Budget Bytes: July 2010

chipotle peach salsa
$2.67 recipe / $0.45 serving

Peach season is finally here! If you follow Budget Bytes on facebook then you know that I've been looking for a new, spectacular peach recipe to top last year's Balsamic Glazed Peache Sundae. A few days ago I found this AMAZING recipe for chipotle peach salsa on Allrecipes.com. I made a few changes, including using fresh rather than canned peaches.

Not only is this salsa great on it's own atop a tortilla chip but it makes a great topping for grilled chicken, pork, fish or tofu. I would even go so far as to sprinkle some over some spinach leaves for an instant salad. The possibilities are endless with this amazing Chipotle Peach Salsa!

I was lucky enough to find some peaches on sale for $0.50/lb so take note when reviewing the prices. Usually at the height of peach season they'll sell for $1/lb or just under. I just happened to find a REALLY good deal.

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basic biscuits
$1.12 recipe / $0.09 each

I have this disease, it's called "Can't Sleep In Past 7 AM." It's not such a bad disease because it actually forces me to be pretty productive. This past weekend when I had company staying with me and they were all sleeping off the effects of the night before, I was up trolling the internet for recipes. It occurred to me that I've never made biscuits before... from scratch, I mean. Making them from baking mix is super easy and really tasty but the problem is that you have to remember to *buy* the baking mix.

I started looking at recipes and realized that they're really quite easy to make and I already had all of the ingredients in my pantry. Best of all, they didn't seem to require much more effort than baking mix biscuits and they were twice as brag worthy.

This is actually a basic buttermilk biscuit recipe but I left out the word "buttermilk" because I didn't want to scare people off. You DO NOT need buttermilk to make these. Buttermilk is just a cultured milk product that has a lower pH (more acidic) than regular milk and it is really easy to make a substitute (who keeps buttermilk in their fridge these days?). Take one cup of milk, add 1 Tbsp of some sort of acid and you've got your "buttermilk." Lemon juice is the acid of choice but any flavorless or mild vinegar will also work. I didn't have lemon juice so I used rice vinegar. You can't taste it in the end product, I PROMISE.

Biscuits

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spicy sweet potato stix
$2.81 recipe / $0.70 serving

I would have called these Spicy Sweet Potato Fries except two things: they're not fried and they're not crispy like fries. What they ARE is good. They are also a perfect side dish to many lunches or dinners, including the Sausage Po Boy's that I made this weekend. Infact, the meal as a whole was so enticing and I was so eager to eat it up that I forgot to snap some pictures of the Sweet Potato Stix by themselves... so I'm recycling some of the Po Boy pics. Sorry about that.

Anyway, I used Tony Chachere's creole seasoning to flavor the stix. Tony's can be found in the spice aisle of many grocery stores across the country but if you can't find it, try sprinkling a mix of garlic powder, cayenne pepper, black pepper and salt... and maybe a little cumin if you'd like. This recipe is totally flexible so use whatever spices you like!

Spicy Sweet Potato Stix (fries)

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sausage po boys
$9.34 recipe / $3.11 lg / $1.56 small

Sometimes I just want a good, hearty sandwich but whenever I'm at the grocery store, I'm always deterred by the price of sandwich meat. Sandwich meat isn't that fantastic to begin with then they want to charge $3 or more for a small 9 oz. tub. So, I've begun to expand my sandwich meat horizons.

This week I explored sausage. In a moment of weakness, I picked up the really good (and more expensive) sausage. Even though this smoked hot sausage was $4.59 per pound, it's still less expensive (per pound) than one of those tubs of sandwich meat. Plus, it freezes really well so I can just use one link at a time, if I want to. Which I do. Had I purchased the sausage that was on special for $2.99 per pound, these po boys would have been REALLY inexpensive.

Po Boys are the south's answer to the submarine sandwich. They're supposed to be made on special po boy bread but if you can't get it you can use one of those big french loaves that most grocers sell for $0.99-$1.49. That's what I used because, even though I live in Po Boy central, there was only one type at the grocery store and it was just too pricey. Po Boy bread is pretty close to a french loaf although the crust may be a little more crispy and chewy. It's pretty good if you can get a hold of some.

I made a special "spread" to go on the po boys but regular mustard and mayo can be substituted if you prefer. Any type of mustard can be used but I chose to use coarse ground because I love the spicy bite... which again was more expensive than regular mustard. Man, I'm starting to splurge a little too much!

Sausage Po Boy

Pictured with cajun sweet potato "fries." Recipe to come later this weekend.

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pimm's cup
$0.91 each

It's no secret that most people blow their budget on drinks, whether it be at a bar on the weekend or a glass of wine or two with dinner. Well, I'm just too poor for all of that so when I need to have a sip, I usually do it at home.

Some of my friends are coming to visit me in New Orleans this weekend and I plan to welcome them into my home with a classic New Orleans cocktail, the Pimm's Cup! The friends aren't coming 'till Friday but, you know, I thought I'd try the drink out ahead of time. Plus, it's crazy hot and humid (as usual) and this drink is a perfect afternoon refresher!

Pimm's No. 1 is a gin based liquor that is fairly sweet and has a nice herbal flavor. I was really delighted with the flavor when I tried it on it's own... kinda like gin candy. The cocktail consists of Pimm's No. 1, ginger ale and slices of cucumber and lemon. Some use 7-up or lemonade instead of the ginger ale but I think that would be a tragedy. The bite of ginger ale plus the carbonation perfectly balances Pimm's sweet herbal flavor.

If you're not a boozer, try a Pimm's "Non" Cup instead. Put slices of cucumber and lemon in a tall glass of ginger ale and enjoy! Cucumber may be my new favorite drink ingredient!

Pimm's Cup

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english muffins
$0.68 recipe / $0.08 each

I'm an English Muffin fanatic. They're complete breakfast heaven to me, especially when turned into a breakfast egg sandwich. I vaguely remember baking a batch eight or nine years ago and as far as I remember, they turned out pretty good. So, now that I have time and space to do some baking again, English Muffins were on the top of my list.

After looking at a good 20+ recipes, I decided to work off of this one on allrecipes.com. After reading a bunch of reviews, I made a few changes.

It seems that there are two keys to getting an English Muffin with the classic "nooks and crannies" they are famous for. First, make sure the dough stays soft and loose. This means not adding too much flour during the kneading process and kneading for a shorter length of time (about 5 minutes). Second, letting the dough rise three times (as opposed to the usual two for most breads) allows giant gas bubbles to form. The muffins turned out nice and light with a decent amount of nooks and crannies. There weren't enormous pockets like the store bought muffins but I'm willing to trade some of that for a muffin that only costs eight cents (and is pretty fun to make).

Because there are three "rises", the total time required for this recipe is pretty lengthy. Luckily, most of that is passive rising time. So just pick a day when you need to be home doing things (studying, cleaning, laundry, etc.) and make some muffins in the "in-between" time.

English Muffins

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pasta puttanesca
$7.14 recipe / $0.84 serving

I'm a little embarrassed to admit that the first time I ever heard of Pasta Puttanesca was in the movie Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events. I'm pretty sure that outs me as a food amateur and not a real foodie but, oh well. Anyway, in the movie, the orphan kids make a batch of Pasta Puttanesca out of random things they find in the kitchen, including loose pieces of pasta that were floating around in an old, dirty, cluttered kitchen drawer. Somehow it still looked delicious and I instantly wanted to make some.

The name Pasta Puttanesca loosely translates to "whore's pasta." Why? Because it's delicious and cheap... no, I'm kidding (kinda). The theory is that this simple dish was a favorite of people who were so dirt poor that they had to live in (and work) the streets. It uses ingredients that were inexpensive and abundant in Italy back in the day like olives, anchovies, pasta, tomatoes and capers. In true Budget Bytes fashion, the recipe uses super potent ingredients sparingly to pack a flavor punch.

If you fear the anchovy, as many do, please don't toss this recipe aside. Many Italian recipes use anchovies sparingly to add just a hint of flavor. They are cooked down until they literally disintegrate and all that is left is a nice, nondescript, umami base note in the flavor profile. I promise.

Pasta Puttanesca

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spicy hawaiian pizza
$3.76 recipe / $0.94 serving

After making a refrigerator full of pizzas last week, I almost forgot to post this one.

It's funny how your taste buds change as you get older. For the first, oh, 25 years of my life the thought of pineapple on a pizza made me gag (and not many foods do). Then, somehow, the tables turned. Without notice I suddenly craved pineapple on pizza. Weird, I know but that's also how I came to love V8 juice.

Anyway. Hawaiian pizzas (pineapple and ham) have sooo many possibilities. One of my favorites is to spice it up with a little bit of jalapeno, which I have done here. If you have a few extra pennies, buy some feta and sprinkle it on there for a little saltiness (salty, sweet and spicy is the triple threat of deliciousness).

If fresh jalapenos are a little too spicy for you, try pickled jalapenos instead. If ANY jalapeno is too spicy, use a little fresh red onion to juxtapose the sweet pineapple.

Spicy Hawaiian Pizza

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garden tomato soup
$5.95 recipe / $0.74 serving

One of my goals this summer was to make tomato soup from scratch... and by scratch I mean whole tomatoes, not canned. Tomato soup made from fresh tomatoes is a completely different beast from soup made from canned tomatoes, neither being inferior to the other. I love each for their own attributes but had never made one from scratch and was quite determined to do so.

Despite the fact that this recipe requires pounds of fresh vegetables that are cut, diced and shredded prior to cooking, it was actually very quick and easy to assemble. I didn't feel like going out to buy a pint of cream so I decided to use a little trick that I learned in the food service biz for making soups taste "creamy" without using cream (we used this trick in a fresh green gazpacho). The secret is bread crumbs. A small amount of bread crumbs are boiled into the soup to add thickness and a surprisingly creamy flavor. I was so surprised at the creamy, buttery flavor when I tasted the soup that I demanded to know who snuck butter into the broth... but then I remembered that I was the only one home and it must have been the bread crumbs. Amazing.

I worked off of this recipe by Emeril Lagasse and, of course, made a few alterations.

If you're not into fresh tomato soup, stay tuned. I'm sure to whip up a batch made from canned tomatoes some time soon.

Garden Tomato Soup

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peach almond crisp
$3.37 recipe / $0.42 serving

This time of year it's hard not to take advantage of all of the fresh produce available at such low prices. One item that I get very excited about is peaches. They are in season for such a short amount of time and they might as well be a completely different fruit than out of season peaches because their flavor doesn't even compare.

I bought a bunch of peaches this morning, some of which I used to make a peach crisp. I ended up topping my crisp with some vanilla yogurt because I couldn't deal with the guilt of putting ice cream on top of my buttery, streusel topped desert. I'm trying to be good... I'm trying.

I threw in some almonds and almond extract just for fun but if you don't like almond, simply skip the extract and slivered almonds and you'll have yourself a classic peach crisp. You can also experiment with adding raspberries or blueberries... tart fruit mixes really well with the super sweet peaches.

Peach Almond Crisp

Pictured here with vanilla yogurt.

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spicy sweet carrot salad
$3.86 recipe / $0.64 serving

Whew, with all of this pizza I've been eating, my body is just begging for some veggies. You know your diet is a little out of whack when you'd rather have a salad than a slice of pizza.

I saw this Carrot Salad on Kalyn's Kitchen a couple of weeks ago and just knew that I had to make it. Of course, I made a few changes based on what I had on hand and what I could find at the market for a decent price. That's the wonderful thing about the food blogging world... good recipes spread like wild fire and everyone puts their own spin on them. It's like recipe evolution at warp speeds!

Anyway, red bell peppers are finally at a decent price ($0.79 for a monster sized one as opposed to the $3 ea. that they sell for the rest of the year) and I was determined to make something with them. I added one to the mix and it added beautiful color, extra sweetness and a nice juicy contrast to the fairly dry crunch of the carrots. I didn't buy any mint because it was just too expensive. If you grow it (it's a weed so it's easy to grow) be sure to toss a little in there. I lost my green Tabasco in the move so I wasn't able to add that either. The dressing probably could have benefitted from a little green Tabasco. Lastly, I added a touch of cumin to the dressing because where lime, jalapeno and cilantro go, cumin should definitely follow (IMHO).

The salad turned out just as good as I had expected; great texture, great flavor and enormous eye appeal!

Spicy Sweet Carrot Salad

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breakfast pizza
$3.24 recipe / $0.81 serving

I've been experimenting with sauce and dough this past week which means that I eventually had to make some actual pizzas. I decided on two recipes, breakfast pizza being the first. If you've never heard of breakfast pizza, you may be thinking to yourself "ewww, egg on pizza?" but don't knock it 'till you try it, folks.

When I worked in the pizza biz we made breakfast pizza all the time, the most popular being a super greasy bacon, sausage, egg and cheese pie. Because I have an aversion to large amounts of grease, my favorite one to make was egg, spinach, tomato, artichoke hearts and feta. Those ingredients are a little too expensive for me to spring for at home so I made a hybrid of the two. Use whatever ingredients you can find at a good price, keeping in mind that whatever is good in an omelet will also be good on a breakfast pizza.

My breakfast pizza consists of eggs, cheese, ham, tomato and green onion. After a bit of comparison shopping I was able to find some thick sliced ham for a decent price: $2.98 for 16 oz. (compare that to pre-packaged deli sliced ham that is usually $3+ for only 9 oz.). I only needed 3 oz. to totally cover my pizza and I will be using some on another pizza later this week. The remainder (about 10 oz. or so) will be frozen for later use. It pays to shop around.

breakfast pizza

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pizza sauce
$1.81 recipe / $0.60 per pizza

I can't very well go on an obsessive pizza spree if I don't make my own sauce, right? Right. Well, not only is pizza sauce super easy to make but it's also less expensive than the store brand (what, you're not surprised?).

I like slightly chunky pizza sauce so I used diced tomatoes in mine but if you like a smoother sauce, pick up some crushed tomatoes instead. The funny thing about crushed tomatoes is that they really look like they've been pureed rather than crushed. So, don't let the name fool you. Crushed tomatoes will give you a smooth sauce.

This recipe makes enough for 3 to 4 large pizzas, depending on how much sauce you like. If you're not one to make three pizzas at one time, simply freeze the rest in individual freezer bags. The sauce thaws in a jiffy so you'll have some ready the next time you're in the pizza mood.

Homemade Pizza Sauce

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pizza dough
$0.37 recipe / $0.09 serving

After much contemplating, I decided to make pizza as the first Budget Bytes meal in my new home. I know it sounds cheesy, but pizza really is my favorite food. It has endless possibilities and usually includes my favorite things: bread, tomatoes and cheese.

I've made a few pizzas for Budget Bytes already but I used pre-made pizza dough to save time. One ball of the pre-made dough cost me $2.79... now that I've actually crunched the numbers and figured out how much it costs to make that same ball of dough, I'm kinda kicking myself. Yeah, I knew it would be less expensive to make my own but... wow, less than 50 cents?!

Sure, it takes a little bit of work (my triceps are sore from kneading three batches during my recipe experimentation) but you can make a few batches at a time and freeze it for later use. Plus, all of the sweat inducing kneading will make you feel less guilty about eating the pizza later!

The recipe that I finally went with was the most basic (from Alton Brown) and is very close to what I used when I worked in the pizza world. Basically, all you do is combine yeast, sugar, water, flour salt and olive oil. That's it. If you want you can use some whole wheat flour, high-gluten or bread flour or mix in some herbs like garlic or basil. This recipe begs for experimentation.

The kneading process may take a little practice but if you mess it up all you've lost is 37 cents and burned a few calories. Not a bad deal. So lets get to it!

Homemade Pizza Dough