Stuffed Peppers

Start with one to two peppers per person.  Cut the tops off and pull out the seeds and rinse.  Set hollowed peppers aside.  Dice up any parts of the pepper tops that are usable and add to your meat.  Dice up about 8 small carrots and 1/4 of an onion to mix in with the raw ground meat. Sprinkle 3 tbs of garlic powder on the meat then mix it.

  Once it is all blended well fill the peppers and place on foil. Cover peppers and bake at 350 for 45 min.

Enjoy your delicious all in one meal!

Week 4 groceries

Week 4 and going strong.  This week there were some sales at Sprouts that I couldn't pass up so I stalked up!  I bought extra boneless skinless chicken thighs and extra ground beef.  The meal plan for this week is as follows:

Stuffed Cabbage

Avocado and Tomato Cauliflower tortilla wraps (grain free)

Chicken with Mango Cherry Salsa

Stuffed Peppers

Baked Yams and grilled chicken thighs

Spinach Meatballs with Mashed Cauliflower

The item I already had on hand from the previous weeks shopping was a head of cabbage, onions, and tomatoes from my garden.

Sprouts Groceries:  $137.60

2 Half Gallon Almond Milk

12 Coconut Yogurts

1 lb Salami

1 lb Turkey Breast

1 bag Bobs Almond Flour ( to have on hand)

2 bags Bobs Coconut Flour ( also to have on hand for Sunday Pancakes!)

5.5 lbs of Lean Ground Beef (4 packages)

9.7 Lbs of Boneless skinless chicken thighs (3 packages)

1 Bunch spinach

Cantaloupe

2 lbs Cherries

Cilantro

5 Green Bell Peppers

5 Hass Avocados

6 Kiwi's

Green Onions

5 Lbs Organic Carrots

3 Organic Cauliflower

2.7 Lbs (6 ) Organic Pears

2.67 Lbs (7) Organic Apples

10 Sweet Potatoes 

3.5 Bananas

6 Yellow Mangos

Heb Groceries:  61.30

5 Dozen free roaming eggs

3 Sunwell Mixed Veggie Chips

A couple dried pineapple rings ( to keep the kids occupied while shopping)

2 boxes of HEB Fruit twists

2 Boxes of Larabars

2 Premade salads for my husband to take to work ( don't ask, I would make them myself but...)

7 Almond Dream Yogurts

With this much food I plan on having plenty of left overs and not a big shopping bill next week.  I won't have to buy meat for a while also.   My total for the week was 198.90.  About $25 of that was extra meat that was bought on sale and used later in the month. 

Week 3 Grocery experiment

Still have plenty of food.  Still have left overs.  And I am still saving money.  In fact I went shopping with some of the money I have saved but shhhh don't tell my husband!  This week I will not be going grocery shopping because we will be eating most of our meals at my moms house.  My little sister is leaving for Brazil to serve an LDS mission.  I am so proud of her and am excited to spend this last weekend with her and family.  I will try to post some recipes over the weekend so stay posted.

Week 2 budget experiment and "How's it going"

So week one went great.  We didn't run out of food and had plenty of leftovers that my husband ate for work instead of buying seperate lunches!   Yaa for week one.  Now to be honest if I hadn't gotten sick we might not of had quite as much left overs but it was still plenty.  This week I spent exactly 35.90 on food I don't usually buy and didn't need.  I bought 2 packages of organic hot dogs ( I know what your thinking..I thought this was healthy eating) and  2 boxes of GF Chex cereal that I am taking camping for the kids.  My husband and I will be having tin foil dinners with yams and ground meat.  I also bought a large package of paper towles, hair gel and myself a treat because I didn't have any children with me while grocery shopping.That permits a treat of dark chocolate raisins.

 So my total bill for this week was $221.06.  Minus the $35.90 brings us to a weekly total of  $185.16.  A little bit more then last week but I am trying to buy organic everything while on this budget of $40 per person per week.

Here is the break down:

Sprouts  $70.57
Dark Chocolate raisins
19 Almond Yogurts
Organic canned tomatoes
2 Organic black beans
2 Organic pasta Sauce
Organic Salsa
1 lbs brussel sprouts
1.4 lb Cabbage
9 Organic Avocados
6 Limes
Organic Green Leaf Lettuce
2.35 lbs Organic Pears
3.23lbs Organic apples
Organic Grapes
Sweet Potatoes
Yellow Bananas

HEB $150.49
Paper towels
Gladware Tupperware
Wild caught Salmon
6 Quarts Almond
Maple syrup
Pamela GF Pancake mix
2 Sunwell Veggie chips
L.A. Hair gel
Organic canned coconut milk
1 box of 100 calorie bags of sunwell mixed veggie chips
Organic applesauce
6 dozen Farmhouse roaming eggs
Organic Vegetable Broth
Unsalted organic butter
2 Larabar box of 6
2 boxes of Chex cereal
Organic Bacon
1lb of Deli Turkey
1lb of salome
2 packages of organic hot dogs
Boneless ribs

The meal plan for this week :

 Salmon and roasted brussel sprouts
Hot dogs, chips, tin foil dinners (camping)
Taco Soup
Coconut lime ribs with baked sweet potatoes
Thai Turkey cabbage wraps with carrots
Two nights of Left overs ( yes we had that much)

Stay tuned for  more recipes!

Chicken Fajita's

Quick, easy and delicious!!  One of the secrets is baking your chicken.  Sprinkle a lined baking sheet with chili powder and garlic powder.  Lay your chicken slices on the pan and sprinkle again with garlic and chili powder.  Bake at 350 for 30 - 40 min.  Enough time to cook your veggies and your chicken should still be juicy!

While your chicken is baking start heating your oil and butter on the stove top.  Add chopped onions till brown.

 Add your squash and red peppers and any other veggies you might want and saute till tender.  To add a little sauce I add a tablespoon of honey, garlic powder and a pinch of salt.

We usually eat this just chicken and veggies and sometimes lettuce and beans because it takes so much time to make tortillas. But for those of you who can't have fajitas without the tortilla I will be posting my tortilla recipe soon so watch for it. If you just don't have the time you can use Food For Life tortillas also but they seem kind of chewy to me.  Enjoy!

Beef Stir Fry

So Beef Stir fry went over great with the Husband and older two kids.  My little two year old doesn't like to take the time to chew her meat so mostly ate her veggies.  I am ok with that because when she decides to eat meat she more then makes up for the loss.
To start the week I cut up all our lettuce, red leaf and spinach, and put it into a large bowl to have on hand.  This made prep time real quick.

Ingredients:

Garlic powder ( on hand )
1 lb diced beef
1 chopped onion
1 lb chopped green beans
4 medium chopped carrots
Cilantro dressing ( you can add any flavor of vinagerette for your sauce.  This was not on the grocery list.  I didn't include condiments that I had on hand.)


Saute onion till slightly brown.  Add meat and sprinkle with garlic powder.  Cook till all brown but not all cooked.  Add remaining ingredients and cook to till tender.  Serve over salad or eat alone.  I found out later in the week that the left overs make for GREAT omlet stuffers! So enjoy for breakfast or dinner.

Grocery Experiment Begins

My family and I have been eating gluten and dairy free for quite sometime now.  In fact we eat very little grains at all.  I have always struggled with the amount of money we spend on groceries.  So I decided to see how little I could spend and still eat well.  I found this couple's blog, Koa Strength, that are eating Paleo for $40 a week.  They are a couple and their experiment is to eat on the cheap  not necessarily organic and grass fed. So keep that it mind.  I am hoping to keep my grocery bill for 5 people under $200 per week including organic when I can and good meets.
 My grocery lists will include breakfast, lunch, and dinner for 2 adults and three kids that eat a ton!  I have never been good at cutting coupons because I am picky about the brands I buy.  So the only coupons I use are in store ones or a random one here or there.  I will give you my list and what I didn't buy because I already had it on hand and the prices.  I will do my best to post the meals I cook as I do so.

Today I went to HEB.  I  spent $124.76 and I am budgeting an additional $10 to buy apples and pears at sprouts where they are a lot cheaper.

My List:
4 dozen eggs
5 Sunwell Sweet Potato Chips
2Sunwell Mixed Veggie Chips
2Organic Blue tortilla Chips
2 Unsweetened Applesauce
Large Ketchup
2 lbs deli turkey
1 lb petite cubed Beef
2 HEB fruit twist
4 small limes
10 green Bell Peppers
1 small Cabbage
1 head green Leaf Lettuce
1 Bunch spinach
3.2 lbs Sweet Potatoes
2 small bags frozen peas
4 lbs ground turkey
2 cans black beans
1 yellow squash
2 zucchini squash
3 red Bell Peppers
5 cucumbers
4 Large avocados
5.2 lbs Bananas (about 15)
2 small bags of Carrots
.75 lbs of green beans

I had on hand at home to use for this weeks meals:  4- 5 chicken breast, 2 dozen eggs, onions ( Guess cost $17)

My meal plan:

Breakfast:  One Banana per kid and two to three eggs per person.
Lunch:  Deli turkey, cucumbers, frozen peas (yes my kids prefer their peas frozen)  or leftovers if there is any!
Snack/ lunch rotation:  carrots, apples, pears, sunwell chips, fruit twist

Dinners:
Beef Stir fry
Taco Salads
Stuffed Peppers
Thai Salad
Chicken Taco soup
Chicken Fajita

So here goes week one....we will see how it goes...