Red Bean and Wheatberry Salad

I used this post from Cheap Healthy Good as a jumping off point. And I must say, I did a pretty good job. The inspiration came from a vacation-reading of Mark Bittman's Food Matters, which has a lot of good recipes, and the common-sense idea of cooking a pot of grain and a pot of beans each week. I have a ton of beans (class project...don't ask). And I'd bought wheatberries on a whim after reading about others trying them (I'd had them before, but not recently). So this salad is made up entirely of foods that we had in the pantry and fridge already.

And the good thing about CSA veggies? That celery from 1.5 weeks ago? Still fresh.

Red Bean and Wheatberry Salad
2 c. cooked red beans (from dried): 0.30
1 c. uncooked wheatberries: 0.35
juice and zest of one lemon: 0.39
3 Tbsp olive oil: 0.33
3 large green olives, chopped: 0.30
2 pieces roasted red peppers, chopped: 0.40
1 1/2 stalks celery, chopped: 0.20
1 oz crumbled feta: 0.38
1 clove garlic, pressed: 0.10
1/3 cup salsa: 0.40
1 cube parsley pesto from freezer: 0.20
salt and pepper to taste

Total: $3.35 for about 5 cups, or $0.67 per cup. This will feed us for two dinners with some leftovers, because only the spouse eats a full cup. We ate this with roasted potatoes and beets with onions.

I cooked up one full pound of red beans, which made 6 cups. Four cups went to the freezer, destined for later dishes. The last two cups went into the salad.

Then I cooked the wheatberries on the stove in 2.5 cups of water for about an hour. There was a little water left, so I drained it. Which I probably should have done when it was still warm, but I just stuck it in the fridge and did it later. So the salad is a bit wet. I hear it's a good idea to add the olive oil when the grains are warm also, but I didn't do that.

Mix everything. Eat. Delicious.

Vegetable Creole

Wow. This was good, and I mean GOOD. I've been getting Vegetarian Times for about a year and a half. With magazine recipes, I usually do a few things. First, fold down the pages with interesting recipes. Second, put the magazine on a shelf. Third, pull the magazine off the shelf, rip out those recipes, and put in a folder. Fourth, four years later go through the folder and throw out most of the recipes.

This time, I broke the mold. Why? Well, two reasons I guess: celery and soyrizo.

You see, the last time I was at Trader Joe's, I bought a package of soyrizo. It looked good. I've never had it. It was only $2. And last week's CSA we got a bunch of celery, which I have a hard time going through.

This recipe had both celery (4 stalks!!) and soyrizo. And it's from this month's mag. In fact, I made the recipe less than one week after getting the magazine in the mail. So, if you are interested, you must rush out and buy this issue. I can't post the recipe, but I will tell you what's in it and what it cost me. I made a tiny change to the recipe or two. This is my version.

It was delightfully spicy (on the hairy edge of too much so for my child). Probably the soyrizo, but I bet it would be good without. It is vegan (or it would be if I'd used vegan Worcestershire, but I used regular).

Wow. I am having the last little bit for lunch tomorrow. It's good over brown rice, or even with tortillas.

Vegetable Creole:
1 pkg soyrizo: 1.99
4 large carrots: 0.39
1 onion: 0.20
1 green pepper: 1.00
1 can diced tomatoes: 0.62
1/4 cup tomato paste: 0.20
3 bay leaves: 0.05
4 celery stalks: 0.24
7 small potatoes (1 lb): 0.60
1/4 c. canola oil: 0.16
1/4 c. flour: 0.03
4 cloves garlic: 0.20
juice and zest of 1/2 lemon: 0.20
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce: 0.10
1/8 tsp cayenne

Total: $5.98 for 8 generous servings, or $0.75 each. Adding 3/4 cup cooked brown rice adds $0.20.

And just in case you are wanting a gratuitous salad photo, here's one. With the strawberries from the farm (SOOOO good), a *perfect* avocado from my boss's tree.

This week's meals

To give you an idea of what we may eat on a given week (which really varies by season and my energy level), and the amount of leftover that we eat (designated by "L") here goes:

Saturday:
Breakfast: mom and dad: homemade bread with cheese and/ or jam, sunflower seed butter... Child: cereal
Lunch: mom: out, dad and child: PB&J, edamame, apple, chips
Dinner: salad and split pea soup

Sunday:
Breakfast: mom and dad: homemade bread (L) with fixins. Child: cereal bar.
Lunch: mom and child: PB&J, edamame, apples, tortilla with cheese. Dad: airport food
Dinner: mom and child: au gratin potatoes with collards, salad. Dad: pretty sure he skipped dinner.

Monday:
Breakfast: Mom: homemade bread (L). Child: cereal. Dad: whatever the hotel had.
Lunch: child: PB&J, apple. Mom: au gratin potatoes (L), frozen mixed veggies. Dad: airport food.
Dinner: mom and child: split pea soup (L), kale chips. Dad: granola bar and apple.

Tuesday:
Breakfast: Mom and dad: homemade bread (L). Child: froot loops that dad brought home from tip. Which mom isn't too happy about, but I guess it's only 3 times a year or so.
Lunch: child: PB sandwich, applesauce, tortilla. Mom and dad: au gratin potatoes (L), frozen mixed veggies.
Dinner: split pea soup (L), tortillas with cheese, roasted veggies (onions, potatoes, beets, carrots)

Wednesday:
Breakfast: Mom and dad: homemade bread (L). Child: cereal.
Lunch: Mom and dad: au gratin potatoes, roasted veggies (L) (dad), frozen veggies (mom). Child: corn tortilla with cheese, applesauce, roasted veggies (L).
Dinner: vegan creole root veggies over rice.

Thursday:
Breakfast: Mom and dad: homemade bread (new). Child: breakfast bar
Lunch: Mom: au gratin potatoes (L), Dad: creole root veggies (L), Child: tortilla with cheese, egg, grapes
Dinner: Mom: salad and creole veggies (L), Dad: salad and pizza (leftover from mom's work), Child: pizza, salad, strawberries, avocado

Friday:
Breakfast: Mom and dad: homemade bread (L). Child: grapes and breakfast bar.
Lunch: (all out) Mom: veggie wrap, Dad: burrito, Child: pizza (school lunch)
Dinner: chips and guacamole, creole veggies (L), sliced oranges, tortillas with cheese

This list does not include snacks: apples, bananas, granola bars, dates, oranges...

CSA Week 8

1 bu cilantro (Saturday's pasta)
6 lemons (Saturday's pasta)
1 bu chard (Saturday's pasta)
1 head romaine (Thursday salad, a little leftover)
1 bu kale (kale chips)
1 bu beets (roasted with onion and potato)
1.5 lb oranges (2 large)
1 pt of the most awesomest strawberries I've eaten in months

Au Gratin Potatoes with Collards

This recipe is the same one that I made here, except I added steamed, chopped collard greens. Because, why not?

It's also the perfect opportunity to use the food processor.


Au Gratin Potatoes with Collards

2 lb yukon gold potatoes, organic: 1.20
1 onion: 0.20
salt and pepper
2 c. milk: 0.32
5 oz cheddar cheese: 0.78
2 Tbsp butter: 0.13
2 Tbsp flour: 0.01
1 bu collard greens: 1.00

Total: $3.64 for about 6 generous servings (8 side dish servings): $0.46 to $0.64 per serving.


Wash the collards and remove stems. Steam for 10 mins.

Fire up the food processor, you'll need all the attachments except the one to make dough. Slice the potatoes, put in a bowl.

Slice the onions. Saute the onions in the butter until soft and browning.

Chop the steamed collard greens. Add to the potatoes in the bowl.

Shred the cheese.

When the onions are sauteed, add the flour to make a roux, and cook a couple of minutes. Add the milk slowly, stirring constantly. Add the potatoes and collards and salt and pepper (and nutmeg, if you've got it). Stir. Bring to a boil, and then the sauce will start to thicken.

Add all but 1/4 cup cheese. Stir. Put in a greased dish. Bake 1 hour at 375F, uncovered. Then cover and cook 20 min. Remove cover, add remaining cheese and bake 5 mins. You can add some breadcrumbs to the topping if you like, and if you are me and have a ton of breadcrumbs.

Granola Bars

You must make these. The mixing took 10 mins. The cutting after the freezing took 5 mins. Apparently, the author updated the recipe to add coconut oil, which helps them hold together better (they are a bit crumbly). But delicious!!

The recipe comes from Averi, and can be found here (you'll have to scroll down). This is the version without the coconut oil. See her many variations...

Energy bars/granola bars
1.5 cups oats: 0.37
1/2 cup chocolate chips: 0.40
1/2 cup peanut butter: 0.50
1 banana, mashed: 0.19
1 tsp vanilla: 0.25
1/4 cup raisins: 0.25
1/4 cup dried cranberries: 0.30
2 Tbsp sunflower seeds: 0.10
2 Tbsp flax seeds: 0.10
2 Tbsp chia seeds: 0.35
1/4 cup maple syrup: 1.00
1/2 cup grated coconut: 0.25

Total: $4.06 for 15 small bars, or about $0.28 each. If you make them more "bar" sized, they are still only $0.34 each (if you make 12).

Mix all ingredients well. Press into a plastic-wrap lined pan and freeze. Cut into bars and wrap in plastic. Mine were crumbly, so I ended up with 14 - #15 I ate (the crumbs).

Split Pea Soup and Salad

Funny story. After googling to look for a split pea soup recipe from California Pizza Kitchen...I found it, posted it earlier, (you can see it here) it was yummy...decided to make it again today.

Turns out I already had the recipe, in a cookbook (Top Secret Recipes Lite), that I've had for at least a decade. Ah...maybe I should read my cookbooks more. So many recipes, so little time.

Tonight's dinner was very green. Green salad and green soup. And Nick had soup and avocado, and some lettuce that he stole from daddy's bowl.

The salad had feta, walnuts, roasted peppers, kalamatas, sun-dried tomatoes, and balsamic vinegar and olive oil. And avocado.

This last week I was a good leftover week. In addition to the lentil artichoke stew, we had Spouse's Gramp's beef stroganoff and asparagus...which was on sale at Vons for $0.99/lb!! I ate at least a pound of asparagus over the space of 24 hours.

Last night we ate at the Red Pepper restaurant for a dinner with my hub's old professor, who is retiring. Yummy food, so I picked up a takeout menu (you never know), and of course, none of the food we ate was on the menu...all from the secret menu. My faves were the eggplant and the Chinese stir-fried greens with garlic.