Recipe: Chicken and Veggies Foil-Pocket

This is a good meal to make on the grill.

Ingredients:
1/3 cup chili sauce
2 tablespoons honey
4 chicken thighs or breasts
1 can pineapple chunks
2 cups dried broccoli dices
1 cup dried bell pepper dices
1/2 cup dried onion dices
salt/pepper to taste

Directions:
Empty the pineapple juice from the can into a bowl. Add the dried broccoli, bell pepper and onions to the bowl and allow to rehydrate. Prepare and preheat the grill. Combine the chili sauce and honey with the veggies and pineapple juice. Cut two 12x12" pieces of heavy duty foil. Spray with non-stick spray. Place the chicken in the center of one piece of foil and top with veggie mixture and pineapple chunks. Top with remaining piece of foil (spray first) and fold the edges twice to seal. Cook on the grill until chicken is thoroughly cooked.

Added the following April 6 2009:
Cost:
Today I bought a package of 4 chicken thighs for $2.78 (on sale, with an orange sticker).

2.78 = pkg 4 chicken thighs
1.00 = can of pineapple
.28 = chili sauce
.10 = honey
2.00 = dried vegetables/onions
===
6.16 total, but serves 4 people so... $1.54 per person

Copyright (c) 2009 VP Lawrence-Williams

Recipe: Roasted Garlic

I had such a craving for roasted garlic the other day that I made a special trip to the grocery store just to get some fresh bulbs. Here's how to do it:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Peel the outer skin from the garlic bulb but make sure the skin around the individual cloves stay put.
3. With the root end on your cutting board, slice the top 1/4 off the bulb. This will expose the cloves. The root end will keep the cloves all attached together.
4. Place the garlic head (bulb) on a sprayed piece of aluminum foil. (Some people use small pieces of aluminum in a muffin pan so they won't move around.) It's okay to place more than one bulb per piece of foil. Drizzle the bulbs with some olive oil, using your fingers to ensure the garlic bulb is well coated. This will prevent burning.
5. Cover with more aluminum foil. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the cloves feel kinda squishy and soft when pressed.
6. Allow to cool slightly. Use a small sharp knife to slit the skins around each clove. Squeeze the roasted garlic cloves out of the skins.

This is especially tasty when spread on crispy buttery bread. Or mash with a fork to use for cooking or adding to salad dressings. Or mix with sour cream to top baked potatoes. Or add to a little parmesan cheese, butter and pasta.

FYI: The big "whole" is the bulb, and the individual parts are called "cloves. Some people (yes, including the past me) get these mixed up.

Alternate: Instead of using the oven, you could roast it in the foil on a grill. The aroma it gives off sometimes flavors other foods on the grill.

Copyright (c) 2009 VP Lawrence-Williams

Blog Contest Starts Today!!

Let's get right to the contest ... we aren't requiring you to do much to enter the contest. Here's the details:

Dates:

Entries will be accepted March 30 through April 5, 2009 ... The contest started when we uploaded this "Blog Contest Starts Today" post at 12:01 AM (Denver, CO, USA MDT) on March 30. So if you are reading this post before midnight on April 5, there's still time to post your entry comments.

2 Ways To Enter:

1. Write a 50-100 word review (in English) about a survival or homesteading book. Leave the review as a comment under the "Blog Contest Starts Today" post, and be sure to include your name in case you're the winner! Each comment gets you 2 entries! You can comment more than once but each comment/review needs to be about a different book.
2. Leave a comment on the "Blog Contest Starts Today" post, showing where you've linked about this contest and this post on YOUR blog and/or website. We'll be checking! Each link gets you 1 entry.

Prizes:

Winner will receive the following:

• a $40 gift card to Amazon.com - to spent on what you want - seeds, books, groceries, etc.
• a $15 coupon/gift certificate to our online bookstore
• a copy of "The Live Food Factor, The Comprehensive Guide to the Ultimate Diet for Body, Mind, Spirit & Planet (by Susan Schenck, Lac), a $32.95 value. Includes $3 shipping. Anyone out of the USA must paypal $10 for additional shipping.

Rules (ugh - but a necessity):

Spam or unsuitable entries will be disqualified and deleted. Random drawing from entries will be done on April 6 2009. Winners will be notified by a blog posting on April 7 2009.

Pass the word about this contest and blog, and link / twitter / facebook / etc. whenever possible. Start commenting!

Food Preparation for an Expected Power Outage

We had a blizzard this week. The weather people told us to expect it, but because we really haven't had bad weather this Winter, most people ignore the warnings. As they did this time. We didn't. We had prepared.

This picture shows our backyard as seen through our back door. Poor Sparky-the-puppy wanted to get in but I made him wait so I could take this picture. We got about 15 inches in 24 hours. By the time it was done, those pots in the back (last year's tomatoes) were in a 3-foot snow drift.

If you know there's a possibility of losing power, think about these:

• Many fruits and vegetables will hold their quality at room temperature, so keep some of them on hand always.
• Apples, bananas, tomatoes, grapes, heads of lettuce, squash, onions, potatoes, celery, peppers, and other produce will store well as long as they are stored in a cool and dark place.

We were ready. We had been stocking up for a while: rice, beans, honey, salt, dried fruits and vegetables, powdered milk, case of soy milk and bags of cereal for Tween. But...I went to Sam's Warehouse last weekend to stock up for my raw foods diet experiment. Spread on the dining room table are bags of pears, oranges and apples, bunches of bananas, onions and potatoes. We have even more potatoes (sweet and baking) plus onions in the basement, along with squashes and pumpkins left from our last year's harvest. The carrots from the fridge could have been moved to the basement.

We have sterno and a chafing dish for warming diced potatoes and onions. We have small cast iron skillets that will work with a little stove we made from a canned-ham-can and tea-lights.

Our power stayed on, but still, we were ready!

Money Saver Menu #4: Potatoes and Pasta

When trying to figure out the next money saver menu, I was noticing how cheap potatoes can be, when bought in bulk. Sometimes you can find a bag with 10-12 potatoes for around a dollar. That prompted today's dinner menu: stuffed potatoes!

Breakfast:
.25 = 1 serving rolled oats cooked with...
.20 = 1 serving raisins then added to it...
.05 = 1 tablespoon honey
.08 = 1 cutie orange to the side
===
.58

Lunch:
.20 = 1 serving pasta (spaghetti is usually cheapest), dressed with...
.13 = 2 tablespoons olive oil... and
.19 = 1 tablespoon green can parmesan cheese... and
.20 = 2 tablespoons pine nuts... and
.37 = 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
.23 = 1 pear, bought on sale
===
1.32

Dinner:
.20 = 2 baked potatoes (1 @ .10 ea), topped with...
.20 = 2 servings butter (1 @ .10 ea)... and
.10 = 2 tablespoons chopped onion (1 @ .05 ea)... and
.60 = 4 tablespoons hormel bacon (1 @ .15 ea tablespoon)... and
.04 = 2 tablespoons dried spinach (1 @ .02 ea)
.25 = 1/2 can peas and carrots
===
1.39

These three meals total $3.29, way under our $5.00 goal. Does not include snacks, drinks or leftovers. The stuffed potatoes for dinner is very filling... add 1/2 a can of garbanzo beans/chickpeas for $.50 if you need more protein.

If you need more protein for dinner, add a boiled egg for about $.25 each. You could spend the remaining $1.71 for snacks like more fruit and veggies, popcorn, or drinks. Or place it in a jar to save for something special.

Those $1 a day experiments...

I was watching the news yesterday morning when I saw a story about a woman eating for 30 days on $1 a day ... that's a DAY! Her rules included "nothing that she had in her pantry or that she'd bought previously". She had a rough first week because she was basically stocking her pantry, but by the end of the experiment, she felt like she'd done ok. One of her last meals was a Japanese cabbage stir fry. The problem was... she didn't eat very well, and didn't get enough to eat or good nutrition or balanced meals.

From time to time I post articles here about how to eat for $5 a day per person. It's hard but I do my best. This is, obviously, for people who have stored food, a garden, or the actual means to spend money for food. This doesn't address the homeless problem, begging for food, dumpster diving, or getting the uneaten food that restaurants throw out (like Einstein bagels).

Setting a goal for $1.00 a day just isn't healthy, unless you raise almost all of your food yourself. I think I'll stick with providing you, our readers, money-saving-menus at $5.00 per person per day. We'll post another in a couple of hours - still working on it!

Recipe: Raw Dried Flax Crackers

I've been on a mostly-raw-food diet since Monday Mar 23. Trying to get healthy. It's hard to fulfill my goals and not even be able to walk half a block without stopping to catch my breath!

Since others have expressed an interest on how to eat "raw foods" with stored foods, I'll start posting recipes when I've perfected them. I'll be using a lot of dehydrated fruits/veggies, nuts and flax.

This picture shows the ingredients for these two types of flax crackers. The ground flax seeds container was about $10 at Sam's. For the bowl to the left, Chocolate Flax Crackers, I used the cocoa powder a couple of bucks at Kroger/King Soopers and on top of it is the packet of stevia. For the bowl to the right, Savory Flax Crackers, I used the onion and garlic powder, $.50 each at Wal-Mart.

Savory Flax Crackers
Ingredients:
3 scoops ground flax seeds
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 cup water

Directions:
In a small to medium mixing bowl, add the ground flax seeds and the onion/garlic powder. Mix well to combine. Add the water and stir. Leave it for 15 minutes, stir again. Leave it for 30 minutes and stir again. It will be very gooooey and gelatinous. That's ok - that's exactly what you need to happen. At this point you can add a tablespoon of flour (rice, wheat, etc.). Prepare your dehydrator with the teflex sheet. If you don't have one, take two pieces of plastic wrap and criss cross over the sheet. Cut a hole for your dehydrating mechanism/insert thingy (see picture). Spread the goo over the plastic or dollop into circles/crackers. Dehydrate until dry to the touch. Turn them over (carefully!) and dry until crisp. Could be 8 hours.

Sweet Chocolate Flax Crackers
Ingredients:
3 scoops ground flax seeds
1 tablespoon pure cocoa powder
1 packet stevia
1 cup water

Directions:
Follow the directions for the Savory Flax Crackers - combine the flax with the chocolate and stevia before adding water. The rest of the directions are the same. For more of a chocolate cookie, I add a bit more water and some ground almonds/almond flour. Dehydrate till crisp.

Enjoy!

Copyright (c) 2009 VP Lawrence-Williams