Rashel's Cookies

I feel the need to explain why I titled this post Rashel's Cookies - 

I found a cookie recipe on the back of my almond flour bag and decided to try it last week, OH MY WORD!! They turned out to be the best cookies I have had that follow the Trim Healthy Mama plan. EVER!

I posted a picture and the recipe on YouFood and they quickly became known as Rashel's Cookies! So, there ya go - why I titled my post that way.

I did NOT come up with this recipe. I tried to find it online and just link it for you, but I couldn't. 

My brand of almond flour is Baker's Corner and I get it at Aldi.

I give ALL credit to them! 

But I just had to share this recipe with you, because it is FABULOUS and every one needs to have a great, healthy cookie recipe.

2 cups almond flour

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/3 cup erythritol (original recipe called for sugar)

1 large egg

1/2 tsp baking soda

Pinch of salt

1 Tbsp vanilla

1 cup sugar free chocolate chips (original recipe called for dark choc chips)

Preheat oven to 350. 

Mix the almond flour, baking soda, erythritol and salt in a bowl. 

Add the softened butter and mix until blended. 

Add the egg and mix well. 

Fold in the chocolate chips until incorporated. 

Form dough into tablespoon sized balls and bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown. 

These are sooo yummy!!

Enjoy,

Rashel

Why I Stopped Making a Menu Plan

I used to make a menu plan, two weeks at a time to coincide with my grocery days.  But I stopped. 

I know, I know, everyone says to make a menu - it saves you time, it saves you money.

Well, it can but it can also waste a lot of time, for me anyway.

I would spend way too much time going through recipes, deciding what looked good and where it would fit in my week and then make my grocery list based on my menu. 

But do you know what happened, things would come up and we wouldn't follow the menu. Or a certain day and meal would come up and I just really wasn't in the mood for that particular meal that day. It eneded up being a waste of my time. 

So, I found a system that works much better for me.

Azure Standard - I'm totally overwhelmed

I know many bloggers that order from Azure and love it, so I have thought several times that I should check into it. I have to admit, every time I do, I get completely overwhelmed. It may sound silly and honestly, it probably it, but nonetheless, it happens. I am committed to saving money for my family while trying to buy the best food available. There are just so many choices on the website, and trying to figure the prices per oz or lb so I can compare with local costs, just totally boggles my mind. It also takes a lot of time. Does anyone who orders from them have any advice for me? I would truly LOVE to hear from anyone who has ordered and has had good success using them. I love the idea of it, I just have to figure out what is actually a good deal and how to go about it.

Thank you in advance!
Rashel

Monthly Grocery Shopping

I have been working this morning on getting my bedroom more organized. This is the catch all room (everything that doesn't have a home ends up here), it is also my office area, sewing area, scrapbook area. That all equals alot of clutter and not a very relaxing area for me. (or productive office area)  Anyway, I have been working on that and making some progress but at lunch I decided to sit down and read some blogs for a little bit and maybe find some encouragement in my organizing.

I came across a really encouraging blog post at Jabez Farms, although it has nothing to do with organizing my bedroom! She shares her struggles with spending too much at the grocery store and how she decided to start monthly grocery shopping. Her thoughts really encouraged me to reevaluate my own grocery shopping, I currently shop every two weeks and spend $250 for our family of 6. However, I must admit that I usually make a couple stops at a local dollar store in between and spend a little more there. I really need to stop that. I've decided to at least try monthly grocery shopping and see how it works for us. I have always gone every two weeks because that is how hubby gets paid, but I think I can make this work and it will save me a lot of time. I'm still in the early stages of planning this, but I will try to post my plans and my progress as I go. There are some things I still don't know when it comes to how I will do it, but one thing I know for sure, hubby will  love it if I can find another way to money and I will love gaining the hours I would normally spend shopping!

I will post more as I make my plans and I will follow up and let you know how it goes when I shop.  How often do you grocery shop?

Blessings,
Rashel