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May 2016

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Easy Chicken Quesadillas

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Hey! This recipe was born on one of those days where I was like, I want nothing to do with cooking, but I am STARVING and feed me now. I keep a lot of seemingly random things in my freezer, including chicken breasts, pre-sauteed peppers and onions, tortillas… you see where this was going, right?! Rather than being a true recipe post, this is more of an example of how doing some pre-work and keeping your freezer well stocked will save you the money and hassle of having to eat out. I recently bought a flat of chicken breasts at Costco and my dad helped me out by barbecuing each and every one of them for me! Since I was at my parents place, they freeze wrapped them for me, but a simple freezer bag will do the trick as well. I defrosted a pre-cooked chicken breast, a pre-sauteed package…

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In Casual Wear

Affordable Fitness Wear

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I don’t know about you, but I’m a big fan of athletic wear. Most days, I go straight from business clothes to athletic wear, or my onesie. The point being, I own quite a bit of workout wear and it ranges from expensive (looking at you, LuluLemon) to super affordable! This post is a bit of a roundup of my favorite accessible and affordable workout wear- Old Navy, Joe Fresh and Walmart. Everything is linked. All of these outfits are appropriate for hitting the trails, running some stairs or popping by the gym and cooling down after the fact. You’ll note that most outfits have a jacket or sweater- this is because I personally like to get outdoors when it’s cool at night. Joe Fresh While this option is the most expensive, I had to include it because of these super on-trend mesh insert leggings. Oftentimes I find going affordable is…

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In Food

Beet Salad

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Anyone who follows me on Instagram probably remembers this little snap of a salad I whipped up the other day, which was just too delicious to not share. This isn’t a cheap dinner, but it sure was delicious. For a less hungry person, this could serve two, but I kept it as a single serving on price since that’s how I ate it. Beets and Greens Salad $3.23 per serving ~1 Large Beet- $0.57 ~1/3 of a large container of mixed greens – $1.46 ~1/8 of a large container of feta- $0.88 1/3 of a can of cannellini beans- $0.32 Pantry Staples for dressing- olive oil, lemon juice, dijon mustard, salt and pepper (remember to salt and pepper liberally since the beans etc are a very blank slate. Go harder on the pepper and lighter on the salt due to the feta.) Start off by washing your lettuce and using…

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In cheap eats

Lentils with Israeli Cous Cous and Mushroom Ragout

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Hi! Today’s post is a freezer meal stockup or family sized recipe that is cheap and cheerful- my two favorite things! Cooking with beans and lentils allows me to skip on expensive meat, and instead load up on healthful vegetables. Sometimes I make the choice to eat meat free and have the nice produce I want. This option actually only uses one fresh ingredient- mushrooms. These could easily be swapped out for rehydrated dried or canned if you are looking to save even more. The most common comment I get when people talk about lentils is usually a combination of “those take forever to cook” or “aren’t those hard to cook?” My answer is the crockpot we all love- seven hours on low while you sleep, and those lentils are cooked. I boil mine because I tend to do a bunch of food prep all at once and one little…

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In Uncategorized

Dill Pesto Chicken Burger

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Hey guys! I thought it was only fitting after my easy tatziki recipe to give you something to eat it with! Even better, I thought it would be great to make that something incorporate the awesome dill pesto I made recently! This is a great way to make a batch of burgers to keep in the freezer for a night where it’s just too busy (or too hot, or too whatever) to cook. I will usually pull out a half cup of frozen rice and eat this with some tatziki and cut vegetables. Dill Pesto Chicken Burger $10.36 or $0.65 per burger 2 pounds of ground chicken- $4 ~150grams of bread crumbs- $1.25 1/2 a cup of parmesan cheese- $3.38 2 eggs- $0.45 Dill pesto- $1.28 Start off by putting everything in a bowl (yup, everything!). Season liberally with pepper, less liberally with salt (because of the parmesan).  Set out…

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In cheap eats

Easy Tatziki

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Do you remember this post where I said I eat my chicken and rice with fresh, home made tatziki? Here’s a reminder: What I didn’t tell you in that post is how I make my own tatziki for a lot more of an affordable price than purchasing it in the store. My favorite store bought tatziki is definitely the President’s Choice Traditional Tatziki, but it is $5.89 for about 1.5 cups (484grams). In this post I’m going to show you how I make the same amount at home in about 5 minutes, for only $2. Easy Tatziki $2, or $0.40 a serving 1/3 of a container of 0% greek yogurt: $1.27 2 cloves of garlic: $0.17 1/3 of a long english cucumber: $0.48 A few sprigs of dill (optional, but recommended): $0.07 Start off by putting about a third of your container of greek yogurt into a mixing…

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In featured

Fitness Friday: Home Gym Setup

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Hey guys, So today is the start of a new series on The Broke Girl Blog, one that is probably overdue but I just wasn’t ready to pursue it yet. It’s funny how you can come up with any excuse possible to not focus on your fitness a bit, and I think I’ve come up with them all. Here’s the thing, the totally honest thing: I’m an average human. Not fit, not deeply overweight, but somewhere in between. These days, though, it’s inching towards the overweight category. I know my mom is somewhere groaning, disagreeing with this but she’s bias and my work clothes (which mostly no longer fit) do not have any particular bias towards me. They just are the size they are, the size that’s being changed is my body. A decade ago, I was fit. I had an eight-pack and probably pretty low body fat with that…

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In Cheap Housekeeping

Making a Home: Affordable Small Bathroom Organization

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Hello! Here’s the next post in my ‘new homeowner chronicles’ which is getting used to a very different storage situation in my new master bathroom. In my bathroom at my parent’s house, my sister and I shared a bathroom with drawers, shelves, a storage cabinet… there was a lot of room and diverse options for storage. Which was good because I have a problem… and that problem is makeup and skincare products. Honestly, it wasn’t just that I have way too much makeup (although I do). I also have very, very sensitive and dry skin that for a long time, I was buying lotion, shampoo and different foundations etc etc to try and cover and combat. I still have a ton of difficulty with my skin, but thankfully I’ve found a few things that work now. The hangover of that was way too many products that I couldn’t even use,…

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In cheap eats

Easy Rice and Beans

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This post is inspired by Clinton Kelly’s “Breakfast Beans and Rice” from a recent episode of The Chew. The Chew is one of those shows I just love to watch when I’m at my parents (they have alllll the TV channels) and my mum is especially careful to save me the episodes when they are doing specials on how to stretch a buck! I actually really appreciate that they do things like this because I often find the food in magazines and TV shows to be a bit unattainable. Clinton’s recipe came up in a segment about never wasting the last little bits of what you have in the fridge! When I saw Clinton’s recipe, I immediately thought of this salsa from Sobey’s Our Compliments brand. My mum got me hooked on it because of it’s smoky chipotle flavor, and since I use a LOT less than traditional salsa, I feel…

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