Homemade “Apple” Sauce
Lately, I’ve been fairly cheap with my money. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE to shop but now, shopping for me means looking – and not always buying.
Trust me though, I wasn’t always this way. In college, if I got a bad grade or my relationship of the month didn’t pan out, I’d go shopping and spend a good chunk of my student loan money on clothes. Thanks, Sallie Mae.
Don’t worry though, I am paying for it now. Oh, am I ever.
Ever since we bought the house, and every single penny of our savings went to furnishing this house, I have been looking for ways to cut costs. I started couponing a little (which makes me feel like an old lady for some reason), taking lunch to work, and only buying items that I either NEED or LOVE. This makes clothes shopping not very fun at all – it’s actually kind of depressing. But, I’ve saved a good amount of money by doing it.
In addition to the little changes I’ve been making, I also started trying new recipes for items that I normally buy at the store. I’ve come to find out that convenience comes at a cost, and the extra few minutes it takes to actually make something instead of buying it is so worth it. The Easy Banana Bread I made cost me approximately $1.50 to make, whereas buying it at the supermarket would be well over $5. May not seem much, but over time that $3.50 adds up!
Which brings me to this homemade “apple” sauce. I saw this recipe on a blog I follow called Money Saving Mom, and even though I am not a mom, I am striving to be a better money-saver. She’s got some great ideas, and this recipe was one of them.
The farmer’s market ManFiancé and I frequent usually has great prices, and if some of the fruits or vegetables are starting to turn, their prices are even cheaper. I got a whole bag-full of browning pears for $1 (!), and decided to put them to use.
There are a number of things I probably could do with pears, but since I’m a beginner, I started simple. Enter the homemade “apple” sauce…
- Set your slow cooker on high.
- Skin, cut up the pears, and place in a slow-cooker with a 1/2 cup of water for every 5-6 pears.
- Then, add cinnamon to your liking. I tend to be heavy-handed with the cinnamon.
- Let the pears sit in the slower cooker for about 5 hours. It will smell AMAZING. Not only is this a delicious, healthy, and easy recipe – it’s a great potpourri as well. :)
- After 5 hours (even if it’s past 5 hours, it won’t hurt it), drain the excess water from the pot.
- Place the “apple” sauce in a sealed container in the refrigerator to let cool.
Done! So easy, so cheap (about $1.25), and so so delish!
It keeps in the fridge for about a week – if it’ll last that long in your house…
Do you have any good homemade recipes to share? Please email me at saltedchocolate@live.com, or share in the comments below. I’d love to try what you’ve got!
Happy Halloweenie!
I don’t have kids to dress for Halloween, so I take my dog trick-or-treating.
She hates me.
Sick as a Dog
Never really understood why people say that or where it actually came from – but basically, I’m not feeling well. Going to take some time to rest and recover…
In the meantime, here are some pics of my dog, Brandi, to enjoy. I may be feeling sick as a dog, but this little one ALWAYS makes me feel better…
A Bloody Good Bloody Mary
There’s a few reasons I’ve dedicated this post to the Bloody Mary:
- USF has its Homecoming game this Saturday and it’s at noon. That means tailgating starts around 8 a.m. That means it’s Bloody Mary time. And that means it’s going to be a gooooooooood game.
- It’s almost Halloween, and ‘Bloody’ Mary seems exceptionally relevant.
- I had a kick-ass Bloody Mary in Chicago, and I can’t stop thinking about it. Like, seriously cannot stop.
- Lastly, it’s a freaking Bloody Mary, people. Need I say more?
Going back to #3 – ManFiance, my good friend and college roommate, Booger, and her fiance met up for brunch. We were all in Chicago for the weekend, and we figured it was time to see what this city was all about. I did some initial research on all the hot food spots we needed to visit, and Bongo Room was one of them. While we were walking there, we passed Eleven City Diner – it was packed. We decided we’d go there the next day, and onto Bongo Room we went. Well unfortunately when we got there, we learned they did not serve alcohol. Ehem. This did not bode well with the crowd I was with. Plus, it was after a night of partying, so we were in dire need of an adult beverage to get us back to where we needed to be (mentally and physically).
So, we retraced our steps back to Eleven. God must have been smiling down on us that day, because that was the best decision we had made. (we did eventually go back to the Bongo Room on the last day of our vacation – amazing french toast athank you!)
As you can see, we were very happy. Their Bloody Marys were huge, homemade and spicy. And it’s garnish? Oh, just some cheese and salami. LOVE.
It was pretty much a meal. After 2 of those bad boys, we were ready to take on the town. But of course, I had to stop to check out the candy bar. Yes, liquor and candy. I was the happiest girl ever!
Don’t worry, I was just window shopping. After all, that was the weekend we got engaged (in case you missed it, here’s Part I, II, and III), so now Project Wedding Diet is officially on.
Which brings me back to the Bloody Mary. You can’t get more healthy than that – tomato juice and celery?! That’s nothing, I tell ya! That may very well be my diet for the entire engagement. Don’t judge me…
Until I find a good homemade recipe (or at least one that’s as half as good as that one), I’ll stick to what I know – a homemade Bloody Mary bar (of pre-mixed goodness). Add some horseradish, worcestershire, hot sauce, pepper and good vodka – and you’re good.
Bloody good.
Halloween Decorating
As soon as I felt the slightest nip in the air, I decided it was officially time to start decorating for Halloween. Even though I’ve had a pumpkin-scented candle burning since the beginning of August (what of it), it doesn’t really feel like Fall until the Halloween decorations are out. And since foliage in Florida never changes color, this is the closest I’ll get to that “Fall feeling.”
When my mom came to visit last weekend, we went to the nearest farmer’s market to load up on pumpkins. We got a variety of different sizes (and colors), and now it basically looks as though I own my own pumpkin patch. Call me crazy, but I think it looks pretty sa-wheet.
This is the first time I’ve really decorated for Halloween, since I’ve never had a place to call my own. I must admit, it’s easy to go overboard with the cheesiness, but I tried my best to pull back a little. Even if the glittery pumpkins at Goodwill were 1/2 off. ManFiance would not be a fan of glittered pumpkins, I’m almost sure of it.
I just added a few Halloween-ie touches here and there, so there’s a little something to catch your eye, but it’s not too much. There IS such a thing as too much Halloween…
{I might keep this sign up all year}
{I had to hang something on our coat rack. Which begs the question: why do I own a coat rack? I live in Florida.}
{A mini-but-lifelike skeleton hanging in the midst of our kitchen, which scared the shit out of me for the first few nights.}
A good first impression also applies to Halloween, so I spruced up this space to make it more scary/fun for the trick-or-treaters I’m expecting this year. (God I hope we get a lot of kids, or else I’m going to be a fat-ass from all the leftover candy!)
{Heh, get it? Hand in the candy jar… heh heh}
I figured I should try to decorate for the entire Fall season, so I incorporated decorations that could easily be left out for Halloween and Thanksgiving. I’m just lazy creative like that.
Most of these decorations were either purchased after Halloween last year (when everything goes on sale), or at Goodwill (because, that place is a gold mine for cute, cheap stuff). In total – minus the pumpkins which were about $30 for all of them (hello, farmer’s market) – I must’ve spent about $25. Not bad for a first timer.
salted chocolate | life with a dash of flavor 