FIRESIDE with Chef at Heart

Sugar and Gluten Free Cookbook

05/15/2012 14:47:00

Simply Sugar and Gluten-Free

by Amy Green

Very recently, a new branch of our local library opened at the end of our street. Everything inside is shiny and new and that includes the books in their incredible cookbook section.

After thumbing through many crisp, clean and colourful cookbooks, I found Simply Sugar and Gluten-Free by Amy Green. Being allergic to not only wheat but also corn, I found many of the recipes would work for my diet or had ingredients that I could easily substitute so I checked it out and took it home.

This book is great. I have already made a few of the recipes and have so many others earmarked to try, that I now have this book on my 'must buy' list. The book contains '180 easy and delicious recipes that can be made in 20 minutes or less'.

If you avoid sugar and gluten in your diet, I suggest you pick up a copy, or check out the website www.simplysugarandglutenfree.com.

End of Grocery Budget Challenge Summary

03/01/2012 09:35:00

Week 3

Over budget. By a longshot! Too many household items on the list this week.

Week 4

Over budget, once again. I did manage to save $7 by using competitor’s flyers but it was our household and personal expenses that ran the total up again this week. My first stop came to a total of $145.34 and the second stop, $50.06. Total $195.40. Over budget by $18.40

End of Challenge Summary:

I have to say I enjoyed the challenge but I remain sceptical that a family of four can eat healthy on a weekly grocery budget of just $125 when this budget includes personal items. If personal and household items such as laundry detergent and toilet paper were not included in the grocery budget, I would have come under my budget each week.

In the end, I can understand the point the ‘budget lady’ is trying to make. We all have to face reality at some point and either you can afford to impulse shop, or you cannot. You must also look at what you need, versus what you want. As she puts it “basic sustenance is a need. Lobster, shrimp, and filet mignon are want’s.”* I guess if lobster, shrimp, and filet mignon (or organic milk in my case) are needs by your book, then you need to make cuts in other areas of your budget or bring in more money to boost your grocery budget.

Of course, for me, there is a challenge in finding my organic milk and all my ‘wanted’ grocery items for the best price possible while remaining within my budget and without having to make cuts in other areas. Now that my challenge is over, I may not limit myself strictly to $200/week, but I will still use the tips below and avoid overspending on grocery items I don’t need and try to make the most of the budget I do have.

Here are a few simple tips to help everyone maintain a grocery budget.

1. Plan ahead

Take the extra time to create a menu plan for each week and write a grocery list based on that plan. Go through your pantry and cupboards and cross off the items on your grocery list that you already have and don’t need to purchase. The first menu plan will be the hardest but once you have done a few, it will become easier and take less time.

2. Shop with a list

Always go shopping with a grocery list and more importantly, stick to that list. Resist impulse shopping.

3. Use competitor grocery store flyers for sale prices if you can

Consider shopping at a store that will allow you to get the sale price from competitor’s weekly flyers when you purchase the same item in your home store. While the savings made from using competitor flyers each week of the challenge were not great, they do add up over time.

4. Buy your meat in bulk

Purchasing our household meat in bulk on a monthly basis at the wholesale store was something I practiced even before this challenge. Not only has it helped us save money, but it also makes menu planning easier. I know what meat I have in the fridge or freezer and can plan meals easily around these options with the odd addition to our diet here and there.

* If you want to find out more about creating a budget, check out Gail Vaz-Oxlade’s website at www.gailvazoxlade.com or take a look at her book, Debt-Free Forever.

Grocery Shopping Challenge: Week Two

02/17/2012 11:08:00

Week Two Summary

I did it!! I actually came in under my $177 budget this week. Thankfully, there were very few personal items to purchase this week so that helped a lot. I did need to pick up extra meat this week for a special Sunday night dinner, but that was my only big-ticket item. I even picked up a few extra items to make a special Valentine’s Day dessert.

Once again, I did the shopping in two trips spending $142.87 on the first trip, and $25.75 on the second and finished with $8.38 left in the bank. I took the competitor grocery store flyers with me once again but the savings this week were less impressive than last, totalling just $1.72. That’s due in part to the already low prices at my grocery store and the fact that most of the items on my grocery list were fresh or specialty items not found in the competitor’s flyers this week. I then made a mid-week run for bread and milk for a total of $7.65. That leaves me .73 cents under budget this week!

Our entrees for this week were:

Lasagna Roll-Ups (with gluten-free rice noodles)

Sticky Pork

Pesto Tilapia

Bacon Mac ‘n Cheese

Open night: the kids chose ‘breakfast for dinner’ so we had French toast, fruit and bacon

Homemade Pizza

Lamb Shanks

The flyers for the coming week have arrived so it’s time to do my homework and check for sale items to take advantage of on my next grocery run. Fingers crossed I can come under budget again next week.

Enjoy your weekend!

Grocery Shopping Challenge: Week One

02/09/2012 15:01:00

Week One Summary

Beginning of the week:

The bulk of the grocery shopping for week one of my budget challenge was done on Sunday and came in under budget. That was good because I knew I would need to do one more trip mid-week to the grocery store. We follow a clean diet in our household (give or take a few items) so I usually need to make a run middle of the week to top up on fresh fruits and vegetables, and of course staples such as milk and bread.

As I went through the grocery store, I carefully kept track of my spending, rounding up the price of each item and kept a running tally. It gets a little pricey once you start picking up items such as laundry detergent and other personal items which the ‘budget lady’ includes in the grocery category using her jar system, so it adds up quickly. Heaven forbid you should have to buy diapers because this would also be included here! We drink organic milk, which I will not compromise on, so this helped to drive up my total (almost $10 for 4L). In the end, my estimated total was only shy by two dollars of the actual total so it was pretty accurate.

As I shopped, I had the weekly grocery flyers from the competitor’s stores and while a few of the items were actually cheaper at my grocery store (a pleasant surprise), I still used the flyers for the sale price on several items and saved almost six dollars. Not bad, and certainly better than driving to four other grocery stores to try and get those items on sale somewhere else.

I should note that while I also picked up pet food, this is accounted for under a different category using the jar system and should not be taken from the grocery budget, so I subtracted that amount from my final bill.

At the end of my trip, I spent $129.11. I then had to do a second trip to another store for some specialty items, and that total was $39.48. If you remember, I had $177 to work with for the week (after purchasing all our meat in bulk at the wholesale store), so that left me with $8.41 for my mid-week run.

Mid-week run:

Thankfully, my second grocery run of the week was only for bread and milk but it came to a total cost of $10.98. That means I blew the budget and went over by $2.57. Ok, so while I went over my self-imposed budget by a couple dollars, I could have come under budget if I had not purchased organic milk.

Again, it’s the personal items that really eat up this grocery budget and if you should happen to have to shop for an infant in your household, that might not leave you with a lot left for actual food. It was also very difficult to stop myself from purchasing extra sale items that I would normally stock up on and put away in my pantry. There simply isn’t room for that on such a tight budget.

We did manage however to eat well this week and by no means were living off macaroni every other meal. Here were our main entrees for this week:

Pork Steak with Stroganoff Sauce

Orange-Glazed Chicken Wings

Soup ‘n Sandwich Night

Chicken Parmesan with Spaghetti

Open Night: a baked potato bar that included homemade chilli as a choice of topping

Tacos (Stuffed Peppers for myself)

Slow-Cooker Peanut Chicken

So sadly, week one of the grocery budget challenge was not a success and certainly wasn’t easy. Maybe next week will be better?

Grocery Shopping on a Budget Challenge

02/03/2012 18:43:00

My husband is a big fan of a certain debt show on television where couples are put on a tight cash budget and issued a challenge to live out of jars for a month. When the money in the jar runs out, you’re out of money, unless of course you pull from another jar. Watching the show, I am puzzled when repeatedly families are put on a grocery budget of approximately $125 per week. I’m all for thrifty shopping but for a family of four to eat healthy on just over one hundred dollars a week? I am sceptical.

Being one for a challenge, I have decided to give it my best shot and have issued myself the challenge to try it for my family. Given I have certain dietary restrictions and challenges, I already menu plan each week so I don’t have a learning curve there. Unfortunately, some of the food items I require come at a higher cost, plus I have a heavy workout and fitness schedule each week so I eat a great deal of protein which is another added cost. In light of these added expenses, I have allowed my family of four a grocery budget of $200 per week for the challenge (almost half our regular budget).

So how to approach grocery shopping on a tight budget? Here’s my plan:

Hit the local wholesale store and pick up meat in bulk. I already do this on a monthly basis so I know what cuts of meat I can get and have learned that I can get all the meat we need for about $100 or less (we have a vegetarian day once or twice per week in our household). That averages out to $25 per week leaving me $175 to work with for the remainder of the groceries. At home, I take the meat and break it down into serving sizes for our evening meals, and freeze it.
Menu plan each meal and snack for the week in detail making sure to plan meals based on the meat I have bought at the wholesalers. This includes the kids school lunches and after school snacks, but leaves open one night per week to either use up leftovers, allow for the chance to satisfy any food cravings, or to dine out.
Create a grocery list based on the menu plan, then go through the cupboards and cross off any items I already have on hand.
Sit down with the weekly grocery store flyers and price comp the items I need. My local store will match competitor’s sale prices so that saves me making four or five stops to finish all my shopping while still taking advantage of sale prices.
Go shopping, sticking to my list and resisting the urge to buy impulse items.
At the end of my shopping trip, I will keep all my receipts in order to track how well I am doing.

Week One

Week one is about to begin and today I made my trip to the wholesale store and bought meat to help get through the month:

7 tilapia

5.5 lbs lean ground beef

4 pork tenderloin

8 large skinless, boneless chicken breasts

54 chicken wings

This is enough for about 19 meals for my family (my youngest is not a fan of meat) for a total cost of $90.03 ($22.50 a week or $4.74 per meal).

Good start.

Sunday will be my day to do the rest of the grocery shopping and I have roughly $177 left for the trip. Ok, can't be too hard..can it?

Tomato Basil Soup

01/09/2012 14:29:00

Happy New Year!

At this time of year, many people will set New Year's resolutions to eat and live healthier but sadly, many of them will give up on their efforts all too soon in the new year.

Eating healthier doesn't have to mean spending a lot of time on food preparation or spending hours reading food labels in the grocery store. Making fresh, clean food choices and avoiding processed foods can help keep you on track.

Here is a tomato soup recipe that will have your lunch or dinner on the table in about 20 minutes and will taste fresher than any canned tomato soup.

TOMATO BASIL SOUP

1 tbsp olive oil

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 small can tomato paste

2 cups vegetable broth

1/8 tsp dried oregano

1 bay leaf

1 tsp sugar

1/3 cup milk

4 or 5 fresh basil leaves, finely sliced

S&P to taste

In a saucepot over medium heat, add olive oil and cook onions until softened, about 10 minutes. Add tomato paste, broth, oregano, bay leaf, and sugar. Simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in milk and basil. Simmer gently until heated through. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Remove bay leaf before serving.

This soup is great with the addition of cooked rice. It also freezes well.

Satisfying Meal Ideas on a Budget

12/06/2011 08:18:00

Looking for quick, and satisfying meal ideas that fit within your budget? Intimidated by new recipes?

Check out this blog for easy, satisfying and inexpensive meal ideas as well as tips on how to shop and eat well on a budget.

http://budgetbytes.blogspot.com/

Stuffed Peppers (Vegetarian)

11/22/2011 09:22:00

STUFFED PEPPERS

2 large peppers (red, yellow or orange), halved, cored

2 tbsp olive oil

1 small red onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

125g meat-free mince

100g cooked rice

2 tbsp tomato paste

3 tbsp fresh chopped basil

50g pitted black olives, chopped (optional)

feta cheese, crumbled

Preheat oven or grill to 400 degrees F .

Rub pepper halves with 1 tbsp olive oil and place skin side down on baking sheet. Bake until softened but still hold their shape (approx. 20 mins).

While peppers are baking, heat remaining tablespoon of olive oil in a pan and cook the onion, garlic and meat-free mince for 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally until tender. Remove from heat.

Stir in the rice, tomato paste, basil and olives if using.

Spoon the mixture into the softened peppers and top with crumbled feta cheese.

Return to oven and bake until heated through, approx. 15-20 minutes.

Cover with foil if browning too much.

Makes 4 servings.

*these are great done on the barbecue!

Recipe adapted from original recipe in Vegetarian Living magazine.

Gingerbread House Decorating Competition

10/24/2011 13:12:00

Barrie & District Christmas Cheer

Fundraising Event 2011

Come on out to the Simcoe County Museum November 19th & 20th for the artisans Christmas craft show and gingerbread decorating competition and help support the Christmas Cheer Campaign in an effort to reach their fundraising goal.

Visit www.christmascheerbarrie.com to learn more about this fun event.

See you there!

Chef at Heart Update

09/21/2011 10:33:00

After several months away from Chef at Heart, I am happy to say things will be back up and running for October!

The last few months have not gone as originally expected but excitedly many changes have come from it. Instead of taking time off for professional development in a new seasonal work opportunity, I ended up facing a lengthy illness and had to go through a lot of personal and professional growth to get back on track.

Having been diagnosed with a wheat allergy (amongst other things), I have been exposed to a whole new world of food and while I struggled at first, I have learned so much about gluten-free options and cooking and food allergies in general.

While I knew I had a corn allergy and had already been exposed to the world of food allergens, going gluten AND corn-free was a whole new experience and meant reeducating myself on many basics. I've learned so much about new products (new to me anyway), new cooking techniques, new suppliers, and have met so many new people and support groups along the way.

Naturally, some of these changes will be incorporated into the updated Chef at Heart. Thankfully I had a culinary background and was able to adjust fairly quickly to a whole new diet and lifestyle but I'm aware not everyone has that advantage. One of the changes at Chef at Heart will be to share more recipes, tips and services for those with food allergies or sensitivities, and those with special dietary needs. Some of our old services will remain while others will be changing or going altogether. The focus will be less on servicing large groups, but returning to helping individuals and families.

Hopefully you will return in October and check in often. I'm looking forward to being back in business, reconnecting with everyone, and making new relationships along the way.

Jennifer