One New Thing ....

 

 I alluded to this One New Thing in last week's Hodgepodge post.   When Market Basket  came to our town in 2020,  it was a good thing we'd been hoping for, for a long time.  Great prices.  I also knew, having shopped in other Market Basket locations, that they offered reduced prices on ground beef.  They freeze it when it gets close to the expiration date and one buys it frozen.

What I didn't know is that they also offer reduced prices on bakery items, deli meat ends, and even produce!   Only recently have I found the areas where these items are located.

I've found some good buys on reduced price bread and rolls.  In the deli meat ends, I've found turkey and ham that can then be sliced to use in sandwiches or cubed to use in casseroles,  egg dishes, etc.

But the produce section is where I've found the very best deals, like a bag of 4 avocados for 99¢, a bag of vine ripened tomatoes for $1.  And my very best deal so far has been a bag of 6 or 7 Minneolas for $1.45! 

 To be honest, when I picked them up, I thought they were oranges.  I knew navel oranges were running 99¢ apiece, so this seemed like a really great deal.  Was it ever! 😊

These were the absolute best oranges I have ever tasted!   Easy to peel, no seeds, and so flavorful!   So I set out to learn a little more about Minneolas.  Here's what I found; info from Tricia Christensen.

"The Minneola tangelo is a specific hybrid citrus fruit that is made by crossing the Duncan or Bowen grapefruit and the “Darcy” variety of tangerine, also called a mandarin orange. The cross was developed by the United States Department of Agriculture, in Florida, and was first released for sale in 1931. The fruit combines the sweetness of the mandarin with the tart flavors of the grapefruit, and it is highly prized for its juiciness and combination of sweet/sour flavors."

I found the information from Tricia Christensen here:  What is a Minneola Tangelo?

 And here's more:  "As tangelos go, the Minneola tends to be pretty large and is usually bell or pear-shaped. Diameter of the fruit averages about 3 inches (7.62 cm), though some can grow a bit larger. The peel is somewhat thin, but like most tangelos and mandarin oranges, it is pretty easy to peel. Many people like the fact that the fruit doesn’t have very many seeds, usually about ten on average, so they’re easy to avoid.". 

The ones I sampled had no seeds at all!

So there is my most recent one new thing!  Have you ever tasted a Minneola?  Does your supermarket offer reduced produce?

One new thing ...

 

 I was hoping to have something new to share, but all that is coming to mind is a very creepy find in a bunch of red grapes purchased from our local supermarket a few weeks ago.  (For those in New England, it was not Hannaford.  Their produce tends to be pretty reliable.)  Although this is not a fun new thing, still it occurs to me that it might serve as a warning to other consumers. 

The grapes were imported from Peru.  I always wash any produce pretty carefully, and while doing so I came upon some sticky web-like material.  Of course I immediately thought of spiders, but my next thought was of some type of cocoon.  So I was investigating carefully as I sprayed veggie wash and ran water throughout the grapes.

What I found was quite surprising.  It looked somewhat like the photo below, but was a much brighter yellow.  It looks huge here in this photo, but was about the size of a dime.  Whatever it was,  I knew I didn't want to keep it around.  After showing it to my hubby, who was as shocked as I was, I took a fork and gently detached it from the grapes, then plopped it into my container of frozen trash*.  (More on that later.)  This seemed to me the safest course of action.  Tossing it into the trash can, or into the fire (my hubby's suggestion) seemed to increase the possibility that whatever was inside would hatch. 

Maybe you know what it is.  I didn't, but as I was describing the object to my daughter, she was looking it up on her phone and found that it's a brown widow spider's egg sac.  She even read me an account of a woman in Britain who found one (complete with spider) in "a punnet of grapes."

Ever since, I've been wondering just how many spider eggs might have been in there.  Research indicates anywhere from 100 to 250.  Yikes!

So just a friendly reminder.  Wash those grapes thoroughly.

* Oh, and about that frozen trash.  This probably won't be a new thing for anyone, but I keep a covered plastic container in the freezer that's atop our fridge.  Anything that might smell bad if tossed in the regular trash goes in that container until trash day.  As someone who has been annoyed for years by trash can odors from meat or chicken scraps or spoiled vegetables, this trick has been a real life-saver.

One new thing ...

 

 My One New Thing for this week was cooking with parsnips and also trying a new chowder recipe.  Now I have tasted parsnips (my dad used to love them, and someone recently included them in a crockpot dish at church), but I have never bought them or cooked with them that I can remember.  

But I was tempted by this recipe in Yankee magazine for Roasted Winter Vegetable and White Bean Chowder.

You can see all five featured chowder recipes here in this article: In the Thick of It.   I changed the recipe a whole lot, and also adapted it to make in a slow cooker,  so I will write it down as I prepared it.  If you prefer to try the recipe and method as written, by all means do that.

Yield: 8 to 10 servings

Ingredients

• 3½ cups diced butternut squash

• 2½ cups sliced carrots

• 2 cups diced russet potatoes

• 1 cup sliced parsnips

• 2 tablespoons plus 3 tablespoons olive oil 

• 2 teaspoons kosher salt, divided

• 3 cups diced onion

• 1 cup diced celery

• Dried thyme to taste
  

• Dried rosemary to taste 

• 1 bay leaf

• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

• 2 tablespoons flour (all-purpose or gluten-free)

• 6 cups chicken stock

• 2 (14-ounce) cans great northern beans, drained

• Half-and-half to taste
  

• Fresh thyme springs and ground paprika or smoked paprika, for garnish, optional
  

Instructions

Heat your oven to 425°. In a large bowl, toss the butternut squash, carrots, potatoes, and parsnips with 2 tablespoons olive oil and 1 teaspoon kosher salt. Divide these vegetables between two large rimmed baking sheets and roast until tender and browned, about 40 minutes, turning them a few times while roasting. 

While the vegetables are roasting, prepare the soup base. Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in a large pot over medium-high heat, then add the onion, celery, thyme, rosemary, bay leaf, black pepper, and remaining 1 teaspoon salt, then cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 6 minutes. Stir in the flour and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Add the chicken stock and beans. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes. Place the roasted vegetables in a slow cooker. Stir in the soup base you have prepared. Cook on Low for several hours.  Stir in half-and-half to taste.  Serve hot, garnished with fresh thyme sprigs and a sprinkle of paprika if desired.  I didn't bother.

 This made a lot of chowder! We ate it for at least three meals and I finished it off for lunch yesterday.  It was really delicious.  I did have to add more broth when we reheated it, but that was fine.  

 But what about the parsnips, you ask?  I chose to use them because I thought perhaps roasting would make a difference as it does with many other vegetables.  It really didn't mellow their flavor much.  I suppose if I had used the fennel bulb it called for, that might have disguised the parsnip flavor.  We aren't huge fans of fennel (other than fennel seed in pizza, etc.) so I chose not to spend the money on that.

I will definitely make this chowder again, but my opinion of parsnips really hasn't changed.  I can take them or leave them, and next time I will leave them out.  Being in the current mode of not wasting any food if I can help it, I'll find a creative use for them.  And that may be another new thing!

One new thing ...

Here's another super-simple One New Thing that I recently tried -- a new way to make a coleslaw dressing.  Here's a little backstory:

We had leftovers of two meals planned for supper (we love leftovers!), but it seemed a little skimpy so I thought I would make a small amount of coleslaw to have as a side.  I remembered that there was part of a cabbage left in the fridge.  Well, it was a much smaller piece of cabbage than I remembered.  I shredded it up with a knife and then shredded a carrot (using a grater this time) into it.  Still looked a little skimpy, so I cut an unpeeled apple into very small dice and added that.  Perfect, but now for dressing.

What I often do to make coleslaw dressing is to stir some mayonnaise into the slaw, then add seasoned rice vinegar to make it the right consistency.  I usually also add some pepper and some onion powder.  No salt or sugar needed, because the seasoned rice vinegar contains those things.  (And maybe my simple slaw dressing will become a One New Thing to someone else -- who knows?)

But I had run out of rice vinegar and had to think about what to use instead.  I wanted it a little bit sweet because of the apples, but not terribly sweet.  I was thinking maybe a teaspoon or so of sugar, but didn't want to use honey or maple syrup as I felt those flavors would be overwhelming.  What I decided to do instead of adding any sugar was to add about a tablespoon of frozen apple juice concentrate.

So I used mayonnaise to taste, probably a half cup or so, salt to taste, some dashes of pepper and onion, and the tablespoon of apple juice concentrate.  It turned out really good.

I failed to take a picture the day that we enjoyed this coleslaw, so this is a container of the leftover slaw which we enjoyed with our lunch the following day. 

Hope you'll try this trick if you like coleslaw! 

One new thing

 

Here's a very simple One New Thing that I've tried recently: an essential oil blend to help my problematic knee feel better.  When I mentioned the pain I was having, my dear friend Vee mentioned in a comment that she uses a Young Living blend called Deep Relief to help with sciatica.  

Now I have purchased essential oils in the past, but never the high-end ones like Young Living.  I have basically only used essential oils in cleaning formulas, so I usually got lower-priced brands because I wasn't using them in foods or diffusing them into the air.

However, on Vee's recommendation, I did order a bottle of Deep Relief from Amazon.  It's a roll-on and very easy to use.  What is the blend of oils exactly?  Well, it's nine invigorating essentials oils, including peppermint, lemon, balsam fir, clove, and wintergreen, to name the most prominent.

Is it helping?  Yes, it is.  I use it first thing in the morning and last thing at night.  My knee issue is not fully resolved -- I've begun an exercise regimen which is another One New Thing -- but Deep Relief is definitely helping me feel more comfortable.  Thanks to Vee for introducing me to this new-to-me product!

One new thing ...

 

 I'm back with another One New Thing post, inspired by Becki at Field Lilies.  Recall, Becki is posting weekly about one new thing in her life.  She wrote, "I’m not going to set goals or make rules.  I want this to be a discovery process, not a to-do list.   Actually, the challenge may be better worded this way:   I’m simply challenging myself to record here one new thing I explore, or learn about, or interact with… each week."

So I've been trying to also post about one new thing each week.  This week it's something really, really new to me -- getting a start to making maple kombucha.  You can see all of the how-tos here at Souly Rested.

Years ago, I used to make my own kombucha pretty regularly.  As you may know, kombucha is basically fermented sweet tea.  The sugar gets "eaten up" in the process, so it's actually a very healthy beverage and so good for you in so many ways.  Back then, I stuck to the basic flavor using either black or green tea and never experimented with fruit flavors and so on (which can be done using actual fruit or with fruit juices, doing what's called a "second ferment").  

As Michelle, at Souly Rested, points out, drinking kombucha has been shown to rid the body of toxins, improve energy levels, prevent the body from absorbing heavy metals, and help us better absorb nutrients from our food.  You can read more about Michelle's favorite kombucha products here, and even download a free ebook about this amazing beverage.  And it's delicious and inexpensive too (that is, it's inexpensive if you make your own -- but not if you buy it at the grocery store).

With all these benefits, you may justifiably wonder why I ever stopped making kombucha.  I made it for a few years and successfully managed to even go on vacation more than once without ruining anything.  Then one day a batch of kombucha went moldy.  I traced the problem to a fruit fly that must have gotten into the sweet tea as it was steeping.  

But I just didn't have the heart to try again.  I'm thinking that life got really busy right about then, with eldercare responsibilities.  We drank up what kombucha we had on hand, washed the jars and bottles, and put them away.  

Fast-forward to 2021, when my young friend Jennifer got started making kombucha.  As we talked by phone one day in December, I asked if I could get a SCOBY [symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast] from her so I could begin again.  Her prompt reply: "I'm already brewing one for you."

So just like that, in 2022, I have gotten into kombucha-making again.  I've now made 3 gallons and we're going through it quickly.  I've learned how to do a second ferment using fruit juice (which will probably turn into another One New Thing post) and discovered how easy that is.  

From the start, though, I was so intrigued with the idea of maple kombucha.  My hubby and I are trying to increasingly eat less sugar, so I wanted to learn to make kombucha without refined sugar.  I knew that in order to make kombucha using maple syrup, I would need to grow my own maple SCOBY.  As you can see from Michelle's post here, the simplest option for coming up with a maple scoby is to grow your own -- scroll down to the section titled Growing a new scoby with maple syrup.

So the moment I got my new scoby from Jenn, I followed the directions and snipped off a tiny piece to begin growing a maple one.  And it worked!  You can see it in a pint jar below.

Not the best photo, so I placed the jar on the hutch at eye level and tried again:

The scoby is now, I believe, thick enough to use in beginning a half-gallon batch of maple kombucha.  We have a busy week coming up, so I'll likely wait until the second week in March to begin the process.  I'll keep you all posted on how it turns out!

One new thing ...

 

Here goes with another One New Thing post, inspired by Becki at Field Lilies.  For today I am sharing something rather simple ... a new macaroni & cheese recipe that I recently tried.  It's from the Gooseberry Patch cookbook The Christmas Table.

 This recipe looked like one I would like to try because it did not involve cooking the macaroni first, and I've never tried doing that.  It has you mixing the uncooked macaroni with the cheese and other ingredients, and then pouring boiling water over the top and mixing it in.  The recipe described the result as "creamy and good" so to me it sounded worth a try.

Here is the very simple recipe if you'd like to try it for yourself.

EASIEST BAKED MAC & CHEESE
2 cups elbow macaroni, uncooked
1/4 cup butter
16 ounce container sour cream
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
2 1/4 cups boiling water

In a greased 13 x 9-inch baking dish, stir together uncooked macaroni, butter, sour cream, and cheese.  Pour boiling water over top; stir to combine.  Bake, uncovered, at 375º for 45 minutes.  Serves 4 to 6.

I melted the butter first in the baking dish while the oven was preheating.  I just thought it would all combine better if the butter was melted.  I then stirred in the sour cream, then the uncooked macaroni and the cheese.  It seemed like it would blend better in this order.  Also since the recipe called for no seasonings at all, I thought salt and pepper were a good idea, so I added 1 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper.  

And the result?  Well, it was good.  Had great flavor.  I would not describe it as "creamy".  It had more of a curdled type effect.  Would  I make it again?  I might.  

I honestly don't think my own regular macaroni and cheese recipe takes any longer to make, but it does take two more saucepans -- one to cook the macaroni in and one to cook the cheese sauce in.  But there really is no contest as far as the flavor goes.  

However, if I was in a tearing hurry and didn't have time to stand over the stove, I probably would make this Easiest Baked Mac & Cheese again. As I said, it was good -- just not as good as my usual.  I'm glad I tried this One New Thing and learned about this simple option.

One new thing ...

 

Here goes with another One New Thing post, once again inspired by Becki at Field Lilies.  Becki is posting each week about at least one new thing she has tried or done.  

This week I'm going to post about something very new to me: reading a book from a genre I have seldom -- no, I'll just say never -- dipped into: middle-grade fantasy involving rabbits with swords.  Several of our grandchildren are huge fans of the Green Ember series of books by S.D. Smith.  They even own, and love, t-shirts celebrating this series.  

This rather inadequate Kindle photo shows Julia wearing her Green Ember t-Shirt in Nevada in Spring 2021.

 
Why did I decide to read this book?  Well, when one is acquainted, as I am, with a 15-year-old bookworm who has read hundreds of books already, and that bookworm describes a series as "quite possibly the best books I have ever read", one tends to take that a bit seriously.

The Book Overview of The Green Ember from Thriftbooks reads as follows: "Heather and Picket are extraordinary rabbits with ordinary lives until calamitous events overtake them, spilling them into a cauldron of misadventures. They discover that their own story is bound up in the tumult threatening to overwhelm the wider world. Kings fall and kingdoms totter. Tyrants ascend and terrors threaten. Betrayal beckons, and loyalty is a broken road with peril around every bend. Where will Heather and Picket land? How will they make their stand?"

Obviously, this is a story with wider implications than just a fantasy about rabbits.  And there are many more books in the series -- sequels, prequels, and others I have yet to learn of.  I've finished The Green Ember but am reading through it a second time to catch details I undoubtedly missed along the way.  Granddaughter Julia assures me that there are plenty more where that one came from.  And I do plan to read them.  We're living in  a world that is crazy at best.  I will be interested to see what I can learn from Heather, Picket and the other Green Ember characters on their journey through a perilous world.

Check out S.D. Smith's author page on Amazon to see more.

One new thing ...

 

Here goes with another One New Thing post, once again inspired by Becki at Field Lilies.  Becki is posting each week about at least one new thing she has tried or done.  

This week I'm going to post about a new pattern I tried for making a checkbook cover.  My hubby and I both like to have a fabric cover for eheckbooks that we use often.  The one that was on this particular checkbook was literally in tatters, and Mr. T had been asking me about making a replacement. (The existing cover had been purchased at a craft fair in the 1990s or earlier.)

  Now years ago, I made this checkbook cover for our other main checkbook:

At that time, I thought about making a second one, because the cover on our main checkbook was pretty tattered even then.  But for whatever reason, this cover was a bit too small for that checkbook.

So when Mr. T asked me about making another, my first thought was to use this pattern but to enlarge it somehow.  There was only one problem with that idea: I couldn't find the pattern.  After a few days of fruitless looking, I turned to the internet for further research.

This is the pattern I ended up with: 20-Minute Checkbook Cover.  The pdf will open right up and you can print it out if you're interested in making a checkbook cover.  (If not, just close it.)

My hubby had even specified the fabric he wanted me to use.  He was so tickled by a s'mores fabric I had used for Arielle's floor pillow at Christmas, he wanted the same fabric for his checkbook cover.  The fabric was flannel, but that didn't matter to him.  So that's what I used.

 I must admit that this project took me more than 20 minutes.  The project stretched over 3 days -- but probably only 25-30 minutes in actual time.  I was pressed for time so the first day I made the patterns out of scrap paper and cut them out.  On the second day, I pinned the pattern pieces to the fabrics and cut them out.  Then finally on the third day, I sewed the checkbook cover together.  It was a surprisingly fast process when I actually got around to doing the sewing.

This is a case where I really liked the new pattern that I found.  I've printed it out so that I can't possibly lose this one!

One new thing ...

 

 So here goes with another One New Thing post, inspired by Becki at Field Lilies.   My plan as of now is to post about one new thing every Monday.  We will see how it goes!

For today, my One New Thing is learning to substitute maple syrup for refined sugar in baking.  If you are interested in learning how to do this, visit Michelle at Souly Rested, where you can print out a free conversion chart to help you do it right.  I took a screenshot to show you what it looks like.

Now I realize not everyone has a "free" source of maple syrup like we do.  And ours, of course, isn't really free.  Family members work hard to produce it.

If you read Michelle's post you will see that maple syrup has a lot of minerals and other health benefits, so it's really worth your while to learn to bake with it.  She has many other great-sounding ways to use maple as well, including maple kombucha which I plan to try very soon.   If you are so inclined you can even learn how to make your own maple syrup!

Ordinarily when we are on a sugar fast as we are now, I just don't make very many baked goods.  But recently I found myself with some truly overripe bananas that just had to be used up, and I didn't want to take time to research a healthier recipe online.  So I adapted a banana muffin recipe, and we just couldn't be more pleased with the results.

BANANA WALNUT MUFFINS

1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
2 very ripe bananas, mashed
2/3 cup pure maple syrup
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Heat oven to 350º.  Line 12 muffin cups with either foil liners or parchment liners.  Sift the dry ingredients into a bowl.  Add the bananas, maple syrup, oil, and eggs and beat on low speed until mixed.  (I actually used a whisk.)  Stir in the walnuts.

Divide the batter evenly between the prepared muffin cups.  Bake at 350º until tops of muffins spring back when touched lightly, about 23 minutes.  Serve warm.

Have you ever tried substituting pure maple syrup for refined sugar?  If not, I encourage you to give it a try!

One new thing ...

Becki, over at Field Lilies, recently wrote about something she is challenging herself with in 2022.  I'll let her tell you about it in her own words.  She wrote: "Why not be intentional about exploring new things – just for the sake of learning or experiencing something new?  Why not once a week, challenge myself to interact with one new thing?  A new food, a new activity, a new person, a new idea to explore, a new skill to learn…  just for starters.   Hence the title of this post: One new thing…

 "So I’ve decided to do that.  And share about it once a week (if possible) here.   I’m not going to set goals or make rules.  I want this to be a discovery process, not a to-do list.   Actually, the challenge may be better worded this way:   I’m simply challenging myself to record here one new thing I explore, or learn about, or interact with… each week."

 

Becki is inviting her readers to join her in this challenge, and I must say it sounds good to me.  At first I didn't think I would join in.  It seemed a bit daunting, but after I read Becki's first One New Thing post, I realized that I've already done quite a few new things in 2022.  So I'm going to plan to share some of them weekly as Becki is doing.

For this week, I'll share three new things, the first of which led to the other two.  I may or may not have mentioned here that I've been dealing with sciatica for over a month.  That led me, in early January, to try the first new thing in the series:

 

Yes, visiting a chiropractor for the first time in my life.  I've found it amazingly helpful: adjustments, laser treatments, exercises.  And ice packs.  Now the sciatica is pretty much gone, although I’m continuing with the exercises.  A knee problem sort of surfaced along with the sciatica,  and has persisted quite painfully.  The chiropractor did adjust my knee and it helped tremendously but was sort of temporary relief.  So he gave me knee exercises to do and also suggested an anti-inflammatory supplement (EPA-fish oil) to help with the arthritis that is there.  He also said I should do a good bit of walking.  That led me to the second new thing:  in-store walking.

 

Since the weather and footing is not really conducive to walking around outside right now,   Mr. T and I have been going over to Walmart and walking around the inside a few laps every day.  I push a shopping cart and that really helps.  I’ve really been pleased with the improvement in my knee and how much better I’m able to walk. 

And now that led to the third new thing: 

A new-to-us flavor of tea!  Toasted Coconut Almond Bark.  The first day we came home and brewed two mugs of this.  So delicious!

So those are three new things just in the past few weeks.  I'm sure I'll have more to share soon.  Thanks to Becki for this challenge!