Could it be??? Pho????

Well, I tried my brother's recipe and I'm going to try some Beef Sirloin Pho.

I had yellow onions, green onions, carrots, beef sirloin, beef stock, garlic, rice noodles, bean sprouts, and fresh basil and fresh ground black peppercorn.

I would have added some celery but I forgot that.

No Pho No "Fresh" Produce

So I tried to go to a Vietnamese Restaurant here called Pho Na and well, it was a wash. I walked in and there was a sign there that said "Credit Cards only if order is more than $15". I thought it was a bunch of bunk, so I took a menu and left. I will only go back when I have some cash because that is like 3 bowls of takeout soup. The guy said there is an ATM next door, but so was my bank, but not where I had cash to take out.

I decided to go to Jewel and get some stuff to make some Pho from my brother's recipe, but I didn't remember everything, but I remembered enough to make something.

I then went to grab some green leaf or some romaine...not in a bag....could not find any! Not really happy, I looked and there were hardly ANY vegetables (leafy stuff) that were not bagged. I was not happy. Mental note, not going to Jewel for produce. Expensive and plasticy.

Then I went to get some meat for dinner.....all in vacuum containers, not shrink wrapped. Probably shipped in from somwhere else.

Why did I label this saving money? This is just a lesson I learned. Go to the farmers market and buy produce and meat without all of the vacuum stuff....it's older and processed more and costs more.....bleh.

I ended up not getting the ground beef, but instead I think I'm going to make something I have in the freezer.

Peace to all!

Made From Scratch - Jenna Woginrich

I'm currently reading Made From Scratch by Jenna Woginrich. It's a very brilliant book I'm reading about homesteading and farm life. It's very exciting to read. I joined her blog to see what she is up to while we wait. Fun stuff! I'm currently looking for an old cheese grater (and some good old junque shops if anyone knows of any).

Biking

Went Biking today, for an hour outside. It was nice so I was a very happy girl. I would post a photo of my bike, but I don't have one yet. : (

Yan Can Cook and so can you!

Per the suggestion of my Chef Bro Ryan Greer Extraordinaire, I purchased "The Joy of Wokking" (thanks to Half Price Books in Bloomingdale, IL!) and made my first "Official" Asian recipe beyond CowPot (see Jangler Art).

I made some Mongolian Beef. Chef Martin Yan does warn you when you deep fry rice noodles to do a little at a time and step back. I'm glad I did. They didn't do much at first, but once I turned up the heat a bit on the oil, they went crazy!

The Mongolian Beef recipe was really easy. I love my wok and I'm glad I have a back up! I was even more pleased when Marcus liked it too.

I don't have the book right on me, but I thought I would add this!

The Perfect Freezer BY Carolyn Kylstra

The Perfect Freezer

Stock your ice box with the healthiest foods in the supermarket

By: Carolyn Kylstra

• Shrimp
• Kashi Southwest Style Chicken Frozen Dinner
• Wild Blueberries
• Nature's Path Hemp Plus Waffles
• Birds Eye Frozen Baby Sweet Peas
• Bison (Buffalo)
• Edamame
• Edy's Loaded Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup

Frozen food has a bad reputation—it conjures mental images of over-indulging on high-calorie frozen treats, or scarfing down a nutrition-void frozen dinner alone in front of the boob tube. But stock your freezer well, and you’ll be prepared to make any meal healthy and delicious. Eat This, Not That! consulted with nutritionists and scoured the aisles of the supermarket to help you learn exactly which frozen foods you should consider staples, and which ones you should do without. Check out this list of 9 freezer must-haves.

NEW

Lah LAH!

Yea, it's the end of Wednesday! Oh happy day, though my DH is sick with a bad cold :(