Collards and $ense

Last week it was pancakes; this week, turnovers are greeting me and Dima each morning. In case you missed my last post, we are trying to make it from Monday through most of Sunday on $60 of groceries. My breakfast choice for the week was apple and cheese turnovers with walnuts and cranberries.
 

I adapted a recipe from epicurious.com and used a lowfat pastry dough recipe I found online a few months back. I ended up with 25 pastries, but I’ve halved the recipe for those of you who are not living with Him of the Incredible Metabolism.
 

The turnovers are quite tasty. That said, CAVEAT: lowfat pastry dough is very difficult to roll out due to the lack of luscious, lubricating butter. If you want an easy baking experience, go with a full fat pastry dough. If you want to build your biceps, try this one!
 

Apple and Cheese Turnovers with Walnuts and Cranberries
 

Makes: 12 medium-sized turnovers
 

What you’ll need
 

for the dough
 

2 1/4 C whole wheat flour

3/4 C all-purpose flour

2 Tbsp sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp table salt

3/4 to 1 C cottage cheese

3 tsp mild-tasting oil (canola or coconut)
 

for the filling:
 

3 medium apples, cored and chopped into small pieces (I used golden delicious)

2 3/4 C shredded cheese (I used 2 1/4 but I would have liked a little more)

1/4 C maple syrup (I used agave nectar because I had it handy)

1/4 C or more chopped walnuts

1/4 C or more dried cranberries (sweetened or unsweetened)

1 egg white beaten with 1 tsp water for glaze – optional
 

What to do:
 

You are supposed to make the dough in a food processor. Since I don’t have one, I mixed it by hand; it turned out fine. Combine the dry dough ingredients well, then add the oil and cottage cheese. Mix well. Add the water and stir until just combined.
 

The dough will be crumbly but moist and you should be able to pat it into a disk. Do that, and then bundle it in plastic wrap. Place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes or until well chilled. (Tip: when the time comes to roll out chunks of dough, keep the part you are not working with in the frig so it stays cold.)
 

The filling is simple: just combine everything and mix it until the ingredients are evenly distributed.
 

On a floured surface, roll the dough out until it is thin but strong enough to fold. Use a 5 to 6-inch plate or bowl as a guideline to cut circles from the dough. (You may want to roll the circles a little thinner after cutting them out: more room for filling, but stronger since you’re not rolling the whole big sheet of dough that thin.)
 
Place a couple large spoonfuls of filling in the center of each circle and then fold it in half, making a half moon. Press down the edges with a fork and gently cut a small slit in the center. Transfer to greased baking sheets and brush with the egg white glaze (you’ll need a pastry brush for this part).
 

Bake at 400 degrees for about 25 minutes or until just browned. Cool on a wire rack (or if you’re like me and lack one, a couple big plates will do fine).
 

 

Two days later, I can confirm the turnovers are a success. They reheat very nicely. Dima is enjoying them, as am I, and I have gotten more than one curious glance on the subway from (probably hungry) fellow riders. The sweetness is nice, but I am currently dreaming up a savory variation, like a calzone: salami, anyone?
 

Tania

It was Tuesday night. I had half a 32-oz container of yogurt in my frig and it was turning sharp. Breakfasts for the week were in short supply. This is the story of Operation Pancake.

Particularly when money is scarce, wasting food doesn’t make sense. This yogurt happens to be quite expensive, owing to the fact that it is made from goat’s milk. (Side note: for the lactose intolerant, like yours truly, goat milk products can be easier to digest.)
 

As you might guess, this yogurt is something I have to plan carefully into my grocery budget. I usually use it up in my morning kasha or oatmeal, but the previous week I’d taken egg sandwiches with me on the subway–sick of balancing the container, spoon, and travel mug. Okay, and maybe a little sick of the sideways glances. I’m just being healthy and abundant, people!
 

On Monday, I noticed the yogurt was souring. Tuesday night, I rushed home with a game plan. I tasted the yogurt. Success. Too sharp to eat as is, but not yet gone: perfect for baking.

The brainstorm between Monday and Tuesday went something like this: what do I make that uses yogurt? what is breakfasty, filling, and portable? what do I already have the rest of the ingredients for? Pancakes it was.
 

I had a big tub of rolled oats and a huge bag of whole wheat flour. I had baking powder, baking soda, and salt, and the yogurt. All I needed was a carton of eggs, which there was room for in my budget. I stopped at Whole Foods on the way home and picked up their cheapest large dozen (more on how to budget shop at Whole Foods later).
 

Next, I used my kitchen scale (actually a postal scale) to weigh the yogurt. There were almost 16 ounces left: half the container! Good thing I came up with a use for it. That much yogurt meant multiplying my pancake recipe by 5: quite an operation, but it also meant almost a whole week of breakfasts for me and my husband, Dima.

I could have saved more money by using whole eggs, but considering that pancakes are already high in calories and I was planning to eat them daily, I stuck to my original recipe. Here it is for 1 batch, by the way:

Tania’s Super Satisfying Pancakes

1/2 C whole wheat flour

1/2 C rolled oats (old-fashioned oats)

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

2 egg whites

2 tsp mild tasting oil (canola or coconut works nicely)

1/4 C water

3 oz or about 1/3 cup plain yogurt

Heat a skillet or two on low and coat with cooking spray. Mix the wet ingredients in a small bowl; mix the dry (except oats) in a larger bowl, and then pour the wet into the dry. Mix until just combined and then fold in the oats. The texture should be thicker than normal pancake batter. These pancakes really puff up, so you may need to cook them a little longer than average to get the middle done.

Boy did this whole operation take a while, especially with our small stove and limited pan collection.

In the end, we had, count ‘em: 21 big, delicious, fluffy pancakes. Don’t they look glorious?

Of course, we weren’t going to eat 21 pancakes before they got stale, so most of them went in the freezer. Lacking storage materials, I ended up putting them all in the same freezer bag rather than wrapping them individually. Luckily, pulling them apart each morning wasn’t too difficult. Two minutes in the microwave et voila. I spread them with some peanut butter and added jam or sliced banana depending on the day.

Saving money sometimes requires some elbow grease, some patience, and rerouting your evening plans. I had intended to get in bed at 9:30 that night, but I stayed up until 10:30 because of the pancakes. A week of easy breakfasts was worth the hour of lost sleep.

Mission accomplished.