Winter Treats

Winter food is a five-year-old's worst nightmare. Cabbage, rutabaga, parsnips, squash...all words to cause a panic in a kindergarten classroom. Let's be honest, these words strike fear into the hearts of many adults too. I challenge us all to grow up and grow a pair and learn how to cook and eat winter vegetables.

Cabbage

I'll admit it. My name is Linda and I am a cabbage hater. Or, at least, I was a cabbage hater. I have now found a way that I actually enjoy cabbage. Braised Cabbage: It's sweet, it's mildly crunchy, it's pretty! Try it, you'll like it!

Braised Red Cabbage

1/4 cup apple cider

2 tbsp cider vinegar

large pinch of salt

6 cups shredded red cabbage

couple pinches sugar

optional: 1 apple peeled and sliced wafer thin

In a large sauce pan or deep skillet bring cider to a boil and add the cabbage, vinegar, and salt and mix. Cover with a lid and cook on low heat for 20-25 minutes and cabbage is tender but still has some structure. Add the sugar and cook for 5-10 more minutes until desired level of doness. Optional: add the apple slices with you add the sugar.

This recipe will give four nice sized side dishes. It pairs perfectly with anything you'd like apples with and in my book that means pork chops!

I had always thought cabbage smelled like feet but I never got any whiff of dirty toes from this dish. I only got sweet apple scents and something slightly earthier...but never the smell of boiling socks I was so fearful of. This dish is good people...like five-year-old good. It also has a deep purple red color that really brightens up your plate and you know I love a pretty plate.

Cabbage can also be a supporting player in a main dish. Usually when I hear something like that I'm thinking about some scary German dish that sounds like a gargling sneeze when you pronounce the name, but no, I mean it can be a supporting player in a dish you already like! What is that dish? Stir fry.

Mmmm stir fry how I love thee. How a ripping hot wok can transform meat, veggies, and noodles into a delicious dinner in five minutes flat! Asians are so smart...and freakishly good at math... I digress. If you already have a stir fry recipe you enjoy then all you need to do is chop up your cabbage into inch by inch squares and toss it in when you add the hard vegetables like carrots. If you don't have a stir fry recipe, here's one I love.

Linda Lemon's Stir fry Special

Sauce:

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup water

2 tablespoons soy sauce

pinch red pepper flake

1 tbsp brown sugar

5-8 drops sesame oil

2 cloves of garlic minced

1 chicken breast cut into 1/2 inch chunks

1 package of soba or udon noodles, cooked and drained

2 tbsp vegetable oil

Veggies (all optional-use one or all of them at your discretion. Add your own!)

2 carrots peeled and cut into matchsticks

1 cup red cabbage cut into 1 inch squares

1 cup snow peas

1/2 onion chopped into 1 inch squares

Wisk all of the sauce ingredients together and set aside. Heat wok (or large skillet) on high heat and add the oil. When the oil is hot drop in the chicken and move the chicken around constantly. When you first start seeing some browning on the chicken add the veggies. (If you are using any leafy vegetables, add those right at the end to avoid over wilting.) Stir those around for a few minutes remembering to stir constantly. When vegetables are taking on some color toss in the sauce and noodles. Stir for another few minutes and serve.

Okay my legions of loyal readers, I have to be honest with you. As I was writing the stir fry recipe I was finding it to be very silly. This is a recipe I have cooked and it is delicious but the very idea of using a recipe for stir fry is absurd. Here's what you should really do: grab whatever meat you have in the refrigerator and chop it up. Grab whatever vegetable you have and chop it up too-only smaller. Grab a starch-rice or noodles (any type of long skinny noodle will be FINE-even Italian pasta noodles) and cook it. Next, look in your refrigerator and take an assessment for sauce possibilities. Everyone has soy sauce (even my parents and they have never owned a bottle of olive oil...how CPS didn't become involved in my childhood, I have no idea) so grab that. Do you have some stock-chicken, vegetable, beef-awesome, grab that. Teriyaki? Asian inspired marinades? Pot sticker sauce? Get what you have and place it by the stove. Next turn your thoughts to aromatics. Garlic, ginger, pepper... all good things. Again, look and see what you have. Mince up some garlic and pull out the red pepper flake and ground ginger. Heat up your wok and cook the meat and vegetables and toss in your starch. Add a little soy sauce...taste it and see how it tastes. Add a little stock or marinade or teriyaki and taste it. Finally, toss in your aromatics and allow to cook for a minute and serve. Stir fry is an awesome dish to make when you just need to use up some random items about ready to go bad in the refrigerator. Recipe? We don't need no stinkin' recipe. Or if we did, it'd look a little like this:

Whatever I Have On Hand Stir Fry

meat-cut into small chunks

veggies- cut into smaller chunks

starch- cooked

flavorful liquid with which to make a sauce-add in small doses and taste as you go

flavor boosters-whatever you have added at the end

Stay tuned for our next winter vegetables! ROOT VEGETABLES!

Eating On The Cheap

If you ever wanted to hear a blond go on a crazy rant for 45 minutes all you need to do is tell me that it's impossible to eat healthily on a budget. The first part of my rant would be lamenting America's priorities. We spend $50 to $100+ a month on cell phone service and $100 a month on cable and internet and yet we are unwilling to plunk down a few dollars in order to put quality food in our bodies?! But I'm here now to make the argument that yes, on a budget, you CAN eat healthy and delicious foods on a strict budget.

One week's groceries:

Farmer's market meat
1 dozen eggs- $3.25 at farmer's market
1 whole roaster chicken- $11.00 at farmer's market
2 pork chops- $5.00 at farmer's market

Grocery store
1 bag spinach $2.00
3 lb bag of apples $2.50
1 green pepper-$1.00
3 lb bag of yellow onions-$2.50
1 quart (4 cups) tomato soup-$2.25
1 pound pasta $1.00
1 jar tomato sauce-$1.00
4 pack yogurt $3.00
1 loaf bread $1.00

Total: $35.50

Monday:

Breakfast- Yogurt
Lunch- 1.5 cups of tomato soup, spinach salad with sliced apples with olive oil and salt and pepper.
Snack- apple
Dinner- Roasted chicken-eating a breast and 2 wings and saving the rest

Tuesday:

Breakfast- Yogurt
Lunch- left over chicken breast, spinach salad
snack-apple
Dinner- Pasta with tomato sauce, green pepper, onion and chicken. Cooking the entire pound of pasta and using the 3/4th green pepper, 1 onion, and using the thigh meat from the chicken.

Wednesday:

Breakfast- Yogurt
Lunch- left over pasta
snack-apple
Dinner- 3 egg omelet with caramelized onions and spinach

Thursday:

Breakfast- Toast
Lunch- 1 egg sandwich with spinach, 1 cup tomato soup
snack- Yogurt
Dinner- 1 pork chop with simmered apples

Friday:

Breakfast- Toast
Lunch- left over pasta
snack-apple
Dinner- 3 egg omelet with green peppers and onions

Saturday:

Breakfast- scrambled eggs (2) with any left over pork chops
Lunch- 1/2 pork chop sliced thin and served as a sandwich, spinach salad
snack-apple
Dinner- Chicken legs (2) and cooked apples

Sunday:

Breakfast- Toast
Lunch- left over pasta
snack- apple
Dinner- 1/2 pork chop sandwich, 1.5 cups tomato soup

I STILL HAVE:
a couple onions
most of a loaf of bread
3 eggs

I did assume most people can get 4 servings out of a pound of pasta. I also assumed you already had olive oil to cook with and salt and pepper.

So for under $36 I made a weekly menu that includes getting 100% of your meat from local sources. Yes, you can shave $2.00 off of the eggs, $6.00 off of the chicken, and $2.00 off of the pork chops if you got them at the grocery store but it's nice to know that eating ethically can be cost effective.

Let's do the math. First of all we spent $5.00 on food each day. That's all?! Subway is making a big freakin' deal about $5.00 for a foot long sandwich and here we are making a menu that feeds you every day, all day with local meat for $5.00! If you work at a job that pays $9.00 an hour and you work full time (40 hours per week) you will bring home around $300 a week (after taxes). Spending $35.00 per week on food is 12% of your income. That's pretty affordable if you are single. If you have a child or two, well honey, you qualify for food stamps on that income so sign up! Get those groceries on your food stamps, feed your babies well!

And next week, since you have some eggs, bread, and onions left, you can get some sharp cheddar cheese ($3.50), a jar of peanut butter ($1.00), or some mayo or mustard ($1.50).

Okay, are we all on the same page??? Eating healthily IS affordable. Eating local meat is also affordable. In fact, in the summer, eating local fruit and vegetables is also affordable as the prices for in season produce is cheaper than in the grocery stores! Yes! Yes! Say it with me! People who say they can't afford to eat healthy foods are morons! AGAIN! People who say they can't afford to eat healthy foods are morons! ONE MORE TIME! PEOPLE WHO SAY THEY CAN'T AFFORD TO EAT HEALTHY FOODS ARE MORONS!

(By the way, inspiration for this posting was found at The Low Fat Low Sugar Blog on Oct. 14th. I just took it a step in my direction.)