Happy Birthday to ME!

      When I was in high school, there was a picture circulating online of a little kitten being forced into a glass bottle. Is that story real? I have no idea, my guess is probably not. I was in church last night and that image came to mind when I was thinking about the last couple of years of my life. Really, the “bottle stuffing” started to happen when I was 20 years old, when I got pregnant with Jake. This last year has by far been the most extensive in my reformation. I think the Bible calls it “refining,” and in either case, it looks impossible on the outside, and yet, God must know what He is doing. The “bonsai kitty” was the image I got when I was thinking about myself, probably not from the Holy Spirit, and it made me laugh. It’s a terrible analogy, because while I have felt that my whole body, soul, and spirit has been forced through a sieve, it’s a process that does not box in as much as set free. It’s a liberating experience, though painful.

     This isn’t just about my in-laws dying, though God will use it to shape my life, I refuse to believe that the death itself was to be part of my transformation. If anything, I have had to fight through that emotion to enjoy my day. I want to be excited today, full of joy, and energy, something that looks terribly daunting next to the enduring sadness my heart feels on a day to day basis. While there is joy, feeling “glad” seems beyond my capability right now. It is impossible to spend my birthday not reminiscing about the wonderful birthdays I had while my in-laws were alive. I have already spent the last three birthdays without my parents and extended family being present. Now I sit here today without them nearby, and not even the option to phone one of my greatest encouragers, Doni. Paul and I were talking yesterday because I just couldn’t pull myself out of a slump. Paul told me, “you need to choose to enjoy your birthday.” It’s so hard sometimes, all I can think about is how much I enjoyed my birthdays with Paul’s family, and all of the cheesy birthday cards Doni gave me that I have since thrown out because I didn’t know that I would only be given four in my lifetime (sorry, I don‘t save cards!). I also took back several of the birthday presents that she gave me because they weren’t something I would have chosen for myself. Back then I said, “she would have wanted me to get something I liked.” Now I think, “I wish I had all of the things that she liked!” Paul, who is actually really good at doing impressions of others, did a pitiful one of his mother yesterday, as he shook my shoulders and exclaimed in a high-pitched voice, “Hoooney, I want you to enjoy your day to its fullest!” Oh, the things we do to make it through. Well, I am trying!

Last year, 25 felt young to me. Paul tried to tease me about being old, a fruitless endeavor for the man that is 4 years older than I! This year is my 26th year of life, and I feel it, I feel the aging taking place. Not just physically, but emotionally. I have a love/hate relationship with all of this change. I hate it because it hurts.  I love it, because when something new has taken place, I can feel it. I can feel when my kids mess up, and I don’t completely lose it. I can feel when I have ten things to do, and I know what takes precedence. I have heard it said that this job as parent does not get easier ever, you just get better at it. I feel like in general that is the Christian life, and I can look back over the last year and see all the ways that life just flowed better.

  More than most people, I think I am keenly aware of how much farther I must tread into this process known as “freedom.” I tend to be a glass-half-empty-kind-of-gal, but I am trying to look back at the last 6 years and just see the fruit, and there is so much, more than I can even say. Kris Valloton says that if you are 30 and have rarely encountered opposition, then you should have serious questions about your life. I guess I should be grateful.

As I was praying last night, and thanking the Lord for the last day I would ever have as a 25 year old, He was telling me that this will be a year of “self-discovery." This will be a year where I will really get a grasp of who God made me to be, because surprisingly, at 26 years of age, I am still not quite sure. I do not feel like anything about myself has “stood out” as something I can confidently walk in. But I did make a decision last night, I told Jesus that if the only thing I am ever good at in this life is loving Him, then that is good enough for me. Even if I botch intercessory prayer and prophecy, or can’t ever heal anybody that I pray for, and don’t sound pleasant when I worship [in this realm anyway], that is ok with me. The only thing I really want to do well in my life is love my King Jesus. I came to Bethel so I could learn how to walk in my gifts, and walk in the Spirit, and now I see that none of this is possible without simply walking at His side, loving Him, and learning to let Him love me. And I will never know who I am, who I really am, outside of this place of intimacy.

Happy Birthday, to me!

[MOSTLY] Real food on a REAL Budget

     I love food. Seriously, when I think about the South I miss my family and friends, and a close, close second is Southern food. And those of you close to me know that even though I am 100 pounds dripping wet, I relish in good eating. I eat huge portions. Paul knows that to bless me is to buy me something personal, but to really bless me is to take me to ice cream. Or bring home Chipotle. I guess I am like a man in this regard, the way to my heart is most definitely through my stomach. My stomach has not thanked me for the many poor eating habits I developed over the years, and I have had to make changes to correct some of them. When I first experimented with changing up my diet, our budget showed it most. I was highly uneducated, only taking things I’d heard in passing, not taking the time to research anything myself. I would watch what others were doing and try to implement those things myself. Others, whose husbands were making triple what mine was at their job! Ahh! That was frustrating for me, and for Paul especially. But I was tired and not well, and I needed to find a way to make this work for my family. I began googling phrases such as, “nourishing traditions on a budget,” and blogs came up. Hundreds of them. I would browse instantly and madly for what their budget actually was, and time after time I choked on my hot tea. $450/month is a budget???  Not in my household! Simply because I have no choice. Please do not hear me say that it is not ok to spend this on food. I do not think that at all. In fact, if you spend this type of money for food, I’m a little jealous. And I hope you’re doing it locally. It’s a beautiful thing. Honestly, it has taken a lot of humility for me to hang my head in the midst of my newly embraced hippie-dom and say, “crap, I can’t do all of this" [verbatim, right there!] So here I am, with my $50 week budget, trying to sit before the Lord and figure out what will work best for me and my family. I want to share my struggles to eat the diet that we have sort of settled on, and some things I’ve figured out.

Let me throw out here that I do not do it all. So if you’re reading this blog hoping that $50/week will buy you the Weston Price lifestyle on a city plot, well I just don’t think that is possible. This is an “-esque” kinda diet. I don’t want you to waste your time so right up front I will say that we do not drink raw milk or eat pastured eggs *weeps into a kitchen towel*. Ok, I know I am being a bit melodramatic, and you certainly don’t have to be. I actually believe that God has grace for me, I just refuse to receive it on most days because it is just so much easier to be ungrateful. I close my eyes and imagine myself on some farm out east, milking goats and pulling weeds in my garden. But that just isn’t my season right now. The problem is that I love this. I love real food, from its source. So several weeks ago I went shopping. I meal planned for the entire week: breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, dinner. I budgeted like a mad woman and tried to figure out how we could survive without WIC, and eat all raw dairy products, and organic, local produce for $50/week. It doesn’t work. I know, because I bawled my eyes out all the way home. I spent way more than my husband gave me his blessing to spend and I was angry at myself. There I was, drinking a Dutch Brothers Coffee (Hey, I dug up change from my floorboard to buy this plain coffee!) and I heard the Lord speak to me, “Is this coffee bad for you?”

The truth? I think this coffee, probably heavily processed, not local, full of some fakey hazelnut flavored pump of high fructose corn syrup, and ultra-pasteurized cream is not healthy.
So yes God, this coffee is bad for me.
Then He asked me, “Then why are you drinking it if you care so much?”
Isn’t that obvious, God?  It’s coffee, and I am exhausted every day. I will make an exception for this coffee.

I learned in that moment that this food thing is number one about priorities. If eating a certain type of diet is important to you and you are on a budget, then you need to prioritize what is most important for your family. I am starting to understand that what and how you feed your family is a very personal journey. The unfortunate thing is, it can also get pretty personal! People want to tell you “how it’s done,” and I carry the weight of that more than most people I know. And it frustrates me to no end to figure something out, and hear about another trend that totally negates what I've found to be true. I am really grateful for Mary Beth Sponsler, who reminded me recently that obsessing about my diet is a first world problem. I wouldn’t know, I have never been outside this country. I am working hard to walk in gratitude each step of the way, and especially not lean into the fear that whispers in my ear so often concerning what I feed my kids.

      This is my personal journey. Not yours. So first off, don’t let me offend you or make you feel like you don’t do enough. This is what I do, sometimes. Not all the time. This is who I am about 50% of the time when I am well rested, and willing. When I’m not dealing with weighty grief. On a good day, a healthy week, this is what I strive for. But it might help you, or at least I hope I can be of some assistance to your budget.

So $50/week will not get you much if you‘re aiming for the big boy trends, but it’s a start. I also have WIC, and though sometimes I have a bad attitude about it, I’ve realized in my meal planning that I probably could not buy the quality food that I buy without WIC supplementing some basics. It buys us milk, eggs, cheese, peanut butter, rice, juice and cereal. Also $16 vouchers for fruits and veggies. If you are on WIC and want to get the most nourishing products, I have a list of my favorites:

Cereal: I have found that “Kelloggs Frosted Mini-Wheats” has the friendliest ingredients. No high fructose corn syrup, no corn, no oils- just whole wheat, sugar, and some brown rice syrup. It’s pretty simple.

Cheese: I choose Tillamook cheese or Joseph Farms.  From what I’ve read it is not a ploy, and very true that Tillamook Cheese employs some grass fed farms for their milk supply. It depends on the area the cheese comes from, but I’ve read reliable sources. This is a decent brand of cheese, and I have been very impressed with the flavor and texture. Joseph Farms I have also researched, and appreciate their commitment to creating a quality product. They have won tons of awards for their cheese, and the cheese is created from the milk that the cows on their ranch produce.

 Peanut Butter: I get Adam’s peanut butter because it’s natural and has no hydrogenated oils in it. If you are interested in treading into the food movement, please make note that natural never means organic. Sometimes this stuff can make you a conspiracy theorist fanatic because there are so many brands that you simply cannot trust. It’s frustrating as a newbie. It’s frustrating as a parent. It’s frustrating as someone who has to make every dime count. But with experience you’ll know.

Juice: I am not a fan of juice because to me it’s just excess sugar, BUT my kids love it. So once or twice a day they get a cup of diluted juice. I buy Hansens or Tree Top. My kids are grateful. I use it in water kefir also.

I do not buy WIC bread or rice on a regular basis because I prefer to buy organic brown rice in bulk. . This was a very gradual process that took MONTHS and MONTHS to get to. Just making mention of this. If I buy bread, I buy sourdough from Grocery Oulet. I am not a sourdough bread maker, and I’m not sure if I will be in this season of my life.

Milk: Let’s talk milk. If you are not into the food movement, just skip this part, it probably will not make sense, and that is ok. But according to the food movement, skim milk is not a good thing. I am only allowed to buy 2% because of my kid’s ages. It’s an attempt by the government to control obesity and I don’t enjoy it. I want whole milk back. I tried to talk them into letting me have it because I am underweight and I want to be drinking whole milk if I drink it at all. The lady explained to me that the difference between whole milk and low fat milk is only a teaspoon of oil. Even if I bought milk, I would not be able to afford organic on my budget, so I am not concerned with that. Since I get milk, I just made my first batch of homemade yogurt. It was a success, and hopefully a habit I can develop over time.

Here are some tips that support my budget:

The other trick to buying real food at $50/week is stocking your kitchen outside of the budget. So whenever we have an influx of money, I go shopping in bulk. Back in December, around Christmas I bought 12 pounds of Lundberg rice, 6 pounds of organic lentils, and 6 pounds of organic navy beans, and some rye flour for making bread. This last week we came into some money for tax season and I bought several items that I thought were important such as coconut butter, coconut oil, turmeric seasoning, chia seeds, vanilla extract, and spelt flour. I also have been given Paul's blessing to go in on a cow with some other Bethel's mothers. I am so excited, wholesale organic cow is a great steal! I do not include these purchases as part of my budget. But when I get Christmas money, birthday money, Easter money, it almost always goes back into the kitchen.

As far as priorities go, this is what is always in my kitchen: Organic Coconut Oil, Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Organic/grass fed butter, garlic, rice, beans, something culturing like sauerkraut or kefir, sourdough bread (store bought), and bone broth.
Veggies always in my kitchen: potatoes, peppers, onions (sometimes just green), sweet potatoes/yams, avocados, and carrots. Carrots are cheap. Potatoes are cheap. Onions are cheap. I love all of them because they taste good and I can afford them. Sometimes Spinach is around.
Fruit always in my kitchen: grapefruit. Because we have a tree out back. Other than that, I can not guarantee lots of fruit because it goes too fast and becomes just something we grab as a munchie item. Munchie items need to be something that actually sits in your stomach and fills you up. I do buy bananas on occasion and I freeze them for smoothies. More about that later.

I usually meal plan first and then make my list and head out- somehow, it always goes back to these couple of items, or items to make.

Breakfast:

I have found that planning different things on different days really stresses me out. I like to keep it simple. Here are the things that show up time and time again:

- Soaked oatmeal (I soak for easier digestion) is easy, we have this at least twice a week. Grocery Outlet will have organic steel cut oats every now and then and I make sure to buy several canisters. I soak it and add lots of butter and molasses. (By the way, unsulphured molasses is extremely cheap and considered to be a decent sweetener by Sally Fallon. Plus side, extra iron! It takes some getting used to, but I love it. In the past I have used maple syrup on my kids oatmeal. Organic maple syrup is a great option, but very expensive.)
- We love egg casserole with shredded potatoes on the bottom, and 3-5 eggs on top mixed with veggies. If I think about it, I shred the potatoes ahead of time and freeze them in  bags. They turn brown, and it’s just so appetizing, but I really don’t care for convenience sake!
- German Pancakes: essentially shredded potatoes, an egg, half an onion chopped, and a spoonful at a time dropped into warmed coconut oil until they are crunchy on both sides. We served them with applesauce (per the recipe suggestions) and they were extremely tasty. Not a great option when Paul is home because it‘s not very filling for a man.
- At least twice a week I will do some form of baked good, like chocolate chia seed spelt muffins with coconut butter, or oatmeal peanut butter cookies, or scones. These are easily made the night before.
- We also love “paleo pancakes,” 3 mashed bananas, and 7 eggs scrambled together, then fried like pancakes. Very yummy if I have enough ingredients. [note: we do not do the paleo diet!]
- If we have extra sourdough bread (not often, we go through sandwiches like crazy!) I will do French toast with molasses and butter on top. Usually a weekend meal.
- Several times I have made “egg muffins,” by dropping ½ teaspoon of butter in the bottom of a muffin cup, a slice of sausage, and crack an egg over it. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. But, alas, it is a pain in the butt to clean out afterwards.
- And when all else fails, scramble eggs and cheese with various add ins!

This is a cranberry coconut chia seed scone made with gluten free flour and spelt flour, topped with coconut butter and honey stirred together (diluted with a little warm water to help it spread better) It was amazing. (Recipe adapted from: Katie Riddle's)

Snacks:

Another thing I like to keep simple. One week I did a different snack every day. No, thank you. My solution to simplicity is homemade trail mix. My “recipe” is local raw sunflower seeds that I get at Country Organics (or Trader Joes has raw sunflower seeds), dried cranberries, and sweetened coconut from Trader Joes. The first time I made it I happened to have cacao chocolate around and grated it over the mix. You cannot imagine how yummy this is. Kids love it, I love it- win, win! We also eat a lot of  yogurt. I have made sweet potato fries for snack. Another day we did a peanut butter smoothie with a banana thrown in. So yes, there are days I want to be creative. Then there are days on end where we simply do trail mix in the morning, and yogurt in the afternoon.

I really want my kids to get more veggies in, because surprise, my children are not fans of green, purple, or orange things (except sweet potatoes…), so I am moving towards daily veggie smoothies. Someone gave me butternut squash from their garden, five of them. So I peeled them, chopped them up, and put them into the freezer. One day I had the idea to add them to a smoothie with plain yogurt and a handful of frozen bananas, and some chia seeds. I am going to be honest. My kids won’t touch these yummy, frozen drinks. They got the memo that I was trying to sneak raw veggies into their diet. But I continue to try at least two days a week to get them used to drinking smoothies because I am pretty sure it’s modern day parenting’s golden rule that thou shalt add veggies to your child’s beverage if they shalt not eat it in a casserole.

The starter for my veggie smoothie that my children refuse to enjoy  

Lunch:

    We do sandwiches, crepes, and potatoes a lot. We may have a baked potato or potato wedges with cheese and hamburger on top. Sometimes there are leftovers from dinner. I made Paul a protein smoothie the other day on the way out the door because my lunch choices do not always fill him up, poor guy!

Sandwiches are almost always grilled cheese or PB and honey. I make crepes ahead of time with either gluten free flour, or soaked rye/whole wheat blend I bought in extreme bulk ( I will share that recipe later). We eat refried beans and cheese on our crepes, and sour cream (or crème fraiche if I have it!). My kids LOVE mac n cheese, and I usually do this once a week with noodles or quinoa. I buy gluten free noodles at Trader Joes, they are made of brown rice and the price is hard to beat!

On occasion, we’ll do boiled eggs, slices of cheese, and a piece of fruit. It’s easy…but I notice I’m always a little hungry an hour or so later.

The infamous cheese and boiled egg lunch...when mommy forgets to plan something else! 

Dinner:

    This is my favorite to prepare. The crown of my day. I had so many ideas about only eating beans and rice, and bone broth. Now, THAT is how you eat on a budget. Unfortunately, that is not how men eat on a budget. Every night we had just beans my husband complained of being hungry. I tried to ignore it because I thought he could just eat more, but time and time again it was not working. So we do what we can now.
Without Grocery Outlet, I probably could not buy organic meat. I was buying it from a small organic mart and I loved supporting local business, but it was all a lie. I really cannot afford to shop there. I also cannot afford to buy in bulk on a weekly basis, which definitely stinks when I see a good deal. But I am learning to get what is available to me and use it wisely.
This last week I got 2 pounds of organic hamburger and 2 packages of organic chicken, each about 2 pounds. I also bought one pack of some yummy chicken sausage. Here is how I stretch what I get:

Every week we have some form of chili or taco soup. I LOVE these soups. For one, I can use ½ pound of meat and you can hardly tell if I load it up with beans. I also use my homemade bone broth as the base. Then throw some crème fraiche (which is like a cultured sour cream. I couldn’t afford to make it this week, but sometimes I spend an extra $5 to get the supplies!) on top, and add a piece of sourdough bread and you have an easy meal that is filling for the hubby. Chili goes the same way. Whatever is leftover from this, I usually throw into Enchiladas. My husband LOVES enchiladas so I definitely make them every week. Cheese is not an issue as far as money goes because of WIC, so I can afford to use it in most meals. One of my favorite chicken meals is chicken thighs over veggies. It’s called a “one pot meal” because you bake it together and only have one dish to clean. We also make curry chicken almost every week. I read an article on frugal eating and it highly recommended cooking ethnic foods, and I have found that to be so true. I mean, Helllllooo, we pretty much eat Indian and Mexican based recipes exclusively. Hamburger themed night is reserved for birthdays.

 I just wanted to share some recipes because this season has really pressed me to find new ways to feed my family, and I get kind of excited about meal planning. Then there are days, where I’m literally out of ideas, mostly because I am tired. My mind goes blank, and I can’t remember what I like to make. So this blog has been a work in progress, also charting my favorite recipes that I’ve tailored for our family.

Maybe YOU are on a budget too, a strict one, because your husband is also in Bible school and working a part-time job that barely covers your expenses. If so, you can survive. I am a testimony to this. Here are some meals I’ve figured out.

Here is my enchilada recipe:

Crepes that masquerade as tortillas also:
1 cup spelt flour (or whole wheat, or rye, I use a blend, or gluten free flour)
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1 egg
A little salt
Add enough warm water until it’s runny liquid

I usually drop coconut oil in the pan until it melts, drizzle it around, and then pour the excess oil into my flour. Add an egg, add some salt if I remember, and then warm water until it’s runny. I pour ¼ cup into the pan and swirl it around fast. After this I take a spatula and spread it out as thin as I can. It makes decent “tortillas” too, especially since I made homemade tortillas with a rolling pin one time and decided it was the worst experience of my life. This is way easier. And I do not care if they are perfect circle or not, I usually break them apart anyway for the enchilada recipe.

Enchilada Recipe

First of all, put this on your calendar for a couple days ahead so you can soak and sprout (if that matters to you, I don’t always give myself enough time) the beans. I use navy beans or lentils, that’s what I chose to buy in bulk last time.

1 cup (or so) sprouted lentils or white beans. Or buy canned beans.
½ pound of cooked hamburger, OR a cup or two of shredded chicken
1 cup of bone broth
½ can of tomato paste (a bigger can, not the tiny ones)
2 tablespoons cumin powder
Sea salt to taste
3 tablespoons of turmeric
Also, add chili powder for a little extra kick.

I  cook half a pound of hamburger in the bottom of a saucepan, then just pour in the broth, paste, beans, and seasonings. Taste to see if you like it, I just experiment until I get it right. No science here. Then add ¼ cup of your saucy mixture to the bottom of a baking dish, add a layer of the crepes, broken apart to make them fit, then 1/2 cup or so of the mixture, then a handful of grated cheddar cheese. Continue to layer and wrap it up with a layer of sauce and cheese. So easy. Paul loves this, and I love Paul, so like I said, I make this weekly.

Taco Soup, or Chili

½ pound cooked hamburger or chicken if you have that
2 cups (or so) of either sprouted lentils or navy beans (or whatever you want, again)
Diced bell peppers (red and green)
Diced onions
½ can of tomato paste (leftover from the enchiladas usually J)
3 cups bone broth, or whatever you have on hand to be your broth
*For Chili, I use 1 TB cumin powder, and 3-4 TB of chili powder
*For Taco Soup I use 3-4 TBS of cumin powder, and 1 TBS chili powder
3 TBS turmeric, just for fun
Sea salt to taste

I’m not sure you need me to explain this, but I basically put ½ pound hamburger in the bottom of a giant soup pot and turn it on medium, and add my peppers and onions to saute until the hamburger is cooked. Then I add the broth, seasonings, paste, and let it cook on low until it’s done. I like to leave the veggies a little crisper, or just not soggy? Somewhere in the middle is good. If I have brown rice in the fridge, or other beans, or leftovers from a various dinner (even potato shreds or something), I will throw it in this soup to use it up. No one can tell!

This is the Curry Chicken Recipe I use,
Curried Chicken over Brown Rice

This is the sweet n sour lentil recipe I use,
Sweet n Sour Lentils with raw vinegar and raw honey.

These are my sprouted lentils for the week

Herb and Sweet Potato Chicken (one pot meal)

Peeled and diced sweet potatoes
 diced carrots,
 diced potatoes,
sliced onions,
bragg sauce (if you have it, if not, salt is fine)
1 tsp each of rosemary, basil, oregano, and whatever else you want. (I happened to have fresh basil and rosemary, and dried oregano)

 Here is how I start: preheat oven, drop several tablespoons of coconut oil in my 9x10 baking dish, and then I put it in the oven as it’s heating up. That melts the coconut oil, and then I get it out and throw all of the veggies and seasonings in, and mix it around.. I then put 4 chicken thighs (or drumsticks) and then put a small slice of butter on each one, some salt and pepper. Cover in foil and bake at 400 for almost an hour. I always remove the foil the last 20 minutes.

Pretty to look at too!

Garlic-Lemon Chicken (one pot meal, #2)

garlic (3-4 cloves)
lemon juice
chicken thighs or drumsticks
salt and pepper
frozen or fresh green beans,
And finally, diced potatoes (2-3 of your favorite kind)

Start out the same as the last recipe with the coconut oil. When it’s melted, pull out your pan and add several cloves of minced garlic, and some fresh squeezed lemon juice, a bag of frozen green beans, diced potatoes, and I use about one lemon squeezed dry. Mix it together. Lay the chicken on top, lay a small slice of butter on top of each chicken, and cover with foil and bake 400 for an hour.



Ginger-Bean Stir-fry** (note: I usually do not make this when Daddy is at home, it does NOT fill him up!)

Cooked navy beans- 1 ½ cup or so, sprouted if you’d like, or from a can for convenience sake!
Any veggies you want, I use peeled and diced sweet potatoes (1-2), diced carrots (1-2), chopped onions, ½ red pepper diced
2 ½ cups bone broth/stock
2 teaspoons of grated or chopped ginger
4 garlic cloves, minced
Splash of bragg sauce or soy
1 cup brown rice (or however much you need!)

Cook brown rice in the bone broth, 2:1 ratio as usual. In the saute pan, add your veggies, seasonings, and enough coconut oil to saute them lightly. Add the remaining ½ cup bone broth, cooked beans, and cook on low-medium for a minute or two. Then turn off and cover, leaving it on low. When the carrots are soft enough to bite into, it’s ready!  Serve over the brown rice, kids usually request extra bragg sauce and I assist them in another splash of it J

I serve this with mashed avocado mixed with sauerkraut, it’s like a homemade sauerkraut salad, so yummy. I plop it right on top. Sonora will eat around the stir fry just to eat the avocado!


**This is essentially my recipe for Curry Chicken, just add 3 tablespoons of curry or turmeric powder into the mix, and 1 cup of coconut milk. Omit the beans if you want, I usually add lentils instead of white beans, and also add chicken. I also will make double of this sometimes and freeze a portion. Both will freeze easily.

The night after stir fry night, we usually have a rice and bean night (if Daddy isn‘t home). Because there is always leftover stir fry, and the easiest thing to do is cook up more rice in bone broth, add some garlic, salt, and turmeric powder, and serve with refried beans, cheese, and crème fraiche on top.

My Mexican Style Rice n Beans, complete with, what's that? Sweet potatoes and carrots? That's because I threw in the Ginger Bean Stir Fry leftovers with it. So yes, there is even ginger in this, week after week, no one can tell :) 

My Refried Beans:

1 cup sprouted navy beans, cooked
1 TB coconut oil
Some type of meat fat, I used pork fat the other day from salami I bought at Grocery Outlet. I’ve used sausage and bacon. You only need about a tablespoon.
Salt
Cumin powder or turmeric or chili powder, whatever you have (I use a little bit of each)

Fry the beans in the oil that you have for a couple of minutes, until the oil has reduced a little. Add salt, to taste, 1 tb cumin powder, 1 tb turmeric powder, a dash of chili powder, and then mash with a potato masher. Add enough broth until the mixture is moist. Mine does not look like traditional refried beans, but it works!


Another popular meal around here is “Taco Bowl” night, inspired by Chipotle. I LOVE Chipotle’s taco bowl, it’s my very favorite.

Chipotle’s Rice Bowl, Krismanits’ Style

Brown rice
½ cup of lime juice
Bunch of cilantro
½ pound of hamburger
1 cup of cooked beans, I use lentils or white beans
Chopped lettuce or spinach
Shredded cheese
Green Onions
Crème Fraiche
Avocados

Cook up brown rice in stock if you have it, I add a tablespoon or two of lime juice and some lime zest. After the rice is finished, squeeze a lime over it, and add the cilantro, as much as you want. I add a lot. Also salt helps. Brown the beef, and what I do is shake some turmeric on it, shake some cumin powder, shake some chili powder, add some salt. I use sprouted beans too, and will usually just stir it up with the hamburger so I’m only adding seasonings to one dish. Then I chop up the accompanying sides (usually lettuce, cheese, green onions, avocados) and put them in separate bowls. There ya go, load up the bowls with the sour cream (or crème fraiche on top!) and it’s probably one of my favorite meals that we do around here!

A little tip on the rice bowl: mushrooms are not good in this! There is a reason Chipotle doesn't use them.

Mexican Potato Melt (adapted from Katie’s Riddle’s Recipe, Here)

2-3 diced and peeled potatoes
1 cup cheese
Turmeric
Chili Powder
Salt
Some other veggie, I used peas last time I made it.
leftover chicken
Beans (if you have some)
Green onions

Dice your potatoes and throw them into a casserole dish with some coconut oil. Add your frozen peas (if you want to use peas.) Add chopped green onions, turmeric, chili powder, and salt. I also added some bragg sauce, a tablespoon or two to taste. Stir it up and put in the oven at 400 for 20 minutes. After that, pull it out and add your beans, chicken, and a layer of cheese, then a handful of green onions right on top. Would also be good with cilantro. Put it back in the oven for 15 minutes, or until your cheese melts.

We serve this with avocados mashed with crème fraiche. It’s easy. It’s cheap. It’s yummy.

Notice the yellow tint to the potatoes? That's the turmeric in it!

I know I mentioned before that I will buy some things in bulk if we have an influx of money, meaning I’ll have about $50 extra dollars to buy essentials. If we have essentials, I can have some fun. I bought chia seeds, coconut butter, and turmeric in my last purchase because I’ve read that turmeric and chia seeds are super foods, and coconut butter and water in the vitamix will make a form of coconut milk. So I sprung for it, and have been very happy with my purchases. Turmeric is a very mild flavor that I add to ALL of my Mexican dishes, even though it’s essentially an Indian flavor. It turns everything in it’s path yellow, even plates and KITCHEN COUNTERS. So be wary of this.

I also bought chia seeds and I have successfully added them to enchiladas, smoothies, scones, and muffins. They are easy to work with, and an inexpensive add in. Don’t add them to your soups and chilis though…because they will turn to gel. Even if you've already turned your chia seeds to gel, added to the your soups and chilis, it will propagate more gel.

One more rule of budget eating, try not to be wasteful. Yes, I ate chili that was a jelly consistency. No, I didn’t enjoy it, but I definitely won't be doing THAT again!

I have been making creme fraiche for a couple of weeks now, the recipe is here: Like Sour Cream, but more delicious, and cultured :)

Information on:
Turmeric
Chia Seeds (This article is kind of ridiculous, but fun all the same)
Sprouting Beans (if you are interested, my digestion=blah, so I do it!)
Bone Broth (basically stock!)
Coconut Oil
Water Kefir

(The above are just random links I found that seemed trustworthy and accurate according to what I have researched)

And don't forget, WIC, if you need it. They have a great farmer's market program as well, $25 vouchers to spend at your local farmer's market!