You're having what for dinner?!?

 I absolutely LOVE my in-laws!  

It is SO much fun to have them for parents and grandparents to my sons. 

What I love most about them is how every time we go over there
they are always feeding us a new recipe they tried out.

HEALTH is such a priority to them 
and they love nourishing and feeding their bodies 
with such healthy, yummy things.

Well, we went over to their house a few weeks ago
and they had to make up a favorite salad that they had gotten off "Dr. Oz".
 Who would have known that sauerkraut was SO good for you! 
It is a great way to protect the balance of bacteria in your gastrointestinal tract.
Sauerkraut is also super alkalinizing as well.

 You wouldn't think it would be good,
but it is SO tasty and I can't believe
my kids LOVE it!!

Tracy's parents put in crushed crackers for crunch, but I deleted out the crackers and we just topped our Sauerkraut Salad on top of homemade toasted Artisan Bread.

WOW, YUMMY
 very economical to eat and something to JAZZ up your diet a little bit
that is different and a fun change from the monotony
of the same old same recipes we all get in a rut making up.

(one 32 oz. jar of sauerkraut was $1.69 
and it made two different batches of this...)

Sauerkraut Salad (original recipe for Dr. Oz's salad here)

16 oz. sauerkraut (1/2 of a 32 oz jar)

1 large tomato finely chopped

1-2 Tbsp. olive oil

1 tsp. dried oregano

1/2 cup grated cheese (we enjoy Swiss, or Guyere... Mozzarella is good as well)

pepper to taste

Mix all together and let sit at least an hour

Serve on top of toasted Artisan Bread.    
Great appetizer, OR, meal.

Enjoy all the wonderful health benefits of sauerkraut today 

with something that is delicious, 

is easy to make 

and works for a main course, or side dish!

Versatile, yummy beans!

Tracy and I learned early on

how economical it was to buy dried pinto beans to make up delicious, nourishing meals in the early days of our marriage.

In fact, there wasn't a week that went by that I didn't have a container of cooked beans in my tiny little apartment fridge. Meat was quite expensive,
also, our tiny 1960's style refrigerator had a small icebox inside the fridge that always iced up to the point of not being able to open it up and so even if we could afford a lot of meat, we just didn't have room for it.
So, beans/legumes made into soup, or, served on top of tostadas or in burritos, or, along side rice or with corn chips/corn bread was the most economical way to make sure we got plenty of protein. (we also enjoyed canned tuna and salmon as well eggs and some chicken)
YES, we eventually moved into an apartment with a real freezer in the fridge and then into a house with a LARGE freezer and as you can see from the recipes I post, we eat quite an array of meals with a variety of meat options.

As good and yummy as meat is, I always go back to beans/legumes as some of my favorite meals.

Right now...
dried Pinto Beans are 54 cents a pound

and Split Peas are 51 cents a pound.

There were five things
that were a constant in our early marriage:

cooking up pinto beans or split peas weekly,

cooking up a large stock pot of chicken/veggie soup, OR, Brown Rice with Chicken and Broccoli (aka "Cream a doo") that we would pretty much eat all week long (including taking it in thermoses to work)
Making up homemade bread and some sort of homemade cookie or dessert treat.
AND there was always an abundance of fresh fruit/veggies to eat

I still remember going on a picnic with our friends, the Archibald's the first summer of our marriage and I pulled out a Rubbermaid container of pureed pinto beans (that I had mixed with salsa) and tortilla chips. We also pulled out tuna fish sandwiches on homemade whole wheat bread, cut up broccoli and carrot sticks and Honey Cookies. They looked at us like we were a bunch of "Old Fogey's", because, who would eat that way? It was definitely different then how they ate.

Picnics in the Park, drives to the foot hills in our Land Cruiser, weekend getaways, lunches at work...we were always bringing our pureed beans and homemade treats to enjoy. Buying store bought was never an option.

HELPFUL TIP...

don't let your Rotisserie Chicken, or your turkey carcass go to waste, .

I always boil up all of the bones from these and freeze up the broth to have to pull out for future meals. It is SO much more yummy to have real chicken broth too add to soups/beans, rather than bouillon, or canned broth.

I love making sure nothing goes to waste.
I connect greatly with our grandparent's era, where bones were carefully saved and put to good use to make a pot of soup for their families!

SO many yummy possibilities for these...

SO easy
to make up bean burritos for a week of quick lunches for your family.

Having a container of pureed beans in your fridge,

means you always have fixin's to...

make burritos,

yummy beans to put in a containers to take along
with veggie sticks for lunch or an afternoon snack,

(this is my favorite...

cut up veggies + bean dip= heaven)

beans to heat up and enjoy dipping chips in,

beans to spread on tortilla chips, top with cheese and broil
until the cheese melts to make DELICIOUS nachos!!

Delicious Pinto Beans

Soak 2 cups pinto beans overnight in 4 cups water.

After soaking keep just enough water to barely cover beans and

add in 2 cups chicken broth. (I just pulled a 2 cup bag of chicken broth from my freezer and added in)

Then add in:

1 finely chopped onion

2 cloves chopped garlic (OR, 1 tsp granulated garlic powder)

1 tsp. cumin

Bring to boil and then simmer for 3-4 hours until really tender.

(may need to add some salt after they’re cooked)

Puree some of beans and add back into bean mixture and

add in 1 to 2cups shredded cheese and stir until melted. Store in an airtight container in the fridge (will keep for a week)

Enjoy...
the possibilities to the use of these are endless!

54 cents for 2 cups of dried pinto beans...

wow!

what a bargain, great source of protein,
and what a wonderful, nourishing, healthy way to feed your family!

LOVE the thrift of Dried Beans!

Homemade Enchiladas!

Homemade Enchiladas
remind me of my dating days with Tracy.

This was the first meal I made up for him when I invited him over to have dinner during the Christmas Break at college. Although the filling was different, (I just used onions, cheese and ground beef) the recipe for the sauce and assembly is the same.

I still remember his comment about
"are you sure that's not too much Chili Powder"
as I dumped it into the pan. His family was big Cayenne pepper lovers and so he thought Chili Powder had the same "KICK" as Cayenne Pepper did.

This spring
as I was shopping at the grocery store,
I took a shortcut to get to the registers and went down the Mexican Food aisle and noticed a girl picking up a can of Enchilada Sauce and it was $1.71 for the can. OUCH!!
That is so expensive, compared to how cheap it is to make it from scratch. Here is how easy, economical and yummy it is to make homemade enchiladas with basic Food Storage ingredients.

After trying many kinds of fillings, I really enjoy just a bunch of steamed veggies, with maybe a little sprinkling of some roast, however, the possibilities are endless to what you can put in these.

Flour Tortillas
4 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp baking powder (heaping..don't level it off)
1/2 cup oil
1-1/3 cup HOT water

Mix dry ingredients together and the add in hot water and oil. Mix until it forms a ball of dough. Cover with a damp cloth and let rest 15 minutes

Uncover and form into balls (10 or 12) just larger than a golf ball. Cover with damp cloth and allow to rise 30 minutes to 1 hour. (I let mine go the full hour)

Flatten and roll out and cook on HOT griddle. Turn them when bubbles appear. After pulling them off the griddle, stack them on a plate and cover with a towel and then once they're all cooked, store in a Ziploc bag to keep them moist and pliable.

These are absolutely amazing and make great burritos, Quesadillas, OR, are great to put in a bowl and then pile on fixins' for a Taco Salad.

Enjoy!

Homemade Enchiladas

8-10 flour tortillas
2-3 cups grated cheese
cream cheese
finely chopped onions

(for filling)
1 large onion thinly sliced
1 bell pepper thinly sliced
Fresh Corn (I cut the corn off 2 ears of corn)
1 to 2 summer squash OR 1 medium zucchini squash
2 carrots peeled and thinly sliced
Saute together with 1 Tbsp butter and a few Tbsp of water until tender

(for sauce)
In a saucepan:
Melt 2 Tbsp. butter
add in and stir well
3 heaping Tbsp. flour
1-1/2 Tbsp Chili Powder
add in
4 cups water, mix well with wire whisk and cook until thickened

Spread tortillas with a thin layer of cream cheese.
Dip tortillas in sauce and then put a spoonful filling and a handful of grated cheese in the middle and then roll up and put in a 9x13 pan. Do this until you have 8-10 filled tortillas.

After all the tortillas are rolled up in pan, sprinkle with more cheese and finely chopped onions and rest of sauce.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes until bubbly and browned on top.

**(you can also use shredded beef, cooked ground beef, or cooked chicken for the filling, instead of the veggies...if you use meat instead of the veggies eliminate the cream cheese )

Great topped with lettuce, tomatoes and sour cream

Enjoy!