Lemon Bars

Florida is not exactly local to me, but it's the closest to local I can get for citrus fruit, and it's still better than Mexico or California, so it passes for regional in my book. This time of year is great for getting all types of citrus: oranges, tangerines, lemons, limes, grapefruit, pomelos, etc. During a fairly barren season, citrus is a glimpse of nearly local freshness that could very well keep us all sane, till the spring time.

The mood struck for lemon bars, so I consulted my very old, very trustworthy Better Homes and Gardens Home Baking book. I routinely use conventional recipes and try to make them a bit healthier. Sometimes, desserts just don't lend themselves to healthy, and this was one of those times, as it turns out. I made this recipe, using half whole wheat and half all-purpose flour, and the crust came out a bit too dense, though still tasty. Next time I'll use only 1/3 whole wheat; that should do the trick. This is the recipe as I made it, adapted from the aforementioned book.

Lemon Bars
1/3 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all-purpose unbleached flour
2 eggs
2 Tbsps all-purpose unbleached flour
1 Tbsp. lemon zest
3 Tbsps. fresh lemon juice
1/4 tsp. baking powder
powdered sugar, for dusting

For crust, in a medium mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium speed until softened. Add 1/4 cup of the sugar. Beat until thoroughly combined. Then beat in flour (except the 2 Tbsps) on low speed until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Press mixture into an ungreased 8x8x2 inch baking pan. Bake in a 350 oven for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, for lemon mixture, in the same mixing bowl, beat eggs with an electric mixer on medium speed until just foamy. Add the remaining sugar, 2 Tbsps flour, lemon juice, baking powder, and 1/8 tsp. salt. Beat on medium speed about 3 minutes, or until slightly thickened. Stir in lemon zest. Pour lemon mixture over baked crust. Bake in 350 oven for 20-25 minutes, or until center in set. Cool in pan on a rack. Sift powdered sugar over top. Cut into bars. Store covered in refrigerator. Makes 16.

Roasted Red Pepper, Asaparagus & Brie Quesadillas

This recipe is my own, but it is featured in Growing Healthy Families.

This makes 5 quesadillas.

Roasted Red Pepper, Asparagus & Brie Quesadillas
1 bunch asparagus, trimmed of woody ends
1 pkg. whole-wheat tortillas (burrito size)
1 jar roasted red peppers (in water)
1 wedge brie cheese (don't waste the fancy stuff on this)
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 bunch cilantro or other herb, torn
1 T. oil

Bring water to a boil in a medium saucepan large enough to fit asparagus spears. Blanch the asparagus (leaving it in the boiling water for no more than 1 minute), and then remove it to cool (you can "shock" it in a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process).

Lay out one tortilla and place slices of the roasted peppers in a circular fashion around the tortilla, leaving enough room for other ingredients. Between slices of peppers, lay asparagus spears. In several places around the tortilla, dot chunks of brie and add torn pieces of cilantro. Sprinkle salt and pepper, to taste. Cover with a second tortilla. Repeat this process with remaining ingredients.

Brush or spray a thin layer of oil on the bottom of a cast iron skillet or griddle, and pre-heat. Be careful not to allow the oil to get so hot that it smokes. Grill the quesadillas one at a time (or two if you have a two-burner griddle), brushing with additional oil in between. Each side will only need 1-2 minutes in the pan. Once done, slice quesadillas into 6-8 wedges and serve immediately.

Note: This is a great for parties as an hors d'oeuvre, but it must be cooked immediately before serving. Re-heating does not work well with this. For a spicy version, add rings of jalapenos inside the tortillas.

Salmon-Noodle Casserole

This recipe is from Growing Healthy Families, a cookbook put out by the Holistic Moms Network, of which I am a member. The book is a collection of member-contributed recipes (some are mine).

I am posting the recipe as it was originally written, but I did make a few modifications when I made it. I used whole wheat egg noodles, 2 stalks of celery, 3 cloves of garlic, 1 Tbsp olive oil to saute the veggies, 2 Tbsps butter for the roux, 2 Tbsps whole wheat flour for the roux, and skim milk. I also used 2 cups chopped broccoli which I blanched quickly in the water from the egg noodles. For the canned salmon, I used red salmon, which is higher in nutrients than pink, and I left the bones in (which are all edible) to boost the calcium content.

This casserole feels a lot like the sort of casseroles you might have had as a kid (maybe you had tuna casserole or turkey casserole ... same idea). It's thick and creamy, and it's definitely home-style food. It won't win any awards, but it will fill up the family for very little money, and using healthy ingredients. It's also very kid-friendly, as almost anything that includes noodles and cheese is. This is a high protein and high calcium dish. The canned salmon is a great source of both of these, as well as omega-3 fatty acids, and you can't beat the price!


Salmon-Noodle Casserole
8 oz. egg noodles, cooked
1/2 onion, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
5 T. organic butter, divided
1/4 c. whole-wheat flour
2 c. milk
Salt and pepper to taste
1 can wild salmon
1-2 c. vegetables (examples: peas, carrots, broccoli)
1 c. cheddar cheese

Stir fry onion, celery and garlic in 1 tablespoon butter. Make a white sauce by combining the remaining 4 tablespoons butter and whole wheat flour in a sauce pan, slowly whisk in milk and simmer (do not boil) until it begins to thicken, add salt and pepper. Combine cooked noodles, salmon (large bones removed), sauce and veggies in a casserole dish. Top with cheddar cheese. Bake at 375 for 25 minutes.

This Week's Shopping List

This week had no extravagances, but the pantry and freezer are starting to get bare. So, a trip to Costco was in order. The latest challenges of pregnancy have also made our menu for the week very baby-centric.

The week's menu is as follows:

Lunch: Various leftovers

Dinner:
- Salmon noodle casserole with broccoli (leftover from last week)
- Chicken stir fry with kale, carrots, red peppers, broccoli & ginger served with brown rice
- Cold soba noodles with carrots, zucchini, red peppers & tofu with sesame sauce

In retrospect, that last item on the menu was clearly the influence of the fetus. Never in a million years would I have craved such a cold, summery dish at this time of year on my own. I think I've got to get this little elfling under control.

The shopping list for the week went like this (* indicates non-organic):

scallions
ginger
onions
zucchini
bananas
pears
persimmon
extra firm tofu
Cascadian Farms cereal (2.99)
soymilk ($0.69 with store coupon)
Traditional Medicinals tea ($2 coupon)
milk
yogurt ($0.67)
raisins
dehydrated peas
sardines*
popcorn

I was able to buy everything on the list this week. Yes, even the dehydrated peas! Woo hoo! I also bought a few sale items at the health food store: aseptic single-serve milks (these are helpful when on long outings with my daughter), tomato sauce, and diced tomatoes. The total for this minimalist shopping excursion came to $59.74.

This was a fantastically short list with a price tag that promised to do some real damage to the budgetary hole we dug last week. Unfortunately, it doesn't include all of the pricey bulk stuff that we needed to get at Costco. That included the following items:

Frozen spinach ravioli (for emergencies and lazy days)
Frozen wild salmon
Frozen wild blueberries (my daughter's breakfast addiction)
Organic raisin bran
Organic whole wheat bread (we freeze it till we need it)
Organic canned soups (also for emergencies and lazy days)

For the long-term savings this will provide, we dropped $69.58. That brings the grand total for the week to $129.32, which is $6.82 over our weekly budget. Oh well, we sink slightly deeper into the red. So, we now stand at minus $87. Some penny pinching weeks are ahead of us. We'll see how creative we can get.

Even Unborn Children are Picky, Apparently

Food is a complicated matter with children. It's not easy to get them to eat what we know they should, or what the rest of us are eating. The challenge is all the more so when the child doesn't speak or understand much. Sometimes, a child's demands become so overwhelming that we just have to give in. Now, is one of those times in our family.

We are now working with a bit of an extra food challenge: unexplained and often unreasonable food cravings and aversions. That's right, folks. I'm pregnant. My appetite has increased, well, too much. We may need to adjust our budget to include the little bean growing inside, since it's taking a good 300 calories per day of my food. We'll see how the spending goes and if that really proves necessary. Menu planning has clearly been influenced by the bean, as well.

Here are few of my food cravings and aversions (some of which have subsided now):

Cravings
Asian foods
shellfish
red meat
warm milk
yogurt
fruit
honey
salt

Aversions
coffee
agave nectar
poultry (mostly turkey)
nuts

With my last pregnancy, I had only food aversions, the strongest of which was to baby lettuces. I'm glad that one has not affected me this time. So far, I haven't had any vegetable aversions with this pregnancy.

In many ways, it's easier to manage a child who is still in the womb (they have a built-in carrier that works pretty well), but even so, those little stinkers can be pretty demanding!

Accounting for Company

When I started this blog, the intention was to demonstrate that $7/day per person (the average that Americans spend on food) is plenty of money, even when buying organic/natural foods and eating a healthy, fresh foods diet (not the average American diet). I counted myself and my husband as two people, and my daughter as a half a person (not that I think any less of her), so that gave us a weekly budget of $122.50 for the family.

Now, the question arises, do we alter our budget in some way when we feed extra mouths? When we entertain, we can't be expected to stretch our daily allotment of $17.50 to feed eight or ten people dinner, can we? No, we really can't be expected to do that. But for the purposes of this blog, I consider it a challenge to myself to make up for spending beyond our budget over the long run. So, unreasonable as it is to be so strict with our spending, since part of our goal is to save money, it's important that we view these splurges as part of the whole, so they don't simply get written off, making us forget the realities of our financial situation.

We will not have to starve or compromise our health in any way to make up for our temporary excesses. But we will have to be smart, and patient.

Last Week's Shopping List

Oh boy! So, the first thing I need to do is apologize for the severe lateness of this post. Between New Year's entertaining and winding down the festivities with a nasty cold, time and energy have been lacking, to say the least.

Next, I have a confession to make: cooking for company makes me do things I shouldn't do. Namely, I splurge on guests, and I just can't help myself. I can cook "on the cheap" for my immediate family with no problem at all, but when other people enter my home, even if those people are my mother and my brother, all the rules go out the window. Then, the adding machine comes out and I realize that I need to get back to reality, back to coupon clipping to get our budget back on track. So, although our Hanukkah entertaining blew through a fairly substantial surplus and put us only marginally in the red, last week's entertaining dug a much deeper trench that we will need to climb out of over the several weeks (hopefully not months) ahead. I suppose we all splurge in one way or another during the holidays. I saved on presents by making my own, but I paid for the luxury of pricey ingredients.

As you'll see, sacrifices of all sorts were made ... not just monetary ones. I also chose to forgo the rules of seasonality. Occasional exceptions like these are not the end of the world, I think.


Last week's menu went like this:

Lunch: Use up various leftovers.

Dinner:
- Leftover brisket with sweet potato latkes and leftover brussel sprouts.
- Spaghetti with marinara & zucchini
- Salmon Noodle Casserole with Broccoli

New Year's Entertaining Lunch:
- Muchies: Brie w/crackers and grapes
- Grilled bison sausages, hot dogs and veggie dogs with peppers & onions
- Sweet Potato Latkes
- Green salad
- Lemon bars

Post New Year's Entertaining Lunch:
- Munchies: Edamame and Pistachios
- Roasted Red Pepper, Asparagus & Brie Quesadillas
- Guacamole with tortilla chips
- Healthy Truffles


This is the shopping list (* indicates non-organic):

sweet potatoes
red peppers
green pepper
grape tomatoes
lettuce
lemons
asparagus*
cilantro
zucchini
avocado
jalapeno*
granny smith apples ($1.79/lb)
carrots
bananas
oranges
pears
brie*
veggie dogs ($1 coupon)
Mahi mahi fillet* (5.99/lb)
crackers
Barbara's cereal* (3.29 + $1 coupon)
cheddar
milk
yogurt (67 cents)
kosher salt*
whole wheat egg noodles*
Tropicana OJ* (2/$5)
seltzer* (3/$1)
powdered sugar ($0.75 coupon)
whole wheat tortillas
tortillas chips
eggs
dehydrated corn
dehydrated peas
safflower oil*
roasted red peppers
bison sausage* (hot & sweet Italian) - bison is a grass-fed, hormone and antibiotic-free meat, even when not organic
whole grain hot dog buns

I was able to buy everything on this list, except for the dehydrated peas, yet again. I bought a grapefruit that was priced right and a few extra boxes of cereal that were on sale. For whatever reason, stores don't always advertise all of their sales. Yet another good reason to know your pantry well, so you can stock up when the opportunity presents itself. Unfortunately for my wallet, this week was not a great one for spending extra on pantry items. Oh well.

The grand total for the week was $195.90. Yikes! That puts us in the red by about $80. How will I ever repent for this? Well, it's going to take lots of praying and belt tightening. I expect things will get worse before they get better. A trip to Costco this week (in an upcoming post), plus the ground beef order, plus a soon approaching order with Frontier will surely make cost-cutting a challenge for the immediate future. Still, these are the times that I need to remind myself that buying in quantity now saves money later.