Frugal In Florida

Repost Alert ... it's cooler (by our standards), life is really  busy right now and well, I think I need to make this soon! Gosh ... I look at the bottom of the recipe printout and see that I've had this since late 1998 .... wow! I've made this specific recipe a few times, but then I get distracted with a newer recipe and try that ... and ALWAYS have to listen to Hubby ask why I don't just stick with the first one I have... he's right. So, Saturday, it was a nice, sunny, BEAUTIFUL day, high of around 86. But the nights are getting a little cooler, and this morning it was 72 when I went outside at 8am ... hence, it's FALL TIME in Paradise, time to make soups! The sprinkler dudes were here making repairs, and since they were digging up in the back yard, I didn't really want to toss on the ole bikini and jump in the pool to float ... just not my idea of cheap thrills, you know? ;-) So, again, I made soup.  AND I used what we had on hand ... it...

When you got a long day in the office, it's nice to come home to a home that smells like dinner is ready to be served ... Doing the Whole30 will sometimes make you feel like an outcast ... it will be a little difficult to go out for dinner and drinks with friends, and forget the fast food or take out joints! BUT ... this might, just maybe, fill that void! Grab yourself a bag of riced cauliflower from Trader Joe's (or any store now!) and you can almost call it a take out meal! 2 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into bite size pieces *I  strongly recommend using thighs so you won't have dried out chicken ! 4 cups of stir fry veggies (frozen is fine, just check the ingredients to make sure no funky stuff added to "preserve") 1.5 tsp of ginger 1 tsp of red pepper flakes 1/4  c coconut aminos (most grocery stores are carrying this now!) 5 cloves of garlic, minced 2 tsp sesame oil 1/4 cup of green onions, sliced thin salt and pepper t...

Ready for another crockpot recipe! Good! I made this a few months ago again and well, although it's still not Hubby's favorite, I liked it so I will share with you again ... OH! And if you use the coconut aminos instead of the soy sauce, you will be Whole30 compliant and Paleo as well ... just thought I'd share that with you! I modified it to what we had on hand ... of course! 2 1/4 lbs London Broil 1/2 cup beef broth 1 whole onion, cut in half and sliced 1 tsp chopped garlic ( are you prepping yours? ) 1/4 cup soy sauce (I used coconut aminos as I'm trying to do a little healthier and avoid soy!) 2 tbs of sesame oil 2 tbs minced ginger (from tube) 1 tbs minced red chili pepper (from tube) 5 cups or so of bok choy, chopped green onion, sliced, for garnish (optional) Sear beef in skillet just to brown both sides, move to crockpot. Add onion and saute til starting to turn translucent and then add garlic. Stir around for about 2 minutes and dump thi...

*Repost alert ... I'm planning to make this over the weekend as I have everything on hand except the radishes which a quick, "frugal" stop at the store can be done on the way home from the office ... enjoy! Another new recipe from another new cookbook,  Primal Blueprint Quick & Easy Meals . I've decided that I really want to get back in to the cookbook mode ... I LOVE cookbooks, and have tons of them ... but with my new way of eating, I need some inspiration, here and there. By the way, in case you didn't know, 450  Swagbucks  will  give you $5 in Amazon cash ... and that's how I've been buying the cookbooks ... Another side note ... I do NOT like to have them on my Kindle. I mean, yeah, it's sort of cool to just open up the Kindle BUT I don't like the layout/format whatever. It's not the same as looking at the 2 pages, side by side ... so I've decided no more cookbooks on the Kindle. So anyways ... I have everything, EVE...

Ready for an old favorite? One that I haven't made in a while and boy am I excited to make it coming up this week?? Tuscan Garlic Chicken. Even those who don't like chicken breast will like this. Ahem, I'm referring to my father in law who will be eating this and slurping, I promise. This is really a good recipe and I need to make sure I put it on the menu rotation soon as it's been a little while since we've made it ... It may look like a lot of work but you CAN do it it parts and generally, that IS what I do as I don't like standing in the kitchen for hours on end at the end of the day, you know? Here's what you need to make this really yummy dish ... 2 large chicken breast - slice them in half (which now I know, alternatively called butterflying!) 3/4 cup flour 1/2 tbs salt 1/2 tsp oregano 1/2 tsp basil 1 tsp black pepper olive oil (ummm, says 5 tbs total, but I don't think I used that much) 4 cloves garlic, minced (or use the lo...

*This recipe has been made so many times in my household! You can use chicken or pork as both work really well!  When Hubby comes home on Tuesday, I plan to have this going in the crockpot to make his day ;-) The very first time I made this, Hubby opted to take me out that evening so we ended up reheated this and served with some mashed potatoes and whew ... it was very very tasty! Those items above? That's all you need in addition to the pork chops.  Seriously. One packet of ranch dressing One can of cream of chicken soup 1 tsp fresh garlic chopped black pepper You are  chopping your garlic  in mass quantities, right? I mean really. All you do is spray the crockpot with spray, toss in the chop. Mix up the balance of ingredients in small bowl and spread over the chops. Go ahead and toss in any chopped onions you see in the fridge ... Put a lid on the crockpot and make yet another mental note to find a new handle to replace the broken ...

While we are in Indiana visiting family, I'm also stocking my father in law's freezer with easy single serve things for him to grab and reheat to eat. He's diabetic and just doesn't always think to eat. Most times, he's not even hungry but realizes that he's not eaten for 14 or so hours (skips breakfast, nibbles for lunch and expects dinner at 5pm) so this is perfect for when we are NOT there.  Funny enough, the one time I was under a Pantry Challenge, the Boy had been eating all my black beans, apparently. I went to make this one evening and imagine my surprise that I couldn't find any black beans! Oh! By the way! HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Ahem.  Anyways. It would seem that Sonny Boy has been doing his own meal prepping and is putting together the fixings for knock of Chipolte Burritos using brown rice (pantry) corn (pantry) and ... you guessed it, black beans (pantry). I can't be mad at the kid, you know? ;-) So there was an Aldis trip bright and ...

This recipe comes from  Paleo Girl 99  who I found on Instagram ... doing the Whole30 a while back had introduced me to a whole new class of bloggers! So. The first time I made this, I didn't have the dehydrated shallots, but had dehydrated onions, so I improvised and used the onions. Yeah. Hubby was in love.  Asked me for 3 days if this was really the only thing that I did to make it taste so good. Was I sure it was just the dehydrated onions and not the "fried onions"  and on and on. Good grief. He just can't accept that something so simple would be so tasty. I did NOT share that this was  Whole30  approved as some things just don't need to be said out loud. Then I put this on the menu again and said, hmmm, let me just order some shallots from Amazon. Well. The first thing that popped up was $1xx.00 to buy. No thank you ... so I kept shopping and finally came across a  $12 bottle . Thank you one click ordering! So, here's how I made it t...

Still here in NW Indiana ... NO internet to be provided to the house as of yet. Good grief. I ended up going to Verizon in town and just buying a pay as you go phone with hotspot as our little jetpack bit the dust and it was more expensive to buy a new one of those than an actual phone. AND it's cheaper on a per month basis so I figured what the heck ... at least I'll have a phone that works here too ... And that, my friends, is not so very frugal and it will show up on the Frugal Activities report later this week so check back ... Otherwise, everything is just fine! Cold? Yup! Snow flurries? Yup! Laundry mat? Yup! Just like the old days! What's not like the old days is the menu planning and meal prepping! Never did that when I was younger ... my parents would get paid on Friday, so we'd do Friday night at Shakee's, Saturday night at Red Lobster, Sunday night at Arbies, Monday at McDonalds or KFC and then Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday would be the boxed ...

So, hey, I'm sitting up here in Northwest Indiana freezing my booty off ... I was excited about some cooler temps but when I checked from Florida, it was like a high of 70 and low in the mid 50's. Uhm, weather people are sooo clueless ... it's a high of 50!  I suppose I should take a new picture and make it pretty, huh? My father in law is diabetic. And swears that he doesn't really dislike anything. Except chicken breast.   Honestly? He's opted not to eat the protein one night becuase it was chicken breast. To be 100% honest it was Ranchy Chicken in the Crockpot. With LOTS of gravy/saucy stuff.  Wouldn't eat it. Opted to just eat the buttery egg noodles. I think I may have given him attitude for a bit there.  Anyways, I'm trying again. Cuz, you know, I'm all about showing people that good food is easy to make.  Uh huh. And this recipe is SO EASY! And low carb. Perfect for a diabetic man in his mid 70's. Who may or may not be ...

This is one of those veggies that I just want to LOVE but instead, I find it to be  sort of just, ok. Maybe part of the problem is prepping the damn thing and taking your life in your own hands when you go to cut it. Yeah. It's not pretty. So then I found out I could cook it in the  Instant Pot  ... sweet! But I still had to cut it. And then removing it while it was steaming hot was a little concerning. I'm such a sissy sometimes. And then came along the crock pot option. Why not? So I gave it a shot. And I'm impressed! Impressed enough to share with you how I did it! Ready to make some fake noodles and make your family roll their eyes?? Good, let's get to it! 1 medium size spaghetti squash. Ok, honestly I haven't the faintest idea how you pick a "good" one ... I look for one that's firm, heavy, pretty yellow and a nice stem end ... if you have tips, by all means, share with me!  *Today's star was picked up at...