budget fun time

Just went to Sad Food Lion and kept track of the price of everything in the cart. The total was $55 for me and the roomie for a week. I'm trying to be more budget conscious and plan meals for the week, so I can cook a few times a week and we can eat for the rest of the week. I am possibly developing an allergy to garlic and/or onions, so the newest challenge is making meals without those two glorious ingredients but that still have plenty of flavor.

Here's the current meal plan:
+calzones with tomatoes, spinach, mozzarella and ricotta (homemade dough-a new challenge!)
+cranberry bean gratin and broccoli casserole
+Spicy black beans with pumpkin-quinoa risotto, sauteed kale
+random meals of leftovers, eggs and toast and cabbage will fill out the week

For breakfasts, I will be eating quinoa porridge with raisins and prunes (i love prunes) and probably peanut butter toast due to the 5 pound jar of pb we just bought.

Meanwhile, I'm working on upping my activity and controlling my portions. Got mini-bagels and single serving bags of popcorn instead of the mega versions, and cabbage, which is my go-to filler vegetable.

I cleaned out the fridge tonight which was much needed. Out went the small quantities of moldy baked beans, chopped onion and garlic, and the last vestiges of some ranch dip. I stewed my chopped cabbage with pepper flakes, red wine and plenty of salt on pepper. Low heat for a few hours--that's probably the best thing I've made with cabbage yet. Finally steamed my languishing collards and then made lentils and quinoa to complete the meal. I grated a little good parmesan cheese and added a sprinkle of hot sauce and the concoction was pretty badass.

Also new on the home front, we can now recycle plastic tubs (#2 and 5)! I've been waiting for this for years, because I am a nerd. Now I can recycle my giant yogurt tubs. Inexplicably, Stonyfield Organic yogurt is cheaper than the store brand. I resisted the buy-one-get-one special on Breyers ice cream. So good, but I need a break from ice cream.

Next week I'm going to try to cook authentic Thai food and possibly make vegetarian pho, after I find a good cookbook and figure out what I need. I've been in a bit of a food rut lately.

I'm excited about the meals I've planned and staying on budget. I walked home three days out of the past four, which is also a victory.

egglettes!

breakfast this morning:

french-inspired folded omelette with herbes de provence, roasted red peppers, cream cheese and a dash of red wine.

excellent flavor combination, though the eggs turned out a little tough because the pan was too hot.

and plenty of coffee!!!!!!!!!!!!

also, my friend ryan and i decided that 'omelette' made less sense than our newly coined word, 'egglette'. so that's how omelettes will be henceforth known.

leftover fun part deux

the last sad denizens of my fridge were black beans, rice, half a sweet potato and chopped onion. i made a tasty cumin flavored black bean soup over rice, and baked the last few sad freezer tortillas into some tasty tortilla chips. leftovers never tasted this good. i'm slowly but surely eating through the contents of the freezer.

feeling proud of myself!

memorable holiday foods

1) hard cider. my roommate and i accidentally ordered two bottles of this great hard cider from a local cafe, thinking we were ordering two glasses. Mind you these were about the size of wine bottles. needless to say, we got very cheery and had a tipsy walk home.

my next crazy project will be to make hard cider, a la the instructions from thepauperedchef.com. hilarity should ensue

2) homemade eggnog, cooked lightly to be careful about salmonella since these eggs were from costco and who knows how old. the milk tasted a bit scalded but the overall effect was good.

3) meringues made with leftover egg whites. my sister and i covered the kitchen with white froth and the meringues turned out excellently

4) sour cream pancakes. i did not know such a thing could be done. pancakes with only 7 tablespoons of flour (and a cup of sour cream).

5) popovers for breakfast this morning, another first.

6) homemade tomato soup for christmas eve dinner, made from frozen tomatoes from my parents garden.

7)and not food related, but i'm proud of myself for exercising at least 45 minutes every day for the past week. even in the sodden rain on Christmas day.

leftover fun

What do you cook when you have just random bits and pieces in your fridge?

I had a leftover bag of veggies scavenged from a vegetable tray that included cherry tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower and peppers. Pickings were slim in the fridge today--mostly leftovers and odd bits from last weeks meals before Christmas. Both my roommate and I left for a few days at Christmas, so we haven't had a chance to replenish the larder.

I decided to make a fresh tomato sauce with the tomatoes, some chopped onion and my last clove of garlic. Meanwhile, I cooked the last few ounces of spaghetti in the house and sauteed the broccoli and cauliflower. The result was a tasty meal that would have only been improved by the addition of some shredded cheese.

Later, I went to the coop to redeem a $25 gift card. I got the fixings for a light but indulgent meal of fresh bread, local goat cheese and olives, as well as salt, red pepper flakes, vanilla beans (!) and a hunk of parmigano reggiano cheese to improve future pasta endeavors. I should have gotten eggs too, as that's my new favorite food to make when I'm by myself. Eggs would be great with some sauteed kale on the side and a sprinkle of freshly grated cheese. Oh well.

Leftover endeavor part two is to use up the last black beans, rice and old old corn tortillas from the freezer without the addition of tomatoes. Should be interesting trying to make that tasty or at least palatable. I can always fry the tortillas but frying things seems to be cheating.

I'm tired of reading articles about chefs who cook a single meal for under $25. My weekly grocery budget is $25. Which is why I made fried rice out of my leftover Chinese food and why dried beans, sweet potatoes and cabbage are always on my shopping list. End of rant.

Tonight I was going to make sweet potato pie after reading a long article about pies of the Triangle. Alas, I didn't have enough butter to make a crust...so I ended up making cinnamon spiced mashed sweet potatoes. I added a hint of lemon juice for a little zing.

I still have two or three more pounds of sweet potatoes left, so I am trying to be inventive. Possibly sweet potato latkes for Hanukkah? There was an interesting lime-flavored sweet potato salad on Serious Eats earlier...Sweet potato biscuits? Or I could revive the sweet potato gnocchi recipe from summer!

Finals are nigh which means...I cook a lot instead of studying. Good times.

My current list of food projects includes

+baking bread
+opening the scary door into making candy with caramels (need to buy a candy thermometer)
+start a jar of vanilla extract, which means...a trip to the liquor store!
+roasted cauliflower something

day after thanksgiving locavore feast

the menu:
lentil, butternut squash, cheese and arugula salad
cranberry sauce
oven roasted potatoes, sweet potatoes with rosemary and sage
mushroom gravy
sunflower and poppy seed rolls
sauteed kale with garlic and lemon
pumpkin pie w/ homemade crust




yummy rolls



the salad

excellent variety of foods, beautiful composition. the majority of the ingredients were from the farmer's market and several were grown/processed by our family. this was actually a fairly light meal, which was welcome after the huge vegan thanksgiving feast at Cafe Parizade yesterday, sponsored by the Triangle Vegetarian Society.

the standouts were the salad and the rolls. i was a bit worried that the yeast wasn't good. i rose the rolls in the fridge overnight and wasn't sure if they were rising rapidly enough. the poppy and sunflower seeds (and the addition of some wheat germ) were a great contrast. i made cloverleaf shapes so they were easy to pull apart and butter.

the salad, in addition to being BEAUTIFUL had a great balance of flavors. my sister said this was the most complicated salad she had ever made. me too, actually. this recipe came from gourmet magazine and is actually the first "composed salad" i've made in a while. the cheese we ended up using was a raw milk "Pheta" (never realized feta was a trademark) from our local Chapel Hill Creamery. we cooked the lentils the night before, then roasted the butternut squash with cumin, paprika, salt, and pepper.

recipes forthcoming.


my copilot.