Sam’s Club Veggie Prep Secrets

 

Hey friends!

I’m excited to share one of my favorite ways to prep fresh veggies from Sam’s Club that keeps my family happy and eating healthy. It’s all about making veggie-packed meals easy, tasty, and low fuss. To start, here’s a quick lunch idea that’s colorful, fresh, and so satisfying — my cold veggie pizza!

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Sam’s Club Veggie Prep Secrets

Cold Veggie Pizza Lunch – A Favorite Quick Meal
One of my favorite ways to use all those fresh veggies? A cold veggie pizza. Today, I crisped up leftover naan bread, spread on my homemade veggie cream cheese (just cream cheese with a little ranch seasoning and finely chopped veggies), and topped it with my cold veggie crumble mix: broccoli, cauliflower, sweet peppers, green peppers, and carrots—very finely diced. So fresh, colorful, and satisfying. It made the perfect lunch!

What I Usually Grab from Sam’s Club

• A bag of fresh broccoli

• A head of cauliflower

• Sweet peppers and green bell peppers

• Baby carrots

• Baby romaine (so much better than the big heads!)

• Coleslaw mix (sometimes two!)

• A bag of Brussels sprouts or asparagus (when they’re not too expensive)

• Big baking potatoes and little potatoes

• Vidalia onions

As soon as I get home, I try to prep everything on Day One.

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1. Veggie Dip Platter
I always make a vegetable platter with a yogurt-ranch dip and keep it on the table at every meal. One of our newest favorite additions is pieces of baby romaine—cut into scoop-sized chunks. They’re crisp, refreshing, and perfect for dipping. Everyone digs in—it’s a total Mom win!

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2. Chopped Coleslaw & Egg Roll Mix
I like to chop the coleslaw mix even smaller, into a fine dice, because we like the texture better that way. I also set some aside and mix in diced mushrooms to use for egg roll bowls or homemade egg rolls.

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3. Prepped Onions for Easy Cooking
I dice two onions three ways: medium dice, small dice, and slices. This gives me easy grab-and-go options for whatever I’m cooking that day.

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4. Homemade Veggie Cream Cheese Spread
Using finely chopped broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, and sweet peppers, I mix in ranch seasoning and cream cheese to make my own veggie spread. It’s creamy, flavorful, and packed with crunch from the veggies. I love using it on wraps, toast, or as a dip for crackers or fresh veggies—but my absolute favorite is spreading it on a warm sourdough bagel, especially the ones I make myself. Total comfort food!

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5. Veggie Crumble Mix for Meals
I finely chop broccoli and cauliflower into a crumble and use it in rice dishes, omelets, or as a base for cold veggie pizza. It’s super versatile and adds nutrients to almost anything.

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6. Cold Veggie Pizza Topping Mix
This is my go-to mix: broccoli, cauliflower, sweet peppers, green bell peppers, and carrots—all diced very small. It adds crunch and flavor to veggie pizzas, wraps, or sprinkled over salads.

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7. Potato (and Veggie!) Prep – So Many Options!
With the little potatoes, I love cutting them in half and laying them cut-side down on a pan dusted with Parmesan—then bake or air fry until crisp. They're also great cubed and air-fried for quick sides.

Brussels sprouts and asparagus can be prepped the same way! Halve the Brussels or trim the asparagus, toss with a little oil and lay them on Parmesan just like the potatoes. Bake or air fry for a golden, cheesy crust and a savory bite that’s hard to resist.

For the big baking potatoes, I bake a batch and either make twice-baked potatoes or scoop out the centers in bite-sized chunks to make a baked potato salad later.

I save the skins (leaving about ¼ to ½ inch of potato on them), cut them into thirds, and bake them with bacon and cheese. Serve with sour cream, and you’ve got homemade loaded potato skins! I also flash-freeze any extra skins to pull out and bake another day.

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Nothing Goes to Waste
I’m proud to say I throw almost nothing away. What I can’t use right away, I freeze. I save veggie scraps for broth—especially when I have a chicken carcass to add in. With prices what they are these days, the little extra effort really pays off for my family.

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Thank You for Being Here
My wish for you is to always find a way to live your best life.

If you try this, please feel free to drop a comment—I would love to have your feedback.

Also, if you have a craving or a recipe request, send it in a comment and I’ll see what I can figure out for us to try.

Thanks again for being part of my community.

Feel free to subscribe as well.

Be the Light in Someone’s Day.

Be back soon.

 

Some days, the weight of waiting and the ache of hope sit a little heavier. This post isn’t polished advice or a list of wins—it’s raw, honest self-talk from a day where I needed to remind myself why I keep going. If you’ve ever felt like you’re doing everything right and still struggling, this is for you too. We’re not alone in the wrestle—and sometimes, saying it out loud is how we find our next breath of strength.

Life’s Journey: Detours and Triumphs, Real Talk

Self-Talk – The Truth of Today

I feel lost a bit today.

I’ve been doing everything I can to keep my home and family—loving the difference I make in my kitchen, making better foods, recreating favorites from good ingredients, reading labels, switching out chemical-laden foods for better choices. Sourdough bread, buns, pizza dough—I’m trying to return to simplicity. To goodness. To food that nourishes more than just the body. And maybe that’s what hurts the most—I’m doing the right things. I’m choosing moderation. I’m creating. I’m pouring my energy into doing better, and still… it’s hard.

It’s hard to trust that this matters. Hard to wait. Hard to believe that doing what I can is enough when so much feels out of reach.

I can’t move like I want to. I can’t do all the things that live in my heart and in my mind. And what if none of this matters? What if I go through with this gastric sleeve, lose enough to qualify for hip surgery, and then what? Wait more? Another surgery, another year of healing, and then—maybe? What if it’s six years? What if I never get the hip revision? What if I die before I even get the chance?

And in chasing that chance, I lose something I care deeply about—My Kitchen and my love for food, and not just the eating of it, but the making of it. The creativity, the care, the joy. What happens to the part of me that sings through spices, dough, warm oven air? Will I be stuck with two ounces of blandness while my spirit starves?

I keep hearing, “But by 67…” But what about now? What can I even do at that age? What dreams will still be possible?

I know—I will never walk right again. We all know that. But somewhere deep in me, the girl who wanted to change the world is still alive. Still dreaming. Still reaching. Maybe I can’t change the world on my feet. But maybe I can change it from this chair, from my kitchen, from my words, from the sheer fact that I haven’t stopped showing up.

One of the things I love most about summer is my pool—the feeling of floating, the coolness against my skin, the freedom to move without pain or fear. I miss that deeply. My husband said he wishes he could make me tiny, place me in the pool, and let me become big again—strong, floating, moving. That image stays with me, not just because it’s sweet, but because it reminds me how deeply I am supported—how his love sees all of me, not just the struggle, and believes in my strength even when I don’t.

I am so tired. Of watching every step. Of being afraid in the shower. Of the exhausting planning just to get into bed without dislocating something. But—I can still do these things by myself. And that is not nothing.

I think of the story of Jesus and the man born disabled. The man asked, “Why have you not healed me?” And Jesus said, “You are here for a greater purpose. You are to be faith for others.”

Maybe that’s me.

Maybe my limp and my struggle are how light gets through. Maybe my faith is what others see—because I haven’t stopped, because I keep creating, loving, baking, hoping. Maybe I am the difference I always wanted to be, just in a form I didn’t expect.

And if this is my truth, then let it be lived.
With courage.
With grace.
With the strength I already carry.

__________________________________________

I am thinking on writing a book, What do you think? This is a start of it.  

Thanks for coming and reading. Be a part of my community and subscribe to my blog. You are welcome here any time. 

Living your best life and doing what feels good for you is the secret.

Keep it simple, Stay well and safe.

Welcome to my Journey

Feel free to leave a comment

Be back soon

Dear God

 

The Discard Diaries - Sour Dough Discard Bagel Dough Bread Machine

Bread Machine Sourdough Discard Bread (No Oil, With Honey)

This easy recipe uses sourdough discard, no oil, and a touch of honey for a soft, chewy loaf with a rustic feel — perfect for sandwiches or toast.

Stuff to Gather:

• 500g bread flour (about 3 1/3 cups)

• 160 g sourdough discard (about 2/3 cup)

• 260g warm water (about 1 cup + 1 tablespoon)

• 2 tablespoons honey (about 30g)

• 10g salt (about 1 1/2 teaspoons)

• 1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast

The putting together:

1. Add the ingredients to the bread machine in this order:

   • Water

   • Sourdough discard

   • Honey

   • Bread flour

   • Salt (off to one side)

   • Yeast (in a small well on top of the flour)

2. Set your bread machine to:

   • Dough Cycle  (usually 1:30)

3. Start the machine and let it do the work!

4. It will have risen very well. It will also be a little sticky, or sometimes a bit sticky. I pulled it out and put on a floured surface and just worked it a bit to make it better to handle. 

5. I gently formed a rectangle and fold the side in to meet each other and then rolled up from one end and gently pinched and tucked the ends. I pulled mine out a bit to fit a sandwich bread container. 

6. Boil water with a little sugar, honey.

7. Lay the loaf in the water gently for 1 minute or so on one side and gently with two spatulas flip it over and get the other side. Lift out and lay on a piece of parchment paper.

8. Lower the entire parchment paper with the loaf into your bread pan (if the paper doesn't cover the inside ends, spray the entire pan before lower the paper and loaf in.)

9. Brush top with egg and a little water and seasoning.

10. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes ( I checked at 30 and took a temp. It needs to be 200)

11. Remove when finished and pull out of pan and put on a rack to cool. Cool completely before storing.

12. I sliced this and kept in a Ziplock with a paper towel to keep nice.  

 

*If you like that kind of sandwich bread, my pan has a lid you oil and slip on top and then about 15 minutes before you bake you take it off. Then you don't get the big hump like mine. But I enjoyed it. 

Tips:

• The honey softens the crumb slightly and enhances the crust color without making the bread taste sweet.

• Leaving out oil gives the loaf a more rustic, chewy texture, similar to a bagel-style bread.

• The sourdough discard adds a light tangy flavor and depth to the bread.

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I wanted to share ways that we are beating the prices, here at my house. Yes, cooking and making from scratch is a lot of time, planning and work, but in reality the food is of a better quality and fresher. If you ever need to save money first take a look at your food budget.

I will coming back hopefully every week to share a new thing we are doing at our house, to beat that dollar.

Thanks for coming and reading. Be a part of my community and subscribe to my blog. You are welcome here any time. 

Living your best life and doing what feels good for you is the secret.

Keep it simple, Stay well and safe.

Welcome to my Journey

Feel free to leave a comment

Be back soon

Waste Not - Kitchen Edition Cream Cheese Vegetable Spread

 

Waste in the Kitchen is one of my favorite subjects. This is the start of a great way to cut that food bill. To also make sure that nothing is thrown away. 

The topic today, in this series is how I am going to make sure those bits of veggies don't take a detour into the garbage. There are so many ways to use vegetables before they become un-usable.

I plan on sharing all kinds of ideas in my blogs on how we at my home can deal with this issue. 

To me to throw away what you can do something with to make it as a no waste deal, throwing away is throwing away money.

The veggies this week were a few pieces of broccoli, cauliflower, a few sweet peppers, a quarter of green pepper, a quarter onion, and few baby carrots. So let's get busy and see what I have been up to. 

Cream Cheese Vegetable Spread

Stuff to Gather:

Gather up what ever vegetables that you have in the fridge. Carrots, onions, cauliflower, brocolli, etc

1 block of softened cream cheese

3 tablespoons of ranch dressing mix - to be honest here, you taste when you mix and make it how you like it.

The Putting it together 

1. Take all vegetables you prefer and put on a board and cut them into the tiniest pieces, I am sure a blender would have been even better, but I was super lazy. 

2. Make the cream cheese and ranch dressing. You could thin it down a bit with a little sour cream, a dash of milk. I just kept it like it was. 

At this point it is now a very nice cream cheese veggie spread. 

You can then use it how you would like.

*some ideas, bagels, pinwheels, a warm flatbread, in a sandwich.

Today I made some pinwheels. 

For experiment sake.

If I was only making it with the spread, I would have gotten 8 fajita size tortillas out of it.

But today I was little experimental

I made only 6 and saved the rest back to use with a can of salmon and made 2 large burritos size pinwheels for me to taste test. 

Today I made the veggie spread pinwheels on the fajita size tortillas

        1. spread the mixture onto the tortilla (thin so you can roll -get those edges)

    2. Roll up tight and wrap in foil and place back in the refrigerator. I think it makes them cut so much better. 

    3. Cut into small pieces 

                                                       veggie rolled one.

salmon - veggie 

I had one of each for my lunch today. They were very good and very filling. Just another quick idea also. It took very little time. The others are in the fridge for a quick grab and go. 

*as I thought more on these, I would guarantee to bet that they would very nice in the air fryer also. If you try this or that, drop me a comment and let me know. 

Work with me, hang with me, learn with me, share with me. We are all in this together. I love sharing and maybe it will help you during this costly times.

 I will coming back hopefully every week to share a new thing we are doing at our house, to beat that dollar.

Thanks for coming and reading. Be a part of my community and subscribe to my blog. You are welcome here any time. 

Living your best life and doing what feels good for you is the secret.

Keep it simple, Stay well and safe.

Welcome to my Journey

Feel free to leave a comment

Be back soon

Louise