Kathy's Pic of the Week

Market Saute

Or emptying the vegetable bin to make room for more.

I have been going to a local farmer's market every Saturday for about a year and have embraced the locavore diet as much as my palate allows. There are some imported foods that I just don't want to do without.

Eating seasonally and locally (and organic) is a very enjoyable and easy way of taking care of myself and my family. I even buy my meat from the market. Although it costs substantially more money, we simply eat less. I love going to the market and seeing what is available for the week's meals. In the winter it was a fun challenge.

I still go to the grocery store but less often. After all, I need my rice and John his ketchup! (Oh, I could make my own ketchup...hmm. No.) :O)

This is a quick easy method for cooking up the contents of your vegetable bin. Something I do every Saturday after I bring home the next week's veggies.

Market Saute

Bacon or guanciale

1 clove garlic

Approx. 3-6 cups Veggies (This month it was mainly kale, bok choy, cauliflower, etc)

White pepper

Slice the bacon in to 1/8 in x 1-1/2 in pieces. Put in skillet on medium heat. Leave it undisturbed as the pan heats up and once one side begins to brown flip. Continue to cook to your taste. Remove to a paper towel to drain. Pour out most but not all the fat.

Meanwhile, thinly slice the garlic and chop the veggies in to bite sized pieces. Return the skillet to the heat and add the garlic cook to just soften, don't let it brown. Add the kale and stir fry for a minute then add the other veggies. Note: add veggies to the pan in order of cooking time. The ones that take the longest should go in first get cooked for a minute or two then the next added.

At this point, everything is sizzling along nicely. Add a couple tablespoons of water or broth and stir. Do this a couple of times until the veggies are cooked to your taste. Turn off the heat and add the bacon back in to the pan and stir to distribute. Season to taste.

Vegetarian Option:

Use olive oil and cook the garlic until just starting to turn golden then quickly add the veggies. Continue cooking as above. For an added protein you could use fried tofu. Reheating or recrisping in the oil then set aside until the veggies are cooked.

Note: Depending on the veggie combo you can add sliced ginger at the time of cooking the garlic or add herbs such as thyme or Vignalta salt at the end.

Kathy's Pic of the Week

Kathy's Pic of the Week

Tofu Salad w/chilies and ginger

Tofu Salad w/chilies and ginger
Adapted from Beyond the Great Wall, by Alford & Duguid

Ingredients

1/2 block extra firm tofu, tofu noodles, pressed tofu your choice

1/2 - 1 tsp dried red chilies (use different varieties for flavor*)

2 tbs chinese soy sauce

1 tbs water

2 green onions sliced very thinly

1 tbs ginger minced

½ red bell pepper, minced

Mix dried chilies* with soysauce and water and set aside.

Prep the tofu, depending on what kind you are using.

· If using fresh extra firm, rinse and drain for a few minutes, pat dry and then cut into small 1/4 inch or less cubes.

· If using pressed tofu, open package and slice into small cubes 1/4-inch or less. Pressed tofu is very firm, compressed tofu. It comes plain or preseasoned, either works.

· If using tofu noodle, rinse to separate strands, drain.

Slice green onions, and mince ginger and bell pepper. Mix all ingredients together.

Let sit for a few minutes for flavors to incorporate. Adjust seasonings to taste. Serve with rice or roll the salad up in lettuce leaves.

Serves 1 or 2 for a snack

*dried chilies. I use mild dried chilies which have little heat but lots of flavor. Grocery stores often have a variety of dried red peppers. You can also try the local farmer's markets.

Thrifty joy!

I said to Don, with this post, my sisters are going to think I'm more "nuts" than they already do! Oh well, welcome to my little world. I wanted to find a way to donate more to the food bank and not go out of my budget. It is also a less painful way to keep a few extra of the items you use a lot of.

I went to Albertsons and saved $9.64 shopping sales and using coupons and spent $6.63
I went to Walgreens and saved $24.73, and spent $7
I went to Fred Meyer and saved at least $20 and purchased everything on sale--there are a lot of good deals on organics and in natural foods right now. I got the brand of packaged Indian dinners that Aji loves for $2/ea vs the usual nearly $4/ea.
Audrey also got her favorite Coconut Milk Ice Cream - Purely Decadent on sale and with a coupon for $2.00. The regular price $5.49?

It is not hard. It is not actually that time consuming. I found a good coupon site called the discount queens. I compared them to many others. If you find one good site, it is not really necessary to use any others because they are all blogging the same deals.
If it seems too good to be true and wonder if it is "ok" to do, the store accepts this method of couponing because the manufacturer pays them too. It is like the "loss leaders" they use in the weekly flyers. They take the loss to get you into the store. It is a free sample. (The organic shampoo was an amazing free sample!) Everyone is happy you are getting their product and hope that you are so happy you will get some more! I got a dark chocolate Reese's p-cup regular price of 89cents on sale for 49cents and used a 55cent manufacturer coupon. My total sale got credited the 6cents and I got a free candy bar.


Here are 2 of my highlight buys I think might interest you...

A new item at Walgreens. This was FREE. It has a "peelie" on it: A coupon attached to the item. This was a buy one ($7) and get one free, EXCEPT, there is a rebate for the entire cost for each item. FREE Organic shampoo and all I'm out is an envelope, stamp and 3 minutes.

Donnie likes his sandwiches wrapped in wax paper. Its a thing. This roll normally costs $1.99 at Walgreens. This weeks flyer (you can get the flyer at the store) it was 89 cents. The limit is 3 for the shopping trip. They have no problem you picking up another coupon if you come in again during the coupon expiration date (Walgreen's coupons are for 1 week).

Kathy's Pic of the Week