The 5 Dollar a Day Challenge - Day 1

I really dont know where all of my money went.  Well, OK, that is not true - it all went to pay bills, and somewhere along the way I may have dropped some of it into a beer glass.  Well, that's not the point.  The point is that I have approximately $50 to last me until the next pay day....10 days away. 

So, I posed the question on Facebook - what would you eat if you had to live on $5 a day?  Of course, you could always do what my friends suggested, such as eat a $5 Footlong from Subway every day, or fill up on pasta and beans.  Really?  That's no way to live, and certainly no way to eat.  While I may be inclined to add some of these choices to the menu, I do not intend to live on these things morning, noon, and night.  I will do my very best to create astounding cullinary marvels using only what I have left in my larder and fridge, and half a sawbuck per day. 

Day one involved cleaning out some leftover tidbits that were in my fridge, so I guess that technically, I was cheating a bit since I already had two nice fillets of rock cod chilling out.  But, I made good on my $5 commitment at the grocery store, and I picked up 2 big tomatoes, 2 red jalapenos, 4 brown onions, a bunch of spinach, and one cup of wild rice mix in bulk.

I browned 2 of the onions in some olive oil, and added thin slices of the red jalapeno, cooking until everything was soft.  Then I put that aside, chopped and sauteed the spinich, adding a bit of garlic salt, then the diced up tomatoes and added them when the spinich was almost done.  I put that into the colander to drain off the excess water.  The filets were seasoned and grilled with a bit of olive oil in a very hot pan, searing one side.  Once the fish was almost cooked through, I covered it with the browned onion mixture, then the spinach and tomato.  Removing the pan from the heat, the dish cooled for about 5 minutes before being served.  The vegetable covered fish was served on a bed of wild rice mix.  I got two HUGE portions, one for me, one for Bonnie (the official critique gastronomique du nom nom).  

Well, day one was a sucess.  I met my financial goal of only spending $5 dollars - but I have to admit that I had some help.  Some might say that I cheated - since I already had the fish in my fridge, but hey, those are the rules.  Anything that I have stocked up already (including leftovers) is fair game.