As some of you may know, I am poor. I mean dirt poor. I mean the poverty line is so far away I'd have to run an Iron Man Marathon to reach it. And due to homelessness, I now live with my very large family (9 of us, not including the pets) and they aren't much better off financially than I am. So feeding us all is an olympic effort. There are food allergies ( wheat and mushrooms and cilantro), reflux (so nothing too spicy) and one particularly picky cousin who will not touch the following: strawberries, peas, beans of any sort, or avocados and has a weird love of miracle whip. I have to humor her, because she owns the house and buys most of the food that I eat.
And they are all a bit, uhm how should I say, midwestern, in their taste. God love them, but not everything can be made with a can of creamed soup. Vegetables are either canned green beans or corn or a bag of iceberg lettuce. This is part of poverty, btw. Fresh veggies go bad fast and require more prep and are more expensive. When you're poor, the saddest sight you'll ever see is a bunch of rotted veggies in the crisper when it's the end of the month and the rest of the fridge is bare.
The more I thought about this, the lengthier my response ran, so here we are. The Red Queen has proposed a puzzle. Her rules again:
* No wheat, mushrooms, cilantro, strawberries, peas, beans or avocados.
* Not spicy.
* May include Miracle Whip.
* All ingredients must be available at the only grocery store in town, that big box monsta that is eating the world.
A few other considerations:
* Her son is learning to bake bread.
* The family is starting a garden.
* Cream soups provide a fatty mouth feel, making even a lackluster meal seem richer. Remember that.
* Out on the internetz, there are websites working out meals for 4 for $10. Feel free to crib and adjust.
Can you feed 10 people a nutritious dinner for $10? With careful planning and a wild imagination, you can. It can be done.
For many of us, having nothing to eat is incomprehensible. It simply does not compute, so as human problems go, it is not solvable. For me, this is a little more personal: I've lived on one meal a day of mashed potatoes. This is not abstract. It is a puzzle you can help solve, one meal at a time. I'll go first.
Sweet Potato-Carrot Soup
2 Sweet potatoes
1 bag of carrots
2 chicken bullion cubes
1 pint light or heavy cream
1 teaspoon olive oil
spices on hand, including pepper
Peel sweet potatoes and carrots, cut into even size pieces, coat in olive oil and spices and roast at 325 until fork tender. Mash vegetables and place in large pot. Add 2 quarts of water, bullion cubes; simmer 20 minutes. Add cream. Add salt, pepper and herbs to taste. Serve with bread and either butter or herbed olive oil.
If sweet potatoes and carrots happen to be on sale that week, this soup could also start with sauteed diced onions. An acorn or butternut squash could also be added. Potatoes would also add a nice heft to the texture, especially if left in chunks. Do not be afraid to toss in bay leaves or sage, basil or paprika.
Now it's your turn. What's your solution?
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