SNAP Challenge

If you follow me on Facebook, you already know I ranted about the moronic things people are buying on the SNAP challenge, which entails trying to eat for a week on just $29.  Limes, Gwyneth?  LIMES?!  Now you can count me out of the group that thinks we need to raise food stamp benefits--I've worked with enough impoverished families (and honestly, was raised in one) to tell you that handouts don't work.  The reason we have chronically impoverished people to begin with is that something went wrong along the line, be it at home, at school, or with friends.  People fall on hard times, sure... but those that perpetually live on food stamps I promise had some trauma or issue or situation in their life that prevents them from getting out, and it's almost always tied to education and resources.  Give a man a fish, he eats for a day.  Teach a man to fish, he eats for a lifetime.  Ending hunger won't happen by giving people a higher allowance on a debit card so they can buy more Pepsi or Flaming Cheetos. 

How much did you learn in school about how to budget for a household?  How mortgages and car financing work?  How much did you learn about meal planning and cooking?  Yeah we all probably sifted flour and made a cake, but did we learn how to cook a whole chicken?  A roast?  What to pair with it and how to cook basic sides?  I am adamant that social reform comes through education and not through gifts.  I've seen too many gifts unappreciated, uncared for, and even unwanted.  And when the person who receives something like that comes back a few months later and asks for more.... nothing will make you lose faith in humanity faster.

We certainly can't fix or end poverty and hunger, but I think we could get a whole lot closer if we used our resources more wisely.  I know we've all watched people use a SNAP card at the grocery store, and we've judged the hell out of their carts.  But it's important to realize they don't have the same life experiences and resources as many of us, and they don't understand it's wrong to be buying hawaiian punch.  They don't get that goldfish crackers and kraft macaroni and cheese and gushers are helping make their kids obese.  And if they realized that the cost of those four items would buy a whole chicken, a bag of potatoes, a bag of carrots, a couple onions, and some garlic, they sure as hell wouldn't know how to put it together and make it taste good.  I'm willing to bet they don't know how much they need fish oil and they have no idea how hard it is to actually meet calcium and potassium requirements with food.  Hell, even Gwyneth didn't have any idea what she actually needs to be eating, made horrible choices, and QUIT AFTER FOUR DAYS.

End rant.

So as you probably guessed, Dave and I will be completing the SNAP challenge, starting today.  I developed a plan, edited and re-edited, and entered it all into MyFitnessPal to determine how I could best meet every nutritional need with the cheapest foods possible.  This was actually really fun (well, if you're me).  I was using USDA guidelines for the most part, many of which I don't totally agree with but since the SNAP program is a government deal, it makes sense.  It was really hard to keep saturated fat down, since I could only afford one fat/oil for cooking and I chose real butter, so we will only be using 2 sticks and not the whole package.  It was a real struggle to get potassium high enough, so I had to switch a lot of things out.  As you can see these stats aren't by any means perfect, but even when we're eating really clean I don't think we come this close to hitting so many nutritional needs.  Let alone when we're eating like regular Americans!  This is a lot more carbohydrates and sugar than I normally like to eat, but they're still on the lower end of what the USDA thinks is kosher.  I want to prove that with a little know-how, you can eat a nutritionally complete diet on an extremely small amount of money.  And my purpose is that we should be funding that know-how.

Now for rules.  I read a lot of blogs where people did "paleo SNAP challenge" and I can't tell you how many of them thought it was okay to use existing kitchen items.  Uh, no.  That defeats the entire purpose and people actually on food stamps don't have a cabinet full of coconut oil, chia seeds, raw nuts, coconut flour, cacao nibs, maple syrup and honey.  That's bullshit.  I saw people on the challenge use recipes for like maple pecan encrusted snapper and I was like NOPE.  Others debate whether or not to make use of free items, and I feel like it makes more sense not to... someone on food stamps isn't going to necessarily live in a building with free coffee and work somewhere were people always bring in donuts, etc.  So I made sure to work coffee, cooking fat, and seasonings into our budget.  It's not much coffee (about 5oz, we are cold brewing for a whopping 48 hours and will be drinking the concentrate with milk to stretch it as much as possible!), and our seasonings consist of a chili seasoning packet, salt and pepper.  Soy sauce kind of counts.  Also we are using $58, because there are two of us.  Did this make it easier than just $29?  Well yeah, but SNAP benefits are given out monthly so its no different than one person buying food for two weeks. 

I bought most items from Kroger, a few from Trader Joe's, and a couple from Tom Thumb.  I live and work near all of these so it wasn't a big deal to go on the way to or from work and get what was cheapest where.  Had I used only one store, I definitely would have went over budget, so this is key.

The Food:

 

 

 

The Facts:

 

 

 

 



The Meals/sides:

Cold brewed coffee with milk
Yogurt w/bananas, almonds and walnuts
Baked tofu
Roasted carrots
Roasted chicken
Mashed potatoes and gravy (from chicken drippings and grinding rice into flour)
Chicken noodle soup (boiling chicken bones to make stock)
Liver and onions (from chicken liver) over roasted potatoes
Turkey chili
Tuna fried rice
Spaghetti with ground pork
Sautéed cabbage
Fried sweet potato hash with fried eggs
Home fries with poached eggs
Pinto beans

Normally we spend about $150ish per week, and that's eating healthy and the occasional coffee or beer.  It was kind of exciting to save $100, if all goes well I may have to work this in once a month!

Great New Find--Raw Pad Thai

So needless to say, this last weekend was ROUGH.  Between having sugar for the first time in almost a month, copious amounts of a large variety of alcohol and Texas state fair food well... I only gained 2lbs but my body haaaaaates me.  Headachey, exhausted, sore, lazy.  I decided to jump start the return to our usual generally healthy eating by doing two full days of exclusively raw food first.

I am using some old favorite recipes but I also decided to work in a new discovery and WOW was it a good idea.  This one is a serious winner!  It's kind of a general recipe that was open to interpretation based on what's available.  The idea is to eat it raw like a salad but this could easily be cooked with meat added for a fantaaaaaastic upgrade.  Here's what I used:



Sauce/dressing:

In a food processor combine:

• Juice of two oranges (get actual oranges, ok??!)
• One clove garlic
• One inch chunk of fresh ginger, skin removed
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp sesame oil
• 3/4 cup raw (not roasted) almonds
• 1 tbsp miso paste (omit if you can't find it, or substitute 1tsp chicken bouillon)
• 1 tbsp honey (optional)

Toss with the following:

• Shredded cabbage (in lieu of noodles)
• Snow peas in pod 
• Shredded or thinly sliced/peeled carrots
• Grape or cherry tomatoes, halved
• I small bunch parsley, leaves torn
• 2 green onions, thinly sliced 

Make in a big bowl/Tupperware, enjoy for the next few meals!  The almonds and sesame oil make it surprisingly filling.

End Hiatus/Pancit

Yep.  I have most definitely stopped updating.  I have more free time than ever but I still find that I can't be bothered to take pictures while cooking, and of all things that is my biggest obstacle in posting.  But really, what is his blog for?  It's not going to make me famous, these recipes are either slightly modified reposts or pretty straightforward inventions that anybody could come up with.  I'm not trying to get internet fame or make this a full time job, I just want an easy way to share things I'm eating that I'm excited about with people I know.  That's it.  So basically you don't need any damn pictures is what I'm saying.  Sometimes you'll get them, most of the time you won't, but I promise I'll post more.  Deal.

Here is my super exciting find of the last couple of months.  While searching for cheap paleo recipes I came across Paleo Pancit on paleohacks.  This meal is a trifecta of perfection--it's dirt cheap, it makes a lot of food, and it's very low calorie and low carb.  But somehow it's filling and DELICIOUS.

I changed the recipe quite a bit--the original version wanted shrimp, pork AND chicken which was meat overkill.  Too much and chicken and pork are too similar.  I suggest you choose one meat, and then it will shine.  It's mouth watering with any of these, so just use what's on sale.  Also the original recipe had more fish sauce and I thought it was too much.  Yes, I said fish sauce.  Trust me, ok?  It adds umami which is a fullness of flavor you get from msg and bacon.  Fish sauce is in Worcestershire sauce and Caesar dressing.  Umami is that je ne sais quois that makes things delicious.  And you won't overtly taste the amount I'm telling you to put in.  If you absolutely positively will not use it you can use miso paste (a heaping scoop) but I'm sure you eat fish sauce in restaurant food and dozens of things already without knowing it so you need to get over yourself and trust me.


Delilah's Revised Paleo Pancit

1 lb pork, chicken, or shrimp
1 small to medium head of cabbage (or 6 cups pre-shredded, but a head is cheap!)
2-5 large carrots (or the equivalent baby carrots or 1-2 cups shredded carrots)
2-4 green onions or fresh chives
1/4 c Soy sauce (or coconut aminos or tamari or ponzu)
1/4 cup chicken stock or broth or bouillon/water
3 tbsp sesame or coconut oil
3 cloves garlic
1 tbsp fish sauce
Black pepper
Lemon

Prep: chop cabbage into thin strips, shred/grate carrots, chop green onions/chives up (I like using kitchen scissors for this), mince garlic and cut your meat (if using chicken or pork) into 1/2-1 inch chunks.  If using shrimp, remove the tails but leave whole.


Heat the oil in the largest frying pan you have (or a wok if you own one!) and toss in the garlic.  Stir for just a second and then throw in the meat.  Cook the meat on medium to high (this won't be long if your shrimp are precooked) and then dump it into a bowl off to the side.  Now add the cabbage and carrots to the pan.  It'll be too much, but keep stirring and eventually it will wilt and become more manageable.  Once it's wilted (4-10 min, just depends) add the green onions, soy sauce, chicken stock, fish sauce and meat back to the pan and put a bunch of black pepper on top.  Stir and put a lid on for another 2-3 minutes, then dish into bowls, squeeze a lemon wedge over the top and enjoy!!!



This makes about 6 regular servings or 4 large ones.  It really doesn't need a side because it's veggies and meat together.  The broth is DELICIOUS.  It keeps well in Tupperware and reheats wonderfully.  It depends on the meat but a serving is generally only around 200-300 calories and somehow it fills you up like 2-3 slices of pizza would.

It's (paleo) BLT time!

Oh man... I owned dinner tonight.  Seriously.  Look at this:

Yeah so I was thinking, mmmmmmmBLTs.  Yeah, that thought exactly.  And then I'm thinking, Bacon. Lettuce.  Tomato.  That don't say a thing about toast.  Forget toast.

Lettuce wraps and/or cups basically suffice for everything, and bacon is never a bad idea.  And while yogurt pretty much always works for mayonnaise, I was feeling a bit saucy.  Or condiment-y, rather.  I decided to make my own mayo.

I attempted the double boiler, food safety method, but my yolk got a little scrambled.  I decided, we eat raw eggs now and again in coffee (yes seriously) and we buy nice eggs, so whatever, let's gamble. So I put one egg yolk, a teaspoon of vinegar, a dash of salt, ground mustard, turmeric and cayenne into a bowl.  I beat it on high speed with a hand mixer while slowly, over the course of about five minutes, drizzed a half cup of olive oil into the mix.   I had no consistency issues at all and it turned out great.   It did taste a lot like olive oil (which makes it aioli technically) and it was awfully yellow from the (healthy) spices but it was totally delicious, especially when paired with tomatoes.

So I guess I'd better formally recip-ize this--I give you: 

BLTs!!!!!!

1 head butter lettuce

1 large tomato

1 package (approx 10 strips) of bacon

Homemade mayo (egg yolk, vinegar, spices and olive oil) or plain yogurt

Salt and pepper to taste 

Cook the bacon, wash and separate your lettuce, cut your tomato, and put your mayo or yogurt into a ziplock bag and cut the tip off for fancy squeezing.

Take a lettuce leaf, arrange a slice of bacon and a couple of tomato slices inside, fancilly drizzle the mayo or yogurt over the top, and sprinkle salt and pepper on top.   Voila.

 My fiancé cut up some awesome shoestring sweet potato fries to accompany, and in retrospect I should have added avocado to the BLTs.  But simple as these were, they were DELICIOUS, and are definitely going to be a regular going forward.

Quick and Easy Ceviche

Tonight was one of those nights where I forgot to thaw the planned chicken until this morning (aka too late) and we spent most of our time after work on an epic run so I was NOT feeling the whole thaw and then cook debacle... Meat never turns out as juicy or tender when it is thawed in the microwave, and since I had already stuffed it with cheese I was kind of iffy on that.  For most, especially following a seven-mile run, that would be enough to provoke a fast food night, but not this girl!

Fortunately I was in possession of an avocado, a lime, some frozen shrimp in the freezer, and a garden full of tomatoes and parsley... Five minutes later, we were eating.

Quick and Easy Ceviche

 

(its in a martini glass because really, why wouldn't it be)

Ingredients:
1/2 lb frozen cooked shrimp
Two medium-sized tomatoes or equivalent
One lime
One avocado
1 tbsp fresh chopped parsley (cilantro if your fiancé doesn't hate it)
Salt and pepper to taste

Put the shrimp in a big bowl of water, and let sit for five minutes. That's how you thaw shrimp.  It's that easy.

While that's going down, dice your tomatoes and put in a medium mixing bowl.  I planted a bunch of heirloom varieties so I used 6-8 cherry-sized randoms and a few small tomatillos because I had some... Those are totally optional but very tasty.

Next, cut your avocado into cubes/chunks and mix in, you won't be smushing it like guacamole, so stir nicely.

Cut the lime in half and squeeze all of the juice into the bowl.

Cut up a few sprigs of parsley and sprinkle on top.

Pick the tails off of the shrimp and add them, along with a decent amount of salt and pepper.  Stir, taste, and adjust amounts to your liking.

I added a few black sesame seeds on the top for appearances and because I had them, again, totally optional.

Serve fancily and enjoy!

Whole meal is 500 calories so if you're splitting it, you'd want a side. We wanted something light but filling (hello avocado) after the run so it was perfect!

Creamy Pesto Chicken Bake

Okay guys, this is it.  This is hands-down my best invention ever.  I cook some pretty fantastic things that I've read about elsewhere, but i am proud to say this is 100% my own creation, there is no base recipe or inspiration really.  I was sitting at work, thinking about how delicious pesto is, and wondering how I could work it in to a baked spaghetti squash dish somehow (we make regular baked spaghetti squash all the time, with marinara and ground beef).  But pesto isn't saucy enough.  Sometimes when I'm not stressing on calories I'll add cottage cheese to our spaghetti squash bake (similar to how people put ricotta in lasagna, cottage cheese was my dad's cheap version lol) and it's tasty.  I don't know why, but my brain suggested processing the cottage cheese in with the pesto... Would that not make sauce?  And wouldn't a creamy white sauce taste best with chicken?  And if we're talking creamy chicken and white sauce, why not go all the way and splurge on some sundried tomatoes?  On that night, a star was born.

Now, this is not low-calorie.  If you cut it into 6 slices, they are 475 each.  You'd want to pair it with a vegetable side (sautéed greens, brussels sprouts, something light but filling) and exercise that day.  Most of your calories are from cheese.  But, this does taste like Jesus made it so it's a fantastic splurge and a wonderful dish to make for non-health-conscious individuals and shock with the fact that it's totally grain-free.  I give you your next dinner party dish, and undoubtedly your biggest main-dish hit.  Introducing...

Creamy Pesto Chicken Bake

Ingredients:
1 medium spaghetti squash
1 16oz container cottage cheese
1-2 lbs raw chicken breast, cut into small pieces
1 cup loosely packed fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup shredded or shaved fresh Parmesan
4 garlic cloves
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp almond flour or meal (I use this instead of pine nuts, its cheaper and I have it on hand)
1 tsp sea salt
5-10 sundried tomatoes
1 8oz package shredded mozzarella cheese
Dash of dried parsley
Parchment paper... for everything

Put the whole spaghetti squash in oven, and heat to 400.  No pan necessary, just the whole squash, uncut, right on the rack.  Leave in for 20-30 minutes, until you can sorta pierce it with a fork.  Not easily... just sorta.  This step is only to ensure that you can cut the squash without cutting your hand and/or arm off.  Then take the squash out and either let it cool or handle with oven mitts... I'm impatient so I use oven mitts and kitchen tongs.  You'll cut it in half lengthwise and then scoop out the seeds and pulp with a spoon, only out of the very center, just like a pumpkin.  Leave the flesh alone for now.  Put both halves on a cookie sheet face down (on parchment paper!) and put back in the oven for 20-40 minutes depending on the size of the squash... You can check the doneness by flipping a half and lightly dragging a fork over it... If something that looks like spaghetti peels off, you win.

In the meantime, heat the oil of your choice in a frying pan and cook your chicken.  You want it to be *just* done, not too much or it could overcook in the dish.  Once you have both squash and chicken, you can put them in the bottom of a roasting pan, casserole dish, whatever you want to use.  On parchment paper, duh.

In the rest of the meantime, make some pesto.  You should probably make pesto every day because it's amazing and you can eat it on everything.  Here is a photo I'm quite proud of to sum up pesto:

Put the basil, parmesan, olive oil, almond flour, salt and garlic cloves in a food processor and process until you get a chunky green paste.  If you were making pesto, you'd be done.  But you're making awesome sauce, so add the whole container of cottage cheese.  Keep processing.  It's a thick sauce, and I'm sure it'd be excellent as a dip or spread, if you cut the garlic down to one clove.  But since this will be baking it's garlic-loaded.  I was concerned about the thickness at first but since spaghetti squash is more watery than spaghetti, this evens out the texture of the dish as a whole beautifully.  

Now normally I'd layer but I tried, and since this sauce is so thick it stays put, to the dish's detriment. Plop it all in the pan...

...wash your hands, and dig in.  No, really.  There is no better way to more evenly distribute this.  It's kind of fun.  Enjoy yourself ;)

Mush it all up and push evenly into the bottom and all corners of the pan so you have a nice, flat bottom layer.

Now, cut up your sundried tomatoes... I use kitchen scissors for cutting just about everything, because it's easier.

Spread the sundried tomatoes evenly over the top of your smushed together layer, and then add the whole package of mozzarella (keep in mind you could use less and lower the calories, I'm just trying to be decadent here).

Then, lightly sprinkle the dried parsley on the top to add some color.

If you were going to make this ahead you'd put it in the fridge at this point, it should stay okay texture-wise for a couple of days like this.  If I'm meal prepping on Sunday I try to make pre-assembled casserole-type things within the first 3 days of the week.

Bake at 400 until cheese on the top is melted and slightly browned... this will totally depend on your pan and oven but it'll be from 20-50 minutes, toward the longer end if you had stored it in the refrigerator beforehand.  I'm not a big stickler on times, or temperatures... things tend to look done when they are.  Like this:

And, there you have it.  If you can believe me, it's even BETTER when microwaved at work the next day.

Cauliflower Leek Soup

I actually came down with a cold this week (I know, summer, wtf), I chalk it up to an obscene amount of work hours, traveling, not enough sleep, and most definitely stress.  I was pretty much eating different "healthy" canned soups during the workday but I wanted something better for dinner at home.

I considered boiling some chicken, making my own stock, adding veggies, etc... and it made me tired just thinking about it.  I wanted something easier so that I could eat it and then promptly pass out.

Then I remembered one of my favorite pre-paleo soups... potato leek.  It's easy, it's DELICIOUS, and hey... cauliflower works for potatoes in just about every other recipe, why not this one?

This is one hundred percent my own creation, I have the gist of potato leek memorized so I just did some subbing.

Dave swore it would be weird, but I just kept thinking well, broccoli cheddar works, why couldn't cauliflower soup?  And a star was born...


WARNING:  THIS IS OBSCENELY DELICIOUS.  EVEN DAVE SAID SO.  WITH THAT ADJECTIVE TOO, AND HE DOESN'T LIKE SPEAKING HYPERBOLICALLY SO IT REALLY MEANS SOMETHING.


Cauliflower Leek Soup

Ingredients:
One head cauliflower
Two large or up to four small leeks
Five cloves minced garlic (just run it through a garlic press)
4-6 cups chicken stock (you'll add to get the right texture so the amount will vary)
Two tablespoons butter (from grass-fed cows for bonus points)
Salt and pepper to taste


Chop the white portions of your leeks into slices.  Since you'll be blending this, the size isn't a big deal. A leek snob would only use the very bottom and toss the rest, but I like money and I know I'm blending it anyway so I use quite a bit more of the leek.  I would say I use about 60% of the thing.

In a large soup pot (the giant kind with handles) cook the butter until it melts on high heat.  Add all of the leeks and your minced garlic, add some salt and pepper and stir around.  Cook until the leeks turn translucent.

At this point, add four cups of chicken stock (you could use vegetable stock also, or be lazy like me and use water and better-than-bouillon).   Cook until it's at a rolling boil.

Now add your cauliflower.  It cooks faster if you've cut it into little florets.  I use most of the stem, just not the very bottom, tough part.  Throw some more salt and pepper on top.  Add a lid and adjust the heat so it's *just* boiling and cook for 20-40 minutes, until cauliflower can be pierced easily with a fork.

If you own an immersion blender, you are cooler than me, and you'd do some cool stuff at this point.  I, however, own a Ninja, so I carefully pour the whole shebang (yes it's burning hot, no, please don't die) into the Ninja and give it a whirl.  A long whirl.  If it's pretty much applesauce-textured, add some of that extra 2 cups of stock until it's less applesauce-textured.  It will still be a thick soup.

I was too sick to take a better picture.  We added shaved parmesan to the top 

because we had some extra.  If I were over-achieving, I'd also add a sprig of parsley.

There you have it.  It tasted amazing, it made wonderful leftovers, and it made me better.  Well maybe. I did get better though, and without isolating the variables you can't say it didn't...