Rice Pudding

What's in Your food storage?

If you are like most people you have lots of rice.

That just seems like a smart no brainer thing to store (if your family like rice that is).

So I got to thinking. I have tons of rice, and the husband Loves rice pudding.

So off to the Internet to find an easy rice pudding recipe.

 

So guess what's in my oven right now?!

How to Make Rice Pudding

It just doesn't get much easier then this...

Ingredients:

• 6 tbsp. white rice (use regular long grain or basmati)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon (optional)
• 1 cup raisins (optional)
• 4 cups milk
• 2 cup water
• 3 tbsp butter

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 350° F.
• Combine all ingredients in a 2-quart baking dish.
• Bake, uncovered, for 2 hours, stirring once during cooking.
• Serves 4 - 5

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Here is another good idea for those nights when you had some left over rice from dinner. Or maybe you were just smart enough to make extra for this very recipe. Either way, you win!

Easy Rice Pudding Recipe

Ingredients

• 3 C white rice, cooked (I make extra whenever I make rice, just so I can make pudding)
• 3 C milk (1% works here, so does soy or almond milk - you don't need whole milk for this)
• 1/2 C granulated sugar
• 2 Tbsp. brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp. butter
• 1 tsp. good vanilla
• 2 tsp. cinnamon, divided

Directions

1. In a medium sized saucepan with a lid, combine cooked rice, milk, white & brown sugar and butter.
2. Cook at a low simmer for 20-25 minutes until most of the liquid is absorbed.
3. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla and 1 tsp. of cinnamon mix well, but gently
4. Pour into a serving dish that can go in the fridge and sprinkle the second teaspoon of cinnamon on top as a garnish.

Dulce de Leche

DESSERT

What can a can of this do for you?




When we went as a family to Argentina to pick our son up from his mission, we found first hand what Dulce de Leche was.

The homes we entered always wanted to present us with treats. Usually cake, made with Dulce Leche...What we would call Carmel.

Here is a fun way to make your own Dulce de Leche (Carmel). You can put it on a cake, on ice cream in frosting, over waffles or anything your heart desires.


Recipe:

1 (14 oz.) can of sweetened condensed milk

Take the paper label off (DO NOT open the can). Put the unopened can in a pan of water. Pour enough water in to completely cover the can of milk. Bring the pot of water to a boil, then turn down the heat and let it simmer gently: Simmering for 90 min to 2 hours will make a runny consistency, like a syrup for pancakes. Simmering for 3 1/2 to 4 hours will make it thick and spreadable like a smooth caramel. Make sure to add more water to the pan as it simmers and evaporates. The can must be covered the whole time. You can boil as many cans at a time as will fit in the pot.

Oh and YES, I call this food storage. Because I have it in my 3 month supply of food. Why not enjoy what you store?!

Skillet Chocolate Cake

YOU MAY BE ASKING...

 

"What does this beautiful picture have to do with food storage or living providently?
I will answer both of those questions right now.

1. It uses items that everyone should already have on hand in a 3 month rotated supply of food. When you cook from scratch you not only eat healthier but you save money!

2. It is made in a camp type skillet for heaven sakes. That alone screams "preparation".

3. It is just plain "Comfort" type food that would make anyone forget that they were living providently, on a budget or even eating from their stored food.

SKILLET CHOCOLATE CAKE....YUM!


Thank You http://willowbirdbaking.com/2012/04/25/gooey-chocolate-skillet-cake-ice-cream-sundae/
for the beautiful photo and recipe. 

Here is how it is done...

Cake Ingredients: 1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup sugar
dash salt
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter (don't have butter in your storage? Try white beans.)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup buttermilk (can be made by adding vinegar to milk)
1 egg (try powdered eggs if you don't have fresh)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Frosting Ingredients:
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
2 tablespoons cocoa
3-4 tablespoons milk (as needed for consistency) (powdered milk works too)
1/2 cup pecans, chopped
2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, sugar, and salt together and set aside.

In a 10-inch cast iron skillet, bring the butter, vegetable oil, cocoa powder, and water to a boil. Remove it from the heat and whisk in the dry ingredients well. Mix in the buttermilk, egg, and vanilla. Bake the skillet cake at 350 degrees F for about 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out with just a few moist crumbs.

While the cake starts to cool, make the frosting. In a medium saucepan, bring the butter, cocoa, and milk to a boil. Remove them from heat and add the icing sugar, nuts, and vanilla. Stir to combine. Pour over the warm cake, spread with a spatula, and serve with vanilla bean ice cream, caramel sauce, and whipped cream if desired. Just plain warm and out of the oven works too.

Whip it up for FHE and grab some forks.

Then sit around the table and share some memories.

 Guaranteed to keep the kids at the table to the very last bite.

Dessert...cake mix cookies

The month of April we are focusing on Desserts.

Who doesn't Love dessert?!

 

Just because it is called "Food Storage" doesn't mean it can't taste good.

 

Here are a few cookie ideas using what you probably already have in your short term pantry storage.

 

I like to pick up the cake mixes when they are on sale...I prefer .50 cents, but last time I think I had to pay .69 cents. Still beats $1.00 plus.

 

This is where I found this tasty idea http://youthlitreviews.com/2012/08/08/baking-cookies-made-easy-and-kid-friendly/

 

Check out the pictures...that is what food storage should look like!!

Peanut Butter Cake Mix Cookies

1 package yellow cake mix

1 cup creamy peanut butter (I use Jif)

½ cup vegetable or canola oil

2 large eggs

 

Chocolate Chip Cake Mix Cookies

1 package white cake mix

½ cup vegetable or canola oil

2 large eggs

1 tablespoon water

1 cup chocolate chips

 

Oatmeal Raisin Cake Mix Cookies

1 package spice cake mix

3 cups uncooked rolled oats

¾ cup vegetable or canola oil

2 large eggs

½ cup milk

¼ cup brown sugar

1 cup raisins (optional, of course)

1 cup chopped nuts (also optional)

 

 

Bake all cookies at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes (check at 9 or 10 minutes to prevent over-browning).

 

Dips

Desperate times call for desperate measures. I just realized that I didn't have a post scheduled to come out on Thursday like I have for the past year. I have been trying to have a new post with a new idea come out every Monday and Thursday. Not that anyone even noticed or reads them, but I still felt bad.

So, I hurried and found these recipes that I recently did for our Young Women in Excellence night.

It was a fabulous evening, All about the girls and the "special" people that they are. Then we finished off with a little taster table of fruit dips, vegetable dips and dessert dips.

It may not have anything to do with food storage, but it's all about being prepared for the evenings activities as I work pretty much full time out side of the home, and I needed to have this all ready to go once I got home from work.

There you have it, rationalizing, my way to getting rid of the guilt (of no post ready for Thur. and it not being about food storage)

Although if you really think about it....fruit and vegetables fall into the garden category, and preparing it for an event (my calling) falls under service. So guilt free now....enjoy!

Vegetable dip #1:

I intended to make the dip below, however when I went to purchase the ingredients, Wal -Mart was out of the Knorr vegetable mix. So I purchased a jar of spinach dip found in the chip aisle.

1 package Knorr Vegetable mix

½ cup Mayo

16 oz sour cream

Chopped water chestnuts

Chopped green onions

Mix together and serve with bread chunks, and , or vegetables. Hallowing out a Artisan works well for putting the dip in.

Vegetable dip #2

2 cups mayo

2 cups sour cream

2 cups shredded cheese

½ packet dry ranch dressing mix ( I added the whole package of mix)

Great with all kinds of vegetables.

Fruit Dip #1

1 block cream cheese

½ cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix together and serve with fruit. (I doubled the recipe)

So good, and SO easy.

Strawberry fruit dip

8 oz. strawberry cream cheese

7 oz jar of marshmallow cream

Mix together and serve with fruit.

Dessert Dips:

Pumpkin Dip

1 16oz cool whip

1 5 oz instant vanilla pudding

1 15 oz can of pumpkin

1 Teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Serves well with graham crackers, ginger snap cookies, vanilla wafers and fruit.

Addictive!

Cherry cheese cake dip

Box of no bake cheese cake (mix according to instructions)

Add 1 container of cool whip (I only added ½ of the cool whip)

Pour a can of cherry pie filling over top before serving

Serves well with graham crackers, ginger snaps, vanilla wafers and fruit.

 

So there you have it. Perhaps there is something here that you would like to try this holiday season as your family gathers around.

Substitutions and Amounts

I just found this on one of my go to blogs  on food storage(http://everydayfoodstorage.net/) . I hope it gets you motivated to use some of those beans you have stashed away somewhere in your house. Besides the healthy alternative, it will save you some money too.

How to use Food Storage Beans for Butter and/or Oil

Beans in place of butter and oil. Why? Well beans are CHEAP, from your dry beans you can make the equivalent of a can of beans (which is about a pound) for under 20 cents! Has anyone seen what a pound of butter costs these days? Last time I checked it was around $3 a pound-good grief. Plus, beans are virtually fat free, full of protein and fiber which means less calories and they make you feel full! No joke! I can eat one piece of cake made with beans instead of oil and feel FULL. Before I could eat 2 (or 3 or 4) and not feel satisfied. Plus, beans make a very moist product and I promise there is no bean taste! And just because I know you’re wondering, I don’t use powdered butter or shortening because for the most part it isn’t cheaper than using fresh plus it lacks the protein and fiber of beans. So, I want to make sure you all understand how to use the beans and how to be successful at it because I’m BIG on YOU figuring out how to do this with YOUR recipes.

TIPS FOR USING BEANS FOR OIL AND BUTTER

1. If your recipe calls for oil, you are going to use a bean puree. What is a bean puree you ask? It’s simply cooked beans with enough water to whirl in your blender. If you want a simple way to try this, take a can of beans (the entire can) and dump it in the blender and blend it. Done.
2. If your recipe calls for butter, you are going to use cooked, drained beans.
3. For substituting beans for both butter and/or oil you are going to use a 1:1 ration. That means if your recipe calls for 3/4 C. oil, you are going to use 3/4 C. bean puree. If your recipe calls for 1 C. butter you are going to use 1 C. beans. You’ll use the same measurements for beans as your original recipe says to use for either the oil and/or butter.
4. When wondering which beans to use-you are going to match color for color. If it is a chocolate cake, use black beans. If it is a spice cake, use pinto beans. If it is a white cake, use white beans. Now, here is the tricky part…you can also use white beans in chocolate cake but you can’t use black beans in your white cake. Your family will wonder what all of those black specks are. To be safe, you can use white beans in almost anything.
5. Now, you’re going to add the beans however your recipe says to use the butter and/or oil. So, if your recipe says to cream the butter with the sugar-you’re going to cream the beans with the sugar. If your recipe says to add the oil to the dry ingredients, you’re going to add the bean puree to the dry ingredients.
6. If you are using beans in something like brownies or cookies that are supposed to be chewy, the beans will not make it chewy-it will be cake like. So if you’re family is big on chewy that doesn’t mean you have an excuse not to use beans. It just means you need to use half oil/butter and half beans. It will still be chewy and you’ll still be saving money and adding fiber and protein! Remember, I’m not big into all or nothing-even a little or half is better than nothing and it’s important that your family likes what you make!

Thank you Crystal!

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Ever wonder how much grain to grind for a recipe?

Here is a chart that will help. Each of these equal 1 cup of flour.

3/4 C. Wheat
1/2 C. Pearled Barley
1 1/3 C. Rolled Oats (Grind in Blender)
2/3 C. Buckwheat
2/3 C. Quinoa
1/2 C. Navy Bean
2/3 C. Lentles
1/2 C. Chickpeas / Garbanzo Beans
5/8 C. Popcorn
2/3 C. Kamut
2/3 C. Millett

Oatmeal Topper

Here is another easy way to use your OATS.

In a dessert of course... 

Rolled Oat Topping

1 1/2 cups rolled oats

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

1/3 cup butter or margarine

1/4 cup finely chopped nuts

1/4 cup coconut

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Combine all ingredients and mix well. Cook in a skillet over medium heat, stirring constantly, for 5 minutes or until golden brown. Serve over desserts, fruit salads, yogurt, ice cream, or pudding.

I threw everything into the pan on the stove and began to stir it all together.

After toasting it all up real good, it ended up looking like this. Then I walked away and did something else. When I came back later to check it, it was hard and basically one solid piece. So I can see how you could use it as a pie crust if you wanted to.

I broke it all up and put it into a bowl to cool. It resembled granola.

I decided to use it in a parfait type dessert. Just some instant pudding with boysenberries and oatmeal topping alternated. Not so pretty for the eye, but it worked for the taste buds.

On another day I put some Blueberries, Bosenberries and chopped up Apples in a bowl and tossed  some of the Oatmeal topper in with it. Some yogurt would have been good too, but I didn't have any.

It was a yummy healthy treat. (Don't worry, I shared it with a couple of people)

USE WHAT YOU STORE AND STORE WHAT YOU EAT.

By trying different recipes you will come to find out what your family enjoys and how fast you will go through it. Which will help greatly in knowing How Much really is Enough.

Dessert anyone?

Since my new calling to Y.W. there has been the weekly complaint from the girls, that the OTHER presidency always had treats for them. We were aware of that and have determined that we were going to do things differently. It would be impossible to fill their shoes, so why try and make it look like we were. So today as we discussed the up coming Tuesday night activity, we promised the girls that if they came, we would have treats. I teased that if we did, first we would have to teach them how to make it. (They are going to either praise me later in life or just plain hate me now)

The presidency gathered together after class and said "OK, now what do we bring?" That was when I volunteered to bring Brownies...smile, giggle, giggle.


BLACK BEAN BROWNIES

1 box brownie mix (19 oz.)
1 can black beans (15 oz.) (equals 3/4 cup water and 1 1/2 cup cooked beans, if making from scratch)

Rinse and drain the black beans. Then spoon the beans back into their can and fill the can with fresh water. Pour beans and water into a blender and puree until smooth. Add puree to the brownie mix and stir. Pour into a sprayed cake pan and follow the directions for baking as printed on the back of the brownie mix box.

Since I volunteered to make something I had only read about that morning, I thought I better practice at home on my own family. Here are the results...

one box of brownie mix and one can of black beans.

 After rinsing the beans real good then adding water back into the can, dump the water and beans into a mixer and blend away.

 Pour brownie dry mix and blended beans and water together in a bowl and mix well.

 This is the 2 ingredients mixed together.

 Cook in oven according to box instructions.

 This was my first attempt at making these brownies. They had a moist cake fudge like texture without any hint of bean flavor in my opinion.

 Alan insisted that its all about the presentation, so here you have it dusted with some powder sugar on it. I believe he even added a drizzle of chocolate syrup on his. Some chopped fruit would be an even better addition I think, like chopped bananas or strawberries.

Wish me luck, cuz I believe I am bringing some to Y.W as a treat :)

I DID IT!

And it passed the teenager test.

Before we started our activity I had the girls gather in the kitchen and put together 2 pans of brownies. They were a little shocked and concerned about putting beans in the brownies. After the activity they came back to the kitchen to a hot brownie and ice cream.

Here are some of the comments:

It's good

I like it.

It is surprisingly really good.

YEAH, Success!

Suggestion: When you try it at home for the first time, Don't let anyone know what's in it. Just serve it to them. Then after there is No dramatic whining that they think they are going to puke or die...then if you want, go ahead and share your new recipe. They will be so glad some day to be able to duplicate it.

Bet you didn't know it was wheat!

If you have never tried cooking with wheat, start with dessert.

Who can turn down dessert?

Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 C. Butter or Margarine, softened
3/4 C. White Sugar
1 C. Brown Sugar
2 Eggs (2 T. dry powdered eggs + 1/4 C. Water) 
3 C. Wheat Flour
1 tsp. Vanilla
3/4 tsp. Salt
3/4 tsp. Baking Soda
1 (12-ounce) bag Chocolate Chips

Instructions:
Cream together butter, sugars, eggs, and vanilla.
In a separate bowl sift together flour, salt, and baking soda.
Add to creamed mixture and beat well.
Stir in chocolate chips.
Drop onto greased cookie sheet by heaping tablespoons.
Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes until lightly browned.

Makes about 3 dozen.


WHEAT SALAD
1 1/2 cups whole wheat berries
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 (15.25 ounce) can crushed pineapple in juice, drained
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 (3.4 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix
1 (8 ounce) tub frozen whipped topping, thawed

Mix together cream cheese, crushed pineapple lemon juice and instant vanilla pudding. Then add whipped topping and wheat berries. Enjoy.

Pumpkin Cake

Ingredients:
4 eggs
1 2/3 c. sugar
1 c. cooking oil
1 large can pumpkin
2 c. flour (whole wheat works GREAT)
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1 tsp. soda

Frosting:
6 oz. cream cheese
3/4 c. butter
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
3 c. powdered sugar
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°. Beat eggs, sugar, oil, and pumpkin. Stir in dry ingredients. Mix well. Bake for 30-35 minutes in a 9×13 ungreased pan. Mix together frosting ingredients and pour on top. EAT AND ENJOY!

See you don't have to think of Food Storage as yucky. Simply start by substituting your white flour for wheat flour. Especially the White Wheat. Chances are, no one will ever notice.

Try a Chocolate fake out. I made some "No Bake" cookies, then added some wheat berries to it. I have eaten at least 6 of them now and can't find anything wrong with them.

Try them and see what you think, I bet your family will never know they are eating wheat.

I made these....

 With this! (wheat berries)

No Bake Cookies

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup milk

3 Tablespoons cocoa

mix the above ingredients together and boil for 2 minutes.

Then add:

2 1/2 cups oats

1/2 cup peanut butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

Wheat Berries (I added a 1/2 cup)

Drop by spoon full onto wax paper and let dry.

(update: even though they were really good the night I made them, by the next day...No I didn't eat them all the first day and there were still some left over. Anyway, the wheat berries got hard and were not fun to eat, maybe even dangerous to eat. So when you add them to your cookies, just make sure you devour them all in the first day )

Challenge: make something that your family is already use to eating and enjoys. Then just substitute in some wheat flour.