‘Food Tips and Tricks’ Category

  1. freeze extra herbs in ice cube trays

    October 25, 2012 by Lauren

    Our basil plant has been growing all summer long and we finally decided it was time to chop most of it down. (chop? It’s not a tree, Lauren, it’s a 1 foot tall plant…) We set out to make some pesto, but then realized: we didn’t have cheese. Or pine nuts. Or any nuts. So instead, we just chopped up the garlic super fine and mixed it with some olive oil.

    Then we stuck it in some ice cube trays in the freezer – -

    Once they were frozen, we popped them out and stuck them in another container. Whenever we’re cooking and want some “fresh” (not really fresh but better than dried store bought basil!) we can just grab one of these frozen cubes. Super fast and easy. We did that the other night with spagetti and it was wonderful!

    So whenever your plant is big, do all the work at once, and then you’re set for a whole season on basil! (or whatever herbs you like! Oregano… mm. Rosemary… mmmm. You could also do this with pesto but you wouldn’t wanna freeze it with cheese already in it. Enjoy!

    Category Food Tips and Tricks | Tags: | 4 Comments

  2. DIY powdered sugar

    October 11, 2012 by Lauren

    Straight to the point:

    You can REALLY REALLY REALLY easily make your own homemade powdered sugar! Like, in 10 seconds. It's perfect for if you run out of powdered sugar, or if you like to make things homemade yourself and know what goes in them, or if you're just cool. I know I am.

    Are you ready for it? Get out a spiral and a pen (and some back up pens and a highlighter for doodling) because this gets real crazy intense.

    DIY Powdered Sugar

    Step one: Grind regular sugar in a coffee grinder/blender for 20 seconds. 

    And that’s it. Confectioner’s sugar. In the palm of your hand/coffee grinder.

    Some suggest to put in some cornstarch if you need it to be a little thicker/prevent caking (supposedly you need this for icing). So do that if you think it’s not the right consistency! 1-2 tablespoons for 1 cup of sugar. But we loved it with just granulated sugar – ground up.

    Remember this for when you’re cooking and realize you have NO MORE powdered sugar for that icing/french toast/whatever else you find on pinterest to bake.

    (and if you run outta brown sugar, we’ve got a recipe for that too! homemade brown sugar)

    And when you get that nice homemade powdered sugar, then make your own POWDERED SUGAR SHAKER! Man. We’re just full of great ideas. Ha. No, we’re just dorks who do everything ourselves.

    Category Food Tips and Tricks | Tags: | 4 Comments

  3. The autumn 2 ingredient cookie

    September 25, 2012 by Lauren

    If you've been reading our blog for awhile now, you know about our regular 2 ingredient cookie. I created this recipe right after that one – but I had to wait until it was PUMPKIN season to share it!!

    Last Saturday was the first day of autumn. So FINALLY, I can present you with:

    The Autumn 2 Ingredient Cookie (plus the mix-ins of your choice!)

    This recipe is pretty much exactly like the other 2 ingredient cookie. Except instead of bananas, you use PUMPKIN! yum x 1000000000. (unless you are one of those weirdos who hates pumpkin. which is fine, i guess. except that then you’ll HATE  these! they scream pumpkin!)

    Ingredients:

    1 cup quick oats
    1 cup pure pumpkin

    Plus whatever sounds yummy to you! (or nothing!) We love:
    -a handful of chocolate chips
    -crushed walnut pieces
    -lots of PUMPKIN PIE SPICE! (cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, etc.)

     Steps:
    1. Mix everything up! If you’re using a lot of “mix-ins”, you might need to add in more pumpkin so it’s not too dry.
    2. On a greased cookie sheet, cook them for 12-15 minutes at 350 degrees.  
    That is IT! Here’s some photos of the whole process in case you got super confused by those 2 steps:
    Equal parts pumpkin and quick oats.

    & mix it all up… with your mix-ins :)

    Make cookie sized amounts onto a GREASED cookie sheet. (you’ll hate yourself later if you forget to grease it. Oatmeal is like glue!)
    These puppies WILL NOT expand – so you can stick ‘em pretty close together if you want.

     then, cook for 12ish minutes at 350 degrees. and DEVOUR!
    Ours made 14 “cookies”, which will all be gone today. Which is ok, because these are healthy!

    There ya have it. The perfect, healthy autumn cookie.

    Category Food Tips and Tricks | Tags: | 20 Comments

  4. How we live without a microwave

    September 21, 2012 by Lauren

    How we live without a microwave... 

    When we moved into our current home about a year ago, we realized (about an hour into unpacking boxes) that there was no microwave. Soon after, Josiah’s parents offered us an extra microwave that they had. We decided “eh. let’s see how long we can live without one…” (it also didn’t have a washer or dryer but we didn’t last long without those!)

    So we just took it one day at a time. Living life microwave-free. I don’t even really have anything against microwaves, but we really enjoy not having one. It’s less clutter of a huge bulky item that we just don’t need!

    But Lauren, what about ___________…. yes, I’ve got answers.

     

    But Lauren, what about tea?

    It’s called a kettle and I love it. We have a lovely blue Le Creuset one. You can have water ready for tea in 4 minutes.

    But Lauren, what about popcorn? You gotta have microwave popcorn!

    Nope, I’ve got a Whirley-Popand it’s incredible! The Whirley Pop cooks popcorn on the stove and it tastes SO much better than microwave popcorn. Also, it’s fresh. Also, it’s CHEAPER… popcorn kernels are soooo cheap! Also, you get to decide what you want on top (not NEARLY as much butter as that microwave stuff comes with!) Also, it’s done in about 3 minutes. Also, your house will smell so good, like the fair! Also, go get one. You won’t regret it.

     But Lauren, what about leftovers? Aren’t they so easy to re-heat in the microwave?

    Yes, and they never taste that good from the microwave! Get out a skillet. Grease it and turn it on medium high heat. Then reheat some chicken and rice or pasta. IT WILL TASTE SO MUCH BETTER THAN IN THE MICROWAVE! Microwaves boil out all the water, hence your dry chicken and rice. We actually enjoy eating leftovers now… they taste the same as the first day we cooked them! (sometimes even better! the flavors get to mingle overnight) Besides, how do you think they heated up “leftovers” before they had microwaves? (way to sound like an 80 year old Lauren, and not the 23 year old you are...)

     

    When it’s a bummer about no microwave:

    Cans of soup.
    Needing to melt butter for a recipe.
    No “defrost” button on my oven.
    If you have children who need their food instantly. (I don’t know this one from personal experience. But I can imagine with kids it’s trickier.)

    How to fix those bummers: Cans of soup – cook in a pot on the stove. Melted butter – use a little skillet or pot.  Defrost – plan ahead? :)

     

    Not having a microwave does take a little extra time… But we’ve just learned to get over it. And we love it!

    Well, there ya have it. We love not having a microwave. I know, we’re weird. But maybe just try this week to not use yours as much… and see if you could live without one too!

    Category Food Tips and Tricks, Personal - The Lowe Life | Tags: | 16 Comments

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