Day 7 - Grow Zucchini, End World Hunger

I seriously think that zucchini can end world hunger.  It is such a prolific vegetable and it can be used in so many ways.  It's one of those things you grow and are excited about at first, but then it keeps producing and producing and you don't know what the heck to do with it.  Even your friends and neighbors don't want any more and start avoiding you.

It's nice to get free vegetables from people, but it comes with an obligation.  You have to take it home and wash it, prepare it and eat it.  And if you don't, you feel guilty about wasting it.

Since my zucchini was stockpiling on me, I decided to take out my food dehydrator and make some zucchini chips.  I'm lucky to have one of these, but I haven't used it in awhile.  Truthfully, I'd rather dry vegetables outside using solar power instead of electricity, but I live on a busy street and it's too dusty outside.

All you have to do is slice veggies thin, around 1/8 inch and lay them on a drying tray.  I filled up the whole dehydrator with about 6 large zucchini.  It takes about 8 to 12 hours to dry depending on how thinly they were sliced.

For my husband, I made a tray of zucchini chips seasoned with garlic powder and pepper, and another tray seasoned with white cheese powder.

This is the finished product.  I have to admit, these things taste like paper when they are dry.  They need to have some kind of dip to go with them.  I'll have to think about that.  Meanwhile, I have a lot of zucchini chips.

I made a trip down to my brother's house to pick up some fruit.  He's got some young dwarf apple trees and some blueberries bushes. 

He has an interesting apple tree.  It was labeled as a "combination tree".  Each branch has a different variety of apple growing on it.

I didn't notice these blueberries the last time I was there, and I'm happy to have these for my oatmeal.

And then I noticed he has a lime tree.  These will be great for salsa when my tomatoes finally ripen. 

My shining moment today was the salad I had for dinner.  I decided to make a salad with the oranges, apples and avocados I had.  I added a hard boiled egg for protein and made a surprisingly refreshing dressing with lemon juice, a bit of olive oil, and a pinch of sugar, salt and pepper.  Really delicious combination so I named it "Egg Harvest Salad".  This salad cost 19 cents!

Day 7

Breakfast

Milton's Squaw Bread with Peanut Butter and Banana Slices

Lunch

Chicken Red Bean Soup

(This soup is a leftover portion from previous days.  I've already accounted for the cost of it, so today it's free!)

Loquats

Dinner

Egg Harvest Salad

Dessert

Baked apple

Calories:  1033

Cost:  59 cents (because soup cost was already accounted for in previous days)

Weight:  xxx - 3.5 pounds

Day 6 - The Ultimate Temptation

French Fries from Rascal's Teriyaki Grill

Today I faced my biggest challenge...an order of french fries from Rascal's Teriyaki Grill.  I picked these up for my husband and the aroma filled my car.  If you've had these fries, you know that they are steakhouse fries with seasoning on them.  They are really good.  They are especially good hot, so normally, if I'm in the car driving they will be half gone by the time I get home.

Not today.

Yes, they smelled good to me.  Yes, I know how good they are.  And yes, my stomach was growling at the time...

But, somehow, I didn't want to eat them.  I really didn't.  Because I knew that eating even one fry meant "game over".  I mean I could have eaten it, and who would know? 

I guess I would.  And the funny thing is that it wasn't hard not to eat it.  I'm surprised.  Really surprised.

After that success, the rest of my day ended up being one heck of a sad and frustrating day.  It was one of those days that make you want to scream and cry.  It was one of those days where I'd look for a cold beer to decompress.  Or a pint of ice cream.  But instead, I had a soothing mug of hot H2O.   

Game on.


Day 6

Breakfast
Oatmeal with soy milk and strawberries

Snack
small apple

Lunch
Chicken Red Bean Soup

Snack
small apple

Dinner
Brown Fried Rice with one egg
Roasted vegetables

Calories:  1089
Cost:  93 cents

Day 5 - A Dollar's Worth of Energy

Fresh blended orange juice for today's tennis match.

When I decided to take on this challenge, I wasn't sure if I'd have enough energy to continue my regular activities.  I usually play tennis a few times a week, and I knew that I was going to be working the garden more.

Actually, before I even started the challenge, my energy was low.  I was just dragging along and getting sleepy in the afternoons.  This could be due to my terrible diet, or it could be due to hormones, but in any case, I was worried I'd have even less energy.

The past few days I have been very sleepy.  Too sleepy to get motivated to do any crafting.  I have orders to fill, but I have to be in the right state of mind to "create". 

Because I wasn't sure of how this challenge would affect me, I reduced my tennis commitments this month.  Today was my first day out on the courts so I took a bottle of orange juice that I blended in the Vitamix.  The Vitamix is not a juicer.  It pulverizes the fruit, and generates a lot of pulp.  Orange juice provides quick energy and I usually take a bottle of store bought juice when I play.

This morning I felt especially good.  I don't know if it was the gorgeous weather, or that roasted banana chocolate thing I ate last night.  I had more energy than expected.

I can't say I played particularly well though...but that's a different issue.

In the afternoon, my energy stayed up and I lugged two very heavy boxes of ClosetMaid organizers I purchased upstairs and then put them together.  I got them to organize my yarn in my completely crammed sewing room.  

Today's dinner was Egg/Avocado Salad with Roasted Vegetables on Romaine.

The little red tomatoes are called "Red Currant" and they are growing on my deck in a planter.  They keep showing up on their own every year, but this year they are especially welcome because they are sweet as candy.

Day 5

Breakfast
Milton's Squaw bread with Peanut Butter

Tennis
Blended orange juice

Lunch
Chicken Red Bean Pasta Soup
Loquats

Dinner
Egg/Avocado Salad with Roasted Vegetables on Romaine

Calories:  1085
Cost: 87 cents

Day 4 - Make Garden Friends

Today's Harvest

Garden #1 is in a community garden plot.  It's a 20' x 20' urban garden in a park in our city.  There are about 120 garden plots here and you can rent them for $48 a year if you are a city resident.  Each plot conveniently has it's own water spigot, in fact, my plot has 2.  This is a fairly new garden and I've been gardening here since it opened 6 years ago.  Before that, I really didn't know much about gardening but I found I loved it so much, I started growing organic vegetables and selling them by the box to my friends.  I was working 4 plots at the time and also using a backyard of a friend. 

 

Gardening, and especially organic vegetable gardening is the best hobby on earth.  Having the earth in your hands and the sun over your head is a soothing experience that makes you feel good.  It balances you somehow as if this is where you as a human were meant to be.  In addition, you are using your time and energy to produce healthy foods for yourself and your family for very little cost.  And on top of that, in a community garden, you will meet some of the nicest, down to earth people, the kind of people you can befriend for life.     

Almost every gardener I know produces more than they can consume.  Many gardeners who don't cook give away the fruits of their labor.   I wouldn't be surprised if half of what is grown in the community garden is never harvested and goes to waste.

That's why it's nice to have garden friends.  We grow and share.  We share our ideas, our seeds, our vegetables and even our support.  We are there for each other when one needs a hand putting up a trellis, and we are there when one of us wants to talk about a family crisis.

A few days ago, my garden friend Kanya gave me a large stalk of sugar cane.  And today, my garden friend Greg, whom I haven't seen in awhile, gave me a hug and offered me some of his kolrabi and a beautiful head of romaine.  Now these people do not know about my dollar a day challenge.  They are happy if someone can enjoy some of their harvest.

So today I brought home from the garden lots of zucchini, broccoli, green beans, some strawberries and Greg's kolrabi and romaine. 

This afternoon my energy dropped again and I had to take a nap.  I had a nice hike in the morning with my friend Barb before working the garden.

So I made a batch of roasted vegetables to snack on.  It's so easy and the fragrance that comes from the oven is unbelievable.  All you have to do is slice up some vegetables, put them in a bowl and coat them with a tablespoon of olive oil.  Then add some salt and pepper and spread them out on a cookie sheet in a single layer.

Roast them in a 400 degree oven for about 50 minutes turning them now and then and it'll come out caramelized like this.  It's the first time I tried roasting daikon and broccoli and they are both good but the broccoli was awesome because the flower part comes out crispy.  All the flavors are intensified and just unbelievable.  It's a great way to use up veggies fast.  I ate half of them and will save the rest as a side dish or to put on a salad.

 
I haven't been consuming enough calories so I decided to make a dessert tonight.  I was going to roast bananas with some brown sugar, but alas, I didn't have any so I improvised and used the Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars I got on sale at Fresh and Easy for $1.  I cut the banana in half and crushed the chocolate bars on top and roasted them.  They don't look that appetizing, but I can tell you they were really delicious.  I served my husband some with whipped topping and he enjoyed them.

So today, I went over $1 for the day, but after I ate that dessert, my energy really picked up.
Day 4

Breakfast
Oatmeal with soy milk and banana slices

Orange Juice

Lunch

Egg Avocado Sandwich on squaw bread

Snack Roasted vegetables

Dinner
Chicken Red Bean Soup
1/4 cup brown rice

Dessert
Roasted 1/2 banana with 2 chocolate peanut butter bars

Calories: 1425
Cost:  $1.19

Day 3 - Flexibility Helps

Although I made a detailed day by day menu plan, I find that I'm starting to make changes due to what I feel like eating and also what needs to be eaten first due to freshness.  If I have something "just harvested"  I want to get it in my system as soon as possible because each day it loses some of it's nutrition.

Today, I noticed the bananas were starting to get brown spots, so I knew they were at their peak sweetness.  So for breakfast, I had 1/2 sliced banana (yes, I shopped for big bananas) with 2 tablespoons peanut butter, and I added a sliced orange and topped it with some mulberries.  It was super delicious and filling.

The mulberries came from my friend Lisa who bravely and unselfishly climbed a tree to pick them.  Then she froze them and brought them to me.   How nice!  They taste like blackberries but are very fragile.  Too fragile for selling commercially, but they are free for the picking if you have a tree. 

I needed to get the chicken soup in the freezer, so I decided to freeze just the base and add fresh vegetables on the day I was going to eat it.  The base is a big pot of simmered chicken carcass (I trimmed off the breast separately and saved them for stir frys), a pot of red beans that I cooked a few days ago, and an onion that I sauteed and carmelized in olive oil.

I froze them in containers, each with 2 meal portions, and kept some in a pot in the fridge that I will eat in the next few days.  Hopefully my tomatoes will be ripe soon so that I can add them when I eat these.

For lunch, I felt like an egg sandwich, so I decided to try mashing a hard boiled egg with some avocado as the binder instead of using mayo.  It was delicious!  I served it open face on some squaw bread and dressed it with raw slices of daikon and zucchini.

By late afternoon I was feeling weak.  Not so much sleepy this time, but physically weak.  My husband and I spent the afternoon cleaning up and rearranging the garage and my feet were dragging.  I know it's because my body is wondering where the chocolate went.

I wasn't feeling hungry really, just weak and I was glad my dinner just needed to be put in the microwave tonight.  It was the chicken stir fry that I made yesterday and it hit the spot.

Day 3, June 3

Breakfast 1/2 Banana

2 T Peanut Btr

Orange

Mulberries

Lunch Milton's Squaw Bread

Hard boiled egg

Avocado

Daikon

Zuchinni Snack

Loquats

orange Dinner

Chicken Pasta Stir Fry

Brown Rice Calories: 1245 Cost:  90 cents

Day 2 - A Sleepy Day

I was sleepy all day today.  I don't know if it has anything to do with what I'm eating or not because I've been going to sleep really late.  I was expecting my energy level to fall in the first few days because I'm eating less carbs, but I can't say my energy was low, I just felt sleepy.  So of course I took a long nap and now I feel better.

This morning I cooked up a pot of oatmeal and had it with 1/2 cup soy milk and the strawberries I picked yesterday.  It was delicious even though I didn't add any additional sweetener.  I am using a vanilla flavored soy milk and that has enough sugar in it already.  The serving size is generous, and I realized I miscalculated the cost.  It's actually only 8 cents a serving, not 16 cents, so suddenly I have some extra money.

By mid morning, I could feel my blood sugar falling.  This seems to happen to me when I eat oatmeal.  People say it's supposed to stick to your ribs, but it doesn't seem to work like that for me.  I needed to have a snack so I had a hard boiled egg, an orange and an apple.  I hasn't hungry, but was eating to bring my blood sugar back up and also I think I was eating because I felt so sleepy and was hoping it would wake me up.

Overall, I don't feel hungry at all.  I don't have any cravings for anything and am eating just to make sure I have enough calories for the day.

For lunch, I had a half cup of rice with 1/4 avocado.  I just mixed them together and ate them like that.  I was planning to have a fried egg with it, but since I had the hard boiled egg earlier, I didn't feel like having another.

For dinner I cooked up a chicken pasta stir fry with 1/2 cup brown rice.  It's made with chicken breast meat (cut from the whole chicken), onions, spaghetti noodles and whatever veggies I have on hand.  Today it was green beans, daikon, broccoli and zucchini. I just used a bit of soy sauce for flavoring.  I made enough for 2 days so I don't have to cook again tomorrow.  If I was hungrier I would have added more veggies.  

And yes, I am cooking my husband's meals separately.  For breakfast he had Portuguese sausage, white rice and eggs over-easy.  For dinner he had Chicken Maison, but I served it with fried potatoes and boiled green beans.

I was at garden #2 today and I can't wait for the tomatoes to ripen.  It looks like they are another 7 to 10 days away.  I want to put them in the soup and eat them with the burritos I'm having later.  I might be able to make some salsa too if those peppers hurry up.

DAY 2

Breakfast

Oatmeal

Soy Milk

Strawberries

Snack

hard boiled egg

orange

apple

Lunch

1/2 cup brown rice

1/4 avocado

Dinner

Chicken Pasta Stir Fry

Brown Rice

Calories:  1170

Cost: 81 cents

  

Day 1 - A Busy Day

In addition to my Dollar A Day Challenge, I'm also reorganizing my house.  I've been so busy preparing for craft shows, that it's become a house of craft clutter and I want to change that.  So, I'm pretty busy doing these two projects in tandem.

There's a lot of preparation and cooking that needs to be done in the first few days, but after that, food prep should be streamlined.  I'll be cooking brown rice and oatmeal in batches so that I just need to microwave them instead of getting the pots and pans out everyday.  I need to make a big batch of chicken soup.  It's on the stove right now simmering away.  This is going to take hours because I want the meat to fall off the bones and the broth to have a rich flavor.  But again, once this is done the servings will be put in the freezer for future dinners.  I need to make some hard boiled eggs for snacking on.  Last night I cooked up a pot of red beans and put some in the freezer.

In the morning, I cleaned out my clothes closet of old clothes and donated it and some other stuff to the Salvation Army.  Then I worked the garden and picked a lot of cauliflower and zucchini.  I also picked some green beans, a daikon radish and a handful of strawberries.

But look at these daikon greens!  This is something you can't buy in the supermarket.  The greens are usually chopped off and discarded, but they are a nutritious green.  I decided to have them with my lunch. 

When I got home from the garden, the rice that I put on in the morning was hot and waiting for me.  So I made an over-easy egg with 1/2 tsp olive oil, and then sauteed the daikon greens in the same pan.  Added a few slices of avocado and a big glass of ice cold water with a slice of lemon.  I added a splash of soy sauce, but it really didn't need it.

Here is what I ate today.  Surprisingly, at dinner time I wasn't hungry and didn't eat until 9PM.  I switched up my menu and just had a bowl of chicken soup and vegetables on brown rice.

Day 1 Menu

Breakfast
1 slice of Milton's Squaw Bread
2 T peanut butter
Hot water

Lunch
1/2 cup cooked brown rice
1 extra large egg cooked over-easy
1/2 tsp olive oil
1/4 sliced avocado
sauteed daikon greens
ice water with lemon

Snacks
loquats
orange

Dinner
Chicken soup (with red beans and vegetables)
1/2 cup brown rice

Calorie Count: 1158
Cost: 91 cents