Eating Orange: Carrot and Sweet Potato Soup

It's a cold, rainy and gross Saturday afternoon in June.  Since it feels more like March or late October, I thought a soup would warm me up.  This blended soup is quick, easy, and pretty delicious!

Ingredients:
6 medium-sized carrots, peeled and chopped into thin slices
1 sweet potato, peeled and cubed
1 yellow onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tbsp of fresh ginger, grated
2 tbsp of olive oil
1 tin of coconut milk
2 cups of no-sodium chicken broth
1 tbsp lime juice
1.5 tbsp of curry powder
1 tsp of cumin
1 tsp of garam masala
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:
Heat olive oil over medium high heat in a stock pot.  When heated, add carrots and onion.  Cook until softened, then add spices, garlic, and ginger.  Continue to cook until fragrant.  Add in coconut milk, broth and sweet potato.  Bring to a boil and then cover and simmer until the sweet potato has softened.  Remove from heat and blend.  I prefer to use a hand blender, but a food processor would work too.  Once blended, add lime juice and season with salt and pepper as desired.

Fab Food 4 Forty $: Week 2's Memorable Moments

Hmmmm....I feel like ice cream drizzled with maple syrup.  Or chocolate....a piece of dark chocolate right now would be delicious!  I wish I could pop over to the store right now and satisfy that craving!

Wishing is as far as it got this week.  My tight budget was stretched to the breaking point and there wasn't much I could do about it.  If you read my post from Week 1, you may recall I had a date and lunch out this week to fit into my budget. 

Going through this challenge, I'm realizing more and more how much I took advantage of having unlimited access to things.  If there was something I wanted, I got it.  If it was after hours, there were 2 places within 5km that are open 24hrs.  If it cost $7.99 for a small ball of fresh mozzarella, who cares?  I know there were weeks I spent over $100 in groceries.  I didn't care if it was cheaper a couple km away, it was here and it was convenient.  I also remember the waste; eating what I wanted, not necessarily what I had in the fridge.

I'd say I'm more like a C+ student now.  I bought things I didn't end up using, and missed out on things I did.  I ran out of peppercorns to grind on Wednesday, and I had a couple people come to my rescue with a can of beer for a recipe (thanks, dad) and aluminum foil (thanks, Kristina).  By luck, I didn't run out of money.  I would have been $0.50 over, but thanks to a lucky $1 coin found on Monday by the water, I had enough.

Groceries totaled $30.05 this week.  I started off with $48.50 (adding in last week's surplus and the lucky loonie).  My date and lunch with a friend came to $18.05 in total, so I ended up with just $0.45 left at the end of the week.

• Chicken Broth (I'll have to find use for it this week)
• 2 bananas
• 1 bunch of broccoli
• Can of coconut milk
• package of 2 chicken breasts
• bag of carrots
• package of mushrooms
• 4 pack of peppers
• 2 nectarines
• 1 jumbo red onion
• 1 cluster of tomatoes
• a 6 pack of eggs
• a block of mozzarella
• a package of tortillas

Week 3's challenge?  Summer School!

Fab Food 4 Forty $: Chickpea Curry on Brown Rice Recipe

Steph's Chickpea Curry on Brown Rice

I had everything I needed in my pantry already, but if you're looking to price this meal out, it will cost you approximately $5-10 if you need to buy everything.  Consider hitting up the Bulk Barn for some of your ingredients if need be.

Serves: 4
Time to prep: 5 min
Time to cook: 30-40 min

Ingredients:
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 can of chickpeas, drained & rinsed
1 can of coconut milk
1/3 red onion, chopped.
1 cup of brown rice
1 tbsp. dried cumin *
1 tbsp. masala spice mix *
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. cardamon seeds *
1 tsp. cumin seeds *

*If you visit an Indian grocery store, you're likely to find the spices you need.  They are fairly inexpensive and a lot nicer than the ones in North American grocery stores.

Directions:

1. Cook the rice according to package instructions.  I find a rice cooker is an awesome thing to have!  Easier to cook and clean up.
2. In a large saucepan, heat oil over med-high heat.  Add the spices to the pan and stir frequently until fragrant.  Don't let them burn!
3. Add the onions and let soften.  You may want to turn the heat down to medium at this point.
4. Add tomatoes, chickpeas and coconut milk.  Let simmer down until desired thickness.  
5. Serve over the brown rice and enjoy!

Fab Food 4 Forty $: Lessons from Week 1

Week 1...
If this were Donald Trump's show "The Apprentice", I would have been told "YOU'RE FIRED!" before the end of the show.

There were successes, epic failures, surprise moments, and the realization that I still have a lot to learn.  This week wasn't easy.  Of the $40, I have $7.50 left over, which is awesome.  However, this week also included prom supervision (dinner provided), school bbq (lunch provided), and YG BBQ (dinner potlock).


This coming week, I'm completely on my own and that includes 2 meals out:  lunch with my best friend, who thankfully isn't looking to eat at a swanky gourmet restaurant, and a dinner date.  As the dinner date is a first date, it'll be interesting to see who pays.  I'm all up for going dutch, but sometimes the guy has other ideas.  Saying that, I'll be planning in the cost of dinner (approx. 1/2 my budget!).  In a sense, this week will be more like meals for $20 given my outings.

Thank you to all of you who sent me ideas & recipes.  Greatly appreciated!!!  I've got my Flipp app updated for the week and will be heading out later to brave the stores.  I'm looking forward to trying some of your ideas.


Stand-Out Moments:

Photo credit: craftyturtle 1 on flickr

• When you get distracted and forget a grocery bag with mushrooms, sweet potatoes, peaches, and zucchini and it takes you 2 days to notice, you find out what foods survive...and which ones ruin the bag.  The peaches weren't peach anymore.  I think they were trying to imitate the zucchini as they were green when I found them.  The win goes to the zucchini, which was the only survivor.  Honorable mention goes to me for pure stupidity.  Sigh....the value of food means that much more when you only have $40 to get through the week.
• Receiving a bag of dried chickpeas from my friend/colleague.  Best part is, she included instructions!  Thanks, Rachel, it's really appreciated!
• Spicy Black Bean Dip recipe found on The Lemon Bowl site.  My YG kids devoured it and I had all the ingredients at home (freebie!). 

Going through my cupboard, I was able to save on a few costs.  So, if you're interested, here's what $40 (or $32.50) bought this week:

•  2 bags of chocolate chips (baking cookies for my students)
•  3 packages of rice crackers (check out your Food Basics international aisle for cheap ones!)
•  Cremini mushrooms (died in the tragic shopping bag incident)
•  Baby Romaine lettuce
•  Avocado (2)
•  Zucchini (will be cooked today with Craig Silva's recipe suggestion)
•  Peaches (2)...RIP
•  Cucumber
•  Hot House Tomatoes (2)...I always look for Canadian produce, if not Ontario when I can.
•  Sweet Potato (2)...gone, but not forgotten
•  Tortillas
•  Tortilla chips for the BBQ party
•  Baba Ghanoush for the BBQ party.  Interesting side note, the 2nd ingredient was mayo!  I am hunting recipes for a homemade version.  Anyone have one?

Fab Food 4 Forty $

Can a grocery bill be limited to $40 a week?

I've been researching and reading different blogs trying to determine how other people accomplish this.  It's definitely possible, but a lot of what I read involves buying pre-packaged and reconstituted foods.  Eating Kraft dinner or using coupons to buy Sidekicks at a discount isn't that appealing to me.

It has been challenging to find people talking about their success with a $40 grocery bill and it NOT be processed foods.  So I'm curious.  Can I create healthy, unprocessed meals for 13 weeks without spending over $40 per week?

A lot of people suggest planning, couponing, and buying sale items only.  It makes a lot of sense.  If you go into the store with an idea of what you're buying and how much you'll spend, you're less likely to indulge in impulse shopping.

In addition to working with my budget, there are a few other reasons I'm taking up this challenge.  One is waste & indulgence.  I'm guilty of having great ideas at the grocery store and buying what I want, not necessarily keeping to what I need.  Sometimes that leads to food going bad and I have waste.  Having visited countries where people are literally starving, I'm not really proud of my behaviour.

By sticking to my budget, I can't act impulsively and pick up junk food just because I have a craving for it.  Hopefully this $40 diet helps me to accomplish my healthy living goals too.


Week 1 starts Monday.  Time to get busy planning with my apps Flipp (thanks, Wendy) and Paprika (thanks Paul & Melissa).  If anyone's curious about following along, I'll be updating throughout the challenge.  If you have tips or recipes to share, I'm all ears.  I've already received a few ideas (thanks, Erin) and I'd love to hear yours.

Eat Me

Before the movie starts, you're reminded to visit the concession stand and are bombarded with images of buttery popcorn and "refreshing" soda.  On the way home, there are billboards after billboards advertising food, restaurants, and beverages.  Watching TV or surfing the Internet will expose you to food marketing everywhere you turn.

Everything screams, "Eat Me!"

What I find comical about the whole business is that more times than not, they use slim and athletic models to advertise even the worst food offenders.  I mean, if the model ate what these companies are promoting on a regular basis, they wouldn't keep their jobs.

We are exposed to so much of propaganda is it any wonder that the Canadian Medical Association Journal estimates that by 2019, 21% of the population will be obese?  Not just overweight, but obese.

Canadians in the GTA are spending more and more of their time commuting for work.  When they get home, they're tired and hungry.  Convenience often spells disaster.  Reach for the pizza number and dial in an order, stop at Wendy's for a Baconator, or get a snack pack at Tim Hortons.

One of the biggest struggles I'm having with food is portion control and convenience.  I leave the house between 6:45 and 7am every day.  I'd estimate that 3 out of 7 days of the week, I don't get home until after 6:30pm.  I'm hungry and tired and I don't feel like cooking because if I do, I won't eat until 9pm or later.

To battle this, I've been trying to use my slow cooker and bbq more, but it's a work in progress.  Some days I win.  Some days my will power weakens and I hear the seductive siren call beckon...

"Eat Me"

No Regrets

I will when I'm older...

Not now, but some day...

I don't have the time right now, but when I do...


Maybe you've said similar things to yourself about things you'd like to do or accomplish in your life.  After all, the end is far off and we have lots of time to accomplish our dreams.  We're young and foolish with our whole lives stretched out before us.  Right?

That's what I thought too.

In 2007, I went on a Habitat trip to Zambia led by my youngest sister.  My mom, aunt, and friends made up the rest of the team.  The most exciting aspect of the trip, aside from the build itself, was supposed to be meeting up with my sister and mom who had just done 5 1/2 months around the world.  I didn't expect to come face to face with mortality.

Looking down the irrigation corridor

The first Saturday of the build, we were drawing water from the farm's well.  Nothing out of the ordinary.  One of the villagers gestured for me to go around the well to get to the other side.  She wanted me to go down the side of the irrigation corridor and come back up.  My mind registered what I thought was a concrete slab next to the water well covering the deepest point of the irrigation corridor.  Without questioning it, I stepped onto it, expecting to walk across to the other side.

It wasn't concrete...it was tin metal.  Not designed to hold human weight.

We're not exactly sure how far down I fell, but it was close to 15 feet (or a bit more?).  For a brief second, I caught the wall on the other side with one finger, but something told me to let go.  As soon as it happened, I knew I was toast.  Every regret and dream came to mind and I accepted they wasn't going to happen.  The next thing I knew, I was standing at the bottom of the hole trying to regain my breath.  I'd landed on the thick rubber hosing and somehow avoided the scary sheet metal and rebar sticking out from the wall. 

Beauty showing where I landed

To make a long story short, by some miracle I walked away from the accident.  No broken bones, no fractures, no stress fractures.  I had some excellent bruising and a new perspective on mortality.

Life isn't a guarantee.  We don't know how many years we have, how healthy we'll be during all of them, or what will happen next year, much less in the next minute.  The promise I made to myself that trip was that I wouldn't put off the dreams until later. 

We don't know how long we're on this earth.  It might be another 40 years, it might be another 40 minutes.  It's not how long we have.  It's what we do in the time that we do get that really matters.

There are things I want to achieve in life that are scary and daunting.  Every time I wonder if I should back down, I remember the promise I made to myself.

No Regrets.

Masturdating

Before you stare in shock and think I've just said something that isn't acceptable in polite conversation, relax.  You may not be familiar with the term, but masturdating refers to going out alone.  Going to a movie alone, dinner alone, a concert alone...you get the picture.

It's also something a lot of people aren't comfortable doing.  For those of us still riding the single train, it's a constant reality.  I fully admit I've done it.  Not just once, not twice, but countless times.  I refuse to miss out on the fun just because I'm solo.

This isn't a pity party and I'm not out for the "awwww" factor.  Instead, I want to draw attention to a topic that's not frequently talked about and some people think it's pathetic.  So did I at first.  Yes, I'd rather be doing these things with friends, family, or (gosh) a boyfriend, but you don't always get what you want.  I make the choice to go out anyways, regardless of what people may think about me.

Does it feel awkward saying "one, please" when the waiter asks how many for dinner?  You bet.  Do you feel like everyone's staring?  At first you do.  But here's the thing.  I could be at home, moping, or I could be out living life, regardless of my marital status.  I like the living part better!

My family and closest friends know that it has been a long time since my last relationship.  I am coming to a point where my grade 9 students have been alive longer than I've had a boyfriend (do they even call him that when you're 34?).  If I'd chosen to spend these past 13 years avoiding masturdating, I would have missed out on life.

 I'm still hopeful that a great guy is out there somewhere and we'll have moments together laughing about the crazy stuff we've done together.  I'll also be able to look back and know that even when he wasn't around, I was strong enough and determined enough not to let that get the best of me.

Until then, how many for dinner?

One, please.