I was thinking of a way to use the berries we have on hand, and this recipe came to mind!
My friend Ana brought Berries Romanoff over for dessert the last time we had a potluck, and it’s now become a staple in our house. This is a variation on the original recipe, which calls for orange zest and Grand Marnier liqueur. This version is much more kid-friendly.
This is a quick, easy dessert that even kids love.
Ingredients:
6 Cups berries- Raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, boysenberries, mulberries, and pitted halved cherries are all good choices.
1 cup thawed Cool Whip (or make whipped cream from scratch if you feel motivated)
1/2 cup Sour Cream
1 T. orange juice
1 tsp. brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. orange zest
Directions:
Divide the berries into 6 dessert bowls, set aside.
In a mixing bowl, combine the remaining ingredients.
Spoon mixture over the top of the berries and serve.
The mixture keeps in the fridge for 3-4 days, but once you taste it, you won’t be able to stop eating it. It’s really good.
Did you know that September is Hunger Action Month?
Recently I wrote about Porchlight Community Services. This month, they are offering a $5.00 discount on their weekly food share when you mention that you saw this article on my website!
The prices are very reasonable:
Seniors / Individual- $15
Family (Small)- $25
Family (6+)-$35
On average, you will go home with over $100 worth of food each week. And if you have food allergies or a special diet, just let them know and they will be happy to accommodate you as best they can!
In case you were curious, here is a sneak peek of just a few of the types of items they frequently have:
Cow’s milk, non-dairy milk, eggs, cheese, yogurt, lunch meats, juice, lemonade- WOW! And that is just a small sample, there are fruits, veggies, frozen food, shelf-stable/pantry items, baked goods… You Name It!
SavingStar has some awesome new rebates available.
If you are new to SavingStar, it’s different from traditional couponing!
What makes SavingStar different is that you don’t receive money off at the register. The savings in held in your SavingStar account, and once you reach at least $20.00 in savings you can transfer it to your Paypal Account or donate your savings to charity!
SavingStar is the first national, fully digital, grocery eCoupon service, available for free at www.savingstar.com and on iPhone and Android mobile apps. There’s nothing to clip, nothing to print. Chose offers, shop, and save! SavingStar is currently available at over 70,000 locations!
Our out of town guests left this morning, so we are back to meal planning! And school starts on Wednesday for the big kid, so I’ll be doing shopping for school lunches this week with part of the grocery budget.
I’ve gotten a pretty good inventory of the pantry, freezer, and fridge done, so I’m able to plan meals and use up what we’ve got with little waste. If you are looking for kitchen inventory printable, I like the kitchen inventories here. They are great printables.
You may notice a lot of plant-based meals- We are not vegetarian, but I am trying to get more veggies into our diet. I do a lot of cooking from scratch- I find it easier to get veggies and fruit into recipes that I can have 100% control over.
I only post our dinner plans for the week, because our other meals are usually the same each day:
Breakfast: Coffee with heavy cream for me, and pancakes or something along those lines for the kids (they love the Kodiak Cakes Mix). I also keep sandwich Ziploc bags of other frozen fruit on hand to make the kids smoothies when they request them (a few times per week). Berries, peaches, and mangos are pretty popular.
Lunches are leftovers, salads, or soups for me. The kids will be enjoying free lunches all over the county with free activities and playtime before or after lunch.
For dinner, when we’ve got busy days (like Mondays), I’ll try and put something in the crockpot (I am picking up my new crockpot this week) in the morning, or pull something I’ve already prepped out that can be quickly cooked.
Monday: Chicken Noodle Soup- I found a container of it in the freezer last night and defrosted it! We’ve got leftover fruit salad in the fridge too. I may also make grilled cheese sandwiches too.
Tuesday: Spaghetti with leftover Veggie Loaded Meat Sauce (also found in the freezer), garlic bread, salad
Wednesday: Veggie Korma – I found a Korma Kit at Grocery Outlet not long ago, so I’m making a big batch (there will be enough for at least 1 more meal)
Thursday: Breakfast for dinner-Poached Eggs, bacon, fruit salad
Friday: Date Night
Saturday: Homemade Pizza Night
Sunday: Leftover night
Talk Back: What are you planning to cook this week?
For those of you who have read my blog for a while, you know that food insecurity is a cause near and dear to my heart.
In San Diego County, one in seven families experience food insecurity. Food insecurity means you’re not sure where your next healthy, nutritious meal is coming from. It means you probably don’t have extra cans in your cupboard, or that you need to be more than just a little creative when it comes to cooking that a few days before payday.
Food insecurity is an issue that I feel very strongly about. No one should be hungry, and no one should have to eat mass-produced, poorly made, food devoid of nutritional just to fill their belly. Quality, nutritious food should be available to anyone and everyone at an affordable price.
That is one reason I am so excited to share with you today about an awesome organization in Linda Vista called Porchlight Community Services.
Porchlight Community Services is different from a lot of other food organizations in that they are a food rescue organization. They work with produce distributors, grocery stores, and bakery to rescue food that is otherwise destined for the dumpster.
Next time you’re at the grocery store take a look at all the fruit, all the produce, all the baked goods. The likelihood of all of those items will sell before their pull date is slim.
So when items are pulled off the shelf prior to their expiration date, they are frequently thrown in the trash. That trash heads to the landfill. Grocery store, bakeries, food distributors do not compost their unwanted food. Food rescue agencies like Porchlight Community Services pick up the food (that is still good, by the way, pull dates are usually arbitrary, and only affect the appearance of the food, not it’s quality or viability). They then take the food back to their offices where it is gone over to make sure that it is still quality, and edible. And it is been distributed to families who support Porchlight Community Servicesmission.
Produce that can not be distributed (it’s leftover at the end of the event), is often donated to neighbors with animals, or local animal organizations. Once again, eliminating food waste and helping others,
Porchlight Community Services is not your average food bank or pull date co-op. There is no minimum or maximum amount of money your family needs to make to participate. Some people who shop at Porchlight do so because they believe in the mission of keeping food out of landfills (like my family- it hurts my heart to see perfectly good food go to waste). Some people go to Porchlight Community Services because they are in need of wholesome nutritious groceries that fit a specialized diet (like Gluten-free or Dairy-free) but can’t afford to shell out money every week or two for the costly groceries at a mainstream grocery store. Some people are in a tight spot and need to stretch what little money they have until payday.
An example of past food items available
Distributions are usually held weekly. You can find out about upcoming events here on their website, or follow them on Facebook.
All funds that are raised go towards paying rent and utilities- to keep the Mission of feeding others going.
If you are interested in helping Porchlight Community Services, they are always looking for volunteers to help unload food as it comes in on distribution days, organize and stock shelves, refrigerators, and freezers.
They also need help volunteering with event prep- setting up tables and bins.
This might be a good opportunity for girl scout troops or other civic organizations! Contact Porchlight Community Serviceshere to find out about more volunteer opportunities.
I mentioned in the Weekly Meal Plan post yesterday that it’s going to be a hot one this week. Ugh.
That means lots of time swimming and lots of time at the YMCA enjoying their AC and doing fun activities- Big Kid just did the fitness orientation and he is excited to start exercising. Mostly he wants to take boxing classes with me on Saturdays.
All that activity requires good, healthy fuel, and I do not want to fire up the stove or oven when it’s over 90 outside.
Here are a few of my favorite recipes to serve when it’s hot outside!
Protein Shake Recipes! Big Kid has really taken to protein shakes in the morning, since he’s a vegetarian and doesn’t really do eggs either (It’s a texture thing). The trainer that did the orientation really drove home that he needs to fuel his body with protein on mornings when he works out- which I really appreciated because for some reason, he’ll listen when someone else tells him the EXACT THING his dad and I have been telling him. C’MON KID!!
As you can tell there are a lot of dessert recipes. Because, really, who doesn’t like dessert?
The past week has been crazy! Running around, having adventures, trying to beat the heat. This week I’m trying to finish up a couple pieces, get some new content researched, and get the house ready for out of town guests who arrive early next week. If you’ve got kids, you feel me on the “It takes a week to get your house ready” vibe.
I’ve gotten a pretty good inventory of the pantry, freezer, and fridge done, so I’m able to plan meals and use up what we’ve got with little waste. If you are looking for kitchen inventory printable, I like the kitchen inventories here. They are great printables.
You may notice a lot of plant-based meals- We are not vegetarian, but I am trying to get more veggies into our diet. I do a lot of cooking from scratch- I find it easier to get veggies and fruit into recipes that I can have 100% control over.
I only post our dinner plans for the week, because our other meals are usually the same each day:
Breakfast: Coffee with heavy cream for me, and pancakes or something along those lines for the kids (they love the Kodiak Cakes Mix). I also keep sandwich Ziploc bags of other frozen fruit on hand to make the kids smoothies when they request them (a few times per week). Berries, peaches, and mangos are pretty popular.
Lunches are leftovers, salads, or soups for me. The kids will be enjoying free lunches all over the county with free activities and playtime before or after lunch.
For dinner, when we’ve got busy days (like Mondays), I’ll try and put something in the crockpot (I am picking up my new crockpot this week) in the morning, or pull something I’ve already prepped out that can be quickly cooked.
Monday: I won’t lie.. We went to Costco and had pizza and churros.
Tuesday: Leftover Night- There is leftover Spanish Rice, Beans, chicken breasts and salad lurking in the fridge.
Chatting with a friend via Insta yesterday, we were lamenting the “OMG DO THEY EVER STOP EATING!!” of summer vacation.
I’ve never begrudged my kids snackies when they are hungry, but seriously, on days when we are at home, building Legos and watching movies- THEY EAT ALL DAY. I can’t let them rummage through the cupboard and eat whatever, so I started the snack box (for the pantry) and snack drawer (in the fridge).
We’ve had “The snack box” and the “snack drawer” in our kitchen for about 2 years now. In the cupboard, I’ve got a basket like this one. It’s full of various types of treats and snacks. Instead of buying individually bagged treats, I often buy a box of whatever (in the photo below it’s animal crackers) and divide the large box into snack-sized Ziploc bags). It just depends on what is available at Grocery Outlet and 99 Cents Only on my weekly shopping trip. Those are my go-to snack stores.
The Snack Drawer in the FridgePantry Snack Box- Refilled weekly
The Pantry Snack Box contains shelf-stable stuff: Juice boxes, crackers, chips, dried fruit, fruit snacks, individual Peanut/nut butter cups. I usually tuck a couple bags of microwave popcorn too. Sadly, we have none left. I was informed that I *must* rectify that matter tomorrow.
The Fridge Snack Drawer contains some of the following: Cheese sticks, yogurt, Ziploc bags of fruit or veggies (watermelon wedges, strawberries, grapes, carrots, celery, and jicama are just a few favorites), little cups of hummus, guac, ranch dip (homemade with greek yogurt and ranch dip mix).
The snacks vary by week, and I took these pics today- It’s midweek and they are pretty picked over- I did refill the Pantry Snack Box with stuff from the cupboard. That’s my secret- don’t put it all out at once. I stash the extras in the back of the pantry, where tiny arms can’t reach.
For those who read my blog regularly, you know that my weekly family grocery budget is $80. I spend about $25 of my weekly budget on stuff for the snack box/drawer. Sometimes more, sometimes less. During the school year, the function of these becomes for packing lunches in the morning. The Big Kid doesn’t really like sandwiches, and as he’s a vegetarian he gets most of his protein from nuts/seed butter and dairy sources.
I also keep Go-gurt style tube yogurts in the freezer- Those are mostly for Bitty, Big Kid doesn’t care for yogurt too often.
For the grown-ups, there is a basket in the pantry full of protein and fiber snack bars (Along with other more “grownup” snacks- which are sometimes new snacks that the kids veto after sampling). I get those at Grocery Outlet or 99 Cents Only. Grocery Outlet locations in my area always have a great variety of protein bars, snack bars, and protein cookie (Like these, which are also a hit with the Big Kid, so I have to dole them out) for a lot less than grocery or club stores.
Close-up of the Pantry Snack Box. There is a little bit of something for everyone!
This is how my family keeps everyone fed at home and on budget. I’d love to hear about your family’s ideas to solve this issue.
If you are new to SavingStar, it’s different from traditional couponing!
What makes SavingStar different is that you don’t receive money off at the register. The savings in held in your SavingStar account, and once you reach at least $20.00 in savings you can transfer it to your Paypal Account or donate your savings to charity!
SavingStaris the first national, fully digital, grocery eCoupon service, available for free at www.savingstar.com and on iPhone and Android mobile apps. There’s nothing to clip, nothing to print. Chose offers, shop, and save! SavingStar is currently available at over 70,000 locations!
I was thinking of a way to use the berries we have on hand, and this recipe came to mind!
For those of you who have read my blog for a while, you know that food insecurity is a cause near and dear to my heart.
Hewes Family Fun 