Yogurt and Fruit parfait

Yum! This little idea is from my hubby :) He filled little sundae cups with low fat strawberry yogurt and topped them with some fruit leftover from our fruit plate this morning.

Really quick, easy, good for you and your wallet! We're having them for dessert tonight.

Lemon basil pasta with fresh sauce

Note: The color on the picture didn't turn out quite right and I don't have my super photo editing software anymore. It's not really pink and orange, the pasta is lighter brown like whole wheat, and the sauce is made of tomatoes - not pumpkin! :D

Mmmmmm! Perfect al dente pasta with the depth of whole wheat, savory herby basil and a little touch of lemony zing, with light, fresh tomato sauce over the top. I served it with some simple baked chicken breast and green beans from the freezer. The pasta is a little time consuming to make, but oh so worth it!

I have a little old Imperia manual pasta machine, very similar to the V177 AL DENTE Pasta Machine which I use to make pasta much better than packaged whole wheat noodles!

Fresh Lemon Basil Pasta

2 cups whole wheat flour

1/2 cup unbleached flour (plus more for dusting as needed)

1 tbsp lemon juice

2 tbsp lemon zest

2 tbsp dried basil (may use 3 tbsp fresh instead)

pinch salt

3 eggs

1 tbsp olive oil

water as needed (about 1/8 cup)

Combine flours in a large bowl, or in the bowl of a food processor or strong mixer (I use my KitchenAid usually, but it's broken at the moment so I used my food processor for this batch).

In a small bowl, beat together eggs, lemon juice, zest, basil, salt and oil. Make a well in the center of flour, add egg mixture. Beat in flour from edges. As it gets thicker you'll probably have to use your hands unless you're using a KitchenAid mixer.

Knead until you have a smooth, solid dough. If it's too sticky, add more flour. If it's crumbly, add water. I needed about 1/8 cup water for this batch.

Wrap dough in plastic wrap and let it rest 20 minutes. This is a good time to make the sauce! Also a good time to prep side dishes and put your big pot of water on to boil.

When time is up, begin to run the dough through the pasta machine. Read the manual that came with your machine. I divide the dough into handful size balls so it's easier to work with. Run it through on the widest setting, fold it in half and dust with flour, repeat until smooth, then decrease the setting and repeat until you have a solid, thin sheet from the thinnest setting.

I have a pasta rack, but you can use towels dusted with flour to lay the sheets of pasta on as you work. Working as quickly as you can, roll out each ball one by one until they're all ready and drying. Starting with the first one you made, run it through the cutting side of the pasta machine. Mine has a narrow one (I call it spaghetti but it's not) and a thicker side (I think that's fettuccini?) I used the thicker side this time. Place cut pasta on flour dusted towels or a pasta rack until all are ready to go.

When all your pasta is cut and the water is at a rolling boil, salt the water then add all the pasta. Stir to make sure it doesn't all stick together or to the bottom of the pot. Put the lid on to help it quickly return to a boil, then remove the lid. The pasta will float when it's done, it really doesn't take long at all! Drain and return to hot pot until you serve. Don't make it wait too long!

This makes a lot of pasta! If you're going to go through the trouble, may as well make enough for yummy leftovers or a fancy dinner for about 8!

Fresh Tomato Sauce

4 large tomatoes, diced

2 tbsp olive oil

1 small onion, diced

2 cloves fresh garlic, minced

oregano, parsley and basil, to taste

dash salt, to taste

Heat oil in a medium pot over medium. When hot, add onions and saute until they start to turn transparent. Add remaining ingredients. Reduce heat and simmer until tender and thickened as much as you'd like.

The chicken I made is really easy too! I just took boneless skinless chicken breast halves (frozen Kirkland ones), put them in a foil lined pan and baked about 45 minutes by package directions at 375. I sprinkled them with salt, pepper and paprika before baking, then after removing from the oven I let them sit in the pan about 15 minutes. Sliced across the grain, each chicken breast half makes 2 servings.

Fresh fruit

Okay, we all know we should be eating more fresh fruit and veggies.

Here's a great way to get more servings and enjoy them as fruit, without having to try to work them into things and hide them!

I've found just cutting the fruit up into nice bite size pieces or finger food pieces makes it disappear. I often cut up whatever is ripe and fill a plate, then use that as a side dish. In this case it's 2 mangos, 4 kiwis and an orange we had with breakfast today. Almost any meal goes well with a fresh fruit plate! I often try to make the plate look pretty arranging it like a flower, but if I'm in a hurry I just pile it all on there - it's still just as easy to eat and just as delicious!

Try it - slice up an apple or whatever you have around, and see if you actually stop procrastinating and eat it!

Corn Syrup

Has anyone else noticed the recent ad campaign about corn syrup, and found it ridiculous?

We've already seen studies that corn syrup is metabolized different than sugar. Now there's news that 9 out of 20 samples of corn syrup studied contained mercury, as a byproduct of the way corn syrup is removed from corn. And many products sampled that contain corn syrup - surprise! Also contained mercury.

So I'm avoiding corn syrup whenever I can. Not being totally nutso about it, but if I have a choice between roughly equivalent products and one has it and the other doesn't - I'm choosing the one that doesn't!

I think we're going to stop buying packaged granola bars and flavored yogurts too. Easy and much cheaper to buy plain and make my own flavored yogurt, and make our own granola bars using honey, sugar or maple syrup.

This seems like a great time to exercise our ability to let our purchases influence what is available. If we don't buy contaminated, unhealthy products then they don't sell and products without ingredients like corn syrup will be more widely available. Let's all make the change!

Eggin' the worms

One of the things I do for my worm bin is save egg shells. I put them back in the carton, then when they're all gone I put the carton on the fridge or somewhere to dry. When they're thoroughly dry and I have a couple dozen, I mash them up for the worms. They help give the worms grit so they can digest their food, since they have a gizzard like birds. They also improve the calcium content of the compost, which will be great for my tomatoes! Another benefit I've heard but haven't verified is that they can help control the acid level in the bin. Whatever benefits they have, I'm glad to be able to put them into the bin instead of the trash and know at least in part that they'll be recycled.

My favorite eggs to use are nice brown ones, which come in a recycleable cardboard carton and are laid by vegetarian fed hens. The shells are a bit thicker, so they're easier to crack without it crumbling pieces into the egg. I only get those when they're on sale about the same price as the white ones. Sometimes I get massive jumbo brown eggs too - yum!

To get the shells ready, first I put all the dried shells into a gallon size ziplock bag. A reused bag is just fine! Then mash them up with your hands, or use a bowl or plate. Be careful not to poke through the bag with sharp edges! When the pieces get small, you can use a rolling pin to finish pulverizing them. The smaller the particles, the better. They don't get eaten and disappear when added to the worm bin, so keep in mind if you add big chunks then there will be big chunks in your compost. If you add tiny ground up pieces then some will be eaten, some will be there to add texture, and eventually they'll break down to give calcium to your plants. You can use a food processor or whatever you'd like to turn the shells into tiny pieces, this works for me and it's a lot less cleanup than using the food processor.

All I do to put them in is sprinkle them over the top when I need to mix up the bin anyway. Right now is a good time to stir things up since I've deliberately not fed them in a week or two, letting them use up some extra food because I overfed them. I still have a few fruit flies in there so there's wet newspaper on top. It seems to be working, there are only a couple fruit flies left. I just folded that out of the way, scooted some of the shredded cardboard bedding off to the side then poured the eggshells over the top. I used my hands (wearing gloves!) to mix up the bin a bit, trying to pull things from the sides towards the center, and bottom up to the top.

Always really interesting to see what is going on in there! I found some baby worms, part of a sweet potato growing, more melon sprouts and a bunch of fat worms. I love seeing the baby worms, a good sign that things are working as they should be and my worms are happy. When I was done, I just spread the reserved bedding back over the top, put the wet newspaper back over everything, and put the lid back on. A well kept worm bin doesn't smell bad unless you happen to uncover something you've recently added, it has too much food at one time or it's too wet. The rest of the bin smells like good potting soil, earthy but not rotten, so once you get past the ick factor of it being full of worms it's pretty neat!

Can you see the baby worms in the picture above? There are two adults, there's one baby between them at the bottom and another on the left by my glove. These are older babies, they look like red threads. I'm sure there are others but those two are easy to see. The photo quality isn't great since these guys don't like to be out in the light long and my camera takes a moment to focus. I've been looking for worm egg capsules but they must be pretty tiny, I haven't been able to spot any. These guys are on a piece of newspaper that has been in the bin a while, it's just coated in good castings. When I stir the bin up, I try to fluff up any compressed clumped bits of newspaper. I'm trying to use more shredded cardboard, dried leaves and cardboard egg cartons for bedding and less shredded newspaper since the newspaper clumps so much more than the other materials. I'm looking forward to being able to use my castings, and seeing if my tomatoes do well this year! I have tomatoes sprouting in peet pellets indoors. I never have much luck growing tomatoes from seeds, but these sprouts seem to be doing well, so hopefully the combo of strong seedlings and some rich castings for their soil will help them out this year!

New craft, nativity set

I made some of these little figures for the Christmas craft fair at hubby's work last year. It sounded like a good idea to make more, so I made this set! It's more detailed than the nativity I made for the fair. It's just made of Sculpey oven-bake polymer clay, bulked out with foil in the thicker portions so it baked properly. The set has 10 pieces. Mary, Joseph, 3 kings, a shepard and sheep, angel, the manger and removable baby Jesus. They're about 2-3 inches tall. A little time consuming to make, but fun! Side note, this set is for sale, $3o, e-mail me if interested. I'll just save it for next year's craft fair if there's currently no interest :)

They're really fun to make, try it out! Polymer clay is easy to work with, just like modeling clay. It stays soft until you bake it, so you have plenty of time to add little details. This set is all decorated with holly, I put holly on each figure in at least one place, tiny leaves and berries barely bigger than a grain of sand. The sheep has "wool" made of Polymer clay swirls coiled up like cinnamon rolls. I'm a purist, I don't use any molds, premade portions or other material accents, but you can add anything that's safe to go in the oven like bits of wire or beads. Sculpey can also be painted after it's baked. Fun stuff!

Weightloss - ad awareness

Have you ever actually paid attention to commercials, billboards, signs, all the ads you see every day?

I have, and noticed a huge percentage are for things that are not good for you or your budget. Try it - while watching an average 30 minute TV program, note how many commercials you see for fast food, packaged foods that aren't healthy, weightloss scam products and treats. How many ads for those items do you see every day in the newspaper, magazines, coupons, sales ads, billboards, signs in the store, on your computer, packages for other foods or anywhere else? Our world is saturated with them, and odds are good that heavily advertised foods are things with a very high profit margin, meaning they're made of cheap, unhealthy ingredients like bleached flour, corn syrup, sugar and hydrogenated fat with little real nutritional value. How often do you see ads for plain bran, fresh celery, green beans or other inexpensive healthy foods? Almost never, because their profit margin is not high enough to afford to saturate the airwaves with ads. There are few exceptions, like almonds, orange juice and milk, where industry organizations promote the product when one producer can't.

Studies have shown that repeatedly seeing ads for particular products makes you more likely to buy that product, even if the individual ads don't make an impression. Just recognizing it increases the odds of buying it.

So what do you do? Ads are everywhere, and many are good ads that can save money and direct you to helpful products. The best advice is to be aware of what you're buying and what you're eating. Take note of what items you're frequently seeing ads for, and look at the ingredients and nutritional information for those items. If you know what's in it, you're far less likely to get something that's horrible for you, even if you have been blasted with ads for it. Try new items you don't recognize, look high and low on the shelves instead of in the middle where the most expensive brand name items tend to be, and try to stick to the outside edges in the store where the least processed items are. Less messed around with usually means more healthy! Support products that are healthy, and eventually we can make a difference in what we're exposed to :)

Conscious eating

One of the more helpful weightloss tips I've heard is being conscious of what and how you're eating.

Something I've tried that really seems to help is taking just 1 bite or small portion of foods you eat all the time and really experiencing it. Feel, closely look at, slowly taste and chew the item. Notice the smell, texture, mouth feel, taste and aftertaste. You might discover that something you frequently eat and thought you really liked isn't so good. I discovered I actually don't like most milk chocolate, like Hershey's chocolate. They just tasted flat, waxy and had a sour rancid breath aftertaste.

Try the same thing with whatever food you often crave. Most fast food, if you take some time with it, just tastes like lots of salt and half rancid grease. When you have that in mind, it's much less tempting!

You can use this technique to understand what it really is about that item that you want. Are you after something sweet, salty, savory, sour, crunchy, creamy, or just something you can pop in your mouth? Once you know what it is you find satisfying about that food, it's easier to find a healthy food option that fills the same niche, and you may find that you enjoy the healthy alternative even more when you truly experience the food instead of just chowing down.

Really experiencing your food also works to help find healthy options more appealing. I love to take a perfect ripe apple and really enjoy it. The crispness on the first bite, the almost creamy crisp texture of the interior and the sweet aftertaste are wonderful. Some of them are so sweet it's almost like honey. I actually crave many healthy foods now, knowing how good they really taste!

The garden today

It's been overcast and drizzly here, but the plants are looking pretty good.

Here's my chocolate mint, I just got it a week or two ago. It was pretty root bound, I repotted it into a reclaimed freebie pot and it's already looking better.











I was amused at my worm bin, I added the scooped out seeds of a melon, which started growing. It's had some fruit flies from a banana peel I put in there, so I covered it in wet newspaper you can see on the left. All the stuff on the sides is castings, the good stuff!










These are my sweet potatoes, one of these pots has a sweet potato in it, the rest are just slips I broke off that one potato. I just moved them outside and they're a little sun scalded right now, but it'll perk back up again soon. The lush green on the far right is how they usually look!

This planter is full of spinach sprouts, with a couple beets in the middle. I planted them before Christmas, so the cold stalled them but they're really taking off again the last week or two. Soon they'll be big enough to start taking some leaves off! There were more beets, but the birds got them.

This planter is full of baby mini carrots. The cold stalled them too, but they're also looking better now.

My mustard greens are really the stars right now. All these white pots were planted the same time as my spinach, beets and carrots, but the cold didn't stall them as much. They'll be ready to go soon! The red and green pots here have baby mustard seedlings I just planted a week or so ago, they pop up really fast!

Vegetarian Kale Soup

This is a super easy, cheap, nutritious, diet friendly and yummy soup. I often make it to have with whole wheat toast, Ak Mak or All bran crackers for lunch.

Vegetarian Kale Soup

1 bunch kale, diced

1 can diced tomatoes, undrained

1/2 bag lentils, brown rice or barley, or a combo

1 tbsp Better than Boullion vegetarian soup base

3 carrots, sliced

1/2 small onion, diced

worcestershire sauce, to taste

water, as needed

Combine all ingredients in a soup pot. Add water to cover well. Simmer over low 1-2 hours until lentils/rice/barley is cooked.

Easy to adjust with whatever you have on hand, add any other veggies you want, or leftover cooked meat or beans.

Saving money, coupons and deals

I've been asked a few times lately what we're doing to save money, and how I come up with "magic" shopping trips. I set up about 2 trips per month where I get over $100 of stuff for less than $50, and I'm not talking about clothes on sale but necessities.

I use couponmom.com to find deals. Many of the best are at CVS. Many times I can get items like toothpaste almost free, sometimes I actually get paid to buy items when the combo of the sale price, extra bucks and coupon value add up enough! I stock up when I can get items free or almost free, so I don't have to buy them when we run out at full price or at the mercy of their regular sale price.

I get the Sunday paper for the coupons. I cut out any that we might use, and put them in a little organizer with an envelope for each category, like refridgerated products, soaps, paper products, toothpaste and others. I also go to manufacturer websites for coupons, and places like coupons.com, smart source and red plum online. I watch the store aisles when I'm shopping for the little coupon devices with the blinking red light. I grab a few copies if it's something I might use and save them, often the item will be on sale in a week or two, after the coupon dispenser goes away! Everything gets filed in my little organizer, so I have the coupons with me if I notice a great sale at a store that isn't covered by Couponmom, which is most of the stores I go to. Couponmom only covers the major stores, and often prices are better in smaller stores.

I go to walmart.com, to their "In Stores Now" button, then free samples and order everything we might use. It's completely, 100% free and no obligation - even the shipping! The samples often come with a coupon, or bonus samples of the same brand. I recently got one of dishwasher detergent that came with a coupon for free rinse aid, and several other coupons for the same manufacturer's items! Even if the samples don't come with a coupon, it's still a freebie. Sometimes it's household items, sometimes food, always fun to get a freebie!

As another bonus, I use Upromise. All you do is sign up (free!) and link your credit, debit or store membership card to your account (also free!). Then whenever you go shopping and buy qualifying products, the manufacturer deposits a few cents into your Upromise account. You can also shop online through their portal and get a percentage back from many retailers, or use Upromise's website to get online coupons. The online coupons work automatically if you buy the product with an attached card. You don't get the cash back or that amount off your bill, it just goes into the Upromise account. Mine is for the kids' college funds. It's not much, but by the time they're ready it should be a bit to help, and it will have cost me a grand total of Nothing. Very little time and absolutely no money!

A trick I was surprised to learn is that you can use multiple coupons in one transaction. Like if you have a coupon for a box of cereal, and you buy 2 boxes then you can use 2 copies of the same coupon in the same purchase! That really adds up, especially if you can combine it with a sale like when the store is offering "buy one, get one free" (BoGo) or "buy one, get one half off" That leads to a lot of my freebies! A common deal to be able to get with cereal, oatmeal and cosmetics.

It's never very much at once, but I've calculated the time it takes me to figure out a magic shopping list vs the savings, I get paid at least $50/hour for that time! Isn't it worth saving $50 for an hour of your time?

Opinions?

So, I should apparently include a bio on myself as an author.

Does anyone have suggestions what to include, and how? What would you as a reader like to know? I can summarize my weightloss journey and health issues, my motivation and some of what defines me as a person and as a mom, but what to include?

Any feedback welcome :)

Freebies

A tip for those looking to be green or just on a budget..

2nd hand isn't always bad! I watch the free section on Craigslist, FreeCycle, thrift stores and yard sales for many items. Mostly clothing. Since I'm losing and the kids are growing, there's not much sense investing a lot in our clothes that won't fit for long.

I just got a whole pile of jeans free on Craigslist from someone moving! I'd guess 15-20 pairs, way more than I need, so I can pass on the leftovers to someone else, add them to our yard sale box or recycle the denim into crafts if there are any damaged ones.

Most of the pots in my container garden are recycled freebies or cheap 2nd hand buys, and most of our furniture is too. I'm usually able to get a much better quality item that way too, like my TV stand is a very nice, high end solid wood piece that we got 2nd hand for cheaper than buying another new pressboard piece of junk one that we'd have broken in a year. My finds often require a little elbow grease to get them into shape, but once they do they're usually really nice stuff! Good for the environment, good for your wallet, good ideas :)

My Meal Plan

The most common question I get about my weightloss is "what do you eat?"

So here it is, plain & simple :) I just choose one option from each category, or something similar. I eat about 6 times daily, 3 meals and 3 snacks.

Breakfast:
1. fat free cottage cheese with a spoonful low sugar or sugar free preserves, or a handful fruit
2. scrambled egg with 1 slice cheese on toasted double fiber english muffin
3. Light & Fit yogurt with 1 piece fruit (an apple or something)
4. a 2- egg omelet with cheese and sauted veggies

Snack:
1. a piece of fresh fruit
2. a handful of almonds
3. Any fresh veggies
4. celery with natural peanut butter
5. a slice of cheese and Ak Mak or All Bran crackers
6. a reduced fat string cheese
7. a light yogurt
8. a sliced apple with natural peanut butter or a slice of cheese
9. fresh cut fruit with yogurt to dip it in
10. fresh cut veggies with yogurt or hummus to dip
11. sunflower seeds
12. pumpkin seeds

Lunch:
1. a large salad of romaine or leaf lettuce (not iceburg! it's nutritionally worthless), with about 1/4 cup protein like a handful nuts, leftover cooked chicken or other meat, a slice of cheese or a string cheese. Any veggie toppers I feel like, maybe some oranges, and a little light dressing or salad spritzer, or salsa for a taco salad
2. veggie soup, just broth with any combo of veggies and maybe a can of tomatoes. Add cheese & crackers for some protein
3. Dinner leftovers
4. a small whole wheat pita stuffed with grilled chicken and veggies, with light mayo or fat free sour cream

another snack

Dinner:
I cook dinner, and try to make planned leftovers so I have some side dishes ready to go that I can just reheat. Some common menus I make (next time I make them I'll share pics & recipes, or sooner by request):
1. fish tacos with beans and sauted greens or zucchini
2. turkey tacos (same sides)
3. grilled or broiled chicken sandwich, fresh fruit and cooked veggies
4. burger on whole wheat english muffin, baked fries or sweet potato fries, or baked sweet potato and veggies
5. simple chili or soup and many variations, with biscuits or toast and fresh fruit
6. baked chicken tenders, veggies and fresh fruit
7. stir-fry over brown rice with oranges
8. stuffed cabbage rolls, broccoli and fruit
9. sauted turkey smoked sausage & peppers, brown rice, fruit
10. grilled sausage or chicken, veggies and fruit
11. low carb "hot dogs" of smoked sausage on romaine "buns" with baked fries and fruit
12. baked packets of cod, mushrooms & asian seasonings on brown rice, broccoli and fruit

Dessert/after dinner snack:
any of the day snacks, or
1. sugar free pudding made with fat free milk, sometimes with peanut butter or fat free cool whip
2. sugar free jello with cool whip free
3. apple, cored and filled with raisins then baked until tender
4. frozen green grapes

I try to buy lots of produce, fresh fruit and veggies, whatever is on sale. We end up eating a lot of broccoli, cabbage, zucchini or mexican squash, oranges, apples, berries, peaches, nectarines, melon, grapes, onions, greens, lettuce - tons of others, but those I always seem to have around!

I don't usually measure portions very accurately, but I do keep an eye on meat and fat and try to limit them. I try to get healthy fat sources like avocado, almonds and canola oil. Other than that, I just try to eat lots of fresh fruit & veggies, enough lean meat, and a few servings of whole grain. That seems to be the basis of every diet on the market, no gimmicks just common knowledge that really works!

Of course diet alone isn't enough and you'd need to do some kind of exercise, and check with your doctor and all that we all know already! I'm breastfeeding too so that speeds up the weightloss a bit, it lets me have a bit more calories daily than someone who isn't. I take a multivitamin when I remember too, just to cover any bases I missed :)

My garden today

It's a bit overcast today and getting ready to rain. Seemed like a good time to document some progress in my container garden!

This big dish planter was a freebie! I filled it with cheap potting soil that was on sale, and dropped a bunch of rainbow radish seeds on top. Spread a little more dirt over the top of those about 10 days ago. Look at 'em go already! I also have several small flower pots of different types of radishes in the house, planted at the same time, but these ones outdoors are growing much faster. I'll probably move my small pots outside after the rain, it may freeze at night the next few days.

Here's my giant strawberry pot, another freebie! I followed a tip I found to drill holes in a 1 inch pipe and put that down the center of the pot to help distribute water better. We'll see how it works as the plants grow. I filled it up with some super cheap bare root strawberries, the ones on top seem to be perking back up but the lower ones are mostly wilted. I've watered them directly a few times, I think it's just that I planted the ones with bulky roots on top, and small roots on the side where the holes were smaller. I'm hoping they thrive, but if they don't I'll have plenty of edible flower sprouts I can poke in there instead! I have an entire tray of pansies, violas and johnny-jump-ups sprouting.

There's more on the front patio, sprouting indoors and on the other deck, but I'll cover those another day! Fun to watch things grow!

Whole wheat carrot cake with yogurt sauce

This turned out so yummy! I had carrots to use up, started out planning to make muffins but couldn't find enough muffin tins, so I decided to make carrot cake instead. I meant to make it low fat, but forgot to leave out the oil and use applesauce instead. Next time!

The yogurt sauce is super easy to make, and the tanginess of the yogurt has a similar flavor combo with the carrot cake as you'd expect from cream cheese frosting, without the major fat pill. Cheaper to make too!

Whole Wheat Carrot Cake

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup unbleached flour

2 cups sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

3 cups shredded carrots

1 cup canola oil (next time I'll try applesauce instead!)

4 eggs

Combine all dry ingredients. Add remaining ingredients, mix well. Pour into 2 greased round cake pans and bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cool 20 minutes or so in pans, then put a plate upside down on top of pan and flip it over to remove cakes from pans. I stacked the cakes with no filling, they stuck together just fine.

Serve wedges drizzled with yogurt sauce.

Yogurt Sauce:

1 6-oz cup low fat plain yogurt (or flavored yogurt if you want)

1/2 cup powdered sugar (could use less)

1/4 cup milk, or as needed to get the consistency you want

Mix together and chill. It will thicken some with standing, since the cultures in the yogurt get to work on the milk added. Yum. Great dressing for fruit salad, dip for fruit or leave out the sugar and add spices instead for a quick creamy salad dressing. So easy!

Hearty Pumpkin Turkey Chili

This one is time consuming, but cheap, lean and worth the wait!
I made yummy chili tonight, with some quick biscuits, and since I was way under my calories for the day and needed to use up some carrots I made carrot cake with yogurt sauce instead of frosting. Yum.
Okay, it's not beautiful, but color means nutrition! It's loaded with good for you stuff, and good tasting too!

Hearty Pumpkin Turkey Chili

1 1-lb bag dried small red beans (or any beans)

1 lb lean ground turkey (optional)

2.5 cups mashed cooked pumpkin (1 small, or canned, or use acorn or other squash, or sweet potato)

2.5 cups diced zucchini

1 small-medium onion, diced

2 cans diced tomatoes, undrained

3 tbsp chili powder

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp cinnamon

At least 7 hours before dinner time (or the night before), rinse and sort beans. Cover in cold water to soak.

After soaking, cook beans by package directions then drain.

At least 3 hours before dinner, slice pumpkin in half, scoop out seeds and place cut side down on a pan. Roast at 350 until tender, depending how thick it is that's usually about 40-60 minutes.

Toss the zucchini and onion on a baking sheet and roast them at the same time for about half as long, to get that wonderful sweet roast flavor.

At least an hour before dinner, scoop pumpkin out of skin and mash. Combine all ingredients in a large pot. Add a little extra water if needed. Cover and simmer over low at least an hour or until turkey is done. Best to turn off the heat at least 30 mins before eating, to let it cool. The thick, rich texture and tomatoes really hold the heat so it doesn't cool to edible temperature in the time it takes to dish it up and get to the table!

Excellent with whole wheat or pumpkin biscuits. Makes great leftovers!

Green tip of the day - house plants

It's a great idea for everyone to have house plants. They naturally help filter toxins released by products like carpeting, paint and other modern materials from the air.

Check around for local growers, grab a packet of seed and a recycled container, or grow some from kitchen scraps. I have a very nice mango sapling growing that's about 2 feet tall now, grown from the pit of an especially good mango. I also have several pineapple tops and sweet potatoes. If you've never tried growing a sweet potato, do! They make lush green draping foilage, with large leaves that resemble maple. They're easy to grow, once you find one that sprouts. Just suspend it in water to get sprouts, then once they have leaves snap off the stem they're growing on where it attaches to the potato and plant them. They're called slips, and each one can produce another potato plant. You're not likely to get sweet potatoes in a small indoor container, but if you have a barrel half or other large container on the patio you may!

I also sometimes grow avocado pits or the seeds of other fruits I have around, or a bean. Fun projects, even if they don't turn into a lush, lasting plant.

Weightloss Tip of the Day - grocery list

The easy weightloss tip today is make a grocery list!

If you have a list, you're less likely to forget a vital ingredient for a meal you have planned, and resort to a convenience food that's not diet friendly instead. You're also less likely to fill the cart with chips and junk you really don't need in the house when it's not on the list.

That means a lower grocery bill from less impulse buys, and a kitchen better stocked with the healthy foods you need. Double win :)

Weightloss Tip

Today's weightloss tip is planned leftovers!


It's easy to add some extra meat and veggies when you're cooking anyway, then use them to make a meal the next day.

I like to cook extra chicken breasts or tenders when the oven is on for something else. Then I can use the cooked chicken to top my lunch salad the next day, add to veggie soup, make sandwiches, chicken salad or bunches of other quick meals.

Having those extra prepared ingredients ready to go can be the difference between having a healthy planned meal and a desperation that really shouldn't be on the menu. Very little extra work, saving on energy cost when you're cooking anyway and helping make future meals less work, a good idea all around!

Green Tip of the Day

Ever stopped to consider just how much soap and detergent you use? It's probably a lot!

If you think about it, the more you use, the more the makers earn on their products and the better it is for them. So it's in their best interest to advise you to use more than you really need.

Try decreasing how much you use, and see if you get the same result! I've found I actually get a better result on laundry using half the recommended amount of detergent! Too much detergent doesn't rinse completely off, leaving a residue that attracts more dirt and retains odors. To test this out, run a load of laundry without adding any detergent. Open it up during the wash, and look to see if the water is cloudy and sudsy like it would be if you had added detergent. If it is, then you're using too much and it's staying on your laundry!

Test out other products too, you may be using a lot more dish detergent, soap, shampoo and toothpaste than you really need to adequately get the job done. Remember those extra products take ingredients and energy to produce and transport, and when you rinse it down the drain it doesn't stop existing. Whether you're using hyped up green products, salon stuff or bargain shelf stuff it adds to waste water and has an impact on the environment when it's released. So much waste is produced that even biodegradable products take longer to break down than they should.

I'd eventually like to make our own laundry detergent, but haven't been able to locate washing soda in a store yet. Regular "green" laundry products are way out of our price range, but for now I'm content knowing I'm reducing our footprint by using less of the regular stuff. Better for the planet and our wallets!

Weightloss Tip of the Day

Ever stopped and actually read the ingredients in that rice side dish you always buy? What exactly IS all that stuff that's 2 lines long and you'd need some kind of degree to decipher? No clue?

If you don't know what it is, you probably shouldn't be eating it. Try buying a big bag of plain brown rice. It's by the bags of plain dried beans, or some stores offer it in bulk bins. Easy to cook, even though it takes a while longer than instant or white rice. You can divide it into meal size portions and freeze it, I fill sandwich size storage containers and freeze those. Stacks well so it doesn't take up too much space in the freezer, thin means it thaws quickly, and it holds about the right amount for 1 small family dinner.

To make a great economical and healthy side dish, just toss it with a little oil and vinegar, parmesan and fresh herbs, or chopped tomato and cilantro. About 1000 times tastier than the Mystery Box, better for you and better for your wallet!

Green tip of the day

Today's tip is composting!

We have no yard area, and definitely not enough space for a compost pile, so I have a worm composter. It was simple to make myself from a couple of old plastic storage bins and cement blocks. When I get pictures working again I'll post pictures of it, I just made another bin but it's not filled yet. My worms are reproducing fast enough that I can divide them to make 2 bins and come closer to being able to put all of our produce scraps in there! My total cost to get the worm bin up and running was about $30, $25 for a pound of redworms (I've seen them as cheap as $14, but I chose to go with a supplier close to home who charges more), and $5 for tubs (which were actually free since I had them laying around anyway, or you may be able to get them free on Craigslist, FreeCycle or at a yard sale) and a cinderblock.

Worms are easy to use, just bury scraps in there and add bedding and water as needed. For bedding, I use shredded newspaper, toilet paper rolls and brown cardboard boxes or packing material. I also add ground egg shells for good calcium content, grit and acid level control. They can eat a surprising amount of cardboard, leaves and veggie scraps! At the end I'll have wonderful free fertilizer for my potted plants, reduced our garbage output and made a better world :) If everyone had a small worm bin on the patio imagine how many tons of banana peels and cardboard tubes would be put back into use instead of using more energy to be recycled or going straight into a "locked in time" landfill!

Cereal Snack Bars

I've been experimenting with recipes to make a substitute for store bought granola bars to take in lunches. Store bought ones are expensive, loaded in sugar and corn syrup, almost all of them have soy products and don't have much nutritional value.

I'm trying bars based on cereal, since I stocked up when it was cheap and now we need to use it up. The last batch I tried simple honey cheerio bars, which were delicious! Hubby requested more seeds and texture, so here's the improved version.





















Honey Sesame Cheerio Bars
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup Skippy natural peanut butter, crunchy
3 cups Cheerios
2 cups Kix
1 cup oatmeal (dry)
1/4 cup flax seeds
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup almonds
Nonstick spray

Combine sugar and honey in a small, heavy saucepan. Heat over medium until it's melted and smooth, stirring often with a heat proof spatula. Here's what you want it to look like when it's melted




Meanwhile, combine Cheerios, Kix, oatmeal, flax seeds, sesame seeds, cinnamon and almonds in a large bowl. Spray a 9x13 pan with nonstick spray, or grease with olive or canola oil.

When honey and sugar are melted, add peanut butter and stir until it melts too. Pour over the cereal mix. Stir until thoroughly combined. It helps to use a transparent bowl so you can look at the bottom and see if there's still ingredients at the bottom that haven't been stuck to the rest. Empty the bowl into the 9x13 pan and spread. Press down firmly with the spatula to make a mostly even layer.

Cool and slice into bars or squares. Refridgeration not necessary, but you can if you want - it'll make them more firm and chewy, almost tough.

I'll get some pictures up as soon as I get it working!

Weightloss tip of the day

My weightloss tip of the day today is protein.

It's important not only to get plenty of protein, but to get good quality protein items. Lean chicken, turkey and fish are good options, but can be expensive. Stock up when they're on sale and freeze them. Nuts, beans and whole grains are also good sources.

I try to have a good protein source at each meal or snack, to help keep me satisfied longer. I have cottage cheese or eggs with breakfast, cheese, nuts or peanut butter at snack, leftover cooked meat or cheese with lunch, meat with dinner. I try to limit cheese to once or twice daily, since it's expensive and high in fat, but a small serving is nutritious and worth it!

Green tip of the day

The green tip for today is to save water while waiting for it to get hot. I've been keeping a watering can, bucket or pitcher next to the sink, so I turn on the hot and fill up a container while waiting for it to actually get hot. I use that water for the plants, cleaning or washing hands. The money savings isn't much since water is so cheap, but I feel better not letting quite so much just go down the drain for nothing!

Planting

The gardening bug has me already this year!

I filled up a few pots with mustard greens, carrots and radishes. Those should be done before it's time to plant my main veggies. I filled up my giant strawberry pot too, with some pathetic looking bare root strawberries, but they were cheap! Hopefully they'll perk up a bit and come back to life. I tried a new planting method, using a pipe drilled full of holes in the center of the strawberry pot to get water to spread deeper. I took pictures, but my main computer is still acting up so I can't get them online yet. Soon! If we can't get it fixed soon I'll just save them to disk and transfer them to the laptop that way.

I also had a great find! HUGE pots on sale at Kmart for about $5! They're seriously monsters. I may plant a tree in one, I'd love a dwarf orange or lemon for my patio. I bought 3 of the huge pots, the other two I can't decide what to do with. Carrots, tomatoes, beans, peas? I have some large pots I can use, but nothing else nearly that big! I'm planning to put scarlet runner beans in large pots to climb up the pergola on the deck, with small veggies around the base in the same pot. A large pot of tomatoes, another of bush beans, zucchini in there somewhere - I have big plans this year! Can't wait to get it all going.

Weightloss Tip of the Day

Today's weightloss tip is to work exercise into something you have to do anyway!

With a 2 year old and almost 1 year old, I spend a lot of time cleaning. I clean most of the house almost every day to round up all the stray Cheerios and make sure there's no gross toddler messes hidden behind the TV. I work my workout into my cleaning, by doing simple exercises as I get boring tasks done. If I'm laying on the floor looking under the TV stand, I do a couple pushups while I'm down there. Do calf extensions or squats while washing windows and cleaning counters. March in place or dance while doing dishes. Yes, it seems silly at first, but when movement becomes incorporated into your daily routine it's easy to burn a lot more calories without a lot more time, or being able to dedicate a lot of time to just exercise.

At the end of the day you'll feel better! Having all the chores done and your workout helps soothe the body and mind.

On the Menu tonight

Tonight's dinner is going to be spaghetti with turkey meatballs and brussel sprouts. Leftovers actually, but still delicious, healthy and budget friendly! I'll put my approximate cost in parentheses to help calculate the total cost.

Broiled Turkey Meatballs
1 lb ground lean turkey ($2)
1 egg, beaten ($0.08)
2/3 cup fresh breadcrumbs (about 1 1/2 slices, $0.02)
1 tsp pepper (under $0.01)
1/2 tsp salt (under $0.01)
1/4 tsp garlic powder (under $0.01)
1 tsp italian seasoning (under $0.01)
1 tbsp dried parsley (under $0.01)
2 tsp worcestershire sauce ($0.02)
2 tbsp parmesan cheese ($0.02)
1/4 small onion, very finely minced ($0.03)

Total cost per recipe - about $2.20, makes 5 servings. $0.44 per serving of 4 meatballs.

To make meatballs, combine all ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth and well combined. Shape into 1 tbsp balls, a cookie scoop is very handy for this! Place on a cookie sheet sprayed with nonstick spray and broil about 20 minutes until cooked through.



I used Ronzoni Smart Taste Spaghetti, $0.75 with sale and coupon for 7 2-oz servings, $0.11 per serving. A jar of organic marinara on sale for $2, 6 servings of 1/2 cup at $0.33 each. And a bag of frozen brussel sprouts, 6 servings for $1.50 is $.025 each.

That's a total of $1.13 per serving for a healthy, homemade and very satisfying dinner! Enjoy!

Green tip of the day

I'm going to try to start offering a Green Tip as often as I can - something good for the environment, your bank account and you!

Today's tip is washcloths. You can buy the fancy eco friendly pricy ones, or the cheap packs of them for about $3 at Walmart. The green part comes in how you use them. Instead of spending money on paper towels to dry hands and clean baby faces, I've started using washcloths. I keep a nice basket of them near the sink, right under the paper towel holder. They're handy to grab to dry hands, clean dishes, clean the kids, wipe down counters - almost anything you'd use a paper towel for. Then just toss them in the laundry with all the other towels. I've calculated it saves us about $5/month, and an entire bag of garbage produced! It costs us nothing but the price to buy the washcloths. Very handy! Does a much better job cleaning up the kids after lunch too!

Gardening for the space impaired

I have no space to plant in the ground, so my garden is in pots on the patio. I planted another round of pots today! A bunch of radishes, more mustard greens and some mini carrots. They should be done before it's time to plant my summer vegetables, so I can reuse the pots right after they're harvested. Should be fun! I planted Easter Egg radishes, excited to see what colors come up!

I have pansies, violas and johnny-jump-ups in the Jiffy seed starter, to fill in around everything else with edible flowers. I'm also waiting for chives, lavender and cilantro to sprout. So looking forward to having some fresh herbs in the house!

Eating healthy on a budget

I often hear the comment that people can't eat healthy because it's just too expensive. I'm here to tell you it can be done! We feed a family of 4 for less than I spent on groceries for 2 eating unhealthy foods. Here's a dozen great ideas anyone can try!

1. Check the price per serving, not just the price per pound. A pound of boneless, skinless chicken makes more servings than a pound with parts you won't eat. Remember you're paying the price per pound for the bones, skin and trimmings too! Minimize waste and get the most for your money by using bones and scraps to make stock, just cover in water and simmer.

2. Buy flexible staple items that keep in bulk. Dry beans, rice, barley, lentils and many similar items will keep indefinitely in the pantry. Whole wheat flour and brown rice can be refridgerated or frozen.

3. Buy lean, inexpensive cuts of meat when it's on sale and freeze several extras. Good bets are ground lean turkey under $3/lb, split chicken breasts under $1/lb, boneless skinless chicken breasts under $1.50/lb, and Hillshire Farm turkey smoked sausage loop under $3.50. All can be used for a variety of meals, freeze well, are easy to prepare and great for leftovers.

4. Shop at farmer's markets, ethnic grocery stores, mom & pop shops, swap meets or wherever you can find inexpensive produce. I've found produce at local ethnic grocery stores is usually around half the price of the main grocery's sale prices. Sometimes less!

5. Grow your own! If you have a pot of soil and a sunny spot, you can grow mustard greens and radishes quickly and easily year round, indoors, or outdoors when it's warm. You can grow lots of veggies and small fruits in pots, in a dedicated garden area, or work them into your landscaping. A $2 packet of seed can easily produce a large amount of food. Especially with easy to grow herbs like parsley, chives and cilantro the savings over buying fresh at the grocery store are substantial.

6. Know your prices! If you can't remember it all, make yourself a cheat sheet in a notebook you take to the store with you. Write down items you commonly buy, followed by what it costs and at which store. You'll soon recognize what's a good price and when to wait.

7. Use coupons! But be reasonable. A lot of coupons are for items that are insanely overpriced to start with, and even after combining a coupon and sale the generic is still cheaper. Use online resources like couponmom.com, coupons.com, smart source, red plum and manufacturer websites to find coupons and deals. Coupon Mom will teach you how to combine sales and coupons to get great deals! Once you know how that works it's easy to apply to other stores. Trim corners on things that are easy to get great deals on like toothpaste for under $1 at CVS, and then use the savings to get more groceries.

8. Know your seasons. Fall and back to school time is great to get cereal, granola bars and packaged snacks. Everyone has them on sale then, and every newspaper insert is loaded with coupons. Stock up! Winter is canned goods, turkey, ham and frozen meats. Spring is "diet" foods, but watch to make sure they're not heavily advertising an artificially inflated price on things like frozen dinners. Late spring and summer are produce, and lots of it! A good time to learn to can, freeze, dehydrate and cook with as much fresh produce as you can handle. Early fall is winter squash, apple and cabbage.

9. Make inexpensive side dishes. A pot of beans with spices and a bit of onion makes a good side dish for Mexican meals. Brown rice, bulgur, barley and almost any other grain can be cooked plainly and seasoned to taste with herbs, spices or lemon. Sauted zucchini is great for Mexican, Italian or Chinese. Potatoes cut into wedges, sprinkled with spices and baked like fries are dirt cheap. A sliced fresh apple or pear makes a nice, simple and refreshing side. Cauliflower "mashed potatoes", braised cabbage and raw veggies are all very easy. Compare the cost of any of those to one of those packaged instant side-in-a-box mixes and you save a lot of cash - and prevent eating a ton of junk!

10. WATER! Don't buy soda. Just don't. No diet, no generic, no flavored water. There's nothing in there that's good for you, and several things we know for a fact are bad for you. It's bad for your health, bad for your weight, bad for the environment and bad for your wallet! If you really want some for special occasions that's fine, but it shouldn't be part of every day.

11. Ditch the junk food. Replace name brand snacks with homemade alternatives. Instead of tortilla chips, cut your own whole wheat tortillas into chips, spray with nonstick spray and bake until crisp. Replace candy with frozen grapes, fruit, or at least smaller portions. Instead of salty snacks try cauliflower poppers, veggie sticks or Ak Mak crackers.

12. Check nutrition labels. If you don't understand half the ingredients, you probably don't need it. When considering fresh items, if they're the same price choose the healthier option. When buying lettuce choose leaf or romaine, iceburg has almost no nutritional value. When buying fruit choose more colorful varities. Always choose fresher items when you can, fresh is the best, then frozen, and last canned since canning destroys many nutrients and adds salt.

Dinner tonight

So, we're back on a healthy diet.
Tonight's dinner is a good one! I'm making a simple baked Asian Style Cod, with brown rice and broccoli. Super easy!

The recipe:
1 lb cod fillets (about 4)
1 sliced green onion
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1 1-inch segment ginger, diced
4 garlic cloves, diced
4 tsp sesame oil
4 tsp soy sauce

Make squares of foil. In the middle of each square place a piece of fish. Top with a couple bits of green onion, 1/4 cup mushrooms, a garlic clove, a bit of ginger and a teaspoon each of sesame oil and soy sauce. Fold the foil shut to make a little packet. Place the packets in a baking dish and bake them at 350 or 400 about 20 minutes or until fish flakes easily. Open foil, pour over cooked brown rice, noodles or a salad and enjoy!