New post on annarbor.com, more A2 PTO Thrift Shop quests

Here is my annarbor.com blog on the budget-stretching I attempted yesterday chez le Thrift...  I am still on the hunt for the French casserole there.  Anybody who would pay full price for a new one of these is truly just ill.  Sorry, but they are.  These pots are gorgeous but get serious.   I can only cook with the pot.  I can't eat it or live in it.  So, somebody's hand-me-down Le Creuset will suit me very nicely.  And if I saw an authentic copper cataplana there too, I would probably snap it up in a heartbeat and hang it on the kitchen wall.  No storage space?  Stick a hook in the wall and hang it up.

I'm starting to think that this may just turn into the continuing adventures of Ann at the Ann Arbor PTO Thrift Shop.  It really is a near-perfect environment.   Community based, helping the schools, great people.  Constantly changing inventory, low prices, clean and upbeat atmosphere.

When I was in yesterday and shopped after volunteering, I was enjoying the music they were playing to such an extent, I was often singing (quietly) aloud as I browsed.  It was not something I own or would buy but it was Elvis.  How could I not be singing along.  They could stream their musical selections and it would make great AOR on-line.  Lots of classics appealing to those of a similar vintage to mine.  There is always something good on the stereo to keep me humming.  Next time you are into the shop, listen while you look.  I wonder if they have the playlist on the Facebook group page?  Hmmm...

Tonight, I stretch that January paycheque (which is actually from December 23rd) even further.  We will have 15-bean and vegetable soup for dinner.  It's not my usual vegetarian variety - I made chicken stock on Monday night to use in another soup.  I originally wanted to make an Italian egg-drop soup with it.  Stracciatella - so simple, so good.  Never got around to that though so I had to use it up here.

I soaked 2 cups of 15-bean variety in cold water overnight in my slow cooker on Monday.  Then drained and cooked them in fresh water in the slow cooker while out on Tuesday.  I cooked up the soup on Tuesday night on the stove top while my lasagne was baking in the oven.   I made a quickie version of the classic Italian comfort food post-swim lessons with my Barilla no-boil noodles, ricotta, parmesan and mozzarella cheeses with eggs and leftover Italian meat sauce from the weekend.

I like almost everything better if it has sat overnight in the fridge - it all just tastes more complete.  Today, the soup is ready to go because it was made ahead - also good for a busy activities night when one of them came home early, claiming a sick stomach.  Yes, my life is glamorous.

Thankfully, I am just heating up this dinner to serve with salad and some bread.  The soup itself, aside from the soaked, cooked 15-bean mix, consists of my homemade stock (made with the bones and unused meat from a roast chicken, 1 T of salt, 1 tsp whole peppercorns and covered in cold water to cook overnight in the slow cooker/crock pot), chopped potato, some long-in-the-tooth grape tomatoes, frozen chopped spinach along with the basic onion and celery starter.

I threw in the last of our chicken gravy from our Sunday dinner too.  It makes of a tasty addition but, alas, it's a meaty addition since it is the giblet and wine gravy that my kids love.   I will likely throw in some green beans just before serving but I'm not sure the soup needs it.  Green beans are my teenager's favorite vegetable so it would be to make her happier coming in the door after along day.  But it looks - and tastes - just right as it is.

Hope you enjoy your dinner too!  Tomorrow, the left-over lasagne with left-over soup as a starter.  Another non-cooking day to look forward to.