Healthy Brownies: Not a Joke

24 brownies
Total cost: NY $9.34
Cost per brownie: NY $0.39

Seriously?

Seriously.

Seriously?!?

Well, mostly.


This recipe comes from Dave Lieberman and Anahad O’Connor’s new book, 10 Things You Need to Eat.* We were intrigued by the “Chocolate Avocado Brownie” recipe, and wanted to give it a shot. Which we have now done, twice, the first as written and the second with some tweaks for pricing and taste. The recipe for our tweaked version appears below. The resulting product is chocolate-y and palatable and doesn’t taste at all of avocados, but it’s not really what I think of when I think Brownie. It’s more what I think of when I think Lightly Sweet Chewy Chocolate Bread. (What, I do that frequently, don't you?) Stirring in some chocolate chips might make these more brownie-esque, although of course that takes away from the “healthy”.


I think these are worth making if you’re interested in a sweet chocolate snack, but I wouldn’t serve them as dessert. Not to ratchet your expectations too far downwards: make no mistake, we ate all of these and enjoyed them! Just know that what you’re biting into is going to be more like a chocolate Luna or granola bar type thing than it is a decadent chocolate dessert. If you try these—and I know you can’t wait after a build up like that—please let us know what you think, and if you come up with any adaptations of your own!

Ingredients

• ½ cup whole wheat pastry flour (NY $0.13)
• ½ cup Dutch-process cocoa (NY $0.51)
• ½ teaspoon salt (staple)
• 1/2 cup almonds (NY $1.17)
• ½ cup walnuts (NY $0.99)
• 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate (NY $2.99)
• ½ canola oil (NY $0.42)
• 1 large ripe Hass avocado (NY $1.50)
• 6 eggs (NY $0.93)
• ½ cup granulated sugar (NY $0.28)
• 1 cup dark brown sugar (NY $0.42)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9 x 13 glass baking dish with parchment and grease.

Whisk together the flour, cocoa and salt in a mixing bowl.


In your food processor, grind nuts until roughly chopped. Careful, this will go quick. Be sure not to overdo it, you want your nuts to be hunks in the finished brownies, not turn into nut meal. Stir chopped nuts into flour mixture.

Add the chocolate to the food processor in pieces, and pulse until coarsely chopped. Stir into flour nut mixture.


Wipe out the food processor bowl, then add the oil, avocado, eggs and sugar and process until smooth. Scrape down the sides to make sure that all the avocado hunks are whipped smooth. Now you've got yourself some unappetizing greenish goop. Don't worry, I promise this is going to turn out OK. And if you don't trust me, trust Dave Lieberman.

So, take the leap of faith and, using a spatula, transfer your greenish goop into the chocolate flour mixture. Gently fold together until combined.


Pour the batter (doesn't look green any more, now does it?) into the baking dish. Bake for approx. 30-35 minutes, until the center is just set. Let cool before slicing. Take a bite, and tell us what you think!

Adapted from 10 Things You Need to Eat


* Full disclosure: we got a review copy of this book free when the LBUH attended a promotional event for Dave Lieberman. In the viewpoint of the FTC when we, as amateur bloggers, get something for free, our independent judgment and any ethics we might possess go flying right out the window, we dance around our kitchen maniacally cheering “Free! Free! Free! Let us go shill for it unreservedly and in direct violation of our own honest feelings about the item in question!” and rush off to the computer to tell you to go out and buy it immediately because it will complete your life, make you taller, thinner, grow your hair back and imbue you with the ability to fly. Unless, of course, we are forced to tell you the readers about it, in which case you, the readers, are to think “Aha! They were given this item to review for FREE! Accordingly, this item cannot possibly possess all of these positive attributes extolled by these blatantly biased and uncritical bloggers! In fact, it will probably make me less fulfilled, shorter, fatter, and balder, though I suspect it will still give me the ability to fly!”

In short, the new FTC blog guidelines don’t really give bloggers or their readers much credit at all and, although I understand their goals and am aware of the bad sites out there they are trying to curtail, I find them both somewhat offensive and also vague enough that they don’t give much actual guidance. Or, for other, sharper, smarter words, see: Janet Reid’s FTC Compliance Notice. When you read reviews of this same cookbook in a magazine, you can be sure the reviewer didn’t run off and buy a copy, but the FTC doesn’t think that they need to tell you about it. Yet because I am not Gwyneth Paltrow, more's the pity, I apparently do.

Additionally, please see the note about our Amazon store that we have added to our "About REC(ession)IPES" section.


Nutritional Info
Amount Per Serving

Calories 183.5	Vitamin A 1.8 %	Iron 7.1 %
Total Fat 11.2 g	Vitamin B-12 2.1 %	Magnesium 7.3 %
Cholesterol 53.1 mg	Vitamin B-6 2.8 %	Manganese 15.4 %
Sodium 68.9 mg	Vitamin C 1.1 %	Niacin 2.5 %
Potassium 149.7 mg	Vitamin D 1.6 %	Phosphorus 6.9 %
Total Carbohydrate 19.8 g	Vitamin E 11.2 %	Riboflavin 6.9 %
Fiber 2.2 g	Calcium 2.8 %	Selenium 8.9 %
Sugars 5.7 g	Copper 8.1 %	Thiamin 2.4 %
Protein 3.6 g	Folate 3.8 %	Zinc 3.5 %

Recipe and Nutritional Information after the jump

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes 4 dozen
Total Cost: NY $4.42
Cost per cookie: NY $0.09


As you’ve probably heard by now, Nestle has recalled all of its refrigerated cookie dough products, including Toll House. And. . . all this talk of chocolate chip cookie dough has made me crave cookies. Because yes, I am weird like that. So, no time like the present to make our own cookie dough!*


This recipe includes a neat trick that the LBUH picked up from a college roommate about how to keep your cookies chewy. Another great thing about this recipe is that it lets you satisfy your cravings for fresh chocolate cookies both now, and later. We always make a baking sheet (or two if we’re being honest . . . .) immediately, and store the rest of the batter in the freezer for later on in the week.** Later, just put frozen chunks of cookie dough on a baking sheet, and increase the first cooking time slightly.

Ingredients

• 2 sticks of unsalted butter at room temperature (NY $1.50)
• ¾ cup white sugar (NY $0.26)
• ¾ cup dark brown sugar (NY $0.35)
• 2 eggs (NY $0.33)
• 1 tbsp milk (staple)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (staple)
• 1 teaspoon almond extract (staple)
• 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour (NY $0.49)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda (staple)
• ½ teaspoon salt (staple)
• 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (NY $1.49)

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degress. Using an electric mixer or by hand if you prefer, cream together the butter and the sugars. Add eggs one at a time along with the milk and the almond and vanilla extracts and beat until well-blended. (If doing this by hand, whisk the eggs just to blend in a separate bowl before incorporating into the butter mixture.)

In another bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt. When thoroughly mixed, slowly stir the dry ingredients into the butter mixture. Once combined, stir in the chocolate chips.

Place teaspoon-sized drops of cookie dough onto an ungreased baking sheet, and bake. After the cookies have been baking for about 5-7 minutes, remove the tray, and quickly slap the tray down on your counter. This should cause the bubbly cookies to quickly deflate and flatten. This is a good thing! Deflating the cookies helps them stay chewy after they have cooled.


Place the tray back in the oven and bake until the cookies are beginning to brown, approx. another 5 minutes. Remove from oven and let the cookies cool on the baking sheets until they start to harden slightly (approx. 2-5 minutes), and then transfer cookies to a baking rack to finish cooling.

* So, you may be wondering, what’s the “healthy” angle on this recipe? Ummm, not loaded down with E. Coli? That’s sounds healthy to us! Not good enough? Then we’re going to have to go with “all things in moderation”.

**Or later in the month or season if you, unlike us, possess some of that “willpower” stuff they’re always babbling about.

*** Our oven unfortunately has a draft, alas, so it usually takes longer.


Nutritional Facts
Amount Per Cookie

Calories 108.5	Vitamin A 2.9 %	Iron 3.1 %
Total Fat 5.7 g	Vitamin B-12 0.5 %	Magnesium 2.5 %
Cholesterol 17.8 mg	Vitamin B-6 0.4 %	Manganese 5.0 %
Sodium 74.1 mg	Vitamin C 0.0 %	Niacin 1.8 %
Potassium 44.8 mg	Vitamin D 0.3 %	Phosphorus 2.0 %
Total Carbohydrate 14.2 g	Vitamin E 0.8 %	Riboflavin 2.7 %
Fiber 0.5 g	Calcium 0.8 %	Selenium 4.0 %
Sugars 6.5 g	Copper 3.2 %	Thiamin 3.2 %
Protein 1.1 g	Folate 2.8 %	Zinc 1.2 %

Recipe and Nutritional Information after the jump

Lemon Squares

Makes 24 squares
Total price: NY $2.02
Price per square: NY $0.08


I’ll be honest: I didn’t love these and didn’t at first think them blog-worthy. When I mentioned to our guests that I wasn’t thrilled with these and apologized,* though, they all told me I was wrong and that they were delicious. Well, sure, duh, of course they would because our friends were not raised by wolves. I wasn’t fooled.


But then they all went back for seconds, then thirds and then the next thing I knew the plate was empty. Now, the LBUH and our friends are polite, but they’re not that polite. The LBUH in particular is certainly not clear-the-plate polite if he’s not loving something, he’s more of the thank-you-for-your- efforts-and-scrape-the-plate-into-the-dog’s-dish-while-you’re-not-looking kind of polite. So I let the empty plate convince me: these may not be to my own taste**, but they’re a crowd-pleaser. Indeed, one of our friends even whipped out his fancy professional camera and took some pictures of his own in an effort to convince me to post about these. How could I let his pics*** go to waste?



Ingredients

• 1 stick butter (NY $0.75)
• 1 ¼ cups sugar (NY $0.43)
• ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour (NY $0.12)
• ½ cup whole wheat pastry flour (NY $0.14)
• 2 eggs (NY $0.33)
• 1 lemon, juiced and zested (NY $0.25)
• ½ teaspoon baking soda (staple)
• Confectioner’s sugar (staple)

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and lightly grease an 8 inch square baking dish. Cream the butter with ¼ cup of sugar, and stir in ½ cup of the all purpose flour and the whole wheat pastry flour. Press the mixture into the prepared dish and bake for 15 minutes. (It won’t look cooked at this point, but that’s OK! Its going back into the oven a little later.) Allow partially baked crust to cool slightly as you prepare the filling.


Beat together the eggs, lemon juice and zest, baking soda, remaining granulated sugar and 2 tbsps of all purpose flour. Pour filling mixture over the prepared crust. Return to over, and bake for approx. 20 more minutes. (The squares should be firm at the edges, but still soft in the middle.) Cool, then sift confectioner’s sugar over the top, to taste. Cut into squares and serve! If, unlike me, you end up with leftovers, store these in the fridge.


Adapted from Mark Bittman, How to Cook Everything

* As I seem to recall Amanda Hesser noting in Cooking for Mr Latte, doing so isn’t terribly polite, as it interferes with your guests’ enjoyment of their meal. Also, its generally akin to fishing for compliments. I give myself a pass on this one, however, as we’d gathered friends expressly for the purpose of vetting recipes for the blog. Thus, our friends came prepared to be asked for and to express frank opinions, as well as braced for experimentation.

** My beef with these was that I like lemon squares that are more little squared off pieces of lemon tart than like a lemony bar cookie. This recipe creates more of a bar cookie square. If that sounds delish to you, than you’ll like these. In the meantime, and with all due respect to the generally infallible Mr. Bittman who put these in the bar cookie section of his very handy tome, I’m still on the hunt for the perfect tart-like lemon square recipe. I’ll let you know once I’ve found it!

*** All together now: OOoooooOOOOOoooo! Pretty!


Nutrition Facts
Amount Per Serving

Calories 102.8	Vitamin A 2.9 %	Iron 1.6 %
Total Fat 4.3 g	Vitamin B-12 0.8 %	Magnesium 1.3 %
Cholesterol 27.9 mg	Vitamin B-6 0.9 %	Manganese 6.5 %
Sodium 58.9 mg	Vitamin C 1. 5 %	Niacin 1.7 %
Potassium 23.4 mg	Vitamin D 1.2 %	Phosphorus 2.2 %
Total Carbohydrate 15.4 g	Vitamin E 0.8 %	Riboflavin 2.6 %
Fiber 0.4 g	Calcium 0.5 %	Selenium 6.2 %
Sugars 11.1 g	Copper 0.8 %	Thiamin 2.5 %
Protein 1.2 g	Folate 2.1 %	Zinc 1.0 %

Recipe and Nutritional Information after the jump

Suspiros (aka Meringues)

Approximately 20 large cookies*
Total price: NY $1.35
Price per Suspiro: NY $0.07


Suspiros, more commonly known as meringues, are a staple treat on the LBUH’s side of the family. Family lore provides two alternative theories as to how they became part of the family tradition. One version has it that when the LBUH’s mother used to make Buche De Noel for the Christmas holidays, she garnished the log with little mushrooms made out of beaten egg-white batter. The petite champignons turned out to be a real crowd pleaser, and far more so than the intricate and labor-intensive cake. Over time the decadent and time-consuming log got the boot, but the Suspiros landed a recurring role at the holiday table.


The other story is that these treats were introduced to the Stateside folks by the LBUH’s family in Colombia. Given the fact that they all call these tasty treats Suspiros (Spanish for “Sighs”), and not meringues, the LBUH’s guess is that story #2 holds more weight. As, however, my mother-in-law espouses the version of events recounted in story #1, I’m going with that theory, and I don’t care what kind of fancypants linguistic forensics you throw at me.

Ingredients

• 3 Egg whites (NY $ 0.50) **
• 1.5 cups sugar (NY $0.85)
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract (staple)

Instructions
Beat egg whites and vanilla extract until the whites is beginning to stiffen and form tiny peaks.

Once the egg white/vanilla mixture is stiffening, slowly add the sugar and continue to beat until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is not grainy.


Cover a baking sheet with a silpat mat or parchment paper*** and place spoonfuls of the batter onto the mat or paper**** .


Place the sheet in the oven and cook for 4-5 hours at 225 degrees. ***** When the suspiros are done, they will be firm, crunchy, and crumbly. If the centers are still chewy, bake for another 20-30 minutes.

Dust with coco powder or powdered sugar for extra presentation "WOW!" if you'd like.


* This is a really easy recipe to modify the size. We like to make one baking sheet of suspiros, and find that 20 fills the sheet (at least the way LBUH dollops them out), but if you want to make more (or less, but why would you ever want to do that?) the formula is 1/2 cup of sugar for every egg white. (So 2 eggs =1 cup of sugar, 4 eggs = 2 cups, you get the idea…)
**Depending on what you keep in your kitchen, this treat could be whipped up without ever leaving the house. We had to buy eggs, but had plenty of sugar and vanilla extract on hand.
* **Make sure you are using parchment paper and not wax paper. Wax + heat = mess you don’t want to clean.
**** If you want to make really fancy ones, you can use an HUH?
*****Basically we’re turning the oven into a kiln. We’re not baking the Suspiros as much as drying them out, ensuring that the egg whites are fully cooked and stay at the necessary 140 degrees for at least 3 minutes. Let’s try and avoid Salmonella, shall we? Because apparently we can’t trust food companies to do it for us!


Nutritional Facts
Approximate values per cookie

Calories 60.9	Protein 0.6 g	Magnesium 0.0 %
Total Fat 0.0 g	Vitamin A 0.0 %	Manganese 0.0 %
Saturated Fat 0.0 g	Vitamin B-12 0.0 %	Niacin 0.0 %
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.0 g	Vitamin B-6 0.0 %	Pantothenic Acid 0.0 %
Monounsaturated Fat 0.0 g	Vitamin C 0.0 %	Phosphorus 0.0 %
Cholesterol 0.0 mg	Vitamin D 0.0 %	Riboflavin 0.2 %
Sodium 8.3 mg	Vitamin E 0.0 %	Selenium 0.1 %
Potassium 0.5 mg	Calcium 0.0 %	Thiamin 0.0 %
Total Carbohydrate 15.0 g	Copper 0.0 %	Zinc 0.0 %
Dietary Fiber 0.0 g	Folate 0.0 %
Sugars 15.0 g	Iron 0.0 %

Recipe and Nutritional Information after the jump

Ginger Ice Cream

Yields about 1 quart
Total Price: NY $ 5.56 (with one leftover egg and 5 leftover egg whites)
Price per scoop: NY $0.46


This recipe makes a custard-style ice cream, which isn’t my favorite but which the LBUH adores. Since we had leftover egg yolks, I decided to make this for him. The ginger makes this sweetly spicy, but still relatively mild. A great after dinner dessert, particularly as ginger is said to aid in digestion. As you’d expect for something made with egg yolks and heavy cream, this dish is more decadent than its is diet-friendly. But it still has lots of vitamins and minerals, some protein and calcium, and as long as you don’t scarf down the whole quart (Hey! LBUH, back away from the freezer! Leave the spoon where I can see it!), its not entirely out of place on a website devoted in part to healthy eating. This is delicious topped with crumbled ginger snaps.

(UPDATE: We've been Slashfooded! "Ginger Ice Cream - Feast Your Eyes")

Ingredients

• Small knob (about 3 inches) fresh ginger (NY $0.58)
• 1 cup milk, whatever kind you keep on hand (NY $0.30)
• 2 cups heavy cream (NY $2.49)
• 5 egg yolks (NY $2.19 for half dozen)
• ¾ cup sugar (staple)
• Pinch of salt (staple)
• Optional: chopped crystallized ginger (staple: if you don’t have any already, I wouldn’t bother buying just for this recipe)

Directions
Scrub the outside of the ginger thoroughly, but there's no need to peel. Slice the ginger root in half lengthwise. Rest each cut side down your cutting board for stability, then slice lengthwise into very thin long slices.

Put the slices in your saucepan and add about two inches of water. The ginger slices should be covered and have a little less than an extra inch of water to float in.

Blanch the slices by bringing the water to a boil, and then continue bowling for approx. two minutes.


Pour the ginger root into a colander to remove the water, and then return the ginger to the saucepan.

Add the sugar, salt, milk, and half of the cream to the saucepan and reheat, being careful not to bring to a boil. When the mixture is warm, remove it from the heat and let it sit covered for at least an hour so the solution absorbs the flavor from the ginger.

When the hour is almost up, pour the rest of your cream and the crushed crystallized ginger into a large bowl, place a mesh strainer on top, and place the bowl in an ice bath.*

Reheat the saucepan containing the milk/cream/ginger solution. Using a slotted spoon, scoop out the ginger slices.**

In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks together, and then slowly pour in the contents of the saucepan while continuing to whisk the eggs.

Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and reheat over low to medium heat. Continuously stir with a spatula, making sure that the egg/milk solution does not stick to the sides and bottom of the saucepan. Keep stirring and scraping the sides until the mixture begins to thicken.

Once the mixture is evenly coating your spatula, pour it through the mesh strainer into the large bowl containing the rest of your cream. While the bowl is in the ice bath, stir the mixture until it is cool.

Place the mixture in your refrigerator and chill for about 1 hour, then freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s directions.

Adapted from David Lebovitz, Perfect Scoop: Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, and Sweet Accompaniments

*I filled the kitchen sink with a mixture of ice cubes and enough cold water so that the bottom half of the bowl was submerged.
** You can try nibbling on these while you continue to make the ice cream: the LBUH loved these, although I did not.


Nutrition Facts per scoop

Calories 197.2	Vitamin B-12 2.9 %	Manganese 0.1 %
Total Fat 15.1 g	Vitamin B-6 1.2 %	Niacin 0.2 %
Cholesterol 71.8 mg	Vitamin C 0.8 %	Pantothenic Acid 2.1 %
Sodium 39.3 mg	Vitamin D 5.5 %	Phosphorus 5.1 %
Potassium 67.5 mg	Vitamin E 1.5 %	Riboflavin 4.8 %
Total Carbohydrate 14.7 g	Calcium 5.3 %	Selenium 2.1 %
Fiber 0.0g	Copper 0.3 %	Thiamin 1.2 %
Sugars 12.5 g	Folate 1.2 %	Zinc 1..4 %
Protein 1.7 g	Iron 0.3 %
Vitamin A 12.1 %	Magnesium 1.3 %

Recipe and Nutritional Information after the jump

Apple Streusel Coffee Cake

16 squares, or 8 slices*
Total price: NY $4.18 (with extra milk and eggs)
Price per square: NY $0.26


"Recessionipes Entertains: It’s a Pity Party! (Part 2)"
(If you missed Part 1, check it out here.)

Happy National Coffee Cake Day!

Unfortunately, as we were putting the finishing touches on this post, Blondie officially got the boot. Blondie, to paraphrase an editor from the now defunct Domino magazine paraphrasing Dinner at Eight: “Darling, that’s fabulous! ALL the best people are getting fired these days!”

Blondie’s report on the coffee cake: "I was thrilled to be invited to your blogger’s home for brunch this past Sunday, and because my mother raised me right, I wanted to bring something. Those of you who bake know that a homemade sweet treat is always welcome, and if, like me, your employment looks iffy, you want to keep the meal invitations coming! So in keeping with the Rec(ession)ipes theme, I made this Apple Streusel Coffee Cake.

I love this cake because it's quick, and can be made almost completely with staples already in your kitchen. I put the whole thing together while my laundry was in the dryer. It requires no special equipment beyond a knife to chop apples and a wooden spoon to mix the batter - you don't even need an electric mixer. In terms of ingredients, I indulged my farmers' market craving, and spent all of two dollars for two beautiful large Ida Reds ($1.80/lb). Everything else was already in the kitchen."


Ingredients
For the Cake:

• 1 1/2 cups flour total, equal parts white and whole wheat, sifted*, then measured (staple)
• 2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder (staple)
• 1/2 cup sugar (staple)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (staple)
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon (staple)
• 1 egg (NY $0.99 for 6)
• 1/2 cup milk (can be skim) (NY $ 1.19 for 1 qt.)
• 1/4 cup vegetable shortening, melted*** (shortening melts very quickly, so use low flame, and keep an eye on it)
• 1 1/2 cup chopped apples (about two large apples), any semi-tart to tart variety (NY $2.00)

For the streusel topping (aka, the crumb part that everyone likes):

• 1/2 cup sugar (staple)
• 1/4 cup flour total, equal parts white and whole wheat (staple)
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnnamon (staple)
• 2 tablespoons butter (right out of the refrigerator is fine) (staple)

Instructions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Sift flour together with other dry ingredients.

Beat the egg, then add the milk and melted shortening.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry then add the raw apples and mix well.

Pour the batter into a well-greased 8-inch square pan.

To make the streusel, stir together the dry ingredients, then cut in butter using a pastry blender**** until it forms pea-sized pieces with the dry ingredients.

Finish combining with your fingertips until you have small clumps.

Sprinkle topping over the batter. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Adapted from Foodnetwork.com

*Confession: we went for slices.
** I don't have a sifter, and probably never will. A fine-mesh sieve works perfectly well.
***As far as staples go, this may be a bit of a cheat - I happened to have vegetable shortening in the house (confession: from the last time I made this cake), but if you don't, and you want to keep to staples, butter would probably work just as well.
****If you don't have a pastry blender, butter may be cut in using two butter knives in a criss crossing motion, or just work it in with your fingertips. If you like to make struesel toppings, or any kind of fruit crumbles, you may want to get a pastry blender - it cuts time in half, easily.

Thanks for the great recipe Blondie! We’ll let you all know when “Desserts on the Dole: Baking & the Breadline” goes live!

Nutrition Facts

Approximate values per serving

Calories 150.3	Vitamin A 1.5 %	Iron 4.2 %
Total Fat 5.2 g	Vitamin B-12 1.1 %	Magnesium 4.5 %
Cholesterol 19.0 mg	Vitamin B-6 2.6 %	Manganese 24.2 %
Sodium 160.0 mg	Vitamin C 1.3 %	Niacin 4.3 %
Potassium 79.5 mg	Vitamin D 0.7 %	Phosphorus 7.0 %
Total Carbohydrate 24.7 g	Vitamin E 1.4 %	Riboflavin 3.8 %
Fiber 1.9 g	Calcium 5.7 %	Selenium 14.1 %
Sugars 12.5 g	Copper 2.6 %	Thiamin 4.8 %
Protein 2.4 g	Folate 2.7 %	Zinc 2.8 %

Recipe and Nutritional Information after the jump

Mango, Blueberry and Ginger Fruit Salad

Serves 8
Total Price: NY $9.56 / NY $13.15
Price Per Serving: NY $1.20 / $1.65

"Recessionipes Entertains: It's a Pity Party! (Part 1)"


A good friend of ours, let's call her Blondie, recently discovered that she too is soon to join the rising number of unemployed workers with fancy professional degrees and the student loans to prove it. We told her to come on over for some commiserating, gallows humor and, of course, emotional eating.

I think most of us have noticed that it's a lot cheaper to go out for brunch than it is to go out for dinner: the same rule applies if you're having people over to your home. Blondie, who is an excellent baker, whipped up some coffee cake and we provided a frittata and this fruit salad (Blondie's Apple Coffee Cake was moist, wallet-friendly and delicious, and we're hoping that with a little bit of peer pressure we can coax her into sharing the recipe!).

I've been making this fruit salad for years, because the flavor combination is so refreshing, and much more interesting than you usually get in a traditional fruit salad. Seasonwise, we jumped the gun a bit on this one: later on in the spring it will be both cheaper and more flavorful.


Ingredients

• 2 limes (NY $1.00)
• 1/3 cup water (free!)
• 1/3 cup sugar (staple)
• 2 large mangoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces (NY $5.00)
• 3 cups blueberries (NY $3.56)
• 1/4 cup finely chopped crystallized ginger (staple, or NY $3.59 for 12 oz.)

Instructions
(Note: Be sure to make in advance: you'll want to let this marinate for a while before serving.)

Zest one of the limes using a peeler, and remove any white pith from the strips of the peel with a knife.

Juice both the limes (rolling them with your hand against a cutting board first to loosen up the juices.)

Combine zest, water and sugar in a small saucepan and bring to a boil.

Stir until all sugar is dissolved, then boil, uncovered approx. 3 minutes.

Remove from heat and stir in the lime juice.

Let stand for 20 minutes, then remove and discard the zest.

Toss together mangoes, blueberries, ginger and syrup in a large bowl and let stand until ready to serve (recommended: at least 30 minutes.)


Adapted from Gourmet, August 2003

Nutrition Facts

Approximate values per serving

Calories 115.6	Vitamin A 9.1 %	Iron 0.9 %
Total Fat 0.4 g	Vitamin B-12 0.0 %	Magnesium 2.0 %
Cholesterol 0.0 mg	Vitamin B-6 4.6 %	Manganese 8.5 %
Sodium 6.6 mg	Vitamin C 40.4 %	Niacin 2.6 %
Potassium 140.4 mg	Vitamin D 0.0 %	Phosphorus 1.2 %
Total Carbohydrate 30.2 g	Vitamin E 5.6 %	Riboflavin 3.5 %
Fiber 2.5 g	Calcium 1.0 %	Selenium 1.0 %
Sugars 18.0 g	Copper 4.6 %	Thiamin 3.9 %
Protein 0.7 g	Folate 2.9 %	Zinc 0.6 %

Recipe and Nutritional Information after the jump

Raspberry Frozen Yogurt

Yields about 1 quart
Total price: NY $9.48
Price per scoop: NY $0.79


You might not think of making your own frozen yogurt as a particularly thrifty habit, particularly not one made from raspberries. If you happen to already own an ice cream maker, however, the cost per scoop is relatively low, and once you taste the results I bet you’ll think that its worth every penny. This yogurt is creamy, tart, not overly sweet but zingy and full of bright, vibrant raspberry flavor (And raspberry is one of those ice cream/fro yo flavors that you just can’t get at the grocery store. Black raspberry, which you can sometimes find, is a different fruit altogether).

This recipe celebrates instead of camouflaging its yogurt-base. It’s a decadent-tasting dessert that is surprisingly almost as virtuous as a breakfast smoothie. Perfect now that spring, and hope, are just starting to fill the air.*


Ingredients

• 2 cups Greek yogurt (NY $ 4.99 for 17.6 oz Fage Total 0)
• 2.5 cups fresh or frozen raspberries (NY $3.99 for 12 oz frozen)
• 1 teaspoon kirsch (staple)
• ¾ cup sugar (staple)
• Juice of ½ a lemon (NY $0.50 for 1 lemon)

Instructions
In a blender, puree all ingredients. (If you dislike raspberry seeds, you can push the results through a strainer to remove. I say, why bother?) Chill for 1 hour, then freeze in ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s directions.

Adapted from David Lebovitz, Perfect Scoop: Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, and Sweet Accompaniments

* Wow, I’m really waxing rhapsodic here, huh?


Nutrition Facts
Approximate values per scoop (if using nonfat yogurt)

Calories: 89.1	Vitamin A 1.1 %	Iron 0.9 %
Fat: 0.8 g	Vitamin B-12 2.2 %	Magnesium 2.2 %
Cholesterol: 2.8 mg	Vitamin B-6 1.4 %	Manganese 13.1 %
Sodium 22.5 mg	Vitamin C 12.5 %	Niacin 1.3 %
Potassium 97.3 mg	Vitamin D 0.0 %	Phosphorus 3.7 %
Total Carbohydrate 17.9	Vitamin E 0.7 %	Riboflavin 4.5 %
Fiber 1.8 g	Calcium 6.6 %	Selenium 1.5 %
Sugars 14.8 g	Copper 1.1 %	Thiamin 1.3 %
Protein 2.8 g	Folate 2.4 %	Zinc 2.2 %

Recipe and Nutritional Information after the jump