Monthly Money Challenge: Holidays and Everything is Expensive Edition aka Capitalism’s Robbin’ SZN

Currency is the journal dedicated to managing the flow of your money. Each month offers space to challenge yourself and your spending habits. 

In case you need some inspiration for how to challenge yourself this month, here are my musings and challenge for the month:

While it should be a season of reflection, harvest, and ignoring any and all aversions to butter or sweets, we are instead confronted with the state of corporate greed, the lack of empathy of the ultra-wealthy, and how distorted the weight of adulthood is in a society that is centered around money, not people. 

It feels most appropriate that the money challenge here, not be… money-centered. Instead, it should focus on people and let saving money be a by-product. 

My Louisiana lineage inspired the idea: break some bread. Food is sustenance, but sharing food is pleasure and community. It's intimacy and bonding. It is a sign of care, consideration, and the devotion to ensure what is important to you is nurtured. 

The challenge this month is to share more meals. Break more bread with your community and those you choose to share your time, love, joy, and heart, possibly making room for more community, hopefully creating moments that show and prove that we can go further when we are together, with our friends, family, neighbors, and coworkers. 

Do it once a week. More often if you can. Share the cost. Divide the labor. Bond with your people because the time for it is now.

With this challenge in mind, it feels important to share two recipes that can stretch a bunch and share well around the table. Make time to share moments with those important to you.

The Louisiana Classic:

Red Beans and Rice.

The meal that is both the easiest to cook and the easiest to stretch around the table. It is a staple in the south and a weekly constant in Louisiana. Its the perfect meal to share with your community. This is basically my recipe.

1 pound dried red kidney beans (soak overnight)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil or butter
1 pound cooked/browned sausage, cut into 1/2-inch disks
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 green bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and finely chopped
4 ribs celery, finely chopped
4 medium cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon ground cayenne pepper
Cajun seasoning if you have some or (salt, pepper, garlic, onion, paprika, and cayenne can get you by)
3 bay leaves
Cooked white rice, for serving

Rinse and soak the beans in water overnight. Chop the sausage into small slices or cubes and brown in a hot pot. Cook until brown. Remove. Add a little butter and sauté the onion, bell pepper, and celery for about 10 minutes, then add the garlic. Cook for 3 more minutes. To the pot, add chicken stock, soaked beans, bay leaves, and salt. Bring to boil and then reduce to a simmer. Add browned sausage. Cover and cook for about 2 hours. Uncover and taste. Add more salt, pepper, and cayenne to taste. Continue to boil until thick. If you like them extra creamy, you can spoon out a cup of beans, mash them, and add them back to the pot. Cook rice and serve. (Add a pan of Jiffy Cornbread for extra points.)

Got to include something sweet, too. 

Something Sweet:

Amish Friendship Bread.

Okay, now this one takes a little bit of investment, but the pay off is so good. The dough starter as a way of multiplying so you can always make more and share with friends who enjoy baking as well. The dough needs about 10 days to be ready, then the bread is ready to make. So, this one is a bit of two two-parter. 

But the recipes of the bread variations! It’s extremely customizable. I’m talking Cinnamon, Chocolate, Eggnog, and Cranberry to Zucchini, Sweet Potato, and Persimmons. You can make muffins, granola, and waffles. It’s one of those things that keeps giving shareable bits.

Dough Starter:

• .25 ounce active dry yeast (or 1 packet)
• ¼ cup warm water (110° F/45° C)
• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup milk

Directions:

• Pour the warm water into a small glass bowl. Sprinkle the yeast over the water. Let this stand for 5-8 minutes to allow it to dissolve.
• In a larger glass bowl (or plastic bowl. Don't use metal bowls or utensils for sourdough), mix together the flour and sugar with a wooden spoon. 
• Stir in the milk with the flour and sugar. Then the yeast mixture. Pour it into a gallon-size zippered plastic bag and seal. Do not refrigerate. Allow the sourdough mixture to sit out at room temperature. This counts as Day 1. 
• Day 2, 3, 4, 5: Mash the bag. Release any air each day.
• Day 6: Add 1 cup each of flour, sugar and milk. Mash the bag until it is mixed well.
• Day 7, 8, 9: Mash the bag. Release any air each day.
• Day 10: Pour the dough into a glass (or other nonmetal) bowl. Add ½ cup each of all-purpose flour, granulated sugar and milk. Mix well with a wooden spoon.
• Divide out 1 cup portions of the starter, placing each one-cup portion in separate zippered plastic bags. You'll get about 4-5 bags. Seal the bags, and give the starter away to friends along with the instructions, keeping one for yourself if desired. The starter then goes back to Day 1.
• Keep one starter for yourself, and bake the bread.

This is The Friendship Bread's Recipe Box of Amish Bread recipes. There are over 250 of them. Play around. Make something sweet