Baked Kale Chips

I finally found a way I'll eat kale!  Yay!  Don't know about the kids or hubby yet, since everyone was sleeping by the time I made them, but who cares!  More for me if they don't!

Our family had our first experience with kale last year, when I was given a lot of it as part of my share in a community garden we were working in.  My family did not like it.  The only way I found that they would eat it was to slip a little into the stir fry vegetables for chicken teriyaki. 

Yesterday, the broccoli lady, a woman from a local Freecycle group that gave me some herb plants in the spring and has now given me excess produce from her garden twice, gave me more kale.  It wasn't a lot, since I confessed that I hadn't had much luck getting the kids and hubby to eat it, but I'd said before that I never refuse free produce, so I felt like I had to take at least some. 

I'd heard of kale chips last year, but was kind of scared to try them, since how could that possibly be good so I put it off and put it off until the kale that was still in the fridge shamefully went bad.  This time, the day I got it, I made me some kale chips.  I admit, I was pleasantly surprised.  They aren't my favorite food, but they are something I definitely would be interested in having again, to the point that I'm considering on growing some next year.  I've long loved how hearty the plant is, perfect for Michigan gardening, and how nutritious it is, so here's my chance to use it!

My biggest issue with the kale chips I made was that they were pretty bland, so next time I might try these seasoned kale chips instead, but the Parmesan cheese ones I made would be worth repeating as well.  They definitely have a satisfying crunch, but are healthy enough for guilt-free late night snacking.

Kale chips before being baked (the ones on the left were seasoned with sea salt and Parmesan.  The ones on the right just with sea salt).  They aren't as cute coming out, when they are more brownish and dry looking.

Baked Kale Chips

kale

olive oil cooking spray

sea salt, Parmesan cheese, or any other seasoning you want

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  Thoroughly wash kale (seriously.  Those icky green cabbage caterpillars like this stuff too, so you don't want extra protein creeping in, literally, like that!).  Tear small pieces, about the size of a smallish potato chip, of kale off the thick center rib.  Pat dry with a towel.  Arrange pieces on a baking sheet.  Lightly spray with olive oil cooking spray.  Move pieces around to ensure even coating of oil.  Sprinkle with desired seasonings.  Bake 10-20 minutes or until dry and crispy, flipping chips every 5-10 minutes to prevent sticking and to watch for doneness.

Banana Peanut Butter Cookies--week #2 of the 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies

 During the holiday season, many people try to limit their sugary treats and flat-out junk food.  Personally, I don't even bother any more than I usually do, but, for those that do, here is a relatively guilt free cookie, containing fruit, not a lot of refined sugar, and whole wheat flour.  You'd never know how healthy(ish) it is to taste it though!  Surprise, surprise: it just tastes like a (banana-y) cookie!

Banana Peanut Butter Cookies

3/4 cup mashed overripe bananas (about 2 bananas)

6 tbsp honey (1/2 cup sugar if you have something against honey)

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup peanut butter

1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Beat together banana, honey, brown sugar, and peanut butter.  Mix in remaining ingredients.  Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls on an ungreased baking sheet.  Bake 10-15 minutes or until set.  Let cool before removing from baking sheet.

Here's what everyone else is baking this week for the 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies:

Green Beans and Tomatoes on Rice

Yesterday's harvest of 4 quarts of beans, 1 quart of ground cherries, a cabbage, a watermelon, a cucumber, 3 ears of corn, and enough tomatoes for dinner plus a batch of tomato sauce--

After seeing yesterday's beautiful, bountiful harvest, I decided it was much too wonderful to put up all of it for the winter.  We had to eat some of it for dinner.  After much deliberation, I decided to give this Lebanese inspired dish a whirl.  I was a little nervous, since I don't usually think of allspice as going well with veggies, but it was delightfully zingy, but not overpowering. 

I ate mine over rice (as pictured), but my husband, who doesn't care for rice, ate his as a stew, using bread to sop up the juices.  It was good either way.  If using store bought tomatoes that probably aren't nearly as juicy, you'll probably want to add a little water in with the tomatoes, but with my super fresh from the garden 'maters, that wasn't necessary.

Green Beans and Tomatoes

3 tbsp olive oil

1 medium onion, diced

2 cups green beans, cut into 1-1 1/2 in lengths

4 large tomatoes (or 3 freakishly large tomatoes), chopped

3/4 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp ground allspice

1/2 tsp sugar

Heat olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat.  Saute the onions about 5 minutes.  Add the beans and saute an additional 8-10 minutes.  Add tomatoes, garlic powder, salt, pepper, allspice, and sugar.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes.
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This recipe and many other great whole food recipes can be found on Fresh Bites Friday at Real Food Whole Health.

No-Bake Energy Bars--the perfect disaster food?

Note:  Even though this post is for Sunday, I'm letting it go live quite a bit early because it is such a good survival food.  With hurricane Irene bearing down on some of the most populated areas in the country, I wanted to give people in those areas a chance to print it out before the storm hits in case they lose power and don't have enough shelf stable supplies on hand without making something.  My thoughts and prayers go out to the people in the hurricane zone today and tomorrow.

These energy bars are absolutely amazing in their versatility, as well as in that they require no heating or refrigeration to prepare.  They should store okay at room temperature for at least a few days, but if you want to keep them longer, they should last about a month in the refrigerator, or even longer in the freezer.  They are so yummy that it is unlikely that you will need to worry about storing them for a long time!

At their most basic, these energy/protein/fiber bars are 3 1/2 cups of fibery stuff, primarily oats; 1 cup liquid sweetener, whether you use honey, molasses, maple syrup, brown rice syrup, agave syrup, or, as a last resort since it is by far the most unhealthy option, corn syrup; 1/4 cup crunchy stuff, whether it be seeds, nuts, or a crispy rice cereal; 1 cup nut butter; and sweet tasty stuff, either dried fruit of your choice or candy bits.  Below is the exact combination of things that I used to make them today (in large part that this is what I had on hand that met the requirements I figured I needed) and they were delicious!  My kids kept calling them brownies and my husband likened them to no-bake cookies.

No-bake Energy Bars

3 cups quick-cooking oats
1/2 cup ground flax seed
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup molasses
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup peanut butter (crunchy or creamy)
1 cup chocolate chips

Mix oats, flax seed, and sesame seeds in a large bowl.  In a small bowl, mix honey, molasses, maple syrup, vanilla, and peanut butter until thoroughly blended.  Pour liquid mixture into dry mixture and stir until oats are evenly coated.  Stir in chocolate chips.  Grease a 9"x13"in pan or cover with waxed paper (I went the waxed paper route--much easier to remove, since the bars stay pretty soft, at least that first day).  Press mixture into pan, using another piece of waxed paper to make it firm.  Let set an hour or two to firm up (or eat immediately, but it will be very crumbly!) before cutting.
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If you like this recipe, be sure to give it a thumbs up on the Living Well Blog Hop!
This recipe and many other great whole food recipes can also be found on Fresh Bites Friday at Real Food Whole Health.

Zucchini Pasta Bake

This recipe could easily be made into a vegetarian version by omitting the meat (just use a little olive oil for cooking the veggies) or even a vegan version by substituting nutritional yeast flakes for the Parmesan, but my family loved it with the ground venison I used when I made this yummy dinner.  Even though I had to buy some tomatoes at the farmers market, this meal for the whole family was still under $3!

Zucchini Pasta Bake

2 cups uncooked whole wheat pasta
1/2 lb ground meat
1 small onion, chopped
1 medium zucchini, peeled, quartered and sliced
2-3 tomatoes, chopped
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 cup tomato sauce
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350.

Cook pasta according to package directions.  Drain.

Brown ground meat with onion.  Add zucchini, tomato, garlic powder, basil, oregano, and salt.  Cook for about 5 minutes. 

Combine pasta and vegetable mixture in a 2-quart casserole dish.  Stir in the tomato sauce and sprinkle with Parmesan.  Bake for 25 minutes.

Super-Duper Easy, Quick Fried Rice

I love fried rice because it is easy, quick, cheap (since we use homegrown veggies, eggs from a relative, and venison sausage that my husband hunted up, about the only things we are paying for are the tiny bit of chicken, soy sauce, and rice, which is, of course, cheap as heck as well!) and a great way to use leftover rice and meat.  This meal can be whipped up in about 10 minutes as long as the rice and meat were already cooked!  We really like it with chicken and sausage, but you can switch out the meats, maybe use fish instead of chicken, or leave it out altogether to suit your needs.  I always try to make extra so my husband can take it to work for lunches, but I never seem to make that much extra, it disappears so fast!  It freezes pretty well as is, but freezes even better without the egg, so if you were to make a large batch of this to freeze, for future meals, you might want to set apart the part to freeze before adding the egg and just cook the egg when it is ready to be served, or skip the egg altogether.

Chicken & Sausage Fried Rice

2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup frozen carrots
2 eggs (optional)
2-3 cups cooked rice
1/4 cup soy sauce (adjust to taste)
1/2 cup cooked chicken pieces
1/2 cup cooked sausage pieces

Heat oil in a large pan or wok.  Saute onion, peas, and carrots about 5 minutes.  Add rice, soy sauce, and meats.  Heat while stirring until rice reaches desired color and everything is heated through.  While it is heating, scramble eggs and fry in a separate frying pan.  Add cut eggs into small pieces and add to rice right before serving. 

Ants on a Log

Who needs an overpriced, unhealthy Misery Meal made from questionable (to be polite) ingredients by a fat food, er, I mean fast food place, when you can make this yummy, fun, and healthy treat for the kids (or yourself) for pennies?  As an added bonus, it doesn't come with a crappy, cheap (as in bad quality) toy designed to build brand awareness in kids and make them want to buy, buy, buy more cheap, plastic crap.

I generally make Ants on a Log with peanut butter and raisins, because that's what we have on hand, but any nut butter (or even cream cheese?) and dried fruits could be substituted.  The kids love helping to make these too, especially arranging the "bugs" on it.

Ants on a Log

 1/2-1 cucumber per serving

peanut butter 

raisins

Peel cucumber and cut long-ways down the middle.  Scoop out seeds and pat dry.  Spread peanut butter in the seed cavity and top with raisins as desired.

Black Bean and Corn Salsa

I made this as an experiment for the birthday party yesterday and it was a big hit!  One of the moms even stopped by the house a couple hours after the party to see if she could take some of the leftovers home so she could show her husband how yummy it was!

It is really easy to make, and with so many of the ingredients coming into season (or maybe already are, depending one where you are?), it is really cheap to make as well!  I think it is going to be a while before I buy salsa for my snacking pleasure again!

In theory, this should last 2 weeks in the refrigerator, but, based on the reaction it got at the party, I don't think that is really a concern since it will probably disappear on its own long before that.  It has a nice, mild flavor and probably would be great served on chicken, in addition to being wonderful as a snack with tortilla chips

Black Bean and Corn Salsa

 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 cup frozen corn, thawed

1/2 bell pepper, finely chopped

1 tomato, seeds and pulp removed, finely chopped

1 small onion, finely chopped

3 tbsp lemon juice

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp cumin

1/8 tsp ground red pepper

Mix together all ingredients.  Refrigerate overnight to let flavors meld.

Dressing Up

Cranberry walnut salad

 Ever since Michael Nolan posted his salad dressing recipe on this blog as a guest post last month, I'd been looking for an excuse to try it.  It felt kind of weird having a post on here that I'd never had!  I can now vouch for its goodliness (you know one of the things I love about having my own blog?  I can make up words whenever I want, and no one can stop me!  MUHAHAHA!).  The blog post was titled "Double Duty Salad Dressing in a Flash", so it seemed fitting that I try it out a couple ways before sharing. 

The first thing I tried it on was a chicken spinach wrap.  I used some of the chicken leftover from my husband's grilling on Memorial Day, so it had a wonderful smoky flavor to it.  I simply piled spinach from the garden and cut up chicken on a tortilla, dribbled some of the salad dressing on it, wrapped it up and gobbled it up!  It would have been good with mozzarella on it too, I bet, but I didn't have any and didn't feel like making fresh mozzarella for what otherwise was an extremely simple meal.

The second salad dressing adventure was super simple as well.  I made a salad from the mixed baby lettuces in my garden, dried cranberries and walnuts from the farmers market, and the magic dressing.  Oh my goodness, that was good!  I seriously considered braving the thunderstorm that was going on to pick more lettuce to have seconds.  The combination of sweet cranberries, spicyish salad dressing, and crunchy nuts was a-maz-ing!  Maybe I'll have that again for lunch today!  I certainly still have plenty of lettuce!

Meatless Monday--Southwest casserole

I got a hankering for something involving black beans, rice, tomatoes, and corn the other day.  I didn't have a recipe for any such thing around, so I made something up on the spot.  This is what I came up with.  One of the great things about this is that it is all stuff that you might find at a food bank, if you are really down on your luck and haven't gotten your garden going yet (again, I'll make the offer that if you want to get a garden going and genuinely can't afford seeds, let me know, and I'll dip into my supply and help get you started.)

Southwest Casserole

 2 cups cooked rice

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 onion, diced

2 cups corn

2 cups canned tomatoes w/ liquid

1 tbsp chili powder

1/2 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix together rice, beans, onion, corn, tomatoes, chili powder, cumin, and garlic in a 2-quart casserole.  Top with shredded cheese.  Bake uncovered for 30-35 minutes.

Meatless Monday--Ratatouille on Rice

This is one of my absolute favorite meals, but, unfortunately, no one else in my house likes it, so I only get to eat it very rarely.  It would be a great dish to serve for vegetarian or even vegan company (minus the feta) though.  One of the reasons I'm sharing this right now is that most of this can be grown in a home garden, which makes it a super cheap meal, even with the feta cheese in there, and it's time to get planting if you haven't already!  (The other reason I made it is that my husband irritated me last week when I was making the meal plan for the week, so I made something I really love that I knew he hated.  Never piss off the person in charge of making your meals!  MUHAHAHA!)

Ratatouille on Rice

1 medium onion, chopped
¾ tsp garlic powder or 3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp olive oil
1 large potato, cut into ½ inch cubes
1 medium eggplant, cut into l inch cubes
1 28-oz can petite diced tomatoes, juice reserved (or equivalent home canned)
1 ½ cups water
1 tsp salt
1 tsp dried rosemary
1 medium to large zucchini or summer squash, cut into 1 inch cubes
1 bell pepper, cut into 1 inch pieces
3 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp fresh dill or 1 tsp dried dill
Ground black pepper to taste
Cooked rice
Feta cheese crumbles

In a large pot, sauté the onion and garlic in the oil until just soft. Add the potato, eggplant, juice from tomatoes, water, salt, and rosemary. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer covered until potatoes start to soften, about 10 minutes. Add the squash and bell pepper. Cook uncovered for 5 minutes. Add tomatoes, lemon juice, and dill. Simmer an additional 5 minutes until vegetables are tender. Add pepper to taste. Serve on rice, topped with the feta cheese.

Purple French Fries

My mother-in-law gave me a deep fryer for Christmas.  It wasn't something I thought I would really use, since I only deep fry things upon occasion.  I did find one reason to keep it around (okay, really two, since it is actually easier to make my egg rolls in it too, but I digress...)--purple French fries!  My mom grew a bunch of blue potatoes last year and they make great fries, although they are more purple than blue.  The kids go nuts when they see I'm going to make them.  I don't let them have artificial colors, so anytime I give them a strange colored treat, it is a truly special thing for them.  I always include at least one or two white potatoes with the purple ones for fries, since the kids seem to think that is funny and it makes it even more exciting for them.

A kid's dream meal: shredded BBQ chicken sandwich, purple French fries, sliced apples, and raw carrots

By making French fries from scratch, it gives me a lot more control over the quality than restaurant or store bought fries, with their mysterious additives and questionable sodium content.  With these fries, there is only three ingredients:  homegrown potatoes, vegetable oil for frying, and sea salt (because I only use sea salt.  Staying healthy saves money in the long run!).  For years, I struggled to get that perfectly crisp on the outside and soft on the inside fry.  Now that I have discovered the secret (it was hidden inside the deep fryer's instruction manual!), I will share it with you, so that you may know the joy of purple French fries...or at least super cheap yet exceptionally high quality homemade French fries!

 Purple French Fries

4-5 purple potatoes

1-2 white potatoes

vegetable oil for frying (enough to submerge fries)

sea salt, to taste

Peel and cut potatoes to desired shape (sticks or circles) and thickness, about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick.  Soak in hot tap water for at least 15 minutes.  While the potatoes are soaking, heat oil to 340 degrees.  Thoroughly dry the potatoes and fill frying basket no more than half full.  Slowly lower the fry basket into the oil.  If it starts to bubble too much, bring the basket back up until the oil calms down then try lowering it again.  Repeat as needed until the fry basket is completely lowered into the oil.  If you are using a deep fryer, lower the cover and fry the potatoes for 6 to 7 minutes.  Let the fries drain and cool for 10 minutes to up to 2 hours.  Heat the oil to 375 degrees and fry for an additional 10 to 12 minutes right before serving.  Salt to taste.

Meatless Monday--Black Beans and Rice with Fried Plantains

I spent a summer in Miami years ago, where I experienced a lot of Cuban food that I loved!  Unfortunately, I didn't cook at the time, so I didn't think to get the recipes.  In years since, I've longed for some of the same dishes, but my taste buds don't remember well enough what exactly they tasted like to get the exact same food.  Fortunately, except for the bread, which I have no idea or even leads on, I managed to find some food that I really enjoy that bears enough resemblance to keep my memories, such as they are, happy, even if it is probably strongly lacking in authenticity.

Black Beans & Rice

1 tsp olive oil

1 onion, diced

1/2 tsp garlic powder

3/4 cup uncooked white rice

1 1/2 cups vegetable broth

1 tsp ground cumin

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

3 1/2 cups beans (prepared from dried or canned, drained and rinsed)

In a large pot, heat the oil over medium-high heat.  Add the onion and saute for 4 minutes.  Add the rice and saute for 2 more minutes.  Add the vegetable broth, garlic, cumin, and cayenne.  Bring to a boil, cover and lower the heat.  Cook for 20 minutes.  Remove from heat, let stand for 10 minutes then add beans.  Serve topped with sour cream, if desired.

Fried Plantains

Plantains are basically giant bananas.  You can find them next to the "normal" bananas at most grocery stores.  You probably could make this recipe with regular bananas and get pretty similar results, but I've never tried.

1/4 cup olive oil 

2 tbsp butter

3 very ripe plantains, peeled and cut in 1-inch thick slices

3 tbsp brown sugar

Heat the oil and butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat until butter begins to sizzle.  Toss the plantain slices with brown sugar.  Gently place slices in the hot oil.  Fry until the plantains begin to turn golden brown, about 2 minutes, then turn over.  Continue frying until the plantains have caramelized, about another 2 minutes.  Drain plantains on a paper towel lined plate before serving.

Frugal Family Fun--Movie Night

Saturday nights are the kids' "movie night" at our house.  They pick a movie they want from the library (where rentals are free!  Where we lived before this, it was $1 for 2 movies that you got to keep a week) sometime during the week or ,occasionally, we'll get a movie through SwapaDVD.com, a free internet movie trading site.  Then, while the movie is starting, I'll usually pop up a giant bowl of popcorn on the stovetop.  Apparently, not everyone knows how to make popcorn without microwave bags anymore, so I figured I'd share this extremely complicated (please note the sarcasm) money saving technique, along with some creative popcorn toppings to add a bit more zip to it.

Popcorn

Heat a couple tablespoons of vegetable oil in a large pan with a lid.  Add a kernel or two to test to see when it is ready--when they pop, it is ready to add the rest of the popcorn.  When the oil reaches the right temperature, add the rest of the popcorn.  Please keep in mind that a little popcorn kernels make a lot of popcorn!  I will usually make about a half cup, which makes a very large bowl (about 3 quarts) for all the kids to share.

A half eaten bowl of popcorn with apple juice to drink

  To top the popcorn, you can go the traditional route of just sprinkling some salt and maybe some butter, but there are many other options:

• Salt and sugar (brown or white, or both!):  This is a favorite of my kids and gives the popcorn a nice salty/sweet flavor combination (obviously).
• Brewer's yeast:  I don't like this one, but my brother swears by it and I've heard lots of other people gush about it, so maybe I'm just weird
• Chocolate:  I haven't actually tried this one yet (because I never remember to buy powdered sugar!) but it is definitely one I want to try!  Mix together 1 tbsp powdered sugar, 1 tsp cocoa powder, and a pinch of cinnamon.  Sprinkle and serve
• Cinnamon and sugar:  Sprinkle on in equal parts
• Pizza:  This is another one I've been meaning to try but haven't yet (the kids don't think they'll like it, so I'll have to try it when my husband I have a middle of the night "date" watching a movie together in the living room!).  In a small bowl, combine 1/2 tsp oregano, 1/2 tsp basil, 1/2 tsp garlic powder, 1/8 tsp red pepper flakes, and 2-3 tbsp Parmesan cheese.  Sprinkle on the fresh popcorn and add more Parmesan cheese if desired.

Having a Child's Birthday Party and Eating the Cake Too.

 My baby girl, my one and only daughter, my second youngest child, turned 4 Friday.  I can't believe it!  Another thing I can't believe:  the average child's birthday party costs between $200-400!!!  I quoted that figure (which I googled up) to my friend Michelle, and this is what she said

Over my dead body! We did that one year for B's bday when we had a carnival theme, and invited tons of kids and adults. I actually spent more I think. I haven't done it since. It was a one time fun thing. Maybe I'll do something for his 16th or something. We do like you did, family and maybe a couple of friends. For me, those are the best parties... Fun and pretty much stress free! 

I suppose $200-400 isn't entirely unreasonable since if you rent a place to have the party or rent an entertainer or something, that could be more than $100 right there.  If you buy a cake, that could easily be upwards of another $20.  Plus you have any food, party favors, plates, and on and on.  But it really doesn't have to be that way.

I feel like I really splurged on my daughter's birthday party yesterday and it still only cost about $79, and that includes things I didn't actually buy, like the cake.  It wasn't a fancy party, just some friends and family (total 7 adults and 5 kids) hanging out at our house, but, seriously, the birthday kid is 4.  Why would she need a full-on circus for her party?  So how did this money get spent?

She said it looked just like her

My mom is very talented at making and decorating cakes, so she frequently is generous enough to make them for my kids.  I figured $19 for the cost of the cake she made, because she said she spent $14 on the cake pan (which I presume she can use again, so including that cost is iffy) and I know from when I make the cake myself it costs less than $5 to make and frost a cake made from scratch.  Even if I wanted to, buying a cake is pretty much out of the question, since my children are sensitive to artificial colors and turn into demons if they ingest them, so, amazingly enough, the cake pictured above has no artificial colors!  I am in awe of my mom's powers on this one, so I asked how she accomplished it.  This is what she had to say (reposted with her permission):

I'm "a little of this and a dash of that" kind of cook, and this was a one-time project, a special order for my granddaughter's birthday, but this is what I did:
Buttercream Icing: Cream 1/2 Cup solid vegetable shortening,
1/2 Cup butter and 1 tsp vanilla
Beat in 4 Cups confectioners' sugar, one cup at
a time.
Divide the icing for white, skin tone, and pink.
White: beat in enough milk to get the consistency you desire. (The full recipe calls for 2 tablespoons. I usually use more.) Beat until frosting is fluffy.
Pink: Melt (homemade, preferably) raspberry jelly, being careful not to scorch it. Substitute this for milk to get desired consistency.
Flesh tone from confectioners chocolate: preheat oven to lowest setting (170), put small amount of chocolate in oven in oven-safe dish. Turn oven off. Warm a little milk, but do not boil it. (How much milk depends on how much chocolate you plan to use. Think small, like a tablespoon or two of each. On the other hand, the leftover mixture is great over ice cream.) Mix hot chocolate with milk. Cool. Dribble a small amount into the icing until desired color and consistency are reached.
Add more chocolate for darker coloring for other detail work if desired.

So subtracting the $19 for the cake that I didn't actually spend, I actually only spent about $60.  Of that, about $11 was for favor bags that included the Disney Princess bags (like I said, I splurged), "party sized" Play-Doh, pencils, and some Silly Bandz.  Actually though, I just had the pencils and the Silly Bandz lying around because I bought them for something else and we didn't need them, so I don't know if you want to include them in how much I actually spent on the party or not, but if you don't, that takes the total down to $56.

I also splurged on party supplies.  Not on invitations: I googled "printable girl's birthday party invitations" and printed some out for free (except the tiny cost of the ink and paper) or invited people on Facebook.  I did buy some Disney Princess plates and napkins though, and some pink cups and balloons for a total cost of about $8.50.  I only got one package of the fancy plates and napkins though and supplemented with plain white ones for the adults, since, really, how many grown men want to eat off Princess plates and how many grown women would care what the plate looks like in this situation?  I actually have a lot of the plates, napkins, and cups left, so you could say the final cost was only about $3.50, taking our total I actually spent on this party down to about $53.  If I was really pinching pennies on this party, I could have used our regular plates, but as busy as I've been lately, I decided to spend the few dollars and save sanity.  We did use plastic flatware leftover from my picnic wedding 8 years ago that I wash and reuse for such purposes, so there was no cost there.

For the food, it was in between lunch and dinner time, so I just served snacks.  I like to have a nice spread when I throw parties though, so there was a lot.  We had cheese and crackers, a veggie tray, fruit salad, chips and salsa, pretzels, and of course cake and ice cream.  For drinks, we had a selection of 2-liters of pop and juice available.  I figure we actually ate about $4 worth of cheese (I buy cheese in bulk usually, so it keeps the cost down) and about $5 worth of crackers, since I had to get some crackers that weren't on sale for a joke, but, for the most part, these are things we usually have on hand and weren't strictly party food, so I only included the approximate cost (probably figured high) of what we ate.  The chips and salsa were also something I had on hand, but we probably ate about $3 worth of that.  We also used pretzels and ice cream that were already on hand, probably worth another $3 total.  The drinks came to about $5.  I did splurge big time on the fruit salad and veggie trays, partially as another sanity saver and partially as a special treat for my kids, because they love those things.  The veggie tray was $7.99 and the fruit was $12.09, but we actually only ate about half of each, so if you only include what we ate in our party cost total, since the rest will be eaten as regular food over the next few days, that would take our total party cost down to $43.

So even going nuts on spending (for me), I only spent a tiny fraction of what most people spend on a kid's birthday party.  Yet, as my friend Michelle (who was at the party) said: "Good food, fun conversation, and lots of laughing. As far as I'm concerned, that equals success!"  My daughter's birthday was celebrated joyously, and that's all that really matters. 

A Perfect Dinner for a Cold, Cold Winter Night

It has been really, really cold lately here in Michigan.  For people in other parts of the country or world, who may not know what "really, really cold" is, I'm talking about real temperatures below zero.  That's Fahrenheit.  That kind of cold doesn't stay outdoors.  It seeps into your house and, if it goes on long enough, it can seep into your soul.  Okay, that was just cheesy, but that's the way it feels sometimes.  And those sometimes are the perfect time for a warming meal like pictured above:  hearty corn and potato chowder, fresh whole wheat bread with butter and/or homemade strawberry freezer jam, a pleasant taste reminder that summer will return someday.  I could just tease you with the picture, like some people's blogs, but I'm nicer than that.  Plus, this blog about thrifty living, and this was a really thrifty meal.  I'm not even sure how cheap it was, since the potatoes were from my mom's garden, the corn and strawberries were from the farmers' market when they were peak in season (aka at their cheapest), and a few cups of flour doesn't cost that much.  Quite likely, the most expensive thing in this picture is the butter!  Your results will vary, depending on when/where you get your ingredients (and how many of them you grow yourself...a blog post for another day), but I think all in all, I spent less than $5 for this meal, which fed 3 adults, 3 kids, and there is enough chowder and bread left over for my husband to take to work tomorrow for lunch.  I will warn that this isn't a quick, throw together type meal, since the jam has to be made at least 24 hours in advance and the bread recipe includes several hours of rising time.  The chowder is fairly quick though, if that is all you want.  Without further ado, here are the recipes:

 STRAWBERRY FREEZER JAM

This recipe is adapted from the package insert for Sure-Jell Certo Fruit Pectin, so that's why it calls for liquid pectin.  This makes approximately 4 cups of jam, far more than you'd need for one meal!

1 quart ripe strawberries

4 cups sugar

1 pouch liquid pectin

2 tbsp lemon juice

Wash strawberries and discard stems.  Mash them thoroughly.  Measure exactly 2 cups of mashed strawberries for making jam.  (If you have extra, use them for something else, like strawberry shortcake.)  Stir in sugar.  Let stand 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Mix together the pectin and lemon juice in a separate small bowl.  Add the pectin mixture to the strawberry mixture and stir for at least 3 minutes, or until the sugar is dissolved and no longer grainy.

Immediately fill clean freezer jars or other freezer containers to within 1/2 inch of the top.  Wipe off top edges of the containers and close tightly.  Let stand undisturbed at room temperature for 24 hours.  The jam can be used immediately, refrigerated for up to 3 weeks, or frozen for up to a year.  Let frozen jam thaw in the refrigerator before using.

WHOLE WHEAT SANDWICH LOAF

This recipe is adapted from the book Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day, so this recipe will actually make several loaves.

5 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tbsp granulated yeast

3/4 tbsp sea salt

1/4 cup vital wheat gluten

4 cups lukewarm water

Whisk together the dry ingredients in a large bowl (I use a 5 quart ice cream pail with lid, so I can refrigerate it in the same container I mix it up in).  Mix in the water using a spoon.  Use wet hands to get the last of the flour mixed in.  Don't knead! Cover the dough loosely and let rise at room temperature 3-4 hours.  Refrigerate and use within 14 days.

On baking day, dust the top of the dough with flour and cut off a grapefruit sized portion using a bread knife.  Dust the ball with more flour and shape it into a more uniform shape by stretching the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all sides .  Elongate the dough ball into an oval and place it into a greased loaf pan.  Cover loosely with a kitchen towel and let it rise for 1 hour 45 minutes.  A half hour before baking time, preheat the oven to 450 degrees, with a broiler tray on the bottom rack.  Right before baking, paint the top of the loaf with water.  Use a bread knife to slash several parallel diagonal cuts, 1/4 inch deep, on the top of the loaf.  Place the loaf in the oven, near the center.  Pour 1 cup of hot water into the broiler tray and quickly close the oven.  Bake for 40-45 minutes.  Let cool in the pan for at least 10 minutes before removing it to cool completely on a rack.

HEARTY CORN AND POTATO CHOWDER

This recipe is originally adapted from an old version of 1,001 Low-Fat Vegetarian Recipes, but my version isn't necessarily low-fat (since I use whatever milk is on hand) or vegetarian (since I usually use chicken stock). This recipe is supposed to serve 4 (but with that hearty bread as a side, you may be able to stretch it out more, even as good as it is!).

2 cups frozen whole kernel corn, thawed, or fresh

1 medium onion, diced

1 tbsp olive oil

2 cups vegetable or chicken stock

2 cups potatoes, peeled and cubed

1/2 tsp dried thyme

2-3 tbsp flour

1/3 cup water

1 3/4 cups milk

Salt and pepper to taste

Saute corn and onion in oil in a large saucepan until the onion is tender, approximately 5-8 minutes.  Process 1/2 of the vegetables in a blender or food processor (or if you discover after starting the recipe that your blender is broken, like I did yesterday, just omit this step) with the stock until finely chopped.  Return the mixture to the saucepan.  

Add the potatoes and thyme to the saucepan.  Heat to boiling; reduce heat and simmer, covered, until the vegetables are tender, about 10-15 minutes.  Combine the flour in water in a separate container; mix together well.  Add the flour mixture to the soup and return to boiling.  Boil and stir about 1 minute, or until it thickens.  Stir in the milk and cook until it is heated, about 2-3 minutes.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.