Potato Soup with Chives

It just started to get kind of cold around here, so I've got soup on the brain.  Last night I made this soup, which is one of my favorite recipes.  The instructions from Cook's Illustrated say to blend this creamy soup, which I've usually done, but I think it comes out really thick and gluey.  This time, I just used my trusty potato masher to blend the soup, and I think it came out great.  Plus, I didn't have to clean the blender!  Try it yourself:

Potato Soup with Chives
Serves 4 to 6 (or two really hungry people)

2 Tbsp. unsalted butter, olive oil or vegetable oil
1 Medium onion, 3 medium shallots or 1 medium leek (white & light green parts), chopped
2 Tbsp. white wine or dry sherry
2 large russet potatoes (about 1 1/2 pounds), peeled and cut into 1/2" dice
2 cups low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth (one can is almost 2 cups; you can make up the difference with water or milk)
1 tsp. salt
ground white pepper (to taste)
1 to 1 1/4 cups milk
2 tsp minced fresh chives (or freeze-dried, but put it in with the broth)

1. Heat butter in a large saucepan over medium-high heat.  Add onion, saute until golden, about 5 minutes.  Add wine and potatoes, stir-cook until wine evaporates, about 30 seconds
2. Add broth, salt and pepper (add the dried chives now, if you're using them) to the saucepan.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low, cover and cook until potatoes are tender, about 20 minutes.
3. Using your trusty potato masher, mash up those potatoes.  There will still be some lumps, but this is good in this instance.  Just get it as smooth as you can.
4. Stir in the milk (start with 1 cup, then add more if you like your soup thinner), and heat through.  Stir in fresh chives, if using.  Taste and adjust seasoning as needed.  Serve immediately.

We ate this with the last of a loaf of Almost No-Knead Bread, which I made myself earlier this week.  I think I'm going to make another one tonight.  Do I smell another post?

Mexican Rice

Apparently it's Mexican week at my house.  After I made the guacamole yesterday, I ended up going to dinner with my family to a Mexican restaurant.  Here is a recipe for Mexican Rice that makes a TON of rice, tastes way better than the stuff in the box, and only costs about $3.50 to make.  It's even cheaper if you make your own salsa!  This recipe is based on one from Cook's Illustrated.

Mexican Rice
Serves 6 - 8 as a side dish

2 cups long grain white rice
2 Tbsp. canola oil
4  cloves garlic, minced or pressed through a garlic press (about 4 tsp)
1 16-oz jar of medium salsa (My favorite brand is Herdez)
2 cups chicken stock (one can is almost 2 cups--you can make up the difference with a little water)
1 tsp. salt
Fresh cilantro and lime wedges for garnish (optional, but delicious)

Preheat the oven to 350F. 

Place rice in large fine-mesh strainer and rinse under cold running water until water runs clear, about 1 1/2 minutes. Shake rice vigorously in strainer to remove all excess water.

Heat oil in an ovensafe 12-inch straight-sided sauté pan or Dutch oven with tight-fitting lid over medium-high heat, 1 to 2 minutes. Drop 3 or 4 grains rice in oil; if grains sizzle, oil is ready. Add rice and fry, stirring frequently, until rice is light golden, 6 to 8 minutes.

Reduce heat to medium, add garlic and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in salsa, chicken broth, and salt; increase heat to medium-high and bring to boil. Cover pan and transfer to oven; bake until liquid is absorbed and rice is tender, 30 to 35 minutes, stirring well after 15 minutes.

Stir in cilantro and serve immediately.  Pass the lime wedges at the table (or couch, if you're at my place).  Bask in the glow of appreciation.  Seriously, this stuff is goooood.

Enjoy!

Caitlin's Guacamole

I make some killer guacamole, if I do say so myself!  Here's the recipe:

3 small avocados
juice of one lime
1 medium clove garlic, minced
1 small shallot, or 2 Tbsp onion, minced
1/4 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. green jalapeno sauce (my favorite brand is El Pato)
Kosher salt and pepper to taste

Remove all the flesh from the avocados and place in a bowl.  Using a fork or a potato masher, smash up the avocados to the desired consistency (use a fork if you like chunky guac, use the potato masher if you like it smoother).  Add the other ingredients and stir.  Taste for seasoning and adjust to your liking.  You can eat it now, or let it sit, covered, for about an hour and let the flavors develop. 

Should you have any leftovers (we often don't), store it in a bowl with plastic wrap directly on the surface of the guacamole to keep it from turning brown.  That business about putting the pit in the guacamole to keep it green isn't true.  The lime juice does help a little, but the main idea is to keep air off the surface of the guacamole.

More on Shopping Smart

The grocery bill is one of the largest expenses in any household.  Clearly, if you're a Tightwad Gourmand, you're going to have to learn to shop smart.  Here's what I do to get the most bang for my buck:

• I make a menu.  I plan what we're going to eat for the next two weeks and shop based on that.
• I make a shopping list and stick to it.  Sometimes I still go off the list a little.  No one is perfect, but if I fly blind, I will invariably forget something essential (oh no, I forgot to buy coffee!), and come back with a bunch of junk that sounded good at the time.  Kettle Chips may be delicious, but they don't make a meal.
• I use coupons, but only if they're for things I was going to buy anyway.
• Sometimes I shop at bargain places like Grocery Outlet, then plan the menu around the things I picked up there.  This takes up a bit of time, however, because I can't get everything I need at Grocery Outlet, which means I still have to go to my usual grocery store.  I make it out to the bargain place maybe every other month or so.
• I'm aware of what is actually a bargain.  Just because it's at the bargain outlet doesn't mean it's a better price than the regular grocery store.  Same thing goes for the dollar store.  You should be familiar with what you usually pay for items you purchase frequently.  Start paying attention if you haven't already.
• I shop for value, not just price.  If I know I like and will enjoy a certain brand, even if it's a little more expensive, I'm getting it.  Buying cheap stuff that you won't eat is a waste of money.  Sometimes my favorite brand is on sale, so I stock up when it is.
• I look at the unit prices on the price tags.  Not all grocery stores do this, but I think most do.  It's usually printed really small near the bottom of the tag.  Sometimes its actually cheaper to buy two small things than one big thing.  This happens at Winco a lot, for some reason.  Once I needed a quart of cream for a recipe, and it was cheaper to buy two pints than a one-quart carton.
• Most of my items are from the perimeter of the store.  Convenience foods are usually located in the middle of the store.  Ingredients for cooking from scratch are usually in the perimeter and are heaps cheaper than premade stuff. 
• I grate my own cheese, cut my own salads, and chop my own veggies.  Why pay a factory for this relatively easy labor?  It takes what, 30 seconds to chop up a head of romaine?  You can't afford NOT to do these things yourself.  I do have one exception though...I like to buy a certain brand of reduced-fat shredded cheese because the unit price is lower than a block of reduced-fat cheddar that I would have to grate myself.  This is highly unusual, but I wouldn't have known this if I hadn't looked at the unit price!

You may be wondering how much I spend on groceries.  There's only two of us living here, and we eat really well on about $60 a week for the both of us.  Not too shabby, when you consider that the average two-person family on a "thrifty" budget spends $78.70 per week (see this chart).

Good luck, and happy shopping!

The Tightwad Gourmand Philosophy

These are the basic principles of The Tightwad Gourmand:

1. If you want to eat well on a budget, you have to make some stuff from scratch.  Convenience food is really expensive for what you get.  For example, you can get prepackaged real guacamole (you know, the kind made from avocados, not soybean oil and green food coloring) for about $3.50.  Or, you could make twice as much yourself for around the same price, and it's fresher and probably tastes better.
2. Anyone can cook.  If you can follow directions, you can cook.  I don't know if people think that following recipes doesn't count, or what.  I've been cooking for as long as I can remember, and I started out by following recipes.  You might make mistakes (I still do), but that doesn't mean you're a failure as a cook.  It's a skill that needs to be practiced, like playing the piano or making jewelry.
3. Shop smart!  Go to the grocery stores with the best prices.  I live near Portland, Oregon, and I like to shop at Winco.  They have bulk bins with great deals.  For example, you could buy a 1-pound bag of beans for around a dollar, which is incredibly cheap, but a pound of beans from the bulk bins is only $0.59.  The biggest score is the cake flour.  A box of Softasilk cake flour costs around $3.00 and only has 2 pounds of flour in it.  In the bulk bins, cake flour is only $0.18 per pound.  Aside from the bulk bins, their regular groceries have the best prices in town.  If you can make it out to a grocery store like this once a month and stock up on essentials, it's probably worth it.
4. Have fun.  Cooking for me is a joy, not a chore.  I love that I can whip up delicious things and not have to pay through the nose to have them.  I love smelling what I'm cooking.  I love eating what I cook.  I love it when other people say, "Oh man, this is delicious!"  I don't really like doing dishes.  I wish there was something I could do about that.

If you can shop smartly and cook from scratch, you're golden!  Happy cooking!

I'm a Tightwad Gourmand

Under Construction -- Coming Soon!

I love food.  I love cooking it, eating it, reading about it, thinking about it.  I, like most people I know, am on a pretty tight food budget, but I still manage to eat well.  This blog is about sharing the recipes I use, as well as how I shop.  Enjoy!