I walked to the farmers market this morning, seeking salad ingredients and possibly other vegetables for the week. I still have carrots, beets, potatoes and onions at home from last week (Don’t worry, I’ll have uses for them). Today I bought a bag of curly kale and a bag of Brussels sprouts: I can turn each of them into winter salads. Total outlay: $12.00, as opposed to last week’s $32.40 on fresh vegetables. Because my costs were so low, I felt fine about purchasing a treat, a small cherry-almond danish for $4.25. The vendor gives me $.25 off because I bring my own cloth bag, so I always bring my bag: I keep it in my kitchen and grab it whenever I go shopping. Market total: $16.25.

On the way home I stop at Safeway. My list has three items: Kleenex, malted milk powder and marshmallows (for cocoa). I couldn’t find the marshmallows, so I bought tissues: $7.99 for a four-pack and malted milk powder for $6.49. Yikes! But it’s February and I like to have a variety of drinks in chilly weather. There is no waste to malted milk powder. So I buy it. Safeway total: $15.19.

When I got home, the first thing I did was start stripping curly kale from its stems, putting small pieces into a glass salad bowl. Three-quarters of my kale filled the bowl with a little room to toss it. Then I went to work on dressing. Into a small bowl I placed a generous tablespoon of tahini, the juice of three small lemons — smaller than your average lime — a dash of tamari and one finely minced clove of garlic. I tossed all of that with the kale, covered it and refrigerated it to soften in the dressing. Next I quartered a blood orange and peeled it, separating the segments. I put the peels in a baggie in the freezer: I candy my own orange rinds — all it takes is water, sugar, rinds and patience — and I like them straight up and in baked goods (bread pudding, French toast, muffins).

While my kale marinated, I spied some whole wheat sourdough that I had let age too long. While I could still get a knife through it, I sliced all of it. I selected two half slices, spread them with mustard and turned on my oven to 350 F. I sliced three pieces of cheddar, topped the bread with them and popped it into the oven to melt — the oven heat will soften the middle of the bread and turn the chewy edges crunchy. When the cheese toast was done, I put one slice of salami over the melted cheese.

Next I dished a bowl of tahini-dressed kale, added three-quarters of the orange segments and a small handful of roasted almonds and sat down to eat. One hour of prep and I’m eating salad and a hot sandwich. Plus, I have a few prepped orange segments, sliced bread and kale salad for other meals.

Sunday morning I made the beet root-tahini muffins, adding dried sour cherries and substituting two small grated beets for the carrots. They came out a beautiful rose color on top, perfect for post-Valentine’s Day weekend. Next time I might try a mixture of carrots and beets, just because, but these are fine. While they baked I cleaned up, chopped potatoes for a fresh batch of home fries and put them to boil and made my morning coffee. Sunday afternoon I varied my toasted cheese sandwich by spreading the bread with pesto and skipping the salami. I had some more kale salad, a pot of black tea and half of my danish. Sweet potato, salsa and sour cream for dinner.

Monday breakfast: muffin, home fries, coffee. I popped six of the muffins into the freezer to see if that preserves them better than leaving them out all week (They do dry out a bit, but nuking them to warm them makes them soft again). Monday lunch: kale salad with blood oranges, cheese toasts and cheese and salami toasts. Snack: homemade hot cocoa with marshmallows (marshmallows a gift from my landlady). Monday dinner: more cheese toasts.

Tuesday breakfast: muffin, home fries, coffee. Tuesday lunch: kale salad with oranges, homemade pizza with pesto, roasted peppers, mushrooms. Tuesday dinner: sweet potato with salsa and sour cream. Snacks: handful of Cheeze-Its, muffin. Spending: $4.00 for organic half and half (I drink half and half in my coffee. Straus organic tastes better and lasts longer than other brands. When I can’t get half and half or run out at a bad time, I use evaporated milk).

Wednesday breakfast: muffin, home fries, coffee. Lunch: kale salad with oranges, homemade pizza. Snack: cocoa. Dinner: Yummy homemade burrito — refried beans, shredded greens, salsa, and sour cream; carrot sticks.

Thursday breakfast: muffin, home fries, coffee. Lunch: kale salad, homemade pizza. Snack: too many Cheez-Its (I had a fuck-it-all kind of day). Very late dinner: another muffin.

Friday breakfast: muffin, home fries, coffee. Lunch: homemade burrito. Snack: homemade cocoa with marshmallows. Dinner: I’m still recovering from yesterday, so I steamed a bowl of Brussels sprouts, added a spoonful of pesto, ate the last slice of homemade pizza and finished dinner with a muffin.

Week 3 begins tomorrow with a farmers market trip.