wheat
wheat gluten
barley
rye
cow’s milk & all it’s variations
dairy cheese
animal products/meat of any kind

 I think many people have a hard time comprehending what a person might eat on a diet of only plants, but add to that, no-gluten, & I think a good majority of people would be downright stumped.

If you’re one of those stumped folks, or if you just need some fresh & tasty non-gluten, vegan ideas to make your belly happy you need Allyson Kramer’s new book: Great Gluten-Free Vegan Eats From Around the World*, a collection of international & accessible ethnic recipes that are all gluten-free & vegan.

The layout is crisp & clean, with beautiful colored photographs accompanying most of the recipes.

Allyson Kramer has one of the best gluten-free & vegan recipe blogs out there. Her photography & attention to detail to impeccable, & all her recipes that I’ve tried are delicious, so it’s no surprise her cookbook is simply an extension of this.

From her blog, I personally love her lemon rice soup (a recipe from Great Gluten-Free Vegan Eats), her rainbow chili, leek & ricotta stuffed shells, & her pear & ginger ricotta cheesecake with salted caramel drizzle.

Her recipes are colorful, full of flavor, & are much more than just salads, which are nice, but man, as you well know, cannot live on salad alone.

I love Allyson’s story about how she became a gluten-free vegan (you must read, especially if you have gluten-intolerance or have Celiac)–inspiring!

Since I just received her cookbook a few days I ago, I haven’t got a chance to try many of her recipes.

I’m kinda lazy in the kitchen & tend to stick to easy, tried & true recipes, so naturally we eat a lot of variations on rice & beans in this house. Not bad, but I’m always looking for “meaty” recipes that provide a lot of texture & flavor & are outside of my comfort zone.

Here are a few of the recipes that fit the bill & that I’m excited to try (soon!):

Philly Cheesesteak
Allyson uses soy curls (which I have yet to try) & includes a recipe for hoagie rolls. Proof that even a gluten-free vegan can indulge in a traditionally meat/cheese/gluten based comfort dish.

Photography: Allyson Kramer

Pho
I’ve had vegetarian Pho in restaurants before, but have never come across a good recipe to duplicate it at home. The recipe is surprisingly simple & doesn’t include a long list of exotic, ethinic ingredients, which I like.

Photography: Allyson Kramer

And for my sweet tooth,
Pepita Brittle
I love different takes on old faves. Pumpkin seeds in place of peanuts–why not?

Photography: Allyson Kramer

One recipe I did get to try was Allyson’s Russian salad.

Anyone who knows me, knows I’m a fan of the great potato & all it’s variations. My kids are too. They also love it when I throw in cut up veggie dogs (they’re kids, after all), so this recipe was perfect for my family & of course, a hit. I really love the combination of textures & flavors (especially the relish). Satisfying & filling, a meal in itself.

Recipe & photos posted with permission from Fair Winds Press.

Photography: Allyson Kramer

russian salad (ensalada rusa)

The post Russian Salad & Great Gluten-Free Vegan Eats From Around The World Cookbook Review appeared first on Bring Joy.

When you’re a mom, particularly of the stay-at-home variety, you appreciate appreciation. I mean you really appreciate it. Which is what Mother’s Day is all about. A day dedicated to you. It’s pretty great.

One of the best parts is all the hand crafted goodies.

Coupon books, art work, homemade tissue paper flowers.

& funny little things like this.
(from my kindergartener, Asher)

What I want to know, is why in the world would they put weight in there?
Is that some sort of sick joke?

(I thought it was hilarious, albeit strange.)

I especially enjoyed the part where my job is to: “take care when [Salem] cries.”
I love seeing the world from a 6 year old’s point of view.

The next best thing about Mother’s day is the breakfast.
Joseph made me savory crepes & lightly sauteed vegetables.

Which, on that note, I’m tired of sickenly sweet things for breakfast.

I’ve always been sensitive to sugar, & even have to be careful with my fruit intake.
In short, sugar (even the unrefined stuff) if not checked, makes me a little wacky.

So when Joseph asked me what I wanted for breakfast, what I really wanted, I told him I wanted savory crepes. No sugar in the batter, & I wanted to stuff them with sauteed vegetables & top with siracha sauce. He thinks I’m crazy.

But he made them for me.

These crepes are hands down my favorite, easy breakfast thing to make.

Traditional crepes are typically made of assortment of ingredients that make my stomach churn just thinking about them–eggs, flour, butter, & sugar.

This recipe uses none of that, & the result is a soft (yet durable), satisfying crepe. Gluten-free, dairy-free, & vegan.

The best kind of stuff.

I love that they don’t weigh you down & you can stuff them with any manner of sauteed vegetables or top with avocado & tomato slices.

Joseph sauteed yellow summer squash, onions, & mushrooms.
(All foods that he wouldn’t touch, but I love.)

If you must have sweet crepes, I don’t think it’s necessary to add sugar to the batter–just top with fruit &/or maple syrup. Plenty of sweetness there.

I first discovered how delicious vegan crepes could be from Neva & Jim Brackett’s Seven Secrets cookbook. It’s not a bestseller & it’s certainly not coffee book table material, but the recipes are straight foward, rather simple to execute, & satisfying.

This recipe is an adaptation of that in Seven Secrets. The original calls for half brown rice flour (which you can make on your own if you have a blendtec or vitamix, or wheat grinder) & half dry oats (finely blended), which works beautifully, but I like to use my all-purpose gluten-free flour blend.

I make a big batch (about 16 cups) & store it in a gallon glass jar in the pantry. Usually, you’d want to refrigerate gluten-free flours to keep them fresh, but I go through it quickly enough it’s not an issue.

Taking a tip from Shauna (ie. the “gluten-free girl”), I use her 40/60 ratio (40% whole grains & 60% white flour/starches).

I’ve played around with various combos & I really like a mix of mostly brown rice, with a little soy, & teff flours for my whole grain & white rice & potato or tapioca starch for my white flours.

This recipe calls for raw cashews. If you’re on a tight food budget (as we are), raw cashews are such a luxury.

Buying them in bulk & unsalted, raw, & in pieces (rather than whole, which can be nearly twice the price) can save you some money. Raw cashews are worth the purchase if nothing more than to use them for making amazing eggless crepes.

If you’re in a bind & don’t have raw cashews, tofu will also work. Just replace the cashews with same amount of tofu. I still prefer the cashews.

The post savory crepes + apparently I weigh 39 lbs. appeared first on Bring Joy.

I’ve never participated in CSA (community supported agriculture), but for years have wanted to. It just never worked out. But finally it has!

Last week I received our first box.

I was impressed with the variety–about 12 different items, local & organic. Alice Waters would be proud.

Made my hippie heart happy to see all those greens.

So this particular company, Greenling, is a bit more than a CSA. You can order more than just the local box, you can order organic groceries & have them delivered.

I’m just interested in the weekly box, so that is what I signed up for. I know other CSA’s require you to “join” before the growing season. Not this one–you can start & stop your orders at any time. You can have a box delivered to your doorstep twice a week. I don’t think I’ll be doing the twice a week delivery. The amount of produce we get in the box seems to be about right for our family of six.

The cost is $35 per week. So, $140 a month for mostly all the organic produce we need (we still need a few things like apples & other produce items not included in the bunch) is a pretty good deal. Our food budget is $425, so we still have lots left over for bulkier foods & pantry items.

Here are some things that I’m liking so far:

1. 1. Variety.
   I get a dozen or so different organic fruits or vegetables. I love the variety, & the fact that I get to try things like purple (!) carrots & kohlrabi, & other somewhat obscure items that you are not going to find at most supermarkets. I like that each week I get a different batch of items. This week I’m getting: grapefruit, avocados, beets & beet greens, strawberries, mixed summer squash, & other things that I didn’t get last week.
3. 2. Affordable.
   I have to be honest. On our tight food budget, we can’t afford many organic foods. This option makes eating organic a lot easier & more affordable.
5. 3. Arugala.
   Can you believe I’ve never actually bought arugala before? Which means, I’ve never prepared arugala. Until this week, when I got a bunch in the box. I made an argugla & romaine asian salad, served with California rice, & my kids (& Joseph) really liked it. Hyrum said: “Mom, I can’t believe you prepared this in a way that I actually like!” I took that as a compliment.
7. 4. Supports local farming.
   Less energy is used to transport=better for environment & we get fresh, nutritious foods–a win-win.
9. 5. They deliver!
   That right there is worth about $5 or $6 to me since it costs me that to go to Whole Foods or Costco.

For us, it seems like a no-brainer to use this CSA.

However, I could see if you were a picky eater (or had a lot of picky eaters in your family), &/or it’s just you (unless you’re on a raw foods diet), it might be hard to eat everything you’re given in a weeks time.

Another thing that I like about this CSA is they include a week’s worth of recipes to go with your box. One of the recipes was for roasted carrots & kale pesto. My kids ended up liking the roast carrots better without the pesto.

Prior to this, I had never just “roasted carrots.” I discovered, it’s sooo simple, & roasting really brings out the sugars so you get an almost sweet potato-like flavor.

♥♥♥

Have you ever been a part of a CSA? What was your experience like?

The post roasted carrots + why I love my CSA appeared first on Bring Joy.

Thanks to those who commented on Friday’s post about blogging.

I realize most of my readers aren’t bloggers, so you probably don’t care about the discussion, but I think it’s a relevant topic even for non-bloggers as we are all affected by the shifting trends in online media.

The key questions we’ll have to answer & figure out in the coming years are: how do we pay for content on the internet?  Is there value in non-commercial work? Does commercializing something artistic devalue the end product (the content)?

I am interested to see how blogging will evolve, & what audiences (the readers) will do to influence those changes.

For the record, there are a few things I think I need to make sure are clear.

I hope every blogger who wants to make money, can & will make as much money as they want. Quality content takes time (& a lot more than you think), money (it costs me nearly $250 a year to pay for hosting, spam blocking, & domain name fees alone), talent, & effort. I certainly don’t expect everyone to work for free. As I said, in the post though, I hope “monetizing” a blog is not at the expense of worthwhile, thoughtful content.

Not every blogger needs/wants to make money, & some of the best blogs, though perhaps not the biggest, fit this category. One such blog is Rinse. Repeat. It’s one of those personal boutique blogs that 1) has beautiful images/layout  2) is well written 3) is authentic & heart felt, & is not ”monetized.”

If in the future should I decide to have ads on my site (as I did at one point), or work with sponsors or companies, or start an Etsy shop (not likely in this lifetime, but who knows?) know that I do so with the utmost discretion. And that, when the day is done, I blog because I love it & I’m only here because of you, the reader.

Now then, on to the ice cream. 

Joseph is on a new schedule where he is working 6 days a week.

Monday through Friday he leaves for work at 7 am & gets home around 6.

On Saturdays he’ll now be working 8-5. How long this will last, no one knows. He works at the highest prosecuting Air Force Base in the world (currently) & they have a lot of work to get done. So this means, for the foreseeable future, Saturdays as catch up/family day are no longer.

At the end of the day on Saturday I told Joseph:

“Today wasn’t so bad. I mean it felt like any other day. The house is a mess & there are lots of things that need to get done before Sunday, but it’s okay, we’ll do it on Saturday.”

Except. It was Saturday. Oops.

I didn’t realize how important Saturdays are to our family. It’s the day we all work to get the house ultra-clean (or attempt to), play a little, go the library. Just decompress & regroup, get ready for Sunday.

Sundays are for church, for eating, resting, reading, & being together. I often fail, but I try to get my house in order so that Sundays are quiet, unhurried, restful.

So yesterday wasn’t quite what I wanted it to be. It was like trying to squeeze a Saturday & a Sunday into one, which doesn’t work as one might hope.

One consitency though, is Sunday dinner, followed by the ritual of Sunday dessert.

I can’t tell you how many times lately I hope to try a new recipe for Sunday dessert (I have waay too many desserts in the pinterest queue), but end up making ice cream instead.

Because, we have this adorable no-ice ice cream maker.
[They no longer really sell this on Amazon, but I think when this one dies, I'll upgrade to this one which is bigger (& pretty).]

Which makes making ice cream one of the easiest, no-hassle, yummy, won’t-heat-up-the-kitchen kind of dessert.

Joseph bought it for me years ago for an anniversary I think, & for the first few years I didn’t touch it. Then one day as I was rummaging through cupboards I saw the dusty little thing & thought, “aw, it looks so sad. I really need to give it a chance.”

So I put it in the freezer for a day–that’s how these brilliant no-salt ice cream makers work–& made ice cream the next.

And I’ve realized, though you can totally make ice cream without an ice cream maker, if you use an automatic ice cream maker, it’s superduper easy (ice cream in 15-45 minutes depending on the recipe) & you determine the hardness. You want creamy soft-serve style ice cream, or harder, really cold ice cream, both are options with an auto icecream maker.

The best thing about this, is you can make your own non-dairy soft serve (which for the record, is nearly impossible to get anywhere) for less than $2 a quart.

Which means, our family of 6 can have soft-serve for about $.20 a serving.

Nice.

The post simple strawberry ice cream (less than $2 a quart) appeared first on Bring Joy.

You may think, based on all the dessert posts I have on the blog, that all I eat is laced with some form of sugar or another.

While a good scoop of vanilla ice cream served with something warm/sweet/carby (apple crisp, say), most of what we eat is rather simple (boring?). I’m serious when I say we eat beans & rice, a lot.

And when April (& other readers), have commented that they’d like to see more recipes, particularly frugal simple ones, I’m a little sheepish.

It’s hard for me to think that my humble bean soups can compete with what’s now in vogue in the online food blogosphere.

Truth be told, I don’t fancy myself much of a recipe developer these days.

We’ve had family in town for the last week, & before that, it was the stomach bug, before that more house guests. And then everything in between like school, laundry, dishes, walks, dentist appointments, emergency room visits (Hyrum broke his wrist) & other regularities.

I guess what I’m saying is that, I just don’t have time to really bang it out in the kitchen like I used to.

Simple Food 

My main goals with meals are:

1) use what we have
2) don’t waste any food (getting much better at this) by using leftovers & digging into the pantry & food storage
3) make something that the kids & Joseph will eat without much of a fuss
4) & if the first 3 are satisfied, it’s an bonus if I enjoy what I’m eating.

I don’t mean to sound like everything I make is something served from the kitchens of  David Copperfield’s orphanage, but rather, my creations, for the most part are born of necessity & frugality.

I’m not so utilitarian that I forget good taste & a bit of flourish, but overarching it all, I have 5 other people to feed, with little time & a tight budget on which to do it. So, often, my best dishes emerge under pressure.

The 20 minute meal 

On a recent night, I was in no mood to be in the kitchen.

I had been in the house for most of the day, cleaning up creative messes (mostly “art” made of tape, glue & crayons courtesy of my 2 & 4 year old), & working on getting the house in order (which seems to be a bit of a pipe dream, I’ve realized).

Dinner time rolled around, out of nowhere it seems, as it so often does. I had 20 minutes.

This is what I threw together.

Frugal

The total cost for entire meal that served 6 with no leftovers:

$4.08
or about $.68 a person

Not our cheapest meal, but  it’s a reasonable price for a colorful, fresh meal.

Everything but the noodles came from Costco.
I bought the noodles via vitacost.com (free shipping on orders over $50 & no sales tax!).

noodles $2.50
olives $.80
pine nuts $.60
spinach: $.20
carrots $.10
vinegar $.03
olive oil $.10
5 c. brocolli $.75

♥♥♥

P.S. I updated my blog roll, check it out.

P.S.S. This made me laugh, & I mentioned this on facebook, you really must read this article from Beauty Redefined (especially if you are female): The Case of the Disappearing Women Over 40.

The post 20 minute meal: gluten-free fettucini+ pine nuts appeared first on Bring Joy.

Disclosure: This post contains a link to Amazon, of which I am an affiliate. If you purchase a book through this link, I make a few pennies.

I received the following comment on last post, & decided, after I started responding, to just turn it into another post.

Elizabeth writes: 

Ha!  You caught my attention with John McDougall because I attended his 10-day live-in program last August.  Every time I eat oil, I think of what he said…”the fat you eat, is the fat you wear!”  I don’t have heart disease or diabetes, I am very overweight and desperate for anything that will help me lose the weight and not want to eat my shoes at the same time…enter in Weight Watchers, Nutri-System, Jenny Craig, blah, blah, blah.  I applaud those that it works for, it doesn’t for me.  I was also looking for a solution to my chronic IBS, which Dr. McDougall attributed to the oil and in the 10 days I was there, I had not one IBS episode.  I wish I wasn’t an “all or nothing” kind of girl, I get sucked into these things and give up if I can’t do them 100% perfect.  Exactly why I’ve avoided Dave Ramsey, although I do read Mary Hunt (cheapskate monthly).

My response:

Hi Elizabeth!

That’s awesome that you attended Dr. McDougall’s 10 day program. As I said in the post, Dr. McDougall has done a great deal of good in helping people change their lives for the better, & for that, he has my admiration. I have enjoyed many of Mary McDougall’s recipes, & would recommend anyone starting out on a plant-based or vegan diet to read any of his books if you’re so inclined (in fact, you can find many of them in my Amazon shop).

However, this doesn’t mean I agree with 100% his approach or his recommendations. Or rather, I don’t think his recommendation are right for everybody, 100% of the time. And I don’t think you have to agree 100% either, in order to implement some good habits into your life.

A few things that warrant further discussion, & hopefully will be helpful to you in some way.

1) I am not a registered dietitian  nutritionist, or other health professional.  I give my opinion as merely that.

Your health, your relationship with food & diet, are complex & nuanced. I think it’s important to include several competent advisers (a registered dietitian, M.D., & other qualified health professionals)  in the discussion about your personal health & well being. I think it’s never a good idea to put stock in only one individual’s recommendations or advice (myself included).

Never hurts to get a second opinion!

2) Just like Dave Ramsey, McDougall advocates strict adherence to his recommendations in order to have success.

Part of his teachings include using fear as a tool (ie. fear of fat, fear of moderation) to get his clients/readers/followers to adhere to his recommendations. Dave Ramsey uses similar means to achieve that end. I don’t agree with this approach, but it seems to work with a good many people (at least for a while).

3) You mentioned you didn’t have one IBS episode during the time you did the 10-day live in program.

That’s fantastic!

Surely, that provides a good amount of credible evidence that you were doing something right. With that in mind, I think it may be worth pursuing the following question:

Did you have a positive experience because

a) the food you ate did not contain any oil
b) the foods you ate were wholesome, nourishing, plant foods
c) you were not eating any of the irritating culprits that may have been partly at fault for exacerbating your issues (ie. cheese or other dairy products, processed foods, sugars, refined flours, etc.)
d) b & c
e) or all of the above

If the answer is only b & c, then it stands to reason that it would have been possible to still have had a positive experience with the addition of a reasonable amount of plant-based fats (like avocados, nut butters, seeds, olive oil) to an already very clean, vegan diet.

4) About “the fat you eat is the fat you wear.”

It’s a nice catchphrase, but I think being overweight or obese is more complex than just: you eat fat, you get fat, & I think most R.D.’s & others would agree with that.

5) In regards to weight loss.

Weight loss, like debt elimination, takes a great deal of self-control, focus, & determination.  Believe me, I know the effort it takes to lose weight.

There are many ways to achieve that end goal of a healthy weight. Some approaches are not balanced, realistic, or healthy, while still others are downright snake oil (think most diet pills).

You mention that you have a significant amount of weight to lose. Dr. McDougall’s program for weight loss (MWL) does work (after all, it’s about the calorie deficit, which is easy to do when you’re eating mostly low calorie foods) & it’s fairly painless (although does require a good amount of time in eating/preparing food).

The large volume of food does ease some of the discomfort of high calorie restriction, but it is not the only healthy way to lose weight.

Personally, I’ve found the principle of volume eating to be helpful in satiety & weight maintenance, but I’ve found this doesn’t mean I necessarily have to be austere with my intake of plant-based fats.

Barbara Rolls, PhD, has done extensive research on volume eating & weight loss/maintenance & written several books on it. Volumetrics is the one that I’ve read, found helpful, & that I’d recommend.

6) If you find something that works, do it!

If you find something that you can realistically implement in the long-term, that is overall, a positive, balanced, & healthy way to have a greater sense of physical/emotional/spiritual well being & is not in conflict with your moral or religious values, do it.

I think strict adherence to Dr. McDougall’s approach can be a godsend for many, but I also think it’s important to realize it’s not the absolute, only way to achieve your unique & individual health goals.

Thank you for taking the time to comment, & best of luck!

♥♥♥

Do you have anything to add or share with Elizabeth? 

The post A reader’s question: Is Dr. McDougall right? appeared first on Bring Joy.

My days look something like this.

I wake up (usually around 6:30).

I get dressed & ready in 10 minutes.

I make lunches & oversee the breakfast eating.

I kiss Joseph goodbye.

I send the boys off to the bus.

I walk Mali to school. I eat breakfast & read the NY Times while Salem watches Caliou.

I tidy up the house.

I play with Salem–we read, draw, play with blocks.

I pick up Mali from school & we walk home.

I make her a peanut butter & jelly sandwich for lunch.

I put Salem down for a nap.

I do the dishes.

I help Mali with her “homework” from preschool.

We read books, play barbies.

The boys come home from school.

I help them get an after school snack. We talk about their day.

I help them vacuum or put the dishes away.

We go for a walk , or to the park, or to the pool & swim.

I start dinner.

Joseph comes home.

We eat, then we clean up dinner.

Then baths, pajamas, teeth, stories, & kids to bed.

I read until my eyes get droopy or I watch an episode of Friday Night Lights while I drink rooibos tea.

Joseph & I talk (& other stuff, too).

I fall asleep.

Last night, though, I couldn’t fall asleep.

Our old house, our home in Provo haunted me.

I couldn’t stop thinking about living there, about our yard, those daffodils that bloom the last 2 weeks in April. Tulips, then the lilacs in May. The way the trees shaded our yard. My garden, the grass that is soft & green (unlike the weeds that they call grass, here in Texas). The way I’d open up all the windows to air out the house & sunlight & breeze would filter through. The way I’d leave the front & back doors open. I love that porch, the way Joseph & I would spend cool, summer evenings, talking in the dark. I love the old walls, the high ceilings, those french doors. I even love how the floor of the hallway to the back door slopes the tiniest bit.

We have lovely renters there now. And, hopefully, someday, although we’ll have outgrown the house, once Joseph is done with the military, we’ll live there again. I feel like that place is a part of who I am, a part of our family.

Don’t get me wrong.

There are so many good things about living here in San Antonio. I feel blessed to live in a beautiful, large, new home. But, try as I might to make it feel like home, it will never be our Provo home.

You know, I just miss it. I miss my home.

I made these cookies last night.

After swimming & dinner, Joseph helped the kids clean out our car. I wanted something chocolatey for our Monday family night treat. I recall no-bake cookies being one of my more favorite things to eat, but it’s been ages since I actually made them. A traditional no-bake peanut butter, chocolate cookie is loaded with sugar & fat (duh, that’s why they taste so good). This is a lighter version, with a dark chocolate taste. I also like the addition of powdered sugar, reminds me a bit of Mexican wedding cakes (without the gluten!).

I adapted this recipe from Gina. I added more sweetener (it tasted too “dark” otherwise), used vegan Smart Balance, used real peanut butter, used old-fashioned oats instead of quick, & flattened my cookies (creates more surface area for powdered sugar).

♥♥♥

Have you ever deeply connected with a place? 

The post Missing Home & No-bake gluten-free chocolate cookies appeared first on Bring Joy.

I hope you had a marvelous Thanksgiving.

Today I’m over at Frock Files, my friend Joy’s beautiful corner of the web, sharing a few thoughts about the lessons I’m learning about living simply (& frugally).

Hope you’ll join me, & see you back on Monday for all my fave links & findings from this past week.

The post Five Simple Truths for a Happier Life appeared first on Bring Joy.

I came up with a few ways:

1.  Sell my coveted Alt Summit ticket.
I did, & it was hard.  I mean, really hard.

But.  Savings from not going to Alt?  About $1400.

2.  Figure out a way to increase our income by $600 a month.
Not sure if this is going to work, but I hope to find a teaching job in Texas–a few yoga classes a week could mean a couple of hundred bucks a month.  I’m also thinking of adding a paper route–the boys are old enough to help, & I think it would be a great lesson in teaching them how to work.  I also think if we tell them why we’re doing it (so we can get out of debt), they’ll have a better understanding of why it’s a good idea to be debt-averse.

If we can figure out how to scrape together an extra $600 a month, that’s $7200 in years time.

3.  Reduce our date/fun budget to $100 a month.
Savings?  $1800 a year.

4.  Cut our grocery budget.
We used to spend $800-$900 a month on groceries, for our family of 6.

This month?  Our budget is $0., and so far, so good.

How we are doing it:  rice, beans, & canned items from my parent’s ample food storage.

My parent’s have enough rice & beans stocked up to feed a family of 4 for at least a good 6 months.  They can’t make a dent in it, so I figured we’d give it a try.  I am amazed at how far a bag of rice goes.  The 30 lb. bag I opened at the beginning of the month looks like we’ve hardly touched it, & we’ve eaten rice every day this month.  I’m now realizing why a good portion of the world subsists on rice–it’s cheap, it’s filling, & despite some to the contrary, it actually does have nutritional value (& I’m not just talking brown rice).

I’ve never wanted to touch our grocery budget.   I see money spent on food as the one splurge in our life.  Good wholesome food, is worth it, I’ve told myself.  But I have to be honest–it’s a BIG splurge.  I admit, I’ve been a bit of a stickler on this point–spend money on high quality, organic (when possible) foods, & whatever extra cost is worth the benefit of better health/longevity.  I’m now realizing that this is not necessarily true.  I fear I’ve bought into a bit of a half-truth.  Yes, it is important to eat wholesome foods.  But I don’t need to spend $800 a month on those foods, & there doesn’t even have to be a great deal of variety to be healthy.

One the best examples of the benefits of simple eating, is from The China Study.   Dr. Campbell points out that the rural Chinese subsist on a simple diet primarily of rice & vegetables & this diet has served them well–heart disease, diabetes, & obesity, among other diseases of the Western world are virtually non-existent.

I’ve known this for a good long while.

Yet, I’m lured by the variety that exists at the supermarket (red quinoa, black forbidden rice, gluten-free flours, cashews, non-dairy ice creams) & I love cooking & trying new recipes.  I’m a sucker for pinning recipes & collecting cookbooks.  But this hobby is expensive (not to mention time consuming) &, is not crucial to my health & well-being.

I thought, what if, what if, we really did just eat very simply?  How low could I get our grocery budget, realistically?

So this month, I decided I would not go grocery shopping.   At all.  And see if I could live off what is in my parent’s food storage.  I cringed at the thought of no fresh fruits & vegetables.  No tofu or daiya cheese.  No Whole Soy yogurt.  No curly kale, oranges, or fresh pineapple.  But we’re doing it.  Half-way into this “experiment” & I’m pleasantly surprised at how simple it is & how not deprived me or my kids feel.

When we move to Texas in December, our new food budget will be $175 & will consist of beans/lentils, oatmeal, rice & potatoes, & a small amount vegetables & fruits & no room for any food splurges (like soy yogurt).

But the payoff?  If we can actually live on $175 a month for food, that would save us $600-$700 a month!

That’s a whopping $7500+ in a years time.

5.  Hold off on buying a second car.
Joseph will need a commuter car as we will not be living on base when we live in San Antonio.  We had budgeted $7500 to buy a reliable used Toyota or Honda, but then decided we could get a reasonable, still in fairly good condition (although higher milage) car, for $4000.  That would save us $3500.  But then my parents offered to let us borrow their Toyota for the next year & a half while they are living in Mexico (they will be serving an LDS mission).  This will save us $7500.

Total Savings:

All in all, these “little” tweeks (a total of $25,400) make a difference of getting out of debt a year earlier (!).

No longer will we have to wait until March of 2015 to be rid of our $61K in debt.

If we can stick with changes, we will be debt-free by March 2014, only 15 months from now.

Yipee!

♥♥♥

Have you ever made hard choices to reduce your spending so you could get out of debt or save for something you wanted?

The post Cutting the Grocery Budget & Debt-free a Year Sooner appeared first on Bring Joy.

I’m over at Beth’s (of Tasty Yummies) today sharing this recipe as part of her Very Tasty Thanksgiving series.

Check it out & bookmark her site for lots of yummy (dairy-free & gluten-free) Thanksgiving recipes.

Hope you have a lovely weekend, I’ll be back here on Monday to share all of my favorite links & finds from this past week. See you then!

The post A very tasty Thanksgiving: Clementine Ginger Almond Rice appeared first on Bring Joy.