Kale Chips

I love fruits and vegetables and in the past couple of weeks I have been really focusing on eating more raw foods, increasing my fresh fruits and vegetables intake and decreasing my carbohydrate intake! YUM! Let me tell you, I feel a bunch better already. So anyway, one thing I discovered was my new love of Kale, my favorite way, making Kale chips! They are easy and delicious and PACKED with vitamins.

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• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Wash and spin dry (or towel dry in case you don't have a spinner like me)
• Remove stems and cut out veins
• Cut into bite size piece

• Place on baking sheet
• Drizzle with olive oil
• Sprinkle with sea salt (or seasoned salt)

• Bake 10-15 minutes until edges are slightly brown
• Cool

ENJOY!!

Pudding Pops

Here are some very yummy cold treats! As I try to control what is in our food, making our own freeze pops seems not only logical but also saves money. It also allows for some creativity and engagement with kiddos.
One great one that is adored in our home is pudding pops. This recipe will follow a box pudding mix with a future post of making your own pudding.

Banana Pudding Pops
1 small box instant vanilla pudding
1 3/4 C milk
1 ripe banana

Blend all ingredients until smooth then place in mold.
*Note: Use ripe sweet bananas to avoid having bitter pudding pops

Blueberry Cheesecake Pudding Pops
1 small box cheesecake instant pudding
1 3/4 C half and half
1 C blueberries
1 t lemon zest

In a blender mix cheesecake pudding mix and half and half until smooth. Add in lemon zest and blueberries and pulse a couple of times to break up the blueberries. Place in molds and freeze.

Simple Vanilla Pudding Pops
1 small box vanilla pudding

Blend with milk and freeze. We sometimes add crushed up graham crackers for added fun.

Don't want to forget the chocolate ...

Mint-Chocolate Pudding Pops
1 small box instant chocolate pudding
1 3/4 C half and half
10 Oreo cookies, crushed (about 1 heaping cup)
1/4 t peppermint extract

Blend pudding mix, extract, and half and half in a blender until smooth. Stir in crushed cookies by hand. Place in molds and freeze.

What kind of creations can you invent?

Crockpot Yogurt

In our home we go through a fair amount of yogurt, all of which can be quite expensive - along with having trouble to control the extra “stuff” in it. I was introduced by A Simple Wife With A Simple Life how to make homemade yogurt, I could not wait to try it!
This is best done as an overnight project.

All you need is:
A crockpot
1/2 gallon of whole milk
1/2 cup of plain yogurt (this will be your starter and will never need to buy again, I’ll explain more later)

How to:

Putting your crockpot on LOW, warm the 1/2 gallon of milk, for 2 hours.

Unplug the crockpot and let it sit for 3 hours. Do not remove cover.

After 3 hours, remove two cups of the crockpot milk and whisk together with 1/2 cup of plain yogurt (it does come out a bit 'runny', using 1/4 cup will make it thicker).

Stir the milk/yogurt mix into the crockpot with the rest of the milk.

Cover the crockpot with a thick bath towel and let sit for 8-10 hours.

After sitting, it is ready to eat, though warm.
I scooped it into Mason Jars and refrigerated for a few hours.

It is not as thick as store bought yogurt, but oh-so-yummy! You can strain it through some cheesecloth to remove some of the extra liquid if preferred.
I just make sure to enjoy it with a little bit of caution to not wear it - and sometimes thicken it up with flax seed.
Enjoy.

Some ways to flavorize the yogurt. (I know it isn’t a real word, but still fun)

For natural sweeteners you can add: maple syrup, honey, or agave
Mix in some of your favorite fruits, granola, or flax seed
*It is best to mix flavors into individual servings to keep it from not getting too watery as well as add some variety of flavor options to suit your taste buds in the moment.


Note: You can use low-fat milk for this recipe. As this is a new endeavor for me, I have not yet experimented with it. From what I have reviewed you can mix in a packet of unflavored gelatin or powdered milk during the step of mixing in the yogurt.