Cheap Eats

On Monday night I realized that I had been slacking on bringing my lunch with me and decided to make something that would take me through a couple of lunches.

The easiest vehicle for that is my Crock Pot! I am trying to save money, be healthy and NOT spend a lot of time cooking during the week. Out come the beans.

I order my beans through the mail from Rancho Gordo, and no they are not magic beans. They also do not get buried in the back yard where they are expected to sprout a bean stalk and take me up to a giant.

They are DARN GOOD BEANS though! I used marrow beans this time - the whole 1 lb. bag.

My method for Beans:
Rinse beans in a colander
Place in bottom of a crock pot
Add roughly chopped celery on top of beans
Add roughly chopped onion on top of beans
Add roughly chopped carrots on top of beans
Add 5 smashed garlic cloves on top of beans
Ad 1 tsp of whole peppercorns on top of beans
Add water to cover beans by about 1 inch
Set crock pot to low for 8 hours

The reason I add the veggies on top of the beans is to "weigh" the beans down as much as possible before the water is added so that the beans won't float up too much.

I set this to cook at 10pm. When I woke up in the morning (the final time, not 12am when I was woken up to take the big monkey to the ER) I had a healthy, nutritious, cheap and easy lunch to take to work.

I just put the beans in a container and topped with some of the carrots and bean broth. At work, I added some hot sauce and dug in! I think this would also make a great "base" stew - just added shredded meat, other veggies for the last hour of cooking, or right before you reheat.

This makes QUITE a lot of beans. The cost of the dish was $5 for the pound of beans (although you can find dried beans most place for under $2), about $.25 for the 2 stalks of organic celery, about $.20 for the 2 organic carrots, $.20 for the 1 onion and $.10 for the 5 cloves of garlic.

For $5.75 have at least 3 lunches and a couple of bags of beans to use as parts of other recipes.

Who says good, filling food has to be expensive?

Crazy mom makes dinner, from scratch, for a play date

Before SOME people start thinking that I eat gourmet meals every night I just have to say that dinner last night was an egg over easy wrapped in a tortilla and some leftover crab salad (bought, not made).

Tonight, however, I did cook. I had been talking to the mom of one of the Big Monkeys friends and we finally made plans for them to come to dinner tonight.

I have got to say, what a well behaved family (probably the fact that the dad is a cop and the mom works at the LA jail). Everyone is very soft spoke, polite and the 11 year old son played nicely with the 6 year olds on the trampoline.

Anyways, I was SWAMPED at work and ran out of there at about 5:20pm. I got to Trader Joes at 5:45pm, grabbed a couple of items and was home at 6pm. They were supposed to be at our house at 6pm. Luckily they were running a few minutes late.

When people (other than my closest friends) come over, I feel the need to cook something from scratch, or at least my version of scratch ;)

As I was looking through my database of recipes I want to make, this one looked easy and quick. It ended up definitely NOT disappointing. We were eating by 6:40pm!!

I didn't get a chance to take a picture of the ingredients - I was too busy trying to at least START dinner before they came.

Leo Maya's Chicken with Green Sauce
http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2007/09/unclogged-mario-batali-recipe-chicken-with-green-sauce.html
Posted by Mario Batali, September 13, 2007 at 4:00 PM

Our Acapulco-born babysitter, Leo, makes some of my favorite things to eat. At Christmas she makes turkey in a dark mole with toasted sesame seeds. In winter, she makes great enchiladas with soft, never-fried tortillas and a braised beef filling with queso fresco. She makes great albondigas (meatballs) with rice and beef or pork. And this week, she took some seasoned pork and made a kind of chili or sloppy joe mix with toasted dried corn that we ate as sandwiches on toasted burger buns.

But of all the things she makes, our favorite is a killer chicken and green sauce that she makes once a week.

That's why some of the best real cooks in my restaurant kitchens are from Mexico or Latin America—they watched their families make great food from scratch every day.
It's great to watch a natural cook because she does not consult a recipe—she just knows. And that's why some of the best real cooks in my restaurant kitchens are from Mexico or Latin America—they watched their families make great food from scratch every day. They simply understand that sofrito goes in first when you make a braised dish or that coaxing flavor out of something lean sometimes means to cook it very well done and chopping into small pieces and dressing it with citrus and scallions.

That said, this is the easiest thing to watch and make. She takes 2 pounds of chicken drumsticks and thighs (I used chicken breast) and removes the skin and sets them aside. Then she takes 3 pounds of husked tomatillos, 6 cloves garlic, and 2 serrano chiles (I used Trader Joes bottled tomatillo salsa since they didn't sell tomatillos and I was running late)and places them in boiling water for 2 minutes and then drains them. Still warm, she places them into the blender with the juice and zest of 3 limes and 1 bunch of cilantro and blends until just smooth (I skipped this step). She seasons it with salt (a lot) and then puts the sauce in a pan with the raw chicken, bringing it to a boil and then simmering it for 25 minutes (I put the tomatillo salsa, garlic paste, juice of 1 lime and 1 bunch cilantro in to the pan with the raw chicken). After that, she finishes it with the juice of another lime and a handful of chopped scallions (did the lime, skipped the scallions).



This was very quick and yummy! I served this with whole wheat pasta, sauteed zucchini and mushrooms and green beans.


The kids had a great time and were sad to part company.


I am submitting this recipe to the Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap. If you found me through Gayle's Blog, welcome. I hope you enjoy my blog, the recipe and leave a comment.

Crockpot Cooking

Trying to keep my financial resolutions, I decided to start cooking meals to take to work again. Also, I love to cook and love to share my successes, and failures, with the blogging community.

Last night at 11pm I decided to throw off my warm blankets, and put something in the crock pot. I had been looking at this great recipe for Jambalaya, and although I wouldn't be putting it over rice, I thought that the flavors would go nicely together. Thanks to the vegetables, it's also quite healthy.

FYI - I was back in bed by 11:20pm. Gotta love that.

Crock pot Jambalaya
Posted by Dewey on the CookingLight Bulletin Board

12 oz boneless skinless chicken breast, 1/2" cubes (used 1lb. turkey legs)
2 green peppers, chopped (used 16 oz. frozen pepper blend and 2 zucchini)
1 medium onion, chopped (omitted)
2 stalks celery, sliced
4 cloves garlic, minced (used pureed garlic)
14 1/2 ounces whole tomatoes, canned
1/3 cup tomato paste (subbed ketchup)
14 1/2 ounces fat-free beef broth, canned (subbed ½ water and ½ red wine)
1 Tbl dried parsley
1 1/2 tsp dried basil & 1/2 tsp dried oregano (subbed Penzey’s Pasta Sprinkle)
1 tsp Tabasco sauce (used ½ TSP)
1 tsp cayenne pepper (used ½ TSP)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 lb low-fat smoked sausage (omitted)
3 cups cooked brown rice


Cut chicken into 1-inch pieces. Add all ingredients except sausage and rice to Crock-Pot. Cover; cook on Low 8 to 10 hours (High: 3 to 4 hours). Add sausage last hour of cooking. If you want to include shrimp, add last 15 minutes of cooking. Stir in rice when ready to serve. 6 servings (big servings!)



This was REALLY good! Of course, I doubt it tastes anything like a real jambalaya (some of that is due to my changes) but it is a good comforting, healthy meal loaded with tons of vegetables!

By the way, I am submitting this for Gayle's recipe swap at http://grocerycartchallenge.blogspot.com/