Of keeping the dentist away & a barley pilaf with chickpeas

“Master of the universe, I hereby forgive anyone who angered or antagonized me or who sinned against me [today] – whether against my body, my property, my honor, or anything of mine; whether he did so accidentally, willfully, carelessly, or purposefully; whether through speech, deed, thought, or notion.” This is part of the Jewish bedtime prayers.





HELPFUL HINTS:

To keep the dentist away, do you know the best way to take care of your teeth? Brush after every meal AND each time that you eat something like yoghurt or drink something like coffee – anything acidic. (The active cultures in yoghurt directly attack your tooth enamel, too.) Floss your teeth before brushing, to the extent that you feel that you can afford floss (isn’t it cheaper than a dental bill?). After you brush your teeth themselves, brush the gums beyond your teeth. It will take a few days to get into these habits, but they will pay off in a big way for your oral health. If you brush your tongue, too, you’ll beat bad breath flat!

You can use Express Mail envelopes (which you can obtain free at the Post Office) to hold sewing patterns. Just cut the pattern envelope open & display it in the clear pocket. Put the pattern pieces & instruction sheet inside the envelope itself. (Alternatively, you can tape the opened pattern envelope straddling the 2 sides of a 9x13 manila envelope, putting the pattern pieces & instruction sheet inside.) Sure beats trying to fold all those pattern pieces back into the itty-bitty company envelope that they came to you in!

In a small pot, potatoes & rice are foods that tend to boil over. To avoid the resulting mess, spray cooking oil on the rim (in the kitchen sink).

Do you have a porcelain anything that is stained? Try this remedy: Wash the surface with clear water, & then apply a sprinkling of cream of tartar. Finally, cut a lemon in half & rub the surface with the lemon. It works wonderfully!

The price of ready-made “cute” magnets is exorbitant. You can make your own for just the cost of a package of round or strip magnets at a crafts store -- & then you’ll have the raw materials for perhaps 10 magnets. Some ideas for what you can glue on: photographs (they may extend far beyond the magnet itself), baked clay ornaments, or earrings when you have lost one of a pair.





BUY OF THE MONTH:

Heavy-duty aluminum foil under the store brand, 37-1/2 square feet in the package, cost $2.39. But I spotted heavy-duty aluminum foil in the half-off bin, SEVENTY-FIVE square feet in the package, for $2.29. I’m sure you know which one I purchased!



RECIPE:

Barley Pilaf with Chickpeas:

Barley isn’t JUST for mushroom soup any more!

2 T olive oil
1 c pearl barley
1 large onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
2 stalks of celery, diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced

3-1/4 c water
1-3/4 c chickpeas (that you have baked & thawed if frozen, as per the instructions in the September 10, 2004 blog, OR one 15-oz can of chickpeas, drained & rinsed)
1 tsp ground cumin
¾ tsp salt
¼ tsp ready-ground black pepper or freshly ground black pepper to taste

In a Dutch oven, saute the barley, onion, carrot, celery, & garlic in the olive oil – starting on high heat for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add remaining ingredients. Cover & cook on high heat for about 8 minutes, until boiling. Stir thoroughly. Reduce heat to very low, cover, & cook for an hour & 20 minutes or until mixture is nearly dry. Remove from heat, & let sit for 10 minutes, covered. Fluff with a cooking fork before serving to 6 hearty diners.


b

Of tea tree oil & a veggie casserole (side dish)

Put all your trust in the L-rd
& do not rely on your own understanding.
Think of Him in all your ways,
& He will smooth your path.
Do not think how wise you are,
But fear the L-rd & turn from evil.
Let that be the medicine to keep you in health,
The liniment for your limbs.
Honor the L-rd with your wealth
As the first charge on all your earnings;
Then your granaries will be filled with wheat& your vats bursting with new wine.

Proverbs 3:5-10b





HELPFUL HINTS:

In an emergency when gas lines may have broken – such as a tornado, hurricane, or an earthquake, it is dangerous to turn on a flashlight, as its battery electricity may arc & cause a fire in your home. You should buy a number of “lightsticks” now & keep them in strategic places around your house. All hardware stores carry them; children play with them in the summer; they come in various colors of light; they cost about $2 each.

To rejuvenate your wardrobe or your bedroom furnishings, you can dye as much of it as you like to have the results be in the same color family. Different saturations of color originally & various prints will look slightly assorted after dying, but will coordinate. The first step is to apply color remover; the second is to dye, both according to package instructions. The Rit® brand is the best known, & there are many colors to choose from in that line.

Once you have ground your coffee beans – or taken your ready-ground coffee out of its can – place 1/8 TEASPOON of salt into the coffee filter before you add your 1/8 CUP of coffee for every cup of coffee that you intend to brew. That’s 1/8 tsp for the whole pot, no matter how many cups of coffee you are making. This will reduce any bitter taste.

For any kind of cement that you use, you probably want to be wearing plastic gloves during the application. To avoid waste, take a rubber band & attach the pair you have worn to the cement container, so that you can use the same pair over & over again.

To make yeast-bread dough much easier to knead -- & to add a nice, sourdough-like tang to the resulting bread, place the yeast out in the open overnight (then cover it loosely) or for 3-4 hours before using it (uncovered). Also, use 150% of the amount of yeast called for in the recipe.

The cheapest way to buy yeast is at a superstore where you can buy it in bulk. The next best way is to buy it in a jar in the supermarket. NEVER pay through the nose for those 3-envelope dealies. Refrigerate all yeast on the bottom shelf of your fridge until you are ready to use it, to maintain freshness.





EXPENSIVE CATALOGUE ITEMS THAT YOU CAN SUBSTITUTE FOR, INEXPENSIVELY & WITH SUPERIOR RESULTS:

You see them all over, those advertisements & catalogues's copy promising you a cure for toenail fungus without need for a doctor’s prescription. Far superior -- & cheaper – is pure tea tree oil. (You can purchase it wherever essential oils are sold.) Apply it full strength on a disposable cosmetic puff to all affected nails. It’s helpful to cut away as much of the diseased nail as possible, before applying the oil. Also, you’ll have better results if you apply the oil under the top rim of your nail, as well as all over the upper surface. (You’ll have to apply the oil daily to maintain good results.)





RECIPE:

Veggie Garden Casserole (A Side Dish):

If you still have half a jar of pimientos after cooking the scalloped potatoes recipe given in the December 30, 2004 blog, here’s a good way to use it up. Note, however, that this recipe for Veggie Garden Casserole will taste just as good without the pimientos – the only advantage they give is more color.

1 – 10-oz package of frozen chopped spinach, thawed but not drained
½ large yellow onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, including leaves, sliced fine
1 medium green bell pepper, chopped small
2 medium carrots, grated
4 oz button mushrooms, fresh or canned (if canned, drained & rinsed), sliced
OPTIONAL: 2 oz pimientos, sliced or diced

¼ c canola oil
2 eggs
½ tsp freshly ground pepper
½ tsp salt
1 c whole wheat flour

Grease & flour a 10” tube pan or Bundt pan. (You could also use a roasting pan, but the tube pan will reduce the baking time.) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, mix all veggies & all other ingredients thoroughly together. Transfer to the pan. Bake for 35 minutes, or till an inserted straw comes out clean. Let stand for 10 minutes before cutting. Serves 8 as a side dish.

Of exercise & turkey/veggie hash

From Psalm 95:

The L-rd is a great G-d, & a great King above all gods.
In His hands are the corners of the earth, & the strength of the hills is His also.
The sea is His & He made it, & His hands prepared the dry land.

O come, let us worship & fall down, & kneel before the L-rd our Maker.
For He is the L-rd our G-d, & we are the people of His pasture & the sheep of His hand.


On January 12, 2005, the USDA & the federal Department of Health & Human Services issued their 2005 revision of the food pyramid guide. Unlike in other revisions, this time much emphasis is placed on the role of exercise in maintaining or increasing good health. Previously, the Surgeon General's recommendation was to perform 30 minutes of vigorous exercise most days of the week. (This exercise could be done in small portions, say, 10 minutes at a time, so long as 30 minutes accumulated.) In the 2005 revision, though, that 30 minutes recommendation is only for those who are thin. Anyone overweight is urged to exercise 60 minutes – vigorous exercise on most days of the week. Anyone obese is urged to exercise 90 minutes – vigorous exercise on most days of the week. (The same small-portions option is given in the 2005 revision – the accumulated exercise over the course of the day is what one needs to exceed 30, 60, or 90 minutes a day respectively.) I’m one who has to change from feeling smug about doing 45 minutes of exercise most days, to being one who has to complete 60 minutes instead. How about you?

HELPFUL HINTS:

You’ll always find the best bargains in produce in the frozen food aisle if you remember to look there for items that are seasonal in the fresh produce aisle. Marketers want to keep up sales of frozen goods, so, for example, you will find frozen strawberries cheap in May & June, & frozen peaches cheap in August.

To get the most juice out of your citrus fruits that you’ll be cooking with, first remove the outer rind (the zest). (You can freeze the portion of the rind that you don’t need for your current recipe. Indeed, it is much easier to zest the fruit with an implement called – guess what! – a zester, when you are using frozen rinds.) Then place the fruit in a bowl of hot water for about 10-15 minutes. The last thing you should do before juicing it is to roll it on the counter for a minute or so.

Purchase 23 cents (stamps for additional first-class ounces) instead of wasting the difference between stamps for the first ounce (currently 37 cents) and the current 23 cents stamps – you’ll save 14 cents each time, not to be sniffed at. And, if you are mailing something that requires still more stamps than just these 2, you’ll save 28 cents, 42 cents, & so on. Just remember that postal regulations require that you bring to the post office window any envelope or parcel that weighs 12 ounces or more. You’ll save the most money by using a scale to weigh your material – you can use a kitchen scale or the one supplied at the post office.

Before buying a major item in a bricks-&-mortar store, you may be able to reduce the price in the following manner: Ask the owner in a friendly tone what the item cost him; just say that the item is beautiful & you’re wondering how much it set him back. You are then in a good position to negotiate.

You can make your own memo cube. Just pile up pages (with at least one side blank) of the same size – even 8-1/2 by 11” is fine -- & glue one side with rubber cement. (Just brush it along the outside of the stack of paper.)

RECIPE:

This recipe takes account of the cheap price of the frozen (& convenient) versions of seasonal produce, as stated in the Helpful Hints section of today’s blog. It also uses a couple of the BAKED Russet potatoes that I’ve urged you to prepare monthly, since using them in various dishes reduces over-all energy costs. (You can bake them while something else is in the oven; having them ready reduces top-of-the-stove cooking time in recipes, AND you already have prepared the basis of potato salad, etc.)

Turkey & Veggie Hash:

2 T olive oil
2 T water
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 large BAKED Russet potatoes, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 large carrot, chopped
So that the veggies above will cook in about the same time, try to chop all of them to the same dimensions.
2/3 c chopped frozen greens (not thawed) or 1-1/3 c chopped fresh greens – greens should be the leaves of kale, mustard, turnips, or collards (no stems)

½ T salt
dash black pepper
½ tsp rosemary, crushed
1 tsp oregano
½ tsp sage, crumbled

1 c shredded turkey (or chicken)

Place oil & water in a Dutch oven. Add all of the veggies & stir thoroughly. Place over high heat. Cook until you hear simmering. Cover & reduce heat to its lowest point. Saute 10 minutes. Stir very thoroughly. Add salt, pepper, & herbs. Saute, covered, for another 10 minutes. Stir thoroughly. Add turkey & stir again. Cook, covered, until turkey is heated through (about 5 minutes). Serves 8.

Of the tsunami & red beans and rice

In the wake of the tsunami devastation, all believers explore how a good & omnipotent G-d can allow such things to happen. For me, natural disasters come down to the butterfly-in-China explanation. One small event in Nature has many repercussions, & sometimes a repercussion is a tragedy beyond our ken. (Historical atrocities like the Holocaust come down for me to perversions of the free will that G-d has given Man.) I pray that if you are/were a religious person, your faith has not been completely shattered by the earthquakes. G-d needs all the faithful prayer that we can give, even if what we ask for is simply the understanding of why He allows mass death.

HELPFUL HINTS:

To save time & utilities cost while cooking, I always keep the pot covered while I am bringing anything to the boil – pasta water or the ingredients in this week’s recipe, for examples. I just stand by with a book to pass the time, while waiting for the tell-tale steam to escape, letting me know that it’s time to move on with the cooking steps.

In painting a room that doesn’t get much visitor traffic – such as the garage interior -- use up what’s left in several cans of used paint. Just pour them all into one can & stir most thoroughly. You are likely to get an appealing shade, since YOU were the one who had chosen all the constituent colors! (This won’t work if you’re a lover of bright red, bright purple, & other shrieking colors, though.)

The cheapest -- & most environmentally sound – way to keep your household drains clear is to boil a teakettle’s worth of water, pour half down a sink, wait 5 minutes, & then pour the other half down. Works like a charm!

Do you have a spray bottle that is not spraying? Probably it is low in fluid. If it’s not water which you can replenish, take out the sprayer itself & place it into a drinking straw (you may have to cut it down to fit). Once you’ve replaced the sprayer-cum-straw, it should work just fine.

Lipsticks that are not made with harsh chemicals tend to fade quickly. The way to keep your lips bright is to apply the lipstick twice: the lipstick, a dusting of powder, & then the lipstick again.

STILL ANOTHER CATALOGUE ITEM THAT YOU DON’T NEED TO BUY:

For a little girl, a $50 item marked down to $25 is a bed canopy. This is a cone of fabric attached to a ceiling hook, with the cone attached to a fabric cylinder. In turn, the cylinder is attached to tulle/netting which flows over the sides of her bed. Tulle costs 50 cents per yard, so you can see the extent of profit on this item, even on half-off sale.

RECIPE:

This recipe came about as a way to use up Spanish tomato sauce that I had erroneously bought in place of the standard type, on a sale that was too good to miss. Furthermore, I slightly undercooked the rice purposefully, to create a textural contrast with the beans. The result? A chewy dish that is hot, but not too hot. (If you do want it hotter, just add more hot pepper sauce to the 4 drops called for.)

Red Beans & Rice a la Deb:

1 tsp salt
1 large onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 T canola oil

1-3/4 c red beans (that you have baked & thawed if frozen, as per the instructions in the September 10, 2004 blog, OR one 15-oz can of red beans, drained & rinsed)
2 c brown rice, raw
1 bay leaf
4 drops of hot red pepper sauce
2 c (16 oz) Spanish tomato sauce
2 c water

Saute the onion & garlic, salted, in the canola oil in a covered Dutch oven over low heat for 10 minutes; stir thoroughly; & continue to sauté the veggies for another 10 minutes.

Add all the other ingredients. Stir thoroughly. Bring to a boil on high heat. Cover & reduce heat to medium-low. Cook for 25 minutes without raising the cover. Reduce the heat to low & continue not to raise the cover. You will have cooked the rice mixture for a total of 45 minutes. Remove to a cool burner for 10 minutes – do not uncover until the 10 minutes have elapsed.

Stir thoroughly & remove the bay leaf before serving to 8.