Attack of the Snack Pack

Behold the snack pack, a marvelous invention. The snack pack offers you many things: convenience, portion control, yummy snacks! The only thing the snack pack is not is inexpensive. Because of the convenience and the extra packaging, the snack pack can be quite pricy unfortunately.

So how to take advantage of the snack pack attributes and keep from spending a fortune? Why make them yourself of course! Homemade snack packs are simple, fast and environmentally friendly. They also save you tons of moo-lah while offering you convenience.

To make any kind of snack pack you first need the correct container. If you use a container that’s too big your snack pack will be bulky and cumbersome. Pick a container that’s too small and you’ll take two bites and be finished! A snack pack needs to be just the right size.

The best container I’ve found for snack packs is Gladware ½ cup round containers. They hold one serving of jello, one serving of pudding, one serving of applesauce and so on. They come in a package of 8 containers. It’s been awhile since I bought these but I believe they run approximately $3.00 per pack. You might catch them on sale for $2.50 and the Sunday paper also has coupons for Gladware or Glad products from time to time. At $3.00 per pack that’s $0.38 per container.

What to put in your snack pack is entirely up to you. Here are some options:

Pudding – instant or homemade
Jello
Applesauce – from a bigger jar or homemade
Fruit – pineapple chunks are good
Pickles – I seriously saw pickle snack packs at the store so why not make your own
Yogurt

Now the main point of a snack pack is convenience, therefore it's best to make a whole bunch at once. That way they are ready for you to grab right out of the refrigerator and pop in your lunch or whatever you need them for. I frequently make pudding, jello and pineapple snack packs. The picture above is lime jello snack packs I made last night.

The fastest way to make pudding and jello snack packs is to mix up the pudding or jello in a big measuring cup with a spout. Then when you are finished mixing you can pour the pudding or jello straight into the Gladware cups, pop the lids on and put them in the refrigerator. The whole process takes less than 10 minutes. I frequently replenish my snack pack supply while I am waiting on my dinner to cook. I’m already in the kitchen so I might as well spend 10 minutes doing something productive.

The Economics: We’ll just analyze pudding snack packs for now. A box of instant pudding costs $0.75. It contains 4 servings. It requires 2 cups of milk. Milk is about $3.00 per gallon right now in my area. A gallon of milk contains 16 cups. At $3.00 per gallon that’s $0.19 per cup, or $0.38 needed to make our pudding. At that to $0.75 for the pudding mix and the total cost is $1.13. The pudding will make 4 servings, so that’s $0.28 per serving. We’re not including the cost of the containers because they are reusable. Make homemade pudding and the cost is even less.

I think commercial pudding snack packs are around $3.00 for a pack of 6. That makes the cost $0.50 per serving. That’s 44% higher than the homemade version. Now a $0.22 savings may not seem worth it to you, but let’s think of it over a longer period of time. Say you have 2 kids. Each one eats one pudding snack pack every day at school in their lunch. That’s 2 snack packs per day, 5 days per week. Your kids go to school for 9 months out of the year, so say 36 weeks. At 10 snack packs per week for 36 weeks, a $0.22 cent savings would save you $79.20! Now do you see how it adds up?

So is it worth it? YES! Not only are homemade snack packs cost savvy, they are also environmentally friendly. By making homemade snack packs out of reusable containers you are throwing away less trash. In my area the commercial snack pack containers are not recyclable. Gladware containers are recyclable so when they get worn out you can recycle them. And if one is accidentally lost by a kid (or a husband!), you are not out a lot of money on a container.

Bottom line: make homemade snack packs!

Apples to Applesauce

Last Friday my mother-in-law (“MIL”) and I canned homemade applesauce. I had never made homemade applesauce before nor had I ever canned before. Luckily she cans applesauce almost every year so she knew exactly what to do. I’ve always wanted to can something so I was excited when she asked me to help her.

I quickly found that canning is a beast of its own so today’s post will just be on the first step: making homemade applesauce. I’ll leave my canning experience for another post.

To make homemade applesauce you need the following ingredients:

Apples – however many you want depending on how much applesauce you want to make. Pick a sweet apple, not a sour apple and you can also combine varieties for different flavors.

Large pot

Food mill, sieve, or potato masher

The preparation is different depending on which tool you use to mash up the apples. The easiest method is to use a food mill or Victoria strainer. If you are using one of these tools all you have to do is chop the apples up into pieces. No peeling or coring necessary. If you are using a sieve or a potato masher, you should peel and core your apples first, then chop into pieces.

Depending on the amount of apples, put 1-2 inches of water in the large pot and heat on high. Put the chopped up apples in the pot and cover. Let the apples cook until they are soft. After awhile I would just poke the apples with a fork or knife to see if they are soft.

Once the apples are finished cooking, remove the pot from heat. If using a Victoria strainer or food mill, load up the top with the apple chunks and crank them through to mush. We used a Victoria strainer which works by pushing the apples through a sieve via a hand crank. The good stuff comes through the sieve and the rest of the junk we don’t want is cranked out the side. See the picture. The applesauce is going into the glass pan and the junk is going into the bowl.

If using a regular sieve, manually push the apples through to mush them. Honestly though if you are doing it manually I think the best tool would be a potato masher. Drain the water out of the apples first then just go to town mashing them in the pot. Remember if you are using a potato masher to peel and core the apples first. If the apples seem dry add a little water or juice to soften them up.

After you have your apple mush (now known as applesauce) you can sweeten and flavor however you desire. If you have good, sweet apples you should not need to add sugar though. At this point you can store your applesauce in the refrigerator for a few days, or freeze it in batches.

My MIL bought a whole bushel of apples. We cooked about 7/8 of them and ended up with 27 pints of applesauce. The pint jars are 16 oz each. Included in the 27 pints was a few pints of strawberry-applesauce which we made by cooking up 16oz of strawberries on the stove in a separate pot and then combining with the apples when mushing it through the Victoria strainer. I would like to try making peach applesauce sometime.

The Economics: My MIL paid $24.50 for a bushel of apples. The prices for apples this year are high since the late frost we had in the spring killed off a lot of the apple crop. If we used approximately 7/8 of the bushel and produced 27 pints of applesauce from the bushel, the cost of the apples is $0.79 per pint of applesauce. A pint jar contains 16oz which makes the price per ounce approximately $0.05. This does not include any costs from packaging, but hopefully you can use reusable containers.

One of my local grocery stores had Musselman’s applesauce on sale this week for $1.19 for 24 oz. That is $0.05 per ounce. The same price as homemade, however you have to catch it on sale.

So is it worth it? I think homemade applesauce is worth it only if you make it in large batches. For a small batch you would only need a few apples from the grocery store and it just wouldn’t be cost effective that way. It’s also a lot of work for just a small yield.

For large batches it’s much more worthwhile in that you can lower your costs by purchasing apples in bulk and also utilize economies of scale. I also think that the Victoria strainer or food mill is a huge time saver in that you don’t have to peel and core the apples first. If you are planning on canning a lot you may consider investing in this piece of equipment.

Taste-wise I think homemade applesauce tastes great. I especially like the strawberry applesauce. I also like how there are no additives or preservatives.

Bottom line: big batches yes, small batches no.

Afternoon Links: Top 10 Reasons To Eat Oatmeal

I am so excited about Afternoon Links today. To keep with the today's oatmeal theme I decided to search for an article about oatmeal and I came across this website called Mr. Breakfast. Holy cow! Talk about everything you ever wanted to know about breakfast. I found a plethora of articles on oatmeal including the following:

Definition of Oatmeal
Top 10 Reasons to Eat Oatmeal

I love breakfast. It's my most favorite meal of the day and I frequently eat breakfast food for dinner. This website is definitely going on my favorites list!

Instant Oatmeal Packs

I eat oatmeal almost every morning. Once I get to work my regular routine is to mix up a bowl of instant oatmeal, grab a cup of coffee and have breakfast while I read through my e-mails and plan my day. I prefer to eat breakfast once I get to work instead of at home and instant oatmeal packs are a great thing to keep in my desk.

I found a recipe online for making your own instant oatmeal packs so I decided to give it a go. I don’t remember where I found it though so I’m sorry I can’t credit the creator!

Instant Oatmeal Packets

3 cups quick-cooking oats
Salt
Snack size zip baggies

Directions: Put 1 cup oats in a food processor and pulse until powdery. You can also use a blender, just blend oats in two ½ cup batches. Put the following ingredients in each baggie: ¼ cup un-powdered oats, 2 tablespoons powdered oats and 1/8 tsp salt. Store in an airtight container.

To serve, empty packet into a bowl. Add ¾ cup boiling water. Stir and let stand for 2 minutes. For thicker oatmeal, use less water, for thinner oatmeal, use more water.

Add the following to make flavored oatmeal:

Brown sugar & cinnamon – add 1 tablespoon brown sugar and ¼ teaspoon cinnamon to each packet

Fruit & cream – add 1 tablespoon non-dairy coffee creamer and 2 tablespoons dried fruit to each packet

Apple cinnamon – add 1 tablespoon sugar, ¼ teaspoon cinnamon and 2 tablespoons chopped dried apples to each packet

I decided to make brown sugar cinnamon oatmeal packs – my favorite. I began by getting out all the ingredients and I already had everything on hand. Since this is the first time I’ve made this recipe I decided to just make a half batch so I can make sure I like them before making a ton of them. I used my Magic Bullet to process ½ cup of oats into powder. Then I assembled the packs. Into each bag went ¼ cup un-powdered oats, 2 tablespoons powdered oats, 1 tablespoon brown sugar and ¼ teaspoon cinnamon. I left out the salt. A half recipe made 4 packs of oatmeal.

This morning I used a homemade pack of instant oatmeal for breakfast. I brought a pack to work with me and dumped it into a bowl. I used the hot water spout on the coffee maker to fill up the bowl. I let it sit while I made my cup of coffee. I stirred it up, let it sit some more and then tried it once it thickened up. It tastes different from instant oatmeal. Not bad, just different. Could be a number of things, less sugar, no salt, less additives, less processing of the oats. Overall I liked it and it cooked up fast which is important.

The Economics: I don’t have an exact calculation of the cost because I had all the ingredients on hand. I think a big container of oats costs approximately $2-3. It contains approximately 15 cups. That makes the cost per cup $0.13 - $0.20. To be conservative we’ll use the high estimate so the cost of the oats used in this recipe is $0.30. The recipe made 4 servings, so the cost per serving is $0.08. I did not account for the cost of the additional ingredients as that will vary depending on which recipe you choose. There’s also the cost of the bag to consider. A snack size bag probably costs a few cents, but again I don’t know exactly because I already had these at home.

How does this compare to store bought? In my area you can catch generic brand instant oatmeal for $1.50 for 10 packs or $0.15 each on sale. Regular price generic is closer to $2.00 for a box of 10 packs. Name brand instant oatmeal is around $3.00 for a box of 10 packs. The result is homemade is cheaper.

So is it worth it? I had never made instant oatmeal packs before but these worked out pretty good! Assembling the packs took only 10 minutes from start to finish including cleaning up my mess. In the future I will make bigger batches at a time. I also regularly have all of these ingredients on hand so I don’t have to go buy any special ingredients just to make this recipe. A big container of oats is great to have on hand as oats are useful in many recipes like granola.

In the future I may try to find a way to make these in reusable containers so that I can eliminate the cost of the bag and eliminate the excess waste from throwing away a bag after only one use. An alternative option would be to mix up a big container of instant oatmeal and then just scoop out the amount you need each time you make a bowl.

If you eat instant oatmeal regularly like I do, I think these are worth making. If instant oatmeal is not for you then you should probably pass.

Afternoon Links: 25 Things To Do With Old Jeans

I found an interesting article on Wisebread that discusses 25 things to do with old jeans. My favorites are #17 - Coffee Cozies and #25 - Beer Cozies. I think those two would be extremely useful and I may have to try them out. I'll let you know how it goes if I do! Click the link below to read the full article:

25 Things to Do With Old Jeans

Don't fall asleep after lunch everyone. Have a great afternoon!

Easy Dinner Idea: Pesto Pasta

Pesto Pasta is one of the easiest and quickest dinners you can make. I make this recipe frequently and I love the way it turns out. It is like a gourmet meal in your own home. Here’s what you need:

Pasta, any kind - linguine is good as well as rigatoni
Prepared pesto – I like the Classico brand
Walnuts or pecans
Zucchini, squash, or broccoli, or other veggie of your choice
Olive oil

Prepare pasta according to directions. While the pasta is cooking heat oil in a medium skillet. Toast nuts in the pan over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Chop vegetable of choice. Add chopped vegetables to pan with nuts and sauté until done to your liking.

Drain pasta and put into pasta bowls. Add a tablespoon or two of pesto to each serving, stir to coat pasta. Top with toasted nuts and vegetables. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese or shredded mozzarella cheese if desired. Voila! Dinner is served.

Now I know the pasta and the pesto technically aren’t homemade, but give me a chance to get to that ok?

The Economics: A jar of Classico brand pesto is $1.99 at my local grocery store. Pasta is usually $1 or less per bag. In the summer you can purchase zucchini 4 for $1 at your local farmers’ market and you only need half of a medium zucchini for two people. Nuts are a little more expensive though. I like nuts in everything so I buy a big bag at Sam’s Club or Costco and keep it in my freezer.

So is it worth it? Most definitely. Pesto pasta is a quick and easy dinner that you can throw together on a night when you don’t really feel like cooking. It’s relatively inexpensive as well. I also like this meal because it is adaptable to whatever I have on hand. I’ve made it with just pesto and no vegetables or nuts or just vegetables and pesto or just pesto and nuts.

You can also use prepared pesto to make pesto mayo for sandwiches. In a bowl combine mayo with a little bit of pesto. Add more pesto to the mayo as desired and stir to combine. Use on any sandwich. I think pesto mayo is particularly great on grilled turkey and cheese sandwiches.

Have a great day everyone.

Afternoon Links: Comparing Fast Food to Homemade

This morning The Simple Dollar had an interesting analysis comparing a homemade double cheeseburger to the McDonalds $1 double cheeseburger from the value menu. It is very in depth and includes pictures of every step. It has generated a lot of interesting comments. Click the link below to see for yourself.

Is the Value Menu Really a Value? Comparing the Homemade Double Cheeseburger to the McDonalds $1 Version

Enjoy!

Tuscan Bean Soup

I made the BEST soup this weekend! I got the recipe from a Reader’s Digest cookbook I’ve had for awhile and rarely use. It’s actually the owner of my ill-fated broccoli cheese soup recipe (see my post on Cheese Fondue). Ever since then I’ve sort of shunned it to the bottom of my cookbook pile. But the soup I made this weekend turned out wonderful and I really wanted to share it with everyone:

Tuscan Bean Soup
6 servings

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 medium carrots, chopped
2 celery ribs, chopped
2 cans (14.5 oz each) reduced sodium chicken broth
1 can (28 oz) crushed tomatoes in puree
½ cup chopped fresh basil
2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano, or 1 teaspoon dried
1 can (15.5 oz) red kidney beans
1 can (15.5 oz) cannellini beans
1 can (15.5 oz) chickpeas
6 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Heat oil in a large nonstick Dutch oven over medium high heat. Saute onions, carrots and celery until soft, about 5 minutes. Add broth, tomatoes, basil and oregano. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, partially cover and cook 10 minutes

Drain and rinse kidney beans, cannellini beans and chickpeas. Stir into soup. Cook until flavors develop, about 10 minutes more. Remove from heat.

Very coarsely puree about ¼ of soup using an immersion blender. Or transfer 2 cups soup to food processor, very coarsely puree, and return to pot. Serve 2 cups of soup per person topped with 1 tablespoon Parmesan.

My Substitutions: I used my leftover carrots and celery from making vegetable stock last weekend and I only used one onion instead of two. I didn’t measure my olive oil, just did a couple swirls around the pot Rachel Ray style. I used 4 cups of my homemade vegetable stock instead of the chicken broth. I used 2 teaspoons dried basil instead of fresh. I also used Parm cheese out of the can instead of freshly grated.

I’ve also just realized as I am writing this that I never did the last step of pureeing part of the soup. Oops! Guess it doesn’t matter because it still tasted fantastic. So you can omit that part if you like.

This soup was so simple, quick and tasty. It also made a very large batch which I love because it means I can freeze the leftovers in individual servings and use for a yummy lunch or dinner whenever I need a quick meal. This soup is also good for you! It has tons of nutritious ingredients and was very hearty and filling. It would be great with some homemade bread or with a salad.

The Economics: I spent the following on ingredients, including what I had on hand.

Tomatoes - $0.88
Kidney beans - $0.44
Cannellini beans - $0.66
Chickpeas $0.75 (an estimate because I had these on hand)
Carrots - $0.39
Celery - $0.37
Onion - $0.74
Vegetable stock - $2.12
Olive oil, basil, oregano, Parm – de minimis cost
Total - $6.35
Per serving - $1.06

The cost analysis is good considering you can rarely find a good can of soup for $1 unless it is a super sale.

So is it worth it? Yep! This soup was so good that I don’t care what it costs to make. I can guarantee I will be making this soup a lot this fall and winter. Heck this may be a year-round recipe for me since I made it this weekend when it was 80 degrees F out.

By the way I’m so ready for it to get cooler out! Bring on the sweaters!

How to Get By Without Washing Your Hair When You Really Need to Wash Your Hair

Ok we’ve all been there. Well us gals anyway. You wake up late and have to make the decision: go to work with dirty hair and get there on time or wash your hair and be late. I encountered this problem earlier this week. I had been at the baseball game the night before and got home very late. The next morning I could NOT get out of bed and by the time I finally did I had very little time to get ready and get out the door.

The problem of “no time to wash my hair” is solved by using one item in my medicine cabinet: baby powder. I sprinkle baby powder on the roots of my hair when it’s looking a bit greasy and I can stretch my shampoo one extra day. The powder soaks up the excess oil on my hair and saves me the time of washing and drying my hair (a long time for me because I have long hair).

Here’s what you do:

This must be done before you get dressed for the day. You do not want baby powder all over your clothes. Take the baby powder and sprinkle near the crown of your head or wherever your hair gets greasy. Rub the baby powder into your hair. Repeat if necessary. Style as usual.

Warning #1 - do not sprinkle too much on your hair or you will end up looking like George Washington. I usually only sprinkle it on my root area and only on the underneath sections. I usually wear my hair pulled back as well.

Warning #2 – I believe this will only work on people with light colored hair. I think if you sprinkle baby powder on dark colored hair it won’t blend in and will just make your hair look white or gray, however I have not actually tried this on someone with dark hair before. You can purchase dark hair powder that is specifically made for extending the life of your shampoo for dark-haired people. I’m fairly certain it is more expensive than baby powder though!

The Economics – I usually just buy a travel size baby powder to keep in my medicine cabinet. It costs about $0.50 and lasts quite awhile. I don’t use it regularly enough to buy a larger container. I don’t know if you’ll really save money by doing this, but you’ll use less shampoo and less water in the shower!

So is it worth it? To me, yes. I’ve been using this trick for a long time, probably once a week or every two weeks. It saves me a lot of time and allows me to get to work earlier on those days (an allows me to sleep later). Someone with dark hair will have to let me know if they have tried the dark hair powder to see if it’s worth it.

Happy Friday!

Hasty Chocolate Pudding

I have never before made homemade pudding. I grew up eating boxed instant Jello pudding, which I do love. I always wondered though how pudding is made when it’s not made from a box. Well now I know!

Here are the instructions from All Recipes:

Hasty Chocolate Pudding

½ cup white sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3 tablespoons cornstarch
2 cups milk
2 teaspoons vanilla

In a microwave-safe bowl, whisk together the sugar, cocoa and cornstarch. Whisk in milk a little at a time so the mixture does not have any dry lumps.

Place in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes on high. Stir then cook at 1 minute intervals, stirring between intervals for 2 to 4 minutes, until shiny and thick. Stir in vanilla.

Place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the pudding to prevent a skin from forming and chill in the refrigerator. Serve cold.

It took me less than 10 minutes to mix together all the ingredients. I popped it in the microwave for 3 minutes then stirred. It was a bit foamy and still pretty thin. Back in the microwave for another minute. The pudding was definitely starting to thicken up and get shiny. Stirred again, then back in the microwave for another minute. Stirred again. It’s almost there but still a little thin so I put it back in the microwave for 30 seconds.

Now it is done. I give it a good stir all around and then stir in the vanilla. It looked so good and it smelled like brownies, and yes I tasted it. You know those molten chocolate cake deserts that practically every restaurant has? Well the hot pudding tasted just like the molten chocolate center of those cakes. It was fantastic!

I let the pudding cool in the refrigerator overnight and then checked on it this morning. The consistency is different from boxed pudding. Boxed pudding is much thinner and creamier. My homemade pudding was very thick, almost like custard. I was almost scared to try it because I seriously do not like custard. It’s the texture – I can’t stand it! I tasted it after all and it does not taste like custard, it tastes like pudding. I packed some in my lunch today – yum!

The Economics: I won’t bore you with ALL the math, but to make Hasty Chocolate Pudding it will cost you $0.09 for the sugar, $0.05 for the cornstarch, and $0.16 for the cocoa powder. I treated the vanilla as a de minimis cost and I left out the cost of the milk because you will use two cups of milk whether you make this recipe or a box of instant pudding. That brings the total to $0.30 for 4 servings of pudding. A box of instant Jello pudding is usually around $0.75. Not bad!

So is it worth it? I think the best part about this recipe is that you probably have all the ingredients on hand in your kitchen right now. It does not take any special tools or fancy ingredients. If you had a craving for chocolate pudding one night you could whip it right up!

When you make pudding from scratch you know exactly what’s in it. The ingredients are whole and all natural.

While the cost savings isn’t spectacular money-wise, percentage-wise it is great. You are saving over 50% of the cost of a box of instant pudding by making it at home.

I will definitely be adding this recipe to my recipe book and I plan to try out more homemade pudding recipes. If anyone has any they would like to share please let me know!

Beans, Beans

Yesterday I mentioned that I was thinking about fall weather and soup and chili. I posted about a staple ingredient for soup and today I’m posting about a staple ingredient for chili. I love chili and I make it all the time in the winter. It’s easy, relatively healthy, and makes a big batch which means lots of leftovers.

This post is not about chili though. It’s about how to cook beans in general. When you buy dry beans you have to cook them first before you can use them in a recipe (unless the recipe calls for dry beans). I can already say that buying dry beans is much cheaper than buying canned beans. But it takes a little effort on the front end to prepare them.

I plan to use my beans to make chili this fall and winter, so I bought a bag of light red kidney beans. I then consulted Betty Crocker on how to cook said beans.

Betty had a very nice section on all the different types of beans and how to cook them. She said that dried beans must be soaked before you can cook them, with the exception on black-eyed peas, lentils and split peas. There are two methods for soaking beans:

Quick-soak method – Place dried beans in a large saucepan; add enough water to cover. Heat to boiling, and then boil 2 minutes. Remove from heat, cover and let stand for at least one hour before cooking. Drain, then cook in clean, cold water.

Long-soak method – Place dried beans in a large saucepan or bowl. Add enough cold water to cover them. Let stand 8-24 hours. Drain, then cook in clean, cold water.

I opted for the long-soak method since I wanted to leave them overnight. First though you have to sort the beans and take out and foreign objects (rocks) or damaged beans. After I sorted the beans I put all of them in the biggest bowl I have and filled with cold water. That was Sunday night. On Monday morning they had already expanded to probably double their original size. Some of the beans were splitting open as well which I didn’t think was supposed to happen.

On Monday night when I got home I drained the beans and rinsed them a couple of times. Then I put them all in the biggest pot I could find and filled with cold water. To cook the pre-soaked beans, Betty says:

“Heat to boiling. Boil uncovered for two minutes. Reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer (do not boil or beans will burst), stirring occasionally, for amount of simmer time in chart or until tender.”

The chart said 1-2 hours for kidney beans. I turned the burner up to high and waited. I waited and waited. I folded some laundry and came back – still not boiling. I read the mail and came back – still not boiling. Finally it started to boil. I boiled it two minutes then reduced the heat down to 2.

I went and flipped some more laundry and then came back and whoa the beans were still boiling. Betty had definitely said NOT to boil the beans so I immediately turn the heat down to LO. I go do something else and come back and the beans are not simmering at all now! Ugh. Figuring out the heat is frustrating.

After about an hour since the pot came up to a boil I check a bean to see if it’s done. It’s pretty soft. I check another bean (by eating it). Also soft. After a few more “tests” I determine the beans are done and take them off the heat.

I pour them out into my giant strainer. These beans do not look appetizing at all. Kidney beans from the can are usually a nice red color. My beans are a little more on the tan or brown side. It also appears that the beans that were on the bottom of the pot are a bit mushy. Well darn it. It must’ve happened when they were boiling when they shouldn’t have been! I think I will be able to use most of them though.

The Economics: I didn’t do all the calculations since my beans did not turn out as well as I had hoped. But I can give a basic rundown. My bag of beans cost $0.79. It contained 3 cups of dry beans. Dry beans double or triple when they are re-hydrated. That means the recipe yielded at least 6 cups of beans, if not more. A can of beans contains approximately 1.5 cups of beans, rinsed and drained, and costs about $0.50 I think. Could be less or more depending on where you live and what kind of sale you can find. You would have to buy 4 cans of beans to yield 6 cups of beans which would cost approximately $2.00. Thus dry beans are cheaper.

So is it worth it? Just because I am not as excited about these beans as I am about some of my other recipes (granola) doesn’t mean it’s not worth it. Economically speaking it is worth it to use dry beans and cook them yourself as opposed to buying canned beans. Once you cook up a batch of beans you can freeze them in one cup increments or 1.5 cup increments to approximate a can of beans. Then just pull them out of the freezer whenever you need them for a recipe.

I am not giving up on dry beans. I think I’ve just done something wrong here. I am going to give it another try after awhile and see what happens. I may try cooking them in the crockpot next time instead.

If anyone has ever cooked up dry beans before and has any tips please share. Thanks!

Stock Me Up

This past weekend in Kansas it was very chilly. It made me start thinking about fall and then winter and all the recipes that go with those seasons. I eat a lot of soup and chili during fall and winter so I thought I should start stocking up on staple ingredients. One staple that is the base for pretty much any soup recipe is stock - chicken, beef or vegetable. I’ve never made my own stock before this weekend. I decided to try vegetable because I have a slight aversion to touching raw meat.

Here are the ingredients for Basic Vegetable Stock from All Recipes:

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion
2 stalks celery, including some leaves
2 large carrots
1 bunch green onions, chopped
8 cloves garlic, minced
8 sprigs fresh parsley
6 sprigs fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon salt
2 quarts water

Directions:

First scrub all vegetables then chop into 1-inch chunks. Heat oil in a soup pot. Add onion, celery, carrots, green onions, garlic, parsley, thyme and bay leaves. Cook over high heat for 5-10 minutes, stirring frequently.

Add salt and water and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes. Strain and discard vegetables.

Ok I have to tell you, I don’t think I’ve ever purchased a regular carrot before this past weekend. I’ve only used canned carrots or baby carrots. Then when I got home, I didn’t even know if I had a vegetable peeler with which to peel a regular carrot. Luckily I found one and peeling a carrot turned out to be very easy. Chopping and preparing the other vegetables was easy as well since they didn’t have to be in tiny little pieces, just big chunks.

Once the stock started cooking it smelled wonderful! It smelled like Thanksgiving!

After the stock was finished cooking I let it cool for awhile. Then I measured it out into one cup servings to freeze. I ended up with 6 cups of stock.

The Economics: I spent $0.77 on carrots, $1.49 on celery, $1.49 on parsley, $1.99 for thyme, $0.79 for green onions, $0.95 on white onion, for a total of $7.48. I already had bay leaves, salt and olive oil at home. I ended up with leftovers of everything except the green onions and white onion.

I estimated how many batches of stock I could make with each ingredient to estimate the actual cost of making one batch of stock. I came up with the following:

Carrots, $0.77/2 = $0.39
Celery, $1.49/4 = $0.37
Parsley, $1.49/8 = $0.19
Thyme, $1.99/4 = $0.50
Green onion, $0.79
White onion, $0.95
Total = $3.19

That makes the price per cup $0.53. A 14oz can of Swanson vegetable broth costs $0.79 at my local grocery store. One can has approximately 2 cups of stock, making the price about $0.40 per cup.

So is it worth it? Vegetable stock was fun to make once and smelled delicious, but I don’t think I’ll be making this one regularly. It’s not a money saver and it took awhile for only a 6 cup yield. Now I haven’t tasted it yet, so I can’t comment on whether or not it tastes better than the canned version. I can say that it has a lot less sodium. If you are watching your sodium intake then you may opt to make your own stock.

If I do make it again I will make a double batch for sure so it’s worth my time. I’ll be sure to provide an update on taste comparison to the canned version once I actually use it in a recipe!

I'll Wipe the Floor With You!

I am always looking for ways to clean my home quicker and easier. One time saving solution is Clorox or Lysol cleaning wipes. I have used these before and really liked them, but they were just too expensive for me to keep buying. So I decided to investigate making my own at home. I have looked into this several times, but I’ve never actually made them until today. Here is the supply list:

Homemade Cleaning Wipes, from Organized Home

Supplies Needed:
Round plastic food storage container, 10 cup capacity
Extra large roll of quality, durable paper towels
2-4 cups cleaning solution (see below)
Electric drill with ½ inch drill bit
Electric knife
Measuring cups

Cleaning solution options (each makes approximately 3 cups):

General surface cleaning:
1 ½ cups vinegar
1 ½ cups water

Disinfectant cleaning:
¼ to ½ cup pine cleaning solution, such as Pine Sol
2 ½ to 2 ¾ cups water

Window & glass cleaning:
½ cup rubbing (isopropyl) alcohol
2 ½ cups water
1 tablespoon vinegar

The supply list meant I needed to go to the store. I had to stop by the grocery store last night anyway to pick up a few things so I decided to get the supplies I needed for this project as well. I began with the container. My grocery store did not have a round, 10 cup capacity container. Arg. I really did not want to go to another store, so after examining all large round containers, I settled on a 7 cup capacity Ziploc brand.

Next up was cleaning solution. Originally I was not going to go the Pine Sol route, as I wanted to make everything at home including the solution. In the end though I decided to try the Pine Sol so I picked up a 48oz bottle of Orange Energy Pine Sol. I figured it would probably smell pretty good.

Finally I need paper towels. I examine all good quality paper towels and opt to go with the Viva Big Roll White (70 ct). They seem really thick and sturdy. I go check out and head home.

This morning I wake up and I am ready to undertake my project. Here are the directions as provided by Organized Home:

“In the garage or workshop area, place a small block of wood beneath the plastic food container lid. Use an electric drill to drill a ½ inch diameter hole in the center of the container lid.

“Without removing paper towel wrapper, use the electric knife to cut the paper towel roll into two shorter rolls. Save the second roll for a refill later. Be patient! It may take up to two minutes to cut through the towel roll and cardboard tube inside.

“Remove the wrapper and place one short paper towel roll inside the plastic food storage container. Using a liquid measuring cup, gently pour the cleaning solution recipes over the top of the paper towel roll.

“Place the lid on the plastic food storage container and allow paper towels to absorb cleaning solution for 4 hours or overnight.

“Open the container. Gently pull the wet cardboard tube from the center of the paper towel roll and discard. Carefully pull the end of the paper towels from the inside where the cardboard roll had been. Thread end of the towels through the hole in the lid and replace the lid.

“Tips: As you use the wipes they will dry out so add more water and/or cleaning solution as necessary.”

The first thing I notice is that half of my paper towel roll is not going to fit in my container since I had to buy a smaller container. So I decide to cut my paper towel roll into thirds instead. I roughly measure the roll and mark off sections with a marker. The other decision I make is to not drill a hole in the lid of my container. Not only do I not know how to operate a drill but I figure not having a hole will help keep my wipes from drying out. Plus how hard is it to open the lid and get one out?

Out comes the electric knife, which I have also never operated before but I figure it can’t be that hard. I snap in the blades and plug it in and start cutting away at the paper towel roll. They weren’t kidding when they said it would take awhile – it does. I finally get all the way through. I am also left with paper towel dust and bits on my kitchen counter.

I grab my 4 cup Pyrex liquid measuring cup. I decide I better make a lot of solution because these paper towels are thick. I put ½ cup of Pine Sol into the measuring cup, then I add water until it is about 3 ½ cups or so. I give it a quick stir then, after placing the short roll into my container, I pour it all over the paper towels.

The first thing I notice is that the paper towels start to separate out a bit. The other thing I notice is that the towels are pulling away from the cardboard tube so I go ahead and pull that out and throw it away. I put the lid on and let it sit for 4 hours.

I came back to them about noon. The moment of truth – will they work? I open up the container and pull out a wipe from the inside of the roll, tearing it off from the rest. The wipe is SOPPING wet. I think I’ve used a little too much cleaning solution. I use it to wipe off my stove and a part of my counter. It works pretty well! I decide to try it out in the bathroom, so I use 3 more wipes to wipe out my bathroom cabinet shelves. They work great except they are really wet so I had to dry off some surfaces with a towel.

The Economics: To make these wipes I spent $2.98 on the Ziploc containers (qty 2), $1.99 on paper towels (70 ct) and $3.27 on a 48 oz bottle of Pine Sol, for a total of $8.24. While at the store last night I checked on the prices of cleaning wipes and jotted down the following: Lysol 80ct wipes - $4.79, Clorox 75 ct wipes - $5.15, Hy-Vee 35 ct wipes - $1.98.

Because my supplies will last for more than one set of homemade wipes and I can reuse the container over and over again, the actual cost of making a 70ct roll of wipes is as follows:

Paper towels - $0.66 (I will get 3 refills from one roll)
Pine Sol - $0.27 (I only used ½ cup from a 48oz bottle)
Total - $0.93! (not including the container)

Even with the container ($1.49 for one) the cost of the wipes is only $2.42.

So is it worth it? A resounding yes from almost every angle. The cost savings is quite significant. When compared to the cheapest 70 ct commercial wipes (two 35 ct Hy-Vee brand for $3.96), the cost savings is $3.03 per roll! I think you could even make these cheaper by buying a generic brand of Pine Sol or by making your own cleaning solution instead. I will definitely continue to use these in the future.

One last thing I would like to point out: It will take you awhile to perfect your own recipe for homemade cleaning wipes. Today I learned that I used way too much cleaning solution so next time around I will reduce the amount. You may like a stronger solution or a different scent. Keep adjusting this and that each time until you get the right formula.

If you decide to try this out please let me know how it goes and share you tips & tricks with the rest of us!

Have a great weekend.

Get Knitty With It

I first decided I wanted to learn how to knit when I saw my sister-in-law knitting. It looked neat and I wanted to see if I could figure it out. So I started looking around online at websites about knitting, and I found learntoknit.com. I printed off instructions from this website and taught myself how to knit. That was three years ago.

Obviously my post today is about knitting. If you already know how to knit skip down below. If you do not know how to knit and would like to learn, you can try it on your own using a website like learntoknit.com or a book. There are plenty of knitting books at the library and bookstore. Your local yarn store (LYS in knitting lingo) should also offer knitting classes if you would like to learn from an instructor.

You can buy cheap knitting supplies at Wal-Mart, which is what I recommend when you are first starting out. That way you can see if you even like knitting before you spend a small fortune on supplies. For practicing stitches you should just use cheap yarn like Red Heart brand. Your LYS will have better quality yarn and knitting needles and once you are a more experienced knitter you can venture in there and take on a more challenging project.

For today though you will only need to know one stitch and will only need one kind of yarn. For my first post on knitting I wanted to write about something simple but still useful. This week I have been posting about useful items in the kitchen, and the one item you probably use every day is a dish cloth or rag of some sort. Knitting a dish cloth is very simple and knit dish cloths are very durable and will last a long time. It’s also a great way to practice your stitches.

You will need the following supplies:

One ball of worsted weight cotton yarn, any color – Sugar N’ Cream brand works well and is relatively inexpensive

Size 8 knitting needles

Yarn needle

Directions:
Cast on 32 stitches

Knit 72 rows of garter stitch

Bind off

Using your yarn needle, weave in all loose ends into the edges of the cloth and trim

So is it worth it? Dish cloths are relatively cheap to purchase so I’m not sure if making your own saves you any money. You can probably knit a dishcloth for around $1 not counting the cost of the knitting needles.

I like to knit as a way to relieve stress and unwind, and making these dish cloths are nice because they do not require a lot of thought. So the answer depends on your motive. If you make them because you like to knit and you need a project then the answer is yes. This is a nice quick project and you have something useful when you are finished. If you want to knit a dishcloth only to save money then I don’t think it is worth it.

You can also give these dish cloths as gifts. I gave three dish cloths to my mother-in-law for Mother’s Day along with some nice Bath & Body Works hand soap for her kitchen. I have also given these as gifts, but as face cloths. I made them a bit bigger and paired them with a locally made soap as a small gift for a friend. As gifts I think knitting these dishcloths or face cloths is worth it because it does not take much time or money and usually people appreciate something hand made.

Once you master the basic dish cloth you can venture out into patterns and start experimenting with different stitches.

Good Luck!

Homemade All Purpose Cleaner

As is the case with my natural curiosity for making everything at home, one day I decided I wanted to make my own cleaning supplies. I had heard about it before but had never actually done it. I did some research online and came across a neat website Mormon Chic. I am not mormon, but this website has some great tips under Deal Diva Chic and one of those was making your own cleaning supplies.

I wanted to make this week all about homemade items that are useful in your kitchen, but the issues with my car has thrown me off all week. Luckily my car (also known as Bert) just had a bad battery and is now fixed. Thank goodness! Car issues are always stressful when you depend on your car as much as I do.

Now back to the all-purpose cleaner, which I do make at home and use in my kitchen to wipe down everything. You will need a 16oz empty spray bottle. I bought one at the store for about a dollar. You can also use an empty one from a store-bought cleaner. You will also need:

Castile soap – I bought this at my local health food store. If you cannot find Castile soap you can use a mild dishwashing liquid such as Ivory or Palmolive.

Borax – available at Wal-mart or your local grocery store in the laundry soap aisle.

White vinegar

Essential oil – optional as this is for smell only. I found essential oils at my health food store as well. They are expensive for a small bottle but you only need a few drops.

Distilled or purified water – you will need this if you live in an area of hard water.

In a two cup glass measuring cup mix two tablespoons of white distilled vinegar and one teaspoon of borax. Add 1 cup of hot water and stir until the borax is dissolved. Let this mixture cool a few minutes and then pour into the spray bottle. Add more water to the bottle leaving enough room to add 1/4 cup of castile soap OR 1/8 cup of liquid dishwashing detergent. To scent, add 15-20 drops of your favorite essential oil. The scent will not be as pure when mixed with an already scented dishwashing detergent.

Because this cleaner does contain a small amount of borax it is slightly toxic. Be sure to label it accordingly. When ready to use just give the bottle a little shake to activate the suds and spray away!

So is it worth it? I haven’t done the calculations, but according to Mormon Chic, making this cleaner only costs you $0.31 cents per bottle. Store-bought cleaners usually cost at least $3.00 per bottle so that’s a significant savings. It doesn’t take up a lot of time to make either. My verdict – YES it is worth it. I have been making my own cleaning supplies at home for almost a year now and I love it. It’s all natural so it’s better for the environment and better for you and your family. Plus it saves you money! The ingredients you buy like Borax, white vinegar and castile soap are useful in other ways around your house as well and will be the topic of future posts. Stay tuned!

Sorry...No Post Today!

Hi Everyone! Sorry but I won't have a post today. I usually write my posts the night before and last night my car wouldn't start when I was leaving work. Arg! So I was running around last night trying to get that straighened out and got home late.

I will try to have two posts tomorrow to make up for it! In the meantime, here's a link to an interesting article I read yesterday on how to eat for $15 per week. Sounds crazy right? Read on and see what he has to say.

How to Feed Yourself for $15 a Week

Enjoy! See you all tomorrow!

Mission Organization: Recipe Book

As a cook and a baker, I am constantly looking for new recipes to try. I not only find them in my cookbooks, but I also print them from websites, rip them out of magazines and jot them down on scrap pieces of paper. I also get a lot of recipes from friends. Some recipes I try and end up making frequently and some I never get around to making. Nevertheless I end up with a pile of random pieces of paper in my kitchen, a stack of recipes shoved in the junk drawer, random recipes stuck in with my bills or stuffed in my purse. Whenever I did actually want to make something I could never find the recipe!

So how to solve this problem? Create your own personalized recipe book. Your own recipe book allows you to store and organize your recipes in a manner that suits you and also allows you to edit and update your recipes over time.

To start you will need the following supplies:

3 ring binder, any size. I use a one inch, polka-dot binder I got at Target for $4.99 (see picture above), but any binder will work just fine.

Sheet protectors. These will keep your recipes safe while you are cooking. If you splatter spaghetti sauce on your pages you can just wipe it right off.

Cardstock or paper

Dividers. Any number or size for however you want to section off your recipe book.

Recipes! Gather together all your loose recipes.

The first step is to sort through all the loose recipes you currently have. If you have had a recipe for over a year and you haven’t made it yet, throw it out. You’ll probably never make it. If you come across recipes that you did make but didn’t like, throw those out too. No sense keeping a recipe that you’ll never use again!

The next step is to sort your remaining recipes into categories. The categories can be anything you like. You can sort them by meal; breakfast, lunch, dinner or desert. You can sort them by food type; vegetables, meat, or grains. You can sort them by number of ingredients. You can sort them by how often you make them. Anything goes here.

Now start putting your book together. Recipes on a full page can go directly into the sheet protectors. Recipes that are smaller can be grouped together and glued or taped onto cardstock and then slid into the sheet protectors. Place the sheets into the sections of the binder, label the dividers and voila! Your own personal recipe book. Whenever you get a new recipe from a friend, magazine or the web, you can add it to the book.

Every couple months or so, go through your book and pull out any recipes you don’t want anymore. You also may want to put your go-to recipes at the front so you can find them quickly.

One final tip – when making the recipes from your book, pull them out of the sheet protectors and write notes on them. For example, if you made a recipe for 8 people at a party, write down if people enjoyed it and if there were any leftovers. If there were tons of leftovers then next time you’ll know that you might only need a half recipe instead of a whole recipe.

So is it worth it? Yes! It was well worth the time and money I spent to make my kitchen more organized and eliminate recipe clutter. My personal recipe book has all my favorite recipes in it so I use it all the time. I keep it above my stove with all my other recipe books so it is easily accessible.

Now print out the recipes I’ve posted during the past couple of weeks and add them to your new recipe book!

O - R - E - O!

I have a fantastic recipe for homemade Oreo cookies. It was given to me by my friend Katie who also gave me the pizza dough recipe and pizza sauce recipe. These cookies taste more like those new Oreo Cakesters cookies than traditional Oreo cookies, but Katie was making this recipe long before those imposters came out.

Homemade Oreo Cookies
makes about three dozen

2 boxes devil’s food cake mix
1 1/3 cups shortening
4 eggs
Cream cheese frosting

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix all ingredients together except the cream cheese frosting. The dough will be stiff. Once dough is combined, roll dough into balls of any size. I usually use a teaspoon to dip out the dough. It is best to try to make the dough balls approximately the same size. Place dough balls on cookie sheets and bake for approximately 8-10 minutes or until done. Allow cookies to cool on cookie sheets for a couple minutes then remove to cooling racks or paper towels.

Once all cookies are baked and cooled, frost the backside of one cookie with as much cream cheese frosting as you like and top with another cookie to make a sandwich. Voila!

I have made these cookies several times and I ALWAYS get tons of compliments on them. They are really rich so you can only eat one or two.

Variations? I have not tried this yet, but I imagine these cookies would be fantastic with peanut butter in the middle instead of cream cheese frosting. If someone tries this please let me know how it goes.

It is my goal to make these cookies completely from scratch sometime in the future. I would not use the cake mixes or canned frosting. The frosting part would not be too hard, but figuring out the cake mix part will require a little time and perhaps a few batches of cookies to work out the kinks. But I will repost this recipe at some point that doesn’t use any prepackaged items.

So is it worth it? These cookies taste excellent, but they take awhile to make. They are great to take to barbeques, parties or to the office for someone’s birthday and they look and taste a lot better than packaged Oreos. However they are not really any cheaper to make compared to buying a pack of Oreos at the store.

Bottom line – make these for a large group gatherings. Depending on the size of your family, if you made these just for eating at home you might not eat them fast enough because they are so rich. You could also freeze them individually and then stow these special treats in lunches or picnics.

I will admit that I still buy Oreos on occasion. There’s something about an Oreo that’s comforting to me. However I will only buy double stuffed Oreos, which taste best dunked in a cold glass of milk (of course!).

Homemade Chocolate Fondue

The only way to follow up cheese fondue is with a yummy pot of chocolate fondue. The picture on this post is of the chocolate fondue I made just this past weekend. To make it yourself, follow the recipe below. You do not need a special fondue pot to make chocolate fondue.

Milk Chocolate Fondue

1 bag milk chocolate chips
1/3 cup whipping cream

Some suggested dippers:
Strawberries
Pound cake
Big marshmallows
Bananas
Brownie bites
Pineapple
Oreos

Place the chocolate chips and the whipping cream in a small crock pot or sauce pan on low. Stir occasionally to combine. If using a saucepan, transfer fondue to a heatproof bowl once ingredients are melted and combined. Dip and swirl the suggested dippers or anything you choose in the chocolate fondue. If fondue seems thick, reheat or add more cream and stir to combine.

A few yummy variations to try: stir in a glop of peanut butter, a handful of white chocolate chips, a drizzle of caramel, or a spoonful of marshmallow fluff.

So is it worth it? Of course! If you look at it from a cost perspective, it is much more cost effective to make chocolate fondue at home. Chocolate Fondue for two at the Melting Pot costs $14.95. When you add in two glasses of wine at $8.00 each and 7.5% tax and 20% tip the total comes to approximately $40.

The cost of making chocolate fondue at home will vary depending on what dippers you choose. Strawberries will raise your total cost. When I made chocolate fondue last weekend I spend $1.58 on a bag of milk chocolate chips, $1.23 on a half pint of whipping cream, $3.12 on a frozen pound cake and $0.99 on a brownie mix which I made into brownie bites. I already had a bag of big marshmallows in my freezer, so I pulled out a few of those. I only used half the pound cake, so I put the remaining half in the freezer for next time. That makes my total cost $5.76 when you add 7.5% sales tax. Add in a bottle of wine and you are still way below the cost of chocolate fondue at a restaurant.

Chocolate fondue is even easier than cheese fondue. It’s really fun to serve for special occasions. You can make a meal out of cheese fondue and chocolate fondue together! You can serve chocolate fondue after a dinner at home, or make chocolate fondue at home after a dinner out instead of ordering desert at the restaurant.

If you have any other ideas for fondue variations or dippers or have made chocolate fondue at home, please leave a comment!

Cheese Fondue? It’s a Fon-DO!

So I took about a week off from posting due to the holiday. I had a few days off work, spent a lot of time with the family and now I’m back and ready to go! I’m still getting used to this blogging business as well. I know I’ve only been posting about cooking and food so far but don’t worry, I have a ton of non-cooking and non-food ideas up my sleeve if that is what you are looking for. I’ve just been cooking a LOT lately and I’m very excited to share my recipes with you all.

Today we are talking about cheese fondue. Mmmmm. I love cheese and a big pot of melty cheese is especially tasty. About two years ago my husband and I went out for a special anniversary dinner at the Melting Pot, which is a chain fondue restaurant. We went all out on the four course dinner, complete with wine for each of us. It was so good, but boy was it expensive!

We wanted to have fondue again but could not afford to hit up the Melting Pot every time we had the craving. So I decided to make it at home.

But wait, don’t you need a special fondue pot to make fondue? The answer is no. All you need is a saucepan and a mini crock-pot. Mini crock-pots are very versatile kitchen tools and can be purchased just about anywhere for relatively cheap. You can find one at Target for around $16.99 by clicking here. When looking for a mini crock-pot make sure you get one with a removable inter pot, which makes it much easier to clean.

You’ll be able to use this kitchen tool for lots of recipes rather than the fondue pot which is just used for fondue and usually ends up taking up space in your kitchen. How often will you really make fondue? Although it’s really yummy and easy to make, it’s not something you make every week. I’ve made it only twice this year so far.

Let’s get started:

Cheese Fondue, from Betty Crocker’s Big Red Cookbook

4 cups shredded Swiss cheese
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 clove garlic, cut in half
1 cup dry white wine or white cooking wine
1 tablespoon lemon juice
3 tablespoons kirsch, dry sherry, brandy or white cooking wine
1 loaf French bread, cut into bite size pieces

Place cheese and flour in a resealable plastic bag. Shake until cheese is coated with flour.

Rub garlic on bottom and side of saucepan, discard garlic. Add 1 cup wine. Heat over simmer setting or low heat just until bubbles rise to surface (do not boil). Stir in lemon juice.

Gradually add cheese mixture, about ½ cup at a time, stirring constantly with wooden spoon over low heat, until melted. Stir in kirsch, sherry, brandy or wine. Once liquid is incorporated, transfer cheese fondue to a preheated mini crock-pot.

Spear bread with forks; dip and swirl in fondue with stirring motion. If fondue becomes too thick, stir in ¼ cup to ½ cup heated wine.

The trick to remember with cheese fondue is to use LOW heat. I kept my burner at two or lower the entire time. If the heat is too high and you try to melt the cheese too fast, the whole thing will curdle and be ruined. It will be a yucky, clumpy mess. Just ask my husband about the time I tried to make broccoli cheese soup from scratch. Poor thing even ate the yucky, clumpy mess to be nice. To this day he claims it was not that bad – ha! I tasted it and it was that bad. So don’t be in a hurry. Slow and steady will get you better fondue in the end.

Once you have mastered the basic fondue recipe, you can start experimenting with other cheeses and flavors. Betty Crocker recommends using 2 cups shredded Swiss cheese and 2 cups shredded Gruyere cheese. I have found Gruyere to be quite expensive so I have not tried it yet due to cost.

Besides bread, other dippers that are excellent with cheese fondue are Granny Smith apples and assorted vegetables.

So is it worth it? Most definitely!!! Traditional Swiss cheese fondue for two at the Melting Pot costs $14.95 per person. Add in two glasses of wine at an average of $8 per person and then 7.5% tax and 20% tip and your bill will total approximately $40.

The cost to make cheese fondue at home is relatively inexpensive depending on the ingredients you use. Four cups of pre-shredded Swiss cheese cost me $3.33 (on sale at my local grocery store). A bottle of cooking wine costs approximately $3.00 and you won’t use the whole thing in this recipe. A loaf of French bread at my local grocery store was $0.99, and I only used half the loaf for this meal. The other half I put in the freezer for the next time I make fondue. One apple is plenty for two people and it cost $0.64. The other ingredients (flour, garlic, and lemon juice) are all so slight that the cost is negligible. Then add in an entire bottle of wine for two for about $12.

So the total cost to make this fondue is $3.33 for cheese, $2.00 for 2/3 bottle of cooking wine, $0.50 for half loaf of French bread, $0.64 for an apple and $12.00 for a bottle of wine, totaling $19.85 when you add in 7.5% sales tax. That’s a 50% savings and you get an entire bottle of wine!

I really enjoy making fondue at home and recommend it for everyone to try. It’s a fun, simple and inexpensive meal for special occasions. The picture above is of the cheese fondue I made myself last Saturday night. If I can do it – you can do it!

Stay tuned for the only fondue better than cheese fondue – Chocolate Fondue!