This might be my favorite Hunger Challenge recipe. My apologies for it being brown on brown on brown, but trust me, it is delicious. On a bed of earthy and mildly spiced lemony lentils rests sweet roasted onions--some soft and some chewy--and tender roast chicken with crisp skin. It's is a combination of two different Bon Appetit recipes, but modified pretty significantly because I didn't have all the ingredients necessary. The technique for pan roasting the chicken thighs is a good one though I had to adjust it to keep the chicken from overcooking.

Beans and legumes like lentils are a very economical way to stretch a budget and more expensive ingredients such as fresh vegetables and meat or cheese. My chicken thighs were over 6 ounces each, so one per person was plenty, but if you need more for bigger appetites by all means double the number of chicken thighs. I baked this dish in the toaster oven, you may need to cook it a little longer if you use a conventional oven. I'm not sure how Moroccan the original recipe is. My version is undoubtedly even less Moroccan which accounts for he admittedly goofy name.

A few other tips for saving money when it comes to cooking and shopping:

* Canned beans are more than dried beans. Cook things like chicken broth, beans and rice ahead of time and keep them in the refrigerator all week and use them as you need them.

* Look for vegetables that are in season and on sale. Compare the price to frozen vegetables especially for things like spinach and peas.

* Soups and stews like chili are easy ways to save, but you may get tired of eating soft food. Make some crunchy raw salads with carrots or beets to add variety.

* Scour the "ethnic" food aisles for bargains. Sometimes spices and even staples like rice can be cheaper there.

* Cook double portions and you'll have something to eat on days when you don't have the time to cook.

* Buy in bulk. Instead of buying a jar of spices and bags of dried fruit and nuts, buy just a few teaspoons or tablespoons.

* Price out "value packs." The chicken I bought was only 99 cents a pound, but most packages were at least four pounds.

* Utilize ingredients that add flavor, texture and visual appeal to your meals, but don't cost a lot such as fresh cilantro, green onions and toasted bread crumbs.

Not Really Moroccan Chicken & Lentils

$2.09 for 2 servings (double the chicken for bigger appetites)

Ingredients

1/4 lb brown lentils .32
3 cups water
salt

2 chicken thighs, bone in 1.60
1/2 onion, sliced .20

2 Tablespoons olive oil .40
Juice of 1/2 lemon .17
1/2 teaspoon chile powder
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon .05
1 garlic clove, minced .05
Chopped cilantro to garnish .10 (optional)

Instructions

Preheat toaster oven to 450 degrees. Combine water and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a saucepan over high heat. Add lentils; bring to boil. Cover, reduce heat and simmer until lentils are tender, about 20 minutes. Drain well; rinse with cool water and drain again. In a mixing bowl combine the olive oil, lemon juice, chile powder, cinnamon and garlic. Add the lentils and toss. Season with salt to taste. Make a bed of lentils on each plate that you will serve the chicken on.

Season chicken with salt, pepper. Heat a cast-iron skillet over high heat until hot. Place thighs in dry skillet, skin side down, and cook 2 minutes. Reduce heat to medium; continue cooking until fat renders and skin is golden brown, about 5 minutes. Flip and cook for another 5 minutes. Flip again so skin side is down and tuck sliced onions into the skillet, between the pieces of chicken. Transfer to the oven and cook 12 minutes. Check the skillet occasionally to make sure the onions are not burning and stir as necessary. Flip chicken so skin side is up; continue cooking until skin is crisp and meat is cooked through, about 5 minutes longer. Chicken is done when it reaches the internal temperature of 165 degrees. Remove from the oven. Place onions on the lentil salad and chicken on top of that. Garnish with chopped cilantro.

Yesterday's post was the most pitiful thing I think I've ever written. I tried a new recipe, Queso Panela Kebabs, and it was a failure. The cheese melted into a sad pile of goo. Failure happens but it's all the more discouraging when you're on a budget. It's not like you can run out and buy more ingredients. Also, you can probably tell, my heart just wasn't in it. I was feeling uninspired and that always comes across when I'm cooking (and writing). So I made a dull meal lacking any real creativity. It makes me embarrassed to read that post. But my embarrassment is nothing compared to the feelings that someone really living on a limited budget would experience.

There has been some criticism of the Hunger Challenge specifically from people who have experienced real hardship, some of whom have been on public assistance. I can completely understand why they would not want to participate and would feel uneasy with the Hunger Challenge. If I experienced real hunger I would not want to relive it or even be reminded of it. The Hunger Challenge is about the experience of living on a very limited budget. It is NOT an attempt to fully experience what someone actually living on a food stamps budget experiences, because that would be impossible.

In the future I hope the Hunger Challenge will make room at the table for those in our midst who have experienced hunger. I'd like to see a space for those who are willing to share their stories, like KitchenMage. Painful as it may be, those stories are more powerful than anything we who are taking the Hunger Challenge could ever share. Like the Hunger Challengers they raise awareness about hunger and also inspire readers to make donations. And really, no matter what we do, that's what it's all about.

Ways you can help

? Read blogs by people taking the Hunger Challenge. There's a blogroll here.

? Follow the Hunger Challengers on Twitter. There's a listing here, or search for the hashtag #HungerChallenge.

? Learn more about the San Francisco Food Bank - and make a donation. For every $1 donated the food bank can supply hungry people with $6 worth of food!

? Follow the San Francisco Food Bank on Twitter or visit their Facebook page to see how they're fighting hunger every day.

I believe there's a trick to making kebabs. While skewers threaded with alternating chunks of vegetables and seafood, meat or whatever-you-put-on-a-skewer look great, they are difficult to cook so that everything is done at the same time. On the other hand, if you make each skewer with just one ingredient, it's guaranteed to cook evenly. Another thing, I have metal skewers and bamboo ones as well. Recipes always tell you to soak the bamboo skewers so they don't burn. But I can't be bothered. I'm going to throw the skewers away after I use them anyway so what do I care if they burn? I've never had any kebabs burst into flames and I'm not cooking over an open flame (unless I'm broiling) so it's really no big deal.

Food on a stick always seems to be more plentiful than just plain grilled food-on-a-plate. I don't know why. I had lots of chicken thighs, because I bought a "value pack" for 99 cents a pound. But I had to buy 4 pounds. Luckily I have a household of two. I can't imagine one person eating anywhere near that much chicken.

I made a simple marinade for the chicken and the vegetables, using the paltry ingredients I had on hand. I used only vegetables that were on sale. Fresh herbs would have been a nice addition but I didn't have the budget for them and my dry Italian seasoning mix probably would have burned. I served these skewer with couscous but really any starch would do. After I bought the bulk couscous I saw bulgar which was much cheaper and probably has more nutritional value. In an attempt to use everything possible, I added the lemon zest from my half lemon to the couscous. This is not a recipe I would make again. It was healthy, cheap and fast, but it was also boring.

Chicken & Vegetable Kebabs

$2.92 for 2 servings

Ingredients

1/2 onion .10
1/2 zucchini .34
1 Anaheim chile pepper .29
4 oz. button mushrooms, stems removed .99
2 chicken thigh, skinned and boned .80

1 Tablespoon olive oil .18
Juice of 1/2 lemon .17
I clove garlic, pressed .05
Salt and freshly ground pepper

Instructions

Mix the marinade, toss the vegetables in it then thread on skewers. Then place the chicken in the marinade, allow to marinate for 10 minutes then thread on skewers. Grill or broil until done.

This is one of the cheapest meals I know how to make. There are a lot of tricks to make it taste good without using very many ingredients. Chili is all about layers or flavor and texture and spice. While texture is not the hardest thing to achieve on a budget, flavor and spice are a bit trickier. To make up for the lack of complexity in the spices, I overcompensated in the texture department and also tried to get the most flavor out of the ingredients I could afford.

I like some fresh vegetables in my chili so I used one Anaheim chile and half of a large onion. I also used mushroom stems. Surprise! I will use the caps for another recipe and I would have just discarded the stems. Mushrooms, even just the crumbled stems, lend savory "umami" flavor and also meaty texture. Speaking of meaty texture, this is not a purely vegetarian chili. It has two slices of bacon which might not seem like much, but it adds a bit of meatiness and fat for cooking the vegetables.

I used a combination of white beans and red beans which made it more visually appealing. The beans were cooked from dry beans so I spent less money than if I had bought canned beans. I also used one can of corn. I bought a 2 1/2 ounce packet of ground New Mexico chile powder I found in the Hispanic food section of the store. I used 3 Tablespoons but you could use less or more to taste. Likewise the amount of salt you use will vary depending upon your taste. I only used one clove of garlic which was probably a mistake. I would recommend at least two.

Because I cooked all the beans earlier, the chili comes together quickly. I normally don't buy diced tomatoes because they don't break down very well, but in this case that was fine. I primarily chose them because they had "mild green chiles" in them and I was looking for all the flavor I could find.

Frankly this chili isn't all the different from my normal everyday vegetarian version, though it has a lot less spice. Depending upon your serving size, you could certainly add cilantro, chopped green onions and a tiny bit of cheese on top of each serving and still stay on budget.

Hunger Challenge Chili
$3.68 for 4 servings

Ingredients

2 slices bacon, diced .58
1 Anaheim chile pepper, diced .29
1/2 onion, diced .11
1 clove garlic .05 (I would recommend adding more)
3 Tablespoons ground New Mexico chile powder .30
Mushroom stems from an 8 oz pkg of mushrooms (no cost since they would normally be discarded)
2 cups water
1 can diced Mexican style tomatoes .98
2 cups cooked red beans (1/4 lb dried) .31
2 cups cooked white beans (1/4 lb dried) .31
1 can corn .75

Generous toppings for 1 serving, about 35�
cilantro .05
cheese .24
green onions .06

Instructions

Heat a large dutch oven and saute the bacon for a few minutes or until beginning to brown. Add the onions and pepper and continue cooking until they are soft and onions are golden. Add the mushrooms and garlic and cook for another couple of minutes then add the chili powder, water and tomatoes and simmer for 10 minutes before adding the beans and corn. Simmer another 10 minutes and season aggressively with salt.

The first year I participated in the Hunger Challenge, one of my commenters basically said that anyone who was hungry in this country was lazy. I was also told by a blogger that she wouldn't participate in the Challenge because it was her personal goal to support organic farmers and the Hunger Challenge just encouraged support of an already broken food system. In subsequent years I have heard that hunger is a bigger issue in other parts of the world, and that childhood obesity is the real problem we should be focused on.

The goal of the Hunger Campaign is to raise awareness about hunger in the San Francisco Bay Area. Participants in the Challenge live on the same budget a food stamp recipient would receive, a paltry $4.72 a day. But somehow, I find many people I tell about the Challenge don't want to hear about that. They'd rather focus on something else. All those other issues - politics, sustainable food systems, organics, world hunger and even childhood obesity get way more attention in the media than local hunger. Yes. I said local hunger.

Here in San Francisco, according to the San Francisco Food Bank, 197,000 people struggle to feed themselves and their families. In Marin, just over 40,000 people - or 16% of the population - face the same problem. ?I find it shocking that in a community as rich as ours (San Francisco and Marin), 237,000 people live at or below 185% of the federal poverty line ($33,873 per year for a family of three). While children or families may be eligible for aid at that level, even with assistance it can be very challenging to provide enough food to consistently nourish themselves.

Won't you think about what you can do help alleviate hunger in your community?

GET INVOLVED!

? Take the Hunger Challenge yourself. Sign up here.

? Read blogs by people taking the Hunger Challenge. There's a blogroll here.

? Follow the Hunger Challengers on Twitter. There's a listing here, or search for the hashtag #HungerChallenge.

? Learn more about the San Francisco Food Bank - and make a donation. For every $1 donated the food bank can supply hungry people with $6 worth of food!

? Follow the San Francisco Food Bank on Twitter or visit their Facebook page to see how they're fighting hunger every day.

There will be no coffee, no tea, no chocolate, no ice cream this week. No matter how much I stretched my budget shopping at less expensive stores this year, some things are just out of the question. In the past I have shopped at Safeway and at Whole Foods for the Hunger Challenge. This year, I did my primary shopping at what is considered a "price-impact warehouse store" Foods Co and picked up a few bulk items at Rainbow Grocery (a coop). What exactly is a price-impact warehouse store? Warehouse stores are often located in low rent areas, have spartan, warehouse style interiors and most importantly, low prices. They are not as service oriented or as high priced as traditional supermarkets.

Shopping at Foods Co was eye opening. The demographic of their shoppers is clearly not the typical supermarket shopper. I saw mostly Asian and Latino shoppers many who were not speaking English, primarily young families and some older couples. The store was bustling on a Saturday and people were clustered around the sale items and comparison shopping, looking at prices. More than once I heard someone talking about pay day. One woman complained about the price of chicken. She told me she has a small refrigerator and freezer now and cannot buy the larger "value packs."

While prices for some things were good, the quality of the produce was not consistently high. The pears, 4 pounds for a $1, were small and hard, and many had cosmetic imperfections. I couldn't find one good eggplant. They were all old, wrinkly, many with mushy brown spots. There were virtually no organic products. When I couldn't find something employees pointed me in the general direction but never stopped what they were doing to help me.

My initial shopping list of items cost me $40 at Foods Co would have cost $65 at Safeway (according to my virtual shopping cart on Safeway.com). Bottom line: Foods Co = CHEAP.

At Rainbow Grocery I bought bulk items that I would not have otherwise been able to afford such as extra virgin olive oil, roasted soy nuts, raisins and couscous.



Here is my entire shopping list for two people, for one week:

Foods Co
Cilantro .33
Turnip greens .78
Lemon .33
3 yogurts 1.00
Bok choy .41
Chile peppers .88
Green onions .33
Mixed fruit (12 apples, oranges) 3.98
Bartlett pears (6 very small) .48
Ginger .27
Mushrooms 1.98
Rice 1.98
Chicken thighs (10) 4.04
Chili powder .99
Italian style canned tomatoes .98
Mexican style canned tomatoes .98
Canned corn .75
Bouillon .98
Milk (quart) 1.48
Red beans (1 lb bag) 1.25
White bean (1 lb bag) 1.25
Lentils (1 lb bag) 1.28
Eggs 2.50
Corn tortillas (30) 1.08
Salsa 1.50
Instant oatmeal (10 packs) 1.98
Pasta .25
Panela cheese (10 oz) 3.18
Quesadilla cheese (10 oz) 3.85
Garlic .49
Bacon (12 slices) 3.50
Italian seasoning .98
Zucchini (1 small) .68
Onions (3 large) .65

TOTAL $47.74

Rainbow Grocery
Extra virgin olive oil 2.31
Cinnamon .31
Couscous 2.17
Raisins 1.21
Soy nuts 2.19
Frozen spinach 1.59

TOTAL $9.73 (with bag credit)

GRAND TOTAL $57.47

Note: The total budget for 2 people is 66.08, but my husband is only partly participating in the challenge. I will price out my meals.

Shopping on a tight budget isn't impossible, but it does take work. Yesterday I started planning for the Hunger Challenge, a campaign to help raise awareness about hunger in our community. For one week during Hunger Action Month participants live on a very limited food budget, comparable to what food stamp recipients live on. In 2008 just seven of us participated in the Hunger Challenge and the budget was $3 a day, this year there will be over 50 250 people participating and the budget is $4.72 per day.

Tomorrow I will be shopping with CBS reporter and Hunger Challenge participant Juliette Goodrich at Foods Co. Yesterday I read the Food Co weekly flyer and planned my menu based on sale items and what I know I can afford.

Here is what I plan on cooking and eating, for new dishes I will post the recipes throughout the week:

Dinners:
Panela and Vegetable Kabobs - a new recipe I will be creating for the challenge. Panela is a cheese similar to haloumi but much less expensive.

Chicken and Bacon Quesadillas - another new recipe that I am creating for the challenge.

Chicken and Rice Soup - past participant Vanessa Barrington made this recipe a few years ago l based on a recipe by Andrea Nguyen

Moroccan Chicken & Lentils - I will be modifying a Bon Appetit recipe I found on Epicurious

Pasta Fagioli - truly cucina povera, something I made the first year of the Hunger Challenge, but this time I think I will add some spinach

Chili - I will make this using a variety of beans, corn, onions and peppers

Red beans and rice
For breakfast, I will eat oatmeal or eggs

For lunch I will eat leftovers or quesadillas. In past years, I have eaten peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, but I just don't want to do that again.

Of course my plans may change depending upon what I find at the store and how much I can buy...

There's no getting around it. If you want to eat cheap and healthy food, peanut butter is a natural choice. I know some people can't stand the stuff, but I rather like it. What I don't really like are peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. This year during the Hunger Challenge I didn't buy any jam, but I did splurge on some bananas at about 30� a piece. Because they are large, I only needed a half a banana to make this sandwich. I like it open face, but you could easily slap another piece of bread on it.

The good thing about eating something like this is that it's tasty, filling and nutritious, but also well under budget, allowing more money for other meals. But this like almost all my meals is starchy and while it might satiate my hunger it doesn't give me as much energy as I would like. Living on a limited budget is all about making choices. It's not terrible, but left to my own devices I might choose this sandwich no more than once a year.

Last year I took the Hunger Challenge a week before the official dates. This year I shopped for the Challenge, cooked for the Challenge but my schedule made participating for one full week really hard. Because my career involves food--especially developing recipes and writing about food, there were just too many events that got in the way. Within the space of two short weeks in addition to my regular workload, I had dinner with several clients and colleagues, I worked on seven recipes for two corporate clients, got ready for a food blog conference, made two guest appearances at writing classes, celebrated the Jewish New Year, and judged a national cook-off (more about that later). I'm not trying to make excuses, but I do realize that if I was on limited budget I would not have been able to do all those work related but fun food oriented things.

Don't get me wrong, I ate plenty of Hunger Challenge meals these past two weeks, I just wasn't able to give the Challenge my full attention. But I do hope my experiences and posts helped to raise awareness. Thanks for sticking it out with me during a couple of tough weeks.

Peanut Butter and Banana Sandwich
1 serving, about 34�

Ingredients

1 slice whole wheat bread, 19�
1 Tablespoon peanut butter, 10�
1/2 banana, 15�

Instructions

Spread bread with peanut butter, top with thinly sliced banana.

As I mentioned in my first Hunger Challenge post this past Sunday, carrots are a bargain. They are nutrient dense, much cheaper than salad greens and can be served so many different ways. Last year I missed eating salad during the Challenge. This year I was determined to try to come up with some kind of a budget-friendly salad and carrots came to the rescue. All my recipes last year were for one pot style meals. They are easy on the wallet but don't allow for much variety on the plate.

Remember those carrot and raisin salads you ate as a child? I really didn't want to make one of those. This has more of a tangy profile than a sweet one. It's inspired by a Moroccan version that I found in Claudia Roden's The New Book of Middle Eastern Food. I'm particularly pleased with how this recipe turned out. It goes well with sandwiches and as a side dish but can also be served as a snack. I can actually imagine making this beyond the Challenge.

Food isn't just a source of nourishment. Food provides comfort, adventure, and a means for sharing experiences. Day after day the Challenge reminds me not so much of being hungry, but of feeling deprived. I miss chocolate and tea and dessert and fresh fruit and salad and the sharing of a really good time around the dinner table.

Carrot Salad
Make 6 servings about 43� per serving

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds carrots $1.47
Juice of 1 lemon 69�
2 Tablespoons olive oil 36�
1 garlic clove, minced 6�
Salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin or to taste

Instructions
Combine the lemon juice, olive oil, garlic and cumin in a serving bowl. Slice the carrots into 1/8th inch thick disks. Toss the carrots with the dressing, season aggressively with salt and taste.

When I saw the Lentil & Potato Curry recipe in Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian cookbook I thought it would be a budget friendly recipe. I can't seem to shake the idea that potatoes are inexpensive. The truth is, they are not. Organic potatoes, the only ones I could find at Whole Foods, were $1.49 a pound. One large potato? About a pound. But potatoes are high in Vitamin C and B6 and leaving the skin on provides good fiber so they are a good pick when it comes to nutrition.

I don't know about you, but I can barely cook anything without onions and garlic. I couldn't help but notice Bittman's recipe was missing those two crucial ingredients so I added them. I was able to get away with buying a very small portion of lentils in the bulk section. Sometimes buying a larger package is more economical but in this case it wouldn't have saved me any money. Can half a cup of lentils and one potato serve two people? In this recipe it can.

Lentil and Potato Curry is a bit like stone soup, the more stuff you add to it, the better it's likely to be. I'd love to serve it topped with a dollop of yogurt, a bit of chutney, a sprinkling of chopped cilantro, some rice and a fresh green vegetable like spinach, but staying on a strict budget means making sacrifices.

Lentil & Potato Curry
makes 2 servings about $1.38 per serving

Ingredients

1 Tablespoon vegetable oil 5�
1/2 onion, chopped 75�
2 garlic cloves, mashed 10�
1/2 cup brown lentils 36�
2 cups water, or more as needed
1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder (I considered this pantry supplies)
1 large potato, cut into chunks $1.49

Instructions

In a large saucepan heat the oil over medium heat. Cook the onions for 8 minutes or until soft and golden. Add the garlic and curry and saute for another minute. Add the lentils and water. Simmer partially covered for 15 minutes. Add the potato and cover pan. Gently simmer for 15 minutes or until lentils and potatoes are cooked through. Season with salt and pepper. Optional: top with yogurt and cilantro.

Eating on a budget is possible, but it's not exactly exciting. To be honest, despite my success with recipes I developed last year during the Hunger Challenge I didn't make any of them again after the Challenge was over. They were too plain, sad reminders of a week of limitations. My desire this year is to coax maximum flavor out of inexpensive dishes and not rely on my old standbys, bacon and parmesan cheese. The Challenge seems to be turning me into a vegan.

One recipe I've been trying to rethink is pesto. In this version I replaced basil with parsley, took out the cheese and olive oil, used pumpkin seeds in place of pine nuts and used a bit of bread to give the sauce some texture. I credit cookbook author Sally Schneider with that idea. She uses a mixture of bread and water to create creamy texture that tricks you into thinking you are eating something made with oil or fat. The nice thing about this sauce is that in addition to using it on pasta, you could also serve it with chicken, vegetables or even fish, assuming you caught some that is.

The pesto was pretty good on angel hair pasta with a sprinkling of toasted bread crumbs on top, an Italian "cucina povera" technique. It acts as a stand in for parmesan cheese because it is crunchy and a little salty. I will admit, without the parmesan this sauce does need more salt than conventional pesto. Since pasta can be found for 99� a package or about 25� a serving I leave it up to you to decide if you want to add a drizzle of olive oil..

Parsley Pesto
About 1 cup, 6 servings about 34� per serving

Ingredients

1 bunch parsley $1.49
1 garlic clove, smashed 5�
1/2 slice soft bread, wheat or white 10�
2 Tablespoons raw pumpkin seeds, shelled 40�
1/2 - 2/3 cup water or more as needed
Salt to taste

Instructions

In a dry (no oil) non-stick pan over medium heat toast the pumpkin seeds for about 2 minutes or until they begin to lighten in color and get crispy. Roughly chop the parsley and stems, trimming the very end of the stems off. Put the water in the blender first, then add the parsley, garlic, pumpkin seeds and the bread. Whirl until pureed, adding more water if necessary. Season to taste with salt. Serve over pasta, chicken, bread, etc.

Just yesterday the San Francisco Chronicle reported that unemployment has reached 12.2% in California, that's the highest it's been since 1976. That means more and more people are struggling to make ends meet. More and more people are facing hunger.

I'm lucky, I've never faced hunger. I've never used food stamps or gotten food from a food bank, but for the second year in a row, I'll be participating in the Hunger Challenge sponsored by the San Francisco Food Bank. It's an opportunity to try to gain a better understanding of the challenges that come with trying to eat 3 meals a day for only $4, the typical food budget of a food stamp recipient.

I've already gone shopping twice at Whole Foods, once for my own cooking and a second time with Sue Kwon of KPIX to help her as she takes on the challenge. This week I'll be sharing my experiences, tips and recipes. To kick things off, here are some of suggestions for how to save on groceries at Whole Foods:

+ Buy bulk, that way you can get as little as you need for recipes using ingredients such as nuts, legumes or grains.

+ Frozen vegetables are often a better value than fresh, especially when it comes to green peas, spinach and broccoli.

+ Use flavor boosters to help make bland foods taste better--try a little garlic, lemon zest or chili flakes.

+ It's perfectly ok to buy one stick of butter, even if you have to open a package to get it.

+ Look to the Whole Foods 365 brand for tremendous values. Best bets include peanut butter, pasta, and oatmeal.

+ Protein is expensive, but eggs are still a good bargain and can be purchased for under $3 a dozen.

+ Lentils are another cheap source of protein and cook quicker than other types of beans. Dry beans are always cheaper than canned beans.

+ One of the best bargains in the produce section is carrots at 99 cents per pound. Eat them raw in salad, cooked as a side dish, or add them to soups and stews.

Here is a great list of 50 Items Under $1.50 at Whole Foods compiled by Stephanie at Noshotopia. Not all the prices are still the same, but they are pretty close.

Going into the challenge I thought breakfast would be a breeze. I figured I might even save money on breakfast that I could then use on lunch or dinner. Fat chance! If you want to buy premium products, like cage free organic eggs, jam with no corn sweeteners or real butter, you'll be over budget in no time. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but forget about fresh orange juice and coffee most days, on this budget.


Lunch was just plain boring. Only a couple of days did I have enough to eat of leftovers. It was hard to come up with interesting recipes on such a tight budget. My experiments with cottage cheese were not very successful. My most creative effort was green pea pesto. I like it so much, I would make it again.

This is my last Hunger Challenge post. I hope you have found my insights and recipes to be enlightening and interesting and maybe even helpful if you are on a limited budget. If you are not on a limited budget, please consider donating to the food bank. Your $1 donation allows the food bank to distribute $9 worth of food. The food that the San Francisco Food Bank offers is often fresh produce and not just canned foods or government surplus cheese. It is also a lifeline for those who depend upon it. As an added incentive, I've donated some cookbooks for top donors.

BREAKFAST

Eggs & Toast

Two slices of toast, 32�
1 Tablespoon Smart Balance 9�
2 eggs, 48�
1 Tablespoon organic, no corn syrup jam, 18�
Total--$1.07

Oatmeal

1/2 cup quick oats, 13�
1/2 cup organic milk, 56�
1 Tablespoon raisins, 4.5�
Total--73.5�

Ways to shake things up:

Organic peanut butter, 7� per Tablespoon
- Use on toast
- Swirl into oatmeal (tip courtesy of Alanna at Veggie Venture)

Cottage cheese 31� per 1/4 cup (but often available from the Food Bank)
- Use on toast, top with banana slices
- Add to scrambled eggs, serve on toast
- Make a banana smoothie with cottage cheese, milk and banana

LUNCH

Peanut Butter & Jelly Sandwiches

Two slices of toast, 32�
1 Tablespoon organic, no corn syrup jam, 18�
2 Tablespoon organic peanut butter, 14�
Total--64�

Pasta with Green Pea Pesto

1 cup frozen organic green peas, 75�
2 cloves garlic, 5�
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, 36�
2 Tablespoons parmesan cheese, 42�
Total--about 32� per 2 Tablespoon serving

1 cup/2 ounces penne pasta 24�
Total--56� per serving

As the challenge progressed I experienced some of the same things my fellow bloggers have:

Genie of The Inadvertent Gardener lost weight on the challenge. While I didn't weigh myself at the beginning of the challenge, I do know I lost some weight on it because of the way my clothes are fitting. While this might be a good thing one week, I'm not sure it would be good week after week for everyone. Luckily I didn't suffer the same caffeine withdrawal that Genie did because I'm not a regular coffee drinker.

Faith at Blog Appetit used her calculator a lot. My calculator and my digital scale were in constant use this week to discover the true costs of my meals.

Gayle of the Been There Ate That blog was inspired to adapt a recipe she found in a magazine, and so did I.

Vanessa of Vanessa Barrington blog thought and wrote about transportation costs that affect those on a limited budget and that also factored in to my shopping choices.

Rude awakenings:
* Even though it seems more luxurious, the egg breakfast was not nearly as filling as the oatmeal. I found myself getting hungry after a few hours

* I would have preferred to buy organic or local eggs, but there is no way I could on the budget.

*Fresh fruit? Practically impossible to manage. The best I could do was a banana for 19� or raisins which are a good source of iron.

*Buying products like bread on sale was a necessity not a choice

*Finding jam without corn syrup was a real challenge and bumped the price way up

* To get the most nutritional value, I choose a whole wheat, high fiber bread, cheaper bread=less healthy bread

Have you donated online yet? It's free and easy!

As I mentioned yesterday, after reading one of my "tweets" on Twitter about the Hunger Challenge, Tyson Foods offered to send up to 200,000 pounds of high-quality, protein-rich foods (chicken, meatballs, lunchmeat, etc.) to the six Bay Area food banks! That's six tractor-trailerloads of the most hard-to-come-by foods desperately needed by food banks!

Tyson will donate 100 pounds of food for every comment posted on a special web page, so please go, make a comment and then help spread the word!

1) Go to the Tyson Hunger Relief in the Bay Area post.

2) Read the post and leave a comment. (NOTE: the format asks for an email address to prevent spam, but Tyson guarantees they will not harvest emails or use them for any other purpose whatsoever.)

3) Tyson adds another 100 pounds of high-quality, protein-rich foods (chicken, meatballs, lunchmeat, etc.) to trucks heading for 6 Bay Area food banks!

4) Tell your friends and family, anyone and everyone!


GET INVOLVED!

? Learn more about the San Francisco Food Bank

? Donate and a receive a thank you special thank you gift!

1. Click on donate to go to the donation page.
2. Fill out the necessary info and make a donation of $50 or more.
3. About 2/3 of the way down the form, look for a header that says, �Food Drive/Event Information (not required)�
4. Use the drop-down box to select �Bloggers Hunger Challenge,� so we�ll know you are participating.
5. Be one of the first 12 people to donate $50 or more and you�ll receive a brand new free cookbook as a thank-you.

Frozen organic green peas seemed like a bargain. But what could I do with them? I had hoped to come up with a kind of sandwich filling but ended up with a creamy sauce for pasta. It's actually pretty tasty and is perfect for those times when the cupboard is bare, because it uses mostly pantry staples. Surprisingly this ended up being my easiest, fastest and cheapest meal, and one I know I will make again.

Green Pea Pesto with Pasta
56� per serving

Ingredients

1 cup frozen organic green peas, 75�
2 cloves garlic, 5�
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, 36�
2 Tablespoons parmesan cheese, 42�
(note: recipe makes 5 servings of sauce)

1 cup, about 2 ounces penne pasta 24�

Instructions

Roughly chop the garlic. In a small saucepan combine the garlic and green peas with just enough water to cover. Bring to a boil over medium heat then lower the heat to simmer and cover the pan. Cook for 3 minutes or until peas are cooked through and garlic is no longer raw. Drain the peas, reserving the water. Place the peas and olive oil in the blender and blend, adding just enough water to make a smooth paste, about 1 tablespoon. Combine mixture with parmesan cheese. Serve 2 tablespoons of sauce over each serving of penne pasta.

NEWSFLASH!

After reading one of my "tweets" on Twitter about the Hunger Challenge, Tyson Foods offered to send up to 200,000 pounds of high-quality, protein-rich foods (chicken, meatballs, lunchmeat, etc.) to the six Bay Area food banks! That's six tractor-trailerloads of the most hard-to-come-by foods desperately needed by food banks!

Tyson will donate 100 pounds of food for every comment posted on a special web page, so please go, make a comment and then help spread the word!

1) Go to the Tyson Hunger Relief in the Bay Area post.

2) Read the post and leave a comment. (NOTE: the format asks for an email address to prevent spam, but Tyson guarantees they will not harvest emails or use them for any other purpose whatsoever.)

3) Tyson adds another 100 pounds of high-quality, protein-rich foods (chicken, meatballs, lunchmeat, etc.) to trucks heading for 6 Bay Area food banks!

4) Tell your friends and family, anyone and everyone!

Have you been enjoying these Hunger Challenge posts and recipes? Here are more ways to GET INVOLVED

? Learn more about the San Francisco Food Bank

? Donate and a receive a thank you special thank you gift!

1. Click on donate to go to the donation page.
2. Fill out the necessary info and make a donation of $50 or more.
3. About 2/3 of the way down the form, look for a header that says, �Food Drive/Event Information (not required)�
4. Use the drop-down box to select �Bloggers Hunger Challenge,� so we�ll know you are participating.
5. Be one of the first 12 people to donate $50 or more and you�ll receive a brand new free cookbook as a thank-you.

This is a recipe I originally made for a friend who was allergic to just about everything. It's an adaptation of a Bon Appetit recipe. She liked it a lot and so it became a regular addition to my repertoire. It tastes a bit like mushroom barley soup and makes a great vegetarian meal with a salad and a glass of wine, but none of those extras fit on the Hunger Challenge budget!





Mushroom Barley Risotto
$2.00 for 2 servings

Ingredients

1 bouillon cube 14�
1 teaspoon Smart Balance 3� (substitute butter or oil, as desired)
1/2 cup finely chopped onion 13�
2 cups water, or more as needed
1/2 cup pearl barley, 25�
1/4 lb pound mushrooms, sliced $1
1 garlic clove, minced 2.5�
2 Tablespoons grated parmesan, 42�

Instructions

Melt Smart Balance in large nonstick pot over low heat. Add onion and cook until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add mushroom and garlic and cook for another 3 minutes. Add barley and toast in the pan for 1-2 minutes, then add water and bouillon; bring mixture to boil. Reduce heat to very low and simmer until most of liquid is absorbed, stirring frequently. Cook until barley is tender but still "al dente", about 45 minutes adding more water as necessary. Serve with parmesan cheese sprinkled on top of each serving.

Observations:
I really enjoyed this meal, so many budget meals are soup or pasta, this was chewy and meaty and satisfying. While the original recipe calls for fresh thyme, it was flavorful without it. A smaller serving would make a nice side dish for a grilled pork chop. I was pleased that it came in right on budget.

GET INVOLVED!

? Learn about the San Francisco Food Bank

? Join the Hunger Challenge

? Donate and a receive a thank you special thank you gift!

1. Click on donate to go to the donation page.
2. Fill out the necessary info and make a donation of $50 or more.
3. About 2/3 of the way down the form, look for a header that says, �Food Drive/Event Information (not required)�
4. Use the drop-down box to select �Bloggers Hunger Challenge,� so we�ll know you are participating.
5. Be one of the first 12 people to donate $50 or more and you�ll receive a brand new free cookbook as a thank-you.

No question, I learned what frugal cooking was all about in Italy the land of "la cucina povera." Soups and salads made from stale bread, beans, pasta with nothing but olive oil, garlic and parmesan cheese and the most microscopic portions of meat were all part of my Tuscan diet. But I ate extremely well. I also learned many ways to cook beans. They don't call the Florentines "mangiafagioli" or bean eaters, for nothing. Could this dish be made with heirloom beans from Rancho Gordo and bacon from the Fatted Calf? Absolutely and it would still be a very cheap meal, though not quite $1 per person cheap.

Pasta Fagioli
$1.98 for 2 healthy servings

Ingredients

1 cup pinto beans, 50�
2 slices bacon 30�
1/2 onion 17�
2 cloves garlic 5�
1 cup macaroni, 11�
1 bouillon cube 14�
7 ounces canned diced tomatoes, 50�
1 Tablespoon grated parmesan cheese 21�

Instructions

Soak the beans in 3 cups of water in a saucepan overnight (or boil for 2 minutes, cover then allow to soak for one hour). Drain the water then add 3 more cups of fresh water. Bring water to a boil then lower heat simmer beans, covered, for 1 1/2 hours or until almost tender and set aside. Chop the bacon, onions and finely mince the garlic. In a large saucepan cook the bacon over medium heat until almost crisp. Add the onions and cook for 5 minutes or until golden. Add the garlic, tomatoes and bouillon. Stir to combine, add the beans, their liquid, adding more water if necessary, and simmer for 30 minutes. Add the macaroni and cook until pasta is done, about 10-15 minutes. Taste and add salt to your taste. Ladle into bowls and top with parmesan cheese.

Rude awakening:

* I had to be very stingy with the parmesan cheese to stay within the budget

* This soup is simple, but can be made richer with additions like celery, carrots, and herbs such as rosemary but not for $1 per serving

GET INVOLVED!

? Learn about the San Francisco Food Bank

? Join the Hunger Challenge

? Donate and a receive a thank you special thank you gift!

1. Click on donate to go to the donation page.
2. Fill out the necessary info and make a donation of $50 or more.
3. About 2/3 of the way down the form, look for a header that says, �Food Drive/Event Information (not required)�
4. Use the drop-down box to select �Bloggers Hunger Challenge,� so we�ll know you are participating.
5. Be one of the first 12 people to donate $50 or more and you�ll receive a brand new free cookbook as a thank-you.

I was really optimistic that I could make a successful lentil soup on a budget. I was pretty sure it would be tasty and it took very little time to make. It was filling and healthy and comforting. Lee said it was delicious. I used 2 bouillon cubes to try and get flavor into the soup, but what it really needed was spices and a bit of lemon juice. Some aromatics like carrots and celery would have been good too, but I was afraid it would push me over budget.



Lentil & Mustard Greens Soup
Total: $1.81 for 2 servings

Ingredients

8 ounces lentils 62.5�
2 bouillon cube 28�
1/2 organic onion 17�
1 clove garlic 2.5�
5 cups water
1 Tablespoon Smart Balance 9� (you could use butter or oil)
5 ounces, frozen mustard greens 62�

Instructions

Chop the onions and garlic. Heat a large saucepan and add the Smart Balance. When melted, add the onions and cook stirring for 5 minutes over medium heat. Add the garlic, water, bouillon cube and lentils. Bring to a boil then reduce and simmer until lentils are tender but not mushy, about 25 minutes. Take the pot off the heat and mash some of the lentils using a potato masher, add more water if necessary and the mustard greens. Heat through and serve.

Rude awakening:
* I stayed just under budget, but there was no money for salad or a glass of wine, let alone dessert.

GET INVOLVED!

? Learn about the San Francisco Food Bank

? Join the Hunger Challenge

? Donate and a receive a thank you special thank you gift!

1. Click on donate to go to the donation page.
2. Fill out the necessary info and make a donation of $50 or more.
3. About 2/3 of the way down the form, look for a header that says, �Food Drive/Event Information (not required)�
4. Use the drop-down box to select �Bloggers Hunger Challenge,� so we�ll know you are participating.
5. Be one of the first 12 people to donate $50 or more and you�ll receive a brand new free cookbook as a thank-you.