Since I started my $5 per week food budget, I’ve developed an odd habit: dinner for breakfast. Yes, I’m eating my dinner foods first thing in the morning, odd as that may seem.

Before I started conserving on my food budget I started each day with a tall mug of sweetened tea and a Clif Bar. The Clif Bars cost $1.50 or so here in the one supermarket in our remote mountain town. My favorite flavor was “Peanut Toffee Buzz” which has a bit of caffeine in it. Unfortunately the Clif Bars, which cost me a minimum of $10.50 per week, were the first things to go from my food budget. I say minimum because I liked them so much, I often ate them for snacks later in the day as well.

When I ran out of Clif Bars I started making oatmeal for breakfast but my supply has dwindled. Though I’m an avid food storage advocate, I hadn’t stored oatmeal. Big mistake! I plan to make a food storage shopping trip after my six-week $5/wk. budgeting experiment is over. Oatmeal is one thing I’ll stock up on. It is a great way to get a filling breakfast in the morning.

I know a lot of people reading this will be groaning because they think oatmeal is the worst breakfast ever, but it has its uses. It digests slowly and come to think of it, Avena Sativa (oat) is a popular herb for various reasons… energy being one of them. Google “Avena Sativa” and you’ll get other ideas on what people are buying this herb for. I have some in capsule form that I’ve taken as part of my regimen to get off hypothyroid medications.

Since I like to eat a substantial breakfast, and am a total vegetarian, I’ve started eating my rice, lentils, potatoes and carrots for breakfast. I cook them once or twice weekly in my rice steamer; rice and lentils in the bottom and veggies on top. I cut my potatoes in half and eat them like baked potatoes when the rice steamer opens. For breakfast I chop the steamed potatoes and carrots into small pieces, warm in olive oil with sliced fresh garlic, and then add the rice and lentil mixture on top. Spices I add are simply salt, pepper, and garlic powder. I like lots of garlic as you can see, and believe it has great health benefits for my circulatory system.

It is nearly 4am as I write this and I’ve just had two small plates of this wonderful breakfast. Though I also eat the same for dinner I’m fully satisfied with this and know I won’t be hungry for a while.

I’m developing another breakfast… with vegan pancakes and a variety of toppings. More on that another time. The recipe isn’t perfected enough to share yet. Meanwhile, I can say I’m still eating well though I’ve reached week three of my $5/wk. food budgeting experiment.

Food purchases last week were $1.99 for a bag of potatoes, $.35 for carrots, and $.98 for fresh broccoli. That gave me $1.68 left over which I’m adding to this week’s food budget. I haven’t decided yet what I’ll spend it on. I’m considering olive oil as I’m almost out. I do have a couple pounds of butter I could use instead. I’ll probably wait until later in the week to make a decision on what to buy next. Oatmeal comes to mind.

I’m wondering how many of the people reading this blog are vegetarians. Are you one? And if not, do you want to become one?

I just found a web page about making the transition - Becoming Vegetarian: “Life” Without Meat - which may help anyone thinking about dropping meat from their diet.

It mentions soy. I personally am no longer using soy because most soybeans are now genetically modified. Too bad so many store-bought vegetarian foods are formulated with soy. I stick to plain homecooked food most of the time… beans and rice, burritos, pasta, rice and veggies, soup — simple things like that.

If you are a vegetarian, please tell us what your favorite food is!

Do you have a favorite salsa recipe?

Mine is SO simple!

I chop a few tomatoes into small pieces, add about half a chopped onion, and add one finely chopped jalapeno pepper. Can’t get much simpler than that! Still, it totally satisfies me.

At one time I didn’t know much about Mexican food. My mother never cooked it. NEVER.

Then when I was about 23 years old, I had a Hispanic boyfriend. I say Hispanic instead of Mexican because he’s never been in Mexico. Maybe today the preferred term is Latino. I don’t know… Hispanic always sounded okay to me. Anyhow, he took me home to meet his parents… they were living in Chowchilla, California at the time. His mother made dinner … and I sat down to a meal like nothing I’d ever had before.

I was doing okay with the food - all vegetarian, my favorite! She gave me homemade pinto beans and fried potatoes on a paper plate, and then plunked down a flour tortilla right next to that. Oh my goodness! I had NO IDEA what to do with the tortilla! I had to sit there watching my boyfriend eat so I’d get an idea of what to do with it. He tore it into tiny pieces and used it to pick up the other foods!

That was my introduction to Mexican food. A few months later I MARRIED this guy, and actually LEARNED to cook Mexican foods. Then in 1985 we divorced… but I still love the Mexican food!

Have you ever noticed how much better home cooked pinto beans are? I mean, better than the ones coming out of a can? WOW, the taste differential is astounding!

I like to cook beans about once a week… usually black beans, pinto beans, or lentils. I often combine the lentils with rice. This is my burrito filling. At this point I’ve weaned myself off of cheese so all I put into my burritos is the beans, salsa, and sometimes potatoes, rice, or lettuce.

I also have the habit of warming my tortillas just like my mother-in-law did… directly over the flame of a gas burner. I’d be so lost with an electric stove! My now-boyfriend insists on frying his tortillas in a frying pan with butter. Not for me! I toss mine directly on a fully-lit burner and count to ten, then turn them over, count to ten, wait for the bubbles to emerge, and that’s it. No butter, no extra calories.. no mess.

Can you tell I love burritos? I’ve been eating them a lot lately… often alongside a mug full of my amazing and delicious vegetable soup. (The soup will have to be another posting… some other day.)

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Also: Happy First Day of Spring… Joyous Spring Equinox… and for the Persians and Baha’is: Happy Naw Ruz!