Recipe Round-up (Meijer Ad 4/28/13 - 5/4/13)

Woo hoo!  Finally doing a Recipe Round-up again!  It's the "cheater" kind with no sale ingredient list...but just trust me, there are enough ingredients on sale to make it worth considering for your meal plan next week :)  Take special note of all the Mexican dishes that you can make with the Cinco de Mayo sale ingredients.

Homemade Ranch Dressing Mix

We've already found a good substitute for the guacamole seasoning packet.  Are you ready to ditch another packet?  Let's replace that packet of dry Ranch dressing!  I even did all the hard work for you and tried lots of different spice mixes.  This one is it.  I promise.  It's the best one I've found.  It tastes very similar to what you get out of a Hidden Valley packet (or a Meijer brand one, for that matter).  

Healthy Fats and Oils, Part Two

The following is the second part of a guest article written by Sarah Kamps.  This article is published in conjunction with April's theme, Spring Clean Your Eating Habits.

We've already pointed out that conventional fats and oils can be harmful to your health, simply by asking some basic questions.  We also listed off some healthier options, such as coconut oil and olive oil.  Let's examine those healthier options more closely by putting them to the same test:

Healthy Fats and Oils, Part One

The following post is a guest article written by my friend, Sarah Kamps.  She and I have had many conversations recently about improving our families' diets.  Healthy fats/oils is a topic that I don't know much about (yet!), but it's a topic on which Sarah has done a LOT of research.  Read on to discover what she's learned...and what she's teaching me!

Coconut oil has been making headlines lately.  It is creating a buzz in the health food world because of its many health benefits, such as:

• maintaining cholesterol levels
• improving weight loss
• increasing immunity
• dental and skin care