Canned Cheese

I must have sparked some interest with my "canned cheese" line in the last post. LOTS of emails. No, I am not canning it myself and the only time I am going to use it is if I have to. But, this cheese is the real deal. No artificial ingredients. Nothing bad except for the fact that it is in a can which I don't usually love. However, if cheese is not available to us, this cheese will be divine. It slices, shreds, melts, etc. It is real cheese and has been made by this company since 1899 for places that don't have refrigeration.

Where can you get it? Well, I found it at the MRE Depot online by the case of 36. I think you can get a smaller amount now as well. I just bought the last case on Amazon but it wasn't much cheaper. Check out the details about what it is and how it is made at the MRE depot here.

Taco Time

It was another night that gave me 15 minutes for dinner prep. Baseball season is a killer. I had some grass fed beef ready to be used in the fridge that in no way was I going to let go to waste. Add to that a beautiful orange bell pepper, a couple tomatoes and garden lettuce. Super. I could make taco's in 15 minutes and it is a meal the kids would also be thrilled about.  I usually make taco's with black beans so all beef taco's would rock their world. 

As part of my 90 day meal supply , I keep taco shells on hand. These babies pictured above are a pretty decent lot. In a perfect world, they would be organic and treated with lime but I take as near perfection as I can get. The ingredient list is simple:

Corn

Salt

Coconut oil

Where do you ever see coconut oil listed as an ingredient? Pretty rare. I am SOOOO sick of seeing canola oil, corn oil and safflower oil. Total junk. These shells are on sale right now at Basha's for $1.45. With a good shelf life, they are a great thing to stock. 

Now, don't go and ruin your healthy taco with that packaged taco mix. Way too much salt and preservatives. It is so easy to make a taco taste right. I just dump the ingredients so I can't give any exact measurements but here is the general idea:

Cook your ground beef with onions and peppers as desired. Drain if you need to. Use black beans and grains if desired as well. 

Add cumin (about 1/2 to 1 tsp per pound beef)

Add Chili powder until desired spice is achieved.

Salt

Pepper

Garlic if desired

Add some salsa to the mix to just moisten and add flavor. 

That simple. Fill the taco shell with cheese, meat, lettuce, tomatoes, avocados, etc. 

For my 90 day supply meal, I have planned it with black beans, quinoa and salsa. You always have to plan it like you don't have any fresh ingredients for worse case scenario. Man, that would be a toughy for me. But, at least I will have some great flavor. I am adding some canned, natural cheese to my stash so at least I will have that to add. 

How's your supply coming? In case you haven't been paying attention, the world is a bit nuts right now. Stock up. Prepare. Be responsible. 

Supplies

It's been a while since we had our food storage discussions and a reader prompted me to touch on the subject again. It's always good to get remotivated . My shelves are looking a little anemic so I am now restocking.

This world of ours keeps getting crazier. The "What if's" seem a little more plausible. Just think about the gulf oil leak right now. What can happen with that? We already are going to suffer losses in seafood but other industries can be affected because of oil issues with transportation and ports. Who knows. It really wouldn't take much to cause a catastrophe. We need to be ready. Would you be able to live on what you have in your home right now for a month even? What about a week?

How do I run my food storage program? Well, if you missed my post on the subject a year ago, you can check out my food storage book here.
However, that was written before I started the mostly vegetarian gig so I am in the process of totally redoing the menu. That also means that I have to totally redo the whole book since the pantry lists will now be changed. It is always a good idea to revisit your game plan every year and reevaluate.

Plan out your menus. What do you like to eat? Try to keep it as healthy as you can. You need canned foods on hand. I don't like them but they are necessary. Stock what is as natural as possible and rotate when you can. I stock things that will make a meal out of my grains and beans. I can cook beans with the canned tomatillo sauce and some homemade tortillas. I can add some jalapenos and seasonings to canned tomatoes for salsa. I keep jarred garlic, pesto, sun dried tomatoes and jarred shredded Parmesan for my Italian sauces. Not nearly as good as the fresh stuff but will work when needed. My food storage meals will look much like what I cook now, just not as fresh.

Learning how to sprout now will also help you to be able to create live, green food out of your stored grains and beans. The nutrition will expound if you can't have garden fresh food.

Some of the meals I have planned are:

Bowtie Pasta with sun dried tomatoes and pesto sauce
Lentil Crustini and roasted potatoes
White bean tomatillo wraps
Vegetarian Black Bean chili and cornbread
Creamy veggie soup
Spaghetti with Bread sticks
Navajo tacos
Fried Rice with veggies and bacon
Chicken with Raspberry Chipotle glaze and mashed potatoes
Hawaiian Barbecue Pizza

No cream of soup recipes in this bunch. I think I would starve first. Ok, not really but you won't see that on my shelves.

If you are needing to stock up, my sister in law has started a new website for the AZ gals to give them the best stock up sales of the week. Click on her cute "A Full Pantry" button on my sidebar for the weekly specials.

Stock what you eat. Also don't forget that we may want shampoo and toilet paper as well. I also add in hair color to the mix. I don't want to be sporting my gray hair if times are hard! Yikes.

Let's get motivated. I don't want to share what I have with you all, and... I probably won't so fill your shelves. Make your food storage book so that it will happen. Start with one meal at a time. Make it simple. Just start.

Check out the Preparing Wisely button for great deals on food storage items. They have awesome prices on their freeze dried products, especially and much more! If you need some menu ideas, check my year supply label for past year supply posts.

March food storage meals.

Before the month ends,I thought I better get the next 3 food storage meals out. Sorry for the delay, I can't believe it is already the 11Th! These are all simple and concocted to use little heat and to use ingredients that don't have to be refrigerated. Hopefully we will be able to add fresh ingredients to these meals, but....just in case... we all need to prepare for the worse. Here are my next three worse case scenario meals.

Bow Tie Pasta with Pesto, Chicken and Sun dried Tomatoes

1 Bag of bow tie pasta
1 Jar of Pesto, small,I like Fresh n Easy brand!
1 Jar of Sun Dried Tomatoes, small
1 Pint of canned chicken, homemade pressure cooked kind. Meatless is also fine.

Cook pasta and toss altogether and heat till warm. Serve with some warm french bread and if we are lucky, a great salad.


Fried Rice with veggies and bacon

4 cups cooked rice
1/2 to 1 lb carrots, fresh or equivalent dried
1 yellow onion, chopped or 1/2 cup dried
6 cloves garlic (minced garlic in jars store for quite a while)
1 lb bacon or bacon bits
3 tsp beef bullion
1 tsp sesame oil
1/3 to 1/2 cup soy sauce
Garlic powder
onion powder
pepper
eggs, fresh or whole eggs dried

Cook rice. In pan, heat some oil, add cooked bacon or bacon bits and add 1/2 tsp onion powder/ 1/2 tsp garlic powder/ 1/4 tsp black pepper. Saute to release flavors. Add veggies and cook until soft. If using dehydrated veggies, reconstitute first and cook just until tender. Add same amount of seasonings again. Add cooked rice. Add soy sauce. Scramble eggs in separate pan, as many as wanted and season with 1/4 tsp onion powder, 1/4 tsp garlic powder and 1/4 tsp pepper. Chop eggs in pan and add to rice. You can add peas also if desired.

BBQ Pizza Chicken

Pizza dough recipe

4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups warm water
2 tsp yeast in 1/4 cup warm water
1 T. olive oil

Mix yeast in measuring cup with 1/4 cups warm water. Let yeast get foamy. Put 3 cups of flour in bowl with salt. Mix and stir in 1 1/2 cups water, oil and yeast mixture. Mix with spoon until sticky. Add more flour until the dough is only slightly sticky. Let rest for 8 minutes. Knead again until dough is smooth and elastic. Let rise for 4 hours.
Can also be made with half the flour whole grain.

BBQ sauce
Canned Chicken
Dried Bell Peppers/red peppers
onions

Roll out dough, spread BBQ sauce on top, chopped chicken, veggies that have been reconstituted. If you have fresh veggies and cheese, layer it on top. If not, this is a cheesless pizza but still tasty. Bake on 400 until golden brown and done on the bottom.


*** I had an email wanting the hamburger bun recipe to go with the BBQ beef sandwiches. Here you go:

Hamburger Buns

preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Place in Bosch with dough hook , or whatever you have:

4 cups warm water
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup vinegar
1/2 cup oil
1/4 cup gluten
8 cups whole wheat flour or grain mixture (add more later)
3 T. yeast

Mix until moistened. Let rise until it reaches to the top of the bowl.

Add: 1 T. Salt

Add enough flour until the dough pulls away from the side of the bowl. Add back in 2-3 T. water. Knead for 5 minutes. Form large balls, 6 per cookie sheet on parchment paper if you have it. Let rise for 45 minutes. Bake for 25 minutes at 400 until golden brown. Brush with butter while still hot.

(form Healthy Recipes Cookbook)

I also had a request for a recipe for a healthy cream of mushroom soup. I personally do not ever use it so I don't have one but they are all over the web. I prefer recipes that make their own sauces, not ones you make before hand. But, there are some decent versions out there, I just have never tried one to recommend one. If someone has one out there, post a comment for our readers please.


Thanks

Three more meals....ready, set, go!

Ok, here you go. As you can see, it is 9:24 on a Friday night. That's how exciting I am. To top it off, I just finished canning apples. That's what happens when the hubby works on Friday nights. No fun. But, I was productive. (for the new followers, these are for year supply recipes)

Recipe #4

Chicken with Raspberry or Peach Chipotle Glaze, Mashed Potatoes and Green Beans


For glaze:
1/2 cup peach or raspberry jam
1/4 cup lime juice, fresh or bottled if for food storage only
1 canned chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, seeded and chopped (1 pepper, not 1 whole can)
*once you open the can, you can individually freeze the other peppers for later use
1 tsp adobo sauce from can of chilies
2 T chopped fresh cilantro, 1 T. dried if for food storage
4 chicken breasts or 10 tenders. For food storage, use 1 Q. of pressure canned chicken
(this recipe will not work with Costco canned chicken)

Mix jam, lime juice, Chile and heat over low heat until jam melts. Stirring occasionally. Stir in chopped cilantro and set aside. If using fresh chicken, sprinkle chicken with garlic, salt, pepper and cumin and rub in. Grill chicken and during last few minutes, glaze while barbecuing. If using canned chicken, season chicken lightly then put on skewers then glaze. BBQ to heat and for flavor.

Mashed Potatoes from Dried potato flakes
Green Beans from Cans (Yuck, only if I have to)

Recipe #5

BBQ Beef Sandwiches, Corn, Baked Beans

1 Qt. of Canned Beef
1 Bottle of favorite BBQ sauce
ingredients for hamburger bun recipe, basic flour, salt, yeast, etc.
2 Cans corn (I always keep frozen organic corn from Costco in the freezer but canned in case
no power)
1 Lg can of Baked Beans- Ketchup, mustard, brown sugar, Worchestershire sauce to flavor.

Recipe # 6

Chicken Curry Soup/ Bread

1/2 C. butter or 1/2 cup oil
1 C. onion, chopped or 1/2 cup dried, reconstituted
2 carrots, peeled and chopped or dried reconstituted
1 T. curry powder
6 Cups chicken broth
1/4 cup dried parsley
1/2 cup rice
2 C. chopped cooked chicken
1 C. half and half or 1. C. evaporated milk
10 oz peas, canned , fresh or freeze dried
Salt and Pepper to taste
Ultra Gel to thicken

Melt butter or heat oil in large pan. Add onions, carrots and curry powder. Cook over low heat until veggies are tender. Add broth, rice and parsley and simmer 25-39 minutes. Stir in cooked chicken, milk, peas and simmer until warm. Season with salt and pepper and thicken with Ultra Gel.



Any Bread or Muffin recipe to go with it

The Goodman Family Food Storage Book....

To be successful at anything in life, you first must have a plan. I love binders, I love the simple organization of knowing where information is and that it is at my fingertips. When figuring out how I wanted my food storage system to run and to run successfully, I started with plan. I started with figuring out the basic menu. I have decided to go with 20 meals X6 so I will have about 4 months of meals. I typed up that list and put it on page one, page two is breakfast meals. Then, I printed up recipes that I didn't know by heart.

Next step, the pantry list. There are about 4 pages of every ingredient needed and quantity broken down into groups. That way, I can keep and inventory of what I have and what I need. It is very simple and very clear of what to buy to be prepared.

If I use an item in the pantry, I simply write on the white board in the pantry the item I need to restock for the next trip to the store.

Simple. But....now that I have the plan, I can put it into action. It isn't just an idea anymore. I am getting there. I feel relieved. I also have my year supply of grains and beans and other long term storage items listed in the back of the book along with where in the house they are stocked. I have also listed down what household items I need, ie, detergents, hair color, etc.

I wish I had started this years ago. My pantry is so full and organized now and I am getting there. We are counseled to be prepared. So, we do it. We don't ask questions.

Tomorrow... 3 food storage recipes for the month.

90 days to 90 meals...... Meal #2 and #3

In continuing the 90 days of 90 meals theme, here are the next two meals for the month, or....come up with your own. I want a little more variety so I will add a few more so I can have 15 meals x 6 instead of 9 meals x 10, but here is a good and easy place to start. After I get these done, I will add another 15 meals for another 90 days, etc. These meals are very basic. Little amounts of ingredients, little cook time.These meals are meant as a starting point. If you ever need to rely on these as meals, they will provide. If we need to use these but can supplement other items like fresh produce, meat, etc, then these are a great platform for doing so. When rotating these items, I will add more but it is nice to know that if push comes to shove, I have the basics of a meal. Here are the next two menus:

Whole Wheat Tortillas with Black Beans and Spanish Rice

Black Beans: I keep dry beans and also beans in cans in case of power issues.
2 cans of beans per meal.

Spanish Rice:

2 T. oil
2 C. long grain rice
1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
1 tsp minced garlic or 1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp ground cumin
4 cups water

In medium sauce pan, heat vegetable oil over medium heat. Brown the rice in the oil until there is a golden texture, stirring frequently. Reduce heat to low and stir in tomato sauce, garlic, salt, pepper and cumin. Stir in water. Cover and cook for about 20 min.

Tortillas:
recipe swiped off my new favorite blog "Hey good lookin' whatcha got cookin"
(Thanks, Kara) Check out her link to the right for more great recipes!

1 1/2 cup white flour
1 c. whole grain flour

1/3 cup Spectrum shortening, or whatever you have
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. chili powder or cumin (opt.)
1 cup hot water

Place flours, fat and seasoning(s) into mixing bowl. Cut in shortening with wire whips. Change to dough hook, start mixer and add water until dough pulls together. Add more white flour if dough is too wet. Let dough rest for 15 minutes. Divide into 12 equal pieces and shape into rounds. Roll out each round with plenty of flour or press in a tortilla press. Cook 45 seconds each side on high heat (450 degrees). Use a nice pan that holds heat so that you don't have to wait for it to come back up to temperature between cooking each one. Wrap in towel to keep warm and moist. Of coarse you can make any size you'd like, just make sure your pan is the right size to accommodate. Can make by hand if needed.

***I try to keep several bags of chips on hand and salsa. Most chips have a 2-3 month shelf life. I also have jarred jalapeno's and chipolte peppers to spice this dish up.


Meal # 2:

Marinara Sauce with Angel Hair pasta and Bread Sticks

1 jar of your favorite marinara sauce

1 bag of favorite pasta



Bread Sticks:

2 cups flour, white or half and half
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 T. olive oil
1 Tb. Sugar
1 1/2 tsp dry yeast
1 egg yolk or half of dried egg
3/4 cup warm water


Place warm water, yeast and sugar in bowl. Let stand 10 minutes until yeast is bubbly.
Add olive oil and egg yolk and mix. Add 1 1/2 cups flour and salt. Mix and then add more flour as needed until still a little sticky but easy to handle.Knead for 6 minutes. Let rise until double. Roll out and cut into 12 pieces, then into 24 pieces. Roll into 8 inch sticks and place on baking sheet. Brush with egg white if available. Sprinkle with salt if desired. Baked for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown at 350.

This is a super basic recipe, nothing fancy but real easy to make and minimal ingredients. If anyone is needing to add dried eggs to their storage, see the link for
Preparing Wisely to the right. She has a large can, 78 eggs worth for $23. (I think)



Now.....Times this all by 10 and here you go!

Ready....Get Set.....

OK. Are we all pumped, motivated and ready to start our food supply? This is the year of no procrastination, no excuses, no claims of ignorance. Just DO IT. Do it now. Start this week. HOW? WHAT? WHERE? Well, join me for 90 days to 90 meals. Then, we will start all over and do another 90 days to 90 meals. Food storage seems overwhelming, expensive and confusing. Most of us just simply take a back seat because of this. If you break it down, it can be easy and in almost any circumstances, doable. It's the "DO " that is the hard part. We can do it! Here's the plan....

We all should have some basic grains around. Our wheat, rice, powdered milk, beans , etc. If you are LDS, you probably have cans and buckets under beds and in cupboards. If you don't, you should. If you are not LDS, you can still purchase these items at great prices. Hook up with an LDS friend for details or visit our website at LDS.org and check under the preparedness link. There is so much great info and they will even help you figure out how much to store. I won't go into that because you can figure that all out on your own. What I want to do is move onto meals. I don't want to live off my wheat and beans. I think I would pretty much be sick of that after two weeks. I want to eat well, balanced and meals with variety. I want to stock things I will eat on a regular basis, things I can rotate so I don't have to waste. I want to have food that is not packaged with preservatives. It can be cheap and easy. I have learned much from Wendi Dewitt (link at right, Everything under the sun) and now am putting it to work.

Here is the plan. Each month, I will post 3 meals and all ingredients needed. You then times that by 10 and you will have 30 meals for the month. If you don't like my meals, create your own. Post them here if you would like so we can all share. We all like different things. They will be simple, easy and cheap. You should also do the same thing with breakfast but I think we can all figure that out ourselves. I still want blueberry pancakes so I will be canning some blueberries. Whatever you want.I also plan on canning meat for my meals and some may not have access to a pressure canner. You can purchase it in cans or go meatless if you want. I highly recommend buying a canner if at all possible. All American pressure canners are a great brand. If you want info, email me. But, here is the first meal I plan on stocking up on this week. And, as always, let me know if you find great deals out there on any great item. It is important to be buying your basic toiletries in bulk also. That is part of our home fortification plan as well. Who wants to go without toothpaste or shampoo. Yuck.

Tortilla Soup

(from SIL Megan)


1/2 pound chicken. (pressure canned or purchased)
1/4 cup dried , minced onion (fresh, 1 onion, chopped)
2 cans diced tomatoes, undrained (14.5 ounce)
1 can tomato sauce (8 ounce)
1 can pinto beans, rinsed and drained
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 carton (32 ounce) chicken broth or powdered
2 T olive oil
1 T chili powder
1 tsp Garlic powder
1 tsp ground cumin

If cooking this with fresh chicken, cook chicken in pan or boil. set aside.If using dried onions, rehydrate onions in water first, drain and then saute just slightly in olive oil release flavor. Watch to make sure they don't brown.If using fresh onions, saute as usual.Add all other ingredients. Shred or chop chicken. If you are going meatless, add extra beans.Simmer at least 20 minutes. You can add chips, cheese , cilantro, etc. if available.

Times this all by 10. It is a really cheap and nutritious dinner. I like the canned beans at fresh and Easy because they only have salt and water in them. They are under $.60 a can. I store lots of dried beans but also have canned beans on hand for power issues. I love the organic canned tomatoes from Costco. There you go. Recipe number 1!

Canning Apple Pie Filling.....

I wish these were my cans of apple pie filling but mine are yet to be made. They are on the schedule of the "to be done". Apples are cheap right now if you can find the right deal and will be even cheaper soon. With Azure Standard you can get a 20 pound box of the tastiest Organic apples for under $20 bucks. Now is the time to can these delicious little treats. I have canned them plain, now I am going to can some apple pie filling. It is easy and tastes delicious. If you too are feeling adventurous and want to add a little sweet to your year supply, here is your recipe.

Apple Pie Filling

For seven Quarts:

6 Quarts fresh apples sliced 1/4 inch thick.(perfect size in the apple peeler)

5 1/2 C Sugar

1 T Cinnamon

1 t. nutmeg (opt)

2 1/2 C cold water

5 C. Apple Juice

3/4 C bottled lemon juice

3 C. Ultra Gel

Peel, core and slice apples; place in water containing ascorbic acid or fruit fresh. Blanch no more than 2 quarts at a time in boiling water for 1 minute and keep warm.

Combine sugar, spices , water, apple juice and lemon juice in large kettle. Add ultra Gel gradually with a wire whisk and stir until smooth. Cook until thick and bubbly. Fold in drained apple slices. Fill jars, leaving 1/2 inch head space.

Adjust lids and process immediately in water bath or steam canner for 35 minutes or per your canners instructions.

**Ultra Gel can be ordered online or purchased locally at Shar's Bosch Center in Gilbert. Also, if anyone has info on if this stuff is horrible for you , let me know. I know this is a corn byproduct and is better for you than cornstarch. I know any corn byproduct isn't great but either is sugar. I can't find out any more info so enlighten me if you can. Until then, I will use it sparingly when needed.