Italian Chicken Sausage Pasta

Yesterday I was craving pasta. It just sounded cozy on a cool, rainy day. Here is what I ended up with. (note this dish also tastes good vegetarian. Just omit the sausage.)

Serves 3-4
Prep and Cooking Time: 30 Min

Ingredients List:

1 cup of fresh or frozen organic spinach (Trader Joe's)
1 Organic Yellow Onion ( Fred Meyers), non-organic yellow onions have a supposedly lighter pesticide load. So an FYI. This week at Top Foods they are 27 cents per pound. A steal of a deal!
1 cup of frozen organic green beans ( Costco)
1 cup of frozen organic corn (Costco)
2 cups of chopped organic chicken sausage (Local co-op)
Penne or spiral pasta of your choice. Mine was brown rice (Trader Joe's)
2 Tablespoons of dried basil
1 tsp of crushed red pepper
1 Tablespoon of extra virgin coconut oil (amazon.com)
Himalayan salt to taste ( Trader Joe's)
Black Pepper to taste
Optional: Garnish with chopped organic avocado and sliced raw blanched almonds

Place coconut oil, onions and sausage in dutch oven on medium heat. Cook until onions are translucent and sausage begins to brown. Cook pasta according to directions.

Then add green beans, corn, spices, and spinach.

Cook until beans are tender to eat. Serve on top of pasta. Garnish with avocado and almonds.

Enjoy. It was yummy!

Budget Organic Potato and Corn Soup

Today I realized I have 10 more days before Jason's next paycheck, so wanting to stretch the food I have I started thinking about my potatoes and frozen corn. Knowing Jason had had plenty of protein today (his love) I decided on a vegetarian dinner. I had originally planned a different soup. This one was easier for me with a crabby baby and a shorter day at home.

Organic Potato and Corn soup

Ingredients:

You will need:

1 organic yellow onion
2 Tablespoons of coconut oil (nutiva extra virgin from amazon.com)
8 garlic cloves peeled and crushed (I buy pre peeled from Costco and freeze it)
4 cups Organic frozen or fresh corn ( I buy large frozen bags from Costco)
6 medium organic potatoes cubed to about 1-2 inches (these were 1.00 per pound at the farmers market)
4 cups of water
2 tsp of cumin
1 tsp of crushed red pepper (cayenne)
salt to taste

Directions:

Saute onions, garlic, cumin, crushed red pepper in coconut oil until onions are transparent

Add potatoes, corn, water. Cover and boil until potatoes are tender.

Take about half the soup and puree in blender. Add back to the unpureed soup in pot.

Mix. Add salt to taste. Simmer for five more minutes and then serve.

This can also be eaten cold. The spicier it is (say 2 tsp of crushed red pepper) the better it tastes cold because the spice adds a heat of it's own.

I was pleasantly surprised at how yummy this was. Feel free to substitute chicken broth for the water.

My grocery receipt for August

So I want to share my grocery receipts with you and prices from the farmers markets. This will help me stay within my budget and maybe help you know what I am buying to keep this budget!

Farmers market:

Grass Fed Ground Beef 6 pounds for $20 from farmers market

Large Lettuce Organic $2.00 from farmers market

Costco:

Dill Pickles 3.69

Chunk Light Tuna, 12, 7 oz cans, 9.89

Organic Salsa 66 ounces for 5.99

Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil 1.5 liters 10.95

Organic Tortilla Chips 40 oz. 4.39

Organic Sprouted Bread (for Jason) 2 loaves for 4.39

Organic Coffee 3 lbs 13.99

Organic Sweet Peas frozen., 5 lbs 5.35

Organic Frozen Green Beans, 5 lbs 5.99

Chicken Sausage in beef casings, nitrate free, not frozen, 15 large sausages, 12.99

Portabello mushrooms very large container, 4.49

Garlic (same price for pre peeled so I bought that) 4 lbs 4.99 ( I freeze them)

Total

104.71( Costco and farmers market)

Trader Joe's:

Organic Wine (sulfite free) 6.99

Organic Orange Juice 1/2 gallon 3.99 ( could have bought 1 gallon for 7 dollars at Costco.)

Teriyaki Sauce 3.69

Goddess Salad dressing 1.99

Organic sugar plum tomatoes 3.29

Brown rice bread (for me, I freeze it and toast) 3.29

Snack for Jason Cookies Joe joe vanilla creme 2.69

Organic Taco Shells 1.99

Organic Bell Peppers 2, 1.79

Organic Celery 2.00

Sunflower seeds, raw 1.69

Organic apples 0.69 each

Organic chocolate bar 1.99

Total:

39.37

Fred Meyers:

1/2 gallon Coconut Milk on sale for 2.99 with dollar off coupon 1.99

9lbs of organic strawberries $15

Total: 17

Grand total for first half of month:

200.00 ( I keep the other fifty dollars for fresh veggies through out the month.)

keep in mind I have many frozen and canned goods on hand, including brown rice and quinoa previously bought at Costco. my toiletries I buy in bulk twice per year