Search Frugal Divorced Liz

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

So my $25 menu is going to have to be a $35 menu

I have tried and tried, but I just can't make $25 work! I could actually do it for my family, because we can shop at the commissary, but no other store around here even comes close to matching commissary prices. I've decided to make it a $35 emergency menu instead. I probably could make the $25 work, if I included a lot of ramen noodles and other junk food, but it's really important to me to create an actual viable meal, that won't cause harm. So now I have more to work with and I think the $35 menu plan should be up soon!:P This project has really turned out to be harder than I thought it would.

Recently I had a reader e-mail me with the question, "Liz, what is your favorite, frugal way to use up vegetable odds and ends in the fridge, so they don't get wasted? Just this week, I had 3 zuchinni, 1 leftover baked potato, a lone carrot, 1/2 of a cucumber, and half a pint of grape tomatoes go bad!" I have two words for her: ROASTED VEGETABLES! Roasting vegetables is so easy! Here is my favorite way to do it:

FRUGAL VEGETABLE ROAST!
Zuchinni cut into big chunks
carrots, peeled and julienned
bell peppers, cut into big chunks
potatoes, cut into 1 inch chunks
any other vegetables you want! Leave quick cooking vegetables in big pieces and slower cooking vegetables should be cut up small, so that everything finishes cooking at the same time.
seasoned salt
olive oil

Preheat oven to 500 degrees
Place all vegetables in a large roasting pan. Sprinkle with seasoned salt and drizzle with olive oil. Stir to mix well. Roast on the middle rack of the oven for 15-20 minutes, or until vegetables are tender and nicely crisped and browned. Enjoy! Sometimes I like to eat the roasted vegetables with some raw tomato and cucumber, diced up small and sprinkled on top.

I like to serve these vegetables with rice or pasta!

2 comments:

Janna said...

I totally agree that roasted vegetables are THE BEST!! I roast a panful at least 2X a week during the summer. We use them as quesadilla filling, in fritattas and omelets and as a pizza topping as well. Also, I like to toast a thick slice of homemade bread, add some roasted veggies and melt a slice of provolone cheese on top for a quick sandwich. Endless uses and a terrific way to use up bits and pieces of vegetables.

Anonymous said...

I use my left over veggies in a frittata - boy do I make a lot of those. As long as you have eggs, cheese and milk in the house, like I always do, a frittata is great.

The majority being zuccini with tomato and a little bit of carrot would work great. I would do a "salad" with cucuomber and tomato and pan fried the inside of the baked potato for the sides.

I make frittatas all.the.time.
Ricotta cheese works fine, as does cottage cheese, cheddar, swiss or mozarella or a combo. Fresh herbs thrown in, yum.yum.yum.

Looking forward to your $35/wk menu!
-FW