January Goal Recap

1.      Budget – Set spending limits.  I did this!  I started using Mint.com (full review is in the works) and I was able to set limits in lots of categories.  So far I’m not having much luck sticking to my limits, especially in eating out and grocery shopping, but that’s another issue for another time.

2.      Food – Relearn how to shop and cook for one.  I think this is an ongoing process.  Cooking for one is going well (with exception of a few miscalculations on how much I can actually eat), but shopping could use some work.  It’s not that I’m buying more than I can eat, it’s just I’m either underestimating how much I should be spending at the store or cooking too expensive meals.  I have made the switch to cooking three meals a week and eating on the leftovers, so I just need to keep this up.

3.      Blogging – Get on the wait list for BlogHer ads.  I did this! And I emailed some fellow bloggers to get some advice and details about moving to a self-hosted blog.

4.      Social – Make plans with friends and stick to them.  I think I’m about 90% on this goal.  I’ve definitely stepped up making plans and sticking to them, but there have been a few times I’ve not done what I said I was going to do or not called friends back.  But I’ve hung out with several different groups of people and even went out with some work friends this past weekend.  I’ve also started communicated with some fellow bloggers and am very pleased to report that I’m forming some great friendships.

5.      Personal – Stop procrastinating! Well, I did really well at the first of the month, especially when it came to housework, but as the month progressed, things started to fall by the way side.  I’ve been doing much better at work, though.  Things are actually getting done and I feel much better about that part at least.  Like many things, this is something I need to continue to focus on. 

Do you set goals every month?  How did you do?

Menu Plan Monday

Despite all my talk about my successes with menu planning, I have yet to stick with my grocery budget goal of $25 a week.  This week, in order to save money, I planned all vegetarian meals.  I failed miserably.  Regardless of the face I didn’t by any meat, I still spent close to $50.  Big sigh.  

Maybe next week I’ll have better luck.  Here’s this week’s menu:

Sunday: Mushroom tarts, salad with lemon vinaigrette

Monday: Leftovers

Tuesday: Bacon, spinach, and cheese frittata (from this cookbook)

Wednesday: Hospital committee meeting where dinner is provided

Thursday: Mushroom and spinach pasta

Friday: TBD (depends on what I end up doing)

What’s on your menu this week?

This post is linked to Menu Plan Monday.

Blogs I Read: Foodie Favorites

I read a lot of blogs. Like a lot, a lot. I currently subscribe to 102 blogs, which is a huge improvement from this summer where I was reading close to 125 and I couldn't keep up with my feed reader.

Luckily, I've cut back. Well, a little. Is cutting it down to 100 really cutting down on the feed reader clutter?

Probably not, but I don't care. And that's not the point. I should probably make a point, shouldn't I?

The point is I love blogs. I love reading them, writing them (clearly!), sharing interesting things I find with other people, and I especially love the way they offer you a glimpse into someone else's life. So I wanted to take a chance to share with you some of my favorite blogs and why I love them so much.

Being the anal, slightly OCD person that I am, I have all my blogs organized according in categories. And I thought that I should share them with you that way. So today, I'm sharing my favorite food blogs.

I actually don't read that many food blogs. I used to, but my recipes-to-try pile was getting really scary, so I had to cut some out. So these are the ones that made the cut and are my personal favorites. I hope you find something that's new to you and find some new recipes to boot!

Annie's Eats – I don't know if a week goes by when I don't find a recipe I want to try on Annie's Eats. I think this is a beautiful blog run by a woman who seems to do it all. She's a resident, a mom, a wife, a cupcake and cookie decorator extraordinaire, and she throws the cutest parties. Her food is very simple and everything I've made from her blog has been absolutely fantastic.

Bakers' Banter – This is my go-to blog for anything baking. Run by King Arthur flour (the best flour in my humble opinion), they have awesome tutorials, recipes, and excellent pictures detailing every step of their recipes. Even if the blog was complete crap (which it's totally not!), I would recommend it because it led me to these rolls. And once you taste them, you'll understand.

Cinnamon Spice & Everything Nice – I like this blog for a number of reasons. The author features a lot of Italian recipes, her pictures are awesome, and her recipes are pretty darn tasty. The author also occasionally hosts recipe link ups which have brought me to some new blogs and some new recipes.

Finding Joy in My Kitchen – If you been around my blog for any length of time, you've probably noticed that I LOVE this blog. I link up to it every week for Friday Favorites and I've gotten some of my favorite recipes from here. SnoWhite is constantly striving to cook healthier and while I don't share quite the same passion (please don't take away my butter!), I enjoy her recipes and her writing style.

How Sweet It Is – This blog is my newest addition. I found it via Tasty Kitchen (see below) and have become instantly addicted. I've already printed out 4 recipes (like this which I would really like right now) and all of them are sweet. I think me and the author share that in common!

Let's Dish – This was one of the first true food blogs I read and my favorite thing about this blog is the way she posts her recipes. The recipe is at the top and then her thoughts and the source are below. I like that because I don't have to wade through a lot of talk (you know – like you do here :) ) just to get to the recipe.

Lynn's Kitchen Adventures - I've known about Lynn's blog for a while, but didn't start reading it until a couple of months ago.  She does Menu Plan Mondays (which I love.  I have a strange fascination with what other people are eating - is that weird?) and a few other cool series like What Is It Wednesdays where she spotlights a cool ingredient, Ask the Readers, and she gives lot of kitchen tips.  Lynn is also one of the best allergy food bloggers out there, so if you are looking for recipes without nuts and gluten, her allergy site is the place to go.

Our Best Bites - It is difficult for me to express just what it is I love specifically about this blog, because I pretty much love everything about it.  This blog is run by two awesome ladies (who just published their first cookbook!) and I love their recipes and I especially love their tutorials. 

Smitten Kitchen - I think pretty much everyone who's in to food blogging readings Deb's blog, but I had to feature it for two reasons. One, it's awesome and she's never failed me when I'm making one of her recipes; her directions are always spot-on.  And two, her son is absolutely precious.  I love that she links to a new picture in everyone of her posts.  He is so cute and I just want to eat him with a spoon. :)  But seriously, if you are looking for pretty much the best food blog out there, this is it.

Tasty Kitchen - I've blogged about my love for Tasty Kitchen before, but I want to just say again how awesome this blog (not to mention the site!!) is.  I love that they have a number of contributors who all bring their own personal styles to the table and I'm a huge fan of the fact that they are trying recipes that others have posted.  It's sort of like blogging about someone's else blog, which I've always found entertaining.  The photos are great, the recipes are sublime, they do great giveaways, so what's not to love?

Okay, so these aren't actually all the food blogs I read. But these really are my absolutely favorites. What are your favorite food blogs?

Tasty Tuesday…On a Wednesday

Because yesterday was Library Day in the Life, I didn't get a chance to share a recipe. So I'm sharing this recipe today! It actually works out nicely because it's what I had for dinner last night. My friend Ashley asked me to post this recipe as she is always looking for new ways to fix gnocchi.

Y'all know what gnocchi are, right? If you don't, gnocchi are Italian dumplings, usually made from potatoes. And they are delicious.

This recipe came from a Weight Watchers meeting (or maybe the magazine, I don't remember which) and can be very low-fat if it's made with minimal oil, low fat (or fat free) tomato sauce, and extra lean ground beef.

But I don't particularly like the way things taste when they are made that way. I really like my olive oil. :)

The point is, you can make this as healthy as you want. Just use less oil, whole wheat gnocchi, and extra lean ground beef.

Gnocchi Florentine – makes 4 servings

1-2 tablespoons olive oil

1 small onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon Italian seasoning

½ pound lean ground beef

1¾ cups marinara sauce (homemade or your favorite jarred)

1 10-oz box frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry

1 17-oz package gnocchi

Salt and pepper

Parmesan cheese

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Sauté the onion until soft, but not brown, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Sprinkle in the Italian seasoning and then add the meat. Cook the beef until nicely browned and no longer pink anywhere. (At this point, you could also deglaze the pan with about ¼ cup red wine if you feel like it's the right thing to do.)

Pour in your sauce, cover, and bring to a simmer. Stir in the squeezed dry (this is very important!) spinach and return to a simmer. Season with salt and pepper, taste, and then adjust seasonings as desired.

Cook the gnocchi according to the package directions; drain. Add gnocchi to the sauce, stir to coat. Serve with parmesan cheese. 

This recipe is linked to Tasty Tuesday and Delicious Dishes.

Library Day in the Life

Every so often, us librarians get bored and like to share our (super exciting) days with other librarians. It's called Library Day in the Life and it happens about twice a year. I shared my day with you this past summer, and I'm sharing what my yesterday was like with you again now.

Yesterday was actually a very non-typical day for me because I was at our sister library helping with a project. I'm actually glad that we scheduled our project for yesterday because it gives me the opportunity to share a difference side of librarianship from the day-to-day reference and management stuff.

So, in chronological order, here is how my day went:

8:30 – arrive at the library, chat with the librarian there, catch up on our weekends, the latest gossip, etc (we're friends which makes working together so much easier).

8:45 – Greet our library assistant (she goes back and forth between libraries) and we go over the plan for the day

9:00 – Check my own email, facebook, and twitter. Realize it's #libday6 and what a great day it is for that. So naturally I tweet about it. Our boss comes in with some news and inquires about our project.

9:15 – The library's phone starts ringing and suddenly we all have work to do. I print out a few of the ILL articles that came in over the weekend and put them in the doctor's box for her to pick up later.

9:30 – The other librarian gives me a list of citations to confirm, which I do and then I print and/or order the articles. The phone rings again with yet another search and two more doctors make appearances with requests.

9:45 – I wonder if we are ever going to get started on our project or if we are going to be busy with reference work all day

10:00 – I reach into my librarian's bag of tricks and find some articles for a doctor on seasonal affective disorder. She's given a talk about it (on TV!!) today and she forgot to ask for research help later. Grr…I hate when they wait until the last minute. I give the citations I find to our assistant to track down.

10:30 – My colleague is still working on several other searches, so I go ahead and get started on our weeding project. Her journal collection is quickly overwhelming her space so we need to decide what needs to go and what stays. Unfortunately, our catalog isn't the best kept up (thanks to the former overworked librarian, us being overworked, and just not wanting to deal with it), so we can't just print out a shelf list and go from there. I start at the beginning of the alphabet and work my way through the stacks, noting the title and the date ranges on my trusty notepad. I run back and forth to the computer to check what I have in my library (we did this same project last spring so my part of the catalog is up to date – the journal part at least. The books leave a lot to be desired.). At this point, I wish out loud for an iPad. My colleague begins checking grant options to see if we can get one.

11:45 – The other librarian finishes up her work and starts working with me to make it through the journal collection. It's slow going.

12:00 – We break for lunch and I'm reminded yet again how this hospital's food is so much better (and cheaper!) than mine.

1:15 – We are slow to get back to work, but we do. We finish going through the shelves.

2:00 – It's time to make some decisions. We use the catalog and our statistics to decide what needs to go and we come up with a good sized list.

2:45 – We move on to discussing the budget, what journals to buy, what to cut (we have to make a 2% cut this year), how we are going to pay for the MLA conference, and discuss a few new products we want to try. We are really interested in eBooks, but no ideas on whether or not they will get used and should we spend the money? Money. It always circles back to money.

3:45 – The other librarian goes back to work on some more searches while I type up a list of what is to be discarded because I'm the only person who can read my handwriting. Oops. I also type up some different cut/keep options with prices to see how much money she can save.

4:40 – It's finally time to go. I'm exhausted.

Clearly, this wasn't an ordinary day since I wasn't in my own library and we worked on some not-every day projects. Collection maintenance isn't my favorite part of the job; I would much rather develop the collection than make cuts, but it's a huge part of ours. We both have such small spaces to work with so we have to make the best decisions possible for our librarians, our users, and our budgets. Making cuts and throwing things away isn't glamorous, but someone's got to do it.

What do you think about my day? Did you learn anything? If you're a librarian, how does my day differ from yours?

Menu Plan Monday

Last week I tried cooking just three meals and eating the leftovers on the off days, and I think it went pretty well. I ended up having to bump the balsamic chicken and mushrooms off the menu because I had too many leftovers, but that worked out well because I ended up using the mushrooms in last night's dinner. So no food waste and a great meal! That's a win-win for me.

I'm trying (and probably failing) to cook smaller portions so I won't end up with too many leftovers that turn into food waste, but I'm also trying to incorporate some things that freeze well. Tuesday's dinner freezes well, so the leftovers for it will probably go into the freezer for another week. 

Sunday: Chicken with Mushrooms and Artichokes (this was my new recipe for the week; I thought it was good, it just needed some more seasonings)

Monday: Leftovers

Tuesday: Gnocchi Florentine

Wednesday: Leftovers

Thursday: Lemon chicken with Broccoli, brown rice

Friday: TBA

What's on your menu for this week?

This post is linked to Menu Plan Monday.

Weekly Wanderings

Weekly Wanderings: What I Found While Wandering Around the Blogosphere

I’m doing something a little different this week for Weekly Wanderings.  SnoWhite from Finding Joy in My Kitchen is starting to host a “Friday Favorites” carnival and I will be linking up my Weekly Wanderings there.  Because her Friday Favorites are food related, I’m going to separate out the food posts from the non-food posts. 

Food:

Chocolate Crackles – if you are a fan of my gooey butter cookies, then these are sure to be a hit as well.  This is a from-scratch dough and it doesn’t include cream cheese.  So if you don’t like cream cheese, or prefer to stay away from boxed mixes, this might be a better option for you.

Chocolate Chip Cake Bars – this is from a blog I just discovered, How Sweet It Is.  So far the recipes are right up my alley.  Creamy soups, lots of bacon, and plenty of chocolate.  I think I will be making these cake bars next week to work.  I’m sure they’ll be a huge hit.

Lemon Pudding Cake – Yum! I love lemon desserts, but sometimes I don’t want to make lemon squares, and I’m actually not a fan of lemon pies.  But this sounds excellent.

Dips to Serve at Your Superbowl Party – looking for a new dip?  This is a great collection of 9 different dips.

Everything Else:

N-Word – Library blogs and those who are anti-censorship have been abuzz lately following NewSouth Books’s decision to replace the word “nigger” with “slave” in their new edition of Huckleberry Finn.  Now I understand that this is an offensive word and is one of the main reasons Huck Finn is censored in schools and public libraries, but the book was originally published in 1884, when language like this was more commonly used and, let’s face it, people weren’t as concerned with being PC as they are now.  Using the same language that Twain used helps keep the book in its historical context.  Editing Twain would be like editing Shakespeare, I think; it’s something you just don’t do.  You can read more about the subjecting of changing and updating text here.  Thoughts?

Think You Can’t Afford an Emergency Fund? Think Again! – Another post that confirms my decision to have 6 months worth of savings in my emergency fund.  I don’t think I’m in any danger of losing my job, but you never know when the car is going to have problems, my cat is going to get sick, I might get sick, or the need for an impromptu vacation may strike.  It’s best to be prepared. 

Valentine’s Day Fun – Amy from With Duck and Goose shares some frugal and fun Valentine’s Day gifts.  It’s the perfect time to share this because now you have plenty of time to plan!

This post is linked to Friday Favorites. 

Food Waste Friday

I was so hoping it would be a no-waste week, but I think my expectations on what I can and can’t eat in a week are still a little high.  My fridge is still full of leftovers because of some unplanned lunches (out for a birthday and a drug rep brought lunch to work) and an impromptu movie date with my mom (we saw Country Strong, which I highly recommend).  I still have some lentils leftovers (that’s what’s for lunch), some pasta with spinach cream sauce (that will be my dinner), and I also found some soup from last week hiding in the back this morning.  I haven’t checked it yet, so I may end up having to add it to this week’s food waste. 

Despite having all these leftovers, the only thing I actually have to throw away is the last bit of the lemon vinaigrette.  I made it on Sunday and it just didn’t look right this morning, so down the drain it went.  Hopefully, nothing else will go bad and this can be a fairly light waste week.

How did you do this week?  For more on Food Waste Friday, visit The Frugal Girl.

Menu Planning for One

Photo Credit

I mentioned the other day that I was interested in doing a series of posts on shopping and cooking for one, and some of you expressed interest, so today will be the first post in this series.

When I was in school, and doing the grocery shopping for just me, I was spending about $25 a week. Now that is just on groceries, I was spending an extra $25 or so a month on toiletries and other home necessities. So I decided, now that I'm on my own again, that I should stick with that goal of spending $25 a week. In order to do that, I menu plan and stick to a set grocery list.

I realize that not everyone menu plans like I do and I also know that not everyone menu plans at all. Menu planning works for me and I've found this to be an effective way to save money on groceries.

So how do I menu plan?

Once a week (usually on Fridays or Saturdays, whenever I'm going to go to the grocery store), I sit down with my binder full of recipes and a few cookbooks, this week's grocery story circular, my coupons, and my previous menus (stored so excellently here). Don't get a newspaper (and the grocery stores' circulars)? Most grocery stores publish their sale items online, which makes shopping sales and matching coupons very easy.

I sort of think about what I haven't had lately, what I've been wanting to try, and how much I think I'll feel like cooking. Once I get a basic idea of what I'm thinking about cooking for the week, I take stock of what's in my pantry, freezer, and fridge. What needs to be eaten before it goes bad? What can I do with all this spinach/chicken/insert favorite sale item here that's been hanging around so that it will go away?

Once I have a basic idea of what I have (and don't have) on hand, I pull out my recipes and get to looking. I pick out recipes that will use up what I have on hand and I try to make one new recipe a week (it helps combat the enormous amount of recipes I pull of the internet that usually go untried). After those two things (if I still need more meals), I fill in the blanks with whatever I feel like cooking and what's on sale.

An example: frozen shrimp is on sale and I have a new shrimp recipe I've been wanting to try. So, I pick the best day for that meal based on my schedule and write it down on my menu planner (I use this one if you're interested). Then I add all the ingredients I don't already have on hand to the grocery list (which is why I like this particular planner – it has a grocery list attached!). If the recipe I'm making needs sides, I pick those out to and make sure everything I need is on the list. Once one day is done, I repeat the process until I have a full menu.

After I've settled on dinner plans, I move onto breakfast and lunch. If I'm not taking leftovers for lunch, I usually take a sandwich or soup with crackers, so if I need anything to replace what's been used, I put it on the list. I do the same with breakfast. Then I decide if I need to bake anything (bread, snacks, something sweet, etc) and add whatever I don't have to my list. If I have any coupons that are about to expire for something that's on sale or something that's one of my staple items (more on that in another post!), I add it to my list to help keep up my stock pile.

It may be anal of me (but we all know I'm slightly obsessed with lists), but I like to organize my grocery list according to how I shop the store. (If this is too much for you, feel free to stop reading now.) I always hit the bakery/deli area, then the produce, then the cereal aisle, etc, so that's how I write my list. I do this for two reasons: 1) it keeps me from walking all over the store, and 2) it helps me not to miss anything. But the most important thing I do (and if you don't get anything else out of this post, I hope you get this) is stick to my list. Having a list is great, but if you give into impulses and buy things not on the list, your grocery budget will go out the window. So stick to the list!!

Menu planning does take time (usually about 30 minutes), but I find that it makes life much easier, I don't waste as much food, and it saves me money. I find those benefits to outweigh the extra time it takes to sit down and actually do it.

Do you menu plan? Do you menu plan like I do or do you have another way?