Planning for Postpardum: Freezer Cooking

I am 38 weeks pregnant today! 2 weeks until our due date! So excited except for...

our freezer is empty! Yikes!

I am super-blessed with lots of friends who will be bringing us yummy food in the weeks after our girl is born, but nonetheless, here's my preparedness plan:

Main Dishes

Mini Spinach/Chicken Frittatas

Tomato, Bacon, White Bean Soup

Cream of Potato and Broccoli Soup

Meal Components

Homemade Tortillas

Beans (love Life as Mom's idea to cook dry beans ahead of time and freeze them!)

Salmon (for fish tacos and onigiri)

Breakfasts

Giant (soaked) Breakfast Cookies

Soaked Baked Oatmeal

Soaked Muffins

Other

2 loaves of (soaked) whole wheat/spelt bread

Hummus

Graham Crackers

My father in law is moving from our apartment into his own this weekend as well, so I'll be stretching this out into the first week of March.

Are you cooking for your freezer this month? Join everyone on Facebook for ideas and link your plans up at Money Saving Mom on Friday afternoon.

Here are some great resources to get you started:

Freezer Cooking Basics - Life as Mom

Freezer Cooking Planning Worksheets - Money Saving Mom

Freezer Cooking for Postpardum - Natural Birth and Baby Care

Also check out what I planned and what I ended up doing last month for Freezer Cooking Day!

Find Me at Practicalmum!

I'm at Practical Mum today sharing a few recipes and tips. Head over to check out this fun new site and community (especially you Canada Mommies)!

Frugal Focaccia Bread Pizza

So happy to have found the focaccia bread recipe over at Good & Cheap Eats that I used for our calzones earlier this month! We were working with pretty much ZERO easy meals on hand (there's a reason I didn't post a menu plan this Monday - my brain is frazzled!) and I had to find something to feed the 4 of us with very few ingredients. Who says pizza needs to have cheese? :)

The best part about this recipe was that it used my bread machine and gave me some much needed time to plan out meals for the rest of the week! I also love that since I made it myself, I know exactly what went into it - no scary ingredients! I topped the bread with the 1/2 empty jar of (organic) pizza sauce I had on hand and a random (also organic) 1/2lb of turkey sausage from the freezer. Served it with a very simple romaine/cranberry/carrot salad.

Just wanted you to see that I really do have to pull things together more often than I'd like, but the family got fed!

This post is linked to Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam.

Coming in March!

I am counting down the days until our little girl arrives. Only 17 days until my due date! I am still feeling well - if distracted - and can't wait to meet her!

I have had to give myself a little grace with my blogging knowing that you probably wouldn't want to read the ramblings of late-pregnancy-brain anyway. However, I do have quite a few exciting things lined up for March! Here are some of the things you can look forward to:

• Make it Yourself Monday - a new meme that I'm setting up for you to share all of the ways you save money by making it yourself! Convenience foods, household supplies, etc. Which Monday it begins will depend on when our little one comes, but I'll be sure to keep you updated via Twitter (follow me if you aren't already)! If you are interested in being featured here for something you regularly make, let me know! Also keep reading for more guest posting opportunities!
• Stretch Week - I did a few posts of this feature almost two years ago. I'd like to bring it back refreshed and improved! The last month of March (and every month) will be "stretch week" for me as I attempt to make the last of our monthly food budget stretch to meet the needs of our family.
• A series of posts on Getting Started in the Pantry - I'll specifically be focusing on taking small steps to switch from eating from boxes and frozen entrees to making your food from scratch. I want this to be helpful and un-intimidating, so let me know what your challenges are!
• An official Eat From Your Pantry Facebook fan page! :)
• Giveaway(s)

In anticipation of having less time (and energy!) to blog, I am also asking for your help! Please email me (contact info to the right), leave a comment, or send me a message on Twitter if you are interested in contributing through:

• Guest Posts (topics can include saving money, making meals from scratch, recipes, pantry storage/organization, and anything else you think might fit)
• Product Giveaways (Do you have an e-book, guide, service, or kitchen product that you'd like to increase exposure of and/or treat someone to?)
• Q&A Ideas (I'd love to publish a post to answer your questions on any specific topic!)

Looking forward to all the March will bring! Stick around!

Real Food Challenge Week 3 Report

This week will be the final week! We're going to learn about organ meats! I'm excited! :)

The focus during week 3 was on ferments and cultured foods. I'm a big fan of bacteria - funny as it is to say! I'm just amazed at the design of our Creator - He made colonies of beneficial microscopic organisms that work to help us digest our food, make our food more nurturing, protect us from hostile little bugs, and so much more!

Here's what I learned this week:

*SCOBY stands for Symbiotic Colony of Bacteria and Yeasts - like water kefir grains, milk kefir grains, Kombucha mothers, and ginger beer plant. They help to ferment foods and beverages.

*The kombucha we learned about is *not* the same as the Japanese kelp tea (Konbu=kelp, cha=tea) that a friend and I thought it might be (random trivia fact - I have a BA in Japanese language and culture!)

*There are a ton of cultured dairy foods other than yogurt and kefir. Read about them here.

*We should think of cheese as a seasonal food. This really struck me as I've begun to see the value in God's perfect timing and the consequences of insisting on eating outside of the seasonal schedule He has set (shipping foods in from far away places and cooping chickens up with space heaters to keep them laying, etc). Cheese should keep dairy in our diets when the cows stop lactating and fresh milk become unavailable for a season. What a different way of life! I really need a farm...

*Seeds and nuts require preparation too! The skins contain enzyme inhibitors.

*Beans need soaking in warmth and acid to decrease the phytic acids. I soaked our lentils Sunday! :)

Real food goals I'm setting for myself:

*I purchased a milk kefir starter - now I need to use it!

*I'm going to make yogurt cheese this week (wasn't in the budget last week)

*Going to sit down and read through this article from the Weston A. Price Foundation on Curds and Whey, as well as this post on foods that contain the most vitamins and minerals.

*When the raw almonds I ordered come in, I'm going to soak them!

If you'd like to get caught up on all of the awesome emails that have been sent out to participants, check out the challenge archives at Nourished Kitchen.

I also really appreciated another blog post I read this week at Live Renewed about ditching anti-bacterial products that fit right in to the challenge this week!

See how everyone else is doing over at Nourished Kitchen.

Coupon Class for KC Residents

If you are local you might be interested to know that Tracie at Kansas City Penny Pinchin' Mama is teaching a coupon class (TWO actually!) on March 6th.

She'll be at two different locations - one in the Northland and one here in Lee's Summit on that day and the fee is only $10.00 with the opportunity for discounts!

Here is her description of what will be covered:

"I will go over how to read and understand your coupons, how to use them to really save money and even where to find them. We'll also talk about fraudulent coupons and what to avoid. I also want to answer any questions you may have, so get your lists compiled!"

There's lots more info over on her site. I wish I could join everyone but I think that I might be pretty busy that day - plus its only 6 days before my due date!! Hope she offers more!

Pantry Resource: Still Tasty

Want to know when your stored food will go bad? There's an app for that. :)

There's a website, too! Still Tasty offers both, actually!

Thought I'd pass along this useful resource. It is the self-proclaimed "Ultimate Shelf-life Guide" and includes information on hundreds of different foods. You may have a hard time getting info on foods the average American won't have on hand (no ghee or coconut oil!), but the information they do have is very organized and easy to sort through.

Still Tasty gathers its information from food manufacturers, as well as the USDA, FDA, and CDC. Nice to see a site that compiles them all! You can search by food or browse by category, and there is a section for getting your individual questions answered, as well as a few good articles to check out.

Also, I was serious about the app! They now have an iPhone app that will even alert you when your food expires!

You can find more Pantry Resources any time over in the Navigation section of the left sidebar.

Giving Up Narcissism for Lent

I'm having a baby in 20-some days, so a food fast isn't especially practical this year.

It's been difficult to choose something to give up for the 40 days (minus Sundays - which are feast days) before Easter that would be both sacrificial and practical for the place God has put me.

I've decided to tackle a couple of the things that I struggle with the most - pride, procrastination, and prayer.

In order to be a more productive steward of the time God has given me, and to squelch some of the narcissism I indulge in, I've decided to give up a few specific websites:

StatCounter

Adsense

Analytics

Klout

MyPoints

Upromise

FeedBurner

I check all of these daily for no good reason. I could justify it by saying that checking progress on my blogging and income earning goals keeps me motivated to write more and stay focused, but the reality is that I will have earned the same amount and attracted the same number of readers whether I know the numbers or not. I will probably still allow myself to check them on Sunday, but Sunday is generally the day I am no where near a computer, so we'll see.

My hope is that this will free up some of my time spent online for time spent in prayer - I am thinking about staying with my son in his room when I put him down for a nap so that I can pray for a while before coming back into the living room where there are distractions.

Are you observing Lent? What are you doing? Kitchen Stewardship has ideas here.

Spaghetti Without the Noodles!

What can you use when you have no spaghetti noodles on hand or if you are gluten-sensitive and/or trying to eat fewer grains? There are plenty of gluten-free noodles out there that are still *noodles* but I'm talking about getting creative.

Our stand-by is spaghetti squash. My husband likes it better than noodles, actually! That's what we used last night:

If you need tips on preparing spaghetti squash, here are some great step-by-step instructions.

More ideas:
*thinly sliced zucchini
*thinly sliced eggplant
*long grain rice
*sliced and sauteed cabbage
*use lentils and make a spaghetti "casserole" instead!

What have you used??

This post is linked up to Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam, and Tuesday Twister at GNOWFGLINS.

Menu Plan Monday

Feeling very organized today!! Hubby came home early and little man had tons of fun playing with him while I cooked and planned, and then we all went grocery shopping together! Decided to participate in Menu Plan Monday over at The Organization Junkie for the first time this week!

My father in law comes home on Wednesday so we'll be back to cooking for 3 adults and a toddler. Here's what I have planned:

Monday: We had Noodle-less Spaghetti for dinner (will post tomorrow)
Tuesday: Chicken Fried Rice
Wednesday: Chicken Noodle Soup (with homemade stock)
Thursday: Stuffed Foccacia Bread
Friday: Bean Burgers
Saturday: Lentils and Italian Sausage
Sunday: Salmon, veggies

Breakfasts: Crockpot yogurt, soaked oatmeal, eggs and homemade soaked bread

Lunches: leftovers, chicken sandwiches, pb&js

Snacks: Almond Power Bars, fruit, crockpot yogurt

You should definitely stop by The Organization Junkie and see all of the other menu plans that have linked up - she also has a ton of great resources for planning your own!

Also linked up at:

Real Food Challenge Week 2 Report

Lots of good info this week on my favorite food: FAT! :D

I really do love fatty - as opposed to fattening - foods. Being pregnant and breastfeeding is liberating in that even people eating the standard American diet realize that mommies (and babies) need more fat. The best thing that came from the research I did while pregnant last time was that I learned that EVERYONE needs fat! yay! I highly recommend Real Food or Real Food for Mother and Baby by Nina Planck (these are Amazon Associate links) for an easy-to-read explanation of all of the benefits of fat.

Unfortunately, I learned this week that I didn't have it all figured out (darn, hate when that happens!). I had floating around in the back of my mind that some fats cook better than others, but had attributed it only to the lower smoke points of some fats like butter.

Currently we only have three cooking fats in our home: Extra Virgin Olive Oil, butter, and coconut oil. We have a *lot* of each.

I generally divide them up by the flavor they impart - I use olive oil for most everything but Asian dishes and baked goods, coconut oil for sweets and as an add-in to oatmeal, and butter is for our bread, baked goods, an occasional veggie, and sometimes eggs.

This week I learned:

*Of the fats I use, only coconut oil is suitable for high heat.

*The antioxidants in Olive Oil (like Vitamin E) are heat sensitive

*The milk solids in butter are what make it more sensitive to heat, so ghee (solids removed) is a better choice

*I need to read up more on tallow, lard, suet, palm oil, and ghee. I have recently seen lard and ghee on the shelves at my grocer.

Read more about fats at Nourished Kitchen.

Other highlights from this week:

*Fight against GMO's

*Drink raw milk (we're still working on this - we currently drink cream-top VAT pasteurized whole milk from a great dairy)

*Get your good bacteria by eating yogurt, milk kefir, water kefir, and kombucha (have to admit I have no real idea what this is!)

See how everyone else is doing over at Nourished Kitchen.

My Favorite Valentine

This guy is the best Valentine's Day gift I have ever received:

Hard to believe he is 2 years old tomorrow!

His birthdays are destined to be filled with sweets and sentiments. He doesn't seem to mind so far. :) We had a birthday/valentine's play date on Friday that was a ton of fun. We are very blessed to have a great group of moms and kiddos to hang out with.

However, since we are on a pretty tight budget (mostly self-imposed) this month, it was difficult to think of goodies to bring that wouldn't break the bank. So thankful for the internet! Here's what we decided on:

Healthy and "Hearty" Carrot Cranberry Muffins

I've been wanting to try soaking flour now that I'm learning about the digestive benefits of preparing grains from the Real Food Challenge. Thankfully, Wardeh at GNOWFGLINS has the perfect Basic Soaked Muffin Recipe (you'll want to click that link - she just posted a video to accompany the recipe notes today!!)! I used lemon juice for the soaking acid and cinnamon, cranberries, and carrots for the add-ins. I also doubled the recipe to fill my little heart foil cups.

Topped them off with 8oz. softened cream cheese with a few tablespoons of honey blended in. They were really great for breakfast this morning!!!

Brownie and Cream Cheese "Truffles"

I thought the mommies might enjoy a nice treat too and had just come across the idea of mixing pre-made brownies with chocolate frosting to make "truffles." I didn't have chocolate frosting, but cream cheese worked wonderfully!

I used Life As Mom's recipe for Cocoa Brownies (very yummy on its own!) and crumbled them all up when they were cooked and cooled. Then I mixed in 8oz of softened cream cheese with my pastry cutter (best birthday gift ever by the way!) until a dough formed. If I had a melon baller I would have been in Heaven, but instead I grabbed about a teaspoon of the "dough" at a time and rolled it into a ball with my hands then placed it on parchment (wax would work) paper on a cookie sheet. I got 3 dozen out of the mixture:

After letting them harden in the refrigerator for an hour, I melted 1/2 a bag of dark chocolate chips in a bowl and dipped each ball into it individually. After allowing them to chill for another hour, I wrapped them up into foil squares that I got on sale 2 or 3 years ago around Valentine's Day. They would have been gorgeous on a nice platter, too.

I made these Thursday night and we ate the last one this morning. Needles to say, they were delicious. :)

Did you make any frugal treats this Valentine's Day? Find some great ideas at this week's Ultimate Recipe Swap at Life as Mom!

Follow Friday Blog Hop

Click the image above to find new blogs to follow! Great way to get followers to your blog as well. Today is also Follow Friday on Twitter. If you aren't following me, click the Twitter button over on the left and never miss a new blog post!

Think Outside the Grocer: 8 Alternative Food Sources

I do most of my shopping at a single grocery store. I know ladies who deal hop and utilize every coupon match-up in their area, but my time is more valuable than those deals right now. I *do* take advantage of several other means of acquiring food for our family however. Here are some ideas for you:

1. Farmers Markets - Just about every large city, and most big suburbs, have a farmer's market during the summer months. Some are open year round! Not only is this a great way to support local agriculture and eat fresh seasonal foods, you can often find great deals. This is especially true if you form relationships with the vendors at your market and arrange to purchase items in bulk. Find farmers markets in your area at Local Harvest.

2. Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Farms - CSA's are a way for consumers to be more connected with where their food comes from, and for farmers to offset some of the risk of running a small-scale farm by selling "shares" of produce and sometimes meat and dairy upfront at the beginning of the growing season. Requirement vary from farm to farm. Some would like for their share-holders to come out and help harvest one weekend a month or once in a season. Others have no requirements other than the cost of the subscription. Some farms deliver their goods, others have you come out and pick your food up once a week or month, and quite a few coordinate with your local farmers market to let you pick your share up there. We ordered from a CSA this last season and very much enjoyed the experience! Buying partial shares is often an option for a smaller family or a family that is on a tight budget. Local Harvest can help you locate a CSA as well, and if you are in the Kansas City area, check out The Kansas City CSA Coalition.

3. Co-ops and Food Buying Clubs - These can be as informal as a group of friends getting together to buy certain items in bulk to get a discount, or they can be huge organized buying clubs with long waiting lists to join. We've just recently had our first experience with a food co-op through a friend who let us go in on an order with her. The particular co-op she is in is one with a waiting list. Co-ops do not generally make a profit for themselves and are usually member-owned. Some cities have co-op grocery stores and others just have drop-off/pick up locations. To find out more about co-ops, visit The Co-op Directory, Local Harvest, or Green People. You may also want to try this buying club resource.

4. Grow or raise your own - Start a garden in your backyard, on your deck, in pots in a sunny kitchen, etc. If you are an organized, social person, consider starting a community garden! Also, many cities allow chicken coops even in urban neighborhoods, check out the specific laws for your area at The City Chicken.

5. Make friends with neighbors - If you notice that there are tomato plants sagging over with the weight of their fruit in the back yard next to you - offer to buy some off of them. Most people are happy to have someone to share with. Making friends with the people nearest you is a good idea for many many reasons, but food sharing is a huge benefit. You may even meet someone who is willing to switch off cooking nights with you and your family!

6. Membership Warehouses - Stores like SAMS and Costco can save large families quite a bit of money. We have visited a SAMS with friends and found that we don't use much of what they regularly offer. Another friend has recently told me that Costco offers big bags of organic produce (specifically carrots and green beans) for a great price. If there are just a few items that you think you'd purchase, ask around to see if any friends would mind picking them up for you once in a while. Think about a service you can offer them (watching their kids while they shop) to help offset the cost of membership.

7. Angel Food - I've blogged about Angel Food Ministries in detail before. They are worth checking out if you are in a bind for food money or know someone who is that you can bless. Angel Food is a non-profit organization that offers boxes of food monthly at a discounted price. A signature box is $30 and comes with a balanced variety of items like the ones shown below:

Find a host site near you and consider setting up a host site if there isn't already one in place!

8. The internet - There are many legitimate ways to buy (and save on) food online. Amazon.com is a popular site for buying just about anything you can think of, and they often have specialty items that are hard to find elsewhere. Nourished Kitchen has a great list of places to purchase real food.

Misc: Check out the Eat Well Guide for restaurants, stores, and other sources of good food near you, and visit Eat Wild to find free-range/pastured/grass-fed meat and poultry in your area

Split Pea and Sausage Dahl

Dahl (or Dal, Dhal, Daal) is a traditionally vegetarian meal in India. Because I am pregnant and trying to consume more protein, I added some great turkey sausage that I purchased through a friend's food co-op (tease: come back Friday for more details about co-ops and other alternative food sources!). Thankfully there are numerous variations of this meal so I don't feel too guilty for modifying it. I would have preferred soaked brown rice to serve it over, but we have white. Read this interesting blog post about white and brown rice at Nutrition and Physical Regeneration.

I modeled the recipe after the Split Pea Dahl recipe from Hillbilly Housewife, but made quite a few changes - mostly just simplified it even more.

Split Pea and Sausage Dahl

Ingredients:

• 1lb (2 cups) green split peas
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 Tbsp curry powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 medium onion - finely diced
• sausage links - chopped

Directions:

Sort and rinse peas then simmer in a large pot of water (about 2 quarts) until they are tender and start to disintegrate (45 min-1hour).

In the meantime, heat oil in small skillet and add spices and salt. Saute gently until fragrant. Add onion and sausage and cook fully.

Ladle out some of the water that the peas are cooking in and add to the skillet.

Stir until spices are dissolved and then add the contents of the skillet to the pot of peas.

Continue to cook peas until they are the desired consistency (like a thick curry).

Serve over rice.

This makes enough for 4-6 large portions. We could have stretched it out much more and we still ended up with some to freeze!

This post is linked to Pennywise Platter Thursday at The Nourishing Gourmet.

Living With Less

Other bloggers have hit on this subject a lot recently and I thought I'd pass along some of the great info out there. I hope that you find encouragement from these if you have found yourself wanting (or needing) to be serious about being a good steward of what you have and living without what you don't.

Blog Posts:

How Buying Less Can Set You Free - Money Saving Mom

Eat From the Pantry Every Day for the Rest of Your Life! - Life As Mom

Superman Syndrome: Money and Self Esteem - The Simple Dollar

Free E-Book:

Thriving On Less

Books*:

More With Less Cookbook

America's Cheapest Family

Miserly Moms

$5 Dinners

1/2 Price Living

The Frugal Foodie Cookbook

*These are Amazon Affiliate links.

Other:

Bible Verses About Money - Christian Personal Finance

When Frugal Becomes Just Plain Cheap

Tawra Kellam at Living on a Dime* has written another very challenging article and offered it out as a guest post. I have a post planned on a very similar subject, so I am excited to share. Enjoy and tell me what you think - what are some ways that you are tempted to be too frugal?

*****

"There are times when it's tempting to lie, steal or break one of the other 10 Commandments to get a good deal but, in living frugally, we all need to stick to being honest. This is not always easy to do, but I want to give some examples that may help you stay honest. Here are some common tactics that some people use that are unethical and sometimes illegal:

You need some pens because you are running short so you take a handful from a store that is giving them out. This is stealing. If you take one, that's fine. Unless they tell you to take them all, it is tacky to take a large number of them. They're offering them simply as a courtesy.

You buy an item and you use it a few times and then return it because you're done with it. Stealing and lying. You probably won't tell the sales clerk you just needed to use it for a few times and even if you do, that's only OK if it is a rental store. If an item breaks, doesn't work or is not the right color, it is fine to return it. If you just needed it "for a few times" (like a dress for a special occasion) and know you won't use it again, you're stealing if you return it.

If you eat a food item with a guarantee on the box and it tastes nasty, return it. That's why they offer a guarantee. If you eat the entire contents of the box first and return the mostly-empty box, it probably wasn't actually nasty.

If you try to pass off your 14 year old child as a 12 year old so that you only have to pay for a child's meal, you are lying and teaching your child that lying is good when it benefits you.

If you find a "great deal" that you can't live without but you don't have the money in your checking account, don't write a check. Let it be the "one that got away" If you knowingly write a bad check, you are stealing and lying.

If you find a "great deal", buy it and then hide it from your husband, you're lying (unless it's his birthday present ;-). If you have to hide it, you know you're doing something wrong.

If you charge up your credit cards with frivolous things like shopping and eating out and then declare bankruptcy, you are stealing from the credit card company and from everyone who does business with that company. Bankruptcy is intended to help people who end up financially strapped because of reasons beyond their control, like catastrophic medical expenses or the death of a spouse. It is unethical to declare bankruptcy because you went on a shopping spree, because you bought something you couldn't afford when you bought it or because you decided to change careers and no longer want to pay the student loans for your old career. You signed that piece of paper when you purchased the item saying you would pay them back and you didn't. It's up to you to pay them back any (legal :-) way you can, even if it does mean feeling "deprived" for a time.

One more thing about bankruptcy: It is unethical to incur lots of debt "keeping up with the Joneses" and then go bankrupt because the debt is so large. Many people look at others and say to themselves, "Those people are the same age as me. I work hard. I deserve that too." or "our house is too small" or "our car is a real clunker so we need to buy a brand need one to "save" on repair costs ( a huge myth, by the way!). If you can afford these things, by all means, buy them. If you can't afford those things, find a way to make more money or learn to be happy with what you have.

Frugal living is about making good financial decisions. There are so many things you can do to spend your money more wisely, so when you think you can get a "good deal", but it requires doing something that hurts someone else, pass it up.

Whenever you're in doubt about whether something is ethical, ask yourself if it would be OK with you if the situation were reversed and you were the person potentially coming up short. Be honest. We've all heard "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." If you would object to others doing it to you, you better look for a better way to save."

Tawra Kellam is the editor of www.LivingOnADime.com. Tawra and her husband paid off $20,000 debt in 5 years on $22,000 a year income.

*This is an affiliate link. Tawra's great e-books are available on her site and if you purchase one, I will receive a commission. Make sure to click through to all of the wonderful free information she has, too!

Real Food Challenge Progress Report

One week down, 3 to go!

If you aren't following the Real Food Challenge at Nourished Kitchen, read my post on week one to see see what it is all about. Then read her post on week one to sign up to receive daily emails this month and check out the archive of past emails.

I wasn't able to read each email on the day they were sent, but I printed them out to go over as I was able. Here's my progress report:

Things I already knew - White flour, processed foods, and artificial sweeteners are bad for you. We should eat whole fat diets (especially dairy) instead of skim or low fat. I love the series about fat over at Kitchen Stewardship.

Things I learned - Whole grains have high amounts of phytic acid in them, causing them in inhibit the absorption of things like zinc and iron. Most need to be prepared by soaking, fermenting, or sprouting to be useful and digestible. Stevia has contraceptive properties (see the comments here)

Changes I made - I soaked my brown rice for the first time and we all enjoyed it a lot. i avoided buying any processed foods this week. I bought some bulk items (coconut oil, 10lbs. of oats, wh. wheat flour) as well as a kefir starter from my friend's co-op. The same friend gave me a bag of sucanat to try.

Goals I am setting - I want to implement the advice on how to prepare grains - especially flour. I think our digestion has been suffering b/c of all of the whole grains we eat, honestly. I think fermenting will be the last one I try b/c I know my husband isn't a fan of sourdough. I'm very interested in sprouting, however, and soaking is an easy adjustment if I just think ahead. I am also going to look seriously into buying raw milk.

Related links that might interest you:

Nourished Kitchen's Recipe Archives

Good, Better, Best: Traditional Foods for Every Budget

10 Healthy Treats for Kids

To read how everyone else participating is doing, check out all of the bloggers who have linked up at Nourished Kitchen today.

Pantry Bytes

You can find more great links to pantry-related things around the web by clicking the Pantry Bytes link over on the left. My goal is to make this at least bi-weekly. If you spot interesting food/frugality blog posts or news stories, send them my way!

Fantastic things I've read this week:
Organization in the Real Food Kitchen: Notes from a Small Kitchen - Keeper of the Home
Are Raw Eggs Safe to Eat? - Kitchen Kop
Agave Nectar - Good or Bad? - Food Renegade
Eating Organic on a Budget - The Thrifty Mama
Free Sources for Coupon Inserts - Inexspensively
Where to Start on a Real Food Journey - Naturally Knocked Up

Wonderful pantry-friendly recipe we've recently tried:
Almond Power Bars

New (to me) blogs I'm keeping an eye on:
Striving Bean
Live Renewed
Hospitality Haven
Nutrition and Physical Regeneration

Have any links you'd like to share this week? Leave them in the comments section!

Disclosure Policy

You will see that over to the left I've added a link to my disclosure policy.

I wanted to make a separate, quick post to reassure you that I will never approve an ad that I feel is questionable and that any endorsements I make will be because I value the product/site and not just to make money.

Also, from now on when I include a link within a post that I could potentially profit from I will disclose it with an asterisk (*) after the link and give details about the type of compensation at the bottom of the post.

If you ever see an ad or link or promotion on this blog that you feel lacks integrity, please let me know!! Thanks!

The Most Amazing Banana-Nut Muffins Ever!

I love finding recipes that make me feel like a good baker. :)

These muffins rocked! They were moist, flavorful, and BEAUTIFUL! I also think they would make a lovely coffee cake in a single pan - might be trying that out this weekend! Thank you so much to Carol (Kittencal at RecipeZaar) for blessing us with this recipe and letting me pass it along! Visit Kittencal's Kitchen for more!

Warning: Do not read while hungry (if you've seen the photo below, it might already be too late)!

Banana-Almond Muffins With Almond Streusel
Makes 12

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 cups flour (I used whole wheat pastry flour)
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2-1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 large bananas, mashed
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup sugar
1 large egg, slightly beaten
1/3 cup melted butter
1/3 cup finally chopped almonds

TOPPING

1/4 cup flour
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons soft butter
1/3 cup cups finely chopped almonds

Directions

Set oven to 350 degrees F.
For the topping; in a bowl mix together the flour, brown sugar and cinnamon; blend in the soft butter using your fingertips, then add in the finely chopped almonds; set aside.
Line 12 regular muffin tins with paper liners.
In a medium or large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
In another bowl beat the melted butter with sugar, egg and vanilla extract until well blended (about 2 minutes) add in the mashed bananas, mix until just blended.
Using a wooden spoon mix in the flour mixture until JUST blended (the batter will be lumpy).
Mix in the chopped almonds.
Divide the batter evenly between 12 muffin tins, then sprinkle the topping mixture on top of each muffin.
Bake for about 20 minutes, or until muffins test done.

*If you are following along with the Real Food Challenge, try substituting Sucanat for the sugar. And if you decide to try making any kind of muffins with soaked flour - I want to know!!*

Real Food Twitter Party

Don't miss the Real Food Twitter Party that Naturally Knocked Up is hosting tomorrow (Thursday) from 9-11pm EST!

There's still time to sign up! This will be my first time joining, so come keep me company! There will be giveaways and we're sure to learn a ton!

1 Chicken, Many Meals

I can't think of a healthier, more frugal meat option than whole chicken (unless you catch and fillet your own fish)! Unfortunately, this guy:

intimidates a lot of the people that I work work with, and probably some of you as well. We are so accustomed to buying boneless skinless meat products that it's difficult to know where to begin.

Here's the short version: Thaw if frozen, take out any organs, wash it with cold water, plop it in a pot or dish, and COOK IT! :)

Really, there are probably a million different ways to prepare and cook a whole chicken, but the only important part is that you make sure the internal temperature (breasts) is at least 165 degrees. Roast that naked guy up there for a few hours in a 350 degree oven with some olive oil, salt, and pepper, and you have this:

He cost me a little over $3 (on sale for $.98/lb) and I was able to use him in 5 different meals for 3 people (2 year old counts as a "people" in this case b/c he LOVES chicken)! I like to let the chicken cool to a temperature that is bearable to handle and then clean the bones right away. I store the breasts separate from the rest of the meat b/c we generally use them for different meals. Our typical usage in a week looks like this:

• 2 or more chicken sandwiches (usually breast meat with mayo and sometimes cheese or avocado)
• 1 stir-fry
• 1 soup
• 2 casseroles or frittatas or pastas (we eat spaghetti with shredded chicken)

Now that I know how to make my own broth, I also save all of the drippings:

and boil the bones and any leftover meat. That technically means many more meals than just 5 considering the number of ways I use chicken broth. Try cooking your beans and rice in chicken broth, use it to make gravy, or make more yummy soup!

Here are a few of the recipes I have covered that use chicken (remember to substitute fresh ingredients whenever you can), and a couple of resources to check out:

Chicken and Udon Stir-fry

Poor Man's Pesto Pizza

Use What You Have Frittata

How to Cook Chicken - TLC (different methods)

Cutting Up a Whole Chicken from Nook and Pantry

How to Make the Best Chicken Stock in the World from Kitchen Stewardship

**This post is linked up to the Real Food Roundup at Naturally Knocked Up

Freezer Cooking Day - January/February

My first official freezer cooking day was almost foiled! I only gave myself Saturday to work with as my FIL was returning from vacation that night and I knew the rest of the weekend would be full. It started off well - got the chicken in the oven with plenty of time to spare. And THEN... a phone call to let us know that our water was being turned off for an indefinite amount of time to accommodate the plumbers here to work on another apartment.

Things You Can't Do Without Water:

• rinse beans
• wash & reuse bowls and utensils
• make chicken stock
• WASH HANDS! (which means no separating chicken meat from bone, no rolling burritos, no kneading or shaping dough, no handling raw meat or eggs, etc.)

Having a (potty training!) toddler is also a world of fun without water. It took an hour or so to get over the initial shock of the inconvenience for me to start thinking of alternatives. Use the water still in the kettle from tea that morning, use the filtered water in the fridge, etc. Still, cooking was a bit impractical. I was *this close* to going over to a friends house to prepare dinner when we got news that the water was back on. Saturday Freezer Cooking stretched into Monday, but all told, this is what I was able to accomplish:

*Graham Crackers - Great with tea and so yummy w/peanut butter!!

*Breakfast Burritos

34 burritos - which will probably last my husband 3 weeks. He'd like more cheese next time, but says they are yummy. :)

*White Chili (white beans, chicken, and pepper jack cheese)

No photo for this one. This was the thing most frustrated by having to water. Timing on everything was all off and it ended up being not very good - to say the least. I drained most of the liquid from it and froze it. I think I will convert it into a casserole with rice for our next potluck.

*Cranberry Coconut Granola - Yummy again!!! Had coconut on hand this time!

*Chicken Calzones

Roaring success! Yay! Inspired by the stuffed focaccia over at Cheap (& Good) Eats - and so thankful that she answered all of our questions in the comments section in time for me to make these! Ours have just chicken, pizza sauce, and cheese. I'll be making these regularly!

*Black Bean Sweet Potato Burritos - These actually ended up being dinner last night!

*My first Chicken Stock!!!

I poured over all that there was to read about stock over at Kitchen Stewardship and decided to give it a shot. Used some of the stock to cook the black beans in and have plans for potato soup tonight! Only bummer was that it kept the apartment at about 80 degrees all day long! Had to open doors every few hours to cool things off! haha!

Didn't make it to the spinach frittatas I had planned. Not bad though.

How did you do? Link up at Money Saving Mom!

Real Food Challenge

I learned so much during the Eat From the Pantry Challenge that I jumped at the opportunity to join another! Especially since this new challenge will help direct the posts I already have planned to write here about how we are changing our diet to consist of more real food!

Over 500 people are participating in the 28 Day Real Food Challenge over at Nourished Kitchen! You can still sign up! Participants will receive a daily "assignment" via email with tips and tasks to baby-step your way into a "wholesome, natural diet." You can then discuss your take on the day's assignment over on Facebook. Each Monday there will be an opportunity to blog about and link up your progress at Nourished Kitchen, and everyone who links up every week will be entered to win some awesome prizes as a reward for "completing" the challenge!

Today is day#1! The assignment is "Clean Your Cupboards." We're challenged to take stock of what is in our kitchen and get rid of unwholesome ingredients.

The Eat From the Pantry Challenge certainly helps me with this since I have very little stockpiled! However, as I mentioned yesterday in my introduction, I want to make sure to emphasize frugality here on this blog. I am finding that this is not only feasible on a good diet, but in some ways, it's a natural by-product of eating "from scratch" and cutting out empty foods. Still, there is a learning curve and I'm still plodding through all of the amazing information about the best ways to go about eating a healthy, frugal diet, so I'm going to be a bit lenient on myself at first.

I won't be throwing anything out this week. Instead, I am going to use her suggestions to make a plan to phase out the things in my kitchen that we shouldn't be consuming, and replace them with more nutritious alternative.

You'll have to sign up to get the full extent of the challenge, but here is the check-list of "foods" to toss:

Day #1 Check List:

For today's assignment make sure to clear your cupboards of the following processed foods as well as anything containing these ingredients: Vegetable Oils: Soybean, Cottonseed, Canola, Corn Sugar: White Sugar, Brown Sugar, Turbinado, Agave Nectar (including "raw"), Sugar in the raw Stevia: white stevia powder, stevia liquid Margarine Shortening (excluding palm shortening) White flour: all-purpose flour, unbleached all-purpose flour, white rice flour, Cornstarch Soy foods: soy sauce, soy flour, soy milk, soy lecithin, isoflavone-enriched foods and supplements Dried Pastas and Noodles Iodized Salt Refined Sea Salt Meat & Dairy Replacements: TVP, veggie burgers, vegan cheeses, sour creams, rice and nut milks, vegan sausages Processed cheeses Skim and Low-fat Dairy: cheese, milk, yogurts etc. Boxed cereals, crackers and cookies Extra Credit for those with clean pantries, remove any item from your cupboard that boasts more than one ingredient.

WOW! I am looking forward to her thoughts on why some of these have no place in our kitchen. Every day she will be going into more detail. Check out the comments on today's blog post to read the answers to some of the questions that are already pouring in! This is going to be quite a ride! :)

Check back tomorrow for a recap of this weekend's freezer cooking exploits! What an ordeal! Preview: How many things can *you* think of that can't be done without running water?