Eating well while living on less

I just scanned the New York Times most emailed list of articles. Lawyers are losing their jobs and big prestigious law firms are folding. You may not like lawyers and some have a bad reputation, but last year I was involved in a nasty landlord/security deposit/ small claims court event. A couple of kind-hearted attorneys helped me and I see that the working of the legal system takes knowledge, time, work and preparation. These skills need compensation. Thank you Randy and Gregg for your help.

But I digress. The news is worse every day. People are in all sorts of financial trouble. My first thoughts are always about food. If I can eat well I can feel well. As a personal trainer I have stopped asking people if they eat well because everyone thinks they do eat well. My definition of eating well is different. For me, eating well means eating fresh wholesome food that has not been processed in a factory. I try to avoid cans and boxes of food. I am not perfect and sometimes as a treat for my husband I will make a box of macaroni and cheese (try the Pasta Roni Shells and White Cheddar) . Last night's dinner was a pot of turkey chili. My husband declared it the best ever. Probably because he hasn't had chili since last spring. It is too hot to cook chili in the summer. I do not buy canned beans. Sometime I cook beans in my pressure cooker. I could not live without my pressure cooker. A pressure cooker can cook beans from a bag to table ready in 20 minutes! Yesterday, I just cooked the beans on the stove because the pressure cooker needs a new gasket. These must have been really fresh beans because they cooked up in no time. I washed and picked through them. Put them in a pot with water, brought them to a boil and boiled for a minute or so. I put the lid on the pot and set the timer on the stove for an hour. When the hour was up I added two bay leaves, a good pinch of Kosher salt and couple of sliced garlic cloves. I simmered this until the beans were soft. If filled the house with a delicious fragrance. I don't think it took an hour. In a separate pot I sauteed an onion in coconut oil (that will be another post), added more garlic, added a pound of ground turkey (don't use the white meat turkey it is too dry), put in an envelope of chili mix, chopped up some tomatoes (the last of the tomatoes from the garden) use canned diced tomatoes if you would like. When the meat was cooked through I added the beans and the cooking water. Beans are a miracle food. They have loads of fiber. We don't eat enough fiber. The nutrition label on a bag of beans doesn't even start to tell you the goodness in them. They are low fat, high fiber, loaded with minerals and fill you up without filling you out. And they are incredibly cheap! I buy my beans at ethnic stores. They are fresher and cheaper than at mainstream grocery store chains. The red kidney beans I used in yesterday's chili were $1.09 for 2 pounds. A quarter of a cup of raw beans has 70 calories and 14 grams of fiber. People have told me they can't eat beans because they are too gassy. Buy some Beano. When you regularly eat beans, your stomach will adapt and make more of the enzymes necessary to digest them properly. The chili I made yesterday yields dinner for the two of us for two nights, plus a lunch for one of us. Thank goodness my husband will eat leftovers. I estimate the pot cost .54 for beans, .50 for the chili spice from WalMart, and $2.63 for the ground turkey. Not everyone is going to have tomatoes from the garden so I am going to add .79 for canned tomatoes. That comes to $4.46 for 4 meals or $2.23 for dinner for two. My husband even had a second bowl. The best part is that this chili is better than the greasy stuff you are going to get at a restaurant. I serve the chili with some diced onion and a light grating of cheese. Sometimes I garnish the chili with a spoon of sour cream. If there is a bit left I make burritos with it. Those are a big hit too. Whole wheat tortillas, chili, chopped tomato, chopped onion, diced avocado, a bit of sour cream and a bit of grated cheese. Dice up some cilantro for real authentic Mexican taste. I try to avoid throwing food out and can usually find something tasty to make with leftovers. Leftover mashed potatoes always get put into the freezer. They are just the thing to thicken a soup with. When I braise meat in my pressure cooker I always save the liquid. I put it in a container in the fridge, when the fat is solid, I toss it and freeze the incredibly flavorful liquid. That gets put into soups and stews. This way I don't need to use bullion cubes (ugh - just salt and chemicals) or take the trouble to make stock.