What's for dinner

I went to the library for the first time in a while this week, taking out two new cookbooks. One was a gluten free one which used a lot of weird flours. I'm probably not going to use that one because I prefer to use a GF flour mix that I've made and I can't make the conversions well with this.

But the other was about creating cheap dinners under $5. I didn't get it because of the cheapness, but usually those ones are also about easy meals, meals for families without a lot of time. And I was right.

The costs are all US and meat is definitely more expensive here. Also, you can't buy local or butcher-shop meat for those prices ever and for some things I'm trying to buy a bit more responsibly than simply paying for the cheapest cut of meat at Save-On. Have you watched Food Inc. yet? It turns you off the big agri-meat. The reality is that we can't afford organic local grass-fed either, but I'm trying more often to buy at our local Dutch deli who at least knows the farmers he buys from and a bit about their practices. And he doesn't rely on poorly paid, poorly treated employees to cut up the meat. He does it himself.

Anyhow, some of the ideas in the book apply to the way we live and cook though. There are all sorts of tips and references to growing your own veggies, or stretching your meat, using leftovers. That isn't just being cheap - it is smart and good for the environment and your health.

Seeing my menu plan on paper inspired me to try new recipes and not do too much of the same-old stuff. Today's menu: Potato Pizza and honey glazed carrots.

I had help. It was so scary to watch her grate the potatoes, but she didn't hurt herself and she has to learn anyway. And maybe it helped her to try the weird pizza.

It looked great and smelled good and was easy to make. But Pizza Hut it was not.

We all agreed that the grated potato crust with egg to hold it together would make a great breakfast. It was like eating hashbrowns, eggs and sausage. Don't get me wrong - it did taste good, but I don't know if it was really pizza.

I had a conversation yesterday about Spaghetti Squash. I don't mind it, but when you serve it with spaghetti sauce and meatballs, it's pretending to be something it's not. It's still squash. It may be a noodle shape, but it shouldn't be passed off as a noodle. It's deceiving and your brain expects something different. Serve them on the side with butter and garlic and it's good. Call it spaghetti and it doesn't work for me.

So the menu tonight was really Cheesy Hashbrowns with honey glazed carrots. And it was good.

And I really want to take the books back to the library because they found bedbugs in some of the books at that branch. Ew, ick!