Project: Food Budget -- Getting Ready!

Guess who is about to be making a lot of bread... That would be me. No more $2-4 a loaf in this house. I am about to embark on a 6-month challenge to stick to a food budget. $75 a week.

Coming into this, I have to say that I'm a bit of a food hoarder. Not like the kind that requires an intervention or comes with the 1-800-got-junk truck parked outside, but I do like to keep my pantry stocked, I shop at Costco so small things come in big packages, and the bulk bin is, like, totally my BFF! Needless to say, I have some things already on hand that will make this challenge easier. (At least in the beginning.)

Copycat Mahatma Spanish Rice (Healthier Vegan Version)

I like packaged rice a lot. It's just so convenient. But it's not like making rice is all that hard, anyway. My biggest issue actually comes in not knowing exactly what to put in it to make it taste all seasony and good. I guess that's why in my past life, I'd come to rely on packaged rice mixes quite a lot.

Vegan Comfort Food: Skillet Cornbread from Veganomicon (plus Short Cut Beans and Collards)

So, I totally felt like crap yesterday. I started watching the documentary Earthlings and got to the end of the "Pets" section and had to stop. I seriously think it's affecting me physically. That or it's coinciding with some sort of strange illness that makes all your muscles sore, and makes you feel depressed and stuffy. Maybe I'm just stuffy because I'm crying a lot over it.

Vegan Peanut Butter Pro Tips

It's supposed to be National Peanut Butter Day, so here's my peanut butter pro tip #1: When you open a new jar of natural peanut butter (the kind you have to stir) dump the whole thing in a bowl and use a mixer to mix it up. I use my stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Next, use a spatula to scrape the sides of the bowl and re-jar the peanut butter. Refrigerate.

Vegan Toffee

While I was on my Christmas vacation, Tortellini was not the only veganization I decided to take on. Another tradition my boyfriend's Mama has is making candy. She makes toffee and peanut butter candy. She was feeling sick this year so we didn't get around to making the peanut butter candy. I gave her a hand and practiced making non-vegan toffee for the gift basket so I could not only help but also brush up on my skills and build my upper body strength.

Vegan Tortellini

Okay, there's a lot of pictures here, sorry. Or not? Tortellini is this process that seems a lot more complicated than it is. Once you know all the steps, however, it's not that difficult. Well, if you have the right tools, anyway. If you don't have a stand mixer or a bread machine for making the dough and a pasta roller, it's more work, for sure. But still, it can be done and it's worth it.

My Version of the Grit's Mid-E Platter

Today, I spent some time making food that others have been making for a long, long time. It felt pretty good even though I had the convenience of canned chickpeas and falafel mix and I didn't have to crack my own wheat. Everything else was otherwise fresh and there's something soothing and hypnotic about dicing veggies and juicing lemons.

I made my own version of The Grit's Mid-E Platter. Here's theirs that boyfriend had last month when we made a stop there:

Thoughts on Milk...

So, I'm sipping on a cocktail (vodka + Kahlua = vegan) and checking out Facebook stuff. I see a status update from the Silk folks that says:

"Makeover Monday! Swap out the cup of 2% milk on your cereal for Unsweetened Almond milk and save 85 calories. Do this daily and this small change could result in a loss of almost 9 pounds in a year! Added bonus: you’ll make your heart happy by sparing it over 1,000 grams of saturated fat."

Various folks start talking about milks. Soy. Almond. Cow.