The best bagels in Portland, if I do say so myself.
When people here in Portland find out that we moved here from New York, the conversation invariably works its way around to bagels. “How do you like the bagels in Portland?” they want to know. “Who do you think makes the best bagels here?”
I went ahead and baked up some granola bars the other day, as I’d been threatening to do. Grabbed some stuff from the cupboard and improvised, which, of course, often goes so well when baking. Improvisation is to baking as… Uh… Anyone got a good analogy for a bad idea? Making it up as you go along, not so advisable usually with the baked goods. Baking = chemistry, you know.
However, the baking gremlins were smiling upon me on Tuesday, my friends, because that improvised tossing of this and that into a bowl and applying heat to said mixture resulted in some damn tasty granola bars. Way better, and healthier, than store bought. And they’re toddler-approved!
Recipe after the jump, because you know you want some.
Jun 10
I am incredibly adventurous when it comes to eating other people’s food. My own? Not so much. I buy the same thing at the grocery store almost every time I go and my daily menu is usually some variation on the following:
Breakfast:
Plain, fat-free yogurt with cinnamon and whole wheat
Snack:
Apple
Peanut Butter
Peanut Butter
More Peanut Butter
Lunch:
Tuna salad on whole wheat or peanut butter
Dinner:
Rice or whole wheat pasta with Cascadian Farm sweet peas or Roasted Brussels Sprouts washed down with lots of red wine or Jameson
Dessert:
Peanut Butter
Such a diet might make it easy to stick to a $50-a-week budget, but as I mentioned last week, I recently joined my local CSA. The $25-a-week share provides me with vegetables, bread and various staples that normal people might already have in their fridges including a half-gallon of milk and a dozen eggs. I have never been able down a glass of milk on its own—though I’ll buy it by the pint for my coffee—so a half-gallon is excessive as far as I’m concerned. And I rarely buy eggs unless I’m making something that requires them.
As I was standing in front of my fridge yesterday—already feeling guilty about draining all of that energy—I worried the eggs and milk might go to waste. Any time I buy more than a pint of milk it always sours before I can finish it, and to make matters worse, I’m leaving for Bonnaroo, a music festival in Tennessee, tomorrow.
I had plans to attend a roving vegetarian potluck last night and wondered what I could make; eggs and milk… eggs and milk… eggs and milk… custard! I was extremely proud of this idea because 1. I’d never made a custard before and 2. the weekly event often lacks dessert.
I looked online for the basics of making a custard and found that it is ridiculously easy. So easy, in fact, that I felt shame for all of the milk and eggs I’d let go to waste over the years. I decided to modify this recipe because, as anyone who’s read the intro to my book knows, I never follow a recipe from start to finish—even if I have no idea what the hell I’m doing. Luckily it worked.
Mmmmm….tempeh and rainbow chard….
Okay, so not under budget last week after all. We ended the week at $142.29. That’s $17.29 over our $125 per week budget (for two adults and one child). This is going to be a learning experience, though. I need to remember that. I’m a wee bit competitive, so I’d really wanted to come in on or under budget right out of the gate. Ah well. Honestly, I should feel pretty good about that $142.29. We saved the $5 - $7 bucks Billy would have spent on lunch each day, and he had healthier food as a result. It’s a good start.
What I’m going to do differently this week:
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