My Obsession with Trader Joe's and Grocery Stores

There was once a time in my life when shoes, clothes and pocketbooks were the staples of weekly shopping. What do you expect when you work in retail and get a discount at all the brands your company owns? For 5 long years, never moving up the retail ladder, staying on the 5th rung, I worked and shopped my paycheck away. My husband would be furious about all the bags brought home and my reply with loving eyes was, “But, Baby! It was on SALE!”

Ever seen, “Confessions of a Shopaholic”? Well, if I lived in NY and could have afforded Prada and Gucci that would be my story. But, I live in NC and could only afford Gap and Old Navy. I got a 30 % discount at Banana Republic, but even I knew that it was too expensive.


So, the time came when my husband and I had a child and I could no longer afford to shop like I did before. Somewhere, between my first and second child, I no longer cared about fashion. It was food! I love to browse the aisles of the grocery store, searching for new products and ingredients to cook with. It was also justifiable with my husband, we could eat the food not the clothes and pocketbooks.


As a small-town country girl, my first love with a food store was A Southern Season in Chapel Hill. My BFF went to college at UNC and one night she took me there. (Awesome!) I loved it! Then we ate at Mama Dip’s Kitchen. If you love country cooking, eat there! Anyway, I love to go to grocery store with sales papers, coupons and grocery lists in hand. Then I learned how to love cooking with my new finds. Which brings me to my new favorite store……let me go ahead and admit that I sometimes drive to Charlotte for produce.

Trader Joe’s – it’s a organic/non-uppity grocery store that sells food at crazy good prices, while the employees wear Hawaiian shirts. My kind of store! Now, let me warn you…they don’t carry your typical items/food brands: Kraft, Oscar Meyer, Dunkin Hines or the like. Just their private label organic foods and some name-brand soy, rice or whatever else they can get milk out of now. Now the produce section is the BOMB! I turn around in a grocery store if their produce doesn’t look good. Hence the reason I no longer shop at Wal-Mart for food.


So, yesterday, I was at the outlet mall in Concord with my family and headed south a few exits to the TJ’s to pick up some items for dinner tonight. I’m cooking for Jelly & Kake. (They’re my friends-kind of like Brad & Angelina are known as Bradgelina, Kelly & Jake are known as Jelly & Kake.) Okay, so I’m in TJ’s (which has an awesome wine section) to pick up a bottle of Madeira wine for the Chicken a L’orange tonight. I stop by the produce area to pick up a guacamole kit for my husband. So, I pick up my guacamole kit, salad mix and see it... Brussels Sprouts on a freaking stalk! Beside it a giant “Hurry Up & Get these Brussels Sprouts on a Stalk-Limited Supply-Only $3.99”. Did I know they grew like this? NO. I’m still trying to figure out about the way cranberries grow, but whatever. Okay, just googled it and now I know. I’m now enlightened.


Armed with my giant stalk of Brussels and other food items, I return home triumphant. Then I think-“I’ve only cooked with them from a frozen state. Oh, thank God for Julia Child! She’ll tell me how to prepare them fresh.” I sure hope that Jelly & Kake like Brussels.

Okay.....So, I'm a little slow.

Yesterday, my husband and I received this beautiful painting for Christmas. Funny enough that we had just visited this particular lighthouse on Thursday during our Christmas Vacation to the OBX. So, this Christmas present from my mother-in-law has given me the excuse to re-do the master bedroom and bath in a beach theme. (I've been meaning to, but now I have a painting to go on the wall. So it must be done.) I start thinking of color palettes, wainscoting, and crisp white linens on a towel rack. Okay, so I need a project to keep me busy while my husband is in Texas for the next 4 to 5 months.


While thinking about my own re-do, I thought of a friend-another Army wife, who has been thinking of her own themed room when her family gets to their duty station. Tiffany, my friend, who I've met only one time (Who is hilarious, by the way.) wants to do her new kitchen in a movie theme. We may have had this conversation a month ago on Facebook. -Yes, I use the site, we practically lived on the 1/61 battalion page while our husbands were in basic training together. I guess you could say that Tiffany and I are modern day pen pals or something of the equivalent. (By the way, which is really cool. Because... well, it's just really cool.)


Anyway, so she decides to go with a Breakfast at Tiffany's theme for the kitchen. I've never seen the movie. Yes, I guess I've lived in some dark hole. And to top it off I even took a film appreciation class during college and watched Citizen Kane, but not Breakfast at Tiffany's.

Three or four days later, I start thinking about what Tiffany and her kitchen theme. I died laughing instantly. I never put two and two together, until that moment. Her name is Tiffany and you'll have breakfast at Tiffany's if you go to her house early enough. Okay...so, I'm a little slow.


However, this can almost compare to the time that a friend of mine thought that BCG's (basic combat glasses) were a brand of jeans. Tiffany calls me a week after our husband's graduations and realizes that she has no idea what BCGs are. Her husband and I have to explain the following.


GI glasses
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

BCGs, mid 1990s design.GI glasses are eyeglasses issued by the American military to its service members. Dysphemisms for them include the most common birth control glasses (alternatively birth control goggles, or birth control device) sometimes shortened as BC goggles/glasses, BCGs, BCDs, or simply BCs. For women the appellation was expanded to include the nickname RPGs, in the late 1980s, which referred to the glasses ability to scare off would be rapists, hence Rape Prevention Glasses;

There is a time when everyone can be a true blonde and Tiffany and I have had our share of blonde moments. And let me tell you, the Soldiers above are not our husbands. Neither of them wear BCG's. Thank God!

It's Christmas Day.....

So, here we are on our last full day on our OBX Christmas Vacation. It's been great and we've even had a motto the entire week we've been here.

Where do you think you're going? Nobody's leaving. Nobody's walking out on this fun, old-fashioned family Christmas. No, no. We're all in this together. This is a full-blown, four-alarm holiday emergency here.

It's been real and it's been crazy. We've had our ups and our downs, but this has been one memorable Christmas with my crazy family. We've laughed, we've cried, we've peed our pants. It's the most togetherness our family has seen since 1991, our last OBX vacation. There hasn't been any broken bones, stitches or a trip to the ER. We're doing great and having a blast. So, in the words of Clark W. Griswald:

"If I woke up tomorrow with my head sewn to the carpet, I wouldn't be more surprised than I am now."

Merry Christmas!

A Mighty Wind.....

Now, my mother isn't too happy with me. She doesn't think that God has a sense of humor. Well, at least not with what my oldest sister said. My mother, my two older sisters and I were riding around the island in search of an ABC store. (Talk about family togetherness.)My mother loves it here on the outer banks and would LOVE to work and live here, year round. I told her that she could apply for a job at A Mighty Wind UMC in Nags Head. (She has worked at our church back home for 10 plus years.) Anyway, Mande, my oldest sister, started laughing and said something that myself nor my other sister, Julie could hear. Mande is laughing so hard she's crying. Finally, she's able to tell us. "A Mighty Wind. Is that what you call it when God farts?" We die laughing, except for Mom, who still doesn't think it's funny. "You all should be ashamed of yourselves!" she says sternly. I reply, "God has to have a sense of humor, He made ugly people."
If she were driving, I bet that I'd be walking back to the house after that comment. But, come on God has to laugh at the things people do. :)

Hacking a Lung on the Corner of Bonito and Corolla

So, I was told on my Christmas Vacation by my husband to get my butt out of bed and let's go running. Uh-nuh! The salty sea air and crisp 25 degrees didn't agree well with me nor my delicate Southern lungs. We began our run out in front of our amazing OBX beach house (Yes, I'm rubbing it in that I'm having to spend Christmas at the beach). *Sigh* There was some flooding in the area, so we had to jump some puddles to complete our mile run. Right there in turn 4, the corner of Bonito and Corolla, I begin to cough up the sea air. I hacked up my lung all over my hoodie while my husband laughed his butt off at me. Needless to say our run was then finished and I slowly made my way back to the beach house for a breakfast of diet coke and pimento cheese.

Sweet Mullets and Bojangle's BoBerry Biscuits

It's funny that I see things that no one else does. I went to the gas station the other day, it's connected to a Bojangles. (Love that place!) I went in to get a Diet Cheerwine and then I cut through to Bojangles to order my Cajun Filet Biscuit. Now, the small town I live in, it's possible to see about anything. From people wearing Prom dresses in "the Wal-Mart" in September to a "gangsta" car painted like a Trix Cereal box complete with rabbit. Now, on this particular day in Bojangles, I saw a "SWEET MULLET". The mullet man armed with a BoBerry biscuit in hand, I was amazed that this hairstyle never goes away. So, I decided to count how many mullets I saw while in town. Now, for those of you still rockin' this hairdo, don't be offended. I'm just calling it like I see it.
Total count.....46, no wait 47-the cashier at "the Wal-Mart" had one too.
On another note, I have a friend who is British, who lives in SoCal (Southern California) who visited the East Coast for the first time in November. Her husband and my husband were in the same company during basic training. I'll call her Ellie, anyway, she was amazed by the south and the invention of biscuits. However, this is a statement she made on the picture above: (use a British accent while reading)
"Biscuit with gravy - Southerners like to eat this for breakfast apparently - looks like cat puke to me, lol!"
Looks like with that mental image, I'll never eat another gravy biscuit.

It’s all about Pie!

2010 will be a big year for us. We’re starting a year off as an Army family and making lots of resolutions. Pie is going to be one of my big resolutions, but I’m not eating this one. Last year, while at work I caught a clip on the Today Show. It intrigued me. I got home and looked on the internet until I found Carmen’s Pie. I printed it off and tried to start shaping my budget into this pie. Yep, we’re talking money. For anyone living paycheck to paycheck, like I had been for the last several years, this was an attention getter! It’s a budget breakdown. Plain, simple and nothing fancy, but it WORKS! It’s how to live within your means. NOT living on caviar wishes and bringing home the bologna budget, then wondering where your money went. Slowly, I started to shape our budget into the predetermined pie slices –Housing 30%, Transportation 18%, Debt 10%, Food 14%, Household 7%, Savings 10% and Everything Else 11%. It was hard, learning what necessities were and what luxuries were. But, I failed the pie. It was hard to fit that square peg in a round hole, but looking back it was slowly taking shape. You just have to knead your dough, spread it out and pay your bills. It reminds me of a delicious strawberry pie my friend, Lori at work had made, so yummy, but so simple. Then I tried to make one and it turned out like crap the first time. I bet if I had kept with it, I would have had the same yummy strawberry pie like she did. It was the same with my budget, if I had stuck with it. If you’re interested in reading the entire article, please check it out. Tomorrow, I’m starting to put my budget together for 2010 and I’m making strawberry pie for desert to celebrate.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/25933653

So, I assaulted an officer today....

Today was crazy. This 12 hour shift nearly killed me, but I met some awesome patients. 4:30am came early, a 45-minute commute in 25 degree weather wasn't fun, but making an 80 year old woman cuss,just made my day. I had a hit-n-run patient, a 80-year old lady climbing a ladder and ended up with a hernia, broken hip lady, broken hip guy, and "Jimmy, bring me some water!" guy. It was interesting to say the least. I think that I walked a total of 12 miles today. You name it, it happened. Code Blue (cardiac arrest), security called, crazy patients, crazy family members, and even assaulting a police officer with a bed pan. He did apologize, "Sorry Ma'am, wasn't looking where I was going." I should have fined him $125 for texting and walking. Lucky for him the bedpan wasn't full of....

Rodney Carrington….do I even want to go there?

Am I really that funny? My Mom said the same thing about my blogmments (blog and comments- new word). I didn't think it was pee in your pants funny, but maybe I see life differently? Wait until I write about my Sexcapades with my injured husband over Christmas Exodus. It'll sound like Special Olympics. On second thought, that might be TMI.
Oh, Rodney, you’re just too funny for your own good. I laugh so hard driving down the road listening to “The Chicken Song” –Sing You Bastard! People must think I have Tourette's driving down the highway. I turn on the radio in the car; slip “Hanging with Rodney” into the CD player and all my cares just melt away. From “Fred” to “Little Things” it’s the best entertainment on a small silver disc. Not often can I listen to Rodney, he has explicit lyrics and dialogue on his albums, just not able to listen with two repeating parrots in the backseat. This week, I’ve been endured to listen to a Christmas CD with The Chipmunks “Christmas Time is Here” on REPEAT in the car. I love my 4-year old, but this is enough to push any sane woman over the edge. However, I do remember receiving a cassette tape “Chipmunks in Low Places” for Christmas and I listened to it all the time. So, my love for The Chipmunks isn’t what it used to be, I must have passed it on to my son. Rodney will be playing on my way to work tomorrow.
So, I’m cooking dinner tonight, just a simple Baked Spaghetti-nothing fancy tonight. And now I am packing lunch for work tomorrow. Oh, how I dread it. A 12 hour shift on a Saturday, what fun! (Did you hear my sarcasm?) Anyway, I’m packing a Blueberry Bagel, Honey Nut cream cheese, Orange juice mixed with Cranberry juice, Salad, Italian dressing, Sweet Tea, Baked Spaghetti, and for desert Key Lime Pie yogurt and Muddy Buddies to take to work. You get hungry over 12 hours. I’ve packed my “So I Don’t Get Bored at Work” bag, complete with two books (each over 350 pages) and some knitting supplies. There is the off chance that I’ll have to do some sitting one-on-one with a patient, it’s the Holidays. I work at a large hospital, on a Trauma/EGS(Emergency General Surgery) unit. 9 times out of 10, we’ve got sitter patients. One-on-one care for their safety or to make sure they don’t try and commit suicide again. You’ve got manic-depressives that can’t deal with family holidays, people whose famous last words before an accident, “Hey! Watch this!” and old men that climb onto the roof for their wives to fix the string of Christmas lights that is dangling over the kitchen window, then end up falling off it. Throw all that in with your regular patients: car accident victims, GSW’s (gun shot wounds) and any other trauma or emergency general surgery thrown at us. It makes for an interesting day of work. Anyway, while packing my bag I had an EPIPHANY! Ever had a Girl Scout Thin Mint Cookie or a Keebler Grasshopper Cookie? I love the mint taste. Well, why not make Mint Muddy Buddies? Stir in some mint flavoring when you melt the chocolate and viola! Wonderful, heaven in a handful of little rice squares. Mmmmm Yummy! Off to bed while visions of Mint Muddy Buddies dance in my head!

Bland...It was bland.

–adjective, -er, -est.
1. pleasantly gentle or agreeable: a bland, affable manner.
2. soothing or balmy, as air: a bland southern breeze.
3. nonirritating, as food or medicines: a bland diet.
4. not highly flavored; mild; tasteless: a bland sauce.
5. lacking in special interest, liveliness, individuality, etc.; insipid; dull: a bland young man; a bland situation comedy.
6. unemotional, indifferent

Nothing eventful happened today, more or less a bland day. I decided to make dinner for my mom. She loves Crab Ragoons you get a Chinese buffet or take-out place. I discovered a recipe and decided to Master the Art of Chinese Cooking. So, I made two new dishes tonight for dinner. Baked Crab Ragoons and Orange Beef with Sugar Snap Pea Stir-fry nestled in a ring of rice.
Crab Ragoons-BLAND! Orange Beef-BLAND!
The veggies and rice were awesome, but I was slightly disappointed in the orange sauce for the beef and the ragoons. I'm thrifty and didn't want to use $16.99 lump crab meat for the filling, I bought the $3.99 imitation crab. Nothing wrong with that, I even read the reviews and incorporated some tips into the dish. It was supposed to make 24 serving, I ended up with 52 crab ragoons. How? Don't know, but I have 40 more in the freezer awaiting my husband's return. (He'll eat anything.) The Orange Beef, different story, I made a recipe that had not been reviewed, just stuck in cyberspace awaiting it's turn to be made. Lesson ONE: When cooking from Internet recipes, ALWAYS look for reviews. You do this while shopping online at Amazon.com or researching the newest toys for your kids. Why would you not do this for a recipe? Because...
Because, you didn't think? Have the time? Screaming kids? Too much Nick Jr.? Or my personal favorite...It's only soy sauce, lemon juice, orange juice, orange zest, oil and cornstarch. How bad could it be? The answer-not bad, but BLAND.
The night could have took an entirely different turn due to this tragic mistake in Internet recipe cooking, but soy sauce was added, plates were cleaned, and there were no leftovers. No bad comments from my mom or dad on dinner, just try adding garlic to the crab ragoons next time and jazz up the orange sauce. The only real reason I really wanted to make this Orange Beef recipe is because I saw the recipe title in the contents of a new cookbook. (Yes, I'm obsessed with cooking, food and whatever else goes with it.) This particular cookbook is landing on store shelves Dec. 22nd and I'm excited. Giddy. Just thrilled. (You all are shaking your heads at me and saying silent prayers, aren't you?) So, while browsing Amazon.com, I see the cookbook and read the summary with a list of recipes.

Here are a few of her favorites:

■North Carolina Pulled Pork Sandwiches – $4.90
■Curried Pumpkin Soup – $4.41
■Apple Dijon Pork Roast – $4.30
■Orange Beef and Broccoli Stir-Fry – $4.94
■Creamy Lemon Dill Catfish – $4.95
■Bacon-Wrapped Apple Chicken – $4.96
■Country Ribs with Oven Fries – $4.77

Right there, in the middle-doesn't it sound wonderful? Well, I think it does. Anyway, I search my favorite blog-$5 Dinner Mom-for the recipe. Low and behold, it isn't there? WHAT? So, this is what leads me to the Internet recipe search for Orange Beef and Broccoli. The only saving grace to dinner tonight was desert. Ahhh! Muddy Buddies. Mmm! More or less a holiday snack food, but you can't go wrong with chex mix, chocolate, peanut butter and powdered sugar. But, my mom chimes in with "There's way too much peanut butter in those."
Well, they weren't bland!

Running NASCAR style....

So, I thought, if I even attempt to cook several of the recipes from MtAoFC, I need to have a fitness plan in place. I'm no butterball, but well on my way if I were to eat my way through any of JC's dishes. I load the kids into the car this afternoon and headed off to the gym. Another bit of motivation, my husband returns home for Christmas in 9 days. For ten faithful weeks, during my husband's Basic Combat Training (BCT) in the Army, (yes, I failed to mention that I'm an Army wife) I went to the gym at least twice a week or more. Since he graduated BCT 4 weeks ago and left to continue training in Texas, I haven't been so faithful with my gym membership. Let's just say, since my birthday of delicious Chinese food, Thanksgiving at four different locations and just slipping up, I have gained what I lost since September. I'm not happy with myself, but it is what it is.
I enter the gym, drop off the boys and head upstairs to the "WALKING TRACK" , it's nothing but left hand turns today. It's full on rubbing and racing with the other members at the gym. It's NASCAR at it's best with men, women and the physical fitness challenged. I begin my workout with 4 laps walking at a good pace, then 4 laps of running/jogging/waddling (call it like you see it) and then I slow it down with 4 laps of walking. Next I move onto 5 minutes on the stationary bike and then another 4 laps around the track. During my workout, I notice while listening to my iPod tucked into my sports bra, 1) because I lost the clip/arm band I had and 2) you work with what you got, I see all kinds of things. So, I'm out there giving it my all and here come the gazelles, the tiny women who eat nothing but 750 calories all day and think that it's still too much and are wearing the cute yoga Capri's and yoga tanks without a shirt. They're running, gracefully, not breaking a damn sweat. It's enough to make you sick. The herd has grown to three middle-aged soccer moms, who's kids go to private Catholic school and they've never farted at all in their life. Running together, trying to outdo each other with each lap, while rubbing it in to the others like me. Why don't they just turn around, stick out their tongues, put their thumbs to their temples and wave at me? I began to RUN my last two laps, I mean really run and I'll be damned if they didn't pass me without speeding up. I'm just disgusted with it all and all I can think about is what I'm eating for dinner. My mouth is watering, I can almost smell the Chicken Cordon Bleu and Roasted Brussels Sprouts with lots of butter and Pineapple Casserole for desert. (Thank you Paula Deen for making Brussels sprouts edible!) I finish my workout, get the boys and head home to preheat my oven.

Just finished a wonderful book....now my review...

So, I've been reading "Julie & Julia" by Julie Powell. I must admit, that 1/4 of the way through her book I ran out and picked up a copy of Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking". But, I haven't even opened the book and looked through the pages. No, it sits in a box in the closet waiting it's turn to be wrapped for Christmas. I read the book and fell in love with the story, it's all about Adventure. To make this book an even better read, you would first need to know that as a child we didn't have cable in our home, just public access...THREE channels. Okay, maybe eight, but that's not the point. Anyway, PBS was always on...This Old House, Sesame Street, NOVA, and Julia Child. So, my sister Julie (per coincident with the names, but makes it funnier too.) would always do this great impression of Julia Child, while holding a wine glass filled with milk, water, anything non-alcoholic while standing at the island in the kitchen. A guaranteed laugh from anyone in our family. So, while reading this book, my sister's impersonation of Julia was the voice for Julia. Now, the voice of the main character Julie, was also supplied by my sister Julie, just her regular voice. If you've read the book, Julie Powell has a very colorful language. Well, so does my sister. So, I'm reading "Julia & Julie" imagining my sister's voice and impersonation to go along with it and I have hysterical laughing fits and have to put the book down. So, I know that I'll never cook every single recipe in that book, however I learned a trick from Julia via Julie before even cracking open MtAoFC. I can cook about anything. This morning I decided to make an omelet, per the direction of Julie's interpretation of Child's way. I must say, that was a damn fine omelet Julia Child.

Even Super Heroes Can Screw Up....

So, I go and donate platelets today (Shh! Don't tell anyone I'm also a Super Hero who saves lives). I've been there before and need to go to the restroom before I settled in a chair for 2 hours. I do my business, wash my hands and return to the waiting area before my name is called. About 3/4 of the way through my donation, (I'm watching Marley and Me)I begin cry my eyes out in public and can't even dry my eyes, because my arms need to remain unbent for another 20 minutes. Movie ends and the donation complete and I go to the snack area and consume 2 packs of Nutter Butters and a diet Coke. Before the drive home I decide that with all the extra fluids pumped into me during donation and the diet Coke, I'll be miserable on the way home if I don't use the restroom. Entering the hallway, I go to turn the doorknob on the bathroom door and notice a sign, "MEN". Well, I peer down the hall, yep, there's a "WOMEN" sign half-way down the hall. The bad part is I never noticed the sign until today and no one had ever said anything to me about using the wrong restroom. I laughed the entire way home.

And so it begins.....

So, I'm starting my blogging adventure. This is about an ordinary mom who can turn an average day into an adventure. I try to make the best out of any situation and raise my kids with a different outlook on life. Everyday is an adventure and tonight is all about pears that look like mice. Mine don't look like the picture above. It's just canned pears, mayo and cheddar cheese, but to my kids...it's the real thing. You just have to use your imagination.