Month: April 2016

Lunch

It’s chicken wrap time again.

• Split four ways, the $9.99 chicken is $2.50 a quarter or $1.25 per serve
• One quarter of the $2.74 salad is 69c
• The flatbread is 50c
• Hummus is $3.99 per container and we used about 1/6 or 33c per serve

Lunch today cost $2.77 a serve.

Dinner

Continuing my experiment on the perfect way to cook the NY Strip Steak from Prather Ranch, I took it a little further than last week and cooked it medium rare. The texture is most certainly better bleu than medium rare, as is the flavor.

Tonight was also an experiment with Trader Joe’s Pickled Cauliflower medley. It is good: nice crisp cauliflower and great flavor.

• 12 oz of grass fed New York Strip Steak was $19.45 or $9.72 per serve
• Three small potatoes each cost 55c per serve
• The jar of pickled cauliflower is $3.99 and we used half, or $1.00 per serve.

Tonight’s dinner cost $11.27 per serve, which compares very favorably with a similar meal out.

Lunch

Time for a trip to the next County to get a baguette and liverwurst. Although there is a Jons market closer, the freeway makes the one in Simi Valley quicker to get to.

We chose three topping: liverwurst; Wildbrine Fermented Madras Curry & Cauliflower Sauerkraut and cheddar; mayo, egg and cornichon.

You can tell from the color of the yolk these are pastured eggs. Chickens that eat an appropriate mix of bugs and foliage have richer yolk color.

• The bread was $2.99 or 75c per serve.
• The cheddar is $5.99 for the 8oz block or 75c per 1 oz serve
• The sauerkraut was $6.99 for 18 oz or 39c per serve
• Eggs are 50c each, and we each had one
• The liverwurst is $3.11 for the and we had about 1/6th each or 52c per serve
• Add another 12c for mayo and cornichon.

Lunch today cost $3.03 per serve.

Dinner

We still have quite a lot of mushroom barley risotto from Sunday’s lunch, so we paired that with two pressure cooked lamb shanks. These came less well trimmed than we have been used to, and did not cook quite as well. As a result they were a little tougher than usual. They were also significantly cheaper than usual.

We used blue cheese crumbles instead of parmesan and it really works much better with the mushroom barley risotto and lamb, than the parmesan.

• The two lamb shanks were $7.42 or $3.71 each
• Two packs of fresh, sliced mushrooms cost $3.99 a pack, or $2 a serve
• The pearl barley is $4.89 for a 28 oz bag, or 61c per serve
• Two cups of broth is half a $1.99 carton or 17c per serve
• Blue cheese comes in a $6.99 tub, and we finished off about 1/8 of the tub or 44c per serve
• Add another 20c for onion, oil and herbs.

Dinner tonight cost $7.13 per serve.

Lunch

We ended up shooting an unscheduled Lunch with Philip and Greg, since our guest was staying with us, so we had Mushroom Barley ‘Risotto’. Technically not a risotto because it uses barley instead of Arborio rice, but the result is a rich and creamy like risotto. Cooked in the pressure cooker for speed.

It’s more filling than you’d think, and the recipe makes more than six servings.

• Two packs of fresh, sliced mushrooms cost $3.99 a pack, or $2 a serve
• The pearl barley is $4.89 for a 28 oz bag, or 61c per serve
• Two cups of broth is half a $1.99 carton or 17c per serve
• The packet of parmesan cost $6.99 but we used about 1/8 for three servings, or 29c per serve
• Add another 20c for onion, oil and herbs.

Lunch today cost $3.27 per serve.

Dinner

Since we were (finally) shooting the last part of our Filet Americain video we started in September in Amsterdam on preparing meat in the USA, we had to prepare it again to shoot that part.

This is the same recipe we prepared last Saturday, although we prepared less this time.

• The Sirloin was sourced locally for $11.10, or $3.70 per serve
• The shallot added 98c or 17c per serve
• Mayonnaise cost $3.49 for the jar, and 1/5 was used, or 12c per serve
• Worcestershire sauce is $4.13 per jar but only two tablespoons (not four) were used which works out to 5c per serve.
• Similarly mustard adds 7c per serve.
• The bread was $2.00 or 50c per serve (for four, with one left over)
• Our side salad cost an additional 30c to prepare.

Dinner tonight cost $4.91 per serve.

Lunch

For lunch today we had another of the onion bagels, some store bought corned beef, Wildbrine Red Beet and Cabbage ‘salad’ and edem cheese.

• The sliced corned beef is $4.99 a pack, and we used about 1/3 or 83c per serve
• The Wildbrine Red Beet and Red Cabbage salad is $6.99 for the container. We used one quarter or 88c per serve
• The edam cheese is $2.32 per pack of eight slices and we used two slices per serve, or 58c per serve
• As it was yesterday the bagels are 33c per serve.

Today’s photo is of our lunch, which cost $2.62 per serve.

Dinner

Tonight we had Indian take-out with a large group of friends. We had seen the reviews on Yelp, so we’ve been interested in trying Woodlands since we moved to Chatsworth. With at least one vegetarian in the group, it seemed like a perfect opportunity.

The food was every bit as good as Yelp reviews had led us to believe, but despite the flavor, it’s not particularly photogenic.

We contributed $15 each to cover costs.

Lunch

Wild caught smoked salmon, cream cheese, capers on an onion bagel.

• Smoked salmon at Trader Joe’s is a little more expensive at $5.99 for the 4oz pack, or $3.00 per serve
• The pack of six onion bagels is $1.99 or 33c per serve
• Cream cheese pack is $1.69 and we used about 1/3 or 28c per serve
• Add 5c for capers.

Lunch today cost $3.66

Dinner

Tonight we did a variation on Pioneer Woman’s Easy Chilli Rellenos. Once you have the basic concept down, it’s easy to create variations. In this iteration we substituted butternut squash, bacon and smokey cheese for the basics in Pioneer Woman’s recipe.

We purchased butternut squash pre-cut. The biggest hassle with using it as an ingredient is the peeling and chopping. Buying pre-cut eliminates the issue. Steamed ahead of the casserole, it should be just soft when going into the oven.

Bacon and smokey cheese are always a good combination. We decided the bacon could be cooked a little longer, until just crisp, to add more texture.

You can tell the eggs are organic by the variation in color of the eggs, and the deep rich yolk color.

• The pre-cut butternut squash was $1.99 for a 12oz pack or $1 per serve
• We used half the $2.84 pack of ‘Dutch smoked cheese’ (not Gouda!) or 71c per serve
• Eggs are 50c each or $1.25 per serve
• We used bacon ends and pieces where the pack was $3.49 but we used about 1/3 or 58c per serve
• A pint of half and half is $1.49 and half was used or 37c per serve
• Add 5c for seasoning.

Tonight’s dinner cost $3.96 per serve. The squash, bacon and cheese is an excellent combination.

Lunch

For our “quesadilla” we stuck with Trader Joe’s Refried Black Beans with Jalappeno Peppers. Because the Fontera salsa was not available at our local store, Greg substituted Casa Martinez Chipotle Fire Roased Salsa. We’re pretty sure this is the same salsa as the Fontera without the celebrity endorsement, and only $3.99 a jar instead of $4.69. Guess which we will be choosing in the future!

• One flatbread (half of two) costs 50c a serve
• Half a can of refried beans, shared across two halves: 26c
• A very generous serve of salsa is 20c per serve
• 2 oz of cheddar split between two is 50c per serve

Lunch today cost $1.46 per serve and came together in about 10 minutes. Today we fried in ghee (clarified butter) but bacon fat is tastier.

Dinner

Thursday night is traditionally ‘steak night’ although we interpret that fairly liberally, but tonight it was an aged NY Strip Steak from the Prather Ranch delivery.

We grilled it very rare on the flat side of the griddle on the induction heater. While we generally prefer beef rare to medium rare, we have discovered that a NY strip steak toughens as it cooks. Even medium rare is quite tough. We had blamed the cut but it turns out that blue is best.

Blue means the exterior is seared while the interior is warmed, but not significantly cooked. That this is dry aged and pasture fed beef gave a really beefy flavor, and if you don’t want that, why eat beef?

• We buy Prather Ranch meat because of the quality, no price so 12.8oz for $19.74 is definitely not the cheapest NY Strip you can buy, but I doubt you’d find better meat for $9.87 per serve
• A pastured egg is 50c or 25c per serve.
• Seasonings ran about 45c per serve
• An organic lettuce cost $1.99 or $1 a serve
• The packet of parmesan cost $6.99 but we used about 1/8 for this salad, or 44c per serve.
• Instead of croutons, Greg fried off some haloumi cheese – a cheese that will not melt – at $4.00 for the pack, or $2.00 per serve.

Tonight’s steakhouse quality meal was $13.01 per serve. The steak was exceptionally tender with a great beef flavor.

Lunch

We recorded another episode of Lunch with Philip and Greg with Oliver Peters and chose the Firefly Tapas restaurant close to the Las Vegas Convention Center.

The food was very, very good. Another place where I would go for the food, not the experience of eating together. Tapas – a.k.a. small plates – provides a lot of variation during a meal.

• The average for each serve was $21.63 with tax and tip.

Dinner

After a long drive back from Las Vegas convenience won over purity and Trader Joe’s Pork belly steamed and fried off with ready cooked lentils reheated in chicken stock to enhance the flavor.

• 12 oz of fully cooked pork belly is $6.49 or $3.25 per serve
• 17.6 oz of steamed lentils is $2.99 but we only used half, or 75c per serve
• The stock adds another 14c per serve.

Tonight’s quick, but very tasty meal, cost $4.14 per serve.