Category Archives: Healthy

Comfort food, Dips and Sauces, Healthy, Less than 5, Main Dishes, Pasta, Vegetarian

Balsamic Brown Butter and Collard Greens Sauce

February 4, 2016 BudgetEpicurean Leave a comment

This particular sauce is what I made to go along with my mouth-watering Butternut Squash Gnocchi. Something about the combination of the autumn/wintry flavors and chewy texture of the gnocchi with the buttery but tangy sauce just makes fireworks happen.

And the gnocchi have hidden vegetables in it, plus this sauce packs in a serving of your daily greens! So much health, in one deliciously sneaky meal! No one will ever guess. But they will ask for seconds. Maybe thirds.

Ingredients:

4-5 good-sized collard green leaves, torn
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 white onion
1/2 stick of butter
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar and/or lemon juice

Step 1: Place all ingredients but the butter & vinegar in a blender and pulse until chopped into small pieces. Alternatively you can use a knife and chop them up yourself. (But Ninja blender. So good.)

Step 2: Melt the butter in a pan, and bring to just a simmer. Once it starts to turn brown, add all the chopped vegetables, and add in the balsamic vinegar. Bring back to a simmer, and cook for 10-15 minutes, serve hot over fresh pasta. Maybe a little fresh shaved Parmesan on top, if you’re feeling festive.

PS: You can substitute other greens in here if you don’t have or like or feel brave enough yet to try collards. Try a nice safe spinach, or something crazy like mustard greens or beet tops. Let me know how it tastes too!

Comfort food, Healthy, Less than 5, Main Dishes, Pasta, Sneaky Healthy, Vegetarian

Butternut Squash Gnocchi

February 2, 2016 BudgetEpicurean Leave a comment

During my whole January Freezer Month challenge (read how that went during weeks one, two, three, and four) I had used half of a decorative butternut squash to make butternut squash macaroni & cheese. This is one of my favorite fall & winter time meals, because it has all the creamy comfort of mac n cheese with an added boost of vitamins and fiber. It totally counts as a serving of vegetables!

But what I had discovered was that even a deceptively small-looking squash can create a ton of pulp!

This giant bowl of squash was half! Yes indeed. So, being the frugal epicurean chef I am, I decided this was not to go to waste. After searching the interwebs for inspiration, I had seen several options that were contenders, but in the end the winner was butternut squash gnocchi. It’s the sauce that sealed the deal, which I will tell you about in just a second.

For those who don’t know what gnocchi is or have never had them, go find your nearest authentic Italian restaurant and re-evaluate your life choices. Just kidding. Make this recipe instead!

Gnocchi are typically thick, soft dumplings that may be made from semolina, wheat flour, egg, cheese, potato, breadcrumbs, or similar ingredients. You basically make a thick pasta dough, and create chewy pillows from it. The most classic gnocchi shape is the oval with ridges, created in our grandmother’s day using fork tines. (Did you know the things that make a fork a fork are called tines? Now you know.)

Growing up in Youngstown Ohio, a city with some serious mafia ties (seriously, go read about it), we have some crazy good Italian restaurants. Thus I am well-versed in gnocchi. I’ve even taken a foray into gnocchi making previously, with acorn squash and potatoes. So I was fairly confident that this project would turn out well. And boy did it ever!

The process does take a little bit of time, I think it was just over an hour start-to-finish, and I had already-cooked squash to work with. So be sure you have about 2 hours prior to tackling this. But trust me, it is well worth it! My fiancee, who is allergic to vegetables, told me this was delicious and amazing and asked for seconds. He didn’t even believe me when I said there was squash in it.

The sauce is much easier, I just whipped it all up in my amazing Ninja blender (a Christmas gift from said fiancee) and simmered it on the stove to brown the butter. But I am convinced that the two flavors and textures are the magic that elevates this from “weeknight pasta” to “so good this could be Valentine’s Day dinner at a 5-star restaurant”. But at home.

But hey, I’m not gonna tell you what to top your gnocchi with. If you like marinara, go for it. If Alfredo is your thing, rock on. Shoot, if you want to eat your gnocchi naked, that’s fine with me. Just make sure the blinds are closed. 😉

Ingredients:

3 cups cooked, mashed butternut squash
4 1/2 cups flour plus extra
2 tbsp Italian seasonings
2 tsp nutmeg
Sprinkle of ground pepper and salt

Step 1: If you haven’t cooked your squash, do that first. Go ahead I’ll wait. Bake it, microwave it, steam it, whatever. Then mash it up.

Step 2: Mix your cooked, mashed squash in a large bowl with the other ingredients. Add seasoning to taste, so if you want it heavy on the spices, do it, or go nuts and add cinnamon. Get your hands all up in that squishy dough mess and mix it up nice. Add more flour, 1/4 cup at a time as needed, until the dough just barely still sticks to your hand.

Step 3: Separate out about 3 cups of dough, and turn out onto a floured surface. Pinch off a good handful, and roll it into a log. Cut the log into 1/2 – 1 inch squares. Each individual piece will be one noodle/dumpling/gnocchi. If you’re feeling fancy, go ahead and roll each gnocchi over the tines of a fork to create ridges. (I recommend this step mostly because the ridges create a nice place for the sauce to stick to!)

Step 4: Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil. (Here’s a secret tip: I actually used chicken broth to boil the noodles, for extra flavor and because I like bone broth). Boil the gnocchi for about 10 minutes, until they float to the top. Remove with a slotted spoon.

Step 5: Top your gnocchi with sauce or topping of choice, and then watch whoever is eating this oooh and ahhh. Including yourself. Go ahead and pat yourself on the back too, that’s step 6.

And if you are just dying for the sauce recipe I used, don’t worry I won’t tease you and leave you waiting. Oh wait. Yup, you have to wait until Thursday’s post. It will be worth it I promise.

Oh, and did I mention this makes a crap ton? This recipe made me about 7 dozen gnocchi total, so I ended up freezing about half. Just lay them out in one layer in the fridge for 1 hour to overnight, then pop in a freezer bag or container and they will keep for about 6 months. So one day’s hard work equals one amazing meal now, and another amazing meal sometime later. Jackpot.

Administrative, Finances, Healthy, Main Dishes, Review

January Pantry Challenge

January 31, 2016 BudgetEpicurean Leave a comment

Wow, so February starts in just a few hours, 2016 is already 1/12th over! How are you all doing with those new years resolutions? Been to the gym every day, stuck to a calorie goal, finances in ship-shape, in fact taxes have already been filed? Yeah, me too.

Just kidding!

I don’t really do the resolution thing, because it is far too easy to set yourself up to fail. I am more a believer in long-term goals with short-term goals break down. By taking a big life goal, solidifying your reason for desiring it, and then breaking it down into smaller, easily achievable goals, you set yourself up for continual personal improvement. Plus you have the ability to look back and see what worked and what didn’t, and tweak or change your goals if your lifestyle and desires have changed.

This is the final post in a series of a challenge I set for myself Jan 1st, to cook out of my pantry/freezer and only spend $20 per week on fresh groceries. Below are the first three week’s summaries:

Week 1 Recap
Week 2 Recap
Week 3 Recap

This final week, I was surprised at how quickly this month had flown by. When I did my one grocery stop, it felt like more than enough. I think I have adjusted to fewer grocery store trips, which is likely a very good thing. Looking back at the past few weeks’ lists, I realized I still had 3 out of 4 kiwis in the refrigerator. I also had to throw out half the cucumber because it went to mush before I could slice & eat it. Other than that, I have done quite well with not buying too much or wasting produce.

Fruit/Veg	$11.96	Meats	$3.29
Celery 1lb	$2.49	2/3 lb ham	$3.29
Ginger root	$0.30	Dairy	$5.35
3lb oranges	$3.77	White cheese	$1.48
Bananas (8)	$1.35	Organic yogurt	$3.87
Avocados (2)	$2.00
Collard greens	$2.05	Total	$20.60

This week I got brave and bought a head of collards, because I know they are chock full of chlorophyll and good stuff. I chopped up a few leaves to toss into salads, some of the leaves got blended into a sauce for the gnocchi, leaves were added to soup, and one day for lunch I used the leaf as a wrap for tuna salad. I also ended up getting a small pack of ham and some white cheese to make sandwiches for my fiancee for lunch.

Jan 23 – Pork ribs & baked potato soup
Jan 24 – Leftover stuffed shells for lunch, pork chops, Spanish rice & salad
Jan 25 – Buffalo chicken sandwiches
Jan 26 – Butternut squash gnocchi
Jan 27 – Sausage, white bean, & collard greens soup
Jan 28 – Lasagna with spinach
Jan 29 – Leftover lasagna
Jan 30 – Leftover pizza, buffalo chicken on salad

AS for the budgeting part of the challenge, not counting the couple of times we had meals outside the home, the total I went over is: $3.30 + $2.34 + $1.08 + $0.60 = $7.32

Which means a total of $87.32 for all the “fresh” groceries the entire month of January. Not bad at all. I don’t think realistically I can keep that up for many more months beyond this, but it is a good illustration of how much having a stocked pantry can help, especially in case of a natural or financial emergency. Now I know that if something catastrophic were to happen, or the fiancee and/or I were to lose a job and we had to really tighten our belts, the pantry I normally keep can indeed see us through.

How about you, any resolutions or goals you are keeping, or struggling with? Feel free to share!

Comfort food, Healthy, Main Dishes, Sneaky Healthy

Mediterranean Meatloaf Muffins

January 28, 2016 BudgetEpicurean Leave a comment

How many of you like food that is tasty?

Everyone? Yeah, I thought so.

How many of you like food that is really easy to prepare and cook?

Again, lots of hands.

And how about food that is actually healthy?

What if I told you I can give you all three?

Oh yes, it is possible.

These Mediterranean meatloaf cakes are super easy, take less than 30 minutes to make, are fairly affordable, and overall quite healthy. You can make a few dozen at a time and freeze them for later too, if you’re so inclined. You can also make one large meatloaf using the same ingredients and a bread pan rather than muffins.

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef, turkey, chicken or pork
1/2 cup raw oats
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 small zucchini, diced
1 small eggplant, diced
3-4 green onions, chopped
1/2 cup greens (spinach, kale, collards, etc)
2 eggs
2 tbsp garlic salt

Step 1: In a large bowl, mix together all your ingredients. You can also grate the vegetables if you want them even more mixed in and less noticeable. If you don’t want to use oats, you can use breadcrumbs or crackers instead.

Step 2: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a muffin tin with vegetable oil, and pack about 1/4-1/3 cup into each muffin depression.

Step 3: Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes, or until totally cooked throughout. You can top these with gravy, traditional meatloaf sauce, or just serve em up plain like I did. They go great with baked or mashed potatoes on the side.

And they’re so pretty!

Beverage, Breakfast, Finances, Healthy, Informative

Homemade Salted Caramel Creamer

January 26, 2016 BudgetEpicurean Leave a comment

How many of you start your day off with a nice hot cup of coffee?

I know my hand is raised! Coffee in the morning is as natural as breathing at this point, and is one vice I will never give up. Yes, I know that caffeine is a drug, and it is possible to live without coffee, but honestly, … why? Kidding… sort of.

One of several items in my house that has come under scrutiny lately though, is my coffee creamer. I usually buy the store version of whatever flavor sounds good at the time or is on sale (french vanilla, hazelnut, mocha, peppermint…). But if you check out the ingredients list, you will find things like: high fructose corn syrup, palm oil, sugar, carrageenan, and tons of other substances I can’t spell or pronounce (and I’m a scientist).

Do I really want a cup or so of these things every week? Do I want polysorbitol whatever building up in my body? Do I know what the long-term effects of all these chemistry experiments (not to mention the cocktails of pesticides & hormones found in CAFO cows’ milk) are going to be?

NOPE.

The alternatives?

Stop using creamer & drink black coffee? HAHAHAHAHAHA… nope.

Make it myself? Challenge accepted.

I started with whole, organic milk*. Then I threw in some sugar (it has to be palatable, otherwise I could just use plain milk. But my palate is still just a little too young to fully appreciate the “coffee-ness” of coffee). A dash of vanilla and salt to draw out all the flavor, and we have a winner!

*Note: This is of course not a recipe for those who are lactose intolerant or trying to avoid dairy. I am experimenting with various non-dairy milks too, and if I create a winning recipe I will share it!

This took me approximately ten minutes, basically just long enough to caramelize the sugar. Then just mix it all up in a large jar (I use mason jars, but you could use any container, even an empty container from previous creamer) and you’re good to go for a few weeks. With a waaaay shorter, and completely pronounceable, ingredients list.

Ingredients:

1 cup heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
1 cup sugar
2-3 tbsp water
1/2 tbsp sea salt
1 tbsp vanilla

Step 1: Add the sugar and water to a pan. Slowly bring it to just a simmer, and stir constantly for about 10 minutes. You don’t want the sugar to burn!

Step 2: As the sugar caramelizes, it will become thicker and opaque. Measure out the cream and vanilla, and slowly pour it into the pan while mixing constantly.

This creates a lovely caramel-like sauce.

Step 3: Pour the caramel into your jar and let it cool. If there is some lingering sugar in the pan, either add the milk and whisk until dissolved, or add a few tbsp water and whisk to dissolve. Pour the milk into the bottle as well.

Step 4: Add in a few tsp of salt, to taste, and shake it all up. Done!

Now all you have to do is pull this guy off the refrigerator door, shake it up once or twice, and add a few tbsp to your morning cuppa. It’s so delicious, you may be tempted to drink it straight from the jar… not that I’d know 😉

Enjoy your healthy, natural creamer! I will definitely be experimenting with more flavors in the future too.
Anyone have a favorite creamer recipe? Have you ever tried making your own creamer, or would you consider it?

Crock pot, Healthy, Main Dishes, Slow cooker, Vegan, Vegetarian

Almost Work-free Curry

January 21, 2016 BudgetEpicurean Leave a comment

Curry is one of my favorite meals ever, because you can make it in a crock pot and basically do no work, or in a sauce pot and also do almost no work! I’m sure that there are curry recipes which take many exotic ingredients and hours of preparation, but for a basic recipe, and an American palate, curry is super simple.

This curry incorporates chickpeas, sweet potatoes, and other aromatic vegetables for an amazing, nutritious, tasty recipe. I used basically a jar of salsa starter that I had canned earlier in the summer, but you can also use frozen veggies, or fresh diced veggies. This is very filling, especially if served over rice. If you must have meat, feel free to also add some pork or chicken or beef.

Ingredients:

1 can chickpeas, drained
1 medium sweet potato, diced
1 medium white or yellow potato, diced
1/2 bell pepper, diced
1/2 onion, diced
1 can crushed or diced tomatoes
Optional: 1 tbsp turmeric, 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp red chili pepper, 1 tbsp garam masala

Step 1: Dice up the potatoes and throw them in a sauce pot or crock pot. Add the diced tomatoes and vegetables. Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce to a simmer and cook 20-25 minutes. (Or set to low and cook 2-4 hours).

Step 2: Open the chickpeas and drain. Add to the pot, along with any spices you want to use. Cook just until everything is heated through, if using a crock pot, add about 30 minutes before serving. If desired, boil some rice and serve with the curry, or you can serve with flat bread.

Dips and Sauces, Healthy, Less than 5, Main Dishes

Spinach Stuffed Chicken Rolls

January 19, 2016 BudgetEpicurean Leave a comment

You know how sometimes you just want to make a meal that looks really nice and impressive, but you don’t want to spend hours in the kitchen? No energy or time for that today. Well, here’s a great recipe that can easily be customized, takes less than 5 ingredients, and in under 30 minutes you have a very nice dinner that other people will think took all day!

For these rolls, you can use any thin cut of meat. Try pork chops or a thin flank steak. Even a firm white fish fillet would work. You can then stuff it with any types of vegetables, kraut, stuffing, mashed potatoes, etc. (See my stuffed pork chops for an example).

For this particular recipe, I thawed some boneless skinless chicken breasts, and then cut them in half down the center. Then each half I put between two sheets of wax paper, and pounded them thin with a rolling pin. You could use a meat cleaver or heavy glass as well. The thinner they are, the faster they cook and the better able to roll them up they will be.

Ingredients:

2 thin slices chicken breast
1/2 cup spinach leaves
2 slices white American cheese
Optional: yogurt-dill sauce

Step 1: Pound the chicken thin, or use very thin cutlets. Lay the chicken flat, and layer on the cheese and spinach. Wrap the chicken around itself into a roll, secure with a toothpick if needed.

Step 2: Set the oven to 350, and place the rolls in an oven-proof baking dish sprayed with cooking spray. Optional: top with *yogurt-dill sauce.

Step 3: Bake for 30-35 minutes, until chicken is fully cooked.

Serve your lovely rolls alone, or with whatever side dishes you like. I made some rice and cranberry sauce, and let me tell you, chicken and cranberry sauce is an awesome combo!

To make the dill sauce, the recipe is below. This topping is great because it is so simple, and so versatile. Spread it on sandwiches, add cucumbers to make tea sandwiches, use it on chicken, pork, or fish. Try different herbs too, to change up the flavors.

*Yogurt-Dill Sauce:

1/3 cup plain greek yogurt
2 tbsp chopped fresh dill
1 tsp garlic salt
1 tbsp lemon juice

Mix all ingredients in a bowl. Enjoy!

[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:48]

Administrative, Finances, Healthy, Informative, Main Dishes

Pantry Challenge – Week 2

January 17, 2016 BudgetEpicurean Leave a comment

To read earlier posts on this challenge, why I’m doing it, and how the first week went, go here:

Welcome to 2016!
Pantry Eating Challenge – Week 1

This is week 2 update. Things are still going well. I have to fight the urge to go grocery shopping almost every day, which I know makes me a total weirdo. 🙂 I went to the store twice this week, once for bananas, and then again because we were almost out of milk, yogurt, kefir, and fresh vegetables. I still hadn’t used the asparagus I bought last week, but we went through milk faster than I thought we would.

What did I buy this week?

Dairy		Fruit/Veg
Yogurt	3.9	Bananas (8)	0.6
Kefir	8.37	Blueberries	1.49
Gallon milk	2.69	Can pineapple	0.99
		Spinach	1.49
		Org. bananas (6)	1.82
TOTAL	22.34	Cucumber	0.99

The first store trip was just for the organic bananas, and I picked up a cucumber as well because I knew I had a little bit of dill left from 2 weeks ago. Mixed with plain greek yogurt, it made an awesome topping for lemon pepper fish. The second trip was Thursday, and I absolutely love that ALDI is on the ball with healthy offerings! They now have many items from their own label which are gluten-free, organic, natural, etc. They offer some of the best prices around.

Yogurts and bananas are a staple we go through pretty quickly. The blueberries, to be honest, were an impulse buy because they were on sale and looked so good!! And they really were, totally worth it. Then the spinach was another staple item, and we were almost out of milk & kefir. The pineapple was another impulse, because it’s high in vitamin C and I anticipated making smoothies at some point. Or potentially another batch of cranberry sauce, because I still have about a pound of raw cranberries in my refrigerator.

The menu from this week included:

Jan 9 – Leftover seafood linguini
Jan 10 – Steak, rice, & steamed broccoli
Jan 11 – Lemon pepper breaded fish with cucumber dill yogurt and mashed potatoes
Jan 12 – Quinoa & red beans
Jan 13 – Beef roast, chopped potatoes & carrots, asparagus
Jan 14 – Shrimp fried rice
Jan 15 – Leftovers

Breakfasts included oatmeal with dried fruits & nuts, whole wheat English muffin with almond butter & jam, smoothies, or a fried egg sandwich on whole grain toast. The bread products were purchased on super sale a while ago and in the freezer, as were the beef roast, steaks, white fish, and shrimp. Potatoes can last for months at room temperature away from light, and carrots can last several months in the crisper. Even if they start growing eyes or hairs, they are still edible.

Quinoa is a very healthy seed, and a whole grain. I chose to use quinoa instead of white rice for the red beans, and it was a perfect match. The beef roast I pulled out of the freezer and thawed in the refrigerator a day before cooking. Fried rice is always a good choice, because you can add pretty much any vegetable ever, so it’s a good way to use up what’s about to expire and also you can spread out a smaller amount of meat to feed you several meals. I used a pound of shrimp here, and the bag I purchased was two pounds, so I still have one more pound of shrimp in the freezer.

You’ll also notice that I incorporate leftover nights often, as well as taking leftovers for lunch. I often make lots more than we need for one meal on purpose, because then I just pack it into single serve tupperware, and we have another meal just waiting to be heated up. This makes packing a lunch super easy, and on days when I don’t want to cook dinner, we already have several different options available from the past couple of days. Leftovers are an awesome way to cut down on the time spent cooking, as well as save yourself some money too.

Let’s see how this week goes! Halfway there…

Breads, Comfort food, Finances, Fish, Healthy, Informative, Main Dishes, Vegetarian

Clam & Garlic Pizza

January 14, 2016 BudgetEpicurean 1 Comment

One of my favorite parts about living in New England is the abundance of seafood. I wrote Tuesday about seafood linguini, and today is all about clam pizza (don’t worry, I actually made and ate them on separate weeks. Unless seafood every day is appealing to you, in which case rock on).

Seafood is pretty darn healthy for you on the whole, be it lobster, clams, shrimp, crab, or any other shelled ocean dweller. Clams are a good source of several nutrients and minerals, including magnesium and manganese, phosphorus, potassium, copper and selenium, and a very good source of Vitamin B12. Read More Here. They are also naturally low in fat and high in protein.

These clams were from a local farmers market (if you’re local to New Haven, check out the City Seed network of markets). I met the woman who captains the boat that harvested these guys, from the river and bay less than an hour from my house. She showed me photos of the boat, the other deck hands, and a typical day’s haul.

She also explained the difference between several different types of clams, mostly size and thus what types of recipes they are best for. Of course I don’t remember most of it, but the point is it was super cool to meet the actual person who obtained the food I was planning to eat. I got this baker’s dozen of clams for only $5 too.

Once I saw the clams, I knew I had to have them. And once I had them, I knew that clam pizza was gonna happen. If you’ve ever been to New Haven, or even if you haven’t, chances are you’ve heard about Pepe’s Pizzeria, and their famous White Clam pie. It was named the best in the country! I am not arrogant enough to claim that I can make it just like Pepe or better, but I wanted to at least give it a shot.

This woman also gave me some good advice on how to open and cook them, since this was my first time cooking with fresh clams. A nice trick is to freeze them for an hour or so, then thaw them in a pan over medium low heat. This makes them pop open really easily. Or you can thaw them on the counter, just make sure to use a container to catch all the flavorful juice they release! That’s good stuff.

The next step of this pizza was making the dough. I could have bought it pre-made at the store, but I wanted to be all Suzy Homemaker and do it all from scratch. Turns out, pizza dough isn’t even that hard to make! And you can make a double batch, and keep half in the refrigerator or freezer to use again later. This may become a regular weekend project now.

Ingredients for Pizza Dough:

2 tsp yeast
3 tbsp warm water
1 tbsp sugar
3 cups flour
1 cup warm water
2 tbsp olive oil
2-3 tsp sea salt

Step 1: Put the yeast, water, and sugar in a bowl and mix to dissolve. The water needs to be just warm, not too hot to kill the yeast. This is called “activating” the yeast. It wakes up and starts eating the sugar. Let it sit for 10-15 minutes at room temperature.

Step 2: In a large bowl, or stand mixer, mix the yeast with the flour, rest of the water, oil, and salt. Mix until the dough is sticky yet pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Let it sit at room temperature 1 hour, so go do laundry or watch a TV show or run errands.

Step 3: Punch the risen dough down, mix for a few minutes. Let it rest again for 1 hour. (This is kind of an all-day project, but with very little hands-on time. Plenty of breaks to get stuff done, and you don’t have to babysit the dough in between.) Either cut the dough in half for two smaller pizzas, or spread it out on a pizza pan (for round) or cookie sheet (for rectangle). Heat the oven to 400 F.

Step 4: Spread your dough, and poke a few holes in it with a fork to prevent big bubbles. Bake the dough for 5-7 minutes, until lightly browned. Then top with whatever you like, and bake another 5-7 minutes, until toppings are warm, browned, and/or gooey.

For my topping, I mixed clams, garlic, and olive oil for a pungent dose of flavor. While the oven was heating, I took an entire head of garlic and cut off the tops. I drizzled a tbsp or 2 of olive oil over it, wrapped it in tin foil, and baked it at 400 for about 15 minutes. This cooks the cloves, turning them soft and brown and mellowing the garlic flavor. Mix this with oil and chopped up clam, and you have heaven in the making.

Ingredients for White Clam Pizza Topping:

Dozen clams, chopped, with juice
1 head of garlic, baked, mushed with a fork
2 tbsp olive oil + 2 tbsp olive oil
2-3 tbsp lemon juice
Sprinkle of sea salt
Dash of Italian seasoning
Optional: 1/2 cup Parmesan or mozzarella

Step 1: Cut the top off the garlic, drizzle with oil, & wrap in tin foil. Bake at 400 for 10-15 minutes. Squeeze the cooked garlic into a bowl, and mash with a fork. Add clams, clam juice, oil, lemon, salt, and seasoning and mix well.

Step 2: Take your dough, and spread the toppings all over it. Sprinkle again with salt or seasonings, or a squirt of lemon if desired.

Step 3: Optionally, sprinkle on a handful of shredded parmesan or mozzarella cheese. Bake in a 400 oven for 7-10 minutes, until heated through and cheese is melted.

You can serve with extra lemon wedges for sprinkling over the slices. This is garlic and seafood heaven! It smells amazing, and tastes even better.

Oh, and I had only used half the dough on the clam pizza, so I took what vegetables were hanging out in the refrigerator and also made an awesome Brussels sprouts, beet, mushroom, and onion pizza!

Pizza dough you make yourself is delicious, and far more healthy than a packaged box full of leaveners, preservatives, flavorants, and who knows what other chemicals. When you make things at home, you know exactly what goes into them, save yourself some cashola (because it is almost always cheaper to make things from base ingredients than pay the convenience fee of someone else making it) and can add a little love too. 😉 That’s what my grandma always said, and I think she’s right.

How about you? Ever made pizza dough at home? What’s your favorite pizza topping?

Fish, Healthy, Main Dishes, Pasta

Seafood Linguini Bonanza

January 12, 2016 BudgetEpicurean Leave a comment

If you are already a lover of seafood, oh boy do you need this recipe in your life! If you are unsure, trying to incorporate more seafood into your diet, or have someone who does not like seafood and you want to convince them, you also need this recipe in your life!

Seafood is super for your health, mussels & clams provide some of the highest sources of zinc and certain other minerals of all protein sources, is quite high in protein yet low in calories, and a source of omega-3 fatty acids. You should of course educate yourself as to the source of your seafood, and you can read more on the nutrition facts here or here.

Well, isn’t seafood expensive? you may ask. I can’t afford to eat that stuff. you may think.

False.

Let me explain.

The components of this recipe include: mussels, shrimp, and white fish (in this case, catfish). All of these ingredients came out of my freezer (since I am doing my January restricted budget/eat from the pantry challenge), and all together cost about $6. Here’s the secret: always shop sales!

The catfish nuggets I grabbed when they were manager’s special, meaning they had to be sold that day, or else, for less than $2. Just pop it in the freezer, now you have fresh fish whenever you want it. The mussels were on sale, close to $6 for a 2 pound bag, and I used one pound. The other pound is in the freezer waiting for the next recipe. And the shrimp? Also on sale, under $2 for a 12 oz bag.

The other ingredients include fresh onions & garlic & dill, all to be had for a buck or two. Whole wheat pasta, 0.88 on sale. Olive oil, salt, these I always have on hand. And a secret ingredient, stuffed cherry peppers! These were left in the refrigerator and I didn’t want them to spoil, so into the pasta they went! And I must say, it was a wonderful addition, the peppers added just a touch of bite.

Ingredients:

1 pound linguine pasta
1 pound mussels
12 oz shrimp
1.5 pound white fish, such as catfish or tilapia
5-6 hot peppers
2-4 cloves of garlic
2-3 green onions
2-3 stems of dill (optional)
2 tbsp vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 small white onion
Salt & Pepper

Step 1: Either steam the mussels by heating, covered, until they all open, or freeze them and then thaw in the frying pan, this causes them to open. Cook mussels for 7-10 minutes. Add 2 tbsp olive oil and the shrimp, cook another 2-3 minutes. Add the white fish, cook until easily flaked with a fork.

Step 2: Remove the seafood to a plate and keep warm. Add peppers, garlic, and onion, and cook until softened. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, and simmer the pasta 8-10 minutes, until al dente.

Step 3: Add the cooked, drained pasta to the pan, along with the rest of the olive oil, vinegar, and the seafood. Mix well to coat the pasta in the seafood juice and oil. Season to taste with salt & pepper. Dice up the fresh dill (or other herbs) & sprinkle on top.

You could also use parsley, basil, oregano, thyme, or rosemary. Feel free to substitute other types of shellfish or seafood such as cooked lobster meat, crab, clams, or scallops. Whatever is on sale! 😉

Budget Epicurean

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