What We Ate This Week

Monday: Burritos/Burrito Bowls or Loaded Mac & Cheese
We have a season pass to Carowinds, an amusement park near Charlotte, NC, with that season pass we were able to get a two meal a day dining plan for an extra $30, this is a great deal as meals are 12.99+.  We decided on a family day at Carowinds before school started Wednesday and we decided to eat at the Carolina Cafe.  The Carolina Cafe sells HUGE burritos, burrito bowls, and loaded macaroni and cheese, and loaded baked potatoes.  We were all still stuffed after our first meal, so we opted to each get a burrito for our second meal also, and take them home with us for later in the evening.  Each of the meals at Carolina Cafe also comes with chips and salsa.

Tuesday: Tuna and Sundried Tomato Pasta Salad

Wednesday: Dorito Taco Salad

Thursday: Black Pepper Chicken with Bean Thread Noodles

Friday: Chickpea & Asparagus Couscous

Saturday: Barbecue Pulled Pork, Baked Beans, and Green Beans

Sunday: Vegetable Tikka Masala and Rice

What did you make this week?

Nichole

Goodwill and Staying Hydrated

I hate sweeping this house!  We have two dogs, two cats, and we live in a place called the "sandhills".  I never knew such a place existed, or what it was like until I moved here.  You know what it's like?!?  It's like living at the beach, without the ocean.  It's like living in the desert with 500% humidity.  There is sand EVERYWHERE!  Sorry about that... sometimes I let my frustration get the better of me.

Anyway, we were at Goodwill the other day, and my husband surprised me with the best find ever!  A robot vacuum!  Unfortunately, it was not the super pricey one shown on the box (they had put their old vac in the box they got their new vac in) and it didn't have it's remote, but it did work, it was only $30 ($129 new) and was able to operate on a couple of settings using the buttons on the base.
It does take a bit longer to do the job than I expect it normally would as I am not able to set any new patterns without the remote, but for my purpose, it works and it's a great help when it comes to keeping sand and pet hair off my floors.

A friend of mine posted about this on Instagram the other day, and after a week of using this app, I just wanted to post my own review for those who may need some help staying on track with their water intake.

Plant Nanny is an app that I have found works great to help me keep track of my water intake, especially during these hot summer months.  Not only is Plant Nanny helpful, but it's fun too!  You start out by inputting your weight and your activity level, and it will tell you what your water goal is.  You then choose a cute little plant, like this Devil's Ivy, to grow.  Each time you drink a glass of water, you hold down the blue button to give your plant a drink as well.  Once your plant is fully grown you can move it to your greenhouse and start again.  Remember, if you forget to drink water, your plant goes thirsty too!

Nichole

Meatless Mondays... or Tuesdays, Even Fridays!

Even if you're not one who believes in climate change, there are still a number of logical reasons why we should talk about reducing our meat consumption.

1. PRICE throughout history meat has almost always been a food for the rich.  I know we all want to be rich, but wealthy doesn't always mean healthy.

2. HEALTH I have heard so many people tell me that we humans NEED animal protein.  I am not going to dispute that there are some people who, biologically, need more animal protein than others, but that is something that has to do with what their ancestors evolved to eat it wasn't a species-wide determination.  Consider this, the Inuit people live near the Arctic Circle, historically not much produce could grow in such a climate, therefore, the Inuit people evolved to eat a diet rich in animal protein.
On the other side of the spectrum, the tribes native to the South American forests subsist largely off of sweet potato-like tubers and other vegetation.  Occasionally these people hunt small animals like squirrels, but such animals are fast and require a hunter to expend a lot of energy for a small amount of protein.

3.  CALORIC NEEDS when most activities were run via "manpower" humans needed a large caloric intake in order to have enough energy to complete their required tasks.  Today, many of the jobs we humans have are sedentary.  We simply don't need the number of calories that many of us consume in a day.

4. ENVIRONMENT I want to stay away from climate change here, and simply talk about numbers.  The average American eats 220 lbs of meat in a year.  The average cow (1,000 lb) produces 430 lbs of retail meat.  There are roughly 1.5 billion cows on the planet.  There are 7.5 billion people on the planet.  Everyone on the planet wants to eat like Americans.
These numbers mean we would have to more than double the number of cows on the planet to feed the current number of people on the planet, and the planet's population grows about 80 million people a year.  **Edit in response to a comment** Again, I know nothing about how the Earth's temperature changes, I don't think we have enough information one way or the other to say, what I do know, is if you cut down forests that produce oxygen, in order to make room for cows that give off methane, then that will not work out for humans as a species that breathes oxygen.

5.  AIR QUALITY Given the numbers above, do you want to breathe oxygen or cow flatulence?

The whole point of this post is that I want to share with you some meal ideas and recipes that I use to make meatless meals a little less scary.  My family is pretty good sports, they will try anything at least once, and it's a good thing for you that they tried the gross stuff, so you wouldn't have to.

Chickpea Gyros
Ingredients:
Tzatziki:
1-2 c. Greek yogurt
1 medium cucumber grated, grate it into a tea towel and then squeeze out the moisture.
Juice of one lemon
1/4 fresh dill or 2 T dried dill
1 clove garlic crushed or 1 t. granulated garlic
Salt and pepper to taste
A pinch of sugar

Chickpeas:
2 can chickpeas drained, rinsed, and patted dry.
2 t. oil
1/2 t paprika
1/2 t. onion powder
1/2 t. garlic powder
1 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper
1 t. oregano
cayenne pepper is optional if you want some spice.
Pita bread
Sliced tomatoes, onions, and cucumbers for serving.

Directions:
Stir together all of the tzatziki ingredients in and bowl, cover and refrigerate.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with foil or a baking mat.  Stir together the chickpeas, oil, and spices. Bake for 20-30 minutes stirring every 10 minutes until crispy.
Spread pita bread with tzatziki, top with chickpeas and vegetables, serve.

Barbecue Black Bean Burgers

Ingredients:
8 oz white or baby Bella mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup onion, diced
2 tablespoon olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
1 can black beans drained and rinsed, reserving 1/4 cup of the liquid
1/4 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup panko or regular bread crumbs
2 tablespoons ketchup
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic and onion powders
1/4 cup barbecue sauce

Directions:
Heat one tablespoon of oil in a large skillet, add onion and season with salt and pepper.  Saute for five minutes until softened, add the mushrooms and cook another 5-10 minutes until most of the moisture is cooked out.
Transfer the mixture to a bowl, add the beans and mash everything with a pastry blender until everything is combined.
Add oats, panko, ketchup, and spices, fold everything together.  If the mixture is too dry, then add a little of the reserved liquid from the beans until the mixture will hold together in patties.
Form the mixture into 4-6 patties, place on a plate or baking sheet and refrigerate at least one hour.
When you are ready, heat remaining oil in a large skillet, cook the patties for 3-5 minutes on each side, brushing each patty with barbecue sauce after you have flipped it over.

I like to serve the burgers on toasted buns with all the trimmings.

Here are some other delicious meatless meal ideas.  If you'd like me to share these recipes, then let me know in the comments.

Vegetable Curry
General Tao's Cauliflower
Potato and Onion Pizza
Lentil Nachos or Tacos
Potato & Onion Pierogies with Broccoli & Greens
Braised Cabbage and Carrots
Polish Cabbage Rolls

Enjoy!
Nichole

Cooking With Greens... When You Don't Like Them

I know it is completely "un-southern" but I just don't like greens, you know, the cooked for hours green mess?  I think I am allowed, as I am not really from the south, but greens are full of fiber and other great nutrients so I really wanted to try to incorporate them into our diet.  I have finally come to enjoy collard greens in a number of things, I find they have a much milder flavor compared to kale, so I've started using them in my morning smoothies.

For a smoothie, especially if you're a person who doesn't like the taste of greens, I recommend pairing them with a strongly flavored fruit such as pineapple or strawberries and make sure you blend thoroughly so you don't end up with something you have to chew.

I like the following combination: 

2 cups chopped collard greens, I do two handfuls.

5 oz frozen pineapple, I find mine at Dollar Tree or if fresh is $0.99 then I use that

2 oz berries, I also find this at Dollar Tree in 10 oz bags

1 oz aloe vera juice, I can occasionally find this at Dollar Tree, their's is with the sugar added, but I'm willing to overlook this due to the cost savings.

8 oz water

Blend everything thoroughly and enjoy!

As I mentioned above, I am fortunate to have a few Dollar Tree stores in my area that have the freezer section, I know not all have that.  If you are one of the lucky ones, then picking up your berries here is a great way to save money.  Even when I do find fresh berries on sale, they aren't usually as low as frozen from Dollar Tree.

During the government shutdown, we were fortunate to live in an area where local businesses and even farmers donated things so that we were able to weather the storm.  One day my husband brought home several large bunches of collards so I washed, chopped, blanched, and froze them right away.  I not only used them in my smoothies but also in this dish that can be a wonderful side dish, or with the addition of something like chickpeas, your main meal.

Italian Orzo and Greens

Ingredients:

8 oz of Orzo pasta, cooked according to the package directions

10 oz of chopped collard greens

1/2 cup minced onion

10 oz of cherry tomatoes, halved, I used a 15 can of crushed tomatoes, as that is what I had on hand.

2 Tablespoons olive oil

1 clove garlic, minced

1 teaspoon Italian seasonings

a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes, optional

Salt and pepper to taste

2 Tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Lemon, optional

Directions:

Cook Orzo according to the package directions.  Meanwhile, heat one tablespoon of the oil in a large skillet over medium heat, I recommend a large cast-iron or a dutch oven as you will need room for the collards to wilt down, add the onion, season with salt and cook about five minutes until softened.

Add your garlic, tomatoes, and seasonings; (if you are using drained chickpeas to make this a meal then add them at this time) lower the heat to medium-low and cook 5 minutes until everything is bubbly.  If the mixture gets to dry, add some water, you want a thick tomato sauce.  Stir in the collards, season with salt and pepper, cover and simmer for another 10 minutes until the greens are wilted, you want it to be tender-crisp.
When the Orzo is done, drain well but don't rinse, and return it to its pot, stir in the remaining olive oil to keep the Orzo from sticking together.  Stir the Orzo into the greens mixture and add the parmesan.  Taste and season if desired.  Before serving, you can finish it off with a small squeeze of lemon if you want.

Enjoy!
Nichole

Weekly Finds!

I almost always go to Goodwill and Dollar Tree on Sundays.  I think most Dollar Trees get their shipments on Saturdays, so I find that this is the best day to find new items and full shelves.

At Dollar Tree, I was able to find these boxes of Duncan Hines Perfect for 1 brownie 10-packs, normally over $5, and these one-pound bags of Salt 84 Himalayan pink salt, normally they sell for $3.50 apiece on Amazon.
I also found cans of Progresso organic tomato-basil soup.  This was a great find as it is my favorite kind of tomato soup.  In a pinch, I also used it as a substitute for sauce on last night's homemade meatball pizza!

Having three daughters, we are always on the lookout for cheap and easy skincare products.  When it first came out, we used the Micellar Water by Simple Skincare, since I was able to find sales and coupons often.  Without a coupon, the Micellar Water is normally between $6-7 dollars, pretty expensive.  However, this week Dollar Tree had 8 oz bottles of their own brand of the Micellar Water, with comparable ingredients, both original and sensitive.  I picked up all they had in stock, along with a couple of packages of the cotton rounds.

It was a good day for shoe shopping at Goodwill yesterday.  My youngest is nearly eight, and is definitely my fashionista!  Unfortunately for her, she normally gets a lot of hand-me-downs, and her older sisters aren't nearly as fashion-forward as she is.  Shoes are her love, but I have a hard time justifying the cost for anything other than sneakers when she has no one to pass them down to.

She was so tickled with herself yesterday!  She came up to me with a pair of the cute wedge hightops from Target, a pair that look similar to Chucks (she's been wanting a pair like her older sister), and her best find, a pair of black leather slip-ons by Steve Madden that normally retail for $50.  Altogether, she was able to find three styles of shoes she had been wanting for $11.25.

The Chuck lookalikes were new with tags, the Steve Maddens had nothing more than some smudges on the soles, but the wedge hightops did have a scuff on the toe.  What I have found works well, also on those tall boots that girls love to wear, is nail polish.  We use the shiny finish for patent leather and the matte for things like tennis shoe material.  The nail polish not only covers the scuff but provides a bit of a seal to keep the scuff from becoming bigger.

What great deals did you find?

Nichole

Basic Pork Roast

When I first started cooking for my family as a newlywed, my go-to protein was almost always chicken or hamburger.  At the time, my husband was in the military, and we had access to the commissary on the post.  Things were really cheap, and I could get away with only spending about $300 a month on groceries and household items, including baby formula!

That was nearly seven years ago.  Needless to say, today we are no longer in the military and therefore don’t have access to a commissary, which I hear isn’t as great a deal as it used to be anyway, and the price of food has gone up considerably.  Tired of chicken, and unwilling to spend nearly $3 a pound for 80/20 ground beef, I began looking for other options.

My childhood memory recalled that pork might be a fatty meat that I wanted to avoid!  Growing up fairly poor, we ate less than great cuts of meat.  My father liked steak, but we couldn’t afford good steak, and so I was made to choke down more gristle than meat most nights.  As such, I have avoided most questionable meat my entire adult life.
Enter pork shoulder roast, or as most of us laughingly know it as, pork butt or Boston butt roast.  Don’t let the name put you off, this roast comes from the shoulder of the hog, nowhere near the butt!

In my area, I am able to find this cut on sale for .89¢-$1.49/lb at least once every couple of months, and I stock up.  I can usually get 6-8 meals out of one roast, and the rest I portion out and freeze in a bit of the cooking liquid.
You can use this to make pork fried rice, pork tacos, pork gravy with mashed potatoes, green chili pork enchiladas, barbecued pork sandwiches, and more!

Ingredients:

• 1 6-8 lb pork shoulder roast I get the largest package I can find and adjust the other ingredients accordingly.
• 1 Tbsp prepared yellow mustard You can also use 1 tsp dry ground mustard
• 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar You can also substitute an equal amount of brown sugar or molasses but this will increase the sugar content.
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1.5 tsp kosher salt
• 1 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 pinch crushed red pepper flakes optional
• 1 small onion, thinly sliced
• 1 bay leaf, dried

Instructions:

1. Spray a crock-pot large enough to fit your roast lightly with nonstick spray. Place the sliced onion and the bay leaf in the bottom of the crock-pot.
2. Rinse the pork roast with cold water and pat dry with paper towels. Place the roast in the crock-pot with the fat cap facing upwards.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together all the remaining ingredients, and spread the mixture over the top of the roast. Cover.
4. Turn your crock-pot on high for 2-4 hours, or until the cooking liquid produced by the roast begins to boil. Once the liquid comes to a boil, turn the crock-pot to low and continue to cook until the meat separates from the bone and you are easily able to shred it between your fingers.
5. I cook my roast for no less than 24 hours. This cut of meat is very forgiving and really cannot be overcooked. If the liquid cooks down too much, add a cup or so of water. If the top of the roast get a bit dry or crispy looking, I just chop it up with some of the moist inside meat and use it as normal. I feel doing so provides a bit of texture as grilling a piece of meat would.

Enjoy!

Nichole

Doritos Taco Salad

Doritos and a tangy dressing with a little bit of heat, this salad is the tastiest way to get your kids to eat their vegetables!

As every mom knows, getting kids to eat their vegetables is a constant battle.  My thirteen year old covers most of her vegetables in so much ranch dressing that it is hard to consider them a vegetable and not a condiment.  This taco salad is one of my favorites.  I can get the kids to eat a ton of it, and it is easy to customize with your favorite taco toppings!

If you want to mix everything together before serving, I recommend choosing things that don’t give off a lot of moisture.  Lettuce like romaine or even kale works well, seeded Roma tomatoes, black olives, and firm peppers such as pepperoncinis are my top choices.  Toppings such as avocado are best served alongside so they don’t turn brown if there are any leftovers.

To make this salad in advance, mix together the dressing, meat, and toppings.   Reserve the Doritos and avocados, if using.  When you are ready to serve, toss the lettuce, dressing mixture, cheese, Doritos, etc. together.  Serve the crushed Doritos alongside if you prefer them at their crispiest.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. ground beef 93/7 is best, but 80/20 works too. Or you can use 2 c. Cooked black beans or lentils for vegetarian
• 1 package taco seasoning
• 1 head romaine lettuce, chopped if using romaine hearts, use two.
• 1 bottle creamy french dressing regular french or Dorothy Lynch dressing can be used too.
• 3 small Roma tomatoes, seeded and chopped
• 1 can black olives, drained and sliced
• 1/2 small yellow onion, optional
• 1/4 cup pepperoncinis, sliced optional
• 1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
• 1/2 cup medium taco sauce
• 1 10 oz bag Nacho Cheese Doritos, crushed the generic brand works just as well.

Directions:

1. Brown ground beef over medium heat 8-10 minutes or until no longer pink. Use a wooden spoon or spatula to break the meat up into smaller chunks. Drain. Allow the meat to cool to at least room temperature. Placing the meat into a bowl and then into the refrigerator works best.
2. Meanwhile, prepare lettuce and other desired vegetables or toppings.
3. Stir dressing, taco sauce, and taco seasoning together in a small bowl.
4. When you are ready to serve, toss lettuce, vegetables, meat, cheese, and dressing mixture together in a large bowl. Doritos can be stirred into the mixture, or served alongside for topping at the table, if you prefer your chips to stay crispier.