Frugal In Florida

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...

I say "naked" because, it's without any BBQ Sauce ... And surprise, THIS time, Hubby ate it and said it was pretty damn good. Yeah, he said that about the green beans too ... maybe his back pain was just making him super complacent? What surprises me more than anything is that this humble hunk of pork can be transformed into something so freakin' simple with just a few ingredients ... 3 to 5 pound pork roast (I used a boneless pork butt this last time which makes me wonder, how is it boneless??) 1 tsp himalayian salt (the pink stuff) half bottle of liquid smoke 1/2 cup water Grab your crockpot. Usually, I trim some  of the fat, but this last time I didn't. So I guess it works either way ;-) Trim or not, it's up to you! Grab a tsp or so of salt and sprinkle it all over everything and then massage the butt . Not a lot, you don't want anyone to give you funny looks, you know? Toss that bad boy in your crock pot, fat side up. Add your ha...

Soooo....Thursday morning, I got upset, threw down the kitchen towel and said TODAY IS THE DAY ... Whole30 , that is. I've not quite relayed that exact message to the family but they certainly know something is up. Saturday, I woke up at 6am, STARVING, but no where near ready to wake up ... so I grabbed a Honey Crisp Apple and sat in the guest room watching the sky change colors ... Kitten was sweet enough to join me while I chomped away on the apple. Just for the record, cats don't care for apples ;-) So after the apple and a glass of water, I went back to bed ... it's been a rough week. FINALLY rolled out of bed around 10:30 or so and made myself some real breakfast. But man, the headache I had ... which continued all through the day and night ... even with Advil and tons of water. I'm thinking it's the coffee/cream/sugar/beer withdrawal.  Seriously, so bad, I could only hang out with the kids poolside for about 45 minutes, as much as I wanted to get some ...

You do know that I buy my ground beef from The Fresh Market on Tuesdays because it's $2.99 per pound for 85/15, right? I mean, heck, that's a STEAL now days! Beef is EXPENSIVE anymore! So, when I go every few weeks, I buy about 8 to 10 pounds of the stuff. Which, now that I'm on a stricter food budget of $125.00 a week, I've really got to watch what I'm buying! AND THEN ... I found Aldis ground beef: That's pretty good pricing for 90/10 and 93/7 ground beef, don't you think? The 73/27 is WAY better than the $3.59 I saw it for at Publix recently! Just for the record, Hubby prefers to mix one pound of the 73/27 with the 90/10 or even the 85/15 as it makes for a juicier burger. So ... yes, I stocked up on some of this too the last time I was at Aldis ... and NOW, what to do with 8 to 10 pounds of beef?  I am not a proponent of cooking it all up at once like some do ... I mean, heck, some days we want burgers, other days, tacos, and then of ...

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...

I did pretty good this past 6 days of staying out of the stores after that last Sunday where I blew 50% of my grocery budget ... then I did the quick stop at Whole Foods on Friday morning and spent $22 .... and then again on Saturday, Hubby wanted to make some Shepherds Pie with shredded beef ... WF had their beef roast for $5.99 a pound, same as Publix and I'd much rather shop at WF, you know? So another $45 out the door on Saturday ... but have a ton of leftovers for lunches and dinners this week! Score!!  I'm pretty happy in that I stayed under the $125 budget I recently put in place for food per week. I made it a point to prep some food Sunday before I ran out to do some sight-seeing (aka house drive-bys with Hubby) ... I grilled up a LOT of zucchini, squash, onions, red peppers and green peppers and cooked 3 HUGE chicken breast (for lunches this week) and sauteed 2 pounds of green beans. Then I went ahead and made up 3 shepherd pie and green bean containers for lun...