Busy day!

Sorry I didn't post at all yesterday.  I had a busy day.  I put up 7 lbs of rice, 6 lbs of flour, 2 bottles (basically equals 4 boxes) of Bisquick mix, 2 lbs of Oatmeal, 2 bottles (5 servings each) raisin cinnamon oatmeal, and rearranged the cabinet all my dry food storage goes in and then I canned 1 quart of carrots, 1 pint of carrot stock, 2 quarts of vegetable stew, and 1/2 a pint of  vegetable stock.  On top of all that I made pot roast for dinner and not in the crock pot.  I was busy.   Now I am going to rearrange/organize  my canned food cabinet. But I thought I would stop in and post really quick.  

Bisquick mix

• ·         3 1/4 cups unsifted all-purpose flour
• ·         1/3 cup sugar
• ·         1 cup nonfat dry milk powder
• ·         1/2 cup cornstarch
• ·         1 tablespoon baking powder
• ·         1 teaspoon baking soda
• ·         2  teaspoons salt

Directions:

Mix together.

Cover tightly and store.

Use water, buttermilk or skim milk to moisten.

They were perfect last night to sop up the pot roast juice.

Just in case you are wondering how I do my bulk dry storage, I will tell you. 

I use 2 liter bottles washed and left to dry for 2-3 days upside down on a towel.  Make sure they are completely dry before use otherwise the moisture will ruin your food and make it unsafe.

I use a funnel (bought mine in the automotive section because they are cheaper than kitchen wares) to place ingredients in the bottle.  Then I place 3 100cc oxygen absorbers in or 1 Hot Hands hand warmer.Make sure you don't bust either one because you will have metal filings in you food, good for iron but bad for taste.  Screw the lid on tightly.  I lay all the bottles on their sides in a cabinet under my kitchen island.  

This picture is from a couple of weeks ago.  It is completely full now.  And the #10 can at the top has found a new home.  The white in the bottom is borax to discourage pest. 

Pinto Bean Pie

I know pinto bean pie sounds gross at first thought, but before you turn your nose up at it, try it!  When my friend Miss R told me about it I was very skeptical.  I made it for my family and without telling them it was pinto beans.  They loved it.  J knew that it was pinto beans and his comment was it taste just like pumpkin pie.  Yes it does. And the best part of it is that it can be made from food storage items.  I have spoken in earlier post about the need for comfort items and to keep things normal well at my house a cake or a pie every now and then is made just for the heck of it.  

Pinto Bean Pie

• 2 cups pinto beans
• small potato
• 1 tbsp baking soda
• 2 pie crust (store bought or handmade will have a blog post about that later)
• 1  c sugar (or 1/2 c stevia)
• 2 eggs
• 1 cans evaporated milk (1 1/2 c if mixing powder evaporated milk)
• 1 tsp vanilla

Next 3 can be adjusted but I like mine pumpkin pie every spicy if you don't then cut in half.

• 3 tsp ground ginger
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground cloves

First you have to cook your beans:

add the 2 cups of pintos to a large sauce pan add the baking soda and potato ( I am told the baking soda and potato help lessen the gassiness) add 4 cups of water and cook your beans as normal.  Until they are soft.  When they are done drain and remove the potato ( save for stew or mashed potatoes)

Next you preheat the oven to 350

In a blender or food processor ( or by hand)  mush up the beans until they are smooth.  Then in a large mixing bowl mix the sugar, beans, milk, eggs, vanilla, and seasonings together.   Then pour into the pie shells.  Place the pie pan/s on a cookie sheet to help with clean up just in case.  Bake for 45-60 minutes.  Until you can insert a butter knife in the center and it comes back clean.

I promise it is Yummy!!! M liked it and he is picky and typically hates beans of any kind. 

Why prep?

If anybody knows you prep, the question is always the same, "Why prep?"  This question was posted to me the other day, but in a different way.  She asked, " Is all your prepping for when your husband is on lay off?" Well, the short answer is no.

I look at the world now days and wonder why isn't everybody prepping. There are many people out there that view prepping in a negative light. Our grandparents and great grandparents did it.  But to them it was a way of life, they never knew when the crops would fail, if sickness would happen, or simply how they would feed their family during winter so they prepped.  The way I see it, you are either the Grasshopper or the ant. Have you ever heard the parable of the grasshopper and the ant?

Once there lived an ant and a grasshopper in a grassy meadow.

All day long the ant would work hard, collecting grains of wheat from the farmer's field far away. She would hurry to the field every morning, as soon as it was light enough to see by, and toil back with a heavy grain of wheat balanced on her head. She would put the grain of wheat carefully away in her larder, and then hurry back to the field for another one. All day long she would work, without stop or rest, scurrying back and forth from the field, collecting the grains of wheat and storing them carefully in her larder.

The grasshopper would look at her and laugh. 'Why do you work so hard, dear ant?' he would say. 'Come, rest awhile, listen to my song. Summer is here, the days are long and bright. Why waste the sunshine in labor and toil?'

The ant would ignore him, and head bent, would just hurry to the field a little faster. This would make the grasshopper laugh even louder. 'What a silly little ant you are!' he would call after her. 'Come, come and dance with me! Forget about work! Enjoy the summer! Live a little!' And the grasshopper would hop away across the meadow, singing and dancing merrily.

Summer faded into autumn, and autumn turned into winter. The sun was hardly seen, and the days were short and grey, the nights long and dark. It became freezing cold, and snow began to fall.

The grasshopper didn't feel like singing any more. He was cold and hungry. He had nowhere to shelter from the snow, and nothing to eat. The meadow and the farmer's field were covered in snow, and there was no food to be had. 'Oh what shall I do? Where shall I go?' wailed the grasshopper. Suddenly he remembered the ant. 'Ah - I shall go to the ant and ask her for food and shelter!' declared the grasshopper, perking up. So off he went to the ant's house and knocked at her door. 'Hello ant!' he cried cheerfully. 'Here I am, to sing for you, as I warm myself by your fire, while you get me some food from that larder of yours!'

The ant looked at the grasshopper and said, 'All summer long I worked hard while you made fun of me, and sang and danced. You should have thought of winter then! Find somewhere else to sing, grasshopper! There is no warmth or food for you here!' And the ant shut the door in the grasshopper's face.

It is wise to worry about tomorrow today.

If you stop and think nursery rhymes, fables, and parables, all had a lesson to be learned in them.  What lesson does the Grasshopper and the Ant teach?    Do you want to teach your kids to be a grasshopper or an ant.  I for one, want to be an ant and I strive to teach my children to be ants too.

Are you a grasshopper or an ant?  If you are an ant, why do you prep and what are you prepping for?

Toilet Paper Tube Firestarters

Firestarters from items you have in your house right now.  So they are basically free and you are saving it all from the landfill.

You need:

• Toilet paper/paper towel tubes 
• Lint from the dryer
• Wadded up paper (junk mailings work great)
• Left over wood pieces or saw dust (if you have it)
• Paraffin (optional)
• Wax paper or aluminium foil To protect your surface and make clean up easier.

Stuff the toilet paper tubes with the lint, paper, and wood.  If you have it melt some paraffin (doesn't take much) drop a couple of drops in each end.  It is really that easy.

Happy Yummy Sunday!

My son, E, is always giving me a hard time about looking at what my family calls "food porn".  Well after last night I might have put a stop to it.  Yesterday before my walk with the family, I found a recipe on Facebook that looked and sounded so yummy.  It was Bacon Cheesy Pull Apart Bread.  It is so good!!! I mean really really good.  The recipe calls for Sourdough bread, well I didn't have any and I was not going to run to the store for that.  I made mine with home made bread. I can not explain how good it is.  The best part is can be a meal and I have all the stuff put up in my food storage so if something did happen I would still be able to make this yummy treat.  Well I guess I should share the recipe for both the bread and the yumminess.  

Cheesy bacon pull apart bread

Ingredients

1 lg	unsliced round sourdough bread (I used homemade bread)
8 oz	block of cheddar cheese, sliced into thin slices
1/4 lb	bacon, cooked and crumbled, more or less
1 stk	butter, melted I substituted my ranch dressing mix 1 tsp instead of the following.
1/4 tsp	each of dried chives, parsley, dill weed, and garlic powder
1/8 tsp	each of onion powder,salt and pepper

Directions

1

 Using a sharp knife cut a cross-hatch pattern into the bread. 
To do this slice the bread into 1/2 inch slices, making sure not to cut into the bottom crust. After you make the cuts in one direction, it is easiest to get an extra set of hands to squeeze the loaf together to cut it in the other direction.

2

 Place the bread onto a large piece of foil and curve up the edges to form a packet.Melt the butter. Then all the dried herbs and spices. Mix all together and let it sit for a minute. Pour the butter herb mixture all over the bread. Then place the thin slices of cheddar cheese in between the cut slices. Then sprinkle the top with the crumbled bacon.

4

 Wrap the foil all the way around the round of bread and place on a baking sheet.
Place in preheated 350^ oven and bake for 15 minutes.

5

 Unwrap the bread and bake for another 10-15 minutes or until the cheese is melted and begins to brown.

My homemade bread and roll recipe

Ingredients
1 cup warm water
1 pkg active dry yeast or 1 tsp
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp softened butter
1 egg, beaten
3 1/2-4 cups flour

Method
Put water and yeast in large mixing bowl and add next 4 ingredients. Beat with dough hook until well blended( I continue to stir with a wooden spoon). Add 3 1/2 to 4 cups flour and mix until soft dough forms (should not be sticky). Put out onto floured board and knead a few times until smooth. Place in greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise in warm place approx. 45 minutes. Punch down and turn out onto floured board. Shape into 12 rolls and place in greased Cookie sheet. If making bread shape into a loose round shape or place in a greased loaf pan.  Let rise again about 30 minutes. Bake 350 for 20 minutes. Brush tops of rolls/bread with butter. Recipe is easily doubled.

I guess you are going to need the recipe for the ranch dressing mix.

Ranch Dressing Mix

2 cups dry parsley flakes, minced
1/2 cup instant minced onion
2 tablespoons dry dill weed
1/4 cup onion salt
1/4 cup garlic salt
1/4 cup onion powder
1/4 cup garlic powder 


Dump all ingredients into a blender or food processor and blend until completely powdered. 


To make dressing: combine 1

 Tbsp. dry mix, 1 cup of may & 1 cup of buttermilk.

Now go try it because it is Yummy!  J wants me to make it again today.

Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.  We have all heard it, but do we practice it?  I try to most days, I get up and fix a breakfast meal not just cereal.  Well this oatmeal recipe will get you a nice hearty start in the mornings fairly easily.  This recipe also has about 15 g carbs per serving and oatmeal is heart smart.

Apple Cinnamon  Oatmeal
serves 5          15 carbs per serving

2 cups oatmeal
1/2 c evaporated dry milk
3 packets of Stevia
2 tbsp cinnamon
1/4 c dehydrated or freeze dried apples

Combine in a bottle and add an oxygen absorber

To mix add 1 1/2 c water.


I hope you enjoy this.


Leave some feed back!

Black Eyed peas ready to make.

Ready to make black eyed peas.

These are easy to make up and store for later.  We all know that we are supposed to eat black eyed peas for New Years.  Make these up in summer when your peas come in and for later.

Black eyed peas

2 c black eyed peas

1 ham  seasoning packet

tsp salt

tbsp pepper

2 tsp pepper flakes ( adjust to your taste)

Layer in a clean dry bottle add an oxygen absorber and seal. 

To cook add 4 c water and enjoy.

This has 5 servings about 18 grams carbs per serving.  So it is Diabetic friendly. You can adjust the seasonings to what your needs and taste.  When I cook black eyed peas fresh, I add a whole jalapeno, so I substituted it with Red pepper flakes.