Chinese Take-Out....from the Freezer Section!

I LOVE Chinese food! From the places in the mall (where they are always offering samples) to the "whole in a wall" take-out restaurants (THE best, in my opinion) to the nice, sit-down restaurants (such as PF Changs). I love it all! Now I have to let you in on a secret.....my husband HATES Chinese food! He cannot stand rice, broccoli, or anything that resembles a vegetable (other than potatoes, corn, and green beans!). So, I have to get my "fix" whenever I can.

If we go to the mall, it's easy to satisfy my craving. We go to the food court, he gets Chick-Fil-A, I get Chinese. Simple as that. But what about the rest of the times my palette is salivating for Sesame Chicken, or General Tso's, or an egg roll?? Well, I believe I have found a solution: Tai Pei.

I am usually a bit "iffy" when it comes to frozen Chinese food that you find in your grocery store. It usually tastes fake or unusually spicy, or sometimes even rubbery or soggy. I was having one of my "cravings" though, while at the store the other day, and decided to pick up a bag of Tai Pei Stir-Fry Creations Beef & Broccoli. It was about $5 for the whole bag (enough for 2+ lunches for me!) and takes about 10 minutes to cook. I decided to give it a try today.

The bag includes stir-fry vegetables (in this case broccoli and onions), a bag of sauce, a bag of rice, and a bag of beef. All you have to do is thaw the sauce packet in hot water, pop the bag of rice in the microwave for 3 minutes, and stir-fry the meat and veggies until cooked through. Then throw the sauce in and saute for a few minutes until everything is well-coated. Pull the rice out of the microwave, top with the stir-fry, and voila!! Lunch (or dinner) is ready! And, it was delicious! The beef and broccoli and beef were very tender, the rice was fluffy, and the sauce was so tasty!

I would highly recommend the stir-fry creations by Tai Pei and am anxious to try other items Tai Pei has out there. I hope you will try them sometime too!

Baby Food - Snacks

Isaiah (my little one) LOVES his snacks! Fortunately, nutritious snacks are easier to come up with than his main meals. And, since his palette is becoming more and more interested in different tastes, I am finding more and more foods for him to snack on. For example, I just found these the other day at Walmart. They are $1 for a bag of all-natural dehydrated fruit (this one is strawberry-banana):

Some other snacks that he loves are string cheese, crackers, graham crackers, fruit cups, fresh fruit, Kix cereal, and yogurt. This yogurt is his favorite:

There are two flavors in the pack, strawberry-banana and peach, and the texture is perfect for little ones. The yogurt is thick and sticks to the spoon, so it is great for toddlers who are learning to self-feed. Isaiah loves to hold a spoon and "dig" the yogurt out of the container. It's messy, but I just love watching him learn. :)

Oh, and another thing he likes for a snack (which are also great if traveling) are these:
I really wish Gerber made more flavors than just strawberry-banana, but these are great for now. I really like the Gerber Graduates snacks that are for toddlers, but they can get kind of pricey.

Any ideas for other snacks I can give to my little one?

Baby Food - Lunch

Just like breakfast, it is also hard for me to come up with good meals for lunch for my little man that are also healthy and nutritious. It would be so easy to give him chicken nuggets and french fries, but he needs some veggies in there too. By the way, has anyone been watching the show Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution? In one of the episodes, a french fry was actually considered a vegetable on the school menu!! What has our food world come to?

Anyway, I try to make sure that he has at least a fruit and a vegetable for lunch every day...although some days it may be one or the other. Some of the fruits he loves are diced peaches, pears, pineapple tidbits, grapes, and mandarin oranges. One thing I like, which I recently discovered, is that Walmart makes a Great Value brand of canned peaches and pears that do not have any sugar added. Instead of heavy syrup, these canned fruits are packed in 100% pear juice.

Another thing I like about the Walmart Great Value brand is the veggies. They make several kinds of canned veggies that are No Salt Added (I've only found peas and green beans so far), and they also make little take-along packs of veggies that are perfectly diced for little mouths. I've found carrots, green beans, and corn in these packs.

I know fresh veggies and fruits are the best way to go, but sometimes you need the convenience of canned foods. Although, I am a lover of frozen fruits and veggies as well, and sometimes they are considered even more nutritious than fresh.

Some other things I have been feeding my little man for lunch are: Grilled Cheese sandwiches, rice, soup, mashed potatoes, mac-n-cheese, hot dogs, spaghettios, and Chef Boyardee microwaveable meals (although not that often). One of the Chef meals that I don't mind feeding him, though, is this one:

It has rice, chunks of chicken, peas and carrots in it. The only thing I am not too crazy about is the sodium content.

Okay, so I know a lot of the food I listed is either canned, processed, or not as healthy as it could be. That's why I need ideas and suggestions! What about you? What do you feed your children? What do you eat for lunch?

Pay a Quarter, Save a Bundle!!

My husband and I are trying to "conserve" our money right now and are cutting back on every possible thing that we can. The main thing we are cutting back on is eating out, followed by not purchasing unnecessary items (books, CDs, etc.) and only getting the essentials when grocery shopping.

I have discovered a little jewel here in Louisville (not a major discovery as I am sure everyone has heard of this place, but a great discovery for me!): Aldi. This store is my new best friend. I love it! I was a little skeptical at first just because they carry hardly any name-brand items. However, I used to shop at Save-A-Lot and they do not carry name brands either. So...I ventured over to this little market today to purchase our groceries.

As I pulled into the "shopping-cart-free" parking lot (large but still a hop, skip, and jump away from the front door), I noticed several elderly men and women making their way into the grocery store. This is promising....I thought. I ventured over to the corral area where the shopping cars were. You must pay a quarter in order to get your shopping cart. Now some people would put up a fuss over this, but I think it is kind of fun! You insert your quarter, unlatch your buggy from the chain, and take your buggy. I proceeded into the store only to discover that I had gone into the "out" door (unlike Walmart and other stores, these doors only open one way). I turned my buggy around and went in the correct door.

I was immediately greeted by rows and stacks of boxed items, canned items, and candy. It was overwhelming! Especially since I am the kind of shopper that has to go down every aisle to make sure I do not miss a bargain. :) They have everything you can think of from spices to baby diapers to even crockpots! Plus, they have awesome produce, cheeses, and meats.

I won't make you go through my entire shopping trip with me, but I do want to show you some of the bargains I picked up along the way. You will not believe the deals I got! Here is a glimpse of what was in my cart yesterday:

$1.50 for these grapes!!

Oh.my.goodness! These cookies are so soft and chewy -- wayyyyy better
than the Keebler Soft Batch ones (and for only $1.99). Seriously!! Check them out for yourself:

Yummmmmmm!!!



And these....well...have you ever had those Pepperidge Farm Pirouette wafers? These are quite similar - rich, chocolatey, delicate. Oh.My. For only $2.49!

And last but not least:

This bottle of Extra Virgin Olive Oil was a great deal for $3.99. I have put off buying a new bottle forever just because I refused to pay $6 or $7 dollars for a tiny bottle.
This one is 16.5 oz of goodness!

So there you have it. I save a BUNCH of money by going to Aldi. Oh there is one other thing I forgot to mention. There are no baggers so you have to bag your own groceries. You can either bring in your own bags or purchase some from the cashier for 5 or 10 cents each. The good things is that there is a shelf the length of an entire wall where you can push your buggy to and take your time bagging your groceries. How neat!

I hope you will take Aldi into consideration the next time you want to save some money on your groceries. Or if you just need a bouquet of flowers to brighten up your dinner table (yep they have those too!)!

Now I do confess, I had to go to Walmart to get some other things on my list that Aldi did not have: hairspray, pop, cheese, etc. There are some things that you just cannot mess with when it comes to name-brand (Pepsi, Borden cheese). :)