Eating Healthy and Eating Cheap(er)

I love food. So a lot of my money naturally goes to filling up my belly with delicious goodness. In a city like Boston it's so, SO easy to abandon the kitchen and order moderately priced take-out every single day... and when one is tired and over-worked and doesn't have energy for cooking, those menus look better and better. Indian, please. Oh, no, wait, Thai. Oh, or pizza! Thin crust! Wait... wait... there's an Anna's down the street... I want a burrito. *sigh*

But while there's tons of great, easy food that can come right to my door, I love dining out even more. Perhaps if I can do a little more homecookin' I can convince the boyfriend that we deserve more date nights out. 

So in a effort to be a little healthier, and save a little cash (not that Whole Foods is inexpensive by any means, cooking at home can be pricey too), I'm trying to reconnect with my kitchen. The problem I've had this past year is that when I cook it's a big production. It takes hours, I labor over recipes and chop veggies til my fingers hurt. Ok, that's a bit of an exaggeration, but the meals I have been making take time. And time is a precious thing right now...

I decided what I really need are some quickie recipes. But I don't want to sacrifice flavor either. Ramen noodles might have cut it in my younger years, but not anymore.

So I scoured my cookbooks for some relatively easy, moderately priced recipes and planned out some meals for the rest of my week. What's cookin' at casa de Jillian?

Pasta with Shitake Mushrooms & Panchetta in Cream Sauce

Puttanesca Bianca (kalamata olives, anchovy and caper sauce)

Penne with Spinach & Ricotta Cheese

Wild Mushroom and Rice Soup

Black & Blue Beef Quesadillas (with blue cheese)

Veggie stuffed Portobello Mushrooms

Off to Whole Foods I go!

Do you have quick go-to recipes that are somewhat inexpensive and don't take hours to prepare? I would love to hear them! Share away! 

Garlicy Roasted Romano Beans

I received a big bag full of Romano Beans in my first week’s farm share box. The Enterprise newsletter told me that Romano beans are a form of flat snap bean which originates in Italy and that they are flattened, rather than rounded, and meant to be eaten whole, just as we would eat other summer green beans. Their flavor is tender and mild. Romanos are often braised with other summer vegetables and eaten as a side dish. I decided to try a create-it-yourself/fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants recipe:

First, I snapped the ends off of the beans and washed them. Then I coated the beans with a bit of olive oil, a heaping tablespoon of crushed garlic, then some freshly ground pepper and kosher salt.

I then put them in a small glass dish and baked them uncovered in the oven for approximately 7-10 minutes. The Enterprise newsletter warned me that Romano beans can become a yucky mush if cooked too long so I didn’t want that to happen and I took a peek at the beans every few minutes to see how they were doing. After a little under 10 minutes of cooking in the hot oven I turned on the broiler and let them broil for 2-3 minutes so the beans would get a nice toasted quality on the top. I wish I had some Parmesan or Asiago cheese to sprinkle on the top of them… maybe next time!

While I ate these all by themselves as a snack (I know, a weird snack) these beans would be a great accompaniment to a grilled steak or fish. I didn't overcook them so they still had a nice crispy texture and tasted wonderful with the garlic and pepper.

Overall score: 8 out of 10.