Stretching Out

 Believe it or not, this is not a post about what you should do before and after a workout. However, you really should stretch on either side of a workout. 😉

Today was a day for me to stretch in several ways. 

The first...not my kids favorites, is stretching a meal. I have had this ginormous zucchini on the counter for awhile. I finally put it to work the past 2 nights: Last night I shredded it and added it to the crushed tomatoes I had canned earlier in the week that weren't quite enough to fill another quart jar.

Half of that zucchini shredded up and cooked into the tomatoes with seasoning nearly doubled the amount of sauce we added to our pasta. And what mom doesn't love "sneaking" extra veggies into a meal??

The remainder of the zucchini got shredded up tonight and supplemented our ground taco meat. 

Once the meat was browned, I added the shredded zucchini and cooked it until it tenderized a bit and released it's excess water. Then, I added our seasoning -I used this one from Penzey's Spices, as it doesn't have any weird ingredients that others have. Sometimes we like to use one of their other Southwest-style seasonings, but it was classic Taco Seasoning tonight. This all got cooked and simmered with the spices and served with the usual accoutrements: lettuce, salsa, sour cream, cheese, avocado, and tortillas. The zucchini didn't stretch the meat as far as it had the tomato sauce, but the lack of zucchini on my counter (unwasted) is going down as a win in my book. 

Next stretch is one out of my comfort zone, and definitely a brain stretch: I am putting together a website. Yikes!! 

I am really excited to share the final product with you! It will be an extension of this blog, with the option to make it really my own and opportunity to expand. 

While I am utilizing pre-built framework and themes for the website, there is a huge learning curve for this not-so-tech-savvy gal. It's a whole different world from this free blogging platform I have been working with, but I am enjoying the learning aspect and the experimentation. I am hoping to be able to move most of my posting from here into appropriate venues within the site, but not sure yet what that entails. We shall see! 

As soon as it is ready, I'll let you know!

Until then, keep checking back. 

Soup-er Sunday

 Fall is here and so is hearty soup season!

My family loves soup. I love quick and easy recipes that they will ALL eat. Knowing that I was going to be busy with chores, errands, a Girl Scout troop meeting, and Sunday Night Football, tonight's dinner needed to be quick, easy, and good. 

We tried this recipe for Rustic Potato Soup, from Jill Winger's Prairie Homestead Cookbook. It checked all of the boxes. I liked that I only needed  to make one substitution for household intolerance -oat milk for heavy cream. In the future, I probably would just skip that ingredient, or use cashew milk to give it a creamier texture, but it was good, regardless. 

The only garden element I was able to include in this recipe were the greens. I wasn't able to collect enough kale from the garden, so I threw in some chard along with it to make up the needed quantity -substitution #2. 😉

It also worked out really well that I just happened to finish making a pot of chicken bone and veggie broth as dinner prep started. I had cooked up a couple of whole chickens the other day (they were on sale!) and had put the meat in the freezer for quick and easy meals another day. I saved the carcasses and added veggie scraps that I save up in the freezer to make an awesome stock. Look at that color! Yum. I put the needed amount into the soup and stored another several quarts for later. If you have never tried making your own stock, I highly recommend you try. It is easy and so good for you, as you can control the ingredients including sodium and fat quantities, not to mention the nutrition from cooking the bones down. 

Voila! Delicious, hearty, and so easy to make.

There are no leftovers of this dish to speak of. 

Success!

Try-it Tuesday: Homemade Larabars *updated 8/14*

Yes, I know it isn't Tuesday, but I tried something new yesterday: Homemade Larabars.
I have been wanting to do this ever since I tried a Larabar and my sister sent me a recipe from her Cross-fit group. I found more recipes online and sucked it up and bought the ingredients at Costco.
Here is the link to the awesome homemade larabar recipes that I used.
Flavors chosen based on the ingredients I had: Cherry Pie, Gingerbread, and Dark Chocolate Brownie.

 I forgot to take pictures during the making of, so I apologize that you have to make-do with the after pics.
They turned out so good!! I'm partial to the Cherry Pie ones -which ironically was the recipe with the biggest substitution. I found a smokin' deal on the Craisins flavored with cherry juice and figured I try that rather than spending a small fortune on dried cherries. So good!! Probably adds a little extra sugar though.
I opted to make these more of a snack-size so I formed them using a 2T scoop which comes out to be approx 1/2 a regular bar size.
My picky eldest happened to be in the kitchen when I discovered a Gingerbread one that had missed getting into the bag -she gobbled it down and pleaded for another. Win for me!! Everyone had a Brownie one for dessert and the kids were begging for seconds. More win!
There are two things I LOVE about these: First, they are made with no added sugars, have lots of protein and fiber, and are in general a great snack option that the kids truly enjoy. Second, the great value -I'm a sucker for a bargain.
At my Costco you can get an 18 count box of Larabars for just under $16 which comes out to just under $0.88/bar. Good price, I'm not arguing that. I just get bored with the lack of flavor options. Enter the plethora of recipe options.
Here is what I purchased from my local Costco (unless otherwise noted):
Dates: about $8 **found a pitted variety for $5 in yesterday's trip to Costco, bought them instead*
Almonds: 3lbs for 15.69 (48 1/4C servings)
Pecans: 2lbs for 13.69 (32 1/4C servings)
Cherry flavored Craisins: 10oz bag for .99 (a deal from the back-rack at QFC) (7 1/4C servings)
*I also got a sack of cashews from Trader Joe's, but did not use them in this round of "baking", so did not count them in the calculations.
I used all of the dates (save for 1/4C): approx $8.00
8 servings of almonds: $2.62
4 servings of pecans: $1.71
4 servings Cherry Craisins: $0.57
I got the equivalent of 19.5 bars with those 3 recipes, so the total comes out to approx $0.66/bar. That's a 25% savings. :)
Granted, I did not include the 2T cocoa powder, 3T chocolate chips, 3/4t ginger, 3/4t cinnamon, and 1/4t cloves. These are all in my regular pantry stock, but I can't imagine they would add more than a couple of cents on per bar.