January 2023 Trader Joe's Grocery Haul

It was absolutely gorgeous out this morning.

Here's a close-up of that bent top tree. The colors this morning were just stunning.

Back in October, I went down to Portland and got an eye exam and ordered some glasses. They told me I needed bifocals. I went down the first part of December to pick them up and they were not anything that I could live with, so I had them redo them all together. I have one eye that is far-sighted. I have one eye that is near-sighted. I simply wanted one pair of reading glasses and one pair of driving glasses and I didn't need all that bifocal junk. Anyhow, having that ice storm, etc., we didn't make it down there until today.

Since we were headed toward Clackamas, we decided that we'd go to Trader Joe's and stock back up on wine.

I do not drink wine. I cook with it. Trader Joe's has that 2-buck chuck that I like. It tastes pretty decent and it works for whatever I want to cook it in.

There was a beautiful view of Mt. Hood going over the bridge from Vancouver into Portland.

After picking up my glasses, we headed down the freeway to Trader Joe's.

Trader Joe's has super cheap bottles of wine. They run $2.99 each. I picked up 5 different types: Pinot Grigio, Merlot, Shiraz, Chardonnay, and Cabernet Sauvignon. Bob found his favorite ginger cookies. I can't believe how affordable the grape tomatoes were!

Of course, we couldn't forget the doggos!

I see tons of people talking about this seasoning blend. I thought I would give it a whirl. I'm not exactly sure as to what I will put it on, but I now have it.

This is another item that was incredibly affordable. These were $2.49 cents for a pound of these little Persian cucumbers. The ones I get at Safeway are very poor quality and start rotting within just a few days. These were very fresh.

I love those pea crisps that you find in the snack aisle. I thought I would give these a whirl. They are delicious!

Bob is the one that spied my very favorite tea blend. I'm enjoying it over ice right now.

Yuzu is one of those things that I've been wanting to try. Now I get to see what it tastes like.
In Oregon, you have to pay a 10-cent can deposit. Because I'm a Washingtonian, I don't get to turn these in. No matter. We'll just recycle them like we do with the other aluminum cans.

I planned out a month's worth of meals. I only planned out the dinners and it was only the main dish. I'm going to be making teriyaki chicken bowls. These will make a great side course with them.

Bob loves tamales. He picked these out for a hot quick lunch sometime.

I've been slowly amassing the ingredients to make Budae Jiggae, or Korean Army Base Stew. These rice cakes are one of the ingredients.

I also wound up buying some reusable produce bags. I'm so sick of bringing home produce in those plastic produce bags and they wind up in the trash. All the produce bags at Trader Joe's are compostable. I saved the one from my green bell peppers to reuse, as well.

So, there's my grand total of $61.48.

We really enjoyed going through Trader Joe's this morning.

Harvest Chicken & Rice

 Today was relatively cool at. We barely broke 70 degrees out. I had harvested quite a few of my Walla Walla Sweet onions a few days ago and we had a pretty decent picking of green beans. I also harvested my garlic so that I could get ready for the new seed garlic that I have coming in.

I came up with a new recipe for dinner tonight.

Bob had taken out a package of bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs to thaw a few days ago and I needed to get them used up. We also picked a pretty decent sized mess of beans.

These are a mixture of my Tongues of Fire, Dragon Tongue, Tanya's Pink Pod, Cherokee Wax, Blue Lake and Contender beans.

The Harvest Chicken & Rice recipe starts out with a chopped sweet onion. You could use a Vidalia if you don't have Walla Walla Sweets available. I also chopped up one of my small heads of garlic. It doesn't get much more fresh than this.

I melted butter with olive oil. This is what I used to saute the onions and garlic.

Once the onion gets translucent, add in the rice and orzo mixture.

Saute this until the orzo starts to smell toasty and gets lightly golden brown. I cooked this in an enameled cast iron Dutch oven, so I did this low and slow.

I removed the skin from 4 chicken thighs. Then I sprinkled them, both sides, with a blend of spices.

Those get set upon the rice mixture once it has been browned.

Then I poured in chicken broth and water. I put the cover on the Dutch oven and let it cook in a moderate oven for 45 minutes.

This is a simple and delicious recipe. It hit all the right spots for us.

I served this with simple boiled beans. I cooked these in part chicken broth and part water. I didn't get a photo of the end result because we all know what boiled beans look like.

Harvest Chicken & Rice

4 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
1 small chopped sweet onion (like a Walla Walla Sweet or Vidalia)
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon olive oil (or avocado)
1-1/2 cups long grain white rice
1/3 cup orzo
1-3/4 cups chicken broth
1 cup water

Spice Rub for Chicken:

1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
Sea salt and black pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Pull skin off of chicken thighs and rub with spice rub on both sides. Set aside.

Saute onion and garlic in butter and olive oil over medium heat until onion is soft and translucent. Add in rice and orzo. Stir to coat with oil/butter. Cook until the orzo begins to smell nutty and gets lightly golden brown.
Place seasoned chicken thighs on top of the rice, add broth and water. Remove from heat. Cover tightly. Place in preheated oven and cook for 45 minutes or until chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees on a meat thermometer.

Fluff rice and serve.

Enjoy!

Building A Raised Bed For Beans

 I think I've mentioned that I've amassed almost 100 varieties of beans that I wanted to plant out this year. Well, I have to be realistic about things. I'm going to have to split that number in half and then I may need to pitch out a few  from those.

This is a new garden from me. Last year, we bought the exact same soil blend for my raised beds, from the exact same place. Each time, the soil blend is different, if only by a little bit. We ran across a screaming deal for mushroom compost. I bought 30 bags of it for $1 per bag. They aren't tiny bags, either. Anyhow, I planted out several raised beds with early spring stuff. We have had weird weather this year so far. I think I heard on the news that it's been a desperately needed wet spring, the 10th wettest on record. We've been in a drought here in western Washington state. Click here to read more about that.

I knew that, this year, I wasn't even about to think about setting out my tomatoes, peppers, eggplant or cucurbits until after the first week of June unless we start getting some warmer, dryer temperatures around these parts. I started my nightshades on March 1st. I seeded in my cucurbits less than a week ago. I planted out kale, lettuce, radishes and bok choy the first week of March. It's starting to bolt.

Yes, the weather has been weird this year, for sure.

So, with all that, I'll be direct seeding beans in the first week of June and I needed a raised bed for them. I plan on using a T-post and shrog trellis system for them. We were asked if we wanted some old lumber that someone we know wasn't going to be using. We said sure! With the cost of lumber, we're more than happy to take whatever anyone wants to give us! There was enough for Bob to build me out a 3x25-foot raised bed. It will be around 7.5 inches deep and it will be plenty of room to grow out pole beans. Now, I am going to be growing out 4 bean varieties for Russell Crow this year. Those will not be down there in the bed. Those are going to be isolated and I'll use grow bags for those.

Down there where that tall grass is, in front of the alder, that's where the bean bed is to be put in. I had wanted a 50 foot one, but it wouldn't fit into the area.

First, Bob laid landscaping fabric. The fabric, when unfolded is 6 feet. This is perfect because the bed is 3 feet wide, so this fabric can be doubled up. I, eventually,want that whole area down there to be wood chips. I don't want any grass.

We realize that this lumber will rot off in a few years. It's not in the greatest shape now. It's raw lumber. It's not treated. We're okay with it rotting away because once that area is covered in wood chips, it's done it's job.

These boards aren't going to win any beauty contests, for sure, but they will work. I'm all about making free stuff work.

Bob is hard at work. He can mark this off of his honey-do list.

I can't wait to get this planted out and growing! I have to go through my beans and decide which will be planted and which won't.

Egyptian Walking Onions are starting to reproduce.

I appreciate him doing this for me.

Sasha is supervising. She's good at that job.

He's just finishing up.

Tacking down the landscape fabric. The landscape fabric was given to us along with the lumber.

And...
It's built! It's ready to go. I'm guessing that it will take around a yard and a half or so to fill it.