Food Budget Woes & A Weekly Meal Plan

I know I'm not the only one who spends a ridiculous amount of money on food every month. Right? Right? Please comment and tell me you also have this problem. I see all these Pinterest posts about feeding a family on $80 a week and I'm like, WTF? You all must be hungry. But I always say I want to get our grocery spending down to a more reasonable amount. I have a generous amount budgeted and we almost always go over by a substantial margin. (I'm looking at you, COSTCO!)

In an effort to do more things that I keep saying I want to do, I'm taking action! I'm meal planning for 3 meals a day, plus snacks and only shopping for the items needed to create those meals. Because I think my problem is that I'm a stock-piler. (Once again, thanks, COSTCO!) There are times when you should stockpile. Say, for example, one of your staples is on sale, buying a few extras (preferably enough to get you through to the next time it is on sale) makes good fiscal sense. Hoarding olive oil...not so much. Also, I should probably use less olive oil. Haha. No.

Here is my plan for the coming week.
(Note: I eat a homemade gluten free muffin for breakfast every day, so the breakfast plan is just for the fellas.)

Monday
Breakfast: Oatmeal with Applesauce, Cinnamon, and Raisins
Lunch: Thai Quinoa Salad
Dinner: Spicy Lamb and Bean Tacos

Tuesday
Breakfast: Yogurt with Museli
Lunch: Salad (I like to make an enormous salad with veggies, nuts, beans, and a vinaigrette.)
Dinner: Jerk Chicken and Brown Rice with Serrano Lime Slaw

Wednesday
Breakfast: Oatmeal with Raw Cacao, Peanut Butter, and Banana
Lunch: Black Beans and Quinoa
Dinner: White Lasagna

Thursday
Breakfast: Yogurt with Museli
Lunch: Pasta Salad
Dinner: Mung Bean Dal with Basmati Rice and Curried Veggies

Friday
Breakfast: Oatmeal with Blueberries
Lunch: Coconut Curry Noodles
Dinner: Taco Pizza with this crust

Saturday
Breakfast: Pancakes
Lunch: Quinoa Veggie Bowls
Dinner: Date night in! Garlic Stuffed-Bacon Wrapped Dates and Mojitos followed by Cauliflower-Almond-Sage Risotto (veganized) and Salad
 Dinner for the kids: Cheese Quesadillas and Tomato Soup

Sunday
Breakfast: Egg and Cheese Sandwiches and Hashbrowns
Lunch:Vegetable Fried Rice
Dinner: Bean and Bacon Soup and Chickpea Fritters

Snacks: Almonds, Trail Mix, Fresh Fruit*, Ceci-Rosemary Spread w/ Crackers
Beverages: I still buy juice and milk for the kids, but we all drink water most of the time.

*I would just like to point out that for each of us to have one piece of fresh fruit a day is 35 pieces of fruit! How could you do that on $80 a week? I don't even know. I'm not shooting anywhere near that low, thankfully. But it makes me sad that healthy, high quality food is what people must sacrifice to make ends meet. I have a feeling that whatever I decide to be when I grow up will have something to do with solving that problem. 

Chewy Granola Bars

These chewy, no bake granola bars are kind of a cooking epiphany for me. For a long time after I began my home cooking journey, I struggled with finding a good granola bar recipe. They were either too crunchy or too soft or too crumbly. A friend of mine gave me a recipe that worked, finally! I was even able to successfully vegan-ize it! But when I realized I couldn't have oats, the process started all over again. How do you make granola bars without rolled oats? I wasn't interested in bars with that homogeneous "Clifbar" texture. I tried using all nuts, but they didn't stick together well, and they were awfully expensive compared to using oats. I tried toasting seed grains, like Millet and Quinoa, and those were just kind of weird. But, alas, I discovered buckwheat cereal and quinoa flakes, which make a great replacement for rolled oats. These are made lighter in texture with the addition of puffed cereal. 

Chewy Granola Bars 

gluten free, dairy free

makes 2 dozen (recipe can be halved)

Wet:

1 c almond butter (store bought or homemade, you can also use peanut butter)

1/3 c honey

1/3 c sugar

1/4 c coconut oil

1/4 c brown rice syrup (this makes them a bit firmer, but you can omit and double the honey)

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Dry:

1/2 c buckwheat cereal (looks kind of like steel cut oats, I used Bob's Red Mill)

1/2 c quinoa flakes

1/2 c ground flaxseed

1 c puffed brown rice

1 c puffed millet

1 c sliced almonds

1 c finely chopped walnuts

1 c chopped dried cherries (or other fruit)

Optional: chocolate chips

In a small pot, combine wet ingredients. Heat on low or medium low, stirring, until the sugar dissolves and everything is well blended. 

Meanwhile, in a large mixing bowl, combine your dry ingredients. 

Pour your wet mixture over the dry mixture and stir well to thoroughly combine. Use your hands if needed! 

Line a 9x13 glass dish with parchment paper. Helpful hint: use clothes pins to hold the parchment in place as you dump in the granola. Remove the clothes pins, and start pressing everything down in to an even layer. I use an extra piece of parchment to keep my hands from getting sticky, but you could use wet or lightly greased hands if you wish. You really want to get it compacted tightly. That is what makes them stick together. 

If you wish to use chocolate chips, press them into the top of the bars as you are compacting them. (If you add them while stirring, they will probably melt.) I added some to half of mine. 

Allow to sit and cool for at least an hour. You can speed up the process by putting them in the refrigerator, but it's not necessary. 

Cut into 24 squares. Prepare to make more tomorrow, because everyone will eat them all up. At least that is what happens in my house. 

Black Eyed Peas with Caramelized Onions, Chard, and Sweet Potato Chips

This is not a quick and easy meal, okay. But it's lovely and tasty! If you are in a hurry, you could ditch the sweet potato chips and it would still be delicious without as much work and time. Those really are the only time consuming part. 

Black Eyed Peas with Caramelized Onions, Chard, and Sweet Potato Chips

Serves 4-6

1 lb dried black eyed peas, cooked with salt
1 large bunch of chard (swiss, red, or rainbow)
3-4 cloves of garlic, minced
2 large onions, halved and then sliced
1 medium sweet potato
salt & pepper
olive oil
oil for frying (I used sunflower)

First, cook your black eyed peas. They can be soaked, but don't have to be. They cook faster than most beans. Add a generous amount of salt to the water. Salt brings out the flavor in food. Home cooked food NEVER has as much salt as processed food, so don't be afraid to use salt when cooking.

For the onions, I like to cut them in half, then slice to create long skinny pieces. Spread them out in a skillet with olive oil and sprinkle with a little salt. Cook on medium low until the turn a golden brown and the smell makes you want to eat them all right out of the skillet.

For the sweet potato, you'll get the crispiest chips if you slice them very thin. I experimented with different thicknesses and liked the thin ones best because they curl up a bit. Makes for lovely presentation! So, slice them up, fry them in a couple inches of oil. I don't like to use a ton of oil for frying, so I use a small pot and just fry a few at a time. But if you have a giant Fry Daddy, that would be great, too!

You'll want to cook your chard in two stages, first the stems, then the leaves. So, cut the stems away and chop them up. Saute them in some olive oil with your minced garlic for a few minutes. Meanwhile, slice up your leaves. Add them to the pan and then cover. Cook until they are wilted. Salt to taste.



To assemble, spoon beans into a bowl, top with chard, then onions, then chips. Looks fancy, doesn't it? :)

White Lasagna - Vegan & Gluten Free

I'm a fair weather blogger, obviously. But when I'm here, boy, do I have good things for you! This new lasagna recipe is EPIC. Not long and drawn out as in epic poetry, but rather in the "unforgettable" sense of the word.

We were having people over for dinner, which is kind of stressful when you can't eat wheat, dairy, beef, pork, nightshades, etc. And I'm not one to follow recipes. So, I was totally winging this one. It's a variation on my other vegan lasagna recipe. And it also borrows from an old favorite veggie lasagna recipe. But no cheese and no tomato sauce. I tried another white lasagna a couple months ago, but it featured a white bean bechamel and I really wasn't that impressed. So, I was feeling rather tentative about how this was going to turn out. I offered up a plethora of disclaimers before we dug in. Fortunately, it turned out really wonderful! Unfortunately, I only have crappy photos of the leftovers because I was more worried about eating it than taking pictures of it. But without further adieu:

the four of us cleared out most of it, so I guess it was alright!

White Lasagna

vegan & gluten free
serves 4-8

1 box gluten free lasagna noodles (I used Tinkyada Joy Pasta Organic Brown Rice noodles)
1 batch of Vegan Alfredo Sauce
1 batch of vegan ricotta filling
1 lb fresh or frozen spinach
1/2 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic

for vegan "ricotta" filling:
1 cup raw cashew pieces, soaked overnight, drained and rinsed
2 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried oregano
juice of one lemon
salt and pepper
water
1/4 c ground golden flaxseed
1 lb frozen broccoli florets, thawed and finely chopped

Note: You can make the Alfredo sauce and ricotta ahead of time, even the day before. They will keep fine in the fridge. 

So, first let's talk about this vegan ricotta. Cashews are an amazing thing. You will find them in many different vegan recipes as a dairy replacement. You can make cashew milk, "cream" sauces, and add texture like in this ricotta substitute.

Put your soaked cashews, garlic, and herbs in the bowl of a food processor and process until it looks grainy. It will sort of look like ricotta already, just drier. Add your lemon juice and a couple tablespoons of water. Pulse a few times to combine. You don't want it to get totally smooth like you would to make cashew butter. Now dump that out into a big bowl. Process your broccoli, if you haven't already chopped it. Combine the two and add some water, or even a little (1/2 cup) non-dairy milk if you'd like, and the flaxseed. Stir well to combine. Add salt and pepper to taste. Now it should really look like a ricotta filling.

Cook your noodles according to the package, undercooking by just a few minutes. Put them in an ice bath as you prep your other ingredients. 

Saute your onion in olive oil until golden. Add garlic and stir until aromatic. Add your spinach and saute until wilted and/or thawed, depending on whether you used fresh or frozen. Salt to taste.

To assemble the lasagna, coat the bottom of the dish with Alfredo sauce, then layer: 

noodles

ricotta filling

Alfredo sauce

noodles

spinach

Alfredo sauce

noodles

ricotta filling

Alfredo sauce

noodles 

Alfredo sauce (spreading to cover the top of the noodles)

I topped mine with some vegan parmesan, which is simply roasted cashews finely processed with some salt, garlic powder, onion powder, & dried basil and oregano. It made the top look prettier ;)

Bake at 350 degrees for about 30-40 minutes. The sauce should look bubbly and it should be warm throughout. If you used refrigerated ingredients, you may need to bake longer. 

Mac & Cheese - Vegan, Gluten Free Style!

I've been eating what a friend referred to as "gourmet rabbit food." Lots of nuts, beans, and veggies. And sometimes I just want something creamy and decadent! I had good success with the vegan cream sauce, so I thought I'd give a vegan cheese sauce a try. I looked at a bunch of different recipes, many of which called for fake cheese. But we don't eat meat and cheese substitutes. Most are soy, and all are full of odd fillers. Yuck. This gluten free vegan mac & cheese has no crazy ingredients and is actually a nice sneaky way to feed your family vegetables if they aren't otherwise so keen on them.

Vegan Mac & "Cheese" 

3 medium carrots, sliced
1 onion, diced
2 large cloves garlic, minced
dash paprika
1 tsp dried yellow mustard powder
1/4 cup olive oil
1 cup raw cashew pieces, soaked overnight, drained and rinsed
salt

Cook your carrots in salted water (covered by about an inch) until tender. In a skillet over medium-low heat, saute onion in olive oil until soft. Add garlic, paprika, and mustard, cooking for about 30 seconds longer. Set aside. When carrots are tender, combine carrots and their cooking water, onion/garlic mixture, and cashews in a high powered blender until super smooth. You could probably do it in a food processor, but it won't be as smooth.

I served my sauce tossed with rice pasta spirals and roasted broccoli. Season with salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste.

Lentil Almond Salad

I made this Lentil Almond Salad this week for a quick lunch. I had a couple mason jars of lentils that I'd cooked up for a previous meal. So I heated those up and added a vinaigrette, some capers, and chopped almonds. 

Lentil Almond Salad

serves 4

6 cups lentils, cooked and drained

2 tbsp capers

1/2 cup roasted salted almonds, coarsely chopped

Vinaigrette: 

1 tbsp dijon mustard

2-3 cloves garlic, minced 

1/4 c red wine vinegar 

1/2 cup olive oil

salt and pepper

To make the vinaigrette, mince your garlic with some salt to make a paste. Combine garlic with mustard and vinegar in a small jar. Shake well to combine. Add olive oil and shake vigorously until it emulsifies. Add pepper and more salt if needed. 

In a large bowl, combine lentils, capers, almonds, and vinaigrette. Stir well to combine. Serve warm. This would be awesome with some crusty homemade bread, if you are fortunate enough to be able to eat such things. 

This week's produce, because I like pictures of food