Archer Farms stuffed chicken breast

Tonight my daughter and I went to see an elementary school production of 101 Dalmations. The afternoon was delightful. The performance made me laugh and cry, especially as it brought back memories of my days as a beat reporter in Phillipsburg. 

Last night in Target, I found bacon wrapped Archer Farms chicken breasts stuffed with cream cheese and jalapeño on clearance for $3 off the regular price of $8.31 for two breasts. With my employee and RedCard discounts that brought the price to about $4.50. 

Now, I'm cheap so I sliced those breasts after cooking them and split them three ways.

Since we had the play, we tossed brown rice in the steamer and cooked that and some peas in homemade chicken stock (from my freezer).

We served with Les Abeilles white wine.

I was very pleased.

Hot summer night equals nachos

It's darn hot.

So we had nachos for dinner: chips, lettuce, black beans, salsa, black olives and a light layer of cheese.

It made me laugh when I noticed our salsa collection, mild for baby bear, medium for papa bear and extra hot for mama bear.

Clearance Indian

I bought Chicken Tikka Masala on clearance on Target. $2.48 for 2 servings. Archer Farms. To offset the processed food, I made a nice plate of fresh spinach and spring mix, which we'll put the chicken and rice on top of it. Then we'll have non-dairy fruit smoothies-- my new recipe of coconut milk, pomegranate juice, strawberries, peaches, pineapple, mango, banana and local raw honey.

Thai broccoli mix

Total cop out dinner. Somehow I keep ending up with empty cupboards...

So tonight I took a head of fresh broccoli and sautéed it in sesame and coconut oil. I then added, directly to the skillet, a carton of Archer Farms Thai curry soup.

I served this over brown rice, with a handful of raw cashews on each portion. Very delightful.

Frozen pizza shame

Normally my shame food is Cool Ranch Doritos. I haven't eaten any in about two months, and I'm proud of myself for that. When my metabolism freaked out during my premenstrual days, I ate two salads a day for a week. I could not get enough.

This is not me. Breakfast and lunch would be salad.

But then the weird processed food craving started... and I fed it frozen pizza. I bought frozen pizza because I had a coupon and found them on clearance...

And now I've been on a frozen pizza binge. And I hope publicly posting it ends it.

My favorite frozen pizza has been the California Kitchen roasted pepper with various gourmet cheeses. (I'm fairly certain the photo of two pizza slices is the California Kitchen roasted pepper pie.)

The worst has been the Market Pantry bacon cheeseburger one. The box makes it sound good, but what they don't tell you is that the sauce under the cheese and meat is KETCHUP. I'm not a huge ketchup fan. So that was yucky. They also neglect to mention the onions slathered across it. I picked most of them off before cooking.

Last night I ate the Archer Farms sausage, fennel and roasted pepper pizza as my dinner when I got home from work at 10. Not bad. The sausage was bigger and more flavorful than I expected.

The other one I liked was the Archer Farms goat cheese and arugula. (In the photo, it's the one with the large white circles of cheese.)

Pumpkin pie milkshake

I decided to make tonight a special family night. The child didn't get home tonight until 4:20, at which point we had to go pick up her father from work.

When we got home, he made rotini with red sauce, black olives and just a touch of shredded Parmesan while child did homework.

I made salads of an iceberg garden mix and sprinkled just a tad of shredded cabbage in and then some mandarin oranges with sesame-lemon-ginger dressing.

Then child headed up to the shower fatter which she brushed and I braided her wet hair and gave her a little facial. Her dad made milkshakes and we watched the original Buffy movie.

An awesome night made more awesome by these milkshakes:
- pumpkin ice cream
- Girl Scout shortbread cookies
- Archer Farms vanilla syrup
- cinnamon

Jalapeño ranch dip

I was in Manhattan yesterday after a very busy weekend so I'm not even sure what I've eaten lately.

One of those weekend nights, I took advantage of Target's buy three get one free chips and salsa sale. Got potato chips, blue corn flax tortilla chips, traditional salsa and the new Archer Farms jalapeño ranch dip.

The dip does not fill the shoes of the discontinued buffalo blue cheese dip we loved. It's a cross between ranch dressing and sour cream and onion dip with jalapeños thrown in. I like it. It's got a nice kick, but... It's not as good as the buffalo.

When I got home from my interview, my mother-in-law had made the family a very traditional dinner: chicken, mashed potatoes (with jar gravy), corn and applesauce. I tossed some cold chicken in a wrap with salad, corn salsa and the dip. That was nice.

Thai-inspired cheater stir fry

I started out this evening's dinner with Archer Farms Thai-inspired rice and broccoli seasoned vegetable blend.

I augmented it with extra stir fry vegetables and a can of water chestnuts.

In a skillet, I put two teaspoons of butter, a teaspoon of canola oil, a few sprinkles of sesame oil. I meant to add one teaspoon garlic powder, about two tablespoons lemon juice and a sprinkle of ginger.

I added the water chestnuts and extra vegetables and stir fried on high. Then I added the packaged veggies and mixed it all up.

Very pleased with the result.

Archer Farms Garlic Herb baguette

I recently told my family I had to start baking bread again. At the same time I had a craving for garlic bread.

So I tried this.

Less than $3, a fairly large baguette. And a nice amount of herb and garlic flavor. I'm serving with soup.

Archer Farms Mocha Breakfast Bread

Target's Archer Farms Breakfast Breads have a new flavor: Mocha. These breads are on the pricy side, around $3 a loaf, but a slice of toast or a peanut butter sandwich on these desserty breads can do wonders for the spirit.

We've already tried blueberry, apple fritter and berry muesli, so when I saw "Mocha" I had to try it. Chocolate with a hint of espresso.

1 slice has 3 grams of protein, 120 calories, 1 gram saturated fat, 135 mg sodium (which sounds like a lot, but the Sara Lee 100% whole wheat my father-in-law brought has 100 mg a slice. I need to get making bread again), 1 gram fiber, 8 g sugar (hence why I call it part dessert, 2% RDA calcium, and 6% iron.

These breads can also liven up a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Most of the varieties do contain milk products.

Toast is one of my favorite meals, so you can see why I adore these.

Nut Butter

I haven't cooked much or cleaned much or faced the fact that there's a major food-themed holiday tomorrow. I have enough trouble remembering to put on my socks.

Today's breakfast was fresh strawberries, Bolthouse farms blue (berry) smoothie, and wheat toast with almond-cashew-peanut butter.

The nut butter came from Target, the Archer Farm store brand. I love almond butter, but my daughter hates it. She prefers cashew butter. So this seemed like a good compromise.

What's weird is I can distinctly taste all three flavors.

I like Target's selection of nut butters. The jars are small, but that makes them a reasonable splurge and makes it fun to try new flavors. Like this one.

Nut butters are a quick, fun protein.

Archer Farms Peel-apart Fruit

It's no secret that I have an uncontrollable addiction to sugary candies. Gummy bears. Licorice. Gum drops. Fruit slices. JELLY BEANS.

I don't buy these things because I will eat them until I get a belly ache.

I was buying the Market Pantry golden raisin sours, which were high in sugar but not as bad as candy, and because they were infused with fruit juice they had a ridiculous amount of vitamin C. I haven't seen them in a month or so. Those and the Pétit Écolier cookies have disappeared from my Target universe.

Now as far as processed dried fruit items go, I like the Archer Farms fruit bars. They have a nice amount of fiber and vitamin C, are made with fruit instead of high fructose corn syrup. But just the bars, not the leathers.

They have a new product, pull-apart fruits that remind me of my favorite candy, Twizzler Pull and Peels. They are rather small, don't have nearly the vitamin content of the bars but they taste remarkably candy-like which makes them a healthy replacement for candy in my universe. The fruit bars have a grittier texture, so these are actually more pleasant on the tongue.

They are organic. They have no fat, 4% RDA potassium, 1 g fiber, 12g sugar, 2% iron, 10 % vitamin C.

Pasta in (Target) vodka sauce

While we were at Target for our big grocery trip last weekend, we decided to try the Archer Farm vodka sauce. Now normally I don't even use jarred pasta sauce because of the cost and the sugar content. Vodka sauce at my favorite italian restaurant has tasted really good the last few visits and with our pledge not to eat out, I thought it might work.

It doesn't.

But more on that later.

We buzzed through Target today for some pet supplies. While there I went to the grocery section for milk.

Prices do not subtract team member or red card discount.

-Silk Pure Almond vanilla was $2.99
- silk unsweetened soy milk was $2.79
- market pantry half and half, one quart, was $2.14

Purdue boneless, skinless, cage and antibiotic free, vegetarian fed chicken breast for $2.49/lb

Since I had plans to make the vodka sauce, chicken would be nice. I bought 1.4 pounds for $3.42.

I brought everything home.

Part of the reason I chose this meal was because I've been super tired in the afternoon. We have been surviving on a plethora of mexican feast leftovers, foccaccia and lunch dates with friends. (their treat, so I didn't break my pledge)

I sliced the chicken into strips and cooked it. Child made frozen peas and broccoli in the microwave. Had water on to cook whole wheat rotini.

Child fed tortoise some veggies and gave me the rest to add to the skillet, with a touch of fresh ground pepper. Then I poured the vodka sauce in. With the meat, its juice, everything.

I served over the pasta, with a sprinkle of Parmesan.

It was mediocre. My cooking was good, but the sauce fell flat. But, as my husband says, can you expect jarred sauce to be good?

Salsa festival

As I mentioned a while ago, Wegmans phased out their organic mango salsa and I haven't been to Wegmans lately to see if they rolled out their new salsa line.

We made nachos tonight with canned refried beans, cheddar, velveeta (a gift), and black olives on Archer Farms blue multigrain tortilla chips with flax seed. (These chips very much hurt my broken tooth, somehow chip ended up over there when I hadn't chewed on that side.)

I had a coupon for $1 off if I bought one 16-ounce Archer Farms salsa and one bag of Archer Farms chips. Hence the chips mentioned earlier. The chips were $2.99 before my discount(s) and coupon. The salsas were between $2.99 and $3.31 a jar. Odd price range.

I opted for two jars: one mild (raspberry with jalapeño, pineapple and red bell peppers) and one medium (corn, black bean & roasted red peppers with roasted jalapeño, red bell peppers and green chiles).

Both are tasty. Now the cheap salsa from Aldi has 10 calories per 2 tablespoons, 180 mg sodium, 2% RDA of vitamin A and no protein or other vitamins/minerals.

My favorite Wegmans mango salsa has 15 calories, 105 mg sodium, no protein, but 8% RDA of A and 15% vitamin C. Much more nutrition.

Archer Farms? Well...

The mild raspberry has 15 calories, 120 mg sodium, 1 gram protein, 4% vitamin A and 6% vitamin C. So it has some punch, but not like the mango. And the corn/black bean also has 15 calories, 220 mg sodium (holy cr*p), 1 gram protein, 2% vitamin A and 10% vitamin C.

Each year I plan my garden hoping to grow enough herbs and ingredients for homemade salsa. Hopefully this summer I'll learn to can and if I don't grow enough, I'll be visiting local farms and farmers markets. Let's make salsa!

Honey-glazed double grilled cheese

Nothing soothes my soul like a grilled cheese sandwich. I bought Archer Farm multigrain sandwich bread at Target last night with this purpose in mind.

Ingredients:
- 4 slices Archer Farm Multigrain sandwich bread
- 1 stick butter, room temperature
- about four ounces extra sharp cheddar
- about 3/4 cup six blend Italian shredded cheese (Market Pantry)
- 1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon canola oil
- 2 tablespoons honey

Put your frying pan or skillet on extra low heat. Drop in the oil and grease pan with fingers or towel. Add one tablespoon butter. Add half the pepper evenly across the pan.

Butter one side of two slices of bread and place in skillet. Coat each slice with an even layer of about 1/4 of the shredded cheese. Cover the cheese with very thin slices of cheddar, covering all the bread. Add evenly the remaining shredded cheese.

Top with buttered slices of remaining bread. You, hopefully, will use less than half the butter. Sprinkle with remaining pepper.

Increase heat to medium and press sandwiches together with a turner. Flip once cheese has melted. Once almost desired brown color, drizzle honey onto the bread. Flip. Add honey to other side. Let first side cook for about a minute-- the honey will burn quickly.

Brown the other side and serve.

Crazy Target Dash

Last night between getting out of work at 9:37 and meeting my ride at 9:45, I did one of my mad dashes through the Target market. I lost my grocery list I had stashed in my wallet and forgot obvious stuff, but my motivation was clearanced pints of Ben & Jerry's ice cream.

- Fresh Express veggie lovers salad, $2.99 (will mix that with our salad greens in the garden)
- Archer Farms Applewood Ham in that ham shape, 1 lb, $2.98
- 2 pieces of Angus beef, not sure what the cut is, but they look like steaks and the receipt says loin, $3.40 for one, $3.36 for the other
- New England blueberry cobbler coffee, 2 bags, $5.99 each
- Archer Farms multigrain bread, $2.54
- 2 lbs strawberries, $1.99 each
- welch's 100% grape juice frozen concentrate, one can was $1.26 and the other was $1.39
- Ben & Jerry's pints, 3 at $1.69 each

Total: 38.95
Minus team member discount: $3.91
Minus red card discount: $1.75
No tax
New total: $33.29

Peanut butter and honey

While my daughter was struggling to recover from her ear infections, I fed her some peanut butter and local raw honey sandwiches. She fell in love with peanut butter and honey, which we mix at a 50/50 ratio. Peanut butter and honey was a trick I learned from my college roommate. We've had several recent breakfasts of peanut butter and honey on Archer Farms breakfast bread-- like the blueberry streusel or apple fritter.

Pork with apples without apples and with peaches

I made an incredible lunch today from last night's leftovers and that made me realize that I didn't blog yesterday's meal. So, to try and remember...

- 5 thin boneless pork chops
- apple juice
- brown sugar
- canola oil
- country herb blend
- one can sliced peaches
- 1/4 cup Archer Farm lemon dill mustard

Cook the pork chops in one tablespoon canola oil, five minutes each side in the Le Creuset skillet.

Add about 1 teaspoon country herb blend, one cup apple juice, 1/2 cup brown sugar, the peaches (drained) and the mustard. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat and let simmer about 15 minutes. Add frozen greenbeans, serve when the greenbeans are cooked.

Now, with the leftovers, I chopped the pork and the peaches very small. I put them and the leftover juice in the skillet. Cook until. Add about 1-1 1/2 cups cooked spaghetti. Swirl with about 2 teaspoons sesame oil. Cook until noodles are hot, stirring constantly. Sprinkle liberally with sesame seeds.

A favorite Mommy breakfast

This has become one of my favorite instant breakfasts: one morningstar breakfast patty on a slice of Archer Farm Apple Fritter bread with a BIG mug of Tazo herbal tea. My favorite tea is Tazo Rest, but I think it's been discontinued. On this particular day, I replaced it with Tazo Passion. Very fruity.

Shopping at Target

I finished cashiering at 9 p.m. last night and did a stroll through the store to buy some goodies for Easter dinner. Plus, I noticed some good mark-downs on produce since the store will be closed today. (it took me way too long to realize why people were buying so many eggs and so much vinegar.)

Shopping at Target is like getting groceries at a casino. I've come to expect some random error somewhere in my order.

Speaking of which, here's my damages:
Subtotal: $61.02, minus $6.11 for my team member discount; and $2.75 for my red card discount for a total of $52.70

- impulse: Ruffles Molten Hot Wings, $3.59
They had these in the break room and I loved them
- Market Pantry berry 100% juice boxes, $2.64
- Dole classic romaine bagged salad, $2 (normally $2.49 and this mark down wasn't on the shelf tag or I would have purchased 2)

- a head of cauliflower, $1.79, again shelf tag read $2.49
- 2 Newman's Own dressings, one sesame ginger and one raspberry walnut, for my dairy free diva, $3.19 each
- Archer's Farm apple fritter bread, $3.79 (for peanut butter and raw honey sandwiches)
- New England blueberry cobbler coffee, $5.99
- Tazo Rest tea, $3.29 (we have not had this tea for a month, and there was one box last night. I've checked other Targets and other stores and no one has it. I asked my friends in 'Market' and they said we don't have any more)
- bananas, 7 at 10 cents each and they're green so I don't know why they were marked down)
- two packs of frozen yellow and white corn, Market Pantry, 97 cents each
- bird's eye steam in bag broccoli, reduced to $1.02
- bird's eye steam in bag mixed vegetables, $1.02
- 12 packs of cherry coke zero, coke, and fresca, $2 each
- unsalted butter, one pound, 2 boxes at $1.70 each (has to go in the freezer for now)
- boca chik*n, spicy chik*n, and crumbles, they were supposed to be $1.99 each but one rang up as the full price of $3.99
- Clif bars, 7 bars, $5
- Oreo Berry burst, $2
- Adam & Eve fruitable apple peach juice boxes, $2.50