Strawberry Season Snack! (Plus, PB'n'J . . . Salad!)

I love strawberry season!  There is no fruit that makes me quite so happy as a fresh springtime strawberry! This fruit is so versatile in recipes as well as fantastic all on it's own!

We were able to get 2 lbs of fresh strawberries over the weekend from Costco and I am greatly enjoying them!

My absolute favorite way to enjoy strawberries is to stuff them/make them into little 'sammies.'
We like to use softened cream cheese sweetened with a little local raw honey. Sooooo, good!

These snacks feel like an luxurious indulgence, yet they are so healthful and easy that there's really no reason why they couldn't become a regular thing! At least during strawberry season.

Another way that I enjoyed them this past weekend was on a salad. Now I have been eating strawberry spinach salad for over a decade, but this time I decided to try a little experiment based on my Peanut Butter and Honey Salad.

Since I had strawberries available, I figured it was about time I tried out my favorite sweet salad with a strawberry "jam" twist! I didn't actually make jam though . . . All I did was crush some of the berries in a bowl with my potato masher and stirred in a bit of honey (which proved to be unnecessary because the berries were already plenty sweet.) and then I drizzled this raw strawberry goodness over my salad along with my usual peanut butter dressing and some sliced strawberries.
It was lovely!

 If you love strawberries as much as I do, and/or if you miss having a good ol' PB'n'J sandwich because you cannot digest bread anymore; I recommend you try this salad! It's superbly refreshing!

Peanut Butter & Honey . . . Salad?

One of the most useful things I've learned about food since I cut out grains and cane sugar is that anything that makes a good sandwich can make a better salad!

Yes! It's true! Just think of your favorite sandwich combo, and then replace the bread with a bed of greens. Some of the possibilities here seem obvious . . . BLT, Philly Steak & Cheese, Meatball,  Tuna salad, BBQ chicken, Taco, etc . . . What wasn't so obvious to me was that this truth is not limited to savory sandwiches.

One of my favorites from my childhood was Peanut Butter and Honey. Especially if the peanut butter was crunchy. I liked smooth peanut butter with jam/jelly combos, but for some reason the combo of honey with nut chunks has always been extra yummy to me.

Since I've been married, yet before I discovered my digestive issues with bread, my family would often make peanut butter honey sandwiches for lunch. We discovered adding a layer of regular butter to the bread was key to making it extra good---Not too dry, and it kept the honey from soaking into the bread. (And Elvis: PB and Banana was also a family fave.)

After discovering that I couldn't eat bread anymore I gave up on the idea of enjoying this flavor combo for a few years. it was sad though, and hard. Then last Summer after watching my husband and kids still enjoying their PBHs I suddenly had the inspiration to try it out with my sandwich to salad theory. I had already been eating things like chili, stir-fry, stroganoff, bbq meat, and other such dinner menu items over salad. (It's also true that anything you can eat over pasta or rice is great on salad.)

Anyway, I tried it, and . . .  Surprise!!!!!
It was AMAZING!!! The nostalgic flavor I had missed was there in full force! It was even richer and more satisfying than a sandwich because I didn't have the flavor of bread competing with the PB and honey. Spinach is especially good at disappearing into the background and allowing other flavors to shine.  After enjoying this discovery for a few months I finally managed to take some photos to give some of you some inspiration of all the many possibilities this salad combo offers.

Start with a bed of salad greens . . . in this case organic baby spinach, and organic Spring Mix from Costco.

 Put about a tablespoon each of peanut butter* and butter* into a small dish and place in the oven on warm until the butter is melty.

 Stir until you have a smooth peanut butter dressing.

 Top your salad with the dressing . . .

 Drizzle on some local raw honey* . . .

 Here are some other optional toppings that you might enjoy to bulk things up:

• Nuts (almonds are shown because that is what I had at the time, but I think pecans are best because they are softer.)
• Flaked* or shredded unsweetened coconut*
• Organic dried fruit such as raisins* (or chopped dates*)
• Organic fresh fruit such as bananas* (remember the Elvis Presley?) 
• Or an organic apple*. (Organic is recommend for these fruits because they are on the dirty dozen list.)

If you are adding nuts, especially almonds, be sure to crush them so they are easier to eat over your salad.

 Slice your bananas . . .

 Add sliced apples if desired (I usually don't do the apples, I prefer the bananas by themselves; but you know, you can use what you have.)

 I always put salt and pepper on my salads, even my sweet ones because I like the way it enhances all the different flavors.

 Another possible seasoning that works well with PB and Honey is cinnamon.* (If you can get real, fresh cinnamon, that will of course be a plus.)

 Mix it all together and enjoy!

Mmm, the taste of nostalgia blended with high nutrition and success are so very sweet!



*Julie Surprise is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com

Julie Surprise: Homemade, Clean "Samoas" (Girl Scout Cookies)

Yesterday my sister posted this graphic on Facebook.

I confess, after looking at all the unnecessary additives and poor quality ingredients, I bragged in a comment that I could easily make my own and that they would be better in every way. Someone replied to that comment by saying, "Please hurry!"

I laughed at first, but it got the wheels turning for me. I looked at what the girl scout website said about their cookies and it just seemed like it would be all too easy.

I've been working with coconut flour for a few years now, and I've made very similar treats, like this to-live-for, caramel chocolate cheesecake that tasted like it had a crust made from twixt bars. (Yeah, I still need to post that one.)

Anyway, I figured, I might as well give it a shot. So I made a very small batch of half a dozen cookies last night and had to take the time to convert it to a larger batch for all of you here this morning.

The recipe does have a lot of steps, but it really isn't difficult. If you want to shave off some of the time it will take to make these, I would suggest not cutting out a center hole and just leaving them a solid circle. If you like the idea of the narrow strip that the wreath shape provides, you could even dispense with circles altogether and shape the cookies into little sticks instead. (Think twixt bar)

One reason I was able to do this so spontaneously last night was because I already had some leftover caramel in the freezer that I made a couple of months ago. Although, I could have made fresh caramel since I have dates in the fridge right now. It's a pretty simple recipe and if you can get someone else to help you make the cookies you could have one person working on the caramel while the other person mixes and shapes the cookies.

At first I felt sure that someone else must have already created a clean version of these cookies, and perhaps someone out there has, but a quick browse through pinterest only revealed "homemade" versions that consisted of store bought cookies covered with store bought caramels and melted chocolate chips. . . .
Yeah. I know.

Thus, I present to you:

Julie Surprise:Clean Caramel & Chocolate Covered Cookies ("Samoas")

Cookie Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup Coconut flour
• 1/4 cup shredded or flaked unsweetened Coconut (Plus extra for topping)
• 2 tablespoons Coconut sugar
• 1 tsp Salt
• 3 Eggs
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 2 tablespoons Coconut Milk

(Oven Preheated to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.)

1. In a large mixing bowl, mix all ingredients until you have a nice shape-able cookie dough consistency.

     Note: You might want to add the coconut milk one tablespoon at a time and test in between to gauge how much moisture you need to help the dough form into a circle without crumbling. I'm high altitude so you may need to add more or less milk to achieve the desired consistency. (See note for Step 3)

2. Cover a large cookie sheet with baking parchment and form about a teaspoon's worth of dough into circles using your fingers, directly onto the pan. You may flatten them with the underside of a cup.

    Note: if you are going to use cupcake liners for adding the toppings later, you may wish to have one handy so you can form the cookie into a size that will fit into the bottom of the liner. The cookies will not spread when baked.
3. If desired, cut circles out of the center of each cookie with a small cookie cutter or other small cylinder that will serve the same purpose.

     Note: You may need to use the tip of a knife to help you remove the circles from the cookies once cut. Seeing how your cookies react to this step will also give you a clue as to how crumbly the dough is. If cutting out the center makes your cookie fall apart, you may wish to return the dough to the mixing bowl and add a bit more coconut milk. Thus, you may wish to test one cookie in this way, before you transfer all your dough to the cookie sheet.

4. Once all your cookies are formed on your cookie sheet, bake in the oven for about 10 minutes, or until the bottom edges are starting to turn brown.

    Note: You will probably start smelling the cookies just as they reach this point.

5. Once baked, remove from oven and carefully transfer the cookies to a cooling rack.

6. Once cooled, you can begin to coat the underside of each cookie with chocolate. (recipe below)
To do so, drizzle a small layer of chocolate into the bottom circle of a cupcake liner. Place cookie on top of chocolate taking care that the entire bottom surface is sitting on chocolate. Place the cookies in the freezer for a couple of minutes to quickly set the chocolate layer.

     Note: You can return the cupcake liners with cookies to a cooled baking sheet, or to a plate before transferring to the freezer, whatever best suits you.

7. Once hardened, remove cookies from freezer and carefully scoop your prepared date caramel onto the cookie; creating a nice thick layer. Top with coconut and return to freezer.

8. Once cooled, drizzle stripes of remaining chocolate onto cookie and return to freezer a final time.

9. Once set, remove the cookies from the papers and serve, or store in the freezer or fridge in an airtight container.

    Note: If you choose to make wreath shaped cookies, the center hole may become filled with a thin layer of chocolate. This is easily removed with a few pokes of a straw or knife, or you may leave it intact for extra chocolaty goodness.


Chocolate Layer Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup liquid coconut oil
• 2/3 cup cocoa powder

Mix in a small dish until smooth, with no lumps remaining.

          Note: I did not think it was necessary to add any sweetener to the chocolate as the date caramel is already quite rich and sweet. I prefer the contrast between the dark unsweetened chocolate with the caramel. Plus the layer of chocolate is so thin, it is really not noticeable when you take a bite of the whole cookie that the chocolate has no sweetener. 

 Caramel Filling Ingredients:

• 12-16 Dates
• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 to 1/2 tablespoon Grass Fed Butter (optional, see note below.)

1. Soak dates and coconut oil in a small sauce pan over low heat until dates ate very soft.

2. Remove from heat and add vanilla and salt. Blend directly in pan with an immersion blender, or if you prefer, transfer the mixture to a blender or food processor and blend until smooth and creamy. 

     Note: If the consistency is too thick to easily spread on the cookies, or simply thicker than you wish it to be, you may add additional butter and see if that helps. Another way to thin the caramel could be to add some warmed coconut milk a tablespoon at a time until desired consistency is reached. You want it somewhat thick, but spreadable, and not so thin that it drizzles off the cookie's surface once applied.

Overall, I thought they were delicious. Admittedly I did not try them in a side-by-side comparison to the girl scout version, (for obvious reasons) but to me they are awesome. My husband and three kids also approved of them, with my two year old begging for more, my six year old proclaiming them the best treats I've ever made, and my eight year old saying, "They literally melt in your mouth; they are really good!"

If, for some reason, you find them lacking, you are perfectly welcome to experiment with my experiment. My cookies turned out soft instead of crunchy. In order to achieve a crunchy texture I would probably go with more of a shortbread type recipe, dispensing with the eggs and adding coconut oil to the dough. I considered this at first, but wanted to be sure the cookies would hold together. Shortbread can be a bit of a trial and error at times, especially when working with coconut flour.
Adding more coconut sugar to the dough, or some liquid sweetener of choice to the chocolate coating may bring them closer to the original flavor. I also noticed that the original cookies have mixed the coconut with the caramel, instead of just sprinkling it on top. I will probably try this next time I make these, and you would be welcome to do the same.

Happy baking, and happier eating to you all!

~Julie :}

How to Eat Clean (No matter your situation) Part 1

There are so many little gems I wish to share with you all. Little things I've learned that have added to the joy, ease, and enjoyment of my relationship with food. It's difficult to decide what I should share first, especially because so many of them go hand in hand with others.

Still, because I keep thinking of it, and it is actually a more recent personal revelation for me, I think I will share with you what I've discovered about one of my new very favorite foods:

Cabbage.

Red or green, cooked or raw, I have come to adore it! This crisp, nutritious, amazing veggie has truly surprised me with it's versatility.

Yes, I know. It sounds strange. When I was a little girl, the first thing that used to come to mind when I heard that word, was a line from an old movie where a man comes home from work and tells his cook that he could smell that cabbage she is cooking from a block away and she responds simply with, "Cabbage has a cabbage smell."
I do not even think I really appreciated the scene or really understood why they spoke that way about the vegetable. I had never really noticed cabbage having a specific smell, but it was also very rarely on the menu in my childhood home. Still, the line stuck in my head, and still comes to me sometimes, though not as much . . . because now . . . Now cabbage and I have gotten to know each other, and I have formed my own ideas and opinions that relate to cabbage, things from my own experience and not some fictional movie characters' experiences.

Firstly, however, I believe that I ought to to give credit where credit is due, and tell you that if not for my darling husband and his family, I might never have realized how much I love cabbage. While it was never a staple in my own family, it was a regular thing for my husband. Everyone in his family loves boiled cabbage and his Dad, my awesome father-in-law, even tried a cabbage based diet a few years ago, in an effort to lose weight. (Pretty successful effort, I might add.)
Also, because of my husband's experience living in Ukraine, and loving Ukrainian Red Borsh so much, I also found that when stewed with other vegetables, cabbage becomes something altogether wonderful. It absorbs and enhances other flavors, and the texture is a very pleasing softness that melts in your mouth. So much better than even the best noodles, IMHO.

Now as to raw cabbage, while it used to be that the only way I'd ever had it was in slaw or Chinese salad, because of this awesome raw tacos recipe that I found on Pinterest, the idea of using the leaves as tortilla substitutes opened my mind up to many other possibilities.

For instance; chips.

Last month, in the midst of all the Christmas preparations, I found myself suddenly missing salsa. Costco has a very good organic, sugarless salsa right now, and it was nice in the cabbage leaf tacos and other recipes that I had been using it in, but I kept thinking how much I missed just enjoying the plain salsa by itself, like with the old chips and salsa type snacking from bygone days.
Finally, it occurred to me on Christmas Eve day, as I was busy in the kitchen making homemade clean chocolates for our stockings, that I had both cream cheese and salsa, and wouldn't it be fun to try one of those cream cheese trees that I'd seen on Pinterest. It seemed like a perfect snack to have out on the table for the family while we worked on various preparations for the following day.

I didn't have chips of course, but it somehow came to me that I still had the last of a head of cabbage left. All those crisp, tightly packed little leaves did not tear off in large pieces like a tortilla shell, but they did rather resemble the size and crispness of chips.

Of course, cabbage does not offer exactly the same experience as a salty, dry, crumbly, corn chip . . . Obviously the flavor is more mild, less contrasting, and what not . . . Still, the the fact remains that it worked, and although it was a different experience, it was still a delicious one.

So, my tip for today is, when one has a desire for some yummy, healthy dip, but no desire for GMO-corn chips, or hydrogenated potato crisps, perhaps you can indulge in the glory of your awesome homemade dip without using a vehicle that is not worthy of it.
Use cabbage chips!

Easy, affordable, awesomely good for you, not to mention . . . Tasty!

Just think of the possibilities, the internet is full of clean versions of all your favorites . . . Clam dip, Ranch, Guacamole, Bacon herb & cheese, bean dip . . .

Even if your not missing a particular dip, it's still a great way to use the leftovers of a head of cabbage. Or using cabbage chips can be a great way to make a small amount of other leftovers go a little further. Use that leftover chicken curry, Spanish rice or chili as a dip for your cabbage chips, and a small amount of leftovers with a fair amount of chips becomes a nice little meal, tasty, fun to eat, and high in iron, thanks to the 'chips.'

Hope this tip was helpful . . . Even if you think you don't like cabbage, it seems to get better and better.
I confess, the first time I tried raw tacos, there was a slightly bitter aftertaste, yet haven't noticed this ever since. Maybe it was a coincidence and I just happened to have a bitter cabbage, but I'm thinking that it's more likely that my taste-buds have adapted to the flavor of cabbage so that it is only mild and pleasant to me now. I've even begun to call cabbage my daily bread. . . .

And speaking of bread, I believe my next post will be tips on how to enjoy more butter in your diet with yummy snacks that do not involve bread. Yes, that's right! Breadless Butter Snacks! Stay Tuned!

Julie Surprise: Out of the Blue Salad

I will be the first to confess that I'm not naturally a very organized person, I'm the one who is usually a bit late, or who will call you last minute for a baby-sitting gig because I totally spaced something I needed a sitter for until the night before or even the morning of. Yes, I know. I am ashamed. I am getting better about it though, through huge effort and help from my list app, reminders and calender on my smart phone, I have improved slightly.

On the other hand, I can do spontaneous, and I can handle random. I will not have a break down if plans fall through or if something changes. I can handle change. In fact, I've discovered I sort of need things to change up a bit everyone once in a while because too much structure makes me crazy (i.e. grumpy, emotional, intense, high strung, etc.) My husband and I are well matched because we both enjoy making random and spontaneous decisions together.

For example, back in July, on one of the rare Sundays in which we did not have a family party or any other after church obligations, we spontaneously decided to drop in at his parents house to borrow their barbecue grill and their pool for a little family summer fun with our kids. His parents were out of town, but even if they hadn't been, they also have no problem with spontaneous drop-ins.

Anyway, once we got there, my hubby started firing up the grill and he asked me to look around the kitchen to figure out what else we could eat, like some kind of salad to have on the side with our grilled chicken.

(I guess I should clarify that this is also totally cool at my in-laws house. They have a standing policy that if the food is there you can have it. [which idea, honestly, was a little hard for me to get used to when I first got married because in my house you always had to ask about anything you wanted to eat in case Mom was saving it for something.] My mother-in-law sort of has this mentality about it; she feels like if she is generous with what she has, that there will always be enough. In fact, I think she sort of has a contract going on with God where if she shares her abundance that He promises her that her cupboards will always be full. Don't quote me on that, but I'm pretty sure there was something like that in the story my hubby told me.)

Anyway, there I was, in someone else's kitchen, with the task of figuring out what to eat for our spontaneous Sunday picnic. I looked through the fridge, but as my in-laws were out of town, there wasn't much there in way of produce. So I checked the freezer, "Hmm, frozen fruit." and the pantry, "Nothing." and the storage room, "Hmm, canned pineapple."

What I did find in the fridge was part of what got my wheels turning about the possibilities. My mother-in-law had some good sour cream. The kind that has only two ingredients (cream and enzymes) so I was thinking maybe I could use it to make some sort of fruit salad.
Pineapple is awesome with cottage cheese, so it seemed like I could perhaps make it work with the sour cream so I dumped a can of drained pineapple into a bowl and plopped about a half a cup of sour cream on top. Then I added a bit of sea salt and a packet of Truvia because they don't keep coconut sugar in their house (and I can't eat cane sugar).

Mixed that all up and tasted it. Hmm, not too shabby. At the same time I was doing this, I was making a fruit smoothie for us to drink with some of the frozen fruit in the freezer. I thought about adding a variety of fruit to the salad, but honestly, I was thinking something a little simpler sounded good so I decided to only go with frozen blueberries (about 1/2 cup again). Blueberries and pineapple just sounded delicious.

Once I started stirring those in, the color of the salad turned a lovely bluish-lavender color and I figured I was pretty much done. . .

Except . . . there just didn't seem to be much salad for everyone, and while it was good, it seemed like it needed something. A little more contrast of flavor. so I looked in the fruit bowl and found a couple of ripe bananas. I sliced one up and threw it in.

Tada! Out of the blue, we have a salad!

Needless to say, this salad was not only lovely to look at but it was delicious to eat as well. In fact, I had to go back inside halfway through our picnic and make a second batch so everyone could have as much as they wished. So, that being said, I'm going to double the recipe here at the bottom because for a good sized group you'll probably want it at least doubled.

Julie Surprise: Out of the Blue Salad

Ingredients:

• 2 cans chunk pineapple or tidbits would work well too, drained. (I added the juice to our smoothie)
• 1 cup frozen blueberries, (you could use fresh, but it might not look as blue in the end.)
• 2 large bananas sliced.
• 1 cup clean sour cream.
• 1 packet of truvia, or non-cane sweetener of your choice (honey, maple syrup or coconut sugar)
• A dash or two of fine sea salt.

Mix and enjoy!

I'm so glad that I was given the task to spontaneously whip up a salad with random ingredients.
If I hadn't had that opportunity, I never would have tasted this delicious concoction!
So while I may appear to be a very flawed person, I'm so glad I can handle being creative under pressure. Things can be pretty yummy, out of the blue.


~Julie :}

What My Diet is Like Right Now

My sister started a FB group recently where like minded Mom's with similar values can share articles and ideas without having to get flamed and bombarded with arguments like they would if they posted the same things on their regular page. It's been a lot of fun to share some of my favorite new ideas and findings with these few women who are all in the same boat, trying to figure out what's best for their families and how to make ends meet without sacrificing their health or values.

Tonight, one of the group members asked about if any of the rest of us feel lost when it comes to grocery shopping; trying to figure out how to afford, good clean healthy fair without it costing an arm an a leg, and even knowing what to make with the food you do get.
I totally understand this feeling!
It's one thing to know what NOT to buy and what NOT to eat. Becoming aware of dangerous additives and ingredients is really eye opening, and it can feel empowering to finally take the plunge and throw out all the junk that's been lurking in the back of your pantry (you know those instant mashed potatoes that have more ingredients than your aunt Edna's secret recipe for frog eye salad?)  Yes, it is a great feeling to say to yourself, "No. I deserve better and my family deserves better and it's not wasteful to throw out garbage."

It's after the cleaning out and rethinking is all done that you might find yourself walking through a grocery store and have no idea what to actually put in your cart. Or, even if you have managed to fill it will all kinds of things you know are great healthy foods, you might find yourself looking at a fridge full of great healthy food but have no idea what to do with it.

I'm sure we've all gone through this, are going through it, or hopefully will go through it because it's all part of the process of the paradigm shift that must occur if we're ever going to leave behind the SAD way that we used to eat.

So, of course, all of the above are the thoughts that went through my mind when I read this question posted to our group's wall. 

So, I started to write a response, and then, as is typical for me, it started to turn into a really long comment and then I had to admit that it was becoming a blog post. So here it is.

I have been figuring things out slowly for the past 2-3 years so I totally know the feeling of getting overwhelmed.
Meat is always tricky too because you want it to be safe but need to be able to afford other food too, and have room for it all. We've been thinking about buying bulk from this site:  http://pinterest.com/pin/15129348718233832/, 
but we'd have to be able to split it with a few families to be able to afford the best deal AND have the room to freeze it. So yeah, still figuring out the meat. 

As of right now Costco has been my link to sanity.
For a while there we just weren't eating very much meat and my hubby was having a hard time with that. So recently I've been buying their organic ground beef ($16.99 for 4 lbs divided into three pieces). I't doesn't say it's grass fed, but it does say hormone free so I figure it's better than some things. Then I also buy a flat of organic black beans and organic tomato paste and use these ingredients to make a big batch of chili which usually lasts us about a week as an easy lunch for my hubby to take to work, or for me to eat. Oh, I often buy their organic chicken stock to add to the chili too. 

Getting veggies from Bountiful Baskets is a great way to get lots of produce in your diet for very little money, plus it gives you a reason to try new things you might not have thought of buying. I think using this resource was a great step in helping me to transition away from the way we used to eat into thinking more about veggies, and actually using them. It was a big learning curve, but so worth it!

Honestly though, we haven't been relying on BB as much because I've been concerned about the dirty dozen and the clean fifteen thing and it seems like most of the produce you get in the BB is on the dirty dozen list. You can get an organic basket for $10 more but I'm not sure it's worth it for how much food you get because the organic basket is always smaller than the conventional one and then it costs that much more, plus, they might include things in the organic basket that are clean enough that buying organic wasn't necessary for that particular item.

Still, if you already aren't eating a lot of produce it's a really great way to get into doing that. And they say eating conventional produce is always better than no produce at all.
Pinterest is a great resource for recipes, as is the Green Smoothie Girl Blog and the Bountiful Basket's Blog.  Actually, there are a TON of great blogs out there for clean eating, most of which I found through Pinterest. You just have to take baby steps and try things to figure out what works best for you and your family.

Right now, I usually buy most of my produce at Costco, like the things on the clean 15 list, such as oranges, grapefruit, Avocado, broccoli, kiwis, asparagus, artichokes. Things with high nutrient content that I can get in bulk and my family will actually eat.
I also will buy organic spinach there for green smoothies and recently I've discovered their organic baby kale which is much easier to eat than the kind we use to get through Bountiful Baskets. It makes a great salad green.
Anyway, whatever I want from the dirty dozen list that isn't available at Costco organically,  I will supplement those veggies and fruits with produce from Whole Foods. I used to use Smith's Marketplace because they do have some organic produce, but often I find that organic apples at Whole Foods are slightly cheaper than at Smiths. As are their grapes, occasionally, and their bananas. It depends though, so watching sales can still be good.

I also have been buying Coconut sugar at Whole Foods to use instead of other sweeteners. Oh, and their nitrate free bacon because my nutritionist told me when I got pregnant that I MUST eat bacon but that it HAD to be nitrate free. I told him I would love that but had no idea where to get nitrate free bacon and he said Whole Foods is where he gets it. His family buys it from behind the meat counter. I've actually just been buying of of the prepackaged  brands because it's cheaper ($3.99 a pack) and with my small family 3-4 packs will last us a least a couple of weeks.  We gave up lunch meat over a year ago and if we have sandwhiches they are now Peanut Butter and honey(Adam's PB has only one ingredient, Peanuts. We get a big jar from Costco), or grilled cheese, or Canned Wild Caught Salmon (our new tuna; we eat it with a mixture of cream cheese based dressing or simply some mashed avocado, depending on what we have, since mayonnaise is full of soy and other things) We also use Dave's killer bread for sandwiches, though someday I dream of sprouting my own grains . . . 

Oh, and we get organic eggs and butter from Costco.  Someday we hope to have a source for local eggs, perhaps from neighbors with chickens or maybe we'll even get chickens ourselves someday. A lot of our friends who live in a house with a yard have done so. One friend even raises rabbits for food.  So, I guess my point is . . . It's a process. I'm sure I will always be wanting to improve this or that aspect of our lives and health, but you just change/try one thing at a time and as it feels right.

Just to be up front and honest, our grocery budget can be anything from $95-$200 a week, depending on the week, and what things we're low on. Oh, and that feeds two adults and two small kids. Cutting back on certain things has certainly helped of course. We don't buy any convenience foods. No cold cereal, not even the healthy kind. My daughter has trouble with milk so we gave that up almost five years ago and haven't missed it. Breakfast consists of either oatmeal (bought in bulk at Costco again) or pancakes made from scratch, compliments of my hubby, half a grapefruit, or bacon and eggs. Things like that.

As for all the meat you bought, if your chicken has bones, I would advise making some Stock from that and freezing it.

In fact, if it's a lot of meat, you could precook the chicken in in crock pot, then shred and freeze extra meat to use for future recipes, like tacos/burritos, soup, etc.
Then of course, as I just said, boil the carcass for your stock.
I've done this before and I got a ton of really yummy stock out of it. In fact, it was surprising because I used a cornish game hen the first time and they are small, but I actually added more water a couple times after the first batch of stock, let it simmer another night and got more out of the bones and veggies. Not as rich and dark the subsequent times of course, but still really good stock. I just figured I'd keep going until I'd gotten as much goodness as I could out of it. You'll want to make sure you have enough freezer containers if you're going to do it that way.
I learned the hard way that glass doesn't freeze well, so if you're using mason jars or anything put those ones in the fridge for use first, or at least don't fill them too full. Anyway, this is a great way to get the most for your money when you buy expensive poultry I think, because it's got to be way cheaper than buying the organic stock at Costco, and you can add whatever awesome veggies you want to it.  In fact, the first night you could just cook all the veggies and meat in the crockpot and you eat that for dinner and then it's just the scraps that are left over that need to be boiled for the stock.

Anyway, this has been a very long post. Hopefully some of the ideas here were helpful and made sense. Feel free to ask any follow up questions!

Ukrainian Red Borsh Recipe

My husband served a mission in the Ukraine for two years and one of the members there made a bunch of recipe books for the elders to take home, full of some awesome traditional Ukrainian recipes. The only drawback about this for me is that it's all written in Russian/Cyrillic.
So, every time we've wanted to make our favorite Ukrainian Dish, Ukrainian Red Borsh, I've needed my husband right there to translate for me, every ingredient and step of the way.

It's been about 9 years since he left the Ukraine and so this last time that we made it, the translation seemed to take a bit longer for him than usual and in the end he finally decided to write it all down in the margins in English as he went. The soup itself turned out really well, (seriously, even if you think you don't like beets, this soup will change your mind!) so we of course were sharing pictures and accolades all over facebook for a couple of days. Which, of course, inevitably resulted in people asking for the recipe. I've been intending to post it here ever since, and now, over 3 months later, it looks like today is finally the day!

Ukrainian Red Borsh*

Ingredients:
1-3 fresh beets shredded or grated. (depending on size. If large, one is usually sufficient, but if small you may even want three. You really can't go overboard with this ingredient as it is. After-all, it is beet soup.)

2 lbs of potatoes cubed or about 4 regular potatoes (about the size of an index card) We chose to use smaller red potatoes this time around so we used  more. Once again amounts can vary without ruining anything.

2 large carrots grated.

2 onions grated very fine. (sweet red onions are our favorite)

1 cabbage cut into long, thin strips, (sort of like noodles. We used red cabbage but green will also work)

1/2 cup of cooking oil, your choice.

3.5 oz tomato paste (That amounts to about half of a small 6 oz can, but I'm thinking we used the whole can.)

1 sweet pepper, sliced. We prefer red bells, though yellow or orange would be yummy too.

2 bay leaves

Salt and pepper to taste.

4 liters of meat or veggie stock. The original calls for beef stock or bullion, but we used the organic chicken stock from Costco. You can also make your own stock. 


Directions:

1. In your largest pot, bring stock to a boil.
2. Add half of the grated beet(s) into the boiling stock. (We used the food processor to shred the beets this last time and it was a so much faster than grating it by hand, though not necessarily less messy.)
3. Once the beets have turned white add the potatoes.
4. Add half of the carrots and half of the onions after the potatoes have come to a boil.
5. Once carrots and onions come to a boil, add all of the cabbage to the stock. Cook for 15 minutes.
6. In a large skillet or frying pan, place the remaining beets, carrots and onions in the oil and cook for 5 minutes.
7. Then add to the pan, the sliced pepper, the tomato paste and 2 cups of water. Cook for 5 more minutes.
8. Add everything from the pan into the pot of stock with the bay leaves and boil for 5-10 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.
9. Can be served with sour cream or Greek yogurt as a nice condiment.
   
   
   
   
   This soup in incredibly tasty and healthful. I've begun to refer to it as prenatal soup because it's so chock full of iron and other important nutrients. Also, it is so much better the next day. This batch turned out really good even for the first day (during which I ended up eating 5 bowls of it.) but during the following days the flavors continue to blend and mature and it just gets better and better!
   
   
   Also, this makes a LOT of soup. When I said use your largest pot, I wasn't kidding. We almost couldn't fit everything into the one we have (8 quarts) when it came time to add the skillet veggies to the main soup. Our stove was a huge mess due to the effects of the ruby red soup boiling so happily near the edge of the pot. It was so worth it though! In fact, I believe I will have to enlist the hubs into another Borsh making session soon. If only it weren't so hot outside. Hmm . . . 
   

*P.s. I would like to note that while Borsh is usually spelled as 'Borscht' in English and your spell checkers will not approve of another spelling, my Russian speaking husband feels that this is completely erroneous and only encourages people to mispronounce a rather simple word.
The Cyrillic spelling which looks like this: борщ, contains 4 characters, one of which equates to our letter 'b' another to 'o' another to 'r' and the final one to the 'sh' sound. There is no 'ch' or 't' sound in Borsh.
I am simply noting this to explain my spelling of the word in order to avoid a lot of unnecessary comments about it later. Believe me, it is completely intentional and not done in ignorance. Thanks!