Wednesday, March 31, 2010


This post was republished to the whole food review at 10:35:39 AM 3/31/2010
The $100.00 Grocery Bag


I had this idea, since one of my favorite seasonal recipe magazines is Everyday Food, I’d do a blog for those of us who are Gluten and Casein free and need to budget. Martha's bag is usually about $250.00.
I was looking through my circulars for the local whole food markets (not Whole Foods – but natural markets) and thought – hey – you know what? I can make up a grocery list, menu and recipes for a family of 4. I do it every week, so why not? The other complication or factorial is that most of this stuff will be local, and part of the rotation diet. For those of you who don’t know – the rotation diet provides a list of foods to be rotated throughout the week.
Everybody should have a different rotation diet based on your IgE immune response to foods, IgE antibodies are predominantly involved in the secondary immune response (the main antibody involved in primary response is IgM). The presence of specific IgE generally corresponds to maturation of the antibody response. With each such exposure to the antigen the number of different clones responding to the same antigen increases (polyclonal response), and a greater number of memory cells persist. Thus, a stronger (basically, larger number of antibody molecules) and more specific antibody-production are the hallmarks of secondary antibody response. As opposed to an IgG response which is more of a histamine response – an immediate reaction – the kind of thing that the allergy doctors like to test for and then shot you up with allergy shots, steroids and anti-histamines. (source: Wikipedia)
A few things to note – we don’t eat chicken – as a family we think eating our pets is weird – so that’s typically not on the menu. Obviously, we are not vegetarian, however, you’ll see we do eat vegetarian at least 3 nights a week. I make my own breads due to the GF thing, and we’ll use mixes, from scratch etc. We do eat eggs – and if your children can’t or won’t eat eggs there are other things you can eat. A tiny bit of soy per week isn’t going to kill you. Soy is in many packaged foods. With this list you’ll buy less packaged foods = less soy. So a tofu scramble or using a bit in lasagna isn’t going to alert the big bad tofu police. Make sure your tofu is organic, non-GMO and made in the USA – if you buy it at all.
This list does not contain: household items (toilet paper and the like), personal bath items, kitchen items, vitamins, etc. I'm assuming that you have general things in your pantry like olive oil, salt, pepper, etc.
Remember – this list is organic prices – you don’t have to go that way for all of your items.
The list:
Can I grow this?
Vegetables
Brussel Sprouts 16 oz
1.99
you can grow these yourself in almost any region
Garlic@.50lb
0.50
can grow like a bulb in a pot
onions@1.50each
3.00
can grow in pots
kale@1.69 lb
1.69
easily grown in pots
butternut squash
3.47
can grow on a vine in ground
broccoli
2.49
can grow in container
sage
2.49
easily grown on windowsill
spring mix
1.99
this can even be grown on a windowsill
Carrots
1.49
needs to grow in larger/deeper container
Beans
Garbanzo
1.59
Black
1.59
Fruit
Strawberries@3.00pack
3.00
can grow in pots
Oranges@3.00lb
3.00
patio tree
Bananas
5.00
can grow in most southern states
Kiwi
4.00
can grow on vine - must have male and female
Apples@3.00lb
3.00
patio tree
Pears@.99lb
3.00
patio tree
Avocado4@3.29
3.29
can grow in ground better buy in season at store
Meat & Eggs
scallops 1lb
7.99
Pacific Sea Bass 1ln
5.99
Ground Sirloin 1lb
5.00
CSA would be more economical
Buffalo Roast 2lb
10.00
CSA would be more economical
Eggs 1 doz
3.00
get from farmers market
Spreads
almond butter
7.59
grind up almonds instead = 1.99
Grains
bob's bread mix
4.71
can be ordered by the case
brown rice
1.14
can be ordered by the case
millet
2.00
can be ordered by the case
Masa harina
2.50
can be ordered by the case
Milks
Almond milk
3.00
can make with almonds, water and dates
Whole milk
6.00
for the husband
105.50
8.25 sales tax
8.42
total
113.92
Okay well – close to $100.00

Meal
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Breakfast
Millet porridge
Eggs in a basket
Fruit smoothie
toast with banana and almond butter
rice pudding
omelets
French toast
Lunch
pear & almond butter on *toast
leftover stir fry or fruit salad
apples and carrots with almond butter
egg salad sandwich or almond butter and jam sandwich
onion soup with garlic toasts
leftover onion soup
rice with sautéed veggies
Dinner
stir fry with broccoli and shrimp
black beans and rice
sautéed scallops, braised Brussel sprouts with garlic
burgers on rice with sautéed carrots and braised kale
sautéed greens with chickpeas
Sea bass with mashed butternut squash with sage and light salad
Buffalo tacos with guacamole
Snacks/Dessert
oranges
fried bananas
kiwi salad with orange almond cream
Strawberries
poached pears
baked apples
strawberry, banana smoothie with almond milk
*Make your bread midday Sunday!
Some Recipes (others are pretty self explanatory):
Bob’s Red Mill GF Bread – uses 3 of your eggs!
Millet Porridge
Soak 1 cup millet overnight with
2 cups of water
zest of 1 orange
Juice of one orange
Cook on medium low covered for 30 minutes in the morning. I like to add a little almond milk and drizzle maple syrup on it!
Stir fry with broccoli and shrimp (you can serve this with rice – just use 2:1 ratio when making rice – if you buy short grain brown – rinse it 3 times before cooking)
Bit of olive oil
2 cloves garlic smashed and chopped
¼ cup water
2 tablespoons Tamari
Pinch teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 pound peeled and deveined large shrimp (rinsed patted dry)
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 cups small broccoli florets
1 cup vertically sliced onion
Mix together water, tamari, crushed red pepper. Heat 2 teaspoons oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic to pan; stir-fry 30 seconds. Sprinkle shrimp with salt. Add shrimp to pan, and stir-fry 3 minutes or until done. Remove shrimp mixture from the pan. Add a little more oil to pan. Add broccoli and onion to pan; stir-fry 4 minutes or until broccoli is crisp-tender. Add shrimp mixture and liquid mixture to pan; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. If you want it ticker you can use cornstarch. If you want more flavor – use chicken broth instead of water and add more spices like ginger or 5 spice.
Eggs in a basket
1 egg for each person eating
Same number of bread slices
Pat of butter
Biscuit cutter
Directions
Heat butter in pan on medium – high heat.
Use biscuit cutter to make a hole in the middle of a slice of bread. Keep cut out circle.
Place bread in melted butter. Allow to brown for about 30 seconds. At the same time, place cut out bread in pan.
Next, crack egg in center. Allow to cook until you can’t see the bottom of the pan through the egg anymore.
Flip both the bread and cut out portion. Allow to cook for another minute or so.
Plate and eat. Season with salt & pepper. Yolk should be a little runny when cut in to. Use bread and cut out portion to soak it up.
Good Fruit Salad
Cut up ½ cup fruit per person eating – squeeze a little orange over the top and let it sit for about 15 minutes
Black beans and rice
2tb olive oil
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1 garlic cloves, chopped
1 bay leaf
1 tsp ground cumin
1 cup rice
1(14-ounce) cans black beans, drained and rinsed
2 cups water
½ apple - chopped
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Directions
Heat a large pot over medium-high heat and add the oil. Stir in the onions, garlic, bay leaves and cumin. Stir and cook for 8 minutes.
Stir in the rice, black beans, water, and salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat to low. Cook for about 40 minutes or until the rice is tender. Serve hot.
Fried Bananas
Bananas
1 ounce of virgin olive oil
4 tablespoons of brown sugar
½ teaspoon of real vanilla extract
Heat the oil in non-stick pan. Sprinkle sugar on bananas. Put in pan. Sprinkle more brown sugar and add vanilla. Cook for 2-3minutes on each side.
Onion Soup with garlic toasts
1TB olive oil
1TSP sesame oil
1 large onion halved, thinly sliced
Pinch salt
1 tsp tamari
4 cups water
Put oils in large pot over medium heat. Add onion. Cook until caramelized (45-60 minutes) – stirring frequently. Add water and tamari – cook for 30 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.
While that’s going – brush toast with olive oil and rub with one clove of smashed garlic – grill in a pan until brown and fragrant. Cut on diagonal – serve with soup.
Scallops with braised Brussels and garlic
2 cups brussel sprouts
2 garlic cloves
Drizzle of olive oil, salt and pepper
1lb large scallops (if you have puny ones – I recommend you stir-fry them)
Preheat oven to 350F. Smash 2 cloves of garlic and chop. Put in bowl. Brussels – rinse, trim and cut in half. Put in same bowl as garlic. Toss with olive oil, salt and pepper. Pour contents into 8x8 pan cover with foil. After 15 minutes remove foil and bake 5 more minutes. Take out and toss again. Ready to serve.
After you remove foil from Brussels wash and pat scallops dry. Get out a nice pan or grill plate – add drizzle of olive oil – medium high heat. Salt and pepper your scallops. Add them to the moderate hot pan – cook for 3 minutes each side. They should have a nice sear and come up easily when flipping (not stick). Put the Brussels and scallops in a shallow soup bowl or on a plate. S&P to taste. If you want squeeze some orange or lemon over – soooo good. You could also make a sauce out of the scallop pan with ½ cup wine and a pat of butter – if you have it handy.
Kiwi salad with almond cream
Trim and cut your kiwi into bite sized pieces. Put a TBS of almond butter, juice of 1 orange and 4 TBS almond milk in a blender – blend it up – if too thin add more almond butter – pour over kiwi. Serve n bowls – some mint goes nice with this.
Sautéed greens with chickpeas
Olive oil
1 can chickpeas – drained and rinsed
2 cloves garlic
½ onion sliced thin
2 bunches kale – washed and chopped fine (could use any hearty greens)
S&P
Tamari to taste
Pour about 2 TBS olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the onion, cook for 2 minutes, and add the garlic. Then add your greens and ¼ cup water. Cook until greens are wilted. Add chickpeas and add more water if you want more sauce. When the chickpeas are heated through (3-5 minutes) add salt and pepper to taste. (If you had some chicken or vegetable stock handy you could use it instead of water – you can also use chopped tomatoes to dress it up if they are in season and fresh.) Put in a shallow soup bowl – serve with some toast.
Sea Bass with mashed butternut and salad
Olive oil
1 lb sea bass rinsed and cut into servings for each diner (kids will eat smaller portions)
1 Butternut squash
2 TBS sage leaves – chopped
1 clove of garlic – smashed and chopped
2 cups of salad mix – rinsed and chopped into bite-sized pieces.
Juice of half an orange
1 tsp mustard
Salt and pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 400F. Peel and chop butternut squash into 1 inch pieces. Toss in olive oil and salt and pepper. Pour onto a rimmed baking sheet (I line mine with recyclable parchment). Place in oven – allow to bake for about 20 minutes – when it starts to brown – take it out.
Meanwhile in the last 10 minutes of the butternut cooking – add some olive oil to a large sauté pan over medium heat.  Salt and pepper the fish – put in pan – cook for 3-5 minutes each side – you want this slightly underdone – it will continue cooking. Remove and keep warm (you can wrap it in some parchment or foil you will recycle)
Wipe out that pan and put in some more olive oil – put in the sage and garlic – sauté until sage has wilted a little – remove from heat.
Get the butternut out – toss the sage and garlic and butternut into a mixer or get out your masher and go to town – mash it up. Season with S&P and some tamari if you like.
Put the fish and mash on a plate.  Make salad dressing – 1TB olive oil, juice ½ orange, 1tsp mustard, little S&P – stir like crazy until it is emulsified (comes together) – toss with salad greens then serve with fish and mash – drizzle any of the leftover dressing on the fish.
Buffalo Tacos (a good Sunday dinner – do the rub Saturday) YOU NEED 4 HOURS TO COOK THE ROAST!
Spices that can make a nice rub for your roast (I use an organic taco seasoning – but it is really just ground chilies, cumin, onion, garlic, oregano, paprika, sea salt and black pepper)
1 - 2lb chuck buffalo roast
1 onion split into 4 (can leave skin on)
2 garlic heads with tops removed (leave it in tact)
Olive oil
1 cup masa harina
½ cup water
1 avocado
½ orange (lime works too)
Salt and Pepper
Rinse and pat your roast dry – season with your rub all over – put in the fridge overnight
Mix the Masa and the water and let soak overnight.
Preheat oven to 325F. In an enameled cast iron pot add 4 TBSP oil. Sear your roast on all sides (about 4 minutes each side). Turn off heat
Add onions and garlic to pot. Put in oven with tight fitting lid. Cook undisturbed for 4 hours.
In the last 30 minutes make tortillas out of your masa – just form little balls with your hands – use a tortilla press covered in plastic wrap or roll/mash out between two pieces of oiled parchment – put on a griddle or in a large pan and cook for about a minute on each side – keep in a towel for warmth. (You can add more water or more masa if it isn’t working)
Take out the roast and let rest for 15 minutes.
In the last 5 minutes chop up the avocado – add a little orange juice and salt and pepper – makes a really easy sauce/guacamole
Shred roast – put on platter – you can squeeze a little orange juice over it – yummy. Bring it, tortillas and avo sauce to the table. Make your tacos. If you have any salad mix left over or other fixings – bring those too – put a little in a tortilla and eat it up – messy but yummy!