Simply Rurban

Food Stamp Challenge – Week 1 Dinners

Posted on February 6, 2014 by simply0637

Usually we do not do a different dinner each night of the week. I might make a big pot of soup on Sunday along with a pot of rice, a pot of beans and one or two other things. From these we put together our dinners for the week. So to go to two choices for dinner was not that big of a stretch for us. Our choices were Bean Burritos and Squash Raviolis with Broccoli.

We have a local ravioli maker here in Floyd and they are called Floydioli’s. These are some of Stella’s favorite raviolis ever! I was talking to owner and she said I have splits (where the pasta is split) and I can’t sell them would you be interested in some? Of course I said yes. She knows how much Stella loves them and at $7.99 per package (2 servings) these are not on our regular dinner menu. I took them out of the freezer, made a paste with flour and water, sealed the splits and stuck them back in the freezer. I then cook them up and steam some broccoli with butter on both – delicious. There are no preservatives and as many of the ingredients as possible are from local growers/suppliers.

Our other dinner was bean burritos.

Bean Burritos

Ingredients

2 cups lentils (soaked in water with some buttermilk) $3.12
2 cups brown rice (soaked in water with some buttermilk) $0.76
1 package fresh spinach $3.53
4 0z. raw milk cheddar, grated $1.65
4 0z. mozzarella cheese, grated $1.99
5 – 7 gloves garlic, chopped
8 Tbl soy sauce
1 sheet Kombu (seaweed) $0.38
10 tortilla wraps $2.04

Total cost = $14.47 (I added a dollar to the costs listed above for the other items)
Per serving cost = $1.45 (with enough beans and rice to make 10 more burritos)

1. Place your beans in a glass bowl and cover with water, adding 2 Tbl buttermilk, whey or lemon juice. Cover and let sit for at least 7 hours.

2. Place the rice in a glass bowl with 4 cups warm water and 4 Tbl buttermilk, whey or yogurt. Cover and let sit in a warm place for at least 7 hours.

3. When ready to make the rice and beans, boil 8 cups of water in a large soup pot.

4. Chopped your garlic.

5. Rinse both the rice and beans.

6. When the water is boiling add the rice, beans, garlic and soy sauce. Cover and simmer for about 45 minutes.

7. Remove the cover, add the Kombu and simmer for an additional 15 minutes. Stir to make sure the bottom is not burning. If there is still water after 15 minutes you can take of the heat and allow the rest of the water to be absorbed.

8. Saute the spinach in lard, tallow, coconut oil, butter or olive olive.

9. Remove the Kombu from the rice and beans.

10. Grate your cheese.

11. Set up your work area and cut 10 pieces of tin foil to wrap your burritos in.

12. On a dry pan, warm your tortillas before adding ingredients.

13. To make: I placed some cheddar cheese in the center of the wrap, added rice and beans, spinach and then mozzarella – roll up and the wrap in tin foil.

This made enough for 5 dinners – I placed some in the refrigerator and the others in the freezer. When cooking the ones in the refrigerator – I place on my toaster oven baking sheet and bake for about 20 minutes at 300 degrees – this heats them and melts the cheese. If using the ones in the freezer – I take them out the morning of – let them defrost and then cook the same as above.

Posted in Dinner, Homesteading, Recipes | Tagged beans, burritos, dinner, food stamp challenge, raviolis | 1 Comment

Food Stamp Challenge – Week 1, Lunch

Posted on February 5, 2014 by simply0637

I have gotten many comments that the grocery list and what we are eating is just all carbohydrates. Just like fat, carbohydrates don’t always get a fair rap. When planning our meals I had to take into account that my daughter does not eat meat – so I needed to find proteins we both could eat that we could afford.

There are good carbohydrates and bad carbohydrates and our bodies need carbohydrates to survive. Most people think of carbohydrates and white bread and potatoes or refined products. Yes I did buy tortillas (processed and white) – but not as bad as me buying box cereal or white bread from the grocery. Carbohydrates are the most widely eaten food in the world. Along with fat and protein, carbohydrates are essential. Carbohydrates provide the body with glucose, which is then converted into energy that the body uses for essential functions (cells, tissues, organ, brain) and physical activity.

According to the Harvard Public Health website: What’s most important is the type of carbohydrate you chose to eat because some sources are healthier than others. The amount of carbohydrate in the diet – high or low – is less important than the type of carbohydrate in the diet. Here is a great list on what are good carbs and bad carbs. I also try and balance fat and protein when eating carbohydrates.

I did not change up much about our lunches, except to not include our homemade granola – since the ingredients were too expensive to include on the shopping list. However – I was not able to buy enough for all the lunches for the week – so I went without lunch on Sunday. After making dinner Sunday night – there were leftover and that will be my main part of lunch on the days that we are out of eggs, apples and yogurt.

So here is Stella’s lunch: yogurt (whole milk), organic apples (1 for snack), hard-boiled egg (local, organic) and cheddar cheese (raw, whole milk).

Next week Sella will be eating the school lunch – that should be interesting and I am looking forward from hearing all about it from her. They have to include 1 fruit with their lunch when purchasing, but the school is finding that most kids through the fruit away, untouched!

Posted in Homesteading, Life, Nutrition | Tagged carbohydrates, food stamp challenge, lunch | 1 Comment

Food Stamp Challenge – Week 1 Breakfast

Posted on February 4, 2014 by simply0637

Our breakfast isn’t going to change all that much – we will just alternate breakfast options. We will start off with eggs and toast made with homemade bread (post later in the week), oatmeal pancakes and smoothies. Not sure if we will be doing the same thing come week 4.

I changed up my original oatmeal pancake recipe by adding very ripe bananas. By adding the extra ripe bananas it is almost like adding another cup of oats and buttermilk with the amount of pancakes I can get out of almost the same recipe. I normally put in flax seed meal, but I was out and that purchase did not fit in with the budget.

Hearty Organic Banana Oatmeal Pancakes (thanks to the Flying Biscuit Cafe)

Note directly from the cookbook: The secret to these hearty pancakes is patience. The oats must soak at least two hours, and the cakes should cook over medium-low heat. If the heat is too high, the cakes will brown on the outside but still be raw in the center. Use regular rolled oats, not the quick cook variety; the texture of the oats is what makes these pancakes so good.

Ingredients

2 cups organic rolled oats $0.73
2 cups whole milk buttermilk $0.64
2 large eggs, lightly beaten $0.68
4 Tbl unsalted butter, melted and cooled $0.65
1 cup all purpose flour $0.30
2 Tbl sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 hemp seeds
1 cup blueberries $1.07
3 very ripe bananas, mashed $0.55

All ingredients I figured was about another $1.00. Total cost for all ingredients $5.62. I ended up with 30 pancakes and we do 2 per servings – so 15 breakfast servings at a cost of $0.37. I thought that was pretty good.

1. Combine oats and buttermilk in a large bowl. Cover and let soak for at least 2 hours, or overnight. I combined the oats and buttermilk and covered, but I left it out overnight – I wanted it to sour a little.

2. Add eggs and melted butter to the oat mixture.

3. Add the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, hemp seeds and salt to oat mixture. I usually add a few at a time, mix and then add some more.

4. Add the banana and mix well.

5. Add the blueberries, mix gently.

6. Preheat griddle over medium-low heat and lightly coat with butter. Ladle batter in 1/4 cup measurements onto griddle. Spread out batter with the back of the ladle. When bubbles appear, gently flip cakes and cook until golden brown, about 5 minutes per side. Serve hot.

I took enough for 4 breakfasts and put in a storage bag, placing in the refrigerator. The other pancakes I put in a freezer bag, sucked the air out and stuck them in the freezer. in the morning I heat them in the toaster oven at 250 degrees for about 10 minutes. This is a quick and hearty breakfast that stays with you for many hours!

Posted in Breakfast, Homesteading, Life, Recipes | Tagged breakfast, food stamp challenge, recipe | 4 Comments

Food Stamp Challenge – First Grocery Shopping

Posted on February 3, 2014 by simply0637

I have to admit that we did not start the challenge until Sunday, February 2. The reason: we needed to finish up some food that was in the fridge. The rules I set for us were: we would start with whatever was on the door of the refrigerator, the spices and seasonings that were in the cupboard and whatever was left in the jars of flour, sugar, etc. Anything that I had otherwise in the house would be deducted out of the amount we would have for the month.

We are a family of 2 and if we were to receive the full amount in benefits from the SNAP program (food stamps) that would be $255.50 for the month, $63.87 per week. I decided I would budget it as we were getting weekly, so that we would still have money at the end of the month. I was amazed at how little this allowed us to purchase and at the last grocery store realized that I only had one option for dinner for the week. I did splurge and buy yogurt for our lunch (this is what we normally eat) since Stella does not eat meat or drink milk. It was cheaper in the individual servings than the big container – and yes I did buy whole milk, organic. So are you wondering why I would buy the expensive yogurt and not the cheap stuff? One of the reasons I decided to take this challenge was to see if we could still eat a nutritious and healthy diet.

I ended up going to 4 grocery stores to get all that was on the list and the list was not long – but I did go over the $63.87. The list:

Parmesan cheese $4.79
Whole milk, raw cheddar cheese $3.29
Mozzarella cheese $3.99
Tortillas (10 pack) $2.04
Lentils $1.74
Buttermilk $2.55
Oats $3.30
Rice $3.12
Spinach (organic) $3.53
Broccoli (organic) $3.89
Apples 3 lb (organic) $6.99
Yogurt 10 servings $11.90
Raw milk yogurt $4.50
Blueberries (3 cups) $3.22
Tea $3.35
Eggs (2 dozen – local) $8.18
Bananas $1.10
Smoothie Juice $3.65
Peaches $2.69
Tax $3.42

Grand total: $81.24! Now some of this we will use in week 2, but not a lot of it. We are now down to $174.26. Next week Stella will be doing the school lunch along with week 4 – so that will cut the food expense for those particular weeks.

Saturday night was spent soaking grains, making dough, soaking beans etc. I will share our recipes and menus with you as we venture into the days ahead!

Posted in Homesteading, Life, Uncategorized | Tagged food stamp challenge, groceries, SNAP, week 1 | 5 Comments

Peach And Blueberry Coffee Cake

Posted on January 31, 2014 by simply0637

Our last game night my contribution to the pot luck was dessert. I couldn’t think of what I wanted to make, but I knew I wanted a new recipe. With the cold dreary weather we have been having I wanted something that reminded me of summer. I knew I had some peaches and blueberries in the freezer from summer picking – so decided it needed to be something that incorporated both. I found a great recipe for a Peach Blueberry Coffee Cake.

Peach Blueberry Coffee Cake (thanks to eatthelove.com)

Ingredients

Peach Filling

2 medium ripe peaches
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 Tbl arrow root
1 Tbl cold water

Cake Batter

3 cups Spelt flour
1/2 cup almond meal
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/2 cups rapadura
3 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk (preferably cultured from raw milk)
4 cups blueberries

Coffee cake topping
2/3 cups maple sugar or dark brown sugar
1 cup Spelt flour
1/2 cup chopped pecans or almonds (I used crispy pecans)
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter

1. Peel and cut the peaches into slices or into 1 inch chunks.

2. Place the peaches in a medium saucepan and add the sugar. Add the vanilla. Cook over medium high heat for about 10 minutes, or until the peach juices starts to thicken a bit and the peaches start to break down.

3. Mix the arrow root with the water to make a slurry and then slowly drizzle it into the saucepan with the cooking peaches. Cook for an additional minute more until the peach juices have thickened. Remove from heat and let cool.

4. Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Spray a 9 x 13 inch baking pan with cooking oil and line the bottom and sides with parchment paper, leaving two inches of paper on either side of the pan.

5. To make the cake batter by placing the flour, almond meal, baking powder and salt in a medium sized mixing bowl. Vigorously stir the dry ingredients together until uniform in color and well blended.

6. Place the butter and sugar in the bowl of stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Cream on medium speed until the butter starts to look creamy.

7. Add the vanilla extract and beat for additional 30 seconds on medium speed to incorporate.

8. Add the eggs, one a time, beating until the first egg is incorporated before adding the second one.

9. Add half the dry ingredients to the butter and beat on slow, increasing the speed to medium as the dry ingredients incorporate.

10. Add the buttermilk and repeat.

11. Add the remaining dry ingredients and repeat.

12. Gently fold in the blueberries by hand with a large rubber spatula.

13. Scrape the batter into the prepared baking dish and spread to evenly distribute.

14. Spoon the peach mix-in over the cake batter and marble and swirl the cake batter and peach mix-in together.

15. Make the topping by placing the sugar, flour, nuts, spices and salt in a medium sized mixing bowl. Cut the butter into 1/2 inch chunks and sprinkle over the ingredients. Squeeze and break up the butter by hand in the ingredients, until the butter has been incorporated and the toppings start to hold together in pebble side chunks.

16. Sprinkle the topping over the cake batter and bake in the oven for 50-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean (you may have to pick a few spots as you more than likely will hit a blueberry the first time).

This was a big hit. You could really taste the fruit and it was not sugar sweet like many coffee cakes!

Posted in Dessert, Recipes | Tagged coffee cake, dessert, fruit, recipe | 2 Comments

Kids Infinity Scarf

Posted on January 29, 2014 by simply0637

Stella has been wearing my infinity scarf and asked for one of her own. My knitting fingers were getting antsy and needed a new project after knitting so many fingerless gloves (and yes Stella got a new pair of them as well)!

I had been given some yarn for Christmas and decided to use one of the new skeins for Stella’s scarf. I seem to have a yarn fetish and made a deal with myself that I would not buy any new yarn until I had used up some of my stash – so to have some new yarn was wonderful!

Infinity Scarf (thanks to a Lion Brand pattern)

Don’t you just love that she is wearing a sun dress in winter?!

Items Needed

1 skein yarn ( I used Lion Suede yarn)
Size 13 straight needles
Darning needle

You don’t have to worry too much on your gauge, but you want it be at least 11 stitched and 14 rows to equal 4 inches or more.

1. Cast on 17 stitches

2. Knit 6 rows.

3. Knit 6 rows in stockinette stitch (knit 1 row, purl 1 row).

4. Repeat steps 1 and 2 until the scarf measures 38″.

5. Cast off loosely.

6. To finish: fold scarf, giving one end a 180 degree turn and join short ends together. Weave in all ends.

Stella loves her scarf and has been wearing it almost daily!

Posted in Crafts, Knitting | Tagged infinity, kids, knitting, pattern, scarf | 2 Comments

Chile With Sweet Potato and Cocoa

Posted on January 27, 2014 by simply0637

I have never really liked chili – or so I thought. Lately I have been having chili at other people’s houses and instead of saying I don’t like chili – I have been venturing out and taking whole bowls full. I decided it might be time for me to make a pot of chili at home – vegetarian, of course, for Stella to have some. Looking at different recipes – I decided on one with sweet potato and cocoa – thinking this might make Stella like it.

The nice thing about this recipe is that it is made in a slow cooker – and the house smelled divine. I really thought that Stella would like this chili, but she did not! I ended up eating it for over a week – I could have stuck some in the freezer, but it made for quick meals for at least one person at the house. I did end up making some rice and eating the chili over rice for some variety!

I can’t believe that I forgot to take a picture of the chili when it was done! After eating it for so many days – must have had chili on the brain. When I went to upload the photos – was totally shocked with my omission!

Chili With Sweet Potato and Cocoa

Ingredients

1 medium red onion, chopped
1/2 green bell pepper, chopped
4 cloves garlic, I did a little more because I think you can never have
1/2 Tbl chili powder (you get add more for more spice)
1 Tbl cumin
2 tsp cocoa powder, unsweetened
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Salt and pepper for seasoning
1 15oz. can diced tomatoes (instead you could just use 1 – 28oz can fire roasted diced tomatoes)
1 15 oz can fire roasted diced tomatoes
1 15.5 oz can black beans,drained and rinsed
1 15.5 oz can kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1. In a 4- to 6-quart slow cooker, combine the onion, bell pepper, garlic, chili powder, cumin, cocoa, cinnamon, 1 teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon black pepper. Add the tomatoes (and their liquid), beans, sweet potato, and 1 cup water.

2. Cover and cook until the sweet potatoes are tender and the chili has thickened, on low for about 7 – hours or on high for 4 – 5 hours.

Posted in Dinner, Recipes | Tagged chili, dinner, recipe, vegetarian | 2 Comments

We Are Taking The Food Stamp Challenge

Posted on January 24, 2014 by simply0637

Back in December we went to a film event in our town. I love our film series here – they pick films that will start a conversation. The evening starts with a shared meal, the viewing of a film, followed by a discussion with a panel. The December Film was A Place At the Table – please take the time to see the movie, if you have Netflix you can watch it for free. This movie made such an impression on me and Stella was so upset by watching this she could not watch the whole thing. I won’t get into my thoughts on our government or society here – because frankly, I could go on for pages and pages! This movie started me thinking and wanting to take the Food Stamp Challenge – and that is what we are going to do for the month of February.

Stella is not overly happy about this and I have asked her to write about her experience on the blog in February, which I hope she does. At this point she told me that she is going to write – “I didn’t want to do this, but my mom made me”. We discussed that if we were on food stamps or the SNAP program that she would be getting her breakfast and lunch for free at school and in our county she would also be sent home each Friday with a backpack of food for the weekend. When our discussions first started about this she refused to do that and told me that the majority of kids who were consistently sick at school were on the free lunch program and did I want her sick all the time?! Smart kid!! She has now agreed to eat the school lunch 2 out of the 4 weeks, telling me that she will get the chef salad and fruit each day. Most of the lettuce at the schools is provided from local farmers here as part of the farm to school program.

Why are we doing this? I want to see what it is like to have a set amount of money to spend on food and see if we can continue to eat in a healthy and nutritious way. I do understand that I am resourceful (have already found a place to get free homemade raviolis) and have the skills to make my own bread among other things. There are other reasons but I will share those along our journey in February.

Taking the month of January to plan out meals, grocery lists – has been difficult. I have learned a lot about the SNAP program. Looking at the chart, if we were to qualify for the most assistance, which most families do not, we would get $127.75 per person per month – BUT there have been cuts to the program and in 2014 the average decrease in benefits per person will be $10 per month. Since the chart of the true amount is not out for Virginia or any state we will be doing the challenge on $255.50 for the month (2 people in our household) that is about $9.13 per day (for one person $4.56). That is $3.04 per meal for a family of 2 or $1.52 per meal for 1 person. Check this link out to see the amount allotted per state.

I have set some parameters for us and want to share those. Since I spend much time preserving food my freezer is pretty well stocked – I will not be taking anything from my freezer, but if I do I will take the cost of it out of our Food Stamp money. I figured if I had been laid off or lost my job and went to file for the SNAP program it would take about a month before I got my first amount of money and would have gone through most of what I had in the fridge and pantry – therefore I will only be able to use the items that are on my refrigerator door, what spice and oils are in the cabinets and whatever flour, sugar, etc are in the jars on the shelf. So I will not be starting with much. I will not be going to our local food bank during the month, this is an experiment and I don’t want to take food away from those that truly need it. One other disclaimer, I consult for a local health food store and get a discount on my purchases, but I will be taking the full amount out of our SNAP allotment of money.

So for February – I hope you follow our journey. It will not be easy and I am sure it will be a struggle and I will spend more time figuring grocery lists and menus out than I normally do – but it will be a learning experience and once that I am sure will be lasting. Here’s to the challenge!

Posted in Health, Life, Nutrition | 7 Comments

Toilet Bowl Bombs

Posted on January 22, 2014 by simply0637

What? Toilet bowl bombs… I came across a recipe for toilet bowl bombs and just the title intrigued me. These are cleaners for your toilet. I wanted to see how well they worked – so I did not clean the toilet for several weeks. I know gross, but I really wanted to test them. Since we also have clay in our water – the toilet bowl tends to get a orangy red tinge to it.

I threw one of these in the toilet and watched the bubbles go. I could see some of the clay deposit starting to lift – so I decided to leave it over night. The next morning I just had to take the toilet bowl brush and do a little swirl around the bowl and it was clean and boy did it smell fresh.

The original post of this was for a larger quantity, but since I only had 1 mold to use I cut the recipe in half. I think I need to get another mold and make the full batch next time – I LOVE these!

Toilet Bowl Bombs (see original post here)

Ingredients (half recipe)

1/2 cup + 2 Tbl + 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 citric acid (which I get at a local store here)
20 drops Lavender essential oil
20 drops Lemon essential oil
20 Peppermint essential oil

You will need to have a silicone mold or two.

Note: Wear a mask when mixing the ingredients. I used a bandana.

1. In a glass bowl, mix citric acid and baking soda. Always put medical mask first and then mix together the soda and acid.

2. Put essential oils in a spray bottle (because the quantity was so little – I just put a few drops in at a time and mixed) and spray little by little stirring the mixture at the same time in order to not let it fizz away. If the mixture isn’t damp enough I add just A TINY BIT of water in my spray bottle and spray the mixture – but again, be careful too much moisture will make the citric acid fizz and then when you go to use the bombs they will not explode. (I think I could have done not so much moisture – will keep it drier next time.)

3. Put the mixture into silicone molds and let them dry for about 6 hours. Store the bombs in a container with a lid.

To Use:

Drop the bomb into the toilet and watch it fizz. I had to just do a wipe with the toilet brush and it was very clean. The smell was refreshing and it kept that clean smell for many days!

Posted in Cleaning | Tagged recipe DIY, toilet bombs, toilet cleaner | 3 Comments

Kids Can Cook – Chocolate M&M Cookies

Posted on January 20, 2014 by simply0637

Sometimes you just have to let the kids go wild in the kitchen and bake some cookies. Stella had her buddy over for the weekend and they wanted to make cookies, which had been discussed many times – but this time they finally got around to baking. I even broke down and bought M&M’s for the cookies – mainly for Stella’s friend – who told me she looks forward to going home so she can eat processed foods! We are working on converting her at least at our house, but we are going easy since the food at our house doesn’t always do well with her digestive system. They had so much fun baking. We divided up the cookies at the end and believe me the cookies seemed to mysteriously disappear at our house! By the time I remembered that I had not taken a photo of a cookie, there were only 2 left and some crumbs!

Chocolate M&M Cookies

Ingredients

1 cup butter (2 sticks)
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/4 cups flour (we used organic white and some spelt)
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 bag M&M minis

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a large bowl cream the butter and both sugars together.

3. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix well.

4. In another bowl combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.

5. Slowly add the flour to the butter mixture. Make sure it is well combined.

6. Mix in the M&M’s.

7. You can chill the dough, we did not the girls could not wait.

8. Drop the dough by spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet about 2 inches apart.

9. Bake for 7 – 9 minutes for chewy cookies. Let cool on a rack.

Enjoy!

Posted in Cookies, Kids Cooking, Recipes | Tagged baking, cookies, kids cooking | 2 Comments

Food Stamp Challenge – Week 1 Dinners

Food Stamp Challenge – Week 1, Lunch

Food Stamp Challenge – Week 1 Breakfast

Food Stamp Challenge – First Grocery Shopping

Peach And Blueberry Coffee Cake

Kids Infinity Scarf

Chile With Sweet Potato and Cocoa

We Are Taking The Food Stamp Challenge

Toilet Bowl Bombs

Kids Can Cook – Chocolate M&M Cookies

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