Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Toasty Banana Nut Muffins

Today I'm sharing a toasty little recipe for Banana Nut Muffins. This recipe is tasty, filling and made healthier by Wonder Flour. If you don't want to use wonder flour, you can try it with white flour or wheat flour and I'm sure it would also be tasty.
 


Banana Nut Muffins

*Makes 24 muffins

INGREDIENTS:
2-1/2 cups Wonder flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 Cup butter
1-1/4 Cup sugar
3/4 Cup sour milk (milk mixed with 1 Tbsp. lemon juice)
2 eggs
3 ripe bananas
1/2 Cup roasted slivered almonds, optional
sliced almonds as a topping, optional

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350. Spray 24 muffin tins with oil. 

In a small mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. In a separate medium sized bowl, cream the butter and sugar together using an electric beater. Then add the sour milk to the butter/sugar mixture and mix. Then add the 2 eggs and 3 ripe bananas and mix until smooth. Combine the wet and dry ingredients and mix until combined. Stir in roasted slivered almonds if desired. 

Scoop out about 1/4 C of the batter into each muffin tin. Sprinkle with sliced almonds, if desired. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.

Recipe Source: healthyfamilycookin.blogspot.com




Tuesday, February 28, 2012

My Favorite Pizza - Hawaiian with Roasted Almonds!

I've posted about our family tradition of Friday Night Pizza Night before. And I've even hinted about this recipe, but today I'm doing a full post on it because it's my most favorite pizza ever. And it uses our food of the week - almonds. Roasted slivered almonds to be exact. I got the idea for this pizza from Brick Oven, a pizza place that we like to go to sometimes when we are feeling extravagant, which is not often! My husband took me there when we were engaged and we ordered this pizza. I immediately fell in love with it and have been trying to recreate it ever since. Here's my closest copycat recipe for Brick Oven's Hawaiian Pizza (a healthier version of course - after all this IS Healthy Family Cookin').


Hawaiian Pizza with Roasted Almonds


*Makes 2 Large Pizzas


INGREDIENTS:
 1 1/2 Cup water
1 tsp. salt 
1 Tbsp. powdered milk
1 Tbsp. honey or brown sugar
1-1/2 Cup freshly-ground wheat flour
1 Tbsp. SAF instant yeast 
2-3 Cup All-purpose white flour
2 8-oz. cans tomato sauce
2 tsp. pizza or Italian seasoning
1 Tbsp. olive oil + more
1 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
5-6 Cups Cheese of your choice (I like to blend different combinations of Mozzarella, cheddar, Parmesan, jack, Colby jack, etc)
1 can sliced pineapple rings, cut into bite sized pieces
5-8 oz. chopped ham or Canadian bacon
1/2 Cup slivered almonds, roasted (see my previous blog post on how to roast almonds)


DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven 500 degrees. For the dough, heat the water in the microwave for 2 minutes. Place the hot water, salt, milk, and sugar in Bosch mixer. Add 1-1/2 C. wheat flour and then add the yeast on top. Set mixer at 2nd speed and mix adding more wheat flour until barely begins to pull from sides. Mix to let gluten work in for about 6 min. Drizzle counter with olive oil. Roll out half of the dough in a circle and place on parchment paper. Repeat for the other half of the dough. Let the dough raise for 15-20 min. 

For the sauce, simmer together until just heated: 2 8-oz. cans tomato sauce, 2 tsp. pizza or Italian seasoning, 1 Tbsp. olive oil, and 1 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar. This makes enough sauce for 2 large pizzas. I've made this sauce without the olive oil and balsamic vinegar and it's still good, but they do add a lot of flavor!


Spread the sauce onto the pizza crust. Then add the cheese, the pineapple, chopped ham or Canadian bacon and slivered almonds (or other toppings of your choice). 


Bake on preheated 500 F pizza stone, for 7-9 minutes or until crispy and cheese is bubbly. Eat up and enjoy!


Recipe Source: healthyfamilycookin.blogspot.com




Monday, February 27, 2012

Monday Meet Whole Foods: Almonds Part II !

I guess I didn't get enough almonds last week because I want to spend this week on them too! They are a great food and I have even more recipes to share with you! So today we are introducing:

Almonds Part II !
This photo, “Almond Trees” is copyright (c) 1980 wanderbored and made available under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.0 license

Almond Mythology
I want to start today's post by telling you a story from Greek mythology about how almonds came to be. There once was a beautiful maiden Phyllis, queen of Thrace, who was about to be married to her intended Demophon. She went to the altar and waited and waited, but he never came. She thought he had abandoned her, but he was delayed on his way home from battle. Phyllis waited for years and years for Demophon to return, but finally died of a broken heart. To show sympathy, the gods transformed Phyllis into an almond tree, as a symbol of hope. Finally the remorseful Demonphon returned only to find Phyllis as a leafless, flowerless tree. He embraced it and the tree suddenly burst into bloom, a demonstration of love not conquered by death.

Isn't that beautiful? I love it. I can't wait to plant my own almond tree in the backyard - a symbol of hope, constancy and enduring love. And the best part is that I get to eat ALMONDS from it in a few years!!

If you like almonds as much as I do (or want to like them as much as I do), here's a few more links that might be helpful to you:

How To Crack Almonds in their shell - Great step by step instructions with pictures!

Almond Equivalents - A helpful list that shows you how to convert between shelled and unshelled almonds, slivered and whole, and weights to cups.

Information about Growing Almond Trees - some helpful information if you're interested in growing an almond tree. And more great information about growing almond trees here.


I have to share a funny experience (that's completely off topic) that we had. We have family night every Monday night where we teach our children a lesson, have a family activity and then a treat. Well for the lesson a few weeks ago my husband was trying to teach the boys about how to make their prayers more meaningful. He excused himself from the room saying that he had to get something for the lesson. Then from the other room he called up my phone and asked for one of the boys. Then he said, "Hi is this C? Hi this is Daddy. How are you doing? Oh ok bye." And hung up without waiting for them to answer. He repeated this several times with each of the boys until finally they didn't even want to answer the phone anymore.

Then he came in from the other room and we talked about how to make our prayers more meaningful and think about what we are saying instead of repeating the same thing over and over again. Then he said, "What would it be like if we called up Grandpa on the phone and repeated that same thing over and over again each time?" They answered with things like, "He wouldn't like it", "It would be boring" etc. We finished talking about the lesson and had the rest of the family night.

Well the funny thing about this story happened just this past Saturday. We ended up taking a last minute trip to visit Brandon's parents to be there for a family event that was happening. It's a four-hour drive to visit them and we were only there a few hours before we had to turn around and go home. On the drive C said, "Why don't we stay longer, Dad?" Brandon explained to him that we had to get back for school and work on Monday so we couldn't stay. Then C said, "But aren't we just doing what you said not to do in that lesson?" We're pretty much just going, "Hi Grandpa, how are you doing? Oh good? Okay bye."

We laughed and laughed about that. He had a great point and we wished we could have stayed longer, but it was a wonderful time, nonetheless. It's so funny what kids pick up on even when you don't realize they're listening!

Back to the topic, I hope you all enjoy another week of almonds. If you're tired of them already, I'll try to include a few other interesting things this week as well. I'd love to hear about your favorite almond recipes, so leave me a comment or send me an e-mail!

Saturday, February 25, 2012

Favorite Children's Book: The Hundred Dresses


The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes has got to be one of my favorite children's books of all time and
a book that has impacted my life for the better.

It's a story about a little girl - Wanda Petronski who is awkward and poor and wears the same dress every day to school. The girl's at school tease her because of her story that she has a hundred dresses in her closet, all lined up in a row. Two of the girls in the class are Peggy and Maddie. Peggy is pretty and popular and loves to tease Wanda every day about her dresses. Maddie is quiet, poor herself, and wants Peggy to stay her friend. While Maddie doesn't out and out tease Wanda, she doesn't stick up for her either. The teasing continues so much that eventually Wanda's family moves away from the town. The story tells about how these girl's begin to realize their mistake and decide to change. I love this paragraph at the end of the story when Maddie finally realizes what she needs to do:

"At last Maddie sat up in bed and pressed her forehead tight in her hands and really thought. This was the hardest thinking she had ever done. After a long, long time she reached an important conclusion. She was never going to stand by and say nothing again. If she ever heard anybody picking on someone because they were funny looking or because they had strange names, she'd speak up. Even if it meant losing Peggy's friendship. She had no way of making things right with Wanda, but from now on she would never make anybody else so unhappy again."

I love what one little girl wrote to the author about the book (quoted in the Letter by Helena Estes) and I think this really states well the reason this book is so touching: "Seeing people for themselves, from the inside, is one lesson I learned from Wanda. She forgave both Peggy and Maddie, even though she had to put up with them every day."

hat a wonderful, timeless message this book teaches about having compassion and understanding for others. And even though we may not perpetrate the wrong, it's just as wrong to stand idly by letting it happen. I hope you enjoy reading this book with your family as much as we have! And have a wonderful weekend!
   

Friday, February 24, 2012

Frugal Friday: Take Care of the Pennies




I tried to find out who this saying is attributed to and it looks like no one is certain. Some versions say "Take care of the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves". Either way, the message is clear. If we control the small spending, the large spending will be controlled as well.

Here are a few ways you can watch your pennies:
  1. Avoid frivolous spending - you know the kind! The 50 cent candy bar, the emergency drink stop at 7-eleven, the nickels and dimes that float away without you noticing. Those things really do add up! If you stop every day at 7-eleven for a 68 cent Big Drink that amounts to about $250 a year! That's a lot of money. Those kinds of things not only add up money-wise, they also add up health-wise and pretty soon you've got a larger waistline and a smaller wallet, and it's really just not worth it.
  2. Avoid impulse buying - don't go shopping when you're hungry, don't buy something that you don't need just because it catches your eye, and always think about a purchase before buying it. What will be the value of this purchase to you in a week? A Month? A Year? When I'm fighting an impulse buy I always ask myself, do I love it? Will I still love it in a year? What will the maintenance on this item be like? Those kinds of questions usually make me realize that I don't love it, I don't need it and I really don't want the maintenance that will result from buying it.
  3. Watch Your Spending during "Sales" - I know I've mentioned this before, but it really deserves to be mentioned again. Everybody loves a good sale! Myself included. But you have to be careful not to buy more than you need, just because something is on sale. Don't buy two of an item just because it's on sale when one would do just fine.
  4. Waste Not - Turn off lights when they're not in use, squeeze the last of the toothpaste out of the tube, just use your resources wisely.
  5. Use less - Use less toothpaste, less shampoo, less soap, less toilet paper, less dish soap, less laundry soap, less paper towels, less light bulbs, the list goes on and on...consuming less may seem like pennies, but those pennies add up too!
  6. Buy fewer clothes - Do you ever feel like clothes multiply when you're not looking (except maybe socks which always seem to disappear)? I think most of us buy more clothes than we or our children need. If you put a limit on the number of clothes in your closets, it will save you a lot more than just the money to buy them up front. It also saves you money by having less laundry to do AND it saves you a lot of time and hassle in laundry, messes, and maintenance. 
When I think about this topic, I think about some people who are examples of this to me. They lived these principles every day of their lives and I see how it made a difference. 

When my Mom was growing up, my Grandfather worked as an umpire on Saturdays to earn a little extra money for his family. One particularly hot, Arizona afternoon he was walking home, sweat pouring off of him. He thought about how good an ice cone would taste right then and tried to justify buying it. It was only a nickel! But he knew he couldn't buy it. His family could make much better use of that nickel than he could.  

While my Grandfather never could be considered rich in his lifetime he was always able to provide for his family's needs. And taking care of those pennies, nickels and dimes is what really made the difference. I hope that we all can look for more ways to take care of those pennies so that the dollars can take care of themselves. Doing so will help us create a healthy family, just like it did for my grandpa.

What about you? Do you have any tips on how to watch your pennies? Are there people in your life that have been an example of this to you?

Linked to: Frugal Friday

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Etiquette Dinner

We had quite a fun experience last night teaching three teenage boys to cook. My husband works with the young men in our church group ages 12 - 18. Last night they were having an etiquette dinner at 6 p.m. with the young women where they learned manners, etc. The young men were in charge of cooking dinner so they met at our house at 4 p.m. to make this dinner:

- A spinach salad (with roasted almonds) - see recipe below
- Bread sticks
- Chocolate Lush Dessert

Some of the other boys were making chicken stroganoff at another home for the main dish. They made enough food to feed 36 people with some leftovers. I was so impressed with the boys and what they were able to accomplish in only 2 hours. The food was beautiful and tasty and they had a lot of fun doing it. We only had one mishap with a pan of roasted almonds, but I was so impressed with how they cleaned it right up and we still had plenty of almonds for the salad.

These recipes are really simple and perfect for cooking with your kids!


Roasted Almond Spinach Salad 
Printable Recipe

*Serves 8-10

1 10-oz. package fresh spinach
1 red bell pepper, chopped
3/4 Cup dried cranberries
1 Cup 
roasted, slivered almonds
raspberry vinaigrette dressing (to taste)

Combine all ingredients and toss. Serve immediately.


Isn't it colorful? This picture is taken without the roasted almonds and the dressing. They added those just before serving.

We made three batches of this Chocolate Lush dessert:



Chocolate Lush

*Serves 12-15

*Note: This dessert is put together in 4 layers.

2 Cups Flour
3/4 Cups butter
1 Cup chopped walnuts
1 8-oz. pkg. cream cheese
1 Cup powdered sugar
1 8-oz. Carton Cool Whip, divided
1 small package instant chocolate pudding
1 small package instant vanilla pudding
3 Cup milk (whole is best)

Crust Layer:
Mix together 2 Cups flour, 3/4 Cup butter and 1 Cup walnuts with a fork. Spread in a 9 x 13" ungreased pan. Bake 15 minutes at 350 degrees. Let cool completely before adding the next two layers.

Cream Cheese Layer:
Mix together 1 8-oz. pkg. cream cheese, 1 Cup powdered sugar and 1 Cup Cool Whip in a bowl with an electric mixer. Spread layer of cooled crust.

Pudding layer:
Put 1 small package chocolate pudding, 1 small package vanilla pudding and 3 Cup milk in a large bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat on high for 3 minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl often. Then spread pudding mix on top of cream cheese layer.

Cool Whip Layer:
Spread the remaining Cool Whip onto the top of the pudding layer. Sprinkle with chopped nuts, if desired, chocolate sprinkles, or a grated chocolate bar.

Then chill until serving.

Variations:
You can also use another kind of pudding in place of the chocolate. For example Lemon Lush would use 1 pkg. Lemon Pudding, Butterscotch Lush would use 1 pkg. butterscotch pudding, Pistachio Lush would use 1 pkg. pistachio pudding.



Finally, we made three batches of bread sticks. Here's the recipe. Make LOTS! Nobody can eat just one! *Note: Sometimes for our family I make them whole wheat. Click here for the whole wheat recipe
Bread Sticks after Raising


Bread Sticks
Printable Recipe

*Makes about 24 breadsticks

1 1/2 Cups Water
1 tsp. salt 
1 Tbsp. powdered milk
1 Tbsp. honey or brown sugar
1-1/2 Cups Freshly-ground Wheat flour
3-4 Cups Unbleached White Flour
1 Tbsp. SAF instant yeast 
1/4 Cup melted butter

Heat water in the microwave for 1-1/2 minutes or until hotter than 110 F. Then add water, salt, milk, and sugar in Bosch mixer. Add 1-1/2 Cup wheat flour. Then add the yeast on top. Set mixer at 2nd speed and mix adding the white flour until barely begins to pull from sides (you may not need all of it). Mix to let gluten work in for about 6 min.

Roll the dough into "snakes" to the size that you desire. Brush tops with 1/4 Cup melted butter, and sprinkle with any topping such as garlic or onion salt, parmesan cheese, sesame or poppy seeds, or seasoned salt. Allow to rise 15-20 minutes. Bake at 400 degrees about 10-15 minutes. They are great dipped or spread with butter as you eat them.

*Note: People eat a lot of these so always make more than you think!


Cooked Bread Sticks - Don't they look professional?


Here they are doing the dishes afterwards! What a fun evening and what a great bunch of kids!

Almond Recipes

Here's a few of my favorite recipes that use almonds...

Healthy Granola Bars
Poppy Seed Muffins (with almond extract)

And here's some that I found on pinterest. I realize there are a LOT of desserts, but I couldn't help myself. They all looked good! I love almond desserts...

Almond Butter






Pineapple Almond Balls

Italian Almond Cake

Peach Almond Tart
Source: zupas.com via Heather on Pinterest

Almond Truffle Brownie

Lemon Almond Bread


Almond Cream Cheese Danish

Apple-Almond Chicken Salad


Raspberry Almond Bread

Almond Crusted Chicken


Okay now that we've been inspired, let's go make some great food with almonds!

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

How to Roast Raw Whole or Slivered Almonds in the Oven or Skillet

I love roasted almonds! They have such a wonderful flavor and are great to eat as a snack, on top of pizza or salad, or in breads and muffins. I don't ever buy roasted almonds, however, because of the added salt and fat content in them. Today I'm going to share with you two methods that you can use to roast your own raw almonds - whole or slivered. By doing it at home, you can control the salt and fat content that you add (if you add any) or just leave them plain. They are very tasty that way too!


Skillet Method:
The first method is a quick method that works great if you need only a few almonds roasted. You can roast them in a skillet on the stove top. Here's how to do it:

Heat a skillet on medium heat on the stove top. Add the amount of almonds you desire. I recommend not adding more than can fit in one layer in your skillet.


Then as they heat, watch them really close and turn them often.


When they turn brown (to your own liking), they are all done! It only takes about 10 minutes.

Pros of the skillet method: This method a lot faster than the oven method. It uses less energy and you can cook a small batch that you need for a recipe (or snack) quickly.

Cons of the skillet method: They cook a bit uneven (you can see from the picture). It's really easy to get distracted and let them burn. 

Oven Method: 
To roast almonds in the oven, preheat the oven to 350 F. Put the almonds in a single layer on a cookie sheet and put them in the preheated oven. 

Then set the timer for 5 minutes so you don't forget and when it goes off open the oven and turn the almonds on the sheet a few times. Then put them back in the oven. Repeat this step every 5 minutes until the almonds have reached a golden brown color. This will be about 15 - 20 minutes for the slivered and 20 - 25 minutes for the whole almonds, depending on how brown you like them.



Pros of the oven method: Your almonds come out more evenly browned using this method. And you don't have to babysit them quite as much.

Cons of the oven method: They take a little bit longer and use a bit more energy.

As you can see, roasting almonds at home is really easy to do, either method that you choose. They are much healthier for you than buying them roasted and salted in the store because you can control what kind of oil you put on them and how much salt you add. 

Here are a few of my favorite ways to use roasted almonds:
  1. I sprinkle them on salad, which adds color and a lot of flavor
  2. In quick breads or muffins
  3. My most favorite pizza of all time has roasted almonds on top. 
  4. And they are great to eat just plain or if you like, you can drizzle them with a bit of olive oil when they are done and a little salt! Mmmmh! The perfect snack! 
Eat them, Eat them! And enjoy!

Monday, February 20, 2012

Monday Meet Whole Foods: Almonds!

Almonds are probably already familiar to most of us, but hopefully in this post you will learn something new about them. So without further ado I introduce to you in their raw and wholesome glory,

Almonds!

Or if you prefer, you can also find them slivered or sliced, respectively.


Right now our garden has lots of fruit trees but one thing we don't have is a nut tree. We're still doing the research, but we are leaning very heavily toward planting an almond tree as long as we can find a hardy variety that will survive the cold winters. So I'm excited today to share with you the health benefits of almonds.

What are Almonds?
According to Wikipedia, the fruit that grows on an almond tree is not a nut, but actually a drupe because it contains an outer hull with an inner, edible seed. I, however, am content to think of almonds as nuts and will continue to do so for the time being. If you object, then that's fine with me. You can think of them as drupes...

How do I use them?
My favorite way to eat almonds is raw. I buy unsalted, unflavored, raw almonds and they are the perfect snack in my estimation. They satisfy hunger cravings that happen right in the middle of the afternoon when you are dying to eat a candy bar. They are perfect snacks for kids, hiking food, midnight snacks (you get the idea). You can also roast almonds, grind them into flour (by pulsing a blender or food processor), or you can sprout whole, raw almonds. Slivered or sliced almonds are great on salads, a top a pizza, or in desserts. You can also use almonds to make almond milk or almond butter. Because of their fat content, almonds can go rancid quickly. For best storage, almonds should be stored in a cool dry place. We keep ours in the freezer, and they store well for up to a year.

How healthy are they?
Almonds are high in the good kind of fats that your body needs - monounsaturated fats. They are also high in Vitamin E, Magnesium, and Potassium. Because of these properties that almonds have, eating them has been shown to reduce the risk of heart disease and help promote cardiovascular health. There have been studies done that show that eating almonds or other nuts has helped people lose weight or has lowered their risk of weight gain. Almonds are also high in protein, making them a good source for energy.

Where can I buy them?
Raw almonds are sold in most grocery stores and in health food stores or you can buy them online. Make sure you read the package to ensure they don't have added salts, oils and sugars.

Got a Recipe?
This week I'll be sharing some recipes that use almonds. If you have a favorite recipe, please feel free to leave me a comment or send me an e-mail! I'd love to hear from you.

Almond Recipes:
Toasty Banana Nut Muffins
Roasted Almond Spinach Salad
Granola Bars
How to Roast Raw or Slivered Almonds
Hawaiian Pizza with Roasted Almonds
Broiled Almond-Crusted Tilapia


Information from this post came from: whfoods.com and wikepedia.org

Saturday, February 18, 2012

Favorite Children's Book: Mother Goose

You may know by now that nursery rhymes and I are good friends. There's something about them that just speaks to me of childhood and innocence and imagination. My aunt was a school teacher and she gave my oldest boy a copy of "Mother Goose" by Mary Engelbreit when he was just a little tyke. I immediately fell in love with this book. It's the best illustrated book of nursery rhymes that I've ever read (and I've read a lot!). My son was just as captivated by it as I was. I can think of many, many times when we sat together reading this book and couldn't put it down. He has always loved (and still does) reading and I attribute a big part of that to children's books like this that are amazing!

The thing I love about the illustrations so much is the color. She mixes and matches colors that you would never think match, but they do. The houses are fanciful and detailed. The home decorating is lovely and all of it just draws you right in to the book.

Reading nursery rhymes is so good for children to help learn language. They hear rhythms and rhyming schemes, learn new words, and discover what words mean through help of the illustrations. You can help them memorize the rhymes by reciting them to the children while you're giving them a bath:

Rub a dub, dub
Three men in a tub...

When you go to the store:
To market to market, 
to buy a fat pig: 
Home again, home again, 
jiggety jig.

Or even when they fall down:

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, 
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the king's horses
And all the king's men
Couldn't put Humpty together again.

I hope you enjoy this book as much as our family has. It's a treasure!

Friday, February 17, 2012

Frugal Friday: Understanding Amortization, Part I

When we first set out to purchase a home we knew basically nothing about it. We did some research and relied on other people's advice a lot. To be honest, we were pretty ignorant, looking back on it. I talked about some of the things we learned in this process in a previous Frugal Friday post about debt, but today I want to talk a little more specifically about what we've learned about amortization and how it works.

The first step in understanding amortization is to get yourself an amortization schedule. I'm going to post some screen shots from the excel loan amortization schedule that is available to download free at this site. I like it because it is fairly clear and allows you to add on principal to your payment and shows you how doing so will save you money.

Here's a screen shot of an example amortization schedule for a house (with a loan value of $200,000). I have highlighted some information you need to know to populate the form for your own loan.

  1. Loan amount - the amount you will plug in here is the amount for your actual loan (or how much you owe on it if you're in the middle of a loan). If you're buying a house for the first time it is the amount of your house plus closing cost fees minus what you are paying out of pocket as a down payment.

  2. Interest Rate (APY) - you will probably use a lender to help you shop for a good interest rate. Once your interest rate is determined and locked in, you can plug the APY value in here. APY stands for annual percentage yield.

  3. Term of the Loan in years - How many years is your loan for? Plug it in here. If you're in the middle of a mortgage, plug in the number of years you have left to pay (decimals work for partial years).

  4. Due date of the first payment - this will be determined when you get closer to closing on the house. If you are in the middle of a mortgage, plug in your next payment date.

  5. Frequency of Payment -  Your loan can be paid annual, semi-annual, quarterly, bi-monthly or monthly. 

  6. This part of the schedule is automatically calculated - don't change it! The payment only reflects what you pay on your mortgage (not other costs like escrow accounts or mortgage interest).

  7. Additional Interest - Here you can list additional money that you put toward the principal in order to pay it off quicker than the loan term. Doing this will save you a lot of interest (especially at the beginning of the loan when you are paying a lot of interest and very little principal).

  8. Interest Savings - When you make an additional payment on the interest, you can see the savings here. This is really helpful, as you can see how much money you are saving by putting more money toward the loan. Putting even a few extra dollars a month towards your loan can really save you a lot of money in the end. For example, here I've used the same amortization schedule with $100 of additional principal added each month. You can see it really adds up.In this example, you've saved $37,094.12 in interest and have paid your home off in 24 years and 10 months instead of the full 30 years. You can see that if you add even more to the amount you are paying extra toward the principal, it will help you get out of debt even sooner.

I hope this post has been helpful and that you've been able to see how Amortization works. I plan to explain more about it in a future Frugal Friday post. I hope this will help you reach financial independence as you created your healthy family.

Linked to: Frugal Friday

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Alphabet Soup {Electric Pressure Cooker Recipe}

I've gotten through almost a whole week of spelt posts without any spelt jokes! Well that's pretty good, if you ask me, but sorry that's going to end right now...

How did the Mom making alphabet soup say "I love you?"

She spelt it out!

Ha ha! Okay, I know that one was pretty cheesy, but I couldn't resist. Especially with valentine's day just barely behind us.

On a more serious note, soup is a great thing to include spelt (or any whole grain) in. It's easy to hide (the kids don't notice) and it adds nutrition and texture. It's really easy to do this when you use a pressure cooker! Here's an alphabet soup recipe that I've added spelt and adapted for the pressure cooker from the prudent homemaker's (non-pressure cooker) version here. This is a wonderful soup for kids because it's so colorful, has a very simple flavor (which is a good thing), but is still interesting enough for adults to enjoy.


Alphabet Soup {Electric Pressure Cooker Recipe}

*Serves 6-8

1 28 oz. can tomatoes
1-1/2 Tbsp. beef base (or 5 tsp. beef bouillon)
2 tsp. dried onion
1 tsp. granulated garlic (or 2 garlic cloves)
2-3 carrots, diced
1/2 Cup uncooked spelt (or barley or brown rice)
1 Quart water (4 cups)

Combine above ingredients in an electric pressure cooker and pressure on high pressure for 12 minutes. Use quick release method. Open up pressure cooker and then add:

1 can green beans
1 can corn
1/2 Cup alphabet pasta

Close the pressure cooker lid again and pressure on high for 3 minutes. Then release pressure (quick or naturally), salt and pepper to taste and enjoy! Very simple meal that the whole family will love. In the pressure cooker it literally takes under 30 minutes from start to finish.

I've also made this recipe in the pressure cooker without adding spelt. It's even faster if you're really in a hurry. Just add ALL the ingredients (including green beans, corn and alphabet pasta) but use only 3 cups of water. You could substitute red or white quinoa for the spelt or just leave it out completely. And pressure it on high for 6 minutes. Very, very simple, very quick and very economical (plus a lot healthier than the store bought variety)! Everything I love in a great recipe!

Recipe Source: Adapted from the prudent homemaker


For more pressure cooker recipes see my pressure cooker recipe page. Or follow my pressure cooker board on pinterest.

Linked To: Tastetastic Thursday, Recipe Linky, Cast Party Wednesday, It's a Keeper Thursday, What's Cooking Thursdays, Full Plate Thursday

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Spelt Recipes

Well looky here! We have new life! My basil and onion seeds (respectively) have sprouted! 
I moved them from beside the heater vent to a sunny window and they love it!


It's funny how little things like seeds sprouting can brighten your day! Sometimes the winter seems awfully dreary, but plants are one of those things that bring life and light to those dark days.

We had a lovely valentine's day yesterday. I hope you all did also. We ate at home - fancied up our meal a bit for the occasion. We had sweet pork on hamburger buns, roasted garlic and rosemary potatoes, fresh pineapple and a delicious pineapple drink that my husband came up with using the pineapple core. It was delicious. I have a little perfecting to do to the sweet pork recipe - I tried it in the electric pressure cooker for the first time and it turned out really good! Just a bit runnier than it is in the crock pot. So I'll thicken it up for next time and post the improved recipe when I do!

But for today, I want to share with you some wonderful recipes that I found using spelt. These give you an idea of how many things you can use spelt in - it really is a fabulous grain! 

Carrot Raisin Spelt Berry Salad with Cumin and Cilantro
Source: ohsheglows.com via Jessica on Pinterest


Spelt Crepes


Spelt Salad
Source: ohsheglows.com via Caz on Pinterest


Chickpea, Tomato, and Spelt Soup


Banana Spelt Muffins
Source: fannetasticfood.com via The on Pinterest


Spelt Salad with White Beans and Artichokes
Source: cookinglight.com via Jenifer on Pinterest


Spelt Banana Bread


As you can see - there are so many things you can include spelt in! It makes the food taste wonderful and adds nutrition! Hurrah for spelt!


Linked to: Friday Favorite Finds

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