Lettuce Wraps

Tonight I made lettuce wraps. This was somewhat healthy (and even healthier if you use ground turkey or even tofu if you want to go vegetarian) and packed FULL of flavor! Here's the recipe and then my changes/variation afterwards as well as my friend, Abby's variation too:

Asian Lettuce Wraps

Ingredients
16 Boston Bibb or butter lettuce leaves
1 pound lean ground beef
1 tablespoon cooking oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves fresh garlic, minced
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/4 cup hoisin sauce
2 teaspoons minced pickled ginger
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
Asian chile pepper sauce (optional)
1 (8 ounce) can water chestnuts, drained and finely chopped
1 bunch green onions, chopped
2 teaspoons Asian (dark) sesame oil

Directions
1.Rinse whole lettuce leaves and pat dry, being careful not tear them. Set aside.
2.In a medium skillet over high heat, brown the ground beef in 1 tablespoon of oil, stirring often and reducing the heat to medium, if necessary. Drain, and set aside to cool. Cook the onion in the same pan, stirring frequently. Add the garlic, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, ginger, vinegar, and chile pepper sauce to the onions, and stir. Stir in chopped water chestnuts, green onions, and sesame oil, and continue cooking until the onions just begin to wilt, about 2 minutes.
3.Arrange lettuce leaves around the outer edge of a large serving platter, and pile meat mixture in the center. To serve, allow each person to spoon a portion of the meat into a lettuce leaf. Wrap the lettuce around the meat like a burrito, and enjoy!
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My Variation:

Ingredients

• I used romaine lettuce instead of Bibb lettuce. Iceberg or Bibb would have been better but I got the Romaine on sale. :)
• I used peanut oil for the cooking oil
• I used fresh ginger instead of pickled simply because fresh was cheaper. I grated it in.
• I didn't have the pepper sauce so I just used red pepper flakes. I'm sure the cause would have been better, but I used what I had!
• I added cilantro
• I omitted the sesame oil since I didn't have any
• On the table I put out bean sprouts, grated carrots, and fresh cilantro to add into the wraps.

Directions:

• I followed the directions pretty much to a T. After the onions and everything were all cooked down, I added the beef back in and gave it a nice mix. The only thing about this was that it didn't create a lot of sauce. I had a bottle of Thai Peanut Sauce and Sweet Chili Sauce so I put those on the table to dd in as each person would like.

Overall this dish was wonderful!! It was a great thing for a warm summer night!

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My friend, Abby, makes chicken lettuce wraps. HEre's her recipe. It sounds great and sounds like it makes more sauce! :) I also like this because I could make it at any point during the day (like naptime) and then have it on hand when it's time to make dinner! Perfact! Thanks Abby!

OK so I don't really measure on this one; it was sort of a throw together whatever i had on hand sort of thing. I tried to guess on the amounts as best I could to give you an idea, but feel free to tweak them as necessary! Oh also, I use low sodium on everything otherwise it can get really salty.

Dice 1lb of boneless skinless breasts and put in a large plastic storage bag. Add about one cup of chicken stock or broth, 3-4 tablespoons soy sauce, 2 tablespoons OJ (I've also done it with lime juice instead and it's pretty good, but I did only 1T), 2 tablespoons minced garlic (we love garlic so they are heaping!!), 1/4 c chopped water chestnuts and the white and light green part of 2 green onions. Seal the bag and mix it all together. Let marinade about 30 minutes.

Heat up about a tablespoon of vegetable oil in a large skillet or wok over medium to medium-high heat Remove the chicken from the bag and add to the pan. While it is cooking add 1ish tablespoon of cornstarch to the marinade and mix together. Set aside. Once the chicken is no longer pink, scoot to the edge of the pan and add the marinade. Let come to a boil and lower the heat. Mix the chicken into the sauce and it will thicken up. Remove from the pan. There may be extra sauce because you don't want it too saucy in the wrap.

We just do it build your own style and lay out the lettuce, put the chicken in a bowl as well as a bowl of crunchy chow mein noodles.

My Grocery Routine

Several people have asked me about how I do my grocery shopping. Really, there's no real secret. I have a budget, a plan and I stick to it. This little routine is what works for me. I recommend you finding out what works for you. Hopefully mine will give you some direction and ideas, though. Let me know how I can help (seriously, in any way).

First off, I do not do couponing - however it's a GREAT idea and if you are up for doing it - then I highly recommend it. You can save a lot this way – I just don’t like shopping at “Big” grocery stores and the stores I do shop at don’t really take coupons. If you're interested in cutting coupons - check out a website called The Grocery Game. It's a little intense but it's pretty cool and I know some people who have had gret success with it. Other websites that I love are MoneysavingMom and Rhonda's Homestyle Recipes. I know Rhonda from an online group and she's AMAZING. On her blog, she shares recipes and meal plans. She's awesome!

I mainly shop at Fresh and Easy, Sam’s Club, Sprouts and Henry’s. I will go somewhere else if there is a VERY good sale. But for the most part I’ve noticed that those 4 stores have the cheapest food for the quality I want. We also have a very strict budget of $300 a month for food. To be honest, I could probably do it for less, and I do, if I have to – but this gives us a little room. I use ONLY cash. We follow Dave Ramsey (you can ask me about it if you want) and because of that, we pay everything mainly with cash. I tell you this because it’s one of the reasons why I have such a detailed grocery shopping plan. I don’t have any room to budge when I’m just using cash.

I get my sale ads on Tuesdays (you know...the kind that comes in your "junk mail"). This starts my grocery shopping routine and is perfect timing b/c Sprouts and Henry’s have “double ad Wednesday”. This means that the sales from the week before and the sales for the current week overlap on Wednesdays. You get the best price, of the most stuff, of both weeks! So I do everything on Tuesday and then try to shop Wednesdays if I can. Tuesday I look through my pantry, fridge and freezer and see what I have on hand (keep it in the back of your mind or write it down). Then, I lay out all the sale ads and take a quick look to see what’s on sale and if there are any BIG sales going on. I jot down things that catch my eye and then look through all the sale ads to see who has that item the cheapest that week. I just started to keep a price spreadsheet where I enter the price of groceries (not on sale) after a shopping trip. This helps because if one store says that they have an item on sale, I can quickly check to see if there’s another store that normally sells it at a cheaper price. I.E. - Sprouts might have a sale on an item but Sam’s Club might carry it normally at a cheaper price. Just because there’s a sale, doesn’t mean that’s the lowest price around. Does that make sense?

Anywho – after I write down everything that is on sale and everything I have on hand (or at least have the little list in my head) – I do my menu planning. My menus are mainly based around sale items and food I already have. If there’s something that’s really on sale that week (for instance, the other week, Henry’s had corn on sale 6 for $1) then we’ll be eating a lot of particular food or I buy extra (if it’s a pantry or freezer item) to stock up on.

When I menu plan – I make sure that each “first dish” can be re-created at least another time if not a third time. For instance, I’ll buy one of those $5 chickens, debone it and can use it in chicken pasta the first night, then maybe chicken quesadillas another time and or chicken salad sandwiches, or BBQ chicken pizza…or whatever.

So after I have my menus for the week, then I make my list. I write down every item I need first. Then I make sure that the stuff I have on hand—I have enough of (made that mistake before!). As I go through my fridge/freezer/pantry list (either in my head or written down), I cross off the items. What’s leftover is my basic grocery list. Then I re-write my list of stuff I actually need to buy. I make 4 columns – one for each store – and then write the items I need in whatever store column that has the best deals. Next to each item, I guesstimate how much it will cost me. If it’s on sale – I know exactly how much it’ll cost. If it’s just something that I’ll pick up from the store, then I try to guess high. I end up buying a lot of the same things each week and know about how much each item cost. Then I add it all up and make sure that it’s in my budget. If it’s not, then I have to figure out how to get it down. I either change a menu item, or see if I can make a current menu item into another meal. But honestly, if you kind of keep your budget in the back of your head while you’re making your list – you probably won’t really go over too much, I hardly ever do. If you only have $50 for the week, then you know you're not going to be spending $20 on steaks. You know?

After I do all that, sometimes I’ll get anal and re-write my list yet again in the order of the store's asiles (I know them all so well that I know what aisles are which and what food is in each). This way I don’t waste time when I’m actually in the store. When I go shopping, I check to make sure that my price guess is correct. If it’s higher, then I’ll change it. If its lower (by a dollar or less) then I’ll leave it be (It gives me some cushion) This way – I know exactly how much my bill will be when I get up to check out. This is imperative since I pay with cash, I can’t just pull out a credit or debit card to cover me if I go over. If I'm over, something has to go back- and that is EMBARRASSING! This also helps me stay strictly to my budget and not pick up stuff that’s not on my list. Any leftover money I have in my fund gets put in a different envelope for a big Sams Club trip or if I need to pick up something extra I forgot about. I try to only spend like 90% of my budget – then I have some wiggle room and extra cash if needed.

Whew…. It looks like a lot more work than it really is. It doesn’t take me too long. The longest thing is the menu planning. But it’s well worth it.

My three big pieces of advice are to have a strict budget (using only cash if you can), to menu plan and to ask store employees when stuff goes on sale (at fresh and easy, they mark everything down at about 7pm. So stuff you might buy at 6pm at full price, will become half price an hour later. If I can, I shop then or in the morning. Or try to take advantage of special days like the double ad Wednesdays I talked about earlier). Those things have transformed our grocery habits. I also will put in the extra effort to make more things from scratch because really, it’s SO much cheaper. For instance, if I’m going to use beans a lot in our menu, I try to buy them dried and soak overnight. It’s really not that much work and it will save you A LOT of money. Rice is also super cheap and goes SO far.

Something that I want to start trying is cutting down our portion sizes. It’s hard for me to do (b/c I come from a very family style type of eating) but it saves a lot on your grocery bill and it’s healthier. In order to help with this, I want to start serving courses. For instance, if I’m planning on having a salad with our meal – serve the salad FIRST, and then bring out the main meal. I also want to get into this habit because as the kids grow older, this time is a great time to chat about the day or do devotions or whatever.

Hope that helped everyone! Let me know if you have any more questions or if I didn’t explain something clear enough. Good luck and keep me updated if you decide to try anything!

My meals and grocery list

This week Sprouts was having a KILLER sale so I took full advantage! I got almost enough food for an entire week's worth of groceries for a little shy of $35! Again, I didn't get everything I need, so I'm thinking that my total grocery bill for the week (or perhaps even the rest of the month) will be about $50. Here's how I'm thinking I can do it. This is for 5 meals which is suppose to cover from today (Thursday) to next Wednesday. Two of those days we won't be eating at home (date night and my mom and sisters birthday). Then we have Thursday (which I can do leftovers or pasta or something) and then next Friday is pay day again plus we have a wedding ot go to. So I'm thinking that this will get us to the end of the month! WOOHOO! We'll probably have to pick up some more eggs and milk before then, but I still have over $80 for our grocery budget after this shopping trip ($150 total for 2 weeks). So we're good! :)

Let me also say that you could probably do this for even cheaper. There are some items that I prefer the more expensive version than the cheaper version (for instance: bread and Sprouts Apple Juice). So if I would have bought the less expensive version, then I'd save even more money. But I think that everyone needs to find a good balance between what their budget can afford and what they're comfortable feeding their family (or their taste buds. :) )

Anywho - people asked me "how I did it" so here's my 5 meals and grocery recipet. I check the sale ads and plan my menus around them and what I have already on hand. I do have a garden but that only has tomatoes and some green beans that are ripe right now. I also have veggies still in the fridge from my last Farmers Market trip last week. So we'll be using up those in our meals as well.


My 5 dinners:
1. Beef Lettuce Wraps - I don’t know what else we’ll have with this or if we’ll just do the lettuce wraps. I’ll figure something out.

2. Burgers with homemade fries or potato chips (whatever I feel like making that day...probably fries)

3. Pork Sirloin Roast with mashed potatoes and veggies

4. Chicken with BLT (bacon, leeks and tomato) Gravy and a salad

5. Some kind of fish dish with veggies if I can. I’m thinking trout. Sprouts had trout fillets for $6.99 a pound. So I wouldn’t get any more than a pound of fillets. But I want to see what Sams Club and Fresh and Easy have. If I don’t do fish, I might do a taco salad with leftover ground beef from the burgers and lettuce wraps.

**I still need to get hamburger buns, cream, Chicken thighs, fish (maybe) and some bacon. This all will be $15 or less (depending on if I get the fish or not).

Food Item Price per unit Price I Paid
Bread 1 loaf @ 2 for $4 $2
Raw Almonds .80lbs @ 3.99/lb 3.19
Buttermilk Pancake Mix .44lbs @ 2.49/lb 1.10
White Sugar 1.17lbs @ .99/lb 1.16
Milk 1 gallon @ 2 for $5 2.50
Turkey off the bone .35lbs @ 6.99/lb 2.45
White Chedder Cheese .72lbs @ 2/lb 1.44
Sprouts Apple Juice 1 bottle 3.49
Extra Lean Ground Beef 2.57lbs @ 1.99/lbs 5.11
Pork Sirloin 1.12 lbs @ 1.77/lb 1.98
Cherry Tomatoes 1 pint .88
Cilantro 1 bunch @ .19/lb .19
Ginger Root .07lbs @2.49/lb .17
Kiwi 5 @ .19 cents each .95
Limes 5 @ .19 cents each .95
Loose Carrots 3.65lbs @ .19 /lb .69
Green Onions 1 bunch @ .19/each .19
Golden Delicious Apples (HUGE) 5 @ .19 each .95
Hass Avocados 4 @ .49 each 1.96
Bananas 2.15lbs @ .65/lbs 1.40
Romaine Lettuce Hearts 3 pack for $1 1
Russet Potatoes 5.05lbs @ .19/lb .96

TOTAL $34.71

A New Take on Tuna Noodle Casserole

Who doesn't love Tuna Noodle Casserole? It was a comfort food in our house when I was little. Today, I stumbled upon this recipe for a dressed-up version. I had everything in my pantry so I thought I'd give it a try. It was GREAT. Easy to make and used up stuff I already had! It was a little bland... so feel free to add in whatever you'd like.

Tuna Pasta with Artichoke and Sun-Dried Tomatoes

Ingredients
500 g pasta shells
2 tablespoons olive oil (preferably extra virgin, as it has a better flavour)

1 (185 g) can tuna, drained and flaked
1/2 cup canned artichoke heart
1/2 cup black olives
1/4 cup sun-dried tomato
1 teaspoon chili, chopped --- **I added chili powder
1 tablespoon fresh basil, chopped
Salt and Pepper, to taste
parmesan cheese, to taste.

Directions
Cook pasta.
Drain, and return to pan with oil.
Toss for 1 minute, then add tuna, artichokes, olives, tomatoes, chilli and pepper.
Toss on low heat for 3-4 minutes.
Mix in the parmesan and basil, and serve immediately.

Bircher Oatmeal

The other day I wrote about how I wanted to make Bircher Mueseli in attempt to re-create my favorite Swiss Oatmeal from Corner Bakery.


Yesterday I went to the store, bought the stuff and tried it out. This morning we ate it. And I'm proud to say that it turned out pretty good! I still want ot do some tweaking on it - but it's definitely something I'll be making again. And if you want ot try it too - remember that you can toy with this as much as you'd like. So feel free to change things to your personal liking (and of course, share with me what you did and how it turned out!)

Ingredients:
2 cups of Rolled Oats (not quick cooking oats)
Low Fat Milk (enough to cover oatmeal -- probably about 1 1/2 - 2 cups)
Dried fruit of your choice (I used cranberries and black currents)
Low Fat Yogurt
1/2 Granny Smith Apple - diced
Honey
Fresh Berries
Sliced Almonds
Directions:
In a bowl, mix together rolled oats and dried fruit. Pour in enough milk to cover the oatmeal. Cover the bowl and stick in fridge overnight.

Here's my oatmeal right after it came out of the fridge in the morning:

Dump in 2 good spoonfuls of low-fat yogurt, apples, and a good drizzle of honey. Mix together.

Divide up into spearate serving bowls and top with fresh berries and sliced almonds. Enjoy!

Here's the finished product (one for me and one for Rylee):

Now, here's the things I want to try tweaking:

• I used currants because that's what Corner Bakery said that they use. But I must not have bought the right kind of currants b/c I didn't care for them too much. Next time, I'll stick with the cranberris but then throw in a different kind of dried fruit.
  
• It wasn't as sweet as I was hoping or expecting. So I think that next time I'm going to try Vanilla yogurt instead of plain yogurt. I tried to add some vanialla extract but it didn't taste the same as vanilla yogurt.
  
• The other day I tried Almond Milk (vanilla) from my sister in law's house. It was pretty good and really sweet. I want to try to use this instead of regular milk. I'm sure it'll add a whole other demision of sweetness (and then I might not need to add honey or anything) and for those that are lactose intolerant - this is a great sustitute! You could also use whatever other milk substitute you'd like.
  

I also wanted to list my grocery list. The whole point of this was to re-create a dish I really liked for much cheaper than it would cost me to go and buy it. I shopped at Sprouts, so I utlitized their bulk items - only getting the specific amounts I needed. For the dried fruit and almonds, I basciaully just got a handful or two. Here's my list:

Rolled Oats -- 1 lb @ $0.59/lbs ......................................0.59

Dried Cranberries -- 0.16lbs @ $3.74/lb ......................0.60

Dried Black Currants -- 0.06lbs @ $5.99/lbs .............. 0.36
Sliced Almonds -- 0.07lbs @ $4.49/lbs ......................... 0.31

Milk (16 cups = 1 gallon) -- 2 cups @3.19/gallon ....... 0.40

**Not included: Yogurt -- I bought a 2lb tub of yogurt for $2.79 and I only used a couple spoonfuls. So as you can imagine - it's only a couple pennies. ; Fresh Berries - I already had these on hand from the Farmers Market. And I only used a couple to garnish it.

GRAND TOTAL for 2 -3 servings = $2.26. $1.13 - $0.76 per serving! (Corner Bakery Swiss Oatmeal costs $4.49 for one serving!)

Overnight Oatmeal Re-Creation

Corner Bakery has an amazing breakfast item called "Swiss Oatmeal" it's a type of oatmeal also caleld a museli and started by a Swiss doctor in the early 1900s. ITs' a cold, creamy oatmeal with apples, bananas, berries and almonds. I absolutely love it but don't like paying $4 for it. So I'm going to try and re-create it. Here's two recipes: The first from Whole Foods website and the second from Jamie Oliver's website. There's lots of other recipes out there but everything is about the same. I'm going to use these recipes to try nad make my own creation. When I make it, I'll let you all know how it turns out:

***Update. After reading many recipes and ingredients (including the ones that are in CB's Swiss Oatmeal) I think this is what I'm going to do:

Mix together rolled oats and dried berries - soak overnight in milk. In the morning, mix in yogurt, diced apples and toasted sliced almonds (and maybe a drizzle of honey if needed). TOp with fresh berries. I'll tell you how it turns out!

Overnight Oatmeal

Serves 4
This breakfast provides protein, whole grains and fresh fruit for a breakfast sure to help you start your morning right. Simply mix the ingredients together and refrigerate overnight. Enjoy it cold or warm the next morning.

Ingredients
2 cups rolled oats (not instant or quick cooking)
2 cups lowfat milk or milk substitute
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup chopped pecans, walnuts or almonds
2 peaches or apricots, pitted and sliced
2 tablespoons agave nectar (optional)

Method
Combine oats, milk, zest and vanilla in a bowl then cover and refrigerate overnight. The next morning, scoop oatmeal into bowls and top with pecans, peaches and a drizzle of agave nectar.


Jamie Oliver's Pukkolla

Composing and Preserving
8 large handfuls of organic rolled oats
2 large handfuls of ground bran
1 handful of chopped dried apricots
1 handful of chopped dried dates
1 handful of crumbled walnuts
1 handful of smashed or shopped almonds, hazelnuts or brazil nuts

Add your oats and bran to your plastic container with the apricots and dates. Add the walnuts and other nuts. This will keep for a good couple months very happily in your airtight container.

Making and Knocking together

milk to cover
1/2 crunchy apple per person, washed and unpeeled

Try to make this the night or day before. Place double the amount of composed pukkolla cereal needed into a bowl. Cover with milk, grate in around 1/2 an apple per person and stir immediately to keep apple from discolouring. Place in the fridge.

Tucking in and Eating

1/2 banana per person, peeled and sliced or mashed
honey to taste

Remove the bowl from fridge. You will find that it has softened and thickened, so loosed with a little milk. Add your banana. Add honey to taste. Serve with a dollop of yogurt and some fresh mixed berries.

Sounds really good - I think I may have mix some up!

Baked Risotto with Tuna

Recipe copyright William Granger via The Cooking Channel

.Prep Time:10 minInactive Prep Time:--Cook Time:40 minLevel:
EasyServes:
4 servings.Ingredients
•2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
•1 onion, finely chopped
•1 clove garlic, finely chopped, optional
•1 teaspoon sea salt
•1 cup arborio rice
•1 1/2 cups chicken stock or water
•1 (14-ounce) can crushed Roma or Plum tomatoes
•1 (6.4-ounce) can packed tuna in spring water, drained (recommended: Sirena)
•3 zucchinis, thinly sliced
•Freshly cracked black pepper
•2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
•Parmesan, for garnish, optional
•
•
Directions
Preheat an oven to 400 degrees F. Place a large (about 12-cup) ovenproof dish over medium heat, about 1 minute. Add in the olive oil, the onion, garlic and sea salt. Saute until the onion is soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the rice to the dish and stir for another minute or until the rice is lightly coated in oil and light gold in color.

Add the stock and the tomatoes to the dish. Bring the mixture to a simmer. Stir in the tuna, zucchini, and season with the black pepper, to taste. Cover the dish, with a lid or aluminum foil, and bake until the rice is tender and cooked through, about 30 minutes. Scatter the parsley over the top of the risotto and sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese, if desired, before serving.


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