Garden Update July 2013

An update of this year's garden is long past overdue. Things have been crazy around here this month with family reunions and family activities all. month. long. But I love it. I live for these precious moments to spend with family and precious memories my kids make with their cousins and grandparents. They are well worth every ounce of effort we put towards them. Families are important. In fact, in the grand scheme of things, most things that we put our time towards really don't matter. But families do matter and they always will. If there's one thing that I've learned this month it's that I'm grateful for my family. Every single one of those crazy people that are related to me in some form or another, either directly or through marriage are important to me. If you're one of them reading this post right now, thanks for all you do for me and my husband and children. We love you to pieces. You rock our world. 

Our poor garden has been a bit neglected this month because of all the craziness, but the last few days I've spent some time weeding it and trying to revive its beauty once again. Brandon calls the garden my sanctuary. And it is. It's a place of beauty and peace and it's becoming more and more so every year. If you've been following my facebook page, you've seen some of our harvest pictures already. So if you will, please join me now in my sanctuary for a few minutes :)

Grape Arbor

Scarlet Runner Beans growing up the grape arbor

A perfect perch for quail

Grapes growing along our fence

Summer Squash and Peppers

Corn!

The Orchard-to-be

Tomatillos - they look like little hanging Chinese lanterns

Our squash tunnel made from two fence pieces we had laying around.

Can you believe it? The squash grow up it!

Finally I just have to share a fun thing that we've gotten to experience the last two years.

Aren't they precious? They are baby hummingbirds. The mother built her nest way up high on our front porch railing. We watched the whole process of her building the nest, sitting on the eggs, feeding the babies, right out our front window. Last year we even got to watch the babies fly away. I feel like one of the luckiest people alive.

Well, that concludes the garden tour. 

Now do you see why my garden is my sanctuary?

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Healthy Blueberry Muffins {Sugar Free}

Okay it's been a little while since I've shared a sugar free recipe with you. Okay maybe not. But you never can have enough sugar free recipes when you're trying to be sugar free. And these are amazing. Whole Grain. Sugar Free. Blueberry Muffins. You need these. Especially right now. I need 'em too. I need to have a whole load of them in my freezer for those busy mornings when I don't feel like cooking breakfast. Which has seemed like most mornings these days. Things have been rather crazy around here.

And speaking of crazy, how has sugar been at your house lately? July has been a month of a lot of holidays and vacations for us. And sugar free just may have slipped a little around here. My son maybe just maybe was encouraged to eat all of his fourth of July parade candy in one day and then may have been sick to his stomach all the next day. But those little teaching moments do the trick, let me tell ya! Now he controls it himself instead of us nagging him about it. Sometimes you just have to let them learn by experience. The "not-nice way" as our family sometimes calls it.

And...after slipping in a few extra days of sugar myself I am here to tell you that I feel a huge difference when I stick to my goal and when I don't. I noticed that when I'm sugar free I feel more energy. Less sluggish, less crabby. And I crave good, healthy food. I'm resolved to do better and get back on track because I know it makes a difference.

Good recipes help when you're trying to change your diet. And these muffins are not only healthy, but also very delicious. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Healthy Blueberry Muffins
Printable Recipe

*Makes 24 muffins

INGREDIENTS:
3 Cups Wonder Flour
1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
1-1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 Cup canola oil
1 Cup honey
3 eggs
1-1/2 Cup milk
1-1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 Cup blueberries, frozen or fresh

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350 F. Line 24 muffin tins with muffin liners, if desired, or spray well with oil. In a medium bowl, combine the Wonder Flour, baking powder and salt and set aside. In a large bowl whisk together the oil, honey, eggs, milk and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and whisk until just barely combined. Be sure not to over beat, as it will cause the muffins to be tough. Add the frozen or fresh blueberries and stir to combine. Pour about 1/4 to 1/3 cup of the mixture into the lined or greased muffin tins until cups are mostly full. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center of the muffins comes out clean.

Recipe Source: healthyfamilycookin.blogspot.com

I made these for a family reunion breakfast and everyone loved them. They are also great frozen and reheated for a few seconds in the microwave.

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Mango Salsa

You know what I love? I love healthy recipes with fresh ingredients that turn out the very first time, with very little tweaking and taste delicious. This is one of those. It speaks for itself.

Mango Salsa
Printable Recipe

*Serves 2-4

INGREDIENTS:
2 Ripe Mangoes, peeled and chopped
1/8 Cup green or red onions, chopped
1 Cup Red bell pepper, diced
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and diced
Cilantro, chopped, to taste (optional)
1 Tbsp. fresh lime juice
kosher salt, to taste

DIRECTIONS:
Combine ingredients in a medium bowl. Toss and add salt to taste. Serve immediately or refrigerate until just before serving.

I served this with grilled fish atop this yummy coconut rice. It was light and refreshing; a perfect summer dinner. It would also be delicious served with tortilla chips as a side dish.

Recipe Source: healthyfamilycookin.blogspot.com

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Frugal Friday: Ways to save money on cooling your home

How are you doing with this summer heat? Do you like it or does it make you a grouch? I know for myself I'm a big old grouch if I get too hot. Either that or I shut down and don't feel like doing anything. When my husband and I were first married we lived in a brick, top-floor apartment. And the summertime was HOT! During the same time the a/c in our car stopped working (and we didn't have the money to recharge it) and get this...our car windows stopped rolling down. Yeah in the middle of the summer. It was pretty miserable til we got them fixed. We had central air in our apartment but it was old and seemed like it cost a million bucks each time you even looked at it. So we hardly ever turned it on. We actually did just fine most of the time because we were students and were gone a good part of the day (in nice air conditioned buildings). But I remember a few horrifically hot and grouchy weekends. We finally agreed that we would use the central air on Sundays. We were both home most of the day and it really was the only way we could have peace from the grouchy witch (*cackle cackle*).

Well to make a long story short, we survived those days. Phew. Not that we're never hot and grouchy now, but we've learned some stuff since then. And our house stays cool most of the time without costing us a million bucks. Today I'm going to share some things we've learned about how to save money and stay cool.

5 Ways to Save Money on Cooling Your Home

1. Use Windows to Your Advantage - This trick will only work as long as the temperature outside drops to below about 75 degrees Fahrenheit. When the temperature starts to drop, open the windows. Usually this is in the later evening and early morning. Then make sure to close them before the temperature outside starts warming up. We like to stick a inexpensive fan in the windows and blow the cool air in. That always helps to cool off the house even better.
2. Plant trees around your house to shade - Obviously this isn't a short-term solution or a solution if you're renting like we were back in the day. But if you're a home owner or planning to buy in the future, it's something to consider. Shade trees planted around your home, will significantly reduce your cooling costs. Here's some information that I found helpful if you're wondering specifically the best places to plant the trees. Our current home has mature shade trees and we've noticed a huge difference between how cool our home stays and others in the area that don't have the shade trees. 
3. Control the A/C or Central Air - Whenever possible, use ceiling fans and other inexpensive fans instead of a/c or central air. They are a lot cheaper to run and will help you keep your cooling costs down significantly.
4. Avoid Generating Internal Heat as Much as Possible - Most people probably already realize that using the oven during the heat of the day makes for a pretty miserable kitchen. But did you know that your dishwasher, washer and dryer, along with other large appliances also give off a significant amount of heat when they're in use? Avoiding those as much as possible or only using them during the cooler parts of the day can help you save money on cooling your home.
5. Batch Cooking - If you're heating up the house anyway by turning on the oven, make use of that energy by cooking several different things at the same time or make extra and freeze it for later. This will save you from having to turn on your oven as much in the summer and keep your home cooler.

Now it's your turn. Do you have any ideas for how to save money on cooling your home? Please share. Happy Frugal Friday. Stay cool! 

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Red Quinoa Beef Stroganoff

Red Quinoa is an amazing grain. For those of you not familiar with it's amazing-ness yet, be sure to check out the meet whole foods post all about it. I had someone ask me the other day how it's pronounced because it's spelled so funny. She said she was confused and had been saying it "kin-NO-ah" or something. The real way to pronounce it is "KEEN-wah". So there you go; now you'll know how to read this post. :)

One of the things I love about the red quinoa is it's beautiful color. It's just the perfect color to add to dishes with ground beef. I usually adapt recipes that call for ground beef by cutting the meat in at least half and substituting about 1/2 cup of uncooked red quinoa, cooked for every pound of ground beef. I've found that my family still likes the beefy flavor so we do best when I substitute part of the meat in these kinds of dishes rather than omitting it entirely.

Here's one of our favorite dishes with red quinoa that we make a lot. I usually serve it over mashed potatoes. Actually in this picture I served it over a potato/turnip mash (I had just harvested a lot of turnips at the time...). Healthy and delicious.

Red Quinoa Beef Stroganoff

Printable Recipe

*Serves 6-8

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 Cup red quinoa 

1-1/4 Cups water

6 Tbsp. butter

1 med. yellow onion

1 lb. ground beef

2 Cups beef broth

1 tsp. nutmeg

1-1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. dried basil (or 1/8 Cup fresh basil, chopped)

1/8 tsp. black pepper

1 Cup milk

1/4 Cup flour 

1 Cup Sour Cream

Serve over cooked egg noodles, mashed or baked potatoes

DIRECTIONS:

In a small saucepan combine 1/2 cup red quinoa with 1-1/4 cups water. Bring to a boil. Turn down and simmer about 10-15 minutes or until quinoa is cooked and tender. A good way to tell if the quinoa is cooked is if it starts to produce a little white curlicue. That usually means the quinoa is tender enough. Quinoa can also be cooked in a pressure cooker using instructions found in this previous post.

While the quinoa is cooking, melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and stir until soft. Add the ground beef and cook and stir until browned. Once the quinoa is cooked it can also be added to the skillet at this point (or later if it still needs a bit more time to cook). Add the broth, salt, nutmeg, basil, and pepper to the skillet. Bring to a boil and immediately decrease the heat to low. Simmer until all but 1/4 Cup liquid remains, about 30-40 minutes. If you’re in a hurry, you can cook this a little faster on medium heat, just watch it close and stir often. In a small bowl whisk together the milk and flour until mostly smooth. Then add to the skillet and whisk well until smooth. Then stir in the sour cream. Heat for another minute or two until mixture has thickened and heated through. Serve immediately over cooked egg noodles or mashed or baked potatoes. 

Recipe Source: healthyfamilycookin.blogspot.com

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Veggie Deluxe Pizza

We've been making pizza as a tradition every Friday night for years. Our family loves it. It's a quick and easy meal that no one complains about. If it's just our family of four, we usually make two medium to large pizzas. One for the kids that's always the same (pepperoni) and one for the adults. We like to experiment with the adult pizza and come up with a variety of amazing toppings. I've realized that I haven't shared too many of these amazing creations on this blog and I really should. It's been just recently that we've discovered that fresh finely minced garlic is one of the secrets to an amazing vegetarian pizza. We often make vegetarian pizzas for the adult pizza. Especially in the summertime when we have lots of veggies coming out of the garden. I love vegetarian pizzas, but I have loved them even more since we discovered the secret of the fresh garlic. We don't miss the meat when we use it. Try it! It's delicious.

Here's one of our favorite vegetarian pizzas ever: Enjoy!

Veggie Deluxe Pizza

Printable Recipe

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 Recipe Pizza Crust

Olive oil or whole wheat flour

About 1 Cup pizza sauce (Here's my favorite pizza sauce recipe)
1-2 Cups Mozzarella Cheese blend (or cheese of your choice)
sliced olives
thinly sliced zucchini
chopped Roma or other plum tomatoes (non-juicy tomatoes work the best)
thinly sliced young turnips, optional
2 cloves of fresh garlic, minced
2 Tbsp. roasted slivered almonds
dried oregano
Garlic Salt

DIRECTIONS:
Place pizza stone*(See Note below) on lower middle rack in the oven and preheat to 475 F. Sprinkle counter with olive oil or whole wheat flour. The oil will make for a little moister crust, but I also like pizza with the flour coating. Try both and see what you prefer. Coat rolling pin in the oil or flour on the counter. Roll out dough into a large circle (10 - 12” diameter) and place on parchment paper. Let raise for 5-10 min. While dough is rising, mix the sliced olives, sliced zucchini, chopped tomatoes, turnips, other veggies of your choice, and fresh minced garlic together in a medium bowl. Set aside. When dough has risen slightly on parchment paper, poke it all over with your fingers. Then brush dough with a generous amount of olive oil and sprinkle lightly with garlic salt. Add pizza sauce and cheese as desired. Then add combined toppings. Sprinkle roasted slivered almonds on top and sprinkle a light coating of dried oregano over the toppings. Bake on preheated 475 F pizza stone, for 6-10 min or until crispy and cheese is bubbly.

Note: If you do not have a pizza stone, I've had success making yummy pizza using this method.

Recipe Source: healthyfamilycookin.blogspot.com

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