Learning how to still have flavour

When I first decided to start eating on a budget I was really worried that the flavor and quality of my food would be seriously compromised. Keep in mind, if I could live on a champagne budget I would! I soon learned that I didn't have to sacrifice flavour, I just had to start thinking more about the purchases.

Here are some tips:

- When you have extra money in your budget pick up different spices, sauces, etc. These are items you won't have to purchase every shop, and really add to the flavour of foods. The spice that I found and fell in love with during this journey was Chipotle. You wouldn't believe how well chipotle worked with everything!

-Most deli sections will slice specialty cheeses for sandwiches. In the end it doesn't end up being a lot more than processed cheese slices, and its healthier. Some of my favourites were Swiss, Edam, and Gruyere.

- The cheapest sandwich meats are kind of boring. I remember eating copious amounts of pepperoni and salami and getting sick of the taste! One tip is to get between 50-100gms of a more special, better tasting meat. Get it sliced really thin and put one or two slices in with the salami. You'd be surprised at how much the taste changes.

- If you need to use boxed foods, like hamburger helper, for a meal spice it up. For one thing those dishes are basically just meat and pasta, I would fill mine with veggies and other flavours.

Here's an example of a meal I would make with Tuna Helper.

Instead of one can of tuna I always used two. And on top of the instructions in the box I added garlic, onions, peppers, tomato, and some cheese if I had. You'd be amazed at how different the meal tastes with a little freshness put in!

A cheap and protein filled snack!

When I'm on my feet all day I find that typical snacks like yogurt, and granola bars just don't do the trick. They give me some energy from the sugar but in the end I find my body is craving protein. Since I'm not a big meat eater I've had to find some alternate options. One that I found are Edamame Beans.

Edamame Beans are found at many Japanese restaurants. They are served in the shell, hot or cold, with a little salt. Recently I found frozen edamame at the grocery store and I haven't looked back. Edamame is a protein filled health food, that has no sugar, or salt. Its essentially pure protein. 

1/4 cup of edamame beans fills me up for the day. That means that a bag of Edamame lasts for at least 8 servings, that's less than $0.45/serving! Much cheaper than a granola bar!

To prepare edamame put frozen edamame in a pot of boiling salted water. Let them boil for 5-7 minutes, drain and cool. Lightly salt the edamame, in the pod. Remember, don't eat the pod, I don't think its very digestible! 

If you want an appetizer version of this food, try making a flavoured oil to drizzle on top of the hot edamame instead of just salt. I like putting on about a tablespoon of Asian Sesame dressing with about 1/2 tablespoon of oil. Be very careful not to add too much liquid though, the pods do not absorb any oils and because of that the last few pods can become quite oily tasting. 

But how do I budget at the grocery store?!

When I started budgeting for food, the hardest part was grocery shopping. It is so tempting to buy everything and anything, no matter how obscure, when its on sale. This was something I had to overcome. These are some hints and tips I use when trying to budget in a grocery store. 

1. Plan what food, and meals you will be having until you go shopping next. Bring your list to the store and do your very best not to buy anything outside of that list.

2. Only buy in quantities that you need. I found that the most wasting money I did was purchasing too much food, and having to throw it out later. 

3. Price check! It may cost you a little extra gas money but all grocery stores have different items on sale at different times.

4. Be mathematical! Some products may look like they are a good find, but how does it compare to a different brand? Is the price per lb, per gram, etc. You'd be surprised where some hidden fees are!

5. Put household items like toilet paper and cleaning supplies in a different grocery budget as these products typically cost a lot of money, and they don't need to be purchased every time you shop. I used to set aside about $50 for these products monthly. If you don't spend that money on those products, its free money!

6. Finally, do your best not to exceed your grocery budget.  When I would set my $50 bi weekly food budget I did my best to stick to that number. If certain foods were more expensive during one shop I would opt not to buy it, or find a similar food that was cheaper. Setting these budgets is really important because its so easy to exceed and go over!

5 star cooking, on a budget!

Here's a great recipe for a restaurent favourite, Chicken Cordon Bleu!

This meal typically goes for close to $20 if not more at a restaurant, but what if you could make it at home for only $3.00?

Heres what you will need for a serving of 2:

2 chicken breasts, butterflied

2 slices of swiss cheese, thin

2 pieces of ham, sandwich meat is fine

Method:

1. after the chicken breasts have been butterflied place the piece of ham and slice of swiss cheese inside the breast

2. Brown both sides of the chicken in a frying pan, but do not cook through

3. After the meat is browned place in the oven for 15-20 minutes, or until the meat is fully cooked. 

Substitutions

-try bacon instead of ham, or if you're feeling risky try both, wrap the bacon over the chicken breast!

-try to change the cheeses up. If swiss is too strong a flavor mozzerella is a good substitute, cheddar works well also. 

What do I pair with this?

I find that this chicken dish is quite rich so I like to pair it with light vegetables. I love this meal with steamed broccoli with a little butter, or sauteed spinach in garlic oil. 

And Now For Something A Little More heavy!!

I was watching television last night and some questions arose about society and the medias perception of people with disabilities. 

In today's society its taboo to go public about prejudices and racism, especially in the media, unless you're watching Gran Torino.  But that taboo doesn't seem to work when it comes to talking about people with developmental disabilities.  Often times I watch movies, television shows, or listen to talk radio and find that people are stigmatizing, and using out of date language when it comes to talking about people with disabilities. 

Did you know that the the "R" word is not being used anymore to describe people with disabilities. That is, if you're not in the states. The United States still diagnoses children as "retarded", a term that has been out of Canada and the rest of the world for over ten years! And why has the word been taken out of Canada and the rest of the world partly because of the negative connotations, as well as the fact that it was not relevant. People with developmental disabilities are able and just as capable to do everything that people without disabilities can do, just differently. 

Here are some films, shows, etc that I have recently found that have put a negative look at people with disabilities. I am in no way saying that these movies are bad, or that people shouldn't watch them. 

-Pumpkin

-Freaks and Geeks (I haven't watched the whole season, but episode 1 there was a lot)

-Tropic Thunder

-Howard Stern

-UMFM

Thats just a short list. 

Heres a list of movies that bring to light why the "R" word is so harsh.

-The "R" word

- The Freedom Tour

The Cheapest and Easiest Meal!

Just after Christmas, while trying to pay off all the bills, my boyfriend and I tried not only to eat healthily but to do it for under $50 biweekly for the both of us. It seemed like a huge feat but we did it, and this meal ended up being the tastiest of all of them, and the cheapiest. 

Quiche! Who knew. We took muffin sized quiches for breakfast, and also had them for meals. When broken down we figured that each breakfast sized quiche cost under a dollar and included everything from spinach, to feta in them.

The recipe can be varied to whatever you like but heres what we did for breakfasts.

1 cup fresh spinach

8-10 eggs (depending on how eggy you like your quiches)

1- 1 1/2 cups of milk

1/2 onion chopped ( if you like extra flavor try carmelizing them in a pan before, don't forget to let them cool)

3-4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped (brown them with the onions if you like)

1/8-1/4 cup cheese (feta works best with this recipe, cut into small cubes)

1/2 cup frozen peas (keep 1/8 aside)

bacon, or cubed ham (if you use bacon, cook before hand, not too crispy)

Put the spinach, eggs, milk, onion, garlic, and most of the peas into a blender. Blend until the color is consistent and the mixture is pretty runny. Pour into pre-greased muffin tins (will fill over 24, only fill up to half way point). After you've poured in the egg mixture add in equal amounts of cubed cheese, meat and leftover frozen peas. Bake in the oven at 350 for 30-45 minutes depending on your oven.

These quiches will puff up, but will shrink down because they won't all be eaten right away. To keep them fresh pack them in plastic wrap individually or in a tupperware and put into the freezer.

To alter this recipe for a dinner or lunch meal substitute the spinach for other vegetables. Also, do not blend the egg mixture. I really like adding a few potatoes, peppers, onions, and whatever left over meat I have in the fridge. 

Quiches are a great way to get rid or food that is going bad like veggies, and pre-cooked meats.

Thanks For Reading,

I've been considering putting together a blog for almost a year now. So, here goes! 

My name is Caryn. I'm passionate about many things but only want to blog about two of those passions.. 

1. Cooking, especially cooking on a dime, menu planning, and nutrition

2. Asking and answering questions about the field of mental health, and developmental disabilities. 

These two don't necessarily connect but they are major parts of my life. 

I have always been a huge fan of cooking. For me there is nothing better than creating my favourites from scratch in my own home.  In the past year I have had another goal with my cooking, to cook all of my favourites on a dime. 

I this blog I am going to post some of my advice, notes and recipes for great foods on a dime!

The second part that I will be blogging about is the mental health and developmental disabilities field. 

I have been working in the field of supporting adults and children with disabilities for the past 9 years, this field of work has become a large passion of mine and has opened my mind to thinking of all of the possibilities there are for everybody. 

In my few years of experience I have started to ask a lot of questions about the field and how society views people with disabilities. I would love you hear your responses to all of the many questions that I have in my head everyday!

Thanks for reading!

Caryn