Food(less) Journey

  Entertaining does not have to be expensive. There I said it. And I mean it too. Especially if you are anywhere in the vicinity of a Trader Joe's, but even if you dont you can have a party for 4 for under $20. Step 1: Make a guest list Step 2: Make a menu Step 3: Go shopping (be flexible)   I put together a last minute Tea Party Luncheon a few weekends ago. It always pays to be high on creativity when you are low on funds. Creative cha-ching! One of the best things about Trader Joe's is that they have one type of item in a variety of prices points. Or in other words 3 kinds of grapes at three different prices depending on your taste preference and budget. Love it! SO, since I already had the guest list together (me, cuz and baby cuz) I made up a menu (Chicken Salad Sandwiches, potato chips, Thomchord grapes, cookies and baby carrots) and then went to Trader Joe's. Lo and behold there was none of the chicken salad that i wanted to...

Did june sneak up on anyone else like it did me? It came up behind me quietly and smacked me in the back of the neck with a feather. Yup! Thats the truth. It happened just like that. Oh look! More soup! Soup is so hearty and filling. Its a great budget meal and so very balanced. This one was stellar. And for once well photographed. Good job me. I could so eat (i.e. inhale) one of these right now. The ingredient list is pretty simple but the flavors blend wonderfully. Instead I think Ill make blueberry pancakes for dinner tonight. I need to carb up for zuumba. Ill use vanilla almond milk and throw in some extract I like it when I open a tea bag and I can see exactly whats in the tea. Starbucks has some great tea bags. No I did not break budget and go to Starbucks. My friend treated me to some tea from there. It was really cold early on morning last week. So there!

Bad salad! Go to your room and think about what you did!! I thought this would be a good salad combo. Romaine topped with chickpeas and hummus. However there weren't enough veggies and it needed some fat. The good thing is it became the base of a better salad. But I didnt get a pic of it. But don't fret! I got a picture of the beauty below: Pasta salad with brown rice rotini, kalamata olives, chopped tomato, cucumber, carrot chips and greek dressing. Things I forgot to mention...   I went to the $1 sale at Avalon an extremely happening resale shop.  I was able to score quite a few great items. Quite a few were brand new, which is always nice when you are on a (tight) budget. Just a few tags Also went to a very chic Milkshake shop with the fam. But they didnt have soymilkshakes so they don't get a free plug from me. But look at the awesome ceiling. It was a very cute shop with loads of candy. More Natu...

In my attempts to reduce my stress load I have rediscovered one of my favorite de-stressors: relaxing with a hot cup of tea. Ive read wonderful things about the relaxing benefits of Earl Grey tea spiked with Bergamot. I have to admit I'm a bit of a tea snob. I like to be able to see the composition of the tea in the bag. I find it thrilling to look in the tea bag and see bits of dried orange and lemongrass. This, of course, can do terrible things to ones wallet. So, in the interest of pinching pennies (sounds gruesome for those poor pennies) I considered the lower costing teas. To be perfectly honest I was not hopeful when I selected this tea. But for a change the tea that cost the least ($2.99) was surprisingly good (Mind you i was shopping at Whole Foods and its pretty hard to buy an awful product there). Bigelow Tea has a wonderful quality to its taste even though it is not a whole leaf tea. And as I was perusing the tea boxes I noticed that it is one of the few teas that has ac...