Category Archives: Informative

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?

Administrative, Finances, Informative, Main Dishes, Review

Pantry eating challenge – week 1

January 10, 2016 BudgetEpicurean Leave a comment

So for the New Year, I decided to try a cook-from-the-pantry challenge. See this article for full details, but pretty much the plan is to cook mostly from what is already in my house (fridge, freezer, pantry) and $20 per week for fresh produce & dairy.

How’s it going so far?

Pretty darn well, actually. I’ll try to keep posting updates every Sunday on how the previous week went, and at the end summarize the whole month. But for the first week, things are going along as normal. Here’s the week’s menu:

Jan 1 – Pork roast & sauerkraut (leftover from day before, and it’s good luck on New Years Day!)
Jan 2 – Chicken & rice soup
Jan 3 – Chicken quarters & rice & broccoli
Jan 4 – BBQ spare ribs & baked potatoes
Jan 5 – Crock Pot Turkey Chili
Jan 6 – Seafood linguine (recipe coming Tuesday!)
Jan 7 – Pork chops w/apple chutney, mashed sweet potato, and cranberry sauce
Jan 8 – Spinach stuffed chicken rolls, rice, salad

You get one bonus day because Jan didn’t start on a Monday. 🙂

For breakfast, I have had smoothies using frozen fruit & fresh, wheat English muffins (from the freezer) with almond butter & jam, and cereal (cold and hot). Lunches are most often leftovers from one of the dinner meals, and one day this week I had a caprese sandwich for lunch out with some coworkers.

Oh, how am I doing with not shopping? That part is a little harder… as you may know, I’m a sucker for a good sale, and have no qualms snagging them and stocking up when I find it. Well, that’s a no-no this month, I have to make a strict list of only fresh veg and fruits we want or need, and stick to it. For me, this is the toughest part of the challenge so far. So, what did I buy this week?

Dairy		Fruit/Veg
Kefir (2)	5.92	Bananas (5)	0.96
Org. milk 1/2 gal	3.5	Spinach (12 oz)	1.49
Heavy cream	1.69	Kiwi (4)	1.49
		Asparagus (1 lb)	2.69
		Romaine (3)	1.99
		Avocado (2)	1.98
TOTAL	$23.30	Raspberries	1.59

Yup, I went over budget by a little more than 3 dollars… but honestly that’s still pretty good, given on average I spend $100 per week on groceries.

The cream was so I could make our own coffee creamer, (we are trying to get away from packaged, processed chemicals as much as possible) and organic, grass-fed milk is way more expensive than factory milk. But it is a choice we are making, to be healthier all around. The same goes for adding kefir to our diets, to get more gut-healthy probiotics.

The fruits will mostly be eaten as snacks and in lunches, and added to smoothies. The spinach & romaine will be salads to go with things from the freezer & pantry, and compliment any frozen veg. I already have. The fiancee eats a banana per day for breakfast, and both the asparagus & raspberries were on sale, how could I not buy them?!

Well, that’s it for this week, stay tuned for next week!

How about you guys, ever done a no-spend or low-spend challenge? Do you think you have more food in the house than you think you do? Could you go a month without grocery shopping as usual?

Administrative, Finances, Informative

How to Clean & Organize Your Freezer

January 5, 2016 BudgetEpicurean 2 Comments

Though at the time I did not time this clean-out purposely, it will be a huge help as I complete my January pantry-clean-out challenge! (Read the full details of the challenge here).

Anyone who has a large freezer knows that it can be hard to keep it organized. The freezer tends to accumulate random bits of meats and beans, half-cans of items, extras of meals we prepared previously, and somehow have forgotten it exists. Even if you already use a freezer to help prevent food waste, if you don’t know what is inside and it ends up freezer burned and in the trash 8 months later, that defeats your goal in the first place.

A regular freezer deep clean is a great way to keep in mind what you have, what you need, and how much space is still left. I have a bad habit of majorly stocking up on good sales, so that my freezer tends to always have very little space. This creates a jenga-effect, and also obscures my view of what is towards the back or the bottom. By cleaning it out & re-organizing at least every 6 months, I pull the things in the back towards the front, and remind myself of what needs cooked soon.

Step 1: The first step in cleaning out a freezer, whether standing or chest, is to pull out everything. Just make a big pile on the floor. I promise, in the few minutes it is out of the freezer everything will not thaw.

Step 2: Take this pile of food, and begin to organize it. For example, I put all meats on one side of the freezer, and all frozen veggies and fruits on the other side. You could categorize by the shape of the package, by ready-to-cook meals versus ingredients, whatever makes sense for you.

Step 3: Now look at your nice, empty freezer. Are there random puddles of frozen icky stuff? Are there a few loose peas rolling around? Now is the time to bust out the cleaning solution and a few rags, and scrub it up nice and clean. Starting fresh always feels great!

Step 4: Return everything back to the freezer, nicely organized. You can, if you have the time, write down all the contents prior to putting them back. Whether on paper or in a note on your phone or an email to yourself, having a list of everything can be SO helpful when you are meal planning later. Whether you do or don’t write it down, the final step is to put all the food back into the freezer in a more organized way.

And now sit back, relax, and enjoy the feeling of accomplishment!

These same steps can be applied to the refrigerator and the pantry as well. It is so helpful to go through this process once or twice a year at least, to keep fresh in your mind what types of foods and how much you have on hand. This way you can take advantage of sales as they happen, and keep your savings by using up the items you buy.

Going forward, it is helpful to have a permanent organization system. This will be different for each person/household/family based on what you eat and how often. Maybe you can keep a written notebook, where you cross out items as you use them each week. Or you could try a dry-erase board, where you add or remove items as you use them and re-stock. Or if you’re the digital type, you could have an online document that keeps a running list. Use whatever works for your style.

Do you have any freezer organizing tips or tricks? Please feel free to share in the comments!

Administrative, Holidays, Informative

Welcome to 2016!

January 3, 2016 BudgetEpicurean Leave a comment

Happy New Year dear readers!

Time goes by so quickly, does it not? Now is the time to reflect back on 2015, and look ahead to 2016. What good things happened last year? What do you want more of in your life this year? Now is the time to assess what worked and what didn’t, and what changes need to be made to make your life more of what you want it to be.

As you reflect on the past 365 days, assess all the areas of your life: health, finances, and relationships.

HEALTH

Health can include your general fitness level, your diet, how often and what types of exercise you do, your visits to any doctors or dentists. Do you see a general practitioner for a once yearly physical exam? Do you see a dentist for cleanings every 6 months?

Take an honest look at your diet, your snacks, “grazing”, portion sizes. No one will know but you so there’s no reason to not be honest. How closely does your current diet over the past year reflect your ideal eating habits?

What steps can you take to improve this year?

FINANCES

Finances should cover how much you make from your main job and/or business, income from other side jobs or seasonal jobs, income from investments, as well as outgoing money.

How much do you spend per year, per month? What do you spend your money on? Can you lower any fixed expenses, negotiate a better payment on your cell phone, rent, utilities, or a better bank rate if your credit improved? Can you take on a side job, baby sit, start a blog?

I recommend hitting the library and taking out finance books, or reading finance blogs. There is a HUGE wealth of information out there to help, no matter what your situation. Whatever the problem, credit card debt, school loan payments, default, bankruptcy, divorce, or just general money management, you don’t have to figure it out alone.

RELATIONSHIPS

As for relationships, this spans everything from work to friends to family to spirituality. And most importantly, your relationship with yourself.

If you have family members with whom you do not have a good relationship, ask yourself why. What can you do to mend those relationships? Do you need to forgive, or ask for forgiveness? Do you need to show compassion or interest?

Are you happy with your current friends? If not, think of ways to bring the kind of people you want to be around into your life. Maybe you could join a book club or sports group, or hang out in libraries or take a dance lesson.

Do you love yourself? Do you know what makes you happy, and take the time to do those things? When you are fulfilled and happy and joyful, you are more able to give and love others.

My 2016 Resolution?

I have decided I will challenge myself to not buy any pantry staples for the month of January. At first, I thought about trying to live solely from what I already have in the house, but then after discussing with Mister Epicurean, I realized we need certain staples that basically must be bought fresh. Mostly yogurts (which he goes through about 7-10 per week), milk/creamer, and fresh veggies. I can rely heavily on frozen and canned produce this month, but I do like having fresh salads and adding things like avocado to burritos.

Therefore, the challenge this month would be to meal plan and cook out of my freezer & pantry, and to have only $20 per week of “fresh” foods budget. Our average food budget monthly is $400, so to cut that down to 1/5 is pretty great! Of course, that $400 usually includes “stock up” purchases, such as when canned beans were on sale last week for $0.49, and I bought a case.

This challenge has several purposes:

Help clear out space in the freezer & pantry
Evaluate what I buy too much of, or not enough of
Challenge my creativity in making meals
Save us significant money on groceries

By doing a pantry-clear-out challenge, it will help me to realize I have a lot more food hiding in plain sight that I thought. We all have those half-boxes of pasta, a can of corn shoved behind something else, some spices or condiments bought for a recipe but never used, or used once. Now is the time to reach back into all the dark corners of the cupboards, and down to the bottom of the freezer, and see what can be used.

This month will also help me to see what I have stocked up on far too much, and what we use more often than I thought that I could consider stocking more of. For example, if I think I have more than enough canned tomatoes, and we run out by week 2, I will know that going forward. Or if I count 20 boxes of pasta to begin with, and at the end of the month we still have 19, then I should probably stop buying so much pasta when it’s on sale.

The final two points go together well, in that creativity saves you money. Like I mentioned earlier, the half-used ingredients? Figure out a way to combine them into one meal, and you have not only saved food from being throw out (which creates waste, takes calories out of the food system in a way that helps no one, and is basically like setting dollars on fire), but you also have created an almost-free meal. If you never used those ingredients, they would be wasted. Instead, you have eaten again for the same amount of money you already spent & had in the house.

So, this is the challenge, which started on Jan 1st. No stocking up, no matter how good the sale, and only $20 per week maximum towards fresh dairy & produce. I won’t even be buying any meat, I will be using what I have in the freezer. Good thing I just recently cleaned it out & reorganized.

Wish me luck!

How about you, any goals for 2016? Any Resolutions for this year? Feel free to share your goals & progress!

Finances, Holidays, Informative

Gift Idea: Altoids Survival Tin

December 20, 2015 BudgetEpicurean Leave a comment

With Christmas mere days away, the panic of gift-giving may be setting in. It is unfortunate that a holiday meant to be about love and family and reflection has instead become a race through the mall and price-comparing online… but I digress.

For anyone who has a friend or family member who is “that guy” (or girl), you know the one, super hard to buy for, they have everything they already want, or they don’t really want anything, I have a solution that will make both them and you happy!

The Altoids survival tin.

That’s right folks, a harmless little $1 or $2 tin of mints can be transformed into an actually useful, potentially even lifesaving gift with just a little time and creativity. Based on what you already have laying around your own house, it may even end up being a free gift!

And it will certainly be unique. (Unless your giftee is a hard-core preparedness and/or survival expert, then they probably have a few dozen kits like this, and much fancier. But it is still the thought that counts, and I’m sure they are never mad about extra prepper gear!). You can get kids involved too, they love to come up with fun ideas for tiny, useful items, and tetris things together until they fit. It becomes a game of how much can you stuff into this tiny box!

For these kits, all you need is a small Altoids tin (or any other small, sealable metal tin) and an assortment of survival related items. There are infinite sites around the internet with suggestions and recommendations on what to add to these kits, ranging from meds to tarps to fire starting equipment. Some even show youtube videos on how to turn the tin itself into a knife or saw, which you should only attempt if you are educated on how to use the tools to do so.

It is best to take into consideration the personality of the person you are creating this kit for, and the likely scenarios in which they could need this. It could be a beauty emergency kit for a female friend, in which case you would want to include things like hair bands, bobby pins, safety pins, oil blotting papers, Q tips, and maybe tiny samples of makeup or makeup remover pads. It could be a “Bad Day” emergency kit, and contain things like a mini bottle of wine, pieces of chocolate, and uplifting sayings on pretty paper.

For the preparedness/emergency kit, you want to include things like pain medications, matches and candles, ways to collect or purify water, and items that have multiple uses like string. Keep in mind that even things used to hold together other items, such as electrical or duct tape, string, or rubber bands, can themselves be useful too.

The kits shown above contain:

3 matches taped together with electrical tape
2 small birthday candles
3 feet of string tied with a twist-tie
A toothpick
A safety pin
1 antibacterial moist towelette
2 Band-Aids
200mg ibuprofen tablet
1 ml of bleach in a sealed plastic tube
1 small trash bag (to hold water to add the bleach to, or provide a tiny bit of coverage from rain or sun)
1 stick of gum
1 packet of lettuce seeds
A rubber band to hold it all together

The beauty of this kit is that it is tiny enough to fit into a pocket, so for something as simple as a road trip or a camping trip or going to work in the city, your recipient can know that they have a small advantage should the S hit the F. Happy gifting!

Have you made a survival tin like this before? Do you have other things you would add or take out? Share your thoughts in the comments!

Administrative, Healthy, Informative, Main Dishes, Review

Restaurant Review: Wang’s Chinese Food in Cromwell, CT

November 22, 2015 BudgetEpicurean 1 Comment

For those unfamiliar with my system of reviewing food service establishments, I use three areas, with a scale of 1-10. The Budget Epicurean has not been compensated in any way for this review, and all opinions are my own. For reviews, preference will be given to unique, local, family-owned establishments. Food locations will be evaluated based on:

Taste: 1 (wet toast) – 10 (your taste buds have died and gone to heaven)
Atmosphere: 1 (gas station bathroom) – 10 (Buckingham Palace)
Value: 1 (not worth it) – 10 (super duper deal)

Today’s restaurant review is for Wang’s Chinese Restaurant in Cromwell, CT. A small home slash business building tucked just off West Street (Route 372) in between Route 9 and highway 91, I have passed this place countless times on my way to work. And every time I think, hm I should go there sometime. Somehow I just never got around to it… Then I found out a friend of mine just so happens to know the owner, and so we decided to take a trip for lunch.

Upon parking, the first thing I noticed was that it is actually quite larger than I had thought, since the entire left side of the building was a large dining area which can be rented out. When we walked inside, it smelled immediately of those delicious umami smells of soy sauce, bubbling soup, and stir frying vegetables.

There is a fully stocked bar, so you can have traditional sake right alongside a Cosmopolitan if you so desire. There is ample seating for both tables and booths, in a nice dark cherry wood, and white linen table cloths. Some very quiet, soothing music was playing in the background, nonintrusive enough that you forgot it was there.

As soon as you are seated, the waiter immediately brings over a bowl of fried dough pieces and sweet and sour dipping sauce. It is like the Chinese version of chips and salsa. The sweet and sour was so delicious, I could practically drink the stuff, and the dough chips were the perfect level of crispy. Somehow, it all disappeared very quickly…

The next endless part of the experience is the hot tea. Every lunch special (and dinner too) includes bottomless pots of hot tea. I love that, because tea is the best. I’m pretty sure I had at minimum nine cups. Good thing the cups are so small! We also had soup included in our lunch orders, I chose won ton while my friend ordered the egg drop. The soup was so tasty I wolfed it right down, and didn’t even get to take a picture… oops. Sorry, not sorry.

With menu items ranging from $1.50 to nearly $28 for the Peking Duck, there is something for everyone’s budget. Their lunch specials are quite reasonable at $6.50 or $6.95, and includes all you can drink hot tea, soup (won ton or egg drop), egg roll, and entree. Lunch is daily from 11:30 – 3:00.

I ordered the shrimp and broccoli, and funny story, my friend ordered the same thing. She got veggie fried rice, while I stuck with the included pork fried rice, and you can also choose steamed white rice. When the food came out, it smelled absolutely wonderful, and was a very generous portion size. You can see the plate was pretty much overflowing.

The brown sauce was perfect, lightly coating the shrimp and veg but not overpowering. There was a ton of flavor, but I didn’t feel as if I had licked a salt shaker while eating it, which is a good sign. The rice was springy and flavorful as well. The broccoli was steamed just right, soft enough but still with a slight crunch. And the shrimp were gigantic, with 5-6 big pieces per plate.

The owner came over to say hello while we were there and asked how our meals were. We of course said ‘absolutely wonderful’! My friend introduced me as a new frequent customer, and I have to say, she was right. With a distinctly mom-and-pop feel, attention to detail and attentive staff, very generous portions for a reasonable price, and amazing food that actually tastes like food and not something frozen and microwaved or doused in chemicals, I will definitely be returning here often! I’m glad to have finally given this hidden gem a try, and so should you.

Overall, I’d rate Wang’s Chinese Restaurant:

Taste: 9
Atmosphere: 8
Value: 9

You can read other reviews here:

Taste of Austin Part I (Austin, TX)
Taste of Austin Part II (Austin, TX)
Sue of Siam (Aurora, CO)
Pho Lee (Centennial, CO)
Little Owl Coffee (Denver, CO)
Three Sheets (New Haven, CT)
Sushi Palace (North Haven, CT)
O’Rourke’s Diner (Middletown, CT)

Dips and Sauces, Healthy, Informative, Vegan, Vegetarian

Green Tomato Salsa

November 17, 2015 BudgetEpicurean Leave a comment

When you have lots of green tomatoes and are tired of fried green tomatoes, what else can you do besides wait for them to ripen? You can turn a whole bunch of them into salsa! Red tomatoes shouldn’t have all the fun. Salsa is a classic condiment, and is great on tacos, eggs, in soups, or on chicken or pork. Green tomato salsa has a unique vegetal taste that red tomato salsa can’t match. And once you’ve made a big batch, you could can the rest and have it all year long! Or give them as cute, thrifty, from-the-heart gifts.

This recipe includes no added sugar, you instead get some sweetness from baking apples. If you require your salsa to be sweeter, you can add in a tablespoon or two. I’d recommend apple cider vinegar over white, but you can also use white vinegar. Add hot peppers to your own spice preference level too. Same goes for sea salt, if you want some salt in your salsa. I prefer my salsa as plain and clean as possible so I know what is in it and can adjust the meal as a whole later when I use it.

Ingredients:

10 pounds green tomatoes
2-3 large green apples
1 red onion
1 head garlic
2 green bell peppers
1 hot pepper (serrano, jalapeno…)
1 cup apple cider vinegar

Step 1: This step definitely takes the longest, but is fun. Rinse your tomatoes and other produce, and chop everything into small bite-size pieces. I just did them in rotating batches of lots of tomatoes, then half the onion, then one pepper, etc. until everything was chopped up. Put it all in a big stock pot.

Step 2: Put the heat on medium-high, and add the cider vinegar. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to a simmer. Cover, and cook for at least one hour. You can go do something else while this is cooking down, and could probably do it in a slow cooker as well.

Step 3: If you want certain spices/flavorings (like bay leaves, cumin, sea salt, cilantro, etc) add them here.

Step 4: To use a pressure canner, consult the instructions for your machine. To use water bath canning, same prep work. Sterilize your empty jars by running through a dish washer cycle and/or boiling in plain water 20 minutes.

Step 5: Fill each jar up to 1 – 1/2 inch from the rim. Wipe the rim clean, and place a lid and ring on it, tightening it (but not too tight, you need air to escape). Here I tried the Tattler re-useable jar lids for the first time!

Step 6: Bring a large pot of water to a boil, and place the jars inside. Process the jars for about an hour. Adjust for your altitude if above sea level.

Step 7: Remove the jars to a towel, and let them sit, undisturbed, overnight or about 8 hours, to cool. The lids should “pop” tight and will not give or bounce when pressed. Put any unsealed jars in the refrigerator and use within 2 weeks. Store sealed jars in a cool, dark place for up to a year.

Informative

What do you eat?

November 10, 2015 BudgetEpicurean Leave a comment

A question that I sometimes am asked when talking about food with people, and all the terrible things our current food system claims as “food” and poisons us with, the multitude of processed, chemical-filled, animal products, and sugary junk that I will not eat, and how I am “flexitarian*”, is what do you eat?

Good question. Lots of things!

I could give you the whole litany of healthy food choices, like raw vegetables, green juices, fruits, nuts, soy products, lean meat, fish and seafood, whole grains, etc. But instead I challenged myself to record every single thing that I ate for one week. Every. Thing.

This is a great exercise for yourself too.

If you are struggling with symptoms of fatigue, digestive upset, migraines, depression, etc, tracking your food may allow you to see patterns. Especially if you track for a long period of time as you withhold food types, and then reintroduce them, you may see that red wine, or chocolate, or fatty foods make your symptoms worse.

If you are struggling with weight gain or inability to lose weight, tracking your food intake may open your eyes to problem patterns you hadn’t seen before, or were in denial about. Nothing quite so sobering as seeing a list of every single bit and bite to make it real.

And if you are just curious about your actual habits and want to live a more mindful way of nutritious eating, then this will force you to think about each thing you eat, whether before or after it goes into your mouth. This exercise may shock you, because we all tend to under-estimate how many calories are in food and how much food we think we eat.

If at all possible, actually use things to measure amounts, like measuring cups and spoons or a food scale. But be sure to measure it after you take your usual portion, no cheating just because you know this is being counted. You are the only one who will know, and you need an accurate baseline measurement to know where you can and should improve. Find a method of tracking that works for you, whether it be an actual notebook you write in, an online program, or like me, just a list in your cell phone.

Here’s one typical week of food for me:

Monday

12 oz water, 40 min walk
12 oz coffee + 2 tbsp creamer
Vitamins: 3 cranberry, 2 g fish oil, women’s multi, Vitamin D, Vitamin C
Breakfast: 1 wheat tortilla + 1 turkey sausage + 1/2 egg scrambled + 1/4 c peppers & onions + 1/4 c beans + 1/2 potato diced
Lunch: 1/2 c rice + 1/2 c beans + 1/4 c peppers & onions + 5 black olives + 2 roma tomatoes + 2 tbsp salsa + 3 oz chicken breast
12 oz puh-er tea + 1/2 tbsp sugar
1 Andes mint
1/2 dark chocolate coconut truffle
2 snack sized Twix
6 cups popcorn

Water intake: 6 12-oz glasses

Tuesday

12 oz water, 15 min yoga
12 oz coffee + 2 tbsp creamer
Vitamins: 3 cranberry, 2 g fish oil, women’s multi, Vitamin D, Vitamin C
Breakfast: 1 wheat tortilla + 1 turkey sausage + 1/2 egg scrambled + 1/4 c peppers & onions + 1/4 c beans + 1/2 potato diced
Lunch: 1/2 c rice + 1/2 c beans + 1/4 c peppers & onions + 5 black olives + 2 roma tomatoes + 2 tbsp salsa + 3 oz chicken breast
2 snack size Twix
12 oz BB Detox tea
Dinner: 1 1/2 c rice + 1 tbsp vinegar + 2 cups stir fry (cabbage, yellow squash, asparagus, fish sauce, soy sauce, pork)
6 oz red wine

Water intake: 10 12-oz glasses

Wednesday

12 oz coffee + 2 tbsp creamer
Vitamins: 3 cranberry, 2 g fish oil, women’s multi, Vitamin D, Vitamin C
1 slice pumpkin spice cake
1 medium apple
1 cup miso soup + 2 sheets of seaweed
Lunch: 1/2 c rice + 1/2 c beans + 1/4 c peppers & onions + 3 oz chicken breast
Pumpkin sugar cookie
6 oz Black cherry Greek yogurt
8 oz detox tea
8 oz “remember when” tea
Dinner: 3 slices whole wheat bread + 6 oz pork + 1/2 c BBQ sauce + 2 oz Colby cheese
1 1/2 c corn & potato soup
6 oz red wine
1×2 inch homemade Snickers bar

Water intake: 8 12-oz glasses

Thursday

12 oz warm water + juice of 1/2 a lemon + 1/2 tsp chipotle pepper powder
12 oz cool water, 15 push ups
12 oz coffee + 2 tbsp. hazelnut creamer
Breakfast: 1 tbsp. coconut oil + 1 large tomato + 1/2 c mixed veggies + 1/4 c mixed beans + 1 egg + 1 egg white
Vitamins: 3 cranberry + fish oil + women’s multi + Vitamin D + Vitamin C
Snack: 1/4 chocolate plain glaze donut + 12 oz pu-ehr tea + 1 tsp lemon juice
Lunch: 2 small green bell peppers + 2 oz ground turkey + 6 tbsp. couscous + 1 large tomato + 2 oz eggplant + 2 cloves garlic + s/p
Dinner: 1 1/2 c pasta + 1 cup sauce + 2 oz turkey
2 cups mixed greens + 2 tbsp. white balsamic vinegar + 2 tbsp. olive oil + s/p
6 oz red wine
1 oz tequila + 1 slice lemon + sea salt
5 cups oil popped popcorn
2 oz chocolate cake
Snack sized snickers

Water intake: 10 12-oz glasses

Friday – dinner party

Upon waking: 12 oz coffee + 2 tbsp. hazelnut creamer
12 oz cool water + juice of 1/2 lemon
Vitamins: 3 cranberry + women’s multi + Vitamin D
Breakfast: Croissant egg & cheese sandwich
10 oz coffee + 8 oz pumpkin spice cappuccino mixed, + 2 tbsp. amaretto creamer (free coffee Friday!)
Lunch: open-faced turkey BLT sandwich + 1/2 cup broccoli
Snack: 1 medium apple
Dinner: 1 wheat tortilla + 4 tbsp. guacamole + 1 cup beans + 1 roma tomato + 1/2 cup basmati rice + 3 oz ground turkey + 6 black olives + 2 tbsp. shredded cheese + 1 tbsp. red salsa + 1 tbsp. green tomato salsa + 2 tbsp. peppers/mushrooms/onions
1 slice spice cake
4 oz fireball whiskey + 4 oz horchata
1 snack sized snickers

Water intake: 9 12-oz glasses

Saturday

12 oz coffee + 2 tbsp. hazelnut creamer
Breakfast: 1 cup diced potato + 2 eggs scrambled + 1 tbsp. sour cream + 2 turkey sausage links + 1 slice spice cake
12 oz chai tea + 1 tsp local honey
Vitamins: 3 cranberry + fish oil + women’s multi + Vitamin D + Vitamin C
Snack: 1 piece wheat toast + 1 tbsp. country crock
Lunch: 1 slice pepperoni pizza + 1 slice cheese pizza w/peppers and mushrooms
Dinner: 2 squares homemade spinach lasagna
2 margaritas
5 cups popcorn

Water intake: 9 12-oz glasses

Sunday – Halloween

12 oz coffee + 2 tbsp. hazelnut creamer
Breakfast: 2 pancakes + 4 tbsp maple syrup + 2 clementines
Lunch: 3 corn hard taco shells + 3 tbsp. ground turkey + 3 tbsp. black beans + 3 tbsp. guacamole + 3 tbsp. salsa + 2 tbsp. shredded cheese + 2 tbsp. lettuce
12 oz ginger tea + 1 tsp honey
Vitamins: 3 cranberry + fish oil + women’s multi + Vitamin D + Vitamin C
Dinner: 2 squares veggie pizza + 1 cup romaine + 2 tbsp. white balsamic vinegar + 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes + 1/2 c edamame
2 snack sized Twix
5 cups popcorn

Water intake: 8 12-oz glasses

This exercise was interesting for me, and I learned several things about myself. First of all, I already know that I am a certified popcorn addict. I am queen of the popcorn lovers, and everyone who knows me knows it. And normally, popcorn is a healthy and wholesome snack choice. However, I learned that the stove-top popcorn I make contains a lot of oil (1/2 – 1 cup per batch!) and I inhale an awful lot of it! Regularly!

Not to mention that corn is one of the most contaminated crops with GMOs and roundup ready genes… So I need to re-think my snack of choice and come up with a better, organic, healthier option.** That may mean buying bags of organic seeds online in bulk and using an air-popper… Cause there is no way I’m going cold turkey! If anyone knows of a place to get a good deal on 50 pounds of organic popcorn, please share. Not kidding.

Lesson number two: I snack at night way more than I thought I did. I am not often a snacker during the day, I plan them in on purpose as part of my diet, to keep protein and carbohydrate levels constant during the day and prevent extreme hunger. However, once I had to list out each and every thing, I noticed that I have more sugary cravings after dinner than at any other time during the day. And I give in to them far too often. This means I need to start planning a sweet treat after dinner for myself to calm the sugar craving, and monitor more closely so that I don’t indulge afterwards too.

This is also linked to my desire to rid myself of excess processed sugar in my diet. Halloween is a dodgy time because I want to have candy for the neighborhood, yet I know when it is in the house I will probably eat some of it… (I’m sure I’m not the only one!) Perhaps next year I will be brave enough to cut the cord to Big Candy (looking at you, Mars and Hershey) and go with non-food treats.

Lesson number three: I need to be better about drinking water at home. The vast majority of my water intake is during work, when I have two reusable bottles at my desk at all times. If I don’t get my eight glasses during the day, I very rarely drink more water once I’m at home. Even if I have a cup next to me, I don’t know why…

So there you have it, one week of actual food I ate. I do find that I don’t mind eating the same thing 2 or 3 times in a row, but then I start to get bored. Making ahead a batch of breakfast burritos, for example, is a great time saver for hectic mornings. But after 2-3 days, I want something different. It helps to have several different quick options, such as burritos and/or English muffins.

Same thing for dinners, it is great to cook up a big batch of rice and beans. Then use them in several different ways so that you don’t get bored. You can make burritos or quesadillas, stir fry, put it into soups or chilies, or scrambled with eggs. Being able to re-purpose leftovers makes sure you aren’t wasting food, which is good for the Earth and good for your pocketbook.

Give this exercise a try yourself, just for a week, and see what you can learn!

*Note: For those who are curious and continued reading this far, flexitarian is a term I heard somewhere once and I’m pretty sure it means that you will eat just about anything, but try to go meatless often. I do usually have at least one meatless dinner per week if not more, and I try to have more than 50% of the time my breakfast and lunch meatless as well. But I do eat pretty much all foods when given them or craving them.

**Popcorn and sweet corn are two totally different crops. About 90% of the sweet corn crops in the US are now GMO. Sad face. Luckily for me, there are as yet no GMO popcorn crops! Hooray! However, the oils it is cooked in, and the flavorings we usually top it with, are very likely genetically modified. So I need to pay attention to what oils I buy it seems. And organic is still always a good idea.

Beverage, Healthy, Informative, Less than 5

Morning Health Shot

October 29, 2015 BudgetEpicurean Leave a comment

One of the most consistent recommendations for better health is always to drink more water. It is almost certain the majority of people do not drink as much water as they need. (Take your weight, divide it in half, and that is how many ounces you need per day. For example, a 200 pound man needs about 100 ounces of water.) The next most common advice I have found is to drink lemon water, possibly with cayenne pepper and/or honey every day.

The reasons for doing so range from boosting the immune system to cleansing the liver, kick-starting the metabolism and weight loss to a burst of natural energy. Lemon juice itself has several health benefits associated with it. It is well known as a useful treatment for kidney stones, detoxifying with Vitamin C, reducing diabetes risk, and aiding in alkalinizing the body. Lemon is antioxidant, astringent, and contains boatloads of vitamins and minerals.

Cayenne pepper is recommended because it contains capsaicin, a spicy compound which stimulates the circulatory system. It opens capillaries, aids digestion, and helps to regulate blood sugar levels. It also kick-starts the metabolism and increases your internal body temperature, which can contribute to weight loss over time.

And finally, honey can also help in weight loss when consumed with warm water and lemon juice. Honey is packed with 22 amino acids and a number of valuable vitamins and minerals, many of which benefit the body’s metabolism. By regulating metabolic function, food is broken down and utilized properly, fat is converted into usable energy, and overall health is improved. Be sure to use local, raw, unfiltered honey whenever possible.

I gave this a try for 4 weeks. I could not handle the full-glass-of-warm-spicy-water, so I distilled it down into one shot. I know, the whole drink-a-big-glass-of-water is part of the deal, but I always followed it with a 16 oz glass of water. Here’s what I did:

2 tbsp. lemon juice (fresh when I had it, bottled when I didn’t)
1-2 tsp local honey
Pinch chipotle pepper (I didn’t have cayenne, but it is basically the same thing)

Mix those in a shot glass, down it, and follow with a big glass of plain water.

The results?

Well, the horrible taste of sweet/acidic/spicy does kinda wake you up a bit. Overall I didn’t notice a huge variation in energy levels, in the morning or throughout the day. Neither did I notice a big difference in how I felt, health-wise. This may be because I already eat a pretty nutritious diet full of things that help detox and alkalinize me, but I didn’t notice a big enough difference to stay with it long term.

How about you guys? Have you ever tried a lemon water/cayenne detox, or is it part of your daily life? What benefits have you seen? Please share your experience in the comments!

Healthy, Informative, Snacks

How to Harvest Sunflower Seeds

October 27, 2015 BudgetEpicurean Leave a comment

Has anyone ever seen a field full of happy go lucky sunflowers and not smiled to themselves? These giant beauties can be seen all over farms and more recently suburban front yards soaking in the sun and brightening people’s days. Sunflowers are large, pretty, and one of the few species that really take heliotropism seriously! They turn their entire heads, leaves, and bodies to the sun and track it across the sky throughout each day.

Sunflowers are an abundant source of nectar as well, attracting friendly insect like bees and butterflies. All summer long these pretty, helpful creatures can find the nectar they are looking for in abundance. And when the sun starts to wane, so too do the flowers. They tell you when they are ready to drop seeds by tilting over, and the backs of the flowers and stems turn yellow, and then brown.

This is the sunflowers’ final gift: abundant, protein-filled seeds for all. Birds, squirrels, and humans all love these tiny seeds and seek them out. Luckily one flower can produce up to a half pound of seeds alone! Leave the seed heads on the flower, and birds will perch on the stalk to harvest. As they dry, seeds will fall to the ground where squirrels and other vermin can scoop them up.

To harvest seeds for your own use, drying & roasting or saving to plant next year, there are several options.

Place a paper bag over the seed heads as they start to droop. Let the flower dry on its own, and shake the bag every so often. Be sure it doesn’t get wet. As seeds dry out and fall they will collect in the paper bag.
Cut off the seed heads, bring them indoors, then hang them somewhere and place a bag over them. This ensures they will not get wet and no critters can interfere with your harvest.
Cut off the seed heads and scoop out the seeds by hand. This way you don’t have to wait for the seeds to fall out on their own.

You can see that each individual floret has turned into a seed. One tablespoon of sunflower seeds has 4.5 grams of protein! And one seed is capable of producing a giant flower next year which will give you thousands more seeds. Amazing.

The way I harvested the seeds is to simply use my fingers to gently rub the seeds back and forth. You can feel them loosening, and when they fall out. The easier & faster way to do this is to use a spoon to scrape the seeds out. Be sure you do this over a large bowl or basket to catch all the seeds. It does get messy.

Now you have a big basket full of seeds. Pick out any large petals, leaves, or debris. If you are saving seed to plant next year, spread them on a flat surface and dry fully for a week or so, then store somewhere cool, dry, and dark until next spring.

To roast your sunflower seeds, there are two ways to do it:

Rinse the seeds 3 times, and dry them in a salad spinner or on a large cloth. Place in a frying pan over medium heat with a pinch of salt, and shake them around over medium heat until they sound like pebbles rolling around.
Rinse the seeds & dry. Bring 2 cups water + 1/2 cup salt to a boil, and boil the seeds for 5 minutes. Spread them out on an oven-safe pan, and roast at 350 for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally and being sure not to burn them.

Roasted sunflowers make a great snack, and if you grow the flowers yourself with nothing sprayed on them, you know they are nothing but organic, healthy protein! You can try using different spice mixes to liven things up too. Unfortunately you need heavy machinery to de-shell them easily, but you appreciate things more when you have to work for them. =)

Have you ever harvested sunflowers? What do you do with the seeds? Feel free to share in the comments!

The fusion of food, fun, frugality, and curiosity.