Kick Your Cravings to The Curb With (Almost) Calorie Free Chips!

I love salty, crunchy snacks and I especially love chips and dips! 

Unfortunately, even healthy, wholesome chips can be very high in calories. When you are as short as me, you don't get a lot of calories to play with in a day and those extra calories really add up. 

I found the perfect way to get the crispy texture I crave without the extra calories. In fact, I would venture to say that by the time I'm done chewing these chips, I've probably burned more calories in the process of eating them than the chips themselves contain! Brilliant!!! 

The best part of this chip recipe is that it is so simple to make. With just two ingredients, it couldn't get any better in my book! Watch this video to learn more - 

Summer Squash Hummus Recipe Video - Paleo Friendly!

Sometime around mid July the summer squash and zucchini starts to produce bucket loads! It's an amazing feeling to pick all of those free, beautiful veggies but it can be a little overwhelming. I have really struggled with ways to preserve squash and my family can only take roasted squash, grilled squash and steamed squash for so long before they start to turn their noses up.  

In my journey to preserve squash I've made squash pickles, squash relish, squash pancakes, squash bread, squash mock apple pie, and squash butter. The other day I decided to experiment a little and created this yummy squash hummus dip! Watch this video to see how easy it is to make this delicious dip -

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It's (Almost) Never Too Late to Plant a Garden!

I am ashamed to admit it but I almost didn't plant a garden this year! 

We didn't have any snow, and the winter temperatures here in Wichita, Kansas didn't feel much like winter at all. 

I told everyone that I wasn't going to grow a garden this year, because the bugs would be out of control due to the lack of a hard freeze. In truth, I was feeling a little tired and lazy. 

Make This Delicious Relish with Almost Any Vegetable - Video Tutorial

One of the most prolific vegetables in my garden is summer squash. Usually by late July, we have more yellow squash and zucchini than we know what to do with! A delicious way to preserve squash (or any vegetable) is to make relish. 

You will only need a handful of ingredients to make this yummy preserve to enjoy all season -

You Can Make Pickles Out of Almost Any Vegetable!

One of my favorite ways to preserve my garden harvest or store buys is to make pickles! It's super easy to pickle a little or a lot using this basic brine recipe -  1 cup of vinegar (any type will do) to 1 cup of water plus 1 1/2 tablespoons of pickling or kosher salt (don't use iodized salt). 

You will only need some simple supplies which can be picked up at your local supermarket or online - For your convenience I've linked the supply list with items you can purchase online.

How to Dehydrate Bananas - Easy and Healthy!

The dehydrator that I am using in this video is the Nesco FD-1040 1000-watt Gardenmaster Food Dehydrator.  It runs about $95 on Amazon and the link I connected has free shipping. The 1000 watts ensures that your food dehydrates as quickly and efficiently as possible and is best for larger batches. It comes with 4 trays and you can purchase additional trays for around $16 per two. To view the add on trays click this link -  Nesco TR-2 Add-A-Tray for FD-1010/FD-1018P/FD-1020, Set of 2.

If you are not ready to spend a $100 or more on a dehydrator there are other models available that are perfectly fine for dehydrating. 

Shopping for Deep Discounts on Groceries - No Coupons!

As promised, I took a trip to our local supermarket and filmed it to show you how I look for bargains. Normally I hit the stores between 8 and 9 a.m. and find a ton of great deals. Today I went at 11:30 a.m., so the bounty wasn't quite as amazing but you can still see how I search for cheap food for our family.

Tomorrow, I will show you how to dehydrate all of those bargain bananas that I found today!

Happy Food Saving, and please remember to subscribe if you enjoyed this video! 

If you enjoyed this post, you might also like ~

How to Preserve Green Beans Without Canning

How to Make Homemade Yogurt - Easy Recipe

Easy and Delicious Homemade Cottage Cheese

Intro Into Easy Food Saving

Make This Delicious Relish With Any Vegetable

How to Dehydrate Bananas - Easy

Easy Pickle Brine Recipe - Make Pickles Out of Any Vegetable

Intro to Easy Food Saving

Would you like to have a pantry full of inexpensive and healthy foods? Does the thought of a freezer full of neatly sealed packages of meats and veggies make you excited? 

You CAN feed your family for much less - without clipping coupons, no buyer's clubs, and no gimmicky meal plans. I firmly believe you shouldn't have to pay someone to learn how to feed your family on a budget.  

I've had several friends who have asked me to share with them the things I do to store food for my family of eight. Since it isn't possible to spend time with everyone individually, I decided to make videos! This video is the first of a series in which I'll take you along with me to the grocery stores, share my food preservation techniques, and show you my pantry.

Easy and Delicious Homemade Cottage Cheese (without Rennet)



Making homemade cottage cheese is so much easier than you might think.  If you are like me, you may not have tried to make your own because you either didn't know that you could, or because you'd heard that you must have an ingredient called "rennet".  

I've not searched for rennet in my local store but it's not an item that I've ever stumbled upon.  It just sounds like an ingredient that would need to be special ordered!

I was so excited to find a recipe that doesn't call for rennet at macheesmo.com.  It only calls for vinegar, milk, salt, and half-n-half (I just substituted milk for the half-n-half with amazing results).  If you like cottage cheese, you have got to try this recipe.  It's super easy and incredibly delicious!  Thanks macheesmo! (Update - Instructional video below article...)



To make your cottage cheese you will need two ingredients to begin ~
1/2 cup white vinegar and 1/2 gallon of milk (that is 8 cups).  I used whole milk but
I think you could use skim, 1%, or 2% as well.

1) Heat 1/2 gallon of milk on medium heat, stir slowly and constantly until the milk is approximately 120 degrees F.  Macheesmo didn't have a thermometer, and I didn't  either. He said to heat until the milk felt warm. I just heated the milk until it felt as warm as I like my showers.

2) Place a colander inside of a larger bowl to catch the whey that will soon be separated from the curds.

3) Line the colander with a tea towel, cheesecloth or similar clean cloth.  I used a clean baby blanket, the receiving type. 

4) Once the the milk has reached 120 degrees, remove from heat. Pour and gently stir in the 1/2 cup of vinegar. 



  

Immediately, the milk will start to curdle.  Very cool!

Your concoction will look like this.

5) Put a lid on the pan and let sit for 30 minutes to cool down and firm up.

6) Pour mixture (gently) through cloth lined colander.

7) Remember to remove bowl with whey and rinse the curds in cold water.  I used my (clean) fingers to separate and rinse the curds. The rinsing helps remove the vinegar and cools your cheese down even more.

8) Gather cloth and gently squeeze out excess liquid.  

10) Mix 1/2 cup of milk or cream with 1/8th tsp salt (more or less to taste)

Add curds to the milk (or half n half) and salt mixture.

11) Gently stir mixture.  If it seems dry, you can add more milk or half-n-half.  Recipe made approximately 2 cups.

12) Cover and refrigerate.  This photograph was taken for informational purposes only.  Afterward, we basically ate the whole thing.

For a good resource on making your own dairy
products ~

Homemade Living: Home Dairy with Ashley English: All You Need to Know to Make Cheese, Yogurt, Butter & More

13) Save your whey to use in bread, shakes, soup, etc.  There are plenty of great ideas online on how to use this nutritional liquid.  I made bread with mine.  It was very tasty!

 
 

If you enjoyed this post, you might also like ~

How to Preserve Green Beans Without Canning

How to Make Homemade Yogurt - Easy Recipe

Intro Into Easy Food Saving

Make This Delicious Relish With Any Vegetable

Shopping For Deep Discounts on Groceries - NO Coupons!

How to Dehydrate Bananas - Easy

Easy Pickle Brine Recipe - Make Pickles Out of Any Vegetable

Pickle Your Vegetables Using Salt (Lacto-fermentation)

My husband was reminded of one of the traditional ways that his grandmother preserved vegetables when he heard  Sandor Katz on a NPR broadcast.  Mr. Katz is an expert on fermented foods so I encourage you to check out his (click here) site.

How to Preserve Green Beans Without Canning



 



We've been blessed with huge crops of green beans
this year!