I posted this photo of my dinner with commentary on Twitter and Facebook:
Bay scallops sauted in lemon butter, atop a bed of pea greens, with garden tomato and avocado topped with salt and pepper.
It looks good to me, and I hope to you. Light, fresh, maybe even expensive.
Here is why it wasn't. It was a frugal dinner.
The scallops were $8 per pound. I bought a quarter of a pound for $2, and split them into two meals. I try to keep my proteins to $1 per serving.
The pea greens were part of a huge tub on sale that also contained baby spinach and baby kale. It's called protein greens. As you might know, if there is a sale sticker on it, I buy it. I had never had pea greens before but it didn't matter, I buy what's on sale and worry about liking the item later. It turned out I loved the pea greens and I look for the sale sticker every time I go now. $2 and I'm in. Normally it's twice that price so that was a great deal. I used about 30 cents' worth to put under the scallops.
The tomato was a garden tomato with juice and taste just this side of heaven, and was a gift from a friend. Free.
The avocado was part of the regular sale at Kroger, one of the produce items on markdown in the red net bag. Those cost 99 cents for anything in them, and in this case it contained three huge Florida avocados. I used 1/3 of the avocado. At 33 cents per avocado but using only a third of it, it cost 10 cents on the plate.
Throw an estimate of using about 20 cents' worth of butter and negligible amount of lemon juice to saute the scallops, and that concludes the cost per plate portion of the roundup.
The total cost of the meal was about $1.75.
I didn't plan ahead, I had the scallops and time restrictions for using up fresh fish governed my choice of the scallops for dinner tonight. When I was given the tomatoes today I determined to eat one of them immediately! I looked around the fridge and counter and thought what would be good paired with tomato. I wanted to keep the tangy deliciousness alive and not cook the tomato nor drench it in salad dressing. I saw the avocado, which also has a short shelf life, and decided the creaminess would be good with the tang of the tomato.
Finally, just adding scallops to a plate isn't all that appetizing. They are manila and drab looking. So I threw some greens on the plate for color and crunch. That's literally how I came up with the dinner for tonight.
Use what you have. Use what will go stale first. Don't be afraid to cook without a recipe. Also don't be afraid to buy what's on sale and figure out what goes with what later.
This was a good, light, inexpensive but satisfying dinner. Buon appetito!
6 comments:
Well played, Elizabeth! ;-)
It looks wonderful! Except I'd have to substitute shrimp for the scallops (I have a "history" with scallops, and thus will not eat them.)
Anyhow, tonight's dinner will be a thrown-together-from-the-fridge-and-pantry GF pasta dish. Those are actually some of our favorite dinners around here.
Your previous post - you find good mid mod pieces. I like that "Harvest Time" bowl. Mid mod is not my favorite design era, but I've liked some of the pieces you've shown here.
That bumper sticker loaded car - oh my, that reminded me of a similar "decorated" vehicle I saw in a parking lot when I was on a trip. Except the stickers all had to do with witchcraft and other such disturbing things. I prayed for that person.
-Carolyn
Looks delicious, thanks for sharing. Have you found a good way to keep leftover avocado fresh?
Thank you and you're welcome! It was a Florida avocado and I'd used just a bit of it. A lot remaining I left it in the casing (shell? Skin?) and put it in a tupperware type sealed bowl in my fridge.
Carolyn thanks for praying for the deceived person with the bumper sticker laden car! I've tried GF pasta and can't really get into it. I am cooking a spaghetti squash right now in the crock pot and I"ll top with tomato sauce and romano cheese when it's done. I've eaten spag squash before but have not prepared it like spaghetti.
Elizabeth,
What did you think of the spaghetti squash as "spaghetti"? We like it! GF pasta - we've discovered that some brands are just better than others when it comes to taste/texture. We did a lot of trial and error until we found one we liked.
I find bumper stickers the most helpful prayer aid. People advertise right on their car where they stand and in what they believe. Couldn't get easier than that for knowing how to pray for someone. ;)
-Carolyn
Carolyn, I enjoyed the spaghetti squash. It's nutrient rich, low carb, and tasty. I wasn't a huge fan of the tomato sauce on it, I decided I prefer diced tomatoes or cherry tomatoes. Maybe it was the sauce I'd selected.
That's a good point about the bumper stickers.
I don't know if I'll continue searching for a Gluten free pasta I like, they are expensive. I've tried three so far, to no avail. I might just have to give up on that item. :(
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