The Co-Op: Month 2

Here are some new (to us) recipes that we used for our produce this month. In case you forgot, here was what we received:

Recipe Inspiration: Easy Asian Stir-Fry

Veggie Stir Fry
Ingredients we used: 3 carrots, 1 green bell pepper, 1/2 a yellow onion, 3 garlic cloves, 2 cups of broccoli, 1/4 a head of cabbage, canola oil, Kikkoman stirfry sauce, salt & pepper

Other than changing up the ingredients, we followed the recipe as listed. It was very good, but I think I'd add more garlic next time. 



Recipe Inspiration: Baked Zucchini Chips

Squash Chips
Ingredients we used: 1 squash, Pam original cooking spray, McCormick garlic & sea salt grinder

I figured since I had done it with zucchini, I could do it with squash. I followed the directions almost exactly, but I baked them for a total of 2 hours this time, which made them much crispier than with the zucchini. These were good, and I will continue to make these as they are quite easy!



Recipe Inspiration: Crispy Smashed Potatoes 

 Roasted Smashed Potatoes
Ingredients we used: small red potatoes, olive oil, sea salt, black pepper grinder, dried rosemary

I've made these twice, the first time with not so wonderful results. So the second time I made some adjustments. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Instead of boiling the potatoes, bake them in the microwave, 3-4 minutes on each side, depending on the size. Smash them down (I used tongs), drizzle/brush with olive oil and sprinkle the salt, pepper and rosemary. Bake them for five minutes. That's it! These are SO DELICIOUS. The flavor is amazing, and it's my new favorite way to eat a potato!



Recipe Inspiration: Ranch Roasted Potatoes
** No picture for this one

Zesty Italian Potatoes
Ingredients we used: 2 pounds red potatoes, 1 packet Good Seasons Zesty Italian dry dressing mix, olive oil, salt

I followed the directions exactly, but make sure the potatoes are completely covered with oil or cooking spray and make sure the pieces are small enough to be cooked thoroughly.



Recipe Inspiration: Capellini Pomodoro 

Spaghetti Pomodoro
There are no changes to this recipe except the substitution of thin spaghetti for angel hair, and dried basil for fresh basil. It was still good! You might want to add some additional spices to give it a little more kick.      

Friday Four - June 29

What I Watched: I have a whole post about what I've been watching this summer, which you can find HERE if you missed it!

What I Read:  A Time to Kill by John Grisham

What I Listened to: Here are ten songs I'm digging right now (sorry if I've mentioned any of them before!):
                                 "Outta my Head" Daughtry
                                 "This Little Girl" Cady Groves
                                 "Two Way Street" Kimbra
                                 "Cry" Monica
                                 "Free" Haley Reinhart
                                 "Laserlight" Jessie J/David Guetta
                                 "5 O Clock" T-Pain & Lily Allen (warning: little risque!)
                                 "Burn It Down" Linkin Park
                                 "Breath of Life" Florence and the Machine
                                 "Big Hoops" Nelly Furtado

Where I Ate: We had Groucho's after church and then went over to our friends house that night and enjoyed a delicious dinner of veggie paninis, strawberry walnut salad and peaches. Yum!

Summer TV

Summer used to be the wasteland of television... but now so many shows premiere in the summer! Here's a peek into what we (mostly me!) are watching in this hot season:

All the Right Moves

Yes, I watch lots of silly, dramatic television... and I love it! :-)

Thrifty Thursday - June 28

This was a pretty big shopping week, which is somewhat surprising, since we got a new batch of co-op produce on Saturday. However, we bought a lot of baking products to help us with that produce, and I stocked up on lots of soup this week, as it was FINALLY on sale again after months! I was able to get free Pringles at CVS, as well as a free Dole Smoothie Shaker at Publix. Here are this week's totals:

PUBLIX
Total Spent: $32.36
Total Saved: $31.10

WALMART
Total Spent: $15.27
Total Saved: $1.00  

CVS
Total Spent: $0.96
Total Saved: $6.12 (+$1 ECB)

 


TOTAL SPENDING: $48.59
TOTAL SAVINGS: $38.22

Friday Four

What I Watched: The remake of Dallas premiered last week. I never watched the original when it was on, as I was a tiny young thing, but Jamie had watched it some as a kid. So we decided to check out this new version. I must say, it definitely sucked us in!

      The best movie I watched this week was Crazy, Stupid Love. It definitely lived up to the hype. Smart, funny, charming... had it all! If you haven't seen it, you should :-)

What I Read: This week I started A Time to Kill by John Grisham. The first couple of chapters were difficult to get through, but now it's moving right along.

What I Listened to: I have started the long and arduous process of uploading our CDs to ITunes, but one fun thing is that I've been listening to all sorts of fun "old" music that I haven't listened to in a while. Here are a couple of those gems... enjoy your trip back to the nineties!

Where I Ate: We ate out slightly more this week than normal. In addition to our normal Friday night fast food (Chick fil a) and after church lunch (Texas Roadhouse for Father's Day), I ate out two additional times. We picked up some Wendy's on Monday night and I went to Takosushi for lunch on Tuesday with Tara. I think I could eat Asian food everyday; it is so yummy!

Thrifty Thursday - June 21

This week was one stop shopping, with me only going to Publix. They are currently having a 'breakfast sale,' so the majority of what I bought was breakfast foods: waffles, muffin tops, Breakfast to Go, grits, etc.
As far as good deals, I was able to get a six pack of Magnum mini ice cream bars for 50 cents... and they were originally $6.00! That was nice to get a fun treat for so cheap :-)

PUBLIX
Total Spent: $46.28
Total Saved: $43.74 

Bookworm! Winter/Spring 2012

Whew,  it's been a few months since I've done one of these. I'm reviewing them in the order I read them. Hopefully I have enough books (and variety) that you may be able to find something for your summer reading!


One Day David Nicholls
     For the record, I wanted to read this book long before it became a movie (which I still haven't seen). I really liked the concept: you read about two people on the same exact day over a span of twenty years. For some reason though, it didn't completely work for me. The characters seemed authentic, but maybe too much so. At times, their flaws were exasperating. The book ended up being really depressing, so I don't know if you'd want this one for a fun summer read!

Bossypants Tina Fey
      After that downer, I needed something to bring back happiness, and this book was just that. I was lucky enough to get this for Christmas and couldn't wait to get started. Tina Fey is one of the funniest people on the planet, in my opinion. Her voice completely comes through in her writing, and her humor translates really well to the page. Now, just as a warning, there is definitely some language in this book at times, but it is hilarious. I would definitely recommend this one!

Jane Eyre Charlotte Bronte
     This is the other book I got for Christmas. It is my mom's all time favorite book and I'd always promised her I'd read it, so this was my chance to make good on it. It took me SO LONG to get through this book, which you know if you follow my 'Friday Four' blogs. Almost the entire first half of the book could have been condensed into half of that length. I will tell you what I liked in a minute, but first let me rant for a moment. A good part of this book takes place in Jane's head, with many of her thoughts on the page. As she goes from place to place, she repeats her story to each new group, and it's repeated in the text. Guess what Charlotte Bronte? We already know what happened to her; we read it 100 pages ago! That was incredibly frustrating, as was the fact that literally nothing "happened" for the whole first half of the book. Once something did happen, it was actually fairly good, suspenseful even. It just took so long to get there.
     I won't completely say that I wouldn't recommend this book, I just don't think it resonates with "today's woman" as it may have resonated with those in the past. To get the gist of the story, I would say just watch the movie (haven't seen it though), because the narrative is probably much more condensed, and therefore flows better.    

13 Little Blue Envelopes Maureen Johnson
     I think I could have read anything following Jane Eyre and would have enjoyed it. However, this was definitely a fun read. A teenage girl receives a package from her aunt, that has passed away, with 13 envelopes. She can only open one at a time and has to do what each one says before she opens the next one. The journey takes her all over Europe and she meets interesting people and does cool things along the way. Anyway, this was a super easy read, and perfect for the summer!

The Lovely Bones Alice Sebold
     I'm still not sure how I feel about this book. I'm glad I read it, and it was interesting. It's a very difficult subject, so I respect the author for even tackling it. Two things bothered me though. First, the portrayal of heaven was quite ridiculous. There was no mention of God whatsoever. Second, the ending was anti-climatic and there was not enough resolution for me. I have seen this movie, and I liked it okay. I think you'll just have to make up your own mind about this one!

Delirium Lauren Oliver
     I'm not going to write much about this one because I want everyone to go read it RIGHT. NOW. This is my favorite book of the past few months. It's a young adult dystopian novel and the first of a trilogy. When the book ended, I wanted to immediately know what happened next! 


What have you read  lately?