Simply Live-Snack foods

I love to snack. Crackers and chips with dips galore! I could eat a million calories in one sitting. As part of my attempt to eat healthy and more simply, I have been working to find some snack foods that I can make using whole ingredients. My favorites so far have been whole wheat crackers and graham crackers. Both of these recipes are basic and can be easily messed around with to include different flavors (for example: the wonderful black bean salsa crackers that came from the leftover salsa in the fridge).

I am finding out that the key is to stop buying snack food from the grocery store. The truth is that I am lazy and given the chance, I will just eat what I get from the store. I also love my old favorites so much that it is hard to get motivated to make something new. So I stopped buying snack food at the grocery store. Eventually I want a snack bad enough to get my rear in gear and make one. Once I find a recipe that I like, I make large batches and store them for easy accessibility.

For another easy grab food I prepare most of our fruits and veggies from the co-op on the day that we get them. I wash and cut them and put them in containers. Then it is easy to grab them on the way out the door or throw them on a plate for the boys to snack on throughout the day (I try to leave one such plate out every day-lazy little eaters will gobble up the good stuff before searching for the other). Even foods that will need to be cooked are washed and cut to make make meal prep easier. This cuts down on food loss from spoilage since I am a lazy cook and will cook what is easiest.

Dips and such made from yummy homemade yogurt can be made up and stored in small individual size containers that are, again, easy to grab. Do you see the pattern here? If it is easy, we will actually use it!

Cheese is another good snack. Cut up into manageable sizes and stored in baggies, it makes a healthy, easy choice.

One last staple of our diet is peanut butter balls. This has evolved into peanut butter bars out of laziness. This is just peanut butter, or fresh ground peanuts, a little olive oil, some powdered milk, oats, a dash of sea salt and enough honey to make it all stick together. I pack this mix into the bottom of a baking pan and cool in the fridge. Then I cut it into squares and store it in a container. (Tip-as you are throwing all your ingredients together taste it to see if you like the mix and then try to squeeze a ball of it together. If it will not stay in a ball add some more of your wet ingredients. If it is too mushy add so more powdered milk.)

Granola, granola bars (easy to make), toasted and seasoned nuts, and healthy cookies are also a part of our good-for-you snack plan.

Now, I have to be fair and say that we all are still getting used to healthy, homemade alternatives. The boys sometimes decide starving until they see Grandmother next is a better option. I get tired of making things and long to pick up something at the grocery store (and sometimes do). T is a truly lazy eater and will sometimes just do without rather than have to get a baggie out to bag his own. So we are all still very much in a process.

I am finding out that I feel better and am naturally losing weight just by avoiding processed foods. The boys behavior is also better when they don't have High Fructose Corn Syrup coursing through their veins. So I am convinced it is both a cheaper and better lifestyle choice for us.

I encourage you to make a homemade snack this week and enjoy its inexpensive, simple goodness.

Simply Live

It is still my desire to have "homemaker" classes here at the house, but God just has not opened the time yet. So for now I would like to share my journey toward simple living with you on my blog. I will title them all Simply Live and will label them the same, in attempt to make it easy to identify these posts.

Honestly, I don't know where to start. There are so many wonderful things that I have learned over the past few years.

I think for today I would like to start by talking about Co-ops since tomorrow is my Farmer's Market Co-op. We are now reaching our one year anniversary of this wonderful venture. There are several similar co-ops in the area, but all of them were full when I learned about them. A group of friends and I decided to start one ourselves on a tentative basis. We were unsure of how well it would fit into our lives. Needless to say it has been wonderful. From that group of 5 families we have grown to a group of about 24.

I am still overwhelmed each time with the power of buying in bulk. Not only are prices less at wholesale distributors, but often they offer even better deals to groups that buy in large amounts. There have even been times we were given things for free, just for being good customers. Each of us puts in $20 and receives two bags full of fruit and veggies (at times we have received over 30lbs of produce). We stick to buying very basic foods and if it happens to be something we don't like or can't eat all of, many of us have enjoyed being able to share with others.

There are many co-op opportunities available, such as the one I am playing around with to provide Wright Dairy milk to our area. This is a wonderful milk that is low-temp pasteurized and not homogenized. The taste is amazing and the health benefits are high due to the special processing. It is a bit pricey, but it is so worth it. Although it comes from sweet home Alabama, there are few places to get it. Again, through cooperating we can work to make it available and more affordable (the closest store to me sells it for $7 a gallon, and we are getting it for closer to $5.50).

Another opportunity is Azure. I am just researching this company, but it seems to be a company that will deliver to your area if your group can place an order of $550. They provide a wonderful selection of hard to find grains and organic foods at a wonderful price. Again- the power of bulk buying.

So consider grouping up. Even a group of three or four has more buying power than one. The wonderful fellowship is a great bonus as well.