Sunday, November 22, 2009

Some pictures





Photo download only works on the laptop these days, so I'm never writing the blog at the same time as uploading the photos. And blogger does this weird thing on windows where if I upload a photo into the blog, it inserts a line at every place...so the ingredients list has a space between every line. It's annoying. Anybody know how to fix that? Because if I upload 3 pics, it does it 3 times.

So here are some pics of our food...the chickpea cutlets, the ravioli, and tonight's risotto and salmon wraps.

Salmon wraps and more risotto

Today, I made butternut squash risotto. For the recipe, please see acorn squash risotto. Sub butternut squash for the acorn, use only 3.5 cups of water/broth, and add in about 2 oz of goat cheese. It was really good, a bit sweeter than the acorn squash version. Made a ton.

With the macaroni, sesame cashew noodles, risotto, and salmon sandwich filling, I don't think I need to cook the rest of the week, until Thanksgiving. The big T-day is traditionally my spouse's day to cook. We decided to bag the bird this year. Instead, we went with a free-range chicken and a free-range beef tri-tip. We did that combo for Xmas last year, and it was MUCH easier than trying to get a bird that's not too dry or undercooked.

For the salmon wraps, I searched for "canned salmon recipes". Why canned salmon? It's frugal, it's healthy (omega-3's), and it's sustainable. But how many salmon patties can a family eat? Well really, we eat about one can of salmon a month. I'm not sure that's really enough to get the benefit of the omega 3's, but when I remember, I also throw chia seeds in oatmeal or grind up flax seeds in bread or smoothies. I didn't remember to do that this morning. We had smoothies with apple, frozen banana, strawberries, spinach, and OJ. They were...kind of a greenish brown, but they tasted pretty good.

Back to the canned salmon recipes...go to the source, in this case the Alaska Seafood organization. Quite a few recipes, and at least more than one that I would try. The one I used is here.

Alaskan Salmon Sandwich spread
14 oz can salmon, drained and flaked: $2.50
8 oz softened light cream cheese: 1.69 (I haven't been shopping the sales lately).
2 Tbsp chopped fresh chives: 0.50 (I wish I could get chives to grow in my garden).
1.5 tsp italian seasoning: 0.10
1/2 tsp onion powder: 0.05
1/2 tsp red chili flake: 0.05
salt and pepper to taste
juice of one lemon: 0.25

Total: $5.14 for about 6-7 wraps worth, or $0.73 per serving. We served with chopped lettuce, shredded carrot, and some olives. I used whole wheat tortillas, at about $0.40 each.

Friday, November 20, 2009

30 minute ravioli

So, It's Tuesday (just...pretend). And you're at a mom/toddler "Thanksgiving" party thrown by your lovely friend Linda. Who took over for you because you were sick. But means she totally went way beyond whatever you were going to do. (Man, it was good.)

But you don't really want to eat, because you still have to go home and cook for the hubby. You do, however, grab some green beans and let yourself get talked into a piece of pumpkin pie. Your toddler chows on grapes, a corn muffin, and pumpkin pie.

So you get home at 6:25 pm and the hubby is starving. You let him make himself a sandwich (his choice). But there's nothing for lunch tomorrow. What to do?

Enter the less-than-30 min ravioli.

Step 1: Start boiling water for ravioli.
Step 2: Heat a little canola oil in a nonstick pan
Step 3: Chop and drop...green onions, red bell pepper, 3 stalks celery. Cook until soft, then add 2 garlic cloves, the rest of a can of chickpeas. Cook until the chickpeas are browning in place. Add a can of diced tomatoes, some dried basil, oregano, and pepper. Use the back of a wooden spoon to break up the tomatoes.
Step 4: When boiling, add 1/2 lb mini ravioli. Boil according to package directions.
Step 5: Add some olives to the sauce.
Step 6: Drain pasta, toss with sauce, serve.

27 minutes, start to finish. We've had some for lunches this week, and it was quite tasty.

30 minute ravioli:
1 T. canola oil: 0.03
1/2 lb dried mini ravioli: 1.00
3 celery stalks: 0.45
4 green onions, sliced: 0.25
1 red bell pepper: 0.85
2 cloves garlic: 0.10
1 can diced tomatoes: 0.62
1/2 can chickpeas: 0.45
a few olives: 0.40
basil, oregano, pepper: 0.20
Total: $4.35 for about 6 servings, or $0.73 per serving.

Of course, after all that, at about 7 pm, toddler says "where's dinner", but is perfectly happy topping off the "dinner" with a banana.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Chickpea Cutlets from Veganomicon

I didn't take a picture, we just ate them. These were:
1. very easy
2. very tasty

Next time, I might try them with a mushroom gravy or even a mustard sauce.

You can find the recipe on-line here (or even google it and you'll find it elsewhere too, along with pictures).

Ingredients:
1 c. chickpeas (I was lazy and used canned): 0.40
2 T. olive oil: 0.20
1/2 c. vital wheat gluten: 0.87 (I'm going off memory here)
1/2 c. plain breadcrumbs: free
1/4 c. water
2 T. soy sauce: 0.12
2 cloves garlic, pressed: 0.10
1/2 tsp lemon zest: 0.15
1/2 tsp dried thyme: 0.05
1/2 tsp paprika: 0.03
1/4 tsp sage: 0.05
2T. canola oil for pan-frying: 0.08

Total: $2.05 for 4 cutlets, or $0.51 each (wow! that's cheap!)

Sunday, November 15, 2009

What's in my fridge?

I was inspired by Green and Crunchy's recent blog post to take a picture of my fridge. Now, my fridge is not nearly as neat as hers (I took the pic on Friday, home sick, no energy to organize it).

And of course, we're not vegan and we don't have 5 children, so you'll see different items and in different amounts.

And the pic was taken two days ago, so we've eaten some stuff (kale, soup, strawberries) and have added others (eggplant, peppers, celery).



Top shelf: salsa (2 jars), strawberry jam, sunflower seed butter, organic natural peanut butter, almond butter from the farmer's market, blue cheese, parmesan cheese, yeast, organic yogurt, chocolate milk (daddy had the day off this week), sour cream.


Cheese drawer: havarti, cheddar, american, cream cheese, and BOLOGNA (did I mention daddy had the day off? We haven't had bologna in the house in at least 5 years...)

Shelf #2: 1 pt. strawberries from the CSA, TJ's hummus, tahini, more American cheese (gotta love Costco).

Shelf #3: Oikos yogurt, 3 pints of farmer's market strawberries.

Bottom shelf: Water, 3# bag of pink lady apples, apple cider from the farmer's market (same place as the apples), large head romaine lettuce, leftover butternut squash soup, wheat germ.

Left drawer: 1 bunch kale, 1 1/2 bunches radishes, 2 granny smith apples from the boss's tree, 1.5 lb of pink lady apples (yes, I love them), 1 bunch green onions, 1 bunch arugula, 3/4 lb of anaheim and jalapeno peppers.





Right drawer: 1/2 head red leaf lettuce, 4 limes, 1 bunch cilantro.
Yes, there are a lot of plastic bags in there to keep the food fresh, but I do wash and reuse them.

Meal Plan for the Week

I decided to start posting my meal plans so that I can look back and see what I made each year in case I get bored with the same old...

11/13 Friday: veggie burgers, salad
11/14 Saturday: sesame cashew noodles, kale chips, butternut squash soup (leftover)
11/15 Sunday: caponata, chickpea cutlets from Veganomicon, salad
11/16 Monday: sweet potato fries, salad, leftover caponata
11/17 Tuesday: fried rice with egg, peas, green onion, celery, bell pepper
11/18 Wednesday: Shithi's lentils from freezer, naan
11/19 Thursday: leftover lentils and naan

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Pasta Salad

So, this was a big, busy weekend. First, I don't know if you heard, but I ran a half marathon. :) My dear friends invited us over for dinner (albondigas soup, chicken, bread, salad) so that I didn't have to cook.

Then my spouse tore a muscle in his leg, which necessitated a trip to the ER. So that meant my day was spent doing laundry, cooking, and doing dishes. I didn't need to cook dinner (dear neighbors had us over for dinner), but I definitely needed to prep something for lunches this week.

I decided on a pasta-style salad, in true Marcia style, which means "throw in whatever I've got". I have two bunches of arugula, which is a total pain to clean and use, so I made a big batch of arugula pesto ("big batch", meaning "6 ice cubes" in the tray). I kept a lot of the ingredients raw, because I think it tastes better that way. And it's easier.

Arugula pesto:
2 bunches arugula, washed, trimmed, and spun dry
1/3 to 1/2 cup almonds (I toasted mine)
4 cloves garlic
1/4 cup olive oil
salt
1/4 cup parmesan cheese

In food processor, chop garlic. Use spatula to scrape sides, add almonds, and chop until almonds are mostly chopped.

Add 1/2 the arugula and process until smooth. Add the remaining arugula and the cheese and salt. Process until arugula is fully pureed. Add olive oil in a thin stream while processor is still running until you get desired consistency.


Pesto pasta
1/2 lb mini ravioli, cooked according to package directions
1/3 cup arugula pesto
4 sun-dried tomatoes in oil, chopped
6 green olives, sliced
3 radishes, sliced
3 green onions, sliced
1/4 lb green beans, steamed and sliced
1 small summer squash, cut into short matchsticks
salt, pepper, and red-wine vinegar to taste

Mix all ingredients and chill.

Photo to come later...upgraded software means we can't upload pics from the camera right now.