If you bake bread regularly, or you are thinking about starting, here's a little tip for you... Store your yeast in the freezer! It is certainly cheaper to purchase a jar of yeast than to purchase the strips. If you are planning to make more than 3 loaves of bread or 3 batches of dough for rolls, pizza crust, cinnamon rolls or other yeast bread, then … [Read more...]
Homemade Baked Beans Recipe
We are going through a bit of a beans phase. Ryan is still learning to like them. (And these sweeter beans were a great start). Charlie has always loved beans. Tyler can't get enough of beans. How to Make Baked Beans From Scratch! Add the molasses. The ketchup. The sweet chili sauce. The worcestershire sauce. And some … [Read more...]
Reviving Dry Carrots and Dehydrated Celery
(Please pardon the iPhone photo.) A little trick I learned back in my early cooking days in the Dominican Republic... When you see baby carrots, carrot sticks, and celery stalks starting to dehydrate or go limp, all they need is a little water to revive them! Simply place them into a container with some water. When I have baby carrots or cut carrot sticks go … [Read more...]
How to Quickly Thaw Freezer Meals
During the past few weeks of my $35/week pantry challenge, I have been on a mission to use up all the ingredients, sauces and other goodies from the pantry and freezer. Last week I planned to use up the part of my Chunky Bolognese Sauce that I'd made back in October. I had every intention of pulling the sauce from the freezer the night before and putting it into the … [Read more...]
Roasted Sweet Acorn Squash + Dish Saving Trick
Amazing recipe for Roasted Sweet Acorn Squash, and a simple trick to save you a few dishes to wash! So here's a trick that I accidentally happened to do the other night...and I'll never do it the old way again! Mainly because it saves you the trouble of dirtying and washing a serving dish. (Well, unless I was serving this to guests...then I would put it into a … [Read more...]
Ways to Use Homemade Pesto Sauce
Rather than let the garden herbs grow out of control, make pesto instead. I have found that it doesn't really matter how much of which kind of herb you use...as long as you have enough basil in there to give it that basil flare. I did not measure my pesto as I made it...but I'll tell you what I put in it...and then just added a little salt and olive oil to … [Read more...]
Batch Grilling Burgers
Batch Grilling Chicken Breasts. Why not grill up a bunch of burgers in the same way!?! I went digging through the freezer and was surprised by how much ground beef that I had on hand. Perfect for some batch burger grilling! Now we've got quite a few burgers in the freezer for a quick dinner, or lunch for the boys. I love making my own … [Read more...]