Preserving Food and large gardens/orchards have been a way of life for my family for generations. Rows of jars lined canning shelves and freezers were full of food by summer’s end.
Tomato products have always be a favorite of many people, including myself to can. Pizza Sauce is a must at our house. This sauce is made without sugar and chock full of veggies. I love to make pizza using sourdough crust! In fact we rarely buy pizza since we prefer this homemade version.
Protein Bars!! I love them for a quick snack when I’m busy at home but I still need something to eat or when I’m traveling. Cranberries and Coconut pair wonderful in this bar. When cranberries can be found in grocery stores over the holiday season, I will purchase a number of bags to dry or freeze. These dried cranberries make a wonderful, chewy addition to protein bars.
Here is a round-up of my favorite party foods. You will find anything from Wings, Taco Dip, Trail Mix, Candy, Cheesecakes, and more. I hope these will become your favorites, too.
A party would not be complete without wings! These Cajun Wings can be quickly made in an air fryer. I love my Ninja Foodie! It makes the best wings and the grease and splatters are all contained inside the unit. Yay!
Chicken Noodle Soup been a favorite of mine ever since I was a young child. The traditional Pennsylvania Dutch Chicken Noodle Soup was made with homemade egg noodles, lots of sweet corn, and loaded with carbs. Here is a slimming version that is so tasty and packed full of flavor.
We, as mothers often find ourselves with too much to do and not enough of time to take care of ourselves. Teas and drinks help to keep me from snacking but they do take time to prepare. Here is an easy way to have oolong tea ready at your fingertips. I find that when I have these small jars of concentrate in my fridge, I drink much more. My youngest daughter can put the ingredients in the jars and even fill them with hot water using the Keurig. I hope this handy tip will help you in the busyness of life.
Angel Food Cakes are a delicious fluffy light dessert to add to any meal. I love to bake and these cakes are so easy! This Peanut Butter Angel Food cake uses defatted peanut flour instead of regular wheat flour. Which makes it a Fuel Pull even with the frosting. Try this delicious dessert and see what you think of it!!
Coffee is a favorite drink of mine as you probably can tell by now! This Mint Chocolate Iced Latte is delicious and so refreshing! You can’t go wrong paring these flavors together. The Latte in itself in is a FP but if you garnish it with whipped cream as pictured it is an S. I will often drink it without whipped cream but it is special to serve to guests with garnishes and my daughters think it need whipped cream, too!
Cucumbers have always been a top priority when deciding what to plant in my garden. Our family loves to eat them raw and I love to pickle them. A favorite recipe to can for years was Seven Day Sweet Pickles. This recipe can be found in old cookbooks from our grandmother’s time. The original recipe took quite a lot of sugar but you can have the same crunchy sweet pickle using Stevia.
Coffee, every day, any time, any way!! I enjoy coffee and desserts so why not combine the two into a light refreshing Mousse. Many desserts are full of fats and calories. This Espresso Mousse is full of flavor and protein but light in fats and calories. It is a tasty ending to a meal or for a bedtime snack. I garnished this Mousse with a scoop of fat-free Greek Yogurt flavored with THM vanilla extract and Gentle Sweet, Espresso Powder, and 12 Lily’s chocolate chips to keep it within the guidelines for a FP.
Have you wanted to learn the art of canning? You can! Here is a step-by-step tutorial on canning diced tomatoes. This is an easy item to start with and you can just do a few pints at a time as you learn the process. The best thing of all –you will have a superior product compared to what you can purchase in the store because you control what you put into the jars. I love to can diced tomatoes in the summertime to add to Taco Soup and Beefy Cabbage Soup in the cold winter months.
