Hot Cocoa from Scratch

Sometimes it's more fun to make things from scratch rather than just tearing open a pre made pack. 

Can't beat hot cocoa on a rainy day, so here's what we made. 

Mix 

1 cup vanilla almond milk

1 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp cocoa

dash of salt

Stir until combined in a pot on the stove and hot. 

Enjoy!

Furlough Foodie - Guacamole & Spaghetti Squash

One of the perks of living in Southern California are the avocados. During late summer you can pick up 25 for $5.00 from fruit vendors on the corner. Now that fall is upon us you can still find a couple tasty avocados at the grocery store. This week they're on sale for .69 each. 

This meal is from a favorite blog of mine, Oh She Glows. I was checking out her seasonal recipes and stumbled upon this spaghetti squash recipe.

The government is still shut down, so this is the perfect meal for fall & inexpensive. 

You can find the recipe here.

Cost of the meal?

Spaghetti Squash @ .99/lb......................$ 4.39
Spices - we already had
Tomato - picked from the garden
Avocado @ .69 / each ..........................$ 1.38
Red Onion - we already had
Cilantro - already had a tube
Lime - keep stocked in the frig for my water

Less than $10 for 4 servings. Enjoy! 

Countdown to #9 for Gift Giving Ideas

Sweets. Who doesn't like sweets during the holiday. My only preference is that they don't send you into a sugar coma after having one bite. Recently we checked out Happy Herbivore's from our local library.

In there we found some delicious Strawberry Cupcakes. We added some toasted almonds for a little sprinkle.

Enjoy!

Furlough Foodie

Our family was spared at the 11th hour from this government shutdown. THANK GOODNESS because our "emergency savings" would have only carried us for about a month. Eek! 

We got lucky, but it still has me worried. What if?

Off to find low cost, but still delicious & filling meals. I googled what I had in my frig "carrots, celery, and rice" and this recipe popped up.

I subbed the spinach with kale, chicken bouillon for vegetable, and added two cloves of garlic. Everything gets thrown into the pot & dinner is done in 30 minutes or less. I was a little worried my four year old would wrinkle her nose to the kale so I served it up with some faux chicken nuggets. (faux chicken nuggets? chicken nuggets minus the chicken, but not a lot of ingredients either. Our family tries to maximize plant foods and minimize animal products)

It's creamy enough that I didn't add any butter, but I wish I had a lemon. Next time! 

Enjoy!