Tuna Salad Supreme

I love seafood, when fresh and properly prepared.  Even in Boston, excellent seafood is sometimes hard to come by.  We usually head to Legal Seafood.  I've been eating a lot of scallops, and suddenly I feel like tuna.  Apparently tuna (sorry, Charlie) has become so pricey you can't even find it on a menu.  My new copy of Saveur arrives with hundreds of sandwich recipes, including one for homemade tuna salad.  Yum! 


I buy 12 oz. of tuna at $20 per pound, thinking that if I saw it on a menu it would set me back at least $26 a pop times 2 with wine and salads and maybe another side, and well, yanno, suddenly we are looking a more than a hundred bucks and the $17.00 worth of tuna seems like a huge bargain.   The recipes call for steaming, which I do, and then add chopped red onion, parsley, mayo, capers, lemon juice and salt and pepper.   Let chill.  Folks, I just took a bite and it's delicious. 


We got some good multigrain bread in case we decide to eat it in sandwiches.  I also have olives, little tomatoes, white asparagus, cucumber and orange pepper to serve on the plates, so we're going to eat our veggies, along, of course, with the lettuce.  This looks like a winner. 


Here is the recipe.  See for yourself. Homemade Tuna Salad from Scratch  


Tomorrow we're having something in the curry family called "Butter Chicken."  With a name like that, it just has to be good. 


If I can remember to, I'll photograph the plated dinner tonight to show you how colorful and delicious the tuna looks. 

So Colorful and Tempting- Just add good bread

Tasty Vegetarian

Chances are, meat, produce and dairy are your biggest expenditures at the grocery store. By cooking vegetarian once or twice a week, you can cut out the meat expense. Last week, mozzarella and cheddar (already grated, yet) were on sale, as was broccoli and eggplant.

This week, we're having Eggplant Parmegiana and Cheddar-Broccoli soup. Both entrees are heary fare that only needs a salad and perhaps a soupcon of dessert to make a complete meal. The cheese is full of calcium and also has protein, and the soup uses milk as well.

Some homemade French bread would be fantastic. The cool fall days and nights call for something hearty, but hearty doesn't have to always be meaty. I'm thinking chili weather will be here soon.

I'll give you my two fave chili recipes. Chili is economical, too, and you can make it so many ways. I like both beef and chicken. White chili rocks. I ate it for the first time in Wisconsin and it was such a revelation.

It is true. Travel is broadening. With the sour cream and cheese, that statement is true in multiple ways.

The Cheeseparer

Paring Cheese in the Summer

So, we've revved up the smoker for salmon and kielbasa, a BOGO. This weekend we're entertaining, and I'm grilling a pork roast with a special slaw.

The lettuces, spinach and herbs from the garden have been paying big dividends, and the tomatoes are growing like weeds.

Corn is getting cheaper. Potatoes were on sale and I made a bistro potato salad with yukon golds and some onion. My husband gave me a slicer (Mandolin) that makes ultra thin slices and it's fab for onion and cukes. Makes the salads so suave looking. And thin slices use less of the vegetable.

I'm going to make Cuban sandwiches with he leftover pork. You need pork, ham, swiss cheese, crusty bread and pickles. A little garlicky mayo.

Ocean State Job Lot had all manner of picnic stuff today, so I bought paper plates, napkins, toothpicks, and plastic platters for another party. Water, too. The table will look lovely and summery with cheap stuff.

The Job Lot always has a lot of customers these days. No wonder. If you pick your recipes, and buy the store specials, you can always eat well at home. Grow your garden. The rewards are not just cheap produce, but the joy of gardening, and the relaxation of this kind of work. Believe me, it's so worthwhile.

Road Warriors

No doubt about it, travel isn't cheap, but there are always economies, large and small that will pare some dollars off your trip.

We're driving from Boston to NYC on Tuesday. For two, with the price of gas down and an economical car, driving is still the cheapest. We park on the street and observe the NYC rules.
We also stay with a friend, which will shave at least $600 off the trip for hotels. If we had to pay for a hotel, we probably wouldn't go. Our friend also serves breakfast and one dinner. We take her to dinner one night and split the meal on the third night. She has a museum membership, so we get into MOMA for $5.00 each intead of the regular rate.

We'll also save $20+ dollars taking our lunch. I'll broil/bake a chicken breast on Monday. We make sandwiches, take potato chips, cookies, fruit and something to drink. A commuter cup brimming with coffee. The chicken, chips, cookies and fruit were all on sale. We have soft drinks in the fridge left from a house guest.

You get the idea. A trip that would cost over $1000.00 is accomplished for a couple hundred. I take busses or the subway whenever possible in Manhattan. More savings. If the distances aren't too great, walk.

When you're looking at the weekly specials, consider what you may already have in the freezer/pantry and plan your meals. This cuts way down on the weekly groceries. You do shop the specials?

I found a cheap pizza stone at the Williams Sonoma outlet which will make doing our own pizzas even easier. Homemade pizza rocks. It's not dirt cheap, but if you shop for sales in the grated cheese section, you'll do all right. Italian sausage is on sale frequently. Pepperoni can be purchased in SMALL quantities at the deli. No need to buy huge amounts. Tomatoes and broccoli were on sale today. Hey, that's a good topping. You keep pepper flakes on hand, don't you? Spices, while costly, add so much interest and flavor to food.

I buy ALL my spices on line at http://www.penzeys.com/. Once you're a good customer, they send freebies with each order. You can also order very small or very large amounts, depending on your level of use. I grow sage, chives, oregano,mint,dill, cilantro,parsley, and basil. Nothing beats tomatoes with thin slices of fresh mozzarella and chopped basil with a little EVOO. Once tomato season is here, all you buy is the EVOO (from Ocean State Job lot) and the fresh mozzarella. Yum!

Can hardly wait for summer. It's 72 degrees south of Boston today, and I'm going to plant spinach and beets today. Get that garden going. Create your own compost. Coffee grounds encourage earthworms, something my mother taught me.

Pare that cheese!

Cook At Home versus Eat Out

Before the economy tanked, we ate out about once a week, everywhere from The 99 to upscale downtown Boston haunts. Now we eat out half as often, and we're very choosy about where we drop our dimes. Would they were only dimes!

Of course for the cook, fewer meals out means more work: shopping, food prep and (Yuck!) clean up. However, the right attitude and compiling the savings can work wonders. Instead of our weekly meal out, we have a nice, FAST dinner at home.

Last night we had scallops, and I have to tell you that instead of paying $120.00 (food, 2 glasses of wine, tax and tip), we spent about $20.00 for everything. The most expensive item was 3/4 pound of scallops for $12.07. I could have eeked by with 2-3 ounces less. We had scallops provencal (from the Food Network recipe of the Barefoot Contessa), fresh buttered broccoli, herbed rice, and mesclun salad with cucumer and tomato. We each had a glass of red wine. I calculate the whole meal cost less than $20.00.

The whole dinner went together in a half hour, and I had two pots, a skillet and the salad bowl to clean up. Not too bad.

Steak is another option, especially when it's on sale. Asparagus is on sale this week. I buy Basmatic rice in five pound bags, and it lasts for ages.

We would have had leftover valentine's day port wine ice cream, but the scallops were really filling. All that lean protein. Great herbs in the rice. Yum!

A roast chicken is also a good option, as is shrimp. All can be low cost healthy fare.

I believe in red meat twice a week winter and summer for keeping your immunity high. This is my RX for getting through winter, especially. That and a flu shot and washing one's hands regularly. Sleep a lot. Eat plenty of fresh fruits and veggies.

When oranges are on sale, we stock up. An orange sliced on a bed off lettuce with a drizzle of dressing makes a great salad. Add a few slices of avocado and yowza! I don't buy avocados when they are 2 bucks a pop.

Avocados were 4/$5 at the supermarket yesterday. We get two meals out of one, which puts it into the cheap range. Healthy oils, too. Do not neglect healthy oils.

If you have an ice cream maker, you can enjoy premium ice cream, sherbet, ice milk and frozen yogurt for half of what you pay in the store, and so much better. It makes a very special dessert.

Tonight I am taking a lemon poppyseed cake to a potluck. It will cost less than $2 to make, and serves 12. Pick your recipes.

By the way, I am very big on Penzey's Spices. http://www.penzeys.com/ Penzey's has a great web operation, catalog and some stores. The best thing is that you can buy spices in all sizes from minute amounts to big jars depending on your individual use. Or without jars. They have some great rubs and mixed blends for marinades and grilling.

Once you're a customer, you get a free sample in each order. The vanilla and peppercorns are soooo reasonable, and the prices make up for the postage. Be really smart and split an order with a friend or two or some folks in the office.

Living cheap is living creatively. It can even be fun. And definitely tasty.

I'm making cauliflower soup with a curry flavor. We eat it an lunch with some breadsticks. Cauliflower was on sale. Buy chicken broth on sale and some good curry powder from Penzeys. You can also make your own curry powder if you have a fully-stocked spice cabinent. Remember, creative is the operative word. Pare that cheese

Bon Appetit!

The Cheeseparer