As promised, here is the basic recipe for the gluten/sugar free muffins I wrote about!
Click HERE for the recipe and the rest of the post!
Click HERE for the recipe and the rest of the post!
Simple Pleasures to Enhance Your Life and Comfort Your Soul.
Tuesday
(Exercising) The Art of Frugality
How are you practicing the art of frugality lately? Here are some of the ways I've recently exercised the art...plugging the small leaks in my ship.
Thursday
Homespun Alchemy™ ... In the Kitchen
Lacto-fermented carrots and garlic after about eight days of fermentation।
~~~
"You are an alchemist; make gold of it."
-- William Shakespeare
-- William Shakespeare
Several years ago after reading about...and being intrigued by...a somewhat mysterious food-alchemy called "fermentation" ....
Click HERE to make the jump and read more.
Sunday
"Discovering... the Forgotten Wealth of Nature"
"It is the thrifty who prepare today for the wants of tomorrow."
~ Aesop (circa 550 BC)
"It was the children who spied them first. Our bare ankles and sandal~ed feet scraped scraped against the cactus~like needles as we stepped gingerly over the vines sprawled across the landscape. They had buried themselves inside a mysterious, shadowy tangle of Pepper and Avocado trees like long forgotten treasure. A colossal patch of blackberries lie before us, not unlike an ethereal gift, the type of gift that night~fairies might leave to mere mortals. The dark glistening berries seemed to blink at the sun's brightness as we gently lifted the brand of an ancient Pepper tree to examine our cache'....
TO FINISH READING THIS POST CLICK HERE.
TO FINISH READING THIS POST CLICK HERE.
Thursday
Frugal Luxuries for the Freezer
OH!!! I almost forgot to tell you, tomorrow, Friday (12/30/11) and Saturday (12/31/11) I'll be a guest on Positive Living Radio show(s)!!! I would just love it if you could call in and talk with us! Here's the exact information about the shows that I stole from Patricia's website.
Listen to Tracey McBride on Patricia Raskin Positive Living on Saturday December 31st 3:30-4:00PM ET on 630WPRO AM & 99.7 FM. Listeners can call in to the show at (401) 438-W-P-R-O (401-438-9776) or toll free at 1 (800) 321-W-P-R-O (1-800-321-9776) and listen live on www.630wpro.com.
Join nationally recognized multi-media radio talk show host and award winning producer Patricia Raskin, as she interviews Tracey McBride, author of Frugal Luxuries: Simple Pleasures to Enhance Your Life and Comfort Your Soul and Frugal Luxuries by the Seasons: Celebrate the Holidays with Elegance and Simplicity--on Any Income. Chicago Tribune wrote "Think of Tracey McBride as the Martha Stewart of the cheapskate set". She had delighted thousands by elevating the skill of living frugally to an art form. Tracey will discuss cost-effective ways to bring in the new year with beauty and joy.
Kindling a Simple Christmas
I'm feeling very simple this Christmas...Please click HERE to read the full post.
Thanksgiving Progressive Dinner~Blog Style~Remains of a Thanksgiving Feast
Click HERE to see how easy it is to use the remains of your holiday feast to create a delicious, nutritious...Classic Turkey~Noodle Soup!
Friday
Sunday
Another SIMPLE Way to Preserve All Those Tomatoes!
Marisa from the wonderful food~preservation blog FOOD IN JARS has a great post today on yet another SIMPLE way to preserve (and make use of) the abundance of tomatoes available to us now. How? She slow~roasts them! I, for one, am so excited to try this technique as I've tasted slow~roasted tomatoes and there is nothing like them for flavor!
To learn more just click on the link below!
Slow Oven-Roasted Roma Tomatoes | Food in Jars
Hope you are enjoying this relaxing holiday weekend!
Love and good thoughts to all.
Warmly,
Tracey and Family
x0x
Monday
Simple Secrets: How to Fast Freeze Fresh Tomatoes at Home
When the farm stand tomatoes are so well priced at five (or more) for just one dollar I like to buy them in abundance and freeze them for future use.
For awhile...I took on the tedious, humid task of blanching each one before freezing...until...a generous friend told me that she has been skipping the blanching process for years. How? She simply places the fresh tomatoes onto a tray or cookie sheet and pops them directly into the freezer...similar to freezing berries. Of course, I was immensely attracted to the idea and implemented it immediately with great success. So much so that I've been using this useful trick for well over a decade!
Once the tomatoes are frozen solid (several hours or overnight) I pop them into a large zip lock bag.
Whenever a recipe calls for canned tomatoes I pull a few from my freezer bag and set it into a pan or bowl of water (no need to heat it, room temperature works fine) fully frozen. I let them sit for a few minutes while I putter around doing something else. Then I scoop it out of the water and peel it over the sink.
Using my thumb and forefinger I rub the outside of the tomato. The peel slides right off. At the core I may have to loosen it a bit with my fingernail or a butter knife. I then carefully dice the still partially frozen tomatoes and add them to my recipe. So simple.
HINT: I use frozen tomatoes in lieu of canned tomatoes in recipes such as soup, salsa, Chile', marinara sauce and the like.
Once you try this you will be hooked. It's amazing how this little trick transformed a tedious, time consuming task into a simple, easy and quick way to freeze large quantities for use in cooking.
I hope this little trick enhances your time, budget and life as much as it has mine!
Good thoughts and love to all.
Warmly,
Tracey
x0x
Tuesday
Simple...Soothing...Food
I happened upon the most amazing photographs by the talented photographer Christine Bauer yesterday while relaxing at my father's house. Of course...I feel compelled to share their loveliness here (i.e. above) and HERE . To see more of Christine Bauer's portfolio click HERE. Hope you enjoy their serene beauty as much as I.
Warmly,
Tracey
x0x
Images:Source
Sunday
Adorned with Herbs and Flowers...Homemade Cake
...found this charming cake on the Frolic blog and love...love...love the way they used fresh herbs and flowers to decorate...along with mismatched china saucers to serve it forth. Happy Fourth! x0x
Monday
The Spring Gift~Pantry: Good Thoughts Soup tm
"Necessity never made a good bargain." ~~Benjamin Franklin
~~~~~~
Click below to see how we're...
Sunday
Friday
Disclosing Secrets...Magic Mottos..."Making Something From Nothing" tm
I have a little secret...actually it's not really a secret...I just haven't written about it on these blogs yet. Today, then, is the day I will tell you my little story.
Monday
Shop Your Pantry & Give the Gift of Prosperity!
What to do when time and funds are in short supply...
and I find myself in need of a few more simple gifts
to offer as a token of my affection to friends and family?
I put together packets of my famous ...
Prosperity Soup TM and Prosperity Hummus TM
Good Thoughts Collection TM
How? I take ordinary dried beans from the pantry
(today I had a lot of white, northern beans)
along with some recycled white cardboard coffee cups...
(washed out with a weak water and bleach mixture).
I dig out some of my plastic produce netting...
from our jar on the counter.
I pull out our staple supply of cellophane bags....
and repackage the beans for gift~giving.
I'm sure you must remember my long~time motto...
"Packaging is everything!"
Some of the soup packets I put inside a recycled, cardboard cup...
cradling it all with white netting
and scraps of brown paper from my recycling box
...and tied with raffia.
Other packets become part of a larger gift basket...
and carry labels I generate from our computer.
Here, I printed out my favorite bean recipes...
rolled the paper into a scroll...tied them closed using raffia
...and included them when I presented the gift.
~~~~~~~
All were made in about an hour
using items available in the pantry...
my recycling bin and computer.
~~~~~~~
What do you have in your pantry that would make a welcome...
yet fast and frugal gift?
~~~~~~~
Idea and partial excerpt from first book,
Frugal Luxuries, published by Bantam,NY, NY, 1997.
Tuesday
Gifts from Nature's Bounty: Edible Wreaths
Would you like to see how easy it is to....
Transform this...
this...
this...
this...
and thisinto...
Monday
Frugal Luxuries ™ and Real Simple© Solutions for Holiday Cookie Baking
Frugal Luxuries : Classics
~~~~~~~
while nursing a verrry pesky cold...
As you may recall, this is not the first time I've written about
shared my secrets on how to...
~~~~~~~
This past weekend...
while nursing a verrry pesky cold...
and drinking copious amounts of tea...
I spent my time resting and browsing through old issues of the little newsletter we once published (years ago) called...
~~~~~~~~
Keeping in mind the advent of Advent
Autumn 2001.
Frugal Luxuries (these later became the genesis of our Frugal Luxuries book series)!
~~~~~~~~
Keeping in mind the advent of Advent
and the approaching Holidays...
I sought classic ideas from my newsletters to remind me
of ways I had Simplified my Holiday Baking in the past.
It was there that I came upon this article from our regular food feature...
Autumn 2001.
Please click on any image to enlarge.
As you may recall, this is not the first time I've written about
my grandmother's Swedish Butter Cookies !
If you look very closely,
you will see the newsletter in the image below...
along with extra rolls of the ambrosial butter~cookie~dough
with which I stock the freezer
for simple & easy gift~giving...
...like this!!
~~~~~
shared my secrets on how to...
Create 5 different Cookies from One Dough Recipe!
(Please click on image to enlarge.)
~~~~~~
After a time,
I was more than ready to turn my mind to some fresh reading
(not my own thoughts ;) so...
I turned to the stack of mail Mike had brought in earlier.
Imagine then, my surprise, when I found this...
The December issue of Real Simple magazine!!
I quietly rejoiced.
As a long~time fan of the magazine,
I poured a fresh cup of tea and prepared myself for a treat.
Still very much in the holiday spirit...
and more than a little bit hungry after reading about cookies all afternoon...
I turned immediately to the Food section
where my eyes lit up as I spied their Quick Takes feature:
10 Ideas for: Sugar Cookie Dough [!!}
Now, I've always recognized the Real Simple folks as being kindred spirits...
and the magazine has often been an inspirational breath of fresh air (so to speak)...
but this was serendipitous!!
As well...
the magazine inspired several new ideas for simplifying this years' holiday baking!
~~~~~~~
Just look at these cookies...
and all from
ONE BATCH OF SUGAR COOKIE DOUGH !!
Photo: Real Simple
Simple sugar cookie cut~outs...
Photo: Real Simple
Traditional cutouts with colored sugar sprinkles...
Photo: Real Simple
Chocolate Hazelnut sandwich cookies (use the Nutella in your pantry as filling)...
Photo: Real Simple
Cherry Almond Jumbles
(trail mix would work nicely in these and no cookie cutters needed~
they're drop cookies made from sugar cookie dough!)...
Photo: Real Simple
Orange glazed cookies (now I know how to use up that last drizzle of orange juice!)...
Photo: Real Simple
Jam Thumb Prints
(mine will be purple plum jam thumbs...to use up that huge batch of jam I made last year!)...
Photo: Real Simple
easy chocolate peppermint wafers
(I'm planning to melt Halloween candy bars for dipping and
crushed candy canes for the peppermint sprinkles)...
Photo: Real Simple
Cinnamon pinwheels (I think I might give these to a neighbor along with a vintage tea cup and a box or tin of nice tea) .
~~~~~~~~
I am always a champion of simple ideas
that look as if they cost more money and time that they actually do...
and all of these inspirational ideas from Real Simple do just that!
However... this is just the tip of the iceberg:
their magazine and blog are very rich in information and inspiration.
I found an abundance of holiday ideas (with photographs like these) on the
Real Simple website.
(But be warned, I've already gone over my computer~time budget by visiting their site alone!!)
All of these cookies look festive, fancy and delicious to eat and/or share.
I am definitely going to start with the
the pinwheels, chocolate peppermint and the jumbles !!
Oh...
one more reason I'm so excited is that
I plan to make a variety of these and similar cookies to give as...
Photo: Real Simple
Frugally Luxurious...Really Simple...Gifts !
Also...
I don't want to forget about the
Cookie Exchange!!
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