The Joy of Cooking ($2.88 per meal)

I don't know about you, but as a single gal in the city ( no, I won't go all Charlotte from Sex in the City on you), cooking is complicated. First of all, there is time. Between work, working out, social time, and tired time, finding time to cook is a pain. Which is why from grubhub.com to the corner take out place, and of course regular restaurants, thrive and also lead to people like me and probably you eating way too many calories way too quickly. Not to mention, each meal out costs between $10 to $20, so that adds up.
Another challenge with cooking is that recipes for 4 servings. When your like me, I need to cook for one. It's kind of silly to make 1/4 of a recipe. So, for the fast two months, I've decided to spend Sunday evenings making food for the whole week. I started with lunches, and today, I went ahead and made lunches and dinners for the week. I even made a grocery store list ( I guess I am a list person), and found recipies from SmittenKitchen.com.
I spent $45 and made 16 servings worth of food. So that is a whopping $2.88 per meal.

So, I made a few errors, like misreading spices and buying seeds without owning a seed grinder ( anyone want to buy me one?). I learned that you can't fry seeds in butter ( see picture). And, knives do break skin and hot lids cause burns. But, overall it was fun a experience.

First, up, I went to make the Everyday Dal but then I realized I needed to soak the yellow split peas in cold water for an HOUR. Who has a hour for soaking during the week. When I finally get married and am a full time mom, I can soak peas during the week. For now, its a Sunday night evening event.

At first, I was going to fudge the recipie and not soak the peas, but I realized I had two over meals to make, so I reluctantly soaked the peas and moved onto the Black Eyed Peas in Goan Curry.

For the curry, I had to chop veggies and chop up spice seeds since I don't have a spice grinder. It was fin sauteing onions and garlic and doing everything orderly. If I cook during the week, it tends to be a free for all throwing into a pot. Stir-fry a million ways or something like that. But, now, I am following the recipe and taking my time.

I put the curry to simmer for 20 mins and started the Mushroom Bourguignon. I'm not a fan of egg noodles and I am trying to eat around 1300-1400 calories a day, so I decided to modify the recipe to include my favorite food--- QUINOA instead of noodles. Besides curring out calories, I've added more protein and brought in a food that means a lot to me. Quinoa is one the staples of my whole new healthy me. Like the Fiber One and Yogurt, quinoa always recenters me.

For this one, I had to slice of portebello's, heat them up, and then put in a bowl and use the mushroom essence or whatever to sautee the onions, garlic, and stuff like that. Again, steps that working people don't have time to do during the work week. I also didn't buy red wine so I used sherry, and doubled the veggie broth to account for adding quinoa. I let this cook and started back on the Everyday Dal.

This where the evening got interesting. I am not a fan of canola oil so I tried using butter instead, which let's say butter burns at a much lower temperature. So, the kitchen filled a ton of smoke and steam as I let the cumin seeds toast. I had to start over, and luckily it took the formerly soaking split peas 45 minutes to cook so I had ample time to redo the seeds and sauteeing.

A little over two hours later, I was done ( minus the cabbage salad. Perhaps tomorrow.). It felt incredible to know I zero excuses for eating unhealthy, quick food. And, I expanded my skills, learned something new, and am excited I don't have to cook for another week.