Okay, I went for convenience this time. Pamela's may cost quite a bit, but just to be able to open a mix, add a few ingredients like milk (non-dairy of course!), egg (replacer of course!) and butter (coconut oil of course!) and pop some yummy muffins, scones, banana bread or waffles in the oven...it is so worth the price.
Regular price at my local Kroger is $15.99 for the 4 pound bag. But the first time I bought it was because it was on clearance for $7.49! Deal of the week!
Now, I've ordered from Amazon & get 3 bags for a little under $40. That's still cheaper than the cheapest store price and it qualifies for Super-Saver no shipping fees with Amazon.
Is it cheaper to buy all the different gluten-free flours and stir up everything for myself? Of course! But when I'm in a hurry, we have no bread in the house and the kids (or I!) want something yummy for breakfast, you can't beat Pamela's!
**Disclaimer- Pamela's Baking & Pancake Mix does include buttermilk powder so it is not Vegan. I'm still having difficulty eliminating all dairy and egg. The only way I can do this affordably, is to make everything from scratch. That's difficult when you're working. So I keep plugging away!
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Sunday, January 9, 2011
The Bottom Line
The numbers are in!
While reviewing our grocery & dining out expenses for the month of December, I discovered something interesting, that actually debunks the strongly held opinion of most people I know. It actually costs less to eat healthy. This was the first full month of my vegan lifestyle, plus I incorporated many more organic, natural, live, raw, thus healthy, foods into our family's lifestyle.
Granted, we're not total organic and we do still eat some things that aren't good for us, but improvement is my goal each month...not perfection. And if you can quantify such a thing, I think a safe estimate would be a 50-60% improvement in how everyone in our family is eating.
When discussing this financial revelation with my husband, he admitted that he's getting less hungry while he's at work. And I know my kids are asking for food less often. But yes, when they ask, they tend to complain that there's nothing here to eat. While that's not true, they think if they can't grab something out of a box or from the fridge already made then we "don't have anything."
Now for the dollar figures. Even with travelling around Christmas, hosting two families during the month, preparation for our family Christmas & taking food for a small group dinner & New Year's Eve party, plus having to eat out here & there because of the extra busyness, we were down over $200 in groceries (Which includes personal products. I don't split them in the budget) and down about $150 in dining out (I know...ridiculously high amount to be down...but dining out has always been our weakness!)
Plus, I actually lost weight during the month of December. Eight pounds to be exact! I'm pretty sure that has never happened to me before. Usually, I'm just content to not gain weight from late November to January.
So who says you can't eat healthy, save money and survive the holidays without gaining weight?? Who knows?? But the more I learn about food and big business, it was probably someone that wanted me to buy his highly-processed, toxic food!
While reviewing our grocery & dining out expenses for the month of December, I discovered something interesting, that actually debunks the strongly held opinion of most people I know. It actually costs less to eat healthy. This was the first full month of my vegan lifestyle, plus I incorporated many more organic, natural, live, raw, thus healthy, foods into our family's lifestyle.
Granted, we're not total organic and we do still eat some things that aren't good for us, but improvement is my goal each month...not perfection. And if you can quantify such a thing, I think a safe estimate would be a 50-60% improvement in how everyone in our family is eating.
When discussing this financial revelation with my husband, he admitted that he's getting less hungry while he's at work. And I know my kids are asking for food less often. But yes, when they ask, they tend to complain that there's nothing here to eat. While that's not true, they think if they can't grab something out of a box or from the fridge already made then we "don't have anything."
Now for the dollar figures. Even with travelling around Christmas, hosting two families during the month, preparation for our family Christmas & taking food for a small group dinner & New Year's Eve party, plus having to eat out here & there because of the extra busyness, we were down over $200 in groceries (Which includes personal products. I don't split them in the budget) and down about $150 in dining out (I know...ridiculously high amount to be down...but dining out has always been our weakness!)
Plus, I actually lost weight during the month of December. Eight pounds to be exact! I'm pretty sure that has never happened to me before. Usually, I'm just content to not gain weight from late November to January.
So who says you can't eat healthy, save money and survive the holidays without gaining weight?? Who knows?? But the more I learn about food and big business, it was probably someone that wanted me to buy his highly-processed, toxic food!
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Some Good Eats
You can read about my fasting failure on my other blog. Don't want to rehash it here. But I've recently had a few good, Vegan things that I wanted to share.
I purchased the Skinny Bitch Cookbook and last night tried the Curried Chickpea Fritters and Curried Roasted Cauliflower. Both where delicious! Can't wait to try a few more. The fritters did call for breadcrumbs and what I had on hand where Panko, but gluten-free crumbs could be substituted with no problem.
Also, I'd purchased Bragg's Liquid Aminos a few weeks ago and have hesitated to use it. You can look up the info on this item at their website (register & get FREE samples too!) but essentially, it's a soy sauce substitute (still made from soy, but guaranteed Non-GMO!) that is chock full of aminos every Vegetarian/Vegan needs. But the last 2 times I've used regular soy sauce, I've thought it tasted nasty...I mean nasty! Probably owing in part to it being in my fridge too long because our whole family prefers teriyaki sauce over soy.
Yet, last night I cooked up some veggie stir fry for the kids because I knew the fritters wouldn't go over well and guess what? It was delicious. I did cook in a little extra garlic with the veggies and added sesame seeds at the end to add some flavor, but the Braggs' Aminos was smooth, blended with the other flavors much better than regular soy sauce and was NOT obscenely salty! All to say, I highly recommend Braggs. (I like their nutritional yeast too.) And maybe next time I won't be such a pansy about trying something new.
I purchased the Skinny Bitch Cookbook and last night tried the Curried Chickpea Fritters and Curried Roasted Cauliflower. Both where delicious! Can't wait to try a few more. The fritters did call for breadcrumbs and what I had on hand where Panko, but gluten-free crumbs could be substituted with no problem.
Also, I'd purchased Bragg's Liquid Aminos a few weeks ago and have hesitated to use it. You can look up the info on this item at their website (register & get FREE samples too!) but essentially, it's a soy sauce substitute (still made from soy, but guaranteed Non-GMO!) that is chock full of aminos every Vegetarian/Vegan needs. But the last 2 times I've used regular soy sauce, I've thought it tasted nasty...I mean nasty! Probably owing in part to it being in my fridge too long because our whole family prefers teriyaki sauce over soy.
Yet, last night I cooked up some veggie stir fry for the kids because I knew the fritters wouldn't go over well and guess what? It was delicious. I did cook in a little extra garlic with the veggies and added sesame seeds at the end to add some flavor, but the Braggs' Aminos was smooth, blended with the other flavors much better than regular soy sauce and was NOT obscenely salty! All to say, I highly recommend Braggs. (I like their nutritional yeast too.) And maybe next time I won't be such a pansy about trying something new.
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Officially Declaring 2011 as the "Year of Conversion"
If you've ever clicked on my other blog, you know I'm a Jesus follower. So no, I'm not converting to a different religion or even another denomination. What I'm hoping to convert is my family...and honestly, finish converting myself.
I'm still really struggling with the complete elimination of dairy (mostly butter) and eggs. There are some recipes that just aren't the same...like the pumpkin pie that just came out of my Christmas baking oven. For a while, I've told myself "I'll just make this for the family", "I'll just let them have this (insert bad food or drink item name here)" or even "I'll work on them later, after I've gotten it all down pat". Tonight, I'm just telling myself I can't have any of the pie. But by this time next year, my prayer is to have an entirely Vegan dinner for all of us! I don't really want to fix turkey, ham or even chicken for anyone else. If I don't believe it's good for me, why should I cook it for them??
So here's to getting more creative, positive and determined! I never make New Year's resolutions, because I don't like to knowingly set myself up for failure. But these are changes that will only bring positive results.
The tricky thing is...I just can't announce to them that I'm doing it (unless I want a minor rebellion)...it just has to happen & a few weeks down the road maybe they'll realize that they haven't really missed the butter, eggs and excessive sugar anyway!
I'm still really struggling with the complete elimination of dairy (mostly butter) and eggs. There are some recipes that just aren't the same...like the pumpkin pie that just came out of my Christmas baking oven. For a while, I've told myself "I'll just make this for the family", "I'll just let them have this (insert bad food or drink item name here)" or even "I'll work on them later, after I've gotten it all down pat". Tonight, I'm just telling myself I can't have any of the pie. But by this time next year, my prayer is to have an entirely Vegan dinner for all of us! I don't really want to fix turkey, ham or even chicken for anyone else. If I don't believe it's good for me, why should I cook it for them??
So here's to getting more creative, positive and determined! I never make New Year's resolutions, because I don't like to knowingly set myself up for failure. But these are changes that will only bring positive results.
The tricky thing is...I just can't announce to them that I'm doing it (unless I want a minor rebellion)...it just has to happen & a few weeks down the road maybe they'll realize that they haven't really missed the butter, eggs and excessive sugar anyway!
Saturday, December 18, 2010
I Don't Need Any More Convincing
It's been very difficult for me to completely eliminate dairy so far. If I'm cooking/baking at home, it's easier than if I go somewhere. Dining with family, friends or even buying something pre-made at the store (i.e. packaged anything!), has been really hard to have no milk, butter, cheese or eggs (although I know they're not dairy).
But, I have greatly reduced the amount of dairy that I've had and when I have some, like my Starbucks indulgence this last week, I can tell that it causes the "fuzzy brain" feeling that I've struggled with for several years. I can't say for sure that this was always the cause, but it's definitely been the reason for lack of focus and that occasional "drunk" feeling since I've made my dietary changes.
Yet, I've been dallying back and forth with the dairy elimination...until now. Last night, my daughter (who is a great cook/baker) made some spinach artichoke dip. I wanted to taste it to encourage her efforts and it tasted great. Problem is...I didn't stop with just a taste. I by no means ate what I would have in the past, but I apparently had more than enough.
I'll spare you the details, but intestinal issues and fuzzy brain were just the beginning. I woke up feeling lethargic & it took a good few hours, a litre of water and a good cleanse to start feeling right again. Not to mention that during my exercising this morning I had to stop a couple of times to attempt to cough up the huge phlegm balls that were trying to dislodge themselves from my sinuses. (That may have been more detail than necessary, but you get the point!)
Where does this leave me? With even more determination to eliminate dairy. I even made a dessert for tomorrow night when we have company, that I know I won't be able to eat. And actually, I'm okay with that. Knowing that something is off-limits because of my dietary exclusions actually makes the choice for me...at least it helps.
My renewed efforts to eliminate dairy will hopefully extend toward choices for the rest of the family too...3 of the other 5 had stomach aches this morning, I'm guessing from the pizza they had last night. I'm hoping it's just a matter of time before they make the connection and the switch too!
But, I have greatly reduced the amount of dairy that I've had and when I have some, like my Starbucks indulgence this last week, I can tell that it causes the "fuzzy brain" feeling that I've struggled with for several years. I can't say for sure that this was always the cause, but it's definitely been the reason for lack of focus and that occasional "drunk" feeling since I've made my dietary changes.
Yet, I've been dallying back and forth with the dairy elimination...until now. Last night, my daughter (who is a great cook/baker) made some spinach artichoke dip. I wanted to taste it to encourage her efforts and it tasted great. Problem is...I didn't stop with just a taste. I by no means ate what I would have in the past, but I apparently had more than enough.
I'll spare you the details, but intestinal issues and fuzzy brain were just the beginning. I woke up feeling lethargic & it took a good few hours, a litre of water and a good cleanse to start feeling right again. Not to mention that during my exercising this morning I had to stop a couple of times to attempt to cough up the huge phlegm balls that were trying to dislodge themselves from my sinuses. (That may have been more detail than necessary, but you get the point!)
Where does this leave me? With even more determination to eliminate dairy. I even made a dessert for tomorrow night when we have company, that I know I won't be able to eat. And actually, I'm okay with that. Knowing that something is off-limits because of my dietary exclusions actually makes the choice for me...at least it helps.
My renewed efforts to eliminate dairy will hopefully extend toward choices for the rest of the family too...3 of the other 5 had stomach aches this morning, I'm guessing from the pizza they had last night. I'm hoping it's just a matter of time before they make the connection and the switch too!
Friday, December 10, 2010
Marinated Pasta Salad
This recipe came from my husband's great aunt. Her original recipe called for three times the amount of oil, vinegar and sugar that I use. I will add her amounts to the notes section. Judge for yourself how much marinade you would like.
1 pound pasta (for gluten free, use rice or quinoa pasta)*
1/2 c. oil**
1/2 c. vinegar***
1/2 c. evaporated cane juice crystals
2 Tbsp. mixed seasoning****
sea salt to taste
Cook pasta following package directions until al dente. Drain. Add to marinade and keep in fridge 1 hour to overnight giving the flavors as much time to "meld" as possible.
Just before serving, add any combination of chopped veggies you would like. Some of my favorites are tomato*****, onion, celery, peppers (green, yellow, red, orange), cucumber and carrots.
Serve well chilled.
Notes:
*I prefer small pastas...macaroni, rotini, wheels, shells, ziti, especially "piccolini" sizes.
**I use the oil that would work best with the flavor I'm trying to achieve. Canola for Mexican, Olive for Italian or Sesame for Asian.
***Again, I use the vinegar that would work best with the flavors I'd like to blend. Red wine vinegar for Italian, rice wine vinegar for Asian. White vinegar, apple cider vinegar or white wine vinegars work well too!
****Any combination of herbs will work well, just remember to compliment. Garlic, basil, rosemary, oregano blend for Italian; cilantro, dried chili peppers, garlic, cumin for Mexican; Sprinkle with sesame seeds or slivered almonds for Asian.
*****Tomatoes do get mushy if you have leftovers...and this does make a lot of pasta salad. I usually leave the tomatoes out and add just before I serve.
Remember to have fun and experiment with different flavors. Play with it, mix it up and it will be different every time. Honestly, I have yet to make a bad combination. If you're hesitant, you can probably google good seasoning ideas for different blends. Also, mix up the veggies to compliment the salad. You can use what you have on hand, or specifically add some that go with the "theme". Snow pea pods would be great for Asian! I've even thought about trying jicama in a Mexican blend.
Last note- original recipe called for 1 1/2 cups each of oil, vinegar and sugar, but I've never used this much.
1 pound pasta (for gluten free, use rice or quinoa pasta)*
1/2 c. oil**
1/2 c. vinegar***
1/2 c. evaporated cane juice crystals
2 Tbsp. mixed seasoning****
sea salt to taste
Cook pasta following package directions until al dente. Drain. Add to marinade and keep in fridge 1 hour to overnight giving the flavors as much time to "meld" as possible.
Just before serving, add any combination of chopped veggies you would like. Some of my favorites are tomato*****, onion, celery, peppers (green, yellow, red, orange), cucumber and carrots.
Serve well chilled.
Notes:
*I prefer small pastas...macaroni, rotini, wheels, shells, ziti, especially "piccolini" sizes.
**I use the oil that would work best with the flavor I'm trying to achieve. Canola for Mexican, Olive for Italian or Sesame for Asian.
***Again, I use the vinegar that would work best with the flavors I'd like to blend. Red wine vinegar for Italian, rice wine vinegar for Asian. White vinegar, apple cider vinegar or white wine vinegars work well too!
****Any combination of herbs will work well, just remember to compliment. Garlic, basil, rosemary, oregano blend for Italian; cilantro, dried chili peppers, garlic, cumin for Mexican; Sprinkle with sesame seeds or slivered almonds for Asian.
*****Tomatoes do get mushy if you have leftovers...and this does make a lot of pasta salad. I usually leave the tomatoes out and add just before I serve.
Remember to have fun and experiment with different flavors. Play with it, mix it up and it will be different every time. Honestly, I have yet to make a bad combination. If you're hesitant, you can probably google good seasoning ideas for different blends. Also, mix up the veggies to compliment the salad. You can use what you have on hand, or specifically add some that go with the "theme". Snow pea pods would be great for Asian! I've even thought about trying jicama in a Mexican blend.
Last note- original recipe called for 1 1/2 cups each of oil, vinegar and sugar, but I've never used this much.
Basmati Pilaf
1 c. rice
2 c. veggie broth or equivalent of veggie bouillon
1 Tbsp coconut oil
1 bay leaf
Combine together in a pan with tight lid. Bring to a boil, reduce to low and cook 50 minutes.
Additional ingredients:
1 Tbsp. coconut oil*
1 c. chopped onion
1/3 c. thin sliced celery
1/4 c. raisins (optional)**
1 tsp. fine chopped fresh ginger
1 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. ground coriander
fresh ground pepper, to taste
1 Tbsp. soy sauce (optional- or may substitute tamari or Bragg's liquid aminos)***
When rice has about 10 minutes left, saute onion in a separate pan for 3 minutes. Add celery, raisins and spices (except soy sauce) and cook 2 minutes.
Stir into cooked rice. Add soy sauce and remove bay leaf.
Notes:
*I prefer cooking with coconut oil because of its high heat threshold and it does not oxidize when heated like other oils. But any preferred oil can be used.
**I did not add raisins to our yummy rice. I just have a thing about raisins in my food. Can't get over the idea that they belong in cookies, muffins or oatmeal and the like. But that's just my preference.
***I did not add any form of soy sauce because the rice smelled so good I didn't want to load it down with soy sauce (although this is a small amount). I left it out and my husband added just the amount of soy sauce he wanted to his portion.
This is a delicious recipe. One of my girls went back for 3 helpings!
2 c. veggie broth or equivalent of veggie bouillon
1 Tbsp coconut oil
1 bay leaf
Combine together in a pan with tight lid. Bring to a boil, reduce to low and cook 50 minutes.
Additional ingredients:
1 Tbsp. coconut oil*
1 c. chopped onion
1/3 c. thin sliced celery
1/4 c. raisins (optional)**
1 tsp. fine chopped fresh ginger
1 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. ground coriander
fresh ground pepper, to taste
1 Tbsp. soy sauce (optional- or may substitute tamari or Bragg's liquid aminos)***
When rice has about 10 minutes left, saute onion in a separate pan for 3 minutes. Add celery, raisins and spices (except soy sauce) and cook 2 minutes.
Stir into cooked rice. Add soy sauce and remove bay leaf.
Notes:
*I prefer cooking with coconut oil because of its high heat threshold and it does not oxidize when heated like other oils. But any preferred oil can be used.
**I did not add raisins to our yummy rice. I just have a thing about raisins in my food. Can't get over the idea that they belong in cookies, muffins or oatmeal and the like. But that's just my preference.
***I did not add any form of soy sauce because the rice smelled so good I didn't want to load it down with soy sauce (although this is a small amount). I left it out and my husband added just the amount of soy sauce he wanted to his portion.
This is a delicious recipe. One of my girls went back for 3 helpings!
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