Wherein Granny Finds a Fork in the Road
- Hi Y'all! So glad to be back here on Granny's Vital Vittles! So much has been going on in my life that writing had to go on the back burner for a long, long while. But now I'm ready to fire that burner up again and start producing some fresh and tasty content for all my wannabe Granny friends 🙂 . I imagine you might be curious about what's been happening, and what led to such a long blogger vacation. Well, I'll tell you. A Fork in the Road When I started this blog, and for the 3 years it was very active I was working full time as a contract software developer, with a 10hr+ a week commute on top of it. So I was working, driving, cooking, writing, and promoting my work ... in other words I was working ALL the time. I wanted to work full time on Granny's Vital Vittles, but knew I was a long way from making that happen. I was a part of a real food blogger network of several hundred food blogs and was seeing some real progress toward being able to make blogging my job when that network blew up with… READ MORE
Most Recent Posts
A Day in the Life of a Busy Kitchen
I have a confession to make … my kitchen in normally, everyday, mostly in a state of disarray of one kind or another. Stuff on the counters, stuff in the sink, floor needs sweeping or mopping, or the dishwasher to be loaded or unloaded. Sound familiar? If you cook at all I’m sure you can […]
Making the Most of Granny’s Free Meal Plan
Last week I released my first meal plan as a free download for anyone signing up for my mailing list. The meal plan has a page devoted to getting started with the plan but that is necessarily brief, so I wanted to share a few more thoughts with everyone on how best to work the […]
Three Spice Snickerdoodles
This funny sounding cookie is believed to have originated in New England in the 1800’s. So not only did your grandma likely eat these cookies, but your great-great-great grandma may have had them too! Supposedly the older recipes used cream of tartar and  to make the cookies rise, while the newer recipes just use baking […]
Two Meat Crockpot Chili
This set-it-and-forget-it crockpot meal is sure to please the guys in particular this fall. But then who doesn’t enjoy a hot steaming bowl of comforting chili on a cool night! In a nutshell all you do here is brown the meat on the stove, add the remaining ingredients and pour into your slow cooker. Then […]
Saving Money Cooking from Scratch
The Pantry Principle – What you’ll need to get started – Part 2
Last week we talked about how to save lots of time cooking for your family by starting and maintaining a pantry. If you haven’t ever approached shopping in this way before you’ll certainly be wondering where to start. A few things are obviously missing from your household setup, most likely.
3 Dangerous Ways to Save Money on Food
Here at Granny’s Vital Vittles I talk a lot about how to save money on real food. It concerns me greatly that there are many people in this world that have trouble getting real food to eat due to money issues.  I’d love to see a world where everyone gets real food to eat! Now, in […]
Real Food Economics 101: Eating on $6.25 a Day
I’ve had a few questions come up about the details of what we were eating to get by on $6.25 a day. A few seemed skeptical that this figure is correct. I thought that today, we could go over it in some detail. Now, mind you, I’m mining my memory to recall the details of what our meals were like, since the figure is based on the previous years food expenses. I am quite sure the figure is correct though. I keep very careful records :-).
The Pantry Principle – How to get the ball rolling within your budget – Part 4
To get started with The Pantry Principle Project I’d suggest picking something from the list that you currently buy that is stored at room temperature. For instance, you could start with dried beans. You already buy a cup or two from the bulk bins at the food store. Try buying a couple of pounds and […]
Straight Talk
Whole Grains Have a Sketchy Past
To most everyone in the western world whole grains are always better for you than refined grains. To all it’s really clear, black-and-white. The only real argument that exists concerning grains is over whether or not we should be eating them at all. Some say they are allergenic to pretty much everyone. Some say they […]
Why Healthy Food Doesn’t Cost as Much as You Think!
Perception is a funny thing, isn’t it? Take this picture for example. It looks for all the world like water is spilling into thru the wall and into a hole doesn’t it? Yet it is just the angle of the camera. If the photographer walked around to the other side of the drawing and took […]
The Pantry Principle – What you’ll need as raw ingredients for real food recipes – Part 3
Shopping to replenish a real food pantry is different and really a whole lot simpler than recipe shopping. Begin by making a list of the raw food items you will need to make the recipes you make very regularly. The idea is that it only contains the most basic ingredients … not anything that you […]
Real Food at Walmart – Fruits and Vegetables
What is the first thing people think of when they decide to start eating healthy? Getting more fruits and vegetables into their daily diet of course! I thought we’d start here for that reason … Also, fruits and veggies at Walmart are pretty easy as long as we are okay with compromise on the issue […]
Is Your Kitchen Ready to Cook?
Coming into the holiday season we are all spending at least a little more time in the kitchen. I’m spending a lot more time in the kitchen this week and I’ll bet you are too :-). I thought I’d take a few minutes today to check in with everyone with a reminder of the importance of keeping your kitchen ready to cook.
Granny is a State of Mind
On this website I talk a lot about Granny. I generalize Granny did this or would have done that often. But I don’t know your Granny, or your best-friends Granny or even my husband’s Granny! How the hell do I know what she would or wouldn’t have done? My Grandma was born in the early […]
Wholesome Ingredients
Grassfed Beef is Best
Practically everyone eats beef, except vegetarians :-). Most of us have very little idea of how that beef was raised. What I’ve found researching this post is that there is even more confusion than I expected. Keep clearly in mind though that cows are fed and brought to slaughter very differently now than they were […]
Choosing Flour – Are Whole Grain Flours Traditional?
When we think of Grandma in the kitchen cookin’ up something good, that something good probably involves flour. Yet, people know very little about flour. How it’s made, how long it keeps or how to care for it. There are many shades of difference for the sake of flavor or cooking characteristics but for today’s […]
The Best Fruits and Vegetables You Can Afford
When you think of healthy eating what does your mind visualize? If you’re like most people it is a pile of fresh fruits and vegetables in glorious variety! And, wow does this ever make for a gorgeous picture. Who doesn’t feel inspired to eat well after imagining that? Most likely your mind moves on to […]
Buttermilk – A Staple in Grandma’s Kitchen
Did you have buttermilk in your home when you were growing up? I think we did only on special occasions and holidays. Mom had a few recipes she made during these times that my Grandmother had also made. So buttermilk didn’t feature prominently in our families diet when I was a kid. But it did […]