Blue Palate

I was in a car accident the other day. Not major, but my first and enough to warrant a trip to the ER for whiplash. I’m glad to only have had a few days of neck and back pain and nothing more serious, except the hassle of a totaled car. To celebrate my survival, I cooked up the perfect remedy: steak.

Saturday’s menu started with a Camembert cheese plate with apples and sparkling wine. For dinner I made pan-seared sirloin fillets with caramelized onions and red-wine pan sauce, green salad with lemon and oil dressing, garlic Parmesan bread, all complemented with a fruity, velvety Washington cabernet. Warm cookies and vanilla ice cream for dessert. Lots of love and attention from husband. Wounds healed.

And it’s always empowering to prepare a fall-off-your-seat meal for a quarter of the restaurant price. A couple of friends recently spent $300 at a popular Portland steakhouse and left feeling undernourished. I spent less than $50 and was healed head to toe.

While I don’t believe eating is the best method of dealing with one’s emotions, a little comfort food can go a long way to heal temporary wounds. It’s not so much the food, but the power restored to my body and mind knowing I still have the ability to create something spectacular.

A bowl of pho a day may keep the doctor away. (Image by androog)

Pho was one of those dishes I was always a little afraid to try. Mostly because I didn’t know anything about it. I knew it was soup and many versions contained tripe. Not a fan of animal intestines, I steered clear.

Given my fear of pho, I wasn’t sure what compelled me one afternoon to walk into Pho Hung, a popular and oddly located restaurant off SE Powell and 47th. (Pho Hung is a small chain and has a few locations in the Portland area and a couple in Texas, strangely enough). As soon as I opened the menu, my apprehension subsided. Pho Hung makes things very easy for the pho phobic. Options are categorized into Adventurer’s Choice (think lots of tripe and tendons), Everyday Favorites (still somewhat tripe-y) and For Beginners (completely tripeless).

Just to be on the very safe side I ordered the chicken noodle soup. The waiter brought a little dish of bean sprouts, basil, lime wedges, and hot peppers, which I had watched other patrons add to their steaming bowls. The broth was salty, rich, tart from the lime and slightly sweet. It had an exotic herbal flavor and aroma I couldn’t pinpoint. The noodles were soft and plentiful, the fresh garnished added texture and bright flavors, and the chicken was tender breast meat. No intestines in sight.

The pho at Pho Hung is a fantastic deal at $6.50 for a large, definitely enough soup and noodles to feel satisfied if not stuffed. Those not in the mood for soup can choose from other entrees like bun (vermicelli noodle bowls), rice dishes and other specialties. Even the most expensive dish is under $10.

Since my first bowl at Pho Hung, pho has become one of my favorite budget meals. Pho phobic? Pho Hung is a perfect place to break yourself in.

He could save 20% on his food budget. (Image credit: Tambako the Jaguar)

The other day my sister Caitlan asked me if I thought $350 was an excessive monthly food budget for one person. I said I thought it was, but eventually changed my mind. Those of us who are conscious about what we buy and put in our bodies can easily spend $12 a day on groceries. In our current food system, whole foods like lean meats, fresh produce, whole grains and unprocessed sugars are generally more expensive than refined foods made with cheap fructose. Cost rise considerably for those who choose organic over conventionally grown foods.

It’s a dilemma I share with my sister. How do we feed ourselves well, have less impact on the planet, and spend less than $50 per week per person? I decided to experiment by cutting one of the most expensive items from my food budget this week: meat.

My husband and I cook meat at home about 4-5 times per week. Even though it’s not an every day occurrence, meat accounts for approximately 20% - 30% of our weekly food budget. Trim that off the bill and we’ll have met our goal of less than $50 per week per person. But will we feel satisfied? Will we get enough protein? Without possessing the convictions behind vegetarianism, will it be difficult to stick to a truly meatless diet? And do we really have to eat tofu?

Today we started with a meatless breakfast burrito and plan to have leftover veggie pizza for lunch. Dinner will be a cauliflower and pea curry with brown rice. So far so good. I’ll blog over the next week about our experimentation with vegetarianism. Stay tuned.

image credit: Aubrey Arenas

Traveling on a tight budget can be tricky, especially in winter months when camping isn’t an easy option for those light on gear. After the costs of airfare or gas, hotel, and sightseeing add up, often there’s little leftover for fine wining and dining.

The gastronomic experience in a new city or town is as important to many as the museums, events, sports, shopping or hiking. Also, part of being on vacation is a holiday from the kitchen and monotony of everyday cooking. How do we eat well on the road and have money leftover to buy groceries when we get home?

Having taken many trips with limited funding, I’ve devised a few strategies for sticking to a budget and enjoying the culinary aspects of tourism.

• Book a hotel room with a small kitchenette. Cook most meals, especially breakfast and lunch, and splurge on a couple of nice meals. Grocery shopping in a new city can be as fun as dining out!
• Drink in your hotel room and save your money for meals. Alcohol can be the most expensive part of dining out. Buy a couple of your favorite bottles of wine or some cocktail makings and have a drink and appetizer (like some healthy nuts) on your balcony rather than the bar. At the restaurant, hold the alcohol or just order a glass instead of a whole bottle.
• Research restaurants before you go. Often, if we are unfamiliar with a city, we find ourselves hungry, desperate and eating in over-priced, underwhelming tourist-trap restaurants recommended by the concierge. Read up on a city or town’s top-rated restaurants, which aren’t always the most expensive, especially in local entertainment guides or weeklies. Websites like Yelp and TripAdvisor are useful too. (Read the customer reviews!)
• Be adventurous. The fun of traveling to a new place is trying new cuisine, the best food is often the local food. Eat where the locals eat. Venture from the downtown. Visit an international neighborhood or a college campus. You’ll likely find yourself paying less and having a more intriguing experience than if you ate at the fancy bistro across the street from your hotel.
• Splurge on one or two great meals. If you can’t have a vacation without visiting a five-star restaurant, pick one or two to visit for lunch (cheaper) or dinner, and eat frugally for the other meals.

Are you a seasoned budget traveler? Share your tips for vacation dining with fewer finds.

Black beans are a true Blue Palate Special. They’re full of protein, folate, fiber, magnesium, iron and other wonderful nutrients. Black beans low in fat and can cost as low as $0.49 per can. And prepared my special way they can be quite delicious and served a variety of ways. This recipe takes about 15 minutes.The total cost for the recipe was around $3 and will feed 2-4 depending on how it’ s served.

Black Beans a l’Awesome

Chop one half of a yellow onion and one anaheim pepper. Saute in a little olive oil on medium heat until tender. Add 1/4 cup chopped cilantro, 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp powdered chipotle or chili powder and 1 tsp salt. Saute for two minutes. Add one small can of diced tomatoes. Mix until tomatoes are coated and cook until aromatic, about 2 minutes. Drain two cans of black beans and add to mixture. Cook for 10 minutes on medium-low heat.

Ideas for serving:

Spoon beans atop baked russet or sweet potatoes or fresh-baked corn bread.
Serve with warm corn tortillas.
Serve with cooked brown rice and pico de gallo.
Add to a burrito, along with some lettuce, rice, cheese and salsa.
Served alone, topped with a little cheddar cheese, sour cream or avocado.

I had a hankering for happy hour the other day, and while Portland is filled with a cornucopia of choices for cheap eats after the work day, I am pretty budget conscious these days. I’ve been trying hard to limit eating at bars and restaurants, despite inexpensive options some might offer. Instead, I visited my good neighbor Trader Joe’s to see if I could mimic the happy hour experience, recession style.

Alcohol: Since Oregon’s archaic liquor laws prohibit selling hard liquor in grocery stores, I had to stick with wine or beer. Beer from a bottle didn’t seem quite conducive to the happy hour experience so I chose a bottle of Valreas Cuvee Prestige from Cotes du Rhone for $5.99. The wine was delicious, and way more drinkable any bar’s house red.

Appetizers: Trader Joe’s knows frozen food. Spanikopita, mini quiche, empanadas. Even taquitos. I went for the samosas for $3.29 and a jar of mango chutney for $2.99. The samosas were crispy but not too greasy. Just the right amount of salt and fat to feel like a real happy hour experience.

Grand total: $12.17 for about 2 glasses of good quality wine and 3 samosas each. At a bar or restaurant, even during happy hour, we would have spent around $20-$25 including tip. Plus we had chutney left over and didn’t have  to deal with noisy professionals elbowing for a table.

Nosh on!

I am leading a hectic life these days. Not to whine, but my weekday schedule consists of three consecutive 12 hour days. Bottom line: I don’t have a ton of time to cook (Or write blog posts…wink wink). This Sunday I was very proactive though and, with the help of my legal boyfriend Peter, made three meals that have lasted through the week. I am very proud of my planning, and also proud that all three recipes are my own. Not stolen from a cookbook or pilfered from a cooking website. I came up with all three of these recipes and they are all cheap, healthy and easy. I will share them with you. Here’s the first. Pilfer away.

Lindsay’s Cauliflower Sweet Potato Curry

Saute half a chopped onion in olive oil. Add a half cup of fresh cilantro. Add a couple teaspoons of curry powder and one teaspoon of garam masala. Saute until fragrant. Add a half cup of chicken or vegetable broth, 2 tbsp of tamari or soy sauce, 2 tbsp plain yogurt and one head of cauliflower, chopped. Saute for 7 minutes. Add 1 large or 2 medium peeled, chopped sweet potatoes. Let cook for 10 minutes. Add a bunch od chopped spinach, chard or kale. Cook for 10-15 minutes until greens are soft. Serve with brown rice, couscous or quinoa.

I used orange cauliflower. It tastes the same as white, but looks prettier.

I used orange cauliflower for the first time in this delicious curry recipe.

Smart Money recently published a helpful article detailing 8 Ways to Cut Your Grocery Bill. This article  caught my attention because I recently implemented a grocery cost cutting plan of my own. My goal was to trim our weekly grocery bill from $100 to $75, saving us $100 per month. I’m not a coupon clipper, but I do have a few tactics that have worked well for me. I though I would share my own strategies for eating through the recession.

Buy in bulk - I don’t mean buying industrial size cans of tuna at Costco. Many grocery stores have a bulk food section, where they sell various cereals, grains, nuts and even candies by the pound. Bulk food is generally cheaper than the packaged variety and you can buy as much or as little as you want, which can reduce waste and save you money. If anything, look into buying dried herbs and spices in bulk. Jarred herbs are incredibly expensive compared to bulk.

Make a menu and shop with a list - It’s helpful to know what you are buying before setting out to the grocery store.  A while ago I started planning a weekly menu before I made my grocery list, so I know exactly what I need for the week. Shopping with a list can help you avoid purchasing unnecessary items and reduce impulse buys, since you are less likely to browse.

Cut back on meat - Meat tends to be one of the most expensive products in the grocery store, especially if you are like me and paranoid about buying discount meat or anything that might be pumped with hormones and antibiotics. I’ve saved a lot of money by periodically substituting beans for meat as a source of protein in my diet. Try it 2-3 times a week. You could save up to $20 on your weekly bill.

Buy fewer packaged/prepared foods - Cost per ounce, packaged foods tend to be more expensive than non-packaged. If a busy lifestyle has you dependent on microwave meals or packaged foods, try cooking on two or three not-so-busy nights a week and doubling or tripling your recipes. Eat throughout the week or invest in some freezer-safe containers and freeze individual portions for future meals. (This is a fun thing to do with friends - each person picks a recipe and brings enough ingredients for several servings. Buy a couple of  bottles of two buck chuck, hold a cook-off, and swap meals.)

Avoid the center aisles of grocery stores - In the first chapter of her book “What to Eat,” nutritionist Marion Nestle outlines the science of supermarket layout, a crafty, elaborate process designed to influence customers to spend more money. Among many other shrewd tactics, markets tend to stock common items such as produce, milk, and meat in the periphery, while high-profit items such as snacks, bottled drinks and juices, and packaged foods in the center aisles. Adhere to your list, stick to the outer area, and avoid browsing these center aisles. You’re less likely to be temped by over-priced (and likely not so healthy) cookies and chips.

Buy seasonal produce - The least distance it had to travel, the less it’s likely to cost. Become familiar with what is in season in your area, and consider buying frozen produce for must-have, out-of-season produce. Farmers markets and community-supported agriculture (CSA) operations are great resources for fresh, seasonal, and inexpensive produce.

Don’t shop hungry - Everyone knows this one, because everyone has gone to the store famished and come home with a box frozen beef taquitos and two different flavors of kettle chips. Have a snack before you go, don’t go right after work, pick a weekly time to shop when you won’t be starving.

Adjust your tastes - This is probably the hardest. Some foodie lifestyles are not budget friendly. If you are used to only drinking wine that’s in the $20 range, stocking your fridge with cheeses from half of Europe, or eating fresh fish five days a week, it may be difficult to change to a recession-mandated diet. Experiment with simple ingredients and recipes. Try a five dollar bottle of wine. Learn ways to indulge without going bankrupt.