Getting Healthy, Saving Money, and Living Well
Well, it’s another one of those “Yippee! I’ve figured something out!” days. It’s a Condensed Milk Recipe.
Believe it or not, I’ve been trying to make vegan condensed milk for awhile now. What better thing to do with one’s time, right 
?
Finally, I think I’ve got it. A condensed milk recipe that is super easy to make and should work in any recipe that call for the canned stuff.
So happy to share this with you!
I’ve been meaning to get this recipe for Homemade Salad Dressing to you all for awhile now.
Life has been crazy and things really get in the way sometimes, you know?
Anyhow, this one is a real keeper. And it’s a great homemade salad dressing for those with food allergies as well – no dairy and some substitutions that should make this work for anyone.
Liquid stevias are all the rage in sugar free eating and baking circles these days.
Have you seen them?
They are little dropper bottles full of super sweetness that you can add to your favorite beverages and sweet treats without:
I love them and with the amazing variety of flavors out there you can really go to town.
The only problem is, they are a little pricey.
So….of course…being the type who tries to DIY or MYO everything that I can (within reason–check out my post on Top 10 DIY/MYO posts of 2011 for proof!), I sought to see if I could make my own liquid stevia blend.
And–it worked!
Have you been wondering how to store nuts and seeds?
Once each year I organize a raw almond buy that also includes other nuts, seeds and health products. Since during the almond harvest is the only time in the U.S. when one can purchase truly raw almonds before the government pasteurizes them (did you know that some are pasteurized using PPO, which is a fuel?), we buy enough to last us the whole year, and so we need to store them properly so that they last the entire year.
{UPDATE, 10/9/12: This recipe has been updated to be better, but still super easy. See Easiest Coconut Milk – Improved!}
Why make homemade coconut milk, you ask? When it’s easy to just pick up a can at the grocery or health food store?
Well, you see, we love coconut milk.
We also love dried coconut, fresh coconut, coconut oil, coconut butter (check out my post on how to make your own coconut butter)-well, coconut in any of its forms.
We love coconut milk because it tastes great, but also because it is a great dairy free, lactose free milk alternative (my son has a life threatening dairy allergy and my husband is severely lactose intolerant.)
However, there are two things that I do not like about coconut milk.
It might sound strange, but this salad dressing recipe is simply one of our overall favorite recipes.
It’s a homemade wonderfully-seasoned salad dressing that frankly, is on our table for every meal.
This Moroccan Vinaigrette is modifed from the recipe of the same name in Lorna Sass’ Complete Vegetarian Kitchen, one of my many Lorna Sass cookbooks. I highlighted this cookbook in my post about pressure cookers. Please note that when I referenced this cookbook in the pressure cooker post, it was under the title of Recipes from an Ecological Kitchen. This new title is a more recent version of the same book, but it’s still not available new on Amazon. Unfortunately, these great books are no longer in print. (I am no longer a vegetarian, but this book is a keeper regardless of your “dietary status”!)
As I said, we have this on our table at almost every meal and when you are really in a bind, you can just pull some of your prepared beans out of the freezer, combine then with some cooked whole grains (rice, millet, buckwheat) and top with this vinaigrette and you have yourself a fast meal. For more protein and/or for those of you concerned about copper toxicity (which I will post about in the future), top with some small pieces of healthy animal protein or pumpkin seeds. Yum!
Whenever we make a meal for a sick friend or a family with a new baby, this vinaigrette tops a vegetable medley or Moroccan Carrots. And it goes fabulously with Pakistani Kima, our favorite when having company for a meal (again, post to follow in the near future).
No disodium EDTA or high fructose corn syrup and you can make the whole thing organic (if you care to) for a fraction of the cost of bottled organic dressings.
And as I mentioned in my post about making your own vegetable broth mix, by making your own spice blends, you can save money by purchasing dressing ingredients (spices, lemon juice and olive oil, in the case of this dressing) in bulk and using them up before they spoil or lose their flavor. You also make fewer trips to the grocery store, saving gas and time, since you have the raw ingredients in your kitchen to make what you need! With the price of gas these days, you really end up saving!
3. Save Time
How do you save time making your own? Well, I know making your own dressing takes time, but so does going to the store. Maybe it’s a “wash”, but the way we eat dressing, I still think I’m saving time :
So — here is how to make this dressing. And, as with almost all of my recipes, I recommend at least doubling the recipe so that you can save time!
Ingredients:
2/3 cup olive oil
2 Tbsp lemon juice (freshly squeezed or organic bottled)*
2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 tsp paprika (I love this brand)
1 tsp ground cumin (Ditto: Same brand.)
1 small clove garlic, finely minced, or 1/8 tsp garlic granules
1 generous pinch cayenne (ground red) pepper
1/3 cup tightly packed minced fresh parsley (or 4 tsp dried parsley)
1 tsp natural salt, or to taste (I use this salt)
lots of freshly ground pepper (optional)
*I use this bottled organic lemon juice. I would love to squeeze my own lemons, but this is one area that I choose to opt for convenience. The juice keeps in the refrigerator for up to 8 weeks and is wonderful!
Method:
1. Combine all ingredients and mix well.
2. Taste and adjust seasonings adding more lemon juice or vinegar if you like.
3. Store unused portion in refrigerator. Keeps well up to two weeks.
4. You may wish to add additional lemon juice, cumin and parsley after a few days in the refrigerator.
The one thing that I would love to hear from you about is a solution to my hunt for a great glass salad dressing container for our table. We currently have our dressing in a canning jar, but I would love an attractive bottle with an easy pour lid.
The one I have my eye on is the Eva Solo dressing shaker which is available on Amazon, but I am a bit skittish since some reviewers say that the glass is thin and it is also a bit pricey.
Looking for more ways to save money by making your own processed food supplements? You might want to read:
Do you have a favorite dressing recipe that you would like to share?
Today’s vegetable broth recipe post might seem like a bit of a diversion from the Perfect Popcorn Recipe posts that I have been doing. But there actually is a connection here….
Now bear with me, because this is not information on how to make your own vegetable stock.
While I am quite the fan of stock and just made homemade turkey stock a few weeks ago, I am trying to be balanced and I do not always have time to make stock, nor can I justify the expense of purchasing boxed stock all the time. However, I am considering it. This is one area of my family’s menu planning where I am still sorting out what to do.
This is, instead, a recipe for your own vegetable broth mix.
In my mother’s pantry there were those terrible little fake orange colored vegetable broth cubes with a plethora of ingredients (including MSG and hydrolyzed lot of stuff) that would make any self-respecting person-in-search-of-a-healthier-lifestyle’s hair stand on end.
We love almond butter. And sunflower seed butter. And macadamia butter….and…and…
Nut butters and seed butters are great spread on things like my Super Quick Drop Biscuits or Gluten Free Wraps.
Or eaten on a spoon. A large spoon .
:
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