A Costco junkie in the making

Good afternoon, readers!

Trying to eat well is expensive! It's a fact. Whole, nutritious foods are more expensive than that processed crap. It seems like a good argument for any conspiracy theorist(ie The Mister) to explain that the government wants us fat and sick so we keep the doctors in business. Or something.

Anyways, one of the things most of the blogs I follow agree upon is that Costco is a good place to pick up decently priced organic produce, grass fed meat, and pastured(that's pastured NOT pasteurized) butter/cheese. So today my friend, Amber, invited me on a trip to our local Costco!

Before we went I reread some past blog entries about what was good to pick up at Costco and I made a list. I decided I would be looking for their uncured Canadian bacon, grass fed organic ground beef, frozen wild blueberries, Kerrygold butter and cheese, and some nice produce.

I ended up purchasing the Canadian bacon, ground beef, and asparagus on my list. I felt that I might get a better price at Trader Joe's on the Kerrygold items so I decided to hold of on those items. I also did not purchase the blueberries because I can get the same brand for cheaper at Walmart. My steal of the day was a large 2.5lb bag of dates for $6 and a large container of Himalayan pink sea salt for $3.99! Just 1 lb of dates is around $6.99 at Harris Teeter! I was so excited about my awesome score!

I was sold by this shopping trip. After our move next month, the Mister and I will be getting a Costco membership!


Your moment of awesome:

Image credit: Google Images

 

Margary Vs. The Cuban

Happy Saturday, readers!

As you may or may not already know I have a wheat allergy. If I eat it my limbs swell up like sausages and my joints only allow me to move around like my 92 year old grandma. (I'm 33 by the way) So the solution? I don't eat wheat. Duh. Simple enough, right? And I'm pretty much ok with that. Of course I sometimes miss those wonderful baked goods I enjoyed before discovering a grain free existence. And I usually find a comparable substitute from one of the recipe blogs I follow. But there was no substitute today.

Today my friend, Liz, and I went to a Puerto Rican restaurant for lunch. She is my adventurous food lover friend. The one I can go get Thai, Ethiopian, or Indian food with. For years I have been a connoisseur of the Cuban Sandwich. Ham, roasted pulled pork, cheese, pickles, and mustard on pressed Cuban bread. What's not to love? It is the perfect sandwich.

Now usually when I come across a dish that has a bread component I just ditch it (ie lettuce wrapped burger, turning tacos into taco salad, etc). But with the Cuban you can't do that. You HAVE to have that delicious buttery bread with the grill marks burned into it.

Sigh

I fought hard and almost gave in, but feeling better all the time physically kind of trumps the five minutes of bliss I might have had with that sandwich.

Instead Liz and I shared the most delicious platter of garlic pulled pork shoulder and yuca roasted in garlic butter.

And I gave myself a gold star because six months ago I would've ate the damn sandwich anyways.

What were your triumphs this week?

I'm a winner!

Good afternoon, readers!

No, I'm not trying to give my self esteem a boost. I really did win something!

Most of the Paleo/grain free blogs I follow have giveaways from time to time. Usually to enter you have to like a Facebook page, follow someone on Twitter, or something of that nature. Clean Eats in the Zoo recently reached 4,000 likes on Facebook and was able to offer a giveaway of $25 gift certificates to Tropical Traditions to three lucky readers! And guess what? I was one of the lucky three! I was so excited! Now I get to restock my coconut cream concentrate and coconut oil.

My dream is to one day be able to offer giveaways to you guys. You all are awesome!

There's also a new recipe for Coconut Butter Cookies from Clean Eats that I can't wait to try when my coconut oil comes in! And I know the Mister will be bugging me to make paleOMG's Simple Blueberry Muffins. They are the BOMB!

The best blueberry muffin you will ever eat!

What is your favorite recipe involving coconut?

Hoopla Love

Hello, readers!

I wear many different hats of craftiness. I love to pour resin, play with Sculpey, make coasters out of perler beads, but my first love is cross stitch/embroidery. As I have mentioned before I am a member of Craftster and I participate in many craft swaps. I most recently finished crafting for the Triple Vs. Swap. In this swap there is three partners per group. One sewer, one yarnie, and one hooper. In our questionnaire we were asked to list five possible items we would like to receive from each partner. I was the hooper for this group and I wanted to share with you guys what I made for my partners.

My sewing partner put this on her wishlist. I found the pattern on pinterest and I had seen it done in other colors. She asked specifically for white, brown, and teal. I think it's pretty.

My yarnie partner asked for something geek-like that her husband would like. This is based on an art print by Jose Pulido. Being a major Star Wars fan myself, it was very hard to let this one go!

I hope you enjoy these!

My reappearing act

Hello, readers!

I know I know. I suck. You thought I had abandoned you, right? All I can say is I'm sorry.

Sometimes life gets in the way of writing crafting EVERYTHING!

I've been extremely busy looking for a new job, a new home, working at my current job, and just living. Looking for a new job or home can be extremely difficult and time consuming. Add working a full time job and the job/house that I am looking for will have to be 30-40 minutes away from where I am currently has made me a little all over the place!

But through perseverance, support from the Mister and family/friends, and lots of tears I have found success!

The new job:

A few weeks ago I had the best interview. of. my. life. Have you ever been on an interview and within the first five minutes you knew you were going to nail it? That was me.

The position is for an apprenticeship with a mobile dog groomer. I knew I was a shoe in because I love dogs, I have worked as a veterinary assistant, and I grew up in a grooming salon where my mom worked. The only thing I don't know about grooming is all of the fancy cuts for the breeds. This apprenticeship is on the job where I will shadow a groomer and not have to spend thousands of dollars going to a fancy school. Upon completion I will sign a contract with the company, be given my own grooming van, and be considered an independent contractor. I was offered the position yesterday. I am so excited!

The new house:

A friend of mine from high school had heard I was looking for housing on the Peninsula and informed me that he had a rental he had just renovated. We went to go look at it on Sunday and right then and there decided to take it. The rent, area, and house itself were just too perfect not to pass up! We should be moving sometime in mid March.

I love that everything in our lives is falling into place!

I will leave you with some of the items I recently crafted for a Classic TV swap and a Labyrinth swap. Enjoy!

A hoop of Rosie from The Jetsons

Resin bottle cap magnets of classic TV show couples

An altered box with William the worm from Labyrinth on it.

I textured the box using spray stone to make it look like a

brick and placed some tea inside as a surprise for my swap partner!

Some resin bottle cap magnets of my swap partners

favorite characters.

I'm currently working on a book lovers swap and The Walking Dead swap. Pictures soon!