Three days of cooking down and the dishes are piling up... I see that as a good sign :)
Since our second recipe was such a success, I got a little ambitious and decided to try two meals in one day :)
When starting this project, I had originally planned on cooking breakfast and dinner everyday. On the first day, while buying ingredients for the spicy zucchini fettucine, I also went ahead and picked up ingredients for the blueberry oatmeal and tomato scrambled eggs recipes as well. However, after talking it over with my boyfriend, we realized that neither of us really eat breakfast, so the first couple of days we decided to skip the breakfast part. But yesterday I decided I might try something quick and simple. I decided to make a blueberry smoothie.
This recipe made 2 servings which came out costing $1.60 total or $0.80 per serving.
When starting this project, I had originally planned on cooking breakfast and dinner everyday. On the first day, while buying ingredients for the spicy zucchini fettucine, I also went ahead and picked up ingredients for the blueberry oatmeal and tomato scrambled eggs recipes as well. However, after talking it over with my boyfriend, we realized that neither of us really eat breakfast, so the first couple of days we decided to skip the breakfast part. But yesterday I decided I might try something quick and simple. I decided to make a blueberry smoothie.
This recipe made 2 servings which came out costing $1.60 total or $0.80 per serving.
This one was super easy. It didn't turn out as tasty as I would've liked but it was okay. Plus, I think I know how to fix it so it tastes better next time :)
I started by putting a cup of fresh blueberries into the blender with a half cup of yogurt and one cup of milk. I pulsed the blender several times to get it mixed. At this point it looked like the picture but tasted pretty bitter so I thought it would be a good idea to add a little sugar to sweeten it up. I tried adding a tablespoon of sugar but that wasn't such a good idea. It tasted sweeter but still wasn't super good, and now it was also gritty from the sugar granules.
Overall it wasn't bad but I think adding a teaspoon of vanilla and riper blueberries will make it taste really good. I'll try that next time and see.
Overall it wasn't bad but I think adding a teaspoon of vanilla and riper blueberries will make it taste really good. I'll try that next time and see.
When we got off work, we sat down again and decided what to plan for dinner. I suggested that we do the tomato scrambled eggs since I already had the ingredients.
We decided to pair that with the potatoes and chilies recipe using bell pepper as the pepper.
Because of our cooking on previous days, we already had everything we needed except potatoes and peppers. Needless to say, this trip to the store went much quicker. Although, we did struggle to decide which type of potato to choose... Altogether we ended up spending $4.95 this trip but again, we came out with something that can be used in later recipes. We have enough potatoes to cook with 3 or 4 more meals. When calculating the overall cost of the recipe itself, it came out to be $1.74 total so $0.87 per serving.
This brings the total cost of the whole meal to $4.12 or $2.06 per serving.
To get started, we decided to prepare the potatoes first. They were supposed to roast for at least an hour so we figured we could get them started, get some dished done, then start on the eggs when they were almost finished.
This brings the total cost of the whole meal to $4.12 or $2.06 per serving.
To get started, we decided to prepare the potatoes first. They were supposed to roast for at least an hour so we figured we could get them started, get some dished done, then start on the eggs when they were almost finished.
I began by chopping the veggies while Ian tackled the sink full of dishes.
This part was simple. Just chop them up, put on the spices, and throw them in the oven. We actually encountered two problems while preparing this recipe. The first problem was that the recipe called for 4 potatoes and 4 peppers, however it was obvious that our little oven wouldn't hold that much so we cut the recipe down to two potatoes and one pepper but if I were to do it over again, I would have added another pepper in the mix. The second problem came when it was time to start checking on them. Forty five minutes in and the potatoes were still pretty tough. It made the house smell really good though :)
We figured we would have to leave them in a little longer than an hour but decided to go ahead and start on the scrambled eggs. The recipe said to cook the tomatoes until most of the water had boiled off. From now on I think we're just going to have to plan on cooking everything three times as long as the book suggests. Either that, or get a better cook top, which we will definitely consider if we plan on keeping this up :)
After quite awhile it was clear that the water wasn't going to boil off so we just drained out as much as we could and decided to add the eggs. We turned the temperature down to the medium setting but nothing was happening so we turned it all the way back up and the eggs finally started to cook.
After quite awhile it was clear that the water wasn't going to boil off so we just drained out as much as we could and decided to add the eggs. We turned the temperature down to the medium setting but nothing was happening so we turned it all the way back up and the eggs finally started to cook.
While cooking the eggs, we kind of forgot about the potatoes and peppers. We pulled those out and I think they were a little over cooked. In the end, the eggs looked a little strange and the potatoes were a little tough but the flavor of both was still awesome.
Even though we've had some struggles, I'm very pleased with our progress. We're saving money while doing something fun together. Ian seems to really be enjoying it too :) We're currently on our way out of town for the holiday weekend but before we left, he pulled out the leftovers and made us some wraps.
We'll have to put our cooking on hold for a few days until we get back but I'm already looking forward to trying out some new recipes :)
We'll have to put our cooking on hold for a few days until we get back but I'm already looking forward to trying out some new recipes :)