2008
The €50 Challenge: Day Four
I know it must seem monotonous, eggs for breakfast every morning, and yes, we eat a lot of eggs, but this is normal for us and not related to the challenge. There is a lot you can do with eggs, not that we always do much with them – this morning was boiled eggs again, as on Day1, but with 2 eggs for him this time.
Cost: 68c.
Lunch will seem boring too because I had exactly the same as yesterday, while he took a packed lunch of cheese and tomato sandwiches, some peanuts and the last slice of melon.
Cost: €1.72
Dinner was more interesting!
We had soup to start, Cream of Cauliflower and Tomato Soup. It’s hearty soup kind of weather – wet, grey and miserable – and this really hit the spot.
Cauliflower has almost magical properties as a soup ingredient. It creates a nice creamy consistency – people invariably think there is cream in the soup – and it complements other ingredients without overwhelming them. This is how I made the soup:
1/2 head cauliflower
1 onion
1 bulb Chinese Garlic (or a couple of cloves of ordinary)
1 pint chicken stock (homemade ideally, but a cube will do)
A little butter
2 portions of frozen tomato soup
1 scallion and some paprika to garnish
Melt the butter in a saucepan over a low heat. Chop up the onion, garlic and cauliflower, including the stalks, and sweat for a few minutes in the butter. Don’t let anything brown, just let the veg soak up the butter. Pour in the chicken stock and bring to the boil. Simmer for about 20 mins or until the cauliflower is quite soft.
Add the two portions of tomato soup – I add them still frozen and let them melt. Blend everything with a stick blender or in food processor. You may find the soup is too thick at this point, as I did, if so just add some extra stock or water.
That’s it. Sprinkle over the paprika and chopped scallion and eat. This is easily enough soup for four large portions, so we’ll have it again tomorrow.
Cost: Premade soup 50c; cauliflower 50c; onion 8c; garlic 8c; scallion 8c.
Total: €1.24, and there’s some left for tomorrow!
Then we had big bowls of Chili with Cheese Crisps.
Every time I make chili it’s a bit different because I tend to use whatever veg I have to hand. But one thing I have found a remarkably good addition is left over mashed turnip – which of course I have today. You wouldn’t think it would work, but it not only thickens the sauce a bit, it adds a slight sweetness to the final flavour which is very nice.
Here’s how it was made on this occasion.
1 onion
2 red chili peppers
1 tin plum tomatos
1/2 tin kidney beans
1 pack of pre-made mince base mix, defrosted
A cup of left over turnip mash
It’s very quick to prepare because the meat is already cooked. I just sautéed the onion and chili for a few minutes, added the rest of the ingredients and then let it simmer while we had our soup
Because we eat low carb tortillas or rice is out (and yes, I realise fudge is not low carb!). Instead I make some cheese crisps, which were a total revelation to me when I first discovered them. They are literally just grated cheese zapped for a couple of minutes in the microwave, are quick to make, nicely crunchy and go very well with chili. Maybe you’ve been making these forever, but if you haven’t I recommend giving them a go.
To make them, grate the cheese and put it in well separated little piles on a microwavable dish. The ones pictured took 2 minutes to cook on high in my 800W microwave, but it’ll depend on the amount of cheese and the power of the microwave. When done they are flat on the dish and just starting to become a little dry – it’s really trial and error to get the timing right.
As soon as they done, slip them off the dish using a spatula or scraper (they’ll be very hot, so be careful) and leave to cool and become crisp.
3 oz of cheese will make 10-12 good sized crisps. You can make them ahead, they stay crisp for quite a while.
Cost: Mince base €1.26; tin tomatos 25c; kidney beads 13c; chili peppers 23c; onion 8c; cheese 75c.
Total: €2.70
That brings the total for today to €6.94, counting the fudge and some peanuts we ate watching TV after dinner. I am running low on some things though. There is loads of veg left, but no bread and just a very small piece of cheese. But there is €5.05 left to spend, so all is good.
Tags: Cheese, Chili, Eggs, Soup, €50 Challenge
August 9th, 2008 at 7:11 pm
I came to your site via the vagaries of the internet and just wanted to say how fab those cheese crisps are! For some reason, that had never occurred to me. Never again need I bemoan the lack of crisps on a low-carb diet!
August 9th, 2008 at 7:17 pm
They are very good aren’t they? And the better part is there are infinite variations – different types of cheese of course, but you can also sprinkle them, before cooking, with chili or garlic powder or black pepper or anything that takes your fancy.
If you make a really big one and fold it over while still warm it serves as a taco shell.