Hors D'oeuvres- in other words- Fancy Food

photo by SMW

Hors D'oeuvres literally means 'apart from the main work' or separate from the main course, if you're talking about food.  That's fancy talk for yummy little bites that come before the main course- whatever that main course might be!

My friend Dawn and I were asked to put a little food reception together for a speaker that was coming to town.  We decided on finger foods that were pleasing to the eye and easy to handle.  The above picture is one of the yummy bites we had on the menu.  So easy:  fresh mozzarella cut in cubes, fresh basil, and cherry tomatoes- all skewered.  Yummy! 

Wish I'd had time to snap more pictures but we were working under pressure to get things done fast!

I won't tempt you while I describe all the other yums we had.  Next time I'll be better at delegating chopping and filling tasks so I can go snap pictures.

Arla Dorfino Cheese was 'Gouda'!

So I was given a chance to try out Arla Dofino cheese from bzzagent.com.  I love Gouda cheese so it was easy for me to choose Gouda and think of ways to use it.

We came up with an easy dinner to put the Gouda in: mac n' cheese.  Homemade Mac  'n cheese is very simply and fast to make and you almost don't need a recipe, especially when you're using high quality cheese like the Arla Dofino brand.

photo by SMW

This what it looked like before we put it in the oven.

And after we got it out of the oven, it disappeared VERY fast. Wish I had more cheese!  It was the best homemade mac 'n cheese I've ever made.

Quality Food

photo by SMW

"I'll take the really crappy, poorest quality food," said no one ever! If money, time, or value were never a problem, every one would choose quality hands down ALL the time.  Right!  Quality should come first.

The Private Selection brand at Fred Meyer is quality and affordable quality food.  I was able to try their hand-cut bacon, triple berry frozen mix, and a pie from their bakery (not pictured).

All of the food was so yummy and was cheaper in price than all the competitors, plus you can tell the quality right away.

sorry for the blur  hot bacon cooking

For sure, I'm going to buy the private selection again at Fred Meyer.  Check out their ice cream, meats, and other products.  So good!

this post was sponsored by Fred Meyer Private Selection brand.  All the opinions above are my own.

Hamburger Buns made EASY!

photo by SMW

I must be losing it, losing my mind that is.  A month ago I, gasp, left my purse in the cart at the grocery store.  Today I left all my purchased groceries in the store.  Uhuh, I just walked out of the store purse in hand all happy that I had paid for bags of food and then left them there!

What's in my brain?  Straw?

That's not all.  I forgot to buy hamburger buns.  This has become a given- I always forget 1-2 items on my list, usually the most essential parts of a meal.  Yep, I'm good that way.

Since I refuse to retrace my tracks back to the store, I decided to make buns from scratch- the bread kind.  I have made whole wheat ones before, which are just as easy as these pure white ones.  Today we wanted white and fluffy hamburger buns.

photo by SMW

I only had a little crumb (I'm gluten free, rats!), man, are they good?!  Almost melt-in-your-mouth-bread-good! These would work for sliders at a football party just perfect.

Can I impress upon you that it was EASY? As in baby easy.  Five min. of assembly and stirring and then leave it, shape it, leave it, bake.  While you pick up kids from school, let the dough rise.  Then unpack backpacks.  Interrupt that for a second with shaping the dough into little buns, then go back to backpack and lunch bag duty.  By that time, the oven has pre-heated and you're ready to bake.  This is the perfect time to start frying up the hamburgers themselves.  See, no time at all is involved in these buns.  And they cost pennies!  Like change in your pocket, my friends. Enjoy some yummy rolls, and maybe add some hamburger meat to them :)

 Beautiful Burger Buns

   adapted from a King Arthur flour recipe

     yield: 8 buns

1 c. warm water

2 T. sugar

1 T. yeast

1 t. salt

1 egg

2 T. butter, melted

3 1/4 c. flour

• In the bowl of an electric mixer, sprinkle the sugar & yeast over the warm water; let sit for 5 minutes. Add the salt, egg, and melted butter.
• With the mixer running on low, slowly stir in the flour, a cup at a time until a soft dough is formed. Knead the dough in the mixer for several minutes.
• With lightly floured hands, shape the dough into a rough ball. Coat the inside of the mixing bowl with cooking spray. Place the dough ball back into the bowl, and let it rise in a warm place until doubled. Divide into 8 pieces and form into rolls or buns.
• Let rise on a greased baking sheet for 30-40 minutes. If desired, brush with melted butter or egg wash and sprinkle with sesame seeds or dried onion flakes.
• Bake at 375 for 10-15 minutes or until light brown on the tops. Cool on a rack.

Healthy Food- Zucchini Chocolate Bars

photo by SMW

Ok, so healthy is a relative term.  These are made from scratch with no preservatives and with a less amounts of sugar than any store-bought mix I know.

So here we go. 

Makes: 16 servings
Prep: 15 min.
Bake: 325 degrees for 30 min.

1 1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 T. cocoa powder *(I sometimes mix 1/2 and 1/2 with carob powder)
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 cup butter flavor shortening
1/4 cup vegt. oil or coconut oil
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1/4 sour cream or yogurt
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup grated zucchini
3/4 cup mini chocolate chips
1/3 cup crushed walnuts (optional)

1. Heat oven to 325. Coat 13x9 pan with cooking spray.
2. Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, cinnamon and baking powder.  
3.  In another large bowl, beat shortening, oil, sugar and egg on low speed.  Beat in sour cream and vanilla while adding flour mixture.  Fold in zucchini and chocolate.
4.  Spread in prepared pan.  Sprinkle nuts on top.  Bake for 30-35 minutes.  
Serve warm or cold.

*My little 'mice' ate all the chocolate chips so I added a little more carob and cocoa powder and it was just as moist and delicious.

Whole Wheat Blender Pancakes

Ingredients:

·        1 ½ cups milk, divided

·        1 cup whole wheat (not cooked)

·        4 ½ tsp. baking powder

·        1 tsp. salt

·        2 eggs

·        ½ cup vegetable oil

Place 1 cup of milk and the raw wheat in a blender. Blend until like mush, 2-3 minutes.  Add the baking powder, salt, eggs, oil and remaining ½ cup milk.  Blend for about 2 more minutes.

I taught Pierce how to make these this morning.  Halleluja!  He's on his way to making his own breakfasts!

Friday Nights at Costco

Since we are having a big night out at Costco tonight, I thought I would share this lovely video.  Doesn't that look tempting??  I usually get a salad a Costco, so no you won't find hot dogs entering my mouth.  Does this video change your mind, huh?  Boss Moss what do you think?

Teaching your kids to eat healthy!

This is an average day at the Moss house, and many homes I know.  Teaching our kids about food: how to make good choices, where food really comes from (like Nature!), planting a garden, looking for local sources of food, and on and on.  It's a real hunt out there for good food and it's a teaching/learning process to show our American kids what Healthy is!

I happened upon a blog that had a HUGE explosion of discussion over this topic.  Get your hot water boiling now for hot chocolate, pull up a chair and read the comments- I found them extremely interesting!

First, I want to thank my mother for teaching me good eating habits.  She purposefully introduced us to unusual and healthy foods- like artichokes and lobster, red cabbage and sauerkraut.  We didn't always like it, but we were learning that there is a world of foods out there.

I'm doing the same with my children.  Have I forced them?  No.  Some have embraced healthy choices, others haven't.  But they can't come back and say I didn't show them or cook for them a healthy fare.  I've spent the better part of 24 years laboring over menu plans, shopping, and searching for healthy recipes.

For example, a friend and I went to an Asian/Indian grocery store.  I've seen a lot of strange fruits and vegetables but this one had new furry, blobby looking fruits I'd never seen.  And everything looked delicious and natural.  Not pumped up, fakey, warehouse looking produce!  We came away with samples of new food, spices for new healthy experimental dishes, ready to show our family that healthy is an adventure!  Nutrition Taught!!

Let me know your thoughts on teaching your children to be healthy!!  Many of you are concerned I know, and most of us are trying to be better than what we were shown.  Let's help each other out with a new legacy of teaching our children to choose healthy.

In harmony,

Leslie

Weekly Menu Plan

I  am featured on Frugal Living NW for a weekly menu plan. What do you think?  This is my actual menu plan for this week.  What is your menu plan?

What to do when you are feeling sick?

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I have been using my diffusers, putting oils allover my family's necks, taking On Guard tea.....and my natives are still getting sick.  It doesn't help that we have lots of students going through our house, my kids go to school, my husband and I work, my family goes to church, and we shop in our town.  In other words....we live in a community.

My friend, Debbie, shared this awesome trick to use with homemade chicken noodles.  This really can kick a cold or cough in the tooshie- and fast.

Debbie calls it Mojo sauce.

2Tbls each of olive oil, fresh grated ginger, crushed garlic, lemon juice and about 1/8 tsp cayenne to taste. Blend in food processor. Add 1 teaspoon or more to homemade soup for garnish/heat.

I can't describe how incredible the power of whole foods can be on your health. Let me know if you felt it kick your cold.

In harmony,

Leslie

Brewer's Yeast- the happy vitamin!

Sloshing around in the vats of a brewery, one of Nature's tiniest plants ferments barley and hops into beer.  Now I don't promote beer AT ALL.  But I can promote brewer's yeast- and I'll tell you why.

When dry, these microorganisms are 50% protein, a complete protein, containing a near perfect balance of all the amino acids needed.  They supply whopping amounts B vitamins. They're rich in many minerals and, obviously, they don't go down the brewery drain.  Brewer's wash them off, ridding them of the hops bitter tang, and sell it as Brewer's Yeast.

Brewer's Yeast is a powerhouse of nutritional elements such as Chromium, which helps glucose in diabetics.  It also helps heart disease and lowers cholesterol, blood fat, and opens arteries.  Selinium is found in the special yeast and may prevent cancer.

You can include it in anything- especially baking, or put it in hamburger patties.  Be creative.  

My favorite bonus of the special yeast are the B vitamins.  I call them happy vitamins.  When I was pregnant with girls, I had a lack of B vitamins so bad that I had to have pure B vitamin shots.  Only if I had taken brewer's yeast it might have helped.  This yeast should be on the top of your list for food storage as it will help your system when you are in a stressful situation.

Try out my healthy popcorn recipe and see if you like the natural taste of brewer's yeast.  Even if you don't like the taste, never fear, you can still enjoy it's health benefits- just sneak it into any food- salads, green smoothies, muffins, stews.  Be a health sneak! (not a geek).

In harmony,

Leslie

Lodge Dutch Oven and what to cook in it!

Another kitchen tool?!  Yes, this one is a must.  I say, yes, and I have a fair amount of kitchen tools that live in the garage because I have no room for them.  But this tool shall have a place of honor because it does .......(unveil) This!

my bread turned out yummy!

Here is how to make this recipe in detail.  It helps the food budget, helps the good ole' healthy diet plan, and takes no more time than hopping in the car to go buy bread.  Plus, it makes me feel at ease that I know what is IN my bread, not beaver's anus (yes, they do use that for a preservative).

So hop over to Fred Meyer this week and buy yourself a Christmas present (just unwrap it early!). It comes out to be $43.98, which is cheaper than Amazon, which is where I got mine.

In harmony,

Leslie

Yummy Gluten free Peanut Butter Cups

photo credit

My kids always wonder why they don't get any Reese's peanut butter cups in their Halloween loot.  I wonder why?

I've been known to eat a whole bag of them when I was pregnant.  But now that I'm gluten free (and they must have changed the recipe because they don't taste as good), Reese's pb cups is off the menu for me.  Bleh!

Quoi fare?  Luckily this recipe fell in my lap.  They do slightly taste coconutty because of the coconut oil- but that hasn't ever stopped me from eating a few of these in one sitting.  Try adding 1/2 cocoa and 1/2 carob- I dare you.  It's so divine!  You won't go back to just regular chocolate- you'll become a carob lover.

Let me know what your latest gluten free dessert escapades have been!

What do you do with your Zaycon Chicken?

This is a box of Zaycon chicken.  It is large.  40 pounds large!  Why would anyone order 40 pounds at a time?  Save money, save money, save money-  this is our mantra!  $1.89 a pound kind of mantra....booya!

This is 2 breasts of Zaycon chicken.  Usually I put 2 pairs of these in a ziploc bag, after I take off the yellow fat.  I collect the yellow fat for a friend who gives it to her dog.

Out of 40 pounds I was able to get 17 bags of chicken plus one pair of breasts going in the crockpot for dinner!!  Can we talk easy meals and chicken at the ready!!

If you are looking for delicious, healthy chicken try Zaycon.  What do you do with yours?

What do I eat?

photo credit

This is a question that crosses my path often...what do I eat?

Well, I try NOT to eat processed foods, chemicals, or dyes.  I DO try to eat whole foods, some raw foods like almonds and honey, a little protein (i.e. meat or chicken), and some 'out there' things that I know will give me the enzymes and amino acids that we are all lacking.  Those 'out there' things are wheat grass, green smoothies, Rejuvelac, and different foods made from scratch.

One of those items that I make from scratch is a healthy version of cream sauce or something similar to Campbell's mushroom soup- but it's healthy, better for you, and better tasting! 3 for the win!

Now, you ask?  What is this magic sauce?  It's Creamy Cauliflower Sauce.  The secret here is hiding vegetables in your food and NO ONE knows, hehe.  Sneaky, huh?!

This recipe comes from Pinch of Yum  who happens to be selling her cook book at a discount From Wednesday, October 16 to Wednesday, October 23, use the discount codeshrimprice30  at checkout for a 30% discount on the book.

SO THE NEW PRICE OF THE ECOOKBOOK: $6.30

Pinch of Yum also has a food photography book on sale, Tasty Food Photography ebook. 

A Place at the Table- - a food documentary

After you watch this, I am dying to hear some discussion on this!!  If you are even remotely interested in the food you eat, please comment.

You knew I was going to comment, so I won't make you wait any further.

1.  We all know that sometimes REAL food is more expensive.  But families need to learn or be TAUGHT that there is a way to buy wholesome, from nature food without breaking the bank.  I mean the example they showed blew me away:

Broccoli, O.J., and grapes = 300 calories= $3

Soda, chips, cookie pack, donut pack,= 3,200 calories=$3

2. In 1980 there were 400 food banks in America.  As of 2011, there are 40,000.  Whaa?  That's crazy sauce (no pun intended!).

3. That math escapes me.  If we have 40,000 food banks, then why are we food insecure?  Don't get me started.  My tongue is bloody from biting it- there are SOO many layers of issues in our country that are surrounded by issues of good and bad food situations.  But I am reminded to have loftier thoughts by this quote:

" The Bible states that pure religion is actually helping the poor, not theorizing WHY they are poor" see James 1:27 

Thanks for hanging in there with me on this, I had to get it off my chest.  For all of you who are on a new food journey, hang in there.  You are doing the write thing.  And by the way, plant a garden!

In harmony,
Leslie

How to make Grape Juice and Grape Leather



My steamer is VERY old.  The weird thing about being married a long time is that some of stuff starts to look old-  fancy that?!  I bought this juice steamer about 20+ years ago when I started canning.  I will tell you about that later.

 

 

Buy a box of organic grapes.  My cost- $13 for a box, which I thought was a good price.  Can't remember how much it weighed though.  Then dump them in the steamer, stems and all.  Easy-peasy.

Yes, this is out on my deck.  My grill has an extra burner.  This way my house isn't filled with steam and stuff.  Since it's been cold lately, you might want to do your canning inside for extra heat- haha.

 

Let this cook for about 1 1/2 hours until the grapes split open and it's all steamy inside the pot.

 

Now here comes the fun part!  Truly, it's liquid purple GOLD!

 

Grab a potato smasher or something to smash down the grapes to get the precious liquid  into your steamer.  Once you've done that, put a clean quart bottle that's been sitting in hot water under the little siphon-tube-thing.  Press the clamp to open it and out comes the GOOD STUFF.

 

 

I just started using Tattler Reusable Canning lids.  Love them!  But you can use regular metal lids.  After you've filled up enough jars, process in a water bath for 10 min.  That's it! I 'harvested' 10 jars of heaven.

 

Now hide this stuff and save it for the holidays!  We add 7UP to make it bubbly!  Makes me think of Christmas, oh yeah baby!



 

 

Above, you can see the juice with the Tattler lid. (Watch this video to see how to use a Tattler lid.) On the right is the grape juice pulp left over from the juice process.  I took all the stems out, which took less than 5 min.  I couldn't waste that good, healthy, anti-oxident grape goodness, so I decided to make fruit leather (lower left). This summer I've made pear, apple, strawberry, and blackberry leather and it disappeared in tummies around here.

 

 

My trusty Blendtec blended up the grapes perfectly, even the little seeds.  This pulp does have a grit to it because of the seeds- but don't people pay money for grape seed extract?  I'm getting the original, from the source, and for free- bonus!

 

Next, take your jelly roll pan, with either parchment paper or silpat mats.  Spread the pulp over the entire area so it's about 1/8 inch thick.  Put the oven on 180 degrees and "cook" for 8 hours.  Check at this point.  If it's a little 'doughy' in the middle give it another hour or so.  If you like your leather soft and supple, 8-9 hours works.  Mine turned out a little crunchy, at 10 hours in the oven.  Cut it into strips or squares and store in a ziploc or quart jar.  You might want to hide this if you want it to last.  Perfect for school lunches.

 

In health and harmony,

Leslie





Test Your Health

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Halloween is coming- what do you give out?

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I saw this picture on one of my favorite coupon websites and I gasped.  There's is only 30 more days for me to come up with a non-sugar Halloween give-away. 

Last year I gave away glow-in-the-dark  bracelets.  The year before pencils (not so much of a hit).

What to do for this year?  I need your help.

In harmony,

Leslie

How do you feel about the Standard American Diet (S.A.D.)?

This is a new ad by Chipotle (super yummy Southwest food, if you haven't tried it yet.  For my local friends, there's one in Lynnwood!)  I think this is a gutsy, yet needed, message that Chipotle is sending out to their audience.

I love the music they chose- very appropriate and poignant.  What do you think?  Are you seeing your food in another light lately?

Let me know peeps. 

In harmony,

Leslie