THE SALT OF.......SEASONS?

I originally thought of the salt of the earth as the title. But I don't put dirt in my seasoned salt.....lol

I am on a quest to make our meals better. Less fat, less sugar, less salt and less purchased quick mixes. (hamburger helper, instant seasoning packets and the like) Now, I don't have anything against fat, salt, or sugar. My SweetiePie has been pouring it on for years. It has finally caught up with him. But in my effort to make our meals healthier I have to be sneaky. We won't get into my sneaky use of TVP, just in case he ever reads this. What he doesn't know won't hurt him. Right?

I love seasoned salt. I found a great combination of spices that has less salt than the commercial brands. I use sea salt now which is supposed to contain less sodium, and I can't tell the difference in taste. The first time I made this seasoned salt recipe I didn't really like the taste. Then I tweaked it a bit (don't I always) and now I love it. I use it very sparingly on meat because I want the taste of the spices, not the salt.

Here is my recipe:

Seasoned Salt
4 tbs salt, sea salt or low sodium salt
1/2 tsp dried thyme leaves
1/2 tsp marjoram
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp curry powder (I didn't use this, didn't have any)
1 tsp dry mustard
1/4 tsp onion powder
1 tsp celery seed (I doubled this because I like celery seed)
1 tbs dried parsley flakes
Put everything in blender or mini food processor and blend until everything is a fine powder.
I store mine in a recycled/reused plastic spice jar with a sprinkle lid on the counter next to the stove so it is always handy.

I like to sprinkle on pork chops, hamburgers, and chicken and let it sit for a few minutes before cooking. I also add it to bread crumbs when I coat fish for oven cooking.

YUM... Time to get sneaky!!

STOP LOOKING AND IT WILL FIND YOU

I am into recycling. I admit it. I enjoy finding ways to recycle things that can be used again before they finally get into the trash and then the landfill. I have always believed that recycling was more than just separating the trash and taking it for recycling. Get your mind into it and you can solve lots of recycling issues.

I had seen glasses and planters and wind chimes and all sorts of thing made from glass bottles. Well, I did my part. I emptied IBC bottles (black cherry is the best) and wine bottles(someone had to step up) and any kind of interesting bottles I could find or get from family members. Then I went in search of something that would cut the bottles into the shapes I wanted.

The bottle cutters I found... I didn't like...Kinda flimsy. I decided I needed a wet saw. Not an expensive one. I just wanted a cheap one to experiment with. Yard sale? Looked and looked and didn't find one. Thrift store? looked and looked and didn't find one. Harbor Freight had a cheap one but it was $75.....no way....just to experiment with.

Meanwhile, I had collected bottles. Lots of bottles. Over a hundred bottles. Lots of boxes of bottles.
SweetiePie was not happy. "Do something or get rid of those bottles." I pleaded and drug my feet for as long as I could until I finally had to do something. So off to the recycle bin went the glass bottles. Well, almost all of them. I still have a dozen or so stashed away. But still no wet saw.

Until this weekend....I found one and it works and it was only $5 at a yard sale almost at my back door.

Sometimes Good Thrift Karma takes a while to find you.

THREE GOOD THINGS

NO WORK ON SATURDAY

NO RAIN ON SATURDAY

YARD SALES ON SATURDAY

I have been working about every other Saturday since I started my new job. It seems like on the Saturdays that I haven't been working it has either been I was too tired, too much to do or it rained. This week end was perfect. I got to sleep late, until 6:30, I went to yard sales and no rain.

Now for all of you out there that love to spend money at the mall you might as well stop reading this blog right now. I, for one, detest do not like the mall. I would say hate, but my Mom said that was a very strong word that you shouldn't use. I had much rather hunt for a bargain at the thrift store or a yard sale.

I once worked with a very high maintenance woman. She was shocked at the things I would buy at yard sales and thrift stores. Now mind you I never buy undies or used cosmetics at yard sales or thrifts stores and everything I buy is washed, most of the times more than once, before it ever touches my body. I pointed out to her that the clothes she tried on in the high end stores had most likely been tried on by someone else before she tried them on. Gasp!!! they were not new!! And I bet she never came home from the store and tossed all of her new purchases in the wash before she wore them. But I digress.

I did find some great things this week end. Some I plan on reselling, some are for me and some are for my little princesses.

A wire basket, a non-aerosol oil pump, glass jars and tupperware tools for me. A bee hive syrup dispenser with pink top and aluminum measuring cup for resale.

An atomic design dessert bowl and Fenton hobnail sugar bowl for resale.I haven't been able to find the name of the dessert bowl  pattern. Any clues?

Two complete needlework kits, a box of vintage children's birthday cards for resale.

A vintage Towncraft make up case, the Nini Ricci dusting powder box (empty) was free inside the case.resale

Two Pyrex cornflower blue pie plates and a Shenandoah mixing bowl for resale.

And this beautiful, hand painted silk scarf from Japan for resale. The lady I purchased the scarf from whispered in my ear that her husband brought it back for her from Japan.

Not a bad week end for the bargains and the fun of finding treasures. Hope everyone found some great stuff this week end.
I am linking my finds to ApronThriftGirl's Monday Thrift Share,

BEVERAGES ON THE BRAIN.

At least this post isn't about food......but it's the next door neighbor.

I like coffee. I don't drink very much coffee during the week because my SweetiePie won't eat breakfast at home. He likes to go up to his favorite hangout for breakfast and since he's not out chasing women or at a bar, I don't have a problem with his breakfast vice. If I drink too much coffee it kinda upsets my stomach and so I usually drink tea most mornings.

I read over on Apron Thrift Girl's blog about cold filtered coffee. After some more research I decided to try the cold brewed process.Of course I had to find a cheap, recycled way to do this.

This process makes a cold process concentrated liquid that you store in the fridge and reheat as much as you want when you want. I found online instructions using  recycled items to make a simple brewing system.

I had two large styrofoam cups from fast food and customized them for the cold filter system. Save the two lids from both cups. One stays whole and one has a circle cut out of the center to fit the bottom of the cup. You'll see why in later pics. The lid on the left has had the center cut out. The cup on the left has lots of  small holes punched in the bottom to allow the water to drain out. Not so many so the bottom tears out, but just enough to let the water drain.

Now stack your two cups together, the one with the holes inside the unaltered one. Add your coffee of choice. I used one cup of a Colombian blend coffee.  Keep in mind that you are making a concentrate and you need lots of coffee to make a strong brew. In hindsight I should have used more coffee, about 1 1/2 cups because my brew is a little weak. Next time I'll use more.  Now add water. I just used plain tap water. You could use distilled or spring water, but I don't buy bottled water because it is just water with a name.Make sure your cups are securely stacked together. Fill your top cup with water.

Pop the unaltered lid on top.

Now put you cups in a place where they won't be disturbed. I got paranoid about the coffee leaking out where the two cups were stacked and I put the cups in a bowl. The only coffee that I spilled was when I picked the cup up to put in the bowl....go figure.

Now, comes the hard part. Wait.....wait.....wait.....about 24 hours to let your coffee "brew". You can put it in the fridge, but I didn't and had no problems.
The next day you can separate the two cups. Now is where the lid you cut the hole in is handy.

Separate the two cups and let the water drain into the bottom cup.

After the drain of coffee slows down, slip the lid with the hole over the bottom cup and let the cup on top drain into the bottom.

Now in theory this works great. I guess I had too much water and the top cup ended up sitting in the water/coffee and didn't finish draining. The hole was too big. I dug around in my junk drawer and found this handy dandy little veggie can drainer from the $tore and used that instead.

This worked better than the lid that I cut too big a hole in.

Yeah...you are almost done. Remove the top cup that should have about 90% of the grounds and dump them out. You can rinse your cup out and reuse if you want to make another batch. Recycle...and...Reuse. The bottom cup has you coffee concentrate. There may be a little sludge in the bottom that you don't want to transfer to your storage bottles.You need to transfer it to a jar or something that you can easily store in the fridge. I had these two really cute penguin bottles sitting around and I used them. My batch made about 1 3/4 penguin.About 20 ozs.

Aren't they cute?

Stash these in the fridge, they don't mind the cold.

To make my cup of coffee I used 1/4 cup of concentrate (heated in the coffee cup in the microwave) and finished filling  the cup with hot water from my kettle. I used a regular sized mug for my initial mixture to guage the correct amount of concentrate to use.

This method of cold brewing makes a really good cup of coffee with no bitter, acid taste at all and didn't upset my stomach either. I don't think I would make coffee this way all of the time, but it is convenient when you just want one cup and don't want an upset stomach.The concentrate keeps in the fridge for a couple of weeks.

Now sit back and enjoy a cup of coffee and maybe a muffin....or two.

CREAM OF SOMETHING...

What is it with cooking this week?

I seem to be on a cooking spree. It could be that I am working late every nite this week and cooking is on my mind. Or rather short cuts that help us get to the eating part of dinner much quicker.

Earlier this week I wanted, needed, had to have chicken enchiladas. The recipe that I have calls for cream of chicken soup mix. If you are watching your sodium, cream of chicken is not a healthy alternative. Most cream soup mixes seem to be a salt lick.  I had found a recipe a while ago for a make ahead mix that allowed you to control the amount of salt in the mixture. I had not tried it but now was a good time. I had a newly acquired half gallon storage jar that was begging for something to store.

I tried the recipe, but of course I had to tweak it to my tastes. I don't like the flavored bouillon because it is so salty. The recipe makes 3 cups of dried mix.(I doubled the recipe) It takes 1/3 cup mix and 1 1/4 cup of liquid to make the same amount as a purchased can of cream soup. A substantial savings, even with the powdered milk.

Those specks are bits of chicken from the chicken stock.

Cream Soup Mix
2 cups powdered milk
2/3 cup cornstarch
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp seasoned salt
1/2 tsp pepper
Toss everything into your mixer bowl and mix for a minute or two. Or better yet toss it into your blender or food processor and pulverize away.
Store in an airtight container.
Use 1/3 cup mix and 1 1/4 cup liquid.(I wrote the recipe on the lid of my jar.) Cook on stove top for 3-4 minutes, until mixture is thick,stirring frequently. Or you can cook in the microwave for 5 minutes, stirring every minute until thick.

To make my condensed chicken soup I used 1 1/4 cup of homemade chicken stock I had in the fridge and 1/4 tsp of bullion. I really could have left the powdered bouillon out but it gave it a nice, rich yellow color and I liked that. If I had thought about it I could have used a drop of yellow food coloring, but didn't think of it.If you don't use chicken stock, water is fine. I just had some chicken stock.

The original mix recipe called for chicken bouillon to be added to the entire mix. I did not want to limit my condensed soup to just chicken, although that is what I use the most. I wanted to be able to have a basic mix and make whatever kind of soup I needed when I needed it and not have beef, chicken and vegetable mix sitting around. The most expensive part of this mix is the nonfat powdered milk and I felt leaving the bouillon out was a way to be more versatile, economical and control the salt content.

If you use cream of onion or celery or cheese soup in cooking this would be perfect to use on a regular basis or keep on hand for an emergency when you run out of cream of soup. For celery, use 1/4 cup chopped celery or grind up some celery seeds, about 1/4 tsp. For onion you could use 1/4 cup fresh or add more powdered onion. For cheese, about 1/2 cup of grated cheese should be enough. Experiment to find what works best for your recipe.

Mix on...

A HAPPY DISCOVERY

Sometimes the best things are discovered by accident. At least some of my best finds have been totally accidental.

That happened this week.

I was busy cooking on my day off and decided to have chicken enchiladas for dinner. No problem. Fresh chicken in the fridge, can of sauce in the pantry.....Ahhhhh....no enchilada sauce. That means no chicken enchiladas for dinner. What will I do? What will I do?

A quick dash to the computer and a favorite web site, Chickens in the Road, and check out their great from scratch recipes.The link is over there------->
  Yeah!!!! homemade enchilada sauce.

I had all of the spices in the cabinet and a can of tomato sauce in the pantry. All set. And it was fantastic, even if I do say so myself. I can't take credit for the recipe, but it was some good stuff.

Yes, I will be glad to share the recipe. According to the website the sauce can be canned very easily also if you want to make a bunch ahead of time. This recipe made enough for dinner with about 16 oz. left over for another meal. 

Enchilada Sauce
28oz. can tomato sauce
1 tsp. oregano
1Tbs. garlic powder
1 1/2 tsp. chili powder (or more to taste)
2 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. salt (optional)
1/2 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. black pepper (optional)
Mix all of the spices into the tomato sauce and heat thoroughly.
I didn't add extra chili powder or salt because I liked it the way it was, but feel free to adjust to your personal taste.

My sauce was ready in 5 minutes and was just as good as canned sauce I have purchased in the past.And I have enough left for another meal or two.

Only one question.
Why haven't I done this before now?
Duh.......

READY FOR A CHALLENGE?

We all constantly hear in the news about the economy. It's up....it's down...gas is up...gas is down...groceries are up...groceries are up....

What can we do to help?

Now I have enough sense to realize that what few things  I might do will have a minute effect on the economy, but if we all join together maybe we can create a ripple in the economic pond.

I was thinking (I know, it's dangerous)about all the things we buy from other countries. I have been taking a personal poll of all the foreign things I buy in one month. Believe me, its a lot. I'm not talking about all of the stuff at the $store. We all know that the majority of that stuff is from China and lots of other places overseas. I'm talking about groceries, clothes and many of the things we consume. Check out the food you buy sometimes and it will surprise you where it is from. I not talking about the fresh, out of season veggies, I'm talking about canned and prepackaged items. North Carolina was once a major textile producing area. Now I am seeing many foreign made textiles in a wide range of consumer items.

I know we can't go for a month without purchasing a single thing foreign. We all have to have gas to get to work and school and the grocery store. Can we really take a good look at what we are purchasing and do without it for just a month? I am willing to try.

Will you join me and try buying American for just one month?

Start by looking at what you are purchasing and deciding if you can do without it or find an alternative that is made in America. Better yet, find something that is made locally. It may take some looking and thinking, but I think we can do it.

I can't guarantee that we will win any prizes or awards. I know that personally I will feel better if I know I at least tried to do something.

Let me know what you have found that you were purchasing foreign and what you were able to substitute  American made and I will post an updated list. I'll try to post an updated list every Monday from now until July Fourth.

Who is up for a challenge? Double Dog Dare Ya!!