An obrunyi's guide to eating, shopping and entertainment in Accra, Ghana

Are you looking for a guide or map to places to eat, shop, groceries, restaurants, and entertainment in Accra Ghana? You won't find many good resources elsewhere, but you've come to the right place! After living in Accra for three years, I've transferred my insider's knowledge of living as an expat or "obrunyi" in Accra into a google map, complete with my sometimes random side commentary. From the international grocery stores to the best hole in the wall eats, it's all waiting for you!

Food blogs are a dime a dozen nowadays. I try to make this blog distinct by focusing on food that is high quality while being healthy, with little forays to either side of the middle from time to time.

But another source of uniqueness is that I am unusually well informed on the topic of African food, and Ghanaian food in particular. This is because I've spent a cumulative total of 3 years living in Ghana. So from time to time I get folks coming through here because they are moving to Accra and looking for information on where to go and what to do.

In the West we've become accustomed (dare I say spoiled?) to information overload. if you want to find a cafe near you, you can hop on google and just search for it. Not so in Accra, at least not yet. The last time I was in Ghana the google maps for the capital city listed only the most major roads, essentially the equivalent of showing Chicago as a big blank yellow space circumscribed by highway I90-94 and Lakeshore Drive. And searching? Fahgettaboutit.

Google maps has significantly improved its knowledge of the road system in Accra, so I've decided to be a good international citizen and brain dump what I know of living and getting around in Accra.


View Accra, Ghana in a larger map

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Ravinia Picnic Tables on Sale

This is the time of year when most foodies start thinking about the picnic season. And if you are anything like me, eagerly anticipating picnic season looks like a combination of daydreaming about food and gear. Most Chicagoan picnic fanatics will make at least one pilgrimage to Ravinia park to listen to classical music from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, or enjoy any of the touring musical acts they bring. Folks new to the picnic culture of Ravinia are typically amazed at the elaborate settings that many lay out, including an elegant traveling picnic table festooned with everything from candelabra to fresh flowers.

Many of us just refer to those amazing little tables as "ravinia tables" and every year I get a slew of people who contact me looking for them, or who find my site searching for Ravinia tables. In truth they are Crate and Barrel's "Table in a Bag." They roll up to the size of one of those collapsing chairs that everyone has now and are about as heavy. They are easy to transport and when they roll out and are secured the final product looks quite a bit classier than the standard traveling picnic gear.

Let me just state right off that I am not being paid a penny to point out this sale to you all. In fact, the fine folks at Ravinia and Crate & Barrel (the makers of this fabulous picnic table) probably do not know I exist. But even in the world of paid "advertorials" making readers skeptical, I still think that there are some products that I enjoy so thoroughly that it is a service to readers to pass on news of them.

Best of all C&B seems to have them on sale now. So if you are stocking up for your summer picnics, whether at Ravinia or just in the park, this is a great one to grab. Click on the photo above to be taken to the C&B site where you can shop for them.

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Chamomile Kumquat Tart

I am bashfully enamored of kumquats. They are like that popular girl in high school who is small, sassy and a little bit of a rebel. You couldn't necessarily hang out with them all the time, but in small doses they knock your socks off.



I was munching (skin and all of course) these tart little darlings while contemplating what to make for a nice dinner I was cooking for friends. I had some kumquats around, so I wanted to feature them. It was a short leap to a tart: I love lemon in tarts, grapefruit, lime and orange also all make fantastic tarts, so why not the kumquat? There is something in the velvety custard composition of the tart filling that smooths out the slight brashness of citrus in a way that is divine.



I was doing all this deep thinking at a time when I was particularly into experimenting with the subtle but complex undertones that teas can bring to dishes both savory and sweet. So I munched my kumquat while standing in front of my tea cabinet, variously sniffing teas for inspiration. It wasn't long before I settled on the sweet, homey and floral taste of chamomile as the perfect compliment. All underscored by a buttery, tender shortbread crust.

Crust

1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1/8 tsp salt
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold
1/4 tsp almond extract
1-4 teaspoons ice water

Stir to combine flour, sugar and salt. Sprinkle with almond extract. Using pastry cutter or forks, cut in the three tablespoons of cold butter. Sprinkle with ice water one teaspoon at a time, stirring to combine until it looks like coarse wet sand.

Transfer dough to plastic wrap, form a disk, wrap and chill (for up to 30 minutes) before rolling out. If you are pressed for time, this step can be omitted, although the crust will not have as fine a texture.

Press crust into your chosen baking vessel, either individual style ramekins or a larger tart pan. For optimum crust, freeze in pan before baking.

Pre-bake crust @ 425 for 20-25 minutes in lower third of oven, or until golden brown


Tart Filling

2 eggs
1/3-1/2 cup sugar (depending on whether you prefer a tart or sweet finish)
1 Tablespoon honey
1/2 cup hot water
1 packet chamomile tea leaves
9 kumquats, seeds removed, blended
1/8 tsp sea salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed

Soak chamomile tea packet in the hot water. You can simply infuse the water and then drain the leaves before combining with the tart filling. This will result in a more subtle chamomile influence. Or you can cut open the chamomile packet and combine the leaves with the filling itself. As you can see in the photos above, I elected not to strain the leaves out, giving it a more rustic, rather than refined, final presentation.

Whisk the two eggs together with the sugar in a pan over medium low heat, stirring constantly. Add the kumquat puree, salt, honey, and chamomile infused water. Whisk to combine. Add the cubed butter and continue to whisk over medium heat until the sauce is thick and custardy, clinging to the whisk. It is important to whisk continuously or there is a risk that the eggs will separate out giving you little bits of scrambled egg in your tart, which no one wants.

After adding butter, cook until filling thickens, but is pourable (8-10 min). For very smooth filling, strain filling through fine mesh strainer, into prebaked crust.

Bake tart at 325 until filling is set, about 10 minutes. Remove from oven and cool to set before serving.

Shown here garnished with mint sprigs, raspberry and blueberry.

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Andreae's Vegetarian Moroccan Stew with No-knead Bread

This dish has that certain kind of tantalizing heat that makes it delightful year round, and I find it particularly perfect for these annoyingly chilly Chicago "spring" days. I first became acquainted with Andreae's Vegetarian Moroccan Stew when our friend Michelle volunteered to bring us dinner after we'd brought our newborn son home from the hospital. Michelle showed up at the door with a huge container of couscous, another of healthy and filling Moroccan stew, and then some home baked bread and sinful brownies to round the whole thing off.



I devoured the vegetable stew that night, sopping up the juices with a piece of freshly baked and still warm bread. Then I gleefully enjoyed it reheated for lunch every day until it was gone. I just couldn't get enough of it, and I loved that it was so richly satisfying, but healthy to boot (and therefore great for helping to drop those baby pounds). I immediately asked Michelle for the recipe, which she gladly supplied. The recipe even has a friendly little back story:

"The Moroccan Stew is a recipe my oldest and dearest friend Emily, who I've known since I was 3 sent me. Her friend Andreae who is a vegan chef created it. The bread was a find from the days when I used to sit down and read the Sunday paper. Best when served fresh out of the oven! Elliot found the brownie recipe. We used cocoa powder instead of unsweetened chocolate but I'm sure both would work. Enjoy!
Love,
Michelle"

I'm sure I'll share the brownie recipe soon, but for now feast on some bread and Moroccan stew...

Andreae's Famous Moroccan Stew

by Andreae Prozesky circa 2000

Ingredients
Some Oil
1 chopped onion
1 chopped zucchini
1 can chickpeas, drained
1 can diced tomatoes
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
salt to taste
1 box couscous (Near East's tomato lentil works well)

1. Heat oil in saucepan. Add spices. Cook about a minute. Add onion, cook another minute or so.
2. Add zucchini, cook another minute or so.
3. Add everything else. Cover, cook for maybe 5-10 minutes.
4. Make couscous.
5. Serve stew over couscous.

Note: Doubles, triples, or quadruples well. Sometimes I substitute fresh tomatoes, but if you do, remember to add extra salt.

No-Knead Bread

By Leah Eskin, Chicago Tribune, Adapted from the New York Times
3 cups all-purpose or bread four, plus more for dusting
1/4 teaspoon instant yeast
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
1 5/8 cups water
Cornmeal or what bran, optional

1. Mix: In large bowl, combine flour, yeast, and salt. Stir in water. Don't fret over the shaggy, sticky dough.
2. Rest: Cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at room temperature at least 12 hours, preferably 18. Dough is ready when dotted with bubbles.
3. Deflate: Lightly flour a work surface and scoop dough onto it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap. Let rest 15 minutes.
4. Shape: Dust dough lightly with flour; gently and quickly shape into a ball. Coat a cotton towel with flour, wheat bran, or cornmeal. Put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran, or cornmeal. Cover with another towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will have doubled and will not readily spring back when poked.
5. Bake: At least half an hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 4- to 8 quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in the oven as it heats. Carefully slide pot out of the oven and remove lid. Pull top towel off of bread. Slip a hand under bottom towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up. Cover pot with lid and bake 30 minutes. Remove lid and bake another 10 to 15 minutes, until beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

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Three Berry Chicken Salad with Thyme, Tarragon and Toasted Pinenuts

I have a deep and abiding love of chicken salad. It wasn't always this way. I grew up a solid "lunch meats" kind of girl, because that's what you eat for lunch when you are from Wisconsin. Maybe mix a little PBJ in the rotation to keep things interesting. But then I married Terry. He was an avowed omnivore, but the more we were together the more I noticed that there were a few things he didn't eat, and it just so happened those things took out most options for breakfast (he doesn't like eggs) and lunch (he doesn't eat lunch meat). So I became a real quick study in the fine art of homemade chicken salads.

My curried thyme chicken salad (garnished with mango chutney) is a huge hit in our house and my usual first choice. But when it came time for me to whip up the spread for the lunch reception after my son's baptism, I wanted something that would be a little more classic. So I started with a vague idea of wanting to add some interesting twists to a classic chicken salad with dried fruits.



Between a perusal of my pantry and a trip to the grocer, I found inspiration in dried cranberries, cherries and blueberries, set off by the bright herbal flavors of fresh thyme, tarragon and dried oregano. Tarragon is a classic in chicken salad, but I usually don't use it. Thyme is my herb of choice to set off the sweetness in the fruit. I always opt for a little dried cumin to accent the meatiness of the chicken.

A Note on Herbs:
When working with fresh thyme, I prefer to use the leaves only, not the stalks, which can be a bit woody sometimes. To quickly remove the leaves, grasp a stalk between your thumb and forefinger, with your fingernail against the stalk. Use your other hand to pull the stalk out from between the two fingers. As your nails pass along the stalk they will remove most of the thyme leaves.

I used fresh thyme because I find its flavor much more potent, with a flavor that is more perky and spring-like. I used dried tarragon because I couldn't find it fresh at the store, but fresh tarragon in this recipe would also be good, although you might have to adjust the amount. In this recipe I prefer dried oregano to fresh, but you have to be sure you are using very fragrant (new) dried oregano. If your oregano doesn't slap you in the face with scent when you open the container, its time to get some new. This is why I prefer to shop for my spices in the bulk aisle at Whole Foods, where I can only purchase quantities that I know I will use quickly, so nothing sits on my shelves for months on end getting stale and flavorless.

Three Berry Chicken Salad with Thyme, Tarragon and Toasted Pinenuts

By The Skinny Gourmet (E McDonnell)
Serves 25. Okay to halve.

6 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts
4 tsp sea salt, divided
freshly ground black pepper
white wine
2 Tbsp olive oil (or Pam spray)
1 cup toasted pine nuts
3/4 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup dried blueberries
1/2 cup dried cherries
2.5 cups mayo
2 Tbsp lemon juice
4.5 Tbsp fresh thyme
1.5 Tbsp dried tarragon
1 Tbsp cumin
1 Tbsp dried oregano
2.5 cups celery, finely chopped
1/2 cup sweet yellow onion, finely chopped
2.5 granny smith apples, finely chopped

Layer chicken breasts in a roasting pan. Fill pan 1/4 inch with white wine (this helps the breasts become juicy and flavorful). Drizzle with olive oil or spray with pam, and shake 2 tsp sea salt over the top. Crank freshly cracked pepper over each breast. Roast for one hour on 350 degrees. Remove from roasting pan and allow to cool (discard wine and roasting juices, or freeze it to add some oomph to your sauces or stocks in the future).

Cut the chicken into small pieces (I prefer mine 1/4 inch), and add to a very large bowl.

Finely chop the celery and onion, add to chicken.

Toast pine nuts in a saute pan over low heat, stirring frequently to prevent burning. Toast until they are deep golden brown and fragrant. Add to chicken.

Roughly chop the cranberries, blueberries and cherries, add to chicken.

In a second bowl, combine remaining ingredients, except apples. (Note: I like to mix the remaining ingredients together in a separate bowl first, to ensure that they are well combined and will distribute evenly throughout the chicken salad. But if you are truly loathe to dirty up a second bowl, you could get away with mixing everything together in one big bowl.)

Finely chop apples and add them to the mayo mixture, stirring to coat thoroughly. (Note: I prefer to cut the apples last so that they can quickly be added to the mayo mixture to prevent browning. I use my small capacity food processor to make easy work of finely chopping the apples. You don't want them pureed, but I prefer that the celery, onion and apples all be cut quite small so that you get a smoother, more blended taste out of each bite. Larger chunks sometimes means that one bite might have overwhelming onion, or be dominated by apple. This is a matter of taste.)

Combine chicken mixture and the mayo mixture, stirring to mix well.

Serve on bread or croissant.

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Eat Cookies, Help the World (A giveaway!)

If you have ever found your heart tugged by the idea of child soldiers, AIDS patients, or starving children in Africa then I beg you: SUPPORT ENTERPRISE ON THE CONTINENT. Because a lack of meaningful economic opportunity is at the root of all of those problems. And lucky for you, doing your part to solve the problem can be as easy as sitting back with a tasty box of cookies.

I teach a politics course where we do a section on consumption as political action. The scale with which benevolent outcomes are being intentionally linked to your market behavior is a relatively new phenomena. When considering your purchases, you can now also consider how your purchase may affect fair wages paid to workers, the environment and a host of other social causes. Some folks find it problematic because they worry that consumption will become a substitute for more rigorous forms of political action and voice. That perhaps you will be content to buy your fair trade coffee rather than march on Washington for improved worker's rights. However, it has also brought some form of political engagement to a wider variety of people who otherwise would not have been actively involved.

Which is all a pretty weighty introduction to the reason why I'm hosting my first official give-away contest on this blog. Customarily I try to avoid too much entanglement with marketing folks who approach me to stump for their products. But I am glad to support products that are coherent with the mission of this blog and my own personal disposition. So I was delighted when the good folks at Khaya Cookies approached me. A company with a heart, helping enterprise in Africa and tasty cookies? Heck yes. Read on to learn more about this company and find out how you can enter to win three boxes of their tasty goodies.

Images from khayacookies.com

Khaya Cookies was the Food Network's 2007 "Edible Entrepreneur of the Year" and has received attention from CNN to NBC to Rachel Ray. Why all the fuss? They sell a tasty baked good made from wholesome inputs, and in the process create jobs for previously unskilled and unemployed South Africans, who receive extensive training to become bakers.

They describe themselves in a way that is likely to appeal to any socially invested foodie: "Our home is deep in the winelands of South Africa. That’s where we source the best of everything that goes into our cookies. From the farmers who grow the organic fruits we swirl into our cookie batter to the artisan bakers who meticulously blend each small batch, our purpose is to make irresistibly great cookies while supporting and creating sustainable opportunities for the local community."

I have been traveling back and forth to West Africa since 2000, and have lived in Ghana for a total of more than 3 years, and my heart is deeply invested in any venture to help built entrepreneurship on the continent. So many people are willing to be moved by mass "aid" campaigns that depict Africans as needy recipients of monetary help unable to help themselves. I love any effort that helps people help themselves by providing long term sustainable skills and employment.

I'm giving away three boxes of Khaya Cookies. To enter all you have to do is add a comment to this post. I'll let you pick your topic: 1. Someplace in Africa you'd like to visit and why OR 2. Your favorite cookie and why. If you'd prefer to do your own post on your blog about Africa or cookies (with a link back to the contest) that will also qualify as an entry, and help spread the good word about the folks at Khaya Cookies. Whether in a comment or a blog post, just leave me some way to get ahold of you (email address or twitter ID) so I can notify you if you win. Entry closes at 5 PM CST on May 14th. I'll randomly select the winner on May 14th from all entries.

UPDATE: This contest is open only to US Residents.

If you aren't the lucky winner, you can still get your Khaya Cookies fix: order online or find them at a store near you (including Peet's Coffee).

Good luck all, and enjoy!

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Proposal for Food Blogger Code of Ethics

Have you, as a blogger, been guilty of plagiarism?

I'm a professional academic teaching at a top American university, and I have a no-nonsense approach to plagiarism. After catching a few plagiarized papers, I took this issue to heart. In fact, I administer an academic integrity quiz as part of any course I teach so I can certify that my students know the ins and outs of how to appropriately use sources. If I had my way, all plagiarists would be summarily kicked out of university without a degree. So what, you ask, does all this have to do with food blogging?

Because of my professional disposition to value the intellectual effort of creating new ideas, it has always bothered me that recipes are one form of writing that receive the least legal protection. And that was just in print. The web is even more chaotic. The loose conditions within food blogging have always bugged me. Because in the end, I believe that we can and should do better, even where we are not legally obligated to, I believe we are personally obliged to a higher ethical treatment of the products of each other's intellectual labor.

Loose attribution of recipes and scantily clad "adaptation" are one thing. Then there is the widespread practice of completely reproducing work from someone's cookbook. With appropriate attribution that makes clear this is someone else's original work it is totally legal, but I have always found it questionably ethical. Yet despite my qualms, that practice is probably here to stay, and the increased word of mouth may even help make certain print volumes more profitable (I'm thinking here of Tuesdays with Dorie which is singlehandedly responsible for me wanting that cookbook, which I had never previously heard of).

But what really really burns me up is insufficient attribution, particularly as there are a few highly ranked sites I've come across that just go for straight plagiarism: reproducing entire sections of text without quotation or attribution and passing it off as their own. Ugh. And its worse than bots because it is a thinking human doing it.

Where do I stack up on their proposed code? Gifts and Reviews were two areas that were less on my mind as I was on my own little soap box. But I still did very well. In part that is because I follow the BlogHer restriction to never accept any gift greater than $40 and to always disclose when I review a gifted item. I have some restaurant reviews on my site, but it is not a large part of my blogging. I was pleased, however, to see that I intuitively follow what they have since codified as good practice for restaurant review.

Last year before I got pregnant (and therefore distracted) I got my undies in a bundle and started to collect examples of the good the bad and the ugly. I started to draft up a proposal for a food blogger code of ethics. I was all on fire about this until I proposed the idea to a few folks who thought it was utterly rubbish. Well, now I'm not alone. A group of three bloggers have gotten together and launched The Code. Their code succinctly covers the major ethical pitfalls of food blogging. They pay particular attention to the handling of gifts and appropriate conduct for restaurant reviews.


The bulk of my own attention has been paid to the idea of appropriate ethical conduct within a community of food writers, which includes professionals and nonprofessionals, those who write in ink and in pixels, those on tv and in print. As an academic you cultivate a deep appreciation that your work builds on the shoulders of not only giants, but mountains of folks large and small. You belong to an intellectual family tree and with good citation, you can trace it back. Paying your respects in the form of careful handling of someone else's words and ideas helps keep them alive and gives greater meaning to the pursuit. I believe the same is true of food.

When I work to create a new recipe, it very often takes multiple iterations of sweating it out in my kitchen, tweaking things until I have them just right. Time, cost, effort, creative expression. It makes my day when someone writes to say they've made one of my recipes and they love it. It is a little piece of myself that I am glad to share. But when I find my recipes reproduced in their entirety without clear attribution to myself or my site, it makes me see red.

Here are the issues I see facing food bloggers in terms of the ethical use of the intellectual products of others:

1. Direct borrowing: When you reproduce a recipe in its entirety.

• I propose that when you are borrowing from an online source, the highest code of conduct would be to not reproduce the recipe which is available for free on the originator's website. Instead, include a link to the recipe on the original page.
• At the very least, whenever reproducing someone else's work in its entirety, food bloggers could and should hold to the same conditions employed by journalists and academics:
  1. set off the borrowed text so it is visually distinct from your own original work (some form of blockquote tag would work nicely, stylized to suit your own blog).
  2. Always include direct and clear attribution to the original source. There is a world of difference between saying "I was reading stuff here" and "Recipe by: The Skinny Gourmet" even if the hypertext link content is identical in both. In one the reader is not clear about the source of the recipe unless they click through the link. Moreover, in a world where links and traffic are the currency of the realm, you have not paid your intellectual debt by linking a meaningful term.

2. Incomplete Borrowing: The range of "gray" where you are inspired by or adapting a recipe.

• Food bloggers should develop clear terminology to distinguish precisely how different your recipe is from the original. What conditions should we meet in order to say we have "adapted" a recipe from a source? Substituting cane sugar for white sugar in a cookie recipe does not seem a very significant change, yet it represents one 'ingredient' alteration. On the other hand, reducing the sugar by half, adding in pureed pumpkin, and changing the main flavor from lemon to cherry might constitute so dramatic a change as to be an entirely new recipe.
• I suggest a category "inspired by" for (re)creating a recipe based on a sufficiently unique idea. Often we are inspired by the title for a dish, or a dish we tasted at a recipe and tried to recreate but have never seen the exact recipe for. Because we haven't seen the recipe, we can't be guilty of plagiarizing, even if our recreation comes quite close in content. But we would still be borrowing the idea for the recipe, even if not its specific execution. And ideas are surely worth crediting

3. Originality: The only way to totally resolve lack of clarity about original versus borrowed material is to also make sure that you clearly demarcate your original work. As I came to appreciate this problem, I myself began putting an italicized line beneath every recipe title where I say where that recipe is from, either myself or elsewhere. Coconut and Lime has received a lot of press for dedication to creation of original recipes, as opposed to reposting the recipes of others. She does not distinguish the authorship of each and every recipe because her sidebar makes clear, "Since 2004, Coconut & Lime has been the only food blog that features only 100% original recipes. All recipes, text and photographs on this site are the original creations and property of the author. "

Here's a random review of what some folks out there have done on their own to try to craft an ethical approach to food blogging:

1. The truly excellent Blogger Relations 101 for Marketing and PR types, and her Review Policies and Guidelines written by the Sensual Gourmet. Both should be considered industry standards and best practices for bloggers.


2. "Most of what I post here is something that I have created. I will make my best effort to attribute any other sources who have inspired or had a nontrivial part in contributing to a dish" Mike's Table.


3. The Gourmet Project. In the same vein as the Julie/Julia project and any other number of sites devoted to plowing through an opus of some kind. She is cooking through Gourmet Cookbook. She doesn't list the recipes themselves, just reviews and grades them. Where possible she provides a link to the recipe content online. If it is not available online she write that it is unavailable online.

By contrast, sites like Sara's Kitchen represent, in my opinion, some of the worst practices. This site proudly proclaims: "FINDING THE BEST RECIPES ON THE NET AND SHARING SOME OF OURS © Copyright "NOT HERE" "THE WEB IS PUBLIC DOMAIN" "IF YA DON'T WANT PEOPLE TO SEE IT..DON'T POST IT!" "CUDOS TO THE ORIGINATORS OF MANY RECIPES, UNFORTUNATELY, THEY ARE ALL PROBABLY DEAD""
There appears to be no differentiation among recipes on her site, so it is impossible to tell which are her originals and which belong to others. From the widely varying quality of photos, I am also wondering if she has lifted some unattributed photos as well.

Sites:	Sara's Kitchen	Care2.com
Post Dates:	March 31, 2008	April 16, 2001
References:	None	Adapted from Vegetarian Planet, by Didi Emmons (Harvard Common Press, 1997).
Ingredients:	1 large Russet potato, peeled and cubed 1 large sweet potato, peeled and quartered 1 cup corn 1 teaspoon prepared Dijon-style mustard 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice 3 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped 1 clove garlic, minced 3 tablespoon vegetable oil 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper 1 cucumber, halved lengthwise and chopped 1/2 red onion, thinly sliced	1 large russet potatoes, peeled and quartered 1 large sweet potato, peeled and quartered 1 cup corn kernels, fresh or frozen 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard 2 tablespoons lime juice 3 tablespoons chopped cilantro 1 garlic clove, minced 3 tablespoons canola or corn oil 1/2 teaspoon salt, or more, to taste 1/4 teaspoon fresh-ground black pepper 1 cucumber, peeled, halved lengthwise, and sliced into thin half-rounds 1/2 red onion, sliced thin 1/4 cup finely chopped dry-roasted, unsalted peanuts
Directions:	Put the Russet potato pieces into a large saucepan, and cover them with salted water. Bring the potatoes to a boil. Turn the heat down to medium, and simmer the potatoes for 10 minutes. Add the sweet potato pieces, and cook about 15 minutes more. Remove a piece of each potato, and cut in half to see if it has cooked enough. You should feel a bit of resistance with both potatoes; don't let them cook until they are breaking apart. Once the potatoes are tender, promptly add the corn kernels, and cook another 30 seconds. Quickly drain the vegetables in a colander, and fill the saucepan with cold water. Drop the potatoes and corn into the cold water, and leave them for 5 minutes to stop the cooking. In a large bowl, combine the mustard, lime juice, cilantro, and garlic. Stir with a whisk. Slowly add the oil while whisking. Add the salt and pepper. Drain the cooled sweet and white potatoes, and cut them into 1-inch cubes. Add the potato, the cucumber, and the red onion to the vinaigrette. Toss well. Serve the salad at room temperature or chilled. Covered in the refrigerator, this salad keeps for 3 to 4 days.	1. Put the russet potato pieces into a large saucepan, and cover them with salted water. Bring the potatoes to a boil. Turn the heat down to medium, and simmer the potatoes for 10 minutes. Add the sweet potato pieces, and cook about 15 minutes more. Remove a piece of each potato, and cut in half to see if it has cooked enough. You should feel a bit of resistance with both potatoes; don’t let them cook until they are breaking apart. Once the potatoes are tender, promptly add the corn kernels, and cook another 30 seconds. Quickly drain the vegetables in a colander, and fill the saucepan with cold water. Drop the potatoes and corn into the cold water, and leave them for 5 minutes to stop the cooking. 2. In a large bowl, combine the mustard, lime juice, cilantro, and garlic. Stir with a whisk. Slowly add the oil while whisking. Add the salt and pepper. 3. Drain the cooled sweet and white potatoes, and cut them into 1-inch cubes. Add the potato, the cucumber, and the red onion to the vinaigrette. Toss well. 4. Serve the salad at room temperature or chilled. Toss the peanuts in just before serving. Well covered in the refrigerator, this salad keeps for 3 to 4 days. Serves 5.

In fairness to Sara's Kitchen, I should mention the same recipe is also plagiarized word for word on Destroy All Bloggers, a no-longer updating blog that posted regularly in 2005.

Be a good food blogging citizen and sign on to uphold the code!

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A reader asks: Budget-Friendly meals that are nutritious and delicious?

If you turn on the television, listen to the radio, or read a magazine or newspaper, the economy is everywhere. It puts a spin on what would otherwise be considered separate domains of existence. So suddenly we are economizing everything from our entertainment habits to our wardrobe. But perhaps no domain has gotten as much ink (or pixels) as the rediscovery of what used to be called, appropriately enough, home economics.

The quest to economize in the modern American home often focuses around food. And rightly so. According to the 2007 Consumer Expenditure Survey, moderate income Americans spend somewhere between 31 and 37% of their total food expenditures on eating outside the home. Americans earning fourty-thousand dollars or more per year spend about 42 percent of their food budget on eating out, while the wealthiest income bracket spend nearly half their budget on dining outside the home. The very poorest Americans, whose annual income was $5,000 or less spent a whopping 41 percent of their income eating out.

But now that the economy is putting the squeeze on our plates, many of us find ourselves in quite the bind: how can we make food that is nutritious, tasty, and won't break our increasingly thin wallets? And by the way, if it isn't asking too much, wouldn't it be nice if those food solutions also didn't require hours and hours of preparation time, because although we have less cash, we are still really busy folks.

It was in this spirit of inquiry that I recently received an email from a reader. I often get a series of really interesting inquires in my inbox from readers of the blog, and I find it really fun and rewarding to have that kind of personal exchange. I thought our exchange might be the sort of thing other folks would be interested in, so I asked the reader's permission to publish her question anonymously as a feature for the blog.

Question

Dear Mrs. Skinny,
I was drooling while reading your blog on inexpensive healthy meals for a week. I would love to have the recipes and would like inquire more about "How do you do it?" I am the mother of four and teach school. I have desire to have my children and husband eat more healthy but finances are well--it's a tough time. Please refer me back to your blog if you have already written on this or if the recipes are on it. I always get lost in blogs. Congratulation on the arrival of your son--children are a blessing!

Sincerely,
A Reader

Answer

As for how I do it, an honest answer would be that sometimes I don't. I'm no Martha Stewart, always poised on the edge of perfection. And even Martha doesn't do it alone: she has a legion of helpers working to achieve that flawless appearance while appearing effortless. In my world, often things are a lot more, well, effortful. Occasionally they are even flaw-ful.

So the truth is that things are always a balance. My husband and I just had our first child, but we are both graduate students, so both our time and our budgets are quite limited.

My general rule of thumb in life is that you can usually accomplish two overlapping goals without killing yourself, but good luck trying to do three. Yet I aspire to have food to feed my family that is healthy, delicious, and won't break the bank. So some nights I put together something that is healthy and gourmet even if it is more of a financial splurge. Other nights we do something healthy and inexpensive, even if not gourmet. I have a few simple quick weeknight meals that we routinely turn to because they are quick, relatively inexpensive, and fairly healthy. In addition to the recipes included below, I love to fall back on easy meals like turkey tacos, baked fish fillets with veges and rice, or turkey kielbasa with spicy mustard and a side of broccoli. So while I do make fancy food for my family at home, we also have a repertoire of simple, quick and healthy foods that I can make up in a snap whenever I see that the main ingredients are on sale at the grocery store.



If you are looking for some healthy, delicious meals that aren't budget-busters here are a couple to try:

• Chicken Tortilla Soup This soup is delicious year round (not just for winter), and is a healthy blend of nutrient rich vegetables and protein packed chicken and quinoa to keep hunger at bay. The recipe makes enough to feed a large family, or freeze half of it for a rainy day.


• Tortilla Espanola Long a favorite of mine, this recipe combines basic ingredients readily available in most homes into a delicious and filling dish that is appropriate for any meal of the day. The carbs from the potatoes satisfy for quick energy, while the protein of the eggs helps keep you feeling full. One moderate slice is very satisfying. And you can't beat those cost savings: eggs and potatoes are the main ingredients. While they are often reasonably priced, save a bundle and make this one whenever eggs and potatoes are on sale at your grocer.


• Espinacas con garbanzo This is one of my favorite recipes, and like Tortilla Espanola, it is another Spanish tapas dish. This dish is a surprisingly flavorful and addictive combination of uber healthy spinach and protein-packing garbanzos. Serve with toast points for a very elegant lunch, picnic item, or side dish for dinner. This can also be made with lots of cost savings, especially if you use frozen spinach rather than the pricier fresh spinach.



• Vietnamese Pho Soup Most folks who try this amazingly simple soup for the first time find themselves quickly falling in love. It is delicious, very quick to prepare (ideal for a worknight home cooked meal), and pretty darn healthy to boot. It has the added benefit of being fun for kids, who get to doctor it with whatever of the toppings they want, and enjoy the silliness of trying to fish out noodles. If you want to save some money on the beef, which is really the main cost in this dish, you can opt for a less expensive cut of beef, but be sure to cook it longer at a lower temperature (eg, try the slowcooker).



• Shrimp Tacos Make this recipe quick and healthy using pan sauteed shrimp, or opt for the indulgence of almond crusted fried shrimp. The almond crusting will add both calories, fat and cost, but from time to time it may be worth it. This recipes uses several inexpensive ingredients, like tortillas and cabbage, to compliment the more expensive cost of the shrimp. To save money, I make these whenever I see a good sale on shrimp at my grocers. Raspberries are usually a budget-splurge, so if you are looking to cut corners, substitute with a regular tomato pico, or use some other fruit that is less expensive in your area. It is the perfect opportunity to be inspired. These little guys are also a great time saver: these come together VERY quickly, and the whole thing can be ready to eat in about 15 minutes.


• Five Spice Pork Chops with Orange Sauce The original recipe calls for asparagus and pork chops, which can both be pricier items. But a little eye to substitution can turn this quick delicious concept into something more wallet-friendly. You can try the sauce over chicken breasts and substitute green beans or even broccoli for the vegetable side for a healthy tasty dinner that comes together quickly without draining your budget. Or shop for some fresh or frozen fish fillets on sale for an equally tasty and extra lean meal that will get a big punch from the flavorful sauce.


• Orange Chocolate Meringues Meringues are, in my opinion, the quintessential recipe for making a lot out of a very little. Just two large egg whites and a half a cup of regular sugar forms the base for ten large servings, or 30 mini meringue bites. So, for a quick healthy and slightly fancy seeming dessert, try my orange chocolate meringues. They can be a bit tricky to work with if you are not used to working with whipped egg whites, but they are inexpensive to make and both tasty and healthy, especially for a dessert. Also pretty darn kid friendly. The chocolate is the big splurge in this recipe, because you only want to use a very nice quality chocolate, so that a little can go a long way.


• Turkey and Veg Chili Here's another recipe that makes use of an inexpensive and healthy vegetable (cabbage) to provide some bulk to the recipe, while other elements round out the big taste. This is also another good recipe to keep in the back of your head to take advantage of sales at the grocer. Buy the lean ground turkey when it is on sale (I can often find it half priced or close to it). Adding the finely chopped cabbage helps make this dish both healthier and stretches the budget, but you can't even taste the difference in the finished product.

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