What’s With Pine Nuts, Anyway?

So, you may ask, do I have a personal vendetta against pine nuts?

Hardly. My real beef with them only has to do with the price.

I was talking with a friend via email about pecans, remarking they’re almost as bad as pine nuts which, as we all know, are $60940909 a pound.

We both had to agree that we just couldn’t bring ourselves to spend that for a pine nut, and when I sent over the following brief message, “Sunflower seeds: the poor man’s pine nut since 6000 BC,” I discovered that she also uses sunflower seeds as a substitute.

So, all of that to say: I like to eat well, but I like to eat well cheaply. And it can be done. In fact, I have found that since I married my vegan-preferring husband and begun my journey into veganism that not only is a vegan diet healthy, it seems to be boundless in its possibilities, and it’s cheap. I’ve got a few standby recipes that I make fairly often, but in 3.5 years of marriage I’ve rarely made the same dish twice. I substitute like a madwoman.

The point of this blog is to provide you with healthy recipes that can be made cheaply and inspire you onward to the heights of experimentational bliss. I will also share dessert recipes that are not particularly healthy but can still be made cheaply. I will write about things we do to help minimise our personal food costs, and most likely sometimes I’ll write about something completely off the wall. I anticipate having some fellow foodie friends do some guest-posting also. I hope the information will be helpful and delicious and I welcome feedback.

Every Blog Has to Have a First Post: Baked Oatmeal

21 years ago, on a dusky November evening, my family pulled into the driveway of some friends, who opened their home to us our first few days in our new state of Idaho while we found a place to live. This family loves to socialise, and they love food, and many of my favourite memories involve times at their house.

The next morning we were welcomed to consciousness by the warm loveliness of something I’d never encountered before in all my seven and a half years: baked oatmeal. It was love at first taste.

I have, over the years, made modifications to the original recipe so that I have a vegan version. (I’m not hardcore vegan, but prefer it on the whole, so much of what you see on this blog will reflect that.) How many does it serve? Well, my husband and I can clear out the entire pan in one breakfast. We are rather voracious consumers of foody goodness.

Warm, luscious breakfasty goodness.

Without further ado, here’s the recipe:

2 whole eggs, beaten (vegans: substitute 4 T water mixed with 2 T ground flaxseed)
½ cup honey (or agave, or just substitute water if you’d rather not have sweetener)
1 cup milk (soy, rice, cocoanut, whatever)
½ cup melted butter (Nucoa margarine or olive oil)
3 cups rolled oats (other rolled grains can be used, or gluten-free oats!)
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cinnamon
2 cups frozen blueberries, unthawed (fresh berries and any kind of berry can be substituted)

Beat the eggs. Stir in honey. Add milk and melted butter or oil.

Add dry ingredients. Stir in blueberries last.

Put into an ungreased 13×9 pan and bake at 350F for 20-30 minutes. It should look nicely browned on top without being burned. Serve warm, with milk of choice.

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Make this version first, and then try the following if they appeal to you: substitute applesauce for half the oil; throw in some cocoanut or finely chopped nuts.