Pumpkin Shake

If you love pumpkin-- you will love this!

First off: you need to make the homemade ice cream:

1/2 Cup Fat Free Sweetened Condensed Milk
2 Cups Heavy Whipping Cream

Beat/Mix for 5-10 minutes until thick. Freeze


Then once the ice cream is frozen.....


1/2 Cup pureed pumpkin
1/4 Cup Coconut Milk
3/4 - 1 Cup of ice cream
pinch of cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg

Blend until smooth if you really like coffee add a splash of coffee to it :) yummmy!!!

Clean Eating Shopping List

For my husband and I to eat clean and real foods it really doesn't cost all that much. He isn't 100% sold on the clean/real foods idea, but he does try a lot of it! He is a man and wants his meat and potatoes-- but honestly that can be made clean as well.

Clean/Real foods are foods that are the closest to their natural state as possible. I focus on eating organic/local fruits, veggies, and honey, organic meats, cage free eggs and chicken, and do a lot of my own canning to stay away from all the added "stuff".

So here is a go-to list for when you start eating clean:


Stuff to always have in stock: Kroger and Meijer carry most products:

• Onions
• Garlic Cloves
• Potatoes
• Whole Wheat Flour
• Rye Flour
• Organic Cane Sugar
• Vanilla Extract
• Kosher Salt
• Various Herbs and Spices
• Coconut, Almond, and Olive Oil
• Salad Dressings
• Nuts
• Nut Butters
• Organic Salsa
• Dried Beans and Chickpeas
• Cans of Tuna Fish
• Whole Wheat Pasta
• Oatmeal
• Wheat Germ
• Organic Broths (veggies and chicken)
• Yeast

A Weekly-Biweekly Shopping List:

-When making this list you want to think of what foods you are going to eat that week. Duh right? Well I mean you have to stick to it as well so that you don't waste food.

• MEAT
• Whole Roasting Chicken (organic, cage free)
• Wild Caught Salmon
• Organic Ground Turkey
• VEGGIES/FRUITS (Pick at least 4 veggies and 2 fruits- if you are like me you will want tons! I love veggies)

• Cauliflower
• Bag of Large Carrots
• Organic Celery
• Bag of Potatoes
• Spinach
• Broccoli
• Bananas
• Bag of Apples
• Kale
• Oranges
• Asparagus
• Dairy

• Cage Free Eggs
• Milk
• Greek Yogurt
• Other
• Coconut/Almond Milk (I don't usually have milk so sometimes I leave that out)

-This is just a sample list here- this is what I made the last week:

• Turkey burgers with homemade whole wheat buns
• Potato soup with cauliflower
• Roasted Chicken, mashed potatoes, and steamed broccoli
• Grilled Salmon with steamed carrots
• Egg white "muffins" with Kale and Onions
• Veggie Soup with added zucchini
• Super Spinach & Kale Salad
• Greek "pudding"

***if anyone wants any of those recipes please let me know! I will be posting them soon, just forgot to take pictures!****

Vegetable Soup-- that will blow your mind!

I was really craving a vegetable soup today. I wanted something that I could have that would be good for me but not fattening. I am trying to get leaner. This is a great great great soup


Ingredients
1/2 Cauliflower
1 Handful of Fresh Green Beans
1 Medium Onion
2 Garlic Cloves
4 Large Carrots
1 Medium Zucchini
1 Can of Navy Beans
1 box of organic vegetable stock
1 small can of organic tomato juice
1 Tbsp olive oil
Your favorite herbs and spices

Steps
1. Chop all of your veggies
2. In a large dutch oven- pour in the onions, garlic cloves, and olive oil
3. Cook until onions are a opaque color (3 minutes)
4. Add the rest of the vegetables and the beans
5. Pour in vegetable stock and get it to a boil
6. Add the tomato juice
7. Let boil about 3 minutes
8. Add in your favorite herbs and spices
9. Cook on low for about an hour and a half.
10. Then you are good to go!

DIY Chai Tea Latte

Okay so if you love chai tea you know how expensive a habit like chai tea lattes can be....

So I found a recipe with a little tweaking of my own... tastes amazing like the chai latte from starbucks:

(I made this is a batch and kept it in a pitcher)

3 Cups Water
3 Cups Almond Milk
1/2 Cup Local Honey
6 tea bags (4 chai 2 black)
1/2 Tsp Cinnamon
1/2 Tsp Nutmeg
shake of ginger
healthy shake of cloves


1) Boil water in a tea kettle
2) In a separate pan put almond milk, honey, and spices- boil
3) Pour boiling water into a pitcher with the tea bags. Let stand for about 5 minutes
4) Add boiling milk/honey/spice mixture to pitcher
5) Cover with tea bags still in the pitcher for another 5 minutes\
6) Pour into mug and enjoy :)

Money Saving Tips

Coupons :)

If you check your Sunday paper you can usually find coupons for great household items you would normally buy. Usually soups, snacks, and cleaning products are in the ads.

If you check around Thanksgiving and Christmas time there are a lot of coupons for baking products like flour, baking soda, corn starch, etc. Clip as many as possible and stock up- you will use these products throughout the year! Sign up for the "in store" coupons. A lot of stores have them. Plus figure out which stores in your shopping area allow for doubleing and tripling your coupons.

Get rid of the Asshole ten dollar bill

Yes you read that right. My husband and I found that ten dollar bills are assholes. This is because when you have one in your wallet you see something that isn't quite $5 but less than $15 or $20 so you think it is a "good deal". Usually this is bullshit. One item being $10 or less most of the time is junk you really didn't need or it is just something you break a ten dollar bill on so you have a five dollar bill some ones and change. Ones and Fives are really easy to spend. A twenty dollar bill is harder to spend but a ten is right in the middle. So what do you do with it? As soon as you get a ten dollar bill do one of two things 1) put it in a savings account or savings jar 2) spend it wisely. I mean really think about it before you spend it on that $2 cheese burger which you know you shouldn't be eating because it is clogging your arteries just thinking about it.

Think Big :)

Buy in bulk. I buy items like flour in bulk. If you buy a 5 lb bag of whole wheat flour- it is much cheaper than buying a 1 lb bag.

Get a Pinterest account :)

There are lots of really cool ideas for meals and crafts on Pinterest. I have found so many good meal ideas- along with many crafts that I use in my household daily.

Learn how to Can

There are 2 good ways to do this. Pressuring canning and water bath canning. Learn how to do both. You can save money by canning pickles, carrots, corn, soups, applesauce, juices, broths, jams, jellies, nut butters, etc.--- plus you will know exactly what is in it!

Trade :)

Find other people who are willing to trade items with you rather than sell your own items. I traded some dvds, a book, and like $10 for a dehydrator that would have costed me about $80 in store. So if you are looking for something and find someone who has it, offer to trade for a valuable item that you are willing to get rid of.

Go back to school

I know what you are thinking "I don't have money to go back to school". Try Financial aid. Chances are if you didn't come from a wealthy family and you don't have a job or make much money on your own, you can get grants and scholarships to go to college. It is always good to  have experience under your belt. You never know what type of job oppurtunities are out there!

Get to know your local farmers

Get to know your local farmers and buy produce or offer to help them for produce. Nothing is better than completely fresh produce. Everyone likes fresh corn on the cob! You never know that farmer could really need some extra help and wouldn't mind tossing a few carrots, heads of lettuce, pounds of beans etc.

Orchards

Go to the orchards often. Also go towards the end of the season when apples and other foods are on sale. You can make awesome apple pies, applesauce, and other great things that you can preserve.

Long time no write!

Hello everyone!

Forgive me for taking a few weeks off and not writing for everyone! I have been very busy with my husband joining the Navy and Fall classes beginning and canning season! Oh boy! It has been a busy few weeks.

First off I would like to share some of the foods I have been canning:

Salsa
Hungarian Hot Peppers
Green Peppers
Dill Pickles
Jalapenos
Carrots
Corn
Soups
Zucchini
Summer Squash
Apple Sauce
Berry-Apple Sauce
Tomatoes
Apples
Pickled Veggies

Those are just a few. If anyone has any questions about canning please ask and I will help you! I have both a pressure canner and a water bath canner. I pressure can my peppers, carrots, corn, and soups. I water bath most of the rest. If you want to water bath peppers, carrots, corn, and other veggies make sure you add citric acid- or else gases will relase and you cans will explode. (learned this from experience).

Salsa is a fun and healthy thing to keep around. I have a variety of different recipes but here is one that I use a lot lately:


8 lbs tomatoes
1 Large Onion
2 Hungarian Hot Peppers
2 Green Peppers
3 Fresh Jalapenos
5 Cloves of Garlic
4TBSP Cilantro


1-First I peel the tomatoes. How I do it is I boil a pot of water and also have a pot of water with ice cold water. I put the tomatoes into the boiling water for about a minute. Next I pull the tomatoes out and put them in the ice cold water. This should help you peel the tomatoes. Remove the seeds if you don't want seeds in your salsa
2- Next I pull out my new food processor (THANKS GRANDMA!). I put in the rest of the ingredients. I put it on 'pulse' so that there is a chunkier salsa- if you want a smoother salsa blend the ingredients until smooth.
3-Add tomatoes to the food processor
4-Blend it all together
5-Now you can put the salsa into a pot and cook it to get the excess water off or you can just go ahead and  can it. When you can fresh salsa and don't get all of the water out, there will be a small amount of water on the bottom of your jar- this is okay as long as the seal isn't broken.

Apple Sauce

Apple Sauce is a super easy thing to make and you really don't have to use any ingredients besides apples.

1- Get a large bag of apples
2- Peel, core, cut up
3- If you have a crock pot this is the easiest way to cook the apple sauce. Place the apples in the crock pot and put it on low for about 5-6 hours.
4- Stir this every half hour or so.
5- When the cooking is done the apples will be a bit mushy
6- Place all of the apples in your food processor.
7- Process on high or until apples are smooth.
8- Put in canning jars or into a container and put in the fridge.



** if you want cinnamon apple sauce.--At step 3, just put a nice coat of cinnamon on top of the apples before you cook them.

** if you want berry apple sauce.. -- Between setp 4 and 5, cook some berries in a small pan, but it is easiest to blend the berries together first. About a cup or so. I used strawberries and blue berries. Cook them for about 10 minutes then set aside. When you add the apples to the food processor-- add the berries as well.

I hope you like the 2 recipes I gave you! I support my local farmers and buy the apples from the orchards if possible. I also have small farmers and family members that have large gardens and have a lot of tomatoes, peppers, corn, egg plant, etc. I buy from some of the small farmers (which is usually very cheap compaired to the store and it is actually fresh-- most times organic) and my family members give me some veggies as well. Do your best with what you have! The place I get my apples from is a local orchard called Almar Orchards. They are based in Flushing, Michigan. They are very well known for their hard cider- you will find it all over the nation!

 

 

Until next time! be frugal! xoxox

jes