For Frugal Nation, I have focused on dinner and complete “meals.” This recipe, however, could work as a snack or light lunch. It is also a nice side dish for dinner, especially if you need to work some vegetables into the meal.

If you like hummus, you will enjoy this dip. It is rich and thick like hummus, but the spinach makes it a beautiful green color. Eat it just like you would hummus, with chips or pita, vegetables, or as a sandwich spread.

Garlic & Spinach White Bean Dip

2 tbsp olive oil
3-4 large garlic cloves, minced
3-4 cups baby spinach
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 tsp sea salt
2 cans (15 oz each) Great Northern White beans, drained and rinsed

Heat oil in a small skill over medium heat. Add garlic and saute until fragrant, about 1 minute, being careful not to burn. Transfer garlic to food processor bowl.

Wipe pan clean and add a small amount of additional oil. Add spinach, in batches, and saute over low heat until wilted. Transfer to food processor bowl.

Add lemon juice and salt to food processor bowl and pulse to combine. Add beans to bowl and puree until smooth. Chill slightly before serving (15 minutes in refrigerator). Drizzle with olive oil if desired.

Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

Frugal Breakdown
olive oil: negligible
3-4 large garlic cloves: negligible
3-4 cups baby spinach: $1.00
lemon: $0.50
 sea salt: negligible
2 cans beans: $1.78
TOTAL: $3.28

Verdict: Obviously a success, but you also need to factor in the cost of what you will be dipping (such as tortilla chips, baby carrots, broccoli spears, pitas, or pretzels). The low cost of the dip, however, allows for the purchase of these things.

While you may pay a similar price for a jar of vegetable dip or hummus at the store, I encourage you to try this dip anyway. It has a different flavor and lots of protein. While hummus is pretty healthy, some other dips are loaded with calories and preservatives.

My first attempt at cake decoration, not too shabby? Okay, my icing skills need some work, but it was delicious.

A candy-covered computer motherboard:

For James’ birthday, I created this motherboard-inspired birthday confection topped with wafers, rolos, m&m candies, bubble gum, and other goodies. I will admit it was a boxed cake mix, but it was red velvet cake and cream cheese frosting. Delicious!

Pretty Sweet cake, huh?

Even though the election and politics have been hot topics for the past year, I have tried to keep political posts out of the site. It isn’t that I don’t have political views, but I see those views the same way people see eggplant: you either agree with me or you don’t, and not much is going to sway you either way.

Sure, I write about serious topics like the economic crisis, the environment, and mental health issues, but I also write about not-so-serious topics like wine, the Chinese New Year and mix tapes. Sometimes I spin some common themes like Organics Week or SweetHearts Week, but for the most part the Bitter/Sweet blog is pretty random. It is meant as an outlet for all the things that annoy or amuse me throughout the day.

Now, if you are paying attention, you probably know how I lean politically. I work in the education field, write about sustainability, and rally against advertising (c’mon, it’s not a big leap). Does that mean I only want a certain type of person reading this site? No, not at all. Food should be a way to bring people together, not pull them apart because of the way they voted.

I grow annoyed with websites and blogs that use the anonymous nature of the Internet to spew political hate (or any other kind of hate, for that matter), especially when that is not the topic of the site. Cooking should not be an elitist activity or reserved for people of certain beliefs or backgrounds, cooking is for everyone to partake and enjoy.

I have no patience for Bitter sites or people who want to turn the Internet into a political mine-field of backlash, rumors, and insults. Believe what you want to believe, your food is still going to taste the same. Cooking is not reserved for the few, it is intended for the masses. And that is as political as I am going to get. In the meantime, love what you cook and cook what you love!

Frugal Nation has been up and running for a month now, with most recipes successfully totalling less than $10. Keeping the $10 price tag in mind, I have incorporated lentils and beans into recipes, which I have not done before (with the exception of chickpeas).

During Veganomics, I kept a careful eye on price tags and sales. One thing I have noticed since starting this project is that the deals are not as good as before, and I am not sure if that is a result of the economic turmoil or that winter is a dormant growing season in Michigan. Vegetables seem slightly more expensive, while meat is definitely pricier than last summer. The sale prices are sometimes higher than the regular prices I paid back in June!

It takes a bit more work to find a good deal on meat and produce, though it isn’t impossible. This is part of the reason I turned to lentils and beans, which are almost always cheaper than meat. Also, hearty dishes with lentils and beans lend themselves better to the colder weather.

Some very sad news came in last weekend: The Fresh Market closed! Not all locations, but the one in Grand Rapids closes its doors today. I was devastated to hear the news, and immediately rushed over to stock up on cheap spices and other favorites like tri-colored couscous and quinoa. The closing was very abrupt, the GR Press ran the story Thursday and by Sunday the store was closed.

Another thing this project has shown me is that home cooking can be incredibly cheap, healthy, and very satisfying. Ironically, I am on my way to making more soup during this project than I did during Soupified! Though I usually made adjustmests to the recipes, it has been pretty easy to keep things under the $10 mark.

I am at a distinct advantage, however, because I already had a stocked pantry and spice rack (let’s not discuss how much I spent stocking up on spices this weekend). For someone starting from scratch, it would probably be more costly to start cooking at home at first.

Frugal Nation will continue with more delicious, balanced recipes that can be made with less than $10 worth of ingredients, along with Frugal News updates and other commentary on Bitter/Sweet.