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Cutting back…

Today, I treated myself and went out to see the Sex & The City movie. I really enjoyed it…you can read more about it on one of my other blogs, right HERE. The entry may be a bit spoilerish, though, so read at your own risk.

I went alone, to an afternoon show, and got there early. So I walked over to the nearby Rock Bottom brewpub for a beer. They had one of the cable news channels on the TV, and there was something about how much money the travel and tourism businesses have been losing due to high prices for just about everything. We’re talking billions here, for airlines, hotels, and restaurants.

But I still think that with careful planning, it is still possible to take a vacation. There might be other ways where you can cut back, and still not feel deprived. And there are some nice, but cheap hotels out there; you don’t need to stay at the Ritz to have a great time. As long as the place isn’t a fleabag in a skeevy neighborhood, you will be fine. Really, how much of your vacation time is spent in the room, anyway?

One way to cut back on expenses is with food.  Or, more specifically, meat.  There is no law that says that you will die from malnutrition if you don’t eat meat every day.  There are plenty of tasty, meatless dishes that are not only cheap to make, but good for you, as well.

Last night, I made these black bean burritos.  Very tasty!  All you really need to serve with them is a nice green salad.  Black beans have a lot of flavor, and a lot of protein.  And they are cheap.

 For the sauce:

1 14-16 ounce can whole tomatoes, drained
1/4 cup minced onion
1 tablespoon minced jalapenos, fresh or canned, seeded

Put it all in a blender or food processor, and whiz. Set aside.

For the burritos:

8 10-inch flour tortillas
2 cups cooked and drained black beans (canned is fine)
1/2 cup finely chopped red onion
1 cup (about 4 ounces) grated Monterey Jack cheese, divided (I tend to use more than that)

Optional garnishes:

1 avocado, diced
2-4 tablespoons minced cilantro

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Heat a skillet and soften the tortillas by putting them, one at a time, heat for 10 seconds on each side. Or cheat and just soften them in the microwave.

Each tortilla gets about 1/4 cup of beans, 1 tablespoon red onion and 1 tablespoon of cheese. Roll them up and arrange in a baking pan, top with the tomato sauce and remaining cheese.

Bake for 15 minutes or until cheese has melted and burritos are heated through. Serve with garnishes, if desired.

Enjoy!

So, why not try incorporating a bean dish such as this into your diet, for at least one dinner a week.  You’ll be eating healthier, and saving money, as well.  And with the money you save, maybe you CAN afford to take a summer vacation after all!

Get Inspired: Seared Salmon with Balsamic Glaze

 click to see much larger, printable recipe (opens in new window)

This was yet another winner from the fine folks at America’s Test Kitchen. If you think that fish is too hard to cook, think again. This is very quick and easy. I prepared it exactly as the recipe directed, and it was awesome.

Fish is very good for you, and it has lots of protein and other nutrients. You won’t need to run on your treadmills quite so much, if you substitute fish for a few beef meals.

You don’t need to buy expensive balsamic vinegar for this…the regular supermarket kind is fine.  Just don’t substitute any other type of vinegar in this recipe…balsamic has a unique flavor that is important to this dish.

I served it with broccoli and rice, as suggested…yummie!

Edamame!

Do you know what that is? It’s another word for SOYBEANS!

Soybeans, as you know, are mostly used to make other things, such as soy sauce, tofu, and fake meat products for vegetarians. But yeah, people do eat them as beans, too. They are not the kind of food item that you’d put in a gift basket, but they are still good for you. So, if you see them at the store, pick some up and give them a try!

Mike saw them in the freezer section of the store, and picked up a 16 ounce bag of them.  Last night, I cooked them…two ways!

The first was a mac & cheese recipe from Ming Tsai that I found on the Food Network site.   He calls it Protein-Packed Mac-N-Cheese.  It’s from his old show, on which he did an episode about cooking for kids.  Sometimes parents have to sneak in healthy foods to get the kids to try them.  I have no such need, but I love Ming, and I love mac & cheese, so I tried it.

I didn’t feel like running out to the store to buy the cheeses called for, so I improvised with what I had on hand.  I had some Cabot Cheddar Shake and a wedge of Parmesan, so that’s what I used.  Cabot Cheddar Shake is a good product.  It’s not like that (mostly salt) powder that comes with the blue box mac & cheese, it’s 100% dehydrated Cheddar from one of the best cheesemaking companies in the U.S.  It can only be bought via mail order, for some reason.  If you order it, buy a case of six, buying one isn’t worth it because the shipping would cost more than the cheese.  It keeps forever, and you can always split the order with friends.  I love the stuff!

Anhyoo, the cheese powder dissolves very nicely in the warm milk.  The dish turned out great!  So please feel free to use whatever cheeses you like and have on hand for this.

I really couldn’t taste the edamames, even though I could see that they were there.  If you’ve ever had tofu, you know that it really has no flavor, it takes on the flavor of whatever you cook it with.  Same here.  Soybeans have no strong or disagreeable flavor that kids often object to.  This is a good, healthy dish for kids, and for adults, as well.

I used the rest of what was in the bag to make this Roasted Edamame recipe from Recipezaar.  This was also excellent.  I took the advice of someone who left a comment there, and doubled the amount of spices, plus I used more olive oil, as well.  I didn’t have any onion salt, just onion powder, so I used half salt and half onion powder instead.  It came out very tasty…give it a try sometime!

So, if you’ve never tried soybeans before, give them a shot!

I was starting to think…

…that maybe I had a stalker.

I tend to freak out when ANYONE knocks on my door, unless they are expected. So imagine how I felt, when, earlier this week, I had a knock on my door at the same time, same knock (kind of soft, not a wake the dead knock that the UPS guy has), TWO DAYS IN A ROW.

I have no idea who it was, because I have no way to see unless I move th blinds or curtain on the door, and if I do that, whoever is on the other side will know that I’m here, and will keep knocking, and refuse to go away. So I just ignored it. Both days, they knocked once, waited a couple of minutes, then knocked again. Then they went away.

I am forever pissed because my landladies thought that a windowed door would look nice. But what about safety? A SOLID door with a peephole is much more suitable for what this neighborhood has become. If I have a stalker, I want to be able to at least see who the hell it is, without letting them know that I can see them. But with the door as it is, that has been taken from me.

Maybe I need to get some sort of security system, such as one by ademco. There are an awful lot of freaks out there, and you can’t do enough to stay safe in your own home.

Anyhoo, I was waiting for my *stalker* to knock on Wednesday, around noontime, but they never came. They didn’t come today, either. But I’m still a bit spooked out by the whole thing.

Best Fried Chicken - EVER!

If it’s quick weight loss you’re looking for, this probably isn’t a post you should read. But if you are interested in some damned good fried chicken, read on…

One of our favorite restaurants is Jasper White’s Summer Shack. That’s why I was so excited to see that Jasper has finally put out a cookbook, which contains many of the recipes he uses at the restaurants.

Many people are hesitant to cook seafood at home, or to attempt deep frying. This book contains simple, step-by-step instructions which will make it all a snap. Many of the instructions are fully illustrated to make them even easier to follow. You’ll learn not only how to cook a lobster, but how to eat it, as well. There’s also a whole section called “Fry Cook 101″ which takes all of the mystery out of successful deep frying at home.

When Mike and I go to the Summer Shack, we always go for the seafood. But Jasper’s fried chicken is one of the best in the Boston area, and the recipe is in this book. Last night, I decided to try it at home.

If you have one of those deep frying appliances, you could certainly use it, as long as you have a way to monitor the temperature. But you really don’t need a special appliance; I don’t have one. Jasper recommends a good old fashioned 12″ cast-iron skillet and a deep fry thermometer. Cast iron is excellent because it holds the heat very well; if you have to fry the chicken in batches, as I did, the oil gets back up to temperature very quickly.

Oil temperature is VERY important. Too hot, and your food burns and overcooks. Not hot enough, the food will soak up too much oil and be all nasty and greasy. You can buy a decent deep fry thermometer for about ten bucks or so; do not deep fry without one! The one I have has a clippy thing on it, so I can set it in the pan of oil and not have the dial part fall in.

There are two *mixes* you need to make in order to make this recipe. The first one is a “seasoned salt for chicken”…

1/4 cup salt
1/4 cup lemon pepper
1 tablespoon granulated garlic
1 1/2 teaspoons Old Bay seasoning
3/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
3/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

Mix it all together. Store in a tightly sealed container in the fridge, or freezer, if you don’t plan to use it right away. Can be made in advance; this is more than needed for the chicken recipe.

You’ll also need to make the “New England Style Fry Mix”. This is the same breading the Jasper uses on most of his fried seafood dishes, as well.

2 cups corn flour or masa harina (look for this in the Spanish food section of the store)
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Mix it all together, and store, covered, in the fridge until ready to use. I found that this made a lot more than I needed for the chicken, but it will keep!

In addition to the pan and thermometer mentioned above, you’ll also need a pair of tongs, and a sheet pan lined with paper towels, and a large wire cooling rack to put over that. The one fault I found with Jasper’s instructions was that he has you putting the raw, just dipped and breaded chicken onto this rack, and then putting the cooked chicken on the same rack setup. This isn’t a good idea, because you don’t want raw chicken juices touching food that’s already been cooked. What I did here was just put the chicken, as it cooked, on a large plate lined with paper towels, and when the last batch of chicken was frying, washed the rack and placed the cooked chicken to rest on it. Or just use a second rack if you have one. If you don’t have a rack, just use paper towels.

Read the rest…