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It often feels really challenging to eat healthy on a budget. For the past 14 months I've kept very detailed track of where my money goes and that's really helped me bring down my food cost from as high as $200 a week to a much more reasonable $50-75. Even this price range may seem high since I'm cooking for one these days, and it is high -- much higher than if I didn't try and buy healthy and environmentally responsible foods and products. Budgeting requires a prioritization of desires, as does dieting, so these two projects actually go together well even if they often have an inverse relationship.

 

I don't diet in the traditional sense, but I really like the approach that's laid out in The Full Plate Diet. One of the first important things to know about this plan, is that the eBook is available for free from their website. They also have a pretty cool mailing list with recipes, short stories and ideas for success. I don't think their approach revolutionary, in fact why I like it is that it jives with most of the other ideas in which I believe. Eat mostly plants, some meat, but everything in moderation (note: Americans eat an average of 8oz of meat per day -- which is double the global average). Eat carbohydrates that are providing you with plenty of fiber (they recommend 40g per day) and not that much sugar. Never get hungry, never get full.

 

The best way for me to eat healthy AND cheap is to have a plan. As much as I love making elaborate meals they often require one-off ingredients and I'll eat more than I should since it's really challenging to make single portion meals from scratch. So I've settled into a routine the past few weeks that hasn't helped with my blogging goals, but will hopefully help with my health and budget goals!

 

One of my very favorite bloggers ever is Ms. Bitchcakes. I have learned so much more from her than I ever did from actually attending Weight Watchers. If you check her out, you'll see why I see her as partial inspiration for this style of post.

I wrote out a to-do list for everything I needed to do after work on Monday. The good news is, I got everything done. The bad news is, I forgot to put PoP on there! Without further ado, I'd like to introduce you to my new friend, Caitypillar:

 

My new apartment has a little sliver of a backyard and it's absolutely perfect for me. I've rented houses with lawns, but a lawn is so intimidating. If you're going to make a change it needs to be big and fit in with the house and be something your landlord is going to accept. The small scale of the yard gives me enough room to plant some flowers and herbs, have a BBQ, a little sitting area, and still room for the cats to dust bathe and poop.

 

It's this last, unglamorous requirement that led me to Home Depot a few weeks ago. The previous tenants had tried to carve out a little space in the yard though I think they ultimately ended up container gardening in the space. All that's left is a thriving aloe plant. The dirt there is diggable and not covered in grass, so the cats have been taking the path of least resistance in regards to their toilet activities. This space is right next to the patio so there's often a certain odor floating on the wind as I sit on the porch and relax in the evening. Though it is kind of interesting to watch the giant flies try and answer the age old question regarding pin heads and angels...only with cat dung and themselves.

 

All of this has meant that designing the yard got bumped up in my move-in priority list. The first stage became a "smell barrier" at the edge of the cement slab that is the patio. I picked scented geraniums and marigolds as partial sun/shade plants that produce strong but pleasant odors that will both block any yard odor as well as deter mosquitoes and other insects. Win-win. Also, I think marigolds are just the most cheerful flower and I know that they're hardy and won't die on my immediately.

 

 

I picked a great time to plant because the day after was the start of a week-long early evening deluge. So far the plants appear to be taking well, though in looking at this picture I realize I need to add some more wood chips. Can't let the weeds settle in!

 

In addition to the marigolds I wanted to pick up some dill. But I ended up also picking up a little passenger along with the dill. She and the dill ended up in my cupholder on the way home, thus the title of the post. I bought her a parsley as well as some pintas and other "butterfly" flowers. Sadly Caitypillar has abandoned me, but I'm hoping she'll come flying back at some point soon. In the meantime I need to find some resources on square foot gardening and see if it's something I want to try. I want to put the herbs and butterfly flowers in a raised bed, but I haven't figured out what my ideal edge material is (brick, wood, pre-built plastic?). I will attempt to get the rest of the plants in the ground this weekend so they don't die and go to waste. More pictures and plans as the yard develops.

 

PoP: Thank you to Sarah, both for her awesome conversation and cheering skills as well as being our consistent poster. Catherine has another VenusZine piece up, but she's not cross-promoting yet. Bad PoPper! Speaking of cross-promotion...I do blog fairly frequently, I just do it for work.

Summer is here in its fruitful abundance and I am thouroughly taking advantage of stone fruit season right now. Plums have been my drug of choice lately, but when I got a King Arthur Flour email with a new recipe for cherry clafouti...well, let's just say there was no arm twisting involved. I first learned of clafoutis from Tartelette, but my favorite recipe comes from the Joy of Baking. Part of the allure of this dish is how delightfully simple it is, just ripe cherries baked in an a firm, eggy custard. Of course, leave it to me to make it complicated.

I made several alterations to the KAF recipe. The biggest one, in my opinion, is that I do not pit the cherries. I actually have a cherry pitter and kind of enjoy the task, but even better I delight in the almondy essense that comes out during baking. It makes eating slightly complicated, but not more than eating bone-in fish.

I wanted to make three slight variations, so I doubled the amount of cherries and made 1.5 of the recipe. It came out like this:

 

Ingredients

6 small-medium eggs (farm fresh, and thus smaller than grocery store eggs)

1.5 cups lukewarm milk

3 T unsalted melted butter

1.5 t vanilla extract

1/2 t almond extract

1 1/4 t salt

1 cup sugar (oops, this should have been 3/4 cup)

3/4 cup almond flour

1/2 cup KAF all-purpose flour

 

For chocolate variation:

1 T dutch process cocoa 

1/4 c milk chocolate chips

 

Variation One

Follow KAF instructions, except as noted above (cherry pits, almond flour mixed in)

 

Variation Two

Same as above, but I carmelized the cherries ahead of time. To do this, melt one tablespoon butter in a skillet or large saucepan and toss cherries in over low-medium heat. Stir frequently as the juices come out of the cherries. When carmelized, pour into bottom of baking pan.

 

Variation Three

What goes really, really well with cherries? Chocolate! It seems like kind of a bastardization, but I decided to venture out. I added 1 T cocoa powder to the last 1/3 of batter, and then poured it over the cherries. I also sprinkled a handful of milk chocolate chips over the whole thing so there would be little globs of chocolate in the mix.

 

The batter looks like something unfit for polite society, so instead I'll show you the clip I attached to the bag of chocolate chips. This little guy and a set of his friends came in a recent care package from my sister.

 

The Verdict? TBC....after breakfast!

 

PUBLISH OR PERISH: I have to applaud Sarah at Chef In The Sticks who has held down PoP summer while Cathy and I flagged a little. She's got a write-up on Asheville this week that I am looking forwards to reading (I wonder if she visited the cheesecake place that uses real cheeses like cheddar in their pies...eating there was a disturbing moment in my life). Cathy told me she was working on something this afternoon, but so far nothing new at CiaoCatherine. I'm already 30 minutes into Tuesday, so we'll see if she has a rabbit in her hat at some point. EDIT: Cathy pointed me to her review of Jimmy Gnecco's The Heart published on VenusZine. Pssh, like being published on a real media outlet is any excuse for missing PoP!

It often feels really challenging to eat healthy on a budget. For the past 14 months I've kept very detailed track of where my money goes and that's really helped me bring down my food cost from as high as $200 a week to a much more reasonable $50-75. Even this price range may seem high since I'm cooking for one these days, and it is high -- much higher than if I didn't try and buy healthy and environmentally responsible foods and products. Budgeting requires a prioritization of desires, as does dieting, so these two projects actually go together well even if they often have an inverse relationship.

 

I don't diet in the traditional sense, but I really like the approach that's laid out in The Full Plate Diet. One of the first important things to know about this plan, is that the eBook is available for free from their website. They also have a pretty cool mailing list with recipes, short stories and ideas for success. I don't think their approach revolutionary, in fact why I like it is that it jives with most of the other ideas in which I believe. Eat mostly plants, some meat, but everything in moderation (note: Americans eat an average of 8oz of meat per day -- which is double the global average). Eat carbohydrates that are providing you with plenty of fiber (they recommend 40g per day) and not that much sugar. Never get hungry, never get full.

 

The best way for me to eat healthy AND cheap is to have a plan. As much as I love making elaborate meals they often require one-off ingredients and I'll eat more than I should since it's really challenging to make single portion meals from scratch. So I've settled into a routine the past few weeks that hasn't helped with my blogging goals, but will hopefully help with my health and budget goals!

 

One of my very favorite bloggers ever is Ms. Bitchcakes. I have learned so much more from her than I ever did from actually attending Weight Watchers. If you check her out, you'll see why I see her as partial inspiration for this style of post.

I wrote out a to-do list for everything I needed to do after work on Monday. The good news is, I got everything done. The bad news is, I forgot to put PoP on there! Without further ado, I'd like to introduce you to my new friend, Caitypillar:

 

My new apartment has a little sliver of a backyard and it's absolutely perfect for me. I've rented houses with lawns, but a lawn is so intimidating. If you're going to make a change it needs to be big and fit in with the house and be something your landlord is going to accept. The small scale of the yard gives me enough room to plant some flowers and herbs, have a BBQ, a little sitting area, and still room for the cats to dust bathe and poop.

 

It's this last, unglamorous requirement that led me to Home Depot a few weeks ago. The previous tenants had tried to carve out a little space in the yard though I think they ultimately ended up container gardening in the space. All that's left is a thriving aloe plant. The dirt there is diggable and not covered in grass, so the cats have been taking the path of least resistance in regards to their toilet activities. This space is right next to the patio so there's often a certain odor floating on the wind as I sit on the porch and relax in the evening. Though it is kind of interesting to watch the giant flies try and answer the age old question regarding pin heads and angels...only with cat dung and themselves.

 

All of this has meant that designing the yard got bumped up in my move-in priority list. The first stage became a "smell barrier" at the edge of the cement slab that is the patio. I picked scented geraniums and marigolds as partial sun/shade plants that produce strong but pleasant odors that will both block any yard odor as well as deter mosquitoes and other insects. Win-win. Also, I think marigolds are just the most cheerful flower and I know that they're hardy and won't die on my immediately.

 

 

I picked a great time to plant because the day after was the start of a week-long early evening deluge. So far the plants appear to be taking well, though in looking at this picture I realize I need to add some more wood chips. Can't let the weeds settle in!

 

In addition to the marigolds I wanted to pick up some dill. But I ended up also picking up a little passenger along with the dill. She and the dill ended up in my cupholder on the way home, thus the title of the post. I bought her a parsley as well as some pintas and other "butterfly" flowers. Sadly Caitypillar has abandoned me, but I'm hoping she'll come flying back at some point soon. In the meantime I need to find some resources on square foot gardening and see if it's something I want to try. I want to put the herbs and butterfly flowers in a raised bed, but I haven't figured out what my ideal edge material is (brick, wood, pre-built plastic?). I will attempt to get the rest of the plants in the ground this weekend so they don't die and go to waste. More pictures and plans as the yard develops.

 

PoP: Thank you to Sarah, both for her awesome conversation and cheering skills as well as being our consistent poster. Catherine has another VenusZine piece up, but she's not cross-promoting yet. Bad PoPper! Speaking of cross-promotion...I do blog fairly frequently, I just do it for work.

Summer is here in its fruitful abundance and I am thouroughly taking advantage of stone fruit season right now. Plums have been my drug of choice lately, but when I got a King Arthur Flour email with a new recipe for cherry clafouti...well, let's just say there was no arm twisting involved. I first learned of clafoutis from Tartelette, but my favorite recipe comes from the Joy of Baking. Part of the allure of this dish is how delightfully simple it is, just ripe cherries baked in an a firm, eggy custard. Of course, leave it to me to make it complicated.

I made several alterations to the KAF recipe. The biggest one, in my opinion, is that I do not pit the cherries. I actually have a cherry pitter and kind of enjoy the task, but even better I delight in the almondy essense that comes out during baking. It makes eating slightly complicated, but not more than eating bone-in fish.

I wanted to make three slight variations, so I doubled the amount of cherries and made 1.5 of the recipe. It came out like this:

 

Ingredients

6 small-medium eggs (farm fresh, and thus smaller than grocery store eggs)

1.5 cups lukewarm milk

3 T unsalted melted butter

1.5 t vanilla extract

1/2 t almond extract

1 1/4 t salt

1 cup sugar (oops, this should have been 3/4 cup)

3/4 cup almond flour

1/2 cup KAF all-purpose flour

 

For chocolate variation:

1 T dutch process cocoa 

1/4 c milk chocolate chips

 

Variation One

Follow KAF instructions, except as noted above (cherry pits, almond flour mixed in)

 

Variation Two

Same as above, but I carmelized the cherries ahead of time. To do this, melt one tablespoon butter in a skillet or large saucepan and toss cherries in over low-medium heat. Stir frequently as the juices come out of the cherries. When carmelized, pour into bottom of baking pan.

 

Variation Three

What goes really, really well with cherries? Chocolate! It seems like kind of a bastardization, but I decided to venture out. I added 1 T cocoa powder to the last 1/3 of batter, and then poured it over the cherries. I also sprinkled a handful of milk chocolate chips over the whole thing so there would be little globs of chocolate in the mix.

 

The batter looks like something unfit for polite society, so instead I'll show you the clip I attached to the bag of chocolate chips. This little guy and a set of his friends came in a recent care package from my sister.

 

The Verdict? TBC....after breakfast!

 

PUBLISH OR PERISH: I have to applaud Sarah at Chef In The Sticks who has held down PoP summer while Cathy and I flagged a little. She's got a write-up on Asheville this week that I am looking forwards to reading (I wonder if she visited the cheesecake place that uses real cheeses like cheddar in their pies...eating there was a disturbing moment in my life). Cathy told me she was working on something this afternoon, but so far nothing new at CiaoCatherine. I'm already 30 minutes into Tuesday, so we'll see if she has a rabbit in her hat at some point. EDIT: Cathy pointed me to her review of Jimmy Gnecco's The Heart published on VenusZine. Pssh, like being published on a real media outlet is any excuse for missing PoP!