Goal: $100
Actual: $153.76

Aaaand. I’m back to being over budget. Why does it feel like this time around it has been more an exercise of how much I can go over versus sticking with any semblance of a budget?!

I may up the budget to $125 and call it a day. I may still be over, but I think that’s truly a better reflection of what we buy and eat each week.

This week was a bit of a make-up week. Since we didn’t spend anything last week and the trip will be able to stretch for almost 2 weeks, I’m not so disappointed.

It also saw the purchase of some bigger ticket items like coffee for The Hubster, and vanilla extract (all that chocamole has taken a toll on the extract). As well as some new finds like Special Dark Hershey’s chocolate powder (to die for) and copious amounts of cheese for Eggplant Parmesan (for The Hubster, he made it and ate it all by his lonesome).

How did you do this week? What insights did you have on the budgeting?

Project: Food Budget

I’m excited to report that I have some great company on my Project: Food Budget challenge. Please check out these wonderful blogs, and give them support as they take on this challenge.

All have different budgets, number of mouths to feed, and food preferences (veggie + meat eating). And yet, all have a common goal of saving money and making better choices when it comes to the food we put on our table.

Want to get on board? Fabulous. (Now go here.)

Participating blogs:

• Dairy-Free Cooking
• Test Kitchen Tuesday
• Red Pen Mama
• Fit Flexitarian
• Warm As Pie
• Katy Rank Lev
• xox, b
• Project Food Budget 2.0
• That’s Just Me
• Two Eggs Over Easy
• Eat Whole Be Vital
• Four Happy Violets
• Pgh Dad
• yogabeautylife
• Charmingly Modern
• naMAMAste
• Six Dollars a Day
• What da Health?
• Brandon and On
• French Press
• Veggie Meal Maker
• Eryn Says…

I’m not sure where the inspiration hit for a big pot of minestrone. But it hit hard.

Maybe it was the bounty of fresh veggies that are called for. Or the fact that it’s an incredibly low-maintenance kind of meal (my favorite).

Whatever it was, this minestrone is the perfect mid-week treat.

Pairing it with your favorite (hummus) sammich should be thought of as a major bonus.

You can thank The Hubster for that gem. It was his idea.

Did I mention it’s low-maintenance? Seriously, it takes 20 minutes from start to finish.

I was able to make it and eat it in the hour I had between finishing up a project and teaching a spicy social media class.

And for those of you that can’t do tomatoes (or gluten), may I suggest a delicious quinoa minestrone instead?

Magical Minstrone

Ingredients:

• 1-2 tbs olive oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 large carrot, peeled and chopped
• 2 celery stalks, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• dash cayenne pepper (optional)
• 1 (28-oz) can diced tomatoes
• 1 cup green beans, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
• 2 cups vegetable broth
• 2 cups water
• 1 cup whole wheat pasta
• 1 cup packed spinach
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a 6-quart pot over medium heat.
2. Add onion, and cook for 2-3 minutes.
3. Add carrot, celery, garlic and cayenne pepper. Saute vegetables are slightly tender, about 3 min.
4. Add tomatoes, green beans, broth, water, and pasta and bring to a boil.
5. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, until pasta is tender, about 10 min.
6. Stir in spinach.
7. Serve hot!

For your reference:
This recipe is vegetarian and vegan. It is also dairy free, soy free, corn free, egg free, cinnamon free, and contains no MSG. It can also be made wheat free and gluten free, depending on choice for pasta.

When I got an email about this event, I almost fell out of my chair from excitement.

I mean, any event that combines my love of dumplings with The Hubster’s love of craft beer is an epic success in my eyes.

Pittsburgh will the 7th stop on the Food Experiments National Tour sponsored by Brooklyn Brewery.

As Theo Peck, the event’s co-founder, put it:

What would be a better epic adventure than competing or attending a Food Experiment. Our goal is to create a community of fun foodies, where you leave the event with more friends than you had that morning.

The prizes are awesome (Le Creuset! Anolon! Microplane! and Wusthof knives!) and competitors are given a $50 Giant Eagle Gift Card to buy all of the necessary ingredients.

The official details:

Date: Sunday, May 20th, 2012
Time: 2pm – 5pm
Location: Mr. Smalls (400 Lincoln Ave, Millvale, PA 15209)
Tickets: $10 – includes a Brooklyn Brewery pint and a plethora of culinary delights. Half of the ticket proceeds will go towards charities that promote sustainability and local culinary education for disadvantaged children and teens.

To be one of the cheftestants, register here:
http://thefoodexperiments.wufoo.com/forms/the-pittsburgh-dumpling-experiment/

To buy tickets:
https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/245860

But, wait. It gets better!

Oh, yes. It does.

I get to give away a pair of tickets to one lucky soul. Leave a comment below with either your favorite Brooklyn Brewery libation or your favorite dumpling of all time OR both.

You can always tweet the crap out of this giveaway for extra entries. That’s right. Plural. Every tweet that contains a link to this here giveaway plus @emilylevenson is another entry.

So tweet away, kimosabi. Tweet away.

Contest official ends on Thursday, March 17th at midnight. Winner will be announced on Friday, March 18th.

Week 31

Goal: $100
Actual: $126.47

Week 32

Goal: $100
Actual: $0

I was hoping to be able to take it easy with the budget last week (Week 31), but clearly that wasn’t in the cards. And while it might not look like that much over, it’s a good amount over following a major stock-up over the previous two weeks.

The main reason for the overage: The Hubster was on a strict low fiber diet, meaning we had to get totally different food in the house.

Side note: it’s amazing how difficult it is to do low fiber on a vegetarian diet! He literally ate white pasta with tomato sauce, pizza, grilled cheese on white bread, bagels, white rice, and ice cream for a solid week. What he wasn’t able to eat: beans, legumes, vegetables, whole grains, or fruit.

This week (Week 32) we caught a bit of a break. Hoping I can stave off a trip until Monday. Though, may not be able to wait. Fresh produce is a necessity in our house.

How did you do this week? What new items have been cropping up on your menu?

Project: Food Budget

I’m excited to report that I have some great company on my Project: Food Budget challenge. Please check out these wonderful blogs, and give them support as they take on this challenge.

All have different budgets, number of mouths to feed, and food preferences (veggie + meat eating). And yet, all have a common goal of saving money and making better choices when it comes to the food we put on our table.

Want to get on board? Fabulous. (Now go here.)

Participating blogs:

• Dairy-Free Cooking
• Test Kitchen Tuesday
• Red Pen Mama
• Fit Flexitarian
• Warm As Pie 
• Katy Rank Lev
• My Inner Healthy
• Little Blue Hen
• xox, b
• Project Food Budget 2.0
• Fresh…A New Chapter
• Two Eggs Over Easy
• That’s Just Me
• Eat Whole Be Vital
• Four Happy Violets
• Naturally {Un}refined
• Pgh Dad
• yogabeautylife
• Charmingly Modern
• naMAMAste
• Six Dollars a Day
• What da Health?
• Brandon and on…
• French Press

What do Epic Adventures, Eric Hutchinson, and E-book’s have in common?

Quite a lot, actually.

The Hubster and I have been fans of Eric Hutchinson and his music for a long time. His music is catchy, his lyrics are smart, and his sarcastic banter at his live shows kind of makes my heart skip a beat.

When I found out that he was performing in Pittsburgh last week, there was no question we would be going to the show.

We waited to purchase our tickets at the door, knowing that it was a Monday night concert and would not likely be sold out. As we were walking to the ticket window, an older gentleman (with family in tow) approached us and asked if we needed a ticket for the show.

The more we talked with this gentleman, the more we learned about him. We found out that his son had been roommates with Eric Hutchinson in college, and had the photographic evidence to prove it. He also mentioned that Eric had become an ordained minister so that he could officiate his son’s wedding in a few months.

And if that wasn’t epic enough, he told us that his son (aka Eric’s roommate) was a writer for a little show called Community. A little show that happens to be The Hubster’s favorite.

But wait, the epic adventure doesn’t end there.

After meeting this guy and purchasing our tickets, I did what any normal girl would do: I tweeted Eric Hutchinson.

(Okay. Maybe I’m not normal. But that’s how I roll.)

And you know what, he wrote me back.

After squealing with delight several times and forcing myself to regain composure, I sent him this gem back:

Two songs in, Eric was directing the crowd. “You’ll sing for a bit here. Then I’ll sing for a bit. And then we’ll meet up at the end for an epic chorus.”

That’s right. The man used the word epic in a sentence. On stage. After our scintillating conversation.

Now, you may or may not believe that I had any impact on his choice of words. But I do. And The Hubster did, too.

My point in sharing a story about my Monday night is this:

Epic adventures are possible at every turn. Particularly when you decide that you are ready to live a bigger, more powerful, more epic life.

Let’s go on an epic expedition of empowerment together.

Are you ready to set your dreams in motion and start living a life filled with passion, purpose, and panache? And perhaps a few scintillating conversations with your favorite musicians (or celebrities) on Twitter thrown in for good measure?

Fantazmo.

I have the perfect plan to get you started. And it’s in the form of an Epic E-Book.

In this Epic E-Book, I’ll walk you through the ideas and exercises that have transformed my life — and the lives of my clients — and brought those ambitious dreams into being.

I am completely and utterly jealous that you decided to open an amazing new WholeFoods in Wexford and not in the South Hills. Please come out to my neck of the woods soon.

Yours truly,

Emily

—

Seriously, this store is gorgeous. I was lucky enough to take a tour a few days ago, to sample some of the delicacies inside (fruit chia bars, barre bars, chocolates, cinnamon bread, hard cider), and to meander through the aisles.

I mean, just look at this stuff:

Look at the delicious produce:

Look, Pennsylvania. A bar that serves local beer, wine, and organic coffee in the supermarket:

Plus a fabulous health and wellness section (bestill my heart) that has a “make your own bath salts” section:

And perhaps the most impressive bulk section I’ve ever seen:

Want to see more?

Get thee to WholeFoods. Seriously. It’s worth the trip. This store is epic.

The address:
10576 Perry Highway
Wexford, PA 15090

The hours:
8am-9pm daily

The official website:
http://wholefoodsmarket.com/stores/wexford/

This was one of the very first vegetarian meals I made when The Hubster decided he wanted to go veg.

It was also one of the last nightshade-laden meals I had before learning they gave me wicked migraines and cold sores galore.

So it was only fitting that a mere four years later, when those pesky food intolerance went away, we’d go back to that iconic meal.

It was that good.

Kind of like the Chickpea and Tomato Pasta.

We served ours atop a bed of jasmine rice. You could serve yours on brown rice. Or coconut rice. Or quinoa. Or millet. The possibilities are endless.

And I would be totally remiss if I didn’t mention that this recipe was inspired by one over on Simply Recipes.

Chickpea Potato Curry

ngredients

• 2 1/2 cups vegetable broth
• 2 (15-ounce) cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1 (14.5-ounce) can fire-roasted tomatoes
• 8-10 red potatoes, roughly chopped
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 tbs safflower or canola oil
• 2 tsp minced ginger
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp coriander
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 2 cups jasmine rice, cooked

Ever feel like there are certain recipes that just don’t get enough love and attention? Could be one of yours, or it could be a recipe from one of your favorite bloggers or cookbook author’s.

Either way, this is one of those recipes for me.

It sat happily under the radar basking in it’s simplicity when it should have be shouting from the rooftops about how flavorful and fun it really is. You know, if a soup could talk.

This is a go-to recipe on those nights when my taste buds need a little invigorating but my mind says no more work. It’s a go to recipe in the summertime when fresh corn is at it’s peak. It’s even a go-to in those cold winter months when we could use a little slurp of sunshine.

It is soup-perb with frozen corn. It is overwhelmingly out-of-this-world outstanding with fresh corn on the cob.

(How many  more adjectives do I have to throw into this post before I convince you to try it?)

Corn Chowder

Ingredients:

• 2-3 tbs olive oil
• 2 onions, diced
• 2 large sweet potato, peeled and cubed
• 1 tsp dried sage
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1 tsp salt
• fresh black pepper
• 5 cups vegetable broth
• 4 cups frozen corn (or fresh)

Directions:

1. Place onions into a medium stock pan and saute for 5-7 minutes, until translucent.
2. Add sweet potatoes and continue to saute for another 3 minutes.
3. Add herbs and salt and saute another minute more.
4. Add corn and stock. bring to a boil.
5. Reduce heat and simmer for about 15-20 minutes, until potatoes are tender.
6. Puree half of the chowder. stir to combine.
7. Optional: garnish with fresh basil.
8. Serve with fresh bread of choice. Also would be great paired with a fresh salad.
   

For your reference:
This recipe is vegetarian and vegan. It is also nightshade free, dairy free, soy free, egg free, gluten free, wheat free, cinnamon free, peanut free, and contains no msg.

Week 29

Goal: $100
Actual: $141.53 (Costco: $74.09; Giant Eagle: 67.44)

Week 30

Goal: $100
Actual: $164.70

Yeesh. I totally overspent. Totally, utterly, depressingly overspent.

That’s what I get for not stepping foot into a grocery store for a few weeks. Crash and burn. Or, should I say CASH and burn.

Last week (Week 29) was actually a fairly good week for food shopping, considering I hit up Costco. I have really enjoyed the grapes ($1.85/lb), the avocados (7 for $5.79) and the campari tomatoes (for the kale-i-fied pasta with tomatoes and beans).

This week (Week 30) saw a lot of stocking up on pasta (9 bags/boxes – the brand we like was on sale!), beans (again, sale), and frozen dinners for The Hubster (5 at $6 ea.), and syrup (maple, and regular).

The worst part: I went in with a very short list, and ended up totally blowing it. Sigh.

For those who are able to stick to their budget (or even come in under each week) how do you do it?!

Project: Food Budget

I’m excited to report that I have some great company on my Project: Food Budget challenge. Please check out these wonderful blogs, and give them support as they take on this challenge.

All have different budgets, number of mouths to feed, and food preferences (veggie + meat eating). And yet, all have a common goal of saving money and making better choices when it comes to the food we put on our table.

Want to get on board? Fabulous. (Now go here.)

Participating blogs:

• Dairy-Free Cooking
• Test Kitchen Tuesday
• Red Pen Mama
• Fit Flexitarian
• Warm As Pie 
• Katy Rank Lev
• My Inner Healthy
• Little Blue Hen
• xox, b
• Project Food Budget 2.0
• Fresh…A New Chapter
• Two Eggs Over Easy
• That’s Just Me
• Eat Whole Be Vital
• Four Happy Violets
• Naturally {Un}refined
• Pgh Dad
• yogabeautylife
• Charmingly Modern
• naMAMAste
• Six Dollars a Day
• What da Health?
• Brandon and on…
• French Press

From chocamole to guacamole, the avocado has been put to good use in our kitchen this week.

Good thing, considering I got seven at Costco last week. Two have found their way into smoothies and omelets. Another two have found their way into chocolate avocado pudding (it would have been three, but we ran out of cocoa powder).

The fifth avocado? It made it’s way into this little treat for The Hubster.

You see, he loooooves guacamole. Used to ask for it on a weekly basis from WholeFoods. And then they changed their recipe and he decided he needed a break. That was a year ago.

I’ve been told this batch is beyond fantastic.

I wouldn’t know, considering I don’t really enjoy guacamole (like, at all). Apparently, I prefer my avocados with a side of chocolate or fresh fruit. Who knew?!

Holy Guacamole

Ingredients:

• 1 ripe avocado, mashed
• 1/4 cup red onion, chopped
• 2-3 grape tomatoes, chopped
• 1 small clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp pepper
• dash cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp lime juice

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients into a small bowl and mix.
2. Serve with your favorite chip, burger, or other vehicle to get the guac into your grill.

For your reference:
This recipe is vegetarian and vegan. It is also dairy free, soy free, wheat free, gluten free, corn free, egg free, cinnamon free, peanut free, tree nut free, and contains no MSG.