Episode 62 - Broke Food

By: Kristy on Wednesday, September 21, 2011

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Things you cannot do when you have no money:

• shop for fancy new clothes
• go on vacations...even the Groupon kind that keep tempting me with daily emails
• buy fancy cheeses
• eat at restaurants
• buy a car that doesn't sound like a monster truck
• buy a house that you can walk around in your undies in
• basically buy or do anything that is not a basic life necessity

Things you can do when you have no money:

• Become skilled mixing and matching your old clothes to give the appearance of a far more extensive wardrobe that you actually have
• Stay home and plan all the fantastic vacations you will take when you are eventually gainfully employed
• Spend a Saturday afternoon making DIY bracelets with your mom
• Eat your mom's fancy cheese
• Stay in for date night and drink your homemade wine from last year
• Duct tape the failing rubber pipe on the underside of your car's exhaust system

Or, you could spend your "essentials" money on adult onesies and then feed yourself for a week with this soup.  The whole pot cost us $8 to make.  Good thing our priorities are in order!  

Curried Butternut Squash Soup

With spicy chili flakes on top!

1 tbsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, diced
1 butternut squash, peeled diced
2 tbsp Indian curry paste
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
5-6 cups low sodium chicken broth, depending on how thick you like your soup
3/4 cup black beans, rinsed

Heat the oil in a heavy bottom pot then add the onions and garlic.  Cook for about 5 minutes or until they start to smell yummy.  Add the squash, curry paste, cumin and red pepper flakes and cook for another 5 minutes.  Add the broth, bring to a boil then reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for about 30 minutes or until the squash gets nice and mushy.  Puree the soup with a hand blender until it gets nice and creamy.  You may have to add a little more broth here if it gets too thick for your liking.  Toss in the beans, stir and heat through.  Serve in a nice big bowl with some thick pita bread...or soda crackers if like me, you forgot to buy pita bread.

In all honesty though, this soup was really really good!  I'd definitely eat it even if I wasn't pinching pennies.  It was creamy, warm and just a little spicy.  Perfect for a cold, rainy fall day!

Also a plus, I discovered making your own jewelry is actually really really fun!  I'm kind of addicted now.  Check out these two that I made from this tutorial:

Kinda neat, eh?

Try them out!  So fun!