Pasta with Red Bell Pepper Sauce & Greens

Today I'm offering the seventh meal suggestion from the Feb 28th shopping list.

It's a simple, hearty meal. One that'll take about 15 minutes to prepare which means it's great for evenings when you're too tired to fuss with food -- like Friday nights!

Pasta with Red Bell Pepper and Greens
1) Chop and saute red bell pepper, onion, garlic in olive oil over med heat.
2) Bring pot of water to boil for pasta.
3) In a separate pan saute additional onion in olive oil, then toss in unfrozen spinach, chopped broccoli florets and chopped asparagus. Turn hot plate to low and put lid on so that veggies stew lightly in their own juice.
4) Add pasta to boiling water and simmer until pasta is soft but still slightly chewy (al dente).
5) At this point, add a big blob of olive and caper tapenade to the red bell peppers, onion and garlic. Put the lot through a food processor to create a thick sauce or if you can't be bothered, just spoon it over the pasta as a chunky sauce.
6) Once pasta is cooked to your liking, strain, and then run strainer w/pasta under the hot water tap to flush out starchy pasta water. Return pasta to pot, drizzle olive oil over pasta and stir through with pot on hot plate, though don't over heat and fry pasta.

To serve: Spoon pasta onto plate, top with red bell pepper sauce, and some zesty cheese if you have any. Add side of greens to create a colorful and nutritious meal.

Top Reasons to One-Stop Shop

In my March 9th post, I mentioned that I practice 1-stop grocery shopping. I do so because driving around looking for the best deal on single items is a time, energy, gas, and ironically, a money zap.

Let's face it, if you were to put a dollar value on your time, energy, and gas, how much would you really save buying "X" for less at that other store.

When Whole Foods introduced their value-pricing strategy last summer, it encouraged me to try 1-stop shopping at my local store. And here's what I discovered:

1) Their "Good Stuff for Less" and 365-generic brand prices are comparable, if not lower than other grocery stores.
2) Their 10% case-discount on any product in the store (plus it can be a mixed case of any 12 items) is a great deal.
3) Their .50c off each additional pound of meat over a 3lb purchase is a great value-added for me (I freeze what I'm not going to immediately use) and it's particularly great for families.
4) Their Whole Deal value guide contains lots of money-saving coupons.

When I buy groceries at a discount, I want to know that I'm still purchasing quality. I don't want to feel concern that I'm paying less because:

a) It fell of the back of a truck or
b) It's beyond its use-by date or
c) If it's meat or fish, it's full of antibiotics, hormones and dyes.

At WFs, I don't have these concerns because I trust their core values, plus I've shopped their long enough now to know that their product really is excellent.

Growing up in rural Australia, we knew where our beef, lamb, chicken came from. We bought from the local butcher who bought from the local farmers.

When I lived and cooked in France, I noticed it was similar, in as much as you could go into a butcher and see a drawn map of where the meat had been farmed. But I don't live in rural Australia or Europe, I now live in the middle of America.

Having had the above experiences, I want to feel like I can trust that the meat and fish I purchase has been ethically sourced. Whole Foods Meat standards gives me reason to trust that their meat is top quality.

Good value to me isn't just about my groceries being cheap. Good value includes knowing that while the food I'm buying is well priced, it's also good for me to the extent that's been grown and sourced according to a set of ethics and guidelines that parallels my desire to eat food that is as clean as it can be.

For all these reasons, I choose to 1-stop grocery shop at Whole Foods because during these economic times, I can buy my groceries there at a reasonable price and feel comfortable that their values are aligned with mine.

Thai Vegetables with Sardines

Having blogged about the benefits of keeping good quality condiments on hand, today I'm offering a meal idea using a couple of my favorite condiments plus ingredients from the Feb 28th shopping list.

Thai Kitchen Pad Thai Sauce and Premium Fish Sauce are fabulous for adding to stewed or stir-fried veggies.

They add interest to vegetables in particular, and the Fish Sauce infuses dishes with a real, Thai-like flavor.

Thai Vegetables with Sardines
1) Chop half an onion and saute in pan with olive oil. Add one smashed clove of garlic.
2) Chop some carrot, bell pepper, potato (into small cubes), celery, spinach. Toss in with onions and garlic. (Looks like I added some grape tomatoes too. They weren't on the shopping list but if you have them on hand, they are a nice addition to this meal.)
3) Stir over med heat, then plop in a heaping spoon of the Pad Thai sauce. Gently stir all ingredients.
4) Turn heat down and cook veggies slowly for about 10-15 mins. Add a little water or stock if you need more moisture to keep veggies from sticking to the pan.
5) Boil some rice (which isn't on the Feb 28th list, but it was on the previous list so maybe you have some on hand).
6) Once the veggies are cooked to your satisfaction, slurp some Fish Sauce into the pan. Do a taste-test and see if you need more fish sauce.

Note: I don't tend to use really hot sauces in my cooking -- probably you noted their absence from my condiment list -- but if you have a favorite hot sauce in your pantry, go ahead and add it at this point.

To Serve: Spoon rice onto a plate, top with a portion of vegetables and then top with a big fat sardine!

I use sardines for this dish because of their oiliness and the smokey, fish flavor. Both compliment the Thai vegetable concoction so well. And good quality sardines in olive oil are incredibly economical while also being highly nutritious.

Stocking your Condiment Pantry

One of the tricks to creating delish and interesting meals on a budget is to keep quality condiments on hand.

And one of the best ways to build your pantry of condiments is to buy these items when you see them on sale.

At Whole Foods you can also purchase bottled and packaged goods in bulk at a discount. For example, if your family consumes large amounts of pasta sauce, you'd be better off buying a discounted case versus one bottle on sale. Check your local store for details.

Because I'm a proponent of the economy of one-stop-shopping, I won't drive from store-to-store looking for the best deal on items, I'll simply stay alert when doing my weekly shop and buy my favorite tinned & bottled sauces, jams, mustard, oil etc. when they're on sale.

And because I collect condiments over time (when I see them on sale), I don't spend a lot on these items regularly. Obviously if I were to add six condiments to my grocery list every-other week, purchasing them at full price, my grocery bill would go over budget.

So the key is to add one or two of your favorite condiments to your shopping cart periodically. Following this simple rule means I generally have on hand:

1) 365 Olive Oil

2) 365 Pasta Sauce
3) 365 bottled Salsa
4) 365 Fruit Spread
5) Patak's curry paste, and or sauce
6) Thai Kitchen Red Curry Paste, Pad Thai Sauce, Premium Fish Sauce
7) 365 Coconut Milk
8) 365 Mustard: seeded & Dijon
9) 365 Organic Brown Rice Vinegar & Red Wine Vinegar
10) Braggs Liquid Aminos (like Soy Sauce only free of wheat)
11) And maybe ketchup, mayonnaise, pickled ginger, olives, capers etc.

And with these condiments in my pantry and fridge, I can jazz up just about any dish that might otherwise be quite ordinary.