June Cleaver Nirvana

I am starting a new REALITY CHECK series over at Burbmom.net. I am not going to post the follow up stories here, but wanted to let ya know what I was doing over there in case you want to follow along.

For the next month I am going to play THE GROCERY GAME.

The Grocery Game is a website that you join to get specific local information about coupons, specials and freebies at the grocery stores you frequent. It says that if you follow the instructions you can save a lot of money without spending a lot of time devoted to coupon clipping.



The Verdict?

Too early to tell.

The post-shopping Reality Report:

The Grocery Game website is a little awkward, but once I figured out a few things I was able to navigate it pretty easily. I was surprised that when I entered my zip code a whole list of local grocery and drug stores appeared. Once you choose the stores you want to follow the "rules" and shopping lists are available to print.

I will admit to being VERY FRUSTRATED that there were no coupons in the Sunday paper. Since it has been YEARS since I have clipped coupons I wondered if maybe the paper had discontinued them. I Googled and searched and tried to ask a question on The Grocery Game's website (which was closed for Easter) and finally found the no holiday coupon clause on the actual shopping list. UGH.

There are pages and pages of reading on The Grocery Game website that I felt like I needed to review to get started. It is overwhelming at first. I kept thinking that they could give some instructions to ease beginners into the system. I may be more clueless than their average mom in this area, but it does seem complicated.

I am going to keep an open mind since...I haven't even gone shopping yet!

Next time over at Burbmom.net: Shopping trip #1 without manufacturers coupons *sigh*...

This week Bianca and I tackled Chef Cat Cora’s 21 meal menu with the goal of staying under $150 for home cooked meals as seen on the Oprah show. This is day 6 of our journey.

So let’s see what is for breakfast!

Potato Frittata

And here is where I yell “Please Chef Cora have mercy on my outside-the-kitchen-loving soul“!

Bianca started this recipe at 7 am. We did not pre-cook the potatoes so she was starting from the very beginning.

After much frustration, a few mild curse words whispered under our breaths and 2 hours later…TWO HOURS LATER…the frittata didn’t stay together and she ended up scrambling it to get it cooked through so we could eat.

We finished in the kitchen this morning at 9:30. That is 2 1/2 hours from start to finish. It was very discouraging and quite unacceptable.

At this point we don’t even care what it tastes like because we are hungry, grumpy and have low blood sugar and the boys are LONG GONE from the kitchen table…like 2 hours LONG GONE…in fact they are back looking for a mid-morning snack.

For the rest of this cooking story gone very awry click here to finish at burbmom.net...

Bianca and I are DANCING into the kitchen this morning to see what day five of our 21 cheap, cheap, cheap meal menu courtesy of Chef Cat Cora and the all knowing Oprah has to offer...

Let's start with breakfast!

Rizogalo (Creamy Breakfast Brown Rice Pudding)

We were glad that I had made a large batch of brown rice a few nights ago and put it in the fridge for later use. That meant that our cooking time would be shorter this morning because we were so smart (and cute).

We even ended up making about 3 videos to post with this process, but due to technical difficulties they were accidentally deleted on Bianca's camera so you will have to just imagine me in my big fluffy robe standing by the stove stirring the RizagallawhateveritisIcannotpronounceitanywaysoprobablyagoodthingthevideothingdidnotworkout:

20 minutes into the recipe:

Holly: What is happening here? I can't get this milk to boil.

30 minutes into the recipe:

Holly: Whew! Got the milk to boil and now I am being all fancy and tempering an egg by pouring 1/2 cup of boiling milk into the pre-mixed egg. Now I am adding the tempered egg into the boiling milk along with our rice. We will cook the rice mixture for another 20 minutes until it starts to thicken.

50 minutes into the recipe:

Holly: I was supposed to be "continuously stirring" during the entire 20 minute thickening process, but I have three kids so that just isn't feasible. I spent the last 20 minutes feeding them since they couldn't wait any longer.

60 minutes into the recipe:

Holly: The kids are long gone from the breakfast table. THIS IS NOT THICKENING! I am going to go do my hair and get some clothes on.

75 minutes into the recipe:

Holly: Seriously, this is the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen. I want that Chef Cat Cora over at my house ASAP to explain how to fit a 75 minute BREAKFAST recipe into my life.

90 minute into the recipe...

Click here to read the rest of this rivoting story on burbmom.net

Today is another day on our quest for cheap meals with the help of Oprah and Chef Cat Cora! Holly squeals with excitement hoping to over come her kitchen fatigue.

Today is day four of the Chef Cat Cora 21 meal menu as seen on the Oprah show.

Let’s make breakfast!

Lemon-Pecan Pancakes

These pancakes took only a few minutes from batter to plate. They were easy. THEY WERE GOOD.

We are talking fine dining good.

Read more about the rest of the day and the yummy pancakes by clicking here over to burbmom.net...

We made it through day one and flew through day two of our quest to attempt the 21 meal plan of Chef Cat Cora as seen on Oprah…so what does today hold?

For breakfast we made:

Garlic Mashed Potato Pancakes

Let me start by saying this tasted good, BUT I just don’t get it.

We started by making mashed potatoes from scratch…from scratch at 6:30 am. And after adding a full stick of butter to the mashed potatoes we then FRIED them. Is this why we couldn’t have yolks yesterday - we were saving up for this?

The recipe called for 2 cups of milk, but we found that it was extremely soupy after only one cup so we omitted the second cup. Most of the “pancakes” turned out more like scrambled eggs. We took the above picture of the best formed one.

The Verdict?

2/5 thought the pancakes tasted OK.

The post cooking reality check:

I will not be making this recipe again unless I have a ton of left-over mashed potatoes that I need to magically transform into something slightly different. This recipe took WAY TOO much time if you are starting from scratch for a family breakfast. My three boys wake early and hungry.

Read the rest of this story on burbmom.net by clicking here...

Whew. We felt pretty good making it through day one of the Chef Cat Cora 21 meal menu as seen on Oprah.

And then we realized that day two would mean three homemade meals.

Three homemade meals.

I think I can…I think I can…I think I can.

Let’s make breakfast!

We decided to try:

Egg Whites, Turkey Bacon and Low Fat Cheddar Tortilla Wraps

This was also one of the recipes that Chef Cora demonstrated on the Oprah show in the home of an ordinary family. Bianca tackled this breakfast and when I saw it I was surprised because I could have sworn that on the TV show it looked yellow - like the whole egg was used. I checked the website and they mention use of only egg whites…

And I just have to ask WHY?

First of all, separating the 6 yolks from the 6 whites seemed cruel…they seemed so happy together.

Then disposing of the 6 yolks since none of the recipes in the 21 meal menu uses them seems very wasteful.

And third, by only using the egg whites the total recipe size seemed small.

And fourth, I LIKE the taste of the yolks.

And fifth, the yolks contain a bunch of nutrients that the whites do not.

And finally, none of my family members have high cholesterol or have special dietary needs and let’s be frank…eating a few egg yolks is MUCH better for them then what they might have been eating on any other given morning for breakfast.

Sorry, I got a little caught up in my pro-yolk agenda.

Click here for the rest of this 7 day menu story...

Someone recently lamented to me that "Americans follow Oprah like sheep".

Really?

A few days ago I breezed through my TiVo'd Oprah episode from last week that told the story of three professional chefs "living with" three ordinary families and making-over the family meals to be cheap, healthy and easy.

There is no way that works.

Especially for my family - "ordinary" would be a compliment in the kitchen to me.

I decided to try the Chef Cat Cora's 21 meal menu. Breakfast, lunch and dinner for a family of four for under $150.

It is a multi-media extravaganza of What was Holly thinking?



I will be posting the results daily over at Burbmom.net.

Just click on the baaaaaa baaaaaa....