Bacon Fat

Check out this solidified bacon fat from the George Forman Grill after I cooked about 6 slices of bacon. If that fat didn't get taken out of the bacon, it could've ended up in my arteries!

Homemade Desserts

Last week, on Sunday, I made homemade chocolate chip cookies. I should know this recipe by heart since I grew up making them in my Mom's kitchen. I have fond memories of me and my sister making chocolate chip cookies with my Mom. My favorite part was when I would carefully measure out the flour in the measuring cup and slice off the excess from the top with a butter knife leaving behind a perfectly smooth surface of flour. My sister would crack open the eggs being careful not to get any pieces of the shell in the bowl. The last step - adding the chocolate chips - was the culminating moment when we looked forward to eating the raw dough by the spoonfuls!
"Not too much," Mom would remind us. "We need some left over to bake for cookies." Sometimes I ate so much cookie dough that by the time the cookies were done baking, I ate just one or two from the oven.
On Sunday, as I slowly stirred the chocolate chips into the dough so that none spilled over the edge, a smile came to my face and I thought of my Mom and sister. And when the cookies were done baking, I only had room enough for one.

The cookies were gone within a few days. So today, a week later, I baked Apple Crisp. It's a simple recipe of about 5 granny smith apples, oats, flour, sugar, butter, cinnamon and nutmeg baked together in a small casserole dish. I thought about dashing out to the grocery store to buy vanilla icecream to eat with it when it was done baking in the oven, kindof like pie ala mode.
"Mmmm," I said to myself as I practicly drooled at the thought of scooping the icecream over the piping hot dessert until it melted into one, irresistable delicacy. But, I know my husband prefers chocolate mint icecream, which means I'd be left to finish the entire gallon of vanilla by myself before it got frosty in the freezer. I didn't want that "responsibility" nor the known fat content, so I skipped the icecream. When the apple crisp was done baking I set it on the stove top to cool off before eating.
At that point, my daughter was ready for bed. I read a story to her and tucked her in tight, but as I got up to leave she pulled on my shirt, "Don't go mommmy, please! Stay with me." So I lay there with her for awhile so that she could be comforted even though the apple crisp was calling my name, getting cooler by now. Then the thought occurred to me that in a few years my daughter would not be begging me to stay with her but rather, as a teenager who knows it all, might be asking me to leave her room. A tear rolled down my eyes and I held her tighter. She smiled, laying there peacefully. I left the room and she fell asleep quickly.
I went to the kitchen and scooped out several spoonfuls of Apple Crisp onto a dish. I took a bite. As cold as the apples that came out of the refrigerator. But it was too good to put down and re-heat. I finished it and helped myself to some more. This time I didn't mind waiting to eat the homemade dessert.

My Weakness

Chips! I LOVE chips, especially ranch Doritoes!

It has PHO (partially hydrogenated oils), which I know is bad, but it's my weakest temptation.

The other day I came home from work/school and I saw that my husband bought a bag of Doritoes from Walmart. My reaction - delighted! Like a little kid.

The next day, I had a regular breakfast of a bowl of Life cereal for breakfast, a packed lunch of peanut butter and jelly with a handful of Doritoes, dinner was the "half" serving of Red Lobster crab in a cream sauce with linguini (too much cholesterol and sodium so I left a lot of the sauce on the plate), and for a snack at night - A LOT of Doritoes! I was hungry because my breakfast and lunch were pretty meager that day so I made up for it with the Doritoes, I guess. Yes, I felt guilty because of the PHO. So what do I tell myself? You only live once, I guess. :)

Food for Two Weeks

My husband will be gone for two weeks, so I went foodshopping and tried to stock up with enough food while he's gone. It's easier to do that than trek to the grocery store with two kids.

It cost $143 total, but that was really high because I bought $43 worth of baby formula.

I categorize my food list by meal: breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks. I do that to plan out different meal types for the week.

For breakfast's: 2 bananas, Kashi cereal, cream of wheat, Natural Quaker quick oats, and for my daughter, regual Quaker Life cereal (6 g sugar for 3/4 cup serving) and cinnamon raisin toast. I had enough milk leftover from last week, so I didn't need to buy that. I skipped orange juice, too, because my husband prevously bought store-brand somewhere else.

Lunch's: I'm tired of peanut butter and jelly, but my daughter loves it, so I bought another store-brand jar of grape jelly, and Skippy Natural Peanut Butter. That's the only PB brand I could find for the best price that doesn't have Partially Hydrogenated Oils (PHO) and also the oils don't rise to the top of the container (no need to stir). However, I still try to use it in moderation because it is still high in fat (16 g fat for 2 Tbsp serving). My philosophy is: it's peanut butter, of course don't look at the fat content! You know it's fatty. It's more important to watch the PHO because you can always burn the fat, but you can't stop the arteries from clogging if you're going to eat foods with PHO. Tyson chicken nuggets and my husband bought Chef Boyardee previously.

My dilemna for lunches is that I need something I can pack up for when I have class or go to the office. I usually rely on left-overs if possible. I would rather avoid all lunch meat as much as possible because of the nitrates that are used as a preservative and are carcinogenic. However, I did buy bacon for BLT's this food shopping trip. Bacon also has nitrates and is fattening (6 g for 2 slices) so for sandwhiches I'll try and limit the amount of bacon to 2-4 slices. Also bought lettuce and tomato. I already had bread from before (whole grain white).

Here's my pet peeves with bread: I don't like wheat bread because of a sick association from when I was pregnant with my first daughter. I really like rye bread for everything but peanut butter and jelly and since I try not to eat too much lunch meat, then I don't buy that much rye bread. I'd be better off making my own bread. It's really easy, but takes some time, which I don't have!

Soups: The high sodium content isn't good, but for the price, soup makes a cheap, quick lunch. We stocked up on Ramen noodles previously, which is good because I can control the amount of powder (=sodium) I put into the pot!

Snacks: whole grain Goldfish, Snyder's Yellow Corn Tortiall Chips (on sale, no PHO), Ortega Salsa (best price), store-brand sharp cheese, Yoplait Dora yogurt (checked the date, so I got two), Del Monte sliced peaches in plastic cups (for lunches), 2 bags of chocolate chips (I intend to make home-made chocolate chip cookies), Rold Gold Honey Wheat Pretzels.

Dinner: store-brand parmesan and mozzorella cheeze, sliced provolone cheese, Mama Mary's pizza crust (3 small ones), light sour cream, jar of artichokes, small container of regular mayo, frozen Kashi Mediterranean pizza, 1 and a 1/4 lb ground turkey, hamburger rolls, frozen containers of vegetables (sides dishes for dinner) of: Birds Eye sliced green beans with almonds (2), Green Giant broccoli with cheese(2), Green Giant corn. My daughter would normally eat those vegetables. Already have Idaho potatoes at home, which I will make home-made french fries out of for the burger meal and I already have pizza sauce for the semi-homemade pizza. (I consider it "semi" homemade because I won't make the crust from scratch. That's also easy to do, I'm just saving time).

Extras: store-brand salted butter, large dozen eggs

I did not buy toiletries or household products since I made a separate trip to Walmart for those items.

Watered Down Juice

Awhile back I started to get in the habit of watering down my juice. 1) It saves money because bottles of juice (~64 fl. oz) can be expensive and 2) sugar is just empty calories, so I add water to "thin" it out.

It's usually a 1:1 ratio, half water, half juice.

Since I've been doing that for so long, I cringe when I drink regular juice that isn't watered down. There is one exception in that I will drink orange juice that isn't watered down, I guess because it tastes more natural than other juices.

Simple Dinners on a Budget

cSo now that I'm a student again, we'll be on a serious food budget.

I will *try* not to buy junk food. What, exactly then, is junk food?

To me, I define junk food as any food that is not necessary to sustain a person's dietary needs in a day.

For example, if you go to the food store and you only have $20 to spend on food for your family of 4 for a day would you buy chicken, bread, pretzels, icecream and a juice drink? Probably not. For breakfast, you might buy cereal ($4-$5); lunch might be sliced turkey ($2.5), cheese ($2), loaf of bread ($3); dinner could be chicken ($5), rice ($2) and green beans ($2). That's pretty basic, but for $20 there's no room for "junk food," even if most people wouldn't consider pretzels to be junk food. The truth is, we don't *need* pretzels, or food similar to that, to live off of each day.

So, here are some examples of lunches and dinners I've had the past few nights:
casserole: chicken, can of cream of chicken soup, shredded cheddar cheese, 1/2 cu of sour cream, 16 oz. bag of "california" mixed vegetables and french fried onions (an extra that could've been spared); and pre-made, store brand biscuits.

chicken ceasar sald wraps (soft tortilla shell); two for me, three for husband, one for daughter

a similar casserole: chicken with cream of chicken soup, a little milk, fresh mushrooms, and french fried onions; baked red potatoes (with a slice of butter); rice; and the same biscuits.

turkey hot dogs (7 g fat per dog, 10% saturated fat, 580mg sodium) on a roll (1 g fat per bun, no sat. fat, 230mg sodium per bun, 4g protein) with mustard and ketchup

mac 'n cheese with two chicken dogs cut up in it

we splurged one night and bought dinner for $30 (including a $5 tip) at a hamburger joint: hamburger (beef) with blue cheese and bacon and onion rings (about 12), chicken fingers, and a turkey burger with fries. I removed alot of the melted blue cheese because it was over-kill.

leftover casserole

Breakfasts have been: a cup of Kashi or Smart Start cereal (I measured one cup) with a 1/4 cup of orange juice. Now I know what you're thinking: "A quarter cup of orange juice? Who drinks just a quarter cup?!" I do. Because read my other blog, ."Watered Down Juice." I've gotten used to low-sugar drinks and a quarter cup of OJ is just enough to satisfy my quench for OJ in the morning.
Mid-morning I'll brew a cup of coffee and sip it all day. I bought raw sugar for coffee and tea so I won't be using white sugar any more, yeah! I also drink water throughout the day. I get thirsty alot.

We have chocolate leftover from Christmas, so I've nibbled on that here and there: but just one or two squares at a time