I'm bad at blogging.

I've been way too busy and have not been writing. Last week, I spent the rest of my money. I immediately lost the receipt, but it was 9-something, so I knew I was under the limit and decided to just stop there.

The hardest part of this challenge hasn't been finding food to eat. I've eaten really quite well at home, I even made pizza last week. (My New Year's resolution is to make 4 pizza's a month until I find what I deem to be the perfect pizza dough recipe.)

The challenge to this has been that I sometimes go hungry at work, because cheap food often doesn't make the most portable (or at least not the most appetizing) cold and purse-ready snacks. The upside to this is that I kept off the weight I lost from the stomach flu. Probably because I'm not eating mall food at least once a week. I've proven that even unhealthy homemade food like deviled eggs and pizza seem to be less plumping than fast food. The downside to this is being dizzy for the last hour of my shift, scarfing a corporate cookie, and then hungrily waiting at the bus stop across from Jimmy John's for 20 minutes.

Oh well, Christmas will be here soon and with it comes food freedom.

I really will post those recipes I've been promising...

Heavenly Sin or: How to Make People Swoon with the Easiest Recipe Ever

The Chocolate Chip Cream Cheeseballs recipe I've been making since high school is probably my most beloved, despite the fact (or perhaps because of the fact) that it takes almost no effort to put together. Also, I've had more people ask for this recipe than I can count, including people who "do not cook." Rest easy, there is no cooking actually involved in the making of this decadent dessert.

Sadly, this will be the first year I have not made these at Christmastime since I was 17. Instead, I combined it with one of my other favorite, easy dessert recipes to create something even more sinful. I'll add that recipe shortly.

Here is the recipe for Chocolate Chip Cream Cheeseballs, adjusted by me over the years, and known by many as "Heaven":

Ingredients"
1 stick cream cheese (No, low fat or neufchatel cheese will not do, thank-you-very-much.)
1 stick unsalted butter (Just do it.)
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 to 3/4 cup powdered sugar (This is the one place where the recipe will let you cut down a bit on calories. Sweeten to taste.)
1 bag mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
crushed pecans (optional)
Graham crackers or Vanilla Wafers


Let cream cheese & butter become soft at room temperature for 2-3 hours. Whip them together with an electric mixer on low, or mix manually with a potato masher. (Warning: at least one electric mixer has died due to this recipe, make sure ingredients are very soft if using electric.)
Then add 1 tsp vanilla and powdered sugar and blend well.
With a large spoon, gently stir in 1/2 bag miniature semi-sweet chocolate chips until evenly distributed.
Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour to let mixture firm up. (I often leave it overnight just because that's easier prep-wise.)
Separate refrigerated mass into two sections, roll into 2 balls on some waxed paper, then roll balls in remaining chocolate chips or pecan pieces.
(Alternatively, if coating in pecans, you can roll the cream cheese mixture into a long, thin log before coating in pecans. This makes it easy to slice off individual servings, but does not work well if coating in chocolate chips (it makes the chocolate ratio too high, in my opinion.)
Serve with graham crackers and/or vanilla wafers!

Days 9 and 10: Rule Tweak

Total Money Spent so far: $14.44

I've decided to only post when I spend money, or when I share a recipe. Recounting what I ate is boring, and unnecessary unless I spent money on it, so I'm not going to do it anymore. Hooray!

Anyway, I spent $4.14 at Target on a sparkling water, Chickadees cheese crackers, and fruit twists yesterday. Now I have snacks in my work locker. :)

Days 7 and 8: Guacamole and Such...

I decided to post for yesterday and today all at once since most of what I ate today was leftovers from yesterday.

Because I found avocados for $1 when I grocery shopped, I knew I was going to have to buy one, make guacamole, and have burritos. And thus, my first use of fresh ingredients for awhile involved a strangely flavorless avocado, yummy roma tomatoes, red onion, and (not so fresh because I'd frozen it) ground turkey.

Anyway, here's the list of what I've eaten yesterday and today:

Burritos (using the ingredients above, spices, lemon juice, and tortillas and cheese)
The last of my Jack Daniels Fudge
A Lean Pocket
2 Hard boiled eggs (quickly deviled each time with mayo, mustard, and spices)
Leftover Pasta Roni
2 Pepperidge Farm cookies
Gatorade
A Quaker Chewy bar

Tada!

I promise there will be recipes soon. :)

Day 6 (a little late): Grocery Shopping

Total Money Spent so far: $10.30

I've been avoiding writing this post because although I usually enjoy writing blogs, it feels a bit like homework right now. This is mostly because I haven't been eating any exciting food and therefore don't have interesting things to share. Although I'm feeling much better, I'm still a little afraid of tasty food. I do have some updates though.

1. Although I didn't go home, my parents still managed to smuggle some food to me. Because I didn't ask for it and didn't really have a choice in getting it, I'm considering it a gift and acceptable in the challenge.

2. I went grocery shopping yesterday and spent $8.81 on tomatoes, an avocado, tortillas, yogurt, and eggs. I also realized that I previously had added tax to the soy sauce that I bought a few days ago, which was silly because it was untaxed food, so I have corrected that.

Finally, here's a boring breakdown of the food I ate yesterday:
2 Small potatoes baked into oven fries with salt, ginger, and cardamom
2 pieces of homemade sourdough from my dad (once with a little lemon curd and once made into cinnamon toast)
2/3 of a Plain yogurt with honey and cinnamon added (I forgot I don't like plain yogurt unless it's Greek. I ate as much as I could make myself, deciding that it tasted too much like the fluoride swish they give you at the dentist.)
1 Hard Boiled egg
A lot of Gatorade, both the Orange that I already had and some Cool Blue from my parents. Does anyone else question the creation of flavors named after colors?
Parmesan Cheese Pasta Roni
The chocolate from the first 5 days of an advent calendar from the 'rents.

Coming Soon: Recipes for Candied Nuts, Spiced Nuts, and a very easy but oft-requested dessert known as either Heaven or Sin, depending on who you ask and how much they care about their waistlines.


Note: I have decided to start tagging posts. This will help you (and me) find the posts with recipes, the ones that explain or alter the rules, or the ones that are truly boring (I have marked them as "Dull", including this one. Sorry.) Just because my day is boring doesn't mean yours has to be. :D

Day 5: Blah.

I'll waste as little time boring you as possible:

Applesauce, Gatorade, Rice made with chicken broth, chicken noodle soup, baked potato.

I promise to be more interesting soon, when my stomach allows.

Day 4: A Little Less Sick

I'm a bit better today but my eating is still fairly limited.

Today I've consumed a fair amount of Gatorade, some rice cooked in chicken broth, and 3/4 of a small plain baked potato.

Being too sick to leave the house is a pretty good way to not spend money.