It’s not the biggest shopping day of the year, but it’s the best day to get bargains on holiday items.
If you’re planning to do returns, wait an extra day or two, when everyone will be a little less frazzled.
Everybody makes turkey pot pie and turkey noodle soup. How about turkey enchiladas? Just shred the meat, toss it with some enchilada sauce, roll it in tortillas, cover with more enchilada sauce (and soy cheese, if you want) and bake. Serve with shredded lettuce, chopped tomatoes, chopped avocado, and your favorite salsa. Have you had sweet potato ravioli? Saute some onions in a very little bit of olive oil. When they’re about done, drop in some rubbed sage, and leftover pureed sweet potatoes or squash. Use wonton wrappers to make ravioli – fill with about 1 to 1-1/2 teaspoons filling, fold on the diagonal, and seal with water. Drop in boiling salted water to cook. Serve with a sauce of sauteed onions and mushrooms, a little turkey broth, an d thickened with a little leftover gravy. (Not so good if you caramelized your sweet potatoes, or baked them with marshmallows… use those to make more pie!) Or make the ravioli with leftover mashed potatoes and sauteed onions (and maybe chopped spinach?) and call them pierogi. These are fried in a little Earth Balance and then you can top them with leftover gravy. Make turkey fried rice with leftover turkey and vegetables. All it takes is some cooked brown rice and a couple of eggs. Amp up the veg content with any vegetables in your fridge. Season with garlic and ginger, and top with tamari or Bragg’s Liquid Aminos. Put leftover cranberry sauce into your fruit smoothie. Delish! Or serve it on coconut ice cream (we love this stuff, but it’s really sweet, so don’t overdo it). We also like leftover cranberry sauce stirred into vanilla yogurt – about 1 Tablespoon for a 4 oz serving of yogurt. And if you have leftover pie? Bring it to a someone who didn’t get leftovers.
Baby steps have a better chance of leading to success than great leaps, when it comes to your goals. Whether your goal is losing weight or building your bank account, you’re more likely to stick to your plan and reach those long-term (really big! really exciting!) goals.
You’ll meet your big! exciting! long-term goals slowly but surely. And isn’t surely the most important part of meeting your goal?
If you’re around 30 years old, every dollar you spend wastefully today (and don’t invest wisely) could be as much as ten or twenty dollars you wont have for retirement in 30 or 40 years. Sound investments can grow exponentially in the long term. That $2000 you spent on your recent (and forgettable) trip to Vegas will be about $20,000 to $40,000 you won’t have when you need it in Sun City.
Orange you glad you have an excuse for a facial? Here’s one you can do quickly and easily at home. Grate the peel of one small orange (wash it first!) and mix it with 1/4 cup of olive oil. Add a squeeze of juice from the orange. (Squeeze it all and drink the rest!) Massage the mixture into clean skin. The orange zest is a gentle exfoliant, removing the top layer of dead skin and revealing your natural glow. The olive oil’s antioxidants help protect your skin from free radicals.
You may live on a tight budget, but don’t cut your grocery budget. People who spend more on food – whole food, the way it grows – tend to weigh less because nutrient-rich vegetables, fruit, whole grains and lean proteins cost more than empty-calorie choices. To save cash and eat well, fill your freezer with healthy bargains. Stock up on lean proteins when they’re on sale, and freeze half for later. Buy fresh fruits and veggies in season and learn to freeze or can them yourself. Buy frozen fruits and veggies when they’re out of season – less expensive with almost the same nutrient value. If any of the food in your house looks like it could stock a bomb shelter, toss it. It’s only preservatives, disguised as food.
It’s “what do I do with all this zucchini” time. Before your zucchini looks like a baseball bat, pick it! If you think maybe it’s getting close to the right size, but you just want to wait until tomorrow – don’t! Pick it now! We don’t like to freeze zucchini – and we’ve tried to like it (year after year), but we’ve found it’s easier to make something with the zucchini and freeze the prepared food instead. Raw zucchini just gets too watery when it’s frozen and thawed. Today we have links to a couple of recipes, Zucchini Fritters and Zucchini-”Cheddar” Herb Muffins. The fritters make great appetizers or snacks. They’re easy to put together and they freeze really well, so you can always have a quick snack or mini-meal ready to go. The muffins can stay in your freezer, individually wrapped and ready to go for a meal, a brown-bag lunch, or a snack. One of our favorite dishes is Ratatouille, which we serve over whole-grain pasta or brown rice, but which could also be served over a bowl of beans, or on top of chicken or fish. This dish contains nightshades, so if you’re avoiding those, you’ll have to skip this one. It freezes (minus the starch or protein) really well. Now if someone offers you some zucchini – go ahead and take it! You’ll be able to prepare it and have some good meals in the freezer, too. ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 2-1/2 pounds tomatoes (4 large) Cut an X in bottom of each tomato with a sharp paring knife and blanch together in a 4-quart pot of boiling water 1 minute. Transfer tomatoes with a slotted spoon to a cutting board and, when cool enough to handle, peel off skin, beginning from scored end, with paring knife. Coarsely chop tomatoes and transfer to a 5-quart heavy pot with garlic, parsley, basil, herbes de Provence, and 1/2 Tablespoon oil. Simmer, partially covered, stirring occasionally. Toss eggplant cubes with 1/2 teaspoon salt in a large colander and let stand in sink 30 minutes. Meanwhile, cook onions, peppers, and zucchini in 1 Tablespoon oil with 1/4 teaspoon salt in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, 5-6 minutes. Transfer vegetables to the tomato sauce. Pat eggplant dry with paper towels. Add 1 Tablespoon oil to skillet and cook eggplant over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, 7-8 minutes. Add to tomato sauce. Taste stew for seasoning, add salt and pepper to taste. Serve over whole-grain pasta or brown rice, or as a stew with whole-grain bread. Top with soy parmesan if desired. Optional: Saute sliced baby bella mushrooms with onion, pepper and zucchini. Add one 15-ounce can garbanzo beans or cannelini beans, drained, for protein. ~*~ ~*~ ~*~
Always make an effort to purchase an item you’re interested in at its sale price. This requires a little time, effort and research. Right now, school supplies are at their cheapest prices of the year. Stock up for next semester, too! Check outlet stores for clothing. Shop on their back-to-school discount weekends (best if you’re on the mailing list). They’re expecting you. Go early for the best selection. Get on your favorite department store’s mailing list (email lists are better – less waste) and cash in on your coupons. Store clerks are happy to tell you when the discount days are coming. Always ask if the item you want to buy will be discounted soon. Sometimes all you have to do is put it on hold for a couple of days to get 20% off. Side note, because we have to warn you about this: We don’t like the “open an account with us and we’ll give you 15% off today’s purchase” deals. First, once you open a credit card, it never goes off your credit report. If you have a lot of cards (active or inactive or even closed) they still count against your credit score. Second, it’s one more temptation when you’re close to overspending. And finally, it’s one more bill to track and pay. If you must use credit, use one card and be honest with yourself about how much you use it. And pay it off every month. If you can’t pay it off, you can’t afford the purchase. Bottom line – a new card is not a bargain opportunity. Sometimes you want something that just needs to wait. Then let it wait. The amazing winter coat that costs as much as your rent for the month? Can wait until you can save up for it. It’s not cold yet, and the coat isn’t on sale yet, either. Take your time. Remember that not every single back-to-school thing needs to be purchased in August. It’s fun to get new school clothes in mid-September and mid-October, too. Space out your purchases to fit your budget, and it will be fun for you, too.
Take-out often means Chinese food that’s over-salted and under-veggied. It may seem like a quick and easy dinner option, but making your own Chinese food is just as quick and easy (and far tastier, and cheaper). This vegan recipe provides plenty of protein from the edamame (soy beans) and brown rice. It’s good served hot or at room temperature, which makes it a great brown bag lunch option (still with a small ice pack in there), or a dinner that can “hold” until kids get home from practice or performances. To thaw the edamame, just put it in a colander, run some warm water over it, and shake it a little. To make this meal especially quick, cook brown rice ahead of time, and freeze it in 1-cup or 2-cup portions. Just let it cool, spoon it into freezer weight bags, and flatten. Freeze flat – then you can stack them in the freezer, or even “file” them in a cardboard shoebox in the freezer. (The cardboard won’t crack in the cold like plastic storage containers can – plus, that shoebox came free with your last pair of really cute shoes!) ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ 1 Tablespoon peanut oil Sauce Make the sauce: In a small bowl, combine all sauce ingredients and mix well. Set aside. In a wok or large, heavy skillet, heat oil over high heat. Add onion, bell pepper, carrots, garlic and ginger and stir-fry 2 minutes. Add edamame and corn and stir-fry until vegetables are crisp-tender, about 3 minutes. Stir sauce and pour into vegetables. Stir-fry until thickened, 30 seconds. Divide rice among 6 shallow, wide bowls. Spoon vegetables over rice and serve hot or at room temperature.
Today we have a couple of recipes to perk up your brown bag lunches. These are kid-friendly (you know your kid best, so adapt the recipes to fit!) ways to get some extra fruits and veggies into them during the day. Oh, and the world’s easiest cookies are here, too. Because every kid wants dessert… but that doesn’t mean you need to buy junk food, and it doesn’t mean you have to be a kitchen slave either. Check these blog posts for more ideas! ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ Apple Carrot Salad 1 apple, cored and grated Combine apple, carrots currants, orange juice, lemon zest, and ginger the night before. Stir in walnuts and coconut in the morning, just before packing lunches. ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ Easy Fat-free 3-Bean Salad 1 pound fresh green beans, cut in 1″ pieces, steamed until tender & cooled Combine all ingredients in a sealed plastic container and shake well. Let sit in fridge overnight, gets better with age, up to 10 days in the fridge. Note: If you make steamed green beans for dinner, just make an extra pound for this recipe. Add the other ingredients after dinner, and you’ll have a great salad ready for brown bag lunches in the morning! ~*~ ~*~ ~*~ Three-Ingredient Cookies 1 cup natural peanut butter Mix it up – spoon onto parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Bake at 350F for 7-10 minutes. Optional: Add some Tropical Source chocolate chips.
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