Day 21 - If I had 5 more dollars

What would I buy if I had 5 more dollars to spend?  This is what I was contemplating as I was driving to Ikea today.  As I mentioned, I'm trying to organize my home while I'm doing this dollar a day thing.  And I have to say, it's killing me that I can't get the Ikea frozen yogurt cone that costs 99 cents.  I bought a new desk and storage shelves for my office.

Anyway, a month a go, I would have taken the $5 and bought 5 chili dogs for $5 at Der Weinerschinitzel, or 10 tacos for $5 at Jack in the Box.  Oh, and don't forget all the $5 boxes they have these days at the fast food joints, like the ones at Taco Bell and KFC.  (Technically, I couldn't buy those anyway because I couldn't afford the sales tax.)  I could also take 2 friends out to lunch to Costco and we could have polish dogs and a soda ($1.50 combo).

Seriously though, since I need to buy the most nutritious food for my money, I thought long and hard and came up with these:

Almonds
Sharp Cheddar Cheese
Greek Yogurt
Fish

These are out of my budget on a dollar a day, but I might be able to squeeze in small portions of them with $5 more.  These 4 items could really expand my menu.  I should do this next month.  I really should.

On the way to Ikea, I stopped at my brother's house to pick a few more apples and I noticed he had two little Japanese eggplants.  I helped myself because they were past their prime and some other critters were chomping at them.  As soon as I got home, I cooked them in a little olive oil and soy sauce.

And remember the salsa I promised to make yesterday?  Here it is.  It's a very simple pico de gallo made with chopped tomatoes, Anaheim peppers and onion and I added fresh lime juice, a bit of olive oil and garlic salt.  That's it.  I ate it on top of my red beans and rice for dinner.

Day 21

Breakfast:
Oatmeal with Soy Milk and 1/4 sliced banana
3 plums

Lunch:
Egg Avocado Sandwich
Sauteed Japanese Eggplant
2 Chocolate Peanut Bars

Snack:
Plums

Dinner:
Red Beans and Rice
Pico de Gallo



Calories: 1280
Cost: $1.04

Weight:  XXX - 5.5 pounds 

Day 20 - It's Time to Salsa!

first tomatoes of the season

Okay, you've been very patient with me as I went on and on, day after day crying for tomatoes.  After all, it is day 20 and I still don't have any tomatoes.  Today on the way to the garden, I had resigned myself into picking the tomatoes green and making some Salsa Verde.

To my great glee, I spotted some red in my tomato patch this afternoon.  Well, more like orangey red.  If I wasn't in such a rush, I'd leave them a couple of days, but I want to make salsa today.

Here is my harvest today in garden #2. 

You know how I like roasted green beans, so I was happy to pick 2 1/2 pounds today from my little garden.  Also, Anaheim chili peppers were there waiting for me.  So, yes, I will make salsa tonight with them!

(An hour later...)

My husband comes home and brings me this:

plums and Japanese cucumber

"Can you eat these?", he asks.  "Were they grown in some one's backyard?", I ask. "Yes", he says.  "Heck yeah, I can eat them!".  And so I did. 

Day 20

Breakfast:

Oatmeal with Soy Milk and Berries

Orange

Lunch:

Hard Boiled Egg

Orange

1/2 Avocado with Lemon Juice

Small Apple

Dinner:

Tofu

Takuan

Steamed Green Beans

Cucumber

Plums

Calories:  980

Cost: 73 cents

Weight: XXX - 4 pounds



Day 19 - Plain and Simple Tofu

When I was choosing foods for this challenge, I looked for the ones with the most nutrition for the dollar, and I also wanted to have some variety in my diet.  I included tofu because it can be cooked in many ways and I had planned on stir frying it with vegetables.

What I didn't plan on was that I'd end up eating it cold with some soy sauce with takuan, a Japanese pickled radish on the side.  I ate just these two for dinner, night after night and didn't get tired of it.  In fact, I looked forward to it.

Tonight, I added some brown rice to it.

cold tofu and takuan

The tofu is cold and salty from the soy sauce, and the takuan is cold and sweet and sour.  Also, the tofu is soft and the takuan is crunchy. It's refreshing and although it looks plain, it's a flavor explosion in your mouth. 

I still have one last tofu meal tomorrow night.  Can't wait.

Day 19

Breakfast:

Milton's Squaw Bread and Peanut Butter

Orange

Tennis:

Orange Juice

Lunch:

Egg Fried Rice with Zucchini and Broccoli

Orangesicle

Dinner:

Tofu, Takuan and Brown Rice

Apricot

Calories: 1223

Cost: 89 cents

Weight:  XXX - 4 pounds



Day 18 - Desserts!

Yes, you CAN have desserts on a dollar a day.  Especially if you have fruit available.  With limited ingredients, you have to be creative.  So here are some of my dessert experiments.

So far I've had Chocolate Peanut Butter Bananas:

I just roasted these bananas with 2 crushed chocolate peanut butter bars on top.  The cost for this serving was 16 cents.  It tasted a lot better than it looks...really.  I bought this bag of Chocolate Peanut Butter bars at Fresh and Easy Market.  It was marked down to $1, so 2 bars costs 6 cents.

Then, I had Oatmeal Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies:

This was leftover oatmeal with crushed chocolate peanut butter bars mixed in.  I baked them in the toaster oven.  It didn't crisp up without butter, but it was good enough for me and it used up the oatmeal.  Cost for this serving was 8 cents.

Next up, a cold dessert.  Orangesicles!

Made from oranges, some vanilla soy milk and sugar.  Cost is 5 cents a popsicle.

And today, I wanted to try to make an apple cobbler.  Since I don't have flour, I used oatmeal, and no butter, so I used peanut butter.

This is what it looked like before it went into the oven:

This is sliced apples splashed with lemon juice.  I mixed peanut butter, oats and sugar together into the apples and baked them at 350 for 30 minutes.  I added some water into the bottom of the muffin cup.

The result:

 Okay, it's not the prettiest dessert and it would taste better with some vanilla ice cream, but it wasn't too bad.  It was interesting with the oats and peanut butter.  The cost for this serving is 9 cents.

So, yes, you can eat on a dollar a day and still have dessert.


Day 18

Breakfast:
Oatmeal with soy milk and berries

Lunch:
Tuna Avocado Sandwich
Roasted Green Beans

Snack:
2 Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars
Toasted Oats

Dinner:
Chicken Pasta Stir Fry

Dessert:
Peanut Butter Apple Cobbler

Calories: 1320
Cost: $1.19

Weight:  XXX - 4 pounds

Day 17 - P o i s o n e d :(

Ugh.  I feel nauseous.  I feel dizzy and nauseous.

I've been craving a cup of coffee, so when I was at Trader Joe's today I helped myself to two cups of coffee.  It was delicious.  I think it was Vanilla Chai coffee. 

But now I am paying the price.  You see, I stopped drinking caffeine a few years ago.  It was making me feel weird, lightheaded and my blood sugar was going wacky.

But every once in a while I'll have a cup of coffee and it's been okay.

But today, it's not okay.  I'm trying to drink a lot of water right now to flush it out of my system. 

I poisoned myself.

This was after I had such a nice lunch.  I had a tuna/avocado sandwich on squaw bread with oranges and mulberries on the side.

tuna avocado open faced sandwich

Day 17

Breakfast:
Brown Rice and egg over-easy
Orange

Lunch:
Tuna Avocado Sandwich
Orange and mulberries

Snack:
TJ's coffee
TJ's sample nacho chips and yogurt dip
Roasted Green Beans

Dinner:
Tofu
Takuan

Calories: 865
Cost: 84 cents

Weight: XXX - 4 pounds

Day 16 - Mid Term

I've passed the halfway point of my challenge, so maybe it's a good time to reflect on the journey.  So here's some answers to questions you might have.

How am I doing?
Fine, thank you.

Am I hungry?
No, but I am starting to crave my old diet.  I'm starting to wish I could have the diet soda when I feel like a pick me up.

Do I have more energy?
I can't say I feel a lot different.  It's like 5% more or something small like that.  I might still be going through a detox.

Have I lost a lot of weight?
I think I'm slowly losing it.  I'm kind of surprised it's not coming off faster because I think I'm eating half the calories I was eating before and a lot less carbs and processed foods.  But maybe I'm losing it the healthy way.

Am I tired of the limited food choices?
No.  Surprisingly, no. There's a couple of food choices I haven't eaten yet.  Today was my first of 3 tuna sandwiches.

Am I running out of vegetables in the garden?
Nope.  There's more than I can eat.  But I really wish those darn tomatoes were ripe!

Do I have enough food to last through the end of the month?
Yes.

What's my favorite meal on this challenge?
The Egg Harvest Salad with the lemon dressing.  Also, I'm surprised how much I like brown rice.  And I really like the simple bean taco.  I've liked almost every meal I've had.

Favorite snack?
Roasted green beans!

Have I cheated?
NO!

What is the first thing I want to eat on July 1?
Hamburgers and fries
 
Am I going to continue this after June 30?
I should because it's so healthy, but realistically, I just hope I don't go back to what I was doing before.


Day 16

Breakfast:
Milton's Squaw Bread with Peanut Butter

Snack:
Orange

Lunch:
Tuna Avocado Sandwich on Squaw Bread
Small apple
Lollipop (free)

Snack:
Loquats
Toasted Oats

Dinner:
Tofu with Takuan
Steamed broccoli
Orangesicle

Calories: 1000
Cost: $1.01

Weight:  XXX - 3.5 pounds

Day 15 - Sweet Oranges

When I started this challenge I asked my mom for some oranges from her tree.  Last time I saw it, it was covered completely with orange globes so I knew she had plenty. 

We are downright spoiled here in Southern California.  I remember there used to be groves and groves of oranges on the drive over to Disneyland.  They aren't there anymore, but many people have orange and lemon trees with bounty's of fruit that never get picked.

They are taken for granted here. 

Long ago, my husband would come home and find me crying.  Oh, you must be watching "Little House on the Prairie" again.   I loved that show and I bring it up now because I remember for Christmas, Laura and Mary each got an orange and what a precious gift that was.  I remember that show whenever I see an orange.

So today I decided to try making a slaw out of oranges and zucchini.  I really thought of it mainly to use up the zucchini.  So I tossed some together with a little rice vinegar and sugar and it was nicely refreshing with my brown fried rice.

Orange/zucchini slaw with today's fried rice

Next, I wanted to try making some popsicles with the oranges.  I blended them up with a little vanilla soy milk and sugar.  It tastes like an Orange Julius.

A few hours later - Orangesicle

Day 15

Breakfast:
Oatmeal with soy milk and mulberries

Lunch:
Brown Fried Rice with Egg and Zucchini
Orange Zucchini Slaw

Snack:
Roasted oats
Orangesicle

Dinner:
3 oz tofu
takuan  (pickled Japanese radish)

Calories: 1003
Cost: 90 cents

Weight:  XXX - 3.5 pounds