Saturday, October 20, 2012

Bountiful Baskets Meal #1

I've gotten a lot of positive feedback since my post about how to eat well for $20/week for 2 people, but the biggest concern was that people didn't think you can get fresh produce on that budget. I am a firm believer that if there's a will, there's a way! So, as of this week, I have started to get Bountiful Baskets (you can get more information about locations of distribution at www.bountifulbaskets.org. Every week for $16.50 (including the handling fee), they aim to give you 5 types of fruites and 5 types of vegetables, and they sometimes have extras! This week, I got 5 bananas, 3 tomatoes, 2 apple pears, 1 pineapple, 1 lb. red seedless grapes, 2 butternut squashes, 1 head of lettuce, 1 head of kale, 1 onion, and 2 pomegranates! I am starting a month-long trial where every other week I buy a Bountiful Basket, 1 gallon of milk, and a dozen eggs (totaling right under $20), and the other week buy meat and baking necessities. Not only will this help us eat a little healthier and try out new things, but it will still be completely affordable!
Ok, but what can you actually cook with a bunch of fruits and veggies and stuff? Well, today we separated the pomegranate and took out the seeds, so we had those and some grapes for breakfast. For lunch, we wanted something that we could take with us along with the grapes to the Desert Botanical Gardens. After looking from a few recipes, combining, taking away, and adding my own ideas, I made this butternut squash dish:

Ingredients:
1/2 Peeled Butternut Squash
1.5 Tbsps. Olive Oil
1/4 Tsp. Black Pepper
3 Cloves of Minced Garlic
1 Tbsp. Parsley

In order to peel the squash more easily, I cut the two ends off and microwaved it for 3 minutes. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Then, cut it in half lengthwise and pull out the gunk and seeds. Take the seeds and rinse them, then set them aside. Next, cube the squash in 1/2-1 inch cubes and place in a bowl. Toss with the olive oil, pepper, garlic, parsley, and seeds. Line a cake pan with aluminum foil and spread the squash evenly across the pan. Cook the squash for about 40 minutes, taking it out and turning the cubes after 20 minutes. Enjoy!

1 comment:

  1. I like the idea of the every other week thing. I thought of you last week when we got two kinds of meat that Fry's had on sale-buy one get one free! It just so happened to be to the kinds of meat we were going to get anyway (roast & pork chops).
    P.S. The lady at the BB pickup place today suggested making kale chips. I'm thinking that would be a fantastic healthy snack!

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