Cheap, Easy and Delicious II

Food prices are still going up, and Brad’s paycheck is still going down. Somehow every time this happens, just when I think I couldn’t possibly economize any further, I find a way. Of course the biggest drawback is that when things do pick up again, Brad will begin to expect steak dinners, yet expect the grocery bill not to rise.

Right now I have a freezer full of chicken breasts I bought on sale (for $1.59 a pound in case you were curious), and I’m trying to make it last as long as possible. I’ll also occasionally buy pork chops when they’re on sale for $1-$1.50 a pound. But beef and fish are no longer on the table either literally or figuratively. All this micromanagement of food kind of sucks your soul right out of you, doesn’t it?

But I value variety above meat. I get bored cooking the same things all the time, so I’m always looking for new recipes to add to my repertoire. I try never to serve the same dish twice in a three month period or so. In the past I’ve tried sneaking in the occasional meatless meal, but it left Brad feeling like he’d been gypped somehow. So I told him in advance that this week and henceforth I would be trying out meatless meals on a frequent and regular basis, and as there’s no other option he’s just going to have to suck it up. And like it.

The biggest problem meat-eaters have with vegetarian dishes is that even though our bodies don’t actually need that much protein, they’ve become accustomed to it. A lot of vegetarian recipes call for tofu or textured vegetable protein, but I’ve tried them both and they make me want to vomit. So I went to my favorite recipe site, allrecipes.com, to look for recipes that would make us feel like we were eating meat without any of these yucky substitutes. I was really impressed with the quantity of vegetarian recipes with five star ratings. I chose three and tried them out last week, and they were all great. The titles contains the links to the original recipe, the way I’ve written it here reflects changes I made based on the advice of other reviewers.

Vegetarian Chickpea Sandwich Filling

  • 1 (19 ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1 stalk celery, chopped
  • 1 large scoop mayonnaise
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon dried dill weed
  • salt and pepper to taste

Drain and rinse chickpeas. Pour chickpeas into a medium size mixing bowl and mash with a fork. Mix in celery, onion, mayonnaise (to taste), lemon juice, dill, salt and pepper to taste.

I served this on split hard rolls with green leaf lettuce. I liked this a lot more than I thought I would. It was similar to egg or chicken salad, but much cheaper, and also healthier than tuna. The dill really made it a cooling, but filling meal for a hot day. I might try it with a different mix of seasonings, like paprika and mustard, for another flavor variety, but the dill was awesome.

1-2-3 Vegetable Chili

  • 1 (28 ounce) can tomatoes, undrained
  • 1 (16 ounce) jar salsa
  • 1 (15 ounce) can black beans, rinsed, drained
  • 1 can kidney beans
  • 1 can corn
  • 1 cup cubed zucchini
  • 2 Tbsp. chili powder

Throw everything in a crockpot and let it cook on low for 4-5 hours.

This was great, and it made a LOT of food, much more than you’d expect from the ingredient list. I served it with Fritos and cheese. I will make it again, but I’ll be doing some things differently. I didn’t feel like the salsa really added anything, and it made the mixture very watery. So watery the Fritos turned into polenta as a result. So next time I will omit the salsa entirely and instead add a chopped onion and a couple of pureed red chiles. Also, even though I more than doubled the chili powder, the chili flavor was barely noticeable. So I will add at least another tablespoon, and maybe some cayenne pepper. I’ll also add another can of kidney beans, it wasn’t quite beany enough. You can also use other vegetables, this is a great recipe for disguising just about any vegetable you have dying in your crisper.

Connie’s Zucchini ‘Crab’ Cakes

  • 2 1/2 cups grated zucchini
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 2 tablespoons butter, melted
  • 1 cup bread crumbs
  • 1/4 cup minced onion
  • 1 teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning TM
  • 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil for frying
  1. In a large bowl, combine zucchini, egg, and butter or margarine. Stir in crumbs, minced onion, and seasoning. Mix well.
  2. Shape mixture into patties. Dredge in flour.
  3. In a medium skillet, heat oil over medium high heat until hot. Fry patties in oil until golden brown on both sides.

I screwed up on this one, I only had about 2/3 cup of bread crumbs. As a result the cakes were mushy and didn’t want to hold together. The kids wouldn’t touch them because they were green. But they were really good, and did taste like crab cakes. This didn’t turn out to be as economical as I intended because the zucchini was $1.69 a pound. But I know a lot of you have zucchini coming out of your ears right now from your garden patches, and this is a great way to use them up. I made my version of tartar sauce to go with them, one part ranch dressing to two parts mayonnaise. I’ll make these again, but only if I can find cheaper zucchini, and if I have the right amount of bread crumbs. Also, this was really messy.

While I was searching allrecipes I noticed a lot of recipes calling for polenta, so I looked up how to make polenta and I’ll be trying some of those out next, along with some other meatless recipes. And I’m going to try making my own cereal bars. I’ll let you know how it goes. ;)

Cheap, Easy and Delicious I

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Comments

27 Responses to “Cheap, Easy and Delicious II”

  1. What About Mom on July 1st, 2008 7:57 pm

    I LOVE Connie’s zucchini crab cakes. They are sooo good. Best thing ever to make with all that lovely garden zucchini. I think I even like them better than regular crab cakes.

  2. kapgar on July 1st, 2008 8:27 pm

    Katie’s not a big crab fan, so those “crab” cakes may be right up her alley. I’ll have to show her the recipe and see what she thinks.

    kapgars last blog post..I want to ride it where I like…

  3. Playful Professional on July 1st, 2008 8:29 pm

    I love cheap, easy, and delicious. We had Pad Thai tonight that was pretty easy and just threw a little bit of sliced chicken in it to give it some protein. Yum.

  4. Bee on July 1st, 2008 8:34 pm

    ::GROAN!::
    I m sooo hungry! I swear, one of these days I’m going to make one of the de-lish sounding recipes!

  5. suburbancorrespondent on July 1st, 2008 8:45 pm

    I find stirfries to be fairly economical, because you substitute whatever’s cheapest that week into them.

    Polenta is really grits? That’s what wiki says…

  6. Mozi Esme's Mommy on July 1st, 2008 10:57 pm

    These recipes look really good! We don’t eat meat (a good thing in a strange country where you don’t know what exactly is on your plate) - and cheap is always a good thing, especially if it tastes good, too.

  7. lilacspecs on July 1st, 2008 10:58 pm

    Interesting. I’ve been toying with the idea of weaning us off of meat and it’s good to know there are some good vegetarian alternatives that don’t include tofu. Although, so you know, quorn is a good meat substitute. It doesn’t have the nasty texture of most protein supplement foods.

  8. Jenn @ Juggling Life on July 1st, 2008 11:58 pm

    I’m a huge allrecipes fan myself. My cookbooks just sit there while I troll the computer.

    Jenn @ Juggling Lifes last blog post..MotherTalk Book Review: A Summer Affair And A Giveaway

  9. JCK on July 2nd, 2008 1:55 am

    What! You only repeat recipes every 3 months or so? Try every week!

    Cool site for recipe ideas. I love polenta!

  10. Jacki on July 2nd, 2008 4:53 am

    Oh I know what you mean about the grocery prices. Like this past week I bought 5 grocery bags of fruits, vegetables and baking supplies and it came to $170 (after saving $80)!!! I mean, 3 bags were fruits and vegetables. But when we are paying $2.50/pound of apples, it gets expensive rather quickly.

    Have you tried of Kraft’s Food and Family magazine? It has good easy recipes.

    And cereal bars? I have to make those, too, from scratch. I’ll have to send you a recipe that uses a cake mix, peanut butter and jelly and oats. It’s good.

    Jackis last blog post..But at least I didn’t sing

  11. Marianne on July 2nd, 2008 6:04 am

    Love the look of these, thank you- such a wonderfully useful and diverse blog, love it! x

    Mariannes last blog post..Free-wheeling my way to shameful pants exposure, or "Cycling in Paris"

  12. Ree on July 2nd, 2008 6:20 am

    I love chickpeas - I’m trying that one!

    Rees last blog post..Brilliant Ideas

  13. Lori on July 2nd, 2008 7:20 am

    Thanks so much for the new website idea-I meant to ask for some new ideas in my post!

  14. Lisa on July 2nd, 2008 7:55 am

    These look great! New meatless recipes are always welcome here, as we always skip meat on Fridays, and, like you, due to high prices, skip it on at least one other day of the week, too. I can’t wait to try the faux crab cakes.

    Lisas last blog post..Michelle

  15. Dumdad on July 2nd, 2008 8:16 am

    I hadn’t realised things were so bad for you over there. I shall send over food parcels forthwith, even fifthwith if necesasary…

    Dumdads last blog post..Chez Antoine – chapeau!

  16. geekwrench on July 2nd, 2008 8:16 am

    are you going to blog about any of the food at the reunion? im curious simply because we cant have any.

    geekwrenchs last blog post..X Pensive

  17. Smalltown Mom on July 2nd, 2008 8:41 am

    If only my kids didn’t have issues with zucchini. I bet they wouldn’t even taste it in the chili!

    Smalltown Moms last blog post..Go hang a salami; I’m a lasagna hog!

  18. Denise on July 2nd, 2008 8:58 am

    So happy to see you make some meatless meals! I love cooking vegetarian, it’s always interesting and usually very healthy. I’ll definitely check out the allrecipe links. Look forward to seeing what else you find :)

  19. Kimberly on July 2nd, 2008 11:22 am

    Mmm….I’m feeling hungry suddenly…

    Kimberlys last blog post..Addlepated

  20. Ellen on July 2nd, 2008 11:31 am

    Hi! I’ve been looking for some cheap, healthy vegetarian recipes myself lately. Boy, that grocery bill keeps climbing. I found some under the beans section of http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com. I already love her homemade taco rice mix. And I NEVER use tofu or TVP. Blech.

    Ellens last blog post..Biblical encouragement…

  21. VE on July 2nd, 2008 11:47 am

    Kraft Mac & Cheese! Every meal. That’ll cut down the grocery bill. You may never have to go to the bathroom again too.

    VEs last blog post..Barkdust

  22. MamaGeek on July 2nd, 2008 12:14 pm

    Yum. O. The look delicious Marie. You’re right lack of variety does suck the soul right out of you.

    MamaGeeks last blog post..And Now A Word From The Garden

  23. Krissa on July 2nd, 2008 12:19 pm

    Wow! Those sound great! You’re right about the meat eaters attitude. I tend to think that men are worse about these things. I know mine is. John just can’t get his head around NO meat in any particular meal.

    Krissas last blog post..Cavity search 2008 continued…and allergic reaction 2003

  24. the mama bird diaries on July 2nd, 2008 2:02 pm

    Gosh, my husband loves his meat. It’s crazy.

    Great ideas. I am stunned everytime I go to the grocery store. Stunned by the cost.

    the mama bird diariess last blog post..simple ways to save the environment - ditch the plastic bags

  25. Coast Rat on July 3rd, 2008 6:39 pm

    Crab cakes I love, having had them a few times while I have been down her on the Gulf Coast. My wife makes the best zucchini burgers ever! I certainly have missed them, and hope to have a few when I am home for a visit in 3 weeks.

    Coast Rats last blog post..REESE STOPPED BY

  26. Mary Alice on July 3rd, 2008 8:03 pm

    I bake my own bread…fairly inexpensive…anyway I find that if there is plenty of hot bread to fill up alongside the meatless dish, they hardly complain at all about the meatless part.

  27. StartsWithanX on July 5th, 2008 11:57 pm

    The crab cakes sound delish. Mmm, mmm, mmm!

    StartsWithanXs last blog post..Week From Hell

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