Publix – February 14, 2013

     I am a few days late posting my grocery blog for the week.  Over the weekend, J.T. and I, along with my parents, my brother, and his fiancée, traveled to South Carolina.  We helped my grandfather, Granddaddy Ed, celebrate his 96^th birthday.  It was a short trip and J.T. and I were exhausted after returning home last night, but it was worth the lack of sleep to be able to see Granddaddy and other family members.  Of course, Otis was in tow for our road trip.  That dog loves riding in the car and going places.  I think he was happy to be coming home yesterday since he is very routine oriented, just like his Mama.  We returned home around 5:00 and this gave me enough time to unpack, wash a load of laundry, bake a batch of brownies, and line a few other things up for the week.  I was pleasantly surprised to find the new items I ordered from UKonserve waiting at my doorstep.  I ordered a lunch box, 2 sweat proof icepacks, and a stainless steel water container.  One of the ice packs is for J.T.’s lunch box, but everything else is for me.  I needed something to pack my lunch in for my new full-time job, which I begin next Monday!  I am looking forward to having a job with daily, consistent hours and am excited to begin something new J

·         Dairy

o   ½ gallon Organic Valley milk @ $4.29

o   Publix Greenwise Eggs @ $4.29

·         Grocery

o   (1) Publix Greenwise Organic Toasted Oats Cereal @ $3.79

o   (2) Publix Greenwise Organic Oats @ $3.98

o   Publix Greenwise Organic  Coffee @ $5.99

o   (2) 28 oz. cans Muir Glen Whole Tomatoes - $4.00

§  $1.00/2 Publix coupon - $3.00

o   (1) 8 oz. can Muir Glen Tomato Sauce @ $0.89

o    (1) Crisco extra virgin olive oil @ $3.00

·         Meat

o   1 ¾ lbs. ground chuck @ $7.00 (farmer’s market)

o   1 ¾ lbs. ground pork @ $7.00 (farmer’s market)

o   1 ½ lbs. pork chops @ $6.00 (farmer’s market)

·         Produce

o   Organic Bananas @ $0.99/lb. - $2.51

o   Organic Celery @ $1.99

o   2 lbs. Publix Greenwise Organic Carrots @ $2.58

o   1 garlic bulb @ $0.32

Total before coupons              $60.79

Less: coupons used                   (1.00)

Total with Tax                        $59.79

Whole Wheat Crackers

     Wheat crackers, second only to the cheese crackers, are J.T.’s other favorite snack.  This recipe is adapted from my beloved Homemade Pantry cookbook, which I am still ecstatic about!  I realize that many of you are probably thinking “who in the world has time to make crackers?” My answer to this would be that Saturday and Sunday are usually a baking and cooking marathon around our house.  I also love to make double and even triple recipes of staple items.  For example, this is a double recipe of the original version published in The Homemade Pantry.  It yields approximately 140 crackers, which is about a month’s worth of cracker snacks for J.T.  He eats the cheese crackers for a snack in the morning and the wheat crackers for an afternoon treat.  I was making Homemade Wheat Thins, but after I made a batch of these wheat crackers, he was hooked.   I also LOVE this recipe because the baked crackers can be frozen.  One Saturday a month, I gather all my ingredients and get to work.  For the remainder of the month, I pull from the freezer how many crackers I need for the pantry during the upcoming week.  Then, I recrisp the crackers in the oven for 3 minutes and I’m done.  It’s that easy.  

Recipe adapted from The Homemade Pantry

Ingredients

·         4 cups King Arthur whole white wheat flour

·         1 teaspoon baking powder

·         2/3 cup whole millet, uncooked

·         2/3 cup ground flaxseeds

·         1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more for sprinkling

·         5 garlic cloves, minced with a garlic press

·         2 teaspoons dried rosemary, crumbled

·         1 cup plus 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

·         Freshly ground black pepper, from a pepper mill

Directions

1.      In the bowl of a mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, mix together the flour, baking powder, millet, flaxseeds, salt, garlic, and rosemary.  With the mixer on low speed, slowly stream in the olive oil.  Then stream in (very slowly once again) 1 ½ cups of water, until the dough comes together.  The dough should be very easy to work with.  Dump the dough onto a floured surface and roll it out with a rolling pin to ¼ inch thickness.  Use a 1 ½ inch biscuit cutter to cut out the crackers.  Repeat this process until all the dough is used. 

2.      Line the cut out cracker dough on ungreased cookie sheets.  Not much space is required between each cracker because they do not spread.  Sprinkle with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.  Bake in a 350 degree oven for 18 to 20 minutes (20 minutes was perfect for my oven).  Once the crackers have baked, transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely before storing.  These can be stored in an airtight container for up to one week.  As I mentioned earlier, my FAVORITE thing about these crackers is that they can be frozen!  Store them in a Ziploc bag or freezer safe container in the freezer (up to 3 months).  Simply recrisp them for 3 minutes in a 375 degree oven.  Yields about 140 crackers. 

Publix – February 7, 2013

     Today is my brother’s birthday and we will be celebrating tonight with family and friends at my parent’s house.  Guess who was in charge of the menu plan and cooking?  If you guessed me then you would be correct.  Eight people will be at Christopher’s birthday dinner tonight, so I knew I would be planning for many different taste buds.  My parents normally have steaks every Saturday night.  This is a major family tradition on both my mother and father’s side of the family.  I am not sure if it has something to do with the time period in which they were raised, or if it is a coincidence that both of their families had this routine Saturday night meal.  My brother requested that we have a different meal for his birthday than the usual steak supper.  Although he said steaks were fine, he wanted different side dishes and something besides a dry rub on the steaks.  I turned to one of my most reliable sources – Ina Garten.  No, Ina and I have never met, but sometimes I feel like we could hang out together.  I have every single one of her cookbooks and have read all the notes and tips that she suggests throughout her books.  I know her recipes are always successful or “Foolproof,” which is the title of her newest book.  After browsing through several of her books, I came up with this menu:

·         French Bistro Steaks with Provencal Butter

·         Olive Oil Mashed Potatoes

·         Green Salads with homemade Buttermilk Ranch Dressing and homemade Vinaigrette

·         Strawberry Cheesecake

Of course, I am still very much committed to our real food, organic diet, so everything is being made from scratch – right down to the homemade graham crackers I made for the Cheesecake graham cracker crust.  My parents and I are both providing the food for tonight’s meal and luckily they are taking care of the steaks.  Steaks for eight people would certainly blow my budget!  I will blog about the cheesecake later, because I still have to make the topping this morning.  I am crossing my fingers that this birthday meal turns out great! 

·         Dairy

o   ½ gallon Publix Greenwise Organic milk @ $3.89

o   1 lb. Publix Greenwise Organic Butter @ $5.69

·         Grocery

o   (1) Publix Greenwise Organic Toasted Oats Cereal @ $3.79

o   (2) Publix Greenwise Organic Oats @ $3.98

o   Publix Greenwise Organic  Coffee @ $5.99

o   1 lb. Gourmet House Organic Brown Rice @ $1.35

o   (3) Chicken of the Sea canned salmon @ $3.75

§  (2) $1.00/1 manufacturer coupons - $1.75

o   Lindsay Capers @ $1.69

o   Spice World Coarse Ground Black pepper @ $1.34

·         Meat

o   Springer Mountain Farms boneless, skinless chicken breasts @ $4.99/lb. - $10.28

·         Frozen

o   (6) Green Giant boxed peas @ $5.97

§  (2) $1.00/3 manufacturer coupons - $3.97

o   Cascadian Farm Organic Strawberries @ $3.49

§  $1.00/1 manufacturer coupon - $2.49

o   Publix Greenwise Organic Vanilla ice cream @ $3.50

·         Produce

o   Organic Bananas @ $0.99/lb. - $2.38

o   1 head green cabbage @ $2.07

o   3 lb. bag yellow onions @ $3.29

o   1 lb. Publix Greenwise Organic Carrots @ $1.29/lb.

o   1 bulb garlic @ $0.45

Total before coupons              $69.38

Less: coupons used                 (10.00)

Total with Tax                        $59.38

Granola Cereal

I have been making this granola cereal since J.T. and I made the switch to real food.  J.T. and I always eat a bed time snack, anytime between 8 and 9.  My snack of choice before our food overhaul was rice Chex cereal.  Chex cereal has an extensive line of gluten free cereals and it was nice to actually be able to purchase this cereal relatively cheaply with coupons.  Cheap was great until I realized all the ingredients on the nutrition panel where things I didn’t even recognize.  I started playing around with the idea of a granola cereal.  Most granola is fairly high in calories and a typical recipe contains oats, butter (or oil), nuts, dried fruit, and sometimes chocolate chips.  Since I am not a huge fan of dried fruit and my stomach prefers that I eat nuts in moderation, I wanted to eliminate both of these ingredients from my granola.  I also didn’t see the point in adding more sugar – the chocolate chips – to a snack that was already sugary enough.  This left me with oats and oil.  I tested batch after batch of granola cereal until I settled on something I loved.  This particular recipe has been made with more honey, with less honey, with whole grain puffed brown rice, and with whole grain puffed millet.  I like the texture of corn the best.  It is larger in size than both the rice and the millet.  This makes the oats cling better to the corn, resulting in larger clusters of granola.  I make a batch of this every week and look forward to my little bowl each night.  I eat this in ½ cup servings with a splash of almond milk poured on top.  I don’t miss the Chex cereal one bit! 

Ingredients

·         2 cups rolled oats

·         2 cups whole grain puffed corn, such as Arrowhead Mills

·         1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon

·         3 tablespoons coconut oil

·         3 tablespoons pure clover honey

Directions

1.      Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.  In a large bowl mix together the oats, puffed corn, and cinnamon.  Stir in the coconut oil and honey.  Spread in an even layer on the prepared baking sheet.  Bake at 250 degrees for 75 minutes. Let cool completely.  Break apart into clusters and store in an air tight container.  Yields about 8 (1/2 cup) servings.