Photoville, Brooklyn Bridge Park.
September 27, 2014
Photoville, Brooklyn Bridge Park.
September 26, 2014
Bright lights, big city.
Paleo Almond Coffee Creamer
It seems like homemade almond milk has been everywhere on the blogosphere this summer, and I spent almost the whole season holding out – running from its charms – denying that it’s not only crazy simple to make, but cheaper than buying the good stuff – and puts my mind more at ease than buying a carton of milk with added chemicals. Turns out, it’s cheaper even than my beloved coconut milk.
Here’s the cost breakout for home almond milk vs. store almond milk vs. coconut milk in my area (NYC):
“Regular” Storebought Almond Milk
Blue Diamond – the best of the readily commercially available options, IMHO
Cost: $3.29 for 64 ounces
Servings: 32 (2-ounce servings)
Cost Per Serving: $0.10
Fancy Storebought Almond Milk
Califa Farms – a brand with no added crap
Cost: $3.79 for 48 ounces
Servings: 24 (2-ounce servings)
Cost Per Serving: $0.16
Homemade Almond Milk
Made by me with whatever flavorings I want to add and no added crap
Cost: $5.99 for a 16-ounce bag of almonds from Trader Joe’s, which yields just at 5 cups of nuts – with 2.5 cups of water per batch, we’re looking at about 100 ounces of milk.
Servings: 50 (2-ounce servings)
Cost Per Serving: $0.12
Canned Coconut Milk
My favorite is from Trader Joe’s and it has no added crap.
Cost: $0.99 for 14 ounces
Servings: 7
Cost Per Serving: $0.14
The cheapest alternative for my morning coffee looks to be “regular” almond milk – but for pennies more, I can make my own and avoid unnecessary added chemicals. I think that’s a good trade-off. Plus, it’s fun to make.
All you need to make almond milk is a high-speed blender (I have a Vitamix), a mesh bag of some sort (I use one I got for free at the botanical garden a few years ago), some water and time.
Almond Milk
1 cup almonds
2.5 cups water
Pinch salt
Soak 1 cup almonds in water 12 – 24 hours. Drain and rinse.
Add the drained almonds to a blender with 2.5 cups water (I prefer lukewarm to warm). Blend. Add a pinch of salt and blend some more.
Fit a mesh bag over a bowl. Pour the almond milk into the bag. Lift and squeeze until you can’t get any more liquid out.
Funnel the liquid into containers – I’ve found that splitting the batch between 3 small re-sealable pop bottles works the best for clean retrieval + optimal flavor selection.
My Favorite Coffee Creamer Flavorings
Whiskey Cinnamon (1 tsp. Honey Jack + 1 tsp. ground cinnamon in 1/3 of a batch)
Maple Vanilla (1 tsp. maple syrup + 1 tsp. vanilla extract in 1/3 of a batch)
Pumpkin Spice (1.5 tsp. pumpkin pie spice in 1/3 of a batch)
Keeps about a week in the fridge
What do I do with all that leftover pulp? Make cookies! These are pretty great. I’m also dying to try these crackers.
September 25, 2014
Super Jammies.
September 24, 2014
1st pic with the new phone.
What To Do With A Box Of Vegetables: Paisley Farms Box 16
This year’s CSA is from Paisley Farm, a 25-acre operation located in Tivoli, NY. Paisley Farm grows organically and plants with the chef in mind. The 22-week CSA runs from June – October and I purchased the standard vegetable share. This share includes 8-9 vegetables and herbs per week (8-12 pounds) – enough to provide a family of three with 3-4 dinners’ worth of veg. The price equals out to $25 per week, the cost of which will be accounted for in my weekly Adventures In Budget Paleo Cooking posts.
Paisley Farm 2014 CSA Box 16
2 heads lettuce
5 ears corn
5 ears corn
6 heirloom tomatoes
6 Bell Peppers
10 assorted eggplants
1 bunch baby bok choy
Leftover From Previous Weeks
Peaches
1 bunch curly kale
1 jar roasted eggplant
3 yellow cucumbers
2 slicing cucumbers
Japanese eggplant
1 smallish globe eggplant
2 carrots
How I Used My Share
I made eggplant fries semi-successfully to serve with burgers.
I made burgers and served with corn on the cob.
I made a big CSA-cleanup stir-fry with the bok choy, a pepper, a couple of eggplants, and the carrots.
Waste: 2 eggplant, 2 tomatoes, the yellow cucumbers I couldn’t face, 2 heads lettuce, the last peach.
My Favorite Dish From This Box
While I love bunless burgers with corn, I think my favorite was the stir-fry this week.
Next Week
Going into next week, I have: roasted eggplant, bunches of frozen bell pepper, 12 Japanese eggplant, 2 big slicing cucumbers, 1 head curly kale, 5 bell peppers, and 3 ears corn.
September 23, 2014
Paint pens, meet wall.
September 22, 2014
The DH’s sleeve after visit 3:
Adventures In Budget Paleo Cooking – Week of September 22 – 26
A number of people I know are completely flabbergasted when contemplating sticking to a budget while eating a primarily “paleo” diet. I’m hoping to shed a little light on that issue for those of you on the fence about eating healthfully in this manner – it *can* be done – and done well – without spending all the money. All it takes is a little planning.
A little background: I live in Brooklyn, NY, and the grocery prices here are definitely not the same as what you will find in other areas of the country. If you live in say, Raleigh NC for example – you may very well be able to cut this grocery bill by a third, depending upon where you shop. For where I live, where I shop and what I buy, $100 a week is a doable budget without having to sacrifice the quality I want too much. My DH thinks $130 is probably more realistic with our morning smoothie supplies, but I want to shoot for $100. I aim to make 4-5 dinners for two and 5 lunches per week, plus two smoothies per day six days of the week with my budgetary allowance and update you all weekly on what’s going on. Let’s see if I can make it.
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My CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) shares are going strong, so I will be doing things a little differently with the vegetable portion of my meal planning for the next few months (until October). My share averages out to $25 a week, which will come off the top of my budget allotment and will comprise the bulk of my non-smoothie-related vegetable purchases. If you’re curious to see how I use my CSA veggies up, check out my What To Do With A Box Of Vegetables posts.
Menu for Last Week (Week of September 15 – 19)
The Plan vs. Reality
This week’s meal planning was decent – I got corn in my CSA box again and decided to use it instead of waste it, even though corn isn’t paleo.
Monday
- The Plan – Steaks with corn on the cob
- Reality – Uncured beef hotdogs with sauerkraut and corn on the cob
Tuesday
- The Plan – Stuffed peppers with Italian sausage, fresh roasted tomatoes, roasted eggplant and kale
- Reality – Yum. This was a great meal.
Wednesday
- The Plan – Corn and goat cheese stuffed peppers with some sort of meat
- Reality – I didn’t stuff the peppers, but this was still tasty. served with flank steak.
Thursday
- The Plan – Eggplant fries with burgers.
- Reality – The eggplant fries were less than successful (though still entirely edible), and the burgers were delicious as usual.
Friday
- The Plan – Eat out.
- Reality – This happened.
Lunches
- The Plan – Leftovers.
- Reality – Had a bunch of leftovers.
Extras
- The Plan – Nothing planned but almond milk.
- Reality – The almond milk turned out awesome. More on that soon!
This Week: September 22 – 26
I have leftover CSA veggies this week and $75 to spend on groceries.
This Week’s Proposed Menu
- Monday: Chicken stir-fry with bok choy, carrots, eggplant, pepper and kale
- Tuesday: Green curry meatballs
- Wednesday: Burgers & corn on the cob
- Thursday: Something quick
- Friday: Meat with CSA veggie or dine out
- Lunch: Leftovers.
- Extras: Almond milk & maybe chocolate cookies
Shopping List & Cost Breakout
Grocery Store Key: FD = Fresh Direct
Shopping List
Ground Pork ($4.83 @ FD)
Cilantro – did not get
Basil – did not get
Lemongrass – did not get
Galangal – did not get
Shallot ($2.99 @ FD)
Shrimp Paste – did not get
Another Meat (Denver cut steaks $13.49 @ FD)
Cilantro – did not get
Basil – did not get
Lemongrass – did not get
Galangal – did not get
Shallot ($2.99 @ FD)
Shrimp Paste – did not get
Another Meat (Denver cut steaks $13.49 @ FD)
Smoothie supplies
2 bags kale ($7.00 @ FD)
1 bag spinach ($2.99 @ FD))
4 apples ($4.99 @ FD)
Limes (6 $4.99 @ FD)
4 avocados ($7.00 @ FD)
Ginger ($2.99 @ FD)
Extras: Dry aged beef burgers ($13.49 for 4), pistachios ($9.99 for 10 ounces).
Total FD: $74.62
Total For The Week: $74.62; $.38 under budget. I had planned a big recipe meal for this week (green curry pork meatballs), but ended up choosing convenience over budget with my grocery shopping; so I couldn’t make it happen. Plus, Fresh direct didn’t have half the specialty ingredients I needed. No big deal; I will just get creative. Plus, I now have even more extra meat. Score!
Pantry/items repurposed from last week: fats, spices, CSA veggies, chicken.
September 21, 2014
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Gastography 