SharondaWoodfin.net

Top 13 Reasons This is a List Post

1. I don't care what search engines think about placing posts into multiple categories.
2. I'm still streaming Xena.
3. I'm adapting my taiji routine to include my burglar beater (approximately 3' section of a young tree -- which had to be cut down because it was growing too close to the house -- complete with spikes where the tiny limbs were growing; too short to use as a bo staff, too long for a billy club, painful if you whack yourself with the spikes).
4. I'm a bit distracted by all of the Adam Lambert stuff. LOLed, literally, at the faux fellatio on the AMAs; put off a bit by the kiss, but only because it struck me as more aggressive than sexual. Noted that Adam was right about one thing: gender discrimination. CBS blurred the guy-on-guy kiss, this morning, but didn't blur the whole Madonna-Britney-Xtina thing. (PS, I muted Eminem, and played with the dog 'til he was off the stage.)
5. Sunday was my mom's 77th birthday.
6. Still have things to do regarding the recent death of a friend.
7. I've been having to cook for the dog for the past several days, while waiting for his dog food to ship. This isn't as simple as "Hey, Jerr? You want a burger?" Feeding your human kids shouldn't be that simple, either.
8. A bit put off with at least a couple of high-quality dog food companies. One because they rant about chicken meal, while replacing said meal with oatmeal, instead of adding more meat. The other because a commitment to "indie pet specialty retailers" is the reason they site for not selling in supermarkets. 'Cept PetCo ain't "indie", and that commitment does nothing for rural dogs, regardless.
9. Doing a bit of chart work, which is a bad thing, because I can easily get obsessed with that stuff.
10. I've been making a concerted effort to not blog while angry. If I manage to stick with that goal, hiatuses may become the norm around here.
11. Trying to get enough points for the portable hard drive at Club Bing, because I need a way to back up my files.
12. The scanner is pretty much done. Reworking old designs until I can get a way to draw again.
13. As my mention of taiji would suggest, I'm out of balance, and trying to find it, again.

Easy Bread Pizza

Autumn has arrived, which means we're finally using the oven. Switching from stove top to stove bottom hasn't made me any more ambitious, though, and this is a quick way to get fed and enjoy the flavors, without much expense or effort.

• Start with the bread. I use a low-carb, whole-wheat variety, but any sort of bread will do. Place the slices on a cookie sheet. As you can see in the picture, above, I've placed aluminum foil on the cookie sheet that I used. That's because my cookie sheet isn't shiny and new, and the notion of my food being placed directly on it sort of creeps me out.
• Butter the top side of the bread. This is important. Fat is a flavor enhancer and keeps your pizza from becoming a dry, toasty mess.
• Sprinkle garlic powder on the buttered bread.
• Smear tomato paste on the garlicy, buttered bread.
• Top the tomato paste with a bit of oregano (just a bit, though, because excess oregano can overwhelm just about anything), then add some basil.
• If you're going to add meat, add it now. Make sure it's pre-cooked. Today, I used one diced and fried slice of cheap, pre-packaged bologna and a bit of locally-produced pork sausage. This step is completely optional and allows for a lot of variety.
• Top everything that you've combined thus far with grated parmesan cheese.
• Bake at 350. When you can smell it, it's probably done.

This has been a popular meal for the past week at my house. I wouldn't recommend it for your next formal dinner, but it's perfect for your next meal in front of the TV or at your computer desk. It's also a great way to keep a little more money in your pocket -- and grab control of the ingredients -- the next time that pizza craving hits!

Shopping and Eating on a Limited Budget

Tomorrow, I have to go grocery shopping, and I have to do it with very little money. Lucky me, I've become accustomed to trying to feed two humans -- one of which (that'd be me) has a rather healthy appetite -- for a week on less money than some of you spend on one night out. I've become fairly knowledgeable about finding the better buys at the local grocery store. I've also learned a bit about which cheap foods to avoid.

This list is based on my local shopping experience. All groceries are purchased at either the one grocery store in town or at the Dollar General. Your mileage may vary, in terms of pricing, by locale; but some of these tidbits are geography-independent.

The Good Stuff:

1. Potatoes. Potatoes, potatoes, potatoes. I've eaten enough potatoes over the past few months to single-mouthedly boost Idaho's economy. The thing is, I'm still not tired of them. Toss a little butter and sea salt on a boiled potato, and I'm a happy diner. More importantly, I can get ten pounds (and, sometimes, 15 pounds) of russets for less than three dollars. 


2. Meat. The first rule of cheap meat shopping is to look for brightly-colored stickers. These stickers should either say "Special" or "Reduced for quick sale". Barring ground meats and splurge cuts, do not pay more than $1.99 per pound for beef, or 99 cents per pound for pork steaks.

   In terms of beef, look for chuck. Chuck steaks can frequently be found at a reduced price, and are both more tender and better-tasting than than their frequent sale-mates: patio steaks and round steaks. Ground chuck (set the price limit here at around $2.09 per pound) won't cook away or be as gristly as ground beef or hamburger ('though ground round can be an acceptable substitute). Chuck roasts are preferable to arm roasts, and eye of chuck (a.k.a. "the poor man's ribeye") is a suitable splurge cut.

   As to pork, one of the best bargains I've found is irregularly-cut bacon. You'll find all sorts of shapes and sizes in the container, from too thick to too thin, too short to... nah, there are no too-long pieces. When I'm lucky enough to find irregularly-cut bacon at the grocery store, less than five dollars will net me enough salty, fatty goodness to last two people for a week.

   Chicken is just a bit different. Bargain-priced chicken frequently makes me wonder just how much I'm paying for bone, or, in some cases, bits of feathers. I generally only buy the pre-skinned, pre-boned, pre-packaged chicken breasts that are shipped to the store ready-for-sale and run somewhere between four dollars and seven dollars for three pounds. (I rarely buy it when it hits seven dollars. If I do buy it at that price, it's probably because I've run out of food for the dog.)
   

3. Eggs. Buy them. Eat them. This is high-quality protein -- along with fat and just a bit of carb -- at a very good price.


4. Butter. Not margarine. Butter. Eggs taste better fried in butter than in oil, and it's certainly a better topping for all those damned potatoes.


5. Apples. If you must have fruit, apples aren't a bad choice. They're satiating, relatively cheap, and certainly easier on the blood sugar than bananas are.


6. Bread. Yes, it's filler, pure and simple. And low-carb bread is expensive, to boot. If I weren't on a budget, I'd skip bread, completely. But one loaf can go a long way toward fighting off several days worth of the hungries.


7. Fresh vegetables. Again, look for those brightly-colored stickers. This part will require using your own judgment. When you find one of those stickers, ask yourself what that particular vegetable will provide in terms of vitamins and minerals, as well as in terms of taste and satiety. Also, be sure to check for mold and rot.

   If you can find clean, fresh spinach at a cheap price, you've just won the budget nutrition lottery!

You've probably noticed the lack of ramen and pastas on this list. There's a good reason for this: They screw with my blood sugar and leave me hungry all the time. I could eat pasta all day and still be freaking starving. Maybe you don't respond the same way to noodly foods, but I absolutely can't recommend them, given my own experience.

One last pro-tip:

• Diet Pepsi at the grocery store: $1.69 per 2-litre bottle.
• Diet Pepsi at Dollar General: $1.25 per 2-litre bottle.

I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that none of this is anything new to most of the few people that will read this. But I'm also guessing that there is a small segment of the population that's relatively green behind the ears when it comes to surviving on a tight budget. Hopefully, this information can be helpful to someone, somewhere.

And for those of you who aren't struggling: Stay the Hell out of my bargain bin, damnit!

Simple Chicken Soup

Yes, this is how I spent National Coming Out Day. I made soup. It was good soup, though, so maybe that makes up for not getting to participate in anything remotely "festive".

I'd like to think that the soup is subversive, too, in its own way. For starters, it isn't pretty. More than that, though, I think that recipes have become a bit of a problem. They're pervasive. They're invasive. It's to the point that I know people who have forgotten that the only real rule of cooking is to apply heat, and that their kitchens should be a place to experiment.

Well, this soup has been a weeks-long experiment. The reason for the experiment is that Winter will be coming soon, and if this year is like last year, our electric bills will quadruple. The point of the whole experiment has been to eat healthily, eat cheaply, and hope that it tastes good. And I think that the soup has, to one degree or another, met all three criteria.

And how to make it? What follows is as close to a recipe as you're going to get:

The necessities:

Skinless, boneless chicken. It doesn't matter if you use pre-skinned, pre-boned, chicken breasts, or left-overs from KFC, just make sure the skin and bones are removed. This keeps your soup from turning into a giant pot of appetite suppressant.

Salt. Sea salt is preferable. Have you read the ingredients on a box of table salt lately? I don't know what some of that stuff is.

Ground ginger, celery seed, and garlic powder.

Butter. Especially if you're only using white meat chicken. Don't add too much; you're just trying to add a little fat, not influence the flavor.

Carrots. The smaller they're chopped up, the better. And go easy. You just want a hint of flavor. Let's face it: Carrots aren't just starchy, they can be a bit obnoxious, too. 

Water, enough to cook the whole mess in.

Parsley, mostly for color.

The options:

Russet potatoes. These aren't the most diabetic-friendly things in the world, but I can get them for less than 20 cents per pound, and they don't create the obvious symptoms of a glucose rise (for me) that I experience from pasta, beans, bread, or even sweet potatoes. It would be preferable if the potatoes were peeled and cut, in some fashion, but please at least wash your potatoes; they come out of the bag kind of filthy.

Cauliflower. Add it if you can afford it. Cauliflower has a lovely way of absorbing the flavors of the broth, and it adds a nice texture to the soup, providing that you don't cook it long enough for it to become mush.

Sweet potato. Again, not too much, unless you have no blood sugar problems and can afford a pot-load of sweet potatoes.

Freshly ground black pepper. Just a little. Some folks have sensitive stomachs.

The instructions:

Put ingredients in a big ol' pan for boiling. (If you're using cauliflower and potatoes, don't add the cauliflower until the potatoes are semi-done.) Boil it. Once the chicken is done (or after a reasonable amount of time, if you're using pre-cooked chicken), spoon out some broth, then cool it and taste it. If it doesn't taste right, figure out what you need to add more of. Repeat until the broth tastes good and all veggies/roots/tubers are done.

For the best taste experience, store your leftover soup in the refrigerator and re-heat it (or maybe even add more ingredients) the next day. The second cooking seems to intensify the flavors.

Taxing Soda is the Wrong Approach

I read a blog post this morning by Peggy Rowland at Blisstree. I've read Peggy's various blogs for a long time, and I like her. She comes across as a genuinely nice person who genuinely cares about the things that she blogs about. We also frequently disagree, at least as far as health issues are concerned. And health issues tend to wind me up. I'll try to compose a comment, expressing my disagreement, and find myself with fingers flying across the keyboard in a fit of hunt-and-peck fury.

But I know where the fury comes from, and it's not Peggy's fault. It's the result of having been given bad medical advice and still being angry about it. So, when I become that 8-day clock, and try to comment in that state, I end up feeling like I'm trolling Peggy's blog, whether the resulting comment makes sense or not. I've decided not to do that, anymore.

The post that I read this morning, Would Taxing Soda Prevent Obesity?, is one of those posts that started to wind me up, even though Peggy, herself, didn't offer an opinion, either way. I had an opinion, though, and posting it here seemed a more comfortable option than going on a tangent in the comments on Peggy's post:

Taxing Soda is the Wrong Approach

1. There will always be a debate about what is and isn't healthy. I won't argue that soda is a part of that debate. Rather, I'll suggest that the notion of "sin" taxes take a more sinister turn when you consider that the next tax may not be one that you agree with. What if what were taxed as unhealthy were decided by low-carbers like me? No? How about the low-fat folks? The vegans? At some point, this approach is bound to cross a line that even sin-tax advocates don't like.
2. There's a reason that my refrigerator is stocked with potatoes (despite the fact that I know low-carb is healthier for me) instead of fresh spinach. Making potatoes more expensive won't mean that I can suddenly afford spinach. It just means that I'll spend more on the potatoes and have even fewer healthy options.
3. Sin taxes punish the poor. You can argue that everyone will pay the same rate per purchase, regardless of income, and that's true. But I'll counter with the fact that the less money you have, the more important each cent becomes.
4. Why soda? And is it all sodas, or just those made with real sugar? Those made with HFCS? Will artificially-sweetened sodas be included? How about sports drinks? Energy drinks? Orange juice with 30 grams of carbs per serving? What about all the other crap that's loaded up with sugar or corn syrup?
5. From a philosophical standpoint, if something is so unhealthy that the government decides to levy a tax on it, just because of those health reasons, then the government should also man up enough to just ban it. Wait. What? You still want people to be able to make a living by producing and selling the stuff that you don't want people to buy and consume? As my dear old mom would say "Shit, or get off the pot."

Want people to eat healthier? Make healthy food more affordable. Duh.