The Cost of Eating Healthier

This month my husband and I are making a conscious effort to become healthier.  I work out at Curves and before I go to my work out, I mall walk as fast as I can for 45 minutes.  Fortunately Curves is located in our mall which is quite convenient for me.

We started making a few subtle changes back in the fall but in December we began watching our sodium intake and we became diligent about reading those food labels.  I have posted about some of our food decisions here and under the healthy eating label.   What am I learning?  That I really need to be careful with grocery spending and put the money where the healthier food choices are such as fresh produce AND I need to make as much from scratch as possible. 

The pit fall to this is that if I take on too much all at once, I will become overwhelmed.  I am taking baby steps. 

Tonight I decided to try those indigo blue potatoes that I have seen in the produce section of the grocery store.  They were $3.99 for a 1.5 lb. bag.  Yikes.  I bought them because I wanted to have something different and frankly, they intrigued me.  I sliced these thin, tossed them with a little olive oil, sodium free barbecue seasoning and a smidgen of sea salt.  They were delicious and pretty.

We had ground chicken burgers for dinner also and I wanted to serve them with healthier buns than the normal burger buns.  The cost?  $3.69 for 8 buns that have 5 grams of fiber and 1/3 less calories than regular wheat burger buns.  Double Yikes.

I wanted ice cream for a treat.  I haven’t had ice cream in a very long time and I wanted chocolate ice cream.  Normally I would have purchased the on sale store brand 1/2 gallon of ice cream.  I am reading labels now and I ended up buying the name brand that comes in a 1.5 quart container and it only had 5 ingredients – all recognizable to me.  The cost?  $5.89.  Triple Yikes.

I would never have made these kind of purchases in the past, and I won’t be making these in the future.  Some people on a whim head to a restaurant, I on a whim headed to the grocery store and spent a high premium amount of money on 3 items.

So, what does this have to do with “The Path to Frugality?”  After all I made some high price purchases for three items today.  Well, I am going to be making my own ice cream from now on.  I am saving up for an ice cream attachment to my Kitchenaid mixer .  This special bowl will be kept in my freezer ready to be used.  Perfect for making ice cream and perfect for not taking up space in my cupboards.  I want to make ice cream that has things like blueberries and blackberries in it. 

I have baked my own honey whole wheat bread in the past but I am researching recipes for high fiber, multi-grain bread that I can bake in loaves, buns and rolls.  Making my own will be oh so much cheaper and again, I will know what ingredients will actually be going into the bread.  The same goes to researching recipes for healthier pasta.

And, I can save in other areas of our budget by making my own safer cleaners and soaps for our family.  I am still on and will continue to be on "The Path to Frugality."

Oatmeal Muffins, and living with less sugar

My daughter in law gave me this recipe.  She suggests having one of these for breakfast with a hard boiled egg.  I agree.  These are very delicious and a healthy alternative to the sugary, almost cupcake like muffins, that are served a lot.

3 mashed bananas
1 cup low fat milk (can use almond milk if there is a good sale)
2 eggs
1 tablespoon baking powder
3 cup oats - quick or old fashioned
1 teaspoon vanilla
Fresh or frozen blueberries

Mix together, except the blueberries.  For the muffin cups, I line muffin tins with paper liners but you can grease the muffin cups if you don't have the paper liners.  Fill the muffin cups 2/3 full.  Then top the batter with some blueberries - I topped each muffin with 5 large blueberries.  

Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.  These muffins are very dense as they don't have added flour nor oil, shortening or butter.  The bananas sweeten them just right, at least for me, and I like a dense a muffin for breakfast.  If you find that you need these to be a little sweeter, you could sprinkle a very small smidgen of some sugar (raw or granulated) on top or a little honey after baking.  Also, you can add a little cinnamon to the batter.

I am finding that as I change our diet to one with less sugar, I need some time for my "taste buds" to adjust. I am giving this time.  Our diets are so laden with sugar that I think we forget what real food, such as the taste of oats, is really like.  But in saying that, I still plan to bake good ole fashioned cookies.  Instead of having 3 dozen on hand from a recipe, I will hold back 6 and give the rest to our friends and neighbors as a gift of hospitality.  

I will still have a treat that may have a lot of fat and sugar in it, but it will be 1 treat and I won't sit down and eat several.  

Chocolate Chiffon Cakes

3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon flour
3 tablespoons plus 1/2 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup raw or granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 1/2 tablespoons canola oil
2 large egg yolks
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
1/2 teaspoon grated orange zest
3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon water
4 large egg whites
2 tablespoons granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a large mixing bowl, whisk together first 5 ingredients.  In a smaller bowl, whisk together the next 5 ingredients.  Slowly combine the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients until incorporated and batter is smooth. 

Beat egg whites on medium until foamy.  Slowly add 2 tablespoons granulated sugar and continue beating on high until soft peaks form, about 2 minutes.  Using a rubber spatula fold 1/3 of the egg whites into the batter to lighten it.  Fold in remaining whites.

Divide batter evenly among 8 - 6 oz. ungreased ramekins and bake for 15 minutes.  Let cakes cool completely before unmolding.

Dust lightly with powdered sugar and serve with a few blueberries or raspberies.  

I found this recipe in a People magazine.  This is a delicious, sweetened just right cake.  

Chicken Fajita Soup and Taco Seasoning Mix

1 box of low fat/low sodium chicken broth (or 3 - 15 oz. cans)
1 to 2 packs of taco seasoning (recipe follows)
3 to 4 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded
1 onion chopped
5 to 6 stalks of celery, chopped
3 cans of Rotel tomatoes with chilis (I used mild)
1 to 2 cans of low sodium black beans, rinsed
1 bag frozen corn
1 teaspoon minced garlic

Dump everything into a crockpot and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours or on high for 4 to 5 hours.

I had a bowl of sharp cheddar that I lightly shredded, more like shaved thinly, to garnish on top of the soup.  I served this with some brown rice that you can add to the soup or eat on the side.  I also served a nice tossed salad.

Taco Seasoning Mix

1/4 cup dried minced onion
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon crushed dried red pepper
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon round cumin

Combine all ingredients and store in an airtight container.  Measure out 2 tablespoons of this mix to use a substitute for commercially prepared taco seasoning mixes.  This is a low sodium seasoning mix.

Kitchen Clean up and Healthy Living

This week I spent a lot of time going through my homemaking mentor lessons and getting them sorted, organized and put into plastic sheet protectors and into notebooks.  Many of these were in the form of pdf downloaded files and for many people just looking them up on their computer would be fine; but not for me.   I wanted them in notebooks, organized and indexed for quick reference.    You know when you think something will only take you a certain amount of time?  Well, I thought it would take one evening; but it took several evenings of interrupted time.  Yeah, I was constantly chasing our 70 lb. labradoodle puppy, Molly, around the dining room table when she would jump up and grab paper.  This is her favorite game and I am always an unwilling participant.

This project is not entirely complete in that I still  need to index the lessons, but at least they are in notebooks and divided into categories such as Cleaning/Organization, sewing, and  gardening/canning.   

First of all, if you want to know a little background about these lessons, go to my previous post.  Basically Martha Greene wrote these lessons with the help of other homemakers with the intent of mentoring other like minded women.  These lessons are all copyrighted so I won’t be able to actually show you the lesson except for a picture of what the front of the lesson looks like. 

I have always needed help in the homemaking department as my mom didn’t show me how to keep house.  My mom was busy with a lot of her volunteer activities and she never really mentored me.   It was a case of it was easier for her to just do it than spend time showing me how to do it.  I can be guilty of this myself. 

For years it was easier to excuse the fact that I couldn’t keep house as I was working 50 hours a week outside the home.  That was a great excuse.  I’ve been home 3 ½ years and still can’t quite find anything that works for me.  So I am beginning at the beginning and acknowledge that I need training and education.

I have chosen the lesson “Kitchen Sparkle” to begin my journey.  This lesson comes in two parts with each part being divided into daily tasks.  It is suggested that each part will take one week.  This appeals to me as I work better on a large project by breaking it down into smaller jobs.

I decided that I had to tackle my kitchen first as it is time to clean out cupboards and give a lot of items away.  We are now “empty nesters” and I don’t need as many pans and baking dishes.  Also, it is time to take a hard look at those kitchen gadgets and really decide if I need them.   

These Kitchen Sparkle lessons are basically a very thorough deep cleaning of the kitchen from the ceiling to the floor along with going through the cupboards, cleaning them out and decluttering.  The lessons are divided by days so it helps you stay on track. 

I will post how I am coming along on these lessons and what is working and not working.

Lastly, my husband and I have become quite committed to making some changes in our life as it affects our health.  Both of us are fairly active, but as you age, ahem, things can still catch up with you and for us it has been the foods that we have been eating.  We have been making some changes but are now stepping up to the plate and becoming totally committed to a healthier lifestyle. 

We are making sure that we get in plenty of time to exercise and we are changing our diet.  I have set a goal to lose weight (10 lbs.) but not by dieting.  I cannot bear to go through another diet which is totally going against what I have believed in the past.  Instead, I am becoming totally committed to eating “cleaner” foods.  We are limiting processed foods and trying hard to push them out altogether.  A priority to our diet will be eating whole grains; less fat and sugars; less sodium; more fruits and vegetables and leaner proteins.  When we are planning on a meal where the meat may not be as lean, we will eat smaller portions of that meat.  Our goal is to eat as much of our food in its natural form.   I am reading a lot of labels these days. 

However in saying all of that, we are not gourmet type people.  We don’t eat weird things.  So I am researching recipes that we will like and I am taking our old family favorites and making them over into healthier versions.  Gone are the canned cream soups for casseroles and now I am making my own cream soup mixes which are lower in sodium.

These meals must not only be healthy, but must fit into the frugal category. 

Today for lunch I made crock pot chicken fajita soup.  The soup was seasoned with a taco 

seasoning that I made which is lower in sodium than its store bought counterpart.  We also had a nice tossed salad of romaine lettuce, carrot and red pepper.  For dessert I made individual chocolate chiffon cakes baked in ramekin dishes, sprinkled with some confectioner sugar.  This dessert  was only 190 calories. 

Yes, I will post recipes under a new label entitled “Healthy Eating.”