Tuesday Megalinks

Thanks to everyone who wrote in with advice on our restaurant situation. (Read all about it here.) I agree with most folks on the tipping issue. Having worked in food service in high school and college, I would have expected a severely reduced tip if I behaved like our waiter had. The one thing we DIDN’T do was talk to the manager (which, in retrospect – duh). I’m sure it would have made a huge difference in our experience. But hey - now we know.

And with that, on to the links!

Antithete: How We Eat on $250 a Month
Faboo step-by-step guide to feeding a family of five on ~$50/week. I bet singletons and DINKs could get a bunch out of reading this, too. (Thanks to Get Rich Slowly for the link.)

Ask Meta: Adventures in Veganland
Are you on the no-dairy/meat/egg train and need a plethora of suggestions for feeding yourself? Look no further, sweet vegan! In this handy thread, dozens of bright-n-shiny commenters come forth with their best from-scratch ideas. Behold!

Chow: Food Blog Heaven
Food porn alert! Chow runs down a brief list of its 10 favorite recipe sites, including two of my favorites, Smitten Kitchen and Accidental Hedonist. Bring a bib, because you’ll need something to catch the drool.

Consumerist: Make Your Own Groceries
Neato ideas from Consumerist about DIY food projects, but the link is truly worth it (once again) for the epic comment section. I’m agog. Aghast, even.

Culinate: How to stock a pantry, fridge and freezer
HEL-lo. Culinate BRINGS it with this two-page extravaganza of kitchen basics. I was all proud of CHG’s Pantry of the Gods entry way back when, but it doesn’t compare.

Culinate: Packaged goods – how to store your food
Jeez. Another one! These guys don’t stop with the comprehensive guides, do they? Must … plan … downfall. (Muahahahaahaa!)

Divine Caroline: Portion Size, Then and Now
Stellar pictorial on hamburgers, popcorn, bagels, etc. in the ‘50s and ‘60s versus today. Without exaggeration, 2008's food portions are three times the size. No wonder we’re all gigantic. While you’re on the site, please (oh please) read Five Foods That Cause Anal Leakage. You'll never look at sugar-free candy the same way. (Thanks to Slashfood for the link.)

The Financial Blogger: Festival of Frugality #126
This week’s FoF is a car theme, courtesy of TFB. While your there, be sure to click on Brip Blap/Paid Twice’s A Simple Way to Save Money on Food (hint: eat breakfast) as well as Money and Values’ Eat Less Food (on the glory of portion control).

Get Rich Slowly: Strawberry Fruit Dip
If you’ve been on such a strawberry kick lately, this will help. Mmm … dip.

The Honest Dollar: 100 Ways to Cope With Inflation
It's really an all-encompassing look at saving some bank, but #1-27 specifically focuses on what goes in the belly. #23 is something I forget to do embarrassingly often, resulting in what I’m sure is a feast for eagle-eyed supermarket cashiers. (Thanks to The Simple Dollar for the link.)

The Kitchn: Reader Feedback – What Can We Do With Buttermilk?
There is a single cup of buttermilk sitting in my fridge right now, so this comes at the right time. All you other buttermilk-holders – WITNESS!

Like Merchant Ships: Repurposing Steel Cut Oatmeal Cans
Yay, Meredith! I love posts like these, which are great for the environment, but ALSO double as brain exercises. Eat it, Mensa!

New York Times: A is for Amandine – A List for Beginners
The Grey Lady compiles a leviathan kids’ cookbook reading list for your very own miniature gourmand. Did anybody out there cook as a small child? I did not. I just assumed food came from Ma, a.k.a. The Giver of Macaroni and Texas Chainsaw Chili.

New York Times: One Country’s Table Scraps, Another Country’s Meal
“In 1997, in one of the few studies of food waste, the Department of Agriculture estimated that two years before, 96.4 billion pounds of the 356 billion pounds of edible food in the United States was never eaten.” Oy.

New Yorker: The Last Bite – Is the world’s food system collapsing?
Manomanoman. I try not to get down when I read articles like this, but it’s tough after awhile. Something has to change. I’m just not sure what, and what I can do to change it.

Serious Eats: Most “fun” cookbook you have read or own
Because cooking should be fun, yo. My favorite: Amy Sedaris’ I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence. I don’t know if I’d actually make anything from it, but she's cuckoo enough to make the tome completely awesome.

Slashfood: Ever had a garbage plate?
Rochestarians, unite! Nick Tahou’s in the house.

Slashfood: What are your foodie limits?
In order: mayonnaise, anise, scallops. Anything else is fair game.

USA Today: New breed of American emerges in need of food
A.k.a. Kris, Shut Up About Your Anise Aversion, You Silly Woman. It’s a bit sobering after the la-di-da of the last article, but this piece needs to be read. Lots of people are going hungry right here in the U.S., and again, it’s up to us to change the situation. (Thanks to Consumerist for the link.)

(Photos courtesy of Flickr members vebate, Pinball Mafia Productions, and erikthered.)

What Would You Do: Restaurant Gives Meat to Vegetarian (Also, There's a Mango Salsa Recipe in Here Somewhere)

(Apologies for the longest, most nonsensical post title, ever. Must ... work ... on ... brevity.)

We had a strange situation this weekend, and I’d love to solicit a few opinions from everybody. It’s definitely more of an etiquette dealie, but frugality and good business sense definitely factor in. I’m just not sure what we should have done.

Here’s the scenario: Saturday night, some friends were in from out of town and we all met up at a fancy Italian restaurant. The place was gorgeous, the wine was tasty, and all seemed well at first. When our time came to order, my friend H, a vegetarian since she was 13, specifically asked if the Potato Leek Soup was made with vegetable stock. The waiter, without checking, said, “yes.”

Can you guess what comes next?

Two or three bites into the soup, H pushed it away and grumbled, “Oh yeah, that’s chicken stock.” Three of us took a whiff, and – oooo, yup - no doubt about it. When the waiter swung by to check on us, H (not cruelly, but pointedly) expressed her displeasure and asked him to check with the chef.

Five minutes later: “Yes, it’s chicken broth. The recipe was changed,” he shot off, not quite apologetically. (Defensively, maybe? Even snobbily?)

H was unhappy (to say the least) and requested that the soup be cut from the bill. The rest of the night proceeded without incident until we received the ($300+) check, which (naturally) included the soup. We specifically had to ask for a new bill with the offending item removed.

Now … what would you have done? I think we should have asked to have her entire meal comped, and the restaurant should have bent over backwards to accommodate us for the rest of the night. While feeding meat to a vegetarian (probably) isn’t deadly, it’s … not good. What if she was Hindu, and it was beef broth? Or what if she had a peanut allergy? All in all, I think we handled it gracefully, but I wouldn’t have blamed H if she had lobbed a fork at somebody’s groin. We’re absolutely not going back, ever.

Oy.

And with that aside – it’s today’s food! I’ve made mango salsa quite a few times, and stunningly, prefer Weight Watchers’ recipe to all others. Of course, there are some things to know:

1) It's insanely flexible, meaning it can be spread on chicken breast, scooped with tortilla chips, mixed with rice, or substituted for body wash in your next shower. (Note: one of those may be false.)

2) It's not a watery salsa, and there are no tomatoes involved. You might want to warn friends/family accordingly.

3) I like it better after it sits for a night, but there's no problem eating it right after assembly.

4) The whole shebang will be significantly cheaper in a month or so, when both red bell peppers and mangos are fully in season. (I couldn’t wait.)

5) For you WW acolytes out there, it’s either 1 or 2 points a serving. Bonus!

6) There is a lot of chopping. Watch your fingers. (Gazes sadly at cuticle of left pointer finger, which has finally stopped bleeding.)

Hope y'all enjoy it, and again - would love to hear your opinions on the restaurant issue. Bring it!

Weight Watchers Mango Salsa
Makes 4 2/3rd cup servings

1/8th t. black pepper
1/8th t. salt
1 ½ T. fresh lime juice
2 medium mangos, chopped small
1 medium red bell pepper, diced
½ red onion, diced
½ jalapeno, diced
1 T. fresh cilantro

1) Combine all ingredients in a bowl and stir. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Approximate Calories, Fat, and Price Per Serving
90 calories, 0.4 g fat, $1.01

Calculations
1/8th t. black pepper: negligible calories and fat, $0.01
1/8th t. salt: negligible calories and fat, $0.01
1 ½ T. fresh lime juice: 14 calories, 0 g fat, $0.24
2 medium mangos: 269 calories, 1.1 g fat $1.98
1 medium red bell pepper: 31 calories, 0.4 g fat, $1.19
½ red onion, diced: 35 calories, 0 g fat, $0.31
½ jalapeno, diced: 9 calories, 0 g fat, $0.03
1 T. fresh cilantro: negligible calories and fat, $0.25
TOTAL: 358 calories, 1.5 g fat, $4.02
PER SERVING (TOTAL/4): 90 calories, 0.4 g fat, $1.01

(Additional photo from bobnewell.net.)

Strawberry Mousse and Scenes From a Post

I made Cooking Light’s VERY tasty Strawberry Mousse Wednesday night, and a few semi-notable things have happened since. A look:

Wednesday, 7:40pm: There is no whipped topping in the fridge, and time is running short. I sling my Trader Joe’s canvas bag over my right shoulder, ram my credit card into my back pocket, and set out for the supermarket. As is customary, Key Food is booming the Greatest Hits of Doo Wop over the loudspeaker. The Coasters morph into The Jesters and eventually The Marcels, who guide me through the bread aisle. Another shopper wheels by, and we are both humming “Blue Moon” under our breath. I flip cereal boxes into my basket and realize: no matter how old I get, I will always associate grocery shopping with smooth sounds of Frankie Valli.

Wednesday, 11pm: I run the blender. It's not the first time it’s happened this late. As “ice crush” makes mush out of the strawberries, I silently pray my sleeping roommate doesn’t hack me to death with the shattered remains of her sanity.

Thursday, 8:32am: The dentist is awaiting me. I embark on the five-block subway journey, and a small, 70-something man in a parka nears me. He is sweet-looking and likely harmless, so I smile. In response, he levels his gaze directly at my breasts, and yells, “yeeeEAAH!!!”

Thursday, 9:30am: The dentist is done with my filling. I sit up to thank him and await instructions, and my left eye begins twitching. It does not stop. “Oh,” the dentist says, “that happens sometimes when we anesthetize the upper jaw.” I proceed to work, left cheek paralyzed, left eyelid blinking like a taillight with ADD. People actively avoid me.

Thursday, 12:15pm: I meet The Boyfriend at the park for lunch. My face is still numb and my lips, uncontrollable. Speaking is tough. Kissing is a nightmare. The spaghetti lunch is the apocalypse. To his credit, he only laughs a little.

Thursday, 10:46om: My friends F and H have invited me for Scrabble and Office-watching. Mommy H is changing their 10-month-old when the baby lets loose with a perfectly-arched, unending stream of pee. She is soaked. He is cackling maniacally, as it’s the most fun he’s ever had.

Thursday, 11:45pm: Home, I remove a teacup of Strawberry Mousse from the freezer. It is a pink ice cube. It thaws for 30 minutes, until it reaches an ice milk-like consistency. I taste it, wolf the rest, and place another teacup in the fridge to thaw overnight.

Friday, 8:59am: As a pre-breakfast snack, I try the creamy, fruity refrigerator-ed mousse. It vastly superior to the colder version, and I resolve to skip the freezer entirely next time. Stomping upstairs to re-brush my teeth, I also resolve to stop snacking before breakfast.

Friday, 9:10am: I add a photo and put the finishing touches on Friday's post, taking care to note the mousse’s serving size. As always, Cooking Light has overestimated, and their "makes 6 portions" is a real stretch. Four is more like it. I adjust the calculations and take off for work.

Friday, 11:15am: My office chills to 42 below zero. I briefly wonder if Building Facilities has mistaken me for a polar bear.

Friday, 12:32pm: I post.

Strawberry Mousse
Makes about 4 servings
Adapted from Cooking Light.

2 cups quartered strawberries
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup low-fat sour cream
1 1/2 cups frozen reduced-calorie whipped topping, thawed

1) Add strawberries and sugar to a blender. Blend until smooth. Pour into a large bowl. Add sour cream and whisk together. Add whipped topping and fold into strawberry mixture with a spatula until incorporated. Separate mixture into 4 custard cups, tea cups, or ramekins.

2) For a mousse consistency, cover and refrigerate for a few hours. For a more ice creamy consistency, cover and freeze for at least 4 hours. Then let thaw for a few minutes.

Approximate Calories, Fat, and Price Per Serving
153 calories, 7 g fat, $0.67

Calculations
2 cups quartered strawberries: $1.33
3 tablespoons sugar: $0.08
1/2 cup low-fat sour cream: $0.40
1 1/2 cups frozen reduced-calorie whipped topping, thawed: $0.85
TOTAL: $2.66
PER SERVING (TOTAL/6): $0.67

Veggie Might: Lentil, Spinach, and Bulgur Stew That Wasn’t

Penned by the effervescent Leigh, Veggie Might is a weekly Thursday column about the wide world of Vegetarianism.

The weather in New York has been erratic lately: warm, cold, sunny, rainy. In other words, spring. But, Dinah, the chill in the air this weekend had me craving something warm and comforting. Plus, my allergies have been kicking my Mary Astor; so Monday night, I relied on an old stand by.

During my six-month stint as a vegan in 2000, I bought two cookbooks: Conveniently Vegan by Debra Wasserman (which I’ve since released into the Book Mooch universe) and 150 Vegan Favorites by Jay Solomon. The former is great for people who eat a lot of packaged food and have no time to cook. If you like recipes with instructions that include opening cans or plastic pouches, it’s just the book for you. It was for me then, but not now.

The latter is a treasured favorite, and it has the wrinkled, food-stained pages to prove it. It’s filled with grain- and veggie-based one-pot wonders (thanks Oprah’s chef dude for the great term) in combinations I would have never dreamed of, but am thrilled someone did. When I want to impress meat-eaters with something fabulously vegan, I reach for Solomon first.

On my way home from work, I stopped by the smaller, slightly more pricey organic food shop on 9th Ave. with a recipe in mind. The bigger, cheaper, better-stocked store on 8th Ave. was out of my way, and so, so tired was I. If I was riding my bike...did I mention the rain? Waaaah! I knew what I needed. Or so I thought.

I grabbed a bag of lentils—I wanted bulk, but they were out—and a half a pound of barley. They were out of spinach too, so I had another stop to make. Plus I needed a Vidalia. One rule of being ½ Southern: if a recipe calls for onions, err on the side of Vidalia.

Home with my supplies I threw everything together mostly as follows.

It wasn’t until I was eating that I realized my mistake. Bulgur! The recipe calls for bulgur not barley! No wonder it looked weird. I even made a mental note as I was cooking to get the “coarse” barley next time. Maybe next time I should read the bin.

Well, either way, it was delicious, warm, and satisfying. I imagine any grain would work in this recipe, though I did miss the nuttiness of the bulgur. Served with a whole grain bread to soak up the pot liquor, it’s the perfect meal to console you while watching your baseball team get clobbered. Waaah!

Lentil, Spinach, and Bulgur Stew
Yields about six 1-cup servings
Adapted from 150 Vegan Favorites by Jay Solomon (1998).

1 cup green lentils, rinsed
4 ½ cup water
½ coarse bulgur
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
4 cups chopped fresh spinach
1 tbsp olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, slivered

(The original recipe calls for ½ teaspoon of salt, ½ teaspoon of pepper, and 2 cups of spinach. More spinach is always better! - Leigh)

1) Stir lentils and water together in a medium saucepan. "Simmer over medium heat for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally." Add bulgur, salt, and pepper. Stir. Cook until lentils are tender, around 15 or 20 minutes. (Add hot water if necessary.) Add spinach. Stir and cover, Kill the heat, remove from burner, and set aside for about 10 minutes.

2) In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion. Cook until a little browned, between 7 and 9 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add onions to stew. Stir.

Approximate Calories, Fat, and Price per Serving
198.5 calories, 3g fat, $0.72 per serving

Calculations
4 cups fresh chopped spinach: 28 calories, .5g fat, $0.75
1 medium Vidalia onion: 91 calories, .5g fat, $1.59
½ cup barley: 352 calories, 1g fat, $0.55
1 cup organic green lentils: 600 calories, 4g fat, $1.30
1 tbsp safflower oil, 120 calories, 14g fat, $0.08
1 tsp salt: negligible calories and fat, $0.02
1 tsp coarse grind black pepper: negligible calories and fat, $0.02
TOTALS: 1191 calories, 20g fat, $4.31
PER SERVING: 198.5 calories, 3 g fat, $0.72 per serving