This newsletter is for cooks who are interested in learning how to do investment cooking. Creating healthy home cooked meals in less time using whole foods. The newsletter is filled with articles, delicious recipes, product specials, and more. IF YOU ENJOY THIS LETTER, PLEASE FORWARD IT TO YOUR FRIENDS! If you wish to unsubscribe, please use the link at the bottom of this newsletter. In This Issue:
In the Kitchen Eating Healthy on a Budget Recipe: Crockpot Beans & Black Bean Chowder Recommended Resources
In the Kitchen:
Did you have a good summer? Ours was a bit crazy so I was glad my freezer was filled with already cooked chicken, hamburger, beans, bread and more. Dinner was easy to pull together in 15 minutes when paired with a crisp salad and some homemade bread. We were able to get some wonderful produce this summer and the bounty is still coming in.. My three year old devours red ripe tomatoes from our CSA farmer like a peach. The flavor is amazing when you are used to grocery store tomatoes. What are you enjoying eating this time of year? Berries? Peaches? Pears? Zucchini?
Now that summer is ending (although it is still in the upper 90s here) my thoughts are on preparing for the next season, refilling my freezer and preserving as much of the fruit harvest as possible. I am planning a big cooking session. I am hoping to try cooking with some friends to see how much we can accomplish in one day. I always cook with a partner but this time I am gathering a group. I’ll let you know how it works out next month.
Eating Healthy on a Budget
When you start eating better you might notice your grocery bill climbing if you aren’t careful. Organic products are more expensive than regular grocery items especially if you buy them at the grocery store. There are no coupons to save you money and sometimes finding the items requires a trip to stores like Whole Foods or other natural food sources that aren’t known for their cheap prices. You are going to have to make choices. Your family only has so much to spend so what are the wisest choices you can make to eat the best?
First of all, pray that God will give you wisdom and the vision to see what your choices are. He will honor that request. We can not make eating healthy an idol in our lives. We should pursue good health so that we can better serve our God not so that we can have the perfect body and live without illness.
Eat seasonally like we talked about in the last issue. By eating seasonally you are gaining the best nutrient dense foods plus those foods are usually cheaper because they are bountiful. If you have a garden it is even easier to do this. Watch for new sources for great food. This month I was able to purchase tree ripened organic peaches and pears for $23 & $22 respectively for 32 pounds of each! (Now I’m going to learn to can so I can preserve some of these for this winter.)
Buy in bulk. I stock up on our main foods at Costco and from Shop Natural Co-Op. Buying in larger quantities can save you lots of money. For example, I can buy 25 pounds of dried organic black beans for $1.00/pound, which makes about 100 cups of cooked beans. To buy one can of organic black beans it costs $1.43 for 1 ¾ cups of beans. For the cost of 1 can of prepared beans I can make over 6 cups of beans. Cooking beans is one of the easiest foods to prepare and one that my crock pot takes care of for me so it requires very little effort on my part. (See below for my recipe for cooking beans easily.) I usually fix a whole crock pot full and then freeze the extras in 2 cup portions for future meals.
Put your freezer to good use. When you are able to get a good deal on produce, preserve as much as you can for the future. I also like to buy big bags of frozen veggies from Costco for quick meals. They have more and more organic choices and for feeding the family it is much more efficient to buy the large bags for several meals then to buy the small bags at the grocery store.
Make sure your meals include whole grains and beans. Not only will you get wonderful nutrients from these foods but tummies will fill up and not require so much food. Make sure to soak your grains with whey or lemon juice whenever possible to make them more digestible. Here’s our families recipe for our daily bread.
Find a farmer’s market or participate in community supported agriculture. A great source to find the ones in your area is www.localharvest.org. If you’ve been receiving this newsletter for very long you know that I absolutely love our CSA farm! It has been wonderful to establish a relationship with a farmer that grows our food. The kids get to see where our food comes from and interact with the person who works so hard to grow our food. They also love playing with all of their animals. Through that relationship we’ve also been able to get organic eggs, milk and soon grass fed beef. All of the foods are cheaper and fresher than we could ever get them for at the store and the farmer makes so much more when we buy directly from them. There is also just something so wonderful about having a connection to where our food comes from instead of just buying what is on the shelf at the store.
Be a good steward of the budget you have for food and be creative in finding ways to obtain your food and you will be able to eat healthier for a lot less. May God bless your efforts!
Recipes:
Beans:
5 cups of black beans (or most other beans: kidney, navy, or pinto) 3 quarts Warm filtered water 4 tablespoons of whey (the clear liquid that separates from plain yogurt or raw milk) or lemon juice
Rinse the beans and put them in a bowl. Cover with warm water & add whey or lemon juice. Cover the bowl and leave overnight. Drain and rinse. Place in the crock-pot on low for 8-10 hours or high for 4-5 hours until desired consistency.
Cool and bag for the freezer.
This recipe is from Sue Gregg’s Soups and Muffins Cookbook.
Black Bean Chowder
From Soups & Muffins p. 82
Serves 8 to 10 About 14 Cups 1. Bring water to a boil with rice and potatoes; lower heat to a very gentle boil, uncovered for 30 minutes: 2 1/2 quarts water 1/4 cup brown rice, uncooked 2 medium potatoes, unpeeled or peeled, cubed
2. In a separate pan sauté vegetables in oil: 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 onion, chopped 1 red pepper, chopped 1 green pepper, chopped or1/4 cup dried green pepper 2 cloves garlic, minced
3. After potatoes and rice have cooked a full 30 minutes, add remaining ingredients and continue a very gentle boil about 1 hour until chowder is slightly thickened: sautéed vegetables 15 oz. can black beans, undrained (I use my cooked beans from the freezer) 15 1/4 oz. can kidney beans, undrained 16 oz can Vegetarian Beans in Tomato Sauce 1 1/2 cups frozen corn 1 teaspoon ground cumin seed 1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder 3 tablespoons Sue’s Kitchen Magic Seasoning
4. Remove bay leaf. Top each bowl of soup, as desired, with: grated cheddar cheese, chopped fresh parsley or cilantro
RECOMMENDED RESOURCES:
The Freezer Manual from 30 Day Gourmet
This cooking manual is a must if you want to do investment cooking. It has a step-by-step guide to help you plan and follow through with your cooking day. It also contains great recipes in a special format that helps you multiply how many dishes you would like to make. Also included in this book are great forms to help you organize your cooking day such as, Recipe Worksheet, Tally Sheet, Shopping List, What to Do and Bring and much more.
She's up before dawn, preparing breakfast for her family and organizing her day. She looks over a field and buys it, then, with money she's put aside, plants a garden. First thing in the morning, she dresses for work, rolls up her sleeves, eager to get started. She senses the worth of her work, is in no hurry to call it quits for the day. She's skilled in the crafts of home and hearth, diligent in homemaking.
Proverbs 31:15-19, The Message
Thank you for reading another issue of the Investment Cooking Newsletter. I hope it has provided you with some great food for thought. If you have any questions or comments please feel free to email me at
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