Hummus has quickly become a favorite snack around here.  At first I was hesitant to even try it.  I mean really, with a name like Hummus?  But I’m glad I did!

However, hummus can get expensive, especially for this family of 6.  Thankfully hummus is easy as ever to make–and it whips up in a snap.  For a fraction of the cost of store bought!  The other benefit to homemade hummus?  You can customize the flavors to your family’s liking!

Homemade Hummus makes a great after school snack, appetizer, or as a side with lunch.  Who am I kidding?  It makes a great lunch!

What’s your favorite hummus flavor?

This post is part of Tempt My Tummy Tuesday , Tasty Tuesday, and Ingredient Spotlight.

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Homemade Roasted Garlic Hummus is a post from: Getting Freedom From Debt

A quick fruit muffin is a perfect snack for busy summer months.  Top it with streusel, and you’ve really got my attention!  I came across these muffins while flipping through my Southern Living Cookbook trying to find dinner ideas.  I couldn’t stop thinking about them–and now that I’ve made them and eaten them all, I’m ready to make them again.

Raspberry Streusel Muffins

1 3/4 cup flour; divided

2 tsp baking powder

½ cup sugar

1 egg; lightly beaten

½ cup milk

½ cup butter; melted

1 cup frozen raspberries

Streusel Topping

¼ cup chopped pecans

¼ cup packed brown sugar

2 Tbsp butter; melted

In a large bowl, combine 1½ cups flour, baking powder and sugar.  Make a well in the center.

In a seperate bowl, combine egg, milk, and butter.  Add this mixture to the dry ingredients, stirring just until moistened.  Fold in the raspberries.

Spoon batter into lightly greased muffin pan, filling about 2/3 full.

Combine remaining ¼ cup flour and all of the streusel topping ingredients and sprinkle over the muffins.  Bake at 375° for 20-25 minutes.

Yield:: 1 dozen

What’s your favorite fruit to include in a muffin?

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Raspberry Streusel Muffins is a post from: Getting Freedom From Debt

This dessert relies on the convenience of canned fruits but doctors it up with the addition of a secret ingredient.  Super quick to throw together in a pinch and easy on the budget coming in at roughly 20¢ a serving!  It’s soon to become a family favorite.  If you’re in the sharing mood, make up a batch for your next potluck dinner.

Creamy Fruit Salad

1 can Chunk Pineapple with juice

2 cans Fruit Cocktail Triple Cherries; drained

1 can Mandarin Oranges; drained

Sliced Bananas

1 box vanilla or banana pudding mix

Add all of the canned fruit and pineapple juice to a medium sized bowl.  Mix in the dry pudding mix, as much or as little as you wish.  This thickens up the juice, turning it creamy and also dresses up the flavor.  Refrigerate until serving.  Just before serving, add in the sliced bananas.

Enjoy!

Joining in on Tasty Tuesday.

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Creamy Fruit Salad is a post from: Getting Freedom From Debt

During the summer months, nothing beats a cold sandwich, loaded with veggies alongside some delicious fruit.  To change things up a bit, I like to make sandwiches on a tortilla instead of bread.  Not only does it lighten the sandwich up a bit–but it changes the whole flavor.  Or atleast I think so.

To make these Snail Tortilla Sandwiches all you need is:

Whole Wheat Tortillas

Cream Cheese

Lunch Meat (We used Turkey)

Sliced Cheese (Our favorite is either Colby Jack, or Muenster)

Whole Gherkins

Spinach (We were fresh out. )

Lay out your tortillas and spread with cream cheese (you can use mayonnaise or miracle whip if you prefer).  Add your spinach leaves, a layer of lunch meat and a layer of cheese.  Roll up, jelly roll style.  Slice into 1 to 1½ inch pieces.

To serve, slice gherkins like so:

Unroll a small part of your tortilla sandwich and place on the angle of the gherkin, making a complete snail style tortilla sandwich.  Serve alongside some fresh fruit, and you’ve got yourself a delicious summertime lunch!

This post is linking up to:

• The Ultimate Recipe Swap.
• Hoookin’ up with HoH
• Recipe Swap
• Kitchen Recipe Swap

Have you purchased your copy of the Home Management Binder yet? It's not too late!

Thank you for supporting our February Sponsors!

Don't Feel Guilty About Dessert! Eat a Smart Sweet! Check out the 80+page Ebook from Kitchen Stewardship.

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Tortilla Sandwiches; Snail Style is a post from: Getting Freedom From Debt

My family absolutely loves popcorn.  I’m not talking about microwave popcorn, either.  We prefer the old fashioned, popped on the stovetop popcorn, without all the extra chemicals.  Popping popcorn on your own opens the door to so many different flavoring possibilities, too.  I love it!

A friend of mine passed this recipe for Caramel Marshmallow Popcorn on to me a couple months ago, and it was an instant hit.  This would be perfect for after school snacks, or to make into popcorn balls for appetizers or holiday celebrations.

You need:

Roughly 2/3 cup unpopped popcorn

½ cup brown sugar

1 stick butter

8-10 big marshmallows or equivalent in small marshmallows

Pop your popcorn.  I usually use about 1-2 Tbsp of coconut oil to pop my popcorn.  However, I hear the popcorn will pop just fine without any oil at all.  Once your oil is melted, pour in the popcorn and add a lid.

While your popcorn is popping, melt the butter in a medium saucepan.  Once completely melted, add in the brown sugar.  Stir until dissolved.  Toss in the marshmallows and melt completely.

Add popped popcorn to serving bowl (or bowl of your choice) and pour Caramel Marshmallow Sauce on top.  Stir to combine.

It gets pretty sticky, so be warned.  Make sure the popcorn on the bottom gets coated as well.  Then, Enjoy!

This post is linked to:

• Recipe Swap
• Tasty Tuesday
• DIY Day

Have you purchased your copy of the Home Management Binder yet? It's not too late!

Thank you for supporting our February Sponsors!

Don't Feel Guilty About Dessert! Eat a Smart Sweet! Check out the 80+page Ebook from Kitchen Stewardship.

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Caramel Marshmallow Popcorn is a post from: Getting Freedom From Debt

I’ve had so much fun baking the last few days. While I have been alone in my kitchen with nothing more than my radio going (and an occassional 4 year old, when he isn’t at school), I know that I have my Twitter friends who are baking along with me. Twitter was all a buzz with the #bakingday hashtag today. Everyone was tweeting what they were baking, their questions, and their progress. So fun!

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies (2 bags of 20), Chocolate Chip Cookies (2 bags), 2 batches croutons (Garlic Paprika, and Garlic Pepper), French Bread Baguettes, and French Bread. Not included in this picture are the Breakfast Burritios I made this morning; I already stashed those in the freezer.

I started out by tossing my beans in the crockpot for dinner and mixing up my breads so that they would have time to rise. In addition to the 2 batches of French Bread, I also made a loaf of Whole Wheat bread. However, I used my new (bigger) loaf pan, which was too big. Lets just say it isn’t the prettiest loaf on the block.

I exeriemented around and made some Apple Streusel Muffins. They were really good–but there is still a bit of tweaking that needs to be done.

Last week when I was cleaning out my freezer (which is what inspired me to do a baking day) we found this old pack of hot dog buns, that was obviously past it’s prime. I hated to throw them out, so I turned them into Croutons! So good!

Lots of Taco Meat for the freezer.

Refried Beans. Plenty leftover to freeze (although I’ve never frozen them mashed up)

Jalapeno Cheddar Tortillas

In the midst of all my baking, I decided to go ahead and make up some Jalapeno Cheddar Tortillas for dinner, instead of my normal, plain jane one. I went ahead and browned and seasoned the whole pack of hamburger, so that I could freeze the leftovers for a quick meal.

Tomorrow, I will be baking again–if I still have energy!

Here is what I am hoping to do:

• Ham/Cheese Pockets
• Pepperoni Pizza Pockets
• French Bread x2
• Whole Wheat Bread(the right way!)
• Apple Butter
• Applesauce x2 batches (made and canned)

I should be set for awhile!

You can see other Baking Day participants over at Money Saving Mom.

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Baking Day Update is a post from: Getting Freedom From Debt

• Smoothies. I always toss in some wheat germ and flax seed for good measure!
• Yogurt. I just made my first ever batch of homemade yogurt, hopefully I will be able to convert them! So much healthier.
• Cereal. I’m not much of a cereal fan for breakfast, so I let my kids grab a handful of their favorites for snacks. Corn Pops, Bluebery Muffin Tops, Fruit Loops, Apple Jacks and Honey Nut Cheerios are our favorites. They thought they were in heaven when I bought Cocoa Puffs for them a few weeks ago!
• Hummus w/HM Pita Bread or carrot sticks.
• Fresh Fruit.
• Chopped Veggies. My daughter could live off of cucumbers and cherry tomatoes!
• Milkshakes. This is a rarity, but they love it when I make Chocolate Peanut Butter Shakes.
• Apples with Caramel Dip. (Cream cheese, brown sugar and vanilla) This was always my favorite growing up.
• Home baked snacks. The possiblities are basically endless here, just depends on what I’ve made for the week. We love HM Banana Bread, muffins of any form (they are stuck on Strawberry Muffins right now), and of course cookies. Since they are homemade, I generally try to sneak in some whole wheat flour, flax or wheat germ. You can find some of my recipes under the Recipe Label.
• Granola Bars.
• Granola/Yogurt
• Cheese and Crackers.
• Sweet Pickles
• Jalapeno Jelly w/cream cheee on Wheat Thins. Sounds crazy, but it is oh so good!
• I came across an idea recently from Parenting.com that I can’t wait to try. They took cream cheese and jam (homemade would be perfect), mixed it together and spread it on a graham cracker. Yum!
• Family Fun also has some really great ideas that are not your normal after school snack. I can’t wait to try the Peanut Butter Balls or the Cookies and Milk Bars (don’t forget that you can make your own Sweetened Condensed Milk for these.) You can find more of their recipes here.

What do you give your kids for After School Snacks??

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Thank you for supporting our February Sponsors!

Don't Feel Guilty About Dessert! Eat a Smart Sweet! Check out the 80+page Ebook from Kitchen Stewardship.

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After School Snacks: Finding Freedom Friday is a post from: Getting Freedom From Debt