So, again, it's been awhile.  Life has changed.  Change is inevitable.  Sometimes I participate; sometimes I watch, bemused.

The job thing didn't work out.  I sucked at it and it was sucking the life out of me.  Sales, sales, sales.  Having to handle a call an exact certain way.  I just couldn't do it.  It's not to say I hated the entire year I was there.  I didn't.  I had some great conversations with folks over the phone, and those I enjoyed.  I enjoyed helping people, I enjoyed wowing people.  The sales pitch/relationship sales, not so much.  So I'm back to being a stay at home mom, homemaker who hates to clean house, thrifty shopper, mountain bike rider, road rider, runner (someone who's trying to lose the weight that sitting behind a computer for a year added)  and organic garden attempter.  Yeah, that's a new word.  I just made it up.

Thrifty cook, too.  I've found some new recipes that I'll share.  None of which are original, mind you, but changed and modified to suit my needs, budget and pantry. Oh..and trying to go for low fat, etc.   And I'll try to credit where due.

Trying to make dinner for four for under...what...$8?  Is that a good goal to have?  I'll share what we had tonight.  I've been making this for a few months now and it's cheap, good and filling.  This is not a quick make-after-work dinner; it takes over an hour to make.   But it's easy, not labor intensive at all.  If you're at home and have the time, it's great.

Picadillo (Got this and modified it from About.com)
1 packet yellow rice (I get the 1 lb one and use the leftovers for another day)
1 lb ground beef
Olive oil (1-2 T)
1 green pepper (chopped fine)
1 med onion (chopped fine)
4-5 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup beef broth (bullion, stock, whatever)
1 can petite diced tomatoes (or a couple big fresh tomatoes diced fine..or a can of tomato sauce)
1/2 T cumin
1/2 T oregano
4 fingerling potatoes (or 2 small other potatoes) small dice
8-10 olives, slivered
Salt and Pepper to taste

Brown the ground beef in a non stick pan.  When brown, remove from pan and rinse to get excess fat off, set aside.  Wipe pan of excess fat,  warm the olive oil and saute green pepper, onion and garlic until soft.  Once done, add back ground beef, spices, broth, tomatoes and olives (START YELLOW RICE). Cook, covered, for 15 mins, on med heat (bubbling easily.)  Add diced potatoes and continue cooking, covered, over medium heat, for another 15 mins.   Uncover and continue cooking until most of the liquid is absorbed.  Serve over yellow rice (which was started ~ 25 minutes ago.)

Ground beef $4
Green pepper  .50
Onion   .30
Tomatoes   $1
Potatoes   .50
Yellow Rice $1.25

Most of this is pantry stuff.  A can of tomatoes shouldn't cost that much but I'm doing my best to guesstimate.  And a lot of folks don't have the fresh veggie markets available to them like I do; buying this stuff at the supermarket will set you back a lot more.  But it you can  take the time to find the off-the-beaten path resources, you can save yourself a lot of money.

My favorite places to shop for food, in Tampa, are Sanwa on Hillsborough, just east of 22nd, and the produce market, at Hillsborough and 30th.  In both places you'll pay much less ( by 1/3 or 1/2) than you would at Publix.

Another debate, however, is cheap food vs. organic.  Local food vs. cheap in season from where ever. I'm willing to engage in the debate.  I buy local and organic when I can.  If not, I buy as inexpensive as I can.

All right..no telling when I'll post again.

J