Feeding The Nut House

2010-08-05T12:15:00.001-04:00

Thanks to the few people who noticed that I had a quick poll on this site yesterday to vote on a new name for my blog! There were just too many other blogs out there with the name "From My Kitchen to Yours" so I thought it was time for a change. I may or may not be moving over to a dedicated page over at The Nut House, I am still mulling it over and trying to decide if it will work out.

What do you think of the new banner? I will use it if I move over to The Nut House, if not, then I will think about if I want to redesign this website completely or just make a new banner and keep it as is. I figure as long as I have a huge list of things to do, I might as well work on getting this website more updated. I have a stack of recipes to publish and a new camera to photograph all of my tasty dishes. So hang in there, just working out the kinks of life and moving on :)

New Blog Name?

2010-08-04T12:51:00.000-04:00

I have found that "From My Kitchen to Yours" is a very popular name for a blog. So I have decided to change the name. There are two choices in the sidebar poll next to this post. I am going to keep ...cooking for my large family on a small budget, so that doesn't need to change.

So what do you think? Help me name my new blog.

That hopefully will be moving over to The Nut House blog with its own dedicated page within the next few days...which is why there is only voting for today. I am working on building that now and it is pretty close to being done and ready for a button and banner within the page.

So what are you waiting for? Go vote :)

Homemade Granola

2010-04-29T12:10:00.000-04:00

A neighbor introduced me to homemade Granola years ago, and at that time I thought it was the most brilliant thing ever. OK, not the most brilliant thing ever, but very close to being one of the best things that I learned to make that I should have learned decades ago. Since making my first batch, I have fiddled around with it and come up with my own favorite version. And of course, if you have been reading for awhile, you know that most of my recipes are easily customizable to suit your own taste.

This makes a great snack and is perfect with milk, or soy or almond milk for breakfast. Stir it into yogurt or my yogurt salad for breakfast or lunch.

You will need:

4 Cups of Rolled Oats
1 Cup of Wheat Flakes
1 Cup of Wheat Germ
1 Cup Wheat Bran
1 Cup Nuts, Chopped (Walnuts or Almonds are my favorite)
1 Cup Dry Powdered Milk
1/2 Flax Seed
1/2 Sunflower Seeds (no shells)
1-2 Cups dried fruit of choice (raisins, dried cranberries, chopped dates, apricots, etc.)
2 Cups of Honey
1/2 Cup Olive Oil (or oil of your choice)
1 Tablespoon of Cinnamon
1 Teaspoon of Vanilla

Optional Ingredients:

Coconut
Soy Nuts
Banana Chips
Nutmeg
Pumpkin Spice

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a sauce pan, mix together the Vanilla, Cinnamon, Olive Oil and Honey. Heat on low setting while working on the next step. Stir occasionally and don't let it come to a boil or burn.

In a large roasting pan, completely mix together the remaining ingredients. When everything is thoroughly mix, pour the warm liquid mixture over the dry ingredients and mix well.

Bake for 45-60 minutes and stir every 15 minutes. When it is done, pour in a thin layer on parchment paper and let cool. When it is cool, store it in an airtight container.

This recipe makes about 12-14 cups of granola.

More than Just Yogurt with Fruit

2010-04-28T12:25:00.002-04:00

My mother has always picked on me because I can't just eat something simple, I always have to embellish it. Sure yogurt with fruit in it is good, but add a few extras and it is To Die For! This is so yummy that I eat it for breakfast or lunch and it makes a great dinner on a hot summer night. It has all the frills, but is so easy it can be a quick snack. This dish is also perfect as a desert or side "salad" for a picnic or potluck.

This recipe is for 1-2 servings, depending on what meal you are making this for I can easily eat this whole thing myself, or make it to serve a few of my kids for breakfast. It is also easy to multiply for guests, potlucks or for just because you want more of it, as well as customize for your own tastes.

You will need:

1 to 1 1/2 cups of Creamy or Blended Yogurt (not fruit on the bottom)
1 Large Apple or Pear, pealed or unpeeled and cut into bite sized pieces
1/2 Cup of Plain Rolled Oats
1/8 to 1/4 Cup of Honey or Maple Syrup
1/2 Cup of Chopped Walnuts
1/4 Cup Raisins or Dried Cranberries
Ground Cinnamon and Nutmeg to taste

Optional Ingredients:

1/4 Cup Shredded Coconut
1 Tablespoon of Wheat Germ
Homemade Granola

After cutting up the apples or pears and chopping the walnuts, mix everything together in a bowl. It is ready to serve!

I like to use different types of yogurt, sometimes plain, sometimes flavored. I have used both the large containers of yogurt as well as the smaller containers like Yoplait. Some have fruit chunks, some don't. It is really up to you to decide what yogurt to use. For the most part, I like to use Vanilla or Plain. If I use the smaller containers with the fruit chunks, I omit the sweetener and cut down on the dried fruit.

This is another one of my recipes where it is easy to change things up from day to day. I never really need to make it the same way twice if I feel like a change.

Enjoy!

The Cupboard is Almost Bare, Experimental Bagel Pizza

2010-03-30T18:48:00.002-04:00

You know those days where you go to the kitchen trying to figure out what to make for dinner, and realize that you are pretty much out of everything? Most importantly you are out of anything and everything that would pass as a healthy dinner that the children will actually eat. I am finding myself in the middle of one of those days. I am not sure how I managed to find an almost empty kitchen and freezer, but I did. This is what I have come up with tonight.

Experimental Bagel Pizza. Normally, I love bagel or english muffin pizzas. They are quick and the kids love them too. I thought I was all set to make the pizza and then I realized I didn't have any cheese that would taste good on pizza, swiss cheese pizza is not something my kids would eat. But they do love that shaker cheese, so that is what I am using tonight. Believe me, I would be much happier if I had some yummy mozzarella cheese, but there is none, so that is where the experiment begins.

I started out with whole wheat bagels on the pizza stone, drizzled them with olive oil and baked them at 425 degrees for 10 minutes. I added some left over pasta sauce, chopped up some marinated chicken and added that. Then I sprinkled all of it with some sprinkle cheese. I put it all back in the oven on 425 degrees for 10 minutes.

They turned out pretty good. Sprinkle cheese doesn't really melt the way mozzarella does, so it just gets warm and kind of melts, but not really. The flavor is not too bad either. This Experimental Bagel Pizza turned out much better than I was hoping and the kids ate it up. They even told me it was the best pizza ever...not sure if I am excited or depressed about that. Not too bad for a mostly empty kitchen, pantry and freezer.

Awesome Spiral Snack

2010-03-27T17:35:00.003-04:00

My kids love fun food, and I love making fun designs with their food. All it needs is fresh strawberries and raspberries and it would be perfect! Oh, and maybe some grapes. Just a few more months and we can pick our black raspberries and add those to the mix too. Yum!

It has apples, cheese, crackers, bananas and blueberries...and lasts about 5 minutes or less!

Steel Cut Oats in The Crock Pot

2010-03-22T14:24:00.002-04:00

I love steel cut oats, but when I make oatmeal, I don't want to have to stand around for 30 minutes cooking a bowl of hot cereal. So I make my steel cut oats overnight in the crock pot.

One thing I learned the very first time cooking the steel cut oats in the slow cooker, was that the basic 1 to 4 recipe of oats to water was not going to work. There was not nearly enough water and after the oats absorbed all of it, they got hard. I use at least a 1 to 5 ratio of oats to water, and sometimes more. I started getting everything ready long before I turn the crock pot on for the night. I measure the oats and water and put them in the slow cooker and come back and turn it on low for 6 hours. Since the crock pot stays on the warm setting until I turn it off manually, this works out great for us. I tried it on the 8 hour setting, but that seemed to be too much time for us and the oats would start to dry out and get hard.

I love to add all sorts of things to my oat meal. I will share with you a few of my favorite topping combinations.

Sliced or Diced Almonds
Cranberries
Diced Apples
Brown Sugar

Walnuts
Raisins
Diced Apples or Pears
Cinnamon Sugar

Almonds
Diced Dates
Brown Sugar

Bananas
Honey
Walnuts

Fresh Strawberries, Blueberries or Rasberries
Honey
Almonds or Walnuts

A scoop of any flavor of yogurt

I also like to sprinkle in a bit of Wheat Germ too.

The think I love the most about cooking the steel cut oats in the crock pot over night, is how easy it makes my mornings. I have a hot breakfast waiting for me before I even get out of bed, and all I have to do is dice up some fruit, and toss everything else in. And the kids tell me what flavors they want and in a matter of a few seconds, a quick and healthy breakfast is done.

Hot Spiced Citrus Apple Cider

2009-12-17T20:03:00.005-05:00

One of my favorite things about fall and winter is Hot Cider. Many times I just grab a cup and heat up the cider in the microwave, but special occasions call for something a bit more, well, special. We go through the most amount of cider between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Hot Cider simmering on the stove top not only gives me the warm and fuzzy Holiday feeling, but it also make the whole house smell wonderfully festive.

It is very easy to go overboard with the spices, so you might want to start out with less, and then add more to taste. This recipe is so easy to make. I am not always one to measure and this recipe is the perfect example of that.

You Will Need:

Apple Cider
Cinnamon Sticks
Whole Cloves
Clementines or Oranges

I usually heat up Cider by the 1/2 gallon or gallon. This recipe is for a gallon of Cider.

Pour the gallon of cider into a pot on the stove, simple, yes? Then add 1-2 cinnamon sticks and a good pinch of cloves...or about 8-12 cloves. For me, too much cloves is what ruins the spiced cider, if you like more that is fine too.

Juice 3-5 clementines or 2-3 large oranges, depending on you taste and add to the mix. Simmer over medium heat for at least 15 minutes, or as long as it takes to drink it all. Sometimes we let the Spiced Citrus Cider simmer for several hours as family and friends come and go for an afternoon...and many times we have to make more!

If you want to add rum or brandy an make it a hot toddy, wait until you are ready to drink it as the alcohol will content will evaporate.

Enjoy!

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

2009-10-22T14:01:00.003-04:00

For years, when I roasted pumpkin seeds, I took them out of the pumpkin, washed them, added a sprinkle of salt and tossed them in the oven. They were good, but they were never great. Last year for Thanksgiving I tried, for the first time to brine my turkey, soaking it in salt overnight. And that got me to thinking about what else I could soak, like pumpkin seeds. So I looked it up and found all sorts of recipes for soaking pumpkin seeds in brine. Some said soak for an hour, some said over night, some said boil, some did not, some said lots of salt, some said a little, some said bake at a low temperature, some said at a high one. So I did what I do, I tested a few of them and came up with my own version and my family loves it.

You will need:

Fresh Pumpkin Seeds
Salt
Water

After you have cleaned out your pumpkin and had tons of fun hanging out with the kids, covered in goo and slime, wash the seeds and remove as much of the pulp as possible. I put a strainer in a large bowl, fill it with water and rub and squeeze the seeds and drain the water. I do this several times to get all the pulp off.

Put the seeds in a pot that has a lid. Make a mixture of salt water, measuring 1/4 of a cup of salt for every 1 cup of water and cover the seeds completely with the brine. Soak overnight.

When you are ready to roast the seeds, preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Boil the seeds for 10 minutes and drain, but do not rinse. Place the seeds in a thin layer, covering the bottom of a cookie sheet. Roast the seeds for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, stir them around a bit, they will still be damp. Roast for another 5-10 minutes. If they are still damp, stir and roast for another 5 minutes. Repeat this until they are dried out and starting to get a golden brown. Once they are dry they roast to a nice golden brown very quickly, so stay close at this point.

I love to eat them warm, right out of the oven. Yumm!

Enjoy!

Simple Slow Cooker Turkey Meatballs with Tomato Sauce

2009-10-20T11:51:00.002-04:00

Once the weather starts to cool off, we start to eat a lot more pasta with red sauce. One of the great things about this is that it is so quick and easy to make a simple red sauce and a pot of pasta, but if we want meatballs, that takes a bit more time. So I like to make a big batch of meatballs and put them in the freezer. When it is time to make some pasta, I pull out a few meatballs for everyone, thaw them in the microwave and add them to the red sauce.

You Will Need:

A 3 pound package of Ground Turkey
1 Large Onion
1 1/2 Cups of Italian Bread Crumbs
A Handful of Italian Seasoning
A Couple of Cloves of Garlic
2 Large Cans of Tomato Sauce

Turn the crock pot on high and add the 2 cans of Tomato Sauce.

In a large mixing bowl, add the Ground Turkey and Bread Crumbs. I like to add a small handful of Italian Seasoning, just cup your hand and fill the palm of your hand with seasoning. Chop the onion in to small pieces and mince or press the garlic and add them to the bowl.

The easiest way to mix everything together is with your hands. Squeeze everything together in the bowl and dump the whole thing out on the counter. I like to knead the mixture together like a loaf of bread until everything is mixed well. Once everything is mixed, divide the mixture in half, then the halves into quarters. Continue dividing each section in half until you get 32 meatballs of the same size.

Add the meatballs to the tomato sauce in the slow cooker, there should be enough sauce to cover the meatballs. Turn the temperature down to low and cook for 8 hours.

If you are going to freeze them, tap the sauce off of them and place them on a greased cookie sheet in a single layer. They need to be far enough apart that they are not touching each other. Let them cool completely before putting them in the freezer. Once they are frozen, put them in an air tight container or freezer Ziploc bag. When you need them you can pull out a few of them and toss them in the microwave or straight into your pasta sauce.

Most of the tomato sauce will be absorbed by the meatballs, but there will be a small amount left over. I like to put that in the freezer and add it to my pasta sauce the next time I make it.

Enjoy!

Easy Peasy 15 Minute Chicken Pot Pie

2009-10-19T18:18:00.002-04:00

I love love love cooking from scratch, especially my Deep Dish Chicken Pot Pie, but sometimes there is just not time to prepare and bake it...even though it is soooo easy. If I have coupons and can find convenience foods on sale, I stock up on them for days when I need dinner on the table super quick. Like this easy peasy 15 Minute Chicken Pot Pie.

You Will Need:

1 Large Can of Cream of Mushroom Soup
1/2 Cup of Milk
2 Cans of Chicken Breast (found near the tuna)
1-12 Ounce Steamer Bag of Mixed Vegetables
1 Ready Made Bag of Rice (not flavored)
1 Package of Crescent Rolls

Preheat the oven per the pack of Crescent Rolls.

Put the bag of mixed veggies in the microwave and cook per instructions on the package.

To prepare the crescent rolls, instead of rolling them into a crescent shape, fold them over and flatten them out. Follow the directions on the package for cooking.

In a large skillet, mix the soup and milk together and cook until it is bubbling.

Add the 2 cans of chicken breast.

When the veggies are heated, add them to the mix.

Heat the bag of ready made rice and add that to the mix.

By now the crescent rolls should be just about done.

Put the crescent rolls in the bottom of a bowl, spoon the Chicken Pot Pie filling on top of the crescent rolls and serve.

This Easy Peasy 15 Minute Chicken Pot Pie is done and on the table in 15 minutes or less.

Enjoy!

Super Quick Marshmallow Popcorn Treat

2009-09-12T13:14:00.003-04:00

This quick and simple treat is a variation of the traditional Rice Crispy Treat, but takes half the time. This is perfect for a last minute potluck, a fun snack for neighborhood kids, or a treat for family movie night or game night. You can make this first thing in the morning for the kid's bake sale at school or a Cub Scout fundraiser. I think the greatest thing about this Treat is that with very little supervision, the kids can make this by themselves...and you don't have to worry about the mess left behind by little kiddie cooks. This is a wonderful recipe to make with the kids to give them confidence in the kitchen.

You will need:

1 Microwave Bag of Butter Flavored Popcorn
7 Ounce Jar of Marshmallow Spread
Cooking Spray or a little bit of Olive Oil

Follow the directions for popping the bag of butter flavored popcorn. You are using butter flavored popcorn to give this treat that same buttery flavor that you get from melting butter and marshmallows together for the traditional Rice Crispy Treats.

While the popcorn is popping, spray a large microwave save bowl with cooking spray or coat it with a bit of olive oil. You want to cover the entire inside of the bowl to keep the marshmallow spread from sticking to the edge of the bowl.

Add the entire jar of marshmallow spread to the coated bowl. When the popcorn is done, heat the marshmallow spread for 30 seconds.

After the spread is heated, pour the entire bag of popcorn into the bowl and mix well.

There are two simple ways that I like to serve this. The first is to quickly coat a 9 x 9 pan with cooking spray or olive oil and pour the mixture into it, pressing down to pack the popcorn and level it off.

Another way I like to serve this is to make popcorn balls. Coat a clean counter top with cooking spray or olive oil and pour the mixture out onto the counter, and coat your hands as well. Divide the mixture in half, then quarters, and then divide each quarter in half until you have 8 equal parts. If you want to make smaller balls, divide each of the 8 parts in half again to get 16 equal parts. Roll into balls and cover with plastic wrap.

I hope you and your children enjoy making and eating this :)

Quick, Simple and oh so Frugal French Bread Pizza

2009-09-09T15:58:00.007-04:00

Pizza is one of those quick diners that makes everyone in our family happy. The price of take-out and even store bought frozen pizza does not make me very happy though. I was at Walmart a while ago and came across a stack of day old French bread for .90 cents! Since then I will occasionally find it for .75 cents, even better! Every time I find it I buy the whole stack of it, walking out of the store once with 7 loaves of bread for my freezer. When shredded Mozzarella or a block of it is on sale I buy extra to toss in the freezer too. I usually make my own red sauce and if there is extra I throw that in the freezer, but I also look for coupons for jarred sauce and if I can combine a coupon with a store sale, I buy a bunch of that too.

Homemade French bread pizza is the perfect quick meal that fills the bellies for just a few dollars and very little preparation time or clean up.

To make this, you will need:

1 Loaf of French Bread
Your favorite red sauce
Olive oil
1 Pound of Mozzarella Cheese
Leftovers (optional)

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

Slice the french bread length wise down the center, place on a large baking sheet and drizzle a little bit of olive oil over each half and then put it in the oven for about 3-4 minutes. Add the sauce to your own taste...we like lots of sauce, others do not. Cover both halves with mozzarella cheese. It really doesn't matter if you use shredded mozzarella or a block of it, if you are using a block you don't even have to shred it before hand, just slice it up and toss it on top.

If you have any left over chicken, cube it up and toss it on top. Got a few left over burgers, break them apart and toss them on. Slice up some veggies, some garlic or leave it plain. It is all up to you. Add what you love and forget the rest. You can make one half all meat and the other half all veggies. It is so easy to make every one happy with this pizza!

Toss it in the preheated 450 degree oven on a baking sheet for about 11-13 minutes and its done. Let it cool for about 5-10 minutes, slice and serve.

I love to make this for movie night or family game night. It is quick and easy and for less than $5.00 everyone is happy and full. It is so filling that it will feed our 4 boys (all 8 and under) 2 adults and we usually have a few pieces left over for tomorrow. A much better deal than the 3 pizzas at $7.00 each that we have to buy in order to feed our family!

This is also a great meal to make with the kids. It is as simple as spreading out some sauce, tossing on some cheese and looking through the fridge for extra toppings.

Enjoy!

Tales From My Veggie Garden #3

2009-08-25T15:20:00.007-04:00

Well as hard as I tried, I have not been here updating the growth of my Veggie Garden. Unfortunately, my Veggie Garden has been a bit difficult to get growing this year. I suppose that my 1 month old does have a bit to do with lack of time to keep up with my gardening, and my updates here, but there are other factors that have kept me struggling to save my veggies as well.

When we bought our home 6 years ago (which happen to include 7 summers!), our back yard was hard, unforgiving Southern Red Clay and for the first 2 summers, hardly anything grew. We collected all of our produce scraps, along with grass clippings in the summer and mowed over leaves in the fall and added them to our compost bin. We added the rich compost, covered it with a thick layer of mulch and after a few summers we had a wonderful, healthy garden bed.

Last year all of that changed when we broke ground on the addition to the back of our house. Half of the garden bed was dug up and eventually returned to our yard to make up for lost yard space for the kiddies to play in. And what was left of the garden space got dug up a bit and covered with hard red clay and too many rocks to count. We used that remaining garden space to plant about 200 corn stalks and moved the rest of the garden to the other side of the yard, behind a new retaining wall. That space was filled in with...you guessed it, more of that hard rock filled red clay.

I spent a good amount of time trying to mix in what little topsoil we had left into the new garden and covered it with as much mulch as we could afford this year, but it wasn't enough. I did my final plantings in the beginning of June, and it has only been in the past couple of weeks that the pepper and tomato plants have come to life and started growing.

I watered them for weeks on end and nothing happened. Now all of a sudden they are growing big happy leaves and I actually have a few green tomatoes. The peppers are finally starting to produce little flowers, along with the eggplants. We have a few small melons, although I am not sure what is growing. I planted honeydew, cantaloupe, and watermelon. The little melons all seem to be the same type, but since I mixed the melons together, I am not sure just which one is which.

We have been eating zucchini for about a month, I think maybe even 5 weeks. Our first yellow squash just popped out and is just a few inches long. The zucchini is falling prey to powdery mildew, which has been an issue in our garden for our zucchini, squash, cukes, pumpkins and melons for years. If my friend Lisa was here she would probably smack me for not getting rid of the powdery mildew since I begged her (and begged her) to write an article on How to Get Rid of Powdery Mildew in the Garden and I have yet to find the time to do it! She gives the simplest easiest instructions and I have all of the ingredients needed, I just can't seem to find the time to save my poor powdery zucchini plants.

We have also been eating green beans for the past 5-6 weeks. They are actually stuck in a small garden space that used to be home to about a dozen hostas that got transplanted over the years. They had a nice happy and healthy plot of soil to start out in and the only problem with them now is that since they are so far away from the rest of the veggies I forget to water them and they are starting to die...I forget all about them until it is time for dinner and I needed something to eat, and at that point there was no way they were going to get watered. The only thing that saved the long vineing plants was the summer storms we have been getting for the past week or so.

I tried to harvest some corn this week and was yet again disappointed. We got enough for one good meal so far, but most of them were small and not completely developed. I have never had much luck with corn. What ever we do get always tastes so good, but I can never seem to get a nice big fully grown ear of corn. Next year I am going to have to actually invest in some kind of organic pesticide, taking it to the next level! We have several dozen small ears of corn and I hope that they come out better than the first harvest.

Our brussel's sprouts are pretty tiny little plants, but they too are finally starting to get a little burst of growth. I am hoping to get a few good meals out of them.

It looks like we will be able to freeze some green beans, maybe some corn and some brussel's sprouts. Hopefully we will get some plump juicy tomatoes for salads and for canning along with some more zucchini and squash.

My cucumbers would not grow for me at all this year...which is so weird because they always end up being one of the plants that take over the garden. There are no cukes for pickling, but the dill survived. Without the cucumbers, I don't really need the dill. I would have been much happier if the basil survived, but the little plants did not transplant so well and all shriveled up within a few weeks. The sweet peas didn't stand a chance hanging in the basket, even though that basket was right outside my kitchen door and I looked at it everyday, it didn't get enough water and they are now sad dried little pea pods that are begging to end up in the compost. The one harvest we got was oh so sweet though!

Our carrots are growing very slowly and suffered a huge set back when I forgot to water the container they are in for a few weeks. I thinned out a few of them, but the longest one I got was about 2 inches long. Hopefully they will get bigger now that I have started to thin them out and remembered to water them.

We also have no beets! I am very sad about that. And not one of our sunflowers survived. I am going to have to make sure they are much bigger next year when I transplant them. Considering they are such huge and majestic plants when they are full grown, they are more delicate when they are young than I would have thought. It also didn't help that the pigeons ate the seeds that I planted directly in the ground.

This year is not nearly as bountiful as the work that I put into it should have produced, but it is not a total bust either. And the growing season is not over yet, here in the Shenandoah Valley we still have at least another month of growing left, maybe even 6-7 weeks if I am lucky.

Homemade Almond Milk is Unbelievably Easy to Make

2009-08-18T15:52:00.007-04:00

Almond Milk is a great alternative to cow’s milk, but has a tendency to be a bit pricey. Making your own Almond Milk at home is a great way to save money and still get all of the wonderful heath benefits. Almond Milk is lactose free, cholesterol free, and has almost no saturated fat. It is high in protein, omega 3 fatty acids, vitamin E and unsaturated fats. It also contains vitamins and minerals such as calcium, folate, iron, potassium, zinc and magnesium.

There are a few different recipes that I use to make Almond Milk, and all of them are equally good. You can try out the different recipes and decide which one you like best.

You Will Need:

2/3 Cup of Raw Whole Almonds
4-5 Dried Dates
Honey
Vanilla (Optional)
Water
Blender
A Sieve, or
Cheese Cloth, or
A Nut Bag
Pitcher

Soak 2/3’s of a cup of Raw Whole Almonds in water over night. You will need to completely cover the almonds and add extra water for absorption. All of my recipes involve soaking almonds overnight, or for at least 8-10 hours.

Almond Milk with Dates:

Add 3 cups of water to the blender. Drain the Raw Whole Almonds that have been soaking overnight, add them to the blender along with 4-5 Dried Dates, depending on how sweet you would like it to be. You can also add ¼ of a teaspoon of Vanilla if you wish.

Blend all ingredients on high speed for 1-2 minutes, until all large chunks are chopped. When you are done, it will still be thick with small almond and date pulp.

Strain the pulp using your sieve, cheesecloth or nut bag into a pitcher and add 3 more cups of water. It will keep in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Almond Milk with Honey:

This is made the exact same way as with the Dates, except you will use Honey instead. Add ¼ to ½ of a cup of Honey, depending on how sweet you would like it to be.

Unsweetened Almond Milk:

You can also make the Almond Milk with no Dates or Honey if you prefer to have it unsweetened. Unsweetened Almond Milk still has a wonderful, rich nutty flavor. For unsweetened Almond Milk use 1 cup of Raw Whole Almonds instead of 2/3 of a cup.

The left over pulp still has plenty of nutrients left in it and can be used for several things. As with the Almond milk, it can be refrigerated for up to 3 days.

Examples of things to add it to are:

Add it to a Fruit Smoothie
Add it to Oatmeal or Cream of Wheat
Add it to Cookies, Bread or Muffins
There are so many great things that you can do with the left over pulp, experiment in your own kitchen and see what you come up with.

Cooking for a Large Family: Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas with Corn

2009-08-14T13:48:00.012-04:00

We love having Mexican Dinner Night! Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas with Corn is one of our family favorites. A full 9x13 inch pan will serve our large young family with leftovers for lunch. This is one of the quickest and easiest dishes to make, and when the kids get older it will be no trouble to make this a double batch.

You Will Need:

1 Bag of Burrito Sized Tortilla Shells (8pack)
2 Cans Enchilada Sauce
5 Chicken Breasts
1-12 Oz. Bag of Corn
1-8 Oz. Bag of Fiesta Blend Shredded Cheese
9x13 inch Glass Baking Pan

Preheat the Oven to 375 degrees.

Slice the chicken breasts lengthwise down the middle to make two thinner breasts. Then cut each breast into long strips. You can cube them if you would like, but I like to cut them into strips, toss them in the skillet and then cut them with a bamboo or plastic spatula as they cook. This cuts down on the preparation time a lot and is so much easier. Cook the chicken in a large flat skillet on medium high heat.

While the chicken is cooking, heat up the corn. Adding the corn while it is hot cuts down on baking time in the oven. I like to use the microwave steamer bags, they are so easy, with no clean up and when I get them on sale, they are so cheap. If you have fresh corn on the cob, a few ears of corn make this dish even better! About 3-5 will work.

When the chicken is done cooking, pour one of the cans of Enchilada Sauce over the chicken. Let it simmer for about 5 minutes to let the sauce soak into the chicken.

Add the corn to the chicken and enchilada sauce and mix well.

Add about 3/4 of the bag of Fiesta Blend shredded cheese to the enchilada filling and mix well until the cheese is melted.

The 9x13 glass baking dish will need to be greased slightly to keep the burrito shells from sticking.

In order to get 8 equal sized portions of filling, and to make sure that I don’t run out or have too much left over at the end, I like to divide the portions out in the skillet. I divide the filling in half, then into quarters and then each quarter is divided in half to create 8 equal portions of filling.

Spoon each portion of filling into the center of a large burrito sized tortilla shell and spread lengthwise across the center of the shell. Leave about 2-3 inches on the top and bottom edges of the shell, and about 1 inch on either side. Fold each side in over the filling, grab the bottom edge, and fold over the filling and the sides. Finish off the enchilada by rolling the entire shell from the center to the top edge. Then place the enchilada in the lightly greased baking dish with the edge of the shell facing down.

Once all 8 tortilla shells are filled and in the baking dish, pour the second can of enchilada sauce over the enchiladas, covering them completely.

Top off with the last quarter of the bag of fiesta blend cheese.

Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes, until the sauce is bubbling and the cheese on top is melted.

Let cool for 10 minutes and serve. Top with sour cream, guacamole, salsa, more cheese…or eat as is and enjoy!

A Few Substitutions and Variations:

~ You can substitute rice or black beans for the corn.
~ You can add a little bit of rice and black beans to the filling, using less corn.
~ Ground Turkey works great with the recipe too!

A Simple Avocado and Tomato Salad

2009-07-20T14:44:00.008-04:00

Simple pleasures are some of the most enjoyable of all.

One of my favorite summertime dishes is a quick and simple Avocado and Tomato Salad. It makes a great breakfast, a super snack and the perfect light lunch.

During the summer, depending on where you live, you can get avocados from anywhere between 4 for a dollar to about one dollar each. The part of the US that I live in, they are about $1.00 each at the moment, which is pretty good for an avocado around these parts. For that price it is hard to turn them down, especially when they make a tasty treat for my 14 month old and his big brothers, along with a fresh and healthy snack for mom. In just a few short minutes everyone is satisfied and very little time is taken away from precious summer play time!

There is no real recipe for this refreshing salad, you just

need a few simple ingredients and the rest is up to you.

Avocado
Tomato
Lemon Juice
Salt

To make one of the tastiest and quickest summer salads ever, you will need to peel an Avocado (or two!) and cut it into good bite sized pieces. Follow that up with a Tomato (or two) cut into bite sized pieces. Toss the Avocado and Tomato chunks into a bowl, drizzle with fresh squeezed lemon juice and a pinch of salt. (I rarely use salt at all, but this salad calls for just a pinch)

Got an herb garden? Toss in some of your favorite fresh herbs. I love to add a bit of basil to mine. Some cilantro with a touch of lime juice is an awesome variation.

Mix everything together and enjoy!

See, wasn't that about as easy as you can get? I would love to show you a picture of this salad, but after you mix everything together, it really is not the prettiest looking creation. Besides that, I am eating it at the moment and don't have time to stop for pictures.

Baked Macaroni and Cheese for a Large Family

2009-07-19T15:22:00.005-04:00

Your kids are going to love this easy Baked Macaroni and Cheese! My kids love the basic boxed Mac and Cheese, but honestly, I can only handle so much of it before I get sick of it. This recipe is a wonderful alternative to eating out of the box that makes everyone happy.

Ingredients You Will Need:

1 Pound of Elbow Macaroni
5 Tablespoons of Butter
5 Tablespoons of Flour
3 Cups of Milk
1 Pound Block of Cheese

Preheat the Oven to 400 degrees and set a pot of water on the stove to boil for the Elbow Macaroni. Follow the directions for cooking the macaroni and set aside. Most likely by the time the Macaroni is done, your cheese sauce will be ready.

While the water is boiling, melt the butter over medium heat in the other pot. When the butter is melted, turn the heat down to low and add the flour. Quickly whisk mixture until it is bubbling slightly, then turn off the heat. Slowly add the milk, one cup at a time, whisking while you go.

Return the mixture to the heat and slowly bring to a light boil, then simmer for about 3-4 minutes. You will need to stir almost continuously during this time.

Shred the 1 pound block of cheese and mix into the butter and flour mixture. Mix it together for a minute or so, it will melt and blend quickly. Add the Elbow Macaroni and mix well.

Pour the whole mixture into large baking dish and bake at 400 degrees for 25-35 minutes. It will be done when the center of the dish is bubbling.

Serve with some veggies and enjoy your dinner!

Some Quick Additions and Variations:

Cover the Mac and cheese with sliced tomatoes...YUM!
Sprinkle breadcrumbs over the Mac and cheese.
Cover with sliced tomatoes, and then sprinkle on breadcrumbs.
Saute some onions in the butter and add fresh herbs before adding the flour.
Cube a few seasoned chicken breasts and add them to the mix after the macaroni.
Add left over chicken, turkey or cubed burgers to the mix after the macaroni.
Open the fridge, check out your leftovers and toss them in, be creative and have fun!

Pureed Carrots are Easy to Make Baby Food

2009-07-13T14:57:00.009-04:00

Making your own baby food at home is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to feed your baby. I can’t think of many baby foods easier to cook up than carrots, so this is a great place to start if you have never made any cooked baby food before. Carrots freeze well, so you can make a large batch of pureed carrots and store them in the freezer in individual servings for later use.

Carrots are naturally sweet and make a great addition to the first foods given to baby. They are also great to mix with other veggies and fruit when baby starts to eat mixed foods.

You will need:

1 lb of Carrots
Steamer
Food Processor
Ice Cube Trays
Freezer Bags
Plastic Wrap

Peel and slice the carrots in to 2-3 inch pieces and put in a steamer for 20 minutes or until tender. If you don’t have a steamer, you can boil the carrots as well. Add just enough water to completely cover them. If you can steam them, it is best to do it this way so that they retain the most amount of nutrients. I have also used a metal colander or strainer in the bottom of a pasta or sauce pot and that worked wonderfully!

Save the water in the bottom of the steamer or if you are boiling the carrots, don’t drain the water out of the carrots, instead scoop the carrots out with a slotted spoon, saving the water for the puree.

I make carrots as baby food according to three different stages in a baby’s eating development.

For the first stage eaters, to make carrots for your baby you will add all of the carrots to the food processor and puree, adding a little bit of water at a time until you get a smooth creamy consistency. You will prepare the carrots this way when you first give your baby carrots, at around 6 months of age.

The second stage eaters can eat foods with chunks, so I like to take half of the steamed carrots and add them to the food processor and puree them into a smooth consistency. The other half of the carrots are diced into chunks small enough to be mashed by small teeth and mashed with the gums in the back of baby’s mouth. I then mix the two textures together. This is good for babies around 7-9 months, or after they have a few teeth and are able to sit unsupported and eat chunkier foods without any trouble or choking.

The third stage eaters are self feeders and can eat small bite sized chunks. Start out with smaller chunks, based on how well your baby can mash up food. After they become full fledged eaters, you can cut them into larger slices or chunks. This is good for babies who are around 9-12 months and are doing well with finger foods.

Give the carrots time to cool off and spoon the carrots into ice cube trays. You need to make sure that the carrots have cooled down, as adding hot carrots into the plastic trays can cause a chemical reaction that will leach chemicals into the baby food that can harm your baby. Cover the ice cube tray with plastic wrap, or slide into a large freezer bag that can be reused at a later time. Put the baby food in the freezer immediately and do not allow it to sit out on the counter.

Once the food is frozen, pop out the baby food and place into a freezer bag and label with the date and contents and return to the freezer.

When you are ready to use the frozen baby food, you will need to take it out of the freezer with enough time to let it defrost in the refrigerator. You can pull out a portion at night before bedtime to feed your baby the next day. Once it is defrosted, it has to be eaten within 24-48 hours. If it is not used within that time, it needs to be thrown away. You can heat up the baby food, but only once, baby food should not be reheated more than that. You can also reheat food directly from the freezer, but you need to make sure that it has been heated through completely until hot, and then allowed to cool down to a warm temperature for baby.

When your baby starts eating mixed foods, you can pull out a cube or two of carrots and a cube or two of peas, apples or potatoes. Carrots also go great with other foods, try mixing up different foods and see how your baby likes it.

Easy No-Cook Baby Food: Bananas or Avocados

2009-07-12T08:55:00.005-04:00

Making your own baby food at home is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to feed your baby. Bananas and Avocados are two easy No-Cook foods and are a great place to start if you have never made baby food before. These two foods really are the simplest baby food that I can think of to make. There is practically no preparation involved and can be made on demand any time of the day, anywhere you go. The best thing about it, is that there is no cooking involved at all.

Neither bananas nor avocados freeze well, so these foods are best made to order.

You Will Need:

Bananas, Or
Avocados
Rice Cereal
Oatmeal (optional)
Yogurt (optional)

Bananas:

When your baby is around 5-6 months, Bananas are a great first food to give along with rice cereal. You really only need to start out with a slice or two of bananas. Simply mash the bananas in a small bowl using a fork or the back of a spoon.

The first time you try to give your baby bananas, mix it with a little bit of breast milk or formula and a small amount of rice cereal. It should be more of a thinner consistency than a thick one at first. As baby gets used to eating solids you can make it thicker. Around 7-9 months, you can add oatmeal instead of rice cereal.

Avocados:

Avocados are a great source of a good and Heart Healthy fat called monounsaturated fat. After you remove the peel and the pit, avocados can simply be smashed with a fork, mixed with a bit of breast milk or formula and served to your baby. Avocados can be offered to your baby around 6 months.

With Yogurt:

When your baby starts eating yogurt around 7-9 months old, you can mix in a tablespoon or two with either banana or avocado, or you can mix all three together along with some rice cereal or oatmeal.

As baby gets older and starts to eat chunkier food, you can dice up half of a banana or avocado and smash up the other half. Mix the diced pieces with the smashed portion to help your baby get used to eating chunky foods.

Eventually when they become older, self-feeders you will be able to simply cut large chunks and let your baby feed themselves.

Follow your baby’s lead, they may be ready to start solids by 4 ½ months, or they may not be ready until they are 7 months. Your baby will let you know when they are ready.

A Nutritious High Calorie Chocolate Banana Protein Shake For Skinny Children

2009-07-06T13:45:00.019-04:00

Sometimes no matter what you feed your children, they just don't gain weight. Children in the lower percentile could be light for many different reasons. Genetics often play a role, if you and your family tend to be tiny, then your kids might be more prone to be tiny as well. Sometimes low weight gain in children can be linked to food allergies like Celiac disease, childhood diabetes, medications or stress. If you feel that genetics are the reason behind the low weight gain, that can be resolved by adding high calorie foods to your child's diet. If you think that there is another underlying cause, you should make an appointment with your child's pediatrician to better understand your child's weight issues.
If your child is one of those tiny, skinny, boney kids you might think about giving them junk food just to gain weight. Of course, you probably know that is a bad idea...and you probably know that it doesn't work, it just makes them unhealthy. My children are skinny for several different reasons, so I came up with my Nutritious High Calorie Shake for Skinny Children.
This shake is great for breakfast, an afternoon snack or dessert. This recipe serves two children and is actually great for adults as well as children and can be modified in several different ways to suit you or your children's taste. This is our family's favorite version and is made in our household at least once a day, if not more.

Chocolate Banana Protein Shake: Serves 2 young children (or Adults!)

Ingredients you will need:

Yogurt, vanilla or strawberry work best for this recipe (I usually buy the larger containers)
1-2 bananas, depending on size & preference
Whole Milk
Soy Protein Powder (I like to use the chocolate flavor)
Optional Ingredients:
Wheat Germ
Blueberries
Strawberries
Hershey's Syrup
You will also need a blender.

1. Start with 8 ounces of yogurt in the bottom of the blender, 8 oz is also 1 cup.

2. Break up 1-2 bananas and add them to the yogurt. If you break up the bananas into a few pieces it helps to get them blended better so there are very few or no chunks. This is also the time to add a tablespoon or so of wheat germ, a handful of blueberries or strawberries. If you add a lot of other fruit you are probably only going to need 1 banana as your shake will get too thick.

3. Fill the blender to the 24 ounce line on your blender with Whole Milk, 24 oz is also 3 cups. If I am using Vanilla flavored protein powder this is when I would add the Hershey's Syrup

4. Add two full servings of protein powder. (More or less to taste)

5. Blend and Serve.

Fun Variations, Ideas and Substitutions:

* Freezing the fruit overnight turns your shake into a smoothie!
* Adding Yo-Baby Yogurt will increase fat & calories.
* I love this shake too, but I don't drink cow's milk, I substitute whole milk with Vanilla Soy Milk. The Vanilla protein powder also tastes great with orange juice instead of milk.
This recipe, as described here, contains in each serving (approximately):
772 Calories
119 grams of fat
42 grams of protein
This of course all varies depending on the specific types of fruit, milk & yogurt.
* This shake has been approved by my children's pediatrician. If you have any concerns about this recipe or your child's health it is best to talk to your child's pediatrician.

A Summer Pasta Salad & The Ultimate Recipe Swap: The Fourth of July Edition

2009-07-02T13:10:00.007-04:00

Unfortunately I always eat this super yummy Summer Pasta Salad before I get any pictures of it...but I will do my best to remember to get a picture of this when I make it for the 4th of July!

Fishmama over at Life as Mom has the Ultimate Recipe Swap on Thursdays & this weeks theme is 4th of July Recipes. My Summer Pasta Salad is always a part of our 4th of July Celebration!

Even without the picture of this delicious and refreshing salad, it is easy to tell how great it is!

One of my favorite Summer foods is a cold Pasta Salad. It is light enough to eat first thing in the morning, makes a great lunch on a hot day and is the perfect addition to dinner on the grill. This Summer Pasta Salad is so cheap and easy to make, I make this several times a week. Additionally, all the different colors in this salad make is a beautiful dish to take to picnics or serve to guests at your barbecue.

You Will Need:

2 Boxes of 12 ounce Tri-Colored Spiral Pasta
1 Package of Cherry or Grape Tomatoes
1 Yellow Pepper
1 Red Pepper
1 Orange Pepper
1 Can of Large Black Olives
½ Cup Olive Oil
½ Cup Apple Cider Vinegar
1/8 Cup of Italian Seasoning
¾ Cup of Your Favorite Hard Cheese, Shredded or Grated (Parmesan or Romano)
Salt & Pepper to Taste (optional)

Prepare the Tri-Colored Spiral Pasta as per instructions on the box, cooking for the longest amount of recommended time. When the pasta is done cooking, drain and rinse with cold water.

While the pasta is cooking, you can prepare all the other ingredients. This recipe only takes as long to prepare as it takes to boil water and cook pasta. So easy!

Add the black olives and tomatoes a large mixing/serving bowl.

Cube the peppers into bite-sized pieces and add to the bowl.

Add the Olive Oil, Apple Cider Vinegar, Italian Seasoning, Shredded Hard Cheese, Salt and Pepper and mix well. I like to add all of the seasoning ingredients and mix before I add the pasta so they aren’t all trapped in the spirals of the pasta. It is easier to evenly distribute all of the flavors this way.

Cover the pasta salad and chill in the fridge for a few hours. Serve and Enjoy!

Simple Tips for Keeping Your Kitchen Drain Fresh and Clean

2009-06-29T14:15:00.003-04:00

Food residue, grease and oils can slowly build up in your kitchen drain over time. Kitchen drains have a tendency to hold the smell of past meals and dirty dish water long after you are done cleaning up. Garbage disposals are a great way to clean up and cut down on trash, but they contribute even more to the build up of all sorts of residue that can make your drains smell rotten and in turn give your kitchen a rotten smell. Even if you do not have a garbage disposal and you are just using your sink to drain the dirty dishwater, it is still a good idea to clean out the drain to keep it and your kitchen smelling fresh. Additionally, if you do not clean out the food, grease and oil residue, your drains can clog up, causing even more of a headache than just a stinky kitchen.

You will need:

Baking Soda
Vinegar
Lemons or Lemon Juice
Salt
Cream of Tartar
Boiling Water

To start out with a simple bit of advice, you can cut down on the amount of oil that you pour down the drain by omitting the oil from your pot of water to boil pasta. It does not really help keep the pasta from sticking together, but it does keep the sauce from sticking to your noodles. So cut out the oil and help keep your drain clear.

When I drain my pasta, I always pour the boiling water on the side with the garbage disposal. This will help to clean out the disposal and release any build up in it and the immediate drain.

It is a good idea to clean out the kitchen drain at least once a week. Our pipes are over 50 years old and much smaller than pipes in the houses built today, so I need to clean out my drain more than once a week to keep food build-up from clogging up my drains. I clean both the garbage disposal drain as well as the drain on the side I use to wash dishes. I also buy the large bag of baking soda available at the warehouse club that I belong to.

There are a few different recipes you can use to cut the grease and food residue from becoming a problem in your drain. They use all natural ingredients and are a great way to Go Green and save money at the same time!

Pour 1 cup of baking soda and 1 cup of salt into your drain and follow them up with 1 cup of vinegar. Let it sit for 15-30 minutes and chase it all down with several cups of boiling water.

Pour ½ cup of baking soda, ½ cup of salt and 1 tablespoon of cream of tartar in the drain and chase it down with 1 cup of boiling water. After about 30 minutes, pour another several cups of boiling water down the drain.

I like the smell of citrus in my kitchen, so I follow up both techniques with lemons. A half a lemon is usually enough, but if you want a stronger scent, or your lemon is small, go ahead and use the whole thing. I use a half a lemon, cut in half so I have 2 lemon quarters that I toss in the garbage disposal and turn on. When I don’t have real lemons, about a half a cup or so of lemon juice slowly poured into the garbage disposal while it is running, with no water, is another way to freshen up the disposal and the kitchen.

These are both great techniques for keeping your kitchen drain clear, but if you find yourself with a clogged up drain, you can use either one of them to help unclog it. If your sink is draining very slowly, wait until the water has all gone down and then try either one of these recipes. If you can’t get the water to go down the drain at all, you will have to scoop out as much of the water as you can so that you can get the mixtures into the drain. Keep repeating your recipe of choice until the drain is clear. You may have to alternate plunging with pouring the mixture down the drain.

If you use either of these recipes, your kitchen drains will remain clean and fresh. Enjoy!

A Decaf Tea Fruit Punch Cooler

2009-06-26T13:14:00.008-04:00

One of the things I love the most about summer is making Sun Tea. A fruity decaffeinated tea with slices of fresh fruit makes a naturally sweet and refreshing drink for anytime of the day or night. The fruit adds enough sweetness that no sugar is needed for this punch at all. This Decaf Tea Fruit Punch Cooler takes only a few minutes to prepare and is tons of fun to drink and to eat! This is perfect for children and adults of all ages.

You Will Need:

8 Fruity Decaf Tea Bags
Assorted Fruit (such as)
1 Apple
A few handfuls of Blueberries
A few handfuls of Grapes
1 Orange
Several Strawberries
A few handfuls of Raspberries, or
Black Berries, or
Black Raspberries, or
Any other fruit you like
Water
A Glass Gallon Jug
A Sunny Day
Ice

I like to mix two different types of decaffeinated tea. The mix that I used today is Wildberry Zinger and Country Peach. I use 4 tea bags of each flavor. I like to pick one tea that is more tart, like the Zinger or Lemon teas and one that is more sweet, like Peach, Blueberry or Strawberry.

The best time to make Sun Tea is first thing in the morning. This will give Tea plenty of time to steep, as well as cool down a bit before the day gets too hot.

Fill the Glass Gallon Jug ¾ full with hot water and add your tea bags. You will be leaving about ¼ of the jug empty to add the fruit later.

Set the gallon jug with water and the tea bags out in a nice sunny spot. It will need 2-3 hours to steep to get good flavor. If you want stronger tea, feel free to leave it out longer.

While the tea is steeping in the sun, you can prepare your fruit. I like to toss everything in a bowl to chill in the fridge while the tea is steeping. Fruit like Blueberries and Raspberries can be tossed into the fruit punch whole. Everything else that you add needs to be cut into bite sized pieces. Cut the Grapes in half. Slice the Oranges into round circles and then quarter them. I like to slice the apples into about 20 wedges and then cut them in half. I slice the strawberries lengthwise. These are just some examples of the way I slice everything up, feel free to slice it anyway you wish. These are also the fruits that I happened to get for this punch. We actually picked the Black Raspberries from our garden!

You could also add Lemons, Kiwi, Mango or any other fruit you have in your garden or choose to add.

When your tea is done steeping, bring it in the house to add the fruit chunks. Before adding your fruit, you will need remove all of the tea bags. Let them drip for a bit into the jug, but don’t squeeze the tea bags as you may pop them open & drop loose tea into your gallon jug.

Add all the fruit to the gallon jug and chill in the fridge for several hours or over night. I like to let it sit in the fridge overnight to get the strongest fruit flavor, but 2-3 hours in the fridge will also give it a great fruit punch flavor.

Serve the Decaf Tea Fruit Punch Cooler over ice. With a slotted spoon, you can pull out some of the fruit and eat plain, with whipped cream, or over ice cream. Leave the rest of the fruit in the gallon jug and it will keep adding flavor to the punch.

Enjoy and have fun!

Homemade Black Raspberry-Apple Spread

2009-06-18T15:01:00.007-04:00

My Black Raspberry-Apple Spread is much like a jam, and more of a cross between Black Raspberry Preserves and Apple Jelly. I have a huge Black Raspberry bush that grows bigger every year, but also gets bigger from all of the wild bushes that pop up all over our small piece of property in a city. Every year I walk around the yard digging up all the new little bushes that sprout up and add them to our existing bush. And every year we get to the point where we have huge amounts of Black Raspberries, and it becomes hard to actually eat them all. I can’t stand letting food go to waste, especially free food that pops up in my yard every year with very little effort on my part.

Last year I started making my own Apple Jelly from apple juice, so this year when the Black Raspberries started overflowing our refrigerator, I came up with my Black Raspberry-Apple Spread. The Black Raspberries have a tendency to be kind of tart, so when you cook with them, you need to add them in small quantities or add large amounts of sugar. The Apple Jelly that I make is sweet enough to add a large amount of Black Raspberries so that the two balance out perfectly.

This recipe will work well with both Water Bath Canning as well as Freezer Canning.

You will need:

4 Cups of Black Raspberries
½ Cup of Lemon Juice
1 Can of Frozen or Canned Apple Juice from the Juice Isle
2 Packs of Fruit Pectin
5 Cups of Sugar
10 ½ Pint Mason Jars
10 New Canning Lids with Rings
Or
10 ½ Pint Freezer Containers with Lids

Prepare the canning jars of choice according to specific instructions that come with the jars, before I start, I put all of my mason jars with the lids and rings in the dishwasher and run a hot rinse cycle over them. Even if the cycle is done before the jam is done, they will stay hot enough in a closed dishwasher to process the jars.

Cook the Black Raspberries on the stove over medium to medium-high heat until they have all cooked down into a thick sauce. There will still be some berry chunks, and that is OK. It will take about 10 minutes to cook them all down.

Add the can of Frozen Apple Juice, with only 2 cans of water. Usually the frozen fruit juices will call for 3 cans of water, but the cooked berries will more than make up for the last can of water. If you were to mix the frozen juice in a pitcher with water, it would be about 1 quart total. Mix the berries and juice well.

Add the lemon juice and mix well.

Add the fruit pectin and mix well. Stir almost constantly over medium-high heat until all the pectin has dissolved. This usually takes about 20 minutes. After about 20 minutes, bring the mixture to a strong rolling boil.

Add the sugar to the boiling mixture, stirring constantly until it returns to a rolling boil. You will need to keep it at a good hard boil for 3 minutes, stirring the entire time. It is very easy for it to boil over if you do not continuously stir it, so don’t walk away.

You can skim away foam if you wish. When I make my jellies and spreads, I normally turn off the heat and gently stir for a minute or so until the foam has died down and is mixed back into the preserves. I can’t see wasting any part of the delicious fruit spread!

Pour the mixture into your Mason Jars of Freezer Containers, leaving about ¼ of an inch of space at the top of the jar. Add the lids and rings and follow canning directions that come with your canning or freezer jars, along with the fruit pectin you use.

For the most part, if you are using the Water Bath canning process, you will need to return the water in the water bath to boiling and then process for 10 minutes. You may have to adjust the time due to higher elevations, follow the directions that come with the jars or pectin that you use. You will need at least 1-2 inches of water to cover the top of the canning jars.

After the fruit spread has processed completely, set the jars on a towel and let sit untouched for 12-24 hours. Do not touch the jars for at least 12 hours to ensure a good seal.

Don’t forget to leave one jar out for immediate use, Yum! Enjoy!

A Few Variations and Tips:

You can use less sugar if you would like, for this amount of preserves, you would normally use 6 cups of sugar with 2 packs of pectin to get a good thick gel. I like to use 4-5 cups of sugar, depending on the type of jelly I am using.

You can add a little bit more water when mixing in the apple juice, but adding too much will make it too watery.

I have used as little as 3 cups of sugar with my apple jelly, and it came out too thin and watery.

I have not tried this recipe with the No Sugar Add Fruit Pectin, if this is the pectin, you may have to experiment with this a little bit.