Frugal Home and Health

Homemade Rice Milk

2012-02-11T12:14:00.000-06:00

Simple. Cheap. Delicious. What more could you ask for? Here's how I do it:

Put 1 cup of cooked brown rice into vitamix (a normal blender will probably work too, it just might not blend it as smooth; no worries though, just use a fine mesh strainer) and add about a cup of cold water. Add also 1/8c (2T) of sweetener, a little stevia if desired (I use about 1/8t), and 1/4t vanilla. Start on low, then move to high and blend till really smooth. While it's running, gradually add in about 3 more cups of cold water. Mix well, strain in a fine strainer, store in fridge. It will still have some rice bran in it; just make sure to shake or stir before using.

If you need a larger amount, make each batch separately until you have the desired amount.

Garden progress

2012-01-28T13:20:00.000-06:00

(see my previous post for our first garden post of the season)
I cannot believe it ... I ordered seeds yesterday from Baker Creek and they came TODAY. Brianna brought them out to us while we were working on the garden.

Today the boys are working hard sifting the dirt for a new spot. Corban designated this area for tomatoes. He was very pleased with how well his rock-sifting contraption is working. I am working on cleaning out some of the old beds and getting one ready for a new spinach crop. I also am cleaning the garden area in general - mostly raking leaves so the boys can mulch them and put them into the compost pile.

Here are a few pictures that were taken today:

Here are a few pictures of Corban's dirt/rock sifter. The boys scoop up dirt, dump it at the top, the rocks roll down and the dirt falls through.

They are mixing the layers of dirt - the rocky soil is on top I think and then under it is sandy soil. Soon it will all be mixed together, free of larger rocks (rocks bigger than 1/2" I think?).

Time out to look at the seeds.

Here are some pictures of the green houses Corban put up (with Tylor's help).

A view looking south towards our church.

A close up of a door latch - Corban found a bag of these things at the thrift store.

Kale. There was a lot more of it but we just picked some.

Ok, back to work!

Gardening Season

2012-01-27T11:01:00.001-06:00

Well ... it's here again. Gardening season. If you are like my son though, garden work never ends.

A few months ago he was busy designing and building new green houses that cover the raised beds in the church parking lot, and the hard work paid off - it's january and we are still getting fresh kale, spinach and lettuce. The beets are not doing as good, but we hope they hang in there long enough to go to seed. The lettuce and spinach were planted from seeds he saved last year :) so no cost was involved there. The soil has been greatly enriched with the home-made compost. The bugs have been kept under control with his home-made bug spray (consisting of garlic and cayenne).

Hmmm, what kind of bug is it?

This concoction should take care of them! (and it did)

Fresh salad tonight! (this is about 1 1/2 years old, so maybe it's not so fresh?!)

Here is a recent picture of greens from our garden beds:

Over the last few weeks he has been pouring over the seed catalog and his various gardening books getting all sorts of ideas. He has made graphs and maps of all kinds and [somewhat?!] carefully calculated how many plants will go where. I ordered seeds today from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. Corban has been reading "Seed To Seed" and knows a lot about saving seeds ... he has put some of his knowledge into practice but is hoping to do a lot more this year. We'll see. Another book he uses a lot is "The Vegetable Gardener's Bible". And one more favorite: "The Winter Harvest Handbook". Of course there are so many more though; I think he has checked out every book the two-county library has to offer on gardening!

You may not know that we live in a house right next to our church in a smaller town called Monett in SW MO. We have a few raised beds across the street from the church in the church parking lot. These have been a great blessing to us. Last year the boys turned the front and back landscaped areas of the house into beds for lettuce and spinach. Last year also the boys and some brothers planted 6 peach trees and 2 apple trees in the church yard. :) We are so thankful.

The boys work on several farms in the surrounding area, but there is one farm in particular that they are usually at every day for at least a quick stop. This farm, named Hemphill's after the former owner's last name, has a lot of land. A brother here at church (David) tilled up a nice big spot with a tractor for the boys to plant corn, squash, potatoes and beans. There are A LOT of rocks here in SW MO and the boys have been busy picking them. After the first round of picking, David tilled the land again and turned up more rocks. More picking, another tilling, and more picking. Now it's ready for the boys to use their tiller and also add in some compost.

Here is an older picture of the boys working at Hemphill's. It's SO BEAUTIFUL there! This picture was taken in early spring last year I think, so it's not really in full splendor yet.

And just for the fun of it, here is a recent picture of Corban:

This year I will try to be more diligent about posting garden information ... not just for readers but mostly for US to keep track of what we are doing.

That's all the time I have for now though.

Aldi

2011-12-20T11:26:00.010-06:00

Do you have an Aldi in your area? If so, do you go there? If not, why?! We do not have an Aldi in our town, but we do have one to the east about an hour in Springfield, MO, one to the north about 45 minutes in Carthage, MO, one to the south about 1 hr and 15 min in Rogers, AR, and we used to have one about 45 minutes away in Joplin but the tornado took it down :( I pray they are rebuilding it? Well, I just checked on their website and it's completed!

I have to wait till I have business to attend to in one of those cities before I can go to Aldi, but I look forward to the times I get to go. Yesterday we went and got some good deals. Pineapples were 99 cents each (big, juicy pineapples!) so we got 21 of them. Sweet potatoes were on sale for .25 a pound a few weeks ago, but now they are .33 a pound (which is still a great price). When we got them last time, I 'wished' I had gotten more because these things are YUMMY! and good for you too. I got 42 pounds this time. Sunkist oranges were 4lbs for $1.50. I only got 24lbs of them because we still have several pounds left from our bulk food order. They wont last long though. Bananas are going for .44/lb right now, which is pathetic if you compare it to a few years ago, but really good if you compare it to right now (.59/lb where we are). During the summer Aldis had cherries for .59 or .69 a pound, I forget which. Either way, it was a great deal. I bought a lot of them. A lot. Blueberries too ... .99 for 12oz. Grapes have been going for less than .80/lb but they just stopped that deal recently. We like grapes. A lot.

We like fruit. We like Aldis. Aldis is a good way to support our fruit habit.

Of course they have other veggies too besides sweet potatoes. Broccoli was less than a dollar a pound yesterday, but during the summer they had that and cauliflower for less than fifty cents a pound. I stocked up; chopped them and froze them all. I don't care much for frozen broccoli or cauliflower, but I really appreciated the price, so I'll just deal with the frozen part. Carrots usually go for .50 a pound, but I've seen them for .25 a pound.

Here is a link to the Aldi store locator. Check it out!!!

And in case you are wondering "wow, what do they do with all that fruit?!" the answer is, we eat it! We eat what we can raw, but then as it starts to get too ripe we freeze it and have it in smoothies.

And sweet potatoes ... I wash them, throw them whole (skins on) into the crock pot and set the heat to high. I let them bake about 3 hours, maybe four depending on the size, and then eat. YUM! The children like to put homemade applesauce (unsweetened) and cinnamon on top. I just like mine plain, but the other stuff tastes good on it too.

p.s. don't forget to bring your own bags and a quarter for the cart deposit!

Apple/Pear Sauce Pie or Butter & Applesauce pie

2011-10-18T18:02:00.007-05:00

The other day we picked a whole lot of pears for free :) We are so thankful for them. Today Brianna and I processed one sack of them ... we turned them into pear butter and just for the fun of it, I made up a pear butter or pear sauce pie. It seems to have turned out real well ... we'll do the taste test later after supper.

Nearly any kind of fruit similar to apples or pears can be used to make fruit butter. We've used apples, pears, peaches, nectarines and probably more with great success. The seasonings are nearly the same and of course adjusted to your taste. I prefer a mixture of spices (mostly cinnamon with a little nutmeg, ginger and cloves) as well as some kind of sweetener (usually a mixture of a little bit of honey or molasses or brown sugar and some stevia) and some kind of extract flavoring (vanilla, orange &/or maple work well). A little lemon juice can be added too.

Cut and core the fruit. I do NOT like to go through all the work of pealing, so I leave the peals on. Put the fruit in a large kettle and add about a cup of water. Cover & simmer till soft (lots of liquid will form). Batch process in a blender to make it smooth. You can stop here, put it in quart jars, process it for 20 minutes and call it apple or pear sauce, or you can move on to the next step and call it apple or pear butter. Pour the batches of blended sauce into a large kettle and add seasonings. Simmer UNCOVERED for several hours till it cooks down and becomes nice and smooth. Stir frequently to prevent burning (4 or more times an hour should do it). Taste it after a few hours and adjust seasonings if needed. When you think it's done, dip out a spoonful and let it plop down on a cool plate ... it should kind of look like a smooth goopy blob ... I'm sure you know exactly what I'm talking about, right?! Now is a good time to fill your water bath pot and set it to boil. Next you put your fruit butter into pint jars, add the lid and band. Once the water bath pot is boiling, add the jars and bring to a boil again. Cook at a full boil for 10 minutes. Remove jars, let cool.

Ok, so while we were waiting for the apple/pear butter to cook down, I decided to make an apple/pear sauce / butter pie. We were already planning to make two sweet potato pies but then found out we only had enough sweet potatoes for one pie ... that's where the thought of making the pear sauce pie came in. Here is what I put in it:

- 2 1/2c of apple/pear sauce or butter
- 3 eggs
- a little molasses (the fruit butter was sweet enough already, so I added a few tablespoons for flavor)
- 1/4c melted butter
- 1t vanilla
- 1T lemon juice
- 2T flour

Mix all together, pour into an unbaked shell, cook at 350 for an hour or so. Here is a picture ... I don't think the picture turned out well, but the pie sure looks and smells good.

How Low Can You Go?

2011-10-10T06:36:00.003-05:00

I challenge everyone to ask yourself "how low can I go?" Here are a few examples of what I mean:

- How low can I turn my heat down? (put on more clothes ... you'd be surprised how low you can turn your heat down)
- What is the smallest amount of [toothpaste, shampoo, soap, etc.] that I can use and still feel like it is cleaning properly?
- How much expensive food do I really need? Can I stick to cheaper, more healthier options like rice and beans? [unless it's home raised, meat and dairy products can get very expensive]
- Do I have to have air conditioning? (most in the world do not, and they live in some really hot places)
- Do I have to have hot water in my house? (most in the world do not ... and they seem to get by)
- (if you do have hot water) Do I have to wash my clothes in hot or warm water, or will cold work? Before you use the hot water, ask yourself if you could use warm or cold water instead.
- Do I have to use my dryer, or can I hang clothes outside?
- Do I have to have a closet full of clothes, or can I get by on only a few options?
- Do I have to have convenience foods, or can I make things from scratch at a much lower cost?
- Do we have to go out to eat when we are 'out and about' and hungry? Why not just stop at the grocery store and grab some yummy fruit? It will be cheaper and much healthier.
- Do we have to take vacations? Why not just find something free or nearly free to do that is near by?

These are just a few examples. The list could go on and on. THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU ARE DOING WITH YOUR MONEY. If you are a professing follower of the Lord, ask yourself another question, "Do I have to spend this money on ______ or would it be better spent giving it to someone who is in need?" Every dollar spent selfishly on YOU that could have been used to help someone else out is not pleasing to the Lord.

On chores and schedules.

2011-09-10T15:37:00.000-05:00

I have always been good at making schedules, even designing spreadsheets, charts and so on, but never good at following through with them. I’d start off with the best intentions, go at it for a while, and then for some reason, at some point things would just slip away. We’d get busy, or something pressing would come up or whatever. There was always something that came in the way.

Not too long ago I devised a cleaning schedule that we all really like and honestly it’s the best one I’ve ever done. My health has had its ups and downs here lately and it’s been a blessing to have this routine in place so things were not being too neglected or overlooked completely when I’m not feeling up to par. It’s been a blessing … so I thought to share it with the blogging world with the hopes of helping others as well.

It all started when I saw some 3x5 chore cards on a sister’s refrigerator … that gave me the idea to try something similar by suited to fit our family. I have one 3x5 card for each day and one 3x5 card for a few things that must be done daily. These cards can have jobs added on to them as things come to mind. There are only a few things I assign to specific people, other than that, we all just pitch in and do what we can. The cards are on the side of the fridge and we try to do the cleaning for the day in the morning to be sure it gets done. If I had younger children I might rotate them through each different job or assign jobs according to ability … but … my children are all nearly adults now so we just pitch in and do all we can each day and things get done.

This first part is written on each day:
- Sweep all public areas
- Keep all rooms picked up
- Weed garden for ~15 minutes each

This next part is unique for each day:
MONDAY:
- Wipe baseboards, tops of windows and doors, and ceiling fans
(while wiping baseboards, the floors around the perimeter of each room get wiped as well; this does a much better job than the mop)
- Dust
- Clean the church

TUESDAY:
- Clean backsplash and cabinet faces in kitchen
- Clean trash can
- Clean refrigerator inside and out (including the top)

WEDNESDAY:
- Organize kitchen cabinets and shelves
- Wipe cabinets and shelves
- Dining room chairs
THURSDAY:
- Organize ALL shelves in the house
- Organize hallway closets

FRIDAY:
- Mop
- Organize living room closet
- Clean the Brother’s bathrooms

SATURDAY:
- Yard work (usually the boy’s job)
- Garage and breezeway (usually the boy’s job)
- Clean church
- Clean tire shop

SUNDAY:
- Organize bedroom closet
- Sweep bedroom (under beds too) and mop as needed
(oftentimes these jobs get done on Saturday)

The other cards we have are one for the bathroom, one for the kitchen and one for the church. These cards break down more specifically what is expected each day and week in these areas. For instance, I expect the bathroom to be swept daily and the surfaces wiped real quick. This could be as simple as taking a piece of toilet paper and quick running it around the rim of the toilet. Brianna has this job and she keeps a cleaning rag in the bathroom to wipe off the sink and uses t.p. to wipe the rim of the toilet. I expect everything in the bathroom to be scrubbed thoroughly once a week.

Where’s the laundry on my list? Well … we do that as needed. I am very careful to keep up on laundry and found it impossible to have a set day or days to do it. I usually go through the whole house and collect all the towels on Friday or Saturday and wash them all together. On Monday I usually have someone gather all the kitchen and cleaning towels from the house and the church and wash them all together. A lot of cleaning towels are usually used each Sunday evening during fellowship time.

Sometimes we skip things … like wiping the baseboards for instance. No one will notice if we skip a week of wiping the baseboards, but they will notice if we skip one day of not sweeping. Sometimes I do things out of order - like the Brother’s bathrooms. If they happen to be around, I will not clean their bathrooms. I wait till they are gone … but just seeing it there on the card reminds me that I must do it that day or soon before or after. If these items are all kept up with regularly, then the time it takes to do them is minimal. A good example: If you hardly ever clean the tops of your windows and doorways, dust will build up and really cake on there and it will take you quite a while to get them clean, however if you do them every week or every other week, all it takes is a quick swipe of a cloth and they are done. If you have a tall child, this is a great job for them  I used to strain and have to drag a chair around with me as I went through the house doing this job … and then one day I realized that my oldest son had really sprouted up and all he had to do was simply raise up his arm and his hand was right there at the tops of the doors and windows. This has generally been his job ever since. I’ll include a list of often neglected or overlooked jobs at the end of this post.
I was thinking how there are some jobs that do not need to be done weekly. A few days ago I washed all the curtains in the house – this seems to be a job that might only need to be done 2 or three times a year. So on the day I washed the curtains, I was thinking of putting the ‘once in a while’ stuff on the BACK of the card. I could put “Curtains: Aug. 15th and Feb. 15th” or something like that.

OFTEN NEGLECTED OR OVERLOOKED JOBS:
- The trim on the tops of windows and doors
- Baseboards
- Bathroom fixtures such as behind the toilet, under the sink and the shower head. These items are often left to collect years of dust!
- Ceiling fans and other fans
- Window sills (we leave ours open all summer long and often there is quite the collection of flies if we neglect to clean them out!)
- Cobwebs … these can collect quickly in corners and in various areas on the ceilings and fixtures. A quick run through the house with a broom will take care of them.
- Under the beds and other furniture
- Bathroom and kitchen faucets … did you know they can look good as new with a little bit of scrubbing? Comet and a toothbrush work well for this.
- The base of the toilet – you know … where it’s bolted down to the ground? I like to use toilet paper for this, that way I can just throw it in the toilet and flush it down when I am done.
- The top of the fridge

I’m sure there are more, but that’s what I came up with in a hurry. Maybe you have some ideas to add?

Hot summer days

2011-07-20T10:42:00.005-05:00

Blah. It's hot. Hot. Hot. Hot. Praise the Lord. We have had a lot of chances to practice patience, long suffering, endurance, etc.

I cannot remember a time when we've done more laundry. Clothes are soaked through with sweat every day and stink. I am thankful for a washing machine and a laundry line right outside in the back yard. We used to have to walk past the church and across the street :)

The garden is suffering. The crops are suffering. Everything is dying. But, praise the Lord!

By mid-afternoon I am so wiped out that the last thing I want to do is prepare and cook supper. I may only have 3 (nearly adult) children, but I also feed several grown men. It's a blessing :) The last several days I have been preparing supper in the MORNING or at the very latest, preparing it along with lunch. I get everything ready that can be ready and then store it in the fridge. I take it out and cook it whenever it needs to be cooked in order to be done by supper time. It has been a great help to have this done and off my mind long before I start to get too tired to function normal.

Chicken and rice (cp - crockpot), quiche with veggies (cp), lasagna, enchiladas (cp), sweet potato stew stuff (cp), and so on ... all have been ready and waiting for us whenever it's time to eat. What a blessing!

How To Make Butter (using raw cream or not)

2011-05-12T12:01:00.000-05:00

Start with about 1 - 1 1/2qts of raw cream. (I have heard that heavy whipping cream from the store can be used, though I have never tried it.) Put the cream in a large mixing bowl and beat it with an electric mixer on high till you see some butter forming. It will look like whipped cream at first (because that is what it is!!) but if you keep beating it, it will soon start to separate ... it will no longer be fluffy.

Here it looks fluffy like whipped cream.

Right when you see it start to change (see picture below - it will no longer be so fluffy like whipped cream), turn the beater speed down to the lowest speed it has. Scrape the sides of the bowl periodically.

As the milk separates out, it will splash up more and more. If you do not have a protection shield for your beater/mixer, hold up a towel or something else to protect you and your surroundings from having a shower of milk.

Here are a few more pictures as it progresses along.

After a while you'll notice it is not changing much. Dump the milk into a jar to save it (this is buttermilk ... great in pancakes, cakes, or whatever). Continue beating on low a little longer to get more milk out; pour off the milk and save.

Now you must wash the butter. Add about as much cold water to the butter as was buttermilk. Beat on low for a bit. Drain. Repeat.

All washed and ready to go. Next beat in some salt. Start with 1t and add more if desired.

The final step is pressing as much water out of it as you can. It works good to kept the butter in the mixing bowl and smash it over and over again against the side of the bowl while tipping the bowl at an angle so the water can drain down. Every so often you'll want to dump the water out so you can see how much new water is pooling.

Press the finished butter into a form or bowl of some kind, cover well and refrigerate. It can also be frozen for long-term storage. 1qt of cream will yield about 1 pound of butter and a pint of buttermilk. Enjoy!

Breakfast Ideas

2011-05-09T16:29:00.005-05:00

It's been a while but I'm still here ... just have not had time to post on this thing!! I'm getting together a garden post soon (lots of green stuff :) spinach, kale, beets, lettuce, etc.) but here is a quick post on breakfast ideas.

I always have a green smoothie for breakfast, but my children have fruit and something else. The 'something else' is what varies from day to day. Most commonly it includes leftovers. Sometimes it's Beans and rice. Beans and cornbread. Beans and tortillas. All favorites. Pancakes ... we sometimes have those but not like the typical american I don't suppose? Peanut butter, fruit, applesauce, pear or pumpkin butter, etc. No syrup or butter. I am sure to make enough to send along with lunch for pancake sandwiches or to have as snacks later on. Something else we like very much is cornbread or cake with fresh milk over it. This morning I made a pear cake (just a basic cake recipe with 2/3 less sugar, a little stevia added, pear juice instead of milk and chopped canned pears) and the children ate that with raw milk that a friend gave us :) YUM!

Breakfast cereal is so expensive and so not good for you!! Well ... a few are actually good for you, but still expensive when compared to leftovers, rice, oatmeal, etc. And too, they are usually loaded with sugar and leave you feeling hungry soon after. Take care of yourself!! Eat healthy.

Frugal humor

2011-04-01T17:07:00.002-05:00

We subscribe to the Missouri Conservationist magazine ... we appreciate the articles in it and it's free. Sometimes they have stupid cartoons in there too. I thought to share this one because it gave me a good laugh. Enjoy!

Picky eaters take note ...

2011-03-24T15:41:00.006-05:00

A quote from 1930:

"People eat finicky nowadays. When I was young, we relished blood sausage, brains and eggs, sheep-head soup, fish-head chowder, kidney stew, and mountain oysters - all good, solid, nourishing foods. Yet today's youngsters couldn't be paid to eat them."

Mrs. A. Keller, age 98

Snacks on the go

2011-03-23T13:48:00.007-05:00

OK, listen up. Are you listening? Ok, good. DO NOT BUY JUNK FOOD WHEN YOU ARE OUT AND ABOUT!! Did you hear that? Well, just in case, here it is again: DO NOT BUY JUNK FOOD WHEN YOU ARE OUT AND ABOUT!!

First, it's junk. There is little to no nutritional value to it and in fact it does harm to your body.
Second, it's junk. Empty calories that do not fill you up ... you are still left hungry.
Third, it's junk. Paying high dollars per ounce or pound when you could pay so much less for something that is healthy for you.

So, what can you do instead? Plan ahead. If you know you are going to be out during a meal time, bring along a homemade snack, a piece of fruit, a carrot, etc. I understand that planning ahead is not always an option, so if you find yourself out and needing a snack, please do not stop at the fast food place and select something off the dollar menu. Please do not stop at the grocery store and grab a candy bar or bag of chips. How about a banana? They are so good, are filling, are cheap, easy to eat in the car, etc. Brianna and I had to stop at the store after our job today and it was lunch time. I bought two bananas to tide us over till I could get home and get lunch cooked. Yum! Carrots too are easy to eat in the car. Yesterday we were in Joplin because I had a dentist appointment; we always stop at Aldis while there. We snacked on carrots on the drive home. I stopped to get gas and put the carrot in my pocket ... how simple is that?!

Our bananas cost us $.20 each, were sweet, delicious, easy to eat in the car, etc. A tiny little candy bar costs $.75 now ... I just cannot believe that!!! ("I remember when I was young _______.") Of course I could have bought 2 candy bars for $1.50 (or taken the 'frugal route' [NOT] and shared a king size candy bar for $1.00) ... we would have loaded up on sugar, fat, etc. and would have still been left craving more because there is no nutritional value or substance there. And too, I would have had blood sugar problems!!

Please don't spend money like that - skip the junk food. PLan ahead or stop by the store real quick and grab a back of apples, a bunch of bananas, some oranges, grapes, etc.

A few frugal tips

2011-02-02T09:49:00.004-06:00

This elderly man we visit gave us some VERY OLD crackers. They were a few years past the "best by" date, but there were no obvious bugs in them. Yes, they were VERY stale, but otherwise they were all right. We lined them up on the dehydrator trays and dehydrated them for a few hours ... nearly as good as new! They still had a slight 'stale aftertaste', however they were very crisp again.

Another thing I discovered recently ... the other day I was making buttered noodles as part of our dinner. I had just finished off the last of the pretzels (there were only a few of them!) and the empty sack was sitting on the counter. Buttered noodles need salt, and there was the empty pretzel bag right in front of me with all that 'rock' salt at the bottom of the bag ... about to be thrown out!! I added some of that salt, and then saved the rest in a small jar; there was about 2T in all. Now whenever we are done with pretzels, we will save the salt and use it for soups or whatever.

:)

Fiber, Nutrition, Etc...

2011-01-11T12:58:00.003-06:00

Without getting into too much detail or taking a whole lot of time, I just wanted to share something real quick that shocked me.

Our internet opens up to Yahoo ... and on it there was an article about the "15 worst health and diet myths" or something like that. The part where I will not share much detail is whether or not I agree with what all they say there. I do want to share however one point. Here is what they say (there are a few spelling errors!) :

~~~~~~~
Myth #10: You need 38 grams of fiber a day
Reality: More fiber is better, but 38 is nearly impossible

That's the recommendation from the Institute of Medicine. And it's a lot, equaling nine apples or more than a half dozen bowls of instant oatmeal. (Most people eat about 15 grams of fiber daily.) The studies found a correlation between high fiber intake and lower incidence of heart disease. But none of the high-fiber-eating groups in those studies averaged as high as 38 grams, and, in fact, people saw maximum benefits with a daily gram intake averaging from the high 20s to the low 30s.

Put the Truth to Work for You: Just eat sensibilty. Favor whole, unprocessed foods. Make sure the carbs you eat are fiber-rich—that means produce, legumes, and whole grains—because they'll help slow the aborption of sugar into your bloodstream.
~~~~~~~

Getting 38 grams of fiber a day is "NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE"??? What planet are they on? I was so shocked by that statement because I KNEW IT WAS NOT TRUE. How do I know? I used to track what I ate using a nifty free website called nutridiary.com and also fitday.com ... you see, I used to eat all raw and followed Doug Graham's suggestion of 80-10-10 ... if you are interested enough to check into it, go for it ... that's another thing I do not have time right now to get in to. I LOVED THE WAY I FELT and how healthy I was when I ate this way. I never knew a person could feel so good ... even my blood sugars stabilized, my eyes no longer strained to focus and my hearing was 100% normal (well, it seemed that way anyway). For those of you who know me, you know that I have a very hard time hearing out of my right ear; I even have to sit at a certain place in church so I can hear better. I have to wear glasses for focusing. I have other issues too (including blood sugar problems ... been dealing with that ever since I was little), but they ALL WENT AWAY when I was eating as Doug Graham suggested.

Well anyway, I said I wasn't going to get into all of that, so I will stop there. I learned a lot and hope to go back to eating that way again some day, however for now I just do my best - I eat a lot of fruits and vegetables each day and also try to stick to whole grains and beans, with little to no meat or dairy. When I read that article and the point about how it is nearly impossible to get 38 grams of fiber in one day, I quick went on to fitday.com and plugged in what all I have eaten so far today.

Breakfast - a green smoothie consisting of 2 large bananas, 2 medium sized apples, a big handful of kale, a slice of lemon, about 2T of fresh ground flax, and 1/2c of frozen mulberries.

Lunch - Whole wheat pasta with a tomato sauce and a bowl of steamed carrots.

That's all I've had so far today, unless you want to also count the 5 cups of water and the cup of peppermint tea :)

How do I measure up? According to fitday.com, here's my tally thus far:

Calories 1,088

Fat 15.4g
Saturated 2.6g
Polyunsaturated 6.3g
Monounsaturated 4.4g

Carbohydrate 233.5g
Dietary Fiber 40.4g

Protein 29.5g

(Staying very close to Doug's 80-10-10 still, even though I am not eating all raw)

The only way this could be a little different is because I did not know how to plug in the tomato sauce I made. It did not give me an option for whole wheat noodles apart from having sauce on it, so I had to choose the "whole wheat noodles with meatless tomato sauce" option. But, that will not make a big difference for the fiber tracking point. Also, I've almost met all of the RDA's for the vitamins and minerals they have listed (I do not go by the calcium amount they have listed because I have a high alkaline, low acid diet, therefore I do not need nearly as much calcium as the average American ... you see, high acid diets are bad for you! But then, there goes another topic that I do not have time for ...).

Notice my fiber intake so far today - yes, 40 grams ... and that does not even include supper, which will be beans, rice, veggies and corn tortillas ... another 20g of fiber or more. That's over 60g of fiber for one day.

If you are only getting 15g of fiber a day, you MUST eat more fruits and vegetables!! Did you know that you are supposed to have 2-3 bowel movements a day? If you are not regular in this way, you must do something about it. There is a lot to be said about the health of your intestines and colon ... but once again, I do not have time to get into all that stuff.

What in the world does a person eat in a day that they only get 15g of fiber?? I have an idea ... meat, cheese and white flour products ... and maybe some heavily processed fruits and vegetables? There is NO FIBER in animal products, and hardly any at all in white flour products. Yuck.

Take care of yourself. Eat healthy foods. Stay away from foods that offer no nutrition. Snack on raw fruits and veggies. Eat a raw salad of some kind with at least one meal a day. Try green smoothies. Eat as many greens in one day as you can.

I might post more on this stuff some other time. If any of this has triggered your curiosity and you have a specific question, please ask!! A sincere question could give me a good idea for another blog post.

Money saving meal tip ...

2011-01-07T15:43:00.003-06:00

I assume your town puts out local grocery store ads each week? Look in the sale ads and write down what's on sale that you would normally buy. Now look in your cupboards, pantry, freezer, fridge, etc. and see what's on hand. Plan your meals based on what's on sale and what's on hand. Go shopping. If it's an especially great deal, stock up.

Most people know this already, but it still surprises me how often people break this simple money saving tip. They have a craving for a specific thing, so they buy it and do not care about the jacked up price because "it's only one thing, what does it matter?" Well, a lot of 'one things' add up quick, and so does the money you waste!!

I have certain high-end prices in my mind for various items that I normally buy that I will NOT go over. For instance, I know that I can get grapes on sale for 99 cents a pound, however right now they are about $1.99 - $2.99 a pound. Guess what? I have not eaten grapes in about two months because I will not spend more than .99 a pound for them. I have all sorts of prices in my head, and having this information is handy because I know right away when I see a really good deal. Using grapes again as an example, one time at Aldi they were on sale for .75 a pound. I bought 30 pounds or so. We ate what we could fresh and then froze them before they went bad. The frozen ones work well in smoothies.

Carrots go for .50 a pound at Aldi ... I will go without carrots until I can make it to Aldis because Wal Mart is the next cheapest and they sell it for about .75 a pound. No thanks. When I do make it to Aldi, I stock up on carrots and try to get as many as I'll need to last me till the next time I go.

Well, this could turn in to a long post, so I'll just stop now and assume you know what I'm talking about. Please do not waste your money!!

Another tunic design

2011-01-01T10:21:00.004-06:00

Brianna designed me a tunic the other day - I wanted a tunic that had no buttons, no zippers, no 'v-neck', no big hole for the head, etc. Just a plain front. So, I told her to do the neck in a certain way - like a onesies - so my head could fit in and then it would close up again. The difference is that the onesies has the fabric from the back overlapping in the front, however mine is overlapping in the back. Here's a picture of a onesies in case you do not know:

Here is the results of a lot of hard work on Brianna's part:

And another picture ... Tylor looks kind of funny :) the sun was in his eyes.

In case you were wondering, the material is a linen/cotton blend; it was a large tablecloth I picked up a long time ago for very cheap (a few dollars?). I appreciate the design along the edge - it seems to break up the tunic from the dress. Also, there was not enough material to make a full dress, so Brianna used other material for the parts you cannot see.

No buttons, no zippers, no funny v-necks ... just plain and simple. There are still a few 'quirks' to be worked out, but who cares? It's good enough and very comfortable ... and most importantly, modest.

New Supper Tunic Shirt

2010-12-28T19:25:00.001-06:00

(A guest post from Becky) I finally have something new to post, yippee! I have been looking for a nice super tunic (just an extra long tunic) pattern to make, but I hadn't found a pattern that would look nice with the length added. Here is the finished product of 5 days worth of ripping and sewing, configuring and brainstorming. I am really happy with the results, especially since I made the pattern from just looking at a picture! I don't know if I will ever make another one like it since I had no idea how it turned out the way it did! True to style, I didn't have any pattern pieces and I didn't write anything down, because I was just sewing and fixing as I went along. It worked though, so I'm happy with it!

here is the picture that used from http://www.shukronline.com/

Hot Breakfast Extravaganza

2010-12-09T10:21:00.003-06:00

Most of you might think this is yucky, but we have tried it an like it ... I encourage you to do the same (if you don't already).

We often have hot cereal for breakfast ... oatmeal, grits, teff, or whatever. But many times we do not finish all that is in the pan. In the past I have tried to add the left-over hot cereal to muffins or quick breads. The flaw in this however is that either 1) I do not feel like making muffins or quick breads right at that moment ... so ... 2) it sits in the fridge, gets forgotten, starts growing and then gets thrown away. I really HATE throwing food away so I always end up feeling bad.

That is until I found a solution!

I now have a 1 gallon sturdy plastic honey jug that I keep in my chest freezer. Whenever there is left-over hot cereal, the breakfast person scrapes the contents of the pan out into the honey bucket in the freezer. This has become our left-over hot breakfast bucket. When it's full, I take it out and put it in the fridge. The next few days we have what looks like slop for breakfast ... but it tastes really good! Best of all, we are using up something that would have eventually been thrown away ... that's almost like having two or three 'free' meals.

We do the same thing for left-0ver broth and veggies ... they have their own bucket and this eventually becomes some sort of soup. If we have a little meat, we might throw that in the bucket too.

Sweet Potato Pie and Pretzels

2010-11-19T13:43:00.009-06:00

Today Brianna and I had a nice time in the kitchen. She made sweet potato pie and I made soft baked pretzels. YUM.

We did not get pictures of every step, but we got enough I think?

First, the crust. I got unbleached white flour especially for Brianna ... it's the easiest to use for crusts. Our grinder grinds the wheat berries so course and the first crust she ever tried to make did not work at all. I can get it to work fine, but for someone just starting, it might be nicer to start with unbleached white flour. As you can see, her crust turned out well :)

The filling ... I'm not sure what all I told her to put in there, but I THINK it was 6c mashed sweet potatoes, 3 eggs, 1/2c brown sugar, 1t cinnamon, 1/2t nutmeg, 1t vanilla and 1/4c butter, melted. Blend it all together and spread into the crusts.

She decided to use the extra crust dough to make decorations for the tops ...

Ready to bake ... 425 for 15 minutes and 300 till done (over 50 minutes). The filling will be firm and the crust will be golden brown.
All done!

Guess what we are having for dessert tonight ...

Brianna thought to take pictures of the pretzels a little too late, so you'll have to use your imagination for the first few steps. I used my whole wheat bread recipe; I followed all the steps until the shaping of the loaves. Instead I rolled it out to about a 10" x 12" rectangle and cut into 12 - 12" long strips. Roll them out a little more with your hands, shape and put on a greased cookie sheet. Next, bake them in a preheated oven set to 475 for 4 minutes. Once done, have ready a pot of boiling water with 2T of salt added. Lower 3 or 4 at a time into the pot, boil for 2 minutes, turning once in between. Remove with a slotted spoon. Set on a towel for a minute or so to drain, and then put back onto a well greased cookie sheet.

Brush with an egg white wash - one egg white and 1T water.

Sprinkle with coarse salt.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes ... till golden brown. Cool on a wire rack. I brushed it with melted butter before taking it off the cookie sheet.
Enjoy!

My new dress pattern

2010-10-27T14:00:00.002-05:00

Well, I'm getting closer to the kind of dress I'd like to wear. This is the results of a lot of hard work, thinking, etc. I took the top of a tunic I like and made a pattern for the dress bodice and sleeves out of that; the dress skirt is from a skirt I like. The tunic top is from an actual pattern, but I altered that a bit too.
I want to make one change next time - I hope to figure out how to make the tunic top a 'boat neck' so I do not have to have the slit in the front (it's hard to see in these pictures).
The fabric is a king-sized sheet I got from the thrift store - $1. It was PINK, but I dyed it taupe. The dye was not quite $2. So, that's about $3 plus labor. I might change the color at some point; it seems a little too light for my liking. I get things stained up and dirty quickly, so dark colors are better.

The back looks a little fitted here, but it's actually not; I think my elbows must have been pulling on the fabric.

Moths, larva and other critters

2010-10-23T21:15:00.003-05:00

I wont put pictures of roaches here ... we know what they look like. So, what do you do if/when you find critters in your grains? I recently had a poll going with several choices. I see now that I should have been a little more specific with some of the more open ended questions, but it is still obvious what more than half of the people who answered would do if they found critters in their grains - "Yuck, that's totally disgusting - I throw it out of course!" With some it would depend on what kind, how many and whether the bugs were dead or alive. And then there were some that would sift out the critters and use the flour/grain anyway. I was encouraged by the amount of responses in this category ... I am glad to know more of you would do that than what I thought ... about 20% of you, or, 1 out of 5.

What would I do? I sift them out and use the flour or grain ... the kind of bug does not matter, nor does the amount or whether it's/they're dead or alive. There are some at my fellowship that do not appreciate this in the same way I do, so out of respect for them, I will use 'good flour' (usually fresh ground in my vitamix) when I'm making bread for the fellowship meal.

Why do I ask?

A Sister in the Lord shared a story with me one evening when we were going through her scrapbook from their time in Ghana. I pray I get the story right ... basically she said that nearly every time they used their flour, they had to first sift the bugs/worms out of it. One time there was so many of them and they were so small they slipped right through the sifter she used ... and there on the counter was a pile of really wiggly flour. She said that was just too much for her seeing that flour move all around like that. So she had her helper girl dump the flour behind their house/hut in the trees. Not too long after that, she saw some little girls scooping the flour up off the dirt; she knew they were bringing it home and giving it to their mother. All that time they had spent there living just like these people ... they had good testimonies and all ... and then this. She regrets not using that flour - if they could do it, why couldn't she?

I was so blessed to hear this testimony and it has really helped me to care what is in my food - just pick it out and use it. We are so spoiled here in the U.S.

I think it would be really interested to do a comparison of food here in the U.S. verses food somewhere else. Compare all sorts of things like what's eaten, how much, how often, variety, etc. If anyone knows of a good place to look for this information, please share.

In the mean time, I want to challenge everyone to use what you have, even if there are bugs in it. People all over the world do it every day; you can too. Cooking it should destroy most or all of the 'bad stuff'. I also want to challenge you all to eat more simple. Start off with adding more brown rice to your diet. If you already do that, then add more beans. If you already do that, then add something else cheap and healthy, or take out something unhealthy whether cheap or not (soda, candy, chips, white stuff, etc.).

I have so many ideas but not enough time.

A New Poll!

2010-10-16T06:31:00.003-05:00

It's been a while. My absence from this blog can be attributed to numerous factors, however I will spare you the details and just say that some things are more important.

So, what's on my mind? In a word ... bugs.

Have you ever gotten into a bag of flour or other grain and found that some little critter decided to make their happy abode there? Why not? It's dark, warm, comfortable, climate-controlled, and ~ best of all ~ basically an unlimited supply of food!

So, what do you do?

How about a poll ... SEE ABOVE!! (or go to the main blog page Frugal Home and Health) I have set up a poll and plan to base my next post on the results. PLEASE VOTE!

Cleaning: From Top to Bottom

2010-08-14T17:08:00.001-05:00

Well, I've thought for a while about what cleaning job to post first ... but I've also been very busy to say the least. I was going to start with the bathroom, however I had another thought. Why not do something that's all over the house? So this coming week, if you can, I suggest focusing on:

COBWEBS AND DUST

Yes ... both are everywhere! Do a quick walk through your house and look up - more likely than not you'll find at least SOME of both. If you are like most people however, you will find a LOT of both. Cobwebs like to stick to the corners of walls, the tops and corners of doors, the ceiling, windows, and other places too. While dust can and will be found just about everywhere, for this first cleaning, only focus on the dust that is on the tops of the door and window frames; the other dust [shelves, pictures, clocks, etc.] will be taken care of some other time - unless you have the time and energy to do them now.

TO DO
Go through your house with some sort of cobweb sweeper. A broom works well, however you can also use a duster with an extended handle or a vacuum attachment. Sweep every corner of each room from top to bottom. Also sweep along the top of each wall where it meets the ceiling. If it's been a long time since you've done this, or if you have a lot of spiders, you may also need to sweep each wall - paying close attention to where pictures, shelves, or other furniture meet the wall.
Next go through with a damp cloth and wipe the tops of each door and window frame. In our old house, this was a job for my tall son. I had to drag a step stool around, however all he had to do was lift his arm up comfortably. :) If you have time and baseboards, wipe those too. This is a good job for a shorter child. :) :)
Now, you are done ... unless all that dust sitting around bothers you, in which case, you may want to do a quick dusting and vacuuming.

That's it for now. If you have suggestions on this topic, please post a comment. With as busy as I've been, I'll need all the help and brain-power I can get!

Homemade Yogurt (using goat milk or other milk)

2010-08-04T06:47:00.002-05:00

After a few attempts and failures at making my own yogurt at home, I finally found a way that works. Well, I didn't really find it, I just asked a some sisters here how they made their goat yogurt and I listened to their advice :)

Ingredients:
2 quarts of goat milk (you can use cow milk if you'd like)
1c powdered milk
1/2c yogurt starter (a sister here gave me some of her yogurt)
1/2c sugar (I used brown; next time I will add a little stevia too)
~1t vanilla extract and 1t of lemon extract (optional)

Pour the milk in the pan and heat till it's at 180 degrees (I used a meat thermometer). Turn it OFF, mix in everything except the yogurt starter, and let it sit 'til it's at 120 degrees. Add the yogurt starter, mix well, and pour into jars. I got 2qts and 1c from mine.

Place the jars into a cooler, cover with the hotest tap water you have, and close the lid. Let it sit for at least 3 hours before checking. Tilt the jar a little to see if it is thick and set. If it needs more time also refresh the water with new hot water. Mine took about 4 1/2 hours or so.

Store in the fridge and use however you normally use yogurt ... we enjoyed ours with fresh fruit and a little nutmeg. YUM!

Early church quote on gluttony

2010-07-28T18:00:00.000-05:00

The early church had a lot to say about gluttony and eating with simplicity ... here is a quote I found today:

Some men, in truth, live that they may eat, as the irrational creatures, "whose life is their belly, and nothing else." But the Instructor commands us to eat that we may live. For neither is food our business, nor is pleasure our aim; but both are on account of our life here, which the Word is training up to immortality. Wherefore also there is discrimination to be employed in reference to food. And it is to be simple, truly plain, suiting precisely simple and artless children--as ministering to life, not to luxury. And the life to which it conduces consists of two things--health and strength; to which plainness of fare is most suitable, being conducive both to digestion and lightness of body, from which come growth, and health, and right strength, not strength that is wrong or dangerous and wretched, as is that of athletes produced by compulsory feeding. Clement of Alexandria (A.D. 195)

Raw Goat Cheese and Whey & Raw / Lacto-Fermented Sauerkraut

2010-07-24T15:08:00.002-05:00

I finally got the rennet tablets and was able to make my own raw goat cheese and whey; we like it much better than the cooked stuff I demonstrated a few months ago (homemade goat cheese and whey using vinegar).
The milk is best used fresh from the goat, still warm. If it has been refrigerated, put the gallon jug in a sink full of hot water and stir periodically till it is warm but NOT hot.

The rennet looks like this ... you only need a small amount. My first batch did not set right so I added a tiny bit more and that did the job good. Gently crush it between two spoons and stir it into the milk.

It should set in about a half hour or less. Pour into a strainer set in a bowl to catch the whey. Here's the cheese:

And here is the whey:

The finished product ... 3 1/2qts of whey and about 2c of cheese - be sure to mix in 1t-1 1/2t of salt into the cheese. You can also mix other things like onion flakes, Italian seasonings, or any other flavor to suit your taste.

LACTO-FERMENTATION
In the last post I did on goat cheese and whey, I listed several things to do with the whey. One more you could do is make raw, fermented cabbage (a.k.a. raw sauerkraut or lacto-fermented sauerkraut). Shred 1 medium head of cabbage. Place in a bowl with 1T salt and 1/4c whey. Pound till the juices come out good ... at least 10 minutes. I did not have meat mallet so I used a small glass olive jar ... it worked just fine. Shove it into a quart jar - the juice should come up over the cabbage at least a half inch. Leave about an inch of headspace. Set on the counter, in the counter, or wherever you'd like, for 3 days. It should start to bubble after 3-4 days. We left ours on the counter top for a little over 3 weeks before we put it in the fridge. I've heard the longer it sits in the fridge, the better it gets, though we just started doing this so I cannot make an accurate statement on that! (update - it tastes great even after being in the fridge for months).
- variation: if you do not have whey, you can substitute with one additional tablespoon of salt.

FYI - here is an article on Lacto-Fermentation.

Cleaning your home

2010-07-22T21:43:00.000-05:00

I have been cleaning houses professionally for several years now and have a good idea of what people miss when cleaning various rooms in their home. I plan to have a weekly series of posts in which I describe [in detail, yet as simply as possible] how to properly clean each room from top to bottom. Maybe I'll set up a weekly cleaning challenge?? We'll see how ambitious I get ;)

Keep your eyes open for my first 'cleaning your home' post!

Garden Fresh Sushi- Made at home for under $3!

2010-07-19T14:09:00.004-05:00

I love sushi!! If you love sushi, then you know what I'm talking about:) I know that some people don't want to try it because they believe that it is only made with raw fish, but that's not true. Sushi is so versatile, you can put anything you want to in it that you like. I made some of this the other night, and it was so easy, that even if you've never seen a sushi roll, you can make this in under 10 minutes flat! Not to mention that it only cost about $3 total! ( that may even be way over the cost) compared to the $15 per roll you would pay at your favorite sushi spot. This is made with veggies from the garden and a little extras.

Garden Fresh Sushi rolls( for 1-2 people)

2 dried nori (dried seaweed)sheets. These can be purchased at any Asian market. They usually come in a pack of 10 or more for under $4.
1/2 cup hot rice, whatever kind you have on hand. It's better to use left over rice that has been reheated, as it is not as mushy, but use what you got.
1 Ripe Avocado
3 thinly sliced sandwich slices of Tomato
1/2 small cucumber
2 T cream cheese (optional)
3 T Soy Sauce or Braggs Liquid Aminos
Sriracha Japanese hot sauce

Reheat the rice by steaming it a little. While that is steaming, slice up your avocado, tomato, and cucumber, all julienne style (in long, thin strips). Get out your two sheets of nori and lay them on a plate, then pile 1/4 cup of hot rice at one end of each of the sheets, leaving about 1 inch of nori without rice on that same end, and spread the rice out like you would when filling a burrito.

Next, lay strips of your veggies on top of the rice. Grab that end of the sheet where you put your filling and wrap it gently over the filling until it is completely encased. Then continue to roll up the rest of the sheet. Lay the roll so that the end of the sheet is under the roll, so that the heat from the rice seals the roll.

Now get a very sharp knife and lay your rolls on a cutting board and slice thin circles like you would a cinnamon roll. Move your rolls to your plate, grab you some soy or whatever in a separate bowl and your hot sauce. I like using chop sticks too:)

If you want to put cream cheese on them, just cut off a little and put little dabs on each piece with a dot of hot sauce then dip it in your soy.

These are sooo simple and so good, I've made them twice in 3 days! Let me know how you like them, or if you make other sushi concoctions at home.

- Becky

Zucchini Bread, Zucchini Crisp (mock apple crisp) and more!

2010-07-08T13:57:00.001-05:00

It's that time of year again ... the time when you have so many zucchinis you think you are going to get sick of looking at them, let alone eat them ... and if your loving neighbor gives you one more zucchini, you might have to scream. Ok... not really. But, let's put all those zucchini to good use!!

This morning we had mock-apple crisp and I made 4 loaves of zucchini bread. Here are the recipes I used.

MOCK APPLE CRISP (using zucchini instead of apples)
5c chopped zucchini (I did not peal mine, but you might want to)
1/8c sugar
1t apple pie spice
*mix and put into a greased 8x8 pan or a small rectangular pan:

Topping:
1c oats
1/2c whole wheat flour
1/4c sugar
1t stevia
1t apple pie spice
1/4t salt
*Mix and cut in 1/2c butter. Put on top of the zucchini:

Bake 400 degrees till golden brown on top.

We had our zucchini crisp for breakfast; we served it in bowls with goat milk and fresh strawberries.

Zucchini Bread (makes 4 loaves)
DRY:
6c whole wheat flour
4t cinnamon (1T+1t)
1t nutmeg
2t baking soda
1t salt
1t baking powder
1c sugar
2t stevia
WET:
4c shredded zucchini
1c oil
4 eggs
1c liquid of some kind (pineapple juice works well; can also use water, whey, milk, etc.)
crushed pineapple ... 2 cups or so?
2t lemon extract or lemon zest

Mix dry, mix wet, then combine till just mixed. Pour into 4 greased bread pans. Bake at 350 till done ... about 30 minutes or so till tops are golden brown and a butter knife tests clean. Allow to cool for 5-10 minutes before removing from the pan. If you leave it in the pan, it will get soggy.

Italian Polenta

2010-07-06T10:09:00.001-05:00

Polenta is very cheap, easy, and delicious. I ran into a good deal at a bent and dent store for grits/polenta and stocked up.

First, cook your grits - We had a lot of people eating, so I used 9c water, 1 1/2t salt, 3c grits, 4 1/2T butter. Bring to a boil, cover, simmer for about 30 minutes. Stir frequently; it will stick. When it's done, pour/spoon into a greased bowl of some sort; I chose 2-9" pie plates. Sit for 10 minutes or so.

Cover the pie plate with a cutting board or other flat object large enough to fit completely over the top.

Invert.

Remove the pie plate; it should hold the shape of the dish.

Slice however large or small you prefer.

Serve with some sort of tomato sauce over the top; I prefer a simple marinara.

Basic Marinara Sauce
1/4c extra virgin olive oil (evoo)
1/4 a medium onion, minced
1 clove garlic, pressed
2-28oz cans of diced tomatoes or 6c fresh diced tomatoes
Salt and basil to taste. (start with a teaspoon of each and add more if desired)

Saute the onions in the olive oil. Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer uncovered till desired consistency is achieved.

Italian Style Green Beans
Using 2 pounds of steamed/cooked green beans, stir in about 2T each of butter and evoo, 1t-2t each oregano and basil, 1t or more of salt and garlic powder to taste.
We really enjoy having green beans this way.

How to Make Your Own Cheese

2010-06-30T13:55:00.002-05:00

About a year and a half ago, I did a post on my other blog about how to make cheese from powdered milk. We were living in the Philippines at the time and they do not have dairy products like what we have here. They mainly have powdered milk or milk that is processed for a long shelf life, and both are pretty pricey. I was really interested in making yogurt and simple cheeses like cottage cheese, or "farmers cheese", and some spreadable cheese. Well, I was never able to make any before we returned to the states, so I just posted the recipes that I had found. So now that we are back, I thought a post on making your own cheese would be fitting.

We are starting to receive an abundance of goat's milk from some of the families that we fellowship with here, so Joanne has started making things like yogurt( made with the crockpot) and herbed farmer's cheese. I have 2 quarts of goats milk in the fridge right now and was looking up some information about liquid rennet and found this useful site-Fankhauser Cheese Course

Wow, this website has so much useful (besides my most favorite word when it comes to this kind of stuff)practical information, plus the next best thing- great step by step pictures:) Here are some links from this site for:

I think I'm going to make yogurt first then experiment with some other cheeses. Let us know if you make any of your own cheeses and if you have links to some of your creations, great!

- Becky

{Photo of cheese board courtesy of the web site Fromages.com}

Ceviche

2010-06-29T15:33:00.004-05:00

The other day, Brian introduced us to a new favorite - a Peruvian dish called Ceviche. YUM! I was a little skeptical at first since the fish is not cooked, however I'm always up for trying something new and I'm sure glad I did.

This is not a very good picture, but it's the only one that turned out good enough ...

Ceviche
- 4 potatoes
- 4 sweet potatoes
- 1 red onion, sliced VERY thin
- 1 cup fresh lime juice (~12 limes)
- 1/2 rib celery, sliced
- 1/4 cup lightly packed cilantro leaves
- 1/4t ground cumin
- 1 clove of garlic, minced
- 1 habanero or jalepeno pepper, seeded and minced (use as little or as much as you'd like)
- Salt to taste
- 2 pounds of fish, cut into 1/2" pieces - today we had salmon, so that's what we used. Brian said it does not matter at all what type of fish you use. Also, shrimp, crab, &/or squid can be added.
- Leaf, romaine, bib or other type of lettuce.

1) Cover the potatoes with water and cook till tender. Set aside till easy to handle.
2) Blend/process till smooth - lime juice, cumin, celery and cilantro. Pour into large bowl and add 3/4 of the onion, and all of the garlic, pepper, salt and fish.
3) Let it marinate for 15 minutes or so, stirring occasionally. It is done when it turns firm and opaque.
4) Peel (opt.) and slice the potatoes.
To serve: cover plate with lettuce, top with fish mixture, fresh onions and potatoes. Can spoon the marinade over all for extra flavor.

Bulk Cooking ... OH deer!

2010-06-27T20:17:00.001-05:00

This is a very simple, tasty, versatile and cheap recipe ... I don't have a name for it, but it's made of ground meat, beans and rice. I season it 'Mexican-style' (???) - onions, garlic, salt, cumin, chili powder, etc.

The recipe is really whatever you want it to be, but I'll tell you roughly what I used [all measurements are approximate]:
*4 pounds of ground deer meat (fry with onions and garlic)
*6 cups of brown rice, cooked (turns out to be a big pot of cooked rice)
*2 gallon freezer bags of cooked beans (I cleaned out my freezer and found garbanzo and navy beans, so that's what I used this time)
*Season to taste; add water to help stir it.
[can omit the meat and add more beans or lentils for a vegetarian option; we use meat if we get it for free, otherwise we leave it out]

Allow to cool, and then store in serving size freezer bags. I'll get about 4 gallon freezer bags out of what you see in the picture - it's a very large bowl! I store in gallon bags, thaw one out and then use it over several days for various things. Some ideas are taco stuffing, casseroles, taco soup, nachos/haystacks, burritos, or whatever else suits your tastes. Enjoy!

Cost break-down
Meat - $0 (free deer from friends)
Rice - ~$1 (buy in bulk for about $.80 a pound)
Beans - ~$2 (buy in bulk for about $1 a pound)
Seasonings - ~$1 (??? maybe I'm being liberal here?)

Total cost - ~$4 ... and it will last for many meals.

Plum Jam & Jelly

2010-06-26T12:05:00.002-05:00

The children and a brother from church we walking to the thrift store the other day and came across a plum tree in someone's yard. Later on they knocked on the door and asked the man if they could pick the plums. He was more than happy to let them have it. That evening we had several gallons of plums ... we already had an abundance of fruit flies, so I wanted to make sure they got taken care of as soon as possible.

Plum Jam! First I washed them all in the sink. Then a few of us cut a slit in each one. These went into two large pots. I added enough water to cover, brought to a boil, and simmered for about 5 minutes.

The result (this is not all of it though)...

I decided to try and smash them through a strainer ... this worked pretty well. We got all the stones out and it did not take too long, all things considered.

The smashed fruit went back into a large pot with seasonings (cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves). I use Pomona's Universal Pectin ... this allows for less sugar (a lot less). For 21 cups of jam I used 5 cups of sweetener [we did not have enough of any one sweetener, so I used a combination of things]; if anyone knows about making jam, they know that this is a significantly lower amount of sugar. I looked up Sure-Jell recipes online; their 'Triple Berry Jam' calls for 5 cups of prepared fruit and 7 cups of sugar. If I would have used Sure-Jell, I would have needed more than 28 cups of sugar for my 21 cups of prepared fruit!!! WOW.

So now what to do with all that liquid from the water and the fruit? JELLY! I put it all in a large pot, along with the stones (there was a little fruit left on the stones), and simmer for several hours.

It reduced a lot more than this, but this is the only picture we have of it reducing. I should have stirred it more often ... some of it burned to the bottom and produced a smoky flavor in the finished jelly :) no one minds though (it just tastes unique!). I added sweetener as well as a little almond and vanilla extract.

The reward for all our hard work ... 32+ pints of FREE jam and jelly!

Here's a picture from another angle - I wanted to show that you can use other jars and re-use lids several times. Notice the front two jars on the left; one is a bullion jar and one is a fancy canned fruit jar someone gave to me. I re-use canning lids 4 or more times; it just depends on if the seal is hard or not (if it's a little soft, it still has some life in it). I will caution however that it is NOT recommended to re-use lids, so don't blame it on me if you do this and your jars do not seal right ... although so far I have not had a problem with this.

A breakfast favorite

2010-06-26T11:34:00.002-05:00

Lentils are SO CHEAP and very delicious! We order them through Azure Standard; a 25 pound sack costs ~$15 ... that's $.60/lb. The corn tortillas are ~$3.00 for 88 of them (~3.5 cents each), and the eggs are free. Here's the 'dollar menu' breakdown:

Lentils $.30
Corn Tortillas $.28
Eggs $0
Bananas $.50

A breakfast meal for 4 ... ~$1.08.

For the lentils:
I cook 4 cups at a time, use what we need for breakfast, and then save the rest for whatever. (it usually lasts a few more meals). Place 4c of lentils in a larger pot, rinse, drain, and cover with about 7c water. Bring to a boil, cover & simmer till done. Add more water if needed. I like my lentils to have extra water :) Cook till done. I add salt and italian seasonings. That's it. Nothing fancy.

Now I need to get a good corn tortilla recipe so I can save money that way too.

EDIT: I just went to the store where we get the tortillas and noticed that some of them were past the date on the package. I asked the manager if he would give me a discount and he did. He sold them to me for $1 a pack (that's $2 off). So now instead of ~3.5 cents each, the tortillas are ~1.13 cents each :)
I was a little hesitant to ask for the discount, however I had gotten them for $1 before when they were past date (the store puts the past-date/must go items in a basket at the front so you see it right when you come in - I always check the basket). I am so thankful for this blessing.

Brewing Kombucha Tea

2010-06-22T11:28:00.003-05:00

We have been making kombucha tea for a while now and are really enjoying it. KT is a fermented drink filled with good stuff for your gut :) mainly - probiotics. It also has good things for your body, but that can vary from brew to brew.

A friend of mine gave me one of her scobys (symbiotic colony of bacteria and yeast) a few months ago, and we already have a new jug going. The original scoby you start with is often called the 'mother'. Some call it a 'mushroom' [though it is not a mushroom]; it's a solid mass of yeast and bacteria that produces more solid masses of yeast and bacteria. Eventually there will be a baby scoby on top of the mother that you can peal off and start another jug with. Scobys kind of look like funky pancakes.

To make KT, first you need a scoby and 1-2 cups of starter tea (finished tea from the last batch or raw KT purchased at a health food store). You can get a scoby and starter tea from a friend or online (ebay is a good place to start). If you get it online, be sure you know what you are getting ... some will sell 2 scobys at once that are 6" in diameter (this will be enough for two 1-gallon jugs). Others will sell one scoby that is only 2"-3" and will only make 1-2 quarts of KT. So, do your research.

Here is a picture of my big scoby in the starter tea (2 cups from the last batch) - the white you see on top is the baby scoby; it's hard to see the mother scoby in this picture. The tea to the left is what came from the last batch minus a little we drank - notice the bubbles ... it looks like beer or soda when you are pouring it into the jars. The tea to the right is what was left of the batch before. The tea in the 2 1/2qt jug in the back is a batch that is not done yet - that was made with a baby scoby and seems to be taking a little longer.

Next you need a gallon of tea sweetened with white sugar (yes, finally a use for white sugar!). You can use other sweeteners, however white sugar breaks down the easiest and quickest. Don't worry about blood sugar levels - the bacteria actually feed on the sugar so most of it is used up by the time you consume the KT.
Fill a stainless steel pot with a little over a gallon of water. (make sure the pot is stainless steel - a magnet should not stick to it). Bring it to a boil and let it boil for about 10 minutes or so to release the chlorine from the water. If you are using filtered water, skip the 10 minutes. Turn it off and add 5 tea bags. Regular Lipton tea will do fine, however you can use green or other teas as well. We've been using green tea until this last time - I'm trying 2 green and 3 black. Put a lid on the pan and let it sit for ~15 minutes. Add 1c white sugar, mix well.

Cover the pot so flies or other bugs do not get in. Allow to come to room temperature before adding it to the scoby and starter tea. To hasten cooling, you can set it in a sink of cold water. Carefully pour into the waiting jug and top it with a coffee filter secured by a rubber band. Be sure it's on good so fruit flies do not invade your brew.

Notice the scoby here is a little crooked - it might even be at the bottom of the jug for a time. Eventually it always seems to level out and lay flat at the top. I checked my jug this morning and the scoby was flat ... however there was not enough room at the top so it caused some of the tea to come out overnight. To avoid this, leave about 2" head-space from the rim.

Now let it sit there for 5 days or longer; it will brew faster in hotter weather and slower in cold weather. Also, it will brew quicker with white sugar, longer with other sweeteners (or so I've read ... I've never tried anything but white sugar). I don't really know how to tell you when it's done ... it tastes kind of like very mildly sweet sparkling apple cider or ginger ale. It should not be sweet, yet it should not be sour either. Pour all but ~2c into glass jars with plastic lids (not metal). Some save only a cup, however saving 2 cups cuts the brewing time a little. Leave the quart jars sit out on the counter; 'burp' them once a day to ensure the jars do not explode due to further fermentation. Little scobys will form in each jar if it sits long enough. You can save these and use them, or just drink them.

It's recommended that you start with a half cup a day (4oz) and work your way up. Some drink a quart a day. I don't have a lot and there is a lot of us here, so I only drink about a cup a day. Eventually I hope to drink a lot more daily.

You can add a tablespoon or so of frozen juice concentrate to each quart jar for flavor. Or you can try adding some frozen berries to each jar or a chunk of ginger. We mostly just drink ours 'plain'.

An alternative method of brewing is called the 'continuous brewing method'. Here is information on how to do that; this link also has other information about kombucha tea. CONTINUOUS BREWING METHOD FOR KOMBUCHA TEA This is on the Weston A. Price website ... I cannot endorse everything he or his students teach, however I do appreciate and agree with their thoughts/teaching on fermentation and soaking grains.

I had to edit this and add this great website for trouble-shooting kombucha brews. "Kombucha, The Balancing Act" There is a balance between the yeast content and the bacteria content; too much of one or the other will have an effect on various things in your KT. This is an excellent resource!

Next up ... water kefir ... I'm getting some kefir grains in the mail in a few days :)

Greetings!

2010-06-17T14:33:00.014-05:00

Hello everyone! I'm Becky- my family lives with Joanne and her family at our church. She invited me to join in on her blog to share on different topics dealing with the home and our health. I hope that this blog will be helpful to all who are seeking to have a frugal home and to do it the healthy way. Since this is my first post on Joanne's blog, I wanted to find a great how-to recipe to share with everyone:) Lately, I have been researching about home remedies and ways to use herbs in our daily lives. I get a news e-letter from a website called Herb Mentor. Today I was looking through some of the back issues and discovered this healthy and fun recipe- How to make Blueberry Soda.

We have been experimenting with Kombucha tea. It's fun doing it at home and seeing it form new scobys(Symbiotic Colony of Bacteria and Yeast) aka mushroom lookin thingys. When it's done fermenting, it taste like slightly sweetened Ginger Ale or Apple Cider. I really enjoy it and my boys like it too.

I think Joanne might do a post sometime in the future on Kombucha in case some of you are wondering why we would drink a fermented mushroom thingy tea. So anyways, when I saw this recipe, I was pretty excited as it is along the same lines as kombucha; it uses a healthy fermentation to achieve carbonation. So if you are wondering how to make your own healthy, low sugar soda, here is a good one to start with.

For more articles and free herb courses check out Herb Mentor and also their other site Learning Herbs.

Let us know if you make a batch of fruit soda, we'd love to know how it turned out:)

God Bless,

Becky

Fish Head Soup?

2010-06-14T14:43:00.001-05:00

David V., Corban, Tylor and our friend Malachi from Omaha all went fishing the other day. They brought home 5 fish and saved the fish heads for Brian. Today he made us fish head soup. I can honestly say that's something I never thought I would eat ... but now that I've eaten it, I cannot help but wonder why the heads are always thrown out? There's a lot of meat in there! Brian eats all if it (the eyes, the brain, the meat) but I only ate the meat ... maybe next time I'll try the eyes and the brain.
He seasoned it with garlic, onion, cilantro, lime, ginger, salt and probably some other stuff. It was tasty.

Home Made Goat Cheese / Goat Whey / Farmer's Cheese

2010-06-02T15:59:00.001-05:00

A sister here at church gave me a gallon of fresh goat milk today, so I decided to try and make the yummy goat cheese she served us with supper last week. I followed her instructions and I have to admit, I was very surprised at how simple it was.

First, put the milk in a pot and heat it to almost boiling. I stood near by and stirred it frequently to check on it. I waited until it just started to boil, and then I turned off the heat.

Next, add 1/4c white vinegar and stir. You should see the milk separate almost right away (that's what happened to mine anyway). Let it sit to cool off.

Drain off the whey. I got a big pan, put a colander on top and a cloth over the top of that to catch the whey. I then gathered the cloth to where the whey was a ball and I gently squeezed it. You can let it sit over night either in the colander with a plate on top of it to weigh it down, or tie a string around the cloth and hang it over the pan to drip off. This will produce a firmer cheese. I just gently squeezed it till hardly anything came out.

Last of all, stir in about 1 1/2t salt and store in the fridge.

From one gallon of milk I got about 2 1/2 cups of soft cheese that resembles cottage/cream cheese and spreads easily, and nearly 3 quarts of whey (I used a few cups already, so the picture shows only 2 1/2 quarts). We'll use the cheese to spread over toast, put on pizza, or spread over tortillas and eat like quesadillas. YUM.

RAW GOAT CHEESE - Do not heat the milk; put a small bit of a crushed rennet tablet into a gallon of fresh, raw milk. Allow to sit till separated, then proceed as usual.

So ... what do you do with all that nutritious whey that's left over? Here are a few ideas:

- We plan to use most of it for soaking grains. You can soak grains like rice, millet, quinoa, wheat, oats, and so on, for 12 to 24 hours at room temperature in some water with 1-2 tablespoons of whey per cup of soaking water. You can then rinse the grains to remove any acidic taste to them, and then cook in fresh water or just use the soaking water to also cook them in. You can also do this to flours - we like the taste of our bread a lot when we soak the whole wheat flour for at least 12 hours first. Just soak the flour in the cooking water with the whey and add the rest of the ingredients prior to baking.
Soaking the grains makes them much easier to digest and helps absorb more nutrients - this was actually a common thing to do not too long ago.

- You can drink the whey if you like the taste of it ... or give it to your animals. Put in smoothies or make lemon aid out of it.

- Another idea is to use it in place of milk in baking - biscuits, pancakes, breads, cakes, etc.

- Or you could use it in soups as a stock ... we might use some in potato soup. You can even use it in mashed potatoes to add a bit of flavor and nutrients.

Be creative, don't throw it out.

How To Pressure Can Soup, Meatballs, and Beans

2010-05-03T15:11:00.002-05:00

I had a busy day a few weeks ago. Someone gifted me a pressure canner and we borrowed another one - so we were really cookin'! I made vegetable beef soup, seasoned black beans, white beans, and meat balls. Everything turned out really nice; I am so thankful. I gave quite a few directions in my last post about pressure canning titled "Pressure Canning Homemade Vegetable Beef Soup", so I will not repeat myself here.

Seasoned Black Beans to pressure can: Into each quart jar = 2T dried onion flakes, 1t dried garlic, 1t salt, a few dried avocado leaves. Fill with 1 1/4c dry, washed black beans. Top with cold water, pressure can for 90 minutes at 11lbs (adjust for altitude). Let the canner cool ALL THE WAY to zero before you open it. Not only does this prevent a horrible accident, it also keeps the lids from leaking and not sealing properly. Place your jars on towels and let them cool over night. We like to have these beans over rice. A sister here at the church told me about using avocado leaves in the beans - we like this a lot. Just remove the leaves before you eat the beans :)
If you do not have avocado leaves available, use oregano instead. It is not the same flavor, but it still tastes good.
Use any bean and flavoring you prefer and 1t of salt; here are a few more ideas: Kidney beans with chili-type seasonings, lentils with italian seasonings, garbanzo beans with humus-type seasonings, lentils with indian-type seasoning to mimic dal, pinto beans with taco seasonings, or whatever. Have fun experimenting ... I am actually hoping to make up a little cookbook with some of these recipes in it. We'll see how long that takes me. haha.

We have a LOT of free meat. I asked a friend if she had any ideas on what I could do with some of it, and she suggested making meat balls (thank you Rachel!). They turned out so yummy. We used the recipe she gave us, but added a few things to it; any basic meat ball recipe will do. Mix up your meat, form into balls, brown slightly on all sides, put into jars, and pressure can for 90 minutes at 11lbs pressure. Tylor did most of the work for the meat balls ... I am very thankful for that. We liked them so much we plan to do some more soon. We've been eating them with spaghetti, and also with cabbage, rice and potatoes.
Update ... we butchered another cow and got a lot more free meat. We mixed up about 40lbs of meat ball mix and the huge pile of meat overwhelmed me!! I knew we were going to be standing there all day making little balls of meat. So to save A LOT of time, we just shoved meat into each jar and canned them like that ... sort of like meat loaf in a jar. It worked just fine.

In the pictures below you will see us browning the balls ... you can skip this step and still have great results; just don't pack the balls in so tight.

Here's a picture of the vegetable beef soup; this is so nice to have on hand for lunches on the go ... just pack a few plastic cups and spoons and we're all set. It tastes all right cold, but better hot. I make it stretch by adding rice or pasta.

And the white beans. We like to use these as a base for country gravy - just dump the whole thing into the blender and add some seasonings ... and there you have your white gravy. Simple. Yummy. Cheap. Nutritious. Serve over biscuits or pasta.

How to make whole wheat bread

2010-04-10T09:21:00.004-05:00

After many requests, I am finally posting on how to make bread. Sorry for the delay! I believe bread making is personal for everyone - meaning, it's really hard to follow the instructions and get a nice loaf of bread the first time you do it. You might even have to try making several loaves of bread before you get the hang of it. Please do not give up if your first attempts fail; you'll get better the more you do it. I suggest trying to make at least one loaf a week, that way it's fresh in your mind. I make several loaves each week - the most I feel comfortable handling at one time is two loaves, however I can do four at a time if I have to. You might be different - do whatever works for you.

You may find that you are soon able to make nice loaves of bread, and then all of the sudden, something goes wrong and your bread does not turn out. It could be any number of things ... the flour, the humidity or dryness in the air, the temperature, the yeast, the kneading time, and so on. Usually when my loaves do not turn out good, it's because I did not add enough flour. Sometimes I get in a hurry - haste makes waste! We still are able to eat the bread, however it does not look pretty or hold together as good.

This recipe will make TWO loaves of 100% whole wheat bread. You may substitute oil for the butter and brown sugar for the honey, however I personally prefer butter and honey. You may omit the potato and potato water - just substitute 2c of warm water instead.

INGREDIENTS:
1) one nice sized medium potato, skinned, chopped and boiled till soft, and the cooking water
2) 4t dry active yeast, ~1/4c-1/2c very warm water, 1/2t honey
3) ~1/4c honey, ~1/4c butter, 2-3t salt, 4c whole wheat flour*
4) additional whole wheat flour* as needed (could be 2 to 3 cups more)

*Use hard red wheat (a 50lb sack of organic berries from Azure costs about $24 right now)

First, boil your potato in about 2 1/2c of water until it is soft (ingredient #1). Drain the water into a pint mason jar (2c) and set aside to cool. If there is water remaining, save that for something else (I put it in soup). Mash the potatoes and put them into a large bowl to cool. This bowl will be what you start your bread in. The bowl pictured below behind the potato water is what I use for 4 loaves of bread. When I was making the bread for this post, I was also making dinner rolls for our church fellowship meal :) I have a smaller stainless steel bowl pictured later - that's what I use for two loaves.
The potato starch aids in rising. It also makes a more moist, flavorful loaf.

Next, get your yeast ready (ingredient list #2). I prefer to use a wide mouth pint mason jar for this; I suggest using the same glass every time. Put the very warm water in (not so hot that it burns, but hotter than body temperature), and the yeast on top. Dip a tea spoon into honey (don't scoop it out, you only need a little bit to feed the yeast), and then stir vigorously until the yeast it dissolved. It should look something like this:

Let it sit until the yeast is foamy - this is called 'activating' or 'proofing' the yeast. I like to let it sit until it reaches the top of the jar, however it does not have to rise that much - the point is to make sure the yeast is active. If it does NOT rise within 10 minutes or so, either you started off with dead/old yeast, or your water was not at a good temperature (usually it is too hot). Try again - this time pay close attention to the water temperature. If it still does not work, you might have bad yeast. However, if you just bought the yeast, this is probably not the case! I buy yeast in bulk and store it in the freezer - I keep a mason jar of it in the fridge and replenish the jar when I need to. It's been in there for about 1 1/2 years and still works great. A five pound bag of dry active yeast costs less than $20 through Azure Standard; a 2lb bag is $9. Try to buy in bulk ... those little packets sold at the store are a waste of money!!
Azure delivers to the Pacific NW and parts of the Midwest; if you are not in these areas, there should be some other sort of bulk delivery available to you. (if anyone knows of the various bulk buying clubs, please share ... I'll post links on the side bar)
While you are waiting for your yeast to activate, put ingredient list #3 into the bowl that has your mashed potatoes in it. Also dump the cooled (yet still warm) potato water in.

I prefer the 'sponge method' for making 100% whole wheat bread. Basically this means you make a batter first and let it rise once before adding the rest of the flour and kneading the dough. This tends to soften the bran and makes a lighter loaf. After the yeast has risen properly, add that to the bowl. Stir vigorously - about 200 strokes; I prefer to use a wooden spoon that feels good in my hand. You will have a thick batter. Scrape down the sides, cover with a cloth, and let it sit till doubled - I forget about mine and come back within an hour or so. At this point, you may put it in the refrigerator over night and continue with the rest of the directions in the morning.

Here is the sponge, ready to add the remaining flour.

Stir in an additional 2 cups of whole wheat flour. I prefer to use the wooden spoon as long as I can. Eventually I use my hand, kneading lightly to incorporate more flour. Add additional flour as needed to form a somewhat firm dough. Scrape the sides down as you go, and then turn out onto a floured surface. [run some warm water in your bowl and let it soak - you will use it again when done kneading] Sprinkle more flour on top, and begin to knead. It helps if the surface is low enough to be able to straighten your arms out comfortably when working with the dough - too high or too low of a work surface could cause your back to ache.
If you've never kneaded dough before, it might help to do a google search on 'how to knead bread dough'. I'm sure there's even videos out there if you don't mind searching for those things.
Basically, you push the dough away from you with the heals of your hands. Fold it over, push again. Turn a quarter of a turn. Fold, push, turn. Fold, push, turn. Continue on, adding flour as needed, until you have a nice ball of dough that is firm, elastic/springy, and smooth. This is something that will take practice and patience. You will literally 'get the feel of it' sooner or later.
A few things to note - your hands will be gunky and sticky for a while, but it will come off as the dough takes shape. Make sure to knead in each addition of flour thoroughly - it's easy to be hasty and add more flour when it really is not needed. Your total kneading time should be 10-15 minutes. Enjoy it!! Maybe you have a window you can look out and do some bird watching? Or you could listen to a sermon? Talk to your child? Sing praises to the Lord? Pray? Whatever. I really like kneading bread.

Your finished ball of dough should look something like this:

Clean and dry your bowl. Add a quarter-sized amount of oil to the bottom and rub it all around the bowl with your hand. Drop the ball of dough into the bowl, rub it around a bit and turn it over. This greases the top and the sides so it does not dry out while rising. Cover the bowl with a cloth and set it in a warm place (if you can) to rise. In the winter months, if your kitchen is cold like mine, it will take longer to rise. Sometimes I'll set it on a table somewhat closer to the wood stove, however usually I just leave it in the kitchen and wait it out. Go do some laundry, clean the bathroom, read to your children, etc. Come back in an hour or so, and your dough should be doubled in size.

After an hour or so, your dough should look like this:

Punch it down and turn out onto the work surface.

Knead the dough a few more times to form a ball. Cut in half and knead each half into a ball, and then form into a loaf. I like to smash each half down and fold under - smash, fold, smash, fold, etc. - until the loaf is long enough to fit the pan. I then whack it a few times with the hopes of popping any remaining air pockets. Next I smash it into the pan, grease the tops lightly, cover with a towel, and let them rise till ready to bake. Some prefer to stab the dough with a fork to release any remaining air pockets, however I skip this step and it seems to turn out just fine. Also, some prefer to let the dough rise ONE MORE TIME before shaping into loaves. I have never done this, and the bread turns out well. I plan to try it though to see if there's a noticeable difference in texture.

The dough has risen enough when you can poke your finger in a corner and a dent remains. If the dent fills in immediately, it needs to rise some more. If the dough appears puffy and blistery, it has risen too long - you may need to punch it down and start over. If you cook it like that, it will probably fall during baking.

Preheat to 350. You can try to time the baking, however it really just depends on your oven. The oven here at the church is really messed up ... it typically takes about 50 minutes to bake the bread. A few weeks ago I took a pan to a widow's house with dough in it ready to bake. I baked it in her oven and it was done in 35 minutes ... nice and brown and smelling delicious. Check on it regularly after about 30 minutes or so. Eventually you will know it's done by the smell alone. I have forgotten bread in the oven before and then all the sudden I'll smell that it's done - it's always just right. This only applies to whole wheat bread though! White bread does not smell as good.
The loaves are done when the crust is golden brown. To test it, take it out of the pan and thump the bottom - it should sound hollow. Take the loaves out of the pan and cool on a rack. DO NOT leave them in the pan, the sides and bottom will get soggy.
If you prefer a shiny, firmer crust, brush with egg whites before baking.

If you are using the bread for sandwiches, it's best to let it cool completely before slicing. If you do not care what your slices look like, it does not have to be all the way cool, however somewhat cool helps. If you try to slice it right out of the oven, it will not have a good shape.

I might edit this later and add a few things if something comes up. If you make bread using my instructions and feel something is missing, let me know. Also, let me know how it turns out!!

Pancake mix in bulk ...

2010-03-23T20:41:00.002-05:00

We had a large bag of brown rice flour that needed to get out of the way. The only thing we have been using it for is rice pancakes; once a week or so I'd make enough to last us two meals. Last month I decided to use it all up by making several batches of pancake mix (all the dry stuff). Here's what Brianna and I did:

I decided to do each batch individually rather than doing them all together. I gathered all the bowls and pans I thought I needed. I think I used 14? I measured out all the dry ingredients into each bowl. (4c flour [can use rice or wheat or half wheat and half corn], 3T baking powder, 1t salt, 1/4c sugar - or leave out if you are using liquid sweetener)

I made the press-and-seal / food-saver bags and Brianna labeled them with the proper wet ingredients so anyone making it would know what to add to it. (almost 4c of liquid (water, buttermilk, milk, non-dairy milk, whatever), 1/4c oil, 4 eggs and the sweetener if it's liquid)

Next I poured the dry ingredients into the bags.

And then I sealed them ...

The finished work.

This took a little over an hour to do from start to finish. This was our first time using the food-saver, so next time it might be a little quicker. Freezer zip-bags can also be used; I used the food-saver because that's what I had on hand.
We all found that we like to have the mix on-hand - it's much quicker to make up a batch of pancakes than it was before. We use them for breakfast, snacks, or as a bread with supper. I just use the basic recipe in my "New Cookbook"; I substitute brown rice flour instead of whole wheat (but will use whole wheat if I do not have rice) and used half the amount of suggested oil.
Next time I might just convert the basic recipe and make enough for a huge bucket of mix and then just scoop out about 4c and 2T of the mix and add the wet ingredients. This way I will not have to have a bunch of bags ... just one big bucket.

Homemade Granola Bars

2010-02-25T08:45:00.001-06:00

Mix together in a bowl:
1/3c oil, 1/4c brown sugar, 2T (1/8c) honey, 1t vanilla, 2 eggs

Add and stir:
1c ww flour, 1/2t baking powder, 1/4t salt

Add and stir:
1 1/2c oats, 2c crispy rice cereal, 3/4-1c additional things

Press evenly into a greased 9x13 cake pan. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes for more chewy bars, or 300 for 40-50 minutes for a crunchy bar.

Cut when you take it out of the oven, and then again when cooled completely. I cut mine in half lengthwise first, then in half the other way. This will divide it up nicely into 4 [somewhat] even sections. Cut each section in half and in half again - you should end up with one lengthwise cut and seven cuts the other way, for a total of 16 bars. Store in a zip bag in or out of the freezer.

"Additional things" ideas: We found that our favorite is chocolate and peanut butter chips. Other things I've tried:
-1t cinnamon, cinnamon chips and dehydrated apples
-dehydrated mixed berries with white 'chocolate' chips.

YUM!

If you find another variation you really like, please share!

Pressure Canning Homemade Vegetable Beef Soup

2010-02-15T12:52:00.003-06:00

Today I am canning homemade vegetable beef soup. I actually remembered to take pictures!! I used to be afraid of pressure canning ... I really don't know why though. Now that I've done it several times, I feel like a 'pro' (although I know I'm not!!). Here is what I do:

Before you start, have all the veggies chopped and ready to go. If you are making a large batch of soup, sometimes it's nice to have all of the prep work done the day before.

First saute the onions - I used one medium onion. Add garlic cloves (5) just before finished.

Next cook the ground beef. I used 2 pounds.

Add the onions, beef and other ingredients into a very large stock pot. I put in 3 quarts of diced tomatoes, frozen vegetables (1lb each of corn and peas, 2lbs of green beans ... if I have garden fresh stuff I use that instead), 4qts of diced potatoes, 2lbs (~6c) sliced carrots, 8c cooked beans (I used chickpeas this time; the children really like these), water/stock and seasonings to suite your taste. I like to add beef stock, paprika, braggs or soy sauce, and water to cover.

As you can see, this is a larger pot - I think it will hold about 20 quarts, but I'm not exactly sure. When full, it is much too heavy for my electric stove so I use the gas stove at the church.

Cover and let it get warm; I bring it to a soft boil and then turn it down low - it will cook plenty in the canner. Get the jars and lids ready. I fill the pressure canner with about 3qts of hot water. Then I add clean quart jars - my canner only fits 5 of the 'golden harvest' jars, so that is why you only see 5 jars here. I can fit 7 if I only use 2 golden harvest and then other brands for the rest; the gh jars are fatter for some reason ... so I stopped buying them. Cover with the canner lid; do not tighten. Let it boil while you get the rest of the stuff ready. This is my way of 'sterilizing' the jars; for a sure method, you can have another large stock pot with boiling water for your jars.

Update ... I normally do not sterilize jars nor do I heat the soup before cooking. I have had no troubles with cold packing the soup into the jars, HOWEVER I am pretty sure this is not recommended?? so don't blame me if you do it and your soup goes bad!!! :) We go through our soup pretty fast, so it's not like it's sitting around for months or years ... I don't know if that makes a difference or not, but that's the way I do it.
My current method is to chop all the veggies, cook the meat (if using), and mix them all together with some cooked beans in a very large bowl (last time I used two 5 gallon buckets and dumped the mix from bucket to bucket to 'stir' it). Mix the saucy ingredients and seasonings together in a pitcher. I found that a few large cans (~2qt size I think?) of cheap vegetable juice tastes really good in the soup, so I use this now too if I remember to get some while at the store. I pack the jars full of the veggie/meat/bean mix and then pour equal amounts of the saucy mixture into the jars. I fill whatever space is left with water.

Put your lids into a small pan, cover with hot water, bring to a boil, turn off, leave covered and let it sit for 5 minutes or so.

Next get the jars out of the canner; have jar tongs, ladle and a funnel ready. Place the jars close to the soup pot; keep the jar you are filling as close to the pot as possible - this will help keep the mess down. File each jar 1" to the top.

Put on the lids and rings. Put the jars in the canner.

Brianna took this picture ... she did a good job!

Secure the lid properly. Leave the petcock open and bring to a boil - the steam will be coming out quickly. Let it stay like this for about 10 minutes. Close the petcock, bring to 11lbs of pressure (adjust according to your altitude if needed) and maintain that level for 90 minutes. Check often to make sure the pressure is right. Adjust the flame higher or lower accordingly.

After 90 minutes, turn off the heat and let it sit there until the pressure gauge reads zero (I let it sit for about 10 minutes beyond that point). Open the petcock slowly at first ... NO STEAM should be coming out. If it does, shut it again and wait longer. If you do not let it cool down in this way, the soup will spill out of the jars and you'll risk it not sealing properly because the rims will be full of soup. It might seal at first, but then days or weeks later it could come unsealed and you wont know it till you reach for the jar.

Remove the canner lid - make sure you tilt it away from so the steam does not go in your face :) Take out the jars and place them on a towel to cool. Let them sit for 24 hours or so. Check the seals ... lightly touch each lid; if it is sticking up, store that jar in your refrigerated and treat as a left over. But sometimes lids are down even when they are not sealed right ... we check for this by lightly thumping the tops of each lid with one finger. They should all pretty much have the same pitch. You will know without a doubt if one is not sealed ... the pitch will be much different.

Now you are ready to remove the rings, wash the jars, and store them on the shelf or wherever it is you put your filled jars.

If you have any questions beyond what is here, please ask!! Post a comment by clicking on the comment button below.

Also, a 'disclaimer' - I am not a professional or an expert by any stretch of the imagination. My point in posting this was to show how easy it really is to pressure can. Please follow my instructions using your own discernment ... I would not want to be the one to blame if someone got sick!! Here is a website that has a good 'how to' page - Canning Pantry. Here's the Michigan State University Extension page for pressure canning. Both of these sites have great advice.

Cheese recipes using powdered milk

2010-01-28T17:24:00.003-06:00

I copied this from my friend Becky's blog - I pray it helps someone! (she no longer lives in the Philippines)

Here in the Philippines, we can't really get fresh milk. It comes in powder or in little individual serving boxes. So as a result, we don't have cheese. Well, we have what is termed "cheese", but it's just the processed log-type that has more sodium in it than a salt lick! So I emailed a wonderful lady, Rachel Paxton who runs Creative Homemaking.com and asked if she knew of any recipes. She sent me these, Thanks Rachel!!

************************************************************************************* 3-Minute (Fat-Free!) Powdered Milk Cheeses Making cheese at home used to be an all-day process. Now you can have fat-free cheeses for salads, sandwiches or casseroles - ready in almost an instant! Nonfat dry milk, usually non-instant, is a good basic food to keep on your pantry shelf as a source of protein. If you are storing milk, 50 pounds of dry milk powder per person should be stored; over the period of one year, this amount would provide 22.2 grams of protein per day and could be consumed as three eight-ounce glasses of milk or ½ cup of cheese. The brand of non-instant milk I use requires three cups of dry powder to make one gallon of liquid milk. Adjust the recipes to the quantities given for your particular brand of powdered milk. Good-tasting whey from the cheese-making process can be used to replace water in nearly any recipe. The sweet whey changes the flavor of the finished cheese. Whey can be reused (in place of water) up to three times in making cottage cheese, resulting in a sweeter cheese with each use. The sweet cheese can be made into sweet dips and sauces for crackers and fruit salads. (Note: If you will get a stronger, less desirable flavor with each batch.)

************************************************************************************* Uses for Homemade Cheese and Cottage Cheese Because most homemade cheese made from powdered skim milk have the unique quality of not melting, they are more versatile than commercial dairy products. The important thing to remember is that when heated at high temperatures, they become more firm and tough, so avoid boiling. Unflavored cheeses: Soups, salads, sandwiches taco filling, stir-fry, omelets, patties, loaves, casseroles, lasagna, on freshly sliced tomatoes, or mixed with one-half commercial cottage or grated cheese. Flavored cheeses: Chip dips, sandwich fillings, casserole toppings, jerky, mixed with parmesan to use on top of pizza and spaghetti, seasoned with curry powder to use in cracked wheat and rice pilaf. Flavor-causing enzymes come from bacteria which produce acid and then release enzymes. That bacteria is found in commercial cheese making cultures, but since those cultures are expensive and have a very short shelf life, I eliminate the long culturing process and use an acid to curdle the milk while the milk is heating, often adding buttermilk or other spices and herbs. When I want a different flavor or texture or a cheese that can be aged for one-two months, I use buttermilk, yogurt or acidophilus as cultures. Drain and rinse cheese made with old, strong milk powder to improve color and flavor. I rinse the cheese first in hot water which seems to take out the strong taste, ten in cold water, which lightens the color and firms the curd. Cheese colorings can be added to any recipe during the blending process. Dairies, some health food or preparedness stores and mail order catalogs for cheese supplies carry liquid or tablet forms of yellow coloring. Paste coloring can be obtained from stores that carry cake decorating supplies. Ordinary food coloring made for home use is not permanent and will not work as it rinses out during the rinsing and draining process. Important Helpful Hint: Always spray the inside of a warmed saucepan with lecithin-based spray and re-heat until oil browns before adding milk to the pan.

************************************************************************************ Rennet Cheese 1 qt hot tap water 1 c. Buttermilk 2 junket rennet tablets dissolved in 1 T. Cold water 2 c. Dry milk powder 2 T. Vegetable oil (opt.) Blend all ingredients and place in a heavy saucepan coated with a nonstick spray. Let sit undisturbed for 10 minutes. Cut or stir to break into curds and cook over medium heat for five minutes. Pour curds into a strainer, rinse with hot, then cold water, and drain. Salt to taste, then refrigerate. Or, place in a cheesecloth bag and press. This is a very mild cheese, good with salt and chopped chives. Use within 3-4 days. To make cream cheese from this recipe, reduce rennet to ¼ table and add 1 c. Buttermilk when mixing ingredients. Set in a warm place overnight. After cutting set curds into cubes, place curds over medium heat, and cook five minutes. Pour into a cheesecloth lined colander and let rest 15 minutes. Gather edges of bag, secure with a rubber band and hang, or press until firm like cream cheese. Add salt if desired. Soft Cottage Cheese 2 c. hot water 1-1/2 c. dry milk powder 3 T. Fresh lemon juice or white vinegar Blend water and dry milk and pour into saucepan (foam and all). Sprinkle lemon juice or vinegar slowly around edges and gently stir over medium heat just until milk begins to curdle, separating into curds and whey. Remove from heat and let rest one minute. Pour into strainer or colander, rinse with hot, then cold water. Press out water with back of spoon. Makes about 1-1/2 c. curds. If desired, moisten rinsed curds with a little buttermilk before serving and add salt to taste. Refrigerate if not used immediately. Whey from fresh milk powder can be used in place of water in breads and soups.

************************************************************************************* Quick Soft Pressed Cheese 2 c. boiling water 1-1/2 c. dry milk powder 3 T. vegetable oil 1 c. buttermilk 3-4 T. fresh lemon juice cheese coloring tablets (opt.) Blend water, milk and oil, allowing foam to settle slightly. If colored cheese is desired, add ½ tablet cheese coloring (or cake decorating paste color) while blending. Pour into hot saucepan coated with a nonstick spray and heat to at least 160 degrees. Add lemon juice and continue to stir until mixture curdles. Pour into a cheesecloth lined colander. Rinse curds with warm water, then salt to taste. Place cheese in cloth between two plates or spoon into a cheese press. Apply weight and let sit for ½ hour or longer, depending on how firm you want the cheese to be. Remove from plates or cheese press, rinse, wrap in plastic and refrigerate. Use within one month or freeze. This cheese can be sliced, grated, or crumbled. For Smoky Cheese, add ½ t. Liquid Smoke flavoring and ½-1 t. salt after rinsing curds. For additional fast powdered milk cheese recipes, along with recipes for yogurt, sour cream, cream cheese, order your copy of Rita's Powdered Milk Cheeses for only $5.50 (includes postage) by calling toll-free (800) 484-9377, ext. 6276.

Making over a dress

2010-01-27T11:04:00.008-06:00

We get used cape dresses from some friends of ours in WA state. I do not care for this particular style of dress, but am very thankful for the free dresses!!! We alter them just a bit to suit our needs. They come with tight elastic waist lines and the skirts do not go down as long as I'd like. We cut out the elastic so the waist is comfortable, and add a strip of fabric to the bottom for extra length. We do our best to match the strip of fabric to the dress ... but sometimes it's not as close as we'd like. Oh well :) For fabric, we buy king sized sheets for a dollar at the thrift store ... that's a lot of fabric for $1! These sheets can also be used to make night gowns, veils, aprons, and several other things.

Here are a few pictures of one dress we made over ...

Sometimes we do not like the color of the dresses, so we dye them. This is a picture of the old fabric (the belt we do not use), and the new - we used 'Royal Blue'.

Don't throw away the belts ... the little ones enjoy playing with them!! Here's Wyatt wearing Brianna's old belt over his head and Corban's boots. His brother Lincoln is in the background - Brianna is helping him with a belt :)

Here's Brianna wearing the dress - notice the extra fabric [bed sheet] at the bottom; it matches close enough. Lincoln wanted to be in the picture too.

Another good clothing find at the thrift store: scrubs (the things nurses wear). We buy the pants for $.50 at a thrift store in the next town North (Mt. Vernon). Some of the colors were wild, so I dyed them black/grey. The scrubs are nice because your skirt/underskirt will not cling to your pants. As an extra bonus, they are very comfortable. No need to buy fabric and make your own bloomers :)

OK, that's all for now!

Oh deer ...

2009-11-21T10:04:00.003-06:00

It's nice to have friends who give away deer meat; now we have the bottom of the freezer filled with free deer :)

We bagged it up ... but know nothing about the different cuts. We figure it will all cook about the same in the crock pot anyway. We put some aside to make jerky with, and a few aside that looked like steaks and roasts.

If you have a good recipe for deer, please share!

Waffles

2009-11-19T13:25:00.005-06:00

As part of my new idea, we are trying to figure out the approximate cost of each thing we make. It will take a while to 'fine tune' it, but some things start off easier to find the cost than others.

This morning I made a large batch of waffles. I ended up with 38 ~4" square waffles (that look like the kind you buy frozen at the store) for about $2.40 TOTAL. I used quality ingredients, no preservatives or scary stuff, and very low sugar.

The recipe I came up with used 8 eggs, but we get eggs for free from a family at church that has a few chicken houses. I had some left-over buttermilk, so I put that in there. I estimate the cost of that to be about .50, however that can be eliminated if you just use water (yes, water can be substituted for milk in recipes; we do it all the time). I only use whole wheat flour when baking (my ONE exception is french bread - for that I used unbleached white); we found a discount store close to us that sells 50lb bags of good whole wheat flour for $19. I used about .60 of flour in the recipe ... that's on the high end and assuming that one cup of flour weighs about 4.25oz.

Think of how much you'd pay at the grocery store. It's been a long time since I've bought frozen waffles, so I'm not the best person to be comparing prices; I'm sure you can do the math for yourself. The last waffles I bought were at a health food store and I got them for $2 (6 in a box). That would be a little more than $12 for 38 of those waffles (on sale!). Making them at home is a huge savings. But, let's say you don't buy the healthy waffles ... you like the cheap, yucky stuff at the regular stores that taste like cardboard with some artificial flavors added in. The last I remember, there were about 10 waffles in a box of cheap, yucky stuff. You will still be saving quite a bit of money and not compromising your health by making high quality waffles at home. Also, the cheap waffles (and the more expensive ones) are not that dense. My waffles had a lot of substance to them and would take a lot less to fill you up. Don't get me wrong, they were not hard or heavy ... just filling and yummy.

Maybe you think you do not have time to make these waffles? It took me about 2 hours total, but I was not just standing around the waffle iron for the whole two hours! I listened to two sermons (one was short), ate lunch (waffles of course, and an orange), and cleaned the kitchen. I even helped 2 children with school questions. Once you get the batter mixed up, you'll have time between batches to do whatever you need to do - just stay close enough to the kitchen to peak in on the waffle iron.

Normally we'll eat 2 waffles each with one meal (we freeze them and heat them up in the toaster). 38 waffles at $2.40 total makes each waffle cost about .06316. There's 4 of us, so that's 8 waffles x .06316 = ~.51 total. Add an apple each and some free scrambled eggs ... that comes out to be about a quarter per person for one meal.

Now that's my idea of a 'dollar menu'.

Changes coming soon!

2009-11-16T13:24:00.003-06:00

Food prices are really going up!! Even so, I still believe a family can eat healthy while saving money. I have a few ideas brewing in my mind and a large homeschool project in the making; we are all so excited about it!

Be sure to check back soon ... the experimenting will begin as soon as humanly possible.

Something 'cute' to share

2009-04-24T13:13:00.002-05:00

This poem was in the recent Keepers At Home issue (spring 2009). While I would not go to this extreme, I can relate :~) It is important to be somewhat flexible so our guests will be more comfortable. Yet at the same time, if we are the guest, we must be able to adapt to what the hostess is serving. Of course there are some with legitimate food allergies ... but in general, we should eat whatever is put before us ... and be thankful for it!

Junk Food To the Rescue

We thought we'd have the neighbors come
To share a meal with us.
I'd cook up something extra nice ...
Gourmet ... home made ... delicious!

I sat right down to plan each course.
That's when the trouble started.
And very soon I gave a sigh,
Discouraged and down-hearted.

She can't eat beef, he won't eat fish;
The children don't like chicken.
The very thought of vegetables
Would cause them all to sicken.

"I simply can't eat strawberries!"
That's what the lady said,
While he prefers (can you believe?)
That pasty store-bought bread.

She told me she's not fond of pie,
While pudding makes her sick.
The children won't eat fruit at all,
So that won't do the trick.

Should I just cancel everything?
I fear they might feel hurt.
I know!!! I'll buy some hot dogs,
And Twinkies for dessert!

-Darlene Miller

Food pics

2009-02-06T16:16:00.005-06:00

Here is a picture of dinner the other night - we had burritos stuffed with beans, corn, onions, alfalfa sprouts, black olives, and tomatoes. I topped it with homemade salsa and guacamole ... and also make-shift sour cream. (stirred and mashed cream cheese with rice milk till smooth). Not all of us had the sour cream though ...

This is a picture of another meal we had last week - Caesar salad (homemade Caesar dressing, homemade croutons and parmesan cheese) and mixed-mushroom soup (used 2 bags of frozen mixed mushrooms from Whole Foods). The soup has homemade french bread (toasted and buttered with garlic butter) at the bottom of the bowl. It is topped with swiss cheese. Everyone enjoyed this meal a lot.

YUM! This makes me hungry ...

Stock

2008-12-19T14:05:00.002-06:00

It's been a LONG time. I thought to erase this blog, but I guess I'll keep it around for a while longer.

The next time you make something with bones in it, save the bones to make soup stock. Here's an example.

Make a whole chicken (we usually cook chickens in the crock pot). Save the skin, fat and bones. Put them all in the crock pot along with whatever juices are left in the pot after cooking it (and making gravy if that's what you like to do with the drippings!). Throw in a few carrots, onions and celery. There's no need to peel anything, just chop it into large chunks. Season if you wish (I will put in a little salt, pepper, garlic, and maybe some herbs). Cover with water - almost to the top of the pot. Put the lid on and let it simmer all night on low. In the morning, turn it off. If you are not in a hurry, let it sit there till it cools before straining into a bowl. If you are in a hurry, strain out the liquid into a bowl; throw the rest of the stuff away. Let it sit in the bowl till it has cooled enough to put in the fridge. Whether you strain right away or not, leave the bowl in the fridge over night - a layer of fat will rise to the top. The next morning, scoop this layer of fat off and pour the rest of the stock into freezer containers. (if you store in mason jars, leave about 1" head space and DO NOT put the lids on till it's frozen)
*some people leave the fat - if that is what you'd like to do, then you do not need to let it sit in the fridge over night ... just put into freezer containers after it cools down.

Now you have a yummy, cheap, home-made stock to use in your next soup. You could also use it for gravy, mashed potatoes, or whatever else you would need to us stock for.

Enjoy!

Stuffed peppers & guacamole

2008-08-30T08:50:00.004-05:00

Sorry it's been so quiet around here! Other things are more important right now. I'm considering just adding this blog to my old one (that I post on more often) and somehow make labels to keep it separate? We'll see. For now though, here's what we ate for dinner the other day ... stuffed peppers and chips with guacamole ... yum!

It all started when I was dicing green peppers from the garden to go in the freezer. I had quite a few and thought, "Hmmm, I think I'll try to make stuffed peppers for dinner." Sounded like a good idea, however I have only made them ONE other time in my life. So, I grabbed a cookbook to give me a general idea. The recipes I found all had meat and other things I was not interested in using. So I did what I do best in the kitchen ... improvised and 'guesstimated'. I had left-over sorghum grain (cooked) and raw cheese in the fridge, fresh tomatoes on the counter, and of course an abundance of seasonings. I steamed the peppers (tops off, guts out) in a little water, covered, for about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, I mixed about 2c of sorghum, a few medium chopped tomatoes, a little bit of raw cheese (1/4c shredded?), salt, pepper, garlic powder, dried onion flakes, basil, oregano, and about 8 crushed saltine crackers. Scooped it all into the waiting peppers. Baked at 350 for 30 minutes. That was it.

This did not make enough for us to be full, so we also had guacamole and chips. I know, what an odd combination! It was good though. For guacamole, I just mash up 2 avocados and add the following: 2 romas diced small, juice of half a lemon, 1t salt and ~1t onion flakes. That's it. Simple and tasty.

Tomatoes

2008-08-16T20:58:00.004-05:00

Our garden is doing fairly well so far. See a few new pictures of it HERE.

Processing tomatoes for the freezer (or canning) is really easy. First, start a large pot of water to boil, and gather up all your ripe tomatoes; wash the dirt off them. Fill your sink with cold water. Blanch the tomatoes in the boiling water for about a minute (some tomatoes may take longer, you'll get the hang of it through trial and error). To get mine into the water, I lower them down [carefully] in a small colander:
Scoop the tomatoes out of the water and plunge into the waiting cold water. If your kitchen is like mine, the stove is opposite the sink! I hold the colander in one hand and the pan lid under it with the other hand to catch the drips. Allow them to cool. The water will get warm as time goes by; at some point you may need to drain and re-fill if your tomatoes are not cooling off fast enough to handle.
Now remove the tops (I use a nifty thing I got from pampered chef, however a paring knife will work too) and slide the skin off. If the skin does not slide off, you probably need to blanch it a bit longer. If the skin is still totally stuck, your tomato might not be ripe enough.
I mix all my tomatoes for variety. Once you have a big bowl, you can freeze or can them as they are, or dice up and then freeze or can. I like to dice and freeze them - I use a large cutting board with a gutter to catch the juice. I have to drain it often; I dump the juice in with the tomatoes. I then give the diced bunch to my children who scoop it out by cupfuls into quart sized freezer bags.
I prefer Roma tomatoes over all - they seem the easiest to process ... their skins come of quickly and they are more dry than other tomatoes, thus making them easier to dice and handle. Also, I think they are 'pretty' and they taste really good! All tomatoes are good though and we try to grow a variety each year.

We have 26 quarts in the freezer so far ... I pray we get a lot more! Really, I would like to have one bag for every day of the year; we like to use these tomatoes for soups, spaghetti sauce, and stews.

In Christ,
Joanne

Pictures of my last post

2008-08-13T14:20:00.003-05:00

Here are a few pictures to go along with my last post - veggie pizza and focaccia bread .. YUM!

First, the pizza. I just made a basic wheat crust with dried onion and italian seasonings thrown in, a quick pizza sauce (tomato paste, water, salt, sweetener, oregano, garlic), and topped it with veggies I had on hand (carrots, zucchini, lightly steamed broccoli, green peppers and black olives). We put a little parmesan cheese on top when it was done.

Mmmm. Good for growing boys :)
The focaccia bread ... I basically made wheat bread but added olive oil and italian seasonings to the dough.

Roll out the dough onto a baking sheet and let it rise for a bit. When it's done, poke it with your fingers all around the top to make dents. Drizzle olive oil on top.
Get your topping ingredients ready. I like fresh roma tomatoes (sliced) and fresh basil (chopped). Not pictured here is kalamata olives (chopped). I also like sauteed, sliced onions and garlic.I like to saute the onions in olive oil. When it's almost done, I add pressed garlic and some salt.
Top your bread ... and bake till done.
We enjoyed our focaccia bread with a sprout salad - YUMMY!

Rice biscuits and pizza variations

2008-08-06T07:31:00.004-05:00

A commenter asked for my rice biscuits recipe. Really, there is not secret. I just use a basic biscuit recipe that could appear in any cookbook but use rice flour instead of wheat. It helps to use butter or shortening (we use palm shortening from Spectrum) instead of a liquid fat. They turn out a little crumbly, which does not bother us, however to alleviate some of the crumbly-ness, you can add a teaspoon of xanthan gum or even an egg white (which I've yet to try, but maybe I will some time?!)

Here's what I use:
2c brown rice flour
1T baking powder
~1/2t salt
1/4-1/2c fat (depending on how I feel that day!)
liquid (start with 3/4c; use water, 'milk', juice, stock - depending on what you are serving with the biscuits)

Sometimes I'll add other seasons to suit the meal. For example:
- garlic, dehydrated onions bits and parmesan cheese to make 'garlic cheese biscuits'.
- italian seasons and olive oil for the fat
- cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, cardamom and stevia for a sweet biscuit (put on top of fruit in crock pot like 'dumplings' or put fruit over the biscuit like a 'cake')

We top our biscuits will all sorts of stuff ..
- veggies
- gravy
- fruit

Or just eat them plain!

The same commenter asked what we put on our veggie pizza. Simple! Whatever veggies we have on hand :) Sometimes I use a biscuit recipe for the crust ... this makes a real 'dough-y' crust, but we like it and it's quick. Other times I'll just make a batch of pizza dough (let the bread machine mix it for me). Pizza sauce is a can of tomato paste with pizza-sauce-type seasonings (oregano, salt, garlic, onion and a bit of sweetener ... and of course water to thin it out). We top it with whatever is on hand ... broccoli, carrots, zucchini, bell peppers, olives, onions, tomatoes, mushrooms, pine nuts, etc.
Since we try our best to avoid dairy, I leave off the mozzarella cheese. Sometimes I'll sprinkle a little parmesan cheese over it. Other times I might make a creamy white sauce and drizzle that in a pretty pattern. Usually though ... we just leave it as it is.

A variation ... use garbanzo flour and make 'garbanzo pancakes'. Basically just flour, pizza-type seasons and water. Cook like pancakes in olive oil; they will be FLAT. Dip in pizza sauce. YUM! Sometimes I'll top one side with chopped tomatoes and black olives right after I put them on the pan; they get baked into the 'pancake'.

Another variation ... 'focaccia bread'. MMMM. I don't know if what we do is authentic or not, but who cares! I make a recipe or two of wheat bread dough, roll it out into desired shape, top with sauteed onions, fresh tomatoes, black olives and salt. Drizzle a little olive oil over all and bake till the bread is done. Maybe I'll make this today and put pictures on here ... it sounds really good.

That's all the time I have for now. Have a wonderful day.

In Christ,
Joanne

Save money ... shop at thrift stores and garage sales!

2008-07-30T14:33:00.003-05:00

Today is wednesday ... which means HALF OFF DAY at the Salvation Army (all in NE and IA anyway; I'm not sure about other states)! YAY! Guess what day you can find me at the Salvation Army? Yeap, wednesday :)

My son Tylor is tall and getting taller every month. At one point a few months ago I prayed and told God He needed to provide Tylor with some pants, otherwise I was going to have to learn how to make them. We had been going to the thrift store at least once a month and could not find pants that fit Tylor (I forgot to mention that he's really skinny too). He was down to one pant. After praying the night before and the day of, we made the trip to the thrift store and I found EIGHT pants! I had to put some back. He has now grown out of all but 2. We went today and he found one that fit just right ... almost anyway. The waist is still a little big, but he can wear a belt (27x34). The jeans look new.
Tylor also needed some shoes. Usually I cannot find decent ones at the thrift store, however this time we found a black and brown pair for him :) He is wearing a size 12 right now. At least he has big enough feet to carry around that tall body!

Brianna and I found a few shirts. She had her mind set before we got there and knew she needed a yellow and a blue one. She found a nice yellow one and a blue one that will do till she finds one she likes better. (at only a dollar, it's ok to do that!) I have been wanting simple brown shoes for a while and I found what looks like an almost new pair.

Now for the big story! I have been wanting a good dish set for YEARS (7 or more years?). I kept looking and looking ... nothing was at the right price with a simple pattern and quality material. Today I found a 6 piece service for 12! (is that how you would say it?) There's 12 each of large, medium and small plates, regular and small bowls, cups and s&p shakers. It's Corelle and there's NO PATTERN! Even better, it's a creamy off-white color! And better still, I got it all for $15! My years of perseverance paid off.

Don't buy new! Usually garage sales are cheaper than thrift stores, however the selection at thrift stores can be better and you only have to go to one place ... save on gas!

One more thing ... when you find that one thing you've been praying about, make sure to praise the Lord!

Happy shopping!

In Christ,
Joanne

Weekly meals and frugal tips

2008-07-22T22:10:00.004-05:00

Jennifer at 'double nickel farm' had the great idea of sharing meals for the week. I thought I'd give it a try as well; feel free to share what your family does!

As we all know, or should know, family meal time can make or break a budget! We try to plan our meals a week at a time, based on what's on hand and what's on sale at the stores. First, I write a grocery list, next I clean the refrigerator, then go shopping ... and finally, I come home and write a meal plan for the week.

Something we are starting now is daily crock-pot meals. Don't get me wrong, we use the crock-pot often!!! However I am now using it every day for lunch. I found that lunch time was when I often slacked and didn't get things started when I should ... thus making the meal late and supper late as well. The crock-pot idea has solved our lunch dilemma! YAY! We are all liking it so far.

Here's our meal plan for the week; I write it all on one sheet with room for notes and a store list. I save the sheets for future meal ideas:

Breakfast is always a green smoothie, fruit &/or oatmeal. If for some reason we are out of smoothie ingredients, the children have oatmeal and I eat raw fruit (I just cannot eat cooked food in the morning!).

Lunch - I make notes on my meal chart to remind me of what I need to prep ahead of time. For example, my note for today (tuesday) said "cut up veg for wed" and "start beans in crock-pot before bed". This makes it to where I can simply get up in the morning, throw the stuff in the crock-pot, add liquid and turn it on :) How easy is that? Now lunch is always ready at noon. Since fresh veggies are abundant right now, I often will serve a cucumber salad or other raw item with the soup. Also, there's usually left over soup; I leave the crock-pot on warm and we'll have it as a snack later when we are hungry.
Monday - Minestrone soup
Tuesday - Veg & rice soup
Wednesday - Black bean soup
Thursday - Potato soup
Friday - Sun seed butter and jam sandwich with carrot sticks (thought we might want a change for that day!)
Saturday - Don't know yet!!
Sunday - Hamburger stew

Supper
Monday - Nachos with fresh salsa and corn
Tuesday - Fish, green beans and rice (we had plenty of left over veg & rice soup from lunch, so we used that instead)
Wednesday - we will be with our friends eating at their house; I am bringing a salad and fresh bread
Thursday - Beef, cabbage and rice
Friday - Veggies over rice biscuits, cuc salad
Saturday - Spaghetti & broccoli
Sunday - homemade veggie pizza (no cheese!), salad

You may have noticed we eat a few meals with beef this week ... once in a while I will buy a little bit of ground beef and cook it all at once. I then portion it out into baggies and freeze them; there is 1c of cooked ground beef per baggie. This 1c is just enough to flavor the meal and make it seem like there's a lot there, however it's not much at all. Also, we really do not like eating meat that much ... so this is a great way to save money too.

Sometimes I will buy a whole chicken, cook it, pick it apart, portion the meat into baggies (1c) and freeze. Then I take the left-overs, throw them in a stock pot with a few misc. veggies and seasons, bring to a boil, then simmer a few hours. Let it cool, strain out the chunks, and what's left is fatty chicken stock. I keep that in a bowl in the refrigerator over night. Pull it out in the morning, scoop off and throw away the fat that has settled at the top, pour into mason jars, and freeze.
In general, we hardly eat meat of any kind (don't like the smell of it, nor the taste in most cases, nor the way it makes us feel) ... we'll go for months at a time without preparing meat at home.

After we steam veggies, I dump the water into a 'community mason jar' in the refrigerator. This collects till full, then gets dumped into a crock-pot soup as a veggie stock.

Something I used to do but stopped ... and plan to do it again ...
When we get home from grocery shopping, I used to prepare a lot of the vegetables, rice, pasta, etc. in one day and then store in the refrigerator or freezer for later use. I would peel and chop vegetables and store in a container with water in the refrigerator. I would pre-cook all the meat for the month and freeze it. I would cook a lot of rice, beans, etc., portion them out and freeze. There were several other things I did, but you get the idea I'm sure! This makes meal prep time so much shorter the day of.

I try to cook extras so I can freeze at least one meal for later use. This does not work with everything, but a great majority of items freeze well. Recently I made a huge batch of spaghetti sauce - I ended up freezing about 10 quart jars full. I poured the sauce into the jars, then topped with the lid ONLY (no band!). Once it was frozen, I put the band on. This allows for expansion and no cracking.

We try to make crackers, pasta and tortilla shells, however it usually does not happen :( This is on my top priority list. Thursday I plan to make either pasta or tortilla shells ... I'll blog that. Also, I used to make batches of granola and healthy cookies for easy snacks. I plan to start that again as well.

All of this takes time but is fun and such a great way to spend time as a family. It's amazing to me how much time I waste - to my shame - when I could and should be doing more important things. This has been one of my biggest prayers (for myself) to the Lord ... that He would show me the way to get all the important stuff done and reveal to me the time wasters in my life ... we have recently gotten back on track and I give God all the praise for that. I continue to pray for strength and encouragement to keep it up. We are also trying to be more structured with our homeschooling ... I plan to post on my other blog about that soon.

Well, that's all the TIME I have for now :)

Matthew 6:33But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. 34Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

Jam

2008-07-22T18:43:00.006-05:00

When making jam, it's nice to have the right equipment.
-A big pot with a basket helps, however you can use a big pot and a dish towel at the bottom in place of the rack (the rack keeps the jars off the bottom of the hot pan; the towel will do the same thing). A flat lid a little smaller than your pot could work too (that's what I did with my pickles the other day).
-A jar funnel is a mess and time saver.
-Jar tongs help lift hot jars into and out of the boiling water (especially helpful if you do not have a basket).
-A lid grabber, with a magnet at the end, quickly gets hot lids out of the pan and on to the jars. -A cooling rack is nice too ... lets the air circulate more freely around the hot jars.
A dishwasher helps keep the jars HOT and clean. You can also use a large pot: put the clean jars into the pot, cover with water, bring to a boil, then simmer till ready to use.
A clippy magnet holds the instructions above the stove top quite well ... keeps them from getting lost or ruined.
Finally you are ready! Make sure you have the right amount of mashed fruit and lemon (see instructions) BEFORE you begin. I use Pomona's Universal Pectin - this allows me to use a much smaller amount of sweetener than regular pectins (I get mine from the bulk food order [Azure] but can also get it at the local health food stores). Make sure you have your desired sweetener(s) ready. I use 1/2c honey and 1t stevita per batch (you'll find Stevita at the same places as Pomona's).
Follow the instructions listed in your pectin box. Soon you will be ready to fill the [HOT] jars:

Wipe the rims with a clean damp cloth, top with lids and bands. Put the jars into the basket; put the basket into the boiling pot (or use the tongs to lower them down into the pot one by one). Bring water back to a boil and boil for the stated amount of time. When done, allow to cool on a wire rack. I let mine sit where they are for about 24 hours. Check the seals, take off the bands, and store in a cool place.
Wait a few days before you open one ... if you can wait that long! If I am out of jam, I will often open up a jar after it cools (like I did today - YUM!).

FYI, today I made strawberry/blueberry/peach jam (was going to be just strawberries but didn't have enough to make 2 batches, so I added the other fruit). I also made spiced peach - the 'spiced' part is cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and ginger. More cinnamon than anything else, however no more than 1t total spices in 1 1/2 batches. The spice adds a hint of flavor but does not take away from the peach taste. Yum!

Pickles

2008-07-17T11:48:00.007-05:00

Who doesn't like home made pickles? Well .. I'm sure not everyone does, but we do! No dies or funny ingredients ... fresh from the garden ... yum!
Our garden has done very well so far and I FINALLY got around to making pickles. I remembered to take pictures too! You'll have to go to my other blog to see garden pictures.
Assemble your ingredients ... vinegar, fresh dill sprigs, fresh garlic, fresh onions, turmeric (optional), salt (not optional!!), and of course ... cucumbers! Also have ready your hot, sterile jars. I keep mine hot in the dishwasher ... what a great help that is. I always have more jars ready than I think I'll need.

Make your brine - I use about 15c water, 4c vinegar and 1c salt. Place in large pan, set to boil, then turn to low.
Slice your cucumbers into desired shapes. Get your pans, lids and bands ready:

Have your daughter make dinner (or get it in the crockpot before you begin) ... you probably will not feel like making a meal during or after canning! Brianna made basmati rice (rice cooker to the back left in the picture), and vegetables (fresh zucchini and summer squash from my uncle's garden, mushrooms and carrots). She sauteed the veggies in water, then added a little butter, olive oil, salt and italian seasonings just before serving.

Put into each quart jar: 1/8t-1/4t turmeric, a few slices of onion, 2 cloves of garlic and 2 sprigs of fresh dill:

Pack in your cucumbers, fill about 1"-3/4" to top with brine, lid and band the jars and put into boiling water:

Sometimes jars break :( thankfully this was the last batch!

Bring to a boil and then take out ... if you leave in too long, your pickles will loose color and crispness. Here's a picture of the finished pickles; I used 1/4t turmeric, however next time I am going to use 1/8t:

I made 1 1/2 batches of 'brine' and got 12qt jars full ... 11 after the broken one (we ate the cucumbers). A quart of brine was left; that got stored in the refrigerator for next time. Let jars sit over night to cool. Check seals, take off bands and store in cool dry place. I let the pickles sit for at least 2 weeks before opening.

Clean up and enjoy your dinner!

Read it and weep

2008-07-16T09:01:00.006-05:00

My usual wednesday morning routine includes going over the local grocery store sale ads, writing a list of what's on sale, and thinking about meals I can make with that list along with what's on hand.

One of the stores had a 5 day dinner plan in their ad with the title: "Budget Friendly Meals". That caught my attention right away! Then underneath the title it read: "Complete meal for a family of 4 for about $3 per serving." Yes, $3 PER SERVING was considered a 'budget meal'. That's $12 for a family of 4 for ONE MEAL. That's $360 for 30 meals (dinner each night for a month ... not including breakfast, lunch and snacks!). That's almost TWO TIMES the amount of my WHOLE FOOD BILL (3 meals a day plus snacks) FOR ONE MONTH! Yikes!

We spend about $45-$50 a week on food for the 4 of us. Here are a few frugal bean recipes; ok, a disclaimer first ... I usually do not follow recipes, even the ones I make up and write down. I just throw things together; whatever sounds good, is cheap, on hand, etc. I normally do not use measuring devices either ... my point ... if I have measurements here, it's only an estimate. Figure out what you like and write it down so you don't have to remember next time!

Pot Pie
*Combine cooked beans, pieces of cooked vegetables, slightly cooked & cubed potatoes, chopped onions (saute in water first), and whatever else you like.
*Make gravy of your choice ... I usually brown some flour in a pan, then add water till it seems like enough. Next come the spices, braggs, or whatever. Then more flour/water or both till it's just right. Sometimes I'll add mushrooms.
*Put into a baking pan. Top with biscuit mix (2c flour, 1T baking powder, 1/2t salt, seasons if you wish, cut in fat ... 1/4c-1/2c ... lightly stir in liquid ... 3/4c-1c water, milk, stock, whatever.)
*Variation ... of course you can pour your filling into a traditional pie crust and top it with another crust, or top it with biscuits, however I like to just do the biscuits to save time.
*Bake at 350 till done.
This is a great way to use up left over vegetables from previous meals.

Bean burgers
2 1/2c beans (kidney is our favorite for this recipe)
1/2c oats
2T braggs
Spices to taste (salt, pepper, garlic, onion, etc.)
Mash, form into ~6 burgers, fry till brown (grease the cooking surface)
Serve with normal burger toppings, baked 'french fries' and something green.

Rice Pilaf
Water saute - onion, garlic, vegetables (celery, green pepper, mushrooms, sprouts, etc.)
Add - 1-2T braggs or soy sauce, salt, pepper, and other seasons of your choice, 3-4c cooked brown rice (or other cooked grain), 2-3c cooked beans, 1/4-1/2c seeds or nuts, raisins, olives, etc.
Heat & eat! This is another great recipe for leftovers ... and you only need one pan :) YUM!

Black Bean soup
Saute carrots, onion and celery till tender (we use a lot of carrots & celery, not much onion)
Add garlic, 1 1/2t each dry basil & oregano, salt & pepper to taste, 4c or more of water, 3c or more black beans, 1-6oz can tomato paste, 2T braggs or soy sauce.
Simmer till done. Top with parsley before serving. Great with salad and fresh bread.
Variations ... adjust the amount of vegetables to your liking; can also add other veggies.

OK ... that's it for right now. Have a great day!

In Christ,
Joanne

Crock Pot Beans

2008-07-10T07:38:00.005-05:00

Beans are cheap ... we buy them in 25lb bags through Azure Standard. Before I go to bed, I (or Corban) will fill the crockpot about 1/3 full with dry beans. I will wash them, then fill it up to about an inch from the top with water. I set the dial on 'warm', cover it, and go to bed. In the morning, I will set it to 'high' and cook till soft. Then I scoop the beans out with a small strainer and dump into a large strainer to rinse with cold water. The children divide up the beans into quart size freezer bags for meal-sized portions.
We use beans for a variety of things, however my favorites are black bean soup, minestrone soup, bean burgers, and in green salads.
They are good for you and cheap! In their dry state, they last a long time ... as long as mice do not get to them. Also, in their dry state, you can sprout them :)

A good book on using beans is "Country Beans" - I got this book about 7 years ago when I decided to be a vegetarian again (we are no long strict vegetarians, however we hardly eat animal products). I never knew beans could be used in so many ways till I got this book!!!

I'll share a few bean recipes in my next post. Have a great day!

In Christ,
Joanne

Sprouting

2008-07-04T16:20:00.005-05:00

Here's the much awaited post on sprouts ... I actually almost FORGOT to post it today!! Ooops. It's been a really long day (as was yesterday).

Why do I like sprouting? I am able to grow fresh, organic, nutritious, CHEAP and delicious vegetables in my own home, with little effort, in about 3 days!!! WOW!

Basics for sprouting ...

You can sprout pretty much anything that is in (whole, original) seed form - wheat, quinoa, rice, legumes, flax, and so on. Just as each grain, seed or legume has its unique flavor and texture, so do the sprouts. Alfalfa for example is kind of sweet and crisp. Lentils are also crisp, but have almost a bit of spice to them. Wheat berries are sweet and chewy. Garbanzo beans are a little nutty and crunchy. And so on. Some things are not as easy to sprout as others ... I sprouted flax seed once and did not like it because it was slimy ... but flax is like that anyway so I should have known better! Oh well, live and learn, right?! I like quinoa sprouts, however they have a tendency to get stuck in my teeth, and that kind of bugs me!! But they are tasty nonetheless.

Ideal conditions for sprouting - a somewhat warm and dark place. However I sprout in the winter just fine (we keep our heat as low as possible to save money); it just takes a little longer to grow.

You will need a bowl or mason jar and some sort of cover for it. I use wide-mouth quart mason jars and plastic sprouting lids I got at the health food store. The lids have a built-in screen to make rinsing and draining easy. If you do not have that option, I suggest using cut up old (clean) pantie hose or some sort of thin cloth. Just cut a big enough square to cover the top and screw the jar ring on. This will allow you to rinse and drain just as easy as the nifty plastic lid, however you will probably have to replace the fabric and ring every so often. I have never sprouted in a bowl, so you are on your own there! Here's what my lid looks like:

The sprouts on this post have come from mung beans, green lentils and alfalfa seeds. Pictured below, the mung beans are on the top left, lentils on the top right and alfalfa at the bottom. I used a penny to show the size of the seeds. Mung bean sprouts are what's commonly used in Chinese food. Alfalfa sprouts are popular for using in salads and sandwiches.

First you need to soak the seeds over night. I use about 1/2c of seeds per quart jar ... however I might start using less because by the third full day they are pretty squished in there! I will try 1/4c next time. Not all seeds will take up the same amount of room ... for example, when I sprout alfalfa seeds, I use 1/8c per pint jar and that fills it up real good.

Here's a picture of the mung beans soaking:

I store my sprouts in one of the kitchen cupboards and try my best to remember they are there! So, put them where you will remember them!
Like I said, soak them overnight in water. Drain in the morning (you can save the water for soup stock or to water your plants), rinse, drain and leave drained. Tilt the jar up-side-down at about a 45 degree angle so the water is allowed to drain out better. I prop my jars up in a medium sized pyrex mixing bowl. Set back in the same dark place (still propped up) and leave till the evening time. Before bed, drain, rinse and prop up again ... back into the dark place! After about 24 hours, your sprouts should have little 'tails' (sprouts!) - well, I guess it's been about 36 hours at this point, including the soaking time (lentils on the left, mung on the right):

OK ... rinse, drain and prop up in the dark again, morning and evening. Here's what 24 more hours looks like:

You can stop here if you'd like, however I like mine to be a little longer. So, after yet another 24 hours (still rinsing and draining twice a day), here are the final results:

I then rinse and drain one final time, pull them out of the jars and place them in bowls. I put the bowls in the window to get a few hours of sun ... this greens them and, as a result, adds more minerals. I forgot to take a picture of the greener sprouts, but here's how they look in the bowl anyway! The lentils are first, then the mung:

Here are a few pictures of alfalfa sprouts - in the window to get green, and the end results:

That's it!!!
Simple ... so what if you have problems? Maybe your seeds were too old or cracked? (they wont sprout like that!) Maybe you did not drain it properly? (they will form mold) Maybe the room temp was too hot? (they will ferment).
Store your finished sprouts in a covered bowl or plastic bag for about a week.

Now then ... what do you do with all those fresh, homemade vegetables? Of course finding a way to eat them raw is the best - it would be a shame to kill them after all that work you put into them! We usually eat our sprouts as a salad ... using the sprouts in place of the lettuce. Add all the 'normal' salad ingredients like tomatoes, carrots, olives, etc. Another way we will use them is by adding them to sandwiches, tacos, burritos and so on. YUM! My favorite is alfalfa by far, however I know variety is good for you, so I try to mix it up a little. Besides, alfalfa seeds can get a little pricey. One more way we will use them raw is by making tuna salad sandwiches - tuna, sprouts, pickles, and whatever else you like in your tuna salad ... mix it all up with mayo and spread it on some bread or crackers.
When using them cooked, I will add to a stir-fry. I like to add it at the end so they are still mostly raw and not totally dead. Sometimes I make too many sprouts and we don't eat them fast enough ... then I will throw them into my crock-pot soup. That's about it!

Please share if you have a way you like to eat your sprouts. I'm always up for trying something new.

Have a great day!

Mayonnaise

2008-06-30T22:12:00.004-05:00

Well, I felt bad about not posting anything yet!! The sprouts will be ready tomorrow or the next day, but instead of waiting for them, I decided to do a quick post on making mayonnaise.

We do not eat mayonnaise very often and I just cannot bring myself to buy the store brands. The 'health food store brands' are high quality ... with a price to match! While I do not go so far as to using grapeseed oil, I am at least content to know it is as fresh as possible with real ingredients that are usually on hand.

Total time is about 10 minutes from start to finish, including clean up. You will only need FIVE things: 1c oil of your choice (of course the different oils may change the flavor of the end product), 1 egg, 1 1/2T vinegar (or lemon juice if you prefer), 1/2t salt, & 1/2t mustard powder. I use a blender, however an electric mixer will work too.

Place everything EXCEPT the oil into the blender. Blend on low speed till mixed (a few seconds). Add the oil while the blender is on low (if you have a Vitamix, I set mine on variable speed 4) - the oil should be a slow, steady stream like this:
Here's a look from the inside just starting:
Below is a shot after about 20 seconds - the mixture will start to look more and more like mayo (mine looks more yellow here than it actually is .. the lighting was bad!). If you add the oil too fast, it will not blend properly ... so make sure to go slow! Soon it will get very thick; you may need to stop the blender to scrape down the sides.
Once all of your oil is gone, it should be done. Does it look like mayo? Does it taste like mayo? I've found that I like a little extra salt and vinegar in mine, however start with what I posted above, and adjust from there. Take notes and put your final adjusted recipe into your recipe box, book, or whatever.
This will make a little more than one cup of mayo; store in the refrigerator for up to about 2 weeks.

If you make it, let me know how it goes!

I am going to try to make an egg-free kind soon. I'll post that if and when it turns out.

In Christ,

Joanne

Bulk buying and scratch cooking

2008-06-29T14:59:00.006-05:00

Are you interested in saving money while eating healthier? Or how about just saving money around the house in general? If you are not, you should be! The way prices keep going up at the grocery and department stores, I am sure soon many will ‘wish’ they had paid attention in Home Economics class … or listened more to their seemingly ‘crazy health nut friends’ (uuh-hum ..). I thought it would be fun and worthwhile to begin a blog specifically for saving money and eating better.

I’m sure a lot of you know we enjoy eating healthy foods. I believe (and the Bible says) my body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. I do my best to make wise food choices, but at the same time am not a ‘slave to my diet’. We do not always eat healthy because often circumstances will not allow it. However we do our best while at home and leave the rest in the Lord’s hands. Besides that, I firmly believe the Lord wants us to be good stewards of what He has given us. Making wise choices with your food dollars (and learning to stretch them as far as they will go) is just one way to be a good steward of the Lord’s provisions.

The most obvious way to save money and eat better is to cook from scratch. If you are used to using packaged, convenience items, it will take time to learn how to switch over to ‘from scratch’ food. However once you learn, I’m sure you will be glad you did! It is very easy to make food from scratch … yes, even items like ketchup, mayonnaise, salad dressing, gravy, sauces, crackers, cereal, bread, and so on.

Buying certain items in bulk will stretch your food dollars even more. One way of buying in bulk is to simply stock up when you know a store is having an amazing sale. For instance, one time (about 6 years ago already), one local grocery store had real butter on sale for 50 cents a pound! Of course that’s a really good price; I bought 40 pounds and stored the excess in my freezer (and the clerk looked at me like I was nuts for buying 40 packages of butter!).

Another way to buy in bulk is to purchase large boxes, containers or sacks of items such as grains, beans, oil, nuts, and so on. There are a lot of choices for buying bulk food in such a way … warehouse stores like Costco and Sam’s offer plenty of food items in bulk. Even normal grocery stores have a few things in large packages (beans, rice and flour for example). Believe it or not, the expensive health food stores often sell organic bulk foods cheaper than conventional packaged foods at regular stores. Spices and herbs for tea or other home remedies, for instance, are much fresher and cheaper when purchased in bulk at a health food store. Plus, you choose how much you need (who needs a whole bottle of cardamom when all you will use is a pinch once in a while?!). A farmer’s market is another place where you can buy things in bulk; mainly, fresh produce. If you go towards the end of the day, you may even get a good discount. Some will probably wonder what would be the point of buying a lot of fresh produce at one time … bulk cooking! For example, if you get a good deal on fresh tomatoes, onions and green peppers (better yet, if your garden produces abundantly these items), why not make up a huge pot of spaghetti sauce or chili and freeze it in single family meal sized portions? This saves time, energy and money. The last option for bulk buying is a food club – Azure Standard is whom we order from (you have to be a member to get the member prices, however there are no 'membership fees'). We order once a month and the truck comes to someone’s house that has volunteered to be a drop point. There are a few drop points in Omaha and surrounding areas. There’s one more food buying club for our area but I forgot the name – it used to be Blooming Prairie but they changed it a while ago … no matter anyway because they were more expensive than Azure. I buy spices, grains, beans, and other items from Azure and save a lot of money. Azure is based in Oregon, but they deliver all the way to the Midwest. For those who live further east, ask around for food buying clubs in your area.

Besides saving money, buying in bulk also offers a store of food for times of need. What would you do if your husband got laid off (or fired!) from his job and no money came in for several months while he looked for another job? There are plenty of other scenarios, but whatever the case, a full pantry offers choice in the midst of hard times. There are so many ways to use that 200 pounds of wheat in the basement … more obvious ways such as bread, crackers and tortillas; to less obvious ways like sprouts, grain pilaf, and hot cereal.

In the next blog post, I will demonstrate how to make sprouts. If you have any ideas or suggestions for future posts, feel free to email me or leave a comment by clicking the ‘comments’ button below.

In Christ,
Joanne