This week I’m going to have to do my grocery shopping in batches, so I’m going to break down the prices by meal, referring to various receipts. You’ll see the totals below each meal. This is one of my favorite easy sauces - carbonara. Not so healthy, but oh so delicious. Bacon is the only meat I’m buying this week. My sister-in-law had carbonara at a restaurant last night, so I thought I’d try to be remotely healthy by adding some broccoli. I used frozen chopped broccoli - it was on sale for $.99 and didn’t have anything added to it, so I did it. I’m not familiar with using frozen veggies but this worked great. We also made our own pasta since we had all the ingredients and didn’t want to buy any. This is quick classic that feeds a lot - warning - it doesn’t reheat that well, so try to eat it in one day or one sitting. Here’s how it goes:

Serves 4

Pasta Recipe

8 Slices of Bacon, coursely chopped

1 package of frozen chopped broccoli - or fresh, or any other veggie that suits you, maybe zucchini?

4 egg yolks - you can save the egg whites for an omlette!

1/2 cup of heavy cream

Couple handfuls of Parm

Fresh Thyme - I didn’t have any, so I just used my dried stuff.

Fresh ground pepper, salt

1. Bring a salted pot of water to a boil (or put it on the stove and just wait, ours takes forever). In a small bowl combine egg yolks, cream, and one handful of Parm. Don’t mix too much, just enough to combine everything. Set mixture aside.

2. In the largest fry pan you have - 14 inches is great - heat over medium heat and add a couple turns of olive oil. Add chopped bacon and fry until crispy and brown. Defrost broccoli, and add to the bacon and oil. Let is soak up the bacon oil and fry just a little bit. Season generously with pepper - you want it to have a bit of a kick. Add thyme to taste - about 1/2 to 1 teaspoon.

3. Cook pasta and reserve about 1/2 cup of the cooking water. Drain the pasta and transfer to the fry pan. NOW, TURN THE HEAT OFF. Add about half of your cooking water and the egg and cream mixture. You can even let the pan cool for a few minutes, you just want to make sure you don’t scramble your eggs - they will cook through, but you want them silky not scrambled. Mix everything together and add more water so the sauce is silky and loose. Add the other handful of Parm and serve immediately with fresh ground pepper. You probably won’t need more salt because of the bacon, Parm, and salted pasta water. Bon Appétit!

Grocery Totals:

Eggs, Semolina Flour, Thyme, Salt, Pepper, Oil, Parm - Already had, some carried over from last week.

Frozen Chopped Broccoli - $.99

Heavy Cream - $2.29 (used only 1/2 cup)

Bacon - $4.99 (used half of package)

I want to start posting about cheap restaurants and eats we find around NYC, and where ever we happen to travel. I’ll admit Johnathan and I are not great about eating out cheap - we don’t do it often so when we do, we tend to spend a little bit more. Inevitably we can’t spend $100 on dinner every time we eat out, so I wanted to start passing on what we find. My friend Jess B introduced me to this Korea Town place the other night. Korea Town is about a block long, 32nd St between 5 & 6th Ave. It’s like walking into any ethnic anywhere - lined with restaurants, all serving pretty much the same thing, so how do you know what’s good? A recommendation. Jess took me to Pho Cha at 15 W 32nd. It’s on the second floor, which makes it even better and doesn’t attract the tourists from the LaQuinta Inn a couple doors down. Jess had a large steaming bowl of ramen, and I had the same but with Udon. So good, so filling, so cheap - $5-$7!! We each had a $5 OB Korean beer (which tastes exactly like Corona - probably the same stuff). It’s a great experience, and there’s a variety on the menu - barbeque, mussels (I’d be careful there, but they were on a lot of tables), and sizzling plates of meat and veggies. But if you need a cheap Manhattan meal with a unique ethnic experience - here’s your spot!

This week’s food budget for us is smaller than usual - a good challenge I think. I also wanted to detox before the Thanksgiving hoopla. This week’s menu is going to be super simple, vegetarian (well, maybe there might be some bacon or pancetta) and I”m making as cheap as possible - while still being healthy (trust me, I know Ramen is cheap). I’ll make my own pasta - I have lots semolina flour around, do some hearty salads, maybe even make a pie crust for a quiche. So rather than selecting recipes before I venture out to the shops, I’ll spend as little as possible and make it up this week. When life gives you less money, make better food.

What food festival would you love to attend?

Sign me up for the Food&Wine Classic in Aspen! The next Top Chef will be there!

Ok - I haven’t been keeping up with the apples. I still have A LOT of local apples in my fridge. It seems each recipe only calls for one or two and I need to make a dent. I didn’t make the apple crepes - after the apple excitement wore off, I realized it was just too sweet for dinner that day, and we ordered Thai - which wasn’t good anyway. So yesterday I made the sausages with apples and onions. If you like sauerkraut, you’ll like this. I hate sauerkraut and wasn’t a big fan of this recipe. Johnathan however ate his half, plus 3/4 of mine. This is easy, and another one pan dish that is perfect for a rainy miserable day. Today, I’m supposed to make cider-braised pheasant, although I’m using cornish hens. It’s a long recipe and needs to be started the night before. We have leftovers for lunch, and are going to Korea town with some friends for dinner tonight, therefore hens are getting pushed to tomorrow, possibly Sunday. Stay tuned.

This recipe has a lot of steps - but don’t be intimidated. You only use a couple pans, it’s just a lot of switching ingredients around. There’s lot of good stuff in this - apples, potatoes, peas, and parsnips. There’s not even cheese in this! Just a little cream and butter for the potatoes and sauce. The apple cider with the savory broth is great, as well as using the brandy - which I used apple brandy which made it slightly spicy like a pie spice, but really good. We only used 6 boneless skinless thighs, and have tons of leftovers. This is a great way to eat lots of veggies and feel very cozy at the same time. Bon Appétit!

As you can see, I don’t have a pic of the amazing pork roast I made for our friends last night. The recipe calls for tenderloin, but the butcher suggested using a center cut pork roast since it was for six people. He butterflyed it which made it easy to stuff. I did end up tying it with kitchen twine to keep it all together. Along with the roast I made garlic red bliss mashed potatoes. Pork and potatoes are perfect together. We also had a couple pieces of the pork left for a great cold pork sandwich for lunch today.

I needed that pork sandwich after meeting JAMIE OLIVER! He was signing his new book, Jamie at Home, at a Border’s in Manhattan. Myself and couple of my fellow friends stood in line and were so excited to meet him in person. He’s really down to Earth, friendly, exactly how he appears on television. It was such a treat - I can’t wait to cook from his new book. Jamie - when are you opening a place stateside?

Today was a turning point for me - I got the right cut of meat and advice from a great butcher at the Union Square Whole Foods!  I went in for a pork tenderloin, and after asking me what I wanted to do with it (stuff it with apples!) he recommended a center cut pork roast better for serving 6 people. AND, before I could ask, he offered to butterfly it so I can stuff away! AND it was half the price of the tenderloins! I was blown away. Something simple like that makes my grocery shopping such a joy. A little knowledge and customer service does go a long way. I lost my Trader Joe’s receipt, so I’ll just give a gist and what my bank account said I withdrew. The farmer’s markets are great right now - lots of apples, squashes, and a lot less sweating carrying your booty home. Here are the totals for this week:

Trader Joe’s (cheeses, frozen peas, raisins, apple cider, tarragon) = $21.73

Union Square Greenmarket

Potatoes (Yukon and Red Bliss), Parsnips, Carrots - $6.75

Granny Smith Apples - $2.50

Bell Peppers - $5.00

Rosemary, Thyme - $3.00

* 2 Cornish Game Hens bought on sale - $8.50

Grand Total - $84.86/2ppl/10 meals = $4.24/person/meal

I bought two 5lb bags of apples last week, ambitious to make apple sauce. I didn’t get around to it, but I thought about how great apples are as a savory element to dinners. I don’t fancy myself a baker, so this week I’m making apple recipes without extra sugar. Apples pair really well with meats like pork and sausage and I think have a great fall flavor when they’re actually in season. Here’s what I”m thinking for this week:

Monday - Pork Loin stuffed with Apples and Red Bliss Mashed Potatoes - we’re having some dinner guests, I think this well be most impressive.

Tuesday - Chicken Normande with Mashed Apples and Potatoes

Wednesday - Apple Crepes with Calavados Butter Sauce - this has some apple brandy in it - I can’t wait to try this.

Thursday - Pan-grilled Sausages with Apples and Onions (two things apples love)

Friday - Cider-brined Cornish Hens with Pearl Onions and Apples - I picked up a couple hens on sale and froze them, they’ll be perfect - a Thanksgiving trial run!