Thursday, March 15, 2012
Friday, March 9, 2012
5 Things that are Cheaper and Healthier to Make Yourself #3
With our wonderful veggie box has come a lot of veggies that need to find uses before they go bad. This past week we tried our hand at making some wonderful chicken stock, since we also had a chicken carcass around. It was sooooo easy, and even better you can change it up however you see fit. It's also a great way to use veggies that are a little wilted like carrots, celery, etc. Best part: none of that MSG and other not so exciting/healthy stuff. Here is the bare bones recipe:
Chicken Stock
Ingredients
Chicken Bones/Carcass
Veggies
Spices
Water
Directions
1. Prepare any veggies and any fresh spices by cleaning, peeling, and cutting them into pieces that can Fit in the pot. No need to make small pieces.
2. Put chicken and veggies/spices in pot.
3. Fill with enough water to cover.
4. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for a long time (we did about 8-10 hours). Skim off any fat that rises to the top and stir occasionally. Your house will smell amazing!
5. Pour entire contents through a mesh or other fine strainer into another pot or large bowl.
6. Allow to cool and then refrigerate. Remove any fat from the top.
7. Freeze in whatever portion size you wish.
Now what kind of veggies and spices can you use?
Here's what we put in ours (what we had on hand):
Leeks, onions, carrots, celery, garlic, rosemary, dill, parsley, basil, pepper
Other veggies/spices that work well:
Parsnips, bay leaves, scallions, thyme, mushrooms, turnips
You can also make a veggie stock in a similar way.
How does it compare cost wise? Hard to say. But if these are thing that normally would end up in your trash (who wants to snack on limp celery and carrots), then it saves you money. You use something you would have thrown away and you gain something you would have purchased. Win-win in my book!
Chicken Stock
Ingredients
Chicken Bones/Carcass
Veggies
Spices
Water
Directions
1. Prepare any veggies and any fresh spices by cleaning, peeling, and cutting them into pieces that can Fit in the pot. No need to make small pieces.
2. Put chicken and veggies/spices in pot.
3. Fill with enough water to cover.
4. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for a long time (we did about 8-10 hours). Skim off any fat that rises to the top and stir occasionally. Your house will smell amazing!
5. Pour entire contents through a mesh or other fine strainer into another pot or large bowl.
6. Allow to cool and then refrigerate. Remove any fat from the top.
7. Freeze in whatever portion size you wish.
Now what kind of veggies and spices can you use?
Here's what we put in ours (what we had on hand):
Leeks, onions, carrots, celery, garlic, rosemary, dill, parsley, basil, pepper
Other veggies/spices that work well:
Parsnips, bay leaves, scallions, thyme, mushrooms, turnips
You can also make a veggie stock in a similar way.
How does it compare cost wise? Hard to say. But if these are thing that normally would end up in your trash (who wants to snack on limp celery and carrots), then it saves you money. You use something you would have thrown away and you gain something you would have purchased. Win-win in my book!
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Publix Best Meals Happen at Home and Giveaway!
Publix has another one of thier awesome promotions coming up called "The Best Meals Happen at Home." Some of my best family memories are the meals that we prepared and ate together. Today it can be hard to get a homecooked meal on the table with all that we have to do. A fast meal does not have to mean fast food or frozen meals. That's what Publix's Best Meals Happen at Home is all about. Fast, Easy, Delicious food you can make at home in 30 min or less!
So what fun things can you find as part of "the Best Meals Happen at Home" event?
- In store savings on some great brands like General Mills March 8th-14th
- In store coupons available starting March 8th that don't expire until March 28, 2012
- Tons of great recipes found at BestMealsatHome.com. While you are there you can also sign up for their e-mails to receive recipes and coupons that could save you up to $200 this year.
To kick-off this great event, Publix invites you to visit BestMealsatHome.com and try one of their great recipes like this one for Crunchy Chicken Nuggets, which uses Cheerios to make some yummy nuggets.
Crunchy Chicken Nuggets
Servings:4
Prep Time: 15 min
Cook Time: 25 min
Assemble and refridgerate chicken nuggets up to 24 hours for an easy weeknight meal.
Ingredients
2 Cups Cheerios Cereal
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/4 cup milk
2 Tbsp. honey
1 Tbsp. mustard
1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breast or thighs, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 Tbsp. butter or margarine, melted
Directions:
- Heat oven to 400°. Spray with cooking spray or lightly grease 13x9-inch pan.
- Finely crush cereal. Stir together cereal, salt and pepper; set aside. In a medium bowl, stir together milk, honey, and mustard until blended. Dip chicken into milk mixture; coat with cereal mixture. Place chicken in pan; drizzle with melted butter.
- Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until crust is golden and chicken is no longer pink in center.
Serve nuggets with your favorite dipping sauce- BBQ, ketchup, or honey.
Publix, General Mills, and myblogspark also want to help you make your savings go even further by offering one of my readers a $25 gift card. I was excited to receive mine, and sure I can stretch it pretty far, but I'm sure you guys can stretch it too, especially with the great sales at Publix!
You can enter several ways, and I'm happy to introduce our new giveaway format: Rafflecopter. Use the handy form below to make all of your entries:
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