How to Flash Freeze Fruits and Vegetables

Everybody knows real food is a great idea, but one of the biggest obstacles most people face is that processed food is SO convenient - it's always there, no matter the season, predictable and never-changing.  But real food comes in seasons.  You can't (or maybe shouldn't) eat fresh strawberries in December.

That's why I love my freezer!  If you opened my freezer right now (it's October), you would find containers full of strawberries and blueberries that I picked this summer.  They are obviously not as fun as fresh, but there's something decadent about a strawberry in the middle of the winter.  *

But you can't just throw a bowl of strawberries in the freezer and hope for good results!

To freeze fruits and veggies quickly and easily, do these 4 things:

1. Find a cookie sheet or quarter sheet-pan that will fit in your freezer.

2. Line the cookie sheet with parchment or waxed paper

3. Spread fruit or vegetable in a SINGLE LAYER on the waxed paper.

4. Place in freezer for a few hours.

Yes.  It really is that easy.  But it's magical: the SINGLE LAYER of fruit or veggie means when it's time to transfer your produce to more permanent freezer storage, each berry or grape or carrot slice will come off the pan without sticking to all the others!  This way, you don't end up with a giant boulder of frozen fruit that you have to break before using!

Storage Tip: in the past I've used Zip-type bags, but since I'm trying to move away from so much disposable plastic, I now use inexpensive lidded plastic pitchers.

Long Term Storage Tip: Some veggies contain enzymes that may make the produce mushy or discolored if it is going to be frozen for a long time.  For example, if you flash freeze corn as described above, after a few weeks, they will become softer.  But I have never had this problem with berries!  If you are planning on keeping frozen vegetables in the freezer for many months, you may want to steam blanch them first to deactivate those pesky enzymes.  Then you can use this single-layer flash-freezing method just as described!

* I know some hard-core preppers or even permaculturists might call me out on this: "Freezers use so much energy."  "If you can those strawberries, you can keep them at room temperature."  "If the SHTF, your frozen strawberries won't last long," sniggering behind their hands as they stockpile fake dried cheese.

And you know what?  They're right.  People have been living happily without frozen strawberries for thousands of years.  But I'm a big proponent of Jack Spirko's "Law of Prepping:" Everything you do to prepare for the future should benefit you in the future, but it should also benefit you RIGHT NOW!

And right now, I want to pick lots of local organic strawberries in June, and I want to have some to give to my kids in October when the skies are gray and cloudy and we all need a little Vitamin C.  Our current lifestyle provides us with a freezer, so I'm going to darn well use it.  A full freezer is an efficient freezer anyway.

Homemade Hash Browns in 20 Minutes

I am so excited with how popular my old post "How to Make Homemade Frozen Hashbrowns" has been!  Wow - Pinterest is an amazing thing for bloggers!

Here is the original post, in case you missed it the first time around:

But what if you haven't planned way ahead to have frozen hashbrowns in the freezer, ready to go?

I want to make sure everyone has a chance to enjoy the crispy, safe-starchy goodness of real hash browns, so here is how I prepare hash brown potatoes when I have NOT planned ahead!  This method takes about 20 minutes from start to finish, so it's perfect for dinner when I've forgotten to plan a side dish.

Ingredients:
Whole raw potatoes (3 average potatoes fit well in my medium skillet)
Butter (at least 2 Tbsp.)
Salt
Pepper

Directions:
1. Shred potatoes.  I use a box grater, but a food processor is even quicker.
2. Put shredded potatoes in a clean kitchen towel and firmly squeeze out any extra moisture into the sink.  This is like wringing out a washcloth - you have to squeeze the potatoes pretty hard.
3. Melt 1 Tbsp. of butter in the skillet over medium heat.
4. Place potatoes in skillet and cover tightly with lid.
5. Allow potatoes to steam for about 10 minutes with the lid on (check after 5 to make sure they're not browning too fast on the bottom)
6. Carefully flip potatoes (I usually divide them into a few sections in the pan to flip them one half at a time)  As you flip, put the rest of the butter in the bottom of the pan.
7. Cook potatoes an additional 5-10 minutes, with the lid OFF the pan.  Potatoes should not steam, but should get cooked and crispy on the bottom.
8. Add salt and pepper to taste.  Remove from pan as soon as bottom of hash browns reach desired crispness.  Serve immediately.

Do you eat potatoes regularly?  What's your favorite way to prepare them?  Do you have any quick go-to sides that you can whip up in a pinch?  Leave a comment and share your ideas!

Posted at Fat Tuesday

Homemade Elderberry Syrup for Cold and Flu

Problem: 

Most over-the-counter cold and flu medicines are for "kids 6 and older" or "4 and older," and the only thing I found at my local drugstore for children 1 and over was honey "cough syrup."  Really, that's all it was.  Honey and water, and preservatives.  "Hmm," I thought, "Thanks, but no thanks, I seem to recall having honey at home in my kitchen..."

Solution:

So what is a concerned mother to do when her whole posse of kids who are NOT "6 and older" is in the midst of cold and flu season?  Why, make Elderberry Syrup, of course!

Elderberry, traditionally called "the country person's medicine chest," has been used medicinally since ancient times.  It contains anti-inflammatory anthocyanins, compounds which can help relieve nasal or chest congestion.  But its real claim to fame is in fighting the flu.  In studies done in Israel in 1993 and 1996, an Elderberry remedy was proven 99% effective at fighting flu viruses.  And honey (the other main ingredient in the syrup) has been proven just as effective of a cough suppressant as dextromethorphan (which is in most over-the-counter cough syrups).

I say "make" elderberry syrup, not "buy," because 4 ounces of this stuff will set you back more than $12 at my local store.  Plus, it may contain delightful additions like Xantham Gum and "mango, raspberry and cherry flavors."  What?  Do I really need mango flavor added to my kid's berry syrup?  

So, instead of paying over $12 for 4 ounces, I made 32 ounces of elderberry syrup for about $5.  

For the discount-savvy among us, that's like a sale sign that says, "93% OFF!"  

Plus, my version contains only water, elderberry juice, and honey.

Here is the recipe, as adapted from the version at Modern Alternative Mama:

(Note!  This is only for children OVER 1 year old!*)

Homemade Elderberry Syrup

Ingredients:

4 cups water

1 cup dried elderberries

1 cup honey (I used 1/2 raw and 1/2 normal)

Directions:

1. Combine dried elderberries and water in a saucepan. 

2. Heat to a boil over medium heat, and boil for 2-3 minutes. 

3. Turn off heat and let steep for an additional 10-15 minutes.  

4. Strain out berries, and allow remaining juice to cool to room temperature (or at least less than 118 degrees if you want the honey to stay "raw"!), and then stir honey into elderberry juice. 

5. Store in quart size container in the refrigerator.  According to the expert, this will keep in the fridge for a month or two (the honey acts as a natural preservative).

So, where do you get dried elderberries?  Well, apparently, there are some on a bush up the road from my house if you want to swing by in early August...  yeah, I didn't get mine there either (I didn't know what they were used for in August).  I got mine on Amazon because Mountain Rose Herbs was sold out.  Apparently, I'm not the only one interested in making elderberry syrup!  

My elderberries came in a lovely 1 lb. package.

1 cup is about a quarter of the package, so I should be able to make syrup 3 more times from this batch.

Since it's not a good idea to give honey to baby Euclid, I made him a separate batch with no honey, and froze it in ice cube trays so I can defrost it a week at a time or so.  

*A word about the age restriction: Even if you boil the honey in the syrup instead of adding it later, you should not give this stuff to babies under 1.  Honey can contain botulism spores, which an infant's stomach is not equipped to deal with.  Boiling is notoriously ineffective against botulism spores (hence the need for pressure canning some items at extra-high temps), so your open saucepan on the stove won't kill the suckers.  Maybe there is a safe temperature to pressure cook honey at to make this safe for babies, but I don't know, don't want to risk it, and since Euclid will be force-fed this stuff with a syringe anyway, I don't care if it is not super sweet (it's not horrible without honey, just has a shorter shelf life). 

Posted at Simple Lives Thursday and Real Food Fridays

Homemade Freezer Hashbrowns

If you want to put some hash browns in the freezer to have on hand, this is the recipe for you!  But if you don't have time for the freezer part and you want homemade hash browns right now, then check out my 20 Minute Real Hash Browns recipe!

If you've been reading a while, you may know that our family is limiting how many (and which) grains we eat regularly.  My husband is trying to lose some more weight (he's lost 25 pounds so far!!), and I'm trying to alleviate my seasonal allergies, which aggravate my asthma.  The kids are just along for the ride.

Since neither the kids nor I are trying to lose weight, we are being careful to eat plenty of carbs (we probably still eat waaay less than the average American, since our diets are based more around fats).  Also, I find that we all stay fuller longer, and have more energy, when we are intentional about keeping some starchy foods in our diets.  We are avoiding wheat for now (except occasional sprouted bread), and only eating corn, oats, and other cereal grains occasionally.  But rice, sweet potatoes, and white potatoes have increasingly become staples in our diet (hallelujah, they're cheap, too!).

One of our favorite ways to start the morning is with over-medium eggs and hash brown potatoes.  This is a good substitute for my husband's old favorite of eggs and toast, and the potatoes help us all stay full and energized (just eggs, and I am ready to crash by 10 am).

So we have two choices: Frozen Prepared Hash Browns or Homemade Hash Browns

• Frozen from the store: These are quick, easy, and fool-proof.  They are also much more expensive than a sack-o-potatoes, and they all seem to include soybean oil or dextrose (sugar).  Blech.
• Homemade Hash Browns: Making them from raw potatoes is too time consuming for busy mornings (Shred, steam, brown potatoes), and they sometimes turn out soggy, sometimes burn if you look away for 3 seconds.  But they're so cheap, and I can cook them in glorious butter.

Don't worry, there's a third alternative:

Homemade Frozen Hash Browns!  These require less hands-on time overall, are quick and easy to make in the morning, and always come out nice and crispy.  

Ingredients:

Potatoes.  Lots.

Directions:

1. Scrub potatoes.
2. Bake potatoes at around 350 F for 45 minutes (way less hands-on time here than hovering over the stove while potatoes steam).
3. Grate potatoes (waaaay easier than grating raw potatoes, by the way)
4. Freeze potatoes (I like to freeze them on baking sheets, then break them up and put them in freezer bags so they don't clump together)

Ready to Eat Directions:

1. Heat pan and melt copious amounts of butter in bottom.
2. When butter is melted, add layer of frozen hash browns, and salt and pepper as desired.  Cook 4-5 minutes, or until hash browns are browned on bottom.  Flip and cook until other side browns.  Since potatoes are pre-cooked, you can cook them to your desired brownness, and they will still be "done."

Note: Once the potatoes are in the oven, they bake themselves.  So you can, you know, leave the room and do something else.  Glorious.

Grating cooked potatoes is pretty easy, especially if you use a food processor shredder attachment.  Mine is broken.

If you enjoyed this "Real Convenience Food" post, check out my Frozen Chicken Broth and Frozen Chicken Nuggets.  Simple to make, and so convenient to have on hand!

Posted at Monday Mania, Gluten Free Monday, Melt in Your Mouth Monday, Fat Tuesday, Tasty Tuesday, Teach Me Tuesday, Fight Back Friday and Simple Lives Thursday

Southwest Chicken Salad in Avocado Bowls (Grain-free)

My poor husband hates soup.

So I am trying to make him all kinds of delicious, grain-free (or at least grain-restricted; we still eat rice sometimes) dinners...without breaking the bank.  Let's face it, large chunks of good quality meat cost money.  Soups are fantastic ways to stretch meat into satisfying, cost-effective dinners, without resorting to using grains as cheap fillers.  But soups generally only rate about a 6 on my husband's 1 to 10 scale of dinner deliciousness, and that is when they are accompanied by something light, fluffy, and wheaty.

Enter the meat salad.  It can pass itself off as a large serving of meat, but it has so many vegetables in it that it's much more economical.  Also, the delicious dressing can contain enough fat to make the meal filling and satisfying.  So hungry husband feels like he is getting a ton of hearty meat, and I know that I have stretched that meat within an inch of its life.

An added bonus here: chicken salad is a fantastic use for leftover meat from a whole roast chicken.  Or for less-desirable chicken parts.  In this case, I had a bunch of chicken thighs in the freezer (they are so much cheaper than chicken breasts that I can buy organic for about the same cost as a conventional chicken breast), but the hubster is not a huge fan of thigh meat on the bone, either.  When it's cooked and chunked or shredded, however, it ceases to be chicken thigh and becomes just...chicken.

Southwest Chicken Salad in Avocado Bowls

Ingredients:

Oil for cooking chicken

1/2 to 1 lb chicken, cut into chunks

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp paprika

salt to taste

pepper to taste

1 egg yolk

1/4 c. olive oil (or mayo-making oil of your choice)

1 tsp mustard

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

2 bell peppers, chopped

1 tomato, chopped

2 large avocados

sour cream (optional)

fresh cilantro (optional)

Instructions:

1. Cook chicken in oil of choice (I used refined coconut) until it is no longer pink.  Add spices (onion powder through paprika), and salt and pepper.  
2. Meanwhile, in medium bowl, whisk egg yolk, mustard, apple cider vinegar very thoroughly.  Then, starting with one drop at a time and gradually adding, whisk in olive oil very thoroughly.  This sauce mixture should become frothy and creamy-looking.  When chicken is done, whisk the oil and spices from the cooking pan into the mixture as well.
3. Stir cooked chicken, bell pepper, and tomato into sauce mixture.  Adjust salt/pepper as necessary.  Perhaps make the chicken salad a bit saltier than you'd usually like, since it will be eaten with unseasoned avocado.
4. Slice avocados in half, remove pits, and spoon chicken salad into them.  (If desired, avocados may be sliced up or removed from their skins before serving.  We enjoyed just heaping the salad on top and eating with a spoon.)
5. Garnish with sour cream and fresh cilantro, if desired.

What are your favorite dollar-stretching meals?  What is your favorite way to save a little money and still eat the way you want to?

Posted at Pennywise Platter, Simple Lives Thursday, Fat Tuesday, WFMW, Fight Back Friday, Food on Fridays and Monday Mania, Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways, 

Grain-free Beef/Veggie Potpie

I've been working on broadening our grain-free horizons lately by adapting conventional recipes into forms that are a little more suitable for our dietary preferences.  This is the latest - all the comforting, hot deliciousness, with none of the grains.  The crust on top uses a grain-free biscuit dough that I recently discovered -  it's surprisingly light and fluffy!

Ingredients:

Filling:

1 lb ground beef (or meat of your choice - I used ground elk)

3 large carrots, chopped

2 ribs celery, chopped

1 large onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, chopped

3 tomatoes, chopped, or 1 can diced tomatoes

1 Tbsp. butter/oil (I used coconut oil)

Crust (biscuit dough):

1/3 c. coconut flour

4 eggs

1/3 c. butter, melted

1/2 t. salt

1 T garlic powder

1/2 c. shredded cheese (optional)

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 400 F.
2. In large skillet, melt butter/oil.  Cook ground beef with carrots and onion until beef is browned and onions are tender.  Add garlic and tomatoes, then simmer on low heat and stir for about 10 minutes, or until most of the liquid has evaporated.
3. Meanwhile, combine all crust ingredients except shredded cheese.  Stir very, very well until all the coconut flour lumps are incorporated.  You can't over-stir this, since it doesn't have any gluten in it.
4. Carefully transfer meat/veggie mixture to oven-safe casserole dish (or if you cooked it in an oven-safe skillet that has enough room in it for biscuit dough,  you can just use that).
5. Arrange crust dough on top of meat mixture and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until biscuit dough is cooked through and golden brown.  
6. If desired, sprinkle with cheese and brown under broiler for about a minute, until cheese melts.
7. Let cool for 5 minutes, then serve.

This recipe got pretty rave reviews from my family.  I wasn't sure how they would accept the non-grain crust on top, but that was their favorite part!  It really does have a nice, butter taste and fairly fluffy texture (even better topped with cheese).

Posted at Monday Mania, Hearth and Soul, Frugal Days Sustainable Ways, WFMW, and Fat Tuesday

Summery Salmon Salad

Mmm, fresh salmon might be my new favorite thing about living in Oregon (or maybe it's the blackberries...it's a toss-up).  A friend from church was here helping my husband with some work the other day and stopped by to give us a whole salmon he had caught.

After doing a rather shoddy job of filleting the salmon, I was left with a heap of delicious meat clinging to bones and the salmon spine.  According to the lady in the "filleting salmon" YouTube video, this meat is the fattiest and tastiest.  So I gently simmered the bones, let them cool, then carefully picked the meat off them.

I came up with about 2 cups of "extra" salmon meat just begging to be eaten (actually, Einstein was the one doing the begging.  "Mommy, can we please eat some of that fish right now?").  So we had a little salmon salad for lunch.

Thanks to Paula Dean for the inspiration for this recipe.  Paula, I love butter too.  Now please, stop giving butter a bad name and making oodles of money promoting pharmaceuticals.  Thanks.

Anyway...

Summery Salmon Salad

Ingredients:
2 c. cooked salmon
2 hard boiled eggs, chopped
1 bell pepper, finely chopped
1/4 c. onion, very finely chopped
3-4 Tbsp. mayonnaise
dash lemon juice
salt and pepper

Directions:
Combine ingredients, seasoning to taste with salt and pepper.  Enjoy on rice crackers, or "dip vehicle" of choice.

Miss Euler just ate this with a spoon (the very finely chopped onions help make it more kid-friendly, so they're not getting a big spicy bit unexpectedly).  Einstein ate it with rice crackers, then a few organic tortilla chips.  We were having a picnic out in the yard, and the dog was being very good and keeping his distance.  But when I ran back into the kitchen for 30 seconds, he seized the opportunity, bullied his way onto the picnic blanket, and stole the rest of the Salmon Salad right out of Einstein's hands.  I heard yelling and ran back out to discover a happy dog and a crying, trying-to-be-brave 4-year-old.

"Mommy, I tried to push him away, but he wouldn't stop.  He took my last bite!"

It is that good.


Posted at Fat Tuesday and Hearth and Soul

Gluten-free Chicken Gravy

We love a good roast chicken.  This week, we had our first ever real, live, happy, pastured chicken (well, it wasn't happy anymore...it was dinner.  But it had a heck of a good life) from a farmer down the road!

We have been eating only organic chicken for over a year, only occasionally (because those poor organic birds are still not necessarily pastured or well-raised), and only whole birds (waaay cheaper, plus then we get all the bones, and we're not supporting the illogical "boneless skinless breast" phenomenon).

So this particular chicken was a bit of a treasure, and I intended to use every bit of it.  We ate up the chicken, popped the carcass in the crock pot with some water to make broth, and drained the drippings into a pan, which went in the fridge.

A few days later, those gorgeous drippings were calling my name at lunch time.  They looked like they would be perfect as a gravy to enjoy over rice noodles!

With some nice, soft noodles and ooey-gooey sauce, I was even able to pass this off to the kids as a mac 'n' cheese substitute.  It was grudgingly accepted (I thought it was delicious)

Chicken Gravy

Ingredients:
1/2 c to 1 c chicken drippings
2 tsp. rice flour (I think arrowroot starch would work too as a thickener)
1 c. cream, milk, or chicken stock
additional salt/pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Heat chicken drippings in small saucepan
2. Thoroughly stir in rice flour (a whisk helps get the lumps out).
3. When flour is thoroughly incorporated, slowly add cream, milk, or chicken stock, stirring well, until gravy reaches desired consistency.  Remove from heat.

Do you have any "rubber chicken" ideas that stretch a single cut of meat into more meals than one?  What are your favorite leftover ideas?

Posted at Monday Mania, Fat Tuesday and Pennywise Platter

Homemade Baconnaise

So, we've established that homemade mayonnaise is doable and so worth it, right?

Here's my next step: an extra burst of flavor from our old favorite...oh yes, bacon.

This is apparently a favorite in the Paleo community, so I thought I should probably jump on the bandwagon, for my husband's sake.

It is super easy, with only a few ingredients, and since I save our bacon fat, it was nearly free for us.  If you are a little short on bacon fat, I bet the bacon-y flavor would still shine through if you used, say, half a cup of bacon fat, and half a cup of olive oil.

Homemade Baconnaise

Ingredients:
2 egg yolks*
1 tsp. mustard
1 tsp. apple cider vinegar or lemon juice
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. melted bacon fat (or tallow if you want to make beef-aise, duck fat if you want to make duck-aise)

Instructions:

1. In medium bowl, whisk egg yolks, mustard, and ACV or lemon juice very thoroughly.
2. Very slowly, add melted fat to the egg yolk mixture, whisking quickly the whole time.  I mean super slowly, like start out with just a drop or two at a time. 
3. Watch to make sure the oil is incorporating itself into the mixture, and that it is starting to get thick and creamy.  If it is super-runny, and the oil is just pooling on top, your baconnaise has "split," or failed to emulsify.  You can save it by adding it (again, very slowly) to an additional egg yolk.

Note 1: This is a "sometimes food" in our house, not because of the saturated fat or cholesterol (which we are generally fans of), but because bacon from less-than-ideal sources (even if it's uncured, like mine) is pretty high in omega-6's compared to omega-3's.  Most of us could use more omega-3's in comparison to our omega-6's, so unless we have a really great source of bacon (like pastured/fed fantastic stuff), we probably don't want to be inhaling the stuff every morning.  Also, I've read that pigs are notoriously bad at converting PUFA's (less stable polyunsaturated fatty acids) from their food into saturated fat (the stable kind we like) in their bodies, also making bacon a good choice for, well, sometimes.

*Note 2: These are raw egg yolks.  If you aren't comfortable with that, or you don't know where your eggs came from/don't trust their source, use pasteurized in-shell eggs.  Washing the egg before cracking it is supposed to help prevent contamination from any salmonella on the shell, however, I guess something like 1 in 30,000 eggs may have salmonella inside it.  The chances of the average egg-eater encountering such an egg is one in every 84 years, to put that in perspective.  But do note that all the official food safety people advise against eating raw or undercooked eggs.

Do you have a favorite homemade mayo or sauce recipe?  What are your feeling on eating raw/undercooked eggs?


Posted at Pennywise Platter

Homemade Ranch Dressing Mix

My family is a whole lot happier eating real food when it tastes, well, like what they are used to!

Unfortunately, so many of our favorite "signature flavor" sauces and condiments are full of preservatives, rancid oils, or frightening chemicals, making them off-limits for a real-food family.

Not to worry!  Almost every classic condiment can be easily made in your own kitchen.  

I just have to share my own favorite sauce, good old Ranch Dressing.  This recipe tastes as much as I can make it taste like H*dden Valley, but without the MSG and other fake food ingredients.  

Taking an idea from the name brand variety, I love to make a ready-to-use dry mix with all the right spices.  Then I can just pick how I want to use the dressing and mix accordingly.  Note: the flavors blend together and taste best if the dressing, dip, or spread is mixed up the night before and kept in the fridge overnight before use.

For example, for salad dressing (thin and pourable), I stir the dry mix into 1 cup sour cream (I'd love to see how homemade Greek yogurt or kefir cream would work for this, too!), 1 cup mayonnaise (homemade if possible), and 2 cups buttermilk (I also use plain raw milk sometimes)

For veggie dip (thicker), I love to mix with just 1 quart of sour cream or yogurt.

For a thick spread (like to put on crackers or veggie pizza), mix with 1 c. mayonnaise, 1 c. sour cream, and 16 oz. softened cream cheese.

Ingredients (to be mixed with 1 qt. wet ingredients):

2 Tbsps. dry parsley flakes

1 Tbsp. dry onion powder

1/2 tsp. black pepper

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. dry dill 

1/4 tsp. sweetener of choice (like Rapadura)

Another note: Depending on your choice of liquid ingredients, if you add some homemade whey to the liquid ingredients, mix well, and set the mixture on the counter overnight before refrigerating, the friendly bacteria in the whey will help keep the Ranch Dressing good in the fridge much longer.  Otherwise, if you use homemade mayonnaise in your dressing, with no whey, remember that homemade mayo is only good for a day or two, even in the fridge!

What are your family's favorite condiments?  Do you ever make them from scratch?

Posted at Simple Lives Thursday, Your Green Resource and Pennywise Platter

Homemade Freezer Chicken Nuggets: 75% Savings!

If you like this kind of thing, also check out Homemade Chicken Broth and Homemade Frozen Hash Browns for more REAL convenient food!

Don't you love the trade-off between doing things yourself, inexpensively, and doing them quickly, but paying a whole lot more?  Take frozen chicken nuggets, for example.

My last trip to the freezer section revealed that I could purchase ready-made organic chicken nuggets for $16.00 a pound!  Yes, that's right, the 8 oz. package was $8.00.  

A few rows down, in the meat section, I found organic chicken thighs for $2.49 a pound.  Sold.

They are not packaged in a colorful bag, but these nuggets cost me about $3.00/lb, instead of $16.00!

Of course, since deboning chicken thighs is not my all-time favorite thing to do when I have some free time, I put off actually making the nuggets until the defrosted meat in my fridge really couldn't be ignored another day.

Then, using approximately the same method I used when I posted my original Freezer Nugget Recipe, I deboned the thighs, cut them into bite-sized pieces, breaded, and baked them.  They turned out quite a bit crispier this time, and just as delicious!

Ingredients:

• Chicken of your choice, deboned, and cut into bite-sized pieces
• Eggs (about 2 eggs per pound of chicken meat)
• Flour of choice (I used rye this time, but next time I'm going to try out rice flour)
• Breading Seasonings:  Salt, Pepper, Onion and Garlic Powder, whatever you feel like trying!  

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Whisk eggs in small bowl.
3. Mix flour and seasonings together in another small bowl.
4. Working one at a time, or in batches (whatever works for you), dip each chicken piece in flour mixture, then egg, then flour mixture again.  Place on greased baking sheet.
5. When baking sheet is full, bake for 20 minutes, flipping chicken nuggets over after 10 minutes.
6. Cool, store, and reheat whenever you need a quick meal or snack!

Posted at Monday Mania and WFMW

Mom's Crock Pot Chili

There are some recipes that just can't help but make you think of fall, familiarity, and family.  This is the chili recipe that my family grew up eating.  I know now why it was such a hit - it's a kid-pleaser (not too spicy), and it's insanely easy.  The best part is, it can cook all day in the crock pot and be waiting happily for you eat it at dinner time!

We'll be trying this today with soaked whole wheat biscuits...I'm not going to post that recipe just yet, because last time they didn't turn out so well, and I want to make sure I actually like the recipe before I share it!  I think they will probably be a little easier to make here at sea-level instead of at 9000 ft. elevation.

I've added a few extra veggies to the original recipe to stretch it a little, plus I've added black beans instead of the traditional pinto.  If you're not into canned tomatoes/sauce/beans, feel free to substitute fresher or more homemade options!  I tend to forget to have tomato sauce on hand and just puree a few tomatoes in the blender instead.  Also, if you're trying to incorporate liver into your reluctant family's diet, this is a great recipe to sneak it into!  The chili powder flavor is strong enough to mask any liver flavors you may be trying to hide.

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp. coconut oil
1 lb gr. beef
1 onion, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
2 ribs of celery, chopped
1 can diced tomatoes or 2 ripe tomatoes, chopped
1 15 oz can tomato sauce
2 15 oz cans black beans (or about 4 cups black beans)
1 Tbs chili powder
Salt & Pepper to taste

Directions:
Brown beef with coconut oil, chopped onion, pepper, and celery.  Place in crock pot with all other ingredients except beans, salt and pepper.  Cook on low 4 hours.  Add beans, and cook additional 30 minutes.  Season to taste.

Yes, that's it.  Fantastically easy - it basically cooks itself!  Fantastic for a busy day, or an evening when company is coming for dinner.  We're having this tonight with my visiting grandparents, mainly because it's so easy that we can enjoy their company all evening instead of worrying about dinner being ready!

Do you have any favorite family recipes that have resurfaced in your own kitchen?


Posted at Real Food Wednesday, Simple Lives Thursday,  Pennywise Platter

Spinach Butternut Soup

This week, the kids and I accompanied my husband to a retreat in Newport (the kids' first time to see the  ocean!).  On our way there, we got to visit my sister in Corvallis at Gathering Together Farm, where she works.  It's a pretty awesome and inspiring place (especially for this farm-starved Colorado girl), totally organic, offering CSA boxes, a "farm stand" store, and on-site lunches and dinners a few days a week.

Photo credit: www.gatheringtogetherfarm.com

We arrived at the farm just in time for lunch, and we were in for a treat.  Their menu changes every week or two, depending on what produce is in season (and how creative the chef is feeling, I'm told).  My husband and the kids shared a small pizza baked in their outdoor wood oven, and I enjoyed their Spinach-squash Soup.

The soup was fantastic - creamy and squashy, but with a green color and flavor that revealed the presence of spinach.  As I ate it, I wished I had a nice enough blender that could puree spinach that smoothly.  And then I decided, what the heck?!  I'll try it anyway!

Just to make this perfectly clear, this is NOT the Gathering Together Farms recipe for Spinach-squash soup (I don't want to make their chef, JC, look bad with my amateur attempts): It is my own attempt to replicate the original glorious deliciousness.  But it's pretty darn good (even my soup-hating husband liked it!).


Ingredients:
1-2 Tbsp. Butter
1 medium onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 c. frozen spinach, defrosted (or 1 1/2 c. fresh spinach)
2 c. butternut squash chunks, cooked
2 c. chicken broth
1/2 c. cream
dash nutmeg

Instructions:
In medium skillet, melt butter and saute onion until softened.  Add garlic and saute additional 1-2 minutes.  Remove from heat.  In blender, combine onions, garlic, spinach, squash chunks, and enough chicken broth to cover solid ingredients.  Blend until smooth.  Return blended mixture to pan.  Add remaining ingredients and heat to serving temperature (if cream is raw, add it separately once soup had cooled somewhat).

What is your favorite recipe for winter squash?  Do you prefer to combine it with savory flavors, or sweet?

Posted at Monday Mania, Melt in Your Mouth Monday, Sharing Monday, MaFF, Mangia Monday, Barn Hop 

World's Worst-Sounding Dessert

Prune Crisp.

Ewww.  That might be the worst name for a dessert ever.  The "prune" part sounds like something a little too dried and wrinkly that people looking for a fiber boost might enjoy.  The "crisp" part doesn't help.

But let me assure you, it's delicious.  And it has very few healthful or redeeming qualities.  But we had company a few days ago, and my dinner plan was a little lacking.  A dessert seemed necessary.  I had a bunch of "plums" from our tree in the garden that were left over from my first canning project, so a little sugar, flour, butter, and oatmeal was all that was required for a delicious and simple "plum crisp."

When our dinner guest tried the dessert, he started asking leading questions about the kind of fruit that was in it, and we eventually came to realize that we don't actually have a plum tree after all, but a prune tree.  I had always thought that prunes were just any kind of dried plums, but apparently certain varieties exist that are actually called "prunes," even when they are not dried.  So my lovely canned "plums" and "plum crisp" were misnamed.  "Canned prunes" just don't have quite the same ring to them.

Anywho, here is the totally unhealthy, but totally delicious prune crisp we enjoyed:

Prune Crisp

Fruit Layer:
5 cups plums or undried prunes, quartered
1 Tbsp flour
2 Tbsp granulated sugar
1 tsp. vanilla

Crisp Layer:
1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. oats
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 c. butter

Combine first 4 ingredients and spread in 9x11 baking dish.  In small bowl, combine crisp layer ingredients.  Sprinkle crisp layer mixture over fruit mixture.  Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes, or until crispy and lightly browned.

I didn't have the presence of mind as I was making this the first time to make any healthful improvements, but if I were to make it again, I would probably switch out the sugar for honey in the fruit mixture, and perhaps the flour for arrowroot powder to thicken.  In the crisp portion, sucanat would substitute well for brown sugar.  I'm not exactly sure what could be used in place of flour to make a crisp - maybe sprouted wheat flour?  I suppose the flour just holds everything together, and it doesn't have to rise, or even contain gluten, so perhaps any flour would work.  Any ideas?

Posted at Melt in Your Mouth Monday Market Yourself Monday, Homemaker Monday, and Sharing Monday

The Hardest Dip You'll Ever Make

Three Avocados.  One (gloriously delicious, ripe) peach.

Peel.  Pit.  Place in bowl.  Mash with fork.  Add dash of pepper if desired.  Devour with whatever you want to dip.  Or eat with a spoon.

So what's with the title?  It is just so darn hard not to eat up the ingredients before you can mash them together.  Good luck.  If you only eat 2 bites of the peach, you'll be doing better than me.

Posted at Fight Back Friday

"Special" Yogurt

Just to clear this up before any confusion arises, although medicinal marijuana is legal in Colorado, I am not spiking my yogurt with it.  Please do not think that when you read the title of today's post.

Today's "special" yogurt was named by (almost 3 yr. old) Einstein, who - happily - thinks that "normal" yogurt is supposed to be homemade, tart, and free of added sugar.  He discovered store-bought, sweetened yogurt a few months ago after enduring a particularly difficult haircut at grandma's house.  Grandma knew I would not be wild about him being offered a cookie as a reward, so yogurt was a good compromise.  At least it is cultured.  

Anyway, I was super inspired by the Blueberry Cream Cheese that Nikki blogged about at Project: Family Cookbook last week.  I, too, have fond memories of blueberry bagels with blueberry cream cheese at my favorite bagel shop in junior high and high school.

Fortunately, due to my recent yogurt mishap, I had plenty of curds hanging out in the fridge, waiting to be turned into something delicious.  Unfortunately, my curds weren't really as well-drained as I thought they were (whoops, they were sitting in a puddle of whey as I attempted to drain them), and not a very cream-cheese-y consistency.

So "special" blueberry yogurt was the answer!  There are several wonderful things about this:

• No packaging to toss.
• No trip to the store.
• No weird additives. 
• No sugar!
• The only ingredients are (slightly over-moist) yogurt curds and pureed blueberries!
• It tastes about 500x better than the stuff in the little plastic cup.

Now I just need to think of a difficult task for the kids to accomplish so they can be rewarded with this fantastic treat!  After all, I don't want them thinking this is how yogurt should taste ALL the time!  :)

Do  you have any "copycat" recipes that taste just as good as store-bought, but without the compromise in nutrition?

Posted at Simple Lives Thursday, Pennywise Platter and Fight Back Friday

Vanilla "Chai" Pudding

Who doesn't love a good pudding?  It may be a humble dessert (until you caramelize the top), but there's something rich and comforting about a bowl of pudding.  Another bonus: it is easy to make at high altitude, unlike baked goods.

However, the instant mix in the grocery store doesn't exactly pack a lot of nutritional punch.  Its one claim to healthiness is that it is high in calcium (because you mix it with milk).  But the powder itself is a little lacking, and definitely not a "real food." *

I've dabbled in various custards the last few years, including a "baby custard" at the Weston A. Price Foundation website that doesn't have any grains or egg whites in it.  It had delicious flavor, but thus far most of my grain-less puddings have cooked too fast or too long and scrambled the eggs to a quiche-like consistency.  Yuck.

I recently discovered a really delicious chocolate pudding recipe at Penniless Parenting that includes a little bit of cornstarch to help the pudding keep a nice consisency.  However, my kids are always eager to try whatever pudding I make, and I would rather not fill them with caffeine from the cocoa.  So I tried a new and delicious non-chocolate variation that (wow!) turned out well!  It doesn't actually contain any chai tea, but the flavor is almost identical to the classic coffeehouse drink.

My one beef with this pudding is that the milk in it gets cooked... so even if you start with raw milk, you end up basically pasteurizing it as you cook it.  To avoid that cooked milk, my next pudding project will be this fantastic-sounding raw banana pudding created by Melissa at Dyno-Mom.


Ingredients:
3 c milk
1/4 c sugar (or sucanat/Rapadura)
1/4 c corn starch (or potato starch)
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
3 eggs

Directions:
Stir milk, corn starch, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger in saucepan over low heat, until no lumps remain.  Continue to heat and stir until mixture begins to thicken.  In small bowl, stir eggs quickly.  When milk mixture has begun to thicken, put one spoonful of milk mixture into eggs and stir quickly.  Then pour egg mixture all at once into saucepan and stir quickly.  Cook, stirring continuously, until pudding just starts to bubble.  Remove from heat and pour into individual serving dishes.  Cover and refrigerate if desired.

*Ingredients of Jello Brand Instant Pudding: Sugar, Modified Food Starch, Natural and Artificial Flavor, Salt, Disodium Phosphate and Tetrasodium Pyrophosphate (For Thickening), Mono- and Diglycerides (Prevent Foaming), Artificial Color, Yellow 5, Yellow 6, Bha (Preservative).


Posted at Penny pinching Party , Show Me What Ya Got , Tempt My Tummy Tuesday, Tuesdays at the Table  Tuesday Tasty Tidbits, Tasty Tuesday, Tasty Tuesday, and Traditional Tuesdays

What to Do With All Those Radishes

Ode to Radishes:

Oh, radishes, you flourish in my garden plot.

I don't know what to do with you, so I cook you in a pot.

This horrendous bit of poetry pretty much sums up the life of the humble radish, doesn't it?  They are some of the first seeds to sprout, the first plants to get real leaves in the garden, and the first to be ready for harvest.  In my climate, they are a mid-summer vegetable, but most climates only support them in the spring and fall.  

I have had a love/hate relationship with radishes since the first time I planted them a few years ago.  While I waited (impatiently) for my other seeds to sprout, I was encouraged that at least something was alive in my garden.  The love only deepened last summer, when they were the only vegetable in my garden to actually survive being dug up by my dog (twice) and tentatively replanted.  A few of them actually made it to harvest after all that drama.  True vegetable love.

So where does the hate come in?  Well, I don't really like the flavor of raw radishes.  All my life, I'd only ever encountered them sliced on top of salads, and their strong, lingering, peppery flavor was not one of my favorites.  So I was torn...I love to see them flourishing in the garden, but is it really worth it if I don't like to eat them?

After they survived the dog attack last summer, I decided my radishes really deserved to be eaten...and enjoyed!  I discovered the joy of cooked radishes.

Here is my current favorite preparation method, which transforms the unloved salad topping into a lovely vegetable side dish, or even a main dish.

After a thorough washing, sever the radishes from their greens (don't toss the greens though!) and slice them thinly.   Chop the greens coarsely, and if the stems have gotten too tough or woody, toss them.  Saute radish slices in butter or (my favorite), rendered bacon fat.  After the radish slices have sauted for a minute or two, toss in the greens, and cook until just wilted.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

The greens can also be eaten raw, for a slightly spicy salad.  After preparing half of my greens cooked with the radishes, and half chopped and raw, I actually tossed the raw in the pan and sauted them up, too, because I liked the flavor with the bacon fat so much!

After being cooked, the radishes have a delicious mild, very slightly peppery flavor.  I could eat them by the plateful...if my kids didn't swipe them all first.  

What is your favorite garden vegetable?  Are there any that you grow, but don't really like to eat?  Any other great ideas for preparing radishes?

Posted at Real Food Wednesday at Kelly the Kitchen Kop , Penny Pinching Party at The Thrift Home, Tuesdays at the Table at All the Small Stuff, and WFMW at We Are That Family

Sprouted Brownies

You may notice I don't have a lot of dessert recipes on this blog.  This is partly because I am still not very good at high-altitude baking, but mainly because I avoid making desserts for our family most of the time.  If there's a jar full of cookies on the counter, it will get eaten.  If there are no cookies handy, we will have to scrounge for something (hopefully) a little healthier.  Unfortunately, our friend who is currently living with us keeps a constant supply of vanilla ice cream in the freezer to put in his smoothies, but if I tuck it away behind the frozen green beans, I can usually forget it's there.

Anyway, due to my husband's work, most evenings during the summer, our living room is crammed full of college students, hanging out, playing games, or watching a movie.  And college students (especially those who have been working hard outside all day) are generally hungry.  So, despite my horror at the ingredient list, the occasional brownie mix finds its way into our kitchen.  That's fine with me...I try not to be too preachy about what other people eat, and since I never have vegetable oil on hand, at least the brownies get made with real butter.

The problem?  It's really, really hard to explain to a 1-year-old why mommy doesn't want her eating those delicious gooey chocolaty things that all her friends are having.

The solution!  A (slightly) healthier alternative, compliments of Cheeseslave.  While these brownies do contain wheat flour, and so are not gluten-free or GAPs-friendly, the wheat flour is sprouted, making it much easier to digest.

The  main change I've made to this recipe is omitting the vital wheat gluten in the original (it seems to defeat the purpose of using sprouted flour) and adding the extra egg instead.  I've also simplified the directions slightly, because...really?  A separate bowl to combine flour and salt?  I think not.  And I had no problem with unsifted sprouted flour, though the original says to sift.  Also, I had no baking chocolate on hand, so I used cocoa powder and butter instead (I should've used coconut oil, probably, but I was fresh out).  Also, the original recipe's ingredients list mentions 4 oz. semisweet chocolate...but then the directions don't say what to do with it.  I didn't have any, so I just left it out.  Wow, I changed it more than I thought.

All these alterations made the brownies slightly less ooey-gooey with a flaky top, and more cake-like, but they were delicious nonetheless.  By the way, if you're interested in peoples' reactions to vital wheat gluten in a sprouted flour recipe, read the comments at the Cheeseslave original post... entertaining and enlightening. **

Ingredients:
6 Tbsp. baking cocoa powder + 2 Tbsp butter or coconut oil (the equivalent of 2 oz. unsweetened chocolate)*
1/2 c. butter*
2/3 c. sprouted flour
1/2 tsp. sea salt
3-4 eggs*
1 cup sucanat or Rapadura
1 tsp vanilla extract*

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 F.  Combine butter and cocoa powder in saucepan on low heat.  In a mixing bowl, combine eggs, sucanat, and vanilla, then stir in butter/cocoa mixture.  Stir in sprouted flour and sea salt.  Bake for 45-50 minutes, or until fork stuck in the middle comes out clean.

*Side note #1: If you can, obviously the ideal would be to use organic, fair trade cocoa (the fair trade, especially... apparently there should be a movie called Blood Chocolate in addition to Blood Diamond), pastured butter, pastured eggs, and organic vanilla.  But we are not all millionaires.  Just use the best ingredients you can, and be glad that at least you're not using HFCS, partially hydrogenated soybean and/or cotton seed oil, and potassium sorbate, like the boxed mix does.

**Side note #2: After my St. Bernard ate a few bites of these brownies and I freaked out, I did some research and discovered that he would've had to eat approximately 8 full pans of brownies to have chocolate poisoning.  Pheww....

Posted at Show Me What Ya Got at Not Just a Housewife, Tuesdays at the Table at All the Small Stuff, and Tasty Tuesday at Naptime Creations

Veggies for Breakfast - Pepper/Onion Scramble

This time, I don't mean Veggie Tales!

My kids are pretty decent at eating their veggies, so this isn't really a ploy to get them to try.  Having said that, doesn't it always seem like kids are super-hungry at breakfast and not really interested in eating by the time dinner rolls around?  So why do we always save up the day's veggies 'til dinner time, and then wonder why they're not interested?  Shouldn't we be foisting veggies on our kids at breakfast when they're ravenous?

Anyhow...here's a new way we perked up our scrambled eggs this morning.

Meals that start out with a healthy dollop of butter in the frying pan always seem to be my favorites.

I had some frozen veggies left behind by a friend who recently moved.  Yes, I know, the bell peppers are not organic, and they are on the dirty dozen list for pesticide contamination.  But we cannot get organic bell peppers in my town.  They are just not available.  And not worth driving two hours for. :)  So I'll happily use the free food.

Once those were sauted up a little bit, I added...eh... 5 or 6 eggs, I can't remember, and scrambled them up in the pan with a pinch of garlic powder, some salt, and pepper.  When they were almost done, I added a little shake of grated parmesan cheese (I usually avoid cheese with my eggs because of the calcium and iron-absorption issue, but it was just a little...and it goes so well with garlic!)

This breakfast was waaay more delicious than my photo gives it credit for.

The best thing about this breakfast, besides being delicious, is that it will keep us going all morning with no carb-crash.  Protein and fat, you are my friends!

Posted at WFMW at We Are That Family,  Health 2Day Wednesdays at day2day joys, Real Food Wednesday at Kelly the Kitchen Kop, Simple Lives Thursday at Sustainable Eats and Pennywise Platter at The Nourishing Gourmet