Homemade Chocolate Syrup

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I LOVE chocolate syrup. Seriously.

Vanilla ice cream drizzled with chocolate syrup is probably my absolute favorite way to eat ice cream.

But, have you every read the label of Hershey’s Syrup?

HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, CORN SYRUP, WATER, COCOA, SUGAR, CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF : POTASSIUM SORBATE (PRESERVATIVE), SALT, MONO- AND DIGLYCERIDES, XANTHAN GUM, POLYSORBATE 60, VANILLIN, ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR.

High fructose corn syrup is the first ingredient, and instead of using real vanilla, vanillin is used (which did you know is actually a byproduct of wood pulp?) Plus, many of the other ingredients are hardly food.

There had to be another solution.

Enter: PINTEREST! (To the rescue again!)

Chocolate Syrup

Recipe originally found at Cajun Joie de Vivre

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Our Decision to Live in a One-Car Household

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First off, let me say that this decision wasn’t a conscious decision that we made for ourselves. If life was completely predictable, we’d still be living with two cars and would think nothing of it. But when we lost a car last fall to an accident, suddenly we were left with just one.

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It’s garden time!

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I am beyond excited. Now that we are back from the trade show and the plot is emptied, this is the week to start planting our seeds! I seriously have been waiting for this moment for months. There’s nothing like digging in fresh dirt and waiting and watching for those little seedlings to pop their little heads up.

We’re also going to the farmer’s market on Saturday morning to get our tomato, pepper and maybe some onion starts.

Planting time: t-minus four days!

Rosemary: The Loner

Safer Sunscreens

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Hey, guys….we’re back! We’ve been gone for a little bit on a wonderful trip to Hawaii. It wasn’t a true vacation (C was working at a trade show there all last week, which I helped a little with), but it was nice to have a change of scenery and pace.

Can't complain!

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Chicken Parmigiana The Pioneer Woman’s Way

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On the one week I work full time, I make good wholesome, involved meals.

Go. Figures.

I guess it’s because after working all day with numbers I have to have a creative outlet, and I crave delicious food after long days. (Goodness knows it’s not because I have boundless energy after these days.) Luckily, cooking “fancy” meals fulfills both those needs.

One night last week, I got home from work and opened the fridge to see what we needed to use up. We had chicken, red wine and tomato paste. That seemed like it could make a meal.

So I headed onto facebook and Pinterest, and wouldn’t you know? C’s cousin, Chelsey, posted a link to The Pioneer Woman’s Chicken Parmigiana. This particular Chicken Parmigiana had chicken, red wine and crushed tomatoes.

Sold.

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We don’t Eat High Fructose Corn Syrup

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And we don’t think you should either.

Well, let me rephrase that, we’re working on eliminating it 100% from our diets, but since it is in nearly all processed foods, it is a little hard to avoid sometimes. We’re doing everything we can to avoid it. We avoid foods now that we wouldn’t before if we see high fructose corn syrup listed as an ingredient.

Why is high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) so bad in our current diets?

follow link to view source (Dr. Mercola’s website)

High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is metabolized differently than sugar. If you think sugar is bad for you, HFCS is much worse:

  1. Fructose is a contributor to insulin resistance (a marker of possible future diabetes), elevated blood pressure, elevated triglycerides and elevated LDL.
  2. HFCS can deplete vitamin and mineral levels
  3. HFCS can lead to cardiovascular disease, liver disease and cancer

If you look on the back of most store-bought processed food, you’ll most likely find HFCS instead of sugar. Food manufacturers use HFCS because it’s dirt cheap compared to regular granulated sugar.

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Our Favorite Homemade Pizza Recipe

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© David Loftus via www.jamieoliver.com

As easy as it can be to order pizza out or take and bake, there’s really nothing like a nice homemade pizza. When we found Jamie Oliver’s pizza recipe in one of our cookbooks we thought we would give it a try. This recipe is fairly easy once you’ve tried it once. While it takes a while for the dough to rise, you can do it ahead of time, just make sure to leave it out to rise back up before you use it. It’s a great recipe, especially as a starting point, but we’ve made a few changes to make it more to our liking.

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Cut your Grocery Bill: Meatless Monday

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As we mentioned the other week, due to our lives changing course, we’re on the fast track to paying off our school debt so we can buy our own home. This means that there are some budgets that we’re attempting to cut significantly.

We’re going to cut our grocery bill down by $50 a month, which is a lot for our already low monthly budget. In order to succeed, we have to have some concrete plans in place.

One of the “easiest” ways we’ve found to cut our budgets is:

Meatless Mondays.

We’re not doing this for the normal reasons people usually claim (we’re far from vegetarian), but because meat is so darn expensive!

We figure if we cut meat out 1-2 nights a week and substitute with beans or eggs, we’ll still be getting protein and saving pennies at the same time.

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How to deal with Grass and Weeds in Garden Plot

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We’re gardening again this year in a community garden that our condo has. Shared land means sharing what happens to the land.

When we received an email saying we had a grass problem in our little garden area, people suggested Round-Up. A million little red flags went up. First off, Round-Up is owned by Monsanto, which is about the last company on earth I would ever want to support by buying their products. (Monsanto is leading the way in GMOs and is currently pushing to get approval for an Agent Orange pesticide for corn.)

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How to find Natural Coupons

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[I'd like to introduce you all Chelsey, C's cousin from Courteous Curtis & The Parents where she blogs about her adorable family, recipes and stretching her family's dollar.]

Hello Faithful LGH Followers!

I’m Chelsey, from Courteous Curtis & The Parents. When Melanie asked me to Guest blog, of course I said yes! After all, Chris & Melanie did a fab job guest blogging about Green Baby Gifts on my blog this past February!

Now, for the record, I’m totally jealous of where these two love birds are! I know they will enjoy the beautiful ocean and sun rays for all of us back on the mainland!

I thought I’d talk about coupons today. But not just the typical TLC Extreme Couponing
Coupons. I’m talking about Healthy/Organic/Natural Coupons! Is there such a thing as healthy coupons?! I didn’t think so, until I did some digging around the last 3 years.

Since the birth of our son, in 2010, it has become increasingly more important for us to cook and eat with as much organic-chemical-free-whole foods as possible. While this sounds great in theory, it can also sound scary when living on a budget. After talking with friends & family, and searching online these past years, I’ve managed to keep our food budget the same, even with adding in organic/fresh foods.

There are lots of ways to save. Below I listed some of my most “go-to” sources for saving money on healthy food/products. Continue reading →