So...

There was too many things to do, and see but I moved my account to do more updates and different items, not just cooking. http://fancythat123.blogspot.com/ This is the new blog! I have been quite busy the last few weeks, and then boo accidentally wiped out all of my photos that had new items on so will be busy working on new stuff over the next few weeks. Thank you all for your support and views!

Once a month cooking!

We start our cook off yesterday! It took us two days to complete it this time due to back issues, but that is okay! We got many meals again. I will have to post later, but I just wanted to give a quick tip!! We made meatballs for one of our meals this time, Joey wanted meatloaf but I completely forgot as I was cooking stuff up, and had started the meatballs and used the ground beef up already. I stuff them but this time I used wild rice. We also ran out of bread crumbs last time we made burgers. The only thing I had left in the cupboard was All Bran! My youngest son really enjoys the mortar and pestal so I got him to grind 1.5 cups of bran for me and we used that in the burgers and meatmalls for the month! Half a cup of all bran has nearly 50% of your daily intake of fiber! That is a crazy high amount. The more the better I say! And since you have to use something as a binding agent with the egg that you use, you can't even tell the difference. They tasted fabulous (we had those for dinner last night as they were already made :) I added tomato soup and let them simmer for an hour. Not even any complaints from the kids!

Meatballs
1lb extra lean ground beef
2 eggs
1/3 cup all bran
1/3 cup wild rice
3 tbls mustard (secret ingredient to yummy burgers!)
Worcestershire sauce, about a tsp
pepper
spices to taste (I used the organic no salt flavour from Costco)

Roll meat into balls about 2 inches. Brown balls on medium heat until brown all around. Bake in oven at 350 for about an hour, or until cooked all the way through. I like it with tomato soup flavour so I had a can of that with water, and simmer in the oven. Serve with extra rice and any side veggies you like mmm mmm mm I would have used a photo of the meatballs, but the kids ate them too fast to get one ;)

New stuff!

I've been really lacking in the posting department! I'm back to it though.

Our next big job to do in the kitchen is once a month cooking. It not only saves time but money as well. Last time we did this job, it took us only about 3 hours to do all the cooking, and we had enough dinners for 26 days (approximately) and saved about 300$ on doing this. Not only that, but we completely controlled what we put in our meals, mouths and what we decide to have each night. It definitely isn't boring, but you need to take the time to plan out what you like, and what you want to spend. We did a lot of research on meals, what we could make the most of with what we decided and really, the ideas are endless!

Our last batch had chicken, ground beef, and many vegetables dishes. We were short on time, and also because of my back, we cut time by purchasing roasted chicken instead of raw, so we didn't have to deal with the extra mess. I think this time around we are going to do the same thing. I'm not very fond of raw chicken parts! And the bones made the nice soup stuck just as well as if they were raw. We were both satisfied! So tomorrow is the big day that we will be spending deciding what to make. We are going to go with beef roasts, chicken and ground beef. Our last lists of meals were:

Ground beef:
Lazy mans cabbage rolls
lasagna
Shepard's Pie
spaghetti sauce
chili

Chicken:
Soup stock
Chicken flavoured rice
Curry chicken
Butter chicken
Chicken fajitas
chicken cacciatore

All of this was made with 2 roasted chickens, and one of those large containers of extra lean ground beef. Vegetables are generally cheap (and healthy) so we filled the containers with fresh stuff. We get the take out tins with cardboard lids, they are easy to label and recyclable! One container is large enough for both of us to have dinner for one night, or since the hubby was sailing a lot I would cook one meal, have half for dinner, and bring the other half for lunch. We also have a lot of choice which helps make dinners a lot less boring. Flavours are our friend!! I will post our list of interesting ideas tomorrow once we have figured it out!! Happy eats!

nom nom nom

We eat a lot of stir fry these days. They are healthy, filling, and delicious! I've made several batches of chicken stock and have it frozen and use that instead of plain water when making the rice. Brown rice is kind of boring, and needs a little boost! It has lessened our need for other fattening flavours like butter!! I use a simple recipe for the stock but it always turns out fabulous. It is a good way to do something with the chicken bones from roasted chickens!

One batch of chicken bones (we use roasted chicken that has been picked) you can use any chicken bones you have though.
8 cups of water
6 stalks of celery chopped into large bite sizes
4 large carrots
1 onion chopped into chunks
optional veggies any time, we use peppers sometimes, or zucchini, mushrooms, whatever you feel like!
Pepper
salt optional (we don't add any extra salt to anything, but the hubby has to add it to french fries! Sea salt is much better)
Organic salt free seasoning (we get a lovely kind from costco, it's good on just about everything!)

I freeze the stock in 1 and 2 cup servings in the freezer, you can wait until it's cooled down and put them into ziploc freezer bags if that works for you. They can be frozen flat which makes for easy storage, or any other container you like to use! If I am going to use it for dinner, I will put it in the fridge the night before, or in the morning.

The stock is good for other things as well, mashed potatoes (I leave the skins on when I boil them, and mash it all together with a dap of butter, stock, milk, or sometimes fat free sour cream) soups, chilis. hmm I have to go make lunch now. That made me hungry!! :)

Why we are changing our lifestyle, a little information on us :)

We decided to make these changes first because we were eating unhealthy, gaining weight, and our overall well being was compromised. Secondly, I had a back injury that has come to haunt me dearly. I am unable to do a lot of things right now, and going to a neurosurgeon finally to see what is going on! Finally had a CT Scan, and will find out soon what the heck is happening! Getting old isn't as easy as I thought.. ;) With not being able to be as active as I would like, I've had to drastically change my diet in order to lose and keep the extra weight that was sticking around. Having to take heavy pain relief medication is also so hard on me, and I have to put healthy things in me to make sure I balance the yucky stuff I have to take. Yes,.. I said yucky. So, I will post as often as I can. I have been taking photos of the foods we make, and eat. It's become a hobby, and as our journey grows, so does my excitement for trying new things, experimentation is *SO* fun, especially when my hubby gets excited about it. LOVE LOVE LOVE food! The very first thing we did was get rid of the microwave. Yes, I know what people think. WHAT?! How do you reheat food?! Well, it really hasn't been as hard as I thought it would! We use the oven, toaster oven, or stove top! We don't eat dried out, reheated food anymore. No more pre packaged meals from the frozen section at the grocery store! Even, yes, no more microwave popcorn! We found this fabulous popcorn maker that a friend showed us. Oh my gosh, it's so lovely! And the top is actually the *bowl*! How easy is that?! It is my fanciest kitchen gadget, besides my chopper and hand blender! Easy, healthy snack, at a fraction of the calories, which my butt really likes! We are by no means calorie counters though. But if you want to know, 1 cup of air popped popcorn has about 31 calories in it! We often add flavour to ours, I am in love with a Cajun mix that we purchased at the end of the summer from an herb farm in Nanaimo. It's fabulous on the taste buds!

Eeek! I have WORMS!

No, no, no. Not that kind! I have red wigglers! They have become a huge party of this household! They eat our compost for us, they are absolutely wonderful! Where we live, it is not a very good place to have an outdoor compost, so we have these wonderful little guys to help us in our quest for green living! They eat all of our left over vegetables that don't quite make it to the dinner table, and all the bits and ends that we normally wouldn't eat! In return for that, they give us some of the most wonderful compost, liquid and dirt! My plants are thanking me for it ;) They take up so little space (we have two bins right now, that live in the kitchen near the heater vent) and give us more then we could ask for! Do you like worms? I sure do, I miss them when we are away for days at a time!! Some people might say that the worms eat better then we do... I wouldn't be so sure though. This is the first year I have had them, and we will be using the fertilizer in our vegetable garden. We don't want to use chemicals in any way. We will also be using seaweed that we will have to collect at the beach, but it's been so miserable that we haven't been able to do that quite yet. That's Victoria weather for you.. :)

Well, here we go!

I know, I know, everyone has a blog these days. I thought this would be a fun, exciting way to get the stuff I have learned out, and to expand my creativeness to others! I have turned into a foodie. My husband has also turned into a foodie. We enjoy a lot of different things, and with that, thought there must be a healthy way to eat all of this delicious food, with a healthy outlook! And save on our grocery list while growing the flavours, but getting out the bad stuff. I've read a lot about food, eaten a lot of food (my waistline definitely started to show that ha ha) and now with our simple change in outlook on what we put into our bodies, it's definitely started to show! It's amazing when you fit back in those old jeans!! All we did was change our diet. We substitute flavours with safer alternatives, and feel so much better. And most of all, the stuff we eat tastes better then what we were putting into ourselves before! This is my way of sharing what we have learned. I will post photos, recipes, and simple ideas on how to get the most of what you have in the cupboard, and how to flare an ever boring meal into something divine! Enjoy.