some months are more bountiful for us than others. The month of May will be lean, but it can be a learning time as well.
So… after taking stock of what I have, I’ve  chosen this recipe to use up some ‘elbow’ macaroni I have.

Hamburger Cheese Hot Dish

3/4 pound ground beef

½ cup chopped onion

1  15-ounce can tomato sauce

1 teaspoon sugar

¼ teaspoon  salt

¼ teaspoon garlic powder

¼  teaspoon  black pepper

4 cups dried medium noodles ( 8 ounces)  I am using elbow macaroni

1 cup cream-style cottage cheese -Using the lite variety

½ of an 8-ounce package of cream cheese- I use the lite variety

1/3 cup of sliced green onions- I have these growing in a pot which will save me a little cash

¼ cup  dairy sour cream- In Spain I use quark- non-fat.

¼ cup chopped green sweet pepper- I grew these last summer and froze them diced, which will save me money

¼ cup grated or shredded Parmesan cheese

1. In a large skillet cook ground beef and onion over medium heat until meat is brown and onion is tender; drain. Stir in tomato sauce,  sugar & salt, garlic powder, and black pepper. Remove from heat.
2. Meanwhile cook noodles/pasta according to package directions; drain.  Set aside. In a medium bowl combine, cottage cheese, cream cheese, green onion, sour cream and sweet pepper; set aside.
3. Spread half the noodles in and ungreased 2-quart rectangular baking dish. Top with half the meat mixture. Top with the cottage cheese mixture. Top with remaining noodles and meat mixture. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
4. Bake covered, in a 350° F oven for 30 minutes. Uncover. Bake about 15 minutes more or until heated through

Serves 6 @ 351 calories per serving.

I found this recipe in: Biggest Book of Casseroles which I recommend. I have used many of the 380 recipes included.

My Blog has a NEW look

May 3, 2012 by pearsonsprogress    6 Comments    Posted under: Blogroll, Family

As you can see I have a NEW appearance to my blog thanks to the skills and time our son-in-law Neil shared with me. He has been a wealth of information and is extremely patience in his teaching this ‘old dog to learn new tricks’. I hope these new tricks  will become salient and I can move on to learn even more from him.

Each on one of our kids has so many talents and attributes and John and I appreciate these in Neil:

• He is willing to share his knowledge & skill
• He is a continual learner
• He’s patient
• It’s a good teacher
• Good father
• Serving & loving husband
• Humble
• Hard worker/diligent.
• Godly man
• He’s very fun to be around!

I thank God for  Neil  as I know all of our family does.

Fun reading: Common Errors in English Usage

May 1, 2012 by pearsonsprogress    3 Comments    Posted under: Blogroll, Kindle

I’ve downloaded this fun book to my KINDLE called: Common Errors in English Usage by Paul Brians and have enjoyed reading about the English grammar mistakes I hear and make. Here are 5 under the redundancies section:

1. Cheese quesadilla/quesadilla- Queso is the Spanish word for “cheese,” so it’s redundant to write “cheese quesadilla” on a menu. If you think your customers need a definition or if you want to distinguish the purely cheese-filled ones from – say- chicken quesadillas, you can add a brief explanation such as “cheese-filled fried tortilla”
2. added bonus- should be: as a bonus
3. HIV virus- “HIV stands for “human immunodeficiency virus’” so adding  the word “virus”  to the acronym creates a redundancy.
4. ATM machine/ATM- “ATM,” means “Automated Teller Machine,” so if you say “ATM machine” you are really saying “Automated Teller Machine machine.”
5. heading/bound- If  you’re reporting on traffic conditions, it’s redundant to say, “heading northboud on I-5.” It’s either  “heading north” or northbound.”

Sometimes it’s just nice to read something interesting and fun.

10 reasons I like Spain

Apr 30, 2012 by pearsonsprogress    1 Comment     Posted under: Blogroll, Spain

Isn’t it great to like where you live? Or.. at least see the best in your surroundings and to look on the positive side? One other thing… I think a lot of people these days might use the word ‘love’ instead of like. I’m learning to be careful of my use the that word. I want a ‘fuller’ meaning to be the definition of ‘love’…eg; I love God, but I like hamburgers.  Love people …like things…

10 Reasons I like Spain:

1. the Spanish culture
2. our wonderful church
3. the Spanish food~ cocido, paella, tortilla de patata … etc
4. the style of homes they build
5. the history & ruins
6. the weather/sun
7. the Mediterranean diet
8. the beautiful Castellano language
9. the use of round-abouts (rotondas) instead of all the stop lights in the USA
10. a ‘good’ Rioja wine

Friday Pasta~ Greek-Style Garlic Shrimp & Orzo

Apr 28, 2012 by pearsonsprogress    2 Comments    Posted under: food, photos, recipes

Friday’s is the day I make pasta with the these 2 goals in mind:

1. to try new recipes
2. use the pasta I have in my pantry… which is still considerable.

This week I made this really tasty dish with orzo a small pasta and it was super yummy and it came together very fast. I made substitutions because I wanted to use up what I already have in the house to keep my expenses down.  Living in Spain, I would use this recipe as a 1st plate before the meat course, but it could easily be the main dish. I didn’t serve it with anything else but garlic bread would be nice or even a salad.

Greek-Style Garlic Shrimp & Orzo

Serves 4 main dishes or 8 as a 1st plate

Ingredients:

¼ cup olive oil

1 small red onion ( I used a yellow onion)

1 teaspoons  crushed red pepper flakes

1/2 cup Kalamata olives, pitted & chopped (I used regular black olives which were pitted but I tossed in whole)

2 teaspoons of lemon zest

juice of ¼  lemon

2 Tablespoon chopped fresh oregano leaves ( I used 1 teaspoon of dried)

6 cloves of garlic, minced (I used 4)

2/3 box of orzo pasta ( I used 250 grams)

1/3 cup of dry white wine

1 pint of cherry tomatoes

2 Tablespoons of chopped fresh parsley

1 lb of  small shrimp, deveined, peeled & tales removed ( I bought a frozen bag of small cooked shrimp and added it frozen)

8 oz of feta cheese

Cook the orzo as directed on the package in salted water until al dente, drain & reserve.

Heat the ¼ cup of olive oil , then add the onions, red pepper flakes and garlic. Cook for 2 min, then add the shrimp and cook for another minute more. Add the cherry tomatoes, parsley, olives and oregano, lemon zest, juice of  ¼ lemon & white wine and season with salt & pepper. Cook until the shrimp is  heated through.

Drizzle a bit of olive oil on the orzo to keep it from sticking in a serving bowl. Top with the shrimp mixture & crumble the feta cheese on top.

* I got this recipe from a Rachael Ray cook book I own.