Tag Archives: healthy

Grocery Savings Challenge: Week 5

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Click the picture for more meal plans, grocery lists, and recipes

I can’t wait for the Farmer’s Market to open in May; local produce for better prices! But until then, I am left to wander the produce aisle at the grocery store (our former CSA box was just too much for us two).  I have been really craving strawberries and soon the many stands along the side of the road will be open as well.

But enough dreaming about the upcoming months (oh my goodness we will have baby in less than 3!), here is this week’s plan.

The Stores and their Deals
The Meal Plan
The Grocery List
The Final Cost

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Grocery Savings Challenge Week 4: Review (with meal cost details)

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In this week’s review, I thought I would try and break down the meal costs to be more accurate. I did not include the cost of oil or seasonings, since the cost is usually quite small per meal and hard to determine. If I grill in butter, I include the butter cost (and we use butter than comes from grass fed cows, so it’s about $7-8 a box).

Here was this week’s plan and cost:

The Meal Plan

The Final Cost

Meal ingredients: $42.61
Other items: $15.53
Total: $58.14

What we actually ate and price details:

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Grain-free and Sugar-free Waffle Review

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I love waffles, but the traditional variety is really just a step down from cakes or cookies. My husband also aims at eating grain-free (a non-pregnant me usually does as well). I was thinking that waffles for Saturday morning breakfast would be delightful, if only I could try out a grain-free, sugar-free variety. I came across Health, Home and Happiness’ waffle recipe and decided to give it a try!

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Grocery Savings Challenge: Week 2

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I’m actually finding grocery shopping a little more fun when I have challenged myself to eat good and healthy meals on a smaller budget. This week was a little harder, though, because I purchased splurge items for a Valentine’s Day dinner and dessert, and we were also out of expensive items like cheese, olive oil, and almond butter.

The Stores and their Deals
The Meal Plan
The Grocery List
The Final Cost

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Budget Grocery Challenge Week 1: Review

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Here was what I planned for dinner (and leftover lunches):

The reality:

We had so much chicken chili left that I didn’t want to waste, we practically ate it all week (Marc also had a work lunch one day, so he didn’t have to pack lunch on that day). So I now have ingredients for vegetable curry and chicken and lentils for next week.

Total cost: I spent about $85-92, but I now have two dinners for next week. I also purchased yogurt and bread at the store later in the week – about $6. So for less than $100, for 3 adults, we ate healthy meals for one week, with two whole meals left over!

We have plenty of butter leftover, but we could have easily gone through more milk. This week I need to buy cheese, olive oil, and almond butter though, so we will see how our budget does when I go grocery shopping today!

I Love My Crock-Pot! Stew and a Whole Chicken

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Saturday I made stew and yesterday I made a whole chicken in the crock-pot. It’s so easy cooking with a slow-cooker!

I made a different slightly different version of the stew I have posted before. Stew is so versatile, I think sometimes it would be hard to mess up!

Easy Saturday stew:

  • 2 packs stew meat
  • 1 yellow onion, diced
  • 3 cloves garlic, diced
  • 1 cup baby or diced carrots
  • 1-2 cups diced or small potatoes
  • 1 bottle of beer or 2 cups broth
  • 1 can tomato paste
  • Salt and pepper
  • Italian seasonings
  • Olive oil

Directions:

  • Season meat with salt and pepper to taste
  • Optional – sear meat before throwing in the slow-cooker
  • Mix beer or broth, tomato paste, and a generous shake of Italian seasonings in the slow-cooker.
  • Add diced vegetables and meat (if you don’t like you vegetables too soft, throw them in half-way through the cooking process)
  • Cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 4-5 hours
  • You can also assemble the meal all together and freeze in large zip-lock baggies

Yesterday I also made a slow-cooker whole chicken like THIS ONE. I didn’t have any lemon, so I seasoned it heavily with garlic and paprika and tossed it in with a little bit of butter.

After I pulled the chicken out of the slow-cooker, I added about 5 cups of water to juices left in the crock-pot, 1/2 onion, carrots, and celery and a bay leaf and let cook on low overnight. I then strained the mixture and put it in the fridge to use today in a chicken chili recipe I’m going to try!

My Favorite Homemade Chili

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I once found a random vegetarian chili recipe and with my own changes and additions it’s the only “chili’ recipe I make. I know that technically chili doesn’t have beans but for the sake of convenience, I call this chili. I’ve tried plenty of chili (especially with my old job and all the fire department chili cook-offs I attended), but I have stuck to this recipe or a slight variation of this recipe, ever since I tried making it. I generally make it without meat, but I am trying to up my protein intake so this time I added grass-fed ground beef.

Lulu’s Sometimes Vegetarian Chili

Makes approx. Seven, 1 cup servings

Ingredients:

  • 1 medium yellow or white onion, diced
  • 4 cloves of garlic, diced
  • 1 large bell pepper, diced
  • 2 chipotle chilis in adobo sauce, diced (comes in a can, I also like to add extra sauce from it as well)
  • 1 TBSP + 1 tsp (or 5 tsp) Cumin
  • 1 tsp chili powder
  • 1/4 tsp paprikia
  • 1/2 tsp garlic powder
  • Olive oil or bacon grease
  • 1 pound grass fed ground beef (usually 80/20 around here) optional
  • 1 bottle of beer (most anything would work, but I would stay away from chocolate stouts) or 12 ounces chicken or beef broth
  • 1/4-1 cup chicken or beef broth for extra liquid if needed (I used about 1/3 cup)
  • 1 can or 2 cups cooked black beans (if using canned, rinse and drain)
  • 1 can or 1.5 cups cooked red kidney beans (if using canned, rinse and drain)

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Chicken Curry with Onions and Peppers

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When Marc and I were living in Fresno we enjoyed going to this small Thai Fusion restuarant a few minutes away. My favorite dish was the spicy red curry – chicken, red peppers, and onions in a spicy coconut curry sauce.

We decided to replicate the dish and it turned out tasty and was  a great break from the ordinary

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Tips for making the perfect smoothie

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I love smoothies. I often have a smoothie for breakfast because it’s quick and easy and super tasty. My favorite is coconut milk, almond butter, and banana smoothie!

Tropical Green Smoothie Recipe at bottom of blog post

Here are my top 3 tips for successful smoothie making:

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