Tender Mercies 3-13-12

Tender mercies are miracles, great or small, that remind me and others that Heavenly Father is mindful of us and our individual needs.

I was feeling a little off last night, and realized that I hadn't done my daily scripture reading. (This makes me sound more devout than I actually am, but I'm honestly trying.)

When I'm in a funk, I find that praying about whatever it is that's bothering me and then opening my scriptures to a random location often yields great inspiration.  I grabbed my Bible and said a quick prayer, asking for guidance and revelation.  I opened my scriptures, and eagerly looked at the page.

I opened to Isaiah.

For those who may not be Bible readers, Isaiah is often confusing and difficult to understand, and one of the most challenging books to read.  I looked heavenward, and muttered "Really, God?"

I'm sure He smiled.

I started at the left of the two pages, scanning for anything that made sense (nothing did), but felt drawn to the right corner, where my eyes had first landed when I opened the book.  There I found this:

Isaiah 40:31   But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

I'm confident His smile was even larger. I wondered aloud why I ever doubted, thanked Him, and laid back, pondering visions of eagles soaring and endless energy. 

 Just what I needed, as always.

Pantry Shopping

This year, I really have a bug about using things up and minimizing the amount of stuff around here.  In the past, this urge has led to purchases - I'm not sure of the logic there, but the irony doesn't escape me.

This year, I am truly trying to get rid of stuff, and not replace it with more stuff.  Use it up, donate it, or throw it out!  I'm really trying to upcycle, as well - repurpose stuff - as long as it doesn't involve spending lots of money.

Part of my plan is "pantry shopping".  This is helpful to do in January, when all the holiday bills come in. Instead of buying groceries, I've been trying to use up what's in the house.  In doing so, I've realized - there's a lot of stuff in the house.  Weird stuff.  What-was-I-thinking kind of stuff.

When it comes to food, up until now I've just been using up the stuff in the freezer.  With a second freezer downstairs, there's quite a supply to choose from.  Things were going well, but it was time to face the real demon - the pantry.

On Sunday, Gary and I took all of the unopened items from the upstairs pantry and cupboards, and took them to the downstairs pantry.  Once everything was in the same place, we sorted through the food by date, creating several piles.  One pile was for food past the "best by" date, another was for items with a "best by" date in the next 3 months, and then the remainder was organized and shelved in the downstairs pantry.

We reviewed the past date foods, threw out the truly bad ones, and then took the "it should still be OK" ones upstairs, along with the ones that expire soon.  I restocked the upstairs pantry, then purged the refrigerator (ugh), and even cleaned up the spice cabinet.

This leaves me with an upstairs pantry with an odd assortment of items, and a challenge of finding ways to use them.  Every meal needs to have at least one item from the pantry.

Tonight, the first night post-organizing, was a home run.  I used up the following items:

• dried hashbrowns
• canned roast beef
• canned mushrooms
• cream of celery soup
• 1/3 tub of non-dairy cream cheese

to create a roast beef hashbrown casserole.  I "hacked" a recipe I found on allrecipes.com, and it was actually pretty good.  Gary and I both ate it willingly - perhaps the addition of curry spices helped - and Madi was able to stomach it all after covering it liberally with shredded cheese... and the promise of strawberry shortcake if she finished her dinner.  Not even the shortcake could get Sarah to eat it, but 3 out of 4 is a win in my book.  I don't know if I'll ever make it again, but we were nourished.

I served the casserole with canned beets, also from the pantry, bringing the total to 6 items used.  Not a bad start, but I think things are going to start getting dicey soon.  We have way too much tuna, beans, and rice for this to end well...  :)

I HATE Cheese!

Yes, it's true.  I really, honestly, do HATE cheese.

My lactose intolerance makes it easier for people to accept that I don't like cheese, but the truth is that I honestly have never cared for it, even when I could eat it without severe gastrointestinal distress.  It is true that there are a few exceptions - pizza (which is actually common amongst the few fellow cheese haters I found via Googling), cream cheese, and Kraft Mac & Cheese (admittedly, it's a stretch to call that neon orange goop "cheese").

The informal data gathered while trying to develop weekly meal plans indicates that I am, at least within the Americas, a statistical improbability.

Now, before you rush to tell me all about the dairy-free options available at oh-so-many websites, let me tell you - I've looked.

They ALL assume that, even though you can't eat real cheese, you WANT cheese dishes.  Lactose-free cookbooks are filled with recipes "faking" cheese.

Case-in-point:  My sister gave me a link to a great website with a fantastic title: MommyHatesCooking.com  Just the title made me feel at home.  A meal plan from her would be perfect for my aversion to the kitchen!  I paid for the dairy-free, egg-free, and nut-free 4 week plan, and downloaded it, giddy with anticipation.  Here are some of the main dishes I found:

Eggplant Parmesan
Beef Stroganoff
Pizza
Chicken Tetrazzini
Lasagna
Chicken with Cream Cheese
Tacos
Baked Rice with Cheese
Veggie Primavera

So, 9 out of 28 main dishes are cheese substitutes.  Many of the lunch and breakfast options are the same.  Yes, I can substitute other things for these meals, but that kinda negates the whole "pre-planned with a shopping list" convenience.

Googling "Asian weekly meal plans" yielded better results - lots more recipes, but still not the "here's what you buy and here's what you make for a week" simplicity that I crave, not to mention simplified cooking.

A big caveat to this is, of course, vegan recipe websites, which don't use any animal products. Amazingly enough, however, they, too assume that you want to taste "cheesy goodness", just without any animals being involved.

I just want to develop meal plans that are conventional enough that my kids will actually eat them, but are not cheese-centric.

I wonder if there's a market for a product like this, or if I'm just WAY off the bell curve.  Anyway, thanks for letting me rant.  :)