Fresh Vegetables

It's a well-known fact at this point in America that there is a direct correlation between being broke and being over-weight.  The bigger your debt, the bigger your waistline, it seems.

There are many reasons for this, stress playing a big role, but looking at the food options available when you're broke, it's really not all that surprising to me.

It was near the end of my debt payoff and my passing into an "unbroke" state that I started making a conscious effort to eat "healthy."  For me, that meant less processed foods, more vegetables.

I hated it.

Every fiber of my frugal, long-broke soul hated buying a food item, and throwing half of it away when it went bad long before I could eat it all.  Doritos never went bad and got thrown away, and they were cheaper, too, than fruits and vegetables.  More than that, I hated bringing home my purchase, and throwing much of it away before I had even begun!

Buy asparagus, and step one in preparation is to cut off the bottoms and throw them away!
Buy a grapefruit, peel away the outside.  Make a hat for your cat, maybe, but don't plan on eating it.  You don't even know how thick that rind is until you've brought it home.

And you buy these things BY THE POUND!

I still don't like that I have to throw away food before I get to eat any, but I have put some research in to how to keep fresh foods edible for as long as I can.

For example, certain vegetables don't play nice with each other!  Bananas, apples, potatoes, onions ~ they all need to stay separate from everything else

Fresh basil:  In a mug of water, on the counter like cut flowers.  Changing the water regularly, I had one bunch last me four months (sprouting new leaves).

• Mushrooms:  Store these in an air tight container to significantly increase their storage life.
• Lettuce:  Heads last longer then torn/cut lettuces.  Take them out of the plastic bag and wrap them in a few paper towels or in a paper bag to help them last.
• Radishes:  These are much less expensive if you buy them with the tops on, but, as I learned the hard way, if you store them with the tops, they go bad super-fast, so when you get home, chop off the greens and toss them.
• Celery:  Wrap the stalks in aluminum foil and they will last for weeks.
• Apples:  Wrap them in newspapers, store them in a dark, cool closet or basement.  I bought a bushel while traveling in October and was still making pies at Christmas without a problem.
• Asparagus: Stand them up in an inch of water will give you a few weeks to use it.

Top Five Purchases for the Unbroke Kitchen

1. Invest in seasonings and spices. Pick up one or two whenever you have some extra grocery money until you have a variety. I know they look pricey, but they go a long way and they will keep you from getting bored. 

Can you fry an egg? Can you fry an egg and put pepper on it? Can you fry and egg and put thyme on it? Italian seasoning? Paprika? Mrs. Dash? Dry Ranch seasoning? (ohh, yea, its good). 

Same thing with homemade french fries and chicken and who knows what else? You can change the taste of foods with some good seasoning and you can make your food taste as good as any restaurant with a few spices.

2. Get yourself some Bisquick. Not to be a walking advertisement, but this stuff is handy. Biscuits. Pancakes. Pizza Dough. Baked chicken. Chicken Pot Pie. Banana Bread? 

Basically Bisquick is nothing more than flour, leavener (baking powder) and shortening already mixed together. So, on the one hand, yes, it’s pricier then those three things. On the other hand, it takes up less space, if you’re not a cook its less intimidating to mix water & Bisquick then it is to have to measure four or five ingredients, and, if you’re not using it that often you won’t be in danger of having something go bad. 

I, personally, don’t have flour, sugar or baking powder in my house.

3. Bread crumbs

Breaded chicken. Mix up a box of $0.33 macaroni and cheese, toss it in a casserole dish, sprinkle on some breadcrumbs and broil it for a few minutes and, boom, fancy baked Mac & cheese. Meatloaf, meatballs, meat patties. My mother has a no-fail recipe involving chopped mushrooms and breadcrumbs she calls stuffed mushrooms. 

4. Buy organic milk if you don’t drink a lot of milk. Yes, its more expensive up front, but check out the expiration date on that bad boy! No more throwing away 2/3s of the milk every time you buy some.

5. Eggs. Have you noticed that medium eggs are much less expensive then extra large? Did you know that an egg is actually “still good” for quite a while after the expiration date? A handy test is to put a whole raw egg (in its shell) into a glass of water. If it sinks it’s good. (If it floats it’s bad. If it hovers halfway up the glass it just depends how lucky you’re feeling.)    And my GOSH you can do so many things with eggs!   You can make them taste like ANYTHING!

15 minutes and healthy, too

Tonight I got home from the gym and turned on the grill.   When I got inside, I turned on the stove to preheat and  popped open a can of crescent rolls.

By the time the oven was preheated, I had the rolls ready to go in the oven, I could toss 2 tuna steaks (Only $7/lb at Trader Joe's!) on the grill with a bit of salt and pepper, and then back inside to boil a small pot of water.

Into the water went a few handfuls of frozen green beans. along with a shake of celery seed and pepper, as my former roommate taught me.   I gave those a quick stir, skimmed the mail & tossed the junk, stepped outside to flip the tuna, then back inside to open the non-junk mail.

Drained the green beans, pulled the crescent rolls out of the oven, and went outside to grab the tuna off the grill.

Served it all up with a bit of cottage cheese (otherwise I don't get enough calories), and, within 20 minutes of walking in the door we were sitting down to a fairly tasty, hot, and healthy meal.

Changes Plans ~ Okay results

I had plans tonight ~ we'd bought some of those large Portabello mushrooms, which I like to fill with Alouette cheese and a bit of breadcrumbs and grill it low and slow until gooey.   The weather is just getting nice enough to grill again, so I was pretty excited it!

The trouble was that instead of buying the Alouette cheese, I bought some Artichoke and Parmesan dip from Trader Joe's, which, when I got home and opened up, was heavy on the Artichoke and light on the cheese.  It's not bad ~ and I am looking forward to it on chips, or even heated up and used as pasta sauce.  But artichoke on mushroom wasn't really what I was going for.

I ended up tossing the mushrooms with a bit of Worcestershire Sauce and olive oil, and letting that soak in for about 20 minutes.  Those went on the grill, which he watched over while I defrosted a bag of Trader Joe's grilled balsamic red onions and heated up a variety of left overs (Stovetop stuffing, spaghetti squash) and defrosted some hamburger buns (**wrap them in paper towel and microwave 10-15 seconds)

It was a bit of a mish-mash meal, overall.  Everything was OK, but not great, and the meal was disjointed thanks to the leftovers.  The Portabello mushrooms with red onions on top were messy but filling.

He had a side of his Wal-Mart Red Potato Salad (he's obsessed), which went with the burgers a bit better then the leftovers, at least.

Cold Night, Hot Soup

We made one of the dry soup mixes I always keep on hand tonight. Chicken and Wild Rice. Added in a bunch of corn and chicken, and served it with a bit of left over Beer Bread.

My favorite part of the meal was that we have leftovers for a good seven or eight meals. Two servings went in the fridge, the rest went in smaller containers and into the freezer for those days I have no desire to make so much as a sandwich for lunch.

A winner all around!

Don't Let It Go Bad Pizza

Homemade Pizza for dinner tonight.
Always a favorite, tonight he really inspired me when he said "I should have to pay for this experience."

You see, the way we do pizza in my house, is I gather together anything he might possibly want to put on a pizza - I chop veggies, shred cheese, set out the Prego and the Tastefully Simple Pesto and chopped chicken or whatever meats we have.

I ready the crust - tonight was a Jiffy Pizza Crust, but I'm also a big fan of Bisquick and Pillsbury crusts.

When the crust is precooked, I hollar for him, and he comes in and shakes on the pesto and carefully arranges the chopped peppers and mushrooms and onions and chicken and whatever else I have laid out for him. He sprinkles the cheese on top and pops it in the oven.

He thinks he's had quite the experience. Make-your-own pizza.

I think I just managed to use up a cup of mushrooms and several peppers that would have gone bad if not used. The peppers were already not quite crisp...but who can tell on a pizza?

Don't let it go bad pizza gets four stars!