This past weekend was extra fun because of some special birthday celebrations.
My friends Erica and Toya celebrated their dirty 30 birthdays!
Erica’s dad whipped up a delicious BBQ-birthday lunch complete with homemade spicy-sweet sauce. Yum!
Of course there was birthday cake. Really great cake!
Then more cake!
Then a night of dancing. I mean like 8-2am dancing. Oh yea!
I left my big camera at home. It didn’t fit in my tiny Coach bag and forgot to take photos during most of the party. So, while I only have a few iPhone photos from the weekend…
…I’ll always have the memories. 😉
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And then we have Monday.
I decided to try something new for dinner – Lundberg Roasted Brown Rice Couscous. I guess this is supposed to be the couscous alternative for those who eat gluten-free. I just bought it because it cooked pretty fast and because there was $1 off coupon for it at Earthfare.
Nutrition facts.
Ingredient list.
Since I was buying dinner groceries around 9pm, I went with easy eats – a chicken roll-up (spinach feta), the couscous, and steamed broccoli.
The meal was simple and tasty. Not so much fast (the chicken took about 35 minutes), but it was cheaper than getting take-out and much more yummy.
As for the cous cous – I think it was more sticky than traditional cous cous. It also wasn’t as fluffy, but maybe that’s because the box directions didn’t have any fluffing steps. I think it was mostly due to the sticky nature of the rice. The texture was really close to regular cous cous, though, and the flavor was nice. I also liked how the cook time was much shorter than that for regular brown rice. I’d definitely eat this again. And I’ll have to. The tiny box made a whole bunch – way more than I needed for just one meal for me! lol
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Happy birthday Toya!
Happy birthday Erica!
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Reader question: Do you try new food products because of coupons?
I do sometimes try new foods b/c of coupons, but only if they’re all natural and/or organic (you can find a surprising amount of coupons for natural/organic foods!)
I try to follow the same rule. I usually just get the coupons at the health food stores. Where do you get yours from?
I use Whole Foods store coupons a lot (you can get them online or in their monthly magazine The Whole Deal, available in-store). Otherwise I use http://www.organicdeals.com/ a LOT! They’ll link you to many manufacturer coupons and tell you which coupons in the Sunday paper can be used on organic items.
Look at those frosting flowers! They look AMAZING!
I do try new healthy products when I have a coupon from time to time. Anne P sent me some Attune Foods coupons, so I tried the bars and graham crackers for the first time. I typically stick to using coupons on my beloved old favorites though for the most part.
I’m a sucker for coupons and sales. I try not to buy anything I wouldn’t otherwise buy without a coupon, but they definitely are awesome when I’m looking to try out a new snack or goodie.
How fun! I love birthdays. Especially birthday cake! I do definitely try new things b/c of coupons. 🙂
Mmmmm cake! Looks like you guys had a great time! Yeah, I tried a lot of the stuff we got coupons for at the Healthy Living Summit last year. A lot of it was good!
I love that whole wheat couscous – I just found that it took a little longer to cook, but I still love it!
I’m a sucker for deals – when Whole Foods has new (to me) produce on sale, I always try it – I’ve found that I can pretty much put any vegetable, as long as it is fresh and organic, and they taste good in a stir fry!
Ooh yes I love a good produce sale! 😉
Okay, so I don’t know if I have missed it before but do you have a recipe for the chicken? It looks AMAZING!! P.S. the cupcake on the post before this is amazing!!!
Hey Alissa – they’re chicken roll ups from Earthfare. They’re pre-made. I think they just pound the chicken breast thin and bread it. Then put spinach and feta in the middle and roll it up and use a toothpick, etc. to keep it in place. 🙂