Taco Seasoning

My family loves tacos. It is one meal that I know everyone will eat and I love that it's an easy one to make sure everyone gets lots of veggies!

What I hate is that most of the spice packets/mixes you can buy have lots of additives and extras that I don't want. Especially MSG. I'm one of the lucky ones who happens to be allergic. Not as bad as my allergy to Cilantro...but an allergy all the same.

So I came up with my own spice mix. Easy to make and super easy to use. My family loves it and that had no idea that I made it on my own until I told them. Hope your family loves it too. Enjoy!

Homemade Fresh Caramels

I pulled this recipe out of the archives for Tina. I haven't made these in awhile...I usually save them to make as gifts around the holidays. But I might need to make a batch and add some extra liquid to make caramel sauce for the Ultimate Fast Chocolate Fix.

This is fool proof - you just have to watch the temperature. I've never made candy before and my 2nd batch turned out perfect. They are really rich, creamy and yummy - they'll keep for up to 3 weeks and then the sugar starts to crystallize. Enjoy!

Do not try to make these low in fat - I did and they are not the same.

Super Secret Salad Dressing

This is one of those recipes that was passed to me by a friend and she got it from a friend and the friend got it from a friend...so much so that we don't know for sure where it originated at. But it's one of the most versatile, amazing, easy and tasty salad dressings I have ever made. And I make it often and use it for everything from on top of my favorite salad, to marinate any meat and to use as the vinaigrette on a pasta or rice salad.

Try it. I promise you will not be disappointed. Enjoy!

Holy Cow! NSFV (Not Safe For Vegetarians)

For the last year we have been getting the majority of out meat from Braucher's Sunshine Harvest Farm. My family split one of their full Meat CSA shares with my friend and neighbor Kathy and her family. It started as an affordable way for me to introduce local, grass fed meat to my family. But what happened was so much more! Picking up our CSA each month helped us build relationships with all the different vendors at the market. But back to Mike and Colleen. What great vendors to work with! I know I feel much better about the food my family eats knowing that it comes from a farm where the animals are treated with respect and the farmers are genuinely really good people.

A few months ago Kathy and I came up with the idea of buying a whole cow. We figured we could get a few other families to go in on us with it (which we did) and that in the long run it would save us a ton of $$. So this week the cow got delivered and I am so glad we did this! It was a crazy mixed up week here at the Hippy household (my Sous Chef is still pretty sick) but when isn't life crazy around here! LOL

So we now have a freezer stock full of really healthy and very affordable grass fed beef. We will continue to get our monthly CSA option but Mike and Colleen are helping us tailor it so we won't be getting any beef for at least a few months. My freezer shows that we've got that covered!

Here are a few sites that I found with good info on why to use grass fed beef and how to cook it. Turns out I have a lot to learn. Hope this helps some of you out there too. Enjoy!

http://www.eatwild.com/

www.americangrassfedbeef.com

kelly the kitchen kop

MSG Free Ranch Dressing Mix

My friend Robin gave this recipe to me. She found it on the blog I've listed below. In the past I always hated Ranch seasoning because I always felt horrible after eating it. Now I can enjoy the ranch love! Warning - this makes a LOT of the dried seasoning mix. You will have enough to share with a friend. Make someone's day and Enjoy!

Back to blogging...with Baking Bacon

It's been kinda crazy around here and while I have been doing some cooking (not as much as usual that's for sure) I have had no time to actually write down the recipes I've been using or making. I decided on Sunday night when it was the Monkey's turn to pick what was for dinner that I needed to get back to blogging. I missed it...and I missed the time I spent in the kitchen cooking for the blog.

Monkey picked Blueberry Pancakes and bacon for dinner on Sunday. I had NO desire to stand over a stove frying bacon...and somewhere in the back of my mind I remembered that my friend Christie told me that I could BAKE bacon. So I called her up and tried it out. I am happy to report that I will never fry bacon again.

There are about a gazillion google hits for baking bacon. So we aren't off our rocker in suggesting this. It works...and here is what I did. Enjoy!

Word to the wise...

If you make your own bread at home please don't omit the salt. It really makes for a horrible loaf of bread.

And how would I know this? Let's just say my morning toast wasn't so yummy today.

The Secret to my Chili Success

For some reason everyone really likes my chili...even though I don't have a specific recipe. The only thing I'm consistent on is that I add pickle juice. You read right. Dill Pickle Juice. About 1/4 to 1/2 a cup per batch. Not at lot...but just enough to make a difference.

I know, sounds crazy. But it's not! I promise. But there is something about the tang that adds just that special something. No one will ever know it's in there...but they will notice if you skip it. And before anyone asks, yes, it HAS to be Dill Pickle Juice. I've tried different kinds of vinegar and it just isn't the same.

It's a cold winter weekend. Perfect for a nice pot of chili. Add some pickle juice. You won't regret it.