Food Storage Friday: Squash and Bean Quesadillas with Apple Salsa

This recipe doesn't contain a "ton" of food storage ingredients, but it's tasty, healthy and a good way to mix it up. I found this recipe when I googled "the best thing to do with butternut squash". My husband hates squash and really liked this, so you know it's good. I have to apologize for the lack of picture. I made it when my family came to visit, and all portions were inhaled before I had a chance to take a picture, but here's where I found it. (Of course I changed it some.)The quesadillas without the fresh salsa are ok, but the apple salsa is what really makes this.

Squash & Bean Quesadillas
Food Storage Ingredients:
1 can (14.5 oz) beans, rinsed and drained (I used kidney)
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1 Tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Fresh Ingredients:
3 cups of cooked and peeled squash (I used butternut, the original recipe called for acorn)
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cups spinach, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
12 small tortillas
Salsa
2 medium apples, diced
1 large handful cilantro, chopped
3 green onions, chopped
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
2 Tablespoons lime juice

1.Mix salsa ingredients and store in fridge. 2. Cook chopped onion & garlic in oil in a large skillet until onions are clear. 3. Add squash & spinach. Cook for 10 minutes. 4. Stir in beans, cumin, salt and pepper. 5. Spread 1/6th of squash mixture on a tortilla. Sprinkle with cheese and cook in skillet until cheese is melted. Cover with a second tortilla, flip and cook until second tortilla is toasted. Repeat with remaining ingredients. Cut tortillas into wedges and cover with apple salsa. Serves 6.

Food Storage Friday: Sweet Chilean Lime Beans and Rice

Recently I got a recipe exchange chain email from a friend of mine. I passed it on to several people in my address book including an old nursing instructor. She's currently serving a mission so declined to participate, but did give me this recipe for Sweet Chilean Lime Beans and Rice. I tweaked it so it worked well in my crock pot and had a stronger lime flavor. My husband (one of my toughest and most important food critics) loved it. This with a side of fruit makes a complete meal, but it would also go great as a side with enchiladas, tacos or chipotle seasoned and grilled meat. The lime and sweetness is subtle, but gives it a nice flavor. Honestly it has more of a pepper, garlic and onion flavor than sugar and lime.

Sweet Chilean Lime Beans and Rice
Food Storage Ingredients:
4 (15 oz) cans of black beans, rinsed and drained
7 cups broth (chicken, vegetable, whatever)
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
3 Tablespoons white sugar
2 cups brown rice or 3 cups instant white rice
salt to taste

Fresh Ingredients:
2 green bell peppers, seeded, 1 diced
2 yellow onions, quartered
2 cloves garlic 
1/4 cup lime juice
1/2 cup champagne (I used sparkling red grape juice)

1. Put 6 cups of broth, beans and diced bell pepper in crock pot on high for one hour. 2. Blend onions, remaining pepper, black pepper, cumin, sugar, 1 cup of broth and garlic until smooth. Add to beans. 3. If using brown rice, stir into beans and cook for three hours. If not, just cook for three hours and add instant white rice ten minutes before done. 4. Half an hour before finished slowly pour in champagne (or juice) and lime juice. Makes 10 servings.

Notes: The original recipe called for instant rice. I really prefer brown, so that's what we used with my adjustment, but the instant white rice should work.

Food Storage Friday: Reuben Pinto Burgers

I found this recipe in the newspaper last Sunday. My burgers don't look as pretty, but they were very tasty, and really that's all that matters. (Ok, they are healthier than a standard burger, and I suppose that matters for something too.) If you are not fan of sauerkraut, you can easily change the toppings to make it whatever burger tickles your fancy.

Reuben Pinto Burgers
Food Storage Ingredients:
2 cans (15.5 oz)  pinto beans, liquid drained, 1 can mashed with a fork
1 can (14.5) sauerkraut, drained
1/4 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon ground pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 cup light mayonaise or Miracle Whip
2 Tablespoons of chili sauce

Fresh Ingredients:
1 & 1/4 cup dry bread crumbs
2 eggs, lightly beaten
6 thin slices Swiss cheese
6 whole wheat hamburger buns

1. Mix beans, bread crumbs, eggs, pepper, and garlic in a bowl. Form into six patties (Roughly 4"). 2.Mix chili sauce and mayo, set aside. 3. Place a slice of cheese on each half bun. Toast at 300 degrees F for about 5 minutes. 4. While toasting buns, heat oil in a large skillet. 5. Cook patties in hot oil until crisp on both sides (8-10 minutes total). 6. Assemble burgers with sauce on each side of bun and sauerkraut on top of patty.

Notes: The recipe I read said to drain and reserve liquid from canned beans, then add it to patty mixture for moisture. I found them to be plenty moist without it. I'll have to try this recipe with cooked dry pinto beans and with various burger toppings. I made my bread crumbs by toasting a couple of smashed freezer burnt Kaiser rolls that I found buried in my freezer and added a dash of Kirkland's organic no-salt seasoning. I highly recommend. I also used Monterrey Jack instead of Swiss, because that is what I had in my fridge. Still good.

Food Storage Friday: Chile Verde Burritos

 Whenever I have made chile verde sauce my family pretty much inhales it. Here's the secret to my awesome chile verde sauce: I throw in a bunch of stuff until it looks and tastes right and call it good. The recipe below is what I did most recently, but I can't guarantee that it will turn out the same next time. Peppers have a tendency to vary in flavor and hotness. You can't look at a pepper and know how potent it is going to be. If I mix everything together and it's too bland I throw in a dash of green Tabasco or sprinkle in some red pepper flakes. If it needs to be toned down a notch, I'll finely chop up 1/2 a bell pepper and add that to the sauce. May the force be with you in your endeavors.

Chile Verde Burritos
Food Storage Ingredients:
Re-fried beans
Canned pork (optional)

Fresh Ingredients:
tortillas
grated cheese (I've used cheddar, colby, monterey, pepper jack, and mozzarella, all with great results.)
sour cream
1-2 cloves of garlic, peeled
4 Anaheim peppers
3 banana peppers
4 jalapeno peppers
8 tomatillos
4 green onions, chopped

1. Remove pepper stems, leave the seeds. Remove and save tomatillo husks. Cut tomatillos in half, hamburger style. 2. Roast peppers, garlic and tomatillos until well blistered. (Generally 45 minutes @ 375. I did mine in my sun oven, and it took an hour and a half before I was satisfied with their appearance, but it's cooking times will widely vary.) 3. Puree tomatillo husks and roasted vegetables. 4. Simmer pureed pepper mixture with green onions on low for 15-20 minutes or until desired thickness. Add pork if desired. 5. Assemble burritos as desired. (Whenever I make these I like to make extras and freeze them.)

I like my green sauce to be nice and thick.

Notes: I have found that the best re-fried beans come from the LDS Church canneries; they are so delicious. (Don't worry you don't have to be LDS to buy food storage there. They love to encourage everyone to be prepared.) I also love that they are not actually re-fried and are completely fat free, unlike real re-fried beans which are made with lard. (Bleh.) I have heard people complain that they are bland, but it is all in how you cook them. According to the instructions you mix the dried bean flakes in boiling water and let them set. Before I let them set I mix in a pepper. Either a dried and crumbled Chipotle pepper, a chopped Anaheim or whatever other spicy pepper I have convenient. After the beans have absorbed the water, add a heaping teaspoon of sour cream and a sprinkling of cheddar cheese. Mix it all together and it makes great burritos, improves 7 layer dip, makes an easy Mexican food side or stand alone bean dip.

When I say Anaheims I mean these beauties

 And as for Anaheims, some stores refer to them as Anaheims, others as Cubanos. I'm not sure why. And when I planted Anaheims in my garden, none of the plants I could find had pictures that looked anything like the Anaheim peppers that I am familiar with. And the peppers that grew were small and red.

Food Storage Friday: Bean Pancakes

Over a year ago I came across a recipe blog hop on Trying Our Best, (I love getting recipe ideas from other people.) which included a recipe from Sunrise on the Water for bean pancakes. I thought that I would give it a try, but of course I made several changes, shared it with my buddy Liesa who had some good suggestions and voila!- another happy food storage concoction. I love that this recipe is a good mix of fresh and food storage ingredients and in a pickle I could make it from all food storage ingredients. Plus it's healthy, easy to prepare and super cheap to make. Also if the name "bean pancakes" sounds too weird for you, try calling them bean tortillas, because really they're like a healthy tortilla, you just cook them like a pancake. You could easily fill them with eggs and green chiles or taco stuffings. Enjoy!

Bean Pancakes
Food Storage Ingredients:
1 15 oz can beans, rinsed, drained & mashed (I've done black or kidney, both are great, the pancakes pictured are made with black beans)
1 12 oz can evaporated milk
1&1/4- 1&1/3 cup wheat flour (depending on how moist your beans are)
2 Tablespoons canola oil
dash of lime pepper
a couple shots of Tabasco sauce (I prefer the green variety for this)
salsa for topping

Fresh Ingredients:
1-2 Tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1 egg
shredded cheese
avocado sour cream or ranch dressing

1. Mix beans, milk, wheat flour, oil, pepper, Tabasco, cilantro, garlic and egg until a pancake consistency. There will still be chunks of beans, but you want to make sure that the flour is mixed in well. 2. Make into pancakes. While you are cooking the second side of the pancakes, sprinkle a little shredded cheese on top so it melts onto the pancake. 3. Top with salsa, avocados, sour cream or whatever you please.

 I served mine with Cafe Rio style rice, peach salsa and mango smoothies, but go with what sounds good to you. If you plan on stuffing them taco stuff I would add the lesser amount of wheat so they're a little thinner and easier to fold. As I'm writing this I just had the thought that next time I should add some green chiles or other peppers to the pancake mix. I'm sure it will be delicious. I'll let you know how it goes. Also I would advise against telling small children that these are pancakes. Both of my kids were pretty upset that I made them pancakes that we were not putting syrup on.

Food Storage Friday: Chili and Rice

This week I have been out of town, come down with a nasty cold and have generally felt tired, busy and achey with all that comes with pregnancy and mothering small children. So when I was trying to come up with what to eat for dinner this week I was not feeling super creative. I just wanted something quick and easy that would satisfy my family. I thought of something that my mother sometimes made when I was growing up: chili and rice. She got the idea from her friend who grew up eating chili this way in Louisiana. Considering I got the chili on sale for 17 cents per can (after coupons), I can easily feed my entire family of four for about 50 cents and have leftovers. It takes less than 20 minutes to prepare, and if you add a side of fresh fruit, is a fairly well-balanced meal.

Chili and Rice
Food Storage Ingredients:
Chili of your choice (I found that one 15 oz can makes about 2 & 1/2 servings)
3/4 cup of prepared rice per person

Fresh Ingredients: (optional)
grated cheese
chopped green onions

Pretty self-explanatory, chili over rice. Add toppings if desired. If you are feeling a little more ambitious than I, make your own chili from scratch and add some cornbread on the side. Enjoy.

Mexican Party At My House

I just have to say that 'I Heart the Bountiful Baskets Mexican Pack'. Nothing inspires a fiesta like fresh Mexican food, even if it's just for me and the fam. I considered saving these for a guests and having more of an actual fiesta, but to be honest this meal is a little too labor intensive to do on a large scale, unless you're ready to start your own Mexican restaurant. I love getting my surprise bag of Mexican produce.  I was super excited to discover that last weekend's pack included these beautiful babies:

For those of you who have not had the pleasure, these are poblanos and they make terrific chile relleno. (Anaheims and Cubanos also make great chile relleno, but the flavor is slightly different.) One of my very first blog posts was on how to make chile relleno, but I didn't post pictures. This time I decided to do things the harder and more time consuming way, more or less following the instructions from the video.
First you broil the peppers until they blister. Then you flip them over and broil the other side. Then throw them in a plastic bag to sweat for 20 minutes or so. Peel off the skin and remove as many of the seeds as you have patience for. Afterward it should look something like this.

Next I made up some refried beans and mixed in a little bit of sour cream. (Actually it was plain yogurt because I got to this step and discovered that I had no sour cream. It still tastes great and is probably better for me.) And of course we have to work food storage into the meal somehow. :)

Next I cut Monterrey Jack cheese into wedges and inserted those into the chiles. (You need wedges so you have something to stab.) I filled the remaining space with some bean mixture and sealed them together with some toothpicks. Ok, they're becoming less pretty, but tastier.

 Put the peppers in the freezer for five minutes, so things solidify a bit. While I was blistering the peppers I started the chile relleno sauce.

Chile Relleno Sauce
1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
1 large clove of garlic
1 onion, cut in half
2 jalapenos, de-seeded
1 chipotle pepper
juice of one lime
handful of cilantro
1 & 1/2 cups homemade chicken broth/stock (or the canned variety if you don't have the other stuff handy)
Mexican spices to taste
Simmer all ingredients until onion is soft. Puree in the blender and return to pot to simmer some more.

Then I separated three eggs. I beat the whites until stiff,  beat the yolks a few strokes and then folded them together with a dash of salt.

Then I covered three sides of the peppers with the egg, and put them in a pan with one quarter inch of heated oil, a batter side down. It was then easier to cover the un-battered side. I have also discovered that it is easier to smear the batter on with a spoon than to try to dip the peppers in it. Cook until egg is thoroughly cooked. Drain oil off chiles on a paper towel. I also recommend that you not start your paper towels on fire like I did.

I also made some fresh salsa while waiting for my chiles to blister. (It's a process.)

Fresh Salsa
3 tomatoes
4 green onions
1 clove of garlic
handful of cilantro
juice of one lime
2 jalapenos
salt and pepper to taste
1. Chop everything up, mix and let it marinate.

Once the chiles are adequately drained of oil, put them in the pot of sauce, so the batter can soak it up. I served them just like that with salsa and half a mango on the side. (And for size comparison, that is an extremely large mango.) But you can also top them with sour cream, salsa and or guacamole.

Review: Everything part of this meal except the beans, eggs, canned tomatoes, cheese, chicken broth, spices and oil came from my Bountiful Basket (or BB extras), reducing the cost of this meal by a lot. :D  I do not make this often. I can't handle much fried food  and this is also pretty labor intensive. My husband loved it. He inhaled three of these plus a large quantity of chips and salsa. He said he really liked them, but said they don't taste quite like the ones that you get at restaurants that are basically a plate full of greasy melted cheese with a pepper floating in it. (No kidding, hon. I don't cook that way.) My kids turned their nose up at it and had chips and mango chunks. Whatever. If you want 6 peppers to serve more than 2-3 people a good way to stretch it is with Cafe Rio Style Beans and Rice. (But by the time I was done with this I was not motivated to whip up two more side dishes.)

Food Storage Friday: Chicken Enchilada Soup

This is by far my most requested soup recipe by family and friends. It is another recipe that took me awhile to figure out to incorporate food storage in a way that didn't change the taste. A few weeks ago I had a breakthrough. I originally got this recipe from the book 101 Things to Do with a Tortilla, but have made several adjustments to it over the years.

Chicken Enchilada Soup
Food Storage Ingredients:
1 packet enchilada sauce seasoning
1 cup tomato juice
1 cup water
1 6oz can tomato paste
1/2 cup white bean puree
3 cups chicken broth
1 6 oz can diced green chiles
1 Tablespoon canola oil

Fresh Ingredients:
2 cups cooked, chopped chicken breasts
1/2 cup diced red onion
1 Tablespoon minced garlic
4 corn tortillas
1/2 cup sour cream
2 cups grated cheddar cheese
tortilla chips and cheese for garnish
1/2 red bell pepper, diced (optional)

1. Combine first four ingredients and simmer to make enchilada sauce. (See packet for details.) 2. Saute chicken in oil. 3. Add onion and garlic (and pepper) and cook until tender. 4. Add broth, green chiles and enchilada sauce to chicken. 5. Tear tortillas into small (2" square or smaller) and add to soup. Simmer for 5-10 minutes. 6. Add sour cream, beans and cheese and stir until melted. Serve with cheese and tortilla chips.

I love this recipe, and all though it has a fair amount of sour cream and cheese I have to say that I have cut back the saturated fat a great deal from the original with my adjustments. Also I usually use one cup of leftover grilled chicken and a can of cooked chicken. The cheese, enchilada sauce and green chiles overpower any unpleasant taste associated with the canned chicken.  Recently I read in a food storage book where it recommended adding bean flour (ground dried beans) to soups for added protein and fiber. I'm certain that this would work if you don't want to cook and puree your beans, however I'm certain it is more likely to cause gas. This same book supports the idea that you can't live on bread alone, but you can live on bread and soup. I like that idea. If you have several food storage soup recipes on hand (or even just several cans of prepared soup) you can add some bread and feed your family from your food storage without having it be strange or traumatic.

Food Storage Friday: Chicken Enchiladas

Growing up whenever I requested a meal, it was chicken enchiladas. Since we've been married they have also become a favorite of my husband's. In addition to being delicious, they are super easy to make. (I have a distinct memory of explaining how to make them to my bus driver when I was six.) However, the recipe that I grew up on does not incorporate much in the way of food storage. So I experimented several times. They were ok, but not fantastic. Then I finally arrived at this one that really works for me and my family. Enjoy.

Chicken Enchiladas
Food Storage Ingredients:
1 10.75 oz can of cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
1 4 oz can of diced green chiles
1/2 cup white beans, cooked and pureed

Fresh Ingredients:
6 burrito sized tortillas
2 cups cooked, diced chicken breasts
1/2 cup sour cream
shredded cheese (about 2 cups)
peppers and onions as desired (see note)

1. Mix sour cream, mushroom soup, green chiles and beans. 2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 3. Take a large spoonful of mix and spread on a tortilla. Sprinkle with chicken, cheese, and diced peppers/onions. Repeat with remaining tortillas. 4. Spread remaining sauce over enchiladas and sprinkle with cheese. 5. Bake for twenty minutes.

Notes: The original recipe is just mushroom soup, 1 cup sour cream, green chiles, chicken cheese and tortillas. I found that if you half pureed white beans for half the sour cream, you can barely taste a difference, plus its healthier and more filling. I've done it with all beans instead of sour cream. My family could eat it in a bind, but it lost some of its "comfort food taste". After reading Twilight, I tried adding sauteed peppers and onions. It's good, but I'm usually not that ambitious. Adding fresh onions and peppers is much easier and almost as good. This time I used one green onion and one red pepper in the enchiladas and one green onion on top. I basically use whatever combination is convenient. I've also made these with turkey (a popular use for Thanksgiving leftovers) and canned chicken. I'll be honest, canned chicken just isn't as good as fresh, but it's more palatable when you use half canned to half fresh cooked. (I do this sometimes when I am making a double batch.) This makes great leftovers and freezes well.

My Weekend: Feeding a Crowd on a Budget without Spending All Your Time in the Kitchen

This weekend my in-laws came to visit. My sister-in-law and mother-in-law enjoy doing triathlons and on Saturday there was one about a mile from my house. They did a sprint distance while my husband and I just did a beginner triathlon. (You have to start somewhere, right?) With our house occupancy growing from 4 to 11, this meant that vast quantities of food was to be consumed, and I needed to find some way to do it that didn't involve vast quantities of money or me spending my weekend in front of the stove, because frankly I'd rather spend time with my family while they were here. So here's the menu plan from the weekend.

Friday night
Fajitas- About a month ago there was a sale on petite sirloin. I bought 5 lbs, cut it into cubes, put it into plastic bags with marinade and dried onions and froze it. Mid morning I threw the contents in the crock pot and cooked it on low for 8 hours. Half an hour before they arrived I chopped one large red onion, 2 green, one red, one yellow and one orange bell peppers and stir-fried them. The red onion and tortillas came from my Bountiful Basket. I also learned that you can get a 3 color bell pepper pack at my local Walmart for $3.50, whereas to buy the colored peppers individually costs about $1.70 each.
Cafe Rio Style Cilantro Lime Rice & Black Beans - I made these in my crock pot ahead of time and froze them. The night before I transferred them from the freezer to the fridge and microwaved them while I cooked the veggies.
Fruit Salad- I used 3 persimmons, 1 lime (juiced), 1/2 banana, 3/4ths of a pomegranate, 1 cup of black grapes, 1 pear, 3 kiwis, 1 mango and a few strawberries. All but the last 3 ingredients came from my Bountiful Basket. I chopped this up the night before.
Birthday Cake- Pink cake with chocolate pudding frosting. All ingredients came from my freezer or food storage.

Saturday
Fruit and cold cereal for breakfast
Lunch @ Five Guys to celebrate after the tri (paid for by my in-laws)
Saturday afternoon we climbed all over Pioneer Park. When we came home everyone was tired. So as soon as we got home I popped a couple of these in the oven for 20 minutes: Buffalo Chicken Calzones- One weekend when I was filling ambitious I made a few of these and froze them. When I made them I used cauliflower puree and spinach from my BB. 2 of these babies was enough for 9 people with a small amount of leftovers. (Neither of my kids would consider eating anything so spicy, they had sandwiches, and those 9 people had all had a very big lunch.)
I served them with Pink (because it is my little sister-in-law's favorite) and leftover birthday cake. (There was a lot of leftover birthday cake because everyone was so full from the fajitas, rice and beans.)

Sunday
Saturday night I prepared a Blackberry French Toast Bake and set it in the fridge overnight. The recipe needs some tweaks, so I'll share it later, but I used one loaf of 9 Grain bread from my BB, one cup of frozen blackberries, one package of Kraft neufchatel (that I recently got for free using coupons), powdered eggs, powdered milk and spices from my pantry. Sunday morning when I was only semi-conscious I put it in the oven and went back to bed. I served it with a 3 packages of sausage that I had gotten a ridiculous deal on. In retrospect it would have been nice to have a few more servings of this because there were no leftover french toast stuff, but people filled in the difference with fruit and more leftover birthday cake.

I estimate that all of these meals cost me about $44 (with about $29 being for Friday night's meal). I consider this a victory. I love my extended family, however several of them are somewhat averse to what they call "healthy food", which sometimes makes meal planning a challenge. I managed to plan meals that everyone enjoyed, incorporated lots of fruits and vegetables and feed 11 people for a reasonable sum of money while still spending lots of time with them instead of in the kitchen. It was a good weekend. :) (Yes, perhaps I should have taken pictures of some of these meals, but they never lasted enough for such actions. Sorry.)

Food Storage Friday: Wheatberry Salsa

I think that one of the biggest hurdles that people have with using their food storage is wheat. I know that when I was growing up we ate many forms of food storage on a regular basis, except the wheat. We never touched the wheat.Yet wheat is so good for you! It gives you fiber, folic acid and protein. Not to mention that it is cheap, versatile and retains its nutrients for decades! If you grind it into flour the possibilities are endless, but there are many options even without grinding it into flour.

I was first introduced to this salsa/salad by my mother-in-law. She calls it Confetti Salad. Since then I have also seen it called Cowboy Caviar. A little over a year ago I went to a class taught by Liesa Card, where she served Fiesta Wheat and Bean Salad. It was similar to the other two, but added wheat. (Which is really an inspired idea.) Mine is mixture of the three. I have made and shared this many times with a bag of tortilla chips. At first people are skeptical, but they don’t stop eating until it’s all gone. I brought it to work once and a nursing student that I was mentoring insisted that I give her the recipe so she could serve it at her wedding reception.True story. It is one of our favorite ways to use wheat and it doesn't even require a wheat grinder. It's delicious and very healthy too.

Wheatberry Salsa

Food storage ingredients
3 cups of cooked wheatberries
1 can of diced tomatoes /c green chiles, drained
1 can corn, drained
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup Italian salad dressing (or a packet of dry Italian dressing mix and the ingredients to prepare it)
1 teaspoon of white sugar

Fresh ingredients
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
6 small green onions, diced
1 bunch fresh cilantro, leaves chopped
1 small jalapeno pepper, cored and diced
1 Anaheim pepper, cored and diced
1 Tablespoon lime juice

1. Mix it all together and keep refrigerated.  Serve with chips.

A few notes: Let refrigerate for at least 3 hours before eating to allow the wheat to absorb the other flavors, otherwise it will taste strongly of wheat. My mother-in-law uses shoe-peg corn in hers. The day I see a good price on that stuff by the case I will probably start using that instead. Leisa makes her own dressing for the salad, I use Italian because its faster. If you want to mix it up you can add an extra jalapeno or use different colored bell peppers.This salad makes A LOT. I always mix in my big Halloween candy bowl. If you have been my neighbor, visiting teacher, visiting teachee, co-worker, or relative in the past year, you have probably had this stuff. When I make a batch, it's almost impossible for my small family to eat it all before it loses it's freshness, so I share and let it be known that 'yes, I am that crazy lady who uses her food storage'.

One batch

  My husband discovered another great use for the stuff- Wheatberry Salsa Chicken
1. Take four boneless skinless chicken breast. 2. Rub chicken with enchilada seasoning. 3. Smother with wheatberry salsa. 4. Sprinkle with pepperjack cheese and bake until chicken is cooked through. Enjoy!

Food Storage Friday: Taco Soup

This week's food storage tip is try to pick recipes that you already have the ingredients for. For example, taco soup. (Mexican food and soup together, love it!) There is not an ingredient in there that I don't normally stock for other meals also. It makes it easier to purchase cases of them and have them available. Using your food storage doesn't have to be super elaborate, it just has to work for you and your family.

Taco Soup

Food Storage Ingredients
1 can black beans, drained
1 can kidney beans, drained
1 can corn
1 can of olives, drained
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can diced green chiles
1 can cooked chicken
1 packet taco seasoning
1 packet ranch dressing mix
1/2 tsp chicken bullion + 1 cup water or 1 cup chicken broth

Fresh Ingredients
sour cream
shredded cheese
tortilla chips
1 tsp lime juice

Optional Ingredients
avocados, chopped for garnish

1. Dump all ingredients into a pot. Stir and heat until cooked through. (About ten minutes.)

Usually I used canned tomatoes because it's easy, but this time I used a couple fresh because I had them. It made the soup a little more watery and foamy, but still good.

I have tried at least a dozen versions of taco soup. This is the one that I always go back to because I like the way it tastes and it's so blasted easy. I've tried it with grilled chicken, beef, pork, ground beef, and ground turkey. (And it wouldn't be hard to make it meatless.) Canned chicken trumps because it is the easiest. When I was pregnant with #2 and working full-time nights I made this almost once a week. I can make it in my sleep. (And considering that I was working nights I probably did make it in my sleep at some point.) Enjoy!

Soup is on baby!

Food Storage Friday: Breakfast Cookies

Using your food storage at dinner time is great and all, but if you were to be living off your food storage, I certainly hope that you would be eating more than once a day. You need to plan for breakfast and lunch as well. So let's do a few breakfast recipes, shall we?
Today's recipe comes from my very own mom. The smell of these cookies brings back memories. My mom used to make a big batch of these, freeze them and send a few with me on field trips. And they're certainly healthier than many other quick breakfast options. (The original recipe calls for 1 cup of Crisco, and although the characters in The Help raved about it's greatness, I find the stuff revolting. They still taste great with mashed beans and applesauce instead.)

Breakfast Cookies

Food Storage Ingredients

1 cup extra crunchy peanut butter
3/4 cup cooked and mashed white beans

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup wheat flour

1/2 cup oat flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 3/4 cups oats

1 cup raisins

1/3 cup dried grated carrot
3/4 cup dried apple pieces (broken up)

1/4 cup flaked coconut
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup apple sauce

(1/4 cup apple juice)
(1/4 cup water)

Fresh ingredients

(grated carrot and apple if you don't have the dried variety)
 2 eggs

1.If using dried carrots and apples put in a bowl with apple juice and water. Heat oven 350 degrees. 2. Mix peanut butter, bean puree, apple sauce, vanilla, and sugars with eggs. 3 Mix powder ingredients and gradually add to wet. 4. Mix in apples, carrots, raisins and coconut. 5. Bake 9-11 minutes or until brown around the edges.

They taste even better than they look.

 A few notes:  When I made this I added an extra 1/4 cup of apple juice to the apples and carrots because I put my raisins in the mix and they were really hard. The original recipe calls for only all-purpose white flour. I used the different kinds of flour to make it healthier, but if you don't want to bother, that's cool. The original also called for fresh carrots and apples. I used dried because I had them and it meant that I didn't have to grate anything and I hate using my grater. For the mashed beans I previously took a can of cooked white beans, rinsed them, mashed them, measured them into 1/4 cup blocks, and froze them in some Tupperware. It made things a lot quicker. I was inspired by this recipe.  I promise that you can't taste the beans. But if you would rather use Crisco instead of mashed beans, go ahead ;).

Food Storage Friday: Taco Salad

The point of eating your food storage is not self-deprivation. You should incorporate food storage in your diet on a regular basis, so if you do have to live off your food storage, you are familiar enough with it that it's not a shock. And I'm not just talking about bowel upset. If you use food storage on a regular basis you will feel comfortable experimenting with it and making adjustments so you can make it work for you and your family. For example, today's recipe is Taco Salad. If I were in a pinch I could forgo the fresh meat and veggies, add some canned tomatoes and meat and some more rice and have Mexican Haystacks. Yes, I'd rather have the lettuce, but if we had to I feel confident that we could make do.

Taco Salad
Food Storage Ingredients
2 cups cooked rice
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained (kidney also work)
1 can corn, drained
salsa
ranch dressing
taco seasoning

Fresh Ingredients
iceberg lettuce
fresh tomatoes
1 lb ground turkey, cooked and drained (or meat of your choice)
tortilla chips
dash of lime juice
shredded cheese

Optional Ingredients
canned olives, drained and sliced
avocados
cilantro
guacamole
sour cream

1. Prepare meat according to taco seasoning instructions. 2. Assemble as desired.
A head of lettuce, a few tomatoes, 2 cups of rice and the other listed ingredients makes approximately 6 servings.

After I started eating this I realized I forgot the cheese. Oops!

Butter-Free Breakfast Buckle

Recently I saw my friend Lisa make some blueberry buckle with beans instead of butter and I had to give it a try. Except I used strawberries because I prefer them. I found the recipe on Recipezaar, but made a few changes. As I was putting it in the oven the first time I had a great idea that I could use orange juice concentrate in the topping instead of butter. It seemed appropriate for breakfast. My family loved this. I had extended family visiting and they loved it too, and no one could tell that there were beans instead of butter.

Strawberry Buckle

1/4 cup cooked and mashed white beans
3/4 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup milk
1 cup oat flour
1/2 cup wheat flour
1/2 cup white flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups fresh strawberries, sliced

Topping
1/4 cup frozen orange juice concentrate
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup oat flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
dash of nutmeg

1. "Cream" beans and sugar. (Just like you would butter.) 2. Mix dry cake ingredients in a separate bowl. 3. Blend egg and vanilla into bean and sugar mixture. 4. Add milk to wet ingredients. 5. Mix dry and wet mixtures together. 6. Gently fold in strawberries. 7. Pour into a greased 9x9 or round cake pan. 8. "Cream" oj concentrate and brown sugar. 9. Mix in remaining topping ingredients. 10. Drizzle topping over cake. (Using the orange juice concentrate, the topping doesn't crumble as well, but it's delicious, cheaper and better for you too.) 11. Bake @ 375 for 50 minutes.

BBQ Baked Beans

So last month when I did the pantry challenge, I discovered that I had a lot of canned pork in my pantry, and I wasn't really sure what to do with it. And I didn't ever do anything with it because the one thing I thought of required beans, which I discovered I was out of.  (Somehow I had never purchased dry beans before last week.) So now that we are doing regular grocery shopping again I thought I would give it a shot. When I was growing up, I remember my mom making these great BBQ beans with bacon and pineapple. I thought I could switch the can of pork for the bacon. So I called my mom for the recipe. She said "I don't know, just throw in some beans, some pineapple and whatever." Thanks, Mom for your detailed assistance. (I love you Mom!)
"Beans are high in fiber, low in fat". (The first person who can name what cartoon character sings that line gets a prize.) Beans also have protein, calcium, iron, folic acid, and phytochemicals. Plus they're cheap. Something I should probably incorporate into my diet more often. So here's my very first attempt at making BBQ beans, and I was actually rather pleased with the results, much better than I expected. Not as amazing as I remember my mom's being, but I liked them, and they were very easy to make. They do however, require a little prep beforehand. You can also easily make this vegetarian by omitting the pork/bacon.

BBQ Baked Beans
1 lb of dry beans-cooked and drained* (See below)
1/4 cup of dried onion
1/4 cup of brown sugar
1 cup BBQ sauce (the better your sauce, the better your beans)
1 can (15 oz) diced tomatoes, drained
1 can (21 oz) pineapple chunks, drained
1 can (14 oz) canned pork chunks, drained or 1 lb of sliced bacon, cooked and crumbled
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp dry mustard
Mix all ingredients in crock pot. Cover and cook on low for 2-4 hours, or until beans are tender. Leftovers freeze well.

Cooked Beans
The secret to cooking beans so that they won't give you horrendous gas is to change the water and cook them long and slow. (Also eating beans on a regular basis decreases their ill-effects on the body.) I soaked mine overnight, then drained the water. Then I put them in the crockpot, covered them with three inches of water and cooked them on low for 8 hours. Then I drained and rinsed them again before adding them to the recipe above. This time I used a pound of red beans, but you could just as easily use white, pink, kidney or pinto.

The Verdict: My husband and I really liked them, and I now I have found something else I can do with canned pork chunks that my kids won't eat. We love variety.

BBQ Chicken and Wheat Salad

Ok, for those who haven't ever had something with wheat berries in it, just stay with me. You need to try this. Using your wheat can be so easy and very delicious. Last summer when I went to a presentation by Liesa Card, she introduced me to the wonders of wheat without a wheat grinder. First you start with this recipe:

To prepare wheatberries:

• 4 c. raw whole wheat
• 10 c. water
• 1 T. salt

Oil a large (4 quart or larger) slow cooker and fill with wheat, water, and salt. Cover and cook on low all night, 8-10 hours. Cooked wheat may be bagged and stored in the refrigerator for a week or in the freezer for months.

Now you are ready to make all kinds of easy delicious things (one of our favorites is wheatberry salsa) using something that is super cheap, (I got mine for 33 cents per pound at Costco) stores for a long time, and is high in fiber, folic acid and protein.

Yesterday I had success creating something new. I love it when that happens. :) I was inspired by a recipe that I saw in The Essential Food Storage Cookbook, but I made a few drastic changes, like adding food storage. Here it is.

Barbeque Chicken and Wheat Salad

• 3 cups of cooked wheatberries
• 2 cups of cooked chopped chicken breasts (I grilled mine with lime pepper)
• 1 (15 oz) can of black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 (15 oz) can of corn, drained
• 6 small green onions finely chopped (or 1/2 a red onion chopped)
• 1 large red bell pepper chopped
• 1 1/2 cups of grated mozzarella cheese
• 1 large ripe avocado chopped
• 3/4 cup barbecue sauce
• 2/3 cup ranch dressing
• 1 Tablespoon of lime juice
• 2 cups of tortilla chips, crushed

Mix dressing, sauce and lime juice. Mix first eight ingredients in a large bowl with dressing. Store in the fridge for two hours before serving. (Trust me I tasted before and after and it tastes so much better if you let the wheat have a chance absorb the dressing, although it is still good to just eat it right after mixing.) Serve with broken tortilla chips on top.

 

I didn't mix the avocado in the big batch because my husband is severely allergic to them.

The Verdict: I love this salad. My husband liked it. My kids wouldn't eat it and had orange slices and string cheese for dinner. :S But then my children are unfortunately more picky than the average children.

Beef and Bean Burritos

These are so easy and a big hit with my family. The actual making of the meal is pretty quick as long as you have your meat ready from the crock pot. Leftover burritos freeze well and lack all the who knows what that you get from freezer burritos from the store.

Beef and Bean Burritos
1 roast (I usually use beef, but pork also works)
1 packet of taco seasoning (2, if it's a particularly big roast)
1/2 c water
refried beans (Made fresh or from a can, whatever your time table looks like)
burrito-sized tortillas
grated cheese- cheddar, mozzarella or pepper jack
Tabasco sauce (optional)
sour cream (optional)
enchilada sauce (optional)

1. Trim fat from roast as desired. Put roast in crock pot with water. Cover with packet of taco seasoning. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. (This depends on the size of the roast and desired tenderness.) 2. Put roast in a bowl and shred with two forks. It should fall apart pretty easily. Add about 1/4 c of seasoned water from the crock pot and stir into shredded meat. If a large roast add another packet of taco seasoning to the meat and stir. 3. Spread a 1/3 c (more or less) of beans on a tortilla. Top with 1/3 c of shredded meat. Sprinkle with cheese and Tabasco sauce as desired. 4. Microwave for 45 seconds to melt cheese. If desired top with enchilada sauce and grated cheese before micro waving.