We haven’t painted Christmas cookies in a few years because times are just too busy during December. Yesterday Tiffany decided to make some fall cookies. I have some leaf, acorn, and pumpkin cookie cutters.

She used the Trim Cookies recipe from THM. She made a double batch of cookie dough because it only makes about a dozen cookies but she made a single batch of frosting. We’ve made this before and found that the frosting makes way too much for a single batch of cookies. She separated it into four bowls and colored them red, orange, brownish green, and a reddish brown.

Brian, Lauren, and Liam were not here, so most things were just what they were; there were no zombies or decapitated anythings. Michael did try to fill the gap and made a reindeer/Rudolph out of an acorn, I think.

I iced my acorn with orange and then mixed in some of the greenish brown to make a more acorn color.

That purplish color is the reddish brown color in person. On the screen the acorn kind of looks like it is covered in peanut butter.

Unfortunately, I’m not the best photographer and I only got two pictures of Tiffany frosting cookies. She took all the other pics.

It’s funny because I came to this side of her so I could see the cookie and instead got a great shot of the glasses! Oh well, we had fun.

Sean came over soon after we’d started and asked to join us. He hadn’t eaten dinner yet. It looked like he was about to make the cookies his dinner when we informed him that it was two batches and needed to last a few days. We had a lot of laughs!

No clue what he was doing with his decorating. I think he was just plopping icing on it.

At the end, Michael was just gluing the crumbs on his last cookie with all the remaining frosting.

I said it looked like a pile of leaves.

Well, I hope you will take some time and have some family fun.

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

I don’t know how people make and keep a menu for a whole month because I can’t keep one for an entire week. I look at the weather for the upcoming week when I make my menu and yet I still can’t get it straight.

We look forward to eating soups once the temperature gets a little cooler but don’t like eating them if it is warmer. Well, this time of year, temperatures fluctuate quite a bit. The key for me is to have the key ingredients for some of our standard meals like spaghetti, tacos, burgers, and such on hand. That way if it gets too warm to have that soup I’d planned on the menu, I can switch out for one of the meals we have at the ready.

It’s really easy to switch out chili and have spaghetti instead, as long as I have the pasta on hand because they take very similar ingredients. However if I’d planned on split pea soup, burgers is a decent switch up even though the ingredients aren’t the same. Both are simple meals and require few ingredients. Chicken stew can be switched with chicken fried rice or a chicken pasta dish.

Basically, you just take the main ingredients and switch them from a soup base to casserole or main dish and sides. It just takes a little creativity.

I guess I’m going to have to give a little more thought to switch-ups. I had my menu flipped because it got a bit warmer.

Grilled sandwiches is a nice way to make sandwiches a bit upscale and seem a bit more special. Of course, you can go super simple and just do eggs, but if you add breakfast meat it is received much better. And hamburgers is always a good switch up.

I hope this helps you think of menu items you can switch up when the weather is not conducive to your planned meal.

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

Today I’m going remind you of a recipe from about 5 years ago. It is one we have had many times. Sometimes we even have it as a low carb meal serving it on riced cauliflower or spaghetti squash instead of rice or potatoes.

I hope you enjoy this one.

This is one recipe that I was skeptical of even trying because I didn’t care for cooked cabbage. I got this about a dozen or more years ago. It was part of a weekly menu and grocery list, so to give the whole menu thing a decent go, we tried it. I was pleasantly surprised.

I actually think I like it better than I would actual cabbage rolls because you can modify how much cabbage you use. So let’s get to it.

Brown one and a half pounds of ground meat (I use ground turkey) with either onion and garlic or onion powder and garlic powder, salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, slice or chop half a head of cabbage. I slice it on my mandolin.

Break up the browned meat. Drain, if you have fatty meat. The turkey I use, although by the numbers it should be rather fatty, most of the moisture evaporates and I have no need to drain it.

That handy gadget is one I got from Pampered Chef and I really like it for breaking up the meat.

Add the cabbage, bit by bit. If you try to add it all in at once, you will most likely, have a big mess on your hands. But if you add it bit by bit, it wilts and there is plenty of room for it all.

 Add the V-8 juice.

Combine.

Serve over rice, like we did this night, or with baked potatoes. If you prefer to have a low carb meal, you could serve it with cauliflower or spaghetti squash.

This night I served it with rice and that wonderful homemade artisan bread that I mentioned last Friday. I’ll be whipping up a batch of this awesome bread again today and will take pictures to share in the next couple of weeks.

The original recipe suggested serving with a dollop of sour cream on top.

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

Have you watched any of those extreme low budget weekly meal plans? I have and it always makes me feel guilty for how much I spend on groceries weekly, in spite of going to 4-5 different grocery stores to get the best deals. You see I go to WinCo, Sprouts, Aldi, Walmart and sometimes Dollar Tree and I get the best deals I can for eating sugar-free and healthy as possible.

Most of those videos I watch have them eating the same meals 3-5 times during the week. I understand why with one or two people eating for the week but I cook for four people and that means we eat an entire meal at one meal and seldom have any leftovers. So we can make a different meal each day rather than eating leftovers for several days.

Another thing I notice is the high use of carbs and not the healthy ones either; I’m talking white rice and egg noodles, both of which are very inexpensive. Healthy carbs are a bit more expensive.

So I’ve been thinking about this. Thankfully healthy carbs like brown rice, beans, and lentils can be eaten on the Trim Healthy Mama program and these items are inexpensive. Some aren’t as inexpensive as their unhealthy counterparts but we’re already used to paying a bit more for them.

I generally get boneless skinless chicken breast for under two dollars a pound, so this is a good meat option for us. I also get frozen ground turkey for $1.35 – $1.50/lb so this is another good meat option for us. Limiting our fresh veggies will be important because they can be a bit more pricey.

A couple of the plans I watched made their own bread and I love it so much, I’m planning to try it myself. It is very similar to a no-knead sourdough bread on Glenda’s website. Of course the whole wheat flour is more expensive than the white all-purpose flour.

Here are some menu ideas I have for this. I’ll make another post when I actually make a low budget menu and how much it ended up being for me.

• taco rice
• tortillas filled with leftover taco rice
• cajun sausage, rice, and beans
• pizza (using 2 ounces of mozzarella or some cottage cheese, chicken, and veggies on a homemade crust – I used a can of tomato paste watered down and seasoned for my pizza sauce.)
• chicken, rice, and veggie soup
• make a gravy with the ground turkey and serve over brown rice and add some veggies (e.g. canned green beans) – this one will be a crossover if you don’t drain and rinse the meat but could also be made with chicken breast.
• chicken “fried” rice using the pepper stir fry package of frozen vegetables from Dollar Tree for the veggies and reducing the amount of oil used to 2 teaspoons for 4 servings.

So, that’s what I’ve come up with. I buy my rice in BULK at WinCo, so I have a 20 or 25# bag of it but you could do this with 1-2 pound bags as well.

I make another post when I actually follow this menu or modify it and use it some time in the next month or so.

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

When I feel like I need to make up for a more liberal day or few days of eating, here is what I eat. I start each day with a quart of oolong tea (2 tea bags) with collagen.

Breakfast

Sprouted grain toast or sourdough toast spread with

• tiny bit (about 1/2 teaspoon) peanut butter and jam or 1/2 banana
• just jam
• light laughing cow cheese wedge with or without jam
• light laughing cow cheese and everything bagel seasoning
• light laughing cow cheese and 1/2 banana or other fruit

Lunch

Light Salad

• I prefer Waldorf salad
• head of romaine, chopped, 1/2 tsp of mct oil rubbed on the leaves with a can of tuna
• easy salad
• shrimp salad

Snack

This is always the trickiest meal. If I didn’t have the waldorf for lunch, then I  have an apple and cheese stick.

Otherwise, I have a shake of some sort or berries and greek yogurt or cottage cheese. (Cottage Berry Whip is another option)

Dinner

A light dinner is optimal.

• sweet potato, chicken breast, salad
• tuna noodle casserole
• quinoa goes cajun (THM cookbook)
• taco rice

Dessert

Light fuel pull dessert

• gluccie pudding
• cobbler
• tummy tucking ice cream (THM Cookbook)
• fat stripping frappe (THM Cookbook)
• or just a cup of tea

That is my day of light eating. I feel better after eating like this for a day. However, I cannot eat like this more than once or at most twice in a week.

I hope this helps you in your journey.

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

For breakfast sometimes I like to have either a piece of sprouted grain toast or a piece of low carb bread. But either way, most times I like to have some jelly on it. Especially if it is a piece of sprouted grain bread and I’m not putting much, if any, butter on it.

Here is the one I prefer: Nature’s Hollow Mountain Berry Jam

It is sweetened with only xylatol and erythritol, and the berries, of course. I really enjoy this one and their strawberry one. Unfortunately I cannot get that one in my local store anymore. I also like their peach.

One tablespoon of Nature’s Hollow is is just 2 net grams of carbs, whereas the Simply Fruit by Smuckers has 10g of carbs.

I keep forgetting to take pictures of our Fish Tacos and a couple of other dishes, to share with you. Maybe next time I’ll remember.

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº