Meal Plan for the Week

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It has been a long time since I have made a meal plan, and it has really been hurting my family (and my budget). I have been so busy that I just keep putting it off, but it isn't worth it. I am wasting more time and money trying to come up with dinner on the fly, or dealing with "I'm hungry" every day around 2pm and 10pm because I don't have the time to poke around the kitchen cabinets to see what we really have to eat, so I just throw some pasta on the table and call it good. It's not good. Time to start meal planning again. 
So to get back into the swing of things I Googled "Cheap vegetarian meal plans". What I found is exactly what I expected to find, meal ideas from people that are obviously not vegetarians, but are replacing a meat meal or two a week with a vegetarian option to save a few bucks. I got a whole lot of truly unhealthy recipes (frozen, processed crap), but I realized that I can make some simple substitutions and have great, healthy meals. In the spirit of saving time, I can work with this. 
I am going to post here what I found online, word for word. I am then going to cook these, and come back and update the recipes (in red) including what I did to make it healthy. I am only doing diner recipes for now because we have gotten into a routine with breakfast and lunch (grabbing whatever is in the fridge or quick) because we are on the run during the day.

Sautéed Chickpeas with Broccoli and Parmesan

• Yield: 4 Servings
• Cook time:15 Minutes
• Prep time:10 Minutes
• Cost Per Serving:$.80

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 small onion, thinly sliced
• 4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• Salt and pepper
• 1 1/2 heads broccoli, including stalks, trimmed and chopped (2 cups)

• 1 (10.5 oz.) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1/3 cup chicken or vegetable broth
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 1/3 cup Parmesan shavings

Preparation

In a large skillet (preferably one with a lid), warm olive oil over medium heat until hot. Carefully add onion, garlic and salt, and sauté, stirring often, until onion becomes transparent and garlic just begins to turn golden brown, 4 to 5 minutes.

Toss in broccoli; sauté for 3 minutes. Add chickpeas, broth and red pepper. Stir once, cover and cook for 3 minutes more, just to heat through and finish cooking broccoli.

Uncover, season with pepper, sprinkle with Parmesan and serve.

Refried Bean Tostadas

• Yield: 6 Servings
• Cook time:10 Minutes
• Prep time:10 Minutes
• Cost Per Serving:$.75

Ingredients

• 6 (6-inch) flour or corn tortillas
• 3/4 cup fat-free refried beans
• 3/4 cup jarred red salsa
• 1 cup shredded Cheddar (about 2 1/2 oz.)

• 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 cup shredded Romaine lettuce
• 2 tablespoons sour cream

Preparation

Preheat oven to 400°F. Mist every other cup of a 12-cup muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray. Press a tortilla into each sprayed cup, flattening out edges, and bake until golden, about 8 minutes.

Divide beans among tostadas, top with salsa and sprinkle with cheese. Return to oven and bake until warmed through, 7 to 10 minutes.

Place each tostada on a plate and sprinkle with cilantro. Top with some lettuce and a small dollop of sour cream. Serve with extra salsa, if desired.

Grilled-Vegetable Succotash Salad

• Yield: 8 Servings
• Cost Per Serving:$1.43

Ingredients

• Salad:
• 6 ears corn, shucked
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• 2 small zucchini, halved lengthwise
• 1 eggplant, quartered lengthwise
• 1 red onion, cut into 1/2-inch rings
• 1 red bell pepper, seeded, cut into 4 pieces
• 1 10-oz. package frozen baby lima beans

• Vinaigrette:
• 1/4 cup cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1 shallot, minced
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/3 cup olive oil

Preparation

Make salad: Preheat grill to medium. Brush corn with oil; season with salt and pepper. Grill for 10 minutes. Cool; cut off kernels. Place in a large serving bowl.

Brush zucchini, eggplant, onion and pepper with oil; season with salt and pepper. Push a metal skewer through onion rings horizontally. Grill vegetables, turning often, until softened but firm, about 7 minutes. Cool; cut into chunks and add to bowl.

Cook lima beans according to package directions; plunge into cold water to stop cooking. Add to bowl with vegetables.

Make vinaigrette: Whisk together all ingredients except oil. Pour in oil in a steady stream, whisking constantly. Pour over veggies; toss. Serve at room temperature.

Broccoli-and-Cheddar Mini Quiches

• Yield: 4 Servings
• Cost Per Serving:$1.57

Ingredients

• 2 cups broccoli florets
• 1 cup milk (do not use skim)
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 2 large eggs plus 2 large egg yolks

• 1 cup grated Cheddar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°F and line a large rimmed baking sheet with foil. Grease 8 cups in a 12-cup muffin tin and set aside. Pour 1 inch of water into a large saucepan and put in a steamer basket. Place broccoli in steamer basket, cover pot, turn heat to high and let cook until broccoli is just tender, 5 to 6 minutes. Let broccoli cool slightly, then chop into small pieces.

In a medium bowl, whisk together milk, cream, eggs and egg yolks. Stir in cheese, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Add chopped broccoli.

Put muffin tin on baking sheet, then ladle egg mixture into prepared muffin cups, filling each cup. Bake until lightly browned and no longer jiggly in center, about 25 minutes. Let cool slightly, then run a knife around each quiche. Put a clean baking sheet on top of muffin pan and invert to unmold quiches. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Pita Bread and Pea Salad

• Yield: 6 Servings
• Cost Per Serving:$1.36

Ingredients

• 3 pitas
• 1/3 cup plus 1 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 2 stalks celery, thinly sliced
• 1 cup frozen peas, defrosted, drained and patted dry

• 1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
• 1 cup cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced
• 1 cup baby spinach
• 5 ounces crumbled feta
• 1 tablespoon chopped mint
• 1 tablespoon chopped parsley

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°F. Brush both sides of each pita with 1 Tbsp. olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cut pitas into strips about 1 inch wide and 3 inches long. Place pita strips on a baking sheet and bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes.

Whisk lemon juice and 1/3 cup olive oil in a small bowl and season with salt.

Place toasted pita strips in a large salad bowl. Add celery, peas, onion and cucumber. Toss with lemon vinaigrette.

Just before serving salad, gently fold in spinach, feta, mint and parsley. Season with pepper.

Tomato-Basil Tart

• Yield: 6 (as an appetizer)
• Cost Per Serving:$1.03

Ingredients

• 1 sheet of thawed store bought frozen puff pastry
• 4 tablespoons chopped fresh basil, divided
• 3/4 cup grated fresh mozzarella

• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan
• 2 tablespoons jarred black olive tapenade
• 3 thinly sliced tomatoes

Preparation

Preheat oven to 425°F; line a large baking sheet with parchment. On a lightly floured countertop, roll out 1 sheet of thawed storebought frozen puff pastry to a 14-by-12-inch rectangle. Transfer pastry to baking sheet. Brush edges lightly with water; fold them in to form a 1/2-inch border, then press with a fork to seal all around. Prick pastry all over with fork.

Mix 3 Tbsp. chopped fresh basil with 3/4 cup grated fresh mozzarella and 1/4 cup grated Parmesan. Spread 2 Tbsp. jarred blackolive tapenade over inside of pastry. Sprinkle with cheese-and-basil mixture, then arrange 3 thinly sliced tomatoes decoratively on top. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake until crust is deep golden and cheeses are melted, 20 to 25 minutes. Sprinkle with 1 Tbsp. fresh basil and serve.

Broccoli and Double Cheese Calzones

• Yield: 4 Servings
• Cook time:20 Minutes
• Prep time:10 Minutes
• Cost Per Serving:$1.49

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups broccoli florets
• 1 large clove garlic, minced
• 2/3 cup ricotta
• 4 ounces mozzarella, coarsely grated (1 cup)

• 1 large egg yolk
• Salt and pepper
• 1 pound frozen pizza dough, thawed
• 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

Preparation

Preheat oven to 450°F. Bring 1 inch of water to a boil in a small pot. Place broccoli in a steamer basket, place steamer basket in pot, cover and steam until tender, 4 to 5 minutes. Let cool slightly, coarsely chop, and place in a medium-size bowl. Stir in garlic, ricotta, mozzarella and egg yolk; season with salt and pepper.

Divide pizza dough into 4 portions and use a rolling pin to roll each into an 8-inch circle. Place a quarter of broccoli mixture in center of a round, fold dough in half, and then seal by rolling edges together toward center and crimping. Using a sharp knife, cut two small slits in top of calzone to let steam escape. Repeat with remaining dough and broccoli mixture. Brush calzones with olive oil.

Mist a large, rimmed baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray. Place calzones on baking sheet and bake in center of oven until golden and risen, 13 to 15 minutes. Serve immediately, with warm tomato sauce on the side for dipping, if desired.

Spicy Rice Noodle Soup

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     I made this soup out of left overs in the fridge, and it turned out AWESOME. Perfect soup for a rainy day.

Get a tea pot boiling
Meanwhile, in a large bowl:

• Dry rice noodles or clear noodles (how ever many you need to feed your family/self)
• 3-4 tbs sriracha sauce
• 3-4 tbs peanut sauce
• 2 tbs fish sauce
• 2 tbs lime juice
• 1/2 - 1 cup shredded cabbage
• 1/2 cup creamed corn
• 1/2 cup tabbouleh
• Handful of fresh cilantro
• 2 large basil leaves (I used one purple and one green)
• 1-2 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tbs fresh grated ginger
• 1-2 tbs sesame oil
• 1/2 tsp really good salt ( I used pink Himalayan sea salt)

Pour the boiling water in the bowl, make sure all the noodles are under water. Let it sit for however long it takes your noodles and cabbage to get soft, about 5 mins. 

Dish it out into individual bowls or everyone can grab some chopsticks and enjoy. 

Enjoy!

It's Finals Week.....

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     I haven't been posting lately, but I promise, I have a good excuse. Its finals week. I know it has been a long time since I was in college, but I don't remember it being like this. Finals week is more like finals month. As of right now I only have one more test to take though, and then I am done.....until summer starts!
     Even though it is finals week (month) life goes on. The chickens are getting big, still not full size though.
They are, however, big enough to have attracted a hawk. I consulted everyone I could think of, I went to every website.....all the answers said that I basically couldn't do anything about it except shoot the hawk. I am not going to shoot a hawk. I also am not going to let the hawk eat my chickens, one by one. My solution was to go down to the local sporting goods store and pick up a BB gun. Unfourtunatly all fake guns now look like real guns, and I am not going to sit in my back yard with something that looks like a hand gun, and shoot at something that my neighbors probably can not see. My only option was to get a neon green "Zombie Purge" air-soft gun. It is about the stupidest looking thing I have ever seen, but it works great!

It makes a nice loud POP when fired and shoots little plastic hollow beads that really don't hurt much. The chickens will be safe!

I BELIEVE IN BUTTER!

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Did you know that vitamins A, D, E, and K are fat soluble? That means that they NEED fat to be able to absorb into your body. Did you know that vitamin D is needed for calcium absorption? Did you know that fat helps your body digest carbs? Did you know that in order to make food "low fat" or "fat free" they up the sugar, salt, and chemicals? It isn't even food anymore by the time it is done. It is something as foreign to your body as plastic and your body can not use it to nourish you. 

Did you know that monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats can lower cholesterol and reduce your risk of heart disease? How is that bad? I just don't understand your logic. Fat does not make you fat. And even if you are fat, so what. Screw it all. Be healthy! Fat helps keep your skin and eyes healthy as well as your brain. The brain is 60% lipids! Those are things I care about.

So what does all of this mean? 'Saturated fat' means fat where the molecule cannot fit any more hydrogen atoms on. 'Mono-unsaturated' means the fat molecule has room for one more hydrogen atom, 'polyunsaturate' means it has room for more than one. Hydrogenated fat isn't technically a saturated fat, so it looks OK on the label. But it is actually vegetable oil blasted with hydrogen so that it behaves like saturated fat and most of the time is chemically bonded with sugar. Basically it stays solid at room temperatures so that the product doesn't "seem" oily to the consumer.

So what, it is just vegetable oil, right? Lets take a look at how its made.....
1. Vegetable oil is mixed thoroughly with fine particles of nickel or copper.
2. It is then heated to a very high temperature (about 200 degrees celsius) and held at that heat for 6 hours.
3. Meanwhile, hydrogen gas is pumped through the mixture at high pressure, and then the excited hydrogen atoms penetrate the vegetable oil molecules and chemically change them into 'transfats' ('trans fatty acids'). These are new, complex substances that are not found in nature, except at low levels in some animal fats.
4. The mixture is then cooled down to form tiny hard plastic-like beads. These hard beads are known as 'hydrogenated oil'.
The beads of hydrogenated oil are mixed with liquid vegetable oil and heated up again to a high temperature. when this mixture cools you have margarine. Margarine made like this can contain 'trans-fats' at levels up to 40%.

Here is the kicker - Foods can call themselves "trans-fat free" even if they contain up to half a gram of trans fats per serving. Look on the ingredients list. If a food contains partially hydrogenated oils, it contains trans fats.

I am going to leave it alone at that. I wasnt even planning on preaching that much, but oh well. Some other day I will cover other fun facts having to do with MSG, Food Dyes, Artificial Sweeteners, and why you should never eat table salt!

Chicken Waterers and Seed Starters, Oh My!

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Today it was in the 60's. It was so beautiful. We spent most of the day outside with the chickens and the dogs. I got the chicken waterer rigged up, and it is fantastic. Definitely makes my life easier. I drilled some holes in a 3 gallon bucket, put some nipples through the holes (which I got at QC Supply for $1.89/each) and hung it from the ceiling of the chicken coop. Here is exactly how I made it (but I didn't buy from FarmTek, they were $1.00 more/each). This was so easy to do!

Since that is done and out of the way, time to get some more seeds going. This is what my dining room table looks like right now....I am about half done. 

So far I have planted seeds for:

Basil (7 different kinds including cinnimon), thyme, dill, rosemary, cilantro, marjoram, sage, spearmint, lemon balm, parsley, oeregeno, sweet mace, feverfew

Bell peppers (4 different kinds), hot peppers (a mix), sweet peas, garden peas, yard beans, green beans, sunflowers, cucumber, snake cucumber, black zucchini, green zucchini, yellow squash, watermelon (tons), cantaloupe (tons), pumpkins (2 different kinds), spinach, lettuce

Thus far I have over 1000 seeds started. Around 1000 more to go. That will happen this week!

Home Made Cleaning Solution

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So here is what I did today. I made a GIANT jar of cleaning solution. It was a lot brighter in the room then I thought it was, sorry about the pic being so bright. That is a regular Ball jar in front of my huge Ball jar though. 

To make the cleaning solution:

Fill a jar with citrus peels (grapefruit, lemon, orange, etc), fill the rest of the jar with white vinegar. Let sit for 2 weeks. Strain. Add essential oil if you wish. Use diluted 1:1. 

This is a great de-greaser. Use it in your kitchen, bathroom, floor, wherever. You are going to LOVE IT!

To Borax or not to Borax?

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     I love my dishwasher. It is my 3rd favorite thing in my house behind my cat, Mr. Pickles, and my clothes washer. Scott is number 4. SO, that being said I have seriously considered things like not using these environment raping thieves. So much water use, so many chemicals, what to do? Then I got to thinking about it. I can still use them, I just have to be smart about it.
    I made a commitment to get rid of all the chemicals in my house and it is happening slowly as we run out of things. It is now time for the first big ticket item, dishwasher detergent. Up until now it has been small things, vinegar to clean the windows, Jojoba oil for my moisturizer, etc. 
     So you have 2 options here, to use Borax, or not to use Borax. What is the difference? I don't really know myself. From what I can tell it is a matter of opinion. Some people don't believe it is good for human consumption.
     Lets find out what it is - (From Wiki) Borax is used in various household laundry and cleaning products, including the "20 Mule Team Borax" laundry booster and "Boraxo" powdered hand soap. Despite its name, "Borateem" laundry bleach no longer contains borax or other boron compounds. Borax is also present in some tooth bleaching formulas. It is also an active ingredient in indoor and outdoor ant baits and killers.
     Well, that is all well and good, but can I eat it? It is going to be all over my dishes, right? I mean, look at this ad, they are washing babies in it!

     Borax, given the E number E285, is used as a food additive in some countries, but is banned in the US. As a consequence, certain foods, such as caviar, produced for sale in the US contain higher levels of salt to assist preservation. Its use as a cooking ingredient is to add a firm rubbery texture to the food, or as a preservative. In oriental cooking it is mostly used for its texturing properties. In Asia, Borax was found to have been added to some Chinese foods like hand-pulled noodles and some rice noodles. In Indonesia it is a common, but forbidden, additive to such foods as noodles, bakso (meatballs), and steamed rice. The country's Directorate of Consumer Protection warns of the risk of liver cancer with high consumption over a period of 5–10 years.
     This leaves me with too many questions. #1, What E number is the Borax that is sold as a cleaning agent, and what are its health issues? #2, what constitutes high consumption (and does it matter)?
     At this point, I am going to to just quit looking into it and go with the Borax free option. I read reviews on both and people seem to like the Borax free option a little bit more anyway. I should have just left it at that. I will look into Borax more if I do not like the Borax free version of the detergent I make or if I find that I need it for something else.
So, here are some good recipes for both:

Borax Free Dishwasher Detergent - 

• 1 cup washing soda 
• 1/4 c. citric acid 
• 1/4 c. coarse salt 
• 10-15 drops of citrus essential oil (Optional.  Orange, grapefruit, or lemon essential oils have great cleaning as well as antibacterial properties.)
• Homemade Citrus Vinegar Cleaner

Mix first 3 ingredients well in an air tight container. Add essential oil.  Mix again.  Fill your rinse aid compartment with undiluted citrus vinegar cleaner.

Use 1 tsp. detergent for average loads.
Use 1 tbsp. detergent for extra greasy, dirty loads.

Dishwasher Detergent with Borax - 

• - 1 cup Washing soda
• - 1 cup Borax
• - ½ cup salt
• - ½ cup citric acid

Mix together and store tightly covered in a Mason Jar. Use one tablespoon per load. Add vinegar to the rinse dispenser for the best results.