Category: Daily recipe

Lunch

Lunch today was courtesy of Adobe at a Deadpool reception, screening and panel. Best was the curry chicken sandwich fingers.

Lunch was free.

Dinner

Beef sirloin tip with ‘new classic’ Caesar salad. Steak and salad is a cliche, but there’s a reason combinations become a cliche: they work.

Besides, we’re leaving Avalon Burbank shortly and we need to take advantage of the grills while we have access to them!

• The steak was $6.02 from our monthly meat box, or $3.01 per serve.
• A pastured egg is 50c or 25c per serve.
• Seasonings (except anchovies, which we were out of, damn it) ran about 25c per serve
• An organic lettuce cost $1.99 or $1 a serve
• The packet of parmesan cost $6.99 but we used about 1/4 for this salad, or 88c per serve.
• The chibatta for the home-made croutons was $1.99 or $1 a serve.

Our steak and salad meal cost $6.39 per serve.

Lunch

We were going to have our usual chicken wrap but ended up substituting a  wholemeal roll instead.

• Chicken 88c a serve
• One quarter of the $2.74 salad is 60c
• The roll was 33c
• Add some hummus at 30c

Lunch today cost $2.11

Dinner

Tonight’s meal was Bacon and Black Bean Chili. We doubled up on the beans. This is an amazingly good chili.

• Bacon ends cost $4.99 for the container, but this recipe used about 1/2 of that, or 63c per serve
• Onion and garlic – about 5c a serve
• The beef we used is expensive – pasture raised, dry aged ground beef from our monthly meat delivery – at $9.08 or $2.27 a serve
• Spices – about 10c a serve
• Diced fire roasted tomatoes are $2.19 the can, or 55c per serve
• Tomato paste was 89c or 22c a serve
• The beans were 99c a can, or 50c a serve
• Each serve got half the 99c Avocado or 50c per serve
• Cheese was 55c per serve
• Labne – 20c per serve

All up dinner cost us $5.57 for a very filling serve.

Lunch

Back to our regular chicken wrap lunch. This week’s chicken was again $6.99 and today we shared 1/4 of that.

• Chicken 88c a serve
• One quarter of the $2.74 salad is 60c
• The flatbread is 50c
• Add some hummus at 30c

Today’s lunch cost us $2.28 per serve.

Dinner

A new recipe: Red cabbage salad, although we swapped fresh blueberries for the raisins for fresher flavor. We figure four very generous serves as a main dish.

It might not be the prettiest dish but it sure was tasty. The blueberries add a fresh bite to offset the cheese beautifully.

• Bacon ends cost $4.99 for the container, but this recipe used about 1/3 of that, or 42c per serve
• Blueberries $2.50 or 63c per serve
• Blue Cheese crumbles $4.99 and we used the lot for $1.25 per serve.
• We got the cabbage given to us, but expect to pay about $2.50 or 63c a serve.
• Molasses (instead of brown sugar) and red wine vinegar, about 15c a serve

Tonight’s dinner cost $3.08 per serve. It’s probably better as a side dish rather than a main although it is very filling and satisfying. The bacon takes on the same color as the cabbage so you never know whether a bit will be bacon or cabbage.

Lunch

Convenience won out again, and sushi was purchased during a supermarket trip. Combined the two packs cost $12.78 or $6.39 a serve.

Dinner

Time to use up the final serves of Popeye’s fried chicken from Saturday. This time Greg cooked up a batch of home-made red beans and rice to go with it.

• Chicken is $2.50 a serve
• Onion, oil and garlic and seasonings about 15c per serve
• Each can of organic beans was 99c and we used three, or 50c per serve
• Instead of andouille sausage, we used a Kroger Simple Truth Lightly Smoked Sausage for $2.99 or 50c a serve
• Chicken broth $2.29 or 38c a serve
• And the rice: 33c a serve

Dinner tonight cost us $3.98 per serve. The best part of the meal was definitely the red beans!

Tip: When reheating fried foods, use a hot and dry oven. When reheating pastry product like a meat pie, place a bowl of boiling water in the over during reheating to avoid the pastry drying out.

Lunch

An occasional treat is Popeyes fried chicken (dark and spicy please). Red Beans and rice on the side, although Greg’s home made is better.

Fried chicken is the only ‘fast food’ we indulge in. It’s not something we would make at home, because of the deep frying required.

Eight pieces of chicken were $9.99 but that makes four serves in all, making each serve $2.50. The large Red beans and rice was $3.99 and we shared that for $2 a serve. In total, lunch was $4.50 a serve.

Dinner

Our 25th Anniversary dinner is a repeat of January 16th’s evening meal: Sous vide heritage pork chop with waldorf salad.

Pricing is pretty much the same as on January 16:

• $9.50 for a generous 10oz (after bone taken out) of heritage pork chop
• $2.55 for the salad.

That makes tonight’s anniversary dinner, a very reasonable $12.05 each. As we noted in January, this is the best pork chop we’ve ever had. It is significantly better than any we’ve had in a restaurant, and a whole lot cheaper!

Lunch

Since it there was a supermarket trip anyway, we choose Sushi again. $12.78 or $6.39 a serve.

Dinner

The Stir Fried Beef and Broccoli we were going to have last night got moved to tonight. Good thing it’s quick because we were back late from having the flooring finished at our new house. The slowest part was cooking the sprouted brown rice. On the table 35 minutes after arriving home.

We used slightly less meat than the recipe calls for and added mushroom to recipe to compensate.

• Stir fry beef $10.49 or $5.25 per serve
• The broccoli was $3.79 or $1.90 per serve
• Ginger 28c or 14c per serve
• Sprouted rice is 92c per serve
• Other ingredients add up to around 20c per serve.

Tonights meal cost $8.41 per serve. It could be less with more conventionally grown protein, but we are happy to pay a little more for the quality of life of the animal.

Lunch

We were recording an episode of Lunch with Philip and Greg today, so we ate out. Two of three had the chicken pot pie at $6 each, or close to $8 with tax and tip.

Dinner

Because we were uncertain what time we’d be back today after lunch and some meetings, so we planned on leftovers: Quinoa Chowder from two nights ago.

As it did on Feb 1, tonight’s soup cost us $2.72 a serve plus 20c for a slice of toast to dip in the egg yolk.

Lunch

We did this quesadilla pretty regularly. Today’s version has no eggs, and we just used cheddar.

• One flatbread (half of two) costs 50c a serve
• Half a can of refried beans, shared across two halves: 33c
• Fontera salsa is expensive (and tasty) at $4.69 a jar, but it breaks down to 16c a serve
• 2 oz of cheddar split between two is 50c per serve

Lunch today cost $1.49 per serve and came together in about 10 minutes. Frying in bacon fat is recommended.

Dinner

Greg has long been a pressure cooker fan, so tonight Philippino classic dish is a quick pressure cook: Pressure Cooker Chicken Adobo.

We cut back to six thighs and reduced proportions to half on everything else. The six thighs made three serves. We also dropped the brown sugar to keep sweetness under control.

• Six chicken thighs cost $5.98 or $2 a serve
• Coconut oil and pepper – 5c a serve
• One onion – 20c a serve
• Garlic – 5c a serve
• Soy, rice wine vinegar and rice vinegar – 45c
• The bok choy came from a friend’s CSA box (as she was heading overseas) but would typically be $1 a serve
• The sprouted brown rice is 66c a serve

Tonight’s dinner cost us $4.41 a serve.