ChildWild » food

The $1 Family Meal

Sierra — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 14:03:04 +0000

My husband is a great cook, and prepares most of our family meals.

He’s not one of these food show followers who makes a different gourmet recipe every night of the week with the rare vegetables he picked up at the farmer’s market on his way home.

He’s more of an intuitive cook. A guy who can make a delicious family meal appear in our kitchen when it looks to me like the only thing in the fridge is some old condiments, a couple of naked Barbie dolls and a take-out menu (how did that get in there? yours truly asks innocently. See also, illustration. How does any of this stuff get in there?).

Not only is he a good cook, he’s a cheap cook. The other day in the kitchen, he served me a huge bowl of curried chickpeas with a side of vegetables and a charming lecture about how the entire meal cost just $1 in ingredients.

The recipe, roughly, for those playing along at home:

Soak chickpeas overnight (this gives them a better texture and saves on gas because you only have to cook them for a few minutes the next day).
Do some magic on the stove involving onions, garlic, some spices.
Add carrots.
When its all sizzly and the rest of your family wanders in and starts picking at the extra bits of carrot left on the cutting board and staring hungrily at the stockpot, pour in a can of tomatoes and some water.
Add your pre-soaked chickpeas (Martin says it is important to use organic ones, because he thinks they taste much better).
Cook for about 15 minutes.
Serve garnished with homemade yogurt and some early chives from the garden.
Let your wife make a silly video of you showing off your cheap, tasty curry.

The kids, of course, won’t eat this noise. They don’t know what they’re missing. We save a few not-spicy chickpeas out on the side for them, or give them a bowl of yogurt and some steamed vegetables. I don’t prep special meals for the girls per se; I usually just try to provide enough different foods at a meal that they can find something they like. If they can’t even the little one is capable of heating up a plate of leftover mac-n-cheese for herself.

Ultimately the point of this post isn’t to persuade you all to come over to my house for curry. Though he did make 8 quarts of the stuff the other night. The point is that a certain amount of kitchen savvy is a great path to cheap, delicious meals.

We’d pay $10 for an entree at our local Indian take-out place, and the food wouldn’t be organic or as fresh. Martin can cook that meal for $1 worth of ingredients, and by doing the prep work the night before he does the actual cooking, he can make it pretty fast too.

Martin hasn’t taken a lot of expensive cooking classes, and while we have a bookcase full of cookbooks in the kitchen, its mostly me who uses them. He just likes tinkering in the kitchen, and his hobby pays off big time in lower grocery bills and delicious, nutritious family meals for us.

You might have no interest at all in cooking, but you probably have a skill like this: some hobby or ability that helps you save a lot of money or brings a lot of value into your life. Please tell us about it in the comments!

Here’s Martin’s explanation of the curry magic, in his own words:

Serena vs. Nori

Sierra — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 19:24:38 +0000

In the further adventures of Serena and food: we went to a friend’s house this evening where they were making sushi. We offered her some and she complained that it was stinky in her nose and turned her face away. She pretended to be shy, and demanded to be taken into another room and read a story.

Then she came back, and ran several laps around the kitchen shouting, “Me Want Eat Food.” We offered her more sushi, and also the ingredients to make the sushi: carrots, peppers, rice, avocados, mangos. Again, she ducked her head against Daddy’s chest and cried no, no, no.

At last, someone offered her a piece of nori. Yes! The little girl wanted nori. I handed her a piece, looked away for a second and it was gone. Had she dropped it? No. More like inhaled. Like this:

Security theater at the airport

Sierra — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 06:18:49 +0000

I’m in Georgia for the weekend at a retreat. Everyone is cooking a meal: I volunteered to make lentil soup. Because I was unsure of the grocery shopping situation on this end, I brought the ingredients with me. Which led to this conversation with a TSA agent:

Me: I have a can of tomatoes in my backpack. Will they let me take that through security?

TSA: Is it a sauce?

Me: What?

TSA: If it’s a sauce or a paste, then no.

Me: I think its crushed, but not a paste. Look, it wasn’t a liquid when it went into the sealed metal can at the factory.

TSA: Crushed. Well, I don’t know. As long as it’s not tomato paste you can try it.

Me: Thanks.

I did in fact get my tomatoes through security. I am dumbfounded that I had this conversation. The agent and I were both seriously exploring how mushy my tomato product could get before it would count as A Liquid. My favorite part was how long she kept up the charade that there is actually some kind of TSA policy about which canned tomato products are allowed on carrying bags and which are not.

Farewell theater

Honey?

Sierra — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 06:22:44 +0000

‘I think I feel a bit like going for a walk,’ Rio said because she totally talks like that. She is five going on Jane Austen.

‘Great!’ says I much less suavely, because I totally talk like I have not had a solid night of sleep in six years. It’s amazing the kids ever learned to speak. If they were really mimicking me they would just drool, cry and surreptitiously read the New York Times all day.

Serena chimes in with a rousing chorus of ‘Yay! I ready! I ready’

‘Great!’ I say again, having exhausted my post-4pm vocabulary. ‘I need a sweater.’

I ran upstairs to get it. When I came back down not a full minute later, Rio had her coat and galoshes on and was ready to go.

Serena also had her galoshes on. She’d taken her pants off and thrown them in a puddle on the bathroom floor of course. But I’ve been around this block in the mother’hood a few times. I had an extra pair in my hand.

The problem? My galoshes-wearing streaker daughter was eating honey off her knees. How she laid hold of the honey jar, got it open and squeezed it out that fast I will never know. Why she spread it all over her knees – getting not a drop on the floor or her rubber boots- I cannot begin to imagine. But I have rarely seen such total satisfaction on a human face.

Making carbon footprint part of a product’s packaging

Sierra — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 05:40:00 +0000

Imagine having to face the climate impact of your greasy take-out as you place your order? Or seeing the carbon footprint of your cookies clearly labelled alongside the calorie count on the back of the package in the grocery aisle?

The NYT this week reports on an experiment in Sweden doing exactly that. The Swedes have adopted a new labeling system for grocery items and some restaurant foods that tells consumers how their food choices affect the planet. Swedish shoppers are in for some surprises. Apparently tomatoes come with a high carbon cost, while carrots are practically free from a sustainability perspective.

Swedens new food guidelines encourage people to think of environmental health as an integral part of a healthy diet, just like eating a balance of nutrients and keeping to a reasonable number of calories. As consumers, we’ve grown accustomed to confronting the ingredient lists and caloric content of our foods.

As research reveals that about a quarter of our carbon emissions come from the foods we eat, those of us hoping to eat our way to a smaller carbon footprint can take hope from the fact that these dietary guidelines can reduce an individual’s “footprint” by 20 to 50 percent. That’s a more exciting number than losing inches or pounds!

I’m eager to see a US version of this. This labeling program gives consumers a simple, holistic way to connect the health of their own bodies to the health of the planet. Only when we see those systems as truly interconnected will we act to preserve them both.

Rio’s Fried Apples For Friends

Sierra — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 04:43:41 +0000

Rio came home today from picking up our farm share with an apple in her hand.

“Mom!” she shouted. “I have an apple. My own apple from the farm. I am going to cut it up into small pieces and fry it and put cinnamon on it and we are going to eat it on toast! We are going to have apple-toast sandwiches!”

We did, and they were delicious. I guess those years making Pretend Soup with Molly Katzen are starting to pay off.

The apples were so delicious that Rio insisted we had to share them with all of our friends. So without further ado, her recipe exactly as dictated by Rio*, with some parenthetical commentary from mom:

Rio’s Fried Apples For Friends

Ingredients: cinnamon, sugar (brown), butter, apples

Tools needed: plate, bowl (to put the cooked apples in), frying pan, “pancake flipper”, paring knife

wash apples

cut it (you need a grown-up to help you with this step)

turn stove on (another grown-up step)

melt butter in pan

put apples in pan

sprinkle on cinnamon and sugar

fry them!

flip them over

EAT! (serve hot over toast or yogurt. also tasty with cheddar cheese)

Recipe story, by Rio: Rio got it from the farm. Eliza’s farm. My sister took my other one and then I asked my Daddy if I could have a new one and he said yes.

Let’s be clear: both the recipe and story were transcribed under Rio’s watchful eye. In pink glitter gel pen. On a tiny card which she then wrapped into a little scroll and tied with a sparkly purple ribbon. She handed that to me and said,”Here Mommy! This is for your blog!”

Happy Equinox, closing out the Gratitude Project

Sierra — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 04:05:28 +0000

Today’s the Equinox, and the last official day of the Gratitude Project. As always after six weeks of honoring my blessings, I’m infused with gratitude for all the small wonders in my daily life. I don’t want to stop paying attention to them, or writing about them. But I’ll drop the daily practice of it, because I’ve come to value the particular season of taking up the Gratitude Project and letting it go again.

I want to close with my gratitude for the simple spiritual gifts I’ve come into through the elimination diet, which has overlapped the last three weeks of the gratitude project for me. Yes, I’m physically healthier than I was before I started. I’ve learned a lot about my body and my eating habits. I’ve lost a little weight. I’ve gained some clarity in areas I used to be quite fuzzy.

But the real gift of this period, for me, has been the way it’s taught me to appreciate food. I’m not eating bread, or ice cream, or the delicious salsa I made a gallon of and canned for winter. Not drinking beer or hot cocoa.

Two things have happened. One is that I’ve learned to appreciate the foods I am eating more. There are so many: hummus and falafel and fruit and seltzer and apple butter and quinoa. Foods I ignore because pizza is easier I’m now relishing.

More interesting to me, I’ve learned to delight in the foods I’m not eating in new ways. The smell of bread baking is wonderful, as is watching my daughter savor a bowl of ice cream. A friend brought a honey cake to a small gathering this evening, and I was blessed with genuine pleasure at her kindness in making and sharing it. I didn’t need to eat it to participate in the ritual around it. I didn’t need to eat it to feel nourished by it.

I suspect this last is a valuable lesson for me. Changing my diet won’t cut me off from the social rituals attached to food and drink, and it won’t rob me of pleasure in the foods I love. I can still smell bread, still hang out with friends who are drinking, still serve cake. It’s this awareness that will let me continue long-term keeping to healthier food choices.

Elimination update

Sierra — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 23:55:10 +0000

I’m nearing the end of the first phase of the elimination diet: the one where I eat only “hypoallergenic” foods. Next comes the “challenge phase”, where I try eating the things I cut out one at a time and see if any of them make me sick.

This first phase has been plenty challenging on its own. It hasn’t been that hard to stick to the diet. I’ve been a vegetarian nearly my whole life, so I’m used to reading labels and politely passing on delicious food at social events. Since I know it’s for a limited time and a good cause, I haven’t been strongly tempted to cheat. After all, the only person who loses if I cheat on my diet is me.

This is the first time I’ve ever “dieted”, and it’s been a fascinating experience. It seems to be working. My sinuses aren’t entirely clear, but they’re better than they have been in years. That’s disappointing, because it means I’ll probably have to give up or limit some foods that I love if I want to keep my nose clear (and I do!).

Even more valuable than the allergy aspect though is what doing this has taught me about how I normally eat. I think of myself as a pretty healthy person, but it turns out I have a lot of bad food habits. I snack without thinking about it all day, especially in the afternoons. I eat at my computer a lot of the time. I eat junk food late at night. I also frequently drink alcohol in the evenings – just a drink or two, but it’s enough of a habit that I notice not having it.

For a long time I’ve quietly thought that I depended on unhealthy eats and drinks to help me manage stress. Two weeks with no sugar, chocolate or alcohol has been easier than I’d have imagined. I’ve been surprised at how easy it is to transition those behaviors into healthier routines. Where I’d normally reach for the chocolate or the wine bottle, I’ve taken up stretching, herbal tea and more opportunities to meditate. Turns out I have a lot of healthy tools for dealing with stress, too. They were just sitting there waiting to be used.

I’m still not looking forward to finding out what has been making me sniffle all these years, and I hope I’ll be able to get most of my old foods back into my diet. But I also hope that I’ll take away from this a more diverse and healthier diet, and a lasting awareness of what goes into my mouth.

As a side note, I wasn’t trying to lose weight, but I’m not unhappy to note that when I weighed in at the doctor’s office today I was near the bottom of my normal weight range instead of near the top where I was a six weeks ago.

Elimination Diet

Sierra — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 03:58:28 +0000

I started this elimination diet when we came home from Witchcamp. I’m a few days into it, and it sucks about as much as you’d expect.

The goal is to explore the possibility that hidden food allergies are contributing to my chronic sinus infections and other low-grade-but-annoying health problems by cutting out everything I might possibly be allergic to, giving my body a few days of unadulterated clean living, and then “challenging” my immune system by re-introducing foods one at a time. Most parents are probably familiar with this because it’s similar to the process we’re advised to use in exposing our infants to solid foods when they’re ready to expand their diets beyond breastmilk.

I had held off doing this for a long time because it struck me as silly and kind of too hippy dippy even for me. Could that possibly work? Shouldn’t I just go to a Real Doctor [tm] and get Official Testing for allergies?

When I finally talked to my doctor about allergy testing, she advised doing this first. “You’ll get better results,” she said. So here I am, giving it a shot.

As a lifelong vegetarian, I’m no stranger to weird dietary choices. But I’ve never done a “diet” before, where I eat only certain foods for a period of time.

The hardcore version I am not doing is to eat only lamb, pears, water, salt and white rice for two weeks. I’m not doing that because I am a vegetarian and a breastfeeding mom, and I’m pretty sure I couldn’t survive on pears and salty rice for two weeks. Actually, I almost certainly could, but no one would like it. I’m grateful that, unlike many breastfeeding moms, I’m not forced by war or famine to run that experiment on my body.

The experiment I am running is to cut all corn, soy, wheat, dairy, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, refined sugar, alcohol, broccoli, onions food preservatives, dyes or artificial flavors from my diet and then gradually test myself out on those one at a time.

I was pretty cranky about this: I can’t eat many foods I like for two weeks, and the payoff might be finding out that some of my favorite foods make me sick and I shouldn’t eat them at all? I geared up for it by consuming a large amount of heavenly fresh-baked bread, some scrumptious birthday cake and good beer.

Today, after my third meal of rice and beans and delightful scrumptious fresh vegetables from our garden, I realized that I can eat vegetable sushi on this diet. I suspect I’ll be doing a lot of that in the next little while. How often do I have an excuse this good to splurge on sushi?

Good news, bad news

Sierra — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 16:56:36 +0000

Good news: WIC is expanding their offerings to low-income Massachusetts families to include vegetables, eggs, cheese, rice and beans (among other things). What did they cover before? I shudder to think. But they seem to be allowing people to use their food vouchers to buy food now, so that’s all good.

Bad news: Crazy firefighter shoots cyclist for biking with child. Apparently, this guy saw a family biking along with a three-year-old on a bike seat behind his dad, and pulled over to yell at them. When they persisted in biking with their child, the firefighter drew a gun and shot the father in the head. Happily, his bike helmet saved his life.

I knew biking with children could be dangerous, and that the danger came largely from irresponsible motorists. I have to say though, this is a risk I did not know I was taking. WTF?

Thanks to Sarah Whedon and Rich Wilson for the news tips! Keep ‘em coming, I love this stuff.