Barley Cakes

We are learning about Egypt & the desert alongside of Joseph & his life in our new homeschooling curriculum.  Last week we created a Nile River, played an ancient Egyptian board game, and made barley cakes.  The barley cakes were amazing and I thought I would share the recipe here.  They are so good we have decided to permanently replace our regular pancake recipe with barley cakes.  I was able to get barley flour from Azure at a price comparable to regular flour and the barley flour gives the cakes a somewhat nutty flavor.  Everyone in our family likes them and some of them don't prefer pancakes so this is a great new addition to our recipe collection.

Barley Cakes
1 1/2 cups barley flour
1 Tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. honey
1 egg
1 cup milk (or buttermilk)
1 Tbsp oil

Mix all ingredients together and fry on griddle or greased frying pan just like regular pancakes, until golden brown on both sides.  Serve with honey & butter (or pancake syrup).  This is a very small recipe - makes about 8-10 small pancakes.

Because of the sand that often got into the food and the rough textures of the hand ground barley, these cakes would have slowly ground down the teeth of the ancient Egyptians - which has been noted in studies of mummy teeth.  Barley was a popular grain in that area & time. 

You can also get barley flour from Amazon - just click below:

Healthy Living- Growing Your Own

One of the best ways to eat healthy is to grow your own food.  If you grow it yourself you know what is in it, what it was "treated" with, and how it was preserved/prepared. 
Like I have mentioned several times before, start small.  Till up a small space in your yard and start with a few vegetables that your family likes to eat.  Green beans, peppers, cucumbers, tomatoes, and squash are easy to grow and will provide you a nice variety all summer long.  Make it bigger the next year and add some more vegetables.  The better you get at taking care of your garden, the more you will learn about growing, preparing, and preserving the things you grow, and the more you will be able to do.  Eventually you could even grow and dry your own herbs.  You may want to consider building/buying some cold frames to extend your growing season.  Of course, you can always put up a greenhouse to really extend the season.  You can buy small stand-alone greenhouses for as little as $50 or you can build something bigger - the possibilities are endless.  Growing your own vegetables allows you to control where your food comes from, what chemicals are used on them, and to enjoy the taste of FRESH vegetables.
If you have the space and the ambition, you can also raise your own meat.  This takes a little more time, money & space, but is well worth it.  Chickens are easy to raise, very affordable, and easy to dress for the freezer.  I have also canned chicken meat for easy use later.  Most other meat will need to be processed by a meat locker, but don't let that deter you!  You can raise a pig and/or a lamb in a small area - you can even raise them together and they will do great.  All you need is grass and a little grain.  Pigs & lambs only take the summer to be ready to butcher so you won't have to worry about shelter for the winter.  A beef is probably the most intensive and costly to raise, but still beats the price and taste at the local grocery store.  It takes about 18 months to raise a beef from a calf to butchering size.   You will need a grass and/or hay and grain.  If you are raising it on grass/hay only, it will take longer, but will be worth the wait.  You will need to consider how you are going to water and shelter a beef calf through the winter.  One other great way to obtain meat for your freezer is by hunting.  You can get deer, turkey, dove, duck, goose, etc from someone who hunts (or shoot it yourself).  These meats are easy to freeze and are affordable to obtain.
The one other thing I would highly suggest growing your own (again if you have space & time) is milk.  You could also look into getting these products from a local raw dairy (if available in your state).  There is a lot of controversy over the quality and safety of raw milk, but I am definitely a proponent FOR raw milk.  I have done lots of research and have personally experienced the difference.  Raw milk is packed full of great minerals & vitamins.  Store milk is filled with hormones and many of its vitamins have been killed during the pasteurization process.  Milking your own cow or goat will provide you with milk, cream, butter, buttermilk, cheeses, whey, and more!  You will have "leftovers" to feed your pig, calves, sheep, and chickens! 
While growing all of your own food may not be feasible for you, you can start small.  You can grow a tomato plant in a pot on your apartment balcony or under a grow light.  You can use a small area in your yard to put in a cucumber plant and make your own pickles!  You can build a cold frame and grow your own lettuce.  I enjoy growing much of my family's food and am thankful for the health benefits it provides.  Not to mention the fabulous taste of fresh food I grew myself! 

Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day to each of you!!!  Don't let today be the only day you remind your family & friends how much you love them!

We have been quite busy around here - I haven't had much time for blogging.  I have been feeding calves, milking cows, baking, cleaning, and reorganizing!  The kids have been busy with their new matchbox race car track.  Yesterday we set up their tent (12'x8') in the dining room and they "camped".  We returned a few unwanted Christmas gifts to Walmart and purchased a tent.  There was just no way they could wait until summer to try it out, despite the fact that it took up the ENTIRE dining room!!  They enjoyed it and I was glad I let go of my perfectionism for a day so they could camp out in the tent! (I did reclaim my dining room this morning though!)

 

Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes!  May you each have a glorious day!  I promise to be back blogging soon! 

Pantry Challenge - Final Week

 



The end of January brings us to the official final week of the Pantry Challenge.  Overall, I would say it was a good thing.  It made me stop and think about how much I spend on groceries, what we are eating, and involving the kids in the process of food preparation!  Here are the final results:
Goal #1: Spend less on groceries.  Goal accomplished!  I did have to make a trip to the local grocery store this week for sugar and a few other items.  We happened upon some overripe pears that were in small bags for 99 cents a bag.  We bought all 4 bags and there were some really nice pears in there.  We ate quite a few, made pear bread, pear crisp, and tried baked pears!  We also decided to buy lettuce, tomatoes and tortilla shells because we haven't had tacos in months!  So my total spent this week was $35.25.  That brings my January total to $109.61.  I wasn't far under my $125 budget, but I'm pretty happy with how I spent my money this month.  I got several really good deals on fruit, and still have enough to last most of February.
Goal #2: Make more room in my cupboards.  Besides one lonely box of Jell-o and a small can of diced black olives, I don't have any items in my pantry that we don't use on a weekly basis.  Goal accomplished!
Goal #3: Reduce the stuff in my freezer.  Still a work in progress!  I greatly reduced the amount of frozen vegetables, made a nice dent in the meat supply, and almost cleared out the frozen milk.  We still have quite a bit of stuff left, but considering it has to last until mid-summer, that's probably a good thing!
Goal #4: Have fun!  We did have fun this week in the kitchen.  We tried baked pears and pear crisp this week, which we have never had.  Both turned out really good.  I also did a lot better this week in letting making the kids help more with meal preparation. 

I enjoyed this month, but I also realized that I already do quite well when it comes to eating from our pantry.  We don't buy a lot of things we don't use.  We do need to work on eating out less though.  We spend a lot of money in that area because it costs so much to eat at a restaurant.  Eating at home is so much cheaper and better for you, I just need to make myself do it.  I am hoping by teaching my kids to cook, that they can cook when I don't feel like it, avoiding eating out due to pure laziness!  I will be continuing on my quest to get my freezer emptied out for defrosting!  I hope you have been inspired to eat from your own pantry by all the great bloggers who participated in this pantry challenge.  Be sure to stop over at Good Cheap Eats and see how the month went for everyone else. 

Pantry Challenge - week 3

Our pantry challenge is still going, but we struggled a little this week.  We had lots going on and Kevin was gone for 4 days.  When we have a lot going on, we tend to eat quick & easy meals so we didn't use a lot of our meat and we ate a Subway a couple times with our gift card from Christmas.  When Kevin is gone we like to eat breakfasty type foods because he doesn't prefer breakfast for supper or lunch.  We had pancakes, waffles, sausage, and french toast.  This uses up baking ingredients and bread, but again not much meat or vegetables.  Hopefully this week we can get back on track and finish cleaning out that pantry!  Here is how I did on my goals:

Goal #1 - Spend less on groceries.  This week I ordered my groceries from Azure so it was my big spending week.  I ordered 38 pounds of oranges, 20 pounds of apples, 5 pounds of flax seed, and 25 pounds of oatmeal.  I spent $62.68.  I also had to buy a frozen pizza, a box pizza, and a bag of shredded cheese for a 4-H cooking lesson (comparing pizza costs, tastes, & prep time) which cost me $6.99.  Added to week 1 & 2 total of $11.58 - my total for January so far is now $74.26.  I am well under my $125 budget for the month, so if I can stick to it for next week I will be very happy with this challenge!

Goal #2 - Make more space in my cupboards.  I used 1 jar of pizza sauce from my pantry so I didn't get much accomplished here this week.

Goal #3 - Reduce the stuff in my freezer.  Didn't get far on this either.  Most of the meat I thawed out for the week is still in the refrigerator, so we will have to get that used right away this week.

Goal #4 - Have fun!  We had a lot of fun making pizzas for the 4-H lesson.  We learned that we will never again buy the pizza kit in a box.  The sauce was terrible, it cost more than homemade or frozen, and it took longer to prepare than homemade and frozen.  We did like the homemade pizza and frozen pizza about the same, but overall homemade pizza was cheaper per serving.  We also enjoyed making and eating waffles & pancakes this week.  We also made homemade pretzels this week - it was fun bending them into lots of different shapes!  We may not have accomplished much else, but at least we had fun this week!

How is your pantry challenge coming?  Want to see how everyone else is doing?  Check it out over at Good Cheap Eats.

All pain....No Gain

This post brought to you by Walgreens. All opinions are 100% mine.

Sometimes you need to fill a prescription by next week, so you place a mail order for a 90-day supply.  Sometimes you need a prescription on a Tuesday afternoon when you leave the doctors office, so you stop by your local pharmacy and get it that same day.  Sometimes you need a prescription on a Saturday night at 10pm because you just realized you ran out of medication.  It is times like this that you rely on Walgreens to help you out.  In fact, you might rely on Walgreens in all three of the above scenarios.  How would you feel if you were forced to fill your prescription at a different pharmacy, further away, with less convenient hours, fewer choices, and higher prices?

If your prescription insurance plan is managed by Express Script and you are a loyal Walgreens customer you may have to do just that.  Walgreens and Express Script were unable to come to an agreement when their 3 year contract ended on December 31, 2011.  What does this mean for you?  It means that to use your in-network pharmacy, you will have to go somewhere other than Walgreens.  And since Walgreens dispenses generic medications more often than other pharmacies, you may also have to purchase more expensive, name-brand medications.

Walgreens values your business.  They are taking steps to minimize the disruption by offering a special discount on their Walgreens Prescription Savings Club.  For the entire month of January, the price of annual membership is only $5 for an individual - a savings of over 70%.  Membership saves you money on over 8,000 medications, discounts on prescriptions & supplies, and bonuses when you purchase Walgreens and Nice! brand products. A family membership offers these benefits to you, your spouse, your dependents under age 22, and even your pets, for only $10 a year.

I 'liked' Walgreens on Facebook to show them my support for what they are doing.  I hope you will too!  You can also find Walgreens on Twitter to see the latest happenings and product updates.  Walgreens is in the business of serving their customers with convenient store locations, convenient hours, and competitive prices.

So look for the Express Script name on the back of your prescription insurance card to see if you are affected.  Then let Express Script know how you feel about this change.  Stop by your local Walgreens and sign up for the Walgreens Prescription Savings Club today.  Make your voice heard.  Don't settle for all pain, no gain.

Healthy Living - Eating REAL Food

The next step on our journey to healthy living was to eat more "real" food.  When I talk about real food, I am referring to food that generally doesn't come in a box off a shelf at the grocery store.  I recently heard a tip for eating healthy that recommended eating from the "perimeter" of the grocery store.  Generally, you will find fresh fruits and vegetables, refrigerated dairy products, fresh meat, and frozen foods around the perimeter of the store.  Most boxed, processed, & bottled foods come from the center shelves.   The fresher a food is, the less processing it has been through, the better it is for you.
You may be thinking that it costs more to eat fresh.  That's what I thought too.  However, if you watch for sales and shop smart you can eat healthy on a very small budget.  You can also find affordable fruits and vegetables at food co-ops (like Azure), farmers' markets, and from your own garden.  At first, it was hard for us to make this switch.  Like I mentioned before, I was trying to save money, not just eat healthier.  We started out by trying to eat more fruit and vegetables and less "boxed" convenience products.  We also grew lots of tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, beets, carrots, etc in our garden.  We were able to can a lot of veggies and ate them fresh from the garden as often as possible.  Once you are in the habit of eating fresh, it is easier to do so, even in the winter.  Now we order 20-30 pounds of fresh fruit from Azure every month.  Any fruit leftover at the end of the month is either frozen or canned to use later.  The fruit from Azure is much cheaper than our local grocery store and mostly organic.  We eat the vegetables we have canned ourselves, along with some fresh vegetables from the store when we can find it on sale.

Eating fresh is an important step in healthy living.  First, you get a lot more vitamins and minerals from your food.  The longer food sits or the more it gets processed, the fewer nutrients it retains.  Second, fresh foods do not usually have additives like artifical colors & flavors or sugars.  Third, fresh food tastes better.   Although fresh food may cost a little more initially, the savings will come in the form of fewer doctor visits and less supplements/vitamins.  Fresh food tastes better, nourishes your body more, and helps keep you healthy!

Pantry Challenge: Week 2

Week 2 of the the Pantry Challenge and we're still going strong!  I am starting to feel like I am actually accomplishing something this week.  Despite my busy schedule with all the new calves, we managed to eat most of our meals at home and only made one stop to the grocery store.

My first goal is to spend less money on groceries.  I did grab a bag of oranges and a head of lettuce while we were at the store.  The 5 lb. bag of oranges was on sale for $1.99 and the lettuce was $1.59.  So this week I spent $3.58.  That brings the total for January to $11.58.  :)

My second goal is to make more space in my cupboards.  We didn't eat a lot of canned food this week, but we did use up a couple things I have had forever, finished off the peaches, and are down to ONE package of Jell-o left.  We also finished off the last package of whole wheat spaghetti noodles (I bought several packages and it turned out we didn't like them so they have been tough to use up).

My third goal is to reduce the amount of stuff in my freezer.  With 3 baby calves to feed we are making quite a dent in the freezer half of it is full of frozen milk.  We also used up some more meat and a few packages of vegetables.

My fourth goal is to have fun.  I can't really say that I enjoyed cooking this week.  I mostly just tried to get through the week with all my extra chores to do.  I didn't try any new recipes, but we did make No-Bake Cookies with chocolate peanut butter - that turned out really good (and very chocolatey!).

If you are doing the pantry challenge, I hope it's going well!  If not, it's never too late to hop on board.  Head on over to Good Cheap Eats and see how everyone else's pantry challenge is going!