Month: April 2018

Lunch

For lunch we finished the split pea soup from late last month. We cubed some ham and added that for texture and flavor variation.

• The split pea soup is 43c per serve
• The bake ham is 63c per serve and we had ⅛ serve each, or 8c per serve.

Lunch today was filling and tasty for 51c per serve.

Dinner

For dinner we sliced the red win and mushroom meatloaf, fried the slices  in butter and served with roast kabocha squash and asparagus. Mostly a repeat of elements from the last two night’s meals.

• The meatloaf is $6.77 per serve
• The organic asparagus was $4.07 and we served half, or $1.02 per serve.
• The kabocha squash was $1.49 and we served half or 38c per serve.

The meatloaf is definitely better fried off because of the additional Maillard reaction on the surface. We preferred the sugar snap peas to the asparagus but both are good. Overall, a very satisfying and tasty meal for $8.17 per serve.

Lunch

Our odd scheduling today had us eating at different time, and pretty much what we could grab. Foodie Greg had a crisp bread with Swiss and pickles, while Philip had the remainder of some Trader Joe’s Wine Country Chicken Salad.

• The salad is $3.99 for 11.5 oz, and there was 4.5 oz left, or $1.56 per serve.

Dinner

Before Easter we picked up one of Ralph’s ‘loss leader’ hams for 99c per pound and today we baked it.  The ham will cover at least 12 very generous serves.

Tonight we paired it with a mushroom brown rice pilaf, which was disappointing, and asparagus, which was not.

• The ham was $7.81 or 65c per serve
• The mushrooms were $2.49 or $1.25 per serve
• Brown rice adds 33c per serve
• The organic asparagus was $4.07 and we served half, or $1.02 per serve.

The ham remained moist and tasty while the asparagus worked well with it. The pilaf lacked flavor and was disappointing, but overall a good meal for $3.25 per serve.

Lunch

Being a Sunday lunch we often experiment with something new. Today we tried a baked egg recipe, which is simply some spinach, cream and eggs in a ramekin with some cheese sprinkled on top. We served with a slice of “fry” bread.

• Two eggs are $1.00 per serve
• The slice of bread is 16c
• Butter adds 20c
• Heavy cream was $1.79 and we used a fraction, or 10c per serve
• Spinach adds 5c per serve
• A sprinkling of grated cheddar adds 50c per serve.

We enjoyed today’s lunch for $2.01 per serve.

Dinner

Tonight we cooked the meatloaf originally planned for Friday night. It’s a favorite and tonight we served with roast kabocha squash and sugar snap peas.

The recipe makes four generous serves.

• The dry aged ground beef was $19.42 or $4.86 per serve
• Sliced portobello mushrooms were $2.49 or 63c per serve
• Onions and garlic add 20c per serve
• Two large eggs are $1.00 or 25c per serve
• The butter is $3.99 per block, and we used about 3/8 for four serves, or 38c per serve
• Red wine adds $1.00 or 25c per serve
• Add 20c for Worcestershire sauce and other spices per serve
• The kabocha squash was $1.94 and we used half, or 97c per serve
• The sugar snap peas were $2.99 and we used half, or 75c per serve.

The meatloaf was excellent, although – ironically given our recent experience at Peggy Sue’s Diner – needed a little more bread, as we ran out of panko breadcrumbs! The kabocha squash is a tasty starch while the sugar snap peas provide a fresh crunch. A good meal for $8.49 per serve.

Lunch

Our toasted sandwiches today were both “Moon Touched” (aka semi-dried)  cherry tomatoes with Swiss cheese and mayo.

• Two slices of bread are 32c per serve
• The bag of baby manzano tomato was $2.79 and we used about 1/3 or 47c per serve
• Swiss slices are 12 for $3.99 or 17c per serve
• Add 20c for mayo.

It was a really good sandwich, proving that simple can be great if the ingredients are top notch, for $1.16 per serve.

Dinner

Since it was both warm enough to grill and to eat outside, we postponed the meatloaf again, and opted for Top Sirloin with Peanut (Satay) sauce. The marinade is well worth the effort because it improves the flavor and promotes the grill marks.

The sprouts and cucumber salad was an experiment. It was nice enough but felt incomplete: like it could be enhanced in some way.

• The steak was $12.79 or $6.40 per serve
• The cucumber was 49c or 25c per serve
• The bean sprouts were $1.49 or 75c per serve
• Add 50c for the marinade ingredients
• Add 30c for dressing ingredients
• Black rice adds 44c per serve.

The star of the meal was definitely the steak and satay sauce. The salad and rice were good backup flavors, but the salad needs something more. All up a good meal for $9.39 per serve.

 

 

Lunch

We needed no excuse to get a Bahn Mi.  As always, it’s a great sandwich for $8.50 per serve.

Dinner

Although we had planned meatloaf, the day got away and we ran out of time. Our fallback combo is mostly from Trader Joe’s: Frozen Vegetable Gyoza and Ginger Miso Broth. We poached an egg in the broth for protein and unctuousness.

• The Miso Ginger broth was $1.99 or $1.00 per serve
• The gyoza were $3.99, or $2.00 per serve
• Add 20c for seasonings.
• A pastured egg is 50c.

Tonight’s meal was excellent. Really tasty and full of Thai flavors for $3.70 per serve, and on the table in about 20 minutes.