Quiet Breakfast

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. Or in our case, not even a cat or a dog or a cat.

5 Tips for Eating Healthy While on a Budget

I can't explain how hard this part has been. For the last few years, our family has really tried to eat as clean as possible meaning avoiding processed foods and choosing whole foods instead. When you are on a budget, produce is not the cheapest thing you can buy so it makes it really tricky to balance the budget while eating well. Here are a few tips to help:

1. Plant a garden, and grow fruit trees
This is kind of a no-brainer - if you can produce fruits and veggies in your own backyard it will not only be economical but it's obviously way healthier since you control the chemicals and pesticides. And hopefully that means you don't use any! Once you've harvested your crops, you can freeze, can or eat your bounty. And it's cheap! Here is some apple sauce I made with some local crabapples I purchased from someone in our community (we don't have apple trees). I got a huge box for $5. Score!

2. Buy Local
We live in Manitoba which means our growing season is pretty short because it's winter for 6 months of the year. So, why do we live here? Just kidding. I love my home. But it is so exciting once spring arrives and the farmer's markets are open. Buying locally helps your local economy and is better for the environment. And it's fresh and deelicious!

3. Check out what's on sale and buy in season
Every two weeks, I scan the flyers to do our BIG bi-weekly shopping and I will only buy produce that is on sale. Most of the time this means that you are buying produce that is in season. In other words, apples will be cheaper in the fall than in the middle of winter (generally). Again, if you can purchase certain fruit when they are on sale (such as apples), why not freeze or can them so you can enjoy the lower prices all year long?

4. Swap with family and friends
Maybe you have thousands of carrots in your garden and your neighbour has extra raspberries. Why not produce swap? You don't have to grow as many fruits and vegetables but you still get to enjoy a variety of delicious food.

5. Bake at home

It is so easy to make bread at home, especially when you have a bread maker. We try to make a few loaves at a time by using the dough cycle in our machine but forming the loaves ourselves and baking them on a cookie sheet. I can control what I put into our bread and I know it won't contain preservatives. Here is my fail-proof bun/bread recipe from Betty Crocker. I substitute some of the white flour with whole wheat. One recipe makes these two large loaves.

I also make our cookies and muffins at home. These aren't "clean" because they have processed flour and sugar but they are preservative-free. I also have a KitchenAid Stand Mixer and it has been the best gift I ever received. I use mine at least 2 times a week. It makes baking so much easier!

I hope these tips help you plan your grocery budgeting stretch a bit. How do you eat healthy while sticking to a budget?

When life gives you a box of cheap apples, make cheap apple sauce

I am a big fan of getting a good deal, and when someone was selling a huge box of crab apples for $5, I was on it! Our local buy and sell page on Facebook is a real goldmine sometimes! So what was I going to do with this awesome score? (The box was full to the top. This picture was taken half way through.)

Because the apples were VERY tart, I figured apple sauce would be a safe bet since I could add sugar to balance out the tartness. I started by sorting the apples and rinsing them with cold water. Once I cleaned the apples, I threw them into a big pot filled with a few cups of water. I put on the lid and let them soften - peels and stems too. I knew I was going to strain them once they were mushy. Here are the pretty little crimson gems simmering in the pot.

Once the apples were soft enough, I mashed them by hand then passed them through a fine strainer. That beautiful sauce starting oozing from the strainer. But it was very tart still!

Once all the apple mush was strained, I poured the sauce back into the pot and let it simmer on the stove while I added a few cups of sugar, vanilla and cinnamon. I can't tell you what the exact amounts were because I made the sauce by taste. My kiddos were also part of the taste testing process!

Once the sauce was done simmering, I poured the sauce in sterilized jars and canned them in a water bath canner for 15 minutes. And then came the symphony of jars popping. Music to my ears!

The finished product was beautiful in its scarlet hue, and the taste was even better. The first night we had the sauce as an accompaniment to a delicious pork roast. What a great flavour combo!

I made a dozen jars of apple sauce and had extra apples left for freezing. All of that for the low price of $5.00. *pats herself on the back.

Tomorrow I'll be giving you my tips for furnishing and decorating your home using mostly second-hand finds!

Chicken Hot Tub Party

My goal is to write in my blog every day. So this is two days in a row now. Good start!

Today is a busy, busy day! I have to finish the last two loads of laundry and then I'm caught up. Woo! First time in a month I've been able to say that. For the record, laundry is my nemesis. If I ever built a dream home, I'd copy an idea my friend Joce had. I would build one big central closet that would store everyone's clothes. The room would have my washer and dryer, a big sink, and a drying rack. It would be highly organized and pretty. It would be in the main living area in our house. Not two flights of stairs away from the bedrooms. Carrying baskets up and down all day is a waste of time and is the reason I don't keep up with my laundry - I'm sure of that! So yes, the dream house will have a central closet. Ah, it's good to dream!

After I got my laundry going this morning, I decided to make chicken stock. The stock is for soups, and the leftover chicken will be shredded and put into bags for different meals like tacos, soups, salads, etc.

So this is who was invited to the chicken hot tub party today:

We've got carrots, celery, 1/2 a red onion, 1/2 a lemon, 2 cloves of garlic, kosher salt (I love kosher salt!), pepper, 2 bay leafs, oregano and of course, the chicken who made this hot tub extravaganza possible. And lemon, you say? Yes, lemon! I don't know what it is but the acid helps to balance the broth. Trust me on that one :)

I washed the veggies that need to be washed and roughly cut them into big chunks and dumped them into a large pot. I'm going to discard all the veggies afterwards so they don't need to be perfect. I'm just looking for flava!

And of course, Mr. Chicken and his spicy friends jumped in the tub too.

I covered the contents with enough cold water to almost cover the chicken. I put the lid on and will let it bubble on medium low heat for a good three hours until all the flavours mingle and get to know each other intimately.  This should make a pretty big pot of chicken noodle soup later which will be lunches for most of the week. I add bow tie pasta, sliced carrots, celery and chicken to the broth. It's so delicious and comforting!

After my chicken stock is done, I have to be at the school to help my daughter's kindergarten class with math. Ha.... Me and math don't go together at all. But that's a story for another day. Thankfully, it's still at a level I can handle. Grade 1 next year.... Not sure if I'll be qualified.

Until we meet again blogosphere!

n