Going... Going... GONE!

Mmm... this morning when I woke up all cranky and cold, all I wanted was some hot oatmeal with a spoonful of PB! But alas, when I looked in the fridge I saw that my PB jar was nearly empty.
So...what do you do with that LAST little bit of PB at the bottom of the jar. Do you try your hardest to scrap it out with a spoon, your fingers, or a rubber spatula that is entirely to big? Well... if I have at all convinced you to start eating PB with your oatmeal, then I have a little tip for you!

OATS IN A JAR!

I first read about it over at Tina's blog Carrots 'N' Cake.

Going...

Then I just saw it all over the healthy living blogosphere! See for yourself!

Carrots 'N' Cake - OIAJ Tutorial (She gives you a great step-by-step tutorial)

Kath Eats - OIAJ

A Foodie Stays Fit - Oats In A Jar Blow Me Away...

Eat Live Run - Return Of The Oats (Love this girl's blog... she went to culinary school, just because!)

Seriously... give it a go. If you want a FABULOUS recipe for oatmeal (if I do say so myself,) check out my recipe for Banana Oats.

GONE! Mmm... Time to buy some more Better'n PB!

Pros:

- No washing dishes afterwards! Just toss the empty jar into your recylcing bin!

- Get every last speck of PB
- Screw the top back on for Oats On the Go! :)

Cons:
- No more PB :(

On the agenda today:
- Going for a run
- Working on my Teach For America application

HOPE YALL ARE HAVING A FABULOUS WEDNESDAY! :)

A Better Bag of Groceries...



Here's half my grocery loot from my shopping trip 2-3 weeks ago.
FYI -  The canned frosting was for the pumpkin cupcake recipe, and
I needed to restock on Crisco for my AWESOME homemade pizza crust!

 I have to give credit of this blog post title to a fabulous blogger by the name of Melissa. Her healthy living blog is actually called A Better Bag of Groceries. I just think it's so catchy and so fitting for what I wanted to write about today.... a better bag of groceries.

So if I had a nickel for every time I heard, "Well I think I would eat healthier/more organic/locally/clean, etc etc etc if it weren't SOOOOO expensive." Let me break it down for you folks... I'm a single-income twenty-something girl who is still finishing her undergrad degree (c'mon Dec.18th graduation!) So, to say I live on a budget is an understatement. Here are some of my favorite tips when it comes to eating healthy (at home) on a budget.

Here's the rest of my purchases: I think I spent around $60, this food lasted me about 2 weeks... though I restocked on produce when needed. PS - I went ahead and threw 3 of the 6 chicken breasts into the freezer for later (they were majorly on sale!)

1. Save where you can. Hello! Bananas need not be purchased organic... unless you eat the peel, which if you do... you have bigger problem than I can help you with. So... I will buy bananas sprayed with pesticide (I'm only eating the inside, yall!) BUT I will not buy non-organic dairy products, specifically milk. I won't judge you if you do, I swear. But after struggling with the battle for a looooooo-ooong time of "Do or Don't I," I finally decided I needed to make the investment in organic milk, therefore investing in my health. I was drinking an entire gallon of milk by myself over the course of about 7 days. I don't want osteoporosis! I kept hearing myself say, "Ok I can buy an entire gallon of non-organic milk, or buy 1/2 gallon of organic milk for the same price! Eek!" After much research and deliberation, I realized if I AM consuming this much milk, I don't want to be taking in all THOSE hormones. If you're interested in learning more about why it's a good thing to make the switch, check out this article Organic Milk: A Pint of the Right Stuff.

2. Shop around! I do the bulk of my grocery shopping at Kroger... however I supplement with produce from the Farmer's Market, Whole Foods, and (shocking) Super Target. I've found that Super Target has become my biggest allie when it comes to healthy food shopping. I have a hard time driving by a Target without stopping (don't we all,) I mean I always need something! Next time you're there, check out their deals on healthy and organic products. I guarantee that on any given day (we're talking without sale prices factored in,) the products from these brands will cost you anywhere from $0.50 - $2.00 cheaper than you would find at Kroger. No, seriously! Some of my faves:

• Cascadian Farms
• Amy's
• Kashi
• Nature's Own
• Stonyfield

3. Don't be a hoarder! Especially on the fresh stuff! If you don't think that you'll be able to eat 3 avocados, 7 bananas, 4 plums, a bunch of green leaf lettuce, 5 apples, and partridge in a pear tree all before they spoil... THEN DON'T BUY IT! You know that book French Women Don't Get Fat that was so hot a few years ago? Well one of the things I took away from that was that french women don't go grocery shopping like they're saving up for winter. Buy what you need for what you need, when you need it. That way you reduce the amount of spoiled food that gets tossed. Now, I am the kind of girl that likes to go on a big bi-weekly grocery shopping trip, but I don't really STOCK UP on fruit, vegetables, etc. I buy what I need to replenish in my pantry and whatever fresh stuff I'll be using in the next few days. Then I go back for produce as needed. In case you are looking for a creative way to use up the head of cauliflower, zucchini, pork chops, and apple when they're on their last leg... meet Love Food, Hate Waste. It is the ultimate resource for those of us who, well... hate to waste food. Leftover lovers unite! Yia yia!

4. Jeez... don't be such a snob. Of store brands that is. Sure, I just listed some of my favorite brands under rule number two. But I'm not above buying store brands. Store brands such as 365 (Whole Foods,) Private Selection (Kroger,) and Archer Frams (Target) all feature organic products nowadays. Plus, you vote with your dollars people!!! By purchasing more organic foods (name brand or not) your telling food producers that we want organic, but we also don't want to spend an arm and a leg on it! I'm a fan of Private Selection's organic canned beans (black, navy, hot, I love 'em all.) Check out some of the examples below... Private Selection to the left, and 365 to the right:

5. Eat out less! I can't remember the last time I ran through a fast food joint. Conveinance food pack a hefty price (on your waistline and wallet...) and that includes dining out. A little planning on a Sunday afternoon before you head to the store will go a long way. I try to keep my dining out dollars to frozen yogurt with some of my girlfriends, rather than a $20 meal that I could have made myself (and probably would have tasted better) for a 1/3 of the cost. Bored of your stand-by recipes? Allow me to share one of my ABSOLUTE favorite simple and delicious cooking blogs. For The Love of Cooking. The blogger behind this fabulous collection of no-nonsense recipes (and fabulous food photography) is a sweet little stay-at-home mother of two young children. Her recipes are full of flavor, using the freshest and organic (when possible) ingredients. I guarantee after browsing through her archive you will find yourself drooling in no time and feel inspired to give more than one of her recipes a whirl. I love that they're not time consuming and don't include a laundry list of ingredients. Plus you'll find new spins on tons of old favorites... I think I once counted 5 different recipe variations for lasagna that she's created over the course of her 2 year blogging expedition. I would love to attend a recipe swap with this gal!

Do yall have any tips for eating healthy on a budget?

Pumpkin & Dark Chocolate? OK!

My roomie made this adorable platter at Seize the Clay! We have a small cupcake obsession in our house.

I know, I know, I know. Yet another pumpkin recipe! Somebody stop me! I can't help it! Pumpkin season is my favorite! About a week ago, I was craving some pump-kin! Probably because it was the second day where it actualy FELT like fall in the fabulous city of Memphis. And thank goodness for that!

I went on a search for a pumpkin cookie recipe, I even consulted my ABSOLUTE favorite healthy living blogger, Tina from Carrots 'N' Cake. I think her blog was the first one that I started reading regularly. She also has an adorable little pug of her own, Murphy. I think Murphy and Mr. Teddy would be good friends, don't ya think? They seem to have similar hobbies (sleeping in their owner's bed... all the live long day!) I cracked up when I saw this picture of Murphy on Tina's blog the other day, because I had taken a quite similar picture of Mr. Ted a few weeks ago (with my camera phone, so 'scuze the poor quality) before leaving for work at 7:30AM! Mr. Teddy... not a morning pug.
 

Murphy

  

Mr. Teddy



Tina literally whipped up this batch of Pumpkin Spice Cookies within 2 hours of my request for a good recipe recommendation. TGITwitter, right? She's a rockstar blogger. Check her out, for realz!

I didn't have some of the ingredients that Tina's recipe required, but her original recipe did give me some inspiration to create my own. I actually found THIS recipe on allrecipes (the google of recipe search engines.) It had the most reviews and look delightful. And then I saw the nutrition content! Holy flaxseed! We're talking 406 calories and 21.5 grams of fat people (this is based on a suggested serving size of only 2 cookies!!!) So to that I said... "HECK NO TECHNO!" 

So, I put my creative/more nutrition thinking cap on... and got to work! I came up with the following recipe. I was able to SLASH the calorie content in half! AND I cut the fat content down to less than 1/3 of the fat in the original recipe! Here's the breakdown of what I did...

                           Original Recipe:                    *Laurie's Recipe:

Calories               406                                               202

Total Fat              21.5g                                             6g

Saturated Fat       6.6g                                               4g                

Cholesterol          18mg                                              2mg

Sugars                  33.8g                                             18g

Original Recipe                       Laurie's Recipe 
1 C. white sugar                1/4 C white sugar, 1/4 C. brown sugar, 2 Tb. agave nectar
1 egg                                         3 Tb liquid egg whites
1 C. canned pumpkin               1 1/3 C. canned pumpkin
1/2 C. oil                                   1/2 C. unsweetened applesauce
2 C. semisweet choc. chips        1 1/2 C. dark chocolate chunks
1/2 C. walnuts                         No walnuts
                   
*I used NutritionData.com to analyze the nutritional content of my recipe makeover. It's a free online resource and very easy to use! I love to use it for situtaions like this when I make my own healthy adjustments to a recipe.

These cookies are yummmmmmmmy! They taste kind of like a cross between a cookie and pumpkin bread... so soft and moist. In fact, I may or may not have eaten 2 of these babies for breakfast with a glass of milk this morning :)

Remember... portion control peoples! Serving size is 2 cookies :)

Now that you've got the FACTS... give this recipe a whirl, you will NOT be disappointed. How can you not love pumpkin and dark chocolate? I mean, really. In case, you're wondering... feel free to substitute regular milk for almond milk, and semi-sweet chocolate chips for dark chocolate chunk.

Keep in mind, I have a lactose intolerant roomie... and when I bake, I need someone else to help me with the actual eating of the baked goods. So the recipe below is lactose-intolerant friendly. Cheers!

Pumpkin & Dark Chocolate Chunk Cookies
1 1/3 cup canned pumpkin

1/4 cup white sugar

1/4 cup dark brown sugar

2 Tb. agave nectar

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

3 Tb liquid egg whites (or 1 whole egg)

2 cups self-rising flour*

1 tsp. vanilla almond milk

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 1/2 cup dark chocolate chunks

- Combine pumpkin, sugars, agave nectar, applesauce, milk, and liquid egg whites (or egg.) In a separate bowl, stir together flour, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice. 
- Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture and mix well.
- Add vanilla, chocolate chips and nuts.
- Drop by spoonful on greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees F for approximately 10 minutes or until lightly brown and firm.

Yields: 27 cookies

* I didn't have enough all-purpose flour, so I had to use self-rising instead. The difference between the two is that self-rising already has baking powder and salt added to it. You can absolutely use all-purpose flour for this recipe, just add 2 tsp. baking powder and 1/2 tsp. salt as well.

Before going into the oven... mmm! I love this cow mixing bowls!