Hunger Action Month

Did you know that September is Hunger Action Month?

Now you do. In 2013, 20% of American households participated in SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. A household qualifies for assistance when the household is at or below 130% of the Federal Poverty Level, at this time 100% is at $11,670 for a household of one person.  Working 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year equals less than an hourly minimum wage ($5.6/hour).

I knew about Hunger Action Month but I'll admit I'd never really educated myself until this year because The Junior League of San Antonio is partnering up with The San Antonio Food Bank to eradicate childhood obesity in San Antonio.

In the spirit of this partnership, Junior League of San Antonio is going orange (the symbolic color of Hunger Action Month- #JLSAGoesOrange) and challenging it's members and the community to participate in the SNAP Challenge. 

Obvious question: What's the SNAP Challenge? 

Answer: It's a challenge to live on $4.50 a day for food. This is per person, not household. Why the $4.50? It's comparable to the daily food budget of a snap participant $1.50/meal. 

Of course I got Justin to join me, partly cause I wasn't sure I could shop for one person for $22.50 for 5 days worth of food for just me. I'm pretty sure I spent that much at happy hour in the last month. On drinks alone. 

So $45 seemed more manageable for 30 meals. Read that again. 

Turns out there are pros and cons to buying for two. One loaf of bread is enough for 8 lunches, but I needed enough for 10, so I needed another loaf. How do I stretch that loaf out so that I'm spending my money efficiently? We're having sausages for dinner this week. All week long. So things like that would pop up while shopping.

I ended up spending $45.48 on food.  I feel pretty good about that.  I did a lap around the grocery store to assess my options because, honestly, I rarely pay attention.

And I came home feeling pretty good.

My Receipt:

What all those lines translate into:

 

 The fixings for our chicken salad sandwiches:

What we'll be seeing more of this week for lunch:

The menu for the week will basically be...

Breakfast: 2 eggs and 1/2 banana (Justin will likely have coffee that we already have in the house. I can go without)

Lunch: Chicken salad sandwich made with canned chicken breast, celery, almonds (I bought almost 60 cents worth from the bulk organic section) and mayo.  The sandwiches also have some mustard we already had in the fridge, a slice of swiss cheese and spinach. And a half a green apple!

Dinner: A sausage or bratwurst that will be cooked on the grill and likely wrapped in a slice of bread.  We'll split one of the containers of chopped broccoli pieces and maybe each get 1/2 slice of swiss melted on our portion.  I also have butter in the fridge, but I feel like the mustard is already a "cheat" of sorts. 

Snacks: I used the tiniest pieces of celery for the chicken salad so there's enough piece left over for us to enjoy with a tablespoon or two of peanut butter. And we have the yogurt which can be a daily snack or maybe dessert. 

I have stuff going on in the evenings on Wednesday and Thursday and then a friend coming in to visit on Friday, so I will likely eat dinner out of the house, but I went all in when it came to the grocery store trip and already know what I could have done to cut the 48 cents. I bought two 8-packs of yogurt and could have just bough two individual yogurts, but the bulk mentality that usually resides prevailed and so it goes.

While I'm excited about these tiny successes, I have to admit that thinking that hard about every grocery trip seems like a daunting task. But let's see where the week takes us. 

Farmer's Market Find: Lamb Chops

Yesterday I had a lovely afternoon with my mom at the Ripe Farmer's Market at Eilan. We went to a cooking demo with Sustenio's executive chef and enjoyed a tasty arugla, fried okra salad with corn vinaigrette. 

Of course the chef's knife skills were amazing and I learned a thing or two about how to properly dice a tomato.  

After the demonstration we wandered out to the meat vendor, Alamo Cattle Co., and I ended up buying some lamb chops and a package of bacon wrapped chicken breasts stuffed with de-seeded jalapenos and cream cheese. 

Let me say a thing or two about these chops.  Upon first glance, you might think $12 is too much to pay for them.  But au contraire.  With the right seasoning, these were amazing and I'm pretty sure I am going to be dreaming about them tonight.

The recipe we used to cook these can be found here- 10-minute Rosemary Lamb Chops.  It says it's for 12 chops, so my sous chef, Justin, and I just adjusted down a little bit. One of the coolest parts about it- we got to use the Rosemary from one of the bushes we have out back. We bought it to help keep the mosquitos at bay over the summer.

You can see that they are sizzling in the pan.  Well I heated it up under the broiler just as the instructions said to do.  And then they got 5 minutes in the oven. 

They weren't medium rare, but they weren't overdone either.  I definitely look forward to cooking these again. 

As a side I thought a cauliflower gratin might be good.  So I found this recipe for a skillet cauliflower gratin. And took a head of cauliflower from this:

To this!

Because I am trying to eat lower carb, I subbed out the regular flour for soy flour and the bread crumbs for pork rinds.  As a whole this was also pretty delicious. 

So for dinner we had a pretty full plate:

Justin wouldn't mind having something green on the plate next time, but I know he's gonna go to bed and dream of the lamb chops too.  

Side note- this was my first attempt at cooking lamb chops ever, so this recipe is pretty fail proof. Also my first attempt at the cauliflower gratin.  Obviously I would happily make both again!

Pinterest Cauliflower Pizza Dough

I have to tell you the truth. 

I'm addicted to Pinterest.

But, and this is something to consider, I've actually made stuff from there. Not as much as some, but more than others. So at least there's that. Which I guess isn't really much. You know what is really something though?

Cauliflower Pizza Dough!!!!!!

I'd seen it and pinned it, twice actually. Here and here.

For this little kitchen experiment, I went with pin numero dos. Which links to a pretty cool site that I haven't spent much time on, but I want to give the Cook Lisa Cook blog the credit it deserves for making this a pretty successful endeavor.  Again, I didn't change the main part of the recipe so please go to her site and give her the hits it deserves. But if I can do it... you know what comes next.

I didn't take pictures of all of the steps, but it looks pretty similar to what you'll see on the Cook Lisa Cook blog when you go for the step by step. 

This was mixing the riced cauliflower with the egg and cheese to bind everything together.

Justin walked in I was mixing the dough. He later told me that when he saw it he was "less than enthused" because he hadn't enjoying the pureed cauliflower experiment that I did not document. Let's just say it has to be really hot to be enjoyable and comparable to mashed potatoes.

The dough all spread out on the countertop convection over tray.

The beef cooking up. I am a meat eater. (Not a "that's what she said joke.")

The dough all crisped up and ready for toppings! I was getting excited at this point.

A bad picture of the finished product, but still tasty looking! Loaded with part skim mozzarella and about 2 ounces of beef on each side of the pizza.

 I do think I would cook it in the big over next time, or use less dough, so it is thinner and crispier throughout.

But even Justin said it was a lot better than he expected, so I'd say it's a win!

Do you think you might give this recipe a spin?

Pinterest Zucchini Chips

So I spend a lot of time Pinning stuff on Pinterest.  Probably part of why I'm not blogging super regularly.

Feel free to follow me over there: http://pinterest.com/arianab

I've actually done some of the stuff I've seen on Pinterest.

The shoe organizer on the back of the door to hold cleaning supplies? Done it.

The binder clip to keep that pesky phone cord off the floor cause bending over every night to pick it up is just simply annoying? Done it.

What I do most often though is cook the recipes I see on there. We use the word "often" loosely here.

So I saw this awesome picture of Zucchini Chips and pinned it for the recipe. I link to the recipe because it seems like the right thing to do. I cooked mine in our "vintage" 1984 oven at the lowest temp possible, because  I do not own the dehydrator that the recipe calls for. But I bought the zucchini for this purpose and I'd be damned if it wasn't getting cooked at some impossibly low temperature for 4 hours.

Maybe read instructions for something throughly before you buy more zucchini than you could normally consume. Learn from me people.

Ok, please go look at the recipe and the picture there, or the one that I pinned. And then, only then, should you look at my pictures below. You need a point of comparison for a reality check.

A side note: I used the slicer attachment on my Cusinart for the first time e-v-e-r. This is the Cusinart my Dad gave me when I graduated school, that was already probably 10-12 years old at that time. This puppy still has juice. And it looks "vintage." So yes, those are the instructions lying on the counter in this first picture of the first thing I ever sliced with the slicing attachment.

Yay, I know how to use the slicer attachment!
They don't lie, that blade is sharp!

Some of you are looking good.
Some of you are looking more chewy than crisp.

Maybe they look burnt, but they tasted crispy.
Again, compare to the original pin for  a little chuckle.

Now, I know that I HAVE to get a dehydrator. Justin's gonna love that request.

Foolproof baked bacon

So baking bacon is supposed to be the foolproof way to cook it.

Key word is "supposed."

My first batch didn't turn out so well.

Yeah, so bad you can't even tell what it is.

Maybe the bacon was too thin, I left it in the convection oven too long or the temp was too high.

I successfully completed a second attempt and by that time we were ready to eat so I don't have a picture of the perfectly cooked bacon.

It took 24 minutes to get there. I could've been almost done running two miles by then.

The lesson: Keep an eye on your pork. Even if the cooking method is "supposed" to be foolproof.

The big 3-0!

I started this blog a year ago tomorrow.  It was the day after my 29th birthday and I was having that last year of my twenties anxiety that seems to float around. Well, the year was amazing and this weekend we celebrated with a trip to South Padre Island. (Thanks to my free birthday day off from work!!)

The beach was awesome. The weather was gorgeous and the sun beat us into the cool ocean with its unbelievable heat.

Naturally, we had mimosas! We keep things classy with the strawberry garnish!

But we know how to have fun while on vacation too!

The amazing view from our amazing condo!

Justin's big beer and my sampler beer at Padre Island Brewing Company.

Birthday Bar-B-Q lunch at Van's on the way back from SPI.

I think the best Bar-BQ joint sausage I've ever had.

Homemade Chocolate Pecan Pie from my awesome friend and neighbor.

Other highlights:

• Tossing the Frisbee on the beach.
• Seeing what we thought were baby sharks in the water. (Highlight cause I'll never forget it.)
• Awesome Friday night Fajitas.
• A beautiful homemade birthday dinner by Justin: Wedge salad with blue cheese and bacon crumbles, Filet Mignon and shrimp with a Gorgonzola cream sauce, roasted asparagus and broccoli, oven baked macaroni and cheese, and an awesome chocolate cake with a fun frosting I picked out.  I was too busy eating to take pics of all of this awesomeness. 
• Fun with Friends.

  It was a super fun weekend! I'm definitely stoked for the all the fun to come in the next year. 

It's getting hot in here...

So last night after busting our butts in the back and front yard, after we both put in full days at work and I did the HEB (grocery store) run and Justin ran by Lowe's for the yard goodies, we finally were ready to cook dinner at about 8:50 p.m.

The menu:

1. Oven Roasted Cauliflower and Brussel Sprout drizzled with Olive Oil and Salt and Pepper

2. Boiled Fingerling Potatoes

3. Little 5 oz bacon wrapped HEB tenderloins

While everything was bubbling/sizzling away, I was going to do my Spanish Rosetta Stone that my mom got me as an early birthday present.  (I knew before, but reiterated my awesome language skills such as- La mujer nada. Translation: The woman swims.)

I got the veggies in the oven and the the water on to boil and am cleaning the potatoes when Justin came into the kitchen and noticed smoke pouring from the 1984 oven. I looked in the little 1984 glass window of the little 1984 oven and noticed flames! 

(Please excuse the fact that there are no pictures of our actual experience as we were working to put out said 1984 oven fire.) 

Photo from: http://cucinadivina.blogspot.com/2010/11/fire-in-hole.html

Somehow this blogger kept her stuff together and snapped a pic, whereas Justin was trying to fan it out while we, both postgrad educated people, were trying to figure out if corn starch or baking powder could be thrown on the baby, yet still totally terrifying, flames.   Our fire looked similar to this but was mostly isolated to the front right corner. 

Turns out when you are cooking with olive oil and heat, you should have a lip on the baking sheet to contain said natural goodness and prevent losing all of your possessions.  Lesson learned and new baking sheets with lips are to be purchased. 

We finished off the veggies in our counter-top convection oven in two batches in little round cake tins that fit in there. Justin showered, and then finished the meat while I cleaned up. 

So when did I master my basic Spanish sentences?  After we ate dinner from about 10:45 pm until 11:30 pm I played worked diligently with Rosetta Stone.  I think the full stomach helped my concentration.  

Bacon Explosion SB XLV

Tonight we will attend a viewing of Super Bowl XLV at the 3rd Annual Manfest. Justin's participation in Manfest begins with the making of Bacon Explosion. This thing even has a Wikipedia page. It's that official.  This is the second time he's made this and the second time we've had this much bacon in our house at one time.

Here's how our morning was spent...

First basketweaved layer of bacon

Justin working on his second layer.

Made with love.

A big plate of cooked bacon.

Sausage meat over the bacon.

Pepperoni over the sausage- Justin thought this would be a nice touch.

Pepperjack cheese- 9 slices of it- also another touch Justin thought would be nice.

All that bacon on top of the cheese.

The BBQ sauce is the final touch.

Everything all rolled into one giant loaf of meat.

4 hours later.

What's left in the pan (don't worry some of that is the cheese that melted out)

Now let's watch some football.

Curried Chicken Salad...

A few weeks ago, from all of this...

I made this...

It was OK. Just OK. I got it from the Weight Watchers recipe book I blogged about pretty early on. It looks pretty and smelled good. But it just didn't have the wow factor when I tasted it. It did do the trick for Justin when he came home after his NFL Fantasy Team draft. So I guess it was good for something.

Five reasons I love my convection toaster oven...

My husband told me that this week I'm on my own for food.  He is going to do his thing and I gotta do mine. This is when I realize that the convection toaster oven quickly enters my food prep game plan in a major way. Because really, I don't want to have to wash more than one or two prep dishes if I am cooking for myself.

We all know we don't love to do them no matter what lies your mom told you as a kid.

Our little counter top oven especially comes in handy when I don't want to use our circa 1984 original oven.  This thing is a dinosaur that we trust so little we bought a temperature gauge to go inside of it because it is always lying to us when that little light says it's ready to take on any task.  One could chide me for being an energy waster by just keeping it around and using it on occasion, but knowing that getting the kitchen redone is in our 5- (10-? 15-?) year plan, I just can't stomach dropping the bucks on it.

Back to why I love the counter top helper:

1. Semi-homemade. I cut up and toasted a corn tortilla in it last night, thus adding a little baggie of semi-homemade tortilla chips to my lunch.  A bit over done, but for a first go round, not bad at all.

Voila- corn chips that truly were baked!

2. EVOO.  I don't want to take the cover off the grill, and those asparagus spears taste just as lovely when done on the grill option with a spritz of EVOO and a shake of sea salt.

3. Easy. It can make meals for two, too! At least I manage to make it work- eggplant parmigiana, fresh from frozen stuffed clams, mini pizzas with campari tomatoes, basil and mozzarella.

4. Foil. I can line either the the teeny baking sheet or the grilling component with foil and clean-up is easy and recycle ready.

5. Unplug.  I unplug almost everything that it makes sense to unplug in the house so that we aren't electricity drainers.  Not that we are super green, but I do try to do what I can to make up for the rest of the stuff that is constantly humming away in our house. The hubby calls me nuts, but I get the electric bill first.

It really is a great convenience to have this little gadget in the house. Without it, some of our meals would have taken twice as long, thus leaving time for hunger fueled squabbles.  Don't get in the way of this girl when she's hungry.