Using my Chard - An Indian Cuisine Recipe

I'm buying some farm fresh veggies and don't always take the time to choose what I get. 

This dish shown in middle of the back row. Add Costco chicken, rice (done in IP), homemade sourdough and celery sticks, boom, there's 2-3 meals.

So this week - swiss chard. Hmm. Not sure how I would prepare that. So I went online and poof - a new dish with a flair I don't usually use in my cooking. 

Here is the original: https://amealinmind.com/wprm_print/swiss-chard-saag  

I used the olive oil (see note at bottom).

My only alterations: 

I used the bottom (white) half of my green onion bunch instead of an onion; no garam masala (just because I don't have any). And instead of cayenne pepper -->paprika.

Best Decision of 2024 - Back to Frugality

For those of you who who are new to this site, let me give you a bit of a backstory.

Disclaimer: If you're looking for a professional blog which has glossy perfection and ads, you're in the wrong place. 

I was asked to teach a large group of ladies how to prepare inexpensive, healthy, fast meals. I almost laughed at them.

"I can do two of the three, ask me whichever two. But all three? "

It was a challenge. And they had faith in me. So I got to work. The first thing I did was ask my sister Deanna to join me in the quest. That made all the difference! She is very in tune with how important and clean our food sources are.  A great example to me, she's been a healthy meal planner - cook from scratch lady from the start. And, although she has five kids and it's expensive, she either buys organic or produces her own food whenever she can. 

You can catch some of her current adventures doing all this while vagabonding in Europe on their YouTube channel: thisisusforreal.

When we were trying to figure out how to share the recipes for our class, our youngest sister suggested we start a blog. What a great idea! And my blog life began. Twenty plus years later I now have many blogs. Some of which I share; some of which I don't. 

What we did to prepare for that night's class was simple - we printed off some labels and just hand the labels to the ladies it had the blog address on it and they just stuck it to their other notes and, boom! We saved a lot of paper and time. 

The added benefits, which I didn't really realize at the time, was to use this for every single time I ever did anything in the kitchen which I wanted to share. 

That has happened quite a lot, actually. I have been asked to do lots of other adventures with cooking. And because I've chosen to stay at home for most of my adult life and raise my children, we have had to figure out ways to cut costs, live frugally, and make the most out of whatever ingredients we have. 

Over the years I have just given people my log address whenever they've wanted my recipe. I've taken a lot of food to different potlucks for church, family, and book clubs. This block has come in handy for every single one of those occasions. 

Every once in awhile, I'll add some gardening ideas or drama. 

Generally speaking, if there's a recipe I'd hate to have burn up in a home fire (never had one and hope to never have one) or that my kiddos want when theyre not home, or that I want access to when I travel, boom. It's here. 

As of his year, I'm back - home - with a lot of projects to finish before I go sit on a beach somewhere and write books. 

You'll notice that my blog has recorded my life. Sometimes I've baked with kids, sometimes I've prepared for holidays, and sometimes I'm just trying to use up and ingredient. 

There's been a lot of tweaking since I walked away from high inflammatory foods five years ago. That has made a huge difference. 

I'm happy to share my quirky creativity and my joy of experimentation in the kitchen with others. Sometimes I even take pictures of all the dishes I created. 

I know some people who are unwilling to share some of their quote family secrets ", but I grew up with a grandmother who was amazing! She not only knew how to cook and did it almost at a professional level, but she was happy to share her knowledge and recipes with everyone. In honor of her I do not keep recipes back. 

But there are a few, which need direct teaching. And it's hard to do over a blog.

If you would like to learn about how to make Danish pastry, or sourdough, or put together your very first batch of one hour cinnamon rolls, please add a comment. I'd be glad to put together a class. Perhaps on zoom. We'll need at least a week lead time so we can have all our ingredients and tools ready.

Have a wonderful holiday season!

To be frugal, generous, and share what I've leared with those who will listen has been a tremendous blessing in my life. 

Instant Pot Roast Beef Stew - recipe, tweaks, & cooking

I decided to make it even easier for all of us who have busy schedules and can't spend 2 hours at a time in the kitchen. I went ahead and grabbed a cup of minced onion out of the freezer that we had prepared ahead of time. So I didn't take time to chop any of the onions. I also am not using any of the potatoes in the recipe. I prefer having a piece of sourdough bread to add to any food that I eat at this point. And that's my carb for the meal. 

Step 1: Place 1 T olive oil into IP. Set it to sauté, 3 min.  

When oil is hot, add fresh onion and grated garlic.

Quick version: place 1 T olive oil, 1 c chopped frozen onion and 2 tsp garlic powder (or 3 cloves minced) in IP. 

Caution:  If you don't put the oil, frozen onions and garlic in at the same time, when you add the frozen onion to the pan, the oil will start violently popping and may burn you.  Goal: translucent onions. 

Step 2: Broth and liquids --> Drain 3 cans of roast beef into a glass 4 c Pyrex. Set aside. 

The nice thing about this method is that you can pick out the hardened fat out of the meat and toss it.

Add three cans of roast beef to the instant pot. 

Frugal tip: Do not toss cans! Pour about 1/3 cup of water into each empty can swish it around and add it to your four cup Pyrex measuring container. This is an inexpensive way to have the additional broth that you need. 

And super frugal - which I am not; even typing this up sounds completely overwhelming to me and I don't have any kiddos at home. 

You can wash out the cans and pour melted wax in w/ a wick. Poof, a homemade emergency candle!

Add 3-4 T of healthy oil. You should have about 2 c. fluids. Add water and beef broth to get to 3 c. of fluids.

If you used canned roast beef, you'll need to reserve about 1 cup of the broth on the side for the quick method thickening (*) step below. 

Note:  for those comfortable using beef flavored granulated bouillon, I suggest the loose form, not the cubes. Add 1 tsp bullion and 1 c. water to your drained beef "juice".

Step 3: Pour broth the 3 cups of broth into the pot. 

Stir to combine. Use a wooden spoon to scrape the pot.  You're trying to grab all of the bits and pieces off of the pan so there's no burning later. 

                

Almost done! 

Step 4 : This is where your prep time pays off! Add veggies to the IP.

Mix 1/2 c water, 1 can (6 oz) tomato sauce, 2 T thickener, 2 T liquid aminos (or Worcestershire sauce). Stir well. 

Place 2 bay leaves on top. 

Place lid on. Cook on high for 8 minutes. Natural release for 8 minutes.

Lunch and leftovers!!

Let the stew cool in a glass container you're planning on using. Or in something like this Pyrex pan. 

Frugal tip for storage: Then place it in smaller containers (like this recycled one from WinCo almond butter) to freeze or a glass jar to reheat and eat soon.

Frugal tip for marking: I put a masking tape label on with details. I've never had a label maker. 

Include dish name, who can eat it, & date.

Enjoy! And please give me tips or suggestions that you may have. I'm glad to try and tweak one of your recipes. During this holiday season it's important to have great digestion, healthy food, a joyful attitude, and a clear mind. All the reasons I switched my diet five years ago. 

Hawaiian kine Sweet Potato, Beef and Spinach

One night prep = 2 meals 

The Beef Stew is a same day or next day IP dinner. I'll cook it up tomorrow.

Do you ever find yourself at the end of the garden season with a bunch of onions and don't know what to do with them? That was my case this year. It's about all we got from our garden.

I found a great instant pot recipe online and decided to try and tweak it to use as many of my canned foods and garden vegetables as possible. 

I'm even using the dehydrated carrots that I opened a month ago when I decided to start making some carrot muffins. 

A lot of the recipe is the same, but paying attention to the total liquids needed will help. Don't dump any canned liquids down the drain. Collect them in a 4 c. Glass Pyrex.

One thing that's tedious is getting all the spices out. So we're making two batches. One for this time. One to save for next time. 

Since I have the fourth roast beef can, I'm using it for some Hawaiian kine comfort food.      

Makes 2 servings-->

1/2 bag spinach (lg from WinCo)

   (Boil this first, drain the water into an 8 c plastic measuring container w spout).

Pour very hot water back into pan. Place kif on it. When it just hits boiling, add sweet potatoes. Replace lid. 

1 of your 2-3 chopped sweet potatoes

    (cook in boiling water for 8-10 min).

1 can roast beef (12 oz)

           ** drain into 4 c. Glass Pyrex 

Other ingredients: 

1 tsp coconut aminos 

1/2 tsp garlic powder 

Sprinkle and drizzle these on the west potato and beef, or a half portion onto each serving before heating up in the microwave.

Also drizzle 2 -4 T coconut milk on top. 

Other toppings: unsweetened coconut flakes and cooked green onions

Placing these on top of 1/2 c cooked rice is a great and filling meal. 

This was my dinner. Onolocious. 🤙

Tomorrow - My altered IP Beef Stew recipe. 

It's simpler, has good oil (olive) and thickener (tapioca starch).

Pecan Logs by Jenna - recipe

Homemade Pecan Logs by Jenna - supplies

One of my husband's favorite holiday traditions was making pecan logs with his parents. We haven't done that since they passed. This year, it'll be added to the Thanksgiving weekend traditions. ❤️

It is one favorite we haven't shared with our kiddos, yet. Since I don't do sugar or dairy anymore, anything like this that my husband can do and teach to the kids is even more priceless. 

Join us on the adventure if you'd like. This will be a four part blog post.

First of all, gather the kitchen supplies. These are the ones we already have. Bonus!

We'll be ordering the slab this next week. 

Non-edible Supplies needed:

Marble slab

Candy thermometer 

Waxed paper

Tray to place in fridge, approx 9x13" (+ saran wrap or lid to cover)

Cast iron or heavy duty pan with handles

Hot pads 

Brush for butter

Metal scraper (or knife w large flat edge)

Wooden spoon

Did I miss anything? I hope not. 

Let the adventure continue.....

I'll post the recipe next.

Team Graham (Roslyn's Energy) Brownie Bites

Here’s the easy recipe:

· 1 C almonds

· 1 C pitted large dates

· 2 T natural peanut butter (or other nut butter)

· 2 T cacao powder

· 1 tsp vanilla extract or 1/2 tsp powdered vanilla

The process:

1. Put the almonds into a food processor and blend to your liking. I prefer them to be little bits, but if you prefer a finer ground – that works too. Dump the blended nuts into a bowl and set aside.

2. Add the dates to the processor. It will take several minutes to blend them till they’re a smooth paste. They’ll break apart, form a ball, and finally settle into a thick spread. You may need to scrape down the sides of the processor a few times.

3. Add the nuts back into the processor with the dates then add the remaining ingredients. Process till everything is blended together and the mixture easily squishes into a ball in your hand when squeezed. If it’s too dry, you can add a tablespoon of water to bring it all together.

4. Form about 20 bite-sized balls and store in the freezer.

These are so versatile, and you can change up the ingredients for whatever you like! Consider unsweetened coconut, chia seeds, diced dried fruits or almond extract.

I used dried coconut, pears, goji berries, mango, kiwi and almonds to turn these into friendly goblins! Fun, delicious and healthy!

Protein Packed Waffles (mix and finished)

These waffles are probably the best thing I've made to get that bread craving in check before I started making sourdough bread. Gotta have something like bread or I'm not satisfied. I have played with it quite a bit and come up with this:

It makes 6 1/2 c Mix

1 c each: gluten free oatmeal, plain orange protein (WinCo), Vanilla Pea Protein powder (Orgain from Costco), coconut flour, garbanzo bean or almond flour.

Note: using the garbanzo bean flour will add a lot of great stuff your body loves and needs, but it can be bitter to a discerning palate.

1/2 c. Tapioca starch 

1/2 c. Paleo Gluten Free Pancake mix

1 tsp sea salt

2 tsp baking soda

Mix all these dry ingredients together and place it in a container which is easy to scoop from. 

I use this for pancakes, waffles or muffins. 

But I especially like waffles!

Mixing it in a wide mouth jar makes things easy. Especially if that jar has lovely measurements on the side.

Measure the almond milk and water in jar. Add egg, oil and vinegar. Mix well. Then add 1 cup of the mix. Whisk w a fork until well blended and there it is. 

Makes 3 waffles. 

Now for the toppings - yummy.

Here's some favorites. 

The chocolate mousse I posted recently. 

Coconut milk, mango, coconut flakes. 

Almond Butter. 

Enjoy!!

Zucchini Bread or Muffins (low-sugar, gluten-free, paleo)

As I was contacted by a friend who wanted a no sugar, no dairy no gluten zucchini bread recipe, I searched my files and realized I don't have one yet! Shocker. I searched and found this recipe. Not sure that I've used hemp hearts and applesauce for the "oil". But I'll try it soon. 

Tasty Pumpkin Muffins or Waffles

Altered Squash Casserole, Part 1 (aka Using Monster Zucchini)

I cut up the large zucchini and had a few smaller pieces left over which I chopped for stir fry later. Greasing the pan and the top of each zucchini chunk w a brush dipped in olive oil, I placed some water in the pan. Then I baked it for 2 hours at 300F. It's still firm and was just starting to make a whistling noise in the oven when I pulled the baking sheet out. The water had evaporated.

Once cooled for an hour, I pulled out the center and tossed it, cut off the skin, and got 3 c into small chunks. 

This is what is used for the first ingredient of the recipe above. 

Best Easiest Chocolate Mousse Ever (no sugar, no dairy)

This is it. Four ingredients. You can tweak the liquids to get just the right consistency. Dark chocolate taste is my favorite, so I use equal portions of the protein ones and 100% cacao. 

Have fun with vairiations - using extracts and added chopped fruit or nuts. 

Sometimes I mix it in a wide mouth jar so I can just pop the leftovers in the fridge. 

Really hits the spot when I want me some chocolate. I also make sure I have a few extra drops of liquid magnesium in my water. Often that subdues my chocolate cravings faster. 

Place one scoop of each in a bowl. Measure out 3/4 c. liquid in a 2 c pyrex. I like 1/2 c unsweetened almond milk and 1/4 c. unsweetened coconut milk. 

Add the powder to the Pyrex and whisk. If it's too thick I add a little water. 

Now you can out it back in that bowl the power was originally in. 

Bonus - very few dishes to do. 

Enjoy!