"My Name Is Maureen and I'm A ....."
Let's just sit around in a circle for a few minutes and reflect. Whenever you're ready, go ahead, say it out loud. Shy? Okay, I'll start first.
"My name is Maureen and I'm a .... hoarder."
Whew.
That felt good.
Just saying the words liberated me.
I feel you understand me better.
Now, don't misunderstand me. I'm not the kind of hoarder that you're going to smugly watch on tv. (Although I did just haul 200 lbs of "stuff" to the dump yesterday out of the basement.)
No, I think I have mastered that kind of hoarding. The plan is simple - don't. Don't buy it. Don't use it? Don't keep it. And don't mentally add up how much that stuff cost as you throw it away or recycle/re purpose it.
No, I'm a hoarder of a different nature completely.
I buy groceries.
And then I hoard them.
I buy fresh broccoli on sale and then I admire it in my fridge for so long that, 3 weeks later, when I decide to use it, it has gone bad on me and/or I'm cutting off the bad parts so that I can use 25 cents worth of it so I at least get some value out of the original purchase. I buy egg nog and reeeealllly want to SAVE it because it's so special AND ONLY AVAILABLE SEASONALLY, too, and I save it for so long that, yeah, it's gone bad on me and no one gets to enjoy it. I buy a nice piece of fish and store it away in the freezer for months, saving it for some special day, and it gets freezer burned. Just now, I decided to make a pan of Baked Oatmeal and figured that I would throw in some frozen cranberries that I bought for a really good deal at Christmas and I just couldn't do it. I needed to save those cranberries for another occasion that might be more important than today.
Food in the fridge/freezer is like money to me. I don't want to use it unless I absolutely HAVE TO.
How weird is that.
How weird am I.
Don't answer that question. 'Kay?
Anyway, I am a believer in making a menu plan for a week at a time and only shopping for that week, using up everything I buy by the time the week is over.
I am also a believer in buying things when they're on sale, being smart with my moola. Thus, I do end up with a well stocked pantry. "To save money you have to spend money." My grocery shopping mantra.
I could easily live in a location where you go to the market every day to get your groceries. I like grocery shopping and buying and saving and storing and planning.....
I definitely spend a lot of time thinking about food and cooking and eating. Hmm.
Anyway, the recipe that I have for you today was prepared the other night as a result of looking in the fridge and realizing that I had a couple of things that needed to be used up. The ingredients in this recipe may surprise you, but don't be put off; the results are very tasty! Give it a try! (I give credit for this recipe to my sister, Elaine, who prepared it for us a couple of years back. Thanks E!)
Therefore, I'll call it:
Elaine's Asian Peanut Noodle Dish
360 grams uncooked spaghetti
2-3 cups chopped snow peas
1 cup red pepper strips (or cubes)
1/4 cup Catalina dressing
1 lb beef OR chicken strips
2 Tbsp peanut butter
2 Tbsp soya sauce
Garnish:
4 green onions, sliced
4 Tbsp chopped peanuts
Cook the spaghetti. When you are 2 minutes away from the spaghetti being fully cooked, add the snow peas and peppers and boil for 2 more minutes. Drain.
While the spaghetti is cooking, heat the Catalina in a separate pan and cook the beef (or chicken). Add the peanut butter and soya sauce and stir to mix together/thicken slightly.
Toss the meat mixture with the cooked noodles. Add green onions and chopped peanuts to garnish and enjoy!
(Don't skip on the garnish; it adds another flavor dimension.)
Love, love this recipe.
"My name is Maureen and I'm a .... hoarder."
Whew.
That felt good.
Just saying the words liberated me.
I feel you understand me better.
Now, don't misunderstand me. I'm not the kind of hoarder that you're going to smugly watch on tv. (Although I did just haul 200 lbs of "stuff" to the dump yesterday out of the basement.)
No, I think I have mastered that kind of hoarding. The plan is simple - don't. Don't buy it. Don't use it? Don't keep it. And don't mentally add up how much that stuff cost as you throw it away or recycle/re purpose it.
No, I'm a hoarder of a different nature completely.
I buy groceries.
And then I hoard them.
I buy fresh broccoli on sale and then I admire it in my fridge for so long that, 3 weeks later, when I decide to use it, it has gone bad on me and/or I'm cutting off the bad parts so that I can use 25 cents worth of it so I at least get some value out of the original purchase. I buy egg nog and reeeealllly want to SAVE it because it's so special AND ONLY AVAILABLE SEASONALLY, too, and I save it for so long that, yeah, it's gone bad on me and no one gets to enjoy it. I buy a nice piece of fish and store it away in the freezer for months, saving it for some special day, and it gets freezer burned. Just now, I decided to make a pan of Baked Oatmeal and figured that I would throw in some frozen cranberries that I bought for a really good deal at Christmas and I just couldn't do it. I needed to save those cranberries for another occasion that might be more important than today.
Food in the fridge/freezer is like money to me. I don't want to use it unless I absolutely HAVE TO.
How weird is that.
How weird am I.
Don't answer that question. 'Kay?
Anyway, I am a believer in making a menu plan for a week at a time and only shopping for that week, using up everything I buy by the time the week is over.
I am also a believer in buying things when they're on sale, being smart with my moola. Thus, I do end up with a well stocked pantry. "To save money you have to spend money." My grocery shopping mantra.
I could easily live in a location where you go to the market every day to get your groceries. I like grocery shopping and buying and saving and storing and planning.....
I definitely spend a lot of time thinking about food and cooking and eating. Hmm.
Anyway, the recipe that I have for you today was prepared the other night as a result of looking in the fridge and realizing that I had a couple of things that needed to be used up. The ingredients in this recipe may surprise you, but don't be put off; the results are very tasty! Give it a try! (I give credit for this recipe to my sister, Elaine, who prepared it for us a couple of years back. Thanks E!)
Therefore, I'll call it:
Elaine's Asian Peanut Noodle Dish
360 grams uncooked spaghetti
2-3 cups chopped snow peas
1 cup red pepper strips (or cubes)
1/4 cup Catalina dressing
1 lb beef OR chicken strips
2 Tbsp peanut butter
2 Tbsp soya sauce
Garnish:
4 green onions, sliced
4 Tbsp chopped peanuts
Cook the spaghetti. When you are 2 minutes away from the spaghetti being fully cooked, add the snow peas and peppers and boil for 2 more minutes. Drain.
While the spaghetti is cooking, heat the Catalina in a separate pan and cook the beef (or chicken). Add the peanut butter and soya sauce and stir to mix together/thicken slightly.
Toss the meat mixture with the cooked noodles. Add green onions and chopped peanuts to garnish and enjoy!
(Don't skip on the garnish; it adds another flavor dimension.)
Love, love this recipe.
Going to try it this week! My friend put up a similar recipe yesterday (from pinterest), but this one has way more normal ingredients! yay!
ReplyDeleteI told you that I'm most excited to use up my stockpile of food in the next 4 months and save LOTS of money on groceries, right? Now I just need to remember to do it!