Category: Food Likes

Clam Chowder, YUM!

Clam Chowder

So good and so easy to make…

  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 2 stalks of celery, chopped
  • 4 medium size potatoes, chopped
  • 2 – 8 oz. bottles of clam juice
  • 2 cups of whole milk
  • 2 – 10 oz. cans of clams
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 tsp of dried thyme
  • S&P to taste

In large pot, saute onion and celery in olive oil ( I use leftover bacon grease and olive oil) add potatoes and saute for 2 or 3 minutes more.  Add clam juice and let simmer (covered) for 7 – 10 minutes.  Add milk, clams, bay leaves, and thyme and turn heat down to a very low simmer for about 15 minutes.  S&P to taste.  (If I want to make the chowder a little thicker I’ll add a Tbsp of masa corn flour when I add the milk and stir well)

I love that this big pot of soup cost me about $12.00 and it makes 5 large servings.  Or more like 1 dinner and 2 lunches for the Z Man and me.  Because it’s SOOOOO good!!!

Enjoy!

Lori

Simple Is The New Special

One would wonder why she would start a blog right before the busy season at work.  Well, I did….. and that’s exactly why I haven’t posted in almost 5 months.  But, things have settled down a bit and I’m looking forward to getting back to the Z Life blog.

It seems like everywhere you look now a days someone is talking or writing about “keeping it simple”  The Z Man and I were talking just the other day about how “simple is the new special”

But sometimes just because it seems simple, doesn’t mean it is.  It takes a lot of work to run a home on a budget, it takes a lot of work to make a monthly meal plan, it takes a lot of time and thought to do the things that make it look like our lives are simple.

Sure, you may see me hanging clothes on the line and think well how simple… but I just can’t throw a load of laundry in the washer any day, I have to check the weather and make sure it’s not going to rain so I can hang them to dry.  Can you imagine what clean sheet night would be like if I didn’t plan it for a sunny, dry day.  Sure we have a dryer, but I would much rather sleep on line dried sheets instead.  And, if I don’t have to use the electricity to dry clothes, I would rather save our money.

 

laundry pic

 

You may see me eating leftovers for lunch and think, gosh she is so simple, she never eats lunch out “it’s always leftovers”  How boring…

Well, that’s not so simple either, because more often than not that is a container of soup I’ve pulled from the freezer that morning, which came from a weekend of cooking soups, using the stocks that I made from the chicken (bones) I roasted and put in the freezer.

We may seem simple to some, but in reality it takes more planning of the details to do the things we do.

This past weekend consisted of spending Saturday with my parents, cutting down (dead) trees and eating homemade peach cobbler.  We worked hard, ate good and enjoyed every bit of it.  Sundays at the Z house is usually getting our chores done around the house and eating some good food and watching football.  Although, I’m sad to say that my Redskins and the Z Man’s Steelers aren’t having the best seasons so far.

So, maybe simple is the new special…  but I think we all have different perspectives of “simple”

The Z Man and I love our special life and I’m looking forward to slowing down a bit and simply enjoying it.

 

With Love,

Lori