eat.sweet

I have a new favorite kitchen toy:

It’s a Bialetti stovetop espresso maker. You put water & coffee in the bottom black part, milk in the glass part. Here is what it looks like before:

On the stove, it heats up and builds up pressure until a valve releases the coffee and shoots it into the milk, creating an awesome cappucino or latte at home. (It was on the latte setting in the photo) We got some fresh Caffe Umbria beans in the mail, so sipping the coffee reminds me of our espresso days in Seattle. It’s sooo good.

I’m obsessed with this thing. It’s got a steep learning curve as you can see by the overflowed milk in the first picture, so I keep wanting to make more coffee in order to practice.

I got it at a trip to the Williams-Sonoma outlet store. They were on clearance for $30 (orig $100). Unfortunately, we got home, opened the package and saw that there were grinds in the filter – someone had used it and returned it. Thanks for telling us! But I decided to try it anyway, treating as if it were a thrift store score. And now I like it so much it doesn’t matter.

Other gadgets I got at the outlet: handle cover for my newish cast iron skillet, mesh strainer, and a Microplane. I say this every time I buy another kitchen item: I’m really starting to run out of room for it all!

Could this be… the first week since the start of the semester that we don’t eat out?? I think it is really the first time I’ve got a week’s menu all planned out. It’s been a crazy semester.

Monday – frozen pizza, sauteed kale (it took me 3 hours to get home from work, so I was not in a good mood!)
Tuesday – goat cheese-stuffed chicken, sweet potatoes & kale
Wednesday – same
Thursday – tofu pot pie
Friday – same
Saturday & Sunday – squash lasagna, roasted brussel sprouts

And surprisingly, all of the stuff for this week came out to about $50 at Whole Foods.

Last week, we spent $60 @ Whole Foods and it lasted us exactly one week. I made beef stew, bean & cheese enchiladas, and something else I don’t remember. This week, we spent $57 @ Whole Foods and I’m very excited about this week’s menu. They are all new recipes to try, except for the stir fry of course. The plan is:

Tuesday - Mussels cooked with white wine and chorizo, Italian bread, arugula & beet salad
Wednesday – random veggie stir fry, rice
Thursday, Friday, Saturday – Roasted vegetable stew, spinach salad; maybe dinner out on Friday?
Sunday & Monday – mushroom-pea risotto, some kind of vegetables

We have consistently been spending $60/wk shopping @ Whole Foods, which I didn’t think was much until I added up that it’s $240/month, way up from the $160-ish/month we spent when we were on food stamps.  But the food stamps shopping was split with some shopping at the conventional grocery store, which saved a lot of money. So I guess we are eating better, if you count organic and better quality produce as “better.” Our wallets aren’t really hurting from the increase in grocery budget so I guess those two things are all that really matter.

We’ve been trying to tighten up on going out to eat and money spent at bars. It’s only been like 3 weeks, but man it feels like *work*. School has been in session for almost 2 weeks, and I resolved to spend less on buying food during school days. I have not bought a single cup of coffee! I’ve been sticking a tea bag in my purse just in case I need an afternoon caffeine fix. I was so proud of myself when I thought I was doing well, but it hasn’t even been that long. Still, I’m pretty sure I might have saved at least $20 per week, maybe even $30, when I stayed conscious about buying food on campus. Yeah, I’m pretty sure that I was spending about $10-$15 lunch once a week, then around $15 on coffee spread throughout the week. Yikes.

I’m feeling more organized in the kitchen now. I have finally planned out a week of balanced meals and kept track of what I spent. Grocery shopping is a little harder than it was before but I won’t go into details. We’ve got busy schedules and only one car, which B uses Monday, Wednesday Friday. We were low on food and on time to shop, so I ended up doing the shopping this week without a car. My only bus/walk accessible options are farmers’ markets and one independent local grocery store. I could get to a Whole Foods but I might have to take more than one bus. I might have to look into that though, because the local grocery store was sooo expensive – even more expensive than Whole Foods! I also wanted to get scallops, but the little market didn’t even have them. I probably couldn’t have afforded them anyway.

This week I spent about $55 on groceries. That’s not too bad, I guess, but I think I might be short one or two dinners, and I had to think really carefully about how to stretch ingredients.

$24 @ farmers’ market
eggplants (3)
zucchini (1)
yellow squash (2)
green onions
garlic (3)
pint of cherry tomatoes
red bell peppers (3)
dozen eggs (they were collected this morning! and they cost the same as organic eggs @ WF)

$30 @ local marketplace
mozzarella cheese (national brand, not even local)
Puffins cereal
elbows macaroni ($1.50 for a brand that is always on sale @ big stores for $1)
baby spinach
deli cheddar cheese
deli ham
bread
oreos
lemons (3) (non-organic, non-local lemons, and they were $1 each! ouch)

The Menu (Tuesday – Tuesday)

- Red pepper, Goat Cheese, Sun-Dried Tomato Omelettes with salad
- Burgers (from freezer), Spinach Orzo salad
- Ditalini pasta, salad or squash (2 days)
- Marinated Grilled Vegetables, Lemon Spaghetti (2 or 3 days)

It’s a big week for me! I used up the last of my food stamps, so I will no longer have the benefits. Also, I start school this week, I’m starting to shop at the farmer’s market and plan my menu’s around it, and I’m roasting a pork tenderloin for the first time.

A couple of weeks ago, pork tenderloin was on super-sale and we got a 2.5 lb (tried to find the smallest roast) for less than $5. I already had it in the freezer, so I don’t want to defrost it and freeze it again. My strategy is to cut it in half, cook it and eat it for dinner, then the next day cook the other half, rather than cooking the entire thing and having to eat the dried out leftovers for many days. I wonder if there’s a soup recipe or something I can put the leftovers in, because I know it’s going to be a lot of meat.

I lost my receipts, but we spent $45 this week (including farmer’s market stuff & the roast). I’m going to get back in the habit of tracking that.

The Menu

Tuesday & Wednesday – Ratatouille over linguini and NEW YORK TIMES COOKIES for dessert; Over a month after moving in, I finally went to a farmer’s market today. I spent about $6 on enough veggies for a vegetarian meal that will have at least 6 servings. Yay!

Thursday & Friday – Bacon-wrapped Pork Roast, potatoes, green beans

Saturday – out

Sunday & Monday – same pork roast

As much as I enjoy the idea, I rarely shop at the farmers’ market. I need to plan my meals & recipes and then go shopping, and that’s much harder to do when I’m never sure what will be at the market. Plus, I can’t use food stamps there.

But this morning, the smell of the fresh basil & garlic were just too much to resist. I bought a bouquet of basil, a pint of baby squash (so cute!) and a beautiful (and expensive) loaf of artisan bread. We have some leftover steak in the fridge I think we might use the bread to make steak sandwiches for lunch. As for the basil, I’m thinking margherita pizza, orzo salad, and simple pasta with basil & tomatoes. I’m going to look up recipes for other things to do with basil besides pasta.

I didn’t have my camera with me, but a restaurant had a little food stand where they were serving up fried squash blossom stuffed with goat cheese & other things. It was only $3 for one and all I wanted was a taste because I’ve never eaten a squash flower before. The squash flowers were a pretty orangey-yellow color, but they didn’t taste too “flowery.” It was very subtle. The goat cheese filling was a strong flavor, and I like the combination of green onions + goat cheese. I’m glad I got to try it. I also had their lavender mint iced tea. So good. Lavender really rounds out the mint nicely. I wish I could grow mint because I love mint tea.

I’m moving in about a week and after that I can do more farmers’ market shopping. I won’t be on the food stamps anymore, and Providence has tons of different markets; there’s probably one somewhere every day of the week.

$70 @ Whole Foods

- grapeseed oil
- quart of milk
- club soda
- tonic water
- Kettle Chips
- mint
- limes
- Spanish cocktail nuts
- bread
- deli ham
- deli cheese
- can of diced chiles
- tomato sauce
- whipped cream
- ricotta cheese
- chocolate chips
- yeast
- boneless skinless chicken breast (1.25 lbs)
- assorted mushrooms
- basil
- mozzarella cheese

Menu, in no particular order:
- veggie burgers, potato salad
- chocolate chip pancakes, bacon
- enchiladas
- wild mushroom pizza and chicken basil pizza

I am really into making pizza these days. I invited friends over for dinner, and I’m making two yummy pizzas, enough for 4-6 people, and it will cost around $20 total. Pizza #1 will be a mushroom pizza. The mushroom mixture from this recipe, minus all of the expensive cheese; just mozzarella. Pizza #2 will be this chicken, broccoli and sun-dried tomato recipe. I’m usually not into Rachel Ray’s recipes, but sounded good and wasn’t too hard or expensive.

Ahhh the first shopping day of June. This week’s menu is summer-y. Also, our freezer is starting to get full so I’m only cooking twice.

$49 @ Stop and Shop

- wheat bread
- half gallon of milk
- Smart Balance butter/shortening sticks (1 lb)
- soymilk
- deli chicken breast
- deli asiago cheese
- granola bars
- Golden Grahams cereal
- can of diced tomatoes
- chocolate chips
- chicken tenders (3/4 lb)
- tortilla chips
- 1 jalapeno pepper
- 1 onion
- 1 English cucumber
- asparagus, 1 lb
- cantaloupe
- shallots
- salsa 

$2.50 @ Chinese market
- sesame oil
- Thai peanut sauce 

The Menu (June 8-14)

Sunday – chicken satay, sticky rice, cucumber salad

Monday & Tuesday – shiitake & bacon pasta

Wednesday, Thursday, Friday – things from the pantry; probably something like pesto, veggie burgers, mac & cheese

Saturday – out?

We spent $56 this week. I don’t have a lot of cooking to do this week, but somehow I caught up in buying too many snack foods. (Remember, green items are organic, blue are marked as “natural”)

$30 @ Whole Foods
– potato chips
– spicy pork sausage
– lettuce
- mushrooms
- green pepper
- ginger
- red potatoes (3)
- Cotswold cheese
- bread
– deli cheese
- deli salami

$26 @ Stop & Shop
- whipping cream
- light mayonnaise
- 2 Lean Cuisines
- 48 oz chicken broth
- chocolate pudding snack packs
- Wheat Thins
- garbanzo beans
- box of whole wheat pasta
- box of bowtie pasta
- light coconut milk
- broccoli rabe
- 2 carrots

The Menu (Week of May 26 – 31)

Sunday & Monday – still in St. Louis

Tuesday – Dinner @ the brewery for DL

Wednesday & Thursday – Pasta with sausage & broccoli rabe

Friday – out (Brian’s birthday!)

Saturday & Sunday – curry soup