Happy, Happy Birthday, Matthew Dear

Happy birthday, Matt! He's 30 years old today and I'm glad I've gotten to spend the last 5 years with him. I don't think I've ever heard anyone who knows Matt say anything but good about him, and that includes his siblings. Amazing, no? It's because there isn't any bad to say--he pretty much embodies all the characteristics I admire most. Do you know Matt started his own blog?

theringofscribes.blogspot.com

We're not doing much to celebrate today because Matt's schedule is pretty packed, but I have promised him the best black forest cake known to man when we celebrate on Sunday.

My Realistic Dream House

There is a house for sale in the Joaquin neighborhood that has been rehabed by Neighborhood Housing Services. This house is my current dream house because it's actually priced in the range we'll be looking at when Matt's done with school. As an NHS project, I know the house is sound, 3 bedrooms/2 baths and fantastically, it sits on .38 acres. For that size lot I'm ready to take it without even setting foot in the house! Most of the houses in the neighborhood sit on lots half that size. Too bad we aren't going to be ready to move for another couple of years. Think the housing market is bad enough that it will still be for sale? Here's the "before" picture from the NHS website (no "after" available).

Grapes, grapes and more grapes

When I first moved into our house, 5 years ago, I planted grapes along our privacy fence. Last year was the first year I got any fruit off the vines and what I thought was a seedless, red, table grape called Canadice, turned out to be Concord grapes with seeds. Concord are not the grapes you usually buy in the store to eat fresh, but they are the flavor of most grape juice and jelly. Unfortunately, I dislike the flavor of grape juice and jelly! (Blame it on my mom who didn't like it either and never fed those foods to us because she couldn't even stand the smell.) So, this year I'm faced with a bumper crop of quickly ripening Concords, and very few ideas about what to do with them. I just discovered a recipe for grape pie that I think I'm going to try. Anybody else have any suggestions?

Update: As I started looking at recipes, I realized I was going to need a food mill to do just about anything with these grapes that didn't include the seeds. I bought this one from Drugstore.com. I love Internet shopping! I paid for it by cashing in a $40.00 Discover cash back reward, finding a $5.00 off coupon code, getting free shipping from Drugstore.com, linking to it through my Ebates account for 6% cash back and using my Discover card for their usual cash back. Once I made $11.00 buying Matt's b-day present online this way!

More Recipes

Our family loves lentils; they're all things I think a food should be--tasty, cheap, and good for you. I just didn't have many recipes that used lentils until I recently discovered that lentils are a good substitute for ground beef in most recipes where the beef doesn't have to be formed into patties or meatballs. In recipes like meatloaf you can substitute lentils for a portion of the ground beef, but I've never tried more than about 1/3. Recipes like Shepherd's Pie are prime candidates for a complete substitution. Once cooked, one cup of dried lentils is about equivalent to a pound of ground beef and costs roughly $0.40.

This recipe varies from my normal rules for a good dish in that it takes more than 30 minutes to prepare (the lentils have to simmer for 25-30 minutes), but it's not time you have to spend actively cooking so I make an exception. We actually like these tacos more than tacos made with ground beef.

TASTY LENTIL TACOS

INGREDIENTS
1 cup finely chopped onion
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon canola oil
1 cup dried lentils, rinsed
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
2 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 cup salsa
12 taco shells
1 1/2 cups shredded lettuce
1 cup chopped fresh tomato
1 1/2 cups shredded reduced-fat Cheddar cheese
6 tablespoons fat free sour cream

DIRECTIONS
In a large nonstick skillet, saute the onion and garlic in oil until tender. Add the lentils, chili powder, cumin and oregano; cook and stir for 1 minute. Add broth; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 25-30 minutes or until the lentils are tender. Uncover; cook for 6-8 minutes or until mixture is thickened. Mash lentils slightly. Stir in salsa. Spoon about 1/4 cup lentil mixture into each taco shell. Top with lettuce, tomato, cheese and sour cream.