Month: July 2016

Did we slip into a time warp? Today was a repeat of July 12!

Lunch

Gyro slices are still available at Trader Joe’s and are more tasty than roast chicken for about the same cost per serve.

• The fully cooked sliced gyro/yeros meat is $3.99 per 10oz pack. There are really four serves, so each serve is very slightly cheaper than the chicken, at $1.00 per serve.
• The flatbread is 50c
• Hummus is $3.99 per container and we used about 1/6 or 33c per serve
• We served 1/4 of the tabouli salad or 67c per serve.

Lunch today cost $2.50 per serve.

Dinner

Since the last time was such a success, when we saw pair of thin cut pork chops in our Prather Ranch meat delivery we had to smoke them again even though we did this a week ago!

Once again we brined the chops. We generally brine pork to ensure it stays moist during cooking. It also brings a little saltiness to the meat, which, when combined with the smoke, makes the pork chops reminiscent  of, almost, ham flavor.

We’ve avoided the fry off in the past out of concern that it would overcook the pork, but tonight the chops came out of the smoke a little under-done, so we used a quick fry to finish the cooking and add some maillard reaction flavors to the outside – not that we noticed them against the smokiness!

Again we used an Envy apple after the success. It retained it’s texture and was crips and wet with a good balance of sweet and tart. Foodie Greg prefers the dressing as a mix of mayonnaise and cultured sour cream. The tartness of the sour cream offsets a little of the fatty mouth feel of the mayonnaise and is a better complement for the salad. And we didn’t grow up in the South of the USA!

• The thin cut Pork Loin Chops were $9.95 or $4.98 per serve
• The Envy apple was $1.29 or 65c per serve
• Celery bunch $1.49 for 12 stalks and we used 1/4 or 18c per serve
• Instead of walnuts, we used pecans where the pack was $4.49 but we used about 1/4, or 57c per serve.
• Cultured sour cream is $3.29 for the container, or 33c per serve.

Dinner tonight cost $6.71 per serve and is an excellent example of how a simple meal with only five ingredients can be elevated when every one of the ingredients is of the highest quality. It’s hard to imagine how this could be better from a restaurant.

Lunch

Back to a somewhat normal Burbank Monday, featuring an In and Out Double Double Animal Style. Foodie Greg had leftover Beef Massaman, which was already accounted for in last night’s dinner.

A Double Double is $4.03 including tax.

Dinner

A variation on Pioneer Woman’s Lazy Chili Rellenos featuring spinach and feta, which make an excellent flavor combination. We find the recipe makes four generous serves.

We choose pastured eggs over organic because feeding chickens an unnatural diet in order to make them ‘organic’ seems wrong. Chickens should be eating bugs, worms and other natural foods. Pastured chickens also get to spend more time outside. Our supplier of choice is Vital Farms.

As with our meat delivery, these are not the cheapest options, but it is worth it for both the quality of the product, and so we can be assured that the animals have a decent life.

• Five pastured eggs are $2.50 or 63c per serve
• The Valbreso feta is $9.99 for a 600g tin, of which we used 1/3, or 83c per serve
• 7oz of baby spinach was $2.99, or 75c per serve.

Dinner tonight was a really great, tasty dish. The feta and spinach is a winning combination for only $2.21 per serve.

 

Lunch

Back to our standby lunch of chicken wraps because we’d been working around the house and didn’t have time for anything else.

• The $7.99 chicken is broken into quarters, and one breast is shared for lunch wraps, or $1.00 a serve.
• The flatbread is 50c
• Hummus is $3.99 per container and we used about 1/6 or 33c per serve
• The tabouli salad is $1.68 for four serves, or 42c per serve.

Lunch today cost $2.25.

Dinner

We had a cross rib steak remaining from last months’ Prather Ranch meat delivery, so why not a massaman curry. We had a cross rib roast last month so we knew it would work in the massaman.

Because we’re rebels, we didn’t cut it into chunks, but simmered it in two halves after frying it off for some mayard reaction. We also simplified the recipe by using a massaman curry mix instead of kaffir lime, cinnamon, tamarind, fish sauce and chili.

• The cross rib steak was $6.55 or $3.28 per serve
• The can of massaman curry mix is $4.30 or $2.15 per serve
• Plain peanuts are in limited supply in this part of the world, with a jar costing $2.99, of which we used around 1/5, or 30c per serve
• Three small potatoes each cost 55c per serve
• Coconut cream is $1.49 per can, or 75c per serve
• Rice adds another 50c per serve.

Dinner tonight was $7.53 per serve, but should count for slightly less as Foodie Greg finished the remains for lunch next day.

Lunch

Once we determined we would be traveling to Lowes to pick up some renovation supplies, stopping at the Country Deli on the way, was an easy decision.

Lunch at the Country Deli tends to average around $20.00 per serve with tax and tip.

Dinner

After the ‘steak and eggs’ lunch at the deli, we balanced it out with tuna and salad in the evening. Foodie Greg is on a quest to find salads that don’t revolve around lettuce, or leafy greens, as their foundation. Tonight’s was an excellent combination, and used up some more of that excellent Valbreso feta.

• The feta is $9.99 for a 600g tin, of which we used 1/6, or 83c per serve
• The tuna steaks were $7.19 for the two, or $3.60 a serve
• A box of Persian cucumbers was $2.49, and we used about half, or 63c per serve
• The pack of organic sugar-snap peas was slightly too much, but we used it all, or $1.65 per serve
• Organic Mint was $1.99 but only half was used, or 50c per serve.

Dinner tonight was quick, easy and tasty for $7.21 per serve.

Lunch

Time for something a little different: an onion bagel with liverwurst on one half, avocado and Canadian bacon on the other.

• The pack of six onion bagels is $1.99 or 33c per serve
• We used about 1/3 of the $3.20 liverwurst, or 55c a serve
• We used half the $1.49 avocado, or 38c per serve
• We purchased $5.90 of Canadian bacon, but ate about 1/4 for lunch yesterday and 1/8 today, or 37c per serve.

Lunch today cost $1.63 per serve.

Dinner

A simple meal of supermarket roast chicken with a salad of chick pea, tomato, cucumber, olive and feta. Frankly the chick peas are boring, but the heirloom tomato and quality feta made up for it. We actively shop for Valbreso feta, which is imported from France.

• The $7.99 chicken is broken into quarters, or $2.00 per serve
• The can of beans was 89c or 45c per serve
• The heirloom tomato was $2.54, or $1.27 per serve
• The cucumber was 60c or 30c per serve
• The feta is $9.99 for a 600g tin, of which we used 1/6, or 83c per serve.

Dinner tonight was better than you’d expect for the simple ingredients and cost $4.85 per serve.

Lunch

We had, what we call a ‘grazing lunch’. Various things you can top a slice of baguette with: tomato, cheddar or liverwurst. Serve yourself as you want, what you want.

• 1/4 of the $2.69 baguette went to each serve or 68c
• We used about 1/4 of the $4 block of cheese, or 50c a serve
• We used about 1/3 of the $3.20 liverwurst, or 55c a serve
• We used half the $1.49 avocado, or 38c per serve
• We purchased $5.90 of Canadian bacon, but ate about 1/4 for lunch, or 74c per serve
• Add 33c for Wildbrine Madras Curry and Cauliflower Sauerkraut salad.

Lunch today cost $3.18 a serve.

Dinner

A simple meal of grass fed NY Strip Steak from our Prather Ranch delivery with a salad of mixed greens with cucumber and a Caesar dressing.

• The 12.5 ounce steak was $19.96 or $9.98 per serve
• Ready pack of mixed salad greens is $2.29, or $1.15 per huge serve
• The Persian cucumber was 65c or 33c per serve
• The egg, oil and vinegar for the dressing add 55c per serve
• Seasonings ran about 45c per serve.

Dinner tonight was simple but tasty, and cost $12.46 per serve.

Lunch

Back to our standby lunch: chicken wraps.

• The $7.99 chicken is broken into quarters, and one breast is shared for lunch wraps, or $1.00 a serve.
• The flatbread is 50c
• Hummus is $3.99 per container and we used about 1/6 or 33c per serve
• The tabouli salad is $1.68 for four serves, or 42c per serve.

Lunch today cost $2.25.

Dinner

Time to revisit a recipe we haven’t had for a very long time: Coconut Fish Curry. Instead of rice, which would be more traditional, we chose Naan bread for dipping into the delicious liquid. Even though it is culturally inappropriate, it works really well.

We made up a half batch of the recipe, since there are only two of us.

• We buy the cod filets frozen: 7 pieces for $11.99 or $1.71 per piece/serve
• Organic coconut milk cost $1.69 or 85c per serve
• For ginger, onion and garlic add 23c per serve
• The baby cherry tomatoes were $3.99. We used 1/3 or 67c per serve
• An organic bell pepper was $1.63 or 82c per serve
• For lemon and other seasonings add another 20c per serve
• Two pieces of Naan cost $2.50 or $1.25 per serve.

This soup is really worth it. It has a great balance of sour and sweet and a lot of flavor from the curry seasonings for $5.73 per serve.

Lunch

Surprisingly, some of the gyro slices we purchased last week are still in the refrigerators, so there’s lunch.

• The fully cooked sliced gyro/yeros meat is $3.99 per 10oz pack. There are really four serves, so each serve is very slightly cheaper than the chicken, at $1.00 per serve.
• The flatbread is 50c
• Hummus is $3.99 per container and we used about 1/6 or 33c per serve
• We served 1/4 of the tabouli salad or 67c per serve.

Lunch today cost $2.50 per serve.

Dinner

Since the last time was such a success, when we saw pair of thin cut pork chops in our Prather Ranch meat delivery we had to smoke them again!

Before smoking we brined the chops. We generally brine pork to ensure it stays moist during cooking. It also brings a little saltiness to the meat, which, when combined with the smoke, makes the pork chops reminiscent  of, almost, ham flavor.

It would be traditional to take the smoked pork chops and give them a quick, hot fry off to make them look more appealing, and to create a little maillard reaction, but with the thin cut chops, we feel it would over-cook the meat and make it tough, so we left them as they came out of the smoker.

Tonight’s apple was a type we hadn’t tried before: Envy. It retained it’s texture and was crips and wet with a good balance of sweet and tart. Foodie Greg prefers the dressing without mayonnaise, so cultured sour cream was used.

• The thin cut Pork Loin Chops were $9.95 or $4.98 per serve
• The Envy apple was $1.29 or 65c per serve
• Celery bunch $1.49 for 12 stalks and we used 1/4 or 18c per serve
• Instead of walnuts, we used pecans where the pack was $4.49 but we used about 1/4, or 57c per serve.
• Cultured sour cream is $3.29 for the container, or 33c per serve.

Dinner tonight cost $6.71 per serve and is an excellent example of how a simple meal with only five ingredients can be elevated when every one of the ingredients is of the highest quality. It’s hard to imagine how this could be better from a restaurant.

Lunch

Back to the regular Burbank Monday schedule, and an In and Out Burger Double Double Animal Style.

Lunch today was $4.03 with tax.

Dinner

Once again we had Emeril Lagasse’s Stir Fried Beef and Broccoli using our Prather Ranch ‘fajita’ beef. We have yet to use the ‘fajita’ beef for fajitas!  This is a very simple dish, but very tasty. We upped the garlic and ginger in the sauce and replaced the honey with sweet chili sauce. We don’t mind a bit of spicy heat!

• The broccoli florets where $2.99 or $1.50 a serve.
• The beef came from our farm-direct meat delivery as ‘fajita steak’  for a fast cook at $10.21 or $5.10 a seve.
•  The ginger and garlic was 28c or 14c per serve
• Pressure cooked red rice 92c per serve.

Dinner tonight cost $7.66 per serve.