How I'm saving hundreds on fresh meat and produce!

Have you ever received a Christmas present that will eventually save you hundreds, even thousands of dollars? I sure did! This Christmas (thanks to a couple of killer deals on Black Friday) I got a new deep freezer and vacuum sealer. Freebs, I am SO excited about this! 

I told you I was excited...

Look at all that potential! Definitely going to fill it up with freezer meals before Page baby #5 makes her debut.

What prompted the need for a deep freezer and vacuum sealer? Several months ago, I found a killer deal on fresh chicken breasts from Costco and froze them individually in Ziploc bags. A few weeks later, I went to make my delicious chicken recipe and when I took out the chicken it was freezer burnt. Yuck! Freezer burnt meat tastes funny and is so dry when cooked. 

I've also bought produce and had it go bad a couple days later. It is so heart-wrenching to have food go bad before you are able to use it. I feel like I'm literally throwing dollar bills in my trash. But thanks to my new vacuum sealer and deep freezer, I am extending the life of my food up to five times longer. No more wilted lettuce or moldy berries! You can vacuum seal almost anything! Here is an infographic courtesy of FoodSaver that shows you how versatile vacuum sealing is: 

It is an initial investment, but I promise it will pay off in the long run! You might be wondering why the freezer alongside your fridge won't suffice for long-term storage and why you should get a deep freezer in conjuction with your vacuum sealer. To prevent freezer burn and ice crystals, keeping a constant temperature is crucial. Here is a more in-depth explanation regarding the science behind it, if you're curious. 

Black Friday is a few months away so here are some ideas to get a vacuum sealer and deep freezer for a great deal NOW:

1. Search your local online classifieds or yard sale pages on Facebook. 

2. Estate sales or yard sales. 

2. Look on daily deal sites like Groupon or Woot.

3. Check out Amazon. (affliate link) I've seen vacuum sealer systems for 50-60% off. You can also sign up for emails so you can be notified if they have a daily/lightning deal for a vacuum sealer. 

4. Look for scratch and dent clearance models. If you aren't concerned with aesthetics, you can save BIG on your deep freezer. 

I am so excited to save money by keeping my food fresh longer! What do you put in your deep freezer? What do you vacuum seal? Comment below and let me know! 

xoxo,

Jordan 

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Product Shout-out, Better Batter GF Flour

I tried several different flours that aren't wheat and I grew tired of how expensive and gross they were. I came across Better Batter from an ad on Yahoo. I decided to give them a try and I'm thoroughly impressed!

I understand that no non-wheat flour is going to taste exactly the same as the gluten-y one I am used to. But this flour isn't gummy like the other brands and has a good texture. I recommend the AP Flour because you use it as a cup for cup substitute. I haven't given the cake mixes a try, but I definitely will in the future.

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White Chicken Tortilla Soup

Photo Credit: Erica's bloggity blog

It has been bitter cold this week. I guess I will never get used to the temperamental weather here, but the most enjoyable part of the cold is delicious soups. This White Chicken Tortilla Soup recipe has been perfect for warming us up.

No modifications needed, just check the labels of your canned goods to ensure they are not processed with wheat. I like spicy so I added some chili powder. Enjoy!

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Easy Lemon Chicken and Quinoa with Bacon-seared Brussel Sprouts

This is a new favorite in our house! The recipe doesn't call for quinoa but I made some in our rice cooker and used stock instead of water. The pan sauce you make after the chicken is done cooking (substitute flour for cornstarch) goes well over the quinoa.

You can find the recipe and detailed instructions here. Again, I substituted the flour for cornstarch and it turned out just great.

I bought a two pound bag of Brussels Sprouts at Costco for 2.99. I didn't look too closely to see that maybe they were so cheap because they were going bad. Oops! I was able to salvage about a pound of them. I didn't follow a recipe to make this, I just made it up because it sounded good. I can't think of a thing that bacon doesn't make better.

1 pound Brussels Sprouts, washed and ends trimmed.
2 slices of bacon, uncooked
1/4 cup chicken stocl
Salt and pepper to taste

After cleaning your sprouts, place the bacon in a pan over medium heat and let the fat render out. Cook the bacon until crispy. Remove bacon and leave bacon grease in the pan. Add sprouts and let brown for 1-2 minutes. After the sprouts have a nice color on them, add the stock (just enough to wet the pan a little) and cover the pan. Let them steam until they turn a bright green and are fork-tender.

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Muddy Buddies

I boycotted anything to do with shopping on Thanksgiving or Black Friday. Why you may ask? I guess you couldn't say I was boycotting as it was just laziness. That and I didn't want to get trampled to death. I don't find dealing with crowds the least bit appealing. I find staying in my pajamas and having Amazon deliver my Christmas gifts to be the best kind of holiday shopping. (Plus no sales tax! Bonus!)

So far this long weekend has not been too eventful with the exception of making Muddy Buddies. (Really exciting huh?) I enjoyed a little break from school and spent it eating this divine treat and reading non-textbook books.

I think I really shed a small tear when I found out Muddy Buddies are GF. The combination of crunchy with peanut butter, chocolate, and powdered sugar is straight heaven for me.

Here is the recipe courtesy of Chex and General Mills:


9 cups Rice Chex
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 peanut butter
1/4 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, divided

Melt chocolate chips, peanut butter, and butter. Once melted add vanilla. Pour over Rice Chex and stir evenly. In a bag, place 3/4 cup of powdered sugar in a zip-top bag. Pour in chocolate covered Chex. Place remaining 3/4 cup of powdered sugar over top and close bag. Shake vigorously to ensure all of the Chex are coated with powdered sugar. Serve!

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Dry-brined Turkey Results

It's about 8:00 pm on Thanksgiving day and the four of us (me, husband, and dogs) are full beyond belief. The sweat pants were busted out a few hours ago. I don't want to think about food for at least two days.

Thinking and writing about food are about the same, but I still feel compelled to give my two cents on the dry-brine.

Pros:

1. It was moist.
2. Relatively easy to do.
3. Everyone loved it.
4. If you like crispy skin, the skin was very crisp.
5. Less messy than a wet brine

Cons:

1. It still takes about as much time to dry-brine as it does to wet brine.
2. While the meat is juicy, not much flavor is imparted on it. I'm thinking about adding herbs along with the salt to give it more oomph.
3. We have a side-by-side refrigerator....needless to say it took up precious real estate in our fridge for a few days.


So as you can see, I found more pros than cons with this method. I think we will continue to do it if we are fortunate enough to cook for everyone again.

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A substitute for pumpkin pie?

I found this recipe for New York Cheesecake. It is a crust-free version, which immediately attracted me for the GF purposes. It was my husband's birthday yesterday and he loves cheesecake. I decided to make this for him for his birthday. I also decided to modify it a little bit to see if I could make a pumpkin cheesecake for Thanksgiving to maybe replace pumpkin pie. (I hate pumpkin pie. I'd rather eat chalk.)

Results? Fantastic.

Here's what I did:

Kept the recipe the same but reduced the sour cream to one cup and replaced the other cup with pumpkin. I then added a tablespoon of pumpkin pie spice. Follow instructions as directed. 

It wasn't overly pumpkin-y and the lemon helped cut some of the heaviness. I highly recommend it! We will definitely be having this instead of pie. Mmmmmm!

I suck and forgot to take a picture before it was devoured and desroyed. So here is a photo of the NY Cheesecake. Photo Credit: What2Cook

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