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Oven Roasted Tomatoes

August 15, 2012 by Annemarie 12 Comments

This is the time of year when I get lots of tomatoes from my farm share. They don’t all come at once, though, so I need to use them up four or five pounds at a time. Over the past few weeks, I’ve made gazpacho, tomato sauce, and Panzanella. Last week I froze my tomatoes because I didn’t have time to use them before we went away. One of my favorite toppings for pasta is sun-dried tomatoes, so this week I made oven roasted tomatoes. This method was adapted from a recipe in the cookbook, The Homemade Pantry, as well as from Heidi’s technique at Lightly Crunchy.

Ingredients:
4 lbs. tomatoes
1 tbs. olive oil
Several basil leaves
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees.
If the tomatoes are small (e.g. grape, cherry, Roma), cut them in half. If they are larger, cut them in quarters.
Place the tomatoes cut side up in one layer in a baking dish. You may need more than one baking dish.
Sprinkle the tomatoes with olive oil, basil, salt, and pepper.
Roast the tomatoes until they are dry. The small ones will take 2 or 3 hours, while the large ones will take 5 or more hours.
Refrigerate and use within 3 days, or freeze for up to 6 months.

Price Breakdown
If you’re growing your own tomatoes and basil, this recipe costs next to nothing. If you need to buy the tomatoes, you should be able to get them for $1 a pound during the height of the growing season. At $1 per pound, the recipe costs $4.10 for 18 ounces of roasted tomatoes. This quantity of bottled sun-dried tomatoes costs $9.98, which is more than twice the cost of the homemade version.

Linking to What’s in the Box?, Keep it Real Thursday, Eat Make Grow, Fresh Bites Friday, Healthy Vegan Friday, Frugal Tuesday Tip, Wellness Weekend.

Note: This post contains an affiliate link.

Filed Under: Gluten-Free/Dairy-Free, Recipes Tagged With: dried tomatoes, food, frugal, Recipe

Ranch Dressing with Greek Yogurt

August 9, 2012 by Annemarie 7 Comments

My children love ranch dressing, but I stopped buying it when we made the switch to real food. Salad time can get stressful when I don’t have an easy dressing I can turn to that my children will eat, so I decided to make my own ranch dressing. I wanted to put together a homemade version that didn’t have mayonnaise in it, so I’ve been experimenting with homemade Greek yogurt. This version came out delicious, and it works well as a dip too.

Ingredients:
½ cup thick Greek yogurt
1 tsp. lemon juice
¼ tsp. onion powder
¼ tsp. celery seed
¼ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. chopped fresh herbs, optional

Mix all the ingredients together in a small bowl.
Take a taste and adjust the seasoning if needed.
Use on salad or as a dip for vegetable sticks.

Price Breakdown
This recipe costs $.39 for a half cup of dressing. The Marzetti Ranch Dressing that I used to buy costs $4.49 for a 15 ounce jar, or $1.12 per half cup. The store-bought version costs about 3 times as much as my homemade dressing, and my dressing has all the nutritional benefits of yogurt.

Filed Under: Gluten-Free/Dairy-Free, Recipes Tagged With: food, gluten free, ranch dressing, Recipe

Salmon with Raspberry Lime Sauce

July 24, 2012 by Annemarie 4 Comments

We love to eat salmon, but our children are getting tired of the maple soy glaze that we typically use. When they started groaning the last time I bought salmon, I came up with this raspberry lime sauce to mix things up. Everyone loved it.

Ingredients:
1 lb. salmon
½ tbs. olive oil
1½ tbs. raspberry jam
1 tbs. lime juice
½ tbs. vinegar

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Brush the salmon with olive oil and place it in a 9-inch baking dish.
Cook the salmon for 20 minutes.
While the salmon is in the oven, combine the jam, lime juice, and vinegar in a small saucepan. Simmer gently for about 2 minutes. Serve warm on top of the salmon.

Price Breakdown
This meal costs $9.46 to make, or $2.37 per 4 ounce serving. It’s a great, healthy way to serve salmon, and the jam may even convert your picky eater into a salmon fan.

Linking to Allergy-Free Wednesday, Gluten-Free Wednesday, Whole Foods Wednesday.

Filed Under: Gluten-Free/Dairy-Free, Recipes Tagged With: cooking, dairy free, food, gluten free, Recipe, salmon

Easy Real Food Pickles

July 23, 2012 by Annemarie 2 Comments

Back in April, my kids and I picked out a few types of seeds to plant in the very limited “sunny spot” in our yard. My daughter picked two kinds of flowers, while my son and I picked out veggies. He chose pumpkins and carrots, while I picked cucumbers and basil. The basil looks a little sad because some critters have been chewing on the leaves, and the carrots are coming along. The cucumbers and pumpkins have grown into a crazy bramble of leaves and vines. I actually thought it was all pumpkin, but then I was poking around the other day and I discovered an 8-inch, fully ripe cucumber in the midst of it all. We like our pickles around here, so I was a happy lady!

Here is a simple, real food recipe for pickles. My husband likes sweet pickles, but I wasn’t willing to make them with loads of sugar like I’ve done in the past. This batch has some honey, along with lots of vinegar and some seasonings (adapted from this recipe from Whole Foods). It passes everyone’s pickle test in my house, which is quite a feat.

Ingredients:
4 cucumbers (6 inches each)
2/3 cup honey
½ cup white vinegar
1 cup cider vinegar
4 tsp. kosher salt
2 tsp. celery seed
¼ tsp. mustard powder

Sterilize 3 pint jars in boiling water or in the dishwasher (see here for details about sterilizing).
Slice the cucumbers ¼ inch or smaller with a mandolin and divide them among the jars.
In a small saucepan, stir together the remaining ingredients and simmer them over medium heat for 2-3 minutes.
Pour the mixture over the cucumbers in the jars (1/3 in each jar). Proceed with canning or refrigerate.

Price Breakdown
Using cucumbers from my garden, the total cost of this recipe is $2.90, or $.97 per pint of pickles. This is a great price for high-quality, real food pickles, and it’s a great way to stock up when the cucumbers are plentiful in your garden.

Filed Under: Gluten-Free/Dairy-Free, Recipes Tagged With: cooking, dairy free, food, gluten free, pickles, Recipe

Peaches and Cream

July 20, 2012 by Annemarie 6 Comments

I like to keep it simple around here. And on nights when my husband isn’t home for dinner, our meal is often beyond simple – as in dull and uninspired. Tonight I served whole wheat spaghetti with pizza sauce and corn on the cob to the children, while I ate zucchini spaghetti (I can’t get enough of this stuff). I knew there might be some complaints from the peanut gallery, so I headed them off with the promise of dessert. My son had mentioned that some of the peaches I bought yesterday were ripe, so I put together peaches and cream for dessert. The children were impressed by the “fancy” presentation and they enjoyed this easy little treat.

Ingredients:
12 ounces ripe peaches (about 2)
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tsp. maple syrup

Chop the peaches into bite-sized pieces.
Combine the cream with the maple syrup and whip it until stiff peaks form.
Top the peaches with the cream, preferably in small glasses or glass bowls. Garnish with a few pieces of peach. Enjoy!

Price breakdown
This recipe costs a total of $1.48, or $.49 per serving. It’s a simple treat that you don’t want to miss when peaches are in season!

Linking to Monday Mania, Make Your Own Monday, Traditional Tuesday, Fat Tuesday.

Filed Under: Recipes Tagged With: food, gluten free, peaches and cream, Recipe

Simple Dumpling Soup

July 15, 2012 by Annemarie 6 Comments

Sometimes I make a dinner that I know my children won’t eat. For example, tonight we had this lentil sweet potato dish. As much as I try to get my kids to eat “grown-up” food, it doesn’t always work out. On those occasions, I often make this dumpling soup for them. It is simple and nutritious, and they love it. It’s also a nice alternative to a sandwich in their lunch boxes. The dumpling batter is based on a recipe for dumplings in The Joy of Cooking.

Ingredients:
8 cups chicken broth or a combination of water and broth (vegetable broth works too)
1 1/2 cups shredded carrots
2 cups white whole wheat flour
1 tbs. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
3 tbs. butter
1 cup milk

To make the dough, mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt. In a small saucepan, heat the butter and milk until the butter melts. Add the warm milk mixture to the dry ingredients and mix.
In a large pot, heat the broth over medium heat. Add 1 cup of the carrots.
Form ½-inch balls of dough and add them to the pot. Simmer over medium heat for 8-10 minutes. The broth will thicken as the dumpling batter breaks down a bit.
Divide the soup into four bowls and sprinkle each bowl with the remaining carrots.

Price Breakdown
This recipe yields 8 servings. The total cost is $1.66, or $.21 per serving. That’s about as cheap as it gets. Serve this soup with a salad and some cheese on the side for an easy, child-friendly dinner.

Linking to Mix it Up Monday, My Meatless Mondays, Make Your Own! Monday.

Filed Under: Recipes Tagged With: food, frugal, healthy, Recipe, soup

Raspberry Jam Bars

July 11, 2012 by Annemarie 9 Comments

I’ve been happy to have a big crop of raspberries from my garden this year. However, I wasn’t too excited to have a large container full of raspberries on the verge of going bad in my refrigerator the day before we were leaving on vacation last week. In the midst of packing for our trip, I didn’t really have time for this, but I decided to throw together a batch of raspberry jam. I haven’t gotten around to buying a canning kit yet, so I’ve been relying on a piece of closet wiring that my husband rigged to put the jam jars in and out of the boiling water.

As I placed the first jar in the water, it slipped onto its side in the pot and my finger slipped into the water too. I got a little burn on the tip of my ring finger, but even worse, the jar didn’t seal properly and little bits of I’m not sure what started floating around in the water. I left the jar in the water for the required 10 minutes, and after I removed that jar from the water, there was no “pop.” Apparently the lid got knocked out of position when the jar had fallen over, so I opened up the jar and found a layer of gray jam at the top. I scooped out that top layer and tasted the jam below. It tasted fine, but I wanted to use it up right away because I wasn’t sure what would happen if I left it in the refrigerator until we returned. Did I mention I really didn’t have time for this?

As the saying goes, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” That was my approach with this jar of jam that needed to be eaten as soon as possible. I made a batch of raspberry jam bars, and they reminded me of the Entenmann’s Raspberry Danish Twists of my childhood. When left alone in the kitchen, I could devour an entire box by myself. This recipe is much healthier than the Entenmann’s version, and we devoured these bars as we traveled to the beach in New Jersey. I have no need for Entenmann’s when I can make a batch of bars this good myself.

Ingredients for Base:
1½ cups white whole wheat flour
1½ cups old fashioned oats
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
¼ cup applesauce
¼ cup melted ghee or butter
2 tbs. maple syrup
2 tbs. lemon juice
1/3 cup water

Ingredients for Topping:
¾ cup raspberry jam
½ cup white whole wheat flour
½ cup shredded coconut
½ cup chopped walnuts
½ tsp. salt
¼ cup melted coconut oil
¼ cup maple syrup

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and grease a 9 x 13 inch pan.
For the base, mix together the dry ingredients and add the wet ingredients. Press the mixture evenly into the pan.
Spread the jam evenly across the base layer.
Combine the topping ingredients and spread evenly on top of the jam.
Bake for 30 minutes or until the topping begins to turn brown.
Cool completely on a wire rack. Cut into 15 bars and store in an airtight container for up to 4 days. Alternately, these bars may be frozen until ready to serve.

Price Breakdown
This recipe costs $4.13 to make, or $.28 per bar. I don’t know of a similar real food product for comparison, but these bars do come out to be much cheaper than the Entenmann’s version I enjoyed in the old days. At Stop and Shop, the Entenmann’s Raspberry Danish Twist costs $6.29 for a 14 ounce box, which is about half the size of my batch. It really does pay to make it homemade, for your wallet and your body!

In case you were wondering, here is the ingredient list for the Entenmann’s Raspberry Danish Twist. (I won’t blame you if you get bored and stop reading part way through the list.)

Wheat Flour, Sugar, Water, Palm Oil, Raspberries, Eggs, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Coconut, Soybean Oil, Dextrose, Yeast, Soy Flour, Whey (Milk), Salt, Mono- And Diglycerides, Natural & Artificial Flavors, Corn Syrup, Pectin, Tapioca Dextrin, Modified Food Starch (Corn, Rice), Orange Juice Concentrate Maltodextrin, Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate, Calcium Carbonate, Calcium Sulfate, Rice Syrup, Corn Flour, Preservatives (Potassium Sorbate, Sodium Propionate, Sorbic Acid, Sulfiting Agents), Leavening (Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, Baking Soda, Monocalcium Phosphate), Wheat Gluten, Succinylated Monoglycerides, Xanthan Gum, Butter, Citric Acid, Agar, Guar Gum, Propylene Glycol Monoesters, Oat Fiber, Sodium Citrate, Calcium Citrate, Glyceryl Lacto Esters Of Fatty Acids, Artificial Color, Spice & Coloring, Soy Lecithin, Lemon Puree, Annatto Color, Vitamin A Palmitate, Sorbitan Monostearate, Polysorbate 60, Caramel Color.

Note: For a gluten-free, dairy-free base and topping, check out this recipe.

Linking to Real Food Wednesday, Whole Foods Wednesday, Frugal Days, Sustainable Ways, Make Your Own! Monday, Keep It Real Thursday, Fresh Bites Friday, Fit and Fabulous Friday, Monday Mania, Melt in Your Mouth Monday, Traditional Tuesdays, Fat Tuesday, Frugal Tip Tuesday, Frugal “I Did It” Tuesday.

Filed Under: Recipes Tagged With: cooking, food, healthy, Recipe

Zucchini Spaghetti

July 9, 2012 by Annemarie 12 Comments

Several months ago, Collin at Hip2Save posted about eating zucchini in place of spaghetti. I was a bit skeptical at first, but since I’ve been getting a lot of zucchini from my farm share and I generally avoid wheat pasta, I decided to give it a try. I have to admit that I was wrong in my initial skepticism (and admitting that I’m wrong is not one of my strongest traits, as my husband will attest). This is absolutely delicious! The first time I tried it I used pesto, but it was more like a side dish than a main course. This version, topped with a simple tomato meat sauce, is a satisfying meal. While I love zucchini bread and chocolate zucchini cake, those recipes will now be competing with this one when I get a few zucchinis from the farm.

Ingredients:
4 medium zucchinis
1 tbs. olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
½ lb. ground turkey
28 ounce can whole tomatoes (or use fresh if you have them)
1-2 tsp. honey
1 tbs. red wine vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tbs. chopped basil

With a mandolin or similar device, cut the zucchini julienne-style.
Boil a large pot of water. Add the zucchini and cook for one minute. Drain.
In a large cast-iron skillet, warm the olive oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant but not brown.
Add the ground turkey to the skillet and cook until no longer pink.
Add the tomatoes, honey, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper. Simmer for 10-15 minutes, or until most of the liquid has evaporated.
Add the basil and heat for one more minute.
Divide the zucchini among four pasta bowls. Top each serving of zucchini with a portion of the sauce. Serve immediately.

Price Breakdown
This meal costs $4.70 to make, or $1.18 per serving. That’s a great price for a hearty, naturally gluten-free pasta dinner!

This version is served with a vegan roasted tomato and pepper sauce.

Linking to Monday Mania, Traditional Tuesdays, Fat Tuesday, Gluten-Free Wednesday, Allergy-Free Wednesday, Simple Lives Thursday, Show and Tell Saturday.

Filed Under: Gluten-Free/Dairy-Free, Recipes Tagged With: dairy free, food, gluten free, Recipe

Get 50% Off Local, Organic Produce from Full Circle

July 6, 2012 by Annemarie 1 Comment

If you live in northern California, I envy you for many reasons. The weather is perfect, the scenery is awe-inspiring, and the produce is amazing. I spent one of the best years of my life living in the San Francisco Area. Here is yet another reason I envy you Californians: you can get this great deal on organic, local produce from Full Circle through Living Social. These boxes of produce can be delivered to your door or you can pick them up at various locations throughout the Bay Area.

Thanks, Frugal Find!

Filed Under: Deals Tagged With: Deal, food, groceries, produce

Happy Fourth of July!

July 4, 2012 by Annemarie 2 Comments

Happy Fourth of July! We’re looking forward to a cookout with friends this afternoon. My children decorated the cake, and I used the recipe for chocolate cake from Lisa at 100 Days of Real Food. Blueberries were BOGO at Stop and Shop, and of course the raspberries came from our garden. I wish you all a happy day with family and friends!