Posting blitz!

Okay, two recipes and a summary! Read below for recipes.

Total for May was $160.35, goal $160.

I cheated and spent some of June's money yesterday. Because really, I didn't *need* the stuff, but I also didn't want to have to make a second trip on Monday just to be "true to the budget".

So I've already spent $20 of June's budget.

Pinto Bean Burgers

Again with the "what to cook this weekend". I have about 2/3 of a 10-lb bag of pinto beans. I've done soup. I've done enchiladas. I've done refried beans. I wish I could find 10-lb bags of garbanzos. I could eat those beans every day.

I found a pinto bean burger recipe. This was supposed to be Saturday night's dinner, but we went to a friend's instead. So I added it to the risotto night.

Again, a lot of adjustments. I made it vegan (well, except for the slices with cheese). I also could not find corn for the life of me. I looked in the freezer 3 times! Hubby gave them the thumbs up.

Pinto bean burgers:
4 c. cooked pinto beans: 0.44
1 bu chard, steamed 5 min and pureed in food processor: 0.25? from the garden
2-T T. chopped green chiles (we froze these last summer): 0.25
garlic powder, salt, pepper to taste
1 tsp cumin: 0.10
1/2 c. diced onion, sauteed until soft: 0.10
1 c. bread crumbs: free (from heels of old bread)
1/4 c. wheat germ: 0.25
2 T. canola oil: 0.08
Total: 1.37 for 9 burgers, or 0.15 each

Chop chard in food processor. Add sauteed onions and chiles. Chop. Add all but one cup of pintos. Chop.

Add these ingredients to whole pintos in a bowl. Add salt, pepper, garlic powder, cumin, bread crumbs, and wheat germ.

Put in fridge until ready to use. Form into patties, fry in a little oil on each side for a few min.

We had them on toast. I used salsa, arugula, and a little mayo. Dh used mustard.

Wild Mushroom, Leek, Sun-dried Tomato Risotto

Man, how did I get to be 38 years old before discovering risotto? Especially when you can cook it in the pressure cooker so quickly and easily.

I was looking through my cupboard, trying to figure out what to cook this weekend. You know, with full-time work, and this being a $40/week month, it was getting hard. For one thing, our freezer and pantry were a little low - partly because I stopped buying meat of any kind, so there was none to fall back on. And partly because March was the third $40/week month of the year.

But I saw a little baggie of arborio. Now, I know that I didn't have asparagus, peas, or goat cheese like my last risotto (made on a flush month). But I did have this little bag of dried wild mushrooms from Trader Joe's. So I googled "pressure cooker mushroom risotto", and found a blog that mentioned a recipe, from none other than Vegan with a Vengeance (love this book!) Now, I altered this recipe a lot, based on what I have in the pantry. But it was still good!

Wild Mushroom, Leek, Sun-dried Tomato Risotto
1.5 c. arborio rice: 1.96
3 T. canola oil: 0.12
1/4 c. sun dried tomatoes in oil, chopped: 0.67
2 cloves garlic, minced: 0.10
2 large leeks, chopped and soaked in water to remove dirt: 1.50 (just a guess)
1 small pkg dried wild mushrooms: 2.00
6 c. water (Free)
1 T. veggie stock bouillon: 0.25
1/2 tsp salt, pepper to taste
fresh or dried thyme and rosemary
Total: $6.60 for 6 cups, or $1.10 per serving.

Rinse mushrooms and drain.

Mix 6 c. water and stock flavoring in a saucepan. Bring to simmer. Add mushrooms and simmer 2 min. Remove from heat, use slotted spoon to remove mushrooms. Let cool and chop. Save the stock.

Scoop leeks out of soaking water and drain on a towel.

Saute leeks in 1 T. oil in pressure cooker until soft. Add garlic and rice and remaining oil, saute a couple of minutes. Add 3.5 cups stock, herbs, mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes, salt and pepper.

Bring to boil. Put cover on pressure cooker. Bring to high heat, reduce heat to low enough to maintain pressure. Cook at high pressure 5 min.

Reduce pressure quickly under the faucet. Remove lid and stir. Yum!

Chard!

Picked some chard from the garden. Second thing we've picked (after radishes). Still waiting for the beets, and haven't planted the green beans yet. Just don't find the time.

Vegan Chocolate chip cookies

So, I promised my son yesterday some chocolate chip cookies. Realized too late that I have no butter of any kind. Did a search for "vegan" cookies, figuring I'd find one with oil instead. Did. They're here. They are tasty!

Pesto Pasta

I remember the days when, trying to control portion sizes, I would make 1/2 lb of pasta. That's four servings, two for dinner, two for lunch the next day.

With a kid and a job, those days are gone. I make the full pound, and it lasts us four full meals now.

Today's pasta had spinach/arugula/parsley pesto (made with one clove fresh garlic and three roasted...the fresh one was POTENT), sun-dried tomatoes, kalamata olives, and some diced ham from the freezer. Toddler loves it "green sketti!" We topped it off with a big salad with avocado, radishes, carrots, olives.

Cool-totally-non-food-related-stuff

So, this morning my spouse was off playing tennis, like he does on Sundays (no real games, they just hit the ball around). Nick and I were doing (another) floor puzzle (we're up to 100 pieces now). I heard two huge "booms", and the windows rattled. Truly, felt like someone hit the house or the window.

I locked the front door and peeked out our windows...nothing.

Spouse came home, I joined my walking buddies for the last half of an 8-miler. Came home and googled it.

It was the space shuttle Atlantis coming in for a landing at Edwards Air Force Base. More than 150 miles away, and we felt the sonic boom. Pretty cool.

On a side note, when I first moved to Cali, I actually got a call back from a resume that I sent, from a company that works at Edwards...coulda been a rocket scientist. ;)