Summer Meals

TL;DR I've been cooking more lately and have reported the experience in the style of a science lab notebook. Recipes are listed at the end of the post.
Lately after months of fast food and feeling tired/bloated most of the time and recently being introduced to Chefsteps community and GrowNYC's GreenMarkets - I felt compelled to once again adopt a healthy lifestyle and eat fresh foods. To me this means preparing my own meals and knowing how it was prepared versus fast food takeout. Plus it is nice that several friends also have cooking as hobby as it gives us mutually interesting topics to discuss.

My priorities for cooking were to: (1) choose ingredients that provided loads of nutrition, and (2) make one person meals without wasting any ingredients. Firstly, my full-time profession of being a desk jockey in a dense urban environment means very little time spent outdoors with sun exposure. While getting sun would be easiest and simplest, that solution is not sustainable; especially during winter time when sunshine is weaker.  Furthermore, as a menstruating woman I lose lots of blood every month and must replenish the lost irons and nutrients. Finally, I'm interested in using minimalist techniques for multi-purposing food item to avoid boredom with meals.

The National Institute for Health published a factsheet on best foods for vitamin D nutrition - there it shows some of my favor

Tip: If you ever need to get official, government-approved nutrition facts, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA's) Nutrient Database contains all that information.

Valuation

Shopped for fresh ingredients around NYC. Unfortunately it's expensive to eat healthy in urban climates.

Grocery Store	Item	Price
Pathmark	3 Avocados	$5.00
Trader Joe's	Tomatoes on the vine (4 qty)	$3.49
	Diced Onions 8oz	$1.59
	1 Lime	$0.29
Fairway Market	Salmon $9.99/lb	$14.29
	Cilantro	$0.99
	4 Corn on the cobs	$2.00
	Salt & Pepper	$6.00
	Vigo brand Rice & Beans mix	$2.79
Brooklyn Fare	Orange Juice, 2 large bottles	$7.00
	Tortillas (12ct)	$2.99
$45.43

The above ingredients yielded 4 dinners ($10/ea = $40) and 3 breakfasts ($6/ea = $18). The OJ yielded about 8 cups or more ($2.75/ea = $22). Based on the prices for similar takeout dishes near work, the equivalent would have been about $80.

Meal	Restaurant	Dish	Price
Dinner or Lunch	Digg Inn	Grilled salmon plate	$10
Dinner or Lunch	Chipotle	Veggie Burrito	$9
Breakfast	Deli	Breakfast burrito	$6
Appetizer or Snack	Chipotle	Guacamole & Chips	$4

Was it worth the ~$35 savings that week? It isn't substantial, but if you enjoy cooking, it definitely is worth it for the fresh taste. There's greater savings with the OJ and fish meat than the guac. Purchasing pre-made guac priced at $0.62 per oz or less may be worth it as guac can go bad within a couple of days.

Recipes

Disclaimer: I like the taste of natural ingredients rather than salt/pepper/oils etc so I use less than most recipes call for. 

Guac

I mostly followed the recipe published here, except tweaked a few things:

INGREDIENTS:

3 avocados 4 oz diced onion 1 clove garlic, minced

1 ripe tomato, chopped 1 lime, juiced salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS: Peel and mash avocados in a medium serving bowl. Stir in onion, garlic, tomato, lime juice, salt and pepper. Season with remaining lime juice and salt and pepper to taste. Chill for half an hour to blend flavors.

Salmon

1. Marinate with generous helpings of olive oil, rough chopped cilantro (garlic & onion as well, if you're into that). Cover and leave in fridge overnight
2. Heat a pan to medium-ish heat
3. Place fillets onto pan. Flip pieces after 3 minutes and let it cook. I covered the pan with aluminum foil to keep moisture in.
4. After flipping fillets, let cook for another 5 minutes and cover pan again to lock in moisture.
5. At this point I check to see how well done it is inside. I turned off the flame but let the fish sit in the sauna of a pan while I finish dealing with corn, rice & beans.
6. When I'm ready to eat, I salt and pepper the fish to taste. 

Corn

1. Peel corn 
2. Cut into chunks (I cut mine in half but 1/3 to 1/4 works too)
3. Boil for ~20 mins
4. Drain and let cool a bit to avoid burning tongue
5. Rub with butter until it glistens
6. Salt and Pepper to taste

Beans & Rice

1. Buy a bag of vigo cuban black beans and rice 

2. Follow instructions

3. Scoop some out onto a plate I found Vigo's cuban black beans and rice to be a bit too salty for my liking. Here is a recipe for a similar dish.

Breakfast Burrito

• For a scrambly egg mix - empty eggs into a small bowl and add some milk. Depending on your brand of milk, it may be fortified with vitamin d =) About one teaspoon-ish per egg. I do this for the vitamins though some chefs say it helps create fluffier eggs.
• I divided the egg mix into two batches for heating in a small pan. I was channeling my inner Detective Adrian Monk and wanted to made squares. It doesn't matter what shape of scrabbled eggs you produce as it'll be wrapped up in a tortilla.
• Heat the tortilla if you'd like. I believe heating it enhances the flavor and texture but it's not required unless your tortillas are very dry. 
• Lay the tortilla down flat and scoop some eggs in.
• Take some salmon and mash it down a bit and separate into chunks
• Add some guac & rice for more flavor
• Wrap it up