Month: August 2017

Lunch

Burbank Monday sees foodie Philip at In and Out Burger for a Double Double, Animal Style for $4.26.

Dinner

A new recipe to use up some zucchini a friend had given us: Bratwurst and Zucchini Soup.

• The bratwurst are $3.49 for the pack, or 75c per serve
• The zucchini cost nothing
• Stock adds 50c per serve
• Rice adds 33c per serve
• Add 15c for the other ingredients.

This soup was really good, not because of the recipe, but with the addition of a little more seasoning, it stopped being bland and became delicious for $1.73 per serve.

Lunch

Smoked salmon on a rustic roll, baked to perfection, with neufschatel, capers, shallot and cucumber for Sunday lunch? Why yes please.

The rolls come par baked and frozen but cook up to a good crisp crust with a soft crumb inside.

• Smoked salmon $5.99 for the 4oz pack or $3.00 a serve
• Par-baked roll is 63c
• The soft cheese of choice was Neufschatel at $2.99 for the block, of which we used 1/4 or 38c
• A Persian cucumber is 40c or 20c per serve
• Add 15c for capers and shallot.

Lunch today cost $4.36 a serve and was worthy of Sunday lunch.

Dinner

We received a cross rib eye steak in our Prather Ranch meat box, so we grilled it medium rare and pared it with a Caesar Salad.

The cross rib eye if one steak further on from rib eye, so it is almost as good, but not quite, as a rib eye. There are a lot of different muscle groups so it tended to fall apart and need careful trimming, but we agree: not quite as good as rib eye.

Tonight’s variation on the Caesar was to grill halloumi as the “crouton” component. The halloumi tended to melt or burn on the grill and we can’t say it was entirely successful.

• The cross rib eye was $12.23, quite a lot less than the approximately $20.00 rib eye from the same source, or $6.12 per serve
• An egg in the dressing is 55c or 28c per serve
• Organic romaine lettuce was $1.99 or $1.00 per serve
• Halloumi $3.64 or $1.82 a serve
• Add 50c for the other dressing ingredients.

All up a very decent meal. Good steak and a great Caesar salad: what more could you want for $9.72 per serve.

Lunch

For lunch we reheated the remaining serve(s) of pork larb and combined it with the last bit of the Vietnamese salad in a wrap. It was pretty good.

• The pork larb was $2.54 per serve
• The Vietnamese salad was 70c per full serve, or 35c per wrap
• The wraps are $3.99 for six or 67c each.

Lunch freed up a lot of space in the fridge and cost $3.56 per serve.

Dinner

Another meal celebrating our cultural heritage: meat pies and an Australian style salad! The meat pies came from Bronzed Aussie and are among the best meat pies we’ve ever eaten. Certainly we could not find their equal in Australia last year!

We paired the reheated frozen meat pies with an Australian influenced salad, with a caramelized onion cheddar cubed into the salad, cherry tomatoes, – although to be authentic it should have been quarters of tasteless tomato – pickled beetroot, and iceberg lettuce.

• At $9.90 each the pies are not cheap but they have a near perfect crust, and a tasty chunky beef stew filling
• The cheddar was $4.41 or $1.47 per serve as we had three at dinner
• The beets in vinaigrette were $1.69 and we used about 1/3 or 28c per serve
• The lettuce was 99c and we used about half tonight, or 17c per serve.
• Tomatoes were $2.99 and we used about half, or 50c per serve.

Dinner tonight was a perfect reminder of Australia, and because of the quality of ingredients, a really tasty meal, even if it was a slightly indulgent $12.32 per serve.

Lunch

Another hardware store trip, so another opportunity to stop for lunch on the way back. Instead of our usual trip to The Country Deli we stopped in at the Vietnamese restaurant where we obtained the bahn mi a few days ago.

Philip had a seafood fried rice, while Greg had the fried pork with rice and salad. Both were good examples of their kind, but we feel there are better options at this restaurant, so we’ll explore further.

Lunch today was $16.62 per serve with tax and tip.

Dinner

Tonight we returned to the Greek style tuna salad the we enjoyed last month. We had a last minute guest for dinner, so we added some garbanzo beans

• A can of yellowfin tuna costs $3.49, or $2.33 per serve
• Persian cucumber cost 40c or 13c per serve
• A bell pepper is 99c or 33c per serve
• Tomatoes were $2.99 and we used about half, or 50c per serve
• Pitted olives come in $2.99 jars and one quarter was used, or 25c per serve
• 1 lb of limes we $1.29 and we used 1/4 or 11c per serve
• The organic garbanzo beans were $1.00 or 33c per serve
• Add 25c for the seasonings.

This salad exceeded our expectations. It was much more tasty than the simple ingredients would suggest and it comes in at $4.23 per serve.

Lunch

You can’t make just one sardine and avocado sandwich, so we each had one.

• An avocado is $1.49 or 75c per serve
• Lightly smoked sardines in olive oil are $1.69 per can, or 85c per serve
• Two slices of bread are 39c.

Lunch today was pretty good – it’s an Alton Brown favorite – for $1.99 per serve.

Dinner

Yesterday we took a pack of Cross Rib Steak (from Prather Ranch) and marinated it over night and through the day. It was then cut, speared on skewers and perfectly grilled.

Served with a spicy Thai peanut sauce, Vietnamese Salad and rice noodles, it turned out to be a really good combination.

• The cross rib steak was $6.02 or $3.01 per serve
• The shredded green cabbage was 42c for the pack, or 14c per serve
• The ingredients for the sauce add another 35c per serve
• Mint cost 50c and we used half, or 8c per serve
• The bunch of carrots was 89c but we used half in this dish, or 15c per serve
• The limes for the dressing were 19c each (bargain) and we used four, but only about half the juice was used – 13c per serve
• The peanut butter was $3.99 and we used about 1/4 in the recipe or 50c a serve
• Add 40c for the spices in the sauce per serve
• Rice noodles are $3.56 per 14oz box, we used about 1/2 of the box, or 90c per serve.

The peanut sauce oozed down into the noodles to make a tasty mouthful. The spiciness of the peanut sauce was a great complement to the beef, while the crisp, wet salad helped keep all in balance for $5.66 per serve.

Lunch

It’s leftover clear out lunch. The remaining chicken breast along with the last bit of the salad from the last couple of nights went in a wrap with the rest of the hummus in the open container!

• The mixed green blend was $2.49 and we used half a serve, or 32c per wrap
• The chicken was $6.99 and we shared a breast, or  88c per serve
• Hummus adds 30c per serve
• The wraps are $3.99 for six or 67c each.

Lunch today was serviceable for $2.17 per serve.

Dinner

We have a limited range of ground pork recipes, but one of our favorites is Pork Larb.

There are four serves in the dish, particularly when you use 1lb of pork, instead of half that in the recipe.

• The ground pork was $8.15 or $2.04 per serve
• Allowing 50c per serve for the remaining ingredients would be generous
• Cucumber adds 50c per serve
• Bean sprouts add 14c per serve
• The lettuce was 99c and we used about half tonight, or 25c per serve.

The Larb is very good, along with the fresh vegetables make a perfect hot weather meal for $3.46 per serve.

Lunch

Today we decided to celebrate the return of our favorite wraps to the shelf, with a top sirloin and little of the mixed salad from two nights ago.

• The top sirloin was $5.99 per 1lb container, but we used about 1/4 of a serve and shared it, or 75c a serve
• The mixed green blend was $2.49 and we used half a serve, or 32c per wrap
• A serve of the roquamole is $1.08 and we split one for 54c per serve
• The wraps are $3.99 for six or 67c each.

Today’s wrap was really good. The roquamole provided intense blue cheese flavor, the salad contributed wetness and crunch, and the meat took care of the umami flavors. Not bad for $2.28 per serve.

Dinner

When Greg suggested the Grilled Vegetable Salad I had low expectations, but going vegetarian for some meals is a good way to go, so I thought “why not.”

We were blow away as to how good this salad is. Another use of our new grill, it took a while for the vegetables to soften and char a little. Then cooling, chopping and adding the oil and feta elevates the flavor. The salty feta perfectly complements the (otherwise bland) vegetables. Putting the olive oil after cooking not only avoids the dangers of over heating the oil and makes it possible to taste the oil on the salad.

• The feta in brine was $6.50 and 1/4 went into dinner, or 41c per serve
• The sucking was 54c or 27c per serve
• The Chinese eggplant was 92c or 46c per serve
• The red bell pepper was $1.49 or 75c per serve
• Add 25c for the olive oil per serve.

Dinner tonight was really good. If you have a grill you’ve got to give this a try before summer is over. Not only extremely tasty, but economic at $2.14 per serve!