Trying something new....

So, I have previously posted about how strict Ethan and I are with our money and our budget since it is pretty important to us. We always charged everything to a credit card (groceries, bills, etc) and then paid the balance off in full. However, I noticed that sometimes we purchased things we didn't really need and wondered if it was because of the convienence of swiping a credit card instead of paying with actual cash. I also decided to clip coupons for things that we do buy from time to time and keep them in a filing folder to take with us when we had to buy said items. We also decided to shop at an international farmer's market nearby for produce, and it has literally cut our produce expenses by more than half. Interestingly enough, the farmer's market doesn't take credit cards....only cash! We have also applied this to shopping for clothing, etc.

So, we decided to find out. And the answer is unequivocally yes: we did buy things we wouldn't have bought when using a credit card to buy groceries, etc. Shopping at the farmer's market has also saved us hundreds of dollars already in the few months that we have been shopping there for produce and meat/cheese items. The coupons really haven't saved us that much money, but every penny counts, especially in times like these when the best thing to do is shore up your savings as much as you possibly can. I know you can really make coupons work for you by shopping when things are already on sale and on double/triple coupon days, etc but to be honest: I don't have the time right now to devote to that...maybe when I am a full time mom! As for shopping for clothing...it's amazing how you decide you don't really need anything when you don't have a credit card to swipe.... you don't want your little stash of cash to dwindle, and you find a way to make your current closet contents work for you.

We are now on a cash only kick and we're loving it. It is a little inconvienent sometimes to pay ahead of time at the gas station, but it is worth it. The only things we don't pay for with cash are our automated bills which are charged to our credit card each month (cell phone, cable/Internet, automobile insurance, etc.) It is pretty awesome to know exacly how much the credit card balance will be at the end of each month. It is also amazing how much money we have saved in the process. We said we'd do this for six months but I'm pretty sure we'll be doing it for the forseeable future because of all the benefits we have reaped. The only things we will buy with credit cards are major purchases and travel-related items (airfare, rental cars, etc) for the consumer protection benefits.

So....if you're trying to find a way to save money, try this option. I think you'll be amazed by what you discover!

Adventures in the kitchen.....

So, while I was in Jamaica I tok several books with me. One of the books was "Julie & Julia" which is now a major motion picture with Meryl Streep and Amy Adams. I actually read the book on the flight home and it was quite funny. If you don't like strong language though, do not read the book. The movie is definitely extremely toned down and sweetened up quite a bit...kind of the opposite Hollywood treatment that books usually get! Anyway I decided after reading the book that I really wanted to cook some of the recipes that she did. Then I saw the movie and became even more inspired to do it. So I bought Julia Child's cookbook, "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" with a gift card that had been sitting around and decided to host a dinner party for our friends Dawn and Kevin. The dinner party is tomorrow night starting at 5 since Ethan can't stay up too late due to working on Labor Day (police officers never catch a break). It was also rainy most of this morning which was perfect since I didn't think "Man, I wish I could be at the pool instead of cooking in my kitchen...."

So, I decided to make Potage Parmentier (potato and leek soup), Beouf Bournignon, and Charlotte Malakoff au Chocolat. The soup will be made right beforehand, but Charlotte Malakoff au Chocolat has to be made the day before, and you have the option of making the B.B. the night before as well and reheating, which actually makes the flavors more intense.

I made my shopping list last night and went to bed at 10 PM.... didn't stay up late because I knew I'd need to be up this morning to head to the Farmer's Market and other places to get what I needed to begin the cooking frenzy!

I woke up at 8:45 this morning and headed to the Farmer's Market to buy all of my ingredients. After I dropped them off at home, I headed to Crate & Barrel to buy a Dutch oven with the anniversary gift card my parents had sent us. Dutch ovens are awesome because they work on the stovetop and in the oven - and B.B. pretty much requires you cook it in a casserole dish with that ability. On the way home from Crate & Barrel, I stopped at a package store to pick up orange liqeur for the Charlotte Malakoff, and then made a stop at Kroger for some other groceries. I also grabbed a coffee from Starbucks...not to drink... to use in the Charlotte Malakoff! I don't have a coffeemaker...so this was my "easy" option. My last stop was Bed, Bath, and Beyond for cheesecloth.

Back at home I decided to make the ladyfingers first. Store bought ladyfingers are apparently of "inferior quality" so you must make your own. The batter was basically eggs and sugar with flour mixed in - and it was an extremely light batter...light and fluffy. I put it in a pastry bag and piped it into fingerlike shapes on my buttered and floured baking pans. Then i sifted powdered sugar all over them and popped them into the oven for 20 minutes, removed them from the pans immediately, and set aside to cool.

Then I began the B.B. I had to peel a bunch of pearl onions and quarter a pound of large white mushrooms, First I sauteed mushrooms in butter, and then set those aside. Next I braised pearl onions with a herb bouquet in cheesecloth and set those aside. Then I washed all the pans in the sink and put them back on the cooktop for further use. I chopped a carrot and sliced an onion and put those aside in a bowl. Then I blanched lardons of bacon (slab of bacon with the rind cut off and cut into chunks and simmered for 10 minutes on a stove). I drained and dried the bacon and then browned it in oil. I removed the bacon and then sauteed the chopped carrot and sliced onion in the bacon fat and then removed and set aside. I then cut my 3 pound top round steak into chunks. Reheated the oil and fat until it was nearly smoking, just like Julia says to do, browned them in the bacon fat and then put the cooked beef chunks in a bowl with the blanched bacon. I sprinkled salt, pepper, and flour on the beef and then tossed them in the dutch oven and put it in the oven for 4 minutes. Took it back out, tossed it again, put it back in for another 4 minutes. Turned down the oven temperature.... and then Ethan came home, which was a good thing.... because I needed him to open my bottle of Chianti. (tennis elbow makes it really painful to grip and twist things) I then poured three cups of Chianti wine (and swigged the remaining wine as I continued to cook) and beef stock. That mixture went into the oven for 3 hours minus the vegetables. May I just say that the scent of the Beouf Bournignon as it cooked was absoluely heavenly? Mmmmm. Wonder if Ethan smelled it as he slept? He is working an overnight job tonight so he went to bed pretty much right after he helped me with the wine. I didn't mind at all since I had serious cooking still ahead of me.

While the BB was cooking I cleaned my kitchen up and started to work on the Charlotte Malakoff. I had to dilute some orange liqeur with water and then quickly dip the ladyfingers in it and put on a cake rack to drain excess liquid. Then I washed and hulled stawberries and also put on a cake rack to dry completely.

Next was the almond cream... basically it's 2 sticks of butter creamed with sugar and pulverized almonds (thank you, Magic Bullet). Since I am making the chocolate almond cream, I melted a huge semisweet chocolate bar with the coffee I had bought from Starbucks and then mixed that in as well. I set it in the fridge to cool off completely, since whipped cream with liquefy when exposed to heat. Then I made whipped cream.... well, I should say more like whipped the whip cream.... just poured two cups of whipping cream into a bowl that had been in the freezer all day for chilling purposes and then whipped the heck out of it until it was whipped cream. Folded that into the chocolate almond cream.

I then artfully (or tried to!) arranged the ladyfingers into a souffle casserole dish on the bottom in wedge shapes and then lined the sides with a ring of upright ladyfingers. The next step was layering.... 1/3 of the cream, then strawberries, then ladyfingers, and so on... and ending with the chocolate cream. I then put waxed paper on the top, placed a saucer on top, and a heavy jar of jelly on top of the saucer where it now sits in the fridge. I am supposed to be able to flip this thing over onto a plate tomorrow and voila - the butter in the cream will have chilled enough to harden and make a beautiful Charlotte Malakoff. Please google it if you want to know what it looks like before I post photos of my own..... please be aware that a lot of the images on Google are NOT how Julia instructs to do it - many people skip lining the bottom of the dish because it is somewhat difficult to make it look pretty.

At 6:15 (and I started at 11:30 AM), the Beouf Bournignon was finished cooking in the oven, so I pulled it out and then strained it over a saucepan. Washed the burning hot casserole pot and lid and then returned the contents of the strainer to the dish and topped it with the sauteed mushrooms, onions, and carrots, and the braised pearl onions. I had to reduce the sauce since it was a little thin by boiling it down rapidly, and once that was done, I poured it over the beef and vegetables. It is now sitting on the cooktop cooling off and once it is totally cooled, will go into the fridge. Tomorrow I will take it out and slowly reheat it on the stove as I make the soup to serve for our dinner party. I finished everything at 7 PM.... 7.5 hours in the kitchen today! (oh, and the B.B. is to die for. I should know. I snuck a taste)

So....that was my day! More tomorrow after the dinner party and hopefully with pictures of the fruits of my labor!