Keep your bananas in the fridge

I realized recently I could keep bananas indefinitely--in the fridge.

I don't know about you, but I like my bananas at a very specific stage of ripeness--almost ripe, but still a little green and firm. The problem is that all the bananas in the bunch get there at the same time, meaning that I either have to eat an entire bunch of bananas in a day or two or have to eat some mushy, overripe bananas.

Then I discovered that I could keep the entire bunch of bananas at that perfect stage of ripeness--by sticking them in the fridge as soon as they hit perfection.

Refrigeration keeps things from ripening further (which is why you should never put tomatoes in the fridge). The peel of the banana will turn black after a few days, but the banana inside will still be perfect. And cold, which can be a plus this time of year.

Frozen vegetable soup

When my husband threatened to get sick, too, I decided to make a batch of chicken noodle soup for him.

Then I realized I didn't have any chicken.

So I decided on vegetable soup instead.

However, my vegetable supplies were a little puny. I had to supplement with frozen veggies.

Fortunately, that's not a problem. Vegetable soup is more a guideline than a recipe. I ended up adding an onion, several carrots, one old zucchini, a can of whole tomatoes, a bag of frozen green beans, a bag of frozen corn, and two bunches of radish greens, along with a handful of dried macaroni. Oh, and I got to use up a bunch of homemade broth. With seasonings, it was a very delicious soup.

It's similar to refrigerator soup, except without meat, and with frozen veggies.

Effortless bacon

Sometimes you don't want to stand over a hot skillet for 20 minutes, dodging hot bacon grease, you know?

I like to cook whole packages of bacon at a time, then save them in a Ziploc bag and use them in wraps or as a quick breakfast boost throughout the week. This is a great way to cook a lot of bacon at once, with a minimum of effort.

Line a cookie sheet with foil. Fold the edges up so the bacon grease won't drip over the sides.

Line the foil with strips of raw bacon.

Put the sheet in a cold oven.

Turn the oven on and set it to 400 degrees.

Come back in about 20 minutes. At that point keep checking the bacon every couple of minutes until it's done the way you like it.

Remove the sheet, remove the bacon immediately onto paper towels, and fold up the foil so that you can easily pour off the bacon grease and save it.

Put the cookie sheet away and throw away the foil.

All done!

Cooking ahead

In preparation for the coming work week (three 16-hour days in a row, followed by the two busiest nights of the week), I've made a whole bunch of food. Complicating matters were a slightly empty refrigerator: I didn't want to go grocery shopping on a holiday weekend.

So I leaned on the contents of my freezer instead, and made:

White bean soup with spinach and sausage
Roast chicken with carrots and potatoes
Baked shells with spinach and sausage

Along with bread and a batch of tomato sauce. I made scallop ceviche, which we'll eat with a big thing of salad greens, and fudge to finish things off.

Frozen spinach and a few versatile meat items (sausages, bacon, whole chickens) in your freezer can be a lifesaver, especially when supplemented by pantry items like dried beans and pasta.

Carrot greens tea

I rescued a bunch of carrot tops from a box headed for the dumpster at work. Some went into a white bean soup. One bunch became carrot greens tea, which is supposed to be very good for your kidneys.

It's just boiling water poured over the greens, let sit for a few minutes. I let the water sit until it was tepid, and the flavor was a little strong for my taste. (Although reheated, with honey, it was fine.) It tasted like carrots and greens and garden dirt all in one.

I didn't notice any difference in my kidneys. But it was a fun experiment. My recommendation with carrot greens is still to use them in soups.

Banana bread

I've made this banana bread before, but I thought I'd try a new recipe this time. This one seems moister to me (then again, I used one more banana than the new recipe called for). It also has the added advantage of being simpler, with fewer ingredients.

Freeze your overripe bananas and save them for banana bread--when you thaw them, they'll turn black, but that's what you want. The bananas will be soft and the flavor will be intensified.

1 3/4 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup/2 large mashed bananas
3/4 cup vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 350, and grease a loaf pan. Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. Whisk eggs, sugar, bananas and oil in a separate bowl. Add dry ingredients and stir til just combined. Pour into loaf pan. Bake 60-70 minutes or until done. Let cool in pan 15 minutes.

A face mask for dry skin

Lately my skin has become appallingly dry.

I don't know if it's age or the new climate (maybe both?), but my face is dry all the time. Like, peeling. Even with multiple applications of high-powered facial moisturizer every day. I'm experimenting with different lotions, and I've given up trying to use powder or exfoliators on my face. It's not a reaction to anything, and I'm drinking plenty of water, so maybe it is age. Bleh.

I'm also using this homemade face mask every other day or so. It's one egg yolk, mixed with one tablespoon of honey and one tablespoon of plain yogurt. Mix well, put on your clean dry face, and let sit for 20 minutes or so. Wash off with cool water. It makes my face feel almost hydrated again.

Work as supply

One of the benefits of being a restaurant worker are the secret perks. It's a hard job, physically demanding, with long hours and low and/or inconsistent pay. But the perks can sometimes make up for that.

Perks include: being a known part of the industry, and getting freebies at other restaurants. Getting restaurant leftovers (stale bread, seafood that won't keep through the holidays, half-rolls of toilet paper), being able to purchase wine off the wine list at cost, borrowing cookbooks from the chef's personal library.

And sometimes, other perks. Like my new personal favorite: being able to purchase food, at cost, from the restaurant.

Not prepared food; not the menu items. I mean basic food supplies. Shallots, kale, mushrooms, celery, fresh rhubarb, shrimp, even the occasional steak. The walk-in refrigerator is so much more exciting when you can shop from it.

I've started bringing some things home, including some fresh ramps. (Next project: pickled ramps.) The great thing about this system is that the food is all top-quality and really fresh. It's not crappy supermarket produce, and it's cheaper than the farmer's market. It's also incredibly convenient. I can just grab stuff after work, right before I head home, and save myself a trip to the store.

Hooray for my job!

Cleaning out the fridge

Sorry there hasn't been much happening on this blog. While my stepson was in town, I wasn't doing very much cooking at all (outside of spaghetti). I think he ate his weight in sandwiches. Now that he's gone, I'm trying to use up everything that got neglected while he was here.

Also, it looks like I'm going to continue to be the primary breadwinner for a bit longer. Which means an increased interest in keeping grocery costs to a minimum.

So, I made a baked pasta thing (used up: box of rigatoni, a container of tomato sauce, a box of frozen spinach, some cheese) and an herb risotto (used up: a bunch of fresh herbs--cilantro, parsley, basil--about to go slimy, some broth, and some pesto). Next I'll make a batch of gumbo (to use up: a package of chicken and andouille sausage). I'll freeze what's left of the milk, to save for yogurt-making. After that, corn and potato chowder.

Prepping for a long stretch of working

I'm going to be working for the next ten days straight. That's great, I need the money, and what with my husband gone and all, it's not like I have anything else to do.

That does mean I'm going to be tired and not very much in the mood for cooking, so I swept through the kitchen yesterday and attempted to tie up some loose ends.

Bananas, gone brown: into the freezer, for a future batch of banana bread
Half of loaf of bread, going stale, and some milk, almost going bad: became french toast for breakfast
Bunch of cilantro: became lime cilantro rice
Bunch of sage and bunch of thyme: hung to dry
Bag of mushrooms: cooked
Bag of brussels sprouts: cooked

I thawed some sausages, so I can throw together a quick meal (sausage plus mushrooms plus rice plus sprouts) or a quick salad (greenery plus eggs and/or cheese).

I may make some brownies, too.

Downsizing to a one-bedroom apartment

This is what a one-bedroom apartment without furniture looks like.

It's been a long, long time since I lived in a one-bedroom apartment. Since 2005, in fact. Since then, in order, I've lived in a ramshackle farmhouse in Virginia, a four-bedroom duplex in Brooklyn, a two-bedroom duplex in San Diego, a house in Massachusetts, a three-bedroom Victorian in Rhode Island, and now--a one-bedroom cookie-cutter apartment, in an huge apartment complex.

So, naturally, it's a bit of an adjustment. We'd gotten rid of almost all our furniture before the move, so that isn't a problem. (We also got rid of almost everything else, so the lack of storage space isn't really a problem either.) The biggest change is the lack of space--we're not used to being on top of each other all the time. The cats, too--they're used to having more room to romp. This is also the first time we've lived together with only one bathroom. That'll be the biggest source of conflict.

I won't be able to hang all our pictures (not enough wall space) and we will no longer have a dedicated guest room. But there are advantages to downsizing, too. To wit:

1. We won't have to buy a lot of furniture.
2. We won't need a laundry basket. The washer and dryer are right there, two feet from the bedroom.
3. Very little to clean. Which means no more fights about cleaning, or gardening, or yard work.
4. Oh yeah, no yard work. No raking leaves, shoveling snow, or scraping the car (since we get an assigned garage parking space with our unit).
5. We only have two windows, that come with blinds, so no hanging curtains.
6. The kitchen came with a microwave, so we don't have to buy one of those, either.
7. The utility costs are folded into the rent check, a set amount every month, so we won't have to worry about regulating the electricity/heat/air conditioning usage. I can't tell you how nice it is to be able to wander around my apartment in bare feet, in January, after freezing my ass off in New England for three years.

I also realized, while at Costco, that I'll need to shift my grocery-buying habits a little.

Since hubs and I got married, I've shopped like this. Bulk first, then fill in the corners with sales, supplemented by a CSA. But after moving once a year since then, twice cross-country, I'm rethinking my whole approach to buying in bulk. I don't have the room anymore, and I'm tired of having to get rid of perfectly good food (and cleaning supplies, and paper towels) every time we move. So here is a partial list of things I'm no longer buying in bulk: Paper towels, shampoo/conditioner, spices, oils and vinegars (except for olive oil), bleach, garlic, bread flour, grains, soap, dried fruit, cornstarch, cornmeal, cleaning supplies, and multiples of anything. From now on, I'm only buying those things in normal amounts, when they're on sale. Not at Costco.

I'm also scaling back the sheer variety of my pantry. I love the option of having olive oil, walnut oil, peanut oil, sesame oil, grapeseed oil, and truffle oil at my disposal, but each time I've moved, I've found myself either frantically trying to use all those up or giving away half-bottles of each. Plus, they're expensive. This time, I'm going to start with olive oil and peanut oil and see how far those take me. Ditto vinegars, exotic spices, different flours, different kinds of salt, and grains. I don't have the storage space I used to have, and let's be honest: if current trends hold, I'll be moving somewhere else soon anyway.

Here's the biggest change: Washington State has an almost 35% tax on liquor sales. 35%! That means there's basically $10 extra in taxes on every bottle I want to buy. Given the usual variety of our bar, that means $300 or so extra in taxes, just to set up the bar the way I want. So you know what that means: we're going to be drinking a lot more beer and wine while we're here. No more crazy cocktails at home--we're drinking the stuff that's not taxed.

Day-off cooking

For the first time in recent memory, I made a pot of soup and it lasted all week.

Between that soup, free staff meal at work, a pot of oatmeal, and the odd wrap, I fed myself all week long.

Is that exciting? I don't know. Not for you, since I haven't had any new recipes to post. It means my food bill will be miniscule this month.

Today I'm going to cook up a bunch of old favorites. Another pot of soup, with cranberry beans, butternut squash, venison, and maybe some green beans, as well. A batch of baked penne, with arugula and lots of cheese. Maybe some kale caesar salad, too.

Then I'll eat some of it, drink some wine, and curl up with a movie.

Veal and potato soup

Occasionally, the restaurant where I work will make veal for two. A big double veal chop, plus sweetbreads. The double veal chop is truly a joy to behold: brontosaurus-sized, glistening with butter and fat, enough to make any vegetarian reconsider (IMHO). But it's a lot of meat, and sometimes, people don't take the leftovers home.

The other night, two tables forgot to take the rest of their boxed-up veal leftovers with them--a few slices of the chop, plus the bones. I salvaged the two boxes, took them home, and threw them into the fridge, thinking to use the bones for veal stock.

Today, when I opened the boxes, I realized there were some good slices of veal meat in there, too. So I'm using them in a veal and potato soup.

Since the veal is already cooked, I'm just making a plain potato soup, without the cheese, with the veal bones added in while the potatoes are cooking. Once the potatoes are cooked through, I'll add the chopped-up veal, plus some herbs and salt, and finish with a little milk or cream. I'll garnish with some fresh carrot greens.

Doesn't that sound awesome? I'll drink my favorite tequila with it.

Why I'm not buying anything on Black Friday

I'm not buying anything on Black Friday.

Mainly because I'll be driving ten hours from Virginia to Boston. Also because we're in the process of moving, and the last thing I need right now is more stuff. But I still wouldn't buy anything, even if I could.

Because, holy crap, who needs all that stuff?

Why get up at 4 am--or just not go to bed--and face trampling crowds for more consumer goods? Why face a trampling crowd for anything? Why wait outside, in the cold, in a very long line, for the privilege of shopping at Best Buy? Do you really save that much money? Are Christmas presents that big a deal?

This year, my husband and I won't be exchanging gifts. We didn't the first year we were married, either. (No money.) Having him as my husband is plenty enough for me. We'll get something small and touching for our families, but since we're in the process of moving, no one is expecting much in the way of material goods. Our gift to everyone is a chance to see us again one last time before we decamp to the opposite coast, and vice versa.

Even during normal years, Christmas presents in my family run about $50 apiece, tops. Nothing fancy, nothing expensive. We're happy to see each other, relax, and drink some beer.

So my example to you this holiday season: don't buy stuff. Sit back, relax, drink a beer, enjoy your family without the halo of consumerism. Think about what you would do with all the stuff you already have if you had to move it cross-country.

Also, there's the internet. You can get the same deals online, delivered right to your door, without ever having to wait in a line.

"Soup greens"

I went to the grocery store yesterday to pick up a couple of things and discovered a new grocery store creation: "soup greens."

This is a store-made package of various (old) produce that could go into a pot of soup, all of which I'm assuming are too old/blemished to sell individually. Because I went in for a couple of things to throw into a pot of soup, I grabbed one.

For $2.99, I got two carrots, half a stalk of celery, one-quarter of a leek, a turnip, an onion, most of a big parsnip, and some parsley and dill.

Not the greatest quality, but perfectly acceptable for a pot of soup. I added a can of red beans, a handful of wheatberries, half a bag of frozen spinach, and broth.

Then I made a big batch of garlic bread with a free loaf of ciabatta from work.

Bacon, potato and red pepper hash

Ah, hash. I've made white bean breakfast hash, sausage and potato hash, blue potato and corn hash, even sweet potato hash. Really just an excuse to eat crispy-fried potatoes, with other things.

This hash is one of those everything-left-in-the-fridge dishes. I simultaneously used up the rest of the potatoes, the bacon, two giant red peppers, and half a bag of frozen lima beans. And because I'll put a fried egg on top, the rest of the eggs, too.

Feel free to use this as a template, to empty your own refrigerator.

Dice some potatoes, and boil in water until almost but not quite cooked through. Drain. Fry some bacon. Remove the actual bacon and saute one diced onion and two diced red peppers in the bacon grease. When soft, add the potatoes back in, and any frozen veggies. Keep the heat on high and keep an eye on it. Stir it enough to keep it from burning, but not so much that you keep it in constant motion--you want a nice brown sear on everything. (I also threw in four diced mushrooms, just 'cause.)

When sufficiently browned, season with salt and pepper, crumble the cooked bacon on top, and serve with an egg on top. Good any time of day.

The late-night wrap

I engage in quite a bit of late-night dining. Waiting tables is like that. I eat staff meal at 3 pm, and then nothing. I run my ass off for the next eight or ten hours, and then I need to eat something as I'm driving an hour home. Preferably something with protein.

These days, it's a wrap, a piece of cheese, and an apple. The wrap (Stop n' Shop-brand flour tortillas, $1.50 for 8) is filled with salad greens, maybe some nuts and/or dried fruit, and either a cooked egg or some cheese, for the protein. I roll that up, wrap it in plastic wrap, and leave it in the car--it's cold enough to do that now. I keep a water bottle in the car, too. When snack time comes, I can cover all the major food groups--I have fresh fruit, greens, dairy, and protein (eggs and cheese).

Most importantly, none of these things will make a mess in the car.

Storm prep

As Sandy tracks toward New England, we're taking some basic precautions. Remember Irene?

We already have flashlights, extra batteries, and plenty of candles. We have a gas stove, so we'll still be able to cook, even if we lose power. Ditto water--city water isn't dependent on power. (It'll just be very cold water.) Temperatures are supposed to be relatively mild, so it won't be a catastrophe if we don't have heat for a few days.

As far as food is concerned, I plan to spend today cooking up the last meat in the freezer (a whole chicken) and making a batch of soup, as well. The freezer is full of frozen broth; if that thaws, no big deal. There isn't anything in the refrigerator that will go bad quickly, outside of cream and eggs, and we can eat the eggs first. Cheese can sit at room temperature for a while, as can vegetables.

A few kitchen tips:

A full freezer maintains its temperature for much longer than an empty one. If your freezer isn't full, fill some Tupperware with water and freeze those. When you lose power, don't open the freezer for at least 24 hours; everything will stay cold for at least that long (if it's full, and you don't open the door). After 24 hours, you can use the still-frozen Tupperware containers to line a cooler, at which point you can transfer the contents of your refrigerator to the cooler. Once the ice melts, you then have some extra containers of water, in case something happens to the water supply.

Try not to open the refrigerator any more than absolutely necessary during those first 24 hours, either, to preserve the inside temperature as long as possible.

Many things can stay at room temperature, if need be, and still be fine. Cheese, juice, vegetables, greenery, condiments, and butter will all be perfectly safe outside the cooler. If you have a gas stove, or a camper stove, there's no need to stock up on canned soup. You can cook just like normal, and heat up things on the stove.

Do your laundry now, and make sure you have a full tank of gas.

If we lose power, it won't change much. We'll be doing exactly what we're doing now: packing, and drinking the last things in the liquor cabinet, except by candlelight.

Making money off your stuff

Not cooking related, I know, but valuable information nonetheless.

Hubs and I are in the process of going through our books and movies and getting rid of the fluff. We'll also be getting rid of the last bits of extraneous furniture. When you're getting rid of stuff, there are a bunch of different ways to get some money for it.

1. Yard sale. Good for getting rid of random crap, but labor-intensive.
2. Sell it on craigslist. (Not good for rural areas.)
3. Donate it to the Salvation Army. If you itemize, that's a tax deduction. Also, if you call 800-SA-TRUCK, they'll come and pick up your donation for you (if there are big items involved, like furniture). Sometimes the tax-deduction value at the Salvation Army is worth more than whatever cash you can get for it.

All of the above is great for bigger stuff, like furniture and electronics. I've also taken some household things to a local furniture consignment shop. But for smaller things, like books and DVDs?

You can swap them, on paperbackswap.com and dvdswap.com. For every book/movie you post, and someone wants, you get a credit that you can then use to claim something else. You pay for shipping your stuff out, but then you get your new selections shipped to you for free.

You can sell used books at powells.com or amazon.com. (You can also donate them to your local library and collect an additional tax deduction.)

You can sell used Blu-rays and DVDs at dvdpawn.com or secondspin.com. (Also amazon.com.)

You can sell used videogames at gamepawn.com or amazon.com.

Or, you can list it on freecycle.org. You won't get any money, but someone else will give it a good home and maybe you'll get some extra karma points.

Small grocery shopping

I've perfected the art of what I call "large" grocery shopping: buying in bulk, keeping a full pantry, and supplementing that occasionally with fresh produce.

But now, my unemployed husband is looking for jobs all over the country, so it's possible we could move anywhere at any time. A fully-stocked pantry is a definite liability during a move, so I've been eating down our full pantry and not restocking it.

And now it's empty. So rather than "large" shopping, I've switched to "small" shopping: going to the store once a week or so and picking up a few things, plus produce, for the next week. I suspect this is how 97% of people shop, but it's new for me.

Surprisingly, if you're careful, it's not that much more expensive. With bulk shopping, I can keep our grocery bill under $200 a month for two people. With weekly shopping and no pantry stores to draw off of, if I shop the sales, I can usually keep us to $250 or so.

First, I go to Aldi. Off-brand staples at cheap prices ($1.35 for a dozen eggs, $2.29 for a gallon of milk). Then I go to the local big-box supermarket, buy the produce that's on sale, buy one meat product that's on sale (chicken thighs, pork chops, whatever), and fill in with anything else that's needed (pasta, canned tomatoes, baking supplies, coffee, whatever). I buy what's on sale and sometimes supplement that with coupons.

I'm also keeping a list of what I'm running out of and not replacing, so that those things can be gradually restocked once we move to wherever our new home will be.

This week I got some really beautiful chard, broccoli rabe, a whole chicken, and several varieties of squash. Look for new recipes soon!