Frugal In Florida

Beef?  Check! BBQ Sauce? Check! Bacon? Check! Paleo? You bet! Whole30? Maybe not so much, however, Jessica DOES share a recipe with sauce sweetened with dates, not sugar or honey or anything else like that ... so maybe ... But ... I'm not aiming for Whole30 with this meal. IF I was, I would just use this bottle of Tessemae's Barbeque Sauce for simplicity. Psst ... I did use Tessemae's sauce anyway! Anyways ... I've had this recipe saved for a little while from Jays Baking Me Crazy (go check it out!) and figured, what the heck, it's Saturday *God Bless Saturdays!* (bonus point if you can tell me who sings that?), I've got 2 pounds of ground beef in the fridge that needs cooked, 1 pound of low sodium bacon (aka, sugar free from Aldi), onions and that there BBQ Sauce, so why NOT?! This cost $2.99 after the markdown ... scooped up 4 packages and tossed them in the freezer a few months ago.  What I really wanted to do was make the Sweet Pota...

Hey hey, it's time to share the Frugal Activities post and I know a lot of you liked them because of my full disclosure too! So, what the heck, since I seem to have fallen off the Menu Plan Post, let's revive the Frugal Activities shall we? I generally try to start my week on Monday with it ending on Sunday Here are some of our Frugal Activities that we did this past week! 1.  Stayed OUT of the stores this week up until Thursday. Trying very hard to stick with a one day a week shopping plan and this week it worked. However, I sort of blew the budget, see #1 in the Not So Frugal Activities below. 2.  Did my own manicure. Like I've said before, it's not spa quality, but plenty sufficient for me and work. Saved $20, well worth it to do it yourself! I even used that same color! 3.  Made an extra $200 debt paydown payment ... I think I have $200 left on this particular credit card and that will pay off the new computer. This money came from Digit savings...

Ha ... I didn't step foot in a grocery store ONCE this week! Score for me!  Hubby and the Boy did, however, but spent way less than $20 ... they got milk, bagels, ricotta cheese and a few other things ... otherwise, that was IT! *I did hit up Walmart Neighborhood Market this morning, but that goes on for next week* It's the last day for the Pantry / Freezer Challenge but I think we will still continue onward ... it's been kind to our checking account and wallets and we are starting to make room in the freezers and pantry.  As we are now ready to list the house (starting out with For Sale By Owner) in the next week or so, we need to stay focused on eating down what we have which apparently is still quite a bit! ;-) I will admit, we don't have any ground beef left (that I can find in the freezer) so I have been buying that whenever I step in a store ... Taco Tuesday would be rough ... although, I do have ground chicken and ground turkey to use still ...  So, sinc...

*This is a repost from last New Years and well, it's rather fitting again this year! I currently do not have the Prosecco, but DO have 4  now 6 bottles of Champagne in the freezer  fridge (2 Moet, 3 Cuerve and 1 less expensive brand, NOT Korbel!)  Seriously, this is what I will most likely be drinking on Christmas Day and New Year's Eve!  Definitly on New Years Eve since I figured I'm starting another round of Whole30 on Friday and I sure as hell do NOT want to be hungover!  I have 6 bottles of champagne which should be more than adequate for the dinner toastings, the mimosas AND the midnight toast ... if necessary and see it on sale, will buy a few more bottles of Processo ( if it's on sale). I DO have the POM so that's not a problem! Let's face it ... on a whim, I will sometimes buy things spontaneously, with good intentions ... just like when I bought 2 bottles of Prosecco a few months back. By the time I got around to wanting to use them, I couldn't ...

This recipe comes from a book I got a while ago, Primal Blueprint Quick & Easy Meals . which prompted me to get back in to the actual cookbook mode ... even though I have tons of them, I need more that are on track with this new way of eating! 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. Anyways ...  It's Whole30 Compliant! Sweet! Perfect for January 2016 which is RIGHT around the corner, you know? I renamed the recipe to Island Shrimp with Avocado, then, just Island Shrimp ... more appealing to ME than Tropical Avocado & Shrimp. And yes, there were a few modific...

Ahhh .... it's that time of year again, and well, yet again, I have to say, I'm still  not sure if I'm on the soup train or not!! I do know, however, that I'm on the Whole30 train and was  doing so good for a while there, then of course, had that little Pei Wei mishap, overcomed by sugar cookies and then the B E E R and well, I figured, I need to get my act together and hop back on!  Of course, trying to feed  Hubby this was has been difficult as he and the Boy are both firm believers that man needs carbs, processed carbs, which means bread and pasta ... otherwise, they may just die. Men. So, are you following me on Instagram yet? I'm not normally all that active, but the Whole30 community has an overwhelming presence and of course, I'm stalking all the Whole30 'gramers out there and finding some pretty awesome bloggers with some pretty awesome recipes ... Just like this one! This surprisingly easy and yummy recipe comes from Whole Fork ...

So this Whole30 thing hasn't been too horribly bad ... I think the first "failed week" was due to my total lack of preparation. This last REAL week hasn't been too hard at all ... the food prep on Sunday has paid off and I'm glad I had that food on standby for those few nights I got in later than anticipated ... even with the stressful issue with Princess being admitted to the hospital on Thursday, I've held strong ... thankfully ;-) So ... the BLT Lettuce Cups were on my Whole30 Board, because I knew I had everything on hand. Sadly, it wasn't until SATURDAY that I got around to making them and then I was like, geesh, I should have made these sooner ;-) This was MY lunch on Day 6 ... and if you follow me on Instagram, you can see what I've been eating for about 75% of the meals ... I just can't be bothered remember to snap a photo each time I -eat! Lets make these little food bombs, shall we? *This was for ME and me only, otherwise I...

On DAY 3 of Whole30 (well, the 2nd time around) we had burgers and dogs on the grill ... and man, I was sweating it on so many levels. Yeah, it was hot and humid too but I was more worried about: B E E R See, when we grill, we sit outside, where it's like a sauna and NOT in a good way ... between swatting at the skeeters and dabbing at the back of your neck with a paper towel, it's almost a given that you Get Yourself a Coozie and have a chilled beer (bonus point for the first person who can Name That Song!) ... but that's not very Whole30'ish like. Actually, it's everything the Whole30 isn't ... But don't you worry ... I improvised on so many levels and was so proud of myself ... I did indeed grab a coozie and then a can of LaCroix Sparkling Water Lime ... and you know what? That satisfied that habit/need/desire/whatever to roll the edge of the coozie around the table in a circular fashion, sip from the can and give it a little shakey shakey an...

And ... Week #2 is here for Whole30 ... I think I can do this ... I really do!  I wish Hubby was on with me but he's eating what I make and then some so I guess it's a start ... We've had a little excitement this past week between Princess being in the hospital and then Hubby's having some serious back issues again (crud, this last round of shots did NOTHING) for him ... to the point where when he went to see Princess on Saturday, he asked how far he was going to need to walk and I was like, crap, maybe you should ask for a handicap hanger for times like this :-( He refuses as he doesn't "need it" but I told him that there are times when he DOES need it ... even today, he's pretty much immobile which really stinks ... I can see how people under pain management can totally abuse and over-medicate themselves now. Keeping a close eye on him so that doesn't happen! Anyway. A Costco trip came along, finally, last week ... did you catch that post ...

Happy Sunday ... and yes, it's that time of week again! So. Let me just get this out of the way, right now: I had pizza AND beer on Friday night. Oh, yes, I did. And, man, did I pay the price for it at 2am with a major case of heartburn and stomach ache. Ugh. I won't even talk about the joints in my hands ... they were pretty inflamed and still are today ... I've taken way too many Aleve in the past 24 hours which just reminds me that BEER may be the #1 culprit! Say it isn't so! So, needless to say, I am calling a NEW start to the Whole30 plan starting on MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 28th ... trust me, I ate healthy the whole weekend, except that Saturday night, I was too lazy tired to spiralize the zucchini so ate REGULAR pasta with the family after Hubby slaved away all day making the red sauce ... And that Man, as much as I love him, made a double  batch of brownies. Flat out told him Sunday afternoon that those  things had to go away ... like today. Ugh.  And then I th...

I never really knew  if I liked sweet potatoes or not ... I mean, heck, who doesn't like something covered in brown sugar (or maple syrup) and then marshmallows over the top? What I didn't like was the stringy-mushy texture of that stuff ... but I would take a little orange stuff and LOTS of toasted marshmallows during the holidays. Now. Not so much. It does kind of suck when you grow up and learn to read the labels and whats good for you and what's really not. Being an adult does stink sometimes! So ... with the Whole30 thing underway (which by the way, I jumped ship on Day 6 at lunch time and hurried up and caught up to the boat and jumped back on asap!) I'm back to experimenting ... And ... I give you SWEET without the cloying, sticky stuff ... This was so stinkin easy to do that I'm actually surprised I never tried it before ... Ready? Grab yourself a couple of sweet potatoes ... I used 3 here and peel them. Once peeled, go ahead and slice...

This is one of the favorites of the household, and for a while there, I made it ALL THE TIME. Then it sort of became "not so special" when I did make it, because we were getting used to having it ALL THE TIME. So it's been awhile. I've had it on the menu plan a few times but life interferes so I haven't made it ... But this week ... I figured I MUST make it this week ... Therefore, It's What's For Dinner! It's a fairly easy recipe to throw together, and there are few steps you can do in the morning before heading to slave away in the office for 9 hours ... 4 chicken breast, sliced in half (so you have 8 pieces now) salt and pepper flour for dredging 12 tbs of butter (slice each tbs off a stick and set on plate) 10 tbs olive oil (just have tbs and oil handy) 2/3 cups lemon juice (yup, I squeezed the lemons, 2 1/2) 1 cup chicken stock (I used the granules and 1 cup hot water) 1/2 cup capers, rinsed and drained 1/2 cup parsley, chopped (ha...