A Reward For Sticking To My Guns! (Recipe too)

 I almost did it guys!  I almost gave in and shopped a sale!  WHEW!  Close call.  So far this month, counting chicken feed, pet food, cleaning, etc; my total has been $309.  I may have to buy more flour, and maybe some cheese, but technically could do without cheese.  Breakfast options are limited with no flour when you have someone who can't have eggs!  So, yeah, flour.  

Anyway!  I had my cart full of stuff ( my online cart) when I asked myself " Do I really need all of this?".  I had Cheese, Flour,(okay, okay.  No too bad)Perdue chicken thighs (cause they were .99 lb Duh!), Body Armor drinks( slipping), Breyers Ice cream (not looking good), and Outshine bars!  I could have justified these purchases with either a "It's on sale", or a "I need to get up an order big enough to pick up for free!".  As I asked myself that question; I couldn't say I did need them.  They were  nice.  Would have been a nice splurge.  They were a decent price ( for today's prices).  I originally told myself the frozen treats were in lieu of baking.  I thought it would be a nice summer change from cookies.  

Then I wondered; can I make these at home?  I have a popsicle mold, but they alway turned out hard; not the nice slushy biteable straight from the freezer bars.  So I went to Chat GPT.  I know!  I've been sucked in!  He has been handy though.  I told him what I was wanting to do and he helped me out.  So rather than have you dip your toe into Chat GPT for this; I will share the recipe for fruit bars and Fudge pops!

FRUIT BARS( STRAWBERRY)

1 Lb of strawberries

1/3 cup sugar

pinch of salt

2 TBS corn syrup

1 TBS Lemon juice

Wash and hull your strawberries.  No need to cut them up.  Place berries in a bowl.  Add the sugar and salt then let sit for 15 minutes for it to release it's juices.  Add the corn syrup, and lemon juice.  I use an immersion blender to blend it in the bowl, but if you have a standard blender that will do fine.  Try not to add additional water.  If you have do, add a Tbs of water at a time.  Just enough to make it blend well.  Don't use more than 4 Tbs of water.  They will be harder the more water you use, so if you don't need it, don't use it!  I used no water with the immersion blender.  Once blended, I poured the mixture into my popsicle molds to freeze.  It made 7 Outshine bar size bars, and they were WONDERFUL!  I used strawberries from my garden that I had in the freezer.  Chat calculated my cost (using organic non GMO corn syrup) at .6 a bar!  He said even using store bought berries it would be cheaper than buying the box of Outshine Bars.

Then I moved on to Fudge Bars!  These turned out equally marvelous.  At this rate I won't need to buy frozen treats at all!

Fudge Bars

• 1 1/2 cups whole milk
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 tbsp corn syrup
• 4 tbsp cocoa powder
• 2 tbsp cornstarch
• vanilla + salt

Put the sugar, cocoa powder, cornstarch, pinch of salt into a saucepan.  Whisk it together.  On Medium heat, gradually add in the milk and cream, whisking as you go.  Keep stirring until it starts to thicken.  Once thick (it will look like a thick gravy consistency) remove from heat and et cool 15 minutes.  Then add vanilla dn stir in.  Pour into popsicle mold and freeze.

This is the mold I have and I like it!

popsicle mold

I ended up buying NOTHING!  I walked away.  Still need flour and cheese, but I'll grab them later.  Now I've added new recipes that put power in my hands, because it's one less thing I have to buy from the grocery store in order to treat my family.  

So what does my grocery list basically consist of?

Meat, milk, butter, sour cream, cheese, flour, some frozen vegetables, some fresh or frozen fruit, onions, potatoes, some condiments, oats, cream, sugar, raw honey, yeast, cocoa powder, coconut oil, nuts, some spices, tea, lemon juice, pet food, chicken feed, vinegar and baking soda for cleaning along with dish soap, laundry and dishwasher soap, toiletries, toilet paper,   These aren't all bought each month, but rather part of a master list I pull from.   Some of these items I put together to make our "convenience food".  Some of the fruits and veggies I don't buy because I grow them.  Of course our hens give us eggs.  There's a method to my madness that works for my families needs.

I've had many people tell me it takes too much time and effort.  My response is that we all will work for somebody.  We can work for an employer or we can work for ourselves.  I choose the later.