Ideas for Wheat and Beans

Ideas for Wheat and Beans

http://providentlivingisfun.blogspot.com/2010/05/canning-beans.html
(Here is a link to directions for canning beans)

(Great video and recipe for regular no knead bread)
http://www.breadtopia.com/basic-no-knead-method/

http://www.pbs.org/parents/kitchenexplorers/2011/04/16/healthy-bread-in-five-minutes/
(This is a whole wheat recipe for no knead bread)

No-Knead Pizza Dough Recipe

The ingredients are simply stirred together, left over-night to rise, and that's it.  This is the perfect pizza dough recipe for the first timer.  Makes 2 15” pizzas

1 1/2 cup tepid water
1/4 tsp dry active yeast
2 tbsp olive oil
1/4 tsp sugar
1 1/4 tsp salt
18 ounces (about 4 cups) flour, plus more as needed
Add the water, yeast, olive oil, sugar, salt, and flour into a mixing bowl. Using a heavy wooden spoon, stir together to form a wet, very sticky dough. Do not try to knead with your hands, as it is too sticky to handle. The mixture will seem dry at first, but as you continue to stir together all the flour will be absorbed and it will pull away from the edges of the bowl. Add more flour if needed to form a very thick, very sticky dough ball. Once mixed, cover the bowl with a towel, and leave out at room temperature for 12 to 16 hours.

Flour a work surface very well; using a spatula scrape the sticky, bubbly dough on to the flour. Flour your hands and pat down to flatten. Cut the dough into 2 pieces and using plenty of flour to handle, knead each portion for several minutes to form 2 smooth, elastic, balls of dough. Allow to rest on a floured board covered for 30 minutes. Your pizza dough is ready to use! This dough is even better if kept refrigerated overnight, but let come up to room temperature before shaping pizzas.

This pizza dough works equally well for thin-crust or thick-crust pizza recipes.

 Pinto Bean Bread (from Food.com)

This bread is really good.  I usually use 1/2 wheat and 1/2 white flour.  The beans add a lot of nutrition and you can’t taste them at all. 
2 cups lukewarm milk
2 packages yeast
2 cups pinto beans, mashed
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons shortening, melted
5 -6 cups flour (I use half wheat)

Combine the milk, beans, sugar, salt, shortening, and 1 tablespoon of the flour.
Stir in the yeast and wait for it to bubble.
If it has not bubbled in 5 minutes, get new yeast.
Stir in 5-6 cups flour, to make a kneadable dough.
Knead 5-10 minutes, until satiny.
Place in a greased bowl, turning to grease dough.
Cover loosely with a clean damp cloth and let rise till double.
Punch down; let rise again.
Punch down; shape into 2 loaves.
Place in greased loaf pans.
Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes, or until thumps hollow on bottom.

 Bread Chips

Slice some day-old bread thinly with a sharp knife. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Brush one side of each slice with oil, or a butter/oil mixture with a basting brush.  You can flavor the oil/butter with some salt, a few cloves of crushed garlic, herbs, spices, whatever takes your fancy. If you’re using white bread you could make sweet variations too. 
Place slices in a single layer on a baking tray or roasting tray (largest you can). You can put 2 trays in the oven at a time. Bake for about 10 minutes until the inner edges start going golden brown. Add 5 minutes at a time if they are not lightly browned.  If they are not crunchy, cook them a little longer.  Cool completely on a rack, and store in an airtight container. 
If the next day they are not as crunchy, reheat them in the oven for five minutes to crisp them up again.

Crockpot Whole Grain Breakfast Cereal

 You can also make a smaller or larger amount of this, just use parts water to one part grain.  This tastes great in place of toast.  Put a few fried eggs, cheese and green onions on top for a savory instead of sweet taste.
2 cups of grains (I like a combination of wheat, brown rice, quinoa, oatmeal, buckwheat etc)
1-The morning before you want to serve this, take out 2 cups worth, and place in a bowl. Cover with water and add two tablespoons apple cider vinegar  or lemon juice. Let set on your counter, until that evening. (you don’t have to do this, but it makes the grains more digestible)
2-Right before you go to bed, rinse off the grains in a fine sieve, and place in your crockpot. Add 6 cups of water and a pinch of salt. Turn on low, and cook for 8 hours. Some of the grains turn soft and some stay kind of firm.  I like the combination.
You can use any leftovers in meatloaf, taco meat, pancakes, soup, tuna salad.  Just add a little to start.

Bean Flour

(Don’t throw away your old beans)
 Add to pancakes or muffins etc (replace 1/4 of flour with bean flour)
-Replace up to one-fourth of the flour in any recipe with bean flour. Beans combined with grain form a complete protein which is exceptionally efficient nutrition for the body, and best of all, no one has to know they are eating it! White bean flour or fava bean flour generally work best for baked goods.

-Thickener: Use bean flour to thicken or cream soups and stews. This is a great way to reduce the fat content of creamy soups. White bean flour has a neutral taste and a creamy flavor that could replace some of the heavy cream in vegetable soups. You can also use bean flour to make white sauce, as long as you use a mild-flavored flour.

Combining bean and wheat flours also helps form a complete protein for those cutting out or down on meat. The best part is that no one will ever know they’re eating beans!

Whole Wheat Blender Pancakes

Makes 6 to 8 pancakes
1 cup milk (1/3 cup non-fat dry milk and 1 cup water)
1 cup uncooked whole wheat (add 1 TBS flour for waffles)

2 eggs (¼ cup powdered egg and ½ cup water)
2 tablespoons oil (add 2 TBS oil for waffles)
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons honey
½ teaspoon salt

Put the milk and wheat in the blender. Blend on the highest speed for four or five minutes or until the batter is smooth. Turn the blender down to low and add in: eggs, oil, baking powder, honey, and salt.

Cracked Wheat Meat Loaf

2 1/2 cups cooked bulgur wheat (or cracked wheat)
2 pounds lean ground beef
2 pounds lean ground beef
1 1/4 cups milk
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup ketchup
1 egg
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 cup sauteed onions
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Saute onion in 1 tablespoon vegetable oil until transparent. Mix all ingredients together and turn into loaf pan or shallow baking dish. If desired, spread surface with thin layer of ketchup.
Bake at 325 degrees for 1 hour.

Mexican Wheat Chili

1 lb ground beef
2 TBSPS oil
1 large onion, chopped
¼ teaspoon garlic salt
4 TBSPS Flour
2 cups cooked wheat
5 cups beef bouillon or stock
1 teaspoon to 1 TBSP chili powder
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon oregano
1 cup tomato sauce
pinch cayen pepper (opt.)
Brown meat and saute onion with garlic salt. Drain of excess fat. Add and stir in flour. Add rest of ingredients, cover and simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Makes 6-8 servings. (For thicker chili add 1 to 2 TBSPS more flour, stir often.)

1. Thermos Wheat
Recipe from author Rita Bingham

Bring 1 c. of wheat kernels, 2 c. water, and 1 t. salt to a boil in a medium saucepan. Pour into a heated stainless steel or glass-lined thermos bottle. Secure cap. Place bottle on side. In the morning, pour off any additional water, add butter and honey, and serve hot.
Wheat Berries
Add some of your plain dry wheat kernels to a pot of water. Bring it to a boil and cook for a few minutes. Then let simmer for about 1-2 hours or until soft. I like them quite soft. Drain the wheat berries and stick them in a tupperware container in the fridge. These are delicious to add to yogurt or to use to replace some meat in recipes. You can also use it in place of brown rice in a lot of recipes.

Poppped Wheat


Take 1 cup of your cooked wheat berries (see above) and add to a frying pan of pot with two tablespoons of oil in it. Cover with a lid and cook over a hot stove shaking the pan while it cooks. After about 4-5 minutes the kernels will be nice and toasted. Put the popped wheat on a paper towel to get the extra oil off, and sprinkle with your choice of seasonings. Try it with salt, seasoned salt, garlic, barbecue salt, onion salt, cinnamon and sugar or any combination you desire. These are delicious on salads as a topping, mixed with trail mix, or as toppings for a desserts or just as a healthy snack.

Cracked Wheat


You can crack wheat in a blender or a coffee grinder. To do it in a blender you simply put in about 1/4-1/3 cups of wheat and pulse it until it looks like little cracked kernels. These kernels will cook much faster than regular wheat, and cook up in the same way that you cook rice on the stove. You can use cracked wheat to make hot cereal, add it into bread, or cook it up and use as a meat filler. 

HIPPIE TACOS

Fresh Ingredients
1 lb. ground beef
15 10″ tortillas
toppings: baby spinach leaves, grated cheese, diced tomato, avocado, cilantro, and Ranch dressing
Storage Ingredients
2 c. cooked whole wheat berries
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. paprika
2 tsp. chili powder
* 1 packet of taco seasoning may be used as a substitution for individual spices
Brown ground beef and drain fat. Stir in the cooked wheat berries and spices. Spoon meat mixture onto warm tortillas and top with fresh baby spinach, grated cheese, diced tomato, avocado, cilantro, and Ranch dressing.
During one of my food storage presentations a woman shared how she substitutes cooked whole wheat berries for ground beef. She seasons it just as you normally would for tacos to create a very healthy vegetarian alternative. If that sounds too hard core, consider giving this recipe a try. I made them for my daughter that lives in Oregon and she thought they were amazing. Hippie tacos is her name for our little culinary invention. Guess she’s in the zone

Tuna Salad with Wheat

2 cans of tuna
1/2 to 3/4 cup of chopped pickles
3 celery stalks chopped
4 green onions chopped
dash of tabasco
garlic salt
1/2 cup of mayo
1 1/2 cups of cooked wheat berries

Mix all together.  It tastes even better the next day.

Hummus

2 cans or 2 16 oz jars of garbanzo beans drained -keep liquid to add if needed  (this is kind of a big recipe. I put it in smaller amounts and freeze it for later)
1/2 cups tahini (add more to taste)  I make my own with toasted sesame seeds, olive oil in a blender.
Juice from two lemons (about 1/4 to 1/3 cups) I taste it at the end and add more if I need it
1 tablespoon of cumin (to taste)
1 - 2 garlic cloves
Drops of sesame oil
4 tbs. olive oil
dashes of tabasco sauce
garlic salt to taste

Put it all in a blender or food processor until smooth.  I usually taste it and add more of whatever I think it needs.

Delicious Cream Cheese Bean Dip

1 cup sour cream 
4 cups  cooked beans (I used my canned ones)
1 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese 
4 green onions ( chopped) 
1 tbs chili powder
1/2 tbs. cumin
1 can green chilies
dashes of tabasco
1 cup grated cheese

Directions

1. Empty bean jar and heat until water and beans separate--dump off most of the liquid (save it in case your bean dip is too dry)
2. Put everything else (except grated cheese) in on a low temp (just put a lid on it and wait until the cream cheese softens)
3. When it is all hot, mix in cheese
4. You can serve it now or put it in the oven to keep it hot. 

Instructions on how to set up your solar shade oven

Instructions on how to set up your Auto Shade Solar Oven

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nT8JXxCPe1M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHHjzBwCFw4


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hnynux2eGbY&NR=1
(wait until the end of the video to watch the solar shade ones)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2g_Ca_uXoHM&feature=related

Solar Oven Recipes

For general cooking guidelines go to:
http://solarcooking.wikia.com/wiki/Cooking_guidelines

Baked Potatoes (www.solarovens.org)
This recipe is based on potatoes weighing 1 lb. each—the really choice bakers. For smaller individual potatoes approximately ¼ lb. each, the cooking will be faster.
2 lbs. baking potatoes per Sport cooking pot, 4 lbs total
4 tbs. minced flat parsley
4 tbs. minced fresh chives
fresh ground pepper and salt to taste
butter or olive oil to taste

1. Wash and dry the potatoes. Prick each potato a few times.
2. Place half of the dry potatoes in each Sport cooking pot. Do not add liquid.
3. Put lids on the black cooking pots and place them in the Sport solar oven. Clip the clear lid to the oven. Face the oven into the sun and then rotate it clockwise 30 degrees. Relax and do other things. The potatoes can be left unopened the entire cooking time. Check in 4 hours. If the potatoes are not done, face the oven toward the sun plus 30 degrees clockwise and continue cooking.
 Cooking Time - up to 6 hours. Serves 4 – 6
 
Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts With Tomatoes, Olives and Capers (solarovens.org)
This dish showcases how the SOS Sport solar oven strongly infuses the chicken with the flavors of the ingredients. It is easy to succeed on the first try and it cooks in 1 - 2 hours in good sun.
4 each, boneless, skinless chicken breasts – about 2 lbs total
2 tbs. olive oil
1 sprig of fresh basil, chopped
4 oz of pitted and sliced kalamata olives packed in oil
2 oz capers, drained
14 oz of fresh or petit diced canned tomatoes, minced
8 tbs. olive oil
salt & fresh ground pepper to taste
Make the Dish
Wash and dry the breasts on paper towels. Rub each piece on all sides with the olive oil. Place 2 tbs. of the olive oil in the bottoms of each of the 2 Sport cook pots and coat the entire bottoms. Add 2 breasts to each pot, divide the sauce ingredients between them and salt and pepper to taste. Pour 2 more tbs. of olive oil over the ingredients in each pot. Mix the contents of each pot well. Cover the pots and place into the Sport solar oven. Clip the clear lid to the oven. Face the oven toward the sun and relax.
This dish will be done in 1 - 2 hours, depending on the sun strength. Serve at once. Serves 4.

Bar-B-Que Chicken (www.solarovens.org)
1 ½ - 2 lbs. Chicken cut up into serving sizes. (A whole chicken [ 3 - 4 lbs.] will make two pots of chicken.)
Garlic powder, onion powder, thyme, etc. to taste
Your favorite barbecue sauce.
1. Place cut up chicken pieces on bottom of solar oven pot(s). Add preferred seasonings.
2. Put pot(s) into solar oven.
3. Cook for 1 ¼ - 2 hours in solar oven. Pour off the broth from the chicken (save it for soups or casserole if desired). Add barbecue sauce over top of chicken pieces. Continue to cook for another hour or more as required or desired.
The longer the chicken cooks, the better the flavors blend and the meat is tender.

Broccoli (wwwsolarovens.org)
1 lb. broccoli florets, including stems
1/3 clove garlic minced
½ tsp. salt, or to taste
½ tsp. fresh ground black pepper, or to taste
2 tbs. butter or olive oil
1. Wash the florets in cold water and transfer wet to the Sport cooking pot.
2. Add garlic. Do not add salt, pepper, oil or butter, if desired, until cooking is finished.
3. Cook in the Sport solar oven facing the sun for 45 minutes for al détente and longer for softer texture.
The taste of broccoli cooked in the Sport is huge because of the reduced leaching from not using cooking water! You’ve never tasted broccoli like this!
Cooking Time: 45 – 75 minutes. Serves 2 – 4

Chili Pie (www.solarcooking.wikia.com)
2 cans of chili
1 small can sliced olives
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
3/4 cup Bisquick
1 1/4 cup milk
3 eggs (beaten)
Butter a dark oblong or dark round roaster pan. Spread chili on bottom, then layer the olives, then layer the cheese. In a separate pan, mix Bisquick, milk, and eggs and pour over the cheese. Cover and bake until brown, about 1 1/2 hours.

Broccoli Casserole (www.solarcooking.wikia.com)
3 eggs
3 tablespoons flour
2 teaspoons salt
8 oz. cottage cheese
1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
2 packages chopped broccoli
In a dark round roaster, mix together eggs, cottage cheese, grated cheese, flour and salt. Thaw broccoli, drain and mix into egg mixture. Cover and bake 1 hour. (may use 1 large or 2 small heads of fresh broccoli).

Chili Relleños Casserole www.solarcooking.wikia.com
2 7-oz. cans whole green chilies                                  1/2 pound jack cheese, shredded                  1/2 pound cheddar cheese, shredded
3 eggs, beaten
3 tablespoons flour
1 small can evaporated milk
Cut chilies lengthwise, wash, remove any seeds and membrane and pat dry on paper towels. Spray a 9-inch dark casserole pan with non-stick. Layer half of chilies and then cheese, repeat layers, reserving 1/2 cup cheese for the topping. Beat eggs, add flour and milk until blended. Pour over chilies and cheese. Bake, covered, one our or until set in center.

Chicken-Broccoli Casserole www.solarcooking.wikia.com
4 chicken breasts
1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon curry
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 teaspoon lemon juice
Broccoli, cut in pieces
Bread crumbs
Cheddar cheese, shredded
Preheat solar oven. Bone and fry 4 chicken breasts using conventional heat. Do not overcook. Set aside. In a mixing bowl, mix together undiluted soup, sour cream, lemon juice and curry. Set aside. In a dark rectangular pan, line the bottom with broccoli. Cut up the chicken and place it over the broccoli. Top with sour cream mixture. Top everything with shredded cheddar cheese and bread crumbs. Cover and place in oven. Bake about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Sunshine Chili www.solarcooking.wikia.com
1 pound small red beans (dry)
1 pound ground chuck
2 medium onions
1 small green pepper
1/2 cup fresh parsley, minced
dash of salt and pepper
1 28-oz. can tomatoes (may be blended first)
4 cups V-8 juice
1 tablespoon chili powder
Soak red beans in water overnight. Brown ground chuck, onions, green pepper, parsley, salt and pepper. Drain well after about one hour. Add tomatoes, red beans, V-8 juice and chili powder. Cover and bake about 4-5 hours in solar oven; serves 10. You may add more V-8 juice as cooking proceeds.
Pot Roast with Vegetables www.solarcooking.wikia.com
2 to 3 pound chuck roast (1 1/2 to 2 inches thick)
3 to 4 carrots, cut in 3-inch lengths
3 to 4 potatoes, peeled and cut in 1/2 inch lengths
2 tablespoons water
1 package dry onion soup mix
Place vegetables in bottom of dark granite pan and sprinkle with water. Put meat on top and sprinkle with package of soup mix. Cover and bake 3 to 4 hours or longer. Thicken gravy if desired.

Meatloaf www.solarcooking.wikia.com
1 1/2 pounds ground beef
1/4 pound crackers, crumbled
1 package onion soup
2 eggs
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
3 slices of bacon (optional)
Mix together meat, crumbs, soup mix, eggs and sauce. Shape into a loaf and place in a dark loaf pan. Top with bacon slices. Put loaf pan inside a dark roaster, cover and bake for 3 hours.

Tamale Pie www.solarcooking.wikia.com
1 pound ground beef
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1 envelope taco seasoning mix
1 cup corn, frozen
1 8-oz. can stewed tomatoes (drained) or fresh tomatoes
3 eggs
1 1/3 cups milk
2/3 cup Bisquick baking mix
1/3 cup yellow cornmeal
Place ground beef and onion in dark pan. Cover and cook for one hour. Drain. Add seasoning mix, corn and tomatoes. Beat together the remaining ingredients and pour over the ground beef mixture. Cover and bake for 1 1/2 hours. Optional: 1 8-oz. can of dark olives, 3 tablespoons of taco sauce and 1 cup cheddar cheese may be added.

Spinach Quiche www.solarcooking.wikia.com
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup mushrooms, sliced
1 cup Swiss cheese, shredded
1 10-oz. package frozen spinach, thawed and drained
3 eggs
1 can evaporated milk
3/4 cup Bisquick
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
Salt and pepper, to taste
Butter a 9-inch round dark roaster pan. Combine onions, mushrooms, cheese and spinach in a round roaster pan. Beat together the remaining ingredients. Pour over the vegetables. Cover and bake for 2 1/2 hours.

Cheesed Onions www.solarcooking.wikia.com
5 to 6 medium onions
2 cups grated cheddar cheese
2 cups milk
1/4 cup butter or margarine
3 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
Slice onions and place in a dark round pan. Blend milk, butter, flour, salt and cheese together. Pour over the onions. Cover and bake 1 to 2 hours.
 
Black Beans www.solarcooking.wikia.com
1 pound package black beans
6 cups water
2 16-oz. cans diced tomatoes
2 ounces of picante sauce
Place clean and sorted beans in a black pot. Add water to cover top of beans by 2 inches. Cover and cook approximately 9 hours (start beans anytime before 9:00 a.m. and add tomatoes and picante sauce after 4:00 p.m.) Variations: serve over white or brown rice or top servings with shredded cheddar cheese.

Jim's Spaghetti Squash www.solarcooking.wikia.com
1 spaghetti squash
1 tbsp butter/margarine
1 cup water
spaghetti sauce of choice
parmesan cheese
Cut squash in half lengthwise and remove seeds. Coat inside with butter/margarine. Place skin side up in small roaster. Pour in 1 cup water. Cover, place in solar oven for 2 hours. Remove insides from skin, serve with spaghetti sauce and parmesan cheese.
We use a global sun oven...temps in Jan. in Arizona desert country get to 320F. at altitude of 850 feet. This serves 2...1/4 squash each. A whole squash could be done the same after cleaning and buttering.
 
Brownie Pudding www.solarcooking.wikia.com
1 cup flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons cocoa
1/2 cup milk
2 tablespoons melted butter
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)
1 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cups boiling water
In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and 2 tablespoons cocoa. Add the milk, butter and nuts. Mix thoroughly. Spread in a greased 9-inch dark pan. Mix together the brown sugar and 1/4 cup cocoa and sprinkle over the batter. Pour the boiling water over the batter. Cover. Bake about 2 hours in a preheated solar oven. Fudge sauce forms under brownie like topping.
 
Rice Pudding www.solarcooking.wikia.com
1 cup rice, cooked
3 eggs
1 1/3 cups milk
2 tablespoons brown sugar
5 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
fresh lemon rind
cinnamon
Combine eggs, milk, sugars, butter and vanilla. Mix into the cooked rice. Add lemon juice and rind. Place in dark pan. Cover and bake 1 1/2 hours. Sprinkle with cinnamon and brown sugar when done.

EXTREME GARLIC CHICKEN DRUMS
www.solarcooker-at-cantinawest.com
Place several chicken legs in a single layer inside of a plastic cooking bag. Spread the chicken with a generous amount of pureed, raw garlic (about 1 tsp for each leg) Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Close cooking bag end with provided tie and place entire cooking bag flat on the bottom of the preheated solar oven. Put a small slit in the top of the bag. The oven can be anywhere in temperature from 200 to 350 degrees depending on the type of cooker that you are using. The legs will be done in 1 to 2.5 hours. These chicken legs are incredibly delicious! Intense in roasted garlic flavor!

Apple Crisp www.sunoven.com
Makes (1) 9×12 pan
2 c dry apples, 3 c water, 2 Tb + 1 tsp cornstarch, 3/4 c sugar, 1/3 tsp salt, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/3 tsp nutmeg, 2 Tb lemon juice
Topping: 1 c rolled oats, 1 c brown sugar, 1 c flour, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/3 tsp baking powder, 1/2 c shortening
Mix dry ingredients for apple crisp in large covered pot, add water and lemon juice; mix well. Bake in covered dish 1 – 2 hours or until done. Mix the topping with pastry blender or fork, spread over cooked apples and return to oven for 30 – 40 min (uncovered) until browned.

 Brownies www.sunoven.com
Makes 1 8×8 pan or 4 pint jars
1 c shortening, 2 c sugar, 2 c white flour, 1 tsp vanilla, 4 eggs, 2/3 c baking cocoa, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt
 Mix shortening, sugar, and vanilla. Add eggs and mix. Add flour, cocoa, baking powder, salt and vanilla and mix. Bake in 8×8 pan (or jars) about 45 min or until done.
  Chocolate Cake www.sunoven.com
Makes (1) 9×12 pan or 6 pints
3 1/4 c white flour, 2 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp salt, 1 1/2 c sugar, 1/2 c cocoa, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 2 c water, 2Tb vinegar, 2/3 c melted shortening, 5 tsp vanilla. 1/2 c chocolate chips, 1/2 cup walnuts
Melt shortening. Combine dry ingredients in large bowl. Mix together melted shortening, water, vinegar and vanilla and stir into the dry mixture until smooth. Pour into 9×12 greased and floured pan (or greased jars) and bake for 30 – 40 min or until done.

Chicken & Rice Casserole www.sunoven.com
1 recipe cream of mushroom soup, 1 Tb lemon juice, 1/2 tsp salt, 2 c rice, 4 c water +1 tsp salt (Don’t add salt if broth is used) 2 Tb dried onion, 1 pint undrained bottled chicken, 1/4 tsp pepper, 1/3 tsp paprika
Optional: 1/3 c dried celery and 1/2 c sliced toasted almonds
Add broth and water to make 4 cups. Add the rice to the liquid and cook in solar oven about 40 minutes or until done. In a large covered dish, mix the cream of mushroom soup, lemon juice, onion, paprika, pepper, salt, chicken and cooked rice. (And optional celery and almonds) Cover and bake until done.

Lasagna
1 jar (32 ounces) spaghetti sauce
1 package (8 ounces) lasagna noodles
Olive oil
1 pound ricotta cheese
1 pound mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Spread 1 1/2 cups of sauce over bottom of a dark roasting pan. Coat uncooked noodles with olive oil. Layer half the noodles and half the ricotta cheese over the sauce. Add half of the mozzarella cheese. Repeat layers of sauce, noodles and cheese. Top with remaining sauce. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over top. Cover and bake in the solar oven for 3 to 4 hours. Makes 6 servings.

Provident Living Meeting--No Knead Bread, Sprouting

http://www.breadtopia.com/cooks-illustrated-almost-no-knead/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evsdggMoBuM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shy3lDiAlc0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dydRxSIlruE

http://www.youtube.com/user/breadtopia#p/u/14/piZt9LpgoHw

http://www.youtube.com/user/breadtopia#p/u/13/WmF7Z03mDsw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiPFlcQuqLM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKmAZw8fe7U

(watch the great videos!)

Cook’s Illustrated Almost No Knead

White Flour Recipe:

3 cups (15 ounces) all purpose or bread flour
1/4 tsp. instant or rapid-rise yeast
1 1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 cup plus 2 Tbs. (7 ounces) water at room temp
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbs. (3 ounces) mild flavored lager
1 Tbs. white vinegar

Whole Wheat Recipe:

2 cups (10 ounces) all purpose or bread flour
1 cup (5 ounces) whole wheat flour
1/4 tsp. instant or rapid-rise yeast
1 1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tbs. honey (I used 2 Tbs. raw sugar)
3/4 cup plus 2 Tbs. (7 ounces) water at room temp
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbs. (3 ounces) mild flavored lager
1 Tbs. white vinegar

Note: The beer can be non-alcoholic.
Also, regarding the use of sugar and the ratio of white to whole wheat flour in the ‘Whole Wheat’ recipe, see the post from Beatrix below. She used 2 cups of whole wheat flour and 1 of white and it still came out light.

Baking Instructions: For both these recipes, preheat your oven with Dutch oven or Cloche inside to 500 degrees. Reduce temperature to 425 when the bread dough goes in and bake covered for 30 minutes. Then remove cover and bake an additional 15 minutes or until the internal bread temperature reaches about 200 degrees.

Almost No Knead Sandwich Loaf Recipe

The thinner crust and softer, tighter crumb of the Almost No Knead recipe, combined with its subtle flavors, makes it a nice candidate for a sandwich loaf. Here’s a video of the process with the the adjusted ingredient quantities.

18 ounces (~3 2/3 cups) flour. Use all white or a combination of white and up to 6 ounces whole wheat.
1 3/4 tsp salt
3/8 tsp. instant yeast
1 cup (8 ounces) water
1/2 cup (4 ounces) beer
1 1/4 Tbs white vinegar
2 1/2 Tbs honey (I use raw sugar instead). The honey is suggested only when baking the whole wheat version of this recipe.

Baking Instructions: Preheat oven to 425. Place bread pan with risen dough in oven and reduce temperature to 350. Bake for 55 minutes or until internal bread temperature is about 200 degrees. Note that in the video I’m using a Pyrex bread pan. A metal bread pan would probably bake a few minutes faster.

Note: some have reported an issue with the loaf sticking to the bread pan. After buttering/oiling the baking pans, cornmeal can be sprinkled liberally on the insides and bottom of the pans. This eliminates the bread sticking to the sides while baking. Thanks to Tom & Melody DeGraziano for this tip.

Cranberry-Pecan Extraordinaire

http://www.breadtopia.com/no-knead-recipe-variations/#CP
(makes 1 loaf)---From www.breadtopia.com Watch his video. It is great!!

1/2 cup (2 1/2 oz.) whole wheat flour
2 1/2 cups (13 oz.) all purpose or bread flour
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup dried sweetened cranberries
1/2 cup pecan pieces
1 1/2 cups purified water
1/4 cup sourdough starter or 1/4 tsp. instant yeast

(Read paragraph near top of page for instant yeast version of this recipe)

• Combine the flours and salt
• Mix the starter into the water until mostly dissolved
• Mix the water/starter solution into the dry ingredients
• Mix in the pecans and craisins
• Cover bowl with plastic at let sit at room temperature for 18 hours
• After 18 hours turn dough onto well floured surface and gently flatten enough to fold dough back onto itself a couple times to form a roundish blob. Note: This folding stage can be accomplished within the bowl, speeding up the process even further and leaving less of a cleanup.
• Cover blob with plastic and let rest 15 minutes. During this rest period, coat a proofing basket or towel lined bowl with bran flakes.
• Gently and quickly shape blob into an approximate ball and place in proofing basket or bowl.
• Cover with a towel and let rise for 1-2 hours depending on room temperature.
• As gently as possible, flip the dough into a Dutch oven or ceramic (e.g. La Cloche) baker preheated to 500F degrees and bake covered for 30 minutes. Remove cover and bake an additional 15 minutes at 450 degrees. See Great No-Knead Baking Techniques for more tips.
• Allow bread to cool completely before slicing and eating. Warning: this most difficult step requires superhuman discipline and restraint.

You may have to adjust the baking times and temperatures to adapt to the various weights and materials of different baking containers.

No-Knead 100% Whole Wheat Bread

3 cups (430 grams) whole wheat flour, plus 1/4-1/2 cup more for dusting

¼ teaspoon (1 gram) instant yeast (or 1/4 plus 1/16 teaspoon active dry yeast*)

1¼ teaspoons (8 grams) salt

1 1/2 tablespoons vital wheat gluten

2 cups minus 1 tablespoon (430 grams) water

Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast, salt and gluten. Add most water and stir until blended. Keep adding water until the dough is shaggy and sticky, like a stiff muffin batter. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 - 18 hours, at warm room temperature.

2. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

3. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack. Yield: One 1½-pound loaf.

(Quicker) No-Knead Bread( makes 1 loaf)


3 cups bread flour

1/2 teaspoon regular yeast (not instant)

1 1/4 teaspoon salt
1 5/8 cups WARM water
1 TBSP. Vinegar

Mix all the ingredients in the morning. This should take about 3 minutes and leave you with a thick, slightly goopy dough. Cover with a towel or some plastic wrap and leave it in the warmest spot in your kitchen. It should get a 6 to 8-hour rise.

After 6 - 8 hours, sprinkle with flour and shape it roughly into a ball. Sprinkle more flour and cover with a towel or plastic wrap. Let proof for about an hour.

Heat the oven to 450°F. Put a Dutch oven in the oven to heat. (I’ve used lots of different pans and even Aluminum foil for the lid ).When the dough has doubled in size, put it in the pan. You may have to pour it, pry it off the baking sheet, or just roll it in - the dough is very wet. Don't worry if it looks a mess. Cover the pot with a lid and bake for 30 minutes. Remove lid and bake for another 15 minutes to let it brown.

No Knead Cinnamon Raisin Bread

3 cups flour (I used half white, half wheat)
1 1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp. instant yeast or a scant 1/2 tsp reg. yeast
1/2 cup raisins

Mix dry ingredients well.

Add the water. I sometimes knead the breads with whole wheat for about a minute the bowl.
Cover with plastic and let sit for 14 - 18 hours (less or more if it is cold or hot outside)
Use extra flour to handle dough. Fold the bread over a few times. Place in a floured and greased bread pan. (Sides too)
Let rise for 1 - 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Cook for 30 minutes. Turn oven down to 400 and continue cooking for 20 minutes. Put stick a candy thermometer and let it get ti 210 or 220 degrees.

“No Knead Pizza Dough” ( 2 15” pizzas)
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup tepid water
1/4 tsp dry active yeast
2 tbsp olive oil
1/4 tsp sugar
1 1/4 tsp salt
18 ounces (about 4 cups) flour, plus more as needed

Add the water, yeast, olive oil, sugar, salt, and flour into a mixing bowl. Using a heavy wooden spoon, stir together to form a wet, very sticky dough. Do not try to knead with your hands, as it is too sticky to handle. The mixture will seem dry at first, but as you continue to stir together all the flour will be absorbed and it will pull away from the edges of the bowl. Add more flour if needed to form a very thick, very sticky dough ball. Once mixed, cover the bowl with a towel, and leave out at room temperature for 12 to 16 hours.

Flour a work surface very well; using a spatula scrape the sticky, bubbly dough on to the flour. Flour your hands and pat down to flatten. Cut the dough into 2 pieces and using plenty of flour to handle, knead each portion for several minutes to form 2 smooth, elastic, balls of dough. Allow to rest on a floured board covered for 30 minutes. Your pizza dough is ready to use! This dough is even better if kept refrigerated overnight, but let come up to room temperature before shaping pizzas.

This pizza dough works equally well for thin-crust or thick-crust pizza recipes.

No-Knead Pizza Dough (Other version)

Adapted from Jim Lahey, Co.

Makes four 12-inch pizza crusts



3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting

¼ teaspoon instant yeast (such as SAF brand)

1½ teaspoons salt

1½ cups water


1. In a large bowl, mix the flour with the yeast and salt. Add the water and stir until blended (the dough will be very sticky). Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rest for 12 to 24 hours in a warm spot, about 70°.
2. Place the dough on a lightly floured work surface and lightly sprinkle the top with flour. Fold the dough over on itself once or twice, cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest for 15 minutes.
3. Divide the dough into 4 pieces and shape each piece into a ball. Generously sprinkle a clean cotton towel with flour and cover the dough balls with it. Let the dough rise for 2 hours.
4. Stretch or toss the dough into the desired shape, cover with toppings and bake on top of a very hot pizza stone.

Crock Pot Hot Cereal

1 c. dry wheat kernels (also called berries)
4 c. water
1/4 tsp. sea salt (table salt will also work just fine)

Rinse/drain wheat in a screen-type colander, place in crock pot. Add water and salt, stir. Cook on low for about 7 hours, until wheat is popped opened and tender....sort of like rice....but it will be tender + chewy because of the healthy insoluble fiber found in wheat.


How to Sprout Wheat (and other grains)
What you'll need:
1/2 cup wheat berries
Wide Mouth Jar (or something similar)
Nylon Net or Cheesecloth + Rubberband (to cover the jar & keep the cover in place)

Directions:
Rinse ½ cup of wheat berries.
Put the wheat berries in a wide-mouth quart jar.
Add 2 cups of room temperature water.
Place nylon net or cheesecloth over the jar opening.
Use a heavy rubber band or the metal jar ring to hold the nylon or cheesecloth in place.
Soak 12 hours, then drain.

Thoroughly drain the water – shake a bit to remove most of the water.
Place the bottle in the cupboard, in the dark. Some people use a paper bag to keep the light out, but still near the sink to remind them of their sprouting project.
It needs the air (fairly warm air) – so don’t cover the opening with a solid lid.
Each morning and night rinse the wheat berries with room temperature water, drain again.
36 to 48 hours after the first soaking, Walla! You have germinated wheat or if you continue the process for a day or two more you have sprouted wheat.

Storing Wheat Sprouts
Replace the nylon net or cheesecloth with plastic wrap or the metal jar lid to help keep it moist but not wet.
Store in the refrigerator. Use within 5 days.

Faster No Knead Bread Recipe

Okay. Soooooo, I just made No Knead Bread, but a little faster. It usually takes 18 - 20 hours, but you can make this in the morning for dinner. (I usually use the other recipe, but this is good when you forget to start it the night before). This is how I did it. I was delicious!! I added a little more yeast and made the water pretty warm (not hot). This sped things up.

One Day No-Knead Bread

Adapted from Jim Lahey, Sullivan Street Bakery
Time: About 10 minutes plus 7-8 hours rising

3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting

1/2 teaspoon non-instant yeast (the original recipe calls for 1/4 tsp)

1¼ teaspoons salt

1 5/8 cup WARM water

1 Tablespoon vinegar (for flavor, I guess)

Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed.

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups WARM water and vinegar, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 6 hours (I'm in AZ where it is warm, to that was enough), preferably about 8, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 1 hour (usually 2). When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

Yield: One 1½-pound loaf.

Using your Dehydrated potates for Funeral Potatoes

Funeral Potatoes (using Dehydrated Potatoes)

This Easter I wanted to make those yummy Funeral Potatoes (also known as Cracker Barrel Potatoes or Cheesy Potatoes). I bought a lot of dehydrated potatoes and they need to be used! I also didn't have time to peel, cut, and cook other potatoes. Soooooooooo......I took two and a half cups of dried potatoes and put them in a pan full of quite a bit of water. I brought them to a boil (then turned them to low) and let them rehydrate and cook for 30 - 45 minutes. Try them to see if they are softish (not mush). I rinsed them off and then used them in my recipe. They were really great! These also work great for hash browned potatoes.

Cracker Barrel's Hash Browns Casserole

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups dehyrated potatoes (rehydrated and cooked until soft but not mushy)
• 1/2 cup margarine or 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 (10 1/4 ounce) cans cream of chicken soup
• 1 (10 1/4 ounce) can cream of mushroom soup
  
• 1 pint sour cream
• 1/2 cup onions, peeled and chopped
• 2 cups cheddar cheese, grated
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F and spray an 11 x 14 baking dish with cooking spray.
2. Mix the above ingredients together, place in prepared pan and bake for 45 minutes (covered with aluminum foil).

Canning chicken stock

If you have ever read Nourishing Traditions, by Sally Fallon, you may remember how nourishing different broths and soup stocks are. I only use them occasionally because I don't always take the time to make stock. Wellllllll, I was going through my totally full freezer the other day and I found 3 -4 chicken carcasses (the bones). I save them after we get the rotisserie chickens (one of my "I don't want to cook" meals). I simmered the bones over night in a big stock pot covered with lots of water. After it cooked a long time, I strained it twice and put it in canning jars and PRESSURE canned it for 25 minutes for pints and 30 minutes for quarts at 11 lbs (I'm in AZ). Now I will be able to use it when I need it. I felt pretty handy!! I ended up with 7 pints and one quart.

Sweet Pork Recipe

Thanks to all those who came to our provident living night!! We had fun learning about canning. Here is the recipe for Sweet Pork. It is similar to what you get at Costa Vida or Cafe Rio:

28 oz. enchilada sauce ( I had red and green and I used them both)
2 4 oz. cans of diced green chilis
1/2 - 1 can soda pop (I used caffeine free Pepsi but you can use Dr. Pepper or Root Beer)
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
3 - 4 lbs pork roast (I sliced mine with a slicer to make it easy to put in jars.)

You can either cook this in a crock pot until tender and then can it. Or you can put raw pork in the jars 3/4 full then fill with sauce. Get rid of the bubbles with a knife which helps the sauce get down there. Process pints for 75 minutes or quarts for 90 minutes. It had a lot of liquid when I raw packed it. I had to cook it a long time to cook down the liquid.

Please visit: www.creativecanning.blogspot.com. She has lots of great ideas!! All of the recipes I have tried from her site have been great! She is awesome and has inspired so many of us!!

Spanish Rice a la Food Storage

I had to use some left over rice and I had to feed a lot of people quick!! Sooooo, this is the recipe that resulted. I thought it was really good and all the teenagers had seconds, so that was a good sign.

Spanish Rice

1 pint jar canned roast beef, w/juice
1 15 oz can diced tomatoes w, juice
1 4 oz jar green chilies w/juice
3 TBS. Dehydrated onions
1 TBS. Beef bouillion
1/4 cup salsa

Cook all this until the meat is easy to separate into small pieces (about 10 minutes). Add 4 - 5 cups already cooked rice and heat until it is warmed. I served this with the canned pinto beans I made. Those are the best. If you haven't canned beans, you are missing out!!

Oct Meeting--Using Dehydrated and Freeze dried foods

Carrots Au Gratin
4 ½ cups Sliced Carrots (2 cups dry carrots rehydrated)
⅔ cup Crushed Buttery Round Crackers
3 tbsp. Margarine, melted
½ cup Chopped Onion (3 TBS dry)
3 tbsp. All-Purpose Flour
½ tsp. Salt
¼ tsp. Ground Black Pepper
1 ½ cups Milk
⅔ cup Shredded Processed Cheese
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Place carrots in a steamer over 1 inch of boiling water, and cover. Cook until tender but still firm, about 6-10 minutes. Drain. Meanwhile, in a small bowl combine crushed crackers with 1 tablespoon melted margarine. Mix well and set aside.
3. In a medium skillet over low heat, heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of margarine and saute onions until tender. Stir in flour, salt and pepper. Cook for a few minutes, stirring to prevent browning. Gradually pour in milk, stirring constantly. Increase heat to medium and cook until bubbly and thickened. Add cheese and stir until smooth. Fold in carrots.
4. Pour mixture into a 9x12 inch baking dish and sprinkle with the crumb mixture.
Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until bubbly and golden brown


Dijon Glazed Carrots

3 cups Baby Carrots (1 2/3 cup dry)
2 tbsp. Butter
2 tbsp. Light Brown Sugar, packed
2 tbsp. Dijon Mustard
Parsley, chopped
Directions:
Rehydrate carrots (either overnight or on the stove--cover with water and cook on low until they are soft). Drain most of the water. Cook for about 7 minutes. Dump any extra water and add butter, sugar and mustard. Cook until sugar is melted ) about 2 minutes)and serve. Sprinkle with parsley.

Carrot Cake III

4 Eggs
1 ¼ cups Vegetable Oil
2 cups White Sugar
2 tsp. Vanilla Extract
2 cups All-Purpose Flour
2 tsp. Baking Soda
2 tsp. Baking Powder
½ tsp. Salt
2 tsp. Ground Cinnamon
3 cups Grated Carrots (1 1/2 cups dry then rehdyrated)
1 cup Chopped Pecans
½ cup Butter, softened
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan.
2. In a large bowl, beat together eggs, oil, white sugar and 2 teaspoons vanilla. Mix in flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Stir in carrots. Fold in pecans. Pour into prepared pan.
3. Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.
To Make Frosting: In a medium bowl, combine butter, cream cheese, confectioners' sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Stir in chopped pecans. Frost the cooled cake.

Panera Broccoli Cheese Soup

1 tbsp. Melted Butter
½ medium Chopped Onion (1/4 c. dry)
¼ cup Melted Butter
¼ cup Flour
2 cups Half-And-Half Cream
3 cups Chicken Stock
½ Lb Fresh Broccoli
1 cup Carrot, julienned (1/2 c dry)
¼ tsp. Nutmeg
8 oz. Grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese (opt)
hot sauce to taste (about 1/2 to 1 tsp for wimps like me)
1 TBSP dijon mustard (don’t use regular mustard)
Salt And Pepper

Description: Very good soup...serve with crusty bread.
Directions:
1. Sauté dry onions and dry carrots in butter until a little brown.
Add 3 cups chicken stock and simmer until veggies are soft (about 25 minutes).
Mix flour and butter together until smooth. Wisk into the chicken stock.
4. Add broccoli, half and half
5. Simmer until broccoli is soft
Add salt and pepper. Purée in a blender. if desired. Return to heat and add cheese. Stir in nutmeg.


Cheesy Ham and Hash Brown Casserole

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cup dehydr. potatoes
8 oz. Cooked, diced ham
2 (10.75 ounce) Cans Condensed Cream Of Potato Soup
1 (16 ounce) Container Sour Cream
2 cups Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese
1 ½ cups Grated Parmesan Cheese

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.
2. In a large bowl, mix hash browns, ham, cream of potato soup, sour cream, and Cheddar cheese. Spread evenly into prepared dish. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.
Bake 1 hour in the preheated oven, or until bubbly and lightly brown. Serve immediately.

Chicken and Dumplings II

1 (4 pound) Whole Chicken
4.5 cups Water
3 Cubes Chicken Bouillon
1 pinch Poultry Seasoning
1 pinch Dried Thyme
1 dash Garlic Powder
1 pinch Dried Sage
⅛ tsp. Salt
⅛ tsp. Ground Black Pepper
1 Onion, chopped (1/3 cup dry)
1 ½ cups Chopped Celery (1/2 cup dry)
1 cup Chopped Carrots (1/3 cup dry)
1/2 cup dry potato chunks

1. In a large pot over medium high heat, combine the chicken, water, bouillon, poultry seasoning, thyme, garlic powder, sage and salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and allow to simmer. Add the onion, celery, carrots, potatoes, cover pot and allow to simmer for one hour, or until vegetables are tender and chicken is done.
2. In a separate small bowl, combine the flour, buttermilk baking mix, parsley, ground black pepper and milk. Mix together well and form into little balls. Drop these balls into the simmering soup. Simmer for 5 more minutes.
Remove chicken, debone, take off skin, chop the chicken meat and return to pot. Heat through and serve.

Corned Beef Hash

Ingredients:
6 large Potatoes, peeled and diced (2.5 cups dry then rehydrate)
1 (12 ounce) Can Corned Beef, cut into chunks
1 medium Onion, chopped (1/3 cup dry rehdrated)
1 cup Beef Broth

You can rehydrate everything first, or put it all in one pot with 4 cups of water to rehydrate it with everything else)

In a large deep skillet, over medium heat, combine the potatoes, corned beef, onion, and beef broth. Cover and simmer until potatoes are of mashing consistency, and the liquid is almost gone. Mix well, and serve.

Delicious Ham and Potato Soup

3 ½ cups Peeled And Diced Potatoes
⅓ cup Diced Celery
⅓ cup Finely Chopped Onion
¾ cup Diced Cooked Ham
3 ¼ cups Water
2 tbsp. Chicken Bouillon Granules
½ tsp. Salt, or to taste
1 tsp. Ground White Or Black Pepper, or to taste
5 tbsp. Butter
5 tbsp. All-Purpose Flour

Description: This is a delicious recipe for ham and potato soup that a friend gave to me. It is very easy and the great thing about it is that you can add additional ingredients, more ham, potatoes, etc and it still turns out great.

1. Combine the potatoes, celery, onion, ham and water in a stockpot. Bring to a boil, then cook over medium heat until potatoes are tender, about 10 to 15 minutes. Stir in the chicken bouillon, salt and pepper.
2. In a separate saucepan, melt butter over medium-low heat. Whisk in flour with a fork, and cook, stirring constantly until thick, about 1 minute. Slowly stir in milk as not to allow lumps to form until all of the milk has been added. Continue stirring over medium-low heat until thick, 4 to 5 minutes.
Stir the milk mixture into the stockpot, and cook soup until heated through. Serve immediately.

Yummy Sweet Potato Casserole

Ingredients:
4 cups Sweet Potato, cubed
½ cup White Sugar
2 Eggs, beaten
½ tsp. Salt
4 tbsp. Butter, softened
½ cup Milk
½ tsp. Vanilla Extract
½ cup Packed Brown Sugar
⅓ cup All-Purpose Flour
3 tbsp. Butter, softened
½ cup Chopped Pecans
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Put sweet potatoes in a medium saucepan with water to cover. Cook over medium high heat until tender; drain and mash.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the sweet potatoes, sugar, eggs, salt, butter, milk and vanilla. Mix until smooth. Transfer to a 9x13 inch baking dish.
3. In medium bowl, mix the sugar and flour. Cut in the butter until the mixture is coarse. Stir in the pecans. Sprinkle the mixture over the sweet potato mixture.

Bake in the preheated oven 30 minutes, or until the topping is lightly brown.

Apple Crisp II (from Recipezaar.com)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup oatmeal
6 tablespoons butter
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
6 medium cooking apples (3 cups dry)
With pastry cutter or steel blade in food processor add flour,brown sugar, oatmeal, baking powder, salt and butter. process until mixture no longer looks "floury".
Arrange rehydrated church apples in a buttered 9x13 baking dish.
Spread flour, sugar mix over apples.
Bake at 350 for 45 minutes.
Serve warm with whipped cream or Ice Cream.

Onion Patties
These taste a lot like onion rings.

3/4 cup flour
1 TBSP. sugar
1 TBSP. cornmeal
2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 cup milk
2 1/2 cups finely chopped onions
(Rehydrate church onions)

Mix all ingredients (except onions) until smooth. Now mix in the onions. Fry in a little oil on the stove top until browned.

Make it Yourself Recipes

I like having ingredients on hand instead of pre made mixes because I have a lot more choices in what I make and I have less to store. Plus, I can make sure there are no bad ingredients. It is kind of fun to try. You also usually save money!!

Make it Yourself Recipes

Chicken or Beef Gravy
3 cups chicken broth or 3 cups Beef Broth
1 (10 ounce) cans mushroom stems and pieces, include liquid
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/8 tsp each thyme & sage -for chicken gravy
1 teaspoon granulated garlic powder
1 teaspoon chicken or beef soup base
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
5 tablespoons instant potato flakes ( Idaho)

In a large frying pan, add broth, mushrooms and liquid and bring to boil.
Add pepper, garlic powder, chicken soup base, soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce, stir to blend.
While still at boil, add potato flakes stirring constantly until gravy thickens to a desired consistency.
Use additional instant potato flakes if gravy is too thin. For darker color add a few drops of Kitchen Bouquet. (from Food.com 5 stars from 20 reviewers)

Simple Chicken Gravy
1 cup water
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp. chicken Bouillon (more if you like it salty)
pinch of sage
pinch of thyme
3 TBS potato flakes
1 TBS cornstarch
2 tsp. butter
Mix all except butter while cool. Heat and let thicken. Add butter at the end.

Pancake Syrup Ingredients
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
1/3 cup molasses or 1/3 cup corn syrup
1 cup water
1 tablespoon vanilla
maple flavoring

Bring sugars, molasses and water to a boil, stirring constantly.Simmer on low for 5 minutes.Remove and add vanilla and optional maple flavoring if using.
(from www.food.com 5 stars from 6 reviews)

Pancake Mix
4 cups flour
2/3 cup powdered milk
4 TBS. baking powder
6 TBS. Sugar
2 TSP. Salt
Mix well. To make pancakes use:
2 1/3 cup mix
2 eggs well beaten
1/4 cup melted butter

Maple Brown Sugar Oatmeal Packets Mix
"We like those packets of maple brown sugar oatmeal but don't like paying the high price for them. I found this in an issue of Quick Cooking and tried it and we were thrilled with the taste.
1/2 cup non-dairy powdered coffee creamer
2/3 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
For each serving of oatmeal
1 cup boiling water
1/2 cup quick oats
1 1/2 TBS. of the mix
Combine the first seven ingredients and mix well; store in an airtight container in a cool dry place for up to 6 months.


Make Your Own Bisquick Mix
4 ½ c sifted flour
2 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp + 1 ½ tsp baking powder
1 c shortening
½ tsp salt
2/3 c powdered milk
Stir together flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Sift together 2-3 times in a large bowl. Cut in shortening with pastry blender or two knives until the mixture is similar to cornmeal. Add dry milk. Use in recipes that call for Bisquick or all-purpose mix.

Garlic Cheese Biscuits

2 cups Original Bisquick ® mix
2/3 cup milk
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese (2
ounces)
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

Heat oven to 450ºF.
Stir Bisquick mix, milk and cheese until soft dough forms. Drop dough by 9 spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown. Stir together butter and garlic powder; brush over warm biscuits.

Wheat Thin Crackers
1/2 c oats (blend in blender)
2 tsp honey
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 c organic flour
1/4 tsp soda
1/4 c organic unsalted butter, softened
1/4 c buttermilk, organic is best, do not use nonfat or low fat.
Don't grease the cookie sheets.
Grind 1/2 cup oatmeal at low speed in the blender until fine. Add honey, salt, flour and soda. Cut in butter until mixture forms crumbs and then add the buttermilk. Mix until it forms a ball and sticks together.
Roll thin, cut with animal shaped cookie cutters.
Bake at 400ºF until brown (10 to 12 minutes).

Italian Dressing Mix Like Good Seasons

1 tsp. dried carrots (put the Church’s in a
blender to make them smaller)
1 tsp. dried red bell pepper flakes (I use
green if don’t have red. Dry tiny pieces in
oven-chop in food processor)
3/4 tsp lemon pepper seasoning
1/8 tsp. dried parsley flakes
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
2/3 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp. black pepper

I get out a lot of little zip lock bags and make a ton of little bags at one time. It works great. To make the dressing:
1 bag mix
1/2 oil
3 TBS water
1/4 Cup Vinegar

Caesar Salad Dressing
(I love this stuff)
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup oil (add mayo instead of you like Creamy Caesar)
1/4 c parmesan cheese (powdered or not)
1 tsp. Worcestershire Sauce
1 tsp. mustard
1/2 tsp salt
2 - 3 TBS. Lemon juice
a dash of sugar (1/4 tsp ish)

Just Like Hellmans Mayonnaise - Copycat
"I love buying the Helmans mayonnaise and this tastes just like it. Don't even try to make this on a rainy day or even when it is threatening to rain. It just won't set and you'll end up with a runny mess. You can substitute lemon juice if you don't have white vinegar"
1 eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon dry mustard
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 dash cayenne pepper
1 cup oil (put in fridge until cold)
3 tbls white vinegar/lemon juice
Place egg, mustard, salt, cayenne pepper and 1/4 cup oil in blender and blend on low.
While the machine is blending, SLOWLY pour in another 1/2 cup oil.
You may have to stop and scrape down the mayo.
Add the lemon juice/vinegar and the remaining 1/4 cup oil SLOWLY. The vinegar or lemon juice kills any bad stuff. You can use a dehydrated then rehydrated egg instead of fresh.

Honey Mustard Dressing
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 TBS prepared mustard
1 TBS honey
1/2 TBS lemon juice
Whisk together and store in fridge.

One of my Favorite Salad Dressings

2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds (opt. or add a few drops of sesame oil)
1 tablespoon poppy seeds (optional)
1/2 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons minced onion (You can use dehydrated)
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/4 cup white wine vinegar (I use all cider vinegar because that is what I have on hand)
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup vegetable oil

Put it in the blender. Serve with chopped Spinach, or lettuce and toasted almonds and cranberries.



Ranch Dressing Mix
1 cup dried parsley flakes
1/2 cup finely crushed saltines
1/2 cup dried minced onion
1/2 cup garlic salt
1/2 cup onion salt
1/4 cup garlic powder
1/4 cup onion powder
2 tablespoons dill weed

In a large mixing bowl, combine first 8 ingredients; mix well. Store in airtight container in a cool dry place.
3 cups mix is enough to make 24 batches of ranch salad dressing.

For Ranch Dressing:
1/4 cup dry mix
3/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup sour cream
1 cup buttermilk (to make buttermilk, add 1 tbs. vinegar to milk and allow to curdle)

For Thousand Island Dressing
1/4 cup chili sauce
2 tablespoons sweet pickle relish
1 cup prepared ranch
www.cdkitchen.com

Cocktail Sauce
2 Cups Ketchup
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 - 2 TBS. horseradish depending on hot you like it.
a dash of Worcestershire Sauce.

Mix and serve.

Sweet-n-Sour Sauce
1 c. Pineapple Juice
1/2 c brown sugar
9 T. Vinegar
10 1/2 t. cornstarch
2 T. Ketchip
1 1/2 T soy sauce

Combine all in medium saucepan. Turn on stove to medium and cook till thick and bubbly. Serve with won tons or over rice.

Homemade Rice-A-Roni Mix
2 c. rice
1 c. angel hair, vermicelli or spaghettini pasta, broken into very small pieces
¼ c. parsley
6 Tbsp. chicken bullion powder
2 tsp. onion powder
½ tsp. garlic powder
¼ tsp. thyme
1/2 tsp. tumeric (opt)

Combine all ingredients and mix well.

To prepare: Melt 2 Tbsp. butter in a skillet. Add 1 c. of the mix and stir. Add 2 ¼ c. water. Bring to a boil. Reduce to low, cover and simmer for 15 minutes.

Shake and Bake Recipe
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons paprika
2 teaspoons onion powder
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons sugar
10 teaspoons vegetable oil
3 1/2 teaspoons poultry seasoning
2 tablespoons crumbled dry parsley
2 cups fine dry breadcrumbs
Combine dry ingredients in a mixing bowl; add oil. Mix well. Place in zipper-top plastic bag and store in freezer. Use to coat chicken, pork or veal. 
 To use: Line a baking dish with aluminum foil; grease well. Moisten each piece of meat with water. Shake off excess and shake in bag of mix to coat, one piece at a time. Sufficient for 6 pcs cut up chicken. 
 Place in baking dish and bake in 400 F oven for 30 minutes or until done, depending on size of pieces. Store unused mix in freezer.

Sloppy Joe Mix (CD Kitchen)
2 tablespoons dried minced onion
2 tablespoons dried green pepper flakes
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon celery seed
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
Mix ingredients together until well blended; store in an airtight container. 

Instructions: Brown one pound ground beef in a skillet; drain. Add seasoning mix, 1/2 cup water and an 8 oz. can tomato sauce; bring to a boil. 

Reduce heat; simmer for 10 minutes, stirring often. Spoon onto buns to serve.

Taco Seasoning

1 TBS. Chili Powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp minced onion
1/2 tsp. paprika
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder

There are a lot of different recipes for taco seasoning on the web. I like this one because it is very simple and tastes good to me.

Lawry’s Seasoning Salt
2 TBS salt
1 tsp. Sugar
1 tsp. Paprika
1/2 tsp. Tumeric
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp celery salt

Mix and use. (A good place to buy spices is www.bulkfoods.com. Try to find people to split them up with you and buy 5 lbs at a time)

Copycat Lipton's Onion Soup Mix
This is a good clone and way cheaper
3 TBS instant minced onion (Church ones)
1 TBS beef bouillon powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/8 teaspoon crushed celery seeds
1/4 teaspoon sugar

Combine all ingredients in bags.(equal to 1 1¼-ounce package). To make onion dip: Mix 1 bag mix, 3/4 pint sour cream, 1/2 cup mayo. You can buy 5 lbs for 14.95 at www.bulkfoods.com

K.c. Masterpiece Original BBQ Sauce
"This is an TSR recipe and tastes just like the bottled bbq sauce you buy in the store"
2 cups water
3/4 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup tomato paste
1/2 cup vinegar
3 tablespoons molasses
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon liquid smoke

Using an electric mixer or blender, blend together water, butter, sugar, and vanilla.
Add powdered milk and blend until thick.
Store in refrigerator for one week.

Heinz 57 Steak Sauce (copycat recipe)

1/2 cup white vinegar
1 6 oz can tomato paste
2/3 cup malt vinegar
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon prepared yellow mustard
2 teaspoons apple juice concentrate
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon turmeric
1/4 cup raisins
Blend in blender

Famous Steak Sauce
1/2 cup cold water
1/4 cup raisins
1/2 cup aged balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup ketchup
1/4 cup Dijon mustard ( no substitutes!)
1 pinch cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 garlic cloves, cut in half but not crushed

Put all ingredients into a small pan and bring to a low simmer.
Simmer over low heat for 15 minutes.
Strain into a bowl by pouring through a fine mesh strainer, pushing raisins with the back of a spoon to release all juices.
Allow to cool completely before seasoning to taste with salt and pepper. It tastes different when its hot.

Steak Sauce
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup raisins
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup white vinegar
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon bottled grated orange rind
2 tablespoons Heinz ketchup
2 tablespoons Heinz Chili Sauce
Bring to a boil for 2 minutes stirring.
Remove from heat.
Allow to cool to lukewarm.
Put mixture in a blender till it is pureed.
Pour in bottle.
Cap tightly and refrigerate to use within 90 days.

Chili Sauce
1 cup tomato sauce
2 TBS brown sugar
2 tablespoons vinegar
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp onion powder

Stir the tomato sauce, brown sugar, vinegar, and allspice together in a mixing bowl until thoroughly blended. Pour into a covered container, and refrigerate until ready to use.

Enchilada Sauce

"Tomato sauce, water, and seasonings are thickened with browned flour. Chicken or beef stock could be substituted for the water to heighten flavor."

2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 Tbs. chili powder
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp cumin
2 tsp sugar
2 cups chicken broth (or 2 tsp. chicken bouillon and 2 cups water
8 oz. tomato sauce
salt to taste
garlic powder to taste

Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute, then add the chili powder and cook for 1 more minute. Gradually stir in the water, mixing well with a whisk to make sure you get out all the lumps, then stir in the tomato sauce and season with salt and garlic powder to taste.

Reduce heat to low and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes. (Note: If sauce thickens too much, just add a little water to thin it out a bit.)

Teriyaki Sauce
2/3 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup cooking sherry (optional)
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 teaspoon ground ginger (optional)
1 clove garlic, minced

In a small bowl, combine soy sauce, sherry, sugar, ginger, and garlic.
Copycat Montreal Steak Seasoning Blend
4 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 tablespoon dehydrated onion
1/2 tablespoon dried garlic
1/2 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 tablespoon dried thyme
1/2 tablespoon dried rosemary
1/2 tablespoon dried fennel
Combine all in a Ziploc bag or shaker .

Copycat Heinz Ketchup
1 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
1/2 cup light corn syrup or sugar
1/2 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
Whisk together ingredients and simmer in a saucepan for 20 minutes. Allow mixture to cool and refrigerate until needed.

Deluxe Dark Chocolate Cake Mix
"Oh Yeah! Now I can make my own cake mixes just like the big boys!
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 3/4 cups sugar
3/4-1 cup cocoa
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons vegetable shortening

To make cake
1 1/3 cups water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
Combine flour, sugar,cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Now stir to combine. Add shortening, using electric mixer on medium speed to blend the shortening into the dry ingredients. Completely mix shortening until you can't see any chunks. This is the mix which may be kept in a sealed container for several months.

To make the cake:.
Preheat the oven to 350*F. Grease sides and bottoms of two 9" baking pans, or one 9x13" pan. Lightly flour the greased pans. Blend the dry cake mix(above) with water, oil, and eggs in a large bowl with the mixer at low speed until just moistened. Kick up the speed to medium and mix about 2 more minutes.

Pour batter into pans and bake 30-33 minutes for the 9" pans and 35-38 minutes for the 9x13" pan.If you wish to make cupcakes, bake for 19-22 minutes.

Copycat Duncan Hines Boxed Cake Mix
"This cake tastes like a boxed white cake mix only better, it has never failed me yet, it is a recipe that I use over and over again for the *perfect* white cake.

1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup Crisco shortening ( white only)
2 large eggs ( or extra large)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Set oven to 350 degrees.
Set oven rack to second-lowest position.
Grease a 13 x 9-inch baking pan, and line bottom of pan with parchment paper.
In a medium or large bowl, with an electric mixer, cream the sugar and shortening until no granules remain (about 4 minutes).
Add in eggs and almond extract (if using); beat very well for 5 minutes on high speed.
In a small bowl sift together flour, baking soda and salt.
Add to the creamed mixture along with the buttermilk; mix well until blended (about 2-3 minutes).
Transfer to a prepared baking pan.
Bake on second-lowest oven rack for 30-35 minutes (check for doneness after 25 minutes, this cake bakes fast!).

Chocolate Frosting
3 cups powdered sugar
2/3 cup Unsweetened Cocoa
1/2 cup melted butter
4-5 TBS boiling water
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp. Maple flavoring
1/2 tsp. almond flavoring
Beat until smooth. Adding water until it is not too runny. This frosting is a little more runny than fluffy frosting.

Hershey's Chocolate Syrup

1/2 cup Hershey's Cocoa Powder
1 cup Sugar
1 cup water
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1/2 tsp maple flavoring (opt)
2 TBS Non Dairy Creamer (opt)
dash of salt

Combine cocoa, sugar, and salt in a saucepan. Add water, and mix until smooth. Bring this mixture to a boil. Allow it to boil for one minute, be careful this does not over boil. Remove from heat, when this cools add the vanilla. It thickens in fridge

Homemade Jello
1 1/4 TBS. Gelatin (I get mine at
bulkfoods.com)
1 pkg. of unsweetened Kool Aid
1 cup sugar (I use 1 TBS. Stevia)
3 3/4 water
Mix the dry ingredients well and add cool water. Then heat until the sugar it just starts to come to a boil. This costs about 50 cents to make per recipe. Not a huge savings, but I like to have the ingredients on hand so I can make other things.

Homemade Cream-Style Soup Mix

"This easy-to-make soup mix is great to have on hand for those nights when you need to whip up supper in a hurry. It's also a great substitute for canned cream soup in a recipe."

2 cups instant nonfat dry milk powder
10 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 cup mashed potato flakes
1/4 cup chicken bouillon granules
2 tablespoons dried vegetable flakes (I used church carrots and some dried celery)
1 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon white pepper
1/2 teaspoon thyme leaves

In a food processor or blender, combine all the ingredients; cover and process until vegetable flakes are finely chopped. Store in an airtight container in a cool dry place for up to 1 year.

To substitute for 1 can of condensed soup: Combine 1/3 cup mix with 1-1/4 cups cold water in a saucepan. Sir to moisten, then heat over low medium-low heat until thickened. Add to casserole as you would canned soup. Can be used in casserole or as the base for homemade cream soups. 
Equivalent to 9 cans of soup or 18 servings


7 Mistakes of food storage

http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles/tate55.html 7 Mistakes of food storage By Vicki Tate

If you are going to store food, make sure that the food you store is adequate for the need you and your family anticipate. This may not be as easy as to achieve as many people think, because the facts are that most people make serious errors when storing food—errors that will come back to haunt them when the food they’ve stored is the only thing that stands between them and their empty, dissatisfied, bellies.

There are seven common mistakes people make when storing food. They are:

1. Variety

Most people don’t have enough variety in their storage. 95% of the people I’ve worked with have only stored four basic items: wheat, milk, honey, and salt. Statistics show most of us won’t survive on such a diet for several reasons. a) Many people are allergic to wheat and may not be aware of it until they are eating it meal after meal. b) Wheat is too harsh for young children. They can tolerate it in small amounts but not as their main staple. c) We get tired of eating the same foods over and over and many times prefer to not eat, then to sample that particular food again. This is called appetite fatigue. Young children and older people are particularly susceptible to it. Store less wheat than is generally suggested and put the difference into a variety of other grains, particularly ones your family likes to eat. Also store a variety of beans, as this will add color, texture, and flavor. Variety is the key to a successful storage program. It is essential that you store flavorings such as tomato, bouillon, cheese, and onion.

Also, include a good supply of the spices you like to cook with. These flavorings and spices allow you to do many creative things with your grains and beans. Without them you are severely limited. One of the best suggestions I can give you is buy a good food storage cookbook, go through it, and see what your family would really eat. Notice the ingredients as you do it. This will help you more than anything else to know what items to store.

2. Extended staples

Never put all your eggs in one basket. Store dehydrated and/or freeze dried foods as well as home canned and “store bought” canned goods. Make sure you add cooking oil, shortening, baking powder, soda, yeast, and powdered eggs. You can’t cook even the most basic recipes without these items.

3. Vitamins

Vitamins are important, especially if you have children, since children do not store body reserves of nutrients as adults do. A good quality multi-vitamin and vitamin C are the most vital. Others might be added as your budget permits.

4. Quick and easy and “psychological foods”

Quick and easy foods help you through times when you are psychologically or physically unable to prepare your basic storage items. “No cook” foods such as freeze-dried are wonderful since they require little preparation, MREs (Meal Ready to Eat), such as many preparedness outlets carry, canned goods, etc. are also very good. “Psychological foods” are the goodies—Jello, pudding, candy, etc.—you should add to your storage. These may sound frivolous, but through the years I've talked with many people who have lived entirely on their storage for extended periods of time. Nearly all of them say these were the most helpful items in their storage to “normalize” their situations and make it more bearable. These are especially important if you have children.

5. Balance

Time and time again I’ve seen families buy all of their wheat, then buy all of another item and so on. Don’t do that. It’s important to keep well-balanced as you build your storage. Buy several items, rather than a large quantity of one item. If something happens and you have to live on your present storage, you’ll fare much better having a one month supply of a variety of items than a year’s supply of two or three items.

6. Containers

Always store your bulk foods in food storage containers. I have seen literally tons and tons of food thrown away because they were left in sacks, where they became highly susceptible to moisture, insects, and rodents. If you are using plastic buckets make sure they are lined with a food grade plastic liner available from companies that carry packaging supplies. Never use trash can liners as these are treated with pesticides. Don’t stack them too high. In an earthquake they may topple, the lids pop open, or they may crack. A better container is the #10 tin can which most preparedness companies use when they package their foods.

7. Use your storage

In all the years I’ve worked with preparedness one of the biggest problems I’ve seen is people storing food and not knowing what to do with it. It’s vital that you and your family become familiar with the things you are storing. You need to know how to prepare these foods. This is not something you want to have to learn under stress. Your family needs to be used to eating these foods. A stressful period is not a good time to totally change your diet. Get a good food storage cookbook and learn to use these foods! It’s better to find out the mistakes you’ll make now while there’s still time to make corrections.

It’s easy to take basic food storage and add the essentials that make it tasty, and it needs to be done. As I did the research for my cookbook, Cooking with Home Storage, I wanted to include recipes that gave help to families no matter what they had stored. As I put the material together it was fascinating to discover what the pioneers ate compared to the types of things we store. If you have stored only the basics, there’s very little you can do with it. By adding even just a few things, it greatly increases your options, and the prospect of your family surviving on it. As I studied how the pioneers lived and ate, my whole feeling for food storage changed. I realized our storage is what most of the world has always lived on. If it’s put together the right way we are returning to good basic food with a few goodies thrown in.

Vicki Tate is the author of the popular book, Cooking With Home Storage, available in the BHM General Store. Vicki also lectures on preparedness subjects. You can reach her by calling (435) 835-8283.

July Provident Living Meeting -- Beans!!!

Mexican Bean Dip
5 cups water
5 cups refried beans (from the church-not dry beans)
1 cup salsa
8 ounces cream cheese
1 cup grated cheese
2 tsp. seasoned salt
hot sauce to taste

Boil water. Turn off stove, but leave the pan on the hot burner. Add dry refried beans to water and cover with a lid. They will be ready in about 15 minutes. Add everything else and mix until blended. You can eat it as it or cook for 30 minutes at 350. Serve with chips or in a burrito.

Pinto Bean Bread Recipe
Delicious, light, different high protein bread. A great use for leftover beans, if you ever have any. You can leave out the middle rising but the bread will be more dense.
2 cups lukewarm milk
2 packages yeast
2 cups pinto beans, mashed
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons shortening, melted
5-6 cups flour
Combine the milk, beans, sugar, salt, shortening, and 1 tablespoon of the flour.
Stir in the yeast and wait for it to bubble.
If it has not bubbled in 5 minutes, get new yeast.
Stir in 5-6 cups flour, to make a kneadable dough.
Knead 5-10 minutes, until satiny.
Place in a greased bowl, turning to grease dough.
Cover loosely with a clean damp cloth and let rise till double.
Punch down; let rise again.
Punch down; shape into 2 loaves.
Place in greased loaf pans.
Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes, or until thumps hollow on bottom.
© 2009 Recipezaar. All Rights Reserved.
Creamy White Beans with Tomatoes
This sounds kind of weird, but it is really good. (I am going to use 2 quarts of my canned beans and 1/2 the recipe.)

2 cups dry white beans, washed
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 pint whipping cream
3/4 cup mini diced canned tomatoes
1 1/2 Tbs. sugar
3/4 tsp. dry mustard
1/2 tsp pepper
1 Tbs. butter
1 Tbs. sugar

Soak beans overnight. Drain liquid. Place a large saucepan, cover with water. Bring to a boil and simmer, covered on low heat for 2 -3 hours. Drain most of the liquid reserving it for later. Transfer beans to casserole dish with a lid (or use aluminum foil). Stir in whipping cream, tomatoes, sugar, mustard and pepper. Dot top of beans with butter and sprinkle with the additional TBS of sugar. Put beans in oven at 350. When you see the beans bubbling, turn down to 250 (about 45 min). Cook for two more hours. Check after an hour and add more water if it is getting dry.

Hummus
1/3 c. tahini
1/4 c. lemon juice
1 TBS. lemon juice
2 TBS. water
2 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp. cayenne
20 oz. can garbanzo beans (drained)
Few drops of sesame oil

Mix in a food processor until smooth.

Black Bean Hummus
"This hummus comes with raves attached to it. Everything goes into the food processor and is swooshed into a fabulous consistency. Try it with some toasted pita bread."

INGREDIENTS:
1 clove garlic
1 (15 ounce) can black beans; drain and
reserve liquid
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 1/2 tablespoons tahini
3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon paprika
10 Greek olives

DIRECTIONS:
Mince garlic in the bowl of a food processor. Add black beans, 2 tablespoons reserved liquid, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, tahini, 1/2 teaspoon cumin, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper; process until smooth, scraping down the sides as needed. Add additional seasoning and liquid to taste. Garnish with paprika and Greek olives.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2010 Allrecipes.com


White Chili (Football Soup
Yield: serves 12 -14
Imported From: RecipeZaar.com
Ingredients:
● 1 tbsp. olive oil
● 2 medium onions, chopped
● 4 garlic cloves, minced
● 2 (4 ounce) cans chopped mild green chilies
● 2 tsp. ground cumin
● 1 1/2 tsp. dried oregano, crumbled
● 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
● 3 (16 ounce) cans great northern beans, undrained
● 6 cups chicken stock or canned chicken broth
● 4 cups chopped cooked chicken, to taste
● 3 cups grated monterey jack cheese (about 12 oz.)
Description:
This recipe comes from The Blue Owl Restaurant and Bakery in historic Kimmswick, MO. My
daughter named it "Football Soup" because we always make it when we have a crowd over
watching the game after church! Incredibly easy, freezes beautifully, and my bean hating
husband even loves it. I add an extra can of green chilies for more flavor. You can make it
without the chicken for a cheaper meatless meal, and you can make it without the monterey jack
cheese for a low-fat, less thickened soup (but the cheese adds a lot of flavor!)
Directions:
1. Heat oil in large pot over medium high heat.
2. Add onions and saute until translucent, about 10 minutes.
3. Stir in garlic, then chilies, cumin, oregano, and cayenne and saute 2 minutes.
4. Add undrained beans and stock and bring to a boil.
5. Reduce heat and add chicken and cheese to chili and stir until cheese melts.
6. Season to taste with salt and pepper and ladle into bowls.
7. FOR FREEZING: Pour soup into a rigid container (or freezer bag), label and freeze. To reheat, thaw in
refridgerator overnight or soften, till heated through.Really Good Vegetarian Meatloaf (really!)


Tgi Friday's Black Bean Soup
From: RecipeZaar.com
Ingredients:
● 2 tbsp. vegetable oil
● 3/4 cup diced white onion
● 3/4 cup diced celery
● 1/2 cup diced carrot
● 1/4 cup diced green bell pepper
● 2 tbsp. minced garlic
● 4 (15 ounce) cans black beans
● 4 cups chicken stock
● 2 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
● 2 tsp. chili powder
● 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
● 1/2 tsp. cumin
● 1/2 tsp. salt
● 1/4 tsp. hickory liquid smoke
Garnish:
● shredded monterey jack and cheddar cheese blend, blend
● chopped green onion, sour cream
Description:
I got this off of Top Secret Recipe's.I love Friday's Black bean soup because of its spiciness and I
was so happy to find this! This is so easy to prepare! You can make this soup on the stovetop or
in the crockpot.I brought this soup to a boil on the stove and then put it in the crockpost and let
it simmer on low for 2-3 hours. If you like Black Bean Soup your gonna love this!
Directions:
1. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large saucepan over medium/low heat.
2. Add onion, celery, carrot, bell pepper, and garlic to the oil and simmer slowly (or"sweat" as it's called),
for 15 minutes or until the onions are practically clear.
3. Keep the heat low enough that the veggies don't brown and be careful not to burn the garlic or it will
be bitter.
4. While you cook the veggies, pour the canned beans into a strainer and rinse them under cold water.
5. Measure 3 cups of the drained and strained beans into a food processor with 1 cup of chicken stock.
6. Puree on high speed until smooth.
7. When the veggies are ready, pour the pureed beans, the whole beans, the rest of the chicken stock,
and every other ingredient in the list (down to liquid smoke), to the pot.

- 1 -
Wet Burritos
Yield: serves 4
Imported From: RecipeZaar.com

Ingredients:
● 1 lb lean ground beef
● 2 cloves garlic, pressed
● 1/2 cup finely chopped onion
● 1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
● 1 tsp. paprika
● 1 tsp. Mexican oregano
● 1 1/2 tsp. chili powder
● 3/4 tsp. cumin
● 1/2 tsp. black pepper
● 1 (15 ounce) can diced tomatoes, in sauce divided
● 2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded (or you can use mexican blend)
● 4 large flour tortillas
● 2 cups refried beans, with
● 1/4 tsp. cumin, added
● 1 (10 ounce) can enchilada sauce
● 1 (18 ounce) jar homestyle beef gravy
for serving:
● sour cream
● chopped onion
● salsa
● jalapenos
● chopped lettuce
● chopped tomato
Description:
Having grown up with these, I didn't realize that most folks have never heard of a wet burrito. It
is a meat and bean (or all meat or all bean) burrito with a spicy gravy and cheese on top. They
are available here in many restaurants, and no self respecting bar would be without one on the
menu, lol! Once you try them, you'll never go back to "dry" burritos again! Don't let the long list
of directions scare you, these are easy!
Directions:
1. Brown ground beef, onion, and garlic, making sure to chop ground beef into very fine pieces while
cooking.
2. Drain off any fat from browning.
3. Add Worcestershire sauce, paprika, oregano, chili powder, cumin, pepper, and half of the can of
tomatoes with sauce, and simmer for 5 minutes.
4. While meat is simmering, heat beans with 1/4 tsp.
- 2 -
5. cumin, and make gravy.
6. For gravy, combine enchilada sauce, beef gravy, and the other half of tomatoes, and heat until almost
boiling.
7. Soften tortillas according to package directions.
8. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
9. Assemble burritos.
10. On each tortilla, layer 1/4 of the meat mixture, 1/4 of the bean mixture, and 1/4 cup of cheese.
11. Fold sides of burrito in, then roll from the other sides until you have a"package".
12. Place seam side down in a 13x9 baking dish.
13. When all burritos are assembled and in the baking dish, pour sauce mixture over all and sprinkle with
remaining cheese.
14. Bake 15-20 minutes until cheese is melted and burritos are heated through.
15. Serve each burrito with extra sauce from pan spooned over the top.
16. Have sour cream, chopped onions, salsa, jalapenos, chopped lettuce and chopped tomatoes available
to sprinkle on as desired.