Marinade Magic

Whether you are vegetarian or a meat-eater, marinades are one of the easiest and cheapest ways to enhance foods. These magical liquids not only impart flavour, they frequently reduce cooking times, and can also tenderize tougher cuts of meat.

Acid and oil are the basic ingredients, the yin and yang of most marinades, carefully balanced depending on the food and the purpose for its curing. Acid is not entirely accurate. Sometimes alcohol is used as the chemical component of the marinade but its cooking and tissue-softening effects are similar.

1. The acid used most frequently is some form of acetic acid: white, red wine, rice, or balsamic vinegars; or, highly acidic fruits such as lemons, limes, and some tomatoes. Beers and ales, dry wines like sherry, and grain alcohols like Saki or bourbon work best in marinades for tougher, more robust-flavoured meat proteins. The alcohol will cook off, but its tenderizing effect and aromatic flavours remain.
   
2. The oils can be anything from common corn or canola oils to specialty nut and olive oils. Herb-flavoured oils have delicate flavour profiles and are better suited to light-flavoured contrasts with vegetables, low-fat seafood or pale meats. Butter, though rarely used, should be clarified.
   

Generally, vegetables are marinated to impart flavour before grilling or braising and, because they contain no natural fat, their marinades often include a more generous ratio of oil to acid and marination will be brief (15-30 minutes.) Recipes intended to chemically-cook vegetables (e.g. sauerkraut) generally use marinades with a higher acid to oil ratio and require a longer marination – 24 hours, at least.

Seafood proteins which are low in fat – like cod, trout, or sole – will require marinades with more oil than acid and, because the delicate tissue is quickly affected by the acid, a short marination time (15-30 minutes) is best. Shell fish and other higher fat content seafood can handle a more acidic marinade but even these tougher fish proteins will breakdown and become unpalatably mushy if marinated too long.

Animal proteins are the costliest portion of many grocery budgets. Of the few ways to control this expenditure, one is to choose a tougher, so-called "lesser" cut of meat and treat it with a little marinade magic. Prime cuts might cook faster and without the aid of marinade, but there's a prime price to pay at the check-out for their convenience. Utility grades, however, can be transformed into melt-in-your-mouth good if allowed some quality time in a flavourful infusion. Beef and pork generally require longer marination – anywhere from 6 to 48 hours – but the savings will merely be the bonus to a very tender and tasty meal.

Marinades, themselves, cost very little to make. Depending on the type and quality of ingredients you choose, they can cost mere pennies to an extravagant few dollars. With a few culturally specific ingredients marinades can turn an ordinary meal into international cuisine: olive oil with red wine vinegar, garlic and oregano adds an Italian flare, while peanut oil with Saki, soy sauce, ginger and garlic brings flavours of the Orient.

Most marinades can be cooked after the soak is completed, to become a complimentary sauce for the meal. If the marinade is used on raw meat proteins it must be brought to a boil and cooked a few minutes to ensure safe eating. So, if time constraints prevent this cautionary step, simply set aside some of the untainted marinade for later use as a dipping sauce. If reducing your concoctions, be aware that concentrating the sauce will intensify flavours, including salt, so use high-sodium ingredients, like soy sauce, sparingly. If saltiness might be an issue, you can thicken the marinade with a little corn starch instead of reducing the sauce.

Whatever you're cooking, be it a vegetable medley or flank steak, marinades add a gourmet touch. Apply their magic and your grocery budget will gain value, too!

Recall

It's been two months since the initial recalls of foods containing hydrolyzed vegetable protein (HVP) were issued in Canada and the United States. During that time I've received several updates (via subscription) from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA). Their list of contaminated products grows with each bulletin. HVP is used in prepared foods as a flavour enhancer, so most of the affected foods are ready-made products such as soups, dips, sauces, dressings, snacks, and seasoning blends. For many households, the recall resulted in the loss of hundreds of dollars of groceries. Our damages totalled $3.69 – a seldom used taco seasoning which wasn't listed for recall but, because it caused symptoms of salmonella poisoning, was tossed just to be safe.

Simply because we don't buy ready-made foods anymore, our pantry was spared a great purge. Soups, stews, sauces, and gravies are made from scratch using home-made stock. We blend our own spices and rarely eat processed meats. We've sworn off most snack foods and prefer the recipes we've gathered for making dips and dressings. With complete certainty, we feel our home-cooking lifestyle is the reason our larder was scarcely touched by one of the biggest food recalls in history.

It began small but we've expanded our home-cooking repertoire over the last ten years. While I've always baked cakes, cookies and some bread from scratch, we once used "convenience" foods frequently. Having (literally) bought in to advertising hype, we thought they were "time-savers." It was my sensitivity to high sodium content that first spurred a change in our food purchases. Next, hubby's growing intolerance to lecithin (a common stabilizer in most bread and broad range of other prepared foods) became cause for concern and a few more items were dropped from our shopping list. Then "middle-aged spread" demanded we examine the sources and types of fats we were consuming, and that analysis led to another change in buying and cooking habits. Each modification resulted in fewer processed and ready-made food purchases. Surprisingly, the difference in our overall cooking time amounted to just a few minutes more. However, the return on our investment turned out to be a huge boost in flavours.

One completely unexpected result of eliminating our consumption of processed foods has been our increasing repulsion of them. This distaste grew in direct proportion to the number of prepared foods struck from our diet. Products we once enjoyed, that smelled fine and tasted good, now smell and taste awful, their odours and flavours repelling rather than attracting. For that reason, eating out has become a challenge, too. Smells wafting from fast food diners make us grimace and it's getting harder and harder to find family-style restaurants that use real, fresh ingredients. Fine dining establishments are one of the few places using good quality ingredients but, since their pricing keeps them on our "treat" list, we rarely eat out. Instead, we're learning to prepare gourmet dishes ourselves. The plates aren't styled as beautifully, but we eat fabulously and for much less cost.

Without getting into the nasty detail of age, I'll just say I was raised in a time when home-cooking was the usual way meals and snacks were prepared. Sure, my mother kept a boxed cake mix on hand just in case unexpected guests dropped in but, mainly, she made meals from scratch. Most mothers did. What really concerns me is that manufactured food is now becoming the norm. Home-cooking is the exception, not the rule. According to cooking shows I watch, fresh produce is unidentifiable by many children today. This can't be good for society as a whole. It seems corporate interests have overpowered government controls and the result is diminishing regulation of the food industry. And, "industry" is an apt description for the chemical concoctions on offer.

Is this recall merely a harbinger of worse to come? Is home-cooking in danger of extinction? Is the slow-food revolution merely a flash in the pan? Sorry for that pun but I truly fear a time when meals may come in pill form. Yum.

Seven Ways to Stretch Shopping Budgets

We've heard rumours of economic recovery. No matter how eagerly this tale is propagated by merchants and politicians, in our household, it remains an urban legend. It may well be our "recovery" is happening slower than most, but we're still carefully monitoring spending and keeping all variable expenses to a minimum. On the front line of our tactical plan are a few shopping strategies. It's ironic that savings are most often realized when spending. Here's our list of seven ways to stretch the budget:

1. First on the list are lists: lists for groceries, lists for household items, and lists of stores and other tasks. It may sound obvious, but shopping without lists often leads to important items forgotten and/or unnecessary purchases, neither of which respects valuable time nor budgets. We buy some groceries from a chain-store grocer (one that offers "club shopper" savings and air miles,) and bulk groceries from a wholesaler. We also frequent our favourite Green Grocer and Butcher. Each vendor provides a specific quality or quantity of product we prefer. So, we keep separate lists for each store, and will often list the same food item on two or more lists if we intend to shop for best price or a particular quality. By listing the stores and tasks, shopping can be done in the most efficient manner with regard to routes taken and time spent in each store. For people like me, who rank shopping alongside root-canals, there's high merit in planning the day ahead. Or, if you live rurally, as we do, and must travel considerable distances to do your shopping, having comprehensive lists will help save money, time, and fuel.
   
   
2. A day or two before you intend to shop, peruse your collection of coupons for relevant savings. Coupons are a great way to save on products you normally use. I stress that because using coupons for products you don't like often ends in wasted product, and there are no savings in waste. Coupons are, however, a good way to test a new product or one you're unfamiliar with: if you find you don't like the product, at least you haven't paid full price for it. I use an accordion file to sort all coupons, and a coupon wallet to carry with us on shopping excursions. When it's time to shop, I sort through the coupons in the accordion filer for products which correspond to the lists I've created, making sure to use coupons with the closest expiry date, first. Some shopping trips, we have no relevant coupons. Other trips we'll have a handful. Savings may seem small at the till, but they add up over the year -- I estimate we save, on average, about 1-2% solely through tendering coupons. That adds up to savings of between $35 and $150, depending on the year and coupons we receive. Those savings have helped us buy a few "extras." In the past, grocery stores used to have coupon bins – a place where customers could share coupons they won't use and pick up another person's surplus vouchers. This option, if it's available to you, is a terrific way to get the products you need, without discarding coupons which could be of value to others.
   
   
3. Check store flyers. The weekly deluge we receive is sorted at the post office, where most are sent directly to recycling. The only flyers we bring home are for stores where we regularly shop – running from store to store for a few cents off on certain products costs more in fuel than any potential savings. A day or two before shopping, we compare the current week's flyer to our shopping list. If there are sales on items we commonly use and we have room to store (or freeze,) we buy it in bulk if the sale price is persuasive enough. This process may result in scratching off an item from one list and adding it to another, but the time you save while shopping will make the messy lists worthwhile.
   
   
4. On shopping day, check stock in the refrigerator, cupboards, storage, and freezer. Add to (or deduct from) the lists as needed. I do a rough calculation of costs and, if that sum is greater than our budget, I'll put a single line through the items that can be "bumped" to the next shopping list.
   
   
5. Eat just prior to shopping. A full stomach will make it much easier to resist impulse purchases of junk and convenience foods which are all too conveniently stacked on bunk ends and surrounding each check-out. If you're shopping for clothes, being full will ensure the fitting makes allowance for that larger state.
   
   
6. Shop with a calculator. It's surprising how quickly prices add up. By keeping a running tally on a calculator, it's much easier to stay on budget. Often times, we spend less than my (purposefully high) rough estimate and can afford some items that were crossed from the list for budgetary reasons. Occasionally, in-store offers (for which my estimate did not account,) will allow a "scratched off" item to be purchased – this is the reason I cross off things with a single line; it keeps them legible.
   
   
7. Watch for in-store specials, club savings, and member-only offers. These are often the most lucrative offers but, while they seem alluring, they might not always save you money. If you have an over-abundance of product or the inability to safely or properly store the item, then "savings" are reduced or nullified. Check the featured items against your lists – some may actually coincide with your current needs and/or budget. There are offers which will require a greater amount spent than your budget allows or excess product bought to achieve the savings. You'll need to decide whether the budget deficit or storing more product make the savings, reward, or rebate worth redeeming. Clubs are a great way to save, but some cost to join. These clubs often pay percentile rebates on your purchases and, depending on your shopping habits and store preferences, savings from this sort of club could well pay for the cost of membership. Some memberships, however, may cost more than the savings you'll achieve, particularly if you don't shop there frequently. Those choices will require your own calculations. The wholesaler we frequent sends us a yearly rebate on our purchases which nearly covers our cost of membership. We aren't losing, though, because during the year we realize significant savings by purchasing certain foods and household products in bulk. Those savings more than make up for the deficit between our rebate cheque and the cost of renewing membership.
   

While it's not always feasible, aligning shopping around your favourite stores' restocking schedules has benefits, too. We like to shop on Tuesdays, whenever possible, because that's when two of our grocers get their fresh produce. Fridays are their best day for fresh baked goods. Different stores have different schedules, so check with department managers in your favourite stores. Most will be happy to tell you when they have fresh product available.

I've heard people say they don't have time for all this. They can't be bothered with all the preparations and calculations. It's true this system takes a little more time and energy, but we consider it time well-spent. Like many others, we work hard to earn a living; it only seems fitting to put reciprocal effort into spending that money wisely.

Do you have a shopping strategy or tip you'd care to pass along? Please leave a comment, sharing your idea(s).

Re-Barring Soap

I can't help myself. If an item has potential for reuse or recycling, I save it. It's an old habit – very little was ever wasted in my mother's home! I'm not in need of a hoarding intervention, though. Whatever I save is (usually) used promptly, sent to recycling, or discarded if some viable purpose can't be found.

Bar-soap slivers are one example of items which don't get used promptly, but their container takes up very little space under the sink and, when it's full – which takes a few months – I make a new bar right away. I developed the process because I was unable to find instructions elsewhere.

There's information on how to make your own gel soap. The problem is, the gel soap was so gooey the pump got bunged up. When I added more water to prevent that, the gel wouldn't suds up enough.

I found another handy hint which suggests using those leftover soap slivers in an old stocking, then hanging that from an outdoor tap, or using it as a home-made soap-on-a-rope when camping. I'd never use the outdoor tap to wash my arthritic hands – the cold water wash would be excruciating! And, since we haven't gone camping in a few years, this idea has no practical purpose for us.

With a little experimentation, though, I came up with is a very simple process to make Re-Barred Soap. If you'd like to make your own, here's what you'll need:

• Leftover bar-soap remnants
• Tin can, clean and dried, with rough edges pressed down.
  
• Narrow pot with high sides
• Box grater
  
• Glycerine
  
• Stir stick
  
• Glass dish to "form" the bar

First, shave the soap chunks with the grater, the finer the better. Put these shavings in the tin can, and place the can in the pot. Add water into the pot to the same level as the soap inside the can. Careful, though. The can may float and tip over if too much water is used – that's why a narrow, tall-sided pot works best. Bring the water to a high simmer. Add a teaspoon of glycerine to the soap shavings. More may be needed, depending on the amount of soap you're melting, but I add only as needed, and in very small increments. The glycerine helps the soap liquefy and adds a skin-softening attribute to the Re-Barred Soap. Too much, however, and the bar won't set. I use a long, trussing skewer to stir the soap. The trussing end makes a perfect mini-whisk and stirring helps ensure all the soap pieces melt. When the soap is melted, coat your glass "form" with a generous dab of glycerine – this will facilitate the removal of the bar, once it has set. Pour the liquefied soap into the form and smooth the surface as much as possible with a glycerine-coated spatula. Let cool. The bar, once completely set, should pop out of the form quite easily. If it doesn't, simply put the form in a dish of hot water for a minute or two until the heat affects its release. The soap may look a little glossier than usual, but that's merely the glycerine which coated the form.

For the purposes of this blog, I made a batch of Re-Bar Soap but, instead of using the simple round dish I usually use, I tried a leaf-shaped dish instead. I thought it might produce a nicer looking bar. It didn't. In fact, the bar was more difficult to remove from the form because of the unusual shape. Next time, I'll keep it simple and use the round dish.

Collared Greens

No, that's not a misspelling. This blog isn't about that leafy green staple of southern cuisine. Not specifically anyway. Today, I'm talking about a simple – and biodegradable – means of defence for bedding plants.

As the growing season begins in our new neighbourhood, hubby and I are thinking of little else but this year's garden. We're both keen on natural gardening techniques, anything which helps us achieve a pest- and disease-resistant garden without the use of chemical pesticides and herbicides. We've bought gardening magazines to supplement our book collection, and are researching these and online sources for new seed varieties and planting techniques.

While we make plans, impatiently waiting for warmer weather, some preparations begin. One, given our gardening zone, is to start certain plants indoors. Many long growing season plants (like most of the cabbage family) benefit from a head start. To save a little money, we grow our own bedding plants downstairs. Our other preparation is to save toilet paper rolls. They'll be the first line of defence for those bedding plants.

Seedlings face many dangers. Eventually they must be transitioned outdoors and, if the shock of the transplant isn't enough to wither them, they'll endure changes of temperature, humidity, sunlight and wind. Then there are pests, like cutworms, who are eager to nibble those succulent sprouts. Cutworms are responsible for the destruction of a variety of seedlings and are the bane of many gardeners (Ontario Govt factsheet on Cutworms).

Years ago, we found a simple and effective safeguard. Those aforementioned toilet paper rolls. For weeks now we've been saving those little tubes, much as I once saved newspapers for a larger garden. Toilet paper rolls make perfect little biodegradable protectors against cutworms and, conveniently, they blunt the effects of wind and cool over-night temperatures seedlings face when first transplanted.

Here's how to use the tubes. When it comes time to plant your seedlings into the garden:

• Remove bedding plant from its germinating container
  
• Carefully feed the sprout, top first, into a tube
  
• GENTLY feed leaves out the top as you push the soil ball from the bottom until the top of the root mass is mid-way through the paper roll.
  
• Plant tube upright, buried halfway at the soil line. The roots will have some protection from underground pests, and the sprouting vegetation is surrounded by a short wall that deters cutworms.
  

Or, if you've seeded the garden directly, you can also insert toilet paper rolls into the (loosely-packed) soil around small plants. Wait until the first thinning and then insert tubes around the remaining, heartier plants.

These collars may look a little funny for the first couple weeks, but soon foliage obscures them. Once the plants have grown robust, with strong stems and roots, the tubes are dissolving into the soil. By this time, the worst threats are diminishing.

So, you may just want to collar your collard greens, or any other vulnerable vegetables you plant. Start saving those paper tubes now. It's one way to defend your precious seedlings, give them a fighting chance to grow up and become the healthy crops you envision.

Do you have any home-spun, non-chemical gardening tips and ideas? Please share those suggestions with us!

Leftovers: Waste or Surplus?

Some people toss them. Others don't mind them; they just don't know what to do with them. Me? I plan on them. Leftovers – our favourite "fast food" – also help keep grocery spending on budget.

By planning for and making the most of leftovers, food needn't be sent to the landfill. Meal-planning is easier and preparation faster, simply by using those excess cooked foods. A few extra minutes of preparation on the first day and there's enough for (at least) one more meal. Most leftovers are used as ingredients in dishes which cook rapidly, so cooking processes are reduced for the second meal and that saves on energy costs. Any way you look at it, leftovers provide some thrifty dinners.

And there are so many good things to make with leftovers! Par-boiled and chilled potatoes make the crispiest hash browns. The best stir-fried rice – one that doesn't become sticky – is made with cooked, cold rice. A surplus of pared veggies makes handy snack food. Soups and stews not only stretch for a few meals, their texture and flavours often improve during the chilling process, as natural gelatins are activated and seasonings fuse. Leftover chicken breast or pork chops, julienned, make "topping" enough for two medium pizzas, or a hearty salad, or an excellent addition to stir-fries or ramen-noodle soup. Leftover turkey or roast beef are great in casseroles such as tetrazzini or one-pot pilafs. If you're fortunate to have spare gravy, it can seed a sauce that will convert those leftover roast meats into scrumptious pot pies. Nobody will guess they're eating leftovers!

To make fabulous fare from last night's excess, you'll need to build your own repertoire of recipes, ideally ones which allow ingredient substitutions. Pizza – my favourite use of leftover chicken – always delights. It's both a satisfying and economic meal. Home-made pizza dough requires fore-thought – to allow for rising time – but the smell of fresh-baked dough, and the pleasing texture and taste of the crust, makes it worth the minimal effort. If you like a tomato sauce base, you can make a simple sauce on the stove-top. During winter months, we don't have access to good cooking tomatoes so we use a few tablespoons, per pizza, of a jarred spaghetti sauce. (Each jar, once open, we use within its shelf-life as a condiment or ingredient in other dishes, marinades, and/or sauces – these, too, I plan ahead.) Here's my simple dough recipe for one, medium-sized pizza crust:

• 1/2 cup warm water
  
• 1-1/2 tablespoons olive oil
  
• 2-1/4 teaspoon yeast (or one, 2.5 oz. Packet)
  
• 1 tablespoon sugar
  
• 1 teaspoon salt
  
• 1-1/2 cup flour
  

Dissolve sugar in warm water. Add yeast and allow it to develop (approximately 5 minutes.) Add oil, stir to combine, and pour into a mixing bowl. Add 1/2 cup flour and beat until smooth. Add the salt, stir well to blend, and then add the remaining flour, as much as required. Knead on a lightly floured surface for 5-10 minutes, or until dough is smooth and elastic. Place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover, and set aside to rise for 45-50 minutes. Punch down dough, knead until smooth, and allow it to rest for 5 minutes before shaping. Once topped, this 12-inch pizza crust cooks in about 10 minutes in a hot (425-450 degree) oven.

Even the smallest amount of leftover food need not be wasted. You'd be surprised by the delicious meals that can come from a hodgepodge of leftover ingredients. Once you build your collection of recipes, your own family favourites, you'll begin to see these "fast foods" as desirable surplus. Be warned, though. This process is addictive! Soon, you'll be intending leftovers, too. Meal-planning quickly becomes a tag-team activity, featuring first meal and its progeny.

How about you? What's your favourite recipe for leftovers?

Indoor-Plant Care

It's time for spring cleaning. Oh joy. Though not my favourite activity, it does offer a wonderful sense of satisfaction when it's completed. Fortunately for me, we just moved in to a new home so most of the major cleaning was done just a couple months ago. The plants, however, still carry the dust of 2009, with more layered on during the move. They missed getting their usual fall cleansing and are crying out for attention.

Commercial plant soaps and leaf gloss can be expensive, though. Instead, I use a couple household products that cost fractions of cents per use. One is dish detergent and the other is glycerine.

First, I give water-loving plants a shower. Literally. I wait until they're fairly dry, ready for watering, and then place them in the tub. The water must be tepid, neither hot nor cold, and I ensure that temperature before opening the shower valve. Also, a gentle stream of water is best. Harsh spray will tear tender leaves and branches. Once the shower is started, I place one drop of dish soap on my palm and, under the shower stream, rub my hands together to create suds. These suds rain down on the plant and should be allowed to penetrate the soil. Depending on the size of the plant, you might need to repeat this sudsing a couple times. This has a three-fold effect: it cleans the leaves and branches; it helps kill aphids, spider mites and their eggs; and, it provides some mild fertilization.

Not all plants tolerate a shower. My Cycad or African violet would die miserable deaths if watered so profusely and directly. For these plants, I use an old (but clean) make-up brush to remove lint and dust. If there are stubborn deposits, I use a soft terry-cloth rag to wipe soil from firm leaves, those without hairs as this process would damage them.

Once the plants have all been cleaned, I apply a home-made leaf polish. To make your own, combine ½ teaspoon glycerine with ¼ cup tepid water. Stir until glycerine is well dissolved. Then, dip a soft (rag) cloth in the mixture, wring it out until just damp, and wipe leaves gently. The result will be a clean, green glow, not the high-gloss sheen that most commercial brands impart. Personally, I prefer the more subtle, natural-looking lustre.

This whole process may take days, depending on the number of plants queuing for the shower and leaves awaiting individual attention. After plants are cleaned, they perk up noticeably. Quite often, new leaves and branches sprout eagerly after I've completed this twice-yearly procedure. Dust clogs the pores but, once clean, plants "breathe" easier, prompting their growth and increasing their capacity to filter household pollutants from the air.