Of October bargains & basil bake

Volume III, Issue 11

Copyright © Deborah Michelle Sanders 2005


My favorite psalm -- The 121st Psalm:

If I lift up my eyes to the hills,
Where shall I find help?
Help comes only from the L-rd,
Maker of heaven & earth.
How could he let your foot stumble?
How could he, your guardian, sleep?
The guardian of Israel
Never slumbers, never sleeps.
The L-rd is your guardian,
Your defense at your right hand;
The sun will not strike you by day
Nor the moon by night
The L-rd will guard you against all evil
He will guard you, body & soul.
The L-rd will guard your going & your coming,
Now & for evermore.





OCTOBER BARGAINS:

One for November 1st – candy, gobs of it!
Really in October:
Apples & pears
Winter squash
Pumpkins

Last year’s automobile models (i.e., 2005 models now)
Silver & silverware
Clothing, & fabrics in high-end stores







HOUSHOLD HINTS:

You might think that, in order to sell a car, new tires would enhance the auto in the eyes of prospective buyers. ‘Taint true – once you have paid for the tires, you won’t get equal value from the buyer.

Use wadded-up newspaper to absorb odors in any empty container (including thermoses, lunch-boxes, coolers, or storage boxes).

You don’t have to discard window shades that have seen their better days. Just remove the shade from its roller, staple what had been its bottom to the top rod, & glue a bottom hem just wide enough to be able to encase its wooden straightening stick.

Has someone brought you flowers? Be sure to cut off all of the leaves that are below the water line, so they don’t succumb to disease. Change the water every other day for the same reason. Rot smells bad, but flowers are supposed to smell pretty, right?

Speaking of diseases, how about preventing mold on cheese? You just need some cheesecloth & some vinegar. Soak the former with the latter & wrap the cloth tightly around the cheese. (I’m not talking about cheese where mold IS the gourmet experience, as it is with blue cheeses.)

Call your auto insurance carrier to have your premium reduced if:
You are a policyholder for 2 or more kinds of insurance with that company;
You have had no prior claims (during a period exceeding a couple of years); or,
You have a compact car (especially important in this age of SUV’s).

Hint for a seamstress: If you find that you don’t have wide enough elastic for a garment, just use 2 narrow strips, zig-zag them together, & treat them as 1 when threading through the casing with your bodkin.






RECIPE:

Cottage Cheese, Basil, & Spaghetti Bake:

This dish has the dual merits of being delicious & cheap.

1 lb cottage cheese
1 bunch fresh basil (about 4 oz), scissored or cut into 1/8” slices (no stems, please – you can save the stems, as with all leftover veggie parts, to use in soups for extra flavor)
1 lb spaghetti, cut into thirds, cooked only up until the minimum time stated on the package. BEFORE DRAINING THE SPAGHETTI, take a 1-cup Pyrex measure, & scoop out 2 T of the cooking water – reserve it. Then you can drain the pasta.
1 tsp salt
¼ tsp ready-ground pepper OR freshly-ground black pepper to taste
2 T flour
2 T olive oil
paprika, to dust


Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Spray oil on a THREE-quart casserole dish.

In the pot in which you had cooked the spaghetti, replace the 2 T of cooking water. Add the salt, pepper, flour, & olive oil. Place on a medium flame. Stir vigorously to unify the ingredients, until the resulting roux is slightly browned. Remove from flame. Stir in the cottage cheese, basil & spaghetti. Transfer to the casserole dish.

Dust with paprika.

Cover casserole dish (with aluminum foil if necessary – remember to recycle the foil) & bake for 25 minutes. Remove cover & bake for another 15 minutes. Serves 4-5.