Chopped Challenge

So I told you guys how I'm frugal, and why I don't like to go to the grocery stores early in the week. That means that there are many Mondays and Tuesdays (and even weekends) where I have to play my own version of Chopped Challenge... I look at what random crap I have in my fridge and cupboards, and see what I can come up with.

This week, I found some shredded yellow squash that needed to get eaten, parmesan cheese, onions, garlic, eggs, a baby water melon, and cabbage. So.... I made my husband's favorite cabbage salad, and a zucchini fritatta. 

I sauteed the shredded zucchini in some olive oil with garlic and diced onions until browned. I then added my 6 beaten eggs with salt and pepper and let it cook on one side. I have a fancy shmancy fritatta pan that I got as part of a Calphalon set of pots and pans I won a few years ago in a contest. This was honestly the first time I've ever used it, and it worked like a charm!! Basically the handles interlock, and you flip the pan over to invert it so the eggs slide out of one pan and onto the other to cook on the other side. That way you don't have to flip the fritatta itself and risk breaking it.




























After cooked through, we cut it up and sprinkled it with parmesan. For being made out of randomness in my fridge, it was quite delicious!

Mike's favorite cabbage salad is just shredded cabbage, red wine vinegar, olive oil, a crazy amount of garlic, and salt. That's it. I don't measure, so do not judge me for the following 3 sentences. For 1/2 head of cabbage (which makes a ton of salad, to be fair... he eats a ton of salad though), I probably use 4-5 smashed garlic cloves, and 5-6 counts of red wine vinegar (in the spouted bottles), similar amount of EVOO, and some hefty pinches of salt. This is how I measure guys... I promise that for future posts I'll actually measure things for you and will include real recipes. Well, I can't promise that I'll measure everything, but I'll definitely include more real recipes. The cabbage salad is a tough one to quantify, because it's totally trial and error. Start with a little of each dressing ingredient, toss it, taste it, decide what it needs more of, repeat until yummy. It's an extremely filling side dish for very little calories. No pic this time, sorry.

We also had a baby watermelon hanging around, so we cut that up and had it for dessert. It was an all around healthy, delicious, and very frugal meal.

What are some of your quick go-to meals when you're running low on groceries?

Wednesday's GHI: Water bottle

Gotta Have It: Giant water bottle

If you could only do one good thing for your body each day, I would recommend drinking tons of water. And I mean tons... a gallon if possible. But start for a goal of at least 64 oz. per day. Water is so essential for all of your body's processes to function properly, you need to give your body plenty of it!

My favorite water bottle. This thing comes with me everywhere!!

By the time you feel "thirsty," your body is already dehydrated!! You should be constantly drinking water, and you should never feel thirsty if you are staying properly hydrated. Here's the TMI time: if your pee is actually yellow, you need to drink more water. Your urine should be practically clear. The yellow color is from uric acid, which is the waste that your kidneys process out of your body. So you can imagine that it's not good for that to sit in your body for a long time, especially if it's that concentrated. In fact, prolonged dehydration can even lead to UTIs as those toxins pass through you in such a concentrated form. And for those of you who have ever had one of those... Let's avoid that, shall we?? So while many people complain about drinking the proper amount of water because they don't like that it makes them have to use the restroom more frequently, that's a good thing!! Get those toxins out of your body as often as you can!! Embrace the toilet. Not literally though, that's gross.

And lastly, staying properly hydrated can actually make you eat less. When you feel hungry, more often than not what your body actually needs is water. But when your body goes to send those signals to your brain, the "hunger" and "thirst" signals are so close together, that your brain kind of smooshes them together, and the feeling if hunger dominates even if it's caused by thirst. So any time you feel hungry outside of a normal meal time, try drinking a big glass of water and wait ~15 minutes. If you're still hungry, then have a snack with some protein and fiber, like peanut butter and carrots or an apple, or almonds and some dried fruit. 

Here are some tips to help keep you optimally hydrated:

1. Get a big reusable bottle, and keep it with you all day. Bring it to meetings with you. Bring it in the car. Bring it into the store with you. 
2. Set milestones for when you want to finish said water bottle. For me, I have a 24 oz. bottle, and I fill it up first thing in the morning, then I refill it once before lunchtime, once in the afternoon, once before I leave work, and once in the evening. That's 120 oz minimum each day. 
3. Avoid drinking water within 30 minutes of eating or during meals. When you drink water, it actually reduces the acidity of your stomach which means you can't digest food as efficiently as you're meant to. So drink a big glass of water 30 minutes before eating to keep you hydrated during the meal. If you need to drink water while you eat, add some lemon juice - the little bit if extra acidity reduces the alkaline effects of the water (chemistry class, anyone??).
4. When drinking anything with diuretic effects, drink one glass of water per beverage to reduce the potential for dehydration and bloating. This includes any caffeinated beverages (especially coffee) and any alcoholic beverages. Bonus: you'll be way less hungover. I would also say any time you eat something really salty, you should down a glass of water 30 minutes after you're done eating to avoid bloating. 

Making the Most of the Grocery Store

Some Say Cheap, I Say Frugal

Frugality is not a universal truth I live by. I will splurge when it counts, and I love those moments. But if I can help it, I want to save money in the easiest ways possible. I also don't want to sacrifice quality in doing that. So here are some tips I'd like to share about how I make the most of my grocery shopping. Hopefully you find it useful!

1. Almost all grocery stores get their deliveries on Wednesdays. This means that Wednesday evening, after the clerks have spent all day Wednesday re-stocking things, that's when stuff will be the freshest, and if you go right after work, you'll basically get first pick of the fresh shipment. Just don't go too early in the day, because they won't have turned over the inventory yet! (made that mistake before). This is why their weekly circular sales start on Weds
2. Conversely, avoid the store on Mondays/Tuesdays. A) it's a mad house on Mondays as people stock up for the week, and I hate crowds so... no. And B) the food has been sitting in storage in the store for 6 days. I'd rather get it while it's fresh, and at least let it sit in storage at my house so that I have it at its freshest for as long as possible. This means less waste because you have to toss something that's gone bad.
3. I live by one of two rules. I either:
1. Only stick to the perimeter of the store where the fresh produce, meat, almond milk, and eggs are. I do not allow myself to go into the center aisles at all. Not even a little. OR if I do need something from the center aisles...
2. I make a list, and only allow myself to purchase the items from the list. This occurs either when I'm having a party and need snacks, or when I need something like peanut butter or have a specific recipe I'm making that requires something from an aisle. I NEVER EVER just wander the aisles. Ever. It is all processed, and most things in the aisles should be eaten in great moderation
4. Most "experts" will tell you to make a list and to stick to it closely. But if I stick to the above rules, I'm fine whether I have a list or not. For weekly trips, I rarely bring lists. I usually only use lists if there are specific recipes I want to try, or if I'm preparing to host a party. But otherwise, I have no problem wandering the produce aisle and picking up whatever tickles my fancy that week. The more fruits and veggies, the better!! And as for shopping hungry? Again, if I stick to my rules, this is a non-issue. I find that whenever I shop hungry, the worst thing that happens is that I leave with a wheel of brie and some Blue Diamond Almond thins (gluten free), and really, how is that a bad thing? So make lists or don't, whatever works for you.
5. This is the one that will really help you get to know me and the intensity of my Type-A personality... after each grocery trip, I bring home the receipt, plop down in front of my computer, and open up my "Grocery" google doc. There, I enter in the date and price of each item into a spreadsheet. The spreadsheet automatically calculates the minimum, maximum, and average price spent on each item. I keep this google doc open on my phone while I'm shopping so that I can see when something is a good deal. My rule is that unless I need it for a specific recipe, I don't buy it if the price that week is above the average that I've paid for it in the past. And if the price is at or below the rock bottom that I have listed, I stock the hell up. (In later posts, I'll talk about strategies for stocking up on different produce, what to do with it, and how to make it last.) The reason I do this is twofold. First, it helps me track the prices of seasonal items by date, so I have a better idea of when Asparagus starts to come into season in early spring, and when butternut squash is official en vogue in the late summer / early fall. And secondly, and I hope this doesn't come as a shock to you, the sales paper is a marketing tool and is not always reliable to determine value!! Sure they accurately told you what the price would be, but unless you have an amazing memory for every item you purchase, do you really remember if that's a good price for spinach? How do you know if it's actually a sale?? What I've found by doing this is that maybe 75% of the time, the price listed in the "sale" paper can actually be considered a sale, meaning the price is lower than average. The rest of the time, they're just advertising their inventory without changing the price at all. So if you keep your own record, then you'll really know when to make a run on butter because it really has hit rock bottom. 

Any other tips on making the most of the store? Please share!

Wednesday's GHI: Salad Spinner

Every week on Wednesdays, I'll talk about something that I've just gotta have. It could be anything... Keep up with me, I may throw some curve balls.

You guys will learn that I subscribe to the Alton Brown philosophy: no unitaskers in the kitchen. Gadgets that only do one job have no place in my cupboards. For the two years I lived in an apartment in Downtown Chicago, and even in our small house now, I do not have space in my little kitchen for things that only serve one purpose (there are very few exceptions, and you'll learn about them over the coming weeks. I'll give you a hint - check out yesterday's post re: my obsession with garlic). But more importantly, most unitaskers are gimmicks! A strawberry huller? Trust me, you can pass. Use a paring knife and, at worst, it will take seconds longer than with some gimmicky tool that does no other task and just clutters your kitchen. And they often don't even work that well. I'll create some posts to debunk some of these gimmicks so you can save your money. But it's Tuesday, so we're talking about things I love.

Gotta Have It: Salad Spinner

OXO Good Grips Large Salad Spinner

This is my salad spinner, and I could not live without it. Ok, that's an exaggeration. But I would definitely eat fewer salads without it.

My salad spinner is one of my favorite kitchen tools because of how well it accomplishes the one task that it is designed to accomplish: drying lettuce and other leafy greens. But in addition to that, it is versatile in other ways. Tips for the salad spinner are that you fill the bowl with cold water, let your greens take a bath, lift out the basket, drain the water, replace the basket, and spin until the centrifugal force flings the water off your greens till they are dry. 

I eat a ton of salads, so this baby gets a work out. Our local grocery store has lately been selling 5 lb bags or romaine lettuce for $1. We also get giant bags of spinach in the spring, and all summer long I clean the kale from my garden and spin it dry for our favorite salad (recipe to follow in a later post. I need to make it once and write down the proportions I use because right now I totally wing it. So we have to wait for the kale to grow in). So it gets an A+ for spinning greens. And after the greens are spun dry, I dump the water out of the bowl, then put the greens right into the bowl, add all my other ingredients, and dress and toss the salad right in that same bowl. After spinning dry, I also will put the lid on and pop the whole thing in the fridge. Being in the basket and not directly in the bowl helps air circulate and it stays crisp for a long time. Another tip is that if your greens are a little wilted when you go to wash them, add some ice cubes to the cold water bath you give them, and let them soak for an hour or so. The veins in the leaves will absorb the cold water and they will get crispy again. I've also used a variation on this trick by filling the bowl with cold water, placing in the basket w/ the semi-wilted lettuce in it, and just putting the whole thing in my fridge overnight. My lettuce was perfect the next day!!

My salad spinner helping me make quick work of 5 lbs of Romaine lettuce tonight

I actively try to eliminate plastic from my kitchen, but this is one bit o' plastic that I'm ok with. That's because food doesn't stay in there for really extended periods of time, and food is never heated or frozen in it, so there is less of a likelihood that the chemicals will leech out. 

I also use it to spin dry big leafy herbs like basil or flat-leaf parsley. I'll use the basket as a colander while I'm washing veggies like beans or asparagus. One technique for cooking eggplant is that after slicing it but before cooking it, you sprinkle salt on the slices to pull out moisture, and you let them drain for an hour... I do that in the salad spinner too. So while it may technically be somewhat of a unitasker, a) it does that task REALLY well and there isn't a great alternative to it, and b) there are other things that it can do. Those are the signs of a good kitchen tool, even one that's masquerading as a unitasker. 

Me & Wheat

My Love/Hate Relationship with Wheat, and Why You Should Care

In April 2012 we were visiting our aunt and uncle in California. We ate and drank to our heart's content each day and each night, and had an absolute blast. Aunt Diane, a fellow health-nut, started to notice something... after a few of our meals, I complained of a stomach ache. 

I have suffered from frequent stomach aches for as long as I can remember. I bought Pepto-Bismol from Sam's club a few times a year... I kept some in my desk at work, in my purse, in my car, and on each floor of my house. I had it in pill form so I could bring it with when I travel for work, since the Sam's sized bottles are obviously more than 3 oz. 

I thought I just had a "sensitive stomach," but I never could figure out what triggered it. Maybe it was IBS, maybe something else. All I know is that stomach pain was a part of my life. And when I say pain, I mean pain... sharp, shooting pain all over my abdomen. Sometimes it woke me up at night it hurt so much. I asked my doctor about it at my physical in January 2012, and she goes "It could be a dietary thing. Do you know how to run a controlled experiment?" "Yes." "Ok, so do that. Testing one variable at a time, cut something out of your diet for a couple of months and see how it makes you feel. Start with Dairy or Wheat, then move on to soy, eggs, onions/garlic. No need to report back to me, just see what makes you feel better. If nothing helps, let me know and we'll start looking into if it's something more serious." I love that she trusted me and wasn't going to make me pay her several more office visit fees to tell me something I could figure out myself. Cheers, doc!

But I didn't do anything. All of the things she mentioned (except soy) are in some of my favorite foods. I don't know what my life would be like without Cheese. Hello, I went to the University of Wisconsin!!! And my favorite way to eat cheese is melted on something bread-based. Pokey sticks, grilled cheese, mac n cheese, brie en croute... I'm drooling now. And if you've ever eaten anything I've cooked, you know that I could not survive if I couldn't have garlic. It goes into EVERYTHING I make!! So I was in denial. I didn't want to think about my life without any of those foods, so I hunkered down and bought more of the pink stuff. 

Drooling. Right now. Ugh.

Now back to our trip to CA. Aunt Diane heard me complain about my stomach hurting for the 3rd time, and she noticed a trend. Burger for lunch, stomach ache that night. Pizza for dinner, stomach ache the next morning. Panini with extra with bread at the table for lunch, stomach ache and intense headache that night. Pork chops, risotto, and salad for dinner... felt like a champ. So she mentioned what she had noticed. She asked if I ever considered that I might have a gluten sensitivity. I said no (see paragraph above re: denial and love of various cheesy breads).

Fast forward to the Clean Eating & Fitness Challenges I participated in during the summer of 2013 (see "About Me" for the rundown). Each meal was basically lean protein and veggies of some sort. I can't even articulate how fantastic I felt. I had more energy, no headaches, I was more regular (sorry for TMI, but it's true), and miraculously... no stomach aches. I attributed this to the overall better diet, the Shakeology I was drinking, and the daily fitness, all of which definitely contributed to me feeling like a million bucks.

But the following week when my diet went into a tailspin, I realized what the missing piece was. I had a tough week at work and stress-ate like crazy, and I felt like crap every night. I realized then that the biggest thing that had changed about my diet was re-introducing refined flour. I had a lot of sandwiches, pasta, pizza, cheese and crackers, etc... When I realized this, I decided to finally take my doctor's advice and do that experiment. So I cut out wheat flour for a few weeks, and it worked. I felt fantastic. Even when I wasn't eating particularly "healthy" foods, I still felt great because in my opinion, it was the wheat that was causing me problems. 

There is a lot of controversy on this issue right now, so here is my take on it and also some background. Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley, rye, and some other grains. When developed, it becomes elastic. That's why you knead bread and pasta dough, to develop the gluten which gives these things their structure. That's why you don't want to over-beat biscuit dough or cake batter because you want the gluten to be relaxed, otherwise if it over-develops it will make your baked goods tough. 

People with Celiac disease have a severe intolerance to Gluten of any kind. It's an autoimmune disease which is triggered when gluten is consumed, and it damages the lining of the small intestine to the point where their body cannot absorb the nutrients necessary for survival. It is a really serious condition and people with Celiac need to be meticulous about ensuring their diet is 100% gluten free. If a friend has it, don't be surprised when they grill the server about the risk of cross-contamination due to preparation techniques used in the kitchen. They need to do this to stay healthy!! 

Then there are people with Gluten "sensitivities," which can vary in severity. Some people have reactions that are so serious that it makes them be as vigilant as someone with celiac about avoiding it. Then there is me. We know what my symptoms are... I get tummy aches. I also get headaches, fatigue, bloating, and some other unnamed GI issues. BUT, it's not life or death. So I am usually wheat free, but certainly not all the time. I just need to be prepared for the consequences.

I've read Wheat Belly. It's intense. I don't necessarily subscribe to that level of intensity for everyone, though I agree with some of its points about the fact that just replacing wheat with "gluten-free alternatives" is probably even less healthy for you than just eating whatever you were going to eat with wheat in the first place. This is because these gluten free alternatives are made from various other starches that are even more processed than wheat. I've read articles that say that people with a non-celiac sensitivity are actually reacting to the fibrous part of wheat, not the protein part of wheat (meaning the gluten alone isn't the issue, it's just actual wheat that causes problems) - this is the category that I believe I fall into. I've also recently read an article from "I F-ing Love Science" that says that non-celiac sensitivity is bogus. That any health benefits you feel from not eating wheat are actually attributed to eating a generally healthier and less processed diet that automatically occurs when you cut out wheat. That's probably a fair point.

But here's what this all has to do with you... eat what makes you feel good, don't eat what doesn't, and ignore the haters. I don't care that a website has potentially debunked non-celiac wheat sensitivity. I've never officially been diagnosed with anything, but I know that I feel fantastic when I don't eat wheat and I feel crummy when I do. I don't care if people think I'm just jumping on the latest nutritional band-wagon (I also love kale, so there is that). I just know what I need to cut out of my diet to feel my best, and you should absolutely discover this for yourself. Whether it's a certain type of food, not eating at a particular time of day, eating a few big meals or lots of little meals... do whatever makes you feel good. 

And you know what sometimes makes me feel good? A fantastic spaghetti carbonara (I'll post a recipe soon). So once in a while, when I'm prepared for the calories and the consequences, I'm going to bust out the Pepto-Bismol for old time's sake and enjoy my all-time favorite pasta dish. The difference is that now I'm in control. I no longer am a victim to random attacks of abdominal pain. I stopped buying Pepto-Bismol in bulk. And when I do eat wheat, you better believe it's something delicious, and the consequences are worth it to me every once in a while. So, suck it haters.

Update: Just found this interesting read that corroborates what I've written above about my sensitivity being wheat-based and not gluten-based. 

So, what are your diet quirks? What makes you feel crappy, what makes you feel great? Share below!