Update on the chickpea stew and pita bread

oh my goodness, it is SO good! I mixed up a little yogurt with lemon, garlic and parsley to serve with it. It was also good, except my son yelled "too spicey", which means I think he got a huge chunk of raw garlic. Oops.

Enchiladas and Pizza

This week I did it. For the first time. I made enough food to last the week. 10 meals worth. On Saturday, it was pita bread and chickpea stew.

On Sunday it was a tray of enchiladas, and two large pizzas. All told, 10 meals' worth, so we are set on lunch and dinner all week. I hope everything tastes good.

This time, I didn't forget the yeast in the pizza dough. That's because my hubby made the dough, while I was working. On a Sunday. Yeah.

I found a GREAT deal on cheese this week. You know how the coupon queens always talk about how coupons for cheese are a great deal? Loss leaders the way to go? Not for me. I've never found shredded cheese or block cheese at a grocery store on sale for cheaper than Costco. This weekend though, I got 2-lb bags for $4.99. Hence the pizza and enchiladas.

The pizzas - one was pesto (I have a lot of pesto), and one had a tomato sauce, made from the leftover tomatoes from the chickpea stew, a few cherry tomatoes from our plant in the garden that survived the winter and is still giving us tomatoes. We planted this guy from seed last April (2009). I added some italian seasoning. Toppings were sauteed onions, peppers, mushrooms (all diced so small that hopefully my kid can't pick them off), olives, sun-dried tomatoes, mozzarella and blue cheese.

The enchiladas were an experiment. I can't really estimate the cost. There are too many unknowns.

Experimental enchiladas:
1 T canola oil.
1.5 cup leftover cooked brown rice and quinoa
1 mason jar of tongue of fire beans from CSA, cooked 1 hr till soft with a clove of garlic.
3 small peppers, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 Tbsp shaved hot pepper from freezer
2 c. enchilada sauce from freezer. I don't know how old it is, nor whether it was homemade or from a jar.
4 whole wheat tortillas
3 eggs
cumin, chili powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper
2 c. shredded cheese (colby-jack blend)

Saute onions and peppers in oil until soft.
Cook the beans
Mix the rice, beans, and veggies in a bowl with the spices.

Layer a little sauce on the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Scoop out 1/2 of the bean/rice/vegetable mixture. Cut two tortillas in half and arrange to fit the pan. Put half the remaining sauce on the tortillas. Put the rest of the mixture on top. Crack 3 eggs on top of the mixture (why not? Figured I'd try it.) then another layer of tortillas. Top with rest of the sauce and then the cheese.

Bake, covered with foil, at 350F for 30 min, then remove foil and bake another 15 min.

Chickpea Stew and Pita Bread

Today has been a whirlwind of activity. I started the day by making up some arugula-basil pesto (got a bunch of each from the CSA). Then I cooked up up some chickpeas. Then I hit the gym and tried Zumba...I liked it, my knee did not. Owee. And my back didn't like it either.

Then home where I hung laundry to dry, made lunch:

Why do I hang laundry? (a friend asked me once). It's frugal, but that's not the only reason! It's better for the environment (sunlight and wind are FREE, and don't require fossil fuels), and it's better for the clothing. They last longer - you don't lose fabric that becomes lint. AND they smell great. I had a relatively new shirt that smelled moldy. Probably because it ended up in the laundry basket under a wet towel from my ocean-swimming-triathlon-training days. One day washed and hung outside...good as new!

I also hemmed new jeans. I always feel a bit guilty cutting 3 inches off the bottoms of jeans. But I'm short. I buy pants to fit over my, ahem, hips, then end up shortening them and taking in the waist.

I also made chickpea stew, based on a recipe from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. Her recipe, while simple, included a step of using a mortal and pestle on garlic, herbs, oil, and salt. And I don't have a mortar and pestle. So, I made it even more simple. I also made my first attempt at homemade pita, from a bread machine cookbook that I loaned a friend. I jotted it down while at her house (she uses the cookbook FAR more than I ever would). They look yummy!

I'd like to say that's our dinner, but we're hitting the pumpkin patch and going out with friends. This will be lunches and dinners during the week.

Moroccan Chickpea Stew
2 T canola oil
1 onion, chopped: 0.40
1 small zucchini: 0 (free!)
3 small mild peppers (from CSA) or one bell pepper, chopped: 0.80
6 cloves garlic, pressed: 0.30
1 Tbsp hot peppers: 0.10 (from last year, in the freezer)
2 tsp paprika: 0.10
1.5 tsp cumin: 0.08
1/4 tsp thyme: 0.05
1/2 tsp turmeric: 0.05
1 tsp dried parsley: 0.05
1 tsp salt
pepper to taste
2 cans garbanzo beans: (I actually used 1 can and made more from dried): 1.58
2/3 of a 28-oz can diced tomatoes: 1.13
Total: $4.77 for 6 servings, or $0.79 each

Saute onion, zucchini, thyme, and peppers in oil until soft, about 10 min. Add garlic, chickpeas, and remaining spices and saute a few more minutes.

Add tomatoes and simmer, covered, for about 30 mins, enough for the tomatoes to break down and flavors to blend.


Pita bread
2 c. bread flour: 0.41
1 c. whole wheat flour: 0.23
1 T. olive oil: 0.11
1 tsp sugar: 0.01
1.5 tsp salt: 0.01
1 tsp yeast: 0.08
Total: $0.85 for 10 pitas, 9 cents each

Put ingredients in bread machine and run on pizza dough setting.

When down, punch down on floured surface. Break into 10 pieces and rolls into balls. Cover with oiled plastic wrap, let rest 10 min.

Preheat oven to 450F, and put two baking sheets in oven to warm.

Flatten and roll pitas to 1/4 inch thickness. Set aside and cover with oiled plastic wrap. Let rest 10-20 min.

Remove heated sheets from oven. Sprinkle with cornmeal. Put 2-4 pitas on a sheet, depending on size. Bake 5-7 mins. (Mine took 6-7 mins). Remove from oven and cool on wire rack for 2-5 min. Cover with damp kitchen towel to keep moist.

Continue with remaining pitas. They should puff up nicely.

Budgeting While on Vacation

The family and I just returned from a 4-day mini-vacation to San Diego. You can tell a lot about a person by how they vacation, I suppose. Where they stay, how they eat, how they get there.

There are many ways to save money on vacation:
Lodging: hotel, motel, camping, VRBO, housing swap, couch surfing
Transportation: airfare, flight schedule, train, car, bus
Food: eating out, eating in, full meals, snacks

When I go on vacation, I don't really like eating out. It's both a money thing and a health thing (I mean, even trying to be "good" on this trip, I gained a few pounds. Hopefully mostly water.) So my lodging planning includes food - that may mean choosing a hotel that includes breakfast, or it may mean choosing a condo, or it may mean a hotel with a fridge and/or microwave. I generally plan to eat out while on vacation only once per day.

On this trip, we had a fridge and a microwave. There are many options in San Diego...too many to count. By the time you look at distance and reviews, and special deals (includes tickets to Seaworld! But parking is extra!) you can drive yourself crazy. So the first thing to do is to decide your budget AND the type of experience you are looking for.

When younger, budget and habits meant that I stayed at the cheapest motel possible. Age, increased income, and a family has changed that. I really like staying at condos for extended vacations, so that I can cook. But I cook pretty regularly at home, so it's no big deal. Here are the things I considered this time around:

Room with fridge and microwave, or a kitchen, or breakfast. (we got fridge and micro)
Decent pool (yep)
Family atmosphere (yep)
Free or reduced parking (only paid for 2 of 4 days)
Ease of getting to Seaworld (we had a shuttle, and it was only a mile's walk, so we walked home)
Reduced price tickets to parks (we got tickets to SeaWorld included, and it was actually cheaper than booking the room and tickets separately)
Two queen sized beds (yep)
Gym - didn't get this, but as luck would have it, we found a 24-hour fitness a very short drive away (next to the grocery store). And we're members.

This took a little planning, but probably saved a few hundred dollars. And the microwave and fridge were key. I packed up my picnic basket and a few extra items. We had cereal and milk, microwaveable noodles (love Trader Joe's). Veggies and dip. Veggies that steam in the bag. Hummus. Cheese and crackers. Tea (which tasted like coffee for the first two days because we used the coffee pot). Apples, oranges, grapes, and bananas.

If you are basically eating in a hotel room, you need to make it #1 - easy, and #2 - fun. Have some extra-special snacks that you don't normally get.

I started keeping good track of what we spent on food, but probably missed stuff:
1. Groceries: $59, but some of that came home with us
2. Lunch at SeaWorld: 24 (you can sneak in food if you want)
3. Lunch at Legoland: 20
4. Beers: $12
5. Lunch on the way home: $15
6. Dinner out with a friend: $60

That brings our total for 4 days to under $200, or under $50 per day. Which is pretty good for a family of three on vacation with just a fridge and a microwave. If we had to eat all our meals out, we were probably looking at (these are very conservative numbers that do not involve eating at the hotel):

Breakfast: $17
Lunch: $20
Dinner: $40

Which is about $67/day or $308. Saved over $100. Probably more, since beer isn't included in the second budget.

Crockpot Black Bean Soup

My neighbors invited us over for dinner on Saturday and made black bean soup in the crockpot. Which was delicious. And inspiring. So that's what I made yesterday/today.

Yesterday, I had to cook up the beans in the pressure cooker. And I did the quick soak first. Which never really works well. The beans end up broken. If you ever want to make beans in the pressure cooker, the best way is to soak several hours, then cook. You can do the quick soak. You can cook without soaking. BUT the results just aren't as good.

I also sauteed the vegetables. My soup was vegetarian, a recipe I adapted from "125 Best Vegetarian Slow Cooker Recipes" by Judith Finlayson. It was heavily adapted. I didn't have some of the veggies she uses, but I had others. Still it was tasty. Her recommendations for sauteing the veggies and using some whole spices are great. But...not as good as the neighbor's soup (which wasn't vegetarian). Mine was a little watery, so I pureed some of it at the end and added alphabets at the last minute to thicken it up. It tasted a little smoky, probably from last year's roasted poblanos.

The bad part about the soup (and the roasted kale), is that summer has arrived. Yes, after a summer of learning to swim in the frigid Pacific, where the ocean was about 59 degrees (instead of 65+), and it was so foggy that we could barely see the buoys on most days - now, in late September, it reaches over 100 degrees. 103? 108? When I checked it at 5 pm, it was 100.1 at home. It's days like these when I am happy that the previous owner of our home painted and nailed the windows shut and installed AC. The heat is not terribly surprising, as September is usually the hottest month. Generally, it's around labor day though.

The good part about the soup is that I've got a 4 cup portion for the freezer (for a future Friday night's dinner), and enough for a couple more mid-week meals.

Crockpot Black Bean Soup
1 lb dried black beans, cooked, with about 1-2 cups cooking liquid: 1.29
1 small onion, diced: 0.20
2 small green peppers, diced: free from a coworker
3 cloves garlic, pressed: 0.15
2 Tbsp chopped roasted poblanos: 0.20
2 ears corn, steamed and cut off cob: 0.80 (corn is not cheap here, and not as good as in PA)
1/2 small can tomato paste: 0.17
2 Tbsp cumin seeds: 0.25
1 tsp thyme: 0.10
1 Tbsp oregano: 0.10
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 vegetable bouillon cube: 0.38
5 cups water
3.5 oz alphabets: 0.20

Total: $3.84 for about 12 cups, $0.32 per cup. Served with tortilla chips, kale chips, and some avocado and sour cream.

To prep the night before: cook the beans and put in the fridge.

Saute the onions and peppers until soft. Add the garlic and spices and cook for about two minutes. Add tomato paste and blend well. Put all of this stuff and the corn and bouillon in a different container. Or the same one as the beans if it's big enough.

Before heading off to work in the morning, combine all the ingredients except the alphabets. Cook on low 8 to 10 hrs.

Puree the soup with an immersion blender a little bit. Add the alphabets and cook another 30 minutes.

Pressure Cooker Brown Rice Risotto

You see, I googled that exact phrase. And found...nothing. I found other questions about it. I found comments like "you can't make risotto from brown rice" and "you can make risotto from short-grain brown rice, but it needs more time and more liquid". But nothing about doing it in a pressure cooker. I love the pressure cooker, because you can do regular risotto in 5 mins at high pressure.

So I found a chart that said brown rice needs 18 minutes at high pressure. And I have several risotto recipes in Lorna Sass' Complete Vegetarian Kitchen. So I decided to wing it.

And it turns out - you CAN make pressure cooker brown rice risotto. Sure, it's not like the real thing, but it's still pretty good. Just don't forget the salt. I usually use vegetable bouillon instead of stock, and the last time I bought my bouillon, the store only had unsalted. Okay, everything is coming out under-seasoned.

Pressure Cooker Brown Rice Risotto:
1 Tbsp canola oil: 0.03
1 small onion, chopped: 0.20
1 small zucchini, diced: 0 from a coworker
1.5 cup short-grain brown rice: 1.13
1 vegetable bouillon cube: 0.38
4 cups water
1 cup frozen peas: 0.40
2 oz goat cheese: 0.80
handful parsley, chopped
sprinkle parmesan: 0.25
salt and pepper to taste

Total: $3.19 for about 8 cups, or 0.40 per cup.

Saute onion and zucchini in oil until soft. Add rice and stir until coated with the oil. Add water and vegetable bouillon. Close pressure cooker. Bring to high pressure. Reduce heat to maintain pressure and cook 18 minutes. Release pressure using quick-release method.

Stir well and let thicken a bit. Add parsley, salt, pepper, peas, and cheeses.

World's Cheapest Breakfast

Yep, oatmeal. Okay, maybe not the world's cheapest. But, pretty cheap and pretty good.

Today, we were out of homemade bread. That's okay. Because I have oats. I haven't eaten much oats over the summer. A few mornings of oatmeal, some granola. Today, there was a nice big ripe banana on my counter, and Kath's Banana Whipped Oats were talking to me.

Kath's Banana Whipped Oats (serves 2.5)
2/3 c. old fashioned rolled oats: 0.10 (0.79/lb!)
1/3 c. dry milk powder: 0.17
1 1/3 c. water
1 Tbsp 9-grain cereal: 0.04
1 banana sliced very thinly and chopped: 0.19
pinch salt
1/4 tsp vanilla: 0.02

and for my topping (boys don't like it): 1 tsp sunflower seed butter: 0.03

Total: $0.55 for 3 servings!

Mix water and dry milk powder. Put milk, oats, banana, salt, and cereal in a pot. Cook, stirring constantly, until desired doneness (5-9 mins). I like the cereal in there because it adds some chewy parts. When done, remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Note that there is no sugar in this recipe. With a nice ripe banana, it's not needed.

Now, truly, this isn't going to "stick" with my husband all the way until lunch. So his serving of about 3/4 cup or $0.21 would need supplementation. Nuts if I could get him to add them (I don't think he likes them). An egg. More fruit. I could make it more filling by increasing the total amount of oats to 1 cup (and increase liquid to 2 cups), and that would only increase the total to $0.71 (basically, increase everything except the banana and the sunbutter).

Other things on the menu this week: I tried my hand at Zucchini fritters from Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. I don't think I squeezed out enough water, but they were good! We also made breakfast burritos for dinner. Work was really crazy this week (I worked very late and hubby cooked twice) because my equipment has been broken for two months and we finally got field service in to work on it. After all that, I figured out the problem. Talk about STRESS.

Today is the big local quilt show (which I did not have time to enter...boo!) It's today and tomorrow, but I am going today. After I go for a walk and take my son for a flu shot. Tomorrow is the Carp Tri, and I am going down and taking pics and cheering on my friends and partying after.