Saturday, May 18, 2013

Groceries 5/11/2013


Once again into the Aldi's automated doors, list in hand.

1 lb packs of sliced luncheon meats  x 5  @ 3.49                                                   $17.45
Strawberries 36 lbs @ .99 per lb                                                                            $35.64
Large Eggs   10 @ 1.19                                                                                         $11.90
Cottage Cheese   3@2.29                                                                                      $  6.87
Jalapeno Cheese snack Sticks 2 @ 3.29                                                                $  6.58
String Cheese        2@ 2.49                                                                                   $  4.98
Shredded Cheeses  4@ 3.29                                                                                  $13.16
Fresco Cheese  2 @ 2.29                                                                                       $  4.58
Zucchini    2lbs@ 1.29 per lb                                                                                $  2.58
Artisan Lettuce  2@ 1.99                                                                                       $ 3.98
Roma Tomatoes 2 lbs @ 1.19 per lb                                                                     $  2.38
Cantaloupe 5@ 1.29 each                                                                                     $  6.45
Large Pitted Olives 3 @ .99                                                                                  $  2.97
Almond Milk 2@ 2.49                                                                                          $  4.98
Chocolate Almond Milk 4@ 2.49                                                                         $  9.96
Diced Tomatoes  6@ .59                                                                                      $  3.54
Tomato Sauce 4 @ .29                                                                                         $  1.16
Heavy Whipping Cream  2@ 1.99                                                                       $  3.98
Hot Dogs  5@ .75                                                                                                $  3.75
Cream Cheese  2 @ 1.19                                                                                      $ 2.38
Half Pork Loin                                                                                                     $  8.81
Baby Bela Mushrooms 8 oz clamshells 3@ 1.59                                                 $  4.77
Carrots 2 @ .99                                                                                                    $  1.98
Celery 2@ 1.29                                                                                                    $  2.58
Onions  3lb bag                                                                                                    $  1.69
Flat Leaf Spinach  2 @ 1.69                                                                                $  3.38
Navel Oranges 3 lb bags 2@1.48                                                                        $  2.96
Red Delicious Apples 3 lb bag                                                                            $  1.99
                                                                                                  TOTAL   =    $  177.43

In the coming week, I will be making Paleo Lasagna with zucchini as noodles, Chicken Curry, and maybe some Spaghetti Squash and some kind of sauce to go with it.

Husband came up with the wonderful idea of using some chocolate Almond Milk with strawberries and a frozen banana as a smoothie.  Aldi has Chocolate Almond Milk only as a "special buy", so when ours runs out, I will be back to using  Silk Pure Almond.  It's dark chocolate flavor is very nice; a little strong for me, so I cut it will some regular almond milk.  SO, some breakfasts have been using that as either a small drink to go with the meal, or a larger drink in lieu of the meal.  I try not to do the smoothie as the meal too often, since it does not keep us as full as an actual meal does.  But, they do taste so very good!

t

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Paleo Fish Piccata

I really do try recipes from chefs and cooks that are not Melissa D'Arabian.  Really, I do.  It is just that she is already so economically minded, and she had some VERY sumptuous recipes for not a lot of money.  She has already put so much of the legwork into making the recipes easy, and I just plain seem to like so many of her recipes that I think we have similar taste buds going on.

Here is the Fish Piccata recipe upon which I based my recipe:  http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/melissa-darabian/fish-piccata-recipe/index.html

I have been making her Fish Piccata recipe for a few years now, and I had missed it in my Paleo meal planning rotation.  I have tried it a few times, and believe that I have come up with the final recipe that I will be using from now on.

Swai Fillets  - 1 bag (6 medium fillets in a bag)                                  $ 5.49
Coconut flour -  2 heaping table spoons                                              $   .65
Bacon grease - saved from making bacon                                           $   .20
Capers  - 2 tbsp                                                                                   $   .50
2 large lemons - juiced                                                                        $   .50
1/4 to 1/2 cup white wine                                                                    $   .65
2 tbsp butter                                                                                         $   .15
                                                                                         TOTAL = $  8.14

Paired with this, I served a salad:
1/2 an artisan lettuce container                                                            $  1.00
Handful of black olives                                                                       $    .30
1 large carrot, grated                                                                            $   .15
1 tbsp almond meal                                                                             $    .10
dressing                                                                                               $    .10
                                                                                         TOTAL = $  1.65

And an onion/mushroom mash-up (sautéed until caramelized)
3 Onions, mandolined into rings                                                          $  .60
1 8oz clamshell mushrooms, sliced                                                      $1.59
2 tbsp butter                                                                                         $  .15
                                                                                        TOTAL =  $ 2.34

8.14+1.65+2.34 =  $12.13 for an abundant and delicious meal for my entire family!!  :-)

Take your fish fillets, and rinse them, then pat them very dry.  Salt and pepper them before dredging in coconut floor.  TAP OFF ANY EXCESS FLOUR!! Coconut flour absorbs more than other flours, so if you do not want your fish to be greasy, do not leave anything more than a thin film of coconut flour on your fish.  Also, do not give it a load of grease to absorb.  This took a few tries in my kitchen before I stopped putting the entire amount of frying oil in my pan at the outset.  You can use coconut oil or olive oil too, but I like the flavor that I get when I use bacon drippings.

Okay, so in a large pan, put only enough bacon drippings to cover the bottom of the pan in a very thin layer.  Once the drippings are heated, put your fillets in.  It will take about 3 minutes on each side to cook the fish thoroughly and cook the flour to golden.

I had three rounds of cooking, and I added a very little amount of bacon grease between batches of fish.

Once the fish is all done and set aside, pour white wine in your pan to de-glaze, stirring what will become the sauce until it is a little bit smooth.  I am never able to make it completely smooth, because there are crispy bits of flour in the mix, but I make it as smooth and integrated as I can before adding the capers and lemon juice. This will take about a minute.

When I get the capers out of the jar, I do not drain them.  I keep the caper juice in the spoon, so it adds a dimension of flavor to the sauce.

I wound up using half the lemon juice, because the lemons were really big!  I used the leftover juice to add flavor to a gallon of drinking water.

Plate your fish and spoon some of the sauce on each fillet and enjoy!  (I did not add the chopped parsley because I did not have any)

t

Paleo Lasagna

I have been making a lasagna with zucchini in lieu of noodles for some time now.  I love Hungry Girl recipes, and I started out with her Veggie-riffic Noodle-Free Lasagna Recipe (http://www.hungry-girl.com/show/more-surprises-shockers-and-swaps-veggie-rific-noodle-free-lasagna-recipe) and have been following it's general outline for a couple of years now in my own kitchen.

I made up a big batch of Bolognese sauce (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwyCUOijLeE) to be the base of the recipe.

The thing that always takes FOREVER when I have made this recipe in the past has been the cooking of the zucchini and eggplant.  This time, I told Husband that I was going to try an experiment.  I would slice the zucchini thin and put it into the lasagna raw.  I did not use eggplant, because (a) it was more expensive than I wanted to pay for, and (b) I did not think I could slice eggplant thin enough to allow it to really soften in the 40 minutes that the lasagna would be in the oven.

In this recipe, I added a HIGH volume of veggies.  This bulked up my bolognese sauce and made it last long enough to create three large pans of lasagna.  Three large pans!

Ingredients:
2 containers  Zucchini @ 1.29 per container                               $ 2.58
4 slices of bacon - diced                                                              $   .60
2 lbs ground turkey @ 1.69 each                                                $ 3.38
6 large carrots, grated                                                                  $   .75
6 stalks celery, diced                                                                   $   .75
3 onions, diced                                                                            $   .60
1 8oz clamshell of mushrooms                                                    $ 1.59
4 cloves garlic, pressed                                                               $   .50
Red Wine                                                                                    $  .75
3 cans spaghetti sauce @ 1.10 each                                            $ 3.30
dollop of heavy whipping cream                                                $    .20
1/2 stick of butter                                                                        $    .25
3 bags of shredded cheese  @ 3.29                                             $  9.87
1 dozen eggs                                                                               $  1.19
2 containers cottage cheese  2 @ 2.29                                        $  4.58
1 9oz bag spinach                                                                       $  1.69
Salt and Pepper                                                                           $    .25
                                                                             TOTAL  =     $32.83

Bolognese Sauce:
Melt 1/2 a stick of butter in your pot. Add diced bacon, and brown until crispy.  Add diced onions, salt them so they start losing their water and heat until caramelized.  Add celery and carrots, heat until wilted.  Add mushrooms and garlic until warmed.  Add ground meat of choice and brown.  Once meat is browned, add 1/2 to 3/4 cup of red wine.  Once the wine is absorbed or cooked out, add your spaghetti sauce.  I was lucky enough to get some jars of sauce from a friend of mine that she put up from her tomatoes least year, then slow roasted, then blended and cooked with some olive oil and oregano before canning.  To get the price above, I checked this week's Harp's circular.  When everything is done, and the sauce has been simmering for 30-45 minutes, add the heavy whipping cream and stir until fully integrated.

Zucchini (noodle) layer:
The containers of zucchini each had three good sized zucchini's in them.  I want to say that each container was marked at 1 lb, but I cannot be sure, since I tossed the containers when I washed the zucchini without noting any weight.  However, it seems to me that three medium/large zucchini's may be more than 1 lb.  So, 6 med/lg zucchini's, of which I had 1 1/2 remaining.  Basically,4 1/2 zucchini's went into this recipe.

White sauce:
In addition to the bolognese and zucchini, I add a faux béchamel sauce, that I modified from Melissa d'Arabian's faux ricotta cheese in this recipe (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/melissa-darabian/beef-and-bechamel-lasagna-recipe/index.html)   In a bowl, I put about half a container of cottage cheese and 4 eggs and mix them up.  If I really have time to kill, I will mix the egg whites until they can form stiff peaks, then mix the yolks and cottage cheese together, before folding it into the egg white mixture.  This makes for a voluminous layer. I was left with 1/2 a container of cottage cheese, so it is 4 eggs and 1/2 a container of cottage cheese per pan of lasagna.

In a sauté pan, wilt up your bag of spinach, then set aside.  Once all of these components are  done, you are ready to assemble!

Assembling your lasagna:
Put down a layer of bolognese, and then layer thinly sliced zucchini.
I dot the zucchini with the cooked spinach.  Not a full covering or anything, just enough to give some flavor and additional body to the dish.
Over the zucchini and spinach, spoon about 1/2 the white sauce.  At this point, you could put a layer of shredded cheese, and I chose to do that, but I have made it with absolutely no shredded cheese, and the flavor is still very good.
Repeat.

This recipe, in these amounts, yielded 3 large pyrex dishes of lasagna, so each lasagna was $10.95 (or $10.943 rounded up).  We ate one pan immediately, and I got 8 good servings - like really really big servings - per pan to put into the freezer for lunches for Husband or Thing1.

What has traditionally worked for me has been;
Bolognese
Zucchini & Spinach
White Sauce
Shredded Cheese
Bolognese
Zucchini & Spinach
White Sauce
Shredded Cheese

Bake in a 375 degree oven for 30-45 minutes.

We were quite happy to find that the zucchini softened nicely, and the dish was not too "wet".  In the past, when I have cooked the zucchini before assembly, the lasagna winds up being mildly soupy.  I will be using raw, thinly sliced zucchini from now on.

To make it full-on Paleo, take the cheeses out.  You will need more eggs, and will want to mix the spinach directly into the egg mixture.  If you take out the cottage cheese; for volume, you definitely want to whip up your egg whites before mixing with the yolks.  Whipping your egg whites also gives more of a ricotta texture to the finished product.  I have been out of all cheeses (both cottage and shredded) before, and decided to make this anyway.  I served it to a friend that told me that if she had not been in the kitchen chatting with me during all of the prep, she would have sworn there was ricotta in the lasagna.

I hope that you enjoy the recipe!

t

Wednesday, May 1, 2013

365 Day Spending Fast Update - March and April

March -  $ 56.86 in un budgeted expenditures.

3/3/13 - Last year, our church burned down, leaving only a shell of bricks, the inside was gutted.  We are re-building, and are trying to salvage 10,000 bricks from the old building in order to use on the face of the new one.  Our way of maintaining part of the old building.  Towards that end, on Saturdays, for a couple of hours, some of us meet up and "Brick Bash" i.e., remove the mortar off the old bricks.  With safety glasses, chisels with hammers, files, and hard bristle brushes, we have been chiseling, grinding, and sweeping away the old mortar so that we can re-use our old bricks.  I went and bought a large metal file, safety glasses and some chisels in order to entice a few more ladies to join us on Saturdays.  At Lowes, I spent 48.75.

3/26/13 - today was a kind of crazy day.  Since I was out of snacks in the car (baggies of almonds, an apple or two, and occasionally some jerky live in the van) and I had several errands to run after I picked up the girls, I gave in to ease and convenience and fed my kids crappy food from a drive through.  Of course, they responded by practically throwing me a ticker tape parade, but I was kicking myself for allowing the car rations to run so low. Long story short, I spent $8.11 for a happy meal, a grilled chicken snack wrap, a 99 cent cheeseburger and a 1 dollar sweet tea.  $8.11 could have made a perfectly acceptable and nutritionally dense meal for the entire family easily.  ugh...

Grocery totals for March and April:  My goal is to maintain our Paleo adjacent eating, and to keep it under the SNAP guidelines each month.  For our family of 4, that amount is $668.00 per month.

March grocery totals = $706.02 (overage of $38.02 - yikes!!- to be taken from $265.51 rollover, to leave the rollover amount at $227.49).

April - $23.94 in un-budgeted expenses

4/29/2013 - I wound up picking up my two and an additional child on my way to grocery shop.  Typically, when I pick the girls up, I have a treat prepared in the form of a hand full of almonds, some beef jerky, and other snacks.  While I was waiting for Thing1 to get out of school, a friend called and asked if I could pick up her daughter at the same time as I pick up Thing2.  Not having enough snacks for all three kids, and knowing that I was going to drag them all to the grocers, I drove straight through a drive through to the tune of $13.94 on our way to Aldi.  <sigh>  I know better.  Grrr....

4/1-30/2013 - I drove through McDonald's nearly every day for a $1.00 sweet tea as I was running around.  I will guestimate $20.00 in tea.  $20.00 in a month!  When I started digging all of the receipts out of the front pocket of my purse, I was kind of caught off guard by how very often I drove through for a drink and did not even think about it.  $1.00 a day adds up.  Plus, sweet tea?  It is one of the last hold overs from the way that I used to eat, and I need to break the habit.

April grocery total = $759.56 (overage of 91.56 - to be taken from $227.49 rollover, to leave to rollover amount at $135.93)

I know that I need to sit down and do some inventory of my cupboards, refrigerator, and freezers.  It is not a coincidence that I have not sat down to do a meal plan since the middle of March, and that my grocery bill is edging up and up.  I need to take my inventory, make some meal plans based only on the proteins and frozen veggies that I have on hand, and see if I can spend this month only as a supplemental month (i.e... only buy a few things a week to supplement what I already have on hand)

So, I need to avoid the lure of the drive-thru sweet tea, and I need to get back in the habit of taking inventory and making a meal plan every week.   - TO DO list updated! :-)

t