Two Fantabulous Paleo Recipes

Last week on The 21-Day Sugar Detox Facebook page, the authors  of the Make It Paleo cookbook posted a recipe. I love recipes so I usually take a peek at most of them, but I knew this one was special when they said they licked their plates afterwards. I'm not sure if they really did, but the next day they posted that they made the recipe again! "Ok, I am putting this on next week's menu plan for sure."

Here it is, next week already, and I made this recipe last night. It lived up to the expectations for sure. 

Garlic Ginger Chicken w/Mashed Cauliflower

It's not hard to make, so you really should make it tonight! 

You can find the recipe here.
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Then, while perusing their website some more, I came across a recipe for crab cakes. I haven't had crab cakes in FOREVER, so I decided to give them a try. Oh my.. they didn't disappoint either. If you like the crab cakes served at most establishments that have a very noticeable presence of bread crumbs, you may not like these (and you're weird). These are all crab, baby. And all yum. I didn't have macadamia oil, so I just made Everyday Paleo's mayonnaise recipe as I like the taste.*

Crab Cake w/Homemade mayo garnish

You can find the recipe for the crab cakes here. 

Paleo doesn't have to be boring or bland. I am in awe of the recipes I have been coming across lately and feel like I am eating like a queen every night! This definitely is making The 21-Day Sugar Detox easier to handle :)

While you're at it, make sure you "like" author's page on Facebook and show them some love. They will for sure shower you with more fabulous recipes!

Happy cooking!

*I have recently found out that olive oil should never be heated and since the mayo is used in the crab cake, it eventually gets heated up. Read more about why we shouldn't heat up olive oil and should use other natural oils instead here. (Short answer: heat damages olive oil, releases free radicals, and free radicals are baaaad.) 

Goodbye November

You've been good to me.

Approximately $600 saved and a new-found appreciation for the home-cooked over the store-bought.

It wasn't difficult at all.

The cravings have subsided and the closet has become a little more full.

Although I already have eating out plans made for this week, I can guarantee my eating out will be much less frequent.

What shall the challenge be for December?

Five days a week of working out? Can I do it??

Here's to "getting in shape" being my non-New Year resolution! :)

Almost to the finish line... but every end is a new beginning!

This month has flown by and like I said before, it hasn't been all that difficult. Probably the hardest part of not eating in is the fact that sometimes in a group of people who might all go out to grab a bite to eat, I am the one suggesting we make dinner at home. Or, I am just not participating in group activities that involve eating out. The former isn't much of an issue because I am helping other's save money and enjoy what is often better tasting food, but the latter could kill my social life :)

Last night I looked back at May-October's dining out and grocery spending and averaged a month's worth of spending. Earlier in the month I calculated savings based on a weekly spending average, but since I am almost done I could resort to the full month's worth. We're talking almost $900 in food a month. In fact, in the month's of August-October I spent MORE than $900 a month in food.

Including my grocery store trip bright and early this morning (the crowd is certainly a bit different at 9am at Winco), in the month of November I will have spent a total of $285 on food and only $18 of that was bought "out" but for other people.

Do you understand what that means people??? $600 back in my pocket instead of in my stomach or contributing to some restaurant chain's bottom line.

SIX HUNRED DOLLARS.

Craziness. That's $7200/year. I know it's not realistic to never eat out again, but I could easily save $5000 a year (uhh, new floors in my house... can ya hear me?!) by being more picky about when and where I eat out. Fo sho. 

And now for a little shout out time: 

• Thank you to all those who listened to me talk about this all the time. My hopes was to inspire you to do the same. Dinner party anyone?
• Thank you to those who bought me food the few times I did eat out - in fact, there were only two: 
• Craig: Thank you so much! I know money is tight for you but I also know you wanted to see me succeed at this and I appreciate you helping with my sushi and pho cravings :)
• Michelle: Eggnog latte? Yes m'am! You warmed my belly on a very cold, but fun morning!
• Much appreciation to the Winco lady who helped me split my bill the other day when I was both buying groceries for myself and my adoptive family for the holidays. You didn't look thrilled, but you did it anyway.
• And finally, thanks to me and this little challenge, and H&M, I got some new clothes that I otherwise could not afford. Does this jacket not scream cute??

Three more days people! However, most likely (and hopefully) a lifetime change!

Not eating out and not missing out

These weeks are really flying by.. And I honestly thought not eating out would be more of a struggle.

I imagine if I were feeding more than myself it might be a bit more difficult. This week I was so behind the game that I didn't really menu plan until mid-week and that wouldn't really fly if I had a family. I can subsist on PB&J and making something odd out of random leftovers... But there is only so much.

Because I got paid, I didn't have to pinch pennies at the grocery store. Between that and not having a clear shopping list or meal plan for the week, I spent a little bit more than I have been on groceries. My total grocery purchase for the week was $71.80 - almost a $120 savings from my weekly average in the past. Which brings my total savings for this month to.......

$375

Now before you think I am becoming rich or something, please remember I still have some Hawaiian excursions on my credit card that this will be going towards :) 

On to week 4!

A quiet week 2

I was quiet this week, I know. It came down to just not wanting to sit down and write at the end of the day, so I didn't.

To summarize, I went grocery shopping with a whopping $25.03 in my checking account and another $1.10 or so in my wallet (in change). I can't recall if I have ever had to use a calculator while shopping before, but I was slightly embarrassed. Yes, I know there is no reason to be and that frugality and budgeting is a good thing, but I just felt silly weighing my fruit and vegetables. By the way, let's be thankful to scales that worked in my favor (more on that in a second).

Just as I am wrapping up my shopping, I do one more tally on my spending and realize I will be short by about a dollar. There I am, in the middle of the bakery fishing all the change out of my purse to see how much I can come up with. And it is there I wonder, why do I still have euros in my wallet!? That trip was a year ago!

Now I have $1.10 in change and from my calculations (and weighings of fruits and veggies), I am thinking I'll need approximately $26.10. I am usually one of those people that starts swiping the debit card before the cashier has finished ringing things up, but not this time. I couldn't risk the $20 fee SAFE would charge me to pay that debit (because I *did* authorize them to do that.. thinking I should change that).

Thankfully the total is $23.95 ... I can only guess my fruits/veggies weighed more on the produce department scales *phew*

Wow, I fed myself pretty much the entire week with $23.95 and what I already have in  my house. Amazing.

One of the recipes I made was Super Spicy Chili Mac from the America's Test Kitchen book. Not only was it super spicy (I replaced one can of Ro-Tel mild with hot), but it was super good. I think I ate it for a total of 5 meals. For that reason, I may not make it again for awhile, but I WILL make it again!

Super Spicy Chili Mac

Later in the week I did grocery shopping to make a big breakfast on Saturday morning and buy the ingredients for green bean casserole to bring to a dinner party - but my grand total for the week was still only $65.48! Again, AT LEAST another $100 saved this week!

Total savings to-date: $255.00 

(estimate - based on $190/week food spending in prior 6 months)

This week was not without dilemmas though. Although the only eating "out" I've done the past two weeks has been at the expense of others, there are a few times in the past week where the "food" was bought "out", but was brought to me and was free and I ate it. Who can say no to cupcakes for Radiology Week? 

It wasn't until just today I realized the gray area and for the rest of the month I am not allowed to eat anything that was once several ingredients and is now one food item that is ready to eat and normally is eaten in that state. I think I just confused myself - I hope you got it. Again, canned soup is the exception - which is funny because I haven't even resorted to that yet. 

Bye bye cupcakes. *sigh*

If not for the cupcakes at work, the completely legal cookies I made at home and the two dinners I was invited to I might have seen results on the scale again - but we won't go there. 

Here's to a new week. I am feeling a bit under the weather and had to stop my workout in the middle today - so menu planning and the one big grocery store trip hasn't happened yet. I managed to get to Raley's on my lunch today to buy some stuff I can't get at Winco, so I think I'll survive for a couple of days...

.... but PB&J is gonna get old. 

I've got the need for no-knead (bread, that is)

My "eating in" muse has been that girl from New York and she has inspired me again.

This time it's with one of her ventures into cooking contests. Nope, not going to do that (just yet), but I am going to make some bread using a recipe that had to be adapted into a personal creation for a cooking contest she entered. Yum - who doesn't love freshly baked bread?

Apparently the concept of no-knead bread came from a baker in New York and so in 2006 the New York times published his recipe. It takes just about as long as regular bread, but you barely touch the dough and you cook it in a cast iron dutch oven in the oven.

For my first attempt, I decided not to mess with the recipe much. The only change I made was replacing one cup of white flour with whole wheat flour. At some point I'll try to make it all whole wheat and maybe add in some herbs, but for now we're going to keep it simple.

I'm bummed I forgot to take a picture of the end of step one after it had set for 24 hours (I've been told it can even sit up to two days - or maybe more??). Even without the picture, trust me, the top was dotted with bubbles like the recipe said it should be. Here's what it looked like after I folded it over a couple of times:

Yum. I'm hungry enough even that looks good enough to eat!

But I waited until this stage to actually taste. Spread with butter, this bread was heavenly. It was so crispy crunchy on the outside and chewy in the middle. Definitely a texture I never thought I could get at home. It didn't quite rise as much as I thought it would (or think it should have), but I think a slightly warmer area for it to hang out in would have helped.

Still VERY good though and I cannot wait to try it again.

It paired well with dinner - garlic shrimp with basil:

This meal made me realize - I could have easily paid $20 with tip out at an italian restaurant for this meal and I probably spent MAYBE $5-6 a serving?

This saving money thing is fun!

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Garlic Shrimp with Basil


1 1/2 lbs peeled and deveined shrimp
2 tbsp olive oil
10 garlic cloves, minced
3/4 cup white wine
1 - 14.5oz can diced tomatoes (I didn't drain, but I think maybe they should have been?)
1/2 cup chopped basil
4 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into pieces
2 tbsp capers, drained and minced
1 tsp lemon juice

Pat shrimp dry and pre-heat skilled over medium-high heat with 1 tbsp olive oil until very hot. Cook shrimp for 1 minute on each side. Remove shrimp from skillet.

Add 1 tbsp oil, 1/2 tsp pepper to skillet and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in white wine, tomatoes and simmer for 5 minutes until reduced.

Remove skillet from heat and add in basil, butter, capers and lemon juice. Add the shrimp back into the skillet and cover until shrimp is heated through, about 5 minutes.

Serve over rice or pasta.

Week One - DONE!

It's the end of week one of my personal challenge to not eat out and I am happy to say it was a complete success on every level!

Confession: I did purchase things to eat TWICE, but hear me out on this one, please.

The first time was the very first day of my challenge. I packed my lunch bag full so I wouldn't be tempted to buy anything if I fell into the "starving" category. However, I forgot about breakfast. I rarely eat breakfast before I get to work, so that posed a problem. Do I try to get by on just an apple, do I bum food off someone else, or do I cut myself some slack and go buy something?

Considering breakfast is the most important meal of the day and I didn't feel like being a bum that day, I decided I would purchase something from the cafeteria at work. My choice had to be healthy, filling and cheap. A huge cup of oatmeal fit the bill = $2. I may have broke my rule the first day, but I chalked it up to a rookie mistake.

The second purchase was for a day with my niece. Her birthday was approaching and I thought I would take her to my favorite cupcake place, Icing on the Cupcake, for a special treat = $2.75.

Miss Emma and her cupcake. Happy 6th birthday! 

Combine that with the $51.35 I spent at Winco for the week, the total spent on food was $56.10. If my math skills serve me right, that means I saved over ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS from my weekly average (nevermind I just re-worked the numbers and I probably saved closer to $130!).

WOW.

Do you realize that could translate to at least $5200 a year saved?

Not only that, but it has been nice for a change to plan at least 4 meals for the week and go shopping for all those ingredients. I'm typically the sort of person who plans meal by meal and can end up making several trips to the store in one week.

Time saved. Gas saved.

And yes. I've been eating a lot healthier. I've realized that there are times I am not really that hungry, but if I had the opportunity for a vanilla latte, breakfast burrito from work or a taco salad from my favorite hole in the wall, I would have eaten it anyway. But when you aren't that hungry, leftovers just don't sound appealing.

Calories saved.

I may have even lost a pound or two - even without purposefully cooking low-calorie or low-fat. My new love of grilled sharp cheddar cheese and gruyere sandwiches definitely are not either *smile*

Money, time, gas and calories saved. Sound appealing? I challenge you to try this as well - even if just for a week!

(p.s. Thank you co-worker Craig for sharing half of your breakfast burrito with me Saturday morning! It was divine.... and FREE!)

Dumpster Diving!

Ok, not really. But I did read in "The Art of Eating In" about how it really is something normal people do - at least in NYC. But then that is saying NYC-ites are normal. Ahh, I won't go there. Anyhow, they are called "freegans" which is dervived from "free" and "vegan" - even though you don't have to be vegan to be a freegan. Yes, confusing.

Me practicing. Just kidding :)

In the book, the author talks about a group of people who meet up and hit the dumpsters behind a regular set of restaurants and shops to open up garbage bags and pick out what they want. Before I read the chapter, I was thinking the leftovers on restaurant-goers plates and I thought "really?!" She couldn't be that crazy! Well, she isn't.

A big and very common example is a bread store. Most throw out anything that isn't sold at the end of the day and most bake more than they need in a day to keep the shelves looking full and "nice". That equals a LOT of waste that I imagine doesn't go anywhere but in the garbage. Three garbage bags full of bagels were sitting in the back of the place they went and barely a dent was made when they had taken what they wanted. Other "dumpsters" provided them with bags of those pre-washed lettuces, some barely bruised fruit and vegetables, muffins, croissants, etc.

I haven't heard of such a thing around here (oops, I was wrong) and I am hoping most places donate to food kitchens, so in the meantime my dumpster diving consists of not being shy and taking home people's leftovers.

Today's score?

My co-workers leftover chicken tamale pie! I had a sliver for snack this morning and was told I could take the rest home. SCORE! Dinner! One less meal I had to prepare and buy ingredients for, but it was still a home-cooked meal and I gave it a home (in my belly!) instead of it getting thrown out (they were going on vacation starting tonight).

Wow. This whole thing could possibly do more than I imagined. I eat better, save money and I help prevent a little bit of waste.

Menu Planning and Grocery Shopping

Money has been tight lately. Yes, I know I've said that before - I just needed to say it again. Mortgage/house insurance/property taxes were due yesterday, so I have about $180 to get me through until November 11th.

My aim during this personal "eating in" challenge is to pick four recipes a week to make and then survive on leftovers and sandwiches the rest of the time. Last night I poured through some recipes I copied from a co-workers book: America's Test Kitchen "The Best Simple Recipes". Now if you aren't familiar with America's Test Kitchen, you should be. I've never made any of their recipes and had it come out bad. They test out each recipe until they find just the right ingredients to use, just the right way to cook it, etc. I also opened up a book I found on the bargain rack at a bookstore that seriously has like a million recipes in it: bon appetit "fast easy fresh".

Since Monday was already gone, I settled on 3 recipes (if I need a fourth, I have some frozen chili I made awhile ago):

Cilantro Lime Chicken Fajitas with Grilled Onions

Cajun-style blackened Tilapia

Skillet Sausage and Peppers

Off to the grocery store, shopping list in hand. My goal was $50 so I would still have $50 for next week as well as one tank of gas and a little leftover for necessities.

Let's just say Winco saved the day. My tilapia recipe was really suppose to be halibut, but I probably saved at least $4/lb by making the switch. I threw back my Honeycrisp apples that were $2/lb in favor of the 3lb bag of Fuji's (my favorite) for $3. And thankfully Winco sells a bag of natural frozen chicken breasts (as natural as frozen ones can be, I suppose) for only $5.

Cash register total?

$51.35

Job well done.

Tonight's menu was tilapia (recipe below) since I felt the fish should be the first to go out of the refrigerator. I think I might even dub Tuesday's "To the Sea Tuesday!" I mean, Meatless Monday has its day, why not all the little things flappin' around in the ocean?

Here it is - complete with still-slightly-crunchy brocolli..... YUM!

Spicy and very, very good. I think next time I would cut back on the salt a tad though. I don't think I even missed the fact that it wasn't halibut.

Frugal AND yummy? Sign me up!

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Cajun-style blackened Halibut

1 tsp salt
1 tsp minced fresh thyme
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp sweet paprika
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp fennel seeds, crushed
(4) 6-ounce halibut (or tilapia) fillets
2 tbsp olive oil, divided
4tsp butter (optional, I didn't use)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix first 7 ingredients in a small bowl. Place fish fillets on rimmed baking sheet. Brush both sides with 1 tablespoon oil. Sprinkle top of each fillet with spice mixture.

Heat heavy large skillet (preferably cast iron) over high heat until very hot. Add remaining 1 tablespoon oil; swirl to coat. Place fish fillets, seasoned side down, in skillet. Cook until very brown on bottom, 1 minute. Return fillets, brown side up, to baking sheet. Place in oven and bake until just opaque in center, about 8 minutes. Transfer fish to plates. Top each fish fillet with optional 1 teaspoon of butter.

Eating In

Steadily over the past few years (ok, maybe more like 5), I have started to eat out more. It's very true that when you make more, you spend more and still feel like you don't have enough. That's exactly where I am. 

Now, I love cooking, but sometimes it's just easier to hop in a car and get that sushi roll you've been dreaming of or that taco salad that it would take you awhile (and quite a few ingredients) to make. Before I knew it, I was regularly eating most meals outside of my home. That's just ridiculous. 

One direct correlation of this eating out is the hit to my checking account. Granted, some meals eaten out might be cheaper than buying all the ingredients to make it yourself (a la Taco Bell), but we'll get to that in a second. According to FinanceWorks (which I get through SAFE for free), I spent $2,198 in groceries in the past six months. Not bad as far as groceries for pretty much one person, but when you add in that I spent a whopping $1,898 in dining out... that's a little excessive. $4000 on food in 6 months!? That's about $160/week. For ONE PERSON!? And then there is the realization that almost 50% of the stuff I put in my mouth required someone else making it, adding a profit margin (and probably some undesirable ingredients) and selling it to me. Yuck. 

When I say dining out, I not only mean sit down restaurants, faster food, but also little trips to Starbucks for a latte or that cupcake I just needed to have. Basically a lot of stuff I really didn't need and all too easy to obtain. 

After coming to a point where I am financially broke (not hurting, just nothing "extra") for the first time in many, many years, I realized I needed to do something about it. 

My completely original idea (or so I thought) was to not eat out for a month. 

I wondered to myself if there were any articles or bloggers out there that had pondered the same idea. Welp, there was. Some chick in New York beat me to it years ago. However, she kind of blew my idea out of the water as she didn't eat out for TWO years. She has since written a book based on her blog and experience during that time and I purchased it for further inspiration. 

One of her obstacles was dating and just the general idea of how a lot of socialization happens around a plate at a restaurant. I can see this possibly being an issue, but it's just going to take some imagination. It won't be fun eating before I go to hang out with friends, but I'll have to visually tally the monetary savings in my head. Something's got to keep me going, right?

The other thing I hope to achieve through this process is just a healthier way of eating and perhaps some weight loss. Since giving up soda earlier in the year, I have replaced it with vanilla latte's. Even though I get them with non-fat milk and reduced amount of pumps of the syrup, I still replaced a 0 calorie drink with approximately a 160 calorie one. And on nights like tonight, where I came home from work with a headache, took a nap to sleep it off and really just wanted to go out and grab my comfort food (In-n-Out, perhaps?) to make myself feel better - I couldn't. I even read one person lost 10 pounds in just one month of not eating out! I highly doubt that will happen to me as I am thinking that person most likely started out a bit heavier than me, but it still was inspiring. 


So how is this going to work? What are the "rules"? As I've thought about this over the past few days I realized there will be a lot of gray areas. I am not going to kick myself if I realize later that maybe I did "technically" screw up, but I am going to try to avoid it. For now, this is what I've come up with:

• The obvious: no eating at any establishment that serves you the food ready-to-eat or drink. 
• This also means prepared stuff that the grocery store now sells - sandwiches, chinese food, sushi, etc. 
• The "gray area" of soup will be allowed, but not the stuff served hot and ready-to-eat at the store. If I want it, I have to work a little for it.
• I am permitted once a week to eat out, but only if someone else pays :) And then at that opportunity, I will make healthy decisions and not include foods that my body doesn't need (fried foods, fast food, etc.)

For the time being those are the only ones I can think of. PLEASE, if you can think of something I might have not thought about, TELL ME! 

As for day #1 (today)? Well, let's just say I pulled a rookie move. I packed all my food today and forgot to pack breakfast - the most important meal of the day! So at work, I did purchase something ready-made, but since I was already screwing up on my first meal of this whole personal challenge, I said it must be cheap, filling and healthy. So for $2 I bought a big bowl of oatmeal with raisins and apples. As for the rest of the day, it's leftovers time. 

Next on the list? Menu planning and grocery shopping. More on that soon!