Participating in Fall – hiking Breakneck Ridge with a great friend.
October 18, 2015
Participating in Fall – hiking Breakneck Ridge with a great friend.
Author: cochrancj
I am an American expat who loves to explore the world through the plate and is always curious to learn more.
October 17, 2015
Climbing! Slack lining! Nerds!
Chipotle Pumpkin Soup
Faced with an unexpected CSA prize – an adorable pumpkin – I set out to find something fitting to do to this noble squash, aside from sitting it on the edge of my counter so I could ogle it daily, luxuriating in the little bit of Fall brought into my daily line of sight.
I researched pumpkin recipes high and low, got frustrated because it seems everything calls for canned pumpkin or butternut squash (because let’s face it: pumpkins are fickle, unpredictable bastards and a crap item to use in baking), or is a soup. I *always* make pumpkin soup.
That’s because pumpkin soup is delicious.
I settled on the flavors from one soup married to the flavors from another, with the cooking method of a third – and lo and behold, this soup was born. It’s hands-off lazy girl cooking at its finest, utilizing the crock pot and nothing else. And it smells divine while burbling away on the countertop all afternoon.
Note: As written, this soup is on the liquidy side. If you like super thick soups, you could probably get away with halving the stock or maybe omitting altogether.
Gluten-free, paleo, vegetarian and vegan if you use vegetable stock, Whole 30
Chipotle Pumpkin Soup
1 2 – 3 lb. pumpkin
1 small onion
2 chipotles in adobo
13.5 ounce can full-fat coconut milk
1 c. broth (I used some leftover bone broth stashed in the freezer for just such an occasion)
2 – 3 cloves garlic
2 tsp. ground cumin
2 tsp. dried oregano
Kosher salt
White pepper
The juice of 1 – 2 limes
Peel and chop your pumpkin into chunks. Add to a crock pot. Peel and chop the onion and garlic. Add. Chop the chipotle and add. Add the coconut milk, broth (mine was still frozen), cumin and oregano. Hit with 2 big pinches salt.
Cook 4 hours on high.
When cooked and cooled a bit, blend (be careful – need I remind you that piping hot liquid + a blender is a recipe for disaster if one is not really really careful?). Taste. Add the juice of 1 lime and a couple pinches salt. Taste. Add more lime and/or salt as necessary. I used 2 limes + 6 big pinches salt and a smattering of white pepper.
Serves 2 – 4, depending upon how large your servings are.
October 16, 2015
Another dog pic because OMFG IT’S JACKET SEASON.
Witnessing the sheer depth of this dog’s joy at seeing one of his jackets for the first time in months is truly fantastic.
October 15, 2015
Bonus for the dog
October 14, 2015
Financial district
What To Do With A Box Of Vegetables: Brooklyn Beet CSA Box 9
Whoo hoo! It’s CSA time again! Time to shrug off winter’s recipe rut and reign spring’s exuberance with bi-monthly boxes of vegetables (and hopefully meat).
This year’s CSA is from Brooklyn Beet CSA. Brooklyn Beet provides veggie shares from Angel Family Farm, a sustainable farm located in Orange County, NY that was created with the support of GrowNYC’s New Farmer Development Project; fruit shares from Hepworth Family Farm, a 250-acre NOFA-certified seventh-generation family farm in Milton, NY; baked goods from Wild Mountain Bread based in Brooklyn; and a wide variety of grass-fed beef, pasture raised pork, and other products (like other meats, cheeses, bread, flour, grains, lax-fermented vegetables, pastas and other pantry goods) from Lewis Waite Farm, which sources from over 35 local family farms.
I purchased a half share, and will be getting a box containing 6-8 vegetables (about 2 bags worth) every other week from June – October (11 shares), and plan on ordering a carnivore share box from Lewis Waite (4-6 lbs. of meat) for pickup each veggie week. I also purchased a “Challenger Share” for the season (6 deliveries total) containing odd bits like animal fats, organ meats, neck bones, shanks, and rendered lard to stretch my culinary skills. The price of my CSA averages out to $25.50 per share for veggies, plus an additional $45 per pickup week for meat/offal. This total will be accounted for in my weekly Adventures In Budget Paleo Cooking posts.
You would think by now that I’d be used to flying blind when it comes to CSA season, since they rarely seem to post previews of upcoming shares, but I’m not. At least not going into this first week. Pickup this year is on Tuesday, so it looks like another summer of alltheveggies for half a week & utilizing the stragglers before they go bad on Mondays and Tuesdays. Such is the life of a CSA devotee. Boom and bust every week (or every other week, in my case).
Brooklyn Beets 2015 CSA Box 9
1 bunch kale
1 bunch parsley
1 head lettuce
1 eggplant
2 lbs. green tomatoes
1 bunch carrots
1 small pumpkin
Lewis Waite Meat Share Box 8
1 lb. ground beef
1.33 lb. bone-in lamb steaks
0.74 lb. pork sirloin chops
1 chicken leg
How I Used My Share
I made a puree out of the eggplant, which I served with the lamb steaks.
I was supposed to make a salsa out of the green tomatoes – twice – for dinner, but forgot.
I ended up throwing a couple tomatoes into lunch one day, and made myself a taco night dinner bowl with half of the ground beef, a few tomatoes and half an avocado one night the DH wasn’t hungry.
I broiled the lamb shanks from last Challenger share + the lamb riblets from a few shares ago with some carrots and served over a cauliflower puree. Ended up eating that for lunch quite a few days.
I made a slow cooker chipotle pumpkin soup, which I served with pork chops.
I roasted the rest of the carrots with chicken.
I served pretty much everything with a sprinkle of parsley.
The lettuce, unsurprisingly, went bad before I felt like addressing it.
Leftovers: Lamb kidneys, 1 chicken leg, 1/2 a pound ground beef, a couple green tomatoes and a hand full of parsley
My Favorite Dish From This Box
This week, my favorite was the pumpkin soup. That stuff was delicious and fall in a bowl. I’ll have to do a repeat with this next box – it’s chock full of squash!
October 13, 2015
The 70s. My mother had not 1, but 2 copies of this 70s splendor.
October 12, 2015
Avocado fail
Adventures In Budget Paleo Cooking – Week of October 5 – 11
This Week’s Menu
Monday
Breakfast: Bulletproof coffee
Lunch: The last of the leftover eggplant puree & baked chicken
Dinner: Broiled fish with potatoes – this dish was supposed to incorporate a salsa with green tomatoes, but I forgot to make it
Tuesday
Breakfast: Green smoothie
Lunch: Random crap because I planned poorly – vegan cheese broccoli nuggs, 1/4 cup almonds, and a peach
Dinner: Braised lamb shanks with cauliflower puree
Wednesday
Breakfast: Green smoothie
Lunch: Leftover lamb shanks & cauli mash
Dinner: Ended up eating out
Thursday
Breakfast: Green smoothie
Lunch: Leftover lamb shanks & cauli mash
Dinner: Slow cooked chipotle pumpkin soup with pork chops
Friday
Breakfast: Green smoothie
Lunch: The last of the leftover lamb shanks
Dinner: Ground beef, green tomato & avocado bowl
Sunday
Breakfast: Out
Lunch: Out
Dinner: Out
This Week’s Grocery List
Kerrygold unsalted butter ($3.79 @ Fresh Direct)
Blood orange (2) ($2.98 @ Fresh Direct)
Pat LaFrieda dry aged burgers (4) ($13.49 @ Fresh Direct)
Carolina long grain rice (2 lbs.) ($3.29 @ Fresh Direct)
Tomato paste (6 oz. x 2) ($19.98 @ Fresh Direct)
Dole pineapple chunks (20 oz.) ($2.19 @ Fresh Direct)
Goya coconut milk (13.5 oz.) ($2.39 @ Fresh Direct)
Wild pollock fillet (6-8 oz. x 2) ($10.52 @ Fresh Direct)
Citrus cauliflower ($3.99 @ Fresh Direct)
Celery ($2.99 @ Fresh Direct)
Rosemary ($1.99 @ Fresh Direct)
Red micro potatoes (16 oz.) ($3.99 @ Fresh Direct)
Thyme ($1.99 @ Fresh Direct)
Smoothie Supplies
Coconut water ($3.99 @ Fresh Direct)
4 Apples ($4.99 @ Fresh Direct)
4 limes ($2.00 @ Fresh Direct)
4 Avocados ($7.98 @ Fresh Direct)
Clamshell kale (5 oz. x 2) ($7.00 @ Fresh Direct)
Clamshell spinach (5 oz.) ($3.50 @ Fresh Direct)
Orange juice (1.75L) ($4.49 @ Fresh Direct)
Turmeric root (4 oz.) ($3.99 @ Fresh Direct)
Totals
Carryover from last week: +$37.77
Fresh Direct: $99.51
Budget Breakout
This week, I spent $61.80; $38.20 under budget.
Leftovers From This Week
At the end of the week, I have some parsley, kale & green tomatoes, plus burgers, lamb kidneys, a chicken leg, and a tiny steak left over from my CSA. I need to incorporate these items into my menu for next week.
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Think eating healthfully is too expensive for you? Think again. According to the USDA, to ensure a nutritious diet as of December 2014, a family of two aged 19-59 years should spend between $388.90 and $776.10 on food per month, or $89.80 – $179.30 per week. Source
For my family of two adults, I spend roughly $400 a month on groceries or $100 a week – and we eat well. Not caviar and lobster well, but I do manage to serve a predominately paleo diet with little to no processed foods, and I get to throw in a few luxuries here and there (like expensive snacks for the hubbs and the occasional ridiculously expensive bag of coffee). We even manage to buy “good” meat (grass fed beef and free-range chicken) most of the time – and I make this budget work even on the weeks we pay for convenience by getting delivery groceries. I make: 10 breakfasts, 5 lunches, and 10 dinners a week – plus enough snacks to satisfy and fuel two active adults.
I’m hoping that this series will help shed a little light on the day-to-day things a “paleo” person really eats — and how that way of eating can work on a budget. I want to nudge anyone sitting on the fence right over the edge by showing that it *can* be done and that you don’t just eat meat, meat, meat and more meat.
Gastography 