First, if anybody wanted to comment on this, I'm sorry, but I'm still trying to figure out how to enable the "comment" function with Blogger. sigh. I would love to read some comments, if only I could figure it out. (added: I just looked and now the Comments option is appearing at the bottom, so I guess I figured it out!)
No, I'm not tracking each week's $. My boyfriend isn't really participating in the experiment (he brought home a box of donuts the other day that was definately NOT in my imaginary budget). But, even if only one of is playing the game, I figure we're saving money.
Also, as I said at the beginning, I have lived on Food Stamps. I know it can be done. Rebecca Blood's blog proves it too. (I applaud her efforts at accounting for each teaspoon of salt and each 1/8 ouce of cumin, but I just don't care enough to do that.) My focus is just my own awareness, and sharing some recipes and cooking/budget tips.
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Friday, June 29, 2007
Rice and Lentil Tacos!
Last night I tried a recipe from Rebecca Blood's blog: Rice and Lentils. Her version was pretty simple, and easy to add things too (like the four carrots). I used this a a filling for tacos (warmed corn tortillas) along with a bit of parmesean cheese and some Cholula brand hot sauce. I used a rice cooker to make it, so I was able to read "Square Foot Gardening" while the food was cooking.
Her blog is so much more detailed, that I almost gave up on mine. I'm keeping at it anyway. Its good practice for me.
I had the tacos with a salad. Our home grown lettuce is doing great, and we had our first yellow crookneck squash. I added a tomato from our weekly box. Its going to be a while until we get our own tomatos. I spent an hour yesterday wrestling our tomato plants into cages/frames. You're supposed to do this when the plants are small, not when they are sprawling all over and 3' tall. Better late than never. The first sprouts are coming up in the new garden bed. It seems too soon - maybe they're weeds? Its fun eating "free" food. Oh, and we harvested 3 plums from our ignored tree. The one I ate yesterday was possibly the best plum I've ever had. Maybe we need to move the trees to a sunnier place where they could thrive.
Recipe
Rice and Lentils
You can use this for any bits of vegetable you have on hand. It may seem like a lot of ingredients, but I just tossed in what I felt like.
1/2 C lentils (red and yellow lentils cook faster than brown or green ones), 1/2 C brown rice (or white), 2 C water, 1/4 onion, 4 carrots, 2 T butter or olive oil, 1/4 t cumin, 1/4 t chili powder, 1 T soy sauce, 2 cloves garlic
Grate the carrots and the onion and toss everything into the rice cooker (or a pot) except the soy sauce. If you're using a rice cooker, then turn it on and let it do its thing for 30 minutes or until it clicks off. If you're using a pot, bring it all to a boil, then down to a simmer, and cover, leaving it cook on the lowest heat for 20 minutes. Add the soy sauce when its all done.
Her blog is so much more detailed, that I almost gave up on mine. I'm keeping at it anyway. Its good practice for me.
I had the tacos with a salad. Our home grown lettuce is doing great, and we had our first yellow crookneck squash. I added a tomato from our weekly box. Its going to be a while until we get our own tomatos. I spent an hour yesterday wrestling our tomato plants into cages/frames. You're supposed to do this when the plants are small, not when they are sprawling all over and 3' tall. Better late than never. The first sprouts are coming up in the new garden bed. It seems too soon - maybe they're weeds? Its fun eating "free" food. Oh, and we harvested 3 plums from our ignored tree. The one I ate yesterday was possibly the best plum I've ever had. Maybe we need to move the trees to a sunnier place where they could thrive.
Recipe
Rice and Lentils
You can use this for any bits of vegetable you have on hand. It may seem like a lot of ingredients, but I just tossed in what I felt like.
1/2 C lentils (red and yellow lentils cook faster than brown or green ones), 1/2 C brown rice (or white), 2 C water, 1/4 onion, 4 carrots, 2 T butter or olive oil, 1/4 t cumin, 1/4 t chili powder, 1 T soy sauce, 2 cloves garlic
Grate the carrots and the onion and toss everything into the rice cooker (or a pot) except the soy sauce. If you're using a rice cooker, then turn it on and let it do its thing for 30 minutes or until it clicks off. If you're using a pot, bring it all to a boil, then down to a simmer, and cover, leaving it cook on the lowest heat for 20 minutes. Add the soy sauce when its all done.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
capering
Just some odds and ends here. I've been eating up leftovers, so I don't have any recipes for today. I did manage to fact-check (ie, I was in Safeway) some things from before. Capers work out to about 18¢ for a teaspoon, so I guess a rounded teaspoon of the little guys for my salade nicoise would be about 25¢. Olives cost more - maybe 50¢ needed for a salad.
I found a blog very similar to mine (she even gets her produce from Terra Firma Farm, too!):
http://www.rebeccablood.net/thriftyo/
...and she has a recipe for pickled carrots, so maybe I'll try that out and see how it works.
I managed to finish building, filling, and seeding my third raised vegetable bed yesterday. Basil, green beans, eggplant, raddishes and sunflowers are on their way (I hope). This bed is following the advice from the popular "Square Foot Gardening" book.
We all have our guilty pleasures for food. One of mine are the 10-pack bags of frozen burritos. $3.50 for ten of them means I have a quick and ready snack for work. In a few days I'm going to make up a batch of my own, and see how they compare for price, easy, and freezability. Either way, a 35¢ burrito is hard to beat.
I found a blog very similar to mine (she even gets her produce from Terra Firma Farm, too!):
http://www.rebeccablood.net/thriftyo/
...and she has a recipe for pickled carrots, so maybe I'll try that out and see how it works.
I managed to finish building, filling, and seeding my third raised vegetable bed yesterday. Basil, green beans, eggplant, raddishes and sunflowers are on their way (I hope). This bed is following the advice from the popular "Square Foot Gardening" book.
We all have our guilty pleasures for food. One of mine are the 10-pack bags of frozen burritos. $3.50 for ten of them means I have a quick and ready snack for work. In a few days I'm going to make up a batch of my own, and see how they compare for price, easy, and freezability. Either way, a 35¢ burrito is hard to beat.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
A Nice Salad
Green beans and small "new" potatoes are in season. They are plentiful at the farmers' markets, in our weekly produce box, and in our own garden. (I continued to be amazed that I'm able to eat food that we grew ourselves, which is probably a sad commentary on urban living.)
What do you make when you have green beans, potatoes, a tomato, one egg and some left over olives? It is Salade Nicoise. The great cuisines of the world take leftovers and odds and ends and give it a fancy name. Nice.
The five or six olives I found last week hiding in the back of the fridge went in with a spoonful of capers. I suppose these things are luxuries, but I didn't buy them recently so I cant tell what they cost. A jar of capers lasts a long time (ours must be at least a year old, maybe more), and you only use a spoonful at a time, so I'm guessing the spoonful might have cost 25¢, and maybe the olives were another quarter. A can of tuna is $1.89, and makes two servings, so I think my salad came in at or near the $1.57 target, even with the boiled egg.
I made another version of the salad today, but with carrots and no tuna. We get a lot of carrots in our weekly box but I find it difficult to use them all up, so I'm getting "creative" (or desperate). The carrots added some nice color to the salad, and you can boil everything together.
Recipe
Nice Salad
1 lb new potatoes (small potatoes), 1 lb green beans, 1 tomato, a handful of olives, 1 t salt, 1/2 t pepper, 2 T olive oil, 1t capers, 3-4 carrots, 4 eggs, a bit of onion, 1 clove garlic, 1 can of tuna.
Bring 2 Qt salted water to a boil. Add potatoes and boil for 5 minutes, add the carrots for another 3 minutes, and then add the egg and the green beans for the last 5 minutes and everything will be done at the same time. Drain it all in a colander, and while its cooling down, crush a clove of garlic in a salad bowl, add olive oil, salt and pepper, capers and perhaps a slice or two of onion chopped small. Toss everything with chopped tomato and olives. Let it cool to room temperature, and top with tuna and the boiled egg.
What do you make when you have green beans, potatoes, a tomato, one egg and some left over olives? It is Salade Nicoise. The great cuisines of the world take leftovers and odds and ends and give it a fancy name. Nice.
The five or six olives I found last week hiding in the back of the fridge went in with a spoonful of capers. I suppose these things are luxuries, but I didn't buy them recently so I cant tell what they cost. A jar of capers lasts a long time (ours must be at least a year old, maybe more), and you only use a spoonful at a time, so I'm guessing the spoonful might have cost 25¢, and maybe the olives were another quarter. A can of tuna is $1.89, and makes two servings, so I think my salad came in at or near the $1.57 target, even with the boiled egg.
I made another version of the salad today, but with carrots and no tuna. We get a lot of carrots in our weekly box but I find it difficult to use them all up, so I'm getting "creative" (or desperate). The carrots added some nice color to the salad, and you can boil everything together.
Recipe
Nice Salad
1 lb new potatoes (small potatoes), 1 lb green beans, 1 tomato, a handful of olives, 1 t salt, 1/2 t pepper, 2 T olive oil, 1t capers, 3-4 carrots, 4 eggs, a bit of onion, 1 clove garlic, 1 can of tuna.
Bring 2 Qt salted water to a boil. Add potatoes and boil for 5 minutes, add the carrots for another 3 minutes, and then add the egg and the green beans for the last 5 minutes and everything will be done at the same time. Drain it all in a colander, and while its cooling down, crush a clove of garlic in a salad bowl, add olive oil, salt and pepper, capers and perhaps a slice or two of onion chopped small. Toss everything with chopped tomato and olives. Let it cool to room temperature, and top with tuna and the boiled egg.
Friday, June 22, 2007
Pie for Breakfast
Yup, today I finished the last slice of peach pie, along with some plain yogurt. Since the pie is $1.25 or so, and a serving of Pavel's Russian yogurt (made here in Oakland) is about 50¢, I'm a bit over budget. Oh well, it sure taste's good!!
The pizza from last night survived long enough for lunch, and I had it with some fresh garden salad -- as in, from MY garden. Lettuce, carrot, green beans (purple ones, too), radish and fresh herbs make a tasty summer salad. Tomorrow I might add some potatoes and half a can of tuna for a salad nicoise (about 75¢ for half a can of tuna).
A lot of people don't know that fruit and vegetable seeds (and strawberry plants) can be purchased with Food Stamps. A $2 pack of lettuce or radish seeds will yield a lot more than that in fresh produce. I've got three heads of lettuce waiting for the axe, er, table, and I've still got plenty of seeds left.
One doesn't need a huge yard to raise edible veggies; my friend I. grows lettuce, herbs and tomatoes on his downtown Oakland balcony.
We've got tomatoes, crookneck squash, pickling cucumbers, pumpkin, green and purple beans, potatoes, carrots, radish, watermelon, sweet peppers, and fresh herbs. A few of the tomatoes were purchased as plants; everything else was from seed. Some of the seeds we received for free in seed swaps with other gardeners.
The pizza from last night survived long enough for lunch, and I had it with some fresh garden salad -- as in, from MY garden. Lettuce, carrot, green beans (purple ones, too), radish and fresh herbs make a tasty summer salad. Tomorrow I might add some potatoes and half a can of tuna for a salad nicoise (about 75¢ for half a can of tuna).
A lot of people don't know that fruit and vegetable seeds (and strawberry plants) can be purchased with Food Stamps. A $2 pack of lettuce or radish seeds will yield a lot more than that in fresh produce. I've got three heads of lettuce waiting for the axe, er, table, and I've still got plenty of seeds left.
One doesn't need a huge yard to raise edible veggies; my friend I. grows lettuce, herbs and tomatoes on his downtown Oakland balcony.
We've got tomatoes, crookneck squash, pickling cucumbers, pumpkin, green and purple beans, potatoes, carrots, radish, watermelon, sweet peppers, and fresh herbs. A few of the tomatoes were purchased as plants; everything else was from seed. Some of the seeds we received for free in seed swaps with other gardeners.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Flat & Round
Three random foods from yesterday and today: tortillas, pancakes and pizza
I went shopping yesterday at Mi Pueblo. Its a Latino-oriented supermarket (as big as a Safeway or other major grocery store). For me, the big draw is fresh tortillas, made on the spot and still warm in the bag. A stack of 50 tortillas is $2.50, or 5¢ each. Their fresh guacamole is $4/lb, so a lunch of cheese, tortillas, guacamole and sour cream (Mexican Cream) comes out to about $1.
I made pancakes today (recipe below). Pancakes from scratch only takes about 60 seconds more than from a box, and they taste MUCH better. My boyf picked some lemons from a friend's tree so I was able to make "buttermilk" pancakes. You add lemon juice to milk to curdle it and give it the same acid Ph as buttermilk. The acid works with the baking soda to make fluffy pancakes, but this way you don't have to buy buttermilk (regular milk is less expensive). The lemonmilk pancakes taste just as good as buttermilk ones. Lemonmilk Pancakes with Strawberry Syrup costs $1 (two servings: milk 50¢, egg 25¢, flour, salt, sugar, baking soda and baking powder 50¢, strawberries 50¢, butter and syrup 25¢).
Tonight I'll make pizza. Since lunch and dinner were only $1 each, it is OK if the the pizza costs a bit more ($2).
Recipe
Pancakes (2 or 3 servings)
1 C flour, 1 T sugar, 1 t baking powder, 1 pinch salt, 1 egg, 1 C milk, 1 T melted butter or oil
(if you want to make "buttermilk" pancakes add 1 T lemon juice and use only 1/2 t baking powder and add 1/2 t baking soda)
Mix the egg, milk and butter (or oil) in a bowl. In another bowl mix the dry ingredients. Lightly mix the wet into the dry, and cook over medium heat.
Note: the batter can keep for a day or two in the fridge
Strawberry Sauce
5 - 8 strawberries, 1 t butter, 1 t maple syrup or sugar
Slice strawberries, add the butter and sweetner and cook in a small pan over low heat for 5 minutes.
I went shopping yesterday at Mi Pueblo. Its a Latino-oriented supermarket (as big as a Safeway or other major grocery store). For me, the big draw is fresh tortillas, made on the spot and still warm in the bag. A stack of 50 tortillas is $2.50, or 5¢ each. Their fresh guacamole is $4/lb, so a lunch of cheese, tortillas, guacamole and sour cream (Mexican Cream) comes out to about $1.
I made pancakes today (recipe below). Pancakes from scratch only takes about 60 seconds more than from a box, and they taste MUCH better. My boyf picked some lemons from a friend's tree so I was able to make "buttermilk" pancakes. You add lemon juice to milk to curdle it and give it the same acid Ph as buttermilk. The acid works with the baking soda to make fluffy pancakes, but this way you don't have to buy buttermilk (regular milk is less expensive). The lemonmilk pancakes taste just as good as buttermilk ones. Lemonmilk Pancakes with Strawberry Syrup costs $1 (two servings: milk 50¢, egg 25¢, flour, salt, sugar, baking soda and baking powder 50¢, strawberries 50¢, butter and syrup 25¢).
Tonight I'll make pizza. Since lunch and dinner were only $1 each, it is OK if the the pizza costs a bit more ($2).
Recipe
Pancakes (2 or 3 servings)
1 C flour, 1 T sugar, 1 t baking powder, 1 pinch salt, 1 egg, 1 C milk, 1 T melted butter or oil
(if you want to make "buttermilk" pancakes add 1 T lemon juice and use only 1/2 t baking powder and add 1/2 t baking soda)
Mix the egg, milk and butter (or oil) in a bowl. In another bowl mix the dry ingredients. Lightly mix the wet into the dry, and cook over medium heat.
Note: the batter can keep for a day or two in the fridge
Strawberry Sauce
5 - 8 strawberries, 1 t butter, 1 t maple syrup or sugar
Slice strawberries, add the butter and sweetner and cook in a small pan over low heat for 5 minutes.
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Is it Soup, Yet?
I think dried beans are probably the least expensive form of protein one can purchase. The problem with cooking beans is that they can take an hour or two, so they aren't a quick meal when you get home from work. The solutions are to pre-soak the beans and to make things ahead of time.
Put the beans in a pot at night and add water to about an inch above the top of the beans. By pre-soaking the beans over night, you'll be able to cook them the next day in much less time (30 to 45 minutes, instead of 2-3 hours). Yes, this means you have to plan a day ahead.
On Sunday I made Navy Bean soup. Navy beans are small white beans, and - since they are small - I think they cook a bit faster. I had been planning to make some soup for few days, and presoaked the beans on Wednesday. Things kept coming up, so I kept the uncooked, soaked beans in the fridge until I was finally ready. I had some past-their-prime carrots, and half an onion left over from Tuesday, sitting next to the beans.
Soup is a great way to use up sketchy looking or leftover vegetables (and bits of meat, for you carnivores). By the time they were chopped and cooked, you couldn't tell that the carrots weren't fresh. Maybe they lost a bit of vitamins, but they made good soup. The beans took as long to cook as it took me to chop the vegs, saute the onion (and garlic), add the carrots and kale and salt and pepper and a quart of stock. The stock was probably the most expensive thing. Total cost was $6.50 ($3 vegetable stock, $1 beans, $1 kale, $1 carrots, $.50 onion, garlic, salt, pepper and some fresh herbs from our planter box) and it made 5 generous portions. All you need is to add a slice or two of bread and maybe top with some shedded cheese and you have dinner for $1.57/serving. (Oh, and i froze half the soup in single-portion containers, so now I've got ready-to-go lunches.)
Put the beans in a pot at night and add water to about an inch above the top of the beans. By pre-soaking the beans over night, you'll be able to cook them the next day in much less time (30 to 45 minutes, instead of 2-3 hours). Yes, this means you have to plan a day ahead.
On Sunday I made Navy Bean soup. Navy beans are small white beans, and - since they are small - I think they cook a bit faster. I had been planning to make some soup for few days, and presoaked the beans on Wednesday. Things kept coming up, so I kept the uncooked, soaked beans in the fridge until I was finally ready. I had some past-their-prime carrots, and half an onion left over from Tuesday, sitting next to the beans.
Soup is a great way to use up sketchy looking or leftover vegetables (and bits of meat, for you carnivores). By the time they were chopped and cooked, you couldn't tell that the carrots weren't fresh. Maybe they lost a bit of vitamins, but they made good soup. The beans took as long to cook as it took me to chop the vegs, saute the onion (and garlic), add the carrots and kale and salt and pepper and a quart of stock. The stock was probably the most expensive thing. Total cost was $6.50 ($3 vegetable stock, $1 beans, $1 kale, $1 carrots, $.50 onion, garlic, salt, pepper and some fresh herbs from our planter box) and it made 5 generous portions. All you need is to add a slice or two of bread and maybe top with some shedded cheese and you have dinner for $1.57/serving. (Oh, and i froze half the soup in single-portion containers, so now I've got ready-to-go lunches.)
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