Month: May 2017

Lunch

An experiment that turned out well: take a par baked roll and finish it in the oven; add neufchâtel cheese, sliced granny smith apple and some ham. It was really good. As well as the roll we did a crisp bread version.

• Ham is $1.10 per serve and we used less than half each or 55c
• The neufchâtel cheese is $1.49 for the pack, and we used less than half, or 38c per serve
• The apple was 96c and we used half, or 24c per serve
• The par baked roll was 63c per serve
• The crisp bread is 30c per serve.

Lunch today was $2.10 a serve.

Dinner

Both foodies are still suffering from the Las Vegas trip so Greg decided we needed Côte d’Azur or Cure-All Soup. Garlic and chicken stock thickened with egg yolks it tastes a lot more interesting than the picture above.

We scaled the recipe back it still made two very, very generous serves.

• Four pastured eggs are $2.00 or $1.00 per serve
• 3/4 head of garlic went into the soup: 50c  or 25c per serve
• Organic chicken stock $2.30 or 56c per serve
• Parmesan cost $5.75 but we used about 1/2 for this salad, or $1.43 per serve
• Add 60c for herbs, oil and seasonings
• Served with crusty bread for 60c per serve.

This was amazingly delicious for just $4.44 per serve. It seems to work as we’re on the mend.

Lunch

Another Burbank Monday and Foodie Philip was at In and Out for a Double Double Animal Style for $4.08 with tax.

Dinner

A long term favorite of ours is Southern sausage, beans and rice.

The recipe makes four serves and it basically just involves cutting up stuff, opening a couple of cans, and cooking some rice!

• 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 an Applegate Farm sausage from Whole Foods for $8.99 or $2.25 per serve
• Chicken broth $2.29 or 38c a serve
• And the rice: 33c a serve.

Tonight’s dinner was simple, quick to prepare, tasty and only $3.61 per serve.

Lunch

Our attempt at Afghan take out was thwarted by a large ground arriving ahead of us, so we opted to use our ripe avocado on crisp bread: one with blue cheese crumbled, one with some ham. The blue cheese version was better.

• The crisp bread was $2.99 for a pack of 10, or 60c per serve
• A split serve of ham is 55c per serve
• An avocado was 99c or 50c per serve
• Blue cheese crumbles are $3.49 for the pack but we used only a fraction of the pack, or 27c per serve.

Lunch today cost $1.92 per serve.

Dinner

A nice warming beef  beef massaman curry seemed appropriate with a cold snap upon us.

Beef massaman is warming without being too spicy. We use a curry base we buy from Amazon for this simple, quick meal for three.

• The “beef for stew” was $9.98 per pound, or $3.32 per serve
• The curry is $3.38 per can or $1.13 per serve
• Coconut milk is $1.69 per can or 57c per serve
• Peanuts were $2.99 but we only used half, or 50c per serve
• Potato adds 25c per serve
• The bunch of carrots was 89c but we used half in this dish, or 15c per serve
• The par baked bread is 63c per serve.

Tonight’s dinner was $6.63 per serve and very tasty. The substation of bread for rice worked well.

Lunch 

There remained four pieces of fried chicken from our last Popeye’s trip, so we ate it with some canned beans and rice. The chicken was good: the canned rice and beans was boring.

• 8 pieces of dark and spicy chicken is $9.99 or $2.70 a serve with tax per serve
• The canned rice and beans was $1.99 or $1.00 per serve.

Lunch today cost $3.70 per serve.

Dinner

We cooked the Summer Corn Chowder recipe back in June and had frozen what was left. The soup should have been good, but it was overly sweet and we put off finishing it until now.

• Bacon is 30c per serve
• An onion is about 3c per serve
• Four cobs of fresh corn (tassels on) cost 39c each, average one per serve
• We used a mix of whole milk and half and half at $1.49 or 38c per serve
• The russet potato cost 74c or 19c per serve
• Add 5c per serve for seasoning
• We served with a par-baked roast garlic bread at $2.50 for the loaf, or 63c per serve.

Dinner tonight cost $1.34 for the soup and 63c for the bread, $1.97 total.

Lunch

For something different we made spicy tuna melts on an onion bagel. A little toasted sesame oil gave it an Asian twist.

• An onion bagel is 25c
• The cheese is 63c a slice
• The can of tuna $3.19 or $1.60 per serve
• The vegan dressing (not mayo!) is $2.29 a jar but we used about 15c worth each serve
• Add 30c for the spring onion and celery per serve.

Lunch today was a nice change, and cost $2.93 per serve.

Dinner

A new recipe for us, and another chance to use some ham, Cheesy Gnocchi Casserole with Ham and Peas turned out pretty well. The sauce was a little more liquid than we’d have liked, but it turned out to be quite tasty.

• Ham is $1.10 per serve
• The gnocchi was $1.69 or 85c per serve
• Chicken broth cost $1.99 for four cups but the recipe uses only 1/2 cup, or 13c per serve
• Shredded cheese mix was $3.49 for the pack but we used half, or 85c per serve
• Onion and seasonings add another 25c.

Dinner tonight was tasty and filling for $3.18 a serve. There were probably three serves in this preparation.

Lunch

We still have a lot of ham remaining, so for lunch today we finished baking some par-baked sough dough rolls. When ready, we sliced and put cheese inside to warm and soften. Layer up with bread and butter pickles, and ham, with a smear of mustard and you have yourself a sandwich.

• Ham is $1.10 per serve, but we used a half serve each on the sandwich, or 55c per serve
• The NZ cheddar is $5.99 for the pack of eight, one ounce slices, or 75c per serve
• Add 30c for your favorite pickle.

Lunch today was $1.60 per serve.

Dinner

A new delivery of Prather Ranch meat gave us some pork scallopini, so we took the hint and cooked it in a piccata sauce, borrowed from a chicken version. Served with a packaged Mushroom and Herb Risotto from Trader Joe’s to which he added 9 oz of shelled edamame.

• The scallopini cost $10.49 or $5.25 per serve
• The Mushroom and Herb Risotto was $2.49 or $1.25 per serve
• The edamame cost $2.49 or $1.25 per serve
• Add 25c for capers and lemon.

Greg prepared the scallopini perfectly and the pilaf was created because the edamame. Foodie Greg has been playing with how many different ways “pork and beans” can be prepared. With the edamame and pork scallopini, we have another iteration!

Dinner tonight cost $8.00 per serve.

Lunch

For lunch we went back to our gyro/yeros meat in a wrap.

• The fully cooked sliced gyro/yeros meat is $3.99 per 10oz pack. There are really four serves, so each serve is very slightly cheaper than the chicken, at $1.00 per serve.
• The flatbread is 50c per serve
• Hummus is $3.99 per container and we used about 1/6 or 33c per serve
• We served 1/4 of the tabouli salad or 67c per serve.

Lunch today cost $2.50.

Dinner

The very last piece of Prather Ranch meat in our freezer got used tonight ahead of tomorrow’s new delivery! We skipped a month to catch up.

This last option was “fajita” beef: a quick cook, stir fry meat. We find the snap peas a better stir fry ingredient than broccoli for our Stir-Fried Beef With Snap Peas and Oyster Sauce.

• The ‘fajita’ beef cost $9.93 or $4.97 per serve
• Snow peas add $1.00 per serve
• The various sauce and marinade ingredients add $1.00 per serve
• Rice adds 50c per serve.

Dinner tonight was good, but less oyster sauce would have been better balanced. Dinner cost $7.47 per serve.

Lunch

For lunch we went back to our gyro/yeros meat in a wrap

• The fully cooked sliced gyro/yeros meat is $3.99 per 10oz pack. There are really four serves, so each serve is very slightly cheaper than the chicken, at $1.00 per serve.
• The flatbread is 50c per serve
• Hummus is $3.99 per container and we used about 1/6 or 33c per serve
• We served 1/4 of the tabouli salad or 67c per serve.

Lunch today cost $2.50.

Dinner

With so much ham on hand, and leftover salad, it was time to revisit dinner from two nights ago. Instead of just slicing the ham, we reheated it in the stove top smoker, which added a nice extra touch.

The lentil salad was really six serves!

• The $10.72 ham will create at least 10 serves, or $1.07 per serve
• The lentils were $3.99 but the salad made six serves, or 67c per serve
• The organic Granny Smith apple was $1.52 our  25c per serve
• Limes were $1.56 or 26c per serve
• Add another 30c for ginger and oil.

Dinner tonight was excellent: the ham was juicy and flavorsome, the lentil salad surprisingly tasty and not mushy thanks to using French lentils. All for just $2.55 per serve.