Sugar Free! Sweetened Condensed Milk and Creamy Fudge

2 Comments September 11, 2017 Deanna Grace

Sugar free sweetened condensed Milk and Fudge!

Sugar free sweetened condensed milk and sugar-free fudge! Yep, It’s real and it’s so good!

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Don’t be intimidated about the idea of making your own sweetened condensed milk! I looked through a few recipes and tips and I’ve made this three times now and it comes out perfectly every time!

First, I’d like to point out that the ingredient list is crazy simple!

Just three ingredients for delicious sweetened condensed milk!

Cream
Unsalted Butter
Sweetener ( Here’s my recipe for the sweetener I use for everything!)

And for fudge all you add to the condensed milk is sugar-free chocolate chips!

For sweetener I use a blend of Stevia, Xylitol, and Erythritol But, you can use whatever sweetener you prefer!

Side note about sweetener: I haven’t said much about my sugar-free choices but I really love this combination of sweeteners,

they are natural and allow for no rise in your blood sugars!

My favorite Stevia is from Trim Healthy Mama, although you can also find many good choices of Stevia on Amazon or the grocery store. (Pyure is my favorite store brand these days)

and the others I order in bulk from Amazon! (click the linked names of each sweetener product for a direct link to the amazon product! ;))

The most helpful trick I have come across for making the sweetened condensed milk is using a large shallow pan. Like a large frying pan!

This makes the milk condense so much faster and gives you a beautiful thick and creamy product in about 20 minutes.

Start by putting 2 cups of cream, 2 TBSP of unsalted butter, and 1/3 a cup of sweetener ( may need to convert the amount of sweetener if you are using something different, my blend is some what of a super sweet blend. )

Stir until dissolved and bring to a boil on medium to high heat.

Once boiling, simmer, stirring occasionally until condensed by about half and thick and bubbly. Should be about 15-20 minutes.

This will make about a cup to a cup and a half! seriously LOOK at how creamy and thick this is?? (one note of caution…. no matter how badly you want to, Do Not lick the spoon and taste this right out of the hot pan.. you may or may not burn your tongue and regret it for the next two days! ?) But trust me, its soooo yummy!

Now to make fudge!!!

I love to make fudge right away while the milk is still hot. The chocolate chips melt right away and I can stick it in the freezer!

It’s a one to one ratio… so a cup of condensed milk and a cup of chocolate chips makes a full batch.

But if you are being weird and don’t want to eat the whole dish. (I guess it could happen?!) You could always make just half a cup and half a cup… or whatever you want!

You can also make it later by mixing the chocolate chips with the condensed milk and microwave in small increments, stirring in between each time until fully melted and blended together! Chill until hardened.

And then do your best to not stand at the counter ( or fridge) and eat the entire thing.. I’m not totally sure why that isn’t a good idea.. but we are supposed to resist the urge to do so.. I know, weird! I just might have done this ( ok I didn’t eat the WHOLE thing) with a tub of peanut butter and a spoon… and I’m not going to say it was a bad idea! 🙂

Also, My friend Tiffani and I are dreaming all kinds of deliciousness like coconut flakes and nuts for the next time. And there will definitely be a next time!

I hope you try this recipe out and I hope you enjoy every sugar-free bite!

~ Deanna Grace

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Calling all the veggies to the Instant pot

12 Comments August 6, 2017 Deanna Grace

Calling all the Veggies, “get in my Instant Pot!!!” 🙂

Steaming veggies in our “magic” pot is super simple!

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Although it may be easy, I know all things Instant Pot were nerve-racking and intimidating for all of us at one time. So, I thought I would just quickly explain how I do it and of course you should try it and find exactly how you like it!

For most vegetables I would cook them in the Instant pot on the manual setting (high pressure) for 0 minutes! Yep! zero minutes! This means that it will come to pressure and then immediately be done. And always do a quick release to stop the cooking right away! The only time I have it in the pot for any longer, is if it’s a little tougher veggie, but even then it’s usually just 1 or 2 minutes!

I’ll give a couple of examples:

First up let me show you these delicious, amazing brussels sprouts (No, I’m not even joking, they are my new favorite veggie)

I adapted this to start in the Instant Pot and then finish in a pan (but actually you could saute in the pot, not sure why I didn’t think about that until now). The original recipe comes from my beautiful friend Tiffani Swain.

There are a few ways to put your veggies in the pot.

1. Straight in the pot with the water.

2. On the trivet or in a steamer basket .

3. In a bowl with the water on top of the trivet. This is called Pot in pot (pip) cooking. If you don’t have a steamer basket this is a great option to easily remove all the sprouts after cooking.

Whichever way you choose, you’ll just need a cup of water and the brussel sprouts.

Trim off the ends and if they are pretty big, cut them in half.

Close the lid and seal. Set for 1 minute and you’ll be ready in no time.

You’ll need Garlic, Butter, salt and pepper, and Parmesan cheese to finish these beautiful veggies.

Have I posted about my awesome salt and pepper box?? I’m not joking when I say this is the first thing I bought for the new kitchen project. I had it sitting on my wish list for a while and as soon as we finished setting a budget and planning, I ordered it from amazon! 🙂 It’s my favorite and you can get one here!

Melt the butter and saute the garlic until fragrant. Add the steamed brussels to the pan and saute for several minutes, stirring frequently. Once done (I usually like a little crispy edges from the saute, but if in a hurry I just take them off after they are completely coated in the yummy butter. delish either way!) sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

It’s taken three times serving these, but finally my boys ate a couple of pieces with out much wining and had smiles too! ( I may or may not have bribed them with sugar-free soda, which is a huge treat around here 🙂 )

Corn On The Cob:

toys toys toys and how we organize the chaos

Leave a comment October 13, 2016 Deanna Grace

Toys toys toys
If you have young kids then you know that toys can very easily take over your life!
Especially when birthdays and Christmas come around!! We love that our boys get fun new things and that they have family and friends that love on them! 🙂 But this lady quickly became overwhelmed by the mess!!

Since I know that we can’t be the only ones, I thought I’d share the method that has worked for us. It may not be what works for everyone but if you need to try something new, give it a shot!!

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So, with so many toys we started with trying the fabric cubes in a bookcase idea… something similar to this.

I even made labels with pictures of the different kinds of toys. I like the idea that it would look cute, organized and still be accessible to the boys. This simply did not work for us. at all!

First of all , not all our toys fit in these cute little bins. labels were ripped off and toys still seemed to all be dumped, every. single. day. So, the chaos continued. (we now use this bookcase and bins for the boys clothes in their closet and it works really well for that!)

I will say that this method works for some people. especially if you have one child, who is still young and just now getting into toys.

So, we moved everything to big plastic tubs. This way our whole collections of trains, blocks, cars whatever will fit in the same tub and has a lid!!

Still, having them in the play room meant that there were days that every bin was emptied… even if we tried the idea ” you have to put away one before you get the other one out. ” thing.
bonus points to you if you monitor your kids play time that well! 🙂

Eventually what I decided to do seemed drastic, but it works so well for us!!

ALL of the tubs of toys found a place in the garage. Every one of them!!
The boys know that they get 1 or 2 tubs into the house at a time. When they are ready for something else, we pack them away and get another one from the garage! Usually it’s trains and cars that stay in the house but everyone once in a while William will remember a certain toy and will ask where it is, so we switch them out!

This has brought a ton of peace to our play room! It’s so much easier to clean up when everything goes into the same tub! And I realized the boys weren’t even able to really play when they had so many toys surrounding them!
Also, right before Christmas I will put EVERYTHING in the garage so they can really enjoy the new things they get! And both our boys birthdays are soon after Christmas so we’ll probably spend a few months just exploring our presents! 🙂

I hope this helps if you haven’t found what works for your house!

I would love something like this for in the garage (as of now they are just stacked up on the side) but maybe some day 😉 (for now it will stay on the forever growing honey do-list)

A few of my favorite things.. in my FULLY FUNCTIONING KITCHEN – Diy Kitchen project!!!

2 Comments August 30, 2016 Deanna Grace

Look at this kitchen! I am in love!

Let’s take a look at some of the awesome new details in our kitchen project!!

We have a dish washer!! And I’m back to running it every night which makes me feel like my life is coming back together again! 🙂

This beautiful sink we bought at Lowes is gorgeous! I knew from the start that I wanted a farmhouse (also known as apron front) style and I’m so glad I went with a giant one basin one!!

This massive amazing garbage disposal is my husband’s pride and joy! haha

Its a Waste King, and apparently it’s able to chop up anything you throw at it.. including bones!!??

My GE Stove top. I finally have a gas cook top!! And now I feel like I am actually really cooking 🙂 (no offense to anyone who likes electric.. it’s just not my cup of tea) And thanks to our new friend Kevin for giving up a Saturday to connect the gas line in our crazy hot attic 🙂

Preparation Is The Key To Success!

Leave a comment August 15, 2016 Deanna Grace

Alexander Graham Bell (and I’m sure many others) said ” Preparation is the key to success!”

We are in the midst of the preparations this week!!!

The count down to countertops has begun and we are super motivated and excited!

We have not been short of projects that need to get done before we can pour the concrete countertops!

Cement boards were screwed down to the cabinets

Bracing (permanent and temporary) were fitted.

We had to make final decisions on how far we wanted the countertop to come out and how round of a bullnose we wanted at the end!

The guys set the sink in its place once more to be sure everything was fitting just right!

Holes have been cut for the cook top and faucet!

Cook top!

And then came the framing!!! Took the guys nearly all day to frame up and finish preparations for the concrete!

The Journey Begins…

Leave a comment March 22, 2016 Deanna Grace

I am so very excited about remodeling our Kitchen!

Our house hasn’t had many improvements since it was built. We’ve only been here a few years and well, you know priorities have to come first… so we still have the paint on the walls that the bank chose before we bought it… and our dining room still has carpet under the table. (who does that??) But little by little we are working to personalize things.

Our Kitchen is desperately in need of attention. Drawers have been falling apart, the bottoms just coming away from the whole door any time you open them. My wonderful husband knows I’ve been trying to manage, but it has become frustrating.

I would like to say here that we have never ever attempted a project like this before…. I don’t know if you could look to us for much how to’s but I will share how we are going about this and hopefully give some helpful tips along the way!!

For us the plan to remodel all started with Ryan asking me if I could get a ruff estimate together of how much it would cost to do what I wanted to the kitchen.

First thing we did was renewed our membership for Consumer Reports. You can sign up for a year or monthly membership. Which gives you access to their reviews on the website.

Here’s a little something from their site about what they do:
Formed as an independent, nonprofit organization in 1936, Consumer Reports serves consumers through unbiased product testing and ratings, research, journalism, public education, and advocacy. We stand firmly behind the principle that consumer products and services must be safe, effective, reliable, and fairly priced. We insist that manufacturers, retailers, government agencies, and others be clear and honest. We advocate for truth and transparency wherever information is hidden or unclear. We push companies to quickly address and remedy issues with their products and services.

They Rate and review so many things. So, when we are about to make a purchase, we like to look up what Consumer Reports says about them and of course they have a handy App to take with you to the store.

For this project the first thing we wanted to decide about was our appliances. This way we know the dimensions of each for the cupboards and location of everything. So we looked up what Consumer Reports said about dishwashers, Cook tops, Ovens, and fridges. But it doesn’t stop there. They even rate flooring, sinks, counter top materials..

up next shopping for appliances and get great deals……