My friends and I have been sharing ideas about living on $25 dollars a week (not a bad way to make my budget since the economy is not doing well). We have decided that we’d experiment with the more frugal lifestyle in February of 2009 (we are not quite ready to cut down our spendings to that little right away).

To prepare for our $25-lifestyle experiment, I have been searching for delicious, yet cheap-to-make recipes. The first dish that I have come upon is baked beans. Beans are the ultimate cheap ingredients; 1 lb. of Great Northern beans only cost a dollar. Not only are beans cheap, but they are also very nutritious. Beans are full of proteins*, fibers, calcium, iron, and can make you stay full longer.

Want to make some baked beans? Guinea Pig will help you create this hearty dish without breaking your bank!

Dice 1 onion, 1 hot pepper (depending on your “heat” tolerance), few stalks of celery and carrot, and bacon, then cook  these ingredients slowly over medium-low heat; you want to extract the water out of the vegetables and fats out of the bacon.

After 5 to 7 minutes of sweating (the slow cook method), add 1/8 of cup of molasses**, dark brown sugar, tomato paste, 1/8 of teaspoon of cayenne pepper, 1 teaspoon of freshly cracked black pepper, and a few pinches of kosher salt.

Stir the above condiments into the pot for 1 minute, then add 1/2 lb. of Great Northen beans (or any beans you prefer) and water, just to cover the beans by 1 inch. Bring the pot to boil and put it in 400-degree oven for 4 hours. Then you get…

the baked beans! Stir the pot for 20 seconds so the starch from the beans can come out and make the beans stickier and grainier.

There you have it…baked beans with rice, under…very few dollars. As matter of fact, you can’t even put a significant price on the meal because it cost so little. I also pan-seared some polenta that I made from the other night, but that’s another entry.

What’s your frequent homemade cheap eat?

*Proteins from beans are incomplete, which means that you need to pair the beans with other foods to have the full benefit of eating beans for its protein content. One of the most common ways to complete the proteins is to eat beans with rice.

**Molasses contains calcium and sugar that can bind with acid from the tomato paste, which can keep the beans as whole when cooking them for a long period of time. Please buy all natural molasses that does not contain corn syrup. Molasses should be purely extracted from natural sugar cane without any additives.

Warm-up

• 500 freestyle
• 150 x 3 pull buoy, breathe every 3, 5, 7 stroke.
• 100 x 4: 50 flutter kicks & 50 drills (1-arm drill & catch-up 2 sets each)

Flip drill:

• 4 x 100; medium speed then accelerate near the wall for quicker flips

Main sets:

• 4 x 50 sprints, under 1:15
• 1 x 100 under 2 minutes
• 1 x 200 under 4
• 1 x 300 stroke rhythm
• 1 x 400 endurance and final acceleration

Drills:

• 150 flutter kicks
• 150 backstroke kicks
• 1 x 200 stroke rhythm

Total distance (in meters): 3,450

Cooking risotto usually requires 30 minutes. In those 30 minutes, liquid is added slowly by batches into the saucepan every 3 to 5 minutes, and the rice is stirred occasionally to prevent overcook. Although many of us don’t have the patience or time to cook risotto after coming home at night, we can actually shorten our cooking time by half if we parboil risotto before we leave the house in the morning.

Parboil, simply means precook. I parboiled my risotto for 4 minutes before I left the house yesterday. After coming home at night, all I had to do was chopping up some onions and garlic, then I just let the risotto cook in a saucepan the same way I’d do with uncooked risotto. I cut my cooking time by half and had delicious Swiss chard risotto on the table in less than 30 minutes.

1st batch of boiled water was added, chicken stock (or broth) would be another option.

Stirring in the Swiss chard and long beans.

15 minutes later, the starch of risotto was “cooked out”, and the rice became sticky and chewy.

Swiss Chard and Long Beans Risotto for dinner.

What do you like to put in your risotto? I’d like to guinea-pig your ultimate risotto recipe!

I love eating toasted bread with toppings (which explains my addiction for pizza). I made bruschetta and another “toasty” dish last night for dinner.

Bruchetta

• 1 sliced toasted home-baked bread
• chopped tomatoes
• chopped celery leaves
• diced onions
• a pinch of salt
  
• extra virgin olive oil…lots of it!

Vegetables and proscuitto on toasted bread, and roasted Brussels sprouts

• thinly julienned onions and yellow pepper
• 1 slice of proscuitto
• 5 roasted Brussels sprouts (pan seared for 30 seconds after 20 minutes of roasting in 375 degrees)
• grated Parmesan cheese

What do you like to put on your toasted bread?

With KitchenAid stand mixer’s help, I was able to knead my bread dough quicker. I have finally baked my first loaf of kneaded bread (check out no-knead bread). The actual labor of mixing, kneading, and shaping only took me about 30 minutes. For the experience of real “hands-on” baking experience, I will try kneading by hand in the next loaf.

Even though the cost of a loaf of bread has not increased dramatically as other foods, baking a loaf of homemade bread is a rewarding experience, and the final goods is definitely healthier than the store-bought ones; homemade bread is simply a mix of flour, water, yeast, salt, and a couple teaspoon of honey without any additives.

A loaf of bread can be made within a few hours. However, I took the long way in the first batch; starting with a “starter”, a small portion of mixed flour, water, yeast, and honey. The process is called pre-ferment, which is to create a paste that could enhance the flavor of the bread. I covered and rested the “starter” for 10 hours in the refregerator. After 10 hours, I combined the rest of the ingredients, more flour and yeast, plus a few pinches of salt (no more water added).

The “starter”, a mix of flour, water, yeast, and honey

A kneaded and proofed dough.

The sliced surface permits carbon dioxide to dissipate and create soft interior and crispy crust.

45 minutes in 400 degree oven (depends on the power of your oven actually), the kneaded guinea pig loaf was ready to be served.

The soft and chewy bread-meat with crusty crust…so rustic!

I “knead” my carbs!

What kind of bread do you like? and what do you like to make with a loaf of bread?

Warm-up:

• 500 freestyle
• 4 x (100 pull buoy & 100 flutter kicks)

Main set:

• 4 x 100
• 4 x 200
• 1 x (400, 300, 200, 100)

Total distance (in meters):  3,500

This workout does not contain “drills” because I wanted to build my endurance, by swimming more sets without the help of fins, for harder training in the upcoming months.

Warm up

• 500 freestyle
• 3 x 200 pull buoy
• 3 x (100 1-arm swim, 50 catch-up, and 50 swim)

Main Sets:

• 4 x 100 freestyle w/ 50 kicks between each set of 100
• 4 x 200
• 1 x 400

Total distance (in yards): 3350

This is not a workout that I want to remember. My body was never in sync in the water; I could not rotate my hips through the water properly, generate power by kicking consistently, and worst of all, I struggled in every set.

Back to the drawing board.

I sauteed some Swiss chard to add to my noodles tonight. I prefer Swiss chard over spinach because of the mellower flavor and thicker stems.

Swiss chard is one of the most nutritious vegetables in the market; the vegetable prevents colon cancer, provides minerals for better bone health, and has beta-carotene as vision nutrients.

Although Swiss chard’s season starts in June and ends in August, you can still find the last batches in the farmer’s market.

My secret for adding flavors to any dish…browning smoked bacon on medium heat…

and adding garlic after the bacon has become crispy.

Chopped Swiss Chard.

After cooking Swiss chard for 5 minutes with medium heat…the vegetable wilted, but still had some bite.

Dinner within 20 minutes!

I finally finished shooting and posting EverydaySweat exercise videos! Now you can log onto www.everydaysweat.com to get a 4-day workout, which lasts about 15 minutes each. The best part of my new videos…it costs nothing (no gym membership or money spent on quipments) and you will be in better shape than before if you just take out 15 minutes 4 times a week! I dare to guinea-pig all the exercises and keep up with the routine. You will feel healthier and better about yourself!

Good luck and have a nice sweat!

To view previous videos I made, please go on YouTube or search for “soang323″ on it.

Protocol: 2 x 10 of heavy weight followed by 1 x 20 of light weight
Goal: basic strength training and conditioning

Warm up:

• hip rotations: 1 x 10
• bird dog leg extension: 1 x 10
• drop steps: 1 x 10
• inverted hamstring: 1 x 10

Main sets:

• Flat bench press: 135 lbs. followed by 95 lbs.
• Deadlift: 135 lbs. followed by 95 lbs.
• Push press : 95 lbs. followed by 55 lbs.
• Straight leg deadlift: 135 lbs. followed by 95 lbs.
• Bend over rows: 95 lbs. followed by 65 lbs.
• Barbell Combo (bar weight): 2 x 10; circuit mode: incline bench press, close-grip, upright rows, shoulder press, squat, wide grip incline press.