Kelloggs Needs to Add More Nutrients to Some Cereals, & 2 Week Meal Plan #8

2 Week Meal PlanTo see the meal plan and skip the Menu Musings, scroll to the bottom and read the bold.

In yesterday’s Everett Herald (5/3/13), our local newspaper, they had a little blurb in the business section with the headlines Kellogg plans to add more nutrients.  Why in the world would Kellogg need to add more nutrients?  Well, they want adults to eat more cereal since their sales are sagging in North America, and they are lacking in nutrients.  Kellogg is aiming to attract people with high incomes and the baby boomer generation.  Kellogg will be introducing a multigrain Special K, and they will be adding omega-3 to Raisin Bran. Continue reading

Posted in Food, Food Philosophy, Healthier Recipes, Healthier Recipes, Menu Musings: Twice a Month Meal Planning, Menu Musings: Twice a Month Meal Planning, Menu Musings: Twice a Month Meal Planning, Thrifty Thinking, Thrifty Thinking | 2 Comments

Thoughtful, Easy, Frugal Gifts: Great for Mother’s Day and Teacher Appreciation Week

Thrifty Thinking

Thoughtful Gifts, Frugal gift giving

Are you doing anything for Teacher Appreciation Week?  Are you ready for Mother’s Day?  As a gift giver there are a few factors you may want to consider.

  • How much money are you willing to spend/do you have budgeted?  Or maybe it’s best to spend nothing in your particular circumstance and come up with a really creative free gift.
  • What are the likes/interests of the receiver?
  • How much time do you have to put something together?Thoughtful, Easy, & Frugal Gifts Mother's Day & Teacher Appreciation Gift

Having a spirit of generosity is very important, yet it doesn’t mean that you have to BUY something to be generous.  You can give of your time, and more often than not, that is the biggest gift and blessing you can give someone. Continue reading

Posted in DIY, Finance/DIY, Low Cost Gift Ideas, Money Saving Ideas, Thrifty Thinking | 4 Comments

Almond Flour Blueberry Muffins, Egg-Free, Dairy-Free, Gluten-Free

Gluten-Free Almond Flour Blueberry Muffins Dairy-Free, Egg-FreeWhen you find out you have some kind of allergy, it can be very discouraging and it seems that EVERY food that you want to eat contains your body’s nemesis.  When I go to potlucks and the like, I often have to ask lots of questions, or just eat what I bring.  I sometimes feel like I am annoying asking questions, and I don’t want to be.  I can personally eat gluten, but I know what it’s like needing to avoid certain foods, since I need to be dairy-free and egg-free now. Continue reading

Posted in Breakfast, Desserts, Food, Gluten Free, Healthier Recipes, Healthier Recipes, Healthy Recipes, Lactose Free, Snacks | 2 Comments

Favorite Fifteen No. 4: 200 Swings for Time

Favorite Fifteen: Jonathan’s Go-to Workouts

The next stop on the tour of my go-to workouts is the Double Kettlebell Swing.

The Workout

200 kettlebell swings for time

How I Do It

After doing a warmup of some deep squats and some pushups, I use a 53# kettlebell.

Explanation

You may use any sized kettlebell that you can swing for high reps, but the idea Continue reading

Posted in Favorite Fifteen Workouts, Fitness, My Workouts | Leave a comment

Crock-pot Chicken or Veggies with Vegan Thai Peanut Sauce

Crock-pot Chicken with Thai Peanut SauceI was first introduce to Thai peanut sauce from my Great Aunt Fran.  I’ve talked about Aunt Fran before here on the blog.  She introduced me to Spanakopita, and guided me through some of my first sewing projects, making potholders and pillowcases.  She has shared multiple perennials with me, helping me populate my backyard hill with hardy plants.  I have learned so much from her in so many areas of life, and I am grateful to be able to call her family. Continue reading

Posted in Food, Gluten Free, Healthier Recipes, Healthier Recipes, Healthy Recipes, Lactose Free, Lunch, Main Dishes, Sauces, Dips, Dressings, and Seasonings, Slow-Cooker Saturdays | 11 Comments

Re-purposed Homemade Lavender Sachet Tutorial

DIY Time
It’s DIY Time again, where I post something you can do yourself rather than buy, which is a money saver, and can be just plain fun!  Some of these posts are crafts, sewing projects, re-purposed ideas, homemade cleaners, homemade health aids, tutorials, and the like.

Easy Homemade Lavender SachetsIf you have followed our blog here for long, you may notice that most of the tutorials are of the super simple kind.  The kind that don’t take very long, or the tutorials re-purpose something, so half the work is done for you.  Today I am sharing a Homemade Lavender Sachet Tutorial.  This might be the wrong time of year to share it here in Western Washington because we don’t have lavender in bloom here yet, but this might get you thinking to save some of your lavender buds for this tutorial. Continue reading

Posted in Crafts, DIY, Sewing, Tutorials, Upcycling & Repurposing | 2 Comments

Fettuccine Alfredo, Dairy-Free, Egg-Free, G-F option, Vegan

Dairy-Free Alfredo SauceI was watching The Chew a few weeks ago, and co-host Daphne Oz shared her lighter version of Fettuccine Alfredo.  The “cream” of her recipe was not dairy-based, but the recipe had other dairy products.  I thought with a few substitutions this could be a fabulous dairy-free version of a typically calorie dense and heavy dish.

What I love most about this recipe is that a vegetable is featured as the core but you can’t tell.  Do you have any guesses?   Continue reading

Posted in Food, Gluten Free, Healthier Recipes, Healthier Recipes, Healthy Recipes, Lactose Free, Lunch, Main Dishes, Sauces, Dips, Dressings, and Seasonings | 6 Comments

Questions Worth Asking #4: Trustworthiness

Trustworthiness is a widely-valued attribute.  Across gender, ethnic and religious lines, people who can be trusted are considered to be valuable.  Surrounding yourself with trustworthy people and being trustworthy yourself is a smart idea.

It comes as little surprise that questions #3 and #4 from the Wesley brothers’ Holy Club questions relate to trustworthiness.  We’ll zero in for a bit on #4, and it’s not a complicated question. Here it is:

Can I be trusted?

While the value of trustworthiness transcends just about every barrier, trustworthiness ought to be of particular value for the Christian.  Here are a few reasons why: Continue reading

Posted in Faith, For the Heart | Leave a comment

Enhancing the Health of Processed Food, WinCo Adds A Few More Organic Products, & Feeding the Family Semi-Monthly Menu Musings #7

Thinking ahead saves time.  Thinking ahead saves money.  Thinking ahead saves energy.  These are all good reasons why I am enjoying sharing our Loose Meal Planning.  Life doesn’t always allow me to think ahead as we travel along it’s vast trails, twists and turns, but I at least try to think ahead most of the time.  The following recipes are all possibilities for these next couple of weeks as I aim to make the best of the resources that God has given me, yet remaining flexible to the unknown.

Scroll down and you will find the actual food in bold if you want to skip all of the musings.

Enhancing the Health of Processed Food

I was a consistent coupon-er for most of our marriage, well over ten years, and I even grew up using them.  I still use coupons now, but it might be one or two coupons a month, so at this point I don’t think I can call myself a true coupon-er.  Anyway, all of that couponing helped me keep a well-stocked pantry.  The problem was, a lot of those foods were the wrong kind of food items to stock.  I had lots of cake packages, brownie packages, and overly-processed cereals, meals-in-a-box, salad dressings with unknown ingredients, and more.  We have either used up or given away most of the processed foods, but I still have some processed items left (mostly chicken noodle and tomato soups), as they have a long shelf life.

To be transparent with you in our transition to whole foods, I wanted to share a bit about making those processed foods a little healthier if you are insisting on eating them, like I did this week. Continue reading

Posted in Food, Food Philosophy, Healthier Recipes, Healthier Recipes, Menu Musings: Twice a Month Meal Planning, Menu Musings: Twice a Month Meal Planning, Menu Musings: Twice a Month Meal Planning | 8 Comments

Costco Quarterly #2: Price List Updated on 140 + Natural & Organic Items

Costco Quarterly Updated PriceThrifty Thinking: Know Your Grocery Target Prices

I have just updated my Costco Quarterly List featuring common natural & organic grocery prices.  I eliminated just a few items and added more, so I have almost 150 grocery items.  I didn’t intend to add anymore food prices, but Costco adds different products all of the time, and either I was interested in some of these products or I thought you might like to know about them.  Notably our Costco in Marysville, Washington has added Organic Figs, Hemp Hearts, Gluten-Free Organic Pasta and Gluten-Free Organic Crackers.  Continue reading

Posted in Costco Quarterly, Food, Quarterly Grocery Price Updates for Costco & Winco, Quarterly Grocery Price Updates for Costco & Winco, Quarterly Grocery Price Updates for Costco & Winco, Thrifty Thinking | 19 Comments