Cookie me kindly

A cookie is like an omelet, but I would say for some it would be a little easier to make because there is no need to flip a cookie. Think about it for a moment an omelet has a basic ingredient an egg, but then you can put just about anything you can think about in it. Now you may say well what if it doesn't taste good, but that's totally up to you. If you don't like tomatoes then don't think you're going to like it in an omelet.

Ok so the cookie has a basic ingredient, which is sugar. You may say well I thought cookies have flour, but I've had a very delicious cookie that was flourless. You may say cookies need butter or shortening, but that's not true either. There are some cookies that use oil or peanut butter. Then many of us make the traditional oatmeal and raisin cookie or the infamous chocolate chip cookies, but there are endless possibilities when it comes to the cookie. Be creative!

Just the other day my mother wanted some cookies. I am always baking something and now I believe she expects homemade dessert every day. Her favorite is my oatmeal and raisin cookies. I didn't have any oatmeal and I wasn't about to make just a raisin cookie. So what am I to do? I stood in the kitchen thinking about what I had in the pantry and what I liked. I took out pineapple juice, raisins and coconut flakes. I said to myself, coconut and pineapple works well together in a pina colada so why not in a cookie. I mixed the batter, added in the coconut and then I said why not some raisins for my mom and some white chocolate chips for myself. I liked it so much I decided to call it "Juicy Fruit". Why not? It has three different fruits in it.

Now what creative cookie can you come up with? Cookie me kindly!

Oatmeal and Raisin Cookies

2 1/4 cup        Flour
1 tsp               Baking Powder
1 tsp               Baking Soda
2 cups            Rolled Oats
1 cup             Coconut Flakes
1 cup             Raisins

1 cup             Butter

1 cup             Brown Sugar

1/2 cup          White Sugar

2                    Eggs

2 tsp              Vanilla

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. 

In mixing bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, rolled oats and coconut flakes. Set aside.

In another mixing bowl cream butter and sugars together with mixer on medium speed for two minutes. Mix in eggs one at a time and then mix in vanilla. Mix dry ingredients with wet ingredients until cookie dough is fully combined. Mix in raisins. 

With 1 tsp cookie scoop, scoop cookie dough on to cookie sheet leaving about 1 1/2 inch between cookies. Bake for 13 minutes. Remove cookies from cookie sheet on to cooling rack. Allow to completely cool before serving. 

Ah! What am I going to eat today?

It is so important to plan ahead. We plan our work schedules. We plan our vacations. We plan for family activities. So why not plan our meals. If you are not familiar with doing this it may be a bit challenging at first, but in no time it will be a normal part of your routine. If you still don't get it. I'm always glad to help. It's something that I like to do.

I've already planned this week menu. I went to the grocery store with a $40 budget on Saturday and believe you me we are going to have some great meals. There are going to be three persons eating from this menu, expect on Sunday there were 5, for the week and my main ingredient is cross-utilization. You may be wondering what is "cross-utilization"? This is when you use the same ingredients in different preparations and/or on different days. In food menu planning this is important. It helps you to save money and prevents waste.

I'm preparing breakfast, lunch and dinner, which you will see in the menu below.  Yesterday we already went over Sunday's dinner. I know some people don't like eating the same thing twice in a row and you don't have to. You can always freeze or refrigerate some food and eat it a day or two later. In my family we can stand to eat the same thing up to three times in row. Sometimes I switch it up, but it all depends on the time we eat and their reaction to what I cook. Which by the way is usually great!

Remember if you plan ahead you would be able to save in so many ways. You would even be able to take lunch with you to work. You'll have quality food, you don't have to have drive anywhere for lunch and stand on a line, and you would pay a fraction of the costs.

If you have any questions on how to create your weekly menu or on recipes please add it in the comment  area and I'll get back to you.

A Wise Foodie!

Today I was talking to my sister on the telephone while was in line at Wendy's ordering lunch. I heard her say what when the cashier told her that her total was $8.18. She ordered a chicken sandwich, French fries and iced coffee. When she told me that I said "what!" I told her that I cooked Sunday dinner for five for less than that. So you may be wondering what did I cook.

I always look forward to Sunday dinner from a small child, this past Sunday was no exception. I prepared roasted chicken, pigeon peas and rice, coleslaw, mixed vegetables and pineapple lemonade. Now doesn't that sound delicious. It was not only delicious, but affordable. So how did I do it? Well let me take you through Sunday's dinner in Caribay's Kitchen. First let's start with the protein, the main item. I purchased a ten pound bag of leg quarters. There's about ten whole leg quarters in each bag. I cut them in half separating thigh from leg. So that gave me twenty portions instead of ten. Those portions are pretty big, even the leg, but for Sunday I keep the thighs and put up the other pieces. More importantly I cleaned and seasoned all of the meat before separating them into meals. Now when I go back to the freezer for the other pieces I only need to defrost and cook.

The chicken was $9.99 for 20 servings, which is $0.49 per serving and $2.49 for Sunday dinner protein for five. Next I prepared the rice. I used about 2 cups of rice and quarter can of green pigeon peas with the coconut milk already added. Five pounds of rice equals 10 cups of rice and 1 cup of raw rice yields about 4 servings of cooked rice. However, I always cook plenty of rice. So if I buy five pounds of rice for $2.50 I can prepare one serving of plain white rice for about $.06 per serving. The can of peas was $1.35 and I used a quarter cup so that costs me $0.34. When we are all done totaling the major ingredient cost, I am going to show you how to account for the minor items like seasoning and gas or electricity depending on what type of range you have.

Right now our Sunday dinner is up to $2.89 for 5 persons. Next is the coleslaw which the major ingredients are cabbage, carrots and mayonnaise. This week's cabbage market price was $0.49 per pound. I used about a quarter pound of cabbage. Remember cabbage when shredded is very light and it's just an accompaniment so you don't need to over do it. The carrots really give the slaw a vibrant color so we don't need much of that either. With about 3 tablespoons of dressing we are good to go. The cabbage ended up costing us $0.12 and the carrots were about $.50 each. You can use a half of carrot grated. Next we have the mixed vegetable that I got for $5.99 for five pounds. Vegetables are expensive so I would say I used about a pound of veggies which would have costed me $1.20 per pound.

Our meal right now is up to $4.46 for 5 persons. Wow! The beverage of the day was my homemade pineapple lemonade. I bought the 64 ounce can of pineapple juice for $.99 on special. Fresh limes were added with sugar and of course water. The sugar and limes that were used costed roughly $.81. I would say $.50 for the limes. They were in the store for 6 for a dollar and I used 3 for the gallon. I used 1 cup of sugar which sugar is about $2.50 for 4 pounds so that $.31 for the cup. Now like I said that for a gallon. I served my juice in an 8 ounce glass which is 6 oz of juice with some ice. So my gallon of juice was $1.80 and $.08 per serving. How did I get this total? There are 128 ounces in a gallon. So $1.80 divided by 128(ounces in one gallon) multiplied by 6(ounces in one of my serving) equals $.08. Great isn't it! Our beverage total for Sunday dinner is $.40.

Now let's tally up our entire meal. The roasted chicken is $2.49, pigeon peas and rice $.40, coleslaw $.37, mixed vegetables $1.20, and pineapple lemonade $.40. That gives us a grand total of $4.86. Then to account for seasoning and gas you add 3% to your grand total. If you are heavy handed you can add 5%. So let's go with the 5%. That gives us a grand total of $5.10, which is $1.02 person. Looks like you still have room for dessert. Let's go out there and become wise foodies and get the best for our buck!