Cheap, Healthy Whole Foods Recipes

AuntieMC

What is your favorite really cheap recipe made of healthy whole foods?
Here is mine:

Lentil Cabbage Casserole

1 medium cabbage
2 medium onions
1/2 Cup dried lentils, cooked up
1/2 cup brown basmati rice, cooked up
3 Tablespoons butter from organic, grass-fed cattle (or more to taste, or substitue olive oil)
salt
pepper

Cook the lentils and rice, mix together, and set aside for now.
Chop the cabbage and onions
Steam the cabbage and onions combo for no more than 5 minutes. You can add the cooked lentils and rice on top, if they are
cold, or leave them sit if they are warm.
Mix the cabbage, onions, lentils and rice together.
Stir in the butter or olive oil.
Salt to taste
Pepper -- enough to see flecks of pepper after mixing. You are going for warm, but not overwhelming!
Stir all and serve.

This makes 4 enormous servings. Might serve as many as 6, depending on their appetites. I often serve this with sliced steamed carrots as a side dish.

rf1170

Sounds great! I've got a head of cabbage in the fridge right now, earmarked for some cabbage rolls stuffed with grass-fed beef. I usually use brown rice or millet, but I'm going to throw some lentils in there too - thanks for the suggestion!

My favorite low-cost, real food dishes are usually soup. My personal favorite soup, and one that I ate for breakfast every day for nearly a year before I switched it up, is egg drop soup. If you're in the habit of making stock with kitchen scraps, and if you have a cheap source of good quality eggs, it's a filling meal that costs probably $0.25 or so per serving (the serving I've described below is pretty large - one meal or two starters). Here's how I make it, and I've noted a few things about the ingredients below:

1 1/2 cup chicken stock
1 tablespoon extra virgin coconut oil
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 or 2 cloves garlic, sliced
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1 tablespoon arrowroot powder
1 cup sliced greens (kale, collard, beet, spinach, whatever)
2 whole eggs

Combine the stock, oil, and spices in a saucepan and bring to a simmer. In a measuring cup, mix the arrowroot powder with just enough water to make a slurry, and add this to the simmering stock. Add the greens and simmer until they're tender and the stock has thickened slightly. In the measuring cup, beat the eggs with a fork until well mixed, then pour into the simmering stock, stirring with the fork while you do.

I use these seasonings because I think they're really tasty (and many of the spices included have medicinal as well as culinary value), but the soup is good with just salt and pepper. Also, if you prefer some other vegetable to greens - fresh corn, carrot and celery, or maybe some mushrooms - add those instead. Just cook the vegetables to your preferred doneness before adding the eggs at the end. As for the stock, you could probably use vegetable instead of chicken, though I haven't tried it that way myself. (I have tried beef stock, though, and I wouldn't recommend it!) If you don't already, try saving your veggie scraps and chicken bones in a freezer bag, then boil up a pot of stock whenever you need it. Whenever I trim an onion, peel a carrot, cut the ends off some celery, or take the stems off some herbs, I add the scraps to my bag. When I roast a chicken, the bones and various parts (gizzard, neck, feet, heart) go in the bag. If you use something that would otherwise have gone to waste, you're making money, right?! Not to mention, homemade stock makes everything delicious.

lizlkbg

bump

AuntieMC

rf1170, that sounds good! I try to stay mostly vegetarian, so I would substitue vegetable broth. I have a question, though. What is the purpose of the arrowroot powder in this soup? If it is a thickener, perhaps it could be left out, substitue some rice? Might guar gum substitute?

rf1170

rf1170, that sounds good! I try to stay mostly vegetarian, so I would substitue vegetable broth. I have a question, though. What is the purpose of the arrowroot powder in this soup? If it is a thickener, perhaps it could be left out, substitue some rice? Might guar gum substitute?

I use the arrowroot (or cornstarch, whatever I have on hand) to thicken the soup a bit before I add the eggs. I find that if I don't use it, the little shreds of egg get pretty small and sink to the bottom of the bowl, which is just a little less appetizing (if you've ever tried unsuccessfully thicken a pudding or soup with eggs, you know the texture I mean). It's a personal preference, and you could try leaving it out to see how you like it, or if you're accustomed to using another thickening agent, you might give it a try! I haven't used guar gum, so I'm not sure how it would work, and rice would be good in the soup, but I don't know that it would achieve the same texture.

AuntieMC

Would anyone else out there like to add anything?

AuntieMC

C'mon, peeps, there must be SOMEONE with cheap wholesome recipes to share!

LesaLu4

I have been in love with Portabello Mushrooms lately. Super simple... I just either pop them in the oven or on the outdoor grill with a little cooking spray on top and bottom, then season them generously with cumin, chipotle and tabasco sauce. I like things spicy though so use discretion if you don't. I have left the salt shaker behind and have picked up the spice habit, cumin being my favorite salt replacement spice so far.

You can either eat the mushroom with a fork and knife or place it between a bun for a tasty "burger". I like the thin buns that are only 100 calories. And the best part about a portabello mushroom is that it it only 22 calories and very filling.

My next adventure with them is to make somewhat of a rice and veggie stuff to place on top while it cooks. You could also put pizza sauce and a little cheese on top to satisfy pizza cravings.

Have fun!

skaimee

stuffed pepper with ground turkey, seasoned diced tomatoes, garlic. Just cook everything in pan then syuff into pepper. Bake in oven until pepper is slightly tender. I think 350 for 15 min. Is what I did. Sometimes i throw in 1/4 cup brown rice.

KayteeBear

I don't have anything to add but that sounds really yummy!!! I tend to do a random steam "fry" with cabbage, onions and carrots. Then add random spices. Recently thought of adding roasted chickpeas. Going to have to try your recipe with the lentils.