Step 2 and Tomato Sauce!

Monday night, I made a delicious Italian meal of Quinoa "meat" balls with tomato sauce and a salad...It was so good!  But step 2 for shopping healthy on a budget comes first!

Step 2:
Recycle the newspaper add and browse the produce section for discount bins.  Sometimes, stores will have a few racks of "old" produce.  This is usually the stuff that doesn't look the greatest, but is still perfectly fine to eat (like spotty bananas, pineapples with no top, etc.)  Sometimes, when I'm lucky, I can find bags of 20+ spotty bananas for $1.50 per bag!  I don't know about you, but I personally like spotty bananas as they are more sweet and easier to digest.  If I can't eat then all, I will freeze some and make banana ice cream with them later!

After you've hit the discount bins, see what is on sale in the produce isle.  Most grocery stores don't advertise all that they have on sale here, so take a look around and buy the things that are the least expensive and look the best (this just so happens to be the most in season produce usually...bonus!!).  Stock up on those items and keep following my post to next week to see the final step, step 3!

My grocery bill this week was $30.54 (sorry, no pictures...)

• raw peanut butter
• organic strawberry jam
• whole wheat pita bread
• 15 lb watermelon
• 15 pluots (cross between a plum and apricot)
• 1 head bok choy
• 1 head cabbage
• 3 bunches bananas
• 1 qt plain rice milk
• 2 bags of grapes
• 9 apples
• I think that's all, but I might be missing 1 or 2 things...threw away my receipt before posting!! But all in all, not too bad!

Recipe(s) of the day:  "Meat" balls, Raw Marinara, Salad

The "meat" balls were made by cooking:

• 1 c dry quinoa until soft and then allowed to cool.  
• To the quinoa, add 1 T flour, 2 T flax meal mixed with 2 T water and allowed to rest 2 min, a splash of almond milk, and seasonings of your choice (I chose oregano, parsley, and basil).  
• Then, form the mixture into balls and bake until warm and lightly golden.

While the "meat" balls were baking, I whipped up a batch of raw vegan marinara sauce to use as a dipping agent!  It was my first time making it, and definitely won't be the last!!

• Soak 1 1/4 c sun dried tomatoes in warm water for at least 30 min, longer if you don't have a high speed mixer (like a Ninja or Vitamix)
• Dump the tomatoes and soaking liquid into your blender/food processor and add the following ingredients:  1 clove garlic, 2 t dried parsley, 1 t dried oregano, 1 t dried basil
• Blend until smooth, add in more water for a thinner consistency if desired.

As for the salad, I just chopped 2 heads of romaine and sliced some onion and bell pepper on top.

To serve, make the salad on your plate and then pile on the "meat" balls and top with the marinara! So good! The sauce gets all over the salad and makes it taste even more wonderful and the "meat"balls add extra texture and flavor.  Enjoy!

I will be going on a yoga retreat this weekend, so be on the lookout for a post on Tuesday about it!  As always, I love to hear your comments so feel free to comment away.  No YouTube videos yet, but am looking to start them by October first!

With love and sweet fruit!  Luana ola!!