I have a feeling that the Whole Foods Moms are not going to love me after this post.

But here’s the thing, I named my blog Binkies and Briefcases because I believe in balance. Even though I’d love for my whole family to eat 100% organic whole food all of the time, at this stage in our lives that’s just not realistic. We have active kids, busy schedules, and we are in a temporary living situation until our new home is finished. 90%of my kitchen supplies are still in storage. To give you an idea, I made fried zucchini the other  night using a plastic fork to flip them during the frying process. Sadly, the fork did not survive. Happily, I managed not to burn myself.

You get the idea. Anyway, the point is, sometimes we just need the, well, convenience of convenience food.  

I’ve been really paying attention to the labels at the store lately, and I’ve found a few products that we really like because they are easy, not any more expensive than their less-healthy counterparts, and they taste good. 

This is not a sponsored post (although I wouldn’t mind if these brands decided they want to send me a check), I just wanted to share because we’re crushing on them right now.

Utz Potato Chips

These are a local product. They are made right in my grandparents’ neighborhood. If you’re not in the mid-Atlantic region, then I’m sorry for your loss because these really are yummy. We have always bought these chips anyway because they taste good and we grew up on them, but even after I started worrying about switching our family to whole foods I just kept right on buying them because…

They only have 3 ingredients: potatoes, oil, and salt. I only buy the original or ruffled version, which has the same ingredients list, because the other flavors have more ingredients. Granted, cottonseed oil isn’t the best kind of oil in the whole universe, but I’m okay with giving these to my kids as a sometimes food.

The next convenience food I wanted to share with you is 

Annie’s Homegrown Mac & Cheese

Macaroni and Cheese is my middle daughter, Abby’s, favorite food in the whole entire world. She would eat it every day. Often, she does. It’s MUCH cheaper, not to mention easier and faster, to buy a boxed version than to make it from scratch. 

I buy this at Target.You can also buy it here. This week at Tar-Jay the stove top kind was on sale for $1/box, which is only a few cents more than other well known brands. I also really appreciated that they had a box with a character my children recognized. It can be hard to explain why we aren’t buying “the Monster’s Inc. kind” or “the one with the Transformers on it.” 

I like that the pasta is organic, the cheese is real (“Cultured Pasteurized Milk, Salt, Non-Animal Enzymes” as opposed to “WHEY, CORN SYRUP SOLIDS, PALM OIL, MILKFAT, SALT, MILK PROTEIN CONCENTRATE, CONTAINS LESS THAN 2% OF MEDIUM CHAIN TRIGLYCERIDES, SODIUM TRIPOLYPHOSPHATE, CITRIC ACID, GUAR GUM, SODIUM PHOSPHATE, NATURAL FLAVOR, LACTIC ACID, CALCIUM PHOSPHATE, MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE, YELLOW 5, YELLOW 6, ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, ENZYMES, CHEESE CULTURE); MODIFIED FOOD STARCH, MALTODEXTRIN, POTASSIUM CHLORIDE, ACETYLATED MONOGLYCERIDES, SALT, MEDIUM CHAIN TRIGLYCERIDES, APOCAROTENAL (COLOR).”-actual ingredients  for the “cheese” in the other brand.)   and that there aren’t any hormones or artificial colors or flavors.

Abby and Penny both ate the microwavable kind for lunch today. I believe it was $3.50 for a box of 5 pouches, which is about $0.70 per serving.  I tasted it and was surprised that it tasted very familiar, much like the stove top version of the brand in the blue box.  

I also buy other Annie’s products at Target, although I do find that many of them are more expensive than the non-organic versions of the same snack food.

I’m sending 3 boxes of Annie’s snack mix bunnies for the kindergarten class snack tomorrow. It would have been cheaper to buy something else, but I feel better knowing that I’m not giving the kids hormones and chemicals.

Have you tried any of these products or are there others that you can share?

We’ve had a few rainy days lately. Perfect soup weather! I love this time of year when the weather starts to cool down, the kids are getting back into a routine, and I start to have a little more down time to cook and craft and do things I actually enjoy. Here in Pennsylvania chicken corn soup is really popular. Firehouses will even sell it on the side of the road as a fundraiser. It’s one of those things, like chilli or spaghetti sauce, that every family does a little differently and everyone thinks their own version is the best. It’s often referred to as a Pennsylvania Dutch recipe, so I guess credit is due to our Amish community. I have no idea if there is a “right” way to make this soup, but this is my version. 🙂 I think, traditionally, there should be egg noodles instead of rice, but I use the brown rice because it’s healthier.

Chicken Corn Soup

2014-06-14 12:22:56

Serves 8

Turn your leftover chicken into a delicious soup that originated with the Amish.

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Ingredients

1. The carcass (bones) of a roasted or rotisserie chicken
2. Water
3. 2 cups of cooked, shredded chicken
4. 2 ears of corn
5. 1/2 cup of brown rice
6. 1 egg, beaten and tempered

Spices (to taste)

1. Sea salt
2. Black Pepper
3. Garlic Powder
4. *Tastefully Simple Onion Onion
5. *Tastefully Simple Garlic Garlic
6. *Tastefully Simple Italian Seasoning
7. *These are what I use because my friend is a Tastefully Simple consultant. Feel free to substitute with whatever versions of these spices you have on hand.

Instructions

1. 1. Fill a heavy medium stock pot (I use my Le Creuset) with water and the carcass of a roasted chicken that has been picked clean.
2. 2. Simmer the chicken bones over low heat for a minimum of two hours. (This can also be done in a slow cooker overnight)
3. 3. Remove bones and season broth to taste.
4. 4. Shuck and clean two ears of corn and add to broth. Increase heat and cook corn in chicken broth.
5. 5. After 7-10 minutes, remove corn from broth. Allow to cool until it can be handled. Use a sharp knife and cut corn kernels from each ear.
6. 6. Return corn kernels to broth. Also return empty corn cobs to broth.
7. 7. Add cooked, shredded chicken and simmer for 10-15 minutes.
8. 8. Remove corn cobs and add 1/2 cup of uncooked brown rice.
9. 9. Cover pot and continue to simmer until rice is cooked. (About 15 minutes)
10. 10. In a small bowl, beat 1 egg. Temper the egg with warm broth and then add it to the pot.
11. 11. Stir to incorporate egg.

Notes

1. Like all soups, this one is best if left to sit overnight.
2. Try making the broth overnight in a slow cooker!

By Stephanie {Binkies and Briefcases}

Binkies and Briefcases http://binkiesandbriefcases.com/