lunch break: chicken salad salad

(or: why i'm willing to spend three and a half dollars on chicken in a can)

(or: we don't need no stinkin' grapes and walnuts)

(sorry, mom.)

in an effort to eat wonderful lunches that i totally love, like bill and his turkey & asiago sandwich, i'm trying new things which-- let's be honest-- has never been a strength of mine.

i actually DO love this lunch something serious and it's insanely easy.

ingredients:

• two or three stalks of celery, chopped fine
• 1 can of trader joe's canned chicken (packed in water)
• a blob of mayo (er 1/4 cup?)
• sea salt and fresh ground pepper
• a bag of spring mix

prep:

• drain & flake chicken (it's already pretty flaky, just jab at it with a fork some)
• chop celery

actual cooking (okay, "actual" is relative, here):

• combine celery, salt & pepper, chicken & mayo
• divide into 2 or 3 small containers (one cupish)

in the morning:

• toss some spring mix in an old take-out container (i like one from the olive garden-- a constant reminder that awful meals can come in nice containers) or something
• grab a contain of chicken salad

at lunchtime:

• dump chicken salad on spring mix
• do the happy chair dance at your desk

recession challenge: dinner for two all week from one pound of sausage

this week's dinners are: flatbread pizza with sausage, onion & brussels sprouts, sausage sandwiches with provolone & wilted spinach, macaronis with sausage & cheese served with sauteed zucchini & creamy tomato florentine soup with sausage.

ingredients:

• 1 pound sausage (cheating. my dad makes it, so i have no clue how much a pound of sausage costs. sorry.)
• 2 1/2 cups flour (pantry staple)
• 2 tbs psyllium husk* (negligible, but a canister of psyllium ran me ~$5)
• water
• provolone cheese (i'm not sure how much by weight cost us ~$4, but only about 5 slices will be used for dinners, so maybe $2 worth?)
• tomato gravy/pizza sauce (~$1)
• brussels sprouts (i paid $2.30)
• onion (i don't know, $0.50?)
• 4 slices good bread (we buy this anyway for bill's lunches, but maybe a third of a loaf will be used for dinners, so ~$1?)
• baby spinach ($2)
• 1/2 pound short, curly pasta like shells (~$0.50)
• scratch cheese (pantry staple)
• zucchini (i paid $2.30)
• veggie broth ($2)
• mirepoix ($3, but i'm using the some left from last week's soup)
• canned whole tomatoes ($2, but also leftover from last week's soup)
• butter (pantry staple)
• 1/2 pound ditalini ($0.50, also leftover from last week's soup)

i'm using more and more pantry staples, so the things i actually had to buy this week ran about $15. of course, i didn't buy sausage, so that could add, what, $5? $8? i really don't know.

*about psyllium. ummm, it's a milled seed thing... that turns into this gelatinous mass with water... it's the main ingredient in most fiber supplements... and also an egg replaces/stabilizer thing. i THINK that you could sub 2 eggs in the flatbread recipe, and obviously use less (or maybe no?) water. but no promises. yet.

prep:

• put 1/2 pound sausage in the freezer for 30 minutes
• remove it and slice it into thin rounds, remove the casing if you're weird like us
• chop mirepoix if you need to

actual cooking (meal 1):

• preheat oven to 400*
• combine 2 cups flour, psyllium, salt & fresh or dried herbs to taste & 1.5 cups water
• allow to sit for about 5 minutes
• with damp or greased fingers, press out the dough on a lightly greased baking sheet to desired thickness
• bake for about 20 minutes (see? easiest pizza crust ever.)
• while shell bakes, quickly cook sliced sausage on an ungreased frying pan (use only half for the pizza! refrigerate the other half), chop some onion, slice brussels sprouts & shred 3 or four slices of provolone
• top pizza shell with pizza sauce (or leave it white if tomato gravy isn't a staple in your pantry), cheese, sausage, onions & brussels sprouts (eta: i used wilted spinach. brussels sprouts are going in the pasta.)
• bake until cheese melts and bubbles lightly

actual cooking (meal 2):

• preheat oven to 300*
• quickly saute some (up to half) of the baby spinach in olive oil until just wilted (it will shrink when you cook it!)
• on 2 slices of bread, layer cold sausage slices, wilted spinach & a slice of provolone (eta: i added a bit of thinly sliced onion on mine. fab)
• toast all 4 slices
• make sandwiches.
• (eta: i also made some fries: cut 1 potato per person into 1/2 inch sticks, arrange on an oil-spritzed baking sheet, spritz with oil, season with salt, pepper & garlic powder, bake 20-25 minutes at 400*. and yes, i'm going to wait until AFTER i cook the meals to post them from now on.)

actual cooking (meal 3):

• boil water for pasta
• roast brussels sprouts, sliced or chopped as you prefer, with olive oil
• in a medium frying pan, out of it's casing, saute the rest of the sausage
• set half aside to drain
• add cooked pasta & brussels sprouts to the other half and remove from heat
• liberally add scratch cheese

actual cooking (meal 4):

• do the regular mirepoix thing, i don't have to spell it all out anymore, do i?
• add broth
• add drained sausage, spinach, ditalini & tomatoes with their juices (chopped up)
• while ditalini is cooking, make a roux (melt 4 tbs butter in a saucepan, quickly whisk in 1/2 cup flour and 1/2 cup milk)
• add roux to soup once the ditalini is cooked
• top with scratch cheese

the soup might need to be altered... check back in about 5 days once i've made it.

recession challenge: dinner for two all week from one ham steak

for my next trick, we'll be enjoying a ham dinner, a ham fritatta, pasta e fagioli and a lovely zucchini risotto.


ingredients:

• i pound ham steak (i paid ~$7)
• 4 potatoes (~$1.60)
• 2 medium/large zucchinis ($3)
• 1 3/4 cup rice (negligible-- pantry staple)
• kidney beans (~$2)
• veggie stock (~$2)
• chicken broth (~$2)
• crushed tomatoes (~$2)
• 4 eggs (like... $1)
• mirepoix (~$3)
• an onion (negligible, $0.69 per pound, i think.)
• butter (pantry staple)
• veggie oil (pantry staple)
• scratch cheese (pantry staple)
• 1/2 pound ditalini or other smallish pasta-- NOT noodles (~$1 a pound)

total here is less than $25! we'll probably add a frozen veggie to meal 3.

prep:

• chop the mirepoix
• divide ham steak in 3 sections for meals 1, 2 & 3 (or 4 for all 4 if it's bigger)
• shred portion of ham for meal 2
• chop portion of ham for meal 3
• slice 1 zucchini
• (butter for baked potatoes?)

actual cooking (meal 1):

• warm the ham through-- do not overcook
• bake potatoes
• saute sliced zucchini

actual cooking (meal 2):

• saute mirepoix in a medium/large pot with veggie oil for about 10 minutes or until golden
• add canned tomato
• add veggie broth and bring to a boil
• add ham
• add well-rinsed kidney beans
• (add water if there's not enough liquid to boil the pasta)
• boil pasta as directed (8 minutes, i think)
• season with salt & pepper to taste

actual cooking (meal 3):

• slice & lightly fry 2 potatoes in veggie oil
• drain
• beat 4 eggs, add ham & season with salt & pepper
• pour eggs & ham into pan over potatoes
• cook, gently pulling back edges with a fork to allow egg to fill in
• (if you have a fritatta pan, you'll close it and flip the fritatta and ta-da! all done. if you're using a cast-iron pan, you can stick it in the oven to cook the top. i've used a pie plate and baked it all the way with little success.)
• once bottom is very well cooked and secure, gently transfer fritatta to a plate
• then transfer it back to the pan upside down to finish cooking

actual cooking (meal 4):

• boil chicken broth
• saute chopped zucchini & onion in 2 tbs butter
• add uncooked rice to the pan, saute briefly
• slowly, 1 cup at a time, add boiling broth to the pan allowing it to completely absorb before adding more (until rice is done to your liking)
• stir in 1 tbs butter & scratch cheese
• (enjoy with ham, if you have some left)

i haven't made the risotto or fritatta yet (i'll edit the recipe if necessary after i do), and we haven't eaten the pasta e fagioli yet, but it looks wonderful. the upshot to this little series is that we're eating really good and for pretty cheap (or, at least, on a budget). next week we'll have sausage, which is cheating because my daddy makes our sausage so i have no idea how much sausage costs. the week after will be turkey breast, which i also have no idea what i paid for because i bought it in november. there's also a pound of bacon in my freezer, so i'm wondering how many different things i could do with that.

edited to add: i missed the scratch cheese in the risotto the first time through! i used two slices of finely chopped asiago. we also put asiago on the pasta e fagioli. we like asiago. bill had the genius idea to add sauteed onion to the fritatta, and it was really perfect. so try that. about 1/2 and onion.

this has been tons of fun so far, which is hysterical because this is, you know, how people ate before convenience became our religion.

recession challenge: dinner for two all week from one chicken

ingredients:

• one whole chicken (i paid ~$9)
• 1 bag frozen veggie blend (i paid ~$2 for tj's organic foursome)
• 3 potatoes (i paid ~$1.15 for huge ones)
• 1 stick butter (negligible, i guess it cost me ~$0.75)
• 1.5 cups flour (negligible)
• splash of milk or cream (whatever you have)
• mirepoix (i paid ~$3, or you could chop up your own onions, carrots & celery)
• 1 pound egg noodles (i paid ~$1)
• vodka (or ice-cold water... you see where this is going right?)
• sea salt & fresh ground pepper

(see, i paid about $20, give or take, for the ingredients to feed us dinner for a week. recession-friendly! we also spend about $20 a week on produce and $15 on lunch-foods.)

prep:

• chill 1/2 the butter and the vodka/water

actual cooking (meal 1):

• roast the chicken, seasoned with s&p and rubbed with butter for 20 minutes per pound at 350*
• cube & boil 2 potatoes, skin on, until softish
• drain potatoes
• add 2-3 tablespoons butter & milk to potatoes, mash
• season to taste with salt & pepper
• nuke 1/3-1/2 the frozen veggies

actual cooking (meal 2):

• heat chicken drippings & 1/2 cup flour on medium heat, whisk until smooth, add hot water to desire thickness
• pick carcass of usable meat, set aside
• use carcass to make broth
• use chilled butter, 1 cup flour and chilled vodka/water to make pie crust
• nuke 1 potato, chill & cube
• combine gravy, frozen veggies, cubed potato, 1/3-1/2 the chicken pieces in a lightly greased casserole
• cover with crust, pierce & bake at 375* until golden brown

actual cooking (meal 3):

• use mirepoix, broth, noodles, remaining chicken & remaining veggies to make soup

meal 1 is a one-shot deal. meal 2 we haven't eaten yet, but we expect it to last 2 or 3 dinners. meal 3 should also last 2 or 3 dinners. of course, this is all dependant on how much you eat. it's not magic, ya know.

editied to add:

with the addition of a very hungry j to our meal 2 dinner, it lasted one night, and i would have known that if i hadn't blogged this meal right before we had the idea to invite him. but... since i hadn't added the rest of the frozen veggies to the soup (because i hadn't thought of it yet) and we had an onion, rice & eggs laying around the house, i managed to squeeze another pantry meal out with some yum veggie fried rice, with frozen egg rolls (also a stock pantry item in my home... don't judge).