From My Mother’s Recipe Box: Breakfast Treats for Mother’s Day

Getting ready to treat your mom for Mother’s Day? I’ve got two yummy vintage breakfast recipes from My Mother’s Recipe Box you might want to try: Old-fashioned Crumb Cake and my Aunt Lily’s Chocolate Eclairs. Why not serve her breakfast in bed?

How to Eat Healthy on $5.00 a Day: Day 5

Well, we made it to Friday. Were we hungrier than usual during this experiment? Yes. However, I didn’t think about snacking in between meals….it’s just that I was famished when it came time to make each one.

I’ll admit, this was a brain drain. I enjoy planning menus and recipes but weighing quantities and doing the math, that’s what hurt my head so much! Still, Bill and I made it through our challenge of trying to spend only $5.00 per person, per day, except where we went over budget. After all, as I disclaimed in my introductory post, this was an experiment.

While we may not have eaten as much in quantity that we usually do, and we certainly missed enjoying wine with dinner, I think we ate pretty well overall. For a recap of each day, check out the results from Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, and Day 4.

Here’s what we ate on Day 5:

Nutty Rice Porridge

For last night’s dinner (Day 3 of “How to Eat Healthy on $5.00 a Day”), I made  Cuban Black Beans with brown rice and purposefully made extra rice so Bill and I could enjoy it for breakfast. I love this recipe that I found at Tasteforlife.com and use it as a way to ease back into eating after my annual winter detox regimen.

Normally, I’d make this with the almond milk but since our rice was already cooked, I just reheated it in a pan with some raw milk and added the spices and apples. We skipped the walnuts and flaxseed due to cost, since this is our breakfast for Day 4 of our eating cheap and healthy challenge.

Nutty Rice Porridge
Adapted from Brenda Watson’s recipe on Tasteforlife.com
(Serves 2)

1 cup long-grain brown rice
2 cups almond milk
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
4 T ground flaxseed
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 Fuji apple, chopped (Fuji apples are best for their texture and sweet taste, but you can choose another type of apple)

Place rice, milk, and nutmeg in medium saucepan.

Bring to boil, stirring frequently.

Cover pan and reduce heat to low.

Simmer for approximately 45 minutes.

Top with chopped nuts, ground flaxseed, and apple.

To make this recipe with pre-cooked rice, use 2 cups of cooked brown rice and one cup of almond milk. Place rice and milk in saucepan and heat thoroughly. Top with the rest of the ingredients.

How to Eat Healthy on $5.00 a Day: Day 3

I love eggs. They’re versatile, portable, and they keep hunger at bay. If you boil up a batch ahead of time, you’ve got quick snacks on hand, or a protein source to add to salads, lentil dishes or rice. Sometimes Bill and I simply have a frittata for lunch or dinner, featuring seasonal vegetables or garnished with nitrite-free bacon. But one of my favorite standbys is the ol’ fried egg sandwich. It’s filling and warm, offering protein to get your day started. That’s what I had for breakfast today.

Check out the rest of the menu for Day 3 of “How to Eat Healthy on $5.00 a Day,” the experiment Bill and I are conducting for five days this week.

How to Eat Healthy on $5.00 a Day: Day 2

It’s Day 2 of Bill’s and my experiment for this week: How to eat healthy on $5.00 a day. And I admit: I’m hungry. I couldn’t wait until tonight’s dinner, pictured above. This experience has been an interesting process so far in a number of ways:

1. Calculating quantities and prices per ounce really creates awareness for the food we’re buying and eating. Who knew our local CSA lettuce would be so expensive and that cumin from India would be so cheap?
2. It makes you think about how much you eat during the day just from habit. I’m not even talking about someone who has a bad day and binges on food, but just the idea that, oh, there’s a banana that’s ripe so I’d better eat it.
3. Sometimes it really does cost more to eat healthy, but sometimes it doesn’t. For example, check out the juxtaposition between today’s lunch and yesterday’s lunch.

How to Eat Healthy on $5.00 a Day: Day 1

[Note to reader: If you haven't read why I'm writing this five-day blog series, please refer to my first post, "How to Eat Healthy on $5.00 a Day," which explains my intent.]

I marvel at the choices of oatmeal available to us in this country. In Bill‘s and my house alone, we have three: rolled oats, quick rolled oats, and instant oatmeal (all organic).

You can also choose from conventionally-grown oats, and instant oatmeal with a variety of flavors, such as maple and brown sugar, apple-cinnamon, etc. So it was interesting to see how the prices vary on just the three types we have in our house.

Of course, instant is most expensive because you’re paying for the convenience. But couldn’t you also say you’re saving energy since you don’t have to wash a pot? That’s my favorite part about instant oatmeal. Today I opted for quick rolled oats, cooked in a pot for about two minutes, which actually seemed faster than heating water for instant oatmeal and then waiting for it to set. Oh, the choices we have!

Check out the menus and the tallies for today’s experiment at trying to eat healthy on five bucks.

How to Eat Healthy on $5.00 a Day

People generally think that eating healthy has to be expensive. Bill and I decided to demonstrate that it’s not.

This post begins a series of blog posts inspired by an article I read last fall in The Grand Rapids Press. It documented the diary  of two writers who were taking the Grand Rapids Hunger Challenge as part of Hunger Action Week. Challenged with spending only $30.59 per week—about what a person on food stamps would have to spend—or $4.37 per day, Jacqueline Prins and Samantha Dine shared their experience in a series of daily articles.

On Day 5 the headline read, “Today, fast food tastes ‘lovely, glorious.’” Really? I don’t ever remember using those words to describe fast food. But I suppose these girls were pretty hungry by then, choosing Taco Bell and McDonald’s foods for lunch and dinner. Understanding that fast food is cheap and convenient, I realize how people with limited income head to those establishments first. But in my mind, I threw down the gauntlet. I wanted to figure out how someone could eat healthy–and inexpensively–on minimal income.

My Blueberry Muffin Experiment

As I’ve said before, I’m not much of a baker. But I have this stash of last summer’s blueberries in my freezer and have been trying to think of creative ways to use them. They are good in smoothies, but the skins don’t disintegrate well. (If you’re a texture girl like me, you probably don’t like blueberry skins in your teeth.) And, speaking of texture, frozen blueberries aren’t my favorite mixed with yoghurt either. (Fresh berries offer a completely different experience!)

Several of my friends suggested I make blueberry muffins. But that means measuring. Oy! I finally gave in, however, and made some last night. If I had been a true baker, I probably would have had paper muffin cups on hand. That would have made the process much easier! (Note to self for the next batch.)

My friend Lois sent me a recipe, which she says came from Fannie Farmer. So I looked up the recipe for “Muffins, Berry” in my own Fannie Farmer cookbook and found it.

The dilemma, as usual, was how to make it Bill-friendly. I followed some of my usual substitution rules: When a recipe calls for milk, use rice milk. When it calls for flour, use half brown rice and half oat flour. And when it calls for butter, use palm oil.

Another friend asked me recently, “What’s a good substitute for eggs?” I don’t have a good answer but I found a website called Kids with Food Allergies that had some good ideas. Fortunately, Fannie says you can actually omit the egg from this recipe! (If you try it, let me know how it turns out.)

Here’s the recipe I followed, with adaptations for people with wheat and dairy allergies.

Fannie Farmer’s Blueberry Muffins, Adapted for Food Allergies

2 cups flour (1 cup brown rice flour plus 1 cup oat flour)

3 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg, slightly beaten

1 cup rice milk

1/4 cup melted palm oil

1 cup frozen blueberries

Sugar to sprinkle on top

Preheat the oven to 375. Grease a muffin pan with palm oil. Sprinkle 1/4 cup of the flour over the blueberries.

In a large bowl, mix the remaining flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar.

In a small bowl, mix the egg, rice milk, and melted palm oil.

Make a well in the dry ingredients and add the liquid mixture, stirring only enough to dampen the flour.

Lightly fold in the blueberries.

Spoon batter into muffin pans, filling each cup about two-thirds full. Sprinkle each muffin with sugar.

Bake for about 20 minutes. Makes 12 muffins.

 

I Love Blueberry Pancakes in January

With local blueberries, of course.

Thanks to my friend Lois, who told me her technique for freezing blueberries, I preserved a huge batch of them last summer to keep on hand during the winter months.

Since Bill and I have oat cakes just about every Sunday morning, we’re now able to add some much-needed (this time of year in particular) antioxidants to our batter. We just take a handful of berries out of the freezer the night before and throw the thawed  berries into our batter.

It’s a delicious way to bring July into January and savor the summertime flavors of berries.

Breakfast for Dinner: Bacon Leek Frittata

Bill and I love frittatas for dinner. So when we had some nitrite-free bacon leftover in addition to some chopped leeks in the freezer, it seemed we were destined to make a frittata for dinner.

I had never frozen leeks before I went to a freezing and canning seminar at Lubbers Farm last September. That’s when Kathy Rafter, the instructor, suggested chopping certain vegetables for freezer storage. I promptly preserved some of the leeks I got from Visser Farms and took them out to thaw the day I planned on making the frittata.

What I found interesting was the consistency of the leeks when they were thawed. Like my frozen strawberries and blueberries from last summer, they became somewhat mushy once thawed. What that meant for my frittata is I didn’t have to saute them prior to using them, which is really convenient. (Normally, I would cook them until tender, about 8 minutes, when using them in a fast-cooking dish such as a frittata.)

So how did I make this delicious wintertime meal?

It’s so easy….

Chop up about 4 strips of bacon and saute it until crispy.

After mixing 5 happy eggs together and seasoning with salt and pepper, heat up the pan that the bacon was fried in (after draining the grease).

Add some olive oil. (The key is to not let those eggs stick.) When the pan is really hot (indicated by a sizzling sound when you sprinkle a couple drops of water in the grease), pour in the eggs.

On medium to low heat, loosen the edges and swirl around the uncooked egg mixture, letting it slide under the cooked part until the egg is mostly set.

Add the leeks, then the bacon.

If desired, add some grated cheese such as Pecorino.

Broil on low heat for about two minutes, keeping an eye on the frittata since oven temps can vary.

Remove from the oven, cover with a lid to let set a couple minutes. Then cut into wedges and serve.

If you like frittatas, check out the other recipes I’ve posted: Frittata! and Frittata over a Fire.