August Little Big Meal is a Big Deal!

This month at Fresh Market, on Thursdays you can pick up a Little Big Meal for $20. While the past few months' deals haven't impressed me, August has simply blown me away!

You choose a protein - sirloin strips, chicken strips, or shrimp. 

You choose a starch - udon or soba noodles or rice. 

You pick up a pack of stir fry veggies (precut!!), a simmer sauce, a package of peanuts, and a pound cake!  All for just $20!

We immediately decided to purchase three meals to use all week, one of each type of protein. Chap chose to do 2 2-lb bags of rice and one package of noodles this time. The pound cakes went straight to the freezer and we just took one over to a friend's house for dessert last night. I also halved the chicken and steak into freezer bags and froze one of each, as well as all the shrimp. 

So we tried the chicken meal today for lunch. I pretty much followed the directions on the simmer sauce. Over medium heat, I browned the chicken a little in olive oil, added the whole pack of veggies, used a fork to break up the chicken, then added the simmer sauce and turned the heat down! I covered my pan to let the veggies steam some and cooked one bundle of noodles (there were 3 in the package). I mixed the noodles into the big skillet when they were done, and the meal was complete!

This was soooo easy and really delicious. We are going to have some of the steak tonight! I definitely plan to send Chap back for at least one more this Thursday!

Here is the purchase minus the pound cakes which were already in the freezer!

Here is the chicken dish made in the lemongrass basil simmer sauce! This was also after I served myself and the Monkey!

Dr. Soup

The pollen has attacked. With a vengeance. My face hurts, my nose is a faucet, and wow my ears are feeling the pressure. I'm doing a little rain dance here looking out the window - it's headed to Atlanta, just not as quickly as I prefer! The clouds are here, so bring on the rain!

I even took something. If you know me well, you know I hate taking medicine! I can work through basic aches and pains. This, however, is awful, and I broke down and took an allergy pill last night. 

Nutritionally, I'm avoiding dairy so that my sinuses don't swell up any more than they already are. I've eaten a Minneola for snack, and now this miso soup for lunch.  The soup is warm and is helping ease my sinus troubles a little.  Here is the recipe, in case the pollen has you down, too!

Dr. Miso Soup

By Miss Fit

1 c chicken or veggie broth

1 tsp chickpea miso paste

1/4 c chick peas, drained

Handful of chopped greens (I used collards)

Salt and Pepper to taste

Heat the broth and miso paste in the microwave for one minute. Stir to break up the miso paste. Add chick peas, greens, salt, and pepper. Return to the microwave for 30 seconds or until greens have softened to your liking. 

Optional Ingredients: Red Pepper Flakes, 2 Tbsp chopped Parsley, and/or 1/4 c Shredded Chicken

Enjoy feeling your sinuses open up, if even for just a few minutes!

Making the Cut Day 11

I've had quite a busy week traveling, so I am quite behind on posts! I took the Monkey with me to Athens to see some dear friends, and Chap and I toured some South Carolina/North Carolina college campuses for work. In order to keep clean (our meals, that is), we packed our own food for the trip - snacks and all!

I was stressed about my food intake because 1400 calories seemed SO low for me.  I was hungry all the time! The scale proved this was the case - I dropped a few unintentional pounds and am bordering on underweight. This was not part of my plan but realized the book is touted as being a way to drop the last 10 - 20 pounds. Well, if you are already at your ideal weight, this is a problem! I discussed with Chap and redesigned my calorie goal to 1700 for now. If I feel that this isn't working, I will increase again. My Day 9 workout went really well, so I feel like the extra fuel is just what I needed. I could see where someone would try to work through the low calories and be miserable, so I do wish the book spent a little more time talking about calories and people who might not need to lose 10 pounds. I'm sure I'm not the only one who experienced this. 

I'm so excited about the definition in my arms. They are looking fabulous! I will post halfway pictures in a few days. I've impressed myself with close grip push-ups... and pretty much all types of push-ups. I can tell it's working!

Of course it's pouring on a day I needed to do some sprints, so I will be getting creative later with my workout!

Making the Cut Day 4

Yesterday was tough in terms of following the meal plan. I did it (yea!) but felt really hungry and couldn't seem to think straight. Thankfully Day 3 is built to be a rest day - I definitely rested! I remember when I did my juice Reboot several years ago that once I got beyond 3 days, I was fine. Sure enough, I'm feeling alert and happy today on Day 4! My workout was great. In circuit 3 you complete 20 frog push-ups. On Friday I had to break it down into sets of 4 or 5. Today I did 10 before a little break, then 5 and 5!  Feeling stronger today is really motivating. I can even see some muscle definition in my arms. 

In other news, I received my first paycheck as a part time employee at Chap's business! I'm working for him while the Monkey is at morning preschool  three days a week. I learned a lot today and got my email set up! I also tried to give myself a raise, but that might have been a little too ambitious for the first pay period. I will try again next month! Haha

I'm so hopeful that nice weather is here to stay! I'd love to take part of my workout outdoors - especially when I need to do my 5 1-minute sprints! Even an open floor plan is not conducive to those!

Have a great sunny week!

Making the Cut Day 2

I feel that the first two days of Making the Cut have been successful.  After two workout sessions I can tell a big difference in my strength and endurance this go around. The last time I did this was five years ago, and I've come a long way! I've  heard/read your thirties are actually a time where you can see some peak performance, so I'm taking advantage of it!

Today's lunch salad was so delicious. The original recipe was Artichoke, Fennel, and Tomato Salad but fennel is not my favorite. So I subbed baby bok choy and it made the best base for this huge salad!  We would totally make this again. I also had two ounces of chicken with it, and the meal was quite satisfying. 

So here is the {improved} Artichoke, Bok Choy, and Tomato Salad!

We've also had Morrocan chicken and wild rice, along with delicious turkey wraps for yesterday's lunch. 

I really like trying the new recipes but already plan to scale back on the types of meat we have next week in hopes of lowering our grocery bill! I will let you know how that goes!

The Cost of Meat in Your Diet

I haven't blogged in awhile, but I've been busy with my many endeavors - namely becoming Chap's very part-time assistant and working on my Teachers Pay Teachers site.  In the meantime, we've had Birthday Month, which usually means we spend a lot more money than normal and our diet becomes almost sweets based.  I'm happy to report, though, that we spent way less money this year and we only had a small string of unhealthy eating.  Not that it's a bad thing, but Chap and I were quite relieved to go back to a very clean diet the other day.

My other new endeavor is personal and quite goal-oriented.  I've decided to complete the 30 day Jillian Michaels' Making the Cut.  I did it once before with Chap back in 2009.  In fact, I still had the meal plans and grocery lists saved on my Google Docs!  I'd forgotten how difficult it is to plan out your meals and groceries with the format of the book, but I simply refuse to pay extra money to have JM's website do it for me.  So...back to Google Docs and Livestrong's My Plate calorie tracking tool.  I will start on Friday, and I'm quite excited about becoming super fit and plan to look "smokin' hot" at my sister's wedding in June!

I'd ALSO forgotten how meat and protein-focused this meal plan is, and just how much money we spent on groceries back in 2009.  We were on two salaries then with no Monkey in the picture.  So the sticker shock of our groceries for 7 days was intense today!  I shopped at three places: The Dekalb Farmers Market, Kroger, and Trader Joes.  Oh.  Wow.  I almost passed out when my total reached $200 at the Farmers Market alone.  It was largely due to meat and seafood!  In total, for Days 1 - 7, meat made up exactly 40% of our spending.  That's just over a hundred bucks.  I've become accustomed to $70 or $80 being a really high week in terms of budgeting for groceries, and I have to remember to breathe when I think about the money I spent today on one week of food.

It makes me realize what a big difference buying meat makes to your budget.  These days we eat out of our freezer for meat, which has a few steaks left (Christmas gift) and venison from a friend.  The only meat we buy is occasional chicken or some fish.  To imagine the typical American family meal where meat is still the central focus, I can see exactly why people think eating healthy is expensive and difficult.  I'm so glad we've changed our focus in our little family to whole plant-based meals that may or may not include meat or seafood.  The savings alone is simply amazing!  Imagine if I'd bought beans in place of this meat - I could have bought 5 containers of different types of beans and only spent $10!  It's definitely something families can look at when trying to trim their budget.

One item we will NOT buy again - lamb chops.  It cost $37 for 6 lamb chops, and the original recipe actually called for 12.  I have such a difficult time justifying this expense when we could eat on $37 for at least 5 days normally!  So lamb chops are a one-time thing, even though they are loved by a particular member of this family.  Sorry, Chap!

I'm going to let my heart rate subside again (and put those receipts out of my mind) and finish up this post.  I'm so excited to do this workout and meal plan again, and I know the results will be worthwhile.  Check back in to see updates on how it's going for the next thirty days!  I will be sure to take some before and after photos and will probably post a few meal photos and recipes!  Here's to being fit and fab!

Easy Homemade Peanut Butter

I'm beyond thankful we have no allergies in my house. While we do avoid gluten for the most part, no one is actually allergic. Our pediatrician was great about keeping up on the latest research, so when the Monkey was 4 months old, she told us we could feed him any food except peanut butter. The peanut butter caution was actually because of choking, not because of potential for allergies. Now that the Monkey is older, he loves lots of foods, including peanut butter. It's so easy to make, and peanuts are very cheap at the farmers market and Trader Joes! We keep them on hand for snacks and days where peanut butter would just hit the spot!

Easy Homemade Peanut Butter

In a small food processor, combine 1/4 cup of peanuts, a couple pinches of salt, a half teaspoon of honey, and a drizzle of your choice of oil. Start with just a little oil, and as the peanuts grind up, check to see if they are too dry. It doesn't take much to make perfect peanut butter!

We ate our peanut butter with apples!

Blackberries!

We saw Chap's mom for dinner the other night because Chap's brother and girlfriend were home from Virginia! And we always thought UGA had an early spring break...

Bebe told us that Kroger had blackberries for $0.98! That is such a deal!!! As we were leaving, she stuck a container on top of our leftovers to take with us. What a delicious treat - the Monkey loves them!

This morning the Monkey wanted cereal. I haven't bought cereal in ages, but I did get granola at Trader Joes this week. Ginger almond clusters - yum! Well, the perfect topping for cereal is blackberries, so that's what we had!

Good to the last drop!

A Snack All to Myself

When you have a two year old, unless you wait until he is asleep, you don't really get to eat anything by yourself. How can I look into those adorable eyes and tell him I won't share? I know, it looks like I'm a softie. He gets told no quite a bit, so don't think I let him get away with everything!

Today my mom and sister came to visit for a minute and to take the Monkey home with them for the night!!!! I was quite happy with this arrangement. :)

I decided to have popcorn without my popcorn buddy. I make my own air-popped popcorn with {some} butter, salt, pepper, and grated Parmesan cheese. It's pretty much amazing, which is probably why the Monkey likes to have his own bowl. Chap can't stand popcorn, so I never have to share with him! 

Popcorn actually has a decent amount of fiber in it, and I like controlling the toppings. I use maybe 1/2 tablespoon of butter for the whole bowl and a light sprinkle of salt and cheese. Grating the cheese with the tiny side of the grater helps it go farther with less. I definitely load it up with black pepper! I'm not sure why I tried that as a kid, but I remember using pepper on my popcorn in elementary school. Who knew???

Popcorn is my favorite snack for sure!

Love Your Body Challenge Before and After!

Well, folks, here they are!  I can definitely see a big difference when I compare the pictures side by side.  It's hard to tell day to day, and some days I feel more confident than others!  I plan to keep up a workout schedule and running should be easier as the weather turns nicer.  I ended up doing 93 miles between New Years and Valentine's Day.  A little short of 100, but I'm not going to sweat it!  I'll finish them soon! :)

Valentine Turtles

The Monkey and I have been scheming for a little bit.  We wanted to make Chap/Daddy a delicious Valentine treat that wasn't too sweet and decadent.  Well, I'm not sure if we succeeded, but we did create something delicious!  Valentine Turtles!

You only need four ingredients: cashews, pecans, caramels, and chocolate chips.

Valentine Turtle Treat

Even little hands are a big help!

Ingredients gathered!

My little scooper!

 Always taste test the caramel!

 Never leave a Monkey alone with a bowl of chocolate!

Freeze and finished!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Parsley Almond Pesto

Parsley Almond Pesto

 

I love eating pesto.  I love to make pesto.  Who knew that a few key ingredients could mesh so easily and create such a delicious topping for many foods?  Obviously, the Italians were on to something.  While I do love pesto on pasta, I discovered that I also love it on pork chops!  We don't eat pork chops very often - they're not my favorite, and as you probably know, if it's not Mommy's favorite, it's not a family favorite!

We had pork chops in the freezer because they came with our awesome Omaha Steak Christmas gift.  My biggest fear with pork chops is drying them out, so I'd been avoiding them.  Until I was on Pinterest...  I came across a pin for pesto chicken and thought, hmmm, why not try pesto on pork chops?  I felt adventurous and determined.  We were going to have pesto pork chops.

Now came my favorite part of the pesto making process - the ingredient selection!  I make pesto with a lot of different greens, arugula being my FAVORITE.  I also vary the type of nut based on what we have in the cabinet.  Pesto is not restricted to basil and pine nuts!  Too expensive for this budget-conscious house.

I decided on parsley, almonds, and pecorino-romano cheese as my main ingredients.  We had all but the cheese!  The parsely had been on super sale at the farmers market - four bunches for a dollar!  So of course, Chap bought eight bunches.  Who doesn't need eight bunches of parsley in their fridge...

I wanted to have a lot of extra, so I used two bunches of parsley.  Also, I find that making pesto is a bit of an art.  You should start with less of the ingredients and taste often to adjust them.

Parsley Almond Pesto
(Makes 1 1/2 cups pesto)

Ingredients:

• 2 bunches parsley
• 1/2 cup almonds
• 2 ounces Pecorino-Romano cheese, cut into large chunks
• Salt
• Pepper
• Olive Oil

Directions:
In a food processor, combine almonds, cheese, and a decent sprinkle of salt.  Pulse to combine and break up the almonds.  Add the parsley and continue to pulse.  After well combined, turn food processor on and stream in olive oil until the pesto is the desired consistency.  Taste, adjust ingredients, and add pepper at this point.  Pulse and taste again until you are satisfied!

I find that I always need to add a little more cheese and salt to make my pesto taste just the way I like it.  Keep in mind, too, that dry pesto will be difficult to spread on meat or mix into pasta!  I usually need a little more olive oil that I initially thought.

The pesto was delicious on the pork chops and they stayed super moist.  Pesto goes well on meat, pasta, fish, and eggs.  Chap likes putting pesto into an omelet in the mornings!

How many ways do you use pesto?

Food for Thought

I enjoyed reading this article from NPR and felt that it contributed to what I am trying to do with my blog.

What Separates A Healthy And Unhealthy Diet? Just $1.50 Per Day

Free Yoga in Atlanta!

I'd never ventured into a yoga class. Pilates, yes, but not an actual yoga class. The DVDs I had attempted were Fat Burning Yoga and Prenatal Yoga, and those left me a little bored and feeling completely inflexible. Or, as I like to say, unbendy. My sister mentioned a free yoga class on Saturdays just down the road at Lululemon. Well, what's more budget friendly than a free exercise class? 

So my sister picked me up at 8:30, and good thing we got there early because a lot of people must like free yoga. In the car we reminded each other that if it sucked, it was only and hour, plus an hour of low intensity exercise counts for 3 miles on our Tone It Up challenge. We went in with low expectations, sad to say. 

So... Yoga was actually FUN and I enjoyed it. I was able to follow along and found throughout the hour that all my running had my muscles tight, so the slow stretching was exactly what I needed. Go figure. 

The instructor was from a local studio and was excellent, especially considering she was in the middle of a LOT of yoga mats and men/women of varying levels. I'm so thankful I've been doing the tricep push-ups on the TIU workouts because I was able to lower myself gracefully instead of just flopping to the floor!  It's the little things...

I will definitely participate in free yoga again. Maybe one day I'll post a picture of myself with my feet on my head or something... Ha!  Look around to see if you can find a free class to attend!  

Post yoga - I'm absolutely horrible at selfies and always get my thumb in the way!  Aren't we just glowing with inner peace and tranquility???

Wishing-for-Spring Salad

I'm done with the cold weather!  We were so spoiled with a mild winter last year, and this winter seems to be the exact opposite!  Hey, I live in the south for a reason and that reason is warm seasons most of the year!

I made a salad for lunch that reminds me of spring.  The boiled eggs make me think of a warm Easter afternoon.  Mmmmmm....

Wishing-for-Spring Salad
 
Boil eggs.  I bring my eggs to a boil and then cover and turn the heat off.  Today I left them on the burner for about 15 minutes then moved them to sit for another 5 minutes.  I used a slotted spoon to fish them out and dunked them {gently} into ice water.  They sat there for another 5 minutes and were ready to peel!  I liked the consistency of the yolk much better today than I did last time.

Place about 2 cups of greens on your plate (again, I'm really into this baby kale mix).  Top with sliced grape tomatoes, avocado, shelled edamame, and sliced boiled eggs.  Dress with olive oil, lemon, salt, and pepper!

Here's hoping for warmer weather soon!

Easy Southwest Salad Recipe

I've been keeping up with the Love Your Body challenge and do the workouts daily.  The cardio part was a little slack last week... so Chap and I have committed to run 40 miles during these next two weeks!  We are certainly able to do it.  In fact, I'd already planned to run my own 10K on Sunday.  So far we are 6/40 of the way done.  As a former math teacher, I do love my fractions!

This regular working out and getting in shape makes me HUNGRY.  This is all well and good until it starts making me crave things that aren't very clean!  We have a bit of a blessing and curse right outside our condo.  There is a "mall" which I like to call a glorified food court.  Today after my Love Your Arms and Abs routine and two rounds of Love Your Abs, I was really wanting Moe's.  Now Moe's is not a bad choice if you make good choices while you are there.  You can be sure I would have wanted a FULL serving of cheese today and probably would have met my daily quota for sodium with the meat on it.  I also know that tonight my mom and dad are taking the Monkey and me to.... THE VARSITY! YUM!  So breakfast and lunch needs to stay pretty clean.  It's all about balance!

So.  Lunch.  Hungry and wanting Moe's.

Here's what I decided to make!  These are all ingredients we had on hand, and of COURSE other toppings can be subbed!

Southwest Salad
Start with a bed of greens.  I used a great baby kale mix.  Top with cubed avocado, sliced grape tomatoes, shredded purple cabbage, salsa, black beans, and 1/2 ounce of cheese.  (See?  I behaved!  I used a really nice aged white cheddar)  Drizzle with a little olive oil and squeezed lemon juice.

I love that this salad was Moe's-like but had healthier greens and great toppings that made me feel great! 

I will certainly enjoy The Varsity tonight knowing that I had a clean breakfast and lunch today!

What'll ya have?  What'll ya have?

One Month Workout Check In!

This month has been busy with working out and eating clean, healthy, budget-friendly meals!  I've been tracking each workout on a calendar to keep up with miles and workouts.  On Sunday, the Tone It Up girls send out a weekly schedule.  I write it in on the calendar and snap a pic to send to my sisters.  They are doing the workout plan too, and we keep up an awesome group text chat about our successes!  I love it and adore connecting with my awesome sisters.

Now for the {gulp} check in photos.  I didn't post my before pictures, because WOW, it's tough to put yourself out there like that!  I'm definitely seeing some progress after only one month!!!!

Front View:

Before:

After 1 Month:

 

 

Side View:

Before:

After 1 Month:

 Back View:

Before:

After 1 Month:

Before:

After 1 Month:

Progress is happening!  I'm most amazed at my booty and hamstrings.  I thought my running already made them as good as they could get, but I see I was wrong!  I'll admit, tighter abs are nice too...

I can't wait to take my Valentine's Day pictures!  I might even break out the teeny bikini!  Woohoo!

HIIT Review and Easy Recipe

I successfully completed the Tone It Up girls' new HIIT workout that I mentioned in the last post. I must say that it did what it's supposed to do! My heart rate was up and I was working hard. 

For someone who regularly exercises and has followed the TIU videos or other exercise videos, this HIIT workout is an excellent challenge and can easily be done at home, in a hotel, and (important for me) during the Monkey's nap time. You use your own body weight for the exercises and you hit all the major muscles. 

The beginning exerciser, on the other hand, would have a difficult time keeping up and completing the moves with proper form.  I workout regularly and constantly strive to improve my form on moves like squats, lunges, and push-ups. I found the moves challenging, so I feel that a beginner might get frustrated and give up. In the beginning, I found that basic moves were best for me and have only recently begun to move to more challenging variations. It's a process!

I liked the way the three circuits were structured! You complete each of 5 moves twice for 20 seconds on and 10 seconds rest. The entire workout video was 20 minutes long, which is not bad at all!  I appreciate short workouts because knowing they are short makes me work harder during that time. 

I had a lot of energy afterwards as well. Much needed!

Alright, on to the recipe I made yesterday!  A bit of back story - Chap has a friend in the egg industry. During the lovely Atlanta snow there was a poultry convention in downtown Atl and Chap's friend was going. For a couple weeks now, I've noticed on our shared calendar an event called "The Chicken Show" that I kept meaning to ask Chap about! It turns out Chap was meeting his friend there to walk around and get lunch. 

In honor of said Chicken Show, I made these delicious egg tacos for the Monkey and me. They would be fantastic for breakfast, lunch, or dinner!

Easy Egg Tacos

Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp olive oil

4 eggs

6 grape tomatoes, quartered

1/2 cup leafy greens, chopped (I used arugula because we had it)

Grated cheese 

4 corn tortillas, warmed

Directions:

1. Crack eggs into small bowl, add salt and pepper, and whisk. 

2. Heat olive oil over medium high heat and scramble eggs. 

3.  Just as eggs are almost done add tomatoes and greens. Continue to stir. 

4. Add cheese, fold into mixture, and remove from heat. 

5. Spoon into warmed corn tortillas. 

So easy and delicious!

A Little Relaxation!

I've already done the Tone It Up Love Your Total Body workout today and can't wait to see their new HIIT video tonight!

HIIT stands for high-intensity interval training, and it's getting a lot of good press because of the cardiovascular benefits it provides in such a short time frame. Usually we are talking under 30 and even under 20 minutes for a complete workout that can really torch calories!  I'm looking forward to this one tonight and will do a mini-review of it as a post later!

For now I'm enjoying my calm tea time while watching the snow fall! Our first Atlanta snow!

Kettlebells!

The new Tone It Up kettlebell routine was just posted and I loved it! The moves are pretty traditional as far as kettlebell workouts go, but it flowed really nicely and I was able to concentrate on my form during my workout. If you are looking for something quick and total body, I would suggest this workout or possibly their original one on the Tone It Up website.

I'm sure I will feel this in the morning!

Check it out at their website:

Kettlebell Workout 

Tropical Paradise Green Smoothie

Or should I call this "how to get your kid to drink spinach"? This is a delicious smoothie that is easy too.  It's two year old tested and approved (as in, more Smoobie, Mommy?) I use a hand immersion blender, but a regular blender would work great for this smoothie!

If you go ahead and buy two cans of coconut milk and four bananas, you can make this smoothie four times with one pineapple!

Tropical Paradise Smoothie

1/4 pineapple

1 banana, chopped into large pieces

1/2 can coconut milk

2 - 3 handfuls spinach

Directions:

If you buy a whole pineapple, use a sharp knife to remove the outside and the core. Of course at the farmers market, they didn't have any already prepped because I was there early! The early bird cuts the pineapple, I suppose. 

 

Cut the pineapple into large chunks and place in blending cup with the banana. Add half of the can of coconut milk. Blend!

Add the spinach a handful at a time. You may want to add water to help the spinach blend to a nice consistency. 

Delicious finished smoothie! If only we were experiencing tropical weather...

What's for Dinner? Week of 1/19

This week our goal was to shop out of our pantry and supplement with fresh foods.  We also took advantage of the 2 for $12 rotisserie chickens at Fresh Market on Saturday.  I'm determining whether that is actually a good deal, or if I should buy whole chickens and roast them myself.  I'll keep you updated!

Here are the meals we are making this week!

Red Lentil Curry
Winter Chili (left from last week)
Enchiladas with Pumpkin Sauce
Pasta with Lentils and Arugula
Chickpea Barley Soup - no link because this is my creation!

We have tickets to a comedy show on Friday night, and the Monkey and I will eat at my parents' house while Chap is out of town on Wednesday!

I already made the chickpea barley soup in the crockpot last night.  It turned out to be quite delicious!  So delicious I forgot to take a final picture.  Whoops!

I will share the recipe though in hopes you will think it sounds a lot like chicken noodle soup.  Because it was, minus noodles!

Chickpea Barley Soup
By: Miss Fit

1 cup dried chickpeas
1/2 cup dried barley
4 cups chicken broth
3 carrots
1 bunch parsley, rough chopped
1/2 rotisserie chicken, shredded (or about 1 1/2 c chicken)
Onion powder
Garlic powder
Salt
Pepper

Directions:
1. Combine chickpeas, barley, chicken broth, and carrots in the crockpot.  Add about a tablespoon each of the onion and garlic powder, salt and pepper to taste.  Stir.  Cook on High for 4 hours, Low for 6 hours.
2.  About 30 minutes before eating, add the parsley and chicken.  Allow it to warm up on High in the crockpot.  Add more salt and pepper if needed.

...And that's it!  The soup was very comforting, just like chicken noodle soup.  Next time I will experiment with the length of time to see if it can all go in at once.  I intended for this to be a vegetarian soup, but the chicken broth at the farmer's market was 50 cents cheaper than vegetable broth, so I figured adding chicken (that we already had) would stretch it further!

We only spent $45 at the farmer's market on these ingredients plus extra juicing/smoothie fruits and vegetables, and of course a bar of chocolate for the week!  I still need tortillas, orecchiette, and eggs, so I anticipate spending about $5 on those items at Publix.  Not a bad week for $50!

I notice that we go through olive oil, salt, and pepper much more quickly when we eat at home a lot.  Thankfully the prices are so reasonable at the farmer's market that it's still MUCH cheaper to eat home rather than out!  I bought a large container of sea salt for 85 cents.  I think we can handle that.

Happy eating and budgeting this week!

Weekly Recipe Review!

I'm so happy with us this week! We only ate out once because of an impromptu date night, courtesy of Auntie A! Here are the finished dishes and the verdicts:

Sunday - Indian Enchiladas

Wow, these were ah-mazing. They got better throughout the week, too!!!

Monday - Sprouted Lentils w Fish

Surpringly delicious to all - the Monkey asked for seconds! The lentils were cooked with a curry sauce. Yum!

Tuesday - Pesto Pasta

Who doesn't love a bowl of pasta? The pesto is SO easy and doesn't use cheese. I'm still amazed!

Wednesday - Crockpot Cilantro Chicken

Pretty good and SUPER easy! Served it over rice and had plenty of leftovers. As you can see, Chap spiced his up a bit. 

Thursday - surprise date night!

We tried out The Nook by Piedmont Park - it was alright but it was also karaoke night. Need I say more?

Friday - Chickpea Pizza

This was easy once I started on the recipe. We had just completed a 5 mile run, so eating out was looking better and better by the minute. I'm glad we didn't cave! These toppings were good, but we also brainstormed other options for next time. There will probably be a next time because we now have a whole container of chickpea flour. 

We loved all of the recipes and would make them all again at some point!

Interesting Oatmeal Alternative

I'm definitely a carb kind of girl. Left to my own devices, I might eat all carbs at every meal, all day. Sooooo... I have to be very aware of my protein intake each day. Oatmeal, my go to breakfast, does have a little protein in it, but it doesn't contain all the amino acids your body needs. 

So as an alternative, I'm eating quinoa for breakfast today. The farmers market only had red quinoa, which I will say was a little different but interesting. We put apple slices in it and it tasted pretty good! I love regular quinoa, so once we run out of the red I plan to buy regular again!  It's easy to cook so that's a plus!

I don't think it's neccessary to eat the quinoa every morning, but I like having an alternative!

(Tastes better than it looks!)

What's for Dinner this Week?

Can menu planning be considered a hobby?  Something I love doing is planning our menu and grocery list for the week.  We have found that lack of planning results in a lot of unhealthy choices and eating out.  While eating out is fun, it is expensive and sometimes often we have restaurant regret!  To stay within our $100 weekly food budget, it's easier to buy more interesting foods to cook than have someone cook them for us.

In order to spice up our weekly menu, Chap and I resolved to try a couple new recipes each week this month.  We have a lot of random staples hanging out in our pantry at the moment.  Including a lot of different flours.  Which is odd.  Because we don't bake.  Ever.  Anyways...

Here is our menu for this week!  We call it our "dinner wheel" because nailing down specific days for meals was too stifling for us.  We plan a couple of specific days based on schedules and prep needed for certain dishes, but otherwise we choose within our menu daily.  Links are provided to recipes we are using!

Dinner Wheel Week of 1/12/2014

Indian Enchiladas
Chickpea Pizza with Sausage and Peppers
Crockpot Cilantro Lime Chicken
Pesto Pasta with Broccoli
Winter Chili (maybe with venison tenderloin in the crockpot)
Sprouted Lentils with Tilapia
{Saturday night - out for a friends' birthday!}

Because the pizza only called for one ounce of mozzarella, I'm using the rest in this breakfast recipe:
Kale and Chorizo Frittata 

For lunches we eat leftover dinner items and salads with fun toppings from the fridge or pantry.  Snacks are hummus and raw veggies, fresh fruit, nuts, and sometimes cheese and gluten free crackers.

We were treated to a great surprise at the farmer's market this weekend - Italian parsley was 4 bunches for $1!  Yes, 25 cent bunches of parsley.  We are making tabbouleh for snacks for sure!  We will also be sure to spice up our hummus this week with extra parsley.  Mmmmmm!

Our grocery total this week was about $85, which means we will be using our entertainment budget for dinner Saturday night!  I'm pretty sure we will be quite entertained!  This means we can roll $15 into next week's budget, and the extra should give us enough for a fun date night!

I hope these recipes turn out well - I'll be sure to let you know!

Slimmed Down Steak Tacos

Who doesn't love a good steak taco? We love them in this house but want a clean version! This is how we are able to make steak tacos for three (although we had enough leftovers for a fourth, very hungry person) with only six ounces of steak. Yes, six! Meat is way more expensive than vegetables. By bulking up with zucchini and squash, we can stretch our meal a lot further! Take a look!

Ingredients:

- small amount of butter (maybe 1 tsp?)

- 6 ounce top sirloin

- zucchini

- squash

- 1/2 red onion

- avocado

- salsa

- corn tortillas

Step by Step:

In a skillet, begin melting butter on medium heat. Slice the veggies and steak. Stir onions into the skillet first. 

After a few minutes, add the steak and season in the skillet. I used salt, pepper, and chili powder, but you can use any spices you like! Let it sit and cook a few minutes before stirring. Then add the zucchini and squash. 

Meanwhile, prep the tortillas by rubbing them with a little water on each side and wrapping the stack in paper towels. Microwave for about 40 seconds or until they are pliable. Back to the stove - cook until steak is done and veggies are slightly tender. You might be drooling at this point because trust me, they smelled amazing!

Serve family style with the sliced avocado. We also served chips and small salads. Here is a little tip for chip eating - eat the salad and a whole taco first, then have some chips. If I'd eaten them before my meal, I would have devoured most of the bag without even thinking! After the salad and taco, I only needed a small handful to feel satisfied!

This is definitely a favorite meal in our family! The Monkey loved his taco - he actually preferred the veggies over the steak. He had some ownership in this meal because he helped pick out the veggies at the store. He also got to sample a piece of onion and a chip while dinner was cooking. Chap and I are completely on the same page when it comes to meals - we have a take it or leave it philosophy. It works really well for our family and it's how our parents raised us. We turned out okay...I think! An the Monkey will, too!

I hope you enjoy your slimmer steak tacos! Your body and wallet will thank you!