Category: Daily recipe

Lunch

As Foodie Greg was shopping at Wholefoods, he picked up some sushi there. Lunch cost $9.69 per serve.

Dinner

For dinner we revisited a favorite recipe, that oddly we haven’t cooked since The semiSerious Foodies started. This is a very unusual recipe, originally from a recipe for Zuccini Slice that Greg’s mother shared with him. We modified the recipe to pumpkin and the cheese to smokey and added bacon. Because the bacon is fried off first, the fat for the recipe comes from the bacon, and therefore the flavor permeates the recipe.

It took us a very long time to work out just what type of dish this was. It’s not a quiche, or custard of any kind as there’s no dairy. Ultimately we worked out it is a cake. A savory cake.

It is delicious. We took it to the Hollywood Bowl one night, to share with a group of friends. It was a Jewish holiday and as we passed it around one member of our party asked if it had bacon in it. We confessed and, not surprisingly, he declined because of his faith.

Until about 15 minutes later when he quietly leaned over and asked for a piece as “My wife told me it was so good, that I had to have a piece”. Hence, the alternate name.

The recipe makes four quite generous serves.

• The bacon was $6.99 for 12 slices, and we used five, or 73c per serve
• Five pastured eggs at 50c each is $2.50 or 63c per serve
• A small bag of organic flour is $2.69 and we used about 1/3 or 23c per serve
• Buying the butternut squash diced saves a lot of angst trying to peel and deseed the squash. The whole $5.99 pack went into the dish, or $1.50 per serve
• Normally we’d used smoked gouda but today we used a smoked mozzarella that was $5.99 or $1.50 per serve.
• An onion adds 8c per serve
• The salad kit came from Ralph’s (Kroger) was $2.99 and we will get four serves from it, or 75c per serve.

Dinner tonight is one of our favorites. It’s good enough to temp a Jew on a religious holiday, and costs just $4.92 per serve with the salad.

And, since it’s not published anywhere, here’s the recipe in full:

5 rashers Bacon
5 Eggs
1 cup Plain Flour
13 oz Butternut Squash, peeled and grated
1 large Onion, grated
1 cup grated Smoked Gouda or Cheddar Cheese

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Grate the butternut squash and cheese. Using a food processor you can also grate the onion instead of finely chopping it.

Fry the bacon until the fat mostly renders out. Allow to cool a little and chop finely.

Retrieve ¼ cup of the bacon grease (top up with oil if necessary).

Crack the eggs into a mixing bowl and beat until smooth. Add the flour and beat until combined. Add the bacon grease, bacon, butternut squash, onion and cheese, and mix to combine.

Grease a casserole dish and spread the mixture into it. Bake for 30 – 60 minutes until set.

 

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 worst thing about ground turkey is that it is lacking in fat. This is considered a virtue by those who got the (completely wrong) message that there is something wrong with fats. But, add enough bacon to bring the combined result to 85% lean, 15% fat, and you have a winner.

We created this recipe, with the addition of half a can of chipotle and it’s pretty good. Tonight’s result was particularly light in texture and made four serves. The salad was served separately.

• Ground turkey cost $6.99 or $1.75 per serve
• Bacon adds 60c per serve
• A can of chipotle is $1.50 and we used half, or 38c per serve
• Add 65c for onion, breadcrumbs and seasonings
• The gravy was $1.79 or 80c per serve (we used it all)
• The white beans were $1.00 or 50c per serve
• The salad kit came from Ralph’s (Kroger) was $2.99 and we will get four serves from it, or 75c per serve.

Dinner tonight was $5.05 per serve. The meatloaf was excellent as was the salad kit. The garlic white bean mash was disappointing.

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.