Monday, July 20, 2009

Culinary Creativity

I don't think I've ever blogged about food, but I'm feeling rather ingenious tonight, so I thought I'd share. We're on an extremely tight budget right now, and I'm constantly looking for ways to stretch the food money, which is not so easy to do with a family of five. To complicate matters, The Man is a vegetarian, so that's always a challenge for me, so when I come up with something cheap, easy, and nutritious that's also a big hit, I feel like I should share.

Tonight, I sauteed half an onion and a sweet potato, both chopped into smallish pieces, in olive oil. I seasoned that with cinnamon, cloves, and salt, while I cooked a pot of brown rice. As soon as the sweet potatoes started to get tender, I took out part of the mixture and stirred it into a bowl full of the rice, adding northern beans, curry powder, 1/4 can of diced tomatoes, and a little extra salt. To the potato mixture that remained, I added sliced kielbasa, stirring until it was slightly browned, and then mixed in the rest of the can of tomatoes. When that was heated through, I added it to the rest of the rice. Voila! A meal for the vegetarian and also the meat eaters.

I'd estimate it cost $6 total to prepare, and I fed the family plus a friend, so I'd say that was pretty cost effective. I served it with a side of spinach salad, tossed with roasted almonds and grapes. Yum!

What about you, readers? Have you come up with any crowd pleasing, budget conscious concoctions you'd like to share?

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