#Tofu the fraggle

[thedorkmations]

Uh oh!! Looks like our neighbor mailman is babysitting the little fraggle of the neighborhood, Tofu! Eddie can’t seem to keep him in one place, as fraggles are quite the adventurous type! Will Eddie have the strength it takes to bring Howdy’s favorite little guy back in time for cookie time? Or will he need another neighbors help?

Tofu is a welcome home OC of mine and the only one (for now) He’s a cheeky little kid with lots of spirit!

[featherlesswings]

I just realized there are probably lots of you out there who don’t know how to cook, or struggle with “there’s nothing to eat” idling. And especially with finding enough food to eat for what little money you have, in these trying times.

Pending the expected price gouging from the new regime here in the US, here are some suggestions.

Cabbage! It’s cheap, for a LOT of food. Usually under $1 per pound where I live.

Eggs, depending what’s Going On Outside 🙃

Avocados are pretty inexpensive, and you can get 2 servings out of each one. They’re roughly $1 each here. If you have ramen, throw 1/4 to 1/4 an avocado on top of each serving, to make it more of a meal.

Rice is your best friend. You can add it to a lot of things to make more food. Honestly, a can of black beans, seasoning, and some rice, mashed together, makes great veggie burgers.

A small bag of flour, even if you don’t know how to bake. If you have grease left from cooking meat, you can make gravy. Broth or boullion + water, or milk is the only other thing you need.

If you don’t already drink tea, you can get a box of 20 tea bags of whatever flavor interests you, for not very much, and make a cup whenever you want something different to drink. Floral herbals are especially tasty even without sweetener. You can add ice, if you want something cold.

Tofu tends to be cheaper than meat, nowadays, at least where I live. There are lots of great recipes for flavoring and cooking it in ways that are yummy. You don’t have to be vegan to eat it, it’s just a nice, healthy protein in general. Throw some cheese on your tofu, I don’t care.

Check your local “International” section, because some things could be cheaper than the kind aimed at locals. For me, a lot of the stuff in the Hispanic food section is like half the price of the “white people kind.” I just recently learned how to make Sopa de Fideo, without knowing what it was until I saw the pasta cost $.50, and looked up recipes. It’s delicious and incredibly cheap for a LOT of food.

In a pinch, you can make soup out of almost whatever you have left in your space. My grocery money is a day late today, so I made “scrap soup” out of the last bit of cabbage, some minced carrots, leftover chili ramen seasoning, peanut butter, and the last handful cheap dried gnocchi I had left from last week.

Cheap Lazy Vegan and FitGreenMind on YouTube both have great inexpensive recipes. Also the podcast Eating While Broke, while not usually focused on the recipes, always has one or two “this is what I ate when I was poor” recipes, which they cook and then eat together. I’ve found some interesting ideas from that show!

Here are some recipes I’ve thrown together and liked lately:

*Fraggle snack*

Cucumber

Radishes

Mayonnaise

Worcestershire

Lime juice

Cilantro, chopped

Ramen flavor packet

Uncooked ramen, crushed

Use vegetable peeler or mandolin to slice cucumber & radishes. Mix together mayo, Worcestershire sauce, lime juice, & cilantro, and a teaspoon of ramen seasoning, toss with vegetables. Top with crushed ramen.

*Version 2* :

Packet tuna

Maybe a teaspoon of anchovy paste

1-2 Tablespoons mayo

Lime juice

Nutritional yeast

Half avocado

6-8 inch cucumber

2 radishes

A handful of walnuts

5-8 saltine crackers

Mix tuna, mayo, lime juice, anchovy paste, and a sprinkle of nutritional yeast to taste in a bowl. Use a vegetable peeler or mandolin to slice cucumber and radishes, add to tuna mix. Cut avocado into cubes, add to bowl, stir intil combined. Chop or crumble walnuts and crackers on top.

*Crab salad*

2-3 green onions, chopped

2-3 radishes, diced or slivered

1 carrot, shredded

Snack pack of imitation crab

Half an avocado, diced

1 tablespoon kewpie mayo

2 tablespoons chive & onion cream cheese

A dash or two of Worcestershire

Cooked white rice

*Faux Congee*

1/2 - 1 c day old cooked rice

2 c water

1 1/2 teaspoon chicken Better than Boullion

Pepper, paprika, onion powder, parsley, powdered ginger : to taste

2 T sweet onion, minced

2-3 T shredded leftover chicken

One egg

Half an avocado (topping)

Heat water to boiling in a small to medium pot. Stir in boullion until combined, then add rice and break up with spoon. Season to taste, add onions, and cook until onions are cooked and broth is thickened/rice have swelled and split. Add shredded chicken, return to boil, and crack in raw egg. Cover, wait until top of egg turns white, remove from heat. Serve with avocado on top.

Alternatively, you could toss in minced or shredded carrots at the same stage as the onion, or replace the chicken with protein of choice.

*Potato soup*

2 cups water per person (or broth)

1 cube boullion per cup water (omit if using broth)

1 large potato per person

1 large carrot per person

1/8 vidalia onion per person

1 T butter per person

1/4 c milk per person

1/4 c ham per person

1-2 slices bacon, cooked & crumbled, per person

1/4 c peas per person

2-3 bay leaves

Dried parsley

S&p to taste

Bring water to boil in an appropriate sized pot, add bouillon cubes, carrots, & onions. Simmer for 10-15 minutes, add potato, butter, & seasonings. Continue to simmer until potatoes & carrots are tender, add preferred meat, peas, & milk. Simmer 5 minutes more, serve.

[starsfic]

*Pilgrims having a nice picnic*

Tang Monk: Please pass the spiced Tofu

Random Demon: Raggle Fraggle*grabs monk then leaves*

Tang Monk: Aaaah somebody help me

Pilgrims: *Continue eating*

(Source: The Grime Adventures of Billy and Mandy)

They're used to it by now.