CVSing

Ah, my local CVS. Love it. Some people say there is no point to couponing if you are going to eat healthy. I get what they are saying. Because there are rarely coupons for brown rice and green beans. But there are very few of us who never eat convenience foods, yes even you health food nuts. Admit it, you like Kashi bars and Morningstar Farms black bean burgers. How could you not? They are easy & delicious. The negative is, they are expensive.

So this is the part of my blog that is about budget.

I coupon. I admit it. And there are a ton of coupons for foods I eat all the time and for all my toiletries, etc. Here is what I bought at CVS yesterday. If I had not used coupons, CVS's Extra Care Buck program, and sale prices this stuff would have cost me $122.38. I spent $22.17.

2 Huggies Jumbo Packs
1 Big bag of Huggies Wipes
Colgate MaxFresh toothpaste
2 Schick Intuition Plus shavers
Covergirl mascara
Covergirl/Olay foundation (love this stuff!)
Crest Advanced Seal white strips

I've been wanting those Crest strips for awhile because I love white teeth but they are $45.00 for a 2 week supply. I just don't have the cash to throw around on such things. But this week there was a $10.00 coupon in the paper & you got $10.00 ECB's and I had $22.00 ECB's to spend. So I spent $11.98 on them and got $10.00 back!

Anway, I liked saving $100.00. I liked it a lot. It makes me feel energetic just like eating right does!

Pizza: A mindset

Most of us think of pizza as an easy meal. You come home late from work, exhausted & starving. A quick call to Pizza Hut and you crash on the couch with the remote control waiting for the magical delivery man to arrive with the gooey, cheesy yumminess.

I, certainly, am no different than this. And my morphing into the pizza girl I currently am has been a very slow morph. But after a long battle, I'm happy with the new me that doesn't order expensive pizza anymore. Expensive both to my pocket book & my waist line.

The first move I made was to give up pizza. That mindset lasted about 1 month & was not at all a good plan. That was 8-9 years ago. Obviously, I like pizza. Maybe even addicted to it. I'm American, after all. How long should I really be forced to give up pizza?

My next move was to have a Lean Cuisine French Bread supreme pizza whenever everyone else ordered pizza. This is relatively inexpensive & quite satisfying. I still do this in a pinch. Especially when they go on sale for $1.75 & I have a coupon. Hard to beat that. The negative is they are just white flour & the veggies are a little weird and they can be hard to cook so the edges aren't strangely crunchy. But overall, they are pretty good when you need a pizza fix in a rush. I have some in my freezer right now. I like knowing they are there. But it isn't really a family pizza fix.

The second move I made was to thin & crispy crusts at pizza joints. Pizza Hut came out with Fit N' Delicious which truly is delish. They also have a natural line that you can get in a personal pizza. They are yummy and can be ordered on line & delivered to your front door. I did this for a long time & my family loved it because they could get stuffed crust meat lovers while I got my healthy pizza. The negatives are money. It's expensive to do this. And I felt kind of guilty about all the grease my family was eating with my blessing. Plus, the next day I found it VERY hard to resist the stuffed crust meat lovers pizza that was leftover in the fridge.

Then two things happened: We started budgeting our money & a Donatos came to town. Donatos has a pizza called Founders Favorite which is pepperoni, ham, sausage, and banana peppers on a thin crust. It is the best pizza known to man. If we were going to spend the money to order pizza, it was going to be from Donatos. We also got a Little Caesar's. In a pinch I could go to Little Caesar's on my way home from grocery shopping & feed my family for under $10.00.

The negatives to this arrangement are: it isn't at all light. Neither option. And Donatos is expensive for a weekly fix.

So, it was back to the drawing board. My dad loves to make pizza. And he is good at it. But, it is not healthy. Far from it. One of his most popular pizzas is buffalo wing pizza which has ranch dressing as the sauce. And not light ranch dressing. So I pondered how much work it would be to recreate my beloved Donatos Founders Favorite in a healthier way and got to work trying.

I succeeded, I believe. It's really yummy, though it does taste healthier, I'll be honest. It's not a perfect match but it is darn tootin' close for being cheap & lower cal.

But before I give you the recipe I have to tell you about the mindset, cause it is a little difficult.

Pizza is no longer my "easy meal." I save it for the weekend when I have at least 2 hours at home & at least a half hour of work time. The good news is my recipe makes twice what we need so I freeze the second half and later in the week have a super easy meal where I say, "Honey, will you throw pizza in the oven?" as I lay on the couch. But we save a bunch of money, a bunch of calories, and get to have pizza twice a week most weeks. I haven't ordered a pizza in 6 months & that was only because I was at Disney World. And really, who makes pizza at Disney World? Heck, that's the reason I'm saving money to begin with! So I can give it all to Mickey Mouse.

So, without further long winded explanation (yeah, right) here is my pizza:

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

1 tbsp (or 1 pkt) yeast
1 1/2 cup warm water
1 tbsp honey
1 cup white flour

Wisk this together & let sit about 5 minutes until frothy.

Then add:
1 tbsp oil
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tbsp Tone's Spicy Spaghetti Seasoning (or salt & italian seasoning to taste)

Beat this all with your dough hook in your Kitchenaid or mix in your food processor. Keep adding more whole wheat flour (about 1 cup more) until the sides of the bowl are clean & dough forms a soft ball. Pizza dough should be slightly sticky. Beat a few minutes more. Spray with non stick spray & let rest about 30 minutes to an hour until double in size.

Preheat oven to 475 degrees.

OK, this is the point that I could do without. Spreading the pizza dough out. It is so irritating. Divide it in half & roll it out one & let it rest while you roll out the other one & then go back to the first one. It keeps shrinking. But if you have patience, it will eventually lay in the pan correctly. It only takes about 5 minutes, but it seems longer. Then I lift it (one half at a time) & toss cornmeal on the pan. Or spread olive oil. Don't forget this step or your pizza will stick for sure. And if you get tired of rolling it out & having it shrink, just let it be a weird shape. That makes it look more authentic. But don't forget the cornmeal/oil step as it really will stick to the pan & be a big mess.

Bake crusts for 5 minutes.


While that is happening work on toppings. Here are mine:

5 turkey sausage links
1 pouch Hormel Turkey Pepperoni
light ham, chopped
hot peppers
Hunt's tomato sauce (no corn syrup)
4 cups part skim mozzarella



And sometimes peppers, onions, mushrooms, black olives, etc. But just the meats & peppers makes the Founders Favorite.

Chop the ham & sausage small while the pizza crusts are baking.

Pull out the pizza crust & divide the can of sauce in half. Spread out & top with more italian seasonings. Then put on the pepperoni. Turkey pepperoni needs to be UNDER the cheese. Otherwise it gets weird as it doesn't have enough fat. The cheese keeps it soft & pepperoni-ish.

Then add 2 cups of cheese to each pizza. It doesn't look like enough, but it is.

Then add the rest of your toppings.

Then bake. My oven is pretty hot & it takes under 10 minutes but ovens are very different you should watch yours carefully the first time.

Let cool about 5 minutes, cut & enjoy.

1/8th of this recipe is 9 points. But I cannot eat that much pizza. 1/4 of a jelly roll pan of pizza is a A LOT of pizza. Here is what it looks like on a plate & missing from the pan so you get an idea:



I usually eat 6 points worth of this. I cut each pizza into 16 pieces. So this recipe makes 32 big pieces of pizza. So that is 2.25 points per yummy slice.

Also, the Hormel Turkey Pepperoni can be expensive but it freezes great. So look for coupons and when it goes on sale, stock up. It's regular price is almost $4.00 but I generall can get it for just over $2.00. Right now I have 10 packets in my freezer. This is very good for me because I also like it with Laughing Cow cheese & whole wheat pita chips. But that is another story...

Tonight:

So to start us off here is what I made tonight: Chicken Enchilada Lasagna



First of all, last night I made grilled chicken. I marinated it in K.C. Masterpiece Chipotle Lime. Then I grilled it & while that was happening, I made brown rice & steamed asparagus in my rice cooker.

Oh, I should show you my equipment because I am very blessed in kitchen equipment & counter space. For healthy eating, I believe a food processor & a rice steamer are super important. Without a rice steamer, I burn my rice every time or it is too crunchy & undone. I'm just not that good at rice.
See what nice equipment I have?

So, I had leftover chicken & rice. I recommend having that meal the night before or tonight's meal would have been much trickier.

Chicken Enchilada Lasagna:

1 red onion
1 cup baby carrots
1 tbsp minced garlic
2 cooked chicken breasts
1 cup brown rice
1 can fat free refried beans
1 pkg taco seasoning
cumin, garlic salt, pepper to taste
1 cup sour cream
1 small can chopped green chilis
1 can reduced fat Cheese & Broccoli soup
9 La Tortilla Factory tortillas (0 point ones)
1 can red enchilada sauce
1 cup fat free cheese

Process the carrots and the onions in the food processor so kids won't notice them. Soften them with a little bit of water in a nonstick skillet. Add the minced garlic and cook for a few minutes more over medium heat.

Process the chicken in the food processor so it is fairly small. Add the chicken, rice, beans, taco seasoning, and any other seasonings you like in your Mexican food into the skillet and stir until warm and thoroughly mixed.

In a small bowl mix the soup, green chilis, and sour cream together.

Preheat oven at this point to 375 and begin to layer your ingredients in a 13x9 inch pan.

Red enchilada sauce on the bottom (about 3 tbsps), then 2 tortillas, then half the sour cream mixture, then half the chicken mixture. Pour half of the remaining enchilada sauce over the chicken mixture and repeat tortillas, sour cream, and chicken. Top with 2 more tortillas, the rest of the enchilada sauce and the cup of cheese.

Bake for about 30 minutes or until bubbling and delicious looking.

Serving is 1/6th of the pan. 6 points.

I always recommend figuring out your own points, though, as everyone uses different name brands. I personally shop at Kroger's and Aldi's.

I served this casserole with lettuce and salsa, both 0 points, and a strawberry smoothie which was 1 pt. So total, belly filling meal was 7 delish points.

My 8 year old tried to guess what was in it & never guessed broccoli soup and carrots! She and my 7 year old are really trying to eat more veggies so she was excited to have something so yummy help her meet her veggie quota. With the broccoli & applesauce she had at lunch and the strawberry smoothie she got her 5 fruits and veggies! Yippee!

My introduction:

Okidokie. I was inspired by a recent Yahoo title on taking a photo of all your meals & how this can keep you on track. I'm already doing a scrapbooking project called Project 365 where you take one photo every day for a year. So taking food photos shouldn't be too much of a hassle since I'm tied to my camera anyway.

Here's a photo of us on the Staten Island Ferry this weekend on spring break


But I don't really want to take a photo of every single meal as that seems a big hassle and I don't really like hassles. Do you? Of course not.

So, here is my history: I'm a junk food junkie. Well, that isn't exactly true as I love real food too. I'm just a food junkie in general. I wouldn't call me a foodie as my impression of foodies is they spend money on food & wine. They eat in real, nice restaurants and have had duck confit and foie gras. Or whatever. My only knowledge of such things, if they even exist, is from reality TV like Hell's Kitchen and Iron Chef.

So I don't know what to call me. I do run a tiny professional bakery from my kitchen where I make 10 or so wedding cakes a year. I adore this. And I think I'm rather good at it. But even in this, I am no snob. I use boxed cake mixes and buy most of my ingredients at Aldi's. I CAN make a very good scratch cake. I just can't tell the difference. And my customers generally like the box ones better.

I don't believe in organics as I think they are mostly a rip off. I know there are a few things like tomatoes where organic is a good idea, but I feel like I am getting so many chemicals from the world in general, what's a few more? I'd rather keep my money. But if the money were no difference, then I would buy organic, ya know?

So the other thing you need to know before really starting this blog is I have been a Weight Watcher's leader for almost 7 years. I'm pretty strongly tied to Weight Watchers. Of all the programs I've ever tried or read about, they are simply the best. They have support, accountability, healthy suggestions, and a program that is totally adaptable to who you are and how you like to eat. Yeah, I'm pretty solidly a Weight Watchers advocate. And I'm a pretty good leader.

But since I had my last baby (she's 2) I've struggled to keep the weight off. I'm still at goal (150 lbs) but I'd really like to weight 135 lbs and change my goal. And I feel poorly a lot because of having 2 school age kids and 1 toddler. It is cold after cold after cold. This year I even had a flu shot and still spent a huge part of the winter ill.

And I'd love to train my girls (8, 7, 2) to eat veggies & fruits and I'd like to do this by setting a good example.



So here is the goal (or winning outcome):

By September 2009 I'm going to weigh 135 lbs and be running 3 miles 3 times a week.

And here is the plan (kinda a storyboard):
I recently read 3 books on eating a low GI diet. I love this idea but can't have a science lab in my house and want to be flexible which means I can't really do the low GI thing. I also feel like eating only Filling Foods (Core) is way to restrictive. So I'm just gonna follow low GI principles while still counting points. And use my 35 flex points for my french fries & cake I need from time to time. And I'm not giving up Diet Pop, so don't ask. I'm also gonna walk twice a week with a friend and will do one day on my own.

And the plan for this blog is to put as many recipes and info as I can about what I'm eating. I want to be useful to the blogging world. And I get a little frustrated as it seems like most "eat healthy" blogs are unrealistic for a regular housewife in the regular world. I'm just a normal Dorito eating mom who would like to jump on the healthy bandwagon without being beat up for liking Burger King from time to time and without having to justify needing to live on a budget. Cause let's face it, there are a lot of Weight Watchers out there who simply cannot afford to spend $300.00 a week.

My money goal on groceries is $125.00 per week.