It's much cooler here now!

     Last month was very hot in this house.  I found I didn't have much energy, not even to blog.  Then we got a new air conditioner.  Though it's not very big, it cools most of the house very efficiently and we are enjoying it very much.  I admit to being somewhat of a baby about being too hot.  Crabby and inefficient!  And only marginally better now because I quite got used to being lazy!  However, it's time to go shopping.  Last month I only spent $100 at the grocery store because of O'bama's threat that there might not be Social Security checks in August.  I know it wouldn't have made any difference but at least I was doing something!  I did buy vegetables at road side stands and some fancy hot dogs and lunch meat at Aldi's when they came unexpectedly on sale.  We're still enjoying those things.  Now it's time to do some serious shopping!  Here are my shopping bags, all 14 of them, ready to be put in the car and hauled out at 3 different stores.

     First we went to the Butcher's Block, on the east side.  I spent about $30 there and got 2# of ground sirloin, 2 # Indiana Platter bacon, 2# of stew beef, 1# of Italian sweet sausage and 2 boneless pork chops to stuff.  Enough for about 18 meals plus many breakfasts.  Remember we have Kosher hot dogs, lunch meat and chicken breasts already, plus canned salmon and tuna and cheese.  28 meals coming up.  I spent almost exactly $200 for the total.  Counting my additional purchases we spent about $125 for last month's.  Monthly shopping takes us about 2 hours.

     The menus for this week are:
Thursday-   Pork Fried Rice, tossed salad with blue cheese, fresh baked bread and butter, Mandarin oranges
Friday-     Tuna noodle casserole with mushrooms, tossed salad, Cantaloup
Saturday-     Birthday party, I went and had a taste of everything and brought home a plate for Hubby
Sunday-     Stewed stew beef, corn on the cob, sliced tomatoes,  mashed potatoes, chocolate bar, almonds
Monday-     Chicken Fajitas, rice and refried beans, salsa and sour cream, Melon
Tuesday-     Tomato soup and hot dogs, Melon
Wednesday-     Fajitas leftovers with oven baked chips of the tortillas to dip in the 7 layer dip
Thursday-     Hamburgers and oven roasted garlic flavored potatoes, Melon

     On the day I went to the grocery, I had in the fridge, as left-overs, about 3/4 of a package of Lite cream cheese and about 4 ounces of extra sharp cheddar cheese.  I combined these with some Worcestershire sauce and some onion powder and made a cheese ball, which we had with crackers when we got back from the store.  My husband asked me why I had made it and I began to reminisce about snack foods and things we used to serve company.  In those days, everyone had company, sometimes several times a week.  For instance, my Not-Grandmother always served Ritz crackers with a dollop of cream cheese in the center of each and sometimes a spot of jelly in the center of that.  It was her stock in trade.  Along with that she might pour small glasses of Coca Cola or my Grandfather would make high balls, drinks with whiskey in them.  As a child, I always got prune juice!  It took me a while to figure that out as it was the same color as Coke.  Bill called to mind the people in his neighborhood too.  Patrica Renee', who always made drop biscuits, served with butter for non-purists, but eaten dry  with coffee by aficionados.  She was a painter of lovely pictures, and she signed them 'Patricia Renee'.  Peg Wentworth made diminutive loaves of white bread, served hot with butter and a small sprinkling of brown sugar, which Bill says were to die for!  Mrs. Eckert baked cakes and pies for her family's dinners but visitors got cookies from her always stocked cookie jar.  His Mother made popcorn in summer and Chex mix in winter and she also served small glasses of soft drinks of various brands and flavors.  Now that Eliyah is going to be visiting three days a week, I am thinking of making melon balls as an afternoon snack.  I am tempted to make some cookies too, but maybe I'll hold off a few days.  We'll just eat them!

     I had out my 1930's binder of A & P menus a couple of days ago and was reading off unlikely-sounding combinations from recipes but Bill responded to one:  noodles and eggs scrambled together.  He said it would be good if it had say shrimp in it and maybe also mushrooms, and how about green onions.  I thought his version sounded much better than the 1930's one and made it for breakfast this morning.  It was nearly 11:30 when we sat down so maybe Brunch would be a more accurate description.  The new recipe did not disapoint, and served with fresh hot biscuits and hot tea was a delightful start to our Sunday.