RTB: Crock Pots = Healthy Cheap Eats (part 2)

On day 2 it was Grain A Palooza in the crock pots...

Crock Pot 1: steel cut oats in water with a pinch of salt - to be used at ready to go oatmeal. Got 'em bulk at whole foods and paid like $2 for what ended up being an entire crock of oatmeal. Not bad for shopping at a store known as "Whole Paycheck", huh?

Still not impressed with the cheap eats? Hang in there...

Crock Pot 2: didn't have a plan so I scrounged through the pantry. Found one packet of Kashi pilaf left in a box and a quarter a bag of brown lentils. They were tossed in again with water and a pinch of salt. The neutral flavor of the water lets me season and use the finished product any darn way I want. Might even use this one as breakfast.

Not lovin' the whole grain, used what I got laying around to make complete vegan protein goodness? Alright...hang onto yourself....

Crock Pot 3: remember the vegetarian stock from Healthy Cheap Eats part 1? Tossed that in with some spelt berries I got FREE from a dietitian colleague who was lucky? enough to win a 25 pound bag of it. It can be tossed in salads, soups, used as a side dish or dressed up as an entree.
It make a whole pot of whole grain high protein love that COST NOTHING! The stock was made from trimmings and the spelt was a freebie, so there!
If you have any tips or tricks to save time and money on food, leave 'em in the comments - don't be stingy, share the love!




PS: Toast the spelt first before crock potting for a nuttier flavor.

-DK

RTB: Crock Pots = Cheap Healthy Eats (part 1)

My day job keeps this foodie busy on workdays which doesn't leave alot of time to make tasty and healthy food. Having lost 60 lbs in the last 15 months, I have few tricks up my sleeve to make sure I'm eating what's healthy and not what's easy. Typically, easy = not so good for me.
Enter the best gift ever - the three compartment crock pot ! It's 3 crock pots in one unit and each pot has independent controls. Meaning that one can be set on high, one at low and one not turned on at all if that's whatcha wanna do. So awesome for makin' alotta different food.
So, I had 2 whole days off in a row last week. (Right!? How'd that happen?) Set up the crock pots on day 1 with...
Sofrito:



Sofrito is kinda a spanish mirepoix. It's usually buzzed raw in a food processor and used in stews, etc. But Monsterfink hates the texture of
veggie although loves the flavor. So our sofrito gets slow cooked and pureed before it smothers grilled chicken with cheese on top. (Yummmm!)
Vegan Chili:



This recipe came from the Skinny Bitch Book of Vegan Swaps I won from Steph Chows. Great recipe - my only change was to toss in a few dried, diced ancho peppers. No recipe is ever made as is in my house. Gotta make 'em my own!
Homemade Vegetable Stock:



Every friday Suburban Organics delivers a box of AMAZing organic veggies to my doorstop. When I make salad, etc I can't bear to toss out the perfectly good trimmings so I keep 'em. Like that honkin' big chunk from the bottom of a head of cauliflower or a ton of broccoli stems. I mean, how much broccoli slaw can one girl eat? They all get dumped in the crock pot with filtered water, celery, carrots and onion. Then set & forget - if the stock isn't quite flavorful enough when all the veggies are soft, strain and simmer on the stovetop to reduce it.
Once everything is done, it get's separated into serving sizes, dated/labelled and put up in the freezer. Homemade so it tastes great and is seasoned to my own finicky tastes, thaw and use so I stay on the path to healthy hotness and CHEAP!!!!!!
What's not to love?
- DK

RTB: Apple Pie Amaranth

I love carbs! I can feel the pleasure centers of my brain lighting up just typing about them. Contrary to some so-called experts, carbs are not bad for us. Half of what we eat every day should be carbs. Our bodies, and especially our brains - need them. Check out the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, specifically the chart on page 15.

The problem comes when we eat too many carbs that are devoid of any nutritional value other than calories. Like white flour or white rice, etc. Not that I don't eat these things - had a great sourdough roll today and rice pudding last night - but they account for less than half of my grain intake for the day. The other half (or more) is whole grains. If you're a carb queen like me, you'll soon fall in love with whole grains - they taste AMAZING! And grains cost ALMOST NOTHING! Especially if you get them bulk. Buy as much or as little as you like and pay for what it weighs.

One of my favs is amaranth. Grain to liquid is a 3 to 1 ratio and it makes a creamy, rich hot cereal. Try it in Apple Pie Amaranth:

1/4 cup dry amaranth
2 tsp Splenda brown sugar blend
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
1/2 fresh apple, grated
1 tsp grated lemon zest
Pinch of kosher salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 T heavy whipping cream

Combine all ingredients except cream in a small saucepan. Simmer until thickened. Spoon into a bowl and drizzle top with cream.

Calories: 296
Total Fat: 8.6g
Sat Fat: 1.8g
Carbs: 53.3g
Fiber: 10g

-DK

RTB: Respect The Budget!

Have you noticed how EVERYTHING in the last 2 years has skyrocketed in price? Bad enough my home finances fall victim to this inflation explosion but I'm a foodservice manager by trade. In a healthcare facility. So every time Congress starts talking about cutting medical funding, I get a headache behind my left eye.

Budgets are my life but so is delivering food people actually want to eat. It'd be easy to balance the work food budget by getting cheap food produced quickly and thrown on the plate, but who wants to eat like that?

Serving substandard food would quickly get me out of a job and I've been doing this for 12 years so I've figured out a few techniques to serve 1000 quality meals a day on a budget. Techniques that can be used at home to balance the budget there as well. We can't do a lot about mortgages, utility bills, etc. but the household food budget is infinitely adjustable.

I paid off every credit card (and keep them paid off), don't stress about money and take decent vacations because I'm able to balance my home finances based on my food budget. And if you've seen my other posts, you know I don't exactly starve. And neither does my hubby, Monsterfink, or my little miss AND extended family makes a beeline to my place on holidays 'cause they know the grub is good.

Since the smoothie jag is FINALLY out of my system, the Saturday blog posts that start with RTB will be a cost savings tip, recipe or time management technique to keep you full and financially stable. Stay tuned...

-DK