I am so excited about all the stuff I want to try making from scratch

I have recently found a couple of amazing blogs that have tons of things I want to try on them and I love that they are real ingredients not boxed or processed stuff for the most part. I want to make my own stuff from scratch as much as possible. When I look at prices it just confirms for me that it's worth it. This one makes some complicated stuff but also some stuff like hot fudge sauce and chocolate syrup from scratch http://annies-eats.com/. Can't wait to try those and the homemade taco seasoning her her page. :) I also found this one http://budgetbytes.blogspot.com/ and can't wait to try some of her homemade breads and dishes like slow cooker baked beans. YUM

Now to hunt down a real recipe for homemade chili beans and angel food cake.

I also love www.pinterest.com and all the great things I get from my friends posting their finds on there! 

I hope everyone can find some new things to try and save yourself some money and cut down on the preservatives and salt that are in your diet from the processed stuff.

Cooking beans from scratch

Every time I use a can of beans I realize how much the price has gone up. Beans are a great source of healthy fat free protein. Canned beans are not only expensive but come with a lot of stuff in them I would rather do without like salt. So I decided to try cooking my own from dried beans. I dumped a couple of bags into the crockpot and added water. I turned it onto high and 4 hours later I had beans ready to go. If I had realized it was that easy I would have done it much sooner. :) I cooked 3lbs of dried beans and bagged up 11 cans worth. I spent $3.34 on the beans because I bought one little bag for $1.25 and one big bag for $2.09 and threw them both in together. Meijer recently had a can of black beans on sale for 69 cents. Eleven cans would have cost me $7.59 so for about 10 minutes worth of work they are ready to go in the freezer.  Oh and the pot didn't even have to be soaked I used a nice green scrubber and it was off in seconds. I am currently making some great northern beans and plan to try my hand at making my own chili beans as soon as I pick up some beans since I must have used the last bag of pinto beans making refried beans. Give it a try you won't regret it.