Food Blog: Meals on a Budget

Monday, May 10, 2021

Meals on a Budget

SURPRISE ME! • RECIPES • BOOKS • VIDEO • MORE

Monday, May 10, 2021

Good morning!

Taxes are due next week and if this has you feeling particularly bereft of funds, come, sit down: you're not alone. On the plus side, I think we, along with probably every elder member of our family, know that you do not need to have deep pockets or ever fancy ingredients to cook and eat well. You just need a few good recipes. Humbly, I hope you'll find a bit of inspiration below for some of my favorite meals and dishes that help us keep our grocery budget in check. Oh, and we'd never skip dessert and don't think you should have t0, either -- I wish I could see your reaction when you try them.

Cheers,
Deb

Fresh and New

twisty cinnamon buns

New: Fragrant, heavenly, cinnamon, brown sugar, salted butter buns with a little twist, or, in fact, several. As they fan open in the oven, the filling lightly caramelizes and crisps. Each bite has an equal amount of cinnamon ribboning, and you can cut them into any size your heart desires. Cream cheese icing on the side, because these are too pretty to cover.

Meals on a budget

cannellini aglio e olio

A 10-minute meal from doctored-up cans of beans and artichokes, treated like pasta. The result is a warm, almost creamy bean salad that you can finish with parmesan and eat with a fork straight a bowl, or ladle over slices of toasted baguette.

three-bean chili

A three-bean chili for the stovetop, slow-cooker, or pressure cooker is a food prep dream-come-true, and it's even vegan if you skip that dollop of sour cream on top.

pasta with garlicky broccoli rabe

For those of us who never have any idea what's for dinner until it's hangry o'clock, this is our in-house 15-minute 4-ingredient dinner savior. It includes a pound of greens and is willingly consumed by at least 75% of the family, i.e. it’s a miracle.

brussels sprout and bacon frittata

This hearty, vegetable-heavy, and slightly decadent dinner frittata from Justin Chapple has saved the day twice this month; it really feels like a meal.

quick pasta and chickpeas

A 20-minute, 5-ingredient (I bet all 5 are in your kitchen right now), abundantly flavorful dish that I cannot resist adding one slightly crispy and dramatically sizzling finish to.

falafel

I once presumed making falafel would be complicated, best left to the experts. Once I learned how staggeringly simple it is -- not to mention vegan, gluten-free, and so quick to assemble, you might decide you have time enough leftover to make homemade pitas worthy of you perfect falafel -- I basically want to make it all of the time.

eggs in purgatory, puttanesca-style

Who likes meals you can make in 15 minutes? Me me me! Classic eggs in purgatory with a sauce that's more puttanesca (spicy and bright) than the usual marinara.

stuck-pot rice with lentils and yogurt

Cooking your rice until it sticks to the pot (something I was already an expert in) is raised here to an art form, because the crunchy bits are the best bits. Lentils, caramelized onions, cumin, yogurt and lemon juice give it a mujardarra vibe that I find hard to share.

Sweets on a Budget

funnel cake

Knots of barely sweetened doughnut strands absolutely blizzarded with powdered sugar are my favorite thing to eat on a beach boardwalk and — I am obligated to tell you — they take barely 15 minutes to make at home and taste exactly as good as you remember them.

whole wheat chocolate oat cookies

Oat and chocolate chip cookies with both whole wheat flour and (optional) wheat germ -- no wait, come back! They're craggier, more nuanced, and flavorful than any oat cookie I've made before and I don't think you'll go back to making them the old way, either.