Yum Blog

• 3 egg whites (or 2 whole eggs or equiv. beaters)
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 cup reduced fat peanut butter
• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1/4 cup honey (or agave if aiming for vegan)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 cups quick-cooking oats
• 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda

Preheat oven to 350.

Beat eggs and sugar until creamy. Add peanut butter, applesauce, honey and vanilla and mix until combined.

Combine together in a separate bowl all dry ingredients then gradually mix into wet ingredients.

Scoop onto parchment-lined baking sheets and bake for 10-12 minutes.

I just made this for the first time this weekend and while I love the flavor of these cookies, the texture is like a muffin, so instead of cookies I’ve been calling them muffin tops. Next time I will be making them in muffin tins. Trav thinks they’ll be great with some apple chunks as an alternative and I agree. I will report back when this happens with the baking time for muffins…

So I’ve decided to reboot this blog… Instead of focusing solely on the low priced meals, I wanted to include all the recipes I tackle and love and want to pass on to you.

They’ll still be pocketbook-conscious (we didn’t win the lottery here…) and vegetarian. They’ll oftentimes be vegan, but not always. And they’ll be low-fat (sometimes fat-free) and DELICIOUS. Seriously, on the rare occasion I make something that isn’t yummy, I will do my best to forget about it and either improve the recipe until it’s good or just nix it.

And here is where I explain that I have made a commitment to being healthier and this past month has been a wonderful example that I can do it and make it tasty enough that my partner enjoys it all, too! It can be done. Anyone can do it.

Also, I’ll be accepting submissions, too! So if you have a great recipe to contribute, send it along!

So I began this adventure trying to make hummus. It’s been a while since I’ve made it from scratch (heck, it’s been a while since I’ve had my food processor out and usable) so I ended up quick-soaking the garbanzo beans but forgetting to actually cook them. (insert realization about 25 seconds after I began the food processor…

So I turned my Disaster Hummus into tasty Surprise Falafel for dinner! It’s by no means a traditional falafel recipe (nor was it really a traditional hummus recipe to begin with), but it sure was tasty!

Falafel

(1) 1 lb. bag of dried, uncooked garbanzo beans, soaked = $1.25

(1) lemon @ $0.79/lb (which wasn’t a heavy lemon but I can’t find the receipt so we’ll just say it cost me a quarter)

(2 tblsp) tahini, the most expensive ingredient at $6.99/can, but what I used was probably only about $0.25 or so worth

a few generous tablespoons of olive oil… we’ll call it $0.50 overall used

(2) cloves of garlic = $0.05ishy

(1) jalepeno = $0.12ishy

a tablespoon or so of tumeric and about the same paprika (cumin would be good too, next time…) and with spices I can’t imagine I use more than $0.05 worth total

dashes of salt and pepper to taste

zap that in the processor (adding about 1/4c. water or so to make it smoothish) and transfer to mixing bowl where you need to hand mix in the breadcrumbs (1/2 c. which is around $0.25ish) and I actually hand mixed in the spices too… If you can squish a handful into a ball and it holds, then you’re good to go. if not, add more olive oil. Form into smallish, flattened patties - six is enough for me for dinner (two pitas worth) so your batch should yield around 36 falafel, which is six meals (or even more side dishes! or a huge plate of party snacks!).

Heat a pan with some olive oil in it til it’s quite hot.

Pop some pita bread in the oven (2 pita for one serving or 1 pocket pita cut in half, probably runs me about $1) at 300ish degrees for the remainder of this part so they’re nice and toasty.

Pop some of those bad boys in the pan, listen to that delicious sizzle and let them brown on each side a couple minutes. The outside will get crispy and hard while the inside is warm and soft. They don’t need to get too dark… just enough to allow your spatula to tap them and not break them. I like to place mine immediately on a paper towel to soak up any excess oil before plating them.

Grab those pita out of the oven (with an oven mitt or tongs or something, silly!) and pop your falafel inside. Garnish with onions and tomatoes (about $0.10 worth each) and some homemade tzatziki (recipe below, too!) and enjoy for about $1.10 per serving of 6 falafel on two pita. Not bad ‘tall. Plus now we have so many falafel leftover! Hurrah!

Tzatziki Sauce

1 (large) container plain yogurt (I know Greek Yogurt would be best, but I used lowfat plain yogurt that was cheaper, so la la la) for $2.25

1 medium cucumber $0.75

1/4 onion $0.20

2 cloves of garlic $0.05

Throw it all in the food processor and it’s that easy. I usually them pour what I can back into the yogurt container and eat what won’t fit immediately. Great with pita, veggies, chips, gyros, falafel, whatever! And for the entire dish made for about $3, I’d say that’s pretty awesome.

Makes 1 gallon

Boil 1/2 gallon of water (I fill my teapot up almost all the way)

Pour hot water over 7 Green Tea bags and 2 Peppermint Tea bags

Let steep 5 minutes

Stir in 1 cup sugar and 2 heaping spoonfuls of your favorite local honey

Fill pitcher with cold water and place in fridge to cool for a while

We can never wait until it’s totally cooled and have to pour it over ice cubes to drink immediately!

No, I’ve just been lazy. But yesterday I made the most amazing meal at about $5/plate…

First I made some pasta salad (which came to about $0.51 per portion… recipe below, sooooo many portions….) and then took two quarters of a loaf of french bread ($0.25 per), added butter ($0.33) and garlic ($0.15) and popped that in the oven during the last five minutes of my delicious salmon filets baking in the oven ($3.50 each during a great sale at the Kroger) which were basking in the oven-glow under delicate slices of lemon ($0.10 per filet).

The boyfriend and I consumed a healthy, delicious summertime meal for about $4.84 per plate! And we’ll be repeating this again on Friday (which I’ll actually photograph for you….)

Pasta Salad

(1) 17 oz. package of penne for $1.15 (cook according to directions on box)

(1/8) of a green pepper, diced for about $0.15

(1/2) of a cucumber, diced for about $0.15

(1/2) package grape tomatoes for about $1.25

(1/2) bottle kalmata olives for about $1.50

(1/3) bottle fat free Italian Dressing for about $0.75

(2) green onions for about $0.15

mix together with hands (or two spoons if you’re sharing any…) - makes about ten servings for $5.10

I’ve been eating a lot of leftovers and attending business lunches (free food + still on the clock = a very happy girl) and my mom made me some sandwiches that got me through the week.  And last night I made Pizza Biscuits again which I plan to eat the leftovers of tonight for dinner.

On the major plus side, my belt is now at least one notch too large (when I bought it a couple years ago, I wore it on the second or third notch and I was happy with my body at that time.  Yesterday, I had it on the very first notch and it was about an inch too big to help keep my pants from falling down).  On top of being too poor to indulge in my favorite foods, I’ve also been running every day with my dog after work.

I think I’ll be making some soup from scratch this weekend so at least there’s something to look forward to on the recipe/grocery list front.

If any of you have been coming up with cheap, healthy, delicious recipes, please submit them!

today < exciting.

For lunch I had 2 leftover pizza biscuits (like $0.79) and for dinner I am having saltine crackers ($0.99 per box, 1 sleeve = $0.25) and some neufchatel cream cheese ($1.29 for 8 oz., about 1 oz = $0.16… for a grand total of $0.41).

Yep, this is way less than $10 the way I’m eating… which wasn’t great today, but I do need to put a bit more effort into my meals for the sake of my health as well as for the sake of you, my dear friends.  It cannot be interesting to hear of me scarfing down crackers and cream cheese… You’re not learning anything (except that it is delicious).

Sometimes, when in a particularly homemakery mood, I prepare a delicious baked good for breakfast that will last at least a week, like scones or muffins.

This is not that kind of week.

This is a toasted 1/2 bagel with neufchatel cheese kind of week.

1/2 bagel from a 6 pack of store brand bagels for $2.99 / 12 = $0.25

1 oz. neufchatel cheese from an 8 oz. cube for $1.29 / 8 = $0.16

Which makes breakfast, the most important meal of the day, a whopping $0.41.

This blog may need to be called $5/day…