Food Storage Friday: Vegan Pumpkin Waffles

 Lately I haven't been doing much with my food storage because there is so much of it that I can't eat due to the fact it makes my breast-feeding baby scream and vomit. Because of my dietary restrictions, I'm also getting very tired of the things that I can eat. I've gotten to the point where I usually would rather go hungry than have oatmeal for breakfast again. Enter friend Julie, who has also done a stint as a vegetarian. She gave me a recipe for these great pumpkin waffles that are satisfying and were a hit with all family members. Now that's saying something when you're cooking for my crew.  Thanks so much Julie! Of course I made a few changes so I was incorporating food storage and making them a little healthier. They're great with maple syrup or Apple Cider Sauce. Makes 12 waffles.

Vegan Pumpkin Waffles 
Food Storage Ingredients:
1/2 cup wheat flour
1/2 cup oat flour
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 15 oz can pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)
1/3 cup canola oil
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

Fresh Ingredients:
2 cups rice, soy or almond milk*
1 Tablespoon ground flax seed*
1 Tablespoon wheat germ*

1. Thoroughly mix wet ingredients and sugar in a bowl. 2. In a separate (large) bowl, mix dry ingredients. 3. Combine wet and dry ingredients. 4. Spray waffle iron with non-stick cooking spray and prepare according to waffle iron instructions.

Notes: Currently I can't have soy or dairy, so I made these with almond milk. I imagine that someday when my diet is less restricted and I'm in a pinch, I'll use the powdered milk from my food storage. From what I have read whole flax seed has a shelf life of three to five years, while ground flax seed can go rancid in as little as a week. I generally grind a cup at a time and store it in the fridge. Ground flax seed is great vegan source of Omega 3, 6, & 9 fatty acids as well as fiber. Wheat germ is a good source of fiber and B vitamins. Whenever I make waffles I add both wheat germ and ground flax seed for their health benefits and the fact that you can't taste them. Both these ingredients are optional, but I figure if I can get my family to willingly eat better, why not?

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: Beef, Wheat and Cheese Enchiladas

When my husband was growing up, one of this favorite foods was beef and cheese enchiladas. They're pretty straight forward- enchilada sauce, cooked ground beef, shredded cheddar cheese in a tortilla, smothered in more sauce and cheese. Bake until cheese is melted. They're all right; they're his comfort food, not mine. However, this week after he'd been in an accident, (An older gentleman possibly totaled our car, we're still waiting to hear.) I could tell that he needed some comfort food, so I made these with one significant change. I added food storage. Cooked wheat berries can be used to substitute part of the ground beef in a recipe, decreasing the saturated fat and increasing the folic acid and fiber content. I have tried just mixing wheat berries with the ground beef, however the texture just seemed wrong, but "mix it in a mincer and pretend it's beef" and it seems to work a little better. I can distinctly taste the wheat, but my husband still happily ate several. The same principle can be applied to many other recipes that call for ground beef.

Beef, Wheat and Cheese Enchiladas
Food Storage Ingredients:
1 cup cooked wheat berries
2 cups (approximately) enchilada sauce

Fresh Ingredients:
1 lb cooked ground beef (I prefer the extra lean variety)
tortillas (how many depends on the size, roughly one package of the 8" variety)
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1. Puree 1/2 cup enchilada sauce with wheat berries. (If your family is not used to eating cooked wheat, you may want to start with less than a cup so they don't have a fiber overload.) 2. Spread wheat mixture on tortillas, top with beef and cheese. 3. Roll and smother with remaining sauce and cheese. 4. Bake for 20 minutes at 350 or until cheese is melted.

Food Storage Friday: Broccoli Wheat Salad

This recipe is a combination of one from I Dare You to Eat It and a salad that is often served in the cafeteria at the hospital where I work, with a few of my own touches. (Before you turn up your nose at the thought of hospital food, I have to say they make some really yummy things at my hospital. Not all hospital food is created equal.) I love this salad, my husband loves this salad, I have many extended family members who love this salad. My children however will not try this. However, that doesn't mean much because they are ridiculously picky.

And here is my food storage tip for the week: How to determine how much food to store: 7 cases (6 #10 cans each) of basic dried food per person will give you enough food  to last a year, plus a little extra. There are 6 basic food storage items that everyone should store: wheat, oats, rice, beans, pasta and potatoes. So pick which one of those that you eat more than the others (I recommend wheat.) and double up on that one. If you have one case of each kind, plus your extra, you will have a year supply for one person.

Broccoli Wheat Salad
Food Storage Ingredients:
2 cups cooked wheat berries
1 cup + 1 Tablespoon light Miracle Whip
1 & 1/4 cup dried cranberries
3 Tablespoons sunflower seeds
1 Tablespoon sugar

Fresh Ingredients:
8-9 cups fresh broccoli florets, chopped
1 cup mozzarella cheese, grated
1/2 cup red onion, diced

1. Mix Miracle Whip and sugar. 2. Combine remaining ingredients and stir Miracle Whip dressing to coat. 3. Refrigerate overnight before serving.

I have tried this one without letting it sit overnight. I warn you that this is not a good idea. The wheat, red onion and broccoli all taste too strong. I like to make this salad as a side to barbeques, sandwiches and relish trays.

Food Storage Friday: Apple & Wheat Buttermilk Pancakes with Cider Sauce

I find that breakfast is the easiest meal to incorporate food storage into and it's a good way to use your food storage on a regular basis. Awhile ago I tried a recipe for Blender Wheat Pancakes that I found in I Dare You To Eat It. It was good, but I couldn't get my kids to try it. Recently I tried another recipe for Spicy Apple Pancakes with Cider Sauce from Skinny Bovine's Kitchen. My kids would eat them, but they left me thinking that there must be a healthier way to make these pancakes. Last week I had the epiphany to combine the recipes. Voila! A simple delicious food storage recipe that my family is willing to eat. I love that it's a way to use your wheat without any advance preparation. Enjoy.

Apple Wheat Pancakes
Food Storage Ingredients
1 cup raw wheat kernels
1 Tablespoon cornmeal
1 Tablespoon of brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cloves

Fresh Ingredients
1 1/2 cup buttermilk
2 eggs
1 Tablespoon butter
1 1/2 cups large apple chunks (cored, but not peeled)

1. Pour buttermilk and wheat into a blender. Blend until mixture smooth. (About 10 minutes.) 2. Add apple chunks and blend again. 3. Stir remaining ingredients into wheat mixture and make into pancakes over medium/ medium low heat. Makes about one dozen medium pancakes.

The cider sauce is the best part, and I love that everything except the butter are things that I keep in my food storage.

Cider Sauce

1 cup sugar

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp cloves

2 cups apple cider or apple juice

2 Tablespoons lemon juice

2 Tablespoons butter 

1.Put in dry ingredients then add lemon juice & apple cider/juice. 2 Stir on medium/hot, boiling for one minute while stirring. 3.Take off the stove and add butter. Stir until melted.

My kids actually don't like this syrup, they prefer the ordinary pancake variety. I think it is FANTASTIC. It also makes enough for two batches of pancakes.

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!

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.