$3.33 a day: Cook once, eat twice cont and some answers

Raw Thai Spicy Noodles

I have been receiving a ton of emails and am a bit overwhelmed by them. The majority of them are wonderful, asking great questions and offering encouragement.

I am working on a post/article that will go into more depth about HOW I am eating this way. The #1 question seems to be, is it hard? Does it take a lot of time? The ingredients are so complicated.

I am working on answering these questions. (I wish I could just TALK TO YOU ALL or teach a class on this to those who are interested)... it's much easier to SHOW you and talk in real time than it is for me to write everything out.

... This post might give a small amount of insight into the methods I am using.

First of all. They are simple. I am not a complicated person. I do not like to go out of my way to do this or that.

The first dish was lunch yesterday. I made a quick raw blender sauce (took 5 mins) and tossed it with daikon and zucchini pasta. (I use THIS spiralizer). I tossed it and garnished with homemade lentil sprouts, carrots, mushrooms, cilantro and sesame seeds. It super satisfying and I reserved around 2 cups of it for dinner. (Just a note: I made 6 cups of the sauce. I froze 2 2 cup portions for later use)..

Fried Rice, Veggies and Chickpeas

This is where it pays to be creative. I used to use tofu in my fried rice.. we love tofu and it is great in fried rice.. BUT.. it's expensive (and while cheap to make, very labor intensive!)..

I decided to use chickpeas as a protein source. (I cooked a pound of chickpeas the other day and they are in my fridge for use.. another quick tip. Have cooked legumes and whole grains on hand)..

I took out out a 3 cup portion of brown rice from the freezer, and cooked it with the leftover raw lunch noodles, added more sauce, 2 c chickpeas and cilantro. My son ate ALMOST the entire pan. His dinner was ready in 20 minutes. (I saved 1 cup for my lunch today).. His portion equaled around 5 cups of high quality, whole foods. Teen boys eat a lot and it's much easier to quell that appetite with whole foods than it is to fill them up with ramen noodles.

My dinner was leftover lentil/quinoa/veggie soup.. Most of the time we eat the same things, but I'd rather USE up what we have on hand and have two separate meals (that were made in 20 minutes thank you very much) than make a meal from scratch.

Before I had to be so strict with my budget, I NEVER would have used chickpeas in fried rice, but let me tell you, they were delicious! One HUGE benefit from having to live on such a strict budget is that I have become more creative and it's payed off big time!

I should mention; we snacked on raw broccoli and (vegan homemade) queso sauce while the meal was warming up and had a couple dates stuffed with almonds for dessert.

My kids have been GREAT.. and I know many of you have a hard time pleasing your whole family. I admit, it is MUCH easier to do this not being married. I have fed my kids a whole food diet since birth (starting with breastmilk).. and I have never had the patience or inclination to give into a picky child when it comes to planning family meals. There are some foods that my kids HATE and I try to respect that. (For instance, my younger son hates zucchini and chickpeas. My older son refuses anything seitan, chipotle or with smoke flavor) I do "force them" to try their hated foods once or twice a year to see if their palates have changed... and I am able to sneak chickpeas and zukes into many dishes if they are blended for my younger son.

That being said, I NEVER would have used chickpeas in the dinner if my younger son was home. (but seitan or other beans would have worked).. Having base components for a dish on hand really makes a difference. If I was cooking for both kids last night, I would have added the protein source at the table. (seitan or chickpeas)..

OK.. I digress! .. back to the food.

The leftover cup of rice/veg/chickpea mixture was stuffed into collards and dipped in leftover sauce for lunch today. Super delicious and again, took 5 minutes to prepare.

Chipotle Mayo/Sauce

Having a number of sauces on hand makes everything easier. This sauce was made from soybeans and is sooo good. I froze half of it. You can expect to being seeing this baby in upcoming dishes!

Finally, to answer some criticisms..

.. and this one is HILARIOUS.. I am NOT anorexic and using this blog to justify an eating disorder. Obviously, YOU have not READ my blog or you would KNOW that! First time in my life anyone has ever accused ME of being anorexic. Wow. (I am overweight for those who don't know)

Second, I do not post every single thing we eat. The pictures on this blog represent SOME of the foods we eat.

A sample day:
Breakfast: Green Smoothie (me) or leftovers, Whole Food Muffin or Raw Breakfast Bar/Cookie (kids)

Lunch: Salads, leftovers, burgers (me) Peanut Butter and Jelly on homemade bread, popcorn, nuts/seeds/raisins (kids)

Snacks: Popcorn, green smoothies, fruit, banana with peanut butter, veggies/bean based dip

Dinner: LOOK at this blog and you'll see.. we eat a lot of bean based soups, veggie burgers, salads, casseroles

Desserts: Smoothies, dates/almonds, Raw Cookies, fruit,

A good portion of the food I eat is leftover bean/veggie soup. I make a huge pot and have no problem eating it for lunch for days. I also freeze 2 cup portions, so I can have a different soup each day if I choose. Doing this enables me to spend much more money on produce and other items and it works well.

OK.. I think I'm done here.