Feeding Families for Less: Two Lemon Pasta Recipes
Having finally taken a cue from financial experts and regular folks chiming in on Oprah, radio shows, or wherever, I took some time this week to scrutinize the family budget to see where the problem spending areas were. I added up, to the penny, all the money spent at the grocery store in the last two months, and I was so horrifyingly shocked, I think I almost brought on pre-term labor. The monthly figure for feeding our family of four was downright crippling to us financially, and just plain embarrassing. I'm on a mission to do better out of absolute necessity. I need all the help I can get with recipes that will feed a family cheaply. If you've got a good one, please help...send it in.
I know I recently posted a link to an Oprah show on which celebrity chefs did a little segment on this very thing. I'll post Cat Cora's again. She gave a week's worth of breakfast, lunch and dinner recipes, which can all be made for $150 or less, and she provides a shopping list to make things even easier for you to get going with this. Guess what my menu will be this week? Dang right.
And as if hearing my call for help, my boy Mario Batali had a recipe printed in this week's People magazine under the heading "Dinner For Four UNDER $10." It's a lemon fettucine recipe that reminded me of another lemon pasta recipe from the Moosewood Simple Suppers cookbook. I'll list them both, because you just might have the all the ingredients on hand to make one or the other. You can find Mario's in either this week's People, or in his book Molto Italiano.
Fettuccini Al Limone
Ingredients:
2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1 medium red onion, thinly sliced
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
3 jalapenos, seeded and cut into thin slivers
Zest and juice of 3 lemons
8 tbsp. (1 stick) butter
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1-1/4 lbs. fettucini pasta
1/2 cup grated Pecorino Romano
Directions:
1. Bring 6 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot and add 2 tablespoons of salt.
2. Meanwhile, in a 10-inch to 12-inch skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat until almost smoking. Add the sliced onion and the red pepper flakes and saute until translucent for 8 to 10 minutes. Add the jalapenos and saute for another minute. Add the lemon zest and juice, bring to a boil, and continue boiling for 1 minute. Remove from heat, stir in the unsalted butter and season to taste with salt and pepper. Set aside.
3. Drop the pasta into the boiling water and cook until tender. Drain.
4. Toss the hot pasta into the pan with the lemon mixture, return to the medium heat and mix well, stirring gently. Add the Pecorino Romano and toss quickly. Transfer to a warmed serving platter and serve immediately.
The Moosewood recipe is even simpler.
Creamy Lemon Pasta
Ingredients:
1 lemon
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 cup heavy cream
1 pound fresh fettuccine or dried spaghettini
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
salt and pepper
Directions:
1. Bring a large covered pot of salted water to a boil. Meanwhile, grate the lemon peel (about 2 teaspoons of zest) and squeeze the lemon (about 3 tablespoons of juice).
2. In a small skillet or saucepan on low heat, melt the butter, Stir in the cream and heat gently. Stir in the lemon juice and zest. Turn off the heat.
3. When the water boils, cook the pasta until al dente (2 or 3 minutes for fresh pasta, longer for dried). Set aside a cup of the hot pasta-cooking water and drain the pasta.
4. Place the hot drained pasta in a large serving bowl, add the lemon cream sause, and toss, Add some or all of the reserved hot water if more liquid is needed. Toss in the grated Parmesan. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
(Photo courtesy of Flickr)
--Sweet B
Kelly on April 19, 2009 at 08:54 AM
I have tried this recipe and everyone LOVED it! I am always looking for new meals to make and this one is a winner!
lulu on April 20, 2009 at 02:12 PM
$10 for a *meatless* dinner for four is not exactly a major achievement. (P.S. Love that saturated fat...)
Incidentally, it's worth taking a look at the serving sizes on Cat Cora's "complete" $150/week menu. Breakfast: half a banana coated in yogurt and rolled in a quarter cup of granola. Lunch: Soup consisting of five ounces of chickpeas, two tablespoons of roasted red peppers, and six ounces of stock. Dinner: 3 oz. chicken, half an onion, a quarter cup of broccoli and two tablespoons each of peas and mango. Great way to lose weight, I'll say that much.
mayfrog1 on April 20, 2009 at 02:22 PM
Actually, with smart shopping you can feed a family of four for a lot less then $150 per week and w/ decent portions
Kevin on April 20, 2009 at 02:25 PM
Great recipes! Even if you aren't in the mood for lemon, you can leave the lemon out of the second recipe and throw a little sauteed chicken in at the last second and you have an excellent meal. And you can add steamed broccoli at the last second as well if you want to feel like you are eating healthy food :).
SAM on April 20, 2009 at 04:00 PM
Can't wait to try the recipes. Btw, if you want to cut back on spending, buy your basics at Aldi. We needed to cut back, and I've been saving at least $30/month by shopping there. They don't have a huge selection, so I start at Aldi and then finish up at our regular grocery store. Aldi and Trader Joe's are owned by the same German company.
Dr Alice on April 20, 2009 at 05:13 PM
To save on time and money, you might consider cooking large quantities of food and freezing it (i.e., soups, spaghetti sauce). If you aren't packing lunches to work, pack them. Consider growing some of your own vegetables.
Speaking of lunch, investing in Tupperware or similar food storage is a good idea as it lets you freeze individual portions for lunches and to buy larger quantities of yogurt, cottage cheese, etc. for lunches.
Lastly, you might read Amy Daczyzyn's "Tightwad Gazette" for tips as well. She's really hardcore when it comes to saving money, but I have adapted some of her ideas and they work!
dame on April 20, 2009 at 05:39 PM
A smoked shoulder can often be purchased for under a dollar a pound and provides several yummy meals on the cheap
Cut off 2 -3 steaks thats 2 or three meals
serve w/ scalloped potatoes and veggies
Cut off a hunk just for sandwiches lunches done.
Cut off another hunk for a casserole;
cut into pieces cook up some elbows
Open a lg can of stewed tomatoes (chopped up)
throw it together with some cheddar cheese on the top.
Bake til the cheese is nice and golden..-our fam fav.
Of course pea soup at the end and the dog even gets a treat.
You can freeze ham not used right away.
I've got other favorite meals with a ham if your interested.
SAM on April 20, 2009 at 07:31 PM
To correct my comment above, I meant to write "I've been saving at least $30/week by shopping" at Aldi.
Sweet B on April 20, 2009 at 09:33 PM
These are some great ideas from all of you. Thanks for the tips. One thing I wonder about is growing your own vegetables, which everyone seems to be doing nowadays. The growing season is so short, how can one really incorporate that into a major grocery savings? Don't you need big space to grow enough to feed the family? Once the lettuce is picked, that's it right? Or do you just keep planting more all summer? Do I have to try it to see? Also, I don't have an Aldi store anywhere within range of my zip code. Is that just an East Coast thing? As far as Trader Joe's goes, I love them, but I can't seem to get all I need from there. They have great ready-made frozen meals, though. I like all the smoked shoulder ideas. I'll have to put "Tightwad Gazette" on hold at the library. Last, Mayfrog1 said "with smart shopping you can feed a family of four for a lot less then $150 per week and w/ decent portions." Mayfrog, please tell me how! I thought I did well this week (see my latest post), but if you can beat it, please tell me how.
sarah on April 21, 2009 at 12:40 AM
hmmm...It`s look like very delicious ! I will try it !
Do you need some kitchenwares?
here : http://www.sarahhelvaonlinestore.co.cc/
rf on April 21, 2009 at 03:51 AM
What's the calorie count on these recipes?
Kevin on April 21, 2009 at 01:58 PM
Sweet B, I can't speak for yankees, but we live in southern Louisiana. The growing season here is 12 months per year. Cole crops (broccoli, cabbage, mustard, chard, brussells sprouts, etc.), onions, sugar snap peas and lettuce in the winter... squash, beans, cucumbers in the spring... watermelons, potatoes, corn, peas, more beans, tomatoes, cantaloupe in the summer, and pretty much everything in the fall.
But even with this continuous growing season, we might be spending more in fertilizer, gasoline for rototilling, and pesticides (we are completely unafraid of pesticides down here, and can't live without them), we're probably not saving any money growing our own stuff. It's a close call either way.
But it either tastes much better, or the fact that you pick it 15 minutes before eating it makes you THINK that it tastes much better. You can trust me on this, or better yet, you can find out for yourself!
Plant some radish seeds (the easiest vegetable to grow in the world) in a one foot square somewhere that gets good light. Then come back 30 days later and eat them. See if you can tell the difference between them and the ones you buy in the store.
Fun. Healthy. Cheap. Those are all good reasons to start a garden. Oh, and if you have kids, gardens are educational. + it's quite fun to have food that you pretty much created sitting in your backyard waiting for you to eat it.
Sweet B on April 21, 2009 at 05:59 PM
It's interesting, Kevin. I suspect that large scale vegetable growing and small scale vegetable growing are not a "help" to the budget, but maybe there is an in between that truly does make a difference. I, however, am in the Pacific Northwest, and I'm pretty sure there's a limit to what I can grow in my yard seasonally. I know Flauersmartini mentioned a book called something like "Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades" that I'll have to look into. I'm sure this issue is addressed by somebody. I'm just not up to speed. One thing is very timely, though. My son got radish seeds as a party favor at a 5-year-old's birthday on Sunday, and we planted them yesterday. He's excited to see them grow. I hope they do. So we'll have radishes at least. Especially if they're easy, like you say. For his sake, I hope so. Last, we are thankfully pesticide free around here, because we are mostly pest free. At least compared to you. I grew up in NC, so I know something about bugs, flying, hopping, creeping, biting, stinging, and all otherwise. I'm shocked by the density of them every time I return home. We simply don't have bugs out here. People will cry out that we do, but I urge them to visit your neck of the woods or my old neck of the woods then talk to us about bugs. We don't have bugs. Period. My dog hasn't had one single flea or tick since 1996, when we crossed into Montana and headed west from there.
Kevin on April 22, 2009 at 11:46 AM
"...because we are mostly pest free."
If you could see a photo of me right now, you'd want to turn down the tint on the image. Because I'm green with envy.
CABAL RMT on February 11, 2011 at 11:13 PM
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