Why I Don't Eat My Wheaties

A common complaint I hear regarding eating more naturally is that it costs more.  True, in general it does, and if you fill your fridge and pantry with USDA organics, you're especially going to feel it in the wallet.  However - and I often have to remind people of this - we're managing to eat healthy on a teacher's salary.  And one way I've saved a ton of money has been to ditch buying breakfast cereal.

On sale, the generic, organic cereal I used to buy cost at least $2.50 per box, and our family of four would easily go through a box every two days since the stuff really isn't that filling.  It also became an easy snack and an evening comfort food for me and Byron.  So on average, that's $8.75 per week, which adds up to $455 per year!  Wow!  That's a lot of money for relatively empty calories.

The solution?  Though it takes time, the past couple years I've been making our breakfast from scratch, for pennies on the dollar of what I used to pay for cereal.  I've worked out a schedule that allows me to not have to do this every morning, and that's the type of fast food I like!  The breads and pancakes also freeze very well.

Here's an idea of what I do:

Sunday: Huge stack of pancakes to last us 3-4 days.
Wednesday: Two loaves of breakfast bread, made from zucchini or pumpkins I grew and froze last summer.  This lasts 2-3 days.
Saturday: Oatmeal, which is a nice break from the bready stuff.  A five-pound bag, which costs about $5, lasts us over a month, and I also use it for granola.

The pancakes and breads also tend to double as snacks, which is incredibly handy and again saves me time and money.  I do sometimes add a small handful of chocolate chips to the zucchini bread.  A bit Machiavellian, I admit, but who isn't willing to sell out a little to get her kids excited about eating zucchini?

Of course, there are those times when breakfast cereal (or in this particular case, bagels from the store) can come in very handy...

As if our house isn't enough of a wreck, our stove shorted out last week...

...due to a jimmy-rigged connection.

Thankfully, it shorted out against metal, not the wood cabinet!

Anyway, just throwing this money-saving, healthy idea out there. What do you do to eat healthy on a budget?

Feed Your Kids Plymouth Rocks

Last week Byron asked Akea if she would like to go on a Civil War battlefield tour with him.  She responded with a sigh and said, "You know, Daddy, I'm really into Colonial history, not Civil War history, right now."  I know, I know.  Nerds 'r' us.

Apparently, he ended up telling one of his high school history classes about this incident, because one of his students, Marie, found a recipe for Plymouth Rock cookies in a magazine, cut out the page, and brought it in for him to give to Akea.  She'd remembered that Akea likes Colonial history, and wrote a note that she just had to get the recipe for Akea.  So I purposed to make this today with the kids...

Akea is mixing.  I have no idea what Charlie is doing.

It's always a sacrifice to let the kids lick the beaters.

I had some help making these rocks "Plymouth."

Pre-oven Plymouth Rocks.

Plymouth Rocks, baked and glazed.

Plymouth Rock Cookies
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract*
2 1/4 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt
4 tbsp milk
black and green food coloring**

1.Heat oven to 375.  With a mixer, blend butter, sugar, and extracts for about a minute.  Add the flour, salt, and milk and mix together with a wooden spoon until dough forms.
2. Form dough into 8-10 Plymouth Rock shapes, about 1/2" thick.  Press a small rectangular lid (such as from a spice container) into the dough to create a frame, and with a toothpick to carve the date 1620.
3. Bake on a greased cookie sheet for 15-20 minutes, rotating the sheet halfway through until the cookies begin to brown.  Remove them and let them cool completely.
4. For a gray glaze, combine the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar, 1 tbsp milk, a drop of green food coloring, and a drop of black food coloring.  Adjust color and add milk if necessary to make the milk brushable.   Apply with a pastry brush and allow to harden for about an hour.

*I didn't have any almond extract, so I just doubled the vanilla.
**I didn't have black food coloring, so I used a drop of red with the green to make gray.

And that's not all!  We also made:

Brine for the turkey, a la Pioneer Woman.  Click here for the recipe.

Apple pie.  I know, I know.  I claim to be artsy, but there are two (okay, maybe more) things I can't do well: draw symmetrical stars and make fancy, fluted pie crusts.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Grape Syrup Rocks

Today must be a day to be late.  Or maybe that's every day.

I missed the Barn Hop yesterday due to one-year checkups for the kids, meeting another homeschool mom to buy some wonderful homemade soap, and a trip to the airport to pick up my in-laws.  And so I figured it was apropos to post something I had wanted to write about back in September.  Of course, I can blame our old computer for being late on that if I really want to (which I do).

In September, I had the opportunity to pick a bushel of fresh, Concord grapes!  They are heavenly right from the vine, and make wonderful jam and juice as well.  I think I even tried making muffins with them.  But have you ever heard of grape syrup?   Nor had I, until I ran across a recipe in Put 'Em Up! by Sherri Brooks Vinton.

They look amazing, don't they??

The recipe is easier than making jam, and the syrup itself rivals maple syrup.  And remember how I said I can barely bring myself to pay for maple syrup anymore since we made our own?  Well, this may be our solution!

Just boil...

...simmer... (this is simmering, my style.  Stuff always seems to get away from me!)

...and blend!

So without further ado...

Grape Syrup
(adapted from Put 'Em Up! by Sherri Brooks Vinton)
4 c grapes, stemmed
1 c sugar (I used 1/2 c)
1/2 c water

Combine grapes, sugar, and water in a large pan and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.  Remove from heat, cool, and run through a food mill (I used my high-tech blender).

This lasts in the fridge for about 3 weeks, or can be frozen for 6 months.  I found these PBA-free containers and froze about 14 cups' worth (I multiplied this recipe by 5 to get that amount):

I tried some for the first time yesterday morning and this rivals maple syrup for sure!

So apologies that this post is too late in the season for you to make your own.  But I've given you something to look forward to, right??  So bookmark it, write it down, or print it out for next year...you'll be pleasantly surprised!

A Twenty-Four Hour Kefir Experiment: Part II

And the results are...

I think it worked!

After adding the grains my friend gave me to a pint of milk, I let the jar sit, covered, on the counter for 24 hours.  When time was up, I strained the milk and was left with these grains...which I can then add to more milk to make more kefir.  The only problem is that I'm not sure how many of these grains I need to add because apparently, they multiply.  So I stuck them in the fridge and will hopefully do some research tonight.

As for the taste...much milder than I thought it would be, and the kids seemed to like it.  I actually think I could grow accustomed to drinking it straight, and will see if Byron thinks it will work for his morning smoothies.

By the way, we Americans pronounce "kefir" as in Keefer Sutherland.  But my dad, who was raised in Egypt, apparently grew up drinking the stuff and pronounces it "keh - fear" with a short "e" in the first syllable.  The second, not first, syllable is accented.  Try saying it.  Sounds exotic, doesn't it?  I don't know about you, but it makes me feel bilingual.  Ooh, la la.

But in the end, I'll probably pronounce it "keefur" as in Sutherland.

Click here for Part I!

A Twenty-Four Hour Kefir Experiment: Part I

There's a science experiment going on in my kitchen.  Are you ready to watch it with me??

My friend, Katey, brought me a cool surprise at church yesterday - kefir grains!  Yes, I get excited about things like that because it's one more thing I can learn to make on my own, and it's another healthy food we can try out.  Kefir is a Middle Eastern drink that is similar to yogurt but loaded with probiotics - almost twice that of yogurt.  Probiotics are essential to digestive health, especially if you've been on antibiotics, which kill the bad bacteria that make you sick as well and the good bacteria that support your digestive tract.

I did make kefir once a few years ago, and I admit it's an acquired taste.  Katy said she's been using it in smoothies, and I've heard of others doing the same and will try that approach with my kids. 

You can see some of the clumpy kefir grains on the spoon.  Some were bigger, but I flaked on getting a snapshot of them before mixing them with the milk.

And apparently that's all you do - mix the grains with a pint of milk and let it sit at room temperature for 24 hours.  The milk has to be strained and the grains saved for the next batch...

I'm not sure of all the ins and outs of making kefir yet, but I'm excited to see if I can keep this going!  I'm going to check the results around 2:00 this afternoon, so be sure to check back! (Done!  Click here to read Part II.)  And if you have any kefir-making advice, do tell!

Click here to read about our first frost!

And be sure to check out the other blogs by clicking Homestead Revival's Barn Hop button below!