Honey • Purposely Frugal

Pecan Cream Cheese Spread or Dip

Breakfast, Dessert, Misc, Recipes, Sides & Snacks 1 Response »

Jul 052012

You know those cream cheese spreads you can buy at the store? You can easily make your own at home, which is probably cheaper (although I haven’t done a price comparison), and it can be healthier too! Here’s an easy recipe for honey pecan spread.

Ingredients:

1 package cream cheese softened
1/2 cup pecans chopped
1/4 cup honey
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Mix it all with a hand mixer and wa-la! You can spread it on a toasty whole wheat bagel or dip your apple slices in it! And since you’re making this at home, you can switch it up and make it other ways too, try chopped walnuts or use brown sugar or maple syrup to sweeten it. If you’re trying to cut back on fat, you can even use low-fat cream cheese.

Also check out this similar recipe from Tammy’s Recipe’s I’ve made it and LOVE it for apples!

Whole Wheat Honey Carrot Cake

Dessert, Recipes 1 Response »

Jul 022011

Today is my amazing husband’s birthday! And every year he asks for the same kind of cake, honey carrot cake. It only uses honey as the sweetener, no sugar, and has some whole wheat flour in it, plus it’s got carrots, so it’s a healthier birthday cake. When he was a boy his mom always made it for him. So I thought I’d share the recipe:

Ingredients

3/4 cup honey
1 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups grated carrots
Nuts and raisins optional

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour one 13 by 9 in. pan or two 8 or 9 in. pans. (I did two small pans, and instead of stacking them later, just left them separate).

Beat honey, oil and eggs.

Add flour, cinnamon, baking soda, vanilla and salt.

Then add carrots, raisins and nuts. I just LOVE the bright orange color of the carrots! Pour into pan or pans and bake 30-40 minutes. Once cooled, ice it. Here’s what I used for my honey icing (sorry I didn’t measure the ingredeints):

Cream cheese (softened)
Honey
Butter (softened)
Milk

And in case you’re wondering, no Cameron did not turn 7. I didn’t have 28 candles, so I just made them into a “C” shape. Not quite as exciting as Gracia’s butterfly cake.

Homemade Granola

Breakfast, Recipes, Sides & Snacks No Responses »

Jun 202011

Cereal is a perfect breakfast because it’s so easy and fast in the mornings. But if you look at the ingredients usually sugar is one of the first 2 ingredients. So here’s an alternative. This granola recipe only uses honey, instead of sugar, and it’s chock full of fiber. Just make up a batch every now and then and you have granola ready to go for many breakfasts to come! You can also use in it making peanut butter power pucks, or a yummy parfait.

Ingredients:

6 cups of old fashioned oats
2 sticks of butter
3/4 cup of honey
vanilla, maple flavoring, almond extract, cinnamon, or any flavoring you would like
Add-ins: raisins, craisins, chopped dates, sunflower seeds, coconut, chopped nuts or whatever else sounds good to you.

Melt the butter. Then mix all the ingredients, except the add-ins. Bake in a glass 9 by 13 pan at 350 degrees F, stirring occasionally. Bake until granola is light brown. Let cool then add dried fruit and nuts. Keep in an airtight container.

Sam’s Club (and other warehouse stores)

Groceries, Money Saving Tips, Uncategorized 4 Responses »

Apr 122011

I shop at Sam’s Club. It costs me $40 a year to keep my membership there. So if I don’t save more than $40 a year there, it’s not worth it. But I’ve figured out that in cheese ALONE we cover the membership cost, plus some (we eat a lot of cheese!). Here’ some strategies to get the most out of your bulk store shopping:

If it goes bad before you can eat it all, it’s not worth it (I don’t buy very much produce there, as we can’t always eat it fast enough).
Make sure you have a place to store all of it. There’s some things I don’t buy there simply because it’s just too big for our little home.
Only buy it if it’s something you use (don’t buy it just because it’s a good deal).
Make sure to shop there enough to cover the cost of your card.
Make a price list. Keep track of the unit price of things you buy and compare it to the unit price at regular stores to see what really is a better deal. I’ve learned a lot of things are cheaper at Sam’s but not everything. For example a lot of produce I can buy cheaper at other stores, especially if it’s on sale.

My price list isn’t finished yet, but here’s some items I’ve found cheaper at Sam’s Club:

Raisins

11.2 cents/oz. Great Value brand at Walmart

10.9 cents/oz. Sunmaid brand at Sam’s Club

Honey

19.5 cents/oz. Hill Country Fair brand on sale at HEB

18.7 cents/oz. Buleson’s brand at Walmart

13.2 cents/oz. at Sam’s

Cheddar Cheese in a block form

$3.74/lb. Hill Country Fair brand at HEB

$2.6/lb. Sam’s

Parmesian Cheese

40.25 cents/oz. HEB sale

31.1 cents/oz. Kraft at Sam’s

Liquid Hand Soap

6.25 cents/fluid oz. Hill Country Fair at HEB

5.75 cents/fluid oz. Equate at Walmart

4.7 cents/fluid oz. Sam’s

Recipe: Whole Wheat Bread

Bread, Money saving meals, Money Saving Tips, Recipes, Sides & Snacks 5 Responses »

Mar 172011

I got this recipe from my mother-in-law, who used to make it instead of buying bread. It’s healthy, yummy, and makes your house smell amazing!

7 c. flour plus 1 (half whole wheat, half white or all whole wheat if you’re using gluten)
My Little Baker Helping Me
3 c. lukewarm water
2 Tblsp. yeast
1/2 c. oil
1/2 c. honey
1 egg, beaten
1 Tblsp. salt

Combine flours. Whisk together remaing ingredients in seperate bowl. Add the extra cup of flour or enough to make kneadable. Knead about 7 min. Coat a bowl with oil, and the dough with oil. Cover with cloth and let rise in warm place. After doubled in size punch down. Put in 2-3 loaf pans, or make into rolls. Cover and let rise again until not quite doubled in size.

Bake in preheated 325 oven for about 30 min. or until brown and sounds hollow when tapped. (If doing rolls the time will vary). Remove from pan and let cool. If you want you can rub some butter on the top while still warm.

Sorry I don’t have any pictures of the actual loaves. I made some a couple days ago…but my loaves were kinda ugly, and I’m too proud to post a picture of them! I let the dough sit in the fridge over night before baking and while in the fridge the loaves got big bubbles in them. It all tasted fine, just wasn’t very pretty.

Frugal Tip: I thought I remembered my mother-in-law saying honey that’s not clear anymore and starting to crystallize can be used in baking. Since I had some like that I tried it and it worked just fine, so don’t throw out that old honey!

Suffusion theme by Sayontan Sinha

Pecan Cream Cheese Spread or Dip

Whole Wheat Honey Carrot Cake

Homemade Granola

Sam’s Club (and other warehouse stores)

Recipe: Whole Wheat Bread

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