Friday, August 29, 2014

Product Review - LC-foods Multi Grain Sandwich Bread




 
I reviewed the Fresh Baked White Sandwich Bread from LC-Foods on my main website a while back and you can read that review HERE. Well, now they have a new flavor that's more like a whole meal type bread. The white bread had a slight sourdough flavor but this new bread has a more neutral flavor. I didn't care for the white bread toasted but I do like this one both toasted and untoasted. It toasts up very crisp, which makes my husband happy. The bread is a little chewy untoasted but I don't mind that. One thing that I did mind a little was that I ended up with flax seeds all over the place after slicing the loaf. They seemed to be everywhere! I got 29 slices out of the loaf. That's not quite as many as I got from the white bread but I sliced this loaf a little thicker. That's still more slices than the 25 that the label suggests though. Because the bread is so sturdy, you can easily slice it very thin if you like. They ship the bread in a special wrapper that keeps it fresh during shipping. Once it arrives, you'll need to slice it and store it in the freezer or keep a few slices on hand in the fridge.

Ingredients: Wheat protein isolates, resistant wheat starches, whole & chopped brown flax seed, vital wheat gluten, butter, coconut oil, Inulin chicory root fiber, salt, instant dry yeast, organic stevia rebaudiana leaf natural herbal extracts, natural luo han guo monk fruit, natural caramel color and natural enzymes

1 slice (1/25 loaf) = 9.5g Carbohydrate; 8.5g Dietary Fiber; 1g Net Carb




Menu for the week of 8/31 thru 9/6

BBQ CHEESEBURGER PIE
SUNDAY:
Leftover Swiss Onion Quiche
Leftover BBQ Cheeseburger Pie
Leftover Chicken Lazone
Leftover Creamy Squash Casserole

MONDAY:
Burger Scramble Florentine
Ham Quiche

TUESDAY:
Leftovers

WEDNESDAY:
Leftovers

THURSDAY:
Leftovers

FRIDAY:
Leftovers
Mock Rice Pudding

SATURDAY:
Chile Relleno Casserole

CHILE RELLENO CASSEROLE

My menu is kind of empty for next week because my husband will be out of town for a few days. There's no sense in me doing a bunch of cooking just for myself so I'll just eat the Burger Scramble Florentine most of the week and make eggs or something else quick and easy for myself as needed.

 

Thursday, August 28, 2014

Shopping List - Week of August 24 - August 30

TUESDAY'S SHOPPING

HEB (Tuesday):
Shower spray - $1.97
Quart heavy cream - $3.56
Sugar free Mentos - $1.98
6 pack diet pineapple soda - $1.25
6 pack diet orange soda (marked down) - $.75
Coffee - $1.09
Ice cream - $3.50
Passion fruit drink mix - $1.88

TOTAL - $16.63

FOOD TOWN (Tuesday):
8 ounce pepper-jack cheese - $1.88
8 ounce Muenster cheese - $1.88
Jalapeños @ .69 pound - $.71

TOTAL - $4.50

KROGER (Thursday):
6 CARBmaster yogurt @ .40 each (minus 10% discount) - $2.16
18 ounce peanut butter @ 1.79 (minus 10% discount) - $1.79
18 eggs @ 2.79 (minus 10% discount) - $2.51
Chicken bouillon @ .39 (marked down/minus 10% discount) - $.35
2 12-packs diet soda @ 2.39 each (minus 10% discount) - $3.35
Celery seed @ 2.59 (minus 10% discount) - $2.33
Dry mustard @ 1.79 (minus 10% discount) - $1.61
3 lip balm - $4.12
Heavy duty foil @ 1.99 (minus 10% discount) - $1.79
10 ounce frozen spinach @ .85 (minus 10% discount) - $.78

TOTAL - $21.53

SPROUTS (Thursday):
Potato chips (FREE coupon) - $.00
Yellow squash @ 1.49 pound - $2.61
Cheddar cheese - $.00
Butterkäse cheese - $.00
Frying cheese - $.00

TOTAL - $2.61

WALMART (Thursday):
Vinegar - $.56
2 jars minced dry onion @ .88 each - $1.76
Walnuts - $3.54
Vanilla - $.98
Squeegee - $4.98

TOTAL - $12.23

GRAND TOTAL FOR THE WEEK - $57.50


THURSDAY'S SHOPPING
 I see that I didn't mention the whole problem that I had with the cheddar cheese that I bought from Sprouts last week. Probably because the cheese was so mild, and because they only wrapped it in very thin plastic wrap, it had picked up the odors from the store which gave it a very odd flavor. It tasted so strange that I couldn't eat it. I also won't buy any more cheese from Sprouts that is wrapped that way. The cheese didn't go to waste though because Jerry ate it. He has no sense of taste so he wouldn't know how it was supposed to taste anyway. I sent an email to Sprouts about the problem with the cheese and the manager called me the other day. He said to ask for him when I shopped there this week so I did that today. He was very nice and wanted to make up for the problem that I had. He gave me a large block of the same cheddar cheese and said that I should let him know if I have a problem with it. He also let me choose a couple of other kinds of cheese free of charge. So, I got some of the frying cheese that I saw there last week and some Boar's Head Butterkäse cheese. Both of those cheeses come wrapped in shrink wrap. I tried the cheddar cheese when I got home and it had the same odd flavor but once I trimmed off some of the outer cheese, the inside tasted fine. I think that the chunk I bought last week was worse because it was a much smaller chunk and the odor had penetrated the whole thing.

FREE CHEESES FROM SPROUTS
While I was a Sprouts, I checked to see if they had any Coco Polo chocolate, which I'd read about at Low Carb Friends. They do have some but only one flavor, which is the dark chocolate with almonds. I would rather try the plain dark chocolate so I didn't buy any. So, it looks like Lily's Chocolate is the only sugar free chocolate that interests me from Sprouts. If you recall, I bought the plain dark bar and a dark coconut bar last week. The dark chocolate is quite nice but the coconut one was a little grainy and didn't have much coconut flavor.

I bought the walnuts to use in a cocoa powder taste test. I got some LC-Dutch Cocoa Powder from LC-Foods to try and I want to compare it with the Dutch cocoa that I buy from Penzey's. I also have some of Penzey's natural cocoa powder so I might compare all three kinds. I'm going to use my Cocoa Coated Walnuts recipe for the taste test.



COCOA COATED WALNUTS

 

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Product Review: LC-Raspberry Preserves


 
I just added a review of LC-Raspberry Preserves on my main site HERE
 

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Tuesday's Shopping


 
 Yes, I bought jalapeños again to make yet another batch of Charski's Bread & Butter Jalapeños. It seems like I have to make another batch about every other week or so. I wait until the chiles are on sale for 69-cents pound.

I got a call from the manager of Sprouts yesterday. He said to ask for him the next time I'm in there and he'd make up for the awful cheese that I bought there last week. We may even have a cheese tasting right there in the store.

Friday, August 22, 2014

Menu for the week of 8/24 thru 8/30

ITALIAN RICOTTA CAKE
SUNDAY:
Leftover Ham Quiche
Leftover Deep Dish Pizza
Leftover Quick Asian Pork Stir-Fry
Atkins Meatloaf

MONDAY:
Leftovers
Italian Ricotta Cake

TUESDAY:
Tuna Casserole
Texas Sweet Onion Pie

WEDNESDAY:
Leftovers

THURSDAY:
Roast Chicken
Creamy Squash Casserole

FRIDAY:
Chicken Lazone (using leftover chicken)

SATURDAY:
BBQ Cheeseburger Pie  


TUNA CASSEROLE


CREAMY SQUASH CASSEROLE
 


Thursday, August 21, 2014

Shopping List - Week of August 17 - August 23

TUESDAY'S SHOPPING

HEB (Tuesday):
Shower spray - $1.97
Quart heavy cream - $3.56
Nasal strips - $6.88
2 boxes tissue @ 1.00 each - $2.00

TOTAL - $13.26 (after $1.48 on gift card)

FOOD TOWN (Tuesday):
Diet Cherry Pepsi - $3.55
Onions @ .39lb - $.74
Bread - $.79
8 ounce bag pepperoni x 2 @ 1.49 each (marked down) - $2.98
6 ounce sliced ham x 2 @ .99 each (marked down) - $1.98
8 ounces fresh mushrooms x2 @ .39 each (marked down) - $.78
16 ounces fresh bean sprouts - $.99

TOTAL - $12.07

KROGER (Thursday):
8 CARBmaster yogurt @ .40 each (minus 10% discount) - $2.88
Ice cream @ 2.50 (minus 10% discount) - $2.25
18 ounce peanut butter @ 1.79 (minus 10% discount) - $1.79
2 cans tuna @ .78 each (minus 10% discount) - $1.40
Instant coffee sticks (I use them for recipes) - $1.29
8 oz. colby cheese @ 1.99 (minus 10% discount & .65 coupon) - $1.14
8 oz. shredded mozzarella (minus 10% discount) - $1.79
Quart zipper bags @ 2.99 (minus 10% discount) - $2.29
Napkins @ .97 (minus 10% discount) - $.87
Frozen cauliflower @ 1.00 (minus 10% discount) - $.90
Frozen Asian vegetable mixture (minus 10% discount) - $.90

TOTAL - $17.76

SPROUTS (Thursday):
Pint grape tomatoes - $1.00
English cucumber - $.98
Tangelo (need zest for recipe) - $.56
2 Lilly's chocolate bars @ 3.99 each - $7.98
Cheddar cheese @ 3.00lb - $1.68
Bulk coffee - $2.50

TOTAL - $15.36

GRAND TOTAL FOR THE WEEK - $58.45

THURSDAY'S SHOPPING
Sprouts finally opened yesterday so I went there today to check it out. I splurged on a few things but somehow still managed to come in under budget for the week. It's a nice store but in general their prices are high (Trader Joe's is quite a bit cheaper on the things that I buy) but they seem to have some really good weekly sales. I also got a coupon booklet in my bag with several free items to get over the next few weeks. Only one of those things is low carb but my husband will eat the rest of them. The free items are a bag of kettle potato chips, a bag of frozen veggies, a frozen burrito, a bottle of lemonade, a can of coconut water and a loaf of bread.

One thing that they have at Sprouts, that I haven't seen at Walmart in years, is frying cheese. The brand is Karoun Dairies and HERE is their website. They call it "grilling cheese" but it looks like the same type of cheese as the "frying cheese" I used to get at Walmart. It comes in regular and jalapeno for $4.99 (8 ounces). I probably won't buy any though because I remember having no self-control with it when I used to buy it. I could easily eat a whole package in one sitting.

I really splurged on two Lilly's chocolate bars which were on sale for $3.99 each. The regular price is $4.49. I bought a regular dark chocolate bar and a dark bar with coconut. They're sweetened with erythritol and stevia. I tasted a square of each and they're good but not outstanding as far as chocolate goes.

Sprouts had their bulk mild cheddar cheese on sale for only $3.00 per pound which is a great price. However, it's not very good cheese. It doesn't seem to have any flavor. Kroger's packaged cheddar is better in my opinion.


Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Tuesday's Shopping


I got the ham, pepperoni and mushrooms marked down very cheap. Details on Thursday... 
 


Saturday, August 16, 2014

Menu for the week of 8/17 thru 8/23

COFFEE CREAM CUSTARD

SUNDAY:
Leftover Tijuana Quiche
Leftover Green Enchilada Chicken

MONDAY:
Smoked Brisket
Baked Soy Beans

TUESDAY:
Leftovers
Coffee Creme Custard

WEDNESDAY:
Ham Quiche
Deep Dish Pizza

THURSDAY:
Leftovers

FRIDAY:
Quick Asian Pork Stir-Fry

SATURDAY:
Leftovers

DEEP DISH PIZZA
QUICK ASIAN PORK STIR-FRY


Thursday, August 14, 2014

Shopping List - Week of August 10 - August 16

TUESDAY'S SHOPPING
HEB (Tuesday):
Diet passion fruit drink mix - $1.88
2 cans tuna @ .74 each - $1.48

TOTAL - $.00 (I used my $5.00 gift card from last week)

FOOD TOWN (Tuesday):
Ground beef @ 1.79lb (marked down) - $13.23
Diet Cherry Pepsi - $3.55
4 cans tomato sauce @ .25 each - $1.00
Onions @ .39lb - $.73
Jalapenos @ .69lb - $.57
Garlic - $.39

TOTAL - $20.52

KROGER (Thursday):
6 CARBmaster yogurt @ .40 each (minus 10% discount) - $2.16
12 pack diet soda @ 2.39 (minus 10% discount) - $2.15
Ice cream @ 2.50 x 2 (minus 10% discount) - $4.50
12 eggs @ .99 each x 2 (minus 10% discount) - $1.78
16 ounce cottage cheese @ 1.25 (minus 10% discount & .40 coupon) - $.72
18 ounce peanut butter @ 1.79 (minus free coupon) - $.00
Deluxe American cheese @ 3.99 (minus 10% discount) - $3.59
16 ounce shredded cheese @ 3.77 (minus 10% discount) - $3.39
Lawn bags @ 6.57 (minus 10% discount) - $5.91
Kitchen trash bags @ 3.09 (minus 10% discount) - $2.78
Boneless chicken breasts - $4.11 (see my comments below)

TOTAL - $31.42

WALMART (Thursday):
Decaf coffee - $2.78
2 rugs @ 8.77 each - $17.54

TOTAL - $21.77 (see my comments below)

GRAND TOTAL FOR THE WEEK - $54.72 (or $73.71 with the rugs - over budget by $13.71)

THURSDAY'S SHOPPING
 

The boneless chicken breasts that I bought at Kroger today were the biggest bargain I've had in a long time. I ended up getting $18.29 worth of chicken for only $4.11! Here's what happened. Kroger has them on sale this week for $1.99 pound. I was going to buy at least $10 worth today so that I could use a $2.00 off coupon good on a purchase of $10 or more in the meat department. While looking through the bin to find the two cheapest packages of chicken, I spotted at least two that were marked at $1.29 pound instead of $1.99 pound. I knew it was probably a mistake but they have to charge what is marked on the label. But, when I went through the checkout, they rang up at the $1.99 pound price of $9.43 and $8.86. They were actually marked $6.11 and $5.74 so I went to the service desk for a refund. Kroger has a policy where if you are charged the wrong price on an item, you get the item free. If you are buying more than one of that item, you only get one of them free so I got a refund of the difference between what I was charged and what they were marked. Plus, I got the $5.74 package of chicken free. Then, on top of that, they had already deducted the $2.00 meat coupon when I went through the checkout. After the refunds and coupon, I paid a total of $4.11 for both big packages or 10 large breasts. That works out to only .45 per pound! I doubt if I'll be able to top that deal anytime soon.

I know that I'll get comments saying that I shouldn't deduct the rugs that I bought at Walmart from my grocery budget so I've posted the grand total for the week as $54.72, which is well under my $60 budget or $73.71, which is over budget by $13.71 if I do count the rugs. Either way, I did very well this week and what I saved on that chicken easily makes up for the cost of the rugs.

 

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Tuesday's Shopping


I got about seven pounds of marked down ground beef today. That's good because my stash was getting kind of low. Although it was half price, it was still $1.79 pound but I guess that's cheap these days.

I saw a new and interesting product at HEB this morning. It's called Cafe Enhanca and it's a little bottle of cream for putting in coffee. It comes in one of those little squirt bottles like MiO and the like. They had it in regular, vanilla and hazelnut. It actually has real cream in it, as the first ingredient, but along with a bunch of additives and preservatives. It says that it's shelf-stable so I assume it doesn't need be refrigerated once it has been opened. It was $2.49 so I didn't buy it. If I did buy some to try sometime, I wouldn't use it at home but it might be a nice thing to take on a trip or other outing. Oh, and it's sweetened with Sucralose. The company is Dreampak and here's their website: http://www.dreampak.com/. I'm not positive but it looks like all of their products might be sugar free and they make a liquid Sucralose product too.





Friday, August 8, 2014

Menu for the week of 8/10 thru 8/16

EGG SALAD

SUNDAY:
Leftover Sausage Quiche
Italian Meatball Burgers

MONDAY:
Leftovers

TUESDAY:
Egg Salad

WEDNESDAY:
Pork Roast
Green Beans

THURSDAY:
Tijuana Quiche
Creamsicle Jello
Leftovers

FRIDAY:
Leftovers

SATURDAY:
Salsa Chicken or Green Enchilada Chicken

ITALIAN MEATBALL BURGERS

SALSA CHICKEN
If you recall, I got some sour cream very cheap recently which is why I'll be making either the Salsa Chicken or Green Enchilada Chicken. They both use the same amount of sour cream and only the type of salsa is different. I'll have to see what I'm in the mood for when the time comes. I've got both red and green salsa on hand.


Thursday, August 7, 2014

Shopping List - Week of August 3 - August 9

THURSDAY'S SHOPPING
HEB (Thursday):
Shower spray - $1.97
Diet passion fruit drink mix - $1.88
Hatch chiles @ .78lb - $.71
Quart heavy cream - $3.56

TOTAL - $8.44

ALDI (Thursday):
2 8-ounce Swiss cheese @ 1.99 each - $3.98
Dozen eggs - $1.19
2 bags pork rinds @ .99 each - $1.98

TOTAL - $7.15

KROGER (Thursday):
8 CARBmaster yogurt @ .40 each (minus 10% discount) - $2.88
12 pack diet soda @ 2.39 (minus 10% discount) - $2.15
Ice cream @ 2.50 (minus 10% discount) - $2.25
1 pound butter - $2.50
Parmesan cheese @ 2.97 (minus 10% discount) - $2.67
2 8-ounce cheddar cheese @ 1.99 each (minus 10% discount) - $3.58

TOTAL - $16.64

WALMART (Thursday):
Dishwasher gel - $2.98
Toilet cleaner - $1.34
Dish soap - $.84
Deodorant - $2.47
10 shavers - $3.18
1.25 quart soy sauce - $5.08

TOTAL - $16.58

GRAND TOTAL FOR THE WEEK - $48.81

We were out of town for a funeral on Tuesday so I only made one shopping trip this week. I needed to get some cream from HEB so I stopped by Aldi, which is across the street from there. I go to a different HEB when I shop on Tuesday's and that one is near Food Town.

After taking the photo today and putting away the food, I realized that I'd set the Hatch chiles off to the side so they weren't in the picture. So, you get to see them all by themselves:

It's Hatch chile season so I picked up enough to roast and freeze to use in recipes. However, instead of roasting them when I got home from the store, I ended up having to drive all the way back to HEB for a refund. While looking over my receipt, I saw that they had charged me for cipolline onions at $4.97 pound instead of 78-cents pound for Hatch chiles. So, back to the store I went for a refund and I also requested compensation for my gas. They gave me a $5.00 HEB gift card which more than covered the gas and my wasted time.

Friday, August 1, 2014

Menu for the week of 8/3 thru 8/9

SLOPPY JOE STUFFED PEPPERS
 
SUNDAY:
Leftover Sloppy Joe Stuffed Peppers
Leftover Swiss Onion

MONDAY:
Leftovers

TUESDAY:
Leftovers

WEDNESDAY:
Sausage Quiche
Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole

THURSDAY:
Leftovers
Cheesecake Pudding with Strawberries

FRIDAY:
Broiled Tilapia
Brussels Sprouts with Browned Butter

SATURDAY:
Burgers
Baked Soy Beans


CHEESECAKE PUDDING