Eggs - HOLY CHICKENS, BATMAN! THEY'RE EXPENSIVE!

What are you doing to save a few "monies" (as my kids used to say) at the store this week?

Our local farmers whose hens are still laying are charging $5/dozen.  They're $7.23/dozen at my local grocery store. Don't get me wrong. I love eggs, but those prices are deal breakers for me.  I'm not willing to pay over $7 for a dozen eggs. 

We've given up on eggs for the time being.  Right now, I'm using an Egg Replacer. I picked up several bags of Egg Replacer several months ago when they went on sale.  BUT, I have been replacing eggs in baking products for years.  

When you decide to replace eggs, the first important thing to remember is that eggs are a binding agent.  You are looking for something to bind your product together. The second thing to remember is that an egg contains 4 TBSP of binding stuff.

Mashed Bananas or applesauce. 

I feel like these make your baked product a little heavier, and that they tend to go bad faster. When I use bananas or applesauce, we either eat it the same day (muffins), or I will cut whatever it is into smaller servings and freeze them. I've also baked things in small loaf pans and then frozen them to eat later.  Whatever works to keep everything safe and usable in the future.

Yogurt - either dairy or non-dairy. 

This makes for a really nice, creamy texture in your baked good.  Just make certain that you are using unflavored, unsweetened yogurt.  Voice of experience here.  Although, the pina colada yogurt did add an interesting twist to the banana bread.

Chia Seeds

1 TBSP Chia seeds + 3 TBSP water = 1 egg.

Stir the chia seeds and water together in a small bowl. Let sit for 5 minutes until a gel forms, then use this in place of eggs.

Can I just say that using Chia Seeds in meatloaf and applesauce is absolutely amazing? They work really, really well as a binding agent!

So, do you use something in place of eggs?  How much are a dozen eggs where you live?

Bean Bowl

In my quest to go to the grocery store as little as possible, we made bean bowls this week. Some of you might call them Protein Bowls.)  Whatever you call them, I call them a quick and easy dinner to put on the table on a weeknight.

I started with the Tejano Beans we had made earlier in the week.  

We cooked up some rice, and sliced up an onion. I had leftover Vegan Cheese Shreds in the fridge, along with salsa and some guacamole.  If I'd had bell pepper in the fridge, I would have added that, but I really am working on staying away from the grocery store.

When everything was layered into the bowl, we had a pot of warm and comforting goodness that was perfect for a winter night.  Since we were using leftovers, our total time to put this together was the time that it took us to cook the rice.  20 minutes.

The Tejano Bean Recipe - this is not my recipe, but it is as close to what I remember my Mom making as I've ever gotten!  https://thefoodcharlatan.com/traditional-tejano-pinto-beans-slow-cooker-recipe/

Other Stuff:

1 cup of rice, uncooked

Vegan Cheese Shreds

Onion

Salsa

Bonus Items I found in the fridge:

Salsa

Guacamole

Feel free to mix this up however you want.  If you've got some incredibly wonderful variation you'd like to share, post it below!

Groceries

We spent only $150 on groceries this month.  What exactly did we eat?

We do tend to eat fairly low on the food chain as it is.  We will eat some meat, but not a lot.  This is a great time of year for soups, and we have eaten a lot of soups. 

Punjabi Style Black Lentils, from the Smitten Kitchen.  Needless to say, I kept the dairy OUT of the recipe.  Still, an excellent meal!  The leftovers from this went to work with me for lunch as is for several days.

Meatloaf.  I made a double loaf.  The leftovers were divided into 2 more meals:
1) Chili
The leftovers from the chili went into 2 meals: tacos and baked potatoes.

2) Cauliflower Baked Ziti from Delish.  Again, this was a very large dish, so it provided leftovers for lunch.

Quinoa Stuffed Acorn Squash Rings
A popular favorite in our house.  We're still working our way through the last of the bushel of winter squash that I picked up in October for $15 at the Farmer's Market.  We never have leftovers of this wonderful creation in our house.

Beef Stew
I made it following the recipe in the Insta Pot book.  It was beyond wonderful, and tasted better than it does when I make it in the crock pot and leave it sitting all day.  The leftovers served us for lunch over the weekend.

Baked Chicken
Another Instant Pot find.  I saved off the broth to make chicken soup.  The chicken itself was one very tasty dinner.  And one very tasty chicken salad.  And the rest went into a pan with some BBQ sauce to make pulled chicken BBQ sandwiches.  I served that with what I think was the last of the bushel of sweet potatoes we picked up in the fall from the Farmer's Market for $20. 

Lentil, Mushroom, and Sweet Potato Pie
Another winner! I found this one on The Kitchn's Website.   And yes, with this the last of the sweet potatoes were gone.  And then husband volunteered at the food pantry over the weekend.  At the end of the event, all of the produce needs to be given away or thrown out.  Long story short, we've now got even MORE sweet potatoes to work our way through....

Pancakes
For Shrove Tuesday.

Ratatouille
This used up the eggplant and other awkward "what do I do with this" vegetables from the produce box we got from our favorite farmer.

And then... husband stopped by to pick up eggs from one of our favorite farmers and came home with a 50 pound bag of white potatoes that he paid $20 for, and a 20 pound bag of onions that he paid $10, and a bag of the vegetables that are quickly turning bad- this farmer sells them for 50 cents a bag.  That's right, 50 cents a bag.  It's a big bag and it has a hodge podge of vegetables in it and weighs about 2 pounds, maybe more - and you get what's in the bag.  No swapping out.  I made a fabulous vegetable soup from that bag.  But now I've got a huge bag of white potatoes to work my way through! 

I think you get the idea - we cook with what's readily available as much as possible.  I'll stock up on big things as they go on sale.  And keep in mind, I'm cooking for 3 now, after years of cooking for 5  - and 2 of those 5 people were teenage boys who were active in sports!  I'm practically drowning in leftovers every time I cook because I am still cooking in the quantities I was cooking in when the boys still lived at home.

Shrimp Stir Fry

Daughter and I were looking for a quick and easy dinner earlier this week.  We both work 5 until close at our respective jobs, and we leave home at 4, so we aim to eat something hearty around 3:30.  Monday afternoon, we were searching for something but didn't want to go to the store, so we foraged in the refrigerator and freezer.  We decided a stir fry would fit the bill quite nicely.  We were missing ingredients we normally use, but hey, necessity is the mother of invention.  Let me tell you, this was a quick and tasty stir fry!

Shrimp Stir Fry

1 pound peeled, deveined shrimp
1 pound carrots, peeled and sliced
1 large sweet onion, cut in half and sliced into strips
2 cups cooked rice

For the Sauce:
3 TBSP soy sauce
2 tsp cornstarch
2 TBSP dry sherry
1 tsp sugar
1 TBSP crushed red pepper

Mix the sauce ingredients in a measuring cup or mason jar, set aside.

Over medium-high heat, pour enough olive oil into the bottom of a skillet to cover the bottom of the pan.
Stir Fry the carrots until mostly done - about 4 minutes, stirring constantly.
Add the onions, cook for 2-3 more minutes, stirring constantly.
When the carrots and onions reach your level of done (I like my carrots to be soft, but still have some crunch.  The onions should be almost translucent.)

Add the shrimp.  Cook until the shrimp is pink.  Turn the heat under the pan off, but keep the pan on the burner. 
Give the sauce one last stir to mix up anything that's settled on the bottom of the glass, and then pour over the shrimp and veggies.  Stir until the sauce is fully incorporated into the vegetables and shrimp.

Serve over rice.

Knitted Swiffer Cover

I found this wonderful Scrubby yarn at Wal-Mart not too long ago.  It's 100% polyester, and it has fibers sticking up out of the yarn.  It's intended for use as dishcloth yarn.

Now, I've made my own dishcloths for years.  They do the job, and hold up fairly well over time, but they do eventually rip, tear, or fade.  Ten years ago, somebody gave me a huge spool of dishcloth yarn.  (It was on a cone....unused.)  It was pink.  I honestly didn't care about the color of the yarn.  I knitted up all of the yarn into a lot of dishcloths, and I've been regularly using them since.  They are starting to fall apart.

But hey, I found this yarn and decided to make some dishcloths.  I bought two skeins and I've whipped up enough dishcloths to keep us going for a while when I had a thought - why not see if I can use this yarn to make a cover for my Swiffer and see if it can handle to job of cleaning the kitchen floor?

Directions for a Mop cover:

1 Skein of Scrubby yarn - or a similar dishcloth type fiber.
1 set of size 10 knitting needles.
yo = yarn over

Cast on 5 stitches.
Knit 3, yo, knit to the end.
Continue until you have 50 stitches on the needle.
Knit 3, yo, knit 2 together (twice) knit to the end.
Continue pattern until  you have 5 stitches left on the needles.
Cast off.

Congratulations!  You have a mop cover!  Wrap the cover over your mop head, tucking the ends into your mop holes.  And away you go!

I use this on my Wet Jet, and it works really well!

*IF you'd like to use this pattern to make a dishcloth, follow the directions written above, but continue until you have 30 stitches left on your needles, and then begin to decrease.*

Baked Potato Bar (No Spenduary)

I had all of the kids home over the weekend.  What to feed a houseful of kids that is inexpensive and fills everyone up?  A baked potato bar, of course!

I love baked potato bars.  Not only do you fill up on healthy food, you get a chance to empty out some of the leftovers from the freezer.  You put the potatoes in the oven ahead of time, and then you let them bake while you get the chance to interact with your family.

The list of possibilities is endless.   You are only limited by your own imagination!  The cost of a meal like this is minimal, and everyone gets to eat as much as they want.  Best of all?  Because much of this meal is make ahead or made from leftovers, you won't find yourself spending a lot of time in the kitchen!

So, what kinds of toppings do you use?  These are my favorites:

Steamed Broccoli
Bacon
Shredded Cheese
Chili (leftover)
Chick Pea Stew (leftover)
Sauteed Mushrooms
Sauteed Onions

Our potatoes, onions, mushrooms, and broccoli came as a part of the $25 produce bundle that I get from our local farmer who runs a year round farm store.  While she doesn't grow all of the vegetables, she IS sourcing everything from small family farms within a 100 mile radius of home. 

What are your favorite toppings on a baked potato bar?

Support Local Agriculture

Sure, you go to Farmer's Markets in season.  You even go to local farm stands on a regular basis and pick up whatever you can.  It's freshly picked, in season, and you have eliminated the middle man.

image: A Produce Bundle from Local Homestead

But, did you know there's an even better way to support your local farmers?

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a not so new trend where people take the risk with the farmer and buy a share of produce for the growing season.  You put your money down up front, and this gives the farmer the necessary influx of cash to get started growing for the season without having to take out a bank loan to buy seeds and get the growing season started.  This small influx of cash at the beginning of the growing season makes a HUGE difference to the small local farmer.

As a result of your cash investment at the beginning of the season, you get to reap the results throughout the growing season.  Once a week, you get to pick up a box full of fresh produce.  (Your share of the crop.)  The sizes of the boxes vary by farmer, and the contents vary by season and the growing conditions in the field.  You are sharing the risk with the farmer, and reaping the rewards along with the farmer.

We've been members of various CSA's throughout Central Maryland for close to 20 years now.  We've always been a member of a CSA that only requires our cash.  There are other CSA's out there that require an outlay of cash AND your physical labor.  I could never guarantee that we could put in that much labor over the course of the season, so we've always paid a little bit more to just go and pick up our box of produce.

So what have we gained?  We've made great friends with the farmers.  They are lovely people who live and work in our community.  Some of them only run CSA's for a year or two before they move onto a different business model, and others have been in the CSA business for years. Spaces are always limited in CSA programs, and if you don't get your deposit in fast enough, you find yourself scurrying around to find a new CSA before all the slots close!  We have been slow with our deposits in the past, and found ourselves shopping around for new CSA's more often than I would like to admit... but we've always enjoyed our fresh produce, and we've always enjoyed getting to know the farmers that we are supporting.  We greet our old friends when we hit up the Farmer's Markets over the summer!  They know that I enjoy canning, and they'll let me know when something is about to come in big so that I can place an order for a case of something (peaches, tomatoes, apples) for the following week.

Now is the time to join a CSA program for this year!  If you're searching for one in your area, follow the links below and search by your zip code for a program close to you!  The first one is a link to the USDA's website.  The second is a link to Local Harvest.  Enjoy!

https://www.nal.usda.gov/afsic/community-supported-agriculture

http://www.localharvest.org/csa/

Chicken Tikka Masala

We made the most amazing dinner last night!  I found this recipe for Sheet Pan Tikka Masala on the Smitten Kitchen a while back.  I had pinned it to Pinterest, but never actually tried it.  Yesterday was the day.  I was looking for something quick and easy that would have enough vegetables in it to make me happy. 

This was perfect!  I put the chicken in the marinade before I left the house for the day.  I came home, and the hardest part of preparing this meal was cutting the cauliflower.  15 minutes later, this tasty meal was in the oven.

Oh my stars, this was absolutely amazing!  I made a vegetarian pan for daughter - I kept half of the marinade out before I added the chicken.  I tossed her veggies with the sauce and put them in her own separate pan.  I pulled it out of the oven as she walked in the door from class.  That girl was so, so, so happy that she had such a warm and healthy dinner waiting for her.  And I was happy that it took next to no time to put it together.

If you're looking for a quick and easy meal, look no further! 

You'll find the link here: https://smittenkitchen.com/2016/04/sheet-pan-chicken-tikka/.
The recipe is at the bottom of the page.  Scroll down to the bottom to find it, but take the time to read the article in between.  There's a lot of information in there that's worth reading!

Lemon Cake

I made this for daughter's birthday last week!  It was much better than I was expecting!  Surprisingly, the biggest expense in this dish wasn't the lemons.  When I took my cruise past the discount produce shelves at the grocery store, I found a bag of six lemons for $1.50.  Well hello!  With those lemons, I was able to make a delightful cake!

Lemon Cake Recipe

2 cups Bob's Red Mill One to One Gluten Free Flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup Earth Balance butter
1 1/4 cups white sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup coconut milk
zest of 1 lemon
1/4 cup lemon juice

Glaze
1 lemon, cut into thin slices & seeded
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water

Oven 350*

Mix dry ingredients.

In a separate bowl, cream together the butter and the sugar.  Beat in the eggs and the vanilla.  Add the lemon juice and zest.  Alternate adding the flour and the milk into the batter, stirring until just blended together.

Pour the batter into a prepared cake pan.

Bake in a 350* oven for 30-35 minutes.

While the cake is baking in the oven, bring the water, sugar, and lemon slices to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes.  Remove the lemon slices from the water with a slotted spoon, and place on a wax paper lined cookie sheet.

Remove the cake from the oven, poke the cake all over with a toothpick,  and pour the syrup mixture evenly over the cake.

We topped the cake with powdered sugar and the lemon slices.

You can top it with icing, or leave it plain.

NoSpenduary - Week Two

Things We Did to Save Money This Week-

I am working on cleaning through the freezers and pantry.  My goal is to eat through a good chunk of what's in there so that we can get rid of one of the two freezers.  After all, my in-laws left one of the freezers here when we bought the house.  It's over 40 years old.  You can't convince me that it's not eating more energy than it's worth! Sooooo.... this leads to item number one:

1) The big, old freezer has been filled with everything from the chest freezer.  The chest freezer is unplugged, and being defrosted.  Once all of the ice on the sides is melted off, I'll clean it completely out and shift everything back over to the chest freezer.

2) I turned the ceiling fan switches to "winter" mode.  They run backwards, pulling the warm air down from the ceiling and back down to the floor - where we need it!

3) I finally went grocery shopping this week.  I haven't been since before Christmas.  But, we had finally run through the last of the fresh produce in the house, so I made a quick stop at a couple of places to pick up a few things.  I went to two year round farm stands in addition to the grocery store.  At the first farm, I picked up a 50 pound bag of potatoes and a 20 pound bag of onions, and some lettuce.   I also got several bags of their "save these veggies".  These are bags of veggies that are not perfect, and could turn soon, but are awesome if they hit a soup pot in the next couple of days.  At the second farm, I picked up a box of produce and some eggs.   At the grocery store, I  picked up the staples I didn't already have on hand:  carrots, oatmeal, sugar, coconut milk, etc.

4) I made cakes for the kids' birthday celebrations - sorta.  Daughter had a lemon cake.  I'll share the recipe here later this week.  It took surprisingly few ingredients.  Even better, you couldn't tell that it was gluten and dairy free!  For middle child's birthday, I was working.  His sister made him a cookie cake.  She made a batch of chocolate chip cookie dough, and then spread it out on a pizza stone, leaving about a half inch around the edge.  Her masterpiece was gluten and dairy full, so I did not get a taste of it.  However, since it disappeared within a day, I'm assuming that it was acceptable! 



Dinner-

Teriyaki Chicken
So, this is a freezer meal that's been sitting in the big freezer downstairs for way too long.  I pulled this out, thawed it out and tossed it into the crock pot before I left for work.  We had A LOT of chicken left over.  (This really isn't one of my favorite recipes.  I think that this is why I've had a couple of the pre-made bags laying around the freezer for so long.)

Chicken Wild- Rice Casserole
I found this recipe HERE on The Kitchn's website.  This IS one of my favorite recipes!  It is traditionally a freezer meal, but we can never keep it in the freezer for long if we know it's there.  We really, really like this recipe!  I swapped in the leftover Teriyaki Chicken in place of the raw chicken the recipe calls for.  I also used one of the way too many boxes of Long Grain and Wild Rice that I have sitting in the kitchen cabinet!

Taco Night
 aka Taco Tuesday!  I made 2 huge messes of taco meat, one with real meat and one with fake meat.  I served it along with Corn, Refried Beans, and Spanish Rice.  We ate a lot of it, but not all of it. It was messy and wonderful!  I saved the leftovers to use another night.  (This was dinner on middle child's birthday!)

Taco Salad
Combined with lettuce and a bag of Fritos, all of the taco leftovers make one of the best salads known to our family.  Seriously, it's an easy meal, and picky eaters love it.  (Heck, even I eat it willingly, and I'm not known to love salads!)

Baked Acorn Squash stuffed with Quinoa
I had picked up two big bushels of winter squash for $30 back in the fall.  These hardy winter stalwarts last for a long time, but they do need to be eaten!  Tender acorn squash are sliced crosswise into rounds, and filled with a vegetable quinoa stuffing.  It's filling, healthy, and a great way to warm up the house on a cold winter's evening!  You can find the recipe here:  Baked Acorn Squash.
(I made this for daughter's birthday.  It's one of her favorites!)

Bean Soup
Made with a pound of dried beans.

Baked Beans
I took the leftover bean soup, poured it into a casserole pan, and then drizzled molasses over the top.  Baked at 350* for an hour, I thought it was pretty good!

NoSpenduary - Week One

The goal at the end of this three month period is to have a nice chunk of change saved up in order to renovate the hallway bathroom.  So, here's what I did to save money this week:

• Lowered the thermostats throughout the house to 65*.  We have baseboard heat throughout the house, so we lowered the thermostats as much as possible.   
•  I took lunch to work every day.  Usually, my lunch was leftovers from one of the other meals.
• Breakfast every day was oatmeal.  I picked up a Dairy Free version of Egg Nog just after Christmas.  I made overnight oats with my Dairy Free Egg Nog, Craisins, and Pecans.  Not too shabby for a quick overnight meal!
• I turned out lights throughout the house in the rooms we weren't using.
• Husband's birthday was this past week.  We made his favorite cake for him - German Chocolate - from scratch.  I also made a kick-ass stir fry for him.  We took him out to the movies for his celebration.  (I used a gift card to the movies that was given to us for Christmas for admission.)

Dinners This Week 

1. Bean Soup. With the leftover ham bone from Christmas, I made a huge pot of bean soup with the little white beans.  (Dried).  I had leftover roasted veggies from Christmas that I added to the pot.  (Carrots, leftover baked potatoes, onions, etc.)
2. Baked Beans. I took the leftover bean soup, poured it into a 9 x 13 inch casserole dish, poured a drizzle of molasses over top, and baked it at 350* for 30 minutes.   
3.  Sloppy Joe Potatoes.  When we went to my Mom's house to celebrate Christmas two weeks ago, I made Sloppy Joes for dinner.  I made two batches - one vegetarian and one with 2 pounds of ground turkey.  I froze the leftovers.  I pulled them out, and we had that served over baked potatoes for dinner.
4. Baked Chicken Fajitas.  Believe it or not, I found the recipe on Facebook, via a Tasty feed.  (Let's see if the link works! Chicken Fajitas) It was quick and easy!  We had leftovers, which I took for lunch both days. (For lunch, I wrapped the leftovers in corn tortillas.)
5. Salmon.  I found a bigly fillet of salmon on sale this week.  We cooked it up for dinner one night.  I served it with a huge salad and the leftover sweet potato and pomegranate salad, and baked cabbage steaks.  I saved back a portion of the salmon for dinner the next night.
6. Salmon Pasta Salad.  Made with the leftover salmon.
7. Kick Ass Stir Fry.  I made this with the last of the leftover ham from Christmas, a couple of scrambled eggs, and all of the raw veggies that were still left from the Christmas veggie tray.  (Celery, Carrots, Cauliflower, Broccoli, and an onion.)  I used brown rice instead of white rice as our base.

Are you cutting back on spending this month?  What are you doing to save?

Peanut Brittle

This was my Dad's favorite recipe.  I'm not as fond of the brittles as my Dad was.  I don't like how hard the nut brittles are.  I also vividly remember my Dad breaking teeth on a couple of occasions while eating peanut brittle.  So... consider yourself warned.  This is one of those recipes I made every year with my Aunts in the days after Thanksgiving.  I've made this recipe using cashews instead of peanuts.  It's still really hard, but I like cashews better, so I like the mix a little more.  I believe you can sub in any kind of nut that you want in place of the peanuts.

One last word of advice before you begin this recipe... once things move, they move fast.  Measure out all of the ingredients and keep them close by, ready to add in as you go,

Peanut Brittle
You will need a candy thermometer for this recipe.
1 1/2  tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup water
1 cup light corn syrup
3 TBSP Nature's Balance vegan butter + extra for buttering the pans
1- 2 pound nuts (Chop them up if you want...)

1) Using the Nature's Balance, (but not the part you've measured out, but the extra), butter two cookie sheets.  Place the buttered cookie sheets in a 200* oven while you work.  The warmth of the oven will help the brittle spread when you add it.

2) Mix sugar, 1 cup water, vanilla and corn syrup into a large, heavy duty saucepan.  Stir frequently until the candy mix reaches 240* on the candy thermometer.  (soft ball stage)

3) Add in butter and peanuts, stirring constantly until the temperature reaches 300*. (Hard ball stage)
Remove from heat and add the baking soda and salt.  Stir until the mix is light and bubbly.  (This is the coolest reaction!)

4) Pour half the mixture onto each sheet.  Cool completely before removing from the sheets and breaking into pieces.  (Truly, you can lift the entire sheet out of the cookie sheet.  My Aunts would break up the mixture with meat mallets.  A true Marylander would break this recipe up using crab mallets!)

Roasted Veggies and Saffron Rice

I was searching for something to use up a large quantity of produce and decided to stick them on skewers. I love the saffron rice our local Mediterranean cafe makes, so I attempted to replicate it. The resulting rice wasn't even close to theirs, but it was still really good!  If you've got a boatload of produce and access to wooden skewers and a grill, these roasted vegetables are a filling dinner!  Cooking them outside on the grill will ensure that your house stays cool during these last hot days of summer!

Roasted Veggies and Saffron Rice

Rice- 

1 cup rice, uncooked

3 cups water

2 vegetable bullion cubes

5 threads Saffron

Mix all ingredients together in a large saucepan. (Make sure it has a lid.). Bring to a rolling boil. Stir well, cover, and lower heat to low. Simmer, covered for 20 minutes. 

Roasted Veggies

In season produce, cut into chunks

(We used patty pan squash, heirloom tomatoes, red onions, bell peppers)

Wooden skewers

Black pepper (we used a 4 peppercorn blend in a pepper grinder)

Grape Seed Oil

Soak skewers in water while chopping vegetables. 

Thread vegetables on wooden skewers. 

 We put our threaded skewers in a 9 x 13 inch pan as we finished. As we finished one layer of skewers, we sprinkled that layer with Grapeseed Oil, and then ground pepper over top until it "looked good". 

Once all the skewers are threaded, grill on medium high heat, turning as needed. Remove from heat when the veggies are sizzling & the onions are translucent. Your standard for when the veggies are done will be different from mine. I like my vegetables to still be a little crunchy. 

Serve immediately over rice. 

Note- I threaded the skewers first, then started the rice while husband grilled the skewers. Everything was finished at the same time. Total time, prep + cooking = 1 hour. 

Making Jelly

I previously posted this on my "Mom's View Blog" on June 23, 2011.  As soon as my kitchen sink is up and running, I will be making a big batch of jelly!  I've been waiting to do this since strawberry season began!  Enjoy this memory (and hopefully some jelly!)

Note - This post contains Affiliate Links.

I spent yesterday making several batches of jelly. I love making jelly. There is nothing that compares to the taste of a home-made batch of jelly. And when you open one of those jars up over the winter, oh the taste of that jelly beats anything you can buy at the store by a mile.

I've been making jelly for several years now. I thought it was overwhelming when I first heard about it, but it's actually one of the easiest preservation methods out there. You don't have to pressure can, and if you have a deep enough pot (or short enough jars) you can do this at home. I bought a canning rack at Wal-Mart for a few bucks a couple of years back, and I put this into my deep soup pot. It's a flat metal disc that sits on the bottom of the pan and keeps the jars from sitting directly on the heat.

You do need fresh fruit. Nothing moldy, or even questionable.  Think of it as a beauty contest!  Only the finest looking fruits go in!  I like to go pick our own at one of the pick-your own farms in our area. You need 4-5 cups of berries per batch, and it's more cost effective to pick it yourself and pay the bulk price. You'll also need a box of pectin. I use Sure-Jell- it's what our grocery store carries. The key to remember with jelly is to follow the directions in your pectin to the letter. I can not stress that enough! You must follow the directions to the letter! Jelly making and canning food for long term storage is not the time to experiment with a recipe! The recipes have been developed to inhibit the growth of molds and other frightening organisms that live in preserved food. Changing up the recipe could also endanger the lives of those you love. (Now, isn't that a cheery thought?)

Having said that, let's move on to the fun part!

Assemble the jars.  I use any jelly jar I have in the house!  The lids have to be new every year.  You can not re-use the lids!  (The lids are in the boxes)  You CAN reuse the bands- the hollow circular lid parts.

The directions say to crush the berries by hand with a potato masher.  I used to do that, but I've found that the blender does just as good a job.  It still leaves me with fruit chunks, but they are smaller and more evenly sliced.

Cooking the jelly.  Nothing compares to the taste of cooked jelly!  This is where I used to make my big mistakes when I first started jelly making.  I'd dump all of the sugar and pectin in and then bring it to a boil.  It would never jell, and would remain runny.  THIS is where you have to read the directions!  A portion of the sugar, and the box of pectin is added at the start.  The rest of the sugar is added once the jelly comes to a full boil.  Then, you bring the mixture to a full, rolling boil again.  Stir constantly! Once you can no longer stir down the boil, boil the mixture for exactly one minute, and then remove from the heat.  (Again, check your pectin and follow the manufacturer's instructions on the length of boiling time.)  I always use Sure-Jell, and that is the boil time for that particular brand.

The jelly has been put into jars.  I wipe the jelly off the rims, put the lids on, and then screw on the bands.  Since that big jar on the left isn't completely full, that one isn't going to be canned.  I'm going to put that in the refrigerator for us to eat tonight!

Everybody into the hot tub! This is called the "Water Bath Canning Method".   Once the jars go in, one inch of water must cover the tops of the jars in order to ensure a good seal.  The jars hang out in the water for a while.  Again, check the directions for the length of time they stay in the hot tub.  Times vary according to the fruit you are using.

Finished jelly!  About an hour from start to finish..  After the jars have cooled, check the seals on the lids.  Press down on the center of the lid.  If the lid bounces back, or pops, the seal is not complete.  You will have to refrigerate those jars and eat them first.  Make sure you label your jars with the item and the date.  I always write on the lids- it's a visual cue to myself to let me know that I've already used the lids and can't use them for canning again.  I store leftovers in mason jars in the fridge, and put an old (clean) lid on the top.  I feel better putting leftovers into a mason jar than into a plastic container.

And THAT is how I make jelly!  If you're looking for more canning recipes, I recommend the Ball Blue Book of Canning. 

Beefaroni

Beefaroni has always been one of my favorite go-to recipes.  It's on the table in less than 30 minutes, with a minimum of slicing and dicing.  This is one of the recipes I had to teach oldest child how to make while he was home over break. 

If you want to make this vegetarian, substitute in your fake meat of choice for the ground beef.

Beefaroni 

Ingredients:
1 pound ground beef
1 onion, diced
1 can chopped green chiles (these are the small cans)
1 (14 ounce) can of the bean of your choice, drained and rinsed
1 (14 ounce) can of diced tomatoes
1 (10 ounce) bag of sweet kernel corn
1-2 tsp. each of the following (season according to your taste)
cumin
chili pepper
basil
oregano

1 cup macaroni noodles (I use gluten free noodles.)
Extra water on hand, to thin beefaroni as it stews.

In a large skillet, brown the ground beef and onions.  Drain the fat and return to heat.
Add the green chiles, beans, tomatoes, and corn to the mix, stir well.

Add the seasonings, and stir again.

Bring mixture to a boil.

Add the one cup of macaroni, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.

STIR OFTEN, adding water to the pot as needed to keep the macaroni from sticking to the pan.  I usually end up adding about a half cup of water, 1/4 cup at a time while it's stewing.

Remove from heat and serve.

Sweet Potato Fries

Middle Child made an awesome batch of Sweet Potato Fries over the weekend, and I wanted to share the recipe.  They were so good!

Sweet Potato Fries

Set oven to 350*
1 large rimmed baking sheet
3 or 4 sweet potatoes, cut into fries - your choice of size - big ones, matchstick ones, little ones, just cut them down
Pepper in a Pepper Mill (we use a 4 peppercorn blend)
Chipotle Powder
Kosher Salt
Olive Oil

Place cut potatoes on the baking sheet.
Drizzle with olive oil.
Sprinkle with the peppers and the salt.
Bake in a 350* oven until done, stirring occasionally.  (About 20-30 minutes)
When the potatoes are soft, they are done.
Keep an eye on them so they don't burn.

Vegetable Quinoa

I'm working my way through the backlog of stuff that we have in the freezer.  I want to eat through as much as we can so that I can defrost it and get it ready for the garden goodness I will have coming my way this summer! 

I have an odd combination of veggies, meat and some Chipotle Chiles in Adobo sauce.  I had bought a can of the chiles for a who knows what reason when I was still spaced out on drugs from my colonoscopy, and I ran them through the food processor and made a paste out of them.  I froze what I didn't use in tablespoon size heaps on a cookie sheet, and then stored them in a plastic baggie.

This particular night found me staring at the bag of frozen chile piles and a bag of "southwest blend" veggies.  The blend included black beans, corn, onions, and pablano peppers.

As I was foraging around in the cupboards, attempting to figure out what this could become that wasn't another batch of chili, I hit upon a bag of Quinoa.

We make a Quinoa Pilaf on a fairly regular basis.  What if I tried making a "Southwestern" pilaf?   I was hungry, so it was worth a shot.

The result was fantastic.  We really enjoyed the flavor mix.  Didn't even have any leftovers!  (I'm going to have to make this again so that I can get a picture to add!)

Southwestern Vegetable Pilaf
2 cups Quinoa, rinsed
3 cups vegetable broth  (or water and a couple of broth cubes)
1 bag of Southwestern Vegetable mix frozen vegetables
2 TBSP of Adobo Chile mix

Bring quinoa and broth to a boil, add the Adobo Chiles, lower temperature and cover, simmer for 20 minutes.  Stir occasionally, and add extra water to keep Quinoa from sticking to pan as necessary. 

Add more water to the Quinoa if necessary to keep it moist and not sticky, then add the bag of frozen vegetables.

Stir it all together.  It should take about 5 minutes for the vegetables to warm up enough to eat.

Enjoy!!!

Pizza Dough Recipe

This is from the recipe book I gave to oldest son for his college graduation.  I am currently copying recipes out of this book for the younger two children.  I had him bring the book home for break just so that I could copy all of the recipes out!

This is a yeast dough, and requires raising time.  Be prepared to spend a couple of hours getting the dough ready for dinner!

Pizza Dough Recipe

Pre-Heat to 425*F

2 1/2 - 3 cups flour
1 package active dry yeast
1 tsp. salt
1 cup warm water

In a large bowl, combine 1 1/4 cups flour, yeast, and salt.

Stir in warm water and oil.  Knead until smooth and elastic,working in the flour as you go.

Cover dough and let rise until double - about one hour.

Punch down dough, divide in half.  Cover and let rise 10 minutes.

Put dough onto cookie sheet or pizza pan.

Cover ad let rise 30 minutes.

Bake in a 375* oven for 20 minutes.

Cover with sauce, cheese and toppings.  bake an additional 10 - 20 minutes.

Gluten Free Pizza Dough Recipe

I use this recipe that I found at Bob's Red Mill. (External Link to Bob's Red Mill.)

The dough is very sticky, and unlike wheat flour, you need to keep your hands WET to keep the dough from sticking.  It's a really, really good recipe!

Split Pea Soup

Finally, the weather on the East Coast is getting chilly, and soup weather has begun!  We needed to use up the ham bone from Christmas, along with a few of the odds and ends that we had left. (celery, onion, carrots left over from the Christmas Day veggie tray)


Split Pea Soup
6 cups water
4 chicken bullion cubes
(see my recipe for bullion cubes here.)
2 cups split peas. dried
1 small onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
1 stalk of celery, diced
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp thyme
1 Bay leaf
1/2 tsp pepper
1 ham bone, make sure it's got meat on it.  If it doesn't have enough meat, chop up some leftover ham and add it.

• In the slow cooker, add all of the ingredients listed above.  Add the split peas, and make sure that the ham bone is snuggled down in the beans.  If the water does not completely cover the soup with two inches to spare, add more water.  For every extra cup of water, add another bullion cube.
• Cover and cook on low for 6 hours.
•  Stir well before serving. 

We served this with homemade gluten free cornbread.

A wonderfully warm way to start the new year?

Winter Squash Stew with White Beans and Kale

photo: Bettina W.

We had this for dinner last night, and used the Hubbard Squash that was in our half bushel.  This was a recipe that I found on the Whole Foods website.  You can find it here. The soup was very, very tasty.  We had no leftovers, so you know it was a good recipe!  The only complaint that I had about this recipe was that there was too much Kale.  The next time I make this, I am going to use half of the recommended amount of Kale.   There is one note I read in the comments that I wanted to point out.  The recipe calls for Apple Cider.   Make certain that you use Apple Cider.  (not apple cider vinegar)

We are not yet finished with the winter squash.  I have a Cinderella Pumpkin, 3 Acorn Squash, and something else that I don't know.  I have at least 3 more squash based meals to eat, as well as 4 cups of frozen pureed pumpkin that I made earlier in the fall when I pureed the pumpkin for the Black Bean and Pumpkin Enchiladas.