Planning ahead, wasting less, saving veggies (& $$)

I am at a point where I have a mostly empty freezer and a need to have fast, cheap, healthy ingredients on hand for my new dedication to going mostly vegetarian.

Here are a few plans.

~I've been saving veggie scraps and any left over meat bones in a ziplock in the freezer. When I have enough I toss them in the crock pot (Thanks for donating a crock pot, Julia!) and let it cook and cook. An overnight in the fridge allows for scooping off any fat prior to freezing. Yay - free stock with no sodium.

~I'm also trying to get in the habit of cooking some grains and beans ahead for fast meals. To that end I am also saving items like cilantro stems, pepper bits, green onion scraps for putting in with the beans while they cook (also in the slow cooker).

~Sort of off topic but it's Friday and tomorrow is Farmers' Market day.  That means today will be soup or chili with as many veggies that are left as possible. Anything else that won't make it much longer will be frozen, juiced, or dehydrated.

~Also, also - I wound up with a bunch of plain yogurt that I'm not going to eat before its best buy date of tomorrow. This is getting frozen in small portions for when a dish calls for just a bit - mostly thinking Indian food right now - and either I don't have any or don't want to buy a whole thing that will then go bad.

Make it Yourself: Granola

Making your own granola is not only waaaay cheaper than buying it but super easy and very flexible. I generally make a different variation each time based on what needs to be used up and/or what was on sale at the store. I always buy Old Fashioned Oats when they are on sale. They last a long time and always get used.

An example of one batch's ingredients

Base Recipe:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl mix:

4 cups of oats
1-1.5 cups of chopped or sliced nuts
1/2 cup brown sugar

In a sauce pan whisk together
1/4 cup of honey
1/4 cup of veg oil
Add 1 t of vanilla

Combine ingredients and mix well. Place in a lasagne type pan, spread evenly.
Cook for around 30 minutes or until just a little bit before it's as crunchy as you like as it will crunch up a bit more after you take it out of the oven. I stir every 10 minutes or so to make sure all of it cooks and none of it burns.

After it cooks add your favorite dried fruits. Store in an airtight container  - lasts a very long time.

To this base recipe I have added sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, raw toasted quinoa (super crunchy and yummy), a variety of dried fruits, etc.

Have fun with it, combinations and variations are pretty much endless.

Garden pic

Just a peek at the garden waiting to be planted.

Make your own vanilla extract

Vanilla extract. We use it all the time. Buy it in tiny little bottles. Complain about the cost....you know the drill. Did you know you could make your own for a fraction of the cost?

You need the following basic ingredients:

Rum or vodka - first batch I made I used rum that we had for quite sometime, but not being rum drinkers never opened. If you buy it, go cheap. It doesn't matter if it's fancy or regular.

Vanilla beans - I got them from Amazon, you could also get them from Penzy's. I bought a big pack, but you really only need 3 beans which ran about $9.

Take your vanilla beans and split them long ways - don't cut through, just open them up. Put them in the bottle of booze. Shake every few days/weeks/when you come across it.Use it once it smells like vanilla.

Ta Da!

So for around $15 you have 750ml of vanilla extract. That may seem like a lot of extract, but compared to $5-8 for a small bottle, it's a steal. What to do with all of that? Bake more (!), pop it in a bottle as a hostess gift, stuff it in your favorite cook's stocking, etc. Once you've used it up or supplies are getting low just add more alcohol. The vanilla beans stay active for quite some time. If it starts losing it's punch, pop in another bean.

Thanks to Julia K for turning me on to this and getting me started with my first batch.

Taco Seasoning

Let's start with something simple. I'm a fan of Taco Night but have a hard time buying the pre-packaged taco seasonings - tasty, but they tend to have too many ingredients that don't seem like food and wow that's a lot of sodium.









Taco seasoning is super easy to make, cheap, customizable, and healthier. I try to buy spices at ethnic stores or Smart & Final with larger packages and much cheaper pricing.

Seasoning Mix:
1/4 cup Chili Powder
1/4 cup Cumin Powder
1 tablespoon Garlic powder
1 tablespoon Onion powder
1 teaspoon dried Oregano 
1 teaspoon Paprika
1 teaspoon ground pepper
Salt and cayenne pepper to your liking

I suggest dividing up the base mixture and playing with different spice levels.

Mix, store, enjoy!
To use brown 1lb meat then add 3T of seasoning mix with 1 C water. Simmer.