Triple Clicks

Thursday, June 30, 2016

Shopping This Week

We have decided to do our shopping on Saturdays as a family so I have help with the kids... Where's my happy jump emoji? Just picture a minion doing a happy dance, that's me.  My husband seriously made my month when he told me that.  

I did some more recipe looking as I was making my shopping list this week.  As much as we loved the constant salads, the budget wasn't so happy, so I am still in search of recipes that are healthy but more budget friendly.  


You  can stop laughing now.  

I haven't had much luck, unfortunately.  A friend suggested I try looking for recipes suggested for bariatric surgery patients and a few other friends gave me more suggestions for blogs with low carb, budget friendly recipes.. So we're trying.  We won't be eating AS MANY salads, but we'll still have quite a few salads.  

My boards on Pinterest are providing our meal recipes this month.  

Merissa from Little House Living gave me tips on what she shops for at Aldi's, she mostly uses them for budget friendly produce and condiments so I'm going to go with that suggestion and also check out the items on my list for HyVee since I will be there.  The rest of their prices pretty much mirror Sam's prices.

We had fun with my aunt, uncle and mom visiting.  Went to Mitchell to The Corn Palace one day, then Sioux Falls the next to see the Falls and the USS South Dakota Memorial. This end of the state does have some good sites to see!

It seems like this month is not a good month for the house.  Broke pipes trying to fix a sink drain... Then I blew  fuse in the kitchen and don't have a new one...waiting for nap time to end to rectify that situation. 

I'll share my shopping trip next week. Have a great week!

~Tabitha

Wednesday, June 22, 2016

New Foods and Heat

Boy it's hot up here this year.  Usually we don't get this hot and humid until July or August, but man it's coming early.   

We are working on figuring out this new diet.  I have figured out I need more protein and carbs, it's just not enough for nursing.  But I'm starting to love salads.. And that broccoli salad? AMAZING! 

So let me share some of the foods we've been eating that we are loving. 

Broccoli Salad
2 heads of broccoli
1/2 red onion
8 oz shredded cheddar cheese
cranberries
raisins
sunflower seeds
1/2 cup mayonnaise or miracle whip
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup white vinegar

Chop everything into small bite size pieces-small, keep in mind what else is in the salad, I cut it too big the first time.  Shred your cheese and throw in the bowl with the broccoli (the recipe I found said to chop in small bites, I decided to shred), cut your onion and put in the bowl.  Put in the cranberries, raisins and sunflower seeds, I also substituted the cranberries and raisins for cherry tomatoes-good either way but the kids preferred the cranberries and raisins.  Mix it all together and make sure the amounts are even (or at least as even as you want them). In a separate bowl whisk the mayo, vinegar and sugar (if you want it less sweet, use about 2 tablespoons honey), then pour over the salad.  Now it's ready to eat.  :D This amount fed us for meal with a bit of left over.  

Grilled Chicken
Cut chicken breasts in half horizontal (you want two skinny breasts instead of one thick one).  Then season-I put tenderizer, garlic, onion, paprika on it-both sides.  You want to marinate for at least an hour. Obviously the longer it sits, the tastier it will be. Grill until done, about 20 minutes.  Now you can do whatever, eat plain, cut up for salads.  


Sriracha Lime Chicken
The link is what it's supposed to look like... 



That's what is turned out like. But still good. 
So here's what I did different. The chicken was marinated from the recipe above, it didn't fit on the grill over the weekend so needed cooked.  I cut the pineapple up. Used the onion stems from home grown red onion instead of the bulbs. I also just made a pesto with olive oil, white vinegar and cilantro instead of the vinaigrette recipe it comes with. The kids got raspberry vinaigrette and no avocado with hers. 

This is my other favorite.  I have a strict coffee shop budget-sad but true... So when I want to go and have to stick to my budget, I make my own iced coffee. About 8 ice cubes in a 12 ounce cup (I think, the one that came with our Bullet blender), add the flavoring hazelnut (liquid stevia from Azure Standard) and chocolate syrup, add coffee until about 1/2 full, then half as much milk-gotta leave room for blending. Blend and enjoy.  



Have a great week! 

~Tabitha

Thursday, June 9, 2016

Shopping Trip June 8

I was so excited for Aldi's open! SO excited.  But clearly I need tips on what to buy to save money, whereas we did save a little, not near as much as what I know you can save... So I've been pinning some things to read later on. 

In the meantime... Our meal plan this month is more than a little different.  We started tracking calories with FitBit and we are eliminating as many carbs as we can.. which means no pasta, no taco shells, little bread.  I have so many salad plans it's not even funny.  I've also taken out the usual hamburger and fries we do on the weekends and replacing it with grilled chicken and a salad of some sort. 

Aldi's, while I know we picked up some extras (cereal mostly), we spent $117, which wasn't too bad. 

Sam's we spent $150.

HyVee we spent $70, and for being a Perks card member we won a $10 gift card for next time (I dunno, the receipt said it was a perk, that's all I can tell you).  

We still have to pick up a few things at the local Dollar General because I couldn't deal with Andrew and Dollar  Tree, but other than that we are done.   

Pinterest was my best friend for meal plans... Completely going against what I usually do, almost everything we are eating this month is something new.  So here's the links to what is on the plan and where I found it.  Have fun. :D 

Caprese Chicken  I had originally seen this recipe on Facebook, which cooks everything in a pan on the stove, but I like this one better. 

Southwestern Chopped Salad

Breaded Chicken Salad-breaded chicken strips, lettuce (mix of romaine and iceberg), croutons, bacon bits, sunflower seeds, choice of dressing

Chicken Shake n bake-chicken pieces coated in light breading with whatever seasonings I grab (usually a base of garlic, onion and paprika), side salad

Shrimp and Avocado salad

One pan chicken and brown rice

Chicken Salad-just simply grilled chicken cut up in a salad

Cherry Coffee Cake-this is for breakfast while we have company. It will be made ahead and warmed up when we eat it. 

Grilled chicken and Broccoli salad-the chicken will be marinated in tenderizer, salt, pepper, garlic an onion for a day before. 

Sriracha lime chicken

Lemon Pepper Chicken-chicken pieces coated in lemon pepper and olive oil then baked and a side salad.

Honey mustard Chicken-chicken pieces coated in honey mustard and baked, side salad.

Garlic butter Shrimp and Rice-we've actually ate this before my husband says it reminds him of gumbo.

Chicken fajitas-chicken cooked in fajita seasoning, bell peppers and onions cooked in fajita seasoning and everything put in a tortilla with mozarella cheese and sour cream.

Do you have any tips for me for shopping at Aldi's? 

Have a great week!

~Tabitha

Thursday, June 2, 2016

Things Keep Getting Interesting....

Dennis and I have decided we want to start May over again and do a redo. Anybody with us? 

Our fridge has been going out for awhile.  A friend suggest we defrost it, so tried that it helped for a few weeks... Then the freezer went out.  I had forgotten I had cabbage in the freezer until I came out and smelled it rotting.  I hate that smell.  

Fortunately, it was Memorial Day weekend when it got bad, so we put it off for a few days and were able to take advantage of the sale. $1400 Kenmore side-by-side fridge for $800 plus tax, free delivery from the city (45 miles with where the store sits).   Not too shabby.  

Unfortunately, they can't deliver until the 6th. SO.... shopping every couple of days and using the cooler I use for grocery shopping trips in the meantime.  The old fridge is still somewhat good, but it's a guess as to which day it's going to behave and which day it's going to freeze everything... So things like eggs and lettuce I have to be careful about leaving them in the fridge. 

It also means I can't do a big shopping trip until the fridge comes...so it's gonna be a couple weeks before y'all get that.  And it also means I most likely won't have the help to go through Aldis like I wanted.  Oof, that's gonna hurt, but I'll make it (with or without all my hair is the question).  

Our second car also bit the dust.  We took it in for an oil change and a once over, they drained the oil and found metal shavings everywhere.... The same thing happened with our old Focus before it blew up... twice (long story involving an incompetent mechanic).  So..... in the driveway it sits until we figure out what to do with it.  But we really didn't do too bad with it.  It's a 2003 Saturn Vue. We bought it used with around 105,000 miles on it in 2011 for $5,000.  We've put just shy of 100,000 miles on it (seriously, like 200 miles just shy of) and it has only needed two major repairs since we bought it.  Not too shabby I would say.  

So we are down to one car.. Which is just perfectly fine, this month is just a little hairy with the going back and forth to be able to have my oldest with us... So when we have to go somewhere, we have to load all the kids up at 5 AM, take hubby to work then be back at 2 pm to pick him up.  Oof and ugh.  Coffee is my best friend this week.  


On a happy note!  I'm super excited about a new coffee shop opening in town! If  you are in the area you should come check them out! The Homestead The link is for their Facebook page, great little family that's running it and they are local sourcing a lot (if not all) of their ingredients-which makes them even better. :) 


Have a great week!!

~Tabitha