Thinking Aloud - Feeding a Family Real Food without Breaking the Bank

a post by Jenni {aka Mom}

I’m think I’m “officially” a real-foodie now. I’ve made the transition from staples of Hamburger Helper, dinosaur-shaped chicken nuggets, canned condensed cream-of-whatever soup, and chemical-packed mixes to staples that are real, raw, farm-fresh, traditional, and just plain good. 

whole wheat strawberry shortcake with organic strawberries from our garden, freshly whipped raw cream, and a glass of fresh, raw milk

Before I made that transition, I had no desire to change anything. At all. I thought it would be too hard, too expensive, too time consuming, and just too much of a headache. I felt very strongly against making changes until my son’s poor health demanded that we make changes - which made me actually do the research - which made me do the math - which made me take the initiative - which has transformed our household into what some friends call “super-granola-crunchy”.

the first batch of butter I made

As much as the former me would have balked, I now grind my flour from whole grain right before I bake with it. I buy almost all my meat from a local farmer, who raises every animal organically and free-range. I buy my eggs there too, for now, and we just invested in hens so we can have our own eggs here at home. I own herd shares at a local Salatin-trained dairy, where the Jersey cows happily graze on a different open green pasture every day. I use that milk to make raw yogurt, kefir, and butter - and I’m beginning to explore making the easy soft cheeses. Our family grows a lot of our own fruits & veggies, and what we don’t grow we’re mostly able to get local and/or organic.

And, you know what? I love it! I love the food. I love the way I feel. I love knowing I’m caring for my family well. I love knowing how to really cook.

The big question I hear most regularly from ladies who’ve just realized we eat this way is ~

How can you afford to feed your family this way??! Doesn't that milk end up being like $7 a gallon??! Isn't that meat twice as expensive as the meat at the grocery store??! I can't do extreme couponing at health food stores or at a farm!

Honestly, if I were to try and buy all our groceries at Whole Foods or another "health food grocer", there would be no possible way we could afford to eat this way. No way at all. And a lot of what places like Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s offer isn’t even near the quality of what we’re eating, anyway. It’s better than Kroger, but depending on what item you’re taking about that isn’t saying much!

The truth is that with research and planning and learning to make things stretch you can feed your family real food on a budget, while filling their tummies and not eating beans & rice every day. (Though, admittedly, yes, we do eat beans a few times a month or so. And we like them.) The truth is, that in most places in America you have other options. The truth is, there are ways you can manage your family's eating habits to stretch the pricey ingredients and make your budget work.

In fact, I’ve been able to consistently feed our family of five (including two tween sons and one teenaged son!) hearty, filling, nutritious, real-food dinners for an average of $13 per dinnertime meal - and we usually have enough leftovers that at least two of us can finish it up for lunch the next day. Assuming we eat the whole thing at one sitting, that’s about $2.60 per meal per person. All real food, with very few exceptions (sometimes I fudge and get packaged corn tortillas - even though, I know, they’re bad - but oh! My! They’re good! Guilty pleasure…). Our breakfasts and lunches usually cost us about half of that.

So, thinking aloud here: I wondered if I should try and post a few of my dinnertime meal plans/recipes? Most of my “recipes” are kind of thrown together out of my head, but I am trying to get them down in print. My husband would especially like me to get a few particular ones down so that I can actually make the exact same dish again consistently :)

I’ve been working on getting last week’s Monday-Friday dinner plan all typed out already. Should I finish pulling it together to share here with you? Should I try and get more than one Monday-Friday plan together and online? What do you think?

Last week’s plan included:

- Creamy Chicken Quinoa with Cheese Sauce, Roasted Carrots

- Chicken Tacos Verde, Peruvian Garlic Rice

- Potato-Cheddar Soup

- Huevos Albañil (Bricklayer Eggs), Peruvian Garlic Rice

- Creamy Chicken Quinoa Spinach Casserole

Is this something any of you would be interested in? What ways do you feed your family well on a budget?

of Autumn, Art, and Apples {Weekly Wrap-Up 10/19/12}

a post by Jenni {aka Mom}

(Pssst! I'm part of this week's Weekly Wrap-Up over at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers! Click over to check out all the other posts, full of tips and tidbits that work in real life.) 

AUTUMN!

We are definitely an “autumn family”. We really, really enjoy it. We love the temperature and the changing colors. We love settling into a school routine and choosing from the myriad of special activities that autumn brings. We love the harvest bounty and the special foods of the season. We love the feel of approaching holidays and the dutiful days that precede them. We just love fall!

This week was busy, but in a good way. Daddy’s still been battling the last of the cold that most of us had last week, but the rest of us have been pretty healthy and back to normal.

We’re doing pretty well with our new exercise routine, and this week I ran a whole mile without stopping for the first time in my life! Woot! Woot! (I know, I know…a lot of people can do that…but it is a really big first for me, so let me be crazy excited, will ya?) Bo’s already had some experience with running 5K’s and Rooster, Bird, and I are hoping to run one with him next month. :)

Bird and I have been taking advantage of the gorgeous weather and autumn colors with photography outings together. We’re slowly but surely deciphering the world of ISOs and f-stops, and enjoying great one-on-one time in the process. 

ART!

I get the “art project itch” in the fall, for some reason. Add to that the fact that our hallway in the new house was sporting a gallery wall full of empty frames just waiting for the boys’ artwork, and you’ve got one momma quite antsy to have some art days. This week we tried some fall art project ideas from artprojectsforkids.org. You can see all their fall projects here: http://www.artprojectsforkids.org/search/label/fall

Here are a couple of the boys’ pieces from the week:

APPLES!

Pretty much all the seasonal autumn foods are awesome, and apples are no exception. There’s not much better than visiting your local orchard, selecting bushels of freshly-picked apples, and bringing them home to bake away with! (Sounds nice, doesn't it? Yeah...we didn't do that this year...we bought apples at the grocery store. But it is nice when you can hit the orchard!) 

It’s so hard to pick our favorite way to eat apples. We took a family vote, and compiled our own Top Ten list:

Our top 10 favorite ways to eat apples: 

10. Baked with cheddar

9. In grilled cheese sandwiches or Panini

8. Dried

7. Freshly sliced

6. Cooked with rice and cheese (I put a pdf of our favorite recipe at the bottom of this post - you could do any number of cheese/grain/protein variations with browned apples tossed in!)

5. Apple Cartwheels

4. Baked with just a touch of juice, cider, or water & butter

3. Browned in butter, topped with fresh cream or whipped cream, served in a bowl or spooned on top of oatmeal, whole wheat shortcakes, waffles, or pancakes

2. In apple crisp or apple pie, with vanilla ice cream

1. Homemade Cinnamon Apple Streusel Muffins

By the way, this week we tried a slightly modified version of this Apple Cider Chicken recipe, and it’s outstanding! It’s best served right away - the sauce does not keep well for leftovers. It goes great with pretty much any cooked grain or rice, and with salad or cooked Brussels sprouts or green beans. Definitely a keeper for the autumn dinner menu! 

Here's the recipe for our favorite rice, cheese, and apple combination:

Apple Sausage Rice

Super Great Ice Pop Recipes

a post by Jenni {aka Mom}

The boys are on a major ice pop trend over here this year! They’re loving pureed fruit ice pops and yogurt-fruit ice pops the best. We’ve been having a blast experimenting with new combinations.

I have been so, so pleased with these ice pop molds by Tovolo. I love that you can remove one popsicle from the freezer at a time, and that they are dishwasher safe. We’ve used them quite a bit already, and have been very pleased with the results.

When you remove one from the freezer, it seems to work best to allow the popsicle to sit at room temperature for about 5 minutes. After that, fruit and juice based pops release fairly easily. Yogurt based pops sometimes need the case to be held under cool running water for a minute or two, and then they come out of the mold beautifully as well.

We also have these star-shaped molds by Tovolo. It’s the same concept, just in a different shape. I’ve found that these don’t hold the whole recipe of filling, though, and I usually put the rest in ice cube trays.

You could also freeze your pops in Dixie cups and stick good old wooden popsicle sticks in them (use plastic wrap to cover the cup and hold the stick in place while the pops are freezing).

Here are our top 3 favorite ice pop recipes so far this year:

Strawberry-Lemonade Ice Pops

Rooster Approved*

2 cups chopped fresh strawberries

5 Tb lemon juice

5 Tb honey

1 cup water

1 cup ice

Throw it all in the blender and blend until smooth. Pour in the molds, freeze, and enjoy!

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Tropical Berry Ice Pops

These pops are not Rooster Approved*, because pineapple is only ever Rooster Approved* on pizza, apparently.

1/2 cup fresh blueberries

2/3 cup chopped fresh strawberries

1 cup chopped pineapple (fresh is best, but drained canned chunks work well)

4 Tb honey

1 cup water

Throw it all in the blender and blend until smooth. Pour in the molds, freeze, and enjoy!

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Homemade Peanut Butter Fudge-sicles

Rooster Approved* if you choose the correct bananas

1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1/4 cup creamy peanut butter (almond butter's good too!)

2 bananas (Nice and yellow, and you won't even taste them! Too green, and the whole ice pop tastes like green banana. Too ripe and freckled, and the pops taste far too banana-y)

1 cup milk, room temperature

Melt chocolate in the top of a double boiler. Once melted, pour into a blender, add peanut butter, and blend.

Add bananas and milk to the chocolate-peanut butter mixture and blend all ingredients together until texture is smooth and coloring is even. Pour into the molds, freeze, and enjoy!

*Rooster Approved recipes are those that my middle child, Rooster (who is one of the pickiest eaters I’ve ever known) not only “likes” enough to eat one serving willingly and without complaining, but also to request seconds and give his hearty recommendation.


I'm linked up at:

Whipped Strawberry Cream Cheese Pie

a post by Jenni {aka Mom}

This light, fluffy, refreshing pie is perfect for summertime! On days like today, when we’ve got 30 quarts of freshly picked strawberries begging to be used, this treat is quick to whip up in the morning and have waiting in the fridge for after supper.

It’s one of our family’s favorite “healthy-ish” strawberry dessert recipes. It’s very low in added sugar, and you could make it healthy-ER by using homemade cream cheese made from raw milk and a homemade whole wheat crust made with freshly made butter.

I do take the time to make many, many healthy-ER recipes, but I must admit that I keep this recipe in my “quick and easy” bag. I allow the extra treat of a graham cracker crust (I even get the pre-made ones sometimes), and I use purchased low-fat cream cheese. It still turns out wonderfully, and it’s still a pretty reasonable desert choice, calorie and nutrition-wise.

If you adore the super-sugary iconic American Jello-O or Jello-O knock off cheesecake pies, then you may not like this. It’s just sweet enough to be dessert, but it’s not sickeningly American sweet, if you know what I mean. You can actually taste the berries and the cream cheese. I find this delightful, but I know that others will prefer more decadent fare.

It should be noted that this pie is officially Rooster Approved - meaning that my middle child, Rooster, who is one of the pickiest eaters I’ve ever known, not only “likes” it enough to eat one piece one time cheerfully but also to ask for seconds. :-)

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Whipped Strawberry Cream Cheese Pie

1 envelope unflavored gelatin

3 Tb honey

½ cup water

2 cups fresh strawberries; washed, stemmed, and cut in half (OR 1 ½ cups frozen strawberries)

12 oz cream cheese, at room temperature

1 graham cracker pie crust

If using fresh strawberries & desiring a slightly more sweet pie, drizzle 1 TB of the honey over the berries, cover, and refrigerate overnight (or for at least 4 hours). When ready to make the pie, place berries in the blender and blend until smooth. Set aside.

In a saucepan, stir honey and water together. Sprinkle gelatin on top and swirl just until wet. Allow to bloom (about 2 minutes). Once the gelatin has bloomed, bring just to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly.

Transfer gelatin mixture to a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Add cream cheese and strawberry puree. Mix well on high with electric mixer, until smooth. Cover bowl, and place in refrigerator until just beginning to set (about an hour).

Pour the pie filling into the crust. Cover (without allowing cover to touch the top of the filling), and chill in refrigerator for about 3 hours or until fully set. Garnish with fresh strawberries and freshly whipped cream, if desired.

Super Great Strawberry-Guava Lemonade

After looking over a lot of strawberry lemonade recipes yesterday, I ended up deciding to take my favorite parts of 2 recipes and experiment. It turned out to be very good! Very big hit. Rooster (aka Mr. Picky) must have drank a whole quart himself. I thought it would be nice to throw our concoction out there to share with you.

Let me know of any adaptations you come up with, and how they turn out. Creativity is what makes cooking so much fun!

Ingredients:
20 fresh strawberries - washed, hulled, and diced
3/4 - 1 cup sugar (we use 3/4 cup)
1 can Guava Nectar (11.5 oz, juice only, no added sugar. We use Jumex brand. Check the Latin foods section of your Grocery store)
1 1/2 - 2 cups lemon juice (Depending on how tart you want it. We like it with 2!)
ice and cold water

1.) Place strawberries, sugar, and Guava nectar in a large flat-bottomed bowl. Use a potato masher to mash & combine.
2.) Pour contents of bowl and lemon juice into a 2-Quart pitcher. Add ice and water to fill pitcher, stir, and enjoy.

Adaptations:
- The little guys liked it better after I ran the whole mixture through the blender, so that all the chunks of strawberry were blended in. I think it's prettier with the chunks, and it tastes great either way. 
- Our guests liked mixing the lemonade half-and-half with iced tea.
- The lemonade would be really pretty in a glass serving container with a few slices of lemon and strawberry floating in it.

How to actually use a tortilla maker successfully!

Okay, I owe you an apology - it was very mean of me to mention flatbread without telling you in detail how to actually make it. Apparently that left some of you hungry and headed to Panera Bread for dinner. I will try not to give you ideas without instructions in the future!

Now, I did just pass on the information to you in the same way that it was passed on to me...my friend literally only left me a voice mail that basically said, "Hi it's me! Wow, my sister said that she tried making flatbread in her tortilla-maker by putting her bread dough in there and I tried it and it's awesome and I knew you'd want to try it, too! Talk to you later!" Yes, I did have to call her back and get a little clarification. I realize, however, that many of you may not be in the habit of whipping out tortillas once or twice a week, so I'm going to slow down and tell you how to git'r'dun.

I have also noticed that the particular tortilla maker that I, my friend, and her sister all own, use constantly, and love, has some scathing reviews online. Upon reading a good number of these, I believe the problem lies in the dough and the methodology, so let's get a tutorial put down here and now so no more of you have to suffer the fate of struggling for hours to make tortillas and creating only crackers. That does you no good at all (unless you like crackers with tuna - yum!), and to give up all together will cause you to miss out on some seriously yummy and nutritious food options.

First of all, the tortilla maker in question is the Villaware 10" Tortilla Press. As far as I know, it is not currently being manufactured. And as I mentioned above, the reviews on Amazon were scathing. I scored mine for a great price used on Amazon from an unhappy consumer, and if I were basing my purchase on the reviews I probably wouldn't have bought one. But I already had these 2 friends successfully using theirs, and I'd eaten their tacos, and I knew they would show me the ropes if need be. It's all about doing it correctly!

If you're not fortunate enough to score a used Villaware, the next closest thing would be the Chef Pro version. I heard through the grapevine that some other companies are launching tortilla makers this year, too, so if you keep an eye out I'm sure that you can find one that will work.

Of course, pressing it in a pan on the stove top always works, too. The results just won't be as uniform.
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Okay, let's walk through the process with my favorite tortilla recipe:

Ingredients:
1 cup warm water
1/4 cup oil
1 tsp salt
2 Tb chili powder
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
pinch of cayenne pepper, if you like a little kick
2 Tb lecithin (optional)**
1/4 tsp baking powder
2-3 cups freshly milled wheat flour* (usually closer to 2 cups, depends on humidity)

1. Measure liquids into mixing bowl. 
2. Add dry ingredients, adding flour 1/2 cup at a time, kneading in the flour until the dough is workable but not too stiff. Let stand 10 minutes. 
3. Divide the dough into balls a little larger than a ping pong ball. It helps to oil your hands, and the board on which you are placing the balls, when you are shaping them. 
4. Baste the balls with olive oil. Let them rest while the tortilla maker/press preheats. 
5. Using the tortilla maker, place the ball of dough slightly off center on the bottom plate (slightly towards the hinge), close the lid and using the large handle, give one firm fluid press until you hear the air just start to squeak (My hubbie prefers his tortillas a bit thicker, so I've learned how it feels just before is squeaks, and that is when I stop). 
6. Once you hear the squeak, release the pressure and open the lid. 
7. Allow the tortilla to cook for about 30-40 seconds, then flip and cook for 20-30 seconds on the other side.

The 2 main tricks here are:

1. Don't put too much flour in your dough - stiff dough does not turn into soft tortillas. AND
2. Open the lid after you press the tortilla! I don't know if people just don't read the directions, or if they are trying to cook the tortilla 30 seconds faster, or what, but if you want a tortilla, you have to open the lid! A closed lid will make you a cracker. Especially if your dough is stiff! 

Most of the scathing reviews involved cracker-creators. I haven't accidentally created a cracker yet, and I always keep these 2 rules of thumb in mind.

*Freshly milled whole wheat flour?? Yes, I grind my own flour. It’s really not that big of a deal. When I want to bake something, instead of walking to my pantry and pulling out my bag of Gold Metal, I add about 8 extra minutes, walk to my pantry and get out a scoop of grain, walk to my mill and dump it in, flip the switch, make myself a cup of coffee and add a couple items to the grocery list, turn off the mill and retrieve my bowl of freshly ground flour. In the days to come, I’ll explain to you why I take the extra effort and few minutes to do that - let me just say that the health benefits and taste/quality benefits far outweigh the “inconvenience.” If you are not a grinder, never fear! You can use store-bought flour and make fantastic-tasting tortillas. Honestly though, if you’re not going to grind your own, don’t bother with "whole wheat" flour. Most of the vitamins have already oxidized or been removed to extend shelf life by the time you buy it - even if you get it from the health food store. If you do use store wheat flour, you’ll want to combine it half/half with white flour in order to get a tasty product. For 2-3 cups of freshly ground flour called for in the recipe, reduce the amount of all-purpose or store-bought flour by 1/4-1/2 cup.

Side note: If you are interested in learning more about grinding your own flour, www.breadbeckers.com is the place to go! They have information, and all the supplies you need. They also have a fantastic recipe collection book with all sorts of helpful how-to's to get your bread and other goodies to turn out perfectly every time - and it's only 6 bucks!


**Leci-what? Lecithin (Les-uh-thin) is an emulsifier. It gives yeast breads, tortillas, flatbreads, and pizza doughs that "store bought" soft, smooth texture. It also makes the dough less sticky and easier to handle. You can find it at baking supply companies and health food stores. It's a powdery yellow substance that resembles crumbled hard-cooked egg yolks. Seemed weird to me the first time I heard of it, but boy does it make a difference in your finished product! It's make from soybeans, so if you have soy allergies, steer clear.

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I keep these tortillas around most of the time for snacks. My boys like to eat them with peanut butter and sliced fruit (especially strawberries!), with cream cheese & honey, as a wrap with leftover chicken, and topped with cheese melted in the microwave. Cook up a batch, and watch 'em smile!

So, that's the story on making fan-tabulous tortillas with your cracker...er, that is...tortilla maker. =)

Next week I'll explain how to make fabulous flatbread!  

Yummy Yummy Flatbread!

For those of you who haven't heard yet, I've become a major health nut. As in, a granola-making, flour-grinding, vitamin-counting, kind-I-used-to-ridicule health nut. The irony in this, of course, is the fact that I am also a cake decorator by part-time trade. Yup, people pay me to bake them literally sinful but yummy and beautiful confections. Personally, I find that downright hilarious!

At some point I'll fill you all in on what led to the health craze in our household, but for now, I just have to share a yummy idea with you. Not my idea, mind you, as it came to me through my friend from her sister...but it's so simple, and after trying it and finding how utterly awesome it was, I just have to share.

For those of you who already make your own tortillas (if you're not one of "us," never fear, I will give a tutorial on that in the weeks to come), simply make your favorite recipe for pizza crust dough...the kind made with yeast...then divide and roll it into balls that are about 1 1/2 - 2 times the size of a ping pong ball. Then prepare as you would tortillas! It's that simple! What you'll get is a thick, soft, yummy flatbread that makes wonderful packable sandwiches.

It freezes well, too, so you can make a whole big batch and then just thaw out what you need for a quick lunch. This has been a lifesaver with lunches this week, as it's one of those extremely busy weeks in homeschool-land.

I imagine that you could even use the Pillsbury Refrigerated Pizza Dough, and get yummy results. Of course, that would defeat any nutritional purposes. When I get a chance, if there is any interest, I'll post the whole wheat recipe that I use, as well as my methodology for making the tortillas/flatbreads.

In the meantime, go experiment! Kitchen experiments are the yummiest!! (usually...)