Coconut Lime Curry for a Pregnant Mama's Worry

                       

My sweet little sister is 9 months pregnant with her 3rd child.  She has been craving this curry since Caleb made it for her this summer as part of a Cousins Iron Chef competition we had at her house.  We were talking about it this morning, laughing about how she dreams of this recipe.  

"Oh, Katie, you went past your due date.   You need this curry!  You deserve this curry." I said.  "I will see if I can't find the recipe, or at least a list of ingredients for you." 

"Today?  Will you find it today?" she presses.  She is overdue, worried this baby is never going to come.  Or, that he may come while she is trick-or-treating with her toddler.  Actually, she's worried he's going to come at the perfect time.  It just is past time, already.

"I'll do my best." I assure her.

I have to admit, this commitment is a little shifty.  No one in our family - my mom, my sisters, my husband and kids - is good about keeping a record of what we throw into a pot of sauce.  And, it is unconscionable to give an over-due pregnant woman false hope about anything.  However, I seemed to remember that since it was a competition the kids had at least made a shopping list in a notebook somewhere.

School gets out, kids come home, notebooks are gathered.  Caleb has no record of the event.  Hannah, on the other hand, had written more than a list of ingredients.  She had the whole recipe and remembered the alterations they had made for their competition.  

So, as a good omen, an act of desperation on behalf of my beautiful sister, I send her this curry recipe - spicy, tangy, creamy, savory - in hopes that it does her some good in preparation for having that baby ANY TIME NOW!

                   

Thai Coconut Curry Soup - For 6

2 tbsp canola oil - $0.05

2 tbs ginger, grated - $0.10

2 garlic cloves, minced $0.10

1/4 cup cilantro - $0.25

2 cups spinach - $1

2 cans coconut milk - $3

3 cups veggie broth - $1

1 cup cream - $1

2 tbs lime juice -$0.10

2 tbsp yellow curry powder - $0.10

1/2 lb baby carrots - $0.50

2 red or green chili peppers, diced tiny - $0.10

1 avocado, diced - $1

1/2 small red onion, diced - $0.10

3 cups rice - $0.25

Family Dinner Total - $8.65

Per Person Total - $1.44

1. Cook the rice.

2. Sauté ginger and garlic in oil

3. In a food processor or blender, combine cilantro, spinach and one chili pepper with one can of the coconut milk.  Blend it up and add it to the pan with the garlic and ginger.

4. Add remaining coconut milk, cream, broth, lime juice, curry powder and carrots.  Bring soup to a boil over medium heat.  Cook until carrots are tender.

5. Server hot over rice.  Top with peppers, avocado, and onion.

                       

P.S.  This recipe, featuring Garlic and Avocado, among lots of other fresh ingredients, is a preview to my promo of the book The 52 New Foods Challenge, by Jennifer Tyler Lee.  You won't believe the great food she has inspired me to share.  Tune in tomorrow for another awesome curry recipe you won't want to miss.

Caleb with his soup and the 52 New Foods Challenge

Four Recipes - Ten Freezer Meals

10 Family Size Freezer Meals

 Chili: 4 Quarts

Ingredients

1 large onion, finely chopped and sautéed

2 red or green peppers, finely chopped and sautéed

4 cans of tomato sauce

4 cans diced tomatoes

2 cans of black beans

2 cans of white bean

5 Tbs. chili powder

3 Tbs. cumin

3 Tbs. garlic powder

2 Tbs. salt

2 Tbs. pepper

3, 12ounce cans of chicken, with the broth

               

Instructions

Combine all and bring to boil, reduce heat, simmer. Taste, taste, taste.  Does it need more garlic or chili powder, salt or pepper.  Season to taste.  Simmer at least an hour for flavors to stew together. Allow to cool.  Measure into quart size freezer bags.  For added safety, put each quart size bag inside a gallon freezer bag.  Reheat in microwave.  Enjoy the deliciousness.

Enchilada Casserole: 2- 9X13 pans

Ingredients

5, 16ounce cans tomato sauce

2 Tbs. cumin

¼ cup chili powder

1 Tbs Garlic powder

½ Tbs. salt

½ Tbs. pepper

36 corn tortillias

6 cups shredded cheese

3, 12ounce cans of chicken, drained and broken up

Instructions

In a large sauce pan, combine tomato sauce, spices, salt and pepper for the sauce.  Heat to a boil, then simmer for ten minutes.   Spoon a thin layer of sauce on the bottom of a 9x13 cake pan.  Add a layer of corn tortillas, overlapping and broken to fit in corners.  Crumble chicken on top of tortillas, top with cheese, then sauce.  Begin the layering process again.  Repeat until you have three layers ensuring sauce is the final layer so the cheese won’t stick to foil when baking.  Make both casseroles.  Cover well with heavy duty freezer foil.  When ready to eat, bake in a 350 oven for about an hour or until piping hot through the center.  Top with cheese if you wish.

Chicken Ala King: 3+ quarts sauce, three bags rice

Ingredients

3 cans of chicken with broth

1 sautéed green or red pepper

2 lbs frozen broccoli, chopped

2 cans of cream of chicken soup (This recipe can be made gluten free by omitting the cream of chicken and adding a little more of your other wet ingredients and chicken bullion. With a little extra lemon and garlic you can't tell)

2 cups of sour cream

1 cup of mayo

1 8ounce pkg of cream cheese

2 cups shredded cheese

¼ cup lemon juice

1 Tbs garlic

1  Tbs. salt

2 Tbs. pepper

1 Tbs cornstarch dissolved in 1 cup of cold milk

Keep separate: 12 Cups Cooked Rice

Instructions

In a large soup pan, combine all ingredients.  Bring to a low boil being careful not to scorch the bottom of the pan.  Once a low boil is reached turn the heat to a low simmer for 10 minutes.  Stir until the cheese is melted and worked in.  If your sauce still seems stringy with cheese, dissolve a little more cornstarch in cold milk and add to the sauce.  Stir until it a thick, smooth sauce.  Taste, taste, taste.  Does it need more garlic or lemon, salt or pepper.  Season to taste.   Measure into quart size freezer bags.  Measure rice into separate quart sized bags.  Put one sauce bag and one rice bag into a gallon size bag.  When ready to serve, heat sauce and rice in their bags, separately in the microwave.

Fried Rice: 2 - ½ gallon size meals

Ingredients

3 Tbs vegetable oil

2 Tbs sesame oil

1 lbs carrots, thinly sliced

1 lbs broccoli, finely chopped

1 onion, finely chopped

10 oz cooked crumbled bacon

10 cups of cooked rice

3 Tbs soy sauce

4 tsp of granulated bouillon or 4 ramen flavor packets

1 Tbs garlic powder

1 tsp ginger powder

1 tsp salt

1 Tbs pepper

Instructions

In a large sauce pan or wok sauté carrots, onion and broccoli over medium-high heat till tender.  Add bacon and sauté for another minute or two until the bacon has a nice crisp to it..  Turn heat down to medium, add rice, soy sauce, seasoning, salt and pepper.  Taste, taste, taste.  Does it need more garlic or soy sauce, sesame oil or pepper.  Season to taste.  Stir thoroughly till all rice is well coated with seasoning and light brown in color.  Cool and measure into gallon size freezer bags.  To serve, reheat in the freezer bag.

Thanksgiving Leftovers - Part 2 - Croquette Anyone

image credit: http://edwinahart.wordpress.com/2010/11/01/184/

I love the images of friends and family in idyllic settings, so couldn't resist this one.  You may wonder what it has to do with Thanksgiving leftovers, and why I'm still sharing now that that we are closer to Christmas than Thanksgiving.  Well, above, you see a striking young Victorian woman readying for her turn at a match of croquet.  Here at my house, we are readying to make a batch of croquette - potato croquette that is.

image credit: foodnetwork.com

In our house fried food is a favorite this time of year.  As if we need more fat and calories to wash down our holiday meals with.  But, we are getting ready for Hanukkah and these little tasties are perfect practice for the latkes we will make.

Here's Paula Deen's recipe and instructions:

Potato Croquette
2 tablespoons milk
Salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon chopped green onion
2 egg yolks, beaten
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
4 cups mashed potatoes
1 egg, beaten
Panko bread crumbs (or gluten free option see note below)
Veggie oil, enough to fill pan 1/2-inch

Directions

Add milk, salt, pepper, chopped onion, beaten egg yolks and flour to mashed potatoes. Chill and then shape using an ice cream scoop. Dip in the beaten egg, then roll through bread crumbs. Fry each croquette in shallow oil until brown on all sides.

Cook's Note: Cook in small batches, giving each croquette at least 2 inches of space around it to not overcrowd the pan. This prevents the croquettes from crumbling while frying.  Also, try adding a couple of minced garlic cloves, cilantro or cheddar cheese for a different twist.

Gluten Free Note: To make these gluten free, follow all the instructions above, but put the croquettes in the freezer for 30 minutes before you dredge and fry them.  This will keep them from falling apart in your pan. Use corn meal or gluten free "all purpose flour" instead of flour.

Thanksgiving Leftovers - Part 1 - A Bone to Pick

Photo credit: cooking-spree.com 

One of my last posts was also about leftovers, a mostly failed attempt at incorporating the morning's oatmeal into a batch of cookies.  When that didn't work I tuned the batter into muffins and that was the key to my success, trying something different.  So, this year, if Grandma's leftover recipes aren't doing it for you, try something new.  And no offense to Grandma, she's one of my favorite cooks.

After feeding fifteen of us this year, we have the usual suspects as leftovers; turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, sweet potatoes.  The thing is, right after Thanksgiving, I don't feel like doing lots of cooking, so all of these recipes must be low maintenance.  Aside from the typical line-up of turkey sandwiches, turkey casserole, or just straight up reheating everything, here are some great recipes you can try.  Some of them are great for my vegetarian friend, some will work for the gluten-free folks, all of them are great for stretching your holiday-week food budget.

Let's start at the top - Turkey

Note: If you're a vegetarian, you may want to skip this part, it's not pretty.

"Are you gonna throw those bones away?" my husband asks our hostess after enjoying a great dinner of broiled chicken and vegetables.

"Yeah, what else would I do with them?" she asked.

"Well, you make soup.  You throw those bones into a pot and make chicken stock, then you can turn that into chicken and dumplings or anything you want."

"I'm not going to do that, but you're welcome to take them."  He was amazed that she felt the effort to throw the chicken into a stock pot was more than it was worth.  It seems to me we left that meal with a bag of bones in tow.  Again, waste not, want not.  It's coming to be a mantra around here.

Another note: I know this recipe looks super involved.  It's really not. 

Turkey Tortilla Soup
Part 1: Submerge and simmer in 2 quarts of water any "spare" parts you retrieved from the turkey before baking (neck, giblets)
Part 2: 1 leftover turkey, demeated (is that even a word?)
1 bunch celery, cut bottom off and throw stalks into the pot
2 large onions, halved but not peeled (the peel turns the soup a rich brown)
10 garlic cloves, don't bother peeling these either
2 Tbsp season salt or Mrs. Dash
salt and pepper to taste
Part 3: soup veggies and turkey meat
1 tsp cumin
1 tbsp chili powder
1 can black beans (if desired)
Part 4: 3 cups cooked rice
fresh chopped tomatoes, peppers, onions - or use a can of seasoned tomatoes like Rotel
cilantro, avocados chopped and set aside
1 cup shredded cheese
1-2 cups crushed corn tortilla chips

Part 1 of this soup begins before the turkey even gets into the oven by removing the "extra" parts from the bird and putting them in a pot with all of the above ingredients (except the turkey bones and meat, obviously). I add about two quarts of water, bring it to a boil and then let it simmer for the day while the turkey is baking and the festivities are underway. If you don't do it that way, don't worry, just move on.

Part 2 After dinner is over and dishes are done we turn our attention to the turkey carcass and strip as much meat as we can from the thing.  I know, sounds disgusting.  It is serious hunter-gatherer work, and not for the faint of heart.  When we've carved and pulled as much meat away as we can get, we bag it up for later use and put the whole pile of bones into a stock pot with the Part 1 items.  Then we add a bunch of celery, some onions halved but not peeled, a handful of garlic, salt and pepper.  We cover it all with water, set it on a high heat until it starts to boil, then turn it down and let it simmer for several hours.   This part is super easy, no baby-sitting or watching the pot.  Just let it do its thing. This can also be done the next day if it's late and you need to go to bed.

Part 3 Once your stock is ready, (at least 4 hours later) pour it through a strainer into a large bowl.  With a fork, pull off any remaining meat you can get, and retrieve any garlic or onion pieces you may want (they should be out of their skins now).  You should have LOTS of stock and could freeze half of it for later and use half for now.  Once you've divided it up, pour your stock back into the pot (at least 6 cups) and add any chopped veggies (carrots, potatoes, anything else) you want, as well as the turkey meat, beans and spices.  The veggies should only need 20 minutes on a medium boil to cook.  When they are tender your soup is done.

Part 4 Serve soup piping hot in the following fashion - Lay down hot cooked rice on the bottom of a soup bowl.  follow that with a sprinkle of cheese and a few generous ladles of soup.  Now add all the fresh cut veggies and finally top with corn tortilla chips.  This is NOT your Grandma's turkey soup.  It's SO savory and tasty you will want to have it every time you have leftover poultry bones to grapple with.

Question: What do you do with your leftover turkey?
Tune in next time for potato croquettes, stuffing fritatta and sweet potato muffins.

Month 2 - Day 1

Today I took our cash out of the bank,  $250.  I left $50 in the bank to cover our Bountiful Baskets for the next month.  I went to Costco and raided the dairy shelves.  I like to call that place the Hundred Dollar Store, as in the antithesis to the Dollar Store, because it's tough to get out of there without giving up at least a hundred dollars.  Thankfully, today, I did it for $67.

So, now I have $183 in cash, and a lot of food in my house.  Saturday's $15 Basket o' Bounty provided us with about 15 lbs of fresh produce.  Add to that a well stocked pantry and a freezer full of food and you won't be worried about us this Holiday Season. 

Tonight's dinner was simple and delicious.  We ate red meat two days in a row, which rarely happens for two reasons:

1. We don't generally have red meat in the house because it is more expensive and less healthy than other meats, and
2. When we do have it, we tend to eat it ALL gone in one meal.

However, when I went to donate blood last week I was DENIED because my hemoglobin was low.  Because I want to try again tomorrow, the phlebotomist recommended red meat, spinach and a few other key foods to beef up my red blood cell count.  Thankfully, I happened to have a large roast in the freezer.  And, yesterday I was smart about stretching the meal.

I'm sure lots of you have already stumbled upon the concept of portioning out certain foods before you bring it to the table, but I hadn't.  Plus, we have company almost every Sunday and we generally eat most of what is prepared.  But, as I was looking at this big piece of meat, and knowing it was just the six of us, it occurred to me that if I filled one serving plate, and put the rest aside, no one would really notice.  When I brought the plate to the table, no one did notice and everyone ate their fill.  I even had a little left over on the plate to add to the other I had set aside.

So, tonight's meal was shredded beef tacos with fresh spinach salsa.  Take that Mr. Blood Draw Man.  I better pass that darn hemoglobin test tomorrow or it's going to really make me mad.

Here's the recipe on the salsa.  I figure everyone who wants to know already knows how to make a roast in a crock pot, and if not, there are entire websites devoted to that sort of advice so I'll spare all my vegetarian friends the gory details about that.  Here's a feel-good veggie recipe instead.  Also, in the winter when tomatoes from the store taste disgusting, I omit them and use spinach as the main bulk in this salsa.

Fresh Spinach Salsa

1/2 medium onion, finely diced
3 roma tomatoes, diced
1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped
1 jalepeno, finely diced
2 large handfuls spinach, finely chopped
2 Tbs. lime juice
1 tsp salt

Sizzling Summer Squash

This recipe is brought to you by my first experience with Bountiful Baskets and a long-standing request for more ideas on how to use powdered parmesan in recipes.

Of course, we have to begin with back story. I have to say, that when it comes to parmesan, romano and other hard Italian cheeses, some people might call us snobs. I prefer connoisseurs. Or, you could call us purists. Snob just sounds so harsh.

A few years ago, we hosted a cooking class in our home and taught a crowd of women how to make pasta from scratch with several sauces besides. Brennan, our oldest, is a local legend for his famous alfredo, in which he uses heavy cream, butter and the best pecorino romano we can get - from Costco.  When one of our guests asked him, "So, can we just use something like powdered parmesan?" He wrinkled his nose, shook his head and said, "Why would you use that when a hunk of pecorino romano is the same price and it tastes WAY better.”

I think he was 12 at the time. And, he was right. Costco and other specialty stores have great prices on fresh hard cheeses. Additionally, hard cheeses still in their wedge last a LONG time in the fridge. But, not everyone can get to Costco, or wants to grate their own every time they need it. And, sometimes all you may have on hand is powdered parmesan. Well, no shame in that, and actually, there is a lot you can do with it. So, stick with me and I’ll give you a great recipe you’ll want to try as soon as you can.

On Saturday we got our first Basket o’ Bounty (see the link if you are still wondering what this is) and it was full of great stuff for $15. On the veggie side we got potatoes, onions, celery, yams and summer squash. For fruits we got a little gem case of huge blackberries, 5 kiwi, a bag of apples, 2 pounds of grapes, 2 persimmons (I don’t know what to do with those yet), 4 grapefruit and a bunch of bananas. It was all in good shape.

The summer squash was the one thing I thought my kids might be picky about. I decided if I cooked it right, they’d love it. As I pondered what “cooking it right” would look like for them I thought about the grilled veggies we’ve enjoyed at a local Brazilian grill. I fired up the barbecue, tossed the squash in a mixture of olive oil, minced garlic, powdered parmesan, salt and pepper.

It was a huge hit. They came off the grill sizzling with savory crumbs of cheese crusted to them. When I brought them to the table, this is what happened:

“You guys are gonna love these. They turned out so good. They are spicy and salty and the cheese makes an awesome coating.” I serve them all a few.

First Heba, our honorary family member from Egypt says, “Perfect. They are perfect.” I’m always pleased when Heba likes something because she’s an excellent cook and her opinion is highly valued.

Next, my husband, Don, “These are so delicious. It’s like eating a piece of meat. How did you do that?”

KC responds, “Well, it’s ‘cause she grilled it on our grill and we have so many charred meat remnants on it, of course it tastes like meat.” I shoot her a quick look, because the last thing I want is for Heba, an observant Muslim, to worry about is what kind of meat may be contaminating our veggies. That would NOT be Halal,
Heba only eats meat that is slaughtered and prayed over in a certain way.

Don picks up on my concern right away, “No, I scrub that thing off after every time we use it. There are no meat bits on these.” Nice save, partner. And the gospel truth.

Caleb, however, is inspired by the “meat” theme, and takes it to a new level “Yeah, these taste like you could make an awesome burger out of them.”

Brennan is out late acting as assistant stage manager on a big production at his school. When I pick him up, I have a warm plate of food in the car with me. He unwraps it and wordlessly devours the entire meal. When he is done he says, “Thanks, Mom. That was really good.” He usually has more to say about his food, but it was 11pm, he’s been up since 5:45am hasn’t eaten since lunch, so I take it as a high compliment.

The littlest among us takes one look and says. “I am not eating that. Please pass the rice.” She missed out.

Sizzling Summer Squash
2 medium summer squash, cut in ½ inch coins
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons powdered parmesan
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
Toss together in a large bowl.  Place on a plate and be sure the parmesan coating is even on both sides of the squash. Grill over medium-high heat until golden all around, maybe 5-7 minutes per side.  Keep an eye on them.

A New Family Favorite - Sabanekh

Photo from: http://theactorsdiet.wordpress.com/2011/05/05/ahhhh/

Our Sabanekh turns out just a bit more red/brown than this.

People have asked what we are eating on this here experiment of ours, wondering if rice and beans are our main staples, or maybe ramen noodles.  Well, actually, I have a recipe that incorporates some of those elements, but is far from the "poor people food" we're used to.  See what you think and I promise, next month, to give a better play-by-play of each meal.

Today KC and I made a big pot of Egyptian Spinach Sauce, a hearty, new family favorite. This is a recipe we learned from our favorite resident Egyptian, Heba.  She's living with us for the school year and teaches Arabic at our school.  I was introduced to this dish a few days after she moved in.  It was our first real culinary expedition together, and it ended so beautifully, my whole family frequently requests this awesome one dish wonder.

"Heba, do you know any recipes for spinach?" I asked as I peered in shame at the bunch of spinach in the fridge on the brink of going bad.  I felt ashamed because, since Heba moved in, I realize how much food we still waste, even though we try to be diligent and careful.  Egyptians waste nothing. 

"Yes.  I have one." She reported.  Then she got a gleam in her eye, "It is called Sabanekh and I think you will like it."  Just so you know, Sabanekh is easy for her to say, but not me.

I had made several of our favorites for Heba previous to this, and she had gotten to know the spices and variety we enjoy in our cooking, but this was her first time to show me something new and she was excited. 

"It's very quick and I think you have everything.  You have tomato paste?" she asked.

"Yes."

"You have vegetarian soup stuff, what is this called?  The water from the soup?" she mimes ladeling broth from a bowl of soup and bringing it to her lips.

"You mean broth?"

"Yes, broth."

"The only vegetarian soup stuff I have is some seasoning packets from ramen.  Will that work?"  Everything we make together starts out vegetarian because all of her meat has to be Halal, which is a Muslim form of Kosher.  Heba eats plenty of meat, but it has all been slaughtered in a specific way, prayed over and purchased in a Halal market.

"Yes, that will work." 

Heba smiled and went to work, so excited to bring us one of the great Egyptian comfort dishes.  It takes about an hour, tops, to prepare, and truly it is the soul food of Pharaohs.

Sabanekh – Egyptian Spinach and Rice

This recipe comes is borrowed from egyptianfoods.org, with some adaptations. 

Ingredients
1 bunch fresh spinach (cut into small strips)
3 tablespoons butter
1 large onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped fine
2-3 bouillon cubes (or ramen packets)
3 tablespoon tomato paste
1 T coriander
1 T cumin
1/2 tsp. hot chili powder (cayenne is great)
3 cups water
salt
pepper

Directions

Wash spinach well and cut into small sized strips. I usually take a few leaves, and slice them together into strips, leave the stem, not problem. (This technique is called a chiffonade. It does not have to be perfect, you just want to get them into longer, smaller strips.) Set aside.

In a large pot or stirfry pan add chopped onion, garlic and butter and sauté until soft.

Add spinach, tomato paste, bouillon, spices, and stir around until well coated.  This is actually such a rich sauce that you can hide all kinds of pureed veggies in it, I espescially like carrots and zucchini.

Add 2-3 cups of broth. (You can add or decrease broth, depending on how thick you’d like it to be, check while cooking and add more or less broth. End result should be thick, but watery enough to be like a thick sauce — hope that makes sense.).

Bring to a boil, and simmer for 20- 30 minutes on low heat.

Serve next to (or on top of) rice or browned fideo noodles and with pita bread for scooping.

Where We Stand Today

The Live On What You Give Experiment is running from October 20 through January 20th.  I draw cash for groceries and other food purchases on the 20th of each month.  The amount of cash we allow ourselves is set and equal to the amount of cash we donate to help individuals and families in need right in our own area.  You can read more about where our cash contributions go, here and here.

For this particular experiment I did not stock up.  I did not inventory what I had and decide what I might need in order to make it to the end of the month.  I also didn't plan any contingencies for camping, Halloween, or birthday parties (we have one tomorrow). Those all had to fall into the budget.  So, here's where we stand.

We went camping with cousins and I scrounged up all the granola bars and snack items I could find in our food storage.  I also brought hot chocolate, cereal, paper cups, bowls and spoons, all from food storage.  We bought french bread and soda on sale and made other meal contributions from our garden.  It was amazing, because in the past I remember spending upwards of $50 for a simple over night camping trip.  This time we pretty much only brought what we had.

For Halloween, I bought the big bag-o-candy.  I considered taking it back since we were going to our friends' neighborhood, but we ended up with a few of our own trick-or-treaters before we left, so the candy stays.  I hope I can make it last through the holidays. 

Earlier in the day Don had a party at work.  Food storage and garden items came in handy for the seven+ layer dip he brought.  We had beans, el pato hot sauce, and olives from the pantry.  Our garden was prolific with onions, peppers and tomatoes this year.  Only three items came recently from the store: cheese, sour cream and cilantro.

Before trick-or-treating, we had a big chili party with our friends.  There were three families and three pots of chili.  I found a white chili recipe on allrecipes and made it my own, using canned turkey instead of chicken breasts and only 2 cans of beans instead of 5 (who uses that many beans?).  I also added one cup of cream.  The cream and the cheese were the only items that did not come from food storage.  It was delicious and we ate most of it.

So, I have made a handful of trips to the store in the last 10 days and am left with less than $100 to get us through to November 20, when I can draw cash again. It may not sound that hard, but we are foodies, and there are six of us. I have to say, that in order to make it, I think I'm going to have to implement "No More Grocery Shopping" again and stay out of the store.  Costco is like a death trap in this experiment. 

I'll update again soon to give details on where we are.

The Promise of Beans

So, I promised I'd post a recipe for beans. My good friend, Lindsey, posted this on her Facebook page and I tried them. Delicious. Simple. Straight forward. The only thing I did differently was add extra salt and spices. I'm a girl who likes a lot of spice.

We ate the beans and rice covered in a savory chicken broth with cheese, avocados, and home made picante. It was a perfect mix of fresh and food storage. So delicious and nutritious. And, the whole meal was gluten-free, which is one of my new pursuits.