Things I Found

This is handy. I am really bad at reigning in the grocery budget. The only problem is I may need new glasses after I read it all (blurry!)

Let's see if I can crack the blurry code:

Vegetarian Foods
Eat more vegetarian foods (done). Meat can be expensive while legumes, beans, rice and veggies are less so and can be a great source of satisfying protein.

Buy In Bulk
Buy in bulk when possible,Items such as rice stay good for a long time (even brown rice, people, just use it regularly) and cost less when bought in bulk. (If you have Winco, it's a great place to buy bulk.)

Eat More Fiber
More fiber, less refined sugars and hydrogenated oils increase our appetite and therefore our spending on food. Fruits, veggies and nuts however are packed with fiber therefore filling us up and ultimately decreasing our spending on more food.

Pack your lunch
Pack your lunch. Always cheaper and healthier than a restaurant. (We always do this.)

Water Bottle
Carry a water bottle with you everywhere. This prevents you from buying water, soda, juice, etc.

How cute would this be at a spring or summer picnic or other get together. Just add some sort of dip. It looks easy and fun for kids to make.

Foam Roller

I got this foam roller for Christmas, I told Brent I wanted it. It is so great! I wanted it for my lower back issues and it is good for that and so many other areas too. It helps stretch your arms, legs, back, even feet and you can position it to put pressure on sore spots. It came with a poster that shows a bunch of different stretches. I'm loving it so far!

My Anti-inflammatory Smoothie

I think I have arthritis in my knees. I've decided it's okay to self diagnose yourself with ailments and find natural remedies because all doctors ever do is throw ibuprofen and omeprazole at stuff. Maybe that's just my doctor. But I have these knees that creak every time I bend them. I think that is called crepitus. It is a little bothersome and seems to be getting progressively worse. Anyway, the smoothie is healthy so it can't hurt to try.


-1/2 scoop protein powder (this has whey so it makes it vegetarian but if you use hemp or soy protein it would be vegan)
-1 small orange
-kale or spinach
-about a teaspoon of chia seeds
-frozen berries (blueberries, strawberries, raspberries)
-1 tsp freeze dried ginger (or fresh)

 You could also add  ground flax seed (omega 3s are helpful), turmeric (which would possibly taste gross), a teaspoon of olive oil, cantaloupe or whatever else you come up with that might fit into the anti-inflammatory category.

Tarragon Pasta Salad

Recipe for this:
A box of pasta, cooked
1 cup grapes, cut into quarters
1/2 small red onion
2 celery ribs, cut into small pieces
About 1 1/2 cups plain Greek yogurt
Mix into yogurt:
1-2 teaspoons of salt
1 teaspoon lemon juice
a dash of red wine vinegar
1 tbs fresh tarragon, finely chopped
a dash of pepper
Stir the yogurt mixture into the other ingredients
Chill and eat!

Vegan Hawaiian Haystacks

This dish is nothing short of phenomenal! I found the recipe from this woman on facebook who lost 100 lbs eating plant strong. It's Hawaiian haystacks. Usually this has cream of chicken soup (I've mixed mine with sour cream), chicken and those crunchy noodles on top. This version is much healthier. It does have some soy sauce, so sodium, but not that much.

Vegan Hawaiian Haystacks
brown rice
mushrooms
canned pineapple
sliced olives
chickpeas
green peas
red onion
celery, diced small
thinly sliced carrots
unsweetened, shredded coconut
soy sauce

Cook your rice and top as you like with toppings cold or at room temp. You can add other things like tomatoes or green bell peppers or cashews or whatever you think would be good. Just drizzle a little soy sauce on top, you could use low sodium soy sauce.  I found my unsweetened coconut at Winco in the bulk section, it was shredded very fine. Brent loved it and the kids liked it. I thought it was pretty great, and so easy too. I'm all about easy, if you haven't noticed.

Bagel Sandwich

Look at this! I swear if I had to live my life eating only one kind of food, it would be deli food. I'm a simple girl. This delicious bagel sandwich has hummus, romaine lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, olives, red onion and mustard. It would be vegan if I could find a bagel without honey, but I couldn't.

Lo Mein Noodles

I haven't posted anything in a while. I didn't realize it had been so long.

Here we have some nice lo mein noodles. It's just brown rice spaghetti with veggies, cashews and black beans. Cook the veggies in sesame oil and mix some sugar, ginger, corn starch and soy sauce together to make the sauce. Easy peasy.