Month: December 2017

Lunch

A trip to Jon’s market always results in one of their excellent baguettes and their superior roast chicken. Add tomato and mayo and you’ve got a great lunch.

• A baguette is $2.79 and we shared half over lunch or 70c per serve
• The chicken is $6.99 and we shared one breast or 88c per serve
• Five kumato were $3.49 and we used one, or 35c per serve
• Add 2oc for mayo.

A great lunch for $2.13 per serve.

Dinner

A cool night means soup weather, especially if you have split pea soup remaining. Add some cubed ham for protein and garnish, and you have an excellent warming meal.

• The stock has no real cost
• The pack of split peas was $1.59 or 27c per serve
• The frozen peas is 99c a pack, or 16c per serve
• We added a garnish of  cubed ham steak that was $2.99 or $1.50 per serve.

For dinner tonight the soup cost $1.93. We chose not to do a roll or bread with the soup as it is very filling on its own.

Lunch

The Foodies were out shopping – unsuccessfully as it turns out – and decided In and Out was on the way home! Foodie Philip had his usual Double Double while Greg had a regular Cheeseburger, both Animal Style.

The total was $6.81 or $3.40 each.

Dinner

Since we had that awesome new souse vidé machine Foodie Greg decided to perfect some shrimp with the Sous Vide Shrimp With Garlic, Sherry, and Smoked Paprika recipe cooking to 130 F.

We served with mushroom gouda savory oatmeal and sugar snap peas.

• The shrimp was $7.99 for the pack, and we used half, or $2.00 per serve
• Sherry is $6.99 a bottle or 21c per serve
• The butter is $3.99 per block, and we used about 1/4 for two serves, or 50c per serve
• Add 30c for paprika and thyme
• The steel cut oats are $3.19 for 24oz, and we used 8oz or 53c per serve
• Mushrooms were $3.29 or $1.65 per serve
• Emmentaler cheese was $3.50 and we used 1/3 – 23c per serve – or 46c for this meal
• Add 30c for oatmeal seasonings.

The shrimp had a great firm texture and were full of briny shrimp flavor. Some of the best shrimp we’ve had. The savory oatmeal was a great side dish, with the mushroom coming through.

What was, essentially, shrimp and grits was $5.95 per serve.

Lunch

More toasted sandwiches: Salami, Sun Dried Tomato & Labné, Cheese & Cauliflower Curry Pickles. Both were repeats and both good.

• Two slices of bread are 32c per serve
• 12 slices of yoghurt cheese are $4.79 and we shared two or 40c per serve
• The salami was $3.49 and we used under a quarter or 30c per serve
• Add 33c for Wildbrine Madras Curry and Cauliflower Sauerkraut salad
• The sun dried tomatoes were $5.99 and we used about 1/6 or 50c per serve
• Add 30c for labné and butter.

Our lunch sandwiches were tasty and filling for $2.15 per serve.

Dinner

While Foodie Philip was away producing a live stream event, Greg went about cooking a new meatloaf recipe: French Onion Meatloaf.

While it was a very tasty meatloaf it was somewhat disappointing for the amount of preparation effort. We thought that after spending an hour cooking caramelized onion that flavor would be more prominent in the finished meatloaf, but unfortunately it wasn’t. Good texture but somewhat bland.

We served with a sheet bake medley of sweet potato, bell peppers and whole garlic cloves, which was very tasty.

• 2 lb of ground beef was from our Prather Ranch meat box and cost $18.57 or (with five serves) $3.17 per serve, although in practice we both had rather large serves, for $6.34 per serve.
• Onions were $2.79 or $1.12 each for two serves
• Emmentaler cheese was $3.50 and we used 1/3 – 23c per serve – or 46c for this meal
• 16 oz Panko breadcrumbs are $2.99, – 15 per serve – or 30c tonight
• A pastured egg is 55c and two were required- 22c per serve – or 44c tonight
• Add 30c per serve, or 60c tonight for sundry seasonings
• The sweet potato was $1.42 or 71c per serve
• The bell pepper was 67c or 34c per serve
• Add 10c per serve for garlic.

We expected more flavor from the caramelized onion for the efforts, so tonight’s meal – while tasty – was slightly disappointing for $10.41 each.

Lunch

A generous friend gave Greg a souse vidé immersion circulator for an early Christmas present, so we used it on eggs as an initial test. The eggs came out beautifully creamy.

We paired it with Giant Baked Beans and a slide of “fry bread,” i.e. a slice of bread, buttered both sides and cooked in the sandwich toaster. It works well.

• One slice of sprouted rye bread is 16c
• A pastured egg is 55c or an average of 83c per serve
• Trader Joes Giant Baked Beans in Tomato Sauce cost $1.99 or $1.00 per serve.

Lunch today cost $1.99 a serve and hit the spot well.

Dinner

Our Prather Ranch meat box had something described as “pork cutlets,” which is probably accurate. They were small pieces, very thinly cut, of lean pork. A quick fry was the only option.

Served with Curtis Stone’s Seasonal Rosemary Roasted Apple, Fennel and Sweet Potato Bake. The mustard cream sauce pretty much disappeared, but the small amounts we got were very delicious.

• The pork cutlets were $14.83 or $7.41 a serve
• The fennel was $2.49 and we used half, or 63c per serve
• The sweet potato was $1.42 or 71c per serve
• A pink lady apple was 37c per serve
• Add 50c per serve for seasonings and mustard
• Rosemary came from our garden.

While Foodie Philip didn’t warm to the fennel, the rest of the baked vegetables were very good, and the thin pork perfectly seared by Foodie Greg. A pretty good meal for $9.62 per serve.

Lunch

We decided to use some of the remaining bacon and black bean chili in a couple of toasted sandwiches, along with avocado and cheese.

• Two slices of bread are 32c per serve
• 12 slices of yoghurt cheese are $4.79 and we shared one or 20c per serve
• The avocado  was 4 for $3.49 or 44c per serve
• The chili is $2.86 per serve, and we shared about 1/6 or  24c per serve.

A good toasted sandwich for $1.20 per serve.

Dinner

We’ve substituted canned smoked trout for tuna in a couple of recipes, and been pleased with the results, so why not adapt the Greek Style Tuna Salad and use smoked trout.

We definitely preferred this salad with the smoked trout over canned tuna. By a lot.

• The smoked trout is $3.49 per serve
• Persian cucumber cost 72c or 36c per serve
• A bell pepper is $1.13 or 67c per serve
• Tomatoes were $2.99 and we used about half, or 75c per serve
• Pitted olives come in $2.99 jars and one quarter was used, or 38c per serve
• 1 lb of limes was $1.29 and we used 1/4 or 16c per serve
• Add 25c for the seasonings.

With the substitution of the smoked tuna, this really exceeded our expectations. It was much more tasty than the simple ingredients would suggest and it comes in at $6.06 per serve.

Lunch

We still had two generous serves of the  Cauliflower Gruyère Soup from a few nights ago, so we reheated it for lunch and served with half a toasted tomato sandwich for a little role reversal. It’s quite common to serve tomato soup with a toasted cheese sandwich, so cheese soup with a tomato sandwich seemed like a clever idea.

It was a better idea than in practice. Definitely not bad, but it wasn’t terribly exciting.

• The soup was $4.50 per serve
• One slice of bread are 16c per serve
• Five kumato were $3.49 and we used one or 35c per serve.

Lunch today was a little more expensive than usual, but the soup seemed to have taken on more gruyere flavor. Not bad for $5.01 per serve.

Dinner

With more fillet mignon in our Prather Ranch meat box, we decided to return to  the black pepper beef. Although fillet is an expensive choice for this dish, it needs flavor from somewhere and, because the fillet comes in our Prather Ranch meat box it’s not something we chose.

• Just over half a pound of fillet was $17.09 or $8.55 per serve
• The pack of bell peppers was $1.99 or $1.00 per serve
• Onion and garlic add 25c per serve
• Add 50c for the other ingredients
• Add 33c for black rice.

The fillet was a really good choice for the stir fry (cost notwithstanding) because it remains tender through a quick fry, and picks up the flavor from the sauce. A good meal for $10.66 per serve.

Lunch

We reheated the left over fried chicken and paired it with a Southwest salad kit.

• For some (good) reason we got 11 pieces of dark meat for the “11 tenders” deal or $1.56 per piece, or$3.12 per serve
• The Southwest salad kit was $3.49 or $1.75 per serve.

While the salad was pretty boring, the chicken reheated well for a decent lunch at $4.87 per serve.

Dinner

Because we had lower wind predictions for tonight, than Thursday, we decided tonight would be our grill night. That is, after we reassembled the grill and assessed damage after last Monday night’s winds blew it away and over.

We decided to revisit the Australian Cobb Salad as a reproduction of an Australian burger.

• The NY Strip was $21.59 or $10.80 per serve
• A pastured egg is 55c
• The cheddar with caramelized onion was $5.48, and we used about 1/3 or 91c per serve
• Black Forest uncured bacon was $5.49 and we used half, or $1.38 per serve
• Beets in vinaigrette were $1.69 and we used 1/3, or 28c per serve
• The grape tomatoes are $2.00 and we used about half, or 50c per serve
• Add 30c for watercress and a drizzle of balsamic reduction.

A great plate of food, with various combinations standing out, particularly the beets and cheese together. A little on the expensive side at $14.72 per serve.

Lunch

To keep our sandwich grill busy we toasted one each tomato and mayo, and salami, spicy labné and cheese, which we shared. Both sandwiches were good, although Foodie Greg felt the sun dried tomatoes didn’t work on the sandwich as well as hoped, due to being stored in oil.

• Two slices of bread are 32c per serve
• Five kumato were $3.49 and we used one or 35c per serve
• 12 slices of yoghurt cheese are $4.79 and we shared one or 20c per serve
• The salami was $3.49 and we used under a quarter or 30c per serve
• The sun dried tomatoes were $5.99 and we used about 1/6 or 50c per serve
• Add 40c for labné, mayo and butter.

Today’s sandwiches were tasty for $2.07 per serve.

Dinner

Foodie Greg has been “threatening” Cauliflower Gruyère Soup for a few days, as we had it on standby when we thought we’d be without a range for an extended period. We got to enjoy it tonight.

The recipe makes at least four serves.

• The gruyere was $8.99 or $2.25 per serve
• Heavy cream was $1.79 or 45c per serve
• The butter is $3.99 per block, and we used about 2/8, or 25c per serve
• An organic cauliflower was $4.38 or $1.10 per serve
• Chicken broth adds 25c per serve
• Add 20c for seasonings.

The gruyére flavor came through in the soup, along with a more subtle cauliflower taste, but overall it was a little bland for $4.50 per serve.

Lunch

A last minute change of plans had Foodie Philip heading home before lunch, so a stop at Popeye’s on the way seemed like a good idea.

• For some (good) reason we got 11 pieces of dark meat for the “11 tenders” deal or $1.56 per piece, or$3.12 per serve
• The red beans and rice are $2.17 per serve with tax.

Lunch today was $5.29 per serve.

Dinner

We decided to reheat the remaining two serves of prime rib in a little beef stock, and serve with a Taylor Farms Spinach and Blue Smokey Bacon Salad.

• The boneless prime rib was $42.57 and we’ll get five very, very generous serves out of that (about 10 oz each) for $8.51 per serve
• The salad kit was 99c or 50c per serve.

Reheating the prime rib to 140ºF send it to medium well, which was not as tender as the medium rare of the night before, so it was a little less tender but still good. The salad kit was a little too much. Half the dressing would probably have been better balanced. All up, a good meal for $9.01 per serve.