Using What I Have Journal Entry #25: Low Spend Month Check In

I don't know if I'll write more journal entries like this for you this month, so no promises that this will be a weekly thing or anything. This is just an assortment of things I want to talk about from this week. And I make the rules here, so here we are!

Let's start with me making rice and beans with the full knowledge I was going to end up with extra that would not have a tortilla to go with them. I had Fritos from who knows when, and that would do with what was left after I had the quesadillas you saw. So I put the rice I hadn't frozen (there is some in the freezer, too, for later on) and the end of my can of vegan charro beans in a bowl, added some shredded Daiya cheddar, and had that bowl of goodies with my Fritos.

This was surprisingly good for what it was. Was it the kind of meal that excites me? No. Was it perfectly edible and satisfying nonetheless? Yes. I did not have to buy tortillas to go with my rice and beans and I did not have to buy or make chili to go with my Fritos. I just used the things as they were.

Another successful meal came soon after that: Extra-eggy French toast with yogurt and clementine segments.

I had the equivalent of one egg's worth of JUST Egg left, and only one slice of the bread I'd baked (that Enchanted Broccoli Forest bread that was so dense). Not a problem. I cut down the liquid mixture suggested in my Fannie Farmer Cookbook (and veganized it, of course), but I still used a whole "egg." It was probably enough for two slices of bread. So what to do? Well, I poured the eggy mixture in the pan over the soaked bread and cooked it until it boiled down and got brown and crispy. This was probably the best French toast I've ever made. I had it with some vanilla non-dairy yogurt I mixed with pistachio cream and some fruit I already had on hand. This breakfast wouldn't make anyone feel deprived! It was so, so good. The eggy toast didn't even need any syrup or anything. It was perfect as it was.

Now out of bread, what was I to do but to bake another loaf? So still relying on Fannie Farmer, I made Third Bread, which is made with a mixture of all-purpose flour, rye flour, cornmeal, and molasses. (It's "third" because it uses three different grains.) It was a no-knead, "batter" bread, so it was very easy.

It is hard to describe, like a sweet pumpernickel crossed with cornbread, but it was delicious. I don't know that it'll lend itself well to sandwiches, necessarily, but I loved it and I am so glad my frugality made me make it. I should be using my rye flour, after all; I just so rarely find any reason to!

The recipe for this bread was already vegan, too--no substitutions.

So I guess all this means things are going well! See you again soon.