Cents and Sensible Eats

Eating sensibly while travelling and doing so on a tight budget isn't always easy... but it can be quite delicious. Every road trip we take I really try to plan what we are going to eat for the 3 to 5 days that we are travelling well in advance. Travel days are the worst when it comes to meals, mostly because I always seem to make us late for our departure time. So breakfast tacos and salty snacks and fruit seem to be our meal plan during the actual drive.

By the time we get to the hotel, it's usually dinner time. Rather than take the easy way out and pick up a greasy bag of fast food, I prefer to cook if I have any strength left in me. This is why I LOVE my
rice cooker. In all honesty, I wasn't crazy about it when my husband got it. I thought to my self, "great, an appliance that makes one thing and one thing only." But, the more we travel the more things we learn to cook in it.

This trip's recipe is one pot pasta dinner that can be enjoyed cold with a fresh salad the next day. The ingredients can be purchased at most grocery stores pretty readily. Since we were headed to Sulphur Springs this trip and I wanted to make sure I had the supplies I needed as soon as we got to the hotel, I packed the dry ingredients I'd be needing in the "kitchen box". The kitchen box is a Rubbermaid tote that is filled with the basics for cooking on the road. The veggies and the proteins traveled frozen, in a small cooler. We packed the bag of organic greens on top so it stayed cool enough to keep them from wilting.

For this dish you will need the following...

1cup  whole wheat rotini pasta (gf or regular is fine too)
1 9oz container of crushed tomatoes (don't forget a can opener if you buy canned)
8oz water
1/2 tsp dehydrated/freeze dried minced onions
1tsp paprika
1/2tsp Kosher salt
1/8tsp garlic powder  
1tsp olive oil
3/4 c vegetarian chick'n (Quorn is my protein of choice) or diced cooked chicken
8 oz of frozen vegetables Mediterranean Blend

Garnish
10 Cherry Tomatoes, halved
1Tbsp Parmesan Italian spice blend

Into the rice cooker pot, add the pasta, crushed tomatoes, olive oil, water, freeze dried onions and spices. Flip the switch to "Cook" and stir the ingredients before covering. About 10minutes into your cooking time, check the pasta and stir in the frozen precooked protein of your choice and the frozen vegetables. Cover the pot and let it cook until the switch flips back to "Warm". Let it sit for another 5min in the cooker on "Warm". Any residual moisture should be absorbed into the pasta without it overcooking.

We got 2 servings from this as our hot meal on Thursday. I really wish we hadn't been so hungry after that 7hr drive... 'cause I forgot to take a picture for you. We did get two additional servings with a salad and fresh made pita chips the next day.. which are the pictures you see in this post. The crushed tomato will make for a lighter sauce, which means it's perfect as a cold pasta salad too. The cost of 4 servings came to under $12 total. Not too bad, considering that we would have spent at least $7 each for fast food meals. We also had enough frozen veggies, Quorn, pitas, tomatoes and fresh veggies for the next day's dinner.

When you try this, don't forget to share your spin on this recipe. We'd all like to know how it turns out for you.

 I'll post the "home made pita chips" in a few days.

Let there be light!

My grandfather always said... "Lo que no se ve, no se vende!"... translated it literally means... "What cannot be seen, is not sold!" I am a firm believer in that saying. Which is why, I can't believe I didn't properly light my table at craft shows until this year. If you've ever been to a convention or gift show you know the lights I'm talking about. Usually they are high wattage halogen lamps that put out tremendous amounts of light as well as heat. They make everything look ever so lovely and make merchandise all that more irresistible. They are also pretty pricey, part of the reason I hadn't made the investment.

If you recall a few posts ago I told the story of "The Adventures of Sybil and Super-geek", well it was on that trip that I learned the secret to inexpensive lighting and all it took was a trip to the Casa Depot and the not so sneaky appropriation of some clamps from my hubby's toolbox!! This was all well within my budget!! I had less than $50.oo to spend and 1day to get this accomplished with the help of my hubby of course 'cause this Chica has a healthy respect for power tools!

You will need the following....

1. 2 1"x10' electrical conduit pipe

2. 4 1" set-screw couplers

3. 4 1" conduit hangers

4. 4 150watt Aluminum Incandescent Clamp Lights

5. 4 100watt (output) Daylight/Full Spectrum CFL bulbs

6. 4 4"x 4" C-clamps  (raided these from hubby's tool box)

7. 8 bolts and wing nuts

8. 4 household extension cords (you probably have a few extra around the house too)

9. 1 power strip/surge protector (we had several so I appropriated one for my show kit)

10. 1 25' heavy duty extension cord

The first task you can complete in the hardware store. We had the 10ft conduit cut down to 5ft lengths so they would fit in the trunk of our compact car. If you get a super accommodating sales associate you might be able to get them to cut each pipe into 2.5ft lengths for you too. If not, make sure you have an appropriate saw for cutting pipes at home and while you are at it, make sure the drill is fully charged. Once you are home with all the goodies break out the drill and appropriate bits for drilling holes into the pipe and c-clamps. This will take a bit of muscle. So girls, if you have a handy hubby, or a helpful he-man around, now is the time to bat your eyelashes and get them involved. Drill two holes into each of the c-clamps. Then position the clamps onto the conduit and mark the pipes with a sharpie through the holes you just drilled. This will assure that each c-clamp's holes will line up to a corresponding pipe. You will need to drill straight through each pipe so that you can secure the clamp with the bolts and wing nuts. We assembled each of these as we went along, as to not end up with mismatched clamps and pipes.

 You will also need to drill corresponding holes for the couplers and pipe assembly, match those up the same way you did the pipe and clamp fittings.

Now that you have the most difficult part of your Ghetto Lighting done you can begin to assemble your lamps for a test run. Fasten the c-clamp on to a table (preferably a wooden table), make sure that if you are using your dining room table or something similar, make sure to protect it from getting marred by the clamps. Also, threading the power cords through the c-clamps will keep them off the floor and your under table storage neat.

Once this is done, attach the conduit hangers to the tops of each of the second piece of pipe (see above). This will secure your lamp and keep it from swiveling. Before assembling the two sections of conduit, add the light bulb to your clip lamp and run the electrical cord through the conduit hanger in order to keep it clear of the lamp's reflector.

Okay! You are now ready to connect your lamp to a power source!! (This is where the extension cords and power strip come in handy. ;D )

Your Ghetto Trade show Lamps should look a lot like this once installed in your booth!!....

 

What I like almost as much as the way they make my booth shine... is that they pack up really easily!



So for less than $50.oo I got four trade show lamps. They're not fancy, but they do the job. ;)