Simple Chicken Salad

I regularly boil chickens to make my chicken broth and that leaves me with yummy well seasoned shredded chicken in my freezer for quick meals. One of my husbands favorite lunches is chicken salad sandwiches. I make it a lot more often now that we no longer eat processed meats.

Here is how I make it,

In a large bowl I put
1/2 medium onion diced
3 c. shredded, cooked chicken
3 c. shredded lettuce
1 c. shredded mild cheddar cheese
1 large tomato diced
1 c. mayonnaise
1 tbs. mustard (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

Give it all a good stir and serve on your favorite bread.

Healthy Homemade Pancake/waffle mix

This is a pantry staple at my house. I make it about once a month. On mornings when my family wants pancakes its ready to go. It's convenient, healthy, and most importantly homemade so I know whats in it...no funky chemicals, preservatives or colorings.  I make a huge amount but I will post a smaller recipe and then you can double as needed.


Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups All purpose flour
1 cups powdered milk or powdered butter milk
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Directions:

mix all ingredients in a large bowl and then transfer to a seal-able container. Store in your pantry. 
To make pancakes
mix 2 c. pancake mix , 1 1/2 cup water,  1 egg and,  2 tbsp. oil or melted butter.  for waffles reduce the amount of water to 1 c.

 

 

 

Keeping a full pantry for a large family on a budget

I used to be a big weekly menu planner. I spent hours scanning the adds, making list, and scouring recipes. It was time consuming and locked me into set meals on set days. I no longer do that, instead I build up my pantry and fill up my freezer. Then I make a list of meals I have the ingredients for the month. This is much easier now that we are not eating as many processed foods but it could be done by anyone.

I started by paying attention to the types of food I bought regularly and the meals my family enjoyed most. Then I would keep track of how much we eat of a particular food in a month. For instance, I make all of our bread, biscuits, pancakes, tortillas and the like from scratch, we are a family of 9 so I go through approximately 35 lbs. of flour a month. We eat a lot of Mexican food so we go through approximately 13 lbs of beans a month. When my pantry and freezer are full of the staples I can make meals according to my energy level and needs for each day.  This also allows me to do one major shopping trip a month and saves me a ton of money because there is no impulse buying. If we run out of something before my next shopping trip WE DON'T EAT IT! That is the biggest money saver. If we run out of sugar we use honey or brown sugar. No flour means no baked goods.  This rarely happens anymore, but it does happen. I can decide to whip up a cake or cinnamon rolls and I know I more than likely have the ingredients on hand. I no longer shop for our weekly needs or even our monthly needs, I shop to refill my pantry and freezer staples. Any produce that is on sale for cheap I can, turn into jam, or freeze.

The best way I have found to do this is to check the adds. When something your family eats regularly goes on sale buy a lot of it. For instance when pasta went on sale recently for .49 I bought 40 or so packages. I will not be buying pasta again until it hits a rock bottom price and then a will restock. Also buying in bulk. My flour, beans, rice, sugar, oats etc. are all purchased in bulk and stored in food grade buckets with gamma lids like these




Here is a sample of my freezer and pantry staples.

 This list does not include everything in my pantry and freezer. I have 4 or 5 gallon sized bags each of green chilies, assorted bell peppers, and tomatoes in my freezer right now because of a trip to Market on the Move which is a local program to reduce food waste. I have a large bag of Jalapenos on my counter waiting to be pickled. Along with many jars of canned beans, jellies, jams, and tomato products. I also have many jars of dehydrated fruits and vegetables. Once you learn to think beyond next weeks meals and your menu and start thinking about food storage and extended pantry items, you start to look for opportunities to add to your staples. You start thinking about what's in season, what can I freeze, what can I can, what can I dehydrate, how can I put what I have to good use? Sugar was on sale last time I went shopping and because I wasn't trying to buy according to a menu and I had staple items at home already I was able to take advantage of that sale and stock up on sugar. That is something I won't need to buy for many months if not a year freeing up money to put towards another item that might be on sale.



Now onto my my list:

• All Purpose flour
• Whole Wheat Flour
• Baking Powder
• Baking Soda
• Corn starch
• Brown sugar
• Powdered Sugar
• Pumpkin spice
• Cinnamon
• sage
• Sugar
• Honey
• Coconut
• Powdered milk
• Olive oil
• Italian seasoning
• Chili powder
• New Mexican chili powder
• Chili flakes
• Oregano
• Cumin
• Garlic powder
• Dehydrated onion flakes
• Basil
• Bay leaves
• Salt
• Pepper
• Achote
• Popcorn
• Oatmeal
• Bran
• Flax seed
• Chocolate chips
• Dried cranberries
• Peanut butter
• Butter
• Eggs
• Raisins
• Prunes
• Frozen blueberries
• Frozen straw berries
• Frozen mixed veggies
• Milk
• Coffee
• Tea bags
• White rice
• Brown rice
• Canned tomatoes
• Tomato paste
• Tomato sauce
• Assorted pasta
• Italian sausage
• Whole chickens
• Frozen green beans
• Frozen broccoli
• Onions
• Garlic
• In season fruits and vegetables
• Assorted nuts
• Sour cream
• Mustard
• Ketchup
• Mayonnaise
• Cocoa powder
• Clear gelatin
• pectin
• lemon juice

Lard is a natural fat and healthy to boot!

Lard is rendered pig fat and what our ancestors used for generations. Lard is high in  polyunsaturated and mono-unsaturated fats, those are the good fats that your body needs. There are studies that show that the oleic acid in lard; a monounsaturated fat; is linked to decreased risk of depression. It is also show to lower LDL (bad cholesterol)  while not altering the HDL (good cholesterol). Lard can be cooked at a higher temperature than other fats which means less is absorbed into your foods. My grandmother cooked with lard her whole life and lived to be 98 years old. It wasn't until we all started eating fake low fat diets that we as a generation gained weight. Think about our grandparents generation, there weren't very many over weight people, hardly anyone had cancer or heart disease. I really believe that the reason our generation is facing so many health and weight problems is because our food is not REAL anymore. Margarine is a butter like hydrogenated and refined substance made with plant oils and water. It triples the risk of coronary heart disease, is high in Trans fatty acids amongst a huge list of other health problems.  Yet we are trained to reach for it in the store rather than a stick of butter that is made from milk cream. Crisco is horrid stuff  made from hydrogenated cotton seed oil.   Lard from the store is BAD BAD BAD and let me tell you why.....it is hydrogenated, but rendering lard at home from farm raised pigs is easy, healthy and what our grandmothers did. It goes back to my rule.... If my Grandmother couldn't get it, I won't put it in my cupboards! 
I get my pork fat from my own pig or from a local farmer. If you look around where you live you can find local pork fat to render into lard too.
I will put up a post soon showing how I render lard.

What is canola oil and is it healthy?

Canola is a hybrid plant developed in Canada in the 1960's. Canola oil is made with Rapeseed. Rapeseed is a bright yellow flowering member of the family Brassicaceae, the same family as Mustard.  There are some studies that show that Rapeseed has cumulative effects causing:
tremors and shaking
Disturbed Cordination when walking
slurred speech
deterioration of memory and thinking processes
fuzzy or low audio levels
difficulty urinating/incontinence
breathing problems
Shortness of breath
nervous breakdown
numbness and tingling in extremities
heart problems/arrhythmia 
Rapeseeds are heat processed with the chemical solvent Hexane, this produces a grey lumpy substance that doesn't smell very good. This substance must then be degummed, neutralized, dried, bleached, deodorized and then additives are added. At this point it is deemed "safe for human consumption". At this point I personally feel it has been molested to the point I wouldn't even call it food. 
93% of canola oil in the United States is Genetically Engineered. That  is even a better reason why Canola oil won't be found in my house ever again.  
You can do searches and find sources that say Canola oil is healthy and sources that say is is poison. You can decide for yourself what is safe for your family to eat. I am going to stick with the rule.....If my Grandma couldn't get it, I don't want it in my cupboards.