Whine Without Wine

Welcome to my Friday night.

Simple yet sophisticated.

After an extremely long and tiresome work week I was exhausted by the time I got home. I was too tired to meet up with friends for a quick happy hour drink. I was even too tired read my book. However, I was not too tired to open up a bottle of wine and pop a mini bag of popcorn.

Such a treat!

I bought this vino at Kroger and was a little iffy since it was only $3.99. Yet, I'm on a mission to find inexpensive wines that taste as if they cost much more. The end result of this Tisdale Chardonnay? Mission accomplished. I am quite the wine connoisseur and was pleasantly pleased when this medium-bodied Chardonnay hit my palate. It has the perfect amount of oak and bite to it. My mind was screaming we have a winner! 

If I would have gone out with friends for one glass of wine it would have easily cost me about $6 plus the tip. I think my quiet evening in was much more entertaining, relaxing, and easy on the wallet.

Aly's Night In

Glass of wine: $1
Bag of mini popcorn: $0.33
Watching Say Yes to the Dress: Priceless

Budget friendly night of fun!

Question of the Day

Do you have something that is inexpensive yet nobody would realize it?

Besides finding tasty treats on a budget I also love finding decorations that are quite the deal. I wrote about dollar decor previously. I love it!

I whine when I'm without wine.

 

Frozen Vanilla Yogurt Covered Blueberries

I have been so incredibly busy lately and I'm sorry for the lack of posts! Sincerest apologies. I have been working full-time with Kraft Foods (Nabisco specifically) and just found out on Wednesday that I got the promotion of Sales Associate! I start tomorrow morning. Yikes!

Yet, I didn't realize how difficult it would be juggling a full-time job with exercise and a social life. It's not easy at all especially when I have to wake up before 5 every morning. I don't even think the roosters are up that early to being their wake-up calls! I haven't been able to have my hot bowl of oatmeal in the morning either. Double whammy.

So whenever I have a day off I try to find the time to recreate various recipes. Today I finally tried this out and it made quite the scrumptious snack or delectable dessert. It's so versatile and took no effort whatsoever to make it. The great thing about it is that the entire recipe is roughly only 270 calories! In case you didn't read it correctly, that's the entire recipe and this makes quite a few servings and will last a while! It's also important to note that once taken out of the freezer they melt after 10 minutes or so. So take out only what you want and put the rest back in the freezer!

Frozen Vanilla Yogurt Covered Blueberries

1 pint blueberries

3/4 cup nonfat plain Greek yogurt

1 1/2 tsp sugar free fat free instant vanilla pudding mix

1/4 tsp + a splash of pure vanilla extract

*NOTE: Can you 6oz cup of nonfat vanilla Greek yogurt instead of last 3 ingredients if desired.

The ingredients! That's the pudding mix in the envelope!

Directions

-Wash blueberries.

-In a separate bowl combine yogurt, pudding mix, and vanilla. Stir.

-Add berries and stir until well coated.

-Place berries on a large cookie sheet lined with wax paper.

-Put tray in freezer for an hour.

-Once completely frozen, put in a container or freezer bag and keep frozen until consumption.

-Enjoy!

Eat them plain or top your ice cream with these!

I love being able to have a few of these suckers to satisfy my sweet tooth and not feel guilty at all about it. I cannot wait to try different versions of this using different pudding mixes such as chocolate, cheesecake, and butterscotch!

There was this much even after I ate some a ton :)

Question of the Day

What is your dream job?

If I could do anything for a living I would want to be a chef. I absolutely love cooking and finding ways to make recipes healthier with a few simple swaps. I hope to one day create a cook book showcasing all of my recipes.

Aly's Healthy Eats and Treats

But until that happens I'll just go ahead and enjoy my Frozen Yogurt Covered Blueberries.

Frozen Vanilla Yogurt Covered Blueberries

  
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Oven Roasted Balsamic Brussels Sprouts

Psssstttt...I have a secret.

Do you want to know? I'll blurt it out and you can tell anyone that you want. I love vegetables. Veggies are my friends. I love peppers, broccoli, carrots, spinach, tomatoes, the list goes on and on. But that's really no secret about my love obsession with these nutritious treats. The secret is: I ♥ Brussels sprouts.

GASP! I know. This cruciferous vegetable has such a bad rep among everybody. But give these babies a chance people! So delicious and extremely nutritious. They are packed with fiber, protein, potassium, vitamin C, along with many other nutrients.

As you all may know, I'm always looking for a good deal so when I saw the 16 oz container of fresh Brussels sprouts for only $1.49 at Kroger, I had to snatch those suckers up. They were so inexpensive because they were on Manager's Special and needed to be used up within a day. So off to Pinterest I went and BOOM, a masterpiece was created.

Oven Roasted Balsamic Brussels Sprouts

Oven Roasted Balsamic Brussels Sprouts
16 oz fresh Brussels sprouts, quartered
2.5 Tbsp light butter, melted
2.5 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
Dash of salt, pepper, and (generous) garlic powder

The ingredients!

 
Directions
-Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
-Line cooking sheet with aluminum foil and place sprouts on it.
-In a separate bowl add butter and vinegar. Stir.
-Pour over sprouts and give them a nice toss.
-Sprinkle spices over sprouts and place in oven for 25 minutes stirring halfway through.
-Enjoy!

Yummy!

Hopefully after giving this recipe a try you'll gain a new appreciation for this yummy vegetable!

Question of the Day

What vegetable did you not like as a child?

When I was little I did not like mushrooms at all. I partially blame this on my mother since she doesn't like them either (Mom is quite the picky eater). But a few months ago I tried them on pizza and didn't mind them. Then I started adding them to multiple recipes and have grown to greatly enjoy them!  

Try it! You may end up loving it.

 

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