Dark Chocolate & Oat Clusters

So I recently got a Fitbit (yay!). I've added exercise back into my life and have changed my eating habits. The Fitbit app has a food tracker (calorie counter) that works with your daily exercise so you can compare your calories in and calories out. So this means I am now "clean" eating and am no longer eating any processed foods (or have reduced them significantly anyway). This has been working - I'm feeling great, I've lost 5 pounds and I am already down a pants size. Every so often though, cravings kick in. Sometimes I want something salty and other times, I need chocolate. If I've just burned 500 calories at the gyn, I'm not about to ruin that with a bowl of ice cream!

Yesterday, I found a recipe for Dark Chocolate Oat Clusters on Health's website. They are made with 4 ingredients and are simply delicious. I made them this morning and before I left for the gym this afternoon, I ate two. They held me over and satisfied that sweet tooth. Plus, they're full or resistant starch, (the oats), so that's a win-win!

Prep Time: 5 minutes Cook Time: 3 minutes Total Time: 10 minutes Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons peanut butter
• 2 tablespoons 1% low-fat milk
• 1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 3/4 cup old-fashioned rolled oats

Directions

1. Heat peanut butter, milk, and chocolate chips in a saucepan over low heat 3 minutes or until chips melt.
2. Stir in oats. Remove from heat.
3. With a spoon, small ice cream scoop, or melon baller, drop 8 ball-shaped portions on a wax paper−lined baking sheet. Let set in fridge 10 minutes.

Nutritional Info

Calories per serving:	160
Fat per serving:	8g
Saturated fat per serving:	3g
Monounsaturated fat per serving:	3.5g
Polyunsaturated fat per serving:	1.5g
Protein per serving:	5g
Carbohydrates per serving:	19g
Fiber per serving:	3g
Cholesterol per serving:	0mg
Sodium per serving:	40mg
Rs per serving:	1.7g

DIY Laundry Detergent - Update for 2015

So it's that time of year where we're running low on laundry detergent! Please see our 2 prior blog posts:

• February 18, 2014: DIY Laundry Detergent - Update for 2014
• March 23, 2013: DIY Laundry Detergent

Last year, we spent $38.81. This year, we spent $39.86 (increase of $1.05). We used Zote (mentioned in How Does She?'s blog) soap again this year - I really like how it smells. We used the same Purex Crystals Fabric Softener "Fresh Spring Waters" scent.

Ingredients

• 1 (4 lb. 12 oz.) Box of Borax
• 1 (3 lb. 7 oz.) Box of Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda
• 1 (4 lb.) Box of Arm & Hammer Baking Soda
• 1 (3 lb.) Container of OxyClean
• 2 (14.1 oz.) Bars of Pink Zote Soap
• 2 (48 oz.) Bottles of Purex Crystals Fabric Softener

Cost Break Down

Total Cost of ingredients listed above: $39.86
Total ounces by weight = 367.2 oz.
2 Tablespoons = 1 oz. (for 1 load of laundry)

This means about 367 loads of laundry at about $0.11 per load.

Cost of living shows an increase of $0.01 per load of laundry expected for this year as opposed to last year. Still, that is LESS THAN $40 for laundry detergent. FOR AN ENTIRE YEAR. (Actually, more than a year, since the last time we made it was in March of 2014).

As I said last year and the year before, "the math don't lie."


Picture Proof:

Directions

1. Cut the Zote Soap into strips and then microwave.
2. Use a Magic Bullet or food processor to puree the Zote Soap into a powder. If you don't want to use a processor, you can always use a cheese grater.
3. Get a very large bucket and mix everything together. It is recommended that you layer the ingredients and mix thoroughly.
4. You only need 2 tablespoons (even for the largest load of laundry)! The Purex Crystals lid is perfect for measuring.

Pictures (with comments)

The ingredients. List is above.


Dumping ingredients into the large bucket.


Zote soap.


Zote soap cut into strips. It felt like cutting through cheese.


What Zote soap looks like in the microwave.


Zote soap all pureed.


Handy helper mixing away!


2 handy helpers!


Empty containers then full containers.


That's a lot of laundry detergent!


Time to do some Laundry!

Slow Cooker Chicken Pot Pie Stew

I was craving chicken pot pie today, so I came up with this pretty easy meal to prepare. You can really use any kinds of vegetables. For anything chicken-based, you want to stick with carrots, potatoes, celery and onions. To thicken it up, mix together sour cream, flour and water. We served this with flaky biscuits.

Ingredients

• 2 (32 oz.) cartons chicken broth
• 4 (10 oz.) cans cooked chicken, drained
• 6 small potatoes, pealed & diced
• 7 carrots, sliced
• 7 stalks celery, sliced
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1 tsp. thyme
• 1 tsp. parsley
• 1 tsp. celery salt
• ½ tsp. salt
• ½ tsp. pepper
• 8 oz. sour cream
• 1 cup flour
• ¼ cup water

Directions

1. Set slow cooker to low.
2. Add chicken, potatoes, carrots, celery, peas, seasonings & chicken broth.
3. Cook for 6 hours, or until vegetables are tender.
4. An hour before serving, in a medium bowl, mix together sour cream, flour & water, and whisk into stew. This makes it thick and creamy.
5. Let cook for an additional hour.
6. Serve with biscuits and enjoy.

Dill Pickle Soup

One of my friends reposted this recipe from facebook, from Noble Pig's page. I knew I wanted to try just from the name. Who doesn't love pickles? And the taste - is fantastic! It's really easy and takes no more than 30 minutes to make.

Ingredients

• 5½ cups chicken broth
• 1¾ pounds russet potatoes, peeled and quartered
• 2 cups chopped carrots (smaller dice)
• 1 cup chopped dill pickles (smaller dice ~ about 3 large whole dills)
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup sour cream
• ¼ cup water
• 2 cups dill pickle juice*
• 1½ teaspoons Old Bay seasoning
• ½ teaspoon table salt
• ½ teaspoon coarsely ground pepper
• ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

Directions

1. In a large pot, combine broth, potatoes, carrots and butter. Bring to a boil and cook until the potatoes are tender. Add pickles and continue to boil.
2. In a medium bowl, stir together flour, sour cream and water, making a paste. Vigorously whisk sour cream mixture (2 Tablespoons at a time) into soup. (This will also break up some of your potatoes which is okay. You might see some initial little balls of flour form, but between the whisking and boiling all will disappear. Don't panic.)
3. Add pickle juice, Old Bay, salt (*see below), pepper and cayenne. Cook 5 more minutes and remove from heat. Serve immediately.

*All pickle juice is not created equal. Some is saltier than others. Taste your soup after adding the pickle juice and final seasonings. It's possible you will not need any salt or would prefer more or less.

Pictures

Ingredients.


Broth, potatoes, carrots & butter.


Chopped pickles.


Flour, sour cream & water.


Boiling nicely.


Seasoning. I love fresh dill.


Adding pickles to soup.


Whisking in the sour cream mixture.


Whisk, whisk, whisk!


My hand's a blur!


Thickened up and ready to serve!


Dinner is served.

Tortellini Soup

One of my friends reposted this recipe from facebook, from Point of Grace's page. We made it tonight and it was out of this world.This isn't a regular posting where I post a bunch of photos. Just the main one. And I think it does the job.

Ingredients

• 3 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 3 stalks, celery, chopped
• 3 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 1 onion diced
• 10 oz box frozen spinach (unthawed)
• 2 cans cream of chicken soup
• 2 cans water
• 32 oz. chicken broth
• Family size package of cheese or chicken tortellini, half cooked (I used Buitoni)

Directions

1. Put olive oil in the bottom of a large soup/stock pan.
2. Saute' garlic, celery, carrots and onions until tender.
3. Add frozen spinach. Break up blocks of spinach as you cook.
4. Continue to saute' until spinach thaws, then heats up.
5. Add cream of chicken soup and water.
6. Add chicken broth and then add tortellini.
7. Heat and Serve.

"Fried" Pickles with Cilantro Garlic Aioli

Justin found a recipe duo on Pinterest that we were compelled to try. The original post is here: Cilantro Garlic Ranch and Fried Pickles. The reason we renamed the recipe to "Fried Pickles with Cilantro Garlic Aioli" is because we wanted to put the focus on the main event (aka the pickles) rather than the dipping sauce. Also, there is nothing "fried" about this dish - the pickles are broiled. The dipping sauce was improvised a bit; we used mayonaise and milk, so it came out more like an aioli rather than a ranch dressing. We also did not have any buttermilk on hand, so we used regular 2% milk mixed with lemon juice. Here is our recipe and instructions.

Ingredients for "Fried" Pickles

• 2 (24 oz.) jars of dill pickle slices (we used Claussen)
• 4 eggs
• 2/3 cup flour
• 2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tsp. hot sauce (we used Frank's)
• 2 tsp. garlic powder
• 2 tsp. Cajun seasoning
• 2 tsp. ground black pepper
• 3 cups panko bread crumbs

Directions for "Fried Pickles"

1. Drain pickle slices and place on a paper towel-lined dish to absorb excess moisture. This step is important or your batter won't stick to the pickle.
2. Whisk together eggs, flour, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, garlic powder, Cajun seasoning, & black pepper until it forms a batter.
3. Put panko bread crumbs in a shallow dish.
4. Dunk each pickle slice in the batter and then coat with panko bread crumbs.
5. Place coated pickle slices on a raised rack over a cookie sheet.
6. Set oven to broil, and put the cookie sheet of pickles in the center of the oven. Broil for approximately 2½ to 3 minutes per side, or until golden brown.
7. Serve hot or cooled. Both are acceptable, depending on preference.

Ingredients for Cilantro Garlic Aioli

• 1 cup 2% milk + 1 Tbsp. Lemon juice
• 2 cups mayonnaise (we used the Helman's with Olive Oil)
• Generous handful of Cilantro (more or less if you like... personal preference)
• 2 Tbsp. garlic powder
• 1 Tbsp. Italian Seasoning
• 4 cloves garlic
• Salt + Pepper (to taste)
• 1/4 cup red onion, diced

Directions for Cilantro Garlic Aioli

1. Set milk and lemon juice aside to curd, approximately 5 - 10 minutes
2. Combine all ingredients in a food processor (we used our Magic Bullet).
3. Pulse until well-blended and larger chunks are gone.
4. It is a good idea to taste the mixture and add more of the above ingredients. We LOVE Cilantro, so we put in a good amount.
5. Chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour before you want to serve.
6. Once chilled, serve with the "fried" pickles, and garnish with cilantro leaves.

Pictures

Some of the ingredients.


Mixing the batter.


Pickles & panko bread crumbs.


Paper towel-lined dish with pickle slices.


Ready to assemble pickle slices!


Dip then coat.


Coated pickles ready to go into the oven.


1st side is broiled.


Flipped and back in the oven to broil again.


Both sides broiled.


Serve with the Cilantro Garlic Aioli.


Close-up of the platter.


Close-up of a pickle. So yummy!