Menus May 21, 2013

Frugality without creativity is deprivation.

 Amy Dacyczyn

 
I've been thinking a lot this week about being wasted. 

no, not like that!

I've been thinking about what it means to waste time, waste effort, waste food, waste love or kindness, and what it means to waste money. So, I asked the dictionary. Which helped, sort of:

waste 

verb

1.

to consume, spend, or employ uselessly or without adequate return. 

So, waste is all about the math of what was spent versus what was gained. Sounds simple, yet it became slippery, and perplexingly relative: the definition of waste can depend on what one had to spend, balanced against what one needed to receive. I almost allowed myself to become quite lost on that rabbit trail, but..... it was time to cook dinner. 
And cooking dinner was a necessity which led to another oft visited concept:  frugality, which I'm pretty sure is not about avoiding spending, but about avoiding waste. At least I hope so. Because this week, I'm resplicing my frugal gene to my creative gene in the hope that I can once again....

spend money as if I were a miser        and feed people as if they were royalty

Why? Well, it's not for anything as abstract as a bank balance. No, I am that sort of woman who saves money to spend money, and there are about a bajillionty-seven things that I'd rather spend money on this summer than food. There are in fact so many things that I'd like to spend money on that I occasionally consult my canine counselor, AKA Josie the wonder dog. She tells me the list of things she'd like to spend time on, and I tell her the list of stuff I'd like to spend money on, hoping that her non-materialistic, zenny little soul will somehow influence my own.

this rarely works. But I keep trying.

This week and through the summer, I'll be (sigh) trying to stick to what we around here call a money diet, saving in one area so that we can do a little splurging in another. I'll tell you more about that this weekend, but for now, here's what we'll be having for dinner:

Wednesday:  Beef and Cheese Chiles Rellenos

Remember that  Oven Roasted Brisket from last week? I bought the smallest one, and it was still huge-nourmous. And it cost $30, which was also hard to swallow. However! Since it was roasted on Sunday, it's made 3 lunches, and this will be its third (and last) up-at-bat for dinner. So, you know, frugal. This basic rellenos recipe will be stuffed with a mixture of chopped brisket, onions and cheese, and I'll put it together with a salad of tomatoes and some avocados that I really need to use before I lose. 

Thursday: Black Beans and Rice
I count myself lucky to be married to a guy who thinks that black beans and rice are one of the best "oh boy!" dinners ever. For cheap and easy protein, it's hard to top beans. Actually, it's easy to top beans. And I'll probably do just that, by spooning on a Brazilian chopped onion and tomato vinaigrette called mohlo.   I may also put a couple of smoked sausages either in the beans or on the plate. Maybe some zuchinni too, if I experience a sudden episode of no-green-vegetable-guilt. I'm making extra rice for tomorrow night, and using the leftover beans on Saturday.





Friday: Sweet and Sour Pork
The City Chicken that was such a success last week left me with a ziploc bag of pork tenderloin in cubey bits. I'll be pulling most of that out of the freezer, and using last night's leftover rice for this retro fun thing. By retro, I mean that I have some nostalgic childhood memories of my mother cooking sweet and sour pork for special dinner nights, and I am way old enough for my childhood to qualify as retro. I think I may give her a call while the sauce thickens up.....

Saturday: Sweet Potatoes with warm black bean salad
If you cook a pot of beans, there will always be leftovers. Count on it. The only way to avoid leftover beans is to start with canned ones, and they STILL multiply in ways that defy conventional kitchen math. Usually, I'd be using the leftovers in burritos or tacos, but that's so....usual, that I'm going to try this. I think. If I happen to have lettuce and tortillas in the fridge, I may yet default to burritos.






Sunday: Pork and Quinoa Salad
I may have just enough bits of the pork tenderloin left to make this salad; if I don't, then we'll go meatless. If you've never cooked quinoa, think about giving it a try- there's actual protein in those little grains, and they're as versatile as rice. Here's a nice  tutorial on cooking it and if you can find it in a grocery store's bulk section, it'll be a little more affordable. You can always substitute couscous.



There's the week's plan- a plan for food that costs little, wastes almost nothing and (I hope) feels like fun instead of deprivation. I'll tell you later how that plan pans out when it hits the real week ahead.
And about that real week ahead-
I hope you feel as if nothing is wasted.
I hope the time you spend returns you pleasure and rest.
I hope the effort you spend brings you achievement and recognition.
I hope the kindness you offer is met with appreciation.
And I hope the love you pour out on the people around you

nurtures the entire world.