Sunday 20 December 2009

Groceries and baked goodness

I went to see a naturopath just over a week ago, and she's put me on a diet which excludes sugar, dairy and yeast. Three items which make up most of my favourite foods: anything sweet, cheese, breads & bagels, milk...

What bad timing! I didn't feel I could say "is there anyway I could start this after Christmas?" because the reason I went to see her in the first place is because I'm not feeling healthy. So really I only have myself to blame. It's a modified candida diet and fortunately there were no reactions to wheat and/or gluten, so it means I don't have to cut out pasta, soy products (like Yves Veggie Ground Round) or stuff like that which makes shopping a bit easier. I still have to read the labels, though, because it can't contain any yeast.

Prior to this, I had decided that I was going to do a little baking for Christmas, so I bought like $200 worth of stuff (flour, sugar, butter - SO MUCH BUTTER! - etc.). So I'm baking because I don't want this stuff to go to waste. It's absolute torture because I can't taste anything before I put it in the over or when it comes out. I'm following the recipes word for word and just trusting people to let me know if they like it. So far, I've had two thumbs up, which is a relief as my counter space is very limited which makes a lot of prep work a bit un-motivating.

However, my first official grocery shop was today - I had enough stuff, for the most part, in my fridge and cupboards to be able to get through just over a week of dietary requirements which, quite frankly, surprised me, but there you are.

First, the photo of my glorious haul:



Meats:

Chicken breast: (family pack) $10.73
Bison sirloin: $2.84
Bison sirloin: $2.77
Eye of round: $1.63
Eye of round: $1.36
Pork chops (4 pack): $8.45

Veggies

Carrots: (.385 kg @ $3.73 kg, 4 carrots) $1.44
Broccoli: (.345 kg @ $6.15 kg, crowns) $2.12
Ginger root: (.145 kg @ $15.41 kg) $2.23
Green onions (2 bunches): $1.58
Snap peas: $2.49

Groceries

Falafel mix: $4.29
Linguine: $3.90
Spaghetti sauce x 2: $11.80
Indian "fast food" (Jyoti tins x 2): $8.98
Yves Veggie ground round x 2: $8.58
Hummous: $4.19
Soya mozzarella (melts great, not nearly as bad as it sounds & a great price): $9.98
Wraps (tomato, spinach): $6.98
Simply Egg Egg whites: $3.49
Eggs, 1 doz lrg: $3.38

Other

Cat food x 6 tins @ .79 ea: $4.74

Total: $108.19

Surprisingly good, considering I walked to the local grocery store instead of driving across town, where I would most likely have saved money, but been in line forever. At this time of year, and this last weekend before Christmas I prefer the convenience, empty aisles and slightly higher prices of my local. SuperStore would be absolutely unbearable.

And aside from that, my truck is going to the mechanic on Monday morning. When I was driving her around yesterday, both the oil light AND the charge lights came on, always when I was pulling to a stop, which is very frustrating. When I got home, I opened the hood and saw dirty black oil sprayed over most of the front of the engine, so something is torn or loose or broken there. I'm reluctant to drive her more than I have to now, so as I was going out last night, I asked a friend who was also going if she would be kind enough to pick me up and drop me home.

I added half a litre of oil this morning and that will hopefully get me to town without the engine siezing. Not sure how much it will cost to fix it, but it's necessary, so I'll pay what I need to. The gas pump in the engine is also leaking, so that needs to be fixed, too. My poor old girl. I really need to look at a newer vehicle...

My baking attempt today was Raspberry-Cream Cheese Brownies. They look a bit gruesome, but they smell delicious!



They're going out to Desmond at the mine, along with some cookies I'll make tomorrow. I'm going to attempt these and make these again, as they've been well-recieved over the past several days. Friday morning I was up relatively early and baked one of these for our Christmas pot-luck at work. Mine didn't look light and fluffy like the one in the photo, it was a fair bit denser, but people seemed to like it; very lemon-y, I was told.

These are my new dishes. Fields is going out of business and everything is on sale 10 - 50% off! Not bad. I'm disappointed as it's my go-to bargain store in lieu of Wal-Mart, but what can you do? Of course, it's busier now than it's ever been. I also picked up some baking sheets and loaf pans and may well go back for another look sometime next week. Although I don't need anything...

5 comments:

The Asian Pear said...

That brownie looks AMAZINGLY good.

Good for you to sticking to it. I frankly cannot do the whole diet thing over Christmas. I've given up til New Year. You stick to it though! p'-'q

Anonymous said...

Those dishes are really cute! What a steal. We used to have a fields in my town, but it closed years ago. I used to love going there for random things!

I bought Veggie Ground for the first time during my last grocery shop, but I didn't like it. :( I wish I did. I found it overly spicy! And I even bought original falvour. Hmm...

Good luck on your diet!

Anonymous said...

That brownie looks amazing! I eat very similar types of foods, loads of hummus and falafel, veggies etc. I'm sure you'll notice a difference!

MW said...

Good luck at the mechanics on Monday!

Mary said...

You're a better person than I! My biggest challenge is balancing my love of cooking and baking with my body's need to eat less. Usually I eat it, promising to start being better "tomorrow". good luck!