My weekly produce purchase

This week I did pretty good, this is just counting what I got today and Friday  (since payday is Thursday).

6  2-3 pound bags of apples & oranges = $1/bag
1 bag of 5 mixed color bell peppers = $1
2 pkgs of sweet mini peppers - $1 each
1 bag of 5 Roma tomatoes = $1
2 bags of 3 eggplant = $1each
1 bag of peaches = $1
1 bag of 1 eggplant and 4 cucumbers = $1
1 5 lb bag sweet onions = $5

2 2-3 pound bags of snap beans = .99 cents
1 3 pound bag potatoes = .99 cents
2 pkgs of 3 ears each corn on the cob = .79 cents each
1 2 pound bag of hot peppers = .99 cents

total = approx $25

I traded 5 of the eggplant to a friend for a 32 oz jar of local honey and 2 jars of sugar free strawberry Polaner all fruit.  Now I got tons more groceries too, mostly stuff on clearance.

grocery total for this week = $132  (about $50 more than what I'm used to, Thanks Mom!!!)




Definitely going to be doing some canning this week!!


This weeks meal plan!!!

The Chubby Vegetarian's French Toast Pancake

Sorry for the lack of updates guys; things here have been super busy between family stuff and starting up The Homestead Kitchen.   Well I was browsing facebook yesterday and saw a post from The Chubby Vegetarian, a local blogger, was asking people to test recipes for his upcoming cookbook, I took a peak at the recipes and when I found this one, A French Toast Pancake, I knew I was destined to make it.

It was so simple to assemble and after just a few minutes in the oven it came out beautiful!!  Sorry I didn't snap a pic, the kids and hubby dove in so quick it was almost gone before I got a slice.  Let me tell y'all, it was amazing!!!!  I will never make regular pancakes or french toast again!!!  Do yourself a favor and head over to Justin's blog and make this recipe!!

This gets a 10 out of 10 soybeans (I cant remember if my last post used a 5 or 10 scale, oh well, this is good enough for a 10).

Be on the lookout for more yummy recipes, reviews and lots of fun!!!!!!!!

the joys of TVP

TVP has got to be one of the more versatile and cheap meat substitute.  I can get it in the bulk bins at Whole Foods for $1.99/pound.  A normal serving size for us is 4oz.  The hardest thing for me about cooking with TVP is getting the flavor right, cue the TVP Cookbook from The Farm .  It is packed full of great recipes, all using TVP.

Here's one of my favorite fall recipes from this book:



Chuckwagon Soup
Serves 6

Stir together and set aside:
1 cup TVP granules/flakes
3/4 cup hot water
1T ketchup

Heat in a large pot and cook for 5-10 minutes:
2T olive oil
1 large onion chopped

Add the TVP to the pot with:
2 cloves smashed & chopped garlic
1 16oz can diced tomatoes (can sub fresh diced)
4 cups hot vegetable broth
1t each basil, oregano and salt(optional)

When soup begins to boil, drop in:
1 10oz package mixed frozen vegetables**

simmer until veggies are tender.


**feel free to sub fresh chopped veggies such as zucchini, potatoes, beans, corn anything really

Breakfast!!!

So I have to admit breakfast is one of my favorite meals of the day! But what is breakfast without eggs, sausage gravy and buttermilk biscuits?  Still yummy, I promise!!!  Speaking of biscuits and gravy, that is my favorite breakfast, so I veganized it!  Thankfully I found quite a few recipes to choose from and jumbled them all together to make my own.

Biscuits:

2 cups self rising flour
1T baking non-aluminum baking powder
1/2t salt
4T margarine (I use Earth Balance sticks)
3/4 cup (6oz) non dairy milk (I use soy)
water to add if dough is too floury

Preheat oven to 450*F
Put all dry ingredients in a bowl. With a fork, cut in margarine till mixture is in fine crumbles.  Add the milk and stir till it clings together.  Add flour a little at a time if too sticky.  pull apart little balls and place on a greased cookie sheet.  Bake about 10 minutes or until golden!

(for a dinner variation on these, add garlic, rosemary, basil, etc)

"Sausage" Gravy:

Well I totally don't have my own sausage recipe, I use one from the Post Punk Kitchen:

smoky maple sausages

1T and 1/4 cup canola oil, divided

1 small onion, minced

smoky maple sausages (see link above)

1/2 cup all purpose flour

2 1/2 cups non dairy milk (unsweetened works best)

pepper, garlic powder, onion powder & paprika to taste

Heat 1T oil & saute the onion till soft.  Add sausage and heat till browned.  Transfer to a bowl. 

Add 1/4 cup oil and flour to pan.  Whisk and make a roux until it bubbles.  Slowly add milk while dissolving roux.  Stir constantly over medium-low heat to thicken.  Once thickened, add back sausage & onions. Stir well and add spices.  Serve piping hot & enjoy!!

What's your favorite go-to and comfort breakfast??

Banana bread, biscuits and peach pie filling, oh my!!!!

So today has been a busy day!  The kids were busy doing "school stuff", Mance is off doing a side job and me, well I got bored.  So what do I do when I'm bored? I cook of course!

We have our bible study tonight with an Italian food theme, so I thought to recreate Red Lobster's cheddar garlic biscuits. 

 I used a base biscuit recipe:

2 cups self rising flour
1T baking non-aluminum baking powder
1/2t salt
4T margarine (I use Earth Balance sticks)
3/4 cup (6oz) non dairy milk (I use soy)
water to add if dough is too floury

Preheat oven to 450*F
Put all dry ingredients in a bowl. With a fork, cut in margarine till mixture is in fine crumbles.  Add the milk and stir till it clings together.  Add flour a little at a time if too sticky.  pull apart little balls and place on a greased cookie sheet.  Bake about 10 minutes or until golden!

for the garlic variation I added garlic powder, basil and oregano till it looked and tasted right!  (The great thing about vegan recipes is you can taste test the dough and not worry about getting sick!!

Banana Bread - fat free!

3 ripe bananas cut in chunks

2/3 cup agave nectar or 1 cup sugar

(mash these in a bowl till creamy)

Add to this:

1t vanilla

2 cups flour (i use whole wheat)

1/2t baking soda

1t each cinnamon & ginger (more or less to your liking)

water to make it more doughy if it is too floury

mix till a doughy, preheat oven to 350, place in a greased loaf pan and bake for 1 hour.

optional:

chopped nuts

raisins

dates

I also currently have 2 quart jar of peach pie filling in the canner
about 30 peaches, peeled & chunked
2 cups sugar
2 cups water
cinnamon
ginger

combine all ingredients in a large pot and boil, mashing fruit every few minutes.  Once you get hte consistenct you want, let simmer over low heat for about an hour or until the liquid is nice and syrupy.  Pack into sterilized hot jars and process in a water canner for about 30 minutes.

Peach Salsa

So I splurged and bought a case of peaches at Whole Foods yesterday...yes its a ton of peaches, but it was only $15.

In an attempt to find something I have never made before, I googled peach recipes and got all the normals - pie filling, peaches in syrup, peach butter....but then I came across peach salsa.  I deviated a bit from teh recipe, following is what I used:

per pint jar:

3 peaches peeled & chunked

1 onion chopped

1-3 jalapenos seeded and chopped

juice of 1 lemon

1 inch fresh ginger grated

palmful of fresh mint leaves

cilantro (optional)

mix everything in a bowl then transfer to a food processor & process till as smooth or chunky as you want it.  Transfer to a bowl (then eat or refridgerate) or to a sterilized pint jar.  Process in water bath canner for 25-30 minutes.

This is great on chicken quesadillas (got my husbands approval) and would be great on grilled chicken, fish, baked tofu or atop some black beans and rice.  However you choose to use it, please leave a comment and let me know how you enjoyed it!!

Homemade Sriracha



So I found a wonderful recipe for my favorite hot sauce on  The Kitchenette and thought I would give it a try. (Click that link for the recipe)  However I made a couple small tweeks.  Since I was using homecanned peppers (a mix of red jalapenos & scotch bonnet) I skipped the overnight soak. Also these were canned in apple cider vinegar so I used that for the vinegar.

Cooking vinegar and hot peppers WILL clear your sinuses very quickly!!!

this turned out wonderfully with a great flavor! A little off from storebought sriracha, but definitely worth making!!  I see myself making lots more of this in the future & have a date with Bianca from Vegan Crunk to make some more!!