Grocery Outlet and QFC

I was off work Tuesday. Jeremy and I went to Grocery Outlet after he got home from work. We spent $24 and got all of this:

Quart of organic almond milk
Jar of crushed garlic
Bottle of dried onion flakes
2 black cherry Silk soy yogurt
2 lbs clementines
2 quarts cappuccino flavored soy milk
Cheez-its
Apple and strawberry granola bars
Chocolate and pretzel granola bars
Whole wheat bagels
2 lbs avocados
2 bottles Mio
2 pouches white meat chicken
1 pouch protein granola
8 Italian style frozen chicken burgers

For dinner I sauteed chicken breast, red bell pepper, spinach, and bamboo shoots in olive oil. It turns out the rice noodles I bought at Uwajimaya are actually mung bean noodles. I cooked some of those up, and added peanut sauce to the meat, veggies, and noodles. In my peanut sauce I used creamy peanut butter, coconut milk, garlic, chili garlic sauce, soy sauce, honey, sesame oil, and rice wine vinegar. This is the first time I have used honey in it, and I thought it turned out great.

After dinner I used up four spotty bananas and made two batches of banana oatmeal muffins. One batch was gluten free and I used honey and coconut oil instead of sugar and veg oil. I also added walnuts to this batch. The other was just made as per the recipe, and no nuts.

Breakfast: fried egg with sliced avocado and toasted brown rice bread
Lunch: blueberry muffin Lara Bar, peanuts and chicken chunks from a P3 pack (Winter ate the cheese)
Dinner: chicken, veggies, mung bean noodles and peanut sauce
Snacks/desserts: banana nut muffins
Beverages: cocoa mint coconut milk, water

Wednesday I went in to work until 2:30. Winter caught the cold that Jeremy had over the weekend and stayed home from school. We are fully booked for the weekend at the massage studio I work at, and no one is available to cover for me Saturday, so I have been taking all of the zinc and vitamin C. So far, so good. Wish I had time to go in for extra acupuncture sessions.

On the way home I went to QFC and spent $9 and bought: six pack of kiwi, 2 lbs carrots, 8 oz almond based cheese, a reduced for quick sale chocolate gluten free pie crust, and a 2 lt bottle of lemon lime soda for Winter.

I made pizza for dinner. I had bought one 7" and one 12" pizza pans at Grocery Outlet last week. I made a small gluten free crust where I just subbed gluten free flour blend for regular flour, and kept the rest of the recipe the same. I made a larger crust with wheat flour for Winter and Jeremy. I topped mine with tomato sauce, almond based cheese, spinach, roasted red peppers and a little parmesan and Romano cheese blend. The larger pizza was topped with tomato sauce, mozzarella, roasted red peppers, turkey pepperoni, and park/Romano blend.

The gluten free crust actually turned out good, and other than the fact that is didn't rise as much, it tasted just like regular pizza crust and had the same nice chewy texture. I'm sure Jeremy and Winter would have liked it fine, but since GF flour costs 4X as much, I'd rather keep using regular flour for their food as much as I can. Since I do not have an allergy, or apparently a severe sensitivity, I do not worry about things like soy sauce or cross contamination.

I have to say though that my leg pain has improved a whole lot, and I wonder how much the overall improvement of my diet has influenced the fact that I haven't gotten sick yet.

Breakfast: black cherry soy yogurt, banana nut muffin
Lunch: leftover quinoa with chicken sausage, broccoli, and red bell pepper
Dinner: roasted red pepper and spinach pizza
Snacks/desserts: strawberry apple granola bar, Clementine
Beverages: water

Wednesday grocery shopping

I really should have posted this on Wednesday. I've had too many days since that I was barely even home. On Wednesday morning I had a massage. After Jeremy got home we took a bus to Grocery Outlet. Here is what we bought:

Box of 18 Balance Bars $6.99
Chocolate puff cereal $1.49
Multigrain O cereal $1.49
Casserole lasagna noodles $.99
Rotini $.89
Penne rigati $.89
Organic Columbia bread $2.50
2 green peppers ($.50 each) $1.00
2 cucumbers ($.50 each) $1.00
Shell pasta $.89
Organic frozen blackberries $2.49
Organic dried figs $2.99
Frozen bacon cheese fries $1.29
2 boxes of Red Baron breakfast scrambles ($1.49 each) $2.98
1 lb bag cashews $3.99
11 pre cooked beef pouches $10.89
Chocolate peanut butter Bugles $.50
4 lbs sugar $1.99
Funfetti cake mix $.99
12 Pop Tarts $1.99
Cinnamon baking chips $1.99
2 bottles BBQ sauce $1.98
8 oz chili garlic cheddar $2.50
6 Muller Fruit Up yogurts (3/$1.00) $2.00
2 mango flavored Greek yogurts ($.50) $1.00
2 heads of living butter lettuce $4.99
4 8 oz packages of deli chicken ($1.49 each) $5.96
2 8 oz packages of deli ham ($1.99 each) $3.98
Sliced Colby Jack $1.99
Cocoa powder $1.99
4 individual Campbell's cheeseburger soups ($.99) $3.96
8 ct Keebler pepper jack cracker sandwiches $1.29
1 lb dried cranberries $2.99
18 oz creamy peanut butter $1.99
Blue raspberry frosting with sprinkles $.50
Shredded jack cheese $1.79
Shredded habanero Jack cheese $1.79
18 oz. roasted honey peanut butter $2.49
2 packages of 2 peeled hardboiled eggs ($.99 each) $1.98
X-large pitted olives $.79
Jar of minced garlic $.50
1 lb lentils $.99
Roasted red pepper hummus $2.99
Club crackers $1.49
Toffee Rice Krispies treat $.50
2 cans tomato sauce ($.59 each) $1.18
4 cans diced tomatoes ($.59 each) $2.36

Total $106.14

Winter went to a classmate's house after school to help make bake sale items for a drama club fundraiser. She also took some no bake cookies she made Tuesday night.

Breakfast: cereal and milk
Lunch: chicken sandwich on Columbia bread with Colby Jack, lettuce and dijon, banana, Campbell's cheeseburger soup
Dinner: fettucini with chicken, broccoli, and herb and garlic goat cheese sauce
Snacks/desserts: chocolate peanut butter Bugles
Beverages: Crystal Light, water

Pepperoni Soup Recipe

for real this time

14 oz can of petite diced tomatoes
14 oz can tomato sauce
2.25 oz pepperoni cut into bite sized pieces
1 large zucchini (You can chop it up or grate it. I grated it because Winter does not enjoy the texture of zucchini, but found it to be fine once grated up.)
3 oz red wine
1 T olive oil
1/2 T garlic
1/2 T Italian seasoning
pinch of red pepper flakes
6 oz dry pasta
6 cups water

Combine all ingredients except for pasta in a large stock pot. Bring to a boil, then add pasta. Stir occasionally until pasta is tender. Makes about 10 cups of soup. Nutrition info is for 1 cup. You can reduce the amount of sodium by using canned tomatoes with no salt added.Garnish with some parmesan cheese if you like.

 

What we ate 08-08-14

For dinner last night I combined around a cup of dried red lentils with one 14 oz can of dice  tomatoes, 1 can of water, two cups of raw spinach, 2 t ginger, 1/2 T garlic, 1 T dried onion, 1 t curry powder. I cooked it on high heat until the spinach was cooked and the lentils were tender and served it over white rice. It turned out well.

Breakfast: coconut Greek yogurt, strawberry coffee cake
Lunch: tuna salad, celery, banana
Dinner: lentils with tomatoes and spinach, rice
Snacks/desserts: Greek yogurt tubes, protein bar
Beverages: water, Crystal Light

On a roll

We went grocery shopping on Sunday. I got up early and prepped some black beans in the crock pot. I woke Jeremy up and told him to get them out of the fridge and start the crock pot up when he got up. He forgot. Of course, I didn't find out until it was too late. So we made the beans yesterday, and had frozen stuff for dinner on Sunday. 

Then yesterday I woke up late. 10 minutes after I normally leave for work, and I had a client right away. I was able to take a bus and get there on time, but had no time to eat breakfast or pack a lunch, so I had to buy both at QFC.

Jeremy also dropped his phone in the toilet, and used about 3 lbs of rice to dry it out, but on the plus side the phone still works. 

Sunday:

Breakfast: peanut butter and honey sandwich
Lunch: leftover penne and four cheese sauce, nectarine
Dinner: Hot Pockets mac and cheese bites, celery
Snacks: lemon cookie, peppermint bark ice cream bar
Beverages: Crystal Light, water, Diet Dr. Pepper

Monday:

Breakfast: two doughnuts, orange juice
Lunch: frozen entree, banana
Dinner: black beans with peppers, and rice, topped with cheese
Snacks/desserts: protein bar, peppermint bark ice cream bar, strawberry flavored coffee cake, smoothie made with frozen banana and berries and milk
Beverages: Crystal Light, water

On Sunday Jeremy bought 10 cans of Rock Star on sale for $1.00 each, and 3 Lean Cuisines at $2.00 each for a total of $16.00

We also went to Grocery Outlet after I got off work:

2 2.5 lb bags of chicken tenderloins ($6.99 each) $13.98
6 pack of assorted Greek Yogurts $2.99
Strawberry Greek yogurt tubes $.97
Banana Greek yogurt tubes $.97
2 1 lb chubs of turkey sausage ($2.29 each) $4.58
2 7 oz packages of cracked black pepper turkey deli meat ($1.99 ea) $3.98
3 pack of Haagen Dazs peppermint bark ice cream bars $1.99
2 14 oz cans of diced tomatoes ($.59 ea) $1.18
16 oz white chocolate peanut butter $2.99
14 oz can black olives $.79
8 oz can bamboo shoots $.79
can of parmesan cheese $1.99
Picante sauce $1.49
2 Greek yogurts 2/$1.00
Whipped butter $1.49
20 oz. Diet Dr. Pepper $1.09
3 7 oz boxes tomato sauce 3/$1.00
Extra virgin olive oil $3.99
Jar of dried onion $.99
4 oz goat cheese $2.49
7 oz cracked black pepper cheddar $1.99
1 small butternut squash $.99
Jar of chopped garlic $1.49
Lemon cookie $.39
Cinnamon cookie $.39
Red Velvet cookie $.27
7 oz alphabet pasta $.34
8 pack strawberry coffee cakes $.87
Hot pockets mac and cheese snackers $1.99
3 bottles of Mio ($.99 each) $2.97
1 dozen eggs $1.69

Total $64.12

I also bought breakfast and lunch at QFC yesterday:

2 doughnuts ($.89 each) $1.78
orange juice $1.50
frozen entree $2.50
banana $.28

Total $6.06

Recipe for slow cooker pepperoni pasta

This was intended to be soup, but after cooking the pasta absorbed most of the liquid, so it was not soup like at all. It was basically a normal pasta dish. It was a little on the salty side to me since I used regular canned tomatoes and pepperoni, so if I made it again I would probably use no salt added tomatoes.That would also cut the amount of sodium by a little more than half.

2 oz turkey pepperoni slices, halved
1 zucchini, halved lengthwise and then sliced
14 oz can tomato sauce
14 oz can diced tomatoes
1/3 cup red wine
2 T olive oil
2 T dried onion
1 T Italian seasoning
1 T dried garlic
2 1/2 cups water
5 oz dry pasta

Combine all ingredients except pasta in a slow cooker. Cook on low for at least 4 hours. About 15 minutes before you are ready to eat, turn off the slow cooker and stir in the pasta. Once the pasta has cooked, it's ready to go.  It will cook down to about 6 cups or so. Nutrition info is for about 1 cup.

What we ate and what we bought 07-20-14

banana bread French toast with goat milk caramel

I saw something about banana bread French toast online a while back and thought I'd give it a try. It was pretty good, but the caramel sauce was maybe a bit much. I think it would have been better plain, or with some fresh fruit. It sure stuck with me a long time. I did not get hungry at all until dinner time, which is good because I was pretty busy at work. I took a PB sandwich with me but I didn't eat it till I got done at 6:30.

I decided to cook a lot of extra food last night so we'd have some leftovers. Jeremy got a fistula graft surgery this afternoon, and I am working late on Tuesday and Thursday.

Breakfast: chocolate banana oatmeal bread French Toast with goat milk caramel
Lunch: nothing
Dinner: parmesan crusted cod, macaroni and cheese, green beans and carrots with garlic
Snacks/desserts: peanut butter sandwich, strawberry sorbet, Reese's peanut butter cup Oreos
Beverages: water, Dr Pepper Ten

same plate, different food

We went to both QFC and Grocery Outlet. Jeremy wanted more energy drinks from Grocery Outlet but sadly they were out of the ones he likes.

QFC:
4 boxes of 6 protein bars ($1.00 per box. I really cannot believe these were so cheap. I wonder if it was a pricing error?) $4.00
.45 oz cod (reduced for quick sale) $1.34
.25 oz dried onions $2.00
.71 lbs green beans $1.07

Total $8.41

Grocery Outlet:

20 oz. Diet Dr. Pepper $1.09
dried minced garlic $.99
4 pack of coffee flavored yogurt $1.29
1 qt half and half $2.49
20 oz BBQ sauce $.99
2 lbs. turkey deli meat $5.99
Lemon flavored SF energy drink $.79
Mandarin flavored SF sports drink $.50
5 Mio/Crystal Light water flavor drops ($.99 each) $4.95
2 frozen entrees ($1.99 each) $3.98
Reese's peanut butter Oreos $2.29
Pint of Haagen Dazs strawberry sorbet $1.49

Total $26.84

Recipe for slow cooker curried chickpeas and carrots

1 1/2 cups dried chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
1 14 oz can diced tomatoes in juice
3 or 4 carrots, thickly sliced
2 cloves of garlic
1 T curry powder
1 T olive oil
2 T dried onion flakes

Soak the chickpeas in 3 cups of water overnight. The next morning combine all ingredients in a 2 qt slow cooker, and add 2 more cups of water. Slow cook on high for 6 or 7 hours until chickpeas are tender. Makes about 8 cups. Nutrition info is for 1 cup.

Soba noodles with chicken, veggies, and sweet spicy glaze

8.8 oz package of soba noodles

6 oz chicken breast

1 bell pepper, cut into strips

1 cup sliced mushrooms

1 T olive oil

1/2 cup apricot preserves

1 T rice vinegar

1 t chili garlic sauce

1 T powdered ginger

1/2 t soy sauce

2 cloves crushed garlic

1/4 cup slivered almonds

Boil water, add noodles, cook and drain. Set aside. Mix together preserves, rice vinegar, chili garlic sauce, ginger, soy sauce, and crushed garlic in a small bowl. Set aside. Saute mushrooms and peppers in olive oil for 2-3 minutes. Add chicken breast and saute until just cooked. Fold in sauce until chicken and vegetables are well coated. Top with slivered almonds. For the juiciest chicken, cover the pan and allow it to rest for at least 5 minutes. You can mix the noodles right in, or serve them separately. The nutrition info is for 1/4 of the recipe.

This would probably also be good with peach or plum preserves.