Smoothies :)

I know that a lot of these recipes and tips sound super easyand basic, but if you’re anything like me, it’s just never occurred to you tomake your own.  I’m constantly amazed atthe food that I can make so easily in my own kitchen that I pay a premium forat our grocery store.  Lots of times Ifeel like smacking myself on the forehead and wondering why I haven’t thoughtof doing these things sooner.  But I didn’t.  In case you haven’t yet, I decided to sharesome of my findings and processes.

I have a huge bag of frozen berries sitting in my freezer.  I really want to make smoothies out of them, but I always find myself running late, short on time.  I’ve been trying to come up with an idea to make the smoothies ready to go and had some issues figuring out how to store everything so that it not only kept well, but didn’t lose that smoothie consistency.  I had an epiphany the other day.  The solution seems so simple that I’m a bit annoyed that it took me this long to come up with it.

Using my baby food containers (once again) I froze yogurt.  I really love having these ingredients in one ounce, premeasured cubes.  I took some cubes (my preference is three ounces of yogurt) and added fresh spinach (just make sure that it’s totally dry), fresh kale, avocado, frozen berries, and anything else that I like in a smoothie.  Store in a plastic bag or mason jar and freeze.  The night before I just dump one of the bags into my Magic Bullet, place in the refrigerator, and blend in the morning.  I’ve also separated the berries and added them frozen to make the smoothie a little more frosty.  Even better if you have some fresh ingredients ready to throw in at the last second.  We seem to always have some left over vegetables on hand that I can add.  Delicious smoothie in seconds.  It’s the perfect quick breakfast or easy snack. 

Evil little packets

My husband, Jason, is so addicted to those little packets.  You know the ones that you findat the grocery store?  Sometimes they’rea powder and sometimes they’re a sauce, but they are those evil little packetsmeant to spice up your meal.

Jason’s on board with the organic eating, but this is onehabit that I just can’t get him to break. I’ve at least gotten him to avoid HFCS, but sometimes he gets so excitedwhen a new one comes out that he totally forgets to check and has to buyit.  I’ve given up on the otheringredients that I have no idea how to pronounce or what they actually are.

I really don’t understand this addiction.  Everything that we’ve ever made from scratchis far superior to the processed packet. I’ve mentioned before that I keep quite a few of powdered seasoningmixes on hand.  He really has no reasonto buy these packets, yet I just can’t get him to stop.  Even tonight, after I came home, he ran intothe kitchen to grab that little packet of sauce and show me what he had foundtoday.  

I still can’t help but to cringe a little every time I seeone.  I usually try to grin and bear it(and not read the ingredients list).  Theybring him such joy.

Homemade chicken stock

As I mentioned in my previous post, I am trying to make some simple everyday staples (at least in my household) from scratch. The first weekend I successfully made breadcrumbs. This week was supposed to be homemade pie crusts. I was looking forward to it, but the tried and true recipe suggested by a dear friend required a food processor. Since my cheap food processor quit on me, that will have to wait. Instead I decided to make my own chicken stock.

I ended up cooking three whole chickens (just baked them in the oven) for my freezer meals. After I carved them, I stuck anything remaining (including skin) with carrots, onions, celery, garlic, salt, and pepper. Actually, I just used the pot instead of my compost bin while I was chopping vegetables for some recipes. I just filled up the pot with enough water to cover everything and simmered about four hours. When it cooled down a bit, I strained the stock and refrigerated overnight. In the morning I was able to take a nice layer of fat off the top and was left with the delicious stock. 

About the straining…I don’t have a good strainer, so I just used our colander. It worked, but in the future I will definitely invest in a decent strainer to eliminate some of the pieces. For a first attempt it wasn’t terrible, but I would like it to be more of a clear stock that is sold commercially.

I used what I needed for my recipes and froze the remainder. Those baby food trays are coming in handy yet again! Now I have it premeasured in one ounce cubes and ready in the freezer. I did find that I needed to cut it with a bit of water for chicken noodle soup, but I was happy that I was able to stretch it even more.

I plan to start using my limp, not so fresh vegetables for vegetable stock. Although these would usually go in the compost, I still feel like I’m bringing new life to something that would normally just be disposed of. It’s so easy to throw into a big pot, add water, and simmer. 

Just like the breadcrumbs, the flavor is unbelievable compared to the prepackaged stock. Happy simmering!

Making breadcrumbs

I apologize for my lack of posts.  As we all know, the holiday season hasarrived which for me brings additional commitments and busier weekends.  Between shopping, wrapping, decorating, andgeneral cheer, I feel like the hours in each day have gotten even shorter.

My sweet littlest guy has decided to be just like his bigbrother and give up all baby food.  Ihave quite the stash in my freezer and I felt like I was just getting in thegroove of making it again.  He startedthrowing the biggest fit when he wasn’t served the exact same dinner thateveryone else was eating.  When he pairedthese fits with refusing baby food, I knew that my pureeing days wereover.  Luckily he pops out teeth like it’snothing and we have nine and ten about to arrive any day now.

I’ve been cooking numerous freezer meals to prepare for my upcoming surgery.  Each week I decided totake something that we use regularly and make it myself.  Nothing too difficult, not so much tochallenge, but more of an eye opener of how easy this can be. 

The first weekend I made my own breadcrumbs.  I hated buying the premade, but it was justso easy.  I lucked out and found someorganic bread on clearance at the grocery store.  I bought three loaves, which was way toomuch.  I will never have to buy or makebreadcrumbs again!  I placed the sliceson a cookie sheet, being careful to not overlap, and dried them in the oven at300 degrees.  It took about 15 minutesand I flipped the slices about halfway through. After the bread cooled down, I threw the pieces in a food processor andwatched them crumble.  You can decide thelevel of chunkiness.  My food processoris incredibly cheap and I’ve never liked it much.  After the first batch it died on me.  I guess I know what I’ll be asking for thisChristmas!  Anyway, without that frustration,the process was incredibly quick and easy. I almost seasoned the entire batch, but at the last minute decided thatI would season them as needed.

My recipe for seasoning (this is an Italian seasoning):
1 tablespoon garlic salt
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 ½ teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
¼ teaspoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon dried basil
1 tablespoon dried parsley
¼ teaspoon celery salt
1 tablespoon salt

(adapted from allrecipes.com “Italian Dressing Mix”)

This makes quite a bit of seasoning.  If you prefer it as a finer powder, just giveit a spin in a Magic Bullet.  I don’tmind the big parsley, basil, and oregano flakes so I just leave it as is.  I keep this seasoning, ranch dressing powder,and taco seasoning on hand in mason jars. It keeps me away from those packets of chemicals and it’s just aseasy.  I use approximately 2 teaspoons toflavor 1 cup of breadcrumbs.

To store breadcrumbs, just use a glass jar or Ziploc bag andplace them in your freezer.  They’ll be readywhen you need them!  The seasoned versionis incredibly tasty in meatballs and meatloaf. Just like anything else made from scratch, these are so much better thanthe premade store variety.  Enjoy!

War against HFCS

I’ve heard a couple of references that high fructose cornsyrup is about as healthy as heroin and this peaked my curiosity and made myresearch expand.  I never cared for HFCS,but we’ve all seen the commercials – it’s fine in moderation…right?  I buy mostly organic and the times that I don’tthe food would rarely contain HFCS (meats, cheese, etc.), so I shouldn’t reallyhave to worry, or so I thought.

Jason (husband) is a huge fan of sauces.  BBQ, teriyaki, anything that will sauce upstir fry, etc.  He also loves Hershey’schocolate syrup.  And BREAD – have youchecked out bread lately?  The majorityof these that he buys I either end up tossing or just flat out refuse to feedit to our kids (now he knows to check, but we always have a transition period).  Everything has HFCS and most of the time it’seither first or second on the ingredient list. Do you know how difficult it is to find hot dog buns that don’t haveHFCS in the ingredient list?  Our grocerystore has two brands of bread that are made without HFCS.  An entire wall of bread and I have the optionof two!  Now they’re just sneaking it inour staples.

I’ve become very particular about ingredients lists in thepast year.  I am constantly scanning themthroughout the grocery store looking for those four words – high fructose cornsyrup.

I urge everyone to research the ingredients in their food.  Please look up HFCS and find out what it does to your body.  You'll soon find that it wreaks havoc on your entire system and hopefully this will be enough to convince you to stay away.  There are options, you just have to look a little deeper.

Useful

I have fourtrays for freezing baby food.  When I amcooking for my little guys, I am constantly wishing that I had 100 ofthem.  When cooking and freezing cubes ofpureed food is not necessary, I want to throw these trays away.  They do not fit in the cupboards neatly andtake up quite a bit of room.  They alsoseem to be the first item that loves to fall out and bonk you on the headwhenever you are searching for something. Or is that just my clumsiness?

Like themajority of 30-something women, I waste quite a bit of time on Pinterest.  I have found many ridiculous ways to reuseand craft with common household goods and rarely find something practical.  When I do, I feel the need to share.  I am a believer of freezer cooking andreusing and have trouble throwing things away. I also buy organic, which makes my grocery bill a bit higher than thosewho do not.  I love to save money andcoupon and I am constantly looking for a deal. I was elated when I found a post on Pinterest that not only gave me usefor my baby food freezer trays, but also gave me an idea for saving food.

I cook withbuttermilk, whipping cream, etc. when needed and always find myself throwingaway a portion of the carton.  Of course,this is after it sits in my refrigerator long after the expiration date.  Now I take my baby food containers and fillthem with the remainder of the carton and freeze.  Each of my containers are one-ounce cubes, soit’s easy to pull out what I need for a recipe and thaw.  It has never occurred to me to freezeleftover dairy and I’m delighted by this idea. It’s saving me tons of money (especially since I bought a new cartonevery time I needed even the smallest amount) and has given me new uses for myfreezer trays long after my baby food days (although I’ll probably downsize tomy favorite two).

Autumn comfort food for toddlers

The birthdaycake once again received rave reviews.  I’mthinking of making individual servings to bring into work.  The cream cheese icing was much richer thanthe milk-free version that I made for my first son.  I think that it was preferred.  It also made it feel a bit more breakfast-ywhich fit into the brunch theme.  Give ita try - it really is a delicious cake!

I’mactually making quite a bit of baby food again. I’m going to make my favorite pumpkin polenta recipe this week (now thathe can have milk!)  This recipe is adapted from The Petit Appetit Cookbook and I usually double it.  Below is the original recipe size (before doubling). 

2 cups milk(we use organic whole milk, but I have used goat’s milk before)
1 cup canned pumpkin
½ teaspooncinnamon
½ teaspoon ground ginger (optional)
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
pinch of salt
½ cup organic polenta (aka cornmeal. I buy Bob’s Red Mill online)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter or butter substitute
1 tablespoon maple syrup

Combine thefirst six ingredients in a medium saucepan and bring to boil over medium heat.  Add in the polenta and whisk to combine (becareful – polenta will “jump” out of the pot).  Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes, whiskingoccasionally until thick.  Remove fromheat and stir in butter and syrup.

My firstson loved this so much that I fed it to him long after he was eating solidfoods exclusively.  I love that both ofmy boys were born in autumn and I could make this for them when they turnedone.  There is just something comfortingabout that pumpkin spice flavor when the leaves are changing.