Cheesy Pick of the Week

This week I'm picking 2 items for the Pick of the Week. You can't have cheese without crackers! So here they are. Savoritz crackers ($1.99/box) and some very tasty Garlic & Herb Goat Cheese.

This Goat Cheese is fabulously delicious. And it's only $1.99/package. You can't get Goat Cheese that cheap at a regular grocery store! (A similar item at Wegmans is over $4.)  

Lettuce Eat Salad

A co-worker brought this amazing salad to work yesterday for lunch. After she showed it to me, she said "Everything in here is from Aldi!". I just had to take a picture of it for the Aldi blog. Doesn't that look delicious? Aldi really does have a lot of healthy foods. I'll do some posts soon with their "Fit and Active" line of foods and focus on healthy eating options. Not only is food from Aldi healthy, but it's cheap too!

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner

Remember those French Fried Onions I mentioned just yesterday? They became part of our dinner today. Have you ever had Crunchy Onion Chicken? It's delicious! Here's the recipe:

Crunchy Onion Chicken

2 cups French Fried Onions

2 tbsp.all-purpose flour
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips
1 egg, beaten 

Place French Fried Onions and flour into plastic bag. Lightly crush with hands or with rolling pin. Transfer to pie plate or waxed paper. Dip chicken into egg; then coat with onion crumbs, pressing firmly to adhere. Place chicken on baking sheet. Bake at 400°F for 20 min. or until no longer pink in center.

Break-down of the cost of our dinner:
Chicken: $1.50
French Fried Onions (4 oz.) $1.25
Mixed Veggies: 59 cents
White Rice: (Box is $1.29) 50 cents
Total cost for meal: $3.84

Pick of the Week

This 6 oz. container of French Fried Onions is $1.99 at Aldi. The name brand, French's French Fried Onions, typically goes for $2.99 (with a Wegmans shopper card, $3.29 without), and the Wegmans brand is $2.69. I'm here to tell you, they ALL taste exactly the same. So, I'd opt for the cheaper one, of course!

Chopping Broccoli

It sure felt like summer today. (79 degrees in March?!) So it was definitely a "salad" kind of day. I almost made my signature pasta salad, but saw this recipe the other day and decided to try it. I've had similar in the past and really liked them.

And I just loved this variation of the Broccoli Salad. Here's the recipe, with all ingredients purchased at Aldi.

Ingredients

1 bunch broccoli (about 1 pound), cut into florets

1/2 small red onion, chopped

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1/4 cup of bacon bits

1/4 cup dried cranberries

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

Directions

Place broccoli, onion, cheese, cranberries and bacon in a salad bowl; set aside. In a small bowl, combine sugar, mayonnaise and vinegar; mix until the sugar dissolves and mixture is smooth Just before serving, pour dressing over salad and toss. Yield: 6 servings.

Pizza, Pizza

We did our weekly grocery shopping today and we were hungry. Probably not the best way to go grocery shopping! But we found a little something to make for lunch. And I have to say, they were both great! The cheese sticks were ready first, so they were our "appetizer", then the pizza was done right when we were finished with our cheese sticks. It was a very satisfying for a lazy Saturday afternoon lunch. Each item cost $1.99. So it was also lunch on the cheap!



Spicy

Spices at Aldi are 99 cents. 99 cents!! And they're in pretty containers. Oh, and they're good. Why would you spend more elsewhere?? They're 99 cents!

The Devil Made Me Do It

I bought a fun boxed cake mix this week to make cupcakes for a St. Patrick's Day work lunch.  I hadn't made the Aldi Devil's Food Cake mix yet, so I thought I'd give it a try. And figured you can't go wrong with a nice vanilla frosting. Total cost: Cake mix: 99 cents. Frosting: $1.29.

And here's the finished product. You will have to take my word for it that they were oh, so very good. And I just happened to have some shamrock sprinkles in the cupboard to make them festive!

Water, Water Everywhere

I know, I know. We should be re-using a water bottle every day for the sake of our earth. And sometimes we still do. But sometimes it's awfully convenient just to grab a bottle of water out of the fridge. It's definitely more convenient for my son, who takes one to school every day. And refills it all day long from the water fountain. He's even been trained to return the bottle home so we can return for the 5 cent deposit. A case of "name brand" water goes anywhere from $3.49 and up. Aldi water? $2.79.

Potato Soup

We love potato soup. And I have perfected the potato soup recipe. It's thick and rich and creamy. And oh, so very good.

As I was preparing the soup this evening for dinner, I realized that all of the ingredients of our potato soup were bought at Aldi. Which really shouldn't surprise me at this point, most of our groceries are bought at Aldi. But sometimes we do go elsewhere.

Potato Soup
Ingredients:
3 tbsp butter
1 tbsp flour
1 cup half & half
3 cups 2% milk
2 chicken bouillon cubes
1/2 cup water
4-5 potatoes, cut into small pieces
1 tsp each: salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion salt
2-3 tbsp Bacon bits

Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add flour and stir with butter until well mixed. Add half & half and milk and mix well. Dissolve bouillon cubes in about 1/2 cup of hot water and add to soup. Add potatoes. Sprinkle salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion salt. Stir well. Cook over medium heat until bubbly. Add bacon bits to soup. (Real bacon is better, but bacon bits work well.)

Turn to low heat for about an hour. Stir frequently. You may want to mash some of the potatoes in the pot to help thicken the soup. Ladle into soup bowls, sprinkle with shredded cheddar cheese and enjoy!

Cheesy Deals

Great prices on cheese at Aldi this week! Well, they're usually great prices anyway, but now they're even better. You can't get a block of cheese for under $2 anywhere around here. Sure, sometimes they're 2/$4. But normally they're $2.50-$3 each. And I can tell you, the quality of Happy Farms cheese is just as good as name brand cheese. And that makes me very happy indeed.

Just Desserts

Aldi has excellent baking mixes. From cakes and breads to brownies and muffins. I have yet to meet an Aldi baking mix I didn't like. As a matter of fact, I tend to think they are far superior to many other name brand baking mixes that cost much more. (The Aldi Baker's Corner Fudge Brownie mix is 99 cents.)

Just add a couple of eggs, some vegetable oil (both from Aldi, of course) and a little bit of water.

Mix together with a hand mixer. Then pour that thick, creamy batter into a greased pan, pop it into a preheated oven and wait for the aroma of chocolate to permeate your home.

Let them cool before cutting.

Sprinkle a little bit of confectioners sugar on top and enjoy!

Chili Today, Hot Tamale

One of our favorite Aldi meals is Turkey Chili. All of the ingredients are from Aldi. We use 2 cans of tomato sauce (29 cents each), 2 cans of chili beans (55 cents each), 1 can of kidney beans (55 cents), 1 green pepper (3 for 89 cents), and a pound of ground turkey ($2.49).



We then put all of the ingredients and some chili powder and hot sauce into the crock pot and put it on low for 8-10 hours. (I pre-cook the ground turkey before I put it in the crock pot.)

And here's the finished product. Topped with a little bit of Aldi shredded Mexican cheese, it's delicious! And the whole meal cost $5.02. And we always have leftovers for lunch the next day.



She's All Ears

Jenny the Corgi gives Aldi's Shep "Wow! Sticks" two paws up! These are Jenny's favorite treats. She'll do anything for them. She'll even sit quietly and look cute while I take endless amounts of pictures. And I like the Shep treats because they're cheap! ($1.99 / package.)

It's Greek to Me

* * * Update: ShopAldi has moved to a new home! Come visit us!  * * *

My 15-year-old health-nut son eats a LOT of yogurt. I buy on average 15 containers of yogurt per week. That cost adds up! Thankfully Aldi's yogurts are really good. Their regular yogurt is 39 cents per container, their Greek yogurt is 79 cents each.

Since Greek Yogurt seems to be the new "in" thing, I asked him this evening to compare Aldi Blueberry Greek Yogurt to Chobani Blueberry Greek yogurt (which is 30 cents more, per container). He gave what I thought was an honest answer. He said he liked them both. They were different, but both very good. I think that says it all!

Why buy the expensive yogurt if it's just as good as the cheaper alternative? On an average week, if I were to buy 7 containers of Aldi Greek Yogurt, that would be $5.53. If I were to buy the Chobani Yogurt, 7 containers would cost $7.63. That's $2.10 a week in savings. In just yogurt! I think we'll stick to the Aldi brand on this one.

Pick of the Week

This is my pick of the week. We absolutely LOVE this rice. And it's only 69 cents! You can't get a rice mix at a "brand name" grocery store for less than $1. We like to mix this rice with cooked baby carrots and cooked chicken. For a "meal in a bowl", as my husband likes to call it. We sometimes have crescent rolls as well. There are rarely leftovers, and everyone always goes back for seconds.

This entire meal can be bought at Aldi. The baby carrots are 89 cents per bag. (We use about half a bag for this dinner.) We use about 2 boneless chicken breasts. (Frozen chicken is $5.99 per 3.5 lb. bag.) And the rice is 69 cents. If we add the crescent rolls, that's $1.29 more. So the entire meal is $4.43. (And only $3.14 if we don't add the rolls!)

Chicken and Rice
1 pkg Rice Bowl Chicken flavored Rice
1/2 bag of baby carrots
2 -3 boneless chicken breasts

Prepare the chicken flavored rice as directed on the box. Boil carrots until soft. Drain and pour carrots into rice and mix. Meanwhile, cut up the boneless chicken into bite-sized pieces and place in pan with 2 tbsp Carlini Olive Oil. (The Aldi brand) Add salt, pepper to taste. When chicken is cooked through, place chicken in with the rice & carrots and mix well. Serve. Enjoy.