Shopping & Savings March 30, 2011

Yesterday I took my husband on a trip to the local Whole Foods (another of our favorite groceries). We shop there a couple of times a month, but I don’t go there for a lot of my groceries because they are… well, expensive.

Yesterday was a different story. I went in with the mind-set of shopping on a budget! What I mean by that is, I was paying closer attention to prices and comparing value/using coupons!

With that being said I came out with more bang for my buck!

{* =sale, + =coupon, WF= Whole Foods}

• 1 lb ground white turkey
• 1 lb ground dark meat turkey
• 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast
• 1/2 pt. blueberries
• Ezekiel Cinnamon Rasin Bread
• WF Organic tomato basil pasta sauce
• 2 large lemons*
• Organic Italian cheese+
• Sour Cream+
• Chiobani Greek Yogurt+
• Fire Roasted tomatoes+
• WF Sharp Cheddar
• Silken Tofu
• Dates
• 4 bunches fresh broccoli

I got ALL of that for the grand total of {drum roll please}……. $44.94!!!!

This is everything I needed (and a little extra) for the makings of our next 3 suppers and leftovers for Joseph’s lunches!

Tuesday night: Dark turkey burgers topped with a tomato mixture on top of whole wheat english muffins served with spicy steamed broccoli.

Wednesday night: Tacos (made with turkey burger). I already had most of these ingredients at home and only needed the meat.

Thursday night: Grilled Chicken Parmesan with whole wheat pasta.

Friday: I will use the leftover cheeses and veggies to make a Frittata (with the eggs that I already have).

I also got all of the ingredients to make Lemon Cream with Ana!

• 12 oz silken tofu
• 1 tbsp lemon zest
• 3 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 8 pitted dates coarsely chopped
• 1/8 tsp ground cardamom (which I didn’t have, and didn’t miss it in the taste)
• fresh blueberries (to top)

I also added a drizzle of honey for sweetness

This stuff is so good! You would never know that it’s healthy! Top it with some fresh fruit and enjoy!

Family fun & FOOD!!!! March 12, 2011

Thankfully I am finally starting to feel human again!

Last night We went on a family fun date! I wanted Italian food SO bad {specifically a cannoli}, so we found a little italian restaurant and fell in love! This place was small, but authentic and the prices were unbelievably low! I decided on a small {actually quite large} greek salad and a slice of Sicilian pizza with spinach, mushrooms, and tomatoes! Joseph got a small {read HUGE} calzone stuffed with onions, mushrooms, sausage and other things that I simply cannot remember, for Ana we chose baked ravioli, and to start us all off we tried their cheese bread!!!

You wouldn’t believe the food! Everything was beyond good…. I can’t begin to find an adjective to fit it… The cheese bread melted in our mouths, the marinara was perfect {and I am extremely picky about my marinara}, my Sicilian “slice” was huge and amazing {Sicilian pizza has focaccia crust), Joseph’s calzone was superb, and Ana’s raviolis were huge and delicious!!!

 Of course we had to have dessert! For Daddy and miss priss it was chocolate chip cookies, and for me it was cannolis!!!! Yes I said cannolis (plural). 😛 I intended on just getting one, but they just had to offer regular and chocolate covered cannoli shells… So I decided on one of each, but in the mini size… didn’t happen… they were out of mini chocolate cannolis and my sweet hubby (who got them at the counter while I waited at the table) didn’t want to bring me back one tiny cannoli! {Sometimes I think he wants me fluffy, lol} Long story short everything about our meal was FABULOUS!

Afterward we went to see Rango… We were not at all happy with this movie and wouldn’t advise anyone on seeing it. There was nothing to it for the first 30-45 minutes, and once it finally started (being interesting) I began hearing a word slipped in here and there… Not what I wanted out of a cartoon. It was also kind of scary to be a kids movie. If I had it to do over again I think we would have seen Gnomeo & Juliet

I think my favorite part of the movie was before it actually began. Ana turned around and looked at her daddy and said {so seriously} ” I wan pa-torn”… We both bust out laughing and our poor child just looked at us like she couldn’t believe we thought this was a laughing matter! Of course her daddy got her some “pa-torn” (after we made her say it a few more times and got all of our kicks in), which we wnjoyed with our cookies and cannolis that I snuck in via my big bag! (What? Concessions are outrageous these days!)

All in all it was a pretty good night, and I learned a valueable lesson, Always look up a movies reviews before going to see it…

Also this evening out broought back to the front of our minds the desire that we share to open our own Italian restaurant! My husbands family is Italian and I may as well be as much as I love the food! (We even named our restaurant! Sorry not sharing the name…) 😉

Here are a few pictures of food {like what we had}, and from the movie. (Sorry, this isn’t actually what we ate, I forgot to take pictures.)

Finally!!!

Cheese!!!

Something was funny…

Licking the salt from her lips! {hahaha}