Posts Tagged ‘Don’

cranberry & walnut stuffed pork loin $7.56 recipe / $0.95 serving

March 5th, 2010 The FLHC

Stuffing meat is fantastic. Not only does it add extra flavor and texture but it takes advantage of Budget Byting Principle #2: use ingredients wisely. That means taking an expensive ingredient (the pork) and combining it with a less expensive ingredient (the stuffing) to bring the cost per serving down.

The second trick that I used to make this recipe so cost efficient was the fact that I snatched up this huge 27 oz. pork loin when it was on sale ($4 off!!) and stored it in my freezer ’till I was ready to use it. Normally, $8.99 for a pork loin is just too expensive for my taste but slash it by almost half and I’m game!

Lastly, even though dried cranberries and walnuts are by themselves expensive ingredients, if you use them sparingly to just add a little bit of “oomph” to the stuffing, they won’t do too much damage to your bottom line.

Cranberry & Walnut Stuffed Pork Loin

Total Recipe cost: $7.50

Servings Per Recipe: 8

Cost per serving: $0.95

Prep time: 15 min. Cook time: 1 hr. Total: 1 hr. 15 min.

INGREDIENTS COST
27 oz. (1.7 lb.) pork loin $4.99 (SALE)
1 box stuffing mix $1.32
2 Tbsp butter $0.05
1/2 cup dried cranberries $0.67
1/4 cup chopped walnuts $0.32
2 Tbsp olive oil $0.21
TOTAL   $7.56



STEP 1: Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In a medium pot, cook the stuffing according to the directions on the box (usually bring water to a boil with butter, add stuffing mix, remove from heat and let sit with a lid on for 10 minutes). My box suggested using 4 Tbsp of butter but I felt that was excessive so I used 2 Tbsp instead.

STEP 2: Meanwhile, “butterfly” the pork loin in preparation for stuffing and rolling. Butterflying means cutting it so that it lays out flat in a rectangle instead of being in it’s usual cylindrical shape. Instead of taking step by step photos of this process (because I’m still honing my butterflying skills) here is a website with excellent photos and instructions.

STEP 3: Mix the dried cranberries and chopped walnuts into the cooked stuffing and spread the mixture all over the butterflied pork loin.

STEP 4: Starting at one of the long sides, roll the pork loin and it’s contents all the way up. Secure the opening either with a long skewer (thread it along the edge like a needle), multiple tooth picks or tie it up using kitchen string.

STEP 5: Heat a skillet with 2 Tbsp of olive oil on medium/high heat. When the oil is very hot, sear the pork loin on all sides until it is brown and crispy. Transfer the seared pork loin to the oven (on a baking sheet) and finish baking until the internal temperature reaches 160 degrees (about 45 min).

STEP 6: When the stuffed loin is finished baking, let it rest 15 minutes before slicing to allow the juices to redistribute into the meat. Slice the roll into 1 inch thick servings and enjoy!

Step By Step Photos

stuffing w cranberries and walnuts
Cook the stuffing according to the directions on the box then mix in the dried cranberries and chopped walnuts.

butterflied pork loin
Butterfly your pork loin so that it lays out flat and is about 1 inch thick. Don’t worry if it is not perfect, mine definitely wasn’t!!

add stuffing
Spread the stuffing mixture out evenly over the pork loin.

stuffed and rolled pork loin
Roll that bad boy on up! If any stuffing tries to escape, just push it back in.

secured pork loin
Secure the opening on the roll with a long skewer, tooth picks or some kitchen twine.

sear pork loin
Sear all sides of the pork in a hot skillet until it is brown and crispy on the outside.

bake pork loin
Bake the stuffed pork loin at 350F degrees until it reaches an internal temp of 160F… approximately 45 minutes (shorter for smaller pork loins).

sliced stuffed pork loin
Let the pork loin rest for 15 minutes then slice into 1 inch thick portions. PRETTY!

NOTE: Everything is always prettier and more appetizing when placed on nice plate and sprinkled with some fresh chopped parsley. Soooo, if you weren’t able to perfectly butterfly the pork loin then it pulled apart, shrank and tore open when it baked (like mine did), just gussy it up and no one will notice. Plus, it will still taste fantastic so everyone will be impressed!



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How to Reclaim Your Attention

March 5th, 2010 The FLHC
Post written by Leo Babauta. Follow me on Twitter.

Awhile back I (a bit ironically perhaps) tweeted this message:

Consider what you give your attention to each day. It’s a precious resource, & determines the shape of your life.

This seemed to strike a chord with many people, who I think are feeling overwhelmed these days. Our attention is being pulled in too many directions, leaving us feeling overloaded, distracted, chaotic, spread thinly, without focus.

There are a million blogs, people, services, media, competing for our attention. Our attention is limited, and valuable, making it one of the most precious resources we have.

The world wants that attention. Only you can decide where it goes.

And it does determine the shape of your life: what you pay attention to becomes your reality. If you watch and read the news all the time, you will become obsessed with the latest crises. If you watch and read about celebrities, your life will revolve around them. If you socialize on social networks all day long, this will become your world.

If instead, you choose to give your attention to work you’re passionate about, that you feel is important, that will change your life and the world in some small way … this will become your life.

If you choose to give your attention to your friends, family and other loved ones — really give your attention to them instead of only half-heartedly while also checking text messages and emails and other updates — your life will be rich in many ways.

And so I urge you to reclaim your attention.

Here’s how:

1. Limit your friends. Not real-life friends, but social network and blogging and forum friends. Not that these can’t be good relationships, but having too many makes them meaningless. And each friend will take up a little bit of your attention — when you read their updates, click on their links, reply to their messages, look at their photos, and so on. The more you have, the more attention they’ll require. Limit them to just the essential.
2. Limit your feeds. Blog subscriptions, newsletters, other updates and news subscriptions and so on. Limit them to a handful of essentials, and let the rest go. The more you have, the more attention they require.
3. Limit your communication time. Going into your email inbox? Just give yourself 10 minutes to read, reply, delete, and get out. Going to do Twitter? Give yourself 5 minutes. Seriously, set up a timer. Don’t let these things take up all your attention.
4. Give up on news. It’s a never-ending cycle. And if you’ve paid attention to the news as long as I have (I’m a former journalist), you know it’s all the same, year after year. Unless your job depends on it, the news is usually a waste of your attention. Let go of the need to stay updated. Even if your job does depend on it, keep it limited.
5. Be brief. Write brief emails, tweets, updates, blog posts. With some exceptions, of course. But make brief your de facto. Read more.
6. Give your attention to the important. This is the crucial part: choose what you give your attention to, and do this choosing carefully. What is important to you? Writing? Photography? Design? Coding? Creating a new business that helps others? Your kids? Figure this out, and give this the majority of your attention.
7. Become conscious of your distractions. Once you’ve decided to focus your attention on the important, become more aware of distractions as they come up. Make note of them, and as you get the urge to be distracted, learn to pause, breathe, and return to the important.
8. Surround yourself with the positive. If you want your life to be positive, let the positive have your attention. This applies to blogs, people, projects, and more.

For more, read my new book, focus: a simplicity manifesto in the age of distraction.

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If you liked this guide, please bookmark it on Delicious or share on Twitter. Thanks, my friends.



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Yoga – Weight Loss Made Easy With Yoga Stretches

March 2nd, 2010 The FLHC

By Julia Denham

Are you tired of weight loss programs which just don’t work? It’s time for a change: try something different. Yoga can help you to lose weight because it helps you to change your lifestyle. Forget about dieting, just do some simple yoga stretches every day.

1. Find a Beginner’s Yoga Class

You don’t have to be an expert yogi to lose weight with yoga. You can be a complete beginner. What matters is that yoga will change you, and the weight will vanish over time. It’s not a process you can force, you simply allow it to happen.

Start the process by finding a beginners yoga class in your area, and make a commitment to go to class at least once a week.

2. Spend Ten Minutes Morning and Evening on Your Favorite Poses

In yoga there around 10 primary poses with endless variations. Pick your favorite two poses, and do them morning and evening. This should take you around 10 minutes.

For example, let’s say you picked downward dog and the cobra as the poses you’ll practice outside class this week. Start your 10 minute session in mountain pose, paying particular attention to your alignment, and relaxing as you stand in the pose. Then do cobra pose. Perform the pose four times. Completely relax between each pose.

Complete your session by performing downward dog pose, increasing the length of time you spend in the pose gradually, until you’re spending around 90 seconds in the pose.

3. Allow Yourself to Lose Weight: Forget Dieting

You gained weight gradually. You didn’t have to think about gaining weight, it just happened, because of the habits you created. Changing habits is very difficult, especially if you try to impose change from the outside. Yoga helps you to change from the inside.

Within a few days of starting your yoga exercises, you’ll find that you no longer crave fast food. However, buying fast food is a habit. You may still find yourself buying fast food even though your craving for it is gone. Don’t try to force yourself to stop. One day you would just drive right past your favorite fast food eatery. You won’t have to think about it.

Is it really that simple? Can you really lose weight with just a few yoga stretches each day? Yes, you can. The key is to enjoy your yoga, and to forget about dieting. Weight loss will happen, and more quickly than you can imagine.

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The Little Guide to Inspiration

March 1st, 2010 The FLHC

“You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.” - Jack London

Post written by Leo Babauta. Follow me on Twitter.

We all have days when we’re just not very inspired, when we need passion and creativity breathed into us.

I know I do.

For anyone who needs a little shove, whose creativity has dried up, who needs to be moved … I humbly offer this simple guide.

While I never claim to have all the answers, nor that my way is the only way, I share here some things I’ve learned about inspiration, some tricks I’ve learned that work for me.

I’m often in need of inspiration, but in all cases I’ve found it. And it’s a wonderful thing.

What Is Inspiration?

Many people think of it as an elusive quality that can’t be forced, and yet it can be found if you look for it.

Others think it’s a way to find ideas, but it’s more than ideas … it’s being moved to put those ideas into action.

Inspiration is finding something else that is divinely inspired (people, nature, amazing ideas), having that inspiration breathed into you (“breath” is the root of “inspiration”), and then taking action on it. Creating, doing, inspiring others.

How to Find Inspiration

Inspiration is just about everywhere you can look, if you’re looking for it. That’s the key: to keep your eyes open. Too often we miss beautiful sources of inspiration, because we’re too busy thinking about other things.

Be observant. See everything around you as a possible source of inspiration.

Some possible sources of inspiration:

  • blogs
  • books
  • magazines
  • films
  • people around you
  • nature
  • children
  • art
  • music
  • history
  • exercise
  • religion
  • great projects
  • dreams
  • social media
  • photographs
  • forums
  • google
  • success stories
  • life, everywhere

Just keep your eyes open, at all times, staying present whenever possible, and allow yourself to breathe in that inspiration.

How to Stay Inspired

Inspiration isn’t just a one-time thing. You’ll need it on a regular basis.

When you practice the above method — keeping your eyes open, staying present, and breathing in inspiration — you get better at it. It becomes a skill you can use at any time, and you’ll use it often.

Some tips for keeping the inspiration coming:

  • Work with inspired people – one of the best ways to stay inspired is to work with creative, energetic, positive people.
  • Read daily – varied things, from blogs to magazines to books of all kinds.
  • Get outside – nature is one of the biggest inspirations, and you’ll miss it if you’re inside all day.
  • Talk with new people – they’ll always expose you to new and interesting things, if you’re open to it.
  • Break out of your routine – see things from a different perspective. Take a new route home. Go to a new restaurant. Visit someplace new in your area.
  • Find time for silence – it’s more inspiring than you might think. Unfortunately, not enough of us do it.
  • Exercise – or at least get moving. It helps the blood to circulate, and gets ideas moving around. My most inspired thoughts come during runs.

Now Take Action

Don’t just feel inspired. Take this inspiration and use it, be moved, and do something. Channel that inspiration into creating something amazing.

Put that something out into the world, and in turn, you will inspire others.

Having trouble taking action? Read The Little Rules of Action.

“For my part I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream.” ~Vincent van Gogh

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If you liked this guide, please bookmark it on Delicious or share on Twitter. Thanks, my friends.

—
Read more about simple effectiveness in my book, The Power of Less.



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Is “Generally Safe” Good Enough?

February 23rd, 2010 The FLHC

Although I’m not typically a football fan, each year, I suffer through the Superbowl.  Why do I put myself through such misery, you ask?

The commercials.

Besides during the Superbowl, I never watch commercials.  I hate commercials.  I purposely channel-surf so that I don’t have to watch commercials.

The only time I make an exception is for the Superbowl, because the commercials are usually entertaining and funny.  Betty White getting tackled?

Oh yeah, that’s funny.

5,763 Doritos commercials?

Not so much.

This year, I’m outraged by the commercials.  Maybe because I’m in some sort of heightened state of awareness, or maybe because they’re marketing especially hard this year, but the JUNK FOOD commercials were off the chart.  It seems like every other commercial was for some type of JUNK FOOD or drink.

It went a little bit like this:

Doritos

Snickers

Bud Light

Doritos

Some type of car

Budweiser

Doritos

Coca-Cola

Sketchers Shape-Ups

Doritos

I’m not sure if it is always this way and I just never noticed, but are you freaking KIDDING ME?  Did you see the Doritos commercial where the little boy smacked his Mom’s date in the face?

Don’t touch my mama, and don’t touch my Doritos!

I can only imagine how many impressionable little kids are now going to walk around thinking that just like their Mom, they need to protect their Doritos; by all necessary measures.

Why is this crap not regulated!?

Why doesn’t our government follow the example of European governments, and begin to be concerned with the foods that are being marketed to our children?  Screen shot 2010-02-07 at 7.22.07 PMFirst of all, this is as large as Frito-Lay allows you to view the ingredients of Nacho Cheese Doritos on their website.  Is it an accident that you nearly need a microscope to read the “label”?

I can’t pronounce many of the ingredients without great effort, although I know that this one is bad news from a healthy-living standpoint:

  • Monosodium Glutamate (a.k.a. MSG, “hydrolyzed vegetable protein,” Accent, natural meat tenderizer, and Aginomoto)–: This chemical is added to many fast- and commercial foods due to its’ addictive effect on our bodies.  According to TruthInLabeling.org, the FDA refuses to label MSG as the neurotoxic, endocrine disrupting, processed free glutamic acid that it is.  Although Glutamate is produced naturally by our bodies, MSG in its’ commercial form is a chemically grown substance, and is used to enhance flavors and make us unable to “eat just one”.   Ingredients are listed in order of highest proportion.  The fact that this ingredient is 8th in the list means that there is just slightly more wheat flour than MSG in Doritos.  Scary.

Besides MSG, Doritos contain corn syrup solids, artificial flavors, and maltodextrine.

Maltodextrine, although ruled “safe” by the FDA, is an artificial flavor agent (often used as an artificial sweetener).  In researching Maltodextrine, I came across Maltrin, which is one of the manufacturers of Maltodextrine, as well as several other UFO’s (Unidentified Foodlike Object’s).

Seriously.

Open up that website in a new window and read along with me.

Go ahead, I’ll wait…

The part that specifically worried me was this statement:

…are defined by the FDA as products having a DE less than 20.  They are generally recognized as safe (GRAS) food ingredients.

Maltrin, I’m not mad at you.  It’s not your fault.  You’re just another swarthy board of corporate people trying to make a living by killing Americans.  You don’t know any better…everyone is doing it.

But the FDA.  They know the effects of all of these chemically-created and modified foods, but they don’t do anything to remove them from our food system.

The FDA actually has a term called “generally recognized as safe”??!!  WHERE do we live?!  And WHAT is “generally safe”?

Why is “generally safe” good enough?


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4 Simple Principles of Getting to Completion

February 21st, 2010 The FLHC

“If your mind isn’t clouded by unnecessary things, then this is the best season of your life.” ~Wu-Men

Post written by Leo Babauta. Follow me on Twitter.

When I hear about a great idea that a friend has, I get excited. I can’t wait to see that idea become reality.

Then I ask about the idea a few months later, and it often is not one bit closer to completion.

Ideas stop short of becoming reality, and projects seem to drag on endlessly, because of one thing: complexity.

A software programmer can allow the development of a new app he’s building to drag on and on for years (I know of cases where this happened), only to find Google release something that makes his app obsolete. The problem: the program grew and grew in complexity and features, but never shipped.

A web developer can work on a rad new website with killer features, but after months of work the website never launches. Problem: too complex, and too much of a perfectionist.

A writer can work on a novel, working in characters and plotlines, and then work on revision after revision, only to abandon it. The complexity of a book can become overwhelming.

If your project has been dragging on, or you’re having problems completing, try simplifying, and stop trying for perfection.

I’ve launched a number of projects over the last few years, and learned a thing or two about making ideas take life, and getting to done.

Here are some of those key principles:

1. Keep the scope as simple as possible. You don’t need to do everything with this project. In fact, if you can just do one thing, that’s perfect. As small a thing as possible. Don’t redesign an entire city — just work on one building. If the project starts to get complex or seem overwhelming, narrow the scope. Do less. It’ll help you get things done.

2. Practice ‘Good Enough’. Perfectionism is the enemy of completion. Nitpick and worry about getting it “just right”, and you’ll never get it done. Done is better than right. So if you start to nitpick and worry about perfect, say “screw it” and then just try for “good enough”. You can always make it better in the next version.

3. Kill extra features. Similar to simplifying the scope, you’ll want to try to make your creation do as little as possible. Want it to talk and walk and cook breakfast? Just try for talking. Want your website to publish great content and have social networking and podcasts and news and a newsletter and a membership area? Just shoot for great content. Whenever you find yourself adding new features, see if they can’t be killed.

4. Make it public, quick. Your goal should be to get your project in some working form out to your customers/readers/public as soon as possible. In as few steps, as quickly, as easily, as simply as possible. Remember: don’t worry about perfect, and don’t let this first public release be wide in scope or full of features. Release it with as few features as possible. Releasing it publicly will 1) get you to done faster and 2) put some pressure on you to make it better, quickly.
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Do Sunless Tanners Damage Skin?

February 20th, 2010 The FLHC

Post image for Do Sunless Tanners Damage Skin?

Sonia says…Lately I’ve been using Clarins Liquid Bronze Self Tanning, and I like how it looks, but I was wondering, this sounds just too good to be true, don’t these self tanners damage the skin in the long term?

The Right Brain replies:
Don’t worry, Sonia. Self tanners use an ingredient called Dihydroxyacetone (or DHA) that creates a brownish color when it reacts with the upper layers of skin. The upper layers of skin are dead anyway and DHA doesn’t penetrate into the deeper layers so there’s really no danger. If you want more info, read our previous post on how sunless tanning works.

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Beauty Science Reporting Gone Bad: Warrior Blondes

February 17th, 2010 The FLHC

Post image for Beauty Science Reporting Gone Bad: Warrior Blondes

I got a lot of crap last week for my post on “Why Guys May Like You Better If You Don’t Wear Perfume.” As one of our readers pointed out, it was supposed to be tongue in cheek but apparently I failed miserably. But even my lousy science writing wasn’t nearly as bad this beauty science story linking hair color and aggression.

Bad ass blondes?

According to the Times Online, a study at the University of California showed that women with lighter hair color are more aggressive and “warlike.” Shocking, eh? But before all the blondes in the audience start sending in hate mail, let me tell you the rest of the story.

Thank god for science bloggers like Ryan Sager at True Slant who do their homework. Ryan questioned the results in the Times article so he sent an email to the author asking for clarification. It turns out the author DID NOT publish the study in question. The author told Ryan, and I quote, “I’m afraid you, and thousands of others for that matter, have been badly misinformed. I have never done any research that shows blondes are more aggressive, entitled, angry or ‘warlike’ than brunette or redheads.” In fact, when the author did break his data down by hair color in actually showed the opposite effect! Apparently the Times Online were sloppy fact checkers, to say the least.

So, there are two things you should take away from today’s post: blondes are not more aggressive then brunettes and red heads and you should always be skeptical when you read science reports in the press.  Even when they come from the Beauty Brains!

Thanks to the Skeptics Guide to the Universe podcast for introducing us to this story.

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Email Sanity: How to Clear Your Inbox When You’re Drowning

February 17th, 2010 The FLHC
Post written by Leo Babauta. Follow me on Twitter.

The beauty of an empty inbox is a thing to behold. It is calming, peaceful and wonderful.

An inbox that is overflowing with actions, urgent calls for responses, stuff to read … it’s chaos, it’s stressful, it’s overwhelming.

A friend recently posted:

“Help! I’m drowning in email!”

Let’s look at how to get your head above water first, and then how to get safely to dry land.

Head Above Water
You need to give yourself some breathing room. A flooded inbox is overwhelming, and you don’t know where to start. So here’s where we’re going to start:

1. Create an “actions” folder or label in your email. This is where you’re going to store any emails that you need to take action on (other than just replying or filing or whatever).
2. Pick the most important. Go through your inbox and check off 10-15 that are the most urgent action emails, and file them in this new folder. If you don’t get to the sections below right away, you can at least work from this folder for now.
3. Temporarily archive. Now create a “temp” folder. File everything that’s still in your inbox into this temp folder. Everything. You’re going to get these out of the way and not worry about them at the moment. We’ll get to these, but it gives you a little breathing room.
4. Set a new policy. Every new email that comes in will follow the rules in the next section. No more allowing your inbox to pile up.


New Emails
So what to do with new emails that come in? Set some rules, and commit right this minute to ruthlessly sticking to them:

1. Process from the top down. When you open up your email, process the inbox completely. Start with the top email in your inbox, and open it. Take one of the following actions, in this preferred order: (1) delete (use this liberally), (2) archive (in case you want to look it up later), (3) quick reply (four sentences or less) and then archive, (4) put on your to-do list for action (if you don’t have a list, start one now) and then file in your “action” folder. This last item includes long replies (which should be as rare as possible). If you take one of these four actions, you should dispose of every email.
2. Go to the next email and take quick action, and so forth. Don’t spend longer than 20 seconds on any one email, and even then you should only do that if you’re doing a quick reply or adding the item to your to-do list. If you process this quickly, you’ll be done with your inbox in minutes.
3. Only when you’ve processed should you start worrying about the to-do items. You can choose to do those now, or later. Don’t start doing the to-do items when you’re processing.
4. Newsletters, etc. You’re never going to read all those newsletters, notices from services, catalogs from companies, and so on that regularly get delivered from your inbox. So go into your “temp” folder and delete all of them right now. All of them. And whenever new ones come in — emails that are not from real people directed just for you — you’re going to go to the bottom of the email and click on the “unsubscribe” link. Every single one of them should have an “unsubscribe” link — if not, mark as spam. It only takes 10 seconds to click on the unsubscribe link and then go to the new page and hit the unsubscribe button. And if you do this for every single one, you’ll soon get a lot less email.

Follow these four rules and you’ll never have a full inbox again.

Stop the Flood
OK, things should feel a bit more manageable now. Now we want to set some long-term policies so that you get fewer emails from now on.

Here’s what to do:

1. Unsubscribe from everything. This was talked about in the section above, but just in case you missed that, go back and read the newsletters item. You don’t need newsletters flooding your inbox.
2. Stop sending so many emails. The more emails you send, the more you’ll get. Use email as little as you possibly can. Call people if you can, or walk over and talk to them. If those aren’t possible, see if you can figure it out for yourself. If you send an email that doesn’t require a response, say so.
3. Send shorter emails. They’re more likely to get read and acted on, and it’ll take less of your time to write them. Try sticking to 4 sentences or fewer.
4. Check email less often. Set times each day, and only check email on those times. When you do, process your inbox to empty using the rules above.
5. Filter out notifications. If there are notifications you do want to see, create a folder or label for them, and create a filter (Gmail is great for this) so that the notifications go straight to that label/folder and skip the inbox.
6. Set policies. Put up policies on your website or send the policies out to the people you work with. These policies should be aimed at reducing the number of requests you get. For example, if requests are coming to you that should be going somewhere else, put that in your policies. If people should deal with things through a different channel than email, say it in the policies. Try to figure out your most common types of emails, and find solutions so you don’t have to respond to all of them.
7. Post FAQs. Similarly, if you get a bunch of questions regularly, post the answers publicly so that you don’t have to repeatedly answer them by email. It’ll save you a lot of time.

Processing the Old Emails
You’re going to want to return to your “temp” folder, when you have the time, and start processing it. Some steps:

1. Process it in chunks if there are too many to do now. Just do it for 5 minutes and then come back later.
2. When you process, follow the rules for processing your inbox above (under the “New Emails” section). Start at the top, take quick action on each email, moving it out of the temp folder as fast as you can.
3. Feel free to mass delete emails. If you know you’ll never reply or act on emails, just check a bunch of them off and delete or archive. You can get big chunks done at once this way. Give yourself the freedom to let these go — and just worry about what you need to do from this point on.
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roasted poblano and sweet potato salad $5.96 recipe / $0.76 serving

January 11th, 2010 Beth M.

This recipe was inspired by a dish that I saw at Whole Foods Market. I don’t have their recipe so I made this up based on what I thought theirs was. It turned out pretty tasty and it’s super healthy which (in my opinion) is win-win! Also, this was my first time cooking with poblanos and I have decided that they are my new favorite ingredient. Their flavor is incredible and my house smelled AMAZING while they were roasting. I’m going to have to try a stuffed poblano recipe soon!

Roasted Poblano and Sweet Potato Salad

Total Recipe cost: $5.96
Servings Per Recipe: 8
Cost per serving: $0.76
Prep time: 15 min. Cook time: 45 min. Total: 1 hr.

INGREDIENTS COST
2 large (about 2.5 lbs.) sweet potatoes $2.43
2 large poblano peppers $0.98
one 14 oz. can black beans $0.0.78
1 cup frozen corn kernels $0.32
1/4, diced red onion (optional) $0.12
1 medium lime $0.20
3 Tbsp olive oil $0.32
1 bunch cilantro $0.66
2 tsp ground cumin $0.10
1/2 tsp salt $0.05
TOTAL   $5.96

STEP 1: Preheat your oven to 400 degrees on the broiler setting. Line a baking sheet with foil and spray your poblanos with non-stick spray. Place the baking sheet with the peppers about 4 inches below the broiler coils(this is the second rack level on my oven). Roast the peppers under the broiler for 15 minutes on one side, flip them over then broil for another 5 minutes on the other side. You want the skin on the peppers to be all blistered and blackened. This will give them a nice smokey flavor. Don’t worry, you will be peeling away the charred skin.

STEP 2: While the peppers are roasting, peel the sweet potatoes and cut them into even chunks about one inch square. Place the chunks in a bowl and toss them together with 3 Tbsp of olive oil, 2 tsp of cumin, 1/2 tsp of salt and about half a bunch of chopped cilantro leaves. Mix it all up until the sweet potato chunks are well coated. The peppers should be done roasting at this point.

STEP 3: When the peppers come out of the oven, put them into a resealable freezer bag and let them cool. The peppers will steam themselves in the bag as they cool allowing you to easily peel away the skin.

STEP 4: Turn the oven from broil to bake (still on 400 degrees), pour out the bowl of sweet potato chunks onto the baking sheet that was used for the peppers, and roast the sweet potatoes for 30 minutes. Stir the chunks half way through.

STEP 5: Drain and rinse the can of black beans. Thaw one cup of frozen corn kernels. Finely chop 1/4 of a red onion (if desired). Put the beans, corn and onion together in a bowl. When the poblanos have cooled, peel off their skin, open them up to remove the seeds, seed pod and stem then cut the flesh into chunks. Put the chopped poblanos in the bowl with the other vegetables.

STEP 6: When the sweet potatoes are done, let them cool for about 10 minutes. In the mean time, chop the other half of the cilantro, and juice the lime. Mix the sweet potatoes, cilantro and lime together with the rest of the ingredients and serve. This dish can be eaten warm or cold!

Step By Step Photos

fresh poblanos
Coat the poblanos in oil to prepare them for roasting.

roasted poblanos
They will be charred and blistered when done (even more charred than this is okay).

peeled poblanos
After steaming in a ziplock bag, peel away the skin. Remove the seeds and dice the flesh.

prepped sweet potatoes
Peel and dice the sweet potatoes. Toss them in a bowl with olive oil, cumin, salt and cilantro. Bake at 400 for 30 minutes.

roasted sweet potatoes
Combine the roasted sweet potatoes with the poblanos, beans, corn, red onion, lime juice and fresh cilantro.

Roasted Poblano and Sweet Potato Salad

NOTE: It’s kind of funny that the sweet potatoes are the most expensive ingredient in this dish. I usually visit the produce market but this week it was so bitterly cold, I was coerced into buying my produce at the grocery store (the produce market is open-air). I’m sure that if I had bought the ingredients at the produce market, I could have made this dish for far less.

While making the salad, it looks like it is going to be a very small amount. To my surprise, it actually made quite a bit. Since I cook for only myself, I will definitely be halving the recipe next time. This recipe can easily be halved, doubled or made into whatever quantity you need!

To our health!

Beth at Budget Bytes

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