Sunday, February 17, 2013
Saturday, February 16, 2013
No Bake Granola bars and keeping fresh herbs, FRESH
A good friend of mine recently told me about no bake granola bars she makes for her family on a regular basis. She raved about them because of a) how good they taste b) how much money she saved not having to buy granola bars and c) there is no baking involved!
I have to admit c) is what piqued my interest the most, since I can't bake very well at all. So if I can just mix up some ingredients, put them in the refrigerator over night and eat in the morning then I am definitely there.
I tried it out and they are amazing. The best thing about this recipe is that it's so flexible that you can put really anything you like in them. :-D I'm not keeping track of how many wins these bars have tallied up so far, but it's A LOT!
All you need is:
1cup of peanut butter
1/2 cup of honey
3 cups of oats
Then from here it's all up to you. My last batch had almonds, cranberries, walnuts, flax seeds, sesame seeds and cinnamon.
This current batch has Chia seeds, flax seeds, sesame seeds, walnuts, almonds, chocolate chips and cranberries.
Threw it all in my stand mixer and mixed until it was blended, because I am lazy. She suggested heating up the honey and peanut butter to make it easier to mix by hand. If you don't have a stand mixer or just want to put some extra love into it, then go for it. :-)
I put it in a non greased glass pan, packed it down and left it in the refrigerator over night. As soon as morning arrived, I cut it into rectangles and enjoyed! I hope you will too :-)
My apologies for the picture quality. I admit I took these picture with my phone because of my above mentioned laziness. My camera was upstairs and yeah...
On a different note all together I wanted to show you my "counter top garden". If you buy fresh herbs to use in your cooking then you probably already do this, but for those who don't, give it a try. I never really bought fresh herbs because I didn't like how fast they would go bad. Finally it occurred to me to treat them like flowers! Bring them home, cut a bit off the stems and put them in water, switching out the water every other day. I also keep trimming the stems if they are darkening at the bottom. I have read that some people add a drop of bleach into the water to help the stems from getting "infected" which reduced their ability to suck in the water. I haven't done it though. With cilantro, I do this and put them in the refrigerator and they last for weeks. With Basil, I left it on the counter and it actually grew roots! ROOTS! There is no window in my kitchen, or the fridge for that matter but that doesn't seem to matter to the herbs, because they just keep on living. :-D Give it a shot and you can have delicious fresh herbs to use until they are completely used up.
I have to admit c) is what piqued my interest the most, since I can't bake very well at all. So if I can just mix up some ingredients, put them in the refrigerator over night and eat in the morning then I am definitely there.
I tried it out and they are amazing. The best thing about this recipe is that it's so flexible that you can put really anything you like in them. :-D I'm not keeping track of how many wins these bars have tallied up so far, but it's A LOT!
All you need is:
1cup of peanut butter
1/2 cup of honey3 cups of oats
Then from here it's all up to you. My last batch had almonds, cranberries, walnuts, flax seeds, sesame seeds and cinnamon.
This current batch has Chia seeds, flax seeds, sesame seeds, walnuts, almonds, chocolate chips and cranberries.
Threw it all in my stand mixer and mixed until it was blended, because I am lazy. She suggested heating up the honey and peanut butter to make it easier to mix by hand. If you don't have a stand mixer or just want to put some extra love into it, then go for it. :-)
I put it in a non greased glass pan, packed it down and left it in the refrigerator over night. As soon as morning arrived, I cut it into rectangles and enjoyed! I hope you will too :-)
 |
| Counter top garden can also utilize all the extra jars and containers that you are done with too! |
My apologies for the picture quality. I admit I took these picture with my phone because of my above mentioned laziness. My camera was upstairs and yeah...
On a different note all together I wanted to show you my "counter top garden". If you buy fresh herbs to use in your cooking then you probably already do this, but for those who don't, give it a try. I never really bought fresh herbs because I didn't like how fast they would go bad. Finally it occurred to me to treat them like flowers! Bring them home, cut a bit off the stems and put them in water, switching out the water every other day. I also keep trimming the stems if they are darkening at the bottom. I have read that some people add a drop of bleach into the water to help the stems from getting "infected" which reduced their ability to suck in the water. I haven't done it though. With cilantro, I do this and put them in the refrigerator and they last for weeks. With Basil, I left it on the counter and it actually grew roots! ROOTS! There is no window in my kitchen, or the fridge for that matter but that doesn't seem to matter to the herbs, because they just keep on living. :-D Give it a shot and you can have delicious fresh herbs to use until they are completely used up.
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Vintage wool slippers! Freecycle put to awesome use :-)
So I still have a good amount of wool left so I am trying to keep on using it for sewing projects before the season for wool is over. It's now a race. Here are the plans.
So far only Dad and Little Sugar have theirs made. I will get to mine soon.
When I was planning out my slippers I realized that I picked my note book up at the Salvation Army for $0.49. Isn't it awesome? It was made in a time before plastic, the coil is made from some kind of metal and it was made in the U.S.A. The original price tag is also still on it. :-) Even with the original price I still saved! ;-P
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| Sorry for the upside down! |
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| 82 cents is still a good deal :-P |
Anyway, back to the slippers. Here is the prototype. This is the second, but first successful version. The first version was a high-top type slipper and I realized that it just was going to be too complicated so I changed it but it's still cute.After I made the prototype I did trim some of the fabric off the top to make it a more snug fit.
Daddy and baby in their new cozy slippers :-D
Remember, this is still the fabric that I got from a freecycler a few months ago. I picked up the buttons from a thrift store and they came in a back with assorted colors and sizes. Even for the fabric used for the prototype was from freecycle.
Saturday, February 9, 2013
Make your own spice mixes.
Since my sewing projects were stalled due to taking care of my sick baby, I thought I would post a couple of my favorite spice mix recipes. Spice mixes are awesome because they allow you to make several meals with little ingredients that always come out tasting great. Best of all, you can avoid msg, food colorings, preservatives and other unspecified additives that the companies are not required to list, eeeek! This will also give you a chance to use some of those glass or used spice jars you couldn't get rid of because it hadn't yet served more then one purpose..... no? That must be just me.
First off, Adobo. It can be used on any kind of meat, fish or vegetarian dish, I especially love it with stewed beans or lentils. It is hands down, my go to spice mix. Best of all, you can make this with spices you probably already have in your pantry. Here is what you will need.
3 table spoons of salt
3 table spoons of garlic powder or granules
2 table spoons of oregano
1 table spoon of onion powder
1 table spoon of turmeric
1 table spoon of black pepper
Put all the ingredients in a little container, shake well and enjoy! This can be stored for a good 6 months. I make it in this size batch and it is gone. If you love it and use it a lot just double or triple the amounts and you are good to go.
I was first introduced to Adobo because I married into a Puerto Rican family. From the recipes I learned, Adobo, Sazon and Sofrito were key spice mixtures used in a bevy of delicious dishes. If you specifically want to substitute these mixtures for the store bought ones, just keep in mind that you will have to use more Adobo and more Sazon then you normal would to achieve the flavor you are used to. These mixes will be more subtle because they do not have any flavor enhancing additives. :-)
Secondly, Sazon. This spice mixture is known for the red color that it gives to the dishes that it is used in. With the home made mixture the color is also more subtle so yellow rice is actually yellow, instead of red like it is with the store brought packets. The only ingredient in this recipe that might not be readily available in your pantry is ground annatto. I have been able to find it at a Mexican market here in my city.
1 table spoon of ground coriander
1 table spoon of ground cumin
1 table spoon of ground annatto or paprika
1 table spoon of garlic powder
1 table spoon of salt
Put all together in a container, shake well and enjoy!
I make this is a much larger batch because I use about 3 table spoons minimum whenever I make a dish with sazon.
Sofrito! I love sofrito. I saute with the above mentioned spice mixtures as base for alot of soups, and rice dishes. I even use it as a marinade! I throw it in my eggs and sometimes use it as a spread on sandwiches. If you love cilantro, this one is for you. Now I know there are several different recipes out there for sazon depending on who you ask, but this one I learned from my lovely mother in law so I am partial to it.
Besides the ingredients you will need a blender or food processor. The ingredients are:
2 green bell peppers, coarsely chopped
1 onion, coarsely chopped
1 whole bulb of garlic, peeled *I use THIS method. It's like magic!
1 large bunch of cilantro
1/4 - 1/2 a cup of olive oil.
First add 1/4 of a cup of olive oil with the bell peppers and blend. You want to try to blend softer items first so the blending goes more smoothly. Then add the onion and blend until smooth. Add the garlic and cilantro. If the blending is not going so well, go ahead and add that other 1/4 cup of olive oil. Sometimes the extra liquid will help things move along quicker.
Put it in an air tight container and store refrigerated until used up. I don't have a best used by date because I use mine until it is gone, giving it a quick sniff first. Some how, it always smells fresh!
Fajita mix. For this, I basically use my pre made sazon and add:
2 tablespoons of Sazon
1/2 a teaspoon of chili powder
pinch of cayenne pepper or to taste
Last one!
Super easy Stir Fry mix.
I always try to have fresh ginger around but I have also used ground powdered ginger and it worked okay as well. If you have ginger garlic paste this also works well.
1 teaspoon of ginger, grated or powder
1 teaspoon of garlic, fresh minced preferred or powder
1/2 cup of soy sauce
1 tablespoon of sugar, I use organic cane sugar
OR tablespoon of ginger garlic paste instead of ginger and garlic listed above
separately mix 1 teaspoon of corn start in 1/4 of water for thickener.
Whisk ingredients together and set aside while cooking meat and veg so the flavors can come together. Add when meat and veg are cooked to desired consistency and stir around to coat. Then I add the cornstarch mixture after the veg and meat have been coated and cook for just a minute or 2 before serving.
You can also make this just to marinade meat in as well.
For the dry spice mixes mentioned earlier I reused my sons old baby food jars that I could not bring myself to just simple recycle. I saved up about 20 before I realized I had to do something with them so I completely reorganized my spice pantry. I also buy spices in bulk bags so I was able to finally organize from the shoe box they were in. :-O Since I kept collecting baby food jars I ended up offering the rest up on freecycle. Some went to a crafter and the majority went to a pre-school where they used them for making butter! It's so awesome to know that these little, seemingly insignificant jars can go on and have another life then what they were destined for and bring little preschoolers some joy to boot. :-D
First off, Adobo. It can be used on any kind of meat, fish or vegetarian dish, I especially love it with stewed beans or lentils. It is hands down, my go to spice mix. Best of all, you can make this with spices you probably already have in your pantry. Here is what you will need.
3 table spoons of salt
3 table spoons of garlic powder or granules
2 table spoons of oregano
1 table spoon of onion powder
1 table spoon of turmeric
1 table spoon of black pepper
Put all the ingredients in a little container, shake well and enjoy! This can be stored for a good 6 months. I make it in this size batch and it is gone. If you love it and use it a lot just double or triple the amounts and you are good to go.
I was first introduced to Adobo because I married into a Puerto Rican family. From the recipes I learned, Adobo, Sazon and Sofrito were key spice mixtures used in a bevy of delicious dishes. If you specifically want to substitute these mixtures for the store bought ones, just keep in mind that you will have to use more Adobo and more Sazon then you normal would to achieve the flavor you are used to. These mixes will be more subtle because they do not have any flavor enhancing additives. :-)
Secondly, Sazon. This spice mixture is known for the red color that it gives to the dishes that it is used in. With the home made mixture the color is also more subtle so yellow rice is actually yellow, instead of red like it is with the store brought packets. The only ingredient in this recipe that might not be readily available in your pantry is ground annatto. I have been able to find it at a Mexican market here in my city.
1 table spoon of ground coriander
1 table spoon of ground cumin
1 table spoon of ground annatto or paprika
1 table spoon of garlic powder
1 table spoon of salt
Put all together in a container, shake well and enjoy!
I make this is a much larger batch because I use about 3 table spoons minimum whenever I make a dish with sazon.
Sofrito! I love sofrito. I saute with the above mentioned spice mixtures as base for alot of soups, and rice dishes. I even use it as a marinade! I throw it in my eggs and sometimes use it as a spread on sandwiches. If you love cilantro, this one is for you. Now I know there are several different recipes out there for sazon depending on who you ask, but this one I learned from my lovely mother in law so I am partial to it.
Besides the ingredients you will need a blender or food processor. The ingredients are:
2 green bell peppers, coarsely chopped
1 onion, coarsely chopped
1 whole bulb of garlic, peeled *I use THIS method. It's like magic!
1 large bunch of cilantro
1/4 - 1/2 a cup of olive oil.
First add 1/4 of a cup of olive oil with the bell peppers and blend. You want to try to blend softer items first so the blending goes more smoothly. Then add the onion and blend until smooth. Add the garlic and cilantro. If the blending is not going so well, go ahead and add that other 1/4 cup of olive oil. Sometimes the extra liquid will help things move along quicker.
Put it in an air tight container and store refrigerated until used up. I don't have a best used by date because I use mine until it is gone, giving it a quick sniff first. Some how, it always smells fresh!
Fajita mix. For this, I basically use my pre made sazon and add:
2 tablespoons of Sazon
1/2 a teaspoon of chili powder
pinch of cayenne pepper or to taste
Last one!
Super easy Stir Fry mix.
I always try to have fresh ginger around but I have also used ground powdered ginger and it worked okay as well. If you have ginger garlic paste this also works well.
1 teaspoon of ginger, grated or powder
1 teaspoon of garlic, fresh minced preferred or powder
1/2 cup of soy sauce
1 tablespoon of sugar, I use organic cane sugar
OR tablespoon of ginger garlic paste instead of ginger and garlic listed above
separately mix 1 teaspoon of corn start in 1/4 of water for thickener.
Whisk ingredients together and set aside while cooking meat and veg so the flavors can come together. Add when meat and veg are cooked to desired consistency and stir around to coat. Then I add the cornstarch mixture after the veg and meat have been coated and cook for just a minute or 2 before serving.
You can also make this just to marinade meat in as well.
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
More thrifty sewing
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| BEFORE |
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| AFTER |
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| The back |
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| Wearing the outfit |
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| My Machine! |
Let me introduce you to my current love. Brother XR9500PRW, internet, internet, XR. So far, out of all the machines I have had the pleasure of owning, I would whole heartedly recommend this one to anyone who is interested in learning how to sew. I would say it is a really great machine for beginner to intermediate skill level. It is a computerized machine so you don't need to turn any dials and it tells you if there is an error. So far I have sewn a wide variety of fabric thicknesses and I haven't had a single problem. The first machine I used was literally a vintage singer that still had the pedal that needed to pushed back and forth to run the machine. I didn't do much on that machine because it was a single stitch only. Then next was one my mother still has but it was also pretty old, maybe for the 90's? It wasn't until the past 2 years that I really started sewing and learning proper ways to do garments. Learning I used the Brother 2600i I believe, and that was an okay machine. It served it's purpose, which was practice. However it met it's end when I tried to seriously sew some upholstery fabric. Turns out, it is not a good machine for thicker fabrics. Sure it was inexpensive but it couldn't cut it for serious, everyday sewing. Now with my new Project Runway machine, I don't have any issues!
On an end note, if anyone who knows me is interested in learning some basics, please let me know and I can show you how to set up your machine and get you started. :-)
Being sick and having a sick baby hasn't left me much time for finding new music. Maybe next time! Although, I have been digging Wire, but I'm too tired to look for a video on youtube!
Saturday, February 2, 2013
Home Remedy: Onion
This week, everyone in my home has been sick. Luckily it hasn't been all at the same time. I was sick, then hubby and now son. We have been doing the onion remedy. Sure it smells like onions in here but we also haven't gotten full fledged sick either. This past weekend when I felt like we were going to be getting sick I took an onion, cut it in half and placed it on the bedside table for the night. The next day I was basically better. Hubby woke up feeling better but his symptoms came back that evening so again, the onion was on the side table. That next morning he was feeling better so we stopped with the onion for 2 nights. Well guess what happens? Hubby gets sick again. Out comes the onion for another night and in the morning he is feeling better. Now it is our sons turn :-( Tonight we have the onion in his room but his symptoms are a little worse then ours were so I really hope the onion comes through for him too.
I got the idea for the onion from a picture floating around facebook that claims the onion will, in a sense, suck up all the germs in the air protecting you from sickness. It also comes along with a "personal" account of someone using it and being completely healed in the morning while the onion was completely black. This hasn't really been the case for us. The onion just drys out, probably because the winter air is dry. I wish it was black though, then I could "see" the proof. But with or without the blackness it seems to be working for us and I recommend you try it too. Unless you want a sick day, sometimes it's nice to stay home and drink broth. :-)
I got the idea for the onion from a picture floating around facebook that claims the onion will, in a sense, suck up all the germs in the air protecting you from sickness. It also comes along with a "personal" account of someone using it and being completely healed in the morning while the onion was completely black. This hasn't really been the case for us. The onion just drys out, probably because the winter air is dry. I wish it was black though, then I could "see" the proof. But with or without the blackness it seems to be working for us and I recommend you try it too. Unless you want a sick day, sometimes it's nice to stay home and drink broth. :-)
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