Could you do it?

Preparing - One Day at a Time

Follow our family of 10 children through a challenge to make "No trips to the grocery store for three months." What will we improvise, what are we glad we have on hand and what will we wish we had? How will we live without fresh milk?


This is an incredible blog. Crystal shows us that it can be done, but we must prepare. Follow her journey and try her recipes. I love this blog and look forward to learning more from this wonderful woman.

Tasty Tuesday

Cook Books

If you are like me you collect recipes from every source. Magazines, newspapers, hand written scraps from your friends house, Internet print out, and everywhere else. LOL!

Well here is my solution: Make your own cook book.

First you will need a few things. I had most of these around my house when I made mine.

• A 3-ring binder - 3" would be great and a clear pocket on the front is handy too.



• Page protectors - easy to keep clean!



• Left over craft paper and stickers if you want



• computer paper

I made a cover for mine to match my kitchen color and added a little title.

Then I made dividers labeling the section. Hints and tips, breakfast, breads, soups and salads, main dishes, kids favorites, pasta, cookies, deserts, and cake decorating ideas.

Next start adding you recipes. I have a mix of magazine cut outs ( I LOVE pictures.),

printed out pages,

and hand written. Some of the are on odd ball scraps so I just glue them to a piece of paper first.

A couple of hints here.

If you are printing from a blog: cut and paste to word or whatever program you use. Also include the name of the blog/site you printed from. This makes for easy referencing if you need help or more information about that recipe.

When dealing with hand written recipes, be sure to write who you got the recipe from or what book you copied from.


Also a binder with an inside pocket is nice. Sometimes you want to try a recipe before you add it or you simply don't have time to add it yet.

Are you lucky enough to have a spot to stand this baby up? Make sure to label the spine.

These make great gifts. I made one for my sister one year. It had red and white checked paper and I found some cute little ant stickers. Very Cute!! You can make it so individualized it's insane!!

Remember to think about Christmas, mother's Day, and birthdays. You could even make a smaller Blank Family Recipes Favorites. Make one for each sibling ! Or you could make one for a missionary, collage student, or newly weds.

Food Storage Friday

Every Thing Under the Sun

Please take look at this one page blog. Click here NOW!!

Are you still reading this??? Go NOW!!!

Great simple, easy to read and easy to follow blog.

This gal is amazing!

I think I may come up with a prize for those that go read it. So just in case GO READ IT!!!!!! And be sure comment back here if you do!

Now to figure out a prize.........;)

Food Storage Friday

5 Easy Steps to using your Food Storage

1.Figure out what is in your food storage.

Do you have a lot of powdered milk, wheat, rice, beans?

2.Write down a list of the meals that your Family typically eats.

Be sure to include baked good, breakfast and dinner.

3.Look for the ones that you can make simple adjustments to.

Recipes that call for milk are easy to substitute powdered milk to. Taste the same. I keep a container of reconstituted milk in my fridge for cooking purposes.

Do you bake? Try using some whole wheat flour for SOME of the white flour. Pancakes, waffles and cookies are great places to start.

Add rice to your soups, casseroles, and burritos.

4. Start conservative

You have to start out with small amounts of things like wheat. Converting over whole heartedly WILL cause major stomach problems. Take it slow.

Also look at only changing one or two recipes so you do not get overwhelmed. Next week add another and so on.

5.Look for new recipes that use more food storage items.

When looking for new recipes look for ones that have more food storage friendly ingredient lists.

Here are some GREAT food storage recipe sites:

http://safelygatheredin.blogspot.com/

extension.usu.edu

http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/category/recipes

http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/recipes/

Tasty Tuesday

Great recipe site to check out!!!

Perkins good eats

This is not a daily blog, but a personal recipe book. This is good 'ole home cooking with a modern and easy twist. Most post have pictures too!!

Here are a few I can't wait to try:

Polynesian skillet

chicken enchiladas

Thank you Kirsten for the great site referral!!!! Your sister ROCKS for getting all of these wonderful recipes rounded up!

Tasty Tuesday

Cooking Essentials

Continuing on with our bare-bones basics I thought we would go over the basic cooking essentials. According to the food guys calculator a year supply of cooking essentials for one adult would consist of: 1# baking powder, 1# baking soda, 0.5# yeast, 5# salt, o.5 gallons vinegar. These are the basics need for many recipes. Most breads, cakes, cookies, rolls, homemade crackers need these items. Some of these items also have non-food uses as well.

Baking powder (per Preparedness Principles) is a blend of an alkali (usually baking soda) and an acid (often cream of tarter). It is known as a double acting leavener. Baking powder has a limited shelf life of 1-2 years. It keeps best stored in a cool, dry place.

Baking soda is also a leavener. It needs to have an acid product mixed with it in order for it to activate. Some examples of this are sour milk, molasses, lemon juice, vinegar and so on. The great thing about baking soda is that it's uses go well beyond the kitchen. It can be used for household cleaning, toothpaste, bug bites and upset tummies. Again store in a cool dry place and this can last you indefinitely.

recipes found on pg. 71 of Preparedness Principles

For 'toothpaste' simply wet your brush and add baking soda. Brush as normal.

For an antacid mix 1/2 teaspoon baking soda to an eight-once glass of water and drink up. (up to 8 times a day(every two hours) for adults, 4 times a day for those 60 and over and not recommended for those under 5)

For bug bites and other skin irritations mix a paste of 2 parts baking soda and 1 part water smooth over irritated area.

Yeast is what makes your bread rise. Unless you really love flat bread this is a basic you will want to have. yeast is best kept in a cool, dry, dark place. It freezes well and it's shelf life is greatly increased when kept in the freezer. Dry yeast comes in three different forms. The most common is active dry yeast. This is what you generally find on the super market shelves in those handy little packages. You can also buy this is 2# blocks in your bulk food sections or at stores like Costco and Sam's club.

Salt is vital to our life and to our health. It is in every cell in our body. It brings out the flavors of food, it preserves food, and it plays a role in helping our bodies to function properly. Salt has an indefinite self life. Store in a clean dry place.

Vinegar is used for pickling, salad dressings and of course vinaigrette. See my previous post for more of the attributes of vinegar. I have yet to see a shelf life for vinegar and my bottle doesn't have a use by date so....I assume it is about the same as the other items today. Store in a cool dry place.

Tasty Tuesday

Dry(powdered)Milk

Number 2 on our Bare-Bones Basic tour is dry milk. Don't cringe yet....LOL! I use this a lot in my cooking. It is a great place to start.

tvsinc.org has some great tips and recipes for using you dry milk.

Milk Gravy:

Milk Gravy
1 cup dry milk cups water

1 tablespoon margarine or butter

3 heaping tablespoons flour

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt
Mix the water and dry milk together. Add the flour, salt, and pepper. Cook over medium heat until the gravy is thickened. Add the margarine or butter and stir until smooth.

You can then add sausage or hamburger to make a great gravy over rice, biscuits, or pasta!

This site also listed ways to make sweetened-condensed milk, evaporated milk, and buttermilk.

For some of you more adventurous types visit Mormonchic.com. She has everything from making your own sour cream to cheesecake. I am so happy that given dire circumstances I will know how to make sou cream! I will survive!!

Whatever Wednesday

Dinner update:

I light of yesterdays post I thought it only fitting we have rice for dinner. We had what we call Kielbasa rice. 4 cups cooked rice (I add a couple bullion cubes to this while cooking.) 2+/- cups of frozen veggies and 1 cooked kielbasa. Yummy!

Garden Update:

My beans came up finally!! 3 out of 8. sad but hoping for better luck with the next planting which I did this week.

My peas are getting SO big! They have even started little vines.

Everything else is just getting bigger and bigger.

Tasty Tuesday

Rice

In keeping with our Bare-Bones Basics theme I went with rice.

I found a recipe site dedicated to rice. Ricerecipes.org. Is that not just AWESOME!!!

One of my favorite childhood meals was rice with raisins. I LOVED it. It wasn't until many many years later I found out that my mom only made it because we had nothing else. To this day I don't care it is comforting and delicious.

Recipe courtesy of HillBillyHousewife.com

Ingredients:
2 cups leftover cooked rice
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon margarine
1/4 cup raisins or dates (optional)
dash salt
dash cinnamon

Directions:
In a medium sized saucepan combine the rice, milk, margarine, raisins or dates and salt. Add the raisins too, if you are using them. Stir the mixture over medium heat until it is heated through, and the margarine is melted. Simmer for a minute or two to thicken. Serve immediately, while it is hot.
This recipe is a great way to reheat leftover rice, especially if you don’t have a microwave. The rice will absorb some of the milk as it heats. If you like, you can pass a pitcher of cold milk or cream at the table to thin it out some. This recipe will serve 4 moderately hungry people, or 2 starving adults. It is easily doubled for more servings.

And in case you need a drink made from rice may I suggest:

Horchata( a Mexican incredibly wonderful beverage)I haven't had this since living in AZ. Oh SO YUMMY!!!!!!!

Thank you Ladies @ Every Day Food Storage

Ingredients:
1 cup uncooked white long-grain rice
5 cups water1/2 cup milk (1 1/2 T. powdered milk + 1/2 Water)
1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 tablespoon ground cinnamon
2/3 cup white sugar

DIRECTIONS: Pour the rice and water into the bowl of a blender; blend until the rice just begins to break up, about 1 minute. Let rice and water stand at room temperature for a minimum of 3 hours. Strain the rice water into a pitcher and discard the rice. Stir the milk, vanilla, cinnamon, and sugar into the rice water. Chill and stir before serving over ice.

Tasty Tuesday

Summer Foods We Love

Summer at our house means macaroni salad!! Yummy!! So I made a batch Sunday and we are still chipping away at it. Tyler took it for lunch and James packs it in his too. I just can't get enough of it.

Macaroni Salad

I never measure for this.

Macaroni noddles cooked drained and ran under cold water until fully cooled.

Hard boiled eggs all chopped up.

Pickles (gotta have 'em!!) diced.

Olives sliced (one can is good two if you are using pre-sliced).

Cheese cubed.

Tuna about two cans drained.

Frozen peas add them frozen.

Mayo or Miracle whip to taste.

Another summer time food we love are Chicken Ranch roll-ups.

Chicken Ranch Roll-ups

(These are generally just for James and I)

2 chicken breast cooked and cubed

Lettuce (I like Romain)

Shredded cheese of your choosing (a mexi mix works great)

Tortillas (just plain flour works but I want to try the Jalapeno cheddar ones I saw!!)

Ranch dressing of your choosing.

And BACON. Cooked and crumbled(we forgot until we were eating them :( )
Layer it in the tortilla and scarf it up!!

No pics sorry we were too hungry!

Tasty Tuesday

Baking Day!!

Now I normally do not have a "day" for baking but I was just in the mood. So I made rolls, bread machine bread, banana bread and breakfast cookies. YUMMY!!!

I was in charge of rolls for all the holiday's since Thanksgiving. Well as of November 22nd I had never in my life made rolls so I learned quick! The recipe I use if from my ward cookbook. They are called Feather Rolls (thanks Celeste!!)

Feather Rolls

In a large bowl ( I use my kitchen aid w/ the dough hook for ALL of this) mix:

1 1/2 cups hot water 1/3 cup oil

1/3 cup sugar or honey 1 1/2 Tablespoons yeast (heaping)

Let mixture set about 10 minuets and get foamy.

Add:

2 eggs 21/2 cups flour 2 tsp salt

Mix well

Add 2 to 21/2 cups more flour (add flour until it pulls away from sides and is not gooey sticky). Knead 6 to 8 minuets (mix on high). Shape into rolls. Place on a lightly greased 12 x 17 pan. About 5 across and 6 down. Let rise until at least double. Cook at 375 for 15 to 20 mins.( I brush mine with butter.)

Now we had these left over from dinner last night so I cut 6 in half buttered them lightly. Sprinkled with grated Parmesan, garlic powder, and oregano. Them placed them under the broiler for 3 or 4 mins. Awesome little breads to go with spaghetti!

I have been trying to make all my bread. One it saves money and two it is yummmmers. Here is the recipe I love. I do have a few adjustments to it. I use 3 tablespoons of sugar vs. 2 and I often do a mix of wheat and white flour. I also butter the top when it comes out.

Okay so since the oven was on I made Danish Banana Bread too!! Thanks Liz for the super recipe!

Danish Banana Bread

1 cup oil 1 tsp. salt

1 cup brown sugar 2 tbs. hot water

1cup white sugar 2 tsp. baking soda

2 eggs 1/2 tsp. vanilla

2 cups mashed bananas ( about 4 large) 3 cups flour (add last)

Mix in order listed. bake in 2 loaf pans at 350 for about 45 minuets. Cool for 10 minuets and then remove from pans.

Oh and last but not least Breakfast Cookies!!! I put this in our ward newsletter this month, but if you are not in my ward well then here is the very cool blog I got it from The American Homemaker !! This gal is awesome and a total blast to read. She is creative and quirky. LOVE IT!! Oh and the cookies....kids LOVED them.

Tasty Tuesday

Recipes of a Cheapskate

( I wish she had a cute button to post)

I have found a new to me site. Krystal has done an amazing job at putting together yummy, economical, healthy, food while also using food storage items.

As soon as I get some lentils I would love to try her RICE AND LENTIL BURRITOS.

Krystal also does a mix it up Monday where she shows you how to make and use your own mixes. I am looking forward to making my own SWEET BREAD MIX .

Be sure to look around. She has a main item list on the right hand side. On the left hand side she has a TON of other recipe blogs I can not wait to go check out!!! YUMMY!!!

Tasty Tuesday

Meatless Meals

A great way to save money and use your food storage it meatless meals. For breakfast we like pancakes, toast and canned fruit, cereal, and oatmeal. Lunch is pb&j's, top ramen, mac 'n' cheese, all of these with canned or in season fruit/veggies. Dinner could be anything from grilled cheese to enchiladas.

South-of-the-Border Enchiladas

These look really good. I think I will try them next week. If you try them let us know how they taste. Here is the site I got it from. They have a whole section of meatless dinners Betty Crocker. Another site I found was Meatless Monday. Apparently seafood is not considered a meat. However using it will not generally save you money. LOL!

Well enjoy!

Tasty Tuesday

How do you eat food storage?

Here are two recipes that aim to please and ALL ingredients can be found in your recommended food storage.

The first is from wonderful friend of mine. Thanks Sugar!!(I hope you don't mind me sharing :))

Whole Wheat Pancakes
Put 1c. whole wheat in blender (grain- not flour)

add 1c. milk and blend at high speed for 3 minutes.

Add 1/2 c. milk and blend for 1 min. longer.

Add:1 egg (okay so maybe this is not in your food storage but maybe powdered eggs could work?)

1/2c. oil

3 tsp. baking powder

2 tsp. sugar

1 tsp. salt

Blend until smooth and cook in a griddle.
Amanda ( yup she is an Amanda too)

And then is a yummy muffin recipe. My family LOVES it. I recommend you make a double batch.

This is from the gals over at Safely Gathered In. They have a great post with pictures. They also have a TON of food storage recipes. I can not wait to try some more of their recipes!

Brown Sugar Muffins

1/2 cup shortening

1 cup brown sugar

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/3 cup powder milk

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup water

Cream shortening and sugar together. Add flour, soda, powder milk and mix. Add vanilla and water and mix. Cook in a greased muffin tin for 15-20 minutes at 350 degrees.