Ethical Entertaining on the Cheap

With my husband out of town, I decided to play hostess to my friend Kelly. Together we walked to the Boston Copley Square Farmer's Market. If you're in MA, you can find farmer's markets near you at the Federation of Massachusetts Farmers Markets. For other areas, I highly recommend Local Harvest. You can use their interactive map feature to find farmer's markets near where you live!

Now, just because I was going to a farmer's market didn't mean that I was able to completely avoid sticker shock. At one of the stalls there were these beautiful lettuces, spinach, and other greens lying in beautiful bunches on lightly colored baskets. They looked perfect, and they better have tasted that way... they were $5 for a QUARTER POUND. Ouch! None of that for this hungry grad student! Instead, with a little walking around, I came upon Silverbrook Farm's stand. Now, another couple has signed up with my husband and I to split a CSA, or Community Supported Agriculture subscription, with Silverbrook Farms for later in the season. So after chatting for a little while with the gentleman at the stand, I settled upon a box of pea tendrils, for $4. I had a little sticker shock, but as you'll soon hear, I think I got an excellent deal! I also picked up a large bunch of rainbow chard for later in the week from another stand fr $2.50. $6.50 for plenty of veggies for awhile for me was a pretty good deal in my book!

On to dinner. I grilled boneless skinless chicken breasts from Whole Foods. Now, these are more expensive than your average chicken breasts (although not that much more so.) However, the meat is far more ethical; it's nice to look at a meat counter without worrying about what came from where and what was done to the animals who made that meat. Here's a trick I learned by accident at Whole Foods: buying over 3 lbs means a discount! So, when we stocked up on chicken breasts, we got the meat for about 5.99/lb, about a .40 discount per pound! I served a little less than a pound of meat, so while the meat makes up 3/4 of the cost of the meal per person, it's still less than $3 per person. I added some dried salt-free Italian spices, garlic, and lemon juice. They were great!

I also served the pea tendrils straight up. They were amazing! As Kelly said, even thought they were just tendrils, they tasted like peas. So true! They didn't need a thing on them, and I served them raw. They tasted great with the chicken! So fresh and green. Plus, we only had about a quarter of them...$1 of fresh pea tendrils for two people!

Lastly, I made spinach risotto. I enclose my recipe, although I don't really ever do things "exactly" according to recipe. Adjust for your needs!

Makes 8-10 side servings

2 cups arborio rice

1 can of chicken broth (organic low sodium fat free if possible)

1 tablespoon olive oil

frozen organic spinach

parmesan cheese.

Put the oil in a hot wok or other shallow pot. Toast the arborio rice at medium heat until it begins to brown just a little. While it browns, microwave the broth until hot. Pour appx. half of the broth into the wok, and stir. Add water to the remaining broth, microwave to reheat. Once the rice has absorbed most of the broth, add more and stir. Continue to do so until the risotto is cooked through (taste to make sure it isn't chewy). You should go through about 4 total cups of liquid in this process. Remove from the heat, and add as much spinach and cheese a you would like. Keep stirring, and the spinach will defrost and the cheese will melt. Serve immediately!

I couldn't quite figure out how much per person my risotto costs, because I didn't use all of any of the ingredients I used. Suffice it to say that it is a very affordable side dish, and I made enough that I am all set for lunch tomorrow!

In total, I think this fun, quick, yummy, and above all ethical dinner clocks in at about $4 per person! That's cheaper than a night out any day!