Make It Yourself: Lime Rice (Like At CHIPOTLE GRILL)

Our family LOVES Chipotle Grill. I mean, we looooove it. For its tasty food, of course. And because they are fairly cheap. But also because of their green practices. The use quality pastured meats, some organic vegetables, and other natural products. All their food is simple and freshly made which of course makes for a DELICIOUS product.

Okay, okay... I think you get it.

Now, one of our favorite things is their Lime Rice. Corky adores it. That and the "green dip" (guacamole). So, of course I had to find a way to recreate it at home. I've made this recipe several times and it has always turned out perfect.


Lime Rice (Like Chipotle's)

2/3 cup Basmati rice
1 T butter
1 lime
1 cup water
1/2 tsp. salt
2 T chopped fresh cilantro

*Rinse the rice in cold water to remove excess starch. This step is important so that your rice won't be too sticky.
* In a sauce pan (use one with a lid), melt butter and add rice. Toast rice just a little.
*Add the juice of the lime to the rice and cook for a minute over medium heat.
*Add the water and salt, bringing everything to a boil.
*Reduce heat, cover and simmer until water is evaporated.
* Stir in cilantro and serve.

Try not to lift the lid while cooking or you will end up needing to add water and your rice will be less fluffy and more sticky.

I used brown Basmati rice so mine didn't turn out white like Chipotle's. Also, I only had dried cilantro on hand so you can't see the pretty specks of bright green that is usually there.

I served it with BBQ pork oven tacos (one of our favorites).

And since Corky is afraid of tomatoes... she got a quesadilla and frozen peas (she loves them-- but only frozen).

Today I'm participating in the Pennywise Platter Nourishing Gourmet. Click on over there and browse around!

Make It Yourself: Homemade Cream Cheese

Homemade cream cheese? Oh yeah! Well, I guess you could call it yogurt cheese (I think that's the technical term). It's so easy, and with the added bonus of aquiring whey which is extremely beneficial when used to soak grains.

First, I make plain yogurt in my crockpot . Refrigerate overnight. The next morning place a fine sieve over a large mixing bowl and line the sieve with a tea towel. Pour the whole crock full of yogurt into the sieve and wait. The whey will drip into the bowl. It takes a while... sometimes all day...

When the yogurt is fairly thick, tie the corners of the tea towel so that you have a neat little package of cream cheese. Tie the contraption around a wooden spoon and hang it from... well, somewhere. I used my kitchen cabinet handles. Make sure the bowl of whey is still underneath because it will continue to drip. Leave it hanging until it is no longer dripping.

When it stops dripping whey, unwrap the towel and using a spatula, scrape the cheese into a container. This makes somewhere between 16 and 20 oz. of cheese depending on how much you strain it and how thick you like it. In this last batch that I made, I got over a quart of whey!

By The WHEY...

Whey can be used to soak grains for easier digestion (for those who have trouble digesting wheat -- like myself -- this can be especially useful).

Whey can be used for lacto-fermented veggies, salsas, and other condiments (I use it for pickles and sauerkraut).

Some people swear that drinking a few tablespoons of whey every morning cures a host of ailments (I haven't had the guts to try this yet).

Whey can be used in smoothies for added nutritional benefit.

Whey can be used as a fertilizer (50% whey and 50% water).

There are probably a million other uses for whey but these are just the ones that I know of!

Frugal Find #2: Muir Glen Organic Soup

I LOVE it when I find a really good deal. It's kind of like a drug for me. It makes me so happy. My husband thinks I'm a little crazy because I can get so worked up over a really great frugal find!


"Oh my gosh! Honey, look what I found! Muir Glen canned soup for ONLY A DOLLAR! Can you believe it?!"

And then he rolls his eyes while I literally fill up my cart with more cans of soup than we could eat in a year.

Ahh!! But when I do eat that soup, it will taste ten times better because I will remember-- this can of soup only costed a dollar! And I WILL remember- I'm a freak like that.



Frugal Find #2

Item: Muir Glen Organic canned soup

Place: Dollar Tree

Price: $1.00

Make It Yourself: Crockpot Yogurt

You can make yogurt in your crockpot... did you know that?? I discovered this fact a few months ago and tried it out. It is super easy and it makes the most delicious yogurt for a fraction of the cost of buying it!
This is what I do:

First, gather the ingredients. You need a half gallon of milk  (organic, raw, or regular pasteurized), 1 1/2 cups of powdered milk, sweetener (I used honey and agave), vanilla extract (or some vanilla beans), and 3/4 cup of yogurt with live active cultures. Also, you need a 2 quart crockpot (I bought this one especially for yogurt making for $4.00 on black friday).

*** Edit*** I no longer use the powdered milk and the yogurt still turns out great!

Pour the half gallon of milk into the crock and set it on low for 2 hours and 45 mins.

Now turn the crockpot off and let the milk cool with the lid on for 3 hours. When 3 hours have passed, remove 2 cups of the warm milk to a bowl.

To the bowl/milk, add 3/4 cup of yogurt with live active cultures. Wisk well.                                                  

To the crock, add the rest of the ingredients ( if you want plain yogurt, just leave out the vanilla and sweetener) and mix well.                                                                                                              

Pour the yogurt mix back into the crock and stir. Replace the lid and wrap the whole crock in a thick bath towel.                                                                                                                                                     

Let the yogurt sit in a warm place for 8-12 hours. In order to culture, the yogurt has to stay warm. Since my house stays pretty cold, I warmed my oven a little (too hot will kill the bacteria in the yogurt), then turned it off and placed the whole bundle in there.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

After, it cultures, chill thoroughly before eating.

At this point you can add fruit if you like. I don't suggest putting the fruit in until it is completely finished. So easy! Try it!                                                                                                                                          

What to do with a whole chicken... or what I did anyway...

I recently posted about changing my poultry habits. Since it costs more to buy "good" chicken, I took the cheaper route and purchased a whole chicken. You could just take your whole chicken and roast it or cut it up, but I don't really like dark meat (did I also mention that I detest handling raw poultry? I do it, obviously, but It really grosses me out!) but my husband does and I was determined to get the most out of my chicken so... I got creative.

First, I figured out the easiest way to cook it was in the crockpot (because you don't have to handle it much, of course). I just plopped the bird (mine was approx. 3 1/2 pounds) in the crock and added enough water to cover the bird halfway. I added a quartered onion, and some parsley and thyme. Then I just let it go. It only took about three hours and it was falling off the bones! Next, I removed the chicken to a plate and stripped the skin off. I pulled out as many bones and junk as I could and threw it, with the skin back into the crock. I let this reduce into a nice little chicken stock. I then strained it and poured it into quart jars (this chicken made 2 quarts) and stored one in the freezer and one in the fridge! It turned out very dark and gelatinous (it tasted very good too)!

Now for the meat... I let the chicken cool and shredded all the meat. You could chop some, slice it, whatever... I used the white meat to make chicken salad, enchiladas, ect. For the dark meat, I added BBQ sauce and my husband had BBQ sandwhichs. I also found that I could add some of the dryer dark meat to the chicken salad and it didn't offend my palate (it's the slimy dark meat that I don't like)!

I was very satisfied that nothing went to waste. Also, having shredded chicken on hand made putting dinner together a cinch!

New Year's Resolutions: Part 1

Well, it might be a little late to write about New Year resolutions since January is almost half over, but... oh well. I'm gonna do it anyway! After watching Food Inc., I decided I was going to try to do even better with our family's food supply. Starting with our meat. The information that I learned about how commercial poultry is raised was particularly disturbing to me. So I'm starting there! I used to buy Tyson, Purdue, and other big name brands of chicken. When we started to go more natural with our food, I was delighted that these same brands provided a "natural" alternative! Yay!


But wait. Read the package closely. What makes it "all natural"? When I took a closer look, I noticed that there was nothing on the package that said, "No antibiotics, No growth hormones, Not cloned, ect.". It just claimed to be natural- no more information! Usually these "natural" products were priced a little higher, so I was dissapointed that I was duped by this scam. But you live, you learn, right?

So I set out in search of a better chicken...

We don't have a Trader Joes or a decent co-op in our area. We do have ONE Whole Foods Market, but it is an hour drive, one way. There are some family farms that offer natural, free range chickens, but the price was a little out of our budget. The main source of shopping in our area is Walmart and a few limited grocery stores, which aren't usually stocked with natural foods. However, when you look really hard, sometimes you have some luck!

At our local Reasor's, I found a brand called Smart Chicken. Which claims to be hormone and antibiotic free, and naturally raised. They also offer an organic option. I have not tried this one yet.

At Target, I found a brand called Bare Natural. They have all the necessary requirements on their label as well. I have tried this brand several times when I found it super cheap on sale.

At Walmart, my mom found a brand called HarvestLand. This has been my favorite option, so far. It is truly all natural and it is raised on small farms (where the chickens are allowed to see the sunlight!). And it fits within our budget! I got whole chickens in this brand for $1.98 per pound! Compared to the local farm chickens that are $5.99 per pound, that is a good deal (although I would love to support these local farms, we just can't afford it right now. But I plan to keep looking for a better deal)!

So, I had to do some looking around but I managed to find a naturally healthy chicken that didn't have unusually large breasts for a decent price! Yay! That's one resolution- done!

(I'll let you know what I did with my whole chicken later. I'm a white meat girl, so a whole chicken was a challenge for me. But I managed to use every last bit of it!)

How to refill Swiffer Wet-jet solution

A few weeks ago I posted about how I make my own Swiffer Wet-jet pads. I just realized that in that post I promised to tell you how to refill your Wet-jet solution container! In my crazy, pre-Christmas mindset I forgot. So here it is:

It's super easy. Start by filling a large glass measuring cup half way with boiling water. Next, add a couple splashes of white vinegar. Insert the empty solution bottle upside down in the water (it will suck up some of the water so that it won't float). Let it soak for 30 minutes. Remove. Using a towel to get a good grip, you should be able to remove the lid. Now you can refill with whatever solution you like. For an anti-bacterial cleaner that is safe for all floors including wood, use this recipe:

1 cup white vinegar
1 Tbs. dish soap
1/2 Tbs. lemon juice
1/2 cup water

This solution has worked well for me on my tile and linoleum.

Homemade Reusable Swiffer Wet-jet Pads

So, have you noticed how expensive Swiffer Wet-jet Pads are?? Not to mention the added waste that ends up in the landfills. I LOVE my Swiffer, but I needed a cheaper and more earth friendly alternative (read here about the huge trash swirl). I needed something thick and absorbant and something with some texture to make the pads. So I found these at our local Ross store:

 

They are 12x12 microfiber cloths. Since the microfiber doesn't fray, I just cut them into thirds.

This resulted in three pads that were slightly smaller than my Wet-jet surface. When I used them, it seemed to work out well. However, next time I might just cut the cloth in half to make them a little bigger.

These are great because they stick to the velcro on the bottom of the Swiffer very well and are quite absorbent. When I'm done with them, they go in the bucket with all my other dirty cleaning rags and get washed along with them. Easy! It is very simple step to being more frugal and green.

In tomarrow's post, I'll tell you how to refill your used Swiffer solution bottle with your own homemade cleaning solution!

Making your own Gatorade

We had a terrific Thanksgiving!! The dinner was the best one yet in my opinion! I can post the recipes if anyone wants them, just let me know!

On to todays post... I came across this recipe for making your own gatorade (or rather, a gatorade type drink) on the Dr. Oz Show . They have not posted it on his website, but luckily I had the show DVR'ed. It's terribly simple and can save you a ton of money. Also, you know exactly what you are getting- no artificial sweetners, preservatives, ect. So here it is:

Electrolyte Drink

1 liter of water
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt (or regular salt)
2 T agave nectar or honey
Fruit juice (optional)

Mix together. Add a little fruit juice for flavor if you desire.


Easy right? Now this won't be Kool-aid type drink, but it is a good option for a workout or dehydration from illnesses.

Homemade Oatmeal Bath

I was originally inspired to post this because of my poor little 11 month old nephew who contracted... duh duh DUNN... Chicken Pox! The poor little guy was COVERED with it so we found a recipe for homemade soothing oatmeal bath and adjusted it a little:

Homemade Oatmeal Bath

1 cup each Oatmeal, ground to a powder (food processor, blender, or use baby oatmeal cereal), epsom salt, powdered milk. *Also, you can add 1 cup of baking soda if using for Chicken Pox or Excema*

Mix all ingredients together and store in an air tight container. Use 1/2 cup (or more) for each bath.



This is a very frugal alternative to buying oatmeal bath and it worked great on my sweet little nephew!

After seeing that The Nourishing Gourmet was hosting a Handmade Gift Carnival, I figured this would make a good entry! This would actually make a great gift for a new mother (to use for herself or the baby!) or really for anyone who takes a bath (which should be everybody!). You could jazz it up with a decorated jar and some ribbons- possiblities are endless!

A Fantastic Frugal Find!

Okay, I couldn't resist the alliteration! This is a good one for all you coffee lovers! My mom and my husband are MAJOR coffee drinkers, and they have to have the cream and sugar with it. I love coffee too, but I don't drink it as much because of my high blood pressure. However, when I do, I would describe my drink as being mostly creamer with a little coffee! We all love the liquid creamer the best but it can be quite pricey (over 2.00 for a 32oz. bottle). This would be ok if we just used a little bit- but we use alot! So my mother went on a mission to find a better option... and she succeeded! She figured out how to turn powdered creamer (which is much cheaper) into the liquid form. It worked great and actually tasted better than the liquid we were buying! Maybe it just tasted better because it was cheaper!! Here is the recipe:


Homemade Liquid Creamer

2 cups boiling water
2 cups powdered creamer
2 cups cold water

Mix the powdered creamer with the boiling water, until creamer is dissolved. Then combine the mixture with the cold water. Store in the fridge. Easy! This recipe make a little more than a quart of liquid creamer.


The cost difference is drastic: The CoffeeMate liquid creamer is $2.98 per quart. The CoffeeMate brand powder is $3.25 for 22 oz. The 22 oz. powder makes 3.2 quarts of liquid. It would cost us $9.50 to buy the liquid and only $3.25 to make it!

Fun Friday: Healthy "Lunchable"

Okay, everyone has probably given their kid a Lunchable for a quick meal, right? Well, I decided that they were too expensive and likely full of things that aren't very healthy (is that real cheese??). So, today, when Corky asked for a "wunchable", I substituted with my own version!

I used diced, fresh, pears, whole wheat crackers, and real cheese. I used a cookie cutter to make the little cheese flowers. She was so excited about the cheese...

You could easily create many variations, using chunks of chicken, berries, carrot sticks, pretzles, ect.

Not only was this a more healthy option, but it was more fun! I'm sure she would much rather eat cheese flowers than cheese circles!!

Puddin' Paint

We spent father's day weekend at my parent's house. My dad is very sick (terminal) so we often travel 120 miles to their house and stay for the weekend. This is good because they get to see Corky and we all get to visit. She loves to go to Granny and Papa's house! Today, she was in a very crafty mood so we made Puddin' Paint! It's easy, all you need is some vanilla pudding cups and food coloring. You can also use different flavors of pudding if you don't want to add the food coloring. Or you could color it with natural things like blueberries. Her favorite color is purple, so we just made purple and pink. The best part is that it is completely edible. Surprisingly, she painted more than she ate! Here are some of her masterpieces!

Home Made Baby Wipes

Recently, I happened upon an idea for making your own baby wipes. I thought, "What a brilliant idea for saving money!" Also, have you ever looked at the list of ingredients on the back of the box? Even the ones that are "gentle", "for sensitive skin", "fragrance free", ect., still have loads of harsh ingredients! It is no wonder that babies scream when wiped with these things! Any how, I thought I would test it out on Corky, because after all, it is her bottom that will be the judge! So, I looked at all the various recipes online- there are a million! They all have a basic formula:

water, something to sooth, something to clean, disinfectant, and something to wipe.

Some people use the all-in-one wipes method. Others keep the wipe and cleaning solution separate (in a spray bottle or something). Also, you can make them disposable or washable/reusable. I chose to do all-in-one disposables (I know disposables aren't as good for the environment, but I needed something easy- I might try washables with our next child since Corky should be potty training soon!).

This is what worked for me:

3 cups warm water

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup baby wash

4 drops tea tree oil

I mix it all and store in an airtight container (shake well before each use). Usually a batch of wipe solution will make about 4 batches of wipes.

Next, for the wipes, I use Viva paper towels because they are the softest. I have also used Bounty- they work well, they just aren't as soft. Also, I don't recommend using "select-a-size" type towels unless you have a small baby. Cut the paper towels in half cross ways, so they resemble a large roll of toilet paper. Use one half for each batch of wipes. Place the roll, cut side down, in an air tight container and pour a little over a half cup of solution evenly over the roll (if you use "big roll" towels, you will need to adjust the amount of solution). Then turn it over and repeat. Let it sit for an hour to saturate. It will seem like it isn't wet enough, but after an hour it should be just right. After an hour, pull the cardboard center out, and pull wipes from the center. If they are too dry, add some water, but be careful not to get them too wet! The first time I made them, they were so wet that I had to wring them out to use them- they were too soapy too!

* The reason this recipe is not exact is because all the recipes I tried were failures. So I adjusted it to fit my needs. I chose to mix a batch of solution, and just use what I need for each individual batch of wipes. Also, the amount of solution needed will vary depending on the brand of paper towel.

Substitutions:

Many of the ingredients that I used can be substituted with items more suited to your individual baby. Here are some suggestions:

Water- you can use filtered, tap, or distilled

Something to sooth- baby oil, mineral oil, olive oil, baby lotion (be careful about ones that contain alcohol).

Something to clean- castile soap, any liquid baby soap that works for your baby (something gentle).

Disinfectant- This step can be skipped, tea tree oil, lavender oil, vitamin e liquid from capsules.

Wipe- Any strong paper towel, blue shop towels, strips of soft Cotton fabric (for washables).

*Note- Some of the sites where I found recipes stated that people have had trouble with the wipes mildewing. I have never had this happen. I don't know if it is because of the tea tree oil or because I use them so quickly. Anyway, keeping them tightly covered and out of the sunlight should help.

I love coupons! Really, I do. I admit that couponing takes a fair amount of work, but I am such a penny pincher that I think it is worth it (especially if you are trying to eat healthy or have specific dietary needs)! The trick is to not “clip” coupons. Instead, keep them in a binder until you need them. I will write about my coupon system later, in another post. For now I just want to rave about my good deal this week!

This week, Walgreen’s had a sale on Kashi and Kellogg’s cereal- 3 boxes for 10.00 (with a 3.00 Register Reward). I also had a 1.50 manufacturer’s coupon.

3 for $10.00 – $3.00 Reg. Reward – $1.50 Man. Coupon = $5.50 Total

That makes each box $1.84! That is a good deal!

I have been dying for some Kashi GoLean Crunch but refused to buy it because it is almost four dollars at Wal-Mart, at regular price! I just couldn’t live with myself if I paid that much for a box of cereal! I know, I really am a cheapskate!! But I love to save money and live sensibly. Paying four dollars for a box of cereal is not sensible (for me anyway)! However, by using coupons and smart shopping, I can still have the finer things in life… like Kashi cereal… hahahah! My mom thinks I’m crazy… maybe I am… muwhahaha!!!