There are times when it is all you need to do to become healthier is to make a few easy swaps in the kitchen. This is a simple way to enrich your diet with vitamins, minerals, and important nutrients, remove bad fats, and assist in meeting your family’s dietary requirements. I have learned from my…
Popsicles are a fun treat but the cost of them can add up fast. If you are looking for healthy popsicle options they can cost a couple of dollars each. If you have kids they also disappear fast. Making our own popsicles is a great way to save money on summer treats. What you need…
As we prepare for the gardening season I like to make lists of different things I am growing for the year and how I can use them up and preserve them so that when I find myself with a basket full of food I don’t have to go hunting for ideas Using and preserving tomatoes…
Air Fryers are one of the best small appliances you can get for your kitchen. They are useful for so many amazing things from baking to dehydrating food in your air fryer to making snacks like mozzarella sticks easy for teens and kids to make for themselves. The trick to making the most out of…
Making the perfect brownies is easier than you think but it can be a bit tricky if you need to substitute eggs because you ran out or you are dealing with a food allergy. The good news is that thanks to one of my friends that develops recipes for food allergies I know a few…
Many people do not realize just how often almond extract is used in recipes. Almost extract can give your baking a cherry flavor and is often found in cherry, chocolate, and nutty flavored recipes. The good news is that if you do not have this staple on hand in your home is that there are…
I’m not gonna lie. I love when I can make life a bit easier on myself. One way I do this is to use things like boxed bake mixes as a base for recipes to save time so I can get more done. The semi-homemade way of making a cake is great and no one…
I love greek yogurt and tend to keep it on hand to use for a snack, in my smoothies, and recently as a major ingredient in my cooking. Greek yogurt is a great way to sneak a bit more protein into our food without tasting a difference. Sometimes for our favorite recipes, I need a…
We do not do a lot of ham in our house so when we do the occasional ham usually after they go on sale around Easter we need to get creative to use all of the leftovers up. A lot of the time I will store the leftovers away to make use of at a…
I love heavy cream for my coffee or whipping up homemade butter or whipped cream. For these uses, you can’t really substitute heavy whipping cream but the good news is for baking and cooking uses you can find several great heavy cream substitute options. Like making your own buttermilk there are several things that you…
With the maple syrup shortage in Canada, many people are seeing a drastic spike in maple syrup prices and even empty shelves at the grocery store. The good news is whether you are topping your pancakes, making the perfect buttercream, or baking up cookies you have several substitutions for maple syrup you can use. Substitutions…
Starting a cake from a boxed mix is a great option if you find yourself in need of a quick and easy yet full flavor cake. Editing the recipe of your boxed cake mixes combines ease of use with a quality finished product. Personally, I prefer to use butter in my baking including when I…
Over the next few months while it is cool enough to run the canner in the kitchen and to help fight some of the cost of inflation. Before my accident a couple of years ago canning was a normal part of keeping our costs down. A skill we all need now. But one thing you…
When we purchased our air fryer it was with the intention of choosing a healthier option than deep frying foods. After losing my father to a heart attack I decided it was more important to make healthy changes in our lives. What I didn’t know was that the air fryer would become my favorite summer…
When cooking healthy, you need to substitute more nutritious ingredients for unhealthy ones. Vegetable oil is exceptionally unhealthy when it comes to cooking or baking, yet it seems to be used in many recipes. However, there are a few simple alternatives to vegetable oil that work very well in the same recipes. Instead of reaching…
I still remember my first time trying dragon fruit. We lived on the Fort Riley, the Army base in Kansas, and had driven into the closest college town Manhatten KS where we could shop the sales at the grocery stores and stop in for dinner at one of our favorite restaurants. We took a stop…
Vanilla extract is expensive and imitation vanilla is just not the same. The flavor doesn’t stick right leaving behind the sense that something is missing your favorite recipes. When it comes to making my life simple I like to have a few backups for things around the house. Substitutions for commonly used items in our…
Shopping for food is hit or miss. Many families have a selection of meals that are their go-to dishes. In normal circumstances, this works well allowing you to keep the budget low and keep your family fed. Many go-to meals for families include pasta dishes, burgers, meatloaf and other dishes using ground beef. The price…
When it comes to rarely used and rarely taught skills zesting a lemon defiantly falls on that list. I distinctly remember my first experience zesting a lemon. We were in our middle school home economics class and instructed to cook a dish for the teachers of the school. I dug through the cookbook and decided…
Extra bananas sound like a joke when you consider we shop in bulk to feed our large family. 5 pounds of bananas will disappear when we get in the door easy. We love bananas so much we even grew our own in Florida. Still, we occasionally get lucky and find a killer deal at the…
