As if being a working mother is not enough, lately it seems the women in Oakland have been slammed with the effects of the economy and other small scale (but homegrown) budget harming incidents. There are divorces, break ups, car break downs, layoffs, unemployment benefit losses, health issues, insurance disputes, after school program closings, and the cost of everything is going up, up, and up. The Oakland Budget Grocery Examiner feels your pain. We sympathize. We really do.
So what to do when you have to throw together a fancy-ish birthday dinner, in less than a day, for a well deserving grandmother that is always there when the universe falls apart, when the kids need to get picked up from school, and who listens when a crazed working mother needs to scream into her cell phone out of frustration.
Unfortunately we cannot give you the money to buy grandma dinner… or for the new transmission your car needs. However, we can give you some great advice on how to put together a healthy celebration meal that doesn’t empty out your wallet. See below. And take a deep breath while you are at it.
Here’s the menu:
- Fall Vegetable Curry (curry contains turmeric, which is an anti-inflammatory and antioxidant packed spice that is great for your skin, heart, and brain) with sweet potatoes (a super food!) and cauliflower.
- Brown Cashew Nut Rice (brown rice is another super food – it lowers cholesterol and blasts belly fat…kapow! – and cashew nuts are great for healthy hair and nails).
- Whole Rosemary Baked Chicken (natural…of course – and lean protein is the way to go, so skip eating the skin).
And to go with that last minute throw together of delicious, healthy dishes, serve a bottle (or two) of Trader Joe’s infamous Charles “two-buck-Chuck” Shaw brand wine. That $1.99 price and totally decent taste is kind of unbeatable in this type of situation. Go with the White Zinfandel…since this Oakland Budget Grocery Examiner believes that the white ones just do not quite cut it. But the reds, and the pink, work very well.
Time to cook!
How to, you ask?
Once you have the ingredients, the curry only takes about half an hour to forty five minutes. And most of that time it is simmering away by itself while you can do other things. Here’s the recipe.
For the chicken, hop into your flip flops, step out into the spring sun, and stroll down to Whole Foods on Bay Place. Go here. Walk over to the deli and grab an already made grilled chicken from under the heating lamp.
Ha! You didn’t actually think we were cooking the whole chicken with less than a day to execute…did you? Plus…the Whole Foods whole grilled chicken is delicious, and serves four. And the price of $9.99 for a natural, already cooked, whole chicken is not bad at all.
If you insist on cooking the chicken yourself, I suggest you make this Peruvian Style Roasted Chicken. It can roast all by itself in the oven while the stew simmers and the rice boils. Synchronized symbiotic cooking. Perfect! The Examiner is all about low maintenance and multi-tasking.
Lastly, for the cashew nut rice, do the following: cook enough brown rice for four people. Trader Joe’s sells both Jasmine Brown Rice and Basmati Brown Rice at budget prices. This Examiner prefers to use the rice cooker, but if you take that route make sure you let the rice sit without opening the lid for a good fifteen minutes after it’s “done” – brown rice takes longer than white rice to cook, and the extra time under the lid allows it to steam to perfection. Once done, set it to the side. In a big pot, melt two tablespoons of butter on medium high heat. It should sizzle, but not burn. After a good minute of sizzling, throw in half a cup of chopped raw cashew nuts. Brown the nuts in the butter for a couple of minutes. Throw in all the brown rice into the pan. Stir.
Done!
Now you can just wait for grandma to arrive. And make sure you don’t forget to make the kids sign their beautiful squiggly signatures inside the birthday card.
Happy birthday to all spring chicken grandmothers of Oakland! For all you do, to help make the mothers of Oakland’s wallets and sanities stay intact, we celebrate you. With curry, rice and chicken. On a disaster budget.
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