Vegetarian Refried Black Eyed Peas Tacos

Sometimes I am glad that I throw things into a Crock Pot, because you never know when you are going to get hungry. A little known fact about the old electric slow cooker is that it was invented for cooking beans, and let me say that it does an admirable job of that. No soaking is required, and the beans turn out marvelous. I made a batch of black eyed peas a few days ago, and they will become the feature ingredient in some vegetarian tacos, since the little guys are really a bean and not a pea, they should make some great refried stuff. The recipe is pretty simple, and most of the magic happens in the Crock Pot.

Vegetarian Refried Black Eyed Peas Tacos

To make the beans...
Into the Crock Pot:

1 16oz package of Black Eyed Peas
1 red onion (finely chopped)
1 tsp cumin seed
1 tbsp mustard powder
1 tsp whole oregano
1 tbsp salt
1 tsp cracked pepper
3 cloves chopped garlic
2 quarts water

Cook the beans on high for about 6-8 hours, or until they are tender. Easy enough! Now you can enjoy the fresh beans, and store some in the fridge for later after they have cooled off. For the tacos, I am using some of the beans that have been hiding in the fridge for a few days.

To make the Tacos...

1 cup cooked Black Eyed Peas
1 tsp olive oil
3 corn tortillas
1 half avocado
3 tbsp fresh deli salsa
3 tbsp grated cheddar cheese

Fry the beans in a small pan with the olive oil, mashing them as they heat up, until you get a nice pasty refried bean. Toast the corn tortillas in a hot skillet ( a great tip is to dip them in water first, and use a non-stick pan ). Assemble the tacos! Beans first, then cheese so it can get melty on top of the beans, avocado slices, and fresh salsa! That's it!

I may update this post later with the economics, but I am sure it will come out to be very cheap per 3 taco serving.

UPDATE

Food Economics:

I am assuming (economics is always full of assumptions) that for one package of black eyed peas, I come up with 8 servings. Of course, I think that the cooked product actually yields more than this, but for now, it is a good assumption.

Black eyed Peas - 16oz $1.35 = ($0.168 1 serving)
Red Onion - $1 = ($0.125 1 serving)
Cheddar Cheese - 8oz bag $2.49 = ($0.311 1 serving)
Corn Tortillas - 30ct $1.49 = ($0.149 for 3)
Avocado - $0.99 each = ($0.495 for half)
Fresh Salsa - 16oz tub $2.99 = ($0.186 1oz)
All spices, olive oil = ($0.100 this is totally an estimate, since the spices and oil were all in my pantry already)

Grand total = $ 1.54 per 3 taco plate!

Blog Revisited - Cottage Wheat Bread

I suppose that it was inevitable that I would return to this blog in order to start yapping about my adventures in food. Let's face it, life really isn't worth talking about, especially since nobody really wants to hear about it. I guess that when life is good, so is the food, so let's leave it at that. My previous attempts to scribble about my life seemed rather fruitless. I went back and read my posts, and I was bored silly. I am now going to dedicate this blog to two things that I am sure I would be interested in going back to review. The food that I eat, and the dreams that I have. I will post more of both from now on.

It all started when my mother insisted on sending me an automatic bread machine. Made by Hitachi, she bought the latest and greatest in home appliance technology in 1994 for $150 bucks. I really didn't want the thing, and did my dog gone-est to avoid it, but somehow it ended up at my house. It has collected dust for quite some time, so I finally elected to get it out and make a loaf of bread, possibly the product of me trying to avoid my Sustainable Development reading by making some kind of attempt at being sustainable. Sure, baking my own bread. Way to go natural-like. Anyway, I flipped through the bread machine recipes and found one that sounded interesting. I have never heard of this type of bread, so it was worth a shot. "Cottage Wheat Bread", a delicious sounding mixture of wheat flour and cottage cheese. I will attempt to both list the recipe, ingredient cost, and total food cost for one loaf of bread. I am hoping that the food economics here will produce some interesting results. Here goes!

The Recipe
Cottage Wheat Bread - (from Fleischmann's Yeast Bread Machine Favorites)
For 1 pound loaf

2/3 cup milk
1/2 cup cream style cottage cheese1 tbsp butter or margarine
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 cup bread flour
1 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 tbsp packed brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp Fleischmann's Bread Machine yeast

The ingredients all go into the bread machine, in this order: First the milk, cottage cheese and butter. Then the dry stuff, waiting until the very end to add the yeast on top of the flour, making sure it does not go into the wet stuff. Bread machine is set to basic, light crust, and PRESTO.....off it goes. I will have an update in about 4 hours to let you know what it comes out like.

Food Economics:

Gold Medal Whole Wheat Flour - 5# bag - $3.69 = ( 6.5 oz = .300)
Gold Medal Better for Bread Flour - 5# bag - $3.49 = (6.5 oz = .284)
Fleischmanns Bread Machine yeast - 4oz jar - $8.99 = (1/4 oz = .561)
Imperial Margarine - 1# - $0.99 = (1 tbsp = .030)
Lucerne Whole Milk - 1/2 gallon - $1.99 = (2/3 c = .165)
Knudsen Small Curd Cottage Cheese - 16oz - $3.29 = (4oz = .822) or (.572)**
Brown Sugar - 2# - $2.69 = (3/8oz = .032)
Salt - 26oz - $0.99 = (1/4oz = .010)

Whew! So, there we have it. On the right side is the purchase cost, and in parenthesis, the actual ingredient cost based on the recipe. Add it all up and we get a total of.......

Grand Total = $2.20 per 1 pound loaf of bread !!

** - As you can see, by far, the biggest cost comes from the cottage cheese. I am a bit pissed about that, because the damn grocery store had things priced incorrectly! The cottage cheese should have been $2.29 (I check ALL of my prices). Not to split hairs, but this would have brought the actual cost per loaf down to $1.95. Well, since they screwed up, I can go back with my receipt, show them the shelf price, and guess what....they have to give me the item for free.

I will update this post in about 4 hours, when the bread is finished.

UPDATE

Well, exactly 4 hours and 10 minutes later, the machine beeped and the bread was ready. It was a cube shaped, heavy loaf with a rather hard crust. It smelled wonderful. I sliced it open, and to my surprise, it had a good consistency and looked a lot like, well, wheat bread.

I buttered a slice, and well, it tasted a lot like wheat bread. I could not tell that there was any cottage cheese in it at all. There was no noticeable tang or cheesy flavor. On the good side, it was a very nice loaf, and I like that I can slice it to make nice thick pieces. On the bad side, it did not have any cottage cheese flavor, and well, that was the most expensive ingredient. Next time, I will shoot for some other kind of bread.....stay tuned.

Coconuts and Fish

Here I am again, in the Gardner Auditorium (aka the Galactic Council Chamber) listening to yet another economist talk about coconuts and fish. Why the hell do they love this model so much? I mean, I understand, you want to teach comparative advantage, but if you are stuck on a desert island with only coconuts and fish, is there really any advantage at all? Well, as I embark on another quarter, I have to say that spring break is really way too short. I mean, I did not really get into the rest and relaxation phase until one week had passed by, and by then, it was time to get ready to go back. I should have slept more last night, but I was having too much fun living in another world (Middle Earth) . Yes, the Lord of the Rings online world is a lot of fun, but thankfully I only signed up for the free 10 day trial. I would end up stuck in that realm, as it is infinitely more interesting than economics, and for now, I have to pretend that Sara Palin and John McCain are stuck on a desert island trading coconuts and fish. Snore.

What a trip into the wilderness!

There is something that is very beautiful about the desert. It is a sort of serene, desolate place, where you can get in touch with yourself, and escape from the traffic, noise, and clutter that is the urban scene. My adventure this past weekend took me to the Anza Borrego State Park, and an inviting little spot on the map called Fish Creek Primitive Camp, way out in the middle of the Western Colorado Desert. Equipped with everything one could possibly need in a remote, isolated sort of place, it was off to find solitude. Upon arrival at Fish Creek, it was everything that I had hoped for - just a few rugged souls setting up camp in the late hours of the afternoon as that sun just began to dip past the stark sandstone of Split Mountain. Once camp was set up, I had no sooner sat down to enjoy the old peace and quiet, when a wagon train of sport utility vehicles began to pour into the camp, stuffed full of rowdy pre-teen boys. I watched in amazement as carload after carload pulled into camp and the Boy Scouts of America began to unload and marvel at the pit toilets. That noisy pack of boogers dashed any hopes that I may have had about serenity, and then the hot wind began to pick up, in forceful gusts. It was sure to be a long night.


In the morning, I awoke with high hopes of leaving Rug Rat Camp behind, and finding a bit of blissful isolation along the trail that cut through Split Mountain, and through Fish Creek Wash. it was to be a nice long hike featuring a bit of awsome geologic force on display in the walls of the canyon, and this proved to be very bit as impressive as I had hoped. The trail, however, was not the sort of lonely desert hiking trail that offers a person the chance to escape. It was more like a dirt highway, as jeeps, SUVs, and all manner of vehicles continuously passed by, their fat, pinkish, air conditioned inhabitants smiling and waving at me as they stirred up clouds of dust. After hiking for miles, I just felt like scowling as the 100th passenger shot me a friendly wave out the window - as if I was some steward of the lonely desert, a ghost that they felt obligated to acknowledge, or some crazy relic that was still holding on to an antiquated idea that they felt guilty about abandoning while they rode by with the AC on max. I pressed on until my camel pack was drained, and then, with my hands and legs swollen, marched back to camp.

I had enough of the dust, crowds, kids, and wind, and so decided to pack it all up and head for cooler and greener country. After driving a little over an hour into the southern portion of the Cleveland National Forest, I found a wonderful little campground at Cibbets Flats. It was cool and shady, with the sound of a creek meandering somewhere through the oak trees. The campsites were comfortable and spaced far enough apart, so you could get some feeling of privacy. After a great steak dinner, with mashed potatoes and gravy, cold ranch salad, and hot monkey's pick oolong tea, I enjoyed a few blissful moments by the campfire with my cigar. I had planned on hiking the Pacific Crest Trail the next day, but it was a cold, windy and rainy morning. After packing up, yet again, it was back onto road, headed for home. A short, but profitable stop at Viejas Casino helped to pass the time while the rain died down, and I arrived home in the afternoon.

I like potato chips

I dont want to turn this account into a food review page, but I had to say something about these potato chips that I am snacking on. I guess that they are a twist on an old favorite, but anyway, these yogurt and green onion chips are making me very happy right now. I am about 4 pages into my report on religion, ethnicity, and violent civil war, and it is already past 1am. I have an accounting final in the morning, and I am debating on whether or not I should just sleep on the couch in the student lounge. I mean, I have everything that I could possibly need right here on campus. I have food, because I brought my hot dog rolling machine and enough hot dogs to keep me alive for two weeks. I have a toothbrush, and if I have to, I can take a shower at the gym. Yeah, I may end up here for the night. I am reluctant to go home because I am afraid that I may end up sleeping in. I have had this bad habit of turning off my alarm when it goes off in my sleep. I dont know how my body learned that trick, but it did. I guess that I am also a bit nervous about confronting my roomate right now, considering the fact that I just told him that he has 30 days to scram. Ah, life. Good chips.