The soup

My Butternut Squash Soup turned out so beautifully that I thought I would share some pictures with you.  It was velvety smooth and intensely flavourful.  The hot curry powder, fresh nutmeg and colourful tumeric from my recent spice delivery really helped to give this soup a kick!

Although the squash is not cheap - I paid at least $4.50 for mine - the soup makes quite a large batch.  This batch made 5-6 portions.

And the soup is easily turned into a meal with the addition of a couple of small side dishes.  I like eating it with some homemade crispy pita chips and homemade hummus.  

What tasty homemade meals have you enjoyed this week?

Butternut squash soup, the lazy way

Tonight I was eating alone (Josh was working late) so I made a simple dinner of rice, broccoli, chick peas and a pre-made sauce.  I knew I needed to use up butternut squash in my fridge as I could tell it was nearly about to turn.  My favourite thing to do with butternut squash is to make soup.  It’s not hard, but too time consuming and demanding for a night like tonight.  I don’t know why but my flu bug is still hanging on.  I can’t seem to quell the headache, fatigue, and other nagging symptoms.

So I baked the squash, peeled and seeded it, and filled two containers with the cooked squash. Tomorrow I will make up a soup for lunch.  I call this my budget boosting butternut squash soup.  Care for a sneak preview?  Here’s my very own rendition.  I can’t wait to try it with my new curry powder and black peppercorns.

Budget Boosting Butternut Squash Soup

This delicious and satisfying soup is easy, requires few ingredients and is creamy and delicious.  The approximate cost is $1.40 per serving. It can be eaten as a meal or served as a delish side dish.

Ingredients

 2 tbsp olive oil

1 small onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1 stalk celery, finely sliced

1 medium potato, cubed

1 large Butternut Squash

1 cup sour cream

4 cups water

1 tbsp curry (or more to taste)

1/4 freshly ground nutmeg

salt & pepper to taste

 Directions

Place a whole butternut squash on a sheet pan in the oven at 400 degrees for approximately one hour.

 In a large stock pot, heat olive oil over low heat; cook onion and celery, stirring occasionally, adding a little sprinkling of salt, approximately 1/2 tsp.  

Remove squash from oven and slice in half.  Remove seeds with a spoon.  Scoop the rest of the squash out of the peel and add to the pot, along with the water, potato, garlic and spices.  

Cook uncovered on medium heat, until the potato is cooked, stirring occasionally.

Next, blend with a hand-blender or let cool slightly and blend in a blender in batches. Return to pot, warm, and mix in 1 cup of light sour cream.  Serve.

Makes 4 generous servings.

Frugal weekend bread making

On the weekend, Josh made pita bread.  Correction, he made the best pita bread in the world.  This was his very first try and I can’t believe how perfect it came out.  It really made me wonder why we’d ever buy store bought pita bread again, when it tastes this good fresh, and is so easy and cheap to make.  Rather than posting the recipe here, I will simply direct you to The Fresh Loaf - they have detailed instructions along with really beautiful pictures.

Josh also baked a whole wheat loaf - well, 20% whole wheat, anyway - and it was spectacular.  Really moist and fluffy on in the inside and nice and crusty on the outside.  He also made the best grilled cheese sandwiches with this bread and some old cheddar. It’s really a far cry from our first try back in October.

Meanwhile, Butternut enjoyed her own frugal luxury - namely, the paper that came with the spice package on Friday. Apparently, paper is the best toy in the world, and also the comfiest place to nap.  

What frugal activities did you do this weekend?

Reducing waste & eating well for less

I realized that until my Fresh Box arrived, we had only spent $155 on the last four weeks of groceries (less than $39 a week).  Now granted, I had been absent for one week while on vacation.  Josh also bought his lunch quite a number of times.  But apart from that, we ate really healthy, delicious meals at home and almost never went for out to a restaurant.

How did I manage to feed two people on $155 a month?  I chalk it up to stocking up on basic and versatile ingredients, being creative in the kitchen, cooking with inexpensive foods, and reducing waste.  I have been aiming to produce zero edible food waste since writing What Are You Wasting on February 25.  Apart from a few cilantro leaves and half a baby eggplant that got tossed against my will (after which I promptly listed of all ways I was planning on using that eggplant) I achieved my goal.

Here are some ways I reduced waste during the last several weeks:

• Froze parmesan rinds, basil roots and even cauliflower greens for vegetable stock
• Used up cilantro stems in a cilantro chutney
• Made a chicken and vegetable stock 
• Used up stale pitas by making them into pita chips
• Discovered that shriveled ginger is fine, when the edges are peeled off

Because I want to eat really delicious, nutritious food, I worked hard to come up with great meal ideas using only the ingredients we had. This led me to try some new tasty recipes, like curried cauliflower soup, green lentil and vegetable curry, vegetable barley and red bean soup, homemade pizza from scratch (with a variety of delicious toppings) quiche with goat cheese, spinach, sun-dried tomatoes and bacon, whole-wheat pasta with vegetables and parmesan, salmon-potato cakes,  carrot-ginger soup (I doubled the ginger and doubled the flavour this time) and deserts such as eggless oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, lemon loaf and apple crisp.  Although I was pleased with how much I saved, I was actually even happier about the fact that I am learning how to cook good food and am experimenting in the kitchen.

Other ways I reduced waste:

• Rewashed ziploc bags (thanks for my readers’ tips on how to dry them)
• Repurposed an empty tea box into a cute gift box
• Discovered that you need far less dish-detergent when your water is soft; I have reduced the amount of dish-detergent I use in the dishwasher by almost half
• Cut the amount of laundry detergent I use by about half, upon realizing that it really does not make a difference
• Learned how to put our Drobo to sleep during the day, so it doesn’t use so much energy when not in use (I’m convinced this thing wastes a ton of energy, since it’s constantly whirring and is always lit up.)
• Reused tea bags (I found that each tea bag is good for at least 2 cups of tea.)
• Josh fixed our dryer (it was taking forever to dry the clothes) and he cleaned out our vacuum cleaner too, resulting in less energy waste
• Used the dishwasher for small items and handwashed large items, to avoid excessive use of the dishwasher

What is your favourite tip for reducing the waste of food, electricity or other resources?

Homemade granola bars

Last weekend I decided to try making granola bars.

For a while, Josh and I bought granola bars in large quantities when they were on sale for 20¢ a bar or less.  However, knowing that I could make my own granola bars for only 5¢ a bar, with the added benefits of improved taste and nutrition, put DIY granola bars on my top ten list of things to try.

Extra incentive to try this was the fact that I already had many of the required items: honey, dried fruit (cranberries and dates) and sunflower seeds.  I was only missing the old fashioned rolled oats and dark brown sugar, which I figured could easily be used in other baked goods.  I also decided to purchase some dried apricots, rationalizing that the leftovers would be joyfully consumed whole, or in a homemade trail mix.

I followed the recipe provided below.  It was incredibly easy to do, and it would have been perfect, except for one critical feature.  The “old fashioned rolled oats” that I thought I was using turned out to be minute oats.  D’oh!

Although the flavours were perfect, the bars did not stick together.  Minute oats absorb too much liquid, so the mixture was not sticky enough.

Of course not wanting to let this tasty mixture go to waste, I crumbled it up.  Now it makes a delicious addition to yogurt.  It stores well in its air-tight container, and provides instant protein and nutrition to a morning or afternoon snack.

If you want to make the granola bars, follow the recipe - just make sure to use old fashioned rolled oats!  i will definitely try this one again.

Alton Brown’s Granola Bars

8 ounces old-fashioned rolled oats, approximately 2 cups

 1 1/2 ounces raw sunflower seeds, approximately 1/2 cup

3 ounces sliced almonds, approximately 1 cup

1 1/2 ounces wheat germ, approximately 1/2 cup

6 ounces honey, approximately 1/2 cup

1 3/4 ounces dark brown sugar, approximately 1/4 cup packed

1-ounce unsalted butter, plus extra for pan

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

6 1/2 ounces chopped dried fruit, any combination of apricots, cherries or blueberries

Butter a 9 by 9-inch glass baking dish and set aside. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Spread the oats, sunflower seeds, almonds, and wheat germ onto a half-sheet pan. Place in the oven and toast for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

In the meantime, combine the honey, brown sugar, butter, extract and salt in a medium saucepan and place over medium heat. Cook until the brown sugar has completely dissolved.

Once the oat mixture is done, remove it from the oven and reduce the heat to 300 degrees F. Immediately add the oat mixture to the liquid mixture, add the dried fruit, and stir to combine. Turn mixture out into the prepared baking dish and press down, evenly distributing the mixture in the dish and place in the oven to bake for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely. Cut into squares and store in an airtight container and store for up to a week.

Medicine or tasty snack? Homemade candied ginger does it all

Ah, ginger.  It’s a wonderfully cheap way to add delicious flavour to almost any dish.  Chopped and added to hot water, it makes a calming tea.  And it prevents nausea, even when traveling. 

I enjoy snacking on ginger candy - not just because it tastes great, but because it helps to aid digestion and soothes an upset tummy.  Unsurprisingly, when I discovered that good old Alton had a recipe to make homemade ginger candy, I had to try it.

After all, it makes good economic sense.  Ginger is unbelievably cheap; we bought a pound of it for about $2.00.  And sugar is also plentiful in our house.  And that’s it - those are the only required ingredients.

I love that the leftover ginger sugar can be reserved and added to coffee or on top of ginger snaps or other cookies.  Nothing goes to waste here!

Here is Alton’s recipe for Candied Ginger: 

Ingredients

Nonstick spray
1 pound fresh ginger root 
Tip: Buy ginger that is as young as possible.  How can you tell?  It will have a much lighter, yellow colour and will probably be smaller as well.  Ours was a bit older, (darker brown) and subsequently had a stronger taste.  The younger your ginger, the better (and more mild) the taste.
5 cups water
Approximately 1 pound granulated sugar

Directions

Spray a cooling rack with nonstick spray and set it in a half sheet pan lined with parchment.

Peel the ginger root and slice into 1/8-inch thick slices using a mandoline.

Tip: You do not need a mandoline.  Sure, it might be handy to have, but if you have to go out and buy a lot of equipment, it kind of defeats the purpose of making homemade candy, doesn’t it?  I prefer to use what we have, and so Josh and I simply took turns cutting the ginger with our best Japanese chef’s knife into thin slices.  It worked!

Place into a 4-quart saucepan with the water and set over medium-high heat. Cover and cook for 35 minutes or until the ginger is tender.

Transfer the ginger to a colander to drain, reserving 1/4 cup of the cooking liquid.

Weigh the ginger and measure out an equal amount of sugar. Return the ginger and 1/4 cup water to the pan and add the sugar. Set over medium-high heat and bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Reduce the heat to medium and cook, stirring frequently, until the sugar syrup looks dry, has almost evaporated and begins to recrystallize, approximately 20 minutes.

Transfer the ginger immediately to the cooling rack and spread to separate the individual pieces. Once completely cool, store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks. Save the sugar that drops beneath the cooling rack and use to top ginger snaps, sprinkled over ice cream or to sweeten coffee.

I had to laugh when Gravol came out with their “Gravol Ginger natural source” pills.  Why would anyone pay for processed medicine when you can go straight to the source?  This is certainly the most enjoyable way (not to mention frugal) way to quell your nausea. In fact it’s incredibly pleasant to eat when you feel fine!

The fresh box: how to get local produce at a great price

image courtesy of fork & bottle

Last week I ordered my very first Garden Fresh Box.  I am so excited to have discovered this opportunity.  While I knew a friend who used to take advantage of this, I never investigated it myself, and now I wonder why I waited so long to take advantage of fresh, locally grown produce at a great price.

The Garden Fresh Box Program is a non-profit, fresh produce buying service created to help people access fresh fruits and vegetables and support our local farmers. Here’s how it works: You place your order in advance for a big or small box of veggies and/or fruit.  You must do this before the first Friday of every month.  Two weeks later you pick up your box of food.  Yes, you must pick it up, but there are 17 locations in the city.  Luckily I happen to live right down the street from the nearest pick-up location.  

Here’s what comes in a sample large box of veggies, for $15:
 

Pretty good deal, especially considering you are supporting your local farmers.  To learn more about where you can buy local, fresh food in Waterloo Region, check out Foodlink. But if you don’t live in the area, don’t fret - there are similar programs run all over the country.  If you’re in the Toronto region, check out Food Share or visit Green Ontario for other fresh box delivery programs. 

Alternatively, join a food co-op or consider community sustainable agriculture.  If you live in the states, you can find one near you at Local Harvest or learn about community supported agriculture in your region.

If you live in Ontario, check out the community supported agriculture directory.

I can’t wait to get my fresh box! 

A spin on salads

Among the items I pass up at the grocery store include salad dressing.  It’s one of those condiments that are overpriced and easy to make at home.  Although you can make all kinds of fancy dressings, I tend to stick to the basics.  About a 1/4 cup of olive oil, the juice of half a lemon, 1/2 a teaspoon of sugar, some salt and pepper, and finely minced garlic.  I frequently save time by grating the garlic with a small grater.  This shortcut is Gordon Ramsey approved, so I figure it’s okay.

It’s easy to find things in your baking cupboard to add pizazz to an otherwise boring salad.  Sunflower seeds, slivered almonds, walnuts, chopped dates, dried cranberries, raisins, and various spices can be used in any combination that you desire.  A light sprinkling is all that is needed, so it’s a relatively frugal way to turn a simple meal into something special.

Here are a few combinations I love to add on top of a spring mix (mesclun) salad:

• Toasted walnuts, dried cranberries, chopped dates, blue cheese
• Roasted beets, walnuts and blue cheese
• Diced mushrooms and green onions

If you want to purchase a lot of mesclun salad, you may want to consider the cost of making it yourself.  To prepare it yourself, you may want to buy ingredients such as:

• Arugula
• Radicchio 
• Endive

To keep your salad fresh, wash it as soon as possible, dry the leaves in a salad spinner, and the wrap in paper towel.  Cover in a plastic bag and keep in your  crisper.

What is your favourite frugal tip for enjoying fresh salads?

My search for the perfect frugal snack: A mystery solved

By jove I did it! As most of you know, I have been searching for a homemade snack that satisfies my cravings.  My latest pretzel endeavour didn’t go over so well so I’ve been hunting for a tasty alternative.

Finally, I found a delicious snack that satisfies deep junk food cravings, and costs, well, nothing! It’s easy to make and uses up leftovers - that’s my favourite kind of cooking!

The answer? The homemade cheese spread.

First of all, let it be known that I love cheese. I mean it’s really the cow’s gift to humankind. So when Alton Brown (yes, I realize his name has come up quite a bit on this blog, but I spent last weekend on an Alton Brown bingefest, so forgive me, please) provided a recipe for his favourite cheese trick - a homemade cheese spread - I was intrigued. 

You know all those cheese bits you have lying around? The teeny chunks leftover from cheese platters you served at parties, or in my case, just bought for yourself to enjoy? Maybe the rinds of parmesan that didn’t get eaten right down to the nub, or the extra mozzarella that didn’t make it on the homemade pizza? Those crumbly little bits from old cheddar, too awkward to slice into sandwich? These lost little cheesy bits can be saved from them from their destiny of winding up, undigested, in the garbage can.

How, you ask? It’s easy!

Simply gather these bits and throw them into a food processor. If you have any particularly hard cheeses, such as parmesan, grate it first. (This is important because otherwise it will stay in a clump.) If you have a pound of cheese, add 1/4 cup dry white wine (I actually added a little extra), 3 tablespoons of unsalted butter (I added a little more, once again), some parsley, and one small clove of garlic. Blend in the food pro until smooth. Presto, you have yourself a delicious - and I mean delicious - cheese spread.

I love this because it uses up the old bits of cheese, along with any leftover wine you have (as Alton points out, it’s quite common to have leftover wine from a wine and cheese party, but it’s also easy to find that you have just a little extra wine in a bottle.) Since it uses up these extra ingredients that might otherwise go to waste, you’ve got yourself what is essentially a free snack.

My only suggestion is to eat while it’s fresh.  Alton says that you can refrigerate for up to a week.  I refrigerated for a few hours and, while it was still tasty, the texture was too firm - the cheese cracked - and the flavours seemed to diminish a little.  

What to serve it with? If you have a leftover crusty bread or baguette, follow my recipe to make baguette chips -they are ever so satisfying and perfect for a spreadable cheese. Plus, if you make them because you are using up leftover bread that has gone stale, you are once again using up a product that will otherwise have a date with the trash can.

Don’t forget to save your plastic containers. This leftover container from spreadable goat cheese fit the bill perfectly.

Eat and enjoy!  After all, not only are you saving money by eating in and using up ingredients instead of consuming expensive, store-bought snacks, you are relishing real, pure, good food.  The flavours of good quality cheese and wine will definitely satisfy the craving for a rich, flavourful snack.  This outshines a $3 bag of chips any day.

The unsuccessful hunt for a tasty homemade snack

Snack foods are expensive.  If you want to trim down your grocery bill, snack foods are a great place to start.  Not only are they filler foods, loaded with preservatives, sodium, and well, all kinds of crap, they are unbelievably over priced.  I just saw a sale from a nearby grocery store showcasing chips that were being sold, two for $6.  When did $3 get to be a good price for a regular sized bag of chips?

But we all need some junk food now and then.  Besides, the winter months bring increased movie watching and board game playing, which pretty much require a plate of snacks within reach.  I’ve written on my favourite homemade snack foods before in the post “Snack Happy” in which I share my secrets on making salsa, hummus, guac, Babaganoush, microwave popcorn and more.  But salsa is expensive to make these days because tomatoes are out of season, and avocadoes are not cheap either.  So I’ve been on the lookout for tasty, cheap homemade snack recipes.

On the weekend, we took the plunge to try out Alton Brown’s pretzel recipe.  This was fun.  Rolling out long pieces of dough and twisting them into pretzel shapes, how could that not be fun?  In the end, though, it didn’t work out.  Yes, the pretzel dough itself was tasty.  The process was fun and fairly simple.  But two major errors were made.  One, we didn’t roll the dough thin enough. We were supposed to roll each pretzel stick into 14″ pieces but just estimated on the length of our pretzels, and, once I realized we were only rolling them to about 11 or 12″ pieces, it was too late.  As you can see, they turned out looking like bread sticks, which made the pretzels just a little to thick to enjoy as a light, crunchy snack.  

Furthermore, we improvised using organic sea salt, which was chunky, almost like rock salt, instead of “pretzel salt” - yes, there is such a thing.  Apparently kosher salt is far too fine.  Unfortunately, our salt was far too crunchy.  One bite would have you puckered in a salt overdose; another bite would be bland and boring.

Not satisfied with seeing anything go to waste, the pretzels are currently sitting in an open faced container, which will then be transfered to the food processor to form a nice pretzel crumb coating for a lucky piece of chicken or pork.

The recipe could be salvaged with thinly rolled pieces and proper pretzel salt.  So if anyone wants to give it a go, be my guest.  (We may even try it again another time.)  

In the meantime, please share:  What is your favourite recipe for homemade snacks?  I need something to replace the crunchy, salty goodness of the over-priced potato chip.