My Dollars Worth

 

 

While I am not interested or motivated by the inspired events of Black Friday, I do appreciate a good sale when it comes to grocery shopping.

Yesterday, I happened to check one of my local supermarket’s weekly online circulars as I do periodically to see if any of my favorite or useful household products were on sale, and I was in luck!

My local Stop and Shop was having a major blowout that began on Friday and will end this coming Thursday.

After work, I went and picked up some vegetables, fruits and other essential items at very affordable prices.

 

Lentils: A High Fiber Meal

 

Lentils are delicious and incredibly nutritious. I absolutely love lentils.

In fact, I had a bowl of lentil soup for lunch yesterday afternoon.

I cook and eat these legumes on a regular basis.

I sometimes prepare them with rice, vegetables or other types of beans.

Lentils are also a satisfying dish to create all by themselves without anything extra being added to them.

 

 

 

 

An Herbal Delight: Lemon And Ginger Tea

 

 

I had a hot cup of lemon and ginger tea yesterday at work.

It was the Bigelow Organic Steep Lemon Ginger Tea brand.

The beverage was potent with natural ginger, giving the tea a peppery taste, yielding the pleasant bursts of vibrant lemon flavor.

I love it when my herbal tea literally tingles the tune of tasty nutrition.

So nice to the spice!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lemons 🍋

 

There is nothing sweet about lemons, they leave a sour taste in one’s mouth.

This fact in no way makes me bitter. I could never resent the lingering zest of flavor that lemons leave behind.

Nothing can duplicate the distinct taste of a lemon.

The citrus burst of tanginess is soothing and refreshing to the body.

Lemon in water, lemon drizzled over food, lemon brewed in tea, lemon transformed into my favorite drink- lemonade!

 

Berrylicious

 

Thank goodness for the Berry family. They all contribute vital benefits that help sustain us naturally.

I am not crazy about raspberries though I can tolerate the taste of them when I eat them. They are not one of my favorites as far as taste, but I love them extracted in juice or recipes.

I absolutely love the raw taste of blackberries as well as Blueberries and strawberries.

Cranberries are too tart for me to eat within their natural state, I prefer the pure bitter juice.

These exceptional berries, including the ones I have not mentioned, have an array of wholesome healing purposes.

 

Strawberry Delight

 

I did not care for strawberries as a youngster. It wasn’t until I was in my twenties that I came to love them.

Strawberries are delicious, they are extremely healthy.

The fruit carries properties that boost our cardiovascular health and that stimulate our immune systems.

Strawberries are a powerful antioxidant that works as an anti-inflammatory.

I prefer to eat strawberries within their natural state instead of in desserts except for in non-dairy yogurt alternatives and fruit drinks or smoothies.

 

In The Mood For Oat Bran

 

I had recently gotten back into the habit of eating hot oat bran cereal after getting tired of it a while back.

The cereal tastes so good boiled with plain organic soymilk.

My bowl of oat bran comes out creamy and filling.

It is nice when what we eat can both be satisfying to the taste buds and beneficial to the health.

Oat bran is whole grain and high in fiber, a very wholesome and nutritious meal to enjoy regularly.

 

The Best Times To Feed Our Dogs?

If we were to directly ask our dogs when is the best time they’d like to eat I am sure their response would be, “Anytime is just fine with me!”- latoya lawrence 

 

I do not want to generalize because dogs all have their own dispositions and distinct preferences just as us people do.

However, I am pretty sure that if most dogs had it their way, they would be ready to eat all day long if we allowed them to.

So, while pet owners have various types of personal relationships with their dogs- some strict, some lenient, some a bit of both, some who just take natural moments of love, care, patience and attentiveness as they come.

Everyone does not tend to feed their dog on a precise day to day schedule, or even three times a day.

Some people feed their dogs throughout the day.

All that matters is what works out best for the pet, their owners, or the family.

If the dogs are being fed a healthy diet with portions suitable to their requirements everything should be fine.

One dog of mine would always get fed regular meals yet still make rounds in the house to other family members for extras.

I remember occasionally her belly would be so full that we could see it, and we would laugh and joke about how she hustled additional food from everybody.

Once she was satisfied, she went and nonchalantly rested her body in total contentment.

This was a healthy dog who ate table food and lived for a long time.

 

 

 

 

Doorbusters And Everyday Deals

 

When I regularly worked in retail we had sales advertised just about every day- latoya lawrence 

Well, today, many around different states took, and are still taking advantage of the after- holiday, next-day holiday sales, to lure eager customers into emptying their loads of wallets and pocketbooks.

I am glad to not be a part of that notorious hustle and bustle.

There is nothing wrong with shopping from time to time or shopping frequently if one can afford to spend.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with treating oneself.

I am one into wise shopping when I take part and indulge.

It is good to pick up items ahead of time at a low price to store up things that we need for later use.

This action saves one money and gives way to better convenience and financial budgeting.

Black Friday

 

It is good to take advantage of a sale or bargain when the opportunity presents itself.

Nevertheless, I was never one into the craze over Black Friday.

I never intentionally went shopping on that day, I never understood the impulse the draw had on many.

I worked at quite a few department stores and still was not tempted to hunt for a deal.

 

 

I hated how our managers instructed us employees who had certain major positions to be at the stores by 5am to get the sales floor ready to prepare for the surge of customers before the doors to our retail outlets opened.

People literally tore the store up in their haste and disorder.

I used to hear on the news how some people were killed during stampedes caused by those who were in a rush, carelessly bombarding their ways through the crowds of other impetuous people.

I remember standing out in the cold while it was still dark outside one November, the day after Thanksgiving. I was waiting early that morning for a bus to catch, all for the sake of a job needing me to be there to help line up things for Black Friday- it was so ridiculous.

 

My Tidbits

 

This past Saturday morning I had some cold, tasty, nutritious apple juice without any added sugar.

In the afternoon, I drank three cups of hot delicious tea back-to-back.

Later, during the evening, I made quite a few pieces of toast from whole wheat bread.

I lightly covered my toast with I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter Vegan spread that I had not purchased in almost two years.

And that is all I ate and drank for that entire day.

Wait A Minute! What Was In My Box Of Rice?!

 

On my way home from work earlier in the week, I stopped off at a grocery store that I frequent on rare occasions while I am within the area.

I purchased a box of instant Minute brown rice.

I have been a rice eater since childhood, always loved me some rice- whether yellow rice, red rice, beans and rice, peas and rice, rice pilaf or plain rice.

I cut out eating white rice unless colored with the benefits of Turmeric two years ago.

I have been eating mainly brown rice when I get the taste for it mixed in with lentils or various type of beans that I prepare.

When I got home later in the evening to pour the rice into a pot to boil an object of some sort fell out through the box along with the rice.

It was dark brown in color, had a sharp point on one side and broke in half like some dirty piece of matter possibly found in ground or soil.

Whatever the article was it was a turn off to me.

I immediately poured the contents of the rice out of my pot into the garbage. I took a photo of the Minute rice box proof of purchase, date, and time stamp.

Afterwards, I wrapped the box of remaining rice in a plastic bag and placed it inside the trash.

The next day I phoned up the company that manufactures the rice and was disappointed at the representative’s way of operating, so I hung up on her.

The representative wanted me to send a picture of what I found inside the box. I explained how it broke up and as I did not know what it was, I quickly discarded it

I proceeded to fill out a contact form located on the Minute Rice website. Now I am waiting to see if I will receive a response from them.

 

Cheerios

 

 

There are not too many healthy cold boxed cereals out on the market. In fact, it is very rare to find some that really are nutritious without unnecessary ingredients.

One of my favorites, Uncle Sam’s Raisin Bran which was high in fiber without any added sugars and only had four simple ingredients was unfortunately taken off the market due to low customer sales.

I phoned up the company myself to find out this information after I could no longer find the item in the stores I use to purchase them from a year and a half ago.

Grape-Nuts is still on the market and is another healthy four- ingredient vegan friendly cereal, however, I do not have a taste for them as I did during my teenage years.

Cheerios was a cereal I loved while growing up and healthy compared to the other leading cereals.

I stopped eating them because of the Cheerios being fortified with vitamin D3 derived from lanolin (grease/oil from sheep’s wool).

Since nowadays General Mills made Cheerios gluten-free and non-gmo maybe they will eventually take out the animal sourced Vitamin D3 and replace it with a plant-based option for us vegans to consume.

 

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving

 

Thanksgiving is a day celebrated once every year.

A time of gathering for family and friends to spend quality time with one another and to enjoy the feast at a table giving thanks for everything that they fortunately have.

I stopped officially celebrating Thanksgiving and Christmas around the age of twelve along with certain other holidays.

To me, they were just ordinary days that were commercialized.

Like I have said many times before- every day is a day to be thankful.

Christmas is really in honor of the birth of Jesus, not a day symbolized to give out and to receive presents.

Easter is about the resurrection of Jesus not a day to acknowledge the relation of any “bunny”.

Nevertheless, Thanksgiving serves a purpose.

Not the purpose in the design of false stories of history or for profit, but for the purpose of a reminder.

A reminder to always be grateful and to show gratitude to God.