Surf and Turf ($2.25 pp)

Last night "Surf an Turf" somewhat Colombia style. I love the restaurant The Columbian in St. Augustine and bought the cookbook. The first time I went there I was disappointed because I expected it to taste more "Mexican" but fell in love with the very fresh food and the more Italian/French style. Of course they have some Cuban influences but this dish is very (in my opinion) French. I made Tilapia Almandine ($5.50) from the cookbook and grilled steak ($2.50) and cast iron skillet potatoes ($1) that I saw on the Food Network. I had some old bananas and made banana bread (basically stuff I had in the house so FREE). The meal cost me $8 plus some basic kitchen supplies. By the way, I only buy meat on sale and then stock up the freezer. This would cost a little more if paying full price for meat but why do that? It was enough for my family of 4 to get nice and full and for $9 per family or $2.25 per person plus standard pantry items like flour, butter, flour, oil etc.

Tilapia Almandine Columbian Style ($5.50/3 filets)

Tilapia Almandine

1. Salt, lemon pepper, and garlic powder both side of the fish ($4.50).

2. Dredge or coat both side of fish in flour.

3. In a non-stick skillet on med high heat, melt 2 tbsp butter, and pan fry fish for 4 min per side until golden brown. Tip -try to only flip fish once to prevent breaking.

4. Place fish on serving plate.

5. Wipe out skillet of burnt flour or crumbs.

6. Add 2 tbsp butter to skillet over med heat. The recipe called for 4 Tbsp but trying to be healthier and it still tasted great.

7. Add 1/4 cup chopped or sliced almonds ($1) dreged in a little (1/2 tsp) flour and saute until golden brown (1 min). When the butter and flour cook together this is called a roux (pronounce "roo"). This will make the sauce a little thick when the lemon juice is added.

8. Add 3 tbsp lemon juice + 1 tbsp worcheshire sauce + 1 tbsp fresh chopped parsley.

9. Saute for 1 min. Do not over cook or sauce will cook away.

10. Serve almonds over fish and serve.

Buon Apetito! (My husband is Italian, and I like to pretend that I'm Italian too)

As a nutritionist, I realize that butter taste good - PERIOD. But I usually try to cut the amount of butter or oil in recipe by half. When frying foods, use a non stick skillet and a small amount of canola or olive oil. It is easier to add oil than take it away. Also, make sure your skillet is hot, if your skillet is too cool, it will take longer for our food to cook and it will absorb too much unneeded oil. I also try to balance fried food with healthy version and thats why I made a served it skillet baked potato (instead of french fries).

Basic Grilled Steak ($2.50/pound)

My husband usually grills the meat but thought I would take the skillet into my own hands. Very easy and basic. I generally figure 1 pound of meat per meal or 1/4 pound per person. This portion may be a little smaller than normal but also served with fish this evening.

1. Sea salt, crushed black pepper, garlic powder, worcheshire and extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) on the steak ($2.50). Let sit for about 30 min.

2. I used this non stick grilling pan/panini press made by Mario Batali. I coated the grill with olive oil and place it on the stove top on med high. I cooked it 2 min and flipped it 4 times to make the decorative sear marks. Cooked a total of 8 min and it was a little pink inside.

3. Topped with a little butter. Would had done a blue cheese butter if I would had thought of it.

This steak turned out prerfectico!

As a nutritionist, I like to pick out a good steak with a little marbling of fat for flavor but definetly not a rib eye. The key, in my opinion, is pick a good quality steak and serve it in smaller portions. Most americans eat too much meat protein and that can cause your cholesterol to go up. Remember, anything that came from an animal has cholesterol (meat, cheese, eggs etc.). Remember, A serving of meat is the size of a deck of card.

Cast Iron Skillet Potatoes ($1 for 4 potatoes)

I saw this recipes on the food network channel. They used a non stick pan but thought cast iron would work. Looked pretty but didn't cut like a pie like it did on TV. That's OK. My family loved it. Some soft potatoes mixed with crispy parts. Very easy, just heated cast iron skillet in the oven as I was slicing the potatoes. Placed the potatoes in the skillet in a decorative design and baked until golden brown. Of course, it would have tasted even better with some grated cheese but watching our calories.

Banana Bread Experiment

Banana bread from bread machine that didn't quit get mixed up

vs. the same recipe and baked in the oven. No comparison!

I love my bread maker but never tried a sweet bread in it before. I don't think I will again. Not saying that I couldn't prefect this technique but why? The biggest benefit for me in using a bread machine is that it kneads the bread maybe 10 minutes and develops the gluten in yeast breads. I can do this by hand but it is a lot of hard work! Sweet bread, like banana bread, is leavened with baking soda, baking powder and butter milk (or a acid), so yeast isn't used. You also don't want to develop the gluten (flour protein), because we want it nice and soft and not chewy like bread or pasta. So it is just as easy to make banana bread in the over as it would be in the bread machine. I think it also looks prettier from the oven because there is more surface area in the oven pan and this allows the sugar to get nice and caramelized (brown).

15 POUNDS of Lasagna $1/pound

Nothing is better than homemade lasagna. I don't make it often because it does take some time but when I do, I make a lot.

1. Boil up about 18 lasagna noodle ($1.50) (6 noodles per layer for a large pan). Take them out of the water when still a little tough.

2. Ground up 1 pound of ground beef ($3) with onion and garlic. I had a couple left over Italian sausage links that I chopped and added to the meat.

3. Mix a large container of ricotta ($3.50) cheese, with 2 cup mozzarella cheese ($2) , 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese ($1) and 2 eggs.

4. First place some can or homemade pasta sauce (I used 3 cans at $3) on the bottom of the lasagna pan (this large pan is Mario Batali lasgna pan), then layer of noodles, then meat, ricotta cheese mixture and then more sauce. Do this 2 times.

5. The final layer is noodle, sauce and cheese. I had extra ricotta so I put dollops of ricotta on the top.

6. This had to bake for 2 hr (@350 F) because I refrigerated over night. It truly weight 20 pounds because I weighed it on my scale. The pan is kinda of heavy so I beat I had at least 15 pound of pure perfection!

Total cost $14 for ~15 pounds of food. My family eat 1/3 of the pan, so I froze the rest for later. That figures out to be $4.70 for a meal for 4 people. What a bargain!

As a nutritionist, I tried to reduce the fat/calories and used low fat cheese, skim milk ricotta and 95% lean ground beef and turkey sausage. Nobody notice it was a lower fat version! Wish I would had added vegetables. Sometimes I make half meat and half vegetarian.

Italian Bread

I missed place my bread machine paddle and had to make bread from scratch. Looks a little funny but tasted great. I sliced it and toasted it with butter garlic and served it with the lasagna.

Roasted Garlic

I place garlic in cup cake pan with extra virgin olive oil and baked it at 350 with aluminum foil over the top. Garlic turned out perfect. Served wtih bread. I stored the left over garlic in extra virgin olive and keep in the refrigerator for later use.

Mexican Meatball Soup "Albondigas" ($1.5 pp)

I only had 2 uncooked hamburger patties leftover to feed the whole family so I immediately thought of soup. This is a Mexican meatball soup and is so easy and my husband asked for seconds. Although, I think it is funny, it's nothing but vegetable soup with meatballs!

1. First make the broth base. I sauteed onion, carrots, celery, and garlic until soft. Then I added 1 large container of beef broth($2) and 1 large can of dice tomatoes ($1) and 1 small can of corn (50cents). Let simmer.

2. I took ~1/2 very lean ground round ($2) and added some diced onion, cilantro, 3 Tbsp uncooked rice, 1 egg and salt and pepper. (You could have used a pound of ground beef to 1/3 cup uncooked rice). Round into meatball shape.

3. Place meatballs in hot vegetable stock and simmer until meat is done. Spiced it up with a little chili powder and cumin powder. Add salt and pepper to taste and even hot sauce or jalapenos as your desire.

Muy Delicioso!

As a nutritionist, this is a soup packed full of vegetable like carrots with beta carotene and fiber from the rice and corn. You could use brown rice for more fiber. You could add more fiber and protein (or make it vegetarian) by adding garbanzo beans with is traditionally found in Mexican soups.

Southern Sweet Cornbread

Corn bread serve with my Mexican soup. I always have the ingredients on hand. This recipe is a little sweet and the bread gets a little crunchy. It can almost be served as a desert.

1. First let your cast iron skillet heat up in the oven with a good bit of melted butter or oil on the bottom and sides.

2. Make the batter: Combine 1/2 cup melted butter, 2/3 sugar, 2 eggs, 1 cup buttermilk (or 1 cup milk + 1 tbsp lemon juice), 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1 cup corn meal, 1 cup flour and 1/2 tsp salt. Give it a quick stir.

3. Place batter into hot skillet and let bake at 375 for 30-40 min.

A real southern tradition. You could start by using "cracklins" in the bottom of the skillet which is basically cooked pork fat that we use in the south. If you don't have any cracklins on hand, you can used bacon fat drippings and pieces.

Pasta Fagioli ($1 pp)

I remember the first time that I heard of pasta fagioli. It was at the yearly all women St. Josephs day luncheon that my Italian grandma (in law) would host. Granny was talking about how her pasta fagioli, was better than aute Glo's pasta fagioli. I honestly didn't eat either one because I think elbow noodle should only been used in my grandma famous mac and cheese. I wish I would have tried it before he passed away. Many year later my mother in law made it and again, and she used elbow noodles., lots of tomato's sauce and sliced ham. I told my husband that I liked it but thought the favors mixed too much and I couldn't taste the beans. The next day, my husband yelled at me to come in and watch the food channel. David Rocco was making his version of pasta fagioli (which by the way is pasta with beans), and I was hooked. It looked easy and very tasty.

1. Boil up some spaghetti pasta ($1) to a la dente (or to the tooth or a little tough). I cut the pasta in small portion to make it easier to eat in this dish. I cut eat pasta 3 times in length.

2. Meanwhile, saute onion, carrots, celery, couple chopped tomatos and garlic with ground Italian sausage. David Rocco used prosciutto, which is expensive and I don't really like anyway. You could use bacon but I thought the sausage gave it more substance. I just happened to have 2 left over sausage links that I de-cased ($1)

3. Once meat is well cooked, add in a can of white beans or Italian cannellini bean. I used left over white beans that I boiled up cooked the day before (<$1). 4. Drain the pasta and add to the beans and sausage mixture. I added salt, pepper, and mixed Italian spice. I cut some rosemary from my plant on the patio and added it to the pasta per Davids suggestion. I usually don't use a lot of rosemary but it made this dish stand out.

5. Topped with grated Parmesan and viola!

As a nutritionist, this is a healthy dish because beans are high in fiber and protein. I like to make a batch of dried beans each week. It is amazing what you can do with the beans during the week. Bean are also very economical and filling and great for those on a tight budget. I also used turkey Italian sausage in this dish. It's healthier and usually cheaper.

Last Minute Chicken Stir Fry ($1.25 pp)

Quick and easy dish made with left over chicken. Actually, I started making this dish with ground beef. The kids were so busy in sports that I found it helpful to cook ground beef and freeze it in 1# portions that were easy to cook with after a ball game (i.e. stir fry, sloppy Joe's or tacos). These days, their more mature palate prefers chicken ;-)

1. Saute onion, carrots and garlic in wok with oil (possibly add part sesame oil).

2. Once onion are translucent, push vegetable to the side and fry and scramble 2 eggs right in the wok. Make sure that you have enough oil and that your wok or pan is somewhat hot.

3. I usually add in the cooked 1/2 pound of chucked chicken ($2) at this time and let it get nice and warm.

4. Then add in cooked rice ($1) and warm broccoli ($2). I usually making boiling bag rice which takes 10 min in the microwave and heat up a bag of frozen broccoli in the microwave as well.

5. Once all the ingredients come together, add soy sauce, ginger powder (or real ginger of course), salt and pepper.

I usually like to top it with black sesame seeds and serve with chop stick just for fun. This meal is super quick and I can have it done in 15 min with a little left over meat. Sometimes I even use 2 types of meat like 1 left over pork chop and 1 left over chicken breast. Gives it extra favor and nobody realizes that they are eating 2 days worth of left overs ;-)

It's Oishii (good tasting)

As a nutritionist, I should mention that I could have used brown rice and I particularly love anytime I can cook with broccoli. I really don't use much oil in this dish because I use a non-stick wok. Sesame seeds are not only decorative but add calcium to this dish.

Jap Steak House White Sauce

My son loves the Japanese white sauce and had to find the recipe for home. Unfortunately, like all good things, it is quit fattening. But her it is....

Mix together, 1.5 cup mayo, 1/4 cup water, 1 Tbsp ketchup, 1 Tbsp melted butter, 1/2 tsp garlic powder, 1/4 tsp paprika and a dash of cayenne pepper.

Called yum yum sauce for a reason!

Acini de Pepi ($1.25 pp)

When my husband (then in college) had his wisdom teeth removed his Italian granny made him Acini de Pepi, which is basically chicken noodle soup. There wasn't much chicken in her soup or chunks of vegetables but of course it had that unforgettable little round noodle that pops in your mouth like caviar. Here is my "beefed up" version.

1. In a large pot, saute onion, celery, carrots and garlic in olive oil. Add lots of water and a cleaned chicken ($3). Boil a chicken in water on med heat until the meat falls off the bone. Strain stock, add back vegetables and a good portion of the chicken. I usually cut off the breast and use that for another meal but use all the small meat pieces for the broth. If you want to skip this step, you can use a large can of chicken and 2 large boxes of chicken stock (added to sauteed vegetables).

2. Place stock, vegetables and chicken back onto stove top. Add half a bag of acini de pepi noodles ($1.50) or about 1 cup. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add bay leaf for flavor. Can add thyme or poultry seasoning to taste.

3. If you like you soup a little thicker, you can add a 1/2 cup milk with 1 Tbsp cornstarch. It makes it more like a cream or gravy soup. My grandma would do this with her chicken and egg noodle soup, which is basically the same recipe but she used her own homemade egg noodle. I'll used store bought or when I can get them Amish noodles.

Both soups are delicious and remind us of our grandmas.

Amore

Homemade Bagels ($1 for a dozen)

I would normally serve Acini de Pepi with a grilled cheese sandwich which I assume most know how to make or I would serve it with bread or toast or a homemade bagel. Our bagel store went out of business, so I had to learn how to make them myself. We love bagel sandwiches in the toaster oven. I can make about 14 bagels for $1-$2. It is basically flour, sugar and yeast and very cheap to make but a little intimidating. I start the dough in my bread machine. Here is a link to the bread machine bagel recipe. Here is another link to how to roll the bagels. I prefer this method over the twirling them around your finger method.

Tip - don't put wet bagel (from boiling water) on a dry towel because they just stick to the towl. Make sure that the bagel is strained well from the boiling water than place it directly onto the corn meal on the baking sheet. A baking sheet with corn meal worked better than my pizza stone.

Shrimp Dish ($1.18 pp)

In college, I took a cooking class and we had to make paprika shrimp. It was tasty but couldn't afford it on my budget. I was allowed to take the left over home and came up with "shrimp dish". It is my families favorite and a big hit at carry in food parties.

1. Make a bag of boiling bag rice ($1).

2. Heat up a bag of mixed frozen vegetable in the microwave (i like carrot, broccoli and cauliflower mix).

3. Saute onion and garlic in olive oil on med heat in a large skillet. Once onion are translucent, add 1 pound of med shrimp ($5). Cook basically 1 min. Add in 1 container of sour cream ($1), salt and pepper to taste and of course a good amount of paprika.

4. Stir warmed veggies ($1.5) into shrimp and sour cream.

5. In casserole dish, place rice on bottom of dish (make sure and add salt and pepper), top with shrimp mixture and top entire dish with sharp cheddar cheese ($2). Bake until warm and cheese is golden brown.

This dish cost $9.50 to make but could serve upto 8 espcially if served with bread and salad. We usually eat it for 2 days.

As a nutritionist, I make this dish healthier by using low fat sour cream and 2% low fat cheddar cheese. Still taste nice and rich with less fat.

Yumo!