I’m slowly getting back to cooking basics after taking a week off from cooking from scratch. The go-around this time, however has been a bit different. Instead of cooking every.single.night. I’ve been making big batches of food and eating a small amount every day. For example, I made a huge lasagna but ate a piece of it for the next three days for both lunch and dinner. When the lasagna was gone I made another big batch of cooking, such as stuffed peppers or baked breaded pork chops with a side of home-made apple sauce or a big pot of chicken and rice soup (loaded with veggies and kale).
The system seems to be working as I didn’t want more from anything PLUS I wasn’t in the kitchen cooking, cooking, cooking. I even baked a double batch of chocolate chip cookies as a snack! I don’t know if I’ll ever go back to daily cooking BUT hubby starts his new job and will be working 5 days a week. I’ll be forced to cook up some really healthy and hearty meals during the week because DH is guaranteed to come home hungry. His new job requires a bit of manual labor so he’ll need a good supper when he gets home.
I made a big batch of Asian stir fry chicken and broccoli (with mushrooms & onions) served over brown rice (prepared in my rice cooker). The hit of the week was stuffed peppers (made with chopped turkey and left over white rice) topped with store-bought marinara sauce. I had a few left over apples and turned them into cinnamon apple sauce. I served it as a side to oven-baked breaded pork chops, alongside chicken flavored cous-cous (made with my own chicken broth). I was feeling a bit frisky one evening and made a double batch of chocolate chip cookies. Lastly, I made a rather large cheesy lasagna and had a slice of it for the next three days for both lunch and dinner. Delish!












Finally, our pellet stove has been lit and DH and I are learning how to regulate the heat in our home. The unit comes with a programmable timer and we’re figuring out when should the unit come on (4:30 AM) when should it shut down (midnight). We’ve been able to keep the whole house at 70F degrees which is nice and warm! DH ran some numbers and when comparing the pellet stove heat to the propane based heat we had, we’ve gone down from a heating cost of $7.50 a day to $2.50 a day. That’s a huge savings!
Plus we enjoy looking at the flame:
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Hi Cindi, That’s great news on saving five dollars a day on heating. Our local news showed projections on heating cost increases and propane was supposed to be 35% higher, oil 40% , electricity and natural gas 10%.. I think they are very wrong on natural gas big time My monthly budget payment went up almost 40% $120 to $166! What I saved on utilities The last six months will be gone paying the increase cost.
Friday I did my big patch cooking – ten pound Turkey breast$1.49 lb no wings or giblets), soup, brown rice,, roasted vegetables, quiche, cornbread, walnut pumpkin bread.and Stir fry. Rest of the week- Two minutes to Microwave a plateful-for dinners and soup and sandwich lunches for the week. Eliminates thinking about food or going to the store. Sincerely, Lara
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Fantastic savings! We took out baseboard heat (why do they install them under windows?) and put heated floors in the entire apt so the air is always heated not just the walls. Waiting to see if there are any savings as it’s our first winter since the change.
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Wow! Heated floors. Enjoy.
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