1.26.2013

Food Stars of the Week


Happy Saturday!
This week, I'm happy to announce I've selected MULTIPLE food stars!

#1: Frozen orange juice concentrate.
Okay - here's the deal.
I know fresh orange juice is probably better.
I know squeezing my own orange juice would be even better than that.
Actually, just eating straight-up oranges is really the best of the best.
And I love to do that, too.
But 100% orange juice from frozen concentrate is awesome!
I just discovered it as part of my "Frugal Pastor" adventures.

A little background:
I love orange juice. I mix it with diet lemon soda.
I mix it with vanilla protein powder.
And I always add water so it has less calories per serving.

Orange juice is not particularly cheap a lot of the time.
I saw an advertisement for a gallon of OJ on sale for $6.08 at Walmart.

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Well guess what, I could make a gallon of OJ with two frozen concentrates for a total of $2.60!
MAJOR SAVINGS.  And it's delicious.  I even trick myself by putting in into the plastic bottle of my old favorite variety of OJ.  I think it tastes almost exactly the same.
And one container is $1.29 at ALDI.

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I was skeptical. But now I'm converted.

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The ingredients and nutrients look pretty legit, huh? I think so!
Orange juice, water, pulp.
And 160% Vitamin C per serving.

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Look! You can't even tell there's frozen concentrate OJ in there!

#2: My other food star this week: KALE!

And a super quick, easy way to eat it?
Kale chips!
Ingredients: kale, salt, olive oil.

Pre-heat oven to 375.
Put the kale leaves on a baking sheet.
Drizzle olive oil lightly over the pan.
Sprinkle on salt.
Bake!
Check them at 10, 15, and 20 minutes.
Stop cooking whenever they get to the texture you prefer.
These leaves make for a super tasty, healthy snack.
But they are really crunchy and messy to eat, so I eat them right over the sink.
Some people like to break the leaves up into little pieces and then bake them.
That works great, too!

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And a bonus "Weird Emily Snack"....

Potato and refried beans!

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I got a 10 pound bag of potatoes for $1.29 last week at ALDI! Can you even believe that? I've pretty much told everyone in the universe. Such a deal. So I have been eating plenty of potatoes. Here is an easy trick. Cut them up in thin slices. Coat with a little bit of olive oil, salt, and pepper. And then bake on a cookie sheet for about 30 minutes at 400 degrees.

Then I like to add about 1/3 or 1/2 a can of refried beans on top (which are super easy to warm up in the microwave)! And salsa! SO YUMMY. And not totally unhealthy. You could also add some tomato, lettuce, black olives, and avocado, too!

As always: please share your favorite food stars and grocery deals!

And be sure to read my friend Kaitlin's column "Cart Smarts" in the Post-Bulletin each week.
She is a dietitian for Hy-Vee and her column is top-notch: helpful and fun, with great recipes, too!

2 comments:

  1. Oh yay! Thanks so much for the shout-out!! I was going to write something snotty about all your advertising for ALDI but now all I can say is THANK YOU! :)

    ReplyDelete