bighairandhighheels

[bighairandhighheels]

Bye bye(for now!)

Hi everyone! Not sure who is still reading or who accesses this site still, but due to time constraints and life obligations I’ve decided to let this site go for awhile. If I continue to write it’ll probably be on a free platform(which I’ll link to in my Facebook and Instagram feeds!) I’ve really enjoyed having a holding place for my recipes, thoughts, and reviews-I hope to see you on the flip…

[bighairandhighheels]

Bye bye(for now!)

Hi everyone! Not sure who is still reading or who accesses this site still, but due to time constraints and life obligations I’ve decided to let this site go for awhile. If I continue to write it’ll probably be on a free platform(which I’ll link to in my Facebook and Instagram feeds!)

I’ve really enjoyed having a holding place for my recipes, thoughts, and reviews-I hope to see you on the flip side! If you want to keep following, you can find me on Instagram(@bighairandhighheels) or Facebook(bighairandhighheels).

I’ll give about 30 days for anyone who wants to download the recipes before I let the site go(and don’t worry, I’m still keeping the domain name bighairandhighheels.com because it’s mine!)

Bye bye(for now!) was originally published on

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Using Superstore's "Click & Collect"-Online Grocery Shopping

Using Superstore's "Click & Collect"-Online Grocery Shopping #yyc #calgary #online #shopping #grocery #onlineshopping #easy #recipe #time #budget

For anyone who knows me, I do love a good grocery shopping trip, whether that’s a haul of home goods and toiletries at a mainstream grocery story, or scoring fresh organic produce at the farmer’s market. However, with school deadlines looming, an irresponsible(read: not good adulting) use of my time, and being away from home, I still needed groceries and didn’t have to time to go for 45…

[bighairandhighheels]

Using Superstore's "Click & Collect"-Online Grocery Shopping

For anyone who knows me, I do love a good grocery shopping trip, whether that’s a haul of home goods and toiletries at a mainstream grocery story, or scoring fresh organic produce at the farmer’s market.

However, with school deadlines looming, an irresponsible(read: not good adulting) use of my time, and being away from home, I still needed groceries and didn’t have to time to go for 45 minutes-1.5 hours of shopping time.

Of course there are options like Spud.ca, which has its place in the grocery shopping market-however, Spud deals with mostly organic, local, or specialty foods and the prices are set accordingly.

So how jacked was I that Superstore rolled out their new “Click & Collect” program, an online shopping experience that integrates their flyer prices and (most) of their offerings and allows the shopper to pick the time they will pick it up for a nominal fee?!

When the program initially rolled out, I had a difficult time finding the Superstore closest to me that had the program-however, as a couple weeks went by, the locations offering the program increased until it was city wide!

So, list in hand, I went to the Superstore Click & Collect site, which then prompted me to select the location that I wanted to pick up:

Scrolling a map is easy-downside? It seems to work best on an actual computer, so the mobile grocery shopping game isn’t strong yet.  Once you’ve selected your location, it’ll take you back to the main screen and you can select your pickup time.

Scheduling a pickup time is fairly easy if you have a sense of 2 hour windows where you can pick up-the upside is you can plan within those two hours to pick your groceries up, the downside is that, depending on the timeslot you pick(especially rush hour) it will cost you more to pick it up, and same day pickup is not available:

You should also stop and take the time to create a grocery account-you will need a valid credit card, an email address, and password to create this-what this does is have a card attached to your order, so that when you pick up your items they charge your card that is on file.

Then, let the grocery shopping begin! What I like about this function is that you can search pretty much the entire stock of Superstore-however, one tip I learned is try not to be too specific, as they are still learning how to “label” and “sort” these items into categories that seem to apply the best(for instance, instead of “cheddar cheese” type in “cheese” and then sort into “Dairy” on the left hand side.)

As you shop, you can see there are little bubbles over some of the items-these are either group deals(buy a certain amount for a certain price) or prices reflected in the flyer.

The other great thing about this online shopping experience is that it definitely made me stop and evaluate my budget; in the top right corner you can see the calculated amount(aside from your pickup fee) that your cart is currently at, and if you start going over it, you can self-check and take items out of your cart:

Now, here’s a bit of the kicker-you do have to spend $30 or more in  your virtual cart before you will be allowed to check out(which doesn’t include your pickup fee of $3-$5, depending on your timeslot). However, once you do check out, it will take you to a screen that asks whether you want to substitute anything that either might be out of stock or sold out, and with what. You have the option to either “Do Not Substitute My Items,” “The Same Item of a Different Brand,” or “A Similar Item of the Same Brand.” I selected “Same Item of a Different Brand” as I needed canned tomatoes, but if I didn’t get the one I wanted I wouldn’t be heartbroken.

Once you “Save and Continue” you’ll go to a final screen, where you can double check  your cart, the prices, location pickup, and time. Then you submit your order!

Now the fun part-I was at work and I had selected to pick up between 11AM-1PM as my office is directly above a Superstore in Heritage Meadows. There are specially marked spots for the Click&Collect customers, where I pulled in and called the phone number with my order reference number. After a brief conversation, where the agent confirmed that a couple items I had ordered would be replaced with an alternative at no extra charge(or whether I wanted the alternative), another representative wheeled out my groceries and put them in my car. She encouraged me to check my receipt once I got home as “we’re still working out the kinks” and once I did check, everything was there(and no charge for plastic bags to boot!):

Overall, the waiting process in the parking lot took maybe 10 minutes, and the online shopping experience(once I figured it all out) was maybe 30-40 minutes-all from the comfort of my home, and not wasting time wandering around the store or being tempted to throw extra items into my cart. And really, for a $3 pickup fee, that is worth my time to go and do something else.

While I might not do this all the time, it is definitely on my radar for when life gets too hectic and I need to just fill in the grocery gap!

Have you tried the Click&Collect program? What did you think?

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Using Superstore’s “Click & Collect”-Online Grocery Shopping was originally published on

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My #princess in the #sun #dog #dogsofinstagram #dogstagram #chihuahua #chihuahuasofinstagram #yyc #calgary

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#homemade #salsa @crossroadsmarketyyc #tomato #fresh #local #calgary#yyc #easy #nomnomnom #nom

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Should've shaped them better 😜❤️#cookies #baking #kitchen #yyc #calgary #recipe #nomnomnom #nom

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Mushroom Barley Risotto

Mushroom Barley Risotto #mushroom #barley #risotto #local #yyc #kitchen #calgary #vegetarian #vegan #nom #food #easy #broth #portobello

  This vegetarian/vegan recipe is definitely easy to make, but takes awhile to make it(if that makes sense!) Since barley is quite tough, the cooking time is more lengthy than arborio rice, What I found helps is soaking the barley in a bowl for 5-6 hours prior to cooking(just put enough water to cover the top of the barley) so that it softens prior to cooking   I love the smell of frying onions…

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Rhubarb Crisp/Rhubarb Crumble

Rhubarb Crisp/Rhubarb Crumble #breakfast #yyc #calgary #recipe #kitchen #easy #dessert #produce #lukes #butter #brownsugar #nom #yycfood #gastropostyyc

First world problems-husband doesn’t feel like eating cereal, oatmeal, my homemade trail mix, or fruit for breakfast at work. With the arrival of our produce box from Luke’s Drug Mart there was about 6 long stalks of organic Canadian rhubarb(from BC), as well as an easy rhubarb crisp recipe included with the box! I love getting these little boxes of produce, usually organic and as local as they…

[bighairandhighheels]

Mushroom Barley Risotto

  This vegetarian/vegan recipe is definitely easy to make, but takes awhile to make it(if that makes sense!) Since barley is quite tough, the cooking time is more lengthy than arborio rice, What I found helps is soaking the barley in a bowl for 5-6 hours prior to cooking(just put enough water to cover the top of the barley) so that it softens prior to cooking

  I love the smell of frying onions and garlic-once the white wine and broth gets in there, the smells of the mixture is so good!

We bought a flat of portobello mushrooms last fall, and since there was no possible way to eat 12 mushrooms before they went south, my husband managed to figure out how to freeze them in tiny packs to be used in future meals. I threw the package in frozen, and slowly broke them up with the heat and a wooden spoon.

This recipe is quite hands on(you can’t walk away and leave it so the risotto doesn’t burn) but once it is done it goes well for a side(if serving immediately) or leftovers for lunches.

Mushroom Barley Risotto

Recipe Type: Vegetarian or Vegan

Author: Mz Thang

Prep time: 20 mins

Cook time: 45 mins

Total time: 1 hour 5 mins

Serves: 4-5

A simple recipe that also tastes good cold!

Ingredients

1 tbsp butter

1 tbsp olive oil

1/2 white onion, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, chopped

1 cup pearl barley, soaked for 5-6 hours

1 cup white wine(pinot grigio works well)

1-2 cups chopped mushrooms(brown or white works well if you don’t have portobello)

2 tsp dried thyme

Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

In a large pan, heat the butter and oil. Sauté the onions and garlic on medium-high heat for 5 mins.

Add the barley and cook for 1 min. Pour in the wine and stir until it is absorbed. Add the mushrooms and thyme, then pour over ¾ of the stock.

Cook for 40 mins on a low simmer until the barley is tender, stirring occasionally and topping up with remaining stock if it looks dry. Add stock as needed,

Remove from heat, serve immediately. Otherwise, put into a glass container and store in fridge for up to 4 days.

3.5.3208

  Mushroom Barley Risotto was originally published on

[bighairandhighheels]

Rhubarb Crisp/Rhubarb Crumble

First world problems-husband doesn’t feel like eating cereal, oatmeal, my homemade trail mix, or fruit for breakfast at work.

With the arrival of our produce box from Luke’s Drug Mart there was about 6 long stalks of organic Canadian rhubarb(from BC), as well as an easy rhubarb crisp recipe included with the box! I love getting these little boxes of produce, usually organic and as local as they can get(again, usually BC)-this coming week I’m testing out Spud.ca’s harvest box, which is slightly less expensive than the produce box from Luke’s.

With the rhubarb crisp recipe in hand, as well as organic buckwheat flour and organic rolled oats in previous boxes, this recipe came together in no time!

I thought that the buckwheat flour might have changed the texture or made the crumble too dry, but my husband’s feedback was that it actually was more moist and seemed lighter(I used whole wheat flour before).

With summer nearly on us, it’s the time for fresh vegetables and fruit cooking in the kitchen! Have fun!

Rhubarb Crisp/Rhubarb Crumble

Recipe Type: Dessert or Breakfast

Author: Mz Thang

Prep time: 20 mins

Cook time: 40 mins

Total time: 1 hour

Serves: 4-6

This is an adapted recipe for rhubarb crisp/crumble from Luke’s produce box delivery.

Ingredients

4 cups rhubarb, cut into 1/2 inch pieces(this does not need to be exact)

1 cup white sugar

1/4 cup flour(whole wheat, white, or buckwheat works so far!)

1/4 cup cinnamon

2 tsp nutmeg

1 cup flour(whole wheat, white, or buckwheat)

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup rolled oats(not instant oats!)

1/2 cup melted butter(make sure it’s melted into 1/2 cup)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375F.

Combine rhubarb, white sugar, flour, cinnamon and nutmeg in a 8x8x2 baking dish.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, rolled oats, and melted butter with a spatula or spoon until well-mixed. Place on top of rhubarb mixture.

Bake for 35-40 minutes or until just crisp on top.

3.5.3208

      Rhubarb Crisp/Rhubarb Crumble was originally published on

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Definition of a face plant...poor #dog after our long #hike this morning! ❤️ #dogsofinstagram #chihuahua #weekend #fun

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"Get your #toes away from me!!" #chihuahuasofinstagram #chihuahua #dog #dogsofinstagram #dogstagram #pedicure @essiepolish #yyc #calgary

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Fresh #lilac #flowers from outside...perfect with our little "his and hers" salt shakers! ❤️ @jonathanadler @dadeloft #yyc #calgary

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#yay for #sunny days!! #spring #summer #toes #pedicure #feet #foot #essie @essiepolish #yyc #calgary

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#beforeandafter #rhubarb #crumble #nomnom #breakfast #yyc #calgary #kitchen #easy #recipe #organic #sustainable @lukesdrugmart @harvestbox

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#omg look at the #produce #veggies #fruit #box from @lukesdrugmart !!! #canada #organic #sustainable for $49 a week!