Category: Uncategorized

Lunch

Today was our housewarming/citizenship celebration, so we had no lunch per sé. Along with our guests we noshed on a mix of brie, crackers, hummus, cannellini beans and spinach dip, etc.

• Salted pita chips – $1.99
• Spinach and cannellini beans for the dips – $2.88
• Trader Joes snack – $1.49
• Hummus – $3.99
• Salami – $5.99
• Paté – $4.99

We spend $21.33 – although not everything got served – for our 25 guests. Averaging over 15 guests gives a $1.42 serve.

Dinner

We were going to cook dinner, but a dozen of us carried the party on to a local Italian restaurant.

Our choices were Gnocchi Rosati and Nunny’s Baked Eggplant. Both were serviceable meals, without being outstanding. Like many meals out with friends, it’s about the experience and company.

With tax and tip the average was $21.00 each.

Hat tip to Brian Denny for thinking ahead and bringing a camera to record memories of the party and restaurant.

Lunch

A trip to our nearest Jons supermarket and we had a fresh baguette for lunch with a choice of liverwurst or tomato and cheese topping.

• The Jon’s baguette – fresh from the oven in the store – was $2.69 but we only shared half today or 67c per serve
• The full liverwurst pack is $3.20 but we had under 1/4 each or 80c per serve
• Two tomatoes were .47c and we shared one at 12c per serve
• 8 oz of cheese is $5.88 from Sprouts but we used around 1/4 or 74c per serve.

Lunch today cost $2.33 per serve.

Dinner

Dinner tonight was a repeat of the Eggplant, sausage and ziti from Friday night, and cost $4.32 per serve.

Lunch

Monday’s finds The semiSerious Foodies in different locations: Philip in Burbank eating In-and-Out while Greg has leftover Indian at home.

Averaging the two meals (there was only Baingan Bharta and rice with peas (peas pull0) left) gives an approximate cost of $4.15 each.

Dinner

Tonight’s Slut’s Spaghetti is Nigella Lawson’s translation and interpretation of the classic pasta all puttanesca, or whore’s pasta. The name is thought to have come from ‘working girls’ who did not have time to shop or cook, throwing together a pasta dish from pantry items. How scandalous!

The recipe makes a generous four serves.

• Anchovies are $1.59 a can, or 40c per serve
• Garlic and seasonings add about 10c per serve
• The pasta was $1.29 or 33c per serve
• Canned tomatoes were $2.19 or 55c per serve
• A jar of pitted olives is $2.99 but only half is used in the recipe or 38c per serve

Dinner tonight cost $1.76 a serve.

Lunch

In between trying to get some work done around the house, we had a side trip to Lowes, so on the way back we tried some local Indian takeout.

Generous serves of chicken tikka masala, Baingan Bharta, garlic naan and rice with peas (peas pull0).

With tax the total was $26.12, but we only finished the naan ($3.26) over two serves. The rest made up four serves for $5.71 a serve. Add half the naan to each serve, and lunch today cost $7.34 a serve.

Dinner

Another favorite makes a return appearance: Pioneer Woman’s Sausage, Potato and Kale soup. According to Pioneer Woman:

This is a make-at-home version of Olive Garden’s “Zuppa Toscana.”

It’s a generous recipe making at least six serves. For the protein we used ground pork from our monthly Prather Ranch delivery. Greg also uses half chicken stock and half ‘half-n-half’ instead of the more dairy focused version in the recipe.

• 1lb Prather Ranch ground pork was $8.55 or $1.43 a serve
• Chicken broth $1.99 or 33c per serve
• Kale cost $1.99 for the bunch or 33c per serve
• Tomatoes were $2.19 as weighed or 37c per serve
• Half and half was $1.45 or 24c per serve
• Roast garlic bread (five serves) was $2.50 or 50c per serve
• Potatoes $2.40 or 40c per serve
• Add 10c per serve for herbs and seasonings.

Tonight’s dinner cost $3.70 per serve. It’s an excellent soup and well worth the effort.

Lunch

We were recording another Lunch with Philip and Greg so we ate out for the second day running. Today we recorded in Gordon Biesch and we both had the Beer Battered Fish and Chips. That’s their picture featured above.

Atlantic cod dipped in märzen batter and fried, with tartar sauce, apple cider slaw and salt & pepper fries

The batter was appropriately crispy, the fries (regular) are always good, and our coleslaw was served in another small bowl, preventing fries or batter from becoming soggy.

On the menu for $16.75 the reality is much closer to $22 with tax and tip. It’s a huge serve and, although we didn’t finish everything on the plate, we both felt over filled afterward.

One reason we chose the dish was because it’s not something we’d ever cook at home. Maintaining oil for frying, and safe conditions to fry in, is more effort than most fried food is worth. So, it’s an eat out/take out treat for us.

Dinner

That stuffed-full-of-food feeling didn’t go away, despite burning up some energy at our new home. So we postponed the planned dinner until tomorrow night.

We ultimately had a ‘Quesadilla’ of flatbread, refried beans, salsa and cheddar. We last did this for lunch on Jan 20th where it cost $1.49 per serve.

Lunch

We did this quesadilla for dinner on January 11th. Today’s version has no eggs, and we just used cheddar, so it’s a bit cheaper.

• 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. We recommend frying in a little bacon fat. (You do save left over bacon fat for these times, don’t you?)

Dinner

Tonight we’re having the third and fourth serves of last night’s Southwest sausage, beans and rice.

Tonight’s dinner (again) cost $3.08 a serve. Being a repeat there is very little effort involved.

Lunch

Another indulgent Friday: wild caught smoked salmon on an English muffin with a poached egg on top. Add a squeeze of lemon juice to fake a ‘hollandaise’ taste with the egg and it was delicious.

• Smoked salmon – normally $6.99 but Greg bought it for $5.99 on special or $3.00 a serve
• The English muffin is 50c a serve
• Our organic eggs are 50c each, and we had two for $1 per serve.

Lunch cost $4.50 a serve for smoked salmon.

Dinner

We went back to a recipe we haven’t had for about two years: Lemon soup with Lamb. Initially we tried this soup because of the unusual way it is thickened: with eggs.

Greg used meyer lemons – give to us by a friend – instead of regular lemons and they are perfect for this recipe. The slight sweetness and reduced tartness of the meyer lemon really works in the recipe. We also used spinach off the balcony garden which was sliced and placed in the bottom of the bowl. We also used orzo instead of larger pasta and dropped the cream. It’s not needed.

• Lamb shoulder $8.57 or $4.29 a serve
• Onion, carrot and celery about 30c a serve
• Organic chicken stock $2.30 or $1.15 a serve
• Lemons and spinach – zero
• Orzo pasta is $2 a 16 oz box, and 1/4 was used or 25c a serve
• Three large organic eggs are $1.50 or 75c a serve
• Add 10c a serve for herbs.

Tonight’s dinner cost $5.75 a serve.

The dish comes from a cookbook we brought with us from Australia: Reader’s Digest One-Dish Meals, the easy way. ©1995