This is my first Foodie Tuesday post!  I feel a little intimidated, there are so many great cooks on Open Salon.

Okay, here's the deal:  the economy is in the toilet. We all need to lose weight. (Well, I know I do - and so does about half of America, according to the latest statistics.) We would all like to be healthier. But eating well costs a lot, in both money and time. And there are a lot of folks out there who have never had to try to put together healthy meals on quite this little money.

So that's my Call. Give us your best recipes which are healthy, low cost, and ideally don't  take all day, fancy equipment, or the skills of an expert. These recipes should not assume that everyone has a fully stocked kitchen - spices and condiments count towards the cost. I'm looking for recipes which work on a day-to-day basis, things that husbands and children will cheerfully eat. This is a call, not just for Foodies, but for the rest of us schmucks who order pizza or pick up greasy takeout a little too often.

I'll go first.

I've been trying to eat better for about a month now. My theory was to eliminate refined sugars, simple carbs, and unhealthy fats, and replace them with natural fruits and veggies, complex carbs, and healthy fats. So far it's been working - I lost almost 20 pounds in January without even counting calories. More to the point, my resting heart rate went from 72 to 60.

Here's something that worked:

Instead of Butter Pecan Ice Cream, now I eat half a cup of plain nonfat yogurt with frozen blueberries or blackberries. Fresh blueberries are a  budget breaker in Memphis - usually almost 5 dollars for a tiny package - and they go bad quickly. But frozen ones cost 4 dollars for a bag that has lasted me a month so far. And blueberries are considered a superfood - they're loaded with antioxidants. 

1 cup ice cream = 420 calories. Nutritional value -well, there's milk in it, right? And also 60% of your daily allotment of saturated fat. Cost per serving - about a dollar.

1 cup blueberries with yogurt = 105 calories. 20% of your day's calcium, all those antioxidants, and 0% fat. Cost per serving - 91 cents.

You can toss this in a blender and call it a smoothie if you want, but it's good just mixed together. And saves having to wash the blender.

Here's something else that worked:

Red quinoa. Now, quinoa on the face of it is a lot more expensive than rice, but a little goes a long way.  The red kind has more flavor and texture. Cook it just like rice. If you cook several days' worth in advance and store it you can heat it up in the microwave. With a little oil and vinegar and some nuts it's good in salads. Put a chopped onion in with it when you cook it and it's even better. Not available at my local grocery, but worth the drive.

Here's something that didn't work:

Lentils. Now, I kind of like lentils personally, and dried lentils are dead cheap - I noticed when I bought them that they're WIC approved, which is generally a sign that something is about as cheap and nutritious as possible. A dollar a bag. Here's the problem:  husband will not eat them. Will NOT. They are a funny color and it freaks him out. I mentioned this while eating dinner with my parents and my dad told me that he works with a man from India whose mom always used to fix lentil soup when they were low on money when he was growing up. "And I would cry," he concludes. "I would cry every time."

So, anyone out there got a recipe involving lentils that won't induce tears?