Let's talk About Money!

Seriously, I've been too busy to blog. Baseball is starting, basketball continues, school activities are ramping up, and my allergies are so bad I would like to poke my eyes out! My kids now take for granted that they get to have milkshakes for dinner every Monday, but we are glad that we have joined the ARC and are at least all taking steps to work off those shakes (or in my case, it's fries that are the problem...).

I could talk about fries all day, and potato chips, too, but really let's talk about MONEY. In good times, people don't talk about money in polite company, but times are tight for ALL of us, so what else is there to talk about? If Warren Buffett lost money last year, who among us should be embarassed about the fact that we are at least a LITTLE BIT POORER than we were last year? And who isn't talking about the AIG bonuses? Since none of us great Columbians managed to negotiate a $6.4 million bonus, we should all be thinking about how to make the most of what we have.

Food is a HUGE part of every family's budget. And while many people think our service is too expensive, the bottom line is they missed the boat! Dinner stress comes from figuring out what to make, trying to find the right ingredients and getting everything ready. We do that, we do it well, and at a great price. But, sure, when we are trying to make every penny count, consider these strategies to
S-T-R-E-T-C-H your food budget with Columbia's Kitchen!

1. Most of our entrees have plenty of marinade, so you can easily add another serving of protein. Buy chicken breasts and cut each piece into three flat portions, and freeze between layers of plastic, then when you bring home your entrees, add extra protein before you store them in the freezer. Do the same with pork chops, just buy thin sliced ones. You can also add a second pork tenderloin, but fish is a little more tricky, sometimes you might have to transfer them to a bigger bag, or pan but you can still add another piece of fish with no loss of flavor.

2. Kids don't really eat anything but starch anyway, right? So buy extra penne, small shells, spaghetti, and curly egg noodles and cook extra when the entree calls for it. We usually give you plenty of sauce, and without more pasta, in my house most of it would get thrown away--we get two whole meals out a regular order of spaghetti and meatballs and one of my customers told me the other day that she cooked extra egg noodles and mixed it with the creamy chicken and noodles and everyone was happy.

3. Also, our vegetarian customers also know that we make some great sides, but out meat eater friends should consider that adding your favorite protein to one of our sides can make a perfect dinner on the cheap. Our macaroni and cheese is yummy just the way it is, but you can dress it up just like the box kind. Add ground beef and salsa or chili beans, or tomato sauce and make your own version of hamburger helper. Asian green beans are great with rice, but you can also add sliced chicken, beef or shrimp for an easy Asian stir fry. And who could live without those great grocery store rotisserie chickens. Add a side of our Greek rice casserole, supreme potatoes, or homestyle green beans and dinner is done.

4. Also have extra cheese--we like to keep two universal blends in our house, Mexican and Italian, but you can do what works best for you. And, most important, we love those new Steamfresh vegetables. When they go on sale for $1 a bag, stock up, fill your freezer and you will always have vegetables at the ready with every dinner and you will never have waste--no more "melted" peppers or brown cauliflower!

5. Finally, consider making a lifestyle change and joining our Supper Club. Our top 75 customers enjoy special savings and flexibiliy when they commit to spending (thereby saving themselves a lot of money, stress and time!) at least $50 or $100 per month with us.

At Columbia's Kitchen we know your stuggles--with time, money and everything else. Don't be afraid to ask us for other S-T-R-E-T-C-H-I-N-G tips for your favorite foods--that's what we're here for--to make your life more satisfying in every way! Now back to perfecting the March Madness potato skins! Have a great weekend, Lisa

Things are Looking Up!

Since Tuesday, I have been a better mother. Wednesday, we needed to pick up our car from the shop, but I told Jay that I needed to feed the boys a halfway decent dinner, so he would just have to wait at work without dinner until we were done--I said a better mother, not a better wife! So, I made breaded pork chops, one of our favorite entrees from Columbia's Kitchen, and macaroni and cheese--I know I could do a lot better in the health department, but our kids are pretty skinny, so an occasional fried pork chop won't hurt them, and our macaroni and cheese should be a legally mandated comfort food. Jay got a sandwich from Pickleman's, but he did eat leftovers for lunch for the next two days, so he did get to enjoy them to some extent, and I was not a totally horrible wife.

Thursday we had spaghetti and meatballs. It took us a long time to find the perfect meatballs, and I do like ours very much, and my kids like them so much that given a choice of what to eat on Friday, they wanted meatball subs, and I had leftover spaghetti and meatballs--I just prefer pasta to bread and I am no longer at the stage in life where I get to choose both.

I do love that the weather has turned. Even though my entire head itches like crazy, my youngest son and I both think we suffer from a certain amount of seasonal affective disorder, and when the sun shines, life just gets a lot brighter! Tonight I don't have to cook, we get to have BBQ at a friend's, so I think I'll pick up some KFC coleslaw. Customers often ask why we don't have coleslaw, and I always say that between KFC and Buckingham's, what could I possibly offer? But if anyone has a great recipe they think we should try, I would love to give it a whirl! Hope you have a great weekend, Lisa

Parent of the Year...

I told you I wasn't going to be winning any time soon, and in the food department, this weekend takes the cake, well there was no cake, but there was plenty of other junk... True/false was this weekend, and I got myself so overcommitted I didn't have time to enjoy even one movie. However, on Saturday night, our kids had other plans, so we had dinner out! I have several favorite Columbia restaurants, but Sophia's is right up there, and I had been craving the Moroccan shrimp for some time, so that's what we did. They also make the best Caesar salad in town, and Jay had the tuna with Godica chocolate sauce--yum...

I did send one kid to filmmakers' Bootcamp, though, and that was awesome. One of the teams did a great little short on the economy where they interviewed a couple homeless men hanging out at Wabash Station, very powerful for a bunch of middle school kids. We also fed the bootcamp participants lunch on Sunday, spaghetti and meatballs, a Columbia's Kitchen favorite. But in my haste to get them fed, the rest of my family ate out. Papa Murphy's is always good for those days when you don't know what else to do, especially when there is a game on anyway (Can that debacle still be called a game?)... I love the gourmet veggie with Canadian bacon, but since I mostly needed to feed Bo, we settled on pepperoni. I am not sure what they ate for dinner, random leftovers out of the fridge while I was cleaning up from bootcamp, then I stopped at Schnucks and made some grilled cheese sandwiches while we watched Extreme Makeover.

Then came the piece de resitance. Monday is a carzy day, the kids go from school to violin to orchestra, then Bo has basketball when we can get him there. So, I fed my kids milkshakes for dinner! Pierce had a McDonald's vanilla on the way to violin, then Bo had a Sonic chocolate with a couple pieces of popcorn chicken on the way to orchestra. I cut up the rest of the popcorn chicken to put on a salad once we got home. And so goes my effort to feed my kids sane and healthy meals! We hope you do better than that this week, and let us know if we can help! Lisa