The holidays are over and dad is doing somewhat better. I am really hoping to get back to a regular routine with this blog. I feel like such a slacker. Thanks again for your patience.

Great Post On Real Foods

I guess I am not in the mood to write my own posts today. I just ran across a great post at The Suburban Jungle called "Cheap Food Is Not Good Food."

She really managed to capture a lot of what I have tried to say in other posts about eating real food. It is worth the read.

Cute Homemade Gift Ideas

I have not had a lot of time to post the last several days, but I thought I would leave you with a link to some really cute last minute gift ideas. I love the fact that these are useful and can be made with healthy ingredients.

You can go to the Domino sugar website for some recipes for...

Sugar scrubs
Edible ornaments
Gifts in a jar
Food gifts

A lot of these come with printable gift tags.

Thanks Heavenly Homemaker for pointing out this site.

Hot Toy Deal

I don't ordinarily post on toy deals, but I thought this one was worth mentioning. Right now you can go to deepdiscount.com and order a skateboard plug and play for $7.49 shipped! The full price on these at amazon is $54.

You can go to deepdicount.com and search for the toy. It will say it is $14.99. At check out enter code 23017 to get 50% off.

Don't forget to shop through Ebates to receive 2.5% cash back on your purchases.

Thanks She Saved

Baby Steps To A Healthier Lifestyle: Homemade Body Care

After posting the deal on coconut oil last week I had several requests for body care recipes using this oil. So today in our baby step to healthier living series I am going to concentrate on healthy body care items with recipes for deodorant and diaper rash cream. I found both of these recipes from Lindsay's site Passionate Homemaking. She LOVES coconut oil and uses it for just about everything. I have found a couple of her recipes that I really do think work.

Up first is homemade deodorant. It takes 3 ingredients and seems to work really well. My husband is a man who uses deodorant several times a day and I can not stand the smell of the canned stuff when he gets into bed at night. I asked him to try my homemade stuff. At first he was a little unsure, but after having used it for several months now he really likes it. It does not have a scent and it keeps him from being stinky as well. The other perk is that it lasts a really long time.

Here is the recipe...
5-6 Tablespoons coconut oil
1/4 cup arrowroot flour (or cornstarch)
1/4 cup baking sodaMix everything together in a bowl. You may have to warm the oil a bit to get everything to mix. It will become solid again as it cools. You can then either leave the mixture in a bowl and apply with your fingers or place it in an empty deodorant container and apply that way.

As you can see my husband left his in the bowl and has dug out an interesting pattern. You can use your fingers to warm it up a bit and then apply.

The next recipe I would like to share is for natural diaper rash cream. I have not had a chance to try this one out, but I am planning to soon. I did not have any shea butter or I would have taken some pictures for you. If you are interested in pictures you can check them out here.

Diaper Rash Cream

1/8 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup raw shea butter
1/4 cup arrowroot or cornstarch (not talc)

Combine all ingredients until you get the desired consistency and apply as normal.

We have used just coconut on my son's diaper rash before with good luck. I am sure this recipe would be even better. Coconut oil is a natural anti fungal which is nice when it comes to diaper rash.

If you would prefer to order your coconut oil and shea butter you can find it at Mountain Rose Herb.

Let me know if anyone tries these recipes and what you think. From what I hear coconut oil is also a great moisturizer for the hands and face as well. Isn't it amazing how the Lord provides us with such a great multipurpose oil? Who needs to buy lots of different products?

Menu Plan Dec 13-19

It has been a really busy weekend. I am hoping to get a post up on making diaper rash cream and deodarant by Tuesday. Until then here is what we will be eating this week. I think I am stuck in a rut and need some new inspiration for out meals. It does not help that I have a very picky 4 year old who will only eat the same things over and over again. I have told my husband that I would love to try going all vegetarian for awhile, but I don't think the kids would like it.

Things are very basic and I will be adding fruits and veggies to most meals.

Breakfasts
Not too sure yet. The kids are not big breakfast eaters. We will see how things go. Can you tell I am very tired?

Lunch
Out for husband's birthday
Turkey sandwiches
PB and J again!
Bean burritos again
Turkey sandwiches
Annies mac and cheese with locally made hot dogs
Leftovers

Dinner
Dinner with family then walking to see Christmas lights
My parent's house
Veggie soup with homemade bread
Cornbread with chicken and rice from crock pot
Pumpkin ravioli
Homemade calzones
Leftovers

Maybe next week I will try a little harder to make things a little more exciting around here.

Grocery Totals For This Week

I spent WAY more then I usually do this week. We were running low on a lot of things and I decided to just have a stock up week. I also only bought bananas and eggs for our groceries last week. Hopefully I will only have to buy essentials for the rest of the month.

I did not manage to get pictures this week. Things got put away before I had a chance.

I went to the store several times this week because I kept forgetting things (pregnant brain) or parties would pop up. Ordinarily I try to use what I have on hand, but since it is Christmas I bought some special things.

Dillons

Natures One Bread $2.29
Deli Cheese $1.62
Deli Turkey $2.74
Organge Juice $1
Pillsbury Frosting (Preschool 1/2 birthday) $1.32
Childrens Tylenol $4.79
Can Pear $1.09
Jar unsweetened applesauce $1.39
Raisins $2.19
Bananas $.87
Can Peaches $1.09
Can Oranges $.87
2 Avocados $1.76
Motts Apple Juice $1.99
2 Kroger Marshmellows (Preschool) $3
Kroger Rice Cereal (Preschool, Have you figured out what I made yet?) $1.89

Total $32.73 2 cranky kids = no coupons and lots of quick buys

Dillons (Again)

2 Boxes Annie's Cereal $2.24 each
- 2 $1/1 coupons here
Total $1.24 each

Total Spent $2.76

Dillons (3rd Trip of the week)

I seem to have lost this receipt so I am not sure what I bought or the totals. This trip was to use up some coupons. The highlights were

2 Annies Mac and Cheese $1 -$.50/1 = FREE
5 Boxes Fruitabu clearanced to $2.24 each -$1/1 peelie = $1.24 each
Kroger bagged salad $.99 - $1/1 coupon = FREE

Total Spent around $20


Green Acres
5 Boxes Back To Nature Cracker $2.19 each
- 5 $1/1 coupons here
Total $1.19 each

2 Spectrum Coconut Oil $6.49 and $7.99 each
-2 $3/1 coupon here
Total $3.49 and $4.99 (Before I found the deal at Kroger)

3 Bags Rudi's Organic Bread and Hot Dog Buns Clearance $.99 each
I later found $.75/1 coupons which would have made them $.24 each UGH! Always look around the store for hidden coupons

5 Cans Muir Glen Tomato Sauce $1.15 each
-$1/1 coupon
Total $.15 each!

Total Spent $27.71
Total saved not including clearance prices $38.12

2nd Green Acres Run

5 Muir Glen Tomato Sauce $1.15 each
-$1/1 coupon
Total $.15 each

3 marked down yogurts $.59 each

Total Spent $2.99
Total Saved $5 plus mark downs

Aldi

6 pounds of oranges $2.58
3 pounds onions $.49
2 Grapefruit $.58
Cream Cheese $.79

Total Spent $4.72

Walmart

Natural PB $2.36
Can Great Northern Beans $.88
Pouch Wild Salmon $1.07
YoBaby Meal $1.00
Can Evap Milk $.98
2 Cream Cheese $2.16
Tortilla Chips $1.50
White Flour (Cookies for family) $1.58

Total Spent $12.??

Total spent for the week $102.91 YIKES! Hopfully next time I can stream line things a bit more and spend less. Oh well. The holidays will do that sometimes.

Origins 20% Off Plus FREE Shipping

I mentioned yesterday that Origins has free shipping until December 18th. Today I was told that they are offering a 20% off coupon as well!

At check out put in this coupon code to receive 20% off. DecFF
You should be able to get FREE shipping with any order.
Don't forget to shop through Ebates to receive an additional 5% cash back.

Thanks Organic Deals and Coupons.

Spectrum Organic Coconut Oil $2.99!

I love coconut oil for its health benefits, but it is often very expensive. I was very excited when I noticed that Dillons (Kroger) had 14 oz jars on sale for $5.99. When you use this $3/1 coupon you can get it for $2.99!

Remember you can hit the back button on bricks coupons to get a second coupon. Use more then 1 computer and you can get lots of organic coconut oil for a great stock up price.

I have got to remember to do a post on making your own deodorant, diaper rash cream, and aftershave lotion using coconut oil. It has so many uses besides just cooking.

Healthy, Yummy Holiday Cooking

This afternoon I decided the kids and I needed to try and get in the holiday spirit after the rough last couple of weeks we have had. I am not sure what I was thinking trying to cook with a 2 and 4 year old, but we ended up having fun and making some yummy food. The cookies are still baking and the fudge is setting up. When I have it all finished I will try and get some pictures.

Here are the recipes we used...

Orange Cream Cheese Sugar Cookies
Peanut Butter Honey Fudge
Chocolate Fudge

Everything turned out really yummy considering they used mostly organic and whole ingredients. We decided we liked the peanut butter fudge the best. The chocolate was good, but a little bit bitter. They do taste a little different since they call for honey instead of sugar, but they are much better for you.

Dillons (Kroger) Deals Dec. 9-15

I did not notice anything too exciting in this weeks ad. I may have a chance to check things out personally later this week. I will try to keep this updated as I find things. As usual I will post about only natural and organic whole foods. There are lots of great coupon match ups for other processed foods if you are interested.

One item I did notice while shopping Tuesday was that my local store is having a closeout on all Annie's cereal. They were all marked down to $2.50. You can use the $.50/1 here or the $1/1 to get these for $1.50 each. Not bad for cereal that is typically around $4-5 a box.

Butter $1.88

Annies Mac and Cheese if still on sale for $1
-$.50/1 coupon here
FREE

Kroger Cheese $1.88

Horizon Milk Singles $1

Green Giant Steamers 3/$5
-$.50/1 here
Total $.67 each

Kroger canned veggies 5/$3

Avocados $.88

Salad and baby carrots 2/$5

Food For Thought Grocery Deals

I am finally getting around to posting the best deals I find for local health food stores. I went to the Food For Thought website and discovered that they have a blog with all the best deals and coupon match ups already done! Yippee That means all I have to do each month is let you know what I think the best deals are. I will also link directly to them so you can check them out for yourselves. Make sure to check their blog often. It appears they are keeping it well updated with their sales.

Most of these coupons are found from coupon books at the front of the store-Healthy Clippings and Mambo Sprouts. You can also print some of them at the Mambo Spouts website.

I love to go to this store and look at all the clearance items to have and see if I can score some good deals. (Organic chicken broth for $.29!) If you get a chance to go make sure you check out their last chance freezer. Last month I found some Ians chicken nuggets marked down.

Here are the best deals I saw...

Frontier Organic Vanilla on sale for $6.79
-$1/1 Mambo Sprouts coupon (found in store)
Total $5.79

Woodstock Farms Organic Sugar $2.99
-$1/1 Mambo Spouts Coupon
Total $1.99

Cascadian Farms Frozen Veggies $2.89
-$1/1 Healthy Clippings coupon (found in store)
Total $1.89

Origins FREE Shipping With Any Order

If you like Origins now would be the time to order. From now until December 18th they are offering FREE shipping with ANY order. I will look around and see if I can find any other coupon codes to go along with it.

Don't forget that if you shop through Ebates you can get 5% cash back on your order. That would make for an even better deal. If you are new to Ebates you will get $5 just for signing up. Combine that with the 5% cash back and free shipping for a pretty sweet deal on organic body care.

Thanks For The Input

Thank you to all of you who left comments concerning my question about continuing my healthy lifestyle series. You are all so kind to be concerned about me and my family.

It appears that everyone likes the series and wants to see it continue. I plan to start back up with it early next week. I may not be able to get daily posts up for the series. I am planning to shoot for a couple times a week.

I will also continue posting organic and natural deals as I find them and as time permits. It has been a little tough on me to have a brand new blog that I am trying to get off the ground and then have something happen that causes me to have to slow way down with posts. Thanks again for your continued support.

Easy "Ice cream"

I did not manage to get a picture of this recipe, but there was not too much to show you. I read in Vegetarian Times yesterday that you can put a tub of yogurt into your ice cream maker and have frozen yogurt.

I decided to give this a try for breakfast this morning. Imagine my kids surprise when I told them we were having "ice cream" for breakfast. All I did was open a tub of vanilla yogurt and toss it into my ice cream maker. 20 minutes later we had fresh frozen yogurt. It was really good. The only problem was my kids decided it was a bit too cold today for ice cream (15 degrees outside).

You could easily top this with some fresh fruit, nuts, or granola and have a really healthy treat for breakfast or any time of the day.

Question For The Readers

Is anyone interested in me continuing the transitioning to healthier lifestyle series? It is a lot of work, but if there is enough interest I will be happy to continue it.

Do you like to see posts like the healthy lifestyle series or mostly posts on where to find the best deals?

I want to make this blog user friendly and make sure that I am posting things that you are most interested in.

Thanks for your help.

Easy Meal Plan Systems

If you are like me you sometimes struggle when it comes to making out your weekly or monthly meal plan. I often feel like I get stuck in a rut. If you have these problems I have 2 new websites for you to try out to help alleviate this problem.
E-Mealz.com is a company that charges only $5 per month to allow you to download a weekly menu with a complete grocery list. I like this site because you can choose from vegetarian and other specialty diets. They also have menu plans that can be purchased from certain grocery stores such as Kroger. I thought these could be helpful to give me new ideas. I realize that these menus are not organic or all natural, but you could easily adjust them to fit your lifestyle.

The second site I have found to be very useful is Once A Month Mom. She gives you a list of groceries that go with the store sales that you can be purchasing the month before you will need them. You can then download one months worth of menu plans along with grocery lists, recipes, and exact cooking instructions.

Hopefully you can find these sites helpful as you plan your next menu.

Dave Ramsey Books and CDs $10 Today

My husband and I have been using Dave Ramsey's plan to get out of debt for about a year now and I can not say enough good things about it. For example after putting his plan into action we were able to pay our Saturn Vue down from about $12,500 to $0 in 8 months! This was on just my husband's salary. Things have slowed down a bit on our debt snowball due to some pay cuts, but we are able to still put some money away. Before starting the Dave Ramsey plan we would have been in trouble with our pay cuts, but praise the Lord we know that this in only temporary and we will be able to raise our income again.

If you could use some encouragement or would like to look into buying some of Dave's products today is the day to do it. 46 of his most popular products are only $10 or less today. Go here to take a look. You will not be sorry.

Vegetarian Times Magazine Subscription $3.99

Today only you can get a 1 year subscription to Vegetarian Times for $3.99! I have been getting this magazine for a couple of months now and I really like it. They often have recipes that take 30 minutes or less and require ingredients you should already have.

Here is how to get it...
Go here and find the magazine you want.
Check out with code PXCJ1213 to take an additional 15% off.

Thanks The Thrifty Mom

Menu Plan December 6-12

I don't have anything too exciting planned this week. I am just trying to keep within budget this month and make healthy yet frugal meals. Here is what I came up with.

Breakfasts

Breakfast cake, fresh juice

Green smoothies

Eggs and toast, fruit or fresh juice

Maybe homemade cinnamon rolls, fruit

Lunches

Family lunch

Pb and J rollups, carrots

Rice, chicken and a veggie

Bean burritos with homemade tortillas, corn, fruit

Pumpkin or sweet potato pancakes, fresh fruit

Stacked quesadillas, salad

Leftovers

Dinners

Frozen pizza and pineapple (movie night with the kids. I sent my husband for dinner)

Burgers, oven fries

Apple, chicken wraps with homemade tortillas, salad

Beans, rice, beef, and veggies

Chicken fried rice with veggies

leftovers.

Green Acres December Deals

I am going to try and get back into the swing of things here. Things have been quite rough with my dad this last week. Hopefully soon I will get things back to normal and regular posts.

Here are the best deals I see for our local health food store, Green Acres. I believe they also have a store in Kansas City.

Annie's Classic Saltines 20% off

-$.50/1 here

Total ?

Cascade Fresh Sour Cream 16 oz

$1.99

Tazo Tea $2.99

I think there was a recent coupon in the inserts, but I can not find out when.

Cascadian Farms Boxed Veggies $2.69

-$1/1 here of $1/1 from in store coupon book (Healthy Clippings, also can be found at Food For Thought)

Total $1.69

Stacy's Bagel Chips $1.99

- $1/1 from 11/15 Smart Source

Total $.99

Spectrum Coconut Oil 14 oz $7.99

-$3/1 coupon here

Total $4.99 Great price for organic coconut oil

Back To Nature Crackers $2.19

-1/1 here

Total $1.19

Organic Avocados $.99 each

Whole Pineapple $2.99 each