I like peas & rice.

Whenever I have peas & rice, I smile.

My corny brain thinks of Schoolhouse Rock! and Conjunction Junction where they use the conjunction to form the phrase 'peas & rice'. You remember, the two hobos are sitting in the train yard and they are around a fire having polite tea. I feel like that at times, sans politeness.

This past month was actually a fairly good month in how I managed my food. I had left over, or in economics terms, surplus. And not just of the crappy shit either.

Produce and leafy greens!

I decided to bake the 3 pounds of bananas (nanners for short) I have sitting there. I wanted to use them before they went bad. Well, One loaf I forgot to add baking soda and lets just say slime load is not appetizing at all.

Nanner Bread *(my alterations)

2 cups flour*

1 cups sugar*

3/4 teaspoon baking soda*

3/4 teaspoon of baking powder*

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup mashed bananas (3 Bananas)

1/2 cup vegetable Oil

'egg' mix: 2tbl canola oil, 2tbl flax seed, 2 tbl corn starch, 4 tbl boiling water (enough for 2 'eggs')*

1/3 cup soy-buttermilk

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Mix flour, vegan sugar, baking soda and salt in a large mixing bowl.

Mix bananas, oil, and buttermilk in a medium mixing bowl.

Combine the banana mixture with the large bowl containing dry ingredients, and stir well. Add the Ener-G Egg Replacer in now, and stir well again. (Optional: add 1/2 cup pecans).

Pour into a greased 9x5 inch bread pan.

Bake in 325 degree oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until a toothpick in the middle comes out clean.

The next loaves I added baking powder to the recipe because I didn't want nanners to settle at the bottom of the loaf and make it all heavy. The powder reduced that tremendously.

I also made some bread. I haven't bought bread in 3 years. The recipe I use allows for two loaves. I just freeze one and partake of the fresh loaf for the week. Yum.

7/13/2010 Food for Less: total $10.44

7/14/2010 99¢ Store: total $17.20

7/17/2010 Trader Joes: cash total $29.46

7/19/2010 Food 4 Less: total $15.86

7/24/2010 Rite Aid: cash total $7

I had a craving for cotton candy. Shoot me.

7/24/2010 Food 4 Less: total $5.99

This was also a month of quiche.

Spinach quiche to be exact. I put everything in this, peas, carrots, onions, spices, lots of pepper, but the key is making sure its dry. I add about half a cup of whole wheat flour to dry up everything pretty good. I also pre bake the crust I use for about 10 minutes before I pour all the goodness in the dish. I get 4 good meals from this puppy.

The crust recipe I got from Vegweb.

Basic Pie Crust

1 cup flour

1/2 cup Earth Balance

1/4 cup water

Directions:

Cut the margarine into the flour until crumbly.

Stir in water until dough sticks together.

Roll out on floured surface.

Next month I think Im going to try and get a bit more creative, if I can.

Yes you can drink 'egg creams'...kinda.

Food Stamp Balance $156.35

7/2/2010 Trader Joes Total $35.45

7/3/2010 Whole Foods Cash Total $7.93

I always feel like a tool using my Food Stamp card in Whole Foods. I rarely buy anything from there anyway, so I guess it shouldn't matter, but still. I was surprised to discover that they have the cheapest frozen shelled edamame. $2 a pound.

7/3/2010 Food 4 Less Total $27.30

7/4/2010 Fresh & Easy Total $33.60

I still love this store. I now get most of my staples from them instead of Trader Joes, which seems to be gravitating toward pre packaged specialty items. Mumph.

7/7/2010 Food 4 Less Total $9.42

I never really liked egg creams even when I ate dairy. But, I must say, I do so enjoy a nice 'egg cream' on the vegan tradition. They are tasty. You do have to stir them on occasion because of separation, but its not like anything is curdling or something.

I like using the Clearly Canadian flavored waters. You get a lovely note in the drink with them. I also make my own vanilla syrup. 3 parts sugar, one part water, some vanilla extract and a pinch of salt. Bring sugar and water to a light boil, remove from heat, add vanilla and salt and let cool. Refrigerate. Done.

Small pleasures, right?

New Digs.

Hi all or those sparse in following my other blog on Tumblr. I've moved. I'm at blogspot now because I dont know code and the formatting is all set up for me here.

I've been blogging on this for about 4 months now, and all that content is still up at Tumblr so if you are interested, check it out.

I'll be sprucing this place up soon and be doing a better job, mind you.

Thanks.