Saving Money on Groceries While Still Eating Healthy, Organic, and Local

Trying to save money on groceries while still eating healthy requires finesse. When you want to eat healthy, local, and organic, then you need more than just finesse; you need an elegant plan. It is possible to eat well and not spend a ton of money, but it will require some effort. Outlined below are some strategies to help you develop a food plan for your family. Not all of these strategies will work for you and your lifestyle so keep that in mind as you develop your food plan.


1. Join a CSA: CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture. In most cases, you pay money up front for a produce or meat “subscription” so a farmer does not have to take out yearly bank loans to pay for seed and other farm essentials. This helps a farmer with their cash flow and you get the freshest and best products that the farmer has to offer. Joining a CSA will guarantee fresh local food and if you join a CSA with an organic farm, then that is even better. However, buyers beware. Joining a CSA does not guarantee super cheap produce. When a season is good, then you will probably end up with more fresh produce than you will know what to do with, but when a season is bad, then you will end up with really expensive produce. Another great thing about a CSA is that it forces you to eat healthy. You will probably come home with produce that you have never heard of before and this will expand your cooking skills and ensure that you are getting a wide variety of vitamins in your diet. To find a CSA in your area visit the site local harvest.

2. Save your scraps: Vegetable and meat scraps can be used to make broths for soups or for cooking. Homemade broths are very flavorful and you can control the salt levels in homemade broth. If making your own broth is not your thing or if you produce more scraps than you can use in broth, then you can try composting your scraps.

3. You pick and preserve: Our family has gotten some great deals by going to you pick sites. We have gotten blueberries for a $1 a pound, strawberries for $1.25, and various other produce for a fraction of the cost of grocery stores. If you decide that you want to pick produce yourself, then don’t get lazy and let your fresh produce spoil before you can eat it or preserve it. Our family freezes as much of our produce as we can, so we can enjoy seasonal favorites all year long. To find you pick farms around your area, please visit the site Pick Your Own.

4. Grow your own produce: Do you have a green thumb? Then, growing your own produce might be a great option for you. Some of the best options for long term cost savings include items that are very expensive to purchase yet produce large quantities of produce every year. Excellent items to grow that help save you money are items like blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, gooseberries, and mulberries. If you are tight on space, then try growing herbs. Again, make sure you preserve your harvest so your hard work all year long.

5. Make food from scratch: Many items can be made from scratch cheaper than store bought including artisan breads and household cleaners. Plus, you can customize your foods to your family’s taste. You can make items spicy, sweet, low sugar, gluten free, or low fat. The options are endless when you make things from scratch.

6. Join a food buying co-op: Use the power of buying in bulk to your advantage. Our family uses a food buying co-op for things that are not grown within a thirty minute drive from us. Some products that we buy through a co-op include almonds, rice, and bulgur. A food buying co-op will allow you to join others in buying healthy foods from a regional co-op distributer. Our local food buying co-op gets a 10% discount for all items bought. Some co-ops have store front buildings that allow you to buy items like you would in a grocery store. Like all cost saving measures, there is a cost to your time for some co-ops. Some co-ops require that you volunteer for their group in order to receive a discount. You could be asked to sort boxes, help place orders, or use your house as a pick up site. To find a local co-op in your area, please visit the site Co op Directory.

7. Visit a farmer’s market or a local farm: Farmer’s markets are loaded with healthy local produce, meats, and products. If a CSA provides you with more food than you can eat or if you do not like a lot of different vegetables, then visiting your farmer’s market or local farm and buying local fresh produce might be a great option for you. Our family buys items at the farmer’s market that does not come with our CSA such as maple syrup and gooseberries.

8. Coupon clipping: Coupons can save you money on both household goods and healthy foods that cannot be obtained locally. Coupons can be obtained from newspapers, coupon clipping services, or on-line. Do you have a product that you love and cannot live without? Then, try writing the company that makes the product a letter. Tell them how much you love the product and how you use the product. Next, ask them for coupons. Best case scenario is that you get some coupons for free or reduced products. The worst case scenario is that the company never responds.

9. Barter: Do you know a friend or farmer who can grow wonderful produce? Perhaps you can set up a trade in exchange for some wonderful local food. Some CSAs will allow you to work on the farm in exchange for a free or reduced rate for farm goods. Likewise, a friend with a wonderful garden might be willing to exchange a few baskets of vegetables for some sewing projects or babysitting.

My family uses a combination of all of the methods above to help us eat locally, healthy, and organic. I do spend a lot of time preparing healthy meals for my family and looking for ways to make it more economical, but I think the outcome is worth all the work. What are some of your tips to eat locally, healthy, and organic?

Posted on Penny Pinching Party 

Texas Oven-Roasted Brisket

I loved brisket cooked on the grill, but sometimes the weather does not cooperate and you have to cook inside. While searching for a way to make brisket indoors I came across a recipe called Texas Oven-Roasted Beef Brisket that was shown on Paula’s Home Cooking. The recipe is by Tom Perini. To be completely honest I was skeptical of oven made brisket, but I really needed to the cook the meat, so I dove right in and hoped for the best.


I used grass fed beef, so I adjusted the oven temperature from 350 to 325 degrees F and in the second half from 300 to 275 degrees F. The brisket cooked in about 2 hours instead of 3 hours. I also coated the meat in Extra Virgin Olive Oil to keep it moist during cooking.

Overall, the recipe was good. The meat had a good flavor, and it was tender. However, it wasn’t as good as brisket cooked on the grill, but this recipe is great if you cannot cook outside. Both Little BBQ and Dr. Lazy Palate really enjoyed the recipe. Sometimes you take a chance on something and it turns out great. This was one of those times. I am going to keep this recipe in my stash so we can enjoy brisket in the winter as well as during the summer grilling season.

Ingredients

3 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons dry mustard
1 bay leaf, crushed
4 pounds beef brisket, trimmed
1 1/2 cups beef stock

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F for conventional beef or 325 degrees F for grass fed beef.

2. Brush the olive oil over the entire brisket. Make a dry rub by combining chili powder, salt, garlic and onion powders, black pepper, sugar, dry mustard, and bay leaf. Season the raw brisket on both sides with the rub. Place in a roasting pan and roast, uncovered, for 1 hour.

3. Add beef stock and enough water to yield about 1/2 inch of liquid in the roasting pan. Lower oven to 300 degrees F for conventional beef or 275 degrees F for grass fed beef, cover pan tightly and continue cooking for 3 hours for conventional beef or 2 hours for grass fed beef, or until fork-tender.

4. Trim the fat and slice meat thinly across the grain. Top with juice from the pan.

Daring Cooks: Stacked Green Chile & Grilled Chicken Enchiladas

Mexican food is one of my favorite types of cuisines especially after living in Texas for several years. I was excited when Barbra of Barbra Bakes and Bunnee of Anna+Food chose enchiladas as our Daring Cooks’ challenge for May. They chose a recipe from Fine Cooking written by Robb Walsh. The recipe was three parts: roasting chiles, making the sauce and preparing the enchiladas. Both were straight forward and can be completed by a beginner cook in about 2 hours.


I loved the enchiladas. I found the sauce to slightly spicy and flavorful. Little BBQ loved the sauce. He ate the sauce as a soup before I could put the enchiladas in the oven. Dr. Lazy Palate was indifferent on the enchiladas. He found them to be too spicy, but he could tolerate it. I would make this dish again for just Little BBQ and me. I think the enchiladas will be even better with cheese. At the time I made the dish, I was unable to eat cheese. I miss cheese dearly.

The challengers this month have a few notes to help you make the enchiladas:

“1. Roasting the Anaheim chiles is a critical part of the Green Chile sauce. More information about how to do this is included below, but please resist the temptation to rinse the chiles to remove the skin or seeds. You will lose lots of flavor if you do this!!

2. If using a broiler to roast the chiles, lining the broiler pan or baking sheet with foil greatly simplifies the clean-up process!

3. You may want to consider using gloves when peeling and removing seeds from the chiles. I keep a set of gloves in the kitchen for just that purpose. All it takes is one hand to the eye or nose for a lot of pain to set in!”

Ingredients

1½ pounds Fresh Anaheim chiles (about eight 6 to 8 inch chiles) - roast, peel, remove seeds, chop coarsely. Other green chiles (NOT bell peppers) could probably be substituted but be conscious of heat and size!)

7-8 ounces Tomatillos (about 4-5 medium)212 grams - peel, remove stems

4 cups Chicken broth

1 clove Garlic, minced

2 teaspoons yellow onion, minced

1 teaspoon dried oregano

½ tsp Kosher salt (add more to taste)

¼ tsp Black Pepper (add more to taste)

2 tablespoons Cornstarch (dissolve in 2 tablespoons water, for thickening)

Hot sauce, your favorite, optional

2 Boneless chicken breasts (you can also use bone-in chicken breasts or thighs)

3 tablespoons Olive oil or other neutral vegetable oil (use more as needed)

Kosher salt and pepper

12 Small Corn tortillas (5-6 inch/13-15 cm). (you can also use wheat tortillas or other wraps)

6 ounces grated Monterey Jack (other cheeses (cheddar, pepper jack, Mexican cheeses) can be used. Just be sure they melt well and complement the filling)

Cilantro for garnish, chopped and sprinkled optional

Directions for Roasting the Chiles

1. Coat each chile with a little vegetable oil. If you are doing only a couple chiles, using the gas stove works. For larger batches (as in this recipe), grilling or broiling is faster.

2. Lay the oiled chiles on the grill or baking sheet (line pan with foil for simpler clean-up). Place the grill or broil close to the element, turning the chiles so they char evenly. They should be black and blistered.

3. As they are completely charred (they will probably not all be done at once), remove them to a bowl and cover with plastic, or close up in a paper bag. Let them rest until they are cool.

4. Pull on the stem and the seed core MAY pop out (it rarely does for me). Open the chile and remove the seeds. Turn the chile skin side up and with a paring knife, scrape away the skin. Sometimes it just pulls right off, sometimes you really have to scrape it.

5. DO NOT RINSE!

Directions for Preparing the Green Chile Sauce

1. Put a medium saucepan of water on to boil and remove the papery outer skin from the tomatillos. Boil the tomatillos until soft, 5 to 10 minutes. You can also grill the tomatillos until soft.

2. Drain and puree in a blender or food processor.

3. Return the tomatillos to the saucepan along with the chicken broth, chopped green chiles, minced onion, oregano, garlic, salt and pepper.

4. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat and then reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

5. Add the cornstarch/water mixture and stir well. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sauce is thickened and reduced to 4-5 cups, another 10-15 minutes.

6. Adjust seasonings and add hot sauce if you want a little more heat.

Directions for Stacked Green Chile and Grilled Chicken Enchiladas

1. Heat a gas grill to medium high or build a medium-hot charcoal Coat the chicken with olive oil and season well with salt and pepper. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

2. Grill the chicken until just cooked through, 4-5 minutes a side for boneless chicken breasts.

3. Cool and then slice into thin strips or shred.

4. In a small skillet, heat 3 tablespoons oil over medium-high heat until very hot. Dip the edge of a tortilla into the oil to check – it should sizzle immediately.

5. Using tongs, put a tortilla into the pan and cook until soft and lightly brown on each side, about 15-20 seconds per side (at the most).

6. Drain on paper towels.

7. Add oil as needed and continue until all 12 tortillas are done.

8. In a baking dish large enough to hold four separate stacks of tortillas, ladle a thin layer of sauce.

9. Lay four tortillas in the dish and ladle another ½ cup (4 ounces/112 grams) of sauce over the tortillas.

10. Divide half the chicken among the first layer of tortillas, top with another ½ cup of sauce and 1/3 of the grated cheese.

11. Stack another four tortillas, top with the rest of the chicken, more sauce and another third of the cheese.

12. Finish with the third tortilla, topped with the remaining sauce and cheese.

13. Bake until the sauce has thickened and the cheese melted, about 20 minutes. Let rest for 5-10 minutes.

14. To serve, transfer each stack to a plate. Spoon any leftover sauce over the stacks and sprinkle with cilantro, if you wish. The stacks may also be cooked in individual gratin dishes.

Working from Home Ideas

Many stay at home moms dream of working from home and staying home with their children. However, few people recognize that finding stay at home work generally requires upfront costs like education, experience, or capital equipment. Also, most stay at home jobs require you to have child care or can only be completed when your child is either napping or self entertaining making this a delicate balance. In order to work at home you have to be organized, dedicated, and disciplined. If you think you have what it takes to work from home, then here is a list of ideas of potential work from home jobs:


1. Start your own business: This is the most flexible way for you to work from home because you are your own boss. Some business ideas are selling handmade items on etsy, dog walking, starting an in home day care, book keeping, making and selling baked goods, and web site development. All of these ideas take talent, education, or certifications to start. If you can’t sew, then making baby clothes and trying to sell them on etsy isn’t going to work. If you decide to do an in home day care or sell baked goods, then you will probably have to get your kitchen certified. Likewise, you are going to have to register your business with the state, get your tax ID number, and keep track of your income and expenses.

2. Contract work: Perhaps you work at a job now that can easily be done at home or you have a skill set where working remotely is possible. Some companies can transition certain positions to work at home for highly effective employees that have a track record of producing excellent results. In this case, an employee will be required to show proof of childcare while working or may have other constraints on how and when the work must be done. Some examples of professions that can sometimes lead to work at home include some types of lawyers, computer programmers, graphic designers, some finance positions, and analysts. Some people are able to transfer their current job or pick up contract work to meet the short term needs of businesses. Some ideas of contract work are preparing marketing materials, data analyst, and technical writing.

3. Multilevel marketing: Do you have a gift for selling anything to anyone? Then, working in multilevel marketing might be a great fit for you. Some ideas include Discovery Toys, May Kay, and Pampered Chef. These jobs generally require that you do home shows and most require an upfront investment of products to show.

4. Medical Transcription: Do you have excellent listening skills? Can you type very efficiently? Then, medical transcription might be a good option for you. However, this field generally requires certifications, and this is not a job that can be done while watching small children because you need to be focused especially when you listening to an audio with a heavily accented person or a lot of background noises.

5. Tutoring and editing: Many parents are willing to pay people to tutor their kids either remotely via the internet on a homework help sites or in person for more intimate help. You can either work for yourself or for another organization. Under No Child Left Behind many small tutoring companies that are registered with their states have flourished. These companies offer free tutoring to students in areas of need (generally low income areas where performance metrics are not being met). These companies generally tutor small groups of children in the evening on the weekends, but you would still need to provide childcare for your children while you are tutoring. Likewise, many students are willing to pay people to edit their papers for grammar. Look for opportunities through your local college writing center or advertise on campus billboards.

6. Writing: Do you have a great story to tell? Are you an expert in an area? Do you love writing? Then, writing might be an option for you. Get the book, 2010 Writer’s Market* and look for opportunities to publish your work. A thick skin is required in this field because you will get a lot of rejection letters. Plus, this is a field with delayed monetary gratification. Some publishers don’t pay you until your work is actually published and not when it is accepted for publication.

7. Photography: Perhaps you are wonderful at taking pictures of places, things, and people. Then, you can start a photography business doing wedding photos, family photos and various other photo services. This will take up a lot of your weekend time and competition can be stiff in some areas, but it can be a very rewarding career. Another option is to try and get your work published. The 2010 Photographer’s Market* is a wonderful resource for photographers who are looking to get their work published. Again, a thick skin is needed. You will get lots of rejection letters and money is generally slow to come in.

8. Blogging: It seems like everyone has a blog these days. Many people start a blog dreaming of all the extra income they will make from writing a few hours a day, but blogging generally does not pay well. Most bloggers find that they do not make a lot of money. The bloggers that do well treat their blog as an actual job. They post consistently, they have new and interesting material, and they spend time marketing their blog.

9. Surveys, secret shoppers, and search and win sites: It seems like every week I get an e-mail to pay me for my thoughts through surveys or to be a secret shopper. You will not become rich from taking surveys. Most survey sites make you collect points before you can redeem your points for cash. This takes time and patience, but it could be a good option for you if you want to get a few gift certificates for some extra spending cash. Likewise, secret shopper sites generally don’t pay well, but this might be a good option for people who would go shopping anyway. I belong to a search and win site called Swagbucks. So far, I have really liked their site. You just use it as you would Google, and the site randomly rewards you with points that can be redeemed for cash or other goods. Again, you will not become rich, but the extra Amazon gift certificate every few months is nice. If you are interested in Swagbucks, then please click on my banner for Swagbucks at the bottom of this post. (Full Disclosure: I receive bonus points for referring you if you decide to sign up for the program.)

10. Clinical trials and selling plasma: Selling plasma a few times a month can provide you with a little extra spending cash if you don’t mind needles. Look in your phone book for local sites to sell your plasma at. Clinical trials can also provide a small source of income. Some clinical trials involve taking a medication or some just require you to do something like sleep in a hospital bed at night with monitors hooked up to you or observe your child at play. To search for clinical trials visit the government's clinical trial search page or contact your local university to see if they currently have any studies that are seeking volunteers.

11. Reselling stuff: Do you have a knack for finding bargains? Maybe you are that person who can go to a garage sale and pick out the one valuable antique that they are selling for pennies on the dollar and resell it to larger audience on e-bay. Perhaps you are that person who can find designer clothes at Goodwill and resell it on e-bay. There are countless number of things that you can resell including books, baby items, clothes, and antiques. It will take time to find the items and resell them but some people are really good at it and can be very profitable at it.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of work at home opportunities, but hopefully it will give you some ideas. Please feel free to add your work at home ideas in the comments.

*

Poached Eggs with Buttery Multigrain Toast

I recently scored some free Cooking Light magazines from a free box at the library a few weeks ago. I have never read cooking light, but I must say that these magazines have reinvigorated my love for cooking. I feel like I have gotten into a rut lately and these magazines are just what I needed. The first recipe that I chose to make was Poached Eggs with Buttery Multigrain Toast. Wow! I found a gold mine with this recipe. It is wonderful. I have never poached an egg before, so it took me two eggs to get it right. The first time I dropped the egg from too high of a location and egg dropped with a thud to the bottom of the pan. Not only did the egg stick to the bottom of the pan, the egg yolk also broke defeating the purpose of a poached egg. Lesson learned. The second time I put the egg in the middle of the pot where most of the bubbles were, and I dropped it close to the pot. Perfect. The yolk did not break, and the egg looked like a jellyfish with all its tentacles floating around the egg yolk.


The taste was amazing. I used fresh eggs from the farmers market and organic baby arugula on top of the toast. The peppery taste of the arugula complemented the egg well. The gooey yolk made the toast nice and moist. I have decided that this is my new favorite week day breakfast! The egg provides a good source of protein while the arugula provides vitamins and the multigrain bread provides a great source of whole grains. For me, this dish was a flavorful and healthy win.

Dr. Lazy Palate said that this dish reminded him of Sweden. The only thing that was missing was the pickled herring. While Dr. Lazy Palate does not like green vegetables or soft eggs, he did like the nostalgia of the dish. Little BBQ did eat the bread and the egg. He even ate a few bites of the arugula. Overall, this dish was a moderate success for our family.

Recipe from Cooking Light May 2009 p 144


Ingredients (serves 4)

1 tablespoon white vinegar
4 large eggs
2 tablespoons butter, softened
4 (1 ½ ounce) slices multigrain bread
2 cups baby arugula
¼ tsp salt (optional)
¼ tsp freshly ground pepper (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat broiler

2. In a (12 inch) skillet, bring a 2 inch layer of water (about 4 cups) to a low boil with vinegar. Break an egg into a bubbling area so the bubbles spin the egg and set the white around the yolks. Add remaining eggs, then turn down the heat and poach them so they scarcely bubble for 3 minutes or until desired degree of doneness. To test them, lift an egg with a slotted spoon and press with your fingertip: The white should be set with the yolk still soft. Transfer the eggs from edges of each egg with kitchen shears, if desired.

3. Spread 1 ½ teaspoons butter over each bread slice. Place bread slices in a single layer on a heavy baking sheet; broil 3 minutes or until golden. Place one toasted bread slice on each of 4 plates; top each serving with ½ cup arugula and one egg. Sprinkle evenly with salt and pepper, and serve immediately.

Refreshing Snap Peas

Something unbelievable happened last week at the grocery store. I almost couldn’t believe it was happening. I had to ask Dr. Lazy Palate to repeat himself twice. You will never believe it, but he actually wanted to try snap peas! This is the person who will not eat anything green. Worse yet, if he does eat a vegetable, then it is usually canned. To celebrate this monumental occasion I had to make a fabulous side dish out the snap peas. I wanted the dish to be visually stunning and delicious.


I started with things that I knew he liked to eat like strawberries and almonds. Then, I built around those flavors. I added some mint to add to complexity to the dish and some lime to pull all the flavors together. I sautéed the snow peas in a little olive oil to take away the “raw flavor” that Dr. Lazy Palate does not like. In the end I was left with a visually stunning dish that tasted refreshing. I think the freshly toasted almonds made the dish amazing. Dr. Lazy Palate agreed that the almonds were delicious, and he agreed that they made the dish stand out. Little BBQ loved the dish as well. He started with the strawberries and worked his way through the almonds and finally ended by eating the snap peas. This side dish was perfect!

Ingredients

2 cups snap peas, washed
1 cup strawberries, hulled and quartered
1 cup raw almonds
5 large mint leaves, chopped
1 small lime wedge
1 tsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place raw almonds on cookie sheet. Bake for 8 minutes. Remove almonds from cookie sheet immediately because they will continue to bake. Remove any burned almonds. Set aside.

2. In a pan add olive oil and heat on medium heat. Add snap peas and sauté for 5-7 minutes. Remove from heat.

3. In a bowl, mix together snap peas, strawberries, almonds, and mint. Squeeze lime juice over the mixture and stir. Serve warm.

Posted on recipe round up, Ingredient Spotlight, This Week's Craving, Midnight Maniac Meatless Monday,

Color Wheel

This post has moved to Nirvana Homeschooling. Come check out my new homeschooling blog!

April Daring Bakers Challenge: Traditional Steamed Pudding

April’s Daring Baker’s Challenge was to make a traditional British steamed pudding, and I must say that I was super excited about the challenge! I have always wanted to make a steamed pudding, but I was always too intimated to try it. Now with the Daring Baker’s challenge, I had an excuse to try my hand at making a steamed pudding. The challenge was made by Esther at The Lilac Kitchen. This is what Esther had to say about steamed pudding:


“The challenge I would like to set you this month is to try a very British dish and a very British ingredient.” Furthermore she adds, “These are very homely dishes but I thought that would be an interesting contrast to some of the very decorative dishes we often do and I am sure some of our members will still make them look spectacular!

Some of you will know about the British and the word pudding but for those that don't we use the word for many things:

1) Black pudding and white pudding a sort of meat and grain sausage. Black pudding uses blood as well as meat.

2) Pudding — a generic word for desert

3) Pudding — any dish cooked in a pudding bowl or pudding cloth normally steamed, boiled but sometimes baked.

4) An endearment i.e., "How are you today my pudding?"

For this challenge we are using the third meaning a dish cooked in a pudding bowl or cloth, though many of you may opt to do a sweet version in which case version two also applies!”

The very British ingredient that Esther talks about is suet which is the fat around the kidneys of a cow or sheep. Unfortunately, I was unable to get a hold of any suet, so I used butter instead. I drew my inspiration for my steamed pudding from two sources: Summer Pudding and College Pudding. I wanted to use some of the fabulous tasting strawberries that I got on sale at the grocery store to create a nice Summery pudding.

To make a steamed pudding, you need a 2 pint bowl that can be steamed. I used a Chinese bowl. Also, you need a way to steam the pudding. I used Richard Simmons Electric Steamer.

I found making the steamed pudding as easy as making a regular cake. The steaming did take a long time (2.5 hours), but the wait was worth it. The pudding turned out super moist and not too sweet. I will definitely be making steamed pudding again in the future.

Dr. Lazy Palate loved the steamed pudding.  Like me, he loved how moist the pudding turned out.  He was a little skeptical when I told him that I steamed the pudding instead of baking it, but he agreed that the moistness of the pudding was amazing. As an added bonus, Little BBQ loved the steamed pudding as well. Little BBQ could not get enough of the steamed pudding! Our entire family gives this steamed pudding a 5 star rating.

Ingredients


1 cup flour
pinch of salt
1.5 cups of fresh bread crumbs
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 egg
6 tbsp unsweetened almond milk
1.5 cups strawberries, chopped
.5 cup blackberries, chopped

Directions

1. Sift the four and salt together, then mix with all remaining dry ingredients. Beat the egg and add to the dry ingredients with enough of the milk to produce a soft dropping consistency. Add the chopped fruit and stir.

2. Spoon into a greased 1.1 litre (2 pint) pudding basin, cover securely and steam for 2 ½ hours. This pudding turns out easily if left for a few minutes after removing from the steamer.

Posted on Recipe Round Up, Ingredient Spotlight