All Aldi // Almond Butter Oat Bars

So, you guys all know my issues with Aldi lately. It's not them, really, it's me. I figured rather than whine about it, I'd start trying to cook more from scratch again -- using all Aldi ingredients. This particular snack is highly adaptable. You can use most any nut butter you like and add in whatever sounds good. It's also kid and toddler approved, hence the llama in my photo.

ALMOND BUTTER OAT BARS

What you'll need . . .

• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1-1/2 cups crispy rice cereal
• 1/3 cup dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup almond butter
• 1/2 cup honey
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Salt, for sprinkling

Method . . .

1. Spritz a 9x13 inch pan lightly with oil. Set aside.
2. Melt the almond butter, honey, and coconut oil together on medium heat. Whisk it until smooth and take off heat once incorporated, being careful not to burn the almond butter.
3. Using a spoon or spatula, stir in the oats, cereal, and cranberries. You can also add chocolate chips (they'll melt), pepitas, or anything else that sounds good to you!
4. Spread into your prepared pan, sprinkle with a little salt, and refrigerate until firm. Cut into 16 bars.
5. Alternatively, you can roll loose "dough" into balls for energy chunks.

More Aldi:

Aldi Foods for Picky Toddlers and Kids
$93 Aldi Weekly Grocery Haul
$400 Monthly Food Budget
18 Vegetarian Grocery Staples at Aldi
All Aldi content this way . . . 

Read more...

What I HATE About Aldi

I've gone on and on and on about how much I love Aldi. The store has helped to cut our grocery budget overall pretty dramatically. I can still tell a big difference when I decide to shop at Wegmans due to convenience or laziness. But I'm having some new thoughts on the topic I thought were worth sharing. I still love Aldi, but there's one aspect of shopping there that I have grown to hate. It has to do with my own self control BUT Aldi is enabling my behavior!

When I first started shopping at the store, I mostly skipped over the freezer section. I even ignored many packaged foods because they only looked OK. None of it was hugely attractive to me. Slowly a few more prepared items and packaged foods trickled in that were organic and really good looking. And in the last year (or a little longer), the freezer and refrigerated section (CHEESE!) has expanded. The snacked have seen a boost, too. There are now a multitude of interesting vegetarian and vegan options, as well as some more general foods that -- to me -- are just too tasty to pass up.

This, on the whole, is an excellent thing.

BUT: I was never much of a packaged foods shopper. In fact, I used to make much of our food from scratch. Slowly (and because of better affordability compared to other stores), I've put things in my cart. A bag of veggie chips here, a box of root vegetable hash browns there, some interesting sauces, mac-and-cheese thin crust pizzas . . . and then I'd notice "limited time" buys that I just HAD TO HAVE BEFORE THEY WENT AWAY FOR GOOD.

So, I'd stock up.

I also joined some Aldi Facebook groups. There's a cult-like following on there, right? Every time there's a new or exciting product, someone would post about it. Others would quickly chime in about how AMAZING it was. And I'd find myself with tons of new things on my shopping list.

After a while, my stand-up freezer was full. My pantry is teeming with packaged items. I'd stopped making my own hummus. I started buying things I never used to buy in packages (granola bars) because I got so out of the habit of cooking and baking from scratch. And my grocery bill wasn't hugely increased. I mean, it went up -- but because I wasn't making anything on my own, I wasn't buying raw ingredients much.

What was happening? Well, our trash and recycling output has gone up quite a bit. (I'm not zero waste, but I don't like this much waste.) We're not eating as many fruits and veggies as I'd like. My kids are preferring packaged foods to whole foods. I've gained some weight. I increased our weekly grocery budget $25 a week (adds up).

The list goes on . . .

YES. Some convenience foods are a necessary evil for that stage of life I'm in. (I know some people would argue not.) I don't have glorious hours upon hours to spend in the kitchen toiling over homemade crackers. At the same time, my family should really be eating more whole foods. I'll admit that it's a heck of a lot easier to just tell my kids to grab something themselves than to cut veggies and serve it to them.

So, what I hate about Aldi is that I once saved money due to the store being so almost painfully streamlined. I'm now falling into the traps I fell into at other grocery stores because of all the temptations. I am absolutely thrilled that Aldi has so many wonderful and affordable options, especially for vegetarians and vegans, but I now find myself with some work ahead of me to get in better balance.

This all said, I will share some of my favorite foods that I have found with you soon on Instagram. I'm not going to stop buying all the things entirely. But instead of having everything every week, I may treat these items more as treats or weekend special foods. We'll see. 

More Aldi:

Aldi Foods for Picky Toddlers and Kids
$93 Aldi Weekly Grocery Haul
$400 Monthly Food Budget (I want to get back to this!)
18 Vegetarian Grocery Staples at Aldi

Read more...

Weeknight Meals: Vegetarian Tikka Masala

I keep posting photos of myself making this meal on Instagram, but I don't think I've ever formally written out the recipe on the blog. We make this Tikka Masala in the crock pot at least once every two weeks, if not more frequently. It's highly adaptable, so if you have other veggies on hand that you think would work -- use them!

Oh, and I should note that this recipe is made using sauce from Aldi. Here's where you can find all my other Aldi tips, tricks, and recipes.

VEGETARIAN TIKKA MASALA

• 1 can chickpeas
• 1 large onion (approx 1 cup), chopped
• 1 large sweet potato (approx 1 to 1.5 cups), chopped*
• 1 to 1.5 cups frozen peas
• 1 jar Tikka Masala sauce from Aldi

* I often use carrots or white potatoes in place of sweet potatoes.

Then just toss everything in your crock pot and cook on high for 3 hours. If you want to get extra fancy, you can make your own paneer, which is an Indian simple cheese you can easily make at home. And your own naan, which is Indian bread to have on the side.

Related

Homemade Almond Milk
Our Go-To Pizza Dough
Homemade Ciabatta Bread
Homemade Muesli
Adventures in Cereal-Making
Homemade Bagels
White + Whole Wheat No Knead Loaf
Three Seed Crackers
Expanding Our Homemade Pantry
Homemade Flax Crackers
Homemade Pancake/Waffle Mix
Awesome Couscous Crackers
My Favorite Hummus
Stephen’s Homemade Pickles
Homemade Applesauce
Red Curry Kimchi

Read more...

Aldi // Foods Picky Toddlers + Kids

I get lots of questions about my favorite Aldi foods. So, today I thought I'd give you guys a quick post about what foods I get for Ada and Eloise. Ada's pretty good about trying new things and getting at least some variety. Eloise, on the other hand, is asserting her toddler independence and is a super picky eater, so it's a challenge finding things she will try and potentially love.

As I have mentioned in the past, we are raising our children vegetarian, so the foods I'll be mentioning are all vegetarian or vegan-friendly. Here's what's in our pantry right now. We have actually eaten through a good chunk of what I bought last week (we adults snack on a lot of these foods, too)!

In no particular order.

• Simply Nature White Cheddar Puffs
• Clancy's Veggie Straws
• Pretzel sticks
• Multigrain tortilla chips
• Graham crackers
• Simply Nature Fruit Squeezes
• Fruit + Veggie Pouches (we used these when E was a baby)
• Eggs
• Milk
• Rolled oats (for making homemade snacks)
• Fresh bulk produce, especially when it's local and in-season
• Freeze Dried Strawberries 
• Plain nuts and various trail mixes
• Lookin' Sharp Granola
• Little Journey Yogurt Bites
• Happy Farms cheese sticks, in bulk when possible
• Hummus, various flavors -- but my kids like plain best
• Guacamole
• Yogurt tubes and pouches
• Organic canned beans
• Simply Nature Organic Mac + Cheese
• Simply Nature Organic Frozen Fruit Bars
• Rainbow organic baby carrots
• Broccoli slaw
• Avocados
• Clementine oranges
• (I realize I mentioned produce, but those are some favorites)
• Frozen peas
• Coconut water, mix in with plain water in a 1/3 to 2/3 ratio
• Sparkling water, Ada doesn't like but Eloise LOVES
• Simply Nature Organic Juice Boxes
• Breakfast Best French Toast Sticks
• Simply Nature Organic Apple Instant Oatmeal
• Organic pasta
• Organic pasta sauces

I provided links where they were easy find with a quick Google search. Otherwise, we just get whatever they have at the store. It's usually just one brand for a lot of the things I didn't link. Occasionally you'll come across store brands at good deals, like LaCroix, so we do take advantage of those.

Here's an example of an all-Aldi nibble tray I made for Eloise this week.

Some kid stuff we don't tend to buy at Aldi include things like peanut butter, bread, frozen fruit, granola bars, and gummies. It's not that we don't like the Aldi brand, we're just able to buy larger quantities for less money elsewhere (like Sam's or Wegman's store brand). I thought it would be good to include a list of things the girls DON'T like from Aldi, but honestly . . . they pretty much eat everything we've bought. So, now I'm wondering why I called Eloise picky!

Scratch that. We DO NOT like Aldi bananas. They are always green at the store and either don't ripen OR they get REALLY weirdly mushy. My girls love bananas, so we buy them at Wegman's (we also get our non-dairy milk, tofu, and a few other items, like large jars of peanut butter there).

Oh, and if you're curious about how we organize our kid plates, etc.

While writing this post, I also discovered that Aldi has a section on its website with snack recipes using their products! And I am also sure I'm missing a whole swath of things I usually buy. Be sure to share your favorites in the comments!

Also: I need to update my Vegetarian Staples at Aldi post! They have so many more options since the last time I wrote about it. Still no tofu, though. Boo!

Read more...

Aldi Haul + Budget + Meal Plan

Do you guys like these Aldi posts? Back when I started writing them, Aldi wasn't as much a thing as it is now. I feel like whenever I'm there, it's so crowded lately. It's a good and bad thing. I love sharing the good news . . . yet, I want it all to myself.

Here's this week's haul:

Closer up:

DETAILS

So, the total was $93.67.

AVOCADOS WERE .49 CENTS EACH!!!

Some of this includes sugar bought specifically for Stephen's kombucha making. He splits these costs three ways with some friends. Basically, Stephen makes the kombucha and they drink it at work all month. I can get into that whole thing in another post.

EXTRAS

I also bought some things specifically for the Super Bowl:


Overall, I stuck to my list and only got a couple extras. I still need to pick up bananas, Earth Balance, tofu, and maybe a couple other produce items, like ginger, at Wegmans. I wrote last week about re-doing our grocery budget. I have landed on $125/week for the time being. With cooking everything at home and still trying to keep it interesting, I feel this number should work, but I'll report back.

MEAL PLAN

Last but not least, here's our meal plan for dinners this week:

1. Monday: Mac + Cheese with veggies (kids) // Veggie burgers + onion rings (parents)
2. Tuesday: Slow cooker chili + garlic knots
3. Wednesday: Spaghetti and faux "meat" balls with veggies
4. Thursday: Breakfast for dinner -- eggs, toast, veggies, etc.
5. Friday: Homemade pizza night
6. Saturday: Veggie-loaded quesadillas (kids) // Slow cooker Indian + paneer + naan (parents)
7. Sunday: Slow cooker bean + mushroom stew + biscuits + Super Bowl snacks

Read more...

That Time I Spent $172 at Aldi

I used to boast that I could fill up a whole cart at Aldi and still come in well under $100. Well, I decided not to shop with a list a couple weeks ago. (That's grocery budget 101 stuff, Ashley!) And when I got to the front of the store and started tossing everything onto the belt, I realized I'd made a major mistake. It was one of those weeks when Aldi had, like, so many cool things that were those limited time buys. So, I got sucked in and stocked up.

And then: $172! Ahhhhhh! I was hoping for more like $100.

Here's what I bought:

I haven't gone over what our weekly food budget is in a while. It's been anywhere between $75 and $125 a week in recent years. As we examine our debt and budget options, we're still trying to figure out a number that would work well for us monthly. It needs to accommodate not eating out, school lunch stuff, and special things for our tiny toddler (because she NEEDS to eat, so sometimes I NEED to get her special stuff).

We've experimented with shopping once a month and had good success . . . so I realize that spending a ton at one time isn't always a reason to freak out. But this time was a mistake. A wakeup to get meal planning again. I do actually meal plan each week, but it's been very rough lately.

Anyway, this story had a happy ending. I was able to get groceries for like $65 this week, making the total $240 for the two weeks -- or -- $120/week. I think this sounds like a realistic grocery budget for us. I may bump it to $125 -- or -- $541 a month. Of course, the pay-off-our-loans girl in me says maybe we can shave it down to $500 a month.

But I need it to be realistic and leave some room for wiggle. We try our best to eat a variety of fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, etc. And without eating out, we like to cook a couple "fun" meals each week so we don't feel too deprived.

What I've found in my years of writing about our food budget is that grocery costs vary WILDLY across the country (and world). So, these figures may sound either astronomical to you or like "how can you even feed your family" on that amount. I get that. So, no judgement. I'm just sharing our struggles and triumphs with this stuff.

Whatever the case, I'm glad we're back into the rhythm of buying most everything at Aldi. There are still a few items we cannot get there. Tofu comes to mind. But resisting Wegmans has already lowered our food costs by quite a bit.

Do you have a grocery budget or just buy whatever? How do you figure out how much to spend? Do you end up revisiting the budget often -- like we seem to do?

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Aldi Haul + $400 Monthly Food Budget

I am in super productive mode now that we’re home from vacation. I have tons of freelance work this week. Our house needs a good tidying and deep cleaning. And -- honestly -- our budget needs an overhaul. Whenever we find ourselves needing a reset, I look to what we’ve been eating. So much money goes to food. We got especially lazy despite meal planning while on vacation and ended up spending mega-bucks keeping our tummies full.

I’ve started going through our pantry to take stock of what we have. You know what? We’re eating entirely too much packaged and convenience food. This habit started slowly when I had morning sickness and didn’t feel as much like cooking. Then with the newborn days and Ada’s first year of packed lunches, well, it increased and took a strong hold.

Budget

I’d like to keep our food budget to around $400 a month. Heck, one month I got away with only spending $291! (We have a CSA share that works out to a bit more than $20 a week. Unfortunately, our pickup person fell through while we were on vacation, so this week we didn’t get the share. I had to spend more than I wanted -- but am hoping to stick closer to $80 in the next weeks.)

Game plan:

• Meal planning
• Shopping at Aldi exclusively*
• Making more from scratch
• Kicking packaged foods to the curb

* We cannot get tofu or Earth Balance butter spread at Aldi, but those -- I think -- are the only exceptions.

I’ll be writing more soon, but I thought I’d just start with our $98 Aldi shopping haul.

The Haul

Here’s what we bought, in no particular order:

Toasted sesame oil

Pierogies

Toaster waffles

Dried mango

Baby food x 5 squeeze packs

Jarred jalapeño peppers

Whole grain bread x 4 loaves

Organic mac and cheese

Organic grape tomatoes

Bananas 

Raisins

Package of kale

4 avocados

Carrots

Baby carrots

Cucumber

Spring mix

24 ounces blueberries

Organic BBQ sauce

Organic peanut butter x 2 

Veggie refried beans x 2

Tomato paste

Sliced gouda cheese

String cheese

Chili lime cashews

Yogurt tubes

Ricotta cheese

Canned beets

Canned carrots

Canned veggie mix

Whole milk

Organic soy milk

Sparkling water case x 2

24 eggs

Medjool dates

You may notice randomly that I bought like four loaves of bread and lots of refried beans, etc. I picked up a few things in bulk that I knew we’d use over time, but not all in the next week. Also: packaged foods. I wanted to get away from buying chips, cookies, granola bars, juices, individual sized anything, and junk food. I did a pretty good job during this shop, but I could definitely improve.

For example:

• I could just start giving the kids regular yogurt sweetened with honey or jam versus the yogurt tubes. I can make toaster waffles and freeze them in bulk.
• We could buy a new CO2 canister for our Soda Stream and make sparkling water at home.
• I could buy some reusable squeeze pouches for Eloise. She doesn’t do a lot of baby food, but it’s nice to have them on the go.
• As an aside, my favorite reusable grocery bags are these ones that are mesh. They are so compact, yet they stretch to accommodate so much. I am always so pleased when I’m packing up at the store. And my market basket does some massively impressive heavy lifting.
• I think I may write a post about the swaps I’m going to map for packaged foods. It’s actually something I want to research and write so I have the information to use myself!

There are times when I want to turn this blog into one entirely about shopping for groceries and saving. Tips and tricks on making food cheap. I don’t know. I feel very motivated, so I think I may just blog through my own thought process as it rolls.  A lot of my Aldi posts are from like 2014. I think I need to update them because as I look through the photos, it becomes clear to me just how much the store has changed (for the better!).

Related Posts

In the meantime, I have some good posts up from when I am doing things the optimal way, so if you’re looking for some ready tips -- check ‘em out.

18 Vegetarian Staples at Aldi
What’s Great + NOT About Aldi
What $77 Looks like at Aldi
Monthly Groceries for Less than $300 at Aldi
Grocery Budget -- Dollars and Cents

Monthly Shopping?

What about shopping for groceries monthly? I did it for four months in a row, and it was pretty awesome. It required some advanced planning, though. And the summer hasn’t been working well for that. That said, I may try to revisit this approach again when the school year starts. I found that shopping monthly did contribute to buying more packaged foods, though. Let’s explore this another day.

I’ll be back soon with our meal plan for the week and a recipe for some granola bars I’m making with Ada.

Read more...

Vegetarian Meal Plan // What's In My Fridge + Pantry

It's that time again -- MEAL PLANNING time. Yup. Today is March 1, so that mean we are getting more cash out of the bank to do the envelope system. And along with getting cash, I'm going grocery shopping for the entire month. Doing both of these things helped tremendously with our budget, and I plan to write a lot more about each.

Today, let's take a look into what food we are starting the month with:

DINNER PLANNING

This month's meals are split into the following categories:

• 20 weeknight meals
• 4 Friday pizza nights
• 4 Saturday sandwich nights
• 4 meals using up what we have

From there, I came up with what we'll eat:

• Veggie Bean Burgers FREEZER x 4 nights 
• Chickpea Curry DUMP x 2 nights 
• Pasta w/ tofu meatballs x 2 nights 
• Veggie-Loaded Quesadillas x 3 nights 
• Sloppy Lentil Sandwich DUMP x 2 nights 
• Breakfast for dinner x 3 nights 
• Ethiopian Slow Cooker Peanut Stew DUMP x 2 nights  
• Udon Noodle Tofu Stir-Fry w/ Frozen veggies x 2 nights

DUMP means that I plan to put all ingredients in a freezer bag, label it, and then pull it out + cook it the day we're eating it. I find when I cook ahead and then freeze, I never want to eat the meals. So, I'm thinking if it's made the day of, that might improve.

SHOPPING LIST

And for those of you who are interested, this is how my shopping list is shaping up. This isn't absolutely everything, but it accounts for everything we'll need to make the dinners above (along with a few other staples for the month).

• 3, 5-pound bags carrots
• 1 large head cauliflower
• 6 large sweet potatoes 
• 2 packages celery 
• 2 tubs baby spinach
• Garlic 
• Bag onions
• Pizza sauce x 2 
• Pasta sauce x 2  
• Olives x 3
• 4 cans black beans
• 12 cans chickpeas
• 4 28-ounce diced tomatoes
• 2 cans coconut milk 
• 1 can tomato sauce
• 2 large peanut butters
• 2 jelly (grape, strawberry) 
• Tortillas x 2 
• Hot sauce  
• Udon noodles x 2 
• Asian freezer veggies x 2 
• Tofu x 1 three pack 
• Large bag walnuts
• Quality bread flour
• Sugar
• Chocolate chips
• Package bread crumbs 
• Large container Goldfish
• Bag lentils      
• Curry powder
• Garam masala  
• Mustard powder
• 4 assorted non-dairy milks
• 6 tubs Greek yogurt 
• 4 packages sliced cheese
• 4 blocks cheese  
• Large pack cheese sticks
• 4 loaves seed bread
• 1 tub of oats
• 6 dozen eggs    

I am shopping at Aldi and Wegmans this month, and I'll be sure to share how I fare with the budget getting all this stuff. I'll also be back soon talking about the other meals we'll be eating this month (breakfasts, lunches, etc.), as well as some handy tips to make school lunches really fast + cheap.

PS: Don't forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel!

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Budget Life // Monthly Grocery Shopping

I shared over the weekend that I did my very first monthly grocery shopping trip. Phew. It took me two hours total -- which included driving from place to place -- so, it was definitely time-consuming. In the end, I think I really like this approach. I am going to need to see how it pans out for our meals this month (and for time savings overall). But this is the fun in sharing along the way.

Today I wanted to just cover some of the planning I did. I think I'll also do a video about the foods and meals we're making, but today I have a pretty bad cold. Nobody wants to watch me talk, sneeze, and sniffle, I assure you.

Money matters:

For those of you who are really interested, I have budgeted $500 a month for food total. I'd like to cut this lower, maybe to $400, but I thought I'd first see how it goes. The $350 goes to the month shop. And the remaining $150 is split up into $35 per week (this is on average throughout the year) for things that spoil.

Step zero: Clean your pantry and refrigerator.

I took out all the spoiled and expired foods and tossed, recycled what needed to go. I also spent a great deal of time organizing my pantry to see what foods we DID already have to put toward meal planning this month. Taking stock like this will help you avoid over-buying and purchasing duplicates.

Here's my current food situation after the shop. I hope to do a quick post on how I organized my pantry by spending a mere $9 at the Dollar Store. (And, no. This isn't looking good for our less waste goal.)

Step one: Plan meals. Loosely.

And I really mean loosely. February has just 28 days in the month. So, I wrote out a menu that would give us breakfasts, lunches, and dinners for four straight weeks. I kept the recipes familiar for this first month. Things that we normally cook and enjoy, where I know the ingredients almost by heart. Some meals are on repeat during the week or month. Others are more free flowing.

I plan to share more about my meal-planning approach when I do my video!

Oh, and I uncovered this older post where I go through and share my favorite 18 vegetarian pantry essentials at Aldi. It's definitely worth reading if you're new to the store or just want to know some of the items I like to buy most every time I shop there.

Step two: Write down all the food you need. 

And it can be dizzying. I discovered that we may actually eat close to 96 eggs a month! That's insane to me (Stephen eats 12 per week, I do about 8 and Ada does about 4)! 60 slices of bread. 8 cups of mozzarella. I mean, it's really just tallying up everything that goes into your recipes and snack and making a gigantic list.

I then organized my list (after this one) by store and by section. It just helped me go through the aisles faster.

(BTW: I mean bucatini noodles down there!)

Step three: Price it out.

Now, here's where I failed this month -- but it wasn't totally my fault. I intend to shop at several different stores to get the best prices on my food. I do know that some of the stuff we like is only at Wegmans. And with some of the family pack foods, they have good prices on larger quantities of things like frozen fruit. Wegmans has a handy app where I had planned to price out my food ahead of time, but for whatever reason, it wasn't working the day I needed to use it.

Alright, but what do you do for stores that don't offer an app? Take scrupulous notes.

I jotted down some prices at Aldi during my shopping trip so I can consult them before next month's trip. It's going to be a lot of trial and error. But the important thing with pricing out stuff ahead of time is so it jibes with the cash system. I don't want to get to the register and suddenly realize I don't have enough money and -- gasp -- have to use my card.

Step four: Go to the store prepared.

One of my Instagram followers promptly pointed out that I didn't bring enough reusable grocery bags on my trip. My bad. Yes. In the very days after posting our desire to be a less wasteful family, I brought home a bunch of plastic grocery bags.

The thing is, I didn't plan ahead. I've never done monthly shopping, though, so I can't be too hard on myself. Now that I do think I enjoy this process, I hopped on to Amazon and picked up this set of mesh grocery bags and some more bulk produce bags to take on my trips. Stephen also accidentally ran over my favorite folding market basket in the garage. So I may need to get another one of those.

Lesson learned.

Step five: Dive in!

I just went for it. I was kind of nervous about how this whole shopping once a month would go. I don't feel like I did my planning perfectly. I worried maybe I wouldn't get enough food. Or maybe I'd buy too much. But I ultimately decided that this was my first time. I was bound to have some successes and some failures. If I didn't try, though, I'd be annoyed.

Also: If you can, try to do this shopping trip alone. I asked Stephen to watch the kids because I wanted to concentrate and get things right. I think if I was wearing Eloise or having to tend to Ada, I may have gotten off track. Our Wegmans has a great kids space with free babysitting I may use in the future if Eloise is napping and Ada wants to come along for some of the ride.

Final notes:

I spent a grand total of $298 of my $350 monthly food budget this weekend. And actually $20 of this was on food for our Weekend Fund, so I still have just about $70 left of the monthly budget along with all of the $150 for the weekly stuff I divide up. I hope to not spend all of this and maybe pitch more to paying off our debt.

I'll be back with more thoughts and a video about the shopping experience -- as well as my review of the new cash envelope system I purchased on Etsy.

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Thursday Tidbits

Here's a fun + random post, because you guys have said you like these more than other things. Guess what! Me too!

#1: I'm on Snapchat now at neverhomemaker. I don't know if that's a good thing or not. Today I'm talking a bit about our latest Aldi haul.

#2: And speaking of Aldi -- did you know they have a new line of baby products?


I picked a couple things up to try the last time I was there. I'll write more about our diapering situation soon, but we do disposables at night and cloth during the day. These diapers work wonderfully, and they're soft. Eloise hasn't had any rashes or issues with them. The wipes work just as well as my other kinds, too. I'm converted, because it's like $4.99 for 50 size one diapers!

#3: Other stuff I'm loving for baby lately:

• Nursing scarf + seat cover
• Zutano fleece booties
• Soft cloth books for playing

#4: I got my volcanic rose leggings, and it's LOVE. They're my favorite yet. Stephen even complimented me on them. Might hop back on to order the broken dream catcher ones sometime soon.

Seriously. $12.

WHAT.


#5: New workout: Kettlebell upper body. I love this one. Simple + effective. I do most of it with my 10-pound kettlebell and I just got a 15-pound kettlebell yesterday. For some of the harder exercises, I use 5-pound dumbbells. I've done this video three times, and I'm already enjoying more toned arms.



#6: And speaking of workouts -- I ran 8 miles last weekend!


I've been running about 20 miles a week at between 8-10 minute pace. I haven't yet signed up for that November 10-miler race, and I might not. What I've learned in my long journey with running is that I don't need a medal to love the sport. In fact, I'd rather run when I want, when I feel like it, for however long I want, and at whatever pace feels good. And often that's slow and short . . . but sometimes it's fast and far.

That's all from me today. Off to finish some freelancing assignments!

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Aldi Haul

Here are my top five favorites from this week's Aldi haul. Organic seedy bread. A gigantic package of strawberries (for just $5!). Eight (!!!) avocados that were like half price. Canned pumpkin -- again -- at a half price steal. And Boca burgers for crazy weeknights.

I'll admit that I got really lazy and started going to Wegmans for the bulk of my shopping in recent months. It had everything to do with my cravings, but I can't believe how much our grocery budget got out of control. Last night, we filled our cart to the brim with more than a week's worth of food at Aldi for $101 . . . and I didn't even write a list. Score.

We got:

• Organic tortilla chips
• Greek yogurt
• Organic whole milk yogurt
• Cereal
• Organic popcorn
• Large package rolled oats
• Organic apple instant oats
• Organic honey
• Unrefined coconut oil
• Pound of walnuts
• Organic soy milk
• 4 cans chickpeas
• 4 cans pumpkin puree
• 2 packages whole wheat tortillas
• Loaf organic seedy bread
• 2 blocks of cheese
• 1 package queso fresco 
• Package string mozzarella
• Organic bananas
• Strawberries
• Green onions
• Carrots
• Zucchini
• Onions 
• Large container spring mix greens
• Small container arugula greens
• Multicolored bell peppers
• 8 avocados 
• 2 packages Boca burgers 
• 2 packages of unsweetened organic applesauce
• Organic linguine noodles
• Organic pasta sauce
• Organic quinoa
• Pizza sauce

I'm probably surely forgetting something. Anyway, if you haven't shopped Aldi in a while -- GO BACK. I'm not paid to write this. I just feel super enthusiastic about the store. I feel like in the few months we haven't been there that they've started carrying even more delicious organic items. I was skipping around the aisles.

Meals for the week are pretty basic.

Breakfasts will be either oatmeal or cereal with strawberries and/or banana. Plus we have yogurt on the side!  

Lunches will be hummus melts or large salads. Ada usually eats PBJ. Sliced peppers or  carrots on the side with applesauce, misc. pantry snacks (popcorn, etc.).  

Dinners will be veggie burgers, slow cooker soup + tasty biscuits, veggie quesadillas, linguine + veggie pasta, breakfast for dinner, something with quinoa, and a few I'm not sure of yet.

My favorite snack/dessert this week: Vegan chocolate + peanut butter no-bake cookies -- no refined sugar. Stay tuned for that recipe soon.

What's on your menu this week? Read more Aldi posts + recipes here!

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Weekly Meals + Cost

I’m back again with more about our grocery bill and eats for this week. (Don’t miss last week’s post about our fresh start for the new year.) The grand total we spent at Aldi was $60. At Wegmans, we spent $48, bringing our total grocery bill to $108. Here’s more about what ingredients we bought and how we’re using them.

PS: You can follow my cooking on Instagram at #nhmweeklymeals!

The List

Aldi:

• Shredded wheat cereal
• Hazelnut spread
• Sleeve Kumato tomatoes
• Bag sweet potatoes
• Goldfish crackers (Ada’s choice)
• La Croix 8-pack
• 6 avocados
• 4 pounds bananas
• Bag carrots
• Package green peppers
• Bag local apples
• 2 packages block cheese
• Deli sliced cheese
• Cocoa powder
• Bag Mandarin oranges
• Package zucchini
• 6 cans organic beans (still on sale)
• Tub Greek yogurt
• Pickles (Stephen and Ada love them!)
• Peanut butter
• Local BBQ Sauce
• Can crushed tomatoes
• Olive oil 
• 1/2 gallon 2% milk

Wegmans:

• Tempeh
• Tempeh bacon
• Jar of yeast
• Kefir
• 18 pack Eggland eggs
• Frozen Tex-Mex veggies
• Bulk bag sweet potato fries
• Roasted Mate tea
• Tub tahini
• Tub organic arugula
• Large tub organic super greens mix

The Plan

Since breakfasts and lunches have stayed relatively consistent since last week, I’ll skip over them in list form. We eat a lot of oatmeal and cereal for breakfast with green smoothies. For lunch, it’s crazy big salads (for Stephen) and PBJ or grilled cheese for Ada. I like homemade hummus melts or egg salad.

Dinners

M: Leftover Pumpkin Chili with homemade biscuits

T: Veggie Burgers (made them in bulk) with sweet potato fries on homemade buns

W: Eggs, roasted sweet potatoes, and PPK Banana + Zucchini Bread

R: Carrot + Chickpea Tagine dinner (made by Stephen)

F: Family Pizza Night, pumpkin dough w/ olives, peppers, onions, zucchini

S: Homemade ciabatta bread sandwiches with orange-glazed tempeh* 

S: Pasta with homemade pesto + faux meatballs

Dessert + Snacks

Mix of quinoa energy bars (we bought it in a school fundraiser)

Crock Pot Applesauce

Chocolate Chip + Pecan Cookies

* This is the one night we don’t do family dinner. Ada usually eats freezer leftovers. This week she’ll be having some frozen stuffed shells (she loves them!).

Highlights

//1: We wasted basically no food last week. I even froze the leftover pizza sauce to save for this week’s pie! It feels really good to look in my refrigerator at the end of the week and see that it’s almost empty. There are some ingredients that are hearty and can last longer, so if we’re nearing the weekend and more fragile ingredients are getting droopy -- we’ll make a plan to use them up and save the carrots, oranges, potatoes, etc. for next week.

//2: We also shifted our shopping to Saturday mornings. I didn’t know this would make a difference, and we didn’t even do it on purpose -- it just worked out that way. But WOW. Talk about a great way to combat weekend takeout! Our pantry and fridge are full of food so we don’t have as much temptation to grab a takeout menu.

Making food at home has become this huge part of our weekend activities now. So, it’s also serving as a source of entertainment (trying new recipes is really fun!), saving us even more money.

//3: We’re trying to avoid eating the same meal over and over again, so I will start doing more freezer cooking as the weeks roll on. The veggie burgers I made (24 in all) will last a good while. That being said, it does take some energy to make sure that all our meals are utilizing similar ingredients. My trick is having a “breakfast for dinner” night where I can just roast a good number of veggies that need to be used up.

//4: We’re trying to stick below $100 total for food each week. This is a big improvement because I estimate that we were spending about $130 at Wegmans PLUS at least (at LEAST!) $50 on takeout per week in recent months. That’s an $80 savings per week we’re striving toward, all while eating healthy foods and connecting better as a family. I do think we’ll spend much less at the store this week, but time will tell.

//5: Oh, and we’re also going to occasionally try “no buy” weeks where we dig deep into the cupboards and freezer drawers to use up what we already have. Of course, we’ll need to get basics -- but I think it’s a great way to save in a pinch.

Looking for more tasty inspiration? 

• Here’s our Clean Eating Guide with affordable meal options.
• Here’s a bunch of Sunday Meal Prep Ideas from the archives.
• Here’s more great meals (and savings!) you can make with Aldi food.
• Here’s our Recipe Archive full of great vegetarian and vegan meal ideas.

Like what you just read? You can subscribe to the feed of these posts or follow us on Twitter or Facebook to be the first to know what the (never home)makers are up to. And we’ll love you forever!

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On Planning Meals (Again)

Meal planning is an area that totally fell off the radar last year. I don’t even want to know how much money we spent on food. There was just the regular everyday food. Then the comfort foods (so many of them). The many, many nights of takeout. And, of course, the ever-changing list of foods I could and could not eat during two different first trimester morning sickness phases. Ugh.

In other words, we spent hundreds more on food each month than we normally do. I didn’t lift a pen to plan a week of meals maybe the whole year. We stopped shopping smart. We stopped hitting up stores like Aldi for better deals. And, yes, despite the money suck -- it was sort of awesome to just eat whatever, whenever we felt like it. 

BUT for the first time in forever, I wrote out a plan for the first week of the new year. I wrote up a grocery list and headed to Aldi. I even grabbed a few things that weren’t on my list (including a major stock of organic beans that were on sale!) and still spent only $97 for a hulking cart of food!

Why, why, why did I ever stop doing this? I had a smile from ear to ear the rest of the day. It definitely helps that I’m now 15 weeks pregnant and can actually enter my kitchen again without gagging.

The List

Stephen tossed our receipt (I’ll save them in the future), but here’s approximately what we bought. The list will look weird, but it’s the order in which I picked everything up at the store. Oh, and shopping took maybe 15 minutes from entering to exiting the store. Score.

• Organic teddy graham snacks
• 2 jars medium salsa
• Strawberry jam
• Organic honey
• Large tub rolled oats
• Steel cut oats
• Organic honey toasted oats cereal
• Aldi version of Lucky Charms (I know, I know...)
• Organic dark roast coffee
• Block cheddar cheese
• Block Jack cheese
• Block pepper Jack cheese 
• Ball mozzarella cheese
• Bag shredded mozzarella
• Organic string cheese
• 2 packages (10 each) whole wheat tortillas
• Sea salt grinder
• 4 cans organic black beans
• 4 cans organic chickpeas
• 4 cans organic pinto beans
• 4 cans organic kidney beans
• 2 cans organic fire roasted tomatoes
• 2 cans pumpkin puree
• Zucchini
• Garlic
• Bag of onions
• Bag of local apples
• Bag of Meyer lemons
• Bunch bananas
• Sleeve Kumato brown tomatoes
• Organic baby kale
• Organic arugula
• 2% milk for Ada
• Eggs
• Plain Greek yogurt
• Loaf sprouted grain bread
• Jar pizza sauce

I swear I’m forgetting several things. But that’s the gist. Like I said, we hadn’t been to Aldi in a long while. I was sort of astounded at all the new organic and natural food offerings. Especially the sprouted bread!

The Plan:

Breakfast

Slow Cooker Steel Cut Oats

Cold cereal or muesli 

Mango Lassi Smoothie w/ kefir + kale

(Egg + toast for Stephen)

Lunch 

Hardboiled eggs

Hummus

Greens

Wraps + bread

(PB+J or grilled cheese for Ada)

Dinner

M: Lentil loaf* with mashed potatoes

T: Leftovers 

W: Veggie-Loaded Quesadillas 

R: Leftovers 

F: Pizza night using Pumpkin Dough

S: Homemade Ciabatta sandwiches w/ fries

S: Pumpkin Chili w/ Greens + Cheddar Biscuits 

* Recipe soon

Dessert

Pumpkin + Pecan Apple Crisp 

Pecan Chocolate Chippers

Looking for more tasty inspiration? 

• Here’s a bunch of Sunday Meal Prep Ideas from the archives.
• Here’s more great meals (and savings!) you can make with Aldi food.
• Here’s our Recipe Archive full of great vegetarian and vegan meal ideas.
• Check out #nhmweeklymeals for Instagrams of my progress!

Like what you just read? You can subscribe to the feed of these posts or follow us on Twitter or Facebook to be the first to know what the (never home)makers are up to. And we’ll love you forever!

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Single-Serve Chocolate Banana Shake

We've been going crazy with ice cream and frozen yogurt places over the last several weeks. Or maybe months. I can’t remember. But once the weather got nice, the question we’ve found ourselves asking each night is: “Want to get ice cream!?”

The answer is always “YES!!!"

Well, I don’t know about you -- but for us, it gets expensive. It’s almost $10 for us to each get something small (WHAT!). And all that ice cream probably isn’t the best to eat on the daily. So, I’ve started making this simple banana “milk”shake at home to curb my cravings. It’s a great substitute for the real thing. Of course, you can always make Ultimate Banana Ice Cream or even Chocolate Covered Banana Bites if you’re in for a frozen treat.

They’re all delicious.

CHOCOLATE BANANA SHAKE (for 1)

Blend together until smooth:

• 1 heaping cup frozen banana slices
• 1/2 cup coconut milk
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 heaping tablespoonful cocoa powder
• Maple syrup to sweeten (optional)

Speaking of snacking, I’ve gotten back in the habit of doing most of my weekly shopping at Aldi. It leaves me questioning why I ever switched stores. Oh, that’s right -- I got completely sucked back to Wegmans. And really, Wegmans has some good prices on family pack stuff like eggs and bread. So, I’ve decided I’ll shop both stores.

Anyway, here’s my latest haul for $70. 

Including two cases of La Croix! I know it’s all the rage, but honestly -- my favorite is still Polar. It keeps its carbonation longer. But you can’t deny all the flavors of Croix are enticing. Overall, I got a bunch of stuff, but I didn’t make a list this week, so it was kind of crazy and meals have been annoying to put together. What I have always loved about Aldi is that when I fill my cart to just about full, I know it’ll still come in well under $100. Score.

One of my other new favorites is packaged popcorn. I feel like it’s the epitome of laziness to not even pop my popcorn, but I love having a handful to grab between meals versus other high-calorie stuff. This tastes just like Boom Chicka Pop.

Tomorrow I’ll be back with an outdoor craft project you can do with your kids!

Like what you just read? You can subscribe to the feed of these posts or follow us on Twitter or Facebook to be the first to know what the (never home)makers are up to. And we’ll love you forever!

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18 Vegetarian Staples at Aldi

It’s been a while since I posted about shopping at Aldi. Those of you who have been reading along might remember how we were able to buy a whole month of groceries for just $291 by switching stores. We use our CSA share to make up the bulk of our produce purchases, but now that the growing season is coming to a close, we’re starting to look inside the pantry.

I thought it’d be fun to share some of the pantry staples I’ve started taking for granted. It’s true that since we switched stores, I’ve had a bit of sticker shock when going to other supermarkets. So, these are the items I always buy at Aldi, no matter what. And I’m sure I’m missing a few -- so if you have suggestions, please leave them in the comments!

Oats

We eat these plain for breakfast. Toss them into Veggie Burger recipes. Grind them in the food processor to make oat flour. They’re extremely versatile.

Brown Rice

Brown rice is a great side dish on its own. I have recently been experimenting with brown rice risotto recipes. Like oats, I toss it into veggie burgers. Brown rice pudding. And it makes a wonderful addition to last-minute slow cooker soups.

Whole Wheat Pasta

Ada eats a lot of spaghetti for dinner. We’re even considering starting a cold months spaghetti dinner party with friends and family. It’s a cheap, hearty way to fill the table. Just top with sauce and veggies, etc.

Pasta Sauce

Aldi has a good variety of different pasta sauces. I prefer the organic Simply Nature brand. I make a lot of my own tomato sauces during tomato season -- but this stuff gets me through when I run out. Tomato Basil is our favorite.

Tomato Paste

Similarly, tomato paste makes a quick, convincing pizza sauce on a weekend when we’d rather skip the expensive takeout. Just mix it with some water, add some herbs and spices, minced garlic, etc -- simmer on the stove and DONE!

Pumpkin Puree

Our store isn’t always stocked with this fall favorite, but when I see it on the shelf -- I toss a few cans in my cart. I make my own pumpkin puree too -- but I’ll be honest here: I like canned better. Is that weird? Makes the best Pumpkin Garlic Knots.

Black Olives

Ada absolutely loves black olives. So, we started getting them on occasion to go with her pasta and other toddler-friendly meals. Makes a great addition to pasta, pizza, or simple snacks.

Honey

Of course I’d love to buy all local, raw honey. But it’s just not in our budget right now. The organic wildflower honey we get at Aldi tastes good and mixes well with oatmeal breakfasts, afternoon tea, and whatever else needs a touch of sweetness.

Peanut Butter

I don’t have the standard peanut butter pictured, but we use that for sandwiches, breakfast, and dipping when we don't make our own peanut butter. It’s comparable to any other store nonorganic brand we’ve purchased previously.

Special Nut Butters

And then there’s the chocolate hazelnut butter, the white chocolate and chocolate chocolate peanut butters, the almond butter, etc. I’d love to see Aldi make a sunflower butter! I haven’t made my sunflower butter chocolate chippers in a while.

Sea Salt

Conveniently packed with a grinder, I use this sea salt almost every day.

Dry Beans

I’m simmering some beans on my stove right now. If you haven’t started using dry beans versus canned, you can learn more about the method and benefits in this post. Our store carries black, pinto, and white beans. I’d love if they added garbanzos.

Hot Sauce

The Burman’s Hot Sauce is a lot like . When we do get a chance to head to Wegmans, I like to make up Vegan Tofu Wings for something different on the weekends.

BBQ Sauce

I’m pretty sure our offering is a regional thing (because Dinosaur BBQ is located in nearby Syracuse), but we get all our BBQ sauce at Aldi now. Does your store offer a good selection? I’m curious!

Grainy Mustard

I think you see a trend. The condiments at Aldi are price-friendly and tasty. So, try different ones out. This grainy mustard is a favorite in our house. Nice on sandwiches, burgers, etc.

Brown Sugar

I don’t get a lot of my baking supplies at Aldi simply because I don’t like bleached all-purpose flour. But I do stock brown sugar because it’s basically the same as what I usually use. I have also noticed a huge explosion in gluten-free packed mixes if you’re into that sort of stuff. Cookies, cakes, etc.

Baking Extracts

And yes! I just recently started getting my baking extracts at Aldi. So far I’ve used vanilla and almond extracts. The next time I get there, I’ll probably try the peppermint. I don’t have my boxes anymore, but I do believe they are pure extracts.

Coffee

I can’t speak to the flavor, but Stephen says the Barissimo coffee is really good. He just finished up a bag of the Fair Trade Dark Roast and is now on this seasonal blend. A lot cheaper than the stuff he gets at Wegmans.


More #unsponsored ALDI recipes/posts:

• $70 For Two Weeks of Food
• (Major) Grocery Sticker Shock
• Roasted Asparagus + Hummus Toasts (recipe)
• A whole + HUGE cart! $108!
• Zucchini Burgers Recipe -- vegan + gluten-free
• What $77 Looks like at Aldi
• Fresh Orange Wakeup Smoothie -- 19 grams of protein!
• Slow Cooker Cheesy Potato Soup -- lots of hidden veggies!
• A month of groceries = $291!
• The FULL THREAD of Aldi posts...

Like what you just read? Browse more of our posts + recipes on Pinterest. You can subscribe to the feed of these posts or follow us on Twitter or Facebook to be the first to know what the (never home)makers are up to. And we’ll love you forever!

Read more...

$70 Grocery Week // Double Trip

We've unpacked enough of our kitchen to start cooking again -- and I'm absolutely thrilled. A lot of the last month has been a mix of takeout and assembled meals (sandwiches, etc.), and -- as you can imagine -- a lot of cheese and bread and more bread. I'm going to write a post all about our CSA later this week, but for now I thought I'd give you a rundown of our latest stock up at Aldi.

Grand Total: $138.88 . . . for over two weeks!

That's 59 items total. We got a lot of our old favorites, but I'd like to do some meal planning to mix things up a bit this time around. Use like ingredients in new ways.

Here's some new stuff we're trying this week:

• Pastas -- whole wheat spaghetti and some rigatoni 
• Fish (needs a longer post) -- wild caught flounder, tilapia, etc.
• Muesli 
• Peach Greek yogurt -- I just had some, DELICIOUS!
• Dry black and white beans
• Frozen yogurt bars, blueberry
• Organic pasta sauce
• Red potatoes

Our cart was actually exploding out everywhere, and I thought this trip would be the one when I would get shocked by a big ticket price. But honestly, when I saw $138.88 ring up, I quickly calculated that we were still within our $75/week budget. Score!

Stephen and I have also decided that we are going to try to go a month or more (with the exception of our trip to the shore in late July) without going out to eat. Like I said, our food and entertainment budget was out of control during the move, so getting back into healthy habits at home will be good for our bodies and our wallets.

Have you had a grocery success story recently? What did yours involve?

And it looks like in the course of writing, I've already created two new posts for the future: Our CSA for the season and why I'm considering eating fish again. More on that stuff soon! And I'll be back tomorrow with some tips for crafting the perfect summer salad.

More #unsponsored ALDI recipes/posts:

• (Major) Grocery Sticker Shock
• Roasted Asparagus + Hummus Toasts (recipe)
• A whole + HUGE cart! $108!
• Zucchini Burgers Recipe -- vegan + gluten-free
• What $77 Looks like at Aldi
• Fresh Orange Wakeup Smoothie -- 19 grams of protein!
• Slow Cooker Cheesy Potato Soup -- lots of hidden veggies!
• A month of groceries = $291!
• The FULL THREAD of Aldi posts...

Like what you just read? Browse more of our posts + recipes on Pinterest. You can subscribe to the feed of these posts or follow us on Twitter or Facebook to be the first to know what the (never home)makers are up to. And we’ll love you forever!

Read more...

(Major) Grocery Sticker Shock

I've been shopping at Aldi almost exclusively for over two months now. It's simplified our whole grocery buying process considerably. Even if I don't make a list before heading to the store, I'm not tempted by a wide array of foods I don't normally need, and I've even become accustomed to the taste of certain Aldi brands versus our old mainstays.

For example, I buy Greek yogurt almost every week. While on vacation in Wellsboro this week, I had to get Chobani at $5.99 a container (ouch!) . . . and the taste and texture aren't doing it for me. Well, that's not the only disappointment I experienced this week. I had some major sticker shock when I went shopping at one of my hometown's grocery stores.

Here's the receipt.

OK. So this is what I bought to feed myself and Ada -- not Stephen -- for the week. And upon first glance, it looks like I still got a good amount of food for just under $70. However, closer inspection reveals that a lot of those "items" are really just small discounts on high prices.

I've crossed out the discounts to show the food only.


I've also circled the discounts to show them clearly. Not too impressive. Now, to be entirely fair, I did end up buying some more convenient foods than usual this week. So, this is by no means a direct comparison.

Still, just for the fun of it, I did compare like-products from my latest Aldi haul.

Cheese: $1.99 versus $3.39
Greek yogurt: $3.89 versus $5.99
Almond Milk: $2.49 versus $3.69
Hummus: $3.99 versus $5.99 (large container)
Beans: $0.65 versus $1.19
Milk: $2.15 versus $4.00 (didn't buy, just noticed!)
Brie: $2.99 versus $7.99 (no joke! I didn't buy!)

They did have a good deal on avocados -- 10 for $10 -- so I'll give the store that. However, if I had to routinely shop at this store, I wouldn't be able to afford to feed my family and still have money for other things. Most of my friends actually shop out of town for their food, at least from what they tell me. It's just unfortunate that food can be so expensive some places!

What do you think? Are the prices in my receipt above similar to what you encounter at your local store? I think where you're located has a lot to do with it, as my hometown is somewhat out of the way of major highways and all. Whatever the case may be, I'm looking forward to filling my cart for a grand $100 total and having enough food for almost two weeks!

More #unsponsored ALDI recipes/posts:

• Roasted Asparagus + Hummus Toasts (recipe)
• A whole + HUGE cart! $108!
• Zucchini Burgers Recipe -- vegan + gluten-free
• What $77 Looks like at Aldi
• Fresh Orange Wakeup Smoothie -- 19 grams of protein!
• Slow Cooker Cheesy Potato Soup -- lots of hidden veggies!
• A month of groceries = $291!
• The FULL THREAD of Aldi posts...

Like what you just read? Browse more of our posts + recipes on Pinterest. You can subscribe to the feed of these posts or follow us on Twitter or Facebook to be the first to know what the (never home)makers are up to. And we’ll love you forever!

Read more...

Roasted Asparagus + Hummus Toasts

Our most recent trip to Aldi was yet again $108. I'll get into the specifics in another post this week. Sort of strange how that worked out, as we didn't buy the same stuff the time around -- yet we had another huge cart for $108. Also figured into that number were some items we took to a cookout this weekend.

My favorite items this week? The hummus and italian bread!

We're sort of bread snobs and usually only make our own or buy from Wegmans or local bakeries. But when I saw this round, I figured we should give it a try. Ends up that it's absolutely perfect for grilling! It's hearty and GIGANTIC and taste great.

And so do these toasts/sandwiches. Everything you see if made from Aldi food!


// WHAT I USED:

• 4 gigantic slices of Italian bread
• Four flavors of hummus -- my favorite is the green (jalapeño)!
• Some block Pepper Jack cheese, shredded
• 4 sauces: Ranch dressing, hot sauce, BBQ sauce, and salsa
• Roasted asparagus spears*

// HOW I ASSEMBLED:

1. I roasted the asparagus spears using the directions below.
2. I toasted the bread in a standard toaster first. This required having half the slice stick out the stop and rotating a couple times until lightly golden.
3. Then I turned the oven to its broil setting, spread the hummus on the slices of bread and topped with some cheese. I let broil until browned and bubbly.
4. Then I put the sauces on each -- there was no flavor matching. I just did it at random.
5. Then I put the spears atop each slice and cut the toasts down the middle.

// ROASTED ASPARAGUS SPEARS

• Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F. Get out a rimmed baking sheet.
• Wash and cut ends off your asparagus spears. Then drizzle with a tablespoon or two of olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
• Place in the oven for 15-20 minutes, then flip around and cook another 15 minutes. You'll likely want to roast again until you start to see some deep brown marks. Possibly 45 minutes or more in all.
• Asparagus should be somewhat limp and crisp (weird, but true) when you take them out of the oven.

So, another day -- another delicious sandwich (Stephen topped his with arugula). You could easily adapt this "recipe" to make the whole thing on the grill as well! Just grill your asparagus first, lay a bit of foil down so your bread doesn't burn and do everything as detailed above . . . just on an open flame.

Now I'm hungry!

More #unsponsored ALDI recipes/posts:

• A whole + HUGE cart! $108!
• Zucchini Burgers Recipe -- vegan + gluten-free
• What $77 Looks like at Aldi
• Fresh Orange Wakeup Smoothie -- 19 grams of protein!
• Slow Cooker Cheesy Potato Soup -- lots of hidden veggies!
• A month of groceries = $291!
• The FULL THREAD of Aldi posts...

Like what you just read? Browse more of our posts + recipes on Pinterest. You can subscribe to the feed of these posts or follow us on Twitter or Facebook to be the first to know what the (never home)makers are up to. And we’ll love you forever!

Read more...