Snack

Itty-bitty lentil crackers

June 10, 2015

When E. was born, nearly 2 years ago now, he received a really beautiful, illustrated copy of “The Wind and the Willows” from one of Paul’s friends.

At 229 pages, I figured this was a book we would largely ignore until E. became old enough to listen to chapter-length bedtime stories.

But lately E. has been really into his “big book.”

He hoists it off the shelf with both hands and drops it on my lap.

“Heavy,” he says, with satisfaction.

Then we flip through the pages and talk about the drawings of Mr. Toad, Mr. Mole, boats, cars and countryside. One of his favorite pictures shows a couple of animals having a picnic in the grass.

“What are they eating?” I ask.

“Watermelon,” E. says decisively, though there’s no watermelon in sight.

“Tea,” he adds. “Toast.”

“If you were going to have a picnic, what would you take to eat?” I ask next.

“Crackers!” he says….

Homemade Greek Yogurt

February 2, 2015

We eat a LOT of yogurt.

So much so that I can’t count the number of times that grocery store cashiers and other shoppers have stopped to comment on all the plastic yogurt tubs in my shopping cart.

The baby and I both eat plain, Greek-style yogurt and fresh fruit for breakfast almost every morning. At dinner, we dollop yogurt on top of soups and alongside spicy Indian-inspired entrees. Last night, we spooned some onto our tacos in lieu of sour cream and sometimes I mix it into baked goods instead of buttermilk.

So when I decided earlier this year to start reining in our grocery spending, yogurt was a natural place to look for savings.

We were going through at least three gallons of Greek yogurt each month (plus another gallon or so of the coconut milk yogurt that Paul prefers) and we were spending a lot of money on it.

We try hard to buy dairy dairy from producers that take good care of their cows, which means we inevitably end up paying premium prices. My back of the envelope math shows that we were spending upwards of $100 a month on yogurt, for both the cow milk and coconut milk versions.

I couldn’t find a way to spend less without reducing our consumption or compromising our ethics, neither of which we wanted to do.

Years earlier, I’d made yogurt a few times with lackluster results. I used an electric yogurt maker I’d received as a gift and powdered yogurt starter cultures, but my homemade yogurt was runny and too tart. I quickly went back to the store-bought kind.

But monthly yogurt expenditures in the triple digits compelled me to take another stab at homemade yogurt….

Pimento Cheese Puffs

December 31, 2014

I hate to sound like a party pooper, but since having a kid, I have basically no interest in New Year’s Eve. Or, more to the point, I have no interest in staying up until midnight — for any reason.

But I still find the idea of New Year’s Eve celebrations appealing: the fireworks, the glitz and, of course, the champagne.

If I didn’t feel so strongly about ringing in the New Year with a good night’s sleep under my belt, I would definitely be breaking out the champagne, donning something sparkly and then popping a few of these pimento cheese puffs while waiting for the ball to drop….

Homemade Graham Crackers

December 3, 2014

When we bought our house, one of the things that really sold me on it was the backyard.

It’s sort of an average-sized yard, surrounded by a chain link fence and, at the moment, blanketed with dry, brown leaves. But it’s bordered by mature azaleas and there’s a big camellia loaded with buds just outside the kitchen window. This pleases me to no end.

There’s enough room for a picnic table and maybe, at some point, a swing set. There are sunny spots and shady spots and two big magnolia trees reaching across the fence from the next-door neighbor’s yard.

There’s also a funny little space for building backyard fires. I don’t really know what to call it. A fire pit isn’t quite right but calling it an outdoor fireplace makes it sound pretty fancy, which it’s not. It’s just a little bricked-in area with a chimney at the back.

As soon as I saw it, I started imagining evenings filled with slightly scorched marshmallows, melty chocolate and graham crackers.

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