Recipe: Banana Waffles

This weeks waffles made use of our many mushy bananas.  I love making a batch of waffles on Sunday and freezing them for the week.  It makes breakfasts so much easier later.

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 3 mashed bananas
• 3 tsp baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 egg - lightly beaten
• 1 cup milk

1. Heat waffle iron
2. Mash banana in a large bowl
3. Sift in flours, baking powder, spices and salt
4. Pour in milk and egg and stir
5. Pour 1/4 cup into waffle iron and cook according to waffle iron directions

Makes about 15 waffles

These are pretty dense and not very sweet waffles, but since they usually get topped with butter and syrup our house I don't want the waffle themselves to be too sweet.

Meal Plans: Week 2

I've decided to just come up with a list of meals for the week and not assign days to them. 8 meals - the week's dinners plus lunch on Sunday.

1. Chicken enchiladas and couscous
2. Potato Soup, leftover BBQ sandwiches
3. Pasta and meatballs with salad and toast
4. Slow cooker roast with bulgar wheat and dried fruit
5. Sloppy Joes, kale and sweet potato salad
6. Grilled Chicken over salad
7. Homemade pizza and salad
8. Baked Salmon, salad, steamed kale and couscous

Lots of salad this week.  I'm craving the leafy greens!

Grocery Budget: Week 2

This week we tried shopping at Trader Joe's.  I both like and dislike TJ's.  It's handy (right in my neighborhood) but almost everything is heavily packaged and I don't love that.  Plus I always end up buying more than I planned - it is even worse when I bring the whole family, which I did this week.

• Organic applesauce: $2.29 (Trader Joes)
• Organic white bread: $2.99 - hardly a good bread choice, next week it is back to whole wheat! (TJ)
• Sliced almonds: $2.49 (TJ)
• Apple/Carrot pouches: $2.99 - for G's lunch (TJ)
• Cereal bars: $1.79 - (TJ)
• Coconut oil: $5.99 (TJ)
• Sweetened condensed milk: $2.49 (TJ)
• 2 bags golden berry dried fruit: $6.58 (TJ)
• Buffalo jerky: $4.99 (TJ)
• Organic baby spinach: $2.49 (TJ)
• McCann's Irish oatmeal: $5.99 -.50 coupon:  $5.49 (TJ)
• 4 Organic sweet onions: $2.49 (TJ)
• Organic kale: $2.29 (TJ)
• Organic romaine: $2.69 (TJ)
• 1lb Organic carrots: $.89 (TJ)
• Packaged peppered turkey slices: $4.99 (TJ)
• Packaged rosemary han slices: $2.99 (TJ)
• Organic Fiji apples: $2.07 (TJ)
• Lunch at Oklahoma Joes: $22.30
• 1/2 gallon local milk plue bottle deposit: $4.99 (WF)
• 3lbs Ground beef: $9.24 (WF)
• Chuck roast: $6.18 (WF)
• Salmon Filet: $6.62 (WF)

Tax: 5.65

Total spent so far: $114.47

Amount left: $5.73

Plus rollover: $29.08

Still need to buy:

• dozen eggs
• more milk

Why I don't coupon more

Last year I was a couponer.  I got the Sunday paper, cut things out, watched the sales, I even had a binder complete with Velcroed on calculator.  It was intense.  I thought I would be saving us tons of money, but the truth was it didn't.  Not for us anyway.  I was spending more and yes, buying more - but it wasn't stuff we really needed. Plus we were eating tons of processed foods and just a lot of junk that I knew we shouldn't be eating but since it was such a "good deal" I let it slide. Looking back it was NOT a "good deal" at all in terms of taking care of my family.
So I no longer worry about coupons.  Yes, I still have an envelope of them in my purse in case I see a really good deal on something we already use.  Sometimes I leave coupons in the store for other people to use.  But for my family, we get a better value without coupons.

Note: The bad for us hot dogs and tater tots we ate last night came from my freezer and couponing days.

truth time: Week 1

I have not stuck to our meal plan.

Tonight we are eating hot dogs and tater tots that I had in the fridge.  UGH!
Aside from tonights festival of nitrates we've been doing okay.

New reality.  I just need to make a list of 7 dinners and 7 lunches, have all the items for them and not worry about cooking meal A on Monday and meal B on Tuesday.  At the end of the week I don't want food going to waste and I want us to be eating better in general.

Now I'm off to cook up some tater tots!

Grocery Budget: Week 1

$120.00 a week.  Any extra rolls over throughout the month.  At the end of the month any extra goes into our vacation fund.  Budget includes eating out.

• 2 1/2 gallons of local dairy milk (plus bottle deposit): $9.98 (Whole Foods)
• 4 lbs ground beef: $17.96 (WF)
• .25 lbs wild rice: $1.56 (WF)
• 1.25 lbs fair trade organic cane sugar: $2.43 (WF)
• 1 package deli turkey: $5.99 (WF)

• 1 Dozen Free-Range Eggs: $3.50 (Farmer's Market)
• 2 scoops cinnamon: $2.00 (FM)
• 1 scoop granulated garlic: $1.00 (FM)
• 1 scoop smoked paprika: $1.00 (FM)
• 1 turnip: $0.50 (FM)
• 3 lbs bananas: $1.00 (FM)
• 1 loaf fresh brioche bread: $7.00 (FM)

• Picnic Lunch from Quiznos: $13.08 

• Loaf local bread (although white and fluffy and not very good for us): $2.59 (McGonigal's - small, local family owned grocery store)
• Block of cheese: $3.99 (MG)
• Bag of shredded cheese: $2.99 (MG)
• Blue Sky soda (6-pack): $3.99 (MG)
• Whole Chicken: $5.67 (MG)

Tax: $7.69

Total spent so far: $90.92
Amount left: $29.08

Waffles!

My days of yellow Eggos are over!  After having my waffle iron sit on a shelf for nearly 5 years I pulled it out this morning and made waffles from scratch and it was SUPER EASY.  Really, they we simple, yummy and they have to be a million times better for us and no Yellow #6 in sight.

I'm going to make another batch later in the week to perfect my recipe then I'll post it here.

Recipe: Wild Rice

Tonight I made wild rice for the first time and it was a hit.  I think I'll be adding it to the rotation. It is high in protein and fiber, and gluten free too.

Here is how I prepared it and the tweaks I'll make next time.

• Bring 3 cups of liquid to boil - I used 1 cup each of Water, Beef Broth and Apple Juice
  (Next time I'll only use 2 cups)
• Added 1 cup Wild Rice and returned to a boil
• Reduced heat, covered and let simmer until most of the seeds had popped I could see the white
• Drained the excess water and returned to the burner
• Added 1Tbs butter, 1/4 cup slivered Almonds and 3 dried apricots finely chopped
• Stirred until butter melted and served

Meal Plans 4-9 (100 Day Challenge)

Day 4
Breakfast: Cereal and Milk with Bananas
Lunch: BBQ Pork Sandwiches, Kiwi and Chips
Dinner: Spagetti Squash and Marinara with Zucchini and Spinach Salad


Day 5
Breakfast: Mango Lassi and Toast
Lunch: BLT's, Wild Rice and Quinoa
Dinner: Chicken Breasts, Brussel's Sprouts with Almonds, Bacon and Raisins


Day 6
Breakfast: Oatmeal and Toast
Lunch: Sandwiches or Leftovers
Dinner: Potato Tacos


Day 7
Breakfast: Eggs and Toast
Lunch: Taco Salad
Dinner: Chicken Alfredo Pasta, Salad

Day 8
Breakfast: Cereal and Milk
Lunch: Leftovers or Sandwiches
Dinner: Hamburgers, Carrots and Parsnips, Wild Rice


Day 9
Breakfast: Waffles
Lunch: Leftover Burgers
Dinner: Chicken Pizza