Friends and Fish Tacos

For dinner yesterday, my roommate and I had another friend over for our weekly Tuesday dinner party. Of course, I am still on the hunt for the most economical and delicious recipes possible, so here we go!

Tilapia is a really cost-effective fish, and if you're buying U.S. farm-raised, it's also relatively sustainable. We're not just egg snobs around here, we're also fish snobs. Luckily, on this one occasion, being concerned with sustainability pairs nicely with being concerned with cost. On top of all this, I LOVE fish tacos. It's actually an obsession of mine that has only increased with time. Not to mention with the discovery of Tacubaya, a local taqueria that makes possibly the best fish tacos on the face of the planet. But, on a teeny-tiny budget, Tacubaya is out of the question for the forseeable future.

So, we created this lovely recipe, using a base recipe from GimmeSomeOven.com. (Click on the link for recipe.) I edited it a bit. I didn't bake the fish, I fryed it with a very light flour batter. In addition, I used a yellow onion instead of a red onion because it was what I had. Blue corn tortillas looked yummy, so I added those on. Finally, I added a yogurt sauce which I've made before of fish tacos, using yogurt, cilantro, salt, and sugar to taste.

The result was so yummy that we didn't pause for pictures, but here is the breakdown:

Tilapia: $2.82
Onion: $0.50
Mandarin oranges: $0.79
Red pepper portion: $0.25
Cilantro: $0.25
Jalapeno: $0.10
Spinach: $0.25
Tortillas: $1.99

The rest were bits and pieces that I had on hand, so I haven't counted them.

All in all, total cost per serving (served 3) was $2.32. Considering that this meal included fish, I was pretty darn impressed!

Bon appetit!

New Beginnings: Fall Vegetable and Quinoa Hash with Poached Eggs

Life has its surprises, and recently, it had a big one in store for me. Recently unemployed, and not exactly sure which direction to go, I am deciding to turn my unemployment into FUNemployment by taking on a number of projects around the house while I begin the job hunt anew. Of course, part of FUNemployment is finding all of the ways to make these projects low cost and exciting enough to substitute for a dinner out and a movie in a real, honest-to-goodness theater. So, this is my attempt to create the cheapest meals possible while still maintaining my love for gourmet eats. Bon marche is the French term for inexpensive, meaning literally, "the good deal" or "the good market." Since I love good deals and my local farmer's market, this seems like the perfect name for my new undertaking. I hope you will enjoy, and pinch some pennies along with me.

To begin: a new breakfast for supper favorite--Fall-Vegetable and Quinoa Hash with Poached Eggs from WholeLiving.com. With just a few minor adjustments to ingredients based on what was in the pantry, this created a pretty great substitute for your Southern eggs and hashbrowns (strong praise coming from a Southerner). The quinoa lends a really nutty flavor, especially if you can find black quinoa, which we bought at Whole Foods. The beets and potatoes are vaguely sweet, and the thyme and spices are in great balance with the rest of the ingredients.

I'll approximate cost, since these ingredients already existed in my pantry.

Quinoa: $0.50

Beets: $0.75

Leek: $0.50

Sweet potato: $1.00

Eggs: $0.80 **We're egg snobs in this household and only eat free-range eggs...you could definitely cut this cost, not that I'm suggesting it.

The rest of the items were pantry staples, so they cost me nothing. I used apple cider vinegar instead of white wine vinegar because I was out, pink sea salt because it's fun, and dried thyme because I had no fresh.

So--drumroll please--total cost per person: $1.78 per person, more or less. If you did a meal for 4, it would be about $1.25 per person. Since we had 2 people eating, and plenty of leftovers, we're thinking we'll do a breakfast scramble re-run with a salty cheese like feta. I'll be sure to report back.

Enjoy!

Ingredients for this meal. To see the actual recipe, click the link above. I wouldn't want to plagiarize Martha Stewart.

And the finished product! Bon appetit!