Tonight's dinner inspired by...Sh*t on a Shingle

If you've never heard of it, google it.  It's creamed chipped beef on toast, something we ate as a kid.

We also ate creamed tuna on toast.  And that's kind of what I was going for here.

You see, I looked in the pantry, saw a can of salmon.  Decided to figure out what to do with it that didn't require much effort.  Salmon casserole was going to be too much work (like tuna casserole).  So I decided to make the "base" for it and throw it over brown rice.

Step 1: the night before while cleaning the kitchen, throw the rice in the cooker.  Don't forget to put it in the fridge when it's done.

Step 2: the night before, look up the "recipe" for homemade cream-of-whatever soup mix and set it on the counter next to the can of salmon.

Step 3: chop the onions and put in fridge

Step 4: while the baby is taking a 30 second nap (or it felt like it), open the can of salmon, flake it, put it in fridge.

Step 5: when husband gets home, hand over baby and start cooking!

Creamed salmon and peas over rice
For the soup mix: Probably about 25 cents:
1 Tbsp onion flakes
2 Tbsp cornstarch
1/3 c. dry milk powder
parsley, salt, pepper, thyme

1 15-oz can salmon: $2.50
2 cups frozen peas: 1.00
1 T canola oil: 0.05
some chopped onion (optional): 0.25

Saute the the onion until soft in a medium saucepan. 

Mix the soup mix with a fork, and add to 2 cups water.  Mix with a fork again until well blended.  Add to the cooked onions.  Bring to a boil.  Cook for about 5 to 10 minutes until it starts to thicken, then reduce heat and simmer.  Add salmon and peas and simmer until desired thickness.

Serve over rice.  About $4.05 for the salmon dish.
About 3 cups of rice was $0.42. 
So for $4.47, we had dinner for two nights and one lunch serving.  About five servings.  I was aiming for 4 servings, but it stretched further than I thought it would.

Oh, and we got organic corn from the farm.  But only two ears, so I didn't get any.

Alton Brown's Sardine Toast

I've got these sardines in the pantry, that I keep for emergency rations.  And I eat them occasionally too (don't want to toss them).  I did just toss a can of tuna that expired in 2011.  I mean, how long do you have to keep a can of tuna before it expires?  A really long time.  I have another can of sardines about to expire.

Why sardines?  Well, I grew up eating them.  When it comes to fish, there are certain fishes that are sustainable, healthy (low mercury/PCB's), and frugal.  Sardines and canned salmon fit that bill.  Which is probably why I grew up eating them, being from a poor landlocked family.

I remember seeing an episode of Good Eats Alton Brown discussed how he lost a bunch of weight, and this was one of his recipes.  So I made it today.  I've made it before.  Now, I don't have sherry vinegar, so I just used lemon juice.  I have a butt load of avocados from the farm and my boss/coworker.  I personally ate an entire avocado on this toast.  Now, every healthy eating and diet book I've read discusses how the proper serving of an avocado is 1/8 or 1/4 of an avocado.  Uh, no.  First of all, they don't keep. Second of all, I'd rather just eat less of something else and not waste the avocado.

I try to incorporate fish into my diet for its health benefits.  Just about everything you read discusses the health benefits of fish, and any studies of the healthiest people in the world has to include the Mediterraneans and the Japanese, both of which eat fish in abundance.  In fact, I was sitting the other day watching Forks Over Knives (I've seen it before), and hearing about the benefits of a "plant based diet".  Then I went to Denise Minger's website where she discusses many of the results in the movie (despite the fact that she has a lot of respect for most of the doctors). She reminded me that people like to skew the results their own way.  This movie is no different.  Sure, a lot of health improvements can be had by going vegan (let's call it what it is), but many of the health improvements that come with it also come with removing processed food.

Anyway, when she mentioned fish, that reminded me of the avocados and sardines.  So that was my lunch on Friday.

So, on a family note, yay husband is back.  So much easier.  Now we are in cleanup mode before cleaning lady comes tomorrow, and I have to figure out what to do with the kitchen produce.  I did so little cooking when he was gone.  I know there will be roast potatoes and some sort of zucchini dish in my future for dinner. I want to cook up a ton of food today when I have spouse at home to help with the boys.

Skillet pasta with salmon and peas

You know I love my skillet pasta.  I've been kind of on fire this week with the cooking.  In addition to making the frittata and sesame noodles for the week on Sunday, I made this tasty dish on Tuesday.  I haven't baked any bread, but have been making oatmeal for breakfast too.  Yum yum.

You can find the recipe here.

Grillin' and Patio Eatin' and organizing

Today was another banner cooking day...1/2 hour of cooking, 15 mins of sitting and folding laundry.  Repeat.  The day started out weirdly.  We went out for bagels for breakfast.  I thought it would be a great idea to take my car, then we could get groceries on the way home and put gas in my car.  Except it wouldn't start.  Dead battery.  Either there is something wrong with my interior light or I accidentally bump it when I get all of my stuff out of the passenger seat.  So, we took spouse's car.

The weekend was pretty busy with us nesting.  We headed to Ventura for a birthday party, and stopped by Target while we were there.  We are short on storage space for upcoming baby.  In general, we prefer to have my husband actually MAKE our furniture - it's much nicer and more functional, (and cheaper) than buying it.  We had a little argument about it this time when I said "but how long will it take you to FINISH it?"  Which was not meant to be an insult on his ability to "finish" things...it was meant as a "I know you can get it done in a weekend, but when am I going to be willing to give you a whole weekend to do it in the next 8 weeks?"

So we compromised and bought some cubbies for hallway storage and decided that he's still going to have to redo the hall closet with shelves, hooks, framing, and a real door.  Which will take several weekends.

That all meant that mother's day weekend wasn't very relaxing, what with putting together cubbies and attaching them to the wall so they are secure, plus doing some purging (the sheer amount of cheap plastic shit that my son comes home with is astounding).  Next weekend will have to be more organizing/ closet purging.  I tend to have a policy that when something new comes into the house, something has to leave.  A necessity with a small house.  Well, a family member recently made a comment about that when I said I needed to purge to make some room for the baby with "don't you already have a policy that you get rid of something when something new comes in?  Shouldn't you already have space?"  Well, yeah, but I'm getting a new person, so I'm not getting rid of the old kid to make room for the new kid.

In between all this work I made a black bean/corn/barley salad for a potluck at the school tomorrow (kindergarten teacher appreciation day).  I also made black bean soup.  I decided we should grill today, and my son thought it would be a great idea to eat outside (which we never do), so we did.

Grilled shrimp, salad, corn

Black bean soup

Banana chocolate chip cookies- GF and vegan, no added sugar (except the chips)

I enjoyed a little swim today but still my dogs are BARKING.  Time to enjoy a cookie and some milk, then read my kindle a bit before bed.  If you have a kindle, you have to go to this site.  Lots of free books!

Also, do you Pinterest?  I have to admit, I love this site.  I have been using it to bookmark crafts and recipes that I want to try or have tried...it's awesome!  I still print them out though, when I actually go to make them.

Dijon-Glazed Salmon and Steamed broccoli

Simple as simple can be. 

I found a piece of salmon in the freezer.  It was free from the neighbor, which means it's probably been there for 6 months.  But we sealed it up with the FoodSaver, so I'm sure it was fine.

Line a pan with foil and spray with cooking spray.

Place the salmon in the pan and S&P.

I glazed it with: 1/4 c unpacked brown sugar, 2 Tbsp dijon mustard, and a sprinkle of dried dill.

Bake at 375 for 30-40 min.  40 was about right.  Most salmon recipes call for "broiling", but my smoke alarm goes off at anything above 450F.  It's always been that way.  So I don't broil.  I found the alternative of baking in allrecipes (one of the comments on the recipe).

It was delicious.

The broccoli was micro-steamed, tossed with S&P, olive oil, and parmesan.

Simple.  Delicious.

Holy Mackeral

So, my coworker likes to fish off a local pier.  And he catches a lot of mackeral.  And he gave me a bag, when I said I like fish.  "Are you sure you like mackeral?  It's fishy."  Dude, I don't care.  Isn't fish supposed to be fishy?

Baked Fish and Focaccia

I've been feeling like making bread.  It sort of relaxes me, which doesn't make a WHOLE lot of sense, because I use the bread machine more than half the time (so, not a lot of kneading).  Today I didn't get started in time to do anything other than focaccia.  I used the recipe in my bread machine cookbook, but tried to bake it per Wildly Affordable Organic by Linda Watson.  It was pretty good, but I needed more olive oil on the top (another tablespoon at least - I only used one), and I ended up baking it at 425F for 20 mins.

I also defrosted some white fish (don't remember what kind) and made a marinade similar to the ones in Bikini bootcamp.

Baked White Fish fillets:
three 5 or 6 oz white fish fillets: uh...$5?  I don't remember.

marinade:
1.5 Tbsp olive oil: 0.16
juice of 3 limes: 0.75
juice and zest of 1 very small orange from my tree
1 clove garlic, pressed: 0.05
1.5 Tbsp soy sauce: 0.09
S&P to taste
Total: $6.05 for 3 fillets, or $2.02 per serving.

Mix the marinade ingredients and marinate the fish for 2 hours.  Bake at 425F for about 20 min.


Focaccia:
2 c. whole wheat flour: 0.41
1 3/8 c. bread flour: 0.28
2 Tbsp sugar: 0.05
2 Tbsp dry milk: 0.10
2 tsp salt: 0.02
2 Tbsp olive oil: 0.22
1 3/8 c. water
2 tsp yeast: 0.05

extra flour for kneading: 0.10

Topping:
one clove garlic: 0.05
2 Tbsp olive oil: 0.22
dried basil: 0.02
coarse salt

Total: $1.49 for a very large piece of focaccia.  Probably 16 servings.  $0.09 per serving.

Place ingredients in bread machine pan in order given.  Use "pizza"  setting.  Knead on a floured surface until it springs back at the touch.  Roll/press out like pizza dough onto a piece of parchment paper coated with cooking spray.  Use the end of a wooden spoon to poke holes in the bread every 2 inches.  Cover with a towel and allow to raise until doubled (20 to 60 min).

Saute garlic in olive oil for 30 sec and let cool.  When bread is raised, brush the bread with the oil  using a brush or your fingers.  Sprinkle with basil and salt.

Slide the parchment paper onto the pre-heated pizza stone using a rimless cookie sheet.  Or, just bake it on a cookie sheet.  I baked at 425F for about 20 mins.  One recipe said 450F for 8 mins, the other said 340F for 25-30 min. 

I served this all with a green salad with tomatoes, cucumber, avocado, and goat cheese (balsamic dressing), and some "Texas caviar" from Costco.

Salmon with a white wine lemon pan sauce

So, the plan tonight was salmon patties. You know, salmon-in-a-can. Not sexy, but you get your omega 3's, it's cheap, and it's not full of mercury or PCBs.

Then my great neighbor stopped by. He's got a "fish guy". A couple of pounds of fresh salmon later...we had some tonight, some for leftovers tomorrow (on top of a salad), and the rest goes in the freezer for later this month.

I had some lemon. I knew I wanted to make a pan sauce. So I googled. "lemon white wine salmon".

And I found this recipe. It's a 5-star recipe!

And I followed it. To a T. Just kidding. I left out one tiny ingredient. That ingredient would be...can you guess?? 3/4 stick of butter. Geez. Really, there was enough oil from the cooking spray (that I used instead of olive oil) and the actual fish that made a good pan sauce. I also added a clove of garlic when making the sauce.

DELICIOUS, though my son thought the basil leaves looked like "ants". Whatever.

I also made a lima bean puree that we served on toast. Fresh limas, cooked, with roasted garlic, lemon juice, a little tahini, salt, pepper, and enough cooking water to make a good consistency.

Believe it or not, the 4 year old ate everything, including the salad which had lettuce, olives, blue cheese, and avocado. He's a good eater. He helped me shell the limas too.

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.

July 4 fires fires

Well, the Gap fire in Goleta is burning away. It answered the question with our best friends (who live there) - are we having dinner at your house or ours?

I served
guacamole (stretched with peas, only had one ripe avocado, it was quite good).
green beans stir-fried with salt, pepper
southwestern barley salad
chipotle-lime shrimp
soy-garlic marinated chicken drumsticks

Now, we don't have a grill, so everything was done on the stovetop or in the oven.

Chicken marinade: soy sauce, honey, orange juice, garlic, canola oil, a little powdered ginger (out of fresh). Chicken baked for 1 hour at 375. 20 min covered, 40 min uncovered, flip when you take off the cover.

Southwestern barley salad: $3.32, for 7 cups - 0.23 to 0.46 per serving, depending on whether it's a main dish or side dish
1 c dried black beans, rinsed, soaked, and cooked (makes 2 c): 0.32
1 c. dry pearl barley, cooked (makes 3 c cooked): 0.41
1/2 can corn: 0.25
1/2 small red onion: 0.30
1/3 bunch cilantro: 0.33
1 small tomato, diced: 0.50
1 small cucumber, diced: 0.50
2 T olive oil: 0.22
3 T white wine vinegar: 0.30
2 cloves garlic: 0.10
salt, pepper, cumin to taste.

Chipotle-lime shrimp: $8.04 for 6 servings (from America's Test Kitchen Family Favorites), $1.34 each
1.87 lb shrimp: 7.46 (31 to 40 ct)
1 small ice cube chipotle in adobo: 0.10
1 lime: 0.18
2 T canola oil: 0.05
2 T chopped cilantro: 0.20
4 tsp brown sugar: 0.04

This is pretty spicy. You saute the uncooked shrimp (peeled, deveined) in canola oil in batches until cooked, return all the shrimp to the pan, and mix in the sauce. (The sauce is: juice of 1 lime, chipotle, cilantro, brown sugar).

Salmon patties and carrot salad

Salmon patties...I grew up on these things. Landlocked as my home town is, fresh fish was a rarity, even if you were Catholic. So canned salmon it was, along with canned tuna.

I still love them, dh tolerates them.

Salmon patties

1 14-oz canned salmon (1.50)

1 egg (0.11)

breadcrumbs (free)

spices

diced olives (0.10)

optional: diced peppers, onions, herbs

Total: $1.71 for four, or 0.43 each

Drain the salmon, pick out the bones and skin if it grosses you out (doesn't bother me). Mash salmon with a fork, blend with remaining ingredients, adding breadcrumbs to get the right consistency.

Fry in a pan in a little oil until brown

Carrot salad - originated with "Cooking Thin" and Kathleen Daelemans, slightly adjusted

3/4 lb carrots, shredded (0.75)

1/4 c raisins (0.25)

1/4 c lemon juice (free from neighbor's tree)

2 T olive oil (0.21)

2 T red wine vinegar (0.17)

1/4 tsp paprika (0.03)

1/4 tsp cumin (0.03)

1/4 tsp cayenne (0.03)

Total: $1.47 for 4 large servings or 0.37 each

Mix all ingredients. Tastes better when the raisins have had time to "plump".

Fish, Beets, and Salad

Tonight's Mother's Day meal was a simple one of pan-sauteed crispy fish, roasted beets, and salad.

Fish:

White fish fillets (free from our neighbor, he has a fish guy...)

cornmeal

salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder

Put 1/4 cup cornmeal on a plate. Season with spices. Dip the fish in the cornmeal, both sides.

Saute on medium to medium high in canola oil in a nonstick skillet until the fish is crispy and cooked through.

Salad:

This was a simple one of lettuce, strawberries, canned mandarin oranges, blue cheese, radishes, and homemade red wine vinaigrette.

Beets:

10 -12 small beets, peeled and cut into uniform pieces (about 1-inch cubes, some beets were whole, some were cut in half).

1 small onion, thickly sliced and quartered.

4 whole garlic cloves

salt, pepper, canola oil (about 2T)

Preheat oven to 400F. Toss beets, onions and garlic with salt, pepper, and canola oil. Pour in a well-greased pan (I actually use parchment paper liner).

Bake for 30-35 min, stirring after 20 min. You may want to stir more often, as my onions got a little crispy on the edges. Test doneness of beets with a fork.