First off, I wanted to share my fun afternoon adventures with you. I was feeling incredibly tired and unmotivated earlier today. Do you ever have those days? I knew I had a lot I needed to do, but I just couldn't quite bring myself to get started. As I often tell my prospective students (I am a college recruiter), getting started is the hardest part. It's just as true in life as with returning to school. So, once I finally got moving, I managed to conquer quite a bit! I started by cooking chickpeas in my Instant Pot.
I got an Instant Pot for Christmas a little over a year ago. However, the first year it was in my possession, it sat in a box in my unpacked bedroom. I just didn't have a place to put it, so I couldn't get it out of the box. I have since solved that issue, and it now resides proudly on top of my refrigerator. That was about 3 months ago. And in that time, I have only managed to make Greek yogurt. Cool, yes, but I'm thinking it could probably serve a little more purpose in my life than making yogurt. I have just been so intimidated by it. I read all these posts on Facebook or Pinterest about the Instant Pot, and I know it can do amazing things! I just needed to take some time to figure it out. Again, getting started is the hardest part! And today was the day to face my fears.
A couple of years ago, I experienced the beauty of cooking dried beans. I typically cooked them in a crock pot (also super simple, if you don't happen to have an Instant Pot). It took some time, but they were sooo easy! One package of cooked beans (which costs between $2.50 and $3.00, typically) makes about 5 cans worth of beans. They taste better - at least I think so, and they are fresh. You don't have to worry about the preservatives or the contamination from the can. What really pushed me over the edge is when I learned how beautifully beans freeze! It's true! Whenever I am in need of some beans, I will cook up a big batch, use what I need, and then freeze the rest. It's that simple. They hold their texture and shape very well in the freezer. I also freeze them in 2 cup increments, so they are easily accessible for recipes. I am planning to make a quinoa salad with chickpeas soon, so today was the day my dried chickpeas met the Instant Pot.
I realize you don't have to soak your dried beans with an instant pot; however, I have heard there are benefits for doing so (more than just saving time). So, I soaked my beans overnight. Once I drained the beans, all I had to do was throw them in the Instant Pot, add water enough to cover them about 3-4 inches, push the Manual button, reduce the number of minutes to 25, lock the lid - and let it do it's thing! It was that simple. It does take awhile for the pot to build up pressure. It also takes some time for it to naturally release, especially if it full of beans and water. Altogether, it may have taken a couple of hours; although, I was a little preoccupied during part of the process, so I am not totally certain how long it took from start to finish.
When I strained the beans, I kept the bean water, as I learned it can make a great broth for soups or other things! That is now on my list of things to do this week (one of my surprises!). I don't have room in the freezer for all of it, so I will now be making veggie soup! Stay tuned!
That is a lot of beans and bean broth right there! I was feeling slightly overwhelmed, as I came away with a lot more usable food than I anticipated, but I was able to find space for most of it in the freezer.
While the beans were cooking, I used my time to put together some muffins. I had some organic blackberries and blueberries in the fridge that had seen better days, if you know what I mean. They are perfect to add into baked goods at that point! So, I saved them from becoming compost - and made Maple Mixed Berry Muffins from Amy's Healthy Baking blog.
For this recipe, you will need:
2 cups whole wheat pastry or gluten-free flour *see her note on gluten free flours (I actually used oat flour for this ingredient...if you don't have any on hand, you can grind some in a coffee grinder or hand blender!)
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 Tbls coconut oil or unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly (I used coconut oil)
1 large egg, room temperature
1 Tbls vanilla extract
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup plain nonfat Greek yogurt (I used plain milk kefir)
1/2 cup nonfat milk (I actually forgot to add this, but they turned out fine! I think because the consistency of kefir is a cross between milk and yogurt, so it is a little runnier)
1 1/2 cup frozen mixed berries.
For more detailed instructions, check out the recipe link above. Basically, mix the dry ingredients together and the wet ingredients together. Then, combine the two. Fold in the berries, and you are all set to go! Bake them at 350 degrees for 29-33 minutes (I baked mine for about 20 minutes, and they were done). I also topped mine with a wee bit of cinnamon sugar mix, as I saw it hanging out in my cupboard - and I happen to be on a mission to use up things that have been hanging around for quite some time. This is obviously optional.
For oat flour muffins, I was impressed by their consistency! Typically, oat flour muffins tend to be quite small and a little more dense. These actually had the consistency of a regular muffin. They were pretty awesome!
Even better, I had some surprise visitors stop by shortly after they came out of the oven: my sister, two of her kids, and a kid's friend. They declared the muffins were "kid approved" and they could have eaten all of them! After they left - and I snagged one more muffin - I had 4 left for the freezer!
My final adventure of the afternoon was planting potatoes! I was inspired last week, after finding my final basket of CSA potatoes had decided they were ready to reproduce (I will spare you the picture). I was still able to use them for my recipes, but I decided to use the "eyes" and plant some of them! I have never planted potatoes before, so I will let you know how they go! In fact, I had so many I gave some to my sister for her garden, too.
You can also see my herbs starting to come up in the back of the plot! I've been excited to see those growing!
It's amazing what happens once you get in motion, right?! Here I had been feeling so sluggish and unmotivated, but I was amazed by all I accomplished by the end of the day!
Now on to my real reason for this post: the $5 weekly food purchase reveal. I have to say, I had to deal with some interesting thought processes this week. At the start of the week, I noticed Meijer (a regional grocery store, for those of you not from the Midwest) was having a 10 for $10 sale this week! The resourceful food hoarder in me was delighted; I could buy 5 items with my allowance this week. They had some great items on sale. The problem was I didn't necessarily need most of those items, and many of them were items I wouldn't typically eat anyway. So, most of my week, I kept trying to figure out how I could get the "most bang for my buck." Finally, I came to the realization that my goal is not to accumulate more things because they are a good deal and I can afford them. My goal is to purchase items that will allow me to use the food I have to make complete meals. (Also see The #1 Key to Eating Healthy on a Budget.) With this focused purpose in mind, I was delighted to discover Grain Train, a natural food store in Petoskey, had natural, uncured bacon for $4.99!!
I realize bacon is not healthy. However, there are times in life when you just need a little to complete the right dish. I have two dishes I have been wanting to make - and both required a little bacon. I had nearly given up on my ability to purchase good bacon with my allowance. So, this was definitely a fun surprise for me! I had also been meaning to purchase cilantro...but I decided that could wait for another week. Stay tuned for the recipes requiring bacon! One is my favorite spring dish. The other is a dish I have been gathering ingredients for a year to make! I'm thinking it will finally manifest in the next few weeks.
Just so you can see for yourself, I have provided you with a picture of the receipt:
I have $.01 to add to my change jar, for a total of $.09 left for future purchases. And just for the record, I had looked at a couple of other stores to find "good" bacon, and it was all over my price range. I realize natural food stores have a stigma for being expensive, but sometimes they actually have good deals, too! You just have to look for the right products or find what is on sale.
Until next time!
No comments:
Post a Comment