Had plenty of veggies that needed to be cooked up, so I thought I'd fry up the bok choy and bean sprouts (yum)

Ingredients:

• bok choy, cut into pieces
• bag of bean sprouts
• onion, diced
• garlic, diced

Stir frying was pretty straightforward: fry up onions and garlic, add bean sprouts, then bok choy shortly thereafter. Season with a dash of soy sauce, lemon pepper, and herb seasoning.

For protein, I steamed fish (Swai fillet). Simply cut the big pieces in half (so they'd fit in the steamer), and piled them all in. I had put the pieces in and already started cooking when I realized I'd forgotten to season the fish, so I simply opened the lid and sprinkled a generous helping of lemon pepper on top of each fish fillet.

Red rice cooked on the side.

I was afraid the fish was overdone, and under-seasoned, but it actually turned out pretty well!

I also thought the bean sprouts were overdone, as I'd underestimated the time it takes to cook the stalk portions of the bok choy, and had to cook them longer. But they still turned out great, as evidenced by the fact that my son wolfed it down like there was no tomorrow!

One last note: the veggie stir fry would have been REALLY good with spinach. So, remember next time: add spinach to the mix! :-9

I like the idea of supporting our local farmers, I really do. The concept of CSAs (community supported agriculture) is really neat. One of the nearby ones delivers a bag of freshly-picked produce to our company for $22/week. I got a chance to see it for myself when a co-worker received his bounty and posted pics. Looked delicious, but not nearly enough for a family of 3 to last a whole week. In the meantime, it's grocery stores to the rescue...

Today during my lunch break, I went to Ralphs for some much-needed grocery shopping. We were running out of staples, and the weekly ad in yesterday's mail showed a few nice produce sales, particularly strawberries (my favorite). I thought I'd get the berries and some broccoli and that would be it. But once I got there, I was amazed at all the things marked down in price as "Manager's Special"-- i.e. stuff that needed to be sold and consumed pretty quickly. Before I knew it, I had stuffed my cart with all sorts of goodies, including vegetables I'd never bought before. Amongst my finds:

a pack of seasoned brussels sprouts: $0.99
a pack of cubed butternut squash: $0.99
a bag of bean sprouts: $0.49
2 packs of sliced mushrooms: $1.49 each
roma tomatoes: $0.99/lb
broccoli: $0.99/lb
3 1-lb clamshells of strawberries: $0.99 each

Combined with some of the other stuff already in our fridge (spinach, carrots and onion), we have enough to last us a week, veggie-wise.

Not a bad deal! Now we just have to plan our meals accordingly and use up all the marked-down veggies before they go bad. Hmm... now we just have to figure out what to do with them... any ideas? :-)

Yesterday I posted about making a nice mixed veggie soup. Very versatile, great for leftovers, too.

Today I got home with not a lot of time to think about what to cook, much less go out to the store to buy ingredients if I did think of something. Had to make do with what we had.

Rice in the cooker, and then frozen tilapia fillets in a sink of warm water to thaw. Leftover veggie soup comes in handy, but it isn't enough for the three of us.

So, I stir-fried 8 oz of baby spinach in a wok with olive oil and soy sauce. Set the spinach aside in a dish to keep warm.

Then I cut up the thawed tilapia into large chunks, and fried it with the last of the bagged cole slaw in the same wok with a bit more oil and a bit more soy sauce.

Voila! Fish and rice = basic staples. Veggie soup, plus cabbage from the cole slaw, plus spinach = a nice variety of healthful vegetables.

It's a great way to get a really nice variety of veggies going. If you add the right ones, you don't really need to add much in the way of flavoring.

Here's my standard fare:

• carrot
• onion
• zucchini
• celery
• tomato

Dice each of the above veggies, add a little water to a pot, and start cooking. Make sure to cook in order of how long it takes-- carrots and celery, then onion, then zucchini, then tomato.

The carrots and onions add a wonderful sweet flavor to the veggie broth, and the tomatoes balance it out with a bit of sourness. All that's needed is a sprinkling of salt and voila! A healthful stew of soup. Goes great by itself or mixed with other dinner fixings.

• 2 Carrots, diced
• 1 Zucchini, diced
• 1 package Mushrooms, sliced
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 2 tomatoes, diced
• 4 cups Chicken broth
• 1 cup barley
• 3 tablespoons butter

1. Heat 2 spoons butter + olive oil, fry onions until soft. Add salt, pepper and soy sauce.
2. Add 2 cups chicken broth and barley, stir and cook a few minutes.
3. Add remaining broth, bring to simmer, cook barley, covered, for 20 minutes

4. Add vegetables (except tomatoes) and cook additional 10 minutes, uncovered.

5. Add tomatoes and cook another 10 minutes, or until broth evaporates and barley is tender (but chewy). Stir in remaining spoon of butter and add more salt and pepper to taste.



For added protein, I microwaved some turkey meatballs from Trader Joe's, and added them to individual servings of risotto... or soup?

See, I think I wound up adding too much liquid, because between the broth and the vegetables, it ended up being more of a soup than risotto. There wasn't THAT much liquid leftover, so it was only slightly "soupy", but it was delicious that way, too! The barley has an interesting, nutty flavor-- a little remniscent of oats, but with the consistency of brown rice, with some added chewiness. Delicious!

Total cost?
Half a bag of barley = 75 cents
Zucchini = 50 cents
Pack of mushrooms = 99 cents
Onion and carrot = 25 cents
Tomato = $1
Meatballs = $1

Grand total = $4.49 for all 3 of us.

Ingredients:

• Swai fillet
• Broccoli
• Sliced mushrooms
• Onion or garlic
• Basil

Steam broccoli, cook rice, set aside.
Chop a handful of onion, and fry in oil in pan. Add basil (fresh is best, but dried also works well)
Sprinkle salt and pepper on both sides of swai fillet.
Fry swai fillets in the onion/basil oil, 3 minutes each side.

Take out swai fillets and set aside.
Add sliced mushrooms to pan, season with soy sauce, and sautee until cooked.

Serve swai with rice and broccoli on the side, and coated with mushroom and remaining sauce from pan.

Total cost?
almost 1 pound broccoli = 77 cents
1 package sliced mushrooms = 99 cents
swai fillets @ $1/fillet = $3
rice for all of us = 25 cents

Grand total = $5.01 for 3 meals at dinner plus Todd's lunch the next day.

Ingredients:

• 2 tomatoes
• 2 zucchinis
• 3 carrots
• pasta
• salmon

Bring pot of water to boil.
Cook carrots, zucchini and pasta for ~10 minutes.
Add tomatoes and cook a few more minutes.
Also added Trader Joe's chicken broth packet for extra flavor.

Cook salmon separately.


Ladel soup into bowls. Cut cooked salmon portions into pieces and add to soup.