Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Pin It I've always been frugal (read: cheap/poor as h-e-double hockey sticks), but nowadays I am really focusing on how to save the most money...especially on food. I had no idea there were so many wonderful blogs that detail EVERYTHING about sales and coupons, where to get them, links etc. I haven't looked too hard, but I have had some trouble finding health food ingredients. So I thought I'd add a few coupons I find every once in a while. I live literally a few blocks from Whole Foods, and even though it is rightfully nickmamed "Whole Paycheck" by all my friends and the media -- it really is a pretty good store. And I find I can get things at a basically reasonable price if I 1)Only shop sales 2) combine with coupons. I almost never buy anything full price here because otherwise we will be in La Maison Pauvre (Chez Pauvre?) tout de suite.

I really made out like a bandit with the coupons they give out in their flyers the last two months. For instance, this month I paid about 80 cents for Lara bars, my quick brekkie fix for when I'm on the go. I have never spent that little, and in fact, I have spent as much as $2.50 for them in a pinch at a bodega in NY. Whoopsie.

But anyway, here are a few deals I found.

Annie Chuns soups were 2 for $4 (trader joe's is cheaper but doesn't have the same selection of flavors) - this came with a mail-in offer for Buy 10 get 1 Free. Also came with $1 off 2 bottles of Honest Tea coupon. (Did you know Honest Tea started out as a university project? I think it was Harvard School of Business.)

Any Earth's Best cereals or teething bars have a buy 10 get $1 off coupon for their jarred baby food, which I occasionally use when out of fresh ingredients -- Baby V actually really enjoys these!

Now for the coupons. Look for booklet-type things out in front of the store. (I'll only mention food ones and only those that are vegan):

OCTOBER/NOVEMBER WHOLE FOODS COUPON BOOKLET ("The Whole Deal")- abridged for vegans

$1 off 365 Everyday Value Maple Syrup
This was on sale for $6.99 last I checked. $5.99 is pretty darn cheap for maple syrup these days

$1 off 365 frozen waffles
eh, i'd rather make pancakes from scratch

75 cents off Thai Kitchen product
I bought rice noodles which were on sale cheap already. You could conceivably get their individual soup mixes that are like 95 cents and barely pay anything.

$1 off Back to Nature product
Never ate these

75 cents of Scharffen Berger or Dagoba products
Yum! Quick fact -- Steve? Scharffenberger is a doll. In my career days he sent me lots of free chocolate and was a very nice person. Did I mention he sent me free chocolate?

$1 off Lundburg rice
Not sure if this is a good deal

$1 off 2 Tasty Bite Products
The Bombay Potatoes with chick peas are da bomb! They were on sale for $2.50 each so these coupons made them only $2.00. Sweet.

$1 off Cascadian Farm cereal
Why is cereal so expensive? So cheap and easy to make your own granola.

$1 off Earthbound Farm Packaged Salad
This was already on sale so I got one. My confession: I am not a huge salad person, even tho people seem to think vegans all are.

75 cents off Imagine products
Got a veggie broth for my husband - he makes a fun veggie potato soup.


$1 off Vans waffles
Again, fro waffles not my style. These are good and vegan tho, if you like.

$1.50 off 2 health valley products

$1.00 off 3 Luna Bar products.
Used three of these and got 9 bars. They were already on sale for close to $1 so it was a steal!!! Even cheaper than Trader Joe's, which always have Luna and Clif Bars for $1 each.


Happy Health Food Shopping!!!

Oh! And here are some great coupon/savings sites. Will add more later:

moneysavingmom.com

babycheapskate blog

Budgetsavingmom.com

thefreebieblogger.com

anallamericanfamily.blogspot.com

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Pin It I just wanted to give a quick shout out to a great resource for baby vegans.

Wholesomebabyfood.com is SO detailed -- perfect for a nervous new mom like myself. Breaks everything down by each and every veggie, fruit, grain, and protein and how to prepare,recipes, nutritional info, at what age it is safe, and any safety issues surrounding it. While not 100% vegan, this site is truly amazing and the main place I get my baby-feeding info (along with Dr. Sears' "The Baby Book" -- though not nearly as comprehensive).

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Pin It I made this dish courtesy of Food & Wine magazine tonight. I rarely even find veggie dumplings at the Chinese joints out here -- and I'm sure I wouldn't be impressed. No offense, Chinese joints in PDX -- but your food is lackluster at best. Just a conduit/front for your bars and your lottery machines. Sad but true. Veggie dumplings and/or fried rice used to be my staple delivery item in NY for when I was feeling ill or just hungry. Ahh delivery...another thing I miss. The ultimate in laziness and debauchery -- sitting in my bed watching cable TV waiting for the Chinese dude to climb 5 flights of stairs to bring me my doughy, delicious dumplings alongside sweet and vinegary "dumpling sauce," and then proceeding to gobble them down in said bed in front of said cable TV, sauce dripping down chin. Yeah, I was a dynamo back in my single NYC days for sure...

Anyhoo -- My substitutions were: frozen spinach instead of fresh, dried red pepper flakes instead of jalapenos, tamari instead of regular soy sauce, and toasted sesame oil instead of regular. I put the frozen spinach in a collander and ran hot water over it, pressed it into the collander and squeezed as much water out as I could. Then I sauteed everything first, since I have a phobia about frozen foods not being cooked, or cooked enough. So it was all cooked twice, but was still really delicious. Stumbling upon this recipe reminded me of the time I went on a press tour to Whole Foods in Chelsea in NYC. They were just starting to roast their own coffee in store -- Allegro brand. The Food & Wine peeps were on the tour and they were pretty cool. I couldn't be jealous of their jobs though because as a vegan I could never work at a "real" foodie mag. But I digress. The toasted sesame oil really makes this dish and -- truthfully -- any Asian dish IMHO.

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Pin It One of the best, cheapest places for a veggie to do brunch in NYC is Kate's Joint on Avenue B. So many delicious memories of stumbling in there hung over from the night before, or just the work week, and being served a sumptuous vegan breakfast, Sunday sun shining through the windows, rock on the speakers and coffee brightening my spirits. Yup, bottomless coffee and a veg bloody mary came with all the breakfast specials! Inevitably I would get the breakfast burrito with tofu scramble instead of egg. Served with rosemary potatoes and some fresh made salsa, it always hit the spot. The other day I decided to make my own breakfast burrito and it was surprisingly good -- almost better in a way!

All I did was sautee some crumbled tofu in earth balance with nutritional yeast, a little turmeric and paprika. Then I added a well-drained 3/4 can of black beans and mixed it all up. Threw it into a pre-made tortilla. Whirred up some nori-mu tofu with apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, salt and maple syrup -- this would be the soy sour creme. Was overzealous with the lemon juice but it didn't matter much once spread in the tortilla. Served with jarred salsa. I bet soy cheddar would have made it over-the-top awesome. I could tell that Kate's froze and thawed the tofu beforehand, and seemed to add parsley. But this version was fine, too.

Now to make the rosemary potatoes WITHOUT rosemary (used to pick this vile weed off each and every potato ). And soon I will start up my bloody marys again. I make some great vegan ones. Easy peasy recipe to come.

Wednesday, October 07, 2009

Pin It I have a very emotional attachment to Israeli Cous Cous, as my Nanny made it for us many times throughout my childhood, just litely browned and with margarine. That reminds me - I have the instructions for stuffed cabbage I got from her a while ago and I need to veganize this treasure.

So, since acorn squash is popping up everywhere...here we go with a stuffed acorn squash recipe! Oh, and I didn't, but this would be great and healthier (actually, the correct term is more healthFUL. A person is healthy. A food is healthFUL. How's that for nerdity?) with another green veggie added in.



Israeli Cous Cous Stuffed Squash
1 acorn squash
1 1/4 cups Israeli Cous Cous (mine from TJ's)
2 large red onions
earth balance
olive oil
many cloves of garlic
nutritional yeast
garlic salt
ground pepper

Cut acorn squash in half with knife and hammer. (Yup! Only way I can do it, but maybe I'm a weakling.) Put halves face down on baking dish with 1/2 inch water. Bake at 375 for about 45 minutes or more.

Prepare cous cous according to package. Fry up with olive oil, onions, garlic and spices. When squash is ready, scoop out most of it (throw away or roast seeds and discard the yuck-yuck) and, in another pan, sautee in butter, spices until a nice consistency. Add as much of the cous cous mixture to this as you think you'll need to fill the 2 halves. Fill the halves with the mixture of cous cous and squash and grate soy cheeze on top of each (be generous -- it's delish and not overwhelming at all!) Bake for about 10 more minutes to set. Enjoy! This was really yummy and tons of yum Israeli cous cous mixture left over.
Pin It This time of year, the cravings start for decadent desserts, too! I made these brownies recently, and they were as chocolatey and chewey as I remember "real" ones to be. Veganized!!!

Brownies with "Buttercream" Frosting

1 cup white flour
1 cup raw sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Hershey's extra dark)
1/4 cup applesauce
1/4 cup melted earth balance
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup water

Frosting ingredients:

1/3 cup earth balance
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup maple syrup
3 tablespoons vanilla soy milk


Mix dry brownie ingredients and wet separately, then combine. Will be pretty thick and gooey. Grease a pan with a l'il earth balance and bake at 350 until a fork or toothpick comes out dry from the center and the edges seem somewhat hard and crispy (and delicious!).

Meanwhile, beat all frosting ingredients except sugar, syrup and soy milk. Then slowly beat them in in that order. Experiment with maple syrup and sugar amounts because I had this hurtin-my-teeth sweet.

Take brownies out of oven. Here's where you got options. If you want a glazed look and feel -- spread icing on brownies while hot. Let cool. If you want thick frosting, leave brownies to cool overnight and frosting in fridge. The next morning, beat the thickened frosting until smooth and spread. Either way it's great! I did both because I couldn't wait.
Pin It My husband loves a hearty meal, especially when colder weather comes around. Here is an easy, cheap favorite that always lasts at least 2 days.

Chorizo Pasta

1 package soy chorizo (Trader Joe's or Soyrizo)
1 lb penne rigate pasta
3 or 4 yellow squash, cut into small pieces
2 medium onions
3 cloves garlic
1/2 cup tomato sauce of choice
red wine to taste
nutritional yeast to taste.


Start boiling water for pasta. Sautee garlic, onions in olive oil in a large frying pan. Brown chorizo. Add squash, wine, a little water, and tomato sauce and cover. Cook until squash cooked thoroughly. Add nutritional yeast. Serve over pasta.