Category: Daily recipe

Lunch

Seeking some variation on our short list of lunch ideas, we changed it up using our supermarket roast chicken with guacamole and tabouli.

• This time only the smaller $7.99 chickens were available so each quarter is $2.00, or $1.00 per serve of half a chicken breast
• The baguette was 89c or 45c per serve
• Tabouli is $2.69 for the container, and we serve 1/4 each, or 68c per serve
• The guacamole was $3.49 and we used 1/4 or 44c.

Lunch today was pretty good for $2.57, although we’ve had better baguettes.

Dinner

Our Prather Ranch meat box arrived and we immediately pulled out a very thick cut dry aged NY strip steak that we seared on the griddle (over our induction cooktop).

Served with a salad of mixed greens that included beet leaves, smoked beets and a soft cheese.

• The NY Strip Steak was $19.99 or $10 per serve
• The salad green mix was $1.69 or 85c per serve
• Smokey BBQ beets were $2.50 (on special) or $1.25 per serve (and worth is on special)
• We were hoping for cotija cheese but had to settle for a different Mexican cheese, without as much flavor for $2.79, of which we used about 1/3 or 47c per serve.

Dinner tonight was good, and would have been better if we’d found cotija cheese, for $12.57 per serve.

Lunch

As we still had some Popeyes chicken, we reheated that and served with a homemade coleslaw.

• 10 pieces of dark and spicy chicken is $16.99 or $3.54 a serve with tax
• Shredded cabbage was $1.29 or 65c per serve
• The carrots adds 22c per serve
• Add 15c for dressing ingredients.

The chicken reheats well, and coleslaw is a traditional partner, for $4.56 per serve.

Dinner

A new recipe for us: Roasted Eggplant and Brown Rice Bowl with Turmeric Tahini.

• The eggplant was $2.22 or $1.11 per serve
• Brown rice adds 35c per serve
• Pomegranate jewels cost 99c for the pack, but we used only 1/3 or 17c per serve
• Shelled edamame was $1.29 but we used only 1/8 or or about 10c per serve
• Add 50c for sauce ingredients.

Dinner tonight was tasty and satisfying, and a nice no meat balance to a fried chicken lunch, for $2.23. It was certainly colorful!

Lunch

Foodie Philip was in Burbank and had lunch with a friend at a Japanese restaurant, where the ‘Sushi and Sashimi’ lunch special was the choice. Lunch was $23.48 with tax and tip.

Foodie Greg’s lunch cost $1.66.

Dinner

This is a great ‘recipe’ to use when you have lots of left-over vegetables from other dishes. The givens in this version are the yakisoba noodles and ground pork. We had carrot, snap peas and cabbage remaining, so that’s what went in.

We used the flavor pouch from the noodles, but it was a serious disappointment. I think we should have put together an Asian style dressing of our own.

• One pound of ground pork from our Prather Ranch delivery cost $7.99 or a generous half pound of pork per serve for $4.00
• The pack of baby spinach was $1.99 or 50c per serve from what was remaining
• The shredded green cabbage was $1.29 for the pack, or 33c per serve
• The bunch of carrots was 89c but we used half in this dish, or 22c per serve
• Left over sugar snap peas or 50c per serve
• The noodles are $3.19 for the pack, or $1.60 per serve.

Dinner tonight needed a little more ‘zing’ to the sauce, as I’d hope for a little better for $7.19 a serve.

Lunch

Since Philip was on the way back from Studio City, a stop at Popeyes seemed like a good thing to do.

• 10 pieces of dark and spicy chicken is $16.99 or $3.54 a serve with tax
• Half the Large Red Beans and Rice is $2.15 with tax, per serve.

Lunch today cost $5.69 per serve.

Dinner

The watermelon salad always leaves us with feta to be used, so Greg decided on a Feta and Spinach Frittata, which was really good. The feta, while creamy, isn’t as ‘cheesy’ as cheddars, so melds better with the other flavors.

• Two pastured eggs per serve is $1.00
• Feta comes in a $6.49 tub and we used half, or about $1.63 per serve
• The whipping cream was $1.79 or 45c per serve
• The pack of baby spinach was $1.99 or 50c per serve

Dinner tonight cost $3.58 and was definitely above average.

Lunch

It’s the Sunday of a long weekend, so let’s indulge a little.

• Smoked salmon $5.99 for the 4oz pack or $3.00 a serve
• The pack of six onion bagels is $1.99 or 33c per serve
• The neufchâtel cheese is $1.49 for the pack, and we used 1/3 or 25c per serve
• A Persian cucumber is 50c or 25c per serve
• Add 15c for capers and shallot.

Lunch today cost $3.98 a serve.

Dinner

With the hot weather we’ve been having, it was a welcome return to a favorite: Nigel Lawson’s watermelon, feta and black olive salad. It’s a summer regular and very, very good.

We made three serves from a small watermelon.

• We were given the watermelon
• Feta comes in a $6.49 tub and we used half, or about $1.08 per serve
• Pitted olives come in $2.99 jars and one quarter was used, or 25c per serve
• The red onion is 52c or 13c per serve (there is left over onion)
• Mint came from our garden
• Olive oil and seasonings add another 20c per serve.

Dinner tonight (with a lunch for Greg on Tuesday) cost $1.66 per serve. It’s an excellent dish and every time we serve it for someone, they want the recipe.

Lunch

It happens that The Country Deli is between Home Depot or Lowes and home. What else could we do but stop in for lunch. Foodie Philip continued with the marinated skirt steak, home fries and eggs, while Greg had a pastrami sandwich with steak fries.

Lunch at The Country Deli (without drinks) always runs around $21.50 per serve with tax and tip.

Dinner

Cross rip steak still in the freezer from our meat delivery, so  beef massaman curry even though the weather is anything but cold! We use a curry base we buy from Amazon for this simple, quick meal for three.

• The cross rib steak was $5.66 or $2.83 per serve
• The curry is $3.38 per can or $1.69 per serve
• Coconut milk is $1.69 per can or 85c per serve
• Peanuts were $2.99 but we only used half, or 75c per serve
• Potato adds 25c per serve
• Onion (not pearl) adds 15c per serve
• Rice adds 30c per serve.

Tonight’s dinner was $6.82 per serve and very tasty, as always. The beef softened to a beautiful texture with unctuous fat.

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, or $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

Our plan for massaman curry was postponed for a day, so we used what we had on hand, and created an “English” breakfast for dinner: bratwurst, baked beans, and pastured eggs on rye bread. Yum.

• The bratwurst are $3.49 for the pack, or $1.75 per serve
• The Trader Joe’s Organic Baked Beans are a little sweet for our taste, but otherwise 75c per serve
• Pastured Eggs are 50c each, so two adds $1.00 per serve.
• We used approximately 1/4 of the $1.99 rye bread or 33c per serve

Dinner tonight was pretty tasty for $3.83 per serve.

Lunch

For variety we decided to go simple: tomato and melted cheese on an onion bagel.

• The bagel is 50c
• We used one kumato or 29c
• The sliced yoghurt cheese is $4.79 a pack of 12 slices, or 80c per serve.

Lunch today was a nice variation for $1.69 per serve

Dinner

The best thing about the heritage pork we get from Prather Ranch is that they raise traditional breeds, breeds with fat in them that melts and lubricates the meat. They were seared on the griddle to perfection: a nice surface crust, and perfect medium rare inside.

This is our third attempt at a bean mash. Yes, it’s another “pork and bean” night! Neither of the earlier versions were great. In fact, barely edible. This Serious Eats recipe is pretty good. The combination of beans, greens and cheese is pretty tasty and the egg forms a rich sauce.

The bean skins get in the way of perfect texture, so we think we might need to process them in the Cuisinart rather than just mash the beans.

• The pork chops were $10.74 or $5.37 per serve
• A can of “store beans” was $1.00 or 50c per serve
• Instead of heavy cream we substituted sour cream at $2.99 for the container, of which we used about 1/5 or 30c per serve
• Green onions were 50c or 13c per serve
•  Parmesan cost $5.75 but we used about 1/2 for this dish, or $1.43 per serve
• We used an organic salad mix instead of just kale for $1.98 and used half, or 50c per serve
• A pastured egg is 50c
• Add 10c for seasoning.

Tonight’s dinner was excellent: perfect pork chop, tasty mash and greens with an egg as the crowning glory, for $8.83 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

A return to a favorite:  Crunchy Thai Salad. We simplified a little, leaving out the bock choy and cilantro and nuts.

In the past we’ve topped the salad with seared tuna, or rare steak, but tonight we tried some thinly sliced beef jerky from our Prather Ranch source. Sliced thin across the grain so it wasn’t ‘chewy’ in the salad.

• 3 oz of spicy beef jerky is $6.40 or $3.20 per serve.
• Snow peas are $3.99 and we used half, or $1.00 per serve
• Mint came from our garden
• An organic bell pepper was $1.63 and we used half, or 41c per serve
• Mung beans sprouts are 79c and we used a tiny fraction, or 10c per serve
• A Persian cucumber is 97c, or 24c per serve
• Green onions cost 79c for the bunch and we used about 1/3 or 14c per serve
• Add 30c for the dressing ingredients.

This is an amazing salad, and the beef jerk added an interesting texture and beef flavor to the dish. Dinner tonight cost $5.39.