Food Storage Desserts-Recipes!

Here are the recipes for the dessert class. Also, I wanted to mention some items before you read on. With food storage I'm always concerned about being able to make anything I want with items solely from my food storage. As such, I'm always looking for ways to incorporate everyday items, long term. Before the recipes, here are some less common items found in food storage and where to find them.

Butter-You can find canned butter HERE or if you're fancy you can find out how to bottle your own HERE.

Chocolate chips and nuts can be vacuum sealed and left on your shelf for eons with THIS method.

Unflavored gelatin is shelf stable and is an inexpensive substitute for eggs. You can find it in bulk HERE.

Also-A little plug for wheat grinders. I've got a little hand crank one and it doesn't do a very good job, but I keep it for back up. However, should you get your hands on an electric wheat grinder, it will literally rock your world and you will NEVER, let me say that once more-NEVER want to use white flour again.

Here are the instructions for each component of the APPLE ENCHILADAS. It's a little long-winded and time consuming, but I feel it's a good exercise in learning how to make everything from scratch from your food storage.

Homemade Apple Pie Filling

1 cup reconstituted apples approximately (can use more or less, according to taste) (these are the dried apples that you can buy in the #10 at the cannery-they're great for snacking too!)

1/3-1/2 c. granulated sugar

2 tbsp. cornstarch

3/4 c. water

1/8 tsp. nutmeg

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

Mix sugar, cornstarch, water and nutmeg in a microwave-safe 2 quart casserole. Microwave (high), covered with lid, 5-6 minutes or until thick

Powdered Sugar

1 cup sugar

1 tablespoon cornstarch

Directions:

Combine the two and process in blender until powder forms.

Sweetened Condensed Milk

1 c. instant non-fat powdered milk
1/2 c. boiling water
2/3 c. sugar
3 tbsp. Butter

Place all ingredients in blender container. Process at high speed until smooth. Use in any recipe calling for the commercially sold sweetened condensed calories.

Homemade Tortillas

2 cups flour (I use 1 cup white & 1 cup wheat)*If you don't have finely milled wheat, I would recommend straight flour, otherwise the tortillas are too heavy and dry out too easily.

1 tsp baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons shortening (I used Crisco butter flavored) (use one extra tablespoon for wheat tortillas)

½ – 1 ½ cups water

Mix well, rest dough 10 minutes. Knead 5 minutes. Rest dough 10 minutes. Make into 8 balls, let rest 10 minutes. Roll balls until the tortillas are paper thin. Cook on a hight skillet without any oil (at about 425 degrees or lower). Turn tortillas until lightly browned and freckled. Store in plastic bag.

Apple Enchiladas

Apple pie filling from recipe above or 21-ounce can apple fruit filling (can substitute other dehydrated fruit)

6 (8-inch) flour (or wheat) tortillas

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/3 cup butter or margarine

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

sweetened condensed milk& powdered milk for drizzle

Spoon fruit filling & about 2 tablespoons condensed milk evenly down center of each tortilla; sprinkle evenly with cinnamon. Roll up, and place, seam side down, in a lightly greased 2-quart baking dish. Bring butter and next 3 ingredients to a boil in a medium saucepan; reduce heat, and simmer, stirring constantly, 3 minutes. Pour over enchiladas; let stand 30 minutes. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes. Drizzle with more condensed milk and powdered sugar.

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies-Nestle Tollhouse recipe

2 1/4 cups whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs (see recipe below for gelatin substitute)

2 cups chocolate chips

1 cup chopped nuts

Preheat oven to 375° F. Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition (you wont need to beat the eggs if using gelatin, just add and combine). Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and nuts. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Using Gelatin:

The gelatin is less expensive than powdered eggs (3 cents each), has an indefinite shelf life and works well in most recipes. 1 tsp gelatin = 1 egg. Combine 1 teaspoon of gelatin with 3 tablespoons of cold water and stir until dissolved. Then add 2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon of hot water and stir. When using your recipes, decrease the liquid called for in your recipe by about ¼ cup to compensate for the added water from the “egg”. (I purchase plain gelatin from BulkFoods.com)

Homemade Marshmallows Recipe- Martha Stewart

2 1/2 tablespoons unflavored gelatin
1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
Confectioners' sugar (for dusting)

Combine gelatin and 1/2 cup cold water in the bowl of an electric mixer with whisk attachment. Let it stand 30 minutes. Combine granulated sugar, corn syrup, salt and 1/2 cup of water in a small heavy saucepan; place over low heat and stir until sugar has dissolved. Wash down sides of pan with a wet pastry brush to dissolve sugar crystals. Clip on a candy thermometer; raise heat to high. Cook syrup without stirring until it reaches 244°F (firm-ball stage). Immediately remove pan from heat. With mixer on low speed, slowly and carefully pour syrup into the softened gelatin. Increase speed to high; beat until mixture is very thick and white and has almost tripled in volume, about 15 minutes. Add vanilla; beat to incorporate.Generously dust an 8x12" glass baking pan with confectioners' sugar. Pour marshmallow mixture into pan. Dust with confectioners' sugar; let stand overnight, uncovered, to dry out. Recipe makes approximately 40 marshmallows.

No Egg Zucchini Brownies-Courtesy of Verna Rogers

2 Cups wheat flour

¼ cup cocoa

1 ½ cup sugar

¾ teaspoon soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups grated zucchini

½ cup vegetable oil

2 teaspoons vanilla

½ cup nuts if desired

Sift together flour, cocoa, sugar, soda and salt. Blend zucchini, oil and vanilla in a blender. Mix wet with dry ingredients. Pour into greased and floured 9X13 pan. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes. Top with chocolate icing when cool.

Pinto Bean Fudge

1 cup cooked, soft pinto beans, drained and mashed or the reconstituted equivalent of re-hydrated refried beans (I used uncooked beans, threw them in the crockpot and then when they were soft, I processed them in a blender)

¼ cup milk

1 tbsp vanilla

2 pounds powdered sugar

6 oz unsweetened chocolate (you can vacuum seal the chocolate in a jar)

6 tbsp butter or margarine

nuts, chopped optional

In large bowl, stir beans and milk together, adding enough milk to resemble mashed potatoes in consistency (when I did the beans from scratch, I ended up not even using the milk because they were the perfect consistency after blending, so be cautious when adding your milk); stir in vanilla. Melt chocolate and butter and stir into bean mixture. Add nuts, if desired. Gradually stir in powdered sugar to get it well blended. Spread onto lightly buttered 9-inch baking dish or form into two 1 /2 rolls. Chill 1 to 2 hours. Cut into pieces. Refrigerate.(I added about 1 cup of chunky peanut butter to this recipe)

New Class Tonight!!! Food Storage Desserts!

Come join me for a FREE Food Storage Class tonight at 7:00 p.m. at Macey's Little Theatre in Provo. I've whipped up some fabulous treats and desserts for tonight's class. Here are just a few items that we'll be sampling:

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies
Peanut Butter Fudge (made with pinto beans believe it or not!)
Apple Enchiladas
Homemade Marshmallows (made from scratch from items in your food storage pantry)
And lots more!

There will also be a contest for BEST FOOD STORAGE DESSERT! The winner will get a gift card from Macey's!

Please email me at siufanua@juno.com with any questions!

Taste testing MRE's & a GIVEAWAY!

A little while back we had an emergency FHE. I told the fam that they had 3 minutes to grab everything they would need for a long trip because we had to leave our house immediately. I set the timer and we all went to work. After the buzzer went off, we rushed into the car and took off to our designated family meeting place. It was interesting to see what the kids brought (a bucket, a stuffed animal, a pair of shorts and underwear). It was more interesting to see what we had in our 72 hour kits to survive on. What an eye opener! While I had done a really great job on packing clothes, food, blankets, tents, etc. I had failed to pack many other things that would help our family in an emergency. For instance, we had no water (I managed to find only 1 bottle in the diaper bag) and I forgot to pack any formula for the baby. We were also missing a shovel, matches, a water purifier and the list goes on. We were able to cook a decent meal from what I packed and we had a fun time testing the MRE's. It was so helpful to us to see how our 72 kits would work and better yet what wouldn't work. We made a list then and there of things that we would need and added them to our kits.

I added this information for two reasons. First as a reminder to try out your kits and secondly to do a little plug for MRE's. Now MRE's aren't glamorous and all, but they're very lightweight, last a looooooong time and most of them are really good (some of the meals already come with heating elements-how great is that?). I also like them because they're ready to eat. If you're in an emergency, the last thing you want to do is think about what to make. You need something fast and nutritious. Now, I wouldn't go all crazy and only have MRE's in your food storage, but it's a nice add on.

Now for the fun part-test tasting. I purchased 3 MRE desserts from Emergency essentials (I think they were $1 each).

The first was a Chocolate Chunk Brownie-very good, definitely a keeper.
The second was a Filled French Toast- Like a little cake, kind of dry, has a syrup in the middle, pretty good. Nice for a snack.
The third was the Almond Poppy Seed Pound Cake-Really great lemon & poppy seed favor. A little dry and crumbly. But probably a close tie with the Chocolate Chunk for yummy goodness. I wonder if it might be too crumbly for a kit though. Our kits are always squished in the back of the car.

And a little F.Y.I. On my Yardsalemonkey site I'm doing a giveaway. You can enter up until midnight tonight. Click HERE to go directly there.

Get your food storage on! Thursday, January 8th.

I've got another class in the works at Macey's. I'll be teaching you how to start the day and New Year's on the right foot. I've got recipes for granola, power muffins (also known as peanut butter and jelly muffins), blender wheat pancakes and breakfast cookies. The class will be on Thursday, January 8th at 6:30, so mark your calendars.

Goldfish and raisins and candy-OH MY!

One of the many reasons I think lots of people don't get into food storage is it's lack of variety. The food storage basics are wonderful for many reasons, but they're meant to be the backbone of your storage; not the whole enchilada. What if you could have more than just wheat, milk, beans and rice? What if you could add cookies, raisins, chocolate chips, crackers, etc.. and the list goes on and on? And I'm talking about storing these items for as long as your wheat does. And I'm talking about storing these items inexpensively. Wanna know the trick? It's easy.

Did you know that by using a vacuum sealer, you can seal pretty much anything in an air-tight Mason jar and have it last for years and years to come? Basically, you use a vacuum sealer (you need one with an attachment port), sterilize some jars and lids and plop your items into a jar (one note, jar usage is for dry, shelf stable items, never perishable or powdery). Cover your jar with just a lid and pop your jar attachment over the top. Instructions may vary according to which type you have, but you'll need to vacuum seal until you hear the "plink" (or the lid being sucked in; you've pretty much heard the same thing when you've opened a jar before). And voila, you're done! If you want to know the nitty-gritty on the process, then you'll need to visit Wendy DeWitt's blog, scroll down half-way to the bottom and under Food Storage tips you can get the details of what to do. Fabulous, fabulous ideas!

Also, my friend Mrs. 101 listed a deal on her site for a vacuum sealer, it looks like a good one too. You can click HERE for the link. Please email me at siufanua@juno.com if you have any questions.

Dear Food Storage Peeps:

I've added yet another site to the blog-o-sphere, Yardsalemonkey, you can check it out HERE. It's a site filled with ideas for pinching your pennies, local deals, this and that, you got the picture. Email me at siufanua@juno.com with any questions or good deals that come your way and I'll post them. Enjoy.

Chicken and Beans

I know this post is starting to sound a little "Hicksville", but the truth is, I've been bragging about pressure canning for eons. It saves money, it saves time and it is easier than easy (can you even say that?). And it's very, very safe. The whole "blowing your head off thing" is the thing of the past. My suggestion is to purchase a new (or newer canner). My favorite is a weighted canner because you never have to get it tested (Oh, yes, you can get a canner with a pressure gauge, but the prob. is that you have to get it tested all they time because they're, well, "testy"). I have a Mirro and I got it on Ebay for around $60. I could go on and on about how to use one, but your best bet is to read the manual (not rocket science at all) and check out the USU Extension website or email me at siufanua@juno.com. with any questions. I frequently bottle chicken, ground beef, spaghetti sauce and the other day I came across someone who also bottles up beans, so they're ready to go when you need em'. I got this great info. on pressure canning and the loverly picture from one of my favorite sites, One More Moore.

The chicken in the pictures is pre-processed. Each quart jar holds approximately 2 lbs. of raw chicken.

After putting in the bottles, it goes into the pressure canner for 90 minutes of processing.

When it's done, it's fully cooked and ready for soups, stir-fry, salads, casseroles, sandwiches and nibbling. Makes whipping up a meal easy-breezy.

Dried beans from your storage can also be bottled. After soaking overnight, stick 'em in the jars, add dried onions and salt, fill with hot water and process for 45 minutes. Beans. Ready to pour into soups etc. And SO inexpensive.