Author: Philip

Lunch

For lunch we wilted spinach and then filled the pan with egg and cooked it slowly on the cooktop. Very slowly. We finished in the oven.

• Spinach was $2.99 and we used the remaining ¾ or $1.13 per serve
• We shared five pastured eggs or $1.25 per serve
• The French feta is $9.99 for 10.5 oz and we shared 1/6 or 83c per serve
• Add 20c for seasoning.

A most satisfying lunch for $3.41 per serve.

Dinner

We had a beef chuck roast in this month’s Keller Crafted meat box, so we decided to prepare it “pulled pork” style, using a Martha Stewart recipe.

Our roast was only two pound and only took three hours to cook. We’ll get four full size serves or eight like tonight.

We served a half serve on a hot panini roll with a purchased Kale
Sunflower crunch salad kit.

• The roast was $20.88 or $2.61 per serve for this meal
• The panini roll is 63c
• The salad kit was $3.49 and we’ll get four serves, or 88c per serve.

The pulled beef is every bit as tasty as pulled pork, and it was an excellent meal for $4.12 per serve.

Lunch

Foodie Greg was near Western Bagel around lunch time and we shared a “Traditional” (Lox) bagel and a pastrami and Swiss bagel. Both were decent, although we prefer smoked salmon over lox.

The bagels were $8.78 per serve.

Dinner

A return to the  Vietnamese Caramelized Pork Bowls, tonight with mung bean sprout and grated carrot that was drizzled with rice wine vinegar.

Again, we cut the sugar back from five, to two tablespoons.

• The ground pork was $8.35 and we’ll get three serves from that, or $2.78 per serve
• Add 50c for ginger, onion, garlic and chili, etc
• Add 33c for brown rice
• Bean sprouts were $1.49 but we used only ⅓ or 20c per serve
• Add 20c for grated carrot.

Dinner tonight was tasty for $4.01 per serve.

Lunch

Circumstances took us close to The Country Deli so we stopped in for lunch. Foodie Philip had the usual marinated skirt steak with eggs and home fries. Foodie Greg forwent his usual Pastrami on Rye and had the sandwich version of the skirt steak, with sautéed mushrooms, bell pepper and onion.

Today’s lunches averaged $22.34 per serve with tax and tip.

Dinner

After such a meat heavy lunch, as delicious as it was, we opted for eloté, our second vegetarian meal of the week.

We had eloté at Cafe Habana recently and enjoyed it, but our version is much better because we only grill. There is no pre-boil or steam. Cooking it fully on the grill develops a lot more depth of flavor than the hybrid approach necessary for practical food service. Grilling alone takes too long for a restaurant but is fine at home.

• The  corn was 87c or 44c per serve
• The micro greens were $2.99 but we used about 1/10th or 15c per serve
• Cotija cheese is $3.99 for 8oz and we shared 2oz or 50c per serve.

On a day of great food, this was the best of the day for $1.09 per serve.

Lunch

Back to basics: kumato, mayo and Swiss cheese as a toasted sandwich.

• Five kumato were $3.49 and we used one per sandwich, or 70c per serve
• Sprouted Rye bread is 32c per serve
• Swiss slices are 12 for $3.99 or 33c per serve
• Add 35c for butter and mayo.

Simple but very good for $1.90 per serve.

Dinner

For a new experiment Foodie Greg sous vidé salmon fillets and served them with a favorite salad: mango, avocado and spinach greens.

• The salmon was $12.11 which made a generous 8oz serve for $6.06 per serve
• Spinach was $2.99 but we only used ¼ or 38c per serve
• Avocado are 99c each or 50c per serve
• The mango was 98c or 49c per serve
• Add 50c for butter, oil, salt and dressing.

The salmon was a perfect buttery smooth texture that melted in our mouths. We trimmed off the skin and served at room temperature. The salad is a great combination of acidic sweetness from the mango, fat from the avocado with the backing of the greens and balsamic dressing. An excellent meal for $7.93 per serve.

Lunch

We were going to use the last of the roast vegetable melange, but there was only enough for one sandwich, with Swiss. We opened a pouch of salmon and added some capers and Swiss, for the other.

• The salmon was 1.49 or 75c per serve
• Sprouted Rye bread is 32c per serve
• Swiss slices are 12 for $3.99 or 33c per serve
• The roast vegetables are included in another meal.
• Add 45c for butter and garlic dip.

Two good sandwiches for $1.75 per serve.

Dinner

Summer is the season of finding new salads! Tonight’s Feta, Tomato and White Bean Salad was surprisingly tasty and filling. We substituted moon touched tomatoes instead of fresh, which improved the flavor at the expense of texture as they were a little mushy (but delicious).

It turns out there were four serves in what we plated.

• Tomatoes add 10c per serve
• The white beans were $1.00 per can or 25c per serve
• The French feta is $9.99 for 10.5 oz and we shared 1/6 or 42c per serve
• Add 40c for seasoning and dressing ingredients.

A surprisingly delicious salad for $1.17 per serve.

Lunch

For lunch we took the remaining steak from Thursday night, and some of the remains roast vegetables and stuffed them in a rustic roll.

• The steak and vegetables are covered in Thursday’s costing
• The roll is 63c each.

A great meal for 63c net per serve!

Dinner

Our go-to chili is the bacon and black bean, but Foodie Greg wanted variety so we tried this Spicy Creole Chili. It turns out to be a slightly spicier version of Southwest Beans and Rice!

We left out the ground chicken but doubled up on black beans, so we’ll probably only get six serves.

• The andouille sausage was $7.98 or $1.33 per serve
• Simple truth canned tomatoes were $1.29 or 22c per serve
• The beans are $1.00 per can or 33c per serve
• Add 20c per serve for the bell pepper
• Add 30c per serve for onion, chili powder, and other seasonings
• The avocado was 50c or 25c per serve
• Add 10c for labné.

It definitely had more depth of flavor than the Southwest Beans and Rice version, but was definitely similar, probably due to similar ingredients. Overall a decent meal for $2.93 per serve.

Lunch

For lunch we had our favorite sandwich: a Bahn Mi from our local Vietnamese restaurant. A great sandwich for $8.75 per serve with tax and tip.

Dinner

Avoiding the oven we prepared pork chops in a frying pan and while they rested stir fried mushroom and bok choy. We added mushroom to the recipe.

• The pork chops were $11.84 or $5.92 per serve
• The mushrooms were $2.49 or $1.25 per serve
• The bok choy was $1.99 or $1.00 per serve
• Add 30c for sauce ingredients.

A very nice dinner for $8.47 per serve.

Lunch

The Foodies were on a road trip to Matilija Nursery to buy some hummingbird sage. On the way to this charming, but hard to find, nursery, we stopped in at Cafe Firenze for lunch.

We both had exceptionally good dishes: Braised Short Rib Ravioli with a Taleggio Cheese Sauce for Foodie Philip;  Truffle Gnocchi with four Cheese and Sausage. Both had a heap of flavor with rich, creamy sauces.

Lunch cost a very reasonable $25.91 per serve including tax and tip.

Dinner

The hot weather continues to inspire salads, so we returned to our smoked salmon “Cobb” style salad. We dropped the bacon because, with smoked salmon, we didn’t want two salty elements in the dish. The burrata also replaced the salty cheese element.

• Smoked salmon is $5.99 for the 4oz pack or $3.00 a serve
• A pastured egg is 50c (only on special)
• The cherry tomatoes were $3.49 and we used about half, or 88c per serve
• Add 20c for watercress.
• The avocado was $1.49 or 75c per serve
• The burrata is $4.99, or $2.50 per serve.

This is a great variation on a Cobb for $7.33 per serve.