Dessert So Healthy, You Can Eat It for Breakfast!

This is gluten-free baking at it's best. Give it a try before you decide it isn't good, I just had to get onto the older two kids for eating most of a plate of these treats in a day!

1 egg
3 Tbsp milled flaxseed
3 Tbsp water
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup natural (unsweetened) peanut butter-I warm it so it mixes easier
1 1/2 cups PUREED garbanzo beans (approx 1 can, drained & rinsed)
1/2 cup honey

3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Mix all ingredients together and spread evenly in a 13 x 9"pan lined with parchment paper, bake at 350 for about 25 minutes

Making Liquid Laundry Detergent

This idea certainly isn't my own, but I love it! It's so simple to do and saves a ton of money, plus it reduces waste and is more natural than mass produced detergents.

To do this you need:

Borax (approx $3.00)
Washing Soda (approx $3.00)
A bar of soap (I like Dr Bronners, which is more expensive at about $3.50. Fels Naptha is only $0.98 and also works great)
A 5 gallon bucket (or other large container)
4 gallons of water

 You'll need a new bar of soap each time, but you get several batches from the other ingredients, so it's definitely a money saver considering how much it makes!

To make it:

-Chop finely or grate you bar of soap  

-Combine soap with one gallon of water and "cook" over medium heat, stirring frequently until the soap is completely dissolved (this takes awhile)   

-While soap is dissolving, put 1.5 cups of both Borax and washing soda into your bucket

-Once soap is dissolved, pour it into your bucket and stir well

-Add 3 more gallons of water and stir again

That's it! You've now got a vat of liquid detergent. It'll be really runny at first, but set up to be gel-like eventually. 1/4-1/2 a cup is more than plenty to clean even large loads.    

Here's mine. I can only make half batches since I don't have space for a 5 gallon bucket.

Grocery Shopping With a Tight Budget

As a family of five living off of only one small income, the grocery budget is tight. $400 ($450 max) per month is all I have to spend to feed the family. Whenever people hear the budget they usually ask how I do it. The truth is that is isn't always easy and there's not a lot of "fun" food, but we ARE always full and well nourished! We don't normally have many snack or convenience foods in the house and I also make the meals from scratch, nothing served comes pre-prepared in a box. I don't have a magic method for making all those things you might be used to eating less expensive, but I can show you how to make meals based around a few inexpensive ingredients.

The first thing to do is write out a menu for the week/month/etc. I usually do about a week at a time because our kitchen is teeny tiny and a week's worth of groceries fills the cabinets and refrigerator to capacity. I try to think of meals featuring: beans, potatoes, rice, hamburger, and chicken (pasta is also an inexpensive option, but you won't see it much around here because I have to use gluten free which makes it much more expensive) These things are inexpensive, versatile, and nutritious.

This week I decided to challenge myself a bit and set my goal at nine days worth of groceries and under $100. I came in at $91.14!! Here's the menu and the cost breakdown: (the menu actually covers eight days and there should be at least one more day covered with leftovers)

11/30 - bean soup ($1.48 for a bag of great northern beans), fried potatoes ($1.99 for a 10lb bag that will be used in at least 3 meals from this shopping trip), corn bread ($1.88 for yellow corn meal)

12/1 - BBQ chicken covered baked potatoes w/ a side of peas ($9.29 for a 4.7lb package of boneless, skinless chicken breasts- this will be split into 3 meals from this shopping trip. Potatoes listed on prior menu day. $0.98 frozen peas. $1.98 for BBQ sauce which will also be used for future meals)

12/2- three-bean Mexican rice ($1.38 each for a bag of black, red, and pinto beans- these will create multiple meals. $1.76 for a bag of parboiled rice-used for multiple meals. $1.98 jar of salsa. $7.89 for a 2lb bag of cheese-multiple meal use)

12/3- spaghetti & simple salad ($8.58 for a 3lb ground beef-will be used in other meals on this menu. $3.74 for gluten free pasta. $1.24 for tomato sauce. $0.68 for diced tomatoes. $1.48 for red leaf lettuce, $2.12 for baby spinach)

12/4- vegetarian soft tacos (Use excess beans and rice cooked from 12/2 and leftover lettuce/spinach from 12/3. Cheese & salsa prices listed in prior menu days. $2.68 for soft corn tortillas-large package for use in future menus. $0.53 for 1/2 pound of Roma tomatoes. $0.73 for a white onion)

12/5- hamburgers w/ homemade oven baked fries & a side of mixed veggies (Hamburger price listed on prior menu day. Potato price listed on prior menu day. $0.98 for frozen mixed vegetables. $1.28 for hamburger buns- I skip these since they aren't gluten free)

12/6- chicken stir-fry served over rice (Chicken price listed on prior menu day. Rice price listed on prior menu day. $1.98 for frozen stir-fry veggies, $1.22 for bean sprouts)

12/7- three-bean casserole w/ chicken & cheesy sauce ($5.88 for 2 lb of fresh green beans. $3.03 for gallon of milk. $1.14 for French onion topping. Red beans, black beans, chicken, & cheese prices listed on prior menu days)

If my calculations are correct, that puts the total at $67.92 for dinners. Obviously there are things like cooking oil and seasoning purchased in the past that I'm not including in this list, but this gives a rough idea of my spending. So where did the other $23.22 go? It went to:

-beef base $3.72
-Parmesan cheese $2.64
-natural almonds $5.36
-2lb bag of baby carrots $2.74
-chips $1.50
-sausage $2.50
-eggs 18 $3.38
-wheat bread $1.38

So that's the breakdown! I do have things on hand that will be consumed that aren't on this week's shopping list like: frozen fruit, peanut butter, popcorn, yogurt, string cheese, etc. Those are things I usually purchase in bulkier quantities leading to a larger grocery bill those weeks, but keeping things less expensive overall.

Reflecting on a 100 Day Running Streak

100 days ago I never thought I could run every single day. I have been running regularly for a over a decade at varying intensities, but running every single day no matter what?! When I started this experiment, I figured I would just try to make it two weeks. When I hit two weeks, I started to get cautiously excited and one month was the next goal. Once you do that it's hard to quit! The next hurdle came at the two month mark with our move across two states. It was just me and the three kids and two days of driving. But I managed to fit one mile in each day to keep the streak technically alive. After that I knew I would make it to 100 days and I even got out the calendar to count them so I knew which day to look forward to as the summer continued.

So what have I learned? Running every single day will not help me lose any weight. I am disappointed about this. I actually weigh more today than I did right after I gave birth six months ago. I always thought that if I could run every day, or even most days, my weight would take care of itself. Apparently this is not the case for me. I blame my thyroid. I know I have more energy and am healthier than if I didn't run, so I won't quit, but it still bums me out more than just a little. I also learned that I will not get injured. I have always been an injury prone runner- even when religiously sticking to the appropriate training plan- so this was a very big concern.  But I am happy to report that I am 100% fine at 100 days!

Of course these aren't major strenous runs. When you run every day you don't feel the need to push yourself like when you only go a few times per week. My usual daily run is an easy three miles with a walk break or two after the halfway point if I feel like it. I rarely take a timer. Sometimes I will go further, but sometimes when I'm tired or busy I just go two miles and call it good. It's somehow a lot less pressure on yourself when you run everyday. Maybe I will set some goals and push myself to run further and faster in the next 100 days...