Strategize, Optimize, Prioritize

 

I think that we, as a society, had lost track of the “ize”s over the past number of years. Like a muscle that hadn’t been exercised, it had been fading. A whole generation really hadn’t understood the concepts.

Covid has been taking care of that, necessitating the strengthening of those muscles, introducing the routines back into our lives. In no place more prominently than the grocery store.

And as difficult as food shopping has become, how stressful it’s been to negotiate, I’m thinking this really isn’t a bad thing at all.

Because the “ize”s are, I think, necessary skills not just when it comes to shopping, but to successfully navigating many facets of life.

 

I don't blame those who are unfamiliar with the concept. Many of us had grown up in (or for many years just lived in) an easier time. Not necessarily easy, a broad brush I can't use, but easier. Something, I might note, we were neither necessarily aware of, nor appreciative of, until everything changed. Covid, the great equalizer saw to that.

 

It was a time when we just ran out and grabbed what we wanted or needed. Stores, malls, they were everywhere, and in stock. Prices were, for the most part, something we could deal with, especially when it came to food and smaller items. Larger needs we may need to budget for. Until Covid became a universal budget buster. 

And brought back the "ize"s.

 

 

 

 

 

And one place where it's easy to see both the need and the results is the grocery store, where we're all learning (or relearning) to exercise our "ize" muscles.

Strategize: more than ever it's a time to make a list (and check it twice), look at the circulars for sales, check coupons, be open to trying a store brand alternative to one or two of your items.

But strategy isn't only about price, it can be about convenience or time saving too. There are instances when your schedule, time constraints, stress level, or desire not to be inconvenienced, makes paying a little more worth not having to wait in line to check out your 45 items yourself.

 

Optimize: when a needed item is not on the shelves, can you optimize whatever may be available? Think on the fly, conceptualize, compromise, come up with a workable alternative?

Truth is, not only is this an opportunity to use your imagination, show that you can adapt, but many times the results can be better than the original idea.

Sweet Potato & Chicken Soup
 

 

Prioritize: this is where you have to make some final decisions, especially when it comes to price. Whether you've hit your budget limit, exceeded it and don't want to take out a second mortgage in order to check out, or have just had enough for one day, it's time to weigh the options. Of the items you still have on your list, which ones do you need now, and which can possibly be pushed off to the next visit? Which items already in your cart are impulse purchases, not necessities.

I just want to say here that impulse purchases and small treats are two different things. I'm actually an advocate of self indulgence now and then. We all have days when sitting back, shutting our eyes, and letting one little piece of chocolate melt in our mouths makes all the difference. My advice, find a way to embrace that.

And, although not an "ize," this is also a time to practice self discipline. Whatever decisions you made, can you live with them, commit to not running out for one more . . . something before it's time for your next shopping trip?

 

Beneficial precepts, all of them, and although they may be brought together prominently in one place, it's a missed opportunity not to realize their broader value.

 

Because, when it comes not just to grocery shopping but most situations in life, it helps to remember this valuable lesson: 

wait for it . . .

wait for it . . .

the ayes ize have it. 

 

Sorry, not sorry.

Sweet Potato & Chicken Soup         

                                                                                      ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
2 TBSP butter

1/2 cup frozen chopped onion

1 1/4 tsp salt

3/4 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp cinnamon

3 cups chicken broth

2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped

1/2 cup sour cream

1/2 cup heavy cream

2 TBSP maple syrup

1 cup cooked skinless chicken, chopped or shredded

Directions:
*In a large pot over medium heat, melt the butter. Mix in the onion, salt, pepper and cinnamon. Cook and stir for 2 minutes.

*Whisk in the chicken broth, then add the sweet potatoes. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, cover and simmer for about 15 - 20 minutes, until the sweet potatoes are soft.

*Remove from heat and allow to cool for 20 minutes. Working in batches, carefully pour into a food processor or blender and blend until smooth.
*Return the blended soup to the pot and return the pot to the stove on medium/low heat. Whisk in the sour cream, then mix in the heavy cream, maple syrup, and chicken. Cook and stir until hot, about 5 minutes.

 

I Had Plans: Fly on the Wall

 

 

 Welcome to a monthly Fly on the Wall group post. Today 3 bloggers are inviting you to catch a glimpse of what you’d see if you were a fly on the wall in our homes. Come on in and buzz around my house. At the end of my post you’ll find links to this month’s other participants’ posts.

We'd had both snow and sleet. Hubs wasn't working, but I saw that he was putting on his coat.

 

Me: I bet the roads are dangerous, maybe you shouldn't go out there.

Hubs: Well, Mega Millions is up to 1.3 billion and the drawing is tonight, I was going to go get us a few tickets.
Me: I bet the roads are dangerous, be careful out there.

 

He did play a ticket for himself, and my numbers for me. 

 

I didn't win. 

 

Damn. 

 

I felt obliged to share the news with my Facebook friends.

I shot off a quick status, but when I checked the page later, I found that the post had 257 likes, 77 comments, and had been shared 59 times.

I guess I'm not the only one who had plans . . .

 

Same day. Hubs decided he was going out to clear off the sidewalk. Since he'd already easily driven up and down the driveway, he decided not to bother with the snowblower and just shovel the sidewalk and front walkway.

I was concerned, there was ice mixed in with the snow, which is heavy, and I didn't want him to overdo it. He did the sidewalk and the front walk, then I saw him shoveling part of the driveway.

Me (yelling from the front door): You said you weren't going to do the driveway. It's too heavy, stop and come in.

Hubs (yelling back to me): I'm just making a path from the walkway to the sidewalk.

Me (still yelling): Yeah, well if you drop dead from a heart attack, who's going to do my taxes?

Hubs texted me from work:

Hubs: What are you up to? You busy?

Me: Just multitasking. Need something?

Hubs: Not important, you sound busy, don't want disturb you.

Me: ttyl. If it's not important, I'll get back to what I was doing.

Don't tell him I was listening to the news, checking on a new book to read, and playing a word game, OK?

 

It's been a long time since I had little kids from whom I had to hide baking supplies so they couldn't get into them. Recently, I bought some Andes mints, and I did notice the family looking at them in a way that made me feel like they wouldn't be around long enough to make it to the recipe. So instead of putting them on my baking shelf in the pantry, I slipped them into the desk drawer.

Hubs: What are you doing?
Me: I'm hiding the Andes from you guys.

Hubs: You realize we're standing right here, don't you?

OK, so I guess hiding treats is no longer my superpower.

Mint Blondies

 

PurDude and I text every day. Usually just a quick check in, but if he has time we chat a bit. This day, I was exasperated.

Me: You have lived in Boulder for 3 years, but your mail still comes here, I have an insurance EOB here from when you were home over Thanksgiving and were sick.

PurDude: I don't need it though, it's just an insurance form.

Me: But it, and everything else, shouldn't still be coming here.

PurDude: But Mom, you're my sorting station.

Me: Huh?

PurDude: You throw away the junk, handle what you can, and send me the few things I actually have to deal with. Isn't it great to feel needed?
Me: Well, I need you too. I need you to change your address . . .

 

Most days I just pour my coffee into a mug like a normal person. But on certain days, I'll use my theme mugs. When Purdue plays a basketball or football game, I'll use my Purdue Mom mug that day. Same with my Patriots mug, and I use my Halloween mug all through October.

As you know, last weekend was the Super Bowl. There was also a Purdue basketball game that day.

Me: I don't know whether to use my Purdue mug or my Patriots mug.

Hubs: The Patriots aren't playing today, they've been out of it for a long time.

Me (clearly bristling): And your point is . . .

Hubs (understanding his agregious error): Gooo, Patriots!

Later that day we were about to turn on the Super Bowl. I knew a guy who had played for Purdue was in the game, but I didn't know which team.

Me: Which team is Karlaftis on?
Hubs: KC.

Me: I won't be watching much of the game, but after watching him play for Purdue, I'm interested in seeing how he does.

Hubs: Yeah, let's see if he gets any sex.

Me: Sex, on the field? In the middle of the Super Bowl? I doubt it.

Hubs: Sacks. Sacks. Not sex, sacks.

Hey, I heard what I heard.

Getting old is tough. I may have mentioned that one or two or a thousand times before. 

They say it helps if you can laugh about it.

There are 6 stairs from my main floor, then a landing, then 9 more steps (yes, I went and counted) to the top floor.

Hubs had been showering, and I was heading up to shower. We met up on the landing.

Me: Well, it's about time!

Hubs: Hey, I don't move as fast as I used to.

Me: Tell me about it, I headed up these stairs 20 minutes ago.

And then there's this (another popular FB status):

 

 

 

Now click on the links below for a peek into some other homes:

Menopausal Mother 

The Diary of an Alzheimer's Caregiver

Mint Blondies

                                                                       ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 1/2 sticks butter, softened

1 1/4 cups brown sugar

13 Andes mints

3 eggs

1/2 tsp mint extract

1 1/4 cups flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

Directions:

*Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9 X 13 baking pan.

*In a medium sized bowl, microwave the butter with the brown sugar, just until all of the butter is melted and it's smooth when stirred. Set aside to cool for 10 minutes.

*Unwrap the mints. Finely chop 8 of them and set aside. Place the remaining mints in a small bowl and microwave until smooth when stirred. Set aside.

*Whisk the eggs and mint extract into the butter and brown sugar. Once incorporated, mix in the flour, salt, and baking soda. Gently fold in the chopped mints.

*Pour into the prepared pan, drizzle with the remaining melted mints, and swirl gently into the top of the batter with a toothpick.

*Bake for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before cutting.

Return on Your Deposit

 

No deposit, no return has taken on a whole new meaning. Because apparently, in South Korea anyway, a whole new type of deposit can now bring a return. And best of all, it's a monetary return.

 

There's a whole new way to recycle, and this version has nothing to do with bottles and cans.

It seems, I learned from my good friend Twitter, that when the poop isn't hitting the fan, it could be hitting the bank account. A much more palatable (sorry) outcome, no?

 

Let me go back to the beginning. I was visiting Twitter, as I do most days, and was checking out the "what's happening" feature. They offer enticing little tidbits and, although many of the trending hashtags are nothing new, like the daily version of #MattGaetzIsAPervert (duh, who doesn't already know that?) or #MarjorieTaylorGreeneIsSoStupid (yeah, knew that one too) sometimes an item catches my attention. 

 

This time it was a news story that had me clicking:

 

 

 

Food and books in return for generating power naturally? I'd consider that my environmental doody duty. 

 
But I needed to know more. And the tweets from Insider Asia had some of the scoop on the poop:

 

 

Let me just say that I've been to South Korea. Sadly, it was before this whole deposit for currency thing came along. 'Cause if it meant a little extra spending money, I just might have been interested in taking a university course. A night class probably. After, you know, a big meal. If you're gonna do this, after all, you don't want to risk performance anxiety.

 

I do have a few questions, though. OK, more than a few. I'll spare you the more graphic ones like about how volume or viscosity might affect the size of the return. But there are also questions about logistics. Like do you have to be a student, or can anyone who's environmentally conscious contribute?

 

How quickly is the pay out of this Ggool currency? Can you only use it in that one store? Can you trade it on the stock market? Or is there maybe a Ggool brown black market for this type of green? 

 

What if I disagree with the amount I'm awarded, can I appeal? Is there an official turd review panel?    

 

Do they pass out free nose plugs at the door? After all, ordure can be difficult on those of us who are, shall we say, scent sensitive? Oh, and is there a time limit in there, or can you bring a magazine? Do you wait in line? Sign up for a time slot? And, a very important safety question, there are no matches allowed in the vicinity, right?

  

Now you might think that I couldn't possibly share a recipe after spending this whole post talking about poop. After all, the subject could very well put you off your feed (so to speak). 

 

But I am adding a recipe, and you should try it. Because chances are we aren't that far behind South Korea in their rather unorthodox innovation. And if they've proven anything, it's that in more ways than we all could have imagined, it appears that food really is fuel. Or produces fuel, with which we could buy food, to create more fuel, to buy more food . . .

Prosciutto Mozzarella Bites

 

Prosciutto Mozzarella Bites        
                                                       ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

6 oz thin sliced prosciutto

6 oz mini herb marinated mozzarella cheese balls 

1 tube crescent pastry sheet

 

OPT: Homemade Marinara for serving 

Directions:

*Preheat oven to 375 degrees and place a piece of tin foil onto the oven shelf where you'll put your muffin tins. Grease 24 mini muffin tin wells.

*Place 12 mini marinated mozzarella balls on a paper towel and cut each in half. Cut the prosciutto slices into 24 pieces. Wrap each prosciutto pieces around a mozzarella ball half.
*Unroll the tube of pastry dough to about an 8 X 12 rectangle. Cut into 24 pieces, about 2 inches by 2 inches.

*Place a prosciutto wrapped cheese ball onto each dough square. Using your hands, roll them into balls, making sure the prosciutto wrapped cheese is fully encased inside, then put one into each mini muffin tin well.

*Place the muffin tins on the tin foil in the oven (some of the mozzarella may ooze while baking) and bake for 15 minutes. Run a knife around the edges of the bites to pop out of the pans.

*OPT: serve with warm marinara for dipping.

Needing Dough when you can't Kneading Dough

It's a good thing you don't have to knead dough to need dough. Yeast and I have been in embattled in a longstanding war, and I have lost almost every battle. So I need dough even though I can't knead dough. And given what's been going on around here I may just need the kind of dough you don't knead.

I have had a long (long, long) run of bad luck. I've talked about it so many times on this blog lately that even I'm sick of hearing about it. I was thinking that maybe rather than concentrating on my bad juju, maybe I should come up with a plan to pay for all of the major appliances (and other things, like heating and air, tires and even a car) before we reinstate the whole debtor's prison thing.

As quick money goes, I'm not sure there are a lot of option for people of my age group maturity. I won't be dancing on any poles, chances are my granny panties won't go over well in the clubs. 

And I might just be a tad too judgemental for a Walmart greeter. "Would it kill you to brush your hair?" and "You really should wear underwear with those see-through pants." or "You know those are tights not yoga pants, right?" would probably result in a short career.

This is harder than I'd thought. And I'd really like to do something from home. Not only do I like the idea of working in my PJs, but I know that retail requires varied hours and I don't want to give up cooking for and having dinner with the family. Since that's often just Hubs and I, and he can't boil water, he'd probably waste away if I weren't home at dinner time.

Maple Balsamic Chicken Breasts

As far as staying home and making money goes, I could spend my time picking lottery numbers, but after multiple tries I just have to admit that sitting around waiting for that to happen might not work out given my human life span.

And apparently my green thumb has failed me. I've not planted the right greenery, so to speak, in our yard. 

Do they pay people for sitting at home watching TV and yelling at the news? Asking for a friend.

Moving on . . . 

Phone sex: Sounds easy, but when I worked for a short time in phone sales, I had a call from a guy wanting to buy these benches that are built in 2 pieces to circle a tree. Apparently he felt that the picture of a circle around a trunk was erotic and called to share that with me. In detail. As he got more and more breathless. I still get the heebie jeebies thinking about that guy. So I'm thinking I may not be cut out for this job.

Email spammer: As easy as this sounds, I just don't know how you can possibly make a lot of money getting blocked from everyone on the planet's email accounts.

Telemarketer: Nope. Never. Ever. Even I would hate me.

Phone Psychic: You know, I have a feeling about this one. I'm sensing a bright future ahead. Really, all I have to do is be positive and encouraging. I can do that.

"Yes, you will have a long and happy marriage. You're getting divorced? that's what I meant, you will have a long and happy divorce."

"You most certainly will have a girl. You have 8 boys? That's OK, if you just keep trying, I see a girl in your future."

"Of course you will find the home of your dreams. And it won't even be across the street from your in-laws. I am sensing your relief, you're welcome."

"I do, in fact, see riches in your future. Do you by any chance happen to own a ski mask?"

"I see travel in your future. You aren't that same caller with the ski mask, are you?"

"You will land the job of your dreams. You don't wear granny panties, do you?"

I really think I could do this one, in fact, I predict great riches in my future. Maybe I should try my hand at picking lottery numbers again after all.

Maple Balsamic Chicken Breasts

                                                                          ©www.BakingInATornado.com

Printable Recipe


NOTE: This recipe can be either baked or grilled.

Ingredients:

3 large boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 TBSP olive oil
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 clove garlic, minced
1 green onion, sliced 

OPT: Mashed sweet potatoes for serving

Directions:
*Place chicken in a sealable plastic bag.
*Whisk together the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, maple syrup, garlic and onion. Add to the chicken, seal the bag and manipulate to be sure all the chicken is covered with the marinade. Refrigerate for 4 hours to overnight.
*OPT: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cover a baking pan with heavy foil. Place the chicken in the pan. Dispose of the remaining marinade.
*Bake for about 45 minutes, or until the chicken is completely cooked. Slice
*OR: Cook chicken over a hot grill, turning once, until completely cooked. Slice.
*Opt: Serve over mashed sweet potatoes.