Showing posts with label beef. Show all posts
Showing posts with label beef. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

"Bats in a Cave" with Fruit Salad

Sometimes we play with our food and make cheesy object lesson recipes. (What, you don't?) So we made some meatballs and then decided to turn them into bats. It goes with our cave theme. With a little ketchup you can make anything smile, at least that's what four year old Connor thinks. We peeled the carrots to look like the bones in the phalanges of the bat's wings. And in case you have an utter lack of imagination, I should inform you that the breadsticks decorating the plate in various sizes are to make stalactites and stalagmites. (Obviously). And also that some bats really like to eat fruit, and incidentally so do we!



 
Make some rolls. Get an early start two hours before dinner. We used the River Cottage Cookbook French bread recipe and just cooked it in strips at 400 for 12 minutes. The kids had fun making them different sizes.
Cost for 1 loaf bread: 
~ $3.96

Meatballs with wraps
  • 1 1b beef ~ $6.75
  • 1/2  lb carrots ~ $0.68
  • 3/4 small cabbage head ~ $1.93
  • 1/3 c oatmeal or flour (I used oatmeal) ~ $0.36
  • 2 eggs ~ $0.34
  • 2 1/2 T soy sauce ~$0.10
  • 3/4 tsp powdered ginger ~ $0.10
  • 1/3 onion sautéed ~ $0.50
  • Splotches of ketchup for face

First saute the onion. Mix raw beef with oatmeal,  eggs, ginger, soy sauce and sauteed onion. Form into golf ball size balls.

Bake at 375 for 30 minutes.


Peel the carrots and peel cabbage in whole sheets.
After the meat has cooked use two meatballs for body and head, cabbage sheet for wings, and carrots for arm bones.

$10.76


Fruit Salad
  • 1/2 small seedless watermelon (about 4 lbs) ~ $3.00
  • 3 medium apples ~ $1.20
  • Handful Chocolate mint (in my herb garden)
  • 1 TBSP lemon juice
Mix right before eating. Enjoy!
$4.20

Total Menu cost $18.92 or $3.19/ each


Sunday, December 30, 2012

Impromptu Green Chili Stew

On the 26th we were still snowed in, and really had nowhere to go anyhow. It was a what-can-I-make with-what's-leftover-in-the-cabinet day. Two years ago in Santa Fe I had some amazing green chili stew and it has gnawed at my memory ever since; yeah it was that good.

Lately everyone has been talking about Christmas tamales. Since I grew up in southern California I too miss those Christmas traditions and tastes. I didn't really have the supplies to try tamales, but will be soon- especially since some friends told me how to prepare the meat in the crock pot. (Yum!) So it was actually the thought of those tastes that brought me back to the stew. And yes, I must say, and my Hugger agrees this is an amazing replica.


Saturday, September 22, 2012

Meat shortages: The year of the rabbit, or go fish?


On the other side of adorable baby farm animals is usually someone's dinner.

Several places are discussing this week some grim prospects for farmers, animals, and food prices for next year. This year is considered to be the worst drought since the 1930s in much of the mid-west. The grain that was intended to be primarily livestock feed lies stunted, barren, and crisped. Extreme losses for farmers and the inability to get grain is leading to the beginning of a mass and premature slaughtering of animals to peak in early 2013. Prices are expected to soar 14% and there will undoubtedly be increases in global food insecurity.( See the articles in The Guardian and Grist). So, how to respond to such news?