Meatless Monday: Cauliflower Marranca

It's not particularly photogenic, but it tastes really good!

A recipe from the original Moosewood Cookbook. Made a few changes - added tomatoes, used quinoa, measured the added fat, and added the crunchy topping. I'm not against fat but it does carry a heavy caloric punch. You need some to carry flavor and give richness but I see no point in gilding the lily, as my mom would say. The original gave no amounts for the fat (butter in the original) at all.

This is a good recipe to use up bits of cheese. Two cups is enough, but you can add a bit more, if you want to use up what you've got.

Cauliflower Marranca
(serves 6-8)

non-stick cooking spray
1 pound mushrooms, chopped or sliced
1 medium onion, chopped
3 ½ Tablespoons oil, divided
1 14 oz. can diced tomatoes, undrained
½ teaspoon dried oregano, crushed
1 medium head cauliflower, cut into florets and core cut into bite-sized pieces
2 cloves garlic, minced
salt
black pepper
1 Tablespoon fresh or frozen chopped basil
3 cups cooked quinoa or brown rice
2 - 2 ¾ cups grated cheese (jack, mozzarella, cheddar, manchego)
¼ cup dry bread crumbs

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray a large casserole dish with cooking spray and set aside.

Heat 1 ½ Tablespoon oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the mushrooms and onion. Sauté for 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes and their juice, and the oregano. Cook until most of the liquid evaporates. Add ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon black pepper. Pour all this into a large bowl.

Wipe out the pan, add 1 ½ Tablespoon oil, and heat over medium-high heat. Add the garlic, cook for 30 seconds, then add the cauliflower and 2 Tablespoons water. Cover tightly and reduce the heat to medium. Steam cauliflower until tender, about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Pour into bowl with mushrooms. Add chopped basil, cooked quinoa/rice, and cheese. Taste and add additional salt and pepper, if needed.

Pour into the prepared dish, cover, and bake for 25 minutes (35 minutes if the grain is cold). Combine the bread crumbs with ½ Tablespoon oil and mix until all the crumbs are moistened. Raise the temperature of the oven to 425°F. Sprinkle the bread crumbs evenly over the top of the casserole. Return to the oven, uncovered, to bake until top is browned and crunchy, about 10 minutes.

Let sit for 5-10 minutes. It is very hot right out of the oven and it's easier to serve if allowed to set up.

Best if reheated in the oven to keep the topping crunchy but it reheats OK in the microwave too.

Adapted from Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen, Ten Speed Press, 1977.

Fresh Granola

Finally, we are cooling off. Good thing because I am just about out of granola. No!! We cannot run out of granola. I stop making it when it's too hot to turn on the oven. It is with great joy that I turn on the oven again and crank out a batch of homemade granola.

This latest batch has hazelnuts and I'll add raisins after it cools.

If you haven't checked out our recipe for low-sugar granola, please do. It's one of our most popular. It's Mark Bittman's recipe actually, but I have tweaked the preparation slightly. It's a winner and one of the most delicious ways to start your day. I don't have a cost on the recipe because it depends on what nuts and fruit you use. But, let's assume you use honey, raisins, and almonds, which is a great combination. The whole batch of granola costs under $5, which is about  8-10 hearty servings. Packed full of goodness and a bargain too!

The original recipe uses vanilla extract, but if you use almonds, consider using almond extract instead. It will boost the almond flavors and is a delicious change from vanilla. Other nut extracts are good too, if you have some in your cupboard.

Meatless Monday: Roasted Veggie Frittata

We did a class on eggs back in the fall. You can see the other frittata recipes we did here on the blog: Broccoli Frittata and Pasta Frittata.

Frittata is the lazy gal's (or guy's) omelet. This recipe is inspired by one from Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa. I love many of her recipes, but she's not exactly the queen of low maintenance cooking, nor budget cooking, for that manner. I took her roasted vegetable frittata and simplified/budgetized it a bit. Still a great frittata, now accessible to everyone with a 10" oven-proof skillet.

Though we use roasted cauliflower, red peppers, and red onions, nearly any roasted veggie that you have lying about your fridge will work here. You'll need about 4 cups of roasted vegetables. You can use most any cheese you have: swiss, mozzarella, jack, cheddar, even goat cheese. It's a great way to use up leftovers. One key to getting the most out of your food budget is don't waste stuff!

Roasted Veggie Frittata
(serves 4-6, costs $6.30)

1 pound cauliflower, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 large red bell pepper, cored, seeded and cut into large dice
½ red onion, peeled and cut into large dice
4 Tablespoons olive or vegetable oil
¾ teaspoon salt or seasoned salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
8 large eggs
¼ cup milk or half & half
2 Tablespoons chopped fresh basil or 4 Tablespoons chopped fresh parsley (optional)
4 oz. shredded cheese

Preheat oven to 375°F. Mix together cauliflower, red pepper, and red onion in a large bowl. Drizzle on 2 Tablespoons oil, sprinkle with ¼ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Toss then spread out on a large baking sheet. Roast for 25 minutes until cauliflower is tender. Remove from oven and set aside. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F.

In the large bowl you used to toss the veggies, beat together the remaining ½ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon pepper, eggs, milk, and herbs, if using.

Heat a 10" oven-proof skillet over medium heat. Add remaining 2 Tablespoons oil. Add in roasted veggies. Pour the eggs over the veggies. Put the pan in the oven and bake for 20 minutes until frittata is just set in the middle. Sprinkle on cheese. Return pan to the oven and bake another 5 minutes, until cheese is melted.

Frittata can be served hot or at room temperature.

Meatless Monday: Sweet Potato & Chickpea Soup

Sweet potatoes - a delicious, inexpensive and nutritious ingredient

An oldie but a goodie. I got this recipe from Jane Brody's Good Food Book and she says she got the idea from Mollie Katzen, the author of the original  Moosewood Cookbook. It's chock full of healthy things like sweet potatoes, chickpeas, and tomatoes. But, it's very easy to put together with mostly pantry items. I have made a few adjustments to the amounts but it's pretty close to Brody's original. Serve this with crusty bread and you have yourself a meal.

Gypsy Soup
(serves 4-6, costs $6.00)

2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
2 onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
1 large stalk celery, chopped
1 medium green pepper, diced (can use 1 cup frozen diced peppers)
1 medium (12 oz.) sweet potato or yam, peeled and chopped into 1" pieces
3 cups vegetable broth
1 bay leaf
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon dried basil
a pinch of ground cinnamon
a pinch of cayenne pepper (optional)
1 14.5 oz. can of diced tomatoes, undrained
1 15 oz. can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 tablespoon soy sauce
salt, how much depends on the saltiness of the vegetable broth

In a soup pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Add onions, garlic, celery, green pepper, and sweet potatoes. Cook for about 5 minutes.

Add the vegetable broth, bay leaf, paprika, turmeric, basil, cinnamon, and cayenne (if using). Bring the soup to a boil, reduce the heat to maintain a simmer, and cook, covered, for 15 minutes.

Add the tomatoes, and chickpeas and simmer for another 10 minutes. The sweet potatoes should be quite tender at this point. Stir in the soy sauce, taste, and add salt, if needed.

Adapted from Jane Brody's Good Food Book, W.W. Norton & Company, 1985.

Vegetarian Curried Split Pea Soup

We posted a recipe for split pea soup with ham in 2012, saying we would post a vegetarian version soon. OK, a year isn't soon, but here it is. It's a twist on split pea soup that makes the vegetarian version even better: curry.

Curry and green split peas are a natural combination. Many similar pulses (lentils, split peas of various colors) are used in Indian dals so why not split pea soup? The curry adds lots of flavor too, flavor that usually comes from a pork product.

Instead of chopped onions, this recipes uses dehydrated onions. Since this cooks a long, long time, the dried onions dissolve into the soup. If you use fresh onions, they remain crunchy, even after long cooking. We like it better without the crunch.

Curried Split Pea Soup
(serves 6-8, costs $7.35)

1 pound dried green split peas, rinsed, drained and picked over for pebbles or non-pea particles
6 cups vegetable stock
2 Tablespoons minced dehydrated onions
2 Tablespoons mild or hot curry powder
4 large carrots, chopped into ¼ to ½ inch pieces
2 large ribs of celery, chopped
½ teaspoon garlic powder
¾ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon black pepper

Mix together everything in a soup pot or 3-5 quart slow cooker.

If cooking in a pot, bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook until the peas are tender, at least 2 hours. Longer isn't bad; the peas will get very soft which is really the point.

If cooking in a slow cooker, set to cook for 10 hours on low.

Stir well and add more salt if needed.

This soup freezes very well. If you reheat it, add a bit of water because it will get much thicker when it cools.

Refried Beans

In the second SNAP challenge post, we showed how simple and cheap making up a pot of beans can be. Here, we continue on the simple and cheap food by showing how easy it is to cook up refried beans. Though many recipes for refried beans call for a lot of oil for the frying of the beans, that's not really necessary. The starch in the beans gives the mashed beans a rich texture. We add just a bit of fat to help carry the flavors.

Canned refried beans aren't bad and they are pretty cheap too. But these are really easy to make, and freeze great (you can double the recipe so you have a stash in the freezer). We think the homemade ones have a better texture and flavor.


As with the pot of beans, you have lots of opportunity to improvise here. If you cooked your beans plainly, you can add a sprinkling of chili powder, a dash of hot sauce, garlic powder, some chopped jalapenos. Saute these in the oil before adding the mashed beans if you don't want crunchy pepper bits in your beans. You can use vegetable oil, olive oil, or bacon fat. Olive oil and bacon fat each impart their own flavor to the beans, whereas vegetable oil is neutral in flavor. As garnish, you can add a light sprinkling of grated or crumbled cheese, or a bit of cooked sausage crumbles. You can toss in a handful of chopped parsley or cilantro. Or some diced raw tomatoes. They add nice flavors without a lot of cost. The beans are the main event here.

Refried beans with a sprinkling of hot New Mexico red chile powder for a bit of zip

Refried Beans
(serves 3-4, costs 65¢)

2 cups of cooked beans, plus some of the liquid
1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
⅛ - ¼ teaspoon salt
seasonings of your choice

Mash up the beans with a fork, or puree in a food processor for a smoother consistency. If the beans seem dry, add a little bit of the cooking liquid. Mash up the onion and garlic too; they add great flavor.

Heat the oil in a medium skillet (see Note). Add mashed beans to skillet and cook until heated through. Serve in tacos, burritos, or a side dish or entree.

Note: You can skip the oil if you are cooking sausage or bacon to add to the beans. Cook it in the skillet first so that the fat renders out. Add more oil if needed to end up with about 1 Tablespoon.

If desired, saute a ¼ cup of chopped onions or a bit of green chiles in the oil before adding the beans. Or add them as a garnish after the beans are cooked. Very different texture if you don't cook them. See which way you like it better.

The SNAP Challenge, continued

In early December, Cory Booker, mayor of Newark, New Jersey, attempted to live on a mere $5/day. Mayor Booker admitted that he isn't much of a cook. 'Tis a pity, since he would have eaten a bit better if he had learned a few basic skills in the kitchen. He posted his meals each day of the week, and I have to say, they were pretty pitiful. He knew to use beans to get much of his protein, but he had no clue what to do with them, other than put plain canned beans on a salad. Dude! There were a few disparaging comments from the peanut gallery about this, especially after he had a breakfast of lettuce with beans. He would have been better served by bulking up his diet on the tried and true rice and beans (or beans over those baked sweet potatoes he liked so much). Whole countries in Central and South America live on this combination. Poor guy.

The beauty of rice and beans is there are so many choices. First, there are many beans to choose from and even the more expensive ones are downright cheap compared to meat. Among the cheap varieties, you can choose from black beans, pinto beans, navy beans, pink beans, black-eyed peas, and garbanzo beans. Let's take pinto beans to see how they stack up price-wise with other forms of protein. One pound of dried pinto beans cost $1.49/pound.  A pound of dried beans becomes about 5-6 cups of reconstituted beans. That's equivalent to about 2 ½ cans of beans, which would cost $2.70. If Mayor Booker had used dried beans instead of canned beans, he would have stretched his tiny food budget quite a ways. He said he baked sweet potatoes. If he can bake a sweet potato, he can make a pot of beans. How about beans compared to meat? A half cup serving of pinto beans costs 12¢! Mayor Booker is a big guy. Let's say he ate a cup of beans, just to be generous. That's 240 calories of beans for about a quarter. A 4 ounce portion of 85% lean ground beef is about the same number of calories but it would cost you about 80¢. Beans win, big time.

You can eat beans relatively unadorned, cooked in a pot of water with a little bit of salt, and maybe an onion and/or a couple of cloves of garlic. You can switch up the cooking liquid, using coconut milk or stock instead of water (bouillon cubes are inexpensive flavor boosters). You can add a small amount of many tasty meats, like sausage, cooked beef, cooked chicken, or pig products such as bacon. Great way to stretch a little bit of meat. You can add a shot of hot sauce to give them some zip. You can add herbs such as thyme, bay leaves, rosemary, parsley, or cilantro. You can add spices such as dried or fresh chiles, curry, or cumin. If you think plain beans are dull, there are plenty of cheap enhancements to make them more exciting. Beans offer limitless culinary possibilities.

A pot of beans will feed a lot of people cheaply. Serve them over rice and you have a filling tasty meal. As Mark Bittman says in his book The Food Matters Cookbook: "I'm on a mission to make sure every fridge or freezer in America is stocked with a container of home-cooked beans..." Cory Booker could have used some of these.

Pot Beans
(serves 6 very generously, costs $1.30)

¾ pound dried beans (about 2 cups), rinsed and picked over for shriveled beans and pebbles (see Note)
1 large onion, quartered
10 cups water
1 teaspoon salt

Combine beans, onion, and water in a large pot and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, partly cover, and simmer until the beans are slightly soft but not tender all the way through, about an hour. It might take up to 1 hour 30 minutes if the beans are old.

Add the salt and continue cooking, uncovered, for 15 minutes, or until the beans are tender all the way through. They should be soft enough to mash, especially if you are going to make them into refried beans (yet another tasty bean preparation).

Note: Some beans take longer to soften - garbanzos, for instance. The timing here is good for pinto, black, navy, and pink beans. Though it's unusual to find pebbles in dried beans these days, I still do, so I keep checking! No one wants to bite down on a pebble.

Recipe from Mexico: The Vegetarian Table by Victoria Wise

The SNAP Challenge

I have been following the Cory Booker/SNAP Challenge with great interest. Cory Booker is the mayor of Newark, NJ. SNAP is Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps. Someone following Booker on Twitter challenged him to live on SNAP for a week. He'll be starting his challenge on today, December 4. You can see how it's going at #SNAPChallenge on Twitter, and UB SNAP Food Challenge on Facebook (you can see the rules for the challenge there too). The short story is you need to spend no more than $5/day/person for all your food and drink. This is not an easy challenge.

I'm going to offer some hints on how to eat on a mere $5/day on this blog going forward. Though School of Eating Good does not set a upper limit on the cost of meals, we do bring you delicious real food on a budget. This challenge is a great way to focus on eating decent food on a very strict budget, and I love a challenge!

First, forget about processed food. You pay a premium for food that someone else has prepared for you. Processed food that looks really cheap isn't. That's because the ingredients used in cheap processed foods are absolutely the lowest cost/lowest quality foods they can find. If you are on a budget, provide your own labor, cook it yourself and select real ingredients that are naturally cheaper: grains, beans, potatoes, frozen vegetables (often reliably cheaper than fresh but still nutritious), and sticking to sales for more expensive things like fruit, fresh veggies, and meat. I don't want to minimize the effort required for this. If you have a family and a job, cooking feels like another job, and that is the last thing you need.

So, in these posts, we will focus on recipes that make good food with the minimum of effort and cost. I will give prices, based on local food prices where I live, which is Boulder, Colorado. To further complicate it, I will shop at the supermarket closest to my house. It's a Safeway and within walking distance. I will also compare the made-from-scratch  version with the processed equivalent.

Let's start with some breakfast. A cup of dry rolled oats (either quick or old-fashioned) costs 30¢. That's 300 calories of oats. 300 calories of instant oatmeal costs 75¢. Many store-brand cold cereals are also very cost-effective. Corn flakes cost 47¢ for 300 calories of cereal.

Oatmeal with Raisins
(serves 2-4, costs $1.26)

2 cups milk
2 cups water
2 cups rolled old-fashioned or quick-cooking oats
¼ cup raisins
a large pinch of salt
2 Tablespoons sugar (optional)

Place the milk, water, oats, raisins, and salt in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil. Stir, scraping the bottom so the oatmeal doesn't stick. Reduce heat to medium-low and cover. Cook for 3 minutes for quick oats and 5 minutes for old-fashioned oats. Make sure to stir a couple of times while it's cooking to keep it from sticking. Stir in sugar, if desired, and serve.

The raisins and the milk add some sweetness to the oats. If you think it isn't sweet enough, add the optional sugar. This isn't supposed to be terribly sweet. It's breakfast, not dessert.

If you boil the milk and water before adding the oats, the oats will be a bit chewier and less creamy. Try it both ways and see which you prefer.

Cheap Eats:Baked Potatoes

Baked potatoes are an inexpensive vehicle for all sorts of tasty things. Things like chili, cheese, stew. I would say anything that can go on top of noodles will also be great on a baked potato. And cheap! A 10 ounce baked potato - that's a pretty hefty potato - costs about 60 cents. You can learn a bit more about potatoes here. The best potatoes for baking are russets, also known as Idaho since most of them are grown there.

Most people go for the convenience of the microwave. I don't think it's the best way to bake them, but it is fast. The best way to bake a potato is to, well, bake it in a hot oven. That's how you'll get crispy skin, if you do it right. I have always loved the crispy skin. You'll never get crispy skin in the microwave because you're really steaming the potato, not baking it.

Though not the preferred way to bake potatoes, here are instructions for microwaved "Baked" potatoes: Poke the potato a few times with a fork so it doesn't explode in the oven. A single large potato takes 6-8 minutes. Two large potatoes take 8-10 minutes.  They will still be firm after cooking; let the potatoes sit for a minute after cooking then check for doneness. Old or dried-out potatoes do not microwave well whole.

The right way to bake a potato: Preheat the oven to 400°F. Rub potatoes all over with a little vegetable oil if you want really crispy skin. Poke potatoes with a fork. Place in the oven on the rack. This allows the hot air to circulate all around the potatoes, which helps to crisp up the skin as well. Bake for 50-60 minutes until tender when poked with a fork. Serve with your favorite toppings. Try with our green chile sauce in our recipe for chicken enchiladas or how about this simple vegetarian chili?

Basic Bean Chili
(makes enough to top 6 baked potatoes; total cost is $5.00)

2 Tablespoons Oil
2 Onions, chopped
1 medium Green Pepper, cored, seeded and chopped
2 cloves Garlic, minced
¼ teaspoon Cayenne
2 Tablespoons Mild Chili Powder
1 teaspoon ground Cumin
1 teaspoon dried Oregano
1 15-16 ounce can diced Tomatoes (Mexican seasoned tomatoes, like Ro-Tel brand are good here)
1 15 ounce can Pinto Beans, drained and rinsed
1 15 ounce can Kidney Beans, drained and rinsed
1 teaspoon salt

Heat oil in small soup pot or dutch oven over medium heat. Add chopped onions and green pepper. Saute for a few minutes until onion is softened. Add garlic and cook for another minute. Add cayenne, chili powder, cumin, and oregano. Cook for 1 minute.

Add remaining ingredients, reduce heat to medium-low to maintain a simmer, and cook for 30 minutes.

Pasta and Bean Soup (pasta e fagioli)

I've been sick for the last week.  Runny nose, achey all over, you know the feeling.  Thinking of our soup cooking class coming up and the way I felt, I made this pasta and bean soup for myself.  It was easy enough to do while not feeling well and it really helped me feel better!  It's definitely one I'll make again and again.

Pasta and Bean Soup
(serves 4; total cost $5.25, plus $1 for optional Parmesan rind)


1 Tablespoon olive oil
2 slices of bacon, chopped
1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
1 celery rib, finely chopped
1 small carrot, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 cup canned crushed tomatoes or canned tomato sauce
1 piece Parmesan cheese rind, about 2.5" x 2" (optional)
1 can (15 oz.) cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1 can (15 oz.) low sodium chicken broth
1 cup water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
3/4 cup ditalini pasta
3 Tablespoons chopped Italian parsley
Olive oil and grated Parmesan cheese for garnish

Heat oil in a 3-quart pot over medium-high heat until shimmering, but not smoking. Add bacon and cook, stirring occasionally, until beginning to brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Add onion, celery and carrot; cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are softened, 5 to 7 minutes. Add garlic and oregano and cook for about 1 minute. Add tomatoes, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan.  Add beans, cheese rind (if using), chicken broth, water, salt and pepper, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for about 30 minutes.  When you are ready to serve the soup, cook the ditalini pasta according to package direction separately and add it to the soup.  To serve, mix 2 Tablespoons chopped parsley into the soup.  Ladle soup into individual bowls; drizzle each serving with olive oil and sprinkle with a portion of the remaining parsley, passing grated Parmesan separately.

Quick Marinara Sauce: Cheaper than the Jar

Is jarred spaghetti sauce a good deal? We think not. Good reasons for making your own:

• It's really easy
• It requires no skill and minimal equipment
• It's not pumped up with added sugar, a common problem with cheap jarred sauces
• It's cheaper - high quality sauces run $3.50 to $4.00 a jar. A can of crushed tomatoes costs as little as $1.49, which is most of the cost in homemade sauce
• It tastes much better

If you have a saucepan and a can-opener and you know how to stir, you can pull off a decent marinara sauce. You can customize it according to your taste: add different herbs, add cheese, add veggies, add meat. It's your sauce, so you can make it your own. The basic sauce uses only pantry staples.

We'll be posting other easy tomato pasta sauces in the future, versions that aren't quite so simple. But, really, this one isn't bad in a pinch.

Quick n' Easy Marinara Sauce
(makes about 3 1/2 cups; total cost $2.41)

2 tbl olive oil
28 oz can of crushed tomatoes or tomato puree
1 tsp onion powder
½ tsp garlic powder
1 tsp dried basil, crushed in your palm
½ tsp dried oregano, crushed in your palm
1 large pinch black pepper
½ tsp salt

Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Add remaining ingredients. Simmer for 15 minutes.

Variations:

Tomato-Butter Sauce: replace olive oil with butter (adds 20¢ to cost)
Spicy Marinara Sauce: add 1 large pinch of crushed red pepper
Parmesan Marinara: add ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese before using (adds 20¢ to cost)
Chunky Marinara: add a 14-16 oz can diced tomatoes, increase other ingredients by half (adds $1.95 to cost)
Pesto Tomato Sauce: add 1-2 tbl prepared pesto (adds 30¢ - 60¢ to cost)

Vegetarian Lentil Soup

Homemade soup is so easy, so filling, so inexpensive. Your homemade soup will taste so much better than anything in a can. Why not try to make your own?

Vegetarian Lentil Soup
(serves 4 as a main course; total cost is $4.86)

¼ cup olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 large onions, diced
7 ½ cups water
1 cup lentils, rinsed and picked over for stones (see Note)
4 carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
3 celery stalks, thinly sliced
¼ cup tomato paste mixed with ½ cup water
1 tablespoon soy sauce
½ teaspoon salt
black pepper to taste
2 tablespoons chopped parsley

Heat olive oil and butter in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add garlic and onions. Cook for about 10 minutes, until onions are very soft and golden. Stir often to get even browning.

Add everything else except the parsley. Raise the heat to high and bring to a boil. Give it a good stir, reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 45 minutes. The lentils and carrots should be very tender.

Just before serving, stir in the parsley.

Note: Nowadays, it's pretty unusual to find any pebbles in your dried beans, but I have found them so it's best to look.

Easy Mac and Cheese

Macaroni and cheese is one of our favorite comfort foods. Nowadays, most of it comes out of a box, which is a bit sad since it's unbelievably easy to make it yourself. This recipe isn't the saucy variety but it is delicious and cheesy. You have to wait longer for it because it's baked but the actual work takes about 5 minutes.

Easy Mac & Cheese
(serves 2 as a main course, 4 as a side dish; total cost is $4.10)

1 cup Elbow Macaroni
2 cups Shredded Jack, Colby Or Cheddar Cheese, about 8 oz
1 tsp Butter + some to grease the dish
½ cup Milk (skim, lowfat or whole milk; half & half or cream work too if you want it really rich)
1 large Egg , beaten
½ tsp Salt
1 pinch Black Pepper

Preheat oven to 325°F.

Cook the macaroni in boiling salted water for 8 minutes. Drain well. Place in a buttered 4 cup baking dish or glass measure.

Add butter and mix to melt butter. Add 1 ½ cups cheese to macaroni and mix. Combine milk, egg, salt and pepper. Pour over macaroni. Sprinkle with remaining cheese.

Place in preheated oven and bake for 30 minutes until milk is absorbed and cheese is gooey.