Kitchen Tips

All About Beans – Frugal Tips, Recipes and Cooking Tips

March 22, 2013 By Adrienne 7 Comments

We love beans.

Limas, lentils, kidneys, black beans…you name it.

We love them for the way they taste, how versatile and nutritious they are, and for how beans can help save money in your whole foods budget.

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Filed Under: Beans, Budget Help, Kitchen Tips, Recipes

Gluten-Free Baking Tips

February 7, 2013 By Adrienne 34 Comments

Whether you have celiac disease, or are off gluten for other health reasons, you’ve likely figured out that baking with gluten-free flours can be a bit of a challenge.

From figuring out what flours to use, to wondering about gums, leavening and starches, gluten-free baking does require some know-how.

Today I’m sharing some of the most helpful tips I’ve found for baking gluten-free.

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Filed Under: Kitchen Tips

18 Time Saving Kitchen Tips & Super Fast Recipes

November 6, 2012 By Adrienne 9 Comments

(Photo Source: http://www.dreamstime.com/pocket-watch-iv-free-stock-image-imagefree31716)

Whew. The past few weeks have been a whirlwind.

Kids activities, church stuff and the election – and being sick on and off.

I have found myself worn out and needing to cut corners everywhere.

It seems a lot of us are “feeling the time crunch” as well — so I thought I’d put together a quick post with some of my favorite time-saving kitchen tips and fast recipe to help you all out.

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Filed Under: Kitchen Tips, Time Saving Tips

The Easiest Way to Freeze & Store Berries

July 30, 2012 By Adrienne 27 Comments

I guess this post could also be called ”How to Freeze Berries Without Having Them End Up in One Big Clump!”

or “The Easiest Way to Preserve Berries.” Because I’ve tried other ways and this is just well–simply the easiest.

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Filed Under: Budget Help, Kitchen Tips, Time Saving Tips

Tips and Recipes for Cooking with Kids ~ and Silky Bean Fudge Recipe

May 24, 2012 By Adrienne 5 Comments

Some of my most fond memories come from the time when my oldest son was about 4 years old.

We baked. A lot. Really.

And it was always together.

In fact, he was soooo into baking with me that if I ever baked without him, he got extremely sad. Maybe I’ll tell you more about that later.

A lot has changed since then, but recently I’ve been working on pulling my kids back into the kitchen with me.

Today, over at The Balanced Platter, I am sharing:

Tips for Cooking with Kids
Recipes that Kids can easily help with
My Recipe for Silky Bean Fudge. It’s a real winner. (And wait ’til you see the fun photo of them with the fudge )

So join me at The Balanced Platter by clicking here to read the rest of the post. And pull out your tiny aprons and get cooking–with your kids!

Filed Under: Kitchen Tips, Recipes

Healthy Chili Mac (special diet options) & More Quick and Easy Meals

April 24, 2012 By Adrienne 25 Comments

Today’s post is from Tessa of Tessa the Domestic Diva. Tessa is another hostess and founder of Allergy Free Wednesdays.

I love Tessa’s selection of healthy, attractive, and special diet friendly recipes (she’s got a beautiful site as well.) We are kindred spirits in the sense that we have seen great things happen in our families as we have moved to more healthful, whole foods diets. I hope you enjoy this post by Tessa as she shares with us some quick, easy, and healthful options for getting dinner on the table—FAST! I’m sure at least one of these will make it onto our table soon! Now….here’s Tessa. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Entrees, Gluten Free, Recipes, Soups, Time Saving Tips

Easiest Almond Milk Recipe Ever – Do It Yourself

February 22, 2012 By Adrienne 98 Comments

Today I’m sharing my Basic Almond Milk Recipe.

It really is the Easiest Almond Milk Recipe Ever. Seriously.

My “cooking philosophy” has evolved over the years. Health-wise, but also “simplicity-wise.”

Maybe you can relate.

I used to, but not to excess, mind you , pour over cookbooks (especially the dessert section – cough-cough), dreaming about everything I could make. Then I’d try a fancy recipe like Stuffed Chicken Breasts or Candy Cane Shaped Cookies Dipped in Chocolate.

Well, it’s not that this busy momma doesn’t still like to play in the kitchen (I think I told you all about my 2 days of attempting to make a dairy-free, sugar-free caramel so I could make mock Samoa Girl Scout Cookies), but times have changed.

These days I am forever looking for recipes and tips that will get good yummy food on my table with as little effort and time as possible. (Cause I already am ~~stressed out to the max~~ way too busy .)

So….today’s recipe is an example of one way I’ve managed to save a ton of time in the kitchen, while still making something good. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Beverages, Budget Help, Do It Yourself, Recipes, Time Saving Tips

A Time Saving Kitchen Tip for Drinking Glasses

December 15, 2011 By Adrienne 58 Comments

You know by now that water is really important for health, right? Common thought on drinking water is that you should be drinking 8 glasses of water a day.

Remember my post on the Top 5 Tips for Healthy Eating? There was drinking clean water – right at the top. Note that I said “clean water.”

Didn’t know that tap water is full of a lot of stuff that I am sure you’d rather not be putting in your body? Well, this post is not for the timid, but check out Is Your Water Safe?

I try to keep myself and my family hydrated, but we quickly end up with glasses all over the place. And my kitchen is already cluttered enough without extra glasses all over the place (anyone else identify with this? Please tell me I’m not the only one ). And in these super busy and financially tight times, who needs to spend extra time and money washing extra glasses because someone says, “I can’t remember which glass was mine!”

And if you don’t have a family, then when you have guests over, you can quickly have the same problem, right (and who wants to make a mistake of drinking out of the wrong glass during the flu season )?