Mother’s Day 2013
Last year I wrote about helping a neighbor’s children plan a Mothers’ Day menu for their Mother while their Father was deployed to Afghanistan. The children were determined that they pay for the food from their savings, and do all the cooking. So it was a challenge for me to stay within their $20.00 budget and their limited cooking skills to assure their safety. As I reported in my posting of May 18, 2012, we successfully pulled it off. It’s an easy, affordable tasty menu for three meals in one day or three separate meals for any day. Check it out! Just click on May 2012.
Shortly after I wrote that posting, the forecast from the Department of Agriculture came out for the coming year with an estimate of at least a 5% price increase. Then there was the drought resulting in the crop failures and the culling of the herds and flocks. Also, gas prices rose, forcing the cost of transporting products to market higher and the influence of that is still being felt, even though gas is now coming down. So I thought it would be interesting to review last year’s posting and compare prices. Actually, I was pleasantly surprised in a conditional way.
The dollar store prices and quantities hadn’t changed. I could still buy the pepperoni, ham, whipped topping, pound cake and broth for $5.00. Except for the bread and rice, the supermarket was a different matter. I have seen the tomatoes for $0.99 per lb., not the $0.89 of last year, but close; the seedless grapes for $0.99 per lb., the melon 2/$3.00, the shredded cheese 3/$5.00 for 8 oz., and the rice 10/$10.00 as I did last year. Before, however, those were fairly regular “featured” prices, not special “sales”. Then, I was confident that in any given week, I could get those items at those prices by visiting one or more of the local stores. Now, my sightings of these items have been as “specials” over a month or more, not of them available simultaneously even in different markets.
Conservative quotes on today’s prices of the above items would place tomatoes at $1.49 per lb., grapes at $1.88 per lb., melons at 2/$5.00 and shredded cheese at 2/$4.00 for 8 oz. Since these things must be fresh, buying ahead for an occasion isn’t an option. So these three things alone would make supplying last year’s menu with that budget impossible.
Additionally, a head of Romaine has gone from $1.45, last year, to a steady $1.89, and Cornish Hens, when I could find them this year, are $1.65 per lb. not $1.25 as before. Last May, my total retail food bill for this family’s Mothers’ Day was $18.13, leaving the children $1.87, ample to pay for strawberries they could pick from a local farm to make dessert. This year, calculating all the items in the same quantities at the regular prices, the total bill would be $22.86, obviously, with nothing left to buy strawberries. Weather delayed the crops this year so I don’t know the cost of farm picked berries yet, but without calculating that figure in, the Department of Agriculture’s prophecy of a 5% raise over last year’s expenses would equal $0.91. That would still have left the children $0.96 under budget after retail purchases. Even if I could find one or two of the fresh produce items on sale, the total cost now would still be far in excess of 5% above last year. So much for the Department of Agriculture’s forecast!
Realistically speaking however, $22.86 plus an estimated $2.00 for berries, is quite reasonable to feed three people, actually there is ample amount for four, well for a full holiday. Mia and Mark’s Mother was so impressed by what they did for her, that last week the kids brought their Father along to ask my advice about what to do this year. They have a different problem to work around now. He’s being transferred to a base across the country, and they’re busy with arrangements to move. By Mother’s Day, most of their things will be packed, except the grill which stays here. What they wanted was a menu plan for a day on the grill, or at least requiring only disposable aluminum pans. Lunch was no problem, cold sandwiches are easy, but breakfast and dinner were a different matter. Trouble is, the Father is no grill master and honestly dosen’t want to become one, so we had to keep the preparations simple. They also wanted to keep expenses down in view of the moving costs they face.
My recommendations are for a variation of the English classic Toad-in-the -Hole and a recipe from my menu cookbook Dinners With Joy, I call Stew on the Gill. The recipes are below along with an alternate, less caloric easy breakfast one, if they can find a whisk or beater. The pound cake, sliced with the whipped topping and fresh strawberries is still a good dessert choice and for a change the cake slices grill well, but lots of fruits do too, pineapple slices, pears and peach halves are delicious grilled and topped with ice cream. It’s just that strawberries are in season. Incidentally, I’ve found that using very little sugar and a small amount of Balsamic vinegar to marinate sliced berries makes a tastier, and less fattening sauce than the traditional method of more sugar alone.
I’m not doing the shopping this year, but estimating prices from the supermarket flyers, I think they’ll still find the total cost very reasonable. The onions and potatoes together shouldn’t exceed $2.00; the tomatoes and mushrooms $2.50 each; the squash at $1.49 per lb. not in excess of $3.00 and the ham, bread and pound cake another $3.00. The choice of meat to frill for dinner is up to them, but even leaving it as a variable, the day’s food bill will be far lower than eating out, even for fast food. The point is, with a little thought, and perhaps a bit of researching recipes, solutions can be found to most food planning dilemmas, if you just approach them sensibly.
Happy Mother’s Day everyone!!!
Baked Eggs in a Cloud— Recipe for 4
4 large eggs separated
4 thin slices of ham or smoked turkey
2 drops of cider vinegar
Butter for the [an
Salt and pepper
Optional seasonings
Lightly butter a 7X7x1 ½ inch square ovenproof pan. Preheat oven to 350 degs. Lightly grease the bottom of the pan, and line the bottom and sides with a single layer of ham leaving a slight overhang all around. Whip the egg whites until they stand up in peaks, incorporating the vinegar half way through. Add seasonings. Spoon them over the ham. Using a spoon, make 4 dents in the whites, evenly spaced for portions. Put a yoke in each depression. Bake 12 to 15 minutes until whites are slightly brown and yokes are just set. Serve at once. I like a bit of curry powder or dry mustard in the whites. Alternately serve with Worcestershire sauce to top.
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1 loaf French or Italian bread unsliced
4 large eggs
4 thin slices of ham AND/OR 4 slices of cheese- sharp or Swiss recommended
Butter
Salt and pepper
Cut 4 slices of the bread 2 in. thick and 4 more 1in thick. Using a cookie cutter or a glass or jar, cut 1 ½ in round holes in the thinner slices. Butter both sides of all the slices and toast one side of each. Spread ham and/or cheese on the toasted sides of the thick slices cover with the untoasted sides of the thin ones. Break an egg into the center holes and carefully place on a lightly oiled grill. Close the lid and grill for 5 mins. until the cheese is bubbly. Serve at once with salt and pepper.
Stew on the Grill –Serves 4
2 lbs. beef in cuts suitable for broiling, ½ to ¾ in thick – see charts- other meats optional in equal amounts
2 large all purpose potatoes – cut in half crosswise
2 Large onions- peeled and cut in half crosswise
2 large zucchini- cut in half lengthwise
2 large yellow squash- cut in half lengthwise
1 large green bell pepper-cut in quarters then dived the quarters half to make 8ths
8 cherry tomatoes
8 button mushroom caps
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp garlic powder
2 Tbs. oil
1 tsp lemon pepper
Salt and pepper- if needed for the meat
(4) 6 inch bamboo skewers- soaked
Microwave the potatoes 3 mins. Set aside. Skewer the onions parallel the cut so they won’t separate into rings, and microwave 2 min. pausing to turn once. Evenly divide the mushrooms, pepper pieces and tomatoes between the skewers with the onions. Mix the oil herbs and seasonings and coat all the vegetables, Allow to marinate 10 minutes and baste with the excess during cooking.
Place meat 3-4 in. from heat source and sear 5 mins. on the first side, then turn and cook 8-10 min on the other, testing for doneness. Times may differ for other meats.
Allow about 15 min cooking time for the vegetables. Cook along with the steak, checking they get done but don’t burn.
