English Muffin Strata with Ham and Cheese: Breakfast for Dinner

When spaghetti isn’t cutting it and pork chops have been done to death, hungry citizens all across our fine nation turn to a beloved American tradition: breakfast for dinner (or BFD for short). Truly, there are few treats more glorious than eating bacon at 7pm, eggs after work, and hash browns during reruns of “Murphy Brown.” And if you can sneak in a cup of coffee without giving yourself a raging case of insomnia, bonus.At its core, the most fabulous aspect of BFD isn’t the infinite possibility or the low expense. It’s not even the potential for a much healthier meal than you would have eaten otherwise. Nope – it’s the ability to feel like you’re nine-years-old again. Because BFD makes you feel a little naughty - like you’re doing something...

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Posted in: Breakfast,Eggs,Meat and Fish

Cookbook Giveaway Winner!

Thanks to everyone who entered the cookbook contest. There were so many great scene suggestions (Under the Tuscan Sun, Chocolat, etc.), and you can expect to see quite a few on this site over the coming weeks. Alas, there could only be one giveaway winner, and Random.org has chosen:#49: Mindy!She says: “It was in a hallmark movie I saw the other night where a man is trying to make a good impression on his mother in law who is very orthodox and he is not and he asks for butter with a meat meal.”Congratulations, Mindy! If you could shoot me an e-mail (Cheaphealthygood@gmail.com) with your home address, I can send the cookbook out early next week. Thank y...

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Veggie Might: Abashed Broccoli Soup

Penned by the effervescent Leigh, Veggie Might is a weekly Thursday column about the wide world of Vegetarianism.I am a woman who can admit when she’s wrong (most of the time). Last week, I admonished anyone who would consider making vegetable stock with “a floppy rib of celery” or any other old vegetables. You were quick to tell me that I was being silly and wasteful.Well, I’m here to eat my words—and a bunch of borderline broccoli.While I was in Baltimore last week, I left a beautiful, deep green head of broccoli in the vegetable crisper to wilt and yellow. When I discovered it upon my return, it almost killed my nearly week-old post-inaugural buzz. Oh, the waste!I had a week’s worth of lunches to make, and with all the vegetable stock in...

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Posted in: Mains,Soups and Stocks,Vegan,Vegetarian,Veggie Might

CHG Favorites of the Week

Food Blog of the WeekSimple MomAnother entry for the “How have I not seen this yet?” file. Expatriate mom Tsh takes cues from both Real Simple and Zen Habits to create the ultimate easygoing parenting guide. The blog design is outstanding, the recipes are fun, and the organizational tips are through the roof. Suggested.Food Comedy of the WeekEpicurious: Salted Water for BoilingCome for the recipe (“When salting water for cooking, use 1 tablespoon of salt for every 4 quarts of water.”), but stay for 808 hilarious reviews (“Yeah, like everyone has all that stuff in their pantry,” and “My husband hated it and refuses to eat it. He says it's too salty and watery. Thanks for nothing, Epicurious.”) (Thanks to Serious Eats for the link.)Food Quote...

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Posted in: Links

FAQ

1. What is Cheap Healthy Good?Cheap Healthy Good is a blog dedicated to the advancement of frugal, nutritious, ethically-minded food in everyday life. All of our recipes, links, and articles go back to that main subject matter. Occasionally, we throw in some pop culture references for fun. (Like these 40 inspirational speeches in two minutes.) Our work has been featured in/on Lifehacker, BoingBoing, CNN.com, Time.com, the Chicago Sun-Times, and the CBS Early Show, among other exciting media outlets.2. Who writes for the site?Currently, three or four lovely people:Kristen Swensson Sturt is the proprietor of Cheap Healthy Good, posting almost daily Monday through Friday. A Brooklyn-based writer with an MA in Media Studies, she currently works...

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Posted in: About Cheap Healthy Good

Julia Child Cookbook Giveaway!

Hey everybody! Wednesday’s article will be posted in a bit, but in the meantime, I have a hardcover copy of Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking to give away to a lucky reader. (Butter not included.)To be eligible for this fabulously Gallic gift:Leave a 15-50 word comment about your favorite food-based movie scene. (Please don’t use the pie-eating contest from Stand By Me.)Sign your first name for I.D. purposes.Check back early Friday afternoon for the victor.Dance!Using Random.org, the winner will be chosen on FRIDAY AT NOON, so please get your entries in before then.One submission per customer, plea...

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Tuesday Megalinks

Great googly moogly, it’s just a faboo lineup this week, with a huge number of posts from an enormous variety of blogs. Of special quality: Tony Bourdain’s DCist interview, an advice powerhouse from Zen Habits, Simple Mom’s menu-planning ideas, and a GREAT piece on corn syrup from David Lebovitz. Enjoy!Carrie and Danielle: Tips and Tricks to Eat Healthy on a BudgetQuick rundown of well-known tips – a good read if you need ‘em all in one place.Consumerist: Snapple's Acai Drink Just Pear Juice And Corn SyrupWHAT? Wendy the Snapple Lady, how could you steer us so wrong?David Lebovitz: Why and When to Use (or Not Use) Corn SyrupPost of the week, folks. Fantastic FAQ explains the difference between regular corn syrup and the high fructose version,...

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Autumn Apple Salad, My Middle Eastern Grocer, and Me

Beyond decent coffee and lots of easily obtainable heroin, the nicest things about my area of Brooklyn are the Middle Eastern grocery stores around the corner. There’s a small row of them, two of which have bulk grains, nuts, and dried fruits stretching from here to eternity. Their foods are about a billion times cheaper than my supermarket, and one of the places is even pretty clean, which is an unexpected bonus.I bring this up is because this past weekend, I found the brain-meltingly tasty Autumn Apple Salad II on AllRecipes. It’s a simple, easy-to-make, totally delicious Waldorf-esque concoction flavored by yogurt, tart apples, toasted almonds, cranberries, and cherries instead of heavy cream and/or mayonnaise (my most hated food-like item)....

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Posted in: 15 Minutes or Less,Breakfast,Desserts and Snacks,Sides,Vegetarian

Molasses Whipped Sweet Potatoes: Obama for Your Mama

We’ve largely shied away from expressing our views on the government here, because it doesn't seem like the appropriate forum. Sure, food is inherently political (and social and economical and mystical and lots of other things ending in “al”), but I’m of the mind that recipes for light cornbread should be uniters, not dividers.Still, it was hard not to get totally, over-the-moon excited about the inauguration on Tuesday. Whether you dig Obama or not, there was a little something for everyone: cultural milestones, meaningful speeches, Michelle’s dress(es), Sasha and Malia’s general adorability, Reverend Lowery’s racial rhymes, Dick Cheney’s impression of Mr. Potter from It’s a Wonderful Life, etc.Being of sound mind and perpetually hungry body,...

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Posted in: Sides,Vegetarian

The Argument for Spending More on Food

In his book The Omnivore’s Dilemma, food anthropologist Michael Pollan claims modern Americans spend nearly 5% of our income on what we eat. While this might seem like a lot, consider this: we used to cough up 10%.For people like me, that 5% difference initially seems like a good thing. It’s helped me pay off school loans, squirrel funds away for a house, and stop living paycheck to paycheck. I can bank hundreds of dollars a month because I buy generic eggs at $1.99 per dozen, rather than the cage-free, brown-ish ones for $3.50.But what about the long run? Will that same cheap food hurt my health? Does “cage-free” merit an extra $1.51? Will the money I save on inexpensive eggs eventually go toward doctors and drugs needed to ward off the effects...

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Posted in: Buying Food,Frugality,Health

CHG Favorites of the Week

Hey folks – yesterday’s regularly scheduled article is coming a bit later today. In the meantime, please enjoy this week’s favorites. (Also, the In-Season Produce for January has finally been updated. Oops.)Food Blog/Website of the WeekHealth-E-SaversFor those who think coupons are only for fluorescent-hued Go-gurt, Health-E-Savers comes as a welcome exception to the rule. A lot of it seems to be supplements and vitamins, but digging a little deeper seems to score quite a few organics and such. (Thanks to Money Saving Mom for the link.)Food Comedy of the Week"New Martha Stewart Recipe a Message to Her Enemies" by Onion Radio(Warning: adult language) Heh: “Many believe that Stewart’s elegant recipe for Spiced Apple Crepes led to the untimely...

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Posted in: Links

Veggie Might: Homemade Vegetable Stock and a Fresh Start

Written by the fabulous Leigh, Veggie Might is a regular Thursday feature about all things Vegetarian. This week, it's coming a day early in celebration of the new administration. Today's regularly scheduled article will appear tomorrow.(Editor’s note: At this article’s filing, I’m in Baltimore/DC and may just be a little swept up in Change.)It occurred to me that I’ve used homemade vegetable stock in my last few CHG recipes. It’s not the sexiest recipe I can share with you, but it’s one of the most practical, useful, and economical things you’ll ever make, use, and love.In the spirit of These Trying Economic Times and The New Days Ahead, we can make change possible by casting aside the bullion and canned broth of the past. We can cast off...

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Posted in: Soups and Stocks,Vegan,Vegetarian,Veggie Might

Tuesday Megalinks: The Barack Cookies/I Want Jill Biden's Boots Edition

Three things to love today:New President! I loved the message of his inaugural speech: “Yeah, we’re a pretty cool country, but we gotta work at it, folks.”My absolute favorite food blog, Words to Eat By, is back to regular entries after two years on the d.l. If you’ve never been, go now. Debbie’s chocolate chip cookies changed my life. This week’s links are totally sweet. Tons of good stuff from Jezebel and the Kitchn, plus indie blogs a-plenty. P.S. Google just acquired Feedburner, and not all of my feeds have been transferred yet. Let me know if you’re having difficulties.Chow: 10 Tips for a Healthy DietI liked “Create a Salad Bar in Your Fridge,” “Investigate Funky Grains,” and “Eat Breakfast in Bed” very much. The other suggestions aren’t...

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Posted in: Links

City Kitchen Chronicles: Lentil Soup and Righting Wrongs

City Kitchen Chronicles is a bi-weekly column about living frugally in Manhattan. It's penned by the lovely Jaime.About nine-tenths of the way through making this recipe, I was despairing. Rather than the delicious soup that I nearly lived on last winter, I was stirring a pot of tomato paste-flavored lentils. It was pretty gross.What had gone wrong? This was already a day of things-going-wrong, a general wrong-side-of-the-bedness, but I’d hoped that returning to a favorite, healthy recipe would pull me out of the funk, not sink me deeper. I wondered if the crushed tomatoes the recipe called for were too pasty, if I’d previously made it (incorrectly, but fortuitously) with diced. I’d followed the recipe to the letter, plus the secret ingredient...

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Posted in: City Kitchen Chronicles,Soups and Stocks,Vegan,Vegetarian

Happy MLK Day!

Hey folks,No regular post today for the holiday, but please enjoy this old-school U2 clip to celebrate.K...

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Tomato and Bread Soup: Raising a Bowl to Sully

I have a theory that everyone in America has at least one friend named Sully. (Also, if you are between the ages of 27 and 34, you know 30,000 Jens.) Sully’s a genial guy. Likes beer. Probably has a big ol’ dog. Maybe he’s married and has a just-as-genial wife. (Who, for some reason, is always 4’10”.)If you didn’t know a Sully before, you do now. You were officially introduced to him last night: Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger, a.k.a. The Guy That Landed a Presumably Doomed Plane Full of Scared People Safely in a Frozen Hudson River. Put simply, Sully is a stud. A playa. The Chairman of the Awesome. And I’m betting his retirement package just got about 1,000,000% better.Today then, we’re dedicating Serious Eats/Jamie Oliver’s Tomato and Bread...

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Posted in: Mains,Soups and Stocks,Vegan,Vegetarian

Veggie Might: Pumpkin Orzo with Sage ... Chasing the Pumpkin

Penned by the effervescent Leigh, Veggie Might is a weekly Thursday column about the wide world of Vegetarianism.Sometimes a recipe falls through the cracks and doesn’t get written about right away even though it’s so good I can’t stop thinking about it. Sometimes a recipe is like crack, and once it’s made, it demands to be made again and again. This is both of those recipes.Pumpkin was one of the few vegetables I managed to freeze from my CSA. I had more of it than I could use, but I didn’t really know what to do with it. When L, the farmer, recommended pairing it with sage, I had no idea that was a common way to serve it. Pumpkin was pretty much found in pie or nowhere growing up at my house.I poked around the interwebs for a pumpkin-sage...

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Posted in: Mains,Pasta,Vegan,Vegetarian,Veggie Might