Frugal Superfoods #1: In Praise of Peas

 

 Photo by adamr/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

It's always interesting to see what food will be deemed the next "superfood" and become heavily marketed and highly priced. Right now Goji berries seem to be all the rage and they are staggeringly expensive (over $65 a kilogram around here - crazy!!!)

While I'm sure Goji berries have their merits, there are many humble, inexpensive foods that are extremely nutritious that we seem to overlook. I thought I'd start a little series highlighting some of my favourites in the "frugal superfoods" category. If you have a particular food you'd like to nominate for inclusion in this series, let me know.

I'm kicking things off with a nod to what has to be one of the least valued foods I can think of, considering what a nutritional powerhouse they are! While everyone is busy exonerating the spring asparagus, another spring green vegetable - the pea - is quietly coming into season as well.

Peas have an awful lot going for them: They are very inexpensive year round (I can pick up a 2 kilogram bag of frozen peas for well under $5), they are super convenient (frozen peas can be tossed into soups, stews, and casseroles straight from the freezer with no peeling, chopping or slicing required), and, interestingly enough, they are one of the few vegetables that may be more palatable when purchased frozen than fresh (Bon Appétit magazine has deemed the frozen ones are usually tastier, unless you get fresh ones straight out of the garden). And to top it all off, they are packed with nutrients, too! 

Those unassuming little peas contain an array of vitamins and minerals, including vitamin A, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, folate, vitamin B6, vitamin C, vitamin K, manganese, phosphorous, magnesium, copper, iron, potassium and zinc.

As if all that weren't enough, peas also provide generous amounts of protein, fibre, and omega-3 fats, as well as an impressive assortment of antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds (some of which are found almost exclusively in peas!)

Don't you think it's time we started appreciating these little green orbs just a little bit more? Now that the warmer weather has arrived, one of my favourite ways to feature peas is in this classic Layered Salad.

Do you have a favourite way to serve peas in the spring and summer?

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Two New-To-Me Food Plants in My Garden This Year

It's a holiday weekend here in Canada (we'll be celebrating Victoria Day on Monday) and I'll be spending much of the weekend out in the garden as we're now considered to be past our frost date.

I thought I'd share two food plants I'll be growing this season that are new to me and my garden:

1. Sorrel

I had my first taste of sorrel earlier this week and fell in love! I was touring a friend's back yard and she gave me a taste of this green; it has a strong lemony, tart taste that I really enjoy. Even better, it is a perennial green and my friend dug a chunk out for me to take home (pictured above). It's just starting to recover from being transplanted. Since I am both a lazy and frugal gardener, I always get excited about finding new perennial foods! I think sorrel will be a welcome addition to our salads and it's definitely a very different taste from most other greens that lean towards either spicy or bitter flavours.

2. Ground Cherry

This is a plant I have read a bit about but have never grown or even tasted before! The photo above is the seedlings I purchased to plant.

The fruit looks like this:

Photo by Grant Cochrane, courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net

It is supposed to be good eaten raw, dried or cooked into jams or salsas. If I manage to grow these successfully, I'm sure I will be experimenting with different ways of using them and keeping you posted of any successes.

If any of you have tips or suggestions on either growing or cooking with sorrel or ground cherry, I'd love to hear them!

Are you growing any new foods in your garden this year?

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Our Spring Clothes Shopping Expedition

Yesterday was a 50% off day at Value Village. Thanks to the fact that we have a Super Savers Club Card, we were able to shop the day before and get the 50% off discount. So our Mother's Day ended up being a free class at my yoga studio (they always do free classes for *everyone* on Mother's Day, which is so generous of them!) followed by a thrift store shopping trip. It was a busy day rather than a relaxing one, but seeing as how they were all frugal activities I suppose it was the perfect Mother's Day for me!

On this trip we were focused on getting the boys some spring and summer clothes as they both went and grew again and didn't have much that still fit them except a few T-shirts each.

They are both getting really particular about their clothing and although at first I thought we were never going to find anything that fit them *and* met with their fashion approval, we did end up with a decent haul in the end.

My younger son came home with this:

There are 3 T-shirts, 3 pairs of "regular' shorts, 1 pair of athletic shorts and a swimsuit in the picture. He also found 2 other T-shirts and a second pair of athletic shorts (not pictured since he went off to school in one set of T-shirt and shorts and I have no idea what he did with the other T-shirt!).

My older son found the following:

Again, not everything is pictured since he wandered off with some of the items already. In the photo are 2 T-shirts, a tank top, a pair of athletic pants, 3 pairs of shorts and a swimsuit. Not in the picture are a second swimsuit, another pair of shorts, and another 3 T-shirts (again, he's wearing one and I don't know where he's stashed the other 2 at the moment!) The pair of shorts in the bottom right corner still had the store tags on (I love it when we find brand new, never-worn stuff at the thrift store).

My husband also found a pair of sneakers for himself (not pictured).

In total we came home with 25 items of clothing for $96.06, or $3.84 an item.

We still need to find my younger son an outfit for his grade 8 graduation on June 25th. We'll probably hit our local Talize as that is my boys' new favourite thrift store.

Have you found any great thrift store deals lately?

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The Great Room Reshuffle: Progress at Last!

It's been months since I mentioned our plans for reshuffling, repurposing and generally reimagining 3 of the rooms on our second and third floors. Since then, it has seemed like all those plans came to a grinding halt! Finally, this last couple of weeks I have started to put some more time and energy towards making this happen. While I don't yet have any really dramatic changes to report yet, there has at least been *some* forward movement in the direction of this goal.

Noah's closet has gone from this:

  

to this:

I plan to get the remaining items cleared out this weekend and get the shelf and hardware removed so we can start stripping the wallpaper (the same attractive stuff that was in our front entranceway before we redid it last year!)

As we've been cleaning out Noah's room to prepare for moving the boys into the attic, we've found quite a few things that need a new home. I dropped off a box of books and toys and a big bag of clothes to my neighbour with two younger boys last weekend.

This stack of pajamas and boxer shorts is getting posted on Freecycle later today:

And we do have a couple of things we can list on Kijiji, too, like this big box of Uberstix sets (proceeds to go towards Noah's summer camp fund!)

As usual, I'm amazed at how many things there are in our house that we no longer need. Considering how few purchases we make, I wonder how so much stuff accumulates!

Even though we have not made huge progress towards our final goal, it does finally feel like we have some momentum going on this project; I am hoping to have more updates very soon!

Have you been purging, reorganizing or redoing anything this spring?

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The Garden is (Finally) Springing to Life!

In my yard sale post on Saturday, I promised to get around to an update on my other favourite thing about spring: getting back in the garden!

I've been impatiently surveying the progress of all things green and leafy in my little dominion, and with the last few warm sunny days we've had, everything has burst into life at long last.

A little tour of what's popped its head up in my yard (starting with the edible stuff, of course!):

The rhubarb is off to a decent start - I'm really anxious for a taste but I'm trying to restrain myself until it gets a bit bigger. At the top edge you can see the raspberries and lemon balm trying to encroach on the rhubarb's territory. It's nice to have food plants that grow vigorously; however, sometimes trying to keep them from overrunning the entire garden can feel like a full-time job!

Here's a closer look at the raspberries - I've already been out cutting back all the spent canes, which is always an adventure as they grow thickly and are kind of prickly (hey, that sort of rhymes). Up until a couple of years ago, I wasn't very disciplined about doing a spring pruning, but since I've been vigilant about it, my raspberry patch has produced much more than it did in the past, so this spring gardening task is really worth taking the time for.

Anyone want some lemon balm? I started out with a small transplant a couple of years ago that I received off of Freecycle, and now it's threatening to take over an entire garden bed. This is just one of the "satellite" clumps that have appeared this spring.

On the other side of the yard, the strawberries are nicely nestled in their own little raised bed just off our patio (maybe this will be the year I figure out how to stop the squirrels from eating all the berries before we do!)

I found this little fellow alive and well:

He's the only surviving member of the bunch of green onions I regrew from grocery store purchased ones last year. I have a fresh supply of green onions hanging out in glasses of water on my kitchen windowsill that I'm waiting to plant once our frost date has passed.

One of the many things I love about summer is having an abundance of fresh herbs to incorporate into our meals waiting just outside the back door. Along with the already-mentioned lemon balm, the other perennial herbs are showing signs of life:

I was happy to see the lemon thyme resurface from its winter slumber. I just planted it last year and was hoping it would make it back this year (even though thyme is perennial I've had some die off on me in the past). This stuff smells phenomenal and I usually can't resist running my fingers along it then inhaling deeply whenever I go by :) It's also a really pretty herb and adds some welcome colour and texture to my spring garden!

Unlike the thyme, I hardly have to hold my breath about the reappearance of the garlic chives - another very aggressive, invasive herb. They are so tasty, though and I use them extensively all growing season long - I just have to dig out clumps every spring to keep it from taking over my entire raised bed.

Last but not least on the edibles front is the oregano, which is just starting to wake up for a new season of growth. The mint has not yet resurfaced, but it's usually the last to make an appearance so I expect to see it burst onto the scene very soon!

A couple of ornamental plants to finish out our little tour:

 The Solomon's Seal is off to the races as usual - it grows incredibly fast once it starts to come up. My hubby and I are sure that sometimes it has doubled in size in a 24 hour period! If this weather keeps up, it should start to bloom soon.

The perennial geranium always gets itself well established early on in the season, too. I now have several clumps of it growing around the front and back yards. I love the interesting foliage, which has a pleasant scent. It is a very hardy and low-maintenance perennial - it just needs a little cutting back by the end of the season to make sure it doesn't spread too much.

We have quite a few ferns on our property; I think this guy is the first up for the season. It's always interesting to see where new "fern babies" come up every year.

In about a week and a half, we'll be putting all the annual herbs and veggies in for the season. Then my usual growing-season game of keeping all the critters out of the garden will begin in earnest.

What's growing in your garden right now?

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Weekly Menu Retrospective #107

Welcome to my weekly roundup of the past week's eats. I prefer to report what we ate in the last week, rather than what we're planning to eat in the coming week. Why? The reason is pretty simple: although I usually have a general idea of what we're going to eat in the next week or so, life often unfolds a little differently than planned, and I adjust my menu plan on a near-daily basis to accommodate leftovers and other not-possible-to-plan-ahead circumstances. I find this is the easiest way to ensure that I minimize our family's food waste. I'm also willing to admit that I'm a rather spontaneous cook, given to preparing foods that strike me as the most appealing thing to eat right here and now!

If you'd like a whole book full of inexpensive, quick and kid-approved recipes, check out my book, Cheap Appétit : The Complete Guide to Feeding Your Family for Less Than $400 a Month (While Eating Better Than You Ever Thought Possible) on Amazon (Amazon.com, Amazon.ca and Amazon UK) and Barnes and Noble.  It's gotten multiple 5 star reviews!! I've included page references to recipes that are in the book in my menu plans so you can locate them quickly. For more details about the book, go here.    

Breakfasts:
Granola (p. 92) with yogurt, Aloha Muffins (p. 99), toast

Lunches: 
leftovers, sandwiches, pizza, omelettes, tuna and pasta salad

Dinners:

Monday: Cheesy Mac & Beef Skillet (p. 148)

Tuesday: Pad Thai, carrot cake (dh's birthday dinner!)

Wednesday: Leftover Buffet

Thursday: Sausage and Cheese Skillet Quinoa (variation of this recipe)

Friday: Frittata

Saturday: Toad in the Hole (p. 180) , carrot sticks

Sunday: Classic Beef Burgers (p. 125), Easy Oven Fries (p. 194)

In keeping with my local and organic challenge, I'd also like to note the local and/or organic items on this week's menu:

Organic: coconut (in granola), coconut oil (in granola), coconut milk, raisins, sunflower and pumpkin seeds (in granola), flax seeds, quinoa, oranges, lemons, green onions, coffee (locally roasted and delivered by bike!), cornstarch, cane sugar,  mustard, tamari, cinnamon, oregano, ginger, cumin, black pepper, parsley, paprika, Fairytale tea, peppermint tea, lemon balm, oatstraw

Local: potatoes, carrots, onions, red peppers, cucumbers, salsa (home-canned), ground beef, sausage and bacon (from VG Meats), honey (unpasteurized), milk, Parmesan cheese 

Local AND organic: peanut butter, sesame seeds (used to top bread loaves), oats, milk (used to make yogurt), eggs (not "certified organic", but real free range and fed organic feed), apple cider vinegar,  popcorn,  whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour

Want to know more about the specific food products I use and where I buy them? Check out my new "What's In My Pantry" board on Pinterest.  I will keep this board updated with current information on what products we use, where we're buying them, and how much we're paying. It's a work-in-progress, and you can find it HERE.

For more great meal ideas, check out Menu Plan Monday at orgjunkie.com. 

DID YOU KNOW? I now have an events page! Come find out where you can catch up with me at a signing, seminar, workshop or food demo HERE.

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Yard Sale Season Is Here!

At long last, spring has decided to grace us with its presence here in Southern Ontario. We've been enjoying a well-deserved string of gorgeous, sunny days and of course when the warmer weather arrives my thoughts turn to two things: gardening and yard sales! I've gotten out in the garden a little bit and plan to spend a bunch of time out there in the next few days, so a garden update will be coming soon.

Right now I have the spoils of my first week of yard sale shopping to share. There was only one yard sale running in my neck of the woods today and at first I thought I was going to strike out. Most of the merchandise was kids' games (a lot of which looked like they'd been tucked away in the basement for 20 years) and older dishes, mugs, etc. It was not well sorted or displayed, though (many items were in boxes, wrapped in paper, making it next to impossible to tell what was in there!) When I hit a sale like this, I tend to dig around a bit (especially if I don't have a lot of other sales on my list for that day). I will often find things other people missed because they just did a quick scan of what was clearly visible.

In this case I ended up with the following items:

Three of those woven paper plate holders and a stainless steel mug; I paid 50 cents for the lot!

Now anyone who knows me is wondering why the heck I bought those paper plate holders as I never, ever use paper plates! The answer is that sometime last fall I read that these work well for drying herbs and I thought I'd give it a try. My plan is to dry small amounts at a time over the course of the growing season, rather than trying to dry large amounts all at once in the fall (which I somehow never get around to doing!). The stainless mug is going in our camping kit; we do have a set of 4 stainless mugs but they are quite small and this one will probably hold over twice as much coffee :)

Grand total for the day: 50 cents for 4 items, or 12.5 cents per item.

As I mentioned near the end of last yard sale season, I'm probably going to switch from weekly yard sale reports to 1-2 reports a month, depending on how many sales I'm getting out to and how much stuff I find - this will also free up some time for me on produce exchange days, keeping me a bit more sane! I will still file them all under "Weekly Yard Sale Reports" so they're easy to find.

Has your yard sale season started yet? Have you found anything great?

DID YOU KNOW? I now have an events page! Come find out where you can catch up with me at a signing, seminar, workshop or food demo HERE.

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