Mamaw's Strawberry Preserves

So, Friday I picked us up a flat of these berries.  All that's left are about 10 berries which will top our cereal in the morning.  I did use 4 cups to make a batch of these preserves, but other than that, we've gobbled the rest of them down in basically a weekend.

I was pretty excited to try this new-to-me recipe for strawberry preserves.  It comes to me through my Mamaw, who got it years ago from her friend Virginia Lou, who got it from her mother . . . It's a time-honored recipe. 

I love it for 3 big reasons:

1.  It's delicious!

2.  All the ingredients (and there are only 3)  are natural

3.  It is processed in two separate steps (which seems to make it a less daunting task.)

Bring 4 c. of crushed berries (I used a potato masher) and 1 tsp. Oleo* to a rolling boil.  Boil for 3 minutes.  Add 2 c. sugar, stir well, and hard for 3 minutes.  Add 2 more cups of sugar, stir well, and boil for another 3 minutes. 

*This is not the first time I've gotten a recipe from my Mamaw that calls for Oleo.  The first time, though, I had to look it up because I had no idea what it was.  Here's what I learned: if a recipe calls for Oleo, it is probably at least 50 years old.  Oleo usually refers to the Oleomargerine that was designed as a vegetable-based, more economical substitute for butter.  Interestingly, when this margarine was first marketed, it was white because those in the dairy industry didn't want people to confuse margarine for butter and had legislation passed against the coloring of margarine.  So, basically Oleo refers to margarine.  I actually used a pat of butter in my preserves this time.  Its job in this recipe is to minimize the foam you have to skim off after the rolling boil.

Remove from heat and skim.  Let stand overnight.  (I love this part of the recipe because it breaks the process down into two parts, the preserve cooking and the canning.  Usually, when I can something, I have to block off a huge chunk of time to produce the food then can it.  But, I was able to whip up the preserves in about 15 minutes Saturday, then can them Sunday morning while we were all getting ready for church.)

The next morning, process in a water bath canner for 10 minutes.  (You could also freeze it.)

We've already enjoyed it on toast, and Mamaw says its thinner consistency makes it a good topping for icecream, too.  Maybe once I make us some goat milk frozen yogurt, we'll give that a try!

Thanks, Mamaw, for yet another great recipe! 

Parmesan Roasted Edamame

As a runner who eats very little meat, I'm always looking for good foods that pack a punch of protein (try saying that 5 times fast: "pack a punch of protein. pack a punch of protein . . ."). 

Anyway, this Pinterest recipe fits the bill and works as an acceptable evening munchy. 

To make, preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Quickly thaw frozen edamame by running it under tap water.  Spread beans out on a rimmed baking sheet and drizzle with a little olive oil (1 Tbs. is plenty for a 12 oz. bag of edamame).  Stir to coat.  Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and (up to) 1/4 c. grated parmesan cheese.

Stirring once mid-way through, roast for 15-20 minutes or until crisp.

Pick out a good movie on Netflix, find a blanket and someone to share it with, and settle in with your guilt-free munchy.  :) 

The Bald Knob Strawberry Conspiracy

Do you see that strategically positioned fan?  It's a conspiracy, folks.

So, you're rolling down the highway and see the roadside sign advertising local strawberries and decide to pick yourself up a quart or two.  Then, you walk in and are bowled over by the sweet scent of berries being blown into your face by this sneaky little fan.  Before you know it, you're walking out with a full flat of berries!

Yep, that's what happened to me last year.  This year, I knew better than to think I'd get out of there with anything less than a flat.  Once the kids had had a taste and declared, "Now THAT's what a strawberry is supposed to taste like!" they wanted to know why I didn't buy more!  In fact, this year, I called out the nice man at the roadside stand, telling him that I was onto him and his fan conspiracy.  He just gave me a sly wink.

Our own backyard berries will soon be ready for harvest, but they tend to come ripe by the handful each day.  I like to buy berries by the flat so that I have large quantities to work with for jellies and such.  This year, I'm trying a new-to-me recipe that is actually very old and was dictated to me by my Mamaw over the phone last night.  I'll let you know how it turns out!

And, for those of you penny pinchers out there: yes, the sign says $4.00 a quart.  Or, they sell for $30 a flat.  If you think that's too steep a price to pay for the most delicious, locally grown berries known to mankind, you obviously haven't tried one!  :)  Feel free to stop by here and try one from our flat before you head south to pick up your own.  But, you'd better get here quick because I've got jelly cooling on the stove, some sliced for tomorrow's salad, a frozen berry pie underway, and the kids are packing them away so fast they may develop tummyaches.  Like their Momma, they can't resist a good strawberry!

Kale Cravings

Are you eating your Super Foods? 

Like other Brassicas, kale is packed with calcium, lutein, iron, beta-carotene, and Vitamins A, C, and K.  But, according to WebMD, what distinguishes it from its brothers is, "its abundance in phytochemicals, substances associated with the prevention of cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and hypertension – four of the leading cause of death in Western countries. Phytochemicals are believed to help prevent cell damage, prevent cancer cell replication, and decrease cholesterol levels."

Some people are less than fond of kale, but I'd encourage you to give it a chance. This well-prepared salad may just win you over. 

In fact, lately, I've been having major kale cravings!  Now, before you go thinking I'm a health-crazed nut job, you should know I've also been craving strawberry Fruit Roll-ups.  Anyway, my favorite way lately to satisfy my longing for kale is with this super easy salad.

First, I remove the ribs (and add them to the compost pile -- not even the chickens will eat the kale ribs -- they're just too tough).  Then, I use my herb chopper to chop the kale into pretty small pieces.  If you're a fellow kale lover, you know that it can be pretty tough, so chopping it pretty small is the first step in getting it to a good, salad-ready consistency.

What is step 2, you ask?  Massaging the kale.

Yes, you read that right. 

Listen, Kale is pretty uptight and rigid (especially if it's store-bought -- commercial farmers grow a "sturdier" variety so that it better withstands the rigors of harvest and shipping).  At the end of a long day (or whenever you're ready for salad), it just needs a good massage to help it unwind a bit.  So, I put my chopped kale into a bowl and drizzle it with some olive oil.  Then, I commence the massage.  This is not a job for a spoon -- get your fingers in there and work out all that tension.  You'll be able to see the greens begin to soften. 

Once your salad has been well-massaged, it's ready to get dressed and find it's way to your plate.  To the oil that's already worked in, I add a dribble of lemon juice, pinch of salad, and sprinkling of grated Parmesan (what?  Measurements too vague for you?  Sorry, my friend, but dressing a kale salad is an art not a science, so you'll just have to play with the proportions to find ones that work for you :).

Now, the wonderful thing about kale is that, unlike its cousin Lettuce,  Kale will hold up in this dressed state for days in the refrigerator.  Whenever that craving hits, all I have to do is dump some in a bowl and add a few toppings. 

My current toppings of choice are Craisins and roasted almond pieces.

Now does this pic capture a nice moment, or what?  There I am, stretched out on a picnic blanket after just having finished a muddy, 5-mile trail run (notice the mud smears on the calves), watching the ducks on the water and enjoying my kale salad and the beautiful day -- little slice of heaven right there!

There'll be kale in heaven, right?  And Fruit Roll-Ups?  Let's hope so.  :)

DIY Trail Mix

I walked in to pick Little Boy up from therapy the other day and heard him telling his teacher, "I got trail mix at home!  It's super yummy!"  The boy loves his trail mix!

At $6.00 for a small bag, though, it gets pretty costly pretty quickly.

One of his favorite mixes is the Great Value Indulgent Trail Mix.  A quick inventory of the ingredients led me to the conclusion that I could mix it up myself for a fraction of the cost and less sodium. 

I purchased the following for my mix:

dark chocolate chips

peanut butter chips

peanuts (reduced salt)

almonds (raw, unsalted)

cashews

raisins (regular and golden)

Notice there's no prep involved here at all.  You're just throwing your ingredients into a mixing bowl.  The ratios are entirely up to you.  Just play with it to get the taste combo you love.  The Indulgent mix has white chocolate chips in it, too, but Girl 1 doesn't like them (Weird, I know), so we left those out.

My batch cost me $16 and easily made 4 times the amount of the $6 bag from Wal-Mart.  That comes in at an $8 savings for about 30-seconds-worth of work! 

Low Fat Key Lime Pie

Around here, we love pie! You should just see Little Boy's face light up when he hears the word "Pie"!  So, when I found this recipe for Low Fat Key Lime Pie on Pinterest, I knew I had to give it a go. 

By my math, it comes in at about 30 fat calories per slice!

Here's what you need:

sugar free lime Jell-o

fat free Cool Whip

2 light Key Lime Pie yogurts

reduced fat graham cracker pie crust

Dissolve the Jell-o in 1/4 c. boiling water.  Then, just whisk in the other filling ingredients and pour into pie crust.  Freeze.

This pie yielded some big grins at dinner last night!  And, just think of the possibilities.  You could pretty much make this in any flavor that you can find a Jell-o and yogurt to match.  Yum!

Protein Pancakes

Unless the meat was grown in our own backyard, I've been eating mostly vegetarian.  Since I'm running a lot, though, I've got to keep an eye on my protein intake and be sure I'm getting enough.  Most days I fall short.  John doesn't mind to drink a protein shake, but I've never been much for milkshakes so the mere thought of that chalky stuff sends me reeling. 

These protein pancakes, though, are a nice way to jumpstart my day.  Simply mix together one scoop of vanilla protein powder (we use soy) and 2 or 3 egg whites (depending on the size of your eggs).  This gets me 30 grams of protein, which is about half of what I need for the day.  Once mixed together, just cook it up like you would regular pancake mix! 

If you're watching your waistline, this is a pretty good way to pack a lot of protein into not-too-many calories.  And, it's pretty filling, so you won't have to deal with that mid-morning stomach rumble.  Enjoy!

No Bake Oatmeal Peanut Butter Balls

Ummm.  I could've eaten the entire tray of these in one sitting.  And I refuse to reveal how many of them I actually did eat in one sitting.  Suffice it to say, these are good . . .  very. very. good.  And, because they're made of clean, whole ingredients, you can feel good about popping them one after another and maybe saving one or two to stick in the kids' lunches.

Simply throw the following into a bowl and mix:

1 c. dry oatmeal

1/2 c. chocolate chips (I like dark chocolate -- I mean, it's good for you, right?)

1/2 c. peanut butter (if yours is unsalted like ours is, add a pinch of salt to the bowl, too)

1/2 c. ground flaxseed

1/3 c. honey

1 tsp. vanilla

(*Your most expensive ingredient is the honey, by far.  These balls are very sweet.  You could probably cut the honey by half and still find it sweet enough.)

Form dough into balls and refrigerate until hardened (I'd actually store them in the fridge, too).  Then, pop them like they're going out of style!

Now, just because they're good for you doesn't mean they're low calorie.  In fact, I did the math and found that my 20-ball batch came out to nearly 100 calories per ball.  The recipe I used actually called them "power balls."  I do think they'd be a great food to fuel a workout, but they're probably not meant to be eaten in super-large quantities (which is why I plan to wait a little while until I make a second batch.  I apparently lose all self-control in their presence).  :)

Enjoy!

A Look at Convenience Foods

We all want things to be easy.  The problem, when it comes to food, though, is that typically the easier a food is, the more processed it is . . . and the more processed it is, the more unknown ingredients it contains.  Generally speaking, trying to stick to natural ingredients that have names we recognize is a good idea. 

There once was a time when little was convenient.  Convenience just wasn't a choice homesteaders of the past had.  Now, though, we have to look at the variables of our time, our money, and our health and make decisions accordingly.  And, one person's "convenience" food may not be the same as the next person's. (I did recently discover that our grocer store sells pre-shelled, hard boiled eggs in nifty little 4 packs.)

Let us consider, for example, the pancake.

I suppose the ultimate in convenience would be a trip to IHOP, where someone else is left to clean up the sticky countertops.

Short of that, though, are these.

(Yes, I did snap this photo in the freezer section of the grocery store.  Yes, I got a couple of weird looks.)

What cracks me up most about these is the "8 Individually Wrapped Packages." 

Let's assume, that we have the time and resources and inclination to make our own pancakes.  Still, there are various levels of convenience involved.  Are you going to reach for a box of Bisquik?  I did for years and years.  Or, will you throw together your own mix of baking powder, flour, milk, and egg?

That's the level of convenience we now go with.  Who knew it was so easy to mix up a batch of pancakes?  Still, some crazies might argue that it's still "convenient" because I don't grind my own flour. (If you're laughing, you  must not have spent much time around hard-core homesteaders on the blog-o-sphere.  They have a way of making me feel lazy on even my most industrous day.)

Just so that you don't think I stick exclusively to the more time-consuming route, here's an example of a convenience food that I'll defend.  We love our grapefruit around here.  I typically buy 2 5lb. bags per week for our morning juices.  I've also started buying jugs of this stuff for snacking.  (My grocery checker may be starting to wonder whether there's some new way of manufacturing meth that involves grapefruit.) 

This little heavenly jug contains the perfectly prepped wedges of 10 grapefruit.  Do you know how much time it would take to do that by hand?  Also, like I'm someone from an episode of Hoarders, I'm stockpiling the used jugs.  They'll make great cannisters in the pantry for beans, rice, and such.

All of this to say, when the grocery list includes items that are more processed or contain ingredients that I can't pronounce or that wouldn't fit on a notecard if I tried to write them all out, I find myself wondering "could I make a version of this myself that would be better for us?"  My experience with pancakes and other things has given me the confidence to ask this question.  And, with the power of the internet and, specifically, Pinterest :) on our side, how can we fail?

Also, I look for other ways to create convenience.  We all know that some days are busier than others.  On a day when I have more time, I could mix together all the dry ingredients needed for multiple batches of pancakes and store it in the pantry, ready to be used just like Bisquik.  Or, when I've made a few too many pancakes, I could lay the cakes out on a baking sheet to freeze individually before stacking them up and throwing them into a freezer bag (or several -- hey, I could even wrap them in "8 Individually Wrapped Packages"!)

If you're interested, here's the recipe I've been using for pancakes lately:

1.5 c. flour

2 Tbs. sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1.25-1.5 c. of milk

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

2 Tbs. vegetable oil

Enjoy!

Broccoli Grape Harvest Salad

Um.  Seriously.  So good.

As an adult I've found I'm drawn to a few things on the buffet line that never would have interested me when I was younger.  One of those things is salad.  I LOVE salad.  I love tossed salad, chopped salad, tuna salad, Elizabeth's chicken salad (if anyone would like to make me a really happy girl, ask me to lunch at Elizabeth's -- please), pasta salad, potato salad.  I think you get the idea. 

And, this salad, which I whipped up at the beginning of the week and stored in the fridge, has got me looking forward to lunchtime every day. 

Here's what you need:

1/2 box whole wheat bow-tie pasta (cooked)
large head of broccoli, florets cut into small pieces
1/2 c. light mayo
1/2 c. Greek yogurt
1/3 c. sugar (or sugar substitute)
1/3 c. diced red onion
1/3 c. red wine vinegar
1 tsp. salt
2 c. seedless red grapes
6 turkey bacon slices, cooked and crumbled
1/4 c. chopped pecans, toasted

In a large bowl, whisk together mayo, yogurt, sugar, onion, vinegar, and salt.  Toss with broccoli, still-warm-from-cooking pasta, and grapes.  Cover and chill for at least 3 hours.  Stir in the bacon and toasted pecans just before serving. 

Because I've been eating this a little each day, I kept the bacon and pecans out and just sprinkled them atop each serving. 

Enjoy!

Super Easy CrockPot Spinach Tortellini

I don't know what the weather looks like where you are, but it's pretty icy and wet here today. This kind of weather merits some belly-warming dinner!  Here's a recipe that definitely fits the bill!

Throw all of the following into the CrockPot:

1 lb. turkey sausage, browned

1 bag frozen cheese tortellini

1 box frozen spinach (or one bag fresh)

2 cans tomatoes with italian seasoning (I used my canned tomatoes -- my very last ones --sniff, sniff--, so I had to add my own italian herbs)

1 block fat free cream cheese, chunked up

4 c. (one box) chicken broth

Cook for 5-6 hours.

We loved this soup!  It actually made enough to feed us twice.  John remarked that it was interesting because it had a creamy base but still felt light (he can't stand for his food to feel "heavy").  I'd credit the fat free cream cheese for that.  Another thing I like about this meal is that (other than the cream cheese, which will last awhile in the fridge) all the ingredients are freezer or shelf stable, so I can have them on hand for a day like today when I wouldn't dare leave the house without a 4-wheel-drive!

A Peek at Our Valentine's Day

My children are still reeling from all the sugar they ingested yesterday.  Little Boy perhaps had the most, since he hit both sisters' school parties with me yesterday afternoon.  They may enjoy days like this more than the average kid since we don't tend to stock many sugary goodies at our house.  Girl 2 even told me, "Mom, I got to have lots of sugar today.  And, you didn't even tell me not to!"

We didn't want our Valentines to friends to add to the sugary high of the day, so we opted for these pictured above (Thanks, Pinterest!).  Girl 1 gave the ones on the left (her name is on the back of the flag).  While Girl 2 made use of the leftover cake icing bags we used for Cocoa Santas back in December and gave out bouncy balls. Since we keep labels and craft paper on hand, we were really only out the cost of balls and pencils -- about $5 total.

Each kiddo received a balloon from Mom and Dad.  When Little Boy's was delivered to the house, he smiled all over himself (you know what I'm talking about if you've seen it before) and cried out, "For me???!!!!", cracking the delivery person up. He then proceeded to play with that silly balloon for 30 minutes solid.  He's still toting it around the house with him.

Girl 1's favorite combination

For dinner, we had build-your-own, heart-shaped pizzas.  Homemade pizza is always a big hit at our house.  So often, dinner is a you-get-what-you-get-and-you-don't-throw-a-fit affair, so the kids welcome having a say about what goes on their plates.

Here are the recipes (in my late mother-in-law's handwriting) for our go-to pizza crust and sauce, a family favorite (thus the 5-watermelon rating):

Hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day yesterday!

Shhh! Don't Tell the Kids It's Healthy!

Girl 1 wanted to make heart-shaped biscuits with gravy and a Valentine's cake for her dinner this week.  It turned out that she had a buddy here, so he helped with the project, too. 

Here they are with their lovely creation.

Now, if you see them, feel free to tell them what a lovely job they did.  But, please do not tell them that the cake had zucchini in it! 

 Because I knew we'd have our friend over and that she wouldn't want to spend their entire after-school time in the kitchen prepping dinner, I helped her out by baking the cake before she got home, leaving them to deal with the icing, biscuits,  and gravy. 

This, of course, allowed me to experiment with a healthier-than-traditional cake.  It was surprisingly good (and I'm not a big cake person).  In fact, it was rich enough that it would have been great with just a dusting of powdered sugar.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

Combine all dry ingredients:

1/3 c. whole wheat flour

1/3 c. all-purpose flour

3/4 c. brown sugar

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 c. cocoa powder

Then, mix in the rest of the ingredients:

2/3 c. applesauce

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

1 c. shredded zucchini

1/2 c. chocolate chips (we used dark chocolate)

Pour into a well-greased bundt (if you plan to dust with powdered sugar) or, as we did, a square and a round to create the heart.  Bake until toothpick comes out clean (ours took about 25 minutes).

Allow to cool about 10  minutes before turning out of the pan.

Enjoy! 

One of the things I love about this recipe is that I already had all ingredients on hand.  When we'd had our fill of zucchini back in the summer, I shredded some and froze it for future use.  I think these might also be good as cupcakes.  Keep in mind, though, that it doesn't rise a whole lot, so you'll need to fill those muffin cups pretty full if you go that route.  For the link to the original recipe, click here. 

Dehydrating Your Own Fruit

So, John and I have signed up to run this CRAZY race in May.  (More on this topic later.)  But, as we train, we are making an effort to eat in a more conscious, healthy way.  Sugar has basically been drastically reduced.  But, I LOVE sweet things (I have an entirely inappropriate relationship with strawberry fruit roll-ups)!  The other day at the grocery store, I spent way too long reading labels on dehydrated fruits.  Everything seemed to have extra ingredients-- preservatives and sweeteners.  I decided it was time to bust out the old dehydrator.

I got mine for Christmas a few years back, but when I looked it up for this post, my dehydrator was selling for $29.99 on Amazon.  This is not a major investment.  I'd guess a lot of hunters may have access to dehydrators (deer jerky, right?), so you're good to go.  Now, my version of the dehydrator does not get excellent reviews.  And, I wouldn't use it to dehydrate meats.  It gets the job done, though, for fruits.

Apples and pears were on sale this week, so I decided to start there.  For apples, I'd suggest Granny Smith, as they make delightfully sweet yet tart apple chips.

Just peel, core, and slice (my handy-dandy apple corer slices mine into 8 equal pieces.  I, then, slice each of those in half.  That way I know that 16 slices is equal to eating one apple) .  The apples need to soak a couple of minutes in a lemon juice/water mixture to prevent browing.  Lay them out on the trays of the dehydrator and in 1-2 days, you'll have yummy fruit snacks that will be shelf-stable indefinitely and are easily packable for snacks.

Dehydrated apples -- still a little chewy, which means they're just right!

Pears are supposed to be dried until nearly brittle.  They were okay, but couldn't compare to the tangy apples!

 

Wonder what the kids think of them?  Hmm.  Me, too.  I guess I'll have to share them to find out.  ;)

DIY Almond Milk

I realize that there are lots of folks who are crazy for almond milk.  I, personally, had never tried it until I found yesterday's recipe for Banana Oatmeal Muffins.  And, I wanted to make them.  Right then.  Not after I'd been to the store to buy my first-ever carton of almond milk.  So, I looked up how to make it from fresh almonds and proceeded.  Maybe patience doesn't always win out.  If I'd been patient and just added almond milk to the grocery list, I'd have never known how easy it is to make!

Don't know about almond milk?  Livestrong.com (I know, I know, but they have some great healthy eating articles) says, "Almond milk . . . is an alternative to cow's milk. This fortified beverage, made from almonds, has a surprisingly rich and creamy taste. Lower in calories and fat than regular cow's milk, it is high in vitamins, such as vitamin E. Like cow's milk and fortified soy milk, almond milk boasts an impressive dose of bone-building calcium."

Yep, it has even fewer calories than skim milk!

Measure out 200 grams of raw almonds.  Soak them in 3 cups of filtered water for at least 8 hours ( or overnight).

Throw almonds and water into the blender and process until smooth (2-3 minutes).

Pour mixture into a bowl topped by a strainer.  Press the almond pulp around to get all the liquid to fall through to the bowl.  Save almond pulp to use in another healthy recipe (I wish I could help you out here, but I've tried 2 so far that have been AWFUL!). 

Strain your milk through a butter muslin or cheesecloth (or maybe coffee filter).

Store your milk in a mason jar in the fridge for use within 3 days. Shake well before pouring.

To make vanilla almond milk, add some sweetener (your choice -- I used agave nectar) and a splash of vanilla.

Follow-up Notes:

Now, you know I've recently gone through a major kitchen purge.  But, two items used here will have a home in my kitchen forever:  butter muslin and a kitchen scale. 

I got my scale for use in soapmaking, but since then I've come to wonder how I ever did without it.  If you're trying to do away with processed foods and canned goods, you need a good scale.  How else are you going to sub in your own tomatoes for the 12 oz. can the recipe calls for? 

I bought butter muslin (a tighter weave than cheesecloth) to use in cheesemaking.  But, I've also used it to strain chicken broth, yogurt, juice for making jelly, and now almond milk. 

These two simple tools can be added to your kitchen aresenal for less than $15. 

Oatmeal Banana Muffins

This is a recipe I found on Pinterest.  My kids don't generally like oatmeal, so when I saw the ratio of oatmeal to everything else, I was skeptical about how it would be received at our house.  I turned out to be very pleasantly surprised!

These are super easy to whip up.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Then, mix together the following:

3 mashed bananas (the more ripe the better)

1 c. vanilla Almond milk

2 eggs

1 Tbs. baking powder

3 c. oats

1 tsp. vanilla

Let batter sit while you prepare the muffin pans with liners or by spraying the pan with non-stick spray.

Stir 3 Tbs. chocolate chips into the batter.

Divide between 15 muffin cups.  You can fill them pretty full; these won't rise much.

Bake 20-30 minutes, until the edges are starting to brown.  They may stick while hot but will be easily removed once cool.

Some follow-up notes:

1.  These are super-healthy and not artificially sweetened.  Remember that when you're taking a bite and have realistic expectations.  Also, warming them up a bit makes them yummier.

2..  I pretty much always have ripe bananas on hand.  Once they've gotten too mushy to enjoy fresh, I'll throw them into the freezer to use for recipes like this or banana bread.

3.  You could possibly sub in some skim milk for the vanilla almond milk, but you may want to add a little sweetener.  Making your own almond milk is surprisingly easy.  Check back in tomorrow to see how it's done!  ;)

4.  That said. . . I've already made these a second time (Little Boy LOVES them!).  I prepped the almond milk a day ahead of time and stored it in the fridge.  I made the muffins the next day.  I noticed that they were a bit drier than the last batch, but they were still good.  It wasn't until I opened the fridge this morning and saw the almond milk still sitting there, staring at me, and rolling it's eyes, that I realized I'd completely left it out!

Oh, well.  Little Boy's not complaining. 

5.  Yes, I realize that my muffin pan is terribly dirty.  If you're standing in judgment, then I'm glad I could make you feel better about yourself and your kitchen with it's sparkling pans.  If you're thinking "I'm so glad her pans look as bad as mine do,"  I LOVE you.  Listen, life happens.  Who has the time?  I'm using baking cups, after all.  And, if you're my Mom and thinking "I really need to go visit Ashley and clean her muffin pan for her,"  what are you waiting for?  Maybe that's why I put the pics on here in the first place.  ;)

CrockPot Freezer Meal: Chicken Taco Soup

Remember this post when I put together tons of CrockPot Freezer meals all in one day?  Well, this week, our family pulled out and enjoyed one of them, so I thought I'd share. 

This recipe really was great!  It had enough spice to make it more flavorful than the store-bought canned version but wasn't too spicy for the kids to enjoy.

Combine all the following ingredients in a ziplock baggie (or CrockPot, if you're serving it today):

1 chopped onion

1 (16 oz.) can chili beans

1 (16 oz) can black beans (or prepared dry beans)

1 (15 oz.) can corn, drained (or frozen equivalent)

1 (8 oz.) can tomato sauce

1 (12 oz.) can or bottle beer (or broth)

2 (10 oz.) cans diced tomatoes with green chilies (undrained)

1 package taco seasoning

3 whole skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cubed

As you can probably tell by the ingredient photo, I doubled the recipe to freeze in two separate bags.

For dinner, thaw and cook in CrockPot on low for 6-8 hours.  Serve topped with shredded Cheddar cheese, a dollop of sour cream, and crushed tortilla chips.

I love being able to serve a yummy dinner that took me only 5 minutes to get to the table!

Putting together those 12 meals all in one day was an ordeal.  It required time, effort, and planning.  But, those initial investments will pay off in saved time, effort, and planning every time we eat one!

Plum Jelly: Day 1

Thanks to my friend Jenny, I've had these plums frozen in my freezer since this summer.  I'd been waiting for life to slow down a bit (winter to arrive) then I'd turn them into some plum jelly.   So, this week, my friend Jessica and I made it happen.

After my pear jelly flop (it was runny liquid), I was afraid to try again "the old fashioned way" (without Pectin).  I did lots of research -- I searched online, questioned my fellow canning club members, and called my Mamaw.  I finally decided that we'd use pectin this time and picked up a few pointers on exactly how to make it happen.

Step 1 (and Day 1) was to extract the juice from the plums.

First, I thawed them.  The directions I had said to pit them but leave the skins on, then roughly chop.  Twenty minutes into the pitting process, I decided that it was entirely too tedious.  (I am willing to work hard, but tedious work really grates on me sometimes.)  I decided there had to be a faster way.  After all, I was planning to strain the juice once the plums had cooked.  Why not leave the pits in?  So, I threw whole plums into the food processor to "roughly chop" them. . . . and I broke my food processor.  Yep, this smart gal pushed the pulse button once and a piece of plastic flew dangerously across the kitchen.  Lesson learned.  Plum pits have no place in the food processor.  (Maybe I can order a replacement part online -- it's hard to imagine life can go on long without a food processor.)

Still not willing to pit the plums, I threw them whole (not even roughly chopped) into the saucepan (4 lbs. of plums to 1 c. of water) and began to mash them with my potato masher, splattering plum juice ALL. OVER. MY. KITCHEN.

Still, I proceeded.  I brought the mashed plums to a rolling boil and, stirring pretty much constantly, kept them at a boil for 10 minutes. 

The plums magically turned to juice!  Stirring, I could feel the pits and skins, but otherwise it was liquified.

My Mamaw had advised me that I could strain through pretty much anything, depending on how much pulp I wanted in the finished product.  This first go round, I was hoping for a nice, clear, clean-looking jelly, so I strained it through  my butter muslin (which is a tighter weave than cheesecloth).  I allowed it to strain for several hours.  And, of course, in my impatience, I would come in and squish and squeeze it a bit every hour or so.

Once complete, I had approximately 15 cups of pure plum juice.  It only takes 4 c. of juice to make a batch of jelly.  That's plenty for Jessica and I to use to make 2 batches on Day 2 of this process.  John and I had some juice with our breakfast this week, too.  (It was so thick and tart, though, that we watered it down and added some Agave nectar to counter the tart taste a bit.)

So, despite my ridiculous antics, I did end up with beautiful juice.  My food processor and splattered walls may not agree that it was a full-on success, but there's at least some value in lessons learned, right?

More on how we turned this yummy juice into jelly Monday (Sunday is my day of rest, remember)!

Knocking Out Those Resolutions!

We've really been hitting our resolution lists hard around here!  The first one from my own list is . . .

**Teach the kids skills to make them more confident and independent (i.e. cooking/ cleaning/ farming/ gardening/ etc.)

Aside from our plan to allow the girls each their own plots in the garden, we're also trying to tap into their interests and teach them more in those areas.  Girl 1 has shown a lot of interest in helping me bake in the past; she's also gone through phases when she's served as our resident Food Pyramid police.  So, we decided to give her one night a week when she's in charge of dinner (with my supervision, of course).  Because it is basically the only night we don't have activities, we decided that Friday would be her day.  In preparation for the big day, she planned the menu (with the Food Pyramid in mind, of course) and made her grocery list.  Tonight, she made us tacos! 

Sure, it took a lot longer than it might've if I'd whipped up dinner on my own, but she learned SO many kitchen skills, just in this one meal!  And the pride she took in serving it up to all of us was really something to behold!  I wouldn't be surprised if it even makes her more appreciative of all that goes into preparing the meals she eats the other nights of the week as well.  :)

12 Dinners in 1 Day

I keep pinning these crazy articles on Pinterest about prepping enough freezer meals in one day to last until the End Times, but I had never done anything with them.  However, as I realized that our chicken from our last processing didn't fill the freezer quite as full as I'd anticipated AND the cold weather means that I'm no longer hauling in tons of fresh backyard veggies to put on the table AND I came across an article on freezer CROCKPOT meals (you know how I love my Crockpot!) AND they're all "clean" recipes . . . it seemed the stars had aligned, and I was ready to embark on this crazy adventure.

First, if you're not familiar with the clean food movement, you should do a little research.  Basically, it's an effort to eat natural foods as close to their natural state as possible and avoid highly processed foods.

I set out to make 12 freezer meals that could be dumped into the Crockpot in the morning and would be ready by dinnertime.  To do this, I used 5 different recipes, carefully chosen based on my family's tastes and the food I already had on hand.

In fact, because I had so much on hand already, I only spent an additional $18.29 at the grocery store (including the cost of the gallon-sized freezer bags) before beginning.  If you do the math, that's about $.31 to feed each of us.

Now, in fairness, because of our backyard farm, I did already have all this on hand:

frozen chickens

sweet potatoes

canned tomatoes

frozen corn

frozen stir-fry mix

frozen grated zucchini 

Before I could start bagging things up, I had some basic prep work to do.

Many of the recipes are vegetarian, but I was able to stretch just 2 chickens enough to be used in 6 of the meals and to make my own chicken broth for use in the soups.

Every part of the thawed chicken was used in some way (from left to right):

bones, back, neck used to make broth, cubed breast and leg meat for the recipes calling for boneless chicken, wings and thighs for the recipes calling for bone-in chicken.

And, I had to soak and cook some black beans (this is a day-long activity).

I separated the chicken parts intended for broth so that I could make two batches.  Several of the recipes were soups.  Some called for broth to be added to the bags, but many of them just need broth to be added to the Crockpot.  I was able to make about 30 cups of broth.

Finished product -- 12 bags that look a lot like this! 

Since these recipes are all new to our family, I'll share them as we try them.  I'd hate to waste your time and mine by posting a recipe that's no good!  (If you absolutely can't wait, see the recipes here.)

The process, though, was not bad at all.  Sure, I was in the kitchen most of the day, but I just kept reminding myself of the time I was saving down the road.  I had the giant mess all cleaned up and put away by the time the girls got home.  Girl 1 was very confused when she got home from dance practice and discovered that it was leftovers for dinner:  "I really thought I saw beans cooking in here this morning?!"  I let her wonder for a minute about whether or not she was losing her mind, then I filled her in on my day. ;)