Budget Saver Tip #18: Decorating for Cheap

I'm (unfortunately) not real into decorating, but at Christmastime I feel obligated to make our home festive and have been given many decorations over the years that help me do so. Plus, my kids enjoy it so much that it's fun to see how excited they get helping me. But this year I wanted to do a little more, so I went to Dollar Tree. They're a good place to find decorations for cheap. In fact, I almost wished we didn't already have all the tree ornaments we need because I really liked many of the ones they had at Dollar Tree. For $4 I was able to make a small wreath for our front door (we've never had one before), and another $1 added festive greenery to our wooden railing. So, if you're feeling the need to do a little more...on a little budget, why don't you check out Dollar Tree? (If there isn't one in your area, you can check them out online.)

Homemade Granola Bars

I've been having to eat several small meals every day for the last few months, instead of my usual three regular ones. But sometimes, due to my schedule or other factors, I just need a good, quick, portable snack. So a week ago or so I started looking at the selection of granola bars in the stores. I almost bought a box a couple times, but I just couldn't bare to do it, not with all the high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, brown sugar, sugar, etc listed in the ingredients. After all, I didn't want dessert, I wanted a healthful snack. So I determined to figure out how to make my own. After all, I knew I already had the ingredients on hand and it couldn't really be that hard. I found quite a few recipes online and weeded them down to one I found on FoodNetwork.com. Then, of course, I modified it to include no sugar. We all loved the result and I felt good knowing I didn't give in to the easy, unhealthful option. :)
Plus, when you make them yourself, you can switch up the fruits, nuts, etc, so they are just the way you want them. I doubled the recipe and made two varieties: one with dried dates, papayas, and cranberries; and the other with sunflower seeds and raisins (though I didn't use nearly 1 1/2 c. of raisins).

Homemade Granola Bars

2 c. rolled oats
1 c. sliced almonds
1 c. shredded coconut, loosely packed (this can be found unsweetened to further reduce the refined sugar content)
1/2 c. wheat germ
3 Tb. butter
About 1 c. honey (I may cut it down a bit next time because it seemed a little too sweet to me, but the rest of my family didn't notice.)
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 c. dried fruit(s) of your choice (of course, varieties with less or no sugar are the most healthful)

Preheat oven to 35o degrees. Butter a 9 x 13 baking dish and line it with parchment paper. (I didn't have parchment paper and therefore can't vouch for its necessity, but I unfortunately did find out how necessary greasing the pan is! I know, I should've known better, but sometimes I space things...)

Toss oatmeal, almonds, and coconut together on a cookie sheet and bake for 10-12 min, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned. Transfer mixture to large mixing bowl and stir in wheat germ.

Reduce temperature to 300 degrees.

Place butter, honey, vanilla, and salt in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook and stir for a minute, then pour over toasted oatmeal mixture. Add dried fruit and stir well.

Pour mixture into prepared pan. Wet your fingers and lightly press mixture evenly into pan. Bake for 25-30 min, until light golden brown. Cool for at least 2-3 hours before cutting into squares. Serve at room temperature.

I wasn't sure how long these would stay good outside of the fridge, so after a couple days I wrapped the individual bars in tinfoil and put them in the fridge.

Apples Galore

We now have apples coming out of our ears, thanks to my aunt and uncle who loaded us up over Thanksgiving. I love, love, love fresh, free!, homegrown produce and was excited to get all these apples, but now I'm trying to decide what I want to do with them. They have blemished skins but taste great, and I would like to do some canning, in addition to just using them in my cooking. All you canning experts and apple aficionados, what do you suggest?

Also, here is a tip for storing apples that my grandpa taught us when I was growing up, in case you didn't already know: You can keep apples tasty (and even crispy) all winter by enclosing them in a paper sack which is inside a closed plastic bag in the fridge. So I will definitely be keeping some of them that way for the long term.

Cranberry-Orange Caramel Corn

I came across this recipe in my November 2010 Better Homes and Gardens magazine (p. 222) and couldn't wait to try it. I did modify it (of course) to substitute healthier alternatives for the brown sugar and corn syrup, and include slivered almonds instead of whole, which I thought would be easier and safer for my children to eat. But the poor kids didn't get any because my husband and I ate it all (over a few days)--oops! Darn...now I'll have to make another batch...

Cranberry-Orange Caramel Corn

12 c. air-popped popcorn (about 1/2 c. kernels)
1 c. dried cranberries
1/2 c. slivered almonds
1/2 c. butter
1/2 c. raw sugar
1/8 c. honey
2 Tb. orange juice (I might even use more next time, since it wasn't very orangy)
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. baking soda

Preheat oven to 275 degrees. In a very large bowl combine popped popcorn (be sure to sift out unpopped kernels), cranberries, and almonds; set aside.

In a 2-quart saucepan cook and stir butter, raw sugar, and honey over medium heat until butter is melted. Stir in orange juice. Bring to boiling over medium heat. Boil at moderate, steady rate for 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla and baking soda (mixture will foam up).

Pour syrup mixture over popcorn mixture in bowl; stir to coat well. Transfer to a 15 x 10 x 1-inch baking pan (cookie sheet with a lip) or shallow roasting pan. Bake for 30 minutes, stirring twice. Transfer caramel corn to large sheet of greased heavy foil; cool. Makes 20 (1/2 c.) servings.

Thanksgiving Thank You

As many of us will be traveling over the Thanksgiving holiday or otherwise on holiday from our regular schedules, I just wanted to write a little thank you to my readers, for whenever you may read this.

I know there are some of you out there whom I haven't met yet (and I hope you will introduce yourselves soon!), but to all of you, thank you for reading my blog. And to those of you who leave comments, a big thank you. My motives for doing this blog are wholly intrinsic, but sometimes when I hear nothing from anyone for a while I wonder if I am doing any good. (However, I learn so much myself that I know down deep it already is worth it.) But I sincerely appreciate those comments that have let me know I've written something of interest, provided a recipe you're excited to use, posted information you didn't know before, or expressed interest in learning about something I haven't thought of yet, that makes it all worth it.

So with that said, I wish you all a very joyous and gratitude-filled Thanksgiving holiday!

Sincerely,
Katrina

Best Thanksgiving Yams

I have made this recipe for a couple different Thanksgiving gatherings and people have enjoyed it. As you know, there are tons of yam or sweet potato recipes for Thanksgiving, but if you're looking for something a little different, try this one. It doesn't try to disguise the tasty vegetable and fruit with tons of refined sugar and marshmallows. Instead, it enhances their natural flavors in a way that somehow still reminds me of pie. With so many other sugar-filled items served at the celebration, why not make a healthy, yummy yam dish? (By the way, I got the recipe from my aunt Kristen, an excellent and creative cook.)

Followup note: I made it for Thanksgiving 2010 for a family gathering full of people who don't like yams but eat the token spoonful each Thanksgiving. None of them seemed at all excited about my offer to make a yam dish, but they let me do it--and I got tons of compliments and several even asked for the recipe! I felt like that was mission accomplished because I love helping others rediscover undervalued/unappreciated healthful foods.

Best Thanksgiving Yams

Wash, scrub about 4 large yams. Place in pot with enough water to cover and boil until cooked all the way through but not mushy (check with a fork). Drain off water, allow yams to cool. Then carefully peel (you want them to look as nice as possible when you're done).

Slice yams into a 9 x 12 casserole dish. Slices should be about 1/4"-1/2" thick.

Peel and slice 2-3 apples over top of yams and arrange neatly. (I like to use Jonathan or another variety that has some tartness to it.)

Pour thickened juice mixture over that:

Juice mixture

2 c. apple juice concentrate (Other years I have used apple raspberry juice concentrate or apple cran-raspberry, which were also superb)
4 Tb. cornstarch - mix into juice before heating, then heat to boiling and stir till thickened and clear.

Add the following to juice mixture (all these delectable spices say "holidays" to me!):
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. cloves
1/2 tsp. allspice
1/4 tsp. ginger

Serve dish warm (so you may need to keep in a warm oven until time to serve).

Just before serving, sprinkle cashews over top.

Chili

Chili is such an excellent, nutritious comfort food for a cold day, don't you think?
My family has a Halloween meal tradition that to the best of my knowledge is now in its third generation. It's a meal we look forward to every year and which, while eating, triggers all sorts of pleasant memories for me (so I hope it is beginning to do so for my children as well). This meal includes my mom's chili, which I start craving as the weather cools anyway.

There are probably as many chili recipes out there as people who make the dish, and I have tried more than I can count. But I always go back to this traditional, classic recipe as my very favorite for southwestern style chili. (So those of you who are Cincinnati natives may not appreciate it quite the way I do. But then, I never did get to like either Skyline or Gold Star :).)

This is one of those recipes that you follow and then taste and add more spices, as needed, until it's just right.

Classic Southwestern Chili

Cook about 4 c. dry beans according to package directions and/or using my tip (#3).

When beans are cooked (about 3 hours), add other ingredients:

Brown 1 lb. ground beef, drain off grease and cook 2 onions and 1 clove garlic in same pan.
2 small cans tomato sauce
1 can diced tomatoes in juice
3 tsp. chili powder (or more, to taste)
4 tsp. salt (or less, to taste)
1/4 tsp. pepper (or more, to taste)

Serve with grated cheese or other toppings, as desired.