Nancy on the Home Front

Frugal Tips: Made From Scratch Saves Cash!

One of the easiest ways to save money is to make your own rather than buying store bought food. Here are just a few ideas of foods that don’t take a lot of time to mix up and will save you money,

Granola – Forget buying the expensive store-bought granola. Click on this link for a simple and delicious granola recipe.

granola, pantry, cereal, homemade — Store granola in an airtight container.

Amazing Overnight Waffles– This recipe can be mixed up the night before so it’s just about ready to go in the morning. These waffles can also be frozen and are tastier that any store version of frozen waffles.

waffles, breakfast, prudent living — Amazing Overnight Waffles

Yogurt– I started making yogurt on a regular basis once I found out how easy it was. I usually make it plain but it’s easy enough to add fruit or vanilla to flavor it.

Bread– Use a mixer or a bread machine or your hands. By making your bread at home you know exactly what is in it. I make three loaves at a time, and put two in the freezer for later use.

bread, whole wheat, homemade — We usually keep one loaf to eat and freeze the other two.

Chicken Broth– Make your own with water, bones and the chicken carcass. Freeze or pressure can for use later.

pressure canning, prudent pantry — Chicken Broth, ready for the pantry.

Dog Biscuits– Don’t forget the dog! These simple biscuits only take minutes to mix up. Our dog loves them!

homemade dog biscuits, prudent pantry — Finished dog biscuits

These are just a few ideas. You’d be surprised at how little time it really takes to make some of the simple items you usually purchase in the store. What do you make from scratch?

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Beer Can Chicken

Our weather has gotten warmer over the last few days and I try to use our grill whenever possible. Working our way through the freezer I decided to cook a whole chicken that was taking up room. The last thing I wanted to do was roast a chicken in the oven, but no reason why we couldn’t cook one on the grill. The choice was to make a Beer Can Chicken. You can Google “beer can chicken” and find all sorts of recipes. I found one on SimplyRecipes.com that sounded simple and delicious. I made a few adaptations as I had a wonderful jar of grilling spices from Mountain Rose Herbs.

First Prepare the grill for indirect heat. Once the coals were going push them to either side and put in an aluminum pan to act as a drip pan.

grilling, chicken — Rub the chicken all over with olive oil and seasoned the chicken inside and out with the grilling spices.

Take a can of beer, open it and pour out half of the beer.Then lower the chicken on the open can, so that the chicken is sitting upright with the can in its cavity.

The chicken was placed on the grill directly over the pan.

beer can chicken, prudent living — The cover was put on the grill and left alone for one hour. At that point you can check the chicken with a thermometer. Keep checking the chicken every 15 minutes or so until the internal temperature inserted into the thickest past of the thigh reads 160-165. The total cooking time will vary depending on the size of your chicken, and the internal temperature of the grill.

Once the chicken is done, carefully transfer it to a tray or pan. Be very careful because the beer can, and the beer inside it, is quite hot. Let the chicken rest for ten minutes. Carefully lift the chicken off the beer can. This may take two people!

The meat is so delicious and practically falls off the bone! It’s a perfect summer meal!

chicken, beer can chciken — Beer Can Chicken, ready to enjoy!

Pressure Canning Chicken Stock

Recently I have committed to not filling my freezer. As I’ve mentioned before we have a dozen chickens that will be ready for the freezer in another month and I need to make room for them in the freezer. So rather than freeze the chicken stock I made I decided I would be pressure canning chicken stock. Soup or stock should always be cooked ready for serving, then poured into a clean, hot Mason jar, leaving a one inch head space.

If you have a pressure canner follow the directions for your specific canner. Chicken broth MUST be canned with a pressure canner; a water bath canner will not work.

I made a nice chicken broth from a roast chicken we had recently. I simmered the carcass in a large pot, covered with water, for 3 hours. I then strained the broth and picked the meat off the bones. I had enough meat to actually make another dinner. Once the broth was chilled I removed the fat that had collected on the surface. It was then ready to can.

Just like any other canning process I heated my jars to sterilize them.

I also reheated the chicken broth to a boil. Once the jars were hot I filled the jars, leaving a 1 inch head space. I placed lids on all the jars. The jars were then placed in my pressure canner and I followed the directions processing at 11 pounds of pressure for 20 minutes since these were pints. In 25 minutes I have pints of chicken stock ready for the pantry.

My Garden: The Joys of Lavender

Ten years ago my mother and I took a trip to North Carolina. On the way there we stayed with an old family friend in Virginia. The woman was moving things around in her garden and asked me if I’d like her English Lavender plant. I had no idea whether or not the plant would survive the trip or if it would even grow in Vermont. However, she was just going to toss it, so I rescued this poor plant. It not only survived the trip back to Vermont but it has been growing well in my garden ever since!

I love the smell of lavender and each year I think I will get around to harvesting the flowers and each year my timing is off. This year I was determined to cut the flowers. For the past few days I have gone out in the early morning and cut the stems that have flowers. It is important to do this early in the flower cycle and in the morning before the heat of the sun has drawn out too much of the essential oils. Interestingly enough if you cut the flowers early enough, at the base of the flower, a new flower grows, giving you more than one harvest. Here in Vermont I may not get more than one harvest, we’ll see.

flowers, prudent living — Lavender Flowers

You can dry the lavender in bunches or on screens. I plan to use my lavender for potpourri.

For potpourri, both the buds and the leaves work well. I will also put some of the blossoms around the house in a vase without water. Hoping that this winter the smell of the lavender will bring back memories of those warm, sunny days of summer.

dried flowers, lavender — Dried Lavender Flowers

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Frugal Tips: Pricey Spices

Do you love oregano? I use it in so many ways. Usually there is a container of oregano in my spice cabinet.

spices, prudent living — store bought oregano

You may have noticed that the price of spices has increased and those little bottles can be so expensive. I also have two beautiful plants in my garden so I can enjoy fresh oregano all summer long. I decided this year I would harvest my oregano. I imagine that the oregano I’ve grown myself will be much tastier than what I can purchase.

There are actually several ways you can store oregano for use during the winter. You can freeze oregano to retain the most flavor and aroma. First you freeze entire branches on cookie sheets, then strip the leaves from the stems and put them back into the freezer in plastic bags.

spices, harvest, prudent living — freezing oregano

You can also dry oregano by cutting entire stalks from the plant and hanging them in a warm, dry, well-ventilated spot.

Store the dried oregano leaves in an airtight jar.

You want to harvest your oregano by cutting back the oregano plant three times during the growing season. The first time is when the plant is just about six inches tall, then again before it flowers and a third time late in the summer. Well I missed the first harvest (where does the time go?) but before my plant starts to flower I decided to harvest.

I decided to try both methods. I’m trying to keep my freezer empty because our meat chickens will be ready for the freezer in another 5-6 weeks. However I decided oregano wouldn’t take up too much room.

It will be fun to have my own oregano to use this winter, while at the same time saving money.

Linked to: Learning The FrugalLife, TheThriftyHome, WeAreThatFamily, FeminieAdventures, ThePrudentPantry

Scrumptious Cherry Pie

There were just enough cherries left over from making Sour Cherry Cordial to make a Scrumptious Cherry Pie. Too bad there weren’t more cherries! This was my first Cherry Pie I ever made and was it ever good! I think I got so excited over the fact that the pie came out so well I totally forgot to take any pictures until two big pieces were already cut! Whoops! So this is what is looked like.

The recipe came from the trusty Joy of Cooking cookbook. It’s a book I’ve been using forever and you can tell by looking at the pages. It was a gift from my mother one Christmas 34 years ago! It’s been well used.

The Joy of Cooking recipe for Fresh Cherry Pie was a winner, simple and delicious!

Scrumptious Cherry Pie

Ingredients:

Line a pie pan with your favorite pie dough. Wash, drain and pit:
4 cups of fresh, sour cherries.

Combine, then mix gently with cherries:
2 2/3 Tbsp quick cooking tapioca
1 ½ cups sugar
2 drops almond flavoring or 2 Tbsp kirch (optional)

Let the fruit mixture stand for 15 minutes. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Pour fruit into the pie shell and dot with:
2 Tbsp butter

Directions:

Cover the pie with a well pricked top or lattice. Bake 10 minutes at 450 degrees, then reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake about 40 minutes longer or until golden brown. One my girlfriends who also went cherry picking made a beautiful lattice topped pie. I’m sure it tasted as delicious as it looked! Hope she doesn’t mind my sharing her artistic talents!

Prudent Pantry: Elusive Sour Cherries

Sour cherries grow in Vermont but their season is very short.

cordial, prudent pantry, prudent living — Sour cherries ready for picking

They also seem to be a fruit tree that is easily affected by the weather. As a result some years there is not any fruit produced. Our local orchard where we usually go to pick sour cherries did not have a harvest this year. Finding a local orchard that had sour cherries this summer proved to be very elusive. After calling around we found a pick your own orchard about an hour away. So five of us piled into the car and set off quite early to pick sour cherries.

What a fun morning, the trees had a lot of fruit but it was mostly up in the tops of the trees so you really had to stretch to gather the fruit. I am thankful that I’m tall! It took a little over an hour to pick about seven pounds of cherries.

I knew exactly what I was going to make, Sour Cherry Cordial and a pie. More to come on the pie…

I started making Sour Cherry Cordial several years ago and it is the perfect drink to enjoy in the middle of winter in front of the wood stove. It is the essence of summer! It is very easy to make and only requires patience, as you have to wait four months before you can enjoy it. If I make a batch now it will be ready to enjoy when the snow flies!

Sour Cherry Cordial

2 ½ pounds of sour cherries
3 cups vodka
3 cups of sugar

Put the vodka and washed, crushed cherries (without stems) in a large container.

cordial, sour cherries — Place sour cherries in a large container.

Let the cherry vodka mix sit in a cool dark place for one month. Shake occasionally.

After a month, add the sugar, and let sit another month, shaking when you think of it. Strain, bottle, and age for four months.

Drink as an aperitif, or digestif, chilled or warm, in small glasses. We enjoy it over crushed ice.

liqueur, cordial — Be sure to label your bottle!

As you sip the cordial remember those warm sunny days of summer picking sour cherries in the orchard.

cherries, cordial, prudent living — Sour cherries

Linked to: MizHelensCountryCottage, AGlimpseInside, Thrifty101, TheBrambleberryCottage, LifeAsMom, BlissfulRhythm, LauraWilliamsMusings, DeborahJeansDandelionHouse, LocalSugarHawaii, MeetPenny, TheNYMelroseFamily, LilSuburbanHomestead, NaturalMothersNetwork, TheMorrisTribe

Frugal Tips: Cash for Food

I remember when I was first learning how to stay within a grocery budget. A good friend of mine took me grocery shopping with her. She had a large family and was very good at staying within her budget. What a fun time we had, and I learned a foolproof way to stay within your grocery budget. Pay for your groceries with cash!

If you only have a certain amount of cash with you there is no way your going to get to the checkout and over-spend! There are several ways to keep track of the money you are spending as you shop. Keep a small calculator with you and add up the groceries as you go along.

grocery shopping, budget — Calculator to add as you go along.

Perhaps you are very good with numbers and can do this in your head. I can’t keep numbers in my head so I need a piece of paper.

What I do as I go along is round up the price so instead of writing down $1.99 I round it up to $2.00. For some reason this makes it easier for me as I shop.

Now this is not something I really like to do but I guarantee if you try this method you will stay within your budget and think twice about everything you put into your cart!

Shopping, budget, prudent living — grocery carts

Linked to: LearningTheFrugalLife, RaisingHomemakers, WeAreThatFamily, FeminieAdventures

Recipe Box: Pizza on the Grill

Several months ago I gave my husband what I thought was an awesome gift. It was an attachment for the Weber grill that turned your grill into a pizza oven. It’s called a Kettle Pizza. I’ve always wanted an outdoor pizza oven and I figured this was the next best thing. After sitting in our living room for way too long the grill and attachment was finally set up outside. Recently it was put to use.

kettle pizza, grilling — Kettle Pizza Oven

Now you have to understand that my DH has been making pizza for years but never on a grill. First the dough was made. It was allowed to rise and then formed to fit on the pizza pan. Eventually we’ll use the pizza paddle and put the pizza right on the pizza stone but this time the pan was used.

We followed the directions and built a fire in the grill, the thermostat registered HOT.

grilling, pizza — Thermostat on the grill.

In went the pizza.

pizza, prudent living — Placing pizza into the oven.

After about 5-6 minutes it was done.

grilled pizza — Cooked tomato basil pizza

It was amazing! I don’t think we’ll go back to using the oven unless it’s in the middle of the winter and snowing outside!

We used a simple recipe for the dough

2 cups flour
1 ¼ tsp instant yeast
¾ tsp salt
1 Tbsp olive oil
About ½ to ¾ cup warm water

Combine the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Stir in the olive oil. Stir in the warm water, you may not need all of the water so add slowly. Turn the dough onto your work surface and knead until smooth and shiny. Place the dough in a covered, oiled bowl to rise until double in bulk.

pizza, recipe box, prudent living — Pizza dough rising

Turn dough onto a floured surface to shape your pizza.

If your dough doesn’t want to stretch let it rest a few moments and try again.

Once the dough is shaped, add a little sauce, spread lightly.

Add your cheese and toppings.

We had a tomato basil, with fresh basil!

herbs, basil, pizza — Tomato Basil Pizza

The finished pizza was awesome!

The Tomato Basil.

pizza, grilling — Tomato Basil Pizza Ready To Eat!

And a cheese with half pepperoni, not sure which was the favorite as both were delicious! We will be having this again soon.

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Prudent Pantry: Freezing Strawberries

I still have strawberries coming in from my garden.

berries, pantry, prudent pantry — Strawberries

As much as I enjoy strawberry jam I only want to have so many jars in the pantry for consumption and gifts!

preserving, prudent living — Strawberry Jam

We’ve been enjoying the strawberries for dessert and for breakfast and I still have some left. What to do? I decided to freeze a few bags. How wonderful it is to enjoy the fresh taste of strawberries in the middle of winter. One of my mother’s famous desserts is a homemade pound cake with strawberries!

Berries are so easy to freeze. Wash, core, and slice, cut in half or freeze whole.

berries, strawberries, prudent living — Coring strawberries

Sweeten to taste with honey or a little sugar. To freeze sweetened strawberries first slice the berries into a bowl, then toss gently with honey syrup or sugar and pack into your freezer container or bag.

To freeze whole strawberries, simply place them on a baking sheet and freeze until hard. This was the method I decided to use.

prudent pantry, berries — Place berries on a cookie sheet.

berries, preserving — Frozen strawberries.

Then transfer the berries to freezer bags.

Once my strawberries were frozen solid I used my food sealer to keep them as fresh as possible.

If I didn’t have 12 meat birds coming in a few weeks to fill my freezer I think I would freeze more strawberries!

Linked to: LauraWilliamsMusings