New Food Budget Recommendations

By on

Did you know that when the government calculates the rate of inflation commodities like food and gasoline aren’t included?  According to this site inflation rates for 2011 were 3%.  My food and gasoline went up a lot higher than that.

Take the lowly graham cracker for example.  When I first wrote the Grocery Shrink ebook, I was able to buy a 16 oz box at Aldi for $.99 ($.06 per oz).  Now the box only holds 14.4 oz and costs $1.49 ($.10 per oz).  The price of graham crackers has gone up 60% since then.  Thankfully graham crackers aren’t essential and I can choose to not buy them…but nearly all foods have risen in price in a similar fashion.  By shopping the Grocery Shrink way–we don’t feel these prices as keenly as someone else might, but I’m starting to feel it more and more.  Sale prices are still dropping, but store limits (you can only buy 2 at that price) are squeezing my ability to maximize the dollar like I used to.

I’m still working with a $50 per person per month food budget.  Since I have a large family that gives me $400 to play with for the month.  Sticking to that budget is getting a lot harder to do.  And I’ve been thinking about it…a lot.  Some of my children are very young.  While my 6 year old out eats me on a regular basis my 4 year old and 9 month old don’t.

I think some new budget recommendation are in order, at least until food prices come back in line with inflation.  And yes, they can.   Food prices fluctuate madly while inflation prices rise more steadily.  So until further notice, my budget recommendations are:

$100 per male adult (or child age 12 and over) per month

$75 per female adult (or child age 12 and over) per month

$50 per child (age 11 to age 2) per month

$30 per child (age conception to 2) per month (Even if a child is still in the womb or breastfeeding, mom needs to up her nutrition during this time–and may need to take advantage of more convenience items.)

For my family, our new grocery budget would be $480/month.  We can’t afford that right now, so I’m still going with my $400 budget, but as soon as our circumstances change, I’ll be asking for that raise :).  If you can afford to take your raise now….go for it!

Free Printable Menu for February 2012

By on

It’s that time again.  Time to plan your supper’s so you don’t have to think about it the rest of the month.  To make it easier for you, here’s a cute little printable menu. Click on the picture below to download a printable pdf.

Fruitful Saturday

By on

Saturday was wonderful!  My mother came over and helped with the baby so I could paint.  I painted Heidi’s second closet, her trim, and the boy’s bathroom.  This gets us a step closer to a functioning house! 

When we take out our sunken Harvest Gold bathtub in the master bathroom, it will stop water flow to our only functioning bath.  We will have to open the boy’s bathroom for use, which has been closed from wall-paper removal and a large hole in the shower’s fiberglass floor.  Now that it is painted, I can clean it all up and call the fiberglass repair man.  I’ve seen lots of DIY fiberglass repair articles on the web, but this is one I’d like to call the professionals for. I’ve seen plenty of black mold from improper leak repairs and am ready to do this one right.

Now that Heid’s room is painted, the carpet man can come.  Then she can move into her room which will allow Heather to move into her room and all the children will be in their rightful places.  What a happy day that will be!

I used my Christmas money to order curtain fabric for my office and Heidi’s room.  Heidi went with white bridal illusion covered in silver glitter.  I took a risk on aqua blue and white chevron.  I saved some money by salvaging some finials off a curtain rod that was too short.  I bought a $3 electrical conduit pipe that just happens to fit and will spray paint everything white–tomorrow.  Because even though It’s January in Kansas City, the weatherman thinks it will be 60 degrees tomorrow!

That Chevron has me sitting on pins.  I love it–right now. Is this something super trendy that I will tire of quickly?  It’s an expensive enough purchase that I’ll have to live with it for awhile.  So now that I hit “complete purchase” I’ve decided to love it no matter what.

I had the same concerns about my black and white damask curtains that I made for my living room 3 years ago.  Thankfully I live in the midwest where it takes years for the trends to hit, so they’ve stayed in fashion this whole time.

And then I think about the poor orphans in Africa and wonder why I care so much whether my curtains are fashionable.  I’ve spent years not caring so much and have found that when I take the time to choose my purchases carefully for their beauty as well as functionality–it makes a difference how the people in my home feel.  So I think I will pray that all people have their needs so met that they can waste a thought on whether something is lovely or not.

Protein Cookie Dough Balls

By on

I love to eat cookie dough.  I’m not afraid of raw eggs, but if you are–just leave them out of your favorite recipe and you’ll have edible dough.  The drawback is there’s tons of calories in the form of fat and sugar and very little protein or vitamins.

I recently became aware of sugar free recipes for cookie dough meant to be eaten raw that includes protein powder.  Several of them called for grinding dates into a paste–but dates aren’t currently in my pantry.  So I tried this variation made with pumpkin puree instead.  It had good flavor but tasted pretty “light” not rich and creamy like real cookie dough.

Here’s the recipe as pictured above:

1/4 cup pumpkin puree

2 Tablespoons peanut butter

1 scoop Bluebonnet French Vanilla Protein powder (Sold at amazon this is just whey and stevia.)

1 packet purevia, stevia sweetener

2 Tablespoons quick oats

2 Tablespoons coconut flour

2 Tablespoons mini chocolate chips

Combine all except the chocolate chips.  Stir until the coconut flour absorbs the moisture and the mixture forms a light and airy dough.  Fold in teh chocolate chips.  Form into 8 balls.  2 balls = 149 calories; 12 g carbs (3 fiber); 10 g protein; 7 g fat

I’ve got PB2 (powdered peanut butter with the oils pressed out) in my amazon shopping cart.  I’d like to try this recipe again substituting PB2 for the peanut butter and part of the oats.  I’m trying to get the overall calories down and protein up while also making the balls slightly denser to taste more like real cookie dough.  So far these little balls are a tasty treat..but can they get better?

Strawberry Spinach Salad

By on

Here’s my lunch today–and it was even tastier than it looks.  And talk about healthy!

Strawberry Spinach Salad–Serves 1

2 cups spinach leaves

4 oz sliced fresh strawberries

4 oz grilled chicken breast, sliced (I throw mine on the Foreman grill)

12 almonds, chopped, and toasted in the microwave on high for 1 minute

2 Tablespoons (1 oz) Raspberry Walnut Vinaigrette Dressing

Layer all ingredients on a plate and eat right away.

A Yummy Green Smoothie

By on

Yes, I’m drinking my smoothie from a Cottage Cheese carton.  All of our glasses are too small to hold an entire smoothie, so this was my solution ;p.

I found this recipe via pinterest and traveled to the blog to read more–aak and now I can’t find it!  I’ll update with the link as soon as I can.

Her recipe was pretty good, but I made a slight change to help it be colder and thicker.

1 small banana, sliced and frozen

1/2 cup skim milk

1/2 cup Greek yogurt

1 tablespoon peanut butter

4 cups fresh spinach

1/2 cup ice

Blend all until smooth.  Drink right away :).  This was the first green smoothie I had that I liked!  The banana and peanut butter covered the green taste really well. To save costs I bought my spinach in a huge bag from Costco.  It has 3 produce servings for the Fit Yummy Mummy Plan which really helps towards the 10 a day goal.

Italian Eggplant Bake Revised

By on

I’m thrilled that so many of my lovely readers are still here :).  Every time I get a comment from you it makes me smile and want to blog again.  I’ll have to admit that I enjoyed my break from the blog, even though sometimes I felt guilty about neglecting it.  I was enjoying my family so much that most of the time I didn’t even think about it.  I think I’m ready to start writing again, even if it’s just a few times a week.

Someone brought a huge box of eggplant to church last week.  We waited by the box until the crowd thinned so we could take 2 of them without feeling greedy :).  I looked up my recipe created this summer for Eggplant bake and cut the cheese in half and added a half cup of parmesan for flavor.  It was delicious and only had 300 calories a serving, which is a generous 1/8th of a 9 x 13 pan. 

2 eggplant (1 or 1.5 lbs each)

1 jar spaghetti sauce (26 oz)

2 lbs ground beef

2 cups mozarella cheese

1/2 cup parmesean cheese

1 tsp garlic salt

Place ground beef in a large skillet and sprinkle with garlic salt.  Cook meat until no longer pink, drain and rinse of excess fat.  Slice eggplant into 1/2 inch thick slices.  Cook for a few minutes on each side in a hot skillet until lightly browned.  Grease a 9 x 13 casserole dish.  Place 1/2 cup of spaghetti sauce in the bottom of the dish.  Cover the sauce completely with eggplant slices.  Sprinkle with half the ground beef, half of the cheeses and half the remaining sauce.  Repeat the layers once more.  Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes.  Let stand a few minutes before serving. 

We served ours with a huge spinach and romaine tossed salad, green beens, and peaches. If you aren’t watching you carbs, garlic bread would be perfect :).

I’m off to put the children in the tub.  It’s Saturday night, whether you need it or not…..

P.S.  I did not peel my eggplant.  I try not to peel anything if I can help it, because usually there are lots of vitamins in the peeling.  When I served the leftovers to my mother for lunch she looked shocked.  “You didn’t peel it!?”

“Oops, Was I supposed to?”

Mother:  “What did your recipe say?”

Me:  “Ooh, recipe, that would have been a good idea…”

Office Inspiration

By on

I’m so thankful to have the space above the garage for my office.  It’s a large room with a triangle ceiling and very little wall space.  This is a recipe for creativity when it comes to finding places to put things.

Here’s another triangle shaped room.  I love the way they built shelves around the windows with a seat across the front.  If I were to do this, I would open the bench along the front for baskets filled with supplies. (I’m not sure on the original source for this image, I got it from pinterest which got it from photobucket.)

This next room from Sew Many Ways is chock full of ideas.  Take her black bookcases filled with supplies for example. They are just plain cheap bookcases with crown molding added and repainted.  I encourage you to click the picture to read the whole post.  I espeically love her motto:  “The Happiest people don’t have the best of everything…they just make the best of everything they have.”  She’s a kindrid spirit (as Anne would say.)

Next is another inspiring sewing room with tips for displaying a fabric stash.

She even has a lower cost solution that I’m adding to my to do list.

Baked Spaghetti Squash

By on

Slowly things are turning into a routine.  I’m still in a huge mess (I’ll show you my office after the squash.)  This house is ginormous, no disputing that, but I’m lacking shelves, cabinets, organizing stuff etc.  So things are just sitting on the floors and hanging out in places.  The blessing is there’s still plenty of room to walk around, lol.  But I’m haunting pinterest and ikea.com for ideas of how to put everything away in an organized manner.   I can’t wait until IKEA decides Kansas City is a worthy market to bring a store.  I think they are losing millions each year by NOT having an IKEA here.  Can you hear me, IKEA?  Please come to Kansas City.

So I’m serious about my next round of Fit Yummy Mummy. Above is a delicious lunch that I had this week.  It’s 1 cup of baked spaghetti squash, with 3 oz of ground beef–seasoned like Italian sausage and sauteed peppers and onions.  It was even better the next day when I added steamed lamb’s quarter to the mix and topped with a touch of parmesan.  Can you imagine how pretty it was with that pop of green? And so tasty too.

I’ve got some serious sugar cravings to overcome.  I had beat that horse once and then indulged over Christmas.  The sugar came at me like a snowball rolling down a moutain.  At first I just took a “taste” then before long was stuffing my face with handfuls of cookies and chocolates.  I ended up gaining 4 lbs between New Years and the start of FYM’s new contest, sigh. 

But I can pick up and start over.  I know what I need to do to feel fantastic about myself, have energy, and overcome my sugar addiction.  And Holly’s workouts are so short yet so effective I can fit them in.

I’ll be sharing some more of my recipes like an update on Italian Eggplant Bake;  chocolate chip cookie dough protein balls; and a green smoothie that’s tasty enough to actually drink.  (I’ve had some doozies, lol.)

Here’s a scary picture of my office (Have to have a before so there’s motivation to work on the after.) And now you know why my blog is so quiet.  I’ve been busy making a mess of my life, lol.

I can imagine the paneling painted white (except that there is water damage ripples on the roof that the brown hides very well); and darling Amy Butler or Heather Bailey print curtains at the window.  A pottery barn work table in the middle and Ikea shelves stacked with gorgeous fabric all around.  I’ve counted the cost though and it will have to wait until my children and hubby have their rooms done.

In another post, I’ll show you my inspiration rooms.

So, did I lose all my dear readers by being quiet so long?  If you are still there will you write a comment and let me know?  If you have an organizing link or tip that you could share I’d be so thankful.

I Have Internet Again!!!!

By on

Whew, I didn’t realize how much I used the internet until it was gone. I have so much catching up to do including putting in the photos that my app dropped from my two previous posts. I’m determined to get that to work properly–it would save so much time.

I wanted to give you a quick heads up that the Fit Yummy Mummy transformation challenge starts on Monday. It lasts 12 weeks and is the perfect motivation and plan to reach fitness goals! Registration opened today and ends Monday at noon, so don’t think about it too long. If you buy your ebook set (link on the left) today and activated your free month of Club FYM, you can try out the challenge for free :). If you do join up come find me, my username is AngelaC. I’ve been without internet for 2 weeks so my FYM journal has been quiet–that’s about to change!

One of the benefits of a challenge with Club FYM is the extra coaching from Holly. She sends out daily homework assignments that don’t take very long to do but keep us on track. I learn so much from doing these challenges and it helps me stick to my goals. Prizes make it even more fun. I hope to see you there.