CinnaBunz

Cinnamon rolls I made for a brunch with my parents:

Recipe here.

Potato-Kale-Zucchini-Carrot Soup

This soup turned out pretty good.  I won’t say I invented it, because there are probably a billion similar soups out there, but I kind of made it by feel and not using a recipe.  One tip: don’t over-cheese it: too much cheese in hot soup gets stuck all over the inside of your mouth.

Ingredients:

• 2 Russet potatoes, cut into 1-inch cubes
• 3 Small zucchinis, cut into 1-inch coins
• 4 Carrots, cut into 1/2-inch coins
• 2 Tomatoes, diced
• 2 Cups of chopped kale
• 1/4 Cup of chopped fresh parsley
• 1 White or yellow onion, diced
• 1 Shallot, diced
• 2-3 Cups vegetable broth
• 1 Cup shredded cheddar cheese
• Olive oil (used at your discretion)
• Spices (sage, thyme, and/or any kind of Italian seasoning)
• Salt and Peppper

Sautee the shallot, onion and spices in some olive oil.  When translucent, add the carrots and zucchini. Meanwhile, heat the vegetable broth in a large pot and add the potatoes.  Bring to a boil and cook until the potatoes are tender. Add the sauteed mixture and bring back to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Add the kale and tomatoes and simmer until the soup reaches the desired texture.

Makes enough for about 8 bowls. Serve with the shredded cheese and chopped parsley.

Ciabatta French Toast: OMG YUM

Another camera phone photo, sorry. I’m working on replacing my stolen camera, or getting a working one up and running from the camera dude in my house, aka my husband.

There’s something about the airiness of ciabatta that lends itself to french toast very well. It soaks everything up just right, and renders the tough chewiness of the bread a nice soft, spongy consistency. I used one egg, some cinnamon, soy milk, and a dash of sugar. I like to top it with Trader Joe’s blueberry syrup, because it’s runnier than jam but about an eighth the cost of pure maple. I refuse to put high fructose corn syrup (e.g. Aunt Jemima) on my breakfast foods.

Inspired by Panama: a Cheap & Simple Fish Dish

In Bocas del Toro, on the island of Bastimentos, at the Roots Restaurant, my friend G and I had a mind blowing dining experience for about $12 total. It involved a white fish in wine sauce, along with coconut rice & beans (made with coconut water, not coconut milk), patacones (mashed fried plantains), and cabbage salad. This is my ideal meal, and I would eat it every day if I could.

In an effort to at least recreate the fish part, I googled ’tilapia white wine’ and came up with this recipe.  If you need more motivation before clicking over, the sauce is made from white wine, shallots, parsley, olive oil, flour, and meyer lemons.  You really can’t go wrong with those ingredients.  In fact, any way you cook those up with white fish, it will undoubtedly taste damned good.

I spent about $7 on four tilapia fillets from Trader Joe’s.  Two Buck Chuck works fine for the sauce, and meyer lemons were about $3 for four, though I only used one.  All told, this meal cost about $15 for two, including the couscous I served with it.  We got a full meal for two plus leftovers for one.

Now I just need to find a good recipe for coconut rice, or more importantly, a good (and cheap) source for coconut water.

Cheap Eats: Sweet Potato Coconut Squash Soup

I went to Trader Joe’s this week craving sweet potatoes. I’d planned to make a sweet potato side dish, and I may still do that, but last night, because of the chill, I ended up throwing a soup together. As always, my cooking is experimental and my measurements are far from exact, so please keep that in mind if you attempt to try this.

Sweet potato coconut squash soup

Ingredients:

• About 2 and a half cups of cubed butternut squash.  I’m lazy as hell and hate cutting up unwieldy squash, so I use 2 packages of the pre-cut squash from Trader Joe’s.
• 2 sweet potatoes, cubed
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 1 tablespoon of green curry paste (or any kind of curry), plus a teaspoon of garam masala and whatever other Indian spices that you have laying around
• Olive oil
• Pinch of salt
• 1 can of light coconut milk, or half a can of regular coconut milk

Put the cubed squash and sweet potato in a stock pot and cover with water.  Bring to a boil, then simmer for about 10 minutes, or until the cubes are tender.  Drain off excess water until it covers about half of the squash and sweet potatoes.  In a sautée pan, add a generous dash of olive oil, the onion, curry paste and spices, and sautée until onion is transparent.  Add this onion/spice mixture and the can of coconut milk to the stock pot, and bring to a simmer.  Purée with a wand blender if you like, or leave it as it is if you like it chunky (and you know I do).

I served it with brussel sprouts sauteed in butter and olive pugliese from Trader Joe’s.  OMG so good!! Total cost: about $11 for 2-4 meals, depending on what kind of eater you are.

Recession Eats: Gorgonzola ‘Mac and Cheese’

Trader Joe’s 99-cent boxed mac and cheese is a good deal for lean times, but fresh is always better. Gorgonzola is surprisingly cheap, and this is both a quick and satisfying dish that makes 3-4 meals for about $5.

All ingredients from Trader Joe’s:

• 1 Wedge of gorgonzola ($2 or less)
• 1 Package of bowtie pasta ($.99)
• 1 Box of grape tomatoes (~$2)
• Olive oil, salt and peper to taste

Cook the pasta and drain it.  Coarsely grate about a cup of gorgonzola.  Dice about a cup and a half of tomatoes.  Combine with pasta immediately after draining for a melted cheese texture, or wait until the pasta cools for a crumbly cheese texture.  Add a dash of olive oil, salt and pepper, and mix until the pasta is coated.

Easy and YUM!

A Recession-Friendly Lunch Fit to Pack

If you’re lucky enough to still have a job, you may face the quandary that I do: what kind of cheap lunch can I pack that will still taste good once it makes it through my commute and four hours of sitting in the breakroom fridge?  I loathe packing a lunch, but going out is not economically feasible and I suppose I should be grateful that this is a problem resulting from having a job, for which I am thankful.

One major problem is that I’ll make something and then not want to eat it once it gets to be lunch time at work for various reasons, usually involving freshness, taste and the effect of time and transit. The exceptions to this rule seem to be yummy restaurant leftovers, pizza, or when I really hit on something that works for lunch.  I think I have found something.  It’s cheap, easy, healthy and most importantly, doesn’t indulge (very heavily) my cheese addiction.

All ingredients from Trader Joe’s. Buy:

• Salmon Burgers (4 to a pack)
• Whole Wheat Pitas (hard to separate, so if you know of a better brand, use that instead)
• Herb Salad Mix
• Goat Cheese
• Grape tomatoes (or bell peppers)
• Balsamic Vinagrette Dressing (or whatever you prefer)

AT HOME:

-Bake the salmon burgers on 400-ish for about 20-30 min

-Cut up one burger into small pieces and refrigerate the rest

-Pack a few handfuls of spring mix, diced tomatoes, crumbled goat cheese and diced burger in a bowl

-Pack a small container of salad dressing

AT WORK, SCHOOL, WHEREVER:

-Toss salad with dressing

-Separate pitas (good luck, I hate this part!)

-Stuff with the salmon burger/salad mixture

pita pita

I love bringing this lunch to work because the pitas perfectly contain the salad, and I’m not spilling food all over my keyboard. On the weekends I like to use the pitas and salad mix to make tuna pita sandwiches.  As a rule, I do not eat tuna at work as it stinks the place up (a friend calls it her ’stinky mistress’) and I can never get the scent off of my breath no matter how many sticks of gum I chew.