Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Favorite Recipe: Quick Asian Pork Stir-Fry

QUICK ASIAN PORK STIR-FRY

I'm keeping my cooking simple this week because of all the food preparation for Thanksgiving. So, I made this all-time favorite last night that for some reason I never got around to posting on my recipe site until now. It's based on my Thai Pork Lettuce Wraps recipe and I tend to just throw in whatever I'm in the mood for at the time. Use the recipe as a guide and tweak it to your own tastes.  
 
Have a very nice Thanksgiving everyone!

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Holiday Shopping











Today I did my big holiday food shopping trip for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I will need to get a few more things later but I got most of the staples today. Aldi has some great sales this week, and Kroger has turkeys on sale, so this was the time to pick up what I'll need for the holidays since I had to spend at least $20 to get the sale price on the turkey. Here is what I got for a total of $45.29 after my Kroger senior discount and coupons:
  • 15 1/2 pound turkey @ .59 per pound - $9.23
  • 9 bags of Kroger frozen vegetables @ $1.00 per bag - $6.10 after my senior discount and a $2.00 off frozen food coupon (I got 3 cauliflower, 2 bell pepper/onion blend, 3 green beans and 1 Asian blend)
  • 1 pound Kroger pork sausage - $2.25
  • 16 ounces Kroger shredded mozzarella - $2.69
  • 16 ounces Kroger cottage cheese @ $1.25 on sale minus discount and 40-cent coupon - $.72
  • Roma tomatoes - $.64 (Walmart)
I got all this from Aldi:
  • 3 bags pork rinds - $.99 each
  • 1 1/2 pounds zucchini - $.89
  • 2 8-ounce Swiss cheese @ $1.49 each
  • 8-ounce Colby cheese - $1.49
  • 8-ounce pepper-jack cheese - $1.49
  • 1 can tomato paste - $.39 (I usually pay 44-cents at Walmart)
  • Deluxe American cheese - $2.99
  • 3 pounds butter @ $1.69 each
  • 2 bags fresh cranberries @ $.99 each
  • 1 can pumpkin - $.89
  • 2 dozen eggs @ $.99 each
  • Celery - $.59
  • 3 pound bag of onions - $.59

CHICKEN CORDON BLEU CASSEROLE

Of course I also bought a few high carb items and non-food items that aren't mentioned here. Tomorrow I will make some "zoodles" out of the zucchini that I bought and serve them with Dottie's Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole. If you haven't tried that recipe, what are you waiting for? It's delicious and super easy to make. Someone just posted a link to this YouTube video that demonstrates four different "zoodlers":



Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Tuesday Bargains

I nearly forgot to tell you about the deals I got today. Food Town had Jimmy Dean maple pork sausage on sale for only $1.29 per roll but the sale was only on that flavor. I'd never tried it before but I bought two rolls even though it's a little carbier than plain pork sausage. It has 2 carbs per serving which is 1/6 of the package. I fried up one roll when I got home and it's pretty good but now the whole house smells like maple syrup. Eating it is a little like eating sausage and pancakes at the same time. They also had Owens sausage on sale for $1.88 per roll and I got one each of the regular and the Italian flavors.

Also at Food Town, I got a 10-ounce bottle of Kikkoman soy sauce on sale for 99-cents and my final cost was just 44-cents after a 55-cent coupon.

I got one bargain at HEB from the clearance bin. Because the boxes were damaged, they had two boxes of Atkins Advantage bars marked down to $3.00 each so I bought both packages. I avoid sugar alcohols but I thought that perhaps my husband might like to nibble on them when we become a strictly low carb household after our son moves out.






Military Appreciation Monday

Last night we went to Golden Corral for their special Veteran's Day dinner. My husband is a veteran so his meal was free. It had been many, many years since I last went to Golden Corral so I wasn't sure how many low carb options they'd have there. I did quite well and there were probably more options that I missed. I had a small steak, some rotisserie chicken, a little pot roast and a few bites of their Bourbon Street Chicken. I indulged in a few chunks of cantaloupe and honeydew melon for dessert. I know that the bourbon chicken had some sugar in it but I didn't eat very much. I looked it up online and it has 4 carbs per serving, which isn't too terrible. It reminded me very much of my Seoul Chicken and, frankly, I like my recipe better. There was some kind of spice in theirs that I couldn't place and didn't care for. The place was very crowded and I never had a chance to look at the seafood area and I'm sure there would be some low carb options to be found there. I also didn't explore the veggie choices. I pretty much just grabbed some meat and headed to our table. Everything that I had tasted good and I went home satisfied.

It's looking like our son might finally be moving out soon. He's been threatening to do so for quite some time but his prospective roommates kept backing out on him. This time they've gone as far as filling out the application for an apartment so I think it might really come to pass this time. If you recall, I wrote a while back that I will stop buying and cooking high carb food once I only have myself and my husband to cook for. Looks like it's time to start making my menu plans and make a list of new recipes that I'd like to try. I will have to really watch my budget though because we'll have less income without our son's room and board every month. I'm hoping that not having to buy high carb foods for my son and husband anymore will make a big enough difference that I won't have to skimp too much. I'd like to start posting my weekly shopping lists here once we go totally low carb and we shall see if it is possible to eat well on a very tight budget or not.


Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Sprouts Farmer's Market

I got an ad in the mail today for a new store in the area. It's called Sprouts Farmer's Market. Has anyone heard of it or been there? It's not too far from me, but far enough that I'd only go there to check it out to see what they've got. Is it worth making the trip?

Courtesy: Sprouts Farmers Market.


Monday, November 4, 2013

New Recipe: Fish Chowder Casserole

Today I made that recipe that I'd been wanting to try using the Swai nuggets that I got so cheap a couple weeks ago. It's not bad but I think I see now why the fish was so cheap. The "nuggets" must have been made from scraps of fish because they had a lot of chunks of fat and skin on them. Although they've got them on sale this week for an even lower price ($2.49 for two pounds), I don't think I'll buy them again.  
You can view the recipe on my main site: Fish Chowder Casserole  
I apologize for not posting much lately. I've been very busy making Christmas presents.