Monthly Archives: July 2009

Food

Gluten Free Beef and Veggie Roast in a Crock Pot

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Oh boy, I just cooked up a monster of a meal and now I can’t stop thinking about it.  Its delicious, healthy, and a good value – but unfortunately its going to take a few hours to fully cook.

In the meantime, let me tell you what goes into this feast.

  • 2 pounds eye of round roast ($6.70)
  • 1 medium onion ($.50)
  • 1 medium tomato ($.75)
  • 6 potatoes*** ($1.50)
  • 3 stalks celery ($.50)
  • 1 can green peas ($.50)
  • 1 pound carrots ($1.60)
  • 1 pinch thyme
  • Black pepper
  • 3 shakes oregeno
  • 1/2 tsp. olive oil

Its about $12 and its pounds and pounds of fresh food and naturally savory flavors.  The best news is the prep takes almost no time if you’re using a crockpot.

Place the beef in the bottom of the pan, and cover it with chopped onions.  They don’t need to be chopped too finely, the moist heat will turn the whole thing into something close to a soup.  Six potatos go next to the beef, and this forms your bottom layer since they require the most cooking.  (The bottom layer is closest to the heatsource and touching the water, so it should cook a tiny bit quicker.)

Next, I got about a pound of baby carrots in a small bag.  This was under $2 at Walmart and its ready to eat, so just dump ’em on top of the beef & potato layer.

Now a little more chopping:  the celery and the tomato.  I end up cutting them a little long and a thin:  I want the flavors to get mixed up real good.

Then I just pop open a can of peas…  Normally I wouldn’t use canned food, but this recipe does call for water and some salt.  The celery will provide a tiny bit of salt, but the can of peas just happened to be a convenient fit.  If you’ve got dried peas, you might want to soak them before cooking even though the heat inside the crockpot is humid.

Finally, a pinch of thyme, a dozen cranks on the pepper grinder, and a few shakes of oregeno make the perfect seasoning.  Cover up the crock pot and find some way to distract yourself from how long it will take to cook.  The good news is, the only step after being patient is enjoying dinner.

***This recipe fills up a pretty big crockpot, and its going to cook slower than usual due to the amount of food stuffed inside.  Its also going to make enough meals for a family + leftovers, or a week’s worth of bachelor grub.

Food

Gluten Free Potato Salad

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Potato salad is a great side that is pretty cheap to make and still hearty.  While the recipe is high in fat, the crispy veggies help provide a nice boost of vitamins C and B6.  Of course, this recipe is gluten free and budget conscious!  Now, making the potato salad is a little bit involved, but once you fix up a batch it will stay good for a while and provide a convenient side for any meat dish.  A little bit of beef or tuna salad makes a great meal.

Ingredients

  • 6 medium Potatoes
  • 6 large Eggs
  • 1/3 of an Onion
  • 3 large Celery Stalks
  • 1 tbsp Sugar
  • 1-2 tbsp Spicy Mustard
  • 1-2 tbsp Dill Relish
  • 1-2 dash black pepper

Cooking

Boil or bake the potatoes inside the skin.  Cook them for about an hour, and be sure to remove them from heat before they’re completely soft (if you boil them too long, you’re going to end up with mashed potato salad.)  Set them aside to cool and don’t worry about seasoning them.

Hard boil the eggs.  Place eggs into cold water and pour in a little vinegar.  Heat up the water slowly to a boil, then cut the heat when it starts to really bubble.  After a few minutes, transfer the eggs back in to some other container of cold water to cool down.

Chop up the onion & celery as finely as possible.  These add a lot of flavor and crunch to the dish but big chunks can be distracting and unpleasant.

Chop up the potato and egg.  Peeling the egg shells is the worst step, so be patient (or share your tips if you know a better way of doing this).  Then, just chop up the eggs and potatoes into smaller than bite-sized pieces.

Make the Dressing

Mix about 3 heaping tablespoons of mayonaise, a tiny bit of sugar, about one large spoon of mustard, and a big spoon or two of dill relish (every time I make this dish I add a little more relish than the last time).  Drop a bit of salt and pepper in, but not too much!  The mustard will provide most of the spice and the celery is naturally salty.  I wouldn’t personally add more salt, but a dash or two of black pepper can add a bit of kick.  Mix in the celery and onions into the dressing.

Then, just mix the dressing into the potato and eggs!  Don’t stir too vigorously, or, as I mentioned, you’ll end up with mashed potatoes.

The final step is to pop it in the fridge and take a break while it all cools down to a consistent chill.  This recipe makes a whole lot of salad, so be sure you’ve got some help eating it all!  It makes a great side for barbeques and picnics, or it can be a nice snack any time you want a cool bite to eat.

Cost

The biggest cost is the time you spend in preparation.  Otherwise, the recipe is cheap:

  • 6 potato ~ $2
  • 6 egg ~ $.60
  • Mayo ~ $.60
  • Relish ~$.20
  • Mustard ~$.20
  • Celery ~ $.50
  • Onion ~ $.50

$5 may sound like a lot for a side dish, but this recipe is loaded with calories and it will go a long way.  I didn’t have relish or mustard on hand, but WalMart has bottles of each for just $1 a piece and the recipe will leave you with plenty of leftovers for the next kitchen adventure.

If you’re cooking for yourself, you might want to cut the ingredients in half unless you really like the potatoes as much as I do!