The Vitamix helped us accomplish a 2015 goal

In 2014, I became slightly addicted to the Peanut Butter Chocolate smoothie from Smoothie King. On my way to work, I would stop and buy a smoothie for breakfast. The staff knew me so well, they'd ring it up as soon as I walked through the door, Peanut Butter Crunch-no milk, no sugar. They also learned to ask whether I wanted 1 or 2 (1 for Nick on the days we worked together). At $4 each, it was getting to be an expensive habit but one that I justified because it meant that I was actually eating breakfast versus running out the door without eating like I'd been doing. I figured it's no different from those who have to have their Starbucks coffee every morning. 

Nick took notice of my habit and my complaints/concerns over the use of styrofoam cups and plastic straws at Smoothie King and he solved the problem by getting me a Vitamix blender for Christmas 2014. It's been a year and with the exceptions of when we travel (and sometimes we do travel with the Vitamix), every morning we have both made a chocolate peanut butter protein smoothie for breakfast. The fact that I stopped consuming 4-5 styrofoam cups and straws/week is a big win. 

Here's the breakdown of the cost and environmental benefits:

Vitamix $375-- Yes, it seems like a lot for a blender but as you'll see it has paid itself off and then some. I honestly can't live without it now. I use it for so much more than smoothies too. 

Smoothie King Smoothies

$4 each * 3x/week (and this is a very conservative estimate)= $12/week 

$12/week * 36 weeks (number of work weeks in a regular semester)= $432 for the working year

Just in my breakfast smoothies that I would buy before work, the Vitamix has paid itself off after this year. 

Further, because we have the Vitamix, now ALL of us have protein smoothies in the morning. Nick and I have a 16-20oz one and the kids each get about 8oz with their oatmeal breakfast. Not to mention all of the specialty smoothies that I've made for them as after school or weekend snacks. Each kid smoothie at Smoothie King cost $3 so we're getting a lot more bang for our investment in the Vitamix. 

Oh, and I know that I'm not taking into account the cost of the ingredients in these calculations but that's because 1) the ingredients are stuff that I was already buying on a regular basis and 2) the quality of the home smoothie doesn't compare to the SK kind. Making smoothies at home means I can customize to our needs and wants. I now make 100% organic chocolate peanut butter smoothies AND I get to add chia seeds, oats, hemp seeds and protein powder (each of these additions cost 99 cents at Smoothie King so my $4 smoothies would be $8 if I made it like I do at home). I know I don't spend that much on ingredients...and even if I did, I feel much better about knowing exactly what is in my smoothie AND the environmental benefits are worth it to me. 

Environmental Benefits

The best thing about this is that we are no longer using the styrofoam cups and straws every morning. I bought stainless steel straws and we were gifted insulated smoothie cups for Christmas last year that we've used every day since. 

Counting only MY consumption (not Nick's or the kids), I avoided 108 styrofoam cups and straws going to the trash this past year (and this is only based on my "work" smoothies). Considering that styrofoam and plastic NEVER biodegrade, any decrease in consumption is great. This has been one of the most effective changes we've made as a family. 

We still have a long way to go with straws and even styrofoam cups. We still consume some but mostly because of our travel schedule this past year. We try to carry water everywhere so we avoid having to get to go drinks somewhere and hence using a plastic cup/straw but we're not perfect. But overall, I'm so happy that Nick bit the bullet and bought the Vitamix and that we accomplished this major goal of ours. 

Life in Valdosta, GA

I haven't posted in this blog in months because of the hectic summer we had and all the technical troubles we ran into when we moved to Georgia.  So, here's a recap of the last 6 months:

Financial Goals

In October, we crossed off another financial goal off our list.  We bought a house.  Not just a house, but a dream house within our means!  We stuck with the budget we set and although we picked the house at the top of that budget, the budget was well below what we "could" afford.  Having gone through what we went through with the housing market in Florida, I wanted to be sure we'd never be in that situation again.  We put our down payment and now have a comfortable mortgage that we can afford to pay extra on to bring the life of the loan down.
We still don't have car payments and we've paid off our credit cards so the only debt we have at the moment is the mortgage and our student loans. I still go back and forth whether I should double down on my student loans to pay mine off sooner or whether I stick with the low payment for the next 20 years. It just seems SO long.
Right now, we're still trying to figure out what our actual budget will be with our new jobs.  Each month they've been some adjustment with our retirement plan, healthcare, HSA or something else where we still have not received a "normal" paycheck since August.  Once I get a rhythm and set aside what we'll need to cover our summer expenses when we DON'T get paid, then I can think of how to manage our disposable income to lower our outstanding student loan/mortgage debt.

Green Living

It seems that I haven't made much progress in the last 6 months, but we're constantly working on it. We're being much more conscious about the things that we do buy for the new house and we want to be as minimalist as possible. I'm becoming more conscious of all of our purchases and trying to not buy things just because it's a good deal.

I'm stuck on this minimalist lifestyle and I so wish we can do it. I've read enough blogs and articles now to know that it's not an overnight thing. I'm just amazed at how often we clean out our house and fill bags to donate to Goodwill and yet we still have SO much stuff.

Goals in this area:
1. Minimize my closet and drawers. I have so many items that I have not worn in over a year and somehow they've survived every sweep I've done in the last year. I'm going to start with myself and then work through the rest of the family.

2. Plant a garden. We have a huge yard that I want to put to good use. The kids are excited about growing their own fruits/veggies. We have colleagues that grow quite a bit of their food so I'm hoping I can learn from them.

3. Only buy second-hand items. This is difficult since we live in Valdosta and the thrift shops and craigslist are not as good as a big city. But, we're visiting Orlando often enough that I think we can do this. We do well with kids' toys in this area but we can do better in the rest of the areas. I recently joined several "buy, trade, sell in Valdosta" facebook groups and those seem to offer a better selection than craigslist.

4. Eliminate waste in the kitchen. I definitely want to start composting for real. We were using the empty lot next door as our "compost pile" but they just cleared it to build a house so I'll need to make a legit compost pile in our own yard. I also want to stop buying cartons that are not recyclable like the vegetable broth kinds. I figured if I freeze my own scraps then I can make my own broth at the end of the week and freeze it for later use. If I can manage that then maybe I'll feel empowered enough to make my own almond milk and avoid those cartons.

I have further goals but I think these 4 are feasible at the moment. Once I manage these then I can move on to bigger and better things.
Anyhow- I'm going to try to go back and post weekly menus because it was really helpful for me to have that record. I recently went back through the early posts last year and remembered a few menu items I had forgotten about. They were hits once again.

Til next time...

Financial Goal #1 Accomplished

It's been a month now I think since we accomplished the first financial goal we set, we sold the 2013 Dodge Durango and bought a "previously owned" minivan.  We are now the proud owners of two paid-off cars. Yay for no car payments! Our savings took a hit to pay for the minivan but we should make that money back by the end of the year.
The kids absolutely love the minivan.  Liam loves to play with the buttons for the automatic doors.  We love the extra cargo space and overall feel of it.  I definitely love the sliding doors although I'm not sure I love the automatic doors all the time.  The automatic doors are definitely a plus for the car line when I pick up Gavin at school, otherwise I could live without them.
Anyhow- I'll have to post a picture later when I take one.  I still haven't taken a picture of the van. :(
But we are very happy with our minivan!  Never thought I'd be saying that but it's true.

Easter Brunch Menu

I was so excited for Easter morning.  It feels a little bit like Christmas to me again. Perhaps that's why I've been feeling a little homesick.  I was really looking forward to making this Easter brunch for us.  I had an ambitious plan given that I did no prep work ahead of time but everything worked out...except for the vegan french toast.  After making the pancakes, it just seemed kind of pointless to make the french toast so I'll leave those for later this week.
For breakfast: 

• Carrot Cake Pancakes with vegan cream cheese filling  (because the Easter bunny likes carrots ya know).  The recipe was for carrot cake waffles but after seeing how thick the batter turned out, I was afraid of putting it in my waffle maker (which has been a hit or miss lately).  Instead I made pancakes to be safe.  The recipe itself needed a bit of "cleaning up" to make it more real-food approved.  So I made the following substitutions:
• oat flour instead of all purpose flour, 
• coconut sugar instead of white sugar (coconut sugar is considered un-refined)
• coconut milk yogurt instead of reg. yogurt or buttermilk
• flax eggs instead of regular eggs
• vegan butter instead of regular butter
• Added almond milk at the end to thin out the batter 
• They turned out AMAZING!  The kids did not want to spread the cream cheese filling on them so I was the only one that used the "frosting" as Liam called it, and I can tell you that it tasted JUST like carrot cake.  A little too sweet for my breakfast taste but I did eat one later in the day as "dessert".  

• Egg Frittata with mushrooms, spinach, onions/peppers, and tomatoes
• Bacon. For the kids...for those who think I don't fee the kids meat.  They LOVE their bacon.  In fact, it might be Ellie's 6th word, she was so desperate for more today she came close to saying it today.  
• Homemade Hashbrowns- I was so happy I learned how to make these from scratch.  It was not hard at all and now I know there's no need to buy the frozen ones.  

While in cooking mode, I also prepared food for the next couple of days.  I made these:

• Veggie Pasta Stew- Ate this for dinner and it was a big hit with everyone.  Really hearty and delicious.
• Vegan Mac n' Cheese Casserole
• Broccoli Cheese Rice Casserole- I made up this recipe.  Cooked brown rice in rice cooker.  Steamed broccoli.  Placed rice in a casserole dish and mixed in cream cheese, salt/pepper. Added broccoli, mixed it all up and topped with some shredded cheddar cheese.

Week of April 12-19

I know I've slacked off.  The past couple of weeks have been out of the ordinary for our work/travel schedules so we had to feed on the fly and there were some non-real food, or a lot of non-real-food options consumed.  For me, once I cheat I go downhill fast because I then just keep cheating until I hit my low-point where I can FEEL my body is not balanced and then I feel like I want to go on a raw vegan diet to get myself back on track (which I don't do...but I do think in extremes).

So this week, I did not prepare much ahead but I have (had) a plan.  It's spring break for Gavin so I'm thinking that since I don't have to drop him off and pick him up that opens up the daily timeline which will give me time to prepare meals from scratch on the day of.  here's the plan:

Sunday-- Make your own pita pizza day.
These were ALL real-food approved.  I found 100% whole-wheat pitas with no preservatives at all (I think there are only 4 ingredients total) at Earthfare and they were only $2.99 for a pack of 5 pitas which I thought was pretty great so I stocked up on these and put them in the freezer for another time.
I had homemade BBQ sauce in the freezer from when I made BBQ lentils a few weeks ago, so I defrosted that so the boys could make their BBQ pizzas.  I achieved the goal of getting rid of the Trader Joe's BBQ sauce on the pizza!  I also set out an organic pineapple salsa for the option of Mexican pizza....which the boys ended up choosing this time.
Then I chopped up mushrooms, green/red peppers, onions, spinach, tomatoes, cilantro and I also gave them black beans, cut up ham and corn too.  I set all the toppings in the middle of the table, gave each boy a pita and had them create their own pita pizza.  The boys love putting together their own and they ate them all because like Gavin mentioned, "this is my favorite pizza because it has all of my favorite toppings, and it's healthy because you picked out the toppings and you always pick what's healthy for us".  WIN-WIN!

Monday-- White bean/spinach/red quinoa soup or left-over pita pizzas
This is actually left over from Sunday's lunch but turned out really good.  I used garlic, italian seasoning and salt/pepper to season it, used a low sodium vegetable broth as a base.  Tossed in every vegetable I had in the fridge, frozen spinach, broccoli, carrots/celery, mushrooms and I added cannellini beans and red quinoa. Hearty tasty soup.

Tuesday--The plan was for Kung Pao Noodles but instead ended up having "Taco Tuesday" at Qdoba.  This is the result of not cooking ahead of times like I'm supposed to do on Sundays.  I was out doing fun Tuesday stuff with the kids and it got too late for me to come home and cook so we ate out at a semi-decent place, at least they got their serving of vegetables and whole grains for dinner.

Wednesday-- Nick's night- Veggie burger and french fries (at least both are organic)

Thursday-- Stuffed peppers
Quinoa mixed with black beans, tomatoes, corn, salsa, cilantro placed inside the peppers and topped with cheese.

Friday-- Got stuck out late so we ate at Pei Wei.  This was rather disappointing too, it didn't hit the spot for us but the kids ate it up.  Gavin and Liam both eat so well here.  We order them kids' meals with brown rice, teriyaki chicken and a side of stir fry vegetables and they eat them up.

So, this week turned out to be another "bad" week in the realm of real food.  On the one hand I get really upset with myself because I feel uber guilty when I don't cook for my family and myself.  I feel junky myself and so I know that I am not doing the best for the kids.  On the other hand, I can say that eating out this week allowed me to be "with" the kids more and I really enjoyed the memories we made.  I think Gavin in particular really needed the "us" time this week.  Next week is another week....

Menu for Week of March 24-March 29

This week was an out of the ordinary week.  I left town on Thursday to Orlando with Ellie for a friend's bridal shower.  Nick was home with the boys from Thursday-Sunday so I planned to make food for them before I left, not all of it happened but I tried.

Sunday-- BBQ Lentil "sloppy joe" sandwiches
Seriously, 2 years ago I would've gagged at the thought of having a "bean" sandwich but lentils have quickly become meat replacements in our house.  This recipe is SOOOO good.  I LOVE the homemade BBQ sauce.  I didn't use molasses, I used maple syrup instead and I did not use liquid smoke....because that doesn't sound like it's good for you.  I made no other substitutions but I made it all on the stovetop, without using the food processor first.  Instead I used the immersion blender after all had been cooked.
Nick and Gavin loved these.  Liam and Ellie were a little pickier and opted for an alternative dinner.

Monday-- Spaguetti with Meatballs
Yes, "real" meatballs...for the boys.  This is Nick's night with the kids and I prepped Tuesday's meal but nothing for Monday so it's pasta night. :)

Tuesday-- Taco Tuesday
Ever since Gavin watched the Lego Movie he has been wanting to do a Tuesday Taco Night and since I keep mixing up the days on tacos, he keeps requesting tacos on a tuesday night.  Hence, why Nick couldn't use the prepped meal in the fridge for Monday's dinner....because then it would've been Taco Monday and in the words of Liam, "that's not good".

Wednesday-- Vegetable Pot Pies topped with homemade vegan biscuits  (Yeah...the individual pot pies did NOT happen but I did make the biscuits and they were GOOD! We just ended up using them with the curried soup below)

Thursday-- Curried Vegetables and Chickpea Stew  (this was delish)

Friday-- Leftovers

Saturday-- Ate out....Boys went to the zoo.

Weekly Snacks

I realized that I have only posted the dinners for each week but in addition to those I typically arrange for some snacks to be pre-made and ready for the week.  I haven't been as good about making these from scratch lately (except the granola) but this week I made these:

GRANOLA- In our house, homemade granola is a MUST.  I think it's been a year and a half since I made my first batch of granola and I have been making it every week since without fail.  Nick and I eat a bowl of granola pretty much every night as 4th meal around 9pm.  The kids all love to snack on it and Liam just learned to eat it with milk "just like daddy" so now he eats it that way too.  Gavin prefers to snack on it dry.
I use the recipe from 100 days of real food  but I modified it to make it vegan and infant friendly for our Ellie. It's the same recipe as the one in the link BUT I use 6 TBSP of coconut oil instead of butter to make it vegan and I use maple syrup instead of honey.  I substituted maple syrup at first because of Ellie, since infants should not consume honey, but I made a batch with honey a few months ago and it turns out that we find the taste of the maple version MUCH better.  I still cannot believe we never get tired of this but it's just so darn good.

NO BAKE PROTEIN BITES-  The My Whole Food Life blog has awesome no bake bites recipes.  I love them because they don't require baking and the kids devour them.  They're full of protein and make for a quick snack.  Our family favorites are the ones in the link, the high protein energy bites made with almond meal, coconut oil, ground flax meal, chia seeds, almond butter and maple syrup....mix it all up and put in the fridge.  I add about a TBSP of unsweetened cocoa powder to them and they also fulfill any sweet craving I may have and they're good for after a workout snack too.  I usually double this recipe so that it lasts us all week.  All 5 of us love these little bites.

CHIA PUDDING- I made this chia pudding for the first time and it was delicious.  It's a coconut vanilla chia pudding and while it does not look pretty, it tastes really good.  It was SO easy to make, I'll definitely add this to the rotation of snacks/desserts.

These are of course in addition to fresh fruits and vegetables that we snack on.  I just like to have a little something extra for the kids.