Together at the Table: Cooking for the $5 Challenge

by Meredith Paterson

A teaser from the premiere: Beth, Jordan, Cole, and
Andersen on the red carpet. More photos coming soon!

Happy Saturday! The $5 Challenge that I blogged about last week is here! We are in Dallas this weekend for the premiere of the Yogiños DVD (see Beth's post below), and I am staying with my family up here in Richardson, so I had the opportunity to hang out with my mom and shop at the Richardson Farmers' Market.

The idea of the $5 Challenge from Slow Food USA was to help people understand that they can eat in a sustainable (local, organic) way without breaking the bank. 

Right now in Texas, we're just about to enter our best produce season. Fall brings lots of variety in terms of veggies. Today we started seeing pumpkins and new squashes at the farmers' market which fit perfectly with the lovely gray rainclouds in the sky hinting at fall. (We really need the rain down here.) However, we decided we wanted to cook some of the last of the summer veggies, so zucchini was the centerpiece of today's meal.

Quinoa dish
(Apologies for the picture.
I'm no food photographer)

We made this recipe that I found on the gorgeous blog 101 Cookbooks:  Quinoa with Currants, Dill, and Zucchini. It was my first time to try this recipe. I thought it turned out really well. I subbed goat cheese for the feta because that's what was available, and I thought it was pretty tasty. I want to try it with the feta, too, though.

Zucchini, yellow squash, and onion
before hitting the grill.

We also grilled some veggies from the Farmers' Market. We were going to a dinner with family friends, so I didn't have the opportunity to complete a full meal on this challenge, but we had some money left over that could have gone towards foods to round out the meal.

Here is the cost breakdown:

Organic green onions: $0.99
Dried currants: $0.40
Sesame seeds: $0.22
Organic quinoa: $0.50
Local zucchini: $3 (used in both dishes
Local fresh dill: $0.75
Local goat cheese: $3.99
Local yellow squash: $0.72
Local white onion: $1
Grand Total: $11.57 / Per person (feeding 4): $2.87



This challenge was a lot of fun, and I encourage you to experiment with what you can do for under $5 with produce from your farmers' markets. Let us know what you prepare, and we would love to feature your recipes.

Together at the Table: The Slow Food $5 Challenge

by Meredith Paterson

We are blogging this fall about our OHMazing™ journeys, and one of my journeys through the past few years (and even months) has been with food. Today, I want to tell you about a great event that is coming up next weekend to help us all make OHMazing™ choices about what we eat.

When I first heard about the Slow Food movement a few years ago, my first thought was that it was about using a crock pot, or a movement for people who love long-simmered stews. (I'm in!) I was all wrong, of course. Slow Food is intended to be an antidote for Fast Food. It is a movement about healthy local, sustainable food.

Some people actively want to become part of the local, sustainable food movement, but they worry that eating in this way will be too expensive, more expensive than their current budgets allow. To help allay that fear, Slow Food USA™ has created an event called the $5 Challenge. It will take place on Saturday, September 17. The idea is for people to eat together to show that we can eat in a healthy, sustainable way for less than what it costs to buy a fast food meal.

I first learned about this challenge through a podcast interview with Slow Food founder Josh Viertel on Edible Radio (highly recommended podcasts).

I'm so excited to take part in the challenge! Right now, I'm trying to decide what to cook!

Click here to find a Slow Food $5 Challenge meal in your area or to start one up. They have lots of resources for recipes and other information about how to get involved here. Here are a few links I have enjoyed.

Tips on how to cook for $5 and under
Cheap Recipes for Slow Food USA’s $5 Challenge: Slow Food for the Price of Fast Food

Have a great under-$5-per-person recipe to share? Post it below. If you take part in the challenge, let us know about your experience.

Meredith Blanks Paterson is the Director of Yoga Trainings for Yogiños: Yoga for Youth® as well as the Director of Yogiños: Yoga for Youth® Austin.