The Daily Dish Recipes

We really stretch our food dollars every month, by doing one large shopping trip a month visiting three stores and then we usually only make the occasional trip to the store (always while out running errands - staying frugal and keeping gas cost down) to pick up milk, bread, butter and other odds and ends we sometimes need.

We make a trip to Aldi’s where we stock up on soups, sauces and canned goods. We also pick up baking items (like flour, sugar, etc.) and occasionally pick up bread for casseroles, frozen chicken breasts and other odds and ends. Aldi’s keeps their costs really low by asking you to pay .25 to rent a cart (which you get back at the end), having you bag your own groceries (which I actually like and I can get the kids involved in) and literally keeping their store small and very few employees. It isn’t my favorite store, but stocking up on these items when you can get canned sauces for .16/can or .37 a can works well for me with a large family of seven. We usually spend about $50 at Aldi’s a month, sometimes less.

My favorite place to shop each month is Sams or Costco, while we frequent both, we typically don’t visit both stores in a month. I check out ads and I also know what items each store carries that the other doesn’t, so when we are running short of something, we typically use that one to do our bulk shopping. We purchase everything we use in bulk from these stores. Things like pasta noodles, rice, seasonings, meat and poultry, snacks, coffee, creamer, sometimes cereal and other items. We spend about $200 per month at Sams. This feeds us well for a month, typically with leftover product. I make nearly everything from scratch as much as humanly possible, so buying from the bulk warehouse makes much more sense for us, since we go through so much food.

The last stop in a month is our local grocery store which changes from month to month - sometimes we use the regular grocery store and sometimes we use Shop and Save which is our “low cost grocery store). Sometimes we use our super wal-mart, which is my favorite but is currently about 15 miles from the house, so I don’t like driving so far if we have no other reason to be there. The good news about that, is the one that is about 2-3 miles from our house is being converted to a super wal-mart so soon, very soon - I will be shopping there! This is where we do most of our normal shopping. I scour ads every week, if something terrific is on sale and worth it, I might visit the grocery store at a different time in the month - like when ground turkey goes on sale, fresh deli meat for sandwiches. Normally we purchase fresh fruit, vegetables and other items from our grocery store. This is where we probably spend anywhere between $100-$200 sometimes considerably less if I am using coupons and specials.

In the summer, I try to make several trips to our farmer’s market, however we don’t have one real close to the house. Since we frequent a lake spot, there is one on the way out by it, so we sometimes stop on the way home. This is only occasionally simply because of the distance, but the prices are awesome and worth it. Usually we only spend about $20-$30.

Personally, I think that spending about $300-$500 a month on groceries to feed a family of seven, three meals a day (that’s 21 dishes a day!) is not bad. Lunches are easier, because they eat at school sometimes, but the summer months, it is typical to spend $500 in a month. If you use the $500 figure - it costs us each $71 a month to eat. Not too bad. I work hard to cut those costs, so many months its a LOT less, but that is all in relation to what I am cooking and what we are out of, as well as what sales, specials and coupons are available to me that month.

So how do you do your shopping and how much is typical in your family?

Just a real quick update on the banana diet thing. If you want to know more about what specifically I am doing, scroll down - as there are plenty of other posts that tell ALL about it. In the meantime, I weighed myself yesterday and I am down 7.3lbs and I just think that is pretty good for day number 18. I haven’t done much at all, except to make the subtle changes I have referred to, as well as making an effort to eat a banana or piece of fruit for breakfast every morning.

Someone asked…”Don’t you get sick of bananas?” Well, yes. They aren’t my absolute favorite fruit at this moment, but I am also eating them so I can be healthier and lose weight so it makes them entirely more tolerable. You can substitute with other fruits, and I have once, but I prefer the bananas. There’s seems to be a difference, I just cannot pin point it exactly. I’ll update more next week.

Well, we had a snow day today, and from what it looks like for tomorrow, we’ll have another. I wish I had planned ahead a bit more, because we could have really done some baking and cooking together, instead we just made some yummy snacks.

We made seasoned popcorn. We seasoned our stove top popped pop corn with onion salt, garlic and some oregano. My kids also love to sprinkle some Parmesan cheese on it. Very yummy.

We made chocolate chip cookies and also made some peanut butter cookies. They were pretty standard recipes, nothing special in them except that one batch got some added nuts. The kids don’t like them, but I sure do.

We made pancake batter and then flavored it with all sorts of things. One small batch we used almond extract, another we used pumpkin pie seasoning, and so on. We just started pulling seasonings out and if they sounded good, we tried them. We couldn’t find a pancake we didn’t like in the whole mix.

So what do you do on snow days?

Once again it is time for my Monday Madness Recipe Roundup - I am happy to announce that it is the sixth and seems to be a well loved feature, so I intend to keep it up for awhile. As I have mentioned before, there is absolutely no criteria to get on this post, except that I have to come across a new recipe (from the past week, with only a few exceptions) on your blog. Your blog DOES need to have a date on it, so I can verify when it was posted. Usually the roundup is formed when I just accidentally find a recipe I just need to try. I need to keep them all in once place, and this works. Then I can share them with others as well and provide a bit of linky love.

To see past recipe roundups, click here.

Mama Loves Food stopped me right in my tracks with a most delicious looking Green Bean Chicken Casserole - two of my favorites paired together as one dish. I have done something similar but never with whole chicken and this recipes is awesome. This is on our menu early this week! Oh, and there’s photos and they are simply mouthwatering!

My Path to Fitness had me hooked with a really great recipe for Sour Cream and Cheese Dip - I don’t plan to save it for super bowl Sunday. I have the ingredients to try it out this afternoon.

My Kitchen Table brought me back to my childhood with delicious Vanishing Oatmeal Cookies that I remember fondly from childhood. I cannot swear this is the same recipe my mom used, but the cookies are the same name and they both came from Quaker. Yum!

I am a shrimp addict, and seriously I could eat it with every meal (though I’m not really seeing it for breakfast but you never know) well, yesterday Are You Hungry? posted a recipe for  a really yummy Shrimp Seafood Dip.

Tasty Recipes is a new to me blog this week, but I found several that looked awesome - my favorite was her recipe for  Chicken Caliente (also known as King Ranch Casserole) -  it looks and sounds amazing and it is going on my next menu plan!

While I definitely stumbled upon several other amazing and delicious recipes, I’ve just been so busy that this weeks picking are a bit slim but trust me, they are worth it! I will have a better round up next week. Thanks for visiting and be sure and visit these blogs and give them some love.

This is one of those meals I love to feed to my family. Not everyone loves broccoli but allowing the broccoli to simmer in the dish, allows the nutrients to be released into the other ingredients. What does that mean? It means that if a child removes the broccoli and won’t eat it, at least they are still getting some of the benefits from the broccoli. And for the record, one of my children that hates broccoli will eat it in this dish, because it is so flavorful. This was originally a Campbell’s recipe that I have doctored and tailored to fit my families taste. Delicious!

Chicken, Broccoli and Rice Casserole

1-2 Tbs. Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)
4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, halved
2 cans of low fat cream of chicken soup (just look for a reduced fat or lower fat version)
2 c. water
1/2 tsp. paprika
1/2 tsp. pepper
2 c. uncooked instant rice
2-4 c. fresh or frozen broccoli

Heat the EVOO oil in a large skillet over medium to high heat. Season chicken with whatever you like. We use a bit of garlic powder, onion salt and seasoning salt. Cook the chicken in the skillet until it is browned on both sides. Remove the chicken from the skillet and set aside. Add the soups, water, pepper and paprika to the skillet and stir. Heat until it is boiling. Add the rice and broccoli to the skillet and reduce heat to low. Place the chicken back into the skillet and sprinkle additional paprika and pepper over the chicken. Cover the dish and cook for about 8-10 minutes or so. The dish is ready to serve when the chicken is cooked all the way through and the rice is tender. This is so good and you can add other veggies if you want (we sometimes add celery for a different flavor) or try it with a different meat. Fast and easy!

As you can see I stopped posting daily progress because honestly there was nothing to post about. I’m eating bananas like they are going out of style. As of today (two weeks in) I have lost 4.6lbs. Do I think it’s entirely the bananas, not exactly. I think there are a few things working for me here.

With actually being more aware of what I am eating, I think I am curbing my eating habits a bit. That is helping. I don’t eat until I am full anymore, which is something I used to do all the time. I am also eating breakfast (bananas) which is kick starting my metabolism for the day and keeping it at a more consistent pace.

I haven’t strictly stuck to the sleeping schedule due to events that were going on, but for the most part I’ve tried. I think if I stuck to it more, it probably would help a bit more. I do know that I feel better than I have in awhile, health wise, and energy wise. So that’s great.

I have not given up my coffee and I only don’t drink a cup for about an hour or so in the morning while I’m doing the banana thing. Yes, room temperature water really does suck, but I can see that it helps. I only drink one glass while I’m eating the bananas and I sip it slowly so its not too bad.

As far as what I am eating, I have not changed that a bit, except to cut back on dairy just a bit (I’m a cheese addict). I am also spending more time reading labels, eating fresh veggies and buying low fat or fat free versions of certain products.

So I’m pleasantly surprised by the 4.6lb weigh loss in 2 weeks, and I have not upped my excercise or anything - so it is interesting to me how such subtle little changes can affect how much I lose. I’m thinking if I went all out I would have either lost a lot more by now, or would be losing at a more rapid pace.

So that’s my update - back to your regularly scheduled recipes (and I’m sorry I’ve been MIA - sick, sick, sick around here - with seven of us, it is hard to get rid of it!) Hope all of you are doing good, and I’m back!

Once again it is time for my Monday Madness Recipe Roundup - I am happy to announce that it is the sixth and seems to be a well loved feature, so I intend to keep it up for awhile. As I have mentioned before, there is absolutely no criteria to get on this post, except that I have to come across a new recipe (from the past week, with only a few exceptions) on your blog. Your blog DOES need to have a date on it, so I can verify when it was posted. Usually the roundup is formed when I just accidentally find a recipe I just need to try. I need to keep them all in once place, and this works. Then I can share them with others as well and provide a bit of linky love.

To see past recipe roundups, click here.

I absolutely love oatmeal, as do my kids. I really like making it myself because it saves money (yes my frugal side) and stretches it further than packets, so when I came across a blog post made at My Path to Fitness for a Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal recipe, I honestly couldn’t stop drooling and imagining a piping hot bowl of the most delicious stuff ever. I will share with you after I try it out.

Tasty Thoughts has the most delicious looking Vegetable Beef Soup Recipe up for grabs this week. With the cold Winter weather, I am easily seeing this as a delicious addition to a night with some hot sandwiches. Yummy!

My Kitchen Table is new to the Recipe Roundup, but definitely not to me. She always provides dozens of delicious recipes and I had real trouble this week picking my favorite. As a very first here on MMRR,  I am calling her out on three absolutely fantastic recipes that I cannot wait to try. We have a get together coming up soon and I am thinking we are going to have to try these:  Crabmeat Cucumber Rounds - Bacon Wrapped Artichoke Hearts - Broiled Salmon with Pesto Mayonnaise. Don’t forget to check out her other recipes. She’s a fantastic food blogger!

I’ve always wanted to find and make an easy Chocolate Ganache Recipe, but the one I have is a bit on the more time consuming side. WeddingCakeHints provided this super easy, really delich sounding recipe. Thanks!

We love nacho’s at our house, and we tried to change it up every time we decide to make them. While plain old cheese nacho’s are good, I prefer all kind of toppings and different meats to be included in mine. Thankfully the kids agree, and by far this is one of our favorite ways to make nachos.

Chicken Nachos Recipe

1 bag of tortilla chips
3/4 c. chopped avocado
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1 chopped tomato
1 c. shredded chicken (cooked)
1 1/2 c. shredded cheese (mozzarella and monterey jacks are our favorites)
Salsa and Sour cream on the side

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet or pan with tin foil. Arrange the chips on the pan. In a bowl, combine the avocado, tomato and cumin. Sprinkle all over the tortilla chips. Next, top the chips with the chicken and finally end with the cheese. Bake in a 400 degree oven for about 3-5 minutes, until the cheese is melted. We recommended keeping a watchful eye so you don’t overcook anything. Serve with some sour cream or salsa on the side. Delicious!!

We do this for a snack, but we have also done it for a meal before when we have had other “Mexican” style appetizers too.

Well, it is day three of doing this interesting diet, and I can honestly say that making the effort to eat in the morning is definitely a good thing. Of course, yes being on a diet has made me more aware of what I am consuming as well as when I am eating and when I go to bed. So that has helped and changed a lot. I feel better, a bit more energy than normal and everything is very “regular”.
So far, according to my scale, I have lost 1lb 3 oz from the first day. Do I believe that it is from the diet? Not necessarily, since my weight tends to fluctuate a lb or two a day. So I figure by this weekend, I should know something more substantial. So that’s my update…. great recipe coming next!

Since I have decided to try out the “fad diet” known as The Japanese Banana Diet, I thought I should share the basics of what the diet is, and how it started.  I’ve done some relatively extensive research to see what the results were from others, to find out how the diet came about and how it works and any modifications that can be made.

Originally the diet was designed by a pharmacist for her husband to help increase his metabolism. After he had successful results, he shared his story on a Japanese social networking site and it took off from there. Most of this was last summer and after that there was a huge shortage of bananas on a regular basis as everyone seemed intent on trying it. After many book deals and magazine articles, the diet did become the newest” fad diet”, and while it has died out for some, there are still many people who are practicing the diet as a part of their overall health, daily diet, etc.

The basic rules for the Japanese Banana Diet:

In the Morning:

• Eat a banana for breakfast with a glass of room temperature water.
• Sip the water rather than gulping the water.
• Do not drink a hot or cold beverage for at least a half hour after eating the banana.
• If you are still hungry after the first banana, go ahead and eat another banana. The original guy ate four bananas and drank a glass of water for breakfast. However, do not stuff yourself at all - no feeling of total fullness.
• If you have an aversion to bananas, another fruit can be substituted, but only stick to one type of fruit per meal.
• You can eat something small if you are still hungry a half hour after after you have eaten the bananas. Stick to small things that are around 200 calories at max. Do NOT eat if you are full or comfortable.

For Lunch or Dinner:

• Eat a normal meal for lunch and for dinner.  Whatever it is you wish to eat, though it is recommended that you avoid greasy foods and limit your dairy.
• Your dinner needs to be eaten by 8pm. No later. 6:00pm is a much better time.
• Do not eat dessert with any meal. Satisfy your sweet tooth with a snack instead.
• Do not eat until you are full. This is definitely something that we do often, and if you can avoid it - it will help a LOT! Learn to recognize the feeling of being about 3/4 full. (about a 7 on a scale of 1-10, 10 being full)

Drink Water:

• The only beverage that is recommended on this diet, seems to be water and the water should be at room temperature only.
• Do not use the water to wash down your food, or take big gulps. Sip it slowly while eating.
• There is no set amount of water you must drink, and it is recommended that you do not go overboard with your water intake either.
• When you are not eating a meal, non-caloric beverages like tea, coffee, and diet soda are okay but should be avoided if possible.  Try to stop any dairy intake - keep in mind it isn’t just directed at milk, but also cream and other dairy products.
• I did read, that it was okay to drink the occasional beer or wine, but limit the consumption as much as you can.

Afternoon Snack:

• Have a sweet tooth or craving? You can eat chocolate, cookies or whatever else you feel the need for at about 3pm. It should be the only snack you have. Avoid ice cream, fried foods or chips.
• Many who have tried the diet, often substitute another piece of fresh fruit or some veggie sticks.
• Dieters who have had success have recommended eating popcorn if you are craving a salty snack, but be careful to watch the fat content on whatever you are consuming.
• If you are still hungry after your final meal of the day,  you may have a second snack of fresh fruit but avoid this if it isn’t necessary and make sure the snack is consumed at least 4 hours before you go to sleep for the night.

Other Rules for the Diet:

• Be sure and go to sleep before midnight. The earlier the better.
• A main goal is to get a four hour period between your last meal or snack and your bedtime. This is why they recommend eating BEFORE 8pm.
• Don’t feel obligated to do any excercise, however being active is a good thing. Do what you are comfortable with.
• Try to get some extra walking in each day. It’s not mandatory for the diet to work, but it will help tremendously.
• Keep a journal of your progress so you can see what you ate each day, which days garnered the best results and you can easily keep track of your progress.
• You might also be interested in keep progress of your “digestion issues” as this is a key point to this diet. You might visit the bathroom more frequently, and you will definitely notice your body becoming more regular.

See the previous post for all the amazing things that a banana is good for, and you can easily see why this diet helps.