Willow The Whisk

A few weeks ago, I read about a couple who decided to try to eat all their meals on $1 a day each and blog about it. I was enthralled by their blog and quickly began thinking about how much I spend on food.



I am pretty thrifty with the grocery bill and I more often eat at home than go out to dinner BUT I know that I could do better. They included a recipe for refried beans made in the crock pot. This intrigued me and I decided to give their recipe a try but with a few adjustments. This couple is vegan and I'm a carnivore. I knew the beans would need some animal fat and meat to make me happy.




Refried Beans
makes 8 servings

1 cup dry pinto beans (.54 cents)
1 cup black beans (.86 cents)
3 cloves garlic (.12 cents)
1 tsp. chili flakes (.08 cents)
salt to taste (.04 cents)
2 oz salted pork ($.49)
3 cups water (free!)
3 cups chicken broth ($1.20)

1. Rinse the pinto beans and soak them overnight. Rinse well.
2. In a crock pot, add pinto beans, 3 cups water, 3 cups chicken broth, garlic, chili, salt and salted pork.
3. Cook on high heat for approximately 8 hours.
4. When beans are very soft, pour off water as necessary to drain beans.
5. Use a potato masher to mash beans to desired consistency.

Cost:
Whole batch: $3.33
Serving: $0.42

While my recipe is a bit more costly than the original one, it is quite tasty and still really cheap!

Yesterday was the first evening I have had at home for a little while. While that may sound as though I am a total social butterfly, sadly I am not! I am madly trying to study but I find that I can't do it if I'm on my own. A group of us have formed a study group so that we can motivate each other. That was what we told each other it would do, anyway. In reality we seem to spend most of the evenings we get together at each others homes sitting around gossiping and eating rubbish food. It is actually pretty good fun, but it isn't helping us get any work done!

I decided that there really is only so studying much a girl can do before she needs a break. For me that means that I usually last 20 minutes before I get bored. I woke up yesterday morning and decided that enough was enough! I was going to take the entire day off, devil that I am.

I made pancakes for breakfast.


I then took Sam out for one of the longest walks I think he has ever been on before deciding that I had to go shopping with my friend, Amy. I'm not really a great lover of clothes shopping but I did myself proud yesterday. Two dresses, one skirt and two pairs of shoes later, I was done. I seem to get to a certain point when I have just had enough of shopping and I just want to go home; I don't know if this is just me? It was a great day though and really lovely to spend some time with Amy.

I would love to say that I had a lovely, healthy dinner, but I didn't. Amy and I ended up with pizza. I was going to make it myself but I'm not the number one pizza maker the world has ever known, so we decided to order one instead. I think making the pancakes was enough for me for one day! I am trying to make myself feel a little bit better about it by telling you that I did take Sam out for another really long walk, but I don't think that even all that walking has stopped me from putting on some weight!


In summary, yesterday was just a run-of-mill day, but it was one that I really needed. It does us good to have a break from the same old routine, don't you think?