Thank you so much to Eliane at http://foodbod.wordpress.com/ for mentioning Two Peas & A Wad in her “Why We Blog” series- she has a fantastic blog herself, which you should all check out! She is really, really great. Thank you again for the honor!!
Taste the mixture at this point (before adding the egg!) to assess the spice/saltiness. Sweet potatoes vary in size and water content so each batch can be different. If you want more spice, add a little of each until you think it tastes just right! I DO NOT recommend adding extra salt because you will be boiling them in salted water which will add saltiness. Do remember though, that you will be adding a lot of flower and cocoa powder which don’t have spice in them so make sure the potatoes have good flavor.
Thaw the strawberries in a bowl or help them by placing frozen with a teaspoon of water in a small pot and heat over low heat. Set aside.
I knew the storm was coming, so I figured I’d head to the store on my way home yesterday (along with everyone else in the entire state!) Once I got there, it was clear- I would be relying on my own pantry and fridge again to make food- the shelves were EMPTY. And I mean EMPTY. There was barely any fresh produce. Here are some pictures of the onion bins and parsley baskets (notice the ONE bag of carrots left under the parsley)
This meal cost around $5.00 to make- even if you have to purchase items to make it, you will not use all of each item- meaning, you will not use the full package of cheese, you will not use the whole loaf of bread, the whole tub of buttery spread, etc. It costs out to about $5.00 to make using the amounts stated above AND I even have enough soup leftover to have for lunch tomorrow! Eating organically doesn’t have to cost as much as you think!
Before I started brainstorming on Monday night, I asked my other half if there were something in particular he wanted. His request: “lettuce wraps, if you can.” Challenge, extended! I browsed the contents of our shelves and found that this was totally doable- he had previously purchased a head of organic iceberg lettuce for his lunch sandwiches, I had a container of organic non-GMO tofu that I was planning on using in a different recipe later in the week, and I had leftover raw cauliflower. Done!
I love having leftover ingredients- especially when they were inexpensive to start with. A few days before, I bought a head of organic cauliflower for $3.99 (conventional was $3.49- only 50 cents less!)
I used 1/5 of the head for my vegan cauliflower “meat” balls and now had 4/5 left in my fridge- how exciting! The cauliflower would definitely be going in these lettuce wraps, along with the lettuce and tofu mentioned above.
As for the sauce, I have a go-to Asian sauce that is so simple to make and can be made with basic staples in your kitchen. A well stocked pantry is the key to successful re-purposing of ingredients- I will be making a post about what I keep in my pantry in the very near future. All you need for my simple Asian sauce is organic soy sauce (PLEASE go for organic if you can- there is not a huge difference in price, but the quality of what you’re putting in your body is night and day- soy is one of the most genetically modified crops in the United States), some sort if citrus juice, and your favorite nut butter of choice.
I had some almond butter I wanted to use up, but you can use peanut, cashew, or even tahini (sesame seed butter). I didn’t have any limes, my preferred citrus for this sauce, but I did have orange juice- a perfect substitute.
Asian Lettuce Wraps
Move the cauliflower to one side of the pan, add the tofu (and chicken if applicable) to the pan in separate sections so that all components can reheat separately without having to heat three pans.
This meal was created based on what I had in my pantry and fridge- you can throw whatever veggies or proteins you want in the wraps, whether they were leftover, or cooked just for the purpose of using them in this recipe-be creative!
The leftover gnocchi I used were organic frozen that I made the a few nights back. I used about 75 cents worth of gnocchi for this recipe, along with 70 cents of cauliflower, $1.00 of nuts, $1.00 of mushrooms, and the remaining balance of the $5.00 for breadcrumbs, spices, oil, and kale.
Of course, you can make this meal for a little bit less if you choose conventional ingredients instead of organic. I made this meal for two for about $5.00 using 100% organic ingredients. Why not give it a try if you can- eating organic doesn’t have to be expensive if you know how to stretch your dollars (as this recipe does!) Enjoy!
“Yeah, but I wash and/or peel my conventional produce, so it’s fine.”
This could not be more false. The chemicals penetrate the skins of fruits and veggies and get into the flesh itself. If it’s in the food, it ends up in YOU.
Some produce carries little risk of carrying pesticides/herbicides, as few are needed when crowing these crops. These include thicker skinned fruits like mangoes, avocados, cantaloupe, pineapple, and papaya, as well as heartier vegetables like cabbage, asparagus, and onions. Other conventional produce that use fewer pesticides include peas, mushrooms, sweet potatoes, kiwi, grapefruit, and eggplant (please note that even though they contain fewer pesticides, this does not mean they are not genetically modified.)
Unfortunately, the above are the rare exception. Also unfortunate is the price you have to pay to avoid chemicals being sprayed (and then absorbed) on your food. Organic produce is on average 40-50% more than their equivalent conventional alternatives.
The biggest problem is the fact that it is nearly impossible to avoid non-organic produce unless you only only eat the organic versions you buy for yourself every single time you eat fruits or vegetables- conventional crops are literally everywhere we go. In an ideal world, this would never be an issue, but the reality in the United States is that eating organically for every meal every single day is not an option, unless you NEVER go out to eat, never go to a party, a friend’s house, or on vacation. Like I said- conventional produce is EVERYWHERE!
GMO Note: The most genetically modified (GMO) crops used for produce in the U.S. are corn, soy, zucchini, yellow summer squash, and papaya (specifically Hawaiian grown). To avoid GMOs, purchase these items strictly in their organic forms.
Tip to being able to afford more organic produce: Give up something small in your everyday life that you don’t NEED. If you go get a daily cup of coffee on the go, maybe cut it down to every other day and use the dollars you save to put towards purchasing organic produce. Or if you like to go out to eat twice a week, make it once, and put what you saved towards your grocery bill. There are many little swaps we can all do to help us afford these (if not all) organic fruits and veggies.
To sum it up, I’ve taken the following paragraph from the same maximizedliving.com article as was used before:
“A recent study from the Harvard School of Public Health demonstrated that eating organic produce can significantly reduce bodily toxicity. The study provided five consecutive days’ worth of organic food to children who typically ate a non-organic, conventional diet. After just five days, almost all pesticides had disappeared from the subjects’ urine samples. ‘This shows there definitely is a beneficial effect of eating organic produce,’ said study leader Dr. Alex Lu, associate professor of environmental exposure biology.”
Now you have all the facts- it’s time to decide for yourself!
I call these “hummus” burgers because they have the same ingredients as hummus: chick peas, lemon, garlic, and tahini paste. They are easy to make, delicious, vegan (without the cheese on top), gluten free, and kind of like a kitchen sink for leftover veggies. Whatever you have leftover you can throw in- I recommend broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, onions, mushrooms, peas, corn, or any other solid non-leafy veggie that could be served warm as a side dish (i don’t recommend celery, radishes, tomatoes, or leafy greens like lettuce, though heartier greens like kale and spinach could work if finely chopped).
Rinse and drain the chick peas, put in a food processor with the lemon zest, lemon juice, and garlic. Pulse until the chick peas are broken into pea size and smaller pieces. Scoop into a medium mixing bowl. The mixture should look chunky:
I wilted some kale and spinach together as a side. I topped my burger with goat cheese and balsamic vinegar.
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My husband had a bun with his and put brie and red onion on top. He added ketchup after the picture was taken.
I made this meal for about $5.00 for two ($2.50 per serving). Every single thing was organic- organic chickpeas for $0.99, leftover organic vegetables ($2.50 worth), $1.00 in spinach and kale, and 50 cents for the coconut oil, spices, and quinoa flour. If you chose to do this recipe with conventional ingredients you will spend less, but $5.00 for organic?! Why not try it even if you’ve never done it!
Let’s face it- food is expensive. Food is even more expensive if you buy organic and/or non-GMO products. I’ve made the decision to go all organic, and thus I have to make up for the extra cost in order to stay within my budget.
I am not a vegetarian, though I find myself eating less and less meat. I don’t eat any red meat at home because my husband doesn’t. He eats poultry and fish so I make and eat those. I don’t miss the red meat at home- it’s expensive and not as healthy for you. So I’m definitely not complaining!
I have a system I use for stretching my dollars and it’s been working extremely well. The method is: eat a “whole piece” of chicken or fish only once a week, use one pound of ground turkey/chicken (or beef) stretched over two meals, organic sausage for one or two meals, and vegetarian options for the remaining meals.
Vegetarian for two or three nights?! Yes. It’s so easy and satisfying. Vegetarian doesn’t mean no protein. It means proteins that didn’t come from animals. It means INEXPENSIVE proteins. Beans and lentils are my go-to. A 15.5 ounce can of organic beans at my local grocery store costs $0.99. A can of organic lentils is $2.19, but I avoid those if possible because I can get a much better deal if the lentils are dry and I re-hydrate them myself (but that takes planning ahead- canned lentils work well in a pinch and are still a fraction of the cost of meat). Dry beans are also cheaper than canned and are a great if you plan ahead (which also saves you money!).
Here is a sample weekly menu:
Sunday: Organic pizza night. I love Amy’s organic pizza. Frozen pizza that uses only organic ingredients and is in the process of getting non-GMO certified. They also make vegan and gluten free pizza options! I take organic chicken sausage and dice it to add on top of the pizza, along with some fresh (or frozen) organic veggies. The package of organic sausage has 6 links- I’ll use three here and save the other three for later in the week or freeze them for another time. The pizza makes four slices, 2 for each of us and is very filling. If I go light on the veggies or if I don’t use sausage, I’ll also make a salad.
Monday and Tuesday: (I make enough for both days on Monday) Meatloaf or meatballs made from organic ground turkey or chicken and organic veggies. There are a ton of great recipes I use-many to be posted soon! Organic veggies or a salad on the side.
Wednesday and Thursday: (I make enough for both days on Wednesday) Veggie burgers- I have a dozen different ones I make so we never get tired of them. They are so good- I eat them without a roll, my husband often puts his on a roll with cheese and condiments like a real burger. I just eat mine with a knife and fork. Sometimes I put a little organic goat cheese and vinegar on top. Organic veggies on the side. If I don’t use sweet potatoes in the burger I sometimes make baked sweet potato fries- again, recipes to come!
Friday: Pasta. I buy sprouted organic pasta, but it can be expensive, so I sometimes go with 100% whole wheat organic. I’ll use some of the fresh veggies left over from the other meals, or if I have any left over ground turkey/chicken or sausage links I’ll add them to the sauce to make it nice and hearty. I often do my sauce with just veggies. Makes more than 2 servings, so the rest go to our lunch the next day.
Saturday: Whole protein night! Organic chicken breasts or fish/seafood, depending on what organic seafood my grocery store has. Sometimes they have none- when that happens, we go with chicken. Organic veggie, and an organic starch, like rice or potatoes. Sometimes I’ll cut up two whole chicken breasts to make a stir-fry.
My husband topped his with cheese and sauteed mushrooms.
You can do this for even less if the ingredients are not organic- it’s up to you!
You can double the recipe for four, or half it for one (though I recommend making the full amount and then having the rest the next day!)
Peel and dice the sweet potatoes, add to lightly salted boiling water- cook until they are tender enough to mash.
While potatoes are cooking, heat a teaspoon or so of organic coconut oil (any other organic oil works well too) over medium-high heat in a skillet. Dice the onion and add to oil when it is hot enough to hear a sizzle. Sautee onions until they are starting to become translucent.
Rinse and drain the beans, add to the onions in the skillet. Mix together. Take a potato masher and slightly mash the beans and onions until the beans start to break apart. Scoop beans and onions into a large mixing bowl.
When sweet potatoes are ready, drain them, return them to their pot, and mash them until they are thick with no more cubes. Do not puree, mashing by hand is the best technique. A small lump here and there is nothing to worry about.
Spoon the mashed sweet potatoes into the bowl of beans and onions and mix all ingredients together. Add the almond butter and stir until it is fully incorporated. Add the grill seasoning, a little at a time. You can taste the mixture at any point- nothing is raw or uncooked, like meat burgers and there are no eggs so go ahead! When the seasoning is just right for you, add the breadcrumbs and stir until incorporated.
Heat two tablespoons of coconut oil in the skillet on medium-high heat (I use the same one I used for the beans and onions, just wipe it out first with a paper towel). Divide the mixture evenly into four or five sections, depending on how big you like your burgers. Form each section into a patty. When the oil is hot, place the patties in the pan and cook until the first side is nicely browned (I use a skillet screen to protect both me and the kitchen from spattering oil). Flip each patty and cook until the other side is nicely browned as well.
In the meantime, heat another skillet (make sure it has a lid) and put two LARGE handfuls of either the kale or spinach (I used baby kale this time- delicious!). I do not use oil when making the greens. Add a splash or two of water and cover the pan for a minute. After a minute, remove the lid and fold the bottom wilted greens into any greens that have not cooked. Place the lid back on, cook for another minute, and turn the heat off.
Poke a few holes in the top of the burgers with a fork, drizzle with the apple cider vinegar- it will absorb into the burger. Plate the burgers on buns if you like (I eat mine without a bun), melt cheese, sautee some mushrooms, add lettuce tomato onion, whatever you prefer.
Plate the greens, make sure to drain any excess water- if you’d like to add more, you can add fresh to the cooked and the cooked will wilt the fresh nicely. Enjoy!
This meal cost me $0.99 for the beans, $1.00 for the sweet potato, $1.50 in kale, and about $1.50 total in extras, such as the almond butter, 1/4 onion, oil, grill seasoning. Buns, lettuce/tomato/onion/cheese/mushrooms/ketchup are all extras you can add into the cost if you are going to use them.
Non-organic versions of the above will save you about $1.00 of the total cost of the meal.
$5.00 for a completely organic, healthy, fast, and most importantly delicious meal?! Can’t beat that!
*For gluten free cooking, replace the breadcrumbs with almond flour, quinoa flour, or any other gluten free flour you like- just note that by removing seasoned breadcrumbs, you may need to add a little more grill seasoning for flavor.
