Comments on: Eating cheaply

By: allep10

allep10 — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 03:08:58 +0000

The ragout sounds delightful, willowspirit. I’ll give it a try. I found a recipe for a fruit cobbler that’s about as easy, although less healthy sounding than the ragout. iirc it was 1/2 cup butter, melted, one cup of flour and one cup of sugar, or to taste. Mix the butter, sugar, and flour, add the fruit on top, then bake until the top browns a bit.

Another good recipe that my Mom used to use, iirc, used pie crust, mixed with the fruit and some sugar, with strips of the crust on top to decorate. Both are delicious, Mom’s recipe is a bit more chewey. Again, thanks for your comment, willowspirit (and I really do like your username. Wish I could figure out how to do neat things like that.)

By: Asinus Asinum Fricat

Asinus Asinum Fricat — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 12:11:01 +0000

I can attest for this crumble, not much left.

By: willowspirit

willowspirit — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 12:08:07 +0000

Hi Allep10, Here’s a perfect dessert for your chicken & dumplings, easy and quick to make: old-fashioned crumble. I found some early rhubarb in my garden, peeled and diced it – and added some cubed wrinkly apples that the gourmets in my house wouldn’t otherwise eat..Put the fruit (pears & plums go well in the fall) in a 12 x 8 inch oven dish, and make the crumble… about a 2 cups oatmeal, 1 cup flour, sugar to taste and some butter (I’d say about 2oz) rub all that together, cover the fruit and put it in a hot oven & bake until golden (about 30mins depending on the oven). Delicious on a chilly evening. Hope the ingredients work for you as I always improvise when cooking and baking (unlike Himself..) with sometimes disastrous effects which see us having sandwiches for dinner..This one was really good, though.

By: Asinus Asinum Fricat

Asinus Asinum Fricat — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 11:29:29 +0000

Thanks allep10, excellent post. I have this potato diary you might like to read, since I think potato will save our skin, once more. Keep writing those frugal recipes, we’ll need them!

http://www.dailykos.com/story/.....752/488419

By: allep10

allep10 — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 04:58:37 +0000

Thanks for your comment, Anne. I tend more toward vegan – vegetarian meals, but a chicken now and then doesn’t seem too harmful. I hope to soon start raising some chickens of my own. Do try the gnocchi, it is meaty and chewey, like a good pasta, and quite healthy for you. Also, thanks for the tips on the cookbooks. I read a good cookbook like others do novels. Always something new and exciting on the next page.

If you really do want to get in to vegan – vegetarian cooking, I’ve got three favorite cookbooks I use. We had many at the monastery, but these were the ones I found most helpful. The “bible” of the three is “Simply Heavenly, the Monastery Vegetarian Cookbook.” The last time I checked, when I bought my copy, it was out of print and used versions were going for over a hundred dollars. But it is that good. It was written by abbot George Burke, and published by McMillan in 1997. The second is vegetarian and is entitled “Horn of the Moon Cookbook,” written by Ginny Callan. The third, and a very good vegetarian cookbook is entitled “The New Moosewood Cookbook” by Mollie Katzen. The old Moosewood Cookbook is also very good, the new one seems mostly to have reduced fat variarations on the first. Thanks again, Anne.

By: Anne Hawley

Anne Hawley — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 03:09:33 +0000

Excellent diary on a very important subject, allep10. It’s a bit shocking how fast food costs have skyrocketed, but the silver lining is that prices are encouraging me to expand my repertoire of simple foods as well as vegetarian dishes, and as a consequence, I’m eating far more healthfully now than at any time in my more extravagant past.

I follow a similar process with a whole chicken–there’s one in the pot right now, in fact! Whole fryers are an excellent value, and I’ve learned a lot about making good stock from The Elements of Cooking by Michael Ruhlman and The Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters. Excellent stock makes fabulous soup, and it’s no more costly than doing it wrong.

I want to make those dumplings! We’ve recently discussed gnocchi on this blog, so this is my second nudge toward trying them.

More conversations on frugal cooking will be very welcome!

By: biscuit

biscuit — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 02:59:09 +0000

ooo, it’s good. It’s a Mexican soup, although often closer to a stew. It’s very, very tasty!

By: allep10

allep10 — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 02:56:02 +0000

Thanks for your reply, biscuit. Frugality matters to me, I’ve been a street person before and I do know how to live cheap. As sorry as I am to say it, it may have been good training. I’ve never eaten menudo, but may give it a try. Thanks for the link.

By: biscuit

biscuit — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 02:51:37 +0000

I am so, so glad you’ve written this. Diaries about frugality — esp. frugal eating — are so nevessary these days. And it is possible to eat cheaply and well.

I’ve been planning on a frugal eating adventure this weekend. I’m going to try my hand at menudo, one of my favorite foods ever. Even better, I have a wonderful selection of recipes to choose from, including one from drchelo.

And best of all, tripe is very cheap – at least around here.

I’ll keep you all posted.