Safeway bargains are a lifesaver!

Ahhh, back from a lovely family vacation and time to jump into savings mode again.  Our brief pause from paying off debt was very much needed after working extremely hard on our goal for SOO many years.

6 reasons why YOU need a Whatever Wednesday

Ive been a stay-at-home-mom for nearly 8 years.  I have relaxed only a handful of times since. That may be an exaggeration, but not by much.

Friday Night Pizza Night!! my healthier version!

My children are now at that age where they expect pizza every Friday night.  I guess we have started a tradition.  Traditions are wonderful and important for children, they build security, self-confidence and strength.

Fast Wheat Drop Biscuits with herbs

This is one of those things I usually throw together last minute- and the family usually thinks I slaved over it....  these are divine!

Don't tell them how simple they are or I will have to make them daily....

healthy zucchini pizza boats; paleo, 21 Day Fix, clean eating!

Its pizza night in our house tonight.  Normally I would enjoy a couple huge pieces of empty-carb-laden, blood-sugar spiking, then dipping, emotion-high and stomach-ache inducing pizza.  

Ahh, a classic American treat!

But not tonight.  Tonight I am committing to my body.

African Peanut Stew for the Crockpot, Freezer Meal

We had 'the' decadent African Peanut Stew tonight...  I was wise and turned it into a mini freezer-cooking session.  So glad I did.  It was freaking amazing!!  I asked my family to rate it on a scale from 1-10, here are their responses:
my 7 year old:  'a 10!'

my 4 year old:  'well, if 2 is bad .....and 3 is okay .....and 4 is great....  then i give it a 4!'  (whew)

my 36 year old: 'certainly a 12'

oh, these people.....  and now for the details........

Im certainly not starving while doing the 21 Day Fix

Of course its only monday and I have already veered from my menu plan.....  but with this delicious aroma in the crockpot all day there was no way I could hold off 'til tomorrow.....

Budget Minestrone Jar Soup for the pantry, Cheap, Healthy Crockpot Meal

I was gifted a wonderful book off of my husbands grandmothers shelf while visiting over the Christmas holiday.  I knew the second she gave it to me I would covet it.  Homemade Mixes is the title, seems to be a vintage book from 1981..  does that make it vintage?  I was 3 years old when this came out, sure hope that doesn't make me vintage!

This book is packed full of thrifty, natural pantry meals.  I am testing and adapting them as I go, this recipe is actually mainly created by myself, only inspired by the book as it does not contain a Minestrone Soup....  it is so delicious, you will be amazed!

Rosemary Chicken for Crockpot. so easy and 21 Day Fix approved

yum.  this was delish, and so easy!  i used NO oil and NO sweeteners, just simple ingredients!  plan about a total of 2 minutes to throw this together!

quick 21-day fix approved Taco Soup in the crock-pot

okay friends, i've started up a new plan and I'm hitting it HARD.  being winter and all i need my satisfying soups so i whipped this bad boy up.  its awesome.  and so dang easy.  and really dang healthy. and the family LOVED it.  im a winner.

taco soup.  but healthy.  did you know taco soup was the first meal i ever cooked my husband?  i was living all by myself in a tiny little loft apartment with a phenomenal view of the water.... ah, to be 21 again....

yeah- i also haven't talked about my new commitment yet but I'm pretty certain its changing my life.  I'm on day 3 and already noticing a huge difference...  more on that later.

okay, back to the mouthwatering soup!

Easy Crockpot Irish Colcannon inspired meal

Dipping into my Irish heritage i truly LOVE potatoes and cabbage.  LOVE THEM.  Especially cabbage.  Cant get enough, just ask my family ;)

chicken lime throw it together crockpot soup!

Soup making is a skill of mine I have to admit.  I love to browse random related recipes and get inspiration for dinner.  Using only what I had on hand I whipped up this fantastic soup.  It was very good!  and so very easy :)

this is what i had on hand.  and it worked!

so easy quiche!

A great, fast and hearty meal favorite of mine to throw together is an easy quiche!  This non-recipe works both with or without a crust! Serve alongside a cup of soup and some hearty bread. 

It was delicious!

Customize with whatever you have on hand. I roasted up some broccoli, cooked some turkey bacon and tossed that in my empty pans (with and without crust). Added a few slices of cheddar then poured on my egg mix. 

Normally i use just a little more egg than this- but it was still super yummy! 

Last pop it in a preheated oven at 325 for about 30-40 minutes. 

Per quiche i use roughly:

4 eggs

few Tbs sour cream or yoghurt

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp Italian seasoning

1/2 tsp nutmeg

Throw in bowl and whisk well. Pour into greased pans filled with hearty additions:

assorted veggies

assorted cheeses

optional meat

I tripled this recipe to create 3 quiches (oops- really i only had 8 eggs total- but no biggie, it still worked great!). We ate 1 for dinner and I froze the other 2! (freeze after cooking and cooling completely, toss whole thing in gallon ziplock bag. Thaw in fridge and heat on low til warm for next easy dinner)

pizza dinner

Friday pizza night at our house!!  Homemade style, super yum!  Crust in the bread machine, i doubled THIS simple recipe.  It was enough to feed the 4 of us plus a tiny leftover.

Cheaper and Healthier than take-out:
crust dough .75

cheese $3

peppers .66

onion .30

sauce (organic in can) .99

pineapple .60
fresh garlic, banana peppers, leftover roasted potatoes, BBQ sauce .15 

roughly $6 for 2 pizzas!  all-natural, a little organic and oh so delicious!  

(did i mention that i worked out today so i could earn extra calories for this! heck yes!!!)

Does your family make pizza? Any particular favorite combo???

Oven Fajitas done right!

After much contemplating I decided to give this whole 'oven fajitas' thing a try.  I like food and I like my food to be GOOD.  Changing up standard fajitas was a risk but i was willing to take it!  Good news, this turned out pretty darn tasty, the whole family loved it and i was able to send leftovers with my daughter to school- which she ate every last drop of!

Trying hard to cut back my calories as i want to fit nicely into my winter clothing i adapted my portion to sit nicely on a bed of cabbage mix.  Topped with non-fat yoghurt, salsa and tomatoes it was darn yummy!  The rest of my family enjoyed theirs on a soft flour tortilla and generously sprinkled with cheddar.

Keeping on budget i purchased a bag of assorted bell peppers at Grocery Outlet for $1.99, which contained 6 peppers and i used 3.  My onion was roughly .50 and the chicken i got with a 30% discount on a large bulk package at Safeway making it roughly $1.80lb.  My bag of tortillas was less than $2 and they used about half...  add in a little salsa, spices, yoghurt and cheese i would say this entire meal cost a total of $7 to feed the 4 of us PLUS lunch the next day for 2.

I cooked my chicken first for 20 minutes after it sat in the marinade all afternoon.  While it baked i prepped my veggies and put them aside to wait.  Easy!

After the chicken had been in the oven for 20 minutes i puled it out and tossed in my veggies, threw it back in for 15 minutes and voila- ready! Cooking the peppers for only 15 minutes kept them ever so perfect with a hint of freshness to them still.

Oven Fajitas

the marinade: 

1.5lb chicken breast cut into bite size pieces

1 Tbs olive oil

4 Tbs lime juice or more

1 Tbs apple cider vinegar

1 Tbs soy sauce

2 cloves garlic crushed

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp chili powder

dash of salt

Veggies:

3 bell peppers- red, green, yellow, etc

1 large yellow onion

Simply toss your chicken and marinade mix into preferred container to marinate for a few hours.  

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.  Dump all chicken and marinade sauce into oiled pan and bake for 20 minutes.  Add in veggies, stir and pop back in to bake for 15 more minutes.  

Makes approximatly 6 servings at about 220 calories each.