Over the years, I have gotten TONS of reader questions about food consumption and grocery shopping. Here are just a few:  “Stacy, how do you keep enough food in the house?” “Help Stacy! I can’t figure out how much to buy!” “Stacy my family eats so much food that I am constantly running out!” Dear Stacy, I don’t want to over-buy and waste food, but I don’t want to run out either. “How do I buy enough food, but not too much?”

The struggle is real, y’all.

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Some of you follow me on Instagram, where I always share our dinners each night and our weekly meal plan on Fridays. Y’all have noticed that our family has cut way back on our meat consumption, and I’ve been getting a lot of questions and comments about it. Everyone is curious – why did we cut back on meat?

About 8 years ago, we started down our path of healthy living.

We started too fast at first. At first, I wanted to do it ALL. Homemade sourdough bread, fermented foods, buy and make everything organic. I wanted to cook everything from scratch. I didn’t want to use any chemicals or anything toxic anywhere in the house. And as you might imagine, I very quickly hit burn out SO bad. I burned out so bad, that I did a 180 and started to go back to buying processed food, eating out a whole lot more, and as a result, we didn’t feel good.

That’s why I always encourage people to go slow.

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A while back I shared with y’all the solution to our breakfast woes – make-ahead breakfasts cooked in big batches for the week ahead. We LOVE this approach! This past week I made super easy, but really hearty and delicious breakfast burritos in a jar.

Breakfast burritos in a jar are so easy to customize.

Pinterest was my original inspiration for this recipe (of course!) and there were 100s of recipes with all kinds of interesting filling ideas. You could choose any protein you’d like from sausage, bacon, chorizo, ham, or ground beef to black beans, refried beans or quinoa. I used some sautéed peppers because it was what I had on hand, but you could also use zucchini, onions, mushrooms, baby spinach, or whatever else you’d like! [Read more…]

I’m about to let you in on a little secret. At night when my kids go to sleep, I eat chocolate. Chocolate chips, chocolate chunks, Hershey’s kisses, or on a really good day, my single serving chocolate cake. Sometimes momma just needs a little something sweet at nighttime after children go to bed!

If I try to eat any kind of chocolate (or any sweets) during the day, it’s like my kids have chocolate radar. They just know. Similar thing happens when I’m sweeping and I’ve got a pile of dirt in the kitchen. They somehow know to come sprinting through the kitchen.

Usually, we save special desserts for Sundays.

But it’s always nice to be able to whip these up when Barry and I have had a long day and just need a special treat! Anytime I make a single serving chocolate cake, I just preheat my trusty countertop toaster oven. It cooks almost identically to a regular oven, but preheats in no time, doesn’t waste tons of energy and won’t heat up the whole kitchen.  And I don’t know about you, but I personally think that single serving “mug cakes” you cook in the microwave are gross. They taste weird and overly spongy. I don’t like those at all. But this is WAY different. [Read more…]

One thing you probably already know about me is that I have quite the collection of cookbooks. I know I can find recipes online with the swipe of a finger. But there’s something about holding one of my favorite cookbooks in my hands, flipping through the pages… well trying to, because let’s be honest… they’re often stuck together with oats and syrup. But I just love my cookbooks. [Read more…]

One thing y’all have to know about me…I love me some leftovers.

There is almost nothing better than knowing you don’t have to worry about what’s for lunch because you’ve got leftovers in the fridge! And because I would love to make your lives easier too, I’ve got some easy tips for reheating leftovers that I would love to share.

Sometimes lunch sneaks up on me and the little people are hungry, but there’s no food prepped. That’s why I cook extra food! I actually try to intentionally cook more than enough food at meal times so I know that I will have leftovers for lunch the next day. We can have leftovers at lunch here, and I also send some to work with Barry so he doesn’t have to eat out.

I’ve been asked often, “Stacy, how do you reheat leftovers so they actually taste good?”

Today, I’ll share just a few tips for reheating leftovers so you can no longer fear them. Instead you can embrace leftovers and actually plan your menu in advance to ensure that you have them. [Read more…]

For years now, I have been asked to share my thoughts on diets and dieting.

And for years, I have said no. The main reason I hesitate to share is because, in the past, I was verbally abused and mistreated by people who didn’t like my stance on diets and dieting. If you aren’t interested in my thoughts, then you should probably just skip this post. Maybe check out my recipe for Homemade Popcorn instead. 😉 [Read more…]

We are big believers in the power of fat – well, healthy fats at least.

This might come as a shock to you (or not really), but I don’t follow a low-fat diet. No sir. There’s no way I’m riding anywhere on that bandwagon. I don’t even agree with low calorie, but that’s a post for another day. Today, I want to talk specifically about what cooking oils I use regularly, as well as my favorite healthy fats.

I have read a lot, I mean A LOT, about fat over the last several years.

When I talk about “healthy fats,” sometimes people give me a strange look.  The idea of a healthy fat sounds odd because the medical community loves to tell you all about how you need to lower your fat intake.

I could go into great detail right here about what makes some fats healthy and others not. And I could tell you why you need healthy fats in your diet. But I’m not qualified as a dietitian or medical professional, so I can’t give “medical or dietary advice” (covering my butt here). But I can share what I’ve learned and give you some things to consider for yourself. One of my favorite resources on this subject is my friend Katie, over at Kitchen Stewardship. She is just a wealth of information, and her website is an amazing place to learn all about healthy fats plus healthy eating (and healthy food in general). #notpaidtosaythis [Read more…]

Who doesn’t love any recipe that calls for cheese and bread? Life doesn’t get much better than homemade pizza rolls, y’all!

For these easy and delicious rolls, I use the Bread Becker’s basic dough recipe. You have probably learned by now that’s pretty much what I make everything out of! But when I know I’m going to make pizza or pizza rolls, I typically leave the egg out. The basic dough recipe will make 2-3 pizza crusts and 2 batches of pizza rolls.

Usually, when we make these pizza rolls, we make them with pepperoni…lots and lots of turkey pepperoni.

Some people say they don’t like the texture or taste of turkey pepperoni, but I really think that the rolls just cook up so much better without all that grease that regular pepperoni has.  And if possible, try to find nitrate/nitrite free pepperoni. It’s hard to find near me, but I’ve been told Walmart, Target, Kroger, and Trader Joe’s (just to name a few) all carry these healthier varieties. Usually pepperoni has a long refrigerator shelf life, so you can buy in bulk when you find a good healthy option! [Read more…]