The Whole Deal: Great Recipes for a Mom on a Budget!

I love Whole Foods Market! It bothers me that people talk about how expensive it is and ask how can I shop there if I claim I am a budget food shopper. I actually went to Whole Foods this week and spent $134.00 for my weekly groceries. For a family of 4, I believe this is a great deal. Money saving strategies that I have found helpful while I shop are: buying the 365 Organic store brand (This is Whole Food’s generic brand), using the store and online coupons, sticking to my list, and shopping the sales. I also find that shopping at a store like this with the girls alleviates impulse spending. There is not as much high fructose kid marketed temptations in the aisles. I believe in buying good food and products to cook with and that you can do this for a reasonable price!

Another great part of Whole Foods is the recipes that they have hidden in their isles as well as in there seasonal newsletter, The Whole Deal, dedicated to finding healthy foods and money saving deals. While browsing through the book I found two recipes that were must tries: Chicken Sausage Jambalaya with Shrimp and Sweet Potato and Black Bean Enchiladas.

Chicken Sausage Jambalaya
with Shrimp

Ingredients:

 2 TB safflower oil, divided
2 12-oz pkg pre-cooked spicy Italian chicken
sausage, sliced diagonally
2 celery stalks, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 large onion, diced
6 garlic cloves, chopped
1 28-oz can diced tomatoes
4 cups chicken broth
1½ cups water
2¼ cups long-grain brown rice
1½ tsp dried thyme
1½ tsp salt, or to taste
¾ tsp cayenne, or to taste
1-lb bag frozen 365 Everyday Value® Cut Okra
1-lb bag frozen Whole CatchTM Tail-On, Peeled &
Deveined, 41/50 Cooked Shrimp
Hot sauce for serving

The How-To:

In a large pot, heat 1 tablespoon oil over high heat. Add sausage and cook until lightly browned. Remove from pot and set aside.

 

Add remaining oil, celery, bell pepper, onion and garlic. Cook until softened.

Stir in tomatoes, broth, water, rice, thyme, salt and
cayenne. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer 35 minutes, stirring now and then.

Add frozen okra and reserved sausage.

Add frozen shrimp and continue cooking until heated through. Taste and  season with more salt or cayenne if desired.
Serve with hot sauce.

 
A great bowl of warm Jambalaya! What a great dinner for a rainy night like this.

Here is the budget friendly break down :

Serves 12. $3.14 per serving*
Per serving (about 16oz/463g-wt.): 320 calories (90 from fat), 10g
total fat, 4g saturated fat, 85mg cholesterol, 920mg sodium, 34g total
carbohydrate (4g dietary fiber, 4g sugar), 22g protein

Recipe Review: OMG Yum! It was a rainy yucky night and I wanted something that was going to warm me up. This dish was savory and rich in flavor. My husband loves Jambalaya but he extremely picky considering his Louisiana background. He loves a good Jambalaya and said that this recipe is a keeper. Yay!

Sweet Potato & Black Bean Enchiladas />Karina’s Kitchen, Recipes from a Gluten-Free Goddess
(http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/)

Ingredients:

Sauce
1 cup 365 Everyday Value® Organic Vegetable Broth
1 TB arrowroot starch dissolved in a little cold water
1 generous cup chopped roasted green chiles, hot or mild
2–3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp ground cumin or chili powder

Fillings
1 (15-oz) can 365 Everyday Value® Black Beans,
rinsed, drained
4 cloves garlic, minced
Fresh lime juice from 1 large lime
2 cups cooked diced sweet potatoes
½ cup chopped roasted mild green chiles
½ tsp ground cumin
½ tsp chili powder
Sea salt and ground black pepper to taste
2 TB chopped fresh cilantro

Assembly
2–4 TB vegetable oil
8 white or yellow corn tortillas

The How-To:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine sauce ingredients in a sauce pan and heat over medium-high heat. Simmer until thickened. Set aside.

 

In a bowl, toss together black beans, garlic and lime juice. Set aside.

 

In a separate bowl combine remaining filling ingredients.

 

Pour about ¼ cup of sauce into the bottom of
a 9×13" baking dish.

To assemble, heat a dashof oil in a skillet and lightly cook one tortilla to soften. Moisten both sides of the tortilla in the sauced baking dish. Spoon 2 of each of the fillings down the center. Roll up the tortilla and move to end of the baking dish. Repeat
for the remaining tortillas.

Top with remaining sauce and sprinkle with cheese.

Bake 20 to 25 minutes, until sauce is bubbling.
 

Here is the budget friendly information:

Serves 4. $2.59 per serving*
Per serving (about 14oz/405g-wt.): 500 calories (190 from fat), 21g
total fat, 7g saturated fat, 25mg cholesterol, 980mg sodium, 64g total
carbohydrate (11g dietary fiber, 11g sugar), 18g protein

The recipe review:

I am always on the look out for a family friendly vegetarian dish. This was another keeper. I love the sweet potato texture in the enchiladas. I have seen them in many dishes at my favorite vegetarian restaurant, It’s Only Natural. I have only recently started to incorporate Sweet Potatoes in my diet as I never really liked the taste. I now can’t get enough of them The girls liked the sweet but spicy taste.

I was very happy that these dishes came out so well. Off to watch ER!  Happy TGIF!

Cooking Light Critique: Jamaican-Spiced Chicken Thighs

I am so behind on my cooking blogs. We have had such a busy week and I cannot believe it is Wednesday already. Where has the time gone! I am going to start where I left of and I will be sure to catch up by the weekend

Due to the busy nature of the week I went searching through the archives of the Cooking Light website for some new ideas. My husband really was in the mood for chicken thighs (I don’t get it but he rarely requests food). This recipe included some yummy spice flavorings and best of all chicken thighs. When they say easy the truly mean it. For such a simple dish the flavors were amazing!

Jamaican-Spiced Chicken Thighs

Ingredients

• 1/4  cup  minced red onion
• 1  tablespoon  sugar
• 1  tablespoon  finely chopped seeded jalapeño pepper
• 2  teaspoons  cider vinegar (I did not have this but I used Marsala)
• 2  teaspoons  low-sodium soy sauce
• 1/2  teaspoon  salt
• 1/2  teaspoon  ground allspice
• 1/2  teaspoon  dried thyme
• 1/2  teaspoon  black pepper
• 1/4  teaspoon  ground red pepper
• 8  skinless, boneless chicken thighs (about 1 1/2 pounds)
• Cooking spray

The How-To:

Combine first 10 ingredients in a large bowl

The red onions and minced jalapeno peppers.

 

Instead of sugar I used Truvia. I am liking this substitute after I had to give up Splenda.

I added the marsala, soy sauce, salt, allspice, thyme, pepper, and red pepper.

Add chicken, tossing to coat.

Heat a grill pan over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add chicken to pan; cook 4 minutes. Turn chicken over; cook 6 minutes or until done.

This is not the best picture but the chicken was crunchy but moist. The flavor combination was perfect.

While the chicken was cooking, Daijia asked if we could try the new Macaroni and Cheese we found from Fiber Gourmet. 

If you have not seen Fiber Gourmet here are the facts:

“Fiber your kids will eat! Each easy-to-prepare dinner box comes with a tasty cheddar cheese packet, just like those Kraft blue boxes but without the artificial colors and flavors! And since it’s FiberGourmet you know it’s the world’s healthiest mac & cheese: high in fiber (18g per serving!), and low in calories( 35% fewer calories (standard mac is 260 calories, ours is just 170).”

It was great! Daijia was very surprised about how great this tasted and ate two bowls (she ran two miles today and was starving).

Daijia would like me to order more boxes of this! It was a great side to the chicken.

I made brussel sprouts and Thai Lime Rice as well.

The sprouts are a family favorite.

A complete plate of pure yummiest! I am making the chicken again as it was that good. I caught my husband digging into the pan drippings.

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s recipe :Vegetarian Wednesday returns with ….Black Bean and Sweet Potato Enchiladas.

What’s in Daijia’s Lunch Box? Segment 3

Daijia has been very busy this week with many different school programs. She has her final concert for her gifted music program and is very excited for her concert. The school is providing pizza in celebration at lunch time, so Daijia’s lunchbox will not be filled with lunch items. What she did want to share is a product that had been sent to her to “taste test”. She is excited to share her foodie knowledge with other kids looking for a healthy snack.

Today’s snack she wanted to share is from The Great American Pretzel Company. Daijia is not a huge sweet eater, but she loves pretzels with chocolate.

A great selection of samples for Daijia to try. She did decide to share with the family.

Here is what we have to sample:

1 cylinder of "Harmony" which includes 12 rods 

4 packages of Great American Mini’s- 1-Milk Chocolate, 1-Peanut Butter, 1-White Chocolate, 1-Almond

1 8 oz bag of Milk Chocolate Gems retail

1 8 oz bag of Milk Chocolate Twist retail

4 Symphony’s that are pre-packaged =  1-Milk Chocolate w/white drizzle, 1-White Chocolate w/milk drizzle, 1 White chocolate with rainbow sprinkles, 1 milk chocolate with nonpareils.

In researching this company I love the story of how they started and ingredients that they use. Here is a tid-bit about the company:

“Chocolate covered pretzels have been around for a long time. However, let’s face it, most of them taste “just okay.” It seems they’re all mass-produced—with little or no attention to detail. The Great American Pretzel Company® is different. We’ve worked very hard to develop the most delicious chocolate covered pretzels on the planet! Our philosophy is simple—customer service and attention to detail. We start by using the finest ingredients, such as real cream, real peanut butter, and fresh roasted almonds, combined with high-quality milk, semi-sweet, bitter-sweet and white chocolate. Then we produce all of our chocolate pretzels—most of them by hand. Each gift box is made to order. Finally, we provide you, our customer, with first rate service.”

This company did not disappoint. Daijia was in pretzel heaven! She couldn’t wait to try everything. 

The Cylinder of Harmony is where the girls started. They were not disappointed!

Daijia chose the White Chocolate Great American Rod. Her favorite part was the caramel inside the chocolate.

 

Tajiah chose the candy coated pretzel rod. She said it was candy-riffic!

I also had to get into the pretzel action so I chose to sample the Milk Chocolate with Toffee and Dark Chocolate Drizzle. It was the right amount of salty and crunchy. At 150 calories it was a great “treat”.

I could not resist these pictures. The girls have really gotten into Mom on the Run!

Daijia did end up packing some for her lunch box as a special treat for her friends after their first concert. She is such a great sharer.

Milk Chocolate Gems

The above includes a great sample of what the Great American Pretzel Company produces which ar
e perfect for lunches, Easter baskets, hostess gifts and all ages.  I am actually going to order more pretzels for Easter dinner as I think this will be a great dessert for the kids we have coming. If you are interested in buying these pretzels check out the website for ordering information. This is another great gift idea for that person you don’t know what to get. I love supporting companies like this and would like to thank them for this great selection samples.

I have a great recipe I want to share but I am not feeling great. I actually think the fun of weekend is catching up with me!

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