Aside from the meager amount of vegetables we've acquired from the small square-foot garden, I've been loading up on the seasonal produce whenever I hit Sunflower or Costco. I spent all summer eating frozen zucchini and canned tomatoes, and the fresh stuff is so much tastier, and now I can justify buying it since it's in season! Our everyday staples have been salads with fresh greens and cherry tomatoes and those tasty little snacker cucumbers topped with Annie's organic dressings. Pasta with sauteed zucchini, summer squash, and tomatoes. Thai green curry with bell peppers, tofu, and carrots. Oh, and grilled chicken. Ohhhh, grilled chicken. Too bad we don't have a real grill though and have to rely on the Foreman.
One thing that's awesome about food stamps is you have this amount of money to spend on food, and you have to spend it because it can't go to anything else. I feel like I always skimped on food (like spent $100 a month or less) because it seemed like eating lentils and rice every day was a healthy/cheap meal that was fine with us (and we needed to save for studying abroad).... boy, did I not know what I was missing!! I think there really was a period of 2 or 3 months pre-Egypt where all we ate was lentils/rice/canned tomatoes and whatever we got with WIC. Not to mention the food from Egypt was... less than desirable. But now! Oh, the possibilities! I am dreading Tim finishing school and getting a real job because then I won't feel justified in mooching off the government (can we say grad school!?) Or.... we could just make real money (like more than the meager $1000 a month I take home from my government job at WIC), and then allocate $500 a month to food. I just don't think I could go back to the way things are before. Organic veggies of all varieties (red peppers! avocado!), raspberries and blueberries, grass-fed ground beef, Luna bars, boneless skinless chicken breasts, Brown Cow yogurt, Kettle chips, Breyer's ice cream, real maple syrup, brown eggs.... all were oft-wanted but never-bought luxuries in our previous life before food stamps. I think few people realize how much I love food. Well, I do. I love food. And food stamps has made our foodie-lifestyle infinitely more attainable. If not for the adding money to our budget, but adding the forced-spending of money.
Oh, the luxuries of taxing the rich to give to the poor.
Sometimes I'm so conflicted... but usually not.
Sigh.
Yesterday:
Family trip to the library in the morning. Naps. And camping in the afternoon, which we will post about soon.
So I've never had much luck trying to make my own Thai curry. What sort of recipe do you follow? And is there a particular brand of curry paste you like? Also, why brown eggs over white?
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