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Breakfast, Comfort food, Finances, Healthy, Informative, Main Dishes, Meal Plans, Side dishes, Snacks, Vegetarian

Weekly Eating: 8/28

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Hey y’all! Welcome to the series Weekly Eating.

Here is where I’ll talk about the week’s meal plan versus reality, what we ate for the week, and how we did budget-wise. I hope it gives readers a behind-the-scenes look into our life through the lens of food, and it’s also a way to keep us on track with meal planning and grocery budgeting.

Feel free to share your wins and lessons in the comments below!

 

This week, the whole nation has Texas on our minds and hearts. With the crazy amount of flooding and destruction from Hurricane Harvey, I hope our readers and family/friends are safe, dry, and warm. We will rally together as we always do after tragic events, and will rebuild to rise stronger, y’all! If you feel the desire to donate to help those affected, please see one of the charities HERE.

On Sunday, I made my typical whole chicken in a crock pot, and then broth overnight. I had some fresh rosemary, sage, and thyme so I added that, as well as some bay leaves hanging out in the spice cabinet. This is one of my favorite smells ever to wake up to. Plus it makes several quarts of high quality stock to use to cook things like beans and quinoa the rest of the week, along with the pieces of the chicken for use in various dinners.

Monday:

Breakfast – Mixed berry smoothies (that I remembered to take a picture of!). 8oz frozen berries + banana + yogurt + protein powder + pomegranate juice = YUM

Lunch – turkey wrap & grapes. This is an easy peasy lunch option to throw together, plus it’s portable in case I’m away from my desk at lunch time (i.e. in clinic).

Dinner – Shredded chicken quesadillas with quinoa & black beans. I made a big batch of both quinoa (with the stock of course) and black beans to eat throughout the week. Some of the chicken meat from Sunday was shredded and turned into these delish quesadillas.

Snack – white bean rosemary hummus & 1/2 cucumber

Tuesday:

Breakfast – tropical mango smoothie. I used frozen mango and peaches, canned pineapple and bananas. Plus some pomegranate juice and plain Greek yogurt. SO GOOD! And it made enough for like 4 smoothies, which makes hubby happy.

Lunch – quinoa & black beans – I brought a big container full of both to work, to keep for easy lunches. I added some avocado and salsa to round it out and for flavor.

Dinner – Chicken Paprikush! This recipe tastes like a warm hug from the inside out. It’s salty, creamy, and absolutely perfect. I used plain Greek yogurt instead of sour cream to lighten it up a bit, and to justify eating at least 2 bowls at a time.

Wednesday:

Breakfast – egg & cheese Bagel Thin sammich. This is so dang easy, just scramble an egg in a cup and microwave it, put it on the bagel with cheese and zap the whole thing for 15 seconds. Done.

Lunch – quinoa & beans. I love bringing in a big container of something on Monday, and having lunch ready for several days in a row. This is a super easy option. I got extra fancy and also added a quarter of an avocado and some salsa.

Dinner – Whole wheat penne pasta with the bratwurst from last week’s Food Swap, peas & broccoli. I love one-pot meals! And the bratwurst was SO DELICIOUS!

Snack – 5 Susannah Smiles cookies & peppermint tea. This is a new lemon cookie from Girl Scouts, and someone at work brought in a box. Since I was making tea, I decided this would be the perfect accompaniment. They were tart, and quite hard, but when dipped in the tea it was perfect.

Plus my other snack option was an apple… today, I chose sugar 🙂

Thursday 

Breakfast – Tropical granola & milk

Lunch – chicken paprikush, with more left for tomorrow! I just love this stuff. Tastes like my childhood.

Dinner – Chicken Broccoli Cheddar Rice. This was a change-up from our planned Buffalo Chicken Potato Bake because I had a really long day at work, and got home exhausted and starving. I didn’t have the patience to wait for the oven to bake the things for over an hour, but we already had a baked chicken breast from Sunday and some leftover rice (I always make an extra big batch), plus I always have frozen broccoli. So pulling this together just required a little microwaving and we had dinner ready in 10 minutes.

 

Friday

Breakfast – Oatmeal with Apples, Raisins & Maple Syrup. Now that fall is setting in, and you can feel the chill in the air, I fall back on my favorite cold weather breakfast, hot oatmeal! Oats are very cheap, and filling, so they are an awesome frugal breakfast choice. And there are so many ways to dress them up, from Chai Apple & Brown Sugar to Peach Kefir to Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana.

Lunch – more leftover chicken paprikush! Hubby is not a big fan of soups, which normally frustrates me because I make a lot and can’t eat it all… but this one, I’m not mad about keeping all to myself!

Dinner – Mozzarella Stuffed Chicken Breasts. I saw some variation of this somewhere, and when I mentioned it to hubby his eyes got huge and I could practically see the drool…

So since I had some breasts in the freezer, I just quick-thawed them in hot water and we pulled this together in about 10 minutes (plus 40 bake time). With some fettuccini on the side, it really was super delicious! I would make it again for sure. But with fresh chicken, so it’s easier to pound flat.

The Weekend

Labor Day Weekend is a long one, but we don’t have any big plans as both the things we were going to do fell through. It’s all for the best though, as hubby has a project to work on and a trip back to CT for work things soon, and I can now attend a friends’ wedding on Sunday! Then take Monday as a bonus relaxation day. Ahhhh.

Total: $26.06

My goal is to keep this number under $100 all the time, and eventually get down to $75/week for food.

As you can see, we had a little rearrangement of the meal plan. I am really digging this whiteboard on the wall from our kitchen update, my hubby is the best! But I kept to the plan pretty well, with the exception of the late work night. Which brings up the point of convenience… a lot of people don’t want to or can’t cook every night due to their job and or life schedules.

I get it, when you are wiped out tired and hungry NOW, sometimes the last thing you want to do it spend an hour in the kitchen. That’s why it’s so important to have 3-5 meals you know you can pull together quickly and easily, with things you always have around!

Lessons Learned

We did really well this week! I tried to plan more based around what I already have stocked in the pantry and freezer. This is why I love stocking up on great sales, like $0.98/lb chicken breasts, or whole chickens on clearance. You pay more up front, but less per unit so that when you do use the food, the price per meal is lower than if I’d had to run to the store the week I need it.

 

How about you guys, did you have a great week or a learning week?

Breakfast, Finances, Healthy, Informative, Snacks, Vegetarian

Tropical Granola

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Disclaimer: Some of these links are Amazon Affiliate links. If you choose to buy something from there, this blog gets a small commission at no extra cost to you, which helps keep the delicious content coming! Thanks!

 

Do you buy your granola at the grocery store, because you think it’s too expensive to make at home, or too hard to do it, or that it will take too long to make?

Let me assure you, it it none of those things!

Granola can be as expensive as you want it to be, based on the mix ins. Sure, if you want goji berries and golden raisins and other expensive dried fruits, you may be looking at $20 per batch. But if you buy your dried fruit when its on sale or from bulk bins so you get only as much as you need, it is easy to get the total price down to well under $5 per batch.

This recipe is also super easy. Can you measure? Do you own at least one bowl, one spoon, and one pan that can go in the oven? Are you able to stir? Then you have all the skills and accessories necessary to make granola at home!

And though the total time is about an hour, the “active time” is merely a few minutes to measure and stir together all the ingredients. Then you toss it in the oven, and go watch some Netflix or take a shower or do whatever you do for half an hour. Then your house starts smelling amazing, and you come back to a hot fresh batch of granola! And as a bonus you get that warm fuzzy Martha-Stewart like badass feeling.

A final bonus of granola is that it is HUGELY customizable when you make it yourself! Do you always find yourself picking out the raisins because you hate them? Simple, don’t use raisins! Do you really love banana chips, but store bought granola never has enough? Add an extra half cup to your recipe! The world is your oyster my friend.

Ideas for mix-ins include:

  • Seeds: chia seeds, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds (aka pepitas), sunflower seeds, quinoa
  • Nuts: almonds, pecans, peanuts, walnuts, macademia nuts
  • Fruits: banana chips, apricots, papaya, mango, pineapple, apple chips, raisins, craisins

This recipe makes a HUGE volume, about 6 cups worth. You can store it at room temp in an airtight container in the pantry, or for longer shelf life you can store in the refrigerator or freezer. You can also cut the recipe in half or fourths to make smaller batches.

Ingredients:

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Measure all the dry ingredients into a big bowl, except for the fruit.

Step 2: Add in the oil and the sweetener you’re using, mix really well to coat everything in gooey goodness.

Step 3: Pour onto a baking pan, lined with wax paper if you desire. Spread it flat with a spatula.

Step 4: Bake for 20-25 minutes, mix well, and then bake another 20-25 minutes. When it is turning brown and toasty, and you house smells fabulous, it is done!

Step 5: Mix in the dried fruits, and pour into your storage containers. Right now, hot out the oven, is also the best time to sneak a taste! Or have yourself a bowl full with milk or yogurt. Trust me.

Click below to print the recipe!

[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:76]

 

Have you ever made granola at home? Was it easy? Do you have any favorite recipes to share?
Appetizers, Breakfast, Casseroles, Eggs, Finances, Healthy, Less than 5, Main Dishes, Sneaky Healthy, Vegetarian

Make Ahead Egg Muffins

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Usually, my morning routine looks something like this:

6:10 – hit snooze
6:17 – hit snooze
6:24 – finally get up, go make coffee
6:25-7:15 – enter a black hole in space and time
7:16 – realize I’m gonna be late if I don’t move it
7:17-7:20 – pack lunch, maybe breakfast
7:21-7:30 – run out the door and pray for light traffic

Now, I don’t know what your mornings are like. But if you’re anything like me, you like your sleep and don’t have time for a long and leisurely brekkie every day. And if you do, good for you! You can still use this quick-and-easy make ahead recipe and then have more time for you in the AM.

Make ahead egg muffins in muffin tin

These egg muffins are so simple, and you make a dozen at once. That way you can put 2-3 in baggies and refrigerate or freeze. Then breakfast all week is only a push of the microwave button away! You can scale up to feed a big family, or even make just one serving by mixing 2 eggs and desired ingredients in a coffee mug and microwaving. (Didn’t know that little trick? Oh yeah, it’s the best.)

You can also customize it to your taste preferences. Anything you would normally eat with or in scrambled eggs you can probably adapt to this recipe. Try sausage, or bacon, or ham. Vegetarians, this is a blank canvas! Add zucchini, shredded carrots, sweet potato, broccoli or cauliflower. And cheese is optional, but highly recommended!

Butter mushrooms and onion

Ingredients (makes 12 egg muffins):

  • baker’s dozen (13) eggs
  • 1 med onion, diced
  • 1 pint mushrooms
  • 1/2 stick butter
  • 1 cup raw spinach
  • Optional: shredded cheese, breakfast meats, other veggies

butter and onions in pan

Step 1: In a pan over medium heat, add the butter and diced onion. Cook 10-12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until onion becomes soft and see-through. Pre-heat the oven to 350, and spray a muffin tin really well with cooking oil. (Stuck, baked-on egg is the worst.)

scrambled egg and greased muffin tin

Step 2: Add the diced mushrooms, and cook another 5-7 minutes, until softened. You can add a few tbsp water or chicken stock if they seem to be sticking or burning. Just before pouring into the muffin tin, add the spinach to wilt.

scrambled egg in muffin tin and eggs

Step 3: Break all the eggs into a bowl, and whisk violently for a minute or two. Mix in the cooked onion, mushroom, and spinach. Pour into the muffin tins until 2/3 full; leave a little room because the egg will puff up as it cooks.

make ahead egg muffins with cheddar cheese

Step 4: If desired, sprinkle with shredded sharp cheddar or whatever cheese you like. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes, until egg is fully cooked. Watch carefully at the end so that it doesn’t brown or burn.

I’d recommend letting these cool for a few minutes, then removing to a different plate or container quickly. You don’t want the egg to set and harden in the tin. It’s so easy to whip up a batch of these on the weekend, and you can even mix up the mix ins to have tons of options every day.

As for the cost? A dozen eggs is .99 – 1.29, or 4.50 for organic cage-free. Depends greatly on what you use to mix in, but the cost for an onion (~.50), mushrooms (.99 on sale), butter (maybe .50), and spinach (~.25 for 1 cup) for me comes to about 2.25. This makes 12 muffins, and I generally eat 2 for breakfast, so 6 servings. Let’s estimate high:

4.5 + 2.25 = 6.75 / 6 = basically just barely over a dollar per day, and that’s if I use the fancy eggs! For plain jane eggs, the cost drops to maybe 50 cents for an awesome breakfast that includes protein, fats, and a serving of vegetables! I can get behind that. I hope you can too!

 

Breakfast, Eggs, Healthy, Less than 5, Main Dishes, Side dishes, Vegetarian

Eggs in a Green Nest

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One of the hardest hurdles when transitioning to healthier eating, at least for the majority of people, is eating leafy greens.  We all know that leafy greens are the healthiest things out there.  They contain tons of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.  They cost us next to zero calories to consume.  Greens are full of digestible and indigestible fiber to keep your digestive system strong and healthy.

So why do they taste so bad?

Foods which to us taste bitter have an array of compounds in them that naturally protect the delicate leaves from insects who would love to snack at the salad bar of nature.  It is these compounds which tend to be so beneficial for our health.  Unfortunately, humans usually dislike the bitter taste at first.  Fortunately, you can re-train your taste buds to enjoy bitter, and there are many cooking techniques to make bitter foods more palatable.

Adding small amounts of high quality fat like olive oil, or a sour taste like vinegar or lemon juice, can help temper the bitterness of greens.  Sea salt or other salty sources like hard cheeses also helps mask the harsher flavors and draw out the sweeter notes.  My recipe for simply sauteed power greens uses these techniques to create a delicious side dish that even most greens-haters can enjoy.

Greens and Egg

In this simple breakfast recipe, I combine those techniques with fresh eggs for a superstar breakfast that is ready in under 10 minutes, packed with vitamins and nutrients and protein, and will keep you happy and full all morning long.  Enjoy over some brown rice or with whole wheat toast for a well rounded meal.

 

Ingredients:

  • 1-2 fresh organic eggs, if possible
  • 1 large bunch greens (kale, collards, mustard greens, etc) or a mixture of greens to make about 1 – 1 1/2 cups
  • 1-2 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 tbsp lemon juice or apple cider vinegar
  • 1 tbsp hard, salty cheese such as Parmesan
  • Optional: 1-2 slices wheat bread or 1/2 cup brown rice

Greens in Pan with Egg

Step 1: Rinse your greens to remove any dirt, and slice into thin strips or shred by hand.  Add the oil to the pan, then the greens, and drizzle with lemon juice.  Cover with a lid, and steam the greens for 5-7 minutes.  Optional: you can add a chopped clove or two of garlic

Greens and Egg Yolk and Toast

Step 2: Mix the greens, they should be bright and slightly wilted now.  Use a spoon or spatula to make a small indent in the pile of greens, and crack an egg into the hole.  Cover again, and steam for another 5-7 minutes.  The longer you cook the egg, the more well-done the yolk becomes.  5-7 minutes will leave it slightly runny, as in above photo.

Once the egg is cooked to your desired done-ness, remove to a plate and serve!  I sprinkled a little hard cheese over the egg, which gives it the perfect salty balance to the tart & bitter greens.  You can also use sea salt for the same effect.

You can easily increase this recipe to feed several more people, simply increase the volume of greens and crack in one to two eggs per person.  This is delightful plain with toast, or you could serve with black beans, salsa, hot sauce, relish… whatever floats your culinary boat.