Ask The Readers: Locating Healthy Recipes

So I had mentioned Friday in my fitness posting that we are going to try to go close to junk-food-free in August. It's one of two of my upcoming challenges for myself. (I'll share the other one later this week!)

Now when I mentioned it, I was refering to mostly our snack items and side dishes. But I figured, why not try some new recipes, too? So, I was wanting your opinions on where you find good healthy recipes. Any favorite sites, blogs, magazines, recipe books? I was going to check a few books out from my library but if you have any favorites, I'd love to start there.

If only they had a service where you could send in your everyday recipes and they'd ship them back in a healthier format! I do love our family recipes but some of them aren't too health-friendly. My hands are usually tied since my husband isn't a big veggie eater and most recipes call for veggies in them.

Thanks for the help!

Ask The Readers: Healthy Alternatives to Tortilla Chips

My friend Kristen and I were chatting about how much we love Salsa and Chips. (So much so, that I planted a Salsa Garden!) Anyway, I was saying how I wish I could find a healthy alternative to the normal tortilla chips and she agreed.

So I thought some of you might be able to help us out. Have any of you found a great healthy alternative to tortilla chips for salsa dipping? Or maybe even a healthier tortilla chip that you like? If you have a recipe on your blog, I'd gladly use it for my Conveniently At Home segment.

Thank you for helping us out! Much appreciated!

Ask The Readers: Your Grocery & Store Chains

I am always on the look-out for some great deals for you all. But I know that I don't always list deals for a lot of "chains" focusing mostly on Wags, CVS, Target & Jewel.

So I'm wondering if you might take just a second to throw a comment my way letting me know what chains you frequent so I can find deals and sites to refer to you to. While I won't be able to break out coupon match-ups for all of them, I can keep my eyes open for the best deals and any printables for those chains. (Feel free to list even smaller chains, as I may see deals for them and can save you some $$! Or direct you to the blog that does full scenarios/match-ups for them.)

Also, if you have any areas you'd like to see more postings on, leave that info, too and I'll see what I can do.

For those you that are unfamiliar with how to comment---below this posting it says "Comments." Click there. You can either comment through your Google ID or if you don't have an ID, choose Anonymous and if you feel comfortable doing so, leave a first name with it.

Thanks for helping me, help you!

UPDATE: For those of you that have left comments about smaller chains, I have commented back with blogs that I found for you that focus on those scenarios, in an attempt to help. I just wanted to call this out since you may not check the comments but you may see this update.

Thanks for the help so far, everyone! Keep them coming! And keep mentioning those smaller chains as I've been able to match you up with a blog for them so far!

Ask The Readers: Food Processors

I've been saving up to invest in a really good larger food processor. I've been using this tiny little thing (2-3 cups?) that I got for $10 on Dealio but I want something bigger so I can make up doughs, bread crumbs, chopping up things, making large quantities of baby food, etc.

I was wondering, for those of you that love your current food processor, what kind (brand) do you have?

I am just starting to try to switch to making more homemade things myself and I was wondering what size do you guys recommend for a food processor? I see them range anywhere from 7-12 cups for the larger ones. I don't want to invest in one that's too small! And is it worth the $99 for a Kitchen-Aid or Cuisinart or can I get by with one of those Hamilton Beach or Black and Decker $30 ones? (just giving out examples...)

Thanks for any help! I'm totally in the dark when it comes to these little machines!

UPDATE: Thank you all so very much! I am still deciding on which one to buy. I'm having a hard time convincing myself that I should spend so much. I get like this for anything over $20. But I did find this one HERE at QVC that might just end up in our home. It comes with an extra Julienne slicing blade, which seems to run about $30 on its own. What I have found is that Kitchen-Aid has a rebate going on for these right now, up to $30, depending on the model.

If I get into cooking as much as I think I'm going to--and after hearing all of the good reviews from you guys--I may have to put the KitchenAid mixer on this year's Christmas list!! :)

Ask the Readers: Salsa Gardening

So I decided a few days ago that due to all that's going on this summer and having a little baby that I wasn't going to do a big garden. But I did want to do a small one that will still save me some $$. And there at lunch, Nathan and I were eating some salsa and it hit me...a salsa garden! We eat lots of salsa here and I use it in so many of my main entree recipes! I found a couple websites for planting a salsa garden, which I'll read more in depth over the weekend.

But, I wanted to ask all of you if you've found a really great salsa recipe that you like and also, have any of you had any luck with canning salsa? I know I can find some of this info online but I value the opinions of my readers/fellow bloggers and would love to go by what you've tried personally.

Thanks for any help!

UPDATE: Thank you to MaryBeth from Baby Good Buys for this link here to a salsa recipe!

Keep on sharing! :)

Ask the Readers: Gift Card w/ New Prescription?

I was wondering if any of you knew where there might be a printable link for a gift card w/ new prescription. Preferably at CVS?

Rich has to pick up some cough medicine for Nathan later today and thought I might make the most of a bad day. (This cold virus seems to want to make a permanent home here! Bring out the Lysol again!) :)

They will usually take competitor's coupons so if you find one for another pharmacy, that might work, too.

Thanks for the help! And I apologize for some limited postings this afternoon. I'm focusing my attention on my sick little guy.

UPDATE: Thank you all so much for your help! I didn't even remember the Target coupon! You guys are all so wonderful to me! :)

Ask The Readers: This and That

So I've had a few questions that I wanted to throw out to all of you and I figured...I'll just do them in one posting. I need your expert advice on these things.

1) I'm wanting to switch our food storage containers over to totally clear containers. All the same type so I'm not messing with hundreds of lids. What are your favorite food storage containers that you've had success with? I'm looking for something microwave/dishwasher safe.

2) Since spring is coming up, I'm already thinking of gardening. The past few years, I've only done tomatoes. What have you found to be the biggest money savers to grow in your home gardens?

3) I'm not planning on home-schooling Nathan, but I would like to be sure that I'm on the right track with him for pre-school, kindergarten, etc. Where do you find the best home-schooling materials? Any websites/store/books you recommend?

Thanks for any help on these topics!

How Stockpiling can HURT!!

So, yesterday, I was hanging up some laundry and my elbow hit something. Next thing I know, I'm white-knuckled grasping the dryer and tears have popped into my eyes. Two larger cans of evaporated milk had fallen off my storage shelving and BOTH hit exactly on my ankle bone. Talk about massive pain! It took a bit before I could walk on that foot.

So, I'm thinking about using my last $100 of grocery money for the month and then going very lean in January, only buying milk/bread/produce...things that can't be stockpiled easily.

At what point do you quit stockpiling and let your stash dwindle down some? I'm curious for your thoughts here. And do you still buy the "loss leaders?" (Those 3-4 items that are drastically reduced to get you into their store.)

Hoping to hear from you on these. Please leave a comment with how you work your stockpiling system.