Budget Eating - 10/8 - 10/10

Friday

Wontons (from costco) in soup for the husband and me (sliced up green onions, red pepper and bok choy and simmered with the frozen wontons in chicken stock and water). I pan sauteed some wontons for the kids.

Saturday

I was inspired by this vegan version on Peas and Thank You. My version is not vegan. I used the whole wheat pretzel recipe from my bread maker manual and some frozen Coleman Organic hot dogs from Costco. My son, who would live on junk if I let him, ate the hot dog out. My daughter, who likes junk but also good stuff, ate only the bread. Jack Sprat, I tell you.

kids plate - yogurt dip, fruit, veggie, pretzel dog (on a stick!), cheese

my plate

Sunday

lunch - black bean and salsa quinoa 3 ways using some frozen black beans

Kids had the quinoa, some black bean nachos and a black bean and cheese quesadilla:

I had the quinoa atop greens with some crushed up tortilla chips and diced avocado:

Husband had quinoa with avocado, more salsa and tortilla chips:

Dinner

Out of a box for the kids - we love Annie! My daughter ate a couple of bites and then told me she wasn't really in the mood for mac & cheese. She ended up eating cucumbers, red peppers, pears, cashews and a boiled egg. Random, but healthy.

I had a green smoothie and husband had leftovers.

White Bean, Ham and Corn Soup

My entire family really liked this, which tends to be a rare occasion these days. 3 out of 4 I can do, but 4 out of 4? Quite a victory. I served it with bread and butter.

Crockpot White Bean and Ham Soup

2 c cooked white beans

1 c frozen corn

1/2 - 3/4 c diced ham - used mostly for flavor

2 carrots, diced

1/2 onion, diced

2 c chicken broth - I used the broth from this post

1 potato, cubed

1 c water

Mix all in crockpot and cook on high 2-3 hours

1 chicken - 4 dinners

I don't eat much chicken anymore, mainly because I don't want to eat traditional, factory farmed chicken and organic, free range chicken is really expensive. But, this week I was at Costco and they had organic (not free range - which isn't ideal) whole chickens for $2.99 a lb. They were bundled in twos and my two birds cost about $20, so roughly $10 a bird.

I roasted the chicken using this Cooking Light recipe:

We had it for dinner with a salad. We had about 2 cups of shredded chicken left over.

I used the carcass (hate that word) and put it in the crockpot with ~6 cups water, celery, onions, carrots, bay leaves and peppercorn and cooked on high for a couple of hours. I got about 6 cups of stock.

I used the chicken, 4 cups of the broth (froze the other 2 cups for later use) and about 6 cups of cut up veggies to make Chicken Pot Pie. I got enough filling for 3 pies and froze the 2/3 of filling.

So - 1 chicken got us 4 dinners and an extra can worth of chicken broth. Not bad for $10!

Remember me?

Hi- I've been awful about posting to this blog in the last month. I've been doing a lot of raw food eating and preparing (can't say cooking) and have a blog set up for that:

www.rawhousewife.wordpress.com

I eat a cooked dinner most nights. Here are a few of the things I've made recently.

Tomato Basil Soup with fresh tomatoes instead of canned

Steak and Pepper Noodles - this is one of my husband's top 5 favorite dishes

Peanut Noodles. These were phenomenal!

CSA - Week Eight

Tomatoes - I've dehydrated at least half. We've eaten several raw and mashed up with avocados.

Eggplant - I'm going to try a dehydrated raw eggplant 'bacon' tomorrow. Should be interesting at least....

Okra - Sitting in the fridge, waiting for the husband to do something with it.

Figs - dehydrated. Yum! Like little candies.

Potatoes - going to roast into oven fries for the kids.

Banana Peppers - cut up over salads and pizza.

Bell Peppers - eaten raw

Butternut Squash - not sure what I'm going to do with these yet.

Peruvian Beef Kabobs and Tomato Basil Pizza

I used some of last week's produce in the following two dishes:

Peruvian Beef Kabobs

Magherita Pizza

Eggplant, Zucchini and Tomato Tian

I used this recipe from Cooking Light which used tomatoes, eggplant and zucchini from the CSA produce. I slightly modified and here is my version:

Ingredients

• 1/2 lb eggplant, sliced into 1/4 inch slices
• 1/2 pound zucchini, cut diagonally into 1/4-inch-thick slices
• Cooking spray
• 1/2 pound large beefsteak tomatoes, seeded, and cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices
• 1 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• 1/4 teaspoon salt, divided
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided
• 3/4 c Panko breadcrumbs
• 1 cup (4 ounces) grated fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 1 tsp dried Italian Seasoning
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 cup butter, melted

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 375°.

2. Arrange eggplant and zucchini in a single layer on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Lightly coat vegetables with cooking spray. Bake at 375° for 15 minutes. Arrange half of eggplant in a single layer in an 11 x 7-inch glass or ceramic baking dish coated with cooking spray. Top with half of zucchini and half of tomato. Drizzle 2 1/4 teaspoons oil evenly over vegetables. Sprinkle vegetables evenly with 1/8 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon black pepper.

3. Mix breadcrumbs, cheese and next 3 ingredients (through garlic) to processor. Sprinkle half of breadcrumb mixture evenly over tomato. Repeat layers with remaining eggplant, zucchini, tomatoes, oil, salt, pepper, and breadcrumb mixture. Pour butter over top. Bake at 375° for 1 hour or until vegetables are tender and topping is browned.