Dippy

One way to burn through your food budget rather quickly is spending a lot of time in the dips and spreads deli area of your grocery store.  I was recently at the nearby chain grocer and found that a 6oz tub of sun-dried tomato spread/dip was $3.99 - ouch!  The thing about these is that they are relatively easy to make at home for less.  Also, you have the luxury of knowing what's actually being putting in to them.

I recently made a spread by blending Cottage Cheese, Sun-Dried Tomatoes, a dab of mayo, a splash of milk, and a sprinkle of shredded colby.  I made a ton it for way less than 4 bucks.  If were to make it again, I would probably trade out the mayo and milk and use more cottage cheese.  I would also add some Italian seasonings.  In my brief skim of several dip recipes online many suggested using cream cheese, but cottage cheese is healthier and I had it on hand.  I took the risk flavor wise, but it seemed to work fine.

I put this spread on wrap with Spinach and Black Olives

 It would be fine to eat this as is, but I prefer most things warm if possible.  So I grilled it on my George Foreman. 

I grilled it, because things taste better grilled

This method works well for Quesadillas too. 

All over the place.

When I created this blog I tried to a pick a theme that I could maintain and keep to somewhat successfully, knowing full well that I'm completely all over the place.  I figured since food was something I was pretty much planning on eating for a long time - a food theme would be a good choice.  That being said this post is even more random than I normally am.

My cat is awesome (and a Prima-donna) She climbed in the bowl herself

And she even wrote a book about being Awesome. (ok, I just spotted this at Barnes and Noble, but don't you agree that the resemblance is striking)

I like Spinach, Eggs, Grapes and lots of dairy - including Coffee Creamer, if you could even call that dairy.

I also like this: it's basically my secret shame.

I have a boyfriend, and he's pretty darn awesome.

We like Capresse Salad.  

 
So, there it is: I have cats, I eat weird, and I'm braggy about my bf. 

Food Stamp Challenge

The "Food Stamp Challenge" is a congressional effort where various non-typical food stamp users are encouraged to challenge themselves to eat on a budget similar to that of someone who only can use food stamps to buy food.  Basically, people who accept this challenge eat on less than $21/week/person (or something around this) - which is similar to the allotment given by food stamps.  Encouraging politicians and others to connect with reality of poverty is always something I would encourage, my problem is that this challenge probably doesn't do that.

For one, poverty when part of your daily life bears far more challenges than finding adequate food.  Proper shelter, adequate healthcare, basic transportation, and a way out are all things that come to mind.  You simply can not get an understanding for this in one week - no matter what you were doing. 

Additionally, the Food Stamp Challenge is more of a commentary on how ill equipped people are to eat on a budget in the first place than how difficult it might be.  Currently, Morty and I budget for $40/week (just shy of $42/week - which would be approximately our allotment).   We eat meat, we drink coffee, we have indulgences, and fresh produce is not out of sight.  We are laughably far away from running out of food and furthermore, my shopping trips do not resemble an episode of Extreme Couponing.  Granted, we are not always perfect, but for the most part we stay on track.  While we do budget for our eating out separately (as I see that as entertainment too), I'm not convinced that altering for this would throw my calculations off too wildly.

In the articles I have been reading related to this challenge; I've been trying to figure out what makes this so difficult for people.  They are often purchasing things like generic mac and cheese and tuna fish.  First off, yuck and yuck.  Second, kind of unimpressive health wise.  I've also seen hotdogs on some lists, which seems questionable too.  I would love to seem some good examples of people following this challenge, but from the articles I've read it appears people are favoring bland and unhealthy options that require little to no cooking.   

Rarely do they take advantage of filling, yet healthy resources such as lentils, rice, barley and beans.  All of these can be purchased economically and provide nutrition as well.  Also, limited effort seems to be made to stretch meals.  Often times things are being made per serving.  A large vat of chili or soup would be easy to create, affordable and stretch to several meals. 

As far as vegetables are concerned, a common complaint is the lack of budget for them.  However, a head of cabbage is usually less than a $1, same with a bag of carrots.  Frozen vegetables are often on sale for $1 per bag as well.  In contrast a bargain brand bag of chips is $2.50, a dollar more for the name brand.

On one persons list, an included item was chicken breasts, which were said to be on sale, but it is still a much more expensive way to purchase chicken than buying a whole chicken, which would make for several meals.   Also included was a frozen meal, I guess I would need to know more, but that sounds like an expensive item to me as well.

My point here (in this rambling post) is not to malign the actual SNAP program or anyone attempting to work within it's limits.  I, for one, am glad that assistance programs like this exist.  I just raise an eyebrow when people tell me that it's impossible to eat healthy on a lower budget.

Halloween Party

Morty (bf pseudonym) and I threw together a really fun Halloween party that included great games and great food... if I do say so myself.

I got some fun ideas off the internet to make some whimsical treats.

Spider Deviled Eggs

Apple Bites

Witch finger carrots

We also had a costume contest, with many worthwhile contenders

1st place: Zombie Steve Jobs

2nd place: Charlie Chaplin

and Spice the Cat even got a few votes... she maybe wore this for a full 5 minutes

 If you would like to see what I wore: click here!

Bacon Ranch Deviled Eggs

 It's a bit of a running joke in my family, and perhaps extending to my friends that I can be counted on to bring the deviled eggs.  I like them because they are fun, suitable to a lot of occasions and cheap to make.  I estimate a batch of a dozen deviled eggs doesn't quite exceed $2.00 in ingredient costs.  Although each batch is it's own, I usually make some version of the classic recipe.  Mayo, mustard, salt, pepper and paprika.  Sometimes adding a unique flavor to mix it up. 

I decided to mix it up a bit and try something completely different.  Given that we actually had bacon in the house, and given that apparently "everyone loves bacon" I used that as my inspiration. 

Bacon Ranch Deviled Eggs
Ingredients:
6 eggs - hard boiled
1/4 - 1/2 cup ranch dressing (enough to make a smooth consistency)
2 to 3 tsp - Frank's hot sauce
1 strip bacon

After peeling, slice hard-boiled eggs in half and separate yolk from white.  Try your best to keep egg white in tact.  Add ranch dressing and hot sauce to yolk material and mix together.  I usually use a hand mixer with the whisk attachment to make sure it gets extra creamy.  I've experimented with food processors and blenders and it's too much extra effort for no real added value.  To put the mixture back inside the eggs, you can use a cake decorator bag or a simple Ziploc with a slit cut out at the bottom.  I use the Pamper Chef Food Press which works great, but isn't a necessary purchase.  Garnish with bacon.

I brought this tray to a party I recently attended and they were a big hit. 

Operation "How do I look?"

My blog, Foodalyst, is about many things really, but I like to think that one of those things is frugality.  While the advice varies, an oft cited method for saving money is disconnecting yourself from any concern about "keeping up with the Jones."  This applies to many aspects of life, but a natural inclusion is the cost of maintaining a closet of fashionable articles of clothing. 

Frugality or not - Keeping up with fashion trends and putting together an outfit, have never been items on my list of strengths.  People generally describe me with words like low maintainence, T-shirt and Jeans kind of girl, or has a natural look...true as this may be, I think I still manage to have "pretty good" style, even if I'm a little hazy on what that might mean.  When it comes to dressing myself I tend to wear comfortable favorites. And sometimes a little make-up and a little jewelry.  I repeat outfits frequently and have a tendency to stick to "what works", as opposed to try new things.  

In other news I have a closet chuck full of clothes, most of which I never wear. I really need to trim down because it's getting to the point of flat out unmanageable. 

So here's my "plan" in order to maximize my fashion sense and minimize my closet consumption- For the next 30 days, I'm going to post myself wearing a different outfit everyday and subject it to the harsh criticism of the internet.  And let me assure you I easily have 30 different outfits in my closet.  If I get a lot of nays the outfit goes, if yays the outfit stays,  if it's a bit of tie - then I make the final call.    

For those of you who might be concerned, No!, I don't give a bleep about keeping up with fleeting fashion trends I'll never understand anyway, but I do want to look my best (and I wouldn't mind freeing up some closet space). 

The mechanics - I'll post these to twitter with the simple phrase "How do I look?", and if you like it: reply, if you don't like it reply.  If you are not on twitter and you want to "vote" they will also be at my other largely stupid, largely dormant blog.

So thoughts?


Is this project inherently narcissistic?


Probably, but isn't that just the nature of a blog?  I'll assure you I am less vain in real life. (I think)


What if the world ends tomorrow?

Whelp, we will all have bigger things to worry about then. 

Goal #1 Complete - Marathon Race Recap

If your confused about my title here, I'm referring to my 27 for 27 goals. 

RACE RECAP

The morning of the race my stomach was doing flip-flops, and I was wondering if I had trained enough or correctly, but for the most part I felt steady.  Basically, I realized that there wasn't much worry was going to do a this point anyway.  While I was shivering in the corral, I randomly ran into a couple of my coworkers, and we gave each other mini-pep talks.

The whole marathon training thing has felt incredibly surreal, and somewhat crazy to the point that I haven't fully realized what I've been doing.  10 miles is the farthest race I've done previously, so more than doubly that distance is pretty significant.  For some reason, it wasn't until I reached the 5K mark of this race, that I realized - I'm really doing this.  I've really trained, I'm really going along on this marathon course.  And the first tears were shed.       

I started the race out feeling strong, and for the first 10 miles I felt hardly any fatigue and very little discernible pain.  Between mile 10 and 15 I started to slow down some, but only lost a little off my overall pace.  It really helped that I saw a lot of friendly faces at that interval so to keep strong.  Here's a picture of me captured by the boyfriend at mile 11:

Smiling!

Shortly before mile twelve - I saw my friend Lauren, and not too much longer down the line I saw an old friend from high-school who had shown up to see someone else run but recognized me on the course.  One of the best things about this course is the amount of crowd support.  This is my first marathon, but others have reiterated that Twin Cities really does have good crowd support.  There was loud music, live bands, great cheers and signs everywhere.  I was almost always within ear-shot of music, or a rousing round of "Go Runners!"

Must be something about my personality I really enjoyed the signs that incorporated a little bit of humor such as "Worst Parade Ever", "Running 26.2 miles, because 26.3 would just be crazy", "Great Job! Totally Random Stranger!" and "If this were easy, we'd do it!".  I saw that last one around mile 22ish, and it still got me to chuckle.  

At mile 15 I had maintained a 12:15 pace (approx), which is better than I've ever done for that distance.  After that I slowed down considerably, but I kept moving.  It helped that at mile 19 or so, I made a running friend, we'll call her Lena (not real name).  Here's a picture of me and Lena running:

Lena and me both had significant ankle pain at this point and time, so we used each other to keep pace, keep running when we could and finish with a medal.  Lena and I kept each other positive and strong and we stayed running much more than I might of alone.

Less than 1 mile to the finish, my sister and brother-in-law showed up and started running with me! which was the second big tear-jerker moment of the race.  Not too much later I saw my Dad and he started running with me too for a bit, but I could not hold his pace at almost 26 miles in.  I tried and was starting to get out of breath.  My dad is an annoyingly fast 50 yr old. 

What it means to finish
 
Not all, but almost all marathons have some sort of course time limit.  Twin Cities limit is 6 hours, technically the finish line stays open until 2:15pm, which 6 hours and 15 minutes after the gun time, but not everyone crosses the start line right away.  I was in the 3rd corral and crossed the finish line at about 11 minutes post gun time.  If you don't cross the finish line by the designated time, you do not get to be declared an "official" finisher, and you don't get a medal or a T-shirt. 

Now, while going a distance of 26.2 miles is phenomenal in and of itself, and something that anyone should be proud of no matter the pace, but believe you me - I wanted that medal and T-shirt!  

So - I did it 5:42:22, it wasn't exactly fast, and it wasn't necessarily pretty, but I became a marathon finisher!

 And I got a medal

Water never tasted so good...